by Maia Starr
I looked down to see Keara standing there staring at me.
I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to do. Do I keep climbing and try to make a run for it? Or do I stop and come down to him? I knew that if I got over that fence, he would be close behind me. He might even fire at me. I didn't stand a chance if I got over the fence he would be over it in a split-second and be on me.
“Come down from there before you hurt yourself.”
I sighed. I moved down the fence and was on my feet. He came over to me. He had an angry look on his face. He yanked the sheets off, making sure that they were completely down. He grabbed my hand and pulled me hard toward my window. He pointed for me to go inside. I crawled through the window, and he came in after me. He closed the window behind us. He moved to my door and made sure that it was closed. He untied the sheets and put them on the bed.
“Are you going to tell me what this is all about?”
“Are you going to tell the others?”
“I don't know yet. What were you doing? It was obvious you were leaving,” he said in an angry tone. If the others were awake, he would obviously be shouting at me.
“I don't have a choice. Arin is not giving me a choice. I have to get out of here. He will kill me, or you will.”
“What? I don't understand.”
I looked at him. Tears begin to fall down my cheeks. Could I trust him? If I told him, he could kill me right then and there. But since I wasn't going to escape, it was better now than later. It was better to confide in him now; maybe he really did mean what he said before, that he loved me. Maybe he would have mercy on me. At that moment it was my only choice.
“Reena, tell me.”
“Arin said that he's going to have me tested fairly soon, tested to see if I'm pregnant.”
“He did? He did not tell us that. I think it is too soon. Another month should do it.”
“Well, that is what he said.”
“And that is why you are running away from us? It is dangerous out there. What is going on?”
“I can't take that test. Because it will show that I am pregnant,” I said.
I looked at him. A big smile came over his face. “You are? Then that is great. That is what we want. But why run away? Because you hate us? Because you can't stand the thought of having a Dain baby?”
“No. That is not it at all. It is because it is not a Dain baby. It is a human baby.”
He was shocked. He just stared at me. I saw a variety of emotions come over his face. His shock turned to anger. Then his anger turned to confusion. He sat on the bed. He looked at me.
“Explain yourself to me, wife,” he whispered in anger.
I took a deep breath. I did not want to sit next to him. I was scared that he might hurt me. I didn’t know what his response would be.
“My husband died a little over a month ago, perhaps six weeks, eight weeks, I don't know the time anymore. We were together before then. I carry his child. When we found out that I was pregnant, he gave me a blue medication. He said that if I were ever caught, then I should use it on myself. It gets past the test, the test that proves whether or not we are virgins. I took the medication before going into the virgin camp, and I passed, and they put me in with the virgins. But I am not a virgin. I am pregnant with a human child. I had no choice. It was either that or be killed.”
“Blue medication? I have never heard of such a thing. I can't believe that this is true. You carry a human child. I did not take your virginity. But the red on the bed?”
“Strawberry juice,” I said.
“So that is why you are trying to escape. Arin wants you to take the test, and it will show that you're pregnant with a human baby.”
“They will kill me. Unless you are going to kill me here and now,” I said to him.
“No. I would never do that. Don't you know? I love you. I meant what I said to you. I cannot kill you; I love you.”
My shoulders dropped in relief. I didn't know what he was going to do, but at least I would stay alive for this night.
“Are you going to tell the others?”
“No. I am not. But you are right; you can't stay here. Once that test is taken…”
“So you will let me go? Tonight?”
“No, absolutely not. You won't last out there more than a few hours. You will stay here. Just let me think about this. I will figure something out, Reena. I am shocked. I am disappointed. I need some time to think this over. I do feel betrayed that you carry a human child. But I understand your reasons for keeping it a secret. It was your only choice.”
“Thank you, Keara. But I do not expect you to put your life in danger for me. I just need to be able to get out of here; then I will be fine on my own.”
“Like hell you will. We are in this together, you and me. I won't tell the others. It is best not to. I don't know where their sympathies lie. But mine live with you no matter what. Will you trust me?”
“You ask a lot of me,” I said.
“You ask a lot of me too,” he said. He put his hands out to me. I put my hands in his and looked up at him. His dark hair in his dark eyes, filled with kindness. It was true what I saw in those eyes before; it was caring. He did love me. And now I had deeper feelings for him more than ever because of what he was doing for me. Because he was going to keep my secret and help me through this.
“I trust you.”
“Good. Now promise me that you will stay here tonight. I will be watching. But I cannot stay in this room with you. The others might think that we are together tonight and that I have gone off schedule. We don't need that kind of tension around here. Put your sheets back on, put your stuff back in the closet, and put your nightdress on. Tomorrow we pretend like nothing, go on as usual.”
“Yes, I will.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise you, Keara. I won't betray you.”
“Good,” then he leaned down and kissed me. I put my hands on his strong chest, feeling the strength there. Fully putting everything that I had, my faith, my trust, giving him everything.
