by Reagan Woods
Willa’s Way
Book 2 of the Earth Neverafter Series
Reagan Woods
∞ ∞ ∞
Copyright 2015 by Reagan Woods
Cover art by Oren Fleetwood
Manuscript Advisor/Content Editor Cate Hogan
Edition License Notes
All rights reserved. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author. This e-book is a work of fiction. Reference might be made historical events or locations that do exist; however, the names, characters, events and places are either employed fictitiously by the author or a product of her fertile imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, alive or dead, businesses, events or locales is coincidental.
WARNING this e-book is intended for mature audiences over the age of 18. This work of fiction contains explicit language, sexual situations, and some violence.
Acknowledgements
Cate “The Great” Hogan does stellar work as my manuscript advisor. She makes me a better writer every time I work with her. Any lack of execution is wholly my own and shouldn’t be held against her.
To my Beta Babes, thank you for your invaluable feedback. I promise to put more sexy time in Willa and Tiron’s future, you horn dogs.
Lyddie, without your antics, my life would be seriously boring. Love ya, girlie!
Dedication
Beast, thank you for bearing with me through another writing adventure. I promise that I will come to bed on time for, like, a week now. Deal? Love ya!
Contents
Willa’s Way
Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Epilogue
From the Author
Other Books from Reagan
Arianna’s Alien
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
The Lost
Prologue
Part One
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Coming Soon!
Prologue
Six Months Post WWIII
“Willa hid an apple in her pocket, I saw her do it!”
The shrill voice startled Willa and, missing the canvas harvesting bag hung across her body, she dropped the apple she’d just picked. It landed with a thud in the tall, uncut hay. Damn.
Willa walked toward the other woman, choosing her steps carefully. She didn’t want to get her canes caught on anything she couldn’t see.
The petite, blonde woman, Cassie, was mistaken. Willa wasn’t stealing, it was her job to pick the last of the season’s apples. But the supplies were running low and Cassie had contributed the least to their summer planting and tending efforts.
“Help! Somebody help! She’s going to attack me!”
“What?” Please, that wasn’t her style.
“Heeellllp!” The idiot shrieked. Her melodramatic squeals drew attention from the line of people carrying buckets of water to fill the depleted cistern.
Willa would put a stop to this nonsense by simply promising to help Cassie catch up on her work. The girl had spent most of the summer lounging around, nursing blistered hands and feet, letting everyone else do the back-breaking labor. Now, she was probably afraid the community would oust her, or cut her rations to match her efforts.
Just as Willa approached, and when Cassie had everyone’s attention, she kicked one of Willa’s canes. Hard. The others didn’t see Cassie’s foot under the cover of the concealing grass.
Willa reared back, leaning heavily on her other cane for balance. The mobility aid Cassie had punted wheeled forward with the rebound, catching the shorter woman in the arm.
Cassie howled her pain to her dumbfounded audience, “I think she broke my arm!”
Jon, a big, not overly bright man, picked up a dirt clod and pitched it at Willa, smacking her in the chest, “Leave Cassie alone!”
“Yeah!” A rock followed, slamming painfully into her knee.
“Get out of here, thief!” A tall, athletic woman roared, pitching her empty bucket at Willa.
“Wait! There’s been a mis-“
Another clump of earth connected with her head. These people weren’t going to stop. Their numbers increased as the riot picked up momentum.
Willa’s feet felt heavy and her legs refused to move. How could this be happening? She’d worked side-by-side with these people since the war ended. Now, they were going to drive her out in favor of that lying, lazy bitch?
Winter was just around the corner. How would she survive in these mountains on her own?
A rock whizzed past her ear, and Willa turned to run as best she could. Clearly, she didn’t have a choice. She had to leave.
Chapter One
First Week of the CORANOS Invasion of Earth
“Hello.” The large alien’s light bronze eyes peered kindly at Willa. “What are you called?”
He had wedged his seven-and-a-half foot frame behind a small desk, probably in an effort to minimize the intimidation factor. It looked like he’d taken a draught of Alice’s growth potion and been caught unaware. If she were a gambling woman, she’d bet he was stuck behind it.
“Wilhelmina Anderson, but I prefer Willa.” She moved, careful of her leg, into the small, brightly lit cinderblock room and sat on the metal folding-chair he offered.
“You are inviting me to use this ‘nickname’, yes?” He leaned his muscular bulk forward slightly.
“Sure,” she answered. “Your people have treated me well so far. Last evening, they made sure I had food. That’s more consideration than I’ve known in a very long time.”
Willa wasn’t looking for sympathy, just stating the simple truth. At twenty-two, she hadn’t had an easy life, but she was still alive. Most people weren’t.
