Here

by Zolendz, Christine

  Did he really just keep going, thinking I was still following him?

  I pull myself away from the wall and meander in the direction he stalked off in, but when I reach the end of the long corridor it forks off into three separate pathways.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I mumble to myself. How am I supposed to guess which way he went?

  “Rune,” I whisper into the three tunnel openings.

  He doesn’t answer.

  “Rune?” I say louder, my voice echoing down the empty passageways.

  The silence stirs.

  The air suddenly feels prickly and charged.

  Something isn’t right.

  I hear a soft sound behind me—a low noise like a drawn breath or a whisper. I whip my head around and Pious is there in the darkness. My breath catches. Slowly he emerges from the shadows of where we came, with the cherry-red glow of his laser-tipped finger pointing right at me. I choke on my gasp.

  I try to jump out of the way, but I can’t breathe and the tunnel spins around me and Pious’s arms clamp around me, with the tip of his laser pushed up under the bottom of my chin. He’s dragging me back, pulling me flush against the cold steel of his chest plate. “Go ahead, parasite. Scream for him.”

  I can’t take a deep enough breath and my vision swims. I struggle and twist in his grasp, but I don’t scream. I’m not able to. I’m too busy hyperventilating in Pious’s arms.

  My leg stomps back and I try to jerk free, but he pins me against the wall, one hand at my throat and another like a vice grip around my chest.

  “Unhand the girl,” a voice grounds out from one of the shadowy tunnels ahead of us.

  I force my head up and I meet Rune’s gaze. His expression is dark, murderous. Standing next to him is Jex, weapon drawn at us.

  My knees buckle. Pious grips me tighter and a small dark laugh bubbles up from his throat. “The female is mine,” Pious says, low and harsh. His words fall against my skin like icy air.

  “Unhand the girl and take me instead,” Rune demands. “I’m the one you really want.”

  Jex’s head whips in his direction, eyes wide.

  I’m just as stunned. What is he doing? He can’t give himself up, he’ll get killed.

  “General Rune, sir—” Jex stammers.

  “Sentinel, if you take your shot, Kate will die.” His eyes fall on mine and they pierce deep into my soul. “Pious, let my sentinel return the girl to her planet and I will go with you without a fight.” His mouth tightens and his voice sharpens. “She means nothing to either of us and she tells me you have more than enough females in the preservation lab for the Caelum population enhancement. She needs not be one of them.”

  “She means nothing to us?” Pious chuckles darkly.

  Fire burns across my chest and up my throat. I’m going to throw up.

  “Nothing,” Rune repeats. “Nothing but a bit of an annoyance.”

  “Yet, you are willing to sacrifice your life for her return home, brother.”

  Jex shifts forward, but Rune holds out an arm to stop him.

  Pious hums out a deep sound and slides his face against mine, running his nose and mouth along my cheek. “Oh, but you’re wrong, she does mean something to me. You see, Rune, I’ve chosen this female to mate with.”

  Behind me and Pious, dozens of Caelum step out of the shadows, filling up the small passageway, each one drawing their weapons to fall on Rune’s surprised expression. Tears fill my eyes, and my head shakes on its own volition. No, no, no. This can’t be happening.

  “Guards. Secure Rune and his sentinel,” Pious commands.

  The guards march forward menacingly. Jex puts up a fight but within seconds, the guards are on him, shackling him with strange metal chains and thick black rods. Rune’s eyes linger on mine as I watch his friend and protector get dragged away by the enemy.

  Pious shoves me forward, “Move, girl.”

  He pushes my shoulders hard, making me stagger ahead, as the rest of the Caelum restrain an unresisting Rune, shackling his ankles. He was ready to sacrifice himself for me. He was willing to give up his life, without a thought, to get me back home.

  I’m not someone easily replaceable to him, am I?

  He wanted me to be here for more than breeding. That’s why he was so angry with me. That’s why he stormed ahead without me. I didn’t get it, I didn’t get it until now. I was so preoccupied with my own fear of losing my sister that I couldn’t see what Rune was feeling.

