A Soldier in Love Page 9

  “You first,” Kate replied.

  Chapter Fifteen

  “It’s deep but luckily it didn’t hit any veins,” Aaron said as he wrapped her arm up in a cast-like contraption.

  “I stitched you up. You’ll have deep scars and you need to rest, your body needs to recover the lost blood,” he continued.

  She nodded.

  “The others?” he asked cautiously as his light blue eyes met her emerald green ones.

  “All dead,” she whispered.

  “Damn molcos hund,” he muttered.

  Michelle nodded and looked down at her hands.

  “I’ll be back, Michelle. I’ve got to go check on something,” Aaron stated.

  Michelle relaxed against the bed as Aaron left the room.

  “I am lucky to have my arm, I am lucky to have my life,” Michelle whispered quietly to herself as she traced over the thick plaster like texture of the cast.

  There were only six left; five soldiers and The Commander.

  Michelle was deeply grateful that Aaron and Kate had stayed behind. She was grateful she had stayed behind. She wasn’t sure why The Commander had chosen those soldiers to go but he did.

  Michelle sat in silence. She wished she knew what to do.

  ***

  After Aaron completed his rounds, he gathered Kate and made his way back into Michelle’s bunk.

  “We have to be quiet,” he said softly.

  “The Commander, well, I’m just going to make this short; he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing,” Aaron whispered angrily.

  “He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He sent everyone out into certain Hell,” Kate added.

  “But what do we do?” Michelle asked.

  “We’re waiting one more day until you’re better, then we are getting off this Hell hole,” Aaron said decisively.

  “But how?” Michelle questioned.

  “Were going to the shuttle,” Kate answered.

  “But, what if we get attacked again?” Michelle furrowed her brow.

  “Do you want to stay here and starve or take your chances?” Aaron hissed.

  Michelle shook her head, “Let’s do it.”

  “OK, try to rest today. We will go in the morning. We have to get everything together we can and you have to get up to traveling condition,” Aaron explained.

  Chapter Sixteen

  The next morning Michelle awoke slightly terrified that she was going to be left on the base. She heard the sound of Kate and Aaron talking as she woke up. She was thankful they hadn’t left her to die.

  “Hey, you’re up. We’re going to get some water and then we’re leaving, OK?” Kate said softly with a small smile when she saw Michelle sit up.

  Michelle nodded and watched as Kate took all of three their canteens.

  Aaron made his way over to her beside and fastened a new cooling pack to her neck. She felt a rush of coolness overwhelm her as it meshed with her system. He cracked the cast off as gently as he could.

  “Shit,” she exclaimed as she gritted her teeth in pain.

  He put a more flexible cloth like one on in the plaster like one’s place. “Just until we get somewhere else, you know, in case you gotta use your gun. We gotta get out of here.”

  Just then Kate came back in with the canteens.

  “Did you put bleach in my cooling pack?” Michelle asked as she hesitantly stretched her left arm and fingers. She was thankful they all worked.

  Aaron shook his head.

  “No, we didn’t,” Kate said softly.

  “We just have a little left,” Aaron said with a grim look on his face.

  Michelle nodded as she slowly got up. She steadied herself and then stooped down at the edge of her bed and picked her boots. She put them on and laced them up as tight as she could. She didn’t feel great but she felt alive. Her stomach growled with hunger. She couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten.

  “Here,” Aaron said handing her a protein bar.

  Michelle took it without hesitation. She practically inhaled it.

  Michelle grabbed her rifle and fastened to her back. “So, what’s the plan?”

  “There’s a docking zone with a few other ships,” Aaron replied.

  “Are these our ships?” Michelle asked.

  “No idea,” he replied.

  “I thought we all came together on one…” Michelle said thinking back.

  Kate shook her head, “No, I came ahead of you guys, remember?”

  “We don’t know about the other ships. They said they look different from ours,” Aaron said as he led the way down the hall.

  “Guess we will have to take our chances,” Michelle murmured.

  “Let’s go get the others,” Aaron said as he took the lead.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Serik looked out the viewscreen. He could see what looked like an Earth Army vehicle approaching.

  Serik loaded his gun with the special molcos bullets and opened the shuttle door. He stepped out into the blazing heat. The heat, the cold, the snow, the desert, whatever it was he was used to it. He had been hardened through his life not to feel such erroneous details of the environment. Redex was a shithole and he wanted to get off the planet as fast as he could. He would do the deal and be done.

  “Fucking finally. It feels like I’ve been waiting forever. What kind of shit circus does the Earth Army run, anyways?” he muttered to himself.

