The Arliss

by Ann Bakshis

  “That sounds plausible,” Haron says with a slight smile.

  A plan starts to formulate in my head, which takes my mind away from the throbbing pain in my shoulder and fingers.

  “Do you want to know the real reason Cody agreed to help the Arliss?” Haron asks after some silence. “He wanted revenge, particularly on anyone descended from a Comhar, which included you by the way.”

  “He was planning on killing me?”

  She nods. “He was going to do to Rinku what Tennison did to Virtus, but Demos was his first target. As soon as the city fell, the compound was next. I heard him and the Arliss discussing it while Cody was determining if he wanted to agree to the Arliss’ terms or not.”

  “I can’t believe it,” I mutter, stunned. “I thought Cody and I were friends. Has he always harbored these feelings towards me?”

  “From what it sounded like to me, yes. He was just waiting for the appropriate time to unleash his wrath.”

  “No wonder the Arliss was happy when Cody followed me. He’d finally found the perfect person to manipulate into relinquishing their soul,” I say.

  Not another word is said between us. When the Arliss returns he’s dressed in Cody’s clothes, with the guns strapped to each thigh.

  “Where’d you get those?” I ask as I stand.

  “I took them from your clothes before you went to sleep,” he says.

  “Give them to me. Cody can’t be wearing them when we return. He had them taken away by Grimm because he was acting unstable.”

  The Arliss doesn’t argue and hands me the weapons, which I slip around my legs.

  “Some ground rules we need to go over before leaving,” the Arliss says. “First and foremost, you have to refer to me as Cody since I’m in the kid’s body. Second, I won’t be able to communicate with you telepathically like I have been. That power is only permitted in the plateau, but I will be staying as close to you as possible, so you don’t fuck this up. And third, you tell Keegan or anyone else about me and your whole world perishes, understand? Being up there is a luxury for me, not a necessity.”

  “What about my fingers and shoulder?” I ask.

  “They’ll restore themselves once we’re back in your world. But your bullet wounds will be bleeding, so you’d better hope whoever finds us can give you quick medical attention.”

  “Are you forgetting the wound Cody has in his torso? You’ll also be bleeding when we get back, and a hell of a lot more than I will be.”

  “True, but the injury to Cody’s body isn’t fatal as long as I’m inside him, so I’m not too worried.”

  “What about his memories? Did you retain those?”

  “Yes… all of them,” he says with a devilish smile. “You’re going to have so much fun when you get home. You’ll wish for me to have intervened in your life sooner. Poor Keegan doesn’t know what he’s in for.”

  “Speaking of which, who made the request for you to turn me?”

  “Someone who loves you very much,” he says, taking my good hand and pulling me into the lake with him.

  “Who?” I ask as I struggle to free myself.

  The Arliss pulls me along as the floor of the lake slips away, and we’re forced to swim to an island that rises before us. When we get closer, I notice the small landmass is made up of black lava rocks that resemble shards of glass. I get slightly cut up when the Arliss pulls me out of the water and directs me to a hole in the center of the island. Nothing but darkness fills the void and it’s now that I remember this is the way back. A pit with no bottom and no air, so I’ll be unconscious when my body makes the transition between the two worlds. The Arliss pushes me in front of him, places his hands on my back, and before he sends me off the edge he whispers the name of my betrayer.

  “Wavern.”

  Eleven

  Wavern? No! It can’t be! The Arliss has to be lying, but what would be the point in doing that now? He’s already gotten what he wants, so withholding or falsifying information now would be meaningless. Wavern is the one who saved me from the abandonment home, he’s guided my life for the past eight years, and he treats me like a daughter, so how could he do this to me? And why? My thoughts cease as the air from my lungs is fully expelled and I lose all perception of time and surroundings.

  I regain my senses when my head hits the water that sits below the control center in Virtus. How much time has passed? A minute? Maybe longer? I remember everything that transpired in the plateau, so time feels odd to me. My brain is having difficulty realizing that in my world I just hit my head on the concrete shelf perhaps only a few minutes ago, while my body knows I’ve been away for more than a day.

