It will take ages before Naomi and I can escape and build a life on Earth.
Earth might never send another convoy again. This could have been the only way out.
“Let me leave,” I say.
“And go where? Back to her? Back to Discovery Base, the place where you were violated and tortured?” he asks. “I told you, the fuel is gone. She can’t save you.”
She already did. She saved my heart. But he wouldn’t know anything about that. He doesn’t have a heart.
“Perhaps,” I say. “But I can sleep easy knowing that no one will be here to save you.”
“I don’t need saving.”
I pull the red emergency lever and stare him dead in the eyes. “Go fuck yourself, Zakar.”
A siren rings out, so blaring it sends Zakar back. “Turn it off!” he screams, twitching.
The frequencies won’t be enough to harm him permanently, but they’ll buy me some time.
I pull myself out of the escape hatch and jump through a set of large trees. “Naomi!” I shout and listen for a response.
There is only the sound of Zakar’s footsteps pounding against the soil. She could be anywhere.
She could be in the cave we hid out inside earlier. She could be back at her starship, waiting for me to arrive with the fuel that’s long gone.
It’s possible she’s back at Discovery Base. But why would she go there?
I need to act fast. Zakar’s saliva contains enzymes that cause a person to mutate. Eventually, Halloway will die, but for now, he is highly dangerous. She doesn’t know how cruel his condition will turn.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe she has already seen a mild glimpse of the monster he has become.
I ravage through the thick leaves, eyes focused on a set of footsteps. They lead me to the small encampment we found Fassbender, along with the rest of her starship’s crew.
No one is around, but the prints in the mud lead me to believe that something happened here very recently.
I search the camp. There’s a small case containing male clothing. It’s nothing of importance, so I toss it aside.
Lowering to the wet ground, I find some frayed rope. Near to the rope is a piece of torn clothing. I recognize it as the pattern on the bottom of Naomi’s pants.
Her scent lingers the air. This is where she came. She must have rescued the others, but that doesn’t explain where Fassbender or the Captain are hiding.
Something happened here. Someone hurt or tried to hurt Naomi. Whoever that someone is will pay.
I keep off the path, heading deeper and deeper into the jungle. Fully primal, I use my scent to guide me. Somehow, I end up back at the sleeping quarters.
Slowing down, I reach the door of the first room. With caution, push it open.
The room is empty, but there’s the message scrawled on the wall. Betrayal. Now I recognize where I am. This is Dr. Steven N. Grubber’s room.
Nothing about this is shocking to me. Yet, I can’t shake the feeling that something is different about this place. I walk inside and sit on the cot.
On the dresser is a wallet. I open it and flip through the strange plastic cards, all numbered systematically. I pause when I reach a photograph of the man who lied to me.
It’s a family picture, and everyone is smiling. He is with a partner he loves.
I set the photograph back down and bite the inside of my cheek.
Do bad men deserve to die? Or do they deserve some compassion and understanding? I cannot pretend to know the answer.
But as I sit and think about this man, and the impact he had on my life, I start to let go. And once I do, I can remember things a little more clearly.
I remember looking into his eyes as he lay dying. His hands were cold, and his pupils looked like the storm clouds in the sky.
He told me, “We need to get to the servers.”
Zakar pulled him away, said I needed to follow his lead.
At the time, I thought the doctor was talking about his crew phoning Earth. Now, I’m not so sure.
How can I make sense of this?
My head is throbbing. I press my thumbs against my temples, but the pain won’t pass.
The doctor meant something by those words.
“The servers at Discovery Base,” I whisper.
It’s been a long time since those servers ran. The cables are worn, but maybe there’s a way to turn them back on. I have a feeling Naomi won’t be too far.
None of this solves our problem with the fuel, but if we can phone Earth, maybe they can send another ship to save Naomi.
They’ll kill me, but that’s okay. I’d do anything for that woman.
I run back to the trail toward Discovery Base. I try to put together all of the pieces inside my head. The servers – was the doctor simply trying to warn Earth of our escape?
I stumble through the wilderness, thoughts confusing my general direction. Pausing to take a breath, I kneel and shake my head.
I’ve been followed.
Twigs crack underneath Fassbender’s boots as he limps around a corner. His right leg is bleeding, flesh torn by a set of sharp talons. He breathes and stares me down.
My nostrils flare. I inch away from him. “Leave me be,” I say. “I don’t want to kill you.”
Fassbender calms and raises his pistol. “Stop moving, alien.”
Slowly, I raise my hands to show him I won’t strike. “I told you. I am not hunting you,” I say.
He waves the gun from my chest toward the ground. “On your knees.”
I drop and feel the mud cave around my kneecaps.
I can’t believe it. The bastard got me.
* * *
“I’ve finally found you,” Fassbender says, carefully inching forward. “You sick beast.”
If his plan is to take me back to Earth to be studied, he’s in for a rude awakening. “The fuel is gone,” I say. “Zakar drained it in the ocean. There is no going back home. Please, I can help you and your crew.”
I’m willing to talk this out in a very diplomatic way, but I’m not getting very far. Fassbender keeps the barrel pointed at my solar plexus.
