Science Fiction and Fantasy Box Set 1: The Squishies Series

by Claire Chilton

  She stared Max straight in the eye as two things happened simultaneously. She released the full force of her powers at him, and lightening hit him directly in the back. At the same time, pain spiraled through the left side of her body, and she dropped to the ground.

  She saw the lightening shock Max for a few seconds before releasing him. He slumped to the ground, and the gun fell beside him, still smoking.

  Parklon ran to her side and examined her. Even now, she couldn’t look him in the eyes. At least he’s okay. He touched her waist and raised his hand. There was blood all over it.

  “You’ve been shot.” He grabbed one of her towels and pressed it against the wound. “I need to see how bad it is.” He gently guided her to lie down flat.

  “Okay.” She stared up at him as he tried to save her. Why is he helping me?

  He examined her left side. She glanced down too. There was a lot of blood above her left hip. She didn’t feel like she was dying. It hurt like hell, but she felt kind of normal.

  Parklon pressed the towel back against her. “It grazed you. You’ll live.” He smiled at her.

  “Great.” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

  He frowned at her. “What the hell is wrong with you? Some guy puts a gun to your head, and you just sit there!”

  “It’s been a bad week.” She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “The Carla I used to know would have fought back,” he said.

  “Bob died, you threw me out, Godfrey tortured me for months, and Bex stabbed me in the back. Max just tried to kill me for no reason. Oh, and don’t forget Gobbert,” she snapped, finally getting angry about it all.

  “How come I never get top billing?” Gobbert popped up and asked.

  Carla sighed in reply.

  Parklon’s eyes widened. He stumbled backwards and fell on his ass.

  “What the hell is that?” He pointed at Gobbert.

  “You can see him?” She nearly jumped for joy.

  “Crap,” Gobbert said.

  “Yes, I can see it. What the hell is it?” Parklon stepped closer to Gobbert and poked him.

  “Hey!” Gobbert protested, bouncing on his little bubble.

  “He’s an Esaenu. He’s been haunting me since I arrived in Zoola,” she said. “His name’s Gobbert. How come you and I can see him, but no one else can?”

  “Why can Parklon see you too?” she asked Gobbert.

  “He’s broken,” Gobbert muttered.

  “I am not,” Parklon muttered.

  “If you say so,” Gobbert said, and Carla sniggered.

  Max groaned as Parklon rushed over to him. He picked up the gun and pointed it at Max.

  “I think we need to have a chat,” Parklon said, waving the gun at Max.

  “Oh goody, he’s going to be bad cop,” Gobbert said.

  “Can we shut him up?” Parklon asked Carla, scowling at Gobbert.

  “I don’t think so,” she said, studying the little ethereal being.

  “I thought you wanted to talk?” Max asked, confused.

  Parklon growled, and then narrowed his eyes at Max. “Enough!” he snapped. “Why are you trying to kill Carla?” He waved the gun at Max.

  “I was hired to do it.”

  “Why?”

  “I dunno. I get an order, and I do it.” Max shrugged.

  “An order from whom?”

  Max eyed the gun and then Parklon. “Okay, because I’m probably not getting paid for this job anyway, I’ll tell you on the condition that you let me go free afterwards.”

  “Will you attack me or Carla again if I do?”

  “No point. I won’t get paid once I reveal my client, so no.” Max rubbed his hair, jumping when he got an electrical shock from it.

  “Okay then, talk. Who sent you?”

  “Your boss.”

  “Mr. Smiggins?” Carla asked, confused. Why would the head of the Scientific Institute want to kill me?

  “No, not your boss,” Max said to Carla. “His boss.” He pointed to Parklon.

  “But we have the same boss,” she said.

  “Actually,” Parklon said. “We er, don’t.”

  She frowned, processing the new information, her eyes squinting at Parklon with suspicion.

  “Why would the general want to kill Carla?” Parklon waved the gun at Max again.

  Max shrugged. “I never asked. That’s all I know. Can I go now?”

