Chapter Ten

Severine tightened the cloth strips around Rilex’s chest, positioning the baby high on his body so that his tiny head rested on the man’s shoulder. She immediately felt the relief of not having the pressure of the ties around her own ribs and stretched to either side to loosen up her movements. She didn’t know how long they had been weaving their way through the bunkers. It had been quite some time since they had walked away from the body and the image of it was still lingering in her mind. There were plenty of times when she had seen the products of death, but this was the first time that she had seen bones in that way. Hybrids that died during training or the brief battles that they had engaged in on other planets as part of their preparation, or even those who had been lost as a result of the breeding itself, were quickly and unceremoniously removed or simply left where they fell, abandoned when Ryan took the rest of them back to the breeding facility or these bunkers. There was never an opportunity to see what happened in the days, weeks, months, or even years after the life drained from those bodies and they were left as nothing more than empty shells.

She wasn’t sure how she should feel about it. There was an emotion inside of her that seemed blocked by a wall created by Ryan’s brutal training. It was the same wall that had enabled her to kill indiscriminately and to allow the children that she raised to be taken away and submitted to the same training that she had been throughout her life. Fractures had appeared in that wall a few times in the last several years, but she had avoided thinking about it until the weeks leading up to the arrival of the group in the laboratory. They knew that Ryan had had his Valdicians capture a man named Creia and hold him captive on Uoria, but only Severine had felt the shift that came with that announcement. When Ryan told them that this was the King of the Denynso, she knew that they were on a new path now. No longer training. No longer preparing. No longer thinking in abstracts about the possibility that they would one day face down the enemies that they had been bred and born to destroy. There was no context to it, no explanation of why he hated them so intensely or what he hoped to achieve by eliminating them. Now, though, they were on an irreversible course that had them rushing toward what she knew could prove to be a catastrophe.

Then they were there. It was real. They were standing in the corridor of the laboratory in the dim lighting of the night, staring across just a few feet of space at a group of people who looked different from themselves but only slightly. Rather than seeming like strange, monstrous creatures, they seemed more like shattered versions of themselves. On each of the faces of the people who they encountered in that battle, she saw the features that pieced the hybrids together. Familiar eyes stared back at her. Lips that had spoken to her since birth held sneers and spat vicious, hate-filled words. She had seen the hair, the skin, the bodies that were in front of her, scattered among the creatures that Ryan had created.

Then Severine saw the human woman with a baby strapped to her chest, fighting alongside the rest without even a moment of hesitation. Something within her broke in that moment. She continued to fight, doing what she had been taught to do, but she no longer cared what happened to her. She knew that if she died, it would be nothing more than deliverance. In her heart, though, Severine knew that she was going to make the last breaths that she had matter more than any other moment that she had ever breathed. She reached out to that human woman and begged her to save the others, hoping that she would get enough meaning from the meager words that she was able to say to make the difference that she had never been able to make herself.

The Others. Severine felt a smile come to her lips at the sound of the words running through her thoughts. They were so much more now than she ever would have thought that they could be. Simple but impactful, they were the identity that she had never thought that she would have. They reassured her that no matter had happened in her past, she had a future. Soon she would make sure that the skeleton that they found didn’t continue on with no name and no identity.

Able to move more freely now that she was taking a break from carrying the baby, Severine strode ahead of Rilex. The tunnels still looked abandoned and she began to wonder how long the network had been there before Ryan found it. She had always assumed that Ryan had designed and created them, because in her existence he was responsible for everything. When Rilex pointed out that that body had been lying in the chamber for far longer than Ryan had been alive, it occurred to her that he hadn’t made these bunkers, but simply utilized them for his own purposes. The longer that she thought of that, the more she realized that that was all that he did. He took what was already there and manipulated it, adapting and molding it until it served his purposes. Somehow that thought took away some of the power and intimidation that had always hung around Ryan.

She felt like they had been walking through the same stretches of tunnels, coiling around their own steps as they tried to navigate the complex bunkers. Finally, she turned a corner and walked out into a section that she knew that they hadn’t been in that day. It didn’t look familiar and she wondered if this was a place that she had been when she was first permitted down into these bunkers before Ryan cut them off. This corridor was much wider than the others and the light from the torch that she had taken from Rilex when he took over carrying the baby illuminated what looked like deep gashes along the walls. Like the chamber where they had found the body, this corridor didn’t have the finish as other sections. The floor and the walls were solidly packed dirt rather than stone, and she only noticed a few primitive torch holders positioned every few yards rather than the more intricate lighting systems from the newer sections of the bunker.

