Chapter 21: Nikki

 

A giant arm snatched me out of the air before my head could smash into the opposite wall. Koriv’n wrapped his body around me like a shield as we landed with a heavy thud on the other side of the shuttle. I groaned. That was a heavy landing, even for a Xarc’n hunter, and he’d protected me from the worst of it.

A heavy weight settled on top of me, and I gasped for air. I pushed at Koriv’n, but he didn’t move.

“Koriv’n?”

Silence.

“Koriv’n! Talk to me. Say something!”

Nothing.

“Wake up! Please wake up.”

Oh god! He was completely out. That loud thud must have been his head hitting the shuttle wall. A billion horrible thoughts flew through my head. What if he never woke up? What if he woke up and but didn’t remember me? What if—

Sam scrambled frantically next to me, trying to crawl out from under the warrior’s heavy body. Koriv’n had protected her as well, and now we were both trapped under his weight.

Koriv’n was my hero once again, but this time my hero was out cold. The horrible what-ifs started again in my head, and I screamed silently in my brain to drown them out. Koriv’n was alright. He had to be.

“Sam, stop struggling for a moment.”

She stilled, and I listened for a heartbeat. I’d fallen asleep so many times on Koriv’n’s chest, I could recognize it in my sleep.

Thud-thud. Thud-thud.

“I hear a heartbeat. He’s still alive!”

He’s alive! He’s alive! I allowed myself a little happy dance in my head but knew not to celebrate yet. He was still passed out, and we were still stuck under him.

“I think he hit his head. Can you breathe okay?” I asked Sam.

“At first, I thought I couldn’t. But I was panicking then. I can breathe now.”

“Okay. We can’t move him suddenly in case he hurt his neck.”

On the pilot chair Lenny moaned.

“Lenny?” I couldn’t see him from where I was; all I saw was purple and leather. “Lenny? Are you okay? We’re trapped under Koriv’n. I think he hit his head.”

He moaned again. “I’m…I’m alive. A bit bruised from the safety harness but alive.”

“Is everyone okay?” Rayk’n voice came from the speakers. They must have stopped on the street ahead of us.

“Everyone’s alive, but Koriv’n is out cold, and Sam and I are stuck under him.” The reality of the situation seeped through to my brain. “Oh god! Is he going to be alright? I hear a heartbeat, but I think he hit his head on the wall. I’m afraid to push him off me in case we hurt him more.”

“Lenny.” This time it was Calvin who spoke. “A second vehicle is closing in, and I see movement in the van that rammed you. You have to hurry. We can’t fight them with one of our hunters down. Are you able to roll Koriv’n off the ladies? Support his neck and head with a pillow as you roll him to keep his head and neck straight.”

Lenny picked up a pillow from the sleeping nook, and I took it from him, holding it against the back of Koriv’n’s head.

“I’ll try to keep his neck and head from moving,” I said, hoping there wasn’t any injury to his spine. I heard a sob and realized it came from me. I’d just found him, and we’d barely had time together. He had to be okay.

“Here,” Sam offered. “I’ll hold the pillow. You hold his head straight. We got this.”

“I’m going to roll him to your left, okay, ladies? Ready? One. Two. Three.”

I rolled along with Koriv’n’s body as Lenny heaved and grunted. These hunters were pure bone and muscle, and it took the three of us pulling, pushing, and shoving to get him onto his back. I did my best to keep his neck straight the whole time.

I balked at the deep horn-shaped dent he’d left on the shuttle’s wall. The panel was grey and inactive, no longer showing the outside world.

Lenny whistled. “Damn! Those horns are really something. Let’s hope they protected him from the impact.”

“Our horns protect our heads and are meant to absorb a massive amount of force,” Rayk’n said from the speakers. “If he hit horn first, he should be fine.”

He’s going to be fine. He’s going to be fine, I repeated to myself. I had to stay calm. We had to get back to the compound safely. We weren’t out of danger yet.

I looked around the shuttle to the world outside. The van had rammed into the trailer with all the panels. Some of the cargo had flown across the road from the impact, but most of the load was still on the trailer and attached to the shuttle.

A van with a crumpled front sat sideways on the road behind us, blocking our way out. I knew there was a large traffic jam ahead, frozen forever in place during the chaos that had ensued when the bugs found our town. I saw movement from inside the enemy vehicle.

“I think our asshats are coming to. What are we going to do?”

Before anyone replied, we all heard the drone of another van arriving.

“You need to ditch the load and fly out of there. Forget the panels. We’ll go back for more later.”

“Don’t these shuttles have large blasters on them? Can’t we just shoot them?” I hated the idea of letting them get away with the loot.

“They are front-mounted,” Calvin explained. “Rajiv’k moved them to shoot into the sky when we fought the swarm, but he moved them back. We can’t turn this thing around without dropping the rest of the panels. I’d hate to lose both loads. We need to play it safe.”

Our shuttle was facing the wrong way as well—such advanced technology, but lacking in functionality.

Calvin was right; we needed to focus on getting away. It was already dark, and none of us were in the condition to fight. We were outnumbered. It would be two blasters and my Glock against who knew how many guns that still had ammo. Also, if the enemy got between the two shuttles, we were just as liable to shoot each other in the dark.

“Fly out of here? I can’t fly this thing!” Lenny sounded a little panicked; I didn’t blame him.

“You can. It’s not hard,” said Rayk’n. “I’ll teach you while the females go out and detach the trailer. Put the cloak on. There’s an area of effect, and it should hide the females while they work.”

