Annihilation - Book Three

Chapter 35

"I was wondering when you'd come back out here. We tried knocking."

I don't know what to say. He is the last person I expected to see, and I'm unsure if I'm pleased to see him. Frankly, I'm more than upset with him because it seems like, once again, he waited on the sidelines for everything to be over before revealing himself. 

Crossing my arms over my chest, Reid shifts his weight uncomfortably while Tomas grumbles to himself that he'd had enough on his hands with one gray-haired monster; he didn't need a second one. 

"What're you doing here, Tonic?" I demand, my tone short.

"You look like hell." He comments, and I ball my hands up into fists. Tomas grabs onto the back of my coat, shaking his head in disbelief. 

"Ya don need to do all that now, Nicolas. Aint worth it."

"What are you doing here, Tonic?" I snap once more, shrugging the Irish man off. 

"Let's just do what we came to do, Nic. He's a coward and a traitor." Reid rumbles, positioning himself as if he felt the need to defend me. I test myself, charging my deadened fingertips that still looked a more off-gray rather than my olive skin tone. My body was so far gone; perhaps he was correct in his assumption that I'd be useless in another fight.

"A traitor?" Tonic frowns. "Haven't I paid my debt over and over?"

I scoffed, bewildered that he'd even have the nerve to insist on such a thing. A stiff breeze blows across the courtyard, kicking up snow and revealing tufts of bodies. I wrap my arms around myself, unable to regulate my temperature with such low reserves. "No, you haven't but others have unfortunately paid it for you. Have a nice life, Tonic." 

I turn to walk towards where we last saw Victor's body; I have nothing to say to this Verando impersonator, for I've run out of pity for Tonic. 

"This is the thanks I get for saving them?" Tonic sounds so confident that I pause, looking over my shoulder. My eyes travel around our surroundings; the vacant tree line held the broken trees from the night before; we were in the middle of a battlefield with not a soul around. The stark white of the snow makes it painfully obvious that he is completely alone, not even footprints to indicate there had been others. 

I gesture with my hand, "Who?" I don't have time for this, my body wouldn't last much longer in the elements, and Corina was still very much an unknown.

Tomas rolls his eyes, "He's just trying to get a rise out of ya." 

"No one, Nic. It's a pity tactic." Reid gestures back toward our task as Tonic chuckles. 

"Verando and Penelope." 

Once more, my feet planted to the earth, grounded, wishing beyond all else that I could believe this traitor. The snow shudders around my feet; I wheel around and storm towards him. He puts his hands up defensively and backs away from me as I approach with the intention of making him suffer. 

"Nic, you're very drained-" Reid pleads, chasing after me but not daring to touch my body.

I grab Tonic's jacket in my fists, yanking him to my level so that I can look into his eyes. "Tonic, I swear on whatever god cursed us with your cowardice; if you are making this up, I will kill you slowly. I do not have the patience for this that I once did. I'm tired, I'm injured, my friends are dead; if you have something to say come out and say it or get lost."

Tonic places his hands over mine, and my expression immediately makes him recoil. He then floats them, attempting to show me he'd come here peacefully. 

"They're on the boat. Penelope wasn't feeling well, and with the night coming on- I tried to knock on the door, but no one answered." 

I release him and take a step back.