The Rain: The End by Marietta Standlee (good summer reads TXT) 📕

So, what is wrong with me? Why am I not jumping up and down like I usually do? Am I really becoming a chicken?

"Leave her alone; she's a mom now, her whole world changed," Kat says.

Good grief, really? Is that why I'm not chomping at the bit? I need to shake this off fast. This is not who I am. Colin pulls my Glock out of my holster and hands it to me. I stare at the cold, black metal, feel it against my skin, and a tentative smile spreads around the edges of my lips. My heartbeat increases, and I feel the beginning of the familiar adrenaline rush.

My other hand starts to pat the gun before I look up into Colin's face, whose expression seems to challenge me. That man knows exactly what I need.

"You're right; it's a damn good plan. Go get changed." I grin at Colin.

"Aaand she's back." Derek mocks loudly, dragging out the A and earning himself a hard punch in the arm from me.

"You think Colin will be able to blend in with the other marines?" I ask, still a little worried.

"Not for long." Derek laughs and high fives Kat with a smirk.

Colin gives me a hard kiss before he and Ricks disappear towards one of the other cabins to exchange clothes. Colin wore his usual uniform, black cargo pants, and shirt, same as most of us militia. Sometimes we wear camouflage pants, but black is the more common uniform.

Chapter 12

"So how do we play this?" I ask after Colin reappears in the uniform of a grunt.

"You'll have to blend in." Bellows nods at Colin. "We'll handcuff you, Commander," he explains to me.

"Take all my weapons this time; I'm pretty sure Quill will have me frisked, and if they find more weapons on me, it could blow our cover," I say, already pulling an assortment of guns and knives off me.

"All but your minis," Colin adds.

I nod my agreement; those little spears are hard to find unless you know what you're looking for, and only our closest friends know about them. Even if Quill finds them, he wouldn't be able to hold Bellows responsible for it.

"What if they want to execute her on the spot?" Kat worries.

"I doubt it. Quill will want to make a big production of it. Trial and the whole nine yards." Colin says thoughtfully, although I can tell Kat's words worried him.

"Give me one of those cuff keys," I demand of Bellows before turning to the room at large. "Anybody got a strong band-aid?"

Briggs taps on her tablet, and a small, hidden cabinet becomes visible, after a small hatch hisses up, on a shelf is a first aid kit. She holds a selection of band-aids out for me, and I pick a larger, waterproof one before taking a seat.

"Knife." I demand.

With a question in his eyes, Bellows hands me one of my knives back.

"What are you doing?" Briggs asks, flabbergasted as I use the knife to make a small incision on the inside of my lower right arm.

Colin watches me with mixed emotions, knowing already, what I'm about to do. His eyes tell me how sorry he is that I have to do this and how proud of me he is for doing what needs to be done. He hands me the small handcuff key after he doused it in medical alcohol. I scrunch up my face in pain as I slip it into the cut.

Briggs makes a gagging sound and shakes her head as she hands me first gauze and then skin glue to make the bleeding stop. After that, Colin attaches the band-aid himself before kissing it.

When I look up, my eyes meet thirty other pairs, some admiring, some proud, a couple seem actually scared off me, causing me to grin, especially when I hear a hissed word, Psycho.

When I get up, the soldiers take a step back out of respect. They are Marines and Militia; they know as well as me what needs to be done. I look at the two militia who seemed horrified by what I did, a man and a woman. I've never seen them before, and I wonder if they have what it takes for this mission. But I put my trust in Briggs, she's the one who assembled the rescue team, and those two were part of it, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, for Briggs' sake.

"Are we going up or what?" I ask.

"You bet we are." Colin agrees, his eyes alight with the same fire I feel, the fire of a mission to come, a battle to fight.

Chapter 13

It doesn't take long for us to reach outer space. Briggs' people do their magic, and unsurprisingly we discover only one space station operational, lit up like a Christmas tree. Hopefully, this will be where we will find Quill and the President's son.

"We need a backup plan, Briggs. Call your pilots and have them at the ready at a moment's notice. How long will it take for them to get here?" Colin plans out loud as we're closing in on the Gorongiath space station.

"If they're ready to roll, not long, twenty minutes tops." Briggs answers without hesitation.

"Get 'em out here and have them stand by; we might need them." Colin decides.

"I can do that," Briggs affirms with a tight face while tapping wildly on her tablet.

"There!" I point at the space station, orbited by several larger spaceships. "They're ready too."

"This might get ugly," Colin warns between clenched teeth and then adds with an evil grin. "Bellows, get the prisoner ready."

It takes me a second to realize he's talking about me as Bellows approaches me with the handcuffs. I refrain from sticking my tongue out at Colin (I finally outgrew that urge) and hit him in the arm instead. He grins wickedly and whispers, "Keep a hold of those cuffs; maybe we can use them later." He wiggles