Taking all of this into consideration in only a handful of seconds, I make a quick decision.
I have to try to help Ival.
With no weapons, no help nearby, and nowhere near enough time to think of a decent plan, I decide our best chance is to evade and hide.
I decrease my speed, and once Ival is next to me. I grab hold of his arm and suddenly shift to the side, taking him with me. I don’t look back at the creatures, afraid I’ll either be paralysed by fear or realise how hopeless my idea is.
Ival doesn’t protest my sudden change of direction, he just grunts in pain since I’ve managed to grab the arm that has been hugging his chest. I really don’t care, though. I force him to move faster, and we run towards the closest building and through the first doorway I see. It is missing the front door. In fact, as we’ve raced along this strange street to reach the building we enter, I never saw a single door on any building we passed.
A powerful breeze flies over us as we make it inside the building, and I know we’ve just missed a swipe from a claw. The repugnant smell emanating from these creatures is just as bad as how they smelled on Roth. We run through the bottom floor, dodging corners and walls. The shaking of the walls and crashing noises close behind tells me we are being chased through the building.
We make it to the back and run outside, finding an entirely new scene in front of us. Creatures and machines are clashing epically and violently, buildings crumbled around them. In the few seconds I’ve managed to take a glance, I’d say there are at least a hundred creatures swarming the twelve or so machines.
These machines don’t have guns or the ability to spit out fire. They are just using their brute strength to crush the creatures. Several machines lay scattered amongst the ground along with the gruesome remains of piles of creatures.
If this was about strength alone, then the machines would be on top, but there are too many creatures. I notice the reaction the machines have as the creatures climb over them, swarming them and drooling their strange saliva. It’s apparently a sure way to disable and destroy a machine. It’s obvious that the machines will soon be overrun and defeated here.
I have only a handful of seconds warning before the creatures, which followed us into the building, are about to crash through behind us as the walls behind us rumble. While I’m still holding onto Ival’s arm, I pull him quickly to the side and we move along, parallel to the building where I try the next open doorway we come across.
Just as the first creature crashes through to the new battlefield, I dive us into a new house and we run back through, heading in the direction of the street we just left.
I am unsure if we were seen, or if the creatures were taken in by the scene we just left. Hopefully, they were and are now distracted enough to miss our hasty escape. Just in case, though, I weave us through this new area and move us in and out of several different rooms. I can’t help noticing there are no doors anywhere, just open doorways.
“What the hell is with the doors?” I huff out at Ival, grunting when we hit a dead end.
“We don’t have… doors, exactly. The… humans couldn’t use… our technology, so we… had to get rid of… them, so they could… leave freely,” Ival gasps out, sounding worse than before.
With how he’s looking, I fear he might be about to pass out.
“What’s our plan? How do we find Marduke?” I wince when I hear a building collapsing. It sounds like it is one close to us. We should probably keep moving.
“He’ll know to head back… to our home. We need to find a tamdet.” He sounds a little less out of breath now, however his arm is back to hugging his side.
“A what?”
“It’s an area where we can… transport from. We might not have a… monit, however on Oden, the tamdet acts as… a place where people move from one place to… the other within the blink of an eye.”
“You mean teleporting?” Nerves build up imagining doing that. “Will it work? I mean, didn’t Marduke try to send me away on the spaceship? That didn’t work.” I have visions of being split in half. Irrationally, as though they wouldn’t have figured this out already, I wonder what would happen if a fly goes through with me. Wasn’t there a movie back on Earth about that happening? Would I turn into Fly-woman? Wait, are there even flies on Oden? Why am I thinking about flies right now?
“We were being blocked up there. It… doesn’t mean they have managed to hack into… our systems down here and disable them.” Ival sounds unsure, which in turn squashes any building hope that Marduke could teleport to us. How will we find him then?
“Fine, where do we find this stupid trumpet place?” I accidently mispronounce tamdet.
His nostrils flare in anger. I didn’t even realise nostrils did that to a degree where it was so noticeable.
“I should just leave you behind to be slaughtered,” he snaps at me. His body tenses and he actually manages to stand up straight, no wince or look of any weakness at all. It’s intimidating, although since I know I can outrun him if need be—at least at this moment with him injured—I don’t let him get to me.
“Is that what you’ll do to Marduke when you find him? You know you never did say what you plan to do with him.”
“It’s none of your business, human.”
“Marduke is my business, actually.”
“He’s not, and if my family’s legacy wasn’t… under attack, if Jeprow wasn’t trying to wipe us… out, then I would have him killed him already for… the traitor he is. Getting you pregnant is the most disgraceful act… a Lomh has ever done, and he deserves… to be hung for it. However, since he is my blood and that… might be a rarity soon, I realise that killing Marduke is… foolish. At least until I know what our father decides… we should do with him and you. I’m… ashamed he is my family, and I hate that we currently… share dna. Marduke is useless and a failure.”
I gasp, my hand automatically moving to slap him across the face. I use all my strength, but it doesn’t appear to hurt him.
