by Elin Wyn
After an interminable silence, once again footsteps strode down our hall. Not the heavy boots of guards. Mack stilled at my touch and I studied our makeshift mirrors, waiting to see who would be revealed. But his voice gave it away.
“Void, I hope that animal tore you to pieces, you bitch. Stanton said it would all be handled, but now it’s all falling apart.”
Valsi staggered into the room. In the watery reflection, I could see his clothes were torn, hair stood on all ends around his face. As he spun through the room, he stumbled over the body of one of his guards.
“Dammit,” he whimpered. “There's nothing left, I can't even get back to the Compound.”
The Compound. Stanton had mentioned that. Which meant Valsi had information I wanted.
I stretched to reach Mack’s ear, barely moving my lips, trusting he'd be able to hear me. But would he do as I asked? That would be another story.
“Can you wound him? Stop him without killing?”
Tucked against Mack’s side, I couldn't see him roll his eyes, but felt the snort echo in his chest.
Just then, Valsi must have caught a glimpse of our reflections. He spun towards the overturned bed, reaching for a weapon, but it didn't matter.
Mack vaulted over the frame, swung him over his shoulders and then threw him against the wall, where he slid down to lie with the corpses of his guards.
I crept out from the hiding place to stand behind Mack.
Valsi still breathed, but he wasn't going anywhere. Mack’s breathing was ragged, his eyes fixed on the limp body. “Should've killed him.”
I remembered his grip on my neck, the sharp sting of the needle.
“I know. But we might need him. And we owe Granny a favor.”
I tied Valsi up under Mack’s watchful gaze and we returned to our corner behind the screen of the bed.
My nerves frayed in the silence. Despite Valsi’s panic, what if Granny Z didn't win? Would someone come looking for the governor, find us? I glanced at Mack.
For the sake of everyone involved, I hoped not.
“Children? You still in there?”
I shot to my feet ,despite Mack’s grip on my arm.
“They’re friends. I promise.” He stepped in front of me.
The recent wounds on his back had already started healing, but still, I was careful where I put my hands.
“Trust me.”
First to appear were a man and woman, faces half covered with red cloth, their eyes grim as they scanned the carnage inside. They stepped aside to let her through.
Granny had changed her long skirts for heavy boots and pants full of pockets, a bandolier of knives crossed over her chest and her gray hair braided into a crown around her head.
“Told you I'd come back.”
Then she saw Valsi on the floor, struggling against his bonds. Emotion flickered on her face, and then doors of steel closed over her face.
“Well. Answers that question. Think your friends up on Minor would like a new farmhand?”
Before we could answer, Valsi rolled over, one of the blasters from the dead guards clenched in his bound hands, aimed straight at his grandmother’s chest.
“You old bitch. You never let me-”
Mack’s shot cut off the rest of his tirade.
I stood closer to Mack, desperately hoping her soldiers would understand he didn't have a choice.
No one spoke.
Though Granny’s eyes were bright with unshed tears, her voice was hard, resigned.
“Maybe it's for the best.” She turned to address one of the men behind her. “You! Get in here. One of our own could use a little more covering.”
I glanced down at the soiled and torn scrap of gown that remained on me, and winced.
A tall man came into the room, stripping off a coat that on me would be nearly a dress. “Here you are, ma'am.” He reached to hand it to me and Max growled, raising his weapon.
“No!” I slid in front of Mack, waiting for him to see me, only me.
Showing great intelligence, the man froze. Granny took the coat from the man's hand and pushed him behind her.
“I'm just going to put this on the floor here.”
I darted out, slipped it on, grateful to have my behind covered.
Mack slowly lowered the weapon as I returned to his side.
“He’s not usually this bad. They did something to him.”
Granny shook her head. “I know. It’s been a hard few days for all of us.” Her eyes drifted to Valsi’s body, and I thought about that happy family in the holo. “We’ll see you out there. I’ve got a station to put back together.”
Soon enough, her team left the room. “Are they gone?” I asked “Are you alright?”
Mack nodded. “No one’s left.” He took a shuddering breath. “I’ve got a hold of it, for now at least.”
“Then let's go.”
I twined my fingers with his and we walked out into a new world, both for the station and for us.
Mack
The four of us sat in a deserted open square, steaming bowls of noodles balanced precariously on a rickety table someone had set up and abandoned long ago.
Jado and Ardelle had come down on the first shuttle available after Granny’s comm man sent a message up, leaving Minor for Malik to deal with for the day.
There had been hugs all around, and I only growled a little bit when Jado touched Zayda.
Zayda raised an eyebrow, and I rubbed the back of my neck.
“Sorry, still a little messed up.”
That was an understatement. The fire still burned in my veins, but, so far, I’d kept a handle on it. I still didn’t like Zayda to be further than I could reach. She’d drawn the line at the privacy booth.
