Out of Darkness

by Anna Carven

  A force tugged at them as the parachute was swallowed up by the ocean, the currents pulling at it. Jia found herself smothered by thin wet fabric as part of the canopy landed on them. It wrapped around her body and threatened to pull her under. At first she kicked wildly, panic threatening to overtake her, before realizing that Kalan still held onto her.

  She forced herself to go still, realizing her wild movements were only making the situation worse.

  Kalan squeezed her reassuringly with his arms and then began to disentangle himself from her. Against all her raging instincts, Jia forced herself to be still.

  There was a great tearing sound, and suddenly, Jia was free of the parachute. But Kalan was gone.

  The remainder of the billowing fabric disappeared under the surface as Jia started treading water. The water had seeped into her heavy workboots, making them feel like lead weights. If they were to swim a great distance, they would only weigh her down. Taking a deep breath, she ducked her head under the water and unfastened them. They slipped off her feet and into the depths below.

  Jia surfaced again, keeping herself afloat as she waited.

  All traces of the parachute had disappeared now, along with Kalan.

  She was alone in the dark, floating in the wide, deep ocean. Below her was the unknown. Above her was a starless sky. She heard nothing save for the gentle lapping of the ocean’s waves.

  Although the air was warm, the water was cool, and she knew that if she stayed in the water for too long, her core temperature would drop.

  At least she had the jumpsuit. Even though it was heavy, she didn’t dare take it off. It would trap some of her body heat as they swam to shore.

  She should be terrified right now. There were predators in the ocean, and if a shark decided to make a meal of her, there was no way she could fight back. There was something terrifying about floating on a body of water as huge and deep and immense as the ocean. Here, she was nothing. She was surrounded by bottomless darkness, and it could swallow her up at any time.

  Only she could keep herself afloat.

  A deep-seated, primal kind of fear crept along her spine. It came from an ancient place, from a time before Human technology existed, when dark gods and demons and mythical beasts supposedly roamed the Earth.

  The ocean had never been tamed by Humans, and never would be.

  It wasn’t their domain.

  There was a current running beneath the surface, and it was starting to drag her away. Jia kicked gently against it, hoping to keep her position.

  The last thing she wanted was to become separated from Kalan.

  Out here, separation meant death.

  Time stretched out, and Jia floated alone in the water with the chill of fear deep within her chest.

  She waited.

  All she had to do was remain calm.

  He would come.

  Jia gasped as a familiar pair of arms slid around her waist. He was back, surfacing quietly behind her.

  “Sorry,” he murmured. “I did not intend to leave you, but that infernal parachute was difficult to get rid of. Shall we swim?”

  “Yeah. But in which direction?” Jia couldn’t see anything. She had no idea of her bearings. But somehow, Kalan knew. He pointed.

  “This way.”

  They began to swim, Jia settling into a rhythmic breaststroke, Kalan following close behind her. He swam with his head above the water and all four limbs submerged, using some strange style Jia had never seen before. He didn’t even make a splash as he sluiced through the water.

  Jia’s clothes were starting to drag her down, but she pushed on, ignoring the resistance. In her college days, she would have been able to comfortably swim two kilometers without tiring; she hoped the time she’d spent in the mining station’s gym had kept her conditioned enough to be able to far exceed that distance.

  Because she hadn’t seen any damn island with lights during their descent. That meant it must be very, very far away.

  Only Kalan’s preternatural dark-vision had been able to pick it up.

  Jia had to trust his sense of direction.

  They swam for what felt like hours, pushing on with only the barest minimum of speech, in order to conserve their energy. They swam until Jia’s arms and legs felt like lead, and until her breathing became hard and labored.

  Now and then, a flyer would pass overhead, its lights blinking in the darkness. Perhaps they were just passenger craft, or perhaps they were… searching.

  Jia prayed land wasn’t too far away.

