Zed (The Zed Trilogy Book 1)

by C. S. Nelson

  They walked through one more pair of double doors to find themselves standing in front of a semi-circular table, with the president sitting in the center. His dark spiked hair, stubble on his cheeks, and worn leather jacket reminded Annie that the president appeared to be far too young to have so much power. He looked up from papers scattered across the table in front of him, and smiled warmly. “Kevin, how nice to see you again, so soon.” He stood up, and everyone around the table stood up with him. Annie noticed the woman standing to his right was Summer Henderson. She looked as beautiful as always, wearing newly pressed clothes and bright red lipstick. “When did you leave? Twenty minutes ago? And who is this that you’ve brought with you?”

  Kevin nudged her. She cleared her throat as her eyes darted between the two most powerful people in the Shield, Summer and the president. She got nudged again. “Oh, um…” She swallowed again. “My name is Annie.”

  The president laughed, flashing Annie a full white-toothed smile that caused Annie’s heart to leap into her throat. “New ranger, are you?” he asked.

  Annie nodded.

  “Ah, I thought I recognized you,” Summer said, snapping her fingers. “You’re Dustan’s girlfriend, aren’t you?”

  Annie could feel Kevin’s eyes on her. “Ex-girlfriend, actually,” she mumbled.

  Summer’s eyes widened. “Ah, he still speaks quite fondly of you to the other breeders, and to the president.” She motioned to him as he smiled. “And myself.”

  Shocking. Dustan didn’t take the break up seriously. He always expected to get exactly what he wanted. Annie refused to let his stubbornness get to her, not while she was trying to make a good first impression on the most important people that she would ever meet. “Anyway…” Kevin stepped forward, pulling a chair from the edge of the table and dragging it towards the center, plopping himself across from the president. “We’ve got to talk about a situation going on at basecamp.”

  “I love that you’re getting right down to business, Commander Kevin. It shows real initiative. Before we begin, I need to ask, do we need to be alone?” he asked Kevin.

  Kevin shook his head. “It’s just a safety precaution.” The president waved his arm to indicate that Kevin had permission to continue talking. “Someone was wrongly placed as a ranger.”

  “Impossible,” Summer chimed in. Annie didn’t like the way the young woman carried herself. She had never understood why Summer was loved by all when she had done nothing heroic. She had only happened to be born into the right family. “The tests are flawless.”

  “Hush, darling,” the president said, placing his hand on her hand. Kevin and Annie exchanged a look. He hadn’t realized that the president and Summer Henderson were together either. “What makes you think this?”

  “Today, Anthony almost got all six of us killed on a mission. He shot Mitch. He froze up. He was the worst I’ve ever seen. He can’t stay, mister President. He’ll get us all killed. And I thought, because we were relocating some of the rangers today anyway, there would surely be a spot that Anthony could fill in a different career.”

  “Annie, do you have anything to say about this?” the president asked.

  “Oh…” Annie stepped forward until she was as close to the two of them as Kevin was. Now that she was so close she could see a thin scar running down the left side of the president’s face. “Anthony has been my friend ever since I can remember. He is smart, quick, and talented in low pressure situations.” Annie felt as though she were arguing for Anthony’s life. “He’s a fantastic cook and he helped to tutor many of us in school. He would be a great chef or administrator.”

  Both the president and Summer laughed. “If only it were so simple to choose the career you wanted,” Summer said.

  Annie narrowed her eyes. They were here to talk to the president, not Summer Henderson. “Unfortunately, Kevin, Annie, I have to agree with Summer. You can train Anthony to do better. This situation doesn’t seem extreme enough to allow him to switch careers. If we were to move Anthony elsewhere, what would stop other unhappy rangers from intentionally failing for the same opportunity? It just isn’t logical.”

  “Our lives aren’t important enough for you to consider this?” Annie asked. Kevin put his hand on her wrist.

