by Tom Harem
"Are you awake?" I asked when I walked in.
"Now yeah," she said, still a little stunned, rubbing her eyes. She had an eyelash on her right cheek and chapped lips, "I missed you, pretty boy."
I ignored what she said, deactivated the lasers and placed both bowls at the entrance of the cell.
"Pick one of them. I'll take the other one." I told her.
She came up and looked at both bowls. She looked around before stretching her arm quickly, touching both cereals and backing up. She approached again, looked at me and put a finger inside both bowls.
"To me? Nobody's ever made me food before. What do you want from me?" She asked, staring at me and the cereal.
"Nothing. Being a bad person doesn't mean you should have to starve to death." I answered her.
The truth was, I still had Amelia's conversation with Amadeus present in my head. She had also been a murderer and had changed. Why wouldn't the serial killer be able to do that too? Maybe she had a dark past, even worse than Amelia's. At least that was what I wanted to believe.
"I want this one." She said and picked up the chocolate cereal bowl, "I haven't eaten chocolate in a long time" she said as she grabbed the spoon.
I was afraid that she would use the spoon for more than just eating, but at the same time I knew that I could not expect her to trust me if I did not trust her either. It was a two-way road and it had to start with me. If someone listened to my thoughts at that time, they would probably shout out to the universe how stupid and crazy I was being, but something about her said that I could change her. I think I was always that person deep down; a boundless dreamer with the desire to save people. Many nights I had spent picturing scenarios in which I became a hero, in which I saved someone and now I had a chance to make it real.
"Good, isn't it?" I asked her as we both ate.
"Yeah. I still don't understand why you're doing this. I'll kill the rest of the crew anyway." She said, glancing at me, like it was something natural to say.
"I believe that when the time comes you will think twice."
"You're one of those. A dreamer." She said, "What's that noise?"
I had no idea what she was talking about. There was no noise.
"Focus. Close your eyes." She said, seeing me confused.
I laid the bowl on the floor and closed my eyes. In the beginning, I still couldn't hear anything. Still, I didn't give up and, after a few minutes, loud steps, like lightning bolts of thunder, stepped on the ground of the ship. Weird. I had been there for days and none of them had such a strong, hollow walk. I walked to the door and leaned my ear against it. The steps were close to the door, now much stormier. The person seemed to be in a hurry and heading for the ramp.
"It seems to me you're in trouble." The serial killer said.
"What do you mean by that?"
"I can hear him. He's not a crew member. He's moving too fast. He's changed his path three times already. He doesn't seem to know where he's going. If you let me go, I can help you."
"You really don't think I'm going to fall for that, do you?" I told her, "I'll see what's going on. You stay here."
"It's not like I can go anywhere either," she replied slightly sarcastically.
I opened the door and looked both ways. There was no one around, although now it wasn't just one type of steps wandering around the ship. There were several of them. Heavy boots stepping on the hull, a couple running, a few marching, going in different directions. Whoever they were, they were spreading all throughout the ship. I strolled down the corridors, leaning up against the wall, trying as hard as I could to avoid making any noise. I was still in the middle of one of them when I heard Matilda screaming for someone to let her go. The screams grew louder as she taunted them and tried to free herself. I got as close as I could and there were two men clutching her hands while she tried to push them away. She still punched one of them in the eye, but they ended up trapping her on the floor and smashing her with the gun butt in the back of the head.
"This one was harder than the other one." One of the men said. He was bald and had some hair on his chin and chest.
"All that's left is the captain, isn't it?" The other one answered him. A younger boy with wrinkled hands and an eyebrow gap.
"Yes. There are 10 men looking for her. She's good, but not that good. Draken will reward us very much."
"I can't wait. This has to make up for the time I spent hiding here since Dust spaceport." The man said.
Damn it. I couldn't take care of them, not alone. I needed help. I went back to the prison room. The serial killer was in the center of the room, doing push-ups and smiled as soon as she saw me come in.
"Well, shall we do it then?" She asked me.
"Don't think this means you're free. It's only because we need help." I said, "How do I know you won't attack me once you're free?"
"Well, you're going to have to trust me, right?" She answered me and laughed, "If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it by now. I don't know who you are, but I don't doubt that they're more dangerous than any of you."
I yawned and walked up to the door. I still hesitated, but I ended up opening it. She stretched her arms and legs and picked up one of the spoons.
"Let's do this then." She said and walked over to me. She kissed me on the cheek before she told me her real name was Emma.
"Cute name for someone so rude." I told her.
"That's the name they gave me. You can call me that. See it as my way of proving I’ll be trusting you from now on,"
"Who? Your parents? Thank you."
She swung like a shadow and put her nail underneath my ear. She pressured it just enough for me to squirm and lose my strength.
"Don't ever talk about them again." She said. Even her big eyelashes didn't cover her bright eyes.
"Okay, let's do this." I said. I knew I hadn’t said anything bad, but it wasn’t the right time to argue with her.
"Do you know how to fight?" She asked me.
"Not really. I never had to fight but if I have to, I will." I answered her, and I closed my fist.
