“You’ve got to be kidding me! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” She folded her arms.
“Because I didn’t trust you—”
“But you trust me now?” She arched her eyebrows.
“More than before anyway.” She hadn’t killed or tortured him. She’d fed him. “I can’t undo the past, but I can ease your future. I had received orders to avoid humans, if possible. I assume others received the same orders. That’s why I camped in the woods instead of in the town where I would have been more comfortable.
“But they will have to enter towns at some point to find food,” he warned. “The likelihood of an encounter is drastically reduced, but not zero. If you do encounter someone, fearing the plague and retribution, he will shoot you on the spot.”
“Lovely. How is that any different than before?”
“Because there won’t be regiments storming the towns, seeking out survivors. There will be no more air assaults.”
“So, when I found you in the woods, if you hadn’t been half dead, you would have killed me?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never killed anyone before,” he admitted. If his life had been threatened and he’d had the means to defend himself, he might have killed her.
“So, it’s over—except that it’s not.” She pivoted and left.
He waited until he was reasonably certain she wasn’t coming back and then, with an aching heart, he lifted the mattress to get the ladder rung.
It wasn’t there.
* * * *
Her feet sank into spongy ground as she marched through the woods.
Could the invasion really be over? Could survivors come out of hiding? Reoccupy the towns? If the Progg had orders to avoid humans, wouldn’t they steer clear of reinhabited towns? Grav said he trusted her—“more than before”—but could she trust him? What if his revelation was a ruse to get humans to show themselves?
A wet branch snapped in her face.Pay attention!Loss of vigilance was exactly what she needed to be careful of. The threat, although greatly reduced, wasn’t over.
Gut instinct said Grav was telling the truth. It jived with what she’d suspected when he’d first mentioned a “plague” had killed the admiral—that maybe the commander had spread his illness to others.
But if she trusted him, and he was lying, it could be fatal.
But to be able to relax a little…to let go of the heavy weight of fear…
She exhaled a shaky breath.
The irony. They had defeated the invasion not with missiles but with sniffles. It was possible a runny-nosed toddler had vanquished the enemy.
Her feet took her to the spot where she’d first found Grav.If I had killed him, I wouldn’t have found out Earth had won.Some win. Billions had perished.
How many people are left?she wondered. Had any major cities escaped vaporization? Medium-sized ones? Were there enough people with the skills to get systems and services running again? How long ago had the invasion been called off? She should have asked him.
Perhaps some people had figured out the danger had passed or decided to risk moving into the towns and had reestablished communities. Some may have met their own helpful alien who’d given them the news. Or caught one and tortured the truth out of him. Were posses roaming the country searching for the invaders?
Something would have to be done with the aliens. As Grav had admitted, they were still a threat, and justice must be served! Those billions of deaths needed to be avenged. Just because Earth had sent the enemy home with a deadly little parting gift didn’t even the score. She’d dispatch every last Progg straight to hell.
Minus one.
Grav.
He had given her hope.
She did believe him. She did trust him—more than before, the same as he felt about her.
After the shock of the revelation wore off, her first reaction had been anger.You couldn’t have told me this a week ago?
