Phoenix Arise: YA Sci-fi Thriller (From the Ashes Book 1) Read online

  He laughed. “I like that.” Pulling me close, he swung me around so my back faced him, and wrapped his arms around my waist. “I can live with kissable.” His lips were warm on my neck.

  I closed my eyes and leaned into him. Things couldn’t get much nicer than this. But we hadn’t come out here to kiss. I needed to learn to defend myself. I turned to face him. “What’s next? Besides me socking you in the gut?”

  “Yeah, let’s not do that again.” Wrinkles appeared on his forehead. “I guess the next thing is your fist. You need to consider hand position if you don’t want to get hurt.”

  I took a step backward. “Show me.”

  “A single knuckle forward gives the most impact. It concentrates the force into a small area.” He took my hand and moved my fingers into the right position. “You want to hit him.” His lips twisted. “I assume we’re talking about a him. But you want to do it with your hand at this angle.” He demonstrated, pulling my fist toward his neck. “Step forward to add momentum and nail him here. Or under the center of his chin. There’s a nerve here. If you hit it right, you’ll knock him out.”

  “Cool. Like this?” I faked a blow toward his chin.

  With a move faster than my eye could follow, he cupped my fist. “Exactly. Another good spot? The temple if you can reach.” His brows scrunched. “You’re short.”

  “Hey. I’m five-foot-two and a quarter.”

  “On a good day.”

  I scowled. “No, on any day.”

  “I think you’re stretching it a bit, but I’ll let you get away with it, because you’re pretty sweet.”

  Sweet, huh? That made me glow. “You’re pretty sweet yourself.” I ran my hand across his hair. So silky. Maybe I’d steal another kiss.

  I stood on tiptoe, my eyes sliding closed. A needful sigh slipped from my mouth as I leaned into his chest. His hands caressed the back of my waist.

  Our lips came together. Our tongues entwined.

  Screams pulled us apart.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Entering our camp area at a full-out clip with my eyes focused on the people crowded around Felicia, I tripped over the rock circle. I sprawled and fell, smacking my hand on a stone hard enough to bring tears to my eyes.

  “You okay?” Malik helped me stand.

  I nodded and rubbed my sore fingers while I took in the concerned faces nearby. No one stared my way, even though I’d swan-dived into their midst. They all stared at Felicia.

  “It’s…horrible,” Felicia stuttered. She leaned into Tiff and sobbed.

  I couldn’t understand much of what she said. Only one word stood out. Horrible.

  Jay had muttered horrible. Had she been bitten?

  I glanced at the others. “What’s going on?”

  Tiff shrugged, her eyes wide. Trey crouched behind her, a stick clenched in his hands. He lifted it and smacked it on his palm, over and over. Were we under attack?

  Swinging my crossbow around to the front, I notched a bolt in the shaft. Life on Eris was infinitely better with a loaded weapon in my hands.

  “I-I-I…saw.” Felicia buried her face in her hands and wailed.

  “Spit it out.” Riley scowled beside them, his hands on his hips. “We don’t understand gibberish.”

  “It was horrible,” she said.

  “Yeah, we got that.” Leaning forward, he pulled her away from Tiff and gave her a shake. “Tell us what’s going on. Now.”

  Felicia shrieked. She yanked away from Riley and crawled to the other side of the fire pit, her tears a salty rain. “Leave me alone. Leave me alone. Leave me alone.”

  “For Christ’s sake, Riley, stop it.” Malik walked over and stooped in front of Felicia. Like she was a wounded bird, he extended his hand toward her, slow and hesitant. “It’s okay.” His words were so faint we all strained forward to hear them. “No one’s going to hurt you. Tell us what’s wrong.”

  “Was it a snake?” Seeing no immediate danger, I loosened the bolt and slid my crossbow strap onto my shoulder, freeing my arms to wrap around my waist.

  Felicia shook her head. “I had to pee.” The terror on her face spiked through me, severing something vital. What had she seen? “It was horrible.”

  “Tell me.” Malik kept his voice low and soothing. With that tone, he could lull a herd of pink meerkats from their burrows.

  Felicia took a shuddering breath. “It was Will. He’s dead.”

