by Rick Kueber
“What?” I wasn’t going to let her stop there. “What’s the rumor about Mariah? She’s alive? She’s here?”
“I heard mumblings… somebody said a woman showed up the same time Torrance did… a blonde. And they said that she just went into hiding after somebody saw her with… a child… a little boy.” She crumpled to the floor next to the bed.
“You said you didn’t know anything about ‘Nix!” I almost raised my voice with the rush of anger and adrenaline.
“Shh!” She seemed afraid that someone might be listening in. That made me feel better about trusting her. “What I said was ‘I hadn’t seen him’. I wanted to make sure you were still… you. After Silas and Madeline, I just didn’t know.”
“He’s my goddamn son!” I snarled the words through my clenched teeth. “You had no right.”
“I had every right! This is my world too! I’m still mostly human, just like I’d hoped you were. Just like Torrance… just like Phoenix… just like…”She cringed. “Where’s Elle?”
The hair on my neck stood on end and my heart stopped for a beat or two. My jaw dropped open, but no words and no sound came out. I closed my mouth and looked down at the blanket that covered my mostly naked body.
“Tanner?” Maya remembered her friend and their times together in the cabin, the Titan, the swamp and the beach.
“Gone.” I forced out one word and managed to keep from flooding the room with tears. Maya slinked her way up onto the bed and wrapped her arms around me.
“Oh God… I’m so sorry baby.” She held me close, and squeezed me as tight as she could, whispering in my ear.
It felt good in her arms, but something didn’t sit just right. She had been very quick to make her moves on me when I first arrived. If she didn’t know Elle’s fate, why would she move in on her best friend’s man… the father of her child? I had already confided in her. It might be dangerous to question her loyalty and trust. It could be a swift end for me if she knew I was on to her game. I only had this one thing that didn’t make sense, so I decided not to immediately pass judgment. Instead, I would continue to be her friend and confidant and watch her closely… very closely.
We laid there in the quiet, warmth of each other’s arms for an hour or more. The cottage outside the bedroom door grew silent after our conversation ended, and my stomach began to growl with hunger.
“Hey, noisy boy.” Maya stirred at the sound of my empty tummy.
“I can’t help it. I’m famished. I haven’t eaten since breakfast yesterday.” I wasn’t sure what time of day it was when I ate, or what time it was now, but it felt like an eternity.
“Um…” She bit her lip. “That wasn’t yesterday.”
“Huh?” An odd look came over her face as I spoke. “Whadaya mean?”
“I mean, you’ve been out for a while.” She nuzzled up close burying her face in my neck and tangled dirty hair. “Like, I thought you were in some kind of coma. It’s been weeks, Tanner, but, I’m glad to have you back.”
“Weeks?” I said in my full voice. My muscles ached and cramped as I tried to throw the covers off and jump from the bed. Groaning loudly, I managed to stand and, weak kneed, I stumbled to the window. A deep blanket of snow covered the earth and everything in sight. “Holy crap! That’s a lot of snow!”
“About two feet, I think.” Maya calmly informed me. “Thank God we have Takers to sweep off the solar panels, or we’d have no power. We’d have frozen to death if they weren’t keeping them cleared off every time it snowed.”
“Don’t you mean, people would have had to clear them off?” I half smiled, but honestly, I was perturbed by the idea that the Takers were treated as a sub-class of beings. It seemed all too familiar.
“Maybe, but we wouldn’t have done so well.” She was filled with chagrin. “We lost a lot of Takers this winter. Weather got ‘em. Froze ‘em. Could have been us freezing though.”
“And that makes it okay that it was them? Their lives aren’t as valuable, I guess?” A feeling of remorse came over me forever thinking there were decent people left in the world. Elle must have been the last genuine human being left, and now, she was gone too.
“Don’t blame me!” She defended herself. “It wasn’t like I told them to do it. They got their orders the same as everybody else. It’s just… they don’t think so well. Guess they were told to keep the snow off the solar panels and once it started snowing, it almost never quit… and neither did they… till they died.”
