Yulik was busy sifting through the contents of the passengers’ P.D.As. Most of it was personal and useless, but he felt it was best to know more than less. He was looking for anything he might use for blackmail or something to squeeze in case anyone gave him any trouble.

Sadly everyone on the cruise ship had been a goody-two-shoes. “Where’s the human’s P.D.A?” he asked himself, sifting through the pile of electronics.

Then he remembered Surt had taken it. He had not given it much thought at the time, but why had she wanted it? Yulik scratched his chin; he needed it, or rather wanted it, he doubted it would contain much of use, but it was a guilty pleasure of his, sifting through someone's personal information.

“Wait, I ordered Surt to guard the human; why the pure red did she come here asking for a P.D.A?” Thought Yulik, as a knot began to form in his gut.

He threw the P.D.A. he was holding and made straight for the holding area. Every pirate between him and his destination wisely dispersed.

As he emerged into the clearing, he saw Surt lying unconscious on the floor, right where the human had been restrained. Yulik inspected the ground and found her bonds cut cleanly; he also found a few smatterings of red blood on the cord.

Yulik checked Surt’s hands and found no blood on them, which led him to conclude that the woman had freed herself. Yulik cursed his shortsightedness; he should have checked her personally for tools.

As his crew gathered, he checked to see if Surt was still breathing. The spiricles on her side were still pulsating, which was all he knew about her species morphology, so he supposed she was alright.

Yulik had more important things to worry about now; he kept his laser rifle close at hand and his finger on the trigger. Despite what Yulik had hoped, the human had not been stupid enough to remain in sight and had vanished into the forest.

His first thought was the human had bolted and left the others to their fate, but that was unlikely; she had already spent so much effort and time keeping them alive, nearly exhausting herself to death. If what the doctor had told her was the truth, however.

Speculation was meaningless; however, they were dozens of eyewitnesses. Yulik approached one of them and asked, “What happened?”

He got no response, the person just sat there shaking, trying their hardest to retreat into their shell, but the rope prevented it. Yulik made a mental note to check the quality of that rope, it was lashed together from leaves, and he was not confident in its ability to hold, not after what had happened with the human.

“What do you think happened?” a young Nimuteru asked.

Yulik gazed snapped onto the boy who, to his credit, did not flinch. Two other Nimuteru, who Yulik supposed were the boy's parents, tried to silence him, but it was too late; he had found a talker, which was good enough for Yulik.

“What’s your name, lad?” asked Yulik.

“Tazil,” the boy replied; once again, Yulik was impressed; the boy's voice betrayed not a hint of fear as though the young man thought he was above it all.

Yulik knelt though; in truth, the boy was much larger than him; it put Yulik below his eye line.

“What happened?” asked Yulik, his voice calm and focused.

“You left a Surt, a Surt, to guard a human. What do you think happened?” replied Tazil.

Yulik felt a flash of anger, but he suppressed it. “I admit it was an oversight on my part; however, now that I have admitted my mistake, perhaps you could give me the play-by-play”, stated Yulik.

“Madeline tricked Surt into getting her P.D.A., not sure what she said exactly, but it worked, cut her bonds, knocked her out and then ran into the forest”, stated Tazil matter of factly.

“Anything else happen?” asked Yulik.

“Nothing that I saw,” replied Tazil.

Yulik made a hissing sound, which was the Ponut’kild equivalent of raising their eyebrows.

“I’m a habitableworlder; my eyes aren’t as good as yours”, retorted Tazil, knowing full well what his body language meant.

Yulik was going to respond when a voice called out, “He’s right, you know, Tazil knows nothing else.”

“Where are you?” demanded Yulik; he could hear the human but not see or smell her.

“Somewhere, I can see and hear you,” Madeline replied.

A cryptic response, but Yulik could put the pieces together; scanning his surroundings, Yulik located a P.D.A. propped up against a rock. He approached, knelt and stared directly into the camera.

“Poo, I had this whole speech and back and forth planned, but you just had to go and ruin it,” said Madeline.

Yulik believed her when she said she had planned a little conversation, but he also knew this setback was purely aesthetic; the confidence in the human’s voice was unmistakable.

“What is the rest of your plan?” asked Yulik, genuinely curious as to where this was all going.

