Hunting Cari (First Wave) (7 page)

“I
don’t know what you’re talking about you ass! Now let her go!” Cari screamed
back at him. Her anger making her uncaring that the Relians anger was growing
with her own.

He
struck her in the face again, so hard her head snapped back; she could feel the
blood from her lip and maybe her forehead, begin to trickle down her face.
Between her anger and Jess’s gifts, she didn’t really feel the pain and ignored
all internal alarm bells warning her she was going too far yet again.

“You
fucking bastard! Do you really think beating me is going to get me to tell you
something I don’t know? You’re so damn stupid I have no idea how you’re
survived this long!” Cari yelled at him as she laughed in his face, mocking
him.

That
seemed to be what made him snap, as he began to rain blow upon blow on her
helpless body. Cari barely felt the impact of some of the blows. However, when
he hit her already broken leg, the pain shot all the way up to her spine, and
she fought not to vomit. The blow to her broken ribs made spots form in her
vision. Closing her eyes, she fought against the blackness trying to overtake
her, her anger and stubbornness not wanting to give him the satisfaction of
seeing her passed out again.

Minutes
had passed before she noticed that she hadn’t felt him hit her anymore after he
had hit her in the ribs. The noise outside had died down, and she could still
hear him moving around the barn. Keeping her eyes closed, she fought to control
her emotions, finally remembering Jess’s warning that she couldn’t escape if
she didn’t heal. And although she didn’t really feel too much pain, she knew he
had done more damage to her body. The only sound she heard him making now was a
loud breathing, as if he was trying to calm himself.

“Sir,
all clear! Six of them were able to get away in a vehicle they had hidden. By
the One! Is she alive?” Cari heard someone say, before gentle hands picked her
up and placed her against a warm chest. She immediately knew this couldn’t be
Vikan as she didn’t feel the need to vomit at his touch, and she tried to open
her eyes to see who had picked her up with such kindness.

“She
is still breathing, but she is very badly hurt. I need to port with her to
MedLab immediately. Cut the bindings from her hands quickly. We’ll deal with
the ones who left later. Get a trajectory on the vehicle, so we can find them
again.” Scaden demanded from Balduen impatiently.

Cari
looked up into the face of the man who had just spoken, through the slit that
was all her one eye could manage through the injuries to her face. His strong
jaw reminded her of Uncle Randor, but that is where the similarities ended.
This man had beautiful blue eyes that seemed to glow like sapphires. Shoulder
length blonde hair looked silky enough, that she felt the urge to touch it. And
the warmth radiating from his massive and strong chest, seemed to permeate her
every cell. It seemed like it had taken forever, but he finally looked down at her,
when her hands were cut free of the rope and fell uselessly from lack of
movement for so long. He looked at her with a mixture of emotions she could not
understand. Rage, tenderness, possessiveness… all seemed to play across his
face, while he held her gently.

“Who
are you?” Cari asked awkwardly through her swollen and bleeding lips.

“I
am Scaden Torenson, Commander of the ship Adaria. Your uncle Randor sent me.
I’m going to take you to him.” Scaden replied squeezing her gently closer to
his chest, wishing he could kill the Relian, he caught hurting her all over
again just to hear his bones crush beneath his fist.

Disbelief,
sorrow and grief seemed to come over her at once. The stranger’s gentleness and
the mention of her uncle causing her to crumble inside.

“You’re
lying. They killed him.” She barely got out before breaking into sobs that
caused her ribs to feel like they were on fire.

The
stranger turned, and it was then she saw the broken and bloody body of Vikan
B’Tai on the floor of the barn, crumbled up against the far wall near the
stalls, his eyes blankly staring into nothingness. She knew immediately he was
dead, and looked at the stranger who held her with hope and respect.

“No,
Amalaya
, they did not kill him. We took him to our transport where he is
healing. That is where I am taking you now.” Scaden said gently, hoping to stem
the flow of tears that were breaking his heart to see.

“Clean
this up so the humans do not find the bodies, then have all the men report to
the transport. Port MedLab.” He gruffly ordered the other men in the barn,
before the portal took them.

Everything
went from black to bright in moments. The change disoriented her briefly until
she heard the most wonderful thing in any world.

“Oh
Cari! By the One, child what did they do to you?” Uncle Randor uttered
brokenly.

