Authors: Piper Leigh
GalaxyZombicus (6 page)
“
Andromeda
makes too many stops,” Benson said. “We’d
prefer a more direct route.” He followed that statement with a financial offer
that made me blink. Whoever Lanny was, he had a healthy bank account.
The offer ended the captain’s questions. “We leave in two
standard hours. Be here on time.”
“We can wait,” Benson said. “We’re all ready to go.”
That much was true. We had little luggage. Mine was back at
the facility. Benson’s was in the apartment he couldn’t return to. We’d
borrowed the barest of necessities from Lanny’s closet and pantry. Lanny’s
clothes were far too big for me, but they’d have to do. I was really looking
forward to shopping for a new wardrobe some day in the future when I was safe
and had money again. I tried not to think about how I’d get to that point.
Benson made the money transfer. Poor Lanny. Not only was he
missing food and clothing, a big chunk of his bank balance had just disappeared
as well.
“Cabin nine,” the captain barked. She gave us directions on
how to find it. With takeoff looming, there were no crewmembers available to
show us to our room. She didn’t seem terribly nervous about having us loose on
the ship either. I guess that large weapon on her belt served as a deterrent to
bad behavior.
We made our way through the cramped corridors. Crew came and
went in the narrow passageways, forcing us to press ourselves against the
walls. No one gave us so much as a second glance. Still, a shiver of relief ran
through me when we found the door with the universal symbol for nine on it.
Benson entered the code the captain had given him and the
door swung open. If I’d thought the hallways seemed cramped, the tiny room
redefined it. A bed, barely wide enough for one person, lay shoved to one side.
A couple of drawers to hold clothing were built into the wall. The
accommodation offered no chair, no other furniture, not even a porthole to
watch the galaxy go by.
We wouldn’t have anywhere else to go or anything to do but
stay in bed. That thought brought a smile to my face. I started to enter the
room.
“Janeece?” inquired a voice behind me.
I froze.
No
, I thought.
No, no, no!
They
couldn’t have found us so soon!
Benson’s head came up at the sound of my name, but he gazed
through the narrow doorway appearing completely unperturbed.
Slowly, I turned to face the person risking my exposure by
saying my name out loud.
To find Gryl standing behind me.
“Gryl!”
She enveloped me in a giant bear hug. I hugged her back
until I was practically smothered by red fur. Finally, I pulled away. “I
thought you were dead!”
Gryl let me go. “I thought so too, but there was a great
deal I didn’t yet know.”
“Such as her daughter was the key to the discovery that’s
going to save us all,” Benson said, coming up behind me.
Gryl took up the story. “They were holding my daughter in
another part of the facility, you know. They wouldn’t let me see her, so I had
no idea how she was doing. I worried she was dead. But it turned out the virus
sped through her system and she began to get well. They used her to develop the
cure.”
“How did you get out?”
She nodded toward Benson. “They were going to keep me and my
daughter. I didn’t think it was fair since they already had all the blood they
needed. The testing was pretty much finished. They’d begun to make the cure.”
“So, I thought it was time Gryl and her daughter left with
the rest of us.”
“The rest of us?” Until now I’d thought we were the only
ones.
“There were a few of us,” Benson said. “We’ve scattered to
make it harder for them to track us. But Gryl and I arranged to meet up on this
ship.”
I started to ask him about that, but before I could, a much
smaller version of Gryl stepped out of a cabin just down the corridor. She
asked a question in her own language. I didn’t understand the words, but the
meaning was clear.
Who are those strange bare people, Mom?
Gryl beckoned her closer. “This is my daughter, Ryll.”
Ryll gave us a shy nod.
“So you’re coming with us?”
“As far as Solda.”
That was probably a good idea. The faster we split up, the
better for us all.
Still, I was overjoyed to see Gryl. I’d been worrying about
her for days. That she might have a chance to start over with her daughter on
some planet far away lightened my heart.
A herd of crewmembers barreled down the hall on their way to
ready the ship for takeoff, cutting our reunion short.
There was so much more to say and goodbyes to make, just in
case we didn’t see each other when Gryl and her daughter departed at Solda. But
the more time we spent in each other’s company, the more we ran the risk of
being discovered. Instead, we disappeared back into our cabins. Closed doors
made for less talk. I hoped I’d see Gryl and Ryll before we got to Solda, but I
likely wouldn’t have a chance. At least I knew they were all right. When the
cure made its way through the galaxy, things would settle down. Perhaps I’d be
able to contact Gryl then.
I leaned against the cabin door and regarded Benson. “I
can’t believe you managed to break Gryl and her daughter out as well.”
