Cruz: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 2) (18 page)

She dragged herself up to a sitting position. Pain stabbed through her right thigh, and she bit her lip to stop from crying out. She glanced down and saw a ragged shard of metal sticking out of her leg.
God
. What had happened?

She looked up and her heart leaped into her throat.

The Hawk lay about fifteen meters away, crashed in the front yard of a house. The copter was barely recognizable—not much more than a twisted lump of metal.

Cruz
. Santha tried to stand, but the resulting pain made her stomach revolt. She leaned to the side and retched.

She sank back against what she now realized was a wooden fence. She wasn’t going anywhere with this metal in her leg.

After sucking in a few breaths, she gripped the piece of metal. “You can do this, Santha.” Quick as she could, without giving it a second thought, she yanked it out.

She panted through the pain, fighting off unconsciousness, her head lolling to the side. Hideous agony flowed through her in a giant wave.

She wasn’t sure how long she sat there, but noises made her look up.

Santha squinted and sucked in a shocked breath.

Raptors surrounded the wreck of the Hawk and had lights shining on it.

Her heart hammered in her chest, and she froze in position. No aliens headed in her direction and she exhaled softly. They hadn’t noticed her.

Gingerly, she shifted her weight, and pain stabbed through her leg like fire. She bit her lip and forced her scream back down.
Come on, Santha. Get it together.

She fumbled around at her belt, searching for the med kit, all the while keeping one eye on the raptors crawling all over the Hawk wreckage. She finally managed to get the zipper open and pulled out a bandage, which she clumsily tied around her thigh. She shoved another wad of bandage under it. Dammit, her wound was bleeding a lot. She tried to tell herself she was damn lucky she hadn’t hit an artery.

Ahead, she heard guttural shouts and grunts from the raptors as they shifted bits of wreckage and lumps of metal.

And bodies.

No
. The thought of Cruz and the other Hell Squad members dead fell on her like a giant weight. No, he couldn’t be dead. She couldn’t lose him, too.

The raptors dumped two bodies on the ground. Neither were wearing armor. The patients. Neither moved.

Sorrow stabbed at Santha but she pushed it down, hard. She had to focus, and help anyone still alive in the wreck.

Two more raptors shuffled away from the Hawk, carrying a large body between them. They dumped the man on the ground and he groaned.
Marcus
. And he was still alive.

For now.

“Fuck you!” Violent movement from the wreckage caught her attention.

Cruz! She watched three raptors struggling to contain him. Half his face was covered in blood, but the way he was fighting suggested he wasn’t injured too badly.

They dumped him near Marcus, and one of the aliens pulled his weapon off his shoulder and aimed it at Cruz.

Terror was like a stone in Santha’s throat. She started dragging herself toward them.

She didn’t want to die here, in the dirt, and leave the raptors to torture someone else’s sister or kill a good man. She would fight until she couldn’t fight anymore.

And she didn’t want to do it without Cruz by her side. The man had pushed and prodded at her until he was so deep under her skin she knew she’d never get him out. Didn’t want to get him out.

She drew her combat knife. It had ended her sister’s suffering and now it would take the lives of these alien bastards.

The raptors dragged out more bodies. A swearing Shaw and an unconscious Claudia and Gabe.

“We are going to kill all of you, you bastards,” Shaw yelled.

When a raptor nudged Claudia’s body with his boot, Shaw kicked at him. “Get the fuck away from her.”

Cruz was sitting, watching the raptors around them. Even from a distance, Santha could see his powerful body coiling.

Her pulse jumped.
No, you hero, just wait for me.

But he launched himself at them, striking like a viper. He’d stabbed two before the rest were on him.

Raptors were punching and kicking him, pummeling his body.

Marcus and Shaw moved to help, but they were outnumbered, and quickly subdued.

Santha pushed to her feet, gripping the fence to help her stand. Her leg screamed in pain and couldn’t take much weight. The exoskeleton in her armor took a lot of her weight, so she knew the injury was bad. She drew her crossbow.

She started forward, her right leg dragging in the dirt. She aimed at the biggest raptor beating Cruz and fired.

She was already aiming at the second before the first dropped.

