Syfi Warriors Read online

  Emma shook her head. “Don’t go out there, James.”

  He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. “It’s going to be okay. Ex-Marine, remember?”

  She sighed and nodded.

  “Now go and do as I said. I’ll be back in a bit.”

  Emma pulled back still looking hesitant, but after a minute, she turned on her heel and raced into the kitchen. He nodded to himself when he heard the pantry opening and the sound of cans being dropped into a crate.

  James strode to the curio cabinet in the study where he kept his guns. He unlocked it and grabbed a handgun and his rifle. The handgun went into the back of his jeans and he slung the rifle around his torso.

  He hurried out the door and got in the passenger seat of McGee’s truck. “What did you see?”

  McGee put the truck in gear and sped off, spitting rocks toward the farmhouse when he peeled out. “It’s real, James. The news reports and the attacks are real. I have never seen nothing like it before. Their spaceships are black ovals. Then there was the other. It was on fire. It looked like some sort of bird and it shot fire out of its mouth. Took one of them ships out.”

  “So there are two different aliens?” James asked. “And they’re fighting each other?”

  “Seems like it,” McGee said.

  Had some alien war found its way to Earth, or was something else going on? McGee detoured off the gravel drive and cut through the field. James put his hand on the roof to keep from getting jostled too much.

  He leaned forward when black smoke came into view. A black oval had rammed one of his trees, nearly cracking it in two. He cocked his head to the side as he took in the sleek, black metal. It was unlike anything he’d seen before and he’d seen quite a lot of weapons in the Marines.

  Despite scratches and dents, it still looked to be in semi decent shape. A few tiny fires had broken out in one of the exposed compartments, but it was still in mostly one piece.

  “Don’t park us too close to it,” he said. “We don’t know if they’re dead or not.” He gripped his rifle tighter, not wanting to be taken off guard.

  “If it ain’t dead yet, it will be soon.” McGee pulled his truck to a stop and climbed out before James could say anything. He grabbed his rifle out of the bed and took off running.

  “Wait!” James said. He opened his door and grumbled under his breath. It’d be stupid to run after McGee, he had no idea what he was walking into, but he didn’t want McGee to get hurt either. At least the old man had left the truck on in case they needed to make a hasty retreat.

  James climbed out and surveyed the area. There was nowhere to hide in the open field. It was all flat land except for the tree that the spacecraft had hit. The Beech tree got in the way when he did planting and harvesting, but it had history with the property and his parents and grandparents had refused to get rid of the thing.

  He stayed behind the car, searching for signs of movement.

  “Holy shit, James. There’s a woman over here. Come on, she’s hurt,” McGee said. He sprinted and dropped to his knees in the grass.

  James shifted on his feet. He turned in a slow circle. There was nothing in sight, and there was no movement from the fallen ship. He trotted forward, hating they were so exposed.

  Apprehension pitted in his stomach and he scanned the area again. Something wasn’t right.

  There was a hiss. The door to the craft slid open. A yellow-skinned creature with piercing red eyes stepped out. It took one look at McGee and lunged. McGee shot to his feet, fumbling for his rifle.

  James grasped his gun, aimed, and fired. The creature – alien sprinted forward, leaping at McGee. James fired again, and then again when it didn’t deter the thing.

  The yellowed alien put its hands on McGee. McGee shrieked. James unloaded the rest of his bullets and still nothing. He dropped his rifle, letting it hang around his chest and went for his handgun.

  He paused with it midair. McGee began to flake away. His body turned to ashes, and they blew away with the wind until he was completely gone.

  What the hell?

  In all his years in the Marines, he’d never seen anything like that before.

  James readied his gun and fired. The alien swung around, it’s gleaming eyes falling on him. James aimed for the spot between its eyes and squeezed the trigger.

  The alien’s red eyes flared as the bullet hit its mark. It stumbled forward, gurgled, and then fell face first onto the ground.

