Burn Out

by Kristi Helvig

  “Can’t Britta come with us?” Markus asked, his brow furrowed.

  “Yeah, maybe we should all stay together,” James added.

  I gaped at James, not believing he’d questioned Kale’s order. Especially not when he’d just disarmed and restrained me.

  Kale shook his head. “I need backup, and you’re the only one who knows what med stuff we need. I want to do this as quickly as possible. We’ll see you in ten.”

  Britta ran to Markus and kissed him lightly on the lips. “Don’t worry. See you soon.” She glared at James with defiance. “Take good care of Tora. I mean it.”

  James met her eyes and gave a slight nod. She and Kale turned toward the front of the ship. They moved slowly with their weapons drawn.

  Markus hesitated, then winked at me. He leaned in close to my ear. “Don’t worry. We still have our guns and have no intention of handing them over. You’ll be fine.” He must have concluded that James was deceiving Kale. I wasn’t so sure any longer.

  Alec didn’t look sure either. “You sure you’ll be okay with this guy?”

  James’ jaw clenched. “I don’t think anyone asked for your opinion.”

  Alec’s chest puffed up and he took a step toward James.

  Markus tugged his sleeve. “Easy there, big guy. She’s fine.” He pulled Alec out the door toward the main hatch.

  That left me alone in the med room with James.

  While being alone with James might have been my dream come true earlier, now it felt like a death sentence. At least I still had T.O. in my bag, and could probably grab it despite the handcuffs.

  James packed some meds in a bag with his back turned toward me. I knew the com system was on but had to know why he was still going along with Kale. “James, I—”

  ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

  I jumped at the sound of the gun, and my stomach dropped. It had come from somewhere inside the ship. James ran out of the room toward the sound. I followed as quickly as possible with my limited arm movement. He shouted at me to stay behind him, like there was a chance I could outrun him.

  I had no idea what we were about to find, but my gut twisted inside. Either Kale was dead, which would be very good, or something very, very bad had happened.

  Chapter NINETEEN

  JAMES RACED TOWARD THE FRONT OF THE SHIP. I TRIED TO stay right behind him, which lasted all of five seconds before he shot ahead. Beyond the lingering scent of smoke, I smelled something else. It was nauseating but I couldn’t place it, so I focused on my surroundings. A room up ahead had electronic metal panels along the walls on both sides. James leapt over something, not breaking stride. He went through the center of that room and disappeared through the next doorway. The smell grew stronger.

  I panted as I ran, my hands useless in front of me. Panels with small holes for laser guns covered the walls of the room. It had to be weapons control. I pushed myself to run faster and catch up to James.

  “What the hell is that smell?” I asked nobody in particular.

  Then I tripped and fell on top of them.

  Charred bodies lay on the floor underneath me. The smell was burned flesh. There were seven or eight bodies around me. I struggled to get up without the use of my hands but slipped on one of them. Skin slid off and stuck to my shoe as I tried to stand. Arms grabbed at me as I vomited onto the pile of corpses.

  Alec and Markus stood on either side, helping to steady me. “Where’d you guys come from?” I asked, wiping my chin.

  “Heard the gunshots from the ship and hauled ass … thought you were in trouble,” Markus said.

  Alec smiled. “You saved me. I thought it only right to return the favor.”

  Markus pulled a set of keys from his pocket. “Found them on Kale’s ship. Thought they’d be mighty useful to you.” He jingled the keys, and held up the smallest of the bunch. “This one looks about the right size.”

  A smile crossed my face. “Hurry.”

  “Patience, princess.” Markus slipped the key in the lock and turned it. There was a soft click before the lock released. “Keep them on. Make it look like you’re still locked up until we know what’s going on.”

  I nodded and tried to ignore the stench invading my nostrils.

  Markus surveyed the floor again. “Damn. That’s nasty.” He patted my back as I gagged again. “Pull yourself together, woman. What’s ahead may not be much better.”

  I let them help me along until we’d gotten past the bodies. They’d died while attempting to kill us, but that didn’t make me feel any better about it.

