Finding Darkness

Chapter 14 Escape

But where was Malachi? He must be responsible for all of this damage, but if all of these Saltek reached the ground she was toast, and she knew it. Sure, she could take on a Saltek one on one, and had done so more than once. Now, in this circumstance, there was no way she could take on the amount of alien flesh that was falling from the sky. But she'd be damned if she was going to just stand there and wait until Malachi got there. A thought flashed through her head. How did she know he was going to get there? Why did that thought even flash through her head? Because he'd said he would, and her mind was just beginning to come to terms with what exactly that meant.

So she had to buy time any way she could. If they got too close to the ground and she was out in the open, they'd pick her up on their scanners and they'd know exactly where she was. She had to find a way to make them look for her.

Sprinting back inside, Tamar began to climb back up to the top floor. Once there, she found the room furthest from the outside walls and threw herself onto them under the bed. Within minutes, the building began to tremble. It didn't take her long to figure out why.

Rolling out from under the bed, Tamar crawled to the nearest window and looked out. The Saltek were leveling every building they came to, and were just starting with the one she was in. In the space of a few seconds the structure went from fine, to trembling, and then to tilting to one side as its ground floors began to collapse.

"So much for trying to hide!" Tamar screamed and ran for the opposite side of the room.

The further she ran, the more she was running up hill as the buildings tilt became more pronounced until with a last burst of speed she dove upwards and through one of the last unbroken windows. Her jump landed her outside on the building's ornate brick siding, which had turned into its outer floor. She realized it was still moving and bounded to the edge and off in one smooth stride. It wasn't until she was in the air that she came to think that it wasn't one of her wisest choices.

Hanging in the air, forty feet from the ground, she was an easy target for almost ever Saltek with a clear line of sight. Massive heads turned to see her, and snarls and grunts could be heard coming from every direction. So Tamar did what she did best, she ran.

Hitting the ground with her legs already under her, she tore off in the direction of where she saw the first lander impact. Maybe in the burning debris she could lose them. No such luck, Tamar came to the knowledge that from this trap there was no escape. These weren't just mere humans trained to hunt others of their own kind. These were Saltek, trained from hatching to hunt, not only their own kind, but every known species in the galaxy, and there were plenty of them. They cut off her angles, attacked her at her flanks, and finally surrounded her. With all the time they needed, they began to tighten their noose. Tamar knew they needed her alive, either that or they were just playing with her like a cat with a mouse. That cut a little close to home, but she drove it out of her mind. She needed to focus right now, not think like Malachi.

"You will not be hurt, little one. Come quietly, or we will be forced to do you harm. This is not our wish, but if you force it upon us, rest assured we are very good at it." A smooth voice sounded from behind her and she whirled to see a full Rougarian in their ornate armor walking towards her.

"Pal, you don't know me very well, do you? The only way you're getting me is in a very small bag!" Tamar howled.

"Very well," the Rougarian shook its head. "Have it your way." It raised one hand to signal the attack, then halted. Everything seemed to stop, nothing moved, nothing even breathed. Because the sky, the light, the very air around them, had suddenly turned blood red.

A star burst of clarity ignited within Tamar's mind when she saw it, a bird of prey the color of blood streaking earthward through the clouds and she thought.

That's what he meant. I get it now. And for the first time in her short life, the fear within the cold space that she'd always used for a heart began to thaw.

"You might want to turn around. I think someone wants to meet you." Tamar taunted the Rougarian standing before her an instant before she threw herself flat onto the ground.

Turning, the alien watched giant wings of red disappear into a tiny speck plummeting towards the ground. The dot glowed with enough power to tint from horizon to horizon the color of blood. As one, the alien warrior to dove for the ground when they saw that the dot was a human, and it seemed to be falling straight at him.

Tamar looked up just in time to see Malachi, head down, fly straight into the ground, the impact throwing a shock wave out in all directions. It was hard enough to fling Tamar into the air, then let her slam back down. Not wanting to waste her opportunity, she rocketed to her feet and sprinted towards where she'd seen Malachi hit.

Coming around, a car sized chunk of concrete, Tamar was just in time to watch as Malachi's head and shoulders rose out of the crater his slamming head first into the ground had created. Next came his torso, then his legs. He didn't walk out of the hole, he rose out of it. It was filled with a swirling blackness that lifted him out and then, in the blink of an eye, was sucked back into his suit.

Tamar watched him take stock of the situation with a single sweep of his gaze. That gaze settled on Tamar and he let forth a sound Tamar never in her wildest imaginings would have thought she'd ever hear. It was a primal sound, like the roar of an enraged beast, yet somehow mixed with that of a bird of prey. Above and mixed in with the mass of sonic energy were cords of electronic resonance. The sound pulled at the hairs on the back of her neck, making them stand on end, all of them. When the sound was gone there came words deep, powerful, and full of meaning.

"You will not touch her!"