Page 135 of Shellshock

She swallowed hard, building up the nerve to create mayhem. Then she explained her thoughts to the pirate and he agreed. They were doing this.

“One more question, pirate. Why the hell are you helping me? Is it that you’re secretly a good person or some shit?”

“No. I just want to kill Terry Collins.”

She blinked. Well, that would do it. “Let’s do this then.”

* * *

Lucca donned a disguise and shoved her ponytail down the back of her shirt. She rushed through the halls to find the pirate. He was meticulous about which corridors they would take and where to muster. And thank god for that. Thank the stars for how good he was at undermining shit, because she couldn’t do this without help.

They created an opening that drew the lurking Ternetzi fighter ships closer. Minutes later, explosions rumbled against the outer walls and she knew it was showtime. Alarms sounded from the sirens and lights high along each corridor as everyone in the ship rustled to their posts.

Astyanax and Lucca holed themselves up in a closet, fighting with the guys in the bridge and control room for control over the entire warship—the doors, the air—everything. They wrestled it away, bit by bit, and the human fleet had no clue where they were hidden. Meanwhile, Ternetzi fighters climbed onto the warship and fought their way up, leaving a bloodbath in the lower levels.

People died while she pressed buttons and she knew she’d be left with permanent mental scars.

She clicked a button and a group of foot soldiers was ambushed by a larger group of Ternetzis. Someone blew the head off a Ternetzi and Lucca bit back a scream as blood and brains and spark splattered the white wall—then the whole pack of enraged Ternetzis turned against the guy who’d fired. And Lucca was left in temporary shock. Stunned and frozen.

You can’t take that back. Bullet through the head is forever.

The fight continued gruesomely until Control took over and the whole corridor was vented. Everyone was dumped—humans, Ternetzis—it didn’t make a difference to Control.

More Ternetzis infiltrated the corridors. More humans were sent into the slaughterhouse to make sure they never reached the stairwell. Lucca recognized individual faces and that was the part that fucked her up the most.

There was Freddie Painter.

He used to play poker at their big parties. He was a charismatic, easy-going guy. One time Lucca got so drunk that she couldn’t walk straight and some rando tried to nudge her in the direction of his cabin, hoping to get some action. Freddie got in his way.

Then he held her hair while she threw up and sobbed over a toilet and he told her he was gonna make sure that guy was reported.

Freddie was gone now. She watched him disappear. A little piece of her soul slipped out with him.

Between the outer wall of the Aerinus and the honeycomb shield floated dozens of bodies—fighting for the first several seconds before going still and lifeless—bouncing corpses. A warning to prospective invaders.

If we don’t give a damn about our own, what makes you think we’ll give a damn about you?

Lucca was going to vomit.

That realization barely occurred to her before she threw up right on the floor—some of it splattering on the pirate’s kneecaps.

“Human,” he hissed, recoiling all of six inches away that the closet allowed him. The death on the screens didn’t phase him at all.

She wiped her mouth with a sleeve and returned to the wretched task with an uneasy stomach. A foul, choking odor filled the tiny closet. The pirate was openly, visibly revolted, but they had no time to waste.

The Ternetzi forces finally located a stairwell and reached the next level. Once they were there, driving them out would be nigh impossible. It was a small group, but Astyanax said it was enough.

“Come on,” he said quietly, adjusting the jumpsuit he’d stolen—the one he plunged his tail through. She filed her items away and he led the way.

* * *

She couldn’t believe they were doing this. She couldn’t believe she’d just broken a pirate out of a cell and let a bunch of aliens infiltrate the ship. She couldn’t believe she was about tohold her former coworkers up with a gun like a robber, but that was exactly what she was on her way to do.

They found Zoramia. Her body was splattered in blood, her arms dripping with the bulk of it. She was so pleasantly surprised to find Lucca that she thrust a gun into her arms. Lucca didn’t have the faintest idea how to use it.

They cleared a path up the levels to the control room. The double doors were sealed tight, the technicians besieged inside, but Lucca knew how to get through it. She and Astyanax tore through the door within minutes, making a weirdly efficient, fucked-up team.

Walking into her former workplace was a moment of pure surrealism—especially when she pointed the gun at her old boss. The aliens filed into the room like they owned the place, taking the humans hostage.

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