Mission: Planet Biter (Veslor Mates #4)(7)

The male began to walk swiftly through the narrow hallways that connected the pods. Roth followed close on his heels. They reached double doors with a large red cross on one of the pod entries, and Maith pressed the button. The door opened and the medic went in first.

He came to a rapid halt. Roth almost bumped into him. He saw what the other male did, and growled softly.

A female with light hair sat in a chair, a hyper-syringe in her limp hand on her lap. Her eyes were open but her coloring looked off.

Maith rushed to her and crouched. He turned his head toward Roth. “Dead.” He rose, walking toward one of the exam rooms. Then he rushed out of sight.

Roth glanced around the large room with desks. A loud snarl came from his medic, and then Maith stormed out, going into yet another exam area.

“What is it?”

“More dead,” Maith called out. “They’re strapped down. That last one was overdosed, by the looks of it. The hyper-syringe was inches from him, and I could see the puncture wound.” He came out of the second room. “That one too. Someone restrained them and killed them with toxic dosages of a sedative.” He went into another exam room, and snarled yet again. “Three. This one is also dead.”

“Nancy did it,” the female in Roth’s arms whispered.

Roth looked down at her. “Who?”

She took her hand off his chest plate and jerked her thumb toward the dead female with pale hair. “She really did it… I was hoping Nancy had lied or was confused.” Then the female whimpered and pressed her face against him. “I don’t want to see more dead. Too many dead!”

“Find a scanning bed,” Roth ordered.

“I’m clearing one now,” Maith called out. “Bring her in here. I just moved the body off it.”

Roth carried the female to his waiting medic, glancing at the body of a male on the floor. He went to the other side and tried to gently place Vera on the bed.

She moved fast though, lunging and wrapping her arms around the neck of his suit. “No!”

Roth stilled as the female clung to him. “Vera, we’re trying to help you. You need to release me. My medic needs to scan you and find a way to make you better.”

“There’s no cure!” She clung to him tighter. “It’s an experimental drug. Got to stop being exposed and it’ll eventually leave. Disappear. Dissipate. Something like that. Dr. Hazel said so. But we couldn’t go outside. Jeremy disabled the vehicles. He thought his girlfriend would leave him. He couldn’t be reasoned with to fix them, so we could drive outside. The animals would have eaten us if we’d tried to go out there without the protection of the vehicles. We don’t have heavy-duty environmental suits that could withstand an attack. The air is breathable here but we were trapped inside. Poor Crystal got eaten! She went out there. Poor Crystal…” She sobbed. “The animals were eating her!”

Roth adjusted the female until she mostly sat on the medical bed and gently rubbed her back. “You need to lie flat.”

“No. You feel real. I’m not letting go. You’re hope. I need hope!”

Maith moved to the other side of the bed. He gently gripped the female and tried to get her to release Roth.

The female screamed, hurting Roth’s ear closest to her open mouth, but they managed to pin her flat by careful force. She bucked, still screaming, and her gaze locked on Roth.

“I need you! Don’t leave me. Please! I can’t take any more. I hung on as long as I could!”

She was panting, terrified and thrashing. “Sedate her,” he ordered Maith.

“I can’t risk it. Whatever is in her system is already a high dosage.”

“I need you! Please?” The female began to sob again.

“Let her go,” Roth ordered.

The moment Maith released her, the female rolled toward Roth, grabbing ahold of his arms and trying to climb up his suit to reach his faceplate. Not that she was physically capable. She seemed extremely weak.

He leaned in, putting his face as close to hers as the helmet would allow. “Look at me.”

She locked her gaze with his. Now he was really concerned. One of her eyes was mostly black, the center overtaking the blue, but the other one…the black was just a small dot, showing mostly blue.

“I will hold your hand and not leave you, but you need to lie flat and allow the scanner to go over you. Do you understand?”

“You won’t leave me? I can hold on to you?” Desperation sounded in her voice.

“Yes.” He took her small hand in his glove. “Hold on to me here. I won’t let you go. Now lie flat, Vera. Please. We are trying to help you.”

She still looked unsure. “You won’t let me go? You won’t disappear or turn into a bigfoot?”

Roth felt pity for her. She made no sense. “Veslors—that’s what I am—always keep our promises. I won’t let you go. I’m right here and I’m real. Lie flat.”

She clutched onto his glove and slowly relaxed, adjusting her body until she lay on her back.

Roth nodded to Maith. “Help her.”

Maith got to work, operating their medical bed. The scan ran slowly, lighting up under the female. “It won’t take long.”

Vera held completely still, gazing at Roth while clinging to his hand. He figured whatever was wrong with her, it must be bad. Most human females avoided Veslors, frightened by the sight of them. This one seemed to depend on him to keep her calm.