But I hadn’t tried to kill anyone today, hadn’t gotten entirely lost in the madness, and, in theory, that was progress.
I remembered people at least. Granny, Jado, Ardelle, even the blonde woman we’d rescued from the Hunters. Mixed in were memories from before, some faces, a few names from the past.
Slowly it was all returning.
And when it was back?
The future still gaped black and unknown before me.
“So, all this time you were some sort of spy?” Ardelle shook her head.
“I thought I was.” Sadness crossed Zayda’s face, and I squeezed her hand, wrapped in thoughts she wouldn’t approve of.
Killing Stanton wouldn’t be because of the drug.
“But I have a mission of my own now.” She rubbed her shoulder against mine.
Jado and Ardelle went on about their plans for the station. Well, Ardelle talked, and Jado nodded.
Zayda would tell me anything I needed to know later. Now, something hung in the air, just out of range.
Something dangerous.
“...regular shuttles. Granny asked if we’d give her a hand. There may be a bit of reshuffling, but I think most people won’t care who’s in charge, now that the decks are safe again at night.”
I pushed away from the table, noodles forgotten, focused on a couple entering the park. A dark-haired man and a woman with copper skin. He towered over her, and something in his movements made my fingers reach for a weapon.
Jado came beside me. “Trouble?”
“I don’t know.”
“Killian?” The man’s face danced on the edge of memory, but nothing solid came. “They said one of us was here, but I didn’t believe them.”
“Sorry, you’ve got the wrong guy.”
He stepped towards us, towards Zayda, and I fell into a defensive position. The stranger halted, took a posture that mirrored mine.
Jado studied the stranger, then me, and back again. “Mack, you sure you don’t know this man?”
The gentle touch at the small of my back sparked a growl of frustration. “Zayda, stay behind me.”
“Mack, I want to talk to the woman. And I can’t do it through you.”
She stepped to my side, and I was blackly amused to
see the same exasperation on the stranger’s face when his companion did the same.
“Davien, leave it alone. Seriously.” The woman ran her hand through her short, chopped hair, rolling her eyes. “I’m Kara. I get the feeling we need to have a long talk.”
Zayda contemplated her and the man without answering for long moments, fingers tapping. “What do you think we should discuss?”
“The Daedalus.”
THE END
Preview of Freed by the Wolf
Ronan
Two Hunters on patrol passed below me.
My lip twisted in a snarl but Erich shrugged as if to ask ‘what did I expect?’
He was right. Hunters weren't the brightest things out there, but either they or their handler had some basic survival instincts.
I’d been picking off every lone straggler I found on the ship for… well, not sure how long. But someone finally wised up, had them running patrols in pairs.
Fine.
Two at once would just make the job faster.
I dropped from the shadowed beam over the passage to the lower cargo bay, my feet hitting the deck plates with only a whisper of a sound.
Erich was right by me, silent as always.
I tightened my grip on the long, narrow wicked blade in my hand and plunged it between the shoulder blades of the Hunter to the left.
The first one fell with an earsplitting screech as I severed the cords and cables that passed for a spine.
Unfortunately, that gave its companion plenty of warning.
Without a glance down for its companion it swung at me. I rolled back, swearing. Darkness, I wished I’d found a blaster, a needle gun, something on the damn ship.
But in all the time I’d spent killing the bastards, I hadn’t found any real weapons. That was alright. I kinda liked ripping them apart, the way they’d done to us.
When I stood up from the wreckage I checked over the bodies again, tearing open their plated armor, exposing the tangle of flesh and wiring below.
Still nothing I could use.
I straightened, wincing a little.
Not smart, but excellent combat drones. I’d give them that. I took a deep breath, and stopped myself at the stab of pain at my side.
Bastard had cracked a couple of ribs. And from the dull ache radiating through my arm probably did a number on my shoulder, too.
Erich fell into step with me as I headed back towards my hideout. “You can't keep doing this, Ronan, not without medical care, not on those crappy rations.”
I grunted, but couldn’t argue, just rubbed the long, raw scar across my throat.
I healed fast, we all did. But even Wolves needed some down time between missions. Here it was just one long fight.
“At least stop by their lab, see if there's anything you recognize, can scavenge.”
Erich was right. Erich was always right. It was one of his annoying traits these days.
I changed directions, loping through the empty halls. Hunters had their routines, and I had them mostly mapped out by now. I’d caught the last two on their way to a part of the ship I hadn’t been able to gain access to. Yet.
Which meant the lab was unguarded.
I stopped at the door, bracing to go in.
Not much bothered me, certainly not anymore, but this room of people strapped to beds, sliced and poked and prodded, shook something at my core.
I looked at each still form as I walked through, teeth bared at the stink of sweat and pain and adrenaline.
