Extinction (3 page)

“Thank you.” I said hastily and pivoted on my heels.

I quickly reached the edge of the jungle and headed
west across the desert. The setting sun set the barren landscape ablaze,
painting it in vibrant variations of red, buttery yellows and fiery oranges.
For these few minutes, before the darkness cloaked this never-ending desolate
world, the sun managed to turn something so barren and bleak into a spectacular
dreamlike place.

The abandoned shed jutted out between the sand
dunes. It seemed out of place and daily the sun and sand tried to destroy it,
flatten it to fit in with the rest of the surrounding landscape. I didn’t know
what the original purpose of this structure was or why it was built out here and
not within the city walls. All I knew that my way in and out of Palasium was
inside the shed. I took the small key from the back pocket of my shorts and
unlocked the padlock protecting it from unwanted and curious visitors. Inside
was a door to the underground tunnels zigzagging Palasium and one of them led
straight to my house. A few years ago I found these tunnels by accident and I
spent every free minute since mapping them. It was exhilarating, like finding a
hidden treasure no one knew about. The Vandelrizi must know of them, they had
to have some reason for building them, but they never used them. Maybe they
even forgot they were there and I have never mentioned the tunnels to Robert. For
now it was my secret.

I took one last glance at the jungle and cupped a hand
over my eyes and squinted. I swore I saw Chai standing at the edge of the
jungle, shadowed by the broad leaves of a tree. I could hear his words echoing
in my mind.

“I’ll be seeing you soon, little one.

      Lazily I pried my
eyes open
and stifled a yawn with the back of my hand. The rising
sun was casting alternating patterns of light and dark on the hickory hardwood
floor through the open bay window. A slight breeze lifted and twirled the sheer
white curtains. It was another cloudless day.  I rolled onto my stomach and peeked
over the edge of the bed. My backpack, with its precious contents was safely
tucked under my bed. I pushed myself upright and sat cross-legged on the bed. A
very sexy boy haunted my dreams last night and I must admit they weren’t
nightmares, but glorious sinfully, mushy dreams. I covered my burning cheeks
with the palms of my hand. The chances were slim that I would ever see Chai
again. He was a rebel fighter and I was…I was here in Palasium. Our worlds were
not destined to collide.

Last night I made it just in time for dinner. Maria,
our housekeeper shot me a quick glance and ushered me upstairs to tidy up and
change. She didn’t ask any questions, only raised her silver eyebrows and shook
her head at my filthy clothes and disheveled hair. She was originally from
somewhere in Mexico before the invasion and her English wasn’t very good, but
her eyes missed nothing. She was our housekeeper since Mom died and I was
positive she must be nearing ninety years of age. Her parchment thin skin was
covered in wrinkles and she wore her thinning winter-grey hair permanently in a
tight bun on her head. When I was younger I firmly believed she was a witch –
not a wicked witch, children eating kind, but one of the good ones sent to
protect me, more like a fairy godmother. She was one of the few people I
trusted completely to keep my secrets.

Robert was, as always, quiet through dinner and I
was relieved. It felt like my sins were written with a sharpie on my brow for
all to read. It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t have anything to say to me,
our conversations had always been forced and uncomfortable. I couldn’t remember
a time when we ever had a loving relationship like a father and daughter
should. He had never shown me any affection since the day I was born. For years
I carried the pain with me, yearning for him to love me, but now I accepted it
as a part of life. I didn’t think of him as my father anymore. I even preferred
to call him Robert instead of father, adding to his irritation whenever we did
talk.

Maybe I reminded him too much of Mom. I didn’t have
many happy childhood memories, not even from before the Vandelrizi invaded
earth. They were always fighting – the sort of fights that usually ended in
something breaking, doors slamming and Mom trying to hide the bruises the next
day. Whenever he was near, her beautiful smile faded and she became nervous and
withdrawn. I never understood why she married him or why she stayed with him
for so long. After the invasion things only got worse, their fighting escalated
into a full out war. 

I scooted over to the left of the bed and opened the
drawer of the nightstand. I lifted Mom’s picture from it and cradled it in my
hand. It was the only thing I had left of her and my heart filled with the all
too familiar ache whenever I thought of her. I looked so much like her - it was
like staring in the mirror. We could’ve been twins. We had the same honey-colored
hair, but she wore her silky straight hair shoulder length, while mine reached
my lower back in soft waves. She used to love brushing my hair when I was a
little girl, while telling me fairytales. Our favorite story was Rapunzel and I
always solemnly swore I would never cut my hair. 

