by Dave Austin
"Which one of you was it? Which one?! If no one comes forward, I'll start with her," the man said and approached, placing the barrel of the gun next to Matilda's forehead, "I'll count to three,"
Damn it. I couldn't waste any time. It was now or never. They needed me. Emma looked at me and nodded. She knew it too.
"One... " The man said.
The atmosphere grew heavier; the rarefied air and all the noises were in the background except for the man's strong voice. My finger brushed the trigger. Now all I had to do was aim and pull it. Everything would be solved in mere seconds. I felt my brain powering down. Action before thinking. My hand grabbed the gun, raised it to the level of my chest, and the finger did the rest of the work. Three shots. Three bodies tumbling onto the ground.
I looked down; my hand was shaking and there was still a trace of smoke coming out of the gun barrel. No one said anything for a while. I assume it was just a few seconds, but to me, it seemed like nearly an hour.
"You did it!" Emma said, and stood up, "I said it would work."
The other three girls were looking at me. They were waiting for me to explain to them what was happening.
Chapter VI
"Kane?" Amelia said.
"Are you working with her?!" Matilda said, trying to get up without using her hands, "Why did you release her?"
Matilda fired question after question. Amelia had a bloody look on her face. Only Jessy remained silent.
"I'll explain everything to you. I promise. Let me just make sure I take all their guns," I said and looked at Emma.
She already had the white weapon in her hand and had set it at the highest level. The blue lines glowed incandescently. She had leaned against a command table, where she had also placed two knives with the black steel tip still covered in blood. I removed the remaining weapons from the men's pockets and holsters and used one of the knives to cut the strings that held the girls' arms together.
"I had to release her. It was the only way to save you."
"Yeah, but now who's gonna save us from her?" Matilda asked.
When I looked back at Emma, she had the gun next to her right leg and her finger on the trigger. Her screaming laughter rose above Matilda's whispers.
"Don't worry. I'm not thinking of hurting you." She said, "Let me off at the next exit and we're good to go."
"We can't do that," Amelia said, "you're a serial killer,"
"Yes, but I saved your lives. Nothing's free. You look like someone who understands that,"
"And I do, but I can't let you go like this. Punishments must exist."
"Then don't let me. Give me a place here."
"No," Amelia answered.
"No way. She'll never have room for someone like you." Matilda said, her teeth grinding.
"No? I know that look. She's a killer. Just because she's changed doesn't mean she's lost her instinct."
All eyes had fallen on the captain. She walked around, already with her hat on her head, tapping on the tables over and over again. Emma didn't move. She was contemplating space, her eyes wide open, and for the first time, I saw in them a glow that I had only seen when she was about to hurt someone. Jessy had taken a small flashlight out of her pocket and had asked Matilda not to move while she checked that she was okay.
"Chef, you're not really thinking of having her on the ship, are you? She'll kill us while we sleep." Matilda repeated, moving away from Jessy and running towards Amelia.
"If I wanted to, I'd have killed you by now," Emma answered and beckoned with her head to the gun she still had in her hand.
"This must be just your plan to surprise us later. I bet that turns you on." Matilda answered her.
"Well, I can't say it wouldn't be funny but no. I need a place to stay and hide and what better place than the ship of the people who captured me? If anyone asks, tell them I ran away."
"Things don't work that way," Jessy said, "but she's right about one thing. You were once like her, Amelia. If you've changed, couldn't she, too?"
"Even you, Jessy? Are you all crazy?" Matilda asked, "What about you, Kane? You're on my side, right?"
I didn't know what to tell her. I didn't even think I had a choice but to accept the serial killer's presence on the ship. We had already crossed the line and I know she wouldn't hesitate to share what happened between us to benefit from it. Damn it. I always hated drama and now I was part of a soap opera. Amelia was on the main desk, pressing buttons and making sure we were on the right route to the new planet.
"I'm not sure..." I said, "Maybe we should give her a chance. Matilda, you believed in me too. Who assured you that I wasn't like her?"
"You saved the captain; you didn't try to kill her."
"She also saved us," I said to her, "can't we leave this for another day?"
"They delayed us a few hours but by no means much. We'll be on the planet in a few hours." Amelia said. She was different. Ever since Emma mentioned her eyes, the captain had calmed down. She wasn't angry or hasty. Instead, her voice was calm, her cheeks pale and her lips dry.
"And until then? Where is she staying? Are we gonna give her one of the rooms?" Matilda asked. A protruding vein arose on the right side of her neck and stretched to her chest.
"Don't you have that special room ready?" Jessy asked her.
"Yeah, what happened to that? Another one of your plans you left halfway through?" Amelia asked her.
"I can't do everything at once. You know I have too many ideas to do everything at once." Matilda said, "I can finish that in a few hours. It's the best solution, then. Don't think you're gonna get away with this. I'll make sure that if you just take one step out of the room, an extremely loud alarm will wake everyone up." She said and left the room, marching towards the rooms.
Everything was different and nothing would ever be the same again. Jessy confirmed that Amelia was fine too and left us alone. Truth be told, I felt like I shouldn't be there. I wasn't like them. Rather, it was the differences between us that appealed to me.
