by Imogene Nix
Freya looked around the small clearing and knew she couldn’t stay out in the open. At any time that TEV warrior might come back, and she had no way to defend herself. So she backtracked the way she came, back to the deep shadows of the trees, to wait. She didn’t let herself think about later, or the next day, because no real plan had formulated in her head yet. What was she going to do, just wait there until the warrior left? Divine intervention? Help?
She snorted to herself.
She had a better chance of taking that generator apart with her bare hands. So she sat and waited and stared, wondering what she could do to destroy it. As the minutes drew out, it became the only thing she could think about. She had no weapons, no way to breech that force field, still, getting through it became an obsession.
Just as twilight began to bathe the land, and the cool evening breeze penetrated her clothes, the lone TEV warrior returned and stood at the threshold of the force field.
Her heart thundered because it dawned on her that this might be her one and only chance to do something. Go down like a hero, even if no one ever knew her name. She would at least know that her life hadn’t been in vain, that she wasn’t one more human clinging to the notion that things were going to get better. This was it, this was life, and reality sucked.
She missed her parents, and she missed Kory. Ever since they’d left the mountain they’d been on the run, never finding peace or sanctuary. One by one, those who had run with them broke away, because it was safer. Being alone was safer. So if death was her fate, then she wanted to do something of value for the human race. And that’s what the generator had become... her mission.
The TEV warrior continued to fiddle with the computer on his arm. The wind shifted and he suddenly raised his head and looked around. His nose lifted just a little, as if he were smelling something, and Freya hoped it wasn’t her. Just then the force field shifted, buzzed for a long period, and retracted. The warrior did one more searching sweep of the perimeter before he marched forward.
Large doors to the rectangle opened, big enough to allow him entrance, and as he disappeared inside, Freya made her move. She hurried from her hiding place to follow him, running as fast as she could. Not only did she shoot past where the force field had been, but she skidded up to the open doors. Once inside, she quickly glanced around to see if any TEV were waiting, but the coast seemed clear so she jumped inside.
Quietness met her. No warning bells, no warrior. She was inside the generator, but what the hell was she supposed to do now?
Pipes ran in every direction, a minefield of vibrating cases for the machinery running the power. It was dark, lit only by the glow of the panels on the sides of the walls. This was a world she didn’t know. All this technology confused her, and she spun around in a helpless circle.
If her heart beat furiously before, it almost stopped when she came face-to-face with the TEV warrior. Her eyes widened as he pushed her against the wall, big brown eyes staring at her angrily and his lip curled at one corner.
Kory used to curl his lip just like that…
“What are you doing here, woman?” he demanded in a hushed tone. “Don’t you know they will kill you if you’re caught?”
“They? Don’t you mean you?” Her voice came out in a high-pitched tremble.
He leaned closer to her and sniffed. “I smelled you in the clearing.”
“I-I was waiting.”
“For what?”
“To…to get inside. Please. Make it quick.”
Although he didn’t blink those big eyes of his, he did manage to look surprised. “Make what quick?”
“My d-death.”
He let go of her so abruptly she almost collapsed. A scowl creased his forehead.
“I don’t kill humans,” he said harshly. “I especially do not kill women.”
A sound clanged through the pipes, and he put a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet as he turned his head to listen. She stared at him, frightened more than she wanted to admit. Deciding she wanted to die a hero was one thing, but coming face-to-face with reality was quite different.
“This is not the place to have this conversation,” he muttered.
He removed his hand and looked down at her. Freya couldn’t help but squirm as she felt just how big and hard he actually was, which was surprising. She still remembered the TEV from when she lived in the mountains, and she didn’t remember them being quite so muscular.
“Why are you in here?” he asked.
“Because I’m going to blow this place up.”
The amusement that lit up his face made her realize how gauche that actually sounded.
“How? I can tell you this facility goes three stories deep. To accomplish your mission you must have at least a tech nine gradient level three grenade. Do you have one of those?”
She bit her lip. “Well…no.”
“I see,” he said. His gaze raked over her, from the dirty hat on her head to the worn boots on her feet. “You should leave.”
Freya shook her head. “I told you, I’m going to blow this…whatever this place is, up. I’ve got nothing to lose.”
He glowered at her words. “Except your life, if we are discovered.”
“I don’t want this life anymore,” she admitted in a soft voice. “I’ve lost everyone I’ve ever cared about. Life wasn’t meant to be lived in sadness and fear.”
He gripped her shoulders and shook her, not enough to hurt her but enough to snap her out of her morose thoughts. “Death is not the ultimate prize. This isn’t a game.”
“I’m not playing a game. Do you think I came by this decision easily?”
“Yes,” he snapped. “Suicide is a coward’s way out. There are humans right now fighting for Earth’s freedom, and you’re willing to just give up?”
“Humans? Fighting?” She shook her head. “I don’t believe you. You’re a TEV warrior. All you do is kill us humans.”
His big hand wrapped around her throat. “If that was the case, I could easily snap your neck. My leader has a human woman and they are committed to each other. Married.”
