Outlaw: A Sci-fi Alien Cowboy Romance (The Midnight Seven Book 1) by A.G. Wilde

Author:A.G. Wilde [Wilde, A.G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Petronie Publishing
Published: 2024-02-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Elsie

We ride.

For hours upon hours we traverse the sandy sea, the rumble of his bike the only constant. But I don’t tell him to stop. I don’t tell him to slow down. I lose track of the setting and rising sun as we travel over sparkling dunes.

We stop only once when necessary—a quick stretch while he refuels his bike with solar chips. Wordless, efficient, then we are off again into the endless expanse.

My body stiffens, grows sore, then numbs to the unrelenting pace. Still, I do not ask him to stop. I cannot, when I feel the hearts of those counting on me with each blast of wind that whips my hair. We pass small trading posts nearly buried in the sands. Abandoned way stations where metal beams creak forlornly in the desert wind. Strange spiking rock formations and towering sand mountains that disappear in our wake.

Sometimes my heavy eyelids convince me to rest. I doze, waking with a start whenever a particularly large bump jolts me back to full awareness. I cannot relax fully, anxious dreams plaguing any real rest. In those moments when my heart lurches, beating a little harder from some fear still haunting me, the strength of the male I lean on is like a soothing, calming presence that makes it all melt away.

I lose myself watching pink and golden bands stretch across the sky. The occasional cloud of sparkling dust kicked up by a roaming sandskimmer. The rhythmic pulse of the bike beneath me.

Worry fills me for the entire time that we ride. That we won’t arrive on time. That there will be nothing left to save when we return. Even worry that we might encounter another storm. Or, worse yet, another one of those sandworms. But the going is steady. Sure.

The moment we near Comodre, my senses heighten. It’s dark, night closing in, but even with the lack of the sun’s light, I start recognizing things. Little bits of the horizon that always looked familiar from my view in the town, only now flipped as we approach from the opposite direction.

We shoot past one of the Nirzoik outposts and my shoulders are stiff with awareness. But this one stands empty. Whoever should be standing guard has probably left since nothing ever happens in Comodre. We are subservient. Docile. So, when there is no sound or alarm, I force myself to calm. To not freak out as we get closer. But my heartbeat gets more erratic the closer we get, knowing that this is really about to go down. For the first time, I’m about to fight back against the Nirzoik with the type of resistance that will get through to them. And even though I know it’s my best bet, our best bet to freedom, I can’t help the uncertainty still flooding through me.

As we approach the colony, I keep my eye out for any Nirzoik. They’re not due to come back for dues, at least, not yet. But the terror of entering the colony to find them there, before we’ve had time to prepare, sets my nerves on fire.

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