It’s louder than ever.
I cover Ava with my chest, and she squeezes her hands around my wrists. “What’s happening?” she cries.
A gunshot rings out. And then another. A barrage of bullets, raining over our heads. The metal beams above start to collapse. A fire burns somewhere between the grooves of steel.
“We need to run,” I say.
I turn to my left and see a corridor. I lead Ava in first, quickly following behind her. The ceiling crashes down, and I barely have enough time to get my legs inside.
A shivery feeling comes over me. I wonder if I'm going to survive, to see this love through to the end.
But standing at the end of the corridor is a man with a rifle. He’s got one hand outstretched, and he’s wearing a look of readiness.
“Come on, lovebirds. Let’s get you to safety.”
9
Ava
I’ve never known love before.
Not genuine love, anyway. Not the kind of love that doesn’t end up stabbing you in the back or making you feel even more alone than when you were holed up in your room.
I know how crazy all of this is. Falling in love with an alien is already far-fetched, but a cyborg? Well, that’s something else entirely.
It’s not just the sex that keeps me near him either. He has proven himself willing to save me, time and time again.
It’s also this place…
Being here has changed me. At first, I wanted to run away. Then I wanted to stay. Now, I don’t know what to think.
This world is constantly evolving, moving at a faster rate than our own. Who knows what might happen in a year’s time?
That must be why Elon brought me here. He knew I’d fall in love with a beast who’d do anything to protect me. He knew I wouldn’t be afraid to nudge him further into the simulation.
What else does he know?
I don’t want to think about it. I just want to be with him. But right now, we’re running through a shape-shifting, mechanical realm, and it’s definitely collapsing in on us.
With every step taken, another door closes behind us. I can feel the wind brush against my back as one nearly catches me, almost closing me into this realm for good.
Finally, we reach the end of the tunnel. A glass door opens outwards. Light streams inside, and I quickly realize we’re looking at the way back inside the regular simulation. Back where we came from.
There’s the cabin in the distance.
The only problem is that this rogue is leading us right into a pack of cultist’s hands.
Some wear blood on their faces, a sign of murderous consecration. Others bear arms and spikes, their faces covered by clay masks and crudely designed cloth veils. They’re waiting for our entrance, but if we stop running, this realm will close in on us for good.
I draw a breath and dive through the door. Immediately, we are met by the onslaught of cultists, a blur of shapes coming straight for us.
“Run,” Kalxor growls.
I know I should listen, but I can’t run as these men gather to kill him. I don’t care if he isn’t real. He’s real to me.
The rogue man grabs my collar, pulling me back, locking my arms, so I can’t fight this.
Frantic, I lunge, but I don’t get far. I am easily held, and I’m forced to watch the cultists surround Kalxor. I blink, and one of them knocks the butt of his rifle against his cheek. Kalxor falls, and they kick him down. The leader combs through the crowd, brandishing a blade. He holds it in front of his chest, ushering a prayer met with wholehearted support.
And then he sinks the blade into Kalxor’s abdomen, and I feel it as though he stabbed me. He stands back, and I watch the blood begin to pool and trickle down Kalxor’s muscles. My alien cyborg’s eyes roll upward, staring directly at mine, a hurt beast on the verge of meeting his maker.
I’ve been here before. Helpless and alone.
Held back, held down, and still held above the rest. Made to take on the burden of the family.
This man, the rogue who led us back into the maze, holds me still. His smell, rugged and old. His voice, far too familiar.
And his laugh, a deep chuckle that resonates at a frequency I call my own.
He is my father. What’s left of him inside my head, anyway. That place built him, and now he’s here with us.
Did he know he’d catch us?
“I love this part,” he says.
My arms throb with pain.
My heart pounds, cold.
My eyes witness Kalxor drifting away as the cultist’s surround him.
“Dad. Let me go,” I cry. “Please.”
It’s not him. It can’t be him.
“Run,” Kalxor pants.
All of a sudden, my father lets me go and spins me around. He throws his rifle into his chest, barrel aimed straight for my heart.
I fall to the ground, spinning and covering my ears as bullets sink into each of the cultist’s heads with clean precision.
I roll over and look back at my father. And you know what?
He hits me over the head with his rifle.
Open my eyes. Head hurts like a bitch. Where am I?
I take a deep breath and cough, saliva tasting faintly like iron. My muscles ache like I’ve been through hell and back. Oh, that’s right. I have.
The first thing I see is Kalxor’s tied up body. His head is bent with exhaustion, but he’s still breathing. The wound on his stomach has been stitched with careful precision.
My father snaps his fingers near my eyes, and I come to my senses a little more. There’s a fire behind him cooking in the recess of the wall.
He begins sharpening his blade, keeping his head turned.
“How’d I know this day would come?” he asks.
My head is pounding. I think I’m going to be sick. “You’re not real,” I mutter.
“Real enough to know you’re my daughter,” he says.
The way he says it… it’s like he’s disgusted. I remember how he was now, too clearly to feel any good about it.
The love, excitement, and the anticipation I felt with Kalxor has been hit by a storm of negative emotions. Suddenly, none of this seems worth it.