  James drew in a breath and fired into the alien’s head two more times for good measure. He waited long, excruciating seconds. When it didn’t move he took a few steps forward to where McGee had stood. A pile of grey and white ashes lay on the ground. McGee was gone – dead. The creature had killed him in mere seconds – sucked his life away. How many of these things were there? He needed to get more weapons – a lot more. Would that even be enough? It was just him and Emma. Sweet Emma who’d never fired a gun in her life.

  McGee had more guns. The old man lived alone on his property. He could get some from there.

  A groan drew him from his thoughts. James snapped his attention to the woman who lay on the ground. Another whimper escaped her lips. Blonde hair covered her face. She was petite but muscular. The black jumpsuit she had on hugged her figure, showing off her natural curves.

  Her arm was mangled. Ice covered it from the tips of her fingers to her elbow. Her breathing was labored and soft moans blew out in time to her breathing. She wasn’t moving. If she was conscious it was barely.

  James went to her side and knelt next to her. He pushed the hair out of her face, and stared. She was gorgeous with thin, pink lips, a round face, and small nose.

  Her sapphire eyes flicked open. They were brighter than any eyes he’d ever seen, almost shining. She mumbled something but it wasn’t in English.

  “It’s okay,” he said.

  The woman’s eyes fluttered shut.

  “Hey,” he said, putting his hand on her neck to find her pulse.

  A slow but steady thrum met his fingers. He let out a breath and looked around. It’d be risky to move her, but he couldn’t just leave her while he found help – assuming he could find it at all.

  He wasn’t a field medic, but he’d seen enough carnage to know she looked stable. Hopefully there was no internal bleeding. He scooped her up and carried her to the truck that still sat idling in the field.

  James opened the passenger door and set her in the seat, doing his best not to jostle her. He closed the door and hurried to the driver’s side, hopping in, and putting it in gear as he closed the door.

  The truck lurched forward when he stomped on the gas. He sped back toward the gravel drive undecided on whether he should get her to the cellar for care or go for McGee’s guns.

  If he couldn’t protect her, it would be pointless to save her. He turned the wheel and stomped on the gas. He hoped McGee’s guns would be easy to find. He needed to get the woman help and get back to Emma.

  James fished his cell out of his pocket and skimmed through the contacts until he found the home phone. He hit send and put the phone to his ear. Nothing. He looked at the phone and cursed. Still no service. Shit.

  He blew out a breath and revved the truck. What the hell was going on? An alien invasion, he told himself. It made him laugh out loud. Nothing about this was funny except for how absurd it all was. He had an old radio at home. He’d get the guns, get the woman back to the house, and then snatch that damn radio from the barn to see if he could find out what the hell was going on.

  Chapter 3

  “Emma,” James said as he hurried up the front porch. He shoved the front door open and hurried inside, McGee’s guns and ammo in a bag on his back and everything else that wouldn’t fit in his arms.

  The door to the cellar clicked and the book case that it hid behind opened. Emma peered out before shoving it all the way open and running to him. “What happened? Are you okay? You were gone so long.”

  “I’m fine. It’s okay.�
�� He smoothed a hand over her head. “Did you get medical supplies when you packed up?”

  Her eyes widened. “The first aid kit. Why? Is Mr. McGee hurt?”

  “No. He’s…it’s not him.” He couldn’t tell her McGee was dead. It would freak her out. “We found a woman. She’s hurt.”

  “Where is she?” Emma asked.

  “Still in the truck. I’m taking these down to the cellar and then I’m going to bring her in. Did you set up the air mattress down there?” He shuffled a few of the weapons in his arms while hurrying past her to deposit them on the concrete floor.

  “I did.” Emma stomped down the stairs after him.

  “Good girl. Stay down here. I’ll be right back.” He slipped the bag off and handed it to Emma. “I need you to go through these for me. Separate them down and organize them.” He hadn’t looked at the stuff, he’d just grabbed it and shoved it in.

  Emma took a step back with the weight but managed to drag it to the center of the room.

