Gunfire lights up the distant trees, shredding the forest.
“Run!”
Kelta turns south with me, and we sprint toward the nearest rocky overhang.
“We aren’t going to make it!” she cries out.
I fire a shot over my shoulder, miss, and see the impending intersection of the bullets and our path. There’s one way to survive.
“I’m sorry if I hurt you.” I snatch Kelta up in my arms and darken every engine down my core and chest. Then I rocket us toward the cavern.
Kelta screeches as she tries to find a way to hang onto me.
“Neck!” I say over the roar of my engines.
She loops her arms over my shoulders as we race across the grass, between the trees, and toward the dark safety of the mountain.
Green and yellow fire punches up the dirt, filling the air with smoky clouds. A blast rips past my left ear.
Kelta glares past me as she fires up at the ship. It might not be effective, but the notion she's fighting even as we flee the assault makes my engines roar and her imprint in my core in a way no other female will ever be able to again.
Drillbit>>Thruster: Ship buried. Carving a path to your location.
Thruster>>Drillbit: Copy.
Thruster>>Holo: We’re pinned. Solo mission until we can surface again.
Holo clicks back.
“Hang on,” I tell Kelta.
“Trying.” Her voice is tight from pain or fear, maybe both.
I’m not going to be able to stop us in time. I’m going to have to take the hit so she doesn’t die. But I can’t slow or we’re a bullet sponge in the making.
Curling my body around hers, I adjust my engines so my back will hit first. I pull her knees up, tuck her into a ball against my chest and shield her the best I’m able.
The darkness of the cave falls over us. I ignite the engines on my back for reverse thrust to slow us for the split second we have, then close them up just before impact.
A pounding pulse ripples through my body. Engines sputter out. Kelta lets out a harsh grunt, and smacks her head against my chest.
I am still metal beneath my synthskin, unforgiving to human flesh and bone.
“Kelta?”
She doesn’t respond.
I shake her as rocks break loose from the ceiling and the wall we’ve crashed into. “Kelta!”
My scanners tell me the ship hunting us is circling to land and, no doubt, to fire inside the cave.
“Kelta!” Her pulse is weak, fading in her wrist. I pull her into a seated position against me and brush the loose braids from her eyes. Her skin is soft and smooth beneath the dirt and blood. Grief grips me the longer she’s in my arms and doesn’t move. “Please don’t go.”
I choke up. She might be dying because of me when all I was trying to do was save her like my Brothers.
Why does everyone around me have to die? When is this going to end?
I know she’s been through hell in recent hours, and her body isn’tbuiltlike mine. But she carries far more power in her small frame than I ever will in mine.
