I’m sure I haven’t touched my mother in years, though. Most likely, I’ve never touched my father at all. Not a hug, a handshake or even an affectionate slap on the back.
“What is it?” I ask, trying to sound respectful. I’ve never had to try at this before, but I’m finding it hard to reign in my anger at the moment.
“This human you were with, the one Ival saw you kissing, did anything more happen?”
“What do you mean?” I fear the reason she is asking about this. I’ve hoped it would be forgotten.
“Did you mate with her?”
My eyes widen, fear shooting through me. If father knows I’ve slept with her, she’ll be killed for sure, and most likely, so will I.
“No.”
“Please, Marduke, I need to know.”
“We never did that, Mother, I swear,” I lie. Since I’ve never told a lie to her before, I know she’ll believe me—we don’t lie on Oden, not ever.
“Marduke, I see something in you, something that wasn’t there before. You care for this human; I can tell. There is a protectiveness that never existed in you before. If you did mate with her, you need to listen to me. Since you’ve reached the age of mating consent, you were altered in a way to ensure that, once you were mated, you would easily begin producing offspring. Every family needs several heirs, in case of loss or defects. Our family is unusual for our small size, though this is my own failing, not your father’s. We were blessed to have two capable sons.”
“What are you trying to say, Mother?”
“I’m trying to tell you that we’ve run tests on these humans. They are very similar to us. Their bodies are weaker and disease ridden, but they work as ours do when it comes to reproduction. So if you did in fact mate with this human female, then there is a very good chance you also impregnated her.”
“What?” I gasp, my body first filling with a small amount of excitement that Mattie and I might be linked—that she might have something that will belong to us with her—before fear crushes my excitement. “Father will have her killed and any child she might carry.”
“I know, and I’m not asking you because I plan to tell him anything. In fact, it might be better if you don’t confirm anything to me. But if there is a chance that our blood runs in that human’s body, if she is carrying a child that belongs to our family, then you need to find which planet she has been taken to and you need to get her to a medic.”
“What do you mean I need to find out which planet she was taken to? Isn’t she here on Oden?”
“No, you were only just taken a week ago. We have not accepted any humans for almost two weeks. We’re too full here.”
“Then where would she have been taken?” A cold sweat breaks out over my body.
“We’ve been shipping them off to the other planets we own. She could have been taken to any of those nine planets.”
“I need to find her.”
“I know. She has more to fear than your brother and father.”
“What do you mean?”
“If she is pregnant, then you will be shunned if our people find out what you did; perhaps your father will kill you. However, if the humans find out she carries a child from our people?” She shakes her head at me. “The humans have rebelled quite powerfully, and we are cautious of them. We’re aware we need to keep a tight watch of them. I’ve seen their cruelty and hatred. It is vile, an illness they all carry. They turn on each other constantly, sometimes for no reason at all. If they find out the human is pregnant from you, then they will turn on her, too.”
I growl in anger, feeling even more claustrophobic being stuck in this room.
“How do I find her?”
“You need to get away from here and search every planet. It won’t be easy, and you’ll need to figure out a way to get your father off your back.”
“I need to get out of this room first.”
“I know, and I will work on your father for that. It’s all I can offer you, though.”
“When I find her, what do I do?”
She gazes at me intently, a stare that burns though me from the intensity. I’ve never felt like I’ve existed in my mother’s eyes. It’s never occurred to me that I should exist to her.
“I do care for you, Marduke. I care for both of my children, and that extends to a possible grandchild, no matter whom the mother is. I understand what will happen to you both, however, and I know the betrayal and dishonour this action will bring down on our family. You need to find her and leave here. Never return. Hopefully, your disappearance will be looked at as a loss from the war. You can never come back here or else you, your human, and your half-child will be executed. You will be considered a traitor, and your name will be remembered forever as such.”
That thought would have terrified me once upon a time. It would have been enough to scare me into doing whatever I needed to do to make sure that never happens. I have been taught nothing is worse than bringing dishonour on your family.
Now, I couldn’t care less.
The only thing that is scaring me into action is realising that Mattie is on a different planet, going through who knows what, no doubt imagining everyone she cares about is dead. In addition to that, she’s potentially pregnant with my child.
“Thank you for telling me this. I owe you,” I say, realising how much my mother is risking by being here. Just from coming into my room, she’ll risk my father’s wrath.
“You were always a good son, Marduke. I will think about you often.” It’s as close to a declaration of love as I’ll ever get from her, and more than I’ve ever expected to hear.
I nod my head, bowing deeply in respect towards her.
She then silently leaves my room, and I begin pacing once more. I need to get to Mattie and soon, before we lose each other forever.
Chapter 22
Mattie
I wake up feeling disorientated, trapped in something small and restrictive. I feel around, my hands barely able to move, an instant fear of being buried alive entering my mind.
I kick my legs out, finding the same restrictive barrier there. I scoot down, hitting the bottom of wherever I am. I move upwards, finding my hands touching the top of what I’m trapped in. I’m completely enclosed.
My heart pounds painfully in my chest and my breathing becomes more erratic. Yet, now is not the time to panic. I need to get out of here and passing out isn’t going to help me to do that.
