Page 66 of Infala: Bonded to the Enemy
Of course, Dohrags were tough, but they had numbers. Three-on-one were odds they very much liked.
“Get back!” Valin exclaimed, quickly moving toward the threat, putting his body between Shalia and the Raxxian guards.
He unslung his rifle and powered it on in one fluid motion. Shalia was astonished just how fast and efficient he was the instant a threat presented itself. He’d been so calm and peaceful these last days that she’d all but forgotten what it had taken for him to become a commander in the first place.
The nearest Raxxian lurched aside just before he reached them, his body bursting open from the full-power discharge that tore into him. Shalia and Valin were both splattered with green alien gore as his body fell, his momentum carrying his corpse forward even after his light had been very thoroughly extinguished.
Valin pivoted fast, stepping to his left, swinging his weapon as the two other Raxxians charged. One had a smaller alien pistol at the ready and fired a bolt of crackling energy. Valin grunted in pain as his rifle shattered in his hands, the metal crackling as it took the full brunt of the Raxxian attack.
He threw the ruined weapon at the assailant as he dropped to his knee, whipping his pistol free and cracking off two shots. One hit, but the other flew wide. The Raxxian, however, had dropped his weapon. It seemed it had been nearly out of power, the last shot saved for just this sort of situation.
The wounded Raxxian barreled into the Dohrag, his taloned hands grabbing the man’s wrist hard. They both hit the ground and rolled, the impact sending the pistol flying into the brush.Valin shifted tactics on the fly, his fists pummeling the reptilian assailant right where he’d been shot. The Raxxian flinched in spite of himself, and that was all Valin needed.
He formed a spear with his hand, his long fingers tightening together into a point which he then drove hard into the injury. The Raxxian shrieked in pain.
“Gaaaah!”
His comrade fell upon their prey, wrapping his arm around the Dohrag’s thick neck and pulling hard. To his surprise, Valin went with him instead of fighting back, his full weight flying into the alien, slamming him backward into a fallen log.
Shalia’s hands moved in a blur through the brush as she frantically searched for the lost pistol. There was no way she could take on a Raxxian guard on her own. Not without a weapon. Only Valin had any hope of that, and as she looked at the two fallen Raxxians, she realized he’d already ended the second of the three, though she’d nearly missed it.
The alien was staring vacantly into the sky, the last of his green blood pulsing from the hole in his torso. Valin had not just punched into the wound. He’d grabbed ahold of something vital, pulling and tearing it free as he lunged back into the third guard’s attack. The result to the attacker had been catastrophic. The alien had bled out in mere moments.
The third, however, was unharmed, and Valin was now rolling on the ground with him, the two fighting in the most primal of ways. The Raxxian was strong. Strong enough to counter Valin’s beefy arms, holding them firm in his grip. Valin bridged up and shifted his hips, forcing the alien to roll. The Raxxian went with it, maintaining his grip the entire time. What he didn’t realize was Valin’s plan had no need for his hands.
Crack!
The Dohrag’s forehead slammed down hard on the Raxxian’s face, stunning the beast with the pure ferocity and power behind the attack. The Raxxian’s grip faltered, and that was enough.
Valin pulled one hand free, slamming his forehead into thestruggling assailant yet again. The Raxxian was dazed but still very much in the fight. That is, he was, until the sharp point of the fallen branch the commander had managed to grab off the ground was driven hard into its neck. Valin twisted and shoved, forcing the wood deep, doing immeasurable damage as it powered its way into the Raxxian’s head.
It was ugly. It was brutal. And it was effective.
Valin watched the creature shudder its last then rolled off to the side, breathing hard from the exertion.
“Shalia, are you okay?” he asked, gathering himself and rising unsteadily to his feet.
“I’m fine,” she said and wrapped her arms around him, hugging hard.
Valin winced in spite of himself. She stepped back and saw the weeping wounds where his blood was now slowly seeping out, staining his already ruined shirt.
“Oh my God, you’re hurt!”
“It is nothing.”
“That’s not nothing!” she shot back, switching into get-shit-done mode in an instant. “Come on, we need to get you cleaned up so I can get a better look at that.”
“I am fine, really.”
“Bullshit. I’m not taking no for an answer. You’ve been looking out for me, now let me look out for you.”
He studied her a moment, this fierce, passionate woman he now called his own. Love like he’d never known before welled up in his chest. “Very well. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Now come on. The creek is just over there.”
She led him the hundred or so meters to the creek and sat him on the shore while she filled their spare water container to the top. She hurried back and began carefully pouring the water over his injuries, washing free the muck and blood.
His shirt had been torn, obviously, but underneath she could see where pieces of metal from his ruined weapon had embedded in his flesh. Shrapnel of the defunct rifle. If it hadn’ttaken the brunt of the attack, he’d very likely have been killed by it. She wrapped her fingers around the exposed end of the metal protruding from his flank. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be very deep. She knew the rule was never pull out an embedded item from an injury, but out here in the wild she couldn’t afford to leave it in place, or it would undoubtedly get infected.
