Through the Never

by J. A. Culican

“Rodan, there is news,” said Kada as he sat beside her during late helio meal in the dining hall.

  Normally, whenever they ate meals, she ate alone, and Kada sat with some of the other trainee fighters. So, the fact that he was sitting beside her now meant the news was important.

  “I overheard some of the fighters talking, and they may have found where the Keepers’ fighters are going to attack next.”

  Rodan stopped moving, her fork paused in mid-air as his words sunk in. The Keepers’ fighters. These had to be the ones who, the ones who had, had ruined her life. She let the eating utensil fall back to her plate.

  “Where are they? What is Gamma going to do?”

  “Fight them, of course. I do not have any details yet. But I am going to ask if I can join them. And I thought you would like the opportunity to join them, also.”

  The anger inside of her was no longer just an ember but a raging flame. Her heart beat faster. She trembled. “Yes. I am going with you.” She walked away from the table. She needed to be outside. She needed to be alone.

  “Time to move,” a voice whispered over Rodan as she was awakened.

  She opened her eyes springing alert. The rest of the seasoned fighters were standing and reassembling their gear so they could move out. Rodan slowly leaned away from the tree trunk she had used for support as she had slept and stood, stretching. She looked around and saw Kada doing the same.

  They were the only trainee fighters on this mission. In fact, Gamma faction’s Head of Security had met with Rodan and Kada himself before agreeing to allow them to go. He knew they were survivors of Lewu encampment and had wanted to make sure they understood what this mission would entail. Both she and Kada had assured him that the details of the mission did not matter. They wanted to join the fight. Reluctantly, he had given them his permission.

  The group had been skulking through the forest wearing dark fighter’s uniforms for six helios, almost a lunaquart. They were on half-rations and water was running low. Assuming it would take them the same six helios to return to their embarkation point, the Team Leader had determined this was the helio where, based on their remaining rations and water, they would have to decide to keep going or to return.

  When everyone was on their feet and ready to go, Rodan, Kada, and the other nine fighters stood around their Team Leader, Fabic, as he discussed his decision.

  “Everyone, we will have to return to base. Nels and Ipe searched for a water source during late helio and found nothing in the area.”

  Rodan looked around at the other fighters and wondered why they would expect to find water in this area. They were sleeping in a monocere mating area. It was why there was a large clearing covered by a canopy of trees in the middle of the woods. Generations of monocere mating in this area had cleared it. And it would make no sense for monoceres to have a mating area near a water source.

  As if reading her mind, Kada spoke up. “You will not find water in this area. This is a monocere mating area so water could be up to a half-helio’s travel away from here.”

  Fabic looked at Nels and Ipe for confirmation, and each of them stared back with empty looks on their faces.

  Rodan gathered her courage and spoke. “Kada is correct. In the woods, both predator and prey share the same water sources. The more predators you have, the further you live from the water source. You do not want to make it easy for your predators to find you. Monoceres are prey for practically every wild animal you can think of. As a result, they live the furthest from any water source.”

  Fabic looked at her and Kada for a few moments, and asked, “Do you and Kada think you could find the water source before sol set?”

  “I do not—”

  “Yes,” replied Kada cutting Rodan off. “We can find it.”

  “Very well. The two of you will take the lead. But if we do not find water before sol set, we will immediately turn and begin the trip back to the embarkation point.”

  “Understood,” replied Kada.

  Half a beat after him, Rodan said the same, but without any of the confidence she heard in Kada’s voice.

  She and Kada consulted one another and determined the best starting point would be the side egress point which appeared the most worn. Rodan and Kada began walking with Fabic, and the rest of the fighters, close behind two by two. Rodan and Kada, both accustomed to being out in the wilderness, were able to seamlessly work together to follow the monocere path through the woods.

  As they walked, Rodan began to feel like herself for the first time in the lunar cycle since Lewu was massacred. Walking beside Kada, she could almost forget what had happened. The only thing missing was Jabok. Normally, the only time she was around Kada was when she tagged along with Jabok. In fact, this reminded her of the time when she had tagged along with them when Jabok was out searching for young lups to domesticate. It had also been after harvest season had ended, and—

  “What are you thinking about that has you smiling so much,” asked Kada in a low voice interrupting her reverie.

  “Oh. Nothing,” she answered, a little self-conscious about her fantasy. She also whispered. They were not speaking softly to keep the other fighters from hearing them, but to make sure they would not announce their presence to anyone possibly hiding in the forest.

  “If you say so,” he replied, but silently and repeatedly continued peeking in her direction.

  “I guess, I just miss this,” she waved her hands widely. “Life in the compound is stifling. Do you not miss being in the open air? The red and orange sky above. The feel of the sol on your face. The feeling of being free?”

  He shook his head. “No. This reminds me too much of my childhood and the life The Keepers stole from me.”

  She nodded. “I get it, I do. But you can have that life back. Once we are done with this mission, maybe we could do as the other Lewu survivors have and find another encampment to join. You were right about one thing. My desire for vengeance did pull me back from the brink of a very dark place emotionally. But do you ever think that maybe you could move past vengeance and live for yourself?”

