We’re all clear.
“Let’s head back. It’s clear on this end too,” Luke says.
I search for him, shining my flashlight in the direction I heard his voice. The silver beam slices over an approaching figure. I whip back, a woman now only inches from latching her nails into Luke.
I fire.
The sound of my hollow-tip infused round digging into her brains and then exploding is satisfying.
Our boots drag across the ground as we scurry to each other’s backs.
A line of Zombies are coming toward us, steps slow, spines straight. They’re dressed in cleaner clothes than the others I’ve seen. They continue walking and look upon us. “These may be newer Zombies,” I say.
“You noticed that too, huh,” Sean agrees. A buckle unclasps, someone likely filling their free hand with their spare pistol.
“We treat them no differently,” Luke says, firing off shots that call the Zombies to action.
The gunshots ring out, digging into mud or flesh. We jab and kick those getting too close, aiming to keep them at a distance. Their numbers lessen, and Marc or Sean is the last one of us to shoot. The pounding rain lightens to a soft drizzle. Moonlight leaks through the separated clouds, scattering light over the once deserted land, now covered in corpses.
“Everyone okay?” Luke asks. “No one scratched, bitten, or spit upon?”
“No,” I answer, my response followed by Marc and Sean.
We take a moment to reload our guns. Sean leans against me as we scope the area. I shove him off when he puts all his weight on my shoulder. “Sean, you are too heavy for me to support you. Get…off,” I struggle to shove him off me.
He laughs, finding it amusing, like he does everything.
“Let’s get out of here so we can finish this clearing,” Marc says from behind me.
Luke comes to my side. “I agree, we are soaked and since they’re popping out, we’ll likely need to make another round.”
“At least, it stopped raining,” I say.
I lift my gaze. A strong gasp swells my lungs with air, and my heart pounds with panic.
Luke fires.
But it’s too late. They were so quiet.
Three Zombies lunge at Sean and me.
My raised gun is knocked out of my hands and bounces off a Zombie an inch from me.
I’m swiped out of the way of the oncoming Zombie. Something cracking is followed by two gunshots.
I’m thrown to the ground where I catch myself on my hands. It’s not until I hit the ground that I realize I was being held away from the danger.
Marc shoots a Zombie that’s latched onto Sean’s face. He charges for them, shoving the Zombie off his brother.
I scramble from the ground, racing to Luke, who is standing a foot away from Marc, Sean, and the Zombie lying in the dirt beside them.
No. No. No!
I run to Marc’s side and drop onto the mud beside him. Sean’s eyes are turning red, blood lining his lids. He’s missing the flesh from the entire left side of his face and neck, gnawed off by that flesh-eating monster.
“We have to get him back,” Marc says, trying to pick him up.
“He’s not going to make it,” Luke says.
“Sean?” I call.
“Huh?” he answers, not fully coherent.
“How are you holding up?” I ask, looking him over. Blood’s pooling beneath him.
“I can’t feel anything,” he says in his lighthearted tone. “Just sucks.”
Marc’s hand is tightly wrapped around Sean’s, and only Marc’s embellishments illuminate from his efforts. “That’s not going to work,” I tell him.
He nods, never tearing his gaze from his brother. “We have to get him back,” he mutters.
They’ll treat him like they did Susan.
“Pain is pricking through my head and my face,” Sean says, cringing. He groans and tries to turn over on his side, but Marc keeps him grounded.
Marc’s head bows. “Come on, Sean. We have to get you back.”
“If I turn into one of those things, Marc…just shoot me. Don’t try to save me or heal me. Just kill me,” Sean says.
We have to do something. We can’t let Marc lose his brother. The weight of an elephant drops on my shoulders. I meet Luke’s eyes. He’s going to kill me for even thinking it, but I can’t let Sean turn. “Luke,” I beg. “We can’t.”
Mud splatters as he marches over. He yanks me to my feet and harshly whispers, “No Ky. Don’t even think it.”
I look over my shoulder. Marc struggles to pick up Sean, trying to help him stand. “Please Luke, call them and make them help him. They have to,” I whisper, swallowing the tears trying to spring from my eyes. “I can’t allow Marc to lose him. Not over saving me.” Why on Earth would he do that? “Luke, please?” I beg, voice trembling. “If I’d caught that bite, you’d do it anyway. Then you would explain later. Come on. Please.”
Luke throws his head back. “Kylie, please don’t start crying.”
I grab his shoulders. “Please, Luke, call them so they can help him.”
“Okay, Ky, let me go.” He shoves me back. Clearing his throat, he puckers his lips and blows blue and green particles past them toward the sky. Seconds later, a coyote howls from somewhere nearby. “Come on. You are going to owe me so big for this.”
I run to Marc. “Come with me.” He keeps walking with Sean stumbling alongside him. “He’s not going to make it if you try to go back. They won’t even help him if you were to make it.” He doesn’t acknowledge me, pushing on. “Please. Trust me, Marc. We can help him. Just don’t—” I tug him, shaking my head and swallowing my words. “Just come on.”
