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“Do you know my name?”
I expect him to spit it out in triumph. It is such a basic piece of data, not that he has ever asked me for it.
“L… Something with L.”
He doesn’t know my name. He doesn’t know anything about me at all. All he knows is that he likes fucking me, and he’s going to tell me what he thinks I want to hear.
“Don’t patronize me, Rath. That’s right, Rath. I know your name.”
“Human…”
He tries a conciliatory tone, but I’m done. In the aftermath of orgasm, I’m sickened by what I've been doing, and by who I have been doing it with. He’s korabi! He’s the enemy. He’s the reason the others are skulking around trying to survive via their wits with limited resources.
“I’m going now. I won’t come back. Don’t try to find me. Don’t…”
I don’t finish my sentence, because I’ve managed to pull my clothes back on and there’s no need to keep talking to him now that I can scurry away like the vermin I am.
“Where have you been!” Henry hisses the question when I meet up with them. I have been lying to my family for weeks, telling them that I’m going on extra scrap runs. I’ve always managed to make up for the lie by getting Rath to bring me a trinket or two, odds and ends that are commonplace for him, but which we have a hard time getting our hands on. I’d made myself think that I was helping the family out, but now I see I was getting paid to have sex in return for garbage.
Henry and the rest of my scavenging party meets me just before the entrance to our tunnels. They look spooked. I realize they probably thought I’d been caught. I am such an asshole.
“Sorry,” I say. “Got caught up with a korabi. Let’s get inside.”
We scurry into the tunnels, eager to show what we’ve found to those who stayed behind. We are a family. A small tribe of scum dedicated to treating one another with respect and working as hard as we can to better all our lives. I already know Alicia is going to have a hot stew and a warm brew waiting for us all.
“Oh no!” Taddy stops up ahead with a horrified gasp.
“What is it?”
She doesn’t answer. She doesn’t move. It is like she is rooted to the spot. I go forward, around her, to find out what has her so spooked. As I step past her, my foot splashes in something. I look down and see a red, viscous liquid seeping through the dirt.
It’s blood.
There’s blood everywhere.
I know instantly what has happened. It is my greatest fear brought to life. Our collective nightmare has risen from beyond the veil and perpetrated an act of pure evil.
“Korabi,” Henry hisses.
“Oh my…” Frenchie never sounds upset. But right now her voice is cracking under the burden of emotion crashing down on us all.
They must have come through the tunnels. They killed everybody. Everybody. Alicia’s body is behind Wuld’s. He must have been trying to save her. They were both slaughtered where they stood, their flesh rended with korabi claws.
“What do we do?” Jax whispers the question as if I know the answer to that. As if I am equipped to deal with this horror in some sane way. There is so little left, of life and of our supplies.
“Scavenge what you can,” I say, taking the role of leader because somebody has to. The korabi could return at any moment. We do not have time to grieve. We have to regroup, and do so quickly. “Then, take what explosives you have and bring it down. Make this their tomb. May they rest in peace.”
I will never rest again.
This is my fault.
There was only one korabi who knew where we lived, who had ever gotten this close into the tunnels. I know where my revenge will start. It will begin with his end.
I find myself in a trance-like state, going through the necessary motions. I watch, cold, as the detonation takes place. The tunnels and caves which once kept us safe cave in to create a magnificent tomb for those who deserved so much better.
I am planning what has to be done next. Revenge. We will not allow our friends and family to be exterminated for their amusement. Alicia and her babies never hurt anyone. They just wanted to live. Even in this fucked up, oppressed world they were happy to eke out an existence, because it was an existence. But the korabi couldn’t tolerate that. My family and I are less than vermin to them. We are scum. They wipe us out and they move on, thinking that there will not be any consequences.
For this, there will be consequences.
Fourteen
Avenged
“What have you got?”
Jax sits down next to me. She’s the one who knows how to make fucked up shit work. Korabi tech is like second nature to her. We couldn’t do what I’m planning on doing without her. She used to always be smiling. I haven’t seen her smile since it happened. Her hair was always braided close to her head. Now it hangs in a limp blonde curtain. Her sparkling blue gaze is a dirty sad stare. I hate seeing my pain reflected in her eye. We’ve all stopped looking after ourselves. Doesn’t seem to be any reason to now.