I want my old life back. I just want to go home.
Kalxor lifts his chin slightly. “Ava...”
“Don’t,” I plead, though I don’t know who I’m directing that to. I’m so flustered I can’t concentrate on anything anymore.
I just want out. Now.
My father examines the blade near the flames, a black hat circles over his shoulders like a dead sun. It shadows half of his face.
He looks different, but my vision wanes before I can put my finger on what that difference is.
“What in the hell did you think you were doing, coming into this place?” he asks.
“I’m sorry,” Kalxor interrupts. “I couldn’t protect you.”
His eyelids folds over with guilt.
“I’m okay,” I lie. “A little shaken up, but I’m good.”
My father stops sharpening his blade and raises an eye at the alien. “Quiet down. I’m trying to speak with my daughter,” he says. “If you want to ask questions, you’ll direct them at me.”
“Fine. I will. First thing’s first. Why the fuck didn’t you kill me? You are human,” he says. “You clearly don’t want your daughter to be happy. What gives?”
My father smirks, lips rolling up to show some of the blackness around his gums. “I have no use in killing you. You’ll just end up killing yourself, anyway. Like you always do. It’s in your nature to lose.”
Kalxor jerks against his ropes, but my daddy’s always been a good boy scout. He’s got him tied up and knotted well.
“Once I’m out of here, I’ll bring you down with me,” Kalxor growls.
My father whistles out a stream of air. “Maybe. Probably. But it won’t matter, and you know it. This place has become unmanageable. It’s a living, breathing organism. You saw it with your own eyes.”
“I intend to kill it,” Kalxor roars even louder.
“You can’t kill what you aren’t meant to kill,” he says. “Elon didn’t expect you to win.”
Kalxor twists his head to the side, wincing and moaning. His shoulders sag, back bent, looking defeated. “Fucking Elon. The king of this place. I need to find him.”
My father flips the knife and nearly places it into its leather holder, but he hesitates. “You already know him,” he says.
“No,” Kalxor says. “I’ve never found him.”
My father stands and peers into Kalxor’s eyes. Suddenly, he grabs his chin and tilts his head toward the flames. “Did you already forget?”
Kalxor’s neck bulges. His muscles become inflamed as he frantically tries to push the chair away. But he’s too weak to fight, and my father is too stubborn to let him go.
“Get off him,” I cry. “This is about you and me.”
My father chuckles, hair dangling in front of his left eye with a maddened expression peaking through the thin strands. He lets go, face turning red, and he eases off him with both hands in the air.
“I’m only having a little fun,” he says, winking.
His catch phrase. Well, I know better.
“How are you alive?” I ask.
My father steps into the light once more. He takes off his black hat, holding it to his heart. His eyes, blue as the sky, peer back at me with a sudden gentleness I’ve never seen before in him. He steps forward and kisses my forehead.
Then his eyes change, blackened with some dark understanding. His face has been burned, flesh covered in severe scars. His eyes are sunken and dark as oil, and inside them it looks as if the world has turned and broken to pieces.
It’s me who is breaking. Me and my heart.
“There was one thing I never taught you,” he says.
I swallow, mouth suddenly very fucking dry. “What is it?”
“Ava, don’t listen to him,” Kalxor says.
I bite and gain more confidence as he steps more and more into the light. “Tell me,” I mutter.
“You can’t beat me,” he says.
The words hit me like a punch to the gut. I stagger backward, spine hitting the brick wall behind me. My breath starts to speed up as I process everything.
“I led you here. I gave you Elon’s card. I made this happen,” he says. “Me.”
My bones feel like dust. If I take another step, I might explode into the air.
I thought he might tell me he’s sorry. I thought there might be some redemption to all of this, but there’s not. You can’t get rid of pain. You can only understand it.
It is always a part of you.
The last few days flash in front of me. The meetings. The man dressed in black with familiar eyes. The business card that led me to Arnoi Industries. That fucking receptionist...
All of it was a ploy, a set-up by my own father.
He is the man who met me at that support meeting.
He’s the man dressed for a funeral, waiting by the dessert cart to send me into another state of self-loathing and loveless depression.
That smile. That wink. His darkness.
I should have recognized him.
What’s his aim?
I feel dizzy, like I’m not quite right in the head.
“Ava...” Kalxor moans. “What is he talking about?”
“I don’t understand,” I say. “I went to your funeral. I saw you die.”
He slides a forefinger underneath my chin and hushes me down as if I’m still three years old. “Your mind is infected, Ava,” he says, too gentle. “You can’t trust yourself. That’s why I’m here. To keep you safe. Forever.”
The word forever rings out in my head, reverberating endlessly. I have to get away.
“I can feel your thoughts,” he says. “I can sense your panic, but do not be afraid.”
“No. You’re not real,” I grunt. “You’re nothing like him.”
But he’s everything like him. It’s this place that allows him to be something new. Something improved and even more sinister than he used to be.
He’s a version of himself I never wanted to meet.
I turn my head and look at a cloth mask hanging on the mantlepiece above the fire. I’ve seen that mask before.
