Danger's Race Read online

  Before I could shoot, a sound erupted from my right, and the two men were flung backward as a continuous laser line ripped through both their bellies.

  I came to a sliding stop, my mouth falling open as I turned to Gia, then looked back at the bloody men lying on the sand. “That…that wasn’t the plan.”

  She lowered her weapon, not looking at all shaken. “It was mine.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  We had to move quickly as two shouts came from the distance. There would be no hiding this scene. There was blood everywhere. The only good thing was that laser fire wasn’t loud, so it hadn’t alerted the other men.

  “You know,” I whispered to Gia as we crouched behind a fairly large dead bush, “if our plan wasn’t your plan, it would’ve been nice to let us know.” I glanced over my shoulder at the grisly sight of the bodies. If I’d known Gia’s gun was that powerful, I might not have given it back to her.

  She ignored me, instead making her way back over to Sammy, one of the dead guys. She plucked the tech phone out of his hand and stuffed it in her pocket, rejoining me behind the bush to wait for the other men to show up. Case was three meters to our left. “If I’d told you I was going to kill them,” she said, “would you’ve let me?”

  “Maybe.” I shrugged.

  She turned, spitting over her shoulder. “I hope they both burn in the afterlife. If they don’t, there’s never going to be any justice. Their deaths were too quick.” Her voice held the kind of anger that lingered and held on. Those men had harmed her, repeatedly.

  “Sam? You over there?” a male voice called. “Come up and see this. It’s our craft, but Curtis and Timmy are nowhere around.”

  “Yeah,” another voice added. “It’s weird.”

  In my mind, the only good reason they hadn’t rung an alarm to alert the entire tribe about any potential danger was because they weren’t used to having anyone drop in here. It wasn’t expected, so they were rusty.

  Being rusty was going to be their biggest mistake.

  “Do you know who those two are?” I whispered to Gia. She nodded once. “Are they going to survive?”

  She held up a single finger. “One will, if he doesn’t try to fight back.” She stared straight ahead.

  The men were coming steadily closer.

  “Sam?” one called. “Where are you?”

  “Is it strange they’re not answering?” the other one asked. “Keegan, are you at the dome?” he called.

  Yes, it’s strange. You should be on high alert.

  Gia tensed beside me, ready to spring, but before she could move, I laid a hand on her shoulder. “Let me take the lead,” I whispered. “You can have the shot, but let me make sure it’s safe.”

  She shook her head. “No, I go. This is mine.” She was up and over the crest before I could stop her.

  Case and I scrambled after her, but she’d already fired.

  A shot of retaliation followed a roar of anger.

  She’d missed her target, and we were out in the open.

  “Get down!” I shouted as I ran toward her, pulling her to the ground as I fired a shot off with my Gem. But the men were out of range. We had nothing to hide behind, no cover whatsoever except for a few brittle, dead plants.

  The men rushed toward us, their guns out. Another shot was fired. It exploded in the sand next to me, shards of scrap metal spiraling outward. He had a Blaster. We were within his reach. But I refused to get shot by one of those.

  “Gia, is that you?” one man called, slowing. “Did they take you hostage? Why do they have our craft?”

  I assumed he was the more compassionate of the two. He was at least concerned for the poor girl. His concern would hopefully slow them down. “Tell them we took you hostage,” I ordered Gia. “Then we wait until they’re within range.” I turned on my stomach, lifting my Gem, my elbows anchored in the sand.

  “Yes,” Gia called. “Help me, Kelly! They took me hostage.” She sounded convincing to me.

  The other man barreling down on us—the one who wasn’t Kelly—had some choice words. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he said. “Where are my friends?”

  “Your friends are a little busy being dead right now,” I called. “If you keep coming, you’ll join them.”

  The man didn’t even pretend to change course. Three more meters and he would be within firing range of my Gem. Kelly hung back, trying to assess the situation. Smart man.

