Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 40168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 40168 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 201(@200wpm)___ 161(@250wpm)___ 134(@300wpm)
Until there were others that stood up for feeling the same way, or the Royals were overturned, nothing would change. But that was not something Tolcan would address by himself, not unless he wanted to be strung up and made an example of. And if that happened he wouldn’t be able to help his species prosper and grow.
He was trained, bred to be the male he was today, and it wasn’t until he had landed on Earth and seen how the Royals had disregarded the human life that wasn’t corrupt, that he realized his kind were acting exactly like the brute monsters the humans called them. There was strength in numbers, but so far, for these last thirty years, his kind was fine with how things were going, how Earth was their new home, and how the humans were inferior to them.
“Send Lycin and Petre to the perimeter of the mountain opening. You and I will take the cave. We can handle a handful of humans easily, but be mindful of those fertile females. I don’t want them harmed in any way during the extraction.”
Stellan entered the codes that would send direct links to the other Enforcers, and give them the orders he’d just initiated.
“Let’s move out,” Tolcan said, and he and Stellan headed down the mountain and toward the cave entrance.
They had their tranq guns at the ready, which when fired would stun their enemy, or in this case the humans, enough that they couldn’t cause harm to the Rogues or themselves, as some had tried to do numerous times.
“I’ll take the front, you watch the back. Make sure there aren’t any humans lingering on the outside that the scanners happened to miss.”
Stellan nodded.
They moved through the cave, their vision far superior to humans’, as was every other sense about a Rogue. Not only were they seven feet in height, far taller than the average human, they also were bigger, more muscular, and their intelligence made humans’ look like rats’. But then humans’ technology hadn’t been as primitive as they would have thought. What they lacked in strategic skills and engineering superior weaponry, they made up for in lethal doses of violence.
A Rogue saw perfectly in the dark, smelled things from a mile away, and had the strength of ten grown adult, fit human males. They didn’t need the humans as labor, but it allowed them to focus on creating new weapons, planning raids to hunt for more humans in hiding. It was the grunt work the humans did, the work they were able to accomplish without breaking their backs.
They followed the tunnel in the cave for about a quarter of a mile, going lower into the mountain. The air became somewhat moist, and the scent of dirt and of vegetation that grew on the walls filled Tolcan’s nose. Then, as they rounded another corner, their weapons trained, a human came out and attacked Tolcan. He was momentarily surprised that the scanner hadn’t picked up the human, but as Tolcan took in the sight of the male covered in mud and moss, it was clear he’d done so to try to hide from them.
Tolcan shoved the male away with enough force he slammed into the wall across from him. Pieces of moss fell from him, and the scent of minerals mixed in with the dirt came through.
Tolcan aimed his tranq gun and fired. The flash of light went into the human’s chest, causing his eyes to widen right before he slumped to the ground, unconscious.
“Let’s move. If he knows we’re here, the others might as well.”
Stellan nodded, and they moved closer. Tolcan pressed the location switch on his GPS wrist device, alerting the other warriors above that they were making their move. If any of the humans tried to escape through an alternate exit the Enforcers above would be prepared.
Tolcan heard the whispered, frantic murmurs just ahead, and signaled for Stellan to stay close and be ready. They rounded the corner, saw a small opening off to the side immediately, and noticed several of the humans moving through it. Tolcan raised his gun and started firing off shots.
He was precise, exact in his aim, and had three down within a matter of seconds. Screams erupted, and some of the more prime male humans came forward, fighting back. They were easy enough to take down, especially since they were so small compared to Rogues, and were also weaponless.
Tolcan moved into the cave, saw a man grab a female’s arm, tugging her toward the exit, and lifted his tranq gun toward the humans. But when the female turned around, her dark hair a wild mess around her frightened face, and her strange colored eyes watching him with fear, everything in him froze. Maybe it was the anomaly of her eye color that transfixed him? One was green, and the other was blue. Or maybe it was the fact that she looked at him with a hint of pleading, a vulnerability that had everything inside of him freezing, and the very male, very primal part of him waking up and taking notice.