  Rune watches me carefully.

  I pause in front of him and push back on Pious’s arms, struggling to free myself. I lunge toward Rune and he catches me in his arms, both of us tumbling back.

  I bring my lips up to his ear. “You lied to me,” I whisper.

  He pulls his head back and narrows his eyes at me. The guards struggle to untangle my arms from his.

  “You know what that word means,” I whisper, trying to find a hold on him. Whether his affection for me is just a friendly emotion or more, I don’t have time to wonder. But what I do know for certain, laying your life down for someone means you know something of what the word love means.

  Pious’s hands pull and grasp at me, yanking me away violently.

  “What word?” Rune staggers with me, but the guards seize his arms behind him, slapping his wrists and arms with thick metal bands.

  Pious wrenches me back with a fistful of my hair and I shriek from the sudden sharp pain. His hands are too big, too strong to break away from. My scalp burns and my eyes pinch and fill with tears, but my arms still flail toward Rune.

  “No!” Rune shouts, bucking against the guards to get to me. “Let her go!”

  His eyes never leave mine.

  “What word, Kate?” he growls.

  Pious drags me back farther. His arms, harsh and icy, enclose around my ribcage, and lift until my feet no longer touch the floor.

  “No!” Rune’s voice roars and breaks. “Kate! Pious! If you hurt her—"

  One of the guards strikes him dead center and he falls to his knees. I flinch and scream as another guard kicks him until he lands hard on the floor. Rune swears and grunts out in pain. Guards are instantly between us and all I can do is cry out.

  With all my strength, I slam my body back and Pious and I crash back against a wall. I thought it could knock him off me or loosen his grasp but all it does is shift his hold higher until he’s squeezing all the air out of my chest.

  I’m eye level with Rune as he curls his knees into his stomach and coughs and gasps for air. There’s a long bright streak of blood across his cheek.

  “Stop! Don’t hurt him!” I grunt through gritted teeth, straining to get to him.

  Quick movements flicker above me. Other guards arrive and try to help Pious drag me away from the chaos. In the confusion, one of my hands breaks free and I start to hammer my fist into the side of Pious’s helmet.

  On the other side of the hallway the guards are dragging Rune away. I can’t turn my head to see, but it seems too quiet for him to still be struggling. I hold my breath and turn my eyes on Pious.

  “Don’t worry, female. He’s not dead,” he whispers. “Not yet.”

  Voices echo out in the corridor and the sounds of gears and metal scraping and humming fade away. Pious lessens his hold on me and I scramble to sit up. Patches of blood smudge the floor where Rune fell.

  I stare at a splattered stain in the shape of Rune’s hand along the wall as Pious’s men rush around us.

  “What are you going to do with him?” I ask in a low, calm voice. I continue to stare at the smears of blood, wondering when Pious will see them. Isn’t he afraid of his ship being contaminated by any contact with human skin or blood?

  “Rune will be executed in a live stream for all the Caelum to witness.” When he speaks the words, his voice is bright and cheerful and I can feel the morbid joy that vibrates through each syllable.

  Why doesn’t he see the blood yet? One long line drips down from the base of the palm, h
ow can he not notice it?

  Something deep in my mind cracks and splinters. I shake my head softly, back and forth focusing on the path of the blood as it trickles down to meet the floor.

  “And you, female. You will help me create a whole new world.”

  I shift my head in his direction and slowly pull my gaze to find his. “No,” I whisper. “Rune is going to take me back home to my father and sister. They need me.”

  His voice turns quieter. Meaner. “Female. I could drop your body from the sky to land broken and bleeding at their feet and your father and sister would not even notice it was you. There’s no one to mourn you there, they are too simple-minded, still collecting foil and forks.” He pauses, studying the effect of his words on me.

  This will be the forefather of the new world? Mean and callous and inhuman. Rune is the much better choice.

  Screw that noise, I meant what I said. Rune is going to take me back home to my father and sister. They need me. All three of them.

