Chapter 7: Instinct

READERS' CHOICE FROM CH. 6: K) [Torbus feels everything closing in. "Fuck it," he thinks, as he lowers his center of mass and prepares to spin and draw on the soldier behind him.] 

The gun barrel pinched the thin skin into his spine. Torbus winced at the sharp pain and his stomach rolled like a fist had pushed it out of the way. His eyes darted across the field and the frenzied crowd swirling around the remains of the bandit in the center. Between trudging feet, he saw the sugran's gaping mouth and the viscera of a terrible black wound the length of remaining trunk. Torbus shut his eyes but saw an image of his mother being ripped apart in the mud. He tried to imagine something else, anything, and only saw Colonel Jivo's silhouette and smelled his nauseating aftershave. Torbus gasped for air, but his abdominals flexed trying to retch.

Then, a chill washed over Torbus, sending a wave of gooseflesh from the head down. He sensed the gun being pressed into his spine and the heat of his cigarette burning down to his fingers. He clenched his jaw. Breathed in. Out. "Fuck it." His heart raced, but his shoulders relaxed, and he lowered his hips. He slowly rotated his hands out and up indicating he was not a threat and dropped the cigarette. Halfway up, Torbus bucked. In one smooth motion he smacked his bag clip with one hand and drew his pistol with the other. He saw a skittering trail of smoke on the dirt a few meters in front of him before he heard the hum of the laser and stumbled trying to flex the part of his flank that had been burned away. 

His loose bag came down on the sugran soldier's gun as Torbus spun. He heard the trigger click and the humming cut off. The spin was sloppy, but his draw quick. Pointed at the soldier from the hip, Torbus' pistol cracked four times before it reached chest level, still tucked close. He watched the soldier trip backwards down the alley with the force of the shots. No spray. No backspatter. The sugran must have been wearing a Gurratan recon suit under those robes. Torbus frowned at the thought the orders for his head went to someone with access to that kind of tech. He paused while the sugran lost his balance and thudded into the dirt on his back. The soldier strained to aim his weapon at Torbus. The laser clicked, buzzed, and an erratic black line danced up the corrugated aluminum siding of the pharmacy racing towards Torbus. Over the orange dots of his sight, Torbus saw the soldier's fierce grey eyes and his black teeth in a grimace. He fluttered the trigger again. This time, viscous sprays of black accentuated clouds of dirt and rock kicked up by the five reports echoing down the alley. 

Torbus holstered his weapon and turned towards the crowd hands up. The sheriff had already covered half the distance to him. "All clear now. I apologize for the sudden use of force and the commotion. My name is Torbus Belgran. I'm on special assignment for Colonel Jivo, Delian Military. I'm currently assigned to the outpost here in Valpon under Captain Judd. The sugran behind me was a Gurratan operative we believe was in cooperation with the bandit in the field over there. I was hoping today's proceedings would draw him out." Torbus gestured to his pocket. The approaching sheriff nodded approval but began to strafe.

"Do it slow, or you'll be the third dirt kisser today," she said. Torbus obeyed. And relaxed. He heard in her tone she wanted to know, which meant he could spin this how he wanted. He pulled out his smarfo, paged to the dossier, and pointed the screen towards the sheriff. She kept her gun pointed at him. "You're coming with me."

◊◊◊

"Good hunting, Belgran. And do put in a good word with Brother Suin for me." Torbus nodded without looking and took another stilted step away from Sheriff Wavros' truck. The regrowth matrix filling the eight-centimeters of vaporized flesh showed no tears, the doctor in Valpon had assured him. She told Torbus he could "do anything besides maybe inverted sit-ups," but just lifting his left foot still felt like someone was branding his kidney. He focused on each foot, one at a time, for the remaining 2-kilometer hike through the tan reed analogues to his target. 

Torbus smelled the roasting kaldis nuts before he saw the smoke in the blue morning sky above the farmhouse. He laid down near the edge of the reeds. The stems crinkled and broke into a fine dust. His side ached and it felt euphoric not having to move. Torbus rested, slept, and watched the house for a full day and night. Eliza Nader was alone in the brown and black farmhouse. But four trucks had come throughout the day. She chatted and gave each driver, sugran and human, some of the nuts. Torbus stared and plotted. Jivo had his mother. Lommar tried to have him killed. This kaldis nut beeper could be his solution.

When the faintest violet line on Sekora hinted at first-dawn, Torbus stood...

CHOOSE an ENDING (Leave a comment below or message me somewhere to vote. I will update this chapter with the winning option.) [7/31/2023] --> UPDATE: [8/7/2023] Two votes for O. O WINS.

M) [Torbus concludes following Brother Suin's and Colonel Jivo's orders to kill the target are his best chance at saving his mother.]

N) [Torbus stretches his hands towards the growing line of light. The pain in his side is blinding, but he reaches until his abdominals make an unsettling pop. Whoever this woman is, Torbus decides she won't be his ticket out of the hurt locker. He turns away from the farmhouse and starts limping back into the reeds.]

O) [Torbus brings the dead sugran's smarfo to his chin. "Commander Lommar, the sugran you sent is dead. Normally, I'd challenge you to single combat for your rank and honor. Instead, I'm hoping to make amends for my failure with payment: a slave for the new sorium mines." He hopes to earn favor with both sides by enslaving Eliza Nader to Gurrat and sending evidence of her fate to his new handlers in Delos.]