Heavenly Survivor: Survivors of Teralis

by L P Peace

  ‘Geroff me, you bastard!’

  ‘Charlotte, look at me,’ Kerr commanded.

  ‘What did you just say to me? Who do you think you are?’ Her eyes focused on him then, widening. ‘Who the hell are you?’ Her voice was clearer now.

  ‘Kerr.’ He gave her a blast of his most charming smile.

  ‘You can stop that nonsense right now,’ she mumbled, pushing him away. ‘The last man who smiled at me like that put Elise in my belly and ran!’

  Elise is her child!

  Kerr was so stunned by the revelation that for a moment he didn’t notice Charlotte ripping wires and tubes out of her skin as she attempted to stand.

  Machine alarms went off. The beat of footsteps followed down the hall, growing closer.

  Panicked, Kerr put a hand to her shoulder and pushed her back down.

  Charlotte looked up at him, fury in her eyes. ‘You try doing that again and see what happens.’

  Kerr removed his hand, stepping back at the vehemence of her voice. This was going nothing like he’d hoped.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I’m just trying to help.’

  ‘You can help me by bringing me my daughter.’

  Elise awoke from another nightmare about ‘the pale man’.

  Charlotte, holding her daughter tight to her body, felt the panting before her mind was fully conscious.

  ‘It’s okay, baby,’ she whispered, nuzzling her nose into her daughter's hair and taking a deep breath. Somehow, the scent of cradlecap had never gone away, though Elise’s scalp was long cleared of the condition. She still smelt like a baby, and Charlotte revelled in it.

  The panting deepened to long breaths before the first tears fell. Elise turned in her mother’s arms and snuggled into her, little whimpers escaping her lips. A six-year-old shouldn’t have to deal with the memories of that place.

  Charlotte waited for her to settle and hugged her tighter. When Elise fell back to sleep, Charlotte was able to relax again.

  She’d been dreaming about Kallis too. It was why both mother and daughter had silently agreed to share a bed, though Elise had her own room, specially decorated, across the hall.

  The first group of awakened humans were going back to Earth soon, and Charlotte and Elise weren’t allowed to return. Of all of the outcomes of Kallis’s experiments, that was the part Charlotte resented the most. If they went back, they’d be trading one lab for another. At least here, surrounded by others who’d been experimented on, they weren’t a curiosity to be stuck with needles and drained of time, fluids and patience. Here, the Protectorate males understood them because they’d preceded them.

  Charlotte let out a long sigh and closed her eyes.

  A little time passed in dozing fits before there was a knock on the door. ‘You guys up yet?’

  Elise opened her eyes and looked up at her. Charlotte smiled and kissed her perfect little nose. ‘We’re up.’

  The door opened, and Willow walked in.

  Willow was another of the awakened, which is how Dr Tevin distinguished them from the sleepers still existing in stasis in the facility's basements.

  ‘Morning, little miss,’ Willow said, running across the room and climbing on the bed so that Elise was snuggled between them.

  Charlotte looked into the eyes of the woman who’d become her best friend and roommate in the roughly six weeks since they’d woken up. Willow had hazelnut skin; it was marred with white patches, thanks to one of Kallis’s failed attempts to steal Willow’s colour. He’d been forced to accept dark-skinned humans into his experiments, despite his obvious dislike of them. His answer to that had been to attempt to replicate Charlotte’s condition, but it hadn’t worked and Willow now lived with the results.

  Willow was deeply self-conscious about the marks.

  ‘I made the tea thing,’ Willow grimaced. It was a strange tea made from a root vegetable and herb. It tasted like crap and had none of the effects of actual tea or coffee, but they kept drinking it in the morning, if for no other reason than routine.

  ‘Thanks, honey.’

  ‘Four new guards today,’ Willow sighed.

  ‘Oh, god!’

  ‘Looking all moony-eyed, like we’re carrying the keys to the kingdom.’ Willow rolled her eyes.

  ‘To them, we do,’ Charlotte said. She understood—she really did. But it was tiring to have a constant stream of Protectorate males walking around the place, staring at them with a longing that made them uncomfortable. Well, most of them.

  ‘Zenobia out there already?’

  ‘Flirting like her life depends on it.’ Willow chuckled, and then went serious. ‘That girl’s here again.’