Severine instinctively slowed as she made her way down this corridor. In the darkness in the distance she thought that she heard deep, rumbling breaths. She paused and glanced over her shoulder at Rilex, who stepped up behind her.

“What?” he whispered.

“Do you hear that?”

As soon as she asked the question, she heard heavy, thudding footsteps and felt the ground shiver beneath her feet. Her heart started pounding in her chest as she realized that they weren’t alone in the corridor.

“Is it them?” Rilex asked.

Severine shook her head.

“I don’t think so,” she said. “That doesn’t sound like multiple people.”

“Then what is it?”

Bracing herself, Severine took a few steps forward. The footsteps had paused, but she could still hear the breathing. There was a loud grunt like an animal snorting and she stumbled back.

“I think it’s the Meldor,” she said, her voice catching fearfully in her throat.

“What is that?” Rilex asked.

“Ryan told us once that there was an animal under the ground here. I’ve never seen it and he never described it.”

“What does it do?” Rilex asked. “Why is it here?”

Severine shook her head.

“I don’t know,” she said. “He never explained. But if it was what created these claw marks in the walls, it is a very dangerous creature.”

There was another loud snort and Rilex reached forward to wrap his hand around her wrist.

“What do we do?” he asked. “Where do we go? Do we turn back?”

“If we turn back, we’ll have to find our way again and we may just end up back where we started, or lost in the tunnels. Forward is the only way that we’re going to make it out. We have to go past it.”

“How?” he asked.

“We just…” she hesitated, not really sure how to answer the question, “go.”

Thankful that the baby was better protected cradled against Rilex’s chest than he would have been with her, Severine lifted the torch up higher and started down the corridor toward the sound of the breathing. In an instant, she saw a dark form rush across the corridor in front of them. It disappeared into a chamber and Severine felt the urge to follow it. She knew that it was dangerous, but it seemed like another link to Ryan, another piece of the connection of pure manipulation and control that she was determined to end. She had only taken a few steps, however, when she felt Rilex pull her back.

“No,” he said. “I’m going first. Take the baby.”

He took the torch from her hand and rested it into one of the holders in the wall, then released the baby from his chest so that he could hand him to her. Severine took him almost reluctantly. She wanted to protect the tiny child and could feel her affection for him deepening with each passing moment that she cared for him, but she also wanted to do this, to face these challenges, on her own rather than letting Rilex do it for her. She knew that he loved her and wanted to protect her, but she also knew that she was never going to feel as though she had truly escaped Ryan until she was able to make decisions and do things for herself. If Rilex loving her meant that he could put himself in danger to protect her, then her loving him meant the same. The baby in her arms, however, stopped her from simply following him down the corridor and into the chamber with the creature.

Rilex had been gone only a matter of seconds when she heard a growl and a cry of pain.

“Rilex!” she screamed.

There was another cry and Severine knew that she couldn’t wait any longer. She pressed a kiss to the baby’s head and settled him onto the ground, wrapping the cloth that they had used as a carrier around him to keep him warm. Grabbing the torch, she ran toward the sound of the Rilex’s voice. He was coming through the entrance to the chamber when she arrived. She could see blood on his face and his shirt torn open, a long cut over his collarbone beginning to seep more blood along his chest.

“What happened?” she demanded.

There was another growl from behind him and Severine instinctively thrust the torch forward to fill as much of the space behind Rilex as she could with the illumination of the flames. As soon as she did, there was a whimpering grunt and she heard the same footsteps retreating from them.

“Where’s the baby?” Rilex asked, his voice tense with the pain he was obviously feeling.

“I put him down,” Severine said, taking him by his wrist and pulling him toward her. “Are you alright?”

“I think so,” Rilex said. “I kept moving, so I don’t think that whatever it is in there got me very deeply. The cuts are long, but I don’t think that they are serious.”

Severine’s hand lowered slightly as she pushed aside the tatters of his shirt to look at the cut and almost immediately she heard the stomach-churning sound of the creature advancing again. She pushed Rilex back out of the way and held the torch forward, wanting to see whatever this creature was that had attacked Rilex. Just as it had before, the creature groaned and retreated from the light. Behind her the baby started to cry and she touched Rilex’s shoulder.

“Go to him,” she said. “Make sure that he’s alright.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to find out what this thing is.”

“No,” Rilex insisted, but she shook her head at him and pulled away from his attempt to grab onto her. “You can’t go in there.”