“Thank you, Willa.” He looked delighted. “I am Balcar,” he introduced himself and extended his dinner-plate sized hand across the desk to engulf her much smaller one, demonstrating his familiarity with Earth customs. His dark-tan and brown patched skin was pleasantly warm and he released her quickly, clearly wanting her to be at ease with him.
It surprised her that Balcar treated her so nicely, she knew what he saw when he looked at her. Her long, curly brown hair was matted and dirty and, frankly, she stank. And her once flawless dark brown skin was dry and caked with dirt. Only her hazel eyes, though red-rimmed and gritty, remained in working order.
Even before the war, a life of abuse and neglect as one of society’s throwaways had slowly broken her down into the ragged old woman she was today. Still, Sister Mary Felicia had taught her the importance of
good manners long ago, and Willa hadn’t ever forgotten the lesson. If he could ignore her disheveled state, she would have the good sense to return his courteous behavior.
“Pleased to meet you, Balcar. Why have you brought me here?” she kept her voice low and pleasant, she’d noticed the aliens sounded angry when they spoke their own language but had much smoother, more modulated voices when they employed Earth languages.
“Your lame leg,” he said bluntly. “I believe I can fix it, but it will not be fast and it will not be easy.”
“Why would you do that?”
From what she understood, the invading force of aliens weren’t overly concerned with human comfort or survival when they hunted down the scattered survivors of WWIII and forced them into these camps. She hadn’t seen any of the CORANOS misdeeds firsthand; she’d been unable to find a new communal settlement. But, now that she was around other humans, they didn’t hesitate to share their terrifying tales of the alien hunters.
“It is not the wish of the High Council,” he referred to the governing body of the CORANOS Galactic Alliance – or CGA as the invading alien collective called themselves, “that the people of Earth should suffer. I am a genetic researcher of some renown in our society but I started out as a medic. I believe I can help you grow healthy and strong.”
“In exchange for?” Holding eye contact with the intimidating alien wasn’t easy, but she forced herself to project a calm, attentive attitude.
Balcar continued to regard her steadily, not hesitating to answer, “I’d like to start mapping your DNA. We need to know how Earthers will respond to our medical treatments.” The smile he flashed her reminded her of a charming boy hoping to convince her to willingly participate, not of a conquering alien demanding her cooperation.
“You don’t actually know if you can fix my leg,” she surmised warily. “Do you, Balcar?”
Her back ached and she rubbed the stiff, knotted sinew absently. Protecting her bad leg wrought havoc on the muscles that worked around her limitations to find function. Willa dreamed of a life without constant, nagging pain.
“I believe I can. Earthers don’t appear to be that different from us,” his voice was confident and sure, his eyes never lost their kind light. “As I said, I think it will be a long, arduous process…” he paused briefly, taking her measure. “But you strike me as persistent.”
Obviously, Balcar’s proposal was tempting. To be able to walk properly would be amazing, but a full night’s sleep, uninterrupted by the excruciating muscle spasms, would be enough.
“I know it’s a lot, asking you to trust me, Willa. But I will not ‘let you down’, as you Earthers say.”
How would other humans react if she helped Balcar? Hard experience had taught her not to trust her fellow man any more than she trusted these aliens.
“What would I have to do?” She asked cautiously.
“It’s unorthodox, but I’d like you to come stay on the Hope, my research vessel, while we work on your leg and my project. I have access to much better equipment in my lab.”
Willa clamped down on the urge to laugh derisively. What kind of moron did he think she was? She wasn’t going to run off into space with him so he could lock her up like a lab rat.
∞ ∞ ∞
After observing the first batch of Earthers brought in, Balcar had settled on Willa for his initial study. He’d quickly determined that, though she was tough, she wasn’t going to survive the period between the collection of the Earthers and the establishment of permanent CGA work camps.
“Your condition presents similarly to a genetic miscode that we corrected in our own population thousands of years ago.” He gave her a moment to absorb his words before adding gently, “If you have the same malady, your body will eventually break down completely.”
As the ranking CGA Research Officer, Balcar could force Willa’s compliance, but he wanted to give her the opportunity to decide for herself.
Willa sat for several moments with her head bowed. He was content to let her work through this at her own pace. There was so much he hoped to learn from her. He could find another specimen, certainly, but he doubted that General Darvan would grant him the opportunity to relocate a healthier candidate to his lab.
The many similarities he’d noted between his own people and the Earthers might be a coincidence. He needed more data to discern if these Earthers shared a common ancestor with Corian and Doranos peoples, with humans. An idea had started percolating in his mind, but he wasn’t comfortable sharing it yet.
