Kate
One of the Caelum falls against me, taking us both to the ground. My heart screeches to a stop and I let out a blood-curdling scream, only to be silenced by the weight of the thing practically crushing all the air out of my lungs.
Then I see his face—his face—pale and bleeding and without armor.
Jex is instantly by my side, easing the unmasked Caelum off of me, and helping him to sit on the ground.
The floors and walls are covered with red smudges and fingerprints. There’s blood everywhere, coming from each of the three Caelum—all unmasked and looking bruised and beaten, and absolutely terrified. One Caelum has an especially deep gash across his forehead and half of his metal armor looks ripped to shreds.
“What is this? What happened?” Jex asks, dropping to his knees in front of the one with the deep head wound. I watch quietly as the Caelum takes shallow breaths and tries to answer.
But he’s too weak.
“You’re the prisoner,” one whispers, and when he speaks, I realize it’s Tore, the maintenance guy.
“Tore?” I shift over and kneel down and put my hand to his face. He’s ice cold. “What happened?”
He doesn’t respond. He just stares at me with wide blank eyes.
“How do you know his name?” Jex asks me.
“He was the one that opened the door to my cell,” I say, flicking my glance quickly toward Jex then and back to Tore.
“We’re going to be executed. Our punishment for speaking against Pious. For questioning what we had seen,” the third Caelum says. He’s slumped against the wall, but looks to be the one with the least amount of blood on him.
“And what did you see?” I ask, watching the same question flashing in Jex’s eyes.
“I was from Pious’s unit. I was the one to take General Rune’s face armor to Pious when we found it, and I know it didn’t come off on its own, it was ripped from his body.” All the breath seems to leave his body in a deep sigh then he coughs and a large crack in his shoulder armor wells with blood.
“It was,” I say quietly. “I watched it happen and it wasn’t me who did it, it was three of your guys.” I wish I had something to clean their cuts with. I move closer to the Caelum and pull back on the armor to see how badly he’s hurt. Blood pours from a hole in his shoulder. “Jex? Is there a hospital on this spaceship?”
“We have an infirmary, but taking them there will get them killed faster.”
“But they need help. We need something to stop the bleeding. Bandages and whatever it is you alien assholes use—probably giant, penis-shaped Band-Aids.”
“There’s an aid-station in the lower hangar. It’s close to airlocks—if you’re trying to escape—” Tore grunts out. His metal hand reaches out and touches my arm, “I helped you—”
“Now, it’s my turn to help you,” I finish the sentence. He doesn’t need to try and talk me into it—I couldn’t just let him die—without his faceplate, he’s just like me—a prisoner here. “Can you walk? We’re going to need all the help we can get to take the three of you there without being seen.”
Jex looks concerned. “This isn’t a good—”
“If you’re about to say idea, don’t. And do me a favor,” I say to Jex as I help Tore up, “show me how to shoot lasers out of my fingers in this thing.”
He blinks at me and a ghost of a smile flashes over his lips. “Then put on your faceplate.”
* * *
We sneak our way to what Tore called the lower hangar, or what I’ve recently renamed my worst nightmare. Smoke and flames billow out around strangely shaped aircrafts. In front of the largest airship, there are two women, clutching each other crying. They’re dressed in loose tattered shirts and stand barefoot and scared.
A Caelum, larger than any I’ve seen before, is looming over them, his fist pointing at both women.
I grab Jex’s arm, because I know what that Caelum is about to do. Jex just showed me how to work the armor’s weapons. In a blast of sound and heat, a bright ball of fiery light slams into the women. The impact disintegrates the both of them into a shattering of glittery particles like a firecracker, leaving nothing but a small charred line on the floor where they once stood.
“No!” I scream, slamming my body into the Caelum only to realize he’s not alone. Four more rush toward us, arms out ready to end me.
I blast first, close range, right against the Caelum’s chest. The force of the explosion throws him back, against the four incoming aliens, and they drop like bowling pins.
I lift my fist again, aiming. But more come in through the smoke behind them.
