Hunt blinked, slowly, but refused to rise to the bait.
My uninjured hand fisted. I wanted to kill Krael with a ferocity I’d never known before. But I contained it, controlled it, like I always did with my emotions. I had to bide my time. There would be a moment of opportunity, I just had to wait for it.
He turned and left then, his footsteps heavy on the rock floor, leaving Captain Perro to remain as our guard, the once proud warrior now our constant reminder of Hive power and ultimately our own weakness.
Hunt pushed to his feet, put a hand on the wall to steady himself. “We have to do something. We can’t just stay here, trapped, waiting to die.”
I looked up at him. He was used to being in control, as was I. It was in our very cells, to lead, to dominate. Being trapped as we were was doubly hard for us. I was just as angry as Hunt, but I was always the cool headed one. At least in situations like this. In battle, I was ice cold. Precise.
Hunt could lead, was a diplomat and a strategist. But now? Now he was seething with anger and it bubbled over. The darkness he never showed escaping, anger flaring with every glance at Captain Perro.
“Krael will die for this. And slowly.”
I didn’t say anything. I didn’t need to.
After a few minutes of letting Hunt fume, I had to be analytical. To think clearly, logically and not be driven by the depth of our anger. “We can do nothing now. We must wait for the opportunity. It will come, but we must be ready. We must be strong. Rest. Your head must feel like a fucking boulder.”
Hunt turned, sighed. He let his shoulders drop, let the tense angles settle, at least for now. He knew I was right, knew we needed to let it all go, at least for now. “It does. Shit.” He moved and dropped back to the floor beside me.
To conserve our strength. To wait.
* * *
Tyran, Containment Cell, Hive Caves
I must have slept. I had no idea how long, but the sound of boots woke me again. With my elbow, I nudged Hunt, who stirred. “It’s time.”
Hunt’s eyes opened, then when he heard the footsteps, his jaw clenched. He stood slowly, a hand on the wall. Thank fuck for the collars, for I sensed while his head still hurt, it wouldn’t be too much. He needed a clear, focused head, not a concussed one. I rose to my feet as well. Waited. Side by side as always.
Perro and a purely evil Hive Integration Unit stood on the other side of the energy field. The Hive moved to press some button and the continuous whirring sound stopped and I knew the energy field was off. My ears rang from the void.
“You will come with us,” the Integration Unit said, his voice monotone and robotic. I glanced at him, then Perro. I thought of the Captain as he’d been before the Hive got to him. Again. When I looked at him, I could think of little else.
Just a few days ago he’d been sitting across from Hunt, miserable, just like every new arrival to the Colony. He didn’t deserve this. He’d fought in the war, survived capture, made it to the promised safety of the Colony—and the Hive had found him here just days later. He’d been a loyal warrior and I was angry for the Prillon he’d been, even more disgusted that this had happened to him here on the supposedly safe planet, right under our noses.
Hunt glanced at me, then went to stand beside the Hive unit. He didn’t have to say anything. I felt it all. Rage, frustration, resolve, determination. We were either getting out of this whole—or as whole as we were now—or we would die. I’d somehow kill Hunt myself before letting him get strapped onto a fucking torture table. He’d do the same for me.
He walked down the long hallway, past a row of empty cells as I stepped in beside Perro. There had been nothing we could do from the containment cell. Now was the chance to find an escape, a way out of this. We needed to get free and get word to Base 3, to tell them where to find this underground hell and destroy it.
I felt the nudge of an ion pistol against my side, pressed up beneath the top half in the space where there was no armor. I didn’t need a weapon jabbing me to force me to walk. I was already on my way to whatever fucked up shit they thought they were going to do to us. Perro pressed the gun again. I narrowed my eyes, looked down at the weapon, ready to tell him to fuck off. He might have been my ally once, but no longer.
But the gun wasn’t pointed at me. No, Perro was pressing the hilt into my side. I raised my head in surprise, looked him in the eye, the one good eye he had left, and nearly stumbled. “Take it,” he breathed. I barely heard him and my eyes widened. Neither of us faltered in our steps, knowing what he was doing might be witnessed. “But you must kill me.”
You must kill me. Yes, he knew his fate, knew that the glimmer of the warrior that was left in his body was no competition for whatever the fuck they’d done to his brain. How had a sliver of him remained? But if he was in there, then he could be saved.
I took the weapon, settled it familiarly in my hand, my arm behind my back to keep it hidden from the Hive Unit in front of us.
“We will take you with us,” I whispered. He was a good warrior, one of us. I would not leave him behind if there was a chance for him.
He shook his head once. “I’m lucid now, but I’m done. It’s taking over, minute by minute. I’m fading, forgetting. There’s almost nothing left. Kill me.”
I saw his head jerk, his clear eye going blank. His hand gripped my arm painfully. His steps became rigid, just like the Hive unit in front of him. From one instant to the next, he was no longer Captain Perro of the Coalition Fleet. There was nothing left of the Prillon warrior.
I wasn’t sure if there was a glitch or if he wasn’t finished with his transition, but he’d been there, if only for a few seconds. Would he return again? Could I save him during a lucid moment?
I had to test it, to see if he could be saved.
“Perro, don’t let them do this,” I said, my voice loud. Hunt turned his head, looked at me, but I ignored him. He’d sensed the change in my emotions through the collar. While he might not know what had just transpired, he’d sense a hope that wasn’t there just a minute ago. A new resolve to get our fellow warrior out, too. “You’re a fucking Prillon, not a Hive.”