Star Rider and Bonds of Love: A Sci-Fi Space Opera with a Touch of Fantasy Heidi Skarie (fox in socks read aloud .TXT) 📖

“It hurts like the devil.”

“Toemeka, get Jake behind thoserocks,” Michio ordered. “We’ll cover you.” He fired atsoldiers rushing towards them.

Toemeka grabbed Jake’s blasteroff the ground and tucked it in her waistband. Then she tried to pullhim up, but he was too heavy. Erling grabbed his other arm andtogether they got Jake to his feet. Holding him on either side, theyall ran jerkily toward a large rock outcrop with blaster fire tearingup the trees around them.

Toemeka’s heart was hammeringdouble-time when they finally made it safely behind the rocks. Cadmusobviously didn’t care if she was captured, dead or alive. Peeringaround the edge, she began firing her blaster to give Michio cover ashe ran to them.

“How many do you think thereare?” Toemeka asked.

“Judging from the amount ofshooting, about a dozen,” Michio said.

“You three, head down to theriver,” Jake said in a weak voice. “Leave me a blaster and I’llhold them off.”

“I’ll hold them off,”Michio said. “Erling, you help Jake to the river.”

“You’ll never make it with meslowing you down. Erling, get Toemeka and Michio to safety, then gohelp Breezy and the rest of your family.”

“Noble gesture, but we’re notleaving you,” Erling said, staring off into the woods. All seemedquiet for the moment.

Jake looked at Michio. “GetToemeka out of here. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”

“Jake, the wound isn’t thatbad.” Toemeka said, fighting back tears. “We’re all going tomake it,”

“Go, Tiger. Hurry,” Jakesaid. “I don’t want to die for nothing.”

“Don’t be so morbid,”Erling said. “We’re not leaving you.” He put his arm aroundJake and started into the woods. “Besides, we need you to show uswhere the canoe is.”

“Toemeka, you go next,”Michio said. “I’ll cover the rear.”

She stood still, tuning in to thewoods around them. “Cadmus is close by.”

He nodded grimly. “I know. Getgoing.”

Toemeka tore after the other two,taking an irregular path as blaster fire flashed through the air,hitting the trees around her. Worried about Michio, she looked back.He was hunkered down behind a tree, firing his gun.

“Don’t let him die,” shepleaded. Reaching Erling and Jake, she turned back and fired into thewoods to give Michio cover.

He dashed over to her and turnedback to fire at the soldiers. “Go!” Michio exclaimed.

Toemeka ran after Erling andJake, then moved ahead of them and took the lead. The brush becamethicker and it was difficult to find a pathway, but she heard theroar of the river and kept moving toward it.

Finally she broke through thedense bushes, then gasped and grabbed onto a branch to keep fromfalling. She stood on the edge of a cliff overlooking the river thatthundered nearly twenty feet below. A sudden movement caught herattention and she looked to her right. A soldier stood close by, hisblaster pointing at her.

“Drop your weapon,” heordered, shoving the muzzle of his blaster into her chest.

Terror pounded through her veinsas she dropped her blaster. A branch cracked behind her and sheturned to see Jake and Erling coming onto the bank.

As the soldier turned towardthem, Toemeka threw her weight against his arm holding the blaster.The bushes beside Erling exploded. She slammed her knee into thesoldier’s groin. When he doubled over in pain, she wrenched theblaster from his hand and slammed it into the side of the head.

“You know, maybe Toemeka cantake care of herself,” Jake said.

Erling winced. “I almost feelsorry for that guy when he wakes up.”

“He got what he deserved,”Toemeka said. She handed the soldier’s blaster to Jake. “You’dbetter take this. There’s no telling how close the rest of themare.” She bent over and grabbed her blaster. “Where’s thecanoe?”

Michio joined them on the bank,coming at a flat-out run. “What happened? I heard blaster fire.”

“Toemeka’s just protecting usfrom this soldier,” Jake said.

Michio looked down at theunconscious man and frowned.

“The canoe’s hidden in a caveat the bottom of this cliff,” Jake said. “It’s too steep toclimb down from here. We’ll have to find another way.”

Toemeka noticed a cable of thickvines growing down the side of a large tree and over the edge of thecliff. She tugged at one and decided it was strong enough to supporther weight.

“We can use these vines toclimb down.” Mustering her courage, she grabbed onto one of thevines and swung over the edge.

“Wait!” Michio exclaimed,“It’s too dangerous.”

The water roared below her as shewrapped her legs around the thick vines and started down. Her handswere still cold, but no longer numb and she managed to keep a firmgrip as she lowered herself down, hand over hand. When her feetfinally touched ground, she released the vine and looked up at themen who were staring down at her. She held out her right arm with herfist clenched and put her thumb up.

Glancing around, Toemeka saw shewas on a narrow bank at the edge of the river. She explored bothdirections until she found the cave that hid the canoe and twopaddles.

She shouted up to the men. “It’shere; come on down.”

Blaster fire rang above her and asecond later Jake started down. Toemeka anxiously watched from below,knowing how hard the descent would be with his injury. Her heart wasin her throat as he slowly lowered himself. “Come on, Jake. You cando it,” she said, knowing he couldn’t hear her above the roar ofthe river. He was a third of the way down when he lost his hold.

“Jake!” she screamed. Shewatched in horror as he fell. His body turned and somersaultedthrough the air before he finally plunged into the raging riverbelow.

21

RushingWater River

Toemeka scanned the river forJake. The top of his head finally appeared downstream. A momentlater, Erling jumped into the river and sank beneath the churningwater. He broke surface, looked around and swam toward Jake asToemeka spun around and ran to the cave.

After rolling the upside-downcanoe over, she threw the paddles and her backpack in, grabbed therope tied to its bow and dragged it to the river. When she shoved thecanoe in, the rushing water almost tore it out of her hands. Afraidof losing the canoe, she waded into the river and scrambled into thestern seat.

Toemeka began paddling to Erlingwho swam toward floundering Jake..