Chapter 12
Raiza
As much as Talyn tried to appease me that night, it hadn’t worked.
I knew that his men would still kill too many of the humans should they pose any sort of threat, so I schooled my reactions and ensured that he thought that I was fully on board with his plan even when I wasn’t.
Trying to convince him to ignore their presence wasn’t going to work.
I’d run out of options, and I knew I was going to have do something more drastic.
I was going to warn them what was coming. I hoped that they would listen. Maybe if they could get out and run before the aliens attacked, more of them would survive.
They deserved a chance at survival, and I was going to give them that.
I slipped out of Talyn’s arms a few hours after he fell asleep.
I’m not sure if the wine had made him sleep more heavily, but he didn’t notice when I snuck out of bed.
He hardly even moved. I crept into the closet and dressed in an outfit I’d found hanging in a dark corner of the closet.
It appeared to be armor he’d had designed for me, but I couldn’t be sure.
I knew that it would be useful for what I had planned, though.
I tugged it on quickly. I needed to move before he woke up and caught me trying to escape.
I paused before I left the bedroom, staring back at Talyn’s sleeping form.
His breathing was still steady and even, and I took the moment to reflect on what my life had turned into.
I wondered if I would ever see him again, if he would miss me after I was gone or if he would just find another human female to replace me with. The thought hurt, and I turned away.
It pained me to admit it, but I knew that I would miss him, that I would miss this new life he’d created for me at his side and the way he saw to my every need even though it was foreign to him.
I would miss the way his eyes sparkled when he looked back at me, how he cooked me dinner himself even when he had machines that could do it for him, how he made sure I was taken care of in every way that he could.
A part of me cared for him too. I’m not sure when it had happened, but I couldn’t deny it any longer.
I loved my alien captor. He belonged to me in the same way that I belonged to him.
My heart splintered a little knowing what I had to do. When I turned my head, it fully broke in two.
I had no choice. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try.
Silently, I said my final goodbye and tiptoed out of the room without incident.
I had already memorized the path down to the airships, so finding my way there was easy.
I paused when I approached the ships, noting one that had been left open.
I slipped inside that one and input the sequence I’d seen Talyn type in multiple times.
The airlock opened and the vessel began to move.
When I was safely up in the air, I looked back at the city and breathed a sigh of relief that I’d gotten away unscathed.
As I peered back at the life I was leaving behind, I said goodbye to everything. For a while, I just stared until I eventually spurred myself into action.
I began gathering some of the weapons on board.
I wouldn’t need much, but I needed something with reliable light and at least a gun to protect myself should anything go wrong.
I poked through a large cache of weapons until I found something that would work for my smaller hands.
It looked like a typical 9mm gun and when I popped open the magazine, I found it fully loaded.
I pushed it back into place. After that, I found a flashlight that mounted to my shoulder, which would prove useful to keep my hands free in the underground.
Without Talyn in the airship to keep me company, the trip felt long.
I slept for a little while, but eventually I became too wired to sleep.
I started to explore the computer system on board, figuring out relatively quickly that it was connected to the main hub back in Zenarkin.
All the information that had been gathered on the human community was at my fingertips.
I sighed with relief at my discovery, exploring as much of it as I could in the time that I had left.
From what I understood of the underground of New York City, it appeared that much of Talyn’s intel was accurate.
I’d never explored it myself, but I’d heard plenty of whispers about it in my own group.
I knew enough to recognize that he was missing a few things, but it was more than enough to go on.
I chose an entry point that I knew about and decided on a plan.
By the time the ship landed, I felt as prepared as I could be.
I gathered a few additional supplies and stuffed them into a backpack I’d found on board.
With a deep breath, I hopped out of the ship and headed back onto the streets where I’d spent a significant amount of time growing up.
I sprinted along the crumbled pavement, taking care not to trip in the overwhelming darkness. I quieted my steps as much as I could. As I was running, the sky started to brighten. The sun was rising.
