The Pack-Retribution by LM. Preston

just been through too much, and seen too much, to pretend it was safe on Mars.
    The alarm clock went off. “Screw! I’m going to be late.”
    She jumped up and hurriedly dressed. Her hands fluttered across the safe in the back of the closet and reached in to grab her weapons belt. A smile slipped on her face, because tonight they’d be one step closer to finding these killers.

Chapter 17
    Shamira opened the door to meet Valens’ sister, Mina, staring up at her.
    “I was just about to knock.”Mina’s beaming smile brightened. “I’m staying the night with Taren.”She twisted her black braid with her fingers.
    “Oh, okay. Everybody just got home a few minutes ago. They’re down in the game room having a junk-food fest while my mom is in the training room.”
    Mina’s thumb tapped at the handle on her bag. “I know the way.” She scooted around Sharmira and skipped into the house.
    The door closed behind her. Shamira jumped off the porch to meet the others. They waited in front of her house on their motorcycles. Except for Anthony, who drove the sports car he won in a card game between her, Hedi, Mitch and Valens.
    “Pearl, come out.” She waited for her motorcycle to drive from the garage and smirked at Anthony who was grinning at her from the driver’s seat. “You know that is a no-go, right? There’s no way we can sneak up on anybody with that ride.”
    “Why not? She blends in,” Anthony replied.
    “No. Take Valens’ motorcycle. It’s safer.”
    Anthony groaned and mumbled a curse. His eyes were still filled with merriment. “Girl, you lucky I like you. I don’t usually let chicks boss me around.”
    Shamira climbed on Pearl and Valens slid in behind her with a chuckle. “Who are you kidding? You know this girl can whip your butt and make you do what she wants,” she laughed.
    “Throwing her weight around again, Valens. You better check her,” Mitch snorted.
    The other guys agreed, laughing.
    “Can we just focus?” Hedi huffed. She winked at Shamira before letting out a whistle.
    Leaning forward in her seat, Shamira got serious. “Let’s ride to the perimeter of the Outlands, to Meccan. We can park the rides and go in on foot so they won’t hear us coming. I researched the place and saw pictures of the terrain. I have an idea where they may be hiding.”
    Valens tightened his arms around her while they drove. “I’ve been asking around. The people that live in the Outlands are pretty much harmless. Some are too poor to live in the Sectors. So, they built shelters on the West portion of the land because of the sand management towers. They also tap into the generators underground for warmth. But we can’t be careless, we don’t know who might be there waiting for us.”
    She revved her engine and slipped between cars that littered the border of Sectors 7 and 6. “Freaksheep may have moved on. There’s no guarantee he’s still out there. If he got clean on his own in that short of time, he had help. I’ll bet my life on it.”
    “So, what did you tell your parents we are doing tonight?” Valens asked.
    “Double date, with you at Sector 6 virtual beach and restaurant.”
    “Oh, they actually bought that?” Valens’ eyebrow lifted. “They know you hate anything that has to do with Earth.”
    “True, but they know I’ll go anywhere with you and Hedi just to shut the both of you up. Besides, it’s easier for Hedi to fake the signal to something that’s close to our location, and Oasis Hawaii is the closest hangout spot near the Outlands.”
    After forty minutes, the scattered line of buildings ended. Two miles later, they arrived at the sand-swept edge of Sector 6. The dimly lit paved, one-way road dead-ended. Rocks formed an unevenly stack for them to drive through. They rode several more miles to one of the rock forests. Large red rocks seemed to glow in the setting suns and stood like small mountains that littered the vast wasteland of sand and small rock. The temperature