Back on the small, sandy planet in the heart of the Barren Lands, Saleek and Patrick wandered along the dusty streets of the settlement. The human glanced at his mini-computer on his left wrist and checked the local time.
‘Hey, Saleek?’
‘Yeah?’
‘It’s been about three and a half hours since we paid that mechanic and my legs are getting tired now from all this walking around. Shall we head back to the ship and see if they’re done with the repairs?’
‘I was just thinkin’ the same, buddy. I think we’ve been round this whole place and there’s nothing interesting here at all, plus the heat from the sun is beginning to make my spikes itch. Let’s go back and check the ship.’
The pair changed direction and started to head east, walking in the general direction of the mechanic shop. Suddenly, a group of angry-looking aliens appeared from behind a large tent structure about fifty metres away from their current position. They looked rather threatening and advanced towards Saleek and Patrick, some of them wielding clubs for weapons.
‘Uh...Saleek?’ said Patrick worriedly.
‘C’mon, let’s turn around. We’ll take the long way back to the ship. We don’t want any trouble,’ the lyan said sensibly.
The two turned around only to be confronted by a second group of angry aliens who had appeared from out of nowhere and were also advancing towards them.
‘Shit...’ breathed Patrick as the reality of the situation dawned on him. ‘They’ve got us trapped.’
‘What do you want?’ bellowed Saleek in a voice loud enough that both parties could hear him.
No response from either group.
‘If it’s money, you’re outta luck. We ain’t got any!’
Still no response. The first group of aliens were only around twenty metres away from the duo now.
‘Saleek, what do we do?’ asked Patrick in a panicked voice.
He glanced from one group to the other, trying to determine which advancing party looked the least threatening. Sadly, they were both as unpleasant-looking as each other.
‘See that narrow alley over there, between the two huts to your right?’ said Saleek quietly so as not to announce his plan to the oncoming thugs. Patrick looked.
‘Yeah?’ responded the human.
‘I’ll try and distract them. You make a break for it – head for that alley and get to safety. I’ll join you as soon as I can.’
‘You’re not going to try and fight them are you? We’re completely outnumbered! There must be at least twenty of them altogether,’ pointed out Patrick concernedly.
Saleek glanced at the worried human.
‘No time to argue, here they come! Go, Patrick! Go!’ he hissed as he shoved the human in the direction of the alley.
Patrick glanced back at Saleek before putting his head down and sprinting for the nearest alley.
‘Hey, check this out!’ yelled Saleek loudly as he darted towards the closest group of aliens and kicked up a huge cloud of sand with his right foot.
The wind picked up and whipped the grains of sand into the aliens’ faces with great speed, temporarily blinding them. As they cried out and clawed their eyes with their hands, paws and other appendages, Saleek changed direction and ran towards the other group of aliens who were now mere metres away. The lyan screamed something incoherent and launched a flying kick into the nearest alien’s torso. The unfortunate creature took the kick full force in his chest and was catapulted several metres backwards, knocking a number of other aliens off their feet in the process.
Meanwhile, Patrick’s feet pounded the sandy ground hard. He tried to run quickly to safety but the sand kept giving way as he placed his heavy boots on it and this slowed him down considerably. He had almost made it to the narrow alley when one of the aliens caught up to him and lashed a kick at the human’s ankles. Patrick lost his balance and fell over onto the ground. He quickly picked himself up and spat out the sand which had unfortunately got into his mouth when he had fallen. Alas he was not quite quick enough scrambling back to his feet.
Now he was surrounded by a group of five aliens of varying heights and builds, all of whom looked menacing. Left with no choice, the human reluctantly raised his hands into a fighting stance and got ready. One of the aliens to the left of Patrick raised a club with his right hand and jumped at the human, thrashing about wildly with his weapon. Patrick backpedalled to get out of the way, right into another alien who threw his arms around him and clasped his hands together tightly in a bear hug. Patrick dug his heels into the ground and pushed off, forcing the alien who held him to lean back. The human then drove those heels into the club-wielding alien, who took the blow in his abdomen. Spluttering and coughing, he dropped his club and fell to the ground, clutching his body. Patrick then freed one of his hands and grabbed his other assailant’s right wrist. Straining with all his might, Patrick managed to twist the wrist, forcing the alien to let go and making him howl in pain. The human then shifted his bodyweight, grabbed the alien’s arms and threw him to the ground with a hip-toss. Adrenaline flowing freely around his body and his heart rate quickening, Patrick looked around to see who would try and attack him next.
