A Soldier in Love (11 page)

Serik checked over the
sleeping female. She was still unconscious but she was still stable.

He looked over her
again and inhaled her sweet scent. It drove him mad with wanting and desire. He
imagined her little body under his large one calling out his name.

OK, OK, I have to stop
, he shook his head.

She will never find me attractive. Humans don’t even
mate with those outside of their species. Plus, I am much, much larger than a
normal human male. I’ll probably scare the shit out of her when she seems me.
If I remember correctly from school it seemed that the human culture put a high
emphasis on looks and I’m one ugly motherfucker. Did I just forget most girls
run from me? Did I forget everything she’s just been through? God, I’m such an
idiot. What’s wrong with me? I
gotta
just focus on
getting her better.
 
I’ve been out here
too long by myself.

Serik thought back to
his lonely existence. It wasn’t just the exotic dancing girl on
Jax
who had rejected him. Like most males on Baat, he knew
he would be alone most of his life. Only, 10% of the total population was
female.

Serik knew he wasn’t
considered attractive to his people. His mismatched colored eyes were a sign of
evil in his culture, Hell, in most of the universe it was a sign of bad luck. They
had been left to him by his father, a man he had never known. He knew he’d
never be selected by a female. When he was younger he had fought many battles
and had signed up for me exploratory campaigns in the name of the Baat. He
figured he would never
mate,
he’d never bear
offspring, so he might as well. His large body carried many scars for the
fighting he had done.
 

Just at that moment he
looked over the little female’s body. He could see that she had many deep scars
and wounds on her left arm. Some of them were fresh. He rummaged around his medic
emergency bag and found some salve. He gently applied it to her fresh wounds.

Were more alike than I thought.
What happened
to you baby? I’m one ugly SOB and you’re one beautiful female despite the
scars.

Serik thought back to
the past five years he had spent alone. Occasionally, he would see a friendly
face such as Bock but mostly it had just been him going between the realms on
his own.

He studied her delicate
features and her creamy white skin.

Baby, you are perfect. I don’t deserve you but I’ll
keep you safe from now on. Well, until I find somewhere safe for you to stay. I
can’t keep you here with me, no matter how pretty you are. It’s not like you
would want to stay any way.

Serik tried to shove
the loneliness back inside of him. It felt like he was a pot and the loneliness
was boiling water trying to reach for the top. He tried as much as he could but
he just couldn’t hold it back.

He had tried everything
to ward off the loneliness that plagued him. He had once believed he would find
a female from another planet that would find him attractive but that never came
into play. It had been a comforting thought for many years. The woman he
imagined in his head was always faceless and nameless but comforting
nonetheless. In all of his Baat explorations to other planets there were few
females. After many years of trekking and battling unknown enemies, his time in
the Baat military was over. He had turned to bounty hunting to continue his
love exploring the universe. It wasn’t until his friend Bock talked him into
trading that he then decided to be more of a businessman. Going into the trade
business had been profitable, risky at times with pirates, but it was well
worth it. Due to his intimidating size and mark of evil he was left alone for
the most part.

His intergalactic bank
account was full. He had plenty of money to say the least. He sent much of back
home to make sure his family, especially his mother and his little brother. He
was proud that his family could live in comfort and ease because of him. It was
one thing that always kept him going.

He looked back down to
the little female in his care.

Please live.

He wasn’t sure why he
had saved her or why she was so important to him; he didn’t even know her.

I’m just feeling a natural protectiveness a male
feels for a female he told himself. It is in my nature to protect females.

He sighed.

Look at me thinking and acting like a lovesick Baat
pining for an
outerworld
mate
.

He thought back to the Baat
who had left his home realm to seek mates beyond his planet. It was true he was
genetically compatible with the little female.

Shit, why am I even thinking about all this? I’m
half evil, I’m bad luck. I’m meant to be alone.
 

If you’re bad luck?
Why did you
find and save her just in time?
A
little voice spoke up from the back of his mind.

He shook his head
trying to get her delicate features, long hair, and slender body out of his
mind as he looked up medical care for humans.

Michelle
squinted
her eyes and felt the cool air around her. She
tried to look around but everything was blurry. It felt cold and damp. She
tried to feel around her but everything seemed to just slip through her
fingers. She struggled to move but she felt pinned down. She pushed harder
against whatever was holding her down but she remained motionless.

Where am I?
In some sort of cave?

