Harem Assassins : King Sekton's Harem Planet, Book 2: A Space Opera Harem Adventure by Baron Sord (top inspirational books .txt) 📗

legs and stomach and threw them back into the water. Man, did that ever sting! Thankfully none had clamped onto my dong or either of my dangling dinghies. I briefly considered the possibility there were other worms or smaller parasites burrowing into my skin without me noticing. I would’ve done anything to dive into a bathtub full of bleach at this exact moment, but there wasn’t one handy.

Ouch!

More leeches.

It wasn’t long before I’d removed every biting one of them. My immediate pain subsided.

Except for my feet, which felt thoroughly abused.

Two of my toes were killing me after having stubbed them hard on river rocks.

Nothing I could do now except ignore it.

The quiet of the jungle set in. I didn’t even hear bolt fire at this point. I almost would’ve preferred screeching Terrorsaurs and deadly gunfire to silence. Not even the night creatures were making any noise. Probably still startled and frightened by the action. I sure was.

My sense of complete isolation closed in swiftly.

I was all alone out here.

I looked around.

Steep slopes walled off both sides of the river ravine. I wasn’t sure if I could climb back up or not. The walkable areas of rocky riverbank were few and far between. If I wanted to go upstream or down, I’d have to go through the water. That seemed like a terrible idea in the darkness.

At least it was warm in the jungle.

My naked body was quickly drying.

It wasn’t long before the insects were flapping and buzzing around me. Bore Moths sprang to mind. I would’ve done anything for some bug spray at this point. No, a beekeeper’s outfit. There was no telling what kind of virulent pathogens the Zalaxian bugs might be carrying.

The seriousness of this situation was sinking in, weighing down like rotting carcasses on my shoulders.

Here I was, on an alien planet, on the other side of the freaking universe, by myself, and very literally naked and afraid. Without shoes, tools, food, fire, or weapons, things could turn from bad to buried six feet under in a matter of minutes, hours, or if I was damn lucky, days. I seriously doubted I could last much longer than that by myself. If the jungle denizens didn’t get me, the acidic Red Death Rains — my name for them — inevitably would, unless the toxic pink jungle fog burned out my lungs first.

The pathetic fact was, if Theia or the Shock Knights didn’t rescue me soon, I would likely die.

“Theia?” I whispered. “Anybody out there?”

In reply came a few scattered cheeps, rustling branches, a squawk or two, the low hum of buzzing insects, and some slightly terrifying barks as the jungle beasties started to resume whatever they’d been doing before I’d interrupted.

GLOOOOOOORG!

A new gurgling sound that was deep, croaky, and scary as hell was followed by an immense splash that sent me scrambling up the river bank, clawing at the drier dirt up above, and trying to climb a tall dirt wall. There were stalks of reedy grass hanging down from the top. I tried to jump and grab for them, but they were just out of reach. I suddenly felt like I was trying to climb a Warped Wall on American Ninja Warrior, but this wall was crumbling under my fingers and feet as I flailed in vain to reach the top.

Something waved through the river behind me.

When I looked back, I saw big ripples on the water’s surface heading in my general direction. I imagined a gigantic man-eating frog thing under the surface undulating toward me.

That sent a jolt of adrenalin spiking into my veins. I kicked and clawed my way up the dirt wall, somehow grabbing a few shoots of reedy grass and pulling myself up over the edge. I rolled onto a low grassy overhang, gasping for breath. Heart pounding in my head, I attempted to get my feet under me. They slipped on the slick grass and I almost slid off the edge of the overhang to fall back into the water again. At the last second, I lunged forward and grabbed a rough tree root and held on for dear life with one hand.

My legs dangled out over the river.

The root in my hand shook and whipped as if trying to kick me free.

It was alive.

Next thing I knew, the tree attached to the root was walking up the steep slope, dragging me with it. I threw my free arm forward and grabbed the root with both hands, squeezing hard. Overhead, its branches shook angrily.

Bam!

BAM!

Heavy somethings were hammering down from above, falling from the branches of my Escape Tree. Whatever it was went rolling down the slope toward the river. Probably fruits. Coconut-sized from the sound of it. My Escape Tree was pissed!

But I wasn’t letting go.

It was my lifeline.

Bam, bam, bam!

More falling fruits.

“Ow! Ouch!”

Two fruits hit my back and butt before bouncing off and rolling down the slope. They tumbled all the way down to the grassy slope where I’d climbed up and shot out over the river.

GLOOOOOORG!

While the fruits were still in the air, huge frog jaws opened up amidst a massive explosion of splashing water. A dark, shadowy thing lunged upward and—

CLOMP!

Snagged the flying fruits from the air.

My eyes goggled.

Thing was the size of a hippopotamus, but it was most definitely not a hippo. It was a ghastly, mutant frog thing that would scare the shit out of any hippo and give H.P. Lovecraft nightmares to wet the bed.

Wha-KACK!

Out shot its leathery frog tongue, aiming for my legs.

I yanked my feet away just in time.

BANG!

Its tongue hammered the slope, thudding like someone had hit the dirt with a baseball bat. Thing could have broken my leg with its freaking tongue.

“Move it, tree!” I hissed as my Escape Tree dragged me higher and higher up the slope toward safety.

If Froggy’s tongue had managed to latch on to my leg — whether or not he broke it in the process — he would’ve dragged me down to the river, no question. There,