by LM. Preston
“Hurry. They’re coming fast. Valens, we gotta get out of here now! Now, damn it!” Anthony yelled. She heard glass breaking and saw Anthony push against the door by the window.
“What does he look like?” she said loudly over the noise of music and fighting.
“Brown hair. Shit,” Thor coughed and choked on his tongue as the net pulled tighter. She pulled the net off of his face and punched him before he fell to the ground with a thump, knocked out cold on the floor. She heard running and looked up to see Valens coming straight at her. He grabbed her around her waist as he ran straight to the window. He held her tightly against his waist while his device clamped onto the wall. It pulled slightly on the loop of his waist and they went flying out of the window on a metal rope. Anthony held Hedi, and they followed. Mitch brought up the rear; firing shots back at the guards that looked down at them from the window several feet up.
They landed on the ground with a thud, rolled, got up swiftly, and ran fast to their motorcycles. Shamira hopped on Pearl, and Valens eased in behind her. Snuggling closer, Valens pressed his firm chest to her back. He embraced her tightly and put his head on her shoulder as if he had no intention of getting on his own bike.
“What are you doing?” Shamira asked, turning toward Valens.
“Anthony had to take my ride with Hedi,” he said as Shamira sped off to their hiding place.
“Wrong way,” he called out in her ear, “we need to go to my hideout first.” She hesitated only a moment before she headed in the direction he told her to go. He gave her the directions and the others followed them.
Chapter 15
The street weaved in front of them, and Shamira took flight on her motorcycle, not wanting to waste one second in their getaway from would-be pursuers. Looking in her rearview mirror, she confirmed the others were close behind. Pearl landed in outside of Sector Five in the barren land heading to the Outlands. Shamira looked behind her and saw the others land. Looking out before her, she saw nothing except barren land of sand. Valens slid off her cycle, and she watched as he walked a few yards in front of them. He stood there while the ground parted wide enough for a truck to enter into it. A ramp extended from the hole, and he returned to the back of her cycle. Impressive.
“Drive down the ramp,” Valens said. She drove forward without hesitation. She heard the last cycle behind her on the ramp, and the sliding door closed shut behind them. Their path lit up and she saw the smooth cement ramp that led to a large metal garage. There were several other vehicles parked and covered, so she looked around and found a place for Pearl near the corner. Shamira slid off her cycle and stretched.
“Wow, Valens, this is the best hideout I’ve ever seen. How did you find it?” Hedi asked and slid off the bike behind Mitch. She walked up to Valens and placed her hand on his arm to balance while she looked around.
Shamira slanted her eyes at Hedi and held a growl at bay. She reminded herself yet again that she did not want Valens. Saving her brother was her only priority. She walked over to stand next to Anthony, who stood near the metal door she assumed led to the rest of the refuge. Folding her arms, she put a bored look on her face and looked toward Valens.
“Thanks. My father built this place. It was here when I first got here. We didn’t join him until he had been here the first year to settle the planet before everyone else arrived. He had this place and another where we lived in the other Sector. This place was his favorite, though, and we spent most of our time here. Anyway, let’s go in,” Valens said, then detangled himself from Hedi. As he got to the metal door, he glanced back and motioned for everyone to come closer. He pressed his thumb to the wall, and the large metal door opened. “Hurry up! It’s timed,” he said. They followed him through the door, and it started to close on Anthony, who barely squeezed into the open room.
Glancing around, Shamira noticed the red, gold, and blue stripes. It looked like a kid’s game room. It was large and had two huge couches with large, multi-colored pillows thrown around the room. A large video wall was to the left, and a virtual game room enclosed in glass was in the corner.
She watched Valens walk to the far wall, and when he placed his finger in the middle, it opened to a hallway. The others quickly followed, remembering what happened to Anthony when he was the last person through the entrance. She came up behind Anthony, who she bumped into. He stumbled forward a bit, looked around, and winked at her, revealing dimples. He smirked at her with a look of respect. She winked back, starting to feel a small kinship with them all. This is dangerous. Kids have never accepted me before. Why should now be any different? She pushed away that false feeling of hope, of true friendship, something she had always looked for when she was younger.