  Pushed to the point of exhaustion, she was about stop for a break when Kalan came up beside her. He put a hand on her shoulder and she halted, treading water beside him.

  As soon as she stopped moving, a chill began to seep into her bones.

  Her body was losing heat, fast.

  “You are tiring. Let me take over for a while.”

  Before Jia could ask what he meant by that, she found herself floating on her back, with Kalan underneath her, one of his thick arms anchored across her chest.

  He started to kick, swimming on his back, pulling her towards their destination.

  “Rest,” he said gently. “Human bodies weren’t designed to endure such things for too long. So allow me to take it from here.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

  She eventually relaxed against him as Kalan propelled them forward with powerful kicks, using his free arm to pull them along.

  His body was hurting; the part of his stomach where the Xargek’s claws had struck was still raw, and he suspected his internal organs hadn’t yet completely healed.

  That was why he’d asked Jia to swim for as far as she could manage before he took over. He’d been trying to conserve some of his energy, and heal as best he could. He had no idea what sort of enemies they might encounter once they reached the island.

  He’d managed to make contact with Nythian and Lodan through his comm. They were fine, but they’d landed further away, having jumped off the cruiser last.

  Still, they’d all spotted the island and were making their way towards it.

  He had no idea what had happened to the other Humans onboard the cruiser, and he didn’t really care.

  All he was concerned with right now was getting Jia to safety.

  She’d done her best, but the Human body had its limits, and now it was time for Kalan to take over.

  So he held her tightly and swam towards land, his body screaming with every stroke.

  Not that he would ever admit it. Pain was a familiar companion, and not worth worrying about.

  Kalan’s exo-armor was long gone. He’d commanded the nanites back into his bloodstream, to aid the healing process. His body would heal, even if it meant he had to sacrifice some of his own muscle mass in the process.

  It didn’t matter. Once he found the right nutrition, equilibrium would return.

  Jia gripped his arm tightly with both hands, curling her legs close to her body. He presumed she did that to preserve warmth.

  Kordolian physiology was designed to handle freezing temperatures. Kalan tolerated the cool waters of the ocean without a second thought. But Earth’s climate was very different, thanks to the sun the planet orbited. Humans probably didn’t tolerate the cold very well.

  Jia remained silent as Kalan swam. Time passed, and he continued to move, pushing on despite the agony coursing through his body.

  Alone, he could have made it by now.

  But there was no way he was leaving Jia.

  Kalan was an incomplete soul, and he’d finally found the part of him that had been missing.

  It was incredible that it had come in the form of a small Human, a brave, clever Human who had taught him the meaning of empathy, and had made him challenge the very purpose of his existence.

  “Mine,” he whispered, too softly for her to hear, as he pushed on through the dark waters, fighting the currents that threatened to drag them off course.

  Kalan trusted his innate direction-sense, which ha
dn’t ever failed him.

  He swam until his lungs burned and the pain in his side clouded his thoughts. He swam until he felt the soft ground beneath his feet, sighing in relief as he came up onto a shore, which was covered in a fine sand made of glistening white particles.

  “Jia,” he said hoarsely, but she didn’t respond.

  He dragged her out of the water and up onto the sand as exhaustion crept over him, threatening to sweep him away in a seductive embrace.

  He pushed himself up onto the sand beside her. “Jia?” He rubbed her arm.

  She felt cold. Humans weren’t supposed to get cold like this.

  Kalan was fading now, the pain in his body making his vision blur.

  She was cold, but to his relief, she breathed.

  He dropped to his knees beside her, and not knowing what to do, he did the only thing he could think of; he wrapped himself around her and begged the Goddess to grant Jia some of his strength.

  If he could give all of it to her, he would, if it meant that she would survive.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  She woke to the smell of salt and the gentle sound of waves crashing on the shore.

  Jia stretched and met resistance. There was something big and heavy on top of her.

  “Kalan?”

  He wasn’t moving. His chest rose and fell, but he was out cold.

