Chapter 2 Callie
two
Callie
I stuck my head out the door to look up and down the corridor for other guards, but only the flickering orange globe of a failing emergency light greeted me.
The outside of the cell room wasn’t any different than inside, all the same shabby patchwork of metal and filth.
It was narrower than I was coming to expect, almost like an Earth hallway instead of an interstellar spacecraft corridor.
I shrugged before starting down the hall, deciding to go right because it felt like downhill and I was tired.
My face hurt and my fingers were sore from ripping at the metal and then the wires even with the gauntlets covering them.
I healed fast now, already the swelling had gone from my eye and in a few hours it would be like the crash had never happened, but that didn’t stop it from hurting like a bitch until the nanos could do their work.
My stomach rumbled, adding to my list of complaints.
Whatever creature Anu had used to splice my DNA with when she’d been saving me from the Red Plague had a high metabolism and required raw meat to sustain it.
Which meant my diet now mostly consisted of raw meat and what few vegetables that didn’t taste like dirt.
Fruit was absolutely out of the question.
Much too sweet. I had to eat more often and in larger quantities now too.
It had been days since I last ate. Maybe more, since I wasn’t quite sure how long I’d been unconscious.
The human parts of my brain were disgusted by my new cravings, but the hunger gnawing at me reminded me that things change and there was nothing I could do about it.
Except complain. I tried to keep that mostly internal so I didn’t sound like a whiny baby.
I had a list though. An ever growing list of bullshit that I scowled at mentally.
Lots of changes in under a year. Abduction, aliens, fucking alien werewolves, a whole ass war, plague, potentially evil AI. ..
I snickered to myself as I rounded a corner. It was becoming something of a pastime to fuck with Anu. It kept the ancient creepy computer program that wasn’t really a computer program on her toes.
I came to a stop, a scowl pulling at my mouth.
See? That wasn’t normal. I shouldn’t be strolling along in enemy territory, laughing.
That insane nonchalant attitude in the face of danger was on my shit list twice.
Overconfidence in situations like this just wasn’t normal.
Not to mention now that I was creeping along the ship and the moment was over, I felt a little conflicted about just straight up murdering someone.
On one hand, yes, it was him or me so I was justified, but damn it wasn’t normal.
My life used to be so fucking mundane. I’d had a great career in the Air Force, flying my dream plane.
I'd just bought my car, a sweet little ice gray Porsche 911 Carrera, and I’d even been sort of talking to a man in one of the other squadrons.
Life had been good. My parents were retiring and doing well, my friends were awesome, and I’d been happy.
I’d never killed anyone, hadn’t flown into combat, hadn’t known aliens or werewolves existed.
Oh, excuse me, Rijitera. Freaky alien werewolves.
Now look at me. Snapping necks and hunting pirates on a spaceship.
If Jack hadn’t already killed and eaten the Vrax who’d abducted me, I’d kill them myself for thrusting me into this shit.
I looked into the door on my left. Six sparse empty bunk beds were inside so I continued towards the low hum of voices ahead of me.
Okay, so maybe being in space was cool as hell.
I loved all the new people I'd met like family, and being able to see in the dark was a perk. I was having fun, but damn. All this change was enough to send someone to the funny farm. It was definitely enough to give me a headache when I thought about it too hard. I kept the knowledge that no one was going to stop me from going back to Earth to visit my family when all this fighting was done tucked close to my heart and sanity. I felt like I owed Jack for my life, so I’d help her kill Ohem’s enemies, but afterwards I was going to see if my mom and dad wouldn’t mind settling on a new planet.
By all accounts, Ara’Ama was healing up to be a beautiful planet.
It had a long way to go, but maybe the return of her people would speed up the process.
As much as I grumbled, the thought of leaving all this crazy behind made me feel a little sick.
I loved the clinically insane new family I’d made here at the edge of the universe.
Plus, where else would I get to fly spacecraft?
Ohem just gave me a Fang and a squadron to lead like it was nothing. I couldn’t give that kind of regard up.
But before I could fulfill my life debt to Jack, I had to get back to the front and to do that I needed to kill some pirates, steal their ship, and make my way back to Korsal.
