Earth Fathers, chapter 15 (Patreon)

The leader alien stayed with Rick, and Max inherited the flunky, who shooed Max into the hall with waving of tentacles and a few decisive air jabs of the triangular gun. One of the edges of the pyramid shape appeared to be the alien’s front, and he held the gun on the left side of that center line.

Max had no idea how that helped, but he did try to stay closer to the right side of the alien since the invader would have to shoot around his own body. His tool tentacles were significantly shorter than the four leg tentacles, so he might hesitate to shoot across his own corner… nose… protuberance. It seemed like an illogical body design.

“Go,” the asshole ordered with a leg wave to the left when they reached the first intersection. Max didn’t argue because this little shit didn’t have the power to negotiate. The boss had stayed with Rick, and Max had no way to help. Hopefully they would leave if Rick gave them the work they wanted, but he wasn’t counting on that either. He was counting on these guys putting him in a room with Rick eventually. Then he could get more information and start planning.

The flunky ordered Max into a lift.  The lifts were designed for one person, so Max had a moment of irrational hope that the guard would send him down before following. Max had explored every bit of the ship outside the command level, so he only needed a few minutes to lose himself in the labyrinth. Unfortunately, the alien pressed into the cramped space, his damn gun pressing into Max’s stomach. Max braced himself on two walls and refused to give the asshole any more space. Rick might insist that offspring were tough, but Max would not press on them, not when his damn shirt was already drying.

“You’re safe, Xander. You’re good, Kohei,” Max said, but he kept eye contact with the alien. If these assholes could see the offspring as children, maybe they would be more inclined to show mercy. “Don’t worry, kids. I’ll protect you.”

“Cold,” Xander said in a small voice.

That was odd because his hot body was pressed up against the small of Max’s body, but then Max realized that when Xander said that, they would swim together. Xander was so small, he was probably getting dry faster.

The tentacles around Max’s neck loosened, and Kohei slid down Max’s back so he was huddled around his brother.

“They’re scared and cold and dry,” Max said to the invader, and he hoped at least a couple of those words translated. He wasn’t sure if the improved translation was a function of being in the control room or if the computer had aligned the languages, but he needed these guys to understand the danger.

The lift door opened, and the alien backed out before issue a curt, “Come.”

Max sighed, but after a few seconds, he followed the order. Max spotted two more aliens near the corridor that led to the medical room. That made four aliens total, and Max didn't know how many he hadn't seen. The odds were not good, which is why he was still trying to play nice.

The guard kicked Max to get him to take the right turn at the next intersection. Max stopped. He turned and looked at the flunky. “Wrong direction.”

The invader jerked toward Max as if he might head butt him or at least chest bump him. He wasn’t the tallest alien in the world. “Move.” He then raised his weapon.

Max clenched his teeth. This was absolutely the wrong direction. This part of the ship had claustrophobic cubbies or bunks that Max assumed were either used for fragile cargo or low-paid workers. It might be a seedy version of an alien barracks. But none of these cubbies had access to water. Max could live without a toilet. He would be smelly and risked developing one helluva rash, but he'd survived worse. He had survived worse. However, without water, the children wouldn't survive long. Even James, as adventurous as he was, never stayed out of the pool for more than thirty minutes, and they were already coming up on that deadline. Max's wet shirt would not prolong that timeline by much.

“Offspring need water. Pool. Fluid.” Max tried every synonym he knew in the hopes that something would get through to his captor. Tentacles reached around Max’s waist and tightened, and Xander started a steady stream of burps that came out so soft that the translator didn’t pick them up. He knew something was wrong; Max was really starting to regret that Xander knew so much English.

“Move.”

“Offspring.” Max planted his feet, but the next thing he knew, the flunky had struck out with one of his leg tentacles, hitting Max low in the abdomen. 

Max collapsed to the ground, landing on his hands and knees. The blow drove the air from him, and he gasped and retched as the pain ripped through him. Xander's belches turn into something louder and wilder and infinitely more distressed, but Max couldn't focus on that. If this asshole locked them in one of those bunks, Max would have to watch the children suffer and bleed and die in his arms. The only reason Max was cooperating was to save the children, so he had to choose another path to give them even a small chance of survival, he was okay with that.

“Move,” the alien repeated. He didn’t even bother raising his gun, but then again, Max figured writhing in pain undermined any machismo he might have going for him, not that Max was a Rambo to start with. And he knew from Rick that aliens thought the human form looked frail and a little unbalanced.

