Clutch

by JA Huss

  Then everything falls silent.

  I wait, panting so hard that I'm afraid I will begin to hyperventilate and I will Tier to call out for me to tell me that it is safe and I can come out.

  But he doesn't. Instead I hear the insane snarling of a nightdog and it grows in intensity as I realize it's charging towards me. I imagine the teeth that will tear into my body and squirm into the crevice as far as I can.

  The dog attacks and grabs my coat. I hear a great rip as the fabric gives way to the razor-sharp teeth and I remember my knife, tucked securely back in my boot after I dressed in the hot spring cavern. I am wedged tight between the rocks and have no way to reach it so I force myself to squeeze even further into the crevice, hoping that the end is near and it will open up into a passage that will lead me to the rock formations on the side of the wall, and ultimately to safety.

  The dog attacks again. This time it grabs my leg and I feel the skin lift up and off of my calf in a sickening squishy tear. I scream with all my breath and kick wildly where I think its face might be. After a few unsuccessful attempts I connect and the dog cries out and backs off. I suck in my stomach and squeeze my shoulder a little farther, praying to God that I'm not just making myself a nice trapped dinner meal for a pack of wild animals. My shoulder scrapes hard against the rock and even through the strong alien canvas coat I can feel the gash that opens in my skin, and then the warm spill of blood as it runs down my sleeve.

  The dog makes another attempt to eat me and lunges once again, but my shoulders break through the obstruction and half of my body is free. I fall down as my leg is grabbed by the snapping jaws beyond the slim crevice and I kick hard one more time to free myself. It lets go and I scramble to my feet, feel for the rock formations, and climb as fast as I can. I lose my grip on the calcium deposits slippery with trickling water, and the first dog makes its way into the small crevice where my legs were just seconds before. I regain my grip and climb again, and when I reach the top I fall over and choke as I inhale like I'm breathing water and not air.

  Both dogs are snapping below me now, but I get to my knees and begin to crawl back towards Tier. It takes me forever because I can't see anything and I'm afraid of falling down once I reach the edge. I hear some occasional snapping up ahead and for a moment my mind sees Tier being eaten alive. I push this gruesome thought aside and move faster and faster until I reach the edge.

  I see Tier's green glowing eyes stare up at me when I peek over the edge, and my heart sinks. The area is illuminated just enough for me to pick out the eye-shine surrounding him, and I count three sets all attacking and retreating, trying to overwhelm and take the upper hand. I slip the knife from my boot, stand up as far as I can without hitting my head on the sharp stalactite formations, and jump down on top of the raging animal that has taken hold of his arm, plunging the knife into its side.

  The wild dog bawls in pain as I twist the knife and puncture the lung, then remove it in one swift motion. It lets go of Tier's arm and I'm knocked down by his sudden freedom. In a moment we have reversed positions, he is up and I am down, and the remaining two dogs come in for another attack.

  One grabs Tier by his wing and I hear an anguished scream erupt from his throat that makes my skin crawl. His eyes burst with color that almost illuminates the entire passageway and I can finally get a good look at what we are facing. The scruffy mane of fur that lines the wild dog's throat protects the jugular from almost all attacks, the canine teeth are almost three inches long, and they possess the claw length and sharpness of a grizzly bear.

  The light isn't enough to inhibit their attacks, but it sure scares the hell out of me. The sheer size of them causes me to scoot backwards into the side of the jagged rocks of the corridor. Tier is breathing hard and circles around behind them so that his internal light source keeps my field of vision illuminated. "Stay put there, Junco." His breathing is labored but his voice is remarkably calm. "Don't do anything else, I got this."

  "Like hell you do!" I scream and then they are upon us. I hear the swoosh of wings and then another avian screech comes up from Tier's throat as his powerful talon reaches out and snatches the dog closest to him. His wings beat hard trying to give him lift to attack with both feet, but the confined space inhibits this move.

