Desperate Times (Lost Planet Warriors Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

their way to me, and would not arrive in time. Weaponless as I was, it was up to me to defend myself against this thing. I growled as it came in slashing down at me with a lethal strike.

Chapter Seven
Kim
    T he red lights were seriously messing with my vision. It was just the wrong shade of red, deep enough that it created shadows where there shouldn’t be any, but bright enough that it hurt my eyes. I was questioning the sanity of my decision to leave the relative safety of the room, but it was too late to turn back now. Besides, the way the hallways on this ship twisted about I didn’t know if I’d be able to find my way back, anyway.
    Then I smelled smoke. Smoke meant fire, which had to be one of the worst nightmares possible on a spaceship. Ships in space were every bit as vulnerable to a fire aboard as the old wooden ones had been on Earth. The oxygen rich environment combined with poor gravity, lots of little ducts for air flow, and tons of electronics to make a fire the spacefarer's most deadly enemy. I didn't know what sort of suppression systems they might have on a Cymtarran ship, but I imagined that even here fire was not a friend. Something bad was going down for sure.
    From somewhere up ahead I heard yelling. Listening more intently, those yells sounded a lot like screams. That more or less clinched things. Definitely bad juju up ahead somewhere.
    First smoke, then screaming. I ought to be heading in the other direction as fast as I can go. Instead I found myself following the sounds, looking for their source. If I’d wanted to play it safe, I would’ve stayed back on earth. I was here. Now. And I’d be damned if I sat around doing nothing when there was trouble.
    I rounded the corner and found the bodies. Two alien soldiers, all decked out in fancy armor. It hadn’t saved them. One of them looked like he’d been scorched with something, and the other had been stabbed through the chest. It looked like a massive spear had been driven into him.
    I left the bodies where they lay. There was nothing I could do for either of them. Both aliens had been carrying some sort of rifle, so I grabbed one. I had the feeling that it might come in handy very soon. The weapon's mechanism was strange to me, but it seemed like it still worked like a rifle. Point end at enemy, pull trigger. Or press the red button on the grip, in the case of this rifle.
    Guns everywhere were made to be simple and easily used. This one might be flashy and high tech, but it wasn't that different from Terran weapons I was used to.
    An explosion rocked the corridor.
    "Shit," I said. Then I did the completely illogical thing and started running toward the sound instead of away from it.
    Why was I doing that? I still didn't know. I owed nothing to these aliens. But there was trouble, and I couldn't just stand around and hide. Besides, they were at least willing to talk. Who knew if their enemy would be as reasonable? The enemy of my enemy and all that.
    I rounded the corner into a scene of carnage.
    The first thing I saw were the giant bugs. They stood as tall as a horse, gleaming with a chrome-like metallic finish. Armor or skin, I wasn't sure which, but it sure looked like they were made of metal. Each had four legs that ended in stabbing tips. They were easily the most horrible things I'd ever seen, made even worse by the splashes of red blood on their shining mandibles.
    Standing opposed to them was a small group of Cymtarrans. Their gold armor stood out against the chrome bugs. Some of the Cymtarrans had engaged the bugs in sword to claw combat, while others lay down suppressive fire with weapons similar to the one I'd grabbed. One of them was a little too slow blocking a blow from a bug, and got impaled on its claw. The Cymtarrans next to him sliced down at the limb and chopped it off the bug, while another Cymtarran with a rifle blasted the bug.
    The guys in gold were winning, but the victory was coming at a cost.
    I glanced across the room,