Hunting Cari (First Wave)

by Mikayla Lane

  Minutes had passed before she noticed that she hadn’t felt him hit her anymore after he had hit her in the ribs. The noise outside had died down, and she could still hear him moving around the barn. Keeping her eyes closed, she fought to control her emotions, finally remembering Jess’s warning that she couldn’t escape if she didn’t heal. And although she didn’t really feel too much pain, she knew he had done more damage to her body. The only sound she heard him making now was a loud breathing, as if he was trying to calm himself.

  “Sir, all clear! Six of them were able to get away in a vehicle they had hidden. By the One! Is she alive?” Cari heard someone say, before gentle hands picked her up and placed her against a warm chest. She immediately knew this couldn’t be Vikan as she didn’t feel the need to vomit at his touch, and she tried to open her eyes to see who had picked her up with such kindness.

  “She is still breathing, but she is very badly hurt. I need to port with her to MedLab immediately. Cut the bindings from her hands quickly. We’ll deal with the ones who left later. Get a trajectory on the vehicle, so we can find them again.” Scaden demanded from Balduen impatiently.

  Cari looked up into the face of the man who had just spoken, through the slit that was all her one eye could manage through the injuries to her face. His strong jaw reminded her of Uncle Randor, but that is where the similarities ended. This man had beautiful blue eyes that seemed to glow like sapphires. Shoulder length blonde hair looked silky enough, that she felt the urge to touch it. And the warmth radiating from his massive and strong chest, seemed to permeate her every cell. It seemed like it had taken forever, but he finally looked down at her, when her hands were cut free of the rope and fell uselessly from lack of movement for so long. He looked at her with a mixture of emotions she could not understand. Rage, tenderness, possessiveness… all seemed to play across his face, while he held her gently.

  “Who are you?” Cari asked awkwardly through her swollen and bleeding lips.

  “I am Scaden Torenson, Commander of the ship Adaria. Your uncle Randor sent me. I’m going to take you to him.” Scaden replied squeezing her gently closer to his chest, wishing he could kill the Relian, he caught hurting her all over again just to hear his bones crush beneath his fist.

  Disbelief, sorrow and grief seemed to come over her at once. The stranger’s gentleness and the mention of her uncle causing her to crumble inside.

  “You’re lying. They killed him.” She barely got out before breaking into sobs that caused her ribs to feel like they were on fire.

  The stranger turned, and it was then she saw the broken and bloody body of Vikan B’Tai on the floor of the barn, crumbled up against the far wall near the stalls, his eyes blankly staring into nothingness. She knew immediately he was dead, and looked at the stranger who held her with hope and respect.

  “No, Amalaya, they did not kill him. We took him to our transport where he is healing. That is where I am taking you now.” Scaden said gently, hoping to stem the flow of tears that were breaking his heart to see.

  “Clean this up so the humans do not find the bodies, then have all the men report to the transport. Port MedLab.” He gruffly ordered the other men in the barn, before the portal took them.

  Everything went from black to bright in moments. The change disoriented her briefly until she heard the most wonderful thing in any world.

  “Oh Cari! By the One, child what did they do to you?” Uncle Randor uttered brokenly.

  “Uncle Randor? Is it really you?” She asked tentatively, not daring to hope as she looked into the eyes she thought she’d never see again.

  The stranger gently laid her on a bed that lay next to one that her uncle Randor was laying on. What looked like metal strips were scattered over different parts of his body. And although slightly pale, he looked whole and well. Overjoyed and relieved she clutched the hand that reached out and grabbed her own as soon as she was laid down.

  “I was so worried about you. I knew you’d make them angry, but damn it Cari; you knew better! What were you thinking?” Randor asked angrily as he looked over her broken body.

  “We need to have this conversation later. The scans show multiple fractures, and she’s on the verge of a collapsed lung. She needs to be treated immediately before her condition deteriorates due to shock.” Cari heard a strange man say to the stranger that had brought her here.

