by Alix Labelle
“Oh my God. Call 911,” a nurse ordered.
“Don’t move!” The boy trained the gun right on her before reaching back into the truck.
He grabbed a handful of Olivia’s curly auburn hair and dragged her out into the night.
She hit the ground, a slapping sound echoing all throughout the hospital lobby. Her jaw swung open as another screech of pain fell out of it.
“What is going on?”
Olivia would know his voice anywhere. She looked up to find Dr. Kal standing in front of the nurses, his hands slightly extended out in front of them in a protective fashion. “No one move. I have called the police.” The stern look on his face made Olivia feel more protected than anything else could.
Chapter Four
Olivia grunted in discomfort as Kal hoisted her into his arms and half ran, half jogged back into the emergency room. He placed her on one of the rare free beds.
Olivia could hardly see straight, the images of the room she knew so well fading in and out of her vision as nothing more than blurs. But there Kal was, hovering around her as he barked orders at the rest of the emergency room.
Sweat poured out of her and her breath came in irregular intervals, but she was determined to do something about this. That boy forged through the main isle of the ER, his gun held up high and orders spewing out of his mouth.
The door barged open with three more patients rushing in. A quick headcount told her that there were nowhere near enough doctors to handle this situation. She sat up, the sharp pain growing dull and unfocused, but her vision trained on the body covered in blood.
“Take me to the drug storage. Now.” The boy jabbed his gun at the nurse.
“Just give him what he wants,” Kal ordered the nurse behind the counter. More sirens could be heard in the distance.
The boy turned on him. “Oh, so you’re the boss man?”
“Do whatever you want. My purpose here is to save lives. Now, if you will excuse me.”
Olivia’s jaw dropped as she watched him brush past the boy to get to a tray of supplies. He rolled it back over to her as the boy led to nurses at gunpoint out of the ER.
“Now they’re unprotected.” That little bit of talking rendered Olivia weak again.
Kal stood over her, calmly cutting her shirt in half, revealing her bare and bloody torso. But he didn’t respond to her protest.
“Kal.” Every word took her breath away. “Kal, please. Go protect them.”
Kal pressed towels to her stomach to soak up the blood.
Olivia tried again. She couldn’t stand feeling like a liability and being stuck there like that. “There’s a man…” But as she said this, she felt a gel-like substance fill her throat. Her lungs tightened and her eyes bulged out as she turned her face over to the ground, coughing out her own blood.
“We need an OR,” Kal said, his voice as calm as ever.
He turned toward the last remaining nurse in the ER. “Page Leo and get me an OR stat!” he yelled at her.
Olivia fell back onto the bed, her body trembling as shocks shot up her spine. Her nerves had become fried by the trauma, dead, but they were firing rogue action potentials up to her brain, a brain so fatigued it could hardly register up from down.
Kal rushed her out of the ER just as two police men from the local station entered through the back door. He shoved her through the doors, the wind rushing over her face. She knew enough to recognize that right about now, she was supposed to be giving out. She should have been unconscious, or well on her way to that, but her body seemed to hold on with a destructive kind of stubbornness.
The next thing she knew, they were prepping her for surgery. Her hair had been gathered into a cap, her clothes stripped off her body. Kal had gone to sterilize himself. Two scrub nurses and an anesthesiologist remained.
They pumped her with all the usual combinations of drugs, but she stayed wide awake. The doctors whispered over her head as if she weren’t there, struggling to come up with a solution for this very strange problem.
Kal barged in. “What is going on? We need to get started immediately.”
The anesthesiologist looked up at him like she had just been caught committing a crime. “Jones won’t go under.”
Olivia knew he had moved closer, but she couldn’t see his feet moving. The next thing she knew, he was hanging over her. “What do you mean?”
“We’ve tried everything, and I don’t think I need to explain to you why we can’t do anything more,” she said, her eyes remaining fixated on the screen in front of her.
Olivia watched Kal’s stare grow more and more intense. He leaned over her, his eyes boring holes right through her as his brow furrowed in confusion. He glanced over at the anesthesiologist and then at her wounds.
He lifted his right hand. “I wonder,” he said as he placed the hand on her forehead.
Her eyes flickered shut, one last breath slipping from between her lips. That pull calmed her, the force settling into every inch of her as if to communicate to her that everything was going to be okay. Her heart thudded around in her chest as she lost feeling in her arms and legs.
Sleep.
Her eyes flashed open.
Who had just said that?
But neither the nurses nor the anesthesiologist seemed to be even the vaguest bit aware that something had just happened.
Olivia. Sleep.
All at once, her emotions weren’t her own. A strong sense of anxiety, of urgency and uncertainty, gripped her heart. It was as if she could feel him in her own mind, the sensation coming from inside her.
Then a fourth emotion took over. Her eyelids grew heavy…
Her body wasn’t fighting anymore…
Her eyes flickered shut as she lost her grip on just about everything. The last thing she heard was a noncommittal,
Please don’t die…
***
Olivia’s eyes flashed open. She glanced around the hospital room and then down at her own body, covered by a hospital gown. She blinked, a deep-seated agitation setting in. She glowered at the memory of that boy. Did he really have to stab her in the middle of her workday while she was trying to save lives?
