Sarai

itwas bulging inwards. The rarely used old-fashioned bolt was stiffand slightly warped, but Jamie, hands shaking, got it across. Justas one piece of metal slid under the other, the door began openingas if pushed by a great weight.
Shit, shit,shit…what the fuck was going on?
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ALEKYNSTUDIED the moving red images. “Five heatsignatures heading for a single location. Two Zill, and …,” heswore softly, “three Keinyn, by the size of thesignatures.”
Bram, histhird officer, confirmed his reading. “They’re hunting?”
“Looks likeit. They’re spread out, moving fast — definitely targetingsomething. Get Eled and Tig over here now.”
The othermembers of his pard joined them and together they headed fasttowards a collection of buildings now showing on his com-screen.Primitive transport devices that Alekyn knew from his studies werepowered by fossil fuels — he was amazed to see such old technologyin operation — were parked near various outbuildings, most of whichsmelled of organic matter, animals…
He wonderedbriefly what type of creatures were farmed on this world. Not thatit mattered — they were here to track theZill, not go exploring, no matter how tempting theprospect.
“They’reafter something inside that building,” Bram gestured towards alarger structure that was lit from within.
Alekynnodded briefly, concentrating on tactics. He’d think about what theZill and their Keinyn companions were doing after they’d beencontained.
The buildingBram indicated had three entrances and a number of rooms. As theycame closer, their scanners picked up a sixth heat signature, thistime one within the building.
“That’s thetarget,” Bram announced. “Five forms are entering the buildingthrough one access point. Their objective seems to be located here…”
He stabbed along finger on a pictogram of a room towards the front of thebuilding.
“Let’smove,” Alekyn ordered, “fast and furious.”
Eledsniffed. “I smell smoke.”
Alekynnodded grimly. It looked as if the Zill were firing the dwelling’srear entrance. Maybe whatever had been trapped in the building wasresisting…there was a sudden explosion and the light within thebuilding suddenly disappeared, replaced by red flames sparkingupwards to the building’s roof. Silhouetted against the fire, hecould see the Zill following the Keinyn through what was left ofthe entrance.
Heunsheathed the long blade he wore strapped to his back; holding itin one hand, he pulled a stunner from his side holster and chargedforward. He could hear Tig and the rest of his unit — his pard —close behind him.
They splitup closer to the building. He and Eled swung left heading towardsthe small room Bram had shown them. He raised his stunner and firedat the window, hearing glass shatter before he dived through theopening.
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WHATEVER WASOUT THERE was definitely not something Jamie wanted inside withhim. He backed slowly out of the mudroom,mesmerized by the now wildly shaking door. Small bits of wood hadbegun to break off around the hinges. It was only a matter of timebefore the door was smashed to pieces. He could hear someonewhimpering and realised it was himself.
Then thepounding stopped and something chittered…like an insect, hethought, confusedly shaking his head, almost like cicadas shrillingin early summer, but discordant with a weird metallicundertone.
It was worsethan the pounding — it wasn’t something he knew, wasn’t somethinghe could rationalize. His heart was racing, his bodyshaking.
Then it gotworse. Small lines of light appeared on all sides of the door. Hecould smell burning. Something clicked loudly and he heardgrowling. The pounding stopped and he sensed large bodies movingaway from the door. His breath caught sharply as he was struck bysudden understanding.
They were going to blow the door open.
In a fewseconds, the old oak door was going to begone and whatever was out there would soon be in here, with him. Hewas pretty damn sure he didn’t want to be around to see that happenbecause judging by the chittering, the growls and sounds of clawsscraping the exterior door, those things were nothinghuman.
Heremembered to breathe again and sucked in a panicked breath…nothinghuman? What was he thinking? Of course they were nothing human!They sounded like they were nothing bloody earthly…and theydefinitely weren’t a pack of feral dogs. Dogs didn’t behave likethis.
He couldn’tjust stand here philosophizing or within seconds he’d be sharingspace with whatever they were. As if a switch had been flicked inhis head, he turned and ran from the kitchen and down the hallway,slamming doors behind him, hoping to delay whatever was coming forhim.
The gunlocker was in his dad’s study. Once inside, he locked the door andpulled a couch against it. Then he turned his attention to thelocker itself, trying frantically to remember thecombination.
A loudexplosion sounded, rocking the old house, and he knew with grimcertainty the mudroom door was gone. Hell, it sounded like half thekitchen had gone with it. His attackers were now in the buildingwith him.
He couldtell by the roars and howls that they were closing in on his hidingspot. The study door was struck, the couch in front of it actuallymoving with the force of the blow.
Anothersound, rhythmic and with the odd cadence of speech, drowned out theother sounds. Chittering again, he thought, chittering — and forsome reason an image of enormous mandibles clicking metallicallytogether popped into his head. He swore, took a deep breath andfocused on the task at hand.
Open the locker,Jamie-boy, open this damn thing and get the shotgun out, c’mon man,concentrate. Fuck, concentrate!
He forcedhis ragged breathing to calm…it seemed totake forever, but then success — the combination lock clicked, thedoor swung open.
He grabbed ashotgun and some shells, dropping a couple in his haste. He glancedat the window, wondering if he could get outside and lose hisattackers in the dark.
Then he nearly pissed himself in shock.
In thefading light, he could see something moving at speed toward thewindow. For what seemed like forever, he stood like a loon with thegun half-loaded and hanging in his hand. So much forescaping.
His shakinghands were loading more shells into the shotgun, independently ofhis brain, which seemed to have shut down in terror.
He didn’tconsciously lift the shotgun to his shoulder, didn’t realize he waslining up a target even as he was peering down the gunsight.
Whatever wascoming towards the window wasn’t a dog. That fast-approachingshadowy figure was bigger than any damn dog…even if he couldn’t seeit distinctly, its general shape was man-sized, huge