“Oh Christ. Please, no,” I said, my hands trembling.
Chapter Fifteen
I YANKED MY HAND BACK.
“Cy?” I said, my eyes filling with tears.
I felt over the rest of the body. The clothes were slick and tight-fitting, not at all like Cy’s jeans and shirt. What was left of the hair was very short and spiky, different from Cy’s soft waves and curls. Exhausted in every way possible, my body collapsed against the wall, and I cried quietly, covering my face with my clean hand. It wasn’t him. Cy could still be alive.
After a few minutes, I wiped my hand on my jeans and my nose on my shirt. I hadn’t felt that alone in a very long time. Cy was hurt somewhere in a strange ship, and Benji was outside, either captured or dead.
Tears spilled down my cheeks. I’d left him there to die. I should have stayed with him. Instead, I ran away like a coward. How am I going to save anyone? I wasn’t even brave enough to get into a f**king elevator.
Once my eyes adjusted, a faint red light at the end of the hallway caught my eye. I crawled toward it, over more slick-clothed bodies, through more sticky blood, and what felt like guts and bone. The red light led me to a larger room with connected desks, chairs, and darkened monitors. Maybe a control room or bridge. I wasn’t exactly familiar with spaceships.
“Cy?” I called out just loud enough for someone close to hear, hoping I hadn’t missed his body in the black corridor. I stood up. My entire body complained. My arm was covered in warm blood—my own. The rest of me was covered in the blood of others.
I leaned against a desk, beyond exhausted. I had wandered too far away from the point of the explosion. It wasn’t likely that Cy had gotten this far inside the ship in that amount of time. Rendlesham and the soldiers might have already captured him. Maybe they’d captured Dr. Z, too. I was alone in a dark busted ship, tripping over dead bodies. I couldn’t imagine how I would come out of this one on top or how, if Apolonia and Cy were dead, we would be able to stop Tennison and Rendlesham from activating the parasites.
An unfamiliar smooth voice speaking an unfamiliar language whispered something menacing in the dark, and then a familiar voice spoke back in warning.
I turned, seeing Cy and his betrothed. Apolonia was holding a sword to my throat. She was breathtaking. Her skin was a bit lighter than Cy’s, and her long black hair fell in soft waves to her elbows. It was propped up somehow from the underside and then left to cascade over like a waterfall. She had two thick braids running across the top of her head and a heavy red stripe running across both of her eyes and nose, from temple to temple, making her pale blue eyes—that were just a few shades away from white—look even brighter. Her curve-hugging crimson uniform didn’t leave much to the imagination, showing her toned shoulders, arms, and abs, and she was almost as tall as Cy. She looked both futuristic and savage.
She could be in a workout commercial or a hair commercial or a lipstick commercial, I thought as I noticed her shimmering plump lips. My day just got much worse.
“Don’t make any sudden movements,” Cy said.
“Don’t worry. I won’t,” I said, slowly holding up my hands.
“You don’t have to do that,” he said and then spoke something to her.
She answered.
“English, please,” Cy said to her.
“English feels unpleasant in my mouth,” she replied. She spoke my language but awkwardly and with a severe accent. It made her seem less frightening even though she was looking at me like she wanted to take my life.
“Put down your weapon, Apolonia,” Cy commanded. He spoke much harsher than he had ever spoken to me.
She obeyed but remained in a defensive stance.
I wanted to hug him, but I was afraid to. She could cut me in half at any moment.
“I’m so glad you’re okay,” I said. Every muscle in my body seemed to relax at the same time.
Apolonia muttered something in their native tongue. Cy reprimanded her. It was then that Apolonia pulled Cy’s arm around her neck, and I saw that his leg was bleeding. No wonder she was unhappy with my comment. He wasn’t okay at all.
“What did you come across on your way here?” Cy asked.
“A lot of dead bodies,” I said before swallowing.
“We need to get you out of here and cleaned up, and I—” Cy stopped mid-sentence, let Apolonia go, and then limped over to me, pushing me to the floor. “Hide. Under here.” He directed me under the desk. “Don’t come out, no matter what. Understand?”
“But—”
“Just listen this once, Rory! Don’t come out until I say otherwise.”
I nodded and then sat still as I heard him grunt and groan as they turned to flee. A dozen pairs of footsteps were trying to be quiet and failing as boots pulled at the sticky blood in the hallway. The sounds grew louder as they approached our location. I sank back into the leg space of the desk as they entered the room just before Cy and Apolonia were able to escape.
“Cyrus,” Dr. Rendlesham said, delighted, “who’s your friend?”
“Stay back,” Cy said.
I leaned up, peeking over the desk. Cy was standing in front of Apolonia, his palms out. Apolonia wasn’t cowering. She stood, her feet shoulder width apart and both of her arms at her side. Her chin was down, and she was staring at the soldiers from under her brow. Her ice-blue eyes glistened, even in the dim red light.
Holy shit, she is intimidating.
“Doctor, call off your men. She will kill them. And you.”
Dr. Rendlesham wasn’t fazed. He chuckled and then called for backup into a small mic on his wrist. “We have five AKs trained on her, son. In about thirty seconds, it will be twenty. You should be telling her to stand down, not the other way around.”
Cy warned Apolonia in their language, clearly begging her to be patient. Then, he spoke to Rendlesham again, “I’m asking for the lives of your men, Doctor. Have them lower their weapons. Let them go home to their families.”
One of the soldiers laughed once.
Rendlesham shook his head. “I’m giving you one more chance, Cyrus. Have her surrender the sword, or one of my men will blow her head off.”
“No. They won’t,” Cy said. He looked at the soldiers. “Please understand. The only reason any of her crew is dead is because of the explosion or impact. They’re highly trained warriors. You’re no match for her. I know you have kids waiting on you at home.” He took a step. “She is lethal. You don’t even have to put down your weapons. Just back away and leave her ship. She’s already angry that you—”