“Oh.” Adhara looked at my girlfriends’ chests in turn. “Yes, too much breasts to hide. I see this.”
“Come on, we’ve gotta go,” I chuckled. “It doesn’t need to be graceful, just as long as we get to Adhara’s parents before they send off the fleets.”
Leo opened the door further, and I stepped out behind him into the mothership.
The view outside the room was underwhelming, considering the fact we had just been staring out into actual space.
It looked like a long stretch of corridor, with sleek silver walls and floors. There were a number of black doors along the left-hand side, and a set of stairs on the right that looked like they were made of solid bronze.
“You guys really like shiny stuff,” Hae-won whispered as we stepped out into the hall.
I gripped my sharp gun and wondered what the chances were of us making it all the way to the bridge without being noticed.
Then a sharp, alien voice rang out from the ceiling, and we froze.
“Have they seen us?” Becka hissed. “What’s going on?”
Adhara and Leo wrinkled their foreheads as they listened, and the voice sounded female. It had a deep raspy quality to the low hums and growls it let out, and Adhara’s emerald eyes widened the longer she listened.
The moment the voice cut out, my alien lover’s head whipped around to look at me.
“We need to go,” she said. “They are going to send the fleets very soon.”
“Fuck,” I hissed, and Leo started to lead us up the bronze stairs.
A bead of sweat dripped down the back of my neck while I tried to swallow the nausea in my throat, and as we ran up the stairs, I worked on placing my feet down as gently as possible. I knew how incredible alien weapons were, and I wasn’t eager to come up against a whole ship’s worth of them.
When we reached the top of the staircase, we found ourselves on a huge landing, and the lighting had a pale blue hue to it while the air was crisp and slightly cold. The floor was silver, but the walls were a glistening green color similar to Adhara’s eyes, and there was a sweet smell in the air, but I couldn’t place what it was. There were also long, black sofas that looked like they were floating a few inches off the ground, and tall windows stood on the right-side wall.
It looked like a ritzy and futuristic lounge for elite members only, and my eyes were drawn to the sight of the darkness and stars once again, but I forced myself to examine the layout of the floor.
Along one side of the wall, there was what appeared to be a built-in fish tank with purple seaweed. Inside it there was something that looked like a small, blue shark swimming lazily around the tank, and I thought I’d imagined it at first. The thing really did look like a miniature version of the real deal, and it was if someone had bred a shark down to be a cute, pet-size. Kind of like those women who kept miniature huskies in their purses.
“Oh, my god,” Kat gasped. “Look at that cutie! Can… can we go see it?”
“Maybe afterwards?” I whispered. “We kind of have stuff we need to do first.”
“Yeah,” Kat mumbled, and she stared at the tiny shark with an actual pout. “Okay.”
There were multiple staircases leading off in different directions at the far side, and I could hear low hums of the alien language getting closer.
Adhara jumped in front of me so she and Leo blocked the staircase, and I squeezed in tightly to the girls to try and make ourselves as small as possible.
The sound of multiple footsteps echoed around the sleek walls, and I heard the chatter of multiple aliens.
Then Leo and Adhara turned their backs to the room and started a quiet conversation.
I stayed as still as possible, and the girls barely even breathed beside me as we waited to see if we would go unnoticed. When the voices became louder, Becka bit her lip at the noise echoing around the walls, but then I heard a door slide open, and the voices disappeared with the footsteps.
“You guys need to be careful, too,” I whispered to the aliens. “Does everyone know your faces? They’ll know you were down on Earth as scouts, right?”
“That will raise alarm bells,” Becka added with a frown.
“Some of them may know me.” Adhara nodded. “Because of my parents. Leo may be easier to get through unnoticed.”
“So, which way is it?” I asked as I eyed the four staircases at the back wall.
There were two doors that led off to the left, and I assumed the other aliens had gone through one of them.
“Probably up middle,” Leo said. “The bridge is most likely up this way.”
We hurried over the silver floor toward the middle staircase, and I stared at the floating sofas as we ran by. The floor almost felt bouncy under my boots, and it was like running along an incredibly firm memory foam mattress.
The steps we reached were made of more bronze, and as I peered up, I could see that the staircase twisted around into a curve. The stairs were wide, and there was enough room for three people to walk side by side, but we’d have limited visibility once we started heading around the curve.
Leo led the way, and we started to jog up the sleek steps.
I wondered how helpful it was to clutch my sharp gun as we ran. The aliens on board probably had access to even more powerful weapons, and they had been using them for a much longer time than I had.
Still, they probably weren’t expecting to need to use guns on board their own mothership.
My thoughts derailed when Becka grabbed my shoulder from behind, and I froze as we heard another set of footsteps making their way down the stairs.
“Keep going,” I hissed. “It looks more suspicious if we stay still. Keep your heads down.”
I turned so my face was practically facing the wall as we continued to hurry up the stairs. My body felt hot with sweat, and I pulled the collar of my jacket up further as the footsteps got louder.
Then we turned around the curve of the staircase, and I glanced briefly at the aliens as they descended down.
