Heart's Prisoner (Dark World Mates Book 1) Read online

  Nicole shifted in her seat, wincing as she moved her leg. "Yes."

  "You said the base was compromised but not just by the specimens."

  Nicole closed her eyes and frowned. "Yes. There is another threat. Something me and my uncle had been keeping under wraps."

  "It's some sort of sickness?"

  Nicole opened her eyes and looked at Lana sadly. "In a way, yes. It is a parasite. Found on planet 421. We were studying it there, taking samples. It was being transported here when...when Asset X attacked the camp. The day we brought it into the base was the day Xerus was captured and brought as well."

  Lana grew still, her hands tightening on her lap. "His enemy...is all around," she whispered.

  Nicole nodded. "I was assigned to help my uncle study it here. To test it. To experiment how it infected and grew. We called it Asset S or Spectre. Once it gets into a living being it slowly takes over mind and body." Nicole clicked open a file, bringing up a video. It was of Dr. Grimmer sitting in a small room. She started the video and Lana leaned forward, watching carefully.

  "Is this Dr. Grimmer I'm still speaking to?" Cole's voice came through the feed in a clipped tone.

  Dr. Grimmer smiled, his fists clenching and unclenching. He looked on the verge of death, his body was skeletal, his skin pale. There was crusted blood under his nose and his pupils were black. "No," he croaked.

  There was a pause. "Is this Spectre?" Cole asked.

  Dr. Grimmer bowed his head. "This body...won't last. So weak. We need better."

  "Dr. Grimmer was already a sick man. Though he didn't know it yet."

  Dr. Grimmer scowled. "Let us out."

  Before Cole could respond Dr. Grimmer bent forward and threw up blood all over himself, black blood like oil. The video stopped there and Lana felt sick.

  "He had been here all this time," Lana said in shock. "He was sick. And Xerus had known." She caught Nicole's eyes. "And so did you."

  Nicole looked on the verge of tears. "I did. I did but I couldn't tell you or anyone. It was mine and Cole's project and only a few chosen others assisted us."

  "Like that lab tech, Jeff. He had it." Lana's expression darkened. "Is he dead too?"

  Nicole nodded. "Some die. Others...become its puppet. It takes over until there is nothing left of who the person once was. We only discovered it on planet 421 because a soldier had been the first to be infected by it. Cole wanted to know more so he signed to have it studied and brought here. It was a mistake. A horrible mistake," Nicole cried softly. She took a deep breath and Lana waited for her to continue. "W-when he started to display signs...I tried to tell him he needed to get examined. I really did. But I couldn't get him to budge. I was able to convince him to keep away from others, to stick to his room or the virus lab, but he refused to stop his work. And now...oh god, now he must be under Spectre's full control. He let the specimens out because he knew that if such a catastrophic situation took place the base would be forced into lockdown. That way the parasite can attempt to get to other hosts easier."

  Lana couldn't believe what she was hearing and yet she wanted to smack herself for not realizing what was going on sooner. There had been so many signs, but she had been so focused on helping Xerus she hadn't tried harder to contemplate what was happening around her save for the changes in Cole.

  "So the base is essentially a ticking time-bomb," Lana said. "And when it infects everyone, then what?"

  Nicole inclined her head, biting her lip. "My guess? It will take the ships. And spread farther."

  Lana looked back at the computer screen, at the distorted image of Dr. Grimmer and his trail of blood. "Is there any way to tell if someone has it?"

  "Besides the obvious symptoms?" Nicole shook her head. "We had machines that could test early signs but they are all down at twelve which I gather is an impossible mess at this point and too dangerous to enter."

  "And how long after signs is the person completely gone?"

  Nicole shrugged. "It's hard to say. Everyone is different. Cole was able to keep control of himself for an impressively long time. Dr. Grimmer not as long. And Jeff was nearly instantaneous. We hadn't gathered enough data yet as to know why some cave quicker than others."

