Peace Offering

The knife barely makes a scratch on the bars. Whitish marks marr the metal columns, clearly made by the last prisoner. Tracing my fingers against them, I wonder what it's like to have this kind of strength. The cuts are uneven and deep. There’s no way a human could’ve done this. Shaking my head, I feel the last sliver of hope shrivel and fall away. I kick the bars. Krell soldiers ready their blasters. Their stares bore into me, but I stand my ground. 

“Zel, we should wait,” Cade mutters. He stares at me through heavy-lidded eyes, his body slumped against the cage bars. 

“For what?” I hiss. 

This thing is nuts—a stupid peace offering. Cade grabs my arm and yanks me down with him. “Stop. They’re coming.” 

The Lieutenant, leader of the Krell, marches down the hallway. No one knows his real name. It doesn’t matter anyway. He stops in front of our cage and gestures to one of the soldiers with a missing arm. The man jabs at the barcodes in our necks and wrists with a prober. I wince. He snickers and waits until the device blinks green. “Zelea and Cade, bound to the Democratic Republic of Nervis.” He speaks into a small microphone draped around his shoulder. With a curt nod, he takes a step back but doesn’t leave. 

The Lieutenant comes up to us, cornering us against the walls until our toes touch. The stench of cigar clings to his grimy uniform. Through the thick lining of his mask and goggles, I can still make out the awkward twitch in his jaw and the slight crook in his nose. My handiwork from last time made its mark after all. It takes every fiber of my being to resist ripping off his face coverings. Krells can’t breathe our air. Instead, they take in hydrogen and helium found on their planet. 

Something flies from his fists. It slams against my throat, knocking the air from my lungs. Cade collapses next to me. The collar wraps itself tighter, squeezing, and choking until my eyes water, and my breath comes in spurts. Blood trickles from the side of my mouth, where I bit my tongue. Electricity ignites my skin. Flashes of light spark across my neck and trail down my body. Everything burns red hot, and my vision goes white. 

The Lieutenant stands over me, but he’s just a faint silhouette. All the soldiers look like black shadows talking and whispering. “You shouldn’t have tried anything unless you want war?” 

I grunt, my head still too scrambled for words. 

“Being a peace offering is a privilege for your kind. We could’ve picked someone else for this,” he squats down and rips the collar away, “but Nervis wanted the youngest of the lot.” 

At 16, we’re definitely not what Nervis would hope for. The Krell hasn’t tracked the rest of us down, so we’re all they have to work with. I force myself up, panting from the effort. “Your kind threatened them first.” 

He scoffs. “Human brains are tiny, and what you understand is nothing. Anyway, you won’t be there forever. We’ll come to get you when the time’s up.” 

The soldiers give us the side-eye, their blasters still aimed at our heads as they back out of the cell. With them gone, my mind starts to wander. Had I joined Mother on ship 11, I wouldn’t have run into the Krell. They wouldn’t have kept us as prisoners. Every day, they poke, prod, and experiment with tons of machines hooked to our bodies. Today is the only exception. 

Cade sighs and runs a hand over his face. “I guess we deserved that.” 

I shake my head. We did what anyone would do. He stole the knife from a soldier and spent the whole night slicing away. I simply took over. 

The spaceship jerks, sending us skidding across the floor until we hit the wall. I curse under my breath. I grab on to the bars and peer around the corridor. Another jolt comes. The ship shudders and groans. Beneath our feet, the metal vibrates, and a humming sound starts in the hatch. 

“Did Regan do that?” I ask. 

“No way. She would’ve signaled us first.” 

Regan is a year younger than us, but she’s feistier than anyone I’ve ever met. Since she escaped twice over the past three days, the Krell locked her in solitary. Familiar voices float down the hallway. Cold sweat drips down my forehead and tangles in my hair. Cade grabs my hand, tilting my chin up until I’m forced to meet his eyes. “Humor him, and he'll leave us alone,” he says, but I’m not listening anymore. 

