He doesn’t need to tell me twice. We’ve been in some tight spots before, but this one takes the cake. And if I don’t run now, I don’t think I’ll get another opportunity.
I clamber to my feet and squeeze through one of the holes in the back of the building. It’s a tight fit, but I force myself through the opening and dart toward the cover of the trees. Stumbling over fallen branches, I force myself through the thick brush.
My long, threadbare skirt catches on everything, slowing me down. My bare feet hurt so damn bad. I step on everything, from rough logs to sharp rocks, tearing my feet apart at the soles.
My foot catches on one of the branches, and I tumble forward only to have my fall broken by a thorn bush. I don't have time to disentangle myself carefully. The thorns gouge my skin, tear my clothes, and pull my hair. With a cry, I force myself back to my feet and bolt.
Suddenly, the gunfire stops.
My heart in my throat, I don’t look behind me until the tall rock face comes into sight. When I look back, I don’t see anyone following, but it doesn’t mean they’re not there. It may mean I just can’t see them yet. There’s so much overgrowth, it’s impossible to see very far.
There's a minuscule crack in the rock, but I'm familiar with tight spaces. It's a narrow, cave-like hiding spot a person wouldn't even think to check, mostly because no grown male would be able to fit inside it enough to even look. It's perfect for small children, contortionists, and me.
Sucking in my stomach, I wedge my body between the stones. Even for me, this spot is uncomfortably small. Hot stone presses against my back, and even in the low light, sweat is pouring off me. Delta6b feels like a sauna on the coolest of days, but it's the middle of summer here. The air is so thin, it's hard to catch my breath, especially after my flight through the trees.
My dirt-stained, torn dress is drenched. My hair clings to my face. I don't even have enough room to move my hands and get it out of my eyes. Squeezing my eyes shut, I wait.
My ears are straining, trying to pick up any noise that doesn’t belong. Any hint of conversation or the sound of footsteps, but there’s nothing. Nothing except the rustling of leaves from the almost non-existent breeze and the sound of a bird up in one of the high branches just outside.
Even a shitty, out of the way moon like Delta6b isn't far enough to escape the scourge of space. We've been here for six years with minimal threat except for the crap that comes from the locals only to now lose it all thanks to a bunch of rovers?
And to think, I’d begun to relax, thinking I was finally safe. What a crock of shit.
None of us had considered an off-planet threat. We only have barely enough to survive most days. We have nothing to steal, nothing worth trading. Delta6b isn’t worth the energy it takes for a ship to get here.
Well, nothing except Caia and myself.
The galaxy is a big place, and we're far, far away from the larger terraformed planets and moons. Far away from Earth in the least desirable corner of the galaxy. We are in this galaxy's bum-fuck.
Earth's colonization and push outward ended up creating enemies most hadn't even known existed until it was too late. It all went to hell in a handbasket quickly, starting with the Reptilians.
The Reptilians, a lizard-like humanoid race, attacked one of the human transport ships first. After that, it was game on, and for decades, the humans and the Reptilians went back and forth in what was known as the Great Galactic War with no end in sight. Billions dead, and even more taken or missing.
And to think, I was one of the lucky ones.
The Last Stand was almost ten years ago, ending the war through a stalemate and sending each side back with their tails tucked between their legs. Earth didn’t give up their colonies, but they didn’t attempt to create any more either. Why bother when you no longer have the people to populate them?
In an attempt to create soldiers to fight in the war, Earth's government required the majority of births to be male. They didn't need a lot of females, since they could harvest hundreds of eggs from one woman. The female population dropped dramatically. After the war, we were left with disease, poverty, and a male-female ratio of fifty to one.
Enter human trafficking. Enter the kidnapping of women only to sell them to the highest bidder as breeders, pleasure partners, and who knows what else. None of the females left alive are safe. I’m not safe. And there’s no way Earth can replace the population, not with ninety-nine percent of humans living in squalor.
Thirst drives me from my hiding spot an hour later. The twin suns are sinking in the sky, and Delta6 — the gas giant we're rotating around — is blocking out most of the light left. It'll be a small reprieve from the scorching heat, but it also means I'm running out of time to get to water before I'm completely encased in darkness for the next fourteen hours.
I’m also going to have to find shelter with a bit more elbow room than my hiding spot. I can’t go back to the post. What if the rovers are still there? I find it hard to believe they’d willingly leave me behind. Not when I’m worth millions to the right buyer, but I know I have to head in that direction. It’s the closest water source on this dry moon.
Being taken is a real possibility, but so is dying in the brush while I wait for them to leave. My mind made up, I carefully slide from my hiding spot. I sink down low and squint into the distance, searching for any signs of movement. Seeing none, I begin the gradual creep back.
One slow step after another, I frequently pause to listen and watch. If I see them first, I can try to disappear again before they set eyes on me.
My head is swimming, and I feel ready to hit the dirt, but I push on. Even the colors of the trees seem unnaturally bright considering the setting suns. My mouth feels sticky, and I'm shaky. My entire body is trembling. I need to find water, and then I need to lay down before I fall down.