Then he pulled away and opened my window and climbed out. I closed the window and did as he said. I took off my clothes and put on my nightdress. I put the sheets back on the bed and hung up everything I had in my supplies. I laid in bed and went to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-One
Keara
I had walked outside in order to get some air. I did this often at night, when everyone was asleep. It was just what I had always done. It was part of being a pilot, always being aware of everything. I just wanted to know what our area was like at night, and what was considered normal. So every other night, sometimes only once every four days, I would walk around the house at night. But tonight a surprise was waiting.
When I first saw the white rope over the fence, I thought someone was trying to come in, but this place was well patrolled. Then I saw the small human climbing up, and I knew that it was Reena. But I couldn't believe it. Of course, humans had always tried to escape here and there, but I thought that we had bonded with her. I thought that I had bonded with her. So I was completely confused to see her putting herself in such danger. Didn't she know what was out there? The patrols would find her and scan her marriage band tattoo and bring her back to us, but only after punishment.
But then when she told me why she was running away, I was completely shocked. This entire time she had been pregnant. She had been carrying a secret baby; I felt sorry for her. At that moment I realized the amount of stress that she must be under all while smiling and putting on the face of the perfect wife day in and day out for us. If this had been before I heard about the rebel group, I wouldn't have had as much mercy. If this had been before I had fallen in love with her, I wouldn't have thought twice about them taking her away from us and giving us a new wife. But now things were completely different. I was wholeheartedly in love with her. I had to be in order to put myself at risk to save her like this. Things were different because I knew that there were other
s out there that wanted to live equally with the humans. That did not want to kill them off. Now that I knew that, I had started to question at myself. That was why I did not turn in the island that I saw. Somewhere deep down inside, I knew that it was wrong. It wasn't for me, not anymore.
But now, her life and the life of her unborn child were in my hands. I had to make a plan to get out of there, to get us out of there. I just needed some time. I needed to buy time. I would need to plan this out perfectly. There was only one thing for me to do: I had to take her to the rebels. I would be renouncing the army, my position as a pilot, and joining the rebels, but I would do it for her. I sat in my room and looked at my notebook. The coordinates. I could not lose this. I opened a compartment in my room and pulled out a permanent writing tool. I wrote the coordinates on my arm within the pattern of the tattoos that I had down my arm to my wrist. I wrote it intricately; it blended right in with the designs. Now I would always have them with me. These permanent writing tools did not wash off for months. I lit a candle and burned the paper with the coordinates on it. I needed to get us to the rebel island somehow. I couldn't steal a flight ship because they would know; they would track it.
If there was only some way to go over the water. Then I remembered the boat. That was it. That was the only way. Reena has said that it could be patched and needed to be sealed. But rowing across that great lake would take too long; they would find us. I knew what I needed.
“Good morning, wife,” I said walking into the kitchen. I was relieved to see that she was there. I had been keeping watch, but after a while, I fell asleep. She was cooking breakfast like she always did. Bryne and Lokin were already sitting at the table. I gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“It smells good.” I sat down with Bryne and Lokin and poured myself some water.
“Who's on watch today?” I asked.
“Arin,” Bryne said. I could see Reena flinch a little.
“Actually, it is going to be you, Lokin,” Arin said coming into the kitchen. He wrapped his arms around Reena and gave her a kiss on the neck. She playfully rubbed his arm.
“What? I have a shift?” Lokin said.
“No, I just got word that I am needed in the armory. I told them my watch was today with my wife, and they scheduled you for tomorrow's shift, so you are not going in today.”
“Well, you don't have to tell me twice. Maybe we could work on the garden today, Reena,” Lokin said.
“Oh yes, I would like that very much. I think the flowers are doing great. I started to put leftover pieces from our meals in the ground around them. Potato peels, egg shells, and things like that; it is giving them a lot of nutrition,” she said as she emptied the pan of eggs onto a large platter and brought it over to the table with a smile. I had to hand it to her: she was good. Now that I knew that she was pretending, I could see it. But I wasn't going to give her away.
“That is good thinking. Yes, we will check on them today,” Lokin said, piling a heap of eggs on his plate. We all did the same. She put some bread on the table and a plate of vegetables. Then she sat down and ate with us. She had a pleasant smile on her face. But when she locked eyes with me, we knew. There was something between us. Our secret.
“I know I have a lot of work today. The sooner I get in there, the better,” I said cleaning my plate.
“Yeah, ready,” Bryne said, standing up shoveling food into his mouth still. Then he ran off to his room to get his knapsack. Arin finished his meal and stood up. We each gave Reena a kiss on the cheek and then walked out to the vehicle. I was glad to get Arin away from her since he seemed to make her nervous with his talk of a pregnancy test.
During my flight shift that day, I led the flight group south, carving out the region that I wanted them to scout over the next week. This would make sure that they did not go over the lake again, right when I would be taking Reena out onto the water.
