Broken Earth

by S. J. Sanders

  Terri leaned forward, trying to determine the best way to move the woman. “I don’t suppose you’re related to Josie?”

  The other woman barked out a surprised laugh, wincing when it brought her pain, but her eyes contained a spark of amusement and relief when she met Terri’s eyes. “I should say so. I’m her daughter, Becky. Mom made it… Thank the gods! I’m so fucking happy to hear it,” she gasped. “I wouldn’t mind seeing her again if it’s all the same. Am I going to be able to get out of here?”

  Terri winced. “Yeah… One sec, okay? Veral, come here,” she hissed, knowing full well that he would be able to hear her.

  The women parted before him as Veral made his way over to her side, his churning vibrissae the only sign of his obvious dislike in response to the human women pressing in so close around him. At least they were only crowding him a little. No one made any attempt to touch him. Terri stiffened but then stifled a laugh as one of the women attempted to lean against him and he sidestepped her with an irritated huff. He didn’t seem overly concerned about the injured woman, although his eyes did narrow perceptively.

  “Becky here needs help. The Reapers took her leg after she killed one of them in her attempt to escape,” she murmured to him in a low voice. Veral nodded as he hummed with approval. The sound was one of grudging admiration for the wounded woman, but he gave Terri a sideways glance of displeasure.

  “Do you wish me to carry her? I will not be efficient at protecting the females if I am carrying one.” He sounded pained at the idea, but the fact that he offered to touch the woman if Terri required it, despite his natural repulsion toward physical contact, made her smile.

  “I think it will be better if your hands were free,” she whispered. She didn’t miss the relieved expression that flitted across his features. “I have an idea. Let me have one of the collector carts. It may be big enough for Becky to fit inside.” She gave Becky an apologetic look. “It’ll be a bit uncomfortable to ride, but I think it’s probably our best option.”

  “Works for me.” Becky groaned. “I’m already in pain. What’s a little more? As long as I can get the fuck out of here, I’m game.”

  Veral smiled approvingly. “You would make a fine mate for any warrior. I am mated… so another warrior,” he clarified sternly.

  Becky’s eyebrows shot up. “Okay… umm, thanks. I think.” She looked to Terri for confirmation. “That was a compliment, right? I just can’t tell with men anymore, much less what appears to be an alien. Very freaky, by the way. I would be screaming in terror, as would the rest of them, if they weren’t so damn happy to be rescued.”

  Terri smiled and patted the other woman’s arm. “The best kind of compliment coming from him,” she assured her. Turning away, Terri held her hand out for the disc.

  Veral jerked his chin down and unfastened the disc from his belt, tossing it to the ground behind them. With a finger pressed on his wristband, the device immediately deployed, expanding into a collector cart amid the gasps of the women watching. Without preamble, he bent down, picked up the injured woman, and deposited her in the cart.

  Terri opened her mouth to thank him but jerked in surprise when he grabbed ahold of her arm and yanked her toward him. Rubbing his cheek and mandible against the side of her face, he took her hand in his, turning her arm as his fingers traced out a pattern. The area he touched lit up with a dim flash. His thumb caressed her arm once before he released her.

  “What is that?” she asked him quietly.

  “The beacon for the collector cart. You will now lead the females out as we agreed. It will follow you at whatever pace you set. You know where to go. I will meet you at our shelter.”

  Her brow furrowed. “This isn’t how we planned it. We’re supposed to leave together after I set the dynamite around the shack. What are you planning to do?” she asked.

  In answer, he pulled her bag from her shoulder, removing her emergency supplies and setting them on the ground. His own bag he set on the ground beside hers and transferred the supplies to it. Lifting his bag back up, he slid the straps over her arms, tightening them with a flick of his wrists. He trilled in satisfaction as he picked up her bag and looped it over his own shoulder. He pulled the strap tight around the hard, protruding bone and thick muscle mass.

  “I will destroy them,” he said simply and then promptly turned and walked out of the shack.

  The women immediately began to whisper in a panic.

  “Where’s he going?”

