Текст книги "Arrival"

Автор книги: A.G. Wilde

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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 15 страниц)

FER’RO

Adee’ra is against my chest and I can feel every beat of her blood organ.

Her fear scent is almost overpowering but I hardly notice it now.

Every instinct within me is focused on the great danger in our midst.

The Scrit is steadily approaching…and we are running toward it.

I don’t think Adee’ra realizes this yet, but it is the way we have to go.

The Gryken is not likely to return from whence it came. Safety is behind, not in front.

Keeping to the trees, we move quickly over the surface and I sense the big machine around me even before I catch sight of it once more.

Every symbiote on my being bristles.

Ga’Var growls his frustration but we cannot attack.

Not yet.

Our ship is not ready to.

And so, we will have to let the Scrit go. We will have to watch it walk away while hiding like cowards.

Small hands grip me and I glance down at the hyu’man in my arms as we move.

Her wide eyes are focused far ahead. Her gaze rising to the Scrit.

Her chest heaves in distress.

“You’re heading the wrong way!” She grips me tighter. “It’s in front of us!”

There is no time to explain as I slow down, my gaze darting around to find a good spot.

There’s a little area that’s without many flora.

“Fer’ro,” she’s staring at me now, “tell me you know what you’re doing.”

Her gaze is frantic as I put her down so she’s laying on the ground, back against the dead leaves.

The Scrit sounds again; its warning call.

It senses the hyu’mans.

But it doesn’t sense us.

“Adee’ra,” her name slides off my tongue easily, as if I have been saying it for eons. Her breathing staggers as she stares up at me. “Do you trust me?”

Off to the side close by, Ga’Var and San’ten are also putting their hyu’mans down.

“Are you leaving us?” she asks and I cannot read the look in her eyes. “Are you leaving us here?”

The Scrit sounds again and trees split and break as the ground shakes far too close to our location.

It will be right above us soon.

“I’m about to do something that might…terrify you.” I sense her fear rising but I continue. “Do not raise an alarm. It already knows you are here.”

At my last line, her blood organ palpitates.

There is no more time.

I only see her eyes widen as I settle over her and the shroud covers us.

Suddenly, the world around us is no more.

The dark sky, the trees, my brethren close by…everything disappears.

We are…cocooned.

Adee’ra glances around but she doesn’t move. “What is this? What’s happening?”

“Hiding,” I say. “It will not sense us like this.”

The ba’clan thin a little so I can see and the moment the Scrit comes into view above us, a breath hitches in Adee’ra’s throat.

My ba’clan bristle but keep their form around us.

It has been a while since I’ve had this sort of view. Small and looking up at the terror towering above us.

I am reminded of just how mighty the Gryken make themselves appear.

The shiny orb hovers above as it raises one of its legs and for a moment, the light of the stars is blocked out as the leg descends.

It’s coming straight at us.

“Fer’ro!”

The earth shakes, shockwaves going through it as the leg slams down around us and Adee’ra grips me, her small hands digging into my skin.

Her eyes are the widest I have ever seen them as she stares at the leg that’s now beside us.

We are in between its claws. So close.

If I stretch, I can touch it.

But I am not focused on that.

What catches my attention is the sudden silence.

The Scrit is not moving.

The ridges across my body are slowly rising as the seconds tick by.

The Gryken should not be able to sense us. They can sense the hyu’mans but now all three are protected by our ba’clan.

In the last days of the war, it had been by mere chance that a Vullan child had somehow removed its energy signature as a Scrit had approached.

It is a useful effect of the ba’clan, one we discovered far too late, one that might have saved us if we had discovered it earlier.

Now, I am praying it saves the last few beings alive on this planet.

But the Scrit is still standing still.

My ba’clan ripple as energy passes over them.

Scanning.

The Gryken is scanning.

It would have picked up energy signatures of three humans that have now suddenly disappeared.

An impossible occurrence as far as it knows.

But I wait, hoping it thinks it’s been a mere error.

Across the clearing from us, I can see my womb-mate stiffening underneath the cover of his ba’clan.

I can almost feel his tension…

Something is wrong.

I am seconds away from mounting an offence when I sense movement.

My ba’clan bristle as another loud thump shakes the earth again.

