Sacrifice

Rated: M

Chapter: Ten

Lex sat back after tying off the stitching. She couldn't be sure of the time it took to sew up the gash, which turned out to be at least seven inches long, on her alien friend's waist, but she felt as though at least an hour had past.

After his first ridiculous outburst, he'd stayed silent, but twitched often. His endurance for pain was impressive. Pushing the needle through his skin proved to be difficult, so her first few stitches were rather clumsy. She even had to go back and undo one because it came loose.

Though his species appeared to be built for fighting, it seemed their skin was rather sensitive. It swelled even as she patched him up and was hot beneath her fingers. She knew that if they didn't get out of the tombs soon so he could get proper treatment, the infection would spread and he might not last long.

It set Lex's nerves on edge because she had the sudden realization that the aliens' tails were possibly poisonous. She shivered as she recounted how many times it's glinting tip had come dangerously close to skewering her.

Her hands were wet. Slick with her companion's blood, her fingers ached and felt cramped. She flexed them and leaned against the wall opposite Scar as he inspected her handiwork. He rumbled to himself for a moment, and then seemed to be satisfied because he jumped to his feet and began to walk away.

"H-hey! Not even a thank you? Why am I not surprised? You know my hand is all cramped up, so I'm practically handicapped because of you…" Lex murmured to herself as she hurried into a crouch and reached for her spear. He ignored her as she groped around, hands patting the cool floor around her.

Lex frowned when she didn't grasp the weapon instantly. Uncertainty rose in her gut and she moved to all fours, scuttling across the ground to hurriedly searched for her weapon, but it didn't present itself. Either ignorant of, or not interested in, her frantic movements, Scar's lumbering form continued to walk away.

After thoroughly berating herself for being an airhead in a time of crisis, Lex froze when she abruptly remembered the moment when Scar launched her into the hall. She'd been terrified. In her panic, had she accidentally dropped the spear? She couldn't recall if she had it in her hand after landing or not, but what she remembered with clarity was flailing and grasping about as her body was flung. It was worryingly probable that it slipped from her hand in her frenzied flight.

Lex bit her lip, mentally kicking herself for losing her only defense and looked over her shoulder. Scar was no longer visible. She couldn't crawl around in the dark forever! Cursing under her breath, she leapt to her feet to jog in the direction he disappeared into.

As Lex became close enough to see the shadowy form of the hunter, she was certain he'd slowed his pace, or had stopped completely to wait for her. For a moment, he'd seemed motionless, he may have even been facing her, but when she blinked, his back was to her and he was still walking.

The darkness of the tombs could easily have been playing tricks on her. Though her eyes were adapted to the darkness and her body moved now with a tentativeness that tensed every move, Scar was still a strangely shaped form barely visible through the darkness that fogged Lex's vision.

Whatever light managed to filter that deep was incredibly scarce, because Lex was only able to make him out because of his armor. As he moved, it would glint slightly. The noise he made as he walked, which Lex semi-wondered might have been for her benefit, seemed to help her imaging his bulk in front of her.

Tall, black curving shadows marked the entrance to other rooms. Lex tried not to look at them because she knew that she wouldn't be able to see what was inside and didn't want her mind to try to imagine what might be crawling around.

In any case, Scar still walked as though he knew exactly where he was going, which gave her the impression that he could somehow see. Her mind filtered through ideas about how that could be, and she toyed with the pondering of heat vision, too prevent her thoughts from drifting back to the unsettling feeling of trailing blindly behind a massive, warrior-like being possibly into a room full of hostile, blood thirsty aliens.

Unfortunately, the brainstorming about Scar's optical abilities only occupied her mind for so long before the cool fingers of uncertainty curled around the back of her mind again.

"Scar?" She asked, jumping at the loud sound of her own voice.

She thought she heard the male sigh, but was uncertain because her ears were still ringing from her own uttered sonant. She did hear his soft trill of response, though.

"Scar," She whispered this time, still feeling as though her voice was far too loud," I don't have a weapon."

Scar was silent.

Unsure of his lack of response, Lex continued," If we walk into another room like the last I have nothing to defend my-oof!"

Lex walked solidly into Scar for the second time that night. Her arms waved in imbalance and she took a step back to steady herself. Warmth tightened around her forearm, engulfing the entire space from her wrist to her elbow.

Scar's hand pulled her back into an upright position and twisted her arm so her palm was face up.

"Ow! What the hell do you think you're doing?" Lex protested, trying to pull back from the firm grasp," You can't just go yanking me around!"

She pause to take a breath as Scar didn't respond, but the next retaliation died in her throat when a heavy device was suddenly wrapped around her arm. Lex snapped her jaws shut as she felt Scar tightening straps and rumbled in irritation to himself as whatever he was trying to attach to her still sat loosely on her thin limb.