I take deep breaths, not allowing myself to fear that I’m taking in too much oxygen, and I might be heading towards suffocation sooner just by taking the few deeper breaths.
Thinking back, I try to remember why I’m here. How did I get here and where exactly is here?
My heartbeat quickens as I immediately remember Logan. Marduke’s brother shot him, and I held him as he bled out in my arms. I can still feel the blood all over me; its warm substance covering my hands and chest as I held him to me. He bled out in my arms and something inside me snapped.
A strange darkness grew inside of me as I looked down at Logan. I needed so badly to hurt someone—I needed to kill Ival.
I’ve never wanted to kill someone before, but right in that moment, I was ready to kill him with my bare hands. Then Marduke managed to tackle him, managed to free the gun from his hands, and instead of reaching for the gun and shooting Ival, saving both of our lives, he instead grabbed that stupid control and sent me away.
I know he would have thought he was saving my life, but all he did was prolong my misery and allow me to have lost another person I love.
I saw the state Marduke was in—he was hurting badly; he was in severe pain. There is no way he would have been able to fight Ival off once I disappeared into wherever the hell I am. Ival would have killed him within seconds, and now I have no one. I’m completely alone, and no doubt, on my way to Oden.
Sadness and loneliness fill me. Marduke and I’ve shared something special, something I won’t ever be able to share with another person. Something I’ll never want to s
hare with anyone else. He might not have been from Earth, but he showed me more humanity than I’ve seen in a lot of people I’ve met. He saved my life on countless occasions. He protected me and Logan as best as he could. Now I’ve lost not only my parents, my sister, Hank, Lisa and Logan. Now I’ve lost Marduke, too?
Why am I the one that keeps surviving?
Why am I the one who is left behind?
Tears fall freely now, and I allow myself to wallow in my self-pity. I think I deserve it. My sobbing becomes louder, and under my sadness is anger. I’m angry that I’ve been left behind. I’m furious that people I love and care about have been taken from me.
My hands fist, and I lash out at the darkness, my fists connecting with my enclosed prison. I scream at the injustice that has been done to me, to billions of humans and to my planet. I wallow in my hatred for what has happened to Earth and vow to find justice. I don’t know how I will manage it, however I will die trying. I will avenge all the death, destruction and loss that humans have suffered. I will become whoever the hell I need to be to make a difference.
As my screams begin to quiet, I realise others are screaming, too. I hear crying, yelling and howling.
I’m not alone in here.
Before I can contemplate what that means, a bright light shines through and burns my eyes. I look away, covering my face with my arms. It’s only when voices sound too close to ignore that I take another glance.
The light is still there, but as my eyes adjust to it, I realise that there is no longer anything around me. The barrier I’ve felt earlier is gone. I know I wasn’t going crazy, though. My bloodied knuckles show me I have been hitting something. It’s fresh over the dried blood of Logan’s that is still on me.
I sit up, my back aching and my limbs feeling stiff and sore. I see several people around me, all in similar positions. Many look like they’ve just woken up. There are mostly men around me, many wearing military attire. They look confused, tired and most appear furious. I’d guess there are easily a hundred people in this open area.
There is nothing here that tells me where we are, though. Apart from the many shelf-like stations along the sides housing people, including me, there is nothing else. The area is narrow. If I reach out, I’d be able to hold hands with the man lying against the opposite wall if he too held out his hand to me. It’s like we’re all sleeping in a thin corridor. There are lights on above, yet I don’t see any bulbs or source where the light is coming from. Everywhere is grey; the walls, the shelves we’re lying on, the ground. It all appears metal and cold, but the air temperature is mild.
“What the fuck is going on?” a man yells from further down, and I hear a commotion of some sort. A scuffle, maybe even a fight breaking out.
It eventually dies down, and as people get up, stretching out and appearing to be on guard, I decide to do the same.
My anger is still simmering below the surface, but I don’t plan on losing it. First, I need to know what this situation I’ve landed myself in is. Then I will figure out a plan. Maybe I haven’t lost everyone. Maybe I’ll be able to find Hank and Lisa, maybe even my parents and Hannah. I don’t allow myself to hope for that much, though, feeling deep down that I’m in trouble here.
As we all make our way through the narrow walkway, I can’t help but feel herded out. Is that what we are now? Are we cattle waiting to be slaughtered? Goose bumps cover my whole body at that thought, but I don’t voice it.
Many people around me are talking, most seeming to know each other. No doubt, they were taken together. They sound American, and I figure I was just transferred to the same spaceship as them.
Marduke said they were taking us to Oden. Now, I wonder what our purpose will be there. Is it just to live in prison camps like I’ve feared, or will we be tested on and used as guinea pigs?
When I finally make my way towards the front of the line, I find a new brightness hitting me, this time from a natural light. The sun is out in full force and my stomach drops when I see not one, but two suns blazing in the sky above.
That isn’t possible.
“Where in the hell are we?” the man next to me mutters, his eyes on the two suns as well.
