Hunter Raze, page 4
Dirk’s mouth opened but he didn’t say a word, just gaped at her.
“Do you want to live? Tell me how many crew members are in your camp. And don’t lie to me.”
“Um…we were told you were the one who blew up the ship.”
“I did.”
“Why?”
“Why were you coming to this planet…?”
He paled. “I only cook. What the others do isn’t on me.”
“You’ve worked for Gemini for four years. I can tell by the look in your eyes that you knew exactly what those assholes did every time you flew to remote planets. Did you ever contact the fleet to let them know your co-workers and your employers were murdering helpless aliens? That they were causing mass extinctions so your company could claim planets for their extremely profitable survey rights?”
His hands in the air began to tremble.
“I know you didn’t. You turned a blind eye. Now—how many are in your camp, Dirk?”
“Eight. Well…seven,” he amended, gaze flicking to Paul’s body. “And two more who’ve gone missing. Ten of us piled into an escape pod together.” He paused. “Look, it’s hard to get a job with my past. Gemini was willing to hire me. I needed the work!”
Anabel felt zero sympathy. “At any cost, apparently. Did you know that there’s over ninety thousand aliens on this planet? Think about that for a minute, Dirk. Ninety thousand. They’re probably the only kind of their species, since they aren’t advanced enough for space travel. Your bosses care more about profit than life. Speaking of, Gemini isn’t sending another freighter. You’re going to die here.”
“No. Gemini wants this place bad. A recon team found precious minerals that’re in high demand. They’ll send another freighter to finish the job, and they’ll pick us up when they come.”
She snorted and lowered her weapon. “By now, Gemini no longer exists. I not only set bombs on Soapa Six to stop the crew from committing mass murder, but I transmitted all the proof to the fleet of what you assholes have been up to.” She gave him a cold smile. “No one is coming. Not even the fleet to arrest your sorry ass. Mass murder is an automatic death sentence on United Earth. I should know; that’s who I work for. That means it’s on me to hand out punishment. I’m your judge and executioner.”
Anabel saw the second he fully understood the situation. Dirk’s eyes turned a bit wild and his breathing sped up.
“I try not to kill unarmed men unless they’re absolute garbage.” She jerked her head again to the dead security officer. “Like murderers who torture and rape their victims on top of it.” She curled her lip. “But I’m still not feeling much empathy for someone shitty enough to try to murder his very loving mom. That’s fucked up. Next time we meet, you’re dead. Weapon or not. All of you are. Now run.”
Dirk didn’t hesitate. He spun and sprinted toward the trees. It would have been safer to kill him but it would cause some much-needed distraction in their camp if he returned even half as freaked out as he seemed to be.
Anabel checked her weapons as she jogged behind the fleeing jerk, really wishing she had an armored outfit. The med kits she’d taken from the two pods wouldn’t help her much if she took direct laser hits to vital parts of her body.
She smelled the smoke and heard voices. Anabel slowed and changed direction. She could hear Dirk panting hard, trying to tell his fellow crew members what had happened. Anabel stopped well outside of the small clearing where they’d made camp and glanced up at the tree she hid behind. The lowest branch was about nine feet from the ground. No gorilla-like beasts were up there.
She holstered her weapons, took a deep breath, and jumped. Her hands grabbed the limb and she pulled herself up. Then she climbed high enough to get a better view. The men in the clearing were arguing and asking questions.
“The fuck?!” Dodge bellowed.
“It’s true,” Dirk panted. He was bent forward, hands braced on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. “She confessed it all to me.”
“Did you kill her?” That was Ernie. He’d worked in general maintenance with her on Soapa Six. He also had a habit of telling disgusting jokes. She’d never liked him.
Dirk shook his head. “She had weird guns with her.”
Dodge lunged forward and shoved Dirk. He hit the dirt hard on his ass. “Are you saying she let you go?”
Dirk nodded. “I ran.”
“Fuck!” Dodge spun, staring in the direction Dirk had come from. “You idiot! She’ll trail you right back here. Have you never gone hunting? You injure a pack animal and it’ll lead you right back to the den.” Dodge rushed toward the weapons in a jumbled pile on the ground.
Anabel rolled her eyes. Dodge wasn’t overly bright. Their campfire still smoldered, not quite burned out all the way yet. She could have found them that way and just outright killed Dirk.
A smart person would have realized she wanted them to group together around the freaked-out man…to make them easier to kill.
The second Dodge rose, Anabel took careful aim and fired her weapon. Her other hand was gripped around the branch above her, keeping her steady so she didn’t miss her target.
Dodge’s big frame jerked and he grabbed for his throat. Then he crashed to his knees, gasping for air that wouldn’t come. It was a bad way to die but traumatic enough to do exactly what she needed. Dodge had been her biggest threat, and now he was dying.
The rest of his group stared, frozen, until his big body hit the ground seconds later.
She fired at another armed security officer she recognized, taking a head shot. Kip went down in an instant. That sent the remaining five into absolute panic as they tried to go for their weapons.
Someone got a shot off in Anabel’s direction but missed. The laser blast sailed beneath her, hitting a branch somewhere below. She took him out. Two tried to run out of the clearing.