  Lana looked down at her hands, feeling angry heat rise in her neck and face. A part of her wanted to scream at Nicole. To shake her till her eyes popped out. Despite her best qualities, she had allowed this deadly parasite into the base. Had kept it secret when things were starting to get out of hand instead of taking action. Like going against her uncle. She was either too subservient or too proud, or both.

  "Well if we can't leave base then I guess our best option is to hide and stay away from as many people as possible," Lana said in a low voice, refusing to meet her friend's eyes. "Do you know how it spreads at least?"

  "Usually through blood or saliva. It's not air-born thank god, and if my knowledge so far is correct only once someone displays symptoms are they susceptible to transfer the parasite."

  "And there's no way to flush it from someone's system? No way to get rid of it?" Lana said, her gaze darting back up to Nicole.

  Nicole wiped away a few tears and looked at the computer screen. "No. Only through death."

  A sharp, hear-splitting screech cut through the silence of the room. Lana jumped up and Nicole yelped as their eyes shot to the door.

  "We have to go. We can't stay here," Lana said.

  "They can't get in." Nicole's voice cracked.

  "Those raptors are smarter than they look. Together they might find a way given enough time. We need to get out of level six."

  "Where can we go?" Nicole asked, her voice rising in panic.

  "I think we should still try to make for the docks. Or at least get to the city sector and find a way to hide there. That way we are closer to the surface, closer when help arrives. Someone by now has surely contacted another base close by."

  Nicole grasped Lana's sleeve as she went to help her up. "We can't let Spectre spread. We need to let others know. So when help arrives they won't let everyone out."

  Lana frowned then wrapped an arm around Nicole's waist to help her stand. "We will figure something out. For now, let's just go."

  Nicole didn't argue as she rested her arm around Lana's neck and used her body for support as they hobbled toward the door.

  "We will have to take the main elevators since they are closer," Lana said as they paused to ready themselves.

  "Wait, I have a pocket knife in my desk drawer," said Nicole. "Take it in case..."

  Lana nodded and, letting Nicole use the wall momentarily for support, she hurried over to the desk and rummaged through the drawers until she found a small red pocket knife. Flipping open the blade, she went back over to Nicole and supported her once more. With deep breaths, Nicole unlocked the door and it slid open. They paused to peer out, making sure there was nothing about to jump out at them.

  "There's something I forgot to mention," Lana said before allowing Nicole to step out. "Xerus is alive. And he's...hunting me."

  Nicole stared at Lana with her mouth agape. "Oh, god...how?"

  "He had tricked us. But it doesn't matter now. I just needed you to know that." Lana couldn't stop the trembling in her limbs. "So one more thing to worry about I guess." She laughed nervously.

  There was a small tremor and Lana had to quickly keep her balance to not have them both fall over. The lights flickered and a low beep echoed down the hall. Lana tightened her grip around Nicole and staggered out into the passage. They took a sharp left and did their best to step over and weave around equipment, a couple of times Lana having to use all her strength to lift Nicole over fallen debris. When they rounded a corner and saw the foyer with the elevators in sight, Lana didn't hesitate but made straight for them.

  Lana punched the elevator button with her knife-holding hand then swerved around with Nicole so the elevators were behind them. Her knife at the ready, she waited for either the elevator to come or for one of the blue raptors to m
ake an appearance. She could hear their calls getting closer.

  "Lana..." Nicole said nervously.

  "It's coming," Lana replied. She could hear the hum of the elevator car now.

  When she heard a ding and felt a puff of air at her back from the elevator doors opening, Lana shuffled inside. She pressed the button to close the doors. As they began to slide close, a raptor leaped out from one hallway and came charging at them.

  Lana cursed and Nicole shouted in surprise as the raptor closed the distance and shot its hand through the small opening to grab at them. Lana kicked at it as it tried to jam its head through, forcing the elevator doors to open. Lana cried out and blindly struck at the creature with her knife. It slashed its razor talons out and caught Lana's leg. Lana screamed at the searing pain as its talon hooked her pant leg and sliced downward. As the raptor tried to drag her out, Lana attacked its arm and sliced its snout. The raptor hissed and backed away as blood gushed from its nose, it barked in annoyance as it shook its head.

