Chapter 20
As she watched Devlon walk towards the tunnel, movement to the right caught her attention. It looked like someone was moving through the smoke, heading toward Devlon before he too disappeared in the haze.
She didn’t think twice as she headed after Devlon. Never had she felt so totally scared in her life. Someone here wanted to sabotage her tribe, maybe even kill her to do it. She heard a gunshot and saw a flash; then she was dazed as she was knocked to the ground by a large body. She pushed the body off and scrambled out from underneath it, then recognized Devlon’s voice as he groaned.
“Heather...leave.”
“Devlon!” He had knocked her down to get her out of the line of fire. She knelt next to him and turned him onto his back. As she searched his body she noticed something sticky on his left side. Her heart nearly stopped. “Are you shot?”
“Yes, I seem to get shot a lot lately.” He half chuckled and half groaned in pain.
“Damn it! That’s not funny!” He’d taken a bullet for her, to protect her. She ripped a strip of her shirt off and placed it over the wound, trying to get the blood flow to stop.
“Heather!” Devlon whispered, pointing to a place behind her.
She turned just in time to move out of the way of the fist that was swinging toward her. Heather faced her attacker and was stunned. Leonard stood there, holding a gun.
“Leonard? What are you doing?”
“I told that if I spied on you I’d be given the leader position. I told them you needed to die. You won’t die. I’m supposed to be tribe leader, not you!” He aimed the gun at her, but she ducked just as Devlon kicked out with his leg and knocked the weapon into the dust.
She stood up and faced Leonard. “Why are you trying to kill me?”
“I was supposed to be the next tribe leader, but you ruined everything. Then you took up with this alien scum. The rebels have it right, the Drastans need to be stopped before they take over our entire planet. They wanted me to spy, so I did. I did everything they asked, but they failed to get rid of you. They said if I helped them with setting up the explosives, they would get rid of you, but here I am having to do all the work all on my own once again. I’ll take you and the commander out, and then the rebels will make me leader. I’ll be a hero.”
He made another attempt to lunge at her, but she dodged. They both stumbled and fell to the ground. He hit her, but the punch he landed wasn’t very strong.
“You want to hit a girl, you better be ready to get hit back.” Heather swung out with all her force and knocked him out. “Pussy.” She crawled over to Devlon, shaking.
“Heather?”
She took his hand. “I’m here, baby. I’m fine.”
“Father?” Kyle called out.
“We’re here, Kyle! Your dad’s been shot.”
“Again?” Kyle asked as he approached them and knelt down on the other side of Devlon. “I’ll call for a mediko.”
“Are there any other rebels out here?” Devlon asked, shifting on the ground.
“Not that I could detect, and there’s no other explosives, either. Looks like the rebels came in and planted the explosives and then just left.”
“Secure the area. No one gets in or out until the scanner clears the tunnels of explosives. One more thing, do me a favor.” Devlon’s breathing was sporadic.
“What is it?”
“Watch over Heather.” Then he passed out.
“Devlon!” Heather reached for his pulse and was relieved to find that it was still strong. “Thank God.”
Kyle put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it to reassure her. “He’s tough.”
They stayed where they were while several more warriors came and took Leonard into custody. The medikos arrived and treated Devlon’s wound, which started to heal immediately. They lifted him up on a floating stretcher and she walked next to him with Kyle at her side.
The lead mediko checked Devlon’s vitals as they waited for transportation to take him back to the command ship. “Commander Devlon will be perfectly fine ,but we want to do a thorough scan. The bullet used may have left particles behind.”
“Thank you, Mediko Danver,” Kyle told the male.