  “Please, do whatever you have to do. But please, save her.” Randor's voice was barely a whisper as he tenderly tried to stroke the hair from her face. Stopping when he realized the dried blood was pulling at the cuts on her face and making them bleed again.

  “I’ll get him out of here while you tend to the female.” The stranger who called himself Scaden spoke.

  It only took a few seconds to realize he intended to take her uncle Randor from her, and fear of never seeing him again overwhelmed her. She tried to sit up and clutched desperately at her uncle’s hand not willing to let them be separated again.

  “NO!!! You can’t take him from me! Please! Uncle Randor don’t let them take you away!” Cari screamed hysterically, ignoring the sharp stabs of pain radiating through her body as she tried desperately to get up and reach her Uncle.

  “Shh, honey. Calm down. Please just calm down. No one is taking me away I promise. This is our people honey. They saved me and you. They won’t hurt either one of us, I promise.” Her uncle tried reassuring her. “Didn’t you tell her who you are?” Randor asked Scaden with a scathing look.

  “I told her I was Commander Torenson of the ship Adaria.” Scaden replied defensively, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

  “Which means nothing to her since she has no clue who any of you are!” Randor fairly yelled.

  “Is that what you meant by projecting her emotions? I have to say, for a moment there I was overwhelmed with fear. It came out of nowhere and stunned me. That is truly amazing. He does not have to leave her. But she does need to be treated immediately; her upset is causing her condition to worsen.” Cari heard the other man say, moving Scaden out of the way.

  “It’s alright honey; he's going to fix you up and make you well again. Everything is going to be alright now.” Uncle Randor told her, lightly squeezing her hand as he sat up in his bed.

  “My name is Amun Nassur, and I’m going to put some medibands on your injuries to speed up your natural healing process. I will try my best not to cause you anymore pain than necessary, but your wounds are extensive and some of it cannot be helped unless I put you into a temporary sleep.” The man said as he began cleaning her wounds of blood and placing the same kind of metal strips on them as was on her uncle.

  “NO! No sleep! I don’t really hurt very much so just go ahead.” Cari said forcefully, not wanting to be put to sleep and wake up with her uncle gone. Within moments, she began to not only feel better, but energized.

  “What the… does she have unusual healing abilities as well as her other gift?” The doctor asked Uncle Randor with wonder evident in his voice.

  “No, why would you ask that?” Randor asked curiously, looking over at Cari.

  “The scans, they are showing a rapid healing I’ve never seen before on any of our people. Most of her minor injuries are already almost healed and the worst ones….” His voice trailed off as he stared at her face.

  All three men stared at her as if she had grown another limb or something, shock evident on all of their faces.

  “Cari, did they… did they do something to you?” Randor asked her nervously.

  “No! Other than beat the hell out of me twice they didn’t touch me! Why would you ask me something like that? What’s wrong?” Cari demanded, becoming irritated and nervous over the attention and stares of these three men.

  “I’ve never seen anything like it! Are you sure she’s never had this form of a response before?” Amun asked excitedly now.

  “No. She’s never healed this quickly before. She and the others have always had our ability to heal rapidly, but I’ve never see
n anything like this either. Could it be the medibands? I mean she’s never been exposed to them before, so could they be amplifying the healing because of her unique cell structure?” Randor asked the doctor curiously.

  Scaden heard the conversation going on around him, but for the life of him, he couldn’t speak. He could only stare at the incredible woman lying on the table in front of him. Once Amun cleaned all the bleeding cuts on her face and exposed limbs, he was able to get a good look at her, and her beauty amazed him, even with all the swelling. But now… he was speechless.

  “What the hell are you two going on about?” Cari demanded sitting up abruptly; she swung her legs over the side of the bed and glared at each of the men in turn. More so at the tall, dark-haired and dark-eyed man who called himself the doctor. His eyes and hair were so dark they were almost black. He had a strong, chiseled jaw, like her Uncle and the man Scaden. And very attractive. But attractive or not, she was not in the mood for him to treat her like a lab rat. And was getting really sick of his perusal and the questions he continued to direct at Uncle Randor and not at her, like she was an imbecile or something.

