Terra’s chest heaved as she struggled under the weight of Eimose’s body. Although he was breathing and his heart was pumping, he wouldn’t wake up no matter how many times she slapped him. He was much heavier than her, so these past few blocks trudging through the sand that coated the roads of Onto felt like miles. Regal and Brit were having to slow their pace to accommodate her and she could swear she could hear the buildings around her laugh at her weakness.
“Just put him down, he’s useless at this point.” Regal spat. “Why are you so attached to him.”
She couldn’t help but shrink at the anger carried in his voice. Terra didn’t know enough about Jer to make up an excuse as to why she was carrying Eimose and was too afraid of being discovered for who she was to fabricate one. If they didn’t already suspect something was amiss when she forgot to put a respirator on before they left the underground bunker.
Brit donned his skull respirator once again, recovered from Eimose’s bag. Terra was shocked to see Niemann's robotic head stuff inside Regal’s pack, curious as to why Regal and Brit had taken it with them as it served to no purpose without a power source. Or a body. A handful of green vials had been stored in her own pack along with a screen, water, an extra respirator (Eimose had on Brit’s extra), a pair of odd-looking goggles, several ration bars, an extra charger for her pistol, a knife and her black crystals.
“Why aren’t you answering me!” Regal stepped in front of Terra and shoved her back, almost making her drop Eimose.
“What the hell?” she yelled once she’d regained her footing. “What’s your problem with me bringing him?”
“What’s my problem? WHAT’S MY PROBLEM? My PROBLEM is that you just woke up, killed a giant fucking monster, and then suddenly decided that out of the goodness of your heart you’re going to carry a brain-dead bastard with us! I’ve been trying my best to keep my shit together, but not once have you mentioned ANYTHING about what happened at that freaky blue sky place and why THE FUCK YOU’RE FEMALE NOW.”
Regal was panting heavily and his face was red by the time he finished his rant, leaving Terra dazed and out of answers. She had no idea why Jer had suddenly changed sexes nor any clue how to make something up. All Terra could do was open and close her mouth as she fought for anything as a response.
“Boys, save this argument for later. It looks like there’s going to be rain,” Brit called out from up ahead.
“Don’t fucking talk to me until you decide to tell me what’s going on,” spat Regal and then turned and jogged to Brit’s side.
The two picked up their pace, leaving Terra behind literally in the dust. She had been silently hoping Brit would take Eimose off her shoulders but it seemed like the man was also against her dragging him along. Refusing to back down, Terra hoisted Eimose up higher on her back and continued trudging down the road.
A rumble from the sky above her startled her and she noticed the sky was much darker than its usual redness. The ground was cast in maroon shadows that only seemed to grow larger as the rumbling continued. Then the first raindrop fell near her.
She couldn’t remember the last time she saw rain. Terra had witnessed the white bliss of snowfall and the sludge that followed shortly after, but not rain. When she looked up she could see the occasional streak of a droplet of pale water fall against the backdrop of opaque sky. It was actually quite pretty.
“What the hell is wrong with you!” Regal screamed as he pulled her arm toward a decrepit building, breaking her out of her peace.
Terra opened her mouth to answer but just as she did, a droplet of water fell on the exposed skin of her wrist. It took her a second to process the sensation in her hand since a burning sensation wasn’t what she was expecting. She yelped in pain and surprise, letting Regal drag her to the safety of the interior of a tall building. Just as she stepped foot under shelter the dark heavens unleashed their payload onto the arid ground below.
“We’ll have to move up a few stories to avoid any flooding. The ground isn’t made to soak up this much water. The last thing we need right now is to be standing in a pool of acid.” Brit announced, heading to the stairs.
Regal shot Terra a dirty look but shut his mouth, turning on his heels and leaving her behind once again. She stuck out her tongue out of spite since she couldn’t flip him off with her hands full, not that he noticed. Her back soaked in sweat and limbs shaking she spotted a bench on the far wall, collapsing in it after attempting to gently let the unconscious Eimose slide off her back. Terra was 85% sure he had a concussion now.
