She was insane to think of Kael and Dar as ‘safety’!
Maybe.
On the other hand, if she wasn’t allowed to get back into the shuttle, she damned sure wasn’t safe without them!
She’d lost her weapon when Kael had tackled her and threw her over his shoulder.
She didn’t even remember losing it, but she hadn’t seen it since, and she didn’t think Kael or Dar had taken it from her.
Which meant the crew had retrieved it, she was sure.
“Dr. Greer.”
Monica was so paralyzed with fear and indecision by that time that it took several moments for the words to penetrate her brain and be interpreted.
“Dr. Greer? Are you … hurt?”
She whipped her head back and forth, trying to locate the source of the voice—which she didn’t recognize. Finally, she decided it must be Sgt. Johnson. “No.” She hesitated, but this was the opening she needed. “They didn’t hurt me or even threaten me. They … they’ve asked for help.”
“What kind of help?” a different voice, laden with suspicion, asked.
She hadn’t spent a lot of time chatting with the crew, but she recognized the pilot’s voice immediately. She spread her hands. “Look at his place! They need help … or they’re all going to die! They asked to come with us.”
“You communicated with them?”
The suspicion was so thick that time you could’ve cut it with a knife. “With great difficulty, but it seemed pretty obvious they were asking if we meant to rescue them.”
There was a very long silence. She decided it must be because the group onboard was discussing the situation.
Or maybe arguing would be a more accurate description.
“We’re at full capacity,” the pilot ground out finally. “You know that, Dr. Greer.”
She did. No one had been allowed to have a baby since they’d left Earth. A couple of women had ‘accidentally’ gotten pregnant since they’d begun their journey to a new world, but they had been forced to abort and then spent months in jail for violating their agreement.
They were filled to capacity because they wanted to save as many people as possible. One more would upset the balance.
Two very large males certainly would.
“They have their own supplies.”
“Then they should be fine here,” the pilot said grimly. “Have they threatened to kill you if you can’t get them inside?”
She knew immediately what he was thinking. “They didn’t,” she said instead of telling him that their communications were extremely limited.
“How many are out there?”
“Two.”
“That you know of.”
She was about to argue that when she remembered that Dar had left after they’d captured her and he’d been gone a very long time.
Long enough to arrange an ambush when they returned her?
“Yes,” she confirmed shakily, “that I know of.”
“You know, according to protocol, we can’t lower the shields for you.”
Monica swallowed with an effort, struggling with the dismay that flooded her at the reminder.
How could she have forgotten that?
Because she didn’t want to think it applied to her and her situation?
“They aren’t hostiles.”
“From my viewpoint, they are. And we can’t endanger the shuttle and everyone on board for one person.”
Monica licked her lips. “They are an important species. Don’t you think we’re both morally and ethically obligated to make some attempt to help them?”
“Survivors can’t afford that kind of altruism,” the pilot said tightly. “Charity at this point could endanger the survival of our own species.”
“Just two males?” Monica demanded indignantly.
“Two males aren’t going to ensure the continuation of their species,” Dr. Hobbs said dryly in the background. “Unless they are a self-replicating species?”
The thick member that had risen against her when Kael had pressed her to the wall instantly popped into Monica’s mind.
Before she could think up a response, however, all hell broke loose.
Monica didn’t know if it was the shock that made it seem as if everything happened at once, that it had so distorted her sense of time that the events seem to occur in the same moment, or if everything actually did happen almost simultaneously.
However it was, she found herself struggling to think of an acceptable argument one moment and then thrown to the ground by the concussion of an explosion almost on top of her in the next. The screams of what seemed like a thousand demons filled her ears maybe a second prior to the blast and shockwave that not only knocked her down, but deafened her.
Dar charged toward her, snatched her up from the ground as if she was nothing more substantial than a feather and then he whirled and raced off, leaping over the bodies strewn across the ground. He didn’t stop running when he reached the place where he had waited with Kael. He kept going.
Kael leapt from cover and charged behind them.
Monica couldn’t seem to gather her scattered wits.
She lifted her head to stare back at the scene of mayhem in horror, waiting in vain for anyone to stagger from the wreckage of the ship, trying to understand what had happened that had reduced it to a smoldering pile of twisted metal.
Almost as if god had smote them from the heavens.
Movement above caught her eye and she looked up just in time to identify the rapidly vanishing ship that had destroyed their shuttle—the other shuttle from the mother ship.
That was so unexpected and unbelievable that her brain just seemed to shut down completely. Darkness enfolded her in a warm embrace.
They were still moving when Monica rose toward awareness again. She thought for one terrifying moment that the explosion had blinded her, but she realized finally that the sun had set or was about to. It was the world that was dimmer, not vanishing sight.
