Blazing

by Nancey Cummings

  Amber reached for the red rockfruit, so named because it grew in the rocky crevasses on the mountain side and handed it to Lucie.

  “This is almost like a cherry tomato,” Lucie said, popping one in her mouth.

  Amber picked up a purple melon. The thick rind hid a creamy interior.

  “You’ll need a knife to get that open.” Lucie set her own blade on the blanket, far enough away for Amber to reach it without worrying about Lucie grabbing her.

  Amber grunted but didn’t say thanks as she cracked open the melon. As soon as the sweet fragrance hit the air, the other five survivors descended on the food. Their first bites were frantic, and they stuffed their faces while tasting nothing.

  Lucie refused to judge. She’d been fortunate to avoid hunger. While the survivors ate, she examined them discreetly. There were only six left, including Amber, who seemed to be the de facto leader. Sonhadra had not been kind to them. No one remained unscathed. Some injuries were obvious with makeshift bandages. One woman looked pale and glossy, possibly feverish. Every single person was gaunt in the face and hollowed eyed. With plentiful food in the forest, how were they hungry?

  As Amber’s gobbling of the fruit slowed, Lucie had a list of questions. “So there was a wormhole?”

  Amber popped a rockfruit in her mouth and shrugged. “That’s what I heard on the comms, right before the power and artificial gravity went out.”

  Lucie remembered the lurch as the gravity went out and the hypodermic needle tore into her skin, filling her with fire. “What caused it?”

  “Do I look like I was part of the command team? I don’t know. I was dusting out a console, okay. Sitting on the floor was probably the only thing that saved me from a broken neck.” Amber spoke with such certainty that Lucie knew other people in the same room had suffered that fate. Amber shrugged again. “I can’t decide if they were the lucky ones or not.”

  “What happened?”

  Amber leveled her gaze. “We crashed.”

  “I mean, where is everyone?” She and the valos had only pulled a dozen bodies from wreckage, and she had a vague idea of how many prisoners had been housed in that section of the ship, plus staff. Halliday said a large group went into the woods, so where was everyone?

  “Fucking survival of the fittest, isn’t it? The ones who couldn’t run got snatched up by that screaming shrieking thing.”

  “Ak’rena,” Lucie said. Asche’s back went rigid, eyes scanning the surrounding forest.

  “Yeah, whatever. So half of us didn’t last the first night. The guards wouldn’t give anyone weapons or supplies, and one by one the critters picked us off. Charlotte ate some purple mushrooms and died.” Someone in the crowd coughed. “Evan got bit by something, and it turned sour. We buried him yesterday.” Amber popped another rockfruit in her mouth, cool as you please and untroubled as she rattled off the list of calamities. “Turns out the vines hanging from the trees are like poison ivy, so we all have a rash from when we tried to make rope.”

  “You don’t have a knife or a gun or something?”

  “Do I look like I have a knife? The only reason we got fire is because Crystal was a Girl Scout.”

  Sarsen lightly touched Lucie’s arm and murmured a question.

  “What was that?” Amber asked. “Can they understand us?”

  “They don’t speak English. He wants to know why you haven’t washed your wounds when blood will attract predators.”

  Someone in the crowd, a man with two badly bruised eyes and a probable broken nose, answered, “Every time we get near the river, those snake things find us.”

  “There’s other sources of water.” They had passed a spring an hour back.

  “Yeah, we got ambushed at a spring. Took out all the guards. We were lucky to get away.”

  Lucie frowned. The spring she had seen did not have any evidence of the survivors stopping there or an ambush. Either Amber was full of shit or the bodies were dragged off by predators. She relayed this information to Sarsen.

  “That is unfortunate,” Sarsen said. “At least they were wise enough to cover their stench with smoke.” Lucie was pretty certain that their motivation for building a fire extended beyond covering the scent of blood but said nothing.

  “So they don’t speak English?” Amber looked at the valos with interest.

  “Nope. My translator learned their language.” Lucie tapped the device in her ear. Amber and the other five survivors had similar devices.

