Dead Girls Don't Cry (12 page)

I jerked my head up. “How did you know about the note?”

“The details aren’t important right now.”

I was about to argue differently when Ian held up his hand. “The point is you’re not safe here either. We need to work together as a team before one, or both us, wakes up with a stake in our backs.”

“So, how do I know it’s not you?”

Ian threw his hands up in frustration. “Again with the trust issues. I’ve done nothing but
help
you.”

I folded my arms across my chest. “And why is that, exactly? I doubt it’s because you’re a nice guy. There must be something in it for you. You
are
a rogue.”

“I am a nice guy. We rogues have a code of honor. Truth be told, I’m a bit sick of running. I was in the process of vetting Jonathan, if you must know.” Ian flashed a lopsided grin, making him appear much more harmless than he actually was.

“You wanted to become a member of the family?” Knock me over with a feather. I remained skeptical. “You don’t seem the joining type?”

Ian snorted, “Believe what you will. Life for a rogue isn’t easy. In any case, I would make the same proposal to you, I made to Jonathan.”

Too bad Jonathan didn’t think to include me. “I’m listening.”

For the next twenty minutes Ian described his proposition. When he finished, I was impressed. “Does it matter now? Everything has changed. You don’t need a family to be free.”

“More than ever, luv. Think about. It’s a new world. We could make it ours.”

Sure, it sounded great. All brave, new world and utopia-like. Except, I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the rest of my existence on a dusty, old rock.

When I didn’t jump up and down for joy and immediately accept, Ian gave me a long, appraising look, followed by a charming smile. “Very good. You’re learning. Look before you leap. Let’s talk again, when things are settled.”

“Deal.” We left the chamber, our next stop another boring planning meeting. Hey, I was learning, but I didn’t have to like it!

~ * * * ~

Once again, I screamed like a girl. Anyone would have. No one in their right mind would volunteer to be dropped from orbit in a free fall. The rest of my family was lucky, they at least remained in their stasis boxes. Or coffins if the drop didn’t work as planned.

“Luv, could you quit yelling in my ear?” Ian shouted over my caterwauling. “We won’t impact for another few minutes.” Ian and I traveled together in the same confining ball. In addition to a potential death by high speed, I also had to fight claustrophobia while packed like a sardine next to Ian.

“It’s not the stop, but the sudden drop I’m worried about,” I complained.

Alarms beeped for the small square panel methodically counting down the altitude. High pitched atmospheric winds jangled my nerves even more.

“Here we go.” Ian wiggled closer, gripping me in a tight embrace. “Breaking engines first. Then the parachutes. Remember, they’ll slow us down.”

I nodded and pressed closer. As a precaution, we had donned pressure suits again, leaving us with limited mobility and little room to maneuver. The beeps pulsed rapidly. The countdown flashed three times. Four loud bangs later, the bubble jerked upward and back.

I thought I was afraid before. Terrified had a new name – Cherry Cordial.

“We’ll survive!” Ian shouted over the screeching wind.

I had no words. Every fiber in my body was devoted to fear.

A new countdown appeared, the time left until impact. Thirty seconds later, we hit the Martian surface with a bang.

Bones rattled. Organs vibrated. The bubble bounced again and again, like a demented basketball. A rib cracked, then my ankle broke. Pain seared through me with each recoil and spring. I expected to explode into a goopy mass of liquefied organs and shattered bones.

The bubble finally stopped. I had lost my sense of direction and was completely disoriented. For a long while, we stayed entwined in each other’s arms. Ian occasionally shifted, so I knew he survived. The control panel was dark. Either it had shorted out or had done its job and deactivated.

“Ian?” I wiggled my mending ankle. It was stiff, but healing. Right before launch, Prior required us to drink a “fortified blood formula.” He had promised it would accelerate our body’s natural healing ability.I only drank it after he took a few swallows first.

“That was one helluva landing.” Ian stiffly reached around me above my head, grasped an oval shaped latch and twisted it with a hard wrench. Compressed air hissed. The bubble wobbled and shrank around us.

“We’ll be trapped!” My instincts went into overdrive. The walls were closing in and I had to escape.

“Hold on!” Ian twisted the handle again in the opposite direction. The pod’s inner membrane tore open.

Pale blue sky appeared in the gap. Thank God! We weren’t upside down.

Ian tore back the rest of the pod’s interior, freeing us completely. We stood in the center of the debris. Layers of fabric and other materials I couldn’t identify surrounded us. “This flimsy cloth was the only thing protecting us.” A new round of weakness ripped through my body. I needed to lie down.

“Come on. I think I see the base camp over there. Talk about luck, huh?”

It was then I noticed the bleak Martian landscape. Nothing but reddish sand and jagged rocks for miles and miles. The one surprise, light puffy clouds.

Far in the distance, rounded domes peeked over the horizon. “Ian that’s miles away”

“Then we best start walking.”

~ * * * ~

I take back every bad thing I said about the ship. Compared to Mars, it was the freakin’ Ritz. It took us over an hour to reach the camp. If you could even call it that. The domes were flimsy metal structures like the Quonset huts used during World War II. They were connected with a series of large tubes made of similar material to the air bags we rode down.

“A giant hamster cage,” I said, stumbling across the rocks.

“What?” Ian steadied me.

I shrugged him off, “This place sucks!”

A small group of colonists waited for us on the perimeter of the camp. Empty stasis containers were being stacked near the huts.

Ian commented, “They’ll be re-purposed around the camp.” At my look of confusion he added, “It was in Prior’s report.”

Before I could make a biting comment about Prior, we were interrupted.

“Welcome, Ms. Cordial and Mr. McDevitt.”

The greeter was a zombie. I lurched backward into Ian’s chest.