  “I thought he was here to save us!”

  “Why is he leaving without us?”

  “What are we going to do without him to protect us?”

  “Quiet!” Terri hissed. “Veral is protecting us. He’s going to provide a distraction and hopefully take some Reapers out in the process. My mate will meet back up with us when he’s done. We will survive just fine. There are no posted guards, and the Reapers are busy further in the compound. I’ll take you to the shelter, where those of you from the caravan can be reunited with your families and friends. We’ve got clean water there and can tend to your wounds.”

  “You can’t protect us,” one of the women complained.

  Terri felt her patience fading. “We’re going to protect ourselves. We are not new to this world. We’re survivors,” she snarled quietly.

  Some of the women made noises of agreement, though many, especially among the most abused women who’d been captives of the gang for far longer, looked around with uncertainty.

  As she threaded her way through the women, Terri stopped and rested a hand on the shoulder of the grieving mother who still clung to her daughter. “We have to go now,” Terri whispered, her heart going out to her.

  “I can’t leave her…” the woman sobbed quietly.

  “She’s already gone. She’s with you in the only way she can be right now, and she wouldn’t want you to die. You can’t risk being slowed down by carrying her.”

  “I want to die. I don’t want to outlive my child. They should have taken and killed me. Not my little girl.”

  Terri’s eyes misted and she swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand as she looked down at her. “Please,” she whispered. “Come with us. I promise I’ll get you to the coast and I will see to it that you are provided with a small memorial for her. It’s better than dying here with her. Live on, and remember her.”

  The woman swallowed and reluctantly nodded as she tenderly lowered the little girl to the ground. A small group of women surrounded her, their hands touching her shoulder in reassurances, murmuring comforting words as if they’d done so numerous times to soothe each other. She leaned into them, melding among their number.

  Glancing around, Terri spoke quietly. “Let’s move out.”

  With minimal hushed complaints, the captured females fell in behind her. Becky reclined in the collector cart and gave her a weak smile and a thumbs-up even as she panted around her pain. To Terri’s disbelief, she was the only one who seemed entirely cooperative with her efforts. The others followed reluctantly, searching for Veral, motivated only by the desire to not be left behind rather than confidence in Terri to lead them to safety. The collector cart shifted forward as Terri stepped away from the group of women, its wheels rolling soundlessly as they filed out of the building.

  20

  Veral stood as a silent sentinel on top of the strange cell as he watched Terri lead the women out and across the compound. His fingers twitched with a desire to take Terri and put distance between them and the females. He hadn’t cared for the way they had pressed in close around him, their overpowering desire to cling to him suffocating him. He thought he had been irritated before with the ceaseless wailing and frightened screams of the females from the caravan, but at least then the females were not tempted to touch him like these were.

  His skin still itched with distaste and his vibrissae snapped angrily in the air as he recalled how close some of them had come to leaning against him. Before Terri had called out to him, he had warned mo
re than one female off by flaring his mandibles. Even that hadn’t been a foolproof deterrent. It was only due to his commitment to Terri and his oath given to her that he tolerated it.

  Veral growled as his processors rejected the assessment. He was unable to lie to himself and claim that it was merely the commitment of their mate bonding. He felt genuine affection for his female. Everything within him was tied to her, even the very heart of him.

  While she’d been aboard his ship sleeping, he ran through the downloaded catalogs of information he recovered from the satellites, looking for any information pertaining to human mating. He saw odd rituals involving offerings of flowers and glossy brown pellets, and even jewels. He understood jewels, as Argurma males and females both often presented gifts of jewels to celebrate triumphs and honors, but it was odd to see it as part of mating courtship. Then he finally arrived at the concept of love.

  As he watched his mate strike out, the longing in his heart told him what he instinctively knew, contrary to all programming that should have overridden such a malfunction beyond what would be considered healthy attachment to a mate.

  His heart belonged to her. Every affection and devotion was hers.

  Terri made him feel and made him remember glimpses of buried memories and sensations from long ago.

