Page 46 of Alien in the Depths

The salacious grin that crossed Vexis’s face made Zaraq start forward instinctively, his fist pulled back. Everything in himwanted to end the Rikuan, and he felt his muscles tense like a spring, ready to uncoil.

But then he felt something else. A hard jab of metal into his solar plexus.

“Wrong move,” Vexis snarled, holding the sigma blaster to Zaraq’s chest.

Zaraq’s fist was still raised, and for a second, the two men stared at each other, a stalemate that Zaraq knew could only end one way. He was at the worst disadvantage possible, and the only way he was leaving that apartment was in a body bag, no matter what he did.

He was debating whether or not the punch would be worth hastening his own death when a sudden blast filled the hallway with bright orange light.

“Aaaah!” Vexis’s scream rang through the house, bouncing off the marble floors.

For a second, Zaraq thought Arccoo had snuck in through the broken glass door, but as Vexis bent down and clutched his calf in agony, Zaraq saw a familiar figure emerge from the shadows.

“Zaraq!” Sofia cried, sprinting toward him. The blaster he had given her was gripped tightly in her hand.

In the split second after Sofia’s shot, three things went through Zaraq’s mind, as if everything else was moving in slow motion.

His first thought was to push past Vexis and run to Sofia, to take her in his arms and tell her over and over again that he loved her. He wanted her to know everything he hadn’t said before, everything he’d held back.

His second thought was to wrestle the sigma blaster out of Vexis’s hands before the cretin could regain his composure. That weapon was his only chance at freedom, but he’d have to get it before the guards had the chance to turn on him. Judging from the rough hand he felt grabbing his shoulder, though, that wasn’t all that long.

And his third thought was simple—grab the delta blaster.

Ripping himself away from Joran’s grip, Zaraq lunged forward, his heart thundering in his chest as he reached for the gun still lying on the sideboard. As his fingers closed around it, he saw Vexis starting to rise from where he crouched.

The look on his face was unlike anything Zaraq had seen from him until now. It was the pure, unadulterated fury of a man who was used to being in control and had suddenly had that ripped away from him. In his hand, Vexis still gripped the sigma blaster in its airlock bag, and now he tore the bag away with a scowl.

“Look out!” Sofia’s voice rang through the hallway from behind Vexis.

But Zaraq’s stomach dropped as he saw Vexis spin around to follow her voice, the sigma blaster in his hand and the airlock bag floating to the floor. Zaraq raised his blaster to shoot the Rikuan, but suddenly he felt the telltale press of a blaster at his temple.

“Sofia, run!” he yelled, his adrenaline pumping. In a risky move, he knocked the guard’s gun away from his head, spinning around before Joran could react.

With a triumphant yell, Zaraq brought the butt of his own blaster down into the Rikuan guard’s temple. Joran’s yellow eyes rolled back in his head, and his heavy frame collapsed to the floor with a thud.

Behind him, Zaraq heard blaster fire and yelling, but he couldn’t turn around. Weedy was snarling at him, his snakelike features curled into a look of contempt.

“Get the fuck down!” the guard yelled, brandishing his blaster shakily at Zaraq.

The look in his eyes told Zaraq he was on shaka, and a high gunman was even scarier than a sober gunman. Zaraq took a step back, but with a strangled yell, Weedy fired haphazardly.

The blast grazed Zaraq’s hand.

“Aah!”

More than the pain of his injured fingers, he was yelling for his weapon. The blast knocked it out of his hand and skidded across the shining black and white marble of the floor. It came to rest by Joran’s side, who remained unmoving.

Before Weedy could fire again, Zaraq retreated, bolting toward the arched door of the living room where he hoped to take cover. As he ran, he heard more blaster fire from the end of the hallway and caught a brief glimpse of searing white light.

That wasn’t a delta blaster, with its telltale orange glow. It was something else entirely. Something he hoped he’d never have to see, especially aimed at the woman he loved.

He couldn’t stop, though, and dove through the doorway, seeking momentary refuge behind the couch. Even as he escaped from Weedy’s new barrage of haphazard shots, Zaraq’s blood ran cold. He needed to get to Sofia, but he was trapped without a weapon.

More blasts rang through the house, and in spite of everything, Zaraq figured that was a good sign.

As long as two guns are being fired, Sofia is still alive.

“Get out of there, you coward!” Weedy yelled, blasting three more shots into the couch.