  “So what’s their deal? You going to trade us to them or something?”

  Lucie jerked back in surprise. “What? No! No.” She would never think of such a thing.

  “You’re trading them something,” another woman said, laughing. “They like that Earth pussy? You getting down and dirty with that alien dick?”

  “Shut up, Denise,” the man with the broken nose said. “They might not understand your foul mouth but don’t make Lucky upset. They look antsy.”

  Ertale grumbled and shifted his massive bulk. The survivors let out a collective gasp.

  Time to get control of the situation back. “Look,” Lucie said, “I don’t want anything from you. No tricks. We just wanted to bring you supplies. We’ve got more food, water, blankets, and medicine. Even some knives.” Looking at the packs on the ground, Lucie felt ashamed. It was so little when they had nothing. What she’d brought would only keep them alive for a day or two longer, which just prolonged their suffering, and didn’t fix anything. They needed shelter, or a way to make shelter.

  “No catch?” Amber asked. She eyed the packs like they were treasure.

  “There’s a city up on the mountain,” Lucie said. She pointed in the correct direction. “They have all the food and shelter we need. Come with us. It’s safe there. No monster attacks.” Often, but she kept that bit to herself.

  Amber’s eyes narrowed. “No deal.”

  Frustration with the situation grew, itching across her skin. Lucie wanted to swat something, preferably Amber’s stubborn face. They were literally dying and she just turned down Lucie’s offer of shelter and food like it was nothing. What had she expected? That they would get over the bad blood between them and beg her to take them away? “What? Because you’re doing so well on your own? Queen of the forest?”

  “Because you want something and I ain’t going nowhere with you, Lucky, until you tell us what it is. We don’t like you, and we sure as fuck don’t trust you. How do we know there’s not more of your experiments waiting in this wonderful city?” The crowd murmured agreement and nodded.

  Oh, fuck that nonsense. Lucie’s temper flared. “Like you’re so much better than me? You kept their computers running.”

  “I did what I had to do to save my mother!” Amber snapped.

  “And I did it to save my brother,” she responded.

  “I didn’t hurt people. I didn’t take them screaming and crying from their cells and do unnatural things to them, just to see if we could make a girl glow in the dark.”

  Lucie flinched. She wasn’t proud of that one. She wasn’t proud of any of them but that one, any early project for Dr. Sobin, had been particularly brutal.

  “What do they say?” Sarsen leaned forward.

  “They don’t trust me.”

  “Is it because of us? We can move back, but we will not leave you unguarded.”

  “No. It’s me. Back on the ship… Well, we have a history and it’s not nice.”

  Sarsen huffed and folded his arms. “Your talents do not include diplomacy.”

  Like his did.

  “What did they say?” Broken Nose asked.

  Lucie ignored him. They’d get nowhere if she kept repeating. “What did they say? He asked what you said.”

  “Fine, I’ll level with you,” Lucie said. “There’s a transmission tower, or at least I think it is, and a room full of computers.”

  “And you want me to show you how to turn it on?”

  “Something like that. We can contact Earth. Send a distr
ess signal.” The crowd was unmoved by that option. “Fine. You can stay in the city, but I want to go home. Show me how to work it.”

  “What part of falling through a wormhole confuses you, Lucky? There is no going home. We don’t know where we are or how far away Earth is. This might not even be the same galaxy.”

  “We don’t know that it’s not, and we shouldn’t give up.”

  Amber snorted, folding her arms over her chest. “And why would I want to go back to Earth? I killed a man. They’re just going to put me back in prison. At least here I’m free.”

  “And starving,” Lucie said.

  A woman’s voice that Lucie identified as Denise spoke above the crowd, “Why do you even want to go back? You killed like two dozen people. They’ll never let you out of prison.”

  “Sixteen,” Lucie said, but nobody heard. The crowd broke into loud conversation. They couldn’t agree about staying or going with Lucie and the valos. The only thing they did agree on was that they couldn't trust Lucie. Amber sat there with a smile, her clever eyes fixed on Lucie.