Glancing around she saw that the building’s interior was in astonishingly good condition as opposed to its exterior. She sat in what she presumed to be a waiting room since there were benches attached to the perimeter of the walls. There were bolts sticking out of the ground where tables would have been, and a strange abstract statue in the center surrounded by a short concrete wall, making her believe it used to be a fountain. A receptionist’s desk sat at the back center of the floor, sandwiched between two elevators, the set of stairs near the right one.
She closed her eyes and tried to picture what it was like in its prime; people with places to be quickly hustling to get through the doors, the polite greetings by the front desk, people patiently sitting on the benches while they wait. So what changed? It seemed like ages ago that she had been deeply involved in the business of Indo and Petri and GreenHouse, but now it all seemed like a moot point. What exactly was she trying to achieve?
Her current mission was to follow Regal and Brit until Eimose woke up, but then what? She was still stuck in Jer’s body. She was still stuck in this red world where, apparently, rain stung. Granted, she wasn’t stuck in that underground bunker where her dreams made her forget who she was, but now she was just without a purpose.
Still unsure of what to do, she focused on her only objective at the moment and hoisted Eimose back onto her back after a bit of a struggle. The stairs proved challenging as with each step the man on her back only grew heavier. By the time she made it to the second story, she was already drenched in sweat. A burst of yellow lightning crashed through the sky, its clap of thunder making Terra drop Eimose to the ground. Now she was 100% certain he had a concussion.
A steady rumbling rose from the heavens and rain beat down at the windows still intact. The flash had illuminated the room, revealing that the area used to belong to people that worked in small, clustered areas despite a large amount of open space on the level. Regal and Brit weren’t there, meaning she had to go up at least another floor. Since Eimose was already on the ground, she sat down and took another breather, relishing in the dropping temperature and its soothing touch on her hot skin. She must have dozed off for a few minutes because she awoke to see Regal and Brit a few feet from her and had set up some sort of semi-spherical object that glowed slightly and let out a soft warmth.
She glanced at Regal’s direction as she pushed Eimose closer to the orb of heat as the temperature had dropped considerably, noticing that he made no movement to so much as acknowledging her presence. Brit, on the other hand, looked relieved when she woke up and handed her a protein pack.
“Eat up, it’s been a long day. It was a lot to ask right after coming out of a coma.” Brit emphasized, saying the last few words a little louder while staring at Regal. Regal just shot him a dirty glare and turned away. “Are you feeling alright?”
Terra nodded and bit down on the bar, an excuse to not speak.
“Because you have been acting...off,” Brit admitted and Terra choked.
“Really?” she coughed. “My bad. It’s all just been a little overwhelming?”
“Understandable. But I do believe it is time for you to explain to Regal what happened to you back in that place.”
Regal’s head whipped around.
“About fucking time!” he screamed and he scooted closer as to not miss a word.
Terra’s mind went blank as the expectant stares of the two men bored down on her.
“I’m not ready yet!” she blurted out.
“Fuck that shi--!” Regal started, but Brit cut him off.
“If you’re not ready to tell him, then give me permission to tell him. You can’t keep him in the dark forever.” The older man stated. Terra nodded vigorously; Brit was a godsend.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“I met Jer a year before you became part of my crew Reg, but this Jer was female. And ‘met’ is too strong a word, in this case, I literally tripped over Jer when I was scavenging for another group. Thought she was dead at first but against my better judgment, I dragged her ass to my camp and took care of her for two days before she woke up.
“Jer told me she came from a civilization raised on the teachings of a priestess and the worship of a goddess and that she had to run away because she’d stolen a sacred item. Thing is, I didn’t see anything around her when I’d found her, so I just assumed she’d hit her head and had gone insane. Well, she somehow managed to convince me that it would be worth a lot of money, so fast forward a day and we find her item near the area I’d found her, which ended up being just a weird black rock. And then she literally stabbed herself with it.
“I can’t really explain what I saw next, but there was a lot of screaming from both of us, and then Jer wasn’t female any more. I promised to keep it a secret mostly because nobody would ever believe me and that Jer had promised to make up for tricking me. After all these years I thought maybe I’d just hallucinated it, but I knew my eyes had proved me right when I saw that place with the blue sky and Jer reverted to female. Whatever that black thing in the sky was, it took back the ‘gift’ Jer had gotten and almost killed them in the process.” Brit clasped his hand together. “And that’s all I’ve got. Jer, anything to add?”
