Burn Out (11 page)

“She’s a piece of work. I can’t believe you and her—” I clamped my mouth shut.

“Can’t believe we what?” He faced me and looked genuinely confused.

I gulped. “I thought that you two … you know, used to … go out or something.”

Shock crossed his face. “Hell, no. What gave you that idea?”

Blood rushed to my cheeks. “I heard her say that you needed your space and I assumed …” I stopped, realizing how lame I sounded.

I felt his eyes on me as we walked toward the front of the ship. He had to notice the scorching blush across my face, and his silence made it worse. After another small eternity, he said, “I like my space … from everyone. It’s not specific to Britta, although space from her is a bonus.” Before I could ask anything, he rushed on, “You had a sister too, right? Markus told me.”

I remembered the photograph from the drawer. Where was he going with this? I played dumb. “Yeah, I did. You mean you have a sister too?”

“Had.” He looked straight ahead while he talked. “Then you would understand how losing people can change you.”

I wanted to ask more but we reached the main door and found Markus waiting for us.

“Where’s Britta?” Markus asked.

James and I exchanged glances. James explained about Britta as the ship rumbled beneath us and lifted into the air. Looking out the window, I watched as we rose over the ridge, almost skimming the ground. The boulders near the shelter door were visible, and thankfully, the Consulate ship was nowhere in sight.

Another minute and we touched down. The winds remained still and the first cracks of sunlight punched through the darkness. Dark red streaks of light permeated the sky, relentless in their assault on the night. The bright orb blazed open like the eye of an angry demon. It would overtake the night, day by day, piece by piece, until there was no more dark. Someday soon it would be everlasting daylight, all day, every day. Blazing light with no reprieve, until it swallowed the Earth and burned out completely. Only then would it be eternal night.

The ship landed less than twenty feet from the shelter door. We moved quickly in the cold. I carried the lightest bag due to my injury. I pressed my thumb to the door lock and it clicked open. Kale and Markus carried a bound and still-unconscious Britta to the shelter, then ran back to the ship for a few more supplies. I would have been fine with leaving her for the Consulate, but Kale thought they’d kill her. It figures they’d decide now was the time to get all ethical.

I stood watch atop the ladder. As James returned with his final load, Markus and Kale ran toward me with their bags. Their heads jerked up to the sky in unison. I turned around to see the giant Consulate ship rising from the east. It was heading right for us.

“Run!” I screamed. I pulled my gun from my waistband. I had to close the door or they’d kill us all. The ship’s guns began firing as Markus reached the door. I moved to the side as he jumped straight down to the floor of the shelter.

Kale followed close behind but the ship bore down fast. The laser pulses came closer to me and I screamed for Kale to jump. He did.

The ship fired and hit the large boulder by the door, which sent shards of rock flying. A piece of it hit Kale as he fell through the hatch door. I shot at the ship and grazed one of its wings. A small plume of smoke billowed out, yet it remained airborne.

“Hannibal!” Kale screamed as he fell down the entryway, landing with a hard thud at the bottom of the ladder. After firing one last shot at the ship, I scrambled inside and pulled the door closed behind me. The groan of the lock sliding into place echoed through the shelter.

James was already at Kale’s side by the time I reached the bottom rung. Markus hobbled over, having sprained an ankle in his own jump. “How bad is he?” I asked James.

“He’s just fine, thanks,” Kale responded. His leg bled profusely from a large gash on the back of his calf.

“At least we have the supplies with us,” said James. “Tora, can you hand me that bag?”

I tossed him the bag, glad that I wasn’t the one whose leg looked like it had been turned inside out. At least there wasn’t as much blood with my injury. I didn’t do so well with blood. James worked quickly to stem the flow. To my eyes, it looked less like a laser wound and more like his leg had been gutted. Kale didn’t refuse the pain meds like I had, but my wound hadn’t looked like his. James pulled a small, shiny disk from the bag. When he turned
it on, a triangle of red light emanated from it.

