by Zoey Indiana
Nova didn’t know how to answer that question since she’d had the same expectation. After the government studied the virus that killed all the males, The Sovereign outlawed males and it was manipulated during the in vitro process. She couldn’t predict what they might do with him.
Current propaganda stated that if men came back into the population, the virus would reactivate and most likely mutate, then kill everyone. If the Sovereign’s propaganda could be believed, anyway. There were several theories among Resistance members that ranged from mind-controlling aliens to men being evolutionarily weaker.
“I don’t have a clue what they’ll do to you.” But she knew exactly what would happen to herself.
“You know, out of all the ways I saw myself dying, I didn’t actually expect it to be at the hands of ARI.” Even with his hands restrained behind his back, the man was gorgeous to look at, then his words registered in her mind.
“I don’t want to upset you, but somehow I think you’d be lucky if they just executed you on arrival.”
“Wow, that’s harsh. How is that supposed to be reassuring?” His eyes narrowed on her.
“It’s not.” Nova shook her head at how easy his life had been, especially since he was a member of the Resistance. She bet he didn’t even know basic fighting skills. “I’m not here to coddle you. Hell, I wasn’t even supposed to be here. I can’t believe An’Da was a mole.”
“I don’t need you to coddle me.” Cay grumbled.
“You can’t even protect yourself.” Nova shot back, lashing out at him with frustration at herself.
“You know, it’s pigheaded narcissistic women like you are the reason I have no basic survival skills.” A tick developed in his jaw. “Fuck you and fuck the controlling women in power!” Cay slammed his elbow into the side of the truck as he let out a string of curses like she’d never heard before.
“Feel better?” She couldn’t help but ask when he finally fell silent.
“Yes and no. I hate everything to do with Gu’Kano Colony. I’d give my left nut to never go back.” The emotions in his eyes made her heart ache.
What an odd thing to say… there was more going on with Cay than what was on the surface. “You live without a care in the world. Everything you could need is provided to you and for the most part, your life isn’t at risk every day. What else could someone ask for?” She hated to bait him when he was already hurting, but she wanted to see the real him.
“You’re right, every physical thing I need is provided to me. Any food, furniture, or supplies I want just appear in the replicator any time I ask. But you know what I don’t get? A personal connection. Not a single person there cares about me, they just want sex and the thrill of possibly being the first woman to get pregnant naturally, but that never happens. The price of all those comfort items is loneliness, endless testing, painful injections, and I can’t even get a fucking shirt.”
“A shirt?”
“You heard me, I don’t own a single shirt. Everyone who can adjust the replicator measurements refuses because ‘I don’t leave the building, besides I would be hiding the best scenery’.” Cay huffed as he rattled his restraints. “I’m not even human to them.”
So that was why he’d been shirtless every time she’d seen him. She didn’t need another thing to deal with, but Cay deserved to be comfortable and happy even if he couldn’t have true freedom. What she didn’t know was how she would do it. “Let’s start by getting ourselves free, then I’ll see what we can do.”
“Why do you care, you don’t know me.”
“Because everyone deserves to be happy, regardless of our gender. Just because you’re a man doesn’t make you less of a person, that’s the whole purpose of the Resistance.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Right now, she had to focus on saving Cay since he was the key to returning order to society. A pang of sadness hit her as she remembered how lonely her own life was. While it was normal to develop relationships with women, there was a minority of the population that just wasn’t attracted to women. Like her, most of them lived alone and took care of their own physical needs, but she’d always felt there was a romantic element missing from her life.
Her heart ached as she realized Cay was expected to be with as many women as possible to help repopulate the planet naturally, he would never be hers alone. The best she could hope for was to share him with hundreds of other women, and she didn’t think she could.
6 Outside Gu'Kano Resistance Colony: Cay
This day just kept getting worse. First the siege of the colony, then almost being captured by ARI, and just when he thought they were safe, they fell into the arms of ARI. leaning his head against the wall of the transport in defeat, he accepted that he was a failure.
Not only did he let himself get captured by ARI, he couldn’t get anyone pregnant. The whole purpose of his life was to strengthen the Resistance by natural reproduction, and return society to what it had once been. Maybe he could find a new position within the Resistance, something where he could help destabilize the Sovereign or destroy her power outright.
On top of that, he wanted a woman who would never accept him. Nova didn’t even like him, let alone want to be around him more than she already had to. The women at the colony only wanted his body, and he was happy to keep lying to himself that was all he needed in life… maybe. Right now he needed to focus on finding an escape, then he could straighten out his inner turmoil. An ache started in his temple and around his eye, it was starting to swell from the fall.
“Cay!” The loud whisper snatched him from his thoughts. Looking at Nova, she waved her hands that were supposed to be restrained behind her back.
“How did you do that?” Nova shushed him, and he dropped his volume. “How did you get out of your restraints?”
“They’re outdated tech, it’s easy to overload the lock if you know how. I’ll teach you one day.” Maybe she was starting to like him after all. “Stay still while I take care of the door. If we move too fast, it will trigger a sensor alarm and alert the driver.”