The friendship she had tried to give many times as a younger child was only thrown back in her face and used to make her the butt of their jokes. Her younger years of hope had been torn to shreds when her friendship was used for trickery. It caused her power to be revealed and become harder for her to control. She had almost crippled a kid with her strength, a kid that almost killed her as a joke. That was behind her now, and it was a lesson she would always remember. It was this lesson that would keep Valens and this group of misfit kids away from her. She would never give her trust to another; they always used it against her.
A tug at her jacket came, and Mitch’s frown came through her thoughts. Yep, just like I thought, she contemplated to herself. Mitch didn’t trust her anymore than she trusted him. Maybe, she thought, he’s a kindred spirit. It seemed to her that Valens trusted too easily, and she knew it would burn him in the end.
Glancing at the open doors along the way, she saw a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. Then, she turned and looked ahead to see Valens at the end of the hall. He scanned his eye and placed his finger in a DNA scan. The wall opened up into a doorway at the end of the hall. Following the others, she took a look at the lab and training rooms beyond and swallowed. Wow! This is way better than our secret room.
“C’mon. We can sit at this table over here and come up with a plan. We can’t go into the next hideout without being ready,” Valens said and pulled out a chair to sit down. He looked at Shamira and motioned for her to sit next to him. Averting her eyes, she pulled out a chair opposite him at the foot of the table. Slowly she sat down, looking directly at him with a smirk and a nod. Hedi gladly took the chair next to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. The twinge Shamira felt in her belly was squashed down by the image she placed in her mind of her brother. No distractions, she reminded herself.
Shamira moved her eyes from Mitch to Anthony, “We need to capture some of the heads of Monev. I want to bring down their leader. I got a feeling their organization has a mole in the Security Force. As a matter of fact, maybe more than one, I’d bet. If we save the kids and don’t bring them down, they will retaliate, and it’ll get ugly. They know how to bring the Security Force down, and that’s dangerous for everyone here on Mars—everyone.” Her eyes finally ended on Valens.
“Shamira, we need to get others to help. We need to go out and recruit more kids. I’ve ways to give us the edge and the ability to bring down these guys physically, but there are just not enough of us to do it,” Valens said and stared back at Shamira. The desire in his eyes faded and was replaced with a steel look of unmoving resolve.
She returned his stare, and lifted an eyebrow. Good. I’m tired of his flirting. It was an unnecessary diversion. She liked him to be angry at her. It was safer that way. “I think we have recruited too many already. You never really know who we can trust. How’d you know the kids we might recruit are not devotees of Monev, in line to be trained for leadership? Besides that, I don’t want to endanger others,” Shamira replied.
Mitch stood up and pointed at her, “Look, you don’t know a damn thing about Monev, but we do. No kid wants to stay a part of that team. In order to make it up their ranks, you have to go through an orientation. All kids but three came out of that hell dead. The three survivors being trained for Monev’s head h
ave been with Monev since they were born. Those kids were groomed to take over, and the other kids that went through the orientation only did it to live longer. Your life span with Monev is eighteen, and we’re all too close to that to risk it. Their promotion process starts when you turn seventeen. It’s Monev’s way of killing off kids that come to know too much about the organization. You’ve no idea of the evil you are playing with. If you think you can bring them down by yourself, you’re a fool—a fool with a death wish,” Mitch yelled.
Shamira turned her gaze to Mitch as she conceded reluctantly. “Fine. Then Valens, you choose our recruits. I’ll train Mitch and Anthony with some skills they can teach these kids so we’ll survive. I don’t want their deaths on my head, you got that? It’s not my choice, but yours. You can get them ready,” Shamira threw at Valens.
Valens smiled. “Good. Hedi and I will come up with a list of kids we know we can trust,” Valens said with a nod.
“I know all the kids in Monev. There are also some kids that haven’t been caught or recruited by Monev that have no place to go and would love to help us,” Hedi replied, then threw a saucy glance at Shamira while her hand rubbed possessively on Valens’ arm.
