Tempest (Valos of Sonhadra Book 2)

by Poppy Rhys

  This wasn’t Earth.

  Or it wasn’t a part of Earth I had ever seen. That couldn’t be though. I had been to every continent Earth had, thanks to Project Nomad. There wasn’t this much vegetation left... well, anywhere.

  The trees soaring high above us, topped with lush canopies—highlighted by the blinding spotlights strategically planted around the perimeter—reminded me of depictions I’d seen of prehistoric Earth when dinosaurs roamed.

  Where was the smog? The constant hum of people and machinery?

  No place was this quiet.

  Darkness blanketed everything around the ship where the spotlights didn’t illuminate the forest. The deadly silence beyond the low thrum of the generators trying to power what remained of the ship, and the occasional sniffle and shuffle from the few inmates and guards, were enough to raise the hair at the nape of my neck.

  We had crashed. The turned-up soil and charred debris trailing the ship further beyond the perimeter that I could see spoke to that.

  Crashed where?

  I turned my head, realizing only a piece of the ship was here. The alpha pod I’d been housed in.

  Handsy shoved me again. “Sit down.”

  That’s when my eyes fell on her.

  Preta.

  She was alive. She wasn’t dead as I had started to think.

  Her curly hair was matted like it hadn’t seen a brush in ages, and her skin was pale, opposite to my memory of her since she loved the sun so much.

  I didn’t sit. I ran.

  “Preta!” I cried.

  Ran as fast as I could with a headache the size of old Texas.

  “Inmate alpha—”

  “Preta!”

  Feet pounding the turned-up earth beneath me, I nearly tripped over a large clump of black-green grass I hadn’t seen.

  Upon my third exclamation she heard me. Slowly, she turned around, as if she’d just remembered she had a name—a name I was calling—and her eyes grew when they landed on my running form.

  “Charlie? Charlie!”

  I crashed into her, lifting my cuffed wrists to loop my arms around her thin frame.

  Too thin. It was like embracing a skeleton with skin.

  Her reaction was delayed, as if she didn’t think the hug was real, that I was real. But then her uncuffed hands slid around me and she squeezed my body hard enough to make me wince. My muscles were sore from two rounds in the lab and getting tossed around my cell like a ragdoll, but I didn’t care.

  Preta was alive.

  She quipped about accommodations, and room service towel swans when I pulled away before clasping her to my person again. I rolled my eyes to the dark canopy above, annoyed and relieved, because there was clearly a piece of my sister still inside the harrowingly unhealthy body I was hugging.

  I shook my head, dismissing her endearing—yet silly—so-Preta-like questions after lifting my arms from around her and taking a step back.

  For a small moment in time, she joked, and made me laugh, my gut hurting in a way it hadn’t since the last time I saw her on Earth. It filled a void in my being I hadn’t realized was there.

  A hand closed over my shoulder, squeezing and yanking me away from Preta. Our moment ended in a rush as our current situation came crashing down around us.

  “Back to your spot, inmate alph—”

  He didn’t get a chance to finish before I struck his face with my elbow.

  Satisfaction coursed through me when I heard and felt his nose break. Again.

  He should’ve known better.

  “Fuck!” he roared, hands immediately covering his nose that gushed blood.

  Two of the patrolling guards heard the commotion and converged.

  “Charlie, don’t,” Preta whispered as I readied myself for a physical confrontation. Her words threw me off.

  This could be our only chance at escape. I tried to reason out that she wasn’t thinking clearly, wasn’t fully cognitive of what the fuck was really going on.

  They had hurt her. Hurt her badly, judging by the state of her body, her dulled eyes, and jumpy skin whenever she sighted the guards.

  My own thinking ability was hampered, because before I could conclude that Preta would understand later why we had to get out of here, the guards reached me, easily knocking me to the ground in my distracted state.

  The sting in my forehead grew to a needle-sharp pain as my face was shoved into the dirt to subdue my struggles.