Damn, she was sexy, and he loved intelligent women. If Nova could free them from the transit, they might have a chance to escape. He wouldn’t mind running away with her. As she approached the doors, her arms flailed as the transit jerked, but she kept her balance. Slowly, Nova kneeled and set to opening the door.
Thoughts drifted until he heard something click to his right. Turning his head, he saw a small window open, two brown eyes, and a nose appeared.
“Hey! Stop that!”
“Nova, I hope you’re finished.” Cay thrust his shoulder at the mesh window and felt it connect with the driver’s face. Blood instantly poured from her nose.
“It’s time to go!” Nova shoved the doors open and held a hand out for Cay.
“You go ahead, I’ll follow.”
Nova leaped out of the moving transit and rolled. He watched until she started to get up, then it was his turn. Cay braced to get a running start, but the transit stopped and threw him backwards into the wall. Pain exploded into his head as he sank onto the floor, pinning his restrained arms. He struggled to get up but couldn’t get enough torque in his body to leverage his way off the floor.
Cocking his head, he caught a view of the chaos as shouting erupted outside. Nova was on the back of the guard while the driver held her bleeding nose and screamed. She had one arm around the guard’s neck while she face-punched with the other. The guard had a tight hold of Nova’s hair, but was still losing ground. The transit rocked when the guard threw herself backwards, and Nova let out a grunt of pain and dropped to the ground limp.
Cay went cold, ARI would recapture the two of them, and they would be headed to something unspeakable. Throwing his weight to the left, he got an elbow under himself. A second later he was on his knees and then his feet.
Without hesitation, he sprinted forward and crashed into the guard as she drew her Reaper. Air burst out of his lungs as they crashed into
the ground, causing the Reaper to clatter across the road. Looking down at the guard, he saw blood creeping across the road from behind her head and her body was limp.
She was dead, he’d killed her. Part of his soul died as he realized the consequences of his actions despite his intent. Hands grasped his arms and helped him to his knees. Turning around, he braced to head-butt his attacker, but stopped at the last second as he recognized Nova. She had the Reaper pointed at the driver who knelt on the ground crying, bloody hands in the air.
“We have to go, there will be reinforcements soon. I’ll pick your restraints when we’re far enough away.”
Cay didn’t argue because he knew she was right. Awkwardly, he ran and followed Nova into the brush. He didn’t know where they were headed, and at this point, he would follow her anywhere.
7 Unknown Location: Nova
The safe house, according to her device, was around here somewhere. She couldn’t believe her luck that the ARI soldiers hadn’t searched her when they’d arrested her. It was the only reason she’d broken through the restraints.
Muttering to herself, she circled around the area once again. This abandoned lot was one of thousands just like it in the outer-city. The Sovereign didn’t waste its resources on anything outside of the inner-city, and after they remapped the inner-city perimeter several kilometers smaller, many civilian women abandoned the area due to lack of protection. A few had stayed, and the Resistance found easy places to hide, but it was common for ARI raid parties to come through.
“Are you lost?”
“No.” The device needed recalibration since the location detection was off. Unfortunately, she didn’t know which direction it was off and couldn’t fix it until she had her bearings.
“It seems like you’re lost.” Cay’s voice husky baritone grated on her nerves.
“I’m not lost!” She managed to not scream it. “The safe house is temporarily mislocated at the moment.”
Cay laughed but didn’t say anything.
She stopped walking for a minute to change the settings and open a discovery channel so she could find the safe house even if the cloaking system wasn’t triggering automatically. With the settings changed, if they walked near it now it would appear and within a few minutes a small housing pod materialized.
“See? I told you I wasn’t lost.” She walked up to the pod and triggered the door. “Once we get inside, I’ll reactivate the cloaking device and we’ll be undetectable.”
“Fancy.”
“Yes, it is fancy. Though, I’d think you’d be accustomed to fancy tech because of the colony.”
“You’d be wrong.” There was a tone in his voice she couldn’t interpret and he didn’t elaborate.
Filing that for a later conversation, she followed Cay inside the house and reactivated the cloaking system.
“Make yourself at home. There is a shower on the far side in the hygiene cubicle so you can get cleaned up. I have a few things to do.” The pod resembled a studio residence. Only outfitted for a single inhabitant, it was about to get more intimate than she cared for. Cay walked back to the bathing cubicle and Nova sat at the small table. Using the small tab that controlled the pod, she made sure all the features were functional. The replicator, utilities, and life support systems were all online and operating within normal parameters.
Setting the tab aside, she turned her attention back to her handheld. She needed to get a distress signal to any of the nearby Resistance facilities.
“Pourin’ all over meeeee…” Cay’s voice emanated from the bathroom.
Seriously? They’d almost died, and now he was singing in the fucking shower. The man was insane, but at the same time she had to hold back a laugh. He was making the best of a bad situation. His life was darker than she’d realized, but he managed to keep his spirits up. They were on the run with their lives at risk and he still found a way to have fun. When was the last time she’d laughed?
