by Barry Solway
Chapter 20
Gasping, Mel drew in an eager lungful of air and her eyes flew open. Her entire body spasmed, every muscle fiber clenching at once, heart hammering in her chest. Like a switch being thrown, one moment there had been nothingness and then, in an instant, she had been shocked awake by… something. There was a feeling there, like a voice in the background, but now it was gone.
Dim lighting gave the room a relaxed feeling. She lay on a bed and could see a large machine against the wall. The machine made no sound, but a screen showed several graphs and a virtual image of a body with colored lines circulating like a light show. She guessed she was in a hospital room, but didn’t know if she was back on the ship or somewhere else.
Strange text on the screen shimmered for a moment. As she looked at one symbol, she knew it meant her heartbeat, even though she didn’t know how she understood that. Another symbol she had never seen before clicked in her mind as a temperature reading: 99 degrees Fahrenheit. One graph was similar to an EKG or heart monitor, with a steady pulsing blip. For a moment she wondered if the translators worked on written words, but her attention was drawn to her arm. A metallic ring, like a long bracelet, wrapped around her forearm. When she pushed it, she discovered the bracelet had needles going into her skin. Since it wrapped completely around her forearm, there didn’t seem any way to remove it. The bracelet connected to a post in the bed by a number of wires and tubes. She suspected those wires and tubes eventually ran to the machine.
Reflexively, her hand went to her left shoulder. She closed her eyes and the events of the underpass jumped immediately to her mind, as if they had just happened. It felt like it had only been minutes, or maybe a few hours. Curious, she prodded her shoulder, but it didn’t hurt and she couldn’t even see a scar.
Her head felt normal, too. In fact, she felt amazing, better than she could ever remember. No aches or pains. She thought her jaw had been broken by Wicked’s punch. Not to mention her head slamming into the concrete. That should have left her with a concussion, at least. Kathor’s drugs worked miracles when she had been beaten in training. Bruising that should have taken weeks to heal had mostly healed in days. She’d still had bruising on her back and legs—ugly yellow rings—when she went into the training. She looked at the back of her legs. Nothing. The pale skin was smooth and bruise free. Whatever they had done to her seemed far beyond the previous treatment.
Her brow wrinkled as she ran her hand over her leg. The skin was paler than she remembered. She definitely had a tan back on Earth, from many mornings lying on the beach. She still didn’t know how long ago that was, it could have been weeks or months. Now she couldn’t remember if she had been this pale before the gauntlet or not.
Frowning, she lay back in the bed. While relieved to be alive, it surprised her. It had felt like she was dying, growing cold even on that hellish planet as her life had seeped away. Kathor’s ship would have been almost an hour away and she couldn’t imagine Kathor taking them to a hospital on the planet, even if there was one nearby. Maybe they had emergency medical care at the site. Whatever had happened, she certainly didn’t feel sick or injured anymore. Her top wish at the moment was to get the bracelet off so she could get up and move around.
For some reason, that thought made her think of Nick. She was sure he had died, with the way he hit that concrete wall. But then he had thrown the rock, saving her. And the others? Jeff and Beats fought off Wicked and the Whale. Mirage had won the game for them, so she was obviously fine. That left Jon.
Mel narrowed her eyes. For the second time, Jon had hidden, had shrunk away from fighting for and protecting the others. A sense of betrayal vied with something else. Compassion, maybe. Or pity. His actions made sense, but there was what made sense and there was what was right. She had already thought she couldn’t trust him and the feeling was even stronger now.
Sighing, she wished she could get the thoughts racing through her mind to stop. A buzzy feeling flitted through her body and mind, and she wondered if she had been administered a stimulant. It would explain why she woke up so suddenly. Looking at the bracelet again, she tried to find a release clasp or some other way to remove it.
The door opened, and Kathor walked in with Anna behind him. Anna stared forward impassively, barely acknowledging Mel. Mel felt her body tighten as Kathor approached, and she tried not to flinch.