She hated to do it because of her own quirky sense of fair play, but she shot them in the back. Dirk was one of them.
Ninety thousand, she reminded herself. It helped alleviate her guilt to remember the number of aliens they’d come to the planet to slaughter. The crew had neither a sense of fair play nor an ounce of compassion. Two wrongs didn’t make a right, she knew, but it sure tipped the odds in her favor. She needed to be the last human alive on the planet. Every single crew member would be a threat to the inhabitants if she let any of them live. That wasn’t happening.
One of the bridge crew made it behind a large rock and took a shot. It missed, the laser tearing into a branch nearby. She ducked behind the tree trunk as more shots sailed past.
The tree she was in started to thump, and she clenched her teeth, holstered her weapon, and reached for a branch above her head with both hands.
The telltale noise came next, and she turned her head in the direction of the whistles, lowering herself a little to see past another branch. That’s when she spotted the shredders. At least twenty of them rushed toward the clearing.
The bridge officer shot the tree she was in again. It sounded like he’d hit the thick trunk she was using for cover. Another shot. The smell of charred wood filled her nose.
The whistles grew louder, and so did the thumping as the herd of shredders ran closer. Anabel braced her feet, got a better grip on the branch above her, and pressed against the trunk to make herself harder to spot.
The herd ran right at the tree she was in. The entire thing shook. A few of the creatures hit the trunk but the tree remained standing. Then they were rushing past her, right into the clearing.
There was only one scream, maybe from the bridge officer. Only two men had still been alive. She closed her eyes until the screaming stopped. Then she dared to open them and turn, peeking around the trunk.
It was a mistake. The creatures were feasting on the corpses, some of them fighting over limbs. Anabel rested her forehead against the trunk.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
“Fuck,” she breathed silently. Shredders ate everything, even bone. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sickening sounds. Neither of the remaining men could have gotten away. And at least most had been dead before the shredders reached them. It also helped her feel better about the ones she’d shot in the back. To be eaten alive would have been an even worse way to go. She’d inadvertently given them a quick, painless death.
The bad news was that she probably wouldn’t be able to salvage anything from the camp. The shredders would crush everything under their large bodies.
More thumping vibrated the tree and she heard more whistles. Another herd of shredders had arrived. Some of the creatures fought. They weren’t aware of her up in the tree. She’d have to remain quiet until they left, then she could sneak away and go back to her cave.
Maybe take a bath, she promised herself. Violence always left her feeling dirty.
United Earth and the fleet had turned her into a killer, but they hadn’t been able to remove her conscience. She couldn’t kill as many people as she had, even shitty ones, without feeling like a monster. A necessary one, justified even…but it was still hard to digest being a killer.
Ninety thousand, she silently reminded herself. Those crew members deserved it. Monsters need other monsters to stop them.
Something thumped hard enough against the tree to jolt her.
Anabel looked down to find two of the shredders using the trunk to scratch an itch. Their big bodies shook the entire tree as they slammed their sides against it, rubbing vigorously. Cracks and pops sounded from the wood.
She silently mouthed a curse and glanced at the nearest tree to the one she hid in. The beasts were large enough to take her tree down—with her in it, if she remained where she was. It was time to leave. She’d have to travel through the trees.
That was something she’d never been trained to do, and the idea of leaping from one tree to another at her current height filled her with rare fear. One screwup and she’d fall, becoming yet another meal for the shredders. They were too many deadly beasts to miss a new meal dropping into their midst. Even if she landed without injury, they could move pretty fast.
“Don’t make a mistake,” she mouthed aloud. Then she took a few deep breaths before launching out of one tree toward the next.
* * * * *
Raze walked off his ship, taking in the beautiful planet they’d landed on. It reminded him of where he’d grown up…
He quickly pushed that thought away. That was one place he never wanted to return to. His birth grouping wouldn’t welcome him, and he had no longing to see them, either. They’d already banished him once.
Bruck stopped beside him. “Are you thinking what I am?”
“Home.”
“We’re better off without our birth grouping…and all the others who wanted us gone.” Bruck lifted a scanner pad. “There are thirty-two human life signs. Some are in small groups but a few are on their own. We can reach them all before the sun goes down if we transform into our battle forms.”
“No. We have no idea what kind of life forms we’ll be up against. It’s best if we use our body shields instead of having to fight any we meet.”
“Scans show some large predators that seem to hunt in packs.” Bruck paused. Then he snarled.
“What?”
“The robot scout just updated the readings. I have it set to do sweeps every hour in case the humans are traveling, and to know where the largest predators are.” He pointed at the pad. “There was a group of nine humans at this location previously. Now all but one is dead.” He tapped the pad and snarled again. “Look. There are thirty-four predator animals where they were.”
Raze snarled too. He hoped one of the dead humans hadn’t been the female they sought.
“She probably wouldn’t be with other humans if she’s the reason their freighter got destroyed. They would seek revenge,” Bruck said, as if reading his thoughts.
Raze met his gaze. “If they are aware she is responsible.”
“The closest single life sign is here.” Bruck pointed to a red dot. “Shall we hunt together?”
