94 Laying out the Wire

"Small master?"

I looked up at him sharply; I'd zoned out for a bit there, lost in my thoughts as I processed everything that happened. I was covered in Stranger's blood and I felt like I might be sick.

"Yes, Creature?" I murmured.

"Are hurt?"

My arms were throbbing, but a quick scan with my mask told me they weren't broken. I didn't really need it to know that since my fingers worked just fine and I had full mobility, but it was good to check. There were a couple of ugly bruises, though.

Besides that and a couple more scrapes and bumps, I was in one piece.

"I am uninjured," I said, getting to my feet.

The drying blood tugged at my skin and made the thermal netting stick uncomfortably to me. Well, I couldn't wash it off right now, and it could be ignored. I'd just have to leave it alone and use it for some shock value later whenever I ran into another one of those fuckers. I wondered what their faces would look like.

Not that I'd be able to see them since everyone was wearing masks.

"How are you?" I asked.

He was sporting a myriad of scrapes down his chitin and a few slashes had broken through to crack the shell. One of his wings was rumpled and poking out from where it was normally hidden, I didn't know if he was like bugs on Earth where they didn't really feel pain the same way most creatures did.

He took stock of himself, flexed his wings a bit, then said, "Am good."

Sighing, I stood up and helped him straighten his crumpled wing. It was going to be a little bent for a while, but it didn't seem to be bothering him and at least I'd fixed it enough so that it could fold back up into the casing.

When that was done, I pulled the rifle pack off my shoulder and assembled it swiftly. If I wanted to use it, I needed to have it ready. I could put it together pretty quick, but it wouldn't matter in the heat of a battle. It was unassuming enough when slung to my back, but I didn't need it to be a stealth weapon. I needed it to blow a hole in some fuckers.

As I was finishing up, Creature asked me, "Do now?"

"We go to the ship, get Critter back, and pick up Wolf's trail from there," I said without thought. "Let's go."

He held his claws out and I let him pick me up so he could run.

Everything was quiet and empty when we made it back to the landing site, with no sign of any of the bad bloods or Wolf. We stayed hidden in the trees for the time being, slowly approaching the ship and scanning the area for danger, but it seemed like everyone was gone. Lockjaw had definitely said he was coming back here to finish . . .

Then I spotted him.

I choked out a horrified sob and spun around, ripping my mask off. Creature had gone still next to me, paralyzed with shock. I coughed and dry-heaved, my lungs burning and eyes stinging. Tears fell and I struggled to get my respirator out and attach it to my face, as my mask was somewhere out of sight.

"Critter . . . Critter," I whimpered, holding my face in my hands.

The upper half of his tattered body was strewn up on our ship's bow, hanging limp as a warning, a beacon. His claws were missing, torn from their joints—likely stolen to be trophies or mementos.

My chest felt like it was going to explode. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get my emotions under control and I wept. It was all I could do to keep from screaming and revealing us.

Creature was tensing up next to me, his wing casings shifting and rubbing. He slowly leaned forward, his mouth parts working, upper arms flexing. He was building. I could do nothing to prevent his explosion.

"Wait," I squeaked out weakly, my voice stuck in my throat.

That was the catalyst. He let out an awful noise before rushing toward the ship. I reached out to stop him, but my eyes were blurry with tears and my legs stiff from shell shock. He was faster than a flash, making it halfway to the ship—about a football field away—faster than I could even choke out another protest.

A blue bolt met him there, sending him sprawling. He crashed into the shrubs and I made an audible gasp. I struggled to stand.

It was a trap, just like I thought.

Though I feared him dead, he burst out with a hiss, his wing casing charred and mangled.

My relief brought clarity. I turned on my cloaking device, though I wasn't sure if I'd already been discovered along with Creature. Then, I picked up my mask off the ground.

Creature dodged another plasma bolt and skittered away.

The shot came from on top of our ship.

He seemed to have realized this, as well. His wings were too beat up, so he charged the ship and started scaling it like a vengeful ant on a mission. I slowly headed toward the commotion with my vision tinted red. The plasma rifle was cradled in my arms.

The enemy stopped firing and, seconds later, made their appearance on the ground just as Creature reached the peak. He spread his arms in a grand gesture and trilled out a wordless taunt toward my companion.

Lockjaw.

I almost made a move, but I suppressed the urge. I needed more info. Mainly, I needed to know if he was alone. If not, I would be putting myself and Creature in more danger by luring them out before we were ready.

"So," Lockjaw said, his tone mocking, "you ran away and left your little master to die? Ran all the way here to get to your friend?"

Good. He thought I was dead.

Creature leaped down from the ship and screeched.

"As you can see, it is too late for him!" Lockjaw howled gleefully, indicating Critter's body.

My companion went on the offense before Lockjaw even finished that sentence. I found my mask and swapped out my respirator so I could scan the area for any signs of life besides the three of us. Heartbeats, vitals, anything. Wolf's biosignature showed up as bright as a torch, but other yautja showed up too—as dim spots in my vision.

They were all old, barely noticeable.

"You and the other one do not know how to act and look where it has gotten you . . . Now I must teach you a lesson, too," Lockjaw sneered.

