“We’ll be down soon,” he shouts into my ear. “No matter what happens, as soon as we land, you untangle yourself and get out of there, and then open the vial.”
“What?” The wind is too loud.
“Don’t worry about me, just get yourself into the woods.”
“Woods?”
“Yes, we’ll be near a forest.”
I can see the outline of objects moving up to us. A large dark mass gets closer. I take in his face. It will be the last thing I see.
We’re spinning around so quickly. How much longer? I don’t have to wait long for the answer. Ellis pulls on his cord, and I do the same. Instantly, I’m propelled up. I squeeze Ellis’s fingers, but it’s no good. He slips away.
Something’s wrong. Ellis is still falling. His parachute didn’t open.
“Ellis.” I know my screams are useless. They won’t save him. But I keep calling out to him. Even when I see his yellow parachute finally billowing in the wind, I continue crying out his name.
The ground comes up hard and painful. I can’t think. I can’t move. Everything hurts. But I’m still alive.
“Ellis,” I croak.
My eyes are slow to adjust. Everything is blurry.
“Ellis?” I repeat, blinking desperately.
I stand and untangle myself from the parachute, all the while scanning for Ellis. And then I see his yellow floater, deflated on the ground about 200 feet away. Fists pumping, I run. I run, even though each step ignites another spasm of pain in my bruised body.
I clumsily pull and twist the straps of Ellis’s parachute, until he’s free. He’s lying face up and there’s a stain on the ground beside him growing larger. The barren brown plain stretches out all around. Everything’s brown, except the red liquid pooling around Ellis.
CHAPTER 22
“Ellis? Ellis?” I yell. “Please wake up. Please.”
I bring my ear close to his lips, praying that I’ll hear the sound of his breathing. Nothing. I look at his chest. Is it rising and falling? I lay my hand on it gently, willing it to move. My hand quivers. Is that from me or from him?
“Oh God, Ellis. You promised I’d be okay, so you have to wake up to keep your promise. Ellis!”
I can’t remember the first thing about saving someone. Ellis isn’t breathing, and blood is pooling on the ground by his neck and shoulders. His body is all contorted. His limbs aren’t lying like they should be.
I need to get his heart going. I tilt his head back slightly, pull open his mouth, and blow air into him. I kneel beside him and rapidly compress his chest. I’m merely imitating what I’ve seen on television hundreds of times. Am I causing him more harm than good? It’s not working. Nothing’s working. He’s just lying there. I pound on his chest with my fists
“Damn you,” I choke. “You completely screwed up my life. I trusted you. I fell in love with you. And you? You abandoned me like everybody else. Wake up and help me!”
I have to stop the bleeding. I roll him onto his side to try and find the source. There’s blood clumped in his hair, but the majority’s coming from the back of his left shoulder.
I strip off my coat and shirt. I rip my shirt into pieces. I tie one piece around his head and another under his arm and over his shoulder.
I’m shaking. It’s freezing here. I put my coat back on, sit up, and clasp my hands around my knees. Every part of me throbs from the impact.
I stare at his body, willing it to move. My thoughts pass through me. I’m unable to hold onto any of them, like I’m a sieve.
I scan my surroundings, hoping to discover something that can help Ellis. But the ground looks dead. I crawl around and gather a few sticks, having no idea what purpose they’ll serve, but at least I’m doing something. I fight back the useless tears that are leaking out of the corners of my eyes.
I’m forgetting something. There’s something I’m supposed to do, something Ellis said. The words are there, just slightly out of reach.
The ground beneath me buckles.
“Ellis?” I whisper and move closer to him. Is he finally waking up? I shake him gently. “Ellis?”
He doesn’t respond. And again the ground moves. I look around. Through the misty layer of fog, I see thick black columns. The forest. And behind me I can see the orange flames and black smoke of our ship. They will have seen the blazing crash site. They’ll be coming. Or maybe they’re already close, and that’s why the ground is trembling. I need to hide us. We’re easy prey out in the open.
