Extinction (17 page)

“Why?” I couldn’t believe she hated me this much to
have me killed. 

“Because Minister Miller asked me to kill you.” Her
words slammed into me like a fist. She was working with Robert and the
Vandelrizi. She was the informant.

“You are the one that gave him the info on the
patrol. All those people died! How could you?”  Emily shrugged and gave me a
look as if I was an idiot.

“I’m loyal to the Vandelrizi, more than I can say of
you. The first chance you got, you betrayed the New Order. All these years I
had to watch you, always complaining, always sticking your nose in where it
doesn’t belong. Always trying to help. You had everything. The nice house…everything.
And you threw it away.” 

“You have a family. You have Rosa! She loves you.” 

“You stole that from me too! Every day I had to
listen to how brave and good you were. My mother forgot that I was her
daughter. You took her from me!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” I carefully stood. “Why
didn’t you tell me this before? We’re best friends.”

“You were never my friend! I hate you!” She pulled a
gun from the holster on her hip.

 I stormed her. She saw me coming and gave me a spin
kick in the stomach, sending me flying from her. She laughed bitterly and I
heard a click as she cocked the gun.

“Now I’m first going to shoot your darling Chai, so
you can watch him die. It’s a pity, I really liked him.” She shook her head and
the brown curls bounced around her head. “Then I’m going to kill you.” 

She lifted her arm and aimed the gun to where Chai
had just hit a Scavenger in the face with his fist, letting him crumple to the
ground. Her finger curled around the trigger. Screams escaped from my mouth as
I scrambled to my feet and rushed to Chai. My feet couldn’t move fast enough
and I was sure I wasn’t going to make it in time. The shot rang out at the same
moment I reached Chai and shoved him out of the way with all the strength I
could gather inside me. Something smashed into my chest, lifting my feet of the
sand and I crashed into the sand. A second shot rang out and I prayed that I
wasn’t too slow, that she didn’t shoot Chai.

“Lexie, look at me!” Chai knelt beside me and
grabbed my face between the palms of his hands. I couldn’t breathe; it felt as
if the vest was pressing down so hard on my chest that I was suffocating. I
clawed at the clasps to get it off me. Chai took over and unclasped the latches
and took it off. I took deep gulps of air. 

“Emily tried to shoot you,” I stammered and tried to
sit up. Chai’s strong arms circled me and pulled me against him.

“I know, little one,” he said huskily.

“No, you don’t understand. She’s got a gun!” I
pushed him away. He was not listening to me.

“It’s okay, Lexie,” Erich said and I looked at his
pale face. He clasped the gun in his hand so hard that his knuckles turned
white. I turned my head to where Emily had stood minutes before. She lay
stretched out on the sand. She wasn’t moving. My gaze wandered between her
lifeless body and the gun in Erich’s hand. After I shoved Chai out of the way, I
remembered hearing a second shot. Erich had shot her. My whole body shook. I
clamped my fists over my mouth.

“I had to do it,” Erich said grimly. 

“Take her back to the base,” Chai ordered and gave
me a concerned look. “We’ll finish up here.” I didn’t argue with him. I wanted
to get away from here as fast as I could. Erich helped me up and led me to the
truck. I didn’t look at Emily as we passed her. I never wanted her to die, no
matter what she did.

      Erich sloshed water
over the bonnet of the truck, vigorously rubbing the brown metal with a sponge.
His shoulders sagged. I had never seen him so sad. I cleared my throat.

He kept washing the truck, not looking at me.

“Erich.” His hand froze and he wiped the sheen of
sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt. 

“Shouldn’t you be in the infirmary?” he asked. His
voice was lifeless.

“Bill and Sylvain fussed a bit, but let me leave.” I
wished he would look at me. “Erich…you know you had no other choice.”

“Dammit Lexie! I killed her!” He threw the sponge
against the rock wall of the cave. It left a wet smudge as it slid down to the
floor. 

“You didn’t have a choice. It’s not your fault. It’s
mine.” Finally he looked at me and the pain in his eyes cut through me.

“You didn’t do anything,” he said and ran a wet hand
through his hair.

“Precisely. I shouldn’t have gotten her involved in
this. I should’ve seen it coming. I was her best friend and I let her down.” Erich
closed the distance between us and pulled me to his chest.

