Chapter Fourteen
The alien ship did a wide turn. Sienna and Theron slid across the floor, and she stifled a gasp.
They’d made it.
She scrambled upright. They’d made it, all right. Out of the damn frying pan and into the back of a damn alien ship. Sienna flicked her gaze around the space, relieved to discover they were alone. At least, for the moment. She let out a long, slow breath, and then studied their surroundings more carefully. The walls and floor were a spongy, black, organic substance. Every now and then, a pulse of red light traced through the walls—like neon blood through veins.
Lots of organic cables dangled from the roof, and nearby, strange boxes and crates were stacked high. They were clearly in a storage area of the ship. Attached to the far wall were two large, bony shapes. Sienna had used plenty of different exosuits in the military—from combat versions to cargo units for heavy lifting. These looked like the raptor version. They were made from a bone-like substance, and had sturdy legs and two large arms for lifting.
“Sienna? Are you all right?”
She turned around and smacked Theron in the chest. “We are never jumping off a skyscraper again. Ever.”
He yanked her into his arms, pressing his cheek against hers. “I hope not.”
With a shaky sigh, she relaxed into him. Then, a noise from the front of the ship made them both tense. He grabbed her, and pulled her into a corner behind some boxes. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her still-racing pulse.
“Roth? Do you copy?” Theron touched his earpiece. “Roth? Arden?”
When Sienna met his gaze, he shook his head.
“If anyone is receiving this, Sienna and I are on an alien ship headed south. I repeat, aboard an alien ship headed south.”
The noises in the cargo bay got louder, resolving into raptor voices. Theron fell silent. They needed to trust their illusion armor would keep them hidden, until they could find a way off.
Theron nudged her and pointed. Just ahead of them, a long, narrow window was set into the side of the ship, near floor-level. It was made of a transparent, amber material, with faint black striations through it, but she could see the city below clearly enough.
The landscape was rushing by beneath them, but Sienna spotted a stretch of beach. “We’re heading south. Fast.”
A loud screech echoed through the cargo bay, raising goose bumps on the back of her neck. They both peered around some crates.
The six-legged creature with the swollen orange belly was chained to a wall, right at the front of the cargo bay. It was sitting down, and looked like it was resting.
“Creepy thing.”
“That’s a good name for it,” Theron said. “A creeper.”
“What do you think it is?”
“Yet another ugly-ass, dangerous alien monster.”
There was her cheery man. Sienna stared at the creature for a moment, unable to shake the feeling that there was more to this alien than what they’d already seen. She glanced back at the window, and frowned. How the hell were they going to get off the ship without being discovered?
In a blink, they flew over a familiar city, that sat tucked up against the ocean. “We just passed over Wollongong.” Which meant they’d just passed the Enclave, too.
“Let’s see where we’re headed,” Theron said. “We might be able to find out more about this creeper, and what they’re doing with it.”
Sienna nodded. But she was excruciatingly aware that the risk of getting caught during this mission was sky-high. They might never see their squad again. Her heart clenched. Might never get home to the Enclave.
She and Theron were alone.
“Theron?” Her mouth went dry. She traced his strong, tough face with her gaze. A face she knew as well as her own. A man she knew through to his core. Every corner of his soul. “I have something to tell you.”
He raised a brow. “Right now? It’s not exactly the best time.”
She scowled. “Says the man who stopped to grovel whilst hanging off the side of a skyscraper.” She grabbed his hand. “We might not get another chance.”
His fingers tangled with hers. “Don’t say that.” A dark growl.
“We could get caught and tortured. Or stuck in a genesis tank and turned into raptors. Or we could crash in a fiery ball of flames—”
He grabbed her, shaking her gently. “I get it. But I won’t let any of that happen to you.” His tone was fierce.
Something melted inside her. There he was. Her solid, grounded, and fierce protector. How could he ever believe he’d failed his family or friends? “I love you, Theron.”
His hazel eyes darkened. “I know.”
Sienna waited. And then waited another second. “You know? Theron, you aren’t some scoundrel space smuggler. You need to say more than that.”
He just looked at her.
She let out an exasperated breath. “I pour out my love. I accept you for who you are. I knock some sense into that stubborn head of yours—”
With one hard yank, he toppled her against him. Then his mouth was on hers, forcing her lips apart, his tongue plundering her mouth. His fingers curled around her throat, hard enough to send excitement flaring through her belly.
