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CHAPTER 6

They were halfway across the plain when it struck. An impossibly long sinuous tentacle that whipped into the group and wrapped around Gorth. Lee and Sora screamed and dropped the rope connecting them all before it could drag them into the grass, as well. Beyond the wall of plant life, Gorth screamed in fury. Terror shot through her, and for a breath, she couldn't think past it.

“Form a circle!” Kenahi commanded, pushing the women into a tight group. Mia obeyed mindlessly, still trying to process what was happening. Morkuth and the other two men ran to join them. They stood before the women, swords out.

A second tentacle, this one scaled in blood red shot toward them. Kenahi was fast with the blade, slicing in a deadly strike and opening a wound along the tentacle's length. Somewhere deeper in the grass, something enormous shrieked.

“Is that...?”

“We call it a Griecher. These limbs are but a part of the monster.”

“Oh God, it gets worse?”

The grass beside them trembled. Becky tried to curl into a small ball on the ground, but Mia pulled her upright. She didn't want the woman left behind if they had to run. The men raised their blades, prepared for battle.

“It's just a baby,” Gorth announced as he broke through the foliage. Blood covered his face and neck, and he spat. “We'd best get out of here before the mother decides to do something about us.”

Relief flooded Mia. She didn't know how she felt about the men in general, but she certainly didn't want to see them die, and most definitely not like that. They had shuffled forward several steps when a louder, more feral cry sounded to their right, the opposite direction the baby had been.

“Shit,” Kenahi cursed. “Run!”

The men started before Kenahi had even finished the command. It took the women a few seconds to realize what was happening, but when they did, they had no trouble keeping up.

Becky stumbled across a limb as it shot across their path. It twisted and twirled, trying to twine around her legs. Mia was too close to stop and she plowed into Becky's back, sending her sprawling forward.

The tentacle missed Becky, but it found Mia's leg in its stead, wrapping itself tightly in the space of a breath. It pulled with massive strength and she went down screaming. Grass whipped at her face as she was pulled away and her fingers bled from trying to grip the ground.

“I'm here, woman,” a warm presence straddled her thighs. She was still being pulled through the grass at an alarming rate, her stomach was rubbed raw and clumps of dirt filled her shirt and bra. She could feel one of the men working and slicing against her leg and tried desperately for a moment to decide if she should tell him to just cut it off. She didn't want to lose a leg, she loved her legs, but she didn't want to be food for some monster with snake tentacles.

If felt like far too long before she stopped moving and the grip of the snake-limb loosened so she was able to roll over. She hardly had time to blink before another tentacle grabbed her savior. This time it didn't drag him off into the grass, it raised itself, and the man, high into the air. There was a dramatic moment where he twisted in its grasp in a very cat-like manner. Then his armor shifted, shooting out in spikes like that of a porcupine. The black needles pierced the tentacle, enraging whatever was roaring in the background, the limb shook its prey and then smashed downward. Mia cringed as the alien impacted with a sickening crunch. He lay, still as death. Whimpering, she crawled toward him, her hands shaking. The tentacle still wrapped around him; it lay as still as the man. Pale spots marked his brown skin working their way from around the dark charcoal surrounding his eyes. These dots were much less vivid than Morkuth's, but the man's ears were tipped with black and a black strip ran along both sides of his jaw. He lay motionless. Had he died trying to save her? She placed a tentative hand on his chest, avoiding touching the monster, and breathed a huge sigh of relief. Still breathing, still alive.

The blade had flown from his hand, and several of his armor pockets opened, spilling their contents. She had a moment to think about grabbing the light tool that sat just out of her reach before the tentacle began contracting. It wasn't acting as quickly as it had been and Mia wondered if it had stunned itself during the assault. Decision made, she dashed for the blade. It was lighter than she had assumed but that meant little to her ability to wield it. She used it like a machete, hacking at the appendage a short distance from the man's body. The tentacle shuddered and contracted again so she doubled her efforts. She hacked it again and again, until her fingers felt as numb as her mind, but still she kept smashing the blade down. There was so much blood. She didn't even know monsters could bleed. That should have given her pause, but she found herself unable to stop.

“It is dead, woman,” Kenahi told her gently, stepping through the grass, his hands raised as if facing some feral wild beast. “You killed it good. Come on, give me the blade,” he coaxed. Mia raised the weapon again, somehow still unable to stop herself. Before she could bring it down, Kenahi was with her, holding her aching arms with gentle firmness and prying the blade from her fingers.

“Come now, it's over. The Griecher has retreated...”

Mia burst into wild horrible sobs. She sagged in Kenahi's arms, her terror and adrenaline leaving her in great heaving waves. Kenahi tightened his grip enough so she didn't fall but held her as though she was about to explode and didn't want to be the trigger. He didn't seem to know what to do with her, and when she peered upward, the look of confusion on his face was too much to bear. Sobs became snorts, and then giggles. The confusion on his face deepened which only served to set her off farther.

“You haven't had to comfort a woman often, huh?” she asked after she managed to catch her breath.

“Not one battle crazed from slicing off a Griecher tentacle, no.”

Mia let off a little giggle, but the tears still threatened to pour from her eyes. Trying to keep any sense of composure, she wiped her eyes on the back of her arm.

“Your man, he is alive, but I don't know how injured he is.”

Kenahi, finally secure enough to let her go, knelt beside the man.

“He saved me,” she sniffled.

“Looks like you saved him right back. There's no time to ensure his spine is not broken, we'll have to move him like this.” The second part Kenahi seemed to mutter to himself, and then he nodded once and pulled the man across his shoulders in a fireman's carry. “Come, Mia, let’s get out of this hells forsaken grass.”

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