Chapter 14 Dana
I shoved wildly at the boulder as the beast leaped again, its claws loosening yet another hail of gravel and sand on itself. Aided by its bionic limbs, it could leap a ridiculous height. If it hadn’t been for the lip at the very edge and the lack of purchase for its claws on the slick, crumbling rocks, the robohound would’ve made it up already.
My lungs were burning, and my eyes stung from the dust and sand, but I had to keep pushing. We’d been completely blindsided when the second one showed up. I was super lucky that this one wasn’t particularly bright.
It kept trying to scale the vertical wall despite the much easier way up just around the corner. Every time it paused in its efforts, all I had to do was stick my head over the edge, and it would see me and start climbing again.
As I heaved again, something round and shiny zoomed into my peripheral vision. Shit! A surveillance drone.
I turned my head to look for Gnnar, only to see him on the ground, unmoving.
Panic and worry rushed in, and I had to tell myself to breathe when dark spots appeared in my vision. The second robohound was lying on the ground as well, so Gnnar couldn’t be that hurt, right? I had to believe that much.
I refused to believe that I’d lose him when I just found him. I knew it had only been a few days, and we didn’t have our translators, but it felt as if we’d been through so much together. And I absolutely refused to let Nova Vita win. Suddenly, I was angry. No, not angry, livid.
I was done being controlled. Done being lied to. Done lying for them. Julie was alive. She didn’t go to the Utopia Project. And the Kadrixans weren’t demons. And Gnnar and I were going to make it to his stronghold. I was ready to give up all the certainties of colony life for the exciting could-bes of a life with Gnnar, and no stupid robohound was going to stop me!
I shoved again, putting every ounce of anger and hate I had into it. This time, the boulder shifted. It was working.
But now, the robohound had stopped. When it moved again, it was to turn down the narrow passageway toward the exit. Shit. The drone had relayed another way up.
I went to the edge and yelled at it, waving my arms over my head and kicking gravel down.
That caught its attention again. There was a moment of hesitation as it processed the information. The command was probably to go around the back. But I was right here, waving my arms and making a ruckus like a madwoman, not twenty feet away. I kicked some stones and sand at it, hoping there was just enough animal left in it.
It leaped for me again, and I ran back behind the boulder and slammed my body into it. The boulder moved, leaning at first slowly over the edge, before it tumbled down the side. I almost went with it. I stopped myself right at the edge.
My heart sank at the sound of movement below. The back half of the robot was stuck under the boulder, which split into several pieces, but it was still moving, Which meant it was still dangerous.
I ran to Gnnar, my eyes scanning him for any obvious reason why he was down, but found none. His wings were damaged, and there were claw marks on his back. But that wasn’t enough to take him out, was it?
The stupid drone was hovering above Gnnar’s prone form. I tried to grab it, the image of me smashing it against the ground again and again crossing my mind, but it zoomed just beyond my reach. Frustrated and angry, I grabbed the only weapon within reach, the bone club Gnnar had been keeping tucked into a strap made from plant fibers on his belt. He hadn’t used it to fight the robohound, which was completely understandable. The hound could snap it like a twig.
I flung the bone at the drone, but it dodged. I wondered if there was a real person controlling it right now. I’d never actually seen surveillance drones go off their usual programmed routes for more than a few seconds before. Usually, it was to check out an anomaly before quickly zooming back to continue their patrol.
Just in case there was someone behind those cameras, I flipped it both birds. I wanted Nova Vita to know what I really felt. I ain’t ever going back.
“Gnnar?”
I put my head on Gnnar’s chest. Thud-thud. Thud-thud. Thud-thud. His heartbeat was strong.
Keeping one eye on the drone, I jogged over to see the progress the robohound was making. It was still stuck. Good. By the time I returned to my Kadrixan warrior’s side, the drone was back, hovering over him like a prize.
I didn’t like its interest in Gnnar. They were probably marking his location so someone could retrieve him and lock him up again.
Fuck that! Not on my watch!
I picked up my only weapon again. The bone was shaped close enough to a bat, and I needed some anger management therapy.
I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to protect Gnnar when that robohound finally freed itself, but I knew what I wanted to do with this hunk of junk.
“Get away from him!” I swung my makeshift bat hard.