  There would never be a Veral without Terri by his side. He loved her.

  As soon as the last female cleared the compound, he bared his teeth with a silent snarl as he turned toward the communal fires. He would deal with the Reapers and make it quick so he could hasten back to his mate. Though his people would consider his processors malfunctioning, he ignored any calculations that suggested it would be more expedient to rain terror on the camp with his own hands. Although he desired it, thirsted to cause panic within his enemies, he didn’t want that fear to alert anyone to his mate’s presence and that of the escaping females while they were still in the confines of the compound. Instead, he kept to the deep shadows, out of the reach of the torches, as he crept nearer to the central fires.

  He paused as a pair of humans blundered into the torchlight just in front of him. He recognized them at once. Dale, stinking of fermented grain and sweat, dragged a familiar dark-haired female. Veral cocked his head, his mandibles working in a rare show of indecision firing through his processors. He wanted to hurry into the heart of the camp with his mate’s “gift” where it would do far more good than if it were set around the structure where she’d planned to place it. Yet he was hard-pressed to pass up the opportunity to destroy one of the males who’d held him captive.

  Clicking in anticipation, Veral made his decision. He would kill the male quickly, though not so much that he didn’t get some sort of satisfaction from the male’s pain and terror. Then he would complete his task.

  Satisfied, he crept closer.

  “Come on! Hurry up, would ya? For fuck’s sake, Meg, I don’t know why you’re dragging your feet about this. We’re going to grab a couple more of the girls for a bit of fun and join Marcus after he’s done with some business.”

  “You know I don’t know like it when Marcus joins us,” Meg complained in a small voice.

  “Fuck, you are always complaining. Maybe I should trade you in for one of the new girls like some of the guys have been saying. You are my whore—you don’t get to voice an opinion. I’ve told you countless times. Do you really need me to beat it into you again?” he snarled. “Now look, you’re ruining my buzz, so shut your hole. Crazy fucking bitch.”

  “I’m sorry, Dale,” she whispered meekly in reply.

  Veral growled loud enough to be heard as he drew closer. He wanted to smell the fear pouring off the male. Dale stopped in his tracks, his eyes bulging as he looked around. Veral knew that the male couldn’t see him… Not yet. His dual tongues stroked over his lips, his mandibles yawning wide, and he savored the flavor of the male’s mounting distress as he growled louder and dashed by him so that Dale would feel the barest brush of the predator who hunted and toyed with him. Normally, Veral preferred to strike with speed and efficiency. It made sense to kill enemies emotionlessly, without passions incited, but this male deserved to suffer for daring to chain him.

  “W… what the fuck!?” Dale stuttered, his voice trembling. Veral bared his teeth in triumph, unseen.

  “Dale?” Meg whispered as she attempted to step closer to the male.

  “Fuck. Fuck! I told Marcus we should have found a way to get through the armor and scales and killed that motherfucking alien! I ain’t dying for stupid shit. Sorry, darlin’, looks like it’s you or me. I enjoy living too much,” Dale said, a sheen of sweat showing on his brow. Meg gaped at him as he gripped her arm and shoved her out ahead of him hard enough that she fell to the ground outside the circle of torchlight. “Take her, alien, she’s all yours!” he hollered.

  “Dale, you limp-dicked asshole!” Meg shrieked as she struggled to rise.

  Veral didn’t spare the woman a glance as he stepped over her legs and stalked toward the human male, his claws sliding down over his fingertips. Meg jerked as she sensed him move by her, whimpering as she drew her legs up to her body. Veral’s attention could not be diverted from the male. Dale could have thrown credits at him if he’d possessed any and it wouldn’t have done any good.

  Veral’s honor demanded satisfaction.

  With a wide, terrible grin, Veral stepped out of the shadows, savoring the male’s reaction. Dale shouted out a sound almost like a squeal of terror and backed away so quickly that he stumbled over his own feet and fell to the ground. Veral considered just how he would like to tear the human apart, his processors analyzing what would bring the most pain in the limited amount of time he was working with.

