Page 14 of I Dated a Retired Hero

Chapter Three

Litha was thirty minutesfrom landing when she got a call from Zera. “Hey, Zera.”

“What are you doing, Litha? You are way out of allowed space.”

“I am going on a radiation cleanup mission. File it under humanitarian work.”

“You can’t just fly off. You know that.” Zera sounded worried.

“I don’t give a fuck. I am done caring about the rules and moods of everyone around me,” Litha muttered.

Zera said, “We will find someone for you.”

“Fuck that. I am not waiting anymore. I have done my work for the capitol and Aksalla, hell, even Z-Tech. You have all taken what you needed, and I got nothing.”

“Litha, you don’t sound like yourself. Stay where you are, and we will track you.”

“If Torun is one of the ones to come or any of your lovers, you will be getting a bag of ash and my regrets when I return. I have smiled, I have laughed, and I have tried to therapy the loneliness out of me, but all I have left is the same burn that the male actives have. The mate compulsion is driving me nuts.”

Zera paused. “Wait. What?”

“In non-actives, it is called a biological clock. I want a partner, I want a family, and I haven’t even been allowed to go looking for it because of those stupid regulations.”

“Shit. I didn’t notice.”

“Of course not. Too many happy little employees getting their happily ever after.”

“Litha—”

“Dropping altitude. Don’t send anyone happy. I will fucking turn them to ash.” She ended the call.

Litha could see the empty black circle on the landscape and dove for the epicentre. She pulled up and settled near the origin point.

Burned. There was no other description. There was ash and dust charged with radiation all around her and the remains of a very large device in the middle of the space. It looked like a standard crater with a nine-foot tube in the middle of it. The radiation was coming from the tube.

A short examination later showed her that the metal itself was the infected source. She nodded. “Good place to start.”

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