It started to fly away, but the edge of my club made contact, turning it around, and instead of flying up, it crashed right into the dirt. I ran to it and brought the bone down as hard as I could. According to the PSAs put out by the colony, these drones were supposed to be indestructible. It was a way to dissuade colonists from shooting them down with homemade projectiles. Sure enough, no amount of bashing was going to break this one open. It did, however, shut down.
I planned to hold it hostage. Maybe the rebels at Ellaston would want one. It was always nice to bring a gift.
I took out one of the blankets and quickly wrapped the sphere up, making sure it was nice and tight and several layers thick. Remembering how the transport had blown up, I looked around for a way to drag it behind me. But when I heard sounds from where the robohound still lay in the gully, my stomach dropped, and I rushed back to Gnnar’s side.
“Gnnar?” I tapped his shoulder nervously, worried that some unseen broken bones were the reason he was passed out. I didn’t want to do more damage. But also, I doubted I could move him even if I wanted to. “Gnnar! Please, it’s time to go. Get up!”
There was no response.
Next to me, the drone was trying to boot up again. It played a little ditty that made it sound more like a washing machine than a surveillance drone for a power-hungry colony.
Okay. So it ends here.
I stood between the robohound and my downed warrior, club at the ready, secure in the knowledge that I’d tried my very best and that I’d die fighting.
Suddenly, two small explosions sent the robohound flying backward. I threw myself over Gnnar’s body, trying to protect him.
What the—
A vessel blinked into existence in the sky above us. Cloaking? I didn’t know we had such effective cloaking technology. At first glance, it looked like a shuttle from Nova Vita. As it landed, I saw that some of the parts looked off. And while the back of the shuttle was shiny and new, the front half looked bashed up like they smashed two halves of a shuttle together.
This must be the rebels! The self-destruct sequence made sense now. Maybe the cloaking technology belonged to the Kadrixans. The only cloaking I’d seen from Exotech Robotics wasn’t nearly this good.
The blanket-wrapped drone was trying to fly now, but I grabbed it, securing my gift and praying to the stars that it wouldn’t explode on me. But I figured it didn’t know about the rebels’ appearance yet since the vessel didn’t uncloak until the robohound was decommissioned.
The door opened, and a man stepped out. He had dark hair cropped short on the sides and left long down the center of his head. Behind him was a woman with blonde hair in a no-nonsense low ponytail with a kind face. They both wore strange clothes. He wore leather pants like Gnnar did. And she wore an iridescent top that looked completely out of place. She waved and smiled.
Relief flooded me. Rescue was here!
But safety first. “There’s a drone in the blanket,” I yelled. “Not sure if it’s going to self-destruct. Thought the rebels might want it. I guess that’s you guys.”
The woman grinned. “Sure are.” She pointed to a rock some way away where she directed me to place the drone, which was vibrating now as it attempted ineffectively to lift off on the ground. I did and quickly returned to Gnnar’s side.
“You must be Dana.” She stuck out a hand, and I took it. “I’m Macey. I came along since I thought you might want to see a friendly face instead of two sourpusses.”
“Hey! I resent that.” The man knelt next to Gnnar and sighed dramatically. “He’s lost a lot of weight, but he’s still a heavy mofo. I’m going to need help rolling him onto the stretcher.” He looked up at me. “I’m Sami.”
I shook his hand, and as I did, I noticed another man standing by the vessel’s door.
“I’m Sergio, the other sourpuss.” Sergio was definitely giving off a Viking-on-Earth vibe. Instead of shaking my hand, he offered a curt nod.
“Is it safe to move him?” I asked. “What if Gnnar hurt his neck? Or his back?”
The second man chuckled. “He’s fine. These warriors are tough as nails.” He bent and plucked a dart out of Gnnar’s thigh. “This is the culprit right here.”
“I kind of expected a Kadrixan rescue,” I said when we were safe onboard the shuttle. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Sami said, sitting down across from me. “The Kadrixans are about to hit their rut, so we volunteered. And besides, Gnnar’s done his share protecting our little village. It wouldn’t be the same without him.”
Macey had gone up front with Sergio since he’d promised her a lesson in flying the shuttle as long as there were no enemies on their tail. We hauled the drone and the robohound Gnnar had disabled behind us.
Sami pulled out something from under his seat. “Is this yours?”
My backpack! “Yes. Thank you.” I hugged my pack to my chest before opening it and bringing out my phone.
