by Craig Gaydas
“Can you cook, boy?” Noz asked. “Some of the crap the Scarlet Moon serves I wouldn't serve to a dog.”
“Maybe they consider you less than a dog,” I retorted.
Noz stared coldly at me before eventually breaking into a smile. “Ha! The boy has balls, I'll give him that.”
Shai didn't take his eyes off me. “Perhaps. But unfortunately for him we can't afford to have a cook with 'balls'. Normally I would kill you based on your recent value reduction but today is your lucky day.”
“Oh really,” I mocked. “Why is that?”
“It seems Corvus needs you for something. He can be such a diva sometimes,” Shai grumbled. “He always needs something but for now it's you he requires.” He turned to the Exorg. “Kill the others, but take the boy alive.”
The Exorg approached while Noz retrieved his sidearm.
“NO!” Kedge shouted.
Before the Exorg could lift his rifle the staff was in the air, once again transforming from pale wooden stick to a living snake. It wrapped its body around the rifle and the Exorg dropped it in a panic before being shot in the chest by Wraith. Dark blue blood washed over the snake, turning it into a macabre blue-and-white candy cane. The creature shattered the rifle in its embrace and turned its head toward Shai, who backed up a step and removed his sword.
Wraith got off another shot but missed Noz wide to the right. Noz fell to the ground and somersaulted to his left. He leapt up and fired a shot, clipping Wraith in the shoulder. Wraith fell back a step and dropped his weapon.
“NO!” I echoed Kedge's battle cry. The AR-15 was in my hands and flame burst from the barrel as I pulled the trigger. I sprayed the area in front of me. In Call of Duty I had been an expert marksman. The reality of it was that I was a terrible shot. Bullets flew everywhere. I hit the side of their ship, the ramp, a stop sign, the ground—everything but my intended targets.
My terrible aim did very little damage, but it bought Kedge and Wraith valuable time. Noz was busy ducking my cover fire. Shai had his sword in his hand and was busy between parrying the snake on the ground and dodging an occasional stray bullet. Kedge produced a bolo from the folds of his cloak and threw it at Shai. It caught the Drith-Nar in the ankles and he fell backward against the bottom of the ramp. Wraith recovered his senses and fired another shot which grazed Noz in the arm. He ducked behind the ramp.
The AR-15 was empty. I killed nothing but the stop sign. In all the confusion none of us saw the rifle barrel poke out from ramp entrance. The sniper fired. The bullet travelled past me and I turned in time to see the top of Wraith's head explode. The bullet took him above the left eye. He buckled to his knees before falling to the ground face first. A pool of blood spread underneath him.
“NOOOOOO!” I cried. I fell to my knees and watched his life pour out of him before the sniper turned his rifle toward me. I lifted my gun and pulled the trigger only to hear the sound of dry clicks. I saw a flash of light and was knocked back from the impact of the shot.
I fell to the ground but felt no pain. I looked over and saw Kedge parry Shai's sword thrusts. The snake was once again a staff in his hands. Metal clashed against wood, yet the staff remained unmarred. Blood poured from my left shoulder and I wondered if I would ever get the chance to inquire about the mysterious staff. Shai parried a staff thrust and plunged his sword into Kedge's midsection. He dropped the staff and fell to the ground. Shai removed his sword and held it out, letting the blood drip to the ground.
I closed my eyes and heard boots approaching.
Dead is Dead
My shoulder was on fire. The wound oozed blood and it felt as if someone had their finger inside trying to pull a bone out. The warmth of the sun splashed on my face and I knew I was still outside. I cracked my eyes open but the glare made it difficult to open them completely. Dust covered my face and rolled into my eyes when I turned my head. My face was flushed and I wondered if I had an early onset of sunburn while baking on the highway. I reached up and brushed the sand from my eyes. I heard the crunch of gravel as someone walked toward me.
“Nathan.” Lianne's voice.
I turned toward the sound. The sound of it was music to my ears. She crouched over me and never looked more beautiful. I smiled in spite of the pain.