  “Fine! Fine.” Lucie stood up. It was clear this was going nowhere. If they thought they didn't need her, so be it. “Coming here was a mistake. I just wanted to try and be a better person, but that’s okay. Don’t trust me. Stay out here and let yourself be ak’rena food. Apparently we’re delicious.”

  “Don’t try to guilt trip us,” Denise snapped.

  “I’m not carrying all this stuff back up the mountain, so it’s yours. Do what you want with it. Eat it, burn it. I don’t care. But at least use the medicine. There’s antibiotics and painkillers in there. And a steroid cream that will help with the sorta-poison ivy rash you got all over your arms.”

  She turned to leave, but Broken Nose stepped in her path. “You don’t just get to leave. Not after all the things you did to us on the ship.”

  Something about his tone displeased Ertale. Quicker than anything his size had a right to move, he plucked up the man. A fiery club blazed in one hand. Ertale stood there, waiting for her orders.

  “What’s he doing? Tell him to set me down, you bitch.”

  “He didn’t like the way you were talking to me, so no, I’m not inclined. I come down here in the spirit of generosity to save your starving asses, and you think it’s okay to threaten me?” Anger bubbled up inside her. What had happened on the ship was not her fault. She’d had no choice. They were no better than her. She’d show them to spit on her—

  Sarsen placed a hand on her shoulder. His heat soothed her. “Whatever that man said, let it go, my Lucie. They will not trust you if you hurt them.”

  Too late for that.

  “Let him go, Ertale,” she said. The big valo dropped the man who scuttled away from the fire toward the trees.

  “For the record,” Lucie said to the crowd, “I never meant for those people to die. I didn’t know. Just as I never wanted to hurt any of you. I did it to save my brother. I came down here because I wanted to be a better person, work off some of the bad karma, but fuck you. If you get tired of dying, the city’s at the top of the mountain. The offer still stands.”

  Why, she couldn’t say, and she didn’t really believe that karma nonsense until she said it. If Amber was right about the wormhole, they weren’t even in the correct solar system and had zero chance of getting home. Maybe that Sheenika chick had a spare ship hiding inside another volcano but she doubted it.

  Her life was on Sonhadra now. The quicker she made peace with that, the better.

  She needed to try to be a better person. The Lucinda Morales who would let sixteen people die was gone, and the version of her that wanted revenge would never be. She should start trying to be the kind and generous person she’d just claimed to be.

  Yeah, good luck with that.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lucinda

  “What did they say to upset you?” Sarsen asked.

  “Why are they not coming?” Asche asked.

  Ertale said nothing, but she knew he had questions of his own.

  “I don't want to talk about it,” Lucie said.

  “Well, too bad, because we’ve spent all day on this fool’s quest of yours and I want answers.”

  “Sucks to be you.” She set a brisk pace, walking in the direction of the mountain. “Can we reach the village by dark?”

  Sarsen huffed, which was as good as a yes.

  “I’m too angry to talk right now. Wait until we get to the village.”

  Another huff. He lifted her and tossed her over his shoulder, setting off to the village at a run.

  “What is wrong with you!” She kicked and hit his back ineffectively with her fists. The hem of her dress got tangled and exposed her bottom. Great, now she was tossed over his shoulder with her ass hanging out.

  “Stay still or you will fall,” he warned. The jerk probably would let her fall and then lecture her about how it was her fault for squirming.

  “Put me down!” More kicking and hitting.

  “This part of your form is fascinating,” he said, voice low. He swatted her on her butt, as if unable to resist the exposed round flesh.

  Damn it. That should not have been sexy, and she should not be getting wet because this whole situation was barbaric and wrong. She did the only thing she could, she called him names and screamed. She might attract predators, but that was his problem. “I’ll put you down when we reach the village,” he said.

  “You can’t possibly run that far.” Her words were staccato as she bounced on his shoulder.

