Aliens: Finding Void

Chapter Ten

Daeus' POV

I ran down the long corridor for what seemed like forever before I saw a flicker of yellow in the gray halls. I skidded to stop on the slick concrete floor, thudding against the wall at the unexpected turn. As far as I could tell there were no cameras and no doors. The light illuminated from tiny bulbs wedged into the cracks between the wall and ceiling. I was only hoping for an escape, a way to get the three of us out of here safely, but how was I supposed to come up with a plan? How was I supposed to do anything that would get us off of this planet? And now this tiny kid Ekhad just appearing and disappearing. Was he leading me towards an escape?

The long hall that descended into darkness in front of me was daunting, but I couldn't just let us rot away here in prison cells or be torn apart by fighting insane, murderous creatures.

There was another flicker of yellow in the darkness below, like a tail running just out of my sight. And then I remembered that Ekhad weren't yellow. We came in four shades and yellow wasn't one of them. "Who are you?" I called out into the darkness, hoping that whatever I was seeing was real and not just some hallucination.

A second of hesitation and then the kid was stepping into the light. He was too far ahead of me for me to see perfectly, but he was an Ekhad and he was purely yellow with a white belly and none of our signature markings. "Trust me," he said, his dark yellow eyes watching me. "I can get you out of here."

"But," I looked back the way I had come from. "I can't leave my friends." I told him. "I get you're trying to help me kid, but I-"

I looked back to the kid and he was walking closer to me, but there was no sound of his footfalls on the ground. He moved further into the light and closer to me, but there was not a single shadow associated with him whereas my shadow stretched up the opposite wall of the lights. And the closer he got, the more I realized that what I had thought was white, was just really, really faded yellow and almost see-through.

He stopped a few feet in front of me and bowed his head. He was so much shorter than me and now that he was so close, I realized that I could literally see through him. I could see the walls and the dark slope beyond him. I took a step back. "What are you?"

The kid smiled, but there was a sadness in his eyes that shocked me. "I died here a long, long time ago."

"Died?" I didn't know what to say. I froze in place, staring at the kid. But he was right here! He was standing right in front of me! Talking to me! How could he be dead if - "Am I dead?"

The kid shook his head quickly, his eyes meeting mind. "You're not dead," he answered. "I didn't know those were your friends. I only saw you in the arena."

I looked back down the hall again, thinking of Vrillyn and Vri, praying to Taurikie that they were alright. "Then how can I see you? How am I able to talk to you right now?" I couldn't believe this. This wasn't possible! Things like this didn't happen!

"Our ship got captured here a long time ago. When we were discovered, we had tried to fight them. We tried to leave and go home. We tried to call for help." The kid looked away, his head down and his shoulders slumped. I felt sorry for making him relive the memories, but I needed answers. "They threw my mother in that ring and she died. They made me and my sister watch as one by one, the rest of our crew was killed."

The little Ekhad looked like he was crying, but the tears that he cried didn't fall from his eyes. "You're the first one who was able to see me. I've tried to help. So many times, I've tried to save the ones who can be saved. I try to lead them out and set them free, but they never see me and I watch them die,"

His voice was broken and I crouched down. I couldn't touch him, but he looked like he needed a hug. I didn't understand how I could see this kid or why any of this was happening, but I wasn't going to ignore him just because he was a ghost. "Why can't you just . . . I don't know. Why don't you cross over into the afterlife then? Why stay here and suffer through all of this?"

The kid looked back up at me, fire in his eyes. "Because if I hadn't, then you'd be dead right now." His hands were balled into fists and his tail was lashing back and forth. "The next thing they would put you up against is indestructible and would have crushed you like a bug. I couldn't save my family. I couldn't save anyone that came after them either. Maybe . . . Maybe I'm not worthy . . ." He trailed off.

"Maybe I'm not worthy enough to go to the afterlife with my family. I can't save anyone," The kid said, his voice somber.

"You were just a kid," I said, realization dawning on me. "You couldn't have saved your family. But you can help me here and now. You can help me and my friends escape."

"Then I have an idea," the kid turned back towards the darkness and started to descend.

I followed after him and when he realized I was coming, he picked up the pace. He kept flitting in and out of visible sight, but I could feel him. I followed him through countless dark halls, wondering for just how long he'd been wandering them, stuck in limbo because he didn't feel worthy enough to leave. He needed to save somebody and after years of torment, watching those he had tried to save die, he needed to save me.

We came to a stop when the darkness started to bleed into light. He held a finger to his mouth to tell me to keep quiet and stalked forward, towards the slightly transparent door we'd stopped in front of.

I watched as he walked right through the closed door and disappeared. The silence was killing me and it felt like there was a clock, ticking away in the back of my head. Vrillyn and Vri could be dead by now for all I knew and I was here following around a child ghost. No one would believe me if I told them about this and Vrillyn would think I'd finally lost my head.

When he came back through the door, he nodded at me. "The only way you'll get your friends is to take something precious to the dictator. The only way you'll get a ship to get off this planet is to keep them at arms length until you are physically on the ship. If you let go of your hostage before then, they will kill you."

"Hostage?" I repeated. What exactly was in that room that this kid was wanting me to take?

"I can't open the door. I can't touch things, but the only way you'll be able to get your friends and get out is if you forget that she's a person with feelings." The kid spoke, his voice low and reserved. He wasn't exactly looking at me and my gut twisted at the ominous tone in his voice.

"What exactly are you talking about?"

"Just go in and find out. If you aren't sure about anything you say, they will call your bluff and you won't get anything you want." The kid stepped out of the way of the door. "Take her hostage and don't back down. Turn off your empathy and emotions for a moment and only think about escaping."

I didn't like what he was saying, but I reached out and opened the door. At the click of doorknob turning, I tensed, anticipating anything to come charging at me, but the room was quiet. The lights were emitting a soft orange glow and the room was furnished with couches and beds, pillows and blankets, and the floor was some sort of fuzzy carpet. At first I thought that no one was in here, but then I heard a slight breathing and I saw her.

She was sitting up amongst a pile of blankets, staring at me with wide eyes. I felt like I was an intruding on a mother's den, but there was no one else but the girl in the middle of the room. She was so, so much smaller than me and unlike the other Yukor, her appearance was garish or repulsive and there was nothing sharp or threatening about her. It took a moment, but I realized that out of all of the Yukor I'd seen, not a single one had been a female.

Dread set in as I realized why the kid had led me here. She spoke as I approached, but I couldn't speak her language and she couldn't speak mine. I didn't want to hurt her. I didn't want to take her and scare her and use her to get what I wanted, but there was no other way. I wouldn't die here just because I didn't want to hurt an innocent and I wouldn't let Vrillyn and Vri die because I couldn't do what it took to set us free.