“Well, how kind of you to wait for us, my dear. I thought you would put up more of a fight. You sure did the last time I had you.”
Rage welled up in her chest. “I wish I could stab you again, Kayn. I would stab you right in the fucking eye, straight into your brain. If I’d done that the first time, the world would already be a better place.”
“It seems as if you are not the frightened mouse I thought you were.” Kayn moved into the living room, only a foot or two from the coffee table. Alyssa gripped the sofa arm with one hand and grasped the goggles with the other. “You have been quite disobedient, running around with those filthy rebels and meddling in my affairs.”
“Your affairs are barbaric. You won’t get away with this.”
“There is where you are wrong, my dear. The Key is almost complete. Soon enough, this planet will be cleansed of the human vermin that have brought it to ruin. And now, I have Miss Bates to divulge all your rebel secrets.”
Alyssa bit her tongue. Fucking Zirena!
“With her help, we will flush your kind out of hiding. I will make examples of you, and then I will exterminate the rest of your weak species. My people will settle this planet and provide it the proper care and respect.”
Alyssa jumped in her seat as the sound of gunfire came from different parts of the house. Oh God, please let Granny be okay.
“It sounds as if we’ve found your people, my dear. You should surrender now and save them from further suffering.”
“Now!” Sebastian popped up behind Alyssa as she yanked the goggles over her eyes.
The house shook and the sound of a large explosion in the distance sent Kayn and Ras stumbling. Sebastian quickly shot three rounds, hitting the wall and unfortunately missing Kayn.
“Do you know what that is, Kayn?” Alyssa watched Ras step in front of Kayn, knocking him back. Anger hit her hard and fast, making her feel spiteful and reckless. “That is your precious Kara being blown to bits, along with your new lab and all your vile poisons to make the Key. You have no idea what us vermin can do.” She stood back as Sebastian hopped over the back of the sofa.
“You stupid pests have no idea,” Kayn growled over Ras’ shoulder. “I have more labs and ships. You cannot think I would keep everything in one place. I am more intelligent than that.”
“Not intelligent enough to know that we drew you here as a distraction. Did you think I would just wait for you to come capture me again? I’m more intelligent than that.”
Shotgun blasts drew her attention away.
Sebastian slammed into Alyssa, knocking her down. He shot three more rounds at Kayn and Ras, ducking down and narrowly avoiding Ras’ return fire. Alyssa shoved herself up to her knees and yanked her handgun from its holster.
She fell back on her rear as Sebastian dragged her behind the end of the sofa, using it as a shield.
A body flew down the stairs and landed at Ras’ feet. They could hear Cecily engaged in the kitchen, screaming obscenities at the Zooks. Bullets slammed into the front door, barely missing Kayn’s head.
“Outside, Commander!” Ras pushed Kayn into the wall of coats Granny kept beside the door. Kayn stumbled over the umbrella stand, caught himself, and yanked the door open, only to slam it shut again.
Sebastian and Alyssa fired at them where they hid behind the short wall dividing the entry from the living room. Ras’s shots went wild as he attempted to shield Kayn.
“We are blocked in,” Kayn yelled.
“We must get to the shuttle.” Ras shoved a gun into Kayn’s hand. The commander rarely carried a weapon himself, too sure of himself and his guard.
Kayn fired into the kitchen. Cecily yelped and they heard her fall with a thud. Ras leaned out to shoot. Sebastian fired and hit the general’s hand, knocking his gun away. A guard by the stairwell shot and missed Alyssa by only a couple of inches.
Alyssa fired back, her bullets slamming into the wall near the guard’s head. Ras reached for his gun, but Sebastian sent him spinning with a bullet to his arm. Kayn slunk toward the kitchen as the guard sent another three shots at Sebastian and Alyssa.
Brick dust rained down on them as the fireplace took most of the damage. Sebastian targeted the guard, but he flew to the side, blood spraying from his head with the blast of a shotgun. Go, Granny!
Kayn had vanished into the kitchen with Ras on his heels. Sebastian scurried over the sofa, checking the entryway and stairwell. Alyssa crept up behind him and looked out the front window.
The shuttle’s lights lit Granny’s yard. Zooks hid behind the van, exchanging fire with the coalition teams. Bullets thudded into the outer walls of the house, presumably targeting whoever manned the front porch.