Creature was pissed and sloppier for it. Lockjaw was dodging and countering his every strike and blow. He was playing around still, though, so I was able to move in a little closer and do one last scan. I let my attention wander from the fight to ensure that there were no lurkers in the trees. So far, there was nothing.

Creature's pained scream snapped me back. He was down, clawing at the ground while Lockjaw stood on his back, holding his legs in a way that made it look like he was trying to twist Creature clean in half.

Fuck it.

If this was a trap, it was time to spring it.

Though Creature was putting up a good fight, the position he was in robbed him of any leverage needed to escape the hold. His shell was cracking like thunder, felt straight through my bones. I moved quickly, but quietly.

I couldn't let him down.

I couldn't fail another one.

Once behind Lockjaw, I deactivated my camouflage. I had pretty good hand-eye coordination, but I wanted to be able to see exactly where I was pointing the business end of the firearm. Being invisible wasn't going to help me there.

And I wanted to be the last thing this asshole saw.

He definitely noticed me. As he was turning around, my finger was pulling the trigger.

"You—"

The sound of my rifle silenced him. Blood splashed across my mask and chest; his mask spun off into the distance. His body hit the ground and the impact bounced around in my skull. I stared coldly down at him, my chest heaving with emotion.

Besides Creature getting up, there was no more movement or sound in the area of the ship. I waited for a few minutes, prepared for someone to jump out and attack, but nothing happened.

There was no one.

Lockjaw had been alone. When I had calmed, I strapped the firearm back on me.

"Are you hurt badly?" I asked Creature.

He did not answer me. He was too busy angrily shoving the corpse around and ripping it up. I couldn't watch, but I didn't stop him, either. I just headed to the ship to deal with Critter.

Unlike Creature, I couldn't just scale the side of the ship. I had to climb up a tree and then drop down onto the top. Though I slipped a bit and almost fell off, I managed to cling on and then scramble up toward the front where Critter was being held by some twine.

"Creature, knock it off and come help me get Critter," I said, feeling hollow.

I thought he'd ignore me again, but he stopped and looked at me, then lashed out at the corpse one last time before coming to me.

"Stand underneath. I will free him."

He stood where I said to and held his arms up.

The twine came free with a simple slice from my hunting dagger. I didn't just drop him, however, as he deserved better treatment than that. I had to lie on my stomach to lower him down—if I squatted or leaned over, I'd probably just fall head-first off of the ship—and then let go when I couldn't go any farther.

When he was safely down on the ground, I made Creature catch me, as well, so I could get off the ship without breaking my neck.

It was hard enough to keep my own features from twisting with grief and anger, but luckily I had a mask to hide behind. With Critter laid out in front of us, I noted even more of him missing—one of his wings had been sliced off, the other tattered and in ribbons after his fight.

After a moment of quiet reflection, I looked at Creature and asked, "Is there a ceremony?"

"Ceremony?" he parroted.

"For your dead. Do you mourn your dead in a specific way?" My voice was quiet. I was afraid that if I spoke any louder, I was going to lose what remained of my composure.

He thought about it for a bit, then sagged and said, "Not born in hive. Do not know."

I looked down at Critter and my heart threatened to snap in half. "I will go get something to cover him. Then, when this is over, we can give him to the stars. How does that sound?"

Creature stared quietly at nothing, mulling over my proposition. Then he said, "Me like."

With that decided, I turned to the ship. I opened up the bay door to a flurry of sparks and I squealed, backing up with my arms covering my face. The door made an unholy screeching noise and lowered in jerks and fits, but it did eventually open all the way with a slam. I kept my arms up protectively for another few seconds, then lowered them and looked over to Creature.

Already, he was examining the panels and the gears in the door. "Broken."

"Okay . . . ?" I said, hoping to prompt him into a better explanation.

However, he didn't give one. He headed up the loading ramp and disappeared into the darkness of the ship. I had enough wherewithal to call, "Stay vigilant! They might be hiding inside."

Creature chittered to let me know he heard.

Shaking my head, I wandered in after him and searched the storage room until I found a tarp that had been covering some supplies. To my utter horror, most of it had been ripped open and emptied, which meant they'd been inside the ship and had taken our shit.

I'd deal with that later. I could only handle one thing at a time and right now, I needed to give Critter some dignity.

I untied the tarp and carried it out to wrap Critter up in it, then did my best to carry him into the ship. Though he was . . . much smaller than he was before, it was still difficult for me. I did my best not to drag him. That meant I had to take a few breaks between, then I gave up entirely and decided to wait for Creature to do it.

When this was all over, I was going to do more weight training.

At one point, the turbines in the engine tried to roar to life, but it lasted only a second before they sputtered out and fell quiet again.

That couldn't be good.

Creature never did come back from his diagnostics. I took that as meaning that there was a lot more wrong with the ship than I thought. I nodded off a little bit while I waited for him, but he did eventually come back out and roused me from my nap with a gentle tap to the top of my head.

Jerking awake, I searched for a threat but only found him standing there.

"Report?" I asked, trying to rub my eyes only to remember I was wearing a damn mask. I decided we probably wouldn't need it for a while, so I swapped it for my respirator.

"Ship no fly," Creature huffed.

"So . . . we are stranded."