by S D Tanner
When the last voice spoke, he nodded at the woman. “Tag. My name’s Tag.”
“Nice to meet you, Tag.”
Just as Brook was no longer a nameless and faceless survivor, he wasn’t a mindless Defensor used by the aliens controlling Earth. What made them human was their intent for one another. In defending them he’d proven his intentions, and the message hadn’t been missed.
Gently touching the open wound at his elbow, Brook glanced at the one of the people next to her. “This will need to be cauterized until he can be repaired.”
Moving his bicep just as Judge had done, he shook his head. “We’ll be picked up in ten hours.”
Smiling at him again, Brook wiped his blood from her hand by swiping it down her shirt. “Good, then we have time.”
“To do what?”
“There’s someone you need to meet. She’s been inside one of the floating cities.”
CHAPTER TEN: Little of This and That
His left forearm and hand had been robotic anyway, but that didn’t stop blood leaking from the ripped flesh. Brook led them through a maze of corridors where she introduced them to an old man she called Doc. If Doc was a medic, then he wasn’t like any he’d ever met before. The small underground room stank like a sheep pen, and odd-shaped dried strands of fur and flesh hung from the ceiling. Lit only by three lanterns, the room was gloomy, which only added to its desolate look. In the middle of the cavern-like room was a filthy bed that was probably an old gurney, but instead of being covered with a pristine white sheet, or even a plastic backed pad, there was only a dirty blanket with deep brown stains he suspected were blood.
While he sat on the bed with his legs dangling over the edge, Doc was prodding at the torn flesh on his elbow and muttering to himself. “Not dead, not alive, not human, not alien, not monster, not friend.” Seeming satisfied with his inspection, Doc looked at him with milky blue eyes. “You’ll live.”
Amused by his diagnosis, Doc gave a cackling laugh that quickly became a liquid-sounding cough. Although it was hard to tell the age of anyone in this new world, Doc looked as if he could have been a hundred years old. “Have you seen a Defensor before?”
The skin on his deeply wrinkled face had the leathery look of a man who’d drunk more than his fair share in his lifetime. When Doc’s face creased into a frown, the spiky white hairs of his five o’clock shadow stuck out at odd angles. His hands shook and his blue eyes shone with amusement. Instead of answering his question, Doc turned and began rummaging inside one of the large wooden boxes lining the room.
When Doc turned to face him again, he was holding a long tube with both hands. “This is you.” Seeming mournful, he added, “Wish I had more of these. It’s empty now.”
Taking the flexible cylinder from Doc, he recognized it as the same tube he’d seen being pushed inside his body. “What is it?”
“It keeps you alive, boy.” Tapping his nose and winking, Doc added with a smirk, “But is it life?”
Judge was sitting next to him on the bed and he took the tube from his hand. “What was in it?”
Doc’s eyes widened with delight and he spread his fingers like a circus showman. “Magic.”
“How is it magic?”
“It heals what ails you.” Doc’s face dropped again, clearly disappointed. “But it’s empty now. Wish I had more.”
Irritated by Doc’s unclear answers, he looked at Brook standing next to the table. “What’s he talking about?”
Brook tilted her head to study the back of his neck. “The tube inside you contains a liquid we can use. If you rub it on a wound it heals. If you drink it, then you are…renewed. It resets your body.” Smiling at him, she added, “It’s what keeps you alive. You’re lucky you’re hard to kill, otherwise we would be hunting you just to get those tubes.”
“But I already died, we all did.”
“And you were reanimated.”
Rok was fingering one of the long leathery strands hanging from the ceiling, but now he turned to look at Brook. “Modified first, then reanimated.”
After pushing past Rok, Doc began rummaging inside another wooden box. When he straightened again, he held what looked like a blowtorch in one hand, but his other hand had tightened into a fist. Walking back to the table he held out his closed hand. Realizing Doc wanted to give him something, he held his palm upward. At first, he didn’t recognize the flat disks on a chain. Once upon a time the flat metal tags would have been trimmed with black rubber, but all that was left were the sharp edges.
