Baaul: A Change of Heart

Chapter 20: Marked for Death

Baaul watched the ooman plane roar over him. They still could not make their vehicles quieter, in fact, oomans seemed to find pride in how loud they could make them. It was stupid, but oomans were stupid.

He returned his gaze down to the disturbed dirt beneath him. The Bad Blood at some point had started to cover his bloody trail, but he wasn’t just running from oomans. Yautja knew Yautja and he knew that this Bad Blood was not doing too well. If he wasn’t dead already from his injury, then he was dying. The evidence of his stumbling was everywhere. Even the most dishonored Yautja carried themselves with grace unless they physically were unable to.

Sure enough, not even an hour later, Baaul found the Bad Blood lying face down, his back heaving with ragged breaths. It was a pitiful display as he was still trying to survive, clinging to life when it was better to kill himself to preserve what little honor he might have had.

Baaul released him camouflage and walked around the Bad Blood. The male just watched him, accepting the fact that he could do nothing to defend himself. Blood seeped out of his mouth as he spoke. “Where is she?”

Baaul knelt down, balancing on the balls of his feet. “Claimed.”

The Bad Blood coughed but still managed to glare at Baaul. “You took her from me.”

Baaul reached into his boot and pulled out a dagger. “She was always mine. Bad Bloods have no rights. Your loyalty to the fallen clan leader made sure of that.”

“That filthy-”

Baaul sank the dagger into the Bad Blood’s skull. He would not listen to the disgraced talk such a way about Xai’an. He had proved his Bad Blood heritage was honorable. Worthy. This male had no right to speak poorly of him after he ran like a coward. The only grace his pathetic existence had was introducing him to Renee.

With the Bad Blood dead, he went to work on destroying his body. There would be no preserving his bones. He would be utterly destroyed and forgotten. It was the worst possible thing that could happen to his kind, yet there were those who strayed toward it with pride.

The blue solvent that Baaul poured down hissed as it made contact with the Bad Blood’s skin, eating away flesh and bone like acid. There was no odor to detect and it would only take a few minutes for the mixture completely destroyed all the Bad Blood’s DNA.

Now that the root of the mess was cleaned up, Baaul was going to have to return to the ooman facility to ensure any possible evidence captured of them was removed. He had been aware that there had been no camera in Renee’s corner of the facility, but the Bad Blood had not gone inside that way.

The facility was empty when he entered and it was far from its former stature. Most of the glass walls had either burst open or were fragmented and merely a finger touch away from coming down as well. Wiring from the ceilings fell in ringlets, occasionally sparking with live electricity. Papers were scattered on the floor and various artifacts were destroyed.

Baaul found the control center not far from a large entrance that was left open. It took him a moment to find an access point, but once he did, he was able to pull a cable from his wrist device and push it inside. He clicked his device, engaging it to adapt to the computer system and connect so he could begin frying the database. Anything linked to the system would be corrupted.

Lights cut across the darkness just as he heard someone yell. He engaged his camouflage, yanking his cable from the destroyed system. He looked up, seeing a fairly large hole from the weight of thick cables. He launched upwards and gripped the rafters with his hand just as a group of ooman men came through the door. All of them were layered in black tactical gear and his mask was able to detect various weapons on all of them.

They moved in a fluid manner. It was practiced in more than just a training room. The sight made his chitter with excitement. These oomans were not like those he fought in the forest. His excitement turned to another emotion in an instant.

“RENEE!” The ooman male was young, fit, and trained. Anger rose in Baaul’s chest, turning his vision red.

“Officer!” Another ooman hissed angrily, and jerked the blonde male back behind him. “Another outburst like that and your ass will be on the next flight back!”

The blonde ooman glared at his challenger, squaring up to him and easily towering over him. “You don’t have the jurisdiction to send me the fuck ANYWHERE! I am here for one reason and one reason only!”

“Right! As a COURTESY from the local government! How you got it, I have no fucking idea, but one word from me and your ass gets the fuck back on a plane! I’m sorry your woman was a victim here, but you are putting us ALL in danger by giving out our fucking position and forcing us to sit here like damn deer waiting to be gunned down!” The leader of the males snarled.

Baaul growled low in his chest. He didn’t need to hear the name of the male below him. He already knew exactly who he was. It was the male that Renee spoke with on their communication device. The male that courted her.

Steve had come for his Renee but he would not leave alive.