He ignores me as he keeps going.
“Come on, Marc,” Luke says. “Before she starts crying and begging again. We can help.”
Marc stops. “Help how? How can you help with this?” he asks with a stabbing anger in his raspy voice.
“Please,” I beg. “Just trust me. He’ll be okay.”
Sean’s grumbles turn into a husky groan, sounding similar to the Zombie’s snarls. Marc looks at him then back to me.
“We have to hurry,” I say. “And we’re your only option for his survival.”
Marc gives in and throws Sean over his shoulder. He follows Luke and me through the hills toward the reflecting eyes of the coyote. It leads us on, and we’re soon surrounded by the hills, unable to be seen, should someone come looking. Only the scattered moonlight illuminates our path.
The coyote stops and waits.
Marc lays Sean on the ground as he catches his breath. Sean snarls, bones grinding as he cringes, face filling with black veins while his eyes go dark.
The blue and green particles blow around us, and Marc instantly pulls Sean from the ground. He mutters angrily. “What the hell, Kylie?”
“Just wait, Marc, please,” I beg, tears streaming from my eyes. He knows my betrayal and our secret, and we will now be enemies. I just hope he’ll understand, one day, that I gave up everything for him.
The silhouettes appear, taking male forms, turning whole. “Why have you called us here, Lukahn?” one asks, sounding like Talock, the Vojin that threatened me in the burrow.
“It’s you!” Marc accuses, throwing Sean’s arm over his shoulders. “The two of you are part of them. Traitors.” I can’t see his eyes because of the goggles, and the betrayal in his voice is strong enough for me to be grateful for that.
“I know, I’m sorry,” I say to Marc. “I just wanted to help Sean. Just let them save him.”
He backs away, pulling a stumbling Sean with him.
“Please, Marc, let me help. Just trust me, please,” I say, walking toward him.
“Stop your begging, Kylie Alexander. We will not help,” one of the Vojin says from behind me. I whip around. “Why not!?” I snap.
“They are what we want to end.”
“No! You will help!” I jab my finger toward them. “You will help him, please,” I beg.
“After everything Luke and I have done. After what you did to us. You will save him right now!” I demand. “Take it out, fix him. Please.” I beg Marc, “Let them help him. We’re talking about your brother’s survival. Don’t be stubborn.”
Marc lowers Sean, holding him back from snapping at him.
I beg the Vojin still unconvinced, “Do this, and we’ll do whatever you want.”
To Be Continued in Salient Invaders…
Their secret is out. Find out what happens next in Salient Invaders, book 2 of The Separation Trilogy. Grab your copy here >> Salient Invaders!
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Salient Invaders: The Separation Trilogy Book 2
Copyright © 2020 by Felisha Antonette
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Chapter One
Marc leaps back from a ferocious Sean, snapping at his ankle. He’s climbing and jerking to his knees, snarling as he prepares for his final attack on his brother. The two male Vojin approach them. Their color-infused silhouettes of latex-like flesh cross the mud as though the ground were clouds instead of slosh. Standing nearly seven feet, one lifts its hand to the sky, and the air stills, particles frozen midair. The other extends its hand to Sean.
Marc shoves the alien back as he stumbles away, managing to lug Sean’s transforming corpse and avoid his attacks.
The Vojin rips Marc from the ground, four fingers clutched around Marc’s neck as his feet dangle above the dirt. Sean hits the ground, head smacking a rock.
Marc struggles in the Vojin’s grasp, nails uselessly clawing at the flesh of his captor.
I gain a foot off the ground, and Luke yanks me back. “They are hurting him,” I snap under my breath, ripping my arm from his grip.
“Stand down, Ky,” he warns. “They’ll help, but you know they don’t take well to unnecessary retaliation.”
Unnecessary retaliation? We’re asking for something simple. Life!
The other Vojin, an exact replica of its counterpart, takes Sean’s head in his hand. Sean’s growling and snapping at the extraterrestrial being until a hush falls over the land. What feels like vibrations in the air start soft and grows heavier as Sean heals.
Where he was bitten, the torn muscle recoils as the skin stretches over the wound and seals. Blood is still smeared all over him, and his unconscious body is still in the Vojin’s grasp, but he’s healed. He’s okay.
The chirping of the crickets and heavy wind whipping through the tall hills return as the air stills.
Sean is dropped. He crumples and flops over onto his side.
Marc is tossed into the side of the hill, and the Vojin deteriorate into a fog of particles and sink into the circling pits before blowing away into the sky. We’re swallowed by the darkness of the desert, with only streaks of moonlight slicing through paths of the hills.
I’m at Marc’s side as he’s climbing to his feet. “Marc?”
He shoves me away, fists ramming into my chest. I stumble backward, almost tripping over bulging rocks. Taken aback by his roughness, I stall before trying again.
Upright and balanced, Marc holds me back with his fist jabbed firmly to the center of my chest.
“Marc, please? Hear me out,” I plead, though I struggle to sound strong.
