Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

Margot woke tucked away in her hastily sourced hiding place with a start, twigs and leaves stuck to her face.

It was still daylight, and relatively early from what she could tell. Of course, there was no way to know how long a day on this planet might be, but the feel of the air and brightness of the sky she managed to see through the thick canopy of leaves and branches told her it was nowhere near nightfall. Or so it seemed.

I actually nodded off , she marveled, wondering just how badly she'd actually hit her head during the crash if she was able to nap in the middle of a high-tension situation like this. Of course, she'd been forced to lie still a long time, but how long was anyone's guess.

The sounds of the forest had returned to normal while she slept, she noted. It was funny, but when she'd heard the beast's terrifying roar, that had captured all of her attention. Only when she had lay down to hide did she truly realize that not just some, but all of the ambient chirps and rustlings of wildlife had ceased entirely at once, as if every last living thing in the area was holding its breath, fearing for its life.

But now? Now the buzzing of nature was back in full force. It was that more than anything that put her at ease, an ancient part of her brain operating on pure instinct, just as her ancestors had, telling her that this was as safe as it was going to get.

With the greatest of care, she pushed her way out of her hiding spot. She was dirty but not sweaty at least. That was good. Sweat would give away her scent, while dirt would block it. Of course, if things went her way for a change, none of that would matter and she would make it out of this area without any further incidents. She almost laughed at the thought. Further incidents? She'd been abducted by aliens and nearly devoured by a monster, for crying out loud.

Which way? she wondered, stifling her gallows humor laugh. I guess that way?

It was as much a question as it was a statement.

Margot walked slower now, extra careful as she moved through the forest, making sure to stick to the clearer spaces and firm footing. There were no trails out here, no pathways. Just a few somewhat open areas where animals passed. If they were good enough for them, they were good enough for her. And, so far as she could tell, none of them had any of those primitive traps set on them. For whatever reason, whoever had dug that pit had placed it off the beaten trail. Most likely it was a potential route for escape, and the hunter could drive whatever game they sought right into it.

Doesn't matter. I just need to get away from here. The others left for a reason. Unless they didn't leave of their own volition. But whatever happened, I'm on my own.

With a little newfound fire in her belly, Margot stood up straighter and increased her pace. She was going to get through this, damn it, no matter what it took. It was a can-do attitude that she carried with her for a solid twenty minutes when any illusions of security vanished in an instant.

The words were undecipherable, but the sounds were clear as day. Raxxians!

There were voices, and several at that. She'd only just been abducted by the Raxxians and really didn't know much about them, but the little she had learned was more than enough to make her blood run cold.

Margot knew she couldn't just up and flee. They'd hear her crashing through the woods. She would have to be stealthy about it. Stealthy, and, if the universe was through screwing her over for at least a few hours, making her escape with a healthy serving of luck on her side.

She moved as fast as she dared, staying in the more shielded and dense parts of the trees and bushes, doing all she could to stay out of the Raxxians' line of sight. They were visible now in glimpses caught through the trees, moving her way, but still at least fifty meters away. Much too close for comfort, and a distance they could cover in a flash if they realized she was there.

There were three of them, two moderately injured from the crash, though it looked like mostly scuffs and scrapes. Their scaly hides must have protected them from anything worse. Only one seemed in perfect condition, and he was the one carrying what looked like an alien rifle of some sort. Of course, it was only natural that they would be armed, and why wouldn't their tech look different than Earth gear? Margot just hoped she wouldn't wind up on the receiving end of the dangerous-looking weapon.

She kept moving, heading back the way she came, backtracking over the now familiar ground despite her instincts screaming at her that this was the wrong way. But with the Raxxians ahead of her, there was simply no way out of it. Lateral movement would get her caught, and she was sure as hell not about to try to rush past them head-on. And as for hiding, there hadn't been anything that looked remotely like a good potential hiding spot, and not for any lack of effort to find one on her part. The terrain simply didn't lend itself to taking cover.

And so she kept moving, staying just ahead of the brutal aliens, her nerves full of electric fire from the relentless tension.

Twenty agonizing minutes had passed when she noticed something nagging at her senses, but she couldn't quite place what it was.

Something doesn't feel right , she thought, just as the realization hit.

It was quiet again. Too quiet.

Oh, shit!

As if it had heard her thoughts, a massive blur flashed through the trees, easily seven or eight feet tall and as big as a grizzly, roaring fiercely as it charged. Margot felt strangely calm as she saw it barreling through the woods faster than she would have thought possible for something so large.

Well, this is how I die , she thought, knowing full well she couldn't possibly outrun that . She was as good as dead.

