Extinction (8 page)

“Is she okay?” a voice asked and I stiffened. Chai
kept me securely pressed against him and I couldn’t move even if I wanted to.

“She’s in shock” he answered and his voice sounded
different than a moment ago – it was farther away and not as clear as before.

I opened my eyes and the blonde boy loomed above us,
his brow furrowed as he watched me. 

“Where’s Arianna?” Chai asked keeping me pinned to
him, as if he was afraid I would run if he let go of me.

“She’s finishing up,” the blonde mass of muscles
answered and pointed a finger towards the truck. 

The raven haired warrior princess moved toward a
young soldier standing against the truck with a knife in her hand, the blade
smeared with blood. Terror tore through my soul as I recognized the soldier. It
was the same boy that guarded me last night and gave me the water to drink. I
didn’t think any energy was left in me, but the last remaining drops sped
through my veins and I pushed myself away from Chai, catching him off-guard. I
didn’t know how I moved so quickly but in seconds I was standing before Arianna
shielding the boy from her.

“If you touch him, I’ll take you down.” My voice
cracked and sounded foreign to my own ears. I could barely keep myself upright,
but I was prepared to fight her with my last breath. Arianna cocked her head to
one side and smiled. She was breathtakingly beautiful, her features absolutely
perfect. Her eyes were as blue as sapphires against her olive skin. 

“I like her. She’s puny for a human, but she’s got
guts,” she said and flicked her long hair over her shoulder. She inspected me
from head to toe. 

“It’s okay,” Erich said behind me. I glanced at him
over my shoulder. His lip was split and there was blood smeared on his face and
hands. His hair was even messier than before and he looked incredibly young. Way
too young to be caught up in the middle of a war. He gave me a lopsided smile.

“I’m giving him his knife back,” Arianna added. Chai
had joined her and stood watching me warily as if he was deciding how to
approach me. 

“I’m with them,” Erich said and I was confused. I
didn’t understand who or what they were and how the boy was connected to them.

“Who are you?” I asked, not sure at whom I was
directing my question.

“I’m the same person I was yesterday,” Chai answered
and carefully took a step forward with his hands raised in front of him, trying
not to scare me.  

“You lied to me! You’re not a rebel,” I accused him. 

“Actually, we prefer revolutionaries or the
resistance. Soldiers of fortune. Rebels sound so crude,” Erich said. He angled
past me, running a hand through his curly hair. He reached for the knife in
Arianna’s hand and sheaved it on his belt.

“I didn’t tell a lie, Lexie. We’re helping the rebels.”
Chai took another step forward and I stumbled away from him, my back pressed painfully
against the door of the truck.

“But you’re not human.”

“I am,” Eric said and gave me a small wave. 

“Why don’t we go and fetch the other truck and leave
these two to talk,” Arianna intervened and placed an arm around Erich’s
shoulders and guided him around the truck. He laughed loudly at something she
said. 

Chai took another step forward and my breathing sped
up. He noticed and he frowned.

“Lexie, I’ll never hurt you,” he said quietly. I
didn’t know what to believe anymore. I felt confused and frightened. Yesterday
he was a gorgeous rebel that made my heart beat faster with one look and today
he was something totally different. I didn’t even know what he was.

“What are you?” I asked and a tear rolled down my
cheek.

“I’m not from this planet. Neither is Arianna or
Gaios. We’re here to help the humans against the Vandelrizi.” I wanted to
believe him more than anything else as I stared into his warm chocolate brown
eyes.

“And after you help them? Are you going to finish
the work of the Vandelrizi and kill the few humans left on this planet?”

Chai looked hurt by my question. “Is that what you
think of me?” he asked and he dropped his hands to his sides. I noticed how
tired he looked. It didn’t look like he slept at all last night. There were
dark bruises underneath his eyes and stubble lined his jaw.

“I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.” I had
no fight left in me. I didn’t know who I could trust anymore. I felt terribly
lonely and broken. Tears silently kept flowing over my cheeks and I slid down
the truck, collapsing on the sand. Chai groaned and in a split second he was
next to me and crushed me to his chest.