“Zakar will be looking for us. We can work together,” I lie.
Fassbender merely laughs. “Subject 04. I named you Turin.”
I try to reason with him. Anything to keep his mind occupied, so he doesn’t pull that trigger enough times to end me.
“You don’t know what you’re doing. If we don’t stop Zakar, everyone will die, including you,” I say.
He takes another step forward, confidently edging his heels into the mud. “I think I know what I’m doing. I know all about you,” he says.
“You only know what you’ve been told. What you’ve read in those reports is not the entire truth,” I tell him.
Fassbender’s face shifts into a mysterious glare. “I watched your birth,” he says. “All the way in tiny, tiny Kentucky, I watched them make you.”
I lower my hands.
“You were just a microscope sample. A splash of human. A dash of alien. Incubated and ready to go,” he says, breathing in deep through his nose. It reminds me of Zakar.
My heart pounds, and I feel a great weight fall over my shoulders. “Lies,” I say.
He keeps speaking. “You grew up so fast,” he mutters.
Enamored, he lowers his weapon. This is my moment. I should attack, but what he’s telling me is so mind blowing that I can’t react.
Tears of adoration fill his eyes. This man is crazy. I cannot reason with him.
“I wanted to get a good look at you,” he says. “It’s been so long since I last saw your face. Oh, if you only knew what I went through to get here. Forged documents. Convinced the higher ranks I could get the job done. I did it all just to get to you,” he says.
My muscles twitch. “You disgust me,” I say.
“Say what you must. Every son rejects his father at some point or another,” he says.
“Son…?”
I swallo
w and tremble with rage building inside me.
“You were my pet project. My baby,” he says.
I don’t know what to say. Suddenly, the air feels too thick to breathe.
He takes another step forward, close enough to reach out and touch me. “I know you believe you’re a failure, but you aren’t. You are my design, perfect in every way,” Fassbender says.
His design…
“My fate isn’t yours to design,” I say.
The urge to kill takes over, and before I know it, I’m lunging through the air at him.
Fassbender is quick on the draw. I feel the bullet. The hot, twisting metal pierces through my skin, dragging all the way through my insides.
I stumble and growl, placing my hand above my face, a half-assed attempt to shield any more bullets coming my way.
He steps over me. “You may be perfect, but don’t think for a second you’re not expendable,” he says. “I know your strengths and your weaknesses.”
My blood trickles down my chest, warm and unsettling. Circling my finger around the wound, I inhale as I dig the bullet fragments out.
I cough out more blood. “What am I?” I ask.
Fassbender’s lips twitch. “A creature that can absorb the best qualities life can offer. A creature that can soak up empathy. More important for me and Earth Federation... you are a creature that will breed for us.”
I feel weaker than ever. “What are you talking about?”
“We needed a weapon. Zakar served that function well, but his anger impeded other important functions,” he says.
“Meaning?”
“He needed help with sexual activity. His sperm would not fertilize any egg. We had to concede that he was not a breeder,” he says. “So I came up with a proposition. I wanted to make one. I wanted to create an alien that would breed the bio-weapon right into the host. That way, we could build an entire army of predators.”
“But you made me first. I remember it,” I say.
“We kept Zakar out of sight until the proper time came.”
“Why did you come to this planet? You must have known your bullets wouldn’t kill him,” I say.
His brow furrows. “I will reason with him. Eventually, he will listen.”
“You’re out of your mind. He’s built to destroy,” I say.
“If what you say is true, about the fuel… it doesn’t matter either way,” he says. “From here on out, there is no rhyme or reason. It’s all a game of chance.”
More games. Great.
I think of the child Naomi and I will make. I think of the love that child came from. And then I think about Discovery Base, and all of the horrors that went on there.
That’s no love. A father and son bond doesn’t come from a computer screen a thousand light years away. It doesn’t come from a team of paramilitary torturers or the wallet of a galactic defense organization.
Love comes from within. Love changes you. If he doesn’t get that, he can’t comprehend what life is all about.
He doesn’t just remind me of Zakar. He is exactly like him. Except, Fassbender doesn’t have the same killer gene inside him. He just wishes he did.
I stand, ready to rip this man’s throat out. “You’re not my father,” I scream and throw him across the jungle.
He shouts in pain as he collides against the ground, ass digging into the soil, deep. He takes one final shot, and it hits me in the heart.
I stumble, face first. My teeth drag across the soil as I too hit Avalon’s floor.
NASA fooled me. Just like the crew, I was double-crossed and lied to by everyone.
Even Zakar lied to me.
“Take me to him,” he says. “I need to talk to Zakar.”
“You know where he is,” I whisper.
“I need more than his location. I need you to talk him into following reason. I am required to take him home with me to Earth,” Fassbender replies.
“Then you will destroy Earth,” I say.
He inches his pistol closer. “Take. Me. To. Him,” he mutters.
He’s a fool. Zakar will kill him, no questions asked. And then he’ll kill me.
My heart turns to stone. “Fine,” I mutter. “Let’s go to Discovery Base.”
This is bad. Real bad. If Naomi is at Discovery Base, Zakar will be there, too. He’ll be watching from afar, searching for the right moment to strike.