  The warm sun beat down upon them, a glorious contrast to the chill that had plagued Jia during their endless nighttime swim.

  At some point, the cold and exhaustion had become too much, and she’d passed out.

  And yet somehow, Kalan had managed to get them to land.

  Sweet, sweet man.

  Jia groaned and wriggled out from underneath him. He was impossibly heavy, and her limbs protested every movement, still sore from her marathon swimming effort.

  “Kalan!” She finally managed to escape, breathing heavily as she rolled onto the fine white sand. He groaned softly, but didn’t open his eyes.

  Jia got to her knees and gasped as she took in Kalan’s appearance.

  He lay on his stomach, one arm curled against his face, the other spread wide. He looked a little too gaunt; a little too sinewy, the planes of his scarred back standing out in stark definition.

  As Jia stared, a bizarre process began to take place, right before her very eyes.

  Actually, it had probably been going on for a while.

  The skin on Kalan’s back was burning. It turned dark grey, then black, and then it began to blister. But amazingly, the affected areas would then slowly start to heal, and then the process would start all over again.

  Jia glanced up at the sun, shielding her eyes. It was high in the sky; it had to be late morning, or even midday.

  She had to get him into the shade.

  As she stood, she saw a line of coconut trees bordering an area of dense forest.

  Gritting her teeth, she grabbed Kalan under both arms and started to drag him up the beach.

  Fuck, he was heavy. All that damn muscle meant that pulling him up the sand was a laborious chore, and several times, Jia fell onto her ass. Thankfully, the sand broke her fall.

  Finally, she got him into the shade, collapsing beside him as she struggled for breath. Her body hurt like hell, and she’d started to sweat.

  “You’re too big for your own good,” she grumbled. To her relief, the vicious sunburn-cycle stopped almost instantaneously.

  She wondered how long Kalan had been in the sun, sustaining continuous damage.

  He’d told her that if his injuries were severe enough, his body would eventually start… eating itself.

  That was obviously what was happening now.

  She needed to get him somewhere safe, somewhere he could hydrate and take proper nutrition.

  What was it he’d needed?

  Protein. She needed to find him a source of protein.

  Last night, Kalan had told her he’d seen lights on the island. That meant that there had to be some form of habitation here. There had to be someone who could help.

  Jia grabbed Kalan’s arm and rolled him onto his back, grunting with exertion. His face and torso had been spared from the harsh rays of the sun, but there were fresh scars across his belly that hadn’t been there before.

  He’d been hurt, possibly seriously wounded, and he hadn’t said anything about it.

  That was typical of Kalan.

  Looking around, she took stock of her surroundings. They were in a grove of coconut trees, and behind them was thick tropical bush. She thought briefly about scampering up one of the tall trees to retrieve a bunch of coconuts, but dismissed the idea almost instantly.

  Even if she got her hands on a coconut, how was she going to crack it open?

  Instead, she glanced down the white sandy beach, and saw footsteps.

  So there were Humans on this island, after all.

  All she had to do was follow the footsteps.

  Beside her, Kalan was in a deep sleep, looking almost peaceful. But he appeared too lean for her liking.

  “Hey,” she said gently, touching his cheek. He didn’t stir. “Kalan,” she said again, this time shaking his shoulder. He mumbled something in his sleep, but he didn’t wake up.

  Jia didn’t want to leave him here, but she had to go and explore the island. She had to find help.

  So she did her best to cover him with fallen coconut leaves, which served the dual purpose of shielding him from the sun and concealing him from any curious passers-by.

  “Hang on, my love,” she whispered. “I’ll be back for you.”

  Jia stepped out onto the warm white sand, which stung a little under her bare feet. She began to walk, following the trail of Human footsteps until they coalesced with others. She walked for some time down the sandy beach, which, if she stopped to think about it, was stunning. Where the pristine sand ended, azure ocean began, the water startlingly clear and blue.

