Page 18 of Alien Prince Defender (Space Knights MC #4)

CHAPTER 18

GRACE

I couldn't believe that David was dead. For several minutes, I couldn't move. I was frozen in time, rooted to where I stood on the roof concrete.

I couldn't believe that he died from his own stupidity. Yet again — somehow it didn't surprise me. David was rash and temperamental. His lit fuse put us all in jeopardy, but he ended up paying the ultimate price. It was almost darkly ironic the way it played out.

Sometimes things were inevitable, no matter how you tried to stop the moving train. David's death shook through me. I didn't like the guy and he bugged me all the time, but that didn't mean he deserved death. It was just one of those accidents that could have been prevented if David hadn't let his temper get the better of him. It was a real shame that it had to end this way.

I didn't have time to mourn David or his death. We had much bigger fish to fry — or we were going to end up just like David had — at the bottom of this building on the asphalt with our heads squashed like melons.

Tarax was holding me to console me, but after a minute or so, I gently backed myself away from him and stoically put on a brave front. What other choice did I have? We had to protect ourselves because death was knocking at our door, too. Standing here wasn't going to bring David back, and it certainly wasn't going to get the androids hovering in the sky to leave us alone.

"Give me your backup weapon," I said to Tarax. "I know you brought one. I left mine in the vault room. And the more help you have, the better our chances become. I can help you shoot them down."

Tarax didn't hesitate. He reached for his second blaster and handed it off to me without a second thought.

"We need to hold off the rest of these androids from belting out at us from the sky," Tarax said.

"I'm afraid it might be too late for that," I said. "They look like they are ready to pursue the hunt."

Tarax glanced around his surroundings with a fearful expression that did little to ease my mind.

"We at least need to try to prevent them from breaching the building. Once they're inside, there is no hope for any of us," he said.

"How the hell are there so many of them?" I shrieked. "It seems like they are reproducing by the minute, and by the thousands."

"I know it seems overwhelming but?—"

I scoffed. " That's an understatement."

"We need to do something ," Jennifer cut in from behind us. "We just watched David fall to his death off that ledge." She pointed a shaky finger at it. Her face was pale and shocked.

"I know, sweetie." I reached out and hugged her and stroked her back for a moment to comfort her. "It's tough having to go through this… and watching someone fall off the side of the building, even if it was David — is still really difficult to process."

"Grace, you need to start shooting," Tarax warned. "The longer we hold them off the better we are going to end up. Hopefully, we can continue holding them off until Norin and his group arrives."

"He's right," I said, looking at Jennifer. I had briefly forgotten about Norin and his team — but it was like a new breath of fresh air remembering that at least we had some back up on the way.

"Go downstairs and warn the others. Let them know what happened to David and tell them that Tarax and I are up on the roof trying to shoot as many of these androids down as we can," I instructed Jennifer, meeting her gaze. I had my hands clamped over her shoulders and gave her a fiery look of determination.

"I don't want to leave you guys up here alone…" Jennifer trailed off apprehensively.

"It's going to be okay," I reassured her. "I am grateful for your concern. It's safer for you downstairs. Go around the building with Mike and the others and make sure all the windows and doors are locked and secured."

"I'll ask Mike to cover the internal doors," Jennifer said with a nod. There was some spark coming back to her features and she looked a little more resilient.

I clamped my hand over her shoulder again and gave it an encouraging squeeze. "There you go. That is a big help. Take the rifle with you, you might need it."

Jennifer grabbed the gun, hustled toward the exit door, and was gone, closing it behind her.

"Stay near the door," Tarax advised once she was gone. "Try not to let any of them near the door."

"If they see me guarding it, they are going to want to get in there," I said worriedly.

"It doesn't matter," Tarax said, adamantly shaking his head. "They're going to figure out it's a door soon anyway. You be the gatekeeper. Keep them off it."

A second or two later, dozens of androids began soaring toward us with their black slitted, menacing eyes. I wasn't sure I was going to succeed at this mind-altering challenge.

I didn't want to look at them because every time I did , a shiver of terror raced up and down my spine. I feared these monstrous robots more than anything else in my life. I just didn't know if we had the resources or physical capabilities to fight all of them off.

There were just too many of them. I didn't express my fears out loud, however. I didn't want Tarax to think I couldn't handle the situation or that I doubted us or him too much.