  “Get off me!” I wrestled against them. I hadn’t had a proper meal in days, only nutrient water, and I was burning through those calories at the speed of a bullet tram.

  “Don’t hurt her!” Preta yelled, some of her old fire resurfacing. With a speed that would make our father proud, she throat-punched the guard grinding his knee into my back.

  He didn’t see it coming. No one ever saw a blow from Preta coming. Sweet and lively—Preta’s usual personality—disarmed people. They didn’t know she had a temper that could curdle snake venom.

  “That’ll be enough!” Another guard came over, grabbing Preta by the arm and pulling her backward.

  They must’ve had bigger problems to worry about because, had all this happened under normal circumstances, the guards would’ve already administered a zombie shot—that was best case scenario.

  They had us out here for a reason.

  I grunted when I was hauled up from the grass, my forehead bleeding anew. I raised my arm to wipe the blood that dripped over my lashes before it got in my eye.

  “Can you handle her?” the thin guard who held onto Preta barked at Handsy.

  “I got it!” Handsy gritted, gripping me by the back of the neck with a bloody hand.

  “Are you positive this time? Because it sure as hell—”

  “I said, I got it!”

  I couldn’t hide my smirk as he led me none too gently back to the spot Handsy wanted me to sit in the first place.

  “Sit the fuck down, inmate alpha thirty-three!” His grip on the back of my neck tightened, forcing me to crumple down onto my knees. Roughly letting me go, he stalked off.

  I swiped at the warm liquid tickling my eyebrow and watched Preta sit down where she’d been standing.

  We shared a glance, but I quickly trained my eyes to the ground and watched through my peripherals when a guard walked by. I needed them to think everything was okay. That I wasn’t planning to run with Preta at the first opening I saw.

  Through flickered movements I noticed there were only three groups of five inmates each. I knew there were more than fifteen prisoners in alpha pod. I’d seen more than that dragged by my cell in one day.

  So what the hell were we doing out here?

  Minutes passed and the hum of the generators powering the ship grew louder. They were slowly getting stronger.

  “Inmates, stand!” one of the guards commanded.

  I got to my feet, and so did the others.

  “As you may have noticed, we have crashed.” The sarcasm dripped from his words, matching the smirk twisting his mouth. Why was he amused?

  When he didn’t get the reaction he looked to be expecting, his lips flattened and he continued. “Our supply has been ruined by a chemical leak. So, if we want to survive, we must find food and water.”

  He brushed at a soot mark on his shoulder, like his appearance in the aftermath of a crash was important.

  “You may have guessed, but this is not Earth.”

  This was what Handsy talked about. We were the guinea pigs—aka the ones that would test what was edible and what was drinkable.

  If this wasn’t Earth who the hell knew what was safe to touch, eat, or drink? We could be in danger just standing out here in the middle of a prehistoric-looking forest.

  “Let’s not waste any time.” The guard swept his hand in a mocking, chivalrous sweep that said, after you.

  “But it’s dark,” an inmate piped up. She was small, with winged eyes that spoke of an Asian heritage. “Can’t we wait until daylight?”

>   I knew that face. Yahiro. What operative wouldn’t recognize her? Hard to forget the mug of the ex-cop that went on a killing spree.

  “Did I say you could ask questions, inmate?” His voice dipped to a growl, challenging her to say anything further. It worked. She averted her gaze and went back to standing there, docile.

  Fucking prick.

  “We’re only unlocking these restraints to make it easier on you to forage.” He paused, deep crow’s feet appearing around his eyes when he smiled. “Now isn’t that nice?”

  When no one answered, he yelled, “I said, isn’t that nice?”

  ‘Yes’ rung out multiple times, muttered by the various inmates being cowed.

  The Prick hooked his thumbs into his belt loops, looking satisfied.

  The downward twist of my mouth flattened when Handsy stepped into my line of vision. He unlocked the cuffs of the other four inmates under his charge, saving me for last like he really didn’t want to unlock my cuffs.