He clicked and withdrew, soft thumping sounds signaled that he was patting himself in search of something.

In the mean time, Lex pulled her arm closer to her face in a vain attempt to examine what he'd given her. It was big and had to weigh about five pounds. Though the tip of her nose accidentally brushed against the device, she couldn't see what it was. Small shadows dipped into it, but the face was still so dark, she just could not make out any features.

With a sigh, she instead investigated with her free hand.

The surface was metallic and small protrusions sank under slight pressure from her fingers, indicating themselves to be buttons. There were two on the inside of her wrist. She pushed one.

The device shuddered and released a sharp shink! Lex cried out in shock and jumped back, thrusting her arm forward to put as much space between her body and the thing as possible. As she did so, Scar snarled and the shadow she knew was him leaned quickly away from her arm.

He clicked and barked in angry admonishment at her.

Lex ignored him when the device did nothing more. It was still and silent, but she noted that its weight seemed to have shifted and dipped her hand forward slightly, forcing her to crook her elbow. Pulling it back in, she tentatively ran her fingers over the back of it, towards her hand.

From its edge, two serrated blades protruded and Lex felt abashed heat rise of her neck. Feeling foolish, Lex shifted her eyes to where she thought she could make out Scar. Apparently her sheepish embarrassment wasn't enough for the warrior, because a heavy fist landed on top of her head.

Lex cried out, but before she could retaliate, or accidentally gut on of them, her freshly gauntleted hand was not too gently reclaimed. Scar chattered at her as he pushed the button that re-sheathed the weapons, and then lifted her arm to shoulder length, holding it there for a moment.

Lex got the impression that he probably wanted her to support it there, so when his hands dropped away, she did, though not without fixing him with a scowl as she rubbed her head. The hit wasn't too hard, but it still stung somewhat.

After a moment, Scar began to wrap the device carefully with a thin strip of cloth to make sure it stayed immobile on her arm.

Lex stayed silent as he worked, but when he tied it securely, she commented," You know, I hope you don't make a habit of pounding the top of my head every time I make a mistake. You really will handicap me, if you do."

Expecting either a sort of scolding or to be completely ignored, Lex jerked and tensed when, instead, Scar's large hand cupped the side of her neck and the rough pad of his thumb grazed over her scar. She froze and stared wide eyed at the black visors of Scar's mask that stood out plainly in his sudden closeness. Despite the rumbling purr emanating from the hunter that Lex was sure was intended to sooth her, she found herself holding her breath until he withdrew.

Next, his hand found her free arm. Suddenly absurdly sensitive, his palm felt cool on her skin, which was inexplicably on fire. Lex could feel more heat rise to her cheeks and her mind wandered towards her earlier ideas of heat vision. She wondered if he could tell that her blood was boiling for reasons that confused her.

She had a sudden urge to push him away, but only clenched her teeth and tried to focus on what she knew would logically only be a demonstration about how to use this new weapon.

Standing beside her, he instructed in his own language as he guided her fingers over the device on her other arm. The back of her neck prickled at the otherworldly sound of his language. The strange mix of clicks, growls, and barks made her stomach twist as she tried to concentrate on making sense of it.

She could tell he was standing close because she could feel the warmth from his abdomen on her upper arm and she resisted stepping away. She'd always hated people who ignored boundaries, but this had to be an exception. She couldn't see, so it wasn't like he could just point to what he was trying to show her.

He showed her which button released the blades by pressing it as an example and explained what Lex assumed was its title with a series of clicks. Then, he moved her fingers over the one that pulled them back and did the same.

When the blades returned, she ripped her arm away and took a step back.

"Got it!" She squeaked, then cleared her throat and looked away, finding the swimming darkness more comforting than looking at the shifty shades that formed her companion," I mean, thanks. Let's get going, though."

Lex breathed a sigh of relief when Scar stepped away, seemingly satisfied that she understood. She mentally pictured what the device might look like, running her hands over the top as she followed.

A smooth, beveled surface was on top near the wrist and the important buttons were on the opposite side. The device started at the wrist joint and reached slightly past her elbow, making it a little difficult to bend her arm, but she would have to manage.

The buttons she needed to release the weapons were conveniently located on the inside. If she bent her hand inward, she could push the buttons with the hand wearing the gauntlet and strike quickly in one fluid movement. In theory, and in her own mind, it executed smoothly. She only hoped it would prove to be just as easy in action.

In gifting her with the new weapon, Scar had enabled her to survive. Again. His motives for helping her were still baffling. It wasn't as though she was a good warrior, so allowing her to tag along had no benefit to him. Somehow, she couldn't help but recall the science fiction films she used to love so much as a teenager where aliens were often antagonists bent on world domination or enslavement of mankind. Scar was nothing like the stereotypical aliens.

