Chapter 22
Tuvo
Groaning, Tuvo grabbed hold of a nearby tree trunk, just barely avoiding falling over. His blood splashed against the ground. The multitude of wounds covering his body were breaking open from his reckless speed and Keith’s weight upon his back.
The human male said something, almost sounding concerned, but Tuvo could barely hear him over the racing of his own heart.
The hike through the woods hadn’t been that taxing.
He could only go so fast since he had to keep searching for the marks cut into the trees that were guiding his way.
It forced him to go slow as he and Keith worked together to find them.
The male had been mostly useless, but he wasn’t arguing with Tuvo about chasing after Hattie anymore at least.
Maybe it was because this was a lot more noble and brave of an action than just waiting patiently by the plane for rescue. It made him feel like he was strong and important. He wouldn’t be the first young idiot Tuvo had to deal with that felt that way.
Regardless of the reason, he helped spot the marked trees as Tuvo tracked the direct path through the forest. The males who had come and taken Hattie had not bothered to disguise their trail.
Either because they didn’t know how or they knew there was no point so long as they were dragging Hattie along who definitely didn’t know how.
Regardless, their tracks were easy to spot and, the rare times he lost them, all they had to do was find the next mark and, soon enough, he could pick it up again.
That was the easy part.
Then, they came upon the road.
Looking at the tracks and the disturbed foliage told him what direction the vehicle they must have had waiting would have taken.
The road allowed him to move faster – putting Keith on his back so he didn’t slow him down.
This was despite Keith’s protests. He was doing his best to touch Tuvo as little as possible for some reason.
But Tuvo couldn’t leave him here or at the plane, he would doubtlessly die.
He was young and foolish and not yet aware of his inadequacies.
So, he had to come along. But the way his weight and that of the pack of their belongings he carried was upsetting his balance, forcing his back muscles to work harder, and, as a consequence, making his wounds worse.
Keith just refused to lean against him, and he didn’t know if it was because of the blood or because he didn’t want to lay on another male, but Tuvo was getting tired of it.
Keith patted his shoulder, saying something that Tuvo was pretty sure meant he should stop. He should let him down.
The encouragement only prompted him to break out running again.
Hattie was in danger. Every second he dithered was one second closer to her potential demise.
They wouldn’t have taken her if they didn’t have a reason, but that didn’t mean anything.
Their reason could be as simple as wanting to take her to a different location before they did something horrendous.
The sort of things he didn’t want to imagine.
But after learning about humans and the depths and sheer commonality of horrors they could visit upon each other, especially, their females, they were things he couldn’t stop thinking about.
It didn’t matter.
So long as she was alive, he could fix anything that happened to her. So long as she survived, they could weather the aftermath.
Just let her still be alive when he found her.
That desperate thought gave him strength when he nearly collapsed again. It drove him forward even as the sky darkened. Keith mumbled again, but he didn’t stop.
The first sign that something was different was the sudden lack of animal noises. The insects were still buzzing, endless and unbothered, but the birds and mammals up in the canopy that usually sang and moved all through the night got quiet.
Tuvo diverted from the path and climbed a tree. Keith let out a sound of surprise, his arms and legs locking around him properly. He apparently wasn’t bothered about touching him when the alternative was a long drop to the hard ground.
Tuvo took him to one of the larger, sturdier branches that was well hidden amongst the leaves and then practically dumped him off. Keith grumbled, grabbing the tree and looking down with a mumble of fear.
Tuvo couldn’t help but think that Hattie had shown none when he had dragged her up a tree. She trusted him.
And he had betrayed that trust by letting her get taken.
“Stay here,” he ordered Keith. “I’m going to scout. If I’m right, the canopy is disturbed up ahead. The canopy animals are quiet, and they’re only quiet if they’re not there.”
Keith shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, not understanding a word.
“You.” He pointed at him. “Stay.” He pointed at the branch.
Keith frowned and tried to speak-
-but Tuvo was already gone.
Walking through the canopy was something that came naturally to his species.
Youths did this kind of thing for fun – tree walking.
It had been a while since Tuvo had done it – and he wasn’t the type to do it for fun in the wild like those interested in more extreme sports.
But it was a skill he had inherently as he ran over interconnecting branches like a path that zigzagged, up and down, through the foliage.
It didn’t take him long to find what he was looking for. Crouched low on a branch, he stared through the leaves at the compound dropped right in the middle of the forest. All the trees had been cut away – a brutal and primitive way of building.
The compound could be described similarly.
It was plain, boxy concrete surrounded by a square shaped concrete wall.
Looped lines of barbed wire encircled the top.