  The president raised his eyebrows in surprise, but then smiled warmly. “You are young, sweetheart. You will learn that your lives mean absolutely nothing to me.” His expression didn’t sway. Her heart sunk. This was the leader of their Shield? Someone that cared so little for the safety of others?

  “Let’s go, Annie.” Kevin whispered under his breath.

  “Thank you for coming, Kevin. I look forward to working closely with you for the next year and a half. Feel free to come to me with any other issues you may have.”

  “Why, so you can ignore them?” Annie asked.

  “Annie,” Kevin hissed, his hand squeezing tightly on her wrist.

  “I will forgive your outburst, and chalk it up to immaturity. You will learn, Annie, as the months go by, the way adult life works around here.” He was being unbearably patronizing. How was anyone able to come to the president and beg him for help if this was the response they would get?

  “Sit here in the safety of City Hall, with your warm meals, new clothes, and comfortable nights. But know that our lives are the only things keeping yours in existence. Remember that next time one of us falls.” Annie, shocked with her own words for the second time in the past day, turned before even catching a glimpse of the president’s reaction. Kevin ran after her.

  “Where the fuck did that come from?” Kevin gawked as they took the City Hall steps two at a time. “Honestly, you go from complete silence when you start training to mouthing off to the president? He owns you, Annie, he owns all of us.”

  She didn’t know either. Annie had never liked being the center of attention during school. She was content with her small group of friends; she had never gotten a detention. She had been kind of a kiss-ass really. She wasn’t sure where the anger was coming from, or why she had chosen today to show it. Maybe it had always been there. “Did it sound to you like he cared?” She stopped. “Anthony cannot go back out there. He’s going to get himself killed, or get one of us killed. You saw it; you know that better than anyone. We went in there and begged for our lives, Kevin. And he laughed at us.”

  Kevin groaned loudly, walking again, and this time Annie had to catch up. “It doesn’t matter what his reaction was. It doesn’t matter what the president says to you, Annie. You smile and say ‘yes sir’. This is a small town. He’s never going to forget your face.”

  “I already have the most dangerous job in the Shield. What could he possibly do to me?”

  “He isn’t a good person, Annie. I’m sure he’ll think of something.”

  They walked in silence for a few moments. “Are you mad at me?” Annie asked. She felt like a child.

  “No, of course not,” he said. His voice still sounded harsh but she could hear a hint of sympathy behind it. She knew that she was no longer talking to Kevin, the acting commander, but to Kevin, her friend. “We’re just so close to getting out of here. To the ship coming to save us all. I know that it’s going to happen, but I don’t want anyone else to die before they come. Sixteen more months.”

  Sixteen months. It seemed survivable. “Have you ever thought about what may happen if the Mpho humans don’t show up? It’s been years and years since we’ve had any form of contact with them. How do we know they’re still coming?”

  “We don’t.”

  “They will.” She nodded, reassuring herself. It was the only thing that was keeping anyone going. They had to come.

  Kevin smirked. “And if they don’t, we will find another way. I won’t give up if you won’t.” He held out his hand.

  Annie smiled back at him. “And I won’t if you won’t,” she said, shaking his hand. To her surprise, Kevin pulled her in, giving her a massive hug that she wouldn’t have been able to get out of even if she ha
d wanted to. It was odd to receive any form of affection from him.

  “Thank you for keeping me sane,” he mumbled into the top of her head. Whatever had happened to him today, it had almost broken him.

  She blushed. Thank God he couldn’t see her face.

  “Honestly, when I was told I would be a ranger, I didn’t think I would make it. And the more people I’ve seen die, the worse it’s gotten for me. But somehow you’re making this okay. You’re making it fun.”

  She was making ranger duty fun? “I haven’t done anything,” she said. Kevin just laughed. But she had to admit, it felt nice to be acknowledged. She was exhausted from worrying about Anthony and trying to keep herself alive. But, she supposed, that was just what happened in this career.

  “We’ll work on Anthony.” He let go of Annie. “We’ll make him better. That’s what we’re supposed to do, right? Don’t lose hope.”

