by Elin Wyn
“That didn’t make any sense but I’ll take your word for it. What if there are possessed up there?”
“Then they’ll eat us and it won’t be our problem anymore.”
“How uplifting.” The Valorni pulled himself up with ease. He climbed until he was level with me, then stopped. “Would you like me to go up first? If there are possessed up there, I can fight them off better than you can.”
“Sounds good,” I nodded. He reached the top of the plateau while I was still struggling to get a grip on the frost covered rocks.
“We’re all clear,” he called down to me. “You can pick up the pace whenever you like.”
“You could toss me a vine or a branch. Really, anything would be useful,” I shouted back. Seconds later, a thin branch fell past me and clattered to the floor. I looked up to find a grinning Valorni.
“Very funny!”
“I thought it was. I’ll go grab something to actually help you. Don’t go anywhere.”
I shook my head and tried to keep my laughter under control.
That alien really knew how to take the stress out of running for our lives.
Or we were both verging towards hysterical.
Either way, it worked for me.
My foot kept slipping off its hold. If I timed this wrong, I’d fall.
I was less than ten feet off the ground, so falling was unlikely to injure me but it would cost us valuable time.
Clicks and shrieks rose from the trees behind me as the possessed burst forward. They glared up and me and bared their teeth.
“How’s it going with that branch, buddy?”
One of the possessed made a leap for my leg. I kicked out, making contact with his jaw. He reeled back and let out a rage-filled scream.
“It’s Tyehn.”
A woven braid of vines plopped down next to me.
“Are you going to grab it or stare at it?”
I took hold of the vine rope with one hand and kept the other hand on the rock. Tyehn pulled slowly until I found a good climbing rhythm.
He took my elbow when I was close enough and hauled me over.
The possessed tried to climb as well, but they couldn’t keep their footing on the frosty rocks.
“What’s the next step of your up, over, back and around plan?” Tyehn asked as we hurried away from the edge of the plateau.
“That plan puts us back on an even footing with those things,” I shuddered. “New plan.”
“Which is?”
“A plan that’s new.”
“And the weight’s been lifted from my shoulders.” Tyehn’s voice dripped with sarcasm.
I waved him off. “Give me a moment to think.”
Before I could come up with a brilliant life-saver of a plan, more shrieks echoed through the forest.
“Srell! How many more of them are there?” Tyehn groaned.
“At this point, we should assume everyone who isn’t us is one of them.”
We took off jogging in the opposite direction of the shrieks and wails.
“Those possessed at the bottom of the ledge couldn’t climb, right?” Tyehn asked.
“The frost on the rocks made it too slippery for them.”
“And for you.”
“We’re not talking about me.”
“Right. Let’s look for another ledge for me to help you climb. That’ll put another level between us and the possessed.”
“The elevation changes aren’t that drastic here. I don’t think we’ll find another one.” I tripped over another damn root and caught myself on a tree trunk. Unfortunately, it was covered in frost. I lost my grip and slipped forward.
Tyehn’s hand shot out and wrapped around my forearm.
“I can’t tell if you’re good at this or not,” he said.
“I’m not wearing footwear that does well in snow! They don’t sell any in Sauma because it’s Sauma! We don’t do snow.”
“Whatever you say.” Tyehn laughed and released my arm.
“Wait, you just gave me an idea. Can you make another one of those vine ropes?”
“Coming right up.” I could tell Tyehn was confused but he didn’t question me. He grabbed some hanging vines from the tree and wove them together.
“Will that hold your weight?” I asked.
“Why?”
“Because we’re climbing.” I pointed up to the canopy.
“Worry less about the vines holding me. Worry more about the branches holding me.”
“We’ll deal with that when we get to it.” I grabbed the vines and started climbing up the frosty tree trunk, trailing the makeshift rope behind me.
“That’s a terrible plan.”
“If you can think of a better one before I find a comfy branch, we’ll go with your idea. Until then, up we go.”
Tyehn waited until I situated myself on a narrow branch near the top of the tree. I left the thickest branches open for him to choose from.
“That one looks like it’ll hold you.” I pointed to a branch beneath mine on the opposite side of the trunk.
“You realize my bones are eight times denser than yours? I grew up on a planet with gravity so heavy it would crush your little bones.”
“How would I know anything about your bones? Just pick a branch before the horde shows up.”
Tyehn gingerly sat on a branch, clinging to the vine rope like a lifeline. The branch didn’t even bend under his weight.
“Looks like the branch can handle those thick bones of yours just fine,” I smirked and shimmied down to be on level with him.
“I didn’t say thick. I said dense.”
“Do your dense bones have a plan?”
“Shh.” Tyehn raised his hand to silence me.
A scurrying sound came from beneath us. Possessed roamed between the trees. They were clearly searching for something but they weren’t in pursuit.
If I didn’t look at them too closely, I’d think they were just normal people out for a stroll.
But they weren’t.
We waited in tense silence until the horde moved on.