“Where did you get these from?”
Taking the dog tags from him, Judge held them up in the dim light trying to read the name and number.
Tutting as if he’d asked a stupid question, Doc fiddled with the torch. “Same place I found the magic.”
Clearly the survivors had captured a Defensor and taken him or her apart. Part of him was angry over the loss of what had been one of their own, but he couldn’t blame them. In their eyes, the Defensors were more of an enemy than the aliens, but they didn’t know Earth had been taken over. From the little they knew, the Defensors and hunters were the main problem. When the torch hissed to life, the blue flame lit the dim room, and Doc gave him a twisted smile as if causing him pain was something he was going to enjoy.
“Have at it, old man.”
The smell of burning flesh was more unpleasant than the sensation. Whatever was inside the tube also numbed their bodies, or perhaps their central nervous system was no longer functioning. His brain didn’t interpret the sizzling flesh and fat as pain exactly, it was more like an insistent itch he wanted to scratch.
Rok was watching his flesh darken and curl at the edges with an expression of disgusted fascination. “Smells like barbeque.”
“It is barbeque,” Judge retorted.
Once Doc had finished cauterizing the wound, Brook stepped forward to pull the lining inside his gear over the blackened flesh. “We could have left it, but you would have leaked a lot.”
Looking at her in surprise, he said, “You mean bled a lot.”
“Humans bleed. Defensors and hunters only leak.”
He frowned at her. “But I’m human.”
Tilting her head at him, Brook asked, “Can you die? Do you feel?”
He felt rage at what had been done to him, and his head was spinning in shock at what had happened to Earth. The dull ache inside his chest whenever he thought about Daisy was real. He might not be able to die in any normal sense, but his emotions were human enough.
Leaning toward Brook, almost daring her to argue with him, his upper lip curled in anger. “I’m human.”
She gave him a warm smile. “Yes, you are.”
The smell of Judge’s burning flesh came between them and he nodded at her. “Where’s the woman who’s been to the floating city?”
“She lives alone outside the old city in a forest.” Brook’s lean face creased with concern. “She’s, umm, not like us anymore.”
“In what way?”
Instead of answering, Brook turned and walked across the room toward the door, while Judge waved his stumpy arm, seeming pleased with the burned end. “They don’t always win.”
Dropping from the filthy table and landing on his feet, he turned to study Judge. “Win what?”
Letting his damaged arm fall to his side, Judge gave him a knowing look. “The fleas don’t always win, not completely anyway.”
“How do you know that?” Before Judge could reply, a slow realization dawned on him. “Is that what Lolo is? A flea that didn’t win.”
Jumping to his feet, Judge gave a sharp laugh. “Hybrids. When the fleas absorb DNA, they don’t always win, and the result is a hybrid who thinks like a human.” Picking up his gun, he winked at him. “Like Lolo.” Patting his chest as he walked past him toward the door, he added, “She’s like us. Not alive, not dead, not human, not monster.”
Brook had already left the dark room, but Doc g
ave a sharp cackle and turned to face him. Pointing to Judge’s departing back, Doc’s grin made his entire face crumpled upward. “Follow that man. He knows the truth.”
Just as an egg merged with a sperm to create a human, it seemed the alien embryo combined with a person to create another species. If that were true then some might be more human than others. Maybe they weren’t aliens, but a new dominant species formed from the DNA of both. What did that mean? Were the people they’d found inside the destroyed city simply the outgoing species? Maybe mankind hadn’t been knocked from their perch, they’d merely been enhanced by the addition of new DNA.
Before following Judge, he looked down at Doc. “What makes us human?”
