Peyton's Legacy: A Cambria Code Short Story: The Cambria Code, #4

By S. M. Schmitz

Twenty years after the arrival of the thieves of peace, the surviving invaders are again threatening the lives of everyone on Cambria. But this time, it’s Zoe and Peyton’s daughter who will lead the expedition to save everyone again.

Jenna has heard “like mother like daughter” her entire life. She’s always had to walk in her mother’s shadow, and she’s grown tired of everyone expecting her to be Zoe Arren. But when the thieves of peace who’d been left behind on Cambria begin looking for new food sources, Jenna decides to confront them, and she will have to discover if she’s really just like her mother after all.

• Language: English
• Publisher: S. M. Schmitz
• Release date: Dec 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386198734

Book preview

Chapter 1

Cambria

Twenty years after the arrival of the Thieves of Peace

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Jenna gently touched the panel on the outside of her home to open the front door. She cringed as it hissed and slid into the wall. Her father would most likely sleep through her knocking down the damn door, but her mother had an uncanny sixth sense for knowing exactly when she was attempting to sneak back inside the house.

All of the lights were off so she pulled off her shoes and crept toward her bedroom. She’d made it eight feet when her mother’s voice stopped her.

Again, Jenna? Zoe demanded.

Jenna jumped and dropped one of her shoes.

Mom… She trailed off because there was nothing she could say now to pacify her mother.

Zoe slapped a different panel on the wall and lights flickered on overhead.

I’ve told you that joining your father’s Security Forces is out of the question! Zoe yelled.

"You did it!" Jenna yelled back.

I didn’t have a choice, Zoe argued. There were fewer of us and…

Jenna grunted at her and rolled her eyes. Sometimes, talking to her mother made her feel like the teenager she still was.

Mom, we can’t keep pretending they’ll leave us alone. The invaders that got stuck here have gone through their stockpile of bodies and if we don’t find and kill them first, they’ll start hunting.

And your father’s sending out forces to look for them. You’re barely nineteen!

A shuffling in the hallway prevented Jenna from arguing with her mother about whether or not she was old enough to join her father’s Security Forces. She understood why both of her parents kept insisting she couldn’t. They’d lost almost everyone they loved in the initial invasions, and they sure as hell didn’t want to lose their daughter now.

But her mother’s legacy on this planet was an impossible shadow for her to step out of.

And her father’s legacy continued on in her. Something compelled her to continually defy the parents she idolized, and she suspected it was just as much genetics as the stories neither of them liked to discuss.

Peyton stood at the end of the hallway, yawning and rubbing a hand over his face as he glanced between his wife and daughter.

Again? he asked.

Zoe pointed to Jenna and said, Told you she takes after you. She’s just as stubborn.

Peyton snickered and nodded toward Jenna. And who’s helping you train this time?

Who do you think? Zoe interrupted. "The same boy I told you to fire last time."

Mom! Jenna shouted. What’s the harm in Branson teaching me anything if you never let me out of this village?

Peyton yawned again and waved a hand toward the panel for the lights. Come back to bed, Zoe. I’ll never authorize her participation on any missions to search for the remaining thieves of peace so she’s right: It doesn’t matter if she’s every bit the badass you were.

Zoe arched an eyebrow at him and folded her arms over her chest. "Were?" she challenged.

Peyton smiled at her and challenged back, Ok, Mrs. Arren. Prove me wrong.

Jenna groaned and mumbled, "I’m taking my