“Uncle
Randor? Is it really you?” She asked tentatively, not daring to hope as she
looked into the eyes she thought she’d never see again.

The
stranger gently laid her on a bed that lay next to one that her uncle Randor
was laying on. What looked like metal strips were scattered over different
parts of his body. And although slightly pale, he looked whole and well.
Overjoyed and relieved she clutched the hand that reached out and grabbed her
own as soon as she was laid down.

“I
was so worried about you. I knew you’d make them angry, but damn it Cari; you
knew better! What were you thinking?” Randor asked angrily as he looked over
her broken body.

“We
need to have this conversation later. The scans show multiple fractures, and
she’s on the verge of a collapsed lung. She needs to be treated immediately
before her condition deteriorates due to shock.” Cari heard a strange man say
to the stranger that had brought her here.

“Please,
do whatever you have to do. But please, save her.” Randor's voice was barely a
whisper as he tenderly tried to stroke the hair from her face. Stopping when he
realized the dried blood was pulling at the cuts on her face and making them
bleed again.

“I’ll
get him out of here while you tend to the female.” The stranger who called
himself Scaden spoke.

It
only took a few seconds to realize he intended to take her uncle Randor from
her, and fear of never seeing him again overwhelmed her. She tried to sit up
and clutched desperately at her uncle’s hand not willing to let them be
separated again.

“NO!!!
You can’t take him from me! Please! Uncle Randor don’t let them take you away!”
Cari screamed hysterically, ignoring the sharp stabs of pain radiating through
her body as she tried desperately to get up and reach her Uncle.

“Shh,
honey. Calm down. Please just calm down. No one is taking me away I promise.
This is our people honey. They saved me and you. They won’t hurt either one of
us, I promise.” Her uncle tried reassuring her. “Didn’t you tell her who you
are?” Randor asked Scaden with a scathing look.

“I
told her I was Commander Torenson of the ship Adaria.” Scaden replied
defensively, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Which
means nothing to her since she has no clue who any of you are!” Randor fairly
yelled.

“Is
that what you meant by projecting her emotions? I have to say, for a moment
there I was overwhelmed with fear. It came out of nowhere and stunned me. That
is truly amazing. He does not have to leave her. But she does need to be treated
immediately; her upset is causing her condition to worsen.” Cari heard the
other man say, moving Scaden out of the way.

“It’s
alright honey; he's going to fix you up and make you well again. Everything is
going to be alright now.” Uncle Randor told her, lightly squeezing her hand as
he sat up in his bed.

“My
name is Amun Nassur, and I’m going to put some medibands on your injuries to
speed up your natural healing process. I will try my best not to cause you
anymore pain than necessary, but your wounds are extensive and some of it
cannot be helped unless I put you into a temporary sleep.” The man said as he
began cleaning her wounds of blood and placing the same kind of metal strips on
them as was on her uncle.

“NO!
No sleep! I don’t really hurt very much so just go ahead.” Cari said
forcefully, not wanting to be put to sleep and wake up with her uncle gone.
Within moments, she began to not only feel better, but energized.

“What
the… does she have unusual healing abilities as well as her other gift?” The
doctor asked Uncle Randor with wonder evident in his voice.

“No,
why would you ask that?” Randor asked curiously, looking over at Cari.

“The
scans, they are showing a rapid healing I’ve never seen before on any of our
people. Most of her minor injuries are already almost healed and the worst
ones….” His voice trailed off as he stared at her face.

All
three men stared at her as if she had grown another limb or something, shock
evident on all of their faces.

“Cari,
did they… did they do something to you?” Randor asked her nervously.

“No!
Other than beat the hell out of me twice they didn’t touch me! Why would you
ask me something like that? What’s wrong?” Cari demanded, becoming irritated
and nervous over the attention and stares of these three men.

“I’ve
never seen anything like it! Are you sure she’s never had this form of a
response before?”  Amun asked excitedly now.

“No.
She’s never healed this quickly before. She and the others have always had our
ability to heal rapidly, but I’ve never seen anything like this either. Could
it be the medibands? I mean she’s never been exposed to them before, so could
they be amplifying the healing because of her unique cell structure?” Randor
asked the doctor curiously.

