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My throat closes and my sinuses burn as tears swell and roll from my eyes. I am silent in my grief, but the bounty hunter does not look away from me once.
He offers no consolation or pity. He just stares until I stop. And once I do, I see something far off in the distance.
It's a small port. There are other boats drifting toward it, coming from the other side. Torches burn brightly like a north star.
"I recognize this place," I say.
"Slow down. This is it, right?" the bounty hunter asks. "Answer me. Is the Syndicate facility up ahead?"
I let go of the engine. I stand, shaking. "I thought you said you were a bounty hunter..."
The bounty hunter stands and walks forward until the barrel of his gun rests against my forehead. Slowly, he takes off his mask. “I needed you to lead me here.”
It's not a man at all. It's Clara, and she’s crying.
I stop the boat completely.
"Clara? What the fuck!" I cry out.
"Do you know how difficult it is to play dead? When the Gerkis shot me, I had to inject a paralyzing agent into my veins. Worst pain I've ever experience," she says with a sly smile.
"You bitch. You fooled them!"
I throw my arms around her.
“You know you would have loved to see it,” she says. She's right. This is one of the greatest gifts the world could offer me, but it comes with a certain level of sadness. Sadness that she immediately addresses.
"I'm sorry about Ax," she says. "He is strong. He will survive."
I nod. "I know you're right," I say. "But it's hard to trust in something so blindly.
I have lost everything. First, my home. Now, my alpha."
"You love him. And we're getting off this planet. Together," she says with tears of her own.
I react by squeezing her tight. I can't stop laughing and crying. There is still hope.
"You'll really do it? You'll help us?" I ask.
She lets go of me and wipes her cheeks. "I won't just help you. I'm coming with," she says.
"But the Earth Federation... You've worked so hard at achieving peace."
She twists her jaw. "There is no peace here. Our people have ruined this place, Anna," she says, hesitating on her breath. "The generals know it. Even if we act like everything is fine, we know it, too."
"We used to call the aliens savages," I say.
She doesn't laugh. "We were blinded by their lies. There's an entire world outside of the barracks, a world I have now explored. The universe is even bigger. There’s a place out there that doesn’t go to war, Anna. I have seen it. Planet Maryla."
I glance up at the stars. There's the bright glow of the Honshu System. “Planet Maryla...”
But when I glance back at the port, I see torches burning. I witness the women from the boats. They are led out by large, brutal Syndicate aliens with shock prods and assault rifles. I can hear their authoritarian barks. The sound echoes throughout the jungle.
Their cruel laughter never ceases. The aliens taunt the women, jab them until they can't walk any more. They behave like devils, forcing them back into the mud as they try to stand.
"That's it. That's the port of entry," I say.
Clara shivers and silently watches with a worried look in her eyes. This is going to be impossible, but impossible things are worth taking on.
