PART ONE
Location: Neverwind CampusTime: 2038 (1 year after 4th Planetary War)
Everyone had attended the school dance. Neverwind Academy forced all of its students to attend. It only happened once a year after all. Even so, I'd rather have been riding my horagon Roxy. Horagon were the latest species released from the government controlled bio-labs. They were a unique genetic mix of horse and dragon. Closing my eyes, I imagined the feeling of wind in my hair, feeling the soft leather of the saddle. Instead, I was sitting in a hard plastic chair in my school's gymnasium
Their were streamers on the walls, an extremely antique disco ball that dropped just above the dancers heads, and strobe lights that flashed brightly on the stage where the band was playing a slow song. On one side of the gym were the boys, talking loud and trying to get the girls attention. On the opposite side were the girls, giggling and pointing at the boys' antics. Yet, one by one, all the girls around me were asked to dance. The only people not dancing were an actually cute guy named Sterling and me. Sterling had long jet-black hair that always seemed to fall exactly into place. He was tall with a lean build and fairly tanned skin. Being partly of Asian blood, he also wore the uniform spiked collar of a novice warrior. His flint gray eyes flickered as he caught my stare and he calmly got up out of his seat to walk toward me. My heart caught in my throat. He stopped before me and just as he was opening his mouth . . .
BOOM!!!
The entire wall on the other side of the gym exploded! Girls were screaming as the guys ran to protect them. I stood up, ready to run.
As the smoke and dust cleared, forms began to take shape. There were about ten pairs of neon yellow eyes staring back at us. Definitely not human. They were hunched over and stocky with thick, powerful tails. They leaned on their hands for support, but I guessed that they probably ran on two feet. Their scaly skin was the color of molten lead. Standing upright they would be close to seven feet tall. Their heads were thick and triangular with large crooked fangs that protruded from the upper lip. Translucent film attached between flexible spines ran the length of their musty bodies.
The room froze, shocked by the sight of the strange creatures. Then on some unseen signal they attacked. Everyone ran as the beasts dispersed. One came for me at a loping run, eyes and jaws wide. Something grabbed me from the side and pulled me out of the path of the monster. Looking up I saw that it was Sterling. He yanked me to my feet and we ran for the nearest exit. It was the longest and worst moment of my life. We had to run past friends, teachers, and faculty literally being torn apart limb by limb.
"Skree-yaaa!"
Suddenly from the left came a flash of fangs and fury. It leaped at Sterling and bore him to the ground. I stopped in my tracks. On the wall was an old saber pike used for sparring in gym class. I grabbed it and with all my strength, jabbed the dull spike into and through a soft spot on the creature's neck. It screamed and thrashed wildly at its throat as it fell off of Sterling gasping for air. I helped my classmate up and together we weaved our way out of the gym into the teacher's parking lot. To my dismay, most of the cruisers had been destroyed or plain messed with enough to not be operational ever again.
Clutching at his torn side, Sterling scanned the lot quickly before asking, "Do you have a telecom?"
I shook my head no. There had not been any pockets on my dress to bring it with me to the dance. If he didn't have one on him then we were stranded. The Academy was kept far and secret from the normal public.
Muttering an oath, he grabbed my wrist roughly and led me in an easterly direction toward the dorms. Why go there? I thought. They were locked during mandatory academy events. I twisted and yanked my arm out of his grasp. Stopping his mad run he turned on me with a scowl.
"I'm not a little girl." I snapped. "I know how to run on my own." With an annoyed glance, Sterling turned and began hobbling toward the dorms again. "I also know that the dorms have been locked. There's no way of getting inside."
This news stopped my classmate cold. In a rage, he slammed his fist down on the near wreck of a teacher's cruiser, leaving a gaping dent in its frame. I understood his anger. We had only too recently moved Earth again after the fourth Planetary War and had been promised peace for many more years to come by our ruling president. Even though this was the second time, moving Earth still caused innumerable damages to continents, weather patterns, and time.
"How could the Ghive have found us so quickly?" Sterling muttered. "Last time we retreated, we left two entire task forces to cover our escape."
"The forces must have been defeated." I suggested.
"So quickly?" Sterling demanded. "This quickly? That's impossible. Especially without the Academy's knowledge."
I motioned for him to follow me as I walked briskly in the opposite direction from the dorms and toward the stables. "What matters now is getting away from here."
Catching up to me quickly, Sterling made a suggestion. "If we can make it to the training bunker, we may be able to meet up with the kids in detention." He grasped his side again in pain. Blood was beginning to stain the fabric of his shirt. "They weren't allowed to attend the dance."
