Extinction (18 page)

      Utter
chaos greeted me
. The room was turned upside
down. The beds were pushed into a corner and overturned chairs and tables
scattered the floor. The doors of cabinets were ripped from their hinges and
vials of medicine littered the floor. Nuevo stood across the room floating a
few inches from the floor in his flowing black robe. His face was nearly
see-through in the bright light and his red eyes ominously turned to me. In his
grey bony fingers was a little black box. Great, he brought his toys with him.

It was the people on the opposite side
of him that made me inhale sharply. Bill was on haunches, his hands covered in
red, as he tried to stop the flow of blood from Erich’s shoulder. Erich lay prone
on the floor. He wasn’t moving and my nails bit into the palms of my hands to
keep me from rushing over to his side.

Next to them were two Palasium soldier. They
had something chained between them. They pulled the chains taught between them,
stretching two arms in the air. One soldier moved to the side and a strangled
sound escaped my mouth. Chai was on his knees, his arms stretched to the side
by the chains. His head hung limply forward, but I could see the muscles in his
body contorting. No, please not this. On his wrists were steel bands – the
torture device they had used on me before. I snapped my head towards Nuevo,
hate pouring from every cell in my body.

“Stop it!” I growled at him. He lifted
his finger from the button of the box in his skeletal hands.

“How good of you to join us, Miss
Millar,” he said in his snake-like voice. Chai’s body went slack and he lifted
his head. When he saw me, he pulled on the chains and tried to get up from the
floor. Immediately Nuevo pressed the button again, and I could see how the
currents of pain rippled through Chai. He didn’t make a sound as the muscles in
his body spasm and contorted. Anger, deeper than I’ve ever felt before, rose in
me. Nuevo would pay for what he has done.

“Let them go.” My voice was eerily calm
as I glared at Nuevo. 

“Why would I do that, Miss Miller? Everyone
that I am looking for is here now.”

My gaze wandered to the people I loved.
Emily and whomever else she was working with informed them that Bill was the
leader and about the Epsilon. They provided them with all the information they
needed. They knew exactly who to look for and where the ship was. There was
nothing I could offer him, nothing I could trade for their lives. Everyone
would die.

“You spared us a lot of time looking for
you.  Unfortunately we will …” I stopped listening to Nuevo. I blocked out his
voice. I knew what I had to do. Nothing else mattered, but saving those I
loved. I looked at Chai and cleared my mind.

Chai
. I said his name softly inside my mind. His head snapped up and
his eyes found mine. He heard me. I could feel the desperation in him as he
searched his mind for a way to escape.

Chai, tell Bill…tell my dad
that I’m sorry we don’t have more time to get to know each other. Look after Erich,
please. He’s still so young
. Chai’s eyes widened
and his pupils dilated, then he roared like a wild animal and pulled with all
his strength at the chains, nearly toppling over the soldiers.

Chai…please listen to me
. He stopped struggling and his eyes pleaded with me. He knew what
I was planning.
I’m sorry…for everything.  I don’t blame you for Emily’s
death.  None of this is your fault. Chai, I love you.
I had to tell him at
least once. 

I turned my head to Nuevo and smiled. 

“You messed with the wrong family.” My
voice was strong as it rang through the room.

 I reached for the gun and pulled from
the elastic band of my pants and aimed it at Nuevo. A couple of things happened
instantaneous. Nuevo lifted his hand towards me, the power emanating from his
fingers lifting me off the floor and slamming me into the wall behind me. Pain
radiated through my back. I pulled the trigger and watched the bullet from my
gun hit him squarely between the eyes, instantly killing him. Nuevo crumpled to
the floor and the hold he had on me released. Three more shots rang out and I
slid to the floor. 

My eyes searched for Chai and saw him
throw a soldier straight across the room, hitting a wall with a sickening
crack. Bill had the other guard in an iron grip and smashed his head into a
medicine cabinet. They were okay. I did it. I saved them.

