Hostile Genus: An Epic Military Sci-Fi Series (Invasive Species Book 2) Ben Stevens (best contemporary novels txt) 📖

Lucy crouched down to the two girls’ level.

“Aren’t you afraid of the curfew?” the second girl asked. Lucy could see now that she was the older of the two. Big sister, most likely. Lucy squinted, curious to know more, so tried her hand at prompting further conversation.

“Curfew?” she asked the girls.

“Humans can’t be out this late. It’s the rules,” they explained.

“Well, you two are out,” Lucy pointed out and instantly regretted it, seeing fear return to their young faces.

“Are you policía?” the older girl asked. “Will you report us?”

“No, niña. Your secret is safe with me. You’re not going to report me, are you? I know I’ve been naughty too.” Lucy deftly turned the tables on the girls and caused them to laugh a little.

“What are your names?” she asked, quickly changing the subject.

“Camila,” the younger said.

“Maria,” the older said.

“It’s nice to meet you both.” Lucy smiled. A thought flashed in her mind. She plucked both of her lapel-mounted LED flashlights from her trench coat and flicked them on. The girls’ eyes lit up with delight at the soft but strong blue-white lights.

“These are special. They have very strong batteries, muy fuerte, yeah? They will last for many, many moons. Here, you can have them.” Lucy gave the girls one each and watched with joy as the children turned them off and on again, clearly impressed.

“Do you two live around here?” Lucy asked, happy that the kids were happy.

“Si!” they replied in unison. “Just around the corner,” Maria added.

“That’s great!” Lucy said. “I’m not from here. I’m visiting.”

The girls both stopped in their playful examinations of the flashlights and looked at Lucy in puzzlement.

“Vis-eh-teen?” Camila asked, joining the word’s syllables together slowly as if she had never heard it before.

“Yeah, I’m a visitor. A desconocido. Do you understand?”

The girl’s heads nodded in the affirmative, but their eyes told a different story.

Lucy almost asked them if they knew where she could trade for some food, but then remembered how she had just found them, digging in a trash midden, hands full of shriveled and bruised tubers.

“You two enjoy those flashlights and stay safe, okay? Run along home now,” she said, standing back upright.

“Si Claro!” the girls said. Then, “Wait, Miss Lucy?” Maria asked.

Lucy turned to the oldest girl, impressed with the child’s manners.

“Yes, Maria?”

“May I please ask you a question?”

Lucy tried not to laugh at the sheer adorableness of the child. “Of course.”

“Why do you look like that?”

Lucy smiled at the girl, masking the pain the question brought. She thought for a minute about how to proceed, and then told the girl a story.

“Well, you know the Sante Muerta is only scary-looking, right?”

The girls nodded vigorously.

“Okay, well, you see, I am just like her. I look scary because I punish the bad people. I’m only scary to them, not to good little girls like you. I help the good people.”

“You punish the bad men?” Camila asked, her eyes lighting up.

“Yes, little one. I go around and scare them and make them not do bad things anymore.”

“Maria!” Camila nearly shouted. “She does what Eduardo wants to do!”

Maria’s face paled and her eyes shot daggers at her little sister. Lucy watched them both carefully, thinking she knew what was going on. Being a soldier in an underground resistance taught you things.

“Who is Eduardo?” Lucy asked, trying to sound kind and innocent. And why does he want to stop bad men?

“He—uh… he is our… Hermano mayor,” Maria said, looking down, actively avoiding eye contact with Lucy.

“Older brother, huh? Hey, it’s okay. You can trust me.” Lucy stepped forward and squatted back down. The girl still wouldn’t look up.

“Maybe I can help him stop the bad men. Would you let me help?” Lucy asked softly and reached out to brush away a raven lock of the girl’s hair from her grubby face. “Por favor?”

As much as it pained Lucy to see the girl trust a stranger so easily, she was relieved when Maria lifted her eyes and looked back up at Lucy.

“Okay,” Maria said.

Lucy smiled big and moved her hand to stroke the girl’s cheek.

“Thank you.”

Lucy followed the girls down the dark alley, making small talk the whole way, assuring them that they were safe and that she could be trusted.

Before departing, Lucy had helped to gather up as many edibles from the trash pile as possible and wished to herself that she had some foodstuffs with her, but what little they had were back up the mountain with Jon and Carbine.

Thoughts of Jon and Carbine led her to thoughts of Ratt and Maya. She was still worried about their safety but saw in this a mystery that might prove worth solving. They were here, after all, to obtain as much intel on the city and its ways and means as possible. Lucy had a strong suspicion that this Eduardo might represent a source for vital information, and perhaps an ally.

Eventually, the girls led her to a small home, no bigger than the crew cabin in the transport had been. The house appeared to be hand-built from sun-dried bricks, which peeked through worn gaps in the outer layer of clay-like plaster, all of which bore a deep russet color. A simple doorway and several small windows broke up the flowing, organic-looking curves of the structure, none of which had anything more than a tattered cloth covering them.

“Tu casa?” she asked the girls, a question to which they both nodded yes.

“It’s lovely,” Lucy said, sincerely meaning it, despite the apparent poverty of the dwelling.

Camila disappeared behind the entrance’s curtain, while Maria stood back, beckoning to Lucy with a wave of her hand.

“Mamá!” Maria called out as she led Lucy into her home. “We brought a friend!”

Lucy stepped into a plain, open-floor-style home and was met by the astonished stares of a young man, perhaps around Ratt’s age, and a heavy-set older woman who until that moment had been bent over a large, shallow frying pan.

That Lucy’s appearance