He pushes me closer to the others. I swat his hands away. “Touch me again, and I’ll cut it off.”
“I’d like to see you try,” he growls.
Oh, his arrogance infuriates me. “Maybe I can’t, but I like thinking about it.”
Menace curls back his lips as I hurry after the group with Shifter and leave him behind. I wish I could be literally anywhere else.
Menace monitors the cavern’s collapse and turns to patrol the tunnel for any welvirs that have slipped through. He and Shifter exchange dirty looks like they’re having a private conversation.
“What’s he saying?” I ask Shifter.
“You don’t want to know.” Shifter snorts in disapproval and turns to me.
“I do.”
“Welvirs are coming. We need to keep going. No rest. We have to make it to the pick-up spot tonight so we can fortify it, and Drillbit can cut us an escape path under the regular network.”
As much as that sucks, I know it’s not everything they discussed. It’s in the way Shifter looks away from me. “What else?”
Shifter eases away from me. “He wants me to stay away from you.”
“Me?”What in stars for?“Screw Menace! He hates everybody.”
“Not females. I know he doesn’t. Every Titan knows. Even Poppy.”
“Leave me out of this,” Poppy huffs.
I offer Shifter my hand just to annoy Menace.
He hesitantly takes it. “What’s this for?”
“Because this universe is a shitty place riddled with Solcrue, traitorous Cyborg Submission Patrol, bounty hunters, and judgmental assholes who will always find something to not like about someone else. Anyone like Menace who tries to keep us from working together to survive is a virus of hatred that will rot us until we fall apart.” When I look back at him, I watch his red lights wink out. “Either we find a cure or we cut off the dying limb. That’s how we survive.”
Shifter gives me a wild look. “You’re just as fucked up as him, but I understand your point.”
“It’s not a point. It’s experience,” I say. “I was that part that got cut off. I hindered the missions because I was trying to help humans and Titans, not Solcrue. It’s why I got sold off so many times, kicked out of airlocks, and stabbed in the back. The pathetic hundred credits each seller profited from selling me also made me a problem for their competition. They got more out of getting rid of me than anything.”
Despite the wretched war, I want to see the universe as a beautiful place. But I guess I’m too much like Shifter, too harmful to touch what I want, and like Menace with my tainted heart. So I keep my secret desires to myself.
“Sefina,” Shifter quietly says as we tighten our patrol. He squeezes my hand and lets go. “Thank you for the gloves. And I think you shouldn’t count yourself such a lost cause. I know Menace isn’t, even if he is a dry gear.”
I follow his attention to where Menace lurks behind us. The way Menace’s gaze travels over me makes me uncomfortable. At least he’s easy on my eyes if it wasn’t for his permanently vicious expression like he’s always planning someone’s demise.
“What makes you say that?”
Shifter takes Horvina’s bag from my shoulders along with another pack, leaving me down to one bag. “I learn a lot about others from being the quiet one. Menace hides a lot and keeps his mind locked. But many days of these cold dark tunnels, walking in fear of being eaten by welvirs or blown up by Solcrue show me everyone’s true self. It can make the best of us lose control.
“He doesn’t want to hurt you or anyone, even if he talks like it. He just expects to get hurt. It’s why he keeps a firm barrier between himself and others. Sound familiar?”
I don’t know if Shifter’s right or if he’s trying to make a point about something. The prospect of walking all night after so many long hours already has me feeling beat down.
“All I’m saying is that everyone has their problems, but we’re not the summation of those pieces. We have good qualities and wounds that sometimes don’t get healed.”
“Yeah.” I can relate more than I want to admit.
“Let him take the last bag,” Shifter gently offers.
I feel Menace approaching from behind. “I’ve got it, thanks.”