  He shook his head again, slowly. “No. My desire for revenge is the only thing keeping me going. Without it, I do not have anything else.”

  “Only because you have never allowed room for anything else in your life. The entire time you lived in Lewu you only made one friend, and—”

  “And he is dead now. Killed by the same evil that killed my family. If anything, the attack on Lewu showed me that I cannot let my guard down. I have to remain vigilant in my desire to destroy The Keepers. And given time, I think you will come to the same conclusion.”

  Before she could respond, she heard the sound they were hunting for. The sound of trickling water. She elbowed Kada. He nodded. “I hear it, too,” he said before turning to let Fabic know. They had found water. The mission could continue.

  After filling their water containers and taking turns cleaning themselves beside the water source, the fighters had found another clearing in which to rest. The next helio when they awakened and began moving, she thought about what Kada had said about how her desire to destroy The Keepers would become the only thing that kept her going. Was he right? Would she become like him, closing herself off to everything in life but her desire to kill those who had murdered her loved ones? She hoped not.

  The two people walking in front of her suddenly stopped short.

  Rodan brought her thoughts back to the present and saw everyone in front of her and the fighter beside her, Nels, were all standing still holding a fist in the air. She copied them.

  A message began making its way back to her as each fighter heard it, passed it on, and then began removing weapons from their holsters.

  “Fighting ahead, prepare for battle,” the fighter ahead said.

  Stunned and on automatic, Rodan turned her head and repeated the message. With shaking hands, she removed the handheld kinetic weapon from its holder at her waist. She was possibly about to face the people respons
ible for destroying her home, and her future. She only hoped she could kill several of them before she died herself.

  Chapter 5

  With her heart pounding in her chest, Rodan stayed close to the fighter with whom she had been partnered and followed his lead. She and Kada had only been able to make brief eye contact before he went off with his partner. She knew they would possibly never see one another again, but after her conversation with him the previous helio, she knew this was the moment he had been waiting for since he was fourteen annums.

  They walked toward the sound of weapon’s fire and screams. The smell of smoke began to permeate the air. Tears welled up in her eyes as she was immediately transported to when she ran into Lewu after calling for help. As her nerves threatened to leave her immobilized, she instead focused on the sight of her parents, and of Jabok, when Gamma had helped her and the other survivors who were able to do so, bury their dead.

  Kada had been there with her. And after making sure his adoptive mother and father had been buried, he had come and assisted her with burying her parents, Jabok, and his parents also. Holding the images of their lifeless bodies in her mind, the flames of anger blazed burning away everything else.

  They broke through into the clearing marking the outskirts of the settlement, and were immediately met with a small group of people running in their direction to go into the woods to hide. Thankfully, the sol was still high in the sky and they could easily tell that these were scared people and not enemy fighters. They allowed the people to run past them without stopping them.

  She and Nels continued forward, Rodan doing her best to copy his fluid movement toward the sound of mayhem. Her anger kept her moving, but it did not stop the shaking. Buildings were now becoming visible. They were heading into the center of the encampment. As they walked past, the windows of a building on the left exploded causing Rodan to start. She pointed her weapon at the sound of the blast and fired several times. Nels placed a hand on her shoulder.

  “At ease,” he said.

  She looked back at the building and saw the flames now engulfing the building. Apparently, the fire burning inside the building had caused the windows to explode and not an attacking enemy.

  “Sorry,” she said.

  “Do not apologize. Fast reflexes keep you alive in battle. And you have a soldier’s reflexes,” he said and moved forward.

  She followed. Soon, they came upon three fighters holding weapons and searching around a building. They were not dressed like Gamma’s fighters. These were fighters for The Keepers. These were the people responsible for the death of her family.

  Both she and Nels fired.

  Two of the fighters hit the ground. The third managed to fire at them a few times before running to cover around the corner of a building.

  “Follow me. Stay close. Watch my back.” Nels called out to Rodan as he ran after the fighter who escaped.

  She did as instructed and followed him. Instead of running straight after the fighter who had escaped, she watched as Nels carefully searched above and around them with each step. She matched his caution, following what he did while making sure to also look behind them.

  They made their way through the maze of between building passageways. Nels rounded a corner, then hurriedly pushed her back as he shouted, “Incoming!”

  Several rounds of ammunition hit the spot in the dirt where they were previously standing.

  “I saw at least four fighters. So, either the one we were chasing found three comrades...”

  “Or the one we were chasing is still out there, and these are four different fighters,” Rodan said completing his thought.

  He did not have to tell her it would be the end if the four fighters managed to make it to where they were.

  “Give me cover fire, and I will run to the other side of the opening. Then we can trap them,” she said.

  “Okay. Ready in three. One. Two. Three.”

  As soon as Nels said three, Rodan stood and ran for the building on the other side of the opening. She did not stop and think. Nor did she look down the passageway to see where the fighters were. She focused only on what was important, her spot behind the other building.

