Page 79 of Holiday with the Aliens

She kissed his forehead, cradling him close and wishing like hell she had a first aid kit. He needed regen gel and a pain pill or six.

“I’m safe,” she said. “It’s okay now.” When the door she’d come through earlier slid open, she wasn’t surprised to see the Keeper standing there.

Holding a gun.

Chapter Eleven

Arest heard yelling and the sounds of a struggle, but he couldn’t force his eyes open. Not until Stella let out a yip of pain and he heard her stumble. Rock crumbled down to the floor and the telltale stench of a laser blast filled the room.

An android stood in the doorway and pointed the rifle towards Stella. “Please move away. The beast must be subdued.”

She stepped in front of him. “You can’t have him. Just let us go.”

Arest’s heart thudded, fear and anxiety that hadn’t penetrated during his fight with that monster rolling over him as the android threatened Stella. He forced himself up, stifling the moan of pain that tried to tear out of his throat.

The android realized that he was up before Stella did and his eyes shifted to him. He readjusted his rifle and aimed over Stella’s shoulder towards him. Arest stepped to the side, moving away from her so she didn’t risk being hit.

Stella stiffened, but she didn’t look back. “You said you weren’t allowed to hurt him.”

“A stun will cause no permanent damage. Please step further aside.” The android’s voice held no emotion, just a mildlypleasant tone as he threatened Arest’s woman and worked to send Arest back into hell.

“You can’t have him,” she said. A long silence fell while the android didn’t respond. Stella rocked forward on her feet, swaying but not stepping. “I’ll kill you before I let you have him.”

It wasn’t a convincing lie, and that had nothing to do with the kisses they’d shared. But androids couldn’t discern truth from lie or most human emotions. And this one was no different. The rifle swung Stella’s way. “Remain where you are or I shall be forced to fire.” Stella moved her hands up and kept swaying.

Maybe it was the blood loss, but Arest couldn’t make out what she was doing. What good would it do if they both ended up shot? “He did what he needed to do,” she said. “So let him go.”

“Negative.”

The android’s orders couldn’t be so easily countermanded, but he appreciated that Stella tried. But he wouldn’t let her die, or get stunned, for him. He stepped forward and Stella reached out and gripped him. “Wait,” she snapped.

The rifle wavered between them. Stella stepped closer to the android, keeping her hand in front of her. “Are you authorized to hurt humans? People?”

“Threats to the facility must be contained.” He raised the gun and pointed it at her.

“Now!” Stella yelled as she dropped to the ground and rolled, the android’s gaze, and aim, following her as he shot.

Arest sprung on battered muscles, tackling the robot down to the ground and ripping into him, tearing cords and wiring until with a mechanical puff of smoke, it collapsed. Still not satisfied, he ripped the thing’s head off and threw it to the other side of the room. He didn’t know where its processor and sensors were stored, but even a self-repair circuit would have trouble fixing that quickly.

Stella groaned and rolled over, eyes bright when she saw him get close. “You’re amazing,” she said, smiling on a wince.

Arest growled. “Not. Safe.” He scooped her up and clutched her to him, his heart hammering as thoughts of what could have happened if the android had been a little faster or she had been a little slower cascaded through his mind. “You. Need. To. Be. Safe.” The words didn’t come easy, but he needed her to know.

Stella clutched his arms. “I am, with you.”

But she wasn’t. Neither of them were so long as they were stuck down here. Arest carried her through the door that the android had come through and closed it behind him using a panel on the wall. For a moment, Stella tried to protest his hold, saying something aboutbleedingandinjuries, but so long as he could walk, he could hold onto her. Her protests subsided and she guided him along the path she’d taken from the control room.

Their luck held and the door remained open and the screens functioning. He put Stella down in one of the seats and took the other for himself, growling when she immediately shot up and ran for the wall. But she came back bearing a box and knelt in front of him. “I’m okay,” she promised. “You saved me.” She reached in and pulled out a pot of bright blue liquid. He couldn’t make out the name on the label, but he recognized the scent: regen gel, the all-purpose medical gel that could heal most wounds in hours or days rather than weeks and months.

She slathered it on his back and he hissed as it stung, whatever magic chemicals it contained working together to begin healing and sealing his wounds while he sat, still bleeding. Stella cursed when she came to the tear in his leg, the wound so bad that he couldn’t even feel it. The dark of his pants had disguised the worst of the blood loss, but he could feel exactly how bad it was when the gel burned all the way up to his hip.

“You’re going to be okay, got that?” It was more of an order than a question. “You don’t get to leave me after all the shit we just went through back there.”

Arest reached down and gripped her wrist before she could slather him in any more of the cream. “Mine,” he said.

Stella smiled and bent down to kiss his hand. “Yours.”

She wished she could dare to think that they were out of the woods. But Arest’s eyes were unfocused and even with the regen gel and bandages, blood seeped out of his many,manycuts.

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