  “Grab her!” someone above me shouts.

  A pair of strong hands pulls me from the water and up onto the ledge above. I wince from my wounds.

  “What the hell?” Grimm utters when he notices I’m bleeding from my right shoulder and arm. “Jules, toss me another med kit.”

  “Okay,” Jules calls down from his perch in the control center. He disappears for a few moments and tosses a pack down to Grimm when he returns.

  Grimm rips my shirt at the shoulder and begins applying pressure to stem the bleeding. I involuntarily cry out in pain and begin to shiver from the cold, so Jules drops a blanket down and I try to wrap it around myself as best I can.

  “Where’s Cody?” I ask as Grimm switches out bandages.

  “He’s on his way back to Rinku,” Grimm says. “He’s lost a lot of blood, but we were able to stabilize him enough to be moved. Did you shoot him?”

  “Are you fucking serious?” I yell as a spasm of pain radiates down my arm. “Of course not.”

  “Then who did, Sara?” Grimm asks as he tapes gauze over the wound and moves onto the one in my arm. “You’re the only one who had weapons.”

  My eyes look down to search the water, praying for Tennison’s body to surface. It’s now I realize that the compound is a lot brighter than when I left it. Lanterns sit at various corners of the control center, giving off so much light it looks like the sun is shining.

  “Answer me, Sara!” Grimm shouts.

  “Him,” I say, pointing to Tennison’s arm sticking out of the water between two metal rods. “He shot me as well, in case you care.”

  Grimm reaches for the arm, pulls it free, then drags the body towards us. “I don’t believe it,” Grimm says, his mouth hanging open as Tennison’s one good eye stares blindly back at us. “Jules, get more people; we’ve got a body.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” Jules grumbles. “I’ll be right back.” He disappears from sight.

  “Why did you come in here?” Grimm asks, wrapping up my arm.

  “I was chasing Cody, who was following Tennison, and we wound up here,” I say, pulling the blanket tighter.

  “We all thought Tennison died in the explosion. The last anyone saw of him, he was heading down to the life support level,” Grimm says, cleaning up his mess then helping me to my feet.

  “Are you still going to tell me you believe the detonation originated from the hydroponics bay?” I ask sarcastically as he slips the med kit into his pack.

  “No,” he replies. “Can you climb?”

  “I can try,” I say as Grimm slips the pack onto his back and reaches for a rope that’s dangling against the splintered walls.

  I wrap it around my left wrist and use my feet to navigate the ruins while pulling myself up. Grimm helps me when he can, and when we reach the control center I’m exhausted. He has me sit down so I can catch my breath before we continue.

  “How did you find us?” I ask, my lungs screaming for air.

  “Someone from my squad spotted you heading down the tunnel when they knew you were supposed to be on the city’s plaza, so they came and got me. I was just entering the city when Wavern was leaving it. I wanted to double check before I sent a search party out for the two of you. He confirmed to me that you’d left, so we hopped into a couple of four-seater ATVs, grabbed Jules, and
came down here.”

  “Why just Jules?”

  “I didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention and if I took more people there would be questions.”

  “How did you know to come to the control center?”

  “We heard the gunshots, so Jules and Wavern grabbed some lanterns while I ran ahead. I couldn’t see anything until they got to me and that’s when I saw Cody floating face down in the water and you struggling to surface underneath him. When I reached Cody, you went under. I was about to jump in after you when you came back up.”

  “Where’s Wavern now?” I ask, getting back to my feet.

  “He’s driving Cody back to Rinku. He looked pretty upset, but he refused to let anyone else drive the kid to the compound.”

  He knows. Wavern knows the Arliss is now in Cody.

  Jules returns just as we’re leaving the control center, accompanied by a half-dozen soldiers from Squad Eight. Grimm directs them to the body and then helps me down the tunnel towards the garage. When we reach the fork, Keegan is standing there. He reaches out to me and pulls me into his arms, which causes me to wince since he hasn’t noticed my injuries.

