After Earth

Chapter 13: The Hoard

        "All right, you should be able to see now."
     He was right, and all the shapes in the room became people. Friends. Nashi stood with blood all over her clothes and a crooked half-smile, half-frown that tied in her whole look. She was talking to Olman and Olman's wife, who looked completely like a stone statue. She had fear in her eyes, easily identifiable by the tightened grip she had on her husband's pale skin. Nasekin was picking at his skin and dropping his blood into vials that he sealed with corks.
     "I sense infected."
     Tores came in. Rather, he floated in without his shoes touching the ground, and he started scanning the room. He scanned the faces and the spaces in the floorboards before looking at Nasekin.
     "With the defenses gone, I could see how it would happen," Nasekin sighed. "Have you prepared the ship?"
     "The ship?" I questioned.
     "To Attas."
     Oh. OH. I seemed to have forgotten all about Attas in the wake of betrayal and being infected.
     "Backin and Neltmat are working on it. With all of us, it will be quite crowded," Tores said. I hadn't realized how much his confidence had peaked. He had completely different tone now. "It is an auto-pilot ship, however, so we should be fine."
     "We board the helpless first," Nashi commanded. "We can't let them get in contact with any of the infected."
     I sat up. "Acki, you'll have to go with them."
     Nashi glared. "Don't act like you're not going to Attas. You'd be a dumb son of a bitch to deny yourself the trip there now."
     "But I'm... sick."
     "You said it yourself. This... sick is not the same as those out there. Wouldn't you already be a bumbling idiot monster with no sense?"
     I lowered my head. "I suppose."
     "I saw Artomer change right in front of me," she sighed. "I've seen what it does to you."
     Acki was staring at our exchange with wide eyes, and then he was determined to act as if he was playing with his thumbs in wait for the conversation to be over. Nashi exited through the door shortly after with her answer being along the lines of saying she had to prepare them. I assumed their families. Nasekin continued to bleed into vials, and Olman was preparing to go down there with his wife to send her off. But something was coming. I felt it in the thick winter air as the snow kept raging on, whether naturally or from Tores. Kaiglanr was on the move. He was on his way to the house... for Acki.
     I pulled out the IV in my arm and took off the clamp thing on my index finger. All of the readers turned to zero, and the machine screeched at me. Nasekin glared, but it did not matter. There was something I knew that no one else did. I explained to Nasekin that Acki had to get on the ship immediately, and Nasekin pointed at the door for me to go. Acki was in my one hand as I ran down the stairs.
     Everyone else was in the living room and kitchen, getting ready to take their belongings to head out the door with Basha and Orgeti as the guides . I felt another chill, and I sensed infected inching ever closer. We were running on thin ice, time that could no longer be extended by our wants and needs. Kaiglanr was among the infected, but they weren't... attacking. Soon enough, everyone was walking out of the door to the plan that sat in wait among the huge road.
     "Okay!" Everyone get on orderly and the space flight will begin shortly," Nekip shouted.
     "How..." I started.
     Kagre came from the crowd. "It turns into a spaceship when exiting atmosphere. None of us know how that works, but it works, yeah?"
     "Yeah..."
     They filed on the plane/ship accordingly, and I lagged behind everyone else. Nasekin came out with a bag that was probably filled with those vials of his own blood. He glared at me for a moment, but waited his turn to get on. I pushed Acki as soon as I could to find a seat and stay there for me. He didn't understand, but he also didn't know that Kaiglanr was somewhere nearby. No one did.
     "Nashi, watch over them," Nasekin said. "We'll destroy the infected until the ship is ready."
     Nashi disappeared into the plane, and we turned to the street ahead. I saw shadows in the darkness, and I prepared myself to fight. Everyone did. We all waited for the shadows to come closer, and I tightened my fists.
     "How long until the ship is ready?" I asked.
     "Ten minutes," Kagre said. "Enough time to fight, right?"
     She jumped into the dark, and so did some others. I heard the sound of screams and collapsing monsters in the distance, but I could not see what was going on. Nasekin, Basha, and Orgeti stayed back with me, preparing themselves in their own defenses.
     "He's here," Orgeti growled. "he's walking among the infected as casually as ever."
     Stay alert.
     I felt everyone tense as they heard my voice, and I looked to Nasekin.
     "I'm going in," I said. "Can you follow my directions?"
     Basha nodded. "On standby for now."
     I walked forward, sucked into the darkness of the night and infected. Their corpses carried a rancid scent on them that kept the already thick air thicker on its smell. But there was vanilla. That was the scent of Kaiglanr, and he was vastly approaching. Towards me. Passed me. He wanted Acki, and he didn't care about any of us.
     "You're alive," he said. There was nothing rising in his face. He was not surprised I was standing. "Tayas Votipae, the infected bastard, is alive and well to tell the tale."
     He tried to walk passed me, but I hitched onto his shoulder. "Let's chat, Kaiglanr."
     "Pfft." He held his mouth to stop himself from cackling. "Sure. Let's chat."
     He raised his hands, and the windows from the nearby house shattered. A table and two chairs came flying our way until they landed on the road with grace. Kaiglanr sat in one chair, and he urged me to sit in the other. I did so, and we let people fight and create chaos around us.
     "I wished that this was me," he sighed, looking around. "My group of military goons were not as capable."
     "You were a part of the Attas Project?" I asked hesitantly.
     "With Alaxier Ornerve, yes. Agitit had the same sort of team together, eleven soldiers and one civilian. Specifically, a convict of a crime not-so-lucky."
     "Was that... you?" I asked.
     "Yeah," he sighed. "As you can see, I'm one of the ones that didn't make it to Attas. None of you should be allowed to make it, either. No one! They said you'll die."
     Orgeti came from nowhere. "Not Alaxier. He said you'd be fine."
     "You got in touch with Alaxier?" Kaiglanr asked. "He's alive up there?"
     "Alaxier was like all of them. He had powers. This project was never about getting us to Attas. It was about saving the infected, and the only way to do that is to take the white thing from  Acki."
     "Alaxier..." Kaiglanr mused. "It's stupid."
     I glared. "The whole situation?"
     "That I couldn't even be there with him just because Agitit wanted me to find your son. Now he's found."
      "You can't have him."
     "Fine." Kaiglanr flipped the table. "Then this conversation is over."