Pixie Hazard by Archibald Bradford (top young adult novels .txt) 📕

It was fair to say that she was trying to overcome the wet blanket that had fallen over them since Donnie told him he would be leaving.

She succeeded magnificently, not only making him forget his troubles, but also that they were well within earshot of every other shopper in the store.

And once the two of them finished horsing around in the buff, thankfully without getting zapped, she kicked him out to give her room to try on her outfits.

Bryan had thought that they would make a hasty getaway to avoid the clerk’s wrath, not to mention her taser.

Not so.

Maria sent him back into the main part of the shop to fetch more lingerie for her to try on while he swore that the clerk was staring a hold in the back of his head.

His embarrassment at being in the store in the first place was nothing compared to this.

Even when he had first found himself alone with Maria in her quarters he was at least alone.

The store had several other people in it beyond the irate clerk, mostly women, and every time Bryan heard someone privately giggling it felt like it was about him and his most recent dalliance.

Him standing outside the changing room with three different bras in his hands certainly didn’t help.

His discomfort was forgotten in an instant though when someone grabbed him from behind and pressed the muzzle of a pistol into the small of his back.

“Don’t make a scene kid, or I’ll plug ya.”

“Wha-”

The gun pressed harder.

“What did I just say?” The man hissed; “Not a word, we’re leaving.”

The privacy curtain was abruptly ripped aside and a moment later the pressure from the gun was gone.

Bryan whirled to see Maria, clad in nothing but skimpy panties, wrestling with his assailant.

Within a few seconds her powerful arms had turned his head to an uncomfortable angle and left him dead on the floor.

The young botanist never even had a chance to be afraid before the immediate danger was past.

“Let’s move.” Maria said tensely, tugging her pants on and throwing her jacket around her shoulders, foregoing her shirt entirely.

“Wh-what is happening?”

“Don’t know, right now don’t care. We get back to the ship. Kicking myself for leaving behind my coms, it’s what I get for wanting some alone time with my new toy.”

The look of death in her eyes was more than enough to keep him from objecting to her label for him.

That and the fact that he didn’t really mind.

They exited the store in a rush, most of the people within had noticed the altercation but it wasn’t until a woman’s shrill scream sounded that they knew someone had discovered the body.

They did their best to disappear into the crowd on the busy promenade, but Maria’s frame simply stood out too much. She held the stolen pistol low against her thigh to keep people from freaking out about it while her other arm pulled Bryan along by his bicep.

“Fuck, there are more of them. Stay close.”

She was gripping his arm so tight he had no choice in the matter, having evidently seen something he hadn’t.

It was a tense couple of minutes, with Maria shoving her way through the increasingly annoyed crowd while Bryan kept fearfully looking over his shoulder.

“This way.”

She dragged him into one of the corridors that led to the hub of the station, trying to lose the pursuit in much the same way her captain had earlier.

But it was a move the trio of hard faced men saw coming and they were right on their heels.

Unfortunately for them, Donnie had seen it coming as well and greeted Maria in the corridor with a nod before shrugging by her and levelling the barrel of her weapon at her pursuers.

“That’s far enough shitheads.”

They stopped so quickly it was as if they were at the edge of a cliff.

The tattooed man in the lead eyed Donnie’s weapon with cautious respect.

“That’s a plasma shotgun isn’t it?”

She nodded tersely, not lowering the weapon.

“Yup.”

“Is... is that thing even legal?”

“Depends on who you ask. Seems pretty legal to me about now.”

“Right.”

“We done here?”

He swallowed as he eyeballed the potentially devastating weapon.

“I guess we have to be.”

The bald man looked past her to Bryan huddled behind the towering blonde, his scowling face made all the more sinister by the myriad of ink highlighting it.

His eyes narrowed as they met the kid’s.

“It’s only a matter of time before we get what we want, we’ll catch up to you eventually boy.”

Bryan swallowed in fear as the fearsome looking Junker wagged his index finger at him.

Donnie let out a sigh of exasperation and gave a helpless shake of her head.

“Well that was a pretty stupid thing to say.”

He barely had time to realize how badly he had fucked up before her gun bucked against her shoulder as she fired into his midsection.

The glowing green plasma particles minced through his internals before blowing out his back and carrying on to take down one of the guys foolishly standing behind him.

Knowing exactly what her captain was about to do, Maria whipped her pistol up and fired off three quick shots to take down the remaining Junker.

Even as the bodies hit the floor the blond was turning to Bryan.

He was unable to speak, his eyes glued on the men they just fragged, his face slightly green.

“You with me baby?” Despite his fear, Bryan nodded emphatically so Maria turned to the skipper; “Someone definitely heard that.”

Donnie shook out her arm and rolled her shoulder to recover from her weapon’s impressive recoil as she turned to leave.

“No shit. We’re launching as soon as we’re back on the ship.