Missing

"Come on we have to keep going." I was now dragging the exhausted girl behind me. She panted out of breath, blonde hair flying out behind her as we ran through the crowd, dodging obstacles and people alike. I had to get her somewhere safe, somewhere where they couldn’t find her, not the Raiders or the Izuits. 1

"Zayda, I'm tired." The eight year old child whined. 2

"I know Natara, I know, but we have to get to the safe house." I barely glanced back at her. I already knew she wasn't going to last much longer. I was starting to think the Raiders had given up on chasing us. I hadn't seen one behind us in some time. We were lucky Orrin had warned us of their arrival or we wouldn't of had the small head start we were running off now. They would of already had Natara. 3

Natara was small for her age, and skinny due to a lack of proper food. I wasn't the world's greatest caretaker, I barely made a living myself and there had been less than enough food to feed myself let alone two people before Nat came into my care. Natara was an eight year old picture of innocence and purity, untouched by all the horrors of this world, even after living with me in a hole in the wall of a house for so many years. Since Nat was four and I barely twenty we'd been together. I was her protector and she was my anchor, although she didn't know it, she was what kept me going day after meaningless day. 4

A wall of glass separated us from the outside. I took a quick surveillance of what was out there. Only people, mostly humans, as this was a predominately human section in town. I breathed a sigh of relief, maybe they really had given up on the chase. My body went rigid in fear, "Zayda, let go, you're hurting my hand." Nat pried at my fingers. 5

I didn't take the time to respond to her complaint before dragging her off again. I'd only caught a glimpse of him but I knew he'd seen me, I'd caught his vivid violet eyes staring straight back into mine in that moment before I ran. He was following now no doubt about it. "Nat you gotta hide." I wheezed, pausing for second to relay my instructions to her. "Remember the secret place I showed you?" She nodded. "Okay, I want you to run there as fast as you can understand?." She nodded again. "Good, go there and wait for Orrin, don't come out unless it's me or Orrin and we use the secret password." She nodded again slowly, not fully understanding what was going on. "Run!" I pushed her away and watched her fly down the brightly lit inside streets of Seracrum before running in the opposite direction. I might be able to lead him away. 6

Without thinking I shot into enclosed gardens, hoping to find some cover there. I could have been my imagination but I thought I herd the careful footsteps of a pursuer behind me. I slowed my pace to a casual walk not daring to glance behind me incase my paranoia turned out to be true. I hated this stupid game of cat and mouse that came only too often when either the Raiders or Izuits discovered our new hiding place, our new temporary home, I'd forgotten how many we'd been chased out of in the past few months, three, maybe five. They were always after the same thing, Natara, I had a feeling as to why. Nat was no ordinary girl, she was the missing key to saving Humanity from the alien species. Since more and more of the alien species had been discovered, the more humans were being pushed to extinction, they were slowly getting rid of us, over the centuries we'd become an endangered species. That didn't help our standing much with the others, in fact the less of us there were the worse we were treated, little better then scum, the best you could hope for was going unnoticed by the newly enlarged world, gaining attention was a very bad thing indeed. Most humans were under alien employment as 'servants' catering to the vile creatures every need. 7

I was all for the rebuilding of human kind, but strongly believed that a young child should be left out of the whole conflict and left to grow up as normally as possible. I'd gone so far as to selling myself until I had enough money to get us to this city, Seracrum, one of the few heavens left in the galaxy for humans, Earth had been abandoned years ago, in favor of the more technological alien planets, better food sources, technology, quality of living. Our mother planet was left abandoned for all those years, the few inhabitants that chose to remain, long since wiped out, there was nothing left there anymore. In fear of humans rising out of their place the elite Izuits, big alien bullies in charge of 'keeping order' were determined to shoot little Nat down, where the Raiders, a rebellion group of humans, were exhaustingly compelled to chase her down and capture her. I had no idea how such a small girl could be the savior of humanity, and wasn't keen on finding out. She was more precious to me then any blood relative, I wasn't going to let her be used like that. The only option I had was to keep us hidden from both and hope that, eventually they'd just leave us alone. Right now it seemed less then likely. 8

I skidded to a halt in a secluded grove of trees, resting hands on my knees and panting as quietly as I could manage, with any luck I'd lost him by now. To bad luck seemed to be evading me today. "Don't move." I froze and went absolutely still in response to the deep voice and the pressure of a blaster gun, cold against the hot skin of my neck. Damn I hadn't lost him, it hadn't even taken him long to find me. I'd let my guard down too much, I hadn't even heard him sneak up behind me. "Where is the girl?" He spoke slowly and I head the click of his finger tightening around the trigger. 9

"What girl?" I managed to speak. 10

"Don't play dumb with me." He growled, "I saw you dragging her off, now where is she?" 11

"I'll never tell you, you'll not use her!" my voice shook but my words were still strong. 12

