The Hunter's Song II: Lost Blood

Ch 16: Hooked (Arctic Haze)

She's alive.

Everything ached, and my eyes were drooping from exhaustion, but Lor was alive.

"Hurry," Lor huffed with a corner of the flooring in her arms. "Help me move these panels."

I put my weight on a broken chair to lift up and keep my winces hidden.

The shuttle barely flew, but we managed to crash into a small cliff shelf protruding from one of the mountains. There was nowhere else to run; our only recourse was to hunker down and blast anything that got too friendly.

I set what remained of the sensors to scan continuously for movement. We were alone at the moment, for however long that lasted.

"Did you find any food in the storage compartments?" Lor picked up a portable welding kit.

"Yes, enough rations to last a few weeks. Water too."

"Well, that's not nothing," Lor chittered while doing her best to seal the gaps in the shuttle's outer walls. "Now if we can just eliminate the cannons' blindspots."

"I think we can cut away two corners," I pointed to the ceiling. "That should remove the obstructions."

Lor believed us finding the shuttle and sending the signal was all a diabolical mechanism within a larger trap.

If her instincts say it's true, then I believe her.

We were out of resources to send a second warning, but with a bit of luck, we had a slim chance of holding out.

I hated the endless theories creeping through my mind.

It couldn't be a coincidence that Lor, the Primary of our excavation team, survived that monster.

A queasy prickle compacted within my stomach.

This is what he wanted. To torment us and make us call for reinforcements.

He could have attacked sooner, but Bold Step waited until we lit the path for more to join the slaughter.

"Are you going to hand me that or not?" Lor held her hand out, waiting on the metal pole I was holding.

"Oh, yes," I had to clench my jaw when I passed it over.

I didn't know what that psycho or those creatures had planned for us, but I'd made up my mind that Lor would survive to see her homeworld of Sahei once more.

"How long do you think I'll last if I climb up on the roof and make those alterations?" Lor wiped her brow and smiled at me.

"As long as you require," I leaned against the one rock wall of our little hideout. "I'll man the cannon personally."

"We'll make a fine soldier out of you yet," Lor tapped her knuckle on my chest.

"Over my dead body," I snarked back.

Lor put her helmet on and geared up to go outside. Then she patted my shoulder and wriggled through a gap between the stone and metal.

I perched on the toppled helm's chair and leaned over the main input panel.

The motion detectors were silent.

"What the hell is going on here?" I mumbled to myself as my eyes strayed off in the direction of the perimeter surveys.

I was certain the mountain range differed from how it was when we first landed and there were more discrepancies than could be explained away by a single colossal mountain-shaped Graven.

Before, there were large deposits of Agreydrite disrupting our scans, but according to these most recent readouts, barely a third of those deposits were present.

"And where did the bogs and dead vegetation come from?"

I wanted to expand the sweeper range but that would require diverting power from the cannons and there was no way I was risking Lor's life for my selfish curiosity.

I noticed my hand unconsciously grinding against the corner of the keypad panel and felt my attention drawn toward a canteen hanging on the wall.

"Stop it," I closed my fists and smacked my hands into my lap.

It was bad enough that all the medical supplies fell out while we were flying. The last thing Lor needed was my irrational anxiety wasting our few remaining resources.

The shuttle's ceiling creaked when Lor descended the side after completing her modifications.

"How does that look?" Lor squeezed back inside and shoved a metal panel over our only egress.

"Much better," I performed a test rotation of the cannons to confirm that there were longer directions we couldn't fire.

"Let's hope it's enough to keep those bastards at a distance," Lor unlocked her helmet and flopped cross-legged on the floor. "You look like you could use some rest. I can take the first watch."

"Are you sure?" I knelt beside her with a chuckle. "Pretty sure you renovated this entire shuttle almost entirely on your own."

"Don't sweat it," Lor smiled. "I've always liked keeping my hands busy. I've remodeled my home at least six times in the last two cycles."

"I don't doubt it," I lifted one of her powerful navy blue hands and caressed her calloused fingertips. "With enough supplies and power tools, I'm certain you could transform this junker into a fortress."

Lor was quiet, and then I realized she was staring at me and not withdrawing from our casual contact.

A chunk of metal squeaked and before I knew it, I shoved her out of the way of a single falling fragment of plastic tubing.

"Good reflexes," Lor snickered beneath me as she picked up the floppy hollow tube.

I snickered at the non-threatening hose line, but lost my breath when I tried to push up.

"Arctic Haze," Lor went rigid when she saw I couldn't breathe.

She held my torso up and slid out from under me.

"Hold still," Lor's hand traced around my side to the sharp concentration of pain radiating from my lower back. "You're bleeding!"

I coughed and pale pink blood splattered across the floor.

"Slow your breathing," Lor helped me keep still and put on her helmet. "There's a shard of glass lodged in deep. It's hooked around one of your kidneys."

My hands trembled and I felt dizzy.

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Lor whipped her head around for anything that could double for medical equipment.

"It didn't hurt much," I clenched my jaw and shivered. "We had so much more to worry about."

Then my vision swirled and all I could hear was Lor's voice calling my name in the darkness.

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