“Usually, it works off our entire DNA, but for your Aeepla, it only had Riley’s DNA to work with, which is only a small amount. It would have taken longer for it to work.”
I take a deep breath and drag my eyes away from her covered stomach to lift her chin upwards so she can look into my eyes. “I’m sorry I lost my grip on your hand. I’m sorry you had to go through that alone, and I hate that you are trapped on Oden. I have allowed you to enter a warzone with our baby.”
“Marduke,” she sighs my name, which always sends shivers down my body, “none of this is your fault. You have done nothing but try to protect me. This war between you and those awful creatures isn’t your mistake, and you had no choice when we were sitting on the edge of that spaceship, ready to fall. If we stayed, then we’d either be dead or wish we were. Please stop taking on all this responsibility when it isn’t even your fault.”
“You’re too forgiving. Why don’t you hate me?” I whisper, afraid to voice my question any louder in case it jolts something inside her and she realises she does hate me. I would deserve that, but I couldn’t live with it.
“Because I love you and I know you are kind and brave. You’re a good man, no matter your species or what your family is like.”
“I don’t deserve you,” I admit, knowing that is true more than ever.
“Well, too bad because you’re stuck with me.” She smiles and then leans in to kiss me.
Her lips on mine are something I have wanted badly for too long. Therefore, when I take control of the kiss and push her down onto the ground, leaning over her so my body can rest over hers, I don’t have much hope of ever pulling away.
Her taste is completely familiar and addictive to me. Her touch sets my skin on fire, and my desire for her only deepens when she runs her fingers under my shirt and over my bare skin, lightly scratching me with her nails.
My own hands move over the argu and I groan into her mouth at feeling the restriction. It’s both a curse and a blessing she’s wearing it. I’m desperate to touch her stomach and feel where our baby is growing. I need to feel her breasts under my hands and torture her with the pleasure I know I can provoke from her just from the caress of my hands. I want to taste her skin and watch her come undone.
When her hands move south and she takes hold of my quickly growing erection through the tortuous barrier of my pants, most of my thoughts disappear from my head. I consume myself with touching Mattie and the pleasure her touch is giving me.
Her voice groaning my name is my undoing and I pull at her Aeepla, needing it off her. I move it over her shoulders, down her back, and over her pants. Next, I grab hold of her waist and the top of her pants. I only manage to drag them down a few inches when I hear footsteps approaching.
My brain feels foggy, and I’m slow to understand what it means. Luckily, Mattie is more with it, and she quickly pushes my hands away from her, tugging up her pants and redoing them. I sit up, leaning forward to hide my erection, and glance warily over at an approaching Ival.
“We need to move, now,” he hisses, not getting too close to us before he turns and moves away again.
“Well, he’s a mood killer,” Mattie mumbles, slowly moving to her feet.
I stand up behind her, wrapping my arm around her and pulling her back against me. “Not so much for me.” I whisper, letting her feel my hardness behind her.
She turns her head, smiling at me and giving me a chaste kiss on the lips before taking my hand and moving us forward. “Soon, when we’re out of this awful place, I’ll be able to do something to help you with that. For now, I think you should think about your parents having sex.”
“What?” I gasp, feeling a little sick at the unwelcome image that forces its way into my mind. “Why?”
“Because, while I don’t have a cock, I’d imagine nothing kills an erection like thinking about your parents getting it on. Or how about your grandparents doing it?” She blathers on, and while I want to tell her to stop, I do find her words helping ease the tension in me. It’s not long until my erection is almost non-existent.
Her ramblings stop when we near the buildings and enter the main part of the small city. Ival crouches down low, and we follow his lead as he stays close to the structures that are still standing.
The area is dark since there are not hinemas in this area yet to light it up. Screeches and crashes in the distance tell us the war is still very much ongoing, though. As we move in single file, I keep one hand tucked into Mattie’s vest to keep track of her and follow her same steps.
