by Beth Hodgson
A flash of white shot across his mind’s eye, then went dark. He could feel Ikaria’s lips pressing against his stomach, where the flow of his blood was gushing out.
There was no movement from him. No words.
Within the darkness of his mind, Auron saw a beautiful princess with green hair the color of an emerald jewel. She was with the red-gifted man, the Ghost Man from his previous vision, both in a deep embrace.
She was the complement. The complement the man was searching for in the darkness.
CHAPTER FORTY
Kyle stumbled through the darkness of the wastelands night, trying to focus on the ground in front of him, which was barely visible in the moonlight. Liquid sloshed around in the cans of beer he clutched, given to him by Garrett earlier from his personal stash. Several were already half empty, consumed by none other than himself. The night was stiller than usual, with no winds and hardly any sounds of the wild animals that normally contributed to the night.
What an asshole he was. A complete fucking dick. Earlier, he’d watched Emerald from afar as she talked with Victor at the camp bonfire. The very image of her made his heart hurt. Really, how could he be mad at someone who was the definition of innocence? There wasn’t a rotten bone in Emerald’s body, and she always had a positive outlook on her situation, regardless of how much shit was swirling around her. And here he was, stubborn as fuck and hadn’t apologized yet. Someone needed to punch him.
After a good amount of time jaunting through the barren land, Kyle caught the outline of a familiar large boulder in the moonlight. Nearing the rock, Kyle yanked a beer from his six pack, pulling it free from the plastic packaging, and set the can on top of the stone. He fumbled around in his jacket until he found his smokes, lit one, then plopped down in front of the boulder.
Kyle took a good long drag of his smoke, then exhaled slowly, feeling the calming sensation run through his lungs. Reaching for another beer, he cracked one open, guzzling all of its contents, then grunted after he finished, tossing the can aside.
“Hey, Mom,” Kyle started, lowering his gaze to the ground, almost ashamed. “Long time no talk. It’s been a while, huh? Sorry I couldn’t get out here earlier, but I had a lot of shit going on. Brought you a cold one. Thought you might like that,” Kyle said, pointing to the beer can on top of the rock. “Don’t get too excited. It’s really not that cold. More like drinking warm piss water, but it gets the job done.”
He looked up at the boulder, trying to focus his eyes on his mother’s name chiseled in the rock. It was no use. It was too damn dark.
“I finally brought a girl home,” Kyle muttered. “After all the years you rode my ass about it, it finally happened. She’s a good girl, you’d like her. Bit naive, but sweet. Gorgeous as fuck.” He paused, smiling to himself. “And she has magical powers. Can you fucking believe that shit?”
He stared at the boulder as he opened another beer and slammed it. He thought of Emerald and their last moments together. His mood darkened.
“But I fucked up as usual. I can’t seem to fucking hold on to anyone…” His voice trailed off. “And this one… she’s… different. Not like the other dumb broads.”
A sinking, shitty feeling came over him, which made him feel worse than moments before. Emerald didn’t deserve to be treated the way he treated her. He hated himself for being such an asshole. He hadn’t even heard Emerald’s side of the story; he was too angry and too busy jumping to conclusions to even listen to what she had to say. He cringed just thinking about their exchange, and each time he replayed it in his head, he felt even worse. Emerald had no one else to rely on but him, and he was supposed to protect her. Instead, he’d acted like a jackass in the heat of the moment. If Emerald had really known about the experiments, she would have told him. She’d been completely clueless about his accusations, and he knew deep down she was more than innocent; she’d been manipulated and used. But what was still bothering him was when he’d mentioned the picture. She’d been about to say something regarding it, but like the asshole that he was, he just left angry.
Kyle finished his beer, staring at his mom’s grave. His vision began fading in and out from the effects of the alcohol, making his head start to spin.