  My heart stalled. Will, as in Mandy’s brother, Will? Wait. He’d died in the crash, hadn’t he? Mandy had come to me just after, wanting me to go back inside to rescue him.

  I shot my eyes to Mandy.

  She sat beside Joe, staring east, toward the mountains, with tears trickling down her face. Her mouth moved, but I couldn’t make out anything she said, except…Run.

  Cold flashed through my body. Gooseflesh peppered my arms even though the setting sun heated my back to scorch.

  “Tell me, Felicia,” Malik said.

  Yes, tell us. My hands clenched and released. I was torn between going to Mandy and wrapping my arms around Felicia’s shoulders to lend her support.

  Sobbing, Felicia pointed in the opposite direction of where Malik and I had trained.

  Another small hill. Standing on my toes, I squinted, trying to see over the other side, but could make nothing out. Had she imagined things? Maybe she’d sat down, fallen asleep, and had a nightmare. We were tired. Tense. It would be easy to do.

  Tilting his head back, Malik’s grim eyes met mine. He stood and lifted his crossbow. “Everyone stay here.”

  Not this time. I grabbed my first aid kit. “If someone’s hurt, I might be able to help.”

  “Leave your crossbow with Trey.” He turned to the taller man. “Keep an eye on things while we’re gone?”

  Trey growled as he took it. “Nothing’s getting past me.”

  “Joe,” I said. “Stay close to Tiff, okay?”

  He bit his lip. “Be careful.”

  Stooping in front of Mandy, I lifted her chin so her eyes met mine. “You okay?”

  “Run. Be quiet,” she whispered. Then louder. “Run. Be quiet!” Her shoulders shook.

  I pulled her close and rubbed her back. “I’m sorry. You tried to get me to go with you after we crashed, didn’t you?”

  “Yes.” She shuddered.

  “I thought you were pulling me toward the ship. To rescue Will.” I swallowed. “But you wanted me to follow because something…someone had taken him.”

  Tears dripped from her cheeks. “Yesss.”

  “I took you with us instead.” She’d begged my help, and I’d misunderstood.

  What had happened to Will?

  “I’m the paramedic here.” Riley strode forward like a superhero arriving at the scene of an impending disaster. He tapped my shoulder. “I’ll go with Malik. You stay here where it’s safe.”

  I released Mandy and stood, flexing my spine. “We’ll both go.” No way would I leave Malik’s back uncovered with Riley nearby.

  Riley studied my face longer than necessary. His eyes drifted to my mouth, and he frowned. Geez, was it obvious I’d kissed Malik? Were my lips puffy? They felt the same. Chapped, but he couldn’t know what we’d been doing. Heat flooded my cheeks, although I wasn’t sure why I felt embarrassed. As much as he might insist, it wasn’t any of Riley’s business if I hooked up with Malik. “Get over yourself. I’m going, too.”

  I grabbed my kit and moved over to stand with Malik, my knife in my hand. Practically invisible. But one click, and the blade would slide free, ready to cut.

  We climbed over the rock ring and headed up the hill.

  “Wait, you guys.” Colin joined us, hefting a stick. “I’ll go along as your bodyguard.”

  Like we were playing a freaking war vid game? I sighed. Could things get much worse?

  Colin twirled the stick like a sword. He thrust it into the air like he was stabbing an imaginary foe.

  Good grief. I hoped he didn’t jab one of us with it.
His presence meant Riley had a best bud to watch his back, like Malik had me. I guessed we were even.

  When we crested the peak, something red flashed in the sand ahead of us, catching my eye. We ground to a halt.

  The broad plain continued all the way to the blue-green mountains looming in the distance. In between, tan, tan, and more tan stretched in a dusty wave. Broken only by a splotch of red.

  Someone had built a small structure around the bright color as if to hold it in. Manmade, I assumed. Eris couldn’t have created anything like this. Had we found another indigenous creature, like the meerkats?

  Since we were traveling in a straight line toward the mountains, we would have crossed this area tomorrow. In fact, we couldn’t have missed it. Which was an awful creepy thought.

  The red fluttered in the wind, like a piece of trash had been snared in a trap. Beside me, Malik groaned, a heart-wrenching gasp of pain and dismay. I squinted, and my sigh joined in with his.