It was another female, and she had a similar build to Adhara, but was slightly shorter. Her hair was cut into a silver bob, and she had something clutched in her hands as she trotted gracefully down the bronze steps.
I didn’t look over long enough to get a good look at the device she was holding, but she stared down at it in a similar way humans would check their phones as they walked.
The alien woman didn’t look at any of us as she passed, and she continued down to the lower deck without incident.
“Fuck,” Becka breathed as the footsteps died away. “Good thing aliens are as addicted to technology as we are.”
“That was lucky,” I muttered. “Not sure how much more of that we’ll get.”
Then we reached the top of the stairs, and I stopped in my tracks. We were on a huge deck, with at least a dozen aliens wandering around.
They were all dressed in silver flight suits, and some of them seemed to be in a hurry as they bustled around. There were multiple floating screens around the floor, and they each had different graphs and images that flashed up.
Some of the aliens were gathered around the screens, and they muttered and pointed.
“Is this some kind of control room?” I asked from behind Leo, and he nodded.
“Surveillance,” he replied. “They will choose where to send fleets first.”
“And we have to go through them?” Hae-won asked.
“Yes,” Adhara replied. “The stairs to the bridge are on back wall.”
“Of course, they are,” Kat groaned.
“Why is this even scarier than dinos?” Becka whimpered. “I wish they were dinos, right now. I’m not kidding. That’s so much easier.”
“We’ve got this,” I said. “Heads down, behind Leo and Adhara, okay? Let’s go.”
All I could think to do was keep moving. As long as we were moving, we had a chance to stop the fleets, but it was impossible for us all to remain hidden, even behind Leo’s broad shoulders.
; The aliens filled the large room on every side, and there was no way to conceal the human shades of our skin.
I glanced at the aliens and noted that some of them had what looked like dark purple Glocks on their belts, but I imagined they were far more terrifying than that. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as we shuffled past the screens, and I saw one of the male aliens press on the image in front of him.
He was shorter than Leo and had his hair gelled back into a slick style, and his dark blue eyes studied the graph on the screen intently.
Then his gaze snapped over to meet mine.
I looked away as my body went numb, and I heard the alien shout something out in a low gurgle.
We had been spotted. There was no way around it.
Leo and Adhara immediately started to call back in their native language, and the rest of the aliens in the room stopped what they were doing to watch.
“Fuck,” Kat breathed as we stood still in the middle of the floor. “Jason, what do we do?”
“We are telling them you are safe,” Adhara said quickly as Leo continued to talk.
“Keep going,” I said as I looked at the girls. “Keep walking to the bridge. We just need to--”
An alien guy behind Kat pulled out his purple Glock, and I moved to protect her before I had time to consider what a stupid fucking plan it could be.
I leapt forward and kicked the alien man in the shin as I grabbed his wrist, and he yelled as I knocked the weapon from his hand. Then I stumbled backward as he spat something at me, and I grabbed the Glock from the ground, shoved it into my belt, and held my hands up to try and show I didn’t want to hurt him.
The rest of the aliens were standing as still as statues while they looked at me, and I tried to convey with my body language alone that I wasn’t looking for a fight.
Leo was talking so quickly, it was barely even recognizable as the alien language, and Adhara interjected here and there.
“We go,” Adhara said quietly. “We have told them about the mistake. They may not believe it, but they are shocked. Go now.”
I didn’t wait around. I turned and bolted for the staircase with the girls, and Leo cut in front of us as Adhara headed up the back of the group.
We raced up another set of bronze stairs, and there still seemed to be a stunned silence in the room behind us.
Then the entire ship exploded with noise as another announcement was made over their sound system. I could tell this one was different because the voice wasn’t nearly as calm and steady as before. The tone was breathy and loud, and I knew one of the aliens behind us was making it.
“Fuck,” I hissed, and all hopes of us going unnoticed were gone.
“This is the top level!” Leo shouted over his shoulder as we rounded another stairwell. “We only need to get right up to bridge.”
I jumped to the top of the staircase and looked out at the floor ahead.
There were railings that separated the space into three parts, and each section had a team of five aliens who sat at desks. The tables were a slick, curved design made of black steel-like material, and the chairs were made of a matching metal.
Leo started to race through the left side section and along the wall, and we followed him as the flustered announcement rang out again.
“They think you have taken us hostage,” Adhara shouted as we ran. “They are saying you have taken us here to demand mercy.”
We ran past the first desk, and the female alien swirled around in her chair to stare at us as we raced by. I could already see multiple other aliens had stood up, and I spotted two guys at the end of our row who looked ready to pounce.
They weren’t armed, but they had their knees bent and arms ready to launch as we neared the stairs to the bridge.
“Look out!” I shouted, and one of the men leapt toward Becka.
“Hey!” the blonde spat as she kicked out and brought her shoe right into the alien’s groin. “I come in fucking peace!”
I wasn’t a hundred percent sure what alien dudes had going on down there, but I couldn’t help but wince at the impact.
Before the second alien had time to recoil, I jumped toward him and landed a punch right on the side of his face. There was a crunch, and the alien gasped as he crumpled to the floor clutching his cheek.
