by Jay Riverton
Lycanere didn’t hesitate. He grabbed the laser, took a deep breath underneath the gas, and continued her work.
His head entered the gas, and his body immediately screamed at him. It felt as if someone was pushing on every tiny part of him that was enveloped in the gas, including his eyes. He was crying before he noticed it. He felt as if his nose was pushed in and it was hard to resist taking a breath. He tried to ignore it all, and pressed the button on the laser, letting it dig into the metal barrier.
The gas reached the bottom of his chin when he was out of breath.
He bent down under it, inhaled, and turned to his friends.
“Get ready to run.”
He went back into the gas and felt its oppressive push on his body. It was already up to his chest, crawling down his body like tendrils, the laser so close to the gas’ grasp. If it hits the laser… he didn’t want to continue his thought. He was almost through the lock. They were almost safe.
The gas rolled down his body now, getting closer and closer, the laser matching its speed as it seared through the lock. Lycanere needed another breath. His body cried for him to take it, just a quick one, one enough to sustain him, but he was afraid that by the time he came back up the gas would’ve reached his hand and they’d be out of luck.
He was being choked, restricted, and crushed by the gas. His chest and neck were being compressed and compacted. The tops of his arms were stuck to the sides of his body, and the bottoms holding the laser quivered. The laser was a centimeter away from completion. The gas was right above it. Just a little more, and… CLINK. The laser went through the last of the metal. He turned it off and smiled. But he was not finished. The door could only swing in, not out, and it was still closed.
Lycanere’s fingers dug into the hot, burning metal between the door. He held in his breath and screams as he wedged his fingers in between the new slit in the metal. It felt as if his fingers were melting, but he bared through it. Lycanere swung the door open and immediately fell over outside into the fresh air.
He took a deep breath and crawled out of the Tank. Kakine and Pirelavs followed, Martia in Pirelavs’ arms.
Pirelavs reached back into the cabin and pulled out Martia’s tool wallet. Lycanere watched him slide it into his pocket as they moved away from the cabin.
“Lyc,” Pirelavs said a few minutes later as they stood outside, taking in air and looking at the cabin which the gas had now filled and was flowing out of. Martia laid on the grass beside them, unconscious.
Lycanere looked at his bubbling, burned fingers for the first time before turning to Pirelavs. “Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“Martia did most of the work.”
“Yeah, but I can’t thank her until she wakes up. So, thank you.” He looked at Lycanere’s fingers. “You’ll be fine. Don’t worry. I know it hurts.” They stayed silent for a few seconds before Pirelavs spoke again. “Lyc?”
“Yeah?”
“Pass me the laser.”
Lycanere gave it to him. Pirelavs pressed the button and let the laser come out. He smashed the bottom of the laser against his scaled skin several times. Lycanere looked on in fear and wonderment.
“Don’t worry, I don’t feel a thing,” Pirelavs assured.
“What are you doing?”
The bottom of the laser was beat in. Pirelavs let go of the button, and the laser stayed on.
“Breaking it. Run.” He threw Martia over his scaled shoulder and launched the laser behind him at the cabin. Lycanere watched him take off. He looked at Kakine, and they ran after him. They all peered over their shoulders back at the cabin as they ran.
The laser didn’t even make it inside before it hit the gas. Lycanere watched the cabin explode into green and purple flames, scorching high into the sky. The fire tore at the clouds and trees around them and the cabin began to fall apart almost instantly. Surprisingly, the fire didn’t spread any farther than the gas reached, as if the gas was keeping it in place. The forest was still safe and untouched.
They stopped half-way to the Reformation Center and stared at the cabin. It was ablaze, the heat kicking off and travelling through the wind towards them. Lycanere turned to Pirelavs who was gazing at the fire as if he’d fallen in love. A smile was etched across the scaled man’s face, and the fire was reflecting off of his eyes. It was as if Lycanere was peering into the eyes of a man at the peak of ecstasy. A man on the edge of arousal. Pirelavs, the man of fire. And a fitting name at that. Lycanere began to question if that was even the young man’s true name or something he just told everyone. Regardless, one thing was for sure, there would no longer be a Reformation Tank on Scouts’ Honor.
