"Claudia?" Adam called out in vain. "Claudia?" 

​     It'd been decades since he'd been without her. The first thing he did when he came to Earth was build and grow Claudia, and now...

​     His personal hover jets carried him to the ground. 

​     He went in search of the corpse of Tindriss. 

​     With Claudia, he'd been able to target her immediately. Now, however...

​     He sensed movement to his right.

     Damn it! She was still alive!

     But no way did she jump to her feet this time. No, this time it took her several minutes and several tries to rise all the way to a standing position.  

​     And, by that time, Adam had made it all the way to her.

     He had weapons strapped all over his body.

     He figured he'd start with the sonic bazooka. 

     He aimed at her, his finger on the trigger. But first...

     He stood nose to nose with Tindriss.

​     Eye to eye. 

     No one had ever been able to do that before with her unless it was moments before their death. 

     He looked deep into her red-beyond-red pupils. He saw pain there. He even saw confusion, perhaps even a scintilla of fear. And she didn't quite look all there mentally, either. Her gaze kept fading like she was getting ready to pass out. The red glow in her eyes weakened. She kept trying to raise an arm to strike at Adam but couldn't quite do it. Good.  

     "Bitch," Adam said, then hit her with a bazooka blast. 

CONTINUE​