Strange Skies Read online

  “Ever since that so-called meeting back on Earth. I should have known it was a trap. They said they’d let me go as soon as I told them where the guns were. Later, they claimed they’d found the guns and that you were dead, so I might as well work with them.” His voice broke. “I still wouldn’t cooperate, so after they transported me to Caelia, they started experimenting with various drugs. Drugs to make me compliant.” He coughed. “I guess I’m still not very compliant, though.”

  “Like father, like daughter.” I patted his arm. “They gave me different drugs too. Ones to make me forget. They thought if I lost my memories, I’d forget what burners they were.”

  I remembered the last page of Mom’s journal, the one where Dad had written about how I’d locked Callie out of the bunker. How Callie had died and then Mom sank next to her by the boulder and let herself burn alive right outside our shelter door. A torrent of emotions overcame me. Guilt. Grief. Relief.

  The reality of Dad being alive finally hit me, and I threw my arms around him. All those lonely nights after he never returned from that meeting when I thought he’d been killed. A sob tore from my throat. “I’m so sorry about Mom and Callie,” I said. “I read the journal. I never meant—”

  “Shhh,” said Dad. “That’s not important now. What matters is that you’re okay.” Tears leaked from his eyes. “I can’t believe you’re sitting here in front of me.”

  “We can’t stay here long. They’ll find us. We need to get you out of here.” I glanced around the room and back at Dad, who didn’t look strong enough to walk ten feet. Not that I was in much better shape.

  The reunion was short-lived. The door flew open, banging against the wall. I stared openmouthed at the person standing next to the woman. Alec. The guy from Sector 2 who I’d talked Markus into rescuing back on Earth. How was this possible? The heavyset woman gasped for air, red-faced as she bent over with her hand to her chest. I might have a slight chance in hell of getting by her, but I’d never get by Alec.

  Alec stared at me calmly as he spoke. “Tora Reynolds, you have violated Consulate Code 5223 by attempting to leave the premises.”

  I wanted to kick myself for ever buying his act about being an abandoned survivor, though the dog thing was a nice touch. Where was Lucy? I should have saved the dog and left him to rot.

  “Really? Is there a code for kidnapping and drugging innocent people, ’cause I’m pretty sure you’re in violation of that one.” I no longer considered his accent cute. My legs wobbled underneath me and I had to sit on the edge of Dad’s bed.

  The large woman finally found her breath, along with her evil smile. “I believe you know Lieutenant Colonel Alec Hayes. He was instrumental in helping us to locate you on Earth.”

  If I’d had an ounce of strength left, I would’ve launched myself at him and torn his eyes out. Instead, I glared with all the venom I could muster, which probably looked plain pitiful given my current condition. “You freakin’ burner.”

  Alec stared back without bothering to respond. The woman pulled a syringe from her pocket and handed it to him. “You can do the honors.”

  She smirked at me. “You will never, ever run away again. I’ll see to that.” Spit flew from her mouth and I pretended to wipe my cheek.

  Alec came toward me and spun the syringe in his hand like he was playing with it. He wasn’t just following orders—he seemed to be enjoying himself. I hoped he injected himself by accident.

  I let loose a string of every expletive I could think of but my words were hollow, and I couldn’t back them up with action. My legs were done. They felt like jelly against the bed.

  “Please don’t do this.” Dad put his hand up weakly in Alec’s direction. “I’ll do whatever you want, but don’t hurt Tora.”

  The woman’s lips curled back, revealing yellowed teeth. “You promised that before, remember? You don’t follow through so well.”

  Alec reached my side.

  “It’s okay, Dad.” I gave his arm an awkward hug. “I’ve made it this far. I’ll get you out of here, I promise.”

  The woman laughed. “Over my dead body.”

  I shrugged at her. “Have it your way.”

  Alec pulled my arm out roughly. Tears pricked my eyes. Why was he doing this? He placed the syringe against the place where my bicep muscle used to be and pressed the button.

  Everything swam before my eyes and then went dark. As I hit the floor, it dawned on me that though Alec had been holding my arm, he didn’t even try to break my fall.

