Jex

by Maia Starr

  "We will fly here. He will set the bombs in this direction as soon as I leave you, making sure this area is safe. Then I will have to fly low around this area; when I flew high last time, they saw me and shut me out of the sky. I will want you to go off in this direction and climb the roof of the first house you see out of range. It is the only way I will be able to find you fast and easy and scoop you up to fly. You will set four bombs in total and detonate them one minute apart. Got it?” I said.

  “Yes, I understand. I can do this. Just bring my sister to me,” she said.

  “You are brave,” I said looking at her standing there proudly not wanting to delay the mission any further. I scooped her up into my arms, and we flew in the direction of the cyborg camp. I was getting nervous. I was always nervous before a mission, but I had a lot more at stake than I ever had before. I had the life of this woman at stake, and I cared for her deeply. I didn't want to have to do this, but she needed her sister and I needed her; there was no way around it. Finally, I came across the area to set the bombs.

  “This is it. Set one here and then every twenty yards in that direction,” I said. “You will set off the last one you sent down first; with any luck, by the time you set off this one in this location, there will be some cyborgs around it and will take out a few of them,” I said.

  “I got it, Captain,” she said with the voice of a soldier.

  “This is it then,” I said looking at her knowing that if this did not go well, it could be the last time that I looked at her. I didn't like the way it felt. I put my arm around her back and pulled her against my body. She let out a moan. I kissed her with passion and longing, as though it was going to be the last kiss that we ever shared. I felt her hands go against my scales on my stomach, but she didn't push me away. She moved her hands up my chest and around my neck and back down again, feeling me. It seemed I wasn't the only one that wanted to memorize each other. Finally, I regretfully pulled away from her.

  “Let's do this. Set off the first bomb as soon as you are clear and have found the house you are going to climb,” I said.

  “Okay. Be careful. Bring my sister to me,” she said.

  “I won't fail you,” I said. Then I flew away very low, flying behind houses and trees, taking as much cover as I could circling around to the other side of the camp. The sooner I got this done, the sooner I could have Helen back to the safety of Willow Springs where we could finally breathe.

  I made it to the other side without being seen, but now it was time to get closer. I decided the best way was to go from one treetop to the next. I landed on a tree and then flew to another and another and another until I was in view of the encampment and the houses that were my target. There were ten cyborgs in the area. Most of the activities seemed to be on the other side of the houses. I could see a keddle, just the end sticking out on the other side of the house. That was why there were more cyborgs in that area; they were protecting that keddle. If this wasn't a rescue mission, I would try to plant the virus that I had in my belt into that keddle, but I didn't think there would be the time. It would have to wait.

  “No! Get away from me!” I heard a female voice shout. One of the houses had opened French doors. I could not see inside, but I could hear the voice coming from that room. Perfect; now all I had to do was wait for the bomb to go off.

  I waited for what seemed like forever, and I started to grow panicked. What if she had been killed? What if Helen had been caught? Everything that could possibly go wrong entered my mind. This was not good.

  Boom! The first bomb went off, and I felt relief. It meant Helen was safe and on the roof of a house waiting for me. I watched as the cyborgs turned simultaneously in the direction of the blast. Then they all began to walk toward the blast. It was working. I waited until all of them were around the corner of the house. Then I flew into the French doors. There was a cyborg standing there facing a human female chained to the wall.

  Just as it was about to turn its gun on me, I shot first. But I was lucky; the second blast went off at the same time, covering the sound of my blaster gun. The cyborg fell to the ground. I turned my attention to the human female on the wall.

  “You again?” she said. I thought it was a strange thing for her to say when most humans had never seen us Veruka before. But this was not good. She didn't look anything like Helen. This human female had white-blonde hair with big blue eyes.

  “Hannah?” I said as I walked to her and began to work on the chains on the wall.

  “No, my name is Jane. Hannah is not here. You took her,” she said.

  “What? I did not. I am here with Helen, Hannah's sister, to save Hannah,” I said as I yanked the bolt out of the wall, setting her arms free.

  “Hannah is not here? She is not in another house?” I asked.

  Boom! The third bomb went off.

  “No. She never made it to this camp. When the cyborgs were leading us here, they were attacked by creatures that look like you. Hannah was taken by one of the creatures, but I was left,” she said.

  “Shit. Come on let's get you out of here. Are you the only one?” I asked.

  “Yes, I am the only human here,” she said.

  I scooped her up into my arms and flew out the door to the area that I had come from. Then I flew around in the opposite direction back toward Helen. This was not good. Hannah was not there, and I had no idea where she was. If this Jane was telling the truth, then a weredragon had taken her. But who? We were the only ones in this area.

