Chapter 4: Kelta
My chest rattles and hums. The vibrations travel through my ribs into my other bones. I see nothing but darkness and flashes of slow-moving light. But in my mind is Thruster's voice telling me to hang on, to fight, to not let the Solcrue win.
I endure the shivering sensations until I’m not sure how much more I can take. Then I push a little longer and a little longer because Thruster is still with me. He is my tether to sanity.
Silence spreads through me. Light fades. And I’m left with a strange fuzzy feeling all over me. Inside my chest, my bones, my veins, my head, everywhere is numbness like I’m buried in hot, prickly sand.
A mask shifts over my face, making me sleepier until I forget I exist.
“Do not touch her.”
Thruster’s voice wakes me.
“She needs water.”
"Rebel said not to move her until she opens her eyes on her own, then for thirty minutes after."
“Why?”
“Her heart needs time to adjust. The initial surge will be taxing.”
I fumble around with a weak hand and find a warm arm caging my body. Blinking, I see Thruster protecting me with angry gold eyes pinned on a female Titan.
“Stay back, Poppy.”
She sighs like he’s being an irritating child. “You’re not even supposed to be in here, Thruster. This is thehumanfemale quarters.Iprotect and care for them. What are you doing in here anyway? Why aren’t you at your post? You two aren’t—”
“No,” he cuts her off.
I draw in a deeper breath and try to sit up, wondering what she’s talking about.
“Easy,” Thruster says to me. “Your augments aren’t quite in sync with your biocells yet.”
“My what?”
The female Titan comes closer and kneels beside me. She has rather rudimentary legs compared to the males that pass the tunnel. Behind her are many sleeping women, lying on blankets just like me. They are dirty and bandaged, wearing scraps for clothes.
Poppy’s red irises aren’t round like the males or even humans’. They’re shaped like flowers. “Rebel fitted your heart with parts of CyberTitan ultromotors. You have a dual-function heart now. Movement will keep it charged. It was the only way to help you endure the gravity here.”
I sit up with Thruster’s help, feeling much better than I did before I ended up in the tunnel. “Where are we?”
"Camp. It moves every day," Thruster says. "There are a few smaller groups, so we don't all get taken out if the Solcrue find one of us. But they rarely venture down here, mostly just try to shoot us from the sky."
A Titan with blue eyes, a red stripe down his chest, and black tactical pants walks into the women’s quarters and heads straight for us. He rests a hand on Poppy’s shoulder.
She stands and greets him. “Still can’t get used to your larger body, Rebel. I miss having a Titan around that’s my size.”
“I am sorry, Poppy. It was necessary to save Taline.”
“Your mate, I know.” Poppy takes my hand in hers. “If you need anything, call for me.” As she lets Rebel in to run a scan over my chest with a tablet, she squints at Thruster in warning. “Engines off down here.Allof them.”
Rebel motions for my shirt. “I would like to check your incisions.”
I shrug. “You already had my shirt off once. At this point, any secrets I had are out.”
Rebel unbuttons my uniform top while Thruster watches. When Thruster sees me studying him, he looks away.
Rebel shakes his head and returns to his work.
