"Cyrus," Dr. Rendlesham said, delighted, "who's your friend?"
"Stay back," Cy said.
I leaned up, peeking over the desk. Cy was standing in front of Apolonia, his palms out. Apolonia wasn't cowering. She stood, her feet shoulder width apart and both of her arms at her side. Her chin was down, and she was staring at the soldiers from under her brow. Her ice-blue eyes glistened, even in the dim red light.
Holy shit, she is intimidating.
"Doctor, call off your men. She will kill them. And you."
Dr. Rendlesham wasn't fazed. He chuckled and then called for backup into a small mic on his wrist. "We have five AKs trained on her, son. In about thirty seconds, it will be twenty. You should be telling her to stand down, not the other way around."
Cy warned Apolonia in their language, clearly begging her to be patient. Then, he spoke to Rendlesham again, "I'm asking for the lives of your men, Doctor. Have them lower their weapons. Let them go home to their families."
One of the soldiers laughed once.
Rendlesham shook his head. "I'm giving you one more chance, Cyrus. Have her surrender the sword, or one of my men will blow her head off."
"No. They won't," Cy said. He looked at the soldiers. "Please understand. The only reason any of her crew is dead is because of the explosion or impact. They're highly trained warriors. You're no match for her. I know you have kids waiting on you at home." He took a step. "She is lethal. You don't even have to put down your weapons. Just back away and leave her ship. She's already angry that you--"
"Enough," Rendlesham said. "Take the shot, Smith."
One of the soldiers lifted his gun, but he hesitated.
"No! Don't!" Cy said, simultaneously holding out his hand and taking a step.
Smith aimed at Cy and pulled the trigger. My scream was obscured by the echoing blast of the gun.
Cy looked down, seeing a smoking hole in his right shoulder. He fell to his knees and then onto his side. The entire room fell silent. My hands covered my mouth.
Apolonia watched Cy fall to the ground and then looked at the group of soldiers before her. Her eyes were no longer a pale blue. Her pupils dilated until her irises were onyx, and the blackness bled into the whites until they appeared to have been replaced with two balls of polished granite. She crouched slowly as she pulled her sword before her.
The soldiers backed away a fraction of an inch and positioned their weapons.
"Fire!" Rendlesham commanded.
"No!" I screamed.
The bullets left the chamber, and Apolonia spun, matching their speed. Her sword deflected the bullets, sending them back. Four of the soldiers fell, and she head-butted the fifth, sending him to the ground. Once he was on his back, she shoved her sword into his chest with a quick twist. His screams were instantly cut off.
Rendlesham stumbled back, but more footsteps were rumbling in the hallway. Two dozen soldiers filled the room and surrounded her. The corners of her mouth turned up into a devilish grin, and then she taunted them with words I didn't understand.
"Sir?" one of the soldiers said hesitantly.
Her eyes lacked compassion or fear. Her flawlessness revealed that she wasn't human, but her eyes exposed her inhumanity. I didn't imagine any of these men wanted to spar with her. That much beauty with that much malevolence was unsettling.
"Kill her, goddamn it!" Rendlesham barked.
Deafening blasts filled the room, and I fell to the ground, unwilling to witness Apolonia's death. Bullets bounced off every wall, sometimes ricocheting off the front of the desk I was using as shelter. My hands flew to my ears, and I yelled against the noise. It was the only way I could block out the soldiers' horrific screaming.
The rounds of bullets came less often with every soldier's cry. I leaned up, and Cy's betrothed was a blur of turns, thrusts, flips, and slashes. Within minutes, she was the only one left standing among at least twenty-five bodies.
I ducked back under the desk. I was afraid of no man, but Apolonia wasn't a man. She wasn't even a woman. She was death encapsulated in perfection--a frightening thing to behold.
Benji suddenly came into view. I was so glad that he was okay, and I wanted to hold him so much that my entire body literally pulled an inch or two in his direction. He was on his knees in the mouth of the hallway, desperately waving at me to crawl the fifteen or so feet to him. I waved him back, hoping he'd save himself.
C'mon, he mouthed.
I shook my head, waving him away again.