It was imperative that he conduct his assessment aboard the Hope. If he had to transmit the data from the Earth to his lab, there was no telling who might intercept it. And this was the kind of discovery that would disturb the balance of power within the CGA.
“How long would this take?” Willa finally interrupted his thoughts.
“You’ll do it?” He answered her question with a question.
“Other people already try to bully me because they think I’m weak,” she said with a fierce look. No, Willa was not weak, but he could see that she was already tired of fighting to survive in these squalid conditions. “Helping you won’t gain me any popularity points.”
“When we’re done, I’m sure I can arrange to return you to Earth covertly,” he said slowly, thinking it over. “But soon things will be very different on this planet.”
Chapter Two
One Week Later
Aboard CORANOS Research Vessel Hope
Willa slowly surfaced from the reconditioner’s trance. It was late evening and she was hungry.
Stumbling blearily through the little room she called her own, she gathered her ull and the bottle of rank-tasting electrolytes. She couldn’t wait until next month, when she could transition off of the disgusting supplements.
The reconditioner was an amazing piece of CGA technology. It was like playing a virtual reality game on steroids. Only, instead of a game, it simulated an alien life. As in, cradle to grave, life experiences. Every day, Willa learned something new and amazing. For a hungry mind like hers, the reconditioner was like manna from heaven.
Outside, she heard the decontaminator kick on. The lab space was a clean environment with only one way in or out. She’d been terrified on her first trip down the long, dark decontamination hallway. Colorful sterilizing lasers had pierced the darkness of the tube-like hall, tingling over her skin, making her feel like she’d entered a house of horrors.
She shivered at the memory. “Balcar? Did you forget something?” She called out when the air lock hissed open. Her Corian Standard was still quite child-like, but she was making progress.
“Come out, Earther!” Someone banged on her closed door loudly, startling her. That was definitely not Balcar.
The makeshift cubicle-cum-dorm room, constructed in a corner of the main lab, had initially made her feel like a caged rat. But Balcar had quickly demonstrated how to control the opacity of the walls, giving her the ability to completely block out the bustling, curious scientists who worked outside. He’d also taught her how to lock the door, coding it to respond to her biometrics. She was glad for that now.
“Open the door, Earther!” Another distinctly unfamiliar voice called.
Willa stood stock-still, panicking. Who was outside? What did they want?
She tried to breathe slowly, in through her nose and out through her mouth, but that wasn’t making the situation any less frightening. It was like a nightmare come to life.
More demanding voices rose in shouts for her to come out, and she could see several huge fists as they made contact with the frosted, glass-like walls. Dark shadows of impossibly large hands came to rest high up on the panes, the oils on their hands making wet marks where they pressed in. Would they be able to break through the partitions?
Willa’s teeth began to chatter, she couldn’t remember a time when she’d been this afraid. She had no idea what was going on out there or how many aliens were waiting for her. Where was Balcar?
Wrapping her sweaty, shaking hand around the little silver cylinder, she pressed the red button on the end for all she was worth.
Nothing happened.
There was an ominous crack followed by a creaking sound, and Willa knew the walls were about to give way. She whimpered, fighting the hysteria that wanted to take over her mind. There was nowhere for her to go and no place to hide.
Shit!
Now, what could she do? She was definitely not going out there.
∞ ∞ ∞
The quiet beep, beep, beep of the communicator he’d given Willa sounded throughout Balcar’s quarters. He pushed the hover screen he’d been reading away, waiting for her to speak.
Instead, he heard a squeaking noise and what sounded like uncontrolled respiration.
Balcar jumped from his comfortable chair and dashed for his slippers. Willa was having a panic attack. He needed to get to the lab!
This was an unforeseen complication, he thought as he rushed down the hallway. What could have caused it? He began running through the facets of her treatment even as his feet carried him swiftly towards the lab.
“Woah!” Cyron, the Hope’s Corian Security Officer, said as Balcar nearly plowed into him. “What’s the matter?”
“Apologies, Cyron.” Balcar sidestepped the large Warrior. “Something is wrong with Willa!” He called over his shoulder.
Cyron spun and sprinted, keeping pace beside Balcar. “The Earther?”
“Yes,” Balcar panted, hitting the decontamination chamber at a dead run. He stepped onto the moving floor and waited impatiently for sterilization cycle to commence.
Cyron was right behind him. “I’m not missing this,” he said at Balcar’s frustrated look.
“You know Dorit has been pressuring Karvik to order you to bring her out of the lab?”
“I do know.” Balcar darted an impatient glance at the countdown clock. They were only half through the decontamination cycle.