Quentin

“I’m never going to be able to get these clean again!” Scarlett cried as she finished the tunnel. She frantically tried to clean the dirt from under her claws as she crawled into the room ahead. Zalex and I followed afterwards as we entered the dark hallway. As we all dusted ourselves off, she complained, “I feel like a dog! Especially when the dirt is sticking to my fur!” She tried to get it out, but some dirt got pretty deep.

While I went to help Scarlett get the dirt out of her fur, Zalex decided to scout out the hallway. After a minute, I realized what I was doing. I looked away and stopped helping her brush off the dust. That was weird. It feels like I was petting her, which is simultaneously demeaning and affectionate. Why can’t I be normal?

“If you two are ready, I think I found the way to the dungeon,” Zalex said as he waved us over. We walked up to him and started following him as he turned several corners. When he finally stopped, we could see an even darker hallway with cobwebs at the entrance. “This is a neglected passageway to the dungeon. There used to be an oubliette down there, but now it’s unused. The section we’re in is an abandoned dungeon due to its distance from the main base,” he explained before pulling out a machete and swiping at the cobwebs.

We followed him through the dark until he reached a door. He placed his SAD against the electronic lock, apparently linking the devices together. He then typed several lines of code into his SAD, causing a happy beep to emanate from the lock. The door swung open, blinding us with light. We ran into the room, stumbling into the wall occasionally due to being temporarily blinded.

As we regained our sight, I could see that the dungeon was nicer than I expected. Unlike the pseudo-medieval dungeon back at the tunnel, this room was obviously from the space age with electronic cells with clear walls that allowed full vision of the prisoners. I looked at the cells and immediately recoiled in fear.

The creature was large. As in, if it was stretched out to its full length, it would be thirty feet long. The creature looked like a snake, having a long and round body covered in red and black scales. Its underside was covered in cream-colored scales. Further up its body was four arms. However, the most terrifying part was the two heads that the creature had. They were snake heads with long fangs that dripped venom. Both heads had their beady black eyes staring at me. “Hi?” I hesitantly said as I looked for a way to run if things went south.

“Isn’t this an interesting sight?” one of the heads asked in a serpentine yet feminine voice. The voice was kind of sultry, which was a term I never wanted to use again to describe a creepy alien. She looked at me and flicked her tongue. “Human.” She looked at Scarlett and said, “Some kind of vulpine.” She finally turned to Zalex and said, “Prey.”

“Prey? I’m not the one locked up like a monster!” Zalex shouted as he jabbed a finger against the glass walls. The snake creature’s heads hissed back.

“Calm down, sis! He’s not the target, so he’s cool!” the other head said in a laidback voice that was also feminine. It was then that I realized that the snake creature wasn’t a singular she, the snake was a they. Two snakes sharing a single body. Clearly conjoined twins. I knew such a thing was more common in reptiles than mammals, but one head killed the other in most cases. Granted, being sapient probably destroyed that tendency.

“Nobody asked you, Sheshna!” the sultry head shouted to the laidback one.

“We’re not animals just because we kill for a living, Aseshi!” Sheshna replied as she looked at me, Scarlett, and Zalex with pity. The fox-woman’s ears pinned against her head as her tail fled between her legs. I knew she had to be struggling with what she’d become. Even though she never acted animalistic, there was always the visual reminder that she looked somewhat like a fox.

“Perhaps we could arrange a deal,” I offered as I stood in front of Scarlett to hide her embarrassment. “We’ll release you, and in exchange, you must agree to leave us alone for the next three days!”

“We can eat you after three days?” Areshni, or whatever her name was, asked with audible glee. Not that anyone could tell if it was visible by looking at her considering her expressions were utterly alien.

After a brief moment of shock, I replied with a serious face, “Yes.”

“Sounds good,” Asechi replied. Zalex slowly walked up to the cell door and attached his SAD to it. As he typed on his console, I looked around for some way to sneak further into the fortress. As it was, Scarlett and I could barely stand up without hitting our heads against the ceiling. There were air ducts, but only Zalex could hope to fit in them. It seemed that those of us that weren’t short would have to find our own way out.

The door to the snakes’ cell slid open with a beep. They nodded at us before squeezing into the vent. Despite being larger than me, they managed to fit and slither away quickly. Scarlet flinched after a while, her ears twitching towards the vents. “Good thing we have three days until we’re on their menu,” she muttered as she started walking back towards the tunnel.