  I lean toward Pious and nod my head, taking in a deep breath. Deliberately and with slow steady movements, I reach out in a friendly gesture to touch my hand to his shoulder. “And we’re going to create a new world? Me and you?”

  “Yessss,” he hisses.

  I tilt my head, pretending to think it through, nodding in agreement. “For the future of mankind,” I whisper.

  Then without another word, I thrust my hand up to his helmet’s lever and yank down hard and fast, tearing and flinging his faceplate to the floor.

  50

  Kate

  Fear pierces through my heart. Pious’s faceplate is gone, skidding down the metal grids of the floor. His face is red and angry, his eyes are deep-set and the lightest shade of amber I’ve ever seen. His hair so blond it’s almost white. He looks nothing like Rune.

  “You will live just long enough to regret that, girl.”

  I pull back into the shadows, away from him, but there’s nowhere to run or hide. The narrow hallway has no give and I feel the walls closing in on me. “Guards!” he shouts, his voice carries ice over my skin.

  “Yes, General Pious, sir!” dozens of voices say in unison. An army of voices, filling up the hidden walkways of the core, drowning out any hope I had of ever getting out of here. My heart drums at the base of my throat.

  Pious shouts orders, teeth bared, his guards scrambling on the floor for his helmet. I back away farther, wondering how far I can move myself away, but the thought cuts dead as I hit into a solid wall of guards. “Restrain her!”

  Cold metal slaps around my wrists and ankles. Then Pious launches at me with enough force to knock me back, crushing me between his body and the barrier of guards. The Caelum shout and rush to crowd around us. My bare skin gets tugged and pulled and scraped as Pious and his men attach chains to the metal bands that bind me. My knees buckle and my body drops. I land hard on my side and struggle to squirm my way free. But I can’t escape. Pious tightens his grip on my restraints and drags me forward.

  The Caelum press to the wall and create a pathway for him to lug me through. He walks fast, and my body trails over the smooth metal of the floor until we hit a patch of grids with sharp edges that slice into my skin and have me screaming.

  Pious swings around and whips the chains into my thighs. “Enough,” he says. “Your pathetic screeching is just infuriating me more.”

  Then he slaps one of the metal bars over my lips. The alloy burns as it seeps into my skin bringing hot tears to my eyes. I make a whimpering sound and struggle against the binding.

  Pious’s gaze bores into mine. “When will you learn? The more you fight me, female, the worse I will do to break you.”

  I shake my head quickly, screaming in my mind to be set free. Tears stream down my cheeks and his eyes trail after them. The corner of his lip curls up into a smile right before he whirls back around and continues to drag me through the ship.

  I try to lift my head, try to force my shackled feet up to walk, but he’s walking too fast, pounding down the passageways, and my feet can’t grasp the floor. My arms pull over my head, the joints in my wrists and armpits stretch and burn. Every time I try to brace my feet to the floor my body twists around on the chains and sharpens the pain.

  Prayers fill my head. Please God, please make him stop. Please make this all stop. Get me out of here.

  I expect him to drag me for hours, but instead, he abruptly stops and pulls me through a small hidden opening. He shoves me down hard. “Sit,” he demands.

  I slide my body along the cold metallic wall and look up at him. I try to move my lips and yell at him, but the binding on my mouth makes anything I say sound like muted grunts and moans.

  He throws a quick impassive expression toward me then turns back away to face a floor-to-ceiling cabinet fill of buttons and lights and screens.

  I huff out a loud grunt. Can’t he take this thing off my mouth at least? I carefully pull myself up into a somewhat comfortable sitting position, but what I really want to do is stand. My body aches and there are scrapes and cuts all over me, and truth be told, I don’t want him looming over me and looking down on me any longer.

  But he’s not looking at me right now—his attention is focused on the flashing lights and digital images that light up at the tips of his fingers. He’s so preoccupied with what he’s doing, he doesn’t notice me scoot my bottom all the way to the closest ledge I can find to hoist myself upright again.

