The Six: Genesis | A Reverse Harem Novel

Ten

My ears ring.

Debris rains over my head, falling from the cliff looming above me. The ground is quaking, and the sky is full of soot and ash. My jaw aches as I yawn, opening my mouth to take a lungful of air. Soot grates through my nostrils, flaring into my lungs and I cough, hard.

Fuck.

What happened? What did I miss? Did they make it?

We must have fallen.

Muffled voices flail over me as I scramble to my feet. Unsteadily, my legs wobble and my knees knock together. The rush of noises, scents and sights sends my head reeling and I struggle to find my bearings.

Can you tire of chaos?

My arm and legs ache, and my head pounds. Blood trickles down my lips from my nose and temple. A haze settles over my vision and I fall forward, puking onto the scorched Earth.

I heave until my stomach is empty and my throat is raw from trying. Disgusted, I shoot to my feet as I run my sleeve across my mouth. Violently, my insides rebel.

Our attackers are dead.

Shrapnel juts from the dead robots in odd angles, broken off through their skulls, backs and limbs. A few feet away, a mass of four skeletal bodies lay buried under a pile of rock I'd thrown over them. Remnants of a battle not long gone.

It cost me every bit of energy to save Ryker and divert their attention from Chris.

Flashes of light flare across my gaze, but my system won't react. Whatever hit me in the head caused more damage than I thought. Shit.

The thin sand trickles through my fingers as I sink them into the ground, rapidly falling over each other like an hourglass tipped upside down. It stinks of sulfur, blood and death. Sorrowfully, I glare through the dust cloud to study the area.

Chris stands a few feet away, brilliant blue eyes darkened in contemplation. He's unharmed except for a few gashes torn in his shirt. Lightly tanned skin stretches across his frame, laying over shapely muscles and a rigid abdomen. His pants aren't much better, the bottoms are in shreds and mud sticks to his shoes.

Questions burn in his gaze, billowing out to twist his usual stern expression into something dark. I swallow harshly, wishing I was anywhere but here. Shame heats my cheeks and I drop my eyes to my palms when our gazes hold too long.

He'll want answers.

Answers I neither want nor can afford to give. What was I thinking? I should never have exposed myself like that.

I'm an idiot, but I couldn't let him die. I couldn't let any of them die.

Cracking, dry and filled with rock pebbles folds, my hands pulse. As my system restarts and my eyes realign, the blue outlines always tracing every inch of the landscape dutifully lights up my vision. I'm lucky the nanites work quickly.

Only a few injuries remain, and thankfully, they're healing. The blow to my head stings, but the pain eases away as my tech digs in. Like ants, they'll blast through my bloodstream, descending on every open wound and seal them without a scar. A timer counts down in the top right-hand corner of my eyes, 68 seconds until I'm at my prime.

With a surprised gasp, I track any motion on the horizon. If there's a second wave, they'll tear us apart. We need to get out of here. Now.

"Blue!" Ryker shouts, stomping to my side with a handgun clasp in his left hand. "I've been calling for you. Are you okay?"

He's worse for wear but okay. There's dirt, rocks and tiny remnants of plants on his clothes. Deep gouges pepper his shirt and pants, and bruises purple his skin. Pain burns in his eyes.