Chapter 16: Chapter 15: Escape

Alex couldn’t stop glaring at Jenna as she maneuvered her way behind the ductwork where he was hidden.

“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled at her. “You were on the pod, Jenna! You had an escape route! Why did you get off?”

Jenna exhaled loudly before turning her brilliant green eyes toward him. “I just realized that I’d rather be with you in an uncertain situation than with anyone else while being safe.”

It was a stunning turn of events, one that Alex wasn’t fully prepared for. His face turned to confusion.

“But I thought you hated me? I thought you didn’t want to be my companion?”

Jenna smiled and shrugged. “I guess I changed my mind. You might have had something to do with that.”

“This is going to be really dangerous, Jenna. It’s not going to be easy.”

“What?” she asked, smiling at him. “Being your companion or getting off this ship?”

“Both. I didn’t have a plan beyond stopping Serrano from getting away with the women,” he admitted. “I just want to keep him on the ship when it gets destroyed. If that means me with it, well . . .”

Alex shrugged, showing he didn’t really care one way or another. If he had to go down with the ship to stop Serrano, it was a fate he could live with. He would feel some kind of redemption as he died, knowing the majority of the colonists would be able to make it to Vesta (at least he hoped).

It was a small price to pay for all the wrongs in his life the last few years.

Jenna started to shake her head.

“What?” he asked.

“We’re not going to die that way,” she said. “I’m your companion, right? Part of my job is looking out for your butt. And we’re going to get off this ship.”

Alex couldn’t help but grin. He was really starting to like her.

“Well, that was awfully touching,” mocked Serrano from the other side of the ductwork. “In light of this little revelation, I think I’m going to kill the blonde bitch first. Nothing would be sweeter than Hawthorne having to watch her die and knowing he could do nothing about it.”

The sudden reminder that Serrano still needed to be dealt with spurred Alex into action. Determined to not only live but to save Jenna too, he gave one more look at her before he started to move.

“Stay here,” he urged. “And listen when I call for you, okay?”

Jenna nodded. “Good luck!”

Alex moved to the edge of the ductwork and sprang out, shooting off his pistol as he moved to the other side of the corridor, hiding behind one of the two remaining pods. He heard the sound of the plasma from the pulse pistols hitting near his current position, but it was nothing compared to the roar of Rick’s pod as it took off from the Racine, blasting into space toward Vesta.

“Stop shooting at the pod!” yelled Serrano at Ross and the other man. “You’re going to destroy it and all of us with you!”

The two men abruptly stopped firing, only for Serrano to walk closer to Alex’s hiding spot.

“Are you going to come out to play too?” he taunted Alex. “A real man would step out here and fight me with his fists instead of relying on his puny pistol. Are you man enough to face me down or are you just a punk like the rest of the colonists?”

Alex stuck his head out, looking at Serrano who was watching the hiding spot. Serrano started to smile as Alex emerged.

“Just the two of us, Hawthorne,” he leered. “Just like it should have been. There’s only two pods left, and I think I’m going to leave your dead body on the ship while I make off with your woman toward Vesta.”

“Better Vesta than Dangallu,” replied Alex. “And I have no doubt you’ll be arrested once you get to Vesta for what you’ve done to the ship.”

“We’ll see about that,” said Serrano. “For now though, we still have to get to Vesta. And that’s looking increasingly unlikely for you.”

Alex leaned forward. “Don’t be so sure of that.”

Just like that, both men ran at each other at full speed, colliding with a wave of muscle, aggression, and testosterone seconds later. Alex used all of his reserves of strength to beat on Serrano, striking his face, jaw, and chest with repeated blows while Serrano sought to do the same.

At one point, they both fell to the floor while the two remaining gang members sought to load the last of their supplies on one of the pods. Before long, they were urging their boss to join them so they could take off.

“Not yet,” yelled Serrano as he slugged Alex in the face one more time. “I’m going to kill him first!”

The two men started to roll, with Alex landing on top of Serrano and pummeling his face until his eyes were cut and bleeding. At one point, Serrano made to grab for his pistol as he took too much damage, hoping for a quick end to the fighting but Alex knocked it out of his hand, where it fell close to Ross.

“Ross, pick up the pistol and shoot him!” yelled Serrano, forgetting that he was just taunting Alex about using the weapon.

Ross went to pick it up when the ship started to rumble once more. Suddenly, all power went out to the cylinder for good, ceasing the use of the artificial gravity and sending all of them toward the ceiling.

