by Theresa Kay
“Because that,” I point to the mess he’s stuck in, “is quicksand. And splashing around in that crap is only going to move you deeper.”
The color drains out of his face and he freezes, his eyes slowly widening. “What do I do?” An edge of panic creeps into his words and I smirk.
“Don’t worry. You’re not in any mortal danger or anything. Well…,” I glance up at the trees, “…barring any animal attacks. It’s probably only a few feet deep and even if it’s deep enough to cover your head, it’s awfully hard to sink all the way in.”
“So what do I do?” He asks through clenched teeth with an exaggerated smile on his face.
“Can you get your boots off?” He jerks forward to loosen the laces on one foot. “Move slowly,” I snap.
He nods and calms his movements. Only two lace holes are still above the level of the muck though so he gives up on the boots and straightens back up to look at me. “I don’t think the boots are coming off.”
Walking in a slow, careful circle around the area, I search out a large stick and pick it up. It breaks under the barest amount of pressure from me, though, so I glance around for another one. There. I grab the larger piece of wood and attempt to flex it a few times. Seems sturdy enough.
I walk closer to Alex, prodding the ground in front of me with the stick as I approach. When I’m within a foot of him, I crouch down and carefully lay the stick on the ground behind him. “Lean back slowly until you’re resting on the stick.”
He listens, gradually tilting until he’s flat on his back.
After a minute or two, I slide the stick down until it’s under his hips. “Keep your arms out to the side and slowly try to pull your feet out.” Many sloppy, slurping noises later and he’s lying on his back with his muck-covered lower legs straight out in front of him. “Now roll toward me.” I stand and move back as he comes toward me and moments later help him to his feet. “Still interested in running off on your own?”
“No…” He glances at me and bites at his lower lip. “You’re positive she’s not in danger?”
Positive is a pretty strong word but… “Yeah. No more danger than any of us at least.”
Alex nods and wipes at the brownish mess covering the side of his head and looks down at his ruined clothes. He runs one hand through his hair and then looks down at it in disgust. My mouth quirks up and I chuckle. His gaze moves from his dirty palm to me and a wicked glint brightens his eyes. Darting out one hand, he grabs my arm and pulls me closer. “No fair. You’re too clean.” Before I can protest, he wipes his hand down the side of my face, leaving a gritty glob of dirt behind. “Much better.”
My gaze meets his, hazel eyes to deep, dark brown, and my mouth goes dry. Water seeps into the fabric of my pants where our legs touch and sandy mud slides from the tips of his hair and down his cheeks. One lock of hair falls down over his forehead and, without thinking, I lift a hand to brush it away. The breath stalls in my chest and I snatch my hand away before I can complete the motion.
I maneuver out of his hold, mutter a gruff ‘let’s go,’ and walk briskly back in the direction of the others with my head down.
Chapter 9
I’m awake well before anyone else and I choke down some food before backtracking to the point where we veered off the path to find shelter. Even after the rain, I easily pick up the trail again. My training tells me to get to the signal station, but the trail is starting to diverge from that direction. Maybe if I just scouted up ahead a little? Maybe the signal station is close. I could ditch them here and make for the signal station instead. Liz would show up eventually. They’d thank me later when we were rescued. Right? It’s an awful idea to go off on my own, but I move faster alone. Really. That’s why I’m doing it. It has absolutely nothing to do with that little moment I had with Alex. My stomach churns and I shake my head briskly to push the memory out. Nothing to do with it.
Leaves crunch behind me, preventing me from giving in to my own stupidity. “Morning,” I say with a sigh.
“Do you think we’ll catch up with her today?” It’s Stasia. Thank goodness. At least she’s not going to call me out on not telling everyone my suspicions about Liz’s actual safer-than-we-thought circumstances.
“Hopefully.” I glance back at her over my shoulder. “You the only one awake?”
“Yeah.” She walks forward until she’s beside me, her hands shoved into her pockets and her shoulders slumped. “It’s just like her, you know. To go running off after something without thinking about it.”
I chuckle. “It’s not the thinking about it that bothers me, it’s the not telling anyone about it.”
She gives me a sideways look and raises her eyebrows. “Kinda like what you were about to do?”
So maybe I was wrong about the not calling me out part… How does she read me so well? There’s no point in denying it, so I just shrug. “The signal station might be close. I wasn’t going to go far.”
“Did you agree to do this to find Liz or to have an excuse to get to the signal station?” She doesn’t mean it as an insult, at least I don’t think so. The words are soft and casual, but they bite all the same.
“Honestly? It started off as finding the kid. But now… I’m not sure.” I puff out my cheeks and rock back on my heels. “I know what you all think of me, of the corps, but I do want to help. It’s not going to do anyone any good if we end up stuck here. I’m sure you all have lives to get back to. And I do too.”
“For what it’s worth, once we find Liz I’ll go with you to find the signal station. You shouldn’t have to be alone out here.”