I’d never flown anything bigger than the Fang, but this heap of junk couldn’t be that hard to pilot.
I’d figure it the fuck out one way or another.
And I wasn’t going to kill every alien on board before I got some more answers.
I hoped Jack could feel my accusing glare all the way on Korsal.
Dumbass. I remembered her big dumb furry face and the jumbled “My bad” that had made its way from between her fangs when she’d realized she’d killed the entire flight crew on the Vrax ship.
I still wanted to strangle her for that.
I came to another janky door and pushed it open, stepping through into an open space that maybe could have been the dining area, but there were only two round tables and not much else.
I rushed over to what I was hoping was a functional sink at the supremely dirty wet bar in the back corner of the room, praying to every god in the universe that it freaking worked.
The rush of water out of a dirty faucet had never sounded so sweet.
I ducked my head under the flow and gulped the foul tasting water like it was the Fountain of Youth.
The slightly warm liquid soothed my dry mouth and throat.
Sweet, sweet relief. When my stomach felt like it would burst and I could physically feel water sloshing around inside me I straightened, wiping at my mouth and chin and got a better look around.
Not much of a mess hall if that’s what this room was supposed to be.
No windows, no lighting, no food stations, nothing.
Well, unless you counted the hulking presence of a truly monstrous alien striding into the room from the door on the other side.
Shirtless, green, and at least eight feet tall, with short thick purple spikes littered over his arms and shoulders, he filled the place up with pure menace until it felt downright claustrophobic.
He looked at me pointedly with narrowed yellow eyes so I guessed I’d found one who could see in the dark.
I sighed, scrubbing a hand down my face. “You wouldn’t happen to be in the mood to forget you saw me and let me go, would you?”
He cracked his thick neck first one way and then the other before rolling his shoulders.
“No.”
My shoulders dropped at the finality ringing in his deep voice. I sighed again. “I figured. It was worth a shot.”
He came at me with more speed than I thought a male his size would have, almost blurring as he crossed the room.
I sidestepped and then had to take quick steps backwards when he changed course in an instant to keep out of his reach as his meaty hands grabbed for me.
“Look my guy, I really don’t want to do this. Just let me leave and you can go about your day like I never existed. Think about it.”
He grunted deep in his chest. “Can’t. The Lord wants you and he will have you. Or I die.”
Ducking under his arm when he tried to bear hug me, I rolled to the side, rose, and kicked out into his knee with all my newfound strength. No matter how big and powerful, if they had a knee, it was a weakness.
The joint popped to the side at an unnatural angle. The big male bellowed and went down to one knee, his wounded one held out to the side.
He looked up at me with a snarl. “You are dead now, female. That hurt.”
I huffed out a breath and shrugged at him. “I warned you. But hey, when you wake up, remember I left you alive yeah?”
His face slacked in confusion right before my heel hit his temple. His body slumped to the floor and I brushed imaginary dust off the front of my flight suit.
“Night, night.”
See? I could joke.
That was a funny one liner and no one was around to hear it.
I seriously doubted Jack and Patty would believe me when I recounted this story.
Aga might, and Sam believed everything I said on principle.
Rema was a gullible marshmallow that believed everything the humans told him about anything while Ohem looked at us like we needed our heads examined by a doctor.
What a waste of a good joke.
I blinked, frowning down at the big guy. I missed my friends. I kicked him again before striding across the room.
Beyond the cafeteria was another dark bare metal corridor, and then various empty rooms. Two of those rooms were occupied with pirates, all of whom were sleeping, snores and all.
Not even the door opening woke them, so I just closed them, ripped out some wires in the paneling until I found the one that operated the door and left them locked in their rooms.
I’d decided that killing the whole crew just wasn’t a part of my daily Callie’s Not Crazy aspirations.
I’d make do with whatever smaller flying crafts they had stored away in their cargo bay.
If there was no such craft, then I’d rethink killing everyone so I could take control of the ship without worrying about anyone breaking out and ambushing me.
But if I could avoid unnecessary bloodshed, I would.