I ran into Ohem when he stopped abruptly, smacking my forehead against his back where his ridges rose through his armor. I stepped around him, scowling and rubbing my helmeted forehead like it would help. My hand dropped to my side in shock when I turned to see what had stopped him. Through the dust and rain, was a settlement. A dozen domed tents were scattered over an area of open valley no bigger than a football field. That wasn’t what was causing the sinking feeling in my stomach. There were bodies laid out all over the settlement. Some of them were too small to be adults.
There were children laid out on the wet ground, out in the rain. I made to rush to the kid closest to me, but Aga’s hand on my shoulder jerked me to a halt. I turned to glare at him, but his face was hard.
The grim line of his mouth quelling whatever rebuke I was about to say. “They are dead,” he said, his voice flat.
I looked back at the little form in the rain, my heart beating painfully in my chest. A painful knot formed in my throat as I watched the mud and water flow around the small shape.
Why’d they leave a kid to die out in the storm? I looked at the other bodies spread across the settlement, dread making goosebumps spread across my skin.
“What about the rest of them?” I asked Aga.
He shook his head before dropping his hand from my shoulder. “They are all dead. The whole settlement. Fifty adults and fourteen children.”
Kids. I couldn’t handle dead kids. They were almost sacred to my people. We fucking loved children.
Rema walked out from between the domes, his body stiff. He stopped in front of Ohem, shaking. His helmet melted away from his face, his already pearly skin was bleached of color, eyes haunted by whatever horror he’d just seen. He took a few steps away from us and retched. When he was done, he stood wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and came to stand in front of Ohem again, who placed both of his hands on Rema’s shoulders.
“What have you discovered, my friend?” Ohem asked, softly, his hand trembled where he’d placed them on Rema.
“It’s a disease of some type. It—it melted their skin. There is another settlement just past this one. It is the same there. They couldn’t have been here long, these are quick shelters, and there are crates still needing unpacking.” Rema’s voice was tight with emotion.
I went to him and placed my hand on his arm. His eyes met mine as tears gathered in them. “There were babies, Jack. Little babies,” Rema said around clenched jaws, whatever tears he was shedding were being swept away with the rain and wind.
I closed my eyes, trying to block out the image of dead babies from entering my mind, and swallowed. “Was there anyone alive?” I asked, voice hoarse.
Rema’s face was terrible, he shook his head slowly. “No.”
“This is a dead planet, they should have never come here,” Aga murmured, more to himself than to anyone around him.
Ohem stepped around Rema, closing the distance between us and the first corpse in a single leap. I watched as he crouched next to the body to examine it. I let my hand slip from Rema’s arm as I passed him to join my mate. I walked until I was close enough to see the body in the rain. I wished I’d stayed away.
It was a female; she had her arm outstretched towards the little body slumped on the ground near to hers. Her green tinted skin was covered in oozing lesions. It appeared as if the skin had melted in spots, the muscle and bone showing on her arms and legs. Her teeth were visible through the wound on her cheek, bright white against the carnage of her wounds. Her face was a ruined mess of flesh and blood. The sickly sweet stench of rot lingered under the smell of the rain, only reaching my nose when the wind shifted.
I didn’t want to, but I had to make sure. The child was slumped forward over its legs, like it had taken a seat and then collapsed forward out of exhaustion. I reached out a shaky hand to touch the little one’s shoulder and pulled it back. Its head flopped sideways, exposing its neck that was hanging on by tendons alone, the skin and muscle melted away. Its face was gone, much like the mother. I couldn’t even tell what sex the child was.
I gently laid the poor thing on its side and then wrenched away to crawl a short distance, croaking “release”so I could pull my helmet off and vomit. I threw everything I ate that day up and then dry heaved for several minutes. Ohem’s hand touched my upper back between my shoulder blades. I wiped at my mouth and looked up at him from my knees.
“What is this, Ohem?” I was crying, and the storm was stinging my eyes, but I didn’t care. We came to fight soldiers and found dead kids instead. I couldn’t fight a disease. My claws couldn’t seek justice for that baby lying in the grass, just out of reach from its mother.
Ohem pulled me to my feet, encircling me in his arms. “It's a sickness. We will task some of the crew to bury the bodies and send samples to Dr. Ghix.” His voice was filled with a raw grief that made me cry harder into his chest. Rema had said there were babies.Oh, God. What was this?
When my sobs subsided, Ohem helped me pull on my helmet again. I looked back at the child on its side where I’d left it. Diseases were supposed to be an earth thing.
“I thought the nano’s cured everything. How could they die from a disease?”
“They don’t have nanos,” Aga said. I looked up to find him in front of me, still without a helmet in the rain. His fists were clenched at his side. “They don’t have nanos,” he repeated.
I didn’t understand. I spun to look at Ohem, a question on my face.
Ohem shook his head. “That’s not possible.”
Aga snarled and pointed at the domes. “They don’t have nanos. They’ve died from sickness.” He looked at me. “They are separatists. Those that leave the Unity to set up colonies on unclaimed planets. This one is dead. Meaning it is off limits. No one should have been here.” Aga was well and truly angry now. I’d only ever seen him good natured, even when threatened. I still didn’t understand what was going on. Ohem was flashing threateningly, and Aga was still growling at him.
I stepped between the two males and held up my hands to both of them. “What's going on? What does that mean?”
Ohem bared his teeth at Aga before answering me. “Separatists are a rumor. There are none! These people are from outside the unity.”
Aga laughed, his voice filled with bitterness, and pointed a claw at my mate. “You are still blind, my friend. Even after the betrayal of your brother, you choose to believe his lies. The Unity’s lies! These are separatists! They flee the Unity for a better life. Open your eyes andsee.” Aga gave Ohem a final sneer before turning on his heel and stalking off to the group of crew members gathered by the convoy.