She pushed her thoughts away from the topic of him because even if she did want him; they had vastly different life obligations. He was born to be a lover while her life was dedicated to fighting the dystopian government.
Turning back to her handheld, she scanned the various message channels, looking for a secure one. They were too far away to catch any of the signals, so she sent an encrypted SOS broadcast, then set the device down. Resting her face in her hands, she tried to find another solution if this one didn’t work. While they were safe here, she needed to get Cay somewhere better, and Violet Five needed her.
With its current location compromised, they needed to find a new one and work on getting it secured. Then an idea popped into her mind. Since she was training Jay’La to run a new bar, Nova could consider the locations she’d vetted for that.
“It can’t be that bad.” Cay’s deep voice snapped her out of her inner musings. He was sitting at the small table next to her, and once again, he was only wearing pants. How hard was it to replicate a shirt too?
“It’s that bad. Gu’Kano Colony was a Resistance stronghold, V-Five was raided, no telling how many Resistance members are dead or missing, and I can’t contact anyone. Today has been one of the worst in Resistance history.” She gestured around the small pod. “I’m hiding in a small residential pod with the most valuable member of the Resistance.”
“That’s true, but it could be worse. We escaped without any real harm to ourselves, so some good things happened too.”
“Do you always find the positive in bad situations?”
“Yes, it’s the only way to make it more bearable.”
That made sense to her when she thought about it. Cay leaned forward and tucked her hair behind her ear. Her mouth went dry as he remained in her space, his fingers trailing down her neck and shoulder. She needed to think of something to say to kill the intimacy. Then something from earlier sprang into her thoughts. “Your life isn’t as easy and carefree as one might think, is it?”
“Heh.” Cay pulled his hand back and set it on the table. He was still too close, but at least he wasn’t touching her anymore. It didn’t matter because her body needed to feel his.
“What does that mean?”
“What makes you think I don’t enjoy my life? I have everything I need to survive and women constantly want my body. What more should I want with life?”
There it was again, that tone that made her think he was putting on a front and what he’d said earlier. “In order to trust each other, it’s important to be truthful. I can sense you’re lying. You said you have everything you need to survive, but what about desires and wants? Can you honestly say you enjoy your life? Well, aside from the shirt thing.”
Cay stared into her eyes, slowly moving towards until he was inches from her lips. His grey eyes were vibrant and alive. “I want you.”
As his lips met hers, the handheld buzzed on the table.
8 Residential Pod - Outer City: Cay
Nova’s lips teased his as she pulled away to check the device. Good news or not, he wanted to throw the damn cockblocking device out the door. He didn’t have to hide the disappointment as the device consumed Nova’s attention. There was something about Nova that called him, like the sirens he read about in the ancient black-market books. Her songs lured him, promised him everything he wanted, and his soul cried for her touch. She was the woman he wanted, the only one he needed.
“They got the distress call, but it will take a while for them to get here. ARI has ramped up the patrols in the outer-city. The rescue team must take extra precautions that will slow them down.” Nova sat the device down and looked at him. “What should we do to pass the time?”
She shouldn’t ask him questions like that because he had a few ideas. “The real question is how much time do we have?”
“Probably a day or two, hard to tell.”
Cay coughed and looked around the pod. “Any means of entertainment here?” She wasn’t ready for what he wanted to do to pass the time, but he could wait for her.
Nova pointed at the tab. “This is a basic model pod, security and life support systems only.”
“Guess that means I have to go old school.” Cay stood up and walked over to the replicator. Since there were replicators all over the colony, this one shouldn’t be much different. Punching several buttons, he found what he was looking for. Grabbing the new objects, he went back to the table and set them down. Nova was adorable when she looked puzzled. “They’re cards, have you ever played Da’Temp?”
“Nope, never played cards.” Nova picked up the top one and looked it over. “What do you do with them? They don’t look like efficient weapons.”
“What? You’ve never seen cards before?” Nova shook her head but didn’t say anything. “How does that even happen?”
“I don’t have time to play games, there is a lot of work to do all the time.”
“What about when you have free time?” A bad feeling roiled around his insides as he took a closer look at her. Faint dark circles stood out under her eyes. Her body was stiff, and he worried she didn’t know how to relax.
“I don’t have free time.”
Cay looked her over and gave her a roguish grin. “We have to fix that.” While he wanted to know more about her, this wasn’t the time. The air was already thick, and he craved her smile. It was his personal mission to make her laugh.
“How about we sit here and strategize? I can think of eight different ways today and tomorrow could play out.”
“Not nearly as fun.”
Instead of sitting opposite of her, he sat right next to her and dealt a hand to both of them. Flipping both their hands over he explained the rules of the game. Then he walked her through a game, taking time to explain the logistics and strategy of the game.
“This time, the cards will be facing up but you’ll play your hand and I’ll help if you need it.”
