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Chapter 28: Panthers, Tuskers, and Knees

Chapter 28: Panthers, Tuskers, and Knees

When: Between then and now.

Where: Between here and there.

Who: Theresa ‘Tess’ Armstrong.

I could care less about the nudity. At first, I was too scared to care, and now it is such a minor condition far outweighed by other concerns. I didn’t even notice the furtive looks I got from the boys at this point. Steve’s glances were possessive, making it hard for me not to both feel desired and irked at the same time. Book was much more subtle, but he still looked when he thought I wouldn’t notice. Awkward the first couple of times, but whatever.

I looked good.

I just hope it won’t fuel Book’s infatuation too much. I’ve always known he had a thing for me, ever since Honor’s English when we were freshmen at Woodland Park High School. Go Panthers! We shared all of the Honor’s classes, on track for college. He’d tried to ask me out once, but he was so nervous I could hardly understand him. He was a nice enough guy, nothing wrong with him, just not one of my usual crowd. I didn’t exactly ghost him after that, just being lightly social but nothing more. Neither of us ever brought it up.

It was no surprise when we ran into each other during orientation at the University of Colorado. He looked so lonely and lost that I felt sorry for him. I knew he was too shy to come and talk with me, so I went to him, and over the next few years, we turned into great friends. I didn’t begrudge him a casual fantasy or two.

Now, we were naked and confined together, surrounded by my boyfriend, Steve, our good friend, Carmen, and the last conquest they’d picked up (no longer). Not to mention the ugly, green brutes Book had instantly labeled Orcs. He was a fantasy nerd, and I could kill him for getting Steve into anime. The outfits he wanted me to wear now were cringe. No, thank you. Except for one or three times.

A green blip in my vision pulled me back to the present. The computer that the Orcs had implanted in all of us—poor Bitsy, what a way to go!—had done some weird stuff to those of us still breathing. I could see any presence within a certain radius, blipping dots floating in my vision. I tracked the motion, careful not to turn my head. I was pretty sure the fucking Tuskers didn’t know I could do this. The bastards didn’t seem to have a great handle on what they’d done to us. I planned to use it to kick their hairy, green asses!

I didn’t turn around until I heard footsteps stop behind me, and a shadow fell over me. Who was it going to be, this time? They came to take us, one at a time, at random intervals.

It was my turn. The faint hum of the force field locking me in faded. The difference was barely noticeable, with all of the other fields holding my friends still active, but I had been waiting for this. So I stood and uncrossed my arms. Yeah, take a good look, fugly. I’ve seen the tits on the female orcs, not to mention the brazen stares of the male hogs. All women knew when they were being objectified and could feel the prickles on their skin from a lustful gaze. I arched my shoulders back ever so slightly, not being obvious enough to put the creature on alert.

Come on in, I’m just a weakly, scared female. I couldn’t possibly harm you.

He paced closer, eyes roving my body. It made me want to puke. Then he got one step too close.

My foot lashed out in a flat-footed front kick, my callous hardened heel taking the brute between the legs. The look on its face was beautiful, its eyes popping out and looking like over-filled water balloons. The oversized green hand clutched its crotch, doubling over with a high-pitched grunt. I just knew they’d be built like any other male, regardless of species. The girls had boobs, so the guy had to have balls! Strike one!

Two, if they were built like my buddies.

I grabbed the uglies bat-ears, pulling down with its sudden hunch, and slammed my knee in its teeth. Ouch, dammit! I’d forgotten the fucking tusks, one of them slicing through the skin of my knee. I felt the scrape along my kneecap, worse than Freddy Kruger's knife fingers on a chalkboard. I think I hurt myself more than him, blood leaking down my shin and slicking the floor.

Use it, I heard my martial arts instructor say in my head. So I quick-stepped out of the growing pool of blood, then snatched the silver jumpsuit and leveraged with everything I had, putting more into it than I could imagine. Thanks for boosting my muscles with your macabre experiments, asshole!

When the giant, jack-booted foot hit my red-blooded blood it slid through it like goose shit on ice. I used the momentum to spin out of the way and let go of the suit, and the Orc careened into the back wall of my cell, its neck snapping with a crack! I could hear. It lay in a jumble of slack limbs, head cranked at an impossible angle. Strike three, motherfucker!

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I quickly looked over the corpse, grabbing the tablet pinned to its belt. No ray-gun though, they were smart enough not to bring them into the cells holding us. Too bad their looks didn’t match their brains.

Book thought they were watching us on hidden cameras, and of course, they were. No time to wait around, I sprinted out to the hall, one hand clutched to my chest so I didn't bounce. Poor Betsy would have given herself two black eyes.