I looked at Zalex and instructed, “I need you to go through the vents to reach the Lazzal Family Chronicles. Once you get it, meet us at the rocky outcropping. We’ll communicate through our SADs, got it?” He gave me a thumbs up, or at least what I could assume was one.

“Understood,” he replied before hopping into the vents. I pulled up the map of the fortress that Zalex shared. While it had no specific rooms labeled, I could still make assumptions based on the blueprints.

In particular, the blueprints showed that the dungeon and armory were directly next to each other. There was no door between the two rooms, which would normally indicate that the rooms weren’t connected. However, I felt like investigating the wall between them as something seemed off about it. I walked up to it and tapped on it. It was solid. I saw that the bricks were aligned oddly. While the rest of the wall had an alternating brick pattern, this section had a straight line cut through in the shape of a door. It meant they either filled in what used to be a door, or it was meant to stand out. Seeing a semicircle carved into the ground, the latter made more sense.

If I had to guess, it was a secret passage to get between the two rooms. Since the armory and barracks were adjacent, this must’ve been to allow guards to quickly react to prison escapes. There was a torch near my waist level. I crouched down and pulled the torch. With a slight rumble, the floor revolved. When the movement stopped, I knew I was now in the armory.

Stolen novel; please report.

I quickly scoured the room for anything useful. There were several guns, melee weapons, shields, and armor. I didn’t need those. However, I took interest in the explosives. I had a very specific use for them. I stuffed them into my backpack before reactivating the secret passage back to the dungeon.

I made my way back to the tunnel that Scarlett dug. As I walked through the empty hall, I radioed her, “Ready to return. Zalex is still in the base.”

“Roger that. I managed to get us a way out. Be warned, only Zalex would be able to fit comfortably in it,” she replied. It seemed to be going smoothly. Too smoothly. I could only hope that our Sorlok acquaintance didn’t steal our motorcycles.

As I finished crawling out of the tunnel, I was bombarded with headlights. I froze in abject terror as my life flashed before my eyes. That was until I heard a familiar voice laughing. It was the mezzo-soprano voice of the one and only Scarlett. “How do you like my ride?” she asked as she got out of the pickup truck she was driving. She hit her head against the roof of the car, making her wince. “Now if only it wasn’t so short,” she complained as she rubbed her head.

“I got the Chronicles! Now if you could put my motorcycle against the walls, that’ll be great!” Zalex shouted into the radio as we heard running on the other side. I was able to deduce that he managed to trigger some kind of alarm. As if on cue, alarms blared from the fortress.

“Scarlett, drive the pickup up to the walls. Once there, I’ll hide in the trunk with my rifle while you ride your motorcycle in front of us. That way, you’ll be able to stay out of my range while I act as a turret,” I said as I pulled out my laser rifle and activated my armor. The fox-woman nodded as she got back in the truck. I loaded both Zalex’s and my motorcycles on the truck before climbing into the back. Since there was no one attacking us, I pulled a tarp over myself to hide.

As soon as Scarlett got the truck against the walls, I could see Zalex running along it, followed by several guards firing their guns at him. In record time, he managed to jump onto the hood of the truck before swinging in. As Scarlett grabbed her motorcycle, Zalex slammed his foot on the gas pedal and shot off onto the desert highway. I watched as our friend raced as fast as she could to get ahead of us.

Once she was in front of us, I heard several bullets impact the truck. I pulled out my laser rifle and mounted it on the tailgate. As I saw headlights head towards us, I unleashed all the lasers I could upon the opponents. What no one told you was that it was ridiculously difficult to hit something at night. Even the greatest marksmen would have issues. And this was certainly no exception.

Eventually, I managed to land a hit. I watched as the impact sent a Sorlok flying onto the highway as his motorcycle flew onto the sand. Just like our way to the fortress, the ground began to rumble. Unlike last time, we kept driving. It confirmed a theory of mines, which made the explosives a great idea. Until the time came, I kept firing into the crowd.

Ahead of the truck, Scarlett watched as a motorcyclist drove up to her. As the Derxi thug attempted to ram into her, she kicked him with as much force as she could muster. Her kick combined with the speed they were traveling sent the Sorlok flying and his motorcycle tumbling backwards into the crowd. Two headlight changed positions, telling of what happened to their riders.

