"Well, that's... a delicate subject. It's not like we have a prison we can send them to. It's not like there are laws against what they did."
"I'm pretty sure it's illegal to knowingly infect someone with HIV. I know it's not exactly the same thing, but it has the same results, doesn't it? Their life expectancy has been greatly reduced just the same."
"Yes, but that's a known... contagion. It doesn't exactly translate here. Well, maybe if people knew about us, it would be a different story. They would be called to task and sent to prison."
"What about Barry, though?" Ellie asked. "He was straight out raping women at this school. That's a crime, a real crime, a serious one."
"Leadership will be talking with his victims in the coming weeks, seeing if extended measures should be taken. That's her decision, though, not mine, thankfully. No, I don't envy Leadership her role in the least."
Ellie missed a step at that comment, at the thought that she would be responsible for making those decisions if she took the new role. She had never been ambitious growing up, not like her girlfriend who had always wanted to be an astronaut. The idea of taking on such a huge role was enough to give her a stomach ache. However, if she didn't, if she turned down the role, who would be put in place after Leadership died? Would they be one to keep with the old ways, the old edicts, or someone that would call for the mass conversion of the human race? She had no way of knowing just how large this other faction was, or if it was growing with the unrest of her generation. The Demon-Touched generation, as they were often called once the demons had come. They were those that grew up with demons in their world, and an understanding that magic was possible, that anything was possible. They weren't ones to let the old ways thrive just because, as many of the older generations would say, there's nothing one can do about it. If they saw the continued presence of humans as something that they want to do something about, they'd do it.
"Are you okay?" Sam asked. "You look a little sick."
"I'm... I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind right now."
"I hope I'm not one of those things," Sam said. "I know I didn't make things any easier for you."
"Well, it's been a rather... interesting twenty-four hours, to say the least. But, it's over, right? It's all over? Leadership said she was working on restoring power and the phones and the internet and Miranda, Rebecca Anne, and Barry have been stopped, right? Everything can go back to the way it was... well, the way it's always been, but I just didn't know."
"Right," Sam agreed, nodding feverishly. "Those that don't need to know, still don't know. Those that do, do. All the rest is gravy. We can just go back to our regularly scheduled lives. It's Friday, isn't it? What classes do you have Friday?"
"Um..." Ellie tried to get her brain to function again, which wasn't easy with no sleep and no food.
"There she is," came a voice from ahead of them.
Ellie looked off into the distance, to the recognizable form of Alex standing at an intersection in the path. Momentarily forgetting the last interaction that the two of them had, Ellie smiled at her, waving to her in the distance. Before the two of them could get to her, though, several other figures fell into view. Among them were Eric and Red, flanking Alex, and the looming figure of Vern standing behind them. When she noticed the guard, Ellie's face fell and her pace faltered.
"Except it's not that simple," Ellie said. "It's never that simple."
Sam looked between Ellie and the oncoming group with a questioning look. It was only then that Ellie realized Sam wasn't up on what happened when her friends found out the truth. He might not even know that her friends found out the truth at all. It was clear that they didn't keep that truth to themselves. A large collection of people, mostly their fellow classmates though some staff and locals as well, followed them down the pathway towards them. It was the second mob that Ellie had seen in as many days, and she seemed to be on the wrong side of both of them.
"Let's go," Ellie said. "We should go. Let's go."
"What?" Sam asked. "Why? Oh. Uh, yea, we should warn the others."
"No," Ellie said. She just pulled Sam away from the mob, retracing their steps back towards the Physics building. "We should just get out of here while we can. They don't know who we are, not all of us, just a few key ones. That includes you and me."
"And Miranda and Rebecca Anne, I'd imagine," Sam said. He kept looking over his shoulder at the mob heading their way, increasing his pace each time.
"And Barry," Ellie said. "But they all dug their own grave on that one. No sense risking our own lives for them."