  Before I could take down the forward progressing guy, Case’s bullet found its mark.

  Right in the middle of the forehead.

  He dropped instantly to his knees, blood already streaming from his eyes and nose. No matter how many times I saw it, there was no getting used to that.

  The other guy came to a stop, his eyes tracking from his dead compatriot, to where Case stood, his Pulse extended, to where Gia was rising from the sand, dusting herself off.

  “Drop your weapon, Kelly,” Gia ordered as she brought her laser up and aimed it at his head.

  The man looked confused, glancing around like he thought a trick of some kind was being played on him.

  “I’d listen to her if I were you,” I instructed, standing next to Gia. “Or you’re going to suffer the same fate as that guy.”

  “They’ve come to help the tribe,” Gia told the man, taking a slow step forward. Kelly looked like he was in his early twenties at most, just like Knox and Gia. “If you cooperate, you live. If not, you die. Just like Marvin and Jorgen like to say. It’s your call, Kelly.”

  The names Jorgen and Marvin seemed to snap the kid to attention. “Jorgen…will…he will kill you for this. If I don’t try to stop you…he will kill me.” His arm had been at his side, but he slowly began to lift it. His hand was shaky. I couldn’t tell what he held, but from this range it would definitely have an impact.

  I cautioned, “You don’t want to do that. If you draw on her, you’re going to leave us no choice.”

  He glanced between us, panicked, his arm almost fully up now. “I…I have no choice.” His finger began to depress the trigger. “My allegiance is to the militia. I…I have to serve my superior officers—”

  My Gem seared a hole through his temporal lobe, right above his left eye.

  It had been quick and painless.

  I glanced at Gia, lowering my weapon. “I’m sorry.” My voice held genuine remorse. “He was about to shoot you. His fear over disobeying Jorgen would’ve won out. I saw it in his eyes.”

  Gia nodded. “It’s okay. I knew he would put up a fight. Kelly never had a thought of his own the entire time I knew him. It’s too bad. He could’ve been a good kid if they hadn’t found him at such a young age. He wasn’t as bad as the others, but he would do their bidding, no problem. He deserved to die.” She turned and began to walk away.

  Case was in front. “Are there any more?”

  I followed Gia, who answered, “The other man assigned to this area goes by the name of Arliss. He is not always here, as he likes to harass the younger girls.”

  “Well, the Blaster made a lot of racket, so if he was here—”

  Gunfire exploded all around us, multiple bullets at once.

  Damn.

  I jumped back, grabbing Gia’s arm and tugging her over a short incline out of the way. We tumbled over the top, rolling in the sand. Once we came to a stop, I sputtered, “What the hell was that?” I spit tiny grains of sand out of my mouth. “Was that one person or ten?” Nobody I knew could shoot that fast.

  “It’s a military-grade machine gun from over a century ago,” Gia said, brushing sand off her front. “It’s Arliss’ favorite. He treats it like his baby.”

  More shots sounded, then ended abruptly.

  I maneuvered up to my knees to try to see over the top of the crest, but we’d rolled down too far. Case had been three meters ahead of us when the gunfire had begun. I hadn’t seen which direction he’d gone. Maybe he’d been hit.

  My throat felt thick.

  G
ia stood beside me, and we both began to move forward, up and over the hill. I grasped her wrist before we reached the top. “Let me go first. Case could be down.”

  She nodded. “I’ll back you up.”

  “Fine, just stay low.” The outskirt was a pain in the ass, but I was getting used to having him around.

  “Honestly, if Arliss was still alive,” Gia said, following close behind, “he’d be firing. He’s got a mean streak that makes him nastier than most. If your friend was down, he’d be pumping as many bullets into him as he could.”

  That was a comforting thought.

  “How does he even get century-old bullets?” I muttered as we made it to the top of the hill, crouching to stay as low as we could as we ran down the other side. At the bottom, I glanced around.

  No Case, no Arliss.

