Rise of a Valkyrie

Part 74

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"Hands up!" she yelled as loudly as she could, but her voice cracked, making the command unintelligible.

The soldiers turned around and stared at her in amazement.

"I said get your hands up, or I'll kill you!" she yelled, trying desperately to channel her anger.

Unfortunately, she only now realized she had no plan of action if the soldiers surrendered to her. She didn't have any cuffs or restraints. How could she possibly hope to control three men?

There was a flicker of movement in the corner of her eye, and one of the men glanced sideways. Kayla started to turn, but too late. Something leaped out at her, sending her flying onto the concrete, and her rifle spinning away.

"A girl?" her attacker said, incredulously.

Kayla looked up and saw Rayker standing over her, a sneer on her face. Rage flooded her mind, and she jumped up, slamming into the woman's body and throwing her down onto the floor. Kayla drew back her fists and punched the woman hard in the face. Her mind screamed for the death of this evil thing, the one responsible for her father's death, and for the deaths of so many on Caldera.

Almost drunk with fury, Kayla struggled to wrap her hands around Rayker's skull, so that she could smash it against the concrete floor until it burst open.

But Rayker was managing to protect herself, so Kayla punched again and again until the woman's face was covered in blood. Only once her fists went numb did she stop to see if her victim was still conscious.

Rayker reached up to grab her shoulder and pulled hard, squirming away as she pinned Kayla's body with her legs. Then Kayla felt her own leg being grabbed, while her arm was held in a grip like a steel vice.

Terror sobered Kayla from her anger. The woman she was facing was much stronger than her—even stronger than the Raiders she had sparred against. A burst of adrenaline let her flip over, surprising Rayker, and breaking the dangerous leg lock. She tried to get onto her opponent's back, but the other woman was too fast, rolling away to safety.

Kayla leapt to her feet and staggered back a few paces.

Rayker stood up, spitting out blood. "What are you, girl?" she snarled. "You're not a natural human."

Kayla said nothing as her lungs fought for air.

"The central committee has been getting creative, I see," Rayker continued, as she began to circle Kayla. "They have unlocked technology I thought centuries beyond them."

Kayla remained silent, hate-filled eyes fixated on her enemy.

Rayker smiled and cocked her head. "Did they tell you who I am? What I am?"

No response.

"I would think a young soldier with such impressive abilities would want to know—"

"Who cares what a dead woman thinks?" Kayla snapped.

Rayker's face twisted in a sneer of incredulity, and Kayla used that moment to dart forward.

Rayker lifted up her arm, outstretched, as though to point at her. Instinctive dread seized Kayla's mind, and she threw herself to one side. A terrible pain lanced through her body as something punched through her biceps, jerking her back with incredible force. She recovered from the shock, and saw with horror that she was now pinned against a concrete pillar, a long spike of bone buried in her arm. She got her feet under her and reached up to pull it loose.