Alien Resistance (Zyrgin Warriors Book 4)

by Marie Dry

“I’m a sexy Zorn explorer, like in the Space Range, uh Walking space, uh--”

  “Space Ranger,” Rachel cried triumphantly.

  “Yes, that.” Madison pointed to Rachel to make sure he understood. “Do you think I’m sexy, d’you want eight hours now?” She giggled and couldn’t stop.

  “You will both sleep now,” he said.

  “No, nuh uh. I wanna have fun.”

  Next to her Rachel complained as well. But suddenly Madison’s eyes felt heavy and the couch looked really good. She tried to stand, but fell back on the floor and closed her eyes. “Close them just one minute,” she mumbled.

  She was vaguely aware of Rachel lying down next to her.

  Someone was cruelly driving spikes into her head with a hammer. Madison moaned and tried to open her eyes, but they wouldn’t obey her commands.

  “Drink this, human.”

  Madison cringed. He only called her human in that tone when she’d done something he considered really stupid. And wouldn’t it be lovely if she didn’t remember anything about the previous night? She was lying in bed and she remembered falling asleep on the floor with Rachel next to her.

  “Rachel,” she croaked.

  “I took her to her apartment, drink this.”

  She opened her bleary eyes to see him holding her favorite cup out to her.

  “Can’t move,” she mumbled.

  He helped her up and held the cup against her lips. Instant relief, though she still felt horrible. “I thought I’d be magically better.”

  “Even superior Zyrgin medicine cannot completely cure a night of drinking.”

  Madison stared up at his blurry figure. “Please go away. I will see you at the office. Just leave me to die in peace.”

  “You will not die but I will meet you at the office.” Pressing his forehead against hers he left.

  She met Rachel in the cafeteria for breakfast much earlier than she ever wanted to be awake and functioning while hung over. They both got coffee and sat down rather gingerly.

  Rachel frowned at the opposite wall where two doctors were painting it with amazing speed. “I still don’t get it. Why would the aliens built hospitals and shelters and orphanages?”

  An alien was installing something in the wall Madison sincerely hoped was a synthesiser that made decent coffee like the one in Viglar’s office. She moaned and clutched her head. “Everything’s a blur, and my head aches something fierce. I can’t have rational discussion now.”

  “I’m trying to focus on something else. So why the shelters?” Rachel said.

  “I don’t know, maybe they’re building shelters and this hospital because their leader married a human woman,” Madison said. More focused on her headache than the conversation.

  “Zacar? Didn’t you say that was his name?”

  “No, their emperor or something. He sent a shuttle with guards for her and Sarah went to their planet.” Natalie had told her the story and she still didn’t know if it was romantic or very scary.

  “I wonder if she went voluntarily,” Rachel said. There was a look in her eyes that unsettled Madison. She shook off the memory of Viglar telling her Rachel was not her friend and shrugged. “Don know.”

  “Madison, how did I get to my flat last night?”

  “Viglar carried you there and then put me in bed.”

  “He just dumped me on the couch. And did you call him your boyfriend last night?”

  Madison moaned again. “If you consider yourself my friend, never speak about it again.”

  “All right.”

  Viktor joined them. “Did you hear there’s going to be protests about the medical units?”

  Go figure. “I can’t worry about it now. My head is killing me.”

  Rachel nodded. “Mine too, and we have to paint the new wards they added.”

  They both groaned.

  “Great party last night,” Viktor said. Obviously, he’d had the sense not to drink the doctored beer.

  As if on cue, Viglar appeared in the door of the cafeteria, and everyone went back to work. If Madison hadn’t felt so miserable, she’d have laughed at the way they tried to scramble and look like they were busy working in the cafeteria. He walked over to their table, and Viktor and Rachel got up and rushed through the door with everyone else.

  Viglar held out a small silver cup. “Drink this.”

  “Please tell me it will help. The stuff you gave me earlier helped, but I still feel like I just flew in a shuttle that jerked around the whole flight.”

