Free The Pack by LM. Preston Page A

drilled miles under the planet’s surface to add heating beams to make Mars as close to Earth temperatures as possible. Breathing in, she wondered about the towers throughout the planet that pushed clean oxygen and powered the heat generators buried deep within the ground. She raised her chin and felt the winds and sun, which generated the power on Mars every day and night.
The people on Earth take so many more things for granted.
Although the heat generators made Mars warmer than it would be without them, she realized that Mars was still much cooler than Earth.
    Opening her eyes, she shook off a slight shiver when the coolness of the evening air hit her exposed face. Pulling her jacket closer, she took a deep breath, caged her anger, and walked toward the door. She opened the door and was hit by warmth. She looked up to see her dad as he embraced her mom. Shamira’s mom had hair slightly darker than her own. Her face was pale with a sprinkling of freckles over her nose, giving her a youthful look. Tears fell unchecked from her mother’s eyes, and her mom pushed away fromher dad. She ran to Shamira and snatched her up in her arms. Her mom and she stood about the same height, but her mom was thicker. She had a firm grip when she pulled Shamira tightly against her. Caught off guard, Shamira didn’t have a chance to return the embrace.
    Shamira pulled slightly away from her mom to get another look at her and realized that she looked similar to what she had imagined. She closed her eyes and sniffed, smiling slightly at the familiar scent.
    â€œHi,” she said, smiling. Her mom smiled at her through her tears, and Shamira noticed a deep dimple on her mom’s left cheek. She reached out and touched it.
    Her mom took her hand, and turned to her father. “It has been horrible. Nelson, everything is falling apart at Headquarters. They’re tracking us down one by one and snatching our kids. I will kill the bastards. I will. If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll hunt every one of them down and make them pay!” her mom said, releasing her hold on Shamira.
    Her father paced angrily and said, “Katherine, I know, baby. I know, but you will have to beat me to it,” her dad said. His anguish showed brightly on his face. Growling out his grief, he punched his hand through the wall, and tears ran silently down his face. Her mom rushed over and hugged him from behind, whimpering while she cried.
    â€œI’m so sorry, so sorry,” her mom cried. Shamira stood andwatched them and thought this wasn’t the way she wanted to see them for the first time. Again, her anger started to build. She had to go, to get out of there. She wanted to start looking for David. Her fist balled up and she tried to regain her slipping control. She would not cry. Refusing to give the slime that did this to her family the satisfaction, she would find the mastermind behind this. She was sure of it.
    â€œNelson, we have to go. They’re waiting for us at Headquarters. We’re having an emergency tactical meeting. This is a lot worse than we anticipated. A member from each of the Sectors arrived early today—or what remains of them anyway. They’re waiting on us to get there. We must go.” Her voice broke while she tried to regain her composure. She pulled away from her husband, whose head rested on the wall above the hole he’d made.
    â€œWhat about Shamira? Should we take her?” he asked and pushed away from the wall.
    â€œI think I’ll be safer here, Dad. I want to get reacquainted with my home and spend some time in David’s room. Please?” Shamira pleaded, bending her head down and trying to look pitiful. She didn’t want them to notice the anger burning within her. It would give away her intentions to her dad. He knew the other side of her nature, the fighter, the hunter, and her inner beast.
    â€œShe’s right. There’ll be so much going on there. I