Once we were sure they were far enough away, I let out a sigh of relief.
“Our best bet is to make it to an outpost or a shuttle,” Tyehn said.
“I’ve got a bike that can get us there but it’s back at the camp.”
“Too risky. The possessed liked your camp, remember? Besides, if they’re anything like the ones the Xathi created, they might’ve turned some of the other scientists.”
“You’re right.” I chewed on my bottom lip and tried to think of something. “I just really like that bike.”
“I’ll figure out a way to get your bike.” Tyehn rolled his eyes. “I’ll call in an evac for it if you want.”
“Would you?”
“I was joking but you genuinely look like you’re about to weep. If it comes to it, I’ll make sure you get it back.”
“I’m not about to weep.” I straightened up. “But thank you.”
“You don’t need to thank me. Just admit that a bike brought you to tears.”
“I will push you off that branch. How hard will your land with those thick bones of yours?”
“Dense.”
“Yes, you are.” I grinned.
“Very funny.” He shot me a look before pulling out some kind of alien contraption.
“Can that thing teleport us or is that too wishful?”
“If I had something capable of teleporting us, don’t you think I would’ve used it sooner?”
“Fair point. Can’t blame me for hoping. What is it, then?”
“A navigation unit. It’ll tell us how to get to the nearest shuttle stop.”
“It can’t detect nearby possessed, can it?”
“We aren’t that lucky. Come on.” Tyehn scooted off his branch and dropped to the ground, landing on his feet.
“I can’t do that,” I called down after him. “I’m human.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t hold that against you
,” he grinned up at me. I pursed my lips and grabbed the vine rope. I wrapped my legs around it and slid down to the ground.
“Not bad for a human, right?”
“Ask me that again once we make it out of here alive.”
Tyehn
Night descended on the jungle, turning the winter wonderland into a place darker than the deepest cave.
Maki—it seemed odd to call her Dr. Hotaru now, after the experience we’d shared—walked a pace ahead of me.
We lost the pursuing possessed earlier.
They seemed to have been confused by our hiding spot, so at least we weren’t dealing with enhanced senses like smell.
The darkness made our going difficult, but since the horde didn’t seem to have night vision, it hampered them, as well.
Maki unexpectedly stopped, and I stepped on the back of her heel. She yelped, far too loud for the circumstances, and hissed in recrimination for both my clumsiness and her noise.
“Watch where you’re going, you lumbering killing machine.”
“Sorry. Can’t see a damn thing here.”
“Hold my hand, then. I’ll lead you along the path.”
“Uh, okay.”
I awkwardly reached out into the darkness for her hand.
Unfortunately, I’d forgotten how much taller I was than Maki. My fingers closed around something soft and pliant, and she shrieked, then slapped my chest.
“That’s not my hand.”
“Sorry.”
Much more carefully, and at the right height, I reached for her in the darkness. Her fingers clutched at my much larger limb and snagged securely.
“My fingers don’t even fit around your hand. You’re huge.”
“That’s just a rumor made up by human women.”
She chuckled softly in the darkness.
“I should slap you again for that comment.”
“Shouldn’t you be wearing leather first?”
“Maybe, but you have to buy me some drinks first.”
“If we make it back to civilization alive, I’ll buy you a whole bar.”
The banter helped to dispel some of our nervous energy.
Not all, but a bit.
The last thing we wanted to talk about was the fact that we were in huge trouble.
We’d been cut off from Team Three, my comm unit was damaged in our fleeing that we were only able to transmit in very short ranges, and we were being stalked by some sort of hybrids that were no longer supposed to exist on this planet.
Part of me wondered if we could appeal to the Puppet Master, but I had no idea of how to do it.
Jalok had communicated with him before. Though, according to Jalok, the Puppet Master had initiated the contact.
I guess when you’re a massive planet sized being the troubles of a few of the germs crawling over your skin don’t get your attention much.
Maki’s hand seemed so tiny inside of my own.
But I remembered the way she moved back during the assault at the camp site, and I knew that she could take care of herself.
This was no damsel in distress, and I was glad for that.
Unfortunately, it had been a srell of a long day for me. First I’d worked out hard, trying to outdo Keith.
Then Keith had attacked me in the gym and bruised me up pretty good. After that, I’d first run to the armory and then to the airfield.
Then there was the brutal fight at the camp, and the desperate run through the jungle afterward.
And there was no getting around the hard facts. “I’m getting tired.”
“I am too.” Maki’s voice was soft. “We should find a place to rest for the night.”
The idea of falling asleep on the jungle floor didn’t sit very well with me at all.
“You know this area better than I do. Are there any caves, or any type of shelter we could use?”
“No, I don’t know of any caves in this area that won’t be flooded with the recent precipitation. But I have an idea.”
She stopped ahead of me, and I nearly bumped into her again. I waited for a few moments but she didn’t budge.
“Ah, you said you had an idea?”
“Oh, shit, I’m pointing up right now. I forgot you can’t see me.”
