by Elin Wyn
“You’re out of your goddamn mind.”
“Maybe,” she shrugged. “But at least I’m fighting for us humans. As for you…”
She looked into my eyes, gave me a pitying smile, and glanced at Sa'lok before shaking her head in a disappointed manner.
Turning her back to me, she headed toward the rest of her group and whispered something to one of the men. He clapped his hands together, the sound of it filling the entire chamber, and a couple of seconds later, three more men stepped out from the darkened mouth of a secondary tunnel.
“Careful,” Amenya said, but the sound of her voice was drowned out by a rabid growl. Turning my head, I watched as the newcomers dragged a middle-aged man toward the center of the chamber.
He was bare-chested, and he had an unkempt and ragged appearance. There were bruises all over his chest, and his wrists had not been bound with rope, but with metal handcuffs.
Although his appearance was human, the light behind his eyes betrayed what he really was: one of the infected.
He was growling through gritted teeth, his chin wet with drool. He kept on pushing his wrists against the handcuffs, fighting hard to break them, and it took three grown men to stop him from thrashing around.
Under Amenya’s supervising gaze, they dragged the possessed one near the Puppet Master’s core, and only then did I realize what these idiots were trying to do.
“Are you idiots out of your mind?” Sa'lok growled, his eyes burning with fury. He had seen it, too. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
“I didn’t know that beasts were capable of speech,” Amenya merely said. I thought that she was going to ignore Sa'lok, but she didn’t.
She took a couple of steps toward him, then slammed the butt of her rifle in his stomach, doing it so hard that he actually went down on one knee, despite the protection of his skinsuit.
“Keep quiet, or your friend will pay the price.” With that, she turned her attention back to what was happening near the Puppet Master. “Do it now.”
At once, the men held the possessed one by the hair and rammed his face against the outer shell of the Puppet Master’s core.
The man thrashed for a moment, trying to break free from his captors, but then he straightened his back and stopped moving altogether, his body going rigid.
“What the hell…?” I muttered under my breath, not exactly sure what I was seeing. The infected started swaying back and forth on his heels, as if he was lost in a trance, then he suddenly fell to the floor.
The three men around him jumped back, as if knowing what was going to happen, and the man started seizing.
When he started foaming at the mouth, the anti-alien guys hoisted him to his feet and went back to pressing him against the Puppet Master’s core.
From where I was standing, I couldn’t see how they were doing it, but there was no doubt in my mind of what was happening: the Gorgo inside the infected human was seeping out from its human host and into the Puppet Master.
“Stop it!” I yelled out, but that just earned me a backhanded slap across my face.
“I told you I’d kill you all if you touched her,” Sa'lok shouted, his words seething with anger, and then he threw his head back.
A fraction of a second later, he rammed his forehead against the nose of the man standing in front of him.
Half a dozen of them started rushing toward Sa'lok, determined to kick the shit out of him, but they all froze in their tracks when the vines strewn across the floor, all of them limp and lifeless, suddenly started to move.
I threw myself to the floor and narrowly avoided being hit, as one of them whipped the place where my head had been.
The tendrils were moving in a frenzy, no logic to their movements, and the vines were hitting everything they could—from men to the walls, everything was fair game.
The Puppet Master was struggling against them with everything he had.
But in his fight against the Gorgos, he might destroy us all.
Rolling to the side, I watched as everyone in the cave started running around like headless chickens.
Apparently they hadn’t been expecting such a reaction out of the Puppet Master, and they had no idea how to stop it.
“Oh, crap,” I whispered as I saw thick vines breaking through the rocky ground, more of them coming out from the ceiling.
Clouds of dust started taking over all the empty space, and it only took a couple of seconds before I started hearing the rumble of stones coming loose.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I kept on repeating, pushing myself across the floor with nothing but my heels. Large stones were already falling from the ceiling, and soon enough the entire chamber would cave.
“Teisha!” I heard Sa'lok shout, but by then it was already too late.
The last thing I saw was a crack cutting across the domed ceiling, and the loud sound of it coming apart.
Then, there was only darkness.
Sa'lok
My head hurt.
Still with my eyes closed, I rolled to my back and coughed, my lungs and stomach feeling as if someone had poured a cup of dust down my throat.
Silently, I ordered a diagnostic routine to begin.
Nothing broken. That was a good start.
I sat up, my body sore. I felt the jagged contour of the rubble underneath me biting into my muscles. When I finally opened my eyes, it took me a couple of seconds before I realized where I was.
The Puppet Master’s chamber, a spacious cavern with a domed ceiling and smooth walls, stalactites and stalagmites all around, had become nothing but a gigantic pile of rubble. Pieces of broken rocks lay all around, the rubble covering the ground like a monstrous carpet of chaos, and a thick cloud of dust still hung in the air, irritating my lungs.
Teisha, I suddenly remembered, that one thought welling up in my mind like a bright neon sign. I jumped to my feet as panic took hold of me and, disoriented, I started looking around for any sign of her. I headed straight toward the last place where I saw her, and my stomach lurched as I saw only a massive cracked boulder there.