The other raptors swiveled, spotted her. They left a groaning Cruz and ran at her, lifting their weapons. Pushing through her pain, she sank low and stabbed at the nearest raptors, cutting through the weak spots in their armor. Two more stumbled backward.

The rest were almost on her when Cruz appeared from the darkness. He yanked a gun from the nearest raptor body, aimed, and unloaded their own poison into them.

Shaw appeared and pummeled another raptor with his fists. Marcus emerged from the shadows, still looking dazed, but he took down another with brutal kicks.

Before long, all the raptors were down.

The men stood there, breathing heavily. Santha felt a wave of dizziness, but she only had eyes for Cruz.

He was alive. That was all that mattered.

Two pteros flashed overhead, shining blinding lights down on them.

“We need to get into shelter,” Marcus yelled.

Shaw scooped up Claudia, and Marcus heaved Gabe over his shoulder.

Cruz wrapped an arm around Santha, helping her hobble forward. “What about the others? Reed, Finn, the doc?”

Marcus’ jaw tightened. “We’ll—”

Raptor fire cut through the night.

“Go!” Marcus shouted. “We’ll come back for them.”

Together, they reached the ruined shell of a two-story house that looked like it had once been a comfortable family home. As they crashed through the front door, Santha caught a glimpse of photos hanging askew on the walls. Parents smiling, hands on the shoulders of two teenaged boys. She wondered if any of them had survived.

“In here.” Marcus shouldered his way into the kitchen. “The appliances will give us more protection from any weapons’ fire.”

“Shit, you’re bleeding.” Cruz helped Santha down to the floor and she leaned against the wall.

He gripped her thigh, his big hands gentle. “This is bad.”

“I’ve had worse.”

His face looked beyond grim, and coated in blood, his sexy good looks were hidden. Now he simply looked scary, like something from a horror movie. Funny that her heart still beat extra hard just looking at him. He was alive and that was all she cared about.

As he studied her wound, he pressed down on the wadded fabric.

“Ow!”

“It’s still bleeding.” His other hand cupped her cheek. “When I came to and couldn’t find you…”

She put her hand over his. “I’m okay. I got thrown clear of the wreckage.”

It was only then that Santha became aware of a tinny voice screeching at her. She frowned, confused. Where was the sound coming from? Then, she realized her earpiece had been damaged, but that Elle’s voice was still just barely getting through.

The woman sounded frantic.

Santha touched her ear. “Elle?”

***

Cruz watched Marcus’ head whip around.

“The raptors took our earpieces,” Marcus growled.

Santha pulled hers out and handed it over.

Hell Squad’s leader shoved it in his ear. “Elle? Baby?”

The big man was silent for a moment and Cruz watched him close his eyes for a second.

“I’m okay. We made it out of the crash. We’re holed up.” Pause. “I know. I know. Calm down.”

Cruz couldn’t believe they’d made it. He’d been so worried about finding Santha he’d barely thought of anything else. Then she’d come out of the darkness, raining crossbow bolts like an avenging warrior queen.

His queen.

He placed a med-patch over her wound. The cut was jagged and ugly, but the bleeding was finally slowing. He finished redoing her bandage.

“I’m going to give you a shot. It’s only mild, but it’ll take the edge off the pain.”

She nodded. “I won’t say no.” He pressed the injector to her thigh.

“Okay, Elle, I got it,” Marcus said. “We’ll hang on until help arrives, I want…Elle? Elle?” He slammed a fist into the wall. “Raptors jammed the signal.”

“What’d she say?” Cruz asked.

“Help’s on the way. But with all the pteros in the air, and the increased raptor presence, they can’t send Hawks.”

“They’re coming via the ground?” Shaw sat back, his head thunking against the wall. “That’ll take at least an hour.” He cast a worried glance down at Claudia. She lay on her side, her head resting on his thigh. She hadn’t regained consciousness. “She’s hurt bad.”

“We’ll get her back to base.” Cruz hid his own worry. “She’s tough.”

Gabe groaned and slowly came to. “What the hell?”

“Hey, how are you feeling?” Marcus crouched down near the other man. “Took a bad knock to the head.”

Gabe rubbed his temple. “Fuck. Feels like I was on an all-night bender.”

Marcus studied the man’s eyes. “You’ll hold until we get back.”

“Yeah.” Then Gabe looked around, taking in their surroundings, and stiffened. “Where’s the doc? Where’s Emerson?”

