Alright, here's the chapter in full, sorry for the wait guys life was very hectic, but the house is finally nearly fully put together, I got a new position at my job I'm finally fully trained on, and I can sit down and write again. Because the chapter was already posted I know it won't give the alert but I'm hoping that it's worth the wait, thank you all for your patience.
The human sain'ja had come for him again. This time though, she had been too late. It was already over, and the abomination grew within his chest. He could feel it, squirming and writhing against his ribs, nestling against his heart. He should have stayed to fight the baiun, but his path had been clouded, and not only for the drugs the humans had given him.
The human would not have survived the battle, and she did not need to die for his mistake. If he could turn and go back, he would, but the human doors were made of thick metal and the mechanism to open them was not apparent. He would look, but the female was pressing him on. When he stayed behind, she ran back up to him and cried words of encouragement. It was obvious she wanted him to follow her, when the path told him to go back and face his death, for whatever it would be worth.
The human wanted to go somewhere, and she wasn't leaving without him. She had made a motion that she could cut the abomination out of him. A fanciful idea, but it wouldn't change anything. He had committed the ultimate dishonor; the least he could do was go die.
But no, the human was persistent and was insisting he come, her voice shill and barely tolerable to his ears with no mask to filter the sound, and looked like she was simply not going to leave without him. He rattled, giving one last look to the heated doors then turned, following her brisk pace. She led him down several hallways, none of which he recognized though he tried. They had filled him with many drugs to keep him passive, effects he was still feeling though the fire in his blood was sure to burn away the remnants soon.
He stopped when she did, crouching behind her but only so that if an attack came he had the time to stand and answer it. She was being cautious, but for what he couldn't tell. He didn't hear anything, and as he opened his mandibles to take in the air, he tasted no odors save for her.
He tapped her on the shoulder to indicate the way was clear, and she looked back at him and waited. He also until he realized she didn't understand the gesture. He made a movement with his hand to signal to keep going, and she nodded and moved forward, still cautious. He had to remember he was not dealing with a yautja, a sain'ja, but no warrior was she, and she wouldn't understand the hunting hand signs and subtle body language for just this situation.
Though survival was low on his priorities, he hoped they would cross something worthy of killing him, though he was no longer a warrior of worth, but such a hope was also foolish for the chances of the human surviving. Somehow, this was more important to him. Gods, how far had he strayed from the Path?
He grabbed her shoulder when he heard movement, and luckily she made no sound at abruptly being stopped. He turned his head to listen, lower mandible flexing as he strove to identify it. Footsteps, small, rapid, echoing like sharp little taps. It was difficult to tell for the sounds blending together, but he would guess five adult male humans were the source of the sound.
He looked to the sain'ja tapping the side of his head where his ear was, then holding out his hand, all digits splayed, then pointed down where he could hear them.
She nodded and altered her steps, turning down a hallway away from where the men were and charting a new course to whatever destination she was leading him to.
Many twists and turns later, avoiding all combat, they arrived to a large apparatus, which doors she opened and entered, waving a hand to encourage him inside. He entered and looked around, recalling how the last time he was in something like this with her, she had to have him exit and then enter again. There seemed to be no such trouble this time as the doors to the machine closed and began to raise. She kept low, indicating him to do the same, and when he crouched she moved to him, leaning and putting her ear to his chest again.
He rattled low, knowing she was checking on the status of the thing inside of him, one he was temporarily able to forget until now. She pulled away and looked to him, her face twisting in a human expression, one that looked like pain, though she was uninjured. She put a hand on his shoulder, a light pressure. This gesture he understood, and he rattled.
Loud shrill pops resounded and sparks flew on the metal around them. The sain'ja cried out and headed for the side of the machine, out of reach of the bullets and he stood and roared. The machine moved to where the humans could no longer shoot at them, but it began to slow. He knew that when it stopped they would be fired on again, and he looked to the human as she crouched by the control panel to the machine.
He turned to the doors and spread his arms to the side, flexing his fingers, ready, when they opened and the gunfire began he charged forward, looking at the blurry masses of heat and grabbing the nearest one, using him as a shield against his fellows as he took his weapon, the weapon he then used to smash against the head of another as he threw the corpse of his shield to knock back another warrior. He felt the bite of the bullets enter his flesh and heard the human woman's shrill cry of his name as he roared. With no weapons, and no armor, he was at a disadvantage, only able to fight with his skill and claws.
These humans cared not and continued to use their weapons and wear their armor. He shouldn't have expected them to show honor though, and he would make them regret it.