Her head felt like it was going to explode.
She felt nauseated.
She wasn’t certain if that was because she had at least a mild concussion or if it was churning from emotional upheaval in the wake of the horror she’d witnessed, but it took every effort of concentration to fight her belly’s determination to turn wrong side out and empty itself.
Thankfully, they stopped and she was lowered carefully to the ground.
That was when she discovered that she’d been so deeply unconscious she hadn’t even known when Dar had handed her off to Kael.
She stared past his head at the single star she could see that had pierced the cloud canopy.
And maybe it wasn’t a star at all.
Maybe it was the mother ship.
Sailing away.
Leaving her.
She turned her head and puked.
She was going to die here, she thought dully.
A hand settled heavily on her back when she finally managed to stop gagging. When she straightened, he picked her up and moved her away from the disgusting mess she’d made.
She felt like crying—for a lot of reasons, but dominant at that moment was the humiliation of puking in front of them.
Was she insane? Or just hysterical for it to even cross her mind that she’d just done something disgusting in front of two attractive males? And to worry about being considered disgusting.
Their opinion shouldn’t have mattered to her at all—certainly not on that level.
Dar pressed something into her hand and then curled his hand around hers and one around the back of her head and brought the container to her lips.
Grateful, she rinsed her mouth and spat and then drank a few sips carefully.
The water tasted metallic, but it was water and she was grateful to have something in her stomach.
He examined her with his hands, starting with her head. It took her a few minutes to figure out that that was what he was doing, searching for injury, but she was pretty sure that
was what it was.
His touch wasn’t sexual.
But it also wasn’t impersonal.
It was soothing … almost protective.
She thought for a couple of horrible moments that she was going to burst into tears and cry like a baby when he finished examining her and then settled close and slowly drew her against his length.
She discovered then that she was shaking all over uncontrollably, as if she was freezing.
Which she was.
His warmth had already started to seep into her when he said something, low, and Kael settled behind her and pressed close enough to share his warmth.
She was still waiting with mixed feelings for their touch to turn sexual when the warmth finally lulled her and she drifted to sleep.
Chapter Six
“Do you think it was an accident?” Kael asked, disbelief threading his voice.
“No.”
Kael’s brows rose. “No question in your mind?”
Dar gave him a look. “There was a protective barrier around the ship. Only they would know how, or be able at this point, to penetrate that and destroy the ship. They would not have needed that force to repel the attackers. And they would not have missed them entirely.”
Kael glanced at Meeka. “She is lucky they focused on the ship,” he said grimly. “Otherwise she would be dead now instead of just shaken and in shock.”
“She was hit hard by the shockwave. We do not know that she was not injured inside or that she can survive them if she was.”
Kael swallowed with an effort. “She seems better today. Her color is good.”
Dar rolled his eyes. “We do not know what color is good for her,” he said dryly.
“You are a pessimist,” Kael growled.
“I am a realist.”
“With a shitty outlook.”
Dar glared at him for a moment and finally shrugged. “Mayhap. And I know it will do no good to advise you to guard your heart, but … she is weak. Even if she is not badly injured, she does not have the strength of body or will to survive the world as it is now. She will not last long.”
Kael surged to his feet angrily. “So … what are you suggesting? That we abandon her to her fate as her people did?”
Fury surged through Dar. It took an effort to remain seated and struggle to regain his composure. “I was not suggesting anything of the kind. I should punch your teeth out for suggesting that I was!”
“As if you could!” Kael snarled.
“You are saying that I could not?”
Kael sneered. “I would not be standing still to allow it! And I am twice as fast as you if I am not as strong!”
Dar stared at him for a long moment and finally chuckled.
“What is humorous?” Kael growled suspiciously.
Dar shook his head but sobered. “We are obligated to take care of her to the best of our abilities because it is our fault that she is here.”
“Mine, you mean,” Kael muttered.
“We are bond brothers,” Dar said quietly. “I stand by you as I know that you would stand by me. We are equal in obligation to her. I merely to point out that I have lost enough and I will not allow myself to become attached to a fragile creature so ill suited for this place. That is inviting more heartache. And if we do not keep our wits about us none of us will survive.”
* * * *
It was Monica’s struggle to understand the murmur of voices she heard that roused her toward complete consciousness. Disappointment quickly followed when she realized why she couldn’t understand what they were saying.
She wasn’t home.
She wasn’t even on the shuttle bound for the mother ship as she’d hoped she would be.
Nausea rose in her when she recalled the horrible accident the day before.
The accident that she knew, deep down, was no accident.
They’d contacted the mother ship for rescue and they had sent a death squad.
Not that she believed the order had been to kill everyone. She just thought all of them were far more expendable than the shuttle itself and, when they realized they wouldn’t be able to recover the ship, they blew it up to prevent the natives from getting their hands on the technology.