"Lovely. Always strike the chin. Always. One good punch to the chin and one to the face and that should do it. If not, kick them in the balls. Don't hesitate. Use whatever you have available." She said.
"I can do it. For all the trouble that working in the mines is, the good thing is that I have gained a good body over time."
"Just stay out of my way and do as I say." She said to me, "I need guns. Even if it's only two or three knives. How many guys are there?"
"I saw two and they talked about 10 more who were going after the captain." I answered him.
"The girl I put on the floor? If she's as good as I am, she'll take down 5 or 6. After that, maybe 10 more men to deal with, and, unlike the men in the ship I was on, they must know how to fight." She said and paused, "Someone's getting close. Hide behind the door. I'll take care of it."
I stood behind the door and Emma stayed in the same place. The man placed his hand on the doorknob, spun it and walked in.
"Who are you? There were only supposed to be three girls on the ship."
"Oh, I'm sorry. I am new to the ship. Is something wrong?" Emma asked him.
It was scary how much she could twist her personality in mere seconds. If I didn't know her and only saw her at that moment, I would only see a girl in her 20s, scared of the world around her and in need of protection. The man in his 30s, with fat lips, rotten teeth and a ridge, approached her. Ever since he had seen her, helpless and about to cry, there had been a malevolent smile on his face that he hadn't even tried to hide.
"Come here. I'll protect you," he repeated as he walked up to her.
I could attack him at any time, but if she had said she'd take care of it, I had no business intruding. My heart was beating faster. Ever since I'd left my planet, I seemed to have a thing for trouble. It followed me wherever I went or maybe I had decided to stay on the ship because I knew that we wouldn't lack problems. He was already a few step
s away from her. Her eyes moistened and she pretended to stumble, tumbling over his chest.
"It's a shame." She said, before stabbing him with the sharp part of the spoon in his neck... The blood flowed to the floor and to both clothes. Before he could even scream, she covered his mouth and brought him to his knees. All the interaction didn't last more than 15 seconds.
"Well, one down. Let's get out of here." She said, licking the blood on the spoon, "This is going to be interesting."
She liked that. There was a certain glow in her eyes when she knew she could do whatever she wanted. She still knelt by the soldier and searched through his clothes for a gun. He had a knife hidden in his socks and a pistol in his holster under the tight black sweater.
"Do you know how to fire a gun?" She asked me, sticking a finger on the trigger and spinning it around the finger without ever firing.
"I've never fired one." I admitted it to her.
"I assumed not. Just point and press this switch. Simple. One knife is enough for me."
We placed the man in the cell and exited to the empty corridor.
Chapter XVII
Amelia's voice overcame the men's footsteps.
"Once I’m free, you'll see what I'll do to you." She screamed and the sound was carried throughout the ship.
"We have to help them!" I told Emma.
"Do we?" She asked.
"Yes! That's why I set you free, that's what you're going to do." I told her; I had enough of her games. There was no time for fooling around.
"Since you asked nicely, I'll help you. They must have taken them to the control room." Emma said, holding the knife with two fingers, "You're going to have to serve as a decoy."
"What?! I'm not really enjoying this idea."
"It's the only one we have. They're more than us. We have to be smart."
"What if it goes wrong?"
"Well, the worst that can happen is they kill us. They just want them, apparently. They have no idea we're here."
"There's no worse than that, Emma. You're not very good at consoling someone." I told her and I giggled. I knew it wasn't the best time to laugh, but I couldn't help myself.
She lowered her head, letting her hair fall on her face and covering the slight curvature of her lips.
"Come on, let's do this." She said, before looking into the next corridor, "from here you can see the control room. They arrested them. You're going to show up here and make fun of them. Then, you're going to pretend to run and I'll surprise them."
"You're the experienced one here, aren't you?" I told her.
Before I even jumped to my death, I took a deep breath. I had to do something for them. After all the help they had given me, it was the least I could do. I had to protect them. Emma was standing next to me, leaning against the wall, with the knife in her hand, "Will you take long?"
"No. I'm going now. Don't rush me."
I also looked once before jumping into the middle of the hall. At least five men gathered in a circle and behind the three girls. Matilda's blue hair stretched across the floor while Jessy and Amelia were on the floor, leaning against one of the command tables.
Finally, I mustered the courage to do it. I popped up at the end of the hall and screamed until they all looked at me. Amelia screamed at me to run away but I didn't move even though my knees were shaking, and my head was just an empty hole. It was fear, it was affliction, but it was also courage. I had to be like them. I wanted to be like Amelia or Emma.
"Get him!" One of the men, possibly the boss, said and pointed to three of them.
The men started running towards me. They filled the whole wide corridor and the closer they got, the bigger they seemed. The shoulders grew, the legs got fatter, the faces even uglier, every detail standing out.
"Move!" Emma kept repeating, but my feet seemed to be stuck to the ground.
My body heated up in an instant and my stomach was spinning. I wanted to throw up, lie down and not get out of bed. At least it was safer there
"Hurry!" Emma said.
Every single one of my feet was as heavy as a brick. All the sounds sounded muffled and the corridor narrowed as they drew closer. I couldn't even talk. My throat was clogged. It was like I had a hairball in the back of it. I struggled until I lifted one foot and then the other. I faked that I had started running away from them, running down the hall, when I was actually just next to Emma.