“Don’t cry, little one.  I’ll never hurt you,” he
said as he pulled me onto his lap and cradled me. I rested my head on his
chest, closing my eyes. I didn’t care anymore if he was an alien or a cyborg
for that matter. All I cared about was his arms around me and the beating of
his heart next to my ear. 

“So many people died today,” I whispered against his
chest. 

“They hurt you and would’ve killed you.” He lifted
my chin with his thumb and I opened my eyes. “I’ll kill anyone with my bare
hands that hurt you.” I stared at his exquisite face.  I should have been
filled with horror that he was prepared to kill for me, but instead I felt
warmth in the pit of my stomach. 

Gaios cleared his throat behind us. “We have to get
going.  The explosion would’ve been visible in Palasium and more soldiers will
be on their way.” He smiled broadly. “I’ll enjoy another battle, but I think it’ll
be better for her if we leave now.”

Chai sighed. “Gaios is right.” Chai stood lifting me
in his arms as if I weighed next to nothing. He walked towards a truck idling
next to the road.

“I can walk.” Chai gave me a small smile and I could
see a twinkle returning to his eyes.

“I like carrying you,” he said as he carefully lifted
me into the backseat of the truck. In a flash he was at the other side of the
truck, climbing in. 

“Wait! We have to find Emily. She’s out there all
alone.” 

“We already did,” Erich answered. He was in the back
and a visibly shaken Emily sat next to him. Relief flooded me.  Emily avoided
looking at me, staring out the window, her tear streaked face grim. Gaios got
in the driver’s seat and Arianna rode shotgun.

I shivered uncontrollably and I pulled my knees to
my chin, hugging my legs to my chest. Chai carefully moved my hair back to
examine the cut on my head. His brow furrowed and a muscle popped in his jaw.

“I told you it’s bad. She’ll need stitches,” Erich
commented from the back.

Chai took a canteen and a rag of cloth from under
his seat. He poured water on the rag and very gently began wiping the dried blood
from my face. I winced as he touched my tender skin.

“I never should’ve left you last night. I should’ve
taken you with me,” he said so softly that I barely heard him.

“It’s not your fault.  Robert was…” I couldn’t think
of him now or I would lose the last bit of whatever was holding me together. “If
they caught us, you’d be dead now.”

I lifted a hand to wipe away a tear when I saw the
metal bands on my wrists. Something snapped inside me.  Revulsion filled me and
I tried to claw off the Vandelrizi torture devices with my fingers, but they
wouldn’t budge.

Chai caught my wrists and took a knife from his hip.
He carefully used the knife to undo the clasps of the bands and they fell on my
lap. I stared at them for a moment and then I snatched them and flung them out
the truck window. Ugly red welts covered my wrists and I rubbed them with my
fingertips.

My reflection in the rearview mirror caught my
attention and I sharply sucked in my breath as I looked at myself. My hair was
a wild tangled mess and dried blood was caked in the strands. My eyes were wide
and frightened in a deathly pale face. A nasty blue and red bruise stretched
around a deep cut on the left side of my head. A purple bruise covered my
swollen cheek and blue and red fingermarks stretched across my throat. A lump
formed in my throat and I turned my head away from the mirror. For the first
time since last night I let my thoughts involuntarily drift to the horrendous
events of the past hours. The oppressive weight was back, pressing down on my
chest and my breathing sped up. Raw pain burst through me and I couldn’t keep
it together anymore. I clamped a hand over my mouth to stop the wild sobbing
coming from deep inside me. My insides were a raw mess of emotions.

“Chai!” Arianna warned as she leant over the front
seat and studied me. 

“I know! Chai snapped. He reached for me and pulled
me closer to his chest. I grabbed a fistful of his shirt and clung to him,
trying my best not to give in to the hysteria welling up in me. He held me
close to him and I heard his voice echoing inside my head.

Close your eyes, little one.  Go to sleep.

I was pulled into the abyss of darkness.

