[3] The Road

[Piper Juunanagou]

Szar…

The changeling was no more. All traces of the alien security officer had vanished into the sweltering sun of the Sandtrap. Furthermore, the vehicle that had served as their transportation and shelter had been reduced to a pile of twisted, smoldering steel. As if to throw salt into the wound, the being behind the final blow had escaped the situation effortlessly. Worst of all, however, was the fact that Piper hadn’t been able to save the changeling.

Great job there, Piper. The woman’s inner voice chided as a pair of the overgrown scorpions exploded up from the sand and set all of their beady eyes upon her. You abandoned your friend and now he’s gone.

“Damn it!” The redhead screamed as she lashed out at the nearest scorpion with a side kick right to its chest as it reared up on its hind legs to strike at her. The impact gave the creature wings for a few moments before it crashed onto its back a few feet away. Although not dead by any means, the scorpion bore extensive cracking on its armored chest stemming from the initial point of impact. The wounds were oozing a viscous black fluid that created tiny pillars of steam when it hit the sun-baked sand.

Oblivious to its comrade’s injuries, the other scorpion moved to attack as well. Still fuming from her self-depreciative internal banter, the woman could do little to compose herself. So with clenched teeth, the redhead leveled her weapon with the head of the creature and fired off enough bullets to kill a few grown men. Just as they had before, her bullets either ricocheted off of or exploded harmlessly upon the creature’s chitinous exoskeleton.

“This isn’t good,” Piper exclaimed as she calmed herself down and turned toward her remaining teammate.

“There’s just too many,” Kaden shot back as he knocked back a pair of encroaching arachnids with a large, vibrant blast of energy. Despite the visual intensity of the discharge, the overgrown scorpions were only stunned for a few fleeting seconds before they once again began to advance toward the courier.

“Tell me about it,” Piper replied sardonically as she tried to focus on dodging around one of the aggressive little creatures. Fortunately for the woman, her increasingly superhuman capabilities gave her a slight edge over the startlingly agile beast. On the flip side, however, all she had to defend herself with was the small handgun she kept hidden on her person, which wasn’t all that great at penetrating her targets’ dense exoskeletons.

“Ready when you are,” Kaden shouted as he dipped beneath an oncoming tail.

“Now!” Piper shouted as she took a small running start and vaulted up into the air. A few seconds after the redhead’s feet left the ground, a hooked barb ripped deep into the sand-covered earth. Whilst airborne, the woman’s eyes found the scorpion that Kaden had targeted for death. Leveling the gun, Piper squeezed off a trio of shots which all found their mark upon the slightly illuminated head of the creature. By the time Piper’s feet touched the ground, the beast had already settled into a slowly expanding pool of blackish fluids.

Stepping forward from her landing, the redhead ejected her spent clip and reached into her back pocket for additional ammunition. With a click, Piper’s last set of bullets slide into place, and without a moment of hesitation, she opened fire on the nearest scorpion as it reared back for a lunge. Although she aimed squarely at the arachnid’s face, her bullets alone could do little but irritate the lumbering monster.

This isn’t going to pan out well. Piper thought as she lowered her small handgun and once again found herself on the defensive.

“Fall back to the hillside,” yelled the courier as he unleashed a blast of energy right into the ground. The impact caused a large wave of sand to erupt forth and temporarily disorient the chitinous creatures. Nodding her head, Piper feigned away from a tail stab and proceeded to leap backwards toward the bottom of the nearby hill. A moment later, she was joined by Kaden, who seemed relatively calm and collected despite the rather incredulous situation.

“We’re not alone,” he whispered, leaning closer to the woman as he turned his eyes up toward the pillar of smoke that lie on the crude road. “There’s a small group on the road that’s been watching us,” he added as he diverted his attention back to the encroaching horde of unyielding arachnids.

“Who?” Piper shot back as she drew her firearm and aimed down at the nearest scorpion. Knowing that the bullets had little to no effect, she fought off the urge to unload the clip into the chittering maw of the disgusting, overgrown thing.

“I can’t tell exactly, but I can see them,” Kaden replied, emphasizing the word ‘see’ so that Piper would more clearly understand the dual meaning his unique abilities gave to it. With a nod, the woman let her gun arm fall back down to her side.

“Let’s spread the love around,” she whispered as she turned around and sprinted right up the sand-covered slope. When she reached the top, she found herself staring right into the lone eye of one of the other ‘Hunters.’ Despite her best efforts to the contrary, the redhead couldn’t remember the name of the grizzled warrior.

“You’re just in time to join the party,” Piper declared with a sarcastic enthusiasm as Kaden stepped up onto the road beside her. Behind the twosome, the mob of monstrous scorpions was skittering up the hillside.