  I gasped for breath as I jogged with my hands in front of me, and turned to Markus. “Can we please take Kale down now?”

  “I think it’s definitely time for a little mutiny,” Markus agreed. “We outnumber him and can take his weapon. Easy.”

  I wasn’t so sure about the easy part, but wanted to give it a try. Alec and Markus had their weapons in hand and I picked up the pace as we ran through the next doorway.

  “You don’t love guns much, do you, Markus?” I asked.

  “Not really. Why?” he asked.

  “Just a little funny for a gunrunner not to love guns, don’t ya think?”

  “Not really. How many people have worked jobs they didn’t love because the money was good?” He stopped short as we reached the last room on the ship.

  The control room.

  Kale stood near the front of the room, facing the control panel. James bent over next to him, crouching over something on the floor. More dead bodies littered the room and the stench seeped out into the hallway. Bile roiled in my stomach but I forced it down. We stepped through the door. The bodies in here weren’t as burned as the other ones. They must have succumbed to smoke inhalation.

  “What’s going on? Everyone okay?” Markus asked. He glanced at the bodies on the floor. “Where’s Britta?”

  No one answered. Behind Kale, I glimpsed Britta’s skinny legs sprawled on the floor. James bent over her, holding her limp hand in his. He took it and rested it on her stomach, then stood to face us. His eyes flitted briefly to Alec, assessing him, before turning to Markus.

  “She’s gone. There’s nothing I could do.” James’ face looked carved from stone. Expressionless.

  “No!” Markus ran to Britta, and pushed James out of the way. Bright red blood seeped from the center of her chest. The shot had gone straight through her heart. The gun fell from Markus’ hand as he sank to his knees in front of her body. “Dammit Britta, how could you die on me?”

  Markus leaned down and touched his lips to hers. Though I’d thought about killing her myself little more than a day ago, something inside me broke. She’d been a scrapper, a survivor—like me. Markus had seemed happy when they were together. Now she was nothing. Gone.

  Sadness and anger fought for control. Britta would tell me tears were for apocawusses. Sadness wouldn’t help me now. Anger might.

  “What happened?” I asked, staring hard at Kale. I knew what he thought about his enemies, and I wouldn’t put much past him. Had he killed her?

  “Bastard shot her,” said Kale, pointing at one of the bodies wearing a mask on the floor. “We thought they were all dead, but he got her when she came in the door. I took care of him, but not in time.” He pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers and shook his head as he looked down at her body. “It’s my fault. I should have gone first.”

  Yeah, you should have. Maybe he thought some were alive and that Britta would make a good, disposable decoy. It was hard to know what to believe. The masked body on the floor did indeed have a gun in his hand and a chest full of fresh blast holes. Alec looked horrified and confused by the scene in front of him. James walked over to the Consulate soldier’s body, stooping to take the gun.

  “Can’t hurt to have another gun,” James said, then rose and brought the gun over to Kale. Great—now he had two guns.

  Kale accepted the offering and turned to Markus. “I’m sorry. I know you had feelings for her.”

  Jame
s wore an odd expression on his face. “Nice work, captain,” James said. “There don’t seem to be any other survivors.” I noticed him looking Alec up and down. Maybe he was a little jealous.

  This was it. My heart raced and my palms started sweating. Stay calm, Tora. I’d have to take him out now, or we’d all be toast. Markus still crouched on the ground by Britta, seemingly confused and overwhelmed with grief. I didn’t think he would be super-helpful in his current condition, so I flashed a look at Alec, hoping he’d catch on and jump in.

  “Markus, I’m so sorry,” I said. I walked over to him, my hands in front of me as if the cuffs were still locked. In one quick motion, I pulled off the cuffs and scooped up Markus’ gun that lay on the floor by his side.

  I jerked it toward Kale. “Raise either of those guns and I’ll shoot,” I said, trying to control the shaking in my arm.

  “Yeah, I’d listen to una chica bonita if I were you,” Alec added. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw his gun also pointed at Kale. The fact that I was more terrified than I’d ever been in my life didn’t stop me from registering the fact I’d just been called pretty.

