This human female was unbelievable. She was the most stubborn creature I had ever met. I could not seem to please her. I went on a scout to get a handle on what the cyborgs were up to so that we could rescue her sister and she paid me back by fleeing the ship. I could not win with her no matter what I did. She was frustrating me to no end. Yet my desire for her only grew with each moment that she defied me.
I opened the wall inside the ship and began to grab supplies for the rescue mission. I grabbed a few more bombs to put into my belt. I connected my blaster gun and charged it to a full charge. I did all this as I thought about how angry Helen made me. She accused me of using her for sex, but she was using me to find her sister. In my eyes, that made us even. But she was not looking past the fact that I got what I wanted out of our agreement, and yet I was still there. I was still there to help her find her sister. I didn't have to do that; I got what I wanted, as she said. But I wanted to make her happy. I wanted to find Hannah to make Helen happy. I wanted her to be happy and safe. Why couldn't she see that, dammit?
“Same as before. We will use the same plan that we used to rescue the humans from the hostile human colony. We will set to bomb us as a diversion while I go in and get your sister. She is your twin; I assume she looks like you?”
“That makes it easier. But I worry to let you set the bombs alone. Last time Jared was there to help you,” I said.
“No, he was not,” she said. I stopped what I was doing and turned to look at her.
“He couldn't do it. He was too shaken up by the whole thing. He didn't want to get caught again. I did it all on my own, and it wasn't easy. I came across the hostile humans; that was why I had to set the bombs off out of the order that we wanted. I needed the diversion to get myself out of there,” she said.
I looked at her surprised. She had done it all on her own. I was impressed. But I was pissed off at her cowardly companion. How dare he make her, the one I care for so much, do it all on her own. What a coward. A Veruka would never do that.
I couldn't hold back. I took two long strides and put her face in my hands and pressed my lips against hers. I had to kiss this brave woman. She moaned as I kissed her, but then she pushed me away.
“No, no more of that. You betrayed me; I am not going to forget that,” she said.
“If that's how you feel. We should get going,” I said angrily that she pushed me away. I only craved her even more.
I walked out of the ship, following her. I squatted down in the dirt and drew the cyborg encampment by just drawing a circle.
“This is going to be tricky because I don't know where your sister is being held. But I did see a group of houses here; there seemed to be more cyborgs around them, and I assume that your sister is in one of those houses. But it is going to take me some time to search each one. That is why I will need you to set a line of bombs drawing them in this direction,” I said as I wrote an x in the sand to represent the houses, and on the opposite side of the circle, I drew a line leading out from the circle into the trees.
"We will fly here. He will set the bombs in this direction as soon as I leave you, making sure this area is safe. Then I will have to fly low around this area; when I flew high last time, they saw me and shut me out of the sky. I will want you to go off in this direction and climb the roof of the first house you see out of range. It is the only way I will be able to find you fast and easy and scoop you up to fly. You will set four bombs in total and detonate them one minute apart. Got it?” I said.
“You are brave,” I said looking at her standing there proudly not wanting to delay the mission any further. I scooped her up into my arms, and we flew in the direction of the cyborg camp. I was getting nervous. I was always nervous before a mission, but I had a lot more at stake than I ever had before. I had the life of this woman at stake, and I cared for her deeply. I didn't want to have to do this, but she needed her sister and I needed her; there was no way around it. Finally, I came across the area to set the bombs.
“This is it. Set one here and then every twenty yards in that direction,” I said. “You will set off the last one you sent down first; with any luck, by the time you set off this one in this location, there will be some cyborgs around it and will take out a few of them,” I said.
“This is it then,” I said looking at her knowing that if this did not go well, it could be the last time that I looked at her. I didn't like the way it felt. I put my arm around her back and pulled her against my body. She let out a moan. I kissed her with passion and longing, as though it was going to be the last kiss that we ever shared. I felt her hands go against my scales on my stomach, but she didn't push me away. She moved her hands up my chest and around my neck and back down again, feeling me. It seemed I wasn't the only one that wanted to memorize each other. Finally, I regretfully pulled away from her.
“Let's do this. Set off the first bomb as soon as you are clear and have found the house you are going to climb,” I said.
“I won't fail you,” I said. Then I flew away very low, flying behind houses and trees, taking as much cover as I could circling around to the other side of the camp. The sooner I got this done, the sooner I could have Helen back to the safety of Willow Springs where we could finally breathe.
I made it to the other side without being seen, but now it was time to get closer. I decided the best way was to go from one treetop to the next. I landed on a tree and then flew to another and another and another until I was in view of the encampment and the houses that were my target. There were ten cyborgs in the area. Most of the activities seemed to be on the other side of the houses. I could see a keddle, just the end sticking out on the other side of the house. That was why there were more cyborgs in that area; they were protecting that keddle. If this wasn't a rescue mission, I would try to plant the virus that I had in my belt into that keddle, but I didn't think there would be the time. It would have to wait.
“No! Get away from me!” I heard a female voice shout. One of the houses had opened French doors. I could not see inside, but I could hear the voice coming from that room. Perfect; now all I had to do was wait for the bomb to go off.
I waited for what seemed like forever, and I started to grow panicked. What if she had been killed? What if Helen had been caught? Everything that could possibly go wrong entered my mind. This was not good.
Boom! The first bomb went off, and I felt relief. It meant Helen was safe and on the roof of a house waiting for me. I watched as the cyborgs turned simultaneously in the direction of the blast. Then they all began to walk toward the blast. It was working. I waited until all of them were around the corner of the house. Then I flew into the French doors. There was a cyborg standing there facing a human female chained to the wall.
Just as it was about to turn its gun on me, I shot first. But I was lucky; the second blast went off at the same time, covering the sound of my blaster gun. The cyborg fell to the ground. I turned my attention to the human female on the wall.
“You again?” she said. I thought it was a strange thing for her to say when most humans had never seen us Veruka before. But this was not good. She didn't look anything like Helen. This human female had white-blonde hair with big blue eyes.
“Hannah?” I said as I walked to her and began to work on the chains on the wall.
“What? I did not. I am here with Helen, Hannah's sister, to save Hannah,” I said as I yanked the bolt out of the wall, setting her arms free.
“No. She never made it to this camp. When the cyborgs were leading us here, they were attacked by creatures that look like you. Hannah was taken by one of the creatures, but I was left,” she said.
“Shit. Come on let's get you out of here. Are you the only one?” I asked.
I scooped her up into my arms and flew out the door to the area that I had come from. Then I flew around in the opposite direction back toward Helen. This was not good. Hannah was not there, and I had no idea where she was. If this Jane was telling the truth, then a weredragon had taken her. But who? We were the only ones in this area.
Boom! The fourth bomb went off. I saw Helen standing on the roof. I moved toward her fast, a blur. And I grabbed her with my other arm and flew as fast as I could go back to my ship.