One huge leg of the Scrit rises and falls.

It is continuing on.

Heading to the water.

It is a good thing the body of the one we killed is no longer there—transported to the ship along with the materials we scavenged.

We will be okay for now.

But I remain cocooned.

Not one muscle in me moves till the Scrit has gone far away from us, and then, I breathe.

My eyes meet Adee’ra’s.

There is water in hers, but she blinks it away.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

I want to ask her what she is expressing gratitude for when she inhales sharply.

Her gaze flicks down me and catches.

I do not have to look down at myself. I already know what she is seeing.

In order to create the cocoon, my ba’clan are no longer wrapped around my being.

I am bare.

Adee’ra’s throat moves and her body warms. I can feel the change in temperature beneath me, against my skin.

There’s a curiously strange scent coming from her.

Faint.

Very faint. But there nonetheless.

It is different from her fear scent. Sweet as well, but not as powerful.

Instead, there’s a spice to it and I sniff, trying to determine where it is emanating from, for it doesn’t seem to be coming from her pores.

She makes a grating sort of sound in her throat that makes my ears perk and she shuffles against me a little.

“Is it gone now?” She isn’t meeting my gaze. “Are we safe?”

There is something wrong with her.

Her skin is warming even more and her cheeks are flushed.

It is a healthy color, one that makes her skin glow in the star light and I wonder what she looked like before the Gryken invaded.

Is this a preview of what she is supposed to look like all the time?

“You are warming up…”

Her gaze darts to me and then away, the warmth in her skin increasing.

“Um…it’s just that…you’re naked and you’re on top of me.”

I don’t understand what she is trying to say.

If she were on all fours, it would be more understandable.

That is the mounting position.

Or…it could simply be because I am bare.

I call my ba’clan back to me and the shroud around us disappears.

I’m left looking into those strange brown eyes as she stares at me.

“You’re going to take some getting used to,” she whispers, before her gaze turns to the area around us.

That’s when she rises up on her elbows.

I already know what she is seeing before I take a look.

It’s what’s always left behind after the Gryken pass through.

For they take. They destroy.

They leave nothing.

As I focus on Adee’ra, the terror that had just been in her gaze repeats in my mind.

I will fight for this small being.

I will fight for her freedom as I would have liked others to fight for mine.

Chapter Nineteen

ADIRA

Fer’ro rises and I follow him.

We’re in a clearing and despite the darkness, I’m aware of the sudden space around us because everything is flat.

I can’t believe how close the Gryken came to crushing us.

I can’t believe we survived.

I look behind me in the direction that’s it gone and it is still close enough for me to make it out clearly against the starlight.

Like a huge dark tower of doom.

Seeing a machine standing there so close makes me quake inside.

But I don’t get to stand and look at it for long because Fer’ro is grasping me by the hand and we’re running again.

He cuts to the side, back toward the cover of the trees and it is only because he is holding my hand why I don’t stumble as we move through what’s left of the forest.

“There’s water ahead, somewhere. A small source…and shelter too. We will rest there till the Gryken leaves this place.”

I open my mouth to ask him how he knows this but I don’t question it.

He is the only reason why I’m still alive.

The only reason we are still alive.

Off to the left, Sam is running, but when my gaze settles on her and then flicks to Ga’Var, I see his gaze on me.

My spine stiffens a little as I run. I didn’t expect him to be looking my way.

But he’s not looking at me.

He’s looking at where my hand meet’s Fer’ro’s, and it must be the darkness, the shadows, but something unsettling moves across his gaze.

Behind us, San’ten carries Mina.

She’s still unconscious. Limp. And I wonder how much time she has left.

The parasite is growing at a rate that isn’t “normal”—if you could call any of this normal.

We’re heading to what looks like a craggy hill and I glance back in the direction of the lake.

The machine is still there, standing tall in the night.

I wonder if it has people inside it.

No, I don’t wonder.

I know it does.

And we can’t help them.

My heart clenches and I have to pull my gaze away as I focus ahead.

If Fer’ro could help them he would have. Wouldn’t he?

He said they’d come to save us.

And I’m beginning to believe it.

We’ve slowed to a walk now, maybe because they’re being cautious, or maybe because they are tired.

But I doubt it’s the latter.

