by Maia Starr
“Thank you. That is very nice,” I said.
“Tomorrow, we will take you to get tested. This is all good news. And after only the first round, you are a very strong woman.”
“You think so? That means a lot to me. Now, a woman does need her privacy for things like this,” I said as politely as possible.
“Of course, of course. You need your privacy. I will be out in the main living area.”
Then he walked out and left me alone. I began to panic. I didn't know if the others were awake yet. I usually was able to get through this early in the morning, and they wouldn't know. But I guess my hacking sound was louder than usual this time. Did I remember to close the bathroom door? The nausea had come swiftly, and I thought that I had just run in and puked. That would be why he heard as well. I was trembling with fear. There was no way of getting out of this meeting tomorrow, the testing. He would definitely want to do it now.
Finally, I knew that I had to go out there. I wiped my face with a towel and splashed water on it. I drank the water and got dressed. I walked into the main area. They were all awake. Everyone began to clap.
“I couldn't keep it to myself. I was just too excited,” Arin said with the big smile on his face. I smiled and nodded to them.
“Yes, I have the sickness this morning. It is possible I am with child,” I said as normally as I could without trembling, even though I was terrified. I quickly looked at Keara. He was clapping with the rest of them playing along. I wanted to run into his arms and ask him what we should do. I wanted to run to him and beg him to take me away right then and there. To take me to safety, but instead, I just smiled and nodded.
The entire group, group 236, came over to me and hugged me, one big group hug. They were all so excited and happy. A part of me felt guilty. I was betraying them. I was betraying their trust. They were all so happy; they thought they were just doing what they were supposed to do: create offspring with the humans. They were so proud that they had done it in a short amount of time. If this had been different, I would have been happy to give them, each of them, a child. They had been so good to me, and so patient. But these circumstances weren't available to me. I was their enemy, and they didn't even know it.
“Watch over her today. Make sure she doesn't take a jug of water from the storage, the big barrels. She will still try to do that, overwork herself. It is more important now than ever,” Arin said to Keara as he was preparing to leave with Bryne and Lokin. Today was the day Keara would watch over me, and I was extremely glad about it.
“You know that I will. I am not going to let her lift a finger today. Not until we know for sure,” Keara said. Arin was so excited that he patted him on the shoulder.
“Let's get going!” Arin said to the others.
They each said their goodbyes to me, giving me a kiss. And then they got in the vehicle and drove off. I walked inside the house. I heard the door close I looked at Keara.
“Reena …”
“Keara …”
Then I ran to him. I wrapped my arms around his waist as he held me. I cried. These weren't just tears rolling down my face. I cried hard and ugly. I was terrified.
“Shh. It's all right. We will leave tonight.”
“Why can't we leave now? Right now. It will be hours before the others realize we are gone.”
“Because it might give us time to leave without the others noticing, but the army will. The patrols are tight in this area. They will see us in the middle of the water. It is not a good time. We have to do it under the cover of night. It is the only way we will get past them.”
“Tonight then?” I asked.
“Yes. Now go and get your stuff ready; we will go for a walk and take it to the boat. No one will suspect anything. I will get supplies, water, and food ready. Go,” he said.
“Yes. Okay.”
Then I was off. I packed again my pillow case with clothes. I put my outfit of jeans, a sweater, and my boots nearby to change into later. I was trembling. I was glad to be leaving but terrified of getting caught.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Arin
I was excited. I didn't expect that it would happen so soon, but I had hoped for it. I had heard the others that had human wives already talk about symptoms of pregnancy. Some of them would get sick in the morning, vomiting, morning sickness they called it. So every morning I had wondered if Reena was feeling that way. I would ask her how she was doing; she would always say fine. But I knew that I had to give it some time. We had not been together very long. It had been a little more than two weeks, and it was almost time for another round of one-on-ones. But then that I heard her when I walked past her room one morning. I heard her coughing violently. At first, I went in to check on her just to make sure that she was all right. But when I saw her over the toilet, vomiting, I grew very happy. At that moment, I realized that it was more than likely that this was the morning sickness.
I went to work that day feeling good, feeling very good. It was hard to share her with the others, but now I saw that it was out of necessity, as it was for everyone. But she was a strong woman, and our thoughts of her during the auction, that she would be a sturdy human, were right. She was obviously very healthy to take the pregnancy so easily. I did wonder which one of us had impregnated her. Time would tell.
That evening at dinner, we celebrated. We celebrated with water of course, but it was a joyous occasion. Everyone was in a good mood. The next day we would be taking her to the military encampment with us in order to get tested. I couldn't wait for the results.
“Do you feel any different?” Lokin asked her over dinner.
“No. Not really. But it would be too early to feel something like that,” she said.
“Then you should definitely eat more. If it is true, then you are eating for more than just yourself now,” Bryne said piling vegetables onto her plate. We all laughed. Everyone was in good spirits. This finally felt like a home to me. Group 236 were now my brothers, sharing the wife.