The hours went by in a jiffy. The three of us didn't leave that room. Amelia still had her eyes on the radar and Emma and I were watching space. She didn't need to say a word to let me know that no matter how much she had traveled; few had been the opportunity to marvel at it.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked her.
"Scary," she said and sighed, "I've never seen the sky with so many stars."
"And that's scary?" I asked him.
"Yes, how something so beautiful can be so deadly," she said.
Do you recognize yourself?" I asked her, managing my laughter.
"It's not a good idea to make fun of someone who can kill you in dozens of different ways, don't you think?' she said, with her eyes half-closed, until I gulp down, "I'm kidding, you don't have to worry. Where are we going?" She asked.
As soon as I told her, her expression shifted. The glow behind her eyes was demystified and she looked at Amelia who was now sitting on one of the chairs with her feet stretched out and resting on one of the tables.
"We can't go there. You have no idea what awaits you. You know all the stories you've heard? It's worse. Between going to Kolarov and there, I don't know what is worse," she said, moving away from the glass, "with so many ships to rescue the meds, it had to be you soon. Not only do you have problems with one of the warlords, but now you also want to risk your life for someone else.'
"Not just anybody," Amelia said and looked at me. It was as if she was asking me if I could tell her the truth, but I did not know what answer to give her. Maybe Emma really wanted to change. Amelia could show her how. I genuinely believed that. Everybody could be a better person. I wasn't saying she wouldn't have the killer instincts anymore, but she could certainly find a way to control them. Emma had already asked her what she meant by that statement, but Amelia did not even bother to look her in the eye.
"Okay, don't tell me then," Emma said, "I'm going for a walk. I'm tired of being here."
"You shouldn't leave,"
I told her.
The closer we got to the planet, the more the stars faded away and gave way to a blackness that I had never seen before. Amelia pressed a button and some headlights brightened the path before us. A long black tunnel where it didn't matter which way we went. It was all the same. Just more of the same.
"And who's going to stop me?" Emma asked, holding the gun and heading towards the entrance to the room.
"Let her go," Amelia said and yawned, "It's not worth it."
"See, after all, she understands," Emma answered, right on the way out.
I was left alone with Amelia. I walked up to her and looked at the screen. A curved line indicated our route; the half that we had already traveled in black and the half that was still missing in white.
"Do you trust her?" Amelia asked me, "I vowed that I would protect the girls, I can't risk having a murderer here."
"I don't know, but she could have killed us by now and taken the ship. Why do you think she didn't do it?" I asked her. If anyone could answer me, it was her.
"I think..." Amelia began, "that she sees in us, on this ship, a place where she won't be judged for what she's done."
"It's not going very well so far," I answered her.
"She hasn't yet proven she deserves our trust,"
"Are you thinking of letting her stay, then?"
"I don't know. Let's focus now on saving the princess. Maybe she'll come in handy. It's a dangerous place. It'll come in handy to have someone like her on our side, if she really is on our side."
"The best thing to do is to give her at least one chance," I told her, as I sat on the chair next to her...
"You're defending her a lot. You know, believing in people's good side doesn't always have a happy ending." Amelia said, "There are people who have no cure."
"Are you speaking from experience?"
"Yes, but not from me. In that line of work, I got to know other people like me. Some who did it for the money and some who did it for pleasure. And, no doubt, I've met some that would never change. It wasn't even about whether they liked killing someone or not. But their souls were already so fragmented that there were no pieces to put together for a second attempt."
"And you think she's in that state?"
"Honestly? No. But she's close. There's still a flame in her," Amelia told me and stood up, "Come on, we're done talking. Now follow me."
"Me? Follow you? Where to?"
She grabbed my hand and dragged me into the hallway, "We' re not going to do anything you haven't already thought of,"
"What do you mean?" I asked her, as we walked down the corridor of the ship, a hiss going across the walls.
"You'll see," she answered me, "I hate getting nervous," she added and breathed deeply.
She led me to her room. It was twice the size of mine and had a bed with a thick-skinned mattress and a red satin sheet on top. A sweet, soft scent, which I couldn't tell what it was, lasted even after we had walked in and sat down on the bed. Amelia put her hat on the bedside table and squatted on the bed, sighing and stretching her hands backward.
Chapter VII
"What are we doing here?" I asked her. Of course, I had an idea, but I didn't want to risk touching her, with the chance of losing a finger.
"What I always do when I need to clear my head," she said, "lie down."
The sheet molded itself to my body. If it weren't for her getting on top of me, I'd most likely have fallen asleep. We didn't kiss right away. We still spent some time looking into each other's eyes, the lust consuming us, the images of what we could do blowing up in my head.
"I know you already did it with Jessy and Matilda," Amelia said, "Don't worry, I don't care. We're a team, a group, whatever you want to call it," she added.
"Are you sure?" I asked, my hands slowly rolling down her back, trying not to overstep.
"Yeah. I don't look like someone who likes a perfectly normal relationship to you, do I?" She said, the corners of her lips squirming but never smiling.
"True. I shouldn't be surprised,"
"When will you stop talking, Kane?" Amelia asked, "Enjoy now. I know you've thought about this before."