She had only been awake for a couple of minutes before the door opened, revealing a very frazzled-looking Kal. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, his black eyes wiping the agitation away.
“Kal?”
He stopped in his tracks. His face morphed into an expression of surprise. “I thought you’d be sleeping.”
“What happened in there?” she asked as he approached her, a vile and syringe in his hand.
He pulled up a stool and sat next to her. “I really can’t explain anything right now.” He carefully lifted her arm, peering at her elbow.
“What are you doing?”
He pressed the syringe straight into her vein, somehow seeing it without having to hit her or dilate the vessel in any way. “I have to test you. There isn’t much time.” He drew enough blood to fill the vile.
Olivia wanted to press him for more information, but everything weakened her so much that…
I’m sorry….
Her eyes flickered shut yet again.
Chapter Five
The next time Olivia awoke, she found herself lying in a cot in a room the size of the surgical supply closet at the hospital, but she wasn’t in the surgical supply closet. In fact, she wasn’t even in the hospital. She could hear the sounds of crickets chirping just outside the window, a stream a moonlight pouring in.
She sat up and then froze. That shouldn’t have been so easy. How was she already healed?
“Olivia?”
“Where am I?” she asked as Kal entered the room from an arch to the right, a small glass in his hand.
“I didn’t want to explain anything until I was sure.” He sat down next to her, a cautious expression in his eye.
“Of what?”
“I tested your blood.”
Olivia gulped down half the glass. “Lo
oking for what?”
“Antibodies…particular protein markers.” He shook his head as if there was more information he had chosen to keep from her.
“Why would you do that?”
“It’s a part of that secret I couldn’t tell you.”
Olivia nodded, her lips folding into a frown. “So I gather I don’t get to know.”
“Not exactly. Remember when I told you that it wasn’t my secret to tell? Well, now it’s yours too.”
She emptied the glass and then set it down next to her. “So are you gonna explain yourself?”
Kal let out a long breath. “Well, I should just jump into it.”
“Kal, just tell me.”
“You aren’t human.”
“What?”
“Well, at least not completely.”
“What are you saying?” That picture came to mind. “I’m assuming you don’t think you are either?”
Kal scoffed. “No. Listen, I’m not delusional. I’m Kaharan and so are you.”
“And you expect me to believe this…”
“How else do you explain everything?”
“You haven’t explained anything.”
“The Old Kaharan is an ancestor of ours that colonized Earth a hundred years ago as a result of a revolution on our planet. They interbred, making people like you who have enhanced vision and strange eyes and a profound inability to fully assimilate…”
“So what is all of this about antibodies?”
Kal averted his gaze. “There is a woman…well, the only surviving woman from Kahara with child. But she lacks an antibody she needs for her immunity to remain strong throughout the pregnancy. She won’t make it to term without it, and we might lose the Ccmmander’s wife and the first child conceived since a comet destroyed Kahara.”
Olivia let herself fall back onto the cot. An alien? Her? This conclusion seemed logical and yet completely outlandish. Her heart dropped as she realized something. “Is that why you saved me?” She hadn’t realized how comforting it was to have him by her side until then, when she found out that it didn’t really mean anything. “So that you could harvest my blood?”
His eyes snapped in her direction. “How could you think that?”
She sat back up. “You only cared about me to use me.”
“That’s not true.” He placed a hand on her knee, the grip a little too tight. “Until last night, I had no idea you were Kaharan.”
“So what tipped you off?”
He slipped farther onto the cot, placing his other hand on her leg.
There it was again, the pull. She felt herself subconsciously leaning into him. “When they were prepping you for surgery and couldn’t put you down, I thought…only a Kaharan would have that problem.”
Olivia nodded. It made sense. She had always had trouble with over-the-counter medications. Even the few cigarettes she had smoked in her college years never hit the spot. “And then we touched, and it was like I could hear your thoughts.”
He nodded. “And I could hear yours.”
They were even closer together now.
“It’s called Bonde. It’s fairly common among Kaharans. It signifies maximum compatibility.”
Olivia liked the sound of that, and yet having this Bonde thing with Kal just seemed too good to be true. She had wanted to be so close to him for so long that she had lied about it and hid from him, and from herself. “Like, love?” She had to talk around the lump in her throat.
He placed a hand on her cheek.
A door had been opened and a bright, white light barred her view. “You love me?”
“I didn’t know it then, but, yes, I think so. The Bonde has revealed something.”
But then a dark thought extinguished the light. “How do I know this is real? How do I know you aren’t just lying to me to get my blood to save your queen or whatever?”
He shook his head. “I can’t fake this.”
“You’ve known about your true identity your whole life. I don’t know anything about what being a Kaharan means. You could have some strange enhancement…like my vision. You could be using it to trick me.”