  Boom! The fourth bomb went off. I saw Helen standing on the roof. I moved toward her fast, a blur. And I grabbed her with my other arm and flew as fast as I could go back to my ship.

  Chapter 12

  Helen Maven

  All I saw was a blur in the sky coming toward me, but I knew that it was Jex and I was so relieved. I have been worried during the entire time we were apart. What if he got caught, or worse, killed? What if Hannah got injured in the process? So when I saw the blur coming toward me, I felt relief. The plan had worked. Now we were going extremely fast back to the ship. Finally, he slowed down a bit, and the wind stopped rushing around my face. I turned to see Hannah tucked in under his left arm. But it wasn't her.

  “What?” I said out loud. The girl looked at me with wide eyes. Clearly, she was in shock over everything. I was in shock as well because she was not my sister.

  Jex set down on the grass outside the ship. He stepped away from us.

  “Helen…” he began to say.

  “Jex, this is not Hannah. Where is my sister? We have to go back for her,” I said becoming hysterical.

  “Hannah is not there,” the girl said. I looked at her confused. I had never seen her before. She was not from Willow Springs.

  “Who are you? How do you know Hannah?” I asked.

  “I don't, not really. She was captured before I was. When the cyborgs took us heading towards their encampment, Hannah was taken, but I was not,” she said.

  “What? Yes, she was taken by the cyborgs,” I said trying to make sense of it all.

  “No, she was taken by someone that looks like him,” she said pointing out Jex. Jex looked at me.

  “What is she talking about?” I said stomping toward him.

  “I am not entirely sure. But it seems that there are other Veruka in the area besides my army. They must've come across the cyborgs and rescued Hannah,” he said.

  I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he telling me the truth? He had to trade me before. He had kept information from me before. Was he doing it now?

  “Tell me what you know,” I said with anger.

  “I don't know anything. I want to find answers myself. I'm going to get on the radio now to my lieutenant to see what he knows,” he said.

  “Are you telling me the truth?” I asked.

  “Yes, I am not lying to you Helen,” he said with anger and stomped off inside the ship.

  “Will someone tell me what's going on here? What is he? Is this a damn spaceship?” the girl s
aid.

  She was bewildered. “My name is Helen, Hannah is my sister. What is your name? Where are you from?” I asked.

  “My name is Jane. I'm originally from Manhattan, but the last few years I have been living in a human colony not far from here. We call it Graystone,” she said. As soon as she said it, I knew it was the hostile human colony because it had been surrounded by gray stone garden walls.

  "I am from a colony called Willow Springs, down on the other end of the island. We were visited by these creatures that you see now. They are from another planet called Tivoso. They first went to a larger human colony called Haven Brook. From there they have spread out to find humans in order to help them fight the cyborgs. That is what they are. Trust me; I am still trying to wrap my mind around it as well,” I said.

  “Fascinating. So he is an alien?” she asked.

  “Yes, exactly. Now, Jane, you must tell me if you remember anything else about what happened with Hannah. Do you know what direction she was taken in? Do you remember anything about the one that took her: black hair? White hair? Anything that you can remember?” I asked.

  “No, they moved so fast. I just remember the emerald wings,” she said.

  I knew what she was talking about. They were capable of moving so fast that the I could not see until they stopped or slowed down. It would've stopped if I have Hannah to pick her up. I needed to find her.

  “You must be very tired, and hungry. Come inside; I will get you food and drink,” I said.

  “Thank you,” she said as she followed me inside the ship.

  “No way…” she said as she looked around. It was amazing after all. I prepared some dehydrated food and gave her a jug of water and sat her down on the floor of the ship. I looked at Jex, who was at the console of the ship.

  “Anything?” I asked.

  “I cannot get a good signal. I can't even ask my lieutenant because I can't connect. We might have to return to Willow Springs to find out. Who knows; Hannah might be there,” he said.

  "I failed her. I didn't get to her fast enough; I will never see her,” I said as tears began to come down my face. Jex grabbed my hand.

  “No, don't think that way. I promise you that I will get to the bottom of this. We will find your sister. I will find your sister. I made that promise to you, and I will keep it no matter what. Do not cry, Helen; I don't want to see you sad. It hurts my heart,” he said.

  I was surprised by his gentle words. I was not expecting him to say such a thing. I half expected him to give up the search.

  "Thank you; it means a lot,” I said.

  “Let's go back to Willow Springs. The sooner we know something, the better,” he said. I nodded my head yes and went to Jane.

  “Jane, we are going to go to my colony to get communications in order to find Hannah. But we can take you to your colony home if you like after,” I said.

  "No,” she said with her eyes wide.

  "You don't want to go home?” I said.