I kept firing into the crowd until I heard a low beeping sound. I looked down and saw the screen of my laser rifle showing an X-ed out battery. “Dang!” I complained as I placed my laser rifle down and pulled out my pistol. I tried to fire my pistol, but a well-aimed gunshot managed to hit one of the armor’s weak points. A searing pain shot through my arm as my pistol flew into the cab of the truck. I grabbed my right arm as blood started to ooze from it. It wasn’t a fatal wound, but it was painful.

The enemy horde started approaching us, firing a barrage of bullets into the truck. Though none hit Zalex, several hit my armor. However, it bought me time. As they encountered no resistance, they drove closer to the truck. Once they were close and crowded enough, I pulled out one of the explosives. I tossed it into the crowd and blew it up before it hit the ground. Blood splashed all over the road as several Sorloks were blown to bits. Those who weren’t were flung onto the sand, triggering another skulker attack. I tossed as many explosives as I could onto the sand.

The skulker must’ve been blind and sensed things through vibrations. It immediately switched course from the Sorloks to swallow the explosives. It shot out of the ground and swallowed the explosives before landing onto the highway. I pressed the linked remote as the high explosives went off. The creature roared in pain as its body began to bloat. Before it could locate an attacker, it blew up. Green blood coated the highway for miles to come, coating the truck and even Scarlett. When the explosions ended, there was nothing left of it. As if the explosions were powerful enough that it erased the existence of such a creature.

“Why didn’t you tell me we had explosives? I would’ve taken over back there if I knew I could use those!” Zalex complained as he looked back.

“Would you liked to be soaked in worm blood?” I asked as I tried to wipe the blood off. I was lucky that it wasn’t poisonous, or I would be in trouble.

“I wouldn’t care for it, but I would put up with it if I was able to blow up a skulker into smithereens! I absolutely hate those things!” Zalex shouted back as he looked back at the road. “At least we dealt with the Derxi thugs.”

As we reached Kazz, we heard the radio beep as Gruma’s voice came on. “Zalex, we have to inform you of something. It’s…” Gruma said into the other side. Her hesitation was odd since she was always confident when she spoke. After a few seconds of deep breathing, she continued, “It’s your father. He’s dead.” For a second, I thought I heard the reptilian sob. It quickly disappeared as he shook his head.

“Good riddance,” he replied. “He was always a heartless monster. He ordered the execution of several good Sorloks and tried to make me a hitman. I refused. I have no hesitation in killing enemies, but they have to have a chance. I’ll lie and steal, but I’ll never commit cold-blooded murder. He would.”

Scarlett slowed down her motorcycle until it was traveling at the side of Zalex’s car. She took a deep breath before saying, “Zalex, I know what it’s like to lose everyone you love. They may not be physically dead, but they may as well be considering I’ll never be able to see them again. It took me months to recover from that when I was changed. Take all the time you need. We’ll try to help you any way we can.” Tears started forming in her eyes, making her look away.

“We’re heading off Daraxes immediately! There’s no time to mourn a killer!” Zalex shouted as he drove straight to the hanger. As we approached our ship, I opened it up as I limped inside. I watched as everyone else, including Gruma and Harry, walked into the spaceship. They were loading our bikes as I entered the medical bay.

I sat down on the bed and watched as I was strapped in by the RNU. As it tended to me, all I could think about was that we went through a lot of work for nothing. All for nothing. If we were a day late, we would’ve avoided this mission. Now all we have is a book and blood on our hands.

After much rocking from the ship blasting into space, Zalex walked into the medical bay holding the Lazzal Family Chronicles in his hands. He looked at me and explained, “Though you may believe that the journey was pointless, Harry gave me the rundown. It was great that we landed here when we did. If we didn’t, a darker future would’ve awaited Daraxes.”

“Really?” I asked as I couldn’t see how anything we did was impactful.

“When my father took Gruma and Harry for a mission, it was to act as his bodyguards. My father made a deal with a general who immediately betrayed him. The general was going to make herself a dictator, but Harry killed her. If we didn’t show up when we did, a cruel dictator would’ve ruled the planet. No one would’ve benefitted,” Zalex said before opening the book and reading.

At least I now had some guilt removed from me, but there was still the fact I killed several people. Some may claim that I had self-defense on my side since they shot at me first, but we broke into their fortress and stole from them. But then I realized that we had no choice. It was either breaking in and stealing, or us being killed. In that regard, our actions weren’t good, but they were justifiable. Though I wished to never be in a situation like that again.