  I couldn’t blame him. If the roles were reversed, I’d be wary of unlocking his cuffs too. He jerked my wrists toward him. Right before he pressed his thumb against the small pad, he leaned in.

  “Just wait until this is all over,” he breathed into my ear. Again, the minty bite drifted into my nostrils, making me want to hurl. “You won’t be able to fight back with a shot.”

  Crack went my deteriorating psyche.

  I twitched.

  The thought of being helpless with the zombie drug while Handsy did whatever his disturbed mind conjured up tore at my fracturing mind.

  I couldn’t let that happen.

  He shoved a small flashlight into my hands.

  My attention was pulled to Guard Prick when he said, “You could run off, but do you really want to discover what’s lurking in the dark?”

  The inmates shifted uncomfortably around me. They likely didn’t want to walk out there to begin with, let alone run off from the safety of the ship.

  I did.

  Anything would be better than being treated like this.

  We were led from the perimeter, and the security of lights, deeper into the forest. I could still see the ship though. It seemed even the guards didn’t want to venture too far.

  “Search for running water,” Handsy told us. “And anything that looks like edible vegetation or nuts.”

  I would look all he wanted but I certainly wasn’t going to touch anything. There was a lab in alpha pod and instruments we could be using—instead of our bare hands—to gather samples for the scientists so they could do their damn jobs.

  There were safer ways to accomplish this. They obviously just didn’t care.

  We were expendable. We were human guinea pigs.

  Try as I might, I couldn’t see Preta any longer. The bush was thick and filled with plant life I had never seen before. This really wasn’t Earth. I had no reason to trust the guards, but seeing it for myself, I knew it was true.

  I shined my light over the closest plants, the long, almost-black fronds dagger-shaped and nearly the length of my arm. I crouched, aiming the beam underneath the foliage but only saw the clumps of yellowed moss shiver as giant bugs skittered away from the light.

  I jumped back and scratched the nape of my neck as my skin pulled tight, creeped out. Ugh. It was a dumb move coming out here at night. It would be hard to find—

  A shriek so piercing it set my spine snapping ramrod straight sliced through the night.

  What. The fuck.

  That had to be an animal.

  I aimed my light at the ground and hunched down as years of training had instilled into me. When you had no idea what was going on, you made yourself a smaller target. Granted, I doubted whatever that shriek came from wielded a gun, but the brush around me provided cover where I crouched.

  Seconds flew by before the first human scream saturated the thick air.

  Chaos erupted.

  Guards shouted, inmates yelled and screamed, and the harrowing shriek of something rang out all around us. Multiple times. Multiple locations.

  I had to get out of here. We had to get out of here.

  I sprang up and booked it back to the perimeter. Streaks of orange flew past me while other inmates rushed into the light and ran headlong for the broken ship as if they had the same idea.

  I caught sight of Preta, far away on the other side of the perimeter.

  The shrieking got closer and something burst from the bushes. A towering monster no child’s nightmare could conjure up.

  Its large, plated neck moved its head, arcing side to side as if it were listening. I couldn’t see any eyes.

  Its four legs were tipped with talons that dug into the soil as it bent upward, and two extra arm-like limbs ending in knobby, clawed fingers flexed in preparation to grab anything that moved. Its long body tapered into a whipping tail that reminded me of a deformed, carnivorous centipede.

  Shit.

  Its back glowed red with bumpy nodules that made my skin crawl because it looked like clusters of eggs.

  A hole opened where its mouth might be, wormy tentacles extending and wiggling as that unholy shriek shattered the screams of the group.

  Fear froze me in place. I’d encountered evil humans, but I’d never encountered a monster.

  A real, breathing monster.

  Preta.

  Her name shot across my brain like a bolt of electricity that shook my muscles alive. I looked back to where she stood and took a step toward her, preparing to run.