The door’s steel hinges fly apart and stick into the walls. A towering man appears at the doorway, the excess skin around his legs sweeping the floor. Swirls of hardened flesh around his body form a thick armor against bullets. Even from afar, his contorted face is unmistakable. The Ambassador of Nervis. Mother said that he poured some chemical treatment on himself. The mixture cooked his skin to a crisp and added layers of dead flesh for extra protection. Hideous but functional. I doubt there’s anyone as paranoid as him. The Lieutenant walks perfectly in step with him, gesturing to us and muttering something to him. 

“Forgive the intrusion. I’m here to check the goods. If my people aren’t satisfied, I can’t guarantee them safe passage back, you know.” The Ambassador cracks a laugh and makes his way to our cage. “I’ve already checked on your friend. She’s quite the fighter, so I’m sure she’ll do well in the ring later.” 

He stops and bends down to study our faces. Pain creeps up my arm and twines around my neck. From the corner of my eye, the Lieutenant watches me with a warning in his eyes. A pop sounds from the ceiling. 

Is that Regan? 

I shake my head, trying not to get my hopes up. Electrical sparks burst from the overhead wires, gliding over the ground and disappearing through the cracks. The lights shatter. The Ambassador collapses into a shivering heap. His bodyguards writhe, groaning as they desperately try to shake off the sparks. Slowly, the ship begins to tilt. My heart thrashes wildly in my chest, energy igniting my nerves. We need to move now. 

Cade tears his gaze from the window, his face flush and sweaty. Faint streaks of light from a scalding planet dance across his face. “The meteor belts. Once those hit the engine, we’re gone.” 

I turn around, feeling the hot tears stinging my eyes. Warmth seeps from my head down to my toes. It bites my skin like fire ants. Is this what the end feels like? No. Whipping out my knife, I hack and stab against the metal bars until my breaths come short. I’m wasting my energy. The airflow is gone, and most of it must’ve escaped through the spaces between the walls. There’s not enough cabin pressure to keep it all in. Oxygen won’t last longer than five minutes. 

Cade pushes something in my hand. “I want you to have this. Don’t ever lose it.” 

The black piece is long and thin, like harvested graphite from the Krell material farms. Heat licks my face and pools around my eyes. The soul stone helps us find each other in the afterlife. I rush to the bars again, my fingers gripping the metal so hard that they start to ache. The pain will be the last thing I feel. 

“Zel, what are you doing?” Cade points to my hands, his eyes growing wide. 

Fire. That’s the first thing I see. Blue and orange flames travel down the metal bars, burning them until they’re red-hot. I rip them off and toss them at Cade. My hands are still glowing, lighting up the path ahead. Stop. Make it stop. I scream in my head. Agony ripples through my body as the fire spreads over my skin. Anyone could see me.

“That’s why we’re running,” Cade says breathily. “I heard your thoughts. Don’t ask me why or how. This whole thing’s messed up.”

“Going somewhere?” A booming voice echoes over the intercoms. Red lasers land on my chest, gliding up my body until they land on my forehead. Snipers. Silhouettes materialize in the shadows. I feel my hands heating up again. Tendrils of light leave my arms and wrap around their legs. I strain with the effort, wobbling a little while my body protests. “Hands up where I can see them,” someone barks.

Do you trust me?

Cade’s voice echoes in my aching skull, but I manage a nod. He grabs my arm and closes his eyes. Heat rages through me, and my fire grows into a shield. Bullets echo through the room. One hits me in the shin, and another hits my ribs. There’s a deafening crack as blood spills from my nose. Whatever this is, I’m horrible at controlling it. Scorching tears run down my cheeks. When one side of the shield is protected, the other suffers. Cade’s arm is grazed.

“Sorry,” I whisper as he hobbles towards me.

Bending down, he checks my leg and the gaping hole near my lung area. His face hardens with realization. Blood rises to my throat and spills from my mouth.

“How…long more?” I choke. That’s all I could manage between desperate gulps for air.

He doesn’t answer. 

Red warning lights flood the chambers. The ship swerves right and plummets through the meteor cloud, making cracks appear across the ceiling. I want to tell him to go first. Yet, the words wouldn’t come as another wave of pain hits. “Stay with me,” he murmurs. “Regan’s here. I can feel her at the pods.”

“Check this.” Regan’s voice pierces through the haze of panic. She stands at the entrance of the bay, where the escape pods are glowing bright blue. Her eyes are wild with terror, and her side is soaked in blood. She doubles over, clinging onto the cockpit station. “This thing’s a bomb. We’re crashing on the Empire building, over the Nervis capital.”

