Nathan Hystad - The Survivors - Books 1-3

Mae took a step through the room’s exit and into the hallway, taking the time to turn toward me and give me a small grin. Then she fell to the ground. My brain didn’t understand what was happening until I saw the pulse rifle wound through her uniform, blood spilling down the metallic floor grates.

“No!” I yelled, grabbing my rifle from the ground.

“Target down. I repeat, target down.” Slate’s voice echoed from my earpiece and down the hall.

“N ick, get your ass down here, stat,” I called into my earpiece as I ran into the hallway. Kneeling at Mae’s body, I checked for a pulse, and felt a light heartbeat.

“You okay, Dean?” Slate asked, setting a hand on my shoulder.

I swiped it off with an aggressive elbow. “You son of a bitch. You didn’t have to shoot her!”

“What are you talking about? That was our mission. I saw the target and took her down.”

I stood up, lifting my head to look up in the soldier’s eyes. Grabbing his collar, I pushed him against the wall, which normally would have been impossible, but he seemed to let me.

“It was your mission, not mine! I never asked for any of this. I’m an accountant from a small upstate New York city!” I shoved him a few more times, and he stood there, allowing the barrage of yells and abuse.

Nick came running down the hall, a panicked look showing even through his helmet’s face mask. It was one thing to green-beam down somewhere for the first time, but he walked into a place with melted aliens on the floors, a shot hybrid beside us, and me screaming at Slate.

He moved past us, going quickly into trained doctor mode, and opened Mae’s uniform up, seeing the gaping wound in her stomach. He checked her pulse and looked up with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry. She’s dead,” he said, his voice small.

“She had a pulse. Revive her!” I yelled at him now.

He shook his head. “There’s nothing I can do for this.” His eyes went from me to the deadly wound.

Mary’s voice came through my earpiece, and I couldn’t even comprehend the words. I was surrounded by death once again, and by all accounts, there was no one to blame but myself.

“I’ m sorry, Dean.” Mary sat on the edge of the bunk where I lay curled under the blankets. Two days had passed since the outpost adventure, and I still felt like a mess. Slowly the fog was lifting, and like anything, I knew the pain would eventually dull and pile on top of the rest of my life’s memories, both good and bad.

I turned, looking her in the eyes. “Thank you.” I had told her everything that transpired between me and Mae. She went on the emotional rollercoaster alongside me, as I talked then, and I was so happy she understood. We shared a bond; we had both married a hybrid and were in very similar mental states about it. Only she had never felt like Bob was truly in love with her, especially after learning the truth of their motives.

“We’ve downloaded everything from their computer databases that we could. I imagine we’ll learn all we ever wanted to know about the Bhlat with it.” Mary slid her uniform off and slipped into the bed with me. Her body was cool against my warm, blanket-covered chest.

“All the explosives are in place. We can blast them and erase all the evidence we were here. I don’t see how they could track any of this back to us. Clare’s good to bring the Kraski ship back?” I asked. We’d discussed blowing it up with the rest of the outpost, and their ships, but decided it was a valuable resource we shouldn’t part with if possible.

Mary was face to face with me, her breath sweet and fresh as she spoke. “She is. Slate will go with her.”

At the mention of the soldier, I closed my eyes, seeing Mae fall to the ground. I couldn’t stop seeing it.

“That’s good. Probably for the best,” I said. “If we’re here, who’s setting the explosives off?”

As if on cue, Clare’s voice came from the speakers on the wall. “Are you guys coming for the show?”

“Just video-record it. We’re busy,” Mary said, and we heard the line of communication close with a beep.

“We are?” I asked.

Instead of answering with words, her lips found mine, and soon I saw there were ways to find happiness still in the midst of so much loss.

“A nd how is Slate going to fly the ship by himself?” Mary asked Clare. We were standing on the bridge, all in uniform, even though I wished I could be wearing anything but the Earth Defense badge at that moment.

Clare shrugged. “He said he could handle it. I imagine he has some military stims or something. The ship does have somewhat of an autopilot when we’re in FTL and not needed to maneuver. Plus, he’s really cranky.” Her eyes locked with mine for a brief moment before she looked back to Mary.

“What about Nick?” I asked.

“What about me?” the doctor asked back.

“Couldn’t you go keep him company? It’s only a couple of weeks,” I said. As much anger as I felt at Slate for shooting Mae, I couldn’t really blame him.

“Let’s get through the first wormhole and convince him to take Nick or Clare on board.” Mary’s idea was a good one.

Mary sat at the helm and communicated over to Slate that we were leaving. Slate was already in the Kraski ship alone, having flown it into space before detonating the explosives below. I looked to the images where the Bhlat outpost once sat, and it was nothing more than rubble and small craters.

The wormhole wasn’t far, so we didn’t hop in FTL like we had to beat Mae only hours before. Only hours. I couldn’t believe it. It felt like a week had passed since we’d approached the outpost. We all sat on the bridge, our task done, but somehow, I couldn’t help but feel like we hadn’t accomplished much. We’d found out what the hybrids were up to. I learned that Mae was the one to kill those guards in cold blood and realized that Mae was right. There was no coming back for her after that, unless we lied about it, and by doing that, we would have pinned it on Leslie and Terrance, who would never have their voices heard for the hybrids.

I wondered if President Dalhousie would let the hybrids leave. I hoped for their sake she would. They had been through so much. Created to deceive humans, then asked to sacrifice themselves and fly into the sun with vessels full of billions of us. Now we kept them in a cage, pretending everything was normal. It wasn’t. If she didn’t let them leave, I was going to make it happen.

“We’re here,” Mary said, slowly flying us to the wormhole.

“Wait, what is that? I asked, seeing a yellow icon appear on the map. It was nothing more than a glowing circle, moving quickly toward us.

“Slate, we have incoming,” I said through the ship’s comm-link.

“I see that, boss. I don’t expect it to be a welcoming party. You guys head into the wormhole and stick to the plan. I’ll hold them off.” Slate’s voice was grim.

“We can’t do that. We’ve already lost one of our own.” I wished I could take the words back as soon as I said them.

Mary zoomed on the approaching ship, and it matched the ones parked at the outpost. Probably a Bhlat ship on a supply run. They may have gone home to find everything gone, and now they would be seeking revenge.

“Just do it.” Slate’s ship veered off from our path to the wormhole as he attempted to take the Kraski ship away and lead the Bhlat with him. We were almost invisible to their eyes, but we didn’t know much about their sensors. Since we’d been able to sneak onto their outpost without them knowing, we most likely would be safe hiding in plain sight from them.