  More monsters leapt from the dark side of the perimeter, scattering about and heading straight for the ship’s bay where inmates were beelining.

  One split in her direction and my training flew out the window as a choked warning burst from my mouth.

  Big mistake.

  Another monster whipped its sightless head toward me and charged.

  I wouldn’t make it to her. We both knew it. I could see the acceptance in her eyes.

  I gave a single nod, one which Preta returned before she hightailed it into the forest.

  I spun on my heels and beat feet to the cover of the trees, running as fast as my exhausted body allowed, to get away from the towering creature hot on my trail.

  FIVE

  MY KNEES HIT THE GROUND. Thick mounds of unchecked black-green blades of grass cushioned my landing. I panted, sweat dripping from the tip of my nose as I arced forward and gripped the grass, willing my heart to stop its hammering.

  I didn’t know how long I’d been running. I didn’t know when the creature stopped chasing me. I didn’t know where I was.

  I only knew that dawn was breaking through the thick canopy and I’d never been more grateful in my life for light that wasn’t coming from the tool lying beside me.

  Reaching over, I turned it off and flipped it so the solar battery could charge. I didn’t want to be caught in the foreign darkness with nothing to light my way.

  I closed my eyes. I never wanted to do that again. Every time I ran around a tree, I could feel my body tense, praying my flashlight beam didn’t land on something else that wanted to eat me.

  Swiping the back of my hand across my wet forehead, I exhaled.

  My parched throat burned.

  The fear-fueled adrenaline that’d pushed me this far was starting to wane and all I wanted to do was pass out. I needed food and water, but the thought of moving from this spot wasn’t appealing at all.

  I couldn’t let my fear beat me, but trepidation flickered within me. Surviving the wilderness hadn’t been part of my training. I knew nothing about edible vegetation.

  Give me weapons or chemicals and a target or ask me to infiltrate a government and I’m your girl. Plop me in the forest—an alien forest at that—and I had no idea what I was doing.

  When I heard a sound off in the distance, I immediately held my breath.

  The oppressive silence weighed on me, my still pounding heart drumming in my ears.

  What was that?

  My fingers felt for the
flashlight as I continued to observe the brush around me.

  There it was again.

  I closed my fingers around the flashlight and stood on aching limbs that put my usual post leg day soreness to shame.

  Was that... was that splashing?

  Once it entered my head, I was sure of it. It sounded like water.

  I wiped the beads of sweat on my upper lip and cautiously started in the direction I thought it came from.

  Please don’t let me run into any monsters, I prayed to whoever was listening, even though I felt hypocritical.

  I killed people for a living. I was pretty sure I got banned from the human-to-celestial being prayer line.

  Moving silently through the brush proved nearly impossible with how dense the area was, but I tried. Though I couldn’t hear the splashing any longer, I could smell water. The moisture in the air thickened and the foliage was like picking through lush weeds.

  The sun was rising quickly, or I was moving slower than I imagined. Either could’ve been possible, but it made me wonder how much daylight I would have.

  How long did the days last on this planet? How hot would it get? I’d already experienced the temperature at night and it didn’t differ much from London in the summer. I could survive it.

  I stumbled over an exposed root and spilled to the ground on the other side of a bush.

  “Fucking shoes!” I ground out and huffed an exhausted breath as I pushed myself up. I paused once I got on all fours.

  A wide canal lazily flowed by not even ten feet from where I’d fallen.

  My heart thudded with a mixture of longing and apprehension. I gulped, my burning throat grasping at the miniscule amount of moisture I could muster up.

  I needed water. Badly.

  Fear held me back though. What if I fell in? The center of my palms tensed uncomfortably, feeling as if the muscle knotted at the idea of getting closer to peek over the bank and gauge how deep it was.

  “You can drown in a teaspoonful of water,” my grandmother used to say. As an adult, I knew the difference between wet drowning and secondary drowning, but her words always lodged into the back of my brain, amping up my paranoia.