heart with a gasp. I squint to get a better look. My mouth goes dry. “Asha?!”
I want to tell her kids are alive. I never anticipated it would be in the middle of a war.
Asha
“Ah, there’s our psycho alien killer now.” I point out to Carter the dragon barreling through the sky headed straight towards us. The beasts function on rage alone. I didn’t think it would take much to lure him away from his lair. We’ve been training weeks for this moment.
“Leave the psycho to me and go find Veda.”
“Roger that, Major.” Our unit splits up into two squads, the tanker following my lead. With signals, I order my squad to switch formation as we come toward a lengthy bridge with no rails and fire shooting up. Seeing their starship off in the distance, I can assume this must be the entrance to his lair, which is a creepy-looking castle-mountain straight out of Hell. The sight and size of it all is haunting, but I push on. “Let’s go save our damsel.” I motion them forward to the bridge. One by one we cross, me in the lead. We get about halfway when my radio inside my helmet crackles. “Incom—” The tanker goes haywire, shooting in all directions.
Grrrr!
“Oh, my God! What that fuck was that?” a squad member yells.
We all turn on a dime.
The tanker appears to be on fire.
Then the fire jumps to the ground, carrying one of our own in its grasp. How is this possible? I blink my eyes several times, unsure what I’m seeing. It flings the body in the air and it lands into the fiery pit below. That’s when I realize it’s not a dancing flame. It stalks forward on all fours, snapping sharp and deadly fangs.
“It’s a Goddamn Hellhound. Move! Move!”
My squad rushes to the other side of the bridge.
“Ahhhh!” someone screams, and I look back to find the hound trailing close behind us, flinging another squad member into the air.
“Oh, God. We weren’t prepared for this shit.” I motion the others past me and position the butt of my gun against my shoulder and take aim. I shoot, aiming for its head.
It dodges it and makes an agile leap through the air, its heavy body lands on me; the heat from its paws burning into my suit. I squirm underneath it’s crushing weight. For once, I’m thankful for this helmet because its fangs are snapping too close to my face.
Gun shots go off behind me, piercing into its flesh. The impact doesn’t even faze the creature. My heart sinks. I thought I was so close to getting my sister back. After all the planning, training, blood, sweat and tears, we still have fallen short.
I’m between a fiery beast and a hard place. There is no escape.
The heat penetrating my suit starts to cook my skin. I holler out into the night.
“Cyrus, stop!” I hear a woman yell. The hound immediately jumps off me and dives into the pit.
Huh? I cough out. Next thing I know, hands fill my vision and I’m lifted into someone’s arms.
My squad members carry me over the bridge and lay me back down onto the ground. My lungs feel deprived of oxygen. As I struggle to breathe, the smell of burnt flesh lingers up to my nose.
“Asha?” I hear an angelic voice say.
My upper body is lifted off the ground. I’m now in somebody’s lap. “Asha, stay with me. Help is on the way.” Eyes like mine come into view, a bright but worried smile. Brown hair that once was curly is now straightened, a hairstyle like mine.
“Veda? Is it really you?”
Her smile widens. “The one and only—”
“Royal pain in my ass.” I try to laugh but cough instead.
She embraces me tighter. “Just take it easy, help is on the way. Come on, let’s get her inside.”
With my vision slipping in and out, I’m losing hope I’ll be around long enough to take my next breath.
Eleazar
The humans who ambushed my planet split off into two groups. I circle around and follow the one with the Impostor. The one who infected my mate.
He will pay.
I swoop down and spray the ground with fire, building a circle just around him.
This war is between me and him. I don’t need his soldiers interfering. Through his helmet I can see him glaring at me. He goes about maneuvering a weapon onto his shoulder. A weapon I presume to be a rocket launcher. When you fight fire with fire, someone is bound