“You know, if this is the way Allison’s mind works, I don’t think I want to hear anymore of her theories. She sounds like a real moron.”
“You’re the one who asked.”
“I didn’t know you were going to insult practically every person I know. Knew.”
He didn’t reply. Just gave me a doleful look and then flipped over and began doing push-ups.
“What are you exercising so much for anyway? I thought you were resigned to all this.”
Pumping up and down steadily, he ignored me.
Fine. I went to the far recliner with the idea of ignoring him right back. Which I did for at least a minute. But the eye is drawn toward movement, especially when everything else is completely still, and I found myself observing his workout.
Why was I so testy with him? He was a good guy, really. And I had asked him to tell me the theories.
Ugh. I probably owed him another apology.
“I’m sorry,” I said, nearly inaudible.
He paused mid-push-up.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. For being so grumpy.”
He pushed himself up and came toward me, an unreadable expression on his face.
“I think we’ve both earned the right to a little grumpiness,” he said, perching on the recliner across from me.
“Yeah, I guess you’re probably r—”
“Can I kiss you?”
“What?” I asked, completely taken aback. Where had that come from?
“I’ve been wanting to for a long time, but there was never an opening. So I’m just asking.”
“Um…” I flustered. How was that even on his mind? Kissing and anything that went along with it was part of a past life. The only thing this life had room for was strife and devastation.
Still, he was alluring with those cocoa eyes and the barest hint of chin stubble.
“Okay,” my body answered for me.
He stood and grabbed my hands, pulling me up. Then, without any hesitation, he kissed me hungrily. It was almost like a challenge, and I rose to it—kissing him back with vigorous intensity. Sweaty from the workout, he tasted salty, a fact that only intensified the heat growing inside me. His arms wrapped around my waist and my fingers buried themselves in his hair.
Electrifying as it was, a small voice in my mind wondered if we were doing exactly what the Vela wanted. The thought repulsed me and I pulled away abruptly.
“What?” Tristen asked.
“Isn’t this what they want?” My head nodded toward the camera.
“It was just a theory,” he said, moving toward me again. I stepped back.
“No, I—I can’t. I hate them.”
Tristen frowned.
“Seriously?” he asked. “That was the most fun I’ve had in weeks.”
I almost laughed. There was no denying the chemistry. But I couldn’t. Even just theoretically, I refused to cooperate with the Vela in any way. It was the only driving force in my life…
Lost in thought, I was completely unprepared when the hatch burst open with a loud bang. We both jumped about a mile.
Kalisha burst in with savage hair and crazed eyes. A stream of blood was creeping down her arm.
“Rhyan? Good. I was hoping you were still alive. Take this.”
She held out a good sharp knife.
“We’re bustin’ outta here. Let’s go.”
Chapter 30
Grabbing the knife, I ran through the hatch, entering a scene of utter mayhem. People—lots of people—were scurrying in both directions, crying, calling names, pulling others along by their wrists. The corridor was so dimly lit is may as well not have been, but a few flashlight beams zig-zagged through the crowds, allowing glimpses of the pandemonium: a bearded man carrying a rifle across his chest, a woman bleeding from her ear, a Vela being ferociously assaulted by half a dozen people despite the fact it was long dead.
“This way!” Kalisha yelled over the tumult. Turning left, she bulldozed her way through the mob, knife at the ready.
I glanced back into the room. Tristen was just finishing tying the laces on his shoes, and I thought wistfully of the boots the aliens had stolen. He sprang up and together we joined the dark river of people.
“What’s going on?” Tristen yelled to the man in front of us. “What’s happened?”
He glanced back at us.
“Not sure—some kind of rescue, I think!”
It was hard not to trip—the ground was uneven and feet were everywhere. Even if I’d wanted to, I wouldn’t have been able to stop; the forward movement of the throng was overpowering.