“Two possibilities now. Either they think we’re dead or alive,” Lycanere said.
“Let’s hope it’s the prior,” Kakine said. “We shouldn’t continue down this path. We need to go through the forest.”
“To where?” Pirelavs said.
“The Reformation Center,” Kakine said. “They have guns in there.”
“But we don’t know the code,” Pirelavs said.
“We have the rest of Martia’s tools. Either we do this or hide. We’ve already lost our helpers, but getting guns may get them back,” Kakine said.
“Not now. Let’s wait ‘til night when everyone’s asleep. We’ll go to the Center then. Let’s hide for now,” Lycanere said. He motioned for them to move and they ducked into the trees.
The Reformed Scouts and Mike came by within ten minutes with a huge hose and many fire extinguishers. Lycanere watched through the trees as they put out the fire. He spotted Benjamin and Mike standing off to the side amongst them.
“What did you do to those girls?” Benjamin said.
“Told them to go back to their cabin. I wasn’t gonna punish them for tryna help Lycanere. Besides, they’re the ones who’ll be pregnant. They’re not men.”
Benjamin chuckled. “That doesn’t seem fair. If I was a Scout Master—”
“Well, it’s a good thing you’re not.”
Benjamin glared at Mike. “Stop rejecting me. Just train me. I could be a great Scout Master.”
“You’re gonna have a kid now. I can’t train you to be a Scout Master,” Mike told him as they stood off to the side near the trees.
“I’m infertile. Let Genevieve help the others some other way. I’ll be no help. I rather by a Scout Master than anything else,” Benjamin said.
“And why didn’t you tell me this on the ship?”
“I wanted to learn the ins-and-outs of what it truly meant to be part of the Discover Scouts. To feel worthful in this world. It just hit me now that becoming a Scout Master may be the only proper way to do that.”
Scout Master Mike nodded and patted Benjamin’s shoulder. “I’ll speak to Corporate for you.”
Two scouts, one male and one female, approached the two, moving almost robotically.
“No bodies?” Mike asked the woman.
“Negative. Probably destroyed in the fire,” she responded.
“And their bones just burned away too?” Mike laughed. The Scouts didn’t respond. “Well, I warned him. You two and Ben come with me.”
“Yessir,” they all said.
He turned to the others and yelled, “The rest of you watch out for them! You see them, you shoot! Only stun, remember. People can always be useful.”
“Yessir,” the remainder said.
Mike walked on, the two Reformed Scouts and Benjamin following behind.
They stayed silent for a few moments as they watched the Scouts finish putting out the flames.
“They wouldn’t kill us, would they?” Kakine asked.
“Mike told them not to,” Pirelavs answered. He laid on the ground beside Martia, letting her use his good arm as a pillow. “Then again, he threatened to kill Lycanere, and they seem like buddies. Who knows what they’ll do to us.”
“I don’t think Mike has it in his heart to kill one of us,” Lycanere said, “but the Reformed Scouts ar
e not him. They’re not even humans. They’re pawns.”
“They might as well be aliens,” Pirelavs said.
Lycanere watched them for a few more seconds before sitting down himself. Night would come soon, and they needed to act by then.
Chapter Six
tHE dWARF
Martia was still unconscious what seemed like hours after sunset, Pirelavs asleep beside her. He was talking to himself.
“No, no, please… don’t send me,” he mumbled. “It wasn’t on purpose this time, I promise… I’m still good. I’m not worthless.”
Kakine was dozing too, her head on Lycanere’s shoulder. Lycanere sat up against a tree and watched her drool, trying to make sure it missed him as it dripped from her bottom lip.
He nudged her, and she stirred awake. She looked up at him and wiped her mouth.
“Time to go,” he said.
She rose and stretched. Lycanere moved over to Pirelavs and tapped his shoulder.
