Elena guessed two days had passed since she had been captured. So far, no one had come to talk to her or do anything else, for that matter. Other than bringing them food three times a day, she hadn’t had any contact at all with their captors. And she was sure none of the women around her had either. Other than some occasional whimper, the place was submerged in thick silence.
Until they heard the first blast. And the second, and all the others that followed. The colony was under attack. The lights flickered before going off for a few seconds before the emergency lights came on. But even those didn’t last much and a few minutes later, they were out too. The place was dark.
The women started to cry, realizing they were sitting ducks inside those cells and if no one came to open the doors for them, they would certainly perish in that dungeon.
Jumping out of her bed, she walked to the door and tried to open it up, forcing it. To her surprise, the door budged and she was able to open it.
Relieved, she stepped out of the cell, trying to look around, but it was too dark for it.
She walked carefully to the next door and tried to open the door. It opened.
“Girls, the doors are opened, get out.” She shouted as she started walking towards the exit, or at least, where she thought the exit was.
Cries of fear mixed with relieved echoed around the place, as the women started to open the cells and leaving them.
It was chaos, but after a while, she managed to reach the exit door and open it up. The rest of the women followed her and flooded the hallways in all directions.
Elena stopped for a few seconds, trying to get an idea of where she was and where she could find the nearest door to the outside.
She had to go back to her hometown, and she wasn’t going to wait for the soldiers to help her. Especially, when she was sure, they left the town, with no protection, as a decoy for the Taucets. That attack spoke volumes on that theory.
After all the other women disappeared down the hall, she walked to her right, recalling she had seen a door near the dungeon, when they had brought her there.
Fortunately, she was right, and the door opened into what looked like the backside of the colony. Just a few yards away, a huge wall separated her from freedom.
But, it wasn’t just that. Outside, the ground was covered with a thick layer of snow, and it was so cold Elena could barely breathe. She couldn’t go out wearing the rags she had on. She wouldn’t last an hour, and she needed to survive. She had to find her sister, no matter what.
Walking back inside, she looked around. She had to find something to warmer to wear. But she had no idea where she could find that. In her cell, she hadn’t had even a blanket, so going back there would be useless. She would have to search all the rooms around to see what she was able to find.
The bombs blasting around her, the cries of the women and the bursts from the weapons urged her to get out of there. So, quickly, she started looking, praying she wouldn’t find anyone in her search.
The first door she opened was some sort of lab, and there wasn’t anything she could use there. The next three doors had the same result, and she was starting to feel desperate when she found what looked like a bedroom.
Sighing relieved, she searched the place and found a few of the black jumpsuits she had seen on the Taucets. Quickly, she put a couple of them on, hoping they were made of thermal fabric. Pulling the sheet from the bed, she formed a small pack where she put a few more jumpsuits. She even found a pair of boots. They were at least four sizes bigger than what she usually wore, but after wrapping her feet in strips of sheet, she managed to walk with them. She needed to protect her feet, or she wouldn’t last long out there in the snow.
Ready to leave, she walked out of the room. The battle hadn’t reached the area where she was and quickly, she headed back to the door she knew would take her out of there.
This time, she didn’t feel so cold when she walked out of the igloo, and she sighed. She might pull it off after all.
Running, she reached the wall and started to walk along it, always attentive to the battle sounds coming from the colony grounds. So far, she seemed to be surrounded by what looked like greenhouses, and for a few seconds, she considered looking for some food inside them.
But that wasn’t a good idea. Elena needed to get out of there as soon as possible before anyone saw her. At this point, she didn’t trust anyone.
After a few minutes, she started seeing signs of destruction. For a moment, she considered going back and try another way, but she needed to find a hole in the wall or an unguarded door. She couldn’t go back. Walking even closer to the wall, she proceeded as fast as she could, trying not to look at all the dead bodies scattered around the place. It was a butchery, but then again, all wars were senseless slaughters.
A few minutes later, she finally found what she was looking for, a hole in the wall.
She was about to cross through it, when she remembered the words of the alien talking about the tattoo she had on her neck. Was it possible that security system was still on? All the others seemed to be out, but she had no way of knowing if the one keeping the slaves inside the colony was out or not.
A few blasts way too close to her were enough to make her decision. Taking a deep breath, she crossed the wall and closed her eyes for a second, waiting for the wave of pain she was told about.
Nothing happened.
Relieved, she ran out, into the woods, with no direction in mind. For now, all she wanted was to get as far as possible from the colony.
She must have run about two miles when she tripped over a huge bulge on the ground. Cursing her luck, she got up, and shook the snow off her clothes, turning around to see what had tripped her.
Whatever it was, it was covered with a thin layer of the snow that had started falling again, just a few minutes ago. Trying to convince herself it was just a trunk, Elena stepped closer, and when she was about to dust the snow off it, a strong hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her.
“Help me.”
Rafaroy was almost out of the colony walls when he was spotted by a group of Taucets. Distracted looking for a way out, he hadn’t been attentive to the battle taking place around him. His priority was to escape.
He ran for cover, pulling out his guns but, before he was able to shoot the first time, he was hit in the back by the enemy fire. Cursing his fate, he took cover in a corner and opened fire.
The pain on his back was sharp, and all he wanted was to close his eyes and wait for his nanocybots to do their job and heal him, but he was still under attack, and he needed to get out of there as soon as possible. He had spotted the hole in the wall he would use to escape, but first, he needed to get rid of the Taucets. And he did, but it took him several minutes he didn’t have to get rid of the small group. They fought viciously, attacking him with no mercy, aiming to kill him, no matter what. Fortunately, his weapons were far more powerful than theirs, and he was able to kill them all. Fearing their small battle had attracted unwanted attention, and after scanning the area, he dared to leave his position, heading as fast as possible to the exit he had seen before. The wound on his back was more serious than he thought, judging for the amount of blood he was losing and the excruciating pain crunching his guts, but he couldn’t stay there and wait for his body to recover. He needed to escape.