“I know what you are gonna say, Mom,” he mumbled. “You don’t need to tell me. I already know. Just let me be for a little while longer, then I’ll drag my ass back there and make it right,” he said, staring at the rock. “Just let me rest for a moment.”
He lay down on the desert ground, staring up at the blurry stars. Each one twinkled with its own brilliance. A gentle wind swept over him, and the rushing sound filled his ears. The sky started to spin, and he closed his eyes, listening to the soft rustles.
***
Kyle rubbed his eyes, confused for a moment about where he was. Realizing he’d passed out at his mother’s grave, he shot up, swept the dirt off his face, and headed back to camp.
The moon was still high in the sky, and the camp bonfires were still lit, so it had to be around midnight or so. He and Emerald had to be off to Illumina by morning, and he still had much apologizing to do to Emerald before they took off. Hopefully she’d forgive his asinine behavior.
Nervous about facing her, he slowly climbed the trailer steps, then took a deep breath.
Just suck it up, dipshit. Own it!
Kyle opened the door and stuck his head through it, glancing to his right, then to his left.
Emerald wasn’t there.
Flopping on the bed, Kyle lit a cigarette, then kicked off his boots, waiting for her to return.
Maybe she’s still with Victor by the bonfire, he thought. She probably doesn’t want to see my ass. I don’t blame her. If she doesn’t come back soon, I’ll go find her.
As minutes turned into an hour, Kyle started to get anxious. Emerald still hadn’t returned, and he was starting to worry he’d truly fucked everything up with her.
Noises erupted outside the trailer, and he heard men talking loudly. Getting up, Kyle put out his cigarette and threw on his boots.
“Kyle!” came a loud, sharp whisper from one of the trailer windows.
Kyle moved toward the whisper, peeking his head between the curtains. He didn’t see shit. More noise ensued, and the men’s voices outside became more forceful.
Someone had one too many beers.
“Kyle!” the whisper came again.
“What?” Kyle stuck his head out sharply, jerking it around. “Who’s there?”
“It’s Garrett, asshole!”
“What’s going on?” Kyle asked. “Why can’t you come knocking on the door like a regular person? You got to be all damn discreet and shit!”
“The authorities are here! They’re looking for her!” Garrett whispered in a panicked tone. “Get the princess out of here. Victor is buying time!”
Em… Kyle’s heart sank, and a feeling of impending doom came over him. “Garrett, she’s not with me!”
“Are you serious? Well, she’s not out here. You need to find her,” Garrett hissed, his face remaining anonymous in the darkness. “They’re going to start searching the camp. They were asking about you too.”
Fuck me! If Em is captured, I am the world’s biggest motherfucking asshole ever.
Kyle climbed out of the small window facing the desert, landing his feet on the dirt quietly. Scaling the backside of the trailer wall, he looked around a corner and spotted the authorities’ ground transports flooding their lights throughout the camp as men with guns walked through. Screams and cries echoed throughout as the police ripped through the tents.
Going off his memory of the camp’s layout, he dashed toward the first large pile of boulders on the outskirts. It was a damn good thing he’d already put Garrett’s gasoline in his bike, otherwise he would be seriously fucked right now. All he had to do was find Emerald. Hopefully she was behind one of the other piles of boulders. Or maybe she had already started to make her way further into the desert.
The last thou
ght unnerved him. She had no supplies to last out there.
Kyle waited as the spotlight from an air transport flashed its rays in front of the boulder he was behind, then sprinted to the next set of boulders after the light drifted away.
His new hiding spot was still at the edge of the camp. The authorities continued to rip through the camp while women screamed and children cried. The few camp men were fighting, but it was hopeless against a large task force such as Arcadia’s.
A well-groomed man stepped out of one of the transports, positioning himself front and center.
“Where is she?” the dark-haired man demanded, stepping right in front of Victor. “Where is the princess?”
“She is not here,” Victor murmured, bowing. Victor’s eyes did not leave the ground, as if he knew who this man was and knew to respect him.