"They'd risk theirs for you," Sam said. Though Ellie very much doubted that statement, it still ate away at her conscience. However, it soon became clear that the point was moot.
Long before they could make it back to the Physics building, another group of humans swooped in, down the path from the street. This group even had straight up torches, the kind made from rope tied tightly around wood. Ellie looked around for signs of pitchforks, though she didn't see any. Sam started leading her towards the third path, but it was obvious, long before they got there, that they weren't going to be able to make it there before the humans had closed in around them. Instead, they made for the remnants of the tree. The one sticking up in the middle of the fork. The one that Sam and the others had confronted her from on more than one occasion. It felt odd to Ellie, as the two of them got to that relative safety, that she would suddenly be standing next to Sam under that same tree.
Another group of humans was coming up the third path, just as they got there. This one was led by Ellie's high school English teacher, Mrs. Edelstein, of all people. There was nothing but fire and fury in her eyes as she stared daggers at the person who used to be her favorite student. The two of them had talked at length on several occasions about the direction that literature was going towards, and what place Sci-Fi adventure novels should have in it. She was even wearing the t-shirt that Ellie had gotten her for Christmas, the last year she had been at that school before heading off to boarding school. It said “I left my other shirt in the TARDIS”, which they had both laughed at. Ellie almost thought that Mrs. Edelstein would have felt more betrayed by her leaving the public school than by her not telling her she was an alien.
With the humans closing in around them, Ellie could only close her eyes tightly and wait for her impending doom. Thoughts of the endings of all those alien movies growing up flooded her mind. They always depicted the aliens dying a slow, agonizing death, or being vivisected by the scientists that had captured them. All she could hope for was a quick end to a life that had barely begun.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Odd Rescue
Ellie could hear their footsteps approaching, even with her eyes closed. That is, at least, until their footsteps came to a stop. No one said anything, no one did anything, so the silence went on for moments that felt like hours before Ellie opened her eyes. She looked out at the execution squad that surrounded her and Sam against that tree. The rough bark bit into her skin where her arm hit it, making it clear whose side the tree was on.
Alex and Mrs. Edelstein were on Ellie's left, glaring at her, an angry reminder of her past. Sam's hand comfortingly held her right one, reminding her that she had a future. Or, at least, that she was supposed to have one. But where did everyone else fit in? Her father, Becky, Mare, none of them were there. None of them had taken sides in the conflict that would end her life.
Right in front of Ellie was Vern, flanked by the two brothers. As the silence dragged on, several of the crowd looked to him, making it clear that this mob belonged to the security guard. His uniform was worn, ragged, torn in places, making it seem like an indicator of just how crazy he had become in the unrest of the previous day and night. An angry twitch flickered in his eye, much more scary than the abysses of the Hulandans ever were. They all waited with bated breath, Ellie and Sam included, for his word, for his command to start the killing.
"Uh... hi..." came a voice from th
e back of the crowd. Ellie knew that voice. Ellie loved that voice. She knew it better than her own, knew its ups and downs, its joy and pain. She also knew that that voice had no right being there, no right being in that state, or anywhere near this new life she was actually thinking was hers. "Can you guys stop threatening my fiancé?" Mare asked.
Ellie giggled at the familiar joke between them. Mare, of course, didn't think of it as a joke, the running gag where she asked Ellie to marry her again and again. It went as far back as their first "date" when they rescued Dave from his kidnappers. Sam looked at her as if she had lost her good sense. Everyone else in the crowd turned towards the voice, that glorious voice of Ellie's savior. Of Ellie's joy. Of Ellie's love.
As the crowd parted to let the newcomer in, Ellie finally got her first sight of Mare in what felt like years. It was certainly months since she had last seen her in person, as more than just a face on a video screen. She came in from the east, perfectly haloed by the rising sunlight, the picture of the angel that she was. Once the path was clear, Mare started walking towards the pair of them. However, Mare's guard was up. She was ready to pounce forward, to bring her years of ninja class to bear against anyone that stopped her.