I touched my chest and when I lifted my
fingers, they were covered in blood. I looked down. Blood seeped through the
white fabric of my tank top. Strangely, I felt no pain. You should think being
shot would hurt like hell, but I didn’t feel anything. My body was numb. 

 In a second Chai was next to me and
carefully lowered my body to the floor. His eyes were wild as he frantically
scanned my bloodied body. He pressed his hands to my chest to stop the
bleeding.

“You will be okay,” he kept repeating the
words over and over and tears streamed down his cheeks. 

I wanted to tell him I love him, but
only a gurgling sound came from my mouth. I was dying. I could feel it, but I
was happy. They now had a chance to live. I slowly lifted my hand to touch
Chai’s face one last time, but the darkness swallowed me whole.

      Lexie.
Someone kept saying my name. I forced my eyes open, but the face above me was
an unrecognizable blur. I didn’t understand what was going on. Did I oversleep
this morning? Then it hit me. I remembered everything. I killed Nuevo. I was
shot. I should be dead. Was I dead? I blinked and tried to focus on the face
above me. My vision cleared and Sylvain smiled reassuringly at me.

Either I wasn’t dead or Sylvain was also in the
afterlife. I tried to speak, but my throat was dry and only a hoarse sigh
escaped my mouth.

“Hi, honey,” Sylvain said and squeezed my hand.  She
shone a small light in my eyes and I blinked confusedly at the brightness. She
continued prodding and poking me and finally I had enough and raised my hands
to stop her.

“What’s going on?” I croaked and tried to sit up.

“Let me help you,” Bill said from next to my bed and
helped me to sit and handed me a glass of water. I took a few sips thirstily.
He looked terrible. Tired lines etched his face. He looked like he hadn’t slept
in days. His lower lip was split and he had a nasty bruise under his left eye.

“The Vandelrizi…where are they?” I asked terrified
and grabbed the edge of the bed. Nuevo wouldn’t have come alone.

“It’s over. We killed fifteen of them and the rest
fled back to Palasium.” He grinned. “They messed with the wrong family.”

“I was shot.” My hand instantly went to my chest,
but I felt nothing, not even a bandage. There was no pain; whatever Sylvain
gave me was working very well.

“You were shot three times. You took one bullet in
the chest and two in the stomach,” Sylvain explained.

“How am I still alive? I was dying, I could feel
it?” Sylvain shot Bill a quick glance.

“Lexie I couldn’t do anything for you using earth
medicine. You almost died.”

“Then how am I still here?” I didn’t understand how
I survived. I felt fine, I felt more than fine - I felt great.

“We used our technology to save you. Alien technology.
I wasn’t sure at first, but Chai insisted. We’ve never used it on a human
before.”

“But it worked?” Why was she looking so concerned?

“Lexie, it works with your DNA in order to heal you.
We’ve never tried it on a human. It’s not calibrated for human DNA. In order to
make it adapt to you, I had to change your DNA. I had to infuse alien DNA into
your system.”

“Alien DNA?”  I repeated the words. I couldn’t wrap
my mind around it.

“Yes. The closest species we have to a human on the
ship is the Epsilon. We used Chai’s DNA to change yours.”

“You lost me. Did you turn me into an alien?” I was
totally confused.

“Not entirely. Your body is still adapting to the
change. You’re still human, but also Epsilon now.”

“Oh.”  I was trying to make sense of it all. I was
human and also an alien. Luckily they didn’t use any other alien species to
change me. I didn’t want to grow facial hair or webs between my toes. I was a
vain little girl.

“Where’s Chai?” I didn’t see him anywhere in the
room.

“He left. When you started waking up.”  I didn’t
understand. Why didn’t he wait?

“Lexie, he’s very upset. He blames himself for
everything.” Nothing was his fault. He wasn’t to blame for anything. I needed
to tell him.

 “How long have I been sleeping,” I asked Sylvain.

 “It’s been two day days” she answered and frowned. “When
you didn’t wake up…we were very worried about you.”