I averted my face. "Wish I'd been one of them." I muttered. From what I understood, the detention class had actually left to the bunker more than a month ago. "Do you have a mount in the stables?"
He scowled at me again as if I should already know. "Of course," he said. "All Asian warriors are assigned a uniger mount for land battles."
Growing tired of his elitist attitude, I picked up speed, leaving him struggling to keep up with his wound, and made it to the stables first. Roxy purred to me as I freed her from her stall. Her glossy mix of silver fur and blue tinged scales reflected the light of the setting sun as I proceeded to saddle and bridle her. While not the fastest bio-species created, horagons were extremely graceful and seemed to possess unmatched intuition. Whereas, Sterling's uniger, a cross between a lithe unicorn and burly tiger, was bred specifically for the war.
"Hrrssssssssssss!" Roxy hissed in warning and jerked backward in fright as a massive white and black striped creature came lumbering out of the stable. Peering closely, I saw that it was Sterling affixed just ahead of its shoulder blades. He pulled sharply on the reins and the uniger skidded to a halt.
"Get out of there!" he shouted above his mounts deep snarls.
Glancing behind me at the open maw of the stable I was taken aback as four Ghives streamed out, their spines laid low across their backs. The nearest one spotted me and leaped. I covered my face instinctively. But before it could fall on me, Sterling and his uniger were there. They collided with the scaled monster mid-flight and landed in a mess of claws and teeth. The other Ghives circled the fight, furtively stepping in to risk a bite at the unigers haunches.
I climbed atop of my horagon and quickly gained control of the frightened mare. Kicking her in the sides and clicking my commands, we charged into the melee. Roxy galloped into battle, swinging her razor sharp tail into the Ghives soft necks and underbellies. One was trampled under her sharp hooves as it tried to make a grab for Sterling. Another succumbed to the uniger's venomous bite. Before long the battle was over. With sweaty nods to each other, we urged our mounts into the tangle of the surrounding forest where darkness and death were waiting to meet us.
"Ouch! I think another of those little bloodsuckers just bit me!" Sterling complained. He slapped his thigh again in annoyance and kicked his uniger in the sides to quicken the tired animal's pace.
Brush and sticks popped under the paws, claws, and hooves of our mounts. Thick treetops blocked most of the moonlight, leaving only the light of our flash rods to guide us through the virgin forest. I began to grow more and more concerned as the hours lingered past one after another. If we had taken the main trail we would have been at the bunker a while ago. As it were, we were traveling in only what Sterling and I could come up with as a general northerly direction.
The way Neverwind Academy was set up; it was supposed to be unfeasible, with outposts at each main direction of the compass and smaller watchtowers at the lesser directions. A high tech satellite tower atop the science building was designed to warn against invading vehicles and aircraft. In the most unlikely case that there was a breach in security, tunnels had been dug underneath the school that led to the outposts where students and teachers could hole up and wait for backup. Unfortunately, the location of the tunnels from the school had been kept secret from the students in order to keep those who liked to party from leaving campus. The teachers and staff were the only ones who had access to them; and if I remembered right, all those teachers had been in the gym. Who knew if they were still alive.
My name is Makena, first in my class major of short-range weaponry and infiltration. Before today the only battles I had yet been a part of were in gym class sparring. I'd come to the Academy at ten standard years of age and had lived there ever since; rose to be an elite warrior, to serve my planet in the case of another Planetary War. Another of which had been promised to never occur again. If Sterling was right—that the Ghive had indeed found us again—then it was more than likely that that promise had been more or less a lie.
I studied Sterling from the corner of my eye as I followed behind the uniger, which I now knew to be named Rottiger. If true, the rumors I had heard about him meant that he had much experience with death. Supposedly, he was behind the death of four first-years 6 years ago on a class trip to the mountains. Failing to find enough evidence of this however, the Academy had been forced to let him continue his education. He was one class above me and known quite well for his looks—as well as his attitude. He didn't have any friends that I knew of.
"Hey! Are you listening to me?"
I blinked myself back to reality to find those angry gray eyes—yet again—scowling. "What?" I asked irritably.
He rolled his eyes and faced forward again in his saddle. "I said if you see or know of any place to rest let me know."
I pressed my knees harder to Roxy's sides and clicked a quick command to her. She deftly leaped around and in front of the larger uniger. I swiveled around in the saddle. "Follow us, she can smell caves nearby."
Before long we stopped at a dense splattering of caves and boulders at the foot of a tall rocky mountain range. Finding a hole and cavern big enough to fit two bodies in took another hour. By then we were exhausted. Roxy and Rottiger lay down to rest under a nearby stand of trees while Sterling and I struggled to build a fire at the mouth of our cave.