Scaden
heard the conversation going on around him, but for the life of him, he
couldn’t speak. He could only stare at the incredible woman lying on the table
in front of him. Once Amun cleaned all the bleeding cuts on her face and
exposed limbs, he was able to get a good look at her, and her beauty amazed
him, even with all the swelling. But now… he was speechless.

“What
the hell are you two going on about?” Cari demanded sitting up abruptly; she
swung her legs over the side of the bed and glared at each of the men in turn.
More so at the tall, dark-haired and dark-eyed man who called himself the
doctor. His eyes and hair were so dark they were almost black. He had a strong,
chiseled jaw, like her Uncle and the man Scaden. And very attractive. But
attractive or not, she was not in the mood for him to treat her like a lab rat.
And was getting really sick of his perusal and the questions he continued to
direct at Uncle Randor and not at her, like she was an imbecile or something.

“Cari…
how do you feel?” Amun asked tentatively, looking at her strangely as Uncle
Randor got up from his bed and stood beside her looking closely at her face.

“Oh
for crying out loud, what is wrong with you guys?”

“Cari,
are you sure they didn’t do anything to you? Give you anything? Inject anything
into you?” Randor asked her with grave seriousness.

“I’ve
checked her cells; they are not registering anything unusual in her body, so I
don’t think they gave her anything. But I have no explanation for her healing.
It’s extraordinary.” Amun added.

“No,
they didn’t even feed me or give me water. Wait, Jess gave me water once after
I woke from the first beating. Oh Jess! Did you find Jess?” She asked, jumping
to her feet in hope and standing in front of Scaden.

Chapter Six

Scaden
was so distracted by the vision in front of him; it took him several moments to
realize she was talking to him, and even more to process what she asked.

“What
is a Jess? And where was it supposed to be?” He asked her gruffly, trying to
mask his rising need to touch her again, and feel her slight body against his own.

“Jess!
The other girl who was there! The one that giant freak took away from the barn
before you got there!” She fairly shouted in frustration. What is wrong with
these guys? Are they really this dense?

“There
was no other female where we found you.” Scaden said in confusion.

“No,
she was there. I know she was. She’s one of us.” She said quietly, looking at
her uncle Randor knowing he’d know what she meant.

“Are
you sure she was one of you?” Randor asked.

“Yes,
she was. They had captured her when she was a small child. They had killed her
father and took her and her mother. They had raped her mother repeatedly trying
to get her to breed them a child, but it didn’t work, so they killed her. Then
they started on Jess.” Cari couldn’t keep the tremor and sorrow from her voice.

Randor
looked at Scaden with the question clearly on his face.

“Balduen,
Niklosi report to MedLab now!” Scaden shouted into the comm.

Cari
looked at him like he’d lost his mind, not seeing who he was talking to,
thinking of Jess, she turned to her uncle.

“Uncle
I swear she was there. She knew immediately that I was like her. She said that
through the years, she had helped many more, just like me escape from that same
group of Relians. She knew I was a projectionist and kept trying to warn me to
stay calm or project fear to keep them from coming to hurt me. You have to
believe me. I promised her I would come back for her, and help her escape. I
have to find her.” Cari pleaded with her uncle to believe her, so he would help
her find Jess.

Two
more men entered the room, making it seem even smaller than it did before. Good
grief they were all huge like her uncle. One was as tall as the man who called
himself Scaden. He also had blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, and a body like
you’d find in one of those muscle magazines at the check-out counter at the
store. The other man was several inches shorter; with dark, almost black hair
and eyes they were almost the color of the doctor’s. A little thinner than the
tall blonde, he was no less muscular. All of them, including the doctor looked
like every earth woman’s fantasy from the front of a romance novel.

“When
you were cleaning up the area did either of you find another female like her.”
Scaden asked, stepping aside slightly and pointing at her.

“No
sir. There were eleven dead Relians only. We took care of the bodies, so they
wouldn’t be found by the humans and destroyed any evidence that they were
there.” The dark-haired one said, staring at Cari with wide eyes. She was
getting really tired of being stared at.

Scaden
seemed to wait for the blonde-haired man to speak, but he just stared
open-mouthed at Cari.

Scaden
stepped in front of Cari so that the two men could no longer see her at all and
screamed into the blonde man’s face. “REPORT!”

“Sorry
sir! We also didn’t find another female at the site. We saw the six that
escaped, but we never saw another female sir.” The man replied quickly.