  “Cari… how do you feel?” Amun asked tentatively, looking at her strangely as Uncle Randor got up from his bed and stood beside her looking closely at her face.

  “Oh for crying out loud, what is wrong with you guys?”

  “Cari, are you sure they didn’t do anything to you? Give you anything? Inject anything into you?” Randor asked her with grave seriousness.

  “I’ve checked her cells; they are not registering anything unusual in her body, so I don’t think they gave her anything. But I have no explanation for her healing. It’s extraordinary.” Amun added.

  “No, they didn’t even feed me or give me water. Wait, Jess gave me water once after I woke from the first beating. Oh Jess! Did you find Jess?” She asked, jumping to her feet in hope and standing in front of Scaden.

  Chapter Six

  Scaden was so distracted by the vision in front of him; it took him several moments to realize she was talking to him, and even more to process what she asked.

  “What is a Jess? And where was it supposed to be?” He asked her gruffly, trying to mask his rising need to touch her again, and feel her slight body against his own.

  “Jess! The other girl who was there! The one that giant freak took away from the barn before you got there!” She fairly shouted in frustration. What is wrong with these guys? Are they really this dense?

  “There was no other female where we found you.” Scaden said in confusion.

  “No, she was there. I know she was. She’s one of us.” She said quietly, looking at her uncle Randor knowing he’d know what she meant.

  “Are you sure she was one of you?” Randor asked.

  “Yes, she was. They had captured her when she was a small child. They had killed her father and took her and her mother. They had raped her mother repeatedly trying to get her to breed them a child, but it didn’t work, so they killed her. Then they started on Jess.” Cari couldn’t keep the tremor and sorrow from her voice.

  Randor looked at Scaden with the question clearly on his face.

  “Balduen, Niklosi report to MedLab now!” Scaden shouted into the comm.

  Cari looked at him like he’d lost his mind, not seeing who he was talking to, thinking of Jess, she turned to her uncle.

  “Uncle I swear she was there. She knew immediately that I was like her. She said that through the years, she had helped many more, just like me escape from that same group of Relians. She knew I was a projectionist and kept trying to warn me to stay calm or project fear to keep them from coming to hurt me. You have to believe me. I promised her I would come back for her, and help her escape. I have to find her.” Cari pleaded with her uncle to believe her, so he would help her find Jess.

  Two more men entered the room, making it seem even smaller than it did before. Good grief they were all huge like her uncle. One was as tall as the man who called himself Scaden. He also had blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, and a body like you’d find in one of those muscle magazines at the check-out counter at the store. The other man was several inches shorter; with dark, almost black hair and eyes they were almost the color of the doctor’s. A little thinner than the tall blonde, he was no less muscular. All of them, including the doctor looked like every earth woman’s fantasy from the front of a romance novel.

  “When you were cleaning up the area did either of you find another female like her.” Scaden asked, stepping aside slightly and pointing at her.

  “No sir. There were eleven dead Relians only. We took care of the bodies, so they wouldn’t be found by the humans and destroyed any evidence that they were there.” The dark-haired one said, staring at Cari with wide eyes. She was getting really tired of being stared at.

  Scaden seemed to wait for the blonde-haired man to speak, but he just stared open-mouthed at Cari.

  Scaden stepped in front of Cari so that the two men could no longer see her at all and screamed into the blonde man’s face. “REPORT!”

  “Sorry sir! We also didn’t find another female at the site. We saw the six that escaped, but we never saw another female sir.” The man replied quickly.

  Scaden ran his hand through his hair thinking, and trying not to shake his men for staring at his woman. By the One where did that thought come from! He shook his head to clear that thought. What was wrong with him? The smell of her had kept him in a semi-erect state since they found Randor at the cabin. However, touching her and being near her was driving him into a possessive rage at the thought of the other men looking at her. He had to pull himself together.

