Alien Warrior’s Honor (Taurean Mercenaries #1)

Chapter 1

ALETTA

“It doesn’t matter how many times you open and close the door, food isn’t going to appear miraculously,” Aletta said to her sister, Dylan, as the younger woman opened the cupboard for what had to have been the twentieth time that morning. And it wasn’t even eight yet.

Dylan sighed. “I’m just so hungry.”

Aletta scowled. She was hungry too; it wasn’t as if not eating for two days was going to result in anything other than hunger.

“Letty?” Dylan shut the fridge door and turned to face Aletta. “What are we going to eat?”

Aletta pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

It had been a long few weeks. First, the reports of strange spaceships orbiting the planet, then the power outage.

They’d tried to see what they could from the windows of the apartment, but the pollution that choked the skies made it hard to see far.

Before their tablets had run out of charge, they’d taken turns watching the news feeds until, one by one, they’d dropped off the air. Now it was silent.

Silent news feeds. Silent streets below the residential tower where they lived. Silent halls in their building.

They’d talked to their neighbors in the first few days, and shared what Aletta could spare of their supplies until, one by one, they’d left to get food and not returned.

“Maybe they found somewhere better?” Dylan’s hopeful tone had Aletta’s stomach twisting. She knew that wasn’t what had happened to their neighbors, but if it kept Dylan from completely losing her shit, then Aletta was happy to humor her.

“Sure.” She forced a smile.

But it was when Dylan turned back to the cupboard and opened the door once more that Aletta snapped. “Right. Grab your boots. We’re getting out of here.”

It might be dangerous, but maybe Dylan was right. Maybe it wasn’t as bad out there as she thought?

It was early morning, neither of them having slept well due to the gnawing hunger that was their constant companion. If they were going to leave, now was the best time.

Aletta pulled on a pair of worn jeans—the ones with the tear in the right knee that Dylan had mended with bright green thread—and her sturdiest pair of shoes, a pair of sneakers that had seen better days.

Even before the invasion, the sisters had barely scraped by.

They lived on what Aletta could earn from three service jobs, while Dylan finished her university course and tutored online.

Between the two of them, they were able to afford rent in this tiny, one-bedroom apartment in the shittiest part of the city. And they were together.

Dylan was wrong to be optimistic; Aletta decided a little while later as they left the safety of their apartment and stepped quietly into the dark hallway.

They were the last people left on the floor—possibly the entire building—of what had been a crowded residential block.

It had been ten days since the world had gone to shit, and the shelter-in-place orders had come.

She and Dylan had been lucky. One of Aletta’s jobs before the crisis was in a cafe, and her boss let her take tinned food that was out of date, so they’d had more than most. She’d shared what she could with their neighbors but had no qualms about pretending they had less than they actually did.

Even Dylan hadn’t known the extent of Aletta’s stash, which had turned out to be a good thing.

Kind-hearted Dylan would have given away everything.

Aletta snorted as she pulled the apartment door shut behind her. As it was, they’d rationed everything to make it this far, holding out for some sign that the city hadn’t gone completely to shit. She just hoped there was some food left, though Aletta kept that thought to herself.

Their footsteps echoed in the concrete stairwell as they made their way slowly to the street, and by silent agreement, they didn’t talk. The air smelled of concrete, dust, and urine, and Aletta and Dylan pulled on the masks they wore in the city to ward off the air pollution.

Apparently, you used to be able to see the ocean from their building.

But that was long ago, before the air pollution had settled like a grey cloud over the city.

The irony of living so close to the ocean and yet not being able to see it, even from their high-rise apartment building, was not lost on Aletta.

The echo of Dylan’s boots softly scuffing the concrete steps followed Aletta as they reached the ground floor. The door was propped open, which had Aletta frowning. Anyone—anything—could get in.

Aletta went to step out, but Dylan grabbed her backpack, almost yanking her off her feet.

“Oof!” Aletta grunted as the straps dug into the front of her shoulders.

Dylan’s hands shook, her eyes wide. “It’s not safe!” She hissed. “Maybe we shouldn’t go.” Dylan’s eyes were huge, her expression stricken. “I can’t lose you, Letty!”