He shoves me back again. I fall to the ground but quickly gather myself.
“Hey,” Luke shouts. “I know you’re angry, but stop pushing my sister.”
Marc meets my eyes as I rise. His purple eyes shine fiercely through his smudged goggles. I know the look he’s giving me very well, with his brows knit and eyes narrowing in on his new enemy, the urge to kill pounding in his chest as he considers the repercussions of doing just that. “Stay the hell away from me, Kylie,” he threatens, tone drowned in his husky rasp, now heavier than usual. Marc turns to his idle brother and helps him from the ground. With Sean stumbling at his side, he leads him back the way we came, never looking back.
I didn’t want him to save me over his twin. I didn’t ask for this. But Luke and I have done everything we can to help fix it. I realize being a mixed Creation—a Vojin—is the worst kind of betrayal, but I can explain. It’s not what he thinks.
“Just hear me out, Marc,” I call behind them.
With his back to me, he shakes his head, and when I step to go after him, Luke holds me back. “Let him go, Ky.”
I halt, tearing my gaze from Marc’s retreating frame. My fingertips have gone numb, legs are slightly shaking in my desire to pursue him, and a heavy feeling is growing in my chest. I don’t want to let him go. “That is so much easier said than done, Luke,” I groan.
Luke pulls off his goggles. Pursing his lips, there’s a hint of sympathy in his eyes as he looks at me. “I know, Ky. But you’re the enemy now. Though I trust him to say nothing, he is not going to look at you the same.”
I flick my gaze to the stars, tears on the verge of spilling over. “But I am the same,” I whine quietly. This burn crawls up from my chest to my throat. “I’m the same girl I was yesterday.”
“Not to him. Not anymore.” Luke pats my back. “It’ll pass soon. Just keep your head in the game.” I pivot, and Luke quickly grabs me, whispering, “Wait.”
Whipping around the hills to where we stand, mystic blue and green particles circle us three times before finding a spot to rise and form the figure of a Vojin female. All the Vojin look identical, only their frame separates the males from the females. They possess no identifiers, like bushy eyebrows or wide noses. Standing shorter than the first two, she points to Luke and with an echoing tone says, “You have served your purpose for Kylie’s protection. It is time you stand back and allow her to develop as a human.”
“It is time you kiss my ass,” Luke barks. “She’s my sister. I’m not going to watch her get hurt for your amusement. We’re done playing.”
In a kind tone she says, “You protect each other, which is wise. These bodies that host you are in need of protection from the threats of this planet. However, for your destiny, should you be selected to reside on this planet in the future, it’s necessary for Kylie to possess the full experience of what it is like to be human: love, hate, passion, disgust, betrayal…” She goes on, listing out emotions humans have the pleasure of embracing from birth to old age.
I cut her off, jabbing a pointed finger against my chest. “I have those down.”
“You’re knowledgeable of these feelings, but you are required to experience them firsthand, Kylie.”
I squint my eyes. “We don’t need you to come here, telling us how to do our job.”
Nodding, she says, “Just remember who’s in control. You as the implant? Or the host?”
I snatch my helmet and gun from the ground before turning my back on her. “I know who’s in charge,” I mumble under my breath, not exactly sure if I still want it to be me the host or me the implanter.
Chapter Two
1 Month Later
With the Normals settling into Separation, they’ve finally given us access to the additional training halls. We seriously need the
space, each of us having nearly twenty members in our units, both Creations and Normals. The virtual reality hall that’s being opened near the Creations’ recreation hall will allow the Normals to train in an almost real environment. This is safest for them, as refraining from putting them in life-threatening situations is imperative.
Babying the Normals also leaves them weak. Though we’re all here for the same reason, they get special treatment because they’re fragile. However, there are Normals here who could bench press me if they wanted to. So they can be pushed. General Jord just doesn’t want me to yell at them, I guess, though he’s constantly yelling at me to whip them into shape.
“Month three of Separation and no war. I’m so bored,” Fein complains. She contorts a weird face that makes one eye cross and her brows waggle. “All we do, day in and day out, is train. I’m so tired of looking at sweaty Normals, I want to puke.”
I chuckle. “I can relate.” I’ve been trying to remain the same, walk around like nothing has changed inside of me even though it feels like there’s a permanent knife lodged in my heart. “Let’s hurry and make it to the target practice hall before Jord has a cow.”
Coming from our short, noonday sweep, where we make sure the grounds surrounding the base are clear of any Zombies, Fein and I jog to the target hall and join our teams sat on the floor.
“Today,” the general’s voice echoes off the walls in the large hall. “Those of you who are still unfamiliar will go through basic training. Weaponry and target practice. Many of you have been working on this task for over three weeks. It is not hard to assemble and disassemble a gun. For crying out loud!” He gestures with an angry sweep of his hand across his front. “We are not asking you to defuse a goddamn bomb.”
I can visibly see the frustration looming over his head as he cracks his neck and takes in a deep breath through his nose.
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