My blood ran cold and I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Keep it together, Sa'lok.
Focusing on one problem at a time, I decided to deal with the rope around my wrists before I tried doing anything else. Going down on my knees, I grabbed a small sharp rock and started cutting through the rope. It took me a couple of minutes before I managed to cut through.
Rubbing my wrists, I looked down at them to see my skin was red and irritated despite the skin suit; those anti-alien assholes had tightened the rope so much that I was pretty sure I’d be left with a couple of bruises, and maybe some raw skin.
Groaning, I went back to my feet and immediately tried to move the boulder resting on the place where I had last seen Teisha.
I wanted to call to her, but there was no way for me to know how many of the enemy may have survived.
If we were going to get out of here, stealth was the only way.
My muscles tensed from the effort and beads of sweat trickled down my forehead as I pushed, flooding my system with adrenaline to increase my strength.
It would cost me later, but I’d gladly pay the price. I had to find Teisha.
I let out a muffled scream as the boulder finally started to move. My heart was drumming anxiously and the palms of my hands were damp with sweat as, for a second, I imagined Teisha’s body crushed between the ground and the merciless rock.
But she wasn’t there.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I started looking around once more. The dust made it hard to see anything, but I immediately noticed a few lifeless bodies underneath the rubble, dirty boots and twisted limbs sticking out from the dirt.
Hoping that Teisha wasn’t among them, I started pulling on every rock I could find, my heart beating faster and faster with each passing second.
Where the hell was she?
Suddenly, I heard someone coughing from a few feet behind me. I spun around as fast as I co
uld, adrenaline kicking in again as I saw a female human shape lying underneath a blanket of rocks and dirt.
Pushing the rocks away, thankfully none of them larger than my fist, I uncovered Teisha and gently pulled her against me.
She was unconscious, but still breathing. Patting the sides of her body, I carefully looked her over to see if I could spot any major injuries. She’d have a lot of bruises, I had no doubts about it, but aside from that, she seemed to be alright. I closed my eyes for a second and breathed in, doing my best to steady my nerves. Had something happened to her, I would’ve never forgiven myself.
Gently, I picked her up from the floor and started walking toward the edge of the cavern. Finding a spot that had been left miraculously untouched by the cave-in, I sat Teisha there and leaned her back against the smooth wall.
“Teisha,” I whispered, stroking her cheek with the back of my hand. “Can you hear me?” Her eyes moved underneath her eyelids, but her body remained perfectly still.
Her chest rose and fell at a steady pace, though, and that gave me some ease of mind. Sitting down next to her, I looked at my own body for the first time since regaining consciousness.
I had a few bloody cuts on my arms, and my knees were scuffed, but aside from the soreness in my muscles, I felt fine. Resting my elbows on my knees, I looked at the destruction in the cavern, the dust making it impossible for me to see more than ten feet ahead.
But even though I couldn’t see, I could still hear the dazed voices coming from the other side of the chamber.
Apparently, Teisha and I hadn’t been the only survivors.
“I’ll be right back,” I whispered, and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Just to reassure her.
Really.
Crawling away from Teisha as silently as I could, I scanned my surroundings until I found what I was looking for—my rifle lay underneath a few loose stones and, aside from a couple of dents, it didn’t seem to be broken.
Grabbing it, I checked if it was in working order and turned the safety off. I fleetingly thought of activating the stun mode, which would make the rifle use chemically enhanced darts that would knock anyone unconscious, but quickly discarded the idea.
I had made a promise to these assholes and, unless they surrendered, I intended to keep it.
Crouching, I held my breath and started moving through the dust as silently as I could. It took me almost a minute to get to the other end of the cavern, but once I got there, I immediately saw human shapes moving in the distance.
Drawing close, I waited until they realized I was standing next to them, then fired at their feet. The sound of it echoed throughout the cavern, and the five surviving assholes jumped back from the scare.
“Don’t move,” I growled, advancing toward them, “or I’ll put a hole in each and every one of you.”
“You survived,” one of the humans coughed, and I recognized the voice as belonging to Amenya, the group leader.
She was leaning against the wall, her brown hair covered in dust, and blood was trickling down her forehead. She was grinning. “You’re a tough one, aren’t you?”
“Why are you doing this?” I asked, pointing my rifle at her. “Have you lost your mind?”
“Am I the one who unleashed hell upon our cities?” she replied, her words brimming with spite. Sneering, she spat at my feet. “You brought death to our doorstep.”
“I didn’t—”
“You brought chaos and destruction,” she continued, cutting me short. “You pulled us into your war against the Xathi, and now you’re dragging us into war again. I’m not going to allow it.”
“What are you talking about?” I growled. “You’re not going to stop the Gorgos like this.”
“Stop them?” she laughed, sounding almost hysterical. Pushing herself off the wall, she took a couple of steps toward me. “Who said anything about stopping them? The Gorgoxians are going to wipe the floor with you. You think you can stand up to them? You’re an idiot. The Gorgoxians are here to stay.”
Suddenly, it all made sense.