Ellie suddenly worried about her, about why she was there. About what she was going to do. Had she heard? Had someone told her the truth? Was she there to rescue her or to kill her? She knew that, if Mare wished it, Ellie would have no strength, no will to stop the killing blow from her girlfriend. If Mare was there to kill her, she would die, and thank the heavens that it was at her hands and not some stranger's.
"W-what are you doing here?" Ellie managed to ask, once Mare had come up in front of Vern.
"Hi to you, too," Mare said, in her usual snarky tone. "I'm here to rescue you. I wasn't sure just what from, but... Well, I certainly wasn't expecting this."
"No, but... I mean, how?"
"Rescue first, ask questions later," she said. Mare turned around to face the crowd, standing firm in front of Ellie. Her hands were out in front, ready to punch or defend as needed. Even as empty fists, they were stronger weapons than any the crowd had brought to bear. Mare's eyes scanned the crowd, stopping only at the familiar faces mixed in it, before coming all the way back around to the center. To Vern, the closest thing to an authority that the crowd, the mob, had. "I'm taking my fiancé out of here," Mare said, making her voice clear and loud enough for the entire group to hear her. "No one is going to stop me."
"Mind if I tag along?" Sam asked, quietly, from over Ellie's shoulder.
Mare just shrugged as she started to slowly make her way forward. The crowd continued to part around the new arrival, though none seemed to know what to make of her. Ellie knew that, without the ability to see the Hulandans for what they were, none in the crowd would know for certain if Mare was one of them or not, if she was an alien or a human. Figuring they would err towards not killing her, Ellie kept close to her girlfriend, hoping that neither of them would need to test their skills against the much greater numbers of the crowd. As trained as they were, they didn't stand a chance against that many people, even if they came at them one at a time like they did in the movies. They were gambling on the fact that no one in the crowd wanted to be first.
As they left the safety of the tree, the crowd closed ranks behind them, isolating the three of them within the shroud of the mob. Ellie pulled Sam closer, putting him between Mare and her, before starting to walk backwards. She didn't like the thought of having enemies behind her, leaving anyone that wanted to hurt her in a position to do so. Mare's pace slowed as the three of them made their way through the angry mob, knowing that at any moment, at the smallest provocation or cue, they would pounce on them, bringing them to the ground and their demise.
Ellie had lost sight of her former friends, mixed in with the strange faces. None of the mob that wanted their blood looked human; they looked like so many aliens surrounding them, salivating at the idea of ripping them limb from limb. Instead of hollow, abyssal eyes, it was faces deformed by rage. Despite two of the three of them being aliens, Ellie felt like they were the only humans there. Still, she was left to wonder whose side Mare would be on, if only she knew the truth. Would her face become as deformed as those around them?
Once the three of them had made it through to the edge of the crowd, Mare stepped up the pace. Ellie gave one last pointed glare at the mob before running after her, dragging Sam along with them. When they got to the street, there were two security carts and a police cruiser parked against the curb, all flashing their lights into the early morning sun. Those lights, that were supposed to mark safety and protection, only scared Ellie into thinking that they were still surrounded. It was only after the three of them ran past the police cruiser that Ellie saw that all three vehicles were vacant. Their owners were behind them, back in the mob that was slow to give chase. As they passed, Mare paused, looking at the police cruiser with a mischievous expression on her face.
"No," Ellie said, simply, grabbing her arm as she passed.
"Well, that was... interesting," Sam said. He looked behind them, back towards the crowd, as if to check that they were finally out of earshot. "I'm surprised they didn't just kill all three of us."
"Don't give them any ideas," Ellie said. "They probably haven't given up on us just yet. Mare was too much of an unknown for them, but that won't last long."
"I’m thinking it was more that they didn’t know what to do with you once they had you cornered anyway,” Mare said. “My arrival was little more than an excuse for them not to do something they weren’t ready to do. Oh, by the way, I'm Mare." She held out her hand towards Sam.
