by Tom Harem
I tried to ignore everything that was happening around me and pushed Emma towards the other girls. They looked at me, their eyes half closed, without realizing what was going on. I wanted to tell them, I wanted to thank them for accommodating me, but I couldn't risk it. I just winked at Amelia who quickly realized what was happening.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" She screamed at me, distracting all the men.
"This is the craziest of them all. I've never seen one like her." One of the men replied.
"You have to be crazy to betray the master," the man who had received me at the entrance added.
"Strange," one of the others said, "I don't know you. Did you come with us?" He asked me.
For a second, my heart stopped beating. My vision became blurred and my fingers trembled, my index finger tapping my gun. Amelia screamed again, but this time they ignored her. All eyes were on me.
"Now that I think about it, I don't remember you either. And I'm good at memorizing faces. Where were you? Because I'm sure you weren't with the men who went to find her earlier," the tall man said and pulled a gun out of his holster.
Unlike the one I had; his gun was white with blue stripes. It had two pipes, one narrower than the other, and several buttons on the side.
"I just have a very common face," I answered him, trying to smile without seeming too forced.
The man pressed one of the buttons, "I put the gun on level one. It'll just stun you. If you have nothing to hide, you won't mind if we immobilize you while we confirm that you are on the list of men we have recruited for this mission."
"Oh, come on, you don't need all of that, do you?" I asked him, sweat drops already running down my face. Damn it, but when would Emma act?
Three of the men surrounded me. They all had brown eyes and wide shoulders and, except for one, they were bald. My gaze spun, jumping between them, my vision being blocked by them. All I could see was the black of their clothes before me. It had to be. If they took one more step, I'd shoot. Okay, I could die, but I was pretty sure it would be better than whatever they would do to me when they realized I'd lied to them. Unlike the girls, I was a nobody. Through the gap between a man's head and shoulder, I could see the space.
One last time, I thought. At least I'd have gotten there. It hadn't been a lengthy trip, but it was worth it.
One of them took another step and I no longer saw the bright spots in the space darkness. There was nothing for me there anymore. My hope was now just a flame on the verge of fading.
"Go ahead, take him too," the tallest man said, his eyes fixed on me, almost like chains holding my feet to the ground.
One of them stretched out his hand, drawing it close to me, and when he already had it over my shoulder, a strangled scream broke through the room. Everyone looked around, trying to figure out what was going on. Then another scream. And another. Like a row of dominoes, three men fell to the ground. One of them was one of the guys around me.
"Grab your weapons! Hurry, hurry, hurry. What are you waiting for?" The man yelled, squinting his eye, aiming at the girls. Even the men who once surrounded me had turned around and now pointed their guns at them.
"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 XVIII
"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 her look. She's a killer. Just because she's changed doesn't mean she's lost her instinct." Emma said with a grin on her face.
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 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 command 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, “First, we need to get out of here before Draken catches up,”
"And until we get to Kryptus? Where is she staying? Are we really 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 a new 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 gulped 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 backwards.
Chapter XIX
"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,"
"Will you ever 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." She told me, her eyes focused on the wall on the other side of the room, “I know you must be thinking why I still talk to him. I wish I didn’t, but there’s no one better for missions in this part of the continent. There are times when he’s the only one who can get us something. That’s how life works. Bad people get rewarded and good people, or, at least, people who try to be good, get fucked,”
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. A chill went down my spine. When her lips left my neck a cooling sensation rested there due to her saliva. 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.