"Grace?" I heard Tarax's voice shouting to me, but I couldn't see him.

It was as if my mind went suddenly blank and all emotions were erased from within. It was as if I were seeing the world through a tunnel or a hazy filter. I heard Tarax's voice, but it sounded far away, like an echo that was calling out to me faintly in the distance.

The androids started pounding down to the roof. They were moving in slow motion. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't move or breathe. My body was numb from head to toe. I was compartmentalizing every emotion I had. The androids were on the move, but from my perspective — it was still happening in slinky, slow motion. Why couldn't I do anything? Why couldn't I jump into action? My mind was screaming at me to get moving, but my body refused to listen.

"Grace!" Tarax's voice roared through my eardrums.

The urgency in his voice finally snapped me out of the dazed delirium I was experiencing.

I shook my head to gather my thoughts and composed myself in a split second. I braced myself into a fighting stance, preparing for impact. I lifted my blaster, surprised that my arm and hand wasn't shaking.

I aimed at the robot charging toward me at full steam ahead. It was like the fucking thing had zoned in on me and was hell bent on taking me out.

I squeezed the trigger. The gun fired and the bullet expelled from the barrel. The blaster bullets were made to incinerate whatever it hit.

I hit the android directly in the chest. It flew backward and slammed into the ground. It was withering in agony or whatever senses it could feel, I had no idea. Either way, it didn't look like it was having fun being hit by the blaster bullet.

Its metal body was melting and burning. The wires inside it hissed and a weird, sludgy black, inky substance began to ooze out of its body and pooled on the rooftop pavement.

The android went rigid, then limp a few seconds after that and ceased moving altogether. I stared at the deceased machine.

It can't die. It's not real. It doesn't have flesh and blood, or emotions. It's just a fucking robot trained to kill.

My mind was protectively locking itself in a trance again.

"Behind you, Grace. Watch out !" Tarax warned.

I jumped and scrambled out of the way just in time before I was hurled to the ground by yet another android.

I shot this one in the face, and it died instantly. The same weird, black sludgy substance leaked from its mouth and eyes, pooling at the injury site.

I looked at Tarax, feeling like I was on the verge of tears.

"There's just too many of them," I shouted, hearing the panic laced in my voice.

As soon as I said the words, we heard whirling in the sky. We both glanced up to see that Norin and his forces had finally shown up, just when we were starting to feel the most overwhelmed and needing them the most.

They began flying down and landing on the roof to help us, jumping into action without a word. Now we had better strength in numbers and the odds were more in our favor.

After a break in the action, I watched Norin and Tarax hug each other and give each other brotherly slaps on the back. I could tell that the pair seemed relieved to be reunited.

Tarax had been right. They did look a lot alike, except for the different style that Norin wore his hair — in that long braid that Tarax had described.

I vaguely remembered meeting him that first night of attacks, but my mind was so traumatized by all the events that had happened since then that I had trouble remembering or picturing his face until I saw him again today, here on the roof.

"I brought reinforcements from the naval base," Norin advised. "True military men."

"It's amazing," Tarax said. "I think we can kill off the rest. Thank you so much for making it here in time. Grace and I were really struggling up here."

Norin looked at me and smiled. He had a warm presence about him. He cast me a little wave — then out of the corner of his eye he must have seen another android coming his way because he lifted his blaster, pointed it over his shoulder beside him and fired. The android fell to the ground — wasted with one shot.

I was impressed. That was a badass move. Norin and Tarax were a set of badass twins, no doubt about it.

We then set back to work to destroy the remaining androids. We continued firing at the androids one by one as they attempted to breach our secure hiding spot. It was exhausting. At one point I got into a physical squabble with one of the androids and it pushed me to the ground. I tried not to be crippled with fear.

Defend yourself. Fight for your life, my brain yelled at me.

I fell to my knees and busted them up a bit, but I could still walk. They were scraped up pretty bad — but it was nothing a little antiseptic and some decent bandaging couldn't fix.

"Are you okay?" Tarax asked, helping me to my feet. He was there in a flash, ready to help me and pick me back up off the ground.

It was then that I realized just how brave and compassionate he really was, and that he would always be there to pick me up when I fell — metaphorically speaking, of course.

He had proven to me that he would always keep his promises, just like he said. I had no problem believing the power of his words, because he showed it to me with his incredibly courageous actions.