Kathor looked her over and nodded, then turned to the display on the machine and began scrolling through a series of data and graphs. Mel glared at him for a moment, before her annoyance overcame her.
“Take this thing off. I want to get out of bed.”
Kathor paused, staring at the screen for a moment, then he turned to look at her. The translator momentarily gave her the impression that he was pleased, but then the feeling went away, as if the body language translation had been turned off. She couldn’t read his expression at all.
“In a moment,” Kathor said. “How do you feel?”
“I’m fine. A bit charged up, like I drank too much coffee. I need to walk around and move or something.”
“Do you remember the events of the gauntlet?” he asked. Mel didn’t have the translators to interpret his facial expressions, but she thought he seemed intense, curious and pleased at the same time. If the translators weren’t working properly, she would have to start learning his emotional cues on her own.
“Yes, I remember. Vividly.” She looked at Anna. “How is Nick?”
Kathor’s eyes twitched in a way she had seen before. Satisfaction. His face was rigid and hard, but the eyes were very expressive, although the emotions were subtle and quick. Anna kept looking straight forward.
“The boy did not survive. He was dead before we arrived,” Kathor said as he turned back to the medical display.
“I was talking to her,” Mel snapped.
Mel’s tone brought Anna’s attention to her. Anna stared at her for a moment, then replied softly, “Nick died. I’m sorry.”
Mel started to think she needed a translator for Anna’s body language too. The girl showed no emotions as she talked, although Mel could hear some of it in her voice. Was she doing that deliberately because Kathor was there? Or had she gone so far that she really didn’t care about Nick dying?
“Everyone else made it? Did you find Jon?”
Kathor seemed more interested in the data in front of him than in the conversation, but this question did have an effect on Anna. Her lips formed a tight line and her eyes narrowed. Mel looked at her curiously. Anna was angry. Because Mel had asked the question, or because Jon had hidden and not helped the others?
“We found Jon,” Anna said simply. “Everyone else is fine. You were the only other one… injured. Injured badly, I mean.” Mel caught the pause, but Anna looked away as she said it. Mel wanted to ask about it, but Kathor interrupted.
“The first game went well. I am very happy with your performance, Mel.” That fluttering around the eyes again. Mel was sure that meant he was happy or pleased. Very pleased, if she was reading it right. “It is unfortunate that your friend didn’t make it. Only the strong and clever survive the gauntlets unharmed.”
“I guess that doesn’t include me, then,” Mel said.
Kathor bobbed his head, a motion that included his upper body. “Perhaps. You’re doing well so far. I have high hopes for you.”
Kathor had said that before. And, like the last time, it still reminded her of her father. A mixture of emotions swept across her mind. An aching loneliness, of missing her parents and her home. But also a sense of resentment. Her father had never said that in praise. It had been used more often as an expression of disappointment, a way of pointing out all the ways she never lived up to his expectations. She couldn’t tell if Kathor meant it the same way.
Turning away from the machine, Kathor spoke to Anna. “The procedure went well. Better than I could have expected. Diagnostics are complete. You may return her to her quarters.” Kathor turned slightly back to Mel. “Anna will deb
rief the group on the mission. You should rest for a few days, but training will begin soon.”
Kathor left as Anna walked to the machine. She swiped at the screen and then pressed a few icons, and Mel felt an icy chill in her forearm. A slight sting preceded a popping sound and the bracelet unclasped from her wrist. Mel pulled it off, massaging her wrist where all the tubes and sensors had been.
“You seem to be fitting in well,” she commented, staring sideways at Anna to see her reaction. “Have fun watching the match?”
“I wouldn’t say I’ve had fun since we got here. But it has been educational.” Anna gazed directly at Mel. “I do what I can to help.” There was a slight change to Anna’s voice in that last sentence, as if it meant something. But Mel had no idea what.
“Can I get up, then?”
“Yes. It would be good for you to do some light exercising. The process was intense, to say the least. And it’s the first time Kathor has tried this procedure. I don’t think he expected it to work, at least not this well.”
“Lucky me.”