“Self-destruct initiated. T-minus ten seconds.” A robotic voice chimes over the speakers.

This isn’t a peace offering. It’s an act of war.

The ship turns and gyrates until everything is a blur of falling crates and equipment. My body rolls across the ground. I hit the window and slide across the ceiling. I taste blood, and warmth oozes down my temple. Something heavy knocks the air from my lungs.

All goes dark.

…

“She’s broken up bad. Without the plasma seals, she would’ve been long gone,” someone says. I feel light prods everywhere, starting from the top of my head down to my ankles. Plasma seals are stem cells that absorb through the skin until they fuse with broken bones. It’s a temporary fix.

“If no one bids for her, then…”

Cold liquid grazes my face, making my eyes snap open. I’m hooked up to machines, each of them feeding a pale green mixture through me. People dressed in white coats stare down at me. Some are from Nervis, but others look almost human. Except for their stretched, translucent skin, they seem normal enough.

“What bid?” I ask.

A middle-aged woman speaks up. “Pharma researchers were betting for your genome. You and your friends were more valuable than state treasure.”

“I don’t get—”

“We hacked the security feed, and saw the crazy stuff you all did back there,” she pauses, but when I don’t say anything, she throws her hands up. “Can’t you see? You’re a Nether-Human. A Hybrid that isn’t supposed to exist.”

Half-alien. That’s what I am.

“Then, who are you guys? What about the others?”

The room goes deathly quiet until all I can hear are the sounds of my ragged breathing. I struggle against the restraints, but the rusted chains dig deeper into my wounds. “We promise to treat you with the utmost respect,” the woman says as she prepares a syringe of clear liquid.

I suck in a deep breath and force my eyes to look everywhere else. The surgical equipment is bathing in a mixture of foul-smelling herbs and salts. Overhead, the wooden beams are barely holding up, and the floor is dotted with mold. The woman notices me staring and gives my shoulder a light tap. “You’re at the refuse facility, but don’t worry, your friends made it to good companies. They’ll be treated well there.”

She flicks the syringe and drives it deep into my arm. “Your body honors us all. I’m sorry that we can’t put it back together again, but we’ll try. Sew it if we have to.”

I’m guessing that no one bid for me, so they ship me out here to be taken apart. 

My heart palpitates, and my vision blurs. The beeping of the heart monitor goes erratic. “Why save me just to kill me?”

The woman nods. “This is humane euthanasia. Anyway, Nervis law requires you to be aware and clear-minded until the end. We only do this when your body is beyond possible repair. Then, the only way you can be useful is if we can examine everything freely.”

My legs are the first to lose their sensation. Numbness surges through my veins and climbs up my torso. It presses hard against my chest. Biting my lip, I use the last bit of strength to get the soul stone from my pocket. I clutch it close to my chest. Cade and Regan, I hope I never see you up here. Please stay alive. 

The room rumbles. Screams and curses pierce my eardrums. Whatever this is, it’ll be the end for all of us. Life ebbs away like blood spilling from a bullet to the heart. For a while, the body fights to survive, until it can’t anymore.

“Come on, open your eyes.” The voice is muffled so I can barely make out the words or who it belongs to. Soothing energy starts from my hand until it blooms at my core. Fingers trail over my cold cheek until they stop at the back of my head. As the weight lifts from my eyes, I open them to see Cade staring at me. All I can manage is a wane smile, and it does little to ease the crease between his brows. A neon blue energy glows beneath my skin. It follows the pattern of my veins, bringing healing to every patch of skin.

“What's this?”

“It’s one of my abilities, like your fire.” Cade rubs the back of his neck and sighs. “You were gone for a few minutes, so I didn’t know if it’ll work.”

Regan slides into the seat beside me, her expression the softest I’ve ever seen. “I need to combine our blood.” With that, she pricks my finger. A few crimson drops mix with mine, and the hole closes. “My blood disguises yours as a pure human’s, just in case anyone checks.”

“But what’s the plan now?”

She gestures to a slick, black hovercraft waiting in front. “We put some miles on this bad boy.”