Alex smacked his head against the ceiling hard, and he had to fight to get his bearings with the sudden lack of gravity but the worst part was that the power never did come back.

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Even if they made it to the pods, they probably wouldn’t have enough thrust to reach Vesta without the boost from the reactor.

Like it or not, they were probably going to die in those pods even if they managed to escape.

The loss of power caused the fight to take a backseat as both Serrano and Alex sought just to escape the Racine at that point. Alex was able to use several of the studs on the ceiling to pull himself toward the pod, but Jenna was a greater distance away, and she was having trouble getting the right movement.

“Alex, help me!” she screamed.

The air in the room was already starting to go cold without the heat from the ship, and soon Alex could see his own breath as he made his way back, pulling his body along with his arms toward Jenna. Meanwhile, Serrano had made it back to the pod he shared with Ross and the other man, and they closed the airlock doors to take off.

At that point, Alex and Jenna were the only two people left alive on the Racine.

“Give me your hand!” he yelled, extending his arm toward her. “I’ll pull you to me.”

The ship started to shake with explosions again, and sparks started to erupt around Jenna, causing her to scream. Seeing her nearly incapacitated by fear, he closed the distance between them and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her with him back to the remaining pod.

The temperature in what was left of the Racine was dropping quickly. Alex had to use the strength in his one arm to propel them forward, making it to the pod slowly while Jenna shook in his arm.

“Just a little bit further,” he whispered to her. “We’re almost there!”

Reaching the airlock door, Alex used the rest of his strength to propel Jenna inside while he closed the door and activated the pod. He quickly engaged the launch sequence while turning on the gravity to the pod.

Quite suddenly, both Alex and Jenna fell from the ceiling as the artificial gravity was engaged and the pod’s engines began to initiate. Jenna seemed to fall in such a way that she practically landed on her feet but seeing as Alex was nearly upside down, he landed on his head.

It was the second time in a short period of time that he’d taken a hit like that, and he found himself straining to see straight because of the pain.

“Alex!” she yelled, coming to his side and cradling his head in her lap. “Are you okay?”

He rubbed his forehead which had taken the brunt of the impact. “I imagine that one is going to leave one hell of a mark,” he grumbled. “Come on, we have to get buckled in before the pod takes off.”

Alex took the seat closest to the controls while Jenna buckled in right beside him. Alex watched as the other escape pod containing Serrano took off from the Racine at that point, blasting out into space. As it left, Alex could see a smaller blue dot just off in the distance—the first time such a blue dot had been within sight.

They were finally closing in on Vesta.

“We might be able to make it yet,” said an optimistic Jenna as she looked at the planet in the distance. “We’re so close, Alex. So close that maybe we don’t need the boost.”

Alex didn’t want to burst her bubble. He knew that Garrison had said that the chances of them making Vesta without the boost from the ship’s reactor was small. Even if they managed to clear the ship, it was likely the pod would lose power long before they even reached the planet.

At least he would die here with Jenna. That didn’t seem like such a bad fate.

“We’re about to take off,” said Alex, starting the launch sequence. “You might want to hold on!”

Jenna bit her lip apprehensively. “How bad is it going to be?”

Alex looked at her. “You know that ride in an amusement park that suddenly shoots you into the air without warning?”

Jenna nodded.

“It’s like that but about ten times worse.”

She quickly paled and reached over to grab his free hand, entwining her fingers with his own. Alex looked at the countdown and closed his eyes, his throbbing head making it difficult to see.

As the count reached zero, the thrusters of the escape pod roared to life, shooting the little vessel into the recesses of space. Alex gripped Jenna’s hand tightly as the ship rocketed toward Vesta, putting their bodies through g-forces that they weren’t used to.

For Alex, the combination of the g-forces and the throbbing pain in his head was too much. He started to lose his sight moments later, and found himself struggling to remain conscious.

Jenna noticed immediately as she began to shake his hand. “Alex! Alex, what’s wrong? Alex, stay with me! Alex!”

Finding his head spinning, Alex closed his eyes one more time and surrendered what was left of his senses. One of his last thoughts was wondering if he was going to wake up ever again.

Meanwhile, Jenna was screaming next to him and shaking his body with all her energy.

“Alex, hang on! Hang in there for me please!”

He never heard the rest of her pleas as he blacked out for good.

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