Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
TARAX
" C over me from the right," I shouted to Grace.
"I've got you," she shouted back.
She didn't hesitate. She didn't cower. She looked frightened, maybe a little daunted, but she did what she had to do. I admired her bravery in a situation like this. It was when shit got really tough, and we had to throw down with these androids that I got to really see just how courageous Grace really was.
I got to see how far she was willing to go to protect our supplies and make sure neither one of us got killed in the process of bringing them back to the other survivors.
An android knocked over a shelf beside me to the right. It pointed its blaster at my temple, but Grace was there in a heartbeat to shoot it down. The bullet went right between the fucker's eyes too. When it fell to the ground, it convulsed and made a horrible buzzing sound as a tarry substance began leaking out from its robot head.
I looked at Grace and my jaw dropped with awe. " Nice shot. You really saved me."
"Thanks." Grace grinned proudly. "I have no problem shooting every last one of these fuckers down to save us both."
I had already killed two of them. Grace just killed another. There were six of them in total, at least in this squad. "We need to get closer to the front," I said. "Hopefully, there will be only three left to take out."
"I've got you from the back," Grace promised.
I nodded to her. I still felt possessive and protective over her , but right now I needed her cooperation and assistance.
An android swooped up from behind us. It tried to clip me in the back of the head with the blaster. Grace screamed and jumped out of the way. I took the feisty robot by the arm and yanked it forward, trying to break the arm in the process.
I slammed its ugly robot face into the shelf in front of me. It recoiled backward, clutching its wounded area while making a hissing sound.
Grace was quick on her feet. She wasted no time leaping into action. She plucked the android's blaster from the ground where it had fallen and shot it through the head.
It convulsed like the others had when dying — then exhaled a giant plume of steam. It went limp. The computer inside its head was fried. It didn't move again. One more to cross off the list.
Grace and I exchanged a grateful glance with each other. She was panting hard. Her wavy black hair fell over her face. Her big brown eyes were terrified, but she continued to put on a brave front.
"Two to go," I said to Grace, feeling out of breath and frazzled as we continued to be assaulted from all angles.
An android jumped over a knocked over shelf and tried to land on me like a spider. It coiled its long arms around my neck and shoulders, attempting to strangle me. I tried to fight it off, but its armor was smooth. There were no grooves on it to grip or hold onto. I was scrambling. Grace was screaming. The last android came up from behind her.
"Watch out," I roared. "Behind you, Grace."
She was fast. She shot around, reeled her arm backward, balled her fist and landed an exceptional blow directly in the left temple of the android.
It was enough to buy her some time so she could shoot it with her blaster. Now we had another extra gun as well. She focused on killing her assailant.
The android fell backward and crashed into the area of the store that sold the fountain drinks. Plastic cups went flying everywhere.
The soda machine broke on impact from the android. It began to spray foamy, carbonated liquid all over the place. The floor was wet and slippery. Grace scrambled to her feet, now soaked with the sticky, orange liquid.
She grabbed the android by the shoulders and shoved it into the refrigerated door beside her. The glass cracked but didn't shatter. The android whined. I didn't think it was capable of feeling pain, but either way, it didn't like what she was doing.
"Grace, help," I called out from behind her. "I can't reach my blaster to kill this damn thing." It was still trying to strangle me.
The android I was trying to fight off had me in a headlock. We were locked in a death grip. One of us was going to die here, and I was going to make damn certain that it would be it and not me.
Grace broke her concentration from her own battle to come to my rescue.
"I don't want to shoot it because I'm afraid I'll shoot you instead by accident," she cried anxiously.
"Just aim and be careful," I coerced her. "You can do it. I trust you." I met her gaze. "Hey, Grace?"
She gave me a timid look. "Yeah?"
"You can do this. I have the faith in you. Alright?"
Grace licked her lips and gave me a persevering nod. She took a deep breath. She needed that connection, that reassurance. I gave her the confidence, and now it was up to her to pull the trigger, both metaphorically and literally speaking.
I had broken out in a nervous sweat. My jaw was clenched so tight it ached. I gritted my teeth and squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for impact.
"On the count of three, just do it, Grace. You have to. This fucking thing is going to kill me if you don't," I choked out.
It was a lot of pressure to put on her, but I was running out of options, here.
My eyes were still closed, but I heard her voice as she counted anxiously. Then I heard the blaster round get fired. It was like a giant pop ringing through my eardrums.
I squeezed all my muscles tightly together until my body went stiff. The android's arms slackened around my neck and shoulders.
It slithered down my back and fell into a heap of metal on the floor beside me.
I opened my eyes and stared between Grace and the robot with amazement. "You got it."
Grace looked astounded as if she couldn't believe she'd been able to fire at her target so accurately.
"Behind you," I exclaimed and lifted my blaster from my belt now that I could reach it.
I shot the last one right as it was raising its arms to attack Grace from behind, while she had her guard down.
It collapsed to the floor too and slid a couple feet across the fountain drink mess.
Grace clutched the sides of her head, staring at me with a mixture of dread and relief. "Is that all of them?"
"For now," I said. "Now come on. Let's grab our supplies and get the hell out of here."