Ival stops us as we near an area large enough to fit a human football field in. The clearing wasn’t always this large, but the rubble and torn down buildings have made it grow. Behind the chaos is the building that houses the hidden entrance to the tunnels. Opportunely, that building hasn’t been destroyed, yet. At the rate of destruction, however, it won’t be long before it is.
A huge problem we find within the clearing is the familiar spaceship parked directly in the middle of the clearing. Jeprow’s ship has landed, and he now is in the way of us and the freedom of the tunnels.
“What is it doing here?” I hiss at Ival, moving an arm to swing around Mattie to hold her closer to me.
“It just arrived a short time ago. I watched Jeprow and… some of his soldiers moving out from it. They are… no doubt searching for us.”
I feel Mattie shiver in fear, thus I pull her flat against me so our sides are completely lined up against each other.
“He’s not going to get us,” I assure both her and Ival. “Now, how do we get to the entrance?”
“We walk into that building and… don’t get seen,” Ival states obviously.
“Is there anyone left in that spaceship?” Mattie asks him, her voice wavering under her fear.
“I don’t know. I wouldn’t be… surprised if there are men still in… there. This might be a… trap. A way to lure us towards… the ship. He might think we’ll try to… take it. He can’t know about the tunnel entrance, and… I’m sure this is purely bad luck that the… entrance is situated in a building that has… a clearing big enough for Jeprow to land… his vessel.”
“So how do we get inside undetected?” I am trying to stop myself from screaming out in frustration. I want to punch something and vent out all of my anger. In fact, I wouldn’t mind venting it out on Jeprow’s face with my fist.
“We need to go around,” Ival whispers.
I feel Mattie leaning away from me.
“Mattie?” I whisper, trying to see what is wrong with her, but her attention has shifted away from the ship as well as from us.
I glance in the direction she’s staring in, seeing nothing, but she definitely does. Her mouth is open in shock.
“What is it?” I ask her, again I feel her pulling away from my grip, and I reluctantly remove my hand from her argu. I fear I might regret the decision to let her go, but perhaps my hold over her is too strong. What if my grip is tightening the material around her stomach and hurting Riley?
“It can’t be…” she whispers to herself. Then she does something that I would never have expected, although perhaps I should not be surprised by it. She did just suffer a head injury a short while ago.
She races away from us, out into the open and directly into the line of sight of the spaceship.
Is she trying to get caught? Because, as soldiers scramble out of Jeprow’s ship and run towards her, there are only two viable options for her that are likely to happen, getting caught or killed.
Chapter 3
Mattie
There is no way, is there? Is my mind playing tricks? Am I seeing things? Have I finally gone crazy? Or did I just see Logan running between buildings? Is that possible? Marduke said he is safe and in some sort of bunker. If that is true, why am I almost positive I heard his voice earlier? Why is it I swear I just saw him running?
My legs have a mind of their own because, without ever consciously deciding to do it, I already find myself running towards
where I’ve just seen him. I barely allow myself to consider the consequence of sprinting out into the open, running past the menacing spaceship. I don’t give myself time to consider the bright light shining beside me, or the sound of feet slapping against the ground, or shouts in a language I’ve grown to hate. My mind has one focus, and that is Logan.
The last time I saw him, he was bleeding out in my arms. I know Marduke has said he survived the almost fatal gunshot and they have healed him, but to see him with my own eyes is something else.
It’s something I need, something I’m craving.
Consequently, I ignore every instinct telling me this is a bad idea and give chase, hoping I’m not chasing a ghost.
Unfortunately, when I turn the first corner, I do find something, but it’s not Logan. I’m faced with a creature ready for attack.
I immediately have to leap out of the way and glance behind me, seeing the figure of a man who was following me cut in half by the creature. My heart stops when I fear it might have been Marduke. Was he behind me? Did I just get him killed?