Sebastian and Alyssa dashed across the entry, stopping to check around the wall separating the kitchen from the short hallway that led to the bathroom and spare bedroom. Sebastian motioned for her to get back in the living room, to the other side of the short wall Ras and Kayn had hidden behind.
Sebastian fired into the kitchen. Ras and Kayn had taken refuge in the pantry with Cecily crumpled on the floor by the side door. Two other bodies lay near her, but Alyssa couldn’t tell who they were.
Gritting her teeth, Alyssa looked away and aimed for the pantry, squeezing the trigger until it clicked empty. Tugging a fresh magazine from her back pocket, she reloaded and turned back to the kitchen.
Ras leaned out to target Sebastian and took another round to his shoulder. He dropped to the floor, and Kayn took his place, shooting wild and bellowing madly. Sebastian yelled and fell backward.
The sight of him bleeding stunned Alyssa. Even with the discoloration from the night-vision, the image chilled her to the bone. As another bullet spun past her, she gritted her teeth and steadied her hand. She aimed at Kayn and saw him aiming right back at her. Before fear could set in, she squeezed the trigger.
Kayn roared. Pain sliced across her arm, and she fell to her back as someone tackled her.
“What the hell?” She pushed her elbows into a hard chest, the weight pressing down, making it difficult to breathe.
Adjusting the goggles that had been knocked askew, Alyssa focused on the face above her and gasped. Valel stared back, his face pinched with worry. Before she could say another word, he jumped up and spun around, shooting into the kitchen and hallway.
Bodies fell with loud thuds. The kitchen door opened, bashing against the wall. Kayn limped away, dragging a barely mobile Ras beside him. Alyssa reached out to find her lost gun, but stopped cold at the sight of an unmoving Sebastian.
“Let me help you,” Valel said, grabbing her arm, and lifting her up.
Alyssa felt herself rise with Valel’s cool grip on her wrist. She peered down at his hand and blinked.
“I… Uh, thanks,” she mumbled. “You… You’re touching me. Nothing’s happening.”
“I am shielding my Ru’Sae for you.”
Something about the way he said that sent warmth through Alyssa’s body and a mix of emotions racing through her mind. She looked up into his eyes, grateful he couldn’t see hers behind the goggles. For half a second, she was lost and mesmerized all at once, but reality crashed down.
“Oh my God, Sebastian,” she cried, yanking out of Valel’s grip.
Alyssa dashed across the entryway and fell to her knees at Sebastian’s side. “Sebastian!” She touched his face. “Sebastian, please! Wake up!”
He groaned softly, turning his head toward her.
“Turn the power on! We need light!” Alyssa turned to Valel. “Please, he needs help!”
Valel rushed to the utility room at the back of the house.
Frantic with panic, Alyssa flailed, unable to think clearly until her own hands got her attention. She gasped and cursed herself, slapping her palms down to encircle Sebastian’s gushing wound.
“Stay with me, babe. I’ll heal you. You’ll be good as new.” She closed her eyes and focused on the memory of healing Lorn. Heal, heal, heal. Think healing, dammit!
Alyssa opened one eye and peeked down at her hands. Nothing happened. She didn’t feel any heat or see any glowing even though her hands felt damp with what she hoped was Valene.
“Why the hell isn’t it working?” She lifted her hands up and fanned them, hoping to shake them into working, before clamping her palms back down around the wound. “Come on! Work!”
She squeezed her eyes shut, forcing every ounce of energy and concentration into her hands.
A clattering of footsteps came down the stairs.
“Aly?” Jess knelt beside her. “What happened?”
“Kayn shot him,” she wailed. “And I can’t heal him!”
“Oh, no,” Jess murmured.
“Lorn,” Alyssa cried, her eyes wild with desperation, “why can’t I heal him? Why isn’t it working? Help me heal him!”
“He’s human,” Lorn said sadly. “He does not have Valene in his body to accept the healing essence. We will get him help.” He rushed away, but she didn’t try to see where he went. Her eyes were glued to Sebastian’s damaged flesh.
“No, no, no,” she muttered, pressing against the wound. “Don’t do this. Don’t you die on me, Sebastian Roberts. You made me promises, and you damn well better keep them.”
