I really have to start writing shorter chapters. I mean it this time. I’m trying to pull back, but then a scene opens up and there’s just so much happening and before I know it I’ve got another monster on my hands.
It’s becoming a ridiculous habit. I’m not even mad about it.
Anyways, here’s another short story for your reading pleasure.
**Copyright Material**
Panting, Alexis pressed herself against the wall outside Cole’s door. Sweat dripped from every pore, soaking into her clothes. She wiped her face with her sleeve and fought to get her erratic breathing under control.
Every alleyway, every side street… She’d burned through all of them just to get here. What should have been a quick walk turned into a full-on sprint. Drones were everywhere, too many to track, and foot soldiers marched through the streets in packs. The plan was to wait them out, but their numbers kept growing.
That could mean one of two things.
Either Tristan’s cocky-ass had tripped a silent alarm on his way to her quarters. Or, her probation had come down as a universal order from Central Command, meaning the second she stepped outside her door, she became public enemy number one.
Nah! She was a nobody, a peon knight pulling grunt work. Her going AWOL wouldn’t kick up this much dust.
So, it had to be Tristan.
“Damn reckless asshole,” she hissed.
She would need to pull the alarm logs around the barracks and dig into the drone feed once she got inside, assuming she could dodge Cole and his freaky-ass mind-reading powers.
What am I gonna say to him?
She couldn’t tell him about Tristan. He would flip all the way out and probably drag the authorities into it before she got two sentences in.
Gotta handle this carefully. But how?
A flicker of motion at the end of the corridor snatched her attention. Something fast and low darted along the baseboard, keeping to the shadows.
Her skin crawled as she narrowed her eyes, straining to make it out.
A soft, purring whine echoed faintly off the walls.
A cat? Hold up. That better not be the same cat that was following me on the street.
She took one slow step toward it, then another. As she got closer, the creature’s shape became clearer.
Holy shit! It IS that same cat.
Only now, it seemed much larger. Its shoulders were broader, its body longer and sleeker, like a scaled-down predator. Or better yet, a small tiger.
It meowed quietly and started licking its paw.
How did it get inside the building? Better question is how the hell did it get inside the barracks’ walls?!
Alexis slowly closed the distance. Her approach didn’t interrupt its grooming session in the slightest.
Head tilted, she stopped a few feet away from it. “Okay. I don’t even like cats. So I’m not sure why you are following me.”
The hallway light shone directly on it, and she got her first real look at her feline stalker. It wasn’t quite an Egyptian Mau, even though it sort of looked like one. The fur crowning its head and dusting its ears was a vivid turquoise color, and that same impossible hue tipped its tail and painted its paws. A pair of abnormally large golden eyes dominated its small face, too big, too knowing, and yet somehow they fit. It was still ridiculously cute, though, in the most unsettling way.
Alexis knelt and reached out. “A’ight, fine. Here, kitty-kitty.”
Her fingertips were a breath away from its head when her vision went fuzzy. An image surfaced behind her eyes.
Tristan stood in the middle of a large hall, surrounded by dozens of dead bodies. Four shadowy figures flanked him, all holding swords that dripped with blood.
“Don’t look… if you haven’t the heart to admit what you see.”
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