“The cultists,” I whisper. “It was you. You formed them.”
“And then I killed them,” he says. “They weren’t much use, anyway.”
His smile grows as I start to question my own sanity. What is real should be so easy to define, but I’ve been here for too long. I don’t know anymore.
I glance back at Kalxor. His eyes are wide, pupils glowing red, but his energy is waning.
“Did you know my father was here?” I ask him.
With the energy he has left, he lifts his head and exhales with intensity. “Don’t listen to his lies. He will try to divide us. Remember what we had together.”
But what we had wasn’t real. It was only a mirage, something I’ve ached over for such a long time. This isn’t the place to change my life. This is an escape.
He told me things would get harder. I didn’t listen.
Why the fuck didn’t I listen?
“Ava,” he pleads. “Hold on to our connection. Remember our love.”
My father turns, weaponless, hands open. “You wanted to know more,” he tells him. “That’s why you’re here, right? It’s why I found you.”
“I didn’t realize it would come at such a cost,” Kalxor growls.
“Everything comes with a high price tag these days,” he says. “Even you know that. Let me ask you a question. Do you even love my daughter? Or are you so fascinated with escaping you’d do anything to get away?”
Before Kalxor can even try lunging, my father pulls the blade in front of him. He leans over Kalxor, unfazed by my cries.
My father drags the rigid edge over Kalxor’s tight flesh. A trickle of blood drapes down near his heart.
“This world,” my father growls. “You don’t really believe in it, do you?”
Kalxor pants. “End this,” he begs.
“All because you feel a little pain? Is that your reliable confirmation?” he asks.
“No,” Kalxor admits. “I know this world is different. It’s not like the planets on the outside. It might be a simulation, but that doesn’t mean it’s not real. What happens here effects everything. I love Ava. Do not twist my intent.”
My father leaves the blade sitting on Kalxor’s thigh, tempting him to grab it. “Have you ever asked yourself why you believe that?”
“I don’t need to,” he says.
“I believe you do,” my father says, untying his wrists.
Kalxor wiggles free, eyes lighting up with exalted freedom. He picks up the knife and lifts, letting out a great roar.
But my father looks over at me. Another wink before he speaks. “Open source command,” he says.
Kalxor turns stiff. The knife falls to the floor. His eyes dart back and forth behind closed eyelids. He’s reliving something. Something traumatic and deep.
A soft moan escapes his lips before a long howl resounds across the cabin.
“Stop it,” I cry. “What are you doing to him?”
My father ignores my tears. He asks Kalxor a question. “How did you first arrive here?”
Kalxor drops his mouth. His voice is robotic and cold. Lifeless. “I was sent here by my creators.”
My dad circles around his chair, hands flexing. Open and closed. “For what purpose?”
More words come, but I can barely register them as true. It seems impossible. “To find my one true love. To mate and escape Earth. To obey the code they give me.”
“Earth,” I whisper. “Is that what you want? A second world? How did you convince Elon to help you? Tell me.”
My father grins, head spinning to peer at me. “You need to get over yourself, Ava. It’s touching, seeing you fall for a cyborg. I have to admit, I didn’t think you’d get
this far. But now that you have, I realize just how gullible you really are,” he says, eyes black as night. “You’re just like your mother.”
My heart sinks like an anchor into a bottomless well, pulling all of me down with it, until it’s impossible to get enough oxygen.
My taut stomach kicks. My heart burns. But none of it matters. I’m stuck here for good.
No. I can't comprehend this.
I drop to the floor, twisting under the pressure of a knot that seems to have me trapped like I’m some sort of caged princess.
My father runs his hands across his abdomen, chuckling to himself. “Enough questions,” he says. “Wake up.”
I feel my cheeks turn hot. It’s getting so hard to breathe.
But Kalxor is back, blinking his eyes, stunned. He exhales, visibly shaken by this experience as tears drag down his cheeks.
“Now do you understand?” my father asks.
Kalxor looks like he’s seen a ghost. He’s pale, sweaty, lungs breathing in heavy as one might do during a bout of hypothermia.
“No,” he growls. “I’m fucking real. I know I’m real. Everything that happened to me, I felt. I saw what happened to my family.”
Hearing this makes me emotional, but I have to constantly remind myself that it never happened. He is an autonomous robot. He’s merely programmed to have these thoughts.
Programmed by people like me.
My father spins, arms outstretched. He takes a deep breath through his nose as if he is enjoying the smell of fresh air.
Is he a cyborg, too? Does he know what a smell is? He might know the concept, to recognize and discern the scent. But will he ever know it? Know it like we do?
He meanders through us without acknowledging Kalxor’s newly acquired freedom. The alien could kill my father, but it’s like he knows it won’t happen.
He meanders toward the door of the dimly lit cabin. “Quit asking yourself questions. It’ll only drive you deeper into the maze,” he says.
Strangely, both of us follow him outside. He gazes at the moons and exhales again, biting his top lip. Then, with a quick snap of his fingers, he makes them travel across the sky, replacing them with the sun.
Alien Beast: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance Page 9
