Zarik

by Elin Wyn

  I could see the corners of his mouth trying to tug their way upwards, but he fought the smile that I knew he wanted to show. The General Rouhr and the others came through the rift, and as the last one came through, a big orange and red behemoth that wasn’t as tall as Zarik but was so much wider than him, the rift closed.

  “You mind explaining this, Zarik?” one of the soldiers asked. I guessed that by the way Zarik looked at him, this guy was one of the leaders.

  While Zarik talked to the others, I turned around and walked a few yards down the tunnel to the opening where I could see the Puppet Master.

  “Hello, child,” I heard in my head. That was, by far, the weirdest part of all of this. The fact that he was a giant flower hanging from the ceiling by dozens of vines seemed par for the course, considering all the aliens that have been on the planet lately. This whole talking into my head thing was just flat-out odd.

  “My apologies, young Miri. My ability to use what you call normal verbal communication was something that left my kind many generations ago as we evolved,” he explained to me. “Now, what can I do for you today?”

  I found myself trembling, but when I tried to talk, the words seemed to just tumble out of my mouth. “I wanted to thank you for fixing my memory,” I started, then stopped in embarrassment. How could I tell a being such as this that I was grateful for him fixing my memory?

  “I believe you just did,” came the voice in my mind, a mental chuckle resonating in my brain. “Please do not feel uncomfortable around me, I promise that I will not harm you,” he said.

  “I’ll try,” I answered. “It’s just a little weird to be talking to a massive plant that happens to be the life-force behind a planet, you know?”

  “Then please imagine my initial awkwardness trying to speak with tiny creatures that were living on me,” he said back, a bit of humor injecting itself into my mind to let me know he was joking.

  “Fair point,” I conceded.

  “And here I was, getting used to being the biggest one around.” Zarik came up behind me, his hand resting gently on my shoulder, sending shivers up and down my body as I remembered what those hands had done to me, as well as the double entendre of the word biggest.

  “I must apologize for our barging into your lair,” Zarik said to the Puppet Master.

  “I understand,” came the answer for us all to hear. I guessed. “Young Miri’s mind was racing a bit as she rushed through the rift and I was able to decipher your purpose.”

  Zarik nodded and flashed me an encouraging smile. “Then you know that, somehow, this anti-alien faction of humans knows where you are.”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, we’re here to offer you our protection, if that is satisfactory,” Zarik said. He had not quite mastered the political decorum that General Rouhr had, but he was close.

  When I’d jumped through the rift, I hadn’t expected to be so close to being bored and disappointed.

  I learned a lot from speaking with the Puppet Master, but I was disappointed. Not disappointed that nothing happened, that was good.

  But I was a bit disappointed that Zarik and I were surrounded by the rest of the strike teams and had no time to speak.

  Just as I tried to get Zarik off to the side, a strange noise floated down the tunnels.

  “They are here,” the Puppet Master said. “They have carved a separate path than the one I created for your rift. They have been very intent on finding me.”

  I was suddenly terrified.

  Not bored at all.

  Zarik

  They streamed into the cavernous hall like a raging river, angry voices bouncing off the walls and blending in with the thud of heavy boots stomping the stony ground.

  They had found a way towards the Puppet Master that didn’t involve us.

  I was starting to shake my head, wondering exactly how resourceful these humans were. It didn’t make sense. There had to be something more driving them than pure hatred. In my experience, the humans were technologically backward - for them to accomplish all that they had to drive a wedge between our peoples and attack the Puppet Master, someone had to be guiding them.

  But who?

  And why?

  The answer would not come now. But it was something I’d have to bring up to the general at a later date. After my actions here, I hoped that he would include me in matters that involved the Puppet Master.

  I held my rifle tightly, resting my index finger on the trigger as I took aim. The man in my crosshairs couldn’t be older than thirty, but his unkempt hair and dirty clothes made him look much older than he really was.

  He held an old rifle in his hands, but his hands started shaking the moment he realized I was aiming at him.

  Looking to the sides, I gritted my teeth as I saw more and more of the humans stepping into the cavern. There were way more people than I assumed would be necessary to collect the toxin, and they were all heavily armed. Despite their ragtag appearance, they also seemed more than eager to fight. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to that...if anyone opened fire in these caverns, we’d have a bloodbath in our hands.

  And with the Puppet Master thrown into the mix, who knew what could happen?

  “Easy now,” I said, but that just hardened the expression of the man I was watching.

  “Lay down your weapons!” General Rouhr shouted, his voice echoing throughout the cavern. Some men took a few steps back, but the majority stood their ground. Finally, one of them stepped forward, an angry expression in his face.

  “You don’t get to boss us around, you filthy scum,” he said, and then spat on the ground. I immediately turned so I had him in my crosshairs.

  “That’s right!” another man shouted. “You fuckin’ aliens are done. We’re not your fuckin’ servants.”

  I took a few seconds to assess the situation, and that was enough for me to realize most of the group hadn’t been expecting to see any of us in here.

  Most of them were young, and they seemed extremely nervous and agitated. They weren’t expecting a confrontation, and now their ringleaders were trying to put on a show to reassure the group.

