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He lifted his eyes and met mine. His irises were so dark that they approached blackness. I couldn’t help but grin at his excitement.
Kira thought she knew what to expect from a Vakarran, but she hadn’t met us yet.
Chapter Three
Kira
After two full days of monitoring the surrounding forest, I finally concluded that there weren’t any more aliens in the area. With a small sense of relief, I decided to return to the caves with Alaina for a short time and come back to my command center every other day to make sure nothing suspicious came to the surface. I set the cameras to record any unusual movements and left a few of my traps turned on, just in case any wandering Vakarran would venture right into them. My humans would never venture out this far. They’d be safe.
Alaina was thrilled to see me. I sat down with her and told her what I found and that we could inform the rest of our unit about what happened.
“I’m glad to see you back and to hear that you took care of our little problem. Things went pretty smoothly here. The caves feel much safer since we can hide the light from our fires. Plus, the woods down this way seem more plentiful with game,” she told me, and I smiled.
“It’s great to hear that. I feel a lot better now that those Vakarrans are gone. They were getting a little too close to us for comfort,” I replied as I looked around the cave. The rock was dark and moist with little rivulets of water, which made it much colder. I shivered and raised my eyes, searching for my younger sisters, Danika and Kaela. They weren’t that far off, sleeping together under a woolen blanket.
Their innocence peeked through in that moment and I smiled softly, incredibly thankful that I had been able to grant them such a life so far. I turned back to Alaina and sighed.
My stomach decided to turn that sweet and angelic moment into a supreme joke by growling so noisily that Alaina laughed out loud.
Reaching into her pack, she pulled out a piece of venison jerky and handed it to me.
“I guess you’re hungry then?” she questioned with a smirk.
“Smart ass,” I countered, but I couldn’t help but grin in return. I grabbed the jerky and took a big bite.
“It’s late. You should probably get some rest if you intend to hike back tomorrow morning and check the camera feeds,” my sister added.
I nodded in agreement.
“Are there any free bedrolls?” I asked.
“There’s one over there I set up for you. It’s kind of private and you shouldn’t disturb anyone when you wake in the morning,” Alaina replied as she pointed to a dark area behind a big boulder.
“Thanks, Laina,” I replied. “I’ll go get some sleep.”
“Be careful tomorrow, Kira,” she warned.
“I always am,” I replied with a grin. “No Vakarran is going to catch me!”
The musical sound of her ensuing laugh made me smile as I walked off. Remembering the jerky in my hand, I took another big bite and made my way over to the area Alaina had pointed to. Just like she said, she had rolled out a sleeping bag on a gym mat. It even looked like she fluffed my pillow.
She was a good sister, definitely a keeper. I’d never say it out loud, but she was probably my favorite.
I sat down on the mat and took off my boots, placing them at the side of my bedroll. Shrugging off my leather jacket, I snuggled under the covers, too tired to get changed in any sort of pajamas. I finished the last of the meat, before closing my eyes and drifting off to sleep.
The next morning, I woke up before the sun rose and I found a steaming mug of coffee waiting for me. Even though I didn’t see her, I know Alaina had prepared it for me. I wished it had some sort of creamer, but we hadn’t come by fresh milk or dairy in a long time. I got dressed and made up the bedroll, before grabbing the hot caffeinated beverage.
Drinking it black, I sat beside the still crackling fire and gradually woke myself up.
When I saw the first tendrils of light dancing on the dirt outside the mouth of the cave, I sighed and knew I had to get moving. It was time to start my day.
Drinking the rest of the coffee, I placed the empty mug down beside the fire with a few other dishes that had started to gather there. Looking around, I smiled softly at seeing all the bodies sleeping around me. I was so proud of our group and I’d do anything to keep them safe.
Venturing out into the day, I hiked back to my command center without any delays. The forest was pretty quiet and peaceful in the early morning sun, punctuated by sounds of birds cawing and singing to each other. Along the way, I filled a flask in a nearby stream with water and capped it tightly.
When I arrived at my cave, I grinned and made my way inside. Sitting down in the chair, I turned on several of the computer screens and searched the recorded footage for any indications of alien intruders. I found nothing but false catches of animals triggering the feeds or the wind moving a branch or leaves falling to the forest floor. A whole bunch of nothing. That’s what I liked to see though. It meant we were safe.
I turned on all the cameras then to look at the live feeds and didn’t see anything either, at least for the first half hour or so. I picked up the book I had been reading and settled back, when one of my alarms started to ping. With a stray yawn, I looked back up from the text on the pages to the screen and jolted with alarm.
