Chapter 6 #2
The guards immediately released their heads from their headrests and the straps sprang loose. They jumped to their feet and grabbed backpacks from storage beneath their seats.
The way the vehicle had landed, on its side, Madison was suspended over Drex. She looked down at him, heart pounding and desperate to know what was happening. If the straps weren’t still attaching her to her seat, she would be sprawled on top of him.
The guards had opened the door facing the sky and were climbing out of the vehicle. Drex signaled to her to release her restraints. She shook her head. He made an impatient face and turned her translator back on. “We can’t stay in here. Release your straps. I’ll catch you, Madison.”
He held out his arms. Madison took a deep breath and pulled her head from the rest. She touched the buckles and they released her. Sure enough, she tumbled against him. A rock-hard chest and abdomen did little to soften the fall. Thickly muscled arms closed around her.
“Are you okay?” he murmured.
“Yes.” She climbed off of him. He stood up and retrieved the sleek backpacks from under their seats, like the guards had.
“You’ll have to carry your own,” he said, settling it over her shoulders. “Just for now. We have to deal with what is outside.”
The pack wasn’t too heavy. He put one on his own back and they moved to the vehicle’s exit that gaped open above them, like an escape hatch.
“Get on my shoulders.” He didn’t wait for her to respond, but picked her up by the waist and hoisted her up.
Madison grasped his shoulders, then reached up and braced herself on the metal sides of the opening.
She gasped as Drex’s broad hand covered her bottom and lifted her the rest of the way up.
She hopped out of the transport and stood on the side of it.
Drex heaved himself out of the vehicle right behind her and motioned to his group.
Her senses whirled to take in her surroundings.
The landscape was so bright she blinked to let her eyes adjust. The ground was nearly the same color as the sky—that yellowish-peach color.
Wind whipped over a sea of rock and sand, which seemed to shift and undulate like water.
The air was thick with a fine dust, making the mask and humming air filters a clear necessity.
From the sand itself rose a great, worm-shaped beast. It arched from the ground like a breaching whale, but this had the width of a skyscraper and an agility that made her gut sink. It looked as though it swam through the ground as it circled them.
To say it was terrifying would be the understatement of the century. Madison struggled to pull in a breath and to not pee herself.
The guards made a loose circle around the transport, weapons raised. Did they actually have a hope in hell of defeating this thing?
“You must be quiet and walk with great care,” Drex told Madison. “The beast cannot see, but it is drawn to the vibrations.”
“Is this the one in the city?”
“No,” he replied. “This is probably its mate.”
He eased himself off the side of the overturned vehicle and held out his hands again.
She sat on the edge and slid off the side, into his arms. He caught her like she weighed nothing and carefully placed her on the shifting ground.
Madison nodded and stayed close to his side.
She did as he said and kept her footfalls measured and soft.
A slithering sound moved over the sand, followed by the whispered curses of several guards.
Then, the ground in front of them heaved upwards. A new creature emerged, just as deadly as the one circling them.
It was the size of a limousine—Madison had ridden in enough of them to know.
It had a long, snakelike body but moved on long spiderlike legs.
Madison swallowed a scream and froze at Drex’s side.
He growled low in his throat and pulled two long, curved blades from sheaths on his hips.
“No shooting,” he said with a nod toward the circling worm. “The Urtass will feel it.”
His guards nodded and clipped their weapons into holsters on their backs. They pulled knives instead.
“Get behind me, Madison.” He wielded twin, curved blades and moved toward the spiderlike beast.
Madison had no weapon. All she could do was stand there as Drex swung his blades and put his body between her and the creature.
It reared up on some of its legs and let out a hiss.
A fang-filled mouth opened, dripping with a foul-smelling liquid that sizzled when it hit the sand.
Long front legs tipped with hooked talons swung toward the guards.
It advanced on Drex, seeming to be interested in him. But then she realized it kept dodging, trying to get past the Virilians. It wanted her. Did human flesh smell good to it?
Drex’s blades whipped through the air. His guards cut down a rear leg.
The creature’s armor was thick and hard.
Still, it seemed determined to get past Drex.
A long front leg flashed out, past Drex and toward her.
Madison made only the smallest yelp and dodged, missing the blow, but the creature’s claw pierced Drex’s shoulder as it retracted.
He hissed with pain, as blood immediately darkened his suit.
Instead of backing off, he charged the creature.
If Madison had blinked, she would have missed it.
Drex leapt forward with a growl. Those vicious blades swung up and out.
He knew exactly where to hit and what to sever.
One moment he was about to be swallowed by that venomous mouth.
The next, the creature collapsed to the ground, its head severed from its body.
Drex made an urgent signal for them to move. The fight had caused enough ground vibrations to alert the giant Urtass to their presence.
They moved quickly, keeping their bodies low and their movements as smooth as possible.
Madison’s knees were still jelly after watching Drex almost get eaten by that monster.
Behind them, the Urtass circled closer. Drex made a signal to one of his men, who touched a small screen fixed to the arm of his suit.
He grabbed Madison by the waist and swung her against him. He placed his finger to the front of his helmet, signaling her to keep silent.
She sucked in a breath, and the transport exploded.
A plume of flame and smoke billowed from the vehicle. Shards of metal and whatever the wheels were made of, flew into the air and landed in a circle of debris. Madison put her hand over her mouth, or rather, the glass in front of her mouth, but didn’t make a sound.
The Urtass made an abrupt turn for the burning vehicle. It made an arc from the sand and opened the massive maw of its mouth. The transport disappeared inside the creature in one great swallow. It dove back down into the sands and disappeared.