  She ran so fast that when she made it past the opening, she almost stumbled trying to stop her forward motion. She had made it across. She turned and positioned herself just around the corner and joined Nels in firing at the enemy combatants. They had walked over halfway down the passage toward where she and Nels had been hiding before she moved. As a result, when she made it into position, they did not have time to run back to the other end of the passage to avoid their weapons fire.

  When the fourth fighter had been killed, Rodan looked at Nels ready to celebrate that she was still alive, when she saw another fighter coming toward him.

  “Get down,” she called out to him and fired over his head.

  After several shots, the fighter fell to the ground, and Rodan ran over to Nels who, face down on the ground, had not gotten back up yet. A dark stain spread near the left shoulder of his already dark gray uniform.

  “Nels,” she called out to him.

  “I am alive.” Nels used his right arm to raise himself upright. “I cannot use my left arm, though.”

  “What should I do?”

  “You should help me load my weapon, position it so I can fire it, and press on. I cannot move and shoot accurately with one arm. So, I will only slow you down.”

  Rodan hesitated. She did not want to leave him. When she separated from Jabok, he ended up dying. She did not want to do that to another person.

  “Rodan,” snapped Nels. “What we are doing is more important than any one of us. The Keepers need to be stopped. Now help me load my weapon.”

  She followed Nels’ orders and pressed on the way they were going before they were fired upon. She glanced back at him briefly before she continued toward the growing sounds of gunfire and shouting. Rodan did her best to copy Nels’ cautious manner of checking above and around corners as she moved. And since she was alone, she also had to watch behind herself as well.

  The closer she got to the center of the settlement, the more bodies she saw of the former residents who had lived there. Young, old, and every age in between had been killed by the Keepers’ fighters. She had no idea why this encampment had been targeted. But whatever transgression they may have committed, it could not have warranted this.

  “This way,” she heard a voice call out, followed by what sounded like multiple running footsteps coming in her direction. She could not tell how many, but it definitely sounded like more than one person.

  A quick scan of her surroundings revealed no obvious places for her to hide or take cover. This was it. This would be her last stand. She smiled. She had helped kill seven Keepers’ fighters. Seven lives for the five taken from her did not balance the scales, but she could die without regrets.

  She crouched down at the base of the wall opposite where she thought they would pass her. Maybe she could catch the runners off guard and shoot some, or all, of them before they could kill her. Any fighters she took out would be one less her team would have to worry about. She pointed her weapon at the opening and tried to slow her breathing. She pictured Jabok in her mind. Not his dead body, but him when he had asked her to become his mate. He was smiling, and bright red. Rodan blinked away the tears that would obstruct her view and waited.

  The footsteps got closer. And into her weapon’s line of sight appeared three people wearing Gamma’s dark gray uniforms. Unfortunately, she had screamed and pulled the trigger a split second before realizing it was not the enemy.

  The three people all managed to dive down to the ground and point their weapons at her. Though, no one fired.

  “Is anyone hit?” Rodan called out. “I thought you were the enemy.”

  “Rodan,” yelled Kada who got up and ran over to her. “I am fine. Either of you get hit?”

  “No, I am fine,” answered Yeter.

  “I am fine,” answered Ip
e.

  “Where is Nels,” asked Kada.

  “He was shot. He could not use his left arm. So I had to leave him,” she said as she stood. And then burst into tears. An immense wave of relief, guilt, and disappointment all rolled over her.

  None of the other fighters tried to tell her to stop crying. Yeter and Ipe merely kept watching while Kada stood beside her. As suddenly as the wave of emotions hit her, it disappeared. She dried her eyes and asked. “What are you all doing back here? The fighting is in the other direction.”

  “A large group of Keepers’ fighters are concentrated in the center. They have set up a stronghold and are sending out teams to clear all of the paths leading to it. We ran into one of their groups. It consisted of at least six fighters,” answered Yeter as she continued to watch for would-be attackers.

  “I thought we could find a way to circle around them when we found you,” said Ipe.

  “The direction I just came from should still be clear,” added Rodan.

  “Good. We can backtrack along your path, and look for another way to reach the center,” said Yeter.

  “And maybe we can go back to Nels. He could not use his left arm, but he could walk.”

  Everyone agreed, so Rodan led them back to where she had left Nels.

  She rounded the corner, and instead of seeing Nels sitting up with his gun in his hand, she saw Nels on the ground and someone kneeling over his body. The person was not wearing a fighter’s uniform. So instead of shooting at him, everyone shouted some version of the command “Move away from him.”

  Chapter 6

  The man standing over Nels’ body jumped to his feet, startled, and held his hands up in supplication.

  Rodan, Kada, Yeter, and Ipe all ran to him.

  “Please do not hurt me. I did not do anything to the fighter. He was in this condition when I found him,” the man pleaded.

  Yeter got onto the ground to check and see if Nels was still alive while Rodan, Kada, and Ipe questioned the man.