Taoree: Taoree Trilogy #1

by Michele Notaro

  Colt and I broke apart when we heard glass break somewhere in the house.

  They came out of nowhere. Suddenly there were at least seven Ferals surrounding us. Not one of us was standing either, since we’d been getting ready to sleep. When the Feral closest to me stepped forward, I kicked out, hitting him in the knee and making him stumble. I couldn’t tell what weapon he had in the dark, but it sorta looked like a tire iron.

  I scrambled back away from him as I reached into my boot to pull out my knife. I never took it out of my boot anymore. I never even took my boots off, even when I was sleeping, which really sucked, but couldn’t be helped.

  As my back hit the bottom of the couch, I was taken by surprise by a female Feral that clawed into my shoulder and started snapping her teeth at me as she moved in even closer. I heard Wes whimper next to me, but I ignored him for the time being. I hadn’t wanted him to see me kill yet, since he’d been unaware of just how bad it had gotten outside this house, but I had no choice. So, with that in mind, I lifted the knife, and as the Feral brought her jaws down, I stabbed her through the eye with all my might. The eye seemed a little easier to get to the brain—so I could get her to go twitchy—compared to the neck method I had used a few times. Blood spurted out as she twitched around. I knew she would recover in a few minutes, but this would at least give me a minute to deal with Tire Iron Feral.

  I pushed the Feral off my knife and away from me, just as Tire Iron came at me, swinging the bar high in the air. Luckily, I saw the movement coming and was able to push Wes down as I ducked under its swing. The force of his swing made him lose his balance and stumble back a step.

  “Stay down,” I hissed at Wes.

  I didn’t wait for his reply. I jumped to my feet, shoving my knife in my coat pocket, then jumped on top of Mr. Tire Iron. The Feral wasn’t expecting it, so my tackle brought him down to the ground. I wrestled with him, trying to get his weapon. I elbowed him in the nose, wrapped my arms around his armed hand and twisted my entire body, using my weight as leverage. I felt his bone snap, but the bastard still held on.

  Finally, after twisting even farther and getting a shit-ton of scratches all over my face and neck, his hand opened up and the tire iron fell onto my stomach. I immediately grabbed it and turned around, still on top of the guy’s chest, and I swung. Over and over again. I hit the Feral in the skull as many times as I could with all my strength.

  When his movements slowed, I shouted, “Axe!”

  “Here,” Nolan said from behind me, holding the axe out when I turned to him.

  I took it, swung it above my head and brought it down on the Feral’s neck. It took four swings before his head was detached enough for him to stop moving. I looked over at my baby brother, who had Mandy’s head locked against his chest so she couldn’t see. He, however, was staring with wide eyes and tear tracks running through his blood-splattered cheeks. The poor guy was probably in shock at all the gruesome.

  Before I could really think too much about it, the Feral I stabbed in the eye started moving toward my brother. I leapt across the short distance and swung the axe, aiming for her neck. She put her arm up to block it, so the axe ended up lodged in her wrist. I tried to pull it out, but she was too fast and moved away from me. I was horrified when she yanked the damn thing out of her arm with her other hand and took a swing at me with it.

  “Well, shit,” I exclaimed when she came at me again.

  “Fuck, J, I needed that,” Cal grumbled between punches to a rather large Feral he was attacking.

  I glanced over at Colt and saw him taking on two Ferals at once with the machete we found the other day, but they were gaining on him. Nolan was still fighting one that had a knife in each hand, and the giant Feral Cal had was wielding a bat. We were fucked.

  I ducked under the axe and kicked at the thing’s ankle, but all she did was step back. However, it gave me enough time to shout to Wes, “Take Mandy into the bathroom.” I jumped back, but the axe nicked me in the bicep. It hurt and started bleeding pretty badly, which made my movements a little slow. “Fuck! Lock the door.” I got a kick to her stomach, sending the Feral back a few feet. “Stay quiet. I’ll get you after.”