“She made her choice, Lexie. Who knows why, but she
chose the Vandelrizi.” A lump was stuck in my throat. I couldn’t understand
what made her turn her back on Rosa.

“What am I going to tell her mother? She was all the
family Rosa had left. How do I explain to her…?” My voice broke.

“We’ll tell her the truth. All of it. We owe it to
her.” I knew he was right. But how did you tell someone their only daughter
betrayed human kind? 

“I’m sorry you had to shoot her.”

“Stop apologizing.” He tilted my head to look into
my eyes. “You must stop blaming yourself for everything that happens.” I tried
to blink away the tears. “Have you talked to Chai yet?”

“No. I haven’t seen him since we got back.”

“You should. Go talk to him.”

“I don’t think it’s a good time. He and Emily…he
must be very upset.” 

“Lexie, you’re in love with him.” My eyes widened. Was
it that obvious?

“It doesn’t matter. He doesn’t want me.” Erich gave
a dry laugh.

“Of course he does. Go to him.”

“Since when are you pushing me towards Chai?”

“Lexie, you love him. You were prepared to take a
bullet for him.” Erich pulled me closer. “I want you to be happy.” The tears
were flowing down my cheeks and I pressed my face into his shirt.

“I can’t. Not after what happened. Nothing will ever
be the same between us.”

“Shit.” Erich mumbled the words into my hair and I
lifted my head. Chai stood in the entrance to the cave, his body rigid. He
stared at us, emotion flickering over his face. I didn’t know how long he had
been standing there, but from the look on his face he had heard every word I
said.

“Chai.” I whispered his name. He didn’t hear me and stalked
from the cave. Erich pushed me from his arms.

“Go!” I didn’t need him to tell me again. I sprinted
after Chai. 

“Chai, wait!” He headed to the concealed entrance
leading into the desert. My shorter legs struggled to keep up with him.

He angled past the rebels guarding the entrance and
disappeared into the blinding light outside. I followed him and blinked several
times, letting my eyes adjust to the sudden brightness outside.

He stood rigid on a jutting piece of rock overlooking
the endless sand stretching before us.

I stopped inches from his back. I wanted to touch
him, but instead I clamped my arms around my chest. 

“You don’t have to explain. I made a mess of
everything and now…you don’t want to be with me.” There was so much pain in his
voice.

“It’s not what I meant…”

Chai swung around. His breathing was uneven as if he
was trying to control his own emotions.

“You could’ve been killed today. Because of me. I
knew Emily was working for the Vandelrizi.  I knew!”

“How?”  I reeled. He couldn’t have known…could he? The
pieces started clicking together. 

“That’s why they wanted me on the
Přízrak
. They picked up communications
between Minister Miller and her. She had a Vandelrizi communication device with
her. They sent her with you to find out where the rebel base was. She was
working with them. They were planning to kill you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“She wasn’t working alone. I needed to find out who
else on the ship was working with them. I needed to get close to her, make her
trust me.” Suddenly everything made sense. That’s why he was suddenly so
interested in her after he returned.

“But you didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth?” 
The hurt was barely concealed in my voice. Why didn’t he tell me?

“Of course I do.  I couldn’t tell you. I needed to
convince Emily I felt nothing for you. I wanted to make you hate me. To
convince her there was nothing between us.”  He rubbed his face with a fist. “I
didn’t know what she had planned today.”

“You should’ve told me.”

“I thought I was doing the right thing. I wanted to
protect you.”

“She was my best friend. Maybe I could’ve helped
her.” All the pain I felt bubbled to the surface and I directed all the anger
and hurt at him. 

“I’m so sorry.” He looked at me helplessly. “Every
time I looked at you…I saw the hurt in your face. I hate what I did to you.” He
stepped closer and lifted a hand to touch my face. I jerked away. He let his
hand drop.  “Lexie, please.”

“She’s dead. Because of you!” I wasn’t being fair,
but the need inside me to hurt him was greater than the rational side. He
flinched as if I slapped him.

Lexie.

“Get out of my head!” How many times had I walked
away from him? 

His voice reached me at the entrance of the cave and
I stopped.