  “Thank God you’re all right. This never would’ve happened if she was still on Wavern’s squad,” he says, squeezing me.

  I holler in agony.

  “If you call getting shot all right then, yeah, she’s fine,” Grimm says as he shoves Keegan off me and reexamines the bandages.

  “How the hell did that happen?” Keegan demands, pushing Grimm away and taking over the examination.

  “Tennison,” I mumble, starting to feel lightheaded. “Can we please have this argument somewhere else? I don’t feel so well.”

  Keegan picks me up and carries me to the tunnel outside the garage. He places me in the seat beside him and presses down on the accelerator, leaving Grimm shouting obscenities at him as we leave him behind.

  The drive back to the Rinku garage is a blur as I drift in and out of consciousness. Keegan radios ahead to have a medical team ready when we reach the compound, but I’m not sure if anyone hears him since he doesn’t get a response. They’re probably too busy preparing for Cody’s arrival.

  “I need to talk to Wavern,” I mumble as we continue down the road.

  “Sure, babe, whatever you need,” Keegan says soothingly. “We’re almost there, just hang on a few more minutes.”

  Words want to fumble out of my mouth, ones that’ll only cause me trouble, so it takes what little strength I have left to try to prevent their escape.

  I wince as the vehicle bounces as it enters the garage. Since there isn’t anyone waiting for us, Keegan directs the ATV into the tunnel leading to the compound. Luckily we fit, with some room to spare. He turns left when we reach the intersection and nearly takes out a couple of display screens. He slams on the brakes when we hit the entrance to the medical ward, but again there’s no one to greet us. He jumps out of the vehicle and begins shouting. Wavern steps out of an isolation room by the dividing wall and orders Keegan to keep his voice down.

  “But Sara needs help! She’s been shot!”

  “Put her in the first isolation room,” Wavern says.

  Keegan picks me up and plops me onto the same bed I occupied only a few days ago. Brea, the other nurse for the compound, comes in to check my wounds. She has Keegan help me out of my wet clothes and into dry ones, hooks an IV into my left arm, and begins dosing me with antibiotics to kill any possible infection I may have contracted from being in the filthy water. She apparently also gave me a dose of some kind of sleeping agent, because I’m having a hard time keeping my eyes open even with my strength returning. When I’m finally able to focus on the room around me again, Keegan is sitting beside my bed, his hand holding mine, and his head resting on the top of my blankets as he softly snores. My wounds have been cleaned, stitched, and wrapped in gauze. I glance around the room and catch Wavern standing at the foot of my bed, staring at me.

  “What do you want?” I ask coldly.

  “I just came to see how you were doing,” he replies.

  “Get out of my sight,” I say, clenching my teeth.

  “Let me explain,” he begins as he steps around the bed.

  “There’s nothing to explain. Get the fuck away from me before I kill you.”

  “Sara, you need to know why,” he protests.

  I reach over Keegan’s body, grab one of his guns, and aim it at Wavern. “Do you know what he did to me?” I ask, both my voice and body shaking. “He turned me into one of his slaves, Wavern. Is that what you really wanted him to do to me? To torture and rape me?” Tears flow down my cheeks, blurring my vision, but I don’t relax my hold on the gun.

  “I…I just wanted you to live,” Wavern mumbles.

  “I was never going to die until…” I lose my voice.

  If Wavern hadn’t made the request of the Arliss, I would’ve remained a victim of Andra’s nuke. But the Arliss would still be in the Fomorian Plateau and not parading around as Cody.

  “You mean the world to me, Sara,” Wavern says, pulling me out of my head. “I couldn’t live with myself if anything bad happened to you. You deserve immortality… you’ve earned it.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” I ask a little too loudly, and Keegan wakes up.

  His eyes grow wide when he spots the weapon in my hand, but surprisingly he doesn’t force me to lower it.

  “What’s going on?” Keegan asks, pushing his chair away from the bed slightly.

  “Sara and I were just talking,” Wavern says. “She’s still a little groggy from the anesthesia.”