The walk to the base is cold and silent. Everything feels off, like I’m not quite inside my body. Something is happening to me. Something I can’t explain.
I push the leaves aside and peer through to Discovery Base. And then I see her, and it’s like time completely stops.
No matter the danger, I feel lucky to be alive.
Fassbender presses the barrel against the back of my neck. “Don’t move. Wait for them to react. I want to know what they are up to.”
I’m not moving. I’m just staring at the curves of her hips, the hump of her ass, and the shine of her hair.
I need to feel her again.
I need to feel the warmth of her pussy, enveloping me, shrouding all of the bad, giving me everything I have ever asked to receive.
This man can’t win.
Naomi is near the entrance, discussing something serious with the rest of the crew. As she waves her arms emphatically at the men, her skin turns flush.
She is the most beautiful creature I have ever laid eyes on. To this day, I still get the same feeling I felt the first time I saw her here. That feeling’s not going away.
No, it’s here for good.
I lean forward and listen to what she’s telling them. “The Captain,” she says. “He isn’t well, but we can’t leave him here.”
Roy scoffs. “Isn’t well? Is that what you call it? I’m pretty sure he turned into a fucking monster back there.”
Hugh agrees. “The Captain is not our captain anymore. He’s gone, Naomi. There’s no way we’ll get him back to normal now.”
She paces, eyelids creased with concentration. I wish I could reach out and tell her that she can do it. She is the captain they always needed, and she’s strong enough to jump into the role.
Just as I need her, she needs me. When we are separate, everything falls apart.
“I can’t be your captain,” she cries, voice much louder than it should be.
Both Hugh and Roy stare at her.
Roy leans back on his heel. “You gave us an oath,” he says.
Sighing, she shakes her head with high velocity. “Okay,” she repeats. “I’ll do it. I just...”
Roy finishes her sentence. “You want your alien back.”
“I know you don’t understand, but he’s become my world,” she says.
I close my eyes and exhale, heavily. I glance at Fassbender and grunt.
“Stay still,” he tells me. “Let’s listen to your little love story.”
Naomi continues. “He’s misunderstood, yes. Frightening, maybe to some. But to me, he’s strong. He’s willing to learn and absorb one’s feelings. He may be an alien to you, but he’s the love of my life,” she says. “The cherry on top is that you need him to help you.”
Roy is far too cocky with the assumption he’s about to bring to the table. “I’m not too worried. We have enough ammo to kill Zakar,” Roy says.
“He can’t die,” she says.
Hugh wipes his forehead. “Excuse me?”
“He’s not like Turin. He was designed to kill and absorb all that comes his way. He’s cunning, too. Without Turin’s help, he’ll outsmart us,” she says.
Roy sighs. “Well, if you know where he is, now would be a good time to tell us.”
Naomi bends her neck, scratching awkwardly.
“That’s what I thought,” Roy says.
I’m right here. I won’t let you die.
I want to scream those words in her direction, but I keep my mouth shut.
When Naomi doesn’t speak, Roy tries to take charge. “We will stay here and search the premises until we f
ind something that might be able to help us get off this planet.”
That’s his plan? It’s no wonder they got stuck in this mess. This team can hardly manage themselves.
There is nothing in that facility that can help them.
“Wait,” Naomi says, pausing. “There is something.”
“What do you mean by something?” Roy asks.
“Frequencies,” Naomi says. “Sounds.”
“I really wish you’d just quit it,” Roy groans.
“Elaborate,” Hugh says.
“Turin told me that an alarm went off once here. The frequencies seemed to hurt Zakar, but it didn’t damage him enough” she says.
Hugh nods and bites his bottom lip. “I don’t know. We can’t rely on noises to hurt the bastard. We need some real firepower.”
“I’m serious,” Naomi states, confidently.
Roy meanders toward her. “Well, then, sweetheart. Why don’t you tell us where we can find these magical frequencies?”
She stands tall. “The relay network,” she says.
“The what?” Hugh asks.
Even I’m scratching my head.
Naomi makes her case. “The servers tied to the network. Zakar destroyed them for a reason. At first, I thought it might be because contact was a threat. But then I realized how little that made sense. If Zakar thrives on killing, he would want more humans to arrive. The more that show up, the more they could breed and populate Avalon as a planet of war. But instead, he cut up the lines. Why would he do that?”
“You’re asking me?” Hugh asks.
Roy chuckles. “Because he’s a senseless, insane brute,” he says. “Look, there’s not much point to analyzing these things. The alien went crazy. That’s all.”
“Maybe,” Naomi says. “But then I remembered our network server room, downstairs in the starship. They needed a lot of power to be able to contact Earth. Do you remember how loud it was down there?”
Hugh laughs. “That’s right. They made you wear that whacky ear protection because it busted up some workers’ eardrums.”
“The power of the network creates a hum, a frequency that hurts the alien,” she says.
“Yeah, but will it kill it?” Roy asks.
“We have to try,” she states.
Of course. The doctor’s words make sense now. He was telling me to fix the cables and reconnect the servers.
Alien Breed: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance Page 11