Page 44 of Meteor Storm

All I could do was breathe and throw out curses as I moved through the narrow vent. To where, I didn’t know.

I arrived at another grate and took a moment to look both ways before I decided to shove my way out into a slightly less hectic corridor. I was greeted with wet puddles of blood and almost slid onto my ass trying to right myself.

“Jesus,” I muttered, trying to ignore the stench of burnt flesh and destruction as I navigated through a disheveled storage facility.

I padded across the metal floor between large stacks of containers, my heart galloping in my chest. I desperately searched for some kind of indication I was heading somewhere useful, but the alien symbols on the walls meant nothing to me.

A loud crash echoed from behind me. I whipped around to see one of the two nozun smashing through a half-open door into the storage chamber, his slitted nostrils expanding to sniff at the air.

That was the first time I saw one of them stretch up on his hind legs fully when they were that close and I wished I never had to see it. It was like staring at a cryptid in the flesh, seven feet tall with arms too long for his body. He spotted me between the crates, gawking, and a wide and horrifying smile stretched across his big mouth. In the dome, with shock collars and vague rules, they were a menace. In the open, with no audience and no threat of punishment, I was free game and I had nothing at my disposal to defend myself besides a weapon I didn’t know how to use.

I raised the rifle like I would a rifle from Earth, my finger instinctively searching for a trigger that wasn’t there. When my thumb hit a smooth side panel, a tiny screen lit up where the scope should have been. A thermal image of the nozun popped up and at the sound of a faint beep, I pressed my thumb to the panel.

It fired.

Oddly, there was no kickback like I was used to, but the pellet smacked into the nozun’s gray flesh nonetheless, soundless.

It did nothing but piss him off.

Because I’d picked up a fucking dart gun…

When I fired again, nothing happened.

Because I picked up an empty fucking dart gun.

I recalled Thilar taking multiple stun darts to go down and it seemed a nozun required more than one, too.

He charged, sinking onto all fours to run faster. I grounded myself and when he was close, I used the rifle like a bat, swinging with all my strength. His head snapped to the side when I hit him and he was thrown off balance, knocking into a stack of metal cannisters. He recovered quickly, turning and leaping in my direction. I ducked and he jumped clean over me, but he was so fast. He grabbed hold of my ankle, flipping me onto my back and caging me beneath his long limbs. I held the rifle up with both hands, trying to put a barrier between us.

Even my training could never have prepared me for fighting a giant ape when my body was at half strength.

He snapped his teeth together like a dog, drool sputtering from his mouth as a deep, laughing rhythm rumbled from his throat.

On his hip was a belt with multiple knives strapped to it. I took a chance and let go of the rifle with one hand, reaching for one of the blades. I grabbed the first one my fingers could wrap around and yanked it from its sheath, jamming it into the nozun’s side. He barely flinched.

Thilar made killing them look easy…

I stabbed him again. Again. Again. On the fifth, I twisted the knife, dragging it along his ribs with a loud and determined scream until he finally seemed to pay attention.

He reared back and pulled one of the other blades from his belt. Laying beneath him, I could see a paler patch of flesh between his neck and chest. I turned the blade toward him one last time, aiming at that discolored area. Just as I thrust, he drove his own blade toward me.

I felt his flesh give and dragged the knife sideways, cutting him open until his insides spilled over me. Dark, hot blood splattered across my face and chest. He squirmed, scratching at the wound with one hand, his breath coming in wet gurgles. Then he collapsed, pressing his full weight on top of me.

But I didn’t win the fight. Not entirely.

There was a knife protruding from the side of my waist and every breath told me it was lodged deep, grinding on my bottom rib. The air was knocked out of me for a split second. I groaned, trying to kick the remains of the nozun off my legs, and rolled to my hands and knees.

I wanted to pull the knife out so badly, but I knew it would make things worse. So, I pushed onto my feet and I stumbled out of there, keeping the other blade in my blood-slickened hand.

I was so screwed.

The lights were blinking again, about to go out entirely and leave me blind. There was gunfire in all directions. I didn’t know which hall to go down or which direction was safer. All I knew was that I had to move.

When I came to a turn, I nearly crashed into another guard as he rushed around the corner. In a panic, I raised the blade, but he smacked it out of my grip with ease. Then he shoved me back against the wall, pressing his rifle across my neck. My body reacted before my brain could tell me there was a smarter move to make and I pulled the knife from my side, raising it up and jamming it into his neck. Pain lanced across my whole body like fire.

The guard stumbled back, pulling the knife out immediately and letting his blood spurt out all around him as he shuffled for purchase.

Shit.