by Ruby Dixon
An ear-splitting crackle drowns out his words. The nearest harvester whines and shrieks to a stop, the gears grinding. Smoke begins to pour from the front, and I see people fleeing it on all sides. “Got a jam,” someone yells out. “Someone’s stuck under the blades!”
A guard rushes forward with his shock-stick in hand, moving past us clumsily as he races through the field.
I look at Jutari, my eyes wide, but he’s gazing down the field. I follow his line of sight, and sure enough, Dremmigan is slinking away to the edge of the barrier.
“Time to go,” Jutari tells me. Before I can agree, he grabs me and flings me over his shoulder as if I weigh nothing. I swallow my yelp and ignore the slam of my stomach into his plated shoulder. Vomit threatens to come up my throat, and I close my eyes, concentrating on not puking as he races down the field. Because of the low gravity, I bounce against his shoulder even harder, and I grab double fistfuls of his prison uniform to try and anchor myself.
Endless moments pass, and I can tell the second his feet find purchase on regular ground. I squeeze open an eye and see we’re near the edge of the barrier. From my vantage point, it looks like nothing more than a glittery shimmer, punctuated by a few metal rods placed strategically in a row. I’m guessing that there’s a lot of voltage shooting through that shimmer, though, and shudder at the thought. I don’t know how we’re going to get through there.
Maybe the guard that’s helping us is going to let it down for a short time.
A split second later, I’m set down on my feet, and Jutari touches my cheek. “Stay as close as you can.” He grabs my hand and surges forward, and I see we’re racing toward a small, camouflaged booth near the edge of the barrier. We step inside, and Dremmigan is there with a bag, talking to a guard. In the distance, I can still hear the whine of the thresher, an endless wave of white noise.
“Got the supplies,” Dremmigan says. “You ready to do this?”
Jutari nods.
“It’s enough for three days of food and water for one person, or one day for each of you,” the guard says. He looks young, his skin a slick, toad-ish sort of green. His gaze flicks to me and then to the others. “Good luck to you. You’ll need it. This planet is a death trap.”
“Mm.” Dremmigan checks the bag and then slings it over his shoulder. He holds a thin, clawed hand out to the guard. “Got a knife?”
The guard immediately pulls one from a sheath at his belt and offers it, blade first, to Dremmigan. “Had to call in a few favors to get this one.” He gives me a long, interested look, and my skin prickles. I step closer to Jutari.
“My thanks,” Dremmigan says. He reaches to take the knife, but instead of grabbing it, he pushes forward with a surge. The knife buries itself into the guard’s chest, and the alien guardsman gives a startled gurgle, then collapses to the ground.
I gasp, horrified. Oh my god.
Jutari’s arm goes around me protectively. “He was helping us, fool.”
“He was,” Dremmigan agrees, bending down to get the knife. He wipes the blade on the guard’s uniform and then tucks it into his pack. “And he was far too trusting. The moment someone offered him a better deal, he would have sold us out, and my contacts in-house. Better that he die and keep his secrets.” He rummages through the guard’s pockets.
I feel sick. There was no need to kill the guard. I think of Irita’s words, and I want to get away from Dremmigan as fast as possible.
“There’s no time to waste,” Dremmigan says, standing. He holds out something that looks like a small wand. “Key to the collars. If you want to save your female, we need to go now.”
I look up at Jutari. He seems uneasy, but nods and reaches for the key. “Let us go, then.”
I swallow my tears, trying to seem brave. Okay. Okay. I can be strong until we’re out of here. Then I can freak out all I want. I stand still as Jutari runs the wand over my shock-collar, and then it falls away from my neck with a hiss. He does the same for his own, and then for Dremmigan. I try not to stare at the gray alien, but I wonder how he’s going to view even that simple decision. Jutari picked me over him for something as small as the collars. Am I the next one to be offed because I’m a liability?