  “My colony is horrible. They treat the women badly. I do not have family there, only a couple of friends, but I do not want to go back there. I would rather take my chances in your colony, if they would have me?” she said.

  “Of course. You do not have to return to your colony if you don't want to. You can come live at Willow Springs; it is not a problem. It is not a mean place, and it might be the safest colony because there's an entire army of creatures like him regarding us from the cyborgs,” I said pointing toward Jex.

  She smiled. “I would like to see that. Thank you,” she said.

  “You will need to sit in a seat and belt yourself in. You can continue eating. The ship is very fast,” I said helping her to her feet and strapping her in. Jex went about putting the ship to take off.

  Twenty minutes later, we arrived at Willow Springs. The ship came down onto the lawn, and Lieutenant Baisen was waiting.

  “This is unbelievable,” Jane said.

  “Yes, it is,” I said looking around. I was looking for Hannah, but I did not see her.

  Jex opened the door, and I was the first to go out onto the grass. “Lieutenant, is my sister here? She looks just like me. Is she here?” I asked.

  He looked at me confused. “I thought you went to find her,” he said.

  "Lieutenant, let's go inside my—”

  “Well, where is she? Where is Hannah?” I heard Erick say as he came up behind me. I turned to see him standing in front of ten or so people.

  "We didn't find her. She wasn't with the cyborgs. We rescued this one; her name is Jane. She is going to live with us,” I said pointing out the pretty blonde.

  “He didn't find Hannah? He did not keep his promise to find your sister. I knew it. Do you know what has been happening since you’ve been gone? Some of the women have taken to sexual relationships with some of these soldiers. That is all they want from us. It is some plot to mate with human females and take over the Earth!” Erick said.

  “The fact that Hannah was not at the cyborg camp it's not his fault. You are being ridiculous, Erick,” I said.

  “Are you sure it is not his fault? How do you know that for sure? He is full of lies, just like the rest of them. He is nothing but an alien scum!” Erick said.

  Bam! Before I knew it, Jex punched Erick. Erick fell down to the ground unconscious.

  “We don't have time for this. Your sister is out there, and we need to find her,” he said looking at me. He turned and walked away. Lieutenant Baisen followed him, and so did I. I would have to thank him later for punching Erick. It was something that I had wanted to do for a very long time. We walked into the largest ship of the fleet. We walked into the room where I had first asked Jex for help. The door closed.

  “Lieutenant, the blonde woman says that Hannah was taken by another creature that looks like me. Who do you know that is in this area?” Jex asked. “Have you received any transmissions?”

  “No, none. I am just as surprised as you are. We were the only team that was supposed to come in this direction. If there was a change of plans, we were not notified,” he said.

  “We must find whoever it is before they are out of range. Maybe their transmission is down. I want you to send out the emergency beacon. Even if their transmission is down, they will be able to pick up that signal and know where we are. Get on it right away,” he said.

  “Yes, Captain,” the lieutenant said and then walked out.

  “What if the Veruka that took her is hostile?” I asked him.

  “No, impossible. We have a code and honor that we live by. You do not have to worry about her. If she is with the Veruka, then she is protected. I only hope we can find her before they are out of range since we are not sure what they were doing here in the first place,” he said.

  “I am going to go freshen up. Now that we know that Hannah is not here, I assume we are going back out there,” I said.

  “Yes, I will find Hannah; I promise you,” he said.

  I walked out the door and out of the ship. I needed some time to freshen up and change before going back out to look for him again. I did feel some relief that she was with the Veruka and not with the cyborgs, but I could not be completely happy until I was with her. It was a twin thing.

  I went inside the mansion to my bed. I sat down just for a moment. It felt good to be in my bed again.

  “Helen, are you all right?” I heard a voice whisper. I opened my eyes. I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep. I was laying on my side in my bed have sitting up and half laying down. I quickly sat up.

  “Marissa. Sorry, I didn't realize I fell asleep,” I said.

  “I did not mean to disturb you. I just thought maybe you would want to lay down completely. Otherwise he will be sore sleeping like that,” she said.

  “No, I have to get up. I have to go find Captain Jex,” I said.

  "Captain Jex left an hour ago with some of his men,” she said.

  "What? What do you mean left?” I said getting to my feet.

  “They t
ook a big ship and left.”

  I was running down the hallway and out the door onto the lawn as fast as I could. I found Lieutenant Baisen.

  “Where is he? Where is Jex?” I said.

  “Didn't he tell you? He took a ship to find your sister. We picked up a small blip on the radio transmission. We don't know if it is cyborg or if it is another Veruka ship. But the only way to know is to check it out in person. He left with a few of the soldiers,” he said.