  “I can run all day, Lucie Morales of Earth.” His tone implied that he did not brag but spoke the truth. “Sheenika once ran the Fire Valos for five days straight with no breaks, until there were only a handful of us still able to stand.”

  “Yeah, but you’re old and carrying me.” Another kick. He laughed, as if she were only a slight increase in weight and would not tax his strength.

  “The more you fight, the longer it will take,” he warned with another swat to the butt. He laughed again. He must really enjoy the little noise of outrage she made when he did that.

  Hours of walking had been reduced to little more than an hour of running. The rain that had threatened their journey all day finally broke, thumping on the green canopy above and turning the ground to mud. The rain dried instantly when it hit his skin, but soaked Lucie.

  At the water well in the village center, he lowered Lucie to the ground. Her legs wobbled, and she fell to her knees. “I hate you so much right now. I feel like I’m going to barf,” she said.

  “You will not.” He brought her a cup of freshly drawn water. Her throat was dry and sore, given the way she yelled the entire time.

  She threw the contents on him. “Don’t tell me how I feel. I’m so pissed at you right now.”

  Patiently, ever so patiently, he refilled the cup. “Drink. I know you need to moisten your throat to continue yelling at me.”

  Her lips quirked up and just as quickly she fought down the smile with a frown. “Dick.”

  “You called me that many times. I am beginning to think it is a request.”

  Lucie choked on the mouthful of water. Um, no. So much no. Okay, if she were being honest with herself, a little. She glanced at his loincloth. Nothing about him or dicks seemed to be little.

  “Now,” he said, satisfied she drank her fill, “you will tell me why they dislike you so.”

  Lucie shrugged. “I guess they don’t like aliens.”

  “No,” he said.

  “No?”

  “No. They barely looked at us. Every human watched you. Now, try telling me the truth. Why do they dislike you?”

  “I’m not exactly a warm and inviting personality, okay? They just don’t like me.” She took a deep drink of water to hide her face and the obvious lie.

  “They would rather starve than suffer your grumpy disposition? No. That male wanted to hurt you, and I believe you gave him cause. The truth, my Lucie.”

  “Fine! Fine. I don’t k
now when you became such an expert on reading humans,” she grumbled. “The ship we were on…” She paused, thinking how best to explain. “The ship was not military. We were not an army or colonist or scientists. It was a prison ship. Prison is—”

  “I understand this concept,” Sarsen said, waving a hand. “When protocol is broken, the offenders are punished in prison.”

  “You have prisons here?”

  “Those who broke tribal law were confined for a time or exiled. Sheenika normally just ended the offender’s life, but I understand the concept. Continue.”

  “Fine. So it was a prison ship, filled with criminals and staff. And the people in charge of the ship used the prisoners for experiments. They did… things to the prisoners.”

  Sarsen regarded her coolly. “And you did these things to the humans in the woods?”

  “Yes!” Shouting was the only way to tear the admission from her throat. Once out there, she couldn’t stop the torrent of admitting her guilt. “I was a prisoner. I helped to kill sixteen people. I didn’t mean to, but I didn’t say anything to stop a dangerous medicine coming to the market. My boss… I thought it would help people, but I was wrong, and they died. On the ship, they put me to work with a doctor. They were hurting people. Killing people. I didn’t stop them. I helped. I didn’t want to but they said if I didn’t they’d kill my brother. I didn’t try to stop them, though. So that makes me as bad as them, and that’s why those people in the forest hate me. And they’re right to hate me. I’m as bad as Sheenika. Worse. I knew it was wrong but did nothing about it.” Her chest heaved, panting from the rush of words. She pulled her hair over her shoulder, waiting for Sarsen to reject her.

  “I don’t trust you,” Sarsen said, leaning in. His eyes blazed, red and fierce. In that moment, he could be a demon straight from hell, his internal fire glowing, casting a shadow across his features. “But that is the first truthful thing you have ever said to me.”

  “Are you mad at me?”

  He held her gaze but did not answer.