“We’ve had discussions about tact, Connor,” Marcus said.
“We had to tell her sooner or later,” Connor said. “It’s not like she has a choice.” The callous words snapped Rhylie out of her trance. She narrowed her eyes and stood up.
“I always have a choice,” she said angrily. This time there was no quelling the rage burning inside her. The flames had been fanned too high.
“Now Private Underhill,” began the woman. Rhylie cut her off.
“My name is Rhylie.”
“Rhylie, please,” said the woman. “Listen to us.”
“Don’t beg her Adanna,” said Connor. “That’s exactly what she wants.” The woman cut him a sharp look. Rhylie teetered on the edge of madness. It was all she could do to not walk across the room and separate his head from his spine.
“You need to get out,” Rhylie said as she glowered at Connor.
“You don’t speak to me like that, Priv-” he managed to squeak out. Before he could finish, she was across the room and towering over him.
She simply reached out and placed her hand upon his chest; in an instant, it was white hot, searing into his skin. She pressed slightly and he howled wordlessly in response as he stumbled backwards, falling to the floor. He scrambled for the door, and it slid open as he fell through it, squealing like a dying pig. It closed behind him and there was deafening silence. Adanna and Marcus stared at her wide eyed, their mouths hanging open. So much for décor, she thought. She turned her anger on them.
“Do either of you have any orders you’d like to give me?” she asked, her voice dripping with acidic intent. She dropped her right hand to her side, the white hot glow and radiant heat subsiding. Her fingers and thumbs began to elongate into sharp, thin blades. “They’re thinner than paper and stronger than titanium,” she said. Her voice suddenly took on a sultry and seductive tone. She could still be flirty when she wanted to. “And they cut through bone like it’s nothing.” She flicked her fingers, the blades clattering together softly. She cocked her head to the side as she stared at them for effect. Adanna was the first to regain her composure. Her response was almost disarming, but she had been through it all before with Vorcia. Vorcia would eat her alive, Rhylie thought. And there might be more truth to that than I realize.
“Rhylie…more lives than yours depend upon this treaty,” Adanna said. “The good of the many outweigh the needs of the few.” When it’s convenient, Rhylie thought. Only when it’s convenient. Rhylie straightened her head and clenched her jaw.
“I know more about what’s at stake than you do,” she said. “And I know more than you do about the sacrifices that have been made…that still need to be made.” She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t know what I’ve gone through, what I’ve seen…or what I’ve done. You don’t know what I’m truly capable of.” The finger blades began to droop as though melting. They dribbled to the floor in a series of long strands that began feeding into a small puddle. She kept her eyes on Marcus and Adanna as her arm continued to drip onto the floor.
The dull gray pool quivered and began sending tendrils wriggling out across the floor towards Adanna and Marcus, like dozens of hungry worms. They began to branch out, spreading themselves across the luxurious carpet, feeling their way towards them as though they were blind.
Adanna and Marcus took a step back from the tiny, wriggling runners. Rhylie smiled with a cruel delight in spite of herself. She was tired of taking orders from beings that were…beneath her in so many ways. The tendrils recoiled, forming a hand again. That was when Rhylie realized her skin was gray again. Fuck it. She was sick of fighting it. Let the world see her for what she really was now.
Marcus had a horrified look on his face, but Adanna looked at her with sorrowful eyes. That made Rhylie even angrier. She would not be pitied by these people, no matter how important they were. She would not be felt sorry for. She was a Goddess now, and she would make them worship her if she so desired.
“I think you should both leave,” she said coldly to them. “We are done talking.” She needed time to think. She had never once even considered that Vorcia might want her back. What would Issar say? Before she could ask about him, Adanna spoke.
“This is more than anyone should have to bear, Rhylie,” Adanna said sadly.
“I’ve already gone through more than anyone should have to bear,” Rhylie shot back venomously.
“We’ll give you time to think about it. We should go check on Connor” she said as she placed her hand on Marcus’s arm. He nodded his head in response, and they left through the door. Rhylie noticed a dozen troops in the corridor as it slid shut behind them.
She crossed the room and sat down on the couch, waiting to see what would happen next.
23
They hadn’t been gone but a few moments when the doors reopened and troops began to enter, suited from head to toe in suppression gear. Rhylie sighed wearily. She didn’t want to have to do this the hard way.
“None of those are going to work on me,” she announced, her skin sliding up to cover her head, as she became one with the atomorphic tech. The soldiers began assembling into a defensive formation, the first row kneeling, the second crouched behind them, and a third row standing behind the first two. The far side of the room continued to fill as Rhylie watched sadly. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“You are to be taken under control for assault on a Council Member, please turn around and place your hands behind your back,” one of the soldiers said from behind his full face visor. The voice came out digitally synthesized. Rhylie began laughing uncontrollably.
“Do you think you have a set of restraints that can even hold me?” she asked as she stood up from the couch. “Do you think that could even hurt me with your little toys?” She hoped that the Council members were watching from somewhere. “Would you mind if I told you a story?”
“Turn around and place your hands behind your back,” came the reply. Which one was it? She wanted him. She didn’t like his tone.