  The Earth Army Commander had said he was sending people two days ago. He had seen no sign of anyone approaching. He decided to wait it out a few more days in the shuttle. He hadn’t brought the supplies and came all this way not to get paid.

  He saw the Jeep slow down and then come to a stop close to the docking bay.

  He shifted his gun and grenades in his hand in case of any molcos and made his way closer to the vehicle. The humans seemed to be running as fast as they could towards him. No, not towards him, towards the docking bay.

  He sniffed the air. “Shit, molcos!”

  He could see in the distance there was a molcos pack coming towards the humans. He watched as the humans tried to fight them off. He cocked his gun and made his way out to help. Serik knew they needed help. There was no way they had the means to fight the things if they were asking for supplies to ward them off. He sprinted to scene as fast as his legs would carry him.

  For some reason he thought back to his past fighting experience with goldoarg monsters in Zein. He remembered the vicious, nasty, horrible creatures attacking him and his squad. They had been left to die. The details of the fight were blurry to him as he had gone into a killing rage. He made it out, but he was the only one.

  No, no I can’t let that happen again.

  ***

  “Go,” Michelle called to Kate and Aaron who had ran out of ammunition. The pack of molcos hunds were coming closer. She could smell their stench and hear their growling noises.

  “Michelle, we are not leaving you,” Aaron yelled.

  “I’ll be right behind you,” Michelle called as she fired more shots towards the pack.

  “Run!” Bryce called out grabbing both Aaron and Kate.

  Michelle began to shoot. She quickly watched as they were able to safely run to the shuttle before focusing her efforts back on the molcos hund. She had hit several of them and knocked them down but there were three others fast approaching. She fired again and again until she ran out of bullets.

  She grabbed the bottle of bleach she had fastened to her back. She attempted to hurl some of the liquid on one that came closer. Only part of the liquid splashed onto its hide. It was the largest one out of the entire pack and it was more than angry. It let out a horrible ear piercing howl. Michelle stepped back and held up the knife part of her rifle. She didn’t know how much good it would do but it was all she had.

  She screamed in panic as it knocked her to the ground pinning her against the desert sand and a rock. The back of her head pounded.

  Surely I am dead, she thought to hersel
f as it all went black.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Serik pushed the molcos hund off of the soldier and let out a primal Baat growl. The molcos hund cowered back in fear. It left its prey and lunged at him but Serik dodged him.

  He fumbled for his gun and quickly shot the beast. It lay dead. One needed special bullets and special gun for such a vicious beast.

  “Fuck!” he exclaimed as the entire pack of the nasty creatures approached him.

  He threw a can of acidic fog toward the pack. He watched as the fog rapidly drove them back. His eyes watered and burned as the fog began to rise.

  He coughed and desperately looked around for the soldier the molcos hund had almost killed. The soldier was down, he wasn’t sure if he was alive or not.

  No not him, he saw her.

  His eyes burned stronger this time. He coughed again as the gas entered his lungs.

  Shit, I gotta get out of here and do it quick.

  He picked her small uniformed clad body and carried her out of the fog and to his ship. He held her in his arms as he ran as quickly as he could. He had to look down several times to make sure she was still there; she was incredibly light and it felt as though he was carrying nothing at all.

  He held her body close to his chest to make sure he didn’t drop her.

  Serik barely made it in the cabin with the little female in his arms. The heavy door began to come down as soon as he entered. He could hear the growls of the molcos hunds trailing not far behind him.

  He looked down at the unconscious female.

  “You’re safe now. I’ve got you,” he said softly. He knew she couldn’t hear him but the words had come out any way.

  “Sally, lock down initiate rapid mode,” he commanded his ship.

  The ship obeyed his orders as he heard the massive frames lift down and seal.

  He heard snarling and barking and a loud thump. It was coming from the outer shuttle door.

  “Fuck,” he exclaimed. The molcos hunds were trying to get through the ship.

  “These damn things just don’t give up,” he said looking on the viewscreen as they attempted to attack the ship.

  Serik looked to the unconscious female. “Let’s get the fuck off this shitty planet, right now. I knew it was a bad idea to come here.”

  He set the controls as quickly as he could. He strapped the little female in as best he could and then himself.

  “Take off initiate,” he commanded.

  “Take off denied,” the robotic voice boomed.

  “The Hell, Sally, take off initiate NOW,” he commanded again.

  “Take off denied,” he looked out the viewscreen to see the other ship launching.

  “Now, Sally, now take off initiate,” he yelled.

  “Take off initiated,” the robotic voice replied.

