Chasing the Stars Read Online Free

wanted to be; but for the first time in a long, long time, I felt
alive
.



4
    There was nowhere to run. Nowhere safe. The ground was erupting. The relentless din of screams, shouts, bomb blasts and collapsing masonry filled my ears. Debris and machinery flew through the air in all directions. Mum kept pulling me, but to where? There was nowhere to hide. Nowhere we could be safe from the bombs exploding all around us and the weapon blasts cutting straight through anything they touched. Some were running back into nearby buildings or making for the barracks, others were trying to run out of the compound.
    I saw Bertrand on his knees, crying as he clutched Simone his six-year-old daughter to him as she screamed in wide-eyed terror. Snatching my arm from Mum’s grip, I literally bent over backwards, one hand down, the back of my head almost to the ground – and only just in time, as a huge metal disc, intent on cutting me in half, sliced through the air just above me. A high, piercing whistle sounded. My heart sank. That whistling sound meant DE, or directed energy weapons. The enemy had stepped up their attack. I knew only too well just how deadly directed energy could be. Two years ago that setting on my torch had detached a third of my leg from the rest of me. The ear-piercing whistling sound was getting closer.
    Game over.
    I sprang to my feet and hit the ground running. Mum grasped my hand as we raced for elusive safety. Ordinarily, I would’ve recoiled from holding my mum’s hand. I mean, please.
    But not today.
    Not now.
    ‘Get to the cavern in the mountain,’ Mum shouted, though in the chaos of the destruction all around us her voice barely carried to me, never mind across the compound to the others running about trying to seek safe shelter. The bomb blasts going off around our compound effectively hemmed us in. The Mazon weren’t stupid. And even if we did get to the cavern, what use would that be? The Mazon weren’t going to stop until every last one of us was dead. Their merciless reputation hadn’t been an exaggeration. They were the dogs of war and they’d bring down the whole mountain on our heads if they had to. As far as they were concerned, we were unwanted, unwelcome migrants encroaching on their land.
    We ran.
    I tried not to focus on the bodies and severed limbs on the ground in every direction. The whole scene was carnage. The random splashes of red soaking into the sandy soil of our compound were now so plentiful they were forming into rivulets.
    And still we ran.
    The undiluted screams of terror, panicked shouts and the cries of others tore straight through me. And yet I didn’t say a word. I couldn’t. Besides, what was there to say? All I could do was run. And pray. A flash of resentment directed my focus back to Mum. She’d been warned. The Mazon had told us not to try and settle here. They’d made it very clear that we weren’t welcome. We’d been given just one day to be off their planet, but Mum had refused to deploy the emergency beacon until five Sol hours ago. The chances were slim to none that any vessel would be in the vicinity to even detect the signal, never mind come to our aid.
    It didn’t matter that this land was unoccupied. As far as the Mazon were concerned, it was their territory and theirs alone. We were intruders. Mum had tried to convince them that we weren’t a part of the Authority and that all we wanted was to coexist in peace. I’d listened as she’d spoken at length about what we could bring to their table. Mum truly believed that reason could work with the Mazon. But we were the unknown, and as far as they were concerned, that meant we were to be feared and eliminated, not necessarily in that order. It would be laughable if it wasn’t the exact opposite. We weren’t a threat to anyone. Just a bunch of unwanted people seeking a better life.
    This wasn’t what any of us had had in mind.
    Mum had been so sure we could win round the Mazon to her way of