  “Why did you pretend to be friends with me?” Carla asked.

  “Reconnaissance,” Max said carefully.

  “What?” She scowled at him.

  “You were listed as highly dangerous. I wanted to see what you could do before I made my move,” he said. He looked a little frazzled by his encounter with her. “I should have done more research into that,” he muttered. “Can I go now? I don’t feel very well.”

  “Serves you right,” she muttered.

  “One more question. Which agency do you work for?” Parklon asked.

  Max looked surprised by the question. “The same one as you,” he said.

  Parklon digested the information with a scowl and waved him away with the gun. “If I see you again, I’ll kill you.”

  Max didn’t reply. He got up off the ground and stumbled away.

  Parklon put the safety on the gun and then shoved it down the back of his waistband. He walked over to Carla, who was now sitting up. “Can you walk?”

  “I dunno. Let’s try and find out.”

  He helped her up. When she tried to stand, she stumbled and fell into his chest. She held onto him to stay upright.

  She winced. “Oww… I guess that’s a no.”

  Shaking his head, Parklon swiftly picked her up and cradled her in his arms, careful not to touch her wounded side.

  “Hold onto my neck with one arm, and hold that towel to your side with the other. My car isn’t far.”

  “What about my suitcase?”

  “I’ll come back for it later, unless Gobbert can do more than talk out of his ass?”

  “He knows me so well already,” Gobbert said smugly.

  “I think that’s another no,” Carla said. She caught Parklon’s eye, feeling the need to talk to him about everything. “We need to talk.”

  “We will.” He smiled and there was light in his bright blue eyes. “Back at my place.”

  Carla stood over her suitcase, trying to decide whether to unpack or to leave.

  Parklon hadn’t said much to her on the way back here. He’d taken her to the guest room of his apartment, bandaged her up, and told her to rest for a while. He promised they’d talk later. Then he’d gone out.

  She didn’t know where he’d gone, so she’d rested on the bed for a while, trying to work out what to do next.

  There was just too much she didn’t know. Why was Parklon’s boss trying to kill her, and who did Parklon really work for?

  His moody silence hadn’t eased her concerns. And now he’d gone out somewhere and not told her where—more secrets.

  Her injury burned. The long gash where the bullet had grazed her was hurting more now than when she’d been shot.

  She sat on the bed beside her case, defeated. I won’t get very far like this, anyway.

  “God! Not more moping?” Gobbert rolled his eyes at her.

  “I’m not moping,” she said, trying to force herself to make a decision.

  “You look like you’re moping. Just unpack. It’s not that difficult.”

  “I don’t know if I should,” she muttered.

  “Why not? It’s a nice place with hot running water and free food.” Gobbert eyed the sandwich on her bedside table.

  “And getting shot? Yay!” She threw her hands in the air in mock celebration, wincing when pain streaked through her left side.

  “He stopped you getting shot, if you remember,” Gobbert said. “Mind you, I was about to step in and save the day.” He proudly puffed his chest out.

  “He’s lying to me. He’s not telling me who’s trying to ki
ll me or who the ‘General’ is.”

  “Meh, semantics, if he wanted you dead, he’d have just stood there and watched you get shot.” The Esaenu was still staring hungrily at her sandwich.

  “Yeah, I guess.” She handed Gobbert half of the sandwich, which was almost as big as he was, and watched him munch into it with relish.

  “I feel like I’m out of the loop on everything that’s happening. Bex is a secret ex-girlfriend, Bob has died mysteriously and Parklon is connected to something shady. I don’t understand what’s going on.”

  “So ask.” Gobbert chewed while speaking and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

  “Finish eating before speaking, please.”

  “Don’t give me food when you want to talk in future, then.” He opened his mouth wide and then grinned.

  “I’ll take the sandwich back,” she threatened.

  “I’ll be good,” he mumbled with his hand over his mouth this time.

  She smiled. He was right, enough moping. She needed to find out what was going on and get her life back on track. But the first thing she needed to know was why someone was trying to kill her.

