Roth (8 page)

“I don’t want you getting involved in this
, Mattie; it’s too dangerous.”

“This is my fight. This isn’t something I’ll ever be able to back away from. Not after everything I’ve been through.”

“But what about your sister and Logan? What about me? We all need you.” He sounds panicked.

“But don’t you see? I was always going to fight this, but you’ve just given me more reason to do the right thing, and reasons that I need to give everything to make it back out alive.”

As the second sun begins its quick descent, shadows grow larger, covering the clearing in darkness.

“We should make a small camp
, and in the morning, we’ll begin the trek into the campgrounds,” Marduke says wearily. I think he realises fighting me on this will get him nowhere, and maybe, like me, he doesn’t want to fight.

I nod that I agree
, however I feel distracted. There is a lot for me to think about and most are things I need to steer clear of. I’m not ready to think about my parents or the fact I have definitely just lost Hank.

I instead focus on the good news
I have just received. Hannah and Logan are alive. Lisa is also alive and she’s taking care of them for me. Then there is Marduke. Not only is he alive, but he’s with me right now.

We search the clearing to see if we can find any bla
nkets or clothes for Marduke, although if we were in the summer days, we’d probably be too hot right now to worry about it. We definitely wouldn’t need to bother with clothing. Nonetheless, we’re somewhere stuck in the cooler days.

I find a torn sheet of what feels like plastic but thicker. It’s not comforting at all, but when darkness covers us and no moon or stars in the sky to
guide us, we know we don’t have any other choice until the first sun rises.

So
, in the middle of the field, I strip off my clothes to try and in an attempt to dry them since they’re still damp from the shower. Marduke does the same to his pants and then holds me close to him once we are under the tarp.

“I’ve been dreaming of holding you since I lost you
,” he whispers in my ear. My head is resting on top of his chest, the tip of my head just under his chin. My arm is draped over him and our legs are intertwined. When we first settled down, my leg brushed against his erection, but he hasn’t made a move to do anything about it.

I am
still in the vest, which he refuses to take off me. If it hadn’t been so dark, I would have argued about it further because I am beyond sick of wearing it. However, I find it harder to argue with someone when you can’t see them.

Conflicting desires fight within me. Part of me wants to fall apart in his arms and another wants to kiss him and make love to him. I feel like I should be angry he didn’t listen to me when he turned that control on me and sent me here to Roth. He knew I didn’t want to ever leave Earth
, yet he was the one who transported me onto that spaceship. I also want to thank him for not listening to me. I have a chance to see Hannah and Logan again. If we’re really rebelling on those other planets, then we can fight here, too. We have a chance to get Earth back, even if it is a small one.

“You feel tense
; what’s wrong?” Marduke trails his hand down my arm, leaving me shivering from his touch.

Mentioning to him that I want to fight for Earth, fight
against his people, is not what I want to say right now. It won’t go the way I want, and right now, I want Marduke’s lips on my body. I want to feel him under me, over me and in me. I just want him.

“Just thinking about what I should do with this…” I trail off, hoping I sound seductive and husky. I think I might come off as seeming nervous
, though.

“Do with what?” Marduke asks me
. Then I listen to him gasp as I grip his cock in my hand, stroking him and feeling more heat radiating within me. Already I feel the signs of my own excitement, my own fires burning for the man next to me.

“Mattie…”
His voice shakes and he shifts his body, moving over me. I never lose grip of him; he’s careful to make sure I don’t. “I’ve missed you, missed your smart mouth and your beautiful smile. I’ve missed hearing you laugh and how out of control you make me feel,” he whispers, his lips moving down my neck where he tongues a sensitive area under my ear. It causes shivers to run over my body and a shock to zap me, making me more turned on.

“I’ve missed you
, too, Marduke. Every day, I missed you. When I thought you… When I feared you were…” I can’t say the words. My throat closes up and tears spring to my eyes.

His lips leave my throat and he kisses my mouth ge
ntly, his lips moving over my cheeks where he kisses away my tears. “It’s okay. I’m here.” His hands move over mine, which are still on him, and he positions himself at my entrance before slowly gliding into me.

I’m not sure how many times
I have done this with Marduke, but I know it’s not enough and never will be. So far, I still haven’t gotten used to him entering me; I’m still not used to the fullness I feel and the intimacy of our act. The feelings he evokes inside me are both overwhelming and crushing. He owns me completely as he moves in and out, taking my heart and my love with him.