He stretched his neck to try to see around the desk, and then with his jaw set, he crawled over to me. I shook my head faster. As soon as he was within reaching distance, he lunged at me, pulling me tightly into his arms.
"I thought you were dead!" he whispered, half-laughing, half-puffing.
"You are so stupid!" I hissed. "She's going to kill you!" I shouldn't have asked him to risk his life--again--but I didn't let him go. I couldn't.
Benji cupped my face. "I said I'd follow you anywhere."
I covered his hands with mine and then offered an apologetic small smile, but when I heard the sloshing of Apolonia's feet through the blood of the soldiers, I put my hand on his chest and pushed Benji back against the desk next to me.
Apolonia kneeled beside me, her face just inches from my cheek, but I didn't dare look at her or her freaky-ass black eyes.
She spoke something beautiful but frightening.
"Just don't hurt him," I said. Accepting that she would use her sword to slice through me, I closed my eyes. Just because I would come back didn't mean it wouldn't hurt. I wasn't exactly sure I could come back after being cut in half anyway.
"Stand. Up," she said, clearly annoyed.
I did as she demanded and brought Benji with me, but I stood in front of him.
"What are you doing?" Benji asked, trying to trade places with me.
"Stop moving!" I said, my voice breaking. I was sure at any moment she was going to decapitate him.
Apolonia's eyes were blue again, and she rolled them at us. "I will not hurt you. Cyrus would not like it." She turned, pointing her sword at the dark hall. "Is he with you?" she asked.
Dr. Z sheepishly stepped out of the hallway.
My shoulders fell. "Yes," I said, smiling at my professor.
"You look terrible," Dr. Z said. "Glad to see you're alive."
Apolonia left us, stepping over bodies to reach Cy.
I hurried over to him as fast as I could limp. I'd hurt my leg somehow, and with every step, the pain got worse. "Cy! Are you all right?"
He groaned. "No."
"Oh, for fuck's sake, I thought you were dead!" I said.
Apolonia glared at me as I helped her help Cy to his feet.
"My injuries are the least of our problems. We need to"--he growled as we stood him up--"get the specimen and get Apolonia out of here. If she doesn't make contact with her father soon, he will end the world before the parasites can."
"What does that mean?" Benji asked, frowning.
Cy took one look at Benji and then glared at me. "What is he doing here?"
"He's helping," I said. If Benji didn't have Cy's protection, Apolonia would waste no time relieving him of his head. I got the feeling she didn't care for humans. Any of us.
"How did he know you were here? You know we can't trust him!" Cy said.
"He was looking for me. He saw the Nayara this morning while he was running. She's sort of hard to miss."
"He just happened to be running before dawn?" Cy said, snarling at Benji.
"He always runs in the mornings! Would you please trust me for once?"
Cy locked his eyes on Benji. "I know what you're up to. If you do anything to get either of these women hurt, I will kill you myself."
Benji looked at me, confused and hesitant to respond. "I would never do anything to hurt Rory. She's more important to me than she is to you."
"Why is that?" Cy seethed.
"Because I...that's none of your business."
&
nbsp; "Rory is my business," Cy said.
"As flattering as this is," I said, "we have shit to do. Let's get Cy stitched up."
Cy and Benji stared each other down until Apolonia tightened her grip on Cy. "Agreed. We should move. Check for survivors," she said.
Apolonia left for a moment, and then the bridge was lit with something other than a red emergency light. She returned and sat Cy down on a chair, directing Dr. Z to stay with him. Then, Benji and I went with her to check the bodies in the hallway. Every time we couldn't find signs of life, Apolonia became more and more angry. After the sixteenth body, I was beginning to feel afraid to be around her. We reached the breach in the hull and saw that Rendlesham's Jeep was gone.
A flicker of silver caught my attention, and I turned to see a woman lying next to the torn hull. She wore the same uniform as Apolonia but in gray, and she was speaking in Cy's language. Her skin was golden brown like Cy's, but her irises were black, contrasting the light paint forming a rectangle across her eyes from one temple to the other. Her pixie-length silver hair was what had caught my attention. I could see that her side was hung up on mangled metal.
"Apolonia! Here! She's alive!"