“It was smart to connect it to the Kadrixans’ network. We were tracking your location through your phone and found it in a dryer. We were worried we’d missed the opportunity to find you. I’m glad you’re alright.”
“How did you guys find us?
“We followed Nova Vita’s robohounds. They came this way instead of the forests, so we figured you must have been hiding in the badlands.”
Gnnar stirred on the stretcher, and I leaned over to put a calming hand on him. I wondered if the hormones went both ways. But he didn’t calm.
“Hey! It’s okay,” I said. “We’re safe. Rescue arrived.”
That seemed to calm him. He sat up on the stretcher.
“Glad you’re awake,” Sami said. “We’re on our way home.”
“Home,” I mumbled, more to myself than anything. “I guess I don’t really have one anymore.”
“You can join us in Ellaston,” Sami said with a wink.
That had me smiling. “Is that an invitation?”
Before Sami could respond, Gnnar snarled, dragged me across the bench, and tucked me into his body. His wings came to wrap around me despite the injury.
Sami only chuckled. “You Kadrixans really are something. It’s crazy that the rut can turn intelligent, disciplined soldiers into snarling messes.” Then, a little louder. “Don’t worry. He’ll get over it.”
I shoved at Gnnar’s chest. “Stop being so possessive,” I whispered. “I’m trying to make a friend.”
He snarled at me. His eyes looked different from before. Strange, glassy.
I reached up to hold his head still, and snatched my hand away. His face was burning up. And now that I noticed it, his whole body was warmer than usual.
Shit! Something was wrong. This wasn’t just the rut.
“Um, Sami?”
“Yeah? What’s wrong?”
“There’s something wrong with his eyes. And he’s really hot. And I don’t mean in a good way. Even at the start of his rut, he wasn’t like this.”
“Alright, let’s take a look. We’ve got one of their medical devices with us.”
But when Sami approached with the device, Gnnar lashed out at him, sending him flying to the other side of the shuttle.
“Fuck!”
I grabbed hold of Gnnar before he could launch himself after the man. “Gnnar. Stop! He’s a friend.”
Gnnar let out a painful-sounding snarl, like he was fighting with himself.
“What the fuck is happening back there?” Macey shouted from the front.
“Guy’s freakin’ out.” Sami scrambled back. “Shit. Wait. There’s another dart in him. In his wing.”
“A tranquilizer dart?” Macey bravely made her way to the back, leaving Sergio at the helm.
“That’s what I thought first, but now I’m not sure.”
“Maybe a reaction with the rut?”
Gnnar was harder to control now. He stepped toward Sami, even as the male fumbled with the tranq gun strapped to the shuttle wall for emergencies.
“Gnnar, stop!” I latched onto him, trying to slow him down, but it was like trying to stop a rampaging bull. I climbed my way up his body so that I was right in his face, blocking his view the best I could of Sami. “Stop!” I yelled again.
He didn’t try to knock me off or anything, and when he grabbed my ass, it was firmly but tenderly, like he was giving me support. But the glassiness was still in his eyes, and he was much warmer than I remembered him. So warm, in fact, I worried that whatever was happening would fry his brain.
He made that pained snarl again, but this time, it ended in a roar as two tranquilizer darts hit him in the shoulder. He went berserk then, and I was swung around like a limp rag. But my distraction had given time for Sergio and Macey to come behind and grab him. They wrestled him down to the shuttle floor as the drugs took effect.
“Good thing we got the fast-acting stuff,” Sami said, pulling the new darts from Gnnar before moving to the one in his wing and sealing that one in a small baggie. “It better not react with whatever the fuck this is.”
“Well, the sedation won’t last long. These guys process everything really fast. Let’s push this baby to the max and get home.” Sergio was already at the controls.
“I’ll send out a report so they know what to expect when we arrive,” Macey said.
Sami came to me and held out a hand, and only then did I realize I was sprawled on the shuttle floor.
“Thanks.” I let him help me up.
“You okay?”
“Yeah.”
“I hope this experience doesn’t scare you away. I promise it’s not always this crazy.”
“I believe you.” My eyes darted to Gnnar, who was still crumpled up on the shuttle floor. “Are you going to just leave him like that?”
“Yep. Ain’t no way I’m moving him again. He’ll be fine, I promise. These Kadrixan bastards are tough.”