“I love you
, Marduke. I love you so much,” I gasp as my body lights up hotter, everything tightening and twitching as I know a powerful climax is ready to overtake me.

“I didn’t think you could be in love with someone so quickly? I thought you—”

I shut him up by squeezing my inner walls over him, and as his words leave him, a groan is all he can manage.

I know what I said to Marduke back on Earth, and while I believed every word I spoke,
I am pretty positive I was deluding myself if I thought I didn’t love Marduke then. I possibly fell in love with him the moment I saw him saving that girl in Vancouver.

When he
switches our position, flipping us over so I’m on top of him, I find a rhythm that pulls me closer to the edge, an angle that tortures us both. Only moments later, I lose it completely. I call out his name, hearing my own echoed from him, before I collapse over him, our bodies sweaty as we try to catch our breath.

“I love you
, too, Mattie. I am in love with you, and that won’t ever change. I will protect you until my dying day.”

I’m crying again, completely exhausted and spent from everything
I have been through. My entire day crashes down over me as I sob into Marduke’s shoulder, grateful to have him with me as he comforts me, whispering that he will never leave my side.

I don’t know how long I cry for. I should probably feel embarrassed to lose it in such a way, or disappointed at how weak I feel by letting my tears go
, yet I don’t.

As I grieve in Marduke’s arms, I let his warmth and comfort soak into me. I feel his strength encompass me and something inside me let’s go.
Some of my anger dissipates. That darkness I felt growing inside me lightens. A weight moves off my shoulders, and as my tears begin to dry, I feel better than I have felt since I was dropped on Roth. I feel loved, safe, and like maybe things will be okay now. Maybe we can make this work. The fight hasn’t left me, however my loneliness has.

I have Marduke, and I always will.

I know it’s naïve to believe this. Love doesn’t conquer all, and sometimes it isn’t enough.

Besides, a
war is coming, one that no one expects. This safe bubble I am in with Marduke was always destined to burst.

Chapter 6

Mattie

I wake still in Marduke’s arms to the sound of muffled noises.

I sit up, my hip sore from sleeping on my side and res
ting on the hard ground. Marduke is still sleeping, and I take a moment to gaze over him.

Both suns are up in the sky now
, and I have a full view of him. His forehead is smeared with blood. From the look of his drying pants, he must have wiped his forehead with them to get rid of the blood over his eye. The strange tarp covers most of him, but as I pull myself away, I notice his heavily bruised shoulder as well as even more bruises along his arms and chest. They look new, and I assume he got them from being tossed around the spaceship.

I crawl away from him, moving to my clothes
, which are now dry. After redressing, I take another look at what is around us.

Again
, I hear something muffled, so I head in the direction of the noise. I can’t see anything in the forest moving. There aren’t any animals or insects in here, or at least, never any that I’ve seen in the brief time spent in the forest. It’s just full of trees, plants and weeds. In the light, it looks unnaturally green, as though it’s glowing. It gives me the creeps. Everywhere I look is a stark reminder I’m not home on Earth.

Something shifts in the corner of my eye
, and I jolt to my side, fearful an attack of some sort is about to come. If that spaceship we saw held more of Marduke’s people, then they might be coming for us. Marduke will either be in a lot of trouble for helping me, and now knowing how truly sick and twisted his father is, he’ll probably be killed.

Yet, instead
of seeing a mob of aliens ready to kill us, I see a tube, like the one Marduke and I had been in, moving. It rolls for a moment then stops, and I hear the muffled noises. Cries, I think.

I walk slowly over to it
, and when I am close enough to touch it, I stare back towards Marduke’s sleeping figure. I don’t know what I will find when I open this up, and if there is some sort of creature stored in here, I’m leaving us vulnerable.

Deciding to make the smart decision, I walk back over to Marduke, picking up his pants as I go
, and shake him awake. He looks concerned for a moment, yet then his eyes focus on me and he smiles.

“I feared this was just a dream.”

I smile back, accepting the kiss he leans in to give me. When I feel his hand moving into my hair, pulling me down towards him, I place my hand over his chest to push back. “I saw something over there.” I nod in the direction of the tube. “A tube thing, and it was moving.”

“Moving?” Marduke is immediately alert
. He takes the pants in my other hand from me, dressing quickly.

“Yeah
. What do you think is in there?” Once his shoes are on, I walk him back over to the tube. It moves again and Marduke increases his speed, passing me on his way there.

