You Don't Belong Here

Chapter Fifteen

Brielle and O'kaor paused at the sound of thumping footfalls and stepped behind cover just as a team of guards was jogging down the adjoining corridor with weapons drawn. The woman activated a nearby control panel and the reinforced, metallic door slid open. The two escapees ducked inside and the door sealed behind them.

O'kaor tasted a familiar stench in the air and he turned to search for the source. His eyes widened when they fell on a cryogenic tank much like the one he had been held captive in, only this one contained a dark serpentine creature with no eyes. A sharp, jagged spike tipped its tail, and it hissed a vile sound. A low growl rose from his throat and Brielle turned to follow his gaze. "What are you doing?"

"That creature needs to be destroyed."

"What?!" If she could have yelled she would have. For now however in their current situation, a whisper yell would suffice. "Are you insane?!"

"Possibly by pyode-amedha standards."

"We are not killing it!"

"Then it will kill your entire race."

Brielle's grey eyes widened slightly. "You know this thing..?" No response. "Fine...how do we kill it?"

"I have a device in my armor." She looked at him in a way that requested more information. "It will destroy everything within a twenty mile radius."

"You have a fucking bomb in your gear?! Who just...carries around a bomb?!"

"Survivors." Brielle was dumbfounded at his belief that he was stating the obvious. "This is why your race is short-lived."

The creature in the tank let loose a shrill, head-splitting screech as it's inner set of jaws shot out of its mouth and bit at the reinforced glass. "It has nothing to do with how long we live! And you would destroy my life's work!"

"What use is your work if you are dead?" The woman pinched the bridge of her nose as she inhaled deeply. The sound of running soldiers finally faded into the distance and Brielle places her ear against the door. "Try to do it yourself."

"Excuse you?"

"If you wish to avoid unnecessary collateral damage, you may try to destroy it yourself."

"I'm not touching that thing. It has acid for blood. I might be crazy, but I'm not an idiot."

"Have you learned of its reproductive methods?" Brielle looked at him as if to imply that it was no surprise that a male of any species would turn a conversation from bombs to sex. "The kiande-amedha lay eggs. The eggs hatch and the embryos attach to your face, constrict your airway to force your mouth open, and force their body down your throat to place that," he gestured to the cryogenic vat behind them, "into your chest cavity. From there they grow, and when they are large enough they force their way out of your body through your bones and flesh."

"Sounds delightful."

"You do not survive. This is why we carry the devices you do not."

Brielle activated the door panel and stepped into the corridor once more. "Okay, so we blow it up. Then what, we run?"

"You may, but you will perish. I will escape before the detonation." The woman rolled her eyes and waved a dismissive hand.

"Semantics. Come on, we need to move."

"I require my armor."

"What, are you not comfortable with all the 'Oomans' seeing you naked?"

"My armor holds the device."

"And what if we can't make it to your precious armor?"

"Your race will be destroyed by the kiande-amedha." The woman groaned as she turned on her heel and led O'kaor back the other way.

"I don't see why we can't go back to the good old days where it was survival of the fittest. Now you have to have 'honor' and 'morals'...and 'compassion for the human race'."

"I will destroy them myself if you wish otherwise."

"No, no, it's fine. We'll just save the world and then let natural selection weed out the undesirables in the future."