I look at Ellis, lying there as the red puddle grows around him. Is he already …? No, he’s not. He’s going to be fine. After all we’ve been through, I can do this. I grab onto his wrists and drag him toward the forest. Daggers of pain shoot through me. The blood that’s coming out of Ellis trails behind him. A direct path for anyone pursuing us.
There’s something in it. I reach over and grab it. It’s the vial Ellis gave me. This is it! I’m supposed to open the vial and “she will come.” With trembling fingers, I wrench the steel canister open and slide out the glass vial. It’s glowing. I pour the contents onto the ground, expecting something miraculous to happen. But the tiny golden puddle lies beside me, useless, hissing.
I continue to the forest. The ground starts to rumble and shake again. I hear voices. They’re getting closer. They’re coming. I grab him under his armpits, hoping this will provide better leverage to move him. It feels like forever, but I finally manage to break through the first set of trees as the voices and the rumbling grow louder.
“Ellis, please wake up. I don’t know what to do.”
I bend over and press my face against his. His lips twitch. He’s still alive.
“Ellis, we’ve got to get out of here. They’re coming. Please open your eyes.”
He’s whispering. I bend low to his face. “Vvvv, oo tt.”
“What? What did you say?”
“Vial, open vial.”
“I did. I opened it. But nothing happened.”
“She’s coming,” he breathes and then slumps back to the ground.
“Who’s com—?”
I hear a low hissing sound and instantly, I’m covered in darkness. A bag is over my head.
I twist and punch and almost break free. But whoever has me squeezes harder. I’m wrapped so tightly I’m suffocating. I can’t see anything. And then I’m lifted, pressed against someone who’s moving quickly.
There’s something beneath me. I bash at it with my fist and instantly hear the sickening groan. Ellis’s groan. He’s under me. We’re being carried off together. A couple of times my feet bang into something hard, sending shards of pain throughout my body. I twist and shake, ignoring the intense shot of agony each movement fills me with.
“Stop it! You’re hurting him,” a voice commands.
Hurting him? Ellis? They’re concerned about Ellis. I move around again, but not so roughly.
“Do that again, and I’ll drop you right on the spot. And they’ll come and get you.”
The voice sounds like a girl’s. Is this the person Ellis said would come and help us? It has to be. I stay still. I wrap my arms around myself, trying at the same time to feel for Ellis. And then everything stops. I’m dropped to the ground.
“Get yourself out of that,” she says.
Slowly, I pull my arms free and remove the covering from my face. It’s dark. The low ceiling and walls are made of large black rocks. The ground of dirt is soft and damp. A bluish light emanates next to the girl.
She’s brought us to a cave. She huddles over Ellis’s body, her hands moving so fast I can barely see them. She dabs him with different liquids and ointments she removes from a bag. She wraps his head in a bandage to stop it from bleeding. My blood-soaked shirt lies beside her.
“Come on, Ellis.” She turns to me. “Hey, you, how about some help?”
I rush over as quickly as I can. My head is spinning.
“Get over here and hold his arms down,” she commands
“Wh
o are you? What are you doing to him?” I kneel down beside Ellis.
“Trying to save his life. What happened to him?”
“We jumped out of the spaceship so that—”
“Jumped? What a bloody idiot! No, you have to hold his arms much tighter. Get behind his head and hold his arms down. He’s not going to like this, but he can’t move until the nuveaus get into his system. Use your legs if you have to, but don’t let him move.”
She pulls out a long, thick needle attached to a large vial of indigo-colored liquid.
“Okay, got him?”
I nod, and she rams the needle into Ellis’s chest. He convulses.
“Hold him down! It’s not in all the way yet.” She’s straddling him, pinning his legs together between hers. Her upper body is leaning over his chest as she shoves the needle deeper into him.
“Stop it! You’re hurting him. That needle’s too long, it’ll go right through him,” I scream.
“Just hold him down. It’s the only thing that might save him.” She pulls the needle out.