I moved even faster, knowing time was of the essence. I wanted to be underground by the time daylight fully broke.
There wasn’t much farther to go and by the time I finally disappeared inside one of the deteriorating buildings, the sky had only lightened a little bit.
I breathed a sigh of relief before I descended a set of stairs into the sunken basement level.
There were several puddles of water and the further I delved, the deeper they became until there were several of them that I had to wade through.
I was quite pleased to find that the armor Talyn had made was waterproof.
When I’d gone all the way to what appeared to be a dead-end hallway, I smiled upon seeing a rickety looking bookcase. It had certainly seen better days, but it seemed that the rumors I’d heard long ago were true.
There was an entrance to the human underground here.
Using much of my strength, I pushed the bookcase aside. Behind it was a small hollow and I climbed through it. I pulled the moldy piece of wicker furniture back into place behind me, hiding the entryway from anyone that might have seen me come this way.
I tapped my shoulder and the small bulb lit up, illuminating what was a large sewer drain. I’d only heard rumors of the people that lived here, but I knew they inhabited a deeper level where they were safest from alien discovery.
I was mostly hoping that my presence would be noticed, and they’d take me in so that I could warn them of Talyn and his men.
Cautiously, I wandered forward, slowly curling my hand around the holster of the one gun I’d chosen to bring.
With a deep breath, I moved forward and descended further into the depths of the sewer.
At some point, I noticed that I was walking on a set of train tracks.
I smiled at my discovery, wondering if I would come upon any further remains of the old subway system that used to run below the city.
All was quiet for a while. I heard a gentle scurrying from time to time, but I assumed it was just some rats. I even saw a few of them run across the tunnel up ahead, which only confirmed my suspicions. The yellow eyes of a big fat one met mine at one point and I smiled almost wistfully.
It wouldn’t quite be Talyn’s home cooking, but I certainly wouldn’t turn my nose up to such a healthy meal. As if it could read my mind, the rat ran off and hid, which in retrospect was a smart move on his part.
The quiet steps of someone behind me echoed and I stopped, looking back. Was someone following me?
They needed to know that I meant them no harm. I cleared my throat and called out.
“Is anyone there? I need some help!”
I waited for someone to answer, but no one did. I stopped moving, trying to listen intently, but I heard nothing. Maybe I’d imagined it. I gave it several minutes and when I heard nothing further, I decided to continue in hopes that I found someone who would listen to me.
For a while, all was silent. Then I heard another set of footsteps ahead of me. I paused and searched at the edges of what I could see. It was too dark for me to make anything out. I called out once more. No one answered.
I looked around, trying to evaluate my location.
There was another bend in the path ahead and I knew from Talyn’s maps that there would be another staircase that descended to another level, where I suspected most of the human commune lived on.
I couldn’t be certain, however. Much of this was based on rumors I’d heard at least ten years ago.
With a bit of nervous anxiety, I took a few steps forward. With each one, I moved a bit faster, needing to find someone before the darkness that surrounded me overwhelmed me. The shadows started to swirl around me, oppressive and perilous.
I wished the light from my flashlight was brighter.
As I approached the bend, a flurry of movement behind me made me look over my shoulder. I started to run and as soon as I made the turn, I skidded to a stop.
A group of men were waiting for me. I searched their faces. None of them looked friendly.
“Hi,” I began hesitantly.
“Who are you?” one of them barked.
“My name is Raiza Nix,” I answered. The one who had spoken cocked his head, searching my face more closely now.
At first, his gaze was curious, and I smiled in greeting.
I relaxed my hold on my gun, showing him that I meant no harm.
He watched my hand closely as I pushed the weapon back into the holster at my waist. I held my hands up.
“I just want to talk,” I offered.
“Raiza, you say,” he repeated, and I nodded. The glimmer of recognition that crossed his face was odd, but I overlooked it in the necessity of time.
“I wanted to warn you,” I offered.