Chapter Fourteen
Zawara
“I’m sorry,” came Axen’s billionth apology as we walked through the streets of white picket fences.
It took days, but we’d finally located the final breeding hive. It was enormous. So big, in fact, that we’d doubled back.
We’d gone back to the neighborhood on the lane. Back through the telepod. I had told Kidd that first day that I was going back to the lane to get something I needed to fight the Kilari, but I had never grabbed it.
“It’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose. “How many more times are we going to have this conversation? It’s like we’ve been in the presence of humans for so long, you’re starting to sound like one!”
“You loved her,” he said again, eerily calm. “And I…”
“And you did something you had to do to save us both. The Vithohn lived. What are you upset about? We’re still alive! So, stop it.”
“But Kidd—”
“Kidd, nothing!” I yelled, louder than I meant to. I turned in the street and faced him, feeling irritated and hurt all at the same time.
“I can see the torture in your face,” he said evenly. “I can hear it in your voice.”
“Yup. Because we’re about to torture some Kilari. So, let’s go.” He went to speak, and I laughed in frustration, putting a hand up in front of him. “I said let’s go. If you want something to fret about, fret about that. Now, go to your house, enjoy your lemon mat, and grab the shit and let’s go.”
He blinked, swallowed, and then said, “Alright.”
I walked into my house, familiar and haunting with its memories, and ignored the couch where I’d once been with Kidd—the kitchen where we foraged for food—the small, brief flash of a life we could have had infesting every room.
Right now, I couldn’t worry about that. Right now, I had to focus on…
“Kidd?” I swallowed, looking up at her. Her figure was almost ghost-like for how much the vision of her frightened me.
She sat on what was once our bed, in our little room, and pulled the yellow sheets into her palms.
“Hey,” she said with a hurt shrug. “I thought… you might come back here.”
“What are…” my mind reeled, wondering if she had brought the Vithohn with her. I wondered if this was a setup somehow. But it couldn’t be. Not with Kidd.
I couldn’t even think of enough questions to ask, and so I didn’t ask them. I leaned down to her and kissed her, pushing her down onto the bed and breathing her in.
She reached up and grabbed my face, pressing her body into mine. I wanted to make love to her one last time, but I couldn’t. We didn’t have the luxury of it.
Still, I couldn’t stop kissing her, and it was only when she blurted out ‘I’m so sorry’ that I had to stop.
“If I hear that one more time today…” I said with a smile.
“I… should have trusted you,” she said, putting both her hands on my chest as if to push me off of her, but I didn’t move. “I just need to know why.”
I exhaled shakily and brushed her hair with my fingertips before setting my palm on her cheek.
“Axen and I… met when I was younger, like I said. The Kilari and the Vithohn were warring, and we wanted to stay friends, so we made a pact to always protect each other. I let him copy me, shapeshift into my form. I’ve been protecting him ever since.”
She thought on that, watched my eyes. “Then… I get it.”
“Just like that?” I said.
“Just like that,” she repeated, as if believing in Axen—in me—was just that simple.
“There’s something more,” I said warily. “We made a deal. Axen hates the Kilari. He hates what they’ve done. Axen also happens to be…”
“The new leader of the Vithohn,” Kidd said slowly.
“Right. So if I help him destroy the Kilari, he’s going to do something for me. As soon as he takes the ‘throne,’ he’s going to send the Vithohn back to our planet. To leave the humans alone.”
“That…” she blinked, her eyes filling with tears for the first time since I’d met her. “You made that deal?”
“Kidd… you are the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me,” I said and then smirked. “Minus that first hour of knowing you.”
“Not that best impression,” she mocked, her voice still thick with emotion. “Not the best.”
“I love you more than anything,” I said, and she laughed, half crying.
“I knew I made the right choice when I started stalking you,” she teased and then kissed me again, crawling onto my lap back on the bed and filling my lips with her kisses. “I love you too.”
“I never meant to do anything that would make you doubt me. All this mess with your people, it’s my fault,” I stammered.
“Ah, hell,” she said, waving me off again. “Now we’ve both meddled in the other's business. Let’s just call it even.”
I swallowed, never wanting the moment to end. “Kidd… I want to stay here with you.”
“But you can’t,” she submitted.
“I have to finish this,” I said, and she pressed her lips into mine. “If the Vithohn are sent back home, that means… the Earth is yours again. Rowan doesn’t have to be some hidden city. It’s… it can be… everything. And you deserve that.”