“It's rather simple; you are going to chase me,” stated Madeline.

“You want us to hunt you?” asked Yulik, who had not expected that.

“No, YOU are going to CHASE me!” reiterated Madeline.

“You really believe that I would leave the safety of the group to play hide and seek?” asked Yulik dumbfounded at this; he would have to be a complete and utter moron to do that.

“I do”, stated Madeline, with smug self-assurance.

“And why is that?” inquired Yulik.

There was a brief pause, and Yulik imagined that the human was flaring or whatever they did to express amusement. “Because if you don’t, I’ll pick off your crew one by one”, explained Madeline.

“My crew are armed”, pointed out Yulik, gesturing to one of them.

“They are sluggish, and they can’t see in the dark”, explained Madeline.

“So that’s your plan; either I hunt you, or you hunt us?” asked Yulik, though it was more rhetorical than anything else.

“You know something? I don’t think you have it in you to kill us,” said Yulik; he did not know much about this woman, but it was a safe bet that she would find the prospect of killing someone horrifying.

“That's the best part, I don’t have to, a small scrape here, remove their respirators, contaminate your food, and the planet will kill them for me”, replied Madeline.

“No, you will surrender, or we will start killing hostages,” stated Yulik, sending his ultimatum.

He got no response at first, and Yulik felt like he had won until the P.D.A. started to make a grating sound; at first, he thought it was malfunctioning and that the woman had not received his threat, but then he realised what it was. He had seen the clip when he was just a boy, heard the recording from xenopothogly class, the human was laughing at him.

Why was she laughing? Yulik could not understand it.

“What’s so funny?” demanded Yulik, trying his hardest not to shout; he needed to remain calm.

“Hard to put it in words, maybe I’m just desperate for a laugh, but if I had to put my finger on it, I would say you,” replied Madeline.

Yulik nearly smashed the P.D.A.; the little line that moved every time she spoke seemed to taunt him.

“You know you can’t kill them, not just because you need as many hostages as possible, but mostly because if any of them get hurt, I will kill every last one of you”, explained Madeline.

“So Yulik, you see, you need to play by my rules,” she stated.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Madeline went quiet, and Yulik was left alone with his thoughts. He did not have long, however, as Madeline spoke once more, “if you’re having trouble deciding, there is one more thing you should know.”

“What?” demanded Yulik.

“Come closer to the speaker; let me whisper it in your ear,” replied Madeline.

Yulik hesitated, was the P.D.A. boobytrapped, was this her actual plan to kill him with an I.E.D?

No, that was impossible; there was no way she would know how to do that; she was a civilian, not some hardened terrorist.

Yulik took the bait, knelt next to the P.D.A., and Madeline began to speak. “Your whole plan hinges on you taking down a squad of marines. Do you think your crew will believe you can pull it off if you can’t take me out?” she explained, the schadenfreude emanating from every syllable.

She was right; void damn her, she was right.

He had hinged his entire leadership on his physical ability; without that, he would not maintain control. There was still one thing that he did not understand.

“Let’s say you win; you kill me; what do you plan on doing about my crew? Your friends will still be hostages,” asked Yulik.

“Well, I’m kind of winging that one, to be honest,” replied Madeline.

Yulik was not sure what winging it meant, but he could probably guess.

“So when do we begin this little chase of yours?” asked Yulik.

“Stand up, look at two o’clock”, stated Madeline.

He did so and stared into the trees, he could not see anything at first, but as we warmed to his task, he could make out colours that did not belong: golden hair and brightly coloured clothes.

“I see you,” said Yulik.

“Catch me if you can,” said Madeline with a smirk.

***

Madeline landed in a puddle; mud coated her shoes and trouser legs. At any other time, she would have been frustrated by this turn of events; as it was, she was rather glad the cool mud did much to relieve the heat building in her body.

Not that she had much time to think about it, as a tree's bark boiled and shattered over her head. The splinters hurt, but they were not strong enough to pierce her skin.

She wondered what on Earth, or rather DW-4, had possessed her to go through with this. Not that she could do anything about it, she had made her bed, and now Madeline needed to lie in it.