  Felicia had it right. It was freaking horrible.

  I dashed forward, tripping and my arms flailing. Malik raced beside me. I held the first aid kit tight to my chest, trying not to drop it in my rush. As I drew close, the red appeared to spread across the ground like a bright blanket left behind after a picnic.

  It wasn’t a blanket. And this was no picnic. But someone had left something behind for us to find.

  Whoever had created the structure had studied one like it, when we’d set it up each night. In fact, they’d designed it in our honor. A circle of rocks. Sand mounded up around them to keep out snakes. Instead of sticks to light a fire in the center like we’d done the night before and planned to do tonight, they’d found a new use for the wood. It impaled a body. Will?

  His laughing eyes flashed through my mind, along with the kind way he’d treated Mandy. The blush on his cheeks and the smile in his eyes when he’d talked to me at the spaceport. The medical classes we’d taken together back on Earth.

  I pumped my legs faster, and the others kept up. Malik pulled ahead like we were competing in a road race. My feet stung when my treds slammed the ground. Over the past few days, I’d picked up blisters while walking. They burst, and the sting of running on wildfires made me stumble. My toes squished in my socks. Not that I cared. I had to help Will.

  Taking the rock circle like an Olympic jumping event, I landed and fell to the ground beside the still figure. Malik stooped on his knees across from me, panting.

  Will wore a red durasuit, except the suit hadn’t been red when he’d put it on. Pale green? Yellow? Something light. With all the maroon smeared around, I couldn’t tell.

  I gulped back tears and the lurch of pain rising in my chest. My hand rose, but I didn’t dare touch. I couldn’t touch. If I did, I’d vomit. Maybe never stop.

  Black flecks clustered on his body as if someone had thrown a bucket of dark diamonds into the air and they’d fallen across him.

  They hummed.

  Eris had flies. Thousands of them. They crawled. They flew. They feasted on Will.

  He lay spread-eagled, his hands and feet tied to stakes some fiend had driven into the rocky soil. The stick I’d identified from a distance had been plunged through his sternum, piercing his heart. It looked like the one Malik had found where Piper was taken.

  Will’s eyes stared at the sky unblinking, filled with a mix of wonder, horror, and pain. Someone had gagged him so he couldn’t cry out. Or so he wouldn’t be heard by his friends setting up camp just over the rise.

  This was totally sick.

  Depraved.

  Will’s durasuit proved slicing could be taken to a whole new level. The thing was, if you made enough cuts, the body eventually gave up. Bled out.

  A rank, meaty scent tainted the air. In the desert heat, he’d begun to rot. Behind me, someone retched.

  From the terrified twist of Will’s features, he’d been aware of what they did to him much too long. Until his will to go on had burst out of him and fled into the sky.

  A shriek made me jump. Tilting my head back, my sigh of relief chugged from my gut. In addition to flies, Eris had carrion birds. They swooped and soared high above us, fingered black wings spread wide. Their beady eyes were fixed on the desert display.

  While I’d come to give Will medical assistance, I didn’t start CPR. Neither did Riley. Will’s opaque eyes told me all I needed to know. We’d found our missing crash survivor, but someone had gotten to him first.

  Bright red blood stained the rope tying his left hand. He’d struggled, unable to break free, scoring his wrists. Blood glistened as it slid down his pinky. It crested the tip and dripped into the sand.

  I pinched what was left of his durasuit sleeve and flipped over his unresisting hand. It moved easily. Purple palms. I bet his feet matched. If rigor mortis hadn’t set in, it meant he’d been dead less than thirty minutes, tops. Had he been alive when Felicia found him?

  “Blood,” I said.

  “No shit,” Riley said.

  Another drop fell. Dazed, I watched as more trickled down his hand.

  Fresh. The word sank into my brain like the blood sank into the sand.

  I stood and tripped over a rock, my arms cartwheeling.

  “They’re here.” My words came out a squeal. My knife snapped to attention as I twisted my head, seeking movement.

  Malik crouched, scanning with me.

  “What?” Riley said, looking around. “Who? What’re you talking about? No one’s here but us.”