  With pure adrenaline, Lana forced herself up on her knees and slammed her hand on the elevator buttons, uncaring what floor got picked as long as the doors shut. The raptor came back again, but this time Lana was ready. She swept her arm outward and focused toward its face. Somehow she managed to cut close to its eye. Though not before it sliced her arm. The raptor yelped and swerved back and the elevator doors began to close again. Just before the doors shut completely, two more raptors appeared. They surged forward but didn't catch the doors in time. Lana dropped backward to lay on the ground by Nicole's feet as the elevator shook from the raptors pounding against the metal.

  Lana felt Nicole grasp her shoulder and Lana tried to sit up as the elevator began to move, going down instead of up. The shrill cries of the raptors died out until only Lana and Nicole's harsh breaths filled the quiet.

  "Your'e bleeding, let me see," Nicole said with a pained expression as she carefully moved her bad leg away. Lana shifted to her side so they could both look. Both her arm and leg were bleeding pretty bad, her leg worse than her arm. The warm liquid trickled down her foot and hand, dripping onto the floor.

  Before Nicole could examine her better, the elevator came to a stop on floor eight. The doors opened to reveal a dark wide passage leading to a large warehouse beyond. Level eight was where they stored and fixed bots from Scibots to storage bots.

  The level was deathly quiet. Lana went to reach for the elevator buttons again when Nicole stopped her.

  "Hold on, there's got to be a medkit nearby. We need to get you bandaged up."

  Lana protested but Nicole was already pushing herself up and exiting the car, jumping on one foot.

  "Nicole, wait, I don't like this," Lana said, shifting around. As the elevator doors began to close, Lana cursed and pulled herself out before they shut completely. She watched as Nicole jumped then went back to her hands and knees to crawl over to the warehouse entrance.

  "Here! I see one!" Nicole hoisted herself up on a nearby table and went to a box on the side of the wall entrance that Lana couldn't see.

  Lana carefully stood up. "Wait there, I'll come to you." She staggered over then leaned against the table where Nicole also now sat. Taking out a cloth and disinfectant, Nicole did her best to clean Lana's arm first. "It doesn't look like you will need anything done on your arm thankfully, but the wound might leave scarring," Nicole said as she wrapped her arm. "Your leg I'm afraid will need to be closed up immediately. There's a Meldpen here so it shouldn't take long, but it's going to hurt." She did the same routine with Lana's leg, which Lana held propped up on the table, cleaning it before turning on the Meldpen which heated up quickly.

  It took several minutes to seal the wound on her leg with the Meldpen, with Nicole having to pause to clean as she went. Lana had to bite down on her arm to try not to scream from the burning pain, tears stinging her eyes. When she finished, Lana carefully set her leg down and tried to catch her breath, wiping sweat from her face. When she could muster the strength, she placed her weight on her foot and slowly stood. Nicole, too, carefully lifted herself off the table.

  "Alright let's go," Lana said. As she took Nicole's arm and wrapped it around her neck a rattling noise sounded behind them.

  "May I be of assistance?"

  Lana swerved around, almost dropping Nicole. In front of them was a Scibot, appearing out from somewhere in the warehouse. Both she and Nicole let out a shaky breath of relief.

  "You think you can help carry us," Lana asked, joking. The Scibots weren't known for assisting in such physical matters.

  The Scibot paused as if calculating its answer. "I'm afraid I don't understand the–"

  In an instant, it was ripped away into the darkness and in its place was a large slithering creature, looking down at them with four eyes. It roared.

  Lana fell with Nicole, hitting the hard ground with a painful crash. Nicole screamed as the creature reared its head up like a snake, ready to strike, it bared fangs and opened its wide jaws. It lunged forward and Lana brought her hands up as if she could somehow defend herself.

  There were shouts from somewhere close and gunfire lit the room, bullets hitting the creature in the face, making it rear back. It screeched with rage until a bullet bomb hit it square between the eyes, tearing its face wide open. It hit the ground with a loud thud and went limp, its green blood flowing out like a loose pipe.

