Hunter Raze, page 2
Her only regret was her younger sister. Tears filled her eyes, and this time she let them flow. Jessa would be all alone with Anabel gone. It tore her up knowing the pain her sister would feel over being told of her death. It would also kill her baby sister’s dreams for their future. They’d planned to eventually settle together on a quiet planet when their United Earth contracts were fulfilled.
Not that she really believed the big bosses would just let her go. She’d done too many missions, knew too much. She’d seen what happened to other operatives when it came time for their contracts to expire. They either agreed to work longer…or accidents happened. Deadly ones.
That was something it had taken her years to realize. Retirement was a lie, something to keep them in line as they carried out missions. There was no such thing as freedom for people like her.
Anabel had given her sister the only gift she could by pretending to agree to their retirement plans—hope.
Her death would be the end of that.
“I’m sorry, sis,” she whispered. “So damn sorry. Kurt won’t be allowed to tell you I died while stopping a company from murdering entire worlds of aliens…but I know you’d understand if he could.”
Kurt would make certain that her baby sister got her letter. It was a vid, actually. Which was important. Jessa hadn’t been allowed to actually see Anabel—in person or in vids—since the fleet had separated them as children.
She wanted her sister to be able to look into her eyes, even if it was just on a recording. To see her face while hearing her voice at the same time. It would give Jessa a memento to hold onto forever. Her sister would also know how much she loved her. She’d made that abundantly clear in the recording.
Anabel had faith that whatever cover story Kurt came up with would also give her sister closure. Either Kurt himself or someone on their secret team would visit Jessa, to give her the news in person. Maybe even hug her, like Anabel hadn’t been able to do since childhood.
Emotion choked her at realizing that would never become a reality. She wasn’t ever going to get the chance to see her sister in person again. Her life, and any future opportunity to sneak a visit to her sister, was over.
Anabel reached up and wiped at her tears, closing her eyes.
“I’m not dead yet,” she muttered. “I might be marooned on a planet until I die, but I’ll make damn sure I’m the only human left standing if some of those fuckers from Soapa Six make it to the surface. My job isn’t finished until then.”
Chapter One
Three months later
Anabel avoided laser fire and picked up her pace, dodging thick red tree trunks as two ex-crew members from Soapa Six hunted her. She saw a huge, familiar purple plant and gritted her teeth. Her time on KP—as she’d dubbed the planet—had taught her all about the killer plants. Most of the vegetation was deadly, in fact.
She threw herself down, sliding under dozens of purple leaves that were larger than her entire body, and twisted to the side to avoid slamming headfirst into the wide base of the plant where it emerged from the ground. She still hit the base with her upper body hard enough to knock the air from her lungs. The entire plant began to shake and tremble. The massive leaves lowered to the ground. She curled her body tightly around the six-feet-diameter trunk to avoid touching them.
“Where’d that bitch go?” one of the crew members from Soapa Six panted.
“I don’t know,” his companion panted back. “I think Dodge is right. She’s a cyborg. No one human can run that fast.”
“I don’t care what she is. I’m going to find her, fuck her, and kill her.”
“You heard Dodge. He wants us to bring her back alive. She’s the only damn woman on the planet. At least, the only fuckable one. No way am I touching those reptilian aliens. My dick would probably be ripped off by what passes for their pussy. Their goddamn scales look sharp as hell.”
“That cunt is the reason we’re stuck on this planet until Gemini sends another freighter to pick us up. I fucking hate this goddamn place.”
Anabel smirked. Their company wouldn’t be sending a rescue.
“Look at the dirt,” the other man said, lowering his voice. “The bitch is hiding under that plant.”
She was grateful for her modified ear, enabling her to catch the slightest whispered word.
“Go around to the other side of it to see if she crawled out,” the guy ordered.
“We’re gonna get her!” Eagerness filled the other man’s voice.