Max crawled to the wall and rested his hand against it a moment before he started climbing back to his feet. Fuck he hurt. If that asshole had caused internal damage, that meant Max's timeline was even shorter. If he was bleeding internally, he had a limited amount of time to deal with this before his own injuries would make that impossible.

Max started moving down the corridor in the direction the flunky indicated. The whole time, he kept his hands against the wall to steady himself. He stumbled several times, going to his knees as he clung to the rail that lined most of these corridors. But each time, before the invader could strike out again, Max pulled himself to his feet and continued. Max had never been particularly religious, but now he prayed. He prayed to God or the universe or karma or whatever force controlled luck because he needed to get to the next juncture. 

If the invader locked them into one of the nearest cubicles, Max was going to have to make a desperate move. But if he could just get to the junction with the next corridor, he had options. Max continued to stumble along. Under his shirt, tentacles twitched against his skin, and Max had never felt so desperate in all his life. Even during that near-fatal training exercise, he had never felt such cold, raw terror. Back then, the only thing he faced was his own death, and he now he had more to lose.

With each step, Max fell the tiny ember of hope grow brighter. As they approached the corridor that intersected their own, Max stumbled again, and fell to the floor. The guard didn't even react, most likely distracted by the fact that Max had made himself look stupidly clumsy for the previous fifty feet.

The truth was he was unsteady, but not as much as he feigned. He was taking a page from Xander, the original Xander. That Xander could show up for a fight with a master vampire, rock in hand. Max could damn well show up to a gunfight with a maintenance rod. He wrapped his fingers around the rod shaped tool with a hook that was hidden along the floor board of the section, and when he started to get up, the flunky moved closer to prod him into movement.

Without a sound, Max spun around and darted forward. He aimed between the center leg that was facing him and the one that was to the right, and he shoved that hooked rod straight up into the diamond shaped bottom of the asshole. The gun clattered to the lightly padded decking, but Max ignored the temptation. He didn’t know the weapon well enough to turn it against the invader quickly, and Max needed to end this before reinforcements could arrive.

The rod sunk into the alien’s flesh two or three inches and the creature gave a high-pitched scream as its small tentacles all curled inwards, grabbing for that rod. Warm suction cups slapped against Max’s arms and hands and before curling around him.

Max suspected that a few inches of rod wouldn't prove fatal, so he leaned into it and pushed up with all his might. He drove the maintenance rod deeper into the invader's body. Then he yanked down. Hard. The hook that was designed to pull up plating ripped through something vital. Max smelled the stench of rotten eggs and greenish yellow bile flowed over Max’s hands.

Not willing to risk an enemy at his back, Max impaled the guard again, and how his hands sunk into the torn underside. Flesh squished, and Max knew this would feature in his nightmares later, but right now he had an obligation to protect his children. The flunky’s screams turned into a wet gurgle. Death sounded the same in any creature.

Unwilling to prolong anyone’s pain, Max wanted to end it quickly. He ripped the rod out again. The invaders tentacles slowly uncurled as it sank to the ground. With one final surge, Max drove the hooked end deep into the alien body, this time right through the large plate-shaped eye. Sensory organs had to connect to brain structure, and that was clearly the same for aliens because the body collapsed like an underinflated balloon.

Max felt squirming little ones at his back struggling to work their way up. One of Kohei’s tentacles reached around to the front of Max’s unbuttoned shirt, and the top of his head appeared as he tried to see.

“No,” Max said firmly as he held the fabric against his skin with blood-stained hands. “You don’t need to see this.” He quickly backed away from the body, but he couldn’t lose too much time in an attempt to protect the children. He had to clean his hands off so he could climb and grasp tools. His hooked rod would likely be too slippery, but as soon as his hands were clean, Max needed to double back here and retrieve the second maintenance hook and the gun before any of the alien’s friends could find him. And Max needed to get more water for his shirt.

Those were on his short list of tasks to accomplish. His full list included slaughtering all the assholes who threatened his ship.

Chapter 16: https://www.patreon.com/posts/earth-fathers-16-23798161 

Chapter 17: https://www.patreon.com/posts/earth-fathers-17-23902574 

Chapter 18: https://www.patreon.com/posts/earth-father-18-23938595 

Chapter 19: https://www.patreon.com/posts/earth-fathers-19-23961630 

Chapter 20: https://www.patreon.com/posts/earth-fathers-20-24034384 

Chapter 21:  https://www.patreon.com/posts/earth-fathers-21-24119410 

Chapter 22: https://www.patreon.com/posts/earth-fathers-22-24165545 

Chapter 23: https://www.patreon.com/posts/earth-fathers-23-24253737 

Epilogue: https://www.patreon.com/posts/earth-fathers-24266071