  “I have no idea,” she said. “Nobody tells me anything, remember?”

  My Gem was up, my eyes and arms sweeping the area. We began to walk, traversing another hill, ending up near the bodies of the first two guys Gia had taken down, but still no Case or Arliss.

  “Which way is their residence?” I stopped, turning in a full circle.

  Gia gestured toward the right. “Up over there.”

  “Lead the way,” I told her. “But stay close.” She’d been holding her weapon up, like I was, but I could tell her arms were getting tired. She had a telltale shake going on. Her muscle tone likely wasn’t up to keeping a gun steady for such a long time.

  As I’d thought before, they must not see very much danger around here.

  We made a wide berth around the men.

  Then Gia made a sharp turn and headed toward what looked to be a path that led up and over another short incline. Once we were at the top, I spotted the residence immediately. It wasn’t a dome, as Gia had stated. It was a low concrete structure.

  We moved closer, my hand on her upper arm to keep her close. She didn’t shake me off. There was no movement around the building. We ducked behind it. I stopped, listening.

  After a moment, I stuck my head out, calling, “Case, are you out there?”

  A short grunt, followed by, “Here,” sounded near the front of building.

  “Is Arliss down?”

  “He’s down.”

  “Are you hit?”

  “No.”

  I dropped my arms, letting out a small breath as I moved around the corner of the building. I was about to inform Case that coming to find us would be a good idea next time.

  Instead, I stopped in my tracks. “What the hell is that?”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Gia pulled up short just behind me. I reiterated the question, this time directing it at her. “What is that thing?”

  It sat in a chair outside the entrance of the residence, positioned in a way that made it look sinister, its back sharply curved, head set awkwardly to the side—like it’d heard a scary noise and turned too quickly to investigate.

  I knew it wasn’t human, but my brain was arguing with me.

  So many aspects were lifelike, including its size, coloring, and humanlike hair.

  Except, of course, that half its face was peeled off, one hand was missing, and rubbery skin hung in ribbons in several places, aged yellow with time and stained red from the rain.

  “That’s Trina,” Gia said, like seeing the gruesome robot was a normal, everyday sight. “Don’t touch her, she’s rigged. One of the scientists brought a LiveBot with him a long time ago. These guys stole it after he died and thought it would be funny to install her as their ‘bot guard.’ I wouldn’t be surprised if they took turns defiling her.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going near her,” I said. I turned to Case, who stood right outside the doorway. “Where’s Arliss?”

  Case gestured idly into the residence. “He got spooked and ran, so I followed.”

  “What do you mean spooked?” Gia asked. “Someone like Arliss doesn’t get spooked. He’s the one doing the spooking.” She headed for the door.

  Case brought an arm up, blocking her way. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  She gave him a curious look and pushed his hand away. He let her go.

  I raised my eyebrows, trying hard not to look at the spectacle that was Trina. “What happened to Arliss?”

  “He put up a fight.”

  “As in?”

  “He got more than one bullet.”

  Gia raced out of the house with a hand covering her mouth, her eyes rolling back in her head. She disappeared around the back of the residence, the sounds of her retching carrying.

  Case’s pulse gun was disgusting with a single bullet. I didn’t need to see a body with more than one. I’m certain that what was left of Arliss would make Trina look like a beauty queen.

  I glanced around. “As far as we heard, they didn’t communicate with the other militia outpost. We need to get there before they suspect anything’s going on. Let’s head back to the craft.” We began to walk, Gia following us. “You haven’t told us yet why Arliss got spooked,” I said to Case.

  “He recognized me.”

  “You mean from before?”

  He nodded curtly. He’d told me that when Dixon took out the militia Case had been involved with, some of the men had been out on runs. Arliss must’ve been one of them and had found his way down here all those years ago.

  He might not be the only one.

  Once we arrived back at the tribe’s craft, I directed my next question at Gia. “If Jorgen doesn’t live at one of the outposts, what does he do all day?”

