Chapter 14 Harb’k

Of all the times for my communicator to be vibrating repeatedly, now was one of the worst. Not only were my hands full of cable, but there were spitters and a centicreep in the area, and they were looking diligently for something.

My only respite was that my shuttle wasn’t too far away. Zoey had located the closest place that would have the supplies we needed since she’d expected to be the one making the trip. I was glad now that I convinced her not to. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her out here on her own; she had survived for years with the scourge on her planet already. But humans worked in groups, and very few survived alone. I suspected that even her group would have done this as a team.

Zoey would’ve needed to hunker down and wait out the scourge while I could return to the shuttle with some finessing. The hunter in me wanted to stay and fight the scourge, and I resisted the instinct. Fighting them now would defeat the purpose. More would come, and I needed to get back to the shuttle.

Suddenly, the centicreep that had just passed my hidden spot froze. It looked up at the sky, its eyes locked on a flyer that had spotted something. They both turned and headed toward my shuttle’s location.

Shit! They’d located their prize. And they were going to get there before I did.

Thinking fast, I pulled the fist-sized lure from my harness.

With the creatures’ backs turned, I dashed out into the concrete lot, turned the lure on, and threw it away from the shuttle as far as I could before ducking back into the building. Our lures worked by mimicking the cries of a queen, which was beyond both Xarc’n and human hearing range. I hoped it was enough to distract the scourge long enough for me to get to the shuttle. With luck, every scourge in the area would lock onto that sound now.

It worked. The scourge all turned, the synchronized motion eerie and unnatural.

The communicator in my belt vibrated again as I waited for the centicreep to pass by me. Since I couldn’t run yet, I checked the screen. It was Pip with a four-word message: Zoey is a traitor .

I stared at the words, my stomach sinking, but the sudden dread filled me only for a moment because something didn’t feel right. I wasn’t particularly good at reading humans, but there was no reason for me to believe Zoey would betray me. Also, according to my communicator, my shuttle was still where I’d left it.

I peered outside again. The scourge were now fighting over the lure.

I raced toward my shuttle. As I neared, the shuttle landed by the container and uncloaked. Then Zoey was running out toward me.

“What are you doing? Get back in the shuttle.”

She launched herself at me, ignoring my words. “You made it! All the bugs turned and headed in your direction, and I was so worried.”

That rumbly feeling returned to my chest. She was worried for me? Did that mean she was starting to care?

“They were coming toward the shuttle. I set a lure to distract them.” Then, as I tried to usher her back into the safety of the shuttle, I sniffed her, trying to see if I could detect any deception. There was none. What had Pip meant?

“Not so fast. We need to attach the cables to the four corners of the container, and two sets of hands are faster than one.” Before I could reply, she was already taking the cables from me and laying them into separate piles. “Use these two for the top. Thread them through the holes in the corner.” She shoved two of the cables at me. “I’ll get the bottom.”

Not fully understanding, I watched as she made quick work of the nearest corner. Soon, we had a cable tied to each one. As I tightened all the knots, she connected the cables, and we’d turned the container into a large bucket attached to my shuttle.

Her plan was becoming clearer to me now. All we had to do was get the Object of Doom—I still thought it was a horrible name—into our makeshift bucket. We lifted off just in time to see the centicreep barreling to our position through the shuttle’s external feed.

There were several flyers after it and a spitter, but no scuttlers.

“Crap! This won’t work. We can’t hold the flyers or centicreep. The spitter, maybe, but it’s the slowest one, and that centicreep is almost here.” Zoey paced my shuttle. “Think, Zoey, think.”

“I can go fight them and leave the spitter.”

She turned to my nav screen. “Shuttle, what are the odds of that working?”

“Low. There is a high chance one of the flyers will abscond with the target object during the fight.”

Krux. I hadn’t thought of that.

“Shuttle, can you come up with several options with a higher success rate?”

I frowned. Zoey was asking my shuttle to come up with ideas. I’d never done that before.