Maybe, when she’d had time to think things over and recall impressions she’d forgotten in the melee she would see it differently, but she was pretty sure she had a clear view of what had actually happened.
They’d seen the natives launch an assault and they’d reacted by removing the possibility of capture.
She swallowed the bile in her throat and carefully sat up.
Kael and Dar stopped talking when she did so, both of them turning to study her.
She struggled with her thoughts and feelings and finally managed a faint smile. “Thank you—both of you.”
She didn’t know why they’d rescued her—possibly because they had more humanity between them than the humans she’d been travelling with—but she owed them gratitude if nothing else.
They’d saved her to die another day, she thought morosely.
Dar moved toward her, captured her chin and turned her head so that he could examine her.
It flickered through Monica’s mind to wonder if he just used it as an excuse to touch her and she looked at him speculatively.
Something flickered in his eyes that told her he wasn’t entirely immune to her—different species or not.
Inwardly, she shrugged. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t noticed that they had a degree of sex appeal—regardless of their differences.
Actually quite a bit of sex appeal.
She didn’t know why unless it was just because they seemed so human, regardless of their coloring. Certainly being able to identify with them must be part of it.
Then again, survival instincts couldn’t be ruled out.
The perception of big, competent warrior-male would probably have appealed to her primal instincts at most any time in most any situation.
In a survival situation those assets were purely intoxicating.
Physically inferior to most men, primitive woman had relied upon the hunter/aggressor/protector instincts of men to help them to survive. Even after thousands of years of evolution, in any life threatening situation, they instinctively reverted to behavior that would draw a male to them to help them to survive.
She couldn’t be objective about it, she discovered, couldn’t discount their appeal to her as purely animal attraction and instincts.
When she looked at them she thought about the fact that they’d charged toward danger to rescue her.
Well Dar had, but she thought that was only because he’d reacted faster than Kael.
Or maybe she was trying to convince herself that she was drawn to them in every sense because she was fucked if she they decided to dump her?
As a colonist, she’d been trained to survive under most any situation, but that was based on the expectation that there would be a living world to supply her with all the things she would need. This world was dying.
It might ‘rest’ and then recover, but she doubted it would go through that transition fast enough to help her.
They might not be in much better shape for survival, but they’d made it this far. They’d clearly become hardened to the harsh conditions and they had some familiarity with the land and the flora and fauna.
Whatever was left.
Of course, she didn’t doubt that the impact had already changed so much it was barely recognizable to natives, but she knew she still stood a better chance with them.
And the truth was she just wasn’t ready to give up and die.
That thought led to another that sent a jolt of horror through her—the memory of Sam crying about not wanting to die. She began struggling to get up. “We have to go back! They could still be alive. They could be hurt! They could need help!”
Naturally enough Kael and Dar only stared at her blankly, without comprehension.
Feeling a frantic need to go back to check on
her companions, Monica had a hard time trying to think of a way to pantomime the urgency. After a few mimicked explosions and clutching at her chest and head to emulate injury, they seemed to begin to understand.
Dar and Kael exchanged a long, speaking look.
Dar shook his head at her.
“They are dead,” Kael said earnestly. “There is nothing that could have survived that explosion and, even if they had, they would have been mortally wounded from it. And we have no way to help them. If they are not dead already, they will die.”
He acted out dying.
Monica had to fight the urge to laugh hysterically.
Or burst into tears.
“You don’t know that they’re dead. You didn’t check!” she said accusingly. And then resolutely turned to head back, hoping she could find the ship when she’d been unconscious throughout most of the escape. “I can’t leave them. I have to see if they need help.”
Someone—Dar she realized fairly quickly—grabbed her from behind and hoisted her up over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” she growled.
He slapped her on the ass—hard. “Be still!”
Monica subsided as he swung around in a dizzying circle and headed out at a trot that immediately knocked the wind from her.
It took her a while to recover sufficiently to object—loudly.
That time Dar not only fried her ass with several hard hand slaps, he dropped her abruptly to her feet, covered her mouth, and gritted his teeth at her. “They will kill us if they find us! And they will not have trouble tracking us if you are determined to scream!”
Monica didn’t understand a word he said, but she interpreted his threat fairly well-- Shut up or I’ll make you sorry.
After staring at him in horror for several moments, she decided that quiet was better.
Unfortunately, she discovered she couldn’t easily dismiss her shuttle companions from her mind despite her newfound respect for Dar’s temper, couldn’t completely convince herself they were beyond help.
Guilt gnawed at her that she couldn’t do anything for them, but she couldn’t convince herself that she could help them without Dar and Kael—or even find them.
Exodus: Extinction Event Page 5