SUMMER

Despite the chill of the night air on the ice planet, I’m a nervous, sweaty wreck as we approach the ship. I hold my gun close to my body with sweaty hands, and try to stay calm. I fail, but I try at least. I glance over at Warrek, who is creeping next to me in the snow. It seems impossible, but his footsteps make no sound on the ground, unlike my crunching ones. He’s going to have to teach me how to do that sometime. He seems impossibly calm, too, like none of this rattles him.

Maybe I got all the nerves between the both of us.

A light flashes on my borrowed armband, and I pause. Warrek does, too, and we give each other uneasy looks.

“Should I push one of the buttons?” I whisper. We’re both wearing the bands stolen from the bad guys. They’re covered in a variety of small buttons with strange markings, and we’ve been careful not to activate anything, just in case.

Warrek studies his wrist. It’s now blinking, too. He thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. “We should not warn them, but we will be cautious as we enter.”

“Cautious. Right.” I hold my gun a little tighter. “Because I totally am thinking ‘cautious’ as I go in and raid an alien ship. With a gun. Did I mention the gun? Because we already shot one dude and threw another off a cliff and I’m just thinking that—”

He puts a finger to my lips, silencing me—and reminding me of his promise for “later.” I’m all flushed with anticipation at the thought, but then he points at the ship. Right. One thing at a time.

Rescue first, sexytimes later.

I nod to let him know I understand, and then we’re creeping toward the ship once more. It looks ghostly and empty as it sits on the snow, and my big blob of leather is still in the bare spot by the tailpipe. I kind of wonder if we should try jamming it again, but what if it makes something in the ship explode and no one comes out? Then we’re basically killing our friends. All of our choices are bad ones.

“You remember how to shoot?” I whisper to Warrek as we move toward the ramp. We practiced earlier, but even with all the practice I’ve had messing with the laser gun, I’m still scared I’m going to mess something up.

He nods and then gestures at the ramp. “I will go up first.”

“You what?”

Warrek grins at me. “Did you wish to go up first, then?”

“Well, no! But—”

“Then I shall go.” He glances at the lit ramp, which is disturbingly empty. “If I do not come back out or give you a signal after a hundred-count, do not come after me. Take yourself back to the fruit cave and stay there.”

“What?”

He doesn’t explain himself, though. He just raises his laser gun to his shoulder and immediately heads up the ramp.

I hold my breath, waiting.

There’s a shout. A shot rings out. More yelling.

Fuck this. I’m standing here like a doofus, waiting in the hopes that Warrek—a barbarian—remembers how to shoot his gun? I can’t. Everything in me rebels at the thought of standing around. I brace my long, unwieldy gun against my shoulder and head in after him.

The ramp itself looks deceptively peaceful, but as I go up, another shot rings out, and a laser sizzles overhead. Light shoots past, and I bite back my yelp of surprise. It wasn’t aimed anywhere near me. “You’ve got this, Summer,” I whisper to myself. “Fake it until you make it.”

I take a few more steps forward, and then I see a flash of blue skin. It’s Warrek, hiding in the shadows of what looks like a stack of strange plastic crates near the top of the ramp. He’s pinned down, I realize, as another laser flies past. I follow the source of the laser, only to see another orange-skinned alien hiding a short distance away.

He sees me the same time I see him.

And that, of course, means that I’m completely visible. There’s no room to hide next to Warrek where he’s at, either.

Well, I’m going out shooting, then. I put my finger down on the button that activates the gun, and shoot.

Aim? Not so much. But I do shoot.

My blast goes wide, but the alien ducks his head and yells something out in a strange tongue. I charge forward, continuing to shoot as wildly—and quickly—as I can. I race forward, yelling and shooting, and it takes me a few seconds to realize that the alien isn’t all that far away and I’ve somehow managed to run straight at him.

And now I’m on him. So what do I do again? I shoot. Right at his face. He falls to the ground in a spray of blood, and then I’m standing over his body.

I just killed another man. Another bad guy, I remind myself, though I still feel sick to my stomach at the thought. I’m going to have to process that some other time, though, because Warrek’s at my side, a furious look on his face. “Suh-mer! What were you thinking?”

“I don’t think I was doing much thinking,” I tell him faintly. “Can we not argue about this right now?”

Someone yells off in the distance, and Warrek gives me a frustrated glance. “You are not safe—”

“Newsflash, neither are you,” I tell him. “I’m upset I just offed another guy, but let’s get angry about that later, okay? Right now we still need to rescue our friends.”

He nods and then pulls me closer to the wall, shielding me with his body as another man rushes forward. This time, he raises his gun and almost takes out Warrek before the big barbarian shoots him, and I experience a pang of fear and a little queasiness. Why is this so easy? Are guns really the answer? You can kill someone with the pull of a trigger…it seems unfair. I hate them, and yet I’m glad we have some so we can rescue the others. After this is done, though, I’m never killing another thing. Ever.

There’s a long tense moment of quiet.

“Anyone else coming?” I whisper against Warrek’s back. Now is not the time to notice how corded his muscles are or the fact that his tail is twitching against my front and tickling me. I need to pay attention to my surroundings—well, what I can see of them from around his side.

“I do not see anyone.”

I nod to myself and put a hand on his waist, pushing him over slightly so I can scan our surroundings. We’re in what looks like a cargo area—I guess, though I’m not that familiar with spaceships myself—and there are rows and rows of long, dark crates propped along the wall. Off to one side, there’s a hallway, and on the opposite side of the room, another. “Okay, if the coast is clear, then we should probably split up.”

“No,” Warrek says, a stubborn note in his normally mild voice. “I will not put you in danger.”