When I finally hear the trickle of water from the natural spring, I know I don’t have much further to go. The trading post is still several hundred yards away, but I can see it just beyond the trees. There are no signs of life.
Just drink until I can’t drink anymore and go. That’s what I have to do. I’ll come back after the sun comes up and scope it out a bit more.
A powerful arm wraps around my waist, and I'm hauled from the ground. I scream, but a heavy hand slaps over my mouth. My back is against a brick wall, my feet dangling in the air as I kick and squirm.
“Hold still, female,” a gruff male voice whispers in my ear. “I’m not going to hurt you. There are more rovers on the ground.”
Rovers? They don’t call themselves rovers.
I freeze at his words, unsure of what to do. My heart is hammering in my chest and, while he relaxes his grip just a little, he’s still a fucking giant and I have little hope of ever being able to get away from him.
I look up, scoping out the trees above me. Maybe, once I'm on my feet, I can go up. I can climb. There's a remote possibility of my being able to get away that way. Okay, it's most likely impossible, but it's the only thing I have.
On the off-chance he’s not just messing with my head, I don’t want to bring the rovers down on us. I have enough problems with the monster at my back. The last thing I need to do is add rovers to the mix. Or do I? Maybe they’ll kill each other in the battle for me.
With my luck, I'll end up getting killed in the process.
“It’s clear,” he says a second later. His voice is louder than just a whisper now. “I’m going to let you go, but don’t run. You wouldn’t get far even if you tried.”
He doesn't wait for me to respond one way or the other. He sets me down on my feet and releases me, all except for his hand on my wrist. It doesn't hurt, but it's clear he doesn't want me taking off on him. So much for my plan of scaling the trees.
I spin around to face him, glaring down at the single point of contact. Half of my forearm has disappeared beneath his hand. When I look up, I’m staring at his armored-covered chest.
He's bigger and broader
than any man I've ever seen before. He towers over me. His thick and muscular arms are bare, and his skin is…off. Maybe it's my eyes playing tricks on me, but there's an unnatural golden hue to him. His hair is a few shades darker than his skin and hanging just below his ears.
The man needs a haircut.
The armor he wears gives him away as belonging to the military at some point. Matching black armor covers his legs, and a full arsenal hangs on his hips.
Well, maybe not a complete arsenal, but he’s carrying a laser weapon as well as knives and lord only know what else. I’m definitely not getting very far with as much weaponry as he has.
When I finally meet his eyes, I gasp. Moss green eyes are staring back at me, but his pupils aren’t round, they’re slits and when he blinks a second membrane covers his eyes.
Reptilian.
I jerk my arm back, and this time he lets go, but I don't run. I can't. Even if I wanted to, my feet wouldn't cooperate. Instead, I'm staring up at him dumbfounded and trying to figure out what the heck he is. He's not green and scaled like a Reptilian, but he's not entirely human either.
“What are you?”
He ignores my question. “Where’s Alistair?”
Alistair? I’m speechless for a second while I try to wrack my brain with all the ways this strange male could know Alistair. When I come up empty, I ask, “How do you know Alistair?”
“I knew him many, many years ago.” He glances over my shoulder toward the trading post and then back to me. “We’ve been searching for him for almost a year now and tracked him here. You were attacked by rovers? Three of them were on the ground just as we landed.”
I narrow my eyes suspiciously. “Yeah.”
“Did Caia run too? Is she out here somewhere?”
“You know Caia?” This is too weird, even for me. Alistair wouldn’t share Caia’s existence with anyone unless he trusted them. As in, one hundred percent trusted them.
He seems irritated by my questions, but maybe he’s just concerned. I haven’t a clue. Everything I thought I knew doesn’t seem to apply anymore. “Yes. Where is she?”
I try to shrug my shoulders, but honestly, it feels like more trouble than it's worth so they just kind of flop. Why do I feel so weak? This feels like more than just dehydration. "I don't know. I ran when Alistair told me to run. I haven't seen him or Caia since."
The stranger touches his earlobe and looks off toward the trading post again. He’s communicating with someone. Military are the only ones I know of who use communication implants.
Maybe that’s how he knows Alistair? The old man did some government work back in his day, long before I ever knew him.
When he looks back to me, his eyes sweep over me from head to foot and then back again. His full lips curve downward as he studies me carefully. “What’s your name?”
“Jorunn.” I wrap my arms around my chest, my body suddenly wracked by cold chills even on this hot-as-Hades moon. “And you are…?”
“Ajax.”
“What do you want with Alistair?”
“We’ll discuss that with him when we reach him.”
“You’re going after him?” I ask, suddenly feeling more hopeful than I probably should.
It’s wonderful if they’re going to go after Alistair and Caia. It sucks for me though, since I’ll still be stuck on this shit moon with no one. Even if I’m able to fix the post by some miracle, how long will it be before someone bigger than me comes pounding on the door? Without Alistair there, how long is it going to be before I’m dragged out of bed in the middle of the night?
I’m so fucked.
Before Dawn Page 24