Another warrior fell as he gripped his throat and tore it out, then moved onto a female in armor, grabbing her head and smashing his fist against her stomach, before turning the head with a simple turn of his wrist and snapping her neck. As more bullets bit into him he continued to the next warrior, grabbing and lifting them, roaring as they screamed.
Only to have silence follow as another scream answered.
Jitar turned his head down the hallway, rattling in his throat as his tresses tapped against his back. The other warriors around him looked as well. All knew what beast made that noise. He dropped the warrior in his hand, who fell and returned his gun, lifting it not at Jitar but down the hallway.
He heard one of them say something frantically, panicked, afraid. Pathetic.
The serpents came down the hall, darker shapes against darker walls, barely visible to him and completely vanishing in some spots. He had never fought kainde amedha without any sort of weapon or armor, and as the lowest of the casts, about three of them if he counted right, bore down on them, the humans opened fire, screaming and cursing.
Jitar backed up and planned his move for only a second.
He bent and gripped the body of one of the fallen warriors and threw it at a kainde amedha, causing it to veer, lose focus for a split moment, long enough for him to throw himself at it, using the momentum of his body to knock it to the ground. The beast screamed, and he felt claws rake against his skin as the sound of the inner mouth barely missing his crest shocked through his ears.
As the human's weapons fired and ricocheted around him, he wrestled the beast, punching it, one hand keeping its head away, as he furiously tried to crack through its crest and expose the brain. His task was interrupted when the beasts tail lashed out, he ducked feeling several of his tresses sever and he grabbed the appendage with a roar, standing and whipping the beast, swerving it around and around, smacking it repeatedly into the walls, cracking the weak feeble stone, before resorting to swinging and beating the thing against the ground.
The tail end snapped off in his hand, acid spraying from the end a few inches down. He didn't hesitate, jumping forward to the flailing beast whose severed tail was gouging the floor and walls with its blood. He leapt over the offending appendage, dropping all of his weight down on it and burying the end of its tail deep into its head.
It stopped moving immediately, the blood harmless against its own shell. He looked around for the silence that surrounded him, the other warriors had taken out the other two kainde amedha, though there were only three humans left now of the group. They were bewildered, confused, he could taste their fear as they aimed their guns at him but did not fire, they knew he was no longer the biggest threat to their lives.
Still he spread his mandibles in a warning growl, then looked over as the human sain'ja crawled out of the elevator to a wounded and drying man. She frantically spoke to him as her hands moved around him. He screamed and whimpered, too far gone to recognize she was trying to render her healing practice to him, but it mattered not. His panicked screeched stopped and he was still. She was silent, the soldiers were silent, and it broke when she whimpered.
Unbecoming of a sain'ja, but something he had come to expect from her.
Jitar moved forward, ignoring the guns aimed at him again and grabbed the woman's arm, pulling her back to her feet and gripping her shoulder, then looking again to the humans. Was their fight to continue? If so, he stood between them and her. They didn't fire, he didn't attack, they spoke something between each other, and they began to lower their guns.
A forceful voice down the hall made all present look, and the human woman ran from Jitar's side towards the approaching man and wrapped her arms around him. The man issued the same order again, saying something angrily then looking around at the carnage. Jitar also looked, counting the three dead kainde amedha and the seven dead humans, three of which were his kills. It occurred to him that he had taken down the beast with his bare hands, no weapons or armor, a feat that had never happened before, a feat that he would not ever have the chance to boast.
A sharp huffing breath forced past his mandibles as the thing in his chest moved violently, no doubt a reaction to the loss of its hive mates, the anger of its baiun, and he smacked a fist against his chest to quell its retaliation; it would either kill him now or be still, he would not tolerate its insolence otherwise.
The human sain'ja set a gentle hand on his chest, then turned to speak to the one warrior that held the authority over the others, and he in turn spoke to the three remaining, forcefully. They seemed unsure about what was said, but them came to an agreement. The woman looked to Jitar and touched his shoulder, then moved, making the motions to follow again as the warriors took up positions to move. They were going to follow the warriors, now having a common enemy in the most dangerous prey. Jitar did not know how far he would trust these humans, for all that they had done, what they had done to him, and the fact that these kainde amedha seemed to be their failed responsibility, but the human female again refused to leave without him, taking his hand in her small fleshy one.
He looked down at the stark difference in heat between the two, and he noticed the eyes of the warriors watching. He rattled at them in warning, and began to follow her. He didn't know where they were going, but he would follow her till they were safe or he was dead, whichever came first.