He growls in anger, stepping into me until his imposing body forces me against the wall behind me, and the hand I slapped him with is trapped between our bodies.
I refuse to feel intimidated or scared right now. “You don’t know him at all. He’s brave, kind, and smart. He could have left you on that spaceship, but he didn’t. He’s forgiving, and that shows how strong he is. You should be ashamed of yourself.” I gasp, hating having him so close to me.
The wall behind me vibrates, the squeals of the creatures and screeches of the machines sounding even closer now.
“You are a novelty to him. A pretty… thing that is willing to have sex with a man she hardly knows. One… who isn’t even the same species. I believe you humans have… a word for that, slut. Don’t confuse my brother’s… character for him just taking the easy… pleasure you’re handing out freely.”
His words steal my breath away. He might as well have slapped me and kicked me in the stomach for good measure. Not because I believe Marduke feels that way, but because of how he described me. I have never been called a slut before, and the word upsets me more than I would’ve expected. I feel like bursting into tears.
I know Ival’s words are only making an impact on me because, deep down, I fear I am a slut. Or rather, I fear that, if anyone knew the truth about Marduke and me, they’d agree with him.
What Marduke and I have is special, and it’s real. I hate that I have lingering doubt over my worthiness.
“You’re an asshole, and I hope you rot in Hell,” I hiss at him, wishing my words would actually cut him, instead I know they mean nothing to him.
The walls shake again, this time more violently, and the wall behind me actually cracks.
“While it’s been fun chatting with you, I think… unless we want to be in here when the building falls down around… us, and we are squashed under five floors… of rubble, then we should move.”
“Fine, try to keep up,” I snap, finding another way through this maze a
nd ending up back on the side we were originally on where the creatures chased us.
I sprint us down the long road, purposely running as fast as I can since it proves to him that, right now, I am the stronger and faster one. He is back to only a slow jog, and by the time I slow down and he catches up, he’s out of breath.
“Where is this trumpet thing?” I snap, this time getting the word wrong on purpose.
“Down… there, where… the ground is… tiled.” When he uses his head to nod down the street, I see the area he means.
We quickly make our way there, and I watch as a building to our side crumbles under the force of the creature flying through it.
Ival and I stop dead in our tracks as we watch it scream out in either pain or anger. It then picks itself back up, the tail claw snapping menacingly, and charges back through the now rubble and towards the machine that used its weird pulse wave to throw it.
We both know without saying it aloud that we’re running out of time here.
We race onto the tiled area, and I wait for Ival to either tell me what I need to do, or to just do it himself.
He taps his foot impatiently, waiting for who knows what.
“Well?” I ask him, my eyes watching his hands clench into fists.
“We should be automatically… transported to a holding… area where we can… choose where we need to go.”
“So it’s not working?”
“It appears not to be,” he grounds out.
His anger is practically pouring off him in waves, therefore I instinctively take a step back from him. Although, without any pushing from me, Ival loses it. He growls, shouts, and then proceeds to punch up the wall to our side. His injuries obviously aren’t ailing him now.
“Do you really think you should—?”
He cuts me off, screaming in his own language, and I take another step back from him. Perhaps this is where we should split and go our separate ways. Ival can stay here throwing his tantrum, or get caught and die for all I care. I need to find Marduke, and while I’m at it, I’m going to find Hannah, Logan, and Lisa, too. Piece of cake, right?
“Mattie?” I hear Marduke shouting my name in the distance, and I glance wildly around for him.
“Marduke!” I yell back, my eyes scanning the area around me. I am desperate to see him.
As soon as I spot him, I sigh in relief. He appears to be unharmed—well, at least not any further harmed than how he had looked on that spaceship. Again, I wonder what Jeprow did to him. Both he and Ival look like death, and I hate how much Marduke has had to go through. It makes me feel sick the way he’s been made to suffer.
He rushes through a gap between the smaller buildings up ahead. We take a handful of steps towards each other, and then I lose sight of him altogether.
Between us, a machine charges through the buildings, tearing them apart, with a swarm of creatures covering it, their saliva burning the machine. As it collapses on the ground, the creatures successful in their attack on the machine, they then focus their attention on us.
Chapter 2
Marduke
I’ve been frantically searching for Mattie for what feels like a torturous lifetime. As soon as I lost her grip in the air and she dropped too quickly away from me, I felt completely helpless. Within the blink of an eye, I lost sight of her, and from the rate she was dropping, I knew we would never land in the same area. The strong wind was dragging me farther away from her.
Part of me knew the chances she would survive would be low. I spent the entire time worrying and cursing Ival and myself for letting this happen. I hated that she was going through that fall alone and felt agony that her last few moments would be so terrifying.
I remember the fear and panic I went through the last time I was on Oden and Mattie wasn’t here. I didn’t know if she was alive then, and given the knowledge of her possible pregnancy, I was beside myself.
This feels even worse. I know for sure she is carrying my baby, and I also know I’ve let her down. I failed her. I’m not exactly sure how I am supposed to live with myself knowing this.