“In the beginning, there was the decay,” she began as she took a step towards them. They stiffened as a unit. Good, she had their attention. “And though it was formless and hollow, it was eternal, and more everlasting than even the universe itself.” She took another step towards them.
“Turn around and place your hands behind your back!” came the order again. He was somewhere in the middle of the room of course, but she couldn’t tell which row. She took another step toward them. She could see a few of their guns beginning to waver unsteadily.
“For the decay touches everything, everything that exists. It is the most obstinate of cycles, the cycle of harvest,” she said softly. The room was deathly quiet, and there was a slight rustle of movement among the troops. She took another step towards them. It felt as though her body were a puppet, walking on strings, and she was the master, controlling her movements.
“Turn around and submit yourself,” the order came one more time. Was he in the back row or the middle? She couldn’t quite tell.
“I fear your briefings have been woefully inadequate, boys.” She took yet another step towards them. She could almost feel them tense up as a group. The feeling of power and authority she had over them was exhilarating. But she was a benevolent Goddess. “I’ll give you the chance to leave peacefully. If you do not, you will die.” She took another step towards them.
“You will not be told again to submit,” said the soldier. He must be the one in charge, she thought. She could almost tell which one it was. She spread her arms wide and took another small step towards them, buying time until she could figure out which one he was.
She almost felt like someone else. Something else. She had lost control for so long that she didn’t know what to do with it now that she had it back. The rush was exhilarating, intoxicating. She had been enchained until she had forgotten what it truly meant to live, and not just exist.
“And you will not be told again to leave,” she responded, taking another
step towards them. “I am through with being told what to do.” She was almost halfway across the room now.
“You have been fairly warned-” the soldier started to say. It was one of those in the middle row, to her left. She lashed her arm across the room and wrapped it around his throat. He dropped his gun and put his hands up to the tendril as it dragged him, kicking and screaming, out of the formation. She pulled him across the floor as he screamed.
“Open fire! Open fire! OPEN FIRE!” he shouted as he panicked and struggled in her grasp. It turned out to be the worst orders he’d ever given in his life. She lifted him up, holding him between her and several dozen soldiers as they opened fire. Projectiles tore through him, ripping up his body and everything around them and behind them. Maybe we are brutal enough to fight this war, she thought. His body convulsed with spasms as the assault mutilated him, spraying Rhylie with shreds of flesh and blood. Those that struck Rhylie were harmlessly absorbed by her skin. When the gunfire ceased, she tossed what was left of his limp, leaking body to the kitchen. She took another step towards the formation and the group broke rank and file with rampant panic.
Over half of them tried to make a run for it, and some of them of them actually managed to make it through the door before they began to pile up against the wall, fighting desperately to get through it. Some were trampled by the mob, crushed underneath the feet of those behind them. She almost laughed. It was comical in a way. The ones that did stay kept their trembling weapons trained on her.
“I didn’t want to do this,” she said. She almost felt sorry for them. They were just following orders, pawns at play in a larger game, much as she had been. She took another step towards them. The remaining soldiers opened fire on her again, the projectiles barely causing ripples across her skin as they hit her.
She took another step towards them. Several more threw down their weapons and ran, scrambling over the bodies on the floor and out the door. There were fewer than ten left now. She raised her arms in front of her, her fingers reaching out in long, thick fibers that sought out the throats of each remaining soldier. A handful of them tried to run at the sight of the tendrils, but it was too late for that, she decided. She snatched them up too.
“With one finger,” she said as the tendrils around their throats grew slender. She could feel the heartbeat of each one of them through her fingers, almost as though she were connected with them. It was time to send the Council a message. She was so over being fucked with.
“Just one finger each.” The tendrils became thinner and thinner until they were no more than the breadth of a hair. She constricted them all simultaneously, slicing through flesh and bone as though it were air, decapitating them all at once.
The bodies slumped to the floor, flopping and twitching like fish out of water. Blood began pumping from the stumps of their necks as though someone had turned on a faucet of it inside their bodies. She was suddenly glad she couldn’t see the faces behind the visors. She didn’t want to look into their eyes. What had she become? The realization of what had just happened hit her like a hammer to the chest. Maybe Ben was right. Maybe she was a monster.
She fell to her knees as the blood pooled around her. She should have just strangled them. There was going to be so much blood. She stared at the rich red pool as it spread across the carpet. A better fate than what awaits me if Vorcia gets her hands on me again, she thought. She frowned. A better fate than what awaits us all if she doesn’t.
She put her hand down in the warm sticky fluid and pulled it back. She stared at the wet red dripping down her forearm from her palm. So much more blood to come, she thought. No matter what I do.
She thought about her parents, her brothers. Sora’s dire warnings came drifting back to her. Rhylie began laughing soundlessly, madly, tears flowing from her eyes. After everything she had endured, she couldn’t believe it was going to end like this. Maybe Isaar could rescue her twice. The thought made her laugh even harder.
He should have killed me when he had the chance, she thought madly. At least then, her struggle would be over.