  “Please, man, don’t hurt me,” Dale wheezed. “I gave you the bitch! Spare me, I beg you.”

  Veral hissed. “What do I want with your female?”

  “Shit, you speak! I don’t know… I don’t even fucking care! Fuck her or eat her. Whichever you prefer. Just don’t hurt me!”

  Veral inhaled, his mandibles expanding as Dale’s eyes grew rounder. “I remember you,” he growled. I thought you scented familiar before… You hunted my mate.”

  “Fuck, your mate? I didn’t know. I mean, hey, come on, it’s all just pussy. If I accidentally did anything to hurt your… uh… mate, just take Meg. She’s a good fuck. I promise. I’ll be sad to have lost her.”

  “A good… fuck?” Veral sneered.

  “Man, please. I’ll do anything. Have mercy!”

  “Like you have mercy on those who take, rape, and eat?” Veral queried, his mandibles rattling in time with his vibrissae as he tipped his head again thoughtfully. “You speak to the wrong one for mercy. My mate is not here.” He chuffed cruelly. “The only thing you can do is die.”

  Veral surged forward, his claws slashing out as Dale screamed. The sound was cut short on a gurgle of blood, the male’s body twitching as Veral bent down to look him in the eye, his claws buried in the male’s throat as blood poured in gushing streams down his neck.

  “Quiet,” Veral hissed in irritation.

  He held the human in place until the male fell forward. Stepping aside at the last minute to avoid contact, the sound of his claws slipping free from human flesh squelched loudly. He grimaced at the gore, but it could not be helped. He would clean them later.

  Turning his head, his eyes searched out and found the human female cowering and she backed away. He stalked toward her with an impatient grunt.

  “Please, I don’t want to die!” she cried out.

  He stopped a short distance from her. “Are you certain?”

  “What? …Yes, of course I’m certain!”

  He rattled his mandibles in frustration. “Think of that before you make an alliance that could kill you,” he spat out. His point made, he stepped back, away from her. She stared at him mutely.

  “You’re letting me go?”

  “Would you like me to kill you instead?”

  “No!” She looke
d away into the dark and bit her lip. “Do you think… could I stay with you?”

  Veral growled in frustration. “Human females, always asking for protection. No,” he snapped. “I have a mate. Look for a worthy human male to take care of you.”

  She shrank. “Sorry.”

  “Do not be sorry,” he muttered in exasperation. “My female would not like you to be sad or hurt. Terri is taking the other females to the gate. If you wish to find safety, I suggest you join them there.”

  “Terri is here?” the female gasped as she bolted to her feet. Her expression clouded with confusion. “Terri is your mate?”

  He rumbled an affirmative and turned toward the fires burning in the near distance.

  “Wait,” Meg whispered urgently.

  He cocked his head and twitched his mandibles.

  “Marcus is up to something. I don’t know what, but he hasn’t been partying with the guys. Be careful, okay? If Terri mated with you, she must care for you a lot,” she said softly. “I’m sorry I asked you to take me. I’m just… scared. She deserves a good guy.”

  Veral considered her thoughtfully. “I thank you for the warning and accept your apology. You are not a bad female. You are stronger than you look, I think,” he said. “Find my anastha, my Terri, and leave this place.”

  She jerked her head in a hasty nod and fled in the direction of the gates. He didn’t bother to stay and watch. A sense of urgency consumed him. He needed to get back to his mate… but first, the Reapers, as he promised.

  With a growl, he sprung forward, racing through the shadows toward the firelight that seemed to mock him as it danced in the air. Something was not right.

  21

  Lurking in the shadows beyond the edge of the fires, Veral searched the crowd dispassionately, his recorders once more engaged. He was recording for two reasons: to show his mate the glory of vanquishing of their enemies, and to preserve a record of the strange social phenomena exhibited before him. The riotous press of human males was an impressive sight. They practically climbed over each other in their frenzy, waving all manner of weapons from knives to crude spears to guns. A lone male close to the fire, who seemed to be encouraging the strange revelry, waved around Veral’s blaster.