Victoria's Challenge (26 page)

“Victoria no!
” Lucas orders but she ignores him.

“Stop!
” Dropping her helmet, Victoria looks into the eyes of the tallest figure with the gun. She knows those eyes. “Dad! No!” Pulling off the cap that’s covering her hair, she shakes it out. “It’s me! Victoria! I’m not dead!” The figures freeze but the gun doesn’t lower.

“Mom
! We came back to find you! To get you out of here! It’s me, Tori!”

“Peter
?” A hoarse but familiar voice questions.

“It’s a trick.
” The largest figure argues back.

“Daddy, you were hurt
. You got to the cabin two days before the Regulians appeared. I was so excited, I jumped into your arms, you started to bleed. Grandpa Jacob had to sew you back up.”

“Tori?”

“Yes, it’s me, daddy
. I’m alive, so is Aunt Cassie. Lucas,” Victoria says, looking at him, “and his father kept us safe.”

“No, he’s the reason they found us.
” Peter aims the gun back at Lucas.

“No.
” Victoria again steps in his line of fire. “Lucas isn’t to blame. I am. Dad I can’t explain, not right now, but the only way I’m going to die on Earth is if
you
shoot me.”

“Peter, it
is Victoria. Look at her.” Suddenly Cyndy starts to cough. It racks her slight body.

“Mom!
” Suddenly there is sound everywhere, looking up Victoria sees the coming storm.

“
We need to go!” Turning she helps Lucas to his feet.

“This way!
” Peter starts to turn.

“NO!
” Victoria’s tone stops them. “This way, we need to get into the Raptor. It won’t survive this storm.”

“We go to the shelter!”

“Mom! If you ever want to get off this planet, if you want Brett to survive, you have to come with us. NOW!” When they don’t move, she tries again. “You’re out of food! Grandpa only had it stocked for four years! It’s been over nine! You won’t find anything on the surface. It’s dead, it’s all like this! Please! Come with us!

“Peter
….”

“It could
still be a trick.”

“Can you rea
lly afford to question it?” Victoria says impatiently. "Dad, fish or cut bait.”

“What?!
!”

“Victoria, we need to leave.
” Lucas’ voice is filled with pain.

“I know
. I love you mom, dad. We came back for you but I won’t sacrifice Lucas, my soul mate, not even for you. It’s your decision.” Turning, she slides her shoulder under one of Lucas’ so he could use her as a crutch. “Come on Lucas, lean on me, we’re going.” It’s a struggle, she’s nearly a foot shorter than he is and the noise is growing. “Almost there.” She tells him, fighting for a breath. God it hurt to breath.

Lucas keys
in the code opening the hatch, then hops up the steps on his good leg. “Victoria….” Turning, she finds her family has followed. Closing her eyes, she thanks the ancestors.

“Come on, we need to leave.
” Helping them in, she secures the hatch. “Sit.” She tells them. “Get the harnesses on. Lucas?”

“Get them situated
, then get up here, I’m going to need help.” As the engine starts, Victoria works on the harnesses.

“I’m tightening these so you’re not thrown around the cabin
. We’re going to hit a lot of turbulence. It will be okay.” With one last smile, she takes her seat next to Lucas, securing her harness as the Raptor lifts off.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Find me a way out of this crap!” The Raptor shudders as the storm hits it.

“There, three o’clock is a swirl, follow it up.”

“Help me with the pedals, I can’t… fuck!”

“I got it, go!
” Giving the Raptor full throttle, Lucas follows the swirling clouds straight up. In minutes, they’re out of the atmosphere.

“We’re not in the clear yet.”

“I know.” It takes another ten minutes navigating debris before Lucas aims the Raptor for the Phoenix.

“Open the cargo bay.”

“Doors opening.” Landing the Raptor in the Phoenix, Lucas lets out a deep groan.

“Doors closing
. Atmosphere stabilizing.”