  Chapter 8: Deceit

  Every ranger that was uninjured stood next to the edge of the Shield. The sun was directly overhead, but it was beginning to get cold in the Shield. Frost was settling into the fields surrounding them, and Annie could see her breath hanging in the air. She zipped up her jacket and shivered. She wished that for once the rangers could get new uniforms.

  “Okay.” Kevin placed his clipboard in the grass with the rest of the supplies and cleared his throat. “Today is a simple mission. Last week, some of the veteran rangers went out for supplies. They ran into the suckers, and on their way back passed a large group of boxes marked similarly to the ones that the military had sent people at the beginning of the attack. There should be first aid supplies, dried food, and clean water in there. We’re going to pick up the boxes and come straight back. Scott knows exactly where the boxes are, and he’s going to lead the way.”

  Scott stepped forward and turned towards the rangers. There was about thirty of them, many Annie didn’t even recognize, as they never made an attempt to talk to the new recruits. “These boxes are going to be heavy. It’ll take three of us to carry one comfortably. So we’re going to have three to a box, and whoever is left without one will be on watch for us. We’re going to have to walk slowly, so make sure we all stick together.”

  It was the first time Annie was going out since the resupply mission that had almost gotten her killed. The wound on her arm had finally healed over, and she was actually feeling confident. She was stronger from training. More level headed, and ready this time. She looked at Anthony, and her confidence shook. He had already gone pale as he was handed a gun.

  “Hey.” She nudged him softly. “You’re going to be fine.” She had been working with him for weeks. He had been making real progress.

  Anthony swallowed hard. “I’m gonna screw up again.” Mitch was still healing up at the hospital, and the sleeping quarters had been eerily quiet without him, not that Annie had minded the silence.

  “No you aren’t.” Kevin had come up behind them, handing Anthony a knife. “I trust you with my life.”

  Anthony smiled, but Annie could see through it. “Ready?” Scott asked, tucking the last of his weapons into his belt. He received silence in response. But it didn’t matter; he turned and headed towards the Shield wall anyway. Annie followed close behind. Scott was extremely muscular, and his arms were covered in cuts and gashes from his times outside of the Shield. He had been here the longest out of any of the rangers, even longer than Kevin. Kevin had been doing a fantastic job as acting commander, but sometimes Annie wondered why the job had not been offered to Scott first.

  Scott stepped through, followed by Turner and Ethan, who had become more and more eager to kick alien ass as the weeks went by. “You ready?” she asked Anthony as she put one foot through.

  Anthony took a deep breath, relaxing his body. “I think so,” he said. He jumped through the Shield.

  “Is he ready?” Kevin asked after he had passed through.

  “No,” Annie replied, with one leg already outside the Shield. She had seen this expression on his face before. If they were approached by any real danger, Annie feared that Anthony was going to freeze up. Last time it had happened, Mitch had gotten shot.

  Kevin nodded. “I’ll watch him. There’s lots of us out there, it shouldn’t be an issue.” He stepped through the Shield, and Annie forced the rest of her body through.

  The rangers walked in silence as they crossed the open field and headed into the woods. This was an extremely important mission. If it failed, nearly all of the rangers would be wiped out. But they needed the boxes desperately, and it had been a chance that Kevin had been willing to take. Annie gripped her gun tightly as she watched shadows dance between the trees. It was quiet, all she could hear was boots on frosty forest floor, but she was certain that she could feel eyes on her. She turned to the side, and saw it. A pair of red eyes that ducked behind the tree as soon she noticed them.

  “Sucker spotted, right,” she hissed as she pulled her gun off her back and aimed at the tree.

  “Don’t shoot,” Scott whispered back. “You’ll draw their attention.” He reached back and pulled his machete out of his pocket, ducking behind a tree. Many of the experienced rangers followed his lead, pulling out their knives and slowly inching toward the tree that the creature was hiding behind.

  “Where there’s one, there’s more,” Kevin murmured, following the others. The only people that were left standing in the clearing were the new recruits.

