Base zero, p.1
Base Zero, page 1
part #2 of Captured Earth Series
Base Zero
A Sci-fi Alien Invasion Romance
A.G. Wilde
Base Zero
Base Zero © A.G. Wilde 2022
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, businesses, or locales is coincidental and is not intended by the author.
Contents
Disclaimer
Base Zero
Chapter 1
SAM
Chapter 2
GA’VAR
Chapter 3
SAM
Chapter 4
SAM
Chapter 5
GA’VAR
SAM
Chapter 6
GA’VAR
Chapter 7
SAM
GA’VAR
Chapter 8
SAM
Chapter 9
GA’VAR
SAM
Chapter 10
SAM
GA’VAR
Chapter 11
SAM
Chapter 12
SAM
GA’VAR
Chapter 13
SAM
Chapter 14
GA’VAR
SAM
Chapter 15
GA’VAR
SAM
Chapter 16
GA’VAR
SAM
Chapter 17
GA’VAR
SAM
Chapter 18
SAM
Chapter 19
GA’VAR
Chapter 20
SAM
Chapter 21
GA’VAR
SAM
Chapter 22
GA’VAR
Chapter 23
SAM
Chapter 24
SAM
Chapter 25
SAM
GA’VAR
Chapter 26
SAM
Chapter 27
GA’VAR
Chapter 28
SAM
Chapter 29
SAM
Chapter 30
GA’VAR
SAM
Chapter 31
SAM
Chapter 32
GA’VAR
Chapter 33
SAM
Chapter 34
GA’VAR
Chapter 35
SAM
Chapter 36
SAM
Epilogue
Next in the Series
Other books by A.G.
Acknowledgments
Keep In Touch
If you enjoyed this book…
About the Author
For Mom
I’m still here.
I’m fighting too…because I know you would expect nothing less.
Disclaimer
This work of fiction is intended for mature audiences only.
All sexually active characters portrayed in this book are eighteen years of age or older.
Base Zero
SAM
When the monsters came, I lost all hope.
None of us expected we would get help.
That we would be saved…
And that help would come from a most unlikely source.
The Vullan are huge. Scary.
They look like demons…yet, they saved us.
They saved me.
But the fight isn’t over yet. We’re still being invaded.
Destroyed.
I have to focus on surviving and helping the Vullan save my planet…my race.
There is no space for any other thoughts.
So why do the eyes of a certain demon catch my gaze?
And why doesn’t his attention make me want to flee?
GA’VAR
The little female is tenacious but that does not erase that fact that she is…little.
Smaller than the others.
Too small for bonding. That alone should dissuade me.
Yet, she draws my attention.
And when she sticks out that tiny pink tongue of hers right at me, I know I cannot stop the wheels she set in motion.
Whether she likes it or not, I want her even if I must not have her.
When the scourge that has invaded her planet come to get her, my decision is easy.
They will not take what is mine.
Chapter One
SAM
Base Zero.
Our new home.
It’s dark in the caves…but work has begun.
Beneath the rock that’s above our heads…around us…a huge alien ship hides…and even lower…they mine.
A species I never knew existed.
But that was before.
Before our world was captured. Destroyed.
In a matter of weeks, two separate alien entities have visited Earth.
The first came with one mission. To kill us all.
Life changed in an instant.
There’d been no omen in the skies to tell us this was the beginning of the end.
I don’t think anyone expected an end like this…
When they first appeared, I remember the sudden silence. As if the Earth itself refused to breathe, and then…chaos.
They painted cities red.
Even now, staring down at my hands, the dim light in the caves doesn’t hide the blood that I feel somehow lingers there.
I can almost see the red tint.
I can almost feel my heart struggling to escape my chest as I remember the death all around me.
I’d thought I was going to die.
Known it for sure the moment an orb, one of the giant machines, deposited me into its belly.
I don’t know how long I waited there.
Waited for my death.
But the moment I accepted, finally, that no help was coming, that humanity had lost this war, I saw an omen in the sky.
The one we’d been waiting for.
A huge black bird. Metal, or some form of it.
Alien.
Somehow, we were saved.
The darkness shifts near to me and my breath hitches as I’m brought back to the present. To reality.
Even as I try to focus on the task before me, the meal I’m supposed to be preparing, I know that some of them are watching.
They melt into the darkness of the caves.
They are the darkness.
Covered in black with eyes that either swallow you into that darkness or consume you like fire.
They call themselves the Vullan.
And the Vullan are our only hope of surviving the apocalypse.
I crouch as I work. My fingers shaking underneath the blade in my hand. The food I should be preparing laid out in front of me.
It is something to take my mind off things, yet, though I try to focus, I think I hear a distant thump and then the rock walls around us tremble.
I don’t know if it is one of the huge metal legs of the machines walking outside, or if it’s the sound of the Vullan drilling beneath us.
All I know is that the sound makes the muscles in my back tighten and that I can’t help but hold my breath.
My fingers tremble again, and I almost cut myself instead of the fish in my hand.
“Shit.”
“You ok?” The voice shakes me out of another daze. “I can gut them for you. I’ve watched you enough to know how it’s done.”
I glance at the woman beside me and offer her a smile that barely stretches my lips. I’d forgotten she was there.
Thoughts are louder than the people around me.
Lori’s cheeks lift, her smile encouraging.
I never knew her before all this happened.
I knew none of the other humans living underneath these rocks.
There are no old friends or family here.
We are all strangers.
Friends and family are no more.
Lori’s straight blonde hair is a complete contrast to my dark curls that hang heavily around my head.
I lower my head more, hiding behind my hair…hoping she hasn’t seen the ghosts behind my eyes…the same ghosts I sometimes see reflected in hers.
“It’s ok. I’m fine.” I force a smile, but I’m not sure she can even see it. “I can do it.”