  His wide eyes held so much fear I didn’t think he understood what I was saying, but finally he yelled, “I can’t.”

  I didn’t have time to contemplate what he meant because the axe bitch came at me again. It was like she had a second wind or something because she started swinging left and right, making me jump back farther and farther. She slashed my stomach, but thank god she didn’t have very good aim with only one eye. Still, I could feel blood coming out of the wound immediately.

  I found myself pushed up against the wall, only about a foot away from the doorway to the kitchen, but that foot could’ve been a mile for all the good it did me. When the Feral lifted the axe above her head, I figured this was the way I was going to die. I could hear the others in their own battles all around, so I knew they wouldn’t be able to help me. I prayed that they would get out of this somehow and save Wes and Mandy.

  I tensed in anticipation of the blow I knew was coming, unable to move with my stomach and arm injured so badly, but suddenly a pasty white arm shot out from the doorway, wrapping a pale hand around the Feral’s throat. Another hand grabbed the axe out of her hands, and in a split second the pale hands twisted the Feral’s neck until it snapped.

  Then I watched in horror as a Taoree came into view, grabbed the Feral’s head and pulled it off as if he was peeling a petal off of a flower. Blood flew in all directions, covering me from head to toe. The alien swept into the room and in less than a minute, knocked down all the other Ferals and pulled out a stick-like thing that he then pressed it into each Feral, making them shake like they were being electrocuted for a few seconds before going still. Then he just stood there, staring at us.

  All four of us slowly moved closer to Wes and Mandy until we were in front of them. I felt the others kneel down, as if they were commanded to. I didn’t understand what they were doing, but I was vaguely aware of them checking on Wes and Mandy.

  I remained standing, though, not able to take my eyes off the Taoree in my living room. In fact, as he just stood there, staring right back at me, I took a step closer. When he didn’t retreat, I took another step.

  I felt a hand on my thigh, trying to hold me back, and Colt hissed, “Get back.”

  I ignored him, pushed his hand off of me and stepped even closer to the alien until I was only about two feet away. It was like I couldn’t help but move closer to him. Something was pulling me toward this creature. The Taoree didn’t take his eyes off me.

  “You,” I whispered to the alien, “I know you.” He looked just like my dream alien; it was uncanny. Even his long black braid was the same length as in my dream—down to his mid-back.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” Cal whispered, sounding freaked out.

  I ignored him and addressed the alien again, “It’s you, isn’t it?”

  “You do not know a fucking Taoree,” Cal insisted behind me, panicking, but I didn’t really hear him.

  The Taoree took a small step toward me and slowly raised his hand. I heard everyone freaking out behind me, but I just couldn’t be bothered by it. My entire being was focused on the alien in front of me as I stared into his dark eyes. His pale hand came to rest on my cheek and when his warm skin touched mine, we both shuddered. I felt safe, calm, and peaceful for the first time in a long-ass time.

  I pushed my cheek farther into his palm without taking my eyes off him, then I brought my hand up to place it over top of his, causing us both to shudder again. I felt that pull again. I needed and wanted to be closer to him. I took another step forward, closing the distance between us so we were chest to chest and I had to tilt my head back to look up at him.

  Before I even understood my own intentions, I was wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head on his chest, hugging him to me. Without any hesitation, the Taoree wrapped his arms
around me, holding me tight. I closed my eyes as a cinnamon scent surrounded me, making me feel even more at peace, if such a thing was possible.

  I had no clue how long we stood there, but I was abruptly jerked out of my sudden daze and craziness when I heard Colt practically yelling for me to get away from the alien. I turned my head toward my friends without letting go and noticed how distraught they all looked. So I reluctantly backed away out of reach of the strange being.

  As soon as I relinquished contact with him, I felt a deep stab of sadness in my chest so heavy that I started panting and had to press my palm to my chest. My body started shaking a little and I felt cold all the way to my bones. What the actual fuck did this guy do to me?