He took her hands in his. “Lying to you for half a year about who I was nearly destroyed me. I don’t want to deceive you. I want to bring you home.”
Olivia wanted to believe him. She rested her hand on his neck, drawing his face nearer to hers. “So prove it.”
His stare set her on fire.
“What?”
She pulled herself toward him so that their bodies were nearly touching, resting her forehead on his, imagining that she could feel the cogs turning in his head, the thudding of his heart. “Show me this isn’t about my blood.” Her lips hovered over his for only a mere second before he seized her.
She felt like she had been waiting for this kiss since the first time they met. She wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him pour into her. They blended together like two organic molecules, distinct but alike.
Her first kiss with him felt like her first kiss ever.
But suddenly it wasn’t enough. She clawed at his button down as he lowered her back onto the cot. His hair, which he had always kept so nice and neat, fell over his forehead, shadowing his dark eyes. Olivia could have stayed in that position for a lifetime, getting more and more lost in his embrace with each passing second.
His hand slipped under her gown, his cool fingers pressed against her waist.
Her lips parted as he kissed her chin and then her neck.
She clutched his back, sinking her teeth into his shoulder.
The grunt that slipped out of his lips sent a shudder of pleasure through her entire body.
She opened her legs wider, pulling him toward her by his belt loops and then wasting no time slipping off his pants.
Their lips found each other again with a sloppier, needier kiss. Olivia wrapped her lips around his tongue, sucking on it as he grinded himself into her, his bulge pressing into the skin of her ass.
Olivia opened her eyes, watching him rip her panties off her. A smile played at her lips at the sight of the Kal she knew as frigid, controlled and calculating melting away to reveal this passionate creature. His lips, pink and plump from the kissing, stretched into a crooked smile.
She reached for his cock, wrapping her hand around the pulsating member, and shoved it inside her. Her whole body expanded to fit it, her cunt shuddering with approval. He rammed himself into her over and over again, their bodies growing hot and slick with sweat. She shifted her hips to put him underneath her.
He gazed up at her, his eyes shadowed in adoration.
Olivia slipped her gown off in one motion and continued to ride him, her toes curling under her in ecstasy.
He reached up, cupping her breasts in his hands, his fingers pinching her nipples as they bounced up and down.
Olivia turned her head up to the ceiling, moans of pleasure slipping out of her mouth until Kal clutched her waist, his fingers digging into her skin. She pressed her chest against his, her cheek resting on his shoulder as they both climaxed.
Olivia took his face in both of her hands and kissed him. “I think I just realized something,” she said as she pulled away.
“What?”
“This is the first time I’ve actually ever felt like I was a part of something. .” She shook her head. “I’ve been looking for an anchor my whole life, wanting to truly matter. I thought if I worked hard enough I could satisfy myself.”
Kal stroked her arm. “This was never about landing that job.”
“No. I’ve always wanted to make a difference. Before I thought that was the only way I could matter. If I did everything myself. If I was in charge because I couldn’t fit in any other way.”
She sighed, letting herself fall back on top of him. “I can’t believe I tried to sell you out for some job. How stupid.”
He chuckled, caressing her back. “No harm done. I was gonna quit anyway.”
They both laughed at this.
&nbs
p; “Besides, I already have a job, and it’s keeping the queen alive.”
Olivia nodded. “Okay,” she said, standing up. “I’d love to help you.” She then backtracked at the sight of the surprise on his face. “Just this once… for now.”
Kal stood as well, his eyes wide with happiness. “You cannot know how happy that makes me.”
Olivia placed a hand on his cheek. She closed her eyes and tried to hear his thoughts again. There it was, the open door, waiting for her to cross over. She pressed her lips against his, touching them ever so slightly, letting the white light consume her.
I love you…so much.
She pulled away, a giddy laugh falling out of her mouth. “I think I can.”
THE END
Epilogue
Olivia stood in the observatory, waiting for Kal to finish with the commander and his wife. She stared out at all that empty space around her, marveling at the stars.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
She turned to find Kal approaching her, still wearing his lab coat. “How did the surgery go?”
“Minor complications.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
Kal nodded.
Olivia let out a sigh of relief. “I hoped so. She’s so beautiful.” She had only met the Kaharan briefly before Kal rushed her into surgery to do a complete workup on her blood.
Kal placed a hand on the small of her back. “She’s all right…”
Olivia giggled at this, turning to face him. A stray lock of hair had dislodged itself from the rest of his slicked back mane. She put it back in its place.
Kal took her hand in his, planting a kiss on the back of it.
Olivia blushed in spite of herself.
“The commander wants to see you.”
She furrowed her brow. “Why?”
Kal took a deep breath, a mischievous gleam in his eye. “Well, between you and me, I think he wants to offer you a position.”
Her eyes grew wide. She hadn’t yet come to a decision about her future and whether she wanted one on Earth…or with Kal in space. “On the ship?”
Kal frowned. “Oh no. On Earth. A field position, doing the same thing I was.”