Chapter 38

Odin did not like the truck he'd taken. Operating the vehicle was not difficult thanks to the information Freyja giving him pertaining to cars including directions for driving a manual transmission. He also knew how to change the tire if needed, but given how loud and smelly the thing was he knew he'd likely pick up the vehicle and throw it as far as possible if there was a flat. Rolling the windows down hadn't helped air the thing out. The seat was uncomfortable and patched with duct tape. The transmission sounded like a fork stuck in a garbage disposal no matter what he did. Black smoke poured out of the tail pipe anytime he shifted gears. Every divot and bump in the road jostled his spine. Odin was so disgruntled driving the thing that he almost missed sensing someone in the Link. He wasn't close enough to Freyja to connect with her, even if she could sense him well before he could feel her.

This was certainly someone else.

He drove past the turn that led to Kait's home, continuing down the deserted highway another two miles before slowing to a stop near a much smaller red pickup parked in the shade on the shoulder. The mind in the Link drew closer, coming from behind, just as he suspected they would. He turned to peer out the back window, searching for the source of the mind within the Link. A swiftly moving streak of bright orange, black, and white galloped down the center of the asphalt. While he could feel them they kept their thoughts relatively quiet, albeit not successfully hiding their presence. Whether they'd left the connection to the Link active to find other members of the Special Strike Team or to help them track down errant Hive members like Odin was irrelevant. He was fortunate to have noticed them approaching. They were huge, bigger than the mountain lion he faced at the overpass. If he lead them to Freyja and the Barn Cats everyone would be annihilated.

Especially the Humans.

Odin smirked and chittered to himself as he popped the truck back in gear. It protested loudly before he got it rolling. He poured his defiance into the Link while tearing down the highway in the noisy vehicle, tattered flags affixed to the tailgate flapping in the air as he went.

You want to kill someone? How about me! I loved my Host and I've turned traitor you Tradition breaking son of a bitch!

The Orange Stranger replied with a roar and claws that gouged holes in the asphalt with each pounding step. Odin pushed the truck to its limit, rattling his teeth as it thundered down the highway. He was thankful Humans had enough sense to stay off the road as the Orange Stranger closed the distance between them. He needed to throw them off, get them to attack or make a misstep of some sort at a bad time but his window was closing. The side mirrors said objects were closer than they appeared and it looked like the Stranger was about to reach the truck's tailgate. If they got any closer they'd take his vehicle out then devour him completely.

Then a thought occurred to him. Something that would have pissed off the Mountain Lion if he'd said it during their fight. Something even worse than the fact that he had loved Follower like family.

My Spark is alive and I love her! Odin shot over the Link, pouring the entirety of his mixed feelings into it.

The Orange Stranger stumbled, tripping over their own paws, falling behind just enough for Odin to pop the truck in neutral, slam on the breaks and wrench the wheel to the side with one arm. As the vehicle spun sharply he shapeshifted the other half of his body out the driver's side window, slashing into the Stranger before they slammed into the side, pitching the truck into a roll down the highway, over a fence, and into a field. Odin managed to mostly stay in the cab, tumbling end over end until it finally came to violent rest against a weathered oak tree. The door no longer functioned, leaving him to slink out the window onto the shrubs and rocks. He didn't bother returning to his Human guise as he searched for the Orange Stranger. If he was lucky he'd hit them where their brain was and their corpse had hit the truck. The fact that he could faintly feel them over the Link told him luck was not on his side. Why they hadn't cut the Link completely was a mystery. Still, it would help him track them in the underbrush.

"You dare to call me a Tradition Breaker when you claim to love your Spark?" the Orange Stranger's voice boomed in Hive Standard from the other side of the ruined barbwire fence.

Odin moved his brain around randomly within his body as he slithered away from the ruined truck. Fuel had spilled from it and the dry plants around the tree didn't bother to smoke before catching fire behind him.

He had indeed struck a nerve.

Now he just needed to strike a brain.

"We are to take a world following Tradition, not assassinate a world leader publicly without using local weapons," Odin shot back.

"A small price to pay for a quick operation," the Orange Stranger replied with a growl.

He pinpointed where they were and their relative size. While Odin had puffed himself up, anticipating fighting a behemoth, the Orange Stranger had shrunk their body down as much as they could, slithering as a sunirsk serpent through the overgrown grasses surrounding the small copse of trees in the field the truck had tumbled through. Assuming the orange striped feline that had chased the truck was their Host, then their brain could be anywhere from the head of the sunirsk to the thick winding body that slithered up the tree across from Odin. They both knew Odin was out-matched by mass. Even now, after eating so many Humans and the other Special Strike Team member putting him near his maximum limit, he wouldn't stand a chance in a direct fight with the Orange Stranger. Trying to hit them by using the taunt and truck as a distraction had been a desperate move. Meanwhile, the vehicle and tree it had wrapped around became fully engulfed in flames.

"'Quick operation?' Invasions are rarely quick. They are an exercise in patience and planning," Odin said.

The Orange Stranger flicked their seven ears back and raised their head before laughing. "Who said this was an Invasion?"

Odin was glad he had moved his brain when the Orange Stranger struck. They'd shifted their head at the last moment into an array of bone and metal spikes catching his side and tearing him open, splattering the tail end of the truck and quickly growing fire with blood and viscera. Fighting was a bad idea, so Odin leapt straight up through the branches of the burning tree. He shrunk himself as much as possible as he shifted a set of wings then raced into the smoke filled air as quickly as he could, mindful he could still feel the Orange Stranger on the ground via the Link. He colored his underbelly to match the sky as he hurried still higher. The Orange Stranger could likely fly without a problem and might give pursuit but it would be more difficult for them to find Odin using most light sensing eyes if Odin used some basic camouflage. It didn't feel like they were following him, however. He had no idea why they were staying on the ground, but he hoped he'd be able to lose them because he realized something very important during their fight.

Odin did care about Freyja and her family.

He'd lost Follower and refused to lose them as well.

You think you can escape, little Spark Lover? Everything on this planet will die very soon, the Orange Stranger laughed as the distance grew great enough for the Link between them to fade.

If Odin was lucky, he'd make it back to Freyja before the Orange Stranger figured out where the Barn Cats were. But, luck wasn't one of the Hive's gods. Perhaps one of the Humans many gods would have pity and allow him to reach her in time?

We must leave this area immediately, Odin thought, beating his wings hard and fast.