      Blinding light.
It was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes – a row of circular lights
above me. My brain couldn’t comprehend where I was. The last thing I
remembered…pain shot through me and I swallowed hard. I remembered being in the
truck with Chai. Did I dream it?  Had it all been a sick dream the Vandelrizi had
conjured up to torture me? I turned my head to a rhythmic beeping noise next to
me. Wires attached me to some kind of machine monitoring my heartbeat. The
beeping sped up. I was lying on a bed surrounded by various machines and
monitors. It wasn’t a big room. The walls as well as the floor were covered
with white shiny metal strips. There were no windows. I tried to sit up and
felt something tugging at my arm. A needle penetrated the skin of my arm. A
narrow tube was attached to the needle and connected to a plastic bag
containing a clear fluid hanging on a stand next to the bed. They were
administering something to me through my veins.

I clutched the needle and ripped it from my arm, the
translucent liquid spraying over the white sheet covering me. 

“Slow down!” A woman stood on the other side of the
bed. Her flaming red hair was short and framed her elven face in soft whips. Her
amethyst eyes rested on my face. “You were a bit dehydrated. I’m replacing some
of the lost fluids in your body.” I looked at her suspiciously.  She seemed
harmless, her face had a soft youthfulness to it, thought I suspected she was
older than she looked. She picked up the needle lying on the bed and I looked
at her hands. I shrieked.  Her hands were webbed, like a frog. She wasn’t
human.

Something stirred in the corner and I noticed Chai stretched
out on a white arm chair. In one move, half asleep, Chai was at my side. He rubbed
a fist over his face to wake himself up.

“You’re awake,” he said and I scooted over the bed
towards him. If he was here, it meant I wasn’t in Cyrius being tortured by the
Vandelrizi. I was somewhere else. 

“She’s an …” I mumbled incoherently under my breath.
Was I really going to tell the alien boy that this woman was not human? It
sounded very silly.

“My name is Sylvain. You’re right, I’m not human. I’m
Diviak,” she explained patiently.  Another alien. How many of them were there?

“Where am I?” I asked bewildered. The room didn’t
seem like it belonged in a rebel base camp. 

“You’re in the infirmary. Sylvain is our doctor,”
Chai said and sat down on the bed next to me, taking my hand in his. I liked
the way mine disappeared in his. 

“Bill will be thrilled that you’re awake. He can’t
wait to meet you,” Sylvain said, her melodic voice reminded me of Christmas
bells.

“Who’s Bill?” 

“I see I’m right on time. I’m Bill. I’m the leader
of the rebel base.” I turned and came face to face to a middle aged man dressed
in a desert sand combat uniform. I remembered that soldiers in the army used to
dress like that when they were fighting in the war against the Vandelrizi. He
nodded at Chai and turned to me. Despite his age, he was very attractive with a
lean body and tanned face. His dark hair was short and sprinkled with grey. Lively
pale blue eyes regarded me intensely. I shifted uncomfortably under his intense
scrutiny. The next moment he stepped forward and hugged me to his broad chest. It
wasn’t what I expected and I didn’t know if I was supposed to hug him back or
make a run for it. He let go and took a step back, looking embarrassed for a
moment.

“I’m glad you are safe,” he said and gave me a
self-conscious smile. He looked very familiar, but my weary brain couldn’t
process where I’ve seen him before. He gave me a quick once over again. I
wondered if he was always this touchy-feely with all the rebels here on the
base. I always thought these military men were hardcore. 

“What is the verdict Doc?” Bill asked and looked
fondly at Sylvain. She blushed and I wondered if there was something going on
between the two of them. 

“I stitched the cut on her head. Quite a nasty one -
needed seventeen stitches.”  I touched my head self-consciously, running my
fingertips over the rough edges of the stitches. “She doesn’t have any other
serious injuries. A slight concussion and there’s no permanent damage to her
throat or vocal chords, and her voice should be back to normal in a couple of
days. She has a lot of bruises, cuts and scrapes, but they will soon heal.”

