by V. K. Ludwig
She huffed, but eventually shrugged and followed me out of the kitchen and back into the restaurant. The night slowly turned from black to bluish-gray, making that familiar tension grip my sore muscles.
“This is the route we’ll take.” I tapped the subway map, which rested on the bar once more and trailed my finger along the many-colored lines. “That tunnel leads to an area that is still in development, but the station is already there.”
“What if they’re in the tunnels?”
“Then we’re fucked,” I said with the same tone I used to order my cappuccino at the Starbucks on Third and Main every morning. “If they’re in the tunnels, we’ll have to come up with another plan. But it’s our best bet since we’ll be able to cover miles without being in the open.”
After folding it into a small rectangle, I put the map into the chest pocket of my scrubs, that red and black flower print so out of place in this world of looming apocalypse. But we had a plan. Not the best one, but pretty damn good considering what I was working with here.
Adapt and adjust — dad’s words.
They never made more sense than now.
I walked around the bar and flipped the switch on the BUNN commercial coffee brewer, allowing myself to grieve until the last drops stilled inside the decanter. Of course, I told myself, I’m doing this for mom and dad. Though I had no idea if they were alive or dead.
But I might have grieved for that soldier in the corner as well. Wherever he had come from, a mother had now lost a son, that one word of English he spoke entirely wasted on me.
I walked up to him, the blood on the floor long crusted and already peeling off in flakes. Yesterday I would have guessed him in his late twenties. But with his face drained and his eyes veiled in gray, he now looked well into his forties.
Odd how not killing him made me feel like a murderer.
The coffee maker hissed low, the earthy scent reminding me of Sundays with mom over cream puffs and local gossip. Back when I was still local. A void swallowed me from the inside out over how I had let her last call go to voicemail a week ago. Didn’t seem like a big deal then because I’d intended to call back for sure — now it tore my conscience to shreds. I hadn’t called back…
Hrmph…
Another of Makena’s coughs rattled into the sleeve of her sweater.
They came more frequently now. Made me clench my shoulders whenever she didn’t muffle them out of fear someone might hear us. Her breathing had turned ragged overnight to the point she heaved now.
“There’s a pharmacy right across the street.” I walked over to the window, glanced through the blinds and over at the building, where the steel security gates had only made it halfway down on one side. The world had gone to shit in less than a day. Busted pharmacy windows proved it.
Granted, junkies had already looted the good stuff. Vicodin. Roxanol. Concerta. But inhalers? Those might actually still be there unless every asthmatic soul in the city had climbed through the window of Smith’s Family Pharmacy.
Makena grabbed two standard-white diner mugs and put them on the tiled bar counter. Then she placed one of the brown plastic baskets with sugar and sweetener sachets between them, along with a bowl of half and half.
“Too dangerous. I can’t go because they’ll hear me coughing. And I wouldn’t expect you to do it for me.”
I shrugged. “I don’t mind. We can’t stay here much longer because surviving on coffee and bell peppers isn’t an option.”
But neither was leaving her behind.
The dead soldier would start stinking up the restaurant soon. I kept that one to myself, although I was certain Makena had that much common sense. We simply couldn’t stay.
I grabbed the mug she had poured for me, the steam settling wet above my lips and the tip of my nose. There was something very comforting about holding the hot stoneware against my stiff fingers. Corpse behind the counter aside, for a moment, things seemed alright.
We were blessed. Really.
At least we had coffee.
And life.
It was a surprise the grid still functioned, considering my phone was dead and media had gone silent within an hour after they’d landed. That last report I remembered was Fox News showing a massive ship hovering next to the Eiffel Tower. Chances were things didn’t look better for other continents, either.
“Look. We can’t stay here, Makena. But with you coughing up a storm and getting out of breath at every fifth step, we won’t make it out of the city. Let me get an inhaler, so we can pack some provisions and find someplace rural.”
Her gaze wandered over to the window and turned focused as if she could actually see a thing through those heavy blinds. Not once had she glanced outside. Probably terrified.
Her shoulders slumped. “What if they catch you?”
“They won’t even see me,” I said, surprised at that conviction in my voice. “And I have no intention of getting caught. I can be in and out of there in ten minutes, especially since I know what I’m looking for. Besides, we need a few things before we leave here. Gauze. Antibiotics. Vitamins.”
She agreed with nothing more but a downward jut of her chin, and a thank you whispered in embarrassment. Cybersecurity. That was the degree she would have earned at the end of the summer. Forty-nine thousand dollars in college debt over it, now probably forgiven, but also pretty useless in this new world.
I finished up my coffee and used the bathroom once more, then double-checked to make sure my gun was locked and loaded. Makena followed me back to the basement, going down on all fours so I would reach the vent again.
“If you don’t make it back —”
“Of course I’ll make it back. The pharmacy is an eight-second sprint from here. Street’s been empty since two in the morning.”
Not so much the sky, where I watched drones lift off from afar all night. Probably carrying all those people who never made it back from grocery stores, gas stations… pharmacies.
I stepped onto her back and climbed up the vent from there.