“Lianne,” I croaked.
She placed her hand on my cheek, a welcome cool touch in the desert heat. “Don't die on me,” she said.
“Wraith's dead,” I grunted and tried to sit up. She placed her hand on my good shoulder and gently pushed me back.
“Don't get up.” She started to fade. I thought it was the heat of the sun playing tricks on me.
“Wait,” I said. “Don't leave me. Where is Kedge? Did he survive? Where is Gard?”
“Stay alive, Nathan,” she said. She seemed to phase out of existence and I could see the horizon through her body. “You will be faced with difficult decisions soon. We will come for you as soon as we can. Stay alive!” She urged before vanishing completely.
“No, wait!” I coughed while trying to get up. “Don't go.”
“Oh, don't worry. I'm not going anywhere.” Shai looked down and laughed. “Not without you.”
Fury bubbled to the surface when I saw him. I wanted to reach up and tear his smug face off and shove it down his throat. Unfortunately the wound in my shoulder prevented me from even the minor act of sitting up. “I hate you.”
“Now, that's not very nice.” He feigned a wounded look. “I thought we were becoming good friends.”
Noz walked up to them favoring his right arm. “I can't find the damn robot anywhere.”
The Kamilians were gone and Vayne went missing so I wasn't sure where he could go. He was a resilient fellow, though, and probably in a better predicament than me.
“Doesn't matter,” Shai replied. “The other one scampered off too. It seems our enemies are nothing more than cowards.”
Kedge escaped? I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought for sure he had been killed. “They will come back for you. They will kill you,” I muttered.
Shai crouched over me. “Oh they will, will they?” He stuck his finger inside my shoulder wound and I screamed. “But I should have plenty of time to make you miserable.”
I didn't doubt him. Tears from the pain formed in the corner of my eyes but I blinked them away. I refused to show him any sign of weakness. The sour taste of sweat filled my mouth as I tried to move. He removed his finger and I bit my lip until the pain subsided. “I will kill you,” I uttered through clenched teeth.
He grabbed me under the shoulders and hauled me to my feet, bringing a fresh wave of pain. Dizziness overwhelmed me and if it wasn't for him holding me I would have fallen to the ground. He leaned in and put his face next to my cheek. “No, you won't,” he whispered. “If it wasn't for Corvus, I would snap your neck right here and be done with it. Perhaps by the time we reach the end of our journey, you will beg me to do just that.” He looked at Noz. “Take him inside.”
Noz wasn't gentle as he dragged me up the ramp. By the time we reached the top the pain was so unbearable I almost begged for death. I faded in and out of consciousness as he dragged me through the halls of the cavernous ship. We came to a room guarded by a squat, lizard-looking fellow with a massive rifle held firmly against his chest. His cold black eyes looked disdainfully at me.
“The room is ready,” the lizard man muttered. “I removed most of the blood stains. Our last guest was such a bleeder.”
“I don't think our friend here will mind,” Noz replied. He looked down at me. “Do you mind?”
I coughed out something unintelligible. The entire room spun out of control. The door opened and I fell face first into the room. It smelled of mold and urine.
“Get a medic down here,” Noz grunted. “We don't want him dying before Shai gets a chance to question him.”
That was the last thing I heard before mercifully blacking out. When I regained consciousness I found myself lying on a gurney in the center of a cold and
dreary room. The room had dull gray metal walls, dull gray metal ceiling and pretty much dull gray metal everything. It was as if I was inside the world's largest lunchbox. There were no decorations anywhere except for a single table next to the gurney. On the table lay a small blue box with a red laser light coming from the center that had been angled to point at my forehead. I looked away from the box and noticed that my wounds had been dressed. Despite a dull throbbing coming from the site of the wound, there was no actual pain. I tried to sit up but found I could not. There were no restraints holding me back and for a brief moment I feared that I had been paralyzed by the gun shot. Can shoulder wounds lead to paralyzation? Panic crept to the surface. Luckily before my head burst from the anxiety, the door opened.
