Charrack and John waited until the Valk were well out of sight before daring to breath a word.
"That went well." John commented, putting a fresh piece of gum in his mouth.
Charrack sat down next to him with a groan, "If by 'good' you mean poorly, then yeah."
John chuckled, "They didn't shoot me. Which is a huge win in my book."
"Your book must be quite exciting if you can be so relaxed after that experience."
John shrugged, "I think it's the adrenaline leaving my system that makes me so chill. If I stayed all wound up, I wouldn't get any sleep."
Charrack fiddled with the safety on his rifle, "Don't you realize they are taking you prisoner to interrogate back on our home world?"
"Yeah, I'd rather not think about that right now."
"But you should." Charrack insisted.
John let out a long sigh, "Would you have killed them to save me?"
Charrack looked confused, "No. Why would you even ask that?"
John shrugged again, "I'm just saying I would have killed a human to save your life."
"Oh, so you are a better friend because you would murder someone to cover me?" Charrack asked. "Well it's not the same for the Valk. We swear an oath of brotherhood when we join the military."
"I thought you were drafted," John interrupted.
"Well technically I was, but I still took the oath John." Charrack was getting angry at his questions.
"Okay," John relented. "So what what do we do now? Because I am not going to your world and I can't just disappear on you, they would arrest you for sure."
"I don't know John!" Charrack shouted. "Let me think."
They sat quietly contemplating their situation. The portal no longer seemed a viable option to John, and as much as it pained Charrack to admit it, he didn't want John to be taken as a prisoner. They wouldn't stand a chance trying to run away, John couldn't even stand if his heart rate went up.
"How's your leg?" Charrack finally asked.
"It hurts, even though it's gone. I'm surprised it doesn't bleed anymore." He examined the stump of his missing leg and adjusted the cloth wrapped around it.
"I don't know much about human physiology," Charrack admitted, "just enough to make them bleed."
John slowly turned his head to make eye contact with him, "That was super freaky dude," he said in English.
Charrack ignored him, "Yes my ribs are doing fine. Thanks for asking John." Sarcasm dropped heavily from every syllable.
"You've learned so fast." John whispered. A mock tear rolled down his cheek and landed in his lap.
"How about the rest of you?" Charrack inquired of him further.
John hadn't been thinking about anything else since the incident with his leg. He stretched his arms and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "I'm thirsty, and I feel a stiff, kinda tight pain in my chest. It isn't bad but I can't inhale deep enough."
"Probably just some bruising or muscle tension." Charrack surmised.
"Of course we don't have anything to treat an infection, assuming I had one, so I'd rather not consider it a possibility." John wrapped his fingers around his wrist to check his pulse. "That's odd," he furrowed his brows.
"What is it?" Charrack yawned.
"My heart rate is only twenty BPM." John said, a hint of panick in his voice.
Charrack, not understanding what beats per minute was, failed to see the significance, "So?"
"There is no way my heart rate should be that low, my normal resting bpm is fifty." John was perplexed.
"Maybe you're just sick." Charrack concluded.
John closed his eyes. I'm not going to die here. He thought to himself. Especially not from any stupid infection.
He thought back to what could have caused an infection. There was the water, he had no means of filtering it, and waterborne diseases were possibly the most common. Another possibility was the blood mixed in the water he had plunged into. He had an open wound, which would explain why only would have gotten sick, but it didn't look infected from the outside. The only other thing he could think of was the snake venom, but his leg was cut off to prevent its spread. There was also the slight chance that his system was just adjusting to a missing limb, although that seemed unlikely.
His thoughts drifted off to more pleasant times. When he could rest every night knowing he would wake up the next morning, when he had access to doctors who could treat almost any illness, when food was never an issue, but these were only memories. And soon he fell asleep.
His dreams came to an abrupt end as Charrack shook him awake. "They're coming back now, wake up."
John's head was groggy but he sat up, "What, who?"
"The hunters," Charrack answered. "They have the core with them."
"Wonderful." John muttered, still half asleep.
The Valk approached with hurried steps, just shy of jogging. Their numbers had dwindled from six, when they first arrived to three, and now their leader was missing.
"Where's Makal?" Charrack called out.
Kyrell didn't answer till he was a few feet away, "He was killed by the dragon." Something about the way Kyrell spoke made John shudder.
"Tell me how it happened." Charrack folded his arms.
The other hunters looked at Kyrell and he nodded to them. "He was consumed in flames that erupted from the beasts mouth. He died honorably."
"Oh I'm sure he did," Charrack said, "I'm just not convinced you didn't have your hand in it."
Kyrell took a step closer till his face was only inches away from Charrack's, "Are you questioning my loyalty?"
Charrack remained perfectly still and growled, "I am."
Before John could even blink, the two had aimed their weapons and began firing on each other. Charrack dove behind the entrance wall for cover and screamed from the pain it implemented on his ribs.
"Kill the human!" Kyrell shouted over the sound of rifle shots.
John scrambled to cover as fast as his arms would take him. An arrow whistled past his ear and imbedded itself in the wall.
"You don't stand a chance Charrack, just give up now and your death will be painless." Kyrell shouted.
Charrack responded with a few rifle discharges. "Move back into the portal room." He told John in English.
John grabbed his crutches and bolted as fast as he could into the hallway. His vision tunneled and went black and he lost all feeling in his body. Toppling to the ground and clutching weakly to consciousness he whispered weakly for help.
Charrack came around the bend and dragged John the rest of the way into the portal room, "Suck it up 'dude'." He handed John the rifle and pulled out his bow.
"But I thought you couldn't shoot yet." John said weakly.
"You and I know that," Charrack explained, "but we are bluffing our way out of this. They wouldn't dare shoot with the portal behind us."
John nodded in understanding and stood shakily on his foot with a crutch under each arm, fighting off the nausea that threatened to make him throw up and pass out.
Kyrell walked around the corner with his two squad members and they lowered their weapons, "Clever play, but I think you overestimate your abilities. You and your pathetic human friend are already weakened."
"I'm not here to make a final stand Kyrell." Charrack stepped into the entryway that had recently been opened up by the mole-bear. "I'm here to make a deal."
"You talk too much." Kyrell quickly drew a hand crossbow from the nape of his back and fired it at John.
John was waiting for him to make a move and quickly put a shot in all three Valk hunters. They dropped to the ground but Kyrell's bolt struck John's shoulder and protruded out the other side. John grunted and dropped the rifle, clutching is wound.
"If I'm dying today, then so will you!" Kyrell sputtered, coughing up a glob of blood. He lobbed a plasma grenade into the portal room and let out one last laugh.
John and Charrack rolled out of the small room as it erupted in flames around them. Charrack lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling in despair, but John rolled around in pain.
"You still alive?" John asked.
"Barely, how are you?" Charrack responded.
"Not too bad." John removed his hand from his injured shoulder and stared at it in horror. His blood, was black....