“That’s why you’re you,” she said, resigned, but smiling. “And because I’m me, I’m coming with you.”
“What?” I shook my head, winced. “No.”
“Too bad. We’re connected now, remember? Your cause is my cause. Your friends are my friends. We’re in this together. And besides,” she sat up, pushing me off of her. “We already kicked ass against the Kilari together. It could be like… our thing.”
“I sincerely hope not,” I said, but couldn’t tell her no, “Alright,” I said and handed her a satchel nearby.
I reached in and raised a sticky, round ball from its contents. “This is an electricity jolt. It’s a bomb; the Kilari hate it. It damages them like no other. This is how we’re going to infect the hive.”
She nodded, taking several of the bombs and placing them in her backpack. Then she looked up at me, pecked my lips, and said: “Let’s go.”
The three of us walked through the telepod and not a mile away was the Kilari’s hideaway. It was warm and sweating, pink glime oozing down the walls as we slipped into its crevice. I helped Kidd in, and Axen gave me a testing look.
He didn’t think she should be there, and neither did I, but we weren’t in a position to say no to good help.
A glowing light got brighter as we entered further into the cave and I realized the hive wasn’t a breeding ground; it was just a hideout. The glow wasn’t from the pods… but that didn’t mean they didn’t have company.
We looked up and saw ten… twenty humans, glued to the walls by the Kilari’s pink slop, foul odors coming from the human pit.
“The hostages!” I yelled, and we all rushed forward. There was a collection of screams from the humans that were still alive as we removed them from their shackles.
Kidd gripped the slimy wires and pulled at them before removing a knife from her belt and cutting the pink glop off of her friends.
“Go back that way!” she screamed at them. “Tell Rowan where we are!”
Those who were still able to stand did their best to help each other get free. I had no idea why they’d taken hostages. Must just be a fun new tactic of the beasts. One last feast of energy.
The areas where Kidd had cut began churning and flailing like limbs that were mid-amputation. She’d made them angry. In a single breath, a dozen Kilari all sprung out from the walls like worms out of wormholes, spitting sharp gummy acid at us. I used my shield to protect Kidd and looked fiercely at her.
“I’m alright!” she called and grabbed one of the bombs from inside her bag.
“This is a lot,” I said, trying to make her understand the gravity of them. Even for Axen and I, this was too many. There were too many. “They won’t go after Axen,” I warned her. “So when I let down the barrier they’re going to go for us.”
She nodded. “You just tell me when to throw this bad boy, and I’m game, baby!”
I pointed up to the Kilari closest to Kidd and I and I knew she understood. We would both attack that one. I grabbed my laser pistol in one hand and a bomb in the other.
“One,” I counted, locking eyes with Kidd. “Two…”
“Three!” she yelled, and I let my barrier down.
We threw the bombs up at the creature and watched as the electricity bounded up against the Kiliari, causing them to writhe and scream in agony.
I put up my forcefield once again, making it large enough to cover myself, Kidd, and Axen as the electricity bounced around us. I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to get through it unharmed, but we had to find a way.
I couldn’t lose Kidd. Not now. Not now that I understood everything we were supposed to mean to each other. Everything she had done for me, my mind—my heart.
She understood my friendship with Axen. She was fiercely loyal. And as far as I was concerned, the world needed more people like that. I was lucky enough to have found two people in my life who I knew would never leave me.
I grabbed Kidd’s hand, kissing her. “I’m going to let the barrier down now,” I said, feeling the forcefield draining me of any energy. I didn’t know how many more times I could put it up before my body would give out.
The forcefield dropped, and I winced back in agony at the tiny shocks that still bounced around the room. Then I picked up my gun, once again aiming it was one of the giant worms, taking out its many eyes and watching as Axen raced up and sliced through the worm, cutting it clear in half.
Just then, we heard a myriad of footsteps penetrating the cave. Behind us was an army of Vithohn, the men from the camp—Tessoul as their mighty leader.
I looked at Kidd, her wide toothy smile saying it all.
“You told them?” I said, my brows shooting up in surprise.
“I told them,” she said with a smile.
And they came for us. To help us. They led the charge with a fierce battle cry, and I howled with them, Axen letting out a bellow shriek of his own as we all charged forward, tearing the Kilari apart once and for all—together.