It irritated me that she talked about me as if I
wasn’t in the room. I was right here beside them.  You couldn’t miss me. I was
the girl that looked like Frankenstein. 

“Physically she will be fine. But she needs a lot of
rest. Her ordeal is a lot to work through, especially at her age.”

“I’m fine,” I said irritably. She made it sound as
if I was unstable. I remembered the scene I made in the truck and the
slobbering mess I was. Maybe they should think I’m unstable.

“I know you are, honey.” She smiled patiently at me
again. “But you should take it easy.”

“She will,” Chai said firmly and gave me a concerned
look. My irritation soared. I hated seeing the pity in their eyes and feeling
this weak and vulnerable. I knew my irritation was fueled by the fatigue I
felt. I didn’t know how long I’d been sleeping, but I still felt exhausted.

“Is it safe to come in?” Erich sauntered into the
infirmary and gave a boyish grin.

“Perfectly safe. I promise not to lose it,” I said
and gave an apologetic smile. 

“That’s a relief,” Erich answered and chuckled at
me. He whipped around and yelled out the door.  “Hey you two!  It’s safe to
enter the dragons’ liar.” A smile tucked at my lips.  Erich was one of those
people you immediately liked, even if you had just met them. Arianna and Gaios
strolled in and I was once again amazed at what a good looking pair they made. The
small room was getting crowded. 

“I’m sorry about last night. They doubled the guards
in the city and there was no way I could get you out of there,” Erich said and
rocked on the balls of his feet. 

“You helped me…if you weren’t there last night…” My
voice cracked and I turned my head away. 

“If it wasn’t for Erich watching over you last
night, Chai would’ve torn the city apart with his bare hands. I nearly had to
knock him unconscious to stop him taking on the Vandelrizi single handedly,”
Gaios said. I glanced at Chai. He kicked the chair next to the bed and sent it
flying to Gaios who sidestepped it at the last moment and it crashed into the
wall.

“As if you could stop me,” he mumbled and Gaios
winked at me. 

“Where are we? Where’s the rebel base?” I asked. Chai
ran a hand through his hair and shot Bill a quick glance.

“We’re inside the mountain,” he answered. Again his
eyes darted to Bill. There was something he wasn’t telling me.

“Inside the mountain? But I thought the base was
near the jungle. I saw you driving into the jungle plenty of times.”

“We knew you were watching us, so we used the jungle
as a diversion.”

“You knew?” I asked surprised. I had been so sure no
one noticed me spying on the rebels. I had been so careful every time.

“Did you really think we weren’t aware of you
watching us? It’s difficult not to notice a little girl crawling around in the
middle of the desert. No offense, but you’re not a very good spy.” Chai grinned
at me. “Bill decided it would be a good idea if I found out who you were.” Apparently
I sucked at a lot of things.

“I didn’t know this place was inside the mountain. Did
you build it?”

“Not exactly.” Once again he gave Bill a concerned look.

“Okay, spit it out. What aren’t you telling me?” I
asked irritated. Chai was trying to keep something from me. He moved, his body
tensing as if he was readying himself for something.

“I don’t want to scare you. A lot has happened to
you. Maybe you should rest first.” He looked at me with a frown and it dawned
on me that he thought I was going to freak out. I couldn’t blame him.

“Tell me. Please.”

“We’re inside the mountain. But we’re also on my
ship, the TCS Dauphin.” I gawked at him. I opened and closed my mouth several
times. Chai’s brow furrowed and he nervously looked at Sylvain, as if to tell
her to get the tranquilizer ready.

“How?”  I finally croaked. I was on an actual alien
spaceship in a room with four aliens. This couldn’t get any weirder.

“We already had a base inside the mountain. We used
the caves as a hiding place. When they found us, things were really bad. We
were hunted by the Vandelrizi and the Scavengers. We were starving, had barely
any weapons left. They were the miracle we prayed for,” Bill explained.

“But the ship’s inside the mountain?” I asked. It
was really difficult to get my head around it. How many times had I travelled
with Robert to Cyrius and had passed the mountain. Never in a gazillion years
would I have thought that an alien spaceship was inside the mountain.