Anna sighed. “You have no idea. You’re important to Kathor and he’s going to take extra care of you.”
“Why? I’m nothing special.”
“It’s complicated,” Anna said. She seemed to want to say more, but shook her head and reached to help Mel out of the bed. “Don’t worry about it. You’ll get better with training. And Mel… I really am sorry about Nick. Everything that’s happening, it’s horrible. Sometimes I just have to turn it off, or it overwhelms me. You understand that, right?”
Mel saw the imploring in her eyes. “Yeah. I get it. Trust me, I’m feeling the same way right now.”
Chapter 21
They were on the ship, in a medical facility near the training hall that Mel had never seen before. As they walked back to their quarters, Anna updated Mel on recent events. Surprisingly, Mel had been out for four days and the others were already back to training. Everyone but Riley.
Mel wanted to talk and Anna had to give Riley medication, so they both made their way to his room. Riley lay on the bed with his eyes closed, such an off-gray color that Mel panicked for a second and thought he was dead. Finally, she caught the shallow rise and fall of his chest and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Hey Anna-banana. Got my druuggss,” Riley said, in a raspy, half-whispered voice. He hadn’t opened his eyes yet and even the effort of talking seemed a strain.
“Might want to lay off that stuff for a bit. I hear it’s bad for your liver,” Mel said, making her voice as light as she could.
Riley squinted and turned his head. “Mel! You’re not dead. That’s amazing. I’d get up, but I actually am dead. I think.” Riley took a wheezing breath. “Ugh. I’m too tired to even breathe. But it’s good to see you.” He looked at her more critically. “You look amazing. They really fixed you up. I heard you’d been turned into a pincushion.”
“And a punching bag,” Mel said.
“I guess they like you more than they like me,” Riley replied with a sigh.
Mel took Riley’s hand. His skin was clammy and cold. Like the zombies. “What did you do to him?” she asked Anna.
“I didn’t do anything to him.”
“He looks like…” She hated to say it, especially in front of Riley.
“I look like one of the zombies. Bet I feel like them, too. Can someone remind me how that turned out?”
Anna finished with the injection and put the medical kit away. “They all died. Of course, you killed three of them trying to escape, but it was just a matter of time. But the medicine I’m giving you now is a new batch. You’re doing much better than the others did at this stage and Kathor thinks he’s figured out the problem. I promise that I’ll do everything I can to help you, Riley.”
Riley nodded and waved a hand feebly. “You’re the bestest, Anna. Shoot me full of toxic waste, then shoot me full of more toxic waste to fix the problems from the first batch of toxic waste. What could go wrong?”
Anna drew back in on herself. “I’m glad you can keep your sense of humor. You’ll need it.” She left the room, leaving Mel and Riley alone.
Mel glanced over Riley again. He wasn’t as bad as the zombies when they had first woken up. But close. He had lost weight and much of it just in the last week. His skin was taut over his lanky frame and he seemed to always have a light sheen of sweat covering his forehead. Occasionally he would grimace; Mel remembered how that grimace became nearly constant for the others.
“I shouldn’t tease her about it,” Riley said softly. “I can’t imagine what she’s going through.”
“Anna? I don’t know. She’s not the same. Sometimes I think Kathor has brainwashed her, other times… I can’t tell. I don’t trust her.”
“Yeah. Sucks to be us. Everything hurts, it’s just constant now. I feel like I’m melting. We did those other zombies a favor by killing them. You have no idea.” Riley studied her intently, his eye twitching slightly.
“I have some idea,” Mel muttered, remembering how she felt after the first training session.
The way Riley stared at her was weird. Then it clicked and she gasped out loud. Riley knew they were monitored through the translators. He couldn’t ask directly and she couldn’t say it directly, either. What if she was wrong about what he was trying to tell her?
She responded carefully. “I’ve really regretted what happened with the zombies. I wish I could have saved them.”
“You can’t save everyone, Mel.”
“I don’t want to believe that. It’s what keeps me going. But… I’m glad we did what we did.” Mel stared at Riley and said the next part very clearly. “If I were in their shoes, I’d want someone to kill me too.”
