180. Shaggy Blue Attack
180
Shaggy Blue Attack
M aya
Dim lights, obviously motion-activated, flick on overhead as we push forward in the press of bodies. Small skirmishes are going on all around us. Some seem between equals, like the battle of the titans, as they face off one on one or two against two, always with like species fighting against other species.
I imagine when the ranks have been thinned, the females will attack their own kind. That’s how this heinous game has been structured. I’m glad that won’t happen to Anna, Emily, and me. Perhaps it’s a lucky thing we’ll never get that far.
The noise is possibly more terrifying than what I’m seeing. There’s screeching, growling, and shouting in alien languages which, thanks to my translator, I can understand. Some words don’t translate, but it’s easy to tell they’re expletives. The rest of the words are threats so chilling they cause a tremor to slice up my spine.
It’s a miracle we’ve avoided everyone’s attention. They all seem either bent on running to the bridge or are too engaged in their current fights to notice the three humans skirting the action and racing down hallways.
As we cross into new territory, the overhead lights turn on to illuminate our way. The good news? This tells us we’re the first to travel in this direction. The bad news? It tells everyone else that fresh prey has been here. There’s no such thing as stealth mode.
The three of us run without talking, following our plan. We climb two flights of stairs, not trusting the elevators, then emerge into an enormous dining area. It’s bigger than my high school cafeteria, which makes sense. My school didn’t hold as many people as they designed this ship for.
It was obviously built to house thousands. That’s what Zedd said. What if all the pods open? As if 40 alien males from the brig who are bent on destruction isn’t enough. What if she lets loose thousands of Carnivores to rampage through the ship they know like the back of their hand looking for a little human flesh to break their fast?
Wait, what did Zedd say about the Xenons? They were on a mission to find females to repopulate their world. Dear God, they won’t eat us. They’ll rape us and keep the babies. My stomach cramps at that thought.
What will happen next will make the skirmish we just passed in the entryway seem like child’s play.
I shake my head, trying to evict that thought. Stay in the moment, Maya , I counsel myself . Stay alert and stay alive.
“Look what we have here,” a shaggy blue being says. Her voice is as deep as any Earth male. She has no breasts. For a moment I wonder what sex she is, but Zedd said everyone in The Game is female—so far.
Why am I worrying about what sex it is? I should be figuring out how to kill it.
We’re in the cavernous dining area, at the end with the serving tables. She just came in the door at the far end. Can the kitchen be far away?
“Find the kitchen,” I whisper. “We need knives.”
Thank goodness the blue female is alone and unarmed. The bitch is well over six feet tall and built like a linebacker. Three-against-one odds still might not give us a fighting chance.
“This way,” Emily calls over her shoulder as she runs to an open door.
The lights flick on, illuminating an enormous industrial kitchen. Everything is covered in a thick layer of dust, but thankfully there aren’t any corpses. It looks like whoever worked here left in a hurry, with utensils out and pots on the stove.
There, above a metal counter, is an array of knives hanging on a wall. Emily grabs the butcher knife. Anna and I choose long slicing knives.
“Get back out to the dining room. If she gets in here and grabs a knife, we’re done for,” I say.
“When I say ‘go’, attack,” Emily’s words are so staccato, her drawl is all but gone. “Come at her in three directions and keep hackin’ until she’s dead or you are.”
Besides seeing at least ten aliens kill each other, we’ve already watched a woman we know die in this heinous game. Any squeamishness or moral hesitation I may have possessed a few hours ago is a distant memory.
“Go!”
We rush back to the dining area. Big blue was ambling across the room toward us. She obviously thought this was going to be easy. When she sees we're armed, the look on her face goes from relaxed to enraged.
The three of us attack, surrounding our enemy from maybe eight feet away, then we come at her with knives drawn.
The bitch is big. And strong. But she’s no match against our three knives. I can’t pay attention to what Emily and Anna are doing. I have the knife handle in an overhand grip and just keep thrusting at her. She tries to fight us off by flailing her arms, growling, and gnashing her teeth.
She almost takes a bite out of Emily, but I scream, “Hey, bitch!” loud enough to distract her, then keep hacking.
She’s dropped to her knees and is roaring in pain, but is still snatching at us with her clawed hands and snapping her deadly teeth.
With her now about the same height as me, it gives me a better angle to do real damage. I take a vicious swipe at her, trying to reach her neck. She blocks my aim, but my blow severs several fingers of her hand.
With her scarlet blood spurting, and a mournful roar escaping her mouth, she’s losing her battle against us. One more well-placed slash cuts her neck. With our enemy distracted, Emily has the perfect opening. Her cleaver gets the job done as she slices the shaggy blue female’s throat so hard, all that’s keeping her head on her shoulders is her spinal cord.