Page 43 of The Alien Warrior's Heart

Chozo started the hologram up again. This time, Simone was prepared for the bright light and looked slightly away when the footage resumed. The video came into focus.

She studied the aliens who looked just like Chozo. Through the masks, she saw their eyes were lit with anxiety. They kept glancing behind their shoulders as if some monster was breathing down their necks and would pounce at any minute.

She didn’t understand their words, but Zar seemed to because his hold on her tightened as the green aliens said one last thing. A moment later, a bright red light shot out and consumed them. They turned to dust and the video went dead.

Simone gasped, appalled by the suddenness of their disintegration.

“Were those your parents?” she whispered.

Chozo nodded.

Simone wanted to hug him again. “You poor thing.”

“My father suspected…” His sobs tore through his words. “They sent me, so I was safe. They didn’t want… they were afraid…”

Simone grabbed his shoulders. “Chozo, you’re not making any sense.”

Zar grunted out his own demand.

Chozo responded to Zar in his tongue and Simone waited impatiently for the translation in English.

“Well?” She blinked intently. “What did your parents know?”

“The end,” Chozo said.

“The end?”

“Yes.” He licked his lips and peered up at the sky that was suddenly darkening. It was like someone had turned off the lights in an otherwise sunny day and pulled clouds, gloom and darkness in.

A foreboding scent curled through the air and made goosebumps pop up on her skin.

Chozo squeezed his eyes shut. “They are coming.”

Sixteen

Zar

Too many thoughtsblazed through his head at once. Zar could not make sense of them as they pulsed and twisted in a storm that rivaled the one gathering above.

The Heronas offspring could be lying to them. His superiors could have manipulated the footage to make itseemlike there was some grave danger about to tear through the planet. It could be a ploy to lure all Plutonians into a trap.

Zar glanced up at the sky. Dark clouds rolled in fast. A stiff breeze shook the leaves of the trees with such violence they nearly tore from the branches.

Dangerwascoming.

But he knew this enemy.

Nature.

A storm.

He needed to get Si-Moon to safety.

Grabbing her hand, he yanked her toward his zapten. “Si-moon, we must hurry.”

“Chozo!” She reached back and held on to the brood.

Zar frowned. “Neh. We are not taking him.”

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