Ian covered my, what I would consider a rather sensible urge to run, with an apology. “Pardon us. We’re still unsteady on our feet.” Ian stuck out his hand. The zombie eagerly shook it.

The zombie’s gray lips curled into, what I assumed, was a smile. “It’s a rough way to come down. I hope not too many broken bones.” His voice was smooth and steady. I guess I expected wheezy grunts and simple sentences. “I broke every bone and ruptured a few organs. Prior used the data to refine the drop parameters.” He said it like it was a great honor to be bashed up in the name of science.

“How nice of Prior to use your experience for the greater good.” Sarcasm oozed out of my voice.

Ian poked me in the back. “We greatly appreciate your sacrifice. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”

The zombie ran his fingers through his hair in a classic
aw shucks
manner. “Pardon my manners. Name’s Louis.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Louis,” Ian said with genuine interest. More than I could fake on a good day. “Where to then?”

“Come this way to the mess hall. We have hot beverages waiting for you.” Louis turned on his heel and headed toward the center of the encampment.

Despite the primitive conditions, the mess hall was bright and clean. Not white glove clean by Earth standards, but it wasn’t a dirt floored hovel either. The drinks, a different fruity concoction resembling mulled cider, improved my mood.

And the zombie, Louis, was affable and quit chatty. Turns out he was a graduate of Harvard Law School, back in 1892, so we were contemporaries, of a sort. He became a zombie during, what he thought, was an initiation into a secret society.

“So there I was, naked in this circle, when a gray skinned woman appeared. I didn’t care about the skin color because she was naked, with these great, big beautiful breasts. I kind of assumed she was part of the ritual. You know, a little present. It was highly unconventional, and I was a virgin, but I could perform in front of others... ”

I tuned him out. Honestly, men are alike. Flash a pair of boobs their way and they think they’re getting lucky. Trust me. I’m a total expert on this.

“So Louis, do we have quarters assigned to us yet?” Ian stretched and made a big show of yawning, “we’re kind of tired and need some time to finish healing.”

I wanted kiss Ian right then and there. I mocked yawned and nodded my head in agreement.

“Of course. How rude of me. I hope you don’t mind, you’re both in the same dome. Ms. Cordial, as the Colony Leader and Family Head, you have the most spacious quarters, conveniently located near your office.”

I tried not to blanch when I saw my “spacious quarters.”

Okay. I knew not to expect the Ritz, but I also didn’t expect spacious to mean closet sized either. And I gathered having the office near my room meant they could find me, morning, noon and night.

Ian chuckled at my observation. “Welcome to leadership, luv. Get some rest. We can re-group when you’re ready. The zombies are out now transporting the stasis boxes back to camp, it will be weeks before they are all accounted for.”

He slid into his room before I could ask – how did he know this stuff? And . . . weeks to find the boxes?

I marched over to his door. A thin metal sheet and tapped on it. “Did I hear you say transport? They have vehicles. How come we had to walk?” My feet still ached from treading on sharp rocks for hours.

“Get some sleep, Cherry,” was Ian’s half-awake reply.

Dang-nabbit. A large yawn tore through me. I’d deal with it tomorrow morning. I collapsed onto the crude camp bed, fully dressed down to my shoes and promptly fell asleep.

~ * * * ~

Mars, how I hate thee, let me count the ways
.

Sleep had healed the bangs and bruises from the landing. With rest came wide-eyed clarity. The situation still sucked. The stark tiny room with a fold-out camp cot was a long way from my cozy bed back on Earth. I missed the birds and the gentle breezes that rolled off the lake. All I could hear was the sound of equipment banging, shouts, and the occasional high pitched wind gust.

I sniffed the air. It was dry and fresh. Obviously no air pollution on Mars. Not yet anyway. Give it time. Vampires were no more virtuous than our human brethren. Heck, we started off life as humans. Even though our bodies never aged and hearts didn’t beat, we were essentially the same people we used to be, except older, more careworn, and, depending on the person, wiser. At least I hoped I was wiser than I had been a hundred years ago.

I rolled off the cot and stretched out my muscles. I didn’t need to dress because my clothes were still on. One look at my tattered jumpsuit sent me searching my Spartan quarters for fresh clothes.

The foot locker at the end of my cot contained a dozen jumpsuits and other clothing essentials. Each in my size too. I wondered if that was the zombie… no Louis’ doing. Time to let go of the prejudice and think of him as an equal.

Ian was right. We didn’t have time to worry about Earth based alliances. Or feuds.

There was a metallic rap on my door.

“Ms. Cordial, the morning briefing is about to begin,” Louis said.

I stepped out into the hallway. “Lead the way.” See, I could be officious when I wanted too. Yup, this was the new me. Forward facing, no more whining. I could do this.

I followed Louis through the maze of tubular hallways. The layout wasn’t nearly as confusing as the ship.

“How long have you been here, Louis?”

“Oh, about six months or so. We were dropped, much like you were, along with equipment and supplies to create the domes. We’re still missing a few of the cargo crates. We have small team combing the planet looking for them. You see, the trajectory must have gone awry…”

Blah, blah, blah was all I heard, but the gist to me was someone f-ed up the math and the boxes didn’t land where they should have. When I screened out the techno-babble, I was able to understand the gist of the situation.

“Have all of my family arrived?”

“Almost. There is one more drop scheduled today. In about an hour.” Louis held open a door. “Ladies first.”

A zombie with manners. Who would have thought? The mess hall was packed. Every seat was filled: my family, Ian’s rogues, revenants and zombies. Prior and Ian stood by a podium in the front of the room.

Ah, hell. I was not good at making speeches. If I had to shake my ass and remove my clothes, no problem. But I doubt Prior would appreciate a strip tease act.