The fresh air provided a welcome change as I wiggled out of the gap, gently letting myself unfold onto the frigid sidewalk.
Temperatures had dropped to an unexpected chill overnight, immediately covering my arms in goosebumps. Gray and heavy, clusters of clouds drifted through the early morning sky, streaking the horizon in colors from dark purple to the first thin lines of red.
They had turned their speakers off during the night.
Now all I had was a gut-wrenching silence, and the way my heart added a panicked beat. Not a soul was in sight, though I told myself that suited me just fine. Meeting another human would have been an inconvenience right about now, potentially even dangerous.
Sprinting across the street with my body ducked, I made it over to the pharmacy in less than eight. I carefully stepped around the larger shards of the busted window, working myself behind the security gate.
That rattling of metal?
Probably not nearly as loud as it had sounded to me. Those were just nerves. Was it likely that anybody farther than twenty steps would have heard it? Not very.
So I told myself to get a grip and let my hand trail along the side frame of the window. Once I found a spot safe to grab, I pulled myself up and stepped inside, avoiding those shards which rose from below and threatened to shred my pants to pieces.
Chunks of glass crunched underneath my soles.
The farther I stepped away from the fresh air by the window, the more the smell of old dust layers tickled my nostrils. There was a trace of antiseptic cleaner, but it barely stood out against the staleness trapped in this small mom and pop pharmacy. A place which had survived because they also sold perms and hair extensions, as well as seasonal garden flags and mailbox toppers.
A light flickered in the back, leading the way. Not much to my surprise, the safety cabinets had already been pried open. I worked myself through the shelves of prescription drugs, rummaging through white plastic bottles of antibioti
cs, steroids, and antidepressants.
“Alright,” I whispered into the silence, grabbing two of the inhalers and ripping them out of their package.
They went straight onto the counter, along with four cartridges of Flovent. I also grabbed a box of enzymes for Makena’s gluten intolerance. Amoxicillin came next, and I took some aspirin and gauze for good measure. All this would need a bag. Plastic would do, but a cloth tote would be better. Less noisy. Although a bag full of pills would rattle, regardless.
Just as I reached out for the vitamins, my arms froze at a scuffling outside the window.
It could have been anything, really.
A dog perhaps, or a plastic bag wrapped around a broken pump at the gas station across.
I slowly lowered myself down, trying to sneak toward the counter. But the glass shards stuck in the soles of my crocs clack… clack… clacked across the black-and-white checkered linoleum floor like a step dance.
I held my breath.
Then I listened. Closely.
There was movement outside the building.
Thump…
A footstep.
Heavy but carefully placed, turning my hand sweaty, fraying my nerves. What if it was a person? A father looking for formula for his infant son. A junkie desperate for a final fix to mark the end of the world.
I should have peeked over the counter.
Then I did, immediately regretting it.
One of them stood outside the window with his legs planted wide. Close to seven feet tall. Hair a light brown, maybe. Eyes a dark green. Definitely gleaming.
I sunk back down, pretending I didn’t exist.
Perhaps if I ignored him enough —
Ding…dinging… inginging…
Frigid and nasty, cold sweat lined my forehead.
The door had been unlocked all along, and the bell announced his arrival. So did his footsteps. Heavy soles ground over shards.
“Are you injured?” A heavy accent laced his voice, with lots of emphasis on the R’s, but he kept his tone calm, collected. “If you are hurt or require medication, please let me help you.”
Thump…
Another step.
I gulped down my breaths, slowing my lungs to near dizziness.
What was I supposed to do?
Where was I supposed to run to?
Even if I made it out of here, I couldn’t go back to the restaurant and lead him to Makena. But I refused to give up. Refused to just sit here and —
“What’s your name, leska?”
I stuttered in a breath and slowly looked up.
Arms folded onto the counter, body leaning slightly over the white surface. A black uniform lining a broad chest. Weaved branches embroidered into the collar. Yes, I saw all those things in millions of frames while my heart stalled, refusing to make a sound.
His jaws and nose were all straight lines, arranged in strict neutrality. Emerald eyes pierced into me, so vibrant and yet seemingly void of any emotion.
The speed of my pulse turned my limbs hot and itchy.
I fucking ran.
My arms flailed in all directions as I pushed myself up. I scrambled toward the shelves. Toward the back office. Pharmacies usually have a back door. There had to be!
Feet shuffled.
The ground shook underneath me.
But I kept on running, my legs pumping with all the force I possessed. I didn’t need to turn around to know he’d jumped the counter, giving chase.
Panic trembled my fingers as I reached out for the handle of the office. And just as the cool metal seared against my clammy palm and the door opened, my chin hit the floor. A second later, my cheek dragged over the worn linoleum floor, grit digging into my skin.
“I am weary and tired,” he said casually. “It will do you no good to resist. No harm will come to you, for that you have my word.”
I rolled onto my back, gun grinding against my spine, watching how he inched me toward him by my ankle. A firm kick against his wrist, and he let go. I grabbed behind me and pulled out my gun.