“Thank you, guess I could eat more. I also feel a bit sleepier than usual, but that could be just from waking up from the nausea this morning,” she said looking at Keara.
“Then after you eat, take a shower and get ready for bed. Even if you just lie down,” he said to her.
“Yes, that is a good idea. Get plenty of rest; that is good for mothers.” I agreed with him.
We finished dinner and bid her goodnight. The rest of us took our normal walk around the house, quietly this time even though a few jokes grew loud every now and then. But we knew that she was only getting ready for bed, not asleep just yet.
After the walk, we sat around in the living areas of the main house. I was going through the inventory of the kitchen, making sure that there was plenty of food now or if we needed to get more from the camp the next day. I did not want her ever to be hungry. I wanted her to get every nutrition possible. It was in my nature to take inventory; it was just what I did. I wrote down a few notes of some things that we would need to get. Also getting fresh baked bread as there was only half a loaf left. She must have eaten a whole one earlier; I remembered seeing another one just earlier that day. But I couldn't blame her, her appetite was greater, and she didn't even know why. I laughed to myself to think that she had my child inside of her, one with a very big appetite.
After I was done making notes, I said goodnight to the others and went to bed. The excitement of the day put me right to sleep.
But in the middle of the night, I woke up. It wasn't a noise that woke me up, just a feeling. I went to the kitchen and poured myself a glass of water. Then I thought, I should check on her just in case. What if she was sick again, puking.
It was then that I heard a noise outside in the back. It could be one of those wild animals, I thought, sometimes roaming the city. They called them raccoons, possums, and other critters. I walked out the back door.
“Keara, what are you doing out here? Need some air?” I asked.
It was then that I
realized he had a bag with him. Standing behind him was Reena, she was standing next to a rope. It was hung on the fence, as though to aid in climbing over. Heat rushed all over my body. This could not be what I thought it was.
“What is this? What is going on here?” I asked.
“Arin, stay calm. Listen to me. There is a lot that you don't know,” Keara said to me.
“Are you leaving? You are abducting our wife and taking her from us, from me?” I asked in a rage.
“No. Yes. No, it is not exactly that. She needs to get out of here; she is in danger,” Keara said.
“In danger? What do you mean? Why did you not tell us this? Where are you going?” I asked as I took a step toward him.
“Stay there, Arin…” Keara said.
“Arin, please listen. It is not Keara taking me. I want to go. I need to go,” Reena said.
“You would leave me?” I asked shocked.
She was quiet. They looked at each. It was in that look that I realized; they were in love. They were leaving to be together.
“You mother fucker,” I said as I went at him. I charged him, hitting him in the gut with my shoulder knocking him over.
She gasped but did not scream.
“Arin, stop,” he said quietly as we rolled across the ground.
“You cannot take her. I won’t let you. She might carry my child,” he said.
“No. She does not carry your child,” Keara said punching me.
“He is right. I carry a human child,” she said.
I stopped. I was frozen in shock. Then I felt a blow to my head, and everything went black.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Reena Okova
When I saw Arin come out, I was terrified. He could kill us both right then and there. But then when I saw the look on his face when he thought that I was leaving him with Keara because we fell in love and wanted to get away, it nearly brought me to my knees. Maybe I had been wrong about him. He looked genuinely hurt. I didn't want to hurt him. He had been good to me, even if his sentiments were loyal to the Dains. Now, he thought that I carried his child and that I was leaving him. But that was only partly true; if it was possible to tell him and to have him on our side, I would. But I knew that it wasn't.
But then when he started fighting with Keara, I grew completely panicked. I did not want him to hurt Keara; I cared for him deeply. I did not want their fighting to wake the others; then we definitely would not get out of there. I wanted to scream and shout, but I couldn't. I had to restrain my voice and my emotions. I knew that I somehow had to stop him. So I told him the truth, that I was pregnant with a human child. I knew it was dangerous to leave him with that information, but I had no other choice.
Then he was knocked out.
“Hurry, just in case the others heard,” he said as he grabbed me and pushed me up the rope. I climbed up it, getting to the top of the fence and lowering myself down and then jumping the rest of the way. He easily climbed over in less than a few seconds. But he was taller than me, with longer limbs.
He grabbed the rope and yanked it from the fence, pulling it over to his side. He rolled it up and then grabbed my hand. Together, we ran in the dark. I had on the heavy black coat that hid me in the night. We ran along the shoreline, along the big rocks, using them for cover. Anytime we heard voices of a patrol, we dove to the ground and laid down until they were gone.
“Here it is. I need to push it out to the water. Keep watch,” he said uncovering the boat and putting the tarp inside. I watched as he dragged it out of the fenced-in yard. I stood there turning in a circle, slowly. I was looking out over the houses, looking out over the water, looking in the sky. I was looking for any sound or movement. I stepped along with him, following the trail of the boat. Finally, the boat was in the water.