We shared the same flawless porcelain skin and
heart-shaped face. Like her, I was small and petite, though I was more
curvaceous than Mom. Even though I was so slender no one would confuse me for a
boy since the moment I got my first bra. 

No wonder Robert hated me so much. He must see her
every time he looks at me. Only our eyes were different. Hers were chartreuse
green and mine were pale blue, like bleached denim. 

I wished I was more like her. She was strong and
brave, always selflessly helping others. I was more impulsive and I definitely
didn’t consider myself as brave. She hated the fact that Robert sided with the
Vandelrizi and she didn’t let a moment go by without making her feelings clear,
not backing down no matter what he said or did to her. She spent every day in
Palasium fighting for the slaves. I could never be that fearless. I had spent my
whole life being terrified of him. I returned the picture to the drawer and
closed it.

I bounced off the bed - a quick shower and then I were
heading to the slave quarters. I helped to dish out water and soup among the
slaves during the day as they worked, even though I knew many of them resented
having me around. There was so little I could to for them, but I tried my best
every day to help in some small way and the fact that Robert totally disapproved
was an added bonus. He expected me to stay at home all day and not mix with the
slaves. I stubbornly disobeyed him and slipped away to the slave quarters every
possible moment.

      I showered
and dressed in the white cotton tunic everyone in Palasium was expected to wear.
It wasn’t very pretty but it was light and comfortable during the day in the scorching
heat. Heading down the stairs, the opulence of the room below slammed into me. I
felt nauseous. Gold and
Bordeaux
red weaved curtains adorned the windows and an
exquisite Persian carpet covered the hardwood floor. Several white leather
couches were spaced around an agar-wood coffee table. On the walls hang
original paintings from the most revered artists. People around us were dying of
hunger and disease and Robert’s main priority was to surround himself with treasures
that were now worthless in this new world we lived in. I’m not even sure where
he found all of these things. Barely anything was left after the terrible wars
after the Vandelrizi invaded earth. What wasn’t destroyed in the wars was wiped
out of existence by the terraforming of our planet. I hated living in this
house. It was a daily reminder of how much I loathed living in Palasium.

I strolled to the kitchen and grabbed a piece of
bread off the kitchen table and stuffed it in my mouth. Maria stood in front of
the stove and looked like she was about to object to my lack of manners, but
she only shook her head and gave me a broad smile. 

“Eat, Alexis.
Comer un desayuno adecuado
.
”
 Maria was one of the few people that insisted on calling me by my birth name. She
pointed to a chair. Every morning she insisted I sit down and eat a proper
breakfast.

“I haven’t got time. I have to get to the quarters.”
I chuckled at her disapproving scowl as I grabbed another piece of bread. “And
you know I can’t resist your fresh baked bread.”

“You make your padre very angry,
cariño
.” I shrugged, savoring the doughy
goodness of the warm bread. 

“Father’s always upset with me.” Nothing I did would
ever please him, so I could just as well do as I pleased.

“Take one,
cariño
. 
Don’t fall, you squash bread.” She pointed to a freshly baked loaf of bread on
the kitchen table. Steam rose in wispy waves from it and the smell made my
stomach grumble. No one could bake bread like Maria. I tried my best to smuggle
food from our kitchen to take to the slave quarters and although Maria never
openly said the food was for the slaves, she always made sure there was
something to take with me. The meager rations the slaves received were barely
enough to keep them alive.

 “I’ll protect it with my life,” I promised and
hugged the old woman.

     
The
city of Palasium
was divided in four – East-, West-,
North- and Southside. It was more of a town than a city, with barely a thousand
residents. We lived in East-side. Robert’s mansion stood ostentatious among the
more humble houses in the area. Each soldier of the Guard received a house,
though the younger soldiers preferred to share houses. On the West-side was a
humungous palatial building where the Vandelrizi stayed when they were not on
their ships hovering in the earth’s atmosphere. It was also where the cobblestone
square was where public trials and executions were held.

 Until a couple of months ago the Vandelrizi were
more in numbers than the humans in Palasium, but most of them left, in the
utmost secrecy and returned to their ships in the past couple of weeks. I
wouldn’t even be aware of them leaving if I hadn’t overheard Robert discussing
the situation with his protégée, Sargent Tom Benson. They were baffled by the
sudden exodus of Vandelrizi, but it was not like you could go up to them and
ask what they were up to, except if you had a death wish. Not even Robert, who
was their most trusted human employee on earth, would dare to ask them. From
what I could count, only about fifty of the Vandelrizi were left in Palasium
and I heard rumors spreading that the same was happening in Cyrius. Something
was definitely up with them.