My legs are weak, I’m still limping, but I push forward.

“This will do.” Fer’ro’s voice takes me from my ruminations and I realize we’ve stopped walking.

Before us is a dark open space.

A small cave.

San’ten is the first to enter, disappearing into the darkness and Fer’ro turns to look at me.

“Go in. It is safe.”

I don’t ask how he knows. I’m past thinking his capabilities are anything like mine.

Sam grabs my hand and we make our way into the dark hole but right before we enter, I glance behind me.

Fer’ro is facing Ga’Var.

There are no words passing between them—at least, none that I can hear—but there’s an obvious aggression in the air. Like two separate charges of electricity facing each other.

We don’t go far inside and as I slide down on the ground, my eyes remain on both of them.

I can hardly see them out there, but a low hiss followed by another tells me that I was right.

“Did we miss something?” Sam whispers. “What’s wrong?”

San’ten speaks from so close behind us, I nearly jump. “He has shown you himself. His womb mate is concerned.”

He’s put Mina down and is crouched over her, and even though he’s talking to us, his focus is still on her…on her belly.

“What?” Sam whispers.

“He has shown you himself bare.”

My eyes widen a little as my gaze darts back to where Fer’ro and Ga’Var are standing.

They are so close together now, starlight almost merges their bodies into one as they snarl into each other’s faces.

I have no idea what is happening.

Was it taboo for him to show me his naked form?

It was strange but I didn’t…mind it.

At that thought, the ba’clan on my arm pulse a little and I’m once again reminded of their presence.

I slide that arm underneath me and away from the others.

I don’t want Sam concerned about me. We have Mina to worry about.

So much has happened, I can’t wait until morning to take a good look at it and assess what the hell it’s really doing to me.

With a growl that pulls my attention away from my arm, Fer’ro stalks toward us.

His voice is gruff.

“We rest here till the Scrit moves.”

“Then what?” Sam asks.

“Then our ship will come and we will go.”

FER’RO

Ga’Var is my womb mate, but at this moment, I dislike him.

We stand across from each other in this dark hole while San’ten crouches over the infested female.

“You said her invitation to eat was not about mating,” Ga’Var clicks in a tone that is too low for the hyu’mans to hear.

“It was not,” I hiss.

“Yet, you show her yourself bare.” He almost snarls but manages to keep his expression blank.

“It was not a proposition to her.”

“Good. She is not yours to claim.”

I bristle at that.

The implication is obvious.

Ga’Var wants Adee’ra and…I despise the thought.

“Neither is she yours to claim.”

Now he snarls and I sense when the two hyu’mans glance at each other.

Ga’Var has always been the one to yearn for female attention but on this planet, those instincts have to die.

“Mating is not our mission,” I remind him. “And they are too small and frail. You can see that. They cannot take us. They would break.” I pause then add, “They do not want us.”

He clicks in disagreement before his gaze falls on Adee’ra. Her eyes flick across both of us and she shivers a little.

I rumble in annoyance at myself. Loud enough for her to hear.

Thin skin.

She is cold. But we cannot make a fire lest the Gryken spot it.

So I do the only thing I can think of doing.

Moving to the ground beside her, I sit and extend my arm.

She glances at it.

“I do not know what you want me to do…”

“You are cold. Touch me. I will share my warmth.”

There’s a growl from Ga’Var and I ignore him.

If Adee’ra is anyone’s, she is mine.

That thought rocks me as she takes my hand almost nervously and the ba’clan on our arms pulse.

What will he do when he finds that out? That some of my ba’clan have transferred to her of their own free will.

A few minutes pass and my gaze is locked on my womb mates’.

He is not breaking his anger-filled stare and I will not either.

Neither of us budge till Adee’ra speaks and then we are both focusing on her.

“Where is your ship?”

I raise a hand and point above, forgetting that her vision is not the best in the dark.

“It is above. Near the large body of water. Hidden.”

“You mean like some sort of stealth mode?”

I guess you could call it that. “Correct.”

“It’s always been above us?”

“Yes.”

She digests that for a moment.

“And when the machine moves…your ship will come then you will leave.”

“Yes.”

She stiffens a little at my answer, as if my words worry her.

“Rest,” I thrum.