 
I’m not going to give up this easily. I’m not
going to lose you.

      I woke up with a
start
and stared confusedly at the darkness around me. I wasn’t sure what woke me. My
eyes adjusted to the dark and I checked the room. Everything was just as I left
it. My clothes hang haphazardly over the chair by the table. Mom’s letter lay
on the desktop where I put it last night when I came to bed. Nothing seemed out
of place and still I had the feeling that something was seriously wrong. I
rolled off the bed and headed towards the bathroom to get a glass of water. I
didn’t take two steps when the shrill sound of an alarm sliced through the
darkness. Alarms were never a good thing. It meant that something bad and
disastrous had happened. I heard doors opening and the pounding of feet in the
corridor outside my room. 

I ran outside and I rubbed my eyes, squinting down
the corridor. I saw a boy sprinting around the corner and I yelled after him, but
it was too late. He was already gone. The siren kept howling, drowning out my
voice as I ran down the corridor. I had to find out what was happening. My bare
feet slammed down on the floor as I ran. Around the corner I saw Chai pushing
past a group of people and he looked openly relieved when he saw me. He reached
me in a flash and grabbed my shoulders with both hands.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“The Vandelrizi are here,” he answered and stark naked
terror took a hold of me. The Vandelrizi are here on the ship? 

“It can’t be,” I gasped and looked at Chai’s face,
hoping that he would deny it – tell me that it’s some mistake or a joke, but
his face was gravely serious.

“Lexie, go back to your room,” he ordered and pulled
me out of the way as a group of rebels ran past us. They were heavily armed.

“No!” I was not going to stay in my room alone,
while the ship was under attack. “I’m coming with you!”

“Lexie, listen to me! Go to your room and lock the
door.” Chai was shaking me to make me listen to him. “Lock yourself in the
bathroom.” He let go of my shoulders and pressed something cold into my hands. I
looked down – a gun was in my hands. “If anything tries to get through the
door, you shoot it. Do you understand?”

I nodded. I wanted to stay with him, but one look at
his face told me he was deadly serious and there would be no arguing with him. He
leant forward and pressed his lips against my forehead for a second. It was so
quick I wasn’t even sure his lips actually touched my skin. Then he was gone in
a blur and I was alone in the corridor.

I did as he asked me and went back to my room in a
haze. This couldn’t be happening. Wherever the Vandelrizi went, they left a
wake of death behind. How many people are going to die tonight? How many more
lives would they take before no one is left? People I care about were out there
fighting right now at this moment. I couldn’t stay here and hide. I had to
help. This was my future too. I shoved the gun into the elastic band of the sleeping
shorts I was wearing. The gun was cold against the skin of my back. There was
no time to change and it wasn’t like anybody was going to notice my short
pajama pants. I pulled the white tank top over the gun to conceal it and rushed
out the door of my room for a second time tonight.

 I decided to follow the sound of yelling I heard.
Further away I heard gunshots and I prayed that everyone I cared about was
safe. I was torn between going to Bill’s office and heading for the infirmary. The
chance that Bill was in his office was very slim and besides I could help
Sylvain in the infirmary. There were bound to be a lot of people needing
medical care tonight and I had a lot of experience in dealing with that. I
raced to the infirmary with a growing feeling of concern.  The corridors were
deserted; the worst part of the fighting had shifted to the other side of the
ship.

The door of the infirmary stood open and I was about
to rush through the door when I stopped dead in my tracks. I recognized the
voice immediately emanating from the room. I would recognize the voice in my
dreams and my nightmares. It was Nuevo.
I felt bile
rising in my throat. The alien snake was here on the base, only the thin walls
of the room separating us. I wanted to run as fast as I possibly could, but a
second voice coming from inside had my feet glued to the ground. Bill flung a
string of curse words at Nuevo that would even make pirate blush.

 I clamped a hand over my mouth to
stifle the scream that was fighting to escape my mouth. Please…not this. Bill
was inside the room with that monster. My father was trapped inside.  Nuevo was
going to kill him. I knew it for a fact as I stood there in the corridor like a
mummified statue. I inhaled deeply, burying the panic deep inside me. I lifted
my chin and pulled back my shoulders and stepped through the door.