the floor.
“And most of all—humans kill.”
“Hoomans kill. Hoomans kill. Hoomans kill.”
“I’m not here to kill anyone.”
“Lies.” Sloth gives me a violent shake. “All lies.”
“No, it’s the truth. Sloth is your name. Isn’t it?”
“Bah.” He sneers. “Hoomans call me that. All I know.”
“I don’t want to hurt any of you, Sloth. I—my friends and I only came here seeking information, nothing more.”
“You lie.” Sloth throws me onto the floor so hard I slide all the way across its metal surface until I slam against the far wall. Rubbing my aching head, I cringe as they all close in around me.
“You lie. You lie. You lie.”
“We know you, human. We not stupid. You hurt us. You kill us. You lie to us.”
I look up at Sloth and swallow hard before I can speak. “I’m not here to do any of that.”
“Bah. Then why you not leave with other women?”
The creatures all bob their heads in assent, clustering about me. I can smell their fetid breath and the stench of sickness. Many of them clearly have one foot in the grave already. I can’t blame them for being filled with hate for my kind after what’s been done to them.
“Other women?” They might know what happened here. “Please, tell me, what other women?”
“Other hooman women. Some asleep. With evil hooman doctors.”
“They’re here?”
“Liars. Killers.”
“Where did they go?”
“They leave on the big ship. Leave us.”
“You’re alone?” I ask, my heart going to the beasts. “My friends can help you.”
Sloth slams his fist into the wall mere inches above my head, causing me to cry out and cower.
“No. You hooman. We no trust hooman.”
“No trust hooman. No trust hooman. No trust hooman.”
Sloth growls and picks me up painfully by my hair, thrusting my body forth toward the encroaching horde of monstrosities.
“What we do with her? What?”
“Break her bones.”
“Cut her throat.”
“Meat to waste.”
“Choke her with dry, tasteless food.”
“Rip out her lying tongue.”
“Meat to waste.”
“Feed to Big Maw.”
The horde falls silent for a moment, and then they take up the chant.
“Big Maw. Big Maw. Big Maw.”
Two of the brutes each grab my arms and force me to my knees. The throng parts to allow the passage of a very short hybrid. No, not short, I see as he draws nearer. Its legs are shriveled, useless things that drag behind it as it uses its thickly muscled arms for locomotion. But what horrifies me the most is its head. No neck, it’s just as if the head were melted and spread out across the thing’s shoulders.
When it opens its three-foot-wide mouth, its cavernous maw gapes open so widely I can see the lining of its stomach, with the ribcage jutting in at odd angles. How is this creature even able to draw breath with such a twisted body?
“Big Maw bite off head, hooman.”
Sloth’s words trigger my fear response and despite the sheer futility of it all I begin thrashing in the hybrid’s grip. The Big Maw drags itself closer with tiny, pig-like eyes on either side of its mouth filled with equal parts rage and anguish.
I whimper as my head is enveloped in its wide-open jaws, the light growing dimmer within its confines. The fetid, rotten breath rolling out of its throat makes me gag and vomit, but Big Maw doesn’t even seem to notice.
Then a sound akin to a high-pitched shriek reaches my ears, and Big Maw withdraws enough that my head is no longer inside of his mouth. The hybrids release me, all of them backing away from the blast doors.
As I watch, a red line spreads horizontally across both interlocked doors. My heart hammers in my chest, and I nearly faint with relief.
The cavalry has arrived.
Chapter Thirty-One
Grantian
Kilgari eyes are bit more sensitive to the lower spectrum than human, so I’m easily able to glean that the hybrid has imprisoned Lamira behind those giant, interlocking blast doors. The residual body heat the creature left with its bare feet glows a bit more brightly to my sensitive gaze.
What’s less obvious is how in the name of the Precursors am I going to get through this barrier?
These are Durzacorp blast panels, two feet thick and designed to resist any but the most powerful of artillery strikes. They’re also notoriously difficult to hack. I’m sure the genius Fiona could make them open, but she’s not here. Hopefully Solair guided the rest to safety.
That leaves it up to me, but I’m no slicer. My talents lie in other arenas. I heft the Predator chain gun, which fires caseless rounds at the