As soon as the first one had turned the corner, Emma tripped him, and he fell face down in the concrete. She swirled like a spineless top and slit both their throats. The bodies fell to the ground, one on top of the other, the blood splashing on the ground. She moved like a deadly dancer, every step taken was exquisite and every movement accurate. She didn't have to fight them or even get dirty except for a few drops of blood that landed on her black clothes. I still had the gun next to my body. I hadn't even lifted it, let alone put my finger on the trigger.
"Three down." She said, while searching for the bodies. Everyone had a rusty metal knife but no sign of a pistol, "Four knives work for four people. How many more do we have?" She asked me.
"Six, but how are we gonna get them out of there?"
"I don't know if I feel like it." She told me and sat on the floor, "What do I get if I help you? Nothing is free in this life and you have already seen that I can save you."
"You're doing a good thing, isn't that enough for you?"
She laughed. It wasn't as if I wasn't expecting it and yet I had a hard time hearing every wave of laughter, the swirling voice in front of me, "Do I look like a helper? I'll ask you again, what do I get in return? You can't complain. So far I haven't asked you for anything."
"Okay, what do you want?" I asked her.
I looked down the hall. The girls were still trapped. Matilda had already woken up and was complaining of the enormous headache she had over the men's voices that told her to shut up. They were exchanging dreams and wishes that would be fulfilled with Draken's money amidst laughter and staring long into space.
"Well, I've been thinking. It's no big deal. I just don't want to go to jail. You can drop me anywhere in the universe. I'll manage." She said. This time, she was serious. Her eyebrows were straight, her breathing was slow, and her teeth were grinning. That was something she was genuinely afraid of; being arrested.
"I can't promise you that." I said, "But I'll do whatever I can to help you."
"I'll have to settle for that, won't I?" She asked me and came up to me.
"Yes. Are you gonna help me or not?"
"I will, of course." She answered and kissed me. Her lips were moist and glued to mine, "for good luck." She added as soon as she walked away from me.
Two of the men were dead and one was still unconscious. I asked her what we were supposed to do now. The ship was still sailing through space and the soldiers in the command room were still laughing.
"Pretend you arrested me." She told me and put her hands behind her back.
"What? And how the hell is that going to help you defeat six men?"
"It won't. I'm going to knock down three with the knives. I need you to shoot the other three,"
"Me? Shooting a gun? What if I fail? Do you have a plan b?"
"Plan B is for weak people. Let's do this. Keep your hands on mine. You'll know when it's time to shoot."
"But they won't even recognize me! I’m not one of them," I told her.
Damn it. I'd gone from a crazy place to a deadly ship. I didn't seem to get very lucky in life.
"Do you think these idiots will even think about it? By the time any of them realize it'll be too late. Just trust me. It's not my first rodeo."
"We're going to end up dead, aren't we?" I asked her, placing myself behind her.
"Between dying and going to Kolarov prison... There's not much difference,"
"Is it that bad?" I asked. I had heard of that prison but never from anyone so close to being there.
"It's one of the worst prisons in the universe. Whoever goe
s in there doesn't come out anymore. Never. Not without much, much help. Or a lot of money. I don't have either," she said, "come on, hurry up. We don't know if they've called for help or not. It will be a problem if they have more people coming."
"Okay, okay, okay. Let's do it," I told her, avoiding telling her that nothing she had told me had taken away my worry. Quite the opposite, I was getting worse.
I couldn't even hear the faraway voices anymore. All I could hear was a constant ringing buzz in my ear. The corridor narrowed as we walked towards the control room. I had my hands on top of Emma's, both behind her back, my heart pounding with every step we took. Gradually, each man turned their attention to us. They didn't say anything. Their eyes tracked us all the way. The girls did, too. Damn it. What would they think of me? I mean, at that moment it didn't matter. I had an important task and I had to focus on that alone. The gun was in the holster, ready to fire. Hesitation was out of the question. One second longer and we'd both end up dead. One of the men, who was close to the space view glass, strolled to the entrance. He was twice as tall as me and easily about six inches taller than me. If his body fell on top of mine, I would vanish under him and he would still blanket all my shadow. I must admit that it was frightening to be faced with a man like that; with a goatee, some unshaven hair on both sides of his face and bald hair. He had black eye-popping eyes that looked like a bottomless pit. It was hard to look him in the eyes. I bowed my head for a few moments and whispered in Emma's ear.
"Are you ready?"
She nodded her head slightly. At least enough to be imperceptible. I hid my face behind hers and took a deep breath. My heart calmed down and my knees stopped shaking.
"Who's this?" The man asked me as soon as I got close to him. His breath reeked of stew and wine.
"I found her in a cell. She's not a big fan of talking." I answered him, already with one hand over the holster.
"Take her to the others. We'll get her to talk. Draken's on his way. He didn't want to wait until we brought them."
"Is Draken on his way?!" Amelia asked, trying to free herself from the ropes.
"You're not going anywhere. He's got a lot to... to talk to you about." One of the men answered her and giggled.