Scaden
ran his hand through his hair thinking, and trying not to shake his men for
staring at his woman. By the One where did that thought come from! He shook his
head to clear that thought. What was wrong with him? The smell of her had kept
him in a semi-erect state since they found Randor at the cabin. However,
touching her and being near her was driving him into a possessive rage at the
thought of the other men looking at her. He had to pull himself together.

“Wait!
Did you maybe see her being carried by one of them? Before you got there, the
one who abused her the most came into the barn and grabbed her up into his arms
and said he wasn’t letting her get away from him and left with her. Are you
sure you didn’t see him carrying her with the others that escaped?” Cari asked
hopefully, moving out from behind Scaden to look at each of them.

The
two men just stared at her blankly in silence. Clearing his throat Uncle Randor
limped off his bed and stood in front of Cari as well. Between Scaden and
Randor, neither man could see her at all now.

“Are
you sure one of them did not carry the woman off when they escaped?” Randor
asked them.

“Sir,
it’s a possibility. We only saw the backs of them while they were fleeing and
had no opportunity to see inside the vehicle when they took off. It is
possible.” Cari couldn’t see which one of the men spoke.

“I
know she was there! She helped heal me after the first beating. I wouldn’t have
made it if she hadn’t helped me.” Cari insisted to the backs of the men in
front of her, sorely tempted to smack each one of them in the back in
frustration that they wouldn’t let her look at the other two men.

“Wait,
how did she help heal you Cari?” Amun asked her more curiously now.

Cari
turned to Amun and lifted up one of her legs, so he could see her ankle.

“She
made me the anklets.” Cari said quietly as all the men in the room turned to
look at her and her ankles.

“What
do you mean honey?” Randor asked her gently, realizing how upset she was
becoming and trying to head off her escalating emotions before she affected
everyone.

Cari
hopped back up on the bed and lifted up both of her legs towards the doctor and
fingered the anklets Jess had made for her.

“These.
It’s her gift. After the first beating, she came to me, and I watched her touch
the ground and she touched my ankle. There was a beautiful light, and then the
anklet began forming around my ankle. She said she’s a crafter. That she can
create what someone needs by drawing the materials from the earth. She pulled
the stone's carnelian and a kind of crystal... I forgot what she called it, and
platinum to create these.”

“She
said that on this planet, they were known to be healing stones, and that they
would help my body heal faster. And it was working. I didn’t feel any pain. I
could see my leg was broken, but I didn’t feel any pain at all. Even when he
was beating me the second time, before he...”, she looked gratefully at Scaden,
“Stopped him. I didn’t really hurt until he hit the broken bones. She was so
sweet. We have to find her. I promised.” Cari implored, hoping they would help
her find Jess.

“Can
I remove one of these and take a look at it?” Amun asked.

“If
it’ll help convince you to help me find her, then yes, of course.” Cari replied
honestly, holding up her right ankle for him to remove the anklet.

Amun
reached down and looked for some way to remove the metal band from around her
ankle. Finding no obvious way, he attempted to pull on it. A blinding light
arced from the metal band striking his fingers that were touching the band and
knocked him off his feet to the floor.

“What
was that?!" Scaden demanded going immediately to help Amun up off the
floor.

Amun
stood there shaking his head in bewilderment, trying to recover from the jolt
he just received.

“Are
you alright? What happened? What was that light?” Scaden asked his friend.

“I’m
fine. Really. More surprised than anything.” Amun said replied absently,
staring curiously at Cari and the anklet.

“What
do you know about this? Is it going to hurt her like that? Is it dangerous?”
Scaden demanded from Randor; fear that Cari might be wearing something that
could harm her worrying him.

“I
am just as confused as you are. I know she did not have anything like that
before she was taken. And I’ve heard of crafter children before, but nothing
like this. Cari, do the anklets hurt you in any way?” Randor asked her calmly,
trying not to scare her.

“Not
at all! In fact, I feel great. Better than ever actually. Here let me see if I
can get one off for you.” Cari looked for a clasp or fastening of some kind.
Not finding one, she knew the only way to get it off would be to break it.
Heartbroken over losing it, she knew she had to prove to these men how
important it was to find Jess and a small spark ignited as she broke the chain.

