Negotiation: An Anthology of Hunter Tales from the Four Horsemen Universe (Four Horsemen Tales Book 13) by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seventh Seal Press
Published: 2019-10-06T22:00:00+00:00

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The laser pistol whined as a bolt sizzled just past Chadra’s left ear. He’d dodged and weaved the instant he’d seen the weapon. Despite not becoming an off-world Hunter, he’d still been instructed in how to perform his race’s most-exported profession. He felt a wave of fear and rage wash over him, propelling his muscles with a surge of speed.

It was obvious the Veetanho was schooled in combat as well, because she batted away the knife Chadra aimed at her neck. Chadra turned the lunge into a bull rush, ramming her shoulder into the Veetanho’s gun arm, pushing it into her body. The alien outweighed Chadra by a dozen kilos, but Chadra had momentum. The Veetanho stumbled backward, and Chadra took the moment to use his claws and rip the other’s throat out.

The Veetanho fell on her back and thrashed. Chadra quickly severed her major limbs’ tendons to keep her from getting to a communicator or another weapon. He checked her face, expecting to see the same panic. Instead he saw a strange, distant look. Entropy! He snatched up the Veetanho’s laser pistol and shot her between the eyes. Rolling her head to the side, he could see the telltale silvery pinplants. She had been calling for help.

There was no time for subtlety. Chadra raced for the main door. The Veetanho he’d killed hadn’t closed it, so he rocketed through and ran toward the exit. He got maybe a dozen loping paces before an alarm began to blare.

Why bother? His thoughts circled around his dead clan, and world. There was nothing left to live for. How many of us left? A few thousand, maybe? He began to slow down. Maybe it would be more worth his time to kill as many of the cursed Veetanho as possible. The contract. It was almost like another voice in his head. A Hunter does not abandon their contract. Ever. He wasn’t an assassin, but he was a Hunter. He sped up again.

His senses picked up the sound of running feet. Lots of hard, sharp feet. Chadra changed direction, found an alcove, and stopped. Removing a cylinder from his pack, he popped the top and pressed the stud. A flood of chemically treated water washed over his body. One of the few tools of a Hunter he carried, it would neutralize all smells and remove the blood he’d been doused with. It only took a couple seconds, and he left the bottle before heading out again.

The scrabbling sounds had to be Tortantula. The favorite troops of the Veetanho, he wasn’t surprised at all. A second before he would have encountered them, Chadra jumped on top of a piece of ancient equipment and froze, enveloped in quintessence. A squad of massive Tortantula raced by toward the datacenter. They didn’t slow as they passed.

On the move again, Chadra reached the first of the huge empty bays. He ran hard, making the dust fly up behind him in little vortices. He could hear large groups of Tortantula in all directions, including behind him.

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