Suddenly, she was
almost blinded by a strong bright light. It felt as though there was a giant
spotlight shining down the end of a hallway. She squinted and blinked rapidly.
The light was painful at first. She blinked a few more times before her vision
was able to adjust to it. The light seemed to chase away most of the darkness
surrounding her but she was still unable to make out anything around her. She
tried again to move but her body just would not comply. A feeling of
desperation overwhelmed her.

“Michelle?” she heard a
faint voice called.

“Who’s there?” she
replied as she tried to stand. Her voice was hoarse and troubled.

Slowly, her legs wobbly,
she arose. She made her way closer to the light. She felt cold and weak but she
relentlessly forced her body to cooperate and move forward.

She could see a
feminine form. She moved in closer. She felt as though she were an infant
learning to walk again. Each movement was a struggle. She stumbled forward
almost following. She slowly steadied herself and she could see that the figure
had long blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

No, no it can’t be?

“Mother?” she cried out
as she moved closer. She could see her delicate features and happy smiling face.
“How can this be? Am I dreaming?”

She ran to embrace her
as her legs now fully cooperated with her movement. Her mother gathered her in
her arms and hugged her tight. Her mother’s embrace felt warm and comforting.

“I love you, Michelle
but I have to it’s not your time yet,” she said as she broke the embrace. She
gave Michelle a hard shove causing her to stumble backwards.

“Mom?” she replied
confused and hurt. Her mother had never once shoved her in her entire life.

At once the light left
and she couldn’t make out anything as there was nothing but darkness around her
now. It felt like being trapped in a bad dream, one where she was unable to
open her eyes to turn on the light in her bedroom. She tried harder to move but
it abruptly felt like she was stuck. She felt paralyzed. She tried to move
again but her body would not cooperate with her mind.

The darkness persisted
with no sign of another light. Michelle felt a sense of panic rise in her body
as she tried to stay calm. She tried to trace her fingertips on what was around
her but it felt like there wasn’t anything; just that which slipped between her
hands. She tried harder to push herself up, to move, to do anything, but alas
she could not. In an anxious and fearful state, she sat perfectly still unsure
of what to do next.

Another voice called
out to her breaking her anxiety, “Soldier.” The voice practically boomed
rattling off of whatever was around her.

Michelle didn’t know
why but she just instinctively knew it was God.

“Lord?” she replied.

“It is not your time,” the
voice said. Although the words were disappointing, the voice was extremely
soothing.

“But I’ve been through
so much pain, so much hurt… Please let me stay. Please let me go be with my
mother and father. Please, I can’t go back… it is too much,” she pleaded as tears
began to freely flow down her cheeks.

“I know child but you
are still needed. Someone needs you,” the voice was kind and loving. Just
hearing the words made her feel safe and secure. It made her feel like
everything was going to be alright.

And just as suddenly as
she had been in the darkness she jolted up and gasped for breath. Her eyes
opened and she was in a well lit room. She blinked several times as her eyes
adjusted to the light.

 
“I’m, I’m here,” she struggled for breath
looking around the room and then to the massive male figure beside her.

“I am still alive,” she
gasped again trying to take in more air.

She could make out a
large male figure beside her. She reached out for him. He grabbed her hand and
she gave it a hard squeeze. She had to make sure that wherever she was at was
real. She wasn’t dreaming or in limbo between Heaven and Hell. His hands felt
rough and they were so large, she realized. She quickly realized that he wasn’t
human; it was someone or something else. Whatever he was, he was huge. She
looked up to his face to study it; his eyes looked red and puffy.
 

He’s been crying.
It
seemed to her that someone of his stature and masculinity would never cry.

“I thought I lost you,”
he said softly.

He pulled her small
body close to his.

Although he was almost
a complete stranger it felt right to be touched, to be held, by another being. She
felt safe, safe from the awful place she had just been. She had been terrified
she was going to be left there to rot, paralyzed, unable to move.

He saved me
.

She shortly relished
his embrace before everything went black again.

Michelle slowly opened
her eyes, her long eyelashes fluttered as they adjusted to the dim light.

Where am I? Am I still alive? What the Hell
happened?

Groggily, she sat up. Her
head felt as though someone had taken it off of her neck and used it as a
bowling ball. Everything felt mixed up and everything hurt. Her lips felt
chapped and her mouth felt dry. Her body ached. She felt like Hell. She
wondered why God didn’t take her and left her to suffer like this. He had taken
most everyone else but why not her?
Surely,
he will take me soon
, she somewhat thought and somewhat prayed.

