Chapter 31 - Octopus at War
July
I groan as my entire skeleton aches, imploring me to stop and give up, when I grab Merya’s hand.
She easily hauls me up, but the same exhaustion that slows me down shows on her face.
I clamber out of the tunnel as if waking up from a centuries-long slumber. I squint, holding my hand to my forehead, my eyes slowly adjusting to the light, as concerned whispers fill my ears.
The light that has guided me towards the exit is nothing but a square floodlight positioned right atop the tunnel mouth. It is small, but as powerful as the restorative sunlight my body has lately been craving.
Instead—my hope deflates at the sight of a starless sky, dark and silent.
The moon is hard to spot, shielded behind black clouds.
The air is still, although invisible veins of cold rise from the ground and wrap around my bare arms. I brace myself, regretting the jumper I abandoned in the tunnel.
My vision blurs with hunger and fatigue—
“Mind your step,” Merya warns, grabbing me by the elbows.
“I’m fine; I can walk alone,” I whisper.
I don’t want to disturb the silence around us, and I slowly take some tentative steps on foreign, uneven ground mostly made of pebbles.
I’m not the only one who thinks staying quiet is the best choice.
Merya nods and gestures me to rejoin Jyn, Mack and the other person in black, who are standing a few feet away from us in an open field of low grass—empty if not for a building that must have once been majestic and sturdy, had not a significant disaster destroyed a good part of it.
Its metal skeleton is half exposed, rusty and sad, desperately clinging to what’s left of the white boulders that were once its shiny skin.
I give Merya another look, tempted to wait, to ensure Galen makes it out of the tunnel, instead of going after Tabitha. But the rest of the group's impatient stance tells me I don’t have time, and I’d better hurry towards the building.
Merya slowly takes my hands to stop me from picking at the skin of my thumbs. “I’m not going anywhere without him, but you need to reach the others now,” she mutters. “Remember, we only have a small window before this place becomes visible on the radars.”
The penumbra of the tunnel may have tricked me when I didn’t see any trace of Harvester's blood in Mack’s eyes, but observing Merya’s - and the lack of purple in her breath - confirms that she and her brother shouldn’t be risking their lives for Tabitha and her rebels.
“Why did you join them?” I ask without thinking. “You’re not one of—”
“You?” she cuts me off, shifting her weight onto her right leg, arms crossed.
I shake my head, holding my hands up in front of me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it—” I drop my arms and sigh. “Just, if I were you, I’d stay away from the Harvesters, rebels or not, as much as I can.” I shrug.
I will not blame her if she decides to leave me here to figure out how to get inside HQ for myself.
Instead, she studies me for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip, and then she clicks her tongue, “If you think Mack and I are the anomalies in this situation, just wait until you see the inside of our building. That is something else. But I don’t want to ruin it for you. Mack won’t forgive me if I do.”
As if having been summoned, Mack’s voice crackles on the radio clipped to Merya’s hip. “We’re cold and hungry. Can you two please move? Mack over and out.”
Grunting, Merya snatches the radio, holding it close to her lips. She hisses, “Get off the radio. It’s not a toy.”
“Yes, Sir. I know, Sir. I built that not-a-toy, Sir.” Mack quickly replies before going silent again.
I hold back a smile, clearing my throat, “Should I…?” I point at HQ’s dark silhouette.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Merya nods. “I’ll meet you inside.”
She pats me twice on the shoulder, and a timid smile similar to Mack’s stretches on her lips - perhaps caused by her reckless brother - before she returns to the hole.
As I walk towards HQ, my knees remain rigid, and my teeth don’t stop chattering.
When I finally reach Mack, I’m happy to be in his company again rather than alone in the eerie field.
I smile when I can make out the outline of his fair hair rustled by a gentle wind and his surprisingly relaxed smirk.
“Thanks for waiting for me,” I say when I notice Jyn and the stranger are no longer with him.
“Everything alright down there?” he juts his chin in his sister’s direction, resembling Galen when he buries his hands in his pockets.
“Nothing to worry about,” I reply, trying to peer at HQ’s door over his shoulder.