“Sorry,” I said hurriedly as we raced past him.
We were almost at the steps of the bridge, and I looked up to see a huge room above with blacked-out windows. There was a closed door at the top of the staircase that led into it, and I knew Adhara’s parents would be behind that door.
Then a sudden sound of wind raced past me, and I watched as a small hole was shot into the wall right in front of my face.
I spun around to see a female alien holding her purple Glock, and she was aiming right at my head. Her body looked to be made of pure muscle, and her silver hair was pushed back into a tight ponytail that showed off her striking features.
My women and I all pulled our sharp guns around without a second thought and stood facing the alien woman with our weapons pointed at her chest.
Adhara and Leo began to quickly talk again, but the girl growled something and shook her head.
Then another announcement rang out through the ship, but this time, it was the same calm female tone we had heard before.
I looked at Adhara, and her face seemed almost white.
“They are sending the fleets,” she whispered. “The first one is about to launch.”
My body was on fire with adrenaline and anger by now. I was a few steps away from the bridge, and I wasn’t going to be stopped by some alien with a gun pointed at my chest.
I narrowed my gaze as I looked the alien woman directly in the eyes.
“My wives are pregnant,” I growled, and I could tell by the way her eyes flared that she understood my words. “I am here to stop my entire species from being murdered for something they never did, and I promise you that we can shoot faster and more accurately than you ever could.”
The alien scowled at our larger guns, and the entire floor was silent.
“Lower your weapon,” I demanded. “You’re outgunned, and we will use whatever force we need to get into the bridge.”
“You steal our people,” the alien woman hissed.
“No.” I slowly shook my head and spoke as calmly as possible. “Adhara and Leo are our friends. Your people are killing mine for no fucking good reason, and if you do not lower that weapon, then I’ll be pulling it out of your dead hands in about five seconds.”
I was shocked at the venom in my tone, but having a gun pointed anywhere near my pregnant girls had lit a fire inside me, and even though I didn’t want to hurt any of Adhara’s people, I knew then that I would kill anything for my women.
Too much had happened in this fucking apocalypse, and too much was at stake for me to make a single exception at this point.
The female alien scowled heavily as she stared into my eyes, and I caught a flicker of fear there as she considered my expression. Then she slowly began to lower her gun.
“Give it to me,” I ordered. “Now. Slide the weapon over.”
The alien tensely placed the gun on the floor and kicked it over to the bottom of the stairs. Leo quickly reached down to grab it, and we were no longer standing at gunpoint.
“Okay,” I said out of the corner of my mouth. “I’m going in first. I’m guessing the security is tight in there, and I refuse to risk any of you getting hurt.”
“But Jason,” Hae-won whispered.
“I’m not arguing about this,” I firmly replied. “We’re out of time, and if one more asshole points a gun at any of you, I’m taking a whole new approach to all of this. Understood?”
“Yes, Jason,” Kat answered for the women. “Be careful, they still think you kidnapped Adhara.”
I nodded grimly and sent the row of silent aliens a glare before I stepped up to the door of the bridge. My women kept their weapons raised as I hit the small, golden button at the side o
f the door, and it slid open.
Then I turned to step inside, and the second I did, a pair of arms grabbed me from my right side.
I was quick to react and yanked myself free in only a few seconds, and I stumbled back to see a startled-looking male alien. He seemed older than the others and had fine lines under his green eyes. His clothing was a shimmering black material, and he had multiple golden rings on his fingers and a purple Glock holstered on his hip.
His hand hovered near the weapon, but as I raised my sharp gun, he froze.
Then I quickly scanned the bridge and saw there were only four other aliens in the place.
There were two younger-looking men, who both sat in front of huge screens, and a woman who must have been the same age as the older guy.
I knew immediately that this woman was Adhara’s mother. She was beautiful and had the same chiseled cheekbones as her daughter. Her silver hair was pleated neatly, and her emerald eyes studied me carefully.
“Alakerik,” she said in an unexpectedly deep voice. “Why do you dare come here?”
I didn’t have a chance to reply as Adhara stepped into the bridge with Hae-won’s hand clasped in hers. The girls had made a chain between the two aliens in our group, and Leo seemed to have reluctantly taken Becka’s hand as he stepped in last.
The older woman gasped and raced over to Adhara. She grabbed the young alien tightly and spoke quickly as she rocked her back and forth.
Adhara growled something in return as she stroked her mother’s back, and then she pulled away to look at the older man.
He had tears in his green eyes, and his whole body shook as he extended his arms. Adhara stepped into her father’s embrace, and he made a deep howling noise as tears fell down his lilac face.
“Aww,” Becka cooed. “Your parents are so sweet.”
“Adhara,” I said hurriedly. “The fleets?”
The gorgeous alien’s gaze snapped over to me, and she shoved herself out of her father’s arms to begin speaking at lightning speed to both her parents.
I looked over at the two younger aliens in the room, and they stared back with raised eyebrows and their hands resting on their purple Glocks. I barely noticed them, though, I was hyper-fixated on Adhara’s parents and trying to get any scrap of emotion from their expressions.
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