“Um, no. You summed it up really nicely. Uh, good job.” Terra gave him a thumbs up, which caused Brit to furrow his brow. Did Jer not give people thumbs up?
“So you knew about this all this time and didn't tell me?” Regal asked Brit in dismay. “And here I thought there would be no more secrets between us.”
“This wasn't mine to tell,” said Brit. “I knew Jer would tell you when they were ready.”
“But in the end, Jer still hasn't told me anything. Anything else you haven't told me about?” hissed Regal. “Or are you going to let Brit spill all your secrets so you don't have to?”
Terra's gut twisted as she realized she'd taken another crucial moment from the true Jer. Her lip quivered since she knew she couldn't keep up the facade for any longer. What had only been a day in someone else's body felt like an eternity of lies she couldn't control.
“I--I’m,” she began, “I'm not act--”
The building suddenly quaked and she had to jump out of the way to avoid getting hit by a chunk of ceiling debris. Brit had already pulled out his pistols and Regal shoved the glowing heat generator into his pack.
“We're moving,” Brit ordered. “Let’s not find out who was responsible for that.”
Terra awkwardly hosted Eimose on her back and followed Brit into the stairwell, Regal trailing close behind with his weapon drawn. She could hear the echoes of shouts and footsteps bouncing off the walls from the first floor.
The older man motioned for the others to remain where they were as he silently crept down the stairs. Brit muttered quiet curses when he stealthily peaked through the doorway into the reception area.
“Fifteen total. Ten humans heavily armed, five Combatants. We need to find another way.” he whispered as he turned and shoved past Terra, going back to the floor they had been on.
Regal and Brit wordlessly ran ahead and split up, leaving Terra wondering what she should do. She thought about heading back down and single-handedly fighting of the people stopping them from their escape, but that would mean putting Eimose down. Call it paranoia, but she was certain Regal would or a bullet in Eimose's head if she wasn't keeping a constant eye on him.
Brit and Regal returned from their scouting mission, their expressions grim.
“GreenHouse,” Brit announced. “Reg, find anything that can shield us from the rain. Jer, drop Eimose here and get ready to fight. There’s a spot in the Southeast corner of the building we can hop down without them noticing.”
They left again and Terra wondered if she could get away with disobeying Brit’s orders. Probably not, but if it came down to fighting these two people to keep the only person she could relate to, then so be it. With GreenHouse in the mix now she doubted they would focus too much of their attention on her. She ran through the cubicles and circled the area until she found where Brit had found the gap in GreenHouse forces.
“Jer, you need to let him go. They’re tracking him and he’s slowing you down.”
Terra opened her mouth to protest, but he had a point. Even if they did get away from the building, if GreenHouse was tracking Eimose somehow then they would easily find him again. But how? And if they could track him all this time, why now? Why hadn’t GreenHouse come to get him back when he’d first been kidnapped? It made no sense. If it wasn’t him they were tracking then GreenHouse would still find a way to trace them, and abandoning Eimose wasn’t an option. That’s when she recalled that she lived in an age of technology.
“Do you have an EMP?” she asked excitedly.
Brit caught on immediately and dug around in his pack until he drew a flat cylindrical object.
“It takes half an hour to charge and we only have one,” he explained. “We’ll get the most use out of it if we use it when we get to ground level. We’ll knock out the radios of the agents below and disable any trackers near us. Smart thinking, Jer.”
Terra proudly puffed her chest but immediately regretted it since it put her off balance and she nearly fell backward if not for Brit grabbing onto Eimose’s hair and pulling.
“Why are you going through such desperate lengths to protect this one?” Brit asked.
“It’s a long story.”
“When we’re safe again you’ll need to enlighten us. And apologize to Regal, okay?”
“What?” Terra said, aghast. “Why the hell would I do that? He’s been nothing but an asshole to me.”