  As she walked further, the sound of splashing and laughter reached her ears. Jia rounded a corner and saw perfectly manicured gardens and an infinity pool. There were people splashing around in the pool, and on the beach, patrons lay on the sand, sunbathing.

  She ran up to the garden and ducked behind a sprawling fig tree, not wanting to be seen. In her rumpled, damp space-mechanic’s outfit, she’d stand out like a sore thumb. People would probably think she was crazy.

  And what was she going to say?

  “Excuse me, I’ve just crash-landed on Earth, and I need help. You see, our mining station was attacked by giant alien insects before being sabotaged by Human mercenaries as part of a shady cover-up conspiracy. Luckily, we were rescued by a group of elite Kordolian warriors, and one of them, the one who’s here with me, just happens to be my… mate.”

  Talk about a sure-fire way to get shipped off to a Psychometric Testing Center for further evaluation.

  And there was no way she was letting Kalan be found by FNA - Federation Nonhuman Affairs. Not in his weakened state. He’d entered Earth illegally, and there was all kinds of secret evil shit they could do to him.

  No, she was going to have to be smart about this one.

  Jia stole a look across at the resort grounds. The infinity pool was bordered by a line of sun-lounges, on which some of the guests had left towels, clothes, and beach-bags.

  She waited until she was satisfied the swimmers weren’t looking in her direction. Most of them had taken shelter from the sun under a swim-up bar, and were sipping on tall cocktails.

  Jia made a dash for it, racing out from behind the tree and nabbing the first beach bag she came across.

  She ran back behind the tree and inspected her bounty.

  There was a white pool robe in the bag, along with a pair of sunglasses and a floppy sun-hat. The robe had the resort’s insignia embroidered on the pocket.

  Mera-Pula Island Resort

  She crawled out of her jumpsuit and hastily slipped on the robe, belting it at her waist. She left the sun-hat but took the sunglasses; th
ey were plain black wayfarers that appeared generic enough.

  Her jumpsuit was folded into a neat little bundle and stashed in a network of knotted branches. She ran her fingers through her hair, not worrying too much about neatness. For all they knew, she could have just come from a swim in the ocean.

  Mustering all of her confidence, Jia strode out from behind the tree, discreetly dropping the beach bag back where she’d found it as she made her way around the pool and back towards the resort proper.

  She passed a restaurant area, where guests were enjoying an abundance of seafood. The smell of grilled fish and prawns reached her nose and she began to salivate.

  This was real Earth food, not the processed crap they ate up in space.

  She hadn’t eaten anything decent in so, so long.

  And she was parched.

  As she reached the expansive reception area, Jia rubbed at her eyes several times, trying to give off the impression that she’d been crying.

  The reception hall was large, cool and cavernous. Barefoot, she walked across a glass bridge that was suspended over a simulated reef filled with tropical fish.

  This place was absolutely stunning; it was the kind of resort she’d always dreamed of visiting.

  The reception desk was staffed by Real Humans, as opposed to the automated reception services found in many hotels these days.

  This was a really swanky place, then.

  A man in a tasteful blue and brown Hawaiian shirt greeted her, looking up from his holoscreen. “Can I help you, Ma’am?” His name tag said: Paul.

  “Y-yes,” Jia said, adding a theatrical little crack to her voice. She bent in close, motioning for the receptionist to lean in. “I’m afraid I have a small problem,” she whispered. “Now, I’m supposed to be here with my fianceé… well, I am here with him, but I’ve just discovered something very unfortunate. You see, I’ve just found out that he’s been cheating on me with one of the other guests.” She paused, and Paul’s eyes widened in sympathy.

  “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that,” he gasped.

  “Now, I don’t want a stupid thing like that to ruin my well-deserved vacation, which I’ve been planning for the last two years, but I can’t bear to spend another minute with him, and I would like to reserve another room; my own room, so I can relax and digest this bad news and enjoy the rest of my vacation in peace. Are you able to help me with that, Paul?”