  “Why don’t we all put our weapons down?” I tried to say. I didn’t like the situation one bit, especially because Miri had insisted on tagging along. If anything happened to her, I would never forgive myself. “There’s no reason for any of this.”

  “Is that right, huh?” the man in front of the group asked, flashing me a toothy grin. “I think there are mighty fucking reasons for this, you fucking monster. You don’t belong here, none of you do...and the same goes for that fucking thing!” Pointing toward the Puppet Master, he then spat onto the ground once more. The situation was slowly spiraling out of control, and I had to find a way to stop it.

  “You don’t know what you’re saying,” I insisted. “That thing there is the beating heart of the whole planet. It’s what holding the planet together. More than that, it is a friend...of everyone.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “No, it’s not—”

  “Of course it’s bullshit!” the man shouted, pacing back and forth in front of his group. “Why don’t you just tell us the truth? Why don’t you admit that fucking thing is one of your creations? You’re using it to kill the planet faster, so that you can crush us under your heels!” Turning around so that he was facing his group, he thumped his chest with his fist. “But we won’t stand for it! We will defend our planet! WHATEVER IT FUCKING TAKES!”

  His rebel army cried out its agreement, and I let out a small sigh.

  There was no stopping this bloodbath.

  As the man wheeled around once more, I gritted my teeth as I saw him raise his rifle in the general’s direction. Before he could squeeze the trigger, though, I opened fire and hit him dead center, his chest caving in with the force of the impact.

  Then it was chaos.

  Everyone started firing at the same time, and the cavern was lit up by gunfire. There were screams, some born out of courage, others o
ut of panic and pain. The humans tried to look for cover, hiding behind whatever rock formation was in their way, but our strike teams were too fast for them.

  We flanked them in the blink of an eye, carefully shooting down the more dangerous elements and subduing those who decided to surrender.

  I paused for a moment, my heart thumping in my ears, and scanned the cavern with a quick glance. Where are you, Miri? I thought, panic slowly swamping me. I finally noticed her in one of the corners, a wall of vines in front of her.

  It seemed like the General had been right: the Puppet Master really had a soft spot for human females.

  “You’re fucking dead!” I heard someone shout behind me, and I turned around to face another of the humans. He was staring at me, a murderous look in his eyes, and he squeezed the trigger on his rifle.

  Skrell!

  For a moment, I thought that was it. I would die here, in this cavern, and everything I still wanted to do with Miri...nothing but dreams carried away by the wind. I would never have a second chance with her, and I would die knowing that she hated me for what I had done.

  There’d be no redemption for me.

  Only then did I notice that his rifle had misfired.

  Before he could aim and make another try, I simply launched myself and struck him in the stomach with my right shoulder.

  We crashed onto the ground together, his rifle flying through the hair in a wild arc, and I immediately tried to punch him. He moved his head to the side and I missed my target, my fist smashing against the rocky ground.

  He tried to strike back by headbutting me, but I reacted fast: using my free hand, I stretched my fingers wide and grabbed his head before it could connect with my nose. “Don’t even think about it,” I growled, punching his stomach so hard the man’s eyes rolled in their sockets. He stopped moving a split-second later, unconscious.

  Dusting myself off, I rose to my feet and looked around the cavern once more. Most of the humans had already surrendered their weapons, and those that hadn’t were on the ground, either dead or unconscious.

  Still, there weren’t as many casualties as I had expected.

  For that, we had to thank the Puppet Master. Instead of being idle, he used his vines to restrain some of the humans, whipping their guns out of their hands as the battle raged.

  General Rouhr looked like he was busy talking with the Puppet Master, but there was something that needed to be handled sooner than that.

  “HQ, come in,” I said into my comm between hard breaths, adrenaline still raging through my blood. “We’re going to need reinforcements ASAP. We met hostiles in the caverns, and we don’t know if there are more coming this way. Either way, we’re going to need more people to haul all the prisoners out of here. Over.”

  “Copy that,” HQ replied.

  Wiping the sweat off my brow with the back of my hand, I leaned against one of the walls as I tried to catch my breath.

  Miri! My heart rate shot up once more. Where was she? I looked to the place where she was, hiding behind a wall of vines, and I sighed audibly as I realized she was unharmed.

  Now all I needed to do was prove I wasn’t the asshole she now thought I was.

  But that would mean bringing her into a part of my life that even I had run away from.

  As the humans liked to say, easier said than done.

  Miri

  I had panicked. This was a stupid decision. There were so many other ways I could have chosen to assert my free will.

  I could have gotten a pet. I could have moved.

  But no. I’d insisted on coming here.

  Now I’d had nowhere to hide, and while no one was shooting directly at me, there were a few stray shots that had come close.

  I dove to the ground and covered my head, then started to feel it rumbling beneath and around me. I uncovered my head to see a wall of vines weaving themselves together around me.

  “Have no fear, young Miri. You shall always be protected around me,” the Puppet Master said, the intensity of his voice making it sound like he was speaking directly to me.

  Through a few small holes in the vine wall, I watched as the fight continued. Thankfully, it didn’t last too long and things ended quickly when alien and human soldiers began pouring through another rift, surrounding the anti-alien group. I saw that there were a few of the group being held by some vines.