“Victoria.
” Lucas removes his helmet. One look at his pale, sweaty face has her jumping up.

“How bad?
” One look tells her it’s bad. “Come on, let’s get you up.” Grabbing the medical kit, she helps Lucas stand. “Dad, undo your harness, help mom and Brett.” Opening the hatch, she helps Lucas down the steps. “We all need to decontaminate, I’ll treat you there.” Nodding tensely, Lucas concentrates on walking. Entering the chamber, he braces himself against the wall.

“I’ll get you a chair, hold on.
” Grabbing the chair, Victoria sees her family standing just outside of the Raptor. “Dad, we’re all covered with radiation from the planet. We need to decontaminate so we don’t spread it further or get sick from it. There’s a chamber,” she points to where Lucas is. “It’s like a giant shower. We’ll all go in together, I’ll explain the rest inside, I need to treat Lucas’ wound. Come on.”

When they don’t immediately
follow, she gives them a frustrated look. “Dad! You used to train for nuclear attacks, the aftermath, this is part of it you
know
that.” Slowly they walk into the chamber. As Victoria seals it, it activates.

“You need to start removing your clothing, thro
w them it that,” She points to a bin. “Stand under the streams. I’ll be at the other end with Lucas.” Hoping they listen she focuses her attention to Lucas.

“Here, sit.
” She slides the chair next to him. He’s started to remove his enviro suit. “Let me treat your leg first then we’ll get it off, okay?” Nodding he slides into the chair. Wasting no time, she cuts through the leg of his suit, giving her complete access to the wound. Scanning it, she sends up a prayer of thanks.

“It went
straight through, hit no bone or major artery, but you’ve lost a lot of blood. I’m going to sterilize it.” Looking up through the spray, she sees him nod.

Peter watches as this woman who claims to be his daughter, competently works on the large man, Lucas. Is it really his daughter? She’d always been afraid of large men, ever since her abduction. Turning, her eyes meet his, they’re the clear emerald green he remembers.

“Dad, start striping
. You don’t have to remove your under clothes, not yet, but the longer you have them on, the longer it will take.” She turns back to the man, a device in her hand.

“Fuck!
” The man swears as she turns the device to him.

“I know, I’m sorry
, but it’s done no infection. I’ll close it up then we’ll finish.” Watching her reach for another device, he sees her run it along the bullet hole and amazingly, the wound closes. Standing, she whips her hair out of her face.

“Done, now a booster and radiation meds.”

“You first.”

“Lucas.
..”

“Damn it
, Victoria! You took off your helmet! Get your clothes off and give yourself the meds! Get them off!” he orders angrily.

“Fine!
” Knowing he isn’t going to budge, Victoria quickly strips down to her eadai, thankful it wasn’t her ‘special’ ones. She’s fully covered. Picking up the pressure syringe, she gives herself the meds. “Now let’s work on you.”

Her fingers make short work of his boots as he works on the remainder of the suit
. “Can you stand?”

“Yeah.
” Stripping off his clothes, she leaves him in his boxers. Picking up the syringe, she gives him his meds.

“How you doing?
” Concerned eyes meet his.

“Better, thanks to you
. Scan me, see if I’m clean.” Doing what Lucas says, she smiles.

“You’re good to go
. There are towels and clothes on the other side. I’m going to work on mom next.”

“I’ll dress
. Where do you want them? In the living quarters?”

“Yeah.
” Reaching up, she caresses his cheek. “Thank you.” Leaning down, he captures her lips for a hard kiss then, losing his boxers, steps into the next chamber. Turning, Victoria faces her family.

“Come on mom, let me help you. Sit down. We need to get you out of these.”

“Victoria…
” Cyndy lets herself be led to the chair, “I don’t have…” Looking from her mother to the rest of her family, Victoria suddenly understands her mother’s reluctance. Standing, she walks over to them.

“
Dad, start helping Brett, it will make things go faster.” Then she pulls the curtain, giving her mother some privacy.

