Page 19 of 3013: Hellion
“The worms had been inside a meteor that struck the planet. That one event could have ended up wiping out the entire population.”
“How did you stop it from happening?”
“We created massive trenches to capture the creatures in so we could destroy the worms. Once we did that, everything essentially went back to normal.”
Xian rubbed his chin. “You mean to create a trench to capture the zombies?”
“That is part of the plan.” She frowned a little as she studied the area.
“Why don’t we go up? Seeing everything from up there should give us a good view of the entire area,” he said, pointing up toward the colorful Ferris wheel.
She smiled. “Excellent idea.”
One second, they were standing on the street in front of the arcade, and the next, they were in one of the Ferris wheel pods high in the sky. He felt a little lightheaded from the sudden shift of locations, but it was a breeze compared to using the transporter.
The pod was large enough to hold half a dozen people, and there was bench seating lining half of the interior. Jaya tapped a finger against the window, then she waved her hand and instantly removed the wide panel of glass.
A cool gust of wind blew into the opening, making her long silver locks dance in the breeze. Now that the clouds had cleared, the light spilling in through the opening made it look like her hair was made out of moonbeams.
Like a moth drawn to a flame, Xian walked over to stand by her side. In the short amount of time that he’d known her, he felt like he’d already become addicted to her. The closer he was to her, the more at ease he felt.
His heart leaped when she wrapped her arms around his and leaned against his side. Since he’d spent his entire life avoiding touching people, it surprised him just how natural it felt with her. She seemed to like holding his hand, and she tended toreach out to touch or stroke his arm while she spoke to him. He found himself soaking up her affection like a sponge, and he wanted more.
Testing himself, he removed his gloves, leaving them on the bench seat. He hesitated briefly before placing his bare hand over hers. Relief swept through him when he didn’t get an onslaught of her thoughts and emotions. The only thing he felt was his own desire for her heating his blood and making his body ache.
The desperate urge to complete their bond was growing with each passing second, but he ruthlessly fought it back using every ounce of his self-control. He was well aware that the survival of the other people on the island was far more important than his own needs. He and Jaya would be spending eternity together, so waiting until everyone was safe wouldn’t be too difficult.
At least, that’s what he tried to tell himself.
Glancing out the open window, he could see they were in the pod at the very top of the Ferris wheel. It was dark out, but the street lights and lamps on the pier were enough to give him a clear view of the area below. Sweeping a hand out to gesture at the scene below, he raised a brow in challenge.
“So, what are you going to do?”
She sent him a saucy grin. “Watch and be impressed, mate.”
Chapter Seven
Xian was seriouslyimpressed by the trap Jaya had created for the zombies. Then again, she had over five hundred years of experience in aiding other races, fighting battles, and waging wars to pull from. Hearing that had almost made him choke on his own tongue. He’d been worried about his own advanced age since the D’Aire lived a lot longer than humans, but he was a damn youngling compared to her.
He had assumed they would have to go on a zombie killing spree to take care of the problem, but she had devised a plan where the holos did all the work for them.
All they had to do was sit back and let everything play out.
The first thing she’d done was replace all of the streets surrounding the pier with deep trenches. That part he’d understood well enough, but he hadn’t expected her to fill those trenches with magical fire that would immediately annihilate the zombies once they fell into them. While he could see the flames burning, she had placed an illusion over the pits so the holos would only see solid pavement.
The next step was lighting up the amusement park. She turned on every light available, adding the illusion of people enjoying the amusement park to attract more attention. Music blared over the speaker system, loud enough to attract every zombie for miles. To sweeten the pot, all of the rides, from the carousel to the rollercoaster, were set into motion, adding more noise to the mix.
Before she had even finished all the details, zombies started heading toward the pier, falling to their demise in the fire trenches as expected. As an added bonus, some of the alien insects were also being drawn to the area. It was a little strange watching the insects and the zombies attack each other.However, seeing them all burst into dust during the fight was highly satisfying.
“Do you know how many zombies are on the island?” she asked.
“Unfortunately, no. But I do know there are only twelve alien insects in each of the program levels. You killed two, and we just saw four more die, so that’s a good start. Part of that game is the psychological effect of never knowing when or where those fuckers are going to pop up while the players hunt for clues to figure out where the queen’s nest is located.”
Jaya’s brows furrowed. “A nest?”
“Yeah, the alien queen…oh shit.” His eyes widened in horror. “The end goal of that game is to destroy the alien insect queen and her eggs before they hatch. The eggs aren’t supposed to be real, but…”
“Show me,” she demanded.