  Carla and Parklon were silent while the lift traveled down inside the Reeb Scientific Institute. She glanced unsurely at him. She still wasn’t sure why he’d brought her here.

  He opened a panel under the buttons in the elevator and pressed his hand against a glass plate.

  She widened her eyes as a red light scanned his hand. She wasn’t sure what he was doing. All he’d told her was that he’d help her find out who was trying to kill her. Then he’d brought her here, to his office building.

  “Things will be a bit weird from here on,” Parklon said, glancing at her.

  “Weird like the bounce and squelch lift in Derobmi?” She held onto the bar on the wall, just in case.

  “Not that weird, no.” He laughed, and for a moment, she saw the old Parklon standing beside her. Then his expression grew serious. “But it’s kind of a long story.”

  “It looks like we have some time,” she said, watching the floors counting down. They were already at minus fifty-four.

  “I’m not supposed to tell anyone what I do for a living,” he said. “But you’re going to see it soon, anyway.” He paused as if gathering his courage, and then he looked directly into her eyes. “I’m a spy, a secret agent for the Derobmi government. That’s what I’ve been doing all this time.”

  “What? How?” Surprise and anger welled up in her. All this time she’d been kept in the dark, and he’d been off playing spy boy.

  “When Lord Foamy was arrested last year for infecting Derobmi with the Derehtob disease, I was assigned to find out where it came from. I discovered the disease was shipped from Zoola. Then an agent of the Derobmi government contacted me about joining them to find out more about it. I was set up with a cover here and sent off for training.” He sighed. “A lot has happened since then.”

  The longer she listened to him, the deeper she scowled. When he finished, she punched him hard on the arm.

  “Oww!” He rubbed his arm, appearing shocked. “What was that for?”

  “You lied to me! You left me in that awful laboratory, thinking you didn’t care anymore.” She punched him again. “You left me behind!”

  “Oww, stop it.” He grabbed her wrists and held them against the wall, so she couldn’t punch him again. “I did it for you, dammit! To find out who was coming after you. So I could protect you.”

  “Oh, and look how well that turned out,” she said. “I got shot!”

  “How was I to know you’d be making out with assassins while I was away?” he snapped at her.

  “I wasn’t making out with anyone until you left me for your ex-girlfriend!” She narrowed her eyes at him.

  “I saw you! You were all over that guy in the club the other night. You might as well have ripped his clothes off there and then!” His face was close to hers, and his growl sent a tingle down her spine. She stared up at him with wide eyes. Is that jealousy?

  “I was just dancing with him. It meant nothing.” She looked away for a moment. Then she faced him with a direct stare. “Hell, I was only out in the club because it was a distraction from all the awful things in my life. Like you leaving me and then you getting back together with Bex!”

  He seemed to digest the information for a moment, and then he lowered his voice. “I didn’t mean to make you feel like that. Bex and I were history a long time before I met you. She’s just an old friend. Nothing happened with her. I just wanted to keep you safe in Derobmi, far away from all this.”

  “What, did you think that I’d be happy at home, knitting socks while you went off to war without me? Do I look like Suzie frikkin homemaker to you?”

  “I didn’t know you could knit,” he said, mischievously grinning at her.

  She had to bite her lip to avoid grinning too even though she still and wanted to slap him. She couldn’t if she wanted to since he was still pinning her wrists against the wall.

  “I can’t, and I can’t cook either,” she said, her lip finally escaped her bite, becoming a fully-fledged grin. “Apparently I’m broken.”

  “Finally!” Gobbert piped up.

  “Oh, great, the fat fairy is back,” Parklon muttered.

  Gobbert stuck his tongue out at Parklon and turned his back on him in a huff.

  Carla laughed and then glanced at the numbers on the elevator panel. It had stopped at minus one hundred and fifty-three.

  “Er, is the lift broken?” she asked.

  “No, we got here a few minutes ago. I have to authorize the door to open,” Parklon said. He had a funny expression on his face, which she couldn’t read.

  “Go on then.” She nodded at the doors.

