Page 26 of Captured

I blink, unable to come up with an answer. I know the war between our people has turned us into monsters in their eyes. Creatures of violence without mercy, a picture painted by the Senators and spread for decades.

“No monster.” I cringe at the way the words refuse to flow. So many things I want to say to her, to explain.

“If you’re not a monster, then what are you?” She looks up at me, her eyes pleading for an answer, to make sense of the world she thought she knew.

I want to tell her that she’s been fed lies all her life, that all the horrors she’s seen were not perpetrated by us but by the Senators for the sole purpose of becoming richer and more powerful. I want to tell her that Drakians and humans are more alike than different.

But no words leave my lips as a detonation rings through the air from somewhere outside the ship. We both crouch low to the ground and I wrap my arms around her as tiny sparks fly in the control room from some damaged connection or the other.

Silence follows and with it, the weight of the unknown. I get to my feet, still holding Juliet in my arms. I’m not letting her go, no matter what happens.

There are no words between us as I jog outside at a brisk pace, Juliet right on my trail. We both stand on the shore, staring at a trail of white condensation in the sky. A trail of white condensation leading straight to the place where Juliet’s pod crashed.

“Are those your people or mine?” Juliet asks breathlessly.

Drakians or humans. Friends or foe. Opposites for Juliet and me. Not for the first time, I’m reminded that our worlds are at odds, our people enemies.

“No Drakian,” I answer, a dark feeling settling between my ribs. I turn to her and can barely restrain the snarl from my lips when I see hope and longing in her face as she looks in the distance.

Those are her people. She would choose them over me.

Never. I’ll never let you go.

“Stay,” I order, putting all my authority behind the word.

Dark velvet eyes turn to me and she frowns. “No way.” She shakes her head. “If those are humans, then I need to tell them you rescued me.”

If those are humans, they’re here to kill me. And you, too.

But I don’t say this. She needs to see for herself.

“No sounds,” I mutter as I turn around and start the long hike to her downed pod. She doesn’t answer, but I can feel her presence, just behind me.

If the Senators found us already, we’re doomed. They will not spare me, nor her.

It’s up to me to save Juliet from her own people.