Being completely paralyzed I couldn't even move my head to see the person until they stood over me. It was a woman with flowing auburn hair, a warm face a slightly bent nose and full, pouting lips that were red like blood. She wore a tattered, gray uniform with no visible markings. Despite her lovely face there was one feature that really interested me.
“You're human,” I croaked.
She tossed me a dry smile. “Yes, I am.”
My head was pounding. It was as if a cement truck was being dismantled by a jackhammer inside my skull. Although the room had been dimly lit, I still had to squint. The fluorescent tubes bordering the ceiling had been dimmed significantly but it felt like tiny daggers of light poked my eyeballs.
“Were you one of the survivors?” I asked.
Her face twisted with confusion. “Survivors?” She looked behind her toward the door. “Oh no, the Scarlet Moon found me during a scouting mission about a month ago.”
“You are one of them?” I asked incredulously.
She placed her finger to her lips. “No,” she whispered with a frown. “Don't get yourself all worked up.” She leaned over and placed her hand on my good shoulder. Despite my inability to move I felt it. She was warm to the touch. “I was taken,” she explained. “I was on my way to a friend's house after work when I came up to a road that was closed due to construction. I took the detour but the road was unfamiliar. It was dark and my GPS wasn't working. For some reason it was unable to locate any satellites. Anyway, there was this car on the side of the road that looked like it was in an accident. The front end was smashed and someone was underneath the car with a flashlight. So being a nurse I figured I'd stop and see if anyone needed help. My father always warned me of strangers and…well…I wish that was the one time I had listened.
“It was them, wasn't it?” I asked.
She emitted a dry chuckle. “Yep. Apparently I stumbled upon them dismantling the car for parts.” She looked nervously toward the door and lowered her voice. “Ironic, isn't it?”
“What?”
She sighed. “We always view aliens as being technologically superior to us. But they needed parts from us in order to repair their ship. I guess we aren't as backwards in the universe as originally thought, eh?
“You're Canadian, aren't you?” It was the “eh” that got me.
“I'm from Hamilton,” she replied.
I wanted to tell her there was no Hamilton anymore. I decided not to because she appeared depressed enough already. Instead I switched the conversation toward my current predicament. “Why am I paralyzed? I never heard of anyone becoming paralyzed by a shoulder wound.”
She nodded toward the box on the table. “They call it a cerebral inhibitor. The beam is programmed to prohibit movement.”
“Why?”
She shrugged. “Captain's orders.”
I closed my eyes and tried to move. Despite my best efforts nothing moved, not even my pinky. I grunted with frustration. “Why are you with them?”
Sorrow lined her voice. “I helped one of them with some injuries. Once they realized I had medical training they decided to keep me around. I guess I was more useful to them alive.”
She flinched. The fluorescent light reflected the pain in her eyes. As bad as it was I needed to exploit her pain if I planned on making it out of there alive. “What's your name?”
A smile cracked the corners of her lips. “Deena Trask.”
“How old are you?” I asked.
“Twenty-four.” She relaxed and tapped a button on the side of the box. “What about you?”
“Well, I kind of lost track of time, but I was sixteen at one time.”
She giggled. “Yeah, I suppose time sort of loses its meaning in space.”
“Are you going to be my nurse?” I asked with a smile. It was good to feel my facial muscles working.
“Yes,” she said with a smile.
“Can you turn that machine off?” I smiled mischievously.
Her smile faded and she looked at the box uneasily. “Sorry, I can't do that.”
Frustrated, I blurted, “They killed my friends.” When she narrowed her eyes suspiciously I softened my tone. “What do they want with me?”
She looked down at the machine and refused to look at me. “I don't know,” she said in a hushed tone. “I'm only here to make sure the wound is healing and make you comfortable.”
Before I could press her further, the door opened. Because of the paralysis I couldn't see who walked in, but judging by Deena's face it was bad news. The voice confirmed my suspicions.
“How is our patient faring?” Shai asked.
“Stable and restrained,” she replied.
“You can go,” he growled. “Nathan and I have some catching up to do. I'm sure he has questions.”