Anabel hoped they’d never encountered one of these plants before and would crawl in after her. She coughed, making sure they knew where she was. The purple base of plant trembled again. It was definitely awake.
“She’s in there,” yelled the guy who’d circled around. “Come out, bitch!”
“I can’t,” she rasped. “I broke my ankle.”
“Crawl under there and get her,” the other ordered.
She smiled. “Yeah. Come get me. I’m hurt.”
“You’re gonna hurt so much more by the time we’re through with you,” he muttered low, thinking she couldn’t hear him. “Go in there, Kevin. Drag her out.”
“I’m going.” Kevin sounded happy to do so…
Until he screamed. “It’s got me! The fucking plant has me!”
She reached up and covered her ears, keeping her body snug against the base. Laser fire sounded. Kevin’s screams turned to shrieks of terror and pain. She couldn’t see him from where she lay on her side, facing the tree. But she didn’t need to watch to know what was happening. Those large leaves were wrapping around their next meal, crushing him to death. She’d seen it happen to an animal on her second day on the planet.
His screams abruptly stopped, but his friend kept firing his laser.
“It won’t do any good,” she muttered. “Leaves are too thick. You’re just pissing it off and making loud noises. Big mistake in this part of the valley…”
The dirt beneath her began to thump lightly. “Here they come.”
She released her ears and gripped the base as best she could, drawing her knees in tighter and hanging on as the vibrations grew stronger. The laser fire halted. She imagined the remaining crew member finally felt or heard the approaching pack of shredders, what she’d named the approaching beasts.
“Fuck!” More laser fire sounded.
Then there were high-pitched screams, mixed with animalistic whistles. The laser fire stopped once more. Anabel heard disturbing tearing and crunching noises, and she sealed her lips tight, breathing through her nose to avoid puking. The man was being eaten.
The shredders were vicious. The size of rhinos from Earth, they looked like screwed-up hairless wolves with eight legs. The two front limbs acted like arms with deadly claws to grab their prey, bringing it closer to their razor-sharp teeth.
Anabel had a love/hate relationship with the shredders. She loved when they killed one of the crew for her, but sometimes they migrated into the area beneath her home base, where they’d hang out for a couple weeks while birthing babies. That meant she had to stay in place, therefore hindering her job.
She’d looked for a better place to sleep, but her cave was the safest. It was too high for the wildlife to reach. It also gave her a great vantage point to see danger coming. There had been some major storms that had rolled in over the months. They’d also hindered her mutual hunt for the crew. It was suicide to go out in the pouring rain, since they resulted in flashfloods.
A good hour passed before the pack of shredders began to wander away. Anabel remained stuck there, since the purple leaves still touched the ground. The plant, even while eating its catch, would always be looking for another meal.
It grew colder as the sun went down. At last, she heard the plant closing, the way they did at night. The leaves would lift toward the sky, presumably to catch any overnight moisture in the air.
She waited another good half hour after the leaves rose above the ground before she began to belly crawl along the dirt, very careful not to make any noise that would alert the plant to her presence. Once she was outside of its range, she got to her feet and glanced around.
The two moons always gave off enough light for her to see by. She walked to where she spotted an alarming amount of blood on the ground. Nothing of the crew member remained but small pieces of his clothing and boots. Shredders didn’t waste meat. She located his weapon, but it had been crushed.
“Damn,” she whispered, her hope of salvaging it dashed. She walked around the purple plant, maintaining a good distance. The other man’s weapon was visible, part of the stock sticking out of the rolled leaf that that contained his body, but there was no way she could reach it without brushing up against other leaves.
She spotted a small bag on the ground and tiptoed closer, keeping her gaze on the leaves. If they so much as twitched, she’d leap back. The plant didn’t move, so she quickly scooped up the bag and backed off fast. She clipped it to her belt and started jogging toward the mountain cliff.
