Page 58 of Alien's Challenge
Alice pressed the back of her hand to her mouth, tasting blood from a split lip. The slap released her from panic’s grip. She spat.
“You think Faris will save you? I have him outnumbered and surrounded. Climb into the pod and this will all be a dream. You will wake up in a new home with a new owner.” His tail whipped from side to side. “Or continue to try my patience. I have spent a lot of resources to recover you, but I am ready to cut my losses.”
She ran. Panic took over her brain and told her to run, so she bolted like a frightened bunny. She did not get far before a heavy weight pushed her to the floor.
On her back, Rand loomed over her. His quills stood on end and his lips were pulled back, displaying his unnervingly sharp teeth. “Foolish female—”
Explosions rocked the ship. Alice could picture the narrow rock ledge crumbling away, rock tumbling down the mountainside.
No, no, no.
The shock on Randevere’s face told her that the charges fired too soon. He had planned to be off the ship when the explosives detonated.
The world went sideways. Gravity lurched, then quit. The ship slid.
Time slowed. All she could think of was that Faris confessed that he loved her, and she said nothing. Nothing! She loved him, knew it days ago, and if she died, he’d never know. The wrongness of this hurt more than she thought possible, more than realizing that her then-husband no longer loved her.
If she got out of this, she’d tell him. Immediately.
Alice grabbed onto a support beam, wrapping her arms around it. Her feet dangled. Tools and equipment tumbled by. She ducked her head down, and debris hit her shoulders.
Rand grabbed her foot.
The extra weight made her slip. Heavy tools flew past, none striking him because he was a lucky bastard.
Alice kicked, desperate to shake him off.
Something heavy slammed into her hand, crushing her fingers. Pain roared through her, white -hot and throbbing.
They fell.
Alice twisted enough to see herself hurtling toward the open pod.
Rand hit first, catching the lip. Bones cracked.
She landed on him with a groan. Pushing herself up, she rolled to the side. Her chest hurt. Everything hurt. Her fingers felt broken, like they weren’t connected to her, and the air hurt touching them.
Rand clawed at her, but he must have been in worse pain. She broke his grasp and slid off the pod.
Her hand slapped against the control panel. Lights blinked on, and the front panel closed.
“No! No!” Rand said, beating on the inside of the pod. White gas filled the chamber. Soon the pounding stopped.
“I didn’t mean…” she started to apologize, then stopped. That had been an accident, but she wasn’t going to release him. Randevere could stay in the pod, at least until they figured out what to do with him.
Or forever. She was okay with forever.
Faris
Faris stood in the airlock, blaster pointing at a male just outside. The male held the detonator. His lips curled back in a snarl, revealing blackened teeth and a wave of hot, fetid breath rolled over Faris.
The male pushed the button.
He felt the ground rumble before he heard the detonations. Instinct had Faris launch himself through the airlock, onto the crumbling ground. He scrambled, racing to get ahead of the collapsing shelf.
“What have you done?!” The butt of his blaster slammed into the grinning male.
The male thought to fight back, his hands clamped on the barrel of the blaster and wrestling for control.
