by K Webster
I stand and place my palms on the table. “There’s nothing you can do, Breccan, because you’re one mort. Together, we’re a family. As Molly always says, ‘Family sticks together.’ The Kevins are coming and we have a weapon. Whenever they show their ugly faces, we’ll blow them out of the sky before they even have a chance to touch our people at the prison. If anyone can develop a cure, it’s Avrell. Everyone has their parts. You all just need to quit your botchin’ and do your part.”
Hadrian snorts. “It’s not botchin’.”
“I’m pretty sure it is,” I argue.
“Nope. Lyric says this to me all the time. It’s bitchin’. Quit your bitchin’.”
“Nah, that sounds like something an empty-headed mortarekker like you would make up,” I say, pointing at him. “I’m not falling for it this time.”
“I’m telling the truth,” Hadrian says, stifling a laugh, which begs otherwise. I grew up with this rogshite stain. I know when he’s lying.
“Enough,” Breccan grumbles, but he’s smiling. Finally. “Oz is right. Avrell, make sure your people there are secure and race to find a cure. We’ll make sure you’re protected as much as we can.”
Theron spins around in his chair, letting loose a loud holler. “Jareth, you ready to kill some Kevins?”
Jareth flashes him one of his evil, villainous smiles as Quinn calls it. “I was born for just that task.”
“Don’t die,” Sayer says from the corner, his mortling snug and asleep against his chest.
“Like you don’t want to kill some Kevins too,” Jareth challenges him.
“I mean…it does sound entertaining,” Sayer agrees with a chuckle.
“I say we capture them,” Draven growls. “Bring them to the reform cells. Give me a few solars with them.”
The dark, sinister look on his face has everyone’s sub-bones popping at once.
“You guys gonna compare dicks all night or what?” Lyric says from the doorway. “If you’re done playing ‘I’m the biggest, baddest monster,’ then let’s make a plan. I’m ready to kill those motherfuckers.”
Aria, Emery, and Quinn peek inside. Willow must still be clinging to Molly’s side. I wink at Quinn, loving how her face burns crimson. After her bout of sickness this morning, she’s been feeling better.
“Actually,” Breccan announces, his voice charging the air with authority. “You all will go underground to the Reserves.”
“The what?” Aria asks. “Why?”
Breccan stiffens. “It’s safe down there. There are rations.”
“What rations?” Aria demands, storming into the room. “What are you talking about?”
Galen, who’d been pressed against the wall and scowling, stomps past us toward the door. “Your mate thought it was a great idea to let us nearly starve on more than one occasion even though he had an entire cave filled with supplies. It’s completely encased in stone. He wants to keep you safe there.” He turns a venomous glare on Breccan. “But watch out. He might forget you’re down there. Or worse yet, decide to keep you a secret down there forever.”
With those words, he storms out of the room.
Breccan lets out a furious huff. “Galen!”
Galen is too angry to answer and is gone before Breccan can stop him.
“I’m not going down there,” Aria argues, crossing her arms over her chest. “You can’t make me.”
“The rekk I can’t,” Breccan snarls. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you and our mortling safe. Even if it means locking you in a reform cell.”
She goes to strike him, much to everyone’s shock, but he stops her with a firm grip to her wrist. He bares his double fangs at her, which does nothing to make her cower or bow down. Aria seems seconds from tearing out his throat with her dull teeth.
“Assemble your people, Madame Commander,” Breccan growls. “They’re going underground. My word is law right now. I won’t bend on this. I. Will. Not. Bend.”
With a jerk of her hand, she pulls her arm from his grip and shoots him her middle finger. “We are not done discussing this.”
She rushes out of the command center with Lyric, who is botchin’ loudly, hot on her heels. My mate isn’t irrational, though. She rushes over to me and sits down in my lap.
“It’s safe down there,” she murmurs. “Everything we’d ever need is there.”
I cup her face and kiss her lips. “Everyone must do their parts for the greater cause. While we fight them, I need you to help keep the females and mortlings safe.”
“You can count on me, Oz. I’m a hero too.”
We kiss until we’re the only two left in the room.
15
Quinn
No Solars Left
Today is the day.
There’s no time left on my mental countdown to the day the army from Earth II are supposed to arrive. I don’t know how to wrap my mind around it. All I know is I wish Oz were by my side.
“Those stupid motherfuckers,” Aria rants as we make our way down to the Reserves. Her son makes a pitiful mewl in protest. “I’m going to kill Breccan if the Kevins don’t do it for me.”
“Easy, Madame Commander,” says Emery, toting Hophalix in her arms. “They’re just doing what they think is best.”
“Screw that. This isn’t them against the world. It’s us against the world. I don’t know who they think they are, but I’m not going to let them face this alone.”
I let their argument wash over me as I recite passages from my favorite books from memory. Behind us, the freed prisoners who had come with Hadrian and the others follow silently. Some wear expressions of fear and doubt, whereas others seem amused by the argument. Fourteen women we must protect in addition to our families. These are our people. To my way of thinking, it doesn’t matter where I fight the coming battle, as long as I’m a part of it. I’ll never be a victim again.