I glance at her and quickly look away. This must be a new situation for her and she’s gotta be terrified, but she’s willing to… It’s getting harder and harder to swallow against the lump climbing up my throat. I cannot let myself become attached to these people. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
“My brother was corps.” She blinks quickly and tilts her head backward, wiping at her eyes with one finger. “Sorry. I just… I haven’t talked about it with anyone yet. We grew up on planet, but he’d always wanted to fly. Our parents barely scraped by as it was so the only way he’d ever have a chance at being a pilot was if he enlisted. Which he did. The first chance he got. He never made it to flight school. He was killed during one of the uprisings on Aquona two months out of boot camp. Killed because he was following orders and no one took the chance to think of him as a person and not just a uniform.” Tears are flowing freely over her cheeks now. She sniffles and shakes her head. “That was only a month ago.”
Growing up in the corps, I’ve never had many female friends. Well, none actually. And I’m not sure how to handle this revelation. I’ve never heard of any uprisings and I want to ask about them, but even I know that’s not the right course of action. I settle for patting her shoulder and saying, “I’m so sorry.” It’s the truth too. I am sorry. I’m sorry for her loss and I know something of what she’s feeling. “I lost…” One arm cradles my abdomen. “…my fiancee. And I have no idea what happened to my friends. My best friend, he promised he’d find me. Then I woke up on your ship… and I think that means he’s dead.”
Saying those words out loud shatters any control I had left and every emotion, every fear that I’d pushed away and ignored since I got out of stasis comes crashing down around me. I try to shove it all back down, lock it inside where I don’t have to think about it and where it can’t hurt me, but it’s too late. Tears trail down my cheeks and I turn my head away from her, desperate to hide them. I can’t be like this. I can’t be this weak.
Stasia puts one arm around my shoulder and pulls me into a hug. She doesn’t have to say anything. Just the contact, the empathy is enough. And, strangely enough, once I stop fighting against the sadness it feels good to let it all out. I think for both of us.
A few minutes later, I’m the first to pull back, anxiously wiping my hands over my face. “Sorry..I..”
Stasia makes some kind of half sobbin
g laugh and rolls her red-rimmed eyes at me. “Really? There’s nothing to be sorry for. I think we both needed that. I know I did. No one else understood and I don’t think I’ve even let myself grieve him until now. Once I got involved with the—” Her eyes widen and dart to the ground.
“Whatever this little group is?” I raise an eyebrow and wait for her to meet my gaze. “I don’t care. I’m not telling anyone. I won’t betray people I’ve almost come to think of as friends.”
“Will you go back? To the corps?”
Such a simple question, but not a simple answer. As the oldest child in a corps family, I’d never had a choice before. But now? I could disappear. Stay on planet. Be a civvy. I open and close my mouth a few times searching my brain for a response. Thomas is dead. Nathan and Harvey probably are too. If I was in stasis for longer than a month, my squad was probably reassigned to someone else. Is there anything for me to go back to? Do I even want to? For once in my life, nothing is planned out, nothing is certain.
The answer that comes flying past my lips surprises both of us. “I don’t think so.” And another weight is lifted off my shoulders. I can find a way to take my little brother with me. Growing up on station as a second child brings just as many expectations as those on a first. Just because he isn’t required to enlist, most second children do anyway. He won’t have to grow up like I did. He can grow up knowing he has a choice. A grin breaks across my face. “I have a choice.”
Her smile is soft. “You always did.”
“Hey!” Paul’s voice calls out from our left and soon he strides up to us through the trees. “What are you ladies doing out here? Shouldn’t you be back cooking breakfast or something?” He winks at Stasia, who promptly elbows him in the side.
“You’re just as capable of opening the nutri-packets as I am. Maybe better. We’ll be right there,” she says.
“Make sure you make a lot of noise when you walk up. Kyle’s got an itchy trigger finger.” With another wink—this time at me— he heads back the way he came.
I watch him go for a minute before glancing back at Stasia. Her gaze is following his every move and when she catches me looking at her, redness climbs up her neck and into her cheeks. She sputters for a moment. I just lift an eyebrow and chuckle.
After breakfast and a quick, semi-awkward discussion with Alex on what other obstacles we might expect to encounter in the marshland, we’re back on Liz’s trail. When we reach a point where Liz’s trail starts moving away from the signal station, my eyes stray from the footprint ahead and wander towards where our rescue might lie. Or at least my rescue. Where I could contact the corps. And get locked back into that life before I’ve had a chance to explore the luxury of having a choice.
My next step is toward the footprint. We’ll find another way off this planet.
Another downpour starts twenty minutes later. This one is over quicker than the last but leaves us no less soaked. I push ahead anyway. The signs of passage are getting clearer and closer together, which means we’re catching up.
I’m the first person into the next clearing. What in the hell? Liz is there, calmly sitting with her back against a tree and…sitting?… between her legs is a silver robot with its back panel open.
“Come on, Navi,” Liz mutters while twisting two wires together.
“Liz!” Alex storms up behind me and Liz’s face jerks up, a relieved smile taking over her face.
“Oh thank goodness! I was so excited when Navi found me and I just went off with him. I didn’t realize something must have banged him up a bit.” She pats her hand on the robot’s head. “I think one of those tree things jumped on him or something because he’s been a bit off. I told him to take me back to mom, but apparently we’ve been wandering around the woods instead.”