“I’m not worthless. I’m not—”
“Pirelavs,” Lycanere said. The young man startled awake and looked up at Lycanere. “It’s time to go.”
Pirelavs turned from Lycanere to Martia.
“Try to wake her up,” Lycanere told him.
“And if she doesn’t?”
“Just try,” Lycanere said.
Pirelavs gently shook Martia. “Hey, Martia,” he said.
Kakine tried to help, pushing Martia forcefully.
“Marty, wake up,” she said. No response.
Kakine put her ear to Martia’s chest. “Still breathing.”
Lycanere shook his head. “We need to go.”
“We can’t leave her,” Kakine said.
“We can’t bring her, either. She’ll encumber us,” Lycanere said.
“I’ll watch over her. If anyone comes, I can carry her out of here.”
“You have a bad arm,” Lycanere said.
“We’ll be fine.” He dug into his back pocket, withdrew the tool wallet, and threw it to Lycanere. “Just, please, don’t leave without us.”
“We’d never,” Kakine said. “We promise.”
Pirelavs looked to Lycanere who nodded in approval. They wouldn’t have made it this far without Pirelavs or Martia. Leaving them would be a disservice to their work and friendship.
Lycanere and Kakine silently and quickly moved out through the forest towards the Reformation Center.
“I don’t know about this,” Lycanere said.
“They’ll be okay… We’ll be okay,” Kakine reassured.
Within a minute, they could see the Center’s massive planetary columns.
“We’re gonna get these guns and bring them to the others. We’ll fight together and get out of here. I promise,” Lycanere said, more to himself than Kakine.
They reached the edge of the forest, right beside the clearing. A Scout stood outside, attentive with an assault rifle in her hands.
“You got your joystick?” Lycanere whispered.
“Of course. How are your fingers?”
He looked down at them. They were scarred already, red and blotchy, but he could still move them. “I’ll be okay.”
They stared at the Scout whose eyes scanned the area. Lycanere looked down and saw rocks at their feet.
“Got an idea.” He picked one up, feeling pain in his fingers, and launched it across the path at the forest opposite their side. The Scout looked up and began to move towards the sound, scanning both in front of and behind her. She swung her gun around as she moved, aiming at everything. Lycanere tensed as the barrel aimed at them, but it swung by all the same. The Scout hadn’t seen them.
“Come out of there and I won’t hurt you,” she said.
Lycanere advanced slowly, making his way to the edge of the forest right beside the path, hidden behind a tree. He looked back at Kakine who was staring at him in shock. He smiled.
The Scout made her way to the path and looked over at the other side. Lycanere pounced out of the trees at her. She heard him before he could land. She turned and fired, red lasers searing through the sky. The shots were loud, reverberating and singeing the air. Lycanere’s body tensed as it flew on top of hers, knocking her to the ground. He heard Kakine gasp behind him. His shoulder screamed and burned, but he let the burn drift to the back of his mind as he wrestled the gun from the Scout. He looked down at her, a girl no older than him, and saw the grimace on her face – her teeth clenched and her eyes wild like a hungry animal’s.
He wrenched the gun from her, flipped it around, and knocked her out with the butt.
He turned and saw Kakine emerging from the trees, ripping a piece of her shirt off. Lycanere’s shoulder throbbed in severe pain as she reached him and rapped her shirt around it. There was a hole through the top of it and it was steaming and bleeding.
“Fuck,” he said, his teeth digging into his bottom lip as she tightened the shirt around him.
“What were you thinking?” she asked. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
The Reformation Center doors were kicked open. Of course, someone had heard the gunshots.
“More will come,” he said as he lifted the gun and looked at its side where there was a movable lever beneath two words: “stun” and “kill.” It was under “kill.” He switched it to “stun” and aimed at the Center, seeing a male Scout exit it. Lycanere’s shoulder screamed as he aimed at him.
He fired a yellow laser. Headshot. The Scout fell, paralyzed. Lycanere collapsed and grabbed his shoulder. He wanted to scream as loud as he could, to have his pain scorch the air like his fresh skin had only seconds ago, but he kept it in.