I can’t think about that. I have to believe in Jutari. He says he wants me forever. I have to trust in that. “How do we do this?” I ask him, rubbing my newly unencumbered neck. “How are we going to get across the barrier?”
“Do you trust me?” Jutari asks, his gaze dark as he focuses on me.
“Of course.”
He holds his hand out to me, large and three-fingered and blue. I immediately put my hand in his, reassured by the warmth of his grip and the strength of it.
He won’t let anything happen to me.
Jutari presses his mouth to my dirty knuckles, and before I can chide him for that, he picks me up and hefts me over his shoulder again. Thunk, and my breath escapes my lungs. “You too, Drem,” he calls. “There’s no time to waste.”
What does he mean, him too? I lift my head to ask, except a moment later I see the tall, slender, smoke-colored alien hang over Jutari’s other shoulder. What the heck?
Jutari heads out of the guard shack and toward the barrier. The hair on my head crackles and my body hums with energy. “What are we doing?” I call out. “Waiting for the barrier to go down?”
“No, we’re going through it,” he tells me.
What?
“Brace yourself, Chloe,” Jutari says, his arm tight on my waist. “This will hurt.”
That’s all the warning I get before he moves forward, and electricity sears through my body. Everything goes black.
7
JUTARI
The pain of passing through the barrier is like no other. I groan, staggering forward as the dual weights of Chloe and Dremmigan hang limply off my body. The barrier’s not thick, but each step forward feels like an endless one. Then I am through, and I tumble to the ground, weak. My vision is hazy, my skin smells charred, and my hair singed. I’m pretty sure my horns are smoking.
But I’m alive. I take a moment to catch my breath, waiting for my heart to slow down from its panicked racing. Chloe and Dremmigan are both sprawled on the red dirt, and I move to my mate’s side, pressing my hand to her breast. Her heart beats. She is well. I touch her bruised face gently and then scoop her gently in my arms and hold her to my breast. I don’t believe in deities, but right now, I send a prayer up to whoever might be listening for keeping my Chloe safe.
I take the knife from Dremmigan’s pack and gently make a small cut in Chloe’s jumper, then into the meat of her arm, hating every drop that she bleeds. I dig the tracker out of her arm, crush it between my fingernails, and then cast it into the dirt. I do the same for my own. With those gone, we’ll be difficult to find.
I pick my Chloe up again and hold her close, getting to my feet. She is small, and I do not know how much the barrier will have knocked her out for, so I will carry her. I take the pack from Dremmigan’s shoulder and sling it over my back, and then stare down at my “friend.”
I don’t know what to do. Taking Chloe with me has always been the plan—there’s no point in escaping without her. I’m not leaving her behind.
I owe Dremmigan. I should take him with me…but I want to leave him. He used his connections to get us supplies and set up part of the escape but…I’m not pleased. He slaughtered that young, foolish guard just because it was convenient for him. Even when I was at my lowest in my mercenary days, I never killed without necessity. There was always a reason behind it. The bastards I killed were always worse than the ones that hired me. There was always a reason.
There was no reason in that particular slaughter.
Yet if I leave him here, do I put Chloe and myself in danger? If I bring him with us, do I put her in even more danger? Do I break my word even though his was good? To me, at least?
Or do I kill him in cold blood to make things tidy, as he did with the guard? It would be easy to simply pull
the breather off his nose and let him choke out, unconscious.
I have never truly trusted him, but now that the choice is mine, I don’t know if I can be as coldly ruthless as he was. Perhaps I’m growing weak now that I have a woman to care for. Perhaps I want to be better for her.
It doesn’t matter. I can’t kill him in cold blood any more than I can leave him behind. I juggle Chloe’s limp body against my shoulder and cut the tracker out of his arm. Then I grab the back of his jumper with my other hand and haul him along, letting his legs drag in the dirt.
