Chapter 23 Commander Graft
TWENTY-THREE
COMMANDER GRAFT
Krellix
The trees, and the ancient debris caught up and between them, swiftly morph into ruins and more collapsed buildings.
Overgrowth becomes rubble and discarded materials—a maze of obstacles quickly changes the thickly forested landscape.
Olivia heaves and shudders in my grip as I race closer to our destination.
Machines appear the closer we get to the camp.
The growth of the forest recedes, ending at a wall made of wood, erected across a field of dirt and packed brush.
I stop beneath the last of the canopy, unwilling to venture into open space.
When I inhale sharply, human waste and the rusty scent of technology fill my nose.
Pausing briefly, I look around for the nearest break in the wooden barricade. This new one has replaced the one built when the humans first arrived. It’s taller and sturdier; I cannot easily climb over, not with Olivia in my arms
I hear shouting behind me and a slew of noise and activity on the other side of the wall. As I get my bearings, I see several machines flying above. We’ve been spotted.
Tightening my hold on Olivia, I do not expect a warm welcome from those inside the camp. I do not expect to be welcomed at all.
Olivia gasps and cries out and, ignoring the raucous machines in the sky, I follow the wall parallel while still remaining under the coverage of the forest. Heading north, where I know the majority of people have gathered based on previous scouting missions, I quicken my pace.
There are fewer and fewer trees to hide beneath the farther I go. One of the machines starts talking, demanding that I stop and place the girl down, but I don't, not yet. I need to get Olivia to someone who can help her, pass her into living arms and make sure she will not be abandoned.
Then I can return for Julia.
Julia.
Where was she?
I fling my tail out and knock the machine that’s following us away and hear it crash into a tree.
Right after, only a few paces further, the forest opens up again into an even larger trampled field scattered with debris and packed with dirt.
On the other side of the field is one of the entrances to the encampment.
For a moment, I am stunned, seeing so much of my past home cut away.
To my right are spaceships of all different designs, sizes, and colors. A few humans move amongst and between them. Soldiers in uniforms are stationed throughout, walking around with guns.
How do I approach?
Smoke trails into the sky en masse coming from the other side of the wall.
The sound of humans talking, machines—and their accompanying smells—has never been so thick.
I have not been this close in months. I left not long after the soldiers retook the territory.
The wall hadn’t been fully erected then, nor was there a cleared-out field surrounding it.
I search for the most pertinent danger while making sure Olivia and I are not seen by the soldiers.
More machines fly above and around the entrance in the distance and, noticing them, I slink back into the shadows of the closest patch of overgrowth as I decide what to do.
Olivia sucks in a ragged, shuddering breath.
Hearing a shout and a loud crack, my eyes flick far to my right, past the spaceships, where a large tree has fallen.
Humans in uniforms carrying guns emerge around it as one of the machines, a large one I have not seen before, aims a red laser at its trunk.
Another tree falls while the first one is cut apart.
Beside it are other fallen trees that have already been broken up.
Smaller machines are lasering them down further.
Watching another tree fall does something to me, causing my jaw to clamp angrily.
Trying to look at what is causing all the noise all of the sudden, Olivia jerks, searching for the source.
“Do not be afraid,” I reassure her. “We are here. You will get the care you need ssssoon. I need to figure out the best way to approach without putting you in additional danger.”
She settles back against me, choking back a sob. “It… hurts… Please be… careful.”
Her voice is so faint and weak, and my stomach drops.
Without seeing a better option other than to flag down the machines and humans, I press out of the deep overgrowth and head for the treeline.
Across the field, a bunch of soldiers have gathered in front of the entry point, their eyes scanning everywhere.
For me, probably. But before I can emerge from the forest, a voice calls out to me.
“Copperhead.”
Tensing, I curl over Olivia as a naga I missed drops from the canopy to land in the bushes to my left. He rises up and faces me, peering from me to Olivia. Upon seeing her harrowing state, he hisses angrily at me.