Her heart beat furiously in her chest, and she tried hard to keep her breathing under control. Madeline’s only solace was knowing that Yulik was struggling even more.

Ponut’kild were good at sprinting, but over prolonged chases, they suffered greatly. Madeline also had the advantage of being in a forest, which meant that Yulik could not properly use his legs; the trees and gloom also affected his aim.

Madeline heard Yulik roar from behind, which usually meant that he was spent, and Madeline cautiously slowed her pace. She could not leave him behind; he could just double back and ignore her if she did that.

She also needed to be wary; more than once during their five-hour chase, Yulik had used this as a ploy to lure her in close. Using the trees, rock and foliage as cover, she carefully backtracked.

Up ahead, she could make out Yulik, propped up against a tree. This was no trick; he truly did have nothing left for the moment. Madeline did consider attacking him now, but there was still the problem of his gun, it would only take one good round to take her down, and despite everything going against him, Yulik was an excellent shot.

As the reptilomorph regained their strength, Madeline took the opportunity to do the same and check her P.D.A. She was still headed in the right direction.

“I know you’re there,” Yulik stated through panting breaths.

“I know you do; that’s the point,” retorted Madeline, making sure the trees protected her; she did not think that Yulik was above taking a cheap shot.

“Is this you’re plan, keep running till I die from exhaustion?” asked Yulik.

“It might be,” Madeline answered, using her P.D.A.’s camera to inspect Yulik; he was still there and barely moved an inch.

“Not very honourable of you,” stated Yulik.

“That might have hurt if you had not been the one to say it,” replied Madeline, a slight chuckle in her throat.

“Fair enough,” said Yulik, chuckling as well; for a brief moment, he forgot he was trying to kill this woman. Or was he? Yulik was not sure what he was going to do when he finally caught her.

Madeline had nothing more to say and crept away from Yulik, putting as much distance between herself and the Ponut’kild as she dared.

***

Eight hours, eight hours of this and Madeline had already come close to death once; her arm had been grazed by a laser shot, leaving a red mark similar to a sunburn running the width of her forearm. It was already beginning to blister.

It might have taken her arm off if it had been just a few centimetres closer to the centre. It stung, really stung, but there was nothing she could do, so Madeline ignored it.

Madeline stumbled but managed to stay on her feet. “JUST LIE DOWN AND DIE!” Yulik cried from behind her; the constant running had stressed him to potentially fatal levels. Ponut’kild were just not meant to travel this fast for this great a distance.

He was no longer thinking straight, his brain entering a prolonged rage state, with only one thought on his mind. Kill the human.

Yulik fired wildly into the forest, burning and splintering trees while boiling the large pools of water that were becoming more frequent as their chase went further into the woods.

Madeline had made it; she was back at the swamp, and now all she needed to do was find it.

As they began to wade through the waist-high water, both of their momenta slowed, but Madeline still had the advantage, even more so now that the water was cooling her skin.

Yulik was still panting heavily, though; he lacked the vast concentration of capillaries near the skin’s surface needed to make effective use of all this water.

Eventually, Madeline realised it would be far more efficient to swim. She dove beneath the surface; Madeline was not as fast as she would like; her shoes and clothes weighed her down. Not that there was anything she could do about it, any pause right now would lead to her death.

Yulik saw this and growled, he fired into the water, but the liquid diffused most of the energy; even if he hit her, it would only do minimal damage. Yulik did not care, though.

Shot after shot rained down upon Madeline, and the law of averages began to work against her. She felt a laser round hit her leg; it was similar to a bee sting but far hotter, though she noted that it was less painful than the shot that hit her arm.

Madeline took this to be a good sign and continued to swim.

Yulik snarled and let his gun fall, it came to rest against his hip, and he also began to swim. This was getting dangerous now; he was pushing his body far too hard, and even if he managed to catch Madeline, he might die from exhaustion.

However, the Ponut’kild pushed on, even as every muscle in his body screamed and begged him to stop.

Despite his physical condition, Yulik did have an advantage over Madeline. His species had evolved from an amphibious reptilian ancestor. He utilised these vestigial traits, extra webbing between the fingers and toes, and his more streamlined morphology to close the distance steadily.