A tall, strong-looking alien with four large arms (instead of the usual two) bounded forward, snarling a vicious battle cry of sorts. For a moment, Patrick was frozen to the spot as he took in the sight of the enormous creature coming towards him before he suddenly regained his awareness. He bent his knees and darted forwards. The alien made a peculiar snorting sound in surprise as he obviously expected Patrick to either cower in fear or run away as fast as his legs could carry him. The clever human did neither – he bent low and ducked under the oncoming creature’s arms and performed a slightly clumsy yet undeniably effective forward roll, grabbing the dropped club from the sandy ground as he landed. Grasping the basic weapon tightly with both hands, Patrick swung it at a nearby alien. The alien was caught off-guard and was knocked off his feet by the impact of the club on his jaw. Patrick was starting to grow in confidence now and in a strange sort of way, he was almost having fun as he wielded the weapon aggressively, knocking over another alien with ease and making the rest take several steps backwards to get out of range of the human’s swings. It was all going well until Patrick made the fateful mistake of becoming overconfident. He actually grinned as he held the club aloft with his right hand as if he was proclaiming victory over the hostile aliens. Unfortunately, this did not last long.
An odd-looking alien stepped towards Patrick. It had a tall and thin body with awkward-looking, spindly limbs. The whole structure of its physique didn’t look strong enough to support its gigantic head but somehow it managed to do so. The creature’s jaw was wide and its mouth was at least as wide as the human’s shoulders, if not bigger. The alien smiled and exposed humongous teeth but Patrick was not worried. The human confidently took up a stance reminiscent of the baseball players he used to watch back on the outer colonies when he was younger, holding his club high, ready to strike. All of a sudden, a long tongue lashed out of the alien’s mouth and wrapped around the tip of the human’s weapon. Before Patrick even realised what was going on, the tongue had retracted and the creature now held the club in between its massive teeth. The alien appeared to grin sadistically before closing his mouth and shattering the club with ease. Patrick gulped as hard, brown splinters fell to the floor and became lost in the sand. As the alien stepped forwards, now flanked by many others, Patrick took several involuntary steps backwards to try and maintain some distance between him and them. It was then that no fewer than four aliens pounced on the human from behind and both sides all at once. Patrick was quickly immobilised but he continued to struggle desperately even as the aliens picked him up and carted him off like he was a crate full of food that was late being delivered to a banquet.
Saleek, on the other hand, was faring better than his human counterpart. Thanks to his impressive natural agility, speed and lightning-fast reflexes, the lyan barely had a scratch on him. He ducked un
der yet another attempted punch and retaliated with a quick hook to what he assumed was his attacker’s ribs. There was a sickening cracking sound as something in the alien’s body gave way and the poor creature howled in pain before falling to the ground. Saleek then had to move fast in order to evade a grab attempt by a large, slimy creature coming at him from his left. This particular creature was strong but painfully slow by Saleek’s standards. The lyan spun out of the way before launching into a spinning tornado kick which connected with the right side of his attacker’s face. The impact somehow travelled through the alien’s whole body, causing a ripple effect to move back and forth over its slimy, shiny skin. This creature too fell to the ground groaning in pain. Saleek stopped momentarily to weigh up his options and decide on his next move and it was then that he noticed Patrick being unceremoniously carried away by four aliens.
‘Hey! Hey!! What are you doing? Let him go!’ yelled Saleek in vain.
The four aliens ignored his pleas and continued to carry a still-struggling Patrick away from the fight. Saleek started to run after them but he swiftly had to skid to a halt after no fewer than ten aliens quickly stepped in front of him, blocking his way.
‘Damn it,’ cursed the lyan as he realised that there was no way he could beat all ten of them – at least, not before the other aliens were long gone with his friend and to make matters worse, he had no way to track them.
I really don’t wanna do this, but I don’t see any other way outta this one, thought Saleek bitterly.
He cursed in frustration one more time before turning around and running away from the group of now-scattered aliens as fast as he could. Some of them simply stood still and shouted after him waving their balled-up fists in the air while others attempted to pursue him, but it was no use – Saleek was far faster than any of them. Within seconds he had put some considerable distance between himself and the following aliens and within a few more seconds he had darted behind a nearby tent and was gone.