“But I’m healed.” I lifted my shirt to reveal my
stomach. Two pink scars were visible. It looked like weeks had passed since I
was shot. “Wont the Vandelrizi come back?” I hated turning the conversation to
more serious matters, but it bothered me that they could return at any moment.

“The galactic council lent us a bit of their technology.
We have generated a shield around the mountain, no one is coming in. It’s not a
permanent solution, but it will do for now.”

“Erich…how’s he doing?” I remembered all the blood
on Bill’s hands.

“He got shot in the shoulder, but he’s doing fine.
He’s sleeping at the moment. He’s right next door.” Sylvain said and I felt
relieved. 

“He’ll be very happy that you’re okay. We had a
tough time keeping him in bed and not by your side.” I smiled, Erich was very
stubborn.

Zalzi walked into the room and cleared his throat
before speaking. “I’m sorry Major, but there’s a problem in section C.”

Bill sighed and gave my shoulder a squeeze

“I have to go. I’ll come by later to see you,” he
said and left. 

Sylvain excused herself to check up on the other wounded
in the attack. We were fortunate. No one was killed, but a lot of people did
get hurt. I swung my legs from the bed. Somebody changed me into a clean pair
of tracksuit pants and a matching grey sweatshirt. I needed to find Chai. He
couldn’t blame himself for what happened. I didn’t care if I was an alien or
human. It didn’t matter. He was all that mattered to me. I didn’t want this
rift to be between us anymore.

      It was late at night
or early morning, I couldn’t tell. The mess hall was deserted and the light
dimmed. Chai was slumped in a chair, his fingers twirling a salt pitcher on the
table. Dark shadows were beneath his eyes and stubble lined his jaw. He looked
exhausted. 

“Hi.” My voice echoed through the empty mess hall. 

His head jerked to me. “You shouldn’t be out of bed.”

“I’m fine.” I wrung my hands. I needed to fix things
between us, but I didn’t know where to start.

“I’ll take you back to the infirmary. You should be
resting.” He rubbed a fist over his face.

“No, I’m not going back there.” I rubbed the palm of
my hand nervously on my sweatpants. “I want to go to my room. Sylvain said its
okay.” My face turned red at telling a lie so smoothly, but Chai barely looked
at me.

He followed me down the corridor to my room; not
saying a word. Not even when we reached my room, did he speak. Unease was
growing inside me. He didn’t touch me; he didn’t even look at me. Everything
that happened from the moment I stepped into the infirmary and faced Nuevo felt
a bit hazy, but I clearly remember telling him I loved him. I was shot, I
nearly died and now he had nothing to say to me.

“Chai?” He turned to me and his eyes wandered over
my face. A storm brew in his eyes and it hit me – he was furious.

“You’re angry with me,” I said surprised. 

The storm broke in his eyes. He slammed the button with
a fist and the door shut behind us, before he whirled on me like a tornado.

“Two times now have you got shot because of me! I
watched you die!” He looked like he wanted to shake me and involuntarily I took
a step back. His anger scared the hell out of me. “I told you to stay in your
room. Why didn’t you listen to me? I don’t know if you’re stupid or incredibly
brave!”

“Chai…” but he didn’t give me a chance to finish. He
took a step closer and the pain in his eyes slammed into my chest, worse than
the impact of any bullet. It took my breath away.

“I watched you die…and I could do nothing! I couldn’t
let you die. I made Sylvain change you. Now you are what you fear the most.
You’re not human anymore. I know you’ll never forgive me for all the hurt I
caused you.” He towered over me and for a moment I was sure he wanted to touch
me. Then he whirled around and stalked to the door to leave. “I had to save you
and now I lost you.” His words cut like a knife through me. He had been through
a lot these past days. We both had. If I were in his position I would be angry
too – I would die if something happened to him. But he didn’t understand. I had
to put myself in danger. I would do anything to keep him safe. It didn’t matter
if I had to lose a part of my humanity in the process.