"Sam, Mare. Mare, Sam," Ellie said, pointing between them. "Sam is... He's in my LGBT support group."
"Oh, so which letter of the alphabet are you?" Mare joked.
"Ha ha, G," Sam laughed. "Very G. You?"
"Q... I think," Mare said. She tried very hard not to laugh at her old joke. Ellie never found it funny, no matter how often she told it. There was some disagreement between the two of them if Q meant queer or questioning. As usual, jokes that took some explaining weren't funny, but that didn't stop Mare from trying.
"So, what's the plan?" Sam asked. He seemed eager to take a backseat on this rescue operation.
"I don't know," Mare asked. "Where's safe around here?"
"Well, we just lost one of our safe places to them, so, nowhere?" Sam said.
"Wait, wait, wait," Ellie said. "Why... How... How are you even here? Last I heard you were in Colorado, and that was... yesterday."
"Well, the why should be obvious," Mare said. She stopped walking suddenly, Ellie's hand still on her arm. Ellie wasn't expecting the move and she continued forward. Mare's leg was placed just so, causing her to trip forward. She spun around in midair, falling not so gracefully into Mare's arms. Mare dipped her down a little more before planting a long, hot, wet kiss on her lips. "I came to rescue you," Mare said, after breaking the kiss.
"But... why?" Ellie asked, stunned by the kiss, by the passion there. She momentarily forgot that she was an alien. That Mare didn't know that she was an alien. That there were even aliens in the world and that the world wasn't quite right just then. All that mattered was the two of them.
"Well," Mare said. She pulled Ellie back onto her feet, just as gracefully as she had knocked her off of them. "When the Skype call dropped like that, I knew something was up. I tried calling you back and, when it didn't go through, I tried your dad. Both his cell and the land line at home. Neither rang through. I went to my CO to ask about it, but he just yelled at me to go to PT. After PT, I went online to see what was happening and there was news about the blackout. Even then, there was talk of rioting. So, I left to come find you."
"You just... left? The academy?"
"Well... not just..." Mare said. She blushed heavily at the thought.
"Wait... What did you do now?"
"Well, remember when I was talking about training?"
"Y
ou didn't," Ellie said, denying the very real possibility that--
"I sort of borrowed a helicopter."
"You do know they're going to kick you out for that, right? You'll never get to join NASA after that."
"You're more important. Besides, with this whole Mars thing taking off, I think there's an easier way to get up into space."
"Yea, about that," Sam said, hesitantly.
"No, Sam, don't," Ellie said. She held up a hand to stop him. "Let's just get out of here before they come back."
"So, what's been happening around here?" Mare asked, momentarily ignoring Sam's comments. "It's got to be more interesting than my day."
"More interesting than stealing a helicopter from the air force? Not really. Just, you know, a... a couple of mobs tearing up the place. Riots last night, now this counter riot this morning. Nothing really to worry about. I managed to stay out of the path of the first one. This second one, however, well... It kind of came out of nowhere."
"But... what were the riots about? Certainly, it wasn't just about the power going out. Or, was that just a coincidence?"
"The first was protesting the passing of the demon bill," Sam said. He seemed to have taken the hints from Ellie not to mention the whole alien thing. "It started out as a normal protest but got out of hand. This one this morning... well, I'm not quite sure what that was about. Probably just a 'you tore up our city' kind of thing. Not sure why they focused on us, though."
"Oh, wait, Sam, right," Mare said. "I remember Ellie talking about you once. She thought you were a little weird."
"Mare," Ellie scolded.
"That's... fair, I guess."
"Weren't you a part of the whole Remember Sami thing, too?"
"Yes, but I didn't instigate the riot last night. In fact, Leadership is closing out the whole Remember Sami movement, so it's a moot point, really."
"Can a hate group really ever close down?" Mare asked. "It's not like the Klan ever really went away."
"No, but its members can agree that they were wrong," Sam said.
Light Through the Window Page 37