I doubt I will ever be able to forgive myself.
When I near the ground and land softly, I begin frantically searching for her. I know what I will likely find won’t be a pretty sight, yet there is no way I’m not going to search for her. She doesn’t deserve to be abandoned here.
I run constantly, barely noticing the ongoing war surrounding me from the Claws and hinemas. I don’t care about it. All that matters is finding Mattie.
Then, I swear I hear her voice.
As I listen carefully, I realise I do hear her. She is alive!
Unfortunately, my elation is short-lived when I also hear Ival ranting and screaming. I immediately assume he’s trying to hurt her and anger quickly builds up inside me. After all that I have done for him, after getting him out of that spaceship, he’s going to harm and possibly try to kill her?
“Mattie?” I call out for her, fear easily heard in my voice.
“Marduke!” she cries my name in reply as my legs take off after her voice.
I round the corner of a small building and am allowed a few seconds to take her in. She’s not only alive, but she looks unscathed. Finally, something has gone right for us. The Aeepla did work for her!
Relief courses through me just as a hinema crashes through between us and interrupts our reunion. With it being covered in Claws, I realise quickly we have to get out of here, fast.
I notice Mattie and Ival moving away from them and me, going through one of the buildings. I quickly leave the terrifying scene behind, running back the way I came to match their direction since there’s no way to get to them from where I currently am without being killed by the Claws.
I race along the buildings on either side of me and scrape the sides of my arms on the hard surface as I brush against it. This passageway was meant for one-way traffic as a way to move through the buildings instead of having to go around. Therefore it’s a tight squeeze to move through it walking and running is impossible.
We’re on an island called Edael, where my father has placed most, if not all, the humans on Oden. So far, I’ve only seen lifeless bodies. No living humans. I’m not sure where they all are, but right now, that isn’t my main concern. I’ll worry about Logan and the others once Matte is safe in my arms.
When I reach the other side, I look to my left side, holding my breath until I see Ival burst out of one of the buildings, Mattie at his side.
I sprint, and when I reach them, all I manage is to take Mattie’s hand as we both keep running.
I want to convey how happy I am to see her. I want to apologise for what I have helped put her through. Moreover, my arms itch to have her wrapped up against me. Instead, I just squeeze her hand tighter in my grip, promising myself that I won’t let go this time, while I keep us moving away from the Claws that are too close for comfort.
Ival is lagging behind, but with the Claws not appearing to be too close to us, I don’t feel much concern for him.
We run for several blocks before we stumble upon another fight. This one includes humans trapped in the middle. They have no weapons and their screams cause Mattie’s hand to painfully grip mine, her nails digging into me. I know she’s hurting for these people, wanting desperately to help them.
“We have to move,” I tell her softly, tugging on her hand when she doesn’t move.
As a result, we hide back behind one of the buildings, and while we can no longer see the battle, we unfortunately still hear the screams of the helpless humans. Mattie’s hand is now pale and frozen from holding me hard enough to bruise.
I lean close to Ival, knowing we need a plan instead of just running aimlessly through the area, bumping into battles and probably more dead humans.
“The buildings aren’t… safe; they’re being crushed at… random. Hiding in one won’t… keep us protected. We… need to find someplace… that is quiet,” Ival says awkwardly to me. He’s gripping onto his side stil
l, a motion I recall seeing him do back on Jeprow’s spaceship.
“They are everywhere. There won’t be anywhere on Edael that is safe,” I answer him, being sure to speak in English so Mattie doesn’t feel left out.
“The tunnels, we have to find… an entrance. It’s the only way we can get… to Jyin without Jeprow knowing.”
“I was dropped close to that entrance. It is crawling in Claws. There is no way we can safely get passed them,” I growl, angry that there is no easy answer.
Edael is an island, consequently it is completely surrounded by an ocean that is far too wide to safely swim. The tunnels run under all of Oden, and Jyin—where our house is, as well as where our father is most likely being held—is situated on the island next to this one. To get there through the tunnels will be a long and exhausting walk. A journey where, once we start, there is no stopping. We’ll only have water above and no supplies to take with us. For Mattie, who is pregnant, it is too dangerous. That isn’t even considering the fact that none of us have eaten a proper meal in a long time. Furthermore, Ival and I were just tortured for a week by Jeprow and his men and Ival is clearly injured; how will he cope in the tunnels?
“We’ve faced worse. There is only one tunnel entrance on Edael, so we have… no choice. Your human might not survive it, but that isn’t my problem. The fact that… I’m even willing to allow her to see the entrance, to step foot on ground that… she has no right to, is more than she deserves. She is human, Marduke. Father would… have us hung for showing her such a sacred secret.”
I grind my jaw, trying to control my anger. At least Ival said that in our own language, otherwise while trying to reign in my own anger, I would also have to hold Mattie back from him. Instead of that scenario, she’s just glaring at him for purposely not speaking in English while having no idea what he’s saying.
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