Chapter 13
Chapter
Thirteen
“Stay away from me. Stay back, you goddamn animal!”
I recognize the voice within with a flicker of triumph. Dr. Akimov.
He was in charge of the lab. This must have been his plan. His choice. I have no doubt he was watching eagerly through the one-way mirror, hoping that he could manipulate X into eating me.
So I have no qualms about watching now from the doorway as X corners him.
His angry shouts soon die down to pleas. And then into screams as X grabs hold of him. My alien tears out the scientist’s throat in one swift bite. He starts to eat while Akimov is still gurgling and choking on his own blood.
Despite my vindictive pleasure, watching X eat still makes me rather squeamish. I back away into the hallway, giving him some privacy. As the door clicks shut behind me, I turn—and come face-to-face with a gun.
I slowly lift my hands in the air.
“Don’t move,” the man barks. “Stay back.”
The barrel of the gun is shaking. His eyes are wide and bloodshot and fixed on me. He’s terrified.
“Please—” I try, and the man only jerks the gun, his finger twitching toward the trigger before he stops himself.
And I realize, belatedly, that I am coated in blood from when X killed the guards and Tabs. I’m the only thing left alive in this hallway, since X is in the lab right now, distracted by his meal.
The man turns his head slightly, speaking into an earpiece. “I have the woman. Or it might be the subject in disguise. Unclear.”
I stand, trembling, uncertain. I could tell him that the real alien is behind the door right next to us, but that could put X in danger.
Maybe I should distract this guard while I can.
As soon as X is done, surely he can handle him.
I shift to the side, stepping slowly, forcing the guard to follow with his gun and put his back to the observation room’s door.
But whatever the man hears through the earpiece makes his eyes harden, and he raises the gun, taking aim at me again.
“Wait,” I breathe. And then, louder, “X!”
The door flies open. The gun goes off.
I shut my eyes, bracing myself for pain. But none comes. I take a breath, and another, and finally open my eyes.
X is standing in front of me, directly between me and the guard, his tentacles spread out to fully cover me. He moved faster than I thought possible, even for him. He could’ve gone for the guard, but he protected me first and foremost.
Another blink, and the guard goes down with a scream before he has the chance to fire again.
As X turns to me, blood dripping from his chin, relief hits me so hard, my knees go weak. But then there’s a drop of blood on the floor. Another. I look down at it, uncomprehending for a moment, until I see the dark stain spreading over his chest.
My breath hitches. “You’re hurt.”
I reach for him, wanting to assess the damage, but he brushes my hand away.
“It is not bad.”
“Promise?” I whisper. My gut is knotted with anxiety; I thought of X as invincible, but now he’s hurt because he saved me.
He reaches out a hand and I take it without hesitation, even though it’s wet with blood.
“Worry not, taujak, it is nothing,” he murmurs, leaning down to press his forehead to mine.
Then he tilts his head toward the lab where he killed Akimov.
“One scientist is still missing. But the man in that room was the one who heard us in our private moment. There is no more shame to you.”
“Thank you,” I whisper, and press my lips to his cheek, ignoring the smell of copper.
“There’s just one last thing I have to do,” I tell him. “And then we’ll be free.”
“Anything, taujak.”
I step into the lab again, ignoring the bloody ruin of Akimov’s remains in the corner as I head to the filing cabinet.
Akimov told me that they keep no digital records of subjects, for security purposes, which means that all of the evidence of what happened to me is here.
I grab all of the recent files and as much as I can take of the rest, including Mulford’s notebook.
My purse is also sitting on a table nearby, right where I left it when I went into the cell, what feels like forever ago.
I step out of the room where X is waiting, guarding the door. “Let’s go,” I say, thick folders tucked under my arm.
He nods, stepping forward—and there’s the slightest falter in his step. I blink, taking a closer look, and finally notice the way he’s breathing hard, swaying on his feet. “X… You said you were fine.”
“I am,” he says, but his voice is strained.