She turned and walked out. After the door closed he leered over me. “Why am I here?” I demanded. “What do you want with me?”
He looked me up and down before smiling. “Bah, you are no threat,” he spat. He turned toward the box and switched it off. The beam vanished and I felt a slow numbness creeping along my extremities. “Corvus needs you,” he responded as if the statement was the answer to everything. “Don't bother asking me why because I have no idea. I am just a simple mercenary for hire who does what his boss tells him to do.”
I turned my head away and stared at the far wall. A mirror hung over an oversized basin sink. It was big enough to bathe a baby. I wanted nothing more than to fill it up and shove Shai's head in it until he drowned. “You're nothing more than an overrated pirate,” I muttered.
His fist smashed against my jaw. Lucky for me my head was already turned which made it more of a glancing blow. Despite the angle, my vision still filled with stars and I felt a dull pain as the numbness from the inhibitor began to wear off.
“You better watch your mouth,” he warned. “Corvus asked me to deliver you but he didn't say anything about it being in one piece.”
I turned my head and narrowed my eyes. “Go to hell.”
I readied myself for a blow that never came. Instead he simply smiled. “I'll give you that one. You have balls, kid. I understand your anger at that bit of ugliness on Earth.” There was one chair on each side of the gurney. He eased into the one closest to the machine. “It was business, mind you. I was paid to recover you, but your friends wanted to make a big deal out of it.”
The memory of the events in New Mexico brought forth a fresh bout of anger. I reached for Shai but crashed to the floor, bringing a fresh stab of pain to my shoulder. My limbs failed me. The numbness lingering in my extremities prevented me from controlling them effectively. Shai's heckling filled the room.
“Whoa, don't go getting yourself in a tizzy, soldier,” he mocked. He scooped me up like a rag doll and tossed me back on the gurney. “I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself.”
“What do you want from me?” I roared. “Congratulations, you caught me. Take me to Corvus. If I have to hear your voice anymore I'm going to rip off my ears and shove a blade into my brain.”
“There's a bit more to it,” he replied. “Corvus wants information regarding his enemies.” Shai pushed a rolling cart toward me. On top of the cart were several tools. A scalpel and needle was just two of man
y. “You're special in that you have been a part of the Consortium as well as the Insurgents.”
“I won't tell you anything,” I sneered.
He picked up the needle and worked the plunger. The needle spit out a tiny amount of golden liquid. He turned and waved it back and forth with a smile.
“See, that's where you're wrong.”
Lianne
When she stepped off the ramp, her thick synthetic fiber boots crunched the gravel underneath. It sounded like the crunching of bones and she shivered, despite the warm, New Mexico air. She placed a hand over her eyes and surveyed the surroundings. The sun settled upon the horizon. In the distance along the highway she spied a small building. Further up the highway was a corpse. Due to the distance it looked like nothing more than the carcass of a large animal, perhaps killed by one of the fast moving metal conveyances the humans used to move about.
“Are you sure they were here?” She turned to Embeth.
“Captain Muriel assured me that Gard's emergency beacon leads to this region,” Embeth replied grimly.
“It still pings here.” Muriel confirmed as he emerged from the ship and wiped at his beaked maw with the back of his hand. “By the gods, is it this hot everywhere on Earth? I feel like my brains are broiling inside my skull.”
As they approached the building, Lianne's heart sank when she noticed the smoldering wreckage in front of the building. It sank further when she saw the corpse. It wasn't an animal carcass after all.
“Oh no!” Lianne exclaimed and ran to the body. She slipped her hand behind his head, but it was hard to lift due to the congealing blood causing it to stick to the ground. She tried to locate a vital sign, but she knew Wraith was dead.
“Damn!” Embeth exclaimed bitterly. Captain Muriel ran up to them with a Defense Fleet soldier in tow.
Lianne removed her hand and looked past the corpse. She spied a trail of blood leading off into the distance. “Look,” she pointed at the fire house. “That trail of blood leads to the building over there.”