  James sat next to me on a cot. I looked past him toward the door. We were in my room in the containment center, and I knew we had to be careful. Someone wanted to hurt us. His hazel-green eyes stared into mine. “Please,” he said, then his lips were on mine. My body responded though my brain screamed for me to stop. His hands moved slowly down my arms. Then he tightened his grip. I tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let go. He started shaking me.

  I gradually came out of the dream but couldn’t fully wake. The shaking didn’t stop. It wasn’t just my arms. My entire body quaked. Great. More withdrawal symptoms. I didn’t want to open my eyes. Maybe I could sleep through it. I tried to slip back into unconsciousness. The spasms continued. From a faraway place, someone called my name. Finally, I realized that I wasn’t shaking—someone was shaking me.

  I fought the urge to wake up.

  “Dammit, open your eyes!”

  He didn’t have to be so rude about it. It took tremendous effort, but my eyelids cracked open to slits. “What? I’m trying to sleep here,” I mumbled. My eyes crashed shut again.

  Cold water sprayed my face and my eyes flew open. Alec. I swung my fist at him but he easily caught my hand. “Knock it off, Tora. We have to go.”

  I blinked. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”

  Alec sighed as though I was acting like a petulant child. “I didn’t give you the dose. I switched the syringe with another one I had in my pocket.” He pulled on my arm.

  I twisted out of his grasp with what little strength I had. “Do you think I’m stupid? If you didn’t give me the dose, then why have I slept like the dead for hours?”

  He pulled out a pair of cotton pants and a T-shirt from a bag. “Not hours, ángel. Minutes. I gave you a quick-acting sleep agent, but had to make it look real.” He tossed the clothes at me. “We don’t have much time before Sylvia comes back.”

  “You must be referring to the big-boned bee-atch.”

  Alec nodded. “There’s a med to help with the withdrawal symptoms but Sylvia must have moved it. I didn’t have time to keep looking.”

  I fingered the pants and frowned. “Wait, these are my pants.”

  “Yes, from your things in storage.” He gestured for me to hurry.

  Something about having my own pants made me insanely happy. I picked up the white T-shirt. “But this isn’t mine … it’s way too big—” No way. I held the shirt to my nose and inhaled. The scent of him was faint, but still there. Because what could be more romantic than wearing the shirt of the guy who shot you?

  Now Alec looked impatient. “I don’t know what to tell you, but it was with your stuff. Can we please leave now?” He tossed me my satchel with the rest of my things. Callie’s wildflower painting was there. I resisted the urge to pull it out and nodded at him.

  Alec waited outside while I changed. The T-shirt hung loosely over my pants—I had to admit it was comfy. My legs were still weak, but the thought of getting out of this place propelled me to the door.

  Alec glanced down the hallway and motioned me forward.

  I sniffed. “Just because I’m coming with you doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot of explaining to do.”

  He placed his hand under my elbow to support me. “Don’t worry. We’ll have plenty of time for that.”

  Dad’s door was just ahead. He was in much worse shape than I was—probably because he’d been imprisoned longer. I hoped he could at least walk. I slowed as we neared his room.

  Alec
shook his head. “Tora—”

  “I’m not leaving without him.” I opened the door to an empty room. The cot was stripped bare, no evidence that it had ever been occupied by my only living family member. I swiveled to face Alec. “Where is he?”

  He tugged on my arm to pull me toward the exit. “He’s fine. They moved him somewhere else. They didn’t want to chance another escape attempt. They figured you’d try to take him with you.”

  I pulled my arm back. “Then we need to find him.”

  Alec sighed. “We will, but not now. I don’t know exactly where he is, but I do know that we’re almost out of time. We’ll come back, but you can’t help your dad if you’re caught again.”

  Alec had a point. I watched him pull a small metal object from his shirt when we reached the final door.

  “What is that?”

  “It’s a key from an old-school lock on Earth. The Consulate brought a bunch of this stuff from the archives building to hold them over until they got their technology up and running.”

