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The adult was the biggest problem Literally Cole knew he’d be ripped in half by the ed into Orville, choosing a foe closer to his size Tackling a bear would’ve been easier Cole tried to hang on as the enraged child thrashed, clawing at his back to tear him to shreds

Molly arrived at full speed around the clear side of the tactical table Cole tried to shout her down as she threw herself into the air, bringing her heels into the back of Orville’s knee The pup crashed down under Cole’s weight, the stick pinned beneath him

Edison pressed off the wall and rushed past toadult They crashed into each other with a booh to match the elder’s size Molly wrestled with one of Orville’s ar to keep it pinned back, as Cole launched a series of blows at the cub’s skull The strikes stung his fists, but he wasn’t sure the angered youth even felt the at the elder’s eyes, the two locked in a fight to the death

Orville howled beneath hi back toward the table With a thud, Cole drove a knee into the bundle of fur Orville just pushed his bulk fro hih the air, narrowlyMolly’s head

Cole screaed hiht Cole felt a massive parap around his knee before he was tossed into the ht for his senses Molly yelled so; he looked up to see the sharpened stick, like a battering ra toward his abdoainst the steel in a blooe

Cole pushed hier Orville looked down for what reht into the pup’s eye

The room rumbled with the sound of pure fury The other two Gle each other to see what had happened At the sight of his wounded protégé, the adult let out a roar of his own He tossed Edison aside with a shiver of rage and took a step toward Cole

••••

Molly was already backing away fro creature when Cole turned to her "Run!" he commanded

She stu off the steel around her Cole caught up, steadying her as they rushed past the tactical table Molly glanced over her shoulder to see the adult thrashing toward the the ith his fists as he went,to the ladder filled Molly with the dread of a living night the bad thing at her back She kneould get her, but she had to scra

Fear traveled up her spine; she jerked her ars, one after the other She kicked and fought her way up Every tiht, Molly had to bite down on her body’s urge to pass out Each rung brought pure torture

The ladder ide enough for Cole to coside her, just as they had descended They were over twoas fast as they could, when the adult reached the at her feet The Gleround Molly didn’t hesitate She launched off the ladder and wrapped both arms around the creature’s neck The adult peeled her off and cast her aside, tossing her violently into the wall A wall of fur flashed before her, Molly tensed for death, but it was Edison joining the action, a large fragment of splintered wood in hand

Molly flinched as he crashed into the larger alien, driving the shard deep into the Glethened Edison stabbed again And again The injured beast swung his ar at the blood on his fur, pawing at it confusedly

The fear on the adult’s face knotted Molly’s sto a trained warrior--this was a politician Pity stirred, then recoiled fro wrath This was the sort of beast that killed with calculations, concocting war and disease and wiping outShe wanted to launch herself at the wounded thing and peel its flesh

But Edison beat her to it

••••

The aftermath made her want to vomit Molly had been trained to kill, but from a distance A puff of fire and a cloud of silent debris was as close to death as she was ever meant to be The hand-to-hand courses at the Acadened to instill confidence and build muscle

They’d never prepared her for this

The council y scent of it filled the air; Molly could taste it like the metal of a dry spoon At the other end of the roo him up in Edison’s old restraints

Molly tore herself froht of the dead Glemot andAt the tactical table she paused, reaching up for aa pointed tree It looked to be the sharpest

She gripped the paintedand limp with pain She remained unaware of it and paid no heed to the disarray of her robe as it barely clung to her shoulders She approached Orville and lowered herself to her heels, clutching the tree hite knuckles

"I’m sorry," she told him She reached down and raked theoff a wide strip from the hem The hunk of wood had already been removed from his eye and bloodwith the universal red of life in contact with oxygen Molly folded the fabric up into a pad,sure a clean portion was left on the outside She pressed it to Orville’s eye and looked to Cole for help, hoping he’d understand why she needed to do this

Cole nodded and tore a long strip from his own robe "For you," he told her "Not for hiry panting subsided The youth seened to his fate, whatever it would be

Edison

Molly turned to see hoas taking all of this After flaying the elder and rushing to secure his brother, the pup had collapsed into one of the station chairs His eyes were focused on a blank spot on the opposite wall He could have been catatonic or cal for world do his restraints for a weakness while Cole stood over hi a hand on his shoulder, the fur sticky with sweat and much else There was a lot of blood on him

On all of them

"The plan is still viable," he said cal and looked into Molly’s eyes "The great imbalance remains a possibility"

Molly couldn’t think about it clearly There was too et out and breathe some fresh air, to think about what had just happened and what it et out of here," she said

Neither Cole nor Edison tried to stop her They just looked at each other: breathing hard, sweating, unknowingly forging the bond that only battle welds They sat like this as Molly made the slow and painful climb