Three of them. About the size of a three- or four-year-old child crawling on all fours, the creatures had the silver and gray Hive tech along their spines and on top of their heads. Were these Hive, too? Because these things were not any kind of humanoid species. More like oversized lizards with claws and razor-sharp teeth that each looked at least as long as my thumbs. Their body was covered in scales that looked like an alligator’s that had turned to shiny obsidian. Their eyes were silver. Not gray. Silver, like the fork next to my plate at dinner. In the faint light, they moved like shadows, claws clicking and clacking on the flooring as they stuck their heads in every nook and cranny. Sniffed. Hunted.
How good was their sense of smell? If we were talking human-ish, I was probably okay. But dog? Or worse, a bear? I was screwed.
I tightened my grip on both weapons and tried not to make a single sound. I didn’t dare call out to Cormac. These things would hear me and be on me before he could get here.
In less than a minute, I had my answer. The creature nearest me stopped and lifted its head to sniff the air. The others did the same, as if their three minds were connected. Creepy.
As one unit, they turned and stared directly at me.
“Cormac!” I screamed.
They gathered their hind legs to jump.
The center creature leaped at me. Directly in front of me, the black head and snapping jaws just cleared the top. It ripped holes in the material I sat on with its front claws and hung by its front two feet, scrambling to get up with the back two.
By sheer dumb luck, I managed to plunge my knife somewhere in the thing’s neck.
Good news, it fell to the floor.
Bad news, it took my knife with it.
The one on my right leaped, the front half of its body joining me on my perch. I rolled to my side, kicking at it with my boot as I fired my ion blaster at the head of the third monster climbing up on my left. It hadn’t jumped at me, but it shoved its claws through the panel and was walking up as easily as if there were stairs.
The blaster shots were doing nothing. Barely slowing it down.
I kicked the other off the top, but I knew it would leap back up as soon as it got its feet under it. They were both going to be on me, and I had nothing to fight with.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
15
Cormac
Iunderstood rage. I understood vengeance. I had never seen anything close to this level of savagery as the Atlans settled the score with the Hive who had kept them captive.
Limbs flew in every direction. Arms. Legs. Upper half of a torn and shredded body. Lower half. Literal pieces of the Hive reinforcements that had come off that ship landed around me with solid thuds.
Twice I had to dodge a particularly angry throw by Enzo. Calm on the outside, wrath on the inside.
Fuck me. No wonder Atlan Warlords were the most feared fighters in the galaxy. This wasn’t a battle. This was carnage.
I didn’t dare step between a beast and any of the Hive. Not only was I not needed, I wasn’t sure some of the beasts were of a mind to recognize friend from foe.
I remained near the entrance to the control room to handle any stragglers that might make their way toward my mate. I’d killed enough for one day. If they needed me, I’d fight. However, the odds of that were looking slim.
“Cormac!”
Ruk’s shout drew my attention. He was pointing to the rock cliffs that formed an arc with the base at its center.
Creatures clung to the walls, at least twelve that I could see, with a possibility of more hiding behind rocks or in the shadows. Their bodies black and scaled, they looked small, perhaps knee high. Regardless of their size, they had the silver eyes and integrated circuitry and pieces on their bodies that designated them as part of the Hive.
The Hive was using animals now?
And what the fuckwerethose things? I’d never seen a native creature on any world that looked like this. Perhaps they were from the Hive home world. Wherever that was.
Their claws and teeth looked like they could do some serious damage. If there were a good number of them, and they coordinated their attack with Hive mind control? Not good. Not fucking good at all.
Did the Coalition know about these things?