He nodded. “I know.”
“They came so suddenly. I was in the clinic on the base, and there was a morgue—where they store dead bodies—so I climbed into one of the freezers and hid.”
Domik stopped breathing. The thought of CJ hiding while those Xakul killed everyone around her.
She’s stronger than anyone I’ve ever known.
“They left me there to die.” She lifted her chin, her eyes pleading with him. “I thought you had done the same.”
Domik’s chest squeezed, and he dragged her into his arms. “Never.”
She sobbed into his chest, arms gripping him tightly, her face pressed into him. She kept speaking, her words muffled, as if a dam had burst inside her and she couldn’t help it. “The ships left, and the Xakul killed everyone left behind.”
But they hadn’t killed CJ. Domik knew the Xakul would track and kill anything once they had their sights set on them. They were unrivaled hunters. So how had she survived?
She lifted her head to look at him as she grimaced at her next words. “I hid in a freezer, but I wasn’t alone. I masked my scent with a dead body.”
Domik stared at her, eyes wide. She had lain in a freezer with a dead body. For how long?
“I was there for twelve hours before Laila found me. She had come in with the team she had been patrolling with. We were some of the few who survived.”
Domik smoothed his hands down her arms and held her hands in both of his. “You are beyond strong.”
She laughed, no joy in the sounds. “No. I’m not.”
He shook his head, but she turned away, refusing to look at his face.
“Yes, you are. What you have overcome? Few could do what you have done.”
She pulled her hands from his and wrapped them around herself, shaking her head. “No, Dom. That’s just it. I have overcome nothing. I heard that ship and I couldn’t move. The only thing I could do was sit in the bathtub and cry. What use am I? I’ll just get people killed. It’s a goddamned miracle you’re still alive, being stuck with me.”
She stepped backward until she couldn’t go any further, the sink at her back. “Just leave me. You’re better off without me. I’ll just get you killed. Everyone is better off without me.”
Domik frowned.
I can’t leave you any more than I could cut off my arm. You are part of me, Clodagh. When you lack strength, you can have mine. Your sunshine lights my darkness. Without you, I am adrift in an ocean of loneliness.
He opened his mouth to speak, but seeing her stricken face staring at the floor, he thought better and stepped backward through the door into the bedroom.
I need to go get the clothes.
He opened the door to the outside and pulled up short.
About halfway across the carpark, was parked a pickup truck. The rumble of the engine must have been masked by the sound of the Xakul ship. Domik looked from the truck to the broken door of the hotel room, his palms sweaty as his fingers flexed for the plasma pistol that wasn’t there.
How could I have forgotten it again?
He eyed the truck, not liking how close it was. In the dawn light, the windscreen was obscured in glare, hiding how many people were inside. He could see a human male behind the steering wheel, while another male was standing on the tray behind an enormous gun.
A gun that was pointed straight at Domik.
“Hands up!” The male in the back of the truck yelled at Domik.
He slowly raised his hands, backing up against the brick of the building, trying to get as far away from the room as possible.
The sound of the ship retreating slowly disappeared into the distance.
Why weren’t the humans concerned about the ship?
It was difficult to tell the features of the man behind the wheel, , but the one in the back of the truck had a soft look about him. His clothes hung on him, as if they were for someone much larger, and his brown hair hung limp and greasy over his face.
The man pointed the gun at Domik, and as he did his shirtsleeve lifted, revealing a Taurean comm on his wrist.
What is he doing with a comm?
“Hey Tom, check out the size of this one!”
A soft click had him freezing. A third man emerged from the far side of the vehicle, a plasma rifle trained on him in a steady hand. “All right, big guy. Stay right where you are.”