“I think this is it,” Lyric announces and pushes through the door.
There are gasps of surprise as we file in one by one. Even though I’d already seen it, I’m filled with wonder at the sight. I can only hope everything they’d saved won’t be destroyed by the coming battle. I won’t let it.
The room is cavernous. More than big enough for the mates, their children and the new arrivals from the prison. Aria and Sokko, Emery and Hophalix, Molly and her two new babies Quinlan and Vendar Thomas (she finally caved to Draven, which was no surprise), Grace and Sareth, Lyric, Willow, and the prisoners. I have to learn their names. Calling them prisoners seems so weird.
We all gather in the center of the room. Molly and Willow huddle together, Willow with Vendar in her arms and Molly with Quinlan. “I hate that we’re meeting again like this. I wanted it to be special.” She has tears in her eyes and little Quinlan must sense her discomfort because she starts to fuss. “Shhh,” Molly says to her.
Willow wraps an arm around her mom’s waist. Still crazy to think she’s Molly’s daughter when they’re nearly the same age. That cryosleep is no joke. “It doesn’t matter how we meet. The only thing that matters is that we’re together again. At least I came in time to meet my new brother and sister. They’re so tiny!”
“They look just like you did when you were born,” Molly says affectionately. “There’s so much we have to catch up on.”
“We’ll get through this. I promise. And we’ll have the rest of our lives to make new memories. All of us.”
Aria puts a hand on Molly’s shoulder. “That’s right. We’re going to make it through this and we’re all going to have the future we deserve.”
“But we can’t sit on our asses while our men die. I won’t,” Lyric interjects. “I didn’t come here to lose everything I care about.”
The two of them look and act so alike, it’s no surprise they’re sisters. “We won’t.”
That stops Lyric’s rant and she goggles at Aria. “We won’t?”
“No. Breccan and the other morts may think they’re protecting us, but we all owe it to them to do what
we can to save our planet. Mortuus doesn’t belong to Earth II and neither do we.”
There are resounding cries from mates and prisoners alike. No one has to stand alone. We have each other.
“What do you have in mind, sugar?” Molly asks.
The caves underneath the facility seem never ending. Paths formed God-knows-when fork out in all directions. If we can’t survive the attack, maybe a last chance plan would be for everyone to hide in the caves until Earth II lost interest. Although if they find out Mortuus is inhabitable again after all this time…It’s a thought I can’t bear to explore. All they know is to take and take.
Not this time.
They can’t have our home.
“Do you think this will really work?” Aria asks.
“You’re asking me, Madam Commander?” My breath comes out in little puffs in between each word. We’ve been going uphill for a while now and while I’m not out of shape, it’s a vigorous pace we’ve set.
“Hey, it was your idea, not mine.”
“From what Oz told me, the beasts on this planet are plentiful and deadly. It can’t hurt.”
“Breccan is going to kill me when he finds out.”
“Let’s hope they’re all too busy to notice until it’s too late. Besides, it’s only a plan. If everything goes smoothly with the thermablaster, we may not even need this Plan B.”
“Right. Breccan will just have to deal. Like I am being stuck down here like some helpless woman while they’re going to be up there fighting. If we survive this, I may never forgive him.”
“Let’s survive this first before you punish them.”
We come into a cavernous room nearly the size of the facility itself.
“Whoa,” Aria says. “I didn’t even know something like this was down here. There’s still so much we don’t know about this planet.” Her voice echoes off walls glittering with crystals. I squint behind my glasses. No, not crystals. Eyes. Hundreds—no, thousands of eyes.
“Tell me you’re seeing this,” she says in a panicked voice.
“I’m seeing it,” I answer in kind. “The walls are moving.”
“Something on the walls is moving.” She reaches for my hand. “What the hell is that?”
They move as one big wave toward us. Frozen in place, I send up a quick wish. Please don’t let anything happen to our baby. Legolas begins to go wild on my shoulder, jumping and clacking his pinchers together. The wave begins to slow as it draws near and Legolas leaps from my shoulder to stand in front of us like a little protector.
“Oh my stars, they’re legalocts.” My voice lifts in a coo. “Aren’t you all sweet?”
“Sweet!” Aria exclaims. “How in the world can you call a bunch of spiders sweet?”
Legolas clicks his two front legs together in rapid motion. “Wait, I think he’s talking to them.”
“Well, I don’t know what he’s saying, but I’ve never been happier that you made him your pet.”
Whatever Legolas says has the mass of spider-like creatures retreating to the walls of the cave. When the last one is gone, he climbs back up my suit leg and settles on my shoulder. I give him a scratch on his abdomen as a thank you. “My hero,” I tell him.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but you are so weird.” Aria laughs. “Come on, let’s get out of here before they change their mind and decide to make us supper.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“It was meant as one.”
With another half-hour or so of climbing, the tunnel begins to narrow and soon we’re crawling along on our hands and knees. I’m grateful as the walls begin to press in on us that I’m not especially claustrophobic. The tunnel, according to some of the maps we found in Breccan’s Reserves, should lead to a field of sorts a little ways away from the facility. It should give us enough distance for our plan to work.