Despite her urge to look back, Madeline kept her eyes squarely focused ahead, she did not know about the advantage Yulik had, but she knew that looking back would ruin the little hydro-dynamism she had.

Yulik was gaining, and after just a few minutes, he was in striking distance; he reached for Madeline and grabbed her ankle. Her response was swift, and she began to kick his face. Her blows were comparatively weak, but they were still enough to knock out a couple of his teeth.

He pushed through the pain and grabbed her with his other hand, his claw sinking deep into her calf. Madeline screamed and stopped trying to escape; her brain shifted from flight to fight, and she turned to launch a punch at Yulik.

He did his best to get away, but her attack connected, and Madeline knocked the wind out of him.

Yulik was forced to let go, and he gasped for air while Madeline made her way to the nearby mud bank.

Madeline crawled over the mud and tried to stand; it hurt, but she could push through the pain. Yet as she got to her feet, she felt another hot bee string just above her hip, and she collapsed once more.

Rolling onto her back, Madeline felt a new flush of pain from her laser burn; the mud had done much to absorb the blow, but she was no doubt developing a terrible burn underneath.

Madeline looked up, and Yulik towered above her; only his lower ankles and feet were hidden beneath the water.

Yulik had caught her, and at this moment, when he had finally won and proved that he could take down a human, Yulik took a moment to gloat.

“I DID IT! I BEAT YOU!” he screamed, stomping around in the mud and water like a child.

Madeline just stared, her eye not focusing on Yulik.

“Everyone always underestimates me, thinks I'm just another soft, pampered baby like them, and look what I did”, he crowed.

Madeline’s eyes shifted to Yulik’s face, and she said, “Yes, well done, you beat a waitress,” each word she uttered was followed by the stamp of her leg, empathising each one, and causing large splashes in the water.

“You will not take this from me, you are the most deadly sapient race in the galaxy, and I beat you,” he stated, poison spewing from each syllable.

At this point, Yulik noticed that her attention was not truly on him; it was on somewhere behind him.

This was a trick, an old one every fighter knew: distract your opponent and take advantage of it.

Still, as Yulik examined her, he realised that she was in no position to take advantage of it; by the time he looked and turned back, Madeline would only just be struggling to her feet.

Was she that desperate, just for a few more seconds of life? Yulik did not doubt that he would most likely do the same if their positions were reversed.

Madeline struck the water once more, “are you getting distracted?” she asked flatly.

Once again, Yulik could not help but realise that the human’s attention was elsewhere. Despite every sensible bone in his body telling him it was stupid, Yulik could not help but look behind him.

There was nothing, just a swamp, trees, water, debris and a log floating in the stagnant liquid, algae caking its surface—everything you would expect.

As Yulik looked back towards Madeline, he found she had not moved; he had been right; she was in no position to attack. So what the hell was she doing?

Yulik felt something bump up against his leg; Madeline had not moved; her attention was now solely on him. There was also a look on her face that could only be described as amusement.

Yulik spun around to look again; that was all the confirmation it needed.

Teeth sunk deep into the flesh of Yulik’s leg, tearing his muscles and puncturing the bone.

Yulik let out a scream of agony as the krousticl flung him into the water like a ragdoll. As he hit the water, he tried desperately to claw at the animal’s face, but it was futile; the krousticl’s scales were just too thick, and what minor damage he was able to do only drew the most meagre amount of blood.

The predator threw Yulik again, and even over the screams, Madaline could hear his flesh being torn and his bones cracking under the force.

Despite everything that had happened, Madeline could not watch and prayed that the pirates suffering would not last long.

Yulik let out one last roar of agony before he was dragged under the water, and the swamp fell silent.

Madeline did not like the silence; it was disquieting after everything that had just happened.

She could not stay on the mudbank, other krousticl would be drawn by the noise, and she was in no position to resist.

Using the last of her will and strength, Madeline hauled herself out of the mud and trudged to the nearest tree. Slowly she began to scale its trunk, climbing higher and higher.

As she reached five or so metres off the ground, she discovered a nook in the trunk, one that could easily fit her.

“A little luck at last,” she slurred and slumped inside the opening.

It was muddy and uncomfortable, but at least it was safe.

As she felt her consciousness slip, Madeline said, “I should probably take off…” and said no more.