“Up? What, you want us to fly?” I laughed at the notion. “I can flap my arms real hard but I don’t think we’ll get much altitude.”
She had the good grace to laugh at my lame joke.
“Fly, no, but I think we can climb.”
“Climb, huh? That might work, if you think you can find another tree sturdy enough to hold me.”
“I know of just the one. It’s an ancient growth with a trunk so thick your entire Strike Team could hold hands and not reach around to the other side.”
The mention of team Three made me worry again about Sk’lar and the others.
If they’d managed to stay together, they’d be fine. But separated, it was far too easy to pick us off one by one.
And without a working comm unit...
I hoped they were all right, but things seemed pretty bleak.
Maki led us to the tree in question, and even in the dark it was imposing. It appeared as a massive black hulk darker than the surrounding shadows. The only problem was that the trunk was sheer, and the lowest branch dangled a full thirty feet off the forest floor.
“Damn.” Maki sighed. “I guess this won’t do after all. C’mon, let’s go find another one.”
“Wait.” I resisted the light tug of her hand when she tried to lead me on. “I can get us up there. But you’ll have to climb onto my back.”
“Oh boy, why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like this one bit?”
We spent a few minutes using some of the jungle vines to rig up a makeshift safety harness that went over my shoulders, under my armpits and tied at my sternum.
Maki climbed under the vines and slithered up onto my back. Her body was warm, shielding me from the chill jungle wind.
“Okay, I’m secure back here. What are you going to do? Can your species jump like Skotan do?”
“I’m afraid not, but I can climb.”
“There aren’t any handholds.”
“I’ll make some.”
I dug my fingers into the bark until they sank in. Then, hand over hand, I dragged the two of us up to the lowest branch.
Even though she was secured by the vines, Maki clung to my back tightly.
We finally made it up to the branch, and from there she was able to get herself up. It was a good thing, too, because at that point I was nearing total exhaustion.
Using some more vines, we managed to rig something akin to a hammock for the two of us. Because of the tight confines of our thrown together shelter, and the cold, we had to huddle together.
I didn’t mind, though.
Her body pressing against mine was oddly pleasing.
Or maybe not so odd. My body responded to her warmth in ways that were wildly inappropriate.
Fortunately, I had a lot of other thoughts to distract myself with.
Maki soon fell asleep, snoring softly into my chest. I remained awake, troubled by memories stirred up by the possessed.
When the Xathi war had first ravaged the Valorni homeworld, I’d seen a loving mother turned into one of those things. She’d attacked her own children.
Her children.
If I hadn’t been there, she’d have ripped them to shreds without a modicum of mercy or remorse.
We’d barely been able to save the kids, but the mother had run off into the forest, and the fighting had moved on.
I had no idea what had happened to her.
Here on Ankou, all of the Xathi hybrids were supposed to have been cured by Evie’s serum, but what if some had stayed hidden?
Would that be better or worse than some sort of new crises?
My thoughts circled endlessly. I was definitely glad to have run into Maki, and not just because she saved my ass.
Her sense of humor was a tre
asure in dark times, quite similar to my own in a lot of ways. Not only that, but I couldn’t help but admire her physical form.
Lean and quick and lithe, she was like the exact opposite of myself.
After a time, I did finally manage to drift off for some much needed sleep.
I had no idea how long we slumbered, but the sun was well over the horizon when I awakened.
Maki was already alert, and when I started to speak she put her finger on my lips and pointed down at the jungle floor.
I peered through the foliage and saw a group of possessed searching the area below.
They must have followed our tracks.
Relentless. Whatever they were, they weren’t human anymore. Humans couldn’t have kept up that pace, searching for all those hours.
We were forced to spend another two hours shivering up in the tree, and trying not to think about how badly we needed to pee. Just when my bladder was on the verge of bursting, the possessed all snorted and took off at a dead run, leaving us alone at last.
Maki wanted to wait a little longer—it seems like females of any species can hold their urine longer—but I had had enough of the tree by that point.
I clambered down with her on my back, and gratefully, we both went off in separate directions to relieve ourselves.
Once we’d somewhat pulled ourselves together, she spoke.
“What are we going to do? It’s many miles to the edge of the jungle on foot, and those things are roaming all over the place.”
“We need to get back to the shuttle. It’s our best chance.”
Assuming it’s still there, and if so, that it can still fly.
I could tell Maki was worried about that as well, but she was quiet, just gnawed at her lip.
But we had little choice, so we trudged off wearily toward the camp.
And kept our concerns to ourselves, and our eyes peeled for trouble.
Maki
“You’re quiet all of a sudden,” Tyehn said as we walked through the snowy jungle.
“I’m just listening.”
“Why are you walking with your eyes closed? You’ve tripped over at least ten roots since we left the camp.”
“Like I said, I’m listening,” I repeated.
“I’d feel better if you listened with your eyes open. Never thought I’d have to specify that.” Tyehn sounded like he was shaking his head, not that I could tell by his voice.