  “Couldn’t resist hanging a few upside down, huh?” I said quietly, knowing the Puppet Master heard me.

  A slight chuckle filled my mind as the three ‘rebels’ that were being held by their ankles were shaken a bit before being unceremoniously dropped to the ground. I laughed.

  When things were clear, the vines were moved away from me. “Thank you,” I said quietly as I patted one of the vines. I rushed to Zarik, remembering how he looked when he fought and remembering how that powerful body of his had felt underneath me.

  Oh, how I wanted to feel it there again. I nearly tackled him as he turned at the sound of my running feet. I quickly kissed him on his cheek, then started checking him over for injuries.

  “What are you doing?” he asked, failing miserably at hiding his amusement.

  I looked up at him, a hand on my hip. “I didn’t think it was that hard to figure out. I’m trying to see if you’re hurt, but if you’re one of those ‘tough guys’ that doesn’t need a woman, I think there’s a few of the guards over there looking this way. I can always, ahem, check them for injuries.” I flashed him a sly grin as I said that and I was pleased to see his bone-white cheeks flush a little.

  “No,” he croaked. He cleared his throat, then spoke again. “No,” he repeated. “I’m not one of those, um, guys. You may check me for injuries.”

  I slapped him on the chest, which was useless since he was wearing armor, but made me feel better. I finished checking him out, and having found nothing, I declared him fit and healthy.

  “Does this mean you forgive me?” he asked after a moment of the two of us smiling at one another.

  God, to look at him smiling at me, I loved it. I discovered that I craved that smile more than I craved chocolate, and I was addicted to that, especially chocolate-covered hazelnuts.

  His question needed an answer, though.

  Of course I forgave him. He had made a decision, and it had led to the two of us coming together, in more ways than one.

  From the beginning, he had treated me with kindness and respect, and had been there for me when I had no one.

  He supported me and took care of me and legitimately cared for me. Yes, he neglected to tell me something and he neglected it on purpose, but I understood why.

  He was afraid of my reaction, the exact reaction that I’d given him.

  I looked into his eyes and saw the fear, and it wasn’t fear of dying, but fear of losing me. I was desperate to make sure he never had that fear again.

  I nodded. “Of course,” I said. “I’m not happy that you lied to me, and before you say anything,” I said quickly, holding up my hand to stop him from talking, “you kept something from me, so you lied by omission, and that counts. But,” I reached out and grabbed his hand, “I understand why you did it. So, of course I forgive you. Why wouldn’t I?”

  There was a look in his eyes, a hunger that took me by surprise, a hunger that, surprisingly, I felt for him in return. He didn’t say a word, just grabbed me by the waist, tossed me in the air, and caught me when we were face-to-face.

  He planted those incredible lips of his on mine and I lost all thought of everything but his lips and his body.

  I wrapped my legs around him and kissed him back with a fervor that I didn’t know I had. His tongue danced with mine as he squeezed me, while my hands ran across his bald head and down to his massive, toned shoulders.

  It took a few moments, but then outside noises finally started to register in my brain.

  “Fuckin’ whore.” “Disgusting.” “Slut.” “…down odds she sucks his dick right here, the fuckin’ bitch,” all came from
the human throats while a few nervous coughs came from others.

  I pulled away from Zarik, feeling the blood rush from my loins to my cheeks. “Um,” I said hesitantly. Zarik looked around, a bit of red in his own cheeks as he set me down.

  I looked around, then was suddenly slapped in the brain.

  Not far away, Kyle, that asshole cousin of mine that had kidnapped me and tried to screw up my brain, was glaring at me in disgust.

  I stomped my way over to him, a smug grin across my face.

  “What do you want?” he growled. He tried to turn away from me, but the big guy holding him—I think his name was Axtin—yanked him back to face me.

  I nodded a ‘thank you’ to Axtin, then stared at my cousin. “Why?”

  He seemed surprised by my question. He started laughing. “To avoid seeing you whore yourself out like this,” he spat. “Then again, that’s all you ever were, weren’t you?”

  He opened his mouth to say more, but I was no longer interested. My foot snapped out and caught him right in the groin.

  He dropped to his knees, a girly scream emanating from his lips, mixing with the sympathetic groan from several of the men around, including Axtin, who still managed to flash me an approving smile. “You’ll be a good mate, little one.”

  I leaned down and grabbed my cousin by the hair, forcing his face up so he could see me. “You’re an idiot. Did you know that every single one of these non-humans, their human friends, and even him,” I said, emphasizing my point by pointing at the Puppet Master, “they all have more humanity in them than you do? At least they wouldn’t betray and kidnap their own family, and for what? Some idiotic scheme to fuck up our brains and make us all think like you?” I spat on the ground in front of him. “God, you are so fucking stupid.”

  “Fuck you,” he cursed through clenched teeth. “You’re just an alien-fucking whore.”

  I shrugged. “Eh, believe what you want. At least I don’t have to worry about being hurt by them, not like I do with my so-called family. So, if you wanna think of me as some sort of whore, fine, go ahead.” I stood up, dropping his head.