Klous picked his head up, a gust of air smelling different to him. It felt dryer and lighter. Almost enough to offer warmth against his chilled skin. With his head up he noticed the tunnel ahead was lighter. Were they near the end or just another cluster of crystals? He felt his spirits buoyed but tried to remember they might yet be miles from an opening. When the hybrid led them around a jutting corner and into a large room with a pool of slowly moving water in the middle of it, his worries were dismissed. A series of ledges along the far wall led up to an opening some thirty feet above them. Through that opening he could see a pink sky. They’d been in the tunnel for a few hours then, he reasoned, if the sky was turning pink with the setting sun.
He heard a grateful sigh from behind, prompting him to turn and grin at Sasha. “Look Kels, we’re almost out!” She said.
Kelsey picked his head up and let out an excited yelp. He started forward, only to be stopped by Klous’es outstretched arm. “We all want out,” Klous assured him. “And we will, but let me go first and make sure it’s okay. We’re not like our friends here.”
Kelsey’s eyes jumped to the hybrid that was already climbing up the stone steps. He shook his head and looked away. Klous understood, the hybrids were fearsome looking beings. They looked human from a distance, but up close it was obvious they were far from it. Chitinous plates on their chest and what looked like an insect shell on their back kept them from passing close inspection. Not to mention the mandibles that grew out of their cheeks and sometimes dripped a venom that smelled of sage.
“Can you hold your brother?” Klous asked.
Kelsey looked at Markus, then bit his lip and nodded. Markus and Nissa looked far more human than the hybrids. They could, in fact, pass for humans among strangers. Their darker skin, course hair, sharp teeth, and thick nails made it obvious up close that they were something different. To their aesthetic credit the armored plates and shells had been bred out of them, as well as the mandibles.
Klous handed Markus off and then climbed up the rocks after their guide. He’d forgotten the aches in his legs and back with the promise of fresh air and open sky. The thought almost made him laugh, he’d spent years at a time aboard the Black Hole with neither available. Too much time on the ground, he mused.
The hybrid waited for him in the opening. Klous stepped up next to him, eyeing him warily, then forgot that the creature even existed. He stared out of a mountainside at a beautiful vista. The valley before him was coated in pinks, oranges, and reds from the setting sun. Trees littered the mountainside below, giant conifers unlike anything he’d seen in the jungle. Further out he saw the land turn wetter, the trees resembling some of those found in the jungle. Even then, it looked different. The air seemed thinner and cleaner, or at least without the moisture clinging to his skin.
“Come up here!” Klous all but shouted after he turned back into the dark cave. Kelsey and Sasha were only too happy to comply. Klous hopped back down to help Kelsey by taking Markus from him.
“It’s beautiful!” Sasha whispered once she stood beside him.
Klous nodded in agreement. Kelsey was anxious, nearly hopping on his feet in hopes of heading down into the forest of evergreens. Klous looked to their guide, wondering what awaited them and why their mostly silent benefactor had helped them. The hybrid pointed, drawing Klous’s attention away from him and down into the valley.
“Town,” the hybrid growled. Their speech was rough and heavily slurred by his mandibles. They seldom spoke, or at least seldom did so around him. Their guide had spoken twice to Klous, once when they stumbled across them and Klous had risked a negotiation instead of trying to run away.
Klous squinted until he could make out what the hybrid had pointed at. He’d thought it just another trick of the setting sun but now he knew better. He was staring at a small fire in the trees. With a fire there would be food. He turned, smiling even before he could tell them. “Let’s go, they’ve a fire down there. We can warm ourselves and perhaps cook something to eat.”
Sasha let out a moan, which drew a chuckle from Klous. He hugged her and kissed her on the forehead, then ruffled Kelsey’s hair. “After you, my friend,” he said after turning back to the hybrid.
Their guide walked along a trail down the side of the mountain, leading them into the first of the trees. They lost sight of the fire but the obvious trail before them took their worries away. The fire was further than he’d thought, causing the sun to be nearly set by the time they reached it.