If anything, Scar was more comparable to a knight in shining, albeit very futuristic, armor. At the thought, heat crept onto Lex's cheeks, but it was true. He'd saved her countless times one year ago and now again, he was protecting her.

Mindful of the trigger buttons, Lex drew both arms close to her torso for warmth in the dark tombs. Moisture had built up and she could hear it trickling and dripping all around her. Even the air she breathed felt damp and was beginning to smell musty.

Finally, the soft shifting of armor slowed to a stop and a large hand pressed gently on her stomach to stop her from proceeding. It bunched in her vest and tugged her into a crouch.

Lex was slightly bewildered, but she could almost make out that Scar was also crouching right in front of her. His bulky arm was still slightly raised to warn her to stay put and he hunched forward, holding his breath as he surveyed something.

Frowning, Lex ignored her boundary issues and scooted closer to try to see what he was looking at, though she was certain her vision wouldn't be able to penetrate the darkness. Tentative hand braced between the hunter's shoulder blades to steady herself, Lex was shocked that she could actually see what was awaiting them in an adjoining room.

It would have been nice to have known in advance that the attack in the circular room was barely the tip of the ice berg. Lex supposed she'd been expecting too much when she hoped that the queen Scar torched was the queen. Unfortunately, his eagerness to continue their route deeper into the tombs stomped merrily on that feeble hope. She knew it wasn't over, but she'd anticipated that they only had to kill a few more of the smaller aliens.

Unfortunately, she was wrong.

If the circle room held thirty aliens, then this one had at least fifty. What was worse was the queen. Full grown and at complete sexual maturity, she was all ready an egg laying machine.

Lex quickly realized that their visibility was due to some strange, slimy looking substance that coated the room thickly. It gave of a slight luminescent glow, but to her eyes, which had fully adjusted to darkness, the goop was about as good as a flashlight. It glinted off of the dark shells of the serpent like creatures swarming about their queen.

Easily ten feet tall, the queen was still young. She was suspended by the semi-solid yellowish-brown substance that seemed to wind and web all around the room. The gleaming, amber colored resin hung from the ceiling, draped across the walls, and wrapped around the massive queen. Behind her, a tapered, oval ovipositor extended from her abdomen and was also suspended. The end of the ovipositor was muscular and clenched and unclenched as it worked to push eggs out.

Lex's eyes were wide as they took in the majestic form. Unlike the others, the queen's cranium reached and flattened into a spiked dome crown. This one also had not inherited the mandibles many of the others had.

Her spider like minions scampered around her, fussing about as if trying to make her more comfortable. She chirped and snapped at them as they passed. Unaware of their watchers, they moved slowly and seemed less like the monsters Lex knew that they were.

The room was crammed full of mucus covered eggs and, to Lex's horror, lined with bodies hung on the wall with otherworldly sticky goop. The dark skin of the people, who probably had the misfortune of stumbling upon an alien while hunting for their village, was pasty and gray.

Most were long dead, dry blood painting their bodies and the floor a forbidding copper. The ones who were still alive moaned in agony. Some lifted their heads, praying in an unrecognizable language to whatever god would listen; begging for deliverance. For some savior.

Dark spots splattered their faces and chests and even speckled the floor. Lex knew it was their blood painting the surfaces around them and felt her stomach churn. Bile rose in her throat and she swallowed thickly.

A hand on her shoulder jerked her from her thoughts and the snout of Scar's mask almost touching her nose captured her attention. He shook her shoulder lightly and released a purr that was almost inaudible. Considering their circumstances, he probably couldn't risk speaking any louder, anyway.

Scar stared expectantly at her. Realizing that he seemed to be making sure she was ready, Lex shook her head in an affirmative and she whispered," Let's do this."

Scar's mask dipped and he trilled lightly in response as he turned back around to watch patiently for an opening.

In the dim light, she watched him silently slip a disk from the back of his belt and bit her lip, tensing for the cue to jump into action. Hips slightly raised, ready to pounce, she steadied herself with her left hand splayed on the ground between her legs, while the other hovered, ready to release the dangerous twin blades.

The amount of aliens slinking around was daunting and the odds were against just the two of them, but there was no turning back now.

A/N: I know, I'm getting pretty bad with these lame filler chapters, but I have a good excuse! They uh... move the story along? ^^; Seriously, though, I apologize for the short chapter. The next one will be longer and have more action in it as they penetrate nest number two. Thank you to everyone who is taking the time to review. I try to respond to those who ask questions or have critique, but if I forgot you, let me know. :)