Markus leaned closer to get a better look but James put his arm up to stop him. “I wouldn’t get too close to this if I were you.” He aimed the red light at the back of Kale’s leg, moving it slowly up and down the sliced open area. Even with the painkillers, Kale grunted in agony. The device was piecing his leg back together.

I gasped. I’d never seen anything like this before. Then again, my father specialized in weaponry, not medicine. “Wow,” I said. “It’s like energetic stitches.”

“You’d think it’d be less painful than the regular kind,” Kale said through gritted teeth.

James looked apologetic. “No, but the beam also sterilizes the area. Stops infection, which is the worst that could happen in a case like this. This way, you won’t lose the leg.”

Kale’s eyes widened. He clearly hadn’t considered that prospect. James worked so methodically and calmly that I realized how lucky we were to have a medic like him around. I only hoped we wouldn’t need him again anytime soon. As great as the laser stitching contraption might be, I had no desire to have it focused on any of my body parts.

James finished bandaging Kale’s leg. “You need to stay off it as much as possible. Try to get some rest for a few hours. Markus, I’ll check out your ankle in a sec.”

“Thanks, I’m thinking I owe you my life,” said Kale.

“Then I guess we’re even.”

James owed Kale his life. I so needed to find out the details of that story. Markus and James helped Kale to his
feet. Kale put an arm around each of their shoulders, and they started to move him to the couch. That was when the bomb hit.

Either the Consulate ship was no longer afraid I’d use the weapons or they thought breaking out their own bombs first would blow the shelter door off pretty quickly. A sonic boom rattled the entire shelter. Britta moaned, as if she was fighting her way back to consciousness—in her typical whiny fashion. A cup fell off the table, skittering across the floor. The W.A.R. machine moved several inches from its station but remained intact. Markus stumbled, almost bringing down Kale and James with him. He braced his hand against the wall to steady himself, a slew of curse words streaming from his mouth.

I grabbed onto the chair in front of me for support. The vibrations of the bomb continued to resonate through my weak ribs. I looked skyward at the hatch door. This was some serious stuff they were dropping on us. If that door didn’t hold, I wouldn’t have to worry about fending off Kale and keeping him away from the guns. I’d be too dead to care.

A
HALF AN HOUR WENT BY WITHOUT ANY NEW BLASTS
. K
ALE
had fallen into a heavy sleep thanks to the meds and we’d moved him to my sister’s sleep chamber. I’d tucked James’ shirt into my satchel where it wouldn’t be discovered. Markus suggested everyone try to get a little shut-eye, and despite the fear of bombs overhead, I’d barely made it to my sleep pad before drifting off. I didn’t know when I’d get the chance to rest again, so I had to make this nap count.

Markus, James, and I sat in the study, while Britta’s whining could be heard all the way from the front room. She was demanding to be released from her restraints. I sat as far from Markus on the bench as I could, while James sat across from us.

“Can’t we tranquilize her again? Maybe use some duct tape?” I begged James. He chuckled, which meant he thought I was kidding.

“How’s the ankle holding up?” James asked Markus. He’d wrapped it and said the sprain seemed minor.

“It’s holding I guess—just hurts like hell. I gotta say I’m a little worried though.” Markus pointed upward where the Consulate was likely preparing a new attack. “We’re all injured to some degree, except for you.” He nodded at James. “It’s only a matter of time before they get down here.”

All I knew for sure about the door was that my father had it made special for the shelter. It looked and felt like some sort of super-metal, but I’d been so young at the time. I only recalled him telling me it would keep us safe. Though it had proven to be quite bomb-resistant, Markus was right. No matter how strong the door might be, it couldn’t hold up forever. If the Consulate managed to either successfully bomb or otherwise compromise the door, they’d get down here. If they got down here, we’d all be toast. Unless …

Markus seemed to read my thoughts. “Look, I know your feelings about the weapons. You’re the only one that can use them, so maybe it would be a good idea to get a bigger gun to use against those burners.”