The wind was stronger than we first thought. With every attempt at creating a flicker of flame, it was extinguished. Giving up, Sterling sat down next to me. The cavern was so shallow that we were forced to get very close.
I sighed in exhaustion. The shock of what happened at the school seemed to just now be dawning on me. I shook my head and traces of tears fought their way through my closed eyelids. My best friends, my only friends, were dead. My teachers, who had also substituted as parents, were dead.
Sterling glanced at me a second then frowned and looked away. After a few minutes he said, "Go to sleep."
Angry at his nonexistent charm or understanding, I shoved him away from me and crossed my arms over my raised knees, burying my head in-between them. I shuddered involuntarily when a cold gust of air brushed my neck. Something heavy and warm fell over my shoulders.
"There," Sterling said, face averted toward the entrance of the cave. "Now will you stop crying?"
My anger with him blowing away with the wind, I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep—warm under his long arm.
The next morning, only five hours after we had successfully fallen asleep, we were back in our saddles. I brushed the sweat off of my forehead with the back of my hand. What had been a chilly night had turned into a muggy day.
Sterling and I rode side by side making idle conversation. Actually, as I recall, I was the one making most of the conversation.
"So have you actually been in any real battles?"
He didn't so much as glance at me.
"Ever been off campus?"
I got a flutter of his eyelids in response. Giving up, I urged Roxy ahead of our procession and into a slow canter. Cantering on a horagon is a lot like flying I'm told. Sterling made no move to follow and continued on in his slow set pace.
It's so peaceful here, I thought. The only sound above our crashing through the brush was the wind through the overhead leaves. There was not a bird, bug, or small mammal to be seen or heard. Totally unordinary in these woods. Stang, I thought. We're being hunted.
I yanked hard on the reins in an attempt to turn Roxy around. She slid so quickly to a halt that her haunches almost rubbed the ground. I clicked to her and she took off at a wild gallop back in the direction we'd come. I heard the sound of loud crashing around and behind me as several large creatures gave chase.
"Hrsssssssssss!" Roxy hissed in warning as a lean Ghive broke out of the bushes to our right. It ran along side of us and leaped for me in the saddle. I clicked quickly and Roxy's razor tail whipped into one of its multi-faceted eyes and came out the other side. Yellow green blood splashed me. Where it landed on bare skin it stung terribly.
Waving my burning arm in the air, trying to throw off the acidic blood, I called out in warning to Sterling who was still not visible on the trail ahead. Roxy began to slow until finally she came to a complete stop in a clearing. She turned, lowered her head, and waved her long tail ominously. Out of the trees, Ghives began to surface, licking their foul lips and scratching hungrily at the dirt. It wasn't long before we were completely surrounded.
"Go on!" I yelled in false confidence. "Scram while you still have the chance!" I bit my lip hoping to talk my way out of this one. Only thing was, I had never encountered a Ghive before. Could they even speak?
A large Ghive threw its head back and made a noise that sounded something between screaming and laughter. After it got that out of its system it looked at me with an expression of amusement in its cruel lips.
"Garshaasss belsoosa issse!" It cackled. The others joined in until the whole forest seemed to fill with the gut wrenching sound.
"I don't deserve this," I muttered. Inside, my heart was beating so fast I was surprised I didn't just have a heart attack and die peaceably. Sweat slackened my grip on Roxy's reigns. The mare was beside herself now with fright.
In a blinding white flash, Rottiger plowed into the foremost two Ghive, abruptly ending their raucous cackling. After a second of shock, the rest of the pack leaped in to help their brothers. The uniger twisted its cat like spine and batted the nearest away with its meaty paws. Sterling leaped from the saddle in order to give Rottiger the maneuvering room he needed.
My view of the battle was obstructed as three Ghive separated from the battle with the uniger and decided we'd be easier targets. Roxy pranced out of the charging path of the first one and sliced another a glancing blow to the belly. The third vaulted over her head and hit me square in the chest. I landed hard on my back with the Ghive atop me and felt the searing pain of a bruised rib cascade throughout my chest. The pressure lifted as Sterling shoved the creature off of me and into range of the horagons flailing tail blade.
"Are you all right?" he asked.
I managed to nod my head and suck up the pain as we had been taught to do back at the Academy. Sterling helped me to my feet and guided me to stand beneath a massive red tree trunk where our backs would be protected. The sound of battle and the stench of the Ghives' acidic blood flooded my brain. If only we'd had a gun and/or a good blade I would have felt much safer. Stang, throw in some fibro-armor and this would be a walk in the park. Without our weapons we were sitting ducks hoping that our mounts would do a sufficient job of protecting us. On cue, Rottiger and Roxy moved themselves to be between the two of us and the attacking aliens. It was clear that we were running out of options.