“Climb in,” he said giving me his arm. I held onto his arm and climbed in. Then he pushed it out into the water getting waist deep and then hoisted himself up into the boat.
“Grab a stick,” he said. “Follow my direction.”
I looked around inside the boat. To my surprise, there were two paddles. It looked like he had made them himself. He grabbed one, and I grabbed the other. We quietly paddled deeper into the lake. Once we were further out, I felt relieved. We had done it, we had escaped from Chicago and were now out on the water.
“It is going to take us forever to get there with the paddles,” I whispered to him knowing that sound carried across the water.
“This is only the first part. I want to get a little further out; then I have a propeller, a mechanical device to put in the water. It is quiet, but I don't know how quiet, let's get further out,” he said.
“Keara, thank you. You told me to trust you. You really came through. I was absolutely terrified. When I saw Arin and you fighting, I did not want him to hurt you. And it's not just because I need you to escape; it's because I truly care about you,” I said.
“And I love you, but you already know that.”
I looked at him as he turned over his shoulder and smiled at me. I smiled back.
We rowed out a little longer, about twenty minutes.
“I should go ahead and use it now. Arin will probably be waking up any moment, if he hasn't already. He will be looking for us, or he will alert the military. We need to get to the island within the hour,” he said. “Change places with me, carefully.”
He crawled toward the back of the boat, and I crawled toward the front. He moved some supplies around and pulled out a gadget. He hinged it to the back of the boat. I heard it plunge into the water. Then he took out a compass, a human man-made compass, not a gadget made by the Dains. I looked at him. He smiled.
“Sometimes plain human gadgets are better than the fancy electronics we have. Everything that we have for direction would be able to be spotted or tracked. This, however, is very simple, very easy to hide. It doesn't even light up,” he said.
“Yes, sometimes humans have good things,” I said.
He smiled. “Hold on, here it goes,” he said and then turned on the propeller. The bolt jolted me back a little, and I was surprised at how fast it was. I don't think either of us were expecting it to be this fast. It was good that we had a lot of weight in the boat to keep it in the water, it felt like it could fly. It moved fast, and before I knew it, I could see the dark outline of an island on the horizon. I was starting to grow nervous. What if they fired on us? But they were probably used to humans showing up out of the blue for sanctuary. I would hope they had better wits about them than to just fire. But we would only know once we got closer.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Keara
The moment of truth came. It was a moment of having to betray one of my brotherhood. Group 236 was my family now. But I was going to have to the trade them in order to save the human female that I loved. I wasn't planning on doing that betrayal face to face until Arin caught us.
I was afraid he was going to do something brash. I was afraid he would expose us all or call so much attention to us that the patrol would come in our direction. But I understood his pain. I knew that I would feel exactly the same way if I saw Reena leaving in the middle of the night with one of the others, or with him. I would be devastated. So I couldn't blame him for the rage that grew inside of him. He didn't know the circumstances, and I didn't know that if you knew them that he would care or make him angrier. But we couldn't take that chance.
But I was glad when he came after me and not her. Fighting gave us the chance to knock him out and get away.
Now, we were under the cover of darkness and making our way across the lake, to the other side. To the island that I had seen. I hoped that my direction sense as a pilot was as keen as needed to be using the primitive human tool, a compass. I was pleasantly surprised by the propeller; it was very strong and very fast. Exactly what we needed. But as we got closer to the island, I turned it off.
Reena turned and looked at me. “What is it?” she whispered.
“We are close e
nough. We should use the paddles from here. If we go at them too fast, they might see it as a threat. Here, tie this to the front of the boat,” I handed her a white rag.
“Good idea,” she said. “If they shout, let me answer. They will hear a human female voice.”
“Yes, that is a good plan.”
After she tied the rag to the front of the boat, we picked up our paddles again and began to quietly paddle toward the island. I was very aware, using my soldier sensibilities. I was looking up into the sky, looking for any scouting ships. I was looking behind us looking for any lights of ships that would come after us. I could no longer see the shoreline behind us; it was long past. I wondered what Arin would do once he woke up. Would he put her in danger out of spite? Or would he pretend that he knew that we were gone, but did not know in which direction we went? The fact that we were going out the back sort of made it obvious we were going to the shore, and I wished I would have thought about that before. But going out the front with lead us to the street, and to the patrols.
“I am growing nervous,” she whispered to me.
“That is to be expected. We should go around to the right; there aren't any waves in that section. Do you see what I am talking about? It is calm.”
“Yes, I see it. I am almost hoping they call out to us. I don't want to get on shore just to be shot,” she whispered.
“It is more than likely they will wait until we are on shore. That is the way of the Dains. To let those come to you, while you are hiding. Only then when you have blaster guns pointed at them do you make them tell them who you are.”
“Well, that is good to know.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Keara, what if your group of Dains has found this island and they are the ones that are here.”
“Then we will find out soon enough.”