I stagger along in the foothills. In a way, it’s good that we’re covered in the thick red dirt of the fields - it helps camouflage us from the inevitable search parties that will be heading our way. I’m exhausted, and every bone in my body aches, but I push forward, my pace as brisk as I can go with the two dead weights of my passengers. I need a cave to set them down in, and a place for my fragile Chloe to rest. Under the dark of night, we can continue traveling to a safe spot where I can contact Kivian. For now, the priority is to get away.
The cliffs near the prison are rocky and promising, but they’re also too close. It wouldn’t matter if there was a cave here, we’d be found instantly. Our best bet is to cover as much ground as possible.
After a short time, Dremmigan groans. I pause and release his jumper, then offer him a hand so he can get to his feet. “You didn’t leave me,” he grunts, and his breathing sounds shaky. “I’m surprised.”
“We had a deal,” I tell him. I offer him the pack as a show of trust—even though I have none—and he takes it, pulling it over one shoulder and settling it on his back.
“That hurt worse than I anticipated,” he says, rotating one shoulder and then taking a stumbling step forward. “Did your female make it?”
“She did, but she is still unconscious.” I tuck her against my shoulder, her face against my neck. “Her body is smaller than ours. It might take time for her to awaken.” I don’t want to consider that she won’t.
Dremmigan nods slowly. “I can walk. Where are we going?”
“We’re looking for shelter. Any shelter.” I point at distant cliffs, near one of the endlessly churning air-circulators. “I thought we’d head there for tonight. It’ll be easier to travel without detection while it’s dark.”
He nods and rubs his upper arm. “And the trackers?”
“I took them out.”
“Glad you thought of it.”
Then there’s nothing else to say. We stare at each other for a bit, both of us lost in thought. I know what we’re both thinking—we’re judging if we can trust the other for a bit longer. But I didn’t come this far to let Dremmigan ruin things.
And I still have the knife.
So I turn toward the distant cliffs and continue walking.
CHLOE
I’m alive.
It’s the first thought that goes through my head as I wake up. Oh sure, everything hurts and I feel like a piece of fried chicken, but I’m alive. I sit up slowly, holding my head as I try to get my bearings. “Mmm…Jutari?”
“Here.” A big, familiar body moves next to me, blocking out the little light in the cave. At least, I think we’re in a cave. It’s dark and hard to tell. A hand touches my cheek, and then something is pushed into my grip. “Drink this.”
“Where are we?” I ask as I find the seal on the water pouch and take a sip. Oh man, that’s better than I’d expected. I must have been out for a while, because I gulp the entire thing down and I’m still thirsty.
“We’re in a cave near the air-circulators, taking a break. Now that the sun is down, we can start moving.” Jutari strokes my cheek again. “How do you feel?”
“I’m all right,” I lie. Moving is the last thing I want to do right now, but it’s not like there’s a car waiting to come and pick me up. So I’m just going to have to suck it up for a while. “Are we…did we all make it?”
“Drem is just outside.”
Ah. I’m not sure how I feel about that. Feels wrong for me to wish death on him, but at the same time, I can’t stop thinking about Irita’s warning. I don’t want us to come this far to only get stabbed in the back. I get to my feet, taking my time—and the hand he offers me. “Are you okay? How-how did we get away?”
“The shock of the barrier is only slightly stronger than the shock-collars. They have never affected me like most, and so I carried both you and Dremmigan away from the barrier while you were unconscious.”
“You did that for us?” I have a knot of gratitude in my throat. “Thank you, Jutari. Are you okay?” As he steps closer to me, I worry. He doesn’t look okay. He looks…exhausted. There are dark hollows under his eyes, and his shoulders seem to droop a little. When he pulls me close, he smells like ozone and burned skin, and I stroke his back even as he hugs me against him.
“I am fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” I whisper, not wanting Drem to hear me.
He chuckles a little. “All right. I’m keffing tired. I haven’t slept much in the last several days.”
“You haven’t? Why not?”
Jutari’s mouth twitches, and he cups my chin. “I had a sweet female to protect and keep safe from the others in the cell.”
Oh. I didn’t realize. I feel like a real asshole for not figuring that out until now. “You did that for me?”