Kakine fell to his side and helped him up, taking the gun from him.
“We need to get in there, now. Give me the gun,” he demanded her.
She looked him in his eyes longingly. He didn’t have time for this.
“Kakine—"
“Lycanere, I got this.” But she didn’t move from her spot, but just kept staring. Lycanere awkwardly looked away, trying to listen for other Scouts. Someone else had to have heard the shots.
“Lyc,” Kakine said. He turned to her.
“Let’s move, Khaki. Have the gun if you want.” He took a step forward and she grabbed his arm.
“I just… If we get ambushed and killed—”
“We won’t.”
“But if we do…”
She kissed him. He pulled away instinctively.
“Kakine, I, uh… Now’s definitely not the time for that.”
“Then when is the right time? I don’t want to die and never have been able to at least kiss a guy. I thought you liked me?”
“Kakine, I’m gay.” He’d told few people before, but it felt good to say it again.
She stopped. “Really?”
“Yeah.” He glanced back to the Reformation Center. “That’s why I’m here. Well, that’s the big reason why. My people thought that I couldn’t continue my lineage, and that I couldn’t be a leader, and that I couldn’t be manly if I’m gay. So, they sent me here. But they’re full of shit. I just wasn’t strong enough for them. If I had been, they’d have looked over it like they have for others.” He looked down at the ground, away from her eyes.
“Oh. Sorry for my assumption.” She walked off towards the Reformation Center.
“Kakine,” Lycanere said.
“Yeah?” She didn’t turn around.
“Mike told me he chose you to be with me for a reason. He said you were different than you looked.” He still couldn’t put his finger on how.
“I’m intersex, but my parents decided that I should be a boy at birth. Though I still have male parts, I do not want them and never have. My parents were very displeased with that decision,” she said. And she walked on towards the Reformation Center, silent. Lycanere hesitated before following, watching the strong woman hold the gun as she got closer to the Center.
It all clicked. Mike had chosen her to help Lycanere with an escape plan that he wanted in b
ut couldn’t dare ask to be in. He’d be outed by his own men. He couldn’t afford that. He was just another soul whose life was taken by an unjust cause. Another life Lycanere wanted to save.
He looked down at the unconscious Scout beside him, then ran after Kakine. His shoulder and fingers throbbed with every step, but he did his best to ignore it all. He needed to match Kakine’s strength. They were equals now. They knew each other’s big secrets. And there’s no better connection than that.
Lycanere had expected the Reformation Center to be pitch black inside when Kakine opened its doors. Instead, a lamp sat on one of the tables with a gun beside it, a person behind the two objects.
“I’ve been waiting for you two,” they heard it say.
“Benjamin,” Lycanere said.
He went to grab the gun from Kakine, but she moved away, her gun already up and aimed at the dwarf.
“Good evening to you two, too,” Benjamin said. He didn’t move to grab his gun. He just sat there, his feet up on the table, relaxing as if he was safer than ever before.
He yawned when Kakine was only a few feet from him.
“It’s good to see you guys. I was hoping you’d survived, though it would’ve been much smarter to stay hidden. Nice job with the Tank, though. I admire your work.”
She stopped. Lycanere took a step forward, a hand on his shoulder.
“What?” he said.
“Tell me, Lycanere, who in the right mind would come here voluntarily?” Benjamin said. He withdrew his feet from the table and stretched. Kakine kept the gun aimed at him.
“Why are you asking me? You did.”
“I know I did, but why? Please, remind me.”
Lycanere didn’t like this game, but he played along. “You felt worthless and thought this place could make something out of you.”
“Exactly. And something it did.”
“You want to be a Scout Master,” Kakine said.
“You heard that?” Benjamin laughed to himself. “Damn. You guys were closer than I thought.” He walked away from them towards the “IN CASE OF AN EMERGENCY” door.
“That, my lovely lady, is called getting into the system. If you guys had just died or escaped instead of coming here, that would’ve made this easier on me. Much easier.”