  “It will help.”

  She swallowed the vile tasting stuff and almost instantly felt better. “I have to get to work,” she said and got up. She smiled up at him, her evil smile that would’ve made her brothers run. “Wanna kiss me?”

  She’d thought he’d step back at the thought of kissing her after she had his vile concoction in her mouth, but he bent down and kissed her until she forgot where she was, forgot her name, and all she wanted was to kiss him for the rest of her life.

  He lifted his head and touched her cheek with his forefinger. “I have many duties at the mountain this week.”

  “All right. We’ll touch bases, when you’re around.”

  He pressed his forehead against hers and they both left the cafeteria.

  That night when she opened her door, she nearly slipped on the thin plastic on the floor. Some companies still made writing paper from recycled plastic, even though everyone used TCs these days.

  The short message written in round childish writing was devastating.

  The aliens had tortured and killed Rory at the Battle of No Name Town.

  She walked into her flat and sank down on the couch, staring at the piece of plastic in her hand, barely aware of what she was doing. Could this be true?

  Viglar could’ve killer her brother. He wasn’t merely a doctor. He prided himself on being a warrior.

  Madison lifted her hand. It was trembling. She’d slept with him. Betrayed the brother that always protected her.

  She laid her head on her knees and cried. She missed Rory. She didn’t know if she should believe this message. What if she told her mother, and it turned out not to be true? Most of all, she cried because she couldn’t hate Viglar and her family would never accept her relationship with him.

  Her mother never got over Ana’s death and to have to now accept that her son died as well? Madison couldn’t fathom how a parent lived through that. She would have to go home. This wasn’t the kind of news you told over the TC.

  She barely slept and was up an hour before her normal time. Walking to the hospital, she came to a standstill at the entrance and stared at the shuttle craft parked in front of the hospital. Viglar stood in front of it with his arms crossed over his chest, talking to another alien. The other alien was tall, but she somehow thought he might be younger than Viglar. She was curious about the other alien, but didn’t want to intrude. The message burned in her pocket, and she turned away to enter the hospital before he could see her.

  “Come here, Madison,” Viglar said.

  She walked over to him. “Are we going to the shelters and the orphanage?”

  “Yes.”

  Since Viglar didn’t seem inclined to introduce her, she held out her hand to the other alien. “Hi, I’m Madison.” She refused to bow and scrape to their invaders, but she also wouldn’t forget the manners her mama drilled into her.

  Viglar took her hands in his and drew her next to him. He leaned down to stare at her, his eyes turning red. “You do not look at him, you do not speak to him, you do not touch him.”

  “Why, what makes him so important?”

  She was vaguely aware of the other alien leaving. Viglar lifted her against him, his muscled body warm against hers. He tilted her head up to him. “Why do you want to speak to him? Do you find him pleasing? Do you want to breed for him?”

  “What? Are you out of your alien mind?” It worried her. The way he kept talking about breeding. As if women were only good for one thing. Su
rely if that was how he saw women, he wouldn’t have tolerated the female doctors, wouldn’t have trained her. “That’s a disgusting thing to say to me.”

  “You do not talk to warriors.” He tilted his head. “And you do not look at warriors at sword practice. You will also teach your female human children proper behavior.”

  “You know, its rude not to introduce people. What am I supposed to call him when I speak to him, hey you?”

  “You do not speak to him.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “My mama taught me manners.”

  “She should have taught you proper breeder behavior.”

  There was no way she was going to win this argument. “I need a few things from the hospital before we go.” She went to the office where she’d left her bag and found Sandra turning away from it with a guilty start. Madison pressed her lips together, grabbed her bag, and ran back outside.

  Madison stormed into the shuttle and took her place on the bench. She waited until they’d taken off before she asked the question burning in her mind. “Did you find out anything about Rory from the probes?”

  “No.”

  If only she could read him better. Then she would know if that was an evasive answer or the truth.