Each corner was topped by a watch tower with two males, carrying heavy weapons, standing in each, their eyes scanning the trees constantly.
There were no exterior lights, keeping them in full darkness.
Either the males on watch had some way of enhancing their vision in the darkness, or they were just patrolling with their weak, human eyesight and accepting the chance that something might approach they couldn’t see.
The gates across the road were closed. The walls were high. Tuvo had no idea where Hattie might be inside. He had no weapons besides his claws, and he was an injured, single male against an entire compound with lots of weapons.
The hissing of scales against wood drew Tuvo’s attention to a snake lifting its head to face him. Hissing out in warning. Just a threat display, no doubt.
But a timely one.
Tuvo lifted his hand and wiggled his fingers. Taunting it. Threatening it.
The snake struck.
Tuvo caught it in the air, just behind its head. It immediately wriggled and thrashed.
Tuvo brought it to his lips and bit down on its body, just behind the head. The scales parted easily and the rush of hot, sweet and spicy blood, spilled down his throat. He groaned in relief as he drank until the snake stilled and he could draw out nothing else.
He had lost a lot of blood. He needed to replace it.
He tossed aside the corpse of the snake as he stood, reaching for his legs.
The fabric of his jeans ripped easily under his claws.
He cut them into a pair of shorts, bearing his skin to get full effect of the camouflage without letting his cock dangle in the wind – out and vulnerable.
He tossed the useless fabric aside and walked closer.
The building had taken as much available forest as possible, but still allowed a certain amount of distance so that the branches weren’t over the wall. That was too easy a way to break into the compound – even for a non-climbing species.
But the jump wasn’t far enough to keep out a climbing species like his.
Tuvo ran around until he became even with a watchtower. He identified the closest branch that could hold his weight and took a few steps back.
The running jump was soft – no different from the shuffling from the normal canopy animals.
He leapt through the air, falling from the high treetops. Claws out. Aiming.
He caught the edge of the tower and swung around and down and inside.
The momentum of the fall broke the ribs of the man he struck coming in.
The second guy didn’t have time to do anything more than look over before Tuvo slammed his fist into his face, hard enough to knock his head to the side, breaking his neck.
Tuvo watched his body drop before looking into the compound. Waiting. But minutes passed without a commotion. His landing hadn’t been quiet, but the nearest towers were still far enough that the sounds were lost amongst those of the forest.
Tuvo grabbed the edge of the tower and jumped over. He landed inside the wall, his body completely hidden in the shadows. He gave it another moment, but there was still no reaction.
Following the wall, he headed for the closest door. There was a lot of space between the wall and the compound. Intentional, since it meant he’d have to leave the shadow of the wall to approach.
But there were two vehicles on the road making a ‘bridge’ to the door. Left on the path where they must have come in from bringing Hattie.
Tuvo put the now empty tower to his back, hiding him from the tower beside it that had a view of the vehicles as well – the other two couldn’t see him from their side of the compound.
Tuvo crouched-ran from the wall to the vehicle. Then from that vehicle to the other. Then, from that vehicle to the wall beside the door.
He tested the latch but wasn’t surprised to find it locked. A keypad bared his entrance.
Tuvo checked the manned guard tower, but there was still no commotion. He knew without needing to look that they couldn’t see him. Humans had issues seeing through his camouflage.
Back to the wall, he lifted his foot and put it against the door.
The bang from slamming it back and breaking the hinge rang out over the compound like a shot. An alarm immediately began shrieking as lights suddenly burst to life in- and outside.
Tuvo was already running, jogging down the unfamiliar hallways.
The first human that ran into the hall was carrying a gun and suffered the same fate as the male in the guard tower. The second male fell to his claws.
He ducked into a room as someone started shooting down the hallway. He killed the two males in there that had still been readying their weapons. As their corpses dropped, Tuvo licked their blood from his claws – intending to strengthen himself.
Only to nearly gag. He spit it out, grimacing, at the bitter, vile taste that lingered on his tongue. It burned like poison. He thought that the humans had aphrodisiac blood.
Or maybe, just the females had aphrodisiac blood.
He didn’t have time to think on it more as a male had pushed the muzzle of his weapon around the corner, intending to shoot blind.
Tuvo grabbed it and yanked him inside, wrapping his arm around his head and jerking violently, snapping his neck.
The male dropped and Tuvo examined the weapon. He considered using it for only a moment, until he realized that his hands were too big.
So, he tossed it away and yanked up the body he had just dropped instead. Holding the limp corpse in front of him like a shield, he stepped from the room-
-directly in a volley of gunfire.
It was a big compound, and he wasn’t even past the door yet.
This was going to take a while.