"It wasn't just me," I replied, "I noticed how you looked at me when I had just got out of the bath."
"I was surprised by what I saw. How can someone so small have something so... Well, you got it." She said and laughed, "Time for you to make me forget everything that happened these last few hours."
"You're forgetting that I fired a gun. I killed three people. I've never even hurt anyone before."
"I guess the reason you're not so affected by it is because deep down you knew that sooner or later, you'd have to."
"Maybe. I'm not going to say I never thought of that. But I was hoping for a little more time, you know? So, I could prepare myself..."
"I understand. I'm not going to lie to you. It's not something you'll ever forget," she said, still on top of me, her long wavy hair covering her cheeks.
"Do you remember your first one? The first person you killed?" I asked her, already with my hands on her buttocks...
"Yeah. And if you ask Emma, I know she'll tell you the same thing."
"How old were you?"
"Do you really want to talk about this? Now?" Amelia asked me, swinging her ass over me.
"Answer me before we continue," I said to her, "I know you're not used to letting yourself be known, but if I'm a member of this ship, I'd like you to trust me."
"Damn it. You and your sweet talk... I was 13, okay? Amadeus sold me to a fat, greasy, rich man he wanted me to kill. That same night, the man came into my room and started touching me. I slit his neck before his hands even reached my waist."
I listened to her carefully. At the age of 13, I was cleaning my house's dusty corners, complaining about my tough life while she was living a nightmare. Emma had probably been through something similar, too. I had no words of comfort to offer her. I did not understand what she had gone through, I could not even begin to comprehend, so I did what I could. I pulled her close to me and hugged her. She laid her head on my shoulder and then thanked me for it.
When she raised her head again, after a few minutes, our eyes focused on each other again. This time, we didn't control ourselves. None of us could do it anymore. My heart speeded up as soon as our lips intertwined. Her lips had a slight vanilla scent. I was squeezing her ass cheeks while we kissed. It was more than a physical attraction. There was something underneath that, something else; there was feeling. Not that she was going to say it or show it, but I could feel it. Then she kissed my neck, every inch of it, calmly, her hands by my hip. I was afraid my heart was beating so loud it would end up scaring her. It sounded like a bomb about to go off. There was no sound around us except the splash of her lips moving away from my skin. She tilted her head and I took off her shirt; she had a black bra, stiff nipples, and several scars scattered all over her body. My fingers traced the marks on her skin like they were a map to get to know her better. We didn't exchange a single word all that time.
It wasn't until my fingers got away from her skin that we turned into two animals. Any secrets that existed between us were in limbo, between the past she hid and, in the future, where she would tell me about them. She got up and asked me to stay in bed. It didn't take long before my belt buckle hit the floor and was covered by my black pants. The boxers were the cherry on top of the cake. She appreciated my dick before grabbing it, her hand slowly moving up and down as she watched my reaction. I bit my lower lip until a small trail of blood ran down my chin. Her hand swirled around my length. Her lips approached the tip and clenched her, lowering to about half of my dick before she receded. She laughed and a trail of spittle splashed on the floor.
"Thank you," she said before she went back into action.
Her head bobbed back and forth, strands of hair sticking to her sweaty forehead as she went even deeper. I never thought I'd ever see her like this; kneeling before me, choking on her mouth with my whole coc
k, saliva running down her lips. She looked beautiful.
When she finally stopped, she rubbed my wet dick all over her face until she was nearly unrecognizable. I wasn't even sure what to say or how to react. She laughed and stood up, taking off her pants until she was only wearing a black thong.
"Now what?" I asked her, my eyes running down her body. Behind that outfit she always wore, there was a model body - medium-sized tits, flat belly, and a round ass.
"You'll see," she said, taking off her panties, revealing an already wet pussy and a triangle-shaped bush above the clit.
She walked up to me, strings of fluids clinging to her groins, and climbed on top of me. I thought she was going to sit on my dick, but she had another idea and just sat on my face.
Her butt covered my whole sight and her pussy dripped all over my chin and lips. She tasted great. I grasped her hips tightly and let my tongue trace her hip movements. She was moaning louder and higher and had her hands on the wall, sometimes banging on during a lengthy moan. I could hardly breathe with her on top of me anymore and yet I did not stop, not even for a second. I couldn't waste that moment, not when I didn't know if it would happen again, not when I didn't know if that was her slip-up or a desire. Sweat flowed down our bodies. My sweater glued itself to my body as she was still rocking her body, rubbing against my flat tongue.
"Damn. I'm close." She said, amid moaning, about to come.
A few seconds later, she tossed her head back, her back folded, squirming with every wave of pleasure that ran through her body. Amelia took a deep breath and smiled like never before.
"That was great. But we're not done yet." She said, sliding her wet pussy over my body, until she got to my dick, "Let's see what you're really worth."
"Haven't I proved to you that I'm good enough?"
"The final challenge is now. Will you be up to it?" She said and winked at me.
We matched it perfectly. Her pussy slipped down my dick with no opposition. She wasn't too tight, but her pussy was still warm and squeezing my length. Before she even started, she took off my sweater and dumped it all over my pants.