  The moment they entered the grounds, she noticed the improvements they made. Could they be as bad as she thought and do this? Why did Rory have to go to that battle?

  A small curvy blonde woman and a tall slender woman with long black hair and beautiful dark skin stood on the veranda talking to one of the house mothers.

  Viglar walked up to them. “It is time for my clinic. Go away.”

  “Nice to see you too,” the blonde woman said. She turned to Madison and took in her bag and white coat.

  “Did you draw the short straw?”

  “Uh no.”

  She stuck out a hand. “I’m Julia and Margaret said you met before.”

  “You have introduced yourself, now go away,” Viglar said.

  Neither woman seemed bothered by his attitude.

  Madison shook Julia’s hand. She turned to Margaret and sucked in a soundless breath when she looked into those tortured brown eyes. This woman had been through hell. Maybe helping at the shelter was her way of coping.

  “By the way, I am married to Zurian, and Margaret is with Larz,” Julia said.

  “You married the aliens?” This would cause a stir if people knew.

  Viglar loomed over them. “You will cease talking and return to your warriors.”

  “No, we’re going to Margaret’s shelter next. Don’t worry, we’ve got an escort,” Julia told him cheerfully. She seemed to be the one doing all the talking.

  Viglar took Madison’s arm and dragged her inside. “We have work to do.”

  Madison waved at the two women who watched her and Viglar with amused expressions on their faces.

  She unpacked what she thought she might need. “Why did Julia call the Shelter Margaret’s?”

  “Margaret started the shelter and is building more with her warrior’s money.”

  “Her eyes looked so sad. Is that why she built the shelter, because she went through abuse as well?”

  “No.”

  “I come to see the alien,” a small voice lisped behind her.

  Madison turned and found a little girl, who couldn’t be older than three years staring at Viglar with big frightened eyes. She knelt down. “If you want, I can help you.”

  The little girl shook her head, clutching a worn looking doll against her. “Wanna alien.” Her thumb went into her mouth.

  Madison didn’t know what to make of it. The little girl was scared out of her mind, but she still insisted to see Viglar. “Come, I’ll take you to him.” She held out her hand.

  Across the room Viglar stood watching them without moving.

  Again, the little girl shook her head. “Alone,” she whispered and walked up to Viglar, setting one foot in front of the other, as if she had to fight every flight instinct she had. When she reached Viglar, he bent down, picked her up, and placed her on the bed. The little girl bit her quivering lip and clutched her doll tighter.

  “What is wrong with you, little human?”

  She stared at him for a long time and then answered. “Tummy hurts.”

  He moved the silver instrument over the child, and it suddenly made loud beeping sounds. Colors flashed on it. The little girl jumped but didn’t cry.

  Viglar put away his gadget, reached inside a bag, and took out a few sweets. “Here is your sweets. Now go away, little human.” He put her down on the floor and with a big relieved smile the little girl ran out.

  “That was weird, was there anything wrong with her stomach?” she asked Viglar.

  “There is nothing wrong with her. They take bets to see who is brave enough to come near me.”

  “Oh.” Didn’t it bother him that they feared him? “And the flashing lights and noises your instrument made.”

  “They assume the lights and noises are Zyrgin technology at work.”

  “That’s so kind of you Viglar.”

  He didn’t acknowledge that he’d heard her. “We have to return.”

  On the flight back, she sat next to him at the controls, and he didn’t try to stop her. They didn’t talk and, even with her struggle to accept that Rory was dead, and how he might’ve died, it was a peaceful silence. Halfway there, the world exploded around her.

  The shuttle shook and then descended nose first, so fast they were horizontal one moment and diving the next.

  “What’s happening?” she screamed.

  “We are making an emergency landing.” Viglar’s calm voice reassured her. If anyone could get them safely on the ground it would be him.

  Viglar grated something and wide belts crossed over her body. “It will be all right, Madison.

  They crashed into the ground, and Madison expected to be jerked, but the belts somehow kept her from feeling the impact of the landing.