  Kale’s face was grim. He turned to James, who looked away from him and walked over to me. James slowly raised his gun in Kale’s direction. “I’m sorry, sir,” he said.

  Yes. I knew he cared about me. All that other crap had been an act.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” James repeated. He swiveled and pointed his gun at my head. “Sorry we have such pathetic traitors among us.”

  Alec started to swing his gun in James’ direction, but James engaged his trigger panel. “Do it, and I’ll shoot her,” James said.

  I shook with rage. How could James betray me like this? We were so close to getting away. The coldness in his voice as he threatened to shoot me felt like a knife going through me.

  “No!” I yelled, too late.

  Alec dropped his gun to the floor. “I can’t let him shoot you. You saved me.”

  Markus finally snapped back into reality, and jumped to his feet. “What the hell?”

  Alec hesitated a moment, which was all it took for Kale to raise his weapon and take back control. He fired a shot into the wall near Alec. Alec jumped, and Kale strode over to him. He retrieved Alec’s gun from the floor.

  Markus took a step toward me. James shook his head, his gun pressed to the side of my head. “Don’t do it, man. Just stay there and no one will have to get hurt.”

  Kale pointed his gun at Alec. “What’s it gonna be, soldier? The only reason I didn’t kill you just now is I need you on Caelia. You look strong and able. But this is your one chance to convince me that you just made a terrible mistake. Can I trust you?”

  Alec couldn’t die. Somebody as decent as him had to live. He saved the last dog on the planet. Tears welled in my eyes. “Alec, you deserve to go to Caelia. Just do what Kale wants.” But I hope you kill these two burners when you get there.

  I couldn’t decipher the look in Alec’s eyes. “You can trust me, sir,” he said finally. “But I am indebted to Tora for saving me.”

  James snorted. “Then do her a favor and get her to give up the gun.”

  Alec gazed into my eyes. “Give it to him, Tora. If you don’t, the only way it can end is with you getting shot.” He nodded toward Kale. “I don’t understand everything going on here, but I’m sure it’s just a big misunderstanding.”

  “Yeah, we can work this out. Give him the gun. Please,” Markus added.

  There didn’t seem to be any hope of working anything out, but I was out of ideas. I sighed and held the gun in front of me. “Fine. Take it.”

  James reached out and only after he had my weapon in his hands did he remove his gun from my head. Asshole.

  We were so screwed. Kale had all the guns, and it was impossible we could overpower James and Kale with our bare hands. We blew our only chance to turn the tables. If I used T.O., Alec and Markus would die too, and that wasn’t an option I wanted to consider.

  Kale’s eyes flicked to Markus and Alec before he addressed me. “The only reason I’m not killing you right now is that I’m a more decent guy than you give me credit for.”

  No, the only reason you’re not killing me right now is there are too many witnesses … unlike Britta. Kale was an observant guy. He’d already commented on Alec’s intellect and strong build, and likely wanted to recruit him for his cause. He also knew Alec felt allegiance to me, since I’d saved the guy from certain death in the pod city. Maybe Kale realized that Alec wouldn’t do squat for him if he killed me in front of them. I clenched my teeth to keep from responding.

  James stood with his arms crossed, gun in hand. I wanted to charge at him and punch him, but I was more mad at myself for being such a sucker.

  Kale handed the guns to James, keeping only his own. “See, no need for anyone to have guns anyway, now that we’ve killed all the bad guys.”

  “So no need for handcuffs again either, right? It’s not like we can’t handle a skinny unarmed girl on our own.” I liked Alec more every time he spoke.

  Kale’s eyes flitted to me. “Fine. I’ll leave the cuffs off you if you promise to behave.” If he thought that would make Alec and Markus think well of him, he was delusional. He turned back toward the others. “Here’s the deal. We’ll take care of Britta’s, um, body, and get out of here.”

  Kale didn’t care about Britta’s body, but knew that Markus did. I had to give it to him—he was smart.