Flitflitflitflitflitflit!
Yellow laser arrows appeared from nowhere! Sterling covered me protectively with his body, pressing me to the tree trunk. Peeking under his arm, I saw four of the massive Ghive fall dead with still smoldering pieces of arrows budding from their eye sockets and soft underbellies. The rest of the pack fled swiftly back into the forest.
A group of students I didn't recognize stepped quickly into the open. There were four males and a single slightly built female. All held the dangerous laser bows. Roxy jumped out of the way as Rottiger attacked, eyes flashing in battle craze. He was intercepted quickly by a red and gold striped uniger that pounced from behind the strangers. This new uniger was at least a half a size larger than Rottiger.
Sterling turned swiftly on his heels and glared at the new comers. I started forward to see them better but Sterling grabbed my arm tightly and pulled me back to him.
"Ouch! What's wrong with you?" I demanded. I tried to pull my arm away but succeeded in only having him grip it tighter.
"Hush!" he whispered. "I have to make sure of something first."
I began to form a reply but when I looked into his cold calculating eyes, I thought better of it.
"Who are you?" An older boy than both Sterling and I stepped forward, asserting himself as the leader of this small guard. He was chocolate skinned, tall, and extremely muscular. When Sterling said nothing—and pinched my arm harder to keep me from doing so—the senior scrutinized us closely. "You wear the collar of a warrior," he surmised, nodding to Sterling. "You must be from the Academy then."
Sterling finally responded. "You're the detention class?"
"Who else?" He replied. "Now get your mounts under control and follow us." As if realizing that he'd forgotten something important, he turned back. "I'm Robeq; and you are?"
I finally managed to wrench my arm away. "My name is Makena… and this is Sterling."
Robeq nodded with just the hint of a smile on his face. "Like I said: follow us."
It was a long ride to the bunker—and in a completely different direction than Sterling and I had been traveling. We learned that Robeq and his company had been looking for survivors, as well as food, when they had found us. I found myself drifting in the direction of the only other girl in the company and we had frequent conversations. Her name was Sam and she had been in the Academy a little longer than I had. When I asked why she had been in detention at the time of the dance, she shrugged and laughed.
"My grades were slipping," she explained. "I wouldn't have been allowed to attend the dance anyway so I tried to break into the principal's office and change my grades."
"Sounds fair," I said with a smile. I glanced at Sterling out of the corner of my eye as he conversed with Robeq about the nature of the Ghive attack. Listening closely, I was able to isolate certain parts of their discussion.
"Oh," Robeq was saying in a dejected tone. "We didn't know the school had fallen. We were hoping they'd send someone to come back for us."
"So then you've known the Ghive were on Earth for a while now," Sterling commented dryly. "And you didn't bother to warn the Academy?"
"We couldn't," another of the company, Davyd, interjected in a slight European accent. "Cutting all power to the bunker was their first priority. These woods are crawling with those reptiles. You're lucky you made it as far as you did."
I studied Davyd's profile from where I sat in Roxy's saddle. Quite the eye candy, I thought contentedly to myself. He seemed to sense my gaze because I soon found myself having a staring contest with his spryly green eyes. I turned away so that he would not see the blush on my cheeks. Sterling scowled at me and pretended that he hadn't seen my stupid expression.
Finally we arrived at the bunker. It looked the same as I had last seen it some months ago. Except for the deep gauge marks around the thick metal door and the blast marks in the surrounding trees of course. There was no welcoming committee. Robeq led us to the entry and did a series of short knocks until someone on the other side opened up.
The bunker contained twenty small quarters, into which two beds had been crammed each. There was a single small kitchen and cafeteria, and an underground hallway that led to the stables outside. Sterling and I were awed at the sheer decay of orderliness that used to be exceedingly enforced. The walls seemed to compete with the tile floors for most soiled and the air was un-cycled and stale because of the power outage; we were told the back up generator supported only the lights and water of the building.
Heads peeked out of rooms as we passed by and I recognized many faces behind the hopeful stares. How long? I thought. How long have they been waiting for rescue? I snapped back from my thoughts as the group stopped moving. I looked over Robeq's broad shoulder and saw a teacher approaching. I recognized him as Hyde, one of the gym teachers in charge of hand-to-hand combat. He walked with a staggered limp, I noticed. There were casts around both of his calves.
"Bring home some friends?" Sergeant Hyde asked jokingly to Robeq. Behind the easy smile, I sensed the same anticipation that the other students had been exuding as well. He looked Sterling over and nodded approvingly. "The Academy sent you right, Son?"