He pushed the muzzle of the gun into my neck with more force, alerting me to how easily he could blow my head off. I knew he wanted me to plead for my life, offer him up Nat to save my own skin, too bad I wasn't that type of person. He cursed finally realizing I wasn't going to give in. "Tell me where the girl is!" He brought the gun hard into the side of my head knocking me to the ground. 13

"Haven't we already established that I'm not telling you!" I spit blood out on to the dirt by his shoes.14

He growled in annoyance, he couldn't kill me because then he'd have no lead on the girl, I knew that and he knew that I understood that concept. I would die to protect her, and he would kill me to get to her. Stupid vigilantes. "Don't you have any patriotism for your own species!?" He shot, "Do you want us to become alien slaves or die out completely?!" 15

"NO!" I yelled biting my lip in response to the splitting headache, "But I won't have her subjected to God knows what, just for a stupid dream!" I kept my eyes down.16

"It's not a dream!" He hissed, "We're so close to unlocking all the secrets, she is the missing piece!" 17

"She's eight years old!" I replayed with just as much venom. "I don't care if she was the queen of Sheba, I'm not going to endanger her life! I'm not going to break my promise!"18

"Promise?" He growled 19

"I promised her mother I'd keep her safe, promised I'd let her make the decision herself when she was old enough to fully understand all the consequences involved. In other words, you have a good ten years to wait for any possibility of your delusion to happen. Frankly I doubt anyone can save our pathetic race." 20

"What were you some alien's pet! Where's your pride, our race is dying, we are the future, that girl is humanity's last hope and ten years from now there might not be any of us left!" 21

His words cut me, reminding me of a past life I wanted to keep locked away. "I lost my faith in humanity a long time ago." Ice laced my words and he looked at me shocked, not expecting such a hate filled reply. I looked up finally meeting his shocked eyes. They were a color of which I'd never seen before, a bright purple, very pretty and devoid of kindness. He was tall and slender clad in tight fitting clothing. His muscled arms were left bare by the black tank top, more perfect muscles rippled beneath it. The holster on his hip was empty, the gun held steadily in his hands, heavy black boots planted firmly apart as he aimed the weapon down at me. A sliver chain glinted around his neck antique army dog tags swinging from it. He had wild dark brown hair cut somewhere in between a short and medium length, dirty and messy it stuck out at all angles. An earring glinted in one ear and a black tattoo was inked into the skin of his right arm, a design I couldn't make out. An old pair of goggles were resting on the top of his head. Grey army fatigues, a few sizes too big were held up by a bullet studded belt. 22

"How'd you get involved with this?" He questioned. 23

I didn't have time to answer him, not that I wanted to, his watch beeped loudly, startling us both. He kept his gaze on me and lowered his weapon in order to use the communication device, holding down one button with is finger on the opposite hand and holding his wrist to his mouth. "What do ya need Mae?"24

A harsh feminine voice sounded back in response, "Jase, the Izuits are hot on your trail, what's keeping you? Grab the girl and come on." 25

"She's not…here." He gave me a cold look which I returned. 26

"What do you mean she's not there!" The woman, Mae, scolded him in a very irritated way. 27

"I followed the caretaker, but the girl's not with her, and she's not giving up her location." 28

"Well persuade her faster, we don't have much time." 29

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" He growled back. He had taken his eyes off me while arguing with the woman over the communicator, I took this as an opportunity to sneak away. I didn't get too before Jase noticed. "Hey get back here!" 30

"Jase!" Mae screeched, but he paid the voice no mind he was too busy chasing me down. A vum sounded off behind me and I swerved just in time as a blaster shot exploded into the ground next to me. 31

"Stop!" He yelled, I only ran faster. He grunted, closer then I had anticipated and jumped on me, running me into the ground. I moaned in pain from the impact, he turned me around and pinned me under him, straddling my waist. "You have two options now, tell us where the girl is so we can have her, or wait until the Izuits find her and kill her." He paused letting his words sink in, "Choose." 32

I stared straight into those piercing purple eyes, "I go with her." 33

"We only need…" 34

"I go with her." I demanded, "You want her, I'm coming too, that's your option." 35

He gritted his teeth, weighing the options, "Fine." He grimaced, "Now lead me to her."36

"Get off me and I will." 37

..ª~~>ª<~~ª..38

"Nat, you here? Come out." The alley remained empty, Jase gestured at me to bring her out of hiding, gun in hand, I knelt down. "The world is right when…my angel's in my arms." As I spoke the last part Natara came running out of hiding and threw herself into my arms, sniffling and trying to stop the tears that had been sliding down her face. I felt her stiffen in my arms and knew she'd spotted the intimidating Raider over my shoulder, his gun trained on us.39

"Zayda…" She tried to squirm away. 40

"It's okay." I soothed. "He's not going to hurt us, but we have to go with him." 41

"I don't wanna." She whined, "I wanna stay here." 42

"I do too, but the Izuits are getting closer, he can keep us safe from them. Baby, I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to. Did Orrin come by?" 43

She shook her head. "He came by but he didn't want me to come out," She chocked on her words and started to sob, "I think they killed him." 44