“I’m no expert in love,” he said, his thumb brushing her racing pulse. “I saw that my parents were in love, and after a long time, I learned they loved me. But the time I spent with my birth mother…”
“Blood does not define you, Theron. It’s what we do, the choices we make.”
“I’ve made a few bad choices, too. I didn’t think I would find love. And I especially didn’t think I’d find it in the middle of this fucked-up invasion.”
She touched her hand to his stubbled jaw. “Neither did I. But I love you.”
His hands tightened on her. “I’m still not sure I deserve you.”
“Oh, I know you don’t,” she said in a teasing tone. “But I love you anyway. You might have a few rough edges, but there’s a hero under all that rugged stubbornness.”
Raptor voices interrupted their conversation, and Theron pulled her closer to the wall. They huddled quietly as the alien ship raced south. The raptors were checking on the creeper that snapped at them halfheartedly, before lowering its head again.
Then, Sienna felt the kind of rumbles and shakes that indicated the ship’s velocity was slowing. She looked up at Theron. He was frowning. The ship tilted slightly, starting its descent. Sienna leaned toward the window, peering out at their surroundings. Mountains. One peak in particular looked familiar.
“That’s Mount Kosciusko,” she murmured. The tallest mountain in Australia, and part of the Snowy Mountains. Although, to be fair, Kosciusko wasn’t very high, and the mountains here weren’t very snowy. Where the hell was this ship going?
The ship’s vibration changed, and the vessel began to drop more steeply.
Sienna pressed her nose to the window. Ahead, lay a sweeping valley filled with a long lake. In the distance, she saw huge, white pipes snaking up over a hill. She stilled. It was a hydro-electric power station—part of the Snowy Mountain Hydro-electric Scheme. At the base of the pipes was a squat, gray concrete building that housed the turbines for the power generation.
But as the ship turned a little more, her blood turned to ice.
“What is it?” Theron demanded.
She moved aside so he could see. Near the power station, stretching out across the valley, was an army of aliens—pteros, vehicles, raptors in exosuits carrying equipment, raptor patrols. But worse, in the center of the aliens were hundreds of creepers like the one in their ship. They were milling around, among thousands of glowing orange pods.
And it looked like Sienna and Theron’s ship was about to land in the middle of it all.
***
Theron stared out the window, his jaw hurting under the strain of his frown. This was not good.
Aliens as far as he could see. They filled the entire fucking valley.
Shit. If they landed in the middle of this, he and Sienna had no chance of escape. They’d be caught, and…images flooded his head. Imagining his Sienna in the hands of the raptors…
His jaw clenched tighter. No. That wasn’t going to happen.
“We need to go.” He pulled her up.
“Go?” Her eyes widened. “What do you mean, go?”
“We have to jump.” He led her over to the door, studying the glowing control panel, and the slashes of the raptor language on it.
Her eyes widened even more. “Jump?”
“We have the wingsuits.”
He touched the controls, stabbing randomly at the panel.
Sienna shook her head. “Theron, the wingsuits aren’t designed for a jump like this.”
“You suggested jumping off a skyscraper earlier! We have to risk it.” They needed to get off before the ship reached the aliens. If they could get into the trees, they had a chance.
She muttered a curse. “Fine. My nonna used to say è meglio cader dalla finestra che dal tetto.”
The panel kept beeping at Theron. Finally, he yanked his combat knife out and stabbed the controls. Sparks sprayed out. “What’s that mean?”
“It’s better to fall from a window than from the roof.”
“Smart lady.” Next, he jammed his blade between the doors and started to pry them open. When he had enough room, he shoved his hands in and heaved, using all his strength. He managed to open the doors wide enough for them to squeeze through. Air whistled through the gap. He guessed they were still several hundred meters above the ground.
Sienna’s face hardened. “I think there—”
Guttural shouts filled the cargo area. Theron heard the thump of boots hitting the floor, and raptors flooded in.
They were out of time. Theron grabbed Sienna’s hand and yanked her through the gap and off the ship.
She screamed. As they fell through the air, they tumbled end over end, and her hand slipped out of his. He fought to right himself. Dammit.
Theron spread his arms and legs out. His wingsuit snapped open, and he slowed a little. Sienna! Where was she? Alarm rocketed through him. They had to bleed off as much speed as they could, or they’d hit the ground too fast.
He arched his head back and spotted her, her illusion system off as Roth had warned them. Instantly, everything in him settled. She was in perfect form, her wingsuit out, and focused on her descent. That was his girl.