“Of course,” he says, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world to be a sweetheart like that. “So I’m tired and I’d kill for a nap, but right now that’s not an option. We need to get farther away from here. We came to the air-circulator to grab some component parts to build a beacon, but Kivian’s not going to be able to land here. Not with all the fog this thing is putting out. We need a better location and to get some distance between us and the prison.”
“Okay.” I’m not convinced, but if that’s what he wants to do, he knows better than I do how to survive here. “Who’s Kivian?”
“A fellow pirate and someone I trust.” He strokes my hair, then runs his knuckles lightly along my cheek. “He’s going to be surprised I’ve settled down.”
“No one’s more surprised than me,” I say dryly. It’s true; I never thought I’d find someone at an intergalactic prison of all places, and yet…I’m looking forward to seeing what life has to offer when it’s just me and Jutari in a normal situation. One where we can talk and laugh and enjoy each other’s company without worrying about the interfering presence of others. One where we can just learn about each other. One where we can spend the entire day in bed without someone else watching.
Yeah, all of that sounds nice. It might be a pipe dream, but it gives me something to look forward to.
I’ve resigned myself to the fact that I’ll never go home. I’ll never see Earth again. It’s clear that Earth is unfamiliar or off limits to the vast majority of aliens that I’ve met, and those that know where I’m from regard me uneasily. Unless Jutari wants to take a risk, I won’t be going back to my solar system. I won’t see Earth’s blue skies or hug my friends again. I’ve known that for a while now.
Funny how it doesn’t hurt as much now that I’ve got Jutari. I no longer feel so terribly alone. I rub a hand briskly up and down his arm, trying to perk his spirits. “All right, so what’s the plan? And how can I help?”
His eyes gleam, and I think he’s pleased. “The plan is for us to take off now that it is night. We are going to have to cross a great deal of rocky terrain. It’s not going to be easy. I can carry you if you’re tired.”
“I’m good,” I reassure him, checking my nose-clip-breather. I’m tired, thirsty, and hungry, but I imagine he is, too. No sense in whining, and I don’t want him to feel like he has to carry me. I want to pull my own weight for a change. “What about supplies? And you said you needed parts for a beacon? Do we have everything we need? Should we get backups while we’re here?”
Jutari nods. “Good idea. We’ll get some extra wiring and a few motherboards while we’re here and then head out.”
>
“About time,” says Drem from the front of the cave. His voice is flat and emotionless like always, but something about it makes me shiver. I don’t like him. I don’t trust him.
Something about him sets me on edge, even more than this prison break does.
We set off a short time later, under the dark, nighttime skies. Jutari has a bag full of components that he ripped out of one panel of the air-circulator, and while it all looks like garbage to me, he says he has enough to put the beacon together. I just have to trust him.
I’m glad to put distance between us and the air-circulator, because the air near it is oppressive. It feels thicker than the air on the rest of the planet, heavy with condensation and oppressive. Even though it’s dark, we stumble along over the rocky surface. My prison shoes suck, but I don’t complain. I’m too worried about the normally graceful Jutari as he staggers forward, his steps occasionally weaving.
He needs a break, but I know I can’t suggest it. Something tells me that any sign of weakness in front of Dremmigan would be a bad idea. As we walk, though, I grab a palm-sized rock and hold it in my hand, bringing it with me. Just in case.
At some point during the middle of the night, searchlights appear in the distance, and we huddle—the three of us—against a jagged boulder, watching as patrols begin to sweep the area, looking for us. Jutari’s mouth is pulled into a thin line, and I don’t think he’s happy at their appearance. Maybe he thought we’d have more time.
But the air vehicles don’t see us, and the sweep continues past without a peep, and we grab our meager supplies and continue onward.
Dawn is on the horizon when we find a cleft in a large cliff with enough overhanging rock to provide shade throughout the day and protect us from being seen. Jutari collapses against it, eyes immediately closing.