  I am fixated on his futile attempt to fly inside the corridor when the other dog attacks. My knife is still in my hand and I lunge forward to meet it halfway, trying to put it off balance. It knocks me backward and I feel another tear across my calf, then the sharp clang of the knife as it falls from my hand. The animal is on top of me before I can even process the events and it pulls back before striking at my throat.

  I block automatically to thwart the attack and its teeth pierce my left hand and rip. For a moment time stands still and I wonder if I still have all my fingers, and then Tier's light fades and the dog is upon me as I pass out.

  I come to, probably just seconds later because the dog is right next to me and Tier has it pinned down with one of his massive talons. Then I witness the second living creature beheaded by the powerful avian claws in as many days and I shut my eyes to the hot, sticky horror that spills out of the neck and splatters across my body.

  The cave goes silent.

  "Junco! Hey, ya OK?"

  I feel him pick me up but I'm either in shock or going blind because even though I know he is moving, my vision blurs in and out of focus. He carries me and we travel for several minutes, in which direction I have no idea because the world goes dark.

  Tier is peeling off my clothes as I try to object, but his fingers touch my lips and I remain silent. Soon after he lowers me into the hot spring water once again and I feel his wings cradle me into a deep, healing sleep.

  When I regain consciousness we are back in the central cavern and I am warm and dry. But I see the nightdog attacking me and I thrash around wildly and sit up. Tier bends down and gently takes my hands. "Yer OK, Junco. The dogs won't come this far into the light."

  I know that. They can barely tolerate the full moon, and this cavern is lit up like the Sun. But I can't shake the feeling of the attack and I try and take a deep breath but only succeed in coughing.

  "Do I still have fingers?" I finally gasp.

  He smiles but doesn't answer. "Tier," I sputter and cough again. "Am I OK?"

  "You're OK. Just relax." He pushes me back lies down next to me. "Just relax for a little longer, then we can talk about yer scorecard." His smile is gone but his attention makes me feel a little better.

  "Are you OK?"

  "Didn't I just tell ya to relax?"

  "I can't help it, I need to know."

  "We're both OK. Trust me, all right?"

  I want to believe him, but I don't. He must see this in my expression because he looks into my eyes, and the glimmer soothes and calms me as he begins to talk in a soft, sad, voice.

  "You'll never miss them, Junco. I promise ya, you'll never even know they're gone."

  And I try to say, I do trust you, Tier, but the weary darkness creeps in and overtakes all my conscious thoughts.

  Chapter Eleven

  I sleep until I wake, and I have no idea what day or time it is, or how long I've been tucked away in this cave, but I have an urgent need to crawl out and become one of the living again.

  I wait to hear Tier's admonishing voice, but then realize I am alone. Just getting uncovered from the blankets wipes out most of my energy, but I force myself to sit up and look around. I spy some water bottles near the bank of com devices Tier has displayed on a makeshift shelf.

  I pad over there in my socks and gulp a full bottle down in seconds, then reach for another. When I've had my fill I look down at my bandages and almost retch it back up. The skin wrap is high-quality and stretched tight over my hand and between my fingers so I can see the outline of what's left. Most of my pinky and ring fingers on my left hand are just gone. I wonder if the nightdog ate them or left them on the floor of the cave.

  The devices on the shelf sudden
ly come alive with light and then I hear words in a language I don't understand fill the cavern. "Tier," I call, just in case he's nearby, but get no response. I stand up on my tiptoes to get a better look at the coms. They are little rectangle cards with smooth data displays. They show a map, much like the one I saw on that first day with Tier, and I wonder if they are trackers. Does the little beeping sound mean they've found us? I recall Tier's words a few days ago, that these people who were tracking him weren't his people. I pick one up and watch the little blinking light and listen to the foreign language. To my surprise, I can pick out a few intelligible words.

