Chapter 14: Menace
After three hours of lying with Sefina, my operational parameters are back in the green. Fracture’s awake and nudges my mind that he needs some rest. He’s been keeping his scanners running just in case Sefina fell asleep. Her eyes blink slower, and I know she’s about to be.
Sweeping the loose hair from her face, I admire her in the pale light of my digibadge. The desire to taste her one more time has me inching closer.
Her lips respond to mine, confirming our last kiss wasn’t a dream.
Sefina hums a note of comfort as if she enjoys the affection. It’s an intoxicating sound that makes my titanhood hard, and me ache to feel every inch of her. But we have bigger concerns. We aren’t safe here. And I won’t do to her what so many others already have.
I wrap her up in the blanket and free the rifle strapped to her bag.
“Where are you going?” she mumbles.
“Patrol. I’ll be back soon.”
“Watch out for traps.”
I want to call her bossy or make a remark about how that’s a no-brainer. But I fell for it once already, literally. “I will. You rest. I’ll be back soon. Fracture’s watching the cave.
Sefina catches my hand as I start to leave and draws it to her mouth. But instead of a kiss, she curls her tongue around my index finger.
My ultromotor surges into action, thrusting energy into my body. The hot, wet velvet of her tongue summons a hungry growl from me and makes me think about burying myself in her despite my reservations and our current mission.
“Sefi,” I rasp.
“That’s better,” she simpers.
“How? Now I’m just going to be thinking about coming back to you instead of the mission.”
She cracks open her eyes and smiles at me. Sefina drifts off to sleep again without an explanation.
I get up and stalk out of the cave, adjust my pants into a more comfortable position for my raging erection, and lift my rifle so I’m ready to fire if I discover any movement.
The area around us is clear of any soldiers, CSP or Solcrue, and welvirs. But as I pan toward the place where we exited the tunnels, as best as I can recall, I see a flurry of creatures on four legs fighting over something they’ve caught. I don’t know what it is because it no longer shimmers or pulses.
Keeping my eyes on their movements, I hike downwind from them toward the outpost, hiding behind short trees and bushes until I’m at the border wall. I scale the cracked concrete by wedging my fingers and boots on the thin ledges and then make my way to the top. Most Solcrue build their facilities on planets the same way: two levels of concrete or metal with an open-air landing pad in the middle and at least one watchtower. This one is concrete and older than most I’ve seen.
I’m not as trusting of Sythius as Sefina is. She knows him better than I do. But I’m not waiting to find out if he’s planning to turn on us.
Menace>>Fracture: Welvirs have taken the tunnel exit where the hoverlift is parked. I’m eliminating the outpost threats I can, but keep scanning.
Fracture clicks back twice to confirm he’s received my message.
I continue crawling along the wall until I find a guard on patrol. After monitoring his movements for a few minutes to let him check in and make sure he’s alone, I drop from the wall and crush him under my weight.
I steal his ammo, guns, and voltstick, then dig a quick hole in the dirt with my hands, roll him inside, and push the dirt back over him. The process takes me a few short minutes, and I’m back to climbing the wall again. I repeat the process until I’ve cleared the border wall of on-duty soldiers, then scale the tower and set my feet down silently on the wood deck.
Slinking around to the door, I ease it open so that it doesn’t make a sound. The solcruean guard on duty sits in a metal chair, hand down his pants, watching a video of an officer taking his human anaja. His gluttonous chuckles as he touches himself makes a vicious rage boil inside me.
I ease up behind him, draw a knife from my belt, and slide the blade up against his throat.
He takes in a sharp breath and freezes.
“You should not find joy in others’ misery. That’s my job.” I make the kill quick, which is more than he deserves.
Outside, the sun’s first light touches the distant mountains. I’m running out of time to utilize the cover of darkness. I crouch at the edge of the platform and look down at the landing area and the junker’s ship sitting on the pad.
It could easily hold a hundred humans or a hefty payload.The rear propulsion looks familiar, like something from a human military ship. It’s been modified beyond recognition, but I wager it’s worth stealing if we can get our hands on it.