She doesn’t resist. Her head comes down against my arm and another thrum starts in my chest, only to be matched by a growl from my womb mate.

I ignore him.

He can be angry but I will enjoy this moment, for this is possibly the only time I will get to rest.

Once the ship comes, everything changes.

What I haven’t told the hyu’mans is that we’ve been scanning the surface. We have intel and we have a plan.

And even though I would like to see just how similar our species are, Adee’ra is not a part of that plan.

Chapter Twenty

ADIRA

I don’t see it until far too late.

It’s as if it materializes out of thin air. A huge black bird, hovering over us and soaking the light of the morning sun.

I’ve never seen anything this big.

It’s bigger than any plane or ship I’ve ever seen.

Had it really been this big when I’d seen it that first day?

“Shit,” I breathe.

I managed to get some rest last night. But maybe I’m still so tired I’m hallucinating for an opening appears underneath the ship and something slips out.

It looks like a floating box and it comes directly at us.

“What the fuck is that?” The way Sam says it almost makes me chuckle nervously.

“Our lift.” Fer’ro steps forward as my eyebrows shoot up.

A lift?

I imagine us having to climb on top of the thing to get into the ship and the nervousness I’m feeling surges.

This is a sure case of ‘what could go wrong.’ I’m pretty sure I’d slide off the edge of the thing without even trying.

We’re going to go into an alien ship.

The dark square floats closer, swerving through the trees till it reaches us. Then it lowers itself till it is almost touching the ground.

Fer’ro reaches forward and touches it.

Suddenly, an opening appears within the square.

My eyes pop.

It is like a room inside and Fer’ro steps in, his gaze landing on me.

With bravery I don’t have, I walk forward, followed by Ga’Var and then the others.

It’s like a Doctor Who telephone box—it’s bigger on the inside, because, somehow, we all fit.

My nervous gaze meets Sam’s as the box seal begins to rise.

I stagger a little with the sudden movement, my hand grasping Fer’ro’s arm.

Dimly, I’m aware of his muscles tensing but I’m too busy getting the shock of my life as we rise higher.

The walls of the box are transparent from the inside giving the appearance we’re floating on thin air.

And the view…

Awe changes to sadness as my heart breaks at what I am seeing.

The lake is now dry and apart from the small forest we’d been hiding in, all around us, the world is brown.

I’m staring at it, reality sinking in when the view slowly disappears to be replaced by dim light.

We’re inside the ship.

The view below us is replaced by dark metal and the floating box comes to a stop.

Soon, the “door” opens once more and Fer’ro strides forward.

It takes me a minute to realize the box has disappeared from around us.

There are more Vullan here. Quite a few, and I wonder if they are the same ones who had worked on scavenging the dead Gryken’s machine.

They stand still, but there is growling as we pass.

Some of them pull their teeth back and sniff the air and I find myself moving closer to Fer’ro.

There’s a definite sense we are not welcome here.

Fer’ro clicks something sharp and some of the Vullan pull their teeth back, but that doesn’t take the utter ferocity in their gazes away.

“Fer’ro?”

I glance from one of them to the other and I can even feel Sam’s breath against my arm as she’s moved closer to my side.

“What’s happening?” she whispers.

Fer’ro glances at me before clicking again and behind us, Ga’Var clicks too.

His gaze falls on Mina who’s still in Santen’s arms.

“It’s the infested female,” San’ten almost growls. “They can smell her. They can smell it.”

My gaze falls to Mina and then to her belly.

“There’s no more time to waste,” Fer’ro’s voice reaches my ear. “We must remove it now.”

Mina looks even worse than she did the night before.

Her skin is so pale, it’s see-through.

I don’t think we have a choice. So I nod.

“This way,” Fer’ro says and then we are walking through the wide room, passing the still-snarling Vullan.

That’s when I realize their eyes aren’t on me or Sam.

They really are all completely focused on Mina.

Some even have their blades pointing outward.

I’m happy when we finally pass all of them and reach a corridor.

Fer’ro continues on and my gaze darts around the interior of what is something I didn’t ever think I’d be aboard—an alien ship.

The light is so dim in the ship though, that even when my eyes adjust, I can’t pick up much.

All I know is that the walls are covered in the same dark metal that is everywhere else.

