"Enamor Me" - fluffy drabble
The grub had him pinned. Its breath blew heavily against his face, rotten and disgusting as the rest of it. Hands tightened around his neck as he fumbled for his side arm; his rifle was discarded on the ground just feet away from him. But centimeters made all the difference in this situation. He tried to lift his head to headbutt the grub; talons bit into his skin. He tried to raise his hips to buck it off; the grub was too heavy. His fingers finally found the butt of his pistol. His vision was fading to sepia and little black star bursts ate at the corners. He wasn't going out like this. Not with a grub choking him—that would just be embarrassing.
His waning strength wasn't enough to bring the gun up. He grit his teeth and gathered enough strength to spit in the grub's face. It roared, hands tightened, and Baird choked with the force of talons on his windpipe. Damn it, that was a wasted effort. He really was going to die. He always thought, if it would happen, that he would go out in a blaze of glory. He'd yell at his squad to get clear of the conflict while brandishing a grenade, say a witty one-liner and then set off the explosion.
Nope. I get to watch a grub get off on choking me.
Then the awful grin was gone.
Not with darkness like he expected; the grub's eyes rolled to the back of its head and it gurgled helplessly. Rain hit Baird's face with a hot splash and the grub fell forward. Surprised, adrenaline flooded Baird's body in a rush; trembling, his vision lit with a harsh white light and became vivid, sharper. He tore the hands away from his neck with a gasp and pushed the body off him. Voices crowded around him and he looked up.
Standing above him was the red headed Saint Felycia. He wasn't exactly religious but even he had read about her in a text about her love and protection. She protected the good and just—and a bunch of other bullshit he didn't remember. He never imagined she dished out justice with a gun.
She knelt beside him. His vision was still too blurry to see her face. Reaching out, he touched her cheek with a shaky hand. If he was dead, he would be able to touch her—or was he just crazy? His hand met soft skin.
"Shit—oh, sorry." Cursing in front of a saint. Genius. "Can't believe I'm dead already. Cole's gonna be pissed."
"Lieutenant, are you okay? Sir?"
He sat up and the world swam. Something wet ran down his forehead, his neck hurt like hell, but none of that mattered. He was dead. The Baird name was officially wiped off of Sera. This will make for one awkward family reunion.
The saint touched his shoulder. "Sir?"
He chuckled bitterly. "You're the saint here, why call me sir? Let's just get this over with. Are you going to take me or not?"
"Take you where?"
"Wherever guys like me go. Killers, bastards, the idiot who couldn't drum up a shred of decency to tell his squad how proud he was of them."
"I say we leave him here," another voice said. He thought he knew that one.
"How's he doin'? asked yet another.
"He's confused," Felycia replied softly. "Lieutenant, you're not dead."
"I never got to tell Cole how much he meant to me," Baird continued. "And Paduk—what a crazy son of a bitch. God, Sofia will be pissed. She looked up to me. I wanted to tell her that I was proud of her and I … I actually … ."
"Baird! Hey! Snap out of it, man!"
Baird definitely knew that voice. It was Cole, calling from the other side. Baird blinked rapidly but the world still didn't come into focus. He felt sick and ached a lot more than he remembered; his throat felt sore as if he had been screaming for a long time. With this much pain, he knew he was alive. Wait, he had been strangled within an inch of his life. What happened after that?
He turned toward Saint Felycia but his vision had cleared just enough to see Sofia's worried face. His heart plummeted. Shit, what did I say?
"Please tell me you saw Saint Felycia pass through here," he whispered. He was beyond embarrassed; he was beyond mortified. He really wished it had been Felycia that appeared to him and saved him the trouble of coming back to himself. Crawling into a hole and dying sounded just fine to him.
It took her a moment to respond. She almost looked like she would cry. Finally she smiled. "Of course, sir. She brought you back to us. You should definitely say your prayers tonight."