“I don’t believe you. You’re TEV. Why would you help us?”
“Because I’m not fully TEV.” In one clean move he swept the hat off her head, and her hair tumbled to her shoulders. He lifted one curl and rubbed the strands between his fingers. “Freya?”
Hearing her name from his lips caused a shockwave to travel through her body. She grabbed the wrist of the hand on her neck and pulled it away. It vaguely dawned on her that she shouldn’t have been able to move such a fierce man.
“How do you know my name?” she asked.
For a long moment, he just stared at her hair. Freya wondered why she wasn’t terrified of him, why she wasn’t cowering in fear. But there was something tender crossing over his face, softening his harsh features, and it tugged at her consciousness.
“I remember lying on the ledge the day your parents decided to leave,” he whispered. “I touched your hair then too. Such a beautiful red. I’ve always thought it was fire.”
The dream, the memory, slammed into her head and she jerked away from him, staring up with wide eyes that burned from unshed tears.
“What did you say?” she demanded.
“I wanted to go with you,” he said, continuing in a distant tone, as if his mind was a million miles away. “After our kiss, we had pledged to never leave each other. I wanted to leave the mountain with you, but when I woke up, you were already gone.”
Her breath came in spastic little bursts. “How do you know all that?”
He leveled his dark gaze on her, only now his eyes were soft. Beseeching. He ran a finger down her cheek. “Freya, it’s me. It’s Kory.”
She frantically shook her head and pushed against his massive chest. He was a boulder, unmovable.
“Freya—”
“Is this a joke?” She beat his chest with a fist. “You asshole! This is the sickest joke I’ve ever heard in my life!”
He grabbed her arm, holding her fist within his own. Holding it tightly against his heart. “It’s not a joke. It’s me, Freya. They changed what I look like, but they couldn’t change who I am inside. Please. Look at me.”
What he said was insane, and yet, she did look. The last time she’d seen Kory, he had been fifteen, a young man on the cusp of filling into his rapidly growing body. But this alien in front of her… She shook her head. No way could this monster be her Kory.
“I’m not stupid,” she said angrily. “It’s impossible to overwrite DNA. It would kill a person.”
“Yes. It did.” He shook his head sadly. “I understand you can’t believe me, but please, Freya, stay. Let me finish my mission, and then we can talk. I can prove to you who I am.”
She hated that his apparent heartache mocked her own, yet his words caught her attention. “What mission?”
He gave her a ghost of a smile. He reached down to his belt and unhooked something oval shaped. “I do have a tech nine gradient level three grenade.”
Chapter 3
Freya’s thoughts were a chaotic mess. Her heart pounded, and she wasn’t quite sure which way to move—closer to the alien who held Kory’s memories, or away from the riotous feeling swirling within. She didn’t believe him. She couldn’t believe him. If she did, then her Kory, the one from her memories that held her heart, was gone. He was lost somewhere in this monster that stood in front of her.
Instead of focusing on his incredulous revelation, she stared at the bomb in his palm. That seemed to be a far safer place to center her emotions.
“Where do we distribute that?” she asked.
He lifted a dark brow. “We do not. This is my mission.”
“My mission too,” she argued.
“I will not allow you to plan your suicide.”
Her breath caught in her throat. When he gave a name to it, shame stabbed her.
Could she believe him that there were humans fighting back? How could they defeat the TEV?
“No suicide,” she whispered. He seemed to understand her pledge, because he nodded. “But I want to defeat the TEV.”
“Then you believe me?”
“I don’t know.” She frowned. “I guess I’ll make my decision after I see this generator blow up.”
“Fair enough.” He hooked the grenade back on his belt. “I need to place this on the third level, inside the computer mainframe. This station supplies the power for all the holograph emitters in this region. Without the emitters the TEV warriors won’t be connected to the matrix and will destabilize.”
She tried to wrap her brain around the techno talk. “But they shoot real blasters.”
He nodded. “Because of the emitters. The warriors are called holo-solids. Once they’re offline, the blasters can’t connect to the energy.”
“Okay.” She took a deep breath. That made sense. “How do we get to the third level?”
“I am going to use the elevator shaft.” He held up a small chain with a pendant. “You’re going to take the detonator to the tree line and hide.”
Shock poured through her. He stared at her with calm, almost smiling, eyes. She took the detonator and held it up between them.
“What does this mean?” she demanded.
“It means I trust you, Freya. With my heart, my soul, my life. It’s in your hands now. So if you feel you can’t trust me, you can push that button at any time. You can end my life if you wish.”
She swallowed thickly and tears welled up in her eyes. “Why would you trust me with this?”
“Because even if you don’t believe who I am, I know who you are,” he replied. “You’re the girl I used to run through the catacombs with after we pilfered some bread.”
“How did you—”
“They took my face,” he said. “But they couldn’t take my memories. They couldn’t take you away, Freya. Now that I’ve found you again, I won’t let you go. But if you decide you can’t be with this creature they’ve turned me into, then push that button, because I won’t live without you any longer.”