I have to do it.
Because I need something to focus on lest anxiety gets the best of me.
Outside of this cave, the world is ending and even though I can no longer see it, every fiber in my being can imagine it.
My nightmares make up for what does not come to my eyes.
“Okay.” Lori eyes me a bit and I keep my gaze on the fish.
If I meet her gaze, I might shatter, and I don’t need her to see that.
We all have to be strong.
For each other.
“I’ll go down and get some water then, okay?”
I nod as she moves away.
The cave system is large, and I wonder if it had been some famous site.
There is railing in some parts. Signs, too, naming the bigger caverns.
One tunnel leads to a spring and a bathing pool—the source of everything we need to clean ourselves, our food, and keep us hydrated.
We were lucky it was here.
Or maybe it wasn’t luck at all.
They knew it was here.
The Vullan.
That’s wh y they brought us here.
So we can lie low.
Prepare.
So we can get our planet back.
As Lori heads deeper into the cave, I turn to watch her go.
The shadows shift as she moves, and I know the Vullan are moving around there.
Working between their massive ship and the ore they’re drilling.
Day in, day out, they work.
I don’t know what they’re creating.
I only know that we need it.
Because they are the only ones who know how to kill our enemy.
Their technology is beyond anything I’ve ever seen. Even the lights dotting the cave wall around me are not what they seem to be.
I stare at one as I think about it. It’s right above me, not far from the top of my head.
It moves as I look at it. A slight wave in the air like the petals of a flower twisting in the breeze.
Little plants.
Strange ones.
Alien and bioluminescent.
Their faint green glow could be almost comforting…if I allowed it to be.
If I could pretend.
The shadows shift again, and awareness fills my spine.
One or more of the Vullan is still there in the shadows.
I just know it.
I can feel his eyes on me even without seeing him.
It’s not the first time one has stared at me…watched me from the shadows…and I know it won’t be the last.
In the very first moments of meeting them, it had been clear the impoliteness of staring wasn’t a thing in their culture.
They always watch us.
Even more so now that one of us…has mated with one of them.
Adira created a bond with their leader, Fer’ro. And ever since, the other Vullan have been looking at the rest of us as if we’re fresh meat—and I’m not so sure they won’t eat us.
They’re humanoid, but I’ve seen their fangs.
Sharp, like those of wolves or maybe great predatory cats.
Add to that is their size. The Vullan are big.
Every single one of them seems to be sculpted from rock like the one they’re drilling into.
I’ve seen them fight.
Seen the blades that appear through their dark suits.
I’ve seen them try to tear each other apart.
They look scary. And they are.
At least, they can be.
They keep their distance from us—despite that most of the other humans go out of their way to not interact with them.
But that doesn’t stop them from staring.
And one of them seems to stare more than the others.
I glance toward the shadows, squinting as I look.
I wonder if it is him, but I’m too far away to make out anything or anyone.
As Lori disappears into the darkness, I’m left alone in the dim cavern and I finally allow my shoulders to hang.
My family is probably dead.
My friends…
My dog…
The last time I was outside, the world looked like humans had left a long time ago.
I don’t even know what the surface looks like anymore.
For I haven’t seen the outside of this cave in…weeks.
Has it been that long?
I’m not sure.
Time moves differently now.
And each day I wake with one singular fear. That the machines walking on the outside will find us.
That they will destroy us before we can fight back.
Gulping, I turn my attention back to the fish on the slab of rock in front of me.
It’s small.
Smaller than usual.
We’re running out of food.
Soon we will have to venture out there to get some more.
The thought makes me shudder.
I glance in the direction of the cave’s entrance and my heart picks up pace, thumping against my chest.
I know not one of us humans wants to go out there.
But I’m pretty sure we will have to.
And soon.
There’s a sound behind me, almost imperceptible, and I turn instinctively, my fist tightening around the sharp blade in my hand.
A group of three Vullan approaches.
Big. Looming.
Deep burgundy eyes meet mine and a shiver runs down my spine that should be fear…but not.
Him.
The one whose gaze feels like it’s engulfing me from the inside out.
I can’t explain it.
What scares me more is why the hell he’s looking at me like that.
Of all the Vullan, his gaze sends a strange feeling right through me.
They walk past me as they head into the central chamber where they stop and crouch together.
I notice they usually crouch like that when discussing things and when their clicks reach my ear, I know I’m right.
Pulling my gaze away, I slide the blade into the fish I’m holding, barely missing my fingers.
Shit.
I need to focus before I slice my hand off.
So I block everything out.
I push away my meddling thoughts and focus on the task I set out to do. In the background, the aliens’ clicks as they speak are almost comforting.
I can pretend I’m listening to birds as I work and soon I’m gutting the fish, removing its entrails, then its scales, and grabbing another to do it all over again.
This fish is small too.
I will have to ask Adira about it.
If we are running out of food, then the faster we get on the ball to restock, the better our chances of finding something we can eat in this wilderness.
I don’t know why I look up from what I’m doing to glance at the aliens talking near me.
I can’t understand their language but as soon as I look up, I regret it immediately.
Burgundy eyes meet mine.
Ga’Var his name is.
And as usual, he’s watching me.
I stare at him for a few moments, my brows furrowing before I pull my gaze away.
Creep.
But I can’t help glancing up at him again.
He’s still watching me.
I don’t even think he’s taking part in the conversation with the others.
He seems completely focused on me.
My problems, my troubling thoughts, they all melt away as I look into those strange, slitted eyes.
What do you want? I think, frowning at him.
That strange black suit he is wearing moves like fluid.
He retracts it from his face, and I pull my gaze away when I find myself staring.
But his face is already burned into my mind.
Those ridges he has running down his forehead and over the bridge of his flattened nose…