After my flight, I went to engineering and found exactly what I needed for the boat. No one questioned me taking what I needed; I did it all the time because I worked on my own ship all the time. I knew mechanics well.
I left my shift early and made my way toward our neighborhood home, but I did not go home. Instead, I went to work on the boat. It did not take me long to patch it. Then I pulled it into the yard of a home on the shore and covered it with the tarp, leaving everything I would need there. Then I went back to the military camp. I found Arin and Bryne just in time; they had no idea that I had left. We all rode in the vehicle back to our home, back to our wife.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Reena Okova
Every day was torture. I didn't know when Arin was going to spring on me that he suddenly wanted to take me in to get tested. I feel like it could be any day or any minute. I was terrified. I put all of my faith in Keara, hoping that he would come through with some plan quickly. But it wasn't hard for me to pretend that nothing was wrong. I had been doing it since day one.
“Should we go for a walk?” Keara asked me as I sat with Bryne. It was Bryne's day to watch me, but Keara had come home early.
“I am actually a bit tired; mind if I hang back?” Bryne said he said.
“Not at all. Reena?”
“I would love to, if we can walk along the lake?”
“Sure, we can do that.”
“Let me change into my boots,” I said going to my room and putting on my new boots.
Keara and I made small talk about the lake on our way out of the house and onto the shoreline. It wasn't until we were a good distance from the house that we started to talk about what this walk really was about.
“You have been doing good. Keep it up.”
“What have you learned? What are we going to do?” I asked him in return.
“I have a surprise for you.”
I was confused. I followed him along the lake until I came to a familiar sight. But the boat was gone. I walked with him toward a house further away from the shore. He went into the yard and picked up a tarp by the corner. It was the boat.
“I fixed it.”
“You did! That's great!”
“This will be our way out when it is time. I took a gadget from engineering; it is a quiet propeller that is used on ships. But submerged in the water, it should propel us forward. I have yet to try it out, but in theory, it should work. A paddle would take too long, rowing.”
“I like this plan. But where is our landing point? Where will we be going to?”
“I have something to tell you. Now it is my turn to confide in you. It is my turn to have you keep my secret as well,” he said.
I was surprised. I was not expecting to hear this from him. “I will keep your secret. You have kept mine, dear husband.”
“I think I know where the rebels are. I found them a few days ago, on an island in the middle of the lake, far out from here. I didn't tell anyone. In fact, I told my superiors that there was nothing out there and any other direction.”
“You did? Why would you do such a thing?” I asked. I was completely shocked by this news. It seemed that Keara had a little bit of a rebel inside of him anyway. He must truly be on my side if he was willing to keep that information from his army. He had found the rebels and told no one.
“I still do not know why I did it, Reena. I did not know about your situation at the time. But when I saw them, I thought of you. I thought, what if you were on that island just trying to survive. I didn't want to be the one to hand over information that would get you killed. It was you, the thought of you. It was my love for you that stopped me from turning in that information. Deep down, I guess I know that this is wrong. At first, I was able to go along with it, the annihilation of the humans, but that was because I didn't know any. Now that I know you, I see that the humans should live.”
I jumped into his arms. Tears rolled down my face. Whatever had happened to Keara, he had changed. He was now a Dain that saw humans as equals, not as creatures to be killed. I couldn't have asked for something better. Right then and
there, my heart felt like it belonged to him. I pulled him toward me, kissing him deeply. He put his arms around me and kissed me back. For the first time in a long time, I was kissing a male because I wanted to. I was kissing a male because I felt deep emotion for him. I was kissing him because my body wanted to. This was different than just arousal; it was love.
“Come, we should get back. We can't be gone too long or out of sight,” he put the tarp down, and we walked out to the shoreline and back to our home.
“I will figure out when the time is right. We will go together,” he said.
I nodded yes to him. Then we made our way walking back toward the fence of our home. I felt relieved. We now had a solid plan. Going to take the boat across the lake and find this island, filled with Rebels. They would protect us. We would help them fight. But most of all, my child would be safe. My child with Richard would be safe.
A few days passed. I had a week off after the last one-on-one before we would start the rotation again. I was glad that Arin was very busy with work. Whatever the rebels were doing was protecting me by keeping him busy at work. He was always gone, so it surprised me when he walked in on me.
I was over the toilet, vomiting. I had not had a lot of morning sickness before, but as I was getting more and more pregnant, the nausea was becoming stronger.
“I thought I heard you,” Arin said.
I looked up at the open doorway of my bathroom. He was standing there with a big smile on his face.
“Hi. Yes… I just started to feel sick out of nowhere…” I said lying.
“This is wonderful!” he said kneeling down next to me. “This is a good sign. I will get you some water. Stay there don’t move,” he said. He was giddy. I felt bad. I felt guilty. He had the same look on his face that Richard had when he found out that I was pregnant. The same look that most men had when they found out they were going to be fathers.
“Here, Reena, whenever you are ready,” he said, putting the glass of water beside me.