Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 44088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 44088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 220(@200wpm)___ 176(@250wpm)___ 147(@300wpm)
I sit up in time to see my door thrown open, bright light streaming in behind a powerful figure.
It is Kail.
He is covered in blood, and most of it is not his own.
His expression is fierce, his posture aggressive. He has come in the same way an avenging angel comes, to destroy all things that deserve to be destroyed. I know I count among them.
It would be so nice to be brave in this moment, but bravery requires composure and seeing Kail again robs me of all semblance of that.
This is not the Kail who reluctantly rescued me in the wild. This is Kail the human destroyer. This is a savage so feared, literally no human on this planet has survived him. I see no reason why I should be any different. I betrayed him. I am just as bad, if not worse than everybody else he has killed. My having released him does not change that. It is the exception that proves the rule of my treachery, and I expect no kindness for it.
“Kail.” I say his name, hearing my voice for the first time in what must be a month.
I am so glad to see him, and I am so absolutely terrified of him I can barely express or even experience those feelings together. They come in waves, one after the other, terror and joy, joy and terror.
“Come here, human.”
He gives me an order, and my body moves to obey him. There is no escape here, so I have no choice but to go toward him, toward my doom.
As I approach, he turns, leading me away. I reach out to touch him but think better of it. I do not know that he would welcome my touch, even if I crave his, and there is no part of him that is not covered in the blood of his enemies. He is no longer a green alien. He is the red monster we made.
“How did you find me?”
“I killed everyone I met until I came to you.”
Simple, but effective.
I have no right to ask him for mercy, so I don’t. I have no right to do anything except be grateful for every breath he allows me.
I follow him out of the prison block, working very hard to shield my eyes from the scores of bodies more or less piled at random. He has been indiscriminate in his rampage. Guards and soldiers died right alongside prisoners. He has truly killed everybody besides me.
“Kail…”
“Not yet,” he says. “Not until we are far from this cursed place.”
“Wait. Please.”
He stops and turns to me with an irritated expression, and I feel a sensible pang of fear, knowing that my life must surely still hang in the balance.
“Once word of this second massacre gets out, and it will, they will send an army to find you. It won’t be like it was, moving through these tight buildings and spaces, every corner a fresh ambush. It will be open season on this entire planet. They will burn it to the ground to get to you. Let me help you escape. We can take a ship. I assume it’s fueled, and we can gather supplies…”
“I have never left this world. This is my world.”
“Well, you’re about to,” I say, part of myself watching myself be inordinately, stupidly brave speaking this way. “Because Hades itself is about to be rained on this place. We have technology that turns forests into ashes in an instant. They will use that on this world. They will say it is to be careful, but it will be out of spite. They will burn you, and everything you have ever loved. The only way to draw them away from this planet now is to leave.”
“You mean, leave it to their colonies. They will come again too.”
“Is it better for a planet to be colonized, or is it better for it to be destroyed?”
Kail gives me a dark stare. “It is the same thing, one fast, one slow.”
He is right, of course.
“The slow option gives us time to do something. The fast option leaves no time for anything. Kail. Please. I don’t want to see you die. Let me help you get away from here. Let’s draw them away from this planet. Let’s lead them on an endless chase through the stars.”
“They will send mercenaries.”
“And you will kill them. But I promise you, missiles are coming, and those missiles leave nothing.” I have seen it before, too many times.
“I think we should take maybe an hour to recover what we can from this base, then take a ship and go,” I tell him. “I know you can’t trust me. I know I am still the enemy, but you have to see what I see too. The end is coming, and it will be worse for us if we are here.”