“There shouldn’t be anything, they were empty. Unless one of the medics placed Hank in one, maybe even that other man they sedated. It makes sense they’d place them there for holding. They’re not meant to be restrictive, but humans can’t open them
, only my people can. You were probably placed in something similar on your way to this place.”

“So Hank could be alive?” I try to bite down on my hope, afraid of being crushed if I’m wrong.

“Someone is definitely alive. I recall two of the men you brought with you were not in one piece, so I’d be surprised if either of them is alive. Yet…”

“But Hank and Kane might be okay?”

“We’ll need to find the other tubes.” He leans forward and rests his hand on top of the tube. Symbols, not unlike the ones on the control and shower, appear and he taps his fingers over one which then reveals a door.

Once open, Hank’s voice cries through clearly.
“Finally!”

I rush to his side
, and as I help him out, I assess him for any injuries. “You’re alive!” I gasp, wrapping my arms around him in a crushing hug once I’m sure he’s okay. My body shudders and tears form in my eyes, but I blink them back. I’ve done enough crying in the past day.

“What the hell happened? The last thing I remember is being on that spaceship with those fucking scary
, weird creatures and… Marduke?” He gapes at Marduke, his mouth opening in shock.

“Hi, it’s good to see you.” Marduke holds out his hand to Hank.

Instead of taking it, Hank looks down at me. “You said he was dead.”

“I thought he was, but he survived. So did Logan. He saw Lisa and the girls alive
, too!” I rush to say, smiling when I see the shock and hope crossing his face.

“They’re all alive?”
he asks, his eyes studying Marduke’s face, whose hand is still outstretched and waiting on Hank to take it.

“Yes, I didn’t get to talk to them, but I saw Lisa pla
ying with the girls and Logan. I think she was with her brother.”

I smile when Hank takes Marduke’s offered hand and then pulls him in for a hug. Marduke appears shocked, but eventually
, he loosens up.

“That is… I mean
, after all of this, to hear she’s definitely alive, that they all are!” As Hank pulls away from Marduke then wraps me up in a hug, twirling me around several times, I laugh. It’s my first true laugh that doesn’t leave me feeling immediately guilty. It feels great.

Hank places me down
, and I reach out and hold Marduke’s hand, squeezing it just to remind myself this is all real.

“I know it’s such a relief. There’s more
, though, Marduke…” I drift off, wondering how to tell Hank about the possible human rebellion without revealing who Marduke really is. Hank likes Marduke, however he wouldn’t understand if he found out Marduke isn’t human. Or at least, it would take him a long time to process, time that we don’t have. “He overheard talk that some of us on the other planets might be fighting back.”

“Really?”
When Hank’s eyebrows rise into his hairline, I know he was in the same mindset as me—that we were alone. “That’s interesting and good news!”

“Yes, but I could have misheard it.” Marduke narrows his eyes at me in warning.

“So where the hell are we? What happened after those weird creatures attacked us? Where are the others?” Hank questions, his mindset changing already to be on the task at hand. Now that he has confirmation of Lisa’s survival, he will be more determined than ever to get to her.

I try to recall exactly when Hank lost consciousness.
Does he know about John? “We’re still somewhere on Roth. John is dead, so is Rob after what happened to him, I think. I don’t know about Kane. He might be alive in one of these things.” I tap the tube that is still next to us.

Hank glances around us. “Did we take that spaceship down?”

“No, I managed to get that stupid thing working. We ended up on the same spaceship Marduke was… being held on. Then something brought us down.”

“I don’t know what happened; those spaceships aren’t easily brought down
,” Marduke mutters. He lets go of my hand and begins pacing, his attention focusing on the spaceship’s remains.

“Why isn’t he wearing a shirt?” Hank watches him, his eyes drifting down to his exposed chest. “And did he a
lways have those tattoos?”

I redden
, thinking about why he isn’t wearing a shirt. I ripped it off him back on the spaceship. “He just isn’t wearing one. And, yes, he had the tattoos before. He told me he’s had them for a long time.” I recall just how long ago, too. If his father is willing to kill Marduke just to give Ival a test, then it really shouldn’t still surprise me he would have his son inked like this when he was just a small child.

“What do they all mean?” Hank asks, his eyes narro
wing over Marduke who is still lost in thought.

