The Last Stryker (Dark Universe Series Book 1) by Alex Sheppard

Author:Alex Sheppard
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3, epub
Publisher: Dreamweaver Press
Published: 2017-06-15T06:00:00+00:00

12

IT WAS AWFULLY quiet when Ramya opened her eyes. For a second or two, she couldn’t recall where she was. She simply lay staring at the metal rafters crisscrossing the ceiling. Then it came to her in a manic rush—her father’s letter, Concert Night, sneaking out of the CAWStrat, the man attacked in the alley, taking off on the Endeavor, the Pterostrich attack. The memories left her shaking. Other details, such as the SLH Troopers boarding the Endeavor for a scan, trickled in.

She remembered the hidden room through the cabinet where Sosa had left her. Across from her was another bed where the man—the sole survivor of the mysterious space fleet wipeout in Sector 22—was sleeping. Ramya squinted to read the CHS monitor hooked to his bed. The numbers on it were a red blur.

She gave up trying to read the CHS and counted the rafters for a while. After she had done that three times over, Ramya decided to study her wounds. The largest and deepest gash was right below her left shoulder where the Pterostrich chick had sunk its talons. There were smaller tears on her arms and legs and a few scratches on her face. The wounds didn’t bother her as much as the pain all over her body. Even moving a finger seemed to hurt.

If only Isbet could see me now, Ramya chuckled at the thought. Her friend would’ve wagged a wise finger at her.

“What were you thinking, Rami?” she would say. “How could you let your guard down around a Pterostrich? It’s like meeting a boy with no makeup on.”

“It wasn’t a full-grown bird, Isbet. Just a chick.”

Isbet would roll her eyes for effect. “It was still a Pterostrich, wasn’t it? And what are you doing on that ship? Wait, is that even a ship? It looks to me like someone fit an engine to a tin can and chucked it into space. Get out of there, Rami. This doesn’t befit you. Your father wouldn’t approve.”

Ramya banished the Isbet of her thoughts away. By the God of the stars, Isbet, did you have to bring up my father?

Tired of lying around and letting people lecture her in her thoughts, Ramya tried to sit up, but her back refused to help. “What did you feed me, Sosa?” Ramya muttered. The lack of strength was frustrating, and even though she could do little while inside the room where Sosa had her sequestered, Ramya craved for mobility like a beached fish yearning for water.

“Take some rest while you can. Stop being so impatient,” Ramya chided herself, but that only helped for a minute or two.

“I’m not touching another drop of your Pax, Sosa,” Ramya grumbled to herself as she struggled to push her uncooperative body out of bed. Lying helpless in bed, even in a hidden chamber, was unacceptable, especially when SLH Troopers were out and about. What if, by some weird stroke of luck, they found their way in here? She’d be a proverbial sitting duck. And what would happen if they were actually looking for her?

They couldn’t be looking for her.

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