I went to Book’s cell first. It was crap luck that Steve had been split off into his own cell, so I didn’t get a two-for-one. It had been Book’s job to study the technology, so he’d be the best bet to figure out the cell controls on the tab. Steve was supposed to have my job, but the big lunk had gone for a head-on tackle when the chance was his. He was a linebacker, big and over-muscled—just the way I like him—but Steve didn’t have near the mass to take down one of these monsters one-on-one. It was my training in jujitsu that won the day, using an opponent’s size against them. Never trust a man to do a woman’s job.

I also got lucky. And we were no way near a win, just the opening moves.

“Tess,” Book called to me. I also heard Steve bellowing my name, but I had no time!

I stopped short of the field holding my best friend and spun the stolen tablet so he could see it. He made some tracing motions with his finger, muttering under his breath, using the ability to read the Orc's language we all now had.

“OK…OK..yeah, that one. Tess, hit the folder icon under security, there should be a list with cell numbers. Double-tap and it will unlock that cell.”

I turned the slate back so I could see it, then frantically scanned the cell openings for markings. Three dashes and a dot were etched into the sill above Book’s, so I found it on the list and double-tapped like he said. The entry on the list blinked three times, then grayed out. When the shield dropped, Book burst out and hugged me tight, the cold material of the tablet crushed between our skin. I gave him an impulsive peck on the lips—why do guys always misinterpret that?—and we ran to stand between Steve and Carmen’s opposing cells. I found the number on Steve’s, disabled it, and then spun on a heel to let Carmen out. The blood still gushing down my leg was my literal downfall, and I smacked my ass on the floor.

It saved my life, as a bolt of green energy passed over my head and singed off some of the unruly mess I called hair. Before I could think to move again, Steve’s large form barreled low past me. That’s right, babe! Go for the knees!

I couldn’t lose focus, not now. I set Carmen free while still on my knees in a pool of my own blood. I heard shouts from the hall where Steve was sprawled against one wall, and Book was dangling in the air from the new orc's hand. Book was leaner than I had ever seen him, all his trademark flab gone, from the gene engineering and starvation diet to keep us weakened. Even so, he was no match. He was clinging to the weapon in this Orc’s grip, his upper body wrapped around the ray-gun as he clutched it to his chest. Thankfully the barrel way pointed away—at me!

Carmen shoved me, and the blast passed between us and splashed against the wall at the far end of the hallway. No way that went unnoticed. Carmen and I had the same idea, and we sprinted the length separating us and the still dangling Book. That shot had to have at least scorched him, but he was still in the game. I could see pain etched across his face. He couldn’t hold on much longer. We slammed low into the side of the Tusker, our combined barely enough to move the brute.

Book went flying and bounced off the wall before slumping, the ray-gun nowhere in sight.

“FUCK!,” I screamed.

The Orc didn’t even look at me, instead stepping over to Book and raising his leg. The massive foot was starting to descend towards Book’s throat when a shadow reared up behind it. Steve put all of the strength and weight a top collegiate, scholarship-winning, and workout-obsessed linebacker could muster, aided with artificial enhancements, behind the butt of an alien laser gun with a twisted barrel on the base of the green asshole’s skull. The gun blew apart in Steve’s double-handed grip, pieces flying like shrapnel, and the Orc grunted.

“Oh, shit!” Steve yelled, wide-eyed. The massive hulk slowly lowered its foot and turned to face him. “I’m dead.” He said with an eerie calm, accepting his demise.

“No!” The scream tore my throat, but it didn’t matter.

The Orc went down like a puppet with cut strings.

The four of us struggled to our feet, clinging to each other in a human jungle gym. We checked over one another, looking for any serious injuries. Outside of bruises and scrapes—and my torn knee—we were in remarkably good condition. Book’s neck was bleeding from where it looked like the Tusker had tried to gore him. The blood was starting to clot and not gushing, so he was OK.

“Phase two, bitches,” I said, grinning like a mad woman. We took off in opposite directions, a pair going each way, doubling our chances at escape. Book thought he knew a way to get us off the ship and down to the planet we’d all witnessed below at one time or another as we’d been dragged along the corridors. Book had flipped at the idea of windows on a spaceship, I had no idea why.

I saw him following me instead of Steve, who was supposed to, according to my plan. But even the best-laid plans got fucked. As long as Steve was with Carmen, it didn’t matter. I followed the directions down the maze of hallways, doing my best to remember how Book had described them. Now, as long I don’t make a wrong turn, the four of us should meet up in what Book called the transporter room.

Taking the next left turn I came to, I heard Book call out to me from behind.

“Tess, wait! That’s the trash compactor room. We need to go right. Right!”

Please, Book. For the spilled blood of Christ, DO NOT make a Star Wars joke right now!

He led the way, after getting stalled for a second as he slipped in some blood.

I followed.