The Return: The Conglomerate Trilogy (Volume 1) by William S Frisbee Jr

Author:William S Frisbee Jr [Frisbee Jr, William S]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chakram Publishing
Published: 2014-07-12T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Retreat

Four hours of sleep was not enough, Leonessa thought as she sat up. Her back hurt. Felix was still curled up against her, but stretched when she got up and pulled on her backpack.

“Rise and shine!” Carmichael said sounding excessively cheerful. “Another wonderful day inside alien ruins. Time to explore and see what’s here.”

Leonessa looked at Carmichael with a glare. The ensign shrugged at her Captain and kept moving among the other sleeping people, giving some a gentle nudge or shake.

With her pack on, Leonessa looked around, making sure her officers were getting their people up and moving. They needed little encouragement though.

Felix finished stretching and looked around. Some people looked at it in surprise but everyone kept their distance. People talked among themselves and some people came over to see. Felix just sat there and watched everyone.

After a minute Felix’s eyes locked on the corridor they had come from and its ears perked up. A low hiss escaped it and it looked up at Leonessa then back at the door.

Felix looked between Leonessa and the door.

The hissing increased and a low growl escaped its throat before it moved in the opposite direction, ignoring the surrounding crew who moved back from it. After about ten steps, it stopped and looked at Leonessa, then hissed louder.

Leonessa looked at Doc and Carmichael who shrugged. Felix looked at the doorway and growled then came back to Leonessa and placing its back to the door head butted Leonessa toward the back door.

“It wants us to leave,” Doc said. “Something is distressing it.”

There was a pair of crew members from Carmichael’s team watching their back trail.

The doorway, missing its door, looked out over a larger hallway big enough for four lanes of traffic and a sidewalk; it had been full of trash and unidentifiable wreckage. It stretched on into darkness in both directions.

Felix’s hissing grew, and one of the crew members watching the door way ducked back.

“Captain,” Starman first class Banks said. “I’m hearing movement out there. Might be the scouts.”

“Fiddle sticks,” Leonessa said. “Carmichael, take point. Move out fast. I’ll guess Felix doesn’t like what is out there and knows a way to go.”

When she moved toward the back-entrance Felix sprinted ahead, occasionally stopping to make sure Leonessa was following. Felix moved at a sprint but the humans could not keep up. Felix led them out a back door into a similar corridor like before, across the street into another building. Its purpose was as unidentifiable as the first one. Everything looked abandoned, unused, ancient, and mummified.

“We should start calling it Hiss,” Doc said during one rest stop. Felix/Hiss was pacing back and forth, hissing, and watching the way they had come from.

“It sure is angry,” Carmichael said.

“Contact,” someone said and fired a small burst.

Everyone got down, Felix/Hiss crouched low to the ground looking back toward the firing.

“Smaller scout aliens,” Burke said. “I got one, the others retreated, but I would say they have our scent.”

“Can you lay another trap for them?” Leonessa said.

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