  “Not much,” she replied. “He likes the attention of being in charge, especially after Teddy left.”

  “Does he have any predictable habits? Is he gone at certain times of the day? Does he do rounds?”

  “Nope,” Gia answered. “He likes to screw as much as possible and boss people around. That’s about it. For the most part, he’s a lazy SOB. But he’s vindictive. Cross him and he’ll carve you up.”

  “Tim said there were only five women in the tribe,” I said. She gave me a curt nod as she settled in the backseat, then looked away. “Does he keep them prisoner?” I tried not to gag from the smell inside the craft. The stench seemed worse this time, if that was even possible.

  “We each do a week,” she stated grimly.

  “Are you the youngest?”

  “Yes, but not for much longer.”

  We’d see about that. I started the craft. “Why bother making you a wife if he gets what he wants already?” I asked as I lofted us off the ground.

  She shrugged. “Because we practice the old ways here.”

  “Do the old ways include raping children?”

  “Well, no,” she grunted. “But as his wife, I’d gain status.”

  Status around here was a big deal. It was likely why anyone would agree to anything. Except Gia hadn’t wanted it. She’d run a day before her birthday. I dropped it. No reason to keep talking about it, since it wasn’t going to happen anyway. “Where do we go from here?” I asked her. “Where is the next outpost?”

  “At the other end of town,” Gia said. “Stick to the sea and you should be fine. Our artillery is located north, south, and west. Nobody has ever come from the east, so it’s largely ignored. You got lucky with the way you came in. We have sensors and bombs.”

  “So we heard,” I said. “What kind of structures are we looking for?” I veered the craft solidly over the sand, not gaining much altitude. We hadn’t heard any communication over the tech phones, but that didn’t mean we were in the clear or that these guys weren’t expecting us.

  “Two domes and another residence like the last one for the militia,” she answered. “Two scientists occupy one dome. Another scientist lived next door, but he died recently. He’d only been here for about ten years or so. He had some kind of disease nobody could cure. I never met any of them before. I just know where they live, because I sometimes go on patrols with the men who live there.”

  I turned to Case, wh
o’d up to this point been sitting quietly in the passenger seat. “How do you want to work this?”

  “We go in the same way. Land a distance away from the structures and walk in. We take them unaware,” he said. “If not, it’ll be messy.”

  I nodded. “Gia, do you think the rest of the militia with access to tech phones believed it if they heard Knox and Walt’s explanation of what happened to you and Curtis?” We had to assume others had been listening in. Thus far, there’d been no more dialogue across the line.

  “I’m not sure,” she answered with a shrug. “They should. Something like that’s never happened before, but I don’t see why not.”

  We had two tech phones on us, the one Case had taken and the one Gia had grabbed off Sammy. “Do you have more than one bandwidth here?” I asked her. “Maybe we’re on the wrong channel.”

  Case drew the phone from his pocket as Gia said, “I’m not sure.” She hesitated as she took out the one she had. “I’ve never had one before. They only have like six or seven.”

  Case adjusted the dial on his. On the second click, we heard voices.

  “There’s no way we can get out to check on them,” a male voice complained. “They took the craft. It would take us hours to get up there, and once we did, it would be full night.”

  “I don’t give a shit,” an authoritative voice said. “Nobody’s answering the phones up north. Something’s going on.”

  I turned to Gia. “Is that Jorgen?”

  “Yeah,” she replied. “He must have his own channel or something.”

  “The old man said Curtis was hurt,” the guy continued.

  “I don’t give a fuck about Curtis,” Jorgen railed. “Arliss, Kelly, Sam, Keegan—none of them are answering their phones. I don’t trust that scientist. He’s been wanting to do us in for years.”

  “He thinks it’s Walt acting on his own,” I said, somewhat relieved. “He doesn’t know we’re here. That gives us an advantage.”

  “They’re probably fucking Trina or something,” the guy guffawed.