We passed by several other hatches, most of them already opened. It was like a large -scale jailbreak and despite the turmoil (or maybe because of it), a thrill of excitement rushed through me. We were not going quietly into the night.
The corridor went on forever. Most everyone was heading the same direction, but the ones that weren’t slowed our progress. By this point I was certain we were actually underground somewhere. No building went on this long and there were absolutely no windows, not to mention the earthy odor. Tristen stayed at my side every step.
After long minutes of dark and disarray, I noticed my feet weren’t stumbling over others’ as much. The passage was widening, and before I knew it, the swarm was spilling into a large cavern. It was difficult to gauge the expanse of the area because the walls were imperceptible, but judging by the echoes it was huge.
People were yelling names and forming clusters. Wishing I had a flashlight—where had they come from?—Tristen and I navigated our way through the dimness to a less congested spot on the side. I’d completely lost track of Kalisha.
“What do you think is happening?” I asked Tristen.
“Maybe your rescue group?”
“But where are they? Where are we? This isn’t an escape—it’s madness!”
As I spoke, a deafening thud reverberated throughout the chamber, and only seconds later, screaming filled the air. Scurrying every which way, people toppled over each other.
“What’s going on?” I cried frantically. “What’s happening?”
Of course Tristen had no answer. I raised the knife and tried to find a wall I could put my back against.
“They’re here!” I heard someone yell. “The monsters!”
My eyes peered fiercely at the darkness, but there simply wasn’t enough light. Remembering the Vela seemed to have no problem maneuvering in the darkness, I realized we were at a serious disadvantage.
“Get behind me!” I told Tristen, walking blindly in search of a wall.
“What?” he yelled back.
“You’re unarmed! Get behind me!”
Before he could respond, a brilliant light suddenly shone against one wall. A circular opening had appeared on the opposite side, growing in diameter by the second, allowing sunlight—beautiful and bright— to shine into the darkness like a beacon.
As the hole widened, I was able to see a whole fleet of armored vehicles and dozens of armed people outside. It was a rescue after all!
The chamber, which I could now see was at least the size of a football field, was in more chaos than I’d imagined. Dozens of aliens percolated through the masses, and this time, they weren’t gentle. Everywhere they went, bodies littered the ground.
As the opening’s circumference broadened wide enough to reach the floor, the rescue party barreled in, firing shots that echoed like thunder from every direction. A bottleneck formed as people rushed to the exit, myself and Tristen included.
“You there!” someone yelled authoritatively. I turned to see a man pointing at me. He had a wicked-looking firearm at his side. “You’re on protection duty! Fight now and you can withdraw when the enemy is dead!”
“But—“
“Orders are anyone with a weapon needs to fight—now move!”
I looked at Tristen, whose bewildered expression mirrored mine.
“I’ll stay with you,” he said.
“Don’t be stupid.
Get out of here!” I said, then turned to join the fight. I probably should have been upset, being called out like that, but part of me was relieved. Combat always lessened my fear.
Locating a target, I ran straight toward it, and landed a satisfying slash. As it fell to the ground, I noticed the many, many people who were also lying dead. My stomach rebelled and I had to turn away from the scene to puke.
There were probably about twelve or fifteen fighters moving into the cavern—everyone else was fleeing. I was sure there had been more people with weapons, but maybe they’d made it out already.
Or maybe they were lying on the ground.
I zeroed in on my next target and attacked. This one was fast—faster than me. It dodged my slashes so adeptly it could have been reading my mind. After one especially quick sidestep, it outmaneuvered me, whirling around to my left side. A deep gash sank into my back.
I fell.
Bracing for the next swing—probably the fatal one—thoughts of Dad and Zach swirled through my mind. Maybe if there was an afterlife I would see them again.
But the blow didn’t come—a string of gunshots did.
“You alive?” the shooter asked as he passed by—the same man who told me to join the fight. I nodded, but he didn’t see; his attention was seized by a duo of beasts were skulking toward him.