  “Yeah, in a minute.” His eyes glinted with a light she hadn’t seen before.

  “Wha—?” She didn’t finish the word because he leaned forward and kissed her. The kiss was urgent and full of passion, and the world faded away around them. Her heart thundered as his lips mashed against hers. They were warm and urgent, and his body was hard and strong when he pressed it against her.

  She felt small and helpless as she melted into his arms, tilting her head to the side as she kissed him back just as urgently.

  Of all the kisses she’d had, this one was the only one that felt the way it was supposed to, perfect.

  “Aw, come on, don’t do that.” Gobbert interrupted, spoiling the moment.

  Parklon pulled back, and Carla moaned. She didn’t want him to.

  His hands rested on her hips, his face close to hers, and they were both breathing heavily and staring into each other’s eyes.

  “This is something else we need to talk about later.” His voice was low and throaty.

  She stared at him in a daze, yearning for the kiss to never end.

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” Gobbert muttered.

  The ethereal being’s words snapped her out of it, and her head began to clear. She nodded at Parklon. “I hope we do more than talk,” she said in a breathless voice.

  He pressed his body closer to her, crushing her against him as a glint of passion lit up his eyes. Then he closed his eyes and abruptly stepped back, releasing her. “Me too,” he said quietly. “But for now we have a killer to catch.”

  He moved over to the control panel, typing in a number with unsteady hands. “Welcome to HQ,” he said.

  “HQ?” she asked as the doors slid open to reveal a massive military facility with soldiers and doctors working in various areas of it.

  She blinked twice and stared into the room with wide eyes. Okay, I knew he was a spy, but this is a war room! She glanced down, looking across the room from the metal balcony that was suspended above it.

  Men in white lab coats were working with a range of colorful chemicals in one section. In another section, there were uniformed soldiers assembling weapons. In another area that was sectioned off on the right-hand side of the room, several people were studying data on l
arge flat screens. Some were tapping away at computers, others talking to each other. Some people wore military uniforms. Others were wearing suits.

  “Holy crap!” she cried, and Parklon turned, flashing a questioning glance at her. “I can’t believe you kept this from me!”

  He looked a bit sheepish.

  A large Derobmi male wearing a military uniform walked up the metal stairs toward them. “Four-five-nine, have you gone insane?” he snapped at Parklon. “What is she doing here?”

  “Oh good, you’re acquainted,” Parklon said smoothly. “That’ll make it a lot easier to explain why you put a hit on my g… er…” Parklon paused. “…friend!” He finished, somewhat less smoothly.

  “Your g… er… friend?” Carla asked, grinning.

  He shot her an irritated look.

  “She attacked an agent,” the green-skinned Derobmi man said. “And she’s been deemed a threat. How dare you bring a threat into my headquarters?”

  Parklon turned to her. “Carla, have you attacked any spies recently?”

  “Does the guy who tried to shoot me in the face count?” she asked.

  “No, that was self-defense,” he said.

  “Then no, I don’t think I have.”

  “You think this is funny?” The man was fuming with anger.

  “General, there is no way this girl attacked an agent. What are you basing this on?”

  “We have the information straight from the agent himself,” the General said, narrowing his eyes at Carla.

  “Fine, then let’s hear what he has to say. Is he here?” Parklon asked, narrowing his eyes at the general.

  “Yes, he is.” The general scowled. “You’re responsible for her, though. One step out of line, and I’ll have you both in front of a firing squad.” He turned on his heel and marched down the stairs.

  “Welcoming fellow, isn’t he?” Carla said, and then she followed Parklon down the steps, wondering what mess he was going to get her into this time.

  The General led them to a door marked with the words ‘Authorized Personnel Only’ in large red letters. The General tapped numbers into a keypad, and the door opened. They followed him through the door into what Carla guessed was a command center.

  Desks, computers, big screens and people filled the room. Off to either side were meeting rooms with large glass doors. On the left-hand side of the room was another metal door like the one they had come through, clearly marked with the word 'Exit'.