“Yes, I can,” she said. “Don’t forget. I’ve been down here before. I know this planet, these hybrids, and Ryan in a way that you never will. If either of us should be in there with this creature, it’s me.”

She could see Rilex’s face change as he relented. It wasn’t sadness or anger, but a different emotion, one that seemed to tell her that he knew that as much as he wanted to wrap himself around her and guard her from anything else that might hurt her, that just wasn’t possible. There was nothing that he could do to take away the memories that she had or to prevent anything from ever happening to her again. All that he could do was walk beside her through this and hope that together they could keep each other safe.

He nodded and took a step out of her way, starting down the corridor toward where the baby lay. Without the torch, he was walking in darkness, and she turned to give him enough illumination to get to the baby where he lay. The moment that the light left the chamber, she felt a rush of hot breath on her and felt the ground tremble as the creature approached her.

“The light!” Rilex shouted at her. “Get out of the way and shine the light on it!”

Severine ducked out of the way just as a heavily furred mass hit her legs and she felt a large paw swipe through the air toward her head. She swept the torch toward it and caught sight of a massive dark brown creature quickly pulling away from the light. She stepped toward it, pushing the torch closer so that more light touched it and heard it whimper again as it tried to press itself as far against the wall as it could. She saw it turn its head away from her, its dark eyes closing tightly as it continued to groan and whimper. Its body started to shake and soon its legs folded and it lowered to the ground.

“It won’t get near the light,” Severine confirmed to Rilex. “It’s cowering from me.”

She glanced over her shoulder and saw the corridor filled with a pale light. Backing up carefully to ensure that she didn’t take the illumination from the torch out of the room, she looked into the tunnel and saw a small cluster of stars swirling over Rilex’s head and shimmering down onto the baby where he lay in Rilex’s arms. She felt a smile touch her lips. It wasn’t the first time that she had seen Rilex’s stars, but they were no less astonishing and beautiful.

“Can you bring them in here?” she asked.

Rilex held the baby in one arm and reached up toward the stars. They seemed to respond to him and he started to guide them toward the chamber. When he got to the entrance, he swept his hand forward, scattering the tiny balls of light across the ceiling so that they spread out and filled the space with their glow. Severine brought the torch back out into the corridor and settled it into the nearest holder so that there would be light when they left the chamber and then returned to look at the creature. It was curled against the wall, its head tucked as far away from the light of the stars as it could get it.

“What’s wrong with it?” Rilex asked. “Why does the light do that to it?”

Severine took a step closer to it.

“It might be the species,” she said. “I don’t know anything about it.”

“I don’t either,” Rilex agreed. “I’ve never even heard of the Meldor. Is it just this one creature, or are there many?”

Severine shook her head.

“I don’t know.”

She walked closer to it and out of the corner of her eye she could see Rilex tighten nervously.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I want to get a better look at it,” Severine said. “It doesn’t make sense that something this big would stay underground all the time,” she said. “There aren’t any other animals down here naturally, as far as I know.”

“So?” Rilex asked.

“So, what would it eat?” she asked. “If it is this resistant to light, it wouldn’t be able to go on the surface ever. Even the starlight incapacitated it. But something of this size would need food consistently to keep it alive. It just doesn’t make sense that there would be an animal that would be born to live underground when there is no natural food source to sustain it.”

“I don’t think I understand,” Rilex said. “There has to be a reason that it’s here and it’s obvious that the light is hurting it.”

Severine looked at him sharply.

“You’re right,” she said. “It isn’t just bothered. It’s in pain. Something is hurting it, even though it’s eyes are closed. It can’t see the light, but it is still afraid and in pain.”

She approached the Meldor and gingerly reached out to touch it. The animal bristled at her touch and Severine pulled her hand away defensively. When she realized that it wasn’t moving toward her, she reached forward again and rested her hand on its thick fur. The animal was tremendous and she could feel strong muscles beneath its fur. It would definitely need to eat far more than she could imagine would wander down here on its own. Something was bringing it food, which meant that maybe something was keeping it down here. She stepped up until she was just inches from it and continued to run her hand along it. Though the creature was still shaking and groaning in pain, she felt it seem to relax slightly as she petted it. Finally, she felt confident to reach toward the animal’s huge head. Its face was still turned away from her and it had made no move to claw or bite her, so she let her hand run up between its shoulder blades. When it reached the Meldor’s neck, her fingertips hit something hard.

Severine felt it further and found that it seemed to stretch around the creature’s neck. She glanced over at Rilex.