These idiots had brokered a deal with the Gorgos. They were no longer focusing on human rule and kicking the aliens out—they had bent the knee to what they saw as their new overlords.
“Are you stupid?” Gritting my teeth, I put my finger on the trigger. “You’re working with them?”
“Is there any use in fighting against them?” Shrugging, she took one more step toward me. “We do that, and we’re all going to be infected in a couple of weeks. But we were offered mercy. We were offered our planet back, and the only thing we had to do was get rid of your beloved Puppet Master’s defenses.”
“You’re a fucking idiot,” I growled. “You have no idea what you’ve just done.”
“Am I really the idiot here?” she continued, a grin spreading across her lips. Walking straight toward me, she only stopped when she had the muzzle of my rifle pressed against her chest. “Maybe you’re right. But at least I’m going to be alive. As for you…”
Faster than I had expected, she grabbed my rifle and pushed it to the side.
I was already starting to lag from the adrenaline dump. Skrell.
I squeezed the trigger, but she had already stepped to the opposite side, and so my shot merely ricocheted off the wall.
“Die,” she spat, ducking underneath my rifle and reaching for something in her boot. I saw the clear glint of a blade, but it was already too late.
Even though I tried to jump back, she slashed at me, cutting through my shirt. I felt the blade’s serrated edge burn against my skin, tearing a jagged line through my skin-suit and circuitry.
“No,” I said through gritted teeth. “You die.” I flooded my system with another round of adrenaline and kicked her right in the chest, sending her tumbling to the ground.
She hissed like a snake, readying herself to jump toward me, and I heard the shuffling of boots as the remaining four survivors started circling me. With no other choice, I squeezed the trigger and shot Amenya right in the forehead.
“You alien scum,” one of the men screamed, throwing himself on top of my rifle. I shot him in the chest, but he still managed to yank the rifle out of my hands as he collapsed to the floor.
Two of the other men immediately moved in, grabbing me by the arms and pinning me against the wall, while the remaining one went for my gun.
He spun around so that he was aiming at me, a victorious grin on his face, and squeezed the trigger.
Nothing happened.
“What the fuck?” he cried, and took his finger from the trigger, to see a drop of blood trickling down from a small cut. Then, just a fraction of a second later, he swayed like a drunkard and fell back.
“No one but me can fire it,” I grinned. “You’ve just been poisoned.”
“You’re going to pay for this,” one of the men that was holding me threatened, but I simply pushed both my arms down and forced them to let go of me. Even though they were using all their strength, they were no match for me with my system turned all the way up.
Turning on my heels, I grabbed one by the collar of his shirt and pulled him toward me as fast as I could, my forehead on a collision course with his nose. The moment I hit him, he folded like a house of cards knocked over by the wind.
The remaining one tried to escape from me in a hurry, scrabbling through the rubble on all fours, but I grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.
I pushed him up until his feet were no longer touching the floor, his eyes now level with mine, and I recognized the man that had slapped Teisha before.
“Please, no, don’t—”
“I told you,” I hissed. “You touch her, you’re dead.”
“Oh, God, no, please—” As he spoke, I noticed him trying to reach for a knife that hung from his belt. Before he could pull it free, I cocked my arm back and punched him with all my strength, forcing his neck to snap back.
His body went limp at once, and I let it drop.
Breathing hard, I
wiped the sweat off my brow as I tried to regain my bearings. Then, as if to ground me to reality, I heard a faint voice echoing throughout the cavern.
“Sa'lok?” Teisha called weakly. “Where are you?”
Teisha
Relief washed over me once I saw the outline of Sa'lok’s hulking body moving through the thick clouds of dust. I leaned back against the wall and breathed out, raking one hand over my dirty face.
“I thought you had…” I trailed off, unable to complete my sentence. I had always taken Sa'lok for granted, and only now that I had been forced to contemplate an existence without him did I realize how much that would hurt.
I needed him in my life.
Shock ran through me as I realized how much I needed him. “Are you okay?” I stumbled over my words, trying not to betray myself.
“I’m fine,” he said, but I immediately noticed a long gash showing under his ripped shirt. It didn’t look like that had been caused by the cave-in.
No, that was the work of a very sharp knife.
“Where are those bastards? Did any of them survive?”
“Some of them did,” he replied, “but they won’t be a problem, not anymore.”
I just nodded at that. I didn’t need him to explain what had happened. All I needed to know was that he was alright.
“What about the Puppet Master?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted, pursing his lips. He clenched his fists tightly, and his bloody knuckles started going white. “I’ve been to the other side of the chamber and back, but this place is a mess. It’s impossible to get to the center and see how the Puppet Master is. At least not without any heavy machinery or tools.”
“But we have to try and—” I groaned as I got to my feet, pain shooting through my shoulder. Grimacing, I placed one hand on it and realized I had dislocated it. “Oh, crap.”
“Is it broken?”
“No,” I shook my head, “I don’t think so, just dislocated.”
“I can help.” Standing behind me, Sa'lok pressed his body against mine and I held my breath, his closeness almost intoxicating.