Finding Darkness

Chapter 22 Trapped

The seven men came into view in the light cast by Malachi, and Tamar could see that he had disarmed them all.

"The next person who touches what is mine will die. Are we clear?" He growled as he flowed over to Tamar's side.

"I am not yours, mister." Tamar poked him in the ribs with her elbow playfully.

"Yeah, I know, but they don't know that, do they? Besides, it sounded cool, didn't it?"

"We have an alien and a hybrid down here guys, four years and now we're lost." The man who'd been asking the questions now sounded defeated.

"Look, I'm not an alien, okay, not all alien, and this one," He patted Tamar on the top of the head affectionately. "Is with me, so you don't have to worry about her eating any of you in your sleep." Tamar growled low in her throat. "On second thought, you might want to keep your bedroom doors locked.

"Very funny." Tamar kicked him in the shin, scowling up into his face.

"Then what are you? If you jumped all the way down here, there is no way you're human."

"My name is Malachi Joseph Prey, and I was born in the year twenty-two eleven, and anything more than that will have to wait for another time. My companion is hungry and tired, so we need a place for her to sleep and eat. Once that is done, I will tell you anything you want to know."

"I would rather have those answers now."

"And I would like your name, and since you are in no place to demand anything from me, I would advise you to show us a room and explain how many people are here."

"Fine, I don't know what you are, but since we're not all dead right now, I'll take you at your word." The man spun and with a sharp hand signal, the other six men turned and filed towards the single door cut in the stone.

"I'm Steve, Steve Kitlag. We have about four hundred people down here. When the aliens started their invasion, I got as many people together as I could and brought them here. I'd been stock piling supplies down here for years, water too." Steve lead the way into the deeper darkness past the doorway and Malachi felt Tamar's grip tighten on his arm.

"We've been down here for over five years now and no one's found us, and now you two show up. Are you sure no one followed you here?"

"Yep, three Rougarian fighters saw us come in here, okay they saw us heading towards the main tunnel. I'm quite sure none of those three pilots saw us enter here though." In the darkness, Steve turned on Tamar.

"What do you mean, none of them saw you? Do you know what you've done? You lead them right to us."

"No, what I said was they saw us head towards the entrance. None of them saw us enter."

"And how do you know that? If they were flying over head, they must have seen you come in here."

"No, they didn't."

"How do you know that?" He took a step towards her, but she didn't even flinch.

"Because they were all dead before we came in here." Her answer was calm and cool, and with the deepest confidence.

"Dead, how?" The shock in his voice was plain for all to hear.

"He killed them." Tamar patted Malachi's arm as if her statement were the most ordinary thing in the world.

"You've got to be kidding me. I've seen those things in action. We've got nothing that'll even touch them. You're telling me that you destroyed three of them?"