Alien Barbarian’s Little Human

12. Chloe

CHAPTER 12

CHLOE

A cry of terrible pain rips from Varona’s throat. His face becomes a mask of sheer misery. It hurts me to see him in so much agony.

“Varona, please, stop,” I say, grabbing him by the forearm. “Don’t be like this. It’s not the end of the galaxy, or the end of you and me! I can request a station on an IHC base in this sector, or even leave the military completely.”

His teeth gnash, and his eyes turn into narrowed pits of anger.

“I don’t need your half-solutions! I need the IHC to change their damn minds. If they don’t, I’ll…I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” I ask softly.

He fairly trembles with rage.

“I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them all! No one is taking you from me, Chloe. Ever!”

“Would you calm down? You’re acting like a Vakutan more than an Ishani.”

That gets through to him, at least a little. He closes his eyes and blows air out through his nostrils.

“I am no Vakutan.”

“No, but you’re acting a whole lot like one right now.”

His eyes widen in surprise, and then he jabs a finger at me. His nail is jagged and pointy. Did he injure himself in his rage?

“You, a human, are going to lecture me on what it means to be Ishani?”

“No, of course not. Damn it, Varona, I am not your enemy! Stop treating me like one.”

A look of tenderness fights for supremacy in his gaze. Varona reaches his hand out, gently, as if to draw me into his embrace.

Just as I step into his arms a blinding flash of light burns through the window. We both turn as the low rumble hits our ears and a thick cloud of debris rolls skyward.

“What just happened?”

His voice is tinged with panic. I know the sight of an Alliance KX Demolisher drone’s handiwork when I see it.

“That was the Ataxian consulate,” I say breathlessly. “Oh no. Tell me the Alliance didn’t…”

“More than the consulate!” Varona bellows. “They took out most of the surrounding structures as well! The people! There were people in those places.”

It gets worse the longer we watch. The Ataxians prove they aren’t going to turn the other cheek, and in an amazingly short time an entire brigade of Odex shock troopers form up in the street, preparing to march on the Alliance Embassy.

“Where did they come from?” I shake my head in disbelief. “It can’t be possible.”

“A hidden bunker beneath the Ataxian consulate,” Varona hisses through clenched teeth. “We knew of it, but we did nothing because we never thought it would come to this.”

The Odex begin their march, nearly a hundred eight foot tall blue-furred warriors. I once saw an Odex take a full round clip from a slugthrower assault rifle, shrug it off and keep fighting. There will be blood if they reach the Alliance consulate.

“Ah, see, Belar will restore order,” Varona says, his voice more tight than reassured. A winged Ishani flaps down from the sky and lands directly in the path of the Odex. The Odex commander calls for a halt, and the lot of furred soldiers comes to a disciplined halt.

The commander strides up to Belar, towering over him. The two exchange words we can't hope to hear because of the distance. At length, the Odex hangs his head, and Belar nods and turns away.

Then, the Odex grabs the hilt of his power blade and slashes right through Belar’s midsection, cutting him in half.

“No!” Varona screams.

I watch in horror as the Isahani falls in two pieces. He screams, and that we can hear even at this distance. The blood curdling sound makes me whimper as Belar’s wings flap crazily. He tries to drag his upper torso back to his lower half when the Odex commander severs his head from his body.

Varona’s scream grows guttural, an ugly noise. I clap my hands over my ears. It’s like being stabbed in the eardrums.

His rough nails tear at his body, leaving bloody streaks and leaving his flesh hanging in loose tatters. White bone from his sternum and ribcage reveal themselves.

“Varona, stop!” I cry. I can’t even hear my voice over the din he’s making. I only know I spoke at all because I could feel it in my throat.

Varona stops keening, but still seethes with rage. When he turns to look at me, his expression is terrible, an expression of the blackest kind of anger.

“I will make them pay for this.”

His voice is rough and ragged from the scream. He goes toward the window, folding his wings back. I know he’s going to leap out and fly and then I’ll lose him.

“No!”

I run up and embrace him from behind, pressing my face into his back.

“Don’t go, Varona! We need to get out of the capital, maybe even off-world! This place is about to become a war zone.”

“So be it,” he growls. “If they want war, I will show them the meaning of war.”

“Listen to yourself! You don’t sound like an Ishani at all.”

“So? What of it? The Ishani let this happen. We let it happen, Chloe! No more. I will wipe the infection off the face of our planet with my own two hands if need be.”

I cling to him with the desperation of madness. He drags me across the floor, my feet trailing behind us.

“Stop! This isn’t you, Varona. The man I love is a man of peace, a man of gentleness and wisdom.”

“Look what peace and gentleness have wrought! Our beautiful city burns down around us, and you want to talk about peace?”

Varona grabs my wrists and pulls them away from his body. Tears roll down my cheeks as he pries himself free. I collapse on the floor, a sobbing mess as he steps to the window.

“Don’t leave me, Varona, please.”

He doesn’t even look back as he leaps out the window and spreads his wings. Varona left a trail of his blood behind him. Will he ever come back to me?

And if he does, what will be left of him?