  Lana tried to take hold of Nicole while attempting to scramble to her feet when a heavy hand grabbed her and pulled her up. She twisted around and came face to face with Galger.

  "Well, you're tougher than you look, sweetheart." He grinned.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Despite Lana's protests, Galger insisted on carrying her. She shifted uncomfortably in his sweaty arms and thought several times about squirming out of them but at the moment they were rushing for the elevators and she wanted to get away as quick as possible and they could run much faster. Nicole was silent and looked more grateful to the man carrying her, another team member named Jerard. As they got into the elevators, Lana saw one of the men press the button for level five.

  "Why are we going to the security sector?" Lana asked.

  "Because it's secure," Galger said as if it were obvious.

  Lana tried not to roll her eyes. "Is there a saferoom?"

  "For us, yea," he said.

  Lana didn't exactly understand until the doors opened to level five and the team rushed out taking them through several passageways until they came to a rather large door, leading to level five's storage room. When they opened the door Lana found the room had been taken over by Galger's team and turned into a makeshift saferoom. Doors were locked and under watch, crates were pushed to the walls so that at the center, where Galger placed her and Nicole, was piled with military gear, tools and, of course, weapons of all shapes and sizes. Other members sat on smaller crates around the center, unloading guns and counting bullets, checking inventory. One man was seen working on a Scibot which, like the one in the saferoom she had first been in, was hacked to show security footage throughout the base.

  Many men stopped to look at them, some giving curious looks. Others, hungry. Lana quickly made to huddle close to Nicole on a mat as if to protect her.

  "Where the hell did you get those two?" came a familiar voice. When Lana turned her head, she caught the cold black stare of Officer Torrence's eyes.

  "Can you believe they were just wandering around on eight? A little beat up but somehow intact," Galger said with his wolfish grin.

  Torrence said nothing, only glared down at her, and Lana held his stare, jaw clenched. He chewed slowly on his gum, checking the gun on his waist. "They can't stay here."

  Galger raised his eyebrows. "Oh, come off it Torrence, we have enough food and shit. And they can keep the others company."

  Lana's stomach twisted and her face burned. She didn't even want to know what he meant by keeping the others company. And the way they talked like she and Nicole weren't even there was inf
uriating.

  "If I may be so bold as to say we don't want to be here either," she said, grasping Nicole's shaky hand. "Just take us to the nearest saferoom and be done with it."

  "Now, now," said Galger. "Let's talk this through, eh?" He said crouching beside them. "How about we get you fixed up, have a nice meal and will figure things out. Sound okay, Torrence?"

  Torrence just chewed his gum. "Did you at least hit anything out there?" he asked Galger.

  "Yea, got the giant worm. Should see the look on its face. Or lack of." Galger laughed.

  "Good. I'm readying the others for the next trip. Dillon says he saw the spider. It made it's nest nearby. Want to get to it before it disappears into the vents again. Otherwise, we can smoke it out."

  Lana clenched her hands into fists. The hunt was more than just a job to them, it was a game. She knew she had to warn them about the parasite but feared they'd turn mowing down individuals as a game also.

  But what choice did she have? If any got exposed it could mean the death of them all.

  Lana rubbed her temples. "There's something you two need to know before you go back out there. About another threat."

  "Oh, yea, we know about Asset X," Galger said. "Don't worry he is top on our list. Tricky fucker has to show up sometime...ah, sorry, maybe you didn't know he was back up and kickin..."

  Lana looked up at him wide-eyed. Oh, god. Of course, they were going after him too.

  "Yes, I know he's alive," Lana said.

  "Of course you do," Torrence mumbled.

  Lana gave him a nasty look. "But no, it's not about him."

  Galger arched a brow. "Oh?"

  Lana looked to Nicole. "Tell them."

  Nicole gazed up at them nervously, her voice soft at first then growing bolder. She told them of Spectre and Dr. Kingsley and the others being exposed. Lana watched their expression carefully as she explained. Galger's face twisted with annoyance while Torrence looked strangely calm.

  "Fuck me," Galger said. "So that's what happened?" He eyed Torrence. "Looks like we have a change of plans."