What had happened? He’d obviously been picked up…but had they won?
He could make out some words now, but they didn’t make sense. His vision started to clear and, little by little, he could see Daniel’s face looking down at him. One by one, his words started to puncture through.
“…friend…scared…try…”
Chase raised a battered finger. “I can’t hear you. Gimme a minute.”
Daniel nodded up and down in response.
As the world around him grew progressively sharper, his mind zeroed in on Sarah. The black fighter had taken her, but where? Was he holding her captive? Was…
…was she dead already?
He turned his head weakly to Daniel. “I think I’m okay…”
Daniel’s face cleared in relief. “Good, you scared the shit out of us!”
“Where am I?”
“On board the Destiny, medical bay.”
“Did we win?”
His friend paused. “Sort of.”
“What do you mean, sort of?”
“Well, we stopped the Zarlacks, disabled their largest ship thanks to the EMP we teleported into its hull, and managed to destroy the rest of the fleet. We’re currently analyzing the disabled ship in order to develop more efficient weapons for the future. It’s been badly damaged but, if we could retrofit it, it would make a good addition to what’s left of our fleet.”
“So…we won?”
“Yeah. We won.”
“I don’t like your tone. What is it?”
“Well, you remember the Droxians?”
“Yeah, what about them?”
“We’re currently en route to Droxia now to answer for our crimes.”
Chase frowned in confusion. “What crimes? What the hell is that about?”
“Yeah...I’m a little pissed off too.” Daniel shook his head. “But if they hadn’t followed your reinforcements, we probably wouldn’t be here discussing it. We did infringe on their territory and Captain Saroudis promised we would stand trial once the battle was over.”
“Earth?”
“Many big cities destroyed, millions killed.”
“Any good news?”
“I’m afraid not.” Daniel looked at his friend gently. “We found Sarah’s ship adrift; she apparently ejected, but we couldn’t locate her cockpit. I…I’m so sorry, Chase.”
Chase felt his world crumble beneath him. “So it wasn’t a hallucination…”
“What wasn’t?”
Tears started flowing down his face. “I saw the dark fighter use a tractor beam after she ejected. It took Sarah and vanished.”
Daniel squeezed his shoulder. “Then maybe she’s still alive.”
“I hope so. I need to find her.” Chase tried to get up, but a wave of pain coursed through his body and forced him down again.
“Easy, man!” Daniel pressed him back. “You’re in no shape to go anywhere right now. As a matter of fact, I’m going let you rest a little, okay?”
“Yeah I guess,” Chase panted as his heart rate returned to normal. “How long was I out anyway?”
“Almost a day now. Get some rest. Everything will still be here in the morning.”
Chase closed his eyes and felt more tears slip down to his neck. A day. The black fighter had a day head start on him. He tried to sit up once more, but fell back with the searing pain and decided to try to sleep. He would begin his search first thing in the morning.
“I will find you, Sarah,” he whispered in the dark. “I promise.”
* * *
Sarah slowly opened her eyes. She didn’t know where she was. It was extremely dark and the ground she was lying on was freezing. She managed to raise herself up and leaned back against a wall as her vision adjusted to the darkness. The room was small; it felt like a prison cell. She heard steps and tried to stand up, but she fell back almost immediately. Every muscle, every bone in her body, felt as though it had fallen off a skyscraper.
The door of the cell opened and a lizard man entered. Sarah reeled back in alarm, but the pain was so much that she couldn’t even try to get away. Her eyes struggled to see as the lizard swept towards her in the darkness. A strange sort of stick touched her abdomen and, the next second, she doubled over with a jolt of electricity and a scream. Then all was black.
When she came to, she was being dragged on the floor. Two lizard men had her by the arms, and when one looked her way, she quickly closed her eyes, feigning that she was still out cold. She was dragged a bit farther now. After a few moments, she squinted through her lashes. There was a long corridor in front of her and, by the looks of it, she was alone with her two guards. If she wanted to try to escape, now was as good a time as any. Maybe she could take out a lizard or two…
Without any warning, she jerked her arms free, ignoring the blinding pain that followed. The lizards seemed as surprised as she was that it had worked, and she used their confusion combined with a jolt of adrenaline to pull herself to her feet. She kicked out with all her strength and felt her foot connect with painful satisfaction with the lizard’s face.
He didn’t even blink.
“Uh oh,” she muttered.
Before she could try to run, she was slammed by a tail so hard that she flew and crashed into the nearby wall, barely conscious. The other lizard muttered something angry in a language she couldn’t understand and they took her arms again, dragging her away.
So much for my great escape, she thought. Then she lost consciousness once more.
When she opened her eyes again, she was in a much bigger room. There were strange torches lighting the walls and, in the center, there was what appeared to be a throne. She tried to raise her head higher, but fell back with a whimper of pain.
“I said she was not to be hurt!” a voice resonated from the throne.
“She tried to escape, master,” answered one of the lizards.
“Who did this to her?”
After a moment’s pause, one lizard stepped forward. Even its tail was trembling. Sarah didn’t understand what could make such a huge, monster of a thing afraid but, the next second, something seemed to go very wrong. As if pulled by invisible strings, the guard started levitating and soon the lizard’s limbs shot straight out to his sides. There was a low frequency buzzing, during which everyone seemed to hold their breath, and then, all at once, the lizard’s head exploded.
Dark blood and bits of flesh showered down around her, and Sarah wiped her face clean in disgust. The other lizard by her side immediately kneeled.
“Leave us!” the voice demanded.
The lizard jumped to his feet and hurried from the room. Sarah watched him until he’d disappeared through the doors, then turned her attention back to the throne. It was a man, she saw now. The source of the voice was a man.
He got to his feet and slowly descended the stairs in front of the throne. As he walked, the dim lights caught the side of his face, and Sarah was actually able to see him a little. There was something about him that looked familiar. The curve of his lips, the shape of his jaw. He almost looked like… She shook her head to clear it; she must be dreaming.
But then he threw back his hood and her mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe her eyes. A deep warmth flooded through her tired body and she pushed up onto her legs and ran towards him.
“Chase!” she cried in happiness. “What are you doing here? I’m so glad to—”
Then she stopped like she’d hit an invisible wall. The corner of the man’s mouth twitched and, like the lizard before, she started levitating.
Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she realized her mistake. The man looked very much like Chase. It could very well have been his twin in fact. But there were a few differences. He had a nasty scar that ran down the entire left side of his face, and a shock of gray hair with some white highlights. But the most telling difference was the eyes. His glowed a bright red, resonating pure evil.
Chase’s eyes were kind. And he would never look at her the
way this man was looking now.
“Who are you?” She started sobbing uncontrollably as he lifted her still higher.
The man smiled. “Chase, huh? So that’s the name my brother goes by these days.”
To be continued…
Earth Last Sanctuary (Universe in Flames Book 1) Page 28
