Sand Red

36

I healed slowly, from a fever and an infected wound and a nauseating concussion. We were imprisoned for three weeks before I couldn't take it anymore. I would escape if it cost me my life.

'Yul?'

He didn't answer, but that's how it was with us these days and I knew he was listening.

'I want to kill myself.'

He said nothing.

'If we can kill En,' Aida started feverishly. 'We're free.'

'We'll have to kill all the rest.'

The door opened. We fell silent. Terror gripped me by the throat. I couldn't take any more pain today.

'The astrophysicist,' a new voice said. I peeked up at its owner. A small, thin man with hair paler than moonlight stood at the door. I looked wildly at my friends. We could take him easily. I noticed the guards behind him and my spirits sank a little. There were three of them.

I hardly heard what he was saying. 'Come with me,' he was saying to Aida.

She shook her head. She was white with fear and her forehead was covered with shiny beads of sweat. She shivered from the fever raging through her system. 'Won't come.'

He looked distressed. Yul lay on his side in a corner breathing shallowly. He was melting away to nothing. His clothes hung off his bones and his hair clung onto his skull thinly. I nestled closer to the wall, chewing the nails off my fingers.

'I need help,' he said clearly. He hesitated. 'Aida.'

She looked up. 'Lars?'

So this was the scientist. His head was fair and he was tall and well-fed. I hated him for that. 'I didn't know they were keeping you like this,' he said apologetically.

Her head dipped back down. 'Won't come,' she said again.

'Help us escape,' I said suddenly. My voice was no more than a whisper in contrast to his high, clear tone.

He turned his helpless face to me. 'How? He'll have me killed. I'll lose a life's work.'

'Then get the hell out!' I snarled. It felt good to order someone around. My life was the illusion of control.

He backed away. He wrinkled his nose. The place stank. I watched him with hollow hate until he had turned away and the door slammed shut on us. We were still after he had gone, but little did I know it wasn't over.

Two days later, he was back, and I laid eyes on the night sky for the first time in weeks.He was dressed in a jacket and boots. 'Quick,' he said. 'Get up, come on.'

I didn't understand what he wanted. I was going to die very soon. I was thirstier than anything else and I could feel death in my bones.

Yul moved to stare at him. His face was gaunt in the starlight.

'We're escaping!' he said in a loud whisper.

I perked up at the word escape. Yul was on his feet in a slow minute. He looked at me questioningly and I looked at Lars, now trying to wake Aida. I nodded. I lifted myself from the cold stone ground and stood, panting from the effort, on my feet.

Aida wouldn't move. Yul staggered up to her and fell to his knees. 'She's breathing,' he croaked. He looked at me powerlessly. 'Kun, what's wrong with her!'

Aida had a fever and she wouldn't wake. I looked at Lars. 'Carry her?'

He nodded curtly. Yul and I were too weak to.

He led us outside and to an Old World build truck. We got in heavily, Yul with Aida and Lars was climbing into the driver's seat when I stopped him.

'I drive.' I would not be at the mercy of another being.

'You're in no condition-'

'I drive,' I said firmly as I could. There must have been something of a craze in my eyes because he let me. I struggled into gear and stamped down hard. The car groaned to movement. There was something incredibly heavy in the back. We would have to get rid of it later. For now, my only goal was to get out of here as fast as I could. I drove. None of the earlier freedom of heavy machinery and freedom of movement came to greet me now. It was strictly survival. I was tired beyond measure and all I truly wanted was some water. My old wound ached as I engaged muscles that had wasted away in the weeks and weeks of our imprisonment in that dark hole. The gunshot had healed reluctantly, little by little and the wound no longer opened up at every slight movement. I found the star to lead us home and drove.

'Where are we going?' Lars asked.

'Home,' I answered.

'Wait, wait.' He put his hand on my arm and I jerked violently away, causing the whole truck to swing a millisecond later.

'Sorry! Sorry. But where's home? Another camp?'

I nodded my head.

'I've got something valuable in the back.'

'What is it?' I asked disinterestedly. So we would not be able to dump the weight. Unless we killed Lars.

He ignored the question. 'I can't come to your camp.'

'We have to go home,' Yul said.

'I have to go West.'

'Drop us home.'

A cold click made me freeze. 'Stop the truck,' Lars said in a new tone.