Ascendant Saga Collection: Sci-Fi Fantasy Techno Thriller Brandon Ellis (ebook reader for comics txt) 📖

heal someone’s broken nose with a touch. And if shit wasn’t already strange, right after they landed in Whitefish, she evaporated alien jet fighters with some kind of energy that emitted out of her body.

“He’s with you? Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Megan muttered. She pulled out a dust pan and grabbed a broom leaning against a wall. She stomped over to Drew and shoved them in his face. “Clean your mess, and I’ll give you some vegetable soup and coffee. Alright?”

Drew swept the shards of glass and bowls into a pile. “I don’t drink coffee. Any water?” He brushed the pile into the dust pan.

Megan slid a small garbage can over to him. “Drink the water in the soup. Otherwise I have to boil water for ten minutes. We got hand cranked generators keeping the water flowing, but we don’t know if those ETs are slipping any harmful materials in the rivers upstream past the shield. And I’m not boiling anything for the next few hours.” She tapped her gas stove, indicating that’s where she’d boil it.

“Drew, come over here,” called Segarra.

Drew emptied the dust pan and walked over.

“Where did you last see my wife and son?” Segarra looked at Drew, his eyes full of hope.

A memory of Segarra’s wife came to Drew’s mind, her outstretched arms reaching for Mya, a pool of blood surrounding her. His wife, Mya’s mom, had died in a car dealership, struck by a string of bullets, and as for Segarra’s son? He was smashed under a fallen cement ceiling. He couldn’t have saved her or the boy. And now he was supposed to tell this strong Marine, who could take Carl—the bear—to the ground with one arm tied behind his back, that his wife was dead, and died right in front of Drew? And that he held Mya back from her mom, the child who could heal with a touch, while her mom was dying, asking for help, wanting to be with her child in her last breaths of life?

“I last saw her in Charlotte, North Carolina.”

Segarra shook his head. “That’s not good enough. I can tell you’re holding something back. Now, what is it?”

Drew glanced at Mya, then back at Segarra. He wasn’t going to tell him in front of his daughter. “Can I chat with you outside?”

Kachoooj!

The building shook again.

Segarra nonchalantly stood, as if ET bombs dropping on a science-fiction-like shield around the city was a normal thing. “Let’s go.”

Drew followed him toward the door.

Segarra stopped at the bar where Megan stood and leaned in. “Can you watch my daughter?”

“I’m not your babysitter, Mr. Marine. I know she has extra powers and stuff, but she ain’t any more important than the rest of us.”

Several people in the bar nodded, as if Mya was getting the celebrity treatment she didn’t deserve.

“I’m just trying to get you two to bond. You seem the most liked in this town, and my daughter deserves some praise.” Segarra put his hands on the counter and craned his neck to look at a Marine sitting next to his daughter. “Keep an eye on her, Buster, will you?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Segarra lightly rapped his knuckles on the counter top and winked at Megan. “I appreciate your gratitude for what we’ve brought here. If you haven’t noticed, we’re saving your asses.” He pressed his lips together in a straight line as if stopping himself from saying anything further. He thumbed over his shoulder toward the exit, keeping his eyes deadpanned on Megan’s. “Let’s go, Drew.”

They walked outside. Drew shifted his eyes toward the sky. A massive ship hovered overhead, blue lightning zipping down from its belly, covering the mushroom-shaped shield like an electric charge from a tesla coil.

“Stop hesitating and just tell me,” said Segarra.

Drew glanced at his feet. “Sorry…I…uh.”

“Is she dead?”

Drew nodded.

Segarra stepped back, as if that was the last thing he wanted to hear. He bit his lower lip, doing his best to stop his chin from quivering. “And my…son?” Segarra’s voice cracked.

“He is too.”

“Dead?”

“Yes.”

Segarra put his hand over his mouth, taking an even bigger step backward, as if someone had taken a knife and slammed it into his heart. He cleared his throat and rolled his head. He tapped his foot, looking away. “Okay…umm…thank you for keeping my daughter alive. I owe you my life.” He unclipped his gun from his belt and handed it to Drew. “Keep this. It’s an M118 advanced phaser. It will keep you alive and kill any ET bastards that may get into the city.” He pressed the base of the handle with his palm. “You have a one-hundred-and-eighteen-hour charge with this magazine, hence the phaser’s name. You could literally shoot this thing for a hundred and eighteen hours straight without needing a new charge, but I wouldn’t recommend it. At about ten minutes of constant trigger pulling, the gun would melt and your hand would erupt in fire. Keep it near and dear to you like your family.”

Slade was Drew’s father. There was nothing near and dear about the guy. Jaxx, on the other hand, was his uncle. And he considered Jaxx family, who was probably the only family he had left.

Segarra pushed the gun into Drew’s chest as a tear streamed down the guy’s cheek.

Drew grabbed the gun, then gasped and ducked for cover.

Bratatatatat ratatatat!

Machine guns echoed somewhere in the distance.

Bawooop!

Then an explosion, not from above, but somewhere in the city—and it was near. Too near.

Alarms blared and Segarra glanced around. Marines were rushing down the street, rifles in hand. “Get to safety. Use that weapon well.” Segarra rushed to the bar door, quickly opened it and stepped inside.

Drew’s stomach growled.

Crap.

And all he wanted was some damn food. Or some Mary Jane smoke in his lungs.

Now he has to fight? Fight who, exactly? Little green aliens with almond-shaped eyes?

4 J-Quadrant, Solar System - East Rise, Callisto

Rivkah lay on her back. A dim light streamed through the slits between the rocks piled at the entrance of the cave.

A rock fell,