“She was here earlier, a few hours ago! Where did she go?” The man’s voice boomed through the camp, echoing off the rocks.
Victor didn’t say anything.
“And the man who kidnapped the princess. Tell me where he is!”
“Kidnapped?” Victor repeated incredulously.
The elite got in his face, grabbing Victor by his tunic. “If anything happens to my fiancée, I will ensure that this whole camp is burned to the ground and there is nothing left of it.” He threw Victor down and stormed off, his cape flapping in the wind.
That’s the asshole Em wanted to marry? Talk about a first-class asswipe.
As Kyle waited for the air transport’s spotlight to make its rounds once again, an immense green light exploded in the distance. Kyle’s heart sunk into his chest.
Emerald’s magic. She must have left the camp hours earlier.
The whole camp erupted into chaos as soon as they saw the burst of green magic. Arcadia’s authorities began barking out orders to each other, and the officers retreated into their vehicles. After men ran by Kyle’s boulder, he sprinted into the darkness, down the main gravel path to where his bike was parked. Dodging the light from the multitude of transports, Kyle stumbled quickly to his motorcycle.
He started the engine, gunning it down the path. Within seconds, Kyle felt the aerial spotlights on him, though only for a quick moment. They flew away, heading toward the direction of the green magical blast. Other ground transports flew by and ignored him, heading in the direction of the princess.
Kyle made his way to the main road in haste. He knew of another dirt road junction that veered off in Emerald’s direction, the only one that wasn’t too rocky for his motorcycle. He gripped the handlebars, heading full speed to the junction.
With each minute that ticked by, he was slowly losing pace with the transports. His bike couldn’t handle the gravel, unlike the main road. Up ahead, there was another blast, this one closer, and this time it was bright orange.
Shit! It’s that damn cyborg!
His bike began to shudder from speeding on the gravel, but he continued to gun it anyway.
“Come on, you piece-of-shit bike!” Kyle cursed loudly. “Don’t fucking fail me now!”
The bike continued to move but not as smoothly or as fast as he would have liked.
Closer and closer Kyle came to where the transports were stopped, searchlights beaming on one person—Emerald.
Gunfire erupted from the direction of the transports. A split second later, his tire blew out from underneath him, and he instantly lost control, the bike spinning and flinging him off wildly. Kyle heard his bike crash against a large boulder as his body tumbled violently on the rocky desert ground, landing near Emerald and the authorities.
“Kyle?” he heard Emerald’s voice cry out.
His body was racked with pain, but he managed to roll over and weakly look in her direction. Her long green wavy hair swayed in the wild winds, her pale skin cold and iced. Her eyes sparkled bright green. Even now, she was hauntingly beautiful. The cyborg held her tightly in his grasp. She didn’t struggle, just stood there being held prisoner, a mortified look on her face as the winds whipped her hair fiercely.
“Em…” he called out hoarsely to her. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going back.”
“Don’t do this…”
“You were right all along… I never questioned him! I am going to do something about it.”
“Look what we have here.” Kyle heard a voice say above him. There were more sounds of footsteps shuffling near him, kicking dust in his face.
“It’s Kyle Trancer. The one who kidnapped the princess,” said another officer.
“Bullshit,” Kyle managed as he spit out blood. He made a lousy attempt to get to his knees, but he was badly injured, and he slumped back down on the ground as a circle of policemen hovered over him, snickering. “I ain’t no kidnapper…” Kyle coughed.
The authorities continued to laugh as he heard Emerald’s faint cries.
“He didn’t do anything! I was the one who ran away. Please, just let him be…” Kyle heard Emerald say.
Kyle grunted. “You hear that? I didn’t do nothing.”
One of the men pulled out a sedative in a syringe, startling Emerald. They injected her without warning, and she cried out in shock.
“We heard it,” one of the officers said. “We heard it loud and clear.”