“It took some maneuvering, but we managed to hide
the ship inside the mountain,” Chai said, still scrutinizing every passing emotion
on my face.

“Stop looking at me as if I’m crazy,” I snapped at
him. “I’m not. I just need a moment to process the fact that I’m in an alien
spaceship with Wonder boy next to me, He-man and She-ra over there and Aquatic
woman.” Erich doubled over laughing and Bill tried to hide his smile behind a
hand, but his shoulders shook with laughter. Chai looked confused.

“Who’s He-man?” Gaios asked and Erich laughed even
louder, wiping tears from his eyes.

“Why is he Wonder boy and I’m She-ra?” Arianna
pouted and whipped her hair across her shoulder.

“She-ra is a kick-ass sexy warrior. Wonder boy is
kinda geeky,” Erich said and a smile tucked at my lips. Chai raised his
eyebrows at me. I didn’t think anybody dared calling him geeky before. Arianna
looked please and stuck out her tongue cheekily at Erich.

“Why’re you helping us?” I asked. Why would any
other alien race even care what happens on earth? Until seven years ago we
didn’t even know if there were any other living creatures in the universe and
now there were two alien races on earth.

“We’re peace keeping soldiers for the Concillium
Elnath. It’s an intergalactic council with its members from different planets. When
atrocities happen in the universe, we’re the guys send to fix it,” Chai
explained.

“The Concillium is like NATO?” I asked and Chai
looked confused. He obviously had never heard of NATO before.

“Yip, they’re like NATO. They come to clean up the
shit when it happens,” Erich answered. Bill gave him a disapproving look and
Erich shrugged. 

“Why now?” I frowned. “Why not help seven years ago
when the Vandelrizi first invaded earth?  Billions of people died and
earth…it’ll never be the same.”

“The Concillium can’t declare war on any planet
straight away. There is a diplomatic channel that has to be followed first and
then they still need the go-ahead from all the planets before they can intercede.”
Chai looked grim. “It isn’t a perfect system. Earth is not the only planet they
invaded, the council couldn’t ignore the threat any longer.”

“We’re here to help and prepare the humans until our
fleet arrives. The largest portion is on their way to the Vargon, but the rest
is on their way to earth.” Gaios added.

“That would explain why most of the Vandelrizi have
returned to their ships.

“They know we declared war,” Gaios remarked. “We’ve
been watching their movements closely and most of their ships left earth’s
atmosphere in the past weeks. They’re returning to their planet. Like us,
they’re preparing for war.”

I couldn’t believe it. Help were on its way. Bill
was right – our prayers were answered.  But it was too late to save the human
race from extinction. We might survive, but our race will end with us. As long
as there are no babies born, we would reach extinction in the not so far
future.

I was still wearing the tunic from Palasium, but it
wasn’t white anymore, more of a brown color. I was filthy and my clothes were
torn in several places. I remembered the dry blood caked in my hair and I
shuddered.

“I’m fine, so there’s no need for me to stay in the
infirmary. And I need a shower.” I gave Sylvain a pleading look. 

“I don’t know. I’d like to keep an eye on you.” Sylvain
was torn in two and she pressed her lips together.

“She can stay with me. I’ll look after her,” Chai
reassured her and my stomach fluttered.  “Tomorrow we’ll find her a room.”

“That’s not a good idea,” Bill said grimly and
crossed his arms over his chest. I was surprised at his reaction. Why would he
care if Chai and I shared a room?

“Relax Dad!” Erich said and punched Bill in the arm.
“You know the Epsilon traditions. She’s safe with him.” I didn’t have a clue
what the Epsilon were and what their traditions were, but I realized that Erich
was Bill’s son. I didn’t know why I hadn’t seen it before – they had the same
pale blue eyes, the same demeanor and body language, both had the same calm,
laid back manner.

Bill still didn’t look happy, but he didn’t protest
again and shortly after excused himself. Erich left with him.