New Species 02 Slade (20 page)

she was grateful for how baggy it fell since her bra had

been destroyed.

Slade searched through the men’s supplies and

packed their acquired things inside a backpack that one

of the men had brought with them. He took a sleeping

bag, food, and he kept the men’s weapons. They also

took water and soft drinks. Very quickly, Slade was

ready to go. Trisha studied him.

“I’m not playing around with them anymore.” Slade

wore a determined expression on his face. “You got hurt.

I’m not going to be the hunted anymore, Doc. I’m going

to find you a safe place to hole up and then I’m going to

take the rest of these bastards out.”

Trisha just studied him. She knew he could be

dangerous and had the ability to kill. She’d seen it

firsthand when he’d saved her from being raped. She

nodded.

“All right.”

The sun hung low in the sky when Slade glanced

back at Trisha. He’d found a dugout area of earth inside

the side of the hill. A large boulder had once taken up

the space but time and gravity had caused the large rock

to roll down the hillside into the ravine below. It had

been really hard to reach the area. It was so steep that

Trisha had nearly fallen three times, and if not for Slade,

she would have. He’d climbed behind her, one hand on

her, and had caught her each time she’d lost her footing.

“You are safe here.” Slade crouched down in front of

her and his hand brushed her uninjured cheek. “You will

hear anyone coming from below and it’s too unstable

above for them to use their ropes to try to climb down to

this place.”

“Okay.”

“I want you to wait here where my people will find

you if I don’t come back. It might take a few days but

some of the males they send were trained with me from

before we were freed. They know how I think and they

will realize what kind of hiding place I would look for to

stash you. Don’t shoot them when they do, Doc.” He

gave her a tight smile. “It is considered rude to injure or

kill someone attempting to rescue you.”

Trisha didn’t smile back, knowing he tried to use

humor to defuse the stress, but she was too worried

about him. “Come back to me.”

His smile faded. “I can’t guarantee that, Doc. I won’t

make promises I can’t keep.”

“Then stay with me where we’re safe. Please? We

could just wait right here together.”

Slade hesitated. “I didn’t realize there would be so

many of them hunting us, Doc. Those men I killed are

not the same men who followed us down from the road

when we crashed. They obviously have different teams

out there searching for us. You know this from hearing

them. That puts you in extreme danger and there’s only

one way to handle this situation. I need to hunt the

hunters and turn it around on them.” He paused again,

staring intently at her.

“But—”

“They won’t expect that from me and their numbers

need to be thinned out. It could take some time for my

people to reach us and I need to help us survive. It will

confuse those assholes when they find themselves under

attack. Some of them will flee when people start dying. It

will weed out the cowards from the truly deadly ones.

Those are the ones who need to die. It’s the only way to

protect you, Doc.”

“But this is a really good hiding place. Just wait it

out here with me, Slade. Please? I’ll beg you if I have to.

I’m terrified they will hurt you or worse. You’re just one

man and there are too many of them out there. Those are

your words.”

Slade’s head slightly tilted and his mouth tightened

into a grim line. “I’m not just a man, Doc. I’m something

far worse with the advantage, whether they know it or

not.” He hesitated. “This is what I am. I’m a New Species

and I have something important to me to protect. But this

isn’t just about you and I don’t want you to feel guilty if

something happens to me. My people will be coming

and I don’t want them walking into a trap of any kind,

which is a possibility. I need to take out as many of these

assholes as I’m able to. I’m a predator beneath my

humanity. I may try to hide it but it’s still there. I’m also

a survivor who has had to kill in the past to remain

breathing. Mercile trained me to fight to show off their

drugs and it’s one lesson I’m grateful for at this

moment.”

“You don’t have to fight them. You aren’t locked

inside a cell anymore and we can hide. From what I

understand, you were never really meant to be placed

into a real battle zone, which makes that training not

count. They just taught you enough to show what you

could do but this is real, Slade. I don’t want you to die.”

He took a deep breath. “It was always real. Not all of

my people survived their cruel tests or the shows they

forced us to participate in to demonstrate the results of

their drugs. I am dangerous, even though it’s never what

I wanted to become. Whether you accept it or not, that’s

the truth. They trained us too well and made us less than

completely human. It wasn’t their intention to ever see us

free but we are. I’m New Species. You’re a doctor but just

because you aren’t inside a hospital doesn’t mean you

stop being what you are. You’d help any injured person

if you could regardless of being on the clock or off,

wouldn’t you?”

Trisha hated his logic. “Yes, but I don’t want you to

go. Stay with me. Chances are, when your people arrive,

it will scare those assholes off. I’m sure they never

planned to have to search for us.”

“Don’t tempt me, Doc. Holing up with you inside

this small space for a day or so… ” He winked. “I would

enjoy the hell out of keeping us from growing bored.”

“Stay with me.” Hope soared inside Trisha. She just

wanted him safe, with her.