The team all traded glances.

Gabe pushed to his feet, swayed and grabbed the wall to stay upright. “Where the fuck is she?”

“No one saw her,” Marcus said. “Finn and Reed are missing too. They might still be in the wreck.”

He didn’t say the words, but Cruz knew everyone was wondering if there were only bodies to recover.

Something wild flashed in Gabe’s eyes. Something Cruz had never seen before in the contained, intense man.

“I’m going to look for her—” He made a move toward the hall.

Marcus blocked his path. “Stand down, Gabe. You go out there, you’re just committing suicide.”

“We’ll find her.” Cruz caught Gabe’s dark gaze. “And Reed and Finn. You have to survive in order to find her.”

Gabe’s mouth twisted but he nodded. “The patients?”

“Dead,” Santha said quietly. “I saw the raptors drag their bodies out.”

The team was quiet.

Gabe moved toward the window. “Fuck. Marcus, alien reinforcements have arrived.”

Hell Squad crowded near the window. Raptor vehicles were pulling up and raptors filled the street. Overhead, pteros circled like hungry birds.

“We need to move.” Gabe’s voice was urgent as he swiveled.

Cruz frowned. He didn’t see anything to warrant the urgency. But he knew Gabe had enhanced abilities from his time in a secret military experiment. Not that he ever talked about it.

“What? What did you see?” Marcus asked.

“Back in the shadows, they’re setting up mortars.” Gabe’s face looked lethal. “They’re going to blow us out of here.”

Chapter Seventeen

“Everyone up, we have to go,” Marcus shouted.

Cruz cursed under his breath and helped Santha up. He saw the pain reflected in her eyes. She was biting her lip hard enough it was bleeding.

“The pain’s still bad?”

“I can handle it.” She tossed her head back. “Let’s go.”

Marcus headed over to Shaw and Claudia. “I’ll carry her.”

“I’ve got her,” Shaw said.

“I need you on a gun.”

Shaw nodded reluctantly, and took hold of the carbine Marcus had managed to grab.

They were about to head out the back door when it slammed open. Shaw sprung forward, gun up.

Reed shouldered through the opening, one arm around a limping Finn, whose head and face were covered with blood. He was clutching his left arm to his chest.

“Thank fuck. You guys okay?” Marcus asked.

Reed nodded. “A few cuts and bruises. Finn here has a broken arm.”

“But my legs are working fine,” the pilot muttered.

“Emerson? Either of you see Emerson?” Gabe asked.

The two men shook their heads. Reed cursed. “I assumed she was with you guys.”

“We have to go.” Marcus motioned to the door. “We’re about to get a few mortars in here.”

“Shit.” Reed headed back out the door. “We came the long way so I know a way out. Stick to the buildings and trees because the pteros are lighting up the place.” He pointed. “This yard backs onto an alley. We cross the alley, then go through the adjacent house. It backs onto some parkland. There’s a river with an intact footbridge, which is too narrow for vehicles.”

“So any raptors would have to pursue on foot.” Marcus nodded. “Good.”

“The river isn’t too deep, so they could cross it in vehicles. But it’ll slow them down.”

They headed off. Cruz did his best to take as much of Santha’s weight as he could, but her harsh gasps and the small hitches in her breath told him she was in agony.

They raced from tree to tree in the backyard, pausing when a ptero flashed a floodlight on the lawn. Once darkness fell again, they all sprinted to the back fence.

Cruz pushed through the gate, across the alley, and then followed the others into another abandoned house. This one had not survived unscathed. The roof in the living room had caved in, and all the walls had large cracks running through them.

They were all in the hall when an explosion hit.

Cruz swiveled and through the shattered front windows, saw the first house they’d sheltered in had been hit by a mortar. Crimson flames rose into the night sky.

“Keep moving,” Marcus said.

Another explosion, this one big enough to shake the floor beneath them.

“They aren’t messing around,” Santha murmured.

Hell Squad hurried through the darkened house and out the back door. They crossed the tiny yard, trampling overgrown flower beds, and spilled out into a small parkland.

The river glimmered ahead under the moonlight.

It was a good fifty meters away.

Across empty field.

Cruz tightened his hold on Santha. “No cover.”