“Come,” their guide said once they emerged into a small clearing amongst the trees. The fire sat within a pit ringed with stones and dirt. Several rocks and logs were gathered around the fire, most of them occupied by some type of being or other. “Queen,” the hybrid said, gesturing to a log that had been carved for the occupant. The hybrid dropped to its knees, then looked at Klous and wacked him in the back with his heavy arm.
Klous grunted and took a step forward to keep his balance. He stared in shock, he knew her. The hybrid growled beside him until he dropped to one knee. “Kneel,” he hissed with a quick glance over his shoulder. Sasha and Kelsey did as he bade, though Sasha’s mouth gaped.
“Of all the people,” The Queen said, standing and walking towards them. She stopped before them and stared at Markus and Nissa. She shook her head. “Are they all dead?”
“Who? The others? No, they’re fine. Well, Kira is,” Klous said. He studied her. She wore an uneven hide skirt that reached halfway down her legs and a necklace with strips of hide and other items woven into it, concealing her breasts. She’d also worked some sort of gemstones into it that reflected the firelight. As shocked as he was at seeing Fiona wearing clothing that was conservative by Vitalian standards, he was even more taken back to realize her hips seemed wider and her breasts fuller.
“How?” Fiona demanded. Her voice was harsher than he remembered.
Glancing around at the gathered beings he could understand why. She was the only human amongst a tribe of hybrids and… Klous gasped. “Are these all your children?”
Fiona scowled and drew her hand back. She hesitated, then lowered it. “The hybrids aren’t. They were born by infecting a human and killing them. The others, the firstborn, are mine. Only the six, I won’t bear any more.”
Sasha whimpered. “They look almost normal!” She stared past Fiona at the firstborn. “They’re beautiful.”
Klous studied the fully grown firstborn. He wasn’t sure he agreed with his wife but he could understand how she thought that way. They weren’t gross or misshapen at all. The female’s belly was swollen with pregnancy, but she was shapely in a manner of a human woman, though nearly two feet taller.
Fiona turned to share the sight before looking back. “They grow fast. Yours are how old, a day?”
Sasha nodded. “This is Nissa and that’s Markus.”
“Names,” Fiona’s eye lost their focus for a moment. She sighed, her pupils centering on Sasha. “Might as well. I guess I named one of them already.”
“Who?”
“Adam, the one standing to the right of my throne.”
“That’s one of the hybrids,” Klous said, confused.
Fiona nodded. “He’s the father of the new race.”
“New race, these firstborn, you mentioned?”
“The first truly intelligent species born on this planet.”
“Firstborn isn’t much of a name. If they’re the first true indigenous and intelligent species, shouldn’t they be called Vitalians?”
Fiona shrugged. “A name’s a name. That’s as fitting as any other. The hybrids are just monstrous mutations between the spitter and human genomes. They’re all male, they can’t reproduce on their own. These Vitalians are like us, they have males and females.”
“You understand them? You choose to live among them and forsake your own?” Klous was incredulous, this didn’t sound like the Fiona he knew. Already his mind was spinning with the possibilities if things were as she said.
“I am their Queen. You’d do well to remember that,” Fiona snapped at him. “I stay with them because I have no other choice. I lead them, I teach them, and I protect them. Without me they’d run wild and savage, either overrunning the region or dying. They obey me, I am their mother. It’s more than biology. This is Vitalis and they understand I’m their matriarch.”
Klous fought to hide his grin from breaking through. This was better than he’d imagined! All he had to do was wrest control from Fiona and nothing could stop him. He loved Sasha as much as the air he breathed, but surely she’d be willing to increase the ranks of the firstborn by a few more to help them all survive.
“The six that I gave birth to have been busy. Two of them are already women pregnant with their own. You brought another girl, I see. That will help the gene pool, I suppose. I told them I won’t bear any more. Sasha, I see that look in Klous’s eye. Don’t you dare let him talk you into it. You’ve nursed them already?”