I realise that
, with Hank alive and Marduke here with me, this is going to be a tough secret to keep from him. Hank is a good man, and I know he would never kill Marduke in cold blood, yet if he finds out about what Marduke really is in the wrong way, he won’t be in the right frame of mind to understand. Maybe, even in the right frame of mind, he won’t understand my feelings for him. He definitely won’t forgive Marduke for what has been done to Earth, been done to Lisa, and what we have all gone through.

“They’re personal.” I hope to head off his curiosity
quickly. “Help me look for some clothes for him.”

“He can take my hoodie if he wants
. I have a t-shirt on underneath.”

“Thanks
.” I take his offered jumper and pass it to Marduke, who distractedly places it on.

When Hank is a safe distance from us, searching through the wreckage, Marduke pulls me aside.
“You know it’s really weird that we crashed. There was no reason for it. We had a good spaceship; it wasn’t old and they don’t even need experienced pilots. They practically fly themselves. I couldn’t even program it to crash. It’s just not possible.”

“Did you run out of fuel or whatever it runs on?”

“Our spaceships don’t need fuel. They generate their own energy to run off of.”

“Maybe this one was just faulty?”

He frowns, but he doesn’t disagree with me. With how destroyed the spaceship is now, though, I doubt there will be any way for us to know what really happened. “I just keep coming back to what you said about those creatures. Why did you end up there? We don’t have them on Oden and definitely not on any of these planets. There is no reason for them to be on a spaceship of ours. The monit—that control you used—only works for our spaceships. It can only take you on board ours. I almost thought maybe you imagined what you saw, but Hank just confirmed it was real. Plus, it explains why those two men were in such bad shape.”

“You thought I was lying?”

“Not lying, just that, whatever you saw, it was horrible enough to remind you of these Claws. It shouldn’t be possible that you saw them at all. I don’t understand what is going on here.” He sounds frustrated.

“Guys! I think I found Kane!” Hank calls out
from over by the other end of the clearing.

Marduke and I don’t make a step to move, and I watch him as he distractedly stares at me. He’s not seeing me now, not really. His mind is elsewhere.

I decide to leave him to his thoughts and rush towards Hank. I wonder if Kane will be okay and what we’re supposed to do now, given the fact we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere.

As I near Hank
, he begins punching the tube, trying to crack it open.

“Just press the symbols
.” I roll my eyes at him, watching as, when he stops hitting the tube, a muffled punch keeps going. Kane is obviously alive and trying to bash his way through the tube from the inside. “You guys are hopeless,” I mutter, touching the tube until I find the place where the symbols light up.

“How do you do that?” Hank asks me
with wonder in his voice.

“I just touch the area
.” I take my hand away, still hearing Kane hitting from the inside, and gesture for Hank to try.

The symbols fade quickly
, and when Hank touches the same place I just did, nothing happens.

“See, it doesn’t work for me. How do you do it?”

I open my mouth to answer him, but I don’t have one. How am I doing it if Hank can’t? Wait, didn’t Marduke say humans can’t get these to work? Why am I able to then if that is true?

“This did just fall from space, don’t forget. I’m sure it’s just short-circuiting. See?” Marduke’s unexpected voice makes me jump
. He reaches around me, and at his touch, the symbols appear, too. He presses the right one to make the door appear and we all jump back when a fist flies through, almost hitting Hank who was leaning over the most.

“Finally!” Kane gasps, practically diving out of the tube as though it’s on fire.
His hands are bruised and grazed from hitting the inside, some places are even bleeding. He collapses on the ground and gasps for air as his hands fist beside him. “What the fuck was that!” he screams.

“Dude, calm down.” Hank crouches beside him
, yet Kane quickly jumps to his feet and storms towards me.

“What the fuck did you do back there? We were on that spaceship and then you did something. And what were those things? How is it that you can fucking transport us like an alien
? Are you one of those brainwashed fuckers? Is that what this is?” He’s in my face, and while Kane is possibly the scariest human I’ve ever seen, I don’t feel scared in this moment. I think it’s because the fear is being blocked by my anger.

“I didn’t know touching that thing would transport us anywhere! Do you think I wanted to be on that spaceship with those creatures?” I scream back at him, but Marduke grabs my arm and steps in front of me.

“Back off,” he warns Kane, who takes a moment to focus his gaze away from me and onto Marduke.

“Who the hell are you?” he growls.

I hold my breath, suddenly realising this is a serious situation. If Kane even suspects Marduke might not be human, then he’ll kill him.