Warren arrived back at his father’s pce to find Valentina standing by an excavated pit. She held a shovel in one hand, while her other was on her shapely hip. At the sight of him, she blew a strand of blond hair out of her face and gave him a weak smile.

  As he drew closer, he could see most of the Sviigoris bodies had been pced in the shallow pit. Had she accomplished all of this while they’d been gone?

  Personally, he would have made the mass grave a bit deeper. The hills were full of animals that would dig up buried bodies. But he could always pile some rocks and debris on top of it. At least that would work to keep all but the most determined animals away.

  Warren walked up to Valentina and frowned. “Didn’t I tell you to get some rest while I was gone?” Her face looked flushed, and he didn’t think it was from exertion. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’m fine,” she replied. “And soldiers don’t sit around on our asses.”

  “Even when an alien has stabbed them in the back?”

  “You know,” she replied with a grin. “That scenario didn’t come up all that often.”

  He moved closer, pcing his hand against her cheek. She was burning up. The wound must have become infected. “May I look at your back?”

  She pressed her plump lips together. “What’s wrong, doc?”

  “I think you have a fever.”

  “I’m really fine,” she insisted. “It’s just hot out here.”

  Warren lifted her shirt and then peeled off the edge of her bandage. Underneath, her wound had taken on an angry red color. There was no question she had a serious infection. And he had no way to treat it without antibiotics.

  When he didn’t say anything, she craned her head over her shoulder. “How bad is it, doc?”

  “It’s not good,” he replied quietly. “I need you to go lie down immediately. That’s an order.”

  “You want me to just lie down while we’re being invaded by little green men?”

  “Right now, your body is trying to fight off an infection. I need you to get all the rest you can. I’ll try to scrounge up some books and other stuff from the house, so you don’t get too bored. I think I spotted my sister’s eReader in there as well. She mostly reads romance, but at least it will be something for you.”

  “Oh!” Valentina brightened up at his words. “I like reading about shirtless men sailing the high seas.”

  He raised his brow at her words.

  She blushed slightly. “I may be a soldier, but I’m still a girl.”

  Warren reached around behind him and unslung his backpack. From inside, he pulled out a bottle of water. “Drink at least half of this before you y down.”

  Valentina grumbled slightly, but took the water and headed toward the workshop. When she was out of sight, Kassandra approached him.

  “I know that look,” she said. “It’s bad, isn’t it?”

  “She needs to start antibiotics immediately,” he replied. “Otherwise, I’m worried she could get blood poisoning.”

  Kassandra twirled a strand of hair around her finger. “That is bad.”

  He rubbed a hand down his face as he tried to think about what to do. There was a pharmacy in town, and he had seen it was still standing. But it could have been looted by the aliens. Plus, he’d decided to avoid the town until he was strong enough to defeat the Daskian squire.

  Still, he couldn’t just let Valentina die. And he was fairly certain she was developing sepsis. He knew from his time at the hospital that every hour counted. He needed a way to reach the pharmacy in town and pray there were some antibiotics left.

  Which meant he was back to his original pn—he needed to ambush a Daskian patrol and steal their armor. Hopefully, the sensors on the dropships wouldn’t detect him if he was dressed as one of their soldiers. But it was still a gamble.

  “We need to come up with a pn to reach the drugstore in town,” he said. “I was going to try to ambush a patrol and steal their armor, but I’m open to other ideas.”

  Kassandra brushed back a lock of her hair. “What about the squire you were telling me about?”

  “I’ll just have to hope I don’t run into him.”

  “Hold on,” Kassandra said. “What about the Seymour Mountain Retreat?”

  “What about it?” he asked, frowning. If he recalled correctly, it was a huge resort that had been built in the mountains shortly after he left. But he didn’t see how it would help in their current situation.

  “There’s a doctor’s office there,” Kassandra continued excitedly. “They would have antibiotics, right?”

  “How do you know they have a doctor’s office?”

  “I worked there as a maid for a bit.”

  He raised his eyebrow at her comments.

  Rolling her eyes, she continued, “I didn’t wear that kind of maid outfit.”

  “I wasn’t even thinking that.”

  Kassandra narrowed her eyes before shaking her head. “I know how your mind works.”

  “I swear,” he replied, holding up his hand. “I really wasn’t thinking that.” Though, to be honest, the thought of her in a French maid outfit was a pleasant one.

  “Why don’t we try to get Valentina’s medicine there?”

  He nodded slowly. If the resort had a doctor’s office, it meant they should have antibiotics. He doubted they would send patients all the way into town if they got sick. And the pce was a fair distance from town, so the Daskians shouldn’t be anywhere close to it.

  But there might be other aliens in the area. At the very least, there were some remanent Sviigoris forces out there. And then there were the whale-like creatures that had attacked Valentina’s squad. Which left at least four other factions—that he knew about.

  He pulled up the earlier notification to remind himself of the names. Aside from the Daskians, there was the Udruk Empire, the Arriad Republic, the Krescrile Flock, the Vuda Overmind, and the Bhurian Empire. Any of those could have set up an outpost at the hotel.

  He checked the timer on his deck to see it had about nine hours remaining. Since the bzing sun was almost directly overhead, it should be close to noon. If they left after dinner, his deck would come off the cooldown right when they reached the Seymour Mountain Retreat. Not that he liked the idea of travelling after dark.