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and looking into his dark eyes again. Despite the fact that he must’ve done some kind of weird voodoo shit to me, I wasn’t afraid. In fact, I felt like he was radiating that calm peacefulness right off of his body and shooting it all over the room. I could feel his energy, and a large part of me liked it.

  I heard the others trying to get my attention, so I spared my friends a glance and whispered in awe, “He’s the eye!” Of course they all looked at me like I had three heads because I had never told anyone about the alien from that night. I had never wanted to… share him, maybe? And hugging a fucking alien probably didn’t help their opinion of me, anyway.

  When I looked back at the Taoree, he spoke in a familiar voice, “Hello, Jeremy.”

  “I never told you my name,” I stated the obvious. “How did you know me that night?”

  He started, “I—” he stopped suddenly and looked toward the front door, then he pushed my shoulder until I fell on my ass. My shoulder burned where he touched me, but not in a bad way. “Stay down,” he whispered, looking first at me, then at the others. I shook my shoulder out to rid myself of the warmth.

  He walked over to the front door and opened it a little so he could see out, but we were still behind the door, unable to see anything. My blood ran cold when I heard another alien’s voice say something to him. The alien on our side of the door replied in a few terse words that I could hear, but couldn’t understand. They went back and forth a few times before the alien closed and locked the door and turned back to us.

  He held what I assumed was some kind of Taoree radio or transmitter and spoke into it in his language. Another alien voice came through it in response. They went back and forth for a minute, none of us understanding a word, before he put the transmitter in a pocket and looked at us.

  I opened my mouth to ask him what was going on, but he put his finger up to his lips and shook his head, telling me to stay quiet. I listened. For some reason, I wasn’t scared of this Taoree, but I couldn’t speculate why. It was like a part of me trusted him, even though I didn’t know him, and even though I was terrified of every single other alien. It made no sense, but I was going to trust my instincts… for now, at least.

  He remained by the door, and I had the sense that he was guarding it in case someone else came by. I ended up scooting back until I was sitting next to Colt on the floor and leaning back against the couch. My stomach and arm were still bleeding and starting to hurt more with each passing second, now that the adrenaline had worn off. I was also feeling tired and dizzy, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it, so I ignored it. I was covered in so much blood and gore that no one would be able to tell that half the blood on me was actually my own. When I looked at everyone, they were staring at me like I had suddenly grown six dicks out of my forehead.

  I could see their questions, practically feel them burning on their tongues, but I just shrugged at them and leaned my head on Colt’s shoulder and stared at the alien. After a few minutes, Colt shifted and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I hissed in pain when his hand touched the axe cut on my bicep.

  In a flash, the Taoree was kneeling in front of me with my arm in his hand. I wasn’t afraid, but Colt had jumped in front of me like he was protecting me from the strange alien. I pulled Colt back down with my free arm just as I felt a heat emanating from the Taoree’s hand. The heat traveled to my still-bleeding cut, taking away some of the pain. The alien pulled my arm out of my jacket and pushed my sleeve up, revealing a gash in my arm that was a lot deeper than I’d initially thought. Colt was staring at me like I’d lost my mind, but when I pointed to my injury that was healing before our eyes, he sat back and watched.

  The blood stopped flowing out freely and the skin on my arm started knitting itself back together. After probably only thirty seconds, the gash was completely healed. You couldn’t even tell there had ever been an injury there.

  The Taoree whispered, “Where else are you injured?”

  I took a deep breath, then lifted my shirt to reveal the even bigger gash across my stomach, causing the alien to gasp. I had been trying to ignore it the whole time and figured I’d just find a sewing kit or something later. I hadn’t wanted to make a big deal of it when there was still such a big threat walking around outside… and possibly inside.