  Her ears rang. She shook her head and then quickly stopped because that hurt so much she moaned. She floated and vaguely realized she would’ve hit the ground hard if not for the vice that suddenly clamped around her.

  “Do not move, human.”

  “I knew you couldn’t fly as well as you said,” she mumbled.

  Amazing, even crashing couldn’t make her mouth behave.

  “Do you hurt anywhere, Madison?”

  “Yes, my head. And my mouth has started to work independently from my brain. Frankenstein appears and, hey presto, my mouth starts saying things my ears don’t want to believe.”

  “Your mouth is the most dangerous part of you. Remain still, my human.”

  She opened her eyes. He held her cradled against him on the floor of the shuttle while he ran his silver gadget over her. “Great, not even an accident can make you drop that thing.”

  “You are unbroken?” Viglar said. He didn’t seem injured at all while she felt as if the shuttle had fallen on her. “You have a slight concussion, but no serious injuries.” He pressed something against her neck. She felt a sting and her headache went away.

  “I want my own injector thingie.”

  “If you work hard and apply yourself you may reach the level where you may be issued an injector.”

  “How long did it take you to be issued with one?” She’d sell her soul for one of those Her body felt less achy and fragile.

  “One hundred Earth years.”

  “Yeah, right.” She sat up and looked around. “What happened?” The area where she normally sat were blackened and the seat blown apart.

  “We were shot down.”

  “Shot down?” Something tugged at her memory, but she couldn’t make it come to the forefront of her mind. “I thought mere human technology couldn’t harm your shuttles.”

  “We were cloaked so the resistance must have had some help.” She didn’t like the sound of that. Or the way he suddenly looked at her. It was hard to read his body language, but she had the feeling he w
as suspicious of her.

  “What do you mean? Resistance?”

  He didn’t answer her, but patted her down. “Hey what are you doing, stop that.”

  He ignored her and, starting at her hair, moved down and touched every single part of her. When he came to her thighs, he even pressed his thumbs where they had no business being. Not while he suspected her of helping the resistance shooting them down anyway.

  Her whole body jerked and, unfortunately, it wasn’t wholly from surprise. “Hey, stop that you green freak.” She slapped at his hands. You pervert.”

  Ignoring her, he took her medical bag and went through it. “What are you looking for? You won’t find anything--that’s not mine.”

  He held up a box the same beige as the inside of her bag. The atmosphere inside the shuttle suddenly changed, became chilled. Those blood red eyes bored into hers. She wished he showed some emotion. Then at least she’d know how dead she was. Nothing he’d done or said made her think he would have any mercy for anyone who helped the resistance to shoot them down.

  “I don’t know how it got there.”

  If he didn’t believe her, it would break something deep inside her. They’d made love, he’d cured her hangover, watched the space ranger with her. Surely that would mean something to him.

  “This is your bag, you packed it for the visit.” There was no accusation, he merely stated the facts.

  “Yes, but please believe me, I don’t know how that got there.” She rubbed her aching head. Sandra had been in the staff room and acted strange. She and Rachel were the only two that had access to her bag. Rachel was her friend, she’d never do this to her. They’d been friends long before the aliens came.

  He pried off the lid of the box and then moved in a blur, she heard a dull sound as if he’d thrown the box inside something metal and then a dull explosion she could feel reverberate through the floor boards.

  “I will find the human responsible for this.”

  She sagged and almost sobbed. “You believe me. You don’t think I’m the one who put it there so the resistance could shoot us down.”

  “You are a brave human, but not a stupid one. I do not think you would allow yourself to be shot down, or for me to find the device so easily.”

  “Actually, I don’t feel all that brave. I was so scared that you would think I did it, and you’d kill me with your lasers.” She made a feeble attempt at teasing but it fell flat. It couldn’t have been Rachel. She’d know the aliens would suspect Madison. But there were a few doctors who hated her because of the time she spent with Viglar. They could be with the resistance. It kept coming back to Sandra and she didn’t dare tell him her suspicions about her.