Shamira cleared her throat. “Good. Mitch and Anthony, come with me to the training room. I have some leftover energy to get rid off,” she said and stood up.
Anthony leaned on the table and turned to her. “Wait. You need to tell us how you did what you did back there. What the hell happened?” Anthony asked, not budging. His large frame tensed as he waited for her answer, and he studied her with his dark brown eyes.
“What happened was my anger, and that’s all I’m saying about that. All you need to know is that I’m not angry with you… yet,” Shamira said before she pushed back her chair and walked to the training room without so much as a backwards glance.
“I like her. She’s tough. We’re going to need tough,” Anthony said. He slid out his chair and followed her. Mitch also followed but remained silent. Shamira smirked. Glad they had the guts to follow. This is going to be fun.
Taking off her jacket, she stretched out her back like a cat and then grinned. Her back was to the door. She waited for her prey to arrive. I really need this, she thought, picturing Hedi’s arms wrapped around Valens. The power within her slept, but she knew that one day, she would release it. It’s too hard for me to control. Sometimes I fear it will consume me. I don’t want to think on that now, she chided. She only wanted to think of her playthings that would help her push Valens out of her mind. The full skill she used during her hunt would not be tested today. Teaching was what she had to do now, and they needed it. Fast, easy moves that would help them become allies would be useful in bringing down Monev. Trusting them is not possible, but using them is necessary, she reasoned.
They came quietly into the room. She smelled them and heard their calm breathing. They’re fighters within, she confirmed, as she cracked her knuckles in preparation for their attack. Most people who were not used to trauma went into a fight with heightened breathing. These boys have seen a lot more than I could’ve imagined, she considered. They were calm, yet apprehensive. Seeing her earlier, she sensed, gave them a sense of respect of her ability to hurt them. She wouldn’t, of course, because they were too useful. If they become traitors, I’ll destroy them, but she would ponder that later.
Anthony tried to sneak up behind her, and her leg quickly shot out in a back-kick that landed just under his testicles. She didn’t look back because she didn’t have to. As a blind child, she could sense a person’s location and the anxious and quick moves which caused their breathing to heighten. They were all dead giveaways to an unseeing person with her tuned abilities. Anthony groaned and bent over in pain just when the heel of her foot moved up and caught him abruptly in the chin and held it there. As if she were a ballerina, she turned, perfectly balanced, to face him and then lowered her foot to his chest. She briefly glanced at Mitch, who stood unmoving with his arms crossed. She figured he’d be a ruthless opponent. She remembered the calmness of his kill the night they met. Her foot pushed Anthony, power slipping through her, and he stumbled back, caught off guard at how a slight kick could pack such power—and from a girl, no less.
Crouching into fighting stance, she motioned for Mitch to join in on the fun. She sensed no hesitation and his desire to hurt her. He didn’t like her, and she knew it, felt it. I don’t like him either. He’s just too unstable, and Valens should not trust this one, she contemplated. Time will tell which side he’ll take, she thought, and then ducked his punch. She dropped to one knee and kicked him in the shin, causing him to slide. Anthony charged her, and she smelled his anger.
She met Anthony with a slice of her hand to his neck and then grabbed him and held him there. Squeezing her hand closed while puncturing his pressure points, she waited for him to gurgle in response. He held it longer than she thought he would before his protest slipped out in a grunt. She was barely winded.
“Fight, don’t give up! Push through it and never hesitate. It’ll kill you!” she yelled. She wanted them to learn not to be intimidated. They needed to learn to fight through fear. It was a lesson she’d learned herself -a hard one. Anthony growled and punched at her. She easily swayed out of harm’s way and ducked to land a light punch at his neck. Mitch took the opportunity to punch down with doubled fists to the back of her head, but she shook it off and head-butted his chin. Mitch recovered quickly and snaked an arm around her neck. Anthony came forward and landed a punch to her stomach. Air rushed for her lungs.
Yes! she thought. This is it. They’re doing it. No more playing. Now that they have confidence, I can challenge them to push further. The pain she felt could not stop her. She’d fought through pain all her life. She pulled her knees up, giving the appearance of protecting herself, waiting for Anthony to get cocky. It didn’t take long before his features relaxed a little. He thought he had the upper hand and grew arrogant, but she was quick to take it back with a swift kick to his chest. Mitch’s arms grew slack, but he didn’t hesitate. He pushed her to the ground and climbed onto her chest.