  I thought of my dad’s high-tech guns and wondered if they were still in Kale’s possession. Alec slid the key into the lock on the door and turned it. “I think they had a bit of a shock coming here. They had all the Earth money they could ever want, which didn’t mean anything once they landed. Everyone went back to survival mode.”

  The door opened and Alec stepped outside. “Wait!” I shrieked. “Don’t we need suits?”

  Alec put his finger to his lips to shush me but showed a hint of a smile. “Nope. There’s plenty of air on Caelia and the sun is, well, it’s different. Come on.”

  I took a hesitant step out into the daylight. The sun was a gold color, much smaller than the huge red inferno that had ruled Earth. I stretched out my bare arm and the sunlight warmed my skin. Memories of blisters popping out on my hands, of Mom and Callie burning alive, reared up to haunt me. I tried in vain to pull my short sleeves down for cover. “My arm. It feels hot.”

  Alec grabbed my arm and urged me onward. “You’re fine. It’s not going to burn. Have I mentioned we need to get out of here?”

  I willed my legs to cooperate, but their plans favored sitting and resting. I hung on to Alec and stared down at my legs as though I could make them remain upright with the power of my gaze.

  “Come on, hurry,” Alec said. “We just need to make it to the tree line.”

  “The tree what?” I looked up from my feet and gasped. Trees. Real trees as far as the eye could see. We were in a clearing in the midst of a ton of huge, leafy, green trees. It was a far cry from the deadly, sharp cactus groves on Earth. I struggled to recall the word I’d seen on my Infinity and gestured at the friendly-looking foliage. “What’s this called again?”

  Alec smiled but didn’t stop tugging at me. “It’s a forest.”

  I tried it out. “Forest.” The word sounded beautiful on my tongue. “It’s my new favorite word.”

  “I think there’s a word you’ll like even better, but we’ll never get there if the Consulate catches us.”

  As though on cue, loud shouts echoed from inside the building we’d escaped. “Guess Sylvia just figured out I’m missing … again,” I said.

  My legs churned sluggishly beneath me, but I was determined to get to the forest. It killed me that I had to leave my dad so soon after discovering he wasn’t dead. Sorry Dad, I thought. I’ll be back for you as soon as I can. I would get him out of there somehow, and the Consulate was going to pay for what they’d done to him.

  Alec didn’t let go of my arm. My feet tripped over themselves as I tried to keep up.

  We hit the tree line just as the building door opened. Alec pulled me behind a large tree and we looked into the clearing. Sylvia was bent at the knees and looked as though she was about to throw up. Next to her was the shiny-coated, fake-glasses-wearing Dr. Sorokin, who had treated me on the Consulate ship. He turned around in a slow circle, peering into the trees that surrounded the building.

  I stared at the ugly, bleak building in the center of the lush forest. They’d obviously cut down some of the trees to make room for their makeshift prison. Leave it to the Consulate—they’d found an amazing, beautiful planet and had already started to wreck it.

  After a minute, Dr. Sorokin reached into his pocket and pulled out a tele-com device.

  Alec tugged at my sleeve. “He’s calling for Consulate backup. We have to go,” he whispered.

  Cold sweats, fatigue, and nausea warred for control of my body. Though another visit with the shiny coats was the last thing I wanted, I was pretty positive I couldn’t move another step.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, swaying.

  Alec’s eyes bored into mine as he steadied me. “Somewhere I know you’ll want to see. Callie City.”

  Chapter THREE

  MY SISTER’S NAME PERKED ME UP. DR. SOROKIN HAD MENTIONED Callie City back on the Consulate ship. Just after I had awakened, he’d told me that my rescuer, a.k.a. James, had said Dad’s guns would be found in Callie City—a place named after my dead sister. A city that couldn’t have even existed at the time, since I’d only just told James her name. I didn’t know why James had made up such a blatant lie—not that he’d ever win any honesty awards—but maybe that meant I’d find James there and could get some answers. I’d start with why he shot me, and where my dad’s guns were.

  “What’s Callie City?” I asked, feigning ignorance as I wiped a fresh batch of sweat from my forehead.