Sasha nodded.
“Then you know how sharp their teeth are, but don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. They’ll eat meat right away, but they’ll continue to nurse as long as you let them.” Fiona glanced down at her chest before continuing. “Too much of it and the body adapts to deal with it. It might look good on you, but it’s been a couple of weeks and the changes seem permanent for me. Besides them chewing your tits off, I bet the one that raped you did some damage.”
Sasha blushed and looked away, then she jerked her head up to look at Klous. “You wouldn’t let them…”
Klous held up his hands. “No! Never! What’s behind us is behind us, I want just us to be a family. No more violence or heartache.”
He glanced at Fiona and saw her eyes were narrowed as she looked at him. He knew the look, she wasn’t sure she believed him. She was right not to, but he had to convince her otherwise. If she wouldn’t then she wouldn’t. As Fiona had said, they could breed on their own now, it was only a matter of time. He looked back at Sasha, anxious to change the topic. “What did she mean, damage?”
Sasha blushed and looked away again. Fiona let out a humorless bark of a laugh. “Look at them, Klous. They’re packing sausage that makes Kira’s biggest spear look like a splinter!”
Klous let his eyes briefly slip the still kneeling hybrid beside him. He pulled his head away as though his eyes had been burned. Instead of his eyes he felt the fire in his cheeks. She was right, the hybrids did have the look of stallions. “If you hate them and what they’ve done to you, why didn’t you stop them? Why didn’t you kill them?”
“I was tied up in a cave,” Fiona spat out. She paused to take in a deep breath and glanced back at her offspring, then she turned back to face them. Her eyes went to Sasha, softening as they did so. “You were scared? Disgusted? I know, but I didn’t have the energy to do anything about it. I think it’s part of what they do to us. Vitalis changed me a lot, but this changed me more. My body changed to become a better mother. Somehow they got in my head too. As much as I tell myself I should hate them and want to destroy them, I can’t bring myself to feel that way. Not about my children, at least.” Fiona groaned. “I’ve never called them that before, not out loud. My children.” She shook looked away, but not before blinking rapidly to hide the tears. “This takes post-partum to a new level.”
Sasha set Nissa on the ground then stood up and went to hug Fiona. Fiona stiffened in her grip, then relaxed enough for Sasha to consider it a success and back away. “Klous wanted to kill them, but I wouldn’t let him. I know what you mean. There’s something inside of me that makes me want to protect them. It’s been almost a full day since they were born and it’s grown to be more than that. I care for them. We’ll teach them right and wrong. We have to.”
Kira nodded and offered her a flash of a smile. “The hybrids and firstborn—Vitalians— know to leave Treetown alone. They won’t attack a human, I’ve made sure of it.”
Klous looked at the hybrid beside him, understanding why it had helped them. He owed his life to Fiona. But if they wouldn’t attack humans he might have difficulties in the future once he had control of them. “How’d you manage that?”
“They obey me. Here there’s no disloyalty. No second guessing. They’re perfect soldiers. I agreed to stay with them and they agreed to heed my every word.” The steel returned to Fiona’s voice as she explained how the tribe functioned. “Now tell me how it could be that Kira’s dead?”
Klous sighed. “It’s complicated, and I don’t want you to blame me for it.”
Fiona snorted. “Then you shouldn’t have started it like that. Come, to the fire at least. You can eat and rest. Then maybe I’ll have you killed if I don’t like it.”
“What!” Klous stiffened. “You can’t kill us! You said they wouldn’t attack a human! We’re the only humans you’ve got out here!”
“I didn’t say they’d be the ones doing it. And don’t worry, I’d only kill you, I like Kelsey and even if I didn’t like Sasha the hybrids wouldn’t let me touch her. Especially now that she’s a mother.” Fiona turned away. “Now shut up, it gets cold up here in the mountains. We’ve been building huts, I’m sure we can find room for you.”