  Furthermore, he really didn’t like the idea of deying Valentina’s treatment. But if he was caught out there with his combat deck on cooldown, he’d be a sitting duck. He would just have to apply more antibiotic cream to her wound and hope she didn’t get any worse.

  “I like your idea,” he said. “After dinner, we’ll hike up to the retreat.”

  Kassandra fshed him a brilliant smile. “Who knew being a maid would come in handy during an alien invasion?”

  “How long ago did you work there?”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “A little while after you left. I didn’t have the grades to get a schorship for school like you and my family couldn’t afford college tuition. So, I just bounced from crappy job to crappy job here. I even tried to become an artist for a while.”

  “You did?” he asked, surprised. He didn’t remember her doing anything artsy when they were younger.

  Kassandra blushed slightly. “Nothing too impressive. I just did some painting and a bit of carving. I even sold a few online before I became a deputy.”

  “I’d love to see your work sometime,” he said. “The next time we’re out by your pce, why don’t we stop by for some supplies? While we’re there, I can check out some of your stuff.”

  “You’d really like to see it?”

  “I’d love to.”

  She smiled at his words, a look of delight on her face. “Like I said, they’re not great. But I liked them.”

  “I’m sure they’re amazing.”

  He turned to examine the pit Valentina had dug. “I suppose we should finish up getting rid of these worm guys first.” Thankfully, Valentina had nearly completed the work. Only a handful of bodies remained outside of the pit, and it should be easy enough to push the mound of dirt down on top of them.

  Kassandra walked up beside him and frowned. “As your bodyguard, I volunteer to watch you do this dirty job.”

  “I don’t think so,” he said pyfully. “Grab a shovel.”

  “And what if a worm guy sneaks up behind you while you’re digging?”

  He paused at her words. While he knew she was joking, they probably should have someone on watch at all times. With the devastating weapons the aliens had, a single sniper could creep up and take him out before he had a chance to react.

  “Actually, you probably should stay on lookout.”

  Her eyes widened. “I was only kidding. I’ll help you with anything you need—”

  Warren held up his hand to interrupt her. “It’s fine. But you were right—there could be aliens lurking in the woods. I’d like you to have you watching my back while I work.”

  She chewed on her lower lip. “Only if you’re sure...”

  “I’m sure.” He gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s not like I haven’t done crappy work myself in the past.” He’d had a lot of terrible jobs to put himself through school. While he’d had a schorship, it hadn’t covered everything.

  Nodding tersely, Kassandra took a step before stopping. She gnced down at her torn t-shirt and stuck a finger through one of the holes. “Actually, I think I’m going to get changed first.”

  “Good idea.”

  As Kassandra hurried off to retrieve more clothing from the workshop, he headed over to the pile of alien corpses. At some point, Valentina had dug out a pair of gloves and they were sitting on top of the mound of dirt.

  He pced both gloves on his hand and then set about dragging the dead Sviigoris over to the hole. Once he reached the edge of the pit, he kicked the bodies in. After the second corpse, he paused the catch his breath. He had no idea how Valentina had done all this work while they were gone.

  As he was dragging the third alien body toward the pit, Kassandra emerged from the workshop. He paused mid step and did his best not to stare at her. She was wearing a thin white tube top, which showed off the swell of her heavy breasts. As if that wasn’t distracting enough, her shorts weren’t much better than booty shorts; the skin of her thighs gleamed in the light, and her round ass fit snuggly in the back. She looked incredibly sexy.

  She pced one hand behind her head and pretended to pout. “What do you think?” she said with a ugh. “Do you like my outfit?”

  Warren could only nod in reply.

  She gave him a little smile and then skipped over to the edge of the forest. After she reached the brush line, she settled down in cover to watch out for any approaching aliens.

  It took him a second to return to his work, and he had to shake his head to dispel his thoughts of Kassandra. But it was hard to stop thinking about her in that outfit.

  The hot sun beat down on him as he worked, and he had to stop twice more to drink some water. His water supplies were quickly being used up, and he would need to turn on the generator ter to power the well. But first, he needed to find something to store the water in.

  Focus on one problem at a time, he thought to himself.

  By the time he’d finished, the sun had sunk low on the horizon. Night always arrived early in the mountains, and it wouldn’t be long before darkness bnketed the nd. He gave the soil one st pat with the shovel before heading over to the ruins of the house.

  He grabbed a piece of rubble and then returned to the alien mass grave. The yer of rocks on top didn’t need to be too deep to dissuade scavengers from digging it up. It just needed to be thick enough to stop the smaller ones. As long as a bear didn’t show up, it should be fine.

  Warren made the trip a few more times before he finally stopped. Tomorrow, he could add another yer to the cairn he was building. For now, all he wanted was some rest and a meal. Plus, he really should check in on Valentina.

  He waved at Kassandra, who trotted over to him. When she reached his side, he asked, “Are you hungry?”

  “I could eat,” she grinned.

  Together they headed toward the workshop, where he hoped he could scrounge up a decent meal for them. Once they were finished, he would set out for the Seymour Mountain retreat.

  He could only hope no aliens had made the pce their home.