Holding
the delicate anklet in her hand, she looked at the two separated ends and tried
to put them back together wondering how, and if she could fix it later. As the
two broken ends got close to one another, another small spark went off and the
anklet was no longer broken. She stared at it in amazement and broke it again.
Another small spark and it was clearly broken. She held the broken ends
together again, small spark, no longer broken. She giggled in amazement.

“I’ve
never seen anything like that! Can you see if I can touch it after it’s off of
you without it shocking me again?” Amun asked in wonder.

“NO!
Hand it to me first!” Scaden demanded, not wanting Amun to be hurt, and not
wanting him to touch her again unless it was necessary. Holding out his hand
for the small piece of jewelry, he waited for Cari to hand it to him.

Cari
smiled broadly and dropped the anklet into Scaden’s waiting hand. Everyone in
the room seemed to hold their breath waiting to see if he’d be shocked like
Amun was.  When nothing happened after several long moments, Amun held his hand
open for it.

Scaden
reluctantly put it in Amun’s hand. And… nothing happened.

“Amazing.
You can almost feel a pulse to it. Like it’s alive in some way.” Amun said with
wonder. “Do you think it’d be ok if I did a scan on it?”

“I
don’t see why not. But hand it back first, please?” Cari asked wanting to try
and experiment.

Amun
reluctantly handed it back to her. For some reason, not wanting to let go of
the delicate little item and keep feeling the small pulse in it.

Cari
wrapped the anklet back around her ankle, held the ends together and watched it
become whole again. Grinning, she turned to the men in the room.

“Now
try to take it off and let’s see what happens.” Cari dared them with a smirk,
already knowing what the outcome of this experiment would be.

The
dark-haired man, she had to figure out if he was Niklosi or Balduen, stepped
forward, but was immediately cut off by Scaden.

“You
will not touch her!” Scaden growled at him, and the man quickly stepped back
from her, a look of surprise and shock on his face.

Scaden
walked to her and gently tried to snap the thin metal band around her ankle.
Spark! He was on the floor, and Cari was laughing so hard tears were forming in
her eyes.

“What
is so funny?” Scaden demanded as he picked himself up off the floor.

“Don’t
you get it? Don’t any of you get it? Don’t you see how smart she is? Why it’s
so important that we find her?” Cari fairly bounced with excitement as she
looked at the confused faces of each of the men in the room. She sighed,
knowing she’d have to spell it out for them. Superior gender indeed, she
thought to herself.

“She
made them for me. Only me. No one else but I can take them off. She said the
gems, and metal knew I needed them and came to me, specifically. That they knew
I would need them. It stands to reason that if they were called to me, they
wouldn’t allow anyone else to disrupt them, or remove them from me without some
form of a repercussion. It’s only when I allow them to be given to someone else
that they seem to allow it. Can you not see how amazing that is? What a truly
amazing gift she has? Why we need to find her?” Cari could see the dawning
comprehension on their faces, and became more excited.

“Cari,
let me try ok?” Randor asked, almost reluctantly, but needing confirmation of
what she said. At Cari’s nod, Randor tried to break the anklet. Spark! Amun
gently picked him up off the floor.

“I
probably should have stopped you, but I suspect I needed the confirmation that
what she said was true. If that’s what it does to someone with good intentions
trying to take it off, I’d hate to see what it would do to someone with not so
good intentions trying. Too bad the Relians didn’t try. I would have liked to
have known the results of that.” Amun said apologetically to Randor, hoping
that he didn’t hurt himself further with the experiment.

Cari
grinned broadly that her experiment worked. Scaden and the others seemed to
stare at her and the anklets in turn.

She
again snapped off one off the anklets and held it out in her hand to the
doctor. He eagerly took it. The slight pulse in the object soothing him in a
strange way he didn’t understand. He had to know if that was what Cari felt as
well and asked her. “Do you feel it pulsate when it’s on you?”

Cari
thought about that, and concentrated on the other anklet. “No, I don’t feel
anything. It’s not cold, nor is it hot. It’s just slightly warm. It doesn’t
shock me either.”

“Cari,
if Jess had helped so many of you escape, why she didn’t escape herself? Why
was she still with them?” Randor asked curiously, thinking about one of theirs
out there with this incredible gift and wondering why he’d never heard of one
with this extensive talent.