They’d lost so much. Both parents. Their grandmother. Everyone she had relied on had died. Aletta dropped her forehead to touch Dylan’s, making a tiny world between the sisters. “I know. I don’t want to lose you, either. But we have to eat.”

And that was the problem. Stay and starve, or leave and… Well, who knew what happened to those who left?

“We can’t stay here, Dylan.”

Dylan nodded and scuffed the toe of her boot against the floor.

“Dee?”

Dylan looked up. “Yeah?”

“I love you,” Aletta said with a hitch in her voice. Aletta didn’t know what it was like outside. She didn’t know what would happen or why people had left and not come back.

Dylan smiled. “I know. I love you too.”

Aletta’s lips turned up in something she hoped was a reassuring smile. She was the big sister. She had to be the one who was brave and in charge. Dylan needed her.

“Let’s do this.” Aletta stepped out onto the street, cringing at the noise of her sneakers on the broken glass that littered the pavement. That was new.

The light was brighter here—even with the fog that choked the air—and she took the few moments to blink and let her eyes adjust after the gloom of inside. Aletta frowned as she looked around in shock at how much the neighborhood had changed in a little over a week.

Out of habit, she blocked her nose and breathed through her mouth to avoid the putrid stench of rotting garbage overlain with the salty ocean smell.

Aletta knew better than to take a deep breath.

At least their search for food coincided with low tide.

The water had left seaweed draped over curbs and a line of silt and detritus in the street.

A storm drain on the corner still gurgled with seawater, and the salty fog pushed at the periphery of her vision like a warning. What was hiding in the gray?

“It’s really giving gothic vibes more than usual.” Aletta chuckled, forcing a note of levity despite how creepy it was.

Dylan’s eyes were wide as she met Aletta’s. “Where is everyone, Letty?”

Aletta wrapped her arm around her sister’s shoulder and squeezed her in what she hoped was a reassuring way. Dylan only ever used her childhood nickname when she was upset or scared.

Fog drifted in from the ocean, creating swirling specters.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, and she glanced down the water-damaged street to their left.

No one there. She glanced the other way.

Nothing. She huffed. What did she think was going to be there?

She was letting her imagination get the better of her.

It was one thing to be cautious, another entirely to be paranoid. It was just the hunger. It was making her overly dramatic.

But there was something eerie about a space that was usually packed with people being suddenly empty. She felt way too exposed on the street.

“Let’s go.” She grabbed Dylan’s hand, and the two women moved away from the safety of their building, their footsteps sounding louder than Aletta was comfortable with.

“Do you think there’ll be anything left?” Dylan asked, her voice a whisper and her hand gripping Aletta’s tightly.

“Sure.” Aletta forced a note of optimism into her voice. Hopefully, it didn’t sound as fake to Dylan as it did to her.

The corner store where they stopped to pick up the occasional treat—when they could afford it—was boarded up, though someone had torn the door open and it hung from one hinge. It creaked as Aletta slid past it and into the dark of the store, Dylan following her on soft feet.

Aletta didn’t like their chances of finding anything to eat here, but it was worth a try. The shelves sat bare, some even tipped over. The floors were sticky from spilled food, though even the spilled stuff looked like it had been gathered up.

Dylan shifted one of the shelves so she could get through the mess, exposing a package of dry noodles.

Aletta fell on it like a bird of prey, tearing it open, and groaning as something hit her stomach for the first time in two days.

“Slowly,” Dylan cautioned, passing Aletta a bottle of water she’d brought with her.

Aletta nodded. Dylan was right. They couldn't afford to throw up the few precious calories.

But a single packet of noodles wasn’t going to do much. They needed more food. And a plan.

As the day wore on, Dylan became quieter and quieter. Even Aletta’s limited optimism was worn down to nothing as first one, then another grocery store, gas station, and supermarket gave them nothing but dried beans and pasta. And without clean water, they were fucked.

Everything had gone except the fog. The fog persisted like an ever-present omen.

Then they’d seen the first dead body.

It was difficult to tell the person's age or sex, lying face down in the street. They’d obviously been dead for a few days, and the body was partially dismembered. Aletta didn’t want to consider how or why.

“Do you think that people ate—?” Dylan’s eyes were huge behind her mask, her arms wrapped around her torso.

The fog swirled around their feet as they turned away, Aletta putting herself between the dead body and Dylan.