Chapter 27 Julie
I glared at the trees as if any unwatched specimen would let in a monster. The morning mist had receded some, but I still didn’t trust the woods.
Tatertot was completely oblivious to my plight. She lay all curled up in her pouch, her tail wrapped around her neck like a scarf. I leaned against the hoverbike.
"If something goes wrong, you warn the others." Grtirr’s words replayed in my head.
Right. Because that was helpful. How the hell was I supposed to know if Grtirr was in trouble when I couldn’t even see him through this mess of branches? The forest stretched out in every direction, thick and unyielding. All I knew was that he was somewhere that way.
I focused on the sounds around me. The rustle of leaves, the distant call of a bird I didn’t recognize. There were no hums, drones, or anything manmade. That had to be a good thing, didn’t it?
Tatertot let out a low chirp, and I opened the pouch again to peer inside. She was alert now, her ears perked and twitching around like she was listening to something I couldn’t hear. I reached in to give her scritches behind the ear.
“What is it?” I whispered.
She bumped her head against my hand, then made a series of sharp barking noises that sounded way too big to come from such a small animal. I recognized those. Those were warning calls the cookis usually made right before they ran back into the walls or somewhere safe.
I straightened up, scanning the trees again. Nothing. Just trees, trees, and more damn trees.
Tatertot was quiet now, huddled at the bottom of the pouch. Something was wrong. The forest had gone quiet. Too quiet. The eerie, unnatural stillness made my skin crawl. I reached for the phone in my pocket, my pulse hammering in my throat.
Then I heard it: a snap of a branch.
I whipped around.
Victor appeared from behind a large tree; his wife, Hannah, stepped out next, a gun trained on me.
“What—”
“I’m sorry, Julie.” Victor looked genuinely distraught. “We don’t want to do this, but Dr. Kim has our kid.”
Dr. Kim? The name sounded familiar. Dana had faced off with Dr. Noble. Wasn’t Dr. Kim the final missing scientist who had worked on the Utopia Project?
“Shut up, Victor. If you go soft on me and fuck this up I’ll never forgive you.” Hannah’s look was determined, single-minded, a mother protecting her child, and no amount of appealing would work to make her change her mind.
There were more footsteps, and I turned to see three men I recognized but didn’t remember their names. They’d joined the settlement a few months ago. Suddenly, one of them moved, grabbing me and holding me in front of him. He held a gun to my head.
“Stop right there, Kadrixan, and put your hands in the air, or your mate gets it,” the man shouted, turning as he did.
Grtirr stood with his hands splayed by his shoulders. He was too far to reach me, but in range of these traitors’ weapons. Every gun and blaster, except for the one pointed at me, was pointed at him.
“Why the fuck are these two here anyway? It’s supposed to be just us,” whispered one of the men, his voice hoarse.
“The hell do I know?” answered another.
“Shut up, everyone.” It was Hannah again. “If we fuck this up, we’ll never see our kids again. You know the doctor’s watching. He always is. So let’s do whatever the fuck we have to.”
She fired at Grtirr. Grtirr lunged out of the way. The others, seeing that she’d already started the shooting, followed suit. They began shooting at Grtirr as he dodged and ducked with inhuman speed.
I screamed as some of the bullets hit him. But he managed to disappear behind a tree.
I tried to struggle, but the cold muzzle against my temple and the arm around my neck reminded me to behave. But I had to get away somehow. Grtirr could take these guys, even injured; I knew it. He wasn’t attacking because of me. I was his liability.
“Where the fuck is he?” Victor’s voice sounded strange in the echo of the shots.
Suddenly, Tatertot leaped up, teeth first from the pouch, latching onto the hand holding the weapon to my head. The man released me, swearing, his gun dropped to the ground as he tried in vain to shake a very angry cooki off his hand.
“The fucking rat,” the man howled.
I dove out of the way, rolled to my feet, and ran.
I looked back just in time to see Tatertot be flung off the man’s hand.
She landed a few yards away, but luckily, the leaf litter was deep, and it broke her fall.
She got out immediately and scrambled up a tree to safety.
It must be great to be such a great climber. I wish I could climb to safety now too.
“Good girl, Tatertot,” I whispered, unsure if she could hear me.
I ducked back behind the tree I was using for cover. I didn’t think they knew where I was, but if I shouted to Grtirr, they’d know. But I also wanted to let Grtirr know I wasn’t directly in harm’s way anymore.
I made a split-second decision.
“Get them, Grtirr. I’m safe.”
I had to believe that they’d have their hands so full of angry Kadrixan that they wouldn’t be able to come look for me at all. Sure enough, Grtirr burst out from the trees, a red blur of kickass, and all their attention turned to him.
I scrambled to get my phone out of my pocket and dialed for Chris. I didn’t wait when I heard him pick up.
“We’re being attacked. Grtirr’s been shot, but he’s still fighting. There are five of them. Hannah and Victor, and three others.”
“We’re already sending people to the location Grtirr called from last. Are you still there?”
“We’re in the woods close to there. Please get them to hurry. I don’t know how many times he was hit, and I can’t tell if he’s bleeding.”
