THE drugs Dr. Soone had given Ramah were beginning to wear off. The catatonic fog was lifting and she could remember why she was in this bed. Ramah had passed out after the escaped the fields of the Agonotti. She was hurting still, but she was glad to be free.
Ramah opened her eyes slightly, viewing the room in the very low lighting coming from the hallway beyond her room. It was odd, but not enough to stir her consciousness out of the drug induced funk her doctor had her in. She blinked slowly, not really opening her eyes beyond a slit's width.
A shadow passed by in the hallway between the curtains over her rooms viewing window and the low lighting beyond. She supposed it must be Dr. Soone checking up on her again. She liked the doctor. She was kind and comforting to her, especially after the ordeal she had just been through as a slave to living nightmares. Now, she was safe with the rebels and the Barudii king.
The door began to creak open a little and someone was coming in. The light cast upon the figure for a second and Ramah managed to blink through the fog her mind and vision were under. She screamed as the dim light animated a nightmare pushing through the doorway. The fowl beast reared its head at her cry and returned a horrible loud screeching that terrified the girl even more.
The beast began to charge into the room in a bloodlust as Ramah grabbed for the rails of her bed but did not possess the strength to remove herself from it. She heard another scream-the scream of a man, like a battle cry, as the viewing window to her room shattered inward. A dark human figure pounced upon the creature's left shoulder area with an energy weapon of some kind in his hand, driving it home into the beast. It thrashed its powerful head at the blow, slinging the man away into a supply cabinet across the room.
The beast continued its thrashing, trying to remove the weapon lodged in its shoulder area. It smashed into Ramah's bed with enough force to push it back, bouncing her out as the bed slammed against the wall behind her. She was now on the ground between its thrashing head and her battered patient bed.
The man recovered almost as quickly as he landed against the supply cabinet, reaching out toward her, but too far away to grab her. The beast spotted Ramah on the floor and started to strike with terrible rows of teeth, but the bed behind her, seemingly moving by the movement of great invisible hands, rotated over top of her in a move that scooped her under and pushed her toward the wall with the bed landing on its side against her. She was protected temporarily as the creature's strike slammed into the under framing of the bed.
An invisible force, apparently under her rescuer's control slammed into the creature, sending it hard against the racks of medical equipment that had been monitoring her beside the bed. His weapon dislodged of its own will and bounced back to the mysterious man as he launched his self again at the monster. Several quick blows with his energy sword silenced the beast once and for all.
"Who are you and what was that thing?!" she asked frantically as the man began to lift the tortured bed frame and mattress away from her.
"It's an aerogore; very deadly. We've got to get you out of here, now."
"Thank you for saving me," she said as he scooped her limp frame up off of the floor into his arms.
"I'm Emil. Don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you, Ramah."
Somehow, those were very comforting words. The dead beast on the floor helped to bolster that feeling that he meant every syllable of his statement. She could tell he was dark skinned even in the low lighting and handsome. He seemed quite strong for a young man and he was soon heading quickly but cautiously down the corridor with her in his arms.
"Where are we going?" asked Ramah.
"We've got to evacuate with the others," said Emil. "We've got a ship waiting."
She hung onto his neck, but she was still weak from the intoxicating effect of the medications. Their hold on her was beginning to take over again as she slipped in and out of consciousness while the young man carried her off into the darkness toward his ship and safety.