Sterling lowered his chin in respect to his superior. "The Academy was attacked a couple of days ago, Sir. We managed to escape with our lives."
The sergeant grabbed Sterling's chin and raised it roughly. His eyes were wide as they searched the Azian warrior's stony eyes. Finally Hyde let go and stepped back. There was dread and weariness in his eyes now instead of the warm salutation that had been there just a few minutes ago. Sterling said nothing, just rubbed his chin absently.
Hyde was talking quickly under his breath now. Suddenly, his head snapped up and he grabbed Robeq by the shoulder. "Get as many uninjured students as you can and have them mounted and ready for battle. We leave tomorrow morning." He commanded.
"What are you talking about?" I snapped. "Those aliens are crawling all over the forest! It'd be suicide to try and hunt them all down!" As an afterthought, I added, "Sir."
Hyde seemed not to notice my insubordination. "Since now we know that there won't be any help from the outside, we'll just have to help ourselves. The only long range signal telecom we have is at the Academy." The Sergeant's eyes were racing again. They soon fixed on Davyd. "I can't go with these stang injuries," he said. "So you'll lead them in. You two newbies can stay here and rest up," he informed Sterling and I.
Davyd's eyes lit up, but he quickly suppressed his excitement and nodded an affirmation. "I know where the telecom is locked up. I just need the code to the vault."
"I'll write it out and give it to you in the morning," Hyde assured him.
"Just one problem." Robeq chimed in. "None of us is trained in infiltration. We'll end up setting off every perimeter alarm they set for us."
"I'll get us past the perimeter defenses." I quipped. "Infiltration is one of my majors."
Sterling glanced at me from the corner of his eye. "I'm going too. I don't need any extra rest."
I whirled on him in an instant. "You do need the rest! I haven't forgotten about that gash in your side."
The others gawked at Sterling, no doubt wondering why he had said nothing earlier.
Sterling glared at the wall behind my head. "I said I was going."
Robeq stepped between us, failing to break the tension in the rank air. "There are some extra rooms at the end of this hall. Why don't y'all just go get some sleep and we'll finish this discussion in the morning?"
Without a word, Sterling began walking. I said a brisk thank you and good night to the company and followed quickly after.
"Ugh, what rooms? There's only one!" Sterling said angrily. He looked at me, then turned and claimed the bed closest to the door.
"Are you always so emotional?" I asked, exasperated with his constant complaints about the facility and its inhabitants. "Be thankful you're alive!"
Sterling lay prone on the bed. His lengthy black hair fell around his eyes. His response was whispered. "Why should I?"
I was at a loss for words. I suddenly remembered part of our school's guiding principle. "Because there are innocent people out there counting on us."
Sterling sat up and held my gaze without blinking. "Sure," he said sarcastically. "Listen to what you're saying. They can't be "counting on us" because they don't even know we exist. They live their daily selfish lives while we secretly protect them and die for absolutely no credit at all. And while we're on the subject, who even asked us? Who asked us whether we'd like to play football as a kid and grow up to be successful or be raised to die early fighting extra terrestrials?"
His face was taut. But his words made sense. No one had asked us; we'd simply been plucked off the streets, from wealthy homes, from poor, yet loving families. I broke my gaze with him first. I knew Sterling thought he had won our little debate, but there was something flawed with his logic. I just couldn't think of it at the moment.
Something flopped at my feet. When I realized it was Sterling's shirt, I looked up to find his naked torso exposed. I could now see the severity of the wound in his side. The skin was tattered and crusted to his body with dried blood. The long gashes ran from close to the center of his chest, under the arm, and down to the pelvis.
Before I knew it, I was at his side, a weird maternal instinct taking over. I fished through the med kit that had been supplied to us and pulled out cotton swabs dabbed in antibacterial solution.
"That looks terrible." I said. Inside, my stomach was churning. "Hold still."
Sterling winced as it was applied but gave no other sign of the pain he was in until I pulled away the swab. His head fell forward and I caught it on my shoulder. Before I could say anything, I realized that he was breathing hard; obviously because he had been holding his breath during the whole ordeal. His hand clutched my arm.
"S-sorry," he panted.
"Um, no, it's okay," I assured him. The butterflies in my stomach seemed to be doing double time. I lowered my head onto the shoulder in front of me and asked softly. "Why do you have to come tomorrow? You're hurt so badly..."
Sterling didn't answer. I wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to or because he was still catching his breath. Sitting back up, I finished patching him up and crawled into my own bed. I was suddenly self-conscious, a feeling I had never truly felt before. Thankfully, the light turned out and I fell wearily to sleep.