  “Take off in rapid mode,” he commanded as he input a sequence onto the nearby keypad.

  “Request granted,” the ship replied.

  Serik felt the familiar pull as the ship hurled them out of Redex’s atmosphere into the galaxy above.

  He took a sigh of relief. He looked at the viewscreen to the other ship that he guessed was filled with the others he had seen. He guessed that they were also soldiers who had made it out. He watched them on the viewscreen as they took off from Redex’s atmosphere, but they were going in another direction. They were headed towards another place, a place he was unsure of.

  “I guess it’s not the wrong direction any planet is better than this shithole,” he murmured to himself.

  Serik unstrapped himself and looked down at the small unconscious female. He unstrapped her from the helm of the shuttle and took her back into his arms. He cautiously brought her to the spare bedroom and set her down on the bed.

  He had studied humans briefly in secondary school. He wished he would have paid more attention instead of looking at the glossy photos of the beautiful human females. He recalled they were much smaller species than his but they shared most of the same genetic makeup as Baat. He guessed the medicine he had would work on her.

  I’m no fucking healer but Hell, here goes nothing.

  Serik ripped off the top part of her uniform. He started an IV and checked her pulse. It was slow but he could have sworn that humans had a slower heart rate naturally than that of a Baat.

  He breathed in a heavy sigh of relief when he realized she was stable.

  Suddenly, it hit him.

  Her scent.

  It was a fragrant, playful aroma. It was something he had never experienced before and it was difficult to pinpoint what her scent was composed of. The best he could describe it was that she smelled like warmth, happiness, sunshine.

  He brushed a long auburn lock of hair behind her ear. He had never seen such a color of hair before.

  He had seen some females with pink hair and a few varying shades of deep pink from Kapra but no, not like this, her hair was vibrant and beautiful. It wasn’t pink, no it was close to red but it wasn’t red. Plus the Kapratians were a cold bunch of people. Most all of the Kapratians he had ever met were stuck up and rude. They had a low tolerance for anything different, especially him.

  He studied her delicate features. He had never seen a more beautiful female in all the planets he had visited.

  He inhaled deeply taking her scent into his nose. It was sweet and slightly intoxicating.

  He looked over her uniform.

  Surely, she is not a soldier. She is far too tiny and delicate to do any good. What sort of planet let’s their females fight their battles?

  He looked over her features again.

  I hope you make it baby, let’s see if I can fix you up.

  He sighed when he realized she would probably be terrified of him when she awoke, that is if she awoke.

  I’m one ugly mother fucker and she’ll probably scream when she seems me, he thought to himself remembering the incident with the exotic dancing girl on Jax.

  What female wouldn’t be upset when she sees me?

  Most females got away from them as soon as they could. His looks were a sign of evil in all of the universe it seemed. It had caused him a rather lonely and hermit-like existence on his ship. He thought back to his deep green scars a few which were on his face from a fight with goldoarg monsters in Zein.

  Humans…

  Humans, his mind raced as he tried to think of how their bodies worked.

  They’re smart but not as technologically advanced. They didn’t do as much space travel as us. They are similar to us except their blood.

  She’ll be OK. They are a durable species.

  He didn’t even know the little female but he desperately wanted her to live.

  You have to make it, you just have to.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Serik checked over the sleeping female. She was still unconscious but she was still stable.

  He looked over her again and inhaled her sweet scent. It drove him mad with wanting and desire. He imagined her little body under his large one calling out his name.

  OK, OK, I have to stop, he shook his head.

  She will never find me attractive. Humans don’t even mate with those outside of their species. Plus, I am much, much larger than a normal human male. I’ll probably scare the shit out of her when she seems me. If I remember correctly from school it seemed that the human culture put a high emphasis on looks and I’m one ugly motherfucker. Did I just forget most girls run from me? Did I forget everything she’s just been through? God, I’m such an idiot. What’s wrong with me? I gotta just focus on getting her better. I’ve been out here too long by myself.

  Serik thought back to his lonely existence. It wasn’t just the exotic dancing girl on Jax who had rejected him. Like most males on Baat, he knew he would be alone most of his life. Only, 10% of the total population was female.

  Serik knew he wasn’t considered attractive to his people. His mismatched colored eyes were a sign of evil in his culture, Hell, in most of the universe it was a sign of bad luck
. They had been left to him by his father, a man he had never known. He knew he’d never be selected by a female. When he was younger he had fought many battles and had signed up for me exploratory campaigns in the name of the Baat. He figured he would never mate, he’d never bear offspring, so he might as well. His large body carried many scars for the fighting he had done.