Safety off.
Trigger pulled.
Bam.
Where I hit him, I couldn’t tell, but it made him groan.
I dragged myself into the office and gazed around.
Desk. File cabinets.
No door. No window.
“Aww!” I yelped
My wrist burned, seared.
His hand squeezed mine with such force, it disabled my muscles. With the other, he ripped the gun from my clasp and placed it onto the desk beside us. Angling my knee against my chest, I kicked against the frayed fabric on his thigh.
He let out a deafening grunt, his body swaying above me.
The air squeezed from my lungs, heat pressing against my torso with such force, agonizing terror pinned me to the ground.
By collapsing on top of me, he disabled any riot.
I kicked my heels and shoved my soles, trying to wiggle out from underneath him. But he grabbed my arms and pinned them over my head, his hips flush with mine.
“Stop this!” he shouted.
The more I bucked, the more his gaze narrowed. Until a pulse flicked to life, throbbing against my crotch. That’s when I stopped.
My entire body froze.
So did his.
Our eyes locked, and he stared back at me through confused, narrowed eyes as if neither one of us understood the meaning of the moment. A moment of suspension. A rip in time. When I struggled once more to free myself from him, he groaned low and deep at the friction against his erection and gave one hard thrust.
His lips curled over his teeth in a cruel snarl. “I’m taking you into custody now.”
“Fuck you!”
He shook his head in disbelief and lifted his body off me, but only to turn me onto my belly and cross my arms behind my back. “Your choice of words is as concerning as your lack of self-preservation, human.”
“What do you want from me?” I screamed, tears thinning my voice. “Let me go! What are you going to do with me?”
“Human or Vetusian, I feel sorry for your mate.” His whisper slithered down along the side of my neck, making me clench my eyes shut. “Either way, putting a child inside your womb is probably a struggle.”
Chapter 3
Torin
“W-hat?” the female stammered, all defiance fading from her voice now that she lay pinned underneath my knee. “What child? Please let me go… please!”
I stared at the hole in my uniform pants, the blood almost invisible on the black fabric, aside from how it glistened in the artificial light. How one small female caused such damage defied my understanding. Why I had gone after her instead of sending a squad, even more.
But the moment she’d crossed the street, I had found myself following her. I had watched her through the window of the pharmacy for long moments before I’d stepped into the building.
Could I have captured her sooner? Most definitely. Instead, I’d observed her in every detail. That vibrant red of her hair. Her hips shaped to bear our sons and daughters. Her slender, pale neck. But it was the way she walked upright in a world that had been bent which I liked best.
“Sert!” I cursed in Vetusian and snapped the laser cuffs around her wrists.
A deep burn spread across my thigh, reminding me of my own carelessness. As the Commander of the first brigade, I left the legwork to my warriors. And yet, for reasons I couldn’t fathom, the thought of another capturing this fierce creature turned my stomach.
Rough hands to her slender waist, I picked her up and draped her over my shoulder. “Where are the other humans?”
“I’m alone, asshole,” she snarled, wiggling her body and kicking her knees into my chest. “Where are you taking me?”
“You don’t appear injured, or sick, yet I found you inside a pharmacy, which means you scavenged medical supplies for others. You will tell me where they are.”
She answered with her teeth raking over my shoulder blade trying to bit
e me.
It didn’t matter.
The area still held humans although buildings had been marked empty. Nothing an additional squad couldn’t handle, but first I needed to bring this one to the intake. She needed nutrition, and by the smell of it also a cleaning.
I followed along the street, the planet's single sun slowly rising from behind the grotesque buildings. The lack of gravity underwhelmed the fibers of my muscles, making exercise all the more important. Luckily, the female supplied it with no restraint.
She tossed and writhed, bucked and kicked. It brought back that shaming memory of how I had grown hard between her slender legs. How I had ground my engorged flesh against her mating cleft.
What a disgrace.
A degradation.
No Vetusian of my rank and standing should act like that.
Shouldn’t I, above all others, always stay in control?
After all, there was just no telling what I was capable of if I ever lost it.
And yet I remained stiff, my crown pulsing against the border of my belt buckle. What was it about this female that coaxed my body to life, bringing unwelcome thoughts to my mind?
The word fate came into perception.
No, no, no. I quickly banished it to the dark shelters of my even darker mind. This female would have been as poorly placed with me as any. Perhaps worse, considering how she had just spit at the back of my neck.
With me, confrontations were best avoided.
Something this female didn’t know.
Something she shouldn’t have to find out.
And yet I couldn’t keep myself from taking in her scent, laced with sweat and anxiety, but that powdery sweetness which lay underneath remained.
She was different, and something deep inside me recognized it.
I did not like that.
Eager to get rid of her, I entered the stationary intake module. Angst greeted me from the unwashed faces of humans. They reeked of feces and fear. Many of them cowered against the cold palathium walls, holding themselves and others in a tight embrace.
“Commander Torin.” A healer walked up to me and bowed, reaching his arms out for the female. “I will relieve you of your burden and start her intake procedure.”