Gathering all of his strength, he left the colony as fast as he could and ran through the thick woods through the snow until he was sure he was far enough to be safe.
Falling to his knees, he tried to look at his back, but it was too bloody and messy for him to get an idea of the extent of the damage. Cursing his luck once more, he sat on the ground, with his back against a tree and closed his eyes. He needed time for his nanocybots to work on his wounds before he could get out of there.
He must have lost conscious to some level because next time he was aware of was someone tripping over him. A woman, judging by the person’s scent.
He could use some help, and this woman was exactly what he needed. Stretching out his hand, he grabbed her. “Help me.” Other than a request, his words came out as an order and the woman didn’t look very pleased.
“Oh god, you’re a cyborg,” she muttered, tugging her hand to free herself.
“Yes, sweetie, never saw one before?” His words oozed scorn.
“No, never, and I could have lived my whole life without seeing one,” she assured him, tugging harder.
“Unless you’re planning on cutting off your hand, you’re not going anywhere,” he warned her, in a cold tone, pulling her closer and making her fall on her knees next to him.
“I didn’t get this far to be stopped by you, damn it,” she cursed, pulling harder, with no results. She could feel the cold of the snow penetrating her clothes and a chill ran down her spine. “Let me go,” she yelled at him.
“No.” His plain answer seemed to be more effective than his other words. “I need your help.” Normally, he wouldn’t have asked a female human for help, but in his present condition, any help would be welcomed, even if he had to force the helper.
“How could I possibly help you? The army must be looking for you, so I’m sure they’ll find you soon enough,” she said, still not giving up.
“I’m not letting you go,” he stated in a solemn tone. “If you really want to leave, you’ll help me, and then I’ll let you go,” he added, struggling to hide his pain from her.
“You can’t do this… I need to get as far as possible from the colony…” she protested, still struggling to free her wrist.
“You’re wasting time, woman,” he yelled at her. He too was in a hurry to get out of that place, but he needed to stop the bleeding somehow.
She let out a shriek of sheer frustration before she took a deep breath and turned to look at him. “What the hell do you want from me?” she asked, in a biting tone, tilting her head back to really look at him. Even sitting on the ground, she could tell he was huge, and muscled, with a powerful body, the kind you would expect on a fierce warrior, with wide shoulders and thin waist.
He was also incredibly handsome, with his dark brown hair and brown eyes. At first sight, one wouldn’t realize he was a cyborg, but his skin tone, slightly blueish and the absence of a pupil on his eyes, were clear signs he wasn’t completely human. She had never met someone like him, that was for sure, and she wasn’t referring to the fact he was a cyborg.
“I’m wounded on my back. I need you to check my wound and cover it with something.” He looked around, looking for something she might be able to use, spotting her bundle. “The sheet where you wrapped your things in will do the trick.”
“I need it,” she protested.
“Again: we’re wasting time arguing. Like you, I need to get as far as possible from the colony, so get to it,” he ordered her, almost let out a loud laugh when she stared at him with a murderous shine in her eyes. Incredibly, she wasn’t afraid of him.
“Let me see it,” she asked, with a slight frown.
“Don’t even think about escaping from me. I would hunt you down,” he threatened her, slowly releasing her wrist and leaning forward, so she could access his wound.
“Dear heavens, what the hell happened to you?” she asked, startled, at the sight of his wound.
“The Taucets attacked me.”
“There’s a hole on your back,” she told him, examining the wound thoroughly. The jumpsuit he was wearing was ruined and hanged on his waist.
“Is it deep?”
“No, it seems to have ripped the skin and muscle from the area, but it didn’t go beyond your ribcage,” she explained. “Your spine and ribs are metallic,” she added, with awe.
“I’m a cyborg, woman, of course, they’re metallic, my whole skeleton is metallic,” he pointed out, sarcastically.
“How should I know? I know nothing about cyborgs,” she replied, indignantly. “You’re still bleeding profusely, and there are some metal splinters incrusted in your skin.”
“Those must be from the wall near me. Part of their blasts missed me and hit it,” he explained.
“You should get those out,” she suggested, trying not to worry about a total stranger.
“There’s no time for that.” And his nanocybots would make sure to clean the area. He just needed to stop the bleeding. “Just cover it as best as you can, so that we can get the hell out of here.”
She looked at the wound and realized she would have to use the sheet. It would be the only way to cover that up. “Are you sure you shouldn’t clean it first?” she asked, as she unwrapped the spare clothes she had brought with her and tore the sheet into wide bandages.
“Yes, I’m sure. Just cover the damn thing,” he insisted, through gritted teeth.
“Alright, there’s no need to be grumpy,” she protested, as she knotted all the stripes into one single bandage. “Please straighten up and raise your arms,” she asked him, getting closer to him.
He was so wide, she had a lot of trouble wrapping the sheet around him, but after a few minutes, she finally secured the fabric firmly around him. A red spot was starting to show against the white bandage, but that didn’t surprise her. It would take more than that to stop his bleeding.
“There, it’s the best I can do,” she assured him, picking her clothes and forming another bundle with them as best as she could. “You should have that seen as soon as possible, though. You’re still bleeding,” she warned him.
“I know.” He got up and picked his weapons she hadn't seen before. “Let’s go. I can’t sense anyone nearby, but I’m not willing to take any risks,” he ordered, picking her wrist again and wrapping his fingers around it, as he pulled her up.