Her body turned to mush. Drex held her close against him with his good arm. Madison let out her breath in a whoosh. “Is it gone?” she whispered to Drex.
“Yes, but as you just saw, there are other creatures living in the sand.” He winced and pressed a hand to his shoulder.
“How badly are you hurt?” She reached up and touched a gloved hand to his wound.
“I’m fine.” He pulled a small roll of black cloth from a pocket in his pack and handed it to her. “Would you mind wrapping this around the tear in my suit? This toxic air won’t help.”
She wrapped the cloth around his shoulder, covering the bleeding injury.
To her amazement, the substance shifted and undulated before her eyes, unweaving from itself and meshing with the suit he wore.
In moments, the tear in his suit was gone and the material she had wrapped was completely absorbed to create a seamless patch.
“Wow.” She turned incredulous eyes to his. “That’s handy.” But she noticed something else as she gazed at him through the clear panes of their helmets. His eyes flickered red, instead of their usual vivid blue. “Drex, are you okay? Your eyes—”
He cut her off with an abrupt turn. “I’m fine. We need to keep moving.” He pointed toward what looked like an outcropping of rocks in the distance. “We need to get there before nightfall.”
The unit of guards said nothing. They turned and walked ahead.
When Drex looked at her again, his eyes were their normal color.
She must have imagined it, or the reflection off his helmet had made his eyes look different.
Madison took a deep breath, relieved they were all still standing, and turned her attention to the route ahead.
It occurred to her, with a jolt, that they were all alone out there. “Where are the other transports?”
“Sent on ahead,” he replied. “With Urtass as large as that one on the move, the fewer vehicles on the sand the better.”
“That—that other thing. The smaller one—it looked like it wanted to get to me, not you.”
He flashed a quick grin. “It was. Human flesh must have smelled good to it. It takes a lot to draw a juvenile rilh from the sand on a day when an Urtass is hunting.”
That was a juvenile? She shuddered. “And that spider thing you fought is called a rilh? I was calling it a spider monster.”
“It’s hardly that,” he said. “Everything is just trying to survive. I can’t blame it for that.”
“I don’t like that you were hurt because of me.”
“I don’t like that you could have been eaten.” His expression turned complicated. “I would kill it again if I could.”
Her gaze went sharp on his fine profile, which was scowling straight ahead. That sounded like a compliment, but it was coming from Drex, so she didn’t know how to take it. The male wasn’t upset with her, even though he was the one with the injured shoulder.
“Where are we going?” she asked. There didn’t seem to be any place to go. Sand and rocks stretched in every direction.
He motioned again toward the rocky outcropping in the distance. “Up ahead is an old era outpost. If my memory serves, it’s still intact. We can stay there until morning, then call for a ship to bring us to Tagja City.”
“Why not tonight?” she asked. “Your injury needs to be treated.”
“It is not safe for anyone to be out at night,” he said. “That is when the Sifters roam.”
She frowned up at him. “Sifters?”
“A brutal and well-armed group made up of numerous species. They’re savage night killers who will shoot down any ship they see, strip it of anything valuable to sell on the black market.”
Madison shuddered and walked a little faster. “Will we be safe in that outpost? It looks kind of…dilapidated.”
“It will be safe for one night.” He glanced down at her. “We have no other option anyway.”
They arrived at the rock outcropping as the suns were dipping low.
Sure enough, the outpost had been carved right from the rock, much like the city caverns.
This rock was the same yellow-peach color as the sand, not the gleaming white of the underground.
They lost precious time uncovering the entrance as it was buried in sand, but a small amount of power still ran through the ancient structure, thanks to deep underground generators, as Drex explained to Madison.
Once they were inside, Drex activated the air purifiers and they were able to remove their helmets.
The outpost had three levels. The first was the largest and most open.
It was where the guards spread out and prepared to rest. The next two were up a narrow turret and designed for only a few individuals to keep lookout.
The second level housed the outpost’s controls and the third was a small observation turret with three clear panes—or which used to be clear—and rounded walls.
Drex brought Madison up there and pointed to the floor. “You may sleep here,” he said.
She dropped her backpack and helmet on the floor and rolled her shoulders. That pack had gotten heavy, though she would never complain about it to Drex, who carried his pack with an injury. “Where will you sleep?”
He looked uncomfortable. “In the control room, one level down.”
“There isn’t enough room there to even stretch your legs out,” she said. “Why not sleep with your guards?”
“They will be sleeping shoulder to shoulder and still take up every bit of space there is.” He turned toward the stairs. “I will bid you good ev—”
“Drex.” She put her hands on her hips. “This is ridiculous. Sit down. Let me take a look at your shoulder and just sleep here. I give you my word that I will not touch you or try to seduce you.”
He went perfectly still. “But I cannot promise the same,” he said in a deep rumble.
Madison drew in a sharp breath. She could not have been more surprised by his growled words. Her pulse quickened as she processed this open admission, but now was not the time to push an advantage. If that’s what it was.
She gestured to the floor—the opposite side of the room from her things. If he slept there, there would still be enough space for another full body to fit between them. “Drex, you need rest. We all do. Whatever else is going on…between us, can wait to be discussed another day.”
She watched him stand there, wavering. The sounds of his guards could be heard down the stone steps.
They talked, sending the sounds echoing lightly.
Metal clinked as they ate the rations found in their packs.
It was a reminder that they were not alone, and it seemed to decide him.
Drex didn’t look at her as he dropped his pack and helmet on the floor.
He didn’t say a word as he crossed to the weather-beaten panes and watched the last rays of light flicker from view. “Very well. I will stay.”