The South-side was divided between fields for
cultivating food and warehouses where supplies were kept. The big monstrous
power station providing electricity to the city was on the border of the South-
and North-side. The whole of the North-side was cordoned off from the rest of
the city with tall chain linked fences with barbwire on top. The slaves were
kept inside, only allowed to leave under supervision of the soldiers. They were
forced to live in tents and derelict buildings with only the bare necessities.
An oversized gate was the only entrance and not only was it guarded day and
night, but it was electronically locked and only father and the soldiers of the
Guard had the code. 

If that wasn’t enough, a concrete wall with
watchtowers and searchlights surrounded the whole of the city. There was no
escape for the slaves.

My shoes crunched on the brick sidewalk. Slaves,
escorted to work, passed me and I flinched at the openly hostile stares of some
of them. I knew what some of them called me behind my back – the princess in
the ivory castle. I couldn’t blame them for instinctively distrusting me. In a
way I represented all the suffering and hardship they endured under my father’s
rule. I tried hard not to let it get to me. The more resentment they had toward
me, the harder I tried to help them in any way I could. My father’s blood ran
through my veins but I was not like him and I would fight until my very last
breath not to become him.

 The kitchen for the slaves was inside the quarters,
more of a space cordoned off by sheets hanging on a rope. There I received the
bottles of water and meager rations of soup to distribute among the slaves
working in the fields. I passed through the gate without a hassle, most of the soldiers
of the Guard were used to seeing me come and go from the slave quarters. They
didn’t stop me anymore. By now they knew I would find my way in, no matter
what.

The laughter of children drifted down the street. It
seemed so normal, except that in the whole of Palasium there wasn’t a child
younger than six years of age. Not one baby was born in the past six years. When
the Vandelrizi arrived, they released a toxic substance in our air and we unknowingly
inhaled the poison with every breath we took. Millions of people died – many
were lucky enough to survive, including my family, but it rendered all the
remaining humans sterile, not being able to conceive. It was the sad reality
that if the Vandelrizi didn’t kill us all first, we would eventually become
extinct on our own. There wouldn’t be a next generation. We were screwed one
way or the other.

 “Good morning, Miss Miller.” I nearly jumped out of
my own skin. The blood in my veins turned to ice. 

“Good morning, Master
Nuevo
Y'shol,” I answered and gave a bow. I avoided the Vandelrizi as much as I
could, but they always found a way to creep up on you when you least expect it.
Especially Nuevo, some days I was sure he was stalking me.

“Where are you off to, Miss Millar,” he
asked putting emphasis on the ‘s’ and pronouncing every word perfectly. I more
than once had the desire to ask him to say ‘slithering’, probably because he
reminded me of a snake, when he spoke in that weird way. He blinked and it
couldn’t be any creepier. I couldn’t get used to the way they looked - huge
eyes with red irises and black slits for pupils. Green scales covered the skin
around his eyes fading into pale greyish skin. He looked like a cross between a
human and a salamander.  

“It’s such a lovely morning I decided to
take a walk,” I could tell by the downward slant of his mouth, he knew I was
lying. His pale skin was drawn so taught over his high cheekbones that it was
nearly translucent and I saw thin black veins beneath the surface. I never saw
them smile.

“Will you be honoring us with your
presence tonight?” he asked and blinked a few times. Yeah, if you wanted me to
vomit all over your black robes. Robert knew better than to make me go to these
dinners, I always ended up embarrassing him by saying exactly what was on my
mind.

“Unfortunately, I can’t attend.” 

“What a pity. You are always
so…entertaining,” he replied. I was positive it wasn’t the word he was looking
for – nuisance would be a better choice. He knew how intensely I despised them.
“I will leave you to your walk.” 

I gave another bow and he turned and
floated away. The Vandelrizi didn’t walk, they floated across the ground. His
black robe covered his feet and I wondered if he even had any. He was sinewy
but I knew they were deceivingly strong. I have seen him snap a man’s neck with
one hand without breaking a sweat and they could move as fast as lightning.
They also had telepathic powers, able to lift objects into the air with their
minds. I inhaled deeply, I wasn’t even aware that I stopped breathing. Their
presence always made me jittery.