When I drag my eyes away from the suns, I notice all the other differences. Like the bright red dirt under my shoes, the metallic taste in the air, the almost black clouds in a lightened aqua coloured sky, and in the distance, a forest so green it looks as though it glows. Then I notice several of those machines that have terrorised us on Earth are close to us, although none of them appear to be attacking us now. If anything, they just seem to be watching, perhaps on guard. Fear shoots up seeing them so close, and I automatically reach to my side, looking for my gun that is no longer there. I have no weapons to defend myself with.
“This, my friend, is a place they call Roth, but I consider it a slow, boring hell.” A new man comes up behind us, clapping his hand over the other man’s back.
“Don?” he gasps, quickly embracing the new man. This man is heavily tattooed with huge shoulders, a thick neck, and he has to be at least seven-feet tall.
“I wish you weren’t here, but I’m glad you survived the fight,” Don says.
“Where did you go? I turned away for a second, saw some weird black shadow coming at you, and then you were gone. All of you.”
“We’re all here. Spent a week or so travelling on that stupid spacecraft and then we landed here on Roth. Those fuckers are here,” he nods at the machines, “but so far, they haven’t slaughtered any of us. They’ve managed to brainwash a few people, though. They’ve got humans working for them. They look just like us, but they speak in a fucking strange language and they act weird, like they’re not even human anymore. I don’t know what’s been done to them, but I’d rather die than turn out like them.”
I take in the admission that Marduke’s people are here. The fact that people think they’re human might be a good thing, though. Marduke fooled me for a long time, but if people begin to find out that the aliens who really attacked us are ones that look human, then I’m sure it’ll be no time before we all start turning on each other.
I shiver at the thought then the rest of what this Don man said sinks in. He spent over a week on a spacecraft? I want to ask him what he means as I try to wrap my head around the words he’s saying. Something nags at me then, and the feeling of dread sits uncomfortably in my stomach as I turn around.
Gasping at the sight behind me, I realise we’ve all just walked out of a spaceship. And not anything like the rockets we see on TV being sent up into space. This craft is one gigantic spaceship that must be as big as a dozen football fields in width, and most likely, just as huge in length. I also realise that, while we were marched out of the corridor where we woke up, there are also hundreds more like it with other humans stepping out. Hundreds of people have now turned into hundreds of thousands.
“Mattie?” a new voice calls out to me, and I instantly know it. It is one I’ve doubted I’d ever hear again.
“Hank?” I call out his name, afraid that I’ve imagined it.
Then hands grab hold of my arms, spinning me around on the spot. My vision blurs until I come face-to-face with Hank, who looks different. He has dark shadows under his reddened, glazed eyes. His frame already appears thinner, and I know he has lost weight.
He wraps me in a hug tight enough for me to figure out he still has his strength.
“I’m so glad you’re alive. When I was taken here, I feared the worst for you guys,” he says, still not loosening his grip.
“Is Lisa here?” I look over his shoulder, trying to catch a glimpse of my best friend.
“No, I’m the only one here. I am guessing they’re dead or worse. I’m hoping they aren’t, but…” His voice breaks.
“I’m sorry.” I take a deep breath, not letting my mind go there. Lisa can’t… she has to be alive. I need her to be alive. Marduke told me they’d been taken to Oden. If this isn’t Oden, then maybe they still made it there? Or even t
o a different planet.
“Where is Logan?” Hank asks, looking over my shoulder.
I shake my head, wiping away a few stray tears that fall. “He’s dead, so is Marduke.”
I might not have seen Marduke killed, but there is no other outcome that could have happened when he faced his brother. Not only did his brother have a gun, but Marduke used precious energy and time to send me away from him. Instead of readying himself for an attack, he made sure I escaped. That would have cost him, and I’m certain he’s paid with his life.
“I’m sorry, but maybe it was for the best.”
“The best?”
“Yes. They have humans here, but they’ve been brainwashed or something. They speak like Marduke did, sort of jolted English, and they sound just like him. Then there was that guy who was working with those machines, the one who sent me and the girls away. He sounded like Marduke as well. I think they’re taking humans and making them work for them. They must be doing experiments or something.”
I hold my breath, realising how close Hank is to figuring out what Marduke was.
“But Marduke saved my life, he didn’t betray us.” I can’t have his memory soiled like that. Marduke might have been from Oden, but he was a good man.
“I know. I think he fought it. I think he was so strong they couldn’t change him.” Hank gives me a sad smile. “He was a strong and brave man, Mattie, and I’m sorry you lost him.”
I nod, relieved that he still believes that. Marduke gave his life to save mine, and I won’t ever forget that.
“Listen, we can’t talk once we’ve left here. This place is crowded enough that no one can hear us.” He glances around us, giving me a seriously paranoid vibe, however since he has been here longer than I have, I glance suspiciously around us, too. “I’m part of a group, one that is staging a war on those machines who’ve invaded us, the ones that are now stealing our minds and souls.”
“A war?”
“Yes, we’re going to get the hell off this planet and take Earth back.”
“How?”
“By taking down every fucking alien creature that gets in our way. Are you with us?”
Earth (The Invasion Trilogy Book 1) Page 25