She was starting to like him. He was a fighter, as she suspected. She let him punch her only three times because she wasn’t going to make it that easy for him. The angry look on his face showed he was digging into the pit of his soul for inner strength, summoning up his deep anger and hate. She felt it as each punch grew stronger. She smiled at him, as she elbowed him near his privates to draw his attention. He didn’t feel it and kept punching.
She moved her head quickly away from his pounding fist. He had no control, so she punched upward, hitting her palm up his nose and forcing his head back. Jerking her hips up to throw him off balance, she flipped to stand. Then, she quickly turned around and climbed on top of him as Anthony tried to pull her off Mitch from behind.
Her legs were wrapped tightly under Mitch with her knees pressing down his arms tightly. She asked, “Can I punch now?” then laughed at the scowl on Mitch’s face.
She punched lightly at his neck and head. She didn’t want to hurt him but rather to teach him. Anthony didn’t give up. She sensed his fist lifting to land a heavy blow. He was stronger than most his age, she figured, and she quickly moved out of the way of his punch as it landed on Mitch’s chin.
“Enough!” Shamira yelled. Anthony stopped and was breathing hard. Mitch’s heart beat fast underneath her, and she laughed. Hesitantly, Anthony and Mitch followed.
“Girl, you can kick ass and take names. I’m glad you’re on our team,” Anthony said and helped Shamira up.
“Well, I hope you guys learned your lesson well enough to teach the rest of the recruits. Remember… go for the opponent’s weakness. Push through your pain and don’t give up,” she said. She walked over to her jacket and picked it up off the floor.
“I learned mine. Don’t trust you,” Mitch spat out. Slowly getting up off the ground, his angry gaze stared at Shamira.
“I hope you don’t plan on being a
problem, Mitch. If you go traitor on us, I’ll make sure you pay. No one is going to risk me losing my brother. No one! You got that?” Shamira warned, her eyes frothing with anger as she glared at Mitch.
Valens stood in the doorway. “Hey, cut it out, you two. Remember trust? We’re a team. We’re all fighting for the same cause,” Valens said and walked in the room.
“You just make sure the kids you recruit are really on our side. I’m out of here,” Shamira said, then rushed past Valens and Hedi. Walking as fast as she could to the door, she kicked it when she couldn’t get into the garage. Her hands outstretched on the door as if she planned to push it down to get out.
Valens came up behind her. Touching her shoulders with both hands, he came up closer to her and whispered in her ear. ‘You can trust me, Shamira. I would never hurt you or put you and your brother in danger, but I’m patient. I’ll earn your trust—the hard way if I have to,” he said. Slowly, he stepped back and leisurely slid his hands from her shoulders to the middle of her arms. He moved aside and put his hand to the wall to scan his finger. The door opened, and she walked to her motorcycle, not looking back.
She sat on Pearl and pretended to let it warm up in case he was still watching. The ceiling opened, and the ramp extended. Her body still tingled where he had touched her, and part of her wanted to trust him so badly. But trust had only bought her pain, and she was done with that kind of pain. Physical pain was easier to deal with because it only got her angry. The pain of trusting Valens would tear her apart. With a shake of the head, she drove home, and a tear fell from her eye. Now there was regret, yet another emotion she didn’t have time for. It was just something to remind her that Valens would bring her nothing but pain, but she couldn’t help remembering how good his hands felt—almost so good she was tempted to think he was worth the risk.
Chapter 16
Home, her place of refuge, was the only place she could be free to laugh, trust, and play. She sat outside and stared at her home, drenched in moonlight. Home wasn’t the same now, though, at least not until David was back. Funny, David was always my best friend. He loved her just the way she was and had no expectations. These other kids had plans for her. They wanted her to be part of their team for the purpose of getting their revenge, their freedom, and regaining their families. She didn’t think their relationship would go any farther than that, and she wouldn’t risk believing that.