Shakily, I tried to stand.
“Let me help,” a voice said as an arm hoisted around me. Tristen.
“I told you to leave,” I said weakly.
“I told you I was staying,” he said. We both smiled for a second, then he began helping me hobble toward the exit.
We made it almost halfway there before being spotted. Tristen was so focused on the exit he didn’t noticed the monster stalking us
“Look out!” I nudged him with my shoulder.
His eyes grew huge when he saw the brute that was almost upon us, claws outstretched. I tried to shove him off and told him to run, but he set me down on the ground then stood to face the attacker.
“Take this!” I said, pushing the knife into his hands. If he was going to insist on fighting, he needed something. He raised it in a defensive angle across his body. The foe tried to circle around, but Tristen also turned, keeping the blade between himself and the enemy.
The Vela lunged and Tristen brought the knife down as he leapt to the side, cutting the monster’s claw clean off. It fell to the ground and landed in a pool of blue blood. The creature let out a violent sound, almost like a scream, then pounced again from the other side.
Again Tristen evaded the attack and landed the blade on the Vela’s side, drawing another geyser of alien liquid. He was a good fighter—the workouts proved useful after all. But no amount of fitness could have prevented the second alien that approached in Tristen’s blind spot.
“Behind you!” I cried, feeling helpless. He turned and raised the knife at the second, larger attacker. He fended off the first blow and jumped back to avoid a violent claw jab. The leap landed him in range of the first Vela, whose remaining set of claws were fully functional. It swung them fiercely, right through Tristen’s torso. He fell without a sound.
“No!” I screamed, rushing to his side, injury be damned. Seizing the knife from his still-clenched fist, I stabbed the one-clawed alien with a deep backwards jab, then whirled the blade over my head and introduced it to the second beast’s middle. They collapsed, and then so did I.
It only took one glimpse of Tristen’s face to know he was gone. Gone, just like that.
I wanted a moment with him, but the chaos wouldn’t allow it. I had to move or I would be targeted again. With great effort, I stood.
“Rhyan?” a voice called through the noise. A woman stood a few yards away, awkwardly holding a gun. There was no mistaking the long unruly curls; it was Vanessa.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, glancing around to make sure the immediate vicinity was clear.
“I’m on the rescue crew,” she answered, gesturing to the gun. “Is that… Tristen?”
I glanced back down at the body. Somehow he looked peaceful.
Vanessa strutted over and examined the body. Then she looked at me with a horrified expression.
“You killed him?”
“What? Of course not!”
She retreated with backward steps, gun raised.
“You’re a killer,” she said in a shaken voice. “Everyone from the cave is dead now, except you.”
“I didn’t kill him!” I screamed. “Look around you—don’t you think there might be another explanation?!”
“You’re not going to kill me, too,” she said, and aimed the gun.
I got out the beginnings of an objection before she fired. The bullet found my shoulder. I fell to my knees and cradled the wound with my hand, watching as Vanessa ran for the exit.
The cavern was nearly empty—pretty much anyone who could make it out, had. An alien, its leg bleeding, hobbled to a rectangular panel embedded in the wall. It shoved its claws deeply into the gel-like material and I watched in horror as the opening began to close.
Chapter 31
The circle of light diminished as the gateway folded in on itself –the size of trampoline, a tire, a tennis ball, gone.
A few discarded flashlights, still lit, cast enough of a gleam to illuminate outlines and shapes. The shapes of fallen bodies. The shapes of living aliens, roaming about, combing through remains.
Slumping lower, I tried not to breath, not to move, hoping to be mistaken for another lifeless carcass. One hand clutched the knife and the other gingerly prodded the gunshot wound. Luckily for me, Vanessa had either no firearm training or utterly terrible aim; even shooting point blank, she’d only grazed the side of my shoulder. It was bleeding, but I could tell it would scab over on its own. The more urgent matter was the gash in my back. Based on the amount of warm fluid I could feel cascading down, it wasn’t going to relent as graciously.