The troops who attack on ground will cloister around the facility’s outer portion and we’ll come up behind them. The plan is to lure as many Big Birds, armworms, and sabrevipes as possible right where the majority of Earth II’s soldiers will be concentrated. It’s risky and has as much chance of being deadly to us as it will be to them, but we’ll do anything to keep our men safe. Using suits we found stored in the boxes—Breccan really did think of everything—we help each other zip into them.
“Let’s be quick about it. I don’t want to leave Sokko for too long,” Aria says as we squeeze out of the small opening to the tunnel and lift ourselves onto the field.
Thankfully, a small herd of something that looks like a cross between a turkey and a hedgehog is grazing in front of us. Using the small guns we’d stolen from the Reserves, we take out at least half of them. The scent of their green-black blood is pungent in the heat and strong. It will draw predators in no time now that the geostorm has begun to subside.
“Good shooting,” I tell Aria, who beams at me.
She goes to wipe a hand over her sweaty face and hits the glass plate of her mask instead. Sighing, she says, “Let’s get out of here before they show up and eat us for lunch instead.”
Aria inches back into the tunnel and I’m waiting my turn, already dreading the slow descent, when I catch a movement out of the corner of my eye. I glance up, expecting to see one of the monsters coming right at me for a snack, but it’s not an armworm or a sabrevipe. It’s one of the outer doors to the facility. I’d caught the motion of them opening.
She’s already in the tunnel a ways ahead of me, but I can’t look away from the sight of a mort in a suit bursting free from the opening. He hits the ground in a dead run and there’s no mistaking his suit. It’s always covered in grime and dirt from his experiments.
It’s Galen.
I scream for him instinctively, but of course he can’t hear me this far away without a communicator.
“Where the rekk is he going?” I say to no one.
Is he abandoning the other morts to try and save himself? I think of Oz and how hard he’s worked. They need everyone in order to survive the coming attack. What could be so important that it would force Galen to leave his family? A loud roar has me throwing myself to my knees and slithering back inside the tunnel.
But it’s not the beasts. It’s the sound of an engine.
I have just enough room in the tunnel to glance back at the slice of blue above me.
An army of Kevins fills the sky.
Epilogue
Avrell
Exilium, Many Solars Ago
They are doing nothing to prevent the spread of The Rades. Rekking nothing. It’s a shock that everyone here hasn’t caught it. Perhaps they have but aren’t presenting symptoms. There’s so much to explore now that I’m here.
Several females watch me warily as I pass by. I’ve decided to remain suited at all times until I can create a sterile environment that is contagion free. It’ll be impossible for me to treat the sick if I fall ill too.
I’m mentally making lists.
Lists and lists.
The ill. The recovered. The seemingly immune.
I’ll need lists for all three.
Supplies. Locations. Medications and tools.
Lists for those too.
So much to put into order before I can even begin. But I don’t have lots of time to spare. This illness moves quickly and is quite vicious. I’ll need to utilize some of the aliens here to assist, as well as put Theron and Hadrian to work. Everyone who is capable will have a role in aiding me in my efforts to eradicate this disease.
Finding an inoculation that prevents anyone else from catching The Rades is of utmost importance. There are mortlings being brought into this world, and they’ll be sent to The Eternals if we’re not aggressive in combating this illness.
By the time I reach their poor excuse of a Medical Bay, I’ve mentally made many lists. All of which I will begin divvying out duties to both morts and humans as soon as we all meet. For now, I need to see the doctor in charge.
Irritation is already clawing at me
the moment I see her dark hair. She’s facing away from me as she bends over a bed, caring for one of the sick. One sweep of the Medical Bay, and I find it sorely lacking in all areas. I’m thankful I brought my own supplies so that I can jump right into what I need to do.
But first, I must deal with her.
Zoe.
The most obnoxious female on this rekking planet.
My nemesis.
I won’t even acknowledge the fact that I find her incredibly attractive. I’m a male. She’s a female. We don’t see too many of them, so it’s natural for me to feel that way. If she kept her lips pressed together, I could tolerate her.
But she can’t.
Won’t.
Refuses.
The moment she opens her mouth, I’m ready to throttle her. I swear, the woman lives to torment me. Argues with everything I say. Challenges my every word. It’s maddening.
And over the comms, when she’s had enough, she just shuts off the channel. Now that I’m here, she can’t turn me off. I won’t go away. She’ll learn that quickly.
“I’ll need a full report on the sick. It’d be beneficial if you could categorize each patient based on their stage of the disease,” I bark out. “Now, female.”
She whips around, her dark, wavy hair flying around her like the violent winds of a geostorm. Light gray eyes almost glow like a magnastrike, ready to split the earth where I stand if she were capable. For such a small thing, she radiates power. So. Much. Power.
“Here to save the day, Doc?” she sneers, her lips curling up into a wicked smirk.
I should be irritated by her taunting words, but my cock does a jump in my suit, seemingly pleased at how pretty her lips are.
And they are pretty.
Shiny.
I bet they taste sweet too.
Rekk.
“Someone must,” I say, walking past her to observe the female in the bed who is pale and shivering. “How has your cure worked, hmm?”