“You should help them.” Erich stood at the foot of a bed holding a middle aged man, right arm removed at the shoulder. Drip lines of Void knew what ran into his chest.
“Not a doctor,” I muttered. “I’d probably kill them just getting them out.” And there was nowhere to take them. My fist clenched around the knife handle. The only thing I could give them was a quick end. Maybe that would be enough, but I didn’t know. Couldn’t judge.
Only six in the beds now. The remaining two lay empty, ready for new patients.
I rummaged through the cabinets, looking for anything that would ease either my pain or theirs, but it was all labeled with strings of numbers. No telling toxin from treatment.
A tube of wound sealant was the only useful find. Grabbing it, I turned, more than ready to get out of the creep show.
And my gaze was riveted by a wide pair of green eyes, staring at me from a cage pushed to the back of the room.
A woman, long pale hair tangled and matted, crouched inside.
“Help me.”
Aurin
Once upon a time a tall, bearded wild man with a tangle of dark hair and jagged tattoos spiraling over half his chest would have scared me.
Once upon a time, back in my safe little world at the capitol, I would have crossed to another glide, stayed out of his way, never met his eyes.
Once upon a time was a long time ago.
“Please,” I whispered, and he frowned, as if confused that anything in it this hellish place was still alive. “They'll come for us soon. I've seen how they work.”
He glanced for me to one of the empty beds and his jaw tightened.
He knew.
The next time those faceless things in black came, they’d drag me out, strap me to the newly emptied bed.
I glanced down at the thin woman behind me, burning up with fever. They’d do the same to her, she just wouldn’t last as long.
I waited. The giant knew what happened here. If that wasn't enough to get him to save us, nothing I said would matter.
He glanced at the corners of the lab, shiny black half-domes mounted in each vertex. The panels around them lit and blinked during the experiments. I'd wondered if they were cameras, but at the time it didn't matter.
The man reached for the door of the cage and frowned, his eyes looking behind me to Loree's still body.
“You have to help us both. She needs me.” She was my patient. Which might sound ludicrous here, but it was all I had to hold on to anymore.
With a twist of his hand the lock on the cage door crumpled.
I reached for Loree to pull her out with me, and winced. Her clammy skin was dull, and she no longer responded to my touch.
“Move.” The word was a low rumble, and I flinched, eyes wide.
Our rescuer stood there, waiting for me to get out of his way.
Come on, Aurin, you don't have any other choices. I stepped back and watched as he reached through the door and eased Loree out and into his arms with surprising gentleness.
He stood, bearing her weight on his left arm, her head and arms over his shoulder like a sleepy child, and headed toward the door.
“Wait, what about the others?”
I glanced back at six remaining patients. Patient wasn't the right word. Victims. Sacrifices to some angry god of pain.
He disappeared with Loree, and I knew he was right. There was nothing I could do for them now.
“I'll be back,” I whispered, tears stinging my eyes. And then I followed the stranger into the dark corridor door.
At first I couldn't find him in the dark hall, my eyes too used to the bright lights of the lab. I strained my ears, but heard nothing.
Fine. Left or right. Right?
Turning sharply, I kept my hand trailing against the right side wall of the corridor.
Instead of the cold metal plating I’d imagined, soft fabric ran under my fingers, interrupted in places. Any other time, I’d have stopped, curious to explore the mystery. Now I just wanted to put as much distance between me and the horror as possible.
My heartbeat pounded in my ears. Shouldn’t I be able to see the man and Loree ahead of me by now?
Two, three more tentative steps, then a warm hand engulfed my upper arm.
“No. This way.” He tugged me along and as we moved through the empty halls. Tiny lights flickered by our feet as we went and I began to make out some details of our surroundings.
Rich red fabric upholstered the walls, but it was ri
pped and stained, the pattern faded. I squinted at it as we passed, a distant memory tickled.
“Where are we?”
“Base.”
Right then. Not long on conversation. As long as he could get us to safety, I didn’t care.
Before long, a hatch blocked the corridor, lights flashing red and yellow around the seal.
“What are you doing?” I pulled back, but there was nowhere else to go. “There’s no atmosphere beyond there!”
Every child raised on a station knew that pattern, every passenger on every ship throughout the Empire was taught it.
Hull breach. Unsurvivable.
He muttered something, then sat Loree on the deck, leaning against the wall. I rushed to her, but she was the same: burning hot, unresponsive.
“Why would you save us from the cage to take us here?”
He grunted, massive arms bulging as he wrenched the wheel of the manual release.
Even as I flung myself over Loree, I knew it was pointless. There wasn’t anything to hang onto, and after the cage, I wasn’t strong enough anyway.
But the rush of vacuum didn’t rip through the hall. Not a flutter.
Rolling off of Loree I sat, blinking. The man stood above us, and through the sliver of open hatch I could see a perfectly safe looking hallway, just like the one we’d been in.
“Coming?”
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