She blinked a few times
and then looked over the male sitting beside the bed. Everything was bleary as
she forced herself to see. She gasped when she fully saw him.

“Hey, hey calm down are
you OK?” Serik asked as gently as he could. His voice sounded strange to him.
He wondered if he had forgotten how to talk to a woman as he had been by
himself far too long. He worried he would frighten the little female.

Tears rolled down her
cheeks as she grabbed a hold of the large man next to her. She knew he was the
one that had saved her.

“Thank you,” she cried
burying herself into his chest.

“I… uh…” Serik
stuttered not sure what to say.

It had been many years
since he had contact with a female and none were ever as beautiful as the one
that was clinging to him. He couldn’t remember a female initiating physical
contact with him, only running from him. He pulled her onto his lap and held
her.

Suddenly, Michelle
realized what she was doing.
What the Hell?
I am climbing all over this man’s lap like I’m some sort of frightened child.

“Forgive this soldier,”
she said as her cheeks turned bright red.

“I’m sorry, I don’t
know what came over,” she added as she began to scoot away from him.

“Forgive you for what?”
he questioned.

She couldn’t shake the
feeling that it felt right as she left his embrace.

I must be going mad. What is wrong with me?

“I, I don’t even know
you and here I am on top of you. You must think I’m crazy,” she said
straightening out her uniform. Her blush was still brightly painted on her
face.

“It’s OK,” he said
giving her a sly grin.

“You’ve been through a
lot, I think it’s understandable,” he added as his eyes met hers.

She studied his
mismatched eyes.

One golden and one light blue, how beautiful,
she thought to herself.

“Thank you for saving
me,” she stammered. It felt like an awkward acknowledgments of a fact rather
than an expression of sincere gratitude.
 
“I owe you my life,” she said taking in his large presence in the room.
He had to be over 7’ tall. Michelle had never seen anyone that tall except for
professional basketball players; well, that is when she was younger and there
were still professional sport teams before the invasions. There hadn’t been
sports beyond children playing in quite some time.

Unlike a basketball
player, he wasn’t lanky. He was well built and extremely large. His shoulders
were broad and she could see the definition of large muscles beneath is
clothing. He was massive and muscular to say the least. He was muscular and
obviously extremely strong but not so much so that he looked like a
professional body builder; it looked natural for his body type. His skin was
lightly tanned. It was similar to shades on Earth yet different; he was almost
golden. She studied his one light blue eye and one golden hazel eye. He had
neatly trimmed dark hair. His face had a scar which barely missed his light blue
eye but his scars were green unlike the pink or white scars on
her own
body. She took a deeper look at his face. He was
incredibly handsome despite the scars. He had model like looks with a high
forehead and strong cheekbones. He had a sensual mouth with what looked to be
full enticing lips.

Michelle drew her eyes
away from her strange, handsome, savior and looked down at her arm, examining
it. It felt sticky as though there was some sort of ointment on it.

I’m lucky to still have an arm, I’m lucky to be
alive. Damn molcos hunds. Damn Redex. Damn Earth Army. Damn Cabaka,
she silently cursed to herself.

***

She’s beautiful, no, she’s stunning,
Serik thought to himself. He had seen her before but
her eyes, her big beautiful, doe like eyes, put things in a completely
different perspective.

He studied her deep
green eyes and flowing auburn hair. They were shades he had never seen before
through all of his travels. He looked over her thin body. She was thin,
extremely thin. She was somewhat muscular as well but not so much so in a way
that made her masculine, no, she was still very feminine especially in her
facial features. Her large eyes were framed by thick black eyelashes; she had a
small nose, high cheekbones, and small pink lips. She was the definition of
beauty on any planet.

She’s gorgeous, she could have any male she wanted
not some ugly, banged up guy like you
,
Serik sharply reminded himself.

“Are you feeling OK? I
guess, stable at least?” he asked trying to break the suddenly awkward silence.

She nodded slowly. He
handed her a small glass of water.

“Thirsty?” he asked.

She nodded and took the
water. She slowly took a few sips in. She looked over to the IV-like
contraption that was in her right arm. She wondered if she could take it out. It
didn’t hang on a stand like the ones at home on Earth, no it was in a much
smaller bag fastened to her arm to allow for movement.

She looked up to him
making eye contact with him.

“I am known as Serik. What
is your name?” he questioned not breaking his eye contact with her.

Michelle shook her head
ignoring his question. “Are you human?” she asked hoarsely. She took another
sip of the water.

She knew the answer
already but still she had asked.

He couldn’t be but he looks very similar to me,
she thought to herself.