“That’s cute and all, but you don’t own me,” I tell him with a little pat to his arm. “And you can yell at me later when the others are safe. For now, let’s just get this stuff taken care of, okay? There are two hallways,” I tell him, pointing at them. “You should take one and I can take one. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we’re safe. All of us.”

He sets his jaw, but nods. He doesn’t like it, but he knows I’m right. When another voice yells out, he nods at me. “It sounds as if it is coming from there. I will take that one.”

“Be careful,” I tell him.

“And you.” Then he shoulders his gun and he’s gone, moving down toward the enemy with super-quiet steps. Damn. I’m really going to have to have him teach me that.

I watch him go and then give myself a little shake. Time to get moving. I race toward the other corridor, heart pounding as I hear laser guns go off in the other direction. I need to get my shit together and stay focused. I can’t go chasing him. I have to trust that he’s okay.

The hallway I head down has a few doorways, and all of the doors are closed. I pound on the entry-pad of the first one, because I don’t remember how the old crew that rescued us opened the doors when we were first brought on the ship, weeks ago. It’s been far too long and I wasn’t paying attention.

Nothing happens, and I put my ear to the door to see if I can hear anyone moving inside. It’s silent, so I move on to the next door. This one opens up to the med bay, but the room is empty. The supplies are scattered all over the floor, and the big long table is cracked. There’s a dried stain on the floor that looks a lot like blood, but it also looks really old. Ugh. I do a quick sweep of the room just to be on the safe side and then head back out.

Two doors later, I find the cockpit.

Or at least, it looks like the cockpit. Or the bridge. Or whatever they call it in space movies. There are several chairs and stations set up—all of them empty—and screens display running numbers and foreign characters I can’t make out. One of them is busted and gone dark, and I wonder if the old crew gave them a good fight. I sure hope so. I move around the room, but there’s no one anywhere. It’s just beeping panels and flashing switches and one station that looks like it could be controls for the ship.

Which gives me an idea.

I heft my gun and aim at the terminal. If I trash this, no one’s leaving the planet. Granted, that means that me and the other humans would be stuck here forever…but we kind of thought that anyhow. This way, everyone stays for good—bad guys included. “I’m sorry in advance,” I whisper to no one in particular and hold down the button to fire my gun.

Shooting up the panels makes a lot of noise and smoke, and sparks fly as the gun toasts everything I aim it at. The lights at each station go dark, the screens overhead blip out, and the terminals start to look more like melted slag than anything else. A light flashes overhead—probably an alert of some kind.

“What are you doing?” growls an unfamiliar voice behind me. “Drop your weapon!”

I immediately drop it, and then I mentally kick myself. I should have turned around and shot. Shit, why am I such an idiot? I inwardly wince and put my hands in the air.

“Turn slowly,” the alien growls in English.

I do, and as I turn I see it’s another orange guy. They’re the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. From the rough pebbly skin to the overlarge head and the bulging eyes, it’s a hideous creature. He’s not going to be happy we killed his buddies, I bet. He stands in the doorway to the bridge area. I’m cornered, and there’s nowhere else to turn.

“Hands higher,” he snarls.

“I’m putting them up, I promise. Just don’t shoot me, okay? I really appreciate living. And breathing.” Oh god, my nervous babble is kicking in. “Though I suppose breathing comes with living, right? There’s not a lot of breathing dead people. Though there is a thing where corpses do seem like they’re breathing because of built-up gas in the lungs. I saw that on a documentary once. It turns out—”

“Shut up,” he tells me. He pushes the gun barrel toward me, just slightly. “How many are with you?”

I hesitate, and when he shoves the gun near me again, offer, “Um, I thought you wanted me to shut up? I mean, I can talk if you want me to.” A shadow moves behind him. I force myself to stay focused and not look at the person creeping up behind my captor, because I see a flash of blue skin and can guess who that is. “I’m also pretty good at singing and dancing, which might be a bonus if you’re looking for entertainment slaves. I mean, not that I want to be a slave, but I’m guessing that’s what you’re wanting us for, right? So I might as well list my assets—”

“How many of you?” he snarls again, furious.

“Um, human or sa-khui? That’s the blue guys. Because there’s a different number of both, and I assume you’d want me to clarify. Do you want to know how many humans?” I wiggle a finger, still careful to keep my hands in the air. “Because there’s me, and Harlow, and Kate, and Gail, but I’m guessing you already know about those ladies because you captured them, right? Oh, and Brooke. She’s the one with the pink hair. It’s not naturally pink, and she’s going to have some pretty fierce roots soon, but I suppose that it doesn’t really matter—”

“How many are attacking the ship?” he grits out, and steps closer to me, the gun rising higher. “Quit stalling and tell me what I want to know.”

I swallow hard, because staring at the end of that barrel reminds me rather uncomfortably just how easy it is to fire a gun and blast someone’s head off. “Coming on the ship right now?” My voice goes squeaky high. “Well, there’s me and…”

“Me,” Warrek says behind him.

There’s a loud blast, and I duck my head as a gun goes off.

For a long, breathless moment, I think I’ve been shot. Then I realize I’m fine and nothing hurts. There’s a heavy sound as the alien drops to the ground, and I squeeze an eye open. Warrek stands there, a fierce expression on his face as he kicks the alien aside and then pushes toward me. “Suh-mer. Are you safe?”

I nod silently. I think I used up all my words blabbering at the guard.

“Speak.” He cups my chin in his hands. “I will not know you are well until I hear your voice.”

I swallow hard. “I found the bridge.” I tilt my head, gesturing at the destroyed panels behind me. “And I trashed it so no one else can leave.”

“No one else is leaving,” Warrek says in a strong, sure voice. “It is done. The enemy is defeated.”