Vikings from Mars

Raine stared at the dainty woman. Piper was Lucas’ younger sister, whom he had brought to the bank when the alert had gone off about the incoming bombs.

Piper, being the youngest of their group, hadn’t been able to leave the vault before. None of the women had been prepared for the new world they had found themselves confronted with, but Piper’s health condition made her particularly vulnerable. Lucas was going to kill her and Tayla for letting Piper come with them. If she hadn’t been determined to retrieve the canned food she had left behind, she would have never agreed to let her come, regardless of how much she wanted to discover if the man she had left behind had survived.

“You and Tayla go to that one and wait for me, while I check out the other building to see if he is still there.”

Piper gave her a sympathetic glance. “Are you sure you don’t won’t us to go with you? What if he died?”

Raine’s stomach lurched as she imagined the grotesque way a decomposing body could be all that was left of the handsome man she had left behind the crumbled wall.

She shook her head. “No, there isn’t any reason to subject you guys to what I’ll probably find.”

“I’m sure you won’t find anything.” Tayla’s sensible pragmatism had Raine partially agreeing with her.

“It’ll probably be a waste of time, but if it keeps you from being a gloomy mess anymore, then it’ll be worth the holdup. Raine and I are both dead meat, anyway, when we get back to the vault. Lucas is going to kill us.”

“No, he won’t,” Piper protested. “I’m going to tell him that I snuck out after you guys left.”

“Yeah, like that’s gonna make a difference.” Raine rolled her eyes at the fragile blonde who looked as if a hard wind would blow her away. “There’s no need arguing about it anymore; what’s done is done. Hopefully, if the food is still there that I couldn’t carry, it might alleviate some of his anger.”

“Only one way to find out.” Tayla tensed behind her. “No one is around. On the count three, let’s get our rear in gear. I’m giving you two minutes, Raine,” she warned. “Get in and get out, whatever you find. Our first priority is to get the food.”

“I’m ready.” Raine nodded.

“Me, too.” Piper didn’t sound as sure, but she was determined not to be left behind.

“Go!” Tayla whisper-shouted.

The three of them took off running; Tayla and Piper in one direction and Raine in the other. This is crazy as hell. Inwardly shouting at herself, she ducked behind a crumbled brick wall. Frantic, her eyes went to the spot where she had left the defenseless man lying on the ground. A relieved sigh left her when she saw the bare ground.

Should she call out for him? Afraid the sound would alert any aliens that could possibly be around, she had to be content that at least he wasn’t dead and go help Tayla and Piper gather the food they desperately needed.

Ignoring the sense of dejection of the man not being there, she turned to poke her head out of the building to see if it was clear when a hand covered her mouth and pulled her back to a hard chest.

A muffled scream was the only sound she was able to get through the hand pressed against her mouth. Frenziedly, she started fighting the other hand around her waist, desperate to escape his hold.

“Still. You will only hurt yourself.”

She stopped fighting, her fear abating somewhat as she realized the person holding her was human from his voice.

She was unable to talk with the hand over her mouth, and her relief became short-lived when the man holding her started walking out of the building without any regard that there could be aliens nearby.

What in the hell? Was he trying to get them killed? Her eyes widened when she noticed three men, dressed like the unconscious man she had helped two weeks ago, stealthily slide around the building that Piper and Tayla were inside of.

Raine began fighting again. She had to help them. Dear God, why did I allow them to come with me? Thrashing her legs backward, Raine was frantic to escape to help them.

“Be calm, wife. My men will not harm your friends.”

Wife? What the hell? Jerking her head backward, Raine lifted her eyes upward to see the man holding her. He was the one she had been searching for. Had he lost his mind during the fight with the aliens and had amnesia?

Her panic-stricken thoughts finally caught up with what she had missed when she had first looked up and realized who was holding her. She closed her eyes in self-hatred at her stupidity. Her being a jinx had doomed the women.

The man holding her might appear human at first glance… until it clicked what was different about him. The whites of his eyes were red. He was an alien, and she had led Tayla and Piper right to them.