The lights flickered on, and Alyssa slapped a hand over her mouth, smothering a scream. Blood pooled at Sebastian’s side, soaking his shirt.
“Aly,” Jess murmured, “you have to move out of the way.”
Alyssa glanced up and saw Valel and Jack carrying a stretcher. She let Lorn lift her up and caught sight of Jess.
“Oh my God, Jess! Are you okay?”
Jess cradled her arm, her sleeve stained red from a wound in her upper arm. “I’ll be fine, but you should go to Granny and Shari.” She frowned with watery eyes.
“What? Why?” Before she could get an answer, Alyssa rushed up the stairs to Granny’s room, stopping just inside the door.
“Granny?” she whispered hesitantly.
Granny sat in her armchair, looking more fragile than Alyssa had ever seen. Tears streamed down her wrinkled cheeks. At her feet, Marly lay with Shari kneeling at his side. She looked like she was praying with her head lowered and pressed against his motionless chest.
The air seemed to thicken until Alyssa could no longer draw a breath. Pain squeezed her heart, and her feet felt too heavy to propel her forward. Her vision started to swim. Too much. It’s all too much.
“Aly girl?” Granny’s voice pulled Alyssa out of the murk, and she took a gasping breath.
With a sharp head shake, she forced herself to move. She sunk to her knees at Shari’s side, resting a gentle hand on the sobbing woman’s back. Marly’s eyes were closed, and his dark chocolate skin, usually so vibrant, was ashen and slack. His chest had a small hole over his heart, the edges tinted like a tiny red ring in his pale-yellow shirt.
Gunshots rang out in the quiet night, and voices yelled from the front of the house.
Torn between staying with Shari and finding out what was happening, Alyssa ran out of the room and down the stairs. She spotted her gun lying in the living room and grabbed it.
“Stop them!”
“Don’t let them get away!”
“Help!”
“Daniel!”
Yanking the front door open, Alyssa rushed outside and down the porch steps. The van raced away with a coalition SUV skidding after it. Ian stood in the yard, staring after them. Alyssa focused on the voices in the comms, realizing at some point she’d tuned it out.
“…got away?”
“Six.”
“How’d they get past us?”
“I think they were hiding in the shuttle the whole time.”
“Bastards! How many made it out in the shuttle?”
“The commander and his dog. They left the rest of their team behind.”
“Fucking cowards!”
Alyssa glanced over at the field where the shuttle had landed. Coalition vehicles sat haphazardly in the flattened wheat. Jess and Lorn sat in the door of a van while a medic bandaged her arm. Behind them inside, Jack hovered over Sebastian’s still body.
By the time Alyssa got to the van, they were preparing to shut the door. She pushed her way inside and sat at Sebastian’s head, watching Jack slide a needle into Sebastian’s arm.
“Is he going to be okay?” She stared at him with tears dripping from her eyes. “I tried to heal him, but…” She let out a shaky sigh, unable to finish her sentence, feeling terribly useless.
“The bullet’s still in his chest,” Jack said. “I won’t know until we get some scans.”
“Will he make the trip?” Alyssa wrung her traitorous hands together.
“Our shuttle’s only a few minutes away,” he said. “The trip to Seattle will take maybe forty-five minutes. I’ll do everything I can to keep him stable.”
Alyssa cupped the sides of Sebastian’s head and lowered her forehead to his. “Stay with me, babe. You can’t leave me now. We have a dream. I can’t live in the mountains without you. I need you.”
Chapter 34
A small television sat in the corner of their bedroom. Alyssa sat in a chair next to the bed, her head on her crossed arms as she watched the bodycam replay of the ambush at Granny’s switch over to streaming video of alien ships leaving the planet.
The giant cylindrical ships slowly ascended skyward, chunks of earth stuck to the sides only to fall away seconds later. For the first time in her life, Alyssa saw the bottom spires of the ships, used for drilling a planet’s surface or as weapons when in space. A part of her wondered what it would be like to live in space, but she ignored that part in favor of life planet-side with the only man she ever wanted to be with.
“You don’t have to sit in that chair, darlin’,” Sebastian said in a raspy voice that only made him sound sexier. “I don’t mind sharing the bed with you.”