  Malik cocked a bolt into his crossbow faster than I could ever hope to load the weapon. Bending forward, he scooted to the rock ring and lowered himself to the ground, using the barrier as a shield.

  “Tell me who’s here,” Riley whined beside me.

  I grunted and ducked. “Fresh blood. Will hasn’t been dead long.”

  “Fuck.” Riley pulled the laser pistol, nearly dropping it as he fumbled to load a clip.

  I scowled. “Ever fired that thing?”

  A sneer filled his voice. “Of course I have.”

  Could have fooled me. It gave me hope if he aimed it my way, there was less chance he’d hit me.

  Taking Malik’s lead, I settled onto my belly beside him, my eyes peeking above the rock ring. “See anything?”

  “Not so far.”

  “Maybe they’re gone. I have to get back to Joe.” Make sure he was safe.

  “Not yet,” Malik said. “Trey’s watching and we need to make sure we won’t be picked off returning to the others.”

  “Okay.” I didn’t like it. Fear kept bolting through me like a wild beast. But Malik would know best how to handle this.

  We lay there forever, breathing in the coppery smell of Will’s bloody body, but seeing nothing move on the plain. Riley stood behind us, shuffling his feet. Kind of gave me the creeps having him so near and above me, but I enjoyed the fact that he was willing to skyline himself. Nothing like an exposed target nearby to add to my comfort level.

  Malik rose to his feet. “I think they’re gone.”

  Taking a deep breath, I crawled over to Will. “We should bury him.” My voice broke. Who would do this to another being, and why? I sliced through the ropes pinning him down. No one deserved this. It wasn’t right. Tortured. Murdered. Left for dead. Staked out in the sun to bake and become fodder for whatever came along to pick his bones clean.

  “I think they made him run before they caught him.” Malik worked on the ropes pinning Will’s ankles. “Look.”

  Will’s pants were ripped. Not that the rest of him wasn’t, but these tears appeared different, jagged, while the others were…clean. “Maybe they did it when they cut him?”

  Malik poked his fingers into a hole and held something up. A thorn. More had snagged in the other holes. Some were imbedded in his flesh.

  Was Malik right? “What if he stumbled away from us after the crash and ran into some bushes? We were scared, trying to get away from the burning ship.”

  “Could be. But his treds show wear.
The soles are sliced from rocks. If he wandered away from the ship, he covered a lot of rough ground fast. Faster than someone lost in the desert. People don’t run much in this heat.”

  I leaned toward Will’s chest. “What’s this?”

  Using the tip of my knife, I tugged something from underneath the neck of his durasuit, a finely braided rope formed into a loose necklace. Small feathers had been woven in, alternating with claws. Wolf claws? That, or some other creature we’d yet to discover. “This is terrible,” I said.

  The material wasn’t anything like our nylatec. Or grass. In fact, it didn’t look like any plant fiber I’d seen. Thin. Wispy. Soft. A mix of black, brown and gold.

  Hair.

  Stunned, I fell back onto my butt. I raised my shaky hands and would have run them across my face if they weren’t covered in blood. Vomit bubbled in my throat, but I swallowed it down. “That’s sick.” Rising, I flung the hair ties as hard as I could, a shriek of rage screaming from my mouth. Tension twisted my gut. I’d kill whoever had done this to Will. With my bare hands, if I had to.

  “Riley,” Malik said. “You and Colin bury him.”

  Colin sneered. “What do you plan to do while we’re pulling grave duty? Watch us?”

  “I’m going after whoever did this.”

  Riley’s arms linked on his chest. “Let the colonists deal with it.”

  “It’ll take days, maybe a week to get to the mountains,” Malik said. “And you’re assuming we’ll find the colonists when we get there.”

  Wait. What was he saying. Dad!

  “Of course we’ll find them.” Riley tapped his head with his index finger. “Use your military brain for once. Trey’s locator showed us where they are.”

  Colin’s chest shook with his chuckles, and he nudged Riley’s shoulder. “Good one.”

  The fact that Malik didn’t argue with Riley sank into me.

  Bleakness filled his eyes when he looked my way. “They haven’t replied.”

  A rock formed in my gut.

  Will.

  Piper.

  Nikolai.

  One at a time. Until none were left.

  He couldn’t mean the colonists, too, could he?