Several of the guns in containment could take out any Consulate jerk who tried to get down here. Others could take down their whole burner ship. One in particular would take out pretty much everything. The problem?

As soon as I opened up my secret room, it would lose the secret part. Nothing would stop Markus or Kale from taking the whole arsenal. I didn’t know what good it would do them, but maybe they’d guessed it was possible for the Consulate to reprogram the guns. Hell, I worried about that myself. So maybe Kale thought they could still bargain with them. The power of the bombs coming down told me the Consulate was done bargaining.

“I don’t know, Markus. Not that I don’t trust you and all, but, well, I don’t.”

Britta’s screeching started again, a high-pitched whine about her discomfort. I smiled sweetly at Markus, “Can you go deal with her, please?”

Markus stood. “Fine.” He looked at James on the way out. “Can you please talk some sense into her while I’m gone?”

I steeled myself for the lecture about why I should bring out the big guns, so to speak. James watched me, not saying anything. He was no Markus, I’d give him that. I didn’t want to talk about the guns anyway. I wanted to talk more about his sister and ask about the picture. Since I couldn’t ask him that, I wasn’t going to say anything. If he wanted silence, fine. I was done being the conversation starter.

My silence lasted two whole minutes. I totally broke first. “Why aren’t you trying to convince me to get the guns?”

James glanced toward the hallway, like he didn’t want
to be overheard. “Because I’m not sure that you should. I don’t think you can trust them.”

Them? “You say that as if you’re not with them, as if you weren’t shooting at me twenty-four hours ago.”

“I didn’t.”

The air went out of my lungs. “What?” I whispered.

He stared down at the ground. “Markus showed us a picture of you back on Caelia, it was on his com device, and—”

“Hold up. Markus has a picture of me? From when?”

James’ eyes briefly met mine before looking away again. “I don’t know. You looked so sad and … anyway, when you came out of this shelter, even though you had the suit on, I kept seeing the girl in the picture. I couldn’t shoot.”

It took a minute before I remembered Markus’ visit right before he left to find Caelia. Markus had pulled his tele-com out of his pocket and aimed it at me. “Smile, Tora, so I have something to remember you by if I don’t make it back.” I hadn’t smiled. “You better make it back. You’re my Plan A for getting outta here,” I’d told him. I hadn’t mentioned Plan B.

Had he known then what he was going to do? Was he already planning to steal the guns?

“I don’t know, James. It sure seemed like gunfire was coming from every suit out there.” I wanted to believe him but how naive would that make me?

“Oh, I shot all right. The ground, the rocks near you, but not you. I’m a pretty good shot. I knew the others
weren’t aiming to kill anyway, so I figured I didn’t need to help.”

Arrogant much? “So you’re saying if you had tried to shoot me, you could have.”

He replied with a shrug. Infuriating, yes. But if what James was saying was true, he’d never tried to hurt me.
Yeah, but he let other people try to hurt you
.

His eyes gleamed as he studied me. “Of course, if Markus had said what a pain in the ass you could be, I might’ve aimed differently.”

I smirked at him. “You’re pretty funny when you want to be.”

He smiled but his words were heavy. “Thanks. Not much opportunity for funny lately.”

“Where’s your family?” The words flew out of my mouth before I could grab them back. I gulped. “I mean, you mentioned having a sister too.”

“I don’t really like to talk about it.” His eyes hardened.

I ignored the surge of sympathy that welled up. I needed answers, not the silent treatment. “Okay, so then let’s talk about why your things are in the captain’s quarters, shall we?”

James leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, hands clasped in front of him. Against my better judgment, my heart pounded at the close proximity of our bodies. “You ask a lot of questions, you know that?” His eyes drilled into mine. “Okay, I’ll tell you, but then I have a question for you.” He looked down at his hands. “So my sister—”