Ellis trembles all over. I throw myself on top of him to keep him still.
“It’s fine if he moves now. The needle’s out.”
“What did you do to him?”
“Probably just saved his life,” she says, her eyes appraising me. “So what about you? Are you hurt?” she asks as she returns all her instruments to a small black pouch.
Before I can answer, a low moan escapes Ellis’s lips.
“Adalyn?” he whispers.
“Ellis?”
And it’s as if I simply disappear. She shoves me out of the way and rests his head in her lap.
“Adalyn?” he repeats.
“You damn fool. Jumping out of spaceships?”
She cradles him, and he touches her face. They cry and hold each other. I press my knees into my chest and watch them. Ellis is alive, but she’s the one holding him, not me. I grip my legs tighter as I sit there. In the dim light, I see the look in their eyes as they stare at each other. I know what that look means. It means love. They love each other. Ellis never loved me. He never looked at me like that. He just pretended to care. Said all the things I was desperate to hear. I’m so stupid. Everything inside me hurts even more than when I fell from the sky.
CHAPTER 23
I sit huddled in a tight ball, unable to tear my eyes away. I’m an intruder, an outsider peering into something private. But I can’t move. And if I could, where would I go? It’s not like being lost back home and walking around until I recognize a street or something. I’m on a different planet, stuck in a cave with the man I thought was my angel, but actually turned out to be an alien who came to Earth to ….
Maybe I’ve gone crazy and none of this is actually happening. I close my eyes and wrap my arms around my body.
“What’s wrong with you?” asks Adalyn, with an expression of disgust.
“Nothing,” I lie.
“Kalli? Hey, Kalli, you did it. You saved us. I was supposed to save you, but you saved me instead.”
Ellis staggers toward me. She’s right by his side, holding on to him, her fingers entangled with his.
“Not so fast, Ellis. You should rest a bit more. That was an insane fall you had.”
“Not much worse than we have had before. Remember?”
The inside of my chest shrivels up and burns.
“I’m fine. You fixed me all up, just like you always do.” He kisses Adalyn’s cheek.
I can’t be here. I know I shouldn’t care. I told him I hated him, and I meant it. Everything he’s ever said has been a lie. He lied about Sammy. But seeing them together—it hurts. I slowly rise to my legs, take a shaky step toward the opening of the cave, and everything shifts. I steady myself against the rocky wall, and I’m almost outside when I’m yanked back.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Her voice is cold, much different than the voice she uses for Ellis.
“Adalyn, take it easy. She fell too. Have you examined her?”
“No. I was much too busy trying to put you back together.”
“Kalli, are you hurt anywhere? Your head? Back?”
The same hands that touched her now touch me. I shrink away.
“Did that hurt? Adalyn, come take a look. It could be her head or neck.”
And then her hands are on me. Poking and feeling along my head. I shove her hands away.
“Okay then.” Adalyn moves away. “She looks fine to me.”
“It’s okay Kalli. She won’t hurt you. She’s not like Margaret.”
At the sound of Margaret’s name, my breath catches inside my throat.
“Ellis, we don’t have time for this. They could be here any minute. I cleaned up your trail of blood as well as I could, but I was really rushing. We need to move,” says Adalyn.
“Kalli, she’s right. We have to go.”
“Then go. I’m not stopping you and your girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” Ellis says.
“Are you kidding me? Ellis, we can’t do this right now,” Adalyn says, tying her hair into a tight ponytail.
“Come on, Kalli.” Ellis holds his hand out to me. “Adalyn’s on our side.”
I don’t want to go anywhere with them. But what other options do I have? So, when Ellis calls to me from the opening of the cave, I follow.
A breeze whistles through the bare branches. It’s so cold. I wrap my arms around myself. The whole place is gray and ravaged. There’s no color except for the ribbons of red and blue cascading through Adalyn’s hair. She moves her head side to side, and her thick ponytail sways. The word ‘beautiful’ is at the tip of my tongue, then she turns to me, and the word dissolves as I take in her face.