  James spun around and hurried back to the truck. He opened the door and lifted the woman back into his arms, and then kicked the door shut with his foot. She mumbled something again that he didn’t understand, but her eyes stayed shut. He hurried to the cellar door where Emma stood waiting.

  “Shut the door behind me and lock it,” he said as he moved past her.

  He was half way down the stairs when the door clicked shut and the lock was switched over. Emma’s footsteps thumped down after him. “What happened to her? Is she okay?”

  “I don’t know. Her arm is…frozen,” he said as he set her down on the air mattress.

  “Frozen. How is that possible? It’s the middle of summer,” Emma said.

  “I don’t know. Maybe one of their weapons did this to her.” He shook his head. Did the alien’s even have weapons? He wasn’t sure. The one he’d seen had touched McGee with its hand.

  “So it’s really happening? There are aliens?” Emma asked.

  James looked up; meeting her eyes, and nodded. “Yeah. I’m afraid so.”

  Emma sat down on the floor where she stood, cradled her knees to her chest, and rested her forehead on them.

  “Hey, it’s going to be okay. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.” James got up and dropped to his knees. He pulled her into a hug. Her body shuddered and a sob broke free. Tact had never been his strong suit. Too many years in the Marines had hardened him, and he sometimes forgot that his niece wasn’t as strong as she pretended to be.

  A moan from the mattress caused him to pull away. The woman rolled off but cried out when her frozen arm hit the cement floor. She hissed and shook it out. Fire lit up her arm.

  Emma gasped, digging her fingers into James’ skin through his shirt. “James?”

  He grabbed the gun from the back of his jeans and pointed it at the woman. She flapped her arm – or was it a wing – a few times before the fire dissipated and her arm returned to normal. The ice that had glazed over it earlier was gone. Her brilliant sapphire eyes snapped up to meet his.

  She shot to her feet. James pulled off the safety. “Don’t move.” She looked human – now. Was she an alien too? She looked nothing like the yellow creature he’d seen and shot earlier. McGee’s words echoed in his mind. A fiery bird had been in the sky too. Were there really two types of aliens? Was she one of them?

  The woman said something but it wasn’t in English. It didn’t even sound like a language he’d heard before, and he’d heard a lot of them. She put her hands up and said something again.

  “What is she saying, James?” Emma asked.

  “Stay back, Emma,” he said, making sure she was behind him.

  “Is she…one of them?” Emma asked.

  James opened his mouth, but stopped when the front door slammed open. He didn’t need to see to know that it was forced open hard enough to hit the wall. He could hear the resounding thud down here. Footsteps moved across the floorboards. He counted six different sets.

  Emma clasped onto him tighter. She covered her mouth, stifling a sob.

  The woman’s eyes went to the ceiling. She swallowed, but thankfully didn’t make a sound. James kept his gun trained on her.

  Glass shattered above them. Emma whimpered and buried her face into his side. The floorboards rattled. Someone was ransacking the place. Part of him wanted to run up and stop the intruders, but he didn’t. His first priority was protecting Emma. He had no idea who, or what, was up there. If it was the yellow aliens he couldn’t risk one of them finding her, and he had no idea if the woman before him was friend or foe.

  James kept his eyes on the woman. Her eyes stayed trained on the floor above them. Things clattered to the ground, and he could hear three sets of feet going to the second floor. Furniture was scooted across the floorboards and it thudded heavily above, making James certain it had been over turned.

  He bit the inside of his cheek. His parent’s home was being destroyed. He’d worked hard to help restore it the past few years since his discharge. These things, whoever they might be, were tearing it apart. His pulse thundered in his ears, and his grip on the gun tightened. As soon as whoever left, he was going to get answers from the woman across the room.

  His eyes locked with hers. Her look softened. Was that sympathy on her face? Was she even human? He had no idea, and right now he didn’t care. She knew what was going on, he could feel it.