“No. We’ll split up. It’s faster. Check the single life signs first.”
Bruck passed over another pad. “It updates every hour, remember.”
Raze accepted the device and studied the readings. Then he lifted his wrist, activating communications to speak to Prasky. “Seal the ship and conceal it. We don’t want humans, alien inhabitants, or native animals to attack while we’re gone.”
The third member of their grouping responded immediately. “Bring back fresh meat.”
Raze turned, watching as the large ship disappeared. He could still see where the long grass in the field had been trampled by the weight of Satrono but it quickly transformed to match the area. He loved the holographic technology that they’d earned from the Brani.
“I hope the Brani hire us again,” Bruck chuckled. “We always get the best technology from them. I want that stun wave weapon we saw protecting one of their transports.”
Raze grinned. “We think too much alike at times. It would be easier if we could put everything to sleep within a short radius.”
“Not everything. Some of our enemies’ body shields protect them against it. That’s why we traded a job for our own shields. I don’t miss our bulky protective suits.”
“And it wouldn’t be a challenge if everything was stunned. Where is the enjoyment in hunting sleeping prey?”
Bruck laughed. “Agreed. We would grow bored if our prey was too easy to catch.”
Raze motioned with his hand. “I’ll head this way. We’ll meet back here when darkness falls. Good hunting.”
“I’m certain one of us will find the female.”
Raze wished he could feel the same confidence. A lone human female on an unfamiliar planet didn’t have the best chances of survival. He nodded anyway, taking off at a jog and using the pad to guide him toward a single life sign. He left the clearing and entered thick woods. Tall trees shaded him from the planet’s sun. He inhaled deeply, picking up an animal. It smelled of fur and mud.
Minutes later, he came across the wildlife. It had a round body on four short legs, and two tusks growing from the frontal region of the head. It spotted him and fled.
Part of Raze was tempted to chase it down for fun. He resisted. It was nice reprieve, being on a planet instead of his ship, but he was there to locate a female. Maybe he’d go hunting for that fresh meat Prasky demanded once he had the target secured on Satrono.
Twenty minutes later he slowed, checking the scan results. The life form dot was directly ahead. It was possible they might no longer be there, since the scans only updated hourly, but he proceeded with caution all the same.
He heard the human male before he spotted him. The male spoke loudly, the sound of snapping twigs accompanying the verbal barrage. Raze crept forward, remaining hidden.
The trees parted to reveal a very small wedge of ground bathed in sunlight. A human male seemed to be attempting to build a shelter with broken branches. It had to be the sorriest shelter Raze had ever seen. The location was equally bad.
“I want a fucking steak and a comfortable bunk. And a woman. Gemini better pay me for being stuck out here. Loads of fucking overtime!”
Raze backed away, not wanting the male to become aware of his presence. Once he put some distance between them, he looked at the scanner again. It hadn’t updated yet, but the next nearest single life sign in the direction he’d chosen was in the vicinity of the eight dead humans.
Bruck was probably right; he doubted the female would travel with males if she’d destroyed their ship, but it was possible she’d been captured. He needed to view the bodies. He would have to be careful of the large pack of wildlife in that same area.
He was almost to the location when the stink had him halting again. Whistles also sounded. He put the pad away and freed his hands, unleashing his claws. Then he leapt at a thick tree trunk, climbing it easily.
A smile curved his lips. He did miss living on a planet. His childhood memories were good. Until the day came when everything had gone bad.
He returned his focus to the task at hand, climbing higher until he spotted a nearby clearing.
The dozens of creatures were large and eating human bodies. Not that much of them remained. A soft growl rumbled from him. He narrowed his eyes, scanning what was left of the dead. None of the bodies appeared to be that of a female, but it was difficult to tell.
He began to strip out of his clothing, carefully securing each piece on the tree limbs. His boots and the pad were left wedged between a branch and the trunk. He climbed down to a lower branch, flexed his body, and intentionally remembered the day he’d been banished from his planet.
Rage had him seeing red, his bones cracking.
He shifted into his battle form, leapt from the branch to the ground, and roared. He surged forward, attacking the creature closest to him. He landed on its furry back, using his claws to rip into the animal. It screeched in agony.
He roared louder.
The other creatures panicked at his sudden appearance. He wasn’t anything they’d ever seen before. They ran, scattering, and their big bodies were heavy enough to make the ground thump and vibrate.
He finished off the creature he’d attacked, withdrew his claws from its still warm flesh, and padded toward the human remains. Most were missing large pieces but a couple had enough left to identify them as males. The few he couldn’t be certain of, he sniffed. They scented male. At least to him. He wasn’t an expert on humans.
The faint sounds of the creatures retreating faded and Raze cocked his head, listening. Where was the surviving human?
He glanced around, not hearing or seeing any movement. Then he lifted his head to the trees. It was possible that one of them had been smart enough to climb above the large animals in hopes of staying safe.
He checked each tree around the clearing, not spotting anyone. The sight of damage on one, however, caught his attention. He walked to the base of the tree and climbed. Laser fire had scarred the trunk in several places on one side, and a lower branch also sagged from damage. He adjusted his big body, using his claws to circle the trunk to the other side.