Anabel hadn’t gone far before she heard a noise, coming to a halt and going absolutely still. She moved only her eyes, her senses straining to locate the direction of the sound. It was a bit to her right and up high. She very slowly turned her head and saw movement near the top of a tree.
The size of the moving shadow told her it was one of the gorilla-like tree beasties. They didn’t seem to eat meat, but they’d beat living creatures to a bloody pulp if they came too close to any tree they’d claimed as their home, especially if they had babies up there. She’d seen it happen twice before.
She very slowly began to walk, keeping silent, and avoided getting too close to any of the trees in that area. The beasts tended to live in small groups of three to six. Yet another thing she’d quickly learned after landing on KP.
Thoughts of her sister came, and she smiled. Jessa would be fascinated by the beasts, even if it was only wildlife. Her sister’s area of expertise was sentient aliens, but she’d still be keenly interested in any discoveries made on an uncharted planet.
Anabel had so far avoided running into the alien inhabitants, only spying on them from a safe distance. A group of a few dozen had arrived shortly after her pod had landed, probably to investigate what had fallen from the sky. Some sort of reptilian hunters, they wore furs around their waists—indicating they were likely male—and carried sharp-looking spears.
She’d been unable to hide the pod, but they hadn’t gained access. Some had poked it with their spears, like it was some strange animal they wanted to kill. They’d touched its sleek surface, hissing words she couldn’t understand, before finally leaving.
Anabel had watched them go, tracking them with the vision scope from her pack. Once the aliens were miles away, she’d decided to stay in a tree overnight to make certain more didn’t show up.
It had given her a bird’s-eye view as other emergency pods streaked down from above hours later. All of them tracking the auto-distress hail she’d purposely left broadcasting, in case more pods were launched from Soapa Six. The pod computers were programed to link in an emergency, enabling them to land within a ten-mile radius of each other. Her pod was fully intact with no recorded damage, so the onboard computers in the others would register her location as a safe place to send their occupants.
Nine other pods had made it to the planet’s surface. It enraged her that so many of the crew had escaped their fate in space. She’d focused on memorizing where the pods had gone down and plotting the best way to take them out.
The first pod had been easy to spot. Unfortunately, so were the six alien corpses riddled with laser holes. Their spears had been useless against human weapons, and they’d been slaughtered. That had angered her even more.
She’d watched the four crew members who’d made camp next to their pod, following when one of them had gone to take a piss after the sun went down. He hadn’t heard her as she slipped behind him.
She’d dragged his body to where the murdered aliens had been dumped. It seemed fitting.
The remaining three had quickly realized the fourth hadn’t returned and were brave enough to walk into the dark to search for him, making it easier for her to take them out too. She’d stolen the supplies from their pod before stuffing their bodies inside.
Anabel pushed away the memories when she reached her cliff, putting on her gloves before starting to climb. When she reached a sheer rock ledge, she bent her knees, did a quick calculation of how much strength was required to reach the next ledge ten feet up, and leapt. She grabbed a branch of the small tree that grew there and dropped onto the second ledge.
She entered the small cave opening and dug into her pocket, withdrew a glow stick, and cracked it. Faint blue light emanated after she shook the stick, and she walked around a corner, taking in the welcome sight of the bed she’d made from piled sleeping bags, and the spare supplies stacked next to it.
“Home sweet home,” she sighed, removing her gloves.
The cave was safe. At least from humans. They’d need climbing gear to make it to the second ledge. The aliens…she wasn’t so sure. They did have claw-tipped fingers that might make climbing possible.
It was purely accidental that she’d even found the hidden space. She’d climbed the tallest tree in the vicinity to search for any sign of her fellow crew and instead spotted the hole in the cliff face. She’d deemed it a perfect refuge after scouting it out.
She stripped off her boots, the belt holding her weapons, and jumpsuit, before putting on a clean shirt. She didn’t bother with underwear. The two pairs she’d packed in her go-bag were being saved for when her clothing fell apart. They would at some point.