  “Wait! Did you maybe see her being carried by one of them? Before you got there, the one who abused her the most came into the barn and grabbed her up into his arms and said he wasn’t letting her get away from him and left with her. Are you sure you didn’t see him carrying her with the others that escaped?” Cari asked hopefully, moving out from behind Scaden to look at each of them.

  The two men just stared at her blankly in silence. Clearing his throat Uncle Randor limped off his bed and stood in front of Cari as well. Between Scaden and Randor, neither man could see her at all now.

  “Are you sure one of them did not carry the woman off when they escaped?” Randor asked them.

  “Sir, it’s a possibility. We only saw the backs of them while they were fleeing and had no opportunity to see inside the vehicle when they took off. It is possible.” Cari couldn’t see which one of the men spoke.

  “I know she was there! She helped heal me after the first beating. I wouldn’t have made it if she hadn’t helped me.” Cari insisted to the backs of the men in front of her, sorely tempted to smack each one of them in the back in frustration that they wouldn’t let her look at the other two men.

  “Wait, how did she help heal you Cari?” Amun asked her more curiously now.

  Cari turned to Amun and lifted up one of her legs, so he could see her ankle.

  “She made me the anklets.” Cari said quietly as all the men in the room turned to look at her and her ankles.

  “What do you mean honey?” Randor asked her gently, realizing how upset she was becoming and trying to head off her escalating emotions before she affected everyone.

  Cari hopped back up on the bed and lifted up both of her legs towards the doctor and fingered the anklets Jess had made for her.

  “These. It’s her gift. After the first beating, she came to me, and I watched her touch the ground and she touched my ankle. There was a beautiful light, and then the anklet began forming around my ankle. She said she’s a crafter. That she can create what someone needs by drawing the materials from the earth. She pulled the stone's carnelian and a kind of crystal... I forgot what she called it, and platinum to create these.”

  “She said that on this planet, they were known to be healing stones, and that they would help my body heal faster. And it was working. I didn’t feel any pain. I could see my leg was broken, but I di
dn’t feel any pain at all. Even when he was beating me the second time, before he...”, she looked gratefully at Scaden, “Stopped him. I didn’t really hurt until he hit the broken bones. She was so sweet. We have to find her. I promised.” Cari implored, hoping they would help her find Jess.

  “Can I remove one of these and take a look at it?” Amun asked.

  “If it’ll help convince you to help me find her, then yes, of course.” Cari replied honestly, holding up her right ankle for him to remove the anklet.

  Amun reached down and looked for some way to remove the metal band from around her ankle. Finding no obvious way, he attempted to pull on it. A blinding light arced from the metal band striking his fingers that were touching the band and knocked him off his feet to the floor.

  “What was that?!" Scaden demanded going immediately to help Amun up off the floor.

  Amun stood there shaking his head in bewilderment, trying to recover from the jolt he just received.

  “Are you alright? What happened? What was that light?” Scaden asked his friend.

  “I’m fine. Really. More surprised than anything.” Amun said replied absently, staring curiously at Cari and the anklet.

  “What do you know about this? Is it going to hurt her like that? Is it dangerous?” Scaden demanded from Randor; fear that Cari might be wearing something that could harm her worrying him.

  “I am just as confused as you are. I know she did not have anything like that before she was taken. And I’ve heard of crafter children before, but nothing like this. Cari, do the anklets hurt you in any way?” Randor asked her calmly, trying not to scare her.

  “Not at all! In fact, I feel great. Better than ever actually. Here let me see if I can get one off for you.” Cari looked for a clasp or fastening of some kind. Not finding one, she knew the only way to get it off would be to break it. Heartbroken over losing it, she knew she had to prove to these men how important it was to find Jess and a small spark ignited as she broke the chain.