In the next moment, Apolonia was at the young woman's side, cupping her face, speaking comforting words.
"I hope she makes it," Benji said. "If not, Apolonia might stab one of us just to make herself feel better."
The young woman grinned at me. Her teeth were red, covered in her thick blood. "English. I can speak your English."
"What can I do?" I asked.
Apolonia spoke to her, and the woman nodded. It didn't look like a pleasant conversation. Before I understood what was happening, Apolonia slid her sword into the holster strapped to her back. Then, she took the woman's legs in one arm and her neck in the other, and in one quick move, Apolonia lifted her straight up off the debris that had impaled her. The woman didn't scream or cry out. She just held her breath.
"Holy shit," Benji said, staring at Apolonia with the woman in her arms.
I was thinking the same thing. The young woman wasn't many years away from being a girl, and she had already displayed an intense amount of bravery and self-control that I had only seen once before--in myself.
"Come," Apolonia said. She carried the young woman back to the bridge.
"Where are Cy and Dr. Z?" I asked, panic welling up in my throat when I didn't seem them where we left them.
"They must have made their way to the..." Apolonia looked to the woman in her arms. "Shehaucht."
"Shehaucht...erm...in...infirmary," the woman said.
For the first time, I saw Apolonia flash a nonthreatening smile. "Cy has shown Dr. Z the way to the infirmary. It is forward."
We entered an all-white room, every surface made of the same strange cloth-like material. Even the walls, floors, and small surgical tables and beds were composed of this gauze-cheesecloth combination. I assumed it was to keep the room sterile.
It was brightly lit but not so much that I needed to squint. I glanced up at the ceiling but couldn't find the source. There were no bulbs, no lamps. Everything seemed to glow from the soft natural light, giving me a strange dreamlike sensation. It was a bit unsettling--the bright yet forgiving lighting--and even more so when I realized that every item in the room was clear, as if I had on X-ray, high-definition glasses.
Benji smiled at the sight of Dr. Z tending to Cy's wounds.
Apolonia carefully placed her comrade on a bed that looked more like a large rectangular table, two over from where Cy was lying. She wasted no time pulling out trays and equipment.
"Is she a doctor, too?" I asked Cy.
"No," Apolonia answered. "Tsavi is the doctor," she said, nodding to the woman.
Tsavi was bleeding from her ears, too. I wasn't sure about alien anatomy, but they looked human, and I imagined that bleeding from the ears wasn't a good sign for them either.
Cy called out, prompting Apolonia to rush to his side. My stomach tensed, and my cheeks flushed, but it wasn't jealousy. It was that I couldn't bear losing someone else. It was too much to stomach--that, and so much blood. I hadn't seen that much blood since--
My eyes felt heavy as I placed my hand on the nearest bed to steady myself.
"Rory?" Benji said.
"Is she okay?" Cy asked.
Benji forced me to look at him as he pulled down the skin under my eyes a bit. "I don't know. Rory?" He began checking me over, looking for any signs of injuries.
My mouth wouldn't work. I was too tired to respond, too deep in sadness.
"She's bleeding!" Benji said.
My feet left the ground, and then I was lying flat on the table next to Tsavi.
"Help her," Cy said, his voice sounding as weak as I felt.
I thought he said it again. Although, I wasn't sure since he spoke in his native language.
I turned my head and stared into his beautiful golden eyes. He always had a calming effect on me, even when I hated him. He was dirty, covered in grease, soot, and blood, but he was still beautiful. Like my mother just before she died.
"I'll be okay," I said although it was too quiet for anyone but Cy to hear.
He reached out for me, and I mustered up the last of my strength to lift my hand to touch his fingertips.
A ripping noise above drew my attention. Benji was pulling gently on my arm, assessing my wound. The light shining from behind his head nearly blacked out his face, but I could still see his sweet smile.
"I'm not going to let anything happen to you, Rory. I promise."
MY EYES OPENED and blinked a few times. It wasn't a surprise. I'd come back from much worse. It wasn't even a shock to find myself in the bright white infirmary of a spaceship. But it was a surprise to see Benji Reynolds leaning over me, resting his head on my bed. He'd stayed with me, sitting on a weird-looking but clearly uncomfortable stool, sleeping hunched over, not wanting to even go as far as the next table over.
