A crunch.
My grip tightened on the gun. The sound came again, closer and closer, and with it the sweep of a blinding light flickering between the trees. My heart was slamming against my ribs and my stomach lurched with every noise filling the hollow of the forest. I raised the gun with both arms, trying to keep it steady despite the tremor in my body. Peering around the trunk, the light swept closer, landing directly on me in a rage of white.
For a second all I could see was light reflecting off something silver and smooth. The beam shifted slightly, and suddenly the shape of him emerged from the dark—tall, broad shouldered, wrapped in some kind of suit that gleamed under the weak moonlight.
A gun was lifted in his hand and we stared at one another for a moment. My finger tightened on the trigger.
“Drop it,” the man said, his voice muffled through a helmet speaker.
Something about it made my chest twist, but then he went completely still and the gun in his hand lowered. Slowly.
“Solace?”
The shot exploded through the silence. Everything snapped apart at once—the recoil slamming through my arm, the sharp crack, his body jerking backward out of sight as the lights flickered violently overhead. I think I screamed his name, but all I could hear was the ringing in my ears as darkness swallowed everything.
Ransom. He came.
23
Confirmed Hit
Jude
It was a near-miss. All of it.
For a moment we stood there, her in that yellow suit and World War-era gas mask, and me in my arksuit. The world was finally quiet; there was only her and me.
Us, the guns…
Our fate.
It should have been tragic, but apparently it took the end of the world for us to finally collide.
Solace collapsed seconds after her shot rang out, and for a soul-crushing second, I thought she’d shot herself. But that couldn’t be true, because there was a hole in the tree right behind me—right where my head had been two seconds earlier.
“Jesus.” I dropped to my knees beside her. “SOL full body scan.” Pulling her into my lap I wrestled with the latch on my helmet until I managed to tear it off. Hers was trickier. Her thick curls had tangled themselves beneath the rubber seal, and the mask clung stubbornly to her skin. I tried to be gentle as I eased it free. “Sorry, baby.”
The moment it came loose, I slid my own helmet over her head. It wouldn’t seal without a suit but I could get her extra oxygen, and clear, safe air. At least until I got her back to the ship. SOL’s calm voice flickeredto life, muffled through the in-helmet speaker. “Subject shows severe dehydration, caloric deficiency, and acute exhaustion. Vital signs indicate early-stage organ distress. Subject’s ARS-7 levels are dangerously elevated.”
My stomach dropped. I was in hell.
“Immediate hydration is recommended. Nutrient intake required within the next several hours. Medical assistance required.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, already scooping her up. “Working on it.” I pushed to my feet with her in my arms and started back toward the shuttle. Cold night air brushed across my face where my helmet should have been. I inhaled. The air tasted strange, thin and metallic, but it didn’t burn. I didn’t choke on ash or soot. I was probably being poisoned as we speak, but it wouldn’t take long to get back to the ship. Halfway through the trees something occurred to me—I would have SOL run an in depth atmosphere scan after I got Solace settled.
The shuttle came into view between the trees, half-buried in the dead flower fields and long-forgotten grass. Climbing through the small door, I laid her gently across the narrow bench in the back, moving buckles out of the way. “Hang on, Solace.”
The door hissed shut and the air kicked on.
I was stupid for not considering the fact that she might need medical attention, that even as I dug through the med kit tucked in an overhead compartment, I had nothing useful. I’d learn how to place an IV in the military, but there wasn’t any saline. Pulling my helmet off her head, I set it on the ground beside my knees and took a bottle of water from my pack. We’d have to do this the old fashioned way.
“Solace,” I murmured, sliding a hand beneath her back and lifting her gently into a sitting position. Her lips were cracked—split and raw. Beneath her eyelids, her eyes moved restlessly. “Solace, I need you to wake up.” With one hand I unscrewed the cap and took a small drink, wetting my own lips before leaning forward. I pressed my mouth to hers—barely a brush—enough to soften the dryness and coax her from sleep. I took another drink, then set my lips to hers.
She shifted weakly in my arms. “Solace, you have to open your eyes,” I whispered. “Wake up, love.” I pressed a kiss to her cheek and rested my forehead against hers, breathing her in. “I’m going to fix this, I’m going to make you better, but you have to open your eyes for me.”
I set the bottle against her lips as her throat worked and her mouth finally parted. Her eyes fluttered open weakly, drifting in slow, lazy circles as they tried to find something steady to land on. She was dizzy, no doubt.
“Hey—hey. I’m here,” I murmured, brushing my thumb lightly across her cheek. “Solace, it’s Jude. I need you to take a slow sip for me.”