  Then the talking stops and the device in my hand goes quiet, just as another one blinks and beeps, then settles back to sleep. Getting woozy standing there, I grab them all and take them over to the sleeping bag and drop them into the soft tumble of blankets. I look at them, one by one, but now they are all silent and the blinking has stopped. The one that was speaking is definitely alien tech, because I don't recognize the language. I pick that one up and tap it in various places on the screen, but it doesn't respond.

  There are about five others that appear to be Mountain Republic standard issue. He must have taken these off soldiers that he killed over the past few days. This brings up ugly memories that I wish I could forget. It's difficult to merge the two versions of Tier: one as alien out to kill everybody and the other as the kind guy with wings who washes my hair and tells me stories.

  All of the MR devices have a transparent "out of range" warning splashed across their screens except one. And this one does look like a tracker. I don't dare touch it, in case it activates our location. I stop cold when I realize that I just grouped Tier and me into us and the MR soldiers into them.

  If Aren had still been alive would I still feel this way?

  I don't have time to answer because Tier swoops into the cavern and lands next to the sleeping bag. His eyes are wild as he sees me holding the MR tech. "What did ya do?" he demands.

  "Nothing, here," I say as I hand it over.

  "Did ya touch it?"

  I shake my head.

  "Tell me exactly what happened."

  "It flashed and beeped. That's it." I wait for his eyes to say he believes me, but I'm a little put back when I don't find the trust. "That one," I say, pointing to the avian device, "was talking."

  He plucks it off the blanket and looks at it in earnest. "Tell me what it said, Junco."

  I'm almost ready to tell him I don't know, but I realize that I do. "It gave positioning coordinates for a pick-up window. I didn't catch it all, that's all I know."

  "Was it in English then?" he asks, even though we both know damn well it was not in English.

  I shake my head.

  "Then how do ya know what it said?"

  I shrug. "I have no idea," I say as a long heavy sigh erupts. But he smiles, apparently happy about this development.

  "You know because it's imprinted inside of ya. The language and culture of the avians. Just being around us draws it out."

  "Is that good?"

  "Better than the alternative."

  I'm afraid to ask, but I do anyway. "What's the alternative?"

  He doesn't answer, just stoops over to pick up the coms and carries them back to where they should have been on the wall.

  "Did ya try and read the letter, then?"

  I'm about to say what letter when I spy the crumpled piece of paper I tossed aside before leaving the tunnel. I look up at Tier, but he's no longer interested in our conversation, so I crawl off the sleeping bag and reach out for the ball of paper with my good hand, and begin to peel it open and smooth it out.

  The writing is thick and decorative. I'm not sure if all their writing is this way, or Tier just has stunning penmanship, but I am impressed by how beautiful it looks to my amateur eye. I study each line, willing myself to understand, but I get all the way to the end of the full page document before anything clicks. It's my name, but not in English, so that's some progress. I stare at the lines that spell out Junco and I am in love with how it looks on paper. And written by Tier.

  "Translate it to me, please!"

  "That would defeat the purpose of the letter, Junco," he answers under his breath.

  "What's that supposed to mean?" But he ignores me and goes back to inputting something into one of the devices.

  I take another look at the writing and find that Tier's name also stands out to me as intelligible in the markings at the end, like a signature. My mind goes directly to the absurd and I wonder if it could be a love letter. I blush at my thoughts and glance up to see if Tier is looking at me, but he's not even close to being interested.

  No, it's probably not anything like that since he wrote it before all the hot springs stuff happened.

  My mind swings to the polar opposite: what if it explains things I don't want to know? This strikes me as the more real possibility.

  I smooth the letter out a little more, then fold it neatly into quarters and search out a pocket in my alien canvas pants, and slip it inside. That's when it hits me. "Shit! The papers." It comes out louder than I expected and Tier glances over with a quizzical look on his face.

  "Everything OK?" he asks.

  I'm not sure, really, so I hesitate. I never opened the envelope. I was just taking it to Dale. Old Ben Wassing pushed it into my hands as I was rushing out of the funeral that day I hit the deer. He mumbled something about the estate and Dale. Then winked at me like a dirty old man and said it was private.