I cry out his name, moving to my feet and taking a step towards the lifeless body. It’s too dark to see much out here, but after a few steps in, I see a large beard covering the now dead man’s face.
Not Marduke.
However, I don’t get much time to rejoice over the fact. The creature turns around, facing me, and I know I have to run.
“Mattie!” a voice calls out, sounding scared and young.
It’s Logan’s voice. I know I’m not imagining it. I swing around, ignoring for the moment the creature ready to strike and kill me, my eyes frantically searching for him.
As soon as I spot his unkempt, dirty blonde hair, I take off after him, calling out his name. He’s hugging his legs, tears streaking down his face, and his eyes are wide in fear and shock.
I know the creature is just behind me, therefore when I reach down and scoop him up, I don’t pause for a second. I hold him in my arms, and he wraps himself tightly around me. As his head buries between my shoulder and neck, I feel his wet tears soaking me. I want to tell him it’s going to be okay. I want to soothe him and enjoy the feeling of being able to hold him in my arms. However, with the creature ready to strike, I don’t have any time for that.
I duck behind a building, feeling the vibration of the wall as it shatters behind us. I see a small crack between buildings and change directions, heading into the tiny area, hitting my elbows on the sides of the building.
The crashing and dust and debris that raises past me clues me in that the creature is following and taking down the building that is getting in its way.
When I make it back out onto the open road, I turn left, knowing I’m going to need to try to make my way back to that spaceship, and if possible, the building that Ival pointed out. We need to make it to the safety of those tunnels. If I wait too long, then I know I’ll get turned around and lost.
The creature chases after me, and I shriek when something hits my shoulder. I fear it is the creature’s acid-like saliva or the claw making contact with me. As Logan buries his head into me deeper, his body shaking as he sobs, I don’t register any pain.
A hinema enters the fray, and with it, it brings us light. That is when I see something fly past us. It’s a stone sailing through the air, landing on the ground in front of me. A moment later, another one flies past us, and I realise the vibration under my feet from the creature slows down.
I risk a glance over my shoulder and find the creature is no longer behind us. I turn fully and see it has changed directions and is moving back the way we came from. I wonder if the machine, which is now in our sight, has scared it away, but as I move to the side and glimpse backwards, I see Marduke running, a rock clutched in his hands.
He’s gotten the attention of the creature to help Logan and me get away.
My heart swells with love and gratitude, but then deflates quickly because he’s in trouble now.
“Mattie?” Logan whispers my name, his voice muffled since he doesn’t actually move his face away from being hidden against my vest. It reminds me that I can’t help Marduke out of this. I need to protect Logan and Riley. I need to find a place to hide while I regroup and pray that Marduke gets away from that creature safely.
“It’s all right; you’re safe,” I tell him, my own voice shaking.
I watch the machine moving towards the creature. Sadly, this one doesn’t have any bullets, or if it does, it must have run out. It does aim flames towards the creature, and I hope it can help Marduke get away, not that he is trying very hard since he’s waving his arms wildly in the air, only stopping to pick up another rock to throw at the creature.
I want to scream at him to turn around and run, that the machine can take on the creature now, but I don’t because I know my voice will possibly attract the creature back my way and defeat the purpose. As such, even though it breaks my heart, I move past the machine and quickly down this crumbling street. The farther down it I go, the darker and quieter things become.
I’m not sure if we should try hiding in a building, given how easy they are destroyed, therefore I find another small alleyway and wedge us in there. I let my feet slide out and lean against the wall, gliding down until my butt hits the ground. Logan is still wrapped around my middle, and I pull him away to get a good look at him.
It’s too dark to see if he’s bruised or bleeding, but I feel over his arms and legs then touch his face to make sure nothing is broken. I love the feel of his strong pulse under my touch, and I know I won’t ever take for granted that special movement.
He’s alive. My Logan is alive!
“I’m so happy to see you, Logan, so happy!” I cry and wrap him back in my arms.