Alex completely dismisses the presence of the robot and walks over to his sister, making jerky movements with one finger. “So you just wandered off after Navi without even telling anyone? Dammit Liz, you could have been killed following around this bucket of bolts and no one would have known!”
She stands and puffs her chest out. “He’s not a bucket of bolts! Just because I didn’t design him with this terrain in mind, doesn’t mean he’s useless. He’s here and he found me! That means mom and dad have to be here somewhere.”
She designed this robot? I’ve never seen anything like it and no one else seems the slightest bit surprised by it. Like it’s normal to have bipedal robots as…pets?
Alex turns his irritation on to me. “And why the hell didn’t you realize this?”
I back up a step. “I didn’t know.”
His eyes narrow. “Some tracker you are. Can’t tell the difference between an animal of some sort and a robot.”
That’s it. I’ve had it with Mr. Attitude blaming me for everything. “Look here, asshole.” I step forward and jam one finger into his chest. “You asked for my help so I helped. Just because I have no experience with robots doesn’t make me a bad tracker. It just makes me normal. I mean, who would have considered the idea of a robot? It’s not like they’re common.”
“Not common? Granted, Navi over there isn’t your typical household robot, but most families I know have at least one.” His words are accompanied by a sneer, but his expression softens when I don’t respond. I just stare at him blankly until the bluster drains out of him and he tilts his head to the side. “You’ve never seen one before?”
I shake my head. “I’ve seen prototypes, big bulky things that some of the corps stations had, but nothing like that.” An awful thought is forming and a tremble crawls into my hands and out of my mouth with my next words. “Kyle, can I see your blast gun please?”
The teen hands it over, but before I have a chance to examine it for the technological advances I’m terrified to find, shouts sound out from the other side of the clearing.
Liz hops up and runs to a tall, blond woman entering the clearing with a group of six others. “Mom!”
The world spins around me at the shouts of joy from my companions. They greet the newcomers with laughs and smiles while I just teeter slowly on my feet still trying to force this new information into my perspective of the world. Trying to avoid the realization that my perspective just might be wrong.
One of the newcomers walks closer and stops a few feet from me. “Eva?” A set of hazel eyes studies me from the face of an unfamiliar man.
I give him a quizzical look. “Yeah?”
“Oh my god, Eva!” He runs up to me, pulls me into his arms and sweeps me up into a tight hug. “I can’t believe it. I just can’t believe it.”
I struggle against his hold until he releases me and sets me back on my feet. Things are going too fast. The dizziness is back and black spots are threatening my vision. “Who the hell are you? What the hell is going on? How do you know my name?”
One hand on each of my shoulders, he stares down at me. “Just look at me.” I comply, my gaze traveling over his face. Hazel eyes. Close cut brown hair. Something in the back of my mind pokes at me trying to get the pieces to fall into place, but no matter how much I squint my eyes, he still looks like a stranger to me. “It’s me,” he says.
A flicker of recognition, but I squash it before it can turn into much more. It can’t be. He’s…There’s not… My gaze flicks down to his chest. His name prominently displayed on the patch over the pocket on his shirt. Braebel. My stomach churns, a choking burn climbing the back of my throat as my eyes widen and I shake my head in denial.
“Ian.” I know him now and his name leaps from my lips. My little brother, barely seven when I left for flight school stands before me now as a man somewhere in his thirties.
“What…” A choked gasp pulls my gaze to the man standing behind my brother. There’s no struggle to remember him. I know him right away. The same height. The same dark hair and eyes.
“Nathan,” I whisper.
He walks over to me and puts one hand on either side of my face. “Is it really you little Spitfire?”
Nathan claps Alex on the shoulder and shakes his head with a sigh. My eyes go back and forth between them. Side by side. Father and son. It can’t be. Nathan isn’t that old…or is he? Things are sliding into place and my head is spinning. Looking closer, lines mark my best friend’s face and his hair is going gray at the temples.
With all the things flying through my mind, only two words make it past my lips. “How long?”
Nathan swallows and squeezes his eyes shut. “Twenty-four years.”
Even though on some level I already knew it, even though the evidence is right before my eyes, my first reaction is disbelief, denial…anything that will protect me from processing it. The feeling doesn’t last long. That number, that awful, awful number bounces around my head and brings me to my knees so I can lean over and puke.
Eva’s Story continues in Bright Beyond, Episode 2.
Out NOW and available to borrow for FREE through Kindle Unlimited!
http://smarturl.it/BB_Episode2
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Also By Theresa Kay
BROKEN SKIES
Plagued by nightmares and panic attacks, seventeen-year-old Jax Mitchell cannot sleep without her twin nearby... and he’s been kidnapped by the E'rikon, an alien race who settled on Earth after an apocalyptic event known as the Collapse decimated most of the human population. Her fierce loyalty to her kidnapped brother drives her to rescue him at any cost even if it means employing the help of a teenage alien boy with questionable motives.
FRACTURED SUNS