A rough hand suddenly grabbed me by the hair, jerking me back. I swore as my phone was yanked from my hands. All five were still fighting Grtirr… three now, two were already down, so who the hell was this?
“If I want something done, I have to do it myself every goddamn time,” a male voice grumbled.
The man squeezed my phone in his bare hands so hard it crumbled into pieces. Oh shit. This had Exotech bionic enhancement written all over it.
The man spun me around to face him. He was big, at least a good foot taller than me, his body built for war.
The metal plate in his skull was sleek and polished to a gleam.
His robotic eye almost seemed to glow under the forest canopy.
But despite the bionic enhancements, he didn’t look crude like Igor or any of the Exotech soldiers I’d seen.
In fact, this man wore his enhancements like accessories; they made him look more powerful and elevated his already too-perfect features.
And by too perfect, I meant calculated by a formula and delivered under a scalpel type of perfection: sharp cheekbones and jawline, perfect symmetry, a face carved from science.
Even the faint scar along his jawline looked intentional, like he’d had it added for effect.
He looked ageless too, like I wasn’t sure if he was in his twenties or his fifties.
Despite being in the middle of the woods, he was sporting a white lab coat.
I squinted at the garment. Forget that. It might look like a lab coat in style, but it was made of white leather.
“Outsmarted by one reporter and her pet demon. I really should pick my henchmen better.”
Henchmen? This must be Dr. Kim. He’d really leaned into the evil scientist look.
He shoved me, and I tumbled into another set of arms as hard as steel. I looked up, heart pounding into the emotionless face of an Exotech super soldier. How had they gotten through the Kadrixans’ monitoring system? He had to have some new technology we didn’t know about.
“Follow me, hold her, and do not engage.”
Dr. Kim’s gaze locked onto Grtirr like a predator spotting prey.
Grtirr had just knocked Victor out, and now he’d disarmed Hannah, his claws careful as he held her at arm’s length.
He was being too damn nice, if you asked me.
She thrashed, snarling, but he didn’t retaliate and instead just kept her at bay, waiting for her to tire herself out.
Then he saw us. His golden eyes flicked first toward Dr. Kim, then to me, and immediately something dark and dangerous passed over his face.
It made him look truly like the demon so many humans thought he was.
The look gave me chills in the best of ways, but I couldn’t help but notice the copious amount of red that stained his white shirt.
I wanted to believe that that was someone else’s blood, but I also knew he’d been hit by some of those shots.
These Kadrixan warriors were supposed to be ridiculously tough, but they weren’t invincible. Worry had my gut tied in knots.
“Ah, so I finally get to test my strength against one of your kind.” Dr. Kim sounded much too calm for a situation like this. “Too bad you’re already injured. This will be too easy.”
Dr. Kim lunged. Grtirr barely had time to shove Hannah aside before the doctor was on him. His fists were a blur, each strike precise. Grtirr blocked the first hit, but the second landed on his ribs, sending him stumbling back.
Whatever enhancement drugs this man had pumped into his veins had turned him into something more than human, and it showed in every way. He was faster and stronger. Grtirr’s claws flashed as he blocked and dodged, but the doctor was always a step ahead.
When Dr. Kim’s fist connected with the trunk of a tree, the impact sent cracks spiderwebbing all the way up. Large pieces of bark rained down, but the doctor didn’t even flinch. Did he even feel it?
Grtirr lunged, his claws slashing in a vicious arc, but Dr. Kim twisted away, his movements almost liquid.
The doctor’s lips curled into a smirk. "Is that all you’ve got, demon? I expected more from a Kadrixan."
Grtirr didn’t answer. He struck again, and this time his claws tore through the white leather of the coat, and blood spurted out.
The doctor just tore the ruined garment away, revealing a tank top beneath.
That was when I saw the flash of metal beneath his skin.
His flesh rippled, knitting itself back together before my eyes, sealing the wound as if it had never been there.
My stomach twisted. What the hell was he? Definitely not human anymore.
Dr. Kim retaliated in a storm of strikes and punches. Grtirr blocked, dodged, and countered better than any unaltered human ever could, but Kim was always half a step ahead. And having already been injured, it was clear that Grtirr was slowing down.
Dr. Kim feinted left, then grabbed Grtirr by the arm, twisting.
I wanted to throw up at the sickening crunch that echoed through the forest. Then he drove his fist straight into Grtirr’s chest. The impact sent him crashing into a boulder, his body slamming against the rock with a thunderous crack.
He hit the ground hard, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
No!
The doctor stepped forward, his boot pressing down on Grtirr’s throat. “Pathetic,” he sneered. “I expected so much more. Let’s return to the shuttle. You too.” He gestured to Hannah, who was kneeling beside Victor’s unconscious body, her face streaked with tears.
Then rough hands grabbed me from behind, yanking me back. I thrashed, kicking, screaming, but it was like fighting with a brick wall. The image of my mate’s body sprawled across the bloodstained ground, unmoving, was seared into my mind as they dragged me away.