Riley’s mouth curved slightly and his eyes flashed approval. “Yeah. Me too.”
“I’d want to hold out hope as long as I could.”
“I think there would come a time when you would know that there’s no going back, that there is no hope.”
Riley wanted to die. But he hadn’t quite given up hope yet. Mel wasn’t sure how much time he had left, how much more he could endure. And could she do it? Could she help kill Riley? Certainly she would have no idea how to do it herself, and she wondered if Jeff could help. The whole line of thought was too morbid. She wouldn’t give up.
“Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about any of that,” she said, faking as much positive energy as she could. “I bet this new round of medicine Anna gave you will be just the trick.”
Riley sighed. “I’ve heard that before. How are you doing? You look great. Better than ever, even.”
Mel nodded. “I don’t know what they did to me, but everything is healed. Even the rest of the bruising from the training. There’s no scar from where Wicked stabbed me, either. It’s freaky. What I really don’t understand is why they can’t use the same procedure on you.”
“Dunno. I’m not injured. Anna slipped once and made a comment about how they shot me up with a virus. It’s like I have cancer or something. I have no idea what the point is, except maybe that Kathor loves to watch people in pain.”
“He sure doesn’t seem to mind,” Mel agreed.
Riley’s voice lowered. “Did Anna tell you about Nick?”
“Yeah. I was there.”
“Nick. That’s all I know about him. I don’t know his last name, or where he lived, or… anything. And now he’s gone. It struck me after Anna told us. We’re supposed to fight together, but we don’t even know each other. It’s weird.”
“I guess,” Mel frowned. “His last name was Troutman. Everyone teased him about it, since we were in kindergarten. He didn’t always fit in, but he was smart. And… I wish I had treated him better. I tried to save him. I tried to get him to hide but it was useless. I’m useless. I got Nick killed and almost got myself killed too. I wish… I wish I knew how to fight.”
“It’s not your fault, Mel.”
“It feels like it’s my fault. Anna said something. She said
that I’m really important to Kathor. That doesn’t make any sense, though. With Nick dead, I’m the most worthless one of us left.”
“There’s always Sharon,” Riley said.
“Ugh. That’s harsh. Okay, probably true, but still. Why would Kathor care so much about me?”
Riley shook his head. “No idea. You’re right, it makes no sense.” He smiled playfully. “In the movies, the aliens always go after the hot chicks. The black guys are expendable.”
Mel’s heart skipped a beat. “Hush, you’re on your deathbed, and now you’re just babbling. And you’re not expendable in my book.”
“Chadwick,” Riley said.
“What?”
He held out a limp hand. “Riley Morgan Chadwick. Nice to meet you.”
“Oh. Mel Margaret Meyer. Nice to meet you, sir.”
“That’s a lot of M’s. Just Mel, hmm? Is it short for something?”
“Just Mel,” Mel said curtly. She heard others entering the main room. “I’m going to talk to the others. You want to come out?”
Riley shook his head. “It’s too much effort. Come visit again soon?”
Mel nodded and squeezed his hand. “Absolutely.”
And the next time I see you, I may have to kill you.
***
When Mel walked in, the others seemed relaxed, but tired from the training. Jon sat alone by the window, while the others gathered around each other talking. Cheers rose up as Mel enter the room.
“You’re back!” Jeff said, running over and sweeping her up. He spun in a circle and then set her back down. “Anna said you were alive, but wouldn’t tell us anything else. I wasn’t sure if I believed her.”
Catching her breath, Mel subtly pulled away. “I’m still alive. I feel great, actually. How is everyone? Did I miss anything?”
Mirage threw herself against Mel, wrapping three tentacles around her leg and squeezing tight. “You poor thing.” The voice in Mel’s head was a whisper, but even so it sounded overly cheerful. “You look horrible, just dreadful. I hope you get better soon. And I’m glad your not dead. That’s a good thing.” Mirage squeezed her leg one last time and waddled off.