“Well, that’d be a first.” He follows my eyes, then turns his back to me, opening his arms wide and gazing at the top of the building. “Isn’t she beautiful? I personally designed her, every curve, wrinkle and charming flaw.”
I move a few steps back to stand beside him, scratching my head. “You designed this…” I can’t call it a ruin in front of its creator, so I settle for - “Structure?” - to sound as neutral as possible.
Mack slowly narrows his eyes at me, lips pursed, arms resting again on his chest, “What—is it that hard to believe? Is it because I’m too young and handsome, or because I can’t have a creative brain and sexy scars and a willingness to kill if threatened?”
I didn’t sound so neutral after all. I sigh, offering a smile.
“Why do you people tend to twist everything I say? Although, in all fairness…You are young, and this building must have been bombed; what? Ten years ago? Look at the state of its remains!” I point at the rusty metal bars sticking out of its broken stones here and there.
His smirk returns as he leans towards me, tapping a finger to his temple. “Who said I planned her to look conventionally attractive?”
“Hang on—you mean, this devastation of a building—”
“Hey, don’t call her that. She’s my pride and joy,” Mack snaps, hovering his hand over the ruin as if gently patting it.
I blink a couple of times, trying to spot hints of charm from the decrepit stones and windows - like toothless, agape mouths - that dot the leaning building, sprinkled with moss that hasn’t yet fully reclaimed its reign, both inside and outside of the cracks, turning the skin of the decaying body greenish and sick.
Crouching by the base of HQ, I follow the journey of a fat, green worm that wriggles close to a chipped boulder, leaving a slimy trail in its wake, as it pauses to lift its head and decides to go the opposite way.
“How come nobody ever tried to occupy this place? It’s so exposed.
I’m surprised the people who’ve tried to kill us haven’t found you already. ”
Mack glances at me over one shoulder before kneeling beside me. He pats one hand on the grass as if studying the density of the soil. “When at war, your only hope of surviving is being an octopus.”
I turn my head towards him, narrowing my eyes. “What’s with you and this octopus?” I ask, rocking on the balls of my feet.
“Oh, here we go,” Merya exclaims behind me, and I jolt sideways, throwing my right hand to the side to keep balance.
“Do I keep listening?” I ask, pushing myself up.
Merya shrugs, one of the ladders we used to climb out of the tunnel slumped over her shoulders.
Her hair, loose and gleaming with sweat, runs down her back like molten copper against her black gear.
She props her helmet under her arm, tilting her head while staring at her brother, who is still deeply lost in studying the grass.
A hint of a smile blooms on her face as she says, “He will keep talking whether you listen or not. Your choice.”
At that, she straightens her spine, assuming the strong stance and composure she had when I met her, and adds, “Mack, don’t wait for Galen and get inside. We checked the ground only a few hours ago; don’t stay out here longer than necessary.”
In response, Mack only waves one hand at her while crouch-walking along the perimeter of the building, patting the grass and sniffing random handfuls of soil.
“I convinced Galen to come back and let Tabitha go. I’ll see you inside,” Merya sighs, takes a left turn and vanishes behind a corner of the building.
I stare. Agape. Pointing at the spot that has just swallowed Merya, where there now remains nothing but exposed metal scaffolding and thin air.
“I told you. An octopus.” Mack taps at my shoulder, his hand carrying the scent of wet grass. “Alteration is key.”
The sound of an opening door catches his attention, and I cannot be more glad the awkward conversation is over.
Jyn’s head pops out between a wall covered in moss and the void that once formed the left side of the building.
Startled and without thinking, I push Mack aside to inspect it more closely.
One rushed step after the other; I aim for that trickery.
My right arm stretches out, my fingers ready to touch the incoherent structure.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Amusement, but also a warning, in Mack’s words.
“July, wait—” Sheer urgency in Jyn’s voice.
“Oh, fuck. Merya didn’t tell her…” Mack’s voice pops like a soap bubble.
The rush of electricity shocks me as soon as my fingertips scrape against the non-void, leaving me only enough seconds to register my heart speeding, before the inevitable blackout hits me.