In seconds I was in his arms, cradled protectively against his chest as he raced down the corridor. Thank god. My hand was killing me and shock was making me tremble. I was falling apart at the seams. I’d held on for this long, but I wasn’t a warrior or a warlord. I wasn’t used to such adrenaline inducing situations. Of life and death. “Do you know where you’re going?” I asked.
“Maxim. Transport.”
Two words. Music to my ears. These big beasts communicated just fine. “Thank god. The cavalry is coming?”
“ReCon.”
Whatever that meant, although I realized he might not have understood what the cavalry meant. It wasn’t like they had horses in space, at least that I knew of. I trusted him to take care of me. I didn’t have any other choice. Nor did I want one.
We rounded a corner and the sounds of shouting and some kind of blasting reached us. I looked up, saw Rezzer grin. “ReCon. Here.” He picked up his pace, running faster than I would have believed a beast his size could move. Two turns later, I was face-to-face with Lieutenant Denzel in full battle armor.
He took one look at us with his silver eyes through the clear mask of his helmet and motioned for the big beast to move behind him.
It should have been laughable, a human protecting a beast, but Rezzer went around him with a nod of thanks and Denzel lifted his space rifle to cover our retreat.
“You all right?” Denzel yelled, and I realized he wasn’t talking to Rezz, he was talking to me.
“Yeah, I’m good.” And I was. Rezzer had me in his arms. The baby was safe. Nothing else mattered.
Denzel gave a nod and the ReCon team from the Colony, all human, swarmed around us like bees. “Transport is two corridors up on the right, Warlord.”
Rezzer grunted his thanks and took off running. The ReCon team fell in behind us like water, protecting our retreat.
Shots were fired. The men yelled. I couldn’t keep track of what was happening and couldn’t see beyond the massive wall of Rezzer’s chest. But when we all raced up onto the transport platform, I welcomed the electric pull, the wrenching pain this time. The twisting agony.
It meant we were going home.