She makes no effort to conceal her malice toward me. She looks like she’s just eaten something sour. Her brown eyes are narrowed into slits. Her nose is thin and stretched by the pull of her pursed lips. But then she looks at Ellis and transforms. Her face relaxes and the word ‘beautiful’ once again comes to my mind. Her pale skin radiates light against our bleak surroundings.
Adalyn takes the lead. She moves effortlessly over and around the fallen logs. She’s so quick that it’s almost impossible to follow her. My legs feel like they’re made out of bags of sand.
“It’s really important we keep up. Come on.” Ellis tries to lift me up.
“Don’t you have cars? Why do we have to walk?”
Ellis shakes his head. “All vehicles were banned a few years ago. A mandatory measure instituted by the Council to help curb the pollution.”
“And you don’t have anything else? You haven’t invented a vehicle that runs without producing pollution?” I am shocked. A civilization that can travel to other planets can’t come up with an eco-friendly mode of transportation?
“All resources have been devoted to reversing the damage we have caused Istriya. Adalyn heads the geological team studying ways to harness molten lava from the core of the planet and generate heat. It’s been getting colder and colder on Istriya. Margaret’s team is focused on maintaining the population. And another team is devoted to ensuring that all pollution-producing items are banned.”
Adalyn stops and turns back to us. Her words whip out low and harsh. “Ellis, this is not the time for a history lesson. We need to move.”
He leans forward again, arms outstretched.
“Don’t. I can walk. If I’m holding you up, just go.” I don’t mean it, but the words come out anyway.
“I’m not going to leave you out here. We need to get to the base and speak to Lucas, the Council Leader. He’s the only one who can help us. Time’s running out.” He holds out his arms, and this time I don’t fight when he picks me up.
“Shh,” Adalyn whispers when we catch up to her.
Ellis and I both look around. I can’t see or hear anything.
“What? What is it?” asks Ellis.
“They’re coming from over there, moving quickly.” She glares at me. “We can’t outrun them.”
Her message is clear, but I’m not going to be the reason we get caught.
Meeting her glare, I say, “I’m slowing you down. You can move quicker without me.” I push Ellis’s arms away, but he tightens his hold. “I’ll hide until they pass.”
“Absolutely not! I’m not leaving you here by yourself.”
“She has a point, Ellis ….”
“No!”
“Listen, you’re still recovering. I’ll take her. She won’t slow me down at all. But we need to throw them off,” Adalyn says.
“What are you suggesting?” Ellis asks, a strain in his voice.
“They’re coming, Ellis. It’s the only way I can think of. I’ll take her, and we’ll wait for you in my quarters.”
Hang on. I’d be with her. And Ellis? He’d take them on by himself?
“That’s stupid. Ellis can’t distract and outrun them on his own. You said it yourself. He’s still recovering, and he can’t carry me either. I’m slowing him down.” I wriggle to free myself from him. “So I’ll hide, Ellis can head for the base, and you can create a diversion,” I say pointedly. “And then once they’re on the wrong path, you can come and get me, and we can meet Ellis at the base.”
“Well, I guess that’s an option too,” Adalyn says with a grin. “You’ve found yourself yet another fan,” she adds, raising her eyebrows.
“Kalli, you can’t be left out here on your own—”
“But—”
“We don’t have time to argue. We’re going to follow Adalyn’s plan,” he says, passing me into her arms. “I’ll be back with you soon,” he promises.
I start to protest. He puts a finger to my lips. “Trust me.”
He squeezes Adalyn’s shoulder, and then he’s gone.
“Okay, hang on.” Adalyn breaks into a run.
I hold on to her tightly and curl into myself to prevent my limbs from whacking into the trees. Adalyn slows down, and I can see a large structure in the distance. She stops, and without setting me down, pulls out a thin blanket from her bag and drapes it over me.
Broken Worlds Page 13