Brit chuckled but quickly regained his composure. “It’s not fair to Regal that you kept your secret from him for so long. He became your brother, but then you suddenly became a girl and now he doesn’t know how to act around you.”
“If he treated me like a brother before, then just treat me like a sister, it’s not that hard.”
“You know he can’t do that,” his eyes narrowed. “Not after what happened with his biological sister. You know this.”
Regal cleared his throat just as Terra was trying to process the fact Regal had an actual sister.
“So this is what you do when I’m not around? Talk about me behind my back?” His tone was light but his words were heavy. “I found some large pieces of glass that can work as umbrellas. Not big enough to sleep under, but I hope we don’t plan on staying out too long.”
The sound of footsteps clomping up the stairs alerted them to their diminishing time frame.
“Now or never,” Brit said and he cracked the butt of his gun into the glass just as an arc of lightning crashed through the sky.
With his gun in one hand and the EMP carefully latched onto his belt, he jumped off the building. Terra peered over the edge of the building face and saw that Brit had landed safely in a dumpster but she could tell he was biting back the pain the fall and the rain was causing him. Regal went next, first dangling by the edge to hand Brit the pane of glass without it shattering, then dropping down as well. Terra dropped Eimose down first and was glad to see that Brit helped her guide him down and then jumped in after.
It seemed that they weren’t as silent as they’d hoped since several GreenHouse patrollers headed in their direction, mumbling about hearing strange things. Brit using that time to hit the EMP, which none of them were alerted to, though they did complain about their radios acting up.
Without a word, they all managed to get out of the dumpster with minimal noise and minimal exposure to the rain that left red welts on their skin. Brit pointed to the building closest to them, one that was shorter and wider, giving them more space to run free of being seen by the assailants hunting them down. Brit sprinted ahead, leading the way across the muddy street, Terra and Eimose following close behind, and Regal flanking them. They all let out audible sighs of relief when they made it to the far side of the building where they couldn’t see any more GreenHouse agents.
“Regal, are there any sewer lines near here?” Brit asked, his volume still low.
“Don’t remember, give me a sec.” he pulled out his pack and brought out his screen, pulling up the map of old Onto. “Down that road, there should be a grate we could use.” Brit followed Regal’s finger to see where he was pointing while Terra absorbed her surroundings.
The buildings were large and shoved close together, much like the cubicles in the office building. Did these people like cramped spaces because that’s the vibe she was getting.
An unexpected squish of mud drew her eye to a man dressed in black combat armor with the initials ‘GH’ emblazoned in silver on the front. The man lifted his weapon and pointed it at his closest target: Regal.
On instinct, Terra charged at Regal and kicked him, her hands busy holding Eimose up. When the shot was fired, Terra smiled knowing that she was still impervious to any physical attack. She’d put Eimose down and then go kick some ass while Brit and Regal would watch amazed at the feats she’d pull. Terra would take down the entire GreenHouse battalion without even breaking a sweat. So when she felt the sharp burning pain of the bullet pierce her chest she didn’t know what to do.
All she could hear was the blood rushing in her ears, drowning out the screams around her. She watched as dark blood coated the front of her shirt, still unsure of what had happened. Her knees gave out as she heard sharp pops through the haze. When she looked up, the man lay crumpled on the ground, blood pooling around his body. The world around her spun and she was vaguely aware that Regal and was at her side pressing his hand to her wound. The dull ringing in her ears subsided enough that she could hear Regal telling her it was going to be okay over and over again like a mantra.
A bright white light flashed over them all and the mantra stopped, overpowered but a beating of drums. Regal was gone, and so was Brit, but Terra was still there, sitting in the mud. Where had they gone? She tried calling out for them, but all that came out of her mouth were strained cries and blood.
The white light wasn’t comforting and the drums surrounded her, telling her to lift her hands. But she couldn’t do what the drums wanted her to because she was too tired, even when they told her it was her last warning. She fell onto her back, landing softly on Eimose. At least he hadn’t abandoned her. He was there to keep her from drowning. He promised.
Alter stood next to her, her body silhouetted against the bright light. The girl leaned down and spoke over the drums and other voices demanding her attention.
“The price of a life is paid in pain and blood.”
And then Alter left her too.