Fer’ro walks with purpose, turning down corridor after corridor and I manage to keep up until he comes to a stop in front of a wall.

I glance around him confused.

That’s when a rectangle of green neon light forms within the wall.

It hisses and I realize it’s a door when it…disappears.

Fer’ro steps into the room that’s just been opened and clicks something.

A click is returned and when I glance around him I’m met with the coolest blue eyes I’ve ever seen in my entire life.

The Vullan in front of us stares back at us from behind a table.

There are instruments there. Dark metal ones that look like strange torture devices from the middle ages.

“This is He’rox. Our medic,” Fer’ro says before resting his gaze on San’ten. “Bring the female forward.”

He’rox’s eyes are on me. They’re so…different from the others that I can’t help but stare.

And his ba’clan…his suit is white.

He stares. Not snarling. No blades rising, but his gaze makes me nervous.

But it’s not just his color that makes him different.

This He’rox has…tentacles. They are thin. Just one on each side of his mouth, hanging to just below his chin, and I watch them move as he stares at me.

He continues to watch me, those ice-cold eyes searching my soul, as San’ten approaches with Mina and rests her on the table.

As the lights brighten in the room, that’s when I realize the medic’s gaze has moved to my arm. The one where Fer’ro’s suit lies.

I glance at it too and my own eyes widen before I snatch my arm from my side and place it at my back.

The ba’clan look like thick oil over my skin.

I can’t even feel them there anymore and my hand, which had been pounding and swollen feels like it’s almost back to normal.

“It’s progressed quite quickly.” Fer’ro is speaking to the medic and finally, the male pulls his gaze away from me. “The former was killed. There is not much time.”

The medic looks down at Mina and then at her belly.

He stares at it for so long before looking back up at Fer’ro.

Fer’ro stiffens and I get the sense they are having some sort of conversation that I cannot hear.

“What’s happening?” Sam whispers. “Why is everyone just staring at each other?”

“I think they’re talking to each other,” I whisper back.

Fer’ro’s ears twitch at my words. I think I’m right.

“Do it,” he says and my gaze flies back to the blue-eyed one.

I watch as he glances at me and Sam and then back at Fer’ro and I don’t need a translator to guess what he’s saying.

“We want to stay. We’re not leaving her.”

The medic looks at me then and he clicks something at me.

“It is…dangerous, Adee’ra.” Fer’ro’s voice washes over me like a thick wave and I don’t realize I’m holding on to his arm until I feel his muscles flex. “For your safety and for Sa’am’s, you should wait outside. Ga’Var will take you to private quarters until the med bay is free again. You also need medical attention.”

I shake my head at him. Nothing’s been more dangerous than the past few days, weeks, months?

I trust Fer’ro. I know he will do what’s best for Mina, but like every other human on this planet, all we have left are each other.

I cannot leave her.

Sam senses when I stiffen and she steps beside me. “I’m not going anywhere either.”

Her eyes are wide as she stares at the medical tools and I see when she gulps.

The medic clicks again, his gaze on Fer’ro and even in his slitted alien eyes, I get the sense that he is saying, “fine, it’s their choice. I tried to warn them.”

I grip Fer’ro tighter as the light brightens some more and the medic takes out something that looks like a sharp blade.

With a quick movement, he sets the blade against Mina’s skin and flicks his hand upward.

What’s left of her dress rips in two and falls to the side.

Her belly is exposed for all of us to see.

There’s a growl and a hiss to the side, and San’ten’s blades rise.

Mina’s belly is even bigger than I realized and I slap a hand over my mouth. Her skin is stretched so much that I can see the network of veins underneath it.

Something moves underneath her skin.

Something big. It distorts her belly somewhat, as it swims.

Knowing what’s in there, I don’t know how I do it, but I manage not to throw up at the sight.

I feel Fer’ro stiffen again and then he is turning and sweeping me off my feet.

“Wait!”

A sense of utter betrayal suddenly sweeps through me as Fer’ro moves out of the room.

Before Sam can respond, Ga’Var is doing the same to her.

“I am sorry, Adee’ra,” is all I hear as Fer’ro moves far too quickly into the corridor.

The last thing I see before the doors close behind him is the medic lifting his blade.