“It’s too big a risk if I were to stay with you and do

nothing. There’s too many of them and they can spread

out to search a lot of places. If we’re found they could

surround us.” He glanced around the cave and then back

to her. “You could be struck by a bullet if there’s a

shootout. There’s too many rocks buried into the walls

that something could ricochet off and strike you. I won’t

allow that to happen. We also don’t have enough bullets

to hold them off. They could also start a brushfire and

smoke us out. It’s better if I go after them than risk them

trapping us here. I’ll make certain that anyone who

comes close to you is no longer breathing.”

She bit her lip, forgetting her injury, and winced from

the instant pain. Slade brushed his finger over her

mouth, staring at it.

“You will need to stay low, no standing or moving

around much. That blonde hair of yours can draw

attention and doesn’t blend well with the hillside.

Remember to stay out of sight. I’m leaving you all the

guns from the camp just in case some of them get past

me or they take me out. This handgun is all I need. You

only fire when they are close enough not to miss and you

have no other choice. The noise will carry far if you shoot

and bring more of them this way. That would be bad.”

Trisha stared into his eyes when he met her gaze. She

did what she really wanted to do most. She leaned

forward, gripped Slade’s face, and watched surprise

cross his features a second before her mouth brushed his.

She tested the soft texture of his full lips, heard the

sound Slade made deep inside his throat, and then he

took control of the kiss.

He deepened it, his tongue meeting hers. She

ignored the pain of her cut lip, even the taste of her

blood mingling with Slade’s taste, just wanting, needing

to get lost in that kiss. Her arms wound around his neck

and he lifted her weight when his arms slid around her

waist, gripping her hips to pull her close, pressing them

chest to chest. Slade suddenly growled and tore his

mouth from hers, breathing harder.

“Trisha,” he groaned. “You’re making this difficult

for me and if you sat on my lap, you’d know how hard

you actually are making it. I have to leave now. Please

don’t make this worse. This needs done and I have to go

while I have enough daylight to move quickly. My night

vision is not as good as normal sight during the day.”

She knew she’d lost the argument and he had his

mind set to hunt down those men. He planned to go out

there and risk his life trying to save hers. Hot tears

threatened her eyes but she blinked rapidly to hold them

back.

“Okay. Just come back to me, Slade.”

A smile suddenly twisted his lips. “What are you

going to give me when I return, Doc?”

“Anything you want.”

His eyebrow arched and the smile widened.

“Anything?”

“Anything,” she repeated firmly. “Just don’t get

killed.”

Slade nodded. “Stay low, be quiet, and keep those

guns ready. Use them only if you have to and hold them

off as long as you can. I’ll hear if you have to fire at

anyone and I’ll be coming. No more provoking jerks

trying to get them to kill you. Remember to just survive

and I’ll have something to save. You promised me that,

sweet thing. I’m holding you to it.”

“I remember and promise. Swear to me that you

won’t take too many risks. Survive, Slade.”

Slade nodded again, studied her intently as if trying

to memorize her face, and then he backed away,

releasing her completely. He forced his gaze from hers

before he quickly took some items and shoved them into

his pockets. He gave her one quick glance and then

started to climb down from her hiding spot. He was gone

in seconds. Trisha had to bite back the plea to beg him to

come back, certain that regardless of what she said, he

wouldn’t change his mind.

She unrolled the sleeping bag on the hard,

unforgiving earth to keep busy. The dirt floor was

embedded heavily with tiny rocks and hard clumps of

dirt. Even with the sleeping bag she could still feel the

uncomfortable ground beneath the thick material when

she sat to assess what items she had.

Slade had acquired two sets of binoculars and he’d

left one behind inside the backpack. She found them and

inched to the opening. She used them and it didn’t take

long for her to spot Slade. He moved amazingly fast

without her.

She turned the binoculars, scoping out the area, but

didn’t spot anyone else. She could see for a long ways

with the help of the powerful glasses. She turned her

focus back to Slade, knew when he had reached the

bottom of the ravine to her left. He turned and examined

the area where she hid and then started to jog away.

Trisha kept her focus trained on him.

Darkness crept up too quickly for Trisha’s liking. She

had lost sight of Slade through trees but sometimes she’d

spotted him through the dense foliage. He moved fast,

showed no signs of slowing, and he seemed to be

heading in one direction. She wondered if he’d caught

someone’s scent with his amazing nose.

She scooted back into the dark hole and had to feel

her way to the backpack and unzipped it. She’d watched

Slade take all the beef jerky but he’d left her the breakfast

bars they’d found. She ate two and drank a soda before

crawling back toward the opening. She glanced at the

darkness below her and then gasped. In the distance she

spotted a tiny sparkle of flame that came from the same

direction Slade had been heading.

Trisha could see what had to be a camp. Flames

showed through thick trees, not more than distant flames

even with the binoculars. She had a sinking feeling that’s

where Slade headed.

Trisha sat up and dragged the sleeping bag to the

edge where she got comfortable, grateful she at least had

somewhere to try to catch a glimpse of Slade. He was out

there somewhere and she worried.

If Slade could smell their fire and he planned to

attack, that’s where it would happen. Forever seemed to

pass to her but no distant sounds of a fight reached her

ears. She got more comfortable by stretching out on her