The shuttle landed smoothly in the dirt. Council Leader Tosh ordered them to search the tunnel system of a city near the plasma dome. There were two cities between this one and the dome.

When the pilot landed the shuttle and opened the shuttle bay doors, the small team exited the shuttle.

A light breeze blew past them. Rask and Van breathed in, looking for the toxic smell of zombies. There were none.

The rest of the team, oblivious to the potential dangers, headed toward the tunnel entrance with no hesitation. They never believed that zombies were even real. Council Leader Tosh had told them that Vorik had made it all up, calling him a liar. Rask and Van knew better. They had fought enough of them to know the truth of how dangerous they were.

Unlike the rest of the team, Van and Rash had twin sets of machetes on their back along with their blasters. They had found it was easier to take the zombies' heads off with them if the zombies attacked them. It was something they had learned from Zack and Shadick.

The team consisted of six men. Four of them were Tosh's men. The other two were Van and Rask. Usually, there was at least one female, but Tosh believed they would hinder the mission if they found humans. He believed they would grow soft, not wanting to kill them after hearing the rumors of potential mates amongst them.

The only ones on their team that were not 100% on Council Leader Tosh's side were Van and Rask. All the others were firmly loyal to Tosh; Even their pilot and co-pilot.

Rask scanned the area, hoping they wouldn't find anyone. He knew that if they did, the others would try to kill them all. It would force him and Van to try to stop them from killing any humans they found. Rask didn't know what he was going to do if they found humans hiding in the tunnels. It would be four against two, or six against two if the pilot and co-pilot got involved. He didn't like those odds.

He almost hoped that zombies would attack them so that the others could see that Tosh had been lying to them.

Walking through the tunnel, the putrid odor of decay permeated the air. Following the scent, they found a decayed corpse of a man with a missing head. The head was several feet away from the body it had once been attached to.

The decayed human remains lay at the base of a water valve. It must have been a fight over resources, and the man had lost.

The team turned down a narrow path in the tunnel system, much smaller in diameter than the main tunnel, heading away from the body.

The thick smell of toxins mixed with the decay of the dead man filled the tunnel system. Rask and Van pulled out their blasters with one hand, in the other, one of their machetes.

"What's that smell?" One guard stated. No one seemed to notice that Van and Rask had pulled their weapons out.

Rask tensed up, ready to fight the zombies when they showed themselves. "That smell is zombies," Rask stated, scanning his eyes through the tunnel's darkness. "To kill them, take their heads. Don't let them even scratch you. Try not to get their blood on you; it's all poisonous."

"They're real? I thought Vorik made it up?" the guard asked, pulling out his blaster. Fear washed through his features, his eyes growing wide. The other three followed suit.

Two zombies came running toward them. The green tint of their eyes, coming closer. Dark green saliva coated their lips. They looked fearful. It was as if they weren't attacking them but running away from something.

A sudden metallic scraping sounded, and then screams up ahead.

The hiss of something flying through the air. The farthest one of the pair of zombies fell forward, hitting the cement floor. A long dagger was sticking out of his back.

The second zombie looked at his friend and then at the group in front of him. He gritted his green-stained teeth. Another hissing sound sounded, and suddenly the zombie's head fell to the floor, green blood pouring out of its stump.

A lone figure came closer, eyeing their group. It was a young female with long raven hair and sparkling emerald green eyes. She grabbed the dagger from the dead zombie, pulling it out of his back, then swinging the lethal blade in a wide arch, took its head, and swiftly cleaned the dagger on the corpse's clothes.

Strolling over to the other weapon, she watched the stunned group as she picked up the axe she had thrown to take off the other one's head.

The girl stopped to clean the blade on the clothes of the zombie before putting it away.

She backed away like she was going to run, scanning the group as she did. She stopped suddenly as she looked at Rask. Her face paled.

Van looked between them.

Rask swallowed hard. "She is my mate." He said calmly. "I will kill anyone who attacks her."

The others looked between Rask and the unknown girl. They could see the truth of it. They didn't believe that mated pairs existed, either. Now they witnessed that what Tosh told them was a lie. Zombies were real, and so was the mating bond. There was no way to dispute either anymore since they witnessed it for themselves.

Van looked at the girl. The girl had raven black hair and emerald green eyes. He was looking at the same description Merrick had given of his mate.

"You wouldn't have a sister, would you?" Van asked. It almost sounded like he was asking out of the blue.

The question seemed to affect the girl. With pain in her eyes, her face paled. "My sister is not your concern," she spat out. Then it seemed to occur to her that she may have misread the question. "Are you asking because you know her or because you want her?"

Somehow, Rask saw hope inside the pain in her eyes as she asked.

"We have a friend mated to someone with the same description as you," Van told her. "Even her clothing is the same."

Tears filled her eyes. "Is she okay?" she asked quietly. It sounded like she was trying not to cry.

"Yes, she's fine. She was a zombie, but one of our medics cleaned the toxins from her blood; she's fine now." Van continued, observing her.

Rask couldn't say anything. Everyone watched, frozen in place, as Van conversed with the young human female. Van was the only one who spoke with the girl.

"What's your sister's name?" Van asked her. "She has told no one."

More tears fell. "Her name is Aleigha. Mine is Niki," she whispered.

"We can take you to her," Van offered, forgetting that four of Tosh's men were with them. "Are you alone? Are there more humans with you?" he asked her. "We can help them, too."

"I'm alone. I have seen no one for months. The last time I saw someone was when that man at the water valve was killed. There was a woman like you in that group. I think I heard them call her Shelia," she told Van, then scanned the rest of the group. Her eyes stopped again on Rask.

Rask finally moved forward, stopping in front of Niki. He held out his hand. "My name is Rask; that's my friend Van. Will you come with us?" he asked. "We can take you to your sister," he told her gently.

Niki nodded slowly and took his hand.

The four men with them watched with interest. "Tosh can't find out about her," one man spoke to no one in particular. "He will have her killed."

Van looked around at the men. "Are any of you going to tell him?" he asked.

All four of them shook their heads. Only one spoke. "Tosh told us it was all a lie. I can't speak for anyone else, but I can see the truth. I will not speak of your mate."

Van scanned the other three. "Any of you planning to tell him?"

They all shook their head again and then watched Rask with his newly found mate. All four of them had hope shining in their eyes. They wanted a mate, too. Rask, finding his mate, told them they could find one, too.

"Tosh didn't burn out the tunnels because of zombies, did he?" one man asked.

"No, Tosh knew about the hidden city down there. The city is where all the humans and their mates fled when Tosh arrived on the planet to kill them all. Every female was pregnant at the time of that burnout, and he knew they were, but still did it anyway," Van told them. "He wanted to kill all the mated pairs hiding down there."

All four of their faces visibly paled. They were learning that not everything was as it seemed.

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