The other vehicle came to a stop next to the totaled van.

“Let me borrow your blaster while you teach Lenny. I’ll slow our new friends down.” Calvin took Rayk’n’s blaster, and a moment later, he stepped out of the shuttle and shot at the guys getting out of the van. They all dove behind the vehicle for cover.

I went to the screen and toggled on the cloaking as I’d seen Koriv’n do before. “Did it work?”

“Yes. Stay close to the ship, and they won’t see you. Go!”

I checked to make sure my gun was still holstered at my hip. Then, Sam and I poked our heads out of the shuttle, and when no reaction came, we ran along the side to the back of the shuttle.

“How the fuck do we undo this thing?”

It was dark, but the shuttle emitted a slight glow, lighting the area.

Koriv’n had pulled the flatbed trailer out from the back of his shuttle, the entire thing unfolding like an accordion. As far as I knew, it was a part of the shuttle. Sam saw it before I did.

“There,” she said. “A latch on each side.”

She went to the closest one and yanked on it. It didn’t budge an inch. I added my strength, pulling on the latch as hard as I could, and after a lot of grunting and groaning, it moved. We climbed over the trailer connection to the other side and started on the next one.

Blaster fire sounded from the other shuttle. The men had tried to make a run for us; they ducked for cover at the sound of blaster fire and shot back at Calvin. At least they tried to, shooting in the general direction since Calvin was hidden in the cloak of the shuttle.

A third van came into view, on the other side where Calvin couldn’t see or reach. They opened the door, and the internal lights of the vehicle lit up. Four guys got out; Jason and Nick among them. They headed toward us, their headlights illuminating their way.

The four backlit figures approached. They couldn’t see the shuttle, but they saw the trailer and the panels. If they got too close, they’d see Sam and I too. I pulled out my gun, aimed it into the group, and shot. Nick screamed and fell; the rest dove for cover.

“Where the fuck did that come from?” Jason’s familiar voice asked. “They must be cloaked.”

“I can’t lift this latch. Fuck!” Sam swore, frustrated.

I tucked the gun back into my holster to help her. With both of us pulling, the latch moved.

“We got it. Let’s—”

I never finished my sentence because Jason tackled me to the ground. My scream was cut short as the wind was knocked out of me when I landed. I kicked and shoved as his hands tightened around my throat.

“You little traitor! This is all your fault.”

I struggled to get to my gun, but he was over my body and saw what I reached for. He wrestled the Glock out of my hands.

“I’m going to blow your brains out, bitch.”

But before he could point the gun at me, he was ripped off my body and thrown hard against the pile of solar panels. The gun clattered to the ground, and I scrambled for it.

Koriv’n roared and advanced on Jason, who crawled out from the mess, shaking himself off. Jason pulled a knife. In response, sharp claws sprang from my hunter’s hands. Koriv’n launched himself at my tormentor, and the two went down together.

Jason was no match for an angry hunter protecting his female, and Koriv’n tore him to shreds. I doubted his own mother would recognize what was left of him. I tore my eyes away from the bloody scene.

“Get back in the cloaked area!” Sam cried, pulling me back to the shuttle.

Gunshots rang loudly in the night, and Koriv’n stumbled, falling against the shuttle, two bullet wounds in his side.

“No!”

I pulled at him desperately, trying to get him back into the craft. Lenny showed up, and with his help, we managed to help Koriv’n inside. He collapsed against the same wall he’d headbutted earlier, unable to make it to the bed.

“Hang onto your hats!” was the only warning we got before the shuttle rumbled to life, and Lenny took the shuttle into the air. Calvin ducked back into the other shuttle, and they took off down the clear road, following the original path. The men didn’t come after us.

We were safe, but Koriv’n was injured, first with a head wound that knocked him out and now with two holes in his side. Plus, we’d lost half the panels because of those assholes. I fumed silently. We’d worked so hard for those. All they ever did was take from me.

Koriv’n moaned, taking my attention off the lost panels and back to him.

“Koriv’n?”

His eyelids fluttered open. “Nikki.” He tried to push himself up but immediately grimaced and grabbed his head.

“Slow down, hero. You hit your head pretty hard, and you’ve got two bullet wounds.”

“Are you okay, my mate?” he groaned.

“I’m fine. It’s you I’m worried about. Don’t try to talk. We’re going to get you home.”

I didn’t correct him about the mate thing. He was alive, and that was all that mattered. I’d been wasting time, being hesitant on this mating thing. It took him getting injured for me to realize there was no one else I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and start a family with.

He reached for my face, and I leaned my cheek into his palm.

“You saved me, saved us. Thank you. I always knew your thick skull would come in handy.” I leaned over to kiss his forehead gingerly. “I’ll go grab the medical unit.”

“Use it on his head first,” Rayk’n said over the network. “We need to remove the bullets before we heal any gunshot wounds.”

I wasn’t sure how effective the medical unit was on head injuries, but I’d watched it work miracles over the past few weeks. I held it over his forehead as I finger-combed through his mussed-up hair.

The feeling of being watched had me looking up at Sam, who observed us with a look of fascination.

“You two are really cute together. How did you meet?”

I thought of that first day in the storage room and my surprise at finding him there. “Koriv’n rescued me from the same gang who just attacked us. Safe.” I grinned, remembering. “He told me he was safe.”

“And?”

“He was.”

Koriv’n was more than safe. Over the past few weeks, he’d come to mean much more to me than safety. He showed me there was still good in people, and he showed me a life worth fighting for. He was love and hope and life. And most important of all, he was my hero.