She retrieved the small bag she’d salvaged from the two dead crew members and carefully opened it, peering inside.
“Yes!”
She pulled out a sealed chocolate bar and tore it open, taking a bite. It tasted delicious. A bit melted, but she didn’t care. Also inside the bag was a pack of playing cards, a hologram disk cube, and some chewing gum.
She studied the hologram disk cube then tossed it into the corner. The last one she’d found was a vid of a naked woman masturbating. A space guy’s version of porn. She wrapped up the rest of the chocolate bar to save for later and took a seat on her bed. Nine stacked sleeping bags made for a surprisingly comfortable place to doze.
She picked up the chalky white stone she kept nearby, making two more marks on the rock wall. “Eleven of you suckers gone now. I only wish I knew how many more of you have to be taken out.”
It frustrated her that she hadn’t killed them all yet. Her task had been delayed by a series of crappy storms, the dangerous shredder herds that roamed the valley, and nursing a few injuries she’d sustained.
Every day that passed with crew still alive put the aliens in danger. She really wished she had a drone. One equipped to locate human life signs. What she considered her last mission for UE could have been completed within days instead of months.
The blue light began to fade, the shake charge on the glow sticks never lasting more than five minutes or so. She was too tired to activate it again, instead reaching over to grab a nutrient bar from the pile of supplies. They tasted like cardboard but filled her up. Anabel rolled to the side of her makeshift bed and took a sip of water from one of the specially designed filter flasks she’d hoarded.
Exhaustion had her yawning. She stretched out flat on her back, pulled the covers over her, and closed her eyes.
“I’ll be the last human standing,” she whispered, reciting what had become her mantra before drifting off to sleep.
* * * * *
Raze slowly navigated their ship through the large debris field. Time was of the essence, but destroying Satrono with a hull breach wouldn’t help them find what they sought any faster.
“No life signs,” Bruck stated. “That’s a big Earth ship. How many do you believe were on it?”
“Dead is dead,” Prasky muttered. “We shouldn’t have taken this bounty. Our prey was probably one of the bodies destroyed with the ship.”
Raze turned his head to glance at the fourth empty seat on their bridge, grief stabbing at his heart. They all missed Hern. His loss was a bleeding wound that wouldn’t heal. “Not prey,” he reminded Prasky. “We need this one alive.”
“That is your way of saying we won’t get paid to bring back a corpse.”
The harshness of Prasky’s tone had Raze flinching. “A Veslor hired us. And he already paid half up front.”
“What’s his interest in the prey?”
“Target,” Raze gritted out. “Not prey. The target is important to Roth. That was the Earth ship she was on.”
“She?” Prasky leapt to his feet and snarled, rage glittering in his eyes. “You didn’t say it was female!”
“This is why.” Bruck turned in his seat. “Calm!”
Prasky turned on him. “You knew?”
“Yes. We both believed you would refuse to come if you learned we’re here to hunt a female.” Bruck blew out a long breath. “You can’t hate all of them over Hern’s death. It makes little sense.”
Prasky stormed off the bridge without replying.
“He’ll get over it,” Raze sighed. “I hope.”
“It’s been months, with no sign of his rage weakening.”
“This is a human female we’re hunting. You’ve seen them. He won’t view her as a threat to one of us.”
Bruck met his gaze. “I don’t agree. Hern wasn’t taken from us by battling a female. She lured him into a trap with the promise of becoming his mate. Any female could do that, in Prasky’s mind. We should keep him onboard after we land.”
“I already decided to do so. We’ll keep the female secured in my private sleeping place. I’ve already changed the codes to prevent him from entering.”
“Do you believe this female survived that?” Bruck jerked his head toward the screens displaying the destroyed Earth freighter. Parts of the vessel had floated away from the whole, the debris spreading to encompass a large section of space between it and one of the two moons inhabiting the nearby planet’s solar system.
