Nothing. No response.
I tried again. “Warrior, armor up.” I gave my best command voice, used the words that were always given by a commanding officer before going into battle.
Perro’s head turned, met my gaze and I watched as his pupil dilated, his grip loosened but did not drop away. “Sir,” he replied, but the Hive Unit beside Hunt stopped and turned. He pressed a button on the comm unit on his wrist and Captain Perro’s body convulsed. He didn’t fall to the ground, but it was as if he’d been shocked, as if the Hive brain implant had been rebooted. When the Hive lifted his finger, Perro stilled. His hand fell, the eye black again. Empty. I knew then he was gone. For good? I couldn’t be sure, but he’d been right. There was nothing left. He didn’t deserve to be left this way. He deserved an honorable death, a warrior’s death, instead of being controlled by a comm unit.
He’d given me the gun in one of his last moments of lucidity to save ourselves and perhaps some of the others. I would give him his final wish. I would set him free.
Seemingly satisfied—I had no idea how a Hive unit could have feelings—the Hive who’d reset Perro turned and began walking again.
My mind was processing everything so quickly it was hard to analyze. Perro had been cognizant enough to help, perhaps in his last moments as a Prillon, or he wanted to ensure I helped him escape. Perhaps he’d held on, fought the processing enough to get to us, to escape in the only way available to him. Death.
But now we were free, at least out from behind the energy field. Out here, my strength couldn’t be contained. When I’d been captured by the Hive the first time, they’d made me powerful, strong. No, beyond strong. My bones, my muscles had been altered and I made an Atlan beast look like a small child. The Hive unit in front of me was no competition. I could rip the head from his body while maintaining mental clarity, unlike the beast. I could do it. I would do it. But I had to wait. Now was not the time to raise attention. We needed out of the brig and to see what was beyond. To see if there were others who needed rescuing as well. To discover if we faced a dozen Hive or a hundred.
All I knew was that we were still on the Colony, that there was this secret base, built and being used by the Hive to destroy the new life Hunt and I, and every warrior on the Colony, was building. It must be destroyed. The warriors would need a plan, or at the very least, information.
After I’d seen what I needed to see? Then all the technology the Hive had put in me would be used against them. They’d be destroyed by one of their own creations. They’d built a monster, and to get back to Kristin, I would unleash him.
The Hive were fucked.