“Let me see where you’re hurt—”
But he shakes his head, pushing my hand away again. “Escape first.”
I swallow and nod. Despite my concern, he’s right.
If we don’t get out of here, we’re both in danger.
“Yes, okay. This way.” I lead him down the hallway and toward the building’s back door.
I don’t know what we’re going to do when we get out of here, especially if X is injured, but for now I have to focus on what I can control.
We move through the hallways unchallenged. Occasionally X narrows his eyes and growls at a door, presumably sensing a presence behind it—but none of them decide to get in our way.
When we find the rear exit, my heart surges.
I rush for it, but my stomach sinks as I find it, of course, locked.
I try to use Tabs’s card, but it’s a fingerprint scanner, not a key card door.
Of course—most people use the front door to enter and exit the building; there must be an extra level of security here.
“Damn it.” I press my finger to the pad, but as expected, it doesn’t work. “Can you break the door down, X?”
He looks at the steel door and grimaces, pressing a hand to his chest without seeming to notice. I focus on it and am dismayed to see a dark bloodstain spreading beneath his fingers. “I will do it,” he says, bracing himself.
“No, wait.” I know he’s too proud to admit he’s hurt, but I can’t let him injure himself more. And there might be another way. “You can change your shape, yes? Into people? Specific people?”
He looks at me and nods.
“That scientist back there…” I swallow hard. “The last one you killed. The one called Akimov. Can you turn into him?”
“I do not understand,” he says. “His shape is weak, and I do not see how—”
I place a hand on his arm. “Please, just trust me.”
He stares at me for a second. And then his skin ripples, features shifting with a discomfiting crunching as his spine shrinks in on itself and his form condenses into the smaller, older man.
“Good,” I say, smiling. “Now, here…just place your finger on the pad.” I guide it to the scanner, feeling a prickle of unease at the feeling of Akimov’s papery hand beneath mine. But X lets me guide him, and after a moment, the scanner flashes green and the door clicks open.
“Yes!” I push it open, and we rush outside.
The space around the building is empty, and the moon is above us.
I didn’t realize how good it would feel to see the sky again.
I lean my head back and smile up at the stars.
“Yes, yes, yes.” I realize, after a moment, that X is very quiet.
I whirl around. My smile falters as I see his face scrunched up oddly.
“Are you okay? Does it hurt badly?”
“I am fine.” He squints at me. “But this man’s eyes are very poor.”
I realize, belatedly, that X lacks the glasses Akimov wears.
I laugh and throw my arms around him. “You can change back to your previous disguise,” I say.
“Please do, in fact. I like you that way.” For a moment, I have an urge to tell him to take his natural alien form.
But we’re still on the run, and he’ll cause absolute chaos if we go into town like that.
X’s form cracks and shifts again, and I step back to give him space as his spine and limbs stretch and lengthen into the form of Mulford once more.
He blinks his blue eyes at me, and then his gaze drifts past me, to the desert and the mountains and the vast dark sky above us. He sucks in a breath. “This is…Earth?”
I smile. This must be the first time he’s seen my world outside of the lab. It feels like a gift to be able to witness this moment. I’m eager to show him more of it. To prove that Earth, and humans, are more than what he’s experienced in that awful research facility. “Yes. A small part of it.”
He closes his eyes for a moment, head tilting back. “It is so warm. I feared it would all be like the cell.”
“Earth has a variety of temperatures,” I explain. “This is a biome called the desert. It’s very dry and very hot.”
“It feels like my home,” he says quietly, without opening his eyes. I step closer to him, reaching to take one of his hands in mine. He looks down at me and smiles. “It is very beautiful here, Calli.”
Looking around in this moment, I feel that he’s right.
The sky looks so wide open, so full of stars; it feels like I’ve never seen so many before.
The desert spreads out beneath them, wild and thorny and full of things that survive against the odds.
I take a deep breath of warm air and smile as I squeeze his hand.
“It is,” I say. “I can’t wait to show you more of it.”