I pulled her closer, "Shhh it's okay, I'm sure he's fine." 45

"No," She gulped, "He's not I…I heard the shot, I s…saw th…the bl…blood." 46

That statement cut me deep. He'd sacrificed himself for us. Orrin, my only friend, my most trusted companion. I felt tears swell in my eyes, but I didn't have the time to cry, we needed to get out of here.47

"Move, we need to move!" Jase was frantic as he tugged me to my feet still cradling Nat in my arms.48

"Where to?" I responded automatically, forgetting for the moment that this man was my enemy, all that mattered was keeping Natara safe. 49

"I have a flyer waiting." Was all he said seeming to calm. 50

We snuck down the streets of the controlled parts of the city, those cut off from the elements. It was a weird and unheard of design, even for aliens. Seacrum City was essentially two parts; Outside and Inside to be put as simply as possible. The wealthier parts of the city were surrounded by glass, sheets of unbreakable glass kept it separate from the slums, however the residents weren't kept separate, there was no mandatory social order it was just lack of funds. Many preferred the climate controlled comfort of the spotlessly clean white streets and buildings of the Inside, you could never have a bad day because of an unforeseen rainstorm or unpredictable heat wave prone to the tropical climate. The only draw back as I saw it was the lack of foliage. Gardens kept in a immense greenhouse were the only type of plant life outside of the few potted things people kept for decoration. Easily lost in, the gardens were nearly identical to being in the wild forest like environment of the Outside, only with less wild animals. Nat and I crashed on Inside usually. We had ourselves a nice place, that wasn't easy to maintain, and even less charming to the eye but it was something. One of the lower class housing arrangements made when the city wasn't so new or modern, it still cost a pretty penny, but it was something, it was home, or rather it had been. 51

Jase slammed his hand into the key card and password box on the entrance to the service garage of a transport building, a passage between the two totally different worlds of Out and In. His fingers danced over the smooth buttons. I didn't know where he got the card or the password for that matter but that was the least of my worries. Coming in, hot on our trail was a pair of Izuits. 52

The scum of anything I considered worthy of living. They were self proclaimed 'guardians' of order, putting people in their proper places and making sure they stayed there. The large intimidating creatures looked ungraceful and stupid, having a reptilian quality that disturbed most. Slender but brutishly well built bodies were covered in a glossy scale like skin that was difficult to pierce and water repellent. Contradicting to their size, they were gracefully agile and lithe as dancers, they almost glided as they walked. A short tail helped with their balance that large muscles threw off, I'd never seen a Izuit that didn't have the body of a athlete. Eyes smoldered on either side of their head, slivers of black pupil in iridescent oval retinas was paired with the arrogant snarl of rows of white teeth, the two canines being largest and fanglike protruded over the bottom lip, a look that make the bravest man's blood run cold. They had no hair and slits for nostrils that rested on the end of their snot like jaw. They were at then end of the hall now, having been able to follow us by scent. It was another strange thing about Nat, but they could never keep a lock on her scent, mine and Jase's was different however, once they caught it, it was nearly impossible to shake 'em. We'd been unfortunate enough to run into them during the escape, it seems that they were all ready tailing our new friend Jase when he'd come across us. 53

The steel door opened with a metallic clang and we rushed through. The Izuits were closer now. Jase's watch communicator buzzed to life again and Mae sounded frantic. "Jase, were are you? We're battling flyers out here." 54

"In the Hanger I should get to you in 10 minuets." He huffed still dragging us along. "Have the ship prepped for departure." 55

"Affirmative." Mae sounded more confident now. 56

Jase spotted a bright yellow flyer and jumped into the drivers seat. "Yellow, could you be anymore inconspicuous." I hissed. 57

He ignored me. "Here," He pushed the blaster into my hands, "I drive you shoot." I nodded and put Nat in the back. 58

"Be good." I told her. She wrapped her arms around my neck. 59

"You're not coming with us." She whispered knowingly, a tear slid down her cheek. 60

I shook my head no. "I promised I'd keep you safe. Jase," He looked at me anxiously. "Take care of her, I'm trusting you." 61

"You don't have to do this." He said sternly. 62

"I do." I said, "There's more coming behind those two, you can't tell me you haven't realized that. They'll over whelm you before you can get to the ship. I'll stay here and buy you some time." 63

He nodded and pushed thruster, the flyer whined to life and hovered above the ground. 64

The Izuits pounded closer now shooting off energy bolts. I dodged clumsily blinking tears from my vision and shooting off my own rounds. I nailed one in the chest and he fell over a smoldering hole where the blast had struck. I stared at the gun amazed, it was powerful. The other dodged with a dancer's reflexes and took cover behind a parked flyer. I followed suit hearing the flyer with my baby take flight. I gave them a silent prayer as reinforcements arrived. I nailed another two before the flyer I was using as cover exploded from the beating it was getting. 65

Nat's smiling face swarm in front of me, she was happy in Jase's arms, he better keep her safe, and then it all went black. 66