  “Ethan, Dougie, watch behind us. Anthony and Allison, you take right, Mia and Turner you take left. Everyone pull out your knives,” Annie whispered to them all. No one argued, and they pulled their weapons out.

  The rangers were moving in. It was eerily quiet. As Scott stepped out from behind the closest tree, the creature turned. On all fours, it jumped out from around the tree and sprinted towards him. He lifted his knife silently and braced himself for impact. The sucker leapt, its clawed hands reaching out to grab him. With lightening speed, Scott flung his machete forward, through the stomach of the alien. It screamed, and fell to the ground, bright blue blood surrounding it as it crumpled to the forest floor.

  Once again, it was quiet. Annie put her sword away, breathing deeply. Everyone watched in silence as Scott stepped up to the creature, pulling his machete out of its stomach and pushing it through the skull of the monster.

  “Shit,” Kevin sighed. “That thing made a lot of noise.”

  Scott wiped his blade off in the grass. “If there were any close, they would have been on top of us already. Let’s just move quickly.”

  “You don’t think we should abort?” another veteran asked.

  Scott shook his head. “We’re out this far. We’ve got the most uninjured rangers we’ve ever had. We need to do this now.”

  Annie could see in Kevin’s face that he was annoyed. Maybe because Scott had taken over this mission, or maybe because he disagreed that they should have kept going. But either way, he stayed quiet and followed as Scott stepped over the body and continued through the woods.

  There was now more tension in the air than there had been before the soul sucker had appeared. It was just the same as every mission. They felt invincible until they were reminded of what lingered outside of their home. Annie couldn’t wait until the ship came and she would never have to step outside in fear again.

  They reached the first of the boxes a few minutes later without another incident. Scott snapped his fingers to signal for people to reach and pick up the boxes. Annie followed Kevin, and Anthony followed her, deeper in the woods towards more scattered boxes.

  "Three to a box," Kevin said, stepping up to one of the massive metal crates. Annie cringed at the thought of having to lug one of these things all the way back to the Shield. They looked heavy and bulky, and she was already carrying extra weight from the equipment she was wearing. "Let's move quickly."

  Suddenly, a shot was fired. Annie dropped her sword to put her hands over her ringing ears, before looking around in confusion. Everyone looked shocked, ex
cept for Anthony, who was standing with his gun steaming, pointed directly at Scott.

  Just past Scott, whose eyes were wide with fear, lay a body of one of the rangers. "Anthony..." Annie started in a panic. "What have you done?" She had known that he wasn't ready for this. Kevin had known that he wasn't ready for this. Now he had killed one of their own.

  The rangers crowded around the body before seeing what Anthony had known before anybody else. The bullet wound, passing through the ranger's forehead, and exploding out the back of his head, was leaking blue blood. An alien inside of a human body. A sucker that had fooled everyone but the shy, nervous boy whom no one had any confidence in.

  "How did you know?" Scott asked, still visibly shaken from the bullet that had missed him by only a few inches.

  Anthony's eyes were wide, as though he were just as surprised as everyone else. "He was creeping up on Scott. He had this sort of...look in his eye. I could just tell something was off," he said. "I'm really sorry, you said not to shoot and then I shot." He sounded panicked.

  Kevin laughed. "You must be joking, Anth, you just saved Scott's life."

  Scott gave Anthony a solid slap on the back in appreciation, and Annie swore that she saw the first genuine smile on Anthony's face that she had seen since they arrived at basecamp. She breathed a sigh of relief. Her best friend was finally starting to get the hang of the career. Annie locked eyes with Kevin, who she could see was feeling the same reassurance.

  The earth below Annie's feet began to move slightly. She looked down, wondering if what she were feeling was an earthquake. But then she saw them. The razor sharp, grey fingers pushing through the ground effortlessly. They were being ambushed from below. "Sp...spotted!" Annie yelled, scrambling for the sword that she had dropped before.