He leaned over and kissed the top of her head before nodding to the entrance. He pushed her with a gentle shove toward the open doors. Leaving him behind. Freya clutched the detonator carefully, making sure the button wasn’t depressed. Suddenly, she didn’t want him to die. At least, not until she figured him out.
Freya retreated back to the area she’d hidden in when the warrior…Kory…had arrived. And then it was a game of sit-and-wait.
Was he Kory? Could what he have said been true? If so, how could they rewrite someone’s genetic profile? She wasn’t exactly tech savvy, but she wasn’t stupid either. His DNA would have to be overwritten, but his natural immunity would reject that type of invasion. Wouldn’t it? He said he had died, but was that a metaphor? How could a person survive that?
And yet, she knew the TEV had technology far advanced than anything this world had known. The elders would sit around and talk, and she’d listen to the stories they told about how the Earth had once been. The concept of freedom in itself seemed fantastical.
Freya looked at the detonator. He had trusted her with his life. Of course, the button could be a ruse. Fake. If she pushed it, no doubt nothing would happen. Still, he let her leave. She could run away now, get far away. Maybe even catch up to the other group. Yet hiding wasn’t living, and in the past few minutes she’d felt more alive than she had in a long while. The warrior had awoken something in her she thought had long ago been extinguished. So, no. She’d stay. Wait for him. If he didn’t show up, she’d press the button and move on. Maybe she’d find those human fighters he talked about.
A klaxon sound erupted from the generator. Freya jumped in fright and flattened herself on the ground, using the looming shadow of the tree to hide her. Should she run? Stay? What about Kory?
A dozen TEV warriors zoomed into the clearing on the back of hover discs. Sunlight glinted off their black metallic blasters aiming at the entrance. Freya’s thumb hovered over the detonator. She counted to ten. Would the blast capture these TEV? Was her position in danger?
Sweat ran down her face even though the shade was quite cool. Her heart pounded, and bile rose up from her stomach to settle in the back of her throat. She had to take the chance.
Just as she began to press down, blaster shots fired from inside the generator had the hover discs darting away. One TEV warrior went down. The clearing became a war zone as more shots were fired, from inside and from the outside.
Freya could only cover her head and pray that Kory wouldn’t get killed. He had to get out of there before she blew the thing sky high. Now that she’d found him, she didn’t want to lose him either.
A small, round ball rolled out of the interior. The TEV fighters hesitated for a moment before shooting at it, but the ball continued to roll until it ran out of momentum. Freya frowned, wondering what the ball was supposed to do, and then suddenly the thing exploded with a flash of light. She flinched and held up a hand to shield her eyes, but she heard Kory yelling at her.
“Hit the button! Now, Freya!”
Blinded, not knowing where he was at, she did as he commanded and hit the detonator. The generator exploded with a tremendous roar, and she screamed as she smashed her palms over her ears. It didn’t help. The thunderous boom deafened her. A big body barreled into her, cradling her as they rolled away from ground zero, and she buried her face into the strong chest.
Chapter 4
Snug against his chest, it took Freya a few minutes to realize that the TEV warriors were gone. Vanished into thin air. She pulled back and looked up at the alien who claimed to be Kory. Their eyes met and a shock of awareness shot through her, so potent it made her heart pound as a thousand butterflies fluttered in her belly.
At fifteen she had only been dimly aware of what attraction meant, and in the years since, the men she’d met confirmed that her heart beat only for Kory. She had held onto her young love, hoping one day they would be together again.
If this was truly him, it shattered her soul to think she had left him behind to face this ugly fate the TEV had dealt.
“What did they do to you?” she whispered achingly.
His nostrils flared. “You believe me.”
“No. Maybe.” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
He sighed and leaned his forehead against hers. “My parents didn’t believe Adam. They chose not to go with him. I didn’t know you were leaving that night or I would have snuck away and gone with you.”
“What you’re trying to tell me...you realize it sounds fantastical.”
“Well, you trusted me enough not to blow me up,” he mused. “I just have to convince you I’m telling the truth.”
Then he completely surprised her when he bent his head and kissed her. His firm lips covered hers, teased them apart until his tongue swept in to dance with hers. This wasn’t the kiss of a young boy fumbling where to put his hands or how to hold his head. This was the kiss of a man claiming what was his. He took, overwhelming her, laying siege to everything she was. The hard ridge of his cock pressed against her, so she shifted and parted her legs to bring him flush to the area where she needed him most. One of his hands cupped her breast, squeezing it through the cotton shirt to flick across the nipple.
She moaned. The sensations were so new, so raw, that he took her breath away. Freya didn’t know what to do, so she went with what her body demanded and surged up, undulating her hips and thrusting her pelvis against his. The friction was so heady that she did it again, dry humping against him as a coil tightened deep inside.
“Oh fuck,” he groaned out, and suddenly rolled away, settling next to her.
Freya was thrust into shock, her body still craved his weight, his heat.
“We need to leave,” he said, panting slightly.
“What?” Her thoughts were completely discombobulated.
He sat up and wouldn’t look at her. “It’s a long trek back to the mountain.”
“Wait! You just kissed me.”