“There’s something here,” she said.

She put both hands into the creature’s thick hair, pushing through mats and clusters of dirt to get to the hard object that she had felt. Looking down at it, she felt her stomach turn and tears come to her eyes.

“Get rid of the stars,” she said.

“What?” Rilex asked.

“Get rid of the stars,” she demanded more insistently. “All of them. Make it dark in here.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes,” Severine responded. “Do it now. But keep them close and ready to put up again.”

As Rilex reached up toward the balls of light floating close to the ceiling, Severine reached into the pouch at her hip and pulled out a knife. She brought the tip of the blade to the thick collar and tucked her fingers as far under it as she could, feeling sharp metal teeth on the underside. As soon as the stars were gone, the teeth retracted, but only partially. She realized that the torch in the corridor was still putting a small amount of light into the chamber.

“Go take the torch and bring it down the tunnel until you can’t see the door anymore,” she instructed. “Now.”

Severine was relieved when Rilex did as she asked without hesitation and she tightened her grip in the collar in preparation. As the light from the torch faded around her, the animal’s shaking stopped and she could hear the rumble of its growling start again. She fought the nervousness that was encouraging her to release the collar and leave the room. Instead, she held on tighter and waited until the light was gone completely. The instant the light disappeared, Severine felt the metal teeth retract the rest of the way into the collar and the Meldor start to rise to its feet. Its head reared back, but she grasped the collar and started to saw at it with her knife. The creature climbed to its feet and Severine stood on her toes to keep cutting at the thick collar. It let out a roar and shook, nearly sending her onto the ground. She swung herself up onto its back, holding tight with her thighs to keep herself steady. She was nearly through the collar. She couldn’t stop. The animal thrashed and Severine cried out as she felt her body hit the wall that the Meldor had been curled against, but she held on.

Finally, she felt the blade go the rest of the way through the collar and it fell away from the creature’s neck.

“Rilex!” she screamed, reaching down to grasp the Meldor’s thick fur to keep her in place on its back. “Come back! Bring the torch.”

Rilex ran into the room and held the torch violently toward the creature. He shook it at the animal, taking an intimidating step forward. Severine held her hand up to stop him, shaking her head.

“No,” she said. “Don’t. Just wait.”

Still holding onto its fur, Severine reached forward and gently stroked the Meldor, trying to ignore the feeling of fresh blood on her fingertips from where the collar had been positioned. The creature continued to growl and thrash for a few moments, but finally she started to feel it calming down beneath her.

“That’s right,” she murmured. “It’s alright. You’re safe now. The light won’t hurt you.”

The Meldor settled and she heard it make a sound close to a sigh of relief.

“What happened?” Rilex asked.

Severine slid down off of the creature’s back.

“Make the stars again and put the torch back,” she said. Rilex complied and when he came back, she held up the cut collar. “It wasn’t the light that was bothering it. It was this.”

“What is it?” Rilex asked, coming toward her.

“It’s a collar,” she said. “I think it has a chip in it that responds to light. There are metal teeth that retracted when the light went away. It’s been trained to be afraid of the light because of the pain that this causes it. It doesn’t live down here naturally. It was put down here.”

“By Ryan?” Rilex asked.

“I think so. It’s part of his war tactics.”

“But why?” Rilex asked. “Why would he take a creature this big and put it where no one goes, then make it so that it would never go near light?”

“Think about it,” Severine said. “You saw how vicious this thing can be. Ryan planned for virtually everything, but even he knew that there was always the possibility that things would work out differently than he intended. There was a chance that he wouldn’t get the people here that he wants destroyed, that it might take longer than expected, or that he was going to be able to get to them without bringing them here. And if that happened, there would be no reason for him to maintain the army that he trained specifically for this mission.”

“I thought that he was intending on weaponizing the army,” Rilex said.

“Do you honestly believe that we are the only ones?” Severine asked. She could see Rilex’s face fall and she felt the tremble inside her as her mind was flooded with thoughts that she had been fighting not to let through. “There would have been questions if Ryan had bodies to handle on Earth, so he took care of that. The Meldor didn’t need to find its own food down here because Ryan made sure that the Valdicians brought it plenty. But that wasn’t its only purpose. It’s here as a backup plan.”

“In case Ryan didn’t need any of this army any longer,” Rilex said. “He could just remove the lights and release the Meldor on them.”

Severine nodded.

“We can’t leave it here,” she said. “It deserves to be free, too.”