“I knew I saw you,” he whispers back, tears muffling his voice.
“Where have you been? I thought you were safe in a bunker.”
“We are hiding in the ground, but I see you and M’dude before we went in, and I ran really hard to get to you. But then I lost you.” When he begins sobbing, enough that his voice becomes indecipherable, I rub small circles along his back. “That scary thing was chasing me, and I was crying, and then you saved me,” he explains.
“Is Lisa alive? Are your neighbours okay?” I want to ask him about Hannah, yet I don’t want to overwhelm him anymore than I have. He might not know who she is.
He nods his head, not saying anything more. His tears are coming out fast now, soaking me, and his tiny body shakes against mine. I hold him close, muttering words of comfort to him as my mind races ahead.
I’m furious that Logan is being forced to suffer through this. He’s only five-years-old, and he’s already seen more horrors than most see in a lifetime. He’s lost his family, had his home taken away from him, been terrified, and all for what? What purpose has any of this really served? What is the point? So Marduke’s people can have another planet to add to their collection? So Jeprow can take out his revenge on Marduke’s people as well as humankind who just got in his way? Why should we have to put up with this? We did nothing wrong. Logan is innocent, and he’s had to suffer for no reason. It’s not fair. Every human is suffering pointlessly.
We sit like this for a long time, neither of us moving, both frozen in our own grief. I might never have moved again if I didn’t hear someone calling out Logan’s name. A voice that sounds familiar, but I dare not hope to recognise that voice. I’m afraid of the hope building and of the devastation I’ll feel if I find out I’m mistaken.
When the voice shouts out Logan’s name again, I know without a doubt it’s Hannah’s.
I stand, keeping Logan securely in my arms. Given the lack of food I’ve eaten in—well, who knows how many days—I’m feeling weak and sore, however I still grip Logan tightly. I ignore any aches and pains as I check around the corner, making sure there are no creatures ready to pounce on us. When I see the coast is clear, I move back out into the street, searching for Hannah.
I find her running away from
us in the distance.
“Hannah!” I scream out her name, not caring who hears us.
I haven’t seen Hannah since before the invasion on Earth, and even then, I wasn’t in the same country as her and it was only over video chat. It’s been easily almost a year since I’ve seen her in the flesh when I went home for a week over Christmas. The last time I was able to tell the time was before the invasion hit, which was in April… or maybe May? I’m not sure. Everything is blurring, and honestly, I feel like it has been years since I’ve seen her.
“Mattie?” Hannah calls out my name, her hesitancy breaking my heart. I know she’s just as afraid as I was to hope.
“Hannah, over here!” I yell, taking several steps towards her.
She turns, and as soon as she spots us, she races forwards. I wait for her to reach us, not really having the energy to run with Logan in my arms. I keep an eye out for any danger, but right now, we appear to be alone.
When she reaches me, she hugs me, crushing Logan between us.
“You’re alive! What are you doing here? I thought you were still on Earth. I hoped… I’m so glad you’re here!” Hannah gushes, her words breaking under the strain in her voice as tears begin to fall down her too pale face.
The area here is lighter than before; the obvious cause is that there are more machines surrounding it, which also means there are likely more of the awful creatures here, too. We’re not safe.
“Let’s find a safer place to hide,” I suggest, turning away from her to move back to the small entryway I was hiding in earlier. While the buildings aren’t safe, at least here we have two clear exits and we’re not easily in view.
We huddle in the same area, and I take in her appearance properly. Her hair is darker and dirty, her exposed skin covered in sweat and something greasy, and her blue eyes appear dull and lifeless. Her face appears more sunken in, her clothes baggy and ripped, her weight loss obvious.
This is not the Hannah I left behind on Earth. That girl wouldn’t leave the house unless she looked perfect. She’d spend hours a day doing her hair and makeup. She wouldn’t ever wear clothes that didn’t show off some of her body. And voluntarily hugging her boring sister? Never.
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