  ‘Ann,’ Charlotte said, shivering. The rumours going around about her… What her old master had done, stealing her mind and life in the process. It made all of the women in the facility appreciate what they’d avoided.

  ‘Tevin thinks he’s getting closer to a treatment for her.’

  ‘How do you hear all these things?’ Charlotte asked.

  ‘Cause I actually talk to people,’ she answered. ‘Hey, little miss,’ Willow pressed a kiss to the top of Elise’s head. ‘Don’t think I don’t know you’re listening to every word.’

  ‘Not every word,’ Elise said, a devious look appearing on her face. ‘I’m not listening to the ones I don’t know.’

  Willow started laughing and kissed the top of Elise’s head again. ‘C’mon, you two, get up. It’ll be midday soon.’

  With that, Willow swung her impossibly long legs off the bed and trotted off.

  Charlotte looked into the eyes of her daughter. ‘Ready, angel?’

  A solemn, knowing look that pierced Charlotte’s heart appeared on her daughter’s face. Elise nodded. ‘Okay, Mommy,’ she whispered.

  Together, they rose to face the day.

  Willow led Charlotte and Elise out to the pool at the back of the facility. It overlooked the finished capital city of Tessa and the ocean beyond.

  A medical staff, counsellors, and people in charge of their transition staffed the place. Everyone was required to attend counselling sessions to help them overcome their time at Teralis. Still, other than that, nothing much was required of them until everything was ready for them to join the world.

  Apartments and homes in the new capital had been set aside. They would be moving in the coming weeks, to make room for the next batch of ‘peopsicles’ to be awakened, as Rowan called them. Charlotte dreaded it, as did many of the awakened. In denial, they’d decided to treat their time here as an extended holiday and spent much of their days outside in the sun. From there, they would stare at the capital and try to imagine their place within it.

  For Charlotte, she just wanted a home where Elise could feel safe.

  ‘Morning, sleepyheads,’ Erica called as they exited the building.

  ‘Where’s my Elise?’ Tukiyo called out.

  Elise’s hand slipped out of Charlotte’s, carrying her heart with her. It took everything Charlotte had not to rush after her and pull her into her embrace, never to let her go.

  ‘She’s okay,’ Willow whispered, placing a reassuring hand to Charlotte’s back.

  ‘I know,’ Charlotte said. She did know. Still, her instincts screamed and clawed in the back of her mind, demanding she take Elise in her arms to protect her.

  Elise dived into Tukiyo’s arms, long, slender, willowy, and, thanks to Kallis, pale. The Japanese woman pulled Elise into an all-encompassing hug. She swung Elise back and forth before covering her face in kisses. Elise, being the only child awake at the moment, was the darling of all of the women there.

  Well, the ones who’d been experimented on anyway.

  Across the pool, the full-blood humans stared and whispered. A part of Charlotte couldn’t wait for them to go home. The other part was resentful she couldn’t go with them.

  Scanning the women gathered on their side, Charlotte saw the temperamental success of Kallis’s experiments. Erica and Tukiyo were among Kallis’
s best successes, along with Arin and Rowan. All four of them had white hair and the palest skin. Erica and Rowan both had light blue eyes. Arin and Tukiyo’s were amber. Ashley sat cross-legged watching Tukiyo and Elise with a grin on her face. Her hair was darker, a strange mix of blonde and grey that looked odd on the young woman, barely twenty. Kathryn lay lounging in the sun, ignoring the interactions. Her darker blonde hair and light honey-toned skin still caught a little colour, unlike the rest of them. Her light amber-green eyes were hidden by her closed lids. A quick look told Charlotte she was sleeping.

  ‘My turn!’ Rowan held up her arms, a mock-fierce look on her face.

  Tukiyo pulled Elise closer. ‘Mine!’ she said before blowing into the back of Elise’s neck, eliciting a scream and reducing her to a giggling mess.

  ‘You ladies are going to spoil that child,’ Willow said, taking her seat.

  Charlotte sat in the seat Willow had obviously saved for her. ‘Lotion,’ she called.

  ‘She deserves spoiling!’ Tukiyo said, before releasing Elise, who ran over to Rowan. Rowan pulled her into a hug, leaning back in her seat so that Elise’s feet left the ground, then she moved from side to side, swinging the child.