I straighten, hissing myself in warning for him to back off. “She is hurt and not by me, mixed-breed,” I growl. “She will die if she does not get to a human who can tend to her. You will let us passsss.” I tighten my grip on Olivia.
The naga tilts his head in consideration.
He is one of the few that I have seen before in this forest. I have forgotten his name but I have encountered him on occasion due to his preference to hunt around my old territory.
His coloring makes him a good hunter. Like most of the mixed breeds around these parts, he is a collage of green and brown and only has basic patterning along his scales—perfectly camouflaged for the forest.
But he, like the greater portion of his kind, lives a more nomadic lifestyle and often sticks to the less dense woodland and mountains west. I will see their tracks or encounter them sometimes when I am at the Observatory.
Though mixed breeds mostly do not create clans between them, they are more often friendly with one another than not.
We have never had reason to fight.
He drops back to let me pass. “Approach them slowly and they may not kill you. Others have tried before you. They may speak to you, they may not.” He points his chin at Olivia. “They will take her regardlesssss.”
I hesitate, narrowing my eyes, wondering if he can be trusted.
He lifts a dark brow at me. “Do not expect help if the humans attack you.”
In the distance, I hear another tree crash to the ground.
I nod without saying anything more, sensing he will not be a threat to us. Moving past him and into the sparser trees before the field, his weighted gaze follows me the rest of the way to the edge of the forest.
Stopping at the threshold, my eyes glue onto the uniformed humans and their long guns. Rifles... The same type of weapon Julia uses.
“Hold on, female,” I murmur down to Olivia. “We are heading into the camp now. You will be safe with a healer soon.”
I slip out from the last of the trees, claws and venom at the ready.
I barely slip my tail out of the forest before I am spotted and shouting fills my ears.
Aerial machines begin flying in my direction.
I continue forward despite the threats hurling at me to stop, choosing, instead, to keep the majority of my focus on Olivia.
Some of the soldiers approach me cautiously from across the field, meeting me halfway.
Knowing I should go no further for fear of risking Olivia’s life, I stop and gently lay her on the ground, baring my fangs at the humans and robots alike that quickly surround us.
Olivia lifts her chin and looks up and back at me, tears running down her cheeks. “Krellix.”
“Give us the girl.” One of the soldiers takes a step towards her. “Back off now or I’ll shoot and make you!”
I force my hands to my sides. “I am not here to fight,” I growl, tense from my jawline down, ready to attack at the smallest movement.
“You can have her. The young female is gravely hurt. Sssshe will die without immediate treatment. I cannot help her anymore than I have. She needs human assistance, and she needs it as soon as she can get it.”
“Back off!” the one slowly approaching yells at me again.
I snarl at him and he freezes. “I will assure that she is ssssafe first, soldier,” I hiss in contempt. “You and your weapons do not frighten me.”
But they do make me extra alert. Their weapons will hurt me if I get shot by one. I have felt the graze of bullets in the past and even the toughness of my scales cannot shield me from that. And if one of the soldiers shoots at my head and hits it, I might very well die.
The male inches forward, a small gun in one hand while the other remains empty and out at his side.
“Back off and we’ll do what we can for her.
” On either side of him are two flying robots following closely.
Barrels stick out from them, also aimed at me.
“We have faced your kind before. One of you is no match against all of us. Back! Off!”
I stare down at the puny male, taking in his aged, wrinkle-lined features and the gun gripped in his right hand.
“Please do what he says.”
My eyes drop to Olivia, who is still looking up at me.
Pain and stress contort her eyes and mouth, exaggerating her small stature and pallid skin.
My teeth grit and my nostrils flare in reaction.
Worry clouds her expression. I do not want her to be worried about this, not when she has so much already to contend with.
“Don’t die on my account,” she whispers up at me. “The others still need you.”
“Back off—” the soldier shouts “—now!”
Glaring back up at him, I slowly retreat.
When I get more than a tail’s distance away, several of the soldiers run forward.
Two males pick Olivia up and take her away.
I watch them go until she is out of sight behind the barricade, only returning my attention to the older soldier still in front of me when she is gone.