  Rage. That was the only word Nova could think of to describe the emotion on the man’s face in front of her. His grey-blue eyes were locked on her and hadn’t left. She took a moment to look him over. He wasn’t so different than her in this form; in fact, he looked like a phoenix male. His black hair was cut short. Stubble adorned his jaw. He was tall and muscles bulged beneath the blue shirt stretching over his chest. She’d guess he had some type of military training. He was calm, even if enraged. The weapon in his hand hadn’t moved either. Her gaze drifted to the small woman attached to him – no not a woman, but a child. The girl holding his waist was terrified and sobbed quietly into his side. Her long brown hair covered her face like a curtain. The man had a protective hand on her back, and had kept her to the side facing away from Nova.

  The primitive weapon he had pointed at her had yet to waiver. Had the Imanji, at least that’s who she assumed was in the house, not been there, she was certain he’d have used it by now.

  Her communication device wasn’t working. The pair hadn’t said enough for it to decipher their language yet, or worse, it was broken. She hoped it wasn’t the latter.

  Everything still hurt from her previous fight. She sagged against the wall for support, but kept her hands in the air. They’d had a short briefing before leaving for the shuttles about the culture on the planet. Her hand signal was supposed to be a sign of surrender. So far it didn’t seem to be working.

  Her legs quivered from the exertion of standing. She slid down the wall and sat on the icy floor. Her gaze shifted from the ceiling to the man. The Imanji had yet to find the room they were in, and she hoped they wouldn’t. She wasn’t in any condition for a fight. The icy blast had frozen half her body and nearly hit her heart. It would take several shifts for her body to recover. Shifting wasn’t a luxury she had right now. One wrong move and the man just might fire his weapon at her. It might be primitive, but in her weakened condition, it could kill her. She’d have to wait it out until she could talk to him.

  The minutes slipped by slowly until finally the Imanji, or whoever, left. They stayed in silence a while longer, letting it stretch between them awkwardly.

  “Who are you? What are you?” the man asked. His fingers flexed and then curled back around the trigger of the weapon.

  “I mean you no harm,” she said, hoping her words would make sense to them. It was one thing to die in battle, but quite another to perish due to faulty equipment and a simple misunderstanding. They were on the same side. She just had to convince them of that.

  “Who are you?” he asked again. “Stay back, Emma.” He gin
gerly pushed the child away and took a step forward.

  “My names Nova Emerick. I’m from the planet, Delphi. I mean you no harm, and I’m here to help with the Imanji threat – the yellow aliens,” she said, pointing to the ceiling.

  “What does she mean?” the girl asked.

  “Do you understand what I am saying?” she asked, praying her communication device was working.

  The man narrowed his eyes. “Where’s Delphi?”

  Thank God. They understood her. “The Acubans Star System. I don’t believe it’s in your star charts. It’s quite a journey from here. I’m here to help evacuate you from Earth before the Imanji destroy it.”

  “What do you mean destroy it?” he asked.

  “That’s what they do. They travel the galaxy looking for populated planets. They feed…” she trailed off her eyes going to the girl who had moved to the corner. Tears streamed from her eyes and she shook. “…from the inhabitants then they destroy the planet. My people are here to help.”

  “That’s great, but I bet our military is already coordinating a plan of attack. You can go back to your ship, or whatever you came here on, and tell your leader that.” He motioned to the stairs with his gun.

  Nova shook her head. “Your weapons are primitive. Your people don’t stand a chance against the Imanji. The only way to survive is to evacuate. If you’ll allow me a chance to heal myself and contact my ship, I can have another shuttle here to evacuate you and others in the area. My shuttle and many others were heading somewhere called Atlanta to help rescue as many of your people as we could. I’m sure at least one of them can come back here.”

  The man pursed his lips. “And why would I go with you?”

  “To save your and your daughter’s life,” she said, nodding at the girl. This was her first trip down to a planet and she was botching it up horribly. Captain Cree may never let her off the ship again, or worse, he’d send her home. She shuddered at the thought. Her parents would never let her live it down if she failed.