  Which to me translates to secret.

  "Hello?" Tier asks. This time he's got a look on his face and is starting to get up.

  "My horses," I finally blurt out, not wanting to share something I'm not quite sure about just now. "My horses are alone back at the farm."

  "Should I care what this means?"

  His attitude ticks me off and I'm not in the mood to talk anyway. "Forget it."

  Instead of going back to his business, he comes over to me instead. "Yer papers and yer horses? I don't see the connection."

  Apparently someone hears everything, regardless of how he answers you. "Nothing, just some documents my father left for Dale. I really was just driving them out to him that day, ya know."

  He winces his disagreement. "And the horses?"

  I shrug. "Our barn manager, Michael, quit several months ago, so no one's taking care of them because I picked up the slack."

  Tier looks away then, and I am just about to turn as well when he says, "I don't mean to be harsh, Junco, but yer not going to need to worry about yer horses anymore."

  His directness stuns me. "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, irritated at how little my life means to him.

  "There are no horses in space, darlin'."

  The whole situation hits me then, and even though I knew his objective was to take me somewhere the idea of leaving Earth never even entered my mind. I am stunned silent. And then he walks back over to his tech devices as I stand up, furious. "You're going to take me off the planet?" Just uttering the words makes me feel absurd.

  He stops and turns and the look on his face tells me everything I need to know, but the words that come out in his thick accent bite just the same. "Junco, I'm a soldier and I have a mission. So, yes. I will be ripping ya from yer little horse, yer flying acrobatic tricks, and yer quaint little Council. You can huff all ya want over there," he continues, "but the simple truth is that yer imaginary life as a Farm Family daughter who lives in Council 3 of the Rural Republic, in the United Republics of Earth – is now over. The sooner ya accept that, the easier it will all be from here on out."

  "You don't even know if I'm one of you. I'm not avian and I'm not leaving Earth."

  "Everything has a consequence, Junco. Just remember that."

  I slump back down on the sleeping bag and turn away from him. He seems satisfied with the outcome of his sharp words because I hear his footsteps as they cross the cavern to where his previous business is waiting.

  But if he thi
nks I will just fall into his clutches without a fight and leave my whole life behind, he will make the same mistake Cole did. Underestimate me at your own risk, birdman.

  Chapter Twelve

  Picture yourself standing on the edge of a dock...

  I'm not fucking standing on that piece of shit dock!

  In front of you is a mountain lake...

  I'm in a cave–

  ... and behind you is a small cabin...

  Not.

  ... pristine white curtains flowing in the breeze passing through the windows...

  Going.

  ... Down below the water you can see the scales of brightly colored fish reflecting the sunlight...

  Back.

  My dreams are unsettled as I sleep away my anger. In this one I am a small child and we are somewhere far away, skiing in the mountains, but not our mountains, or even the mountains of the MR because we never ski there. I'm too little to know where exactly, but I sense the people are different. I am fixing a wrinkle in my sock that is making my ski boot uncomfortable and then the three of us head off to the lifts. The dream surges ahead, and we are back down at the bottom of the mountain, on the side of a road. My breath is labored and has the stench of vomit. I feel like I will pass out. My parents are arguing and all the air rushes out of my body as I fall to the ground. They both run over, and my father is still angry. My mother pushes him and lifts me up and slips me into a large silver car. She stays angry, and they continue to argue. We end up in a cabin and then the police come and my mother is taken away and I never see her again.

  I wake to the sound of Tier's voice whispering across my cheek and I put the wall up immediately to stop the gentle charm. My eyes remain closed, my breathing deep, and my body motionless. If he suspects my ruse, he doesn't show it, and I let the words he spoke sink in.

  More orders.

  I am inclined to stay put, as he so eloquently phrased it, but not because he told me to. Leaving the safety and light of the cavern isn't even close to being on my agenda. Teaching myself to read avian and snooping around in his personal stuff, is.