Doc smiled, giving him a cheeky wink. “Faith.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN: Truth Be Known
A Skimmer moved like an airborne motorcycle, reminding him of a gutsy drone. With one wheel at the front and two in the rear, on land it was driven the same as a trike. Unlike a noisy motorcycle, it silently wound its way between the buildings, never more than thirty feet above the ground. He was tucked behind Brook, holding onto her waist with his right arm. Her bulky fatigues had been hiding a slender and strong frame. Judge was traveling with another survivor called Duke, and Rok had hitched a ride with someone called Ag. Although the survivors lived primitively, beneath the ruined city were catacombs full of life, where tiny pockets of humanity lived on fighting for one more day of life.
The last of the humans had formed tribes, each eking out an existence in whatever part of the planet they called home. Further out from the cities, hidden under woods and forests, some people kept animals and grew vegetables. Along the coastlines more tribes survived by catching whatever they could from the sea. The city dwellers foraged for metal and other manmade fabrics that could be repurposed into tools. Every tribe traded what they had, and it was enough to keep them alive for another day.
Every five years the tribes would go to war, desperate to win a place on the arks that were launched into space. They believed the winners would colonize faraway planets, meaning they could escape the desperate life they lived on Earth. As a reward, when they returned to Earth they lived in the floating cities, safe from the hunters and hardship. It was a lie, but when Brook had told them about the contest her eyes had been shining with hope. Judge had shaken his head at him, indicating he shouldn’t tell her the truth. Eventually he would have to confess what really happened on the arks, but not until they knew more about this world.
Brook didn’t know how many people lived on Earth or even the country, not that there was one anymore. The Defensors had destroyed every border, so the only government left was Lunar Horizon. Judging by the density of trees surrounding the city, not much of it was being farmed anymore. Only wide roads showed through the foliage, a reminder of the dense population that had once lived there. Jessica had said the city was once called Phoenix, but glancing over his shoulder, he didn’t recognize the skyline. No building was more than eight or ten stories and tall trees had torn through the asphalt, tearing apart even more of the collapsing city.
The Skimmer lowered until it gently landed on an open stretch of road between the trees, and Brook climbed off, removing her scarf and goggles as she did.
“Why have we stopped?”
“Traps.” Walking in the direction of the woods surrounding the road, she called over her shoulder, “Can’t be visiting empty-handed or she might not talk to you.”
Judge appeared by his side. “What do you make of this?”
“You didn’t tell me what Lolo was, so you tell me.”
Giving him a sheepish look, Judge shrugged. “She doesn’t know what she is.”
“Then how do you know she’s a hybrid?”
Judge cleared his throat uncomfortably. “It stands to reason. She’s, umm, not quite normal.”
“Why didn’t you tell me about you and her?”
“I didn’t know what to say. She might be different, but she’s as human as we are.” Narrowing his eyes, Judge gave him a stern look. “And I didn’t want you to kill her.”
Leaving his KLAW on the Skimmer, Rok had ambled over to where they were standing. “What’s the plan, Tag? What do you think you’re going to get from talking to some alien bitch queen?”
Judge glared at Rok. “Don’t talk about the hybrids that way. What happened to them is not their fault.”
Rok turned to look at him. “This place is a fucking mess. Aliens are breeding with humans, monsters are hunting humans, and they’re fighting in some dumbass contest to win a seat on a death ark…” He flicked his thumb at Judge. “…and dumbass here is getting it on with the enemy.”
Jabbing Rok in the chest, Judge’s face became fixed with fury. “Do not fucking start with me, little man or I will…”
“Break it up!” He shouted. “We have half a million sleepers on the Extrema. Do you think we can drop them into this mess?” Glaring first at Judge and then Rok, he added, “We have to bottom this out.”
“And then what?” Judge demanded. “Fly off in our spaceship and find us a planet to colonize? Do you even know how to do that?”
He didn’t have a clue how to pilot a ship, much less land it and wake the sleepers to start a new life. They were lost in time, stuck somewhere they didn’t belong, expected to solve a problem that wasn’t theirs to fix.
Stepping away from Judge, Rok gave him a cheeky wink. “I dunno, Tag, you found a solution to get rid of a million sleepers so far.”