“You fucking assholes!” Kyle managed before the hard force of a police baton bashed him over the head, rendering him incapacitated. The world went black and was replaced with twinkling white specks. The taste of iron filled his mouth as he coughed up more blood.
“Kyle!” he heard Emerald cry out.
“Em…”
The last thing he remembered in his blackened vision was a green glow and the words “Leave him.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Derek ran down the transport ramp out into the cold open desert. White floodlights were shining in the area, while armed men encircled a perimeter. There were loud hovering beats sounding above him from the transports that hadn’t landed yet.
A group of men had swarmed a location near a pile of rocks. Derek ran over, pushing the men aside.
A man with white hair lay there, bloodied. It was the man that Emerald had escaped with on the motorcycle.
Rage twisted within Derek at the sight of him. With a sharp swing of his boot, Derek kicked him hard. The man’s unresponsive body twitched, then remained still once again.
“He’s still alive,” one of the authorities stated. “What should we do with him?”
“Leave him. Let him suffer out here. Better he dies in the wastelands than in Arcadia’s cells.” Derek looked around. “Where is she?”
At that moment, his own question was answered. Out of the darkness, an orange glow appeared before him, causing Derek to stumble backward in surprise. The orange began to fade, and eventually Derek could make out the shape of a man, and he was holding an unconscious Emerald in his arms. The cyborg had very mechanical movements, making him seem decidedly inhuman. His eyes glowed at Derek in acknowledgment.
Derek had seen the cyborg for a brief moment at the crash site when the scientists retrieved him, but it was nothing compared to seeing it move when it was alive and walking around.
Frightened, Derek stared at the man, then hesitantly held out his arms, waiting for the princess to be handed over.
The cyborg’s burning orange eyes pierced through the flashing floodlights, causing the hair on the back of Derek’s neck to stand on end. He approached Derek with his mechanical movements, twitching strangely every so often while the circuitry shimmered orange.
Realization shot through Derek. This was what Ikaria wanted to bring to the future. He tensed. She could have them for all Derek cared. Such things shouldn’t even exist as far as he was concerned. They were what Damaris had intended to send and conquer York. Once again, Derek had no one to thank but the wicked witch from the future herself. If she hadn’t interfered when she did, York would have been overrun by a cyborg army.
The cyborg continued to look at Derek with
empty, emotionless eyes. He lifted Emerald, extending her out toward Derek. He waited patiently, his arms outstretched with the limp princess.
Approaching with caution, Derek slowly took Emerald into his arms. She was unconscious, her body lifeless. The cyborg watched him, causing Derek another wave of uneasiness.
Emerald’s breathing was slow but steady. She was in a deep sleep.
“What happened to her?” Derek demanded.
The mechanical man cocked his head, then his eyes flashed orange brightly.
“Can you not speak?”
The man nodded, then melted away into the night.
“Can someone tell me what happened to the princess?” Derek yelled, jerking his head around at the authorities around him.
“We had to sedate her, Your Highness,” said an officer who approached. “It was best to be safe in case she tried to run again.”
“So you thought it best to drug her?” Derek snarled. “She is a princess, not some wild savage to be tranquilized!” Angrily, he turned away from the officer, not letting him further explain himself. Derek fumed all the way back to the transport with Emerald in his arms. He sat down inside, laying her down on the backseat, positioning her head in his lap. He watched her delicate, dirty face as she breathed in and out while her windswept hair fell across her bare shoulders. Derek couldn’t believe Emerald was wearing such poor, tattered garments. They were cheap and unfit for someone of her status.
With a gentle stroke, Derek whisked away the long strands of loose hair covering her face and tucked them behind her ear. As he did so, he noticed three piercings, lining the upper ridge of her ear, curved black spikes peeking out. With a sudden burst of jealousy, Derek’s heart raged, seeing the rebellious man’s influence on Emerald.
No matter, the man was now dead. Or would be soon.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Kyle…