  “The arrangements have been set,” he says, slowly turning his gaze toward me.

  I freeze, my feet rooted to the floor, my eyes staring up into his.

  He smiles. A vicious sickening twist of his lips and a slight flushing of his cheeks. He turns his entire body to face mine, folding his arms across his broad chest. “I’m certain you’re wondering what arrangements I’m referring to, am I correct?”

  I don’t show any sign or movement to answer him.

  He barks out a laugh and shakes his head. “I’m quite surprised that mouth of yours cannot gnaw through the bonds.”

  Oh, there are so many things I want to scream at him right now.

  He takes a few steps closer to where I stand. I don’t back away even though I desperately want to. I stand my ground and stare him dead in the eyes.

  “The arrangements I set are for an execution.”

  An execution? He wouldn’t kill me, not when he needs me to—

  “Exactly twenty-four hours from now Rune will be publicly executed for his crimes.”

  I shout through the metal bindings, but my words are too muffled and unrecognizable. I end up growling deep in my throat to try and get my point across.

  “You’re like one of those wild animals we have on our historical digital files. It’s fascinating, really.” He takes another step closer, less than an arm’s reach away from me. Now I can hear his nasally breathing, and the way his lungs seem to heave and convulse in his chest. His body isn’t used to being without his helmet, or maybe it’s more of the fear of what he always believed would happen if it was ever to be taken off.

  I growl again and gesture my hands to my face. I want this metal strap off my mouth, now.

  He smirks and lifts his hand to my cheek. He does something that’s too close to my face for me to see and suddenly my lips are free, allowing words to come tumbling out of my mouth uncontrollably. “Eat a dick. You piece of lying alien trash. Rune did nothing wrong and you know it.”

  He lunges forward so fast, I only realize he’s moved when I feel his fingers clasp around my throat and squeeze. “Your language is repulsive.”

  I gasp and choke and swing my bound arms against his. I slam the metal that shackles my wrists together against his forearms, but his hand just clenches tighter around my neck. Panic rushes through my body in fiery heat. I flail my arms and thrash my body—anything to get his hands from around my neck. I can’t breathe. He’s completely cut off my air supply. My vision thins and his face blurs into shadowy colors.

  “Such an inferio
r gender,” he hisses as he drags me forward and throws me down. My knees and palms collide with the floor and sharp biting pain slices up my bones. I cough and gag on the air I’m desperately trying to gulp back into my lungs. “So easily breakable,” he laughs.

  Panting, I stare up at him. My throat is on fire and I wish I could burn him with my words. “Yet, I hold what you need. Don’t I?” My voice is harsh and raw. “Without females, you go extinct.”

  His lip curls up in a snarl.

  I cringe as I try to swallow. I need to stand back up. I can’t let him think he bested me.

  “Only a small part of your anatomy is needed. The rest of your body is nothing more than an empty bag of flesh. Quite worthless,” he says, as he watches me climb to my feet.

  It takes me a minute to steady myself and I end up having to lean on the nearest wall for support. I end up looking as weak as he believes I am.

  “Why do you fight me?” he asks, cocking his head.

  “I don’t belong here,” I croak, still having trouble catching my breath. “None of the women do. You took us. Stole us.”

  “And you want to go back to your home, do you?” he whispers.

  Then something in his expression changes. His eyes gleam, his features darken.

  The hairs on the nape of my neck prickle and straighten. He’s up to something. He’s either going to lunge at me again or—

  “Oh, I have the remedy for that, female,” he chuckles, low.

  I have a bad feeling. A really awful, sickening feeling curling in my stomach.

  He takes a few steps back, smiling, until he’s standing in front of the digital display station again. He reaches out a hand, and without taking his gaze away from mine, he presses a glowing blue button. Just to my left a floor-to-ceiling panel shifts and slides open, millions of stars blinking back at me. In the center of the window, hundreds of miles away, is Earth, covered with the bluest water and cotton-like clouds.

  Home.

  I lay my palms flat against the surface of the glass. It’s icy cold.