Annoyed by Rok’s accusation, he moved toward him, trying to keep his anger in check. “You know damn well I didn’t destroy the Animax, it was already lost, and I did my best to save the Prognatus.”
Judge raised his hand as if defeated. “That’s enough out of you, Rok. I get we’re all confused, but you don’t have to be an asshole about it. It wasn’t Tag’s fault the aliens killed everyone on the Animax. Destroying it was the only option.”
“And the Prognatus?” Rok asked in disbelief.
The sight of the blood drenched pods on the Animax floated through his mind. Just watching the aliens feeding on the woman inside the chamber on the Extrema had enraged him in a way he didn’t know how to control. Judge might see Lolo as a hybrid, but he agreed with Rok; she was their enemy even if she didn’t know it. Ignorance didn’t make her innocent, and the blood of the sleepers was on her hands.
His mouth twisted with anger. “You saw how many aliens were inside the chamber. You know they were feeding on the sleepers. The people here might not know it, but their ticket to freedom is a one-way pass to hell.”
Judge sighed. “How is that our problem?”
He’d asked himself the same question and never had an answer, but now one presented itself. “Because whether we like it or not we’re part of this ecosystem.” He nodded, finally understanding where they fit in the game. “It doesn’t matter what the aliens programmed us to do, because we were trained to defend our country.” He waved his hand at the surrounding forest. “This is still our country, and it’s been invaded.” Nodding to Judge, he added, “We’ll do what we’re trained to do, and that’s take back the house.”
Giving him a lopsided grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes, Judge replied, “That’s the most intelligent thing you’ve said since we woke up.”
Rok slapped his shoulder. “Way to show leadership, Tag.”
While they’d been arguing, he hadn’t noticed Brook standing in the forest by the side of the crumbling road. In one hand she held a bag and in the other a rifle, but both were hanging loosely by her side and her expression was one of shock.
Unsure how much she’d heard, he asked uncertainly, “Brook…?”
“What do you mean aliens are feeding on the sleepers?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.” Waving dismissively at Rok, he added, “Don’t listen to him, he’s an idiot.”
The bag in Brook’s hand was moving and he assumed it contained the animals she’
d trapped. She stepped onto the road, her face hardening with anger. “Tell me the truth.”
He might not remember who he was, but it didn’t appear he was a dishonest man, and he couldn’t keep lying to Brook. “The arks aren’t being used to colonize planets. They contain alien embryos.” He flicked his chin at Judge. “He thinks they’re merging their DNA with yours to create the creatures living in the floating cities, but sometimes the result are hybrids that are more human than they are alien. The woman you’re taking us to meet is a hybrid.”
Brook dropped the bag she’d been holding, and two rabbits spun out of the opening, their bodies a blur as they disappeared into the forest. “Oh no. No, no, no.”
“What’s the problem?”
“It’s year five.”
Duke and Ag were already moving toward the Skimmers, clearly getting ready to leave. Watching them climbing onto the vehicles, he turned to stare at Brook, confusion etched across his features. “Year five?”
“The contest is held every five years. The next set of arks are ready to be loaded and the fight is about to start.” Pushing past him, she walked toward their Skimmer. “We have to stop it.”
“How do we do that?”
Climbing onto the Skimmer, she snapped her goggles into position. “You’re a Defensor so you tell me, Tag.”
CHAPTER TWELVE: Ship of Fools
Instead of going to see the hybrid, Brook had taken a detour over a hundred miles south of the old city limits, where three arks emerged from the desert like a cluster of white maggots. Their three Skimmers were parked on the top of a low hill looking down on the plain below. Each ark was a mile long with the familiar white domes on either side. Clustered next to one another to form a triangle, streaks of dust headed toward them from every direction. By his estimation, thousands of individual vehicles were ripping across the sand toward the arks. Flying above them were Skimmers like their own and even some small aircraft. Even from a distance, the sound of gunfire traveled from the valley and small fires were breaking out near the arks.