“Okay.” I was tired of thinking about death. “What’s the plan? Can we get something to eat?”
“Sure we can.” She looked up toward the ceiling and thought. “But just one good meal, since you just came back to us. Rations are getting thin. Some of the chickens got eaten, Takers, I think. So less eggs… But, hey, we could barely get any milk or water down you without you choking on it, so you deserve at least one really good meal, right?” With that she winked, kissed my cheek and crossed the room. With her hand on the doorknob, she turned back to me. “This might take a lil bit, but just hold tight. I gotta go get some eggs and sneak out some meat from the pantry on our end of town. It’s not far.”
“Okay.” I looked around the room and back to the snowy wasteland outside. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“You can take a shower if you want. There should be some warm water. And there’s some clothes in that dresser. Might fit you okay.” Her lips puckered, giving me a long distance, air-kiss. I winked back at her and as soon as I heard the front door close I began to rummage through the drawers to pick out some fresh clothing. Minutes later, I had a complete outfit picked out and located the linen closet for a towel and washcloth. The shower wasn’t hot by any stretch of the imagination, but it was blissfully warm. The spattering sound was loud compared to the silence of the small cottage and it helped me forget my worries for at least a few minutes. I lathered up and scrubbed every inch of my thin body three times and washed my nappy hair twice. It was like being reborn. I felt new and alive again. As I toweled off, I could hear the sound of someone bustling around in the kitchen. Half dressed, I opened the door to let the thick, humid air out. Much cooler air filtered in and carried with it the scent of heaven… heaven created from ground Colombian coffee beans. There was a moment of happiness in my empty soul that made me believe that perhaps everything might end up alright.
“Smells delicious!” I called out from the bathroom.
“Come and get you some!” I heard Maya giggle after hollering out her innuendo.
“Maybe after breakfast?” I teased and instant guilt hit me. That was just the kind of playful banter that Elle and I would have exchanged. Was I really that horrible of a person?
“You’re a tease!” She laughed out loud. “After this breakfast and a few cups of my world famous java, I won’t be able to fight you off with a stick!”
I poured us both a cup of the steamy, black goodness while she filled our plates with a small serving of scrambled eggs, a piece of fried ham and a mound of sliced and fried potatoes. “I think I know you better than that. You wouldn’t fight me off at all.” I gave her a sly grin as we took our seats across from each other at the small, wrought iron, bistro style table.
We ate and sipped our coffee in silence. All the while, I wished nothing more than for her to be genuine and not some sort of alien double agent. My soul still ached for Elle, but I found solace in her company. I thought to myself, ‘If we survive this ordeal, I could get comfortable with someone like Maya.’ I had an undeniable thing for Mariah, but that was mostly a physical attraction. She was young and blonde, gorgeous and built like a centerfold model. She and I had some life changing moments together and I would never forget her or the time we shared, but she never felt like my forever. She never felt like home. Until now, only two women ever felt that way to me; my wife… God rest her soul, and Elle… wherever her spirit may soar. Maybe I was jinxed. If I became too close to Maya, would she end up dead too? There was not time for ‘I wonder’s a
nd ‘what if’s… All we had was now. Not even the next minute was guaranteed, let alone an entire lifetime. She could be my enemy or my best friend. There was no way to know for sure in that very moment. I stood on the edge of a cliff and I was slipping. I had two choices: fight and claw as hard as I could to stay on top and in control as much as was possible, or let go, allow myself to fall, and enjoy the wind of my free-fall for as long as it would last. I looked over her caramel skin, into her deep brown eyes and I let go. Heaven help me.
The Convergence Saga begins with The Pale Titan by Rick Kueber.
Book One
The Pale Titan Complete Book
The Pale Titan Pt. 1
Stellium Books is releasing this epic Sci-Fi adventure as a serial with a new part coming out each month. The Pale Titan Part 1 released in November 2015.
Follow Rick Kueber’s author page here.
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