  I gritted my teeth. “Guess you don’t need me, Kale. Alec and I can head back to the other ship and wait.” I gestured for Alec to join me.

  Alec tipped his finger to his brow, but his face was grim.

  Once out of Kale’s sight down the hall, I planned on somehow getting Markus, and booking it to Kale’s ship to fly the hell out of there. James could go to hell.

  “You’re not going anywhere, Tora,” Kale responded.

  James assessed Kale, a questioning look on his face.

  “Listen,” said Kale. “Hear that? You can’t go back now.”

  I’d been too distracted by dead bodies to hear the screaming of the winds. Night had come. The view out the control room window was one of near darkness, only a small reddish tinge lining the edge of the horizon. We were stuck here until the winds died down. We wouldn’t make it fifty feet in these conditions. For some strange reason, I thought of Lucy and hoped she wasn’t scared by the weather.

  Instead of my grand escape plan, we all helped put Britta’s body in a containment box, while I choked back tears. When she’d shoved me into one of those units, I’d wanted her to die a slow death. Now, just a short time later, I’d give anything to see that weird smile she had when staring at Markus or petting Lucy. Markus wanted to bring the box over to Kale’s ship, then send her body out into space on the way to Caelia.

  “She’d want to be free,” Markus said, before putting his head in his hands.

  Silence filled the room.

  Kale and Markus carried the container with Britta’s body to the hatch. As soon as the winds died, they’d transfer her over and we’d leave. In the meantime, we all trekked back to the med room through the enormous ship. There were so many hallways that branched off to different parts of the ship. Thoughts of Callie running and hiding popped into my head. My sister would have thought this was the most kick-ass place ever for a game of hide-and-seek, minus the dead people.

  “Tora, can I see your Infinity a sec?” Kale asked like we were best buds. His face was anything but friendly.

  Crap. I didn’t want to do this. I reluctantly removed it from my wrist and handed it to him. “This was a gift from my dad.” Like that would make a difference.

  Kale fingered it a minute. “I’ve always wanted one of these. You mind if I play around with this a while?”

  Yes, I mind, you freakin’ burner. “Knock yourself out,” I said, like it was a casual request. I knew I’d never see it again. My wrist already felt naked without it.

  James strolled over to t
he table. His voice was mechanical, stiff. “Tora, help with these meds.”

  Screw you. “Sure.”

  “Toss the last few boxes in this bag, while I finish up with these others.” He ordered it like I was his personal assistant or something. I wanted to clock him.

  James glanced at Markus as he placed colored vials and boxes in the bag. “Any meds you want? There’s some stuff here that’ll help you feel better.”

  Great. He was sucking up to Markus, probably wanting to keep him on their side.

  Markus slumped against the wall in a defeated posture. He wore the pain of a person who’d lost someone they really cared about. I knew that look.

  “Great idea, James,” Kale interjected. “Some of those will make you forget your own name. Might be good for you for a while.”

  Markus shook his head. “Nah. I don’t want to forget.”

  “Suit yourself, soldier. James, make sure to stock up on those good pain meds I had before.”

  I wished he’d take them now, and go back to being belligerent but manageable. “Can I help with anything?” Alec asked softly, starting to walk toward me. His eyes looked pained, like he wanted to do something for me but didn’t know what.

  “No,” James answered immediately.

  “I think he was talking to me, not you,” I answered.

  James’ jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything else. Alec went and stood awkwardly by Markus, his hands shoved deep into his pockets.

  Alec had been nothing but nice. Anger surged in me. “Some friendly rescue team we are, Alec,” I said, glaring at the back of James. “Sorry about that.”

  Kale peered at me while he strapped my Infinity to his wrist, as though daring me to say something about it. “Most rescue teams don’t turn against their leader. You might have some trust issues, you know.”

  Markus laughed harshly and answered for me. “No shit. She doesn’t trust any of us. That’s no different than before.”

  Kale made a pathetic attempt at looking remorseful. “I’d hate to think you weren’t with us on this, Tora, because that would make you …”