  Charlotte agreed. Elise deserved spoiling. She deserved everything. She was the sweetest, most loving child. At the same time, she didn’t want her spoiled in a bad way. ‘Elise, come here,’ she said when Rowan let her go.

  Dutifully, Elise wandered over to her mother. Erica snagged her for a kiss on the way.

  Charlotte was completely resistant to the effects of the sun on her skin now. It was strange, after so long being so careful of it back on Earth. But Elise had, thank god, never been subjected to the experiments Charlotte was, so her albino skin was still vulnerable.

  Thankfully, Dr. Tevin had devised a treatment that would protect her, though it would be a few years before she could undertake it. In the meantime, he’d created a lotion that protected her skin from the sun. It worked better than anything the scientists on Earth had devised.

  ‘Oh, here they come,’ Erica murmured.

  Charlotte looked up to see the humans had stood and were now filing out, walking back towards the building that would, inevitably, take them past their group.

  ‘Morning!’ Rowan shouted out as they went by. One of two of them looked over. Two stiffened, smirks appearing on their faces. They went past, completely ignoring them.

  ‘No, you look great!’ Rowan said. ‘You should tell me the name of your hairdresser. We should totally meet for lunch, you bunch of stuck up assholes.’

  ‘Language,’ Charlotte said.

  One of the women threw Rowan, and by extension all of them, a dirty look before the door closed behind them.

  ‘Why do you antagonise them? Willow admonished.

  ‘Here, but for the grace of god, sit them,’ Rowan snarled. ‘They act like we did it on purpose. The f-flaming… idiots.’ Rowan grimaced and sent an apologetic look to Charlotte.

  Charlotte shook her head and tried not to laugh.

  ‘I think it’s hilarious,’ Ashley sputtered through laughter.

  ‘Every morning,’ Willow sighed.

  The doors opened, and Zenobia stepped out. She headed directly over for the group, her dark blue eyes taking them in. She grabbed a seat on the way and pushed her way in, dropping into it with a grace everyone else could only envy.

  ‘I’ll never get used to red and purple fucking trees,’ she sighed, her eyes scanning over the forest that separated them from the capital.

  ‘Elise, go swim.’

  Elise, who was round-eyed staring at Zenobia, nodded but stayed firm.

  ‘Elise. Now.’

  When Elise was out of range, Charlotte turned to Zenobia. ‘Don’t swear in front of my child again.’

  ‘Oh, relax, Char. No one but you gives a crap.’ Zenobia rolled her eyes and turned back to the forest.

  ‘Because I’m her mother, and a child shouldn’t hear that.’

  Zenobia rolled her eyes.

  ‘I give a crap,’ Willow said, her voice hard.

  ‘Me too,’ Tukiyo said, before getting up to join Elise in the pool.

  ‘Yeah. You shouldn’t swear in front of kids,’ Rowan said.

  The look Zenobia aimed in Rowan’s direction was scathing.

  ‘I do it by accident and always apologise,’ Rowan countered, unfazed by a look that would wither most.

  ‘Ugh. Whatever.’ Zenobia lay back and relaxed.

  ‘Hey, Dr Tevin,’ Rowan called.

  Zenobia’s head snapped around so quickly that Charlotte was sure she’d broken her neck. When the promised doctor failed to materialize, she turned back to Rowan, glaring.

  Rowan grinned, raising a quizzical brow.

  ‘Hey, Dr Tevin,’ Ashley called.

  ‘Ugh. Do you really think I’m going to—’

  ‘Good morning,’ the rich voice of Dr Tevin called back.

  Immediately, Zenobia sat up. Her shoulders went back as she leaned up, her chest going out. Charlotte watched her suck in her non-existent stomach and thought about the small paunch left behind from her pregnancy. She considered slapping Zenobia for her stupidity but decided to ignore it instead.

  ‘Hey, Dr Tevin,’ the ladies chorused.

  ‘Hi, Tevin,’ Zenobia said, her voice suddenly husky.

  ‘I thought I’d let you know,’ he said, glancing at Zenobia before dismissing her completely and turning his attention back to the rest of them, ‘that Rhona and Makios Desares have commed. They’re on their way back from Earth with a hold full of goods.’

