Risk the Void: The Denrow System, #2

By Chris Corly

Krin has failed once. She refuses to fail again.

 

Only two people survived the massacre aboard The Megara, and the tragedy haunts Krin. But she's a survivor and guilt won't change that.

 

After crash landing on an unknown planet, Krin and Buck are met with danger at every turn as the planet's lifeforms threaten all they have left: each other.

 

But Krin will do anything to stay alive . . .

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chris Corly
• Release date: Oct 19, 2022
• ISBN: 9798215179741

Book preview

She could save Buck.

Krin bit her lip, knowing she was trying to convince herself more than anything. Things were different. It wasn’t just about killing Mal. She’d make Caide proud. It was all or nothing. Buck wouldn’t be a sacrificial lamb on the altar of her arrogance. She wouldn’t give Mal the slightest semblance of success.

They turned a corner, and Krin’s arm shot out, pushing Buck back around it. Heart drumming, she brought her shaking hand to her face and pressed her index finger against her lips, smearing blood across her skin. Buck gulped. She peered around the corner. There was Mal across the hall, hunched over a bundle of sticks forming a small teepee on a spot of scorched metal.

The loading bay was just past the room he’d chosen. They were so close. She could nearly taste it.

PART ONE

PROLOGUE

The message ran through the ancient wires, surging across the network until it triggered an alert on Search and Rescue’s server.

We’ve got a live one.

Sharon scowled at Nathan.

What? he asked, voice innocent, as if she hadn’t lectured him a thousand times before about his dark humor. They’ve been phony messages for weeks now. I don’t know why our department even exists. Half the time, the ships arrive at port on their own and we’re there for all of two seconds.

Sharon shook her head, too tired to lecture him at five in the morning. She opened the message.

FLIGHT #964302617: Send help. Ship stuck in orbit. Ship is compromised. Sending coordinates.

Her throat contracted, and she opened the attached footage. The blood and screams were overwhelming. She clapped her hand over her mouth and hurled her face into the trash bin beside the desk. Nathan jerked up from his crossword puzzle, his pencil drawing a stray line across the page.

You okay? He was at her desk in seconds and fell silent as he watched the footage, his own face turning green. He gagged but managed to keep his breakfast down.

Sharon closed the footage. Go get Liam.

Nathan didn’t move. Is that the ship he’s been looking for?

Yes, she whispered and took a large gulp of water, trying to wash away the sharp stinging in her throat.

1

Acid rain poured from the dark, cloudy sky and Krin sloshed through deep mud, searching for shelter with Buck not far behind her. Gritting her teeth against the burns left by each raindrop, she picked up speed, because that was the only thing she could do.

Caide’s shocked face flashed in her mind, but she pushed it away, choosing instead to peer through the sheet of rain. There, just within sight, a small cave yawned before them.

We’re almost there, she grunted, yanking her injured feet through the sticky mud.

Almost where?

There’s a cave, she breathed, not that far ahead. We can make it. Her words should have held hope, but they came out bland and monotonous. In the days since the crash, her actions had become mechanical.

Krin didn’t know how much time had passed since they’d crash landed on the planet. It felt like an eternity, and time seemed different there—seemed to bend in unwieldy ways. More than once she’d looked up at the sky and beheld the harsh glare of sunlight, only to be greeted by moonlight within the same hour. She didn’t know if it was time or weather that caused it, but it wore on her more than she could have guessed.

What she knew for sure was that she despised the rain with every fiber of her being. Each drop stung like a bee, then quickly transformed into a low burning that took root just beneath her skin.

Her hair was drenched and clung to the sides of her face. She pulled it away, but the motion was futile as the strength of the downpour shifted it back into place.

Krin gratefully hunched her shoulders as she passed underneath the lip of the cave onto damp earth. She walked a short way in, although she didn’t want to go too far. There was no telling what may or may not be in there, big or small. Buck followed her and they sunk to the ground, sitting across from each other as they caught their breath.

Krin groaned and slid her boots off one by one. Relief flooded through her limbs, and she gingerly set her feet on the cool dirt. She knocked her boots against the wall, spewing mud across the cave. Buck jerked away, scowling at her as he narrowly avoided the muddy spray.

Sorry, said Krin, and she set her boots aside, hoping to let her soggy feet dry while they rested.

Buck leaned back against the cave wall, his face lifted to the ceiling, and closed his eyes. Deep, purple circles revealed what little sleep he’d had in the last twenty-four hours, and Krin guessed she probably didn’t look any better.

She looked away from him and rested her chin on her knees, folding in on herself despite her drenched clothes.

What happened? said Buck, his voice raw from disuse. "How did things go so wrong on The Megara?"

Krin breathed through the panic rising in her chest, wishing she could pretend she hadn’t heard him at all, but, although the rain was coming down in thick sheets, it wasn’t loud outside the cave. His quiet question was crystal clear.

Not for the first time, she found herself aching for a single pill. Something to quell the panic in her chest.

Blood flashed before her eyes, Fuller’s snarl sounded in her ears, and she stared at her blood-drenched hands. Blood that only she could see.

I don’t know, she muttered. Perhaps if she said it enough, she would believe it, and forget everything else.

Silence fell between them as they listened to the constant patter of rain insulate them from the rest of the world.

She was the best thing that ever happened to me, whispered Buck. He watched the rainfall as he spoke. Making her laugh was my life’s ambition. I looked forward to it every day. I’d wake up and I couldn’t wait to see it.

His words conjured images of Caide, but Krin didn’t say anything. What was left to say? He’d lost Felicia and there was nothing she could do about it.

She always smelled so pretty.

A cloud of Caide’s cologne was just beyond her senses’ reach. She couldn’t quite smell it, but Krin remembered how it clung to her hair after a long hug.

Her smile made the world better.

Caide’s kind eyes watched her with a small smile at his lips. Krin let the image linger in her mind.

She never had a cruel thing to say about anyone.

Krin gulped. Caide was never unkind, but he unflinchingly demanded the best of others.

She was all sunshine and roses. He chuckled to himself. I know it sounds stupid to say, but she was. It’s the only real way to describe her. He choked up. And now . . .

Shut up. The words left Krin’s lips before she could stop them, dispelling the unbearable images of Caide. Shut up, she hissed, the words yanking themselves from the depths of her throat. Just stop. They’re all dead. Every single one of them. We are all that’s left. No one is coming to save us. No one can bring them back, so just shut up.

She turned away from him, burrowing her face into her hands as her body shook.

Buck stared at her, and his back stiffened against the wall. "Pretending none of it matters isn’t going to change it. It matters. Even if I hadn’t, his voice broke, loved her, this would all still be a tragedy. It is a tragedy."

Talking about it isn’t going to help.

You aren’t the only one stuck on this planet. You can sit there and stew all you want, but I’m not going to die in silence. Buck’s jaw was set, and his body was taut with frustration.

Krin looked away. He was right, and that was why his words stung—why she hated them and wished with every fiber of her being he would just be quiet.

Survival was her only priority now, the only thing she had any energy left for. Dwelling on the death and destruction aboard The Megara would get them nowhere. As difficult as it was, they had to move on, otherwise it would eat them alive. She could already feel it gnawing away at her, tearing