  The alien put his palm over my stomach and I felt that same warmth spread over me, so this time I closed my eyes at the feeling. That injury took a little bit longer to heal, but probably still less than a minute. When it was fully healed, the Taoree kept his hand against my skin and I realized he didn’t even have anything in his palm. Like he had healed me with his own power or something. I had assumed he had some kind of tool or weird Taoree technology device. When I looked into his eyes, he was already staring at me. With his free hand, he reached up and cupped my face again, but this time I felt his warm energy and it only took a second to understand that he was healing the cuts on my face and neck from the one Feral’s nails. I kept my eyes on his and couldn’t read his facial expression, but he eventually let go of me and looked over at my friends. I was cold when he pulled his hands away.

  “Anyone else injured?” he asked quietly.

  I pointed to Nolan, who rolled his eyes, but still pulled his collar to show the shitty sewing job Cal had done on his neck. The alien moved immediately to heal him before he asked, “Anyone else?”

  They all shook their heads and Cal said, “Just a cut, but I’m fine.”

  Still, the Taoree went over to him, but this time he handed Cal something that was shaped like a computer mouse. He clicked a few buttons that made it glow green and said, “Hold this over your injury.” Then he walked back over to the front door.

  I was confused because I would’ve sworn that he didn’t heal me with any kind of tool, but now Cal was using one. Maybe I’d been mistaken, though. I guess I had to be.

  It was quiet for a long time before the Taoree looked over at us and said, “They are gone. We can stay here for the night, but we will need to leave at first light.”

  “We?” Cal asked.

  “I can take you to a safe place,” the alien answered.

  “Why should we trust you?” Nolan asked.

  “I would never hurt a human, especially not a friend of Jeremy’s,” he said, surprising the crap out of me.

  Everyone looked at me expectantly, and when I opened my mouth I was surprised by what came out, “What’s your name?” The alien smiled at me and for once, I thought one of them looked beautiful. That thought surprised me even more than my question had.

  With his smile still in place the Taoree answered me, “My name is Orreannysius-Anyke, but you may call me Orrean.”

  “Orrean,” I repeated, trying it out. Or-re-ah-n. It rolled easily off my tongue. For reasons I couldn’t explain, I looked at the others and stated, “We can trust him.”

  They all stared at me with wide eyes and some slack jaws, clearly thinking I had lost my mind. Yeah, I can see how it might look like that.

  Colt looked at Orrean. “Why should we trust you?”

  Orrean walked over to the armchair and sat down, letting out a sigh. “I am part of the Resistance. We want to live in peace with the humans.”

  Cal snorted. �
��You guys have a funny way of showing it.”

  Orrean shook his head. “No, you do not understand. The Taoree that have started this war are the Taoree Legion and work for our emperor, Emperor Thelonious Serparla. But there are a large number of us that do not agree with his rulings. The Independents are fighting back, trying to stop Emperor Thelonious. I can take you to the Independents base camp.”

  “If you’re an Independent, what were you doing with a group of Taoree that were clearly killing humans?” Colt asked him as he pulled me to his side.

  Orrean tracked the movement and seemed to grimace, but still answered, “I am a… what is the word… a spy. I have been spying on the camp and reporting back to the commander of the Independents.”

  “You’ve been spying on them for over two years?” I asked, knowing he’d been at that camp since it was set up.

  “Longer than that. I was with that group for a few years before we came to Earth.”

  Everyone was quiet, slowly absorbing all the information.

  Later, Colt asked, “Why are you willing to leave your undercover position? Why now?”

  Orrean eyed him for so long, I didn’t think he would answer, but he looked away from us and stated, “The war is upon us. I need to help the Independents and humans. Also, I could not kill a human myself, so my actions would raise suspicion in the emperor’s ranks.”

  Colt nodded, but I got the feeling that Orrean wasn’t telling us everything.

  Colt told us, “My Taoree friend, Innaku, was part of the Resistance. I believe the Independents do exist.”

  Huh. That’s news to me. Everyone shook their heads at Colt.

  I asked him, “Why didn’t you tell us about that before?”

  He shrugged. “I forgot about it. It didn’t really seem relevant with all the people and Taoree running around trying to kill us. It’s not like I know how to find the Independents or anything.”