Chapter Six #2
Without a word, Gemma retreated to her spot inside the skimmer.
She leaned forward, dropping her head between her knees, and dug her fingers into her thighs.
It’s over now. It’s in the past. Gemma focused on her breaths and tried to push back the horrors from that day.
It’s okay—everything’s okay. She won’t hurt you again.
“It gets easier, you know,” the Kaizen said.
Gemma’s heart skipped a beat; she hadn’t heard the woman come back into the skimmer.
“What does?” Gemma asked between deep breaths after a moment of silence.
“The panic. Living with memories you wish you could purge. Eventually, you just sort of . . . coexist. You give yourself permission to cry, scream, break things—whatever. Every day, for thirty minutes, you let yourself feel. And then you focus on the tasks ahead of you and what you can accomplish and let your memories sulk in the corner while you handle the now.”
“Oh, please. Like you have feelings,” Gemma snapped before she could stop herself.
The Kaizen just snorted. “Yeah, well, when you get to my position, feelings become complications. You can’t think with your head if you’re letting your heart control your choices.”
Gemma slowly sat upright, her pulse somehow slowing. She should be bothered by her proximity to the captain, but instead, the woman’s vulnerability left Gemma confused. Obviously, the Kaizen would be able to feel emotion. She was human.
Sort of.
“My son was in the Trials this year, you know,” the Kaizen continued.
Gemma’s head snapped toward the woman, her eyes widening.
“Now, imagine not being able to give a fuck about whether or not he succeeded. That’s what I mean about head over heart. I can’t do my job if I let myself care.”
The Kaizen looked at Gemma then. Her dark brown eyes were hard and clear of any tears, but there was pain behind that stare.
Gemma would know that look anywhere. Had the captain cried every morning before the contestants had awoken?
The thought alone made Gemma’s heart ache.
Her job as a healer meant she had to care.
She couldn’t imagine living like a heartless robot in order to survive.
“Did he pass?” she asked.
The Kaizen turned her face away, clenching her jaw. “That’s privileged information. You don’t have the security clearance to know.”
Gemma sighed, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. A snippet of humanity had glowed through the Kaizen’s hardened exterior, but now the captain was back to being herself.
For hours, they sat in silence. Gemma watched optics and visualizations through the lens over her cornea and tried to take a nap. And then the Kaizen leapt from the skimmer. Gemma shut off her comm and followed suit, her heart in her throat. Were they about to be attacked?
The Kaizen stood still, her muscular arms across her chest. Gemma watched the horizon until a flash of light bounced off an object heading in their direction.
The last time she’d seen something similar was the day they’d faced off against the slinger, when Imara had crashed into the boulder and Gemma had nearly been obliterated by the creature’s neon-green, acidic bile.
Her head swiveled as she flicked her gaze between the captain and the slinger. Why was the Kaizen so relaxed? She should be preparing for a fight.
Gemma hurried to the skimmer and whipped out her rifle. Fire killed it, but she could distract it long enough for the Kaizen to make a move. She had to have something in her arsenal.
The Kaizen spied the firearm and whacked the weapon so hard that it almost flew out of Gemma’s hands.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” the Kaizen roared.
“One of those slingers is heading toward us!”
The Kaizen rolled her eyes. “It’s a skimmer, you milksop. Now, put that away before you cause any more problems.”
Gemma’s stomach hit her feet. Her cheeks burned.
It figured she’d make a fool of herself the first time she didn’t hesitate to act.
It wasn’t until it drew close that Gemma caught the first glimpse of black, and the engine grew into a quiet roar.
The vehicle paused in front of where they stood, and the reflective sheen diminished, revealing the skimmer beneath.
A man about the Kaizen’s age, but with reddish-blond hair, emerged from within.
His grin was crooked but kind, and he wore a pale utility jacket streaked with dust.
“About time,” the Kaizen quipped.
“You’re lucky I came for you at all, Pheebs. I happily would’ve left you out here.”
The man smirked, a familiarity settling between the two of them. Gemma cast her glance from one side to the other, and then the Kaizen actually smiled.
“Long time, no see, little brother,” the Kaizen said, unfolding her arms as if preparing for a hug.
“Well, maybe if you’d actually come visit me from time to time,” the man replied, embracing his sister.
Gemma had to fight to keep her mouth from gaping. Twice now, the black-hearted woman had shown emotion in front of Gemma. To say it was unnerving was an understatement.
The Kaizen’s brother let go of his sister and stepped toward Gemma, holding out his hand. “Hi, I’m Gunner. We haven’t met.”
Gemma cleared her throat before shaking the man’s hand and introducing herself. Gunner’s dark brown eyes were warm and inviting, the complete opposite of his sister’s. How could two siblings have such opposing personalities?
“Well, come on then, you two,” Gunner said. “Grab your things. Rami’s sending maintenance to fix your skimmer, and I got to get you two to the temple before Doctor Liebher starts burrowing holes in walls.”
Gemma hoisted her backsack, grabbed her weapons, and followed the Kaizen—Pheebs, apparently—toward Gunner’s skimmer. This vehicle was sleeker than the last, with a long, narrow body and a black finish that shimmered beneath Reva’s sun.
Gunner climbed into the pilot’s seat like he’d been born there. “Strap in. It’s gonna be a fast ride.”
Gemma slid onto the rear seat and tugged the restraints across her chest. The harness locked with a click.
Within seconds, the skimmer hovered above the rocky terrain, its engine humming smoothly, and then the landscape blurred to a shade of rust. She expected the Kaizen to offer more instructions or a snide comment. But the captain said nothing.
For the first time in days, Gemma allowed herself to exhale. Not because she felt safe, but because she was finally headed toward something: answers, truth . . . maybe even a cure.
Her eyes fluttered closed—
“Wake up, kiddo,” Gunner said before Gemma even registered that she’d fallen asleep. “We’re here.”
Outside, the jagged peaks of Reva’s mountains had sharpened into teeth.
Wind scoured the skimmer’s shields, and the red horizon tilted as they banked west. In the distance, she spied the ancient, domed dwellings that had to have housed the alien race.
They’d been molded from sediment and stone, but most were now collapsed, their doorways swallowed by red dirt and dust.
Gemma leaned closer to the glass, her breath fogging the pane. This was the place where everything had started to change.
Where she had begun to change.
She touched her fingertips to her chest, half-expecting to feel the pulse of something foreign beneath her skin. But all she felt was her own heartbeat: steady, human, ordinary.
A lie she wished she could believe.
When the ruins drew closer, Gemma sat up straighter, her jaw tight. She didn’t know what waited inside. She didn’t even know if she’d survive. But she was done with simply existing and praying against the inevitable. Whatever truth waited inside that temple, she’d face it head on.
Even if it killed her.