His fingers were resting over mine. His breathing was slow, deep, and relaxed. He looked so peaceful.
Tsavi.
Cy.
I lifted my head and looked around. Aside from mine, the tables were clean and empty, as if the other two patients had never been there. I was wearing a light-blue shirt and pants I didn't recognize. The fabric was incredibly soft.
"What the hell are these?" I asked. "Alien pajamas?"
Benji lifted his head and blinked, trying to focus. "Oh, thank God you're okay."
"What happened?" I asked, supporting myself with my elbows.
Benji rubbed his eyes with one hand and rested the other on my arm. "You had a significant laceration in one arm and a bullet hole in your thigh. It was clean. Exit wound."
I looked down. "It doesn't hurt."
"Apolonia did something. She had this little..." He was trying to draw it in the air. "Anyway, you don't even have a scar. Lost a lot of blood though." He frowned. "I should have caught it. I was sitting right next to you and didn't even notice you were wounded."
"Don't be too hard on yourself," I said, grunting as he helped me sit up. "Neither did I."
"I don't know what the hell is going on. I'm just glad you're okay."
He touched my cheek, and I heard Cy clear his throat. He was standing in the doorway with Dr. Z just behind him.
"Glad to see you're still among the living," Cy said, walking into the room.
"You, too," I said, looking past him. "Where's Tsavi?"
"Here," she said, walking around Dr. Z in the same clothes as me. "You humans are not as fragile as I thought you would be."
"You're not as green as I thought you'd be," I said with a tired smile.
Benji helped me off the table, and Cy hurried over to help as well.
"I've got her," Benji said.
"I see that," Cy grumbled, and then he hugged me. "I was worried for a bit."
"You shouldn't have been. I've told you a million times--"
"And I've told you once, you're not invincible
, Rory. Lucky but not invincible."
"I don't know," Tsavi said. "Judging from the extent of the scars she has, I would say she has survived many wars."
Instinctively, I crossed my arms, first over my chest and then my stomach. It felt like a violation. My scars revealed my past, and the only way I controlled that night was to keep it hidden. I'd only allowed a few people to witness some of my scars but never all of them.
I looked up at Benji, and he offered an understanding small smile. He'd seen them.
"I would not call it luck," Apolonia said, frowning. "We should get going. Nayara's communication systems are not functional. Once Hamech learns of the crash, he will burn everything he crosses until he finds me. We should already be on our way. You let her sleep too long."
"She needed it," Tsavi said. "Can you walk?"
I let go of Benji. "Can you? Last I saw, you had a head injury."
Tsavi smiled. "It would take more than that to slow me down. Apolonia should have been a doctor."
Apolonia offered a small smile. "Then, I would not have been given Nayara." She touched a wall and looked up, her expression sad.
"When we make contact with your father, we'll retrieve her, but right now, we need to find a way to reach him," Cy said.
"What?" Benji said. "Like a broadcast system? There's a radio station on campus."
"Too risky," Dr. Z said. "If Rendlesham starts shooting at us again, we don't want an innocent student to get in the way."
"It's still break. There won't be many people left on campus," Benji said.
"Still too risky," Cy said, looking sheepishly at me. "We've already involved one student too many."
"Amen," Benji said.
"You involved yourself," Cy snapped.
"And I'd do it again," Benji snapped back without hesitation.
"And why is that?" Cy asked. No one missed his accusatory tone.
"What are you getting at? Why don't you just ask me whatever it is you think you know?" Benji asked.
"How do you just happen to be everywhere at the right time? The fact that you have attached yourself to Rory is questionable in itself. You're not even remotely her type. You look like the kind that would be chasing Ellie Jones or Laila Dixon."
I frowned at Cy. "Laila Dixon? From administration?"
Cy shrugged. "She's more Benji's type, voluptuous and oblivious."
Benji took a step toward Cy. Apolonia took a step toward Benji.
"How would you even know my type?" Benji asked in a controlled but defensive tone. "I'm sure you don't mean to say I'm the suspicious one. You've been lying to Rory since you met her!"