The wingsuits had excellent maneuverability. Theron angled toward the closest trees lining the nearby hills, and away from the aliens.
The ground rushed up at them. He felt his high-tech wingsuit go rigid and expand even farther, slowing him more.
But it wasn’t enough. They were still coming in fast. Shit. Theron braced himself. This was going to hurt.
He crashed into the ground, rolling over and over. Finally, he came to a stop not far from some trees. God. He lay there for a second, stunned. He pushed up on his hands and knees, shaking his head to clear it. He tentatively moved his arms and legs, and nothing appeared broken, or badly injured.
He sat up, searching for Sienna. She was several meters away, face down on the ground. Not moving.
“Sienna!” He pushed to his feet and ran to her.
Dropping to his knees, he rolled her over. Her hair had escaped its tie, and he pushed the mass of curls off her face. Blood covered the side of her face, and his heart stopped.
Then she groaned and coughed. “I’m okay.”
He probed the cut on her cheekbone. Her eyes were still closed, but the sound of her voice made his rapidly drumming heart settle a little.
“Did we make it?” she asked.
He patted down her body, checking for any injuries. “Yeah. We made it. You have a nasty cut on your cheek.”
She opened her eyes and he cupped her face, needing to touch her.
She groaned once more. “Let’s not do that again, either.”
“Deal. Now we need to hide. The aliens will come looking for us.” He lifted his head, scanning the trees.
Sienna sat up, grimacing. “We should hike into the mountains and head north until we can get back in comms range with the Enclave. Most of this area is national park. I’m pretty sure there are a few places where there were camping areas and accommodation.”
He nodded, pulling her to her feet. “And we know the raptors don’t like the trees, so we stay in them as much as possible.”
Together, they pulled the remnants of their wingsuits off. It only took him a second to realize the illusion system on his armor was no longer working. Sienna watched him with a worried gaze.
“Must have been damaged in the fall.” He shrugged. “No time to worry about it, we need to keep moving.”
With arms around each other, they hiked to the top of the first hill. When they reached a small clearing, they looked back and had a perfect view down to the valley and of the hydro-electric power station.
As Theron took in the mass of aliens, he wished he had a camera. He tried to memorize the entire scene in front of him.
“They’ve tapped into the power station,” Sienna said. “See the cables over there…they’re running out to where those creepers are gathered.”
This had to play a part in the Gizzida’s plan. Something to do with the aliens’ secret weapon to wipe out humanity.
She stared down in the valley. “What are they doing?”
Theron gripped the back of her neck. “Trying to wipe us out for good.”
He felt her stiffen. “We keep fighting and surviving, but we’re still no closer to being rid of the Gizzida.”
He squeezed. “Hey, we don’t give up.”
She nodded.
“We stand up.” He spun her to face him. “For our home, our friends, for those we’ve lost.” He thought of his parents, his family, his fellow Rangers. “For our future.”
Her gaze locked with his. “What’s in our future, Theron?”
“Love.”
She smiled. “Is that worth fighting for?”
He tightened his arms around her. “Hell, yeah.”
Her smile widened. “You stealing Hell Squad’s battle cry?”
“Maybe.”
Then her smile faded and her gaze moved over his shoulder. “Raptor patrol heading this way.”
Theron turned. A big, squat, black vehicle with spikes on it was bouncing along the valley floor in their direction.
He pulled her into the trees. “We’ll head north. It’ll take us a few days to hike back to the Enclave.”
She nodded, circling a tree. “Our squad will be looking for us.”
“Of course they will.” Roth and Squad Nine wouldn’t abandon them. “They’ll send a drone south until they pick up the trackers in our armor.” They just had to survive until then.
They jogged through the trees, moving back down a hill. At the bottom, the trees thinned out, and a narrow road snaked between the slopes.
Theron had just taken one step out onto the road, when he heard engines gunning.
He swiveled, snatching his carbine off his shoulder. A raptor vehicle was speeding down the road toward them. Behind it were several raptor patrols sprinting their way.
“How did they find us?” Sienna yelled, lifting her own weapon.
A thousand curses ran through Theron’s head, but he reached deep for some control. “Run, Sienna. Into the trees.”
“No.”
“Go!” He injected every ounce of command that he could.
She stepped up beside him. “You just told me that what we have is worth fighting for.”
“Damn you for being so courageous.”
“I love you, too.”
As the lead raptor vehicle pulled closer, they opened fire together.