“No, I am of Baat descent,”
he replied as he always did when someone from an off world asked him. It was a
half lie.

Serik furrowed his brow
as he examined her left wrist. “What is this black mark you have?”

“It is my code I am
soldier number
A3343Z
,”
Michelle replied quietly.

“Yes, but what is your
name?” he asked again.

“I am
A3343Z
,” she replied giving him a discerning look. It was
the first thing that had come to her mind. It was the code that had been
drilled into her since training. It was what would identify her to the Earth
Army if she was ever captured.
 
She
supposed this constituted being captured.

“You Earth people are
funny. You have numbers and letters as names? This is what you call each other?
That is not what I remember from school… I thought you had names similar to
ours,” he said as a confused look spread over his face.

She put her hands to
her head and rubbed her temples. Her head hurt like Hell. “No, I uh… well, you
are right. Right now, I don’t remember my common name. It will come to me in....”

“You did take a pretty
bad fall,” Serik replied with a look of concern on his face.
 

“The food given to us
at the base had memory fog. I have forgotten many things such as my family, my
previous occupation before becoming a soldier. Maybe that could have something
to do with it too,” Michelle added slowly as the headache began to worsen in
her temples. She had a name, she knew she did. She just couldn’t remember it,
everything felt fuzzy and jumbled. She struggled to make sense of everything. Every
muscle in her body ached. She felt the familiar wave of pain wash over her as
she shut her eyes again.

“
Oi
,
I heard about that… Didn’t think they actually did that,” Serik replied giving
her an even more concerned look.

Great, this puts a whole new spin on your recovery
, Serik thought to himself. Memory fog was a serious
thing. He had heard rumors of the Earth Army using it but he didn’t think they
actually did. It was new and it was dangerous. The consumer of memory fog would
forget who they were, become almost robotic but upon withdraw their strongest
memories would return, not to mention there would be a physical withdraw along
with intense confusion, dizziness, migraines, body aches, and fatigue.

“I… actually my Earth
name
is
coming back to me. How long have I been out?
Oh wait, it doesn’t matter time passes differently here,” she said as she
continued to rub her temples as the pain increased.

“My Earth name, my
civilian name was Michelle,” she said softly as her headache grew to an almost unbearable
pain. The words felt like they weighed twelve tons as she tried to get them
out.

“Michelle,” Serik
repeated. The name rolled off of his tongue as if it were honey.

“Michelle, what a
beautiful name for a beautiful female,” he mused.

Heat rose to her
cheeks. She felt embarrassed. She was a hardened soldier who just narrowly
escaped Redex with her life and this alien male she had just met was making her
blush. Her name suddenly felt so feminine, it felt personal. It felt like hers
again.

She subconsciously
traced the scars on her left arm.

I wonder how someone could think I was beautiful
with
these?
she
thought as she looked down at her mangled arm.

She felt a nagging
feeling realizing that she was once something other than a soldier. She was
also a woman with needs and desires they all seemed to be coming out at once
without the memory fog to suppress them whether she wanted to feel them or not.

“Your eye color and
hair color I haven’t seen any like it in the entire universe,” Serik stated as
he tried not to stare at her. It was a difficult task, he had been alone for
far too long.

“Is it hard for you to
look at?” she replied as her eyes got wide. She hadn’t fully comprehended that
he was another species from another planet until he said that.

Laughter escaped his
mouth.

“No, you are very
beautiful. You are gorgeous, maybe even that is an understatement,” he replied
with a grin.

Michelle just looked to
him as she tried to make the words register into her mind. She began to feel
woozy.

He has perhaps been out here by himself too long.
Soldiers are not beautiful.

“You are both light and
dark like me in your coloring but in a different way,” he added looking into
her deep emerald eyes.

“I am both light and
dark in many ways,” she replied not breaking his blue and golden gaze. She felt
a wave of dizziness come over her. She fought it, she wanted to know where she
was, who this man was,
would
she be safe?

He nodded as though he
understood.

“I am feeling not well…”
she began as the pain in her head grew and the wooziness began to strengthen.
She was unable to fight it any longer.

“It is the memory fog
wearing off…All of your memories are going to come rushing back to you,” he interjected.

“Will I be ill?” she
asked weakly.

Serik nodded. “Yes but I
will take care of you.”

Michelle felt the room
spin around her as a stronger wave of dizziness overtook her. Serik brought a
cool cloth to her forehead.

Michelle looked
desperately into his gaze again before everything went dark.