Grace set to work, filling her arms with the bags of things we desperately needed. "You don't have to tell me twice."
Back at the bank, Grace and I were beyond grateful that we had each other back there. It was like having an extra defense. We were tired, dirty, and famished. My throat was so dry and thirsty it felt gritty and scratchy.
Grace popped open a water bottle. She took a long and arduous slug from the top, panting hard as she glugged the water.
"Be careful," I reminded her. "I know you're parched, but we still need to find a way to ration everything."
Grace wiped her mouth and chin with the back of her hand and looked at me, nodding as she breathed heavily.
"Yeah… I know. You're right. It just… tastes and feels so good."
I smiled at her. "It's hard to resist the temptation."
She gave me a compelling look as if she were searching for the double meaning in what I was saying to her.
Of course, yes, I was secretly thinking about how difficult it was to resist the temptation to kiss her again. Kissing her might lead to fucking her and I was still scared of what that could mean.
I got back to business and gathered the group together. The hungry survivors seemed eager to rip into all the supplies, but Grace and I carefully reminded them just how dangerous the world was out there — and that making these items last was extremely important.
"Who wants to share this bag of Fritos with me?" David exclaimed and popped the bag open carelessly, after I'd just relayed a speech about keeping control over our consumption.
A herd of starving people clustered around him and began taking handfuls. They stuffed their faces as if it were their last meal on Earth. Maybe it would be if they didn't abide by my suggestions.
Grace and I exchanged a wary glance with each other. Everyone else seems to be ready to celebrate, but they didn't fully comprehend just how dire the circumstances were out there, or how we had almost lost our lives trying to haul just this little bit of superficial supplies back to the bank.
"What's the matter?" David asked, looking at Grace. He was almost gloating as he went against our wishes to stop opening all the bags of food in one sitting. "Not hungry?"
Grace folded her arms stubbornly over her chest and returned David's glare. "Don't patronize me, David."
"We're all hungry," Mike said.
Grace must have had enough of both of them defending each other and pitting everyone else, mainly me and Grace, against each other.
"I've had enough of this bullshit," Grace said, stepping forward. Her scowl was livid as she stared between Mike and David. "We were nearly killed by a unit of those androids that ambushed us at the corner store. They are everywhere , and they can strike anywhere at any time. They are literally everywhere. You don't know what it's like out there. We would appreciate it if you rationed the supplies. Please. "
She paused to look at Mike. "I would sure hope as our fire captain you would understand and that you wouldn't always be so quick to defend David. He's not that special."
Grace spun on a furious heel and began marching out of the vault. Her annoyed footsteps echoed through the room.
"I'm not the one with a fixation on an alien," David called out to her. The resentment and jealousy in his voice was hard to miss.
"Just stop making it worse, alright?" Mike turned toward David and gave him a frustrated glance. He looked like he was about to lose his temper with the schmuck. "We need to stick together, and your snide comments to Grace aren't helping."
"It's just weird, " David barked, talking about me like I wasn't even in the room. "Why does she trust him so much? Why does she want to be attached to the hip with him?"
"I'm going to go check on her and make sure she's okay," I said to Mike. I cut a wary glance to David and pointed to him. "Make sure he lays off the snacks."
Mike seemed to understand. He gave me a respectful nod. I felt like he was finally seeing the light about the selfish way David was behaving. "Will do."
I found Grace upstairs. She was staring out the window with a melancholy look on her face.
"I brought you a single serving bag of chips," I told her and handed them to her in offering.
She took them and smiled. "Thank you. I'm so sorry about that asshole, David."
"He seems really jealous of us spending time together," I mentioned guardedly.
Grace's eyes narrowed and she stared outside. Her body language stiffened. She didn't look at me. "He is jealous. He doesn't want me to talk to any other men, even though we have been broken up for almost a year now. It's so hard to work with him and be around him all the time. In a crisis situation like this — his pompous behavior makes it even worse."
I wanted to reach out and rub her back and stroke her hair, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I wanted to comfort her, but at the same time, I wanted to give her personal space.
I knew she was frazzled by David enough as it was. I didn't want to add to her stress by making unjustified moves on her. However, I was still thinking about the magic of that kiss we'd shared, and it was making my cock hard.
"David seems like the impulsive type," I admitted. "Although I don't know him very well but?—"
Grace glanced up at me. Her expression was fretful. Her eyebrows were knitted with concern. Her big brown eyes shimmered with uncertainty.
"No, you nailed that one on the head. David is very impulsive, and when he gets upset about something, he makes uncalculated decisions that hurt others."
"I hate to even say this, but I feel very unnerved by him," I confessed. "I fear that he might do something stupid that could put all our lives in jeopardy."
Grace gave me a somber nod. "You're right. From now on, we need to keep a better eye on him and what he's doing — and we need to find a way to get Mike on board with that plan, too. The more people we have on our side, the better our chances for survival will become — with or without the support from David."
One thing was certain. I was not going to take the fall for that asshole, nor his stupidity about the situation. He could fuck around and be jealous all he wanted, but millions of lives were at stake. There were far too many other important things to worry about — and David wasn't at the top of my list.