Orion Colony Complete Series Boxed Set J.N. Chaney (books for new readers .txt) 📖

the pros and cons repeatedly, I went down to my hands and knees. If I did report this, I needed to get a better look at what was happening inside the pen. I’d feel like an idiot running for help if it was simply a broken lock. I needed more information, if for nothing else than to satiate my own curiosity. I looked down into the dark room, holding my breath.

The area inside the pen was long and wide. Green lights shined above smaller individual pens, lining the walls in the room.

This alone wasn’t that strange. I knew a few of the pens were larger, offering smaller compartments within. I pressed the right side of my body against the cool surface of the floor. My right cheek made contact, flattening my beard on the side of my face.

It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the light in the room, although I still really couldn’t see. All I could make out were green lights and movement.

Whining, mixed with angry, guttural growls, wafted from the pen. If there was anyone in the room, I couldn’t see them. All I could spot were large, dark shapes that roved around the floor. The creatures moved on four legs and acted as though they were agitated.

I was so enraptured with trying to figure out what the creatures were, I missed the hand snaking out from inside the pen to grab me by the collar.

With lightning quick motion, I felt myself get pulled inside.

10

Whoever had grabbed me quickly released my collar and laid into me with a series of kicks and strikes. I staggered to my feet against the beating, somehow losing my hold on the wrench.

The strikes hitting me were well placed and brutal. Pain exploded in my stomach. Stars erupted in my head.

I put my hands up to block against it, more out of habit than anything else. I was already dazed. By the time I could see enough to make out my opponent, I was already a bloody mess. There was the metallic tang of blood in my mouth, and my right cheek had already gone numb.

Dressed in black, the person in front of me had a crimson handkerchief across their nose and mouth. All I could see were their eyes. They wanted to kill me.

I didn’t have time to focus on anything other than onto my consciousness and blocking the blows when they landed.

I played to my situation, pretending I was more injured than I was. My opponent pressed their attack, leaving them open for me to make my move. I sacrificed my own defenses as I jabbed out with a right, catching them in the throat.

They staggered back, grasping at their throat. I swung a wicked right hook, connecting with their eye. At the same time, they whipped out with their right foot and took me in the side of my ribs.

Pain exploded across my body as we both went down. I gasped, realizing my ribs were either broken or bruised. Either way, it wasn’t going to be pretty. I fought back to my knees, searching for my opponent. Like a wraith in the night, they were gone.

I told myself it wasn’t anything nefarious as I searched for them. They’d simply rolled out under the open pen door. That was it, I hoped.

I looked around the room one more time to make sure I was alone. My eyes had finally adjusted to the dull green light. As far as I could tell, it was only me and the strange creatures on the other side of the pens.

I winced as I rose to my feet, clutching my left side with my arm. I’d been in enough fights to tell my ribs were bruised, not broken.

Thoughts of leaving the inner pen as soon as possible and reporting all of this entered my mind, but I was already here. I had to find out what was on the other side of the smaller pens. Maybe even what that person had been doing here. My guess was that I’d stumbled onto something, because if they’d been here for me, I’d probably be dead.

Glancing around, I saw there were at least twelve pens of creatures, six on each side. Each pen held a different beast. While they were all animals I recognized, each appeared modified to be larger and stronger than normal. The chickens were twice their typical size. The cows were more muscular, and their hides looked thicker. Instead of man’s best friend, the dogs took on the features of a wolf.

Each pen had a lock and audio seal on it, so you couldn’t hear them from outside. The attacker had been tampering with the dog’s gate when I’d surprised them, and the audio seal appeared to be broken.

A mangy mutt with pointed ears and thick fur came up to me, pawing at the door. The animal looked at me with large, sad eyes.

I placed my hand close enough where he could smell but not so close that he could bite me. He sniffed my hand through a long snout, and then he tried to lick me, as if reassured by my presence.

Something else caught my eye, and I leaned down to look at a satchel on the floor. Before I could pick it up, I heard movement behind me.

“Stop there!” Stacy said, entering the room. She held a blaster in her hands, pointed at my head.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said, raising my hands. The act brought an excruciating level of pain from my ribs. “You didn’t see the masked guy running out of here? And why do you have a blaster?”

“Dean?” Stacy said, coming so close I could almost reach out and grab her weapon. “Turn around and get on your knees. I’m not going to ask you again.”

“Listen, I’m not really sure what’s—”

I awoke, propped up on a medical table. Blinking rapidly into the bright white lights above, I saw an angel. No, not an