Klous looked up the hill behind her and nearly felt his knees give out. Stone and mud huts had been built, in many cases using common walls between them. The roofs were made of evergreen boughs. Fiona’s tribe had been busy!
Klous turned to look at Sasha. She glanced at Markus and Nissa, then her eyes went to his. She smiled, the first smile filled with hope that he’d seen in a couple of weeks from her. “I think we’ll be okay here,” she whispered.
Klous returned her smile, then climbed to his feet and helped her up. He needed to twist the story about Kira to insure his safety, then once they were accepted amongst this strange new tribe he could see about gaining real power. He might not be able to overrun Treetown as quickly as he’d hoped and gain access to the communications gear, but that was only a temporary setback.
Smiling, he turned and led his family into the light.
Chapter 12
The field of overwhelming whiteness faded into blurry shapes and colors. She smelled dirt, grass, and the pungent smell of human waste. Kira’s first attempt at a groan came out a dry rasp. She swallowed, rasping again at the pain in her throat, and blinked her eyes to clear them as she lay staring at distant wispy clouds overhead.
She could hear the wind blowing through the grass, rustling the tall green and brown stalks. She felt the warmth of the sun on her face and the coolness of the ground beneath her. She’d been laying for a while if the ground was cool. She tried again to move and managed to twist her head enough to see the ridge of mountains nearby. Their familiar shape reminded her where she was.
She gasped, the pain making her cough. That set off a fit of agony as she coughed and gagged. Able to take no more she clenched her stomach and forced herself to breathe shallow breaths. She’d ended up on her side during the agonizing fit, which proved to Kira that she could still move. Whatever had happened to her hadn’t left her paralyzed. Her stomach rumbled, suggesting she hadn’t eaten in days. In spite of that, food was the last thing on her mind.
She searched about, sitting up enough to see where she was. Her spear lay nearby, the shaft broken but the crystal still tied at the head of it. It lay dull and lifeless, much as she felt. Beyond it was the ruins of one of the shuttlecraft from the Marine frigate orbiting the planet. Seeing it brought back memories.
Klous and Ling. She found them, but not in time to save them from stumbling into a trap. She’d saved them, she remembered, but it hadn’t been easy. Nor had it been without sacrifice. She’d held the ground while they ran, fending off the spitters that came at her. She’d been bitten time and again, but only scratches and nicks, never a lethal wound.
Kira had no doubts as to her abilities, she could do things none of the other survivors had dreamed of. Only Tarn and Elsa were capable, but they needed training and an acceptance of Vitalis beyond what they u
nderstood. Even so, she’d fought well over a dozen spitters, some of their venomous spittle landing on her and others injecting it directly with their bites. They hadn’t killed her, so why was she here? Why was she still alive?
Her stomach lurched again.
Kira looked around, none of the fallen spitters remained. She saw stains on the ground, blood she was certain, but they were few and far between. She’d been building up a tolerance to the spitter venom, exposing herself a little at a time when opportunity allowed. It hadn’t been enough, but it had given her time enough to let Klous and Ling escape. She wanted to spit at the thought but realized her throat wouldn’t appreciate the effort. Those two deserved to die, even if humanities gene pool was scarce.
She crawled, not trusting her balance, over to where the broken head of her spear remained. It blossomed into a pinkish glow as her finger stroked along the surface. She smiled, the strange energy bringing a feeling of peace to her.
Kira’s stomach twisted again, this time making her gasp. She looked at it, noticing for the first time the dried blood on her abdomen. It wasn’t like the other blood on her body. Most of that had flaked away, but the pattern was different. She frowned, her mind digging back to remember what could have happened.
The memory of a smell overwhelmed her. It was the smell of the spitter queen’s room. Musk and far more organic smells. It reminded her of the time she’d walked in on Fiona and Jeremy, their small room reeking of their passion. Other memories returned, disjointed images that made little sense until she tried to put them together like a jigsaw puzzle. Even then many pieces were missing, but she understood at last why her stomach had a growing burn in it. She’d been impregnated by the spitter queen. She was a host.
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