Helping her mother remove her clothes
, Victoria’s eyes widen at what she finds. Cyndy had never been a large woman, at 5’ 4”, she’d barely weighed 115 lbs, but now, if she weighed 85lbs, Victoria would be surprised. Her bones are so prominent it hurts to see. Finally, she removes the cap covering her mother’s head, revealing its nakedness.

“Oh mom…
” Clear green eyes meet cloudy green.

“I’m fine.
” Suddenly she is racked by coughs.

“No you’re not
, but you will be, I promise. This is a pressure syringe.” She shows her the device. “It contains medicine to help you. It won’t hurt.” When she nods, Victoria gives her the shot.

“Now I’m going to scan you, you won’t feel anyt
hing. It’ll tell me what else you need.” Victoria can hardly breath as she reads the results, there isn’t anything she doesn’t need.

“Mom, your hair
. When?”

“I don’t know, not that long ago
, after we were able to leave the shelter.” Cyndy reaches out, touching Victoria’s long, red hair, hair that she used to have. Victoria captures it kissing her palm.

“It will grow
back. Now, one last scan to confirm you’re clean.” Several seconds pause. “Good.” Smiling at the results, she helps her mother stand. “Lucas is going to be on the other side.” Victoria sees her concern. “It’s okay, mom. There’s a towel there you can wrap around yourself. Let Lucas help you. I know you don’t know him but I do, he’d never hurt you. There are clothes you for you to wear, they’ll be too big, but they’ll cover you for now.”

“Brett
… how did you know his name?” Cyndy asks quietly.

“I’ve dreamed about him for years
, mom. You can trust me. I’ll take care of him. Ready?” Together, they walk to the door. “Lucas?”

“I’m here.”

“Mom’s coming through, have a towel ready. I’ll have Brett next.”

“Understoo
d.”

Pulling the curtain back, Victoria’s happy to see they’ve listened to her, to a point.

“Where’s Cyndy!
” Peter demands.

“With Lucas,” She grabs his arm as he tries to move past her
. “She’s fine, dad, and the sooner we get you two done, the sooner you can see that. Now this is a scanner,” she shows them as she had her mother. “It’s going to tell me how sick you are so I can help you but first, you have to strip. Brett, you’re first.” As her hands go to his remaining clothes, the boy shrinks away.

“Brett
, I’m your sister and a doctor. I realize this might embarrass you, but it has to be done. This,” she shows him and her father, “is full of medicine to help make you better, get the radiation out of your system. It won’t hurt.”

“Dad?
” Brett looks to his father.

“Let her give you the medicine
, Brett.”

“See that didn’t hurt, now you
, dad.” She gives him the shot. Scanning Brett, she saves the readings and smiles as he reads clean.

“Good, now you can go find mom
. This is what’s going to happen, Lucas is on the other side, and he’s going to help you. I know he’s a big man, but he won’t hurt you. There are clean clothes for you to wear, put them on and Lucas will take you to mom. Dad won’t be far behind you.”

“Dad?
” Brett turns to her father.

“Do what you’re told Brett
. Take care of your mother.”

“Yes sir.”

“Lucas?”

“Here.”

“Here comes Brett.” As the door closes, she turns back to her father.

“I’m not striping in front of my daughter.
” Sighing, Victoria walks back to the man who’d always been her hero.

“Dad…
” Looking at him she has to close her eyes, he’s as thin as her mother is, no longer the well-muscled, Special Forces leader, now he looks frail. “You can’t leave this chamber until you’re decontaminated. Otherwise, you’ll make everyone sick, make mom sicker. Do you have anything under those pants?”

“No.”

“Okay…” She scans his front. He’s clean from the waist up. “Look I’ll turn away. Take them off,” She points to his pants. “Turn and face the door. I’ll scan you from behind. If you come up clean you’re good to go, if not… Tell me when you’re ready.” She turns away.