  Rowan held up both hands, her fingers crossed. ‘Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee,’ she chanted in rapid succession.

  A small smile appeared on Tevin’s face. ‘I don’t know what that is, but I was told to relay that there is, in fact, a lot of coffee. And chocolate,’ he added.

  ‘Chocolate!’ a small voice called out. Charlotte looked at the pool to see Elise wading through the shallow end with Tukiyo.

  ‘Coffee!’ Rowan stood, her hands raised high in the air.

  Behind Tevin, the door opened and a new guard walked into the space. He was a wall. Larger than Thanesh, who they’d met a few weeks earlier. The sides of his head were shaved, his short white hair sitting between his horns. He and Rowan looked at each other, and for a moment, he seemed frozen. Rowan grinned at him and winked before retaking her seat. From where she was sat, Charlotte saw him frown and back out.

  ‘Amongst other things.’

  ‘At least it means the others will be leaving soon,’ Ashley said. Her eyes turned down, a slightly defeated look on her face. For a short time, she’d held out hope she was still human and could go home as very little about her looks had changed. Eventually, she’d accepted it. Every now and then they’d find her somewhere, crying. Her entire family were still on Earth. Ashley had been taken while visiting Mars to look around Persephone University, and she desperately missed her family.

  ‘Oh, that’s so sweet of you for telling us,’ Zenobia said, pushing her breasts out further and pouting her lips.

  Dr Tevin frowned down at her before turning his attention back to the rest of the group once again. ‘Well, I must go. Have a pleasant day.’

  Tevin turned and was through the door a few moments later.

  Zenobia stared after him, waiting until she’d disappeared before visibly deflating. ‘Why didn’t he look at me?’ she whined.

  Rowan copied her pose, pushing her chest and lips out. ‘I have no idea. We don’t look in the least stupid!’

  ‘Fuck you, Rowan!’ Zenobia snapped.

  ‘That’s enough!’ Charlotte saw Elise flinch a little out of the corner of her eye and knew she’d achieved ‘ultimate mom voice’.

  ‘You swear in front of my child one more time, and I’ll make you regret it.’

  Zenobia’s mouth flapped open and shut a couple of times before she finally stood up and walked away, disappearing through the same door as Tevin.

/>   The tension lessened as the group looked at one another, eyes searching from one face to the next.

  ‘Elise, come here, baby.’

  Her daughter darted into her arms.

  ‘I’m sorry if I frightened you.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ Elise said, her arms wrapping around Charlotte’s neck.

  A few more seconds went by. A yelp rose, and Kathryn awoke, her amber-green eyes looking around, landing on Charlotte and Elise.

  ‘Hey, Charlotte.’ She stretched and yawned, stiffening when she saw the looks on everyone’s faces. ‘What? What’d I miss?’

  ‘And he’s back,’ Willow said.

  Even before Charlotte looked up, she knew who she was going to see.

  The alien. The one who’d been there when she woke up strutted in as though he owned the place, a lazy smirk on his face.

  Charlotte’s hackles rose. Stephen’s face came to mind, and she felt her jaw clench. He’d smirked like that. She’d loved it. His swagger, his arrogance, his ‘I own the world’ attitude. It had come crashing down, disappearing in a snarl of rage and the words, ‘Get rid of it, or I’m gone!’

  ‘Kerr!’ Elise climbed out of the pool and ran to the red-scaled, white-haired alien. ‘Kerr!’

  Charlotte would never regret choosing Elise over that man. Her only regret was that he wasn’t the kind of guy who stayed around for his child.

  ‘Elise,’ Kerr dropped, arms outstretched, welcoming Elise into his arms.

  It was all an act, of course. How could it not be? What man accepted another man’s child? Every look he gave Elise, every smile was designed to soften Charlotte and make him think she could rely on him, so she’d sleep with him. Then he’d disappear, just Like Stephen. Just like Noel. That one had shown up right after Elise was born—when Charlotte was emotional and vulnerable.

  She wouldn’t be deceived again.

  Picking Elise up, Kerr walked over to the group of them, that devastating smile on his face. ‘Good afternoon, ladies.’ He seemed to announce each word like they were separate events.

  ‘Afternoon, Kerr,’ Willow smiled. She genuinely liked him and had been encouraging Charlotte to ‘go for it’.