*
Rhylie was shocked when her parents walked through the door the next time it slid open. She was still kneeling amidst the slew of decapitated bodies that were lying scattered across the floor like broken dolls. The massive pool of blood had begun to congeal and the whole room stunk of feces. She lowered her head in shame as her parents stared around themselves in horror, their mouths gaping.
“I’m a monster,” she said as they stood there in silence. “Ben was right.”
“They told us what you did. But seeing it for myself,” her father said. “Why would you do something like this, Rhylie? Why?” His voice sounded thick, like he going to vomit. Why were they even here? Was this some kind of cruel joke? She had never wanted them to see this side of her.
“I’m just sick and tired of being ordered around,” Rhylie said without looking up. “I’m sick and tired of being humanity’s savior. I’m sick and tired of being humanity’s doom.”
“These men were just doing their jobs,” her father said. She was surprised he hadn’t thrown up yet.
“I gave them a choice,” said Rhylie. “Some of them made it out alive. These were the stubborn ones that didn’t want to listen.” She felt a hand on her shoulder. It was her mother. She had made her way through the corpses to reach Rhylie. She was holding her other hand over her mouth and nose as though to block out the smell.
“You’re still our daughter,” her mother said, her eyes tearing up. “No matter what, nothing will ever change that.” Rhylie looked back down in shame.
“This is just the beginning,” she said softly. “The Siirocians are not going to give us peace.” She looked back up at her mother, and then over to her father. “I wish there were someplace safe you could go and take Ben, but I’m afraid there isn’t.” Her mother pursed her lips together.
“Are you sure?” her mother asked. “They can’t all be bad.”
“I don’t know,” said Rhylie. “I really only know Vorcia. I thought she was nice at first. I thought she cared about me. But she was just using me.” Rhylie paused. “She’s going to kill us all.” She looked at the bodies lying around her. “Whether I give myself up or not, whether we sign the treaty…it doesn’t matter.” She looked back up at her parents. “But I really don’t have a choice, do I?” It wasn’t really a question. Her father frowned.
“You always have a choice, Rhylie,” he said slowly, with a sad look in his eyes. “And choices always have consequences.”
“Sometimes different decisions lead to the same conclusion,” she said. “I’m not going to be remembered as a monster. I’m not.” She pushed herself up from the floor. “But I won’t be taken into custody again either.” She changed her dull gray body into her favorite pajama bottoms and t-shirt with her comfy bunny rabbit slippers. Something non-threatening. “Let’s go find the Council, if they’re not hiding.” Carefully she picked her way through the dead, holding her mother’s hand. When she got to her father, she took his hand and led them through the door.
“Stay behind me,” Rhylie said once they were out in the corridor, letting go of their hands. It was empty and silent, like a cemetery on a cold, foggy morning.
“They’ve been monitoring you from a room near here. They were watching you when we were escorted through. They’re scared to death of you, you know,” her father said. Rhylie laughed mirthlessly.
“They should be,” she said with a hint of satisfaction. “Let’s go find them.”
They found her first. A lone soldier stood in the middle of the hallway on the next turn. He appeared to be unarmed. He raised his hands.
“I’m only here to talk,” he said from behind his visor.
“Then just take us to the Council,” she said. The soldier nodded his head in response and turned to walk down the corridor. They followed him down a series of tubular hallways until they came out into the Great Chamber of Mars through a side door. Marcus and Adann
a were represented by holograms in their seats. There were two more Council members there as holograms as well, a pale woman with flame red hair and freckles, and an older, distinguished gentleman with graying hair. They were being cautious. She could appreciate that. Rhylie strode to the center of the grand room with purpose. Her parents stayed behind with the soldier.
“Why have you left your quarters, Rhylie?” Marcus asked without any pomp or air.
“I have decided I am going to surrender myself to the Siirocians,” she said as defiantly as she could. “But I will not surrender myself to you again.” Marcus frowned slightly and nodded his head once, slowly. He leaned forward and placed his fingertips together.
“I had not intended for our discussion to go the way it did earlier,” he said. “Connor is still under medical care. The doctors say the ulcer you caused on his chest may never fully heal.” Rhylie gave a short laugh. Marcus narrowed his eyes at her and frowned with displeasure but continued on anyway.
“The treaty ceremony is in less than two days,” he said. At least he knows when not to push me, she thought. “We’ll be leaving in a few hours for the moon.” Rhylie pursed her lips together and furrowed her brow.
“Where is Isaar?” she asked.
“He’s being kept in a secure location,” Marcus said as he leaned forward on his elbows and placed his fingertips together. “Let’s call him an insurance policy, shall we?” Rhylie knew exactly what he meant.
“How do I know he’s alright?” she asked.
“Because we don’t want to make you any angrier than you already are, and risk you not going along with the terms of the treaty,” he responded.
“What’s going to happen to him?”
“He will be retained on Mars until after the ceremony, and then allowed to leave if he wishes,” Marcus said.
“So he will be released after the ceremony? Unharmed?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Marcus. “I promise.” Rhylie didn’t believe him. Isaar would probably be handed over too. He knew the risks, she thought. He could probably escape anytime he wanted to anyway. She wished she had one of those anti-security bracelets now. She could slip away and find him.
Nascent Decay (The Goddess of Decay Book 1) Page 17