  I aim the gun a few inches above his head and fire off a round. “Does that make it seem like I’m groggy?” I ask angrily.

  Nex and Macom rush into the room as Keegan wrests the gun away from me. Wavern looks terrified by what I’ve just done. I don’t think he was expecting that kind of reaction from me.

  “Keegan go secure your weapons with Squad Five,” Nex orders. “Wavern, leave. You’re not her squad leader any longer, so, technically, you shouldn’t even be in her room.”

  Both men hesitate, but Nex threatens to report them both to Andra if they don’t do as she commands. Macom retreats to the hallway just outside my door.

  “I want to see Cody,” I demand.

  “You can’t,” she says, remaining at the foot of my bed. “He’s in a coma and is fighting for his life right now.”

  “What?” I ask, puzzled but also slightly thrilled.

  “He caught some sort of infection from the water you two were swimming in. His body is putting up one hell of a fight against whatever parasite is trying to take over. It’ll be some time before he wakes up, if he does at all.”

  I want to smile, to laugh, but I’d never leave isolation since Nex would think I’d lost my mind, especially after shooting at Wavern. If Cody can keep struggling to stay alive, then it might give me an opportunity to find that portal into the plateau and destroy it and the stone, preventing the Arliss from ever returning.

  And maybe take Keegan, too.

  “Now that you’re finally awake, I’ll be releasing you to your quarters, so you can get some proper rest,” Nex says.

  “What day is it?”

  “The memorial was yesterday. You’ve been out for almost twenty-four hours,” she responds, then summons Macom back into the room. “Go over care instructions with Sara then send her on her way.”

  Nex leaves as Macom slips a sling around my shoulder to hold my arm before turning to the cabinet in the wall and removing a handful of ointment, gauze pads, and tape. She puts them all in a small bag, detaches my IV and removes the needle from my skin, closing the tiny hole with a small bandage.

  “The stitches will naturally dissolve, so you’ll only need to come back here if they give you any trouble. Try not to get the bandages wet. I would recommend bathing instead of showering, and use the sling as much as possible,” Macom says as she hands me the bag and lowers the guardrail on the side of the
bed. “I’ll let Grimm know you’ve been discharged.”

  I thank her, exit my room, and stop briefly in front of Cody’s, but the curtains are drawn and all I hear is subtle beeping from the other side. I approach the dividing wall and place my hand on the imager, but when it reads my palm it gives me a message that I’m not authorized to enter. I try again and get the same thing. Nex hurries over to me before I try a third time.

  “Sorry about that,” she says as she places her hand to be scanned, and the wall separates. “Andra had your biometrics suspended after your incident in Lymont, since she didn’t want you repeating it. I’m not sure when she’s going to have those reinstated.”

  I grumble as I leave the medical ward and make my way down to my quarters. When I enter, Wavern is sitting on the couch.

  “Get out!” I shout, pointing out the door.

  “Not until we discuss this,” he says, putting his hands up in a defensive position.

  “There’s nothing to discuss. You’re a fucking asshole and I fucking hate you!”

  “I know about Keegan,” he says quickly.

  “What do you know?”

  “Close the door so we can talk about it.”

  I want to slam the door shut but I know that will draw unwarranted attention, as it’s now a rotation change throughout the entire compound, so there are a lot of people wandering about the tunnels and barracks. I gently shut the door instead.

  “Talk,” I say, still standing by the entrance.

  “It took me some time to figure it out,” he says. “I’d heard stories about the demon that once ruled our world – my mother told them to me – but I never truly believed it.”

  “Yet you bought the shit about the Arliss right away,” I comment.

  “He stopped the Pheles from destroying everything,” Wavern snaps, jumping to his feet. “No one would exist if it wasn’t for the Arliss.”

  “The Nathair lied to you,” I say, seething as I finally step into the room. “The Pheles killed the Arliss, sending him back to the hell he comes from. The Levo are the ones who took care of the Pheles, isolating him in a tomb in the Kai Mountains.”