Alyssa turned her head on her arms to look up at his tired face. “I know, but I don’t want to bump you or make the bed bounce or anything.”
“I’m not going to break.” He gave her a weak but endearingly crooked smile.
“Sebastian, you were shot! I’m not going to do anything else to cause you pain. I already feel awful that I couldn’t heal you.”
“Fine, but you better not sleep on that couch again. You belong in here with me. And stop punishing yourself; it’s not your fault.” He slid his hand down to touch her arm. “Besides, Ian’s med team fixed me right up, almost good as new.”
“It’s just so damn stupid,” she mumbled. “I can give you hallucinations, but I can’t heal you. What kind of crap is that?”
Alyssa sat up at a knock on the door.
“Knock-knock,” Jess sang. “Mind if I come in?”
“Pull up a chair,” Sebastian said, wincing when he lifted his arm to point at the other chair in the room.
Jess planted herself beside Alyssa with a cheery smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore,” Sebastian said. “Have you been by to see Cecily?”
“Yeah. She’s healing and grumpy. Jo’s with her.” Jess smirked wryly. “That woman has unending patience.” She tilted her head back and giggled.
“Yeah,” Sebastian said with a grin. “Jo’s good for her.”
Jess bumped shoulders with Alyssa. “Can you believe what’s happening?”
Alyssa shook her head slowly. “Not really.”
“I never thought I’d see those ships fly,” Jess said, staring at the television.
“I saw them arrive,” Sebastian said, “and I’m damned happy to see them leave.”
Jess turned to Sebastian with dark eyes. “Do you think he’s gone?”
“Yes,” Alyssa said. “Unfortunately, he took Daniel with him.”
“No…”
“Yeah. Ian came by earlier with a report from Idaho. Apparently there was a ship up in the mountains that could only be accessed by air; most likely something Kayn did on purpose for exactly this type of situation.”
“What about the other ships?”
Alyssa pulled some photos from a drawer in the nightstand and handed them to Jess. “Here’s what’s left of the Kara. Most of the remaining ships are like that, but a few were too remote for us to get to. They’ve put out a call for all Szu’Kara to return to those ships so they can leave. It’s a slow exodus.”
Jess stared at the images of the place they’d called home for most of their lives. The Kara still stood, but it looked as if a giant had taken bites out of the sides. Huge metal chunks lay scattered at its base. The laboratory, the place where her mother had loyally worked for many years, was blackened rubble, one of the main targets of the mass bombing.
“How are Granny and Shari?” Jess asked, flipping through the photos, her eyes growing wider with each one.
Alyssa sighed heavily. “Not great. Granny’s very bitter about leaving her home, but they’re packing anyway so they can move here after the funeral.”
“Good. I’ll feel better knowing they’re safe.” She handed the pictures back. “You coming to the party?”
“No.” Alyssa shook her head. “I’m staying here with Sebastian. Plus, it feels weird to be celebrating with Marly…” She sighed. “And with Daniel missing. I’m just not in the party mood.”
“I sat with Vi earlier. She’s a wreck. Ian is too, but in that way men can be, all hard and emotionless. They aren’t going to the party either, but said they’re not upset it’s happening. Even with Daniel being abducted, we’ve had a huge victory, and the people want to celebrate.”
Sebastian took Alyssa’s hand. “You should go, darlin’. Get out and have some fun. I’ll be fine.”
“Sorry, not happening,” she said, poking his leg. “You’re stuck with me, babe.”
“What’s that she’s saying?” Jess grabbed the remote control and increased the volume.
“…amidst the celebrations, anti-alien protestors have attacked Szu’Kara civilians. We’ve had reports of rioting in areas with high Szu’Kara populations as well. It is believed that much of the anger stems from fear of the Szu’Kara ships still orbiting our planet.
“While the majority of functioning ships are leaving or have already left, there is still a large alien presence remaining here on Earth. A statement from David Giles, President of the Unity Committee, urges us to remain calm and vigilant, but also keep our hearts open to our Szu’Kara friends. He reminds us that not all Szu’Kara are involved in Commander Kayn’s genocidal scheme…”
Unchained: The Discordant Earth Series Book Two Page 25