“I’m not sure—”

“You can cover the target object with the container and deal with the scourge first. You can scoop up the target object with the container. You can let the scourge fight over it and call for backup. You can…”

“That’s it! We can scoop it up with the container! The flying will need to be precise. Those cables might break if the container gets stuck. Thank you, Shuttle.”

“I can calculate the best flight path,” my shuttle offered. “But I will require manual guidance.”

This I could do. “I will pilot.”

“Oh shit! They’re here.”

My shuttle walls were displaying the external feed, and sure enough, the centicreep was almost here. And behind it were three flyers.

I strapped into my seat, then pulled Zoey on top of me. She stifled a shriek as I fastened the harness over the both of us.

“The ride will get bumpy. You’ll need to control the weapons while I follow my shuttle’s calculated path.”

“Can we do that? We can’t both use the controller.”

“The controller and the navigation screen can be used separately.”

“Oh. No wonder the controller was behind the screen.” She grabbed the controller.

Her first shot removed a good portion of the centicreep. But as always, the creature kept coming with whatever section was still attached to the head. But then, the flight path appeared on my screen, a dotted red line that had to be followed as closely as possible, and that stole all my attention.

It was tricky. Flying too high would mean the dead flyer and the object wouldn’t get scooped up. Flying too low, I risked the edge of the container getting caught on the ground and the cables breaking. They were tied on with knots rather than properly secured, and we only had one chance.

I tried to ignore Zoey on my lap, but it was difficult. First, I had to reach around her to the navigational screen, and second, she tended to lean her body from side to side toward her target. My body was on hyper-alert.

Behind us, the container hit something. Krux! Had I flown too low? Or was my shuttle’s calculation wrong? I resisted the urge to course-correct and continued along the path, flying parallel to the ground before slowly angling upward.

In my lap, Zoey leaned to look behind us. “It’s in! We did it!”

I reported our success and promptly received a call from Sam.

She raised her brows at our seating arrangement but didn’t comment. “Good job in literally scooping up our Object of Doom.”

Great, now Sam was using that name too. That meant it was going to stick.

“But we have a quick change in plans. They are sending a few hunters your way to help escort you directly to the island they’re setting up for research. And Zoey, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the researcher requires that we keep both of you for at least five days for observation in case there are any immediate negative effects from being so close to the object.”

“But we stayed the recommended distance from it.” Zoey stiffened on my lap.

“I know. It’s precautionary. We have access to medical devices that Sanctuary doesn’t.”

“I can’t stay. I have to meet my friend. I promised.”

“It gets worse. A hunter from the Rockies group found the nest the mutated scourge came from. It’s close to Sanctuary.”

“Riley!”

“We suspect that Sanctuary has already run into these mutants. We’re now drafting a proposal, suggesting a temporary truce and partnership to stamp out this nest together before things worsen. If we don’t, Sanctuary will be the first place affected. There are hunters in the area now; one reported seeing a female arriving at the settlement riding a two-wheeled machine.”

“That has to be Riley. We both have electric scooters.”

“We will add a note to our proposal to let her know about your situation.”

As Sam spoke, two shuttles came to fly alongside us.

“Once you’re declared healthy, we will get you to her. Or her to us, depending on how safe Sanctuary will be. I promise.”

Zoey slumped in my lap. “I understand.”

“Five days will go by quickly,” Sam said.

“What about Pip? Didn’t he bad-mouth me to everyone already?”

“Don’t worry about him. I’ll get everything cleared up before you get here.”

“Thanks.”

“What is this about Pip?” I asked. “He sent me a cryptic message.”

Sam waved her hand dismissively. “Ignore it. Pip’s thinking with his feelings again. If you really need to know, your shuttle should have recorded everything.”

“I will ask it.”

“Great. See you both soon.”

Zoey relaxed back against me as the screen dimmed.

“You are stuck with me for a little longer,” I said.

“You know, now that I know Riley made it to Sanctuary safely, I don’t mind getting stuck with you. We make good partners.”

Krux! Did she even know what she’d just said?

Her words had my chest rumbling so loud it rattled the entire shuttle.