Discreetly as I could, I scanned the sea of bodies, hoping to see someone—anyone—showing signs of life, but not one did. The cavern had become a tomb and I’d been buried alive.
Without fresh air circulating inward, the stench inside the chamber became noxious. The putrid reek of the Vela combined with the mounting odor of human remains made me want to vomit again.
One of the aliens wandered closer and I tightened my grip on the knife. If I was discovered, there was no choice but to fight. Whatever science experiment they’d been playing at was surely over and, going by the slew of dead people, enmity had taken its place.
There were eleven or twelve shuffling about, some of them injured. There was no way I could take on a dozen. It was more than I’d ever faced before, and I was injured too. Not to mention their superior sight and the fact that more might appear at any moment. Who knew how substantial this place was?
Do it, an inner voice said—obviously the part of my brain that held no regard for personal safety. If you’re going to die, die fighting.
I found myself nodding in agreement with my own thoughts. I didn’t want to die collapsed weakly on the ground. As long as I could stand, I would fight the ones that had taken everything from me, the ones that had taken my family.
I stood up, knife at the ready.
The enemy honed in on me right away. Based on the loud gurgling sounds they began making, they were clearly aggravated, and I’d just given that aggravation a target.
They advanced; I inhaled.
The first one fell easily. It had already been shot and it was almost incapacitated already—I didn’t even have to take a step. Numbers two and three converged simultaneously. Neither of them had wounds.
Sidestepping toward the smaller one, I took a quick glance behind. I didn’t want to put myself in range of another enemy.
I swung the knife as I circled around my target, away from its claws. One more hard strike from those would be my last. The beast spun to meet me at its side but it was too slow and I gouged a long cut in its side. Not a fatal blow, but e
nough to make it fall.
Its companion was right behind, claws flying erratically. I ducked, barely missing a blow. Rolling sideways, I tried to get out of range. After nearly tripping over a body, I managed to regain my balance. It was going to be difficult to fight well, given the maze I’d have to negotiate. Generally I used a lot of space for maneuvering.
The Vela lunged and I somersaulted into it, bringing the knife up. It worked exactly as I’d anticipated: the beast’s vulnerable abdomen was right over me and before I knew it, blue alien blood was raining on me, its body toppling to one side.
The remaining monsters were absolutely livid—almost as if they held me solely responsible for the whole mess. The garbles they directed at each other echoed noisily throughout the chamber. I watched as they surrounded me on all sides. Spinning around, seeing the shape of beast after murderous beast about to move in should have terrified me to my core. But somehow, it didn’t.
All I felt was fury.
Something inside me clicked. My mind went into overdrive and began calculating how each of my enemies was going to move. As clearly as if it was on a screen, I could see the attack, and conceptualize how I could duck, spin, and dance my way through it. I pulled my blue-soaked hair away from my face.
Three of them came at me in sync, just as I’d anticipated. Twirling out of their death triangle, I slashed one from behind. The other two sprinted at top speed. Just as they were in range I dropped to the floor and rolled, tripping one of them into the other. Capriciously swinging the knife, I landed fatal blows before they could rise.
A knife hilt was peeking out from underneath a body, and I seized it. I’d never fought with two blades before, but wasn’t worried. It was like I’d entered some sort of berserk mode.
The surviving Vela garbled and clicked at each other noisily. I didn’t wait for them to make the first move, instead darting toward the nearest one. As it came into range, the other monsters moved in behind me and I was in the thick of angry, savage beasts.
My blades spun so quickly I didn’t even have time to think about my movements, let alone execute them. They were practically their own entity, and I was their instrument. The aliens’ motions suddenly seemed abysmally slow, and in almost no time I found myself the lone one standing, a smattering of alien carrion bowing before me.
Girl Vs (Sinister Skies Book 1) Page 12
