Page 7 of 3013: SAVIOR
He followed Nico as he raced down the dock and climbed onto a sleek white boat that looked more like a luxury vessel than a patrol vehicle. Zack stayed on the dock while Nico disappeared into the wheelhouse. He came back out carrying two laser rifles that he tossed into Zack’s waiting hands.
By the time Nico jumped off the boat, Zack was already lying down in position and taking aim. It had been a while since he’d held a laser rifle, but years of experience took over as he sighted down on the creature and took the shot.
Nothing happened.
“Fuck, that thing has armor plating or something protecting it.” Zack muttered a vicious curse before taking another shot. Then, another. No joy. Nothing penetrated the armored scales. “Aim for the eyes or throat. I think that light patch might be a weak spot there.”
“It’s fucking impossible to hit that from this angle. I’m a decent shot, but—”
“Doesn’t matter,” Zack countered. “Just keep shooting until—”
His words cut off on a harsh inhale as the creature destroyed the fence and it exploded into a brilliant display of light and heat. The flash hurt his eyes, and he quickly pulled away from the scope and tried to blink his vision clear.
“Fuck! We’re too late,” Nico shouted as the creature raced toward the power cell. “We have to get the fuck out of here before it—”
The second explosion rocked the world.
When the creature collided with the power cell, it let out a horrible scream, and a massive fireball was released into the air. The flames were racing toward them too fast for them to run to safety, but Zack thought they might have a chance of surviving if they could roll themselves into the water.
But before they could move, a figure appeared on the dock right in front of them.
Zack couldn’t see the female’s face since she was facing away from him, but she was tall and built like a dream. Long, glossy hair rained down to her slim waist in a wavy black curtain, and her dark leather pants hugged her perfect ass like second skin. Sadly, he didn’t have time to really appreciate the view.
Not when they were all seconds away from dying.
She held up her hands, and a shimmering shield appeared in front of them, saving them from being barbequed by the blast, but it didn’t completely stop the shockwave of the explosion from reaching them.
When that energy struck, the dock shattered into pieces, raining splinters of wood down around them as they were flung into the air. She created protective bubbles around him and Nico that saved them from the worst of the blast, but it still felt like he was being torn to pieces. As his vision blurred, Zack frantically searched for the mysterious female to make sure she was okay, but all he saw was a wall of flames before everything faded away.
Chapter Three
She woke in complete darkness.
While that was slightly alarming, it wasn’t the most pressing issue she had at the moment. The throbbing pain in her head was more of an immediate concern that she needed to deal with, but when she tried to heal herself, it didn’t work.
She tried again…and nothing.
Well, shit. That was definitely a problem.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been out, but it was enough to leave her feeling completely disorientated. Shifting to try to sit up, her head exploded into sheer agony the second she moved. She froze in place and breathed through the pain until it reached a more manageable level. Obviously, something bad had happened to her, but she couldn’t recall any of the details.
She also couldn’t seem to remember who she was.
Hellfire, what had she gotten herself into?
Sheer terror consumed her for a few seconds, then she forced those useless feelings aside. The head injury she’d suffered was most likely the cause for her lapse in memory. There was no point panicking about it when the problem would probably correct itself once she had enough time to heal. She needed to figure out where she was and what had happened. If someone had caused her injuries, she could still be in danger.
And that was something she wouldn’t tolerate.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was grateful that she hadn’t gone blind. She quickly realized she was trapped underneath a large sheet of metal that was blocking her view. Shoving it aside, it fell with a muffled crash as it hit the ground. That sound triggered her hearing to come back in a loud rush, making her head ache even more. She struggled to adjust the volume to a more reasonable level and instantly breathed out a sigh of relief when it worked.
That gave her hope that the rest of her abilities would sort themselves out soon.
Studying her surroundings, she saw that she was partially protected inside the destroyed remains of a brick building. Heavy rain fell in a steady stream outside, and the cool mist coated her skin as the breeze blew in through the opening in the wall. Her head pounded fiercely as she sat up, and she lifted her hand to touch the sore spot at her left temple. She was relieved when she pulled her hand back and there was no sign of blood, but she must have been hit hard to cause that type of pain.
There were a few sensitive spots on her arms that felt as if she’d been burned pretty badly, but when she looked down, the skin only looked a little raw. There were traces of blood on her skin, signaling that she’d had other injuries that were no longer there. Satisfied with the fact that she already seemed to be healing, she moved on to cataloging the rest of the damage that had been done to her.
Thankfully, she didn’t find anything too serious. The head wound seemed to be the worst of her injuries, though there were other scratches and scorch marks along the vulnerable skin that wasn’t protected by her black leather vest, pants, and boots. Whatever she’d been through must have been rough, but she had come through it relatively unscathed.