The Raxxians heard it too, the armed one quickly shouldering his rifle and firing several blasts of some sort of pulse energy rather than a projectile. At least, that's what it looked like to Margot. She didn't really care what it was so long as it drew the beast's attention. And that it did, firmly locking its glowing orange eyes on the trio of lizard-like brutes.

The two other Raxxians drew their daggers just as the beast lunged through the air, taking the rifle shots as if it was no more than a nuisance, though she could clearly see blood flying from the impacts. But this monster, this enormous thing, was so enraged it was oblivious to pain, its only focus on the vicious and brutal slaughter of the aliens it had come upon.

The Raxxians fought hard, and they were not small men by any standard. On top of that, there were three of them, all armed in one way or another.

It didn't matter.

At least, not for long. Arms and legs flew, blood spraying in geysers as the beast tore into them. An arm sailed through the air, the pulse rifle in its hand firing wildly as it tumbled end over end into the trees. It was carnage the likes of which Margot had never imagined.

She stood there, stock-still, frozen in place, watching in horrified fascination, her body unwilling to move as her mind threatened to break.

The beast was bipedal, she could see, with dark brown skin visible on its chest and the front of its arms. The rest of its upper body had thick, dark hair with streaks the color of a new penny sprouting wildly through it like weeds erupting from the cracks in a sidewalk. Its face was obscured by the locks of hair hanging in front of it, but she could still see those eyes, those glowing orange eyes, even through its hair, as it began devouring one of the Raxxians while he was still very much alive. In the distance, it sounded like more Raxxians were coming, alerted by the screams of their comrades or the bursts of weapons fire.

None of that mattered to the beast.

It moved with brutal efficiency and power, an absolute unit of a killing machine. It was not only tall and absolutely rippling with thick muscles, but as it didn't have much hair on its lower extremities, she couldn't help but notice with all the vigorous movement and swinging to and fro, that it was a very, very well-endowed beast at that.

Her momentary fascination broke off as a quick jerk of its massive hand ripped a piece of meat from the Raxxian's neck, silencing his shrieks in an instant, his dying feet rattling their last on the bloody ground. She watched in horror as the thing ate ravenously, eating its fill with sickening gusto.

You have to move, Margot , she told herself. You can't stay here. You have to move. Now!

Amazingly, her body somehow obeyed, her legs more or less functional, moving faster and faster, putting distance between herself and that thing. She backed away several steps, then turned and hurried ahead, not allowing herself to run despite every nerve in her body screaming at her to flee. But she had to be smart. She had to be?—

Crack!

She'd stepped on a dry branch. In her urgency scanning the whole area, she'd somehow missed the thing right at her feet. The beast jerked its head and roared, making her body fill with adrenaline the likes of which she'd never felt in her life. Margot ran, off in a flash, her body moving in the most visceral fight-or-flight response she'd ever felt. And this was most definitely not fight.

The beast pursued, its thundering stride clearly audible, its roars getting closer by the second as she ran and ran. Margot looked over her shoulder. It was gaining fast. In just another few?—

The explosions of weapons fire all around stopped the beast in its tracks, at least momentarily, as a dozen or more armed alien men swarmed out of the trees, charging it in a frontal attack. They were tall and blue-skinned, wearing their version of woodland camouflage. Were they hunters? She couldn't say for sure, but they'd just saved her life.

Two were standing back, directing the others. A barrel-chested blue man much larger than the others, countless tattoos visible on his bare arms, and a light-tan-skinned man of the same height but with more of a fitness model's physique, his own attire much cleaner and neatly arranged as well as being a different camouflage design.

Both men were armed, and both noticed her at the same time, yelling something in two different yet equally undecipherable alien tongues.

"I don't understand you!" she tried calling out, but their attention shifted back to the fight at hand as more Raxxians joined the fray.

It was a vicious scene, the two groups of alien fighters and the raging beast all engaged in a three-way free-for-all of death and mayhem.

They bought you time , she realized. Don't waste this chance.

Margot spun and took off at a full sprint, moving as fast as her legs could carry her. Caution was thrown to the wind. She may have been afraid of what was out there, but she was damn sure nothing was scarier than what she'd just found, and that was more than enough to power her legs in a way she'd never felt before.

It wasn't a runner's high by any stretch. This was pure adrenaline pushing her to her limits, tempting muscular failure, her body deciding it was that or death. And, given the choice, it would choose the former any day of the week, soreness, sprains, and strains be damned.

Margot just hoped she would cover enough ground to make it free of this nightmare before her legs finally gave out.

Until then, she would run.