  “A Resistance settlement set up to fight the Consulate. James named it.” Alec gripped my arm. “Now no more questions until we’re out of here. Let’s move.”

  I straightened up as best I could. “Okay, let’s do this.”

  We headed deeper into the forest. Despite my cold sweats, I stared in awe at the towering trees around me. All I’d known for years was the confined, underground bunker my dad had built. Before that, I’d lived under a dome and never seen any live thing except other humans and some mutant cacti. Even though I’d seen pictures of plants and animals on the Infinity, it was hard to believe those things had really existed. I reached up to touch one of the green leaves. It was smooth and soft under my fingertips. Brightly colored winged creatures, smaller than the birds I’d seen on the Net, zipped to and fro, making a strange musical sound. They didn’t seem bothered by us at all. The air smelled sweet and clean. “Do you even realize how amazing this is? We’re breathing air. Outside. Without helmets.”

  Alec tugged at my arm. “You wouldn’t even believe all the things I’ve seen here. But if we don’t hurry, all you’ll see is the containment building again.”

  Sure enough, a ship roared overhead not far from us.

  “Looks like the backup is here,” Alec said. He raced ahead about ten steps and craned his neck toward the sky. “The ship shouldn’t be able to spot us if we stay in the trees and the land cruisers are too big to navigate in here. Our problem will be the ground units they’re probably dispatching right now.”

  I grunted. “Yeah, guess you’d know all about their tactics, since you’re Consulate. Weren’t you going to explain about all that?”

  He slowed his pace and linked his arm with mine. “I promise to tell you everything when we’re safe. It might not seem like it, but I’ve never lied to you, ángel.”

  I ignored the term of endearment. “Lies of omission are still lies.” I left my arm in his only because I wasn’t sure how many more steps I could handle on my own. Sweat ran down from my hairline into my eyes, and I wiped at my face with my free hand. My body screamed in pain. I would have done almost anything for another dose of meds.

  Alec ignored my comment as he half-carried, half-pulled me through the forest. “I don’t hear the ship,” he said.

  “So?”

  “So they’ve probably landed to send ground units after us.”

  Fabulous. I was barely faster than the trees, and they were standing still. I couldn’t outrun soldiers. My breath came out in ragged gasps. “This is the part where y
ou tell me you have a plan, preferably one involving transportation. I can’t walk much farther.”

  Alec’s voice remained calm. “Lo siento, no transport, but there’s a place we can hide. I scouted ahead of time to be safe.”

  My vision was starting to blur. No weapons seemed a bigger problem than transportation at the moment. Alec had only one standard-issue gun holstered to his side. The Consulate guys would have more ammo than that. “Is that your only weapon?” I asked.

  He shifted the small pack on his back, raised his arm, and flexed his biceps. “Not if you count these babies.”

  His arms actually looked quite strong, which was good since everything around me was starting to fade. “I do count those,” I said, stumbling again. “In fact, I think you’re going to need them right about now.” I closed my eyes as the world went black.

  Everything was dark and still. I sat up in the inky blackness. “Alec?” I whispered.

  No response. My heart sped up at the thought of being alone in a strange place. I reached out and felt a cool, damp wall. The texture of it was similar to the large boulders that had been outside our underground bunker on Earth. Just like the one my mom and sister had died beside. My fingers brushed my satchel. I took a deep breath, hoisted the bag over my shoulder, and stood up. My legs still felt weak but the cold sweats had subsided.

  My eyes tried to adjust to the dark, but everything remained black. I stretched my arms above me and my fingertips hit a ceiling that felt like it was made of rock. I took a few tentative steps with my arm reached out ahead until I hit a wall in front of me. Was I inside a giant rock? I moved slowly and ran my hand along the damp stone as I went.

  After a few minutes going in the same direction, the darkness ahead lightened a bit. I walked faster and relief flooded through me. My legs felt a little stronger with each step. As I neared the area where faint light was visible, a cool breeze brushed my face. The scent of something heavenly wafted through the air.