He shot a glance at the bolted door. “They were going to
keep them indefinitely,” he said in a low voice. “They had quite a few of us
guards down there in the infirmary. I guess they were so used to us following
orders, they forgot to watch what they said around us. So we all knew what they
were planning. I had help getting Gryl and her daughter out—it was a lot more
complicated than a couple of kitchen uniforms.” He gave a small smile. “They
had enough blood for the manufacturing process. They had enough DNA to continue
studies, if necessary. But then they got talking about the money to be made if
they controlled the whole process.”
“And that’s when you decided to escape the facility?”
He took a seat on the bed and regarded me solemnly. “We
didn’t think it was right. Like you said, they brought everyone there to be
cured. They were supposed to let us go once we got better, not keep us to make
drugs and hold the galaxy at ransom with the price.”
“You stole the cure?”
Benson shook his head. “Not me. I only took enough to make
you better. The others had more radical ideas. But by then we’d gone our
separate ways.”
“Meaning you wouldn’t know anything even if you were caught
and questioned.”
A wider smile broke across his face. “Meaning just that.”
I eyed the narrow bed. “We should get some sleep. It’s a
long way to the Rodan quadrant.”
“It is,” Benson said. “And we
should
get some sleep.
Once we get to Rodan, we’ll have lots to do. But until then…”
I crossed the room in one stride. The space being so tiny,
it was easy to do, but I think I would have made it there in one lunge anyway
because Benson was sitting on that bed.
I thought of how awful my time in the facility would have been
without him. Without Benson, I might have been there for months more while they
studied us and tried to find ways to make money off our misfortune. Without
Benson, I wouldn’t have the promise of a new life.
Without him, I might never have found love.
Slowly we undressed each other, taking care to savor every
moment. It was a long way to Rodan. I thought of how wonderful it would be to
have the luxury of a proper bed once we’d settled somewhere. And then I stopped
thinking about anything but Benson.
We reclined on the narrow bunk and I landed on top. I looked
down at him, my eyes raking his body. In his gaze, I saw a feral hunger that
matched my own. I ran my hands over his muscular pecs, the sight of all that
hard flesh bringing a rush of desire.
Benson reached up to grab my hips and eased me down, but he
didn’t rush. Instead, he rolled his hips gently, seating himself deeper inside
me than ever before. I followed his lead, raising myself then sinking to claim
every delicious inch of him with aching slowness. Beneath us the ship thrummed
with its own rhythm and the vibrations only added to our pleasure.
Unable to stand it any longer, I moved faster. Benson’s
hands tightened on my hips as he obliged me. Inside my sex, every muscle
tightened, poised on the precipice of release. My fingers strayed to my clit.
My whole body jerked when I rubbed the hypersensitive nub. Benson’s gaze seized
on that small movement and the hunger grew. Never had I been so uninhibited.
Benson had freed me in more ways than one.
Our frenzied movements rocked the narrow bunk. For a moment
I worried that someone in one of the nearby cabins would hear what we were
doing…and then I decided I didn’t care.
But I couldn’t help smiling when I thought of how many more
hours we needed to fill before we arrived at Rodan.
* * * * *
Two suns shone high in the sky when we disembarked at the
Rodan spaceport. I wasn’t used to the brilliance after the artificial
illumination in the bowels of the ship. The light made my eyes tear. The double
shadows cast by the small blue sun slowly circling the larger red one would
take some getting used to.
The entire spaceport was alive with activity. Ground teams
directed the giant ships into their berths. Crewmembers swarmed around,
unloading cargo. Orders were shouted in a multitude of languages, adding to the
general din.
Unfamiliar smells assaulted my senses. I caught a breath of
dense, sweet foliage mixed with the biting scent of rocket fuel. A cool wind
eased the overheated air. The entire landscape had a startling beauty to it in
an undeniably alien way.
A lot about this new life would need adjusting to, I
figured, gazing out at the sky. I reached for Benson’s hand. His fingers closed
around mine. With Benson beside me, starting over wouldn’t be so hard.
Together, we took the first steps off the ship and into our
new lives.
The End
About Piper Leigh
Multi-published author Piper Leigh had been nominated for
numerous awards. She’s always had a fascination with the dark and mysterious
and enjoys writing about larger than life characters like vampires, ghosts,
zombies, angels…and sexy blue aliens.
Piper welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
website and email addresses on her
author bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.
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Also by
Piper Leigh
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Galaxy Zombicus
ISBN 9781419943249
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Galaxy Zombicus Copyright © 2012 Piper Leigh
Edited by Kelli Collins
Cover design by Caitlyn Fry
Photo: Lithian and Diversepixie/Shutterstock.com
Electronic book publication December 2012
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