I nod. She’s one of the smart ones.
The slavers build their own fires in the gutted building, so I think they know we’re on the territory of a blind god. And they’re not afraid of other travelers; there are fifty of them, armed to the teeth. I’ve seen them tune in on their radios a few times already. They must be following the safest path through the desert. It must be nice to have access to an entire network of people relaying news and gods’ locations.
“Who is it?” asks an old woman on my left.
And I know that bywho, she means the creature who reigns over these parts.
Before I have time to answer, a mercenary hired by the slavers walks to our cell and points his weapon at us in warning. They don’t want us talking.
That works for me. I rest against the wall and try to think of a new way to escape. I might have said that Shai-Hulud wasn’t around, but I’d rather not stay too long with the slavers, for obvious reasons.
It’s in the darkest hours of the night that the silence is broken by gunfire. Everyone in the camp jolts awake. The other slaves rush to the cell door, leaving me tied up on the floor.
“Is it the god?” asks one.
“No, they wouldn’t just shoot at him,” says another.
You would be surprised at what people do when faced with a force of nature, I think. I’ve seen people try to outrun them instead of hiding.
But shooting an old god usually makes them angrier. And you really don’t want them to be angry.
More people scream and shoot. It sounds like they think they have a chance. Which makes me believe they aren’t facing a god.
“Untie me!” I say to the other slaves.
But no one cares. Their eyes are riveted to the darkness beyond the cell and the flash of light that follows every gunshot. Then everything turns quiet. The gunfire is replaced by screams of pain and the moans of the dying. I don’t like this.
There are noises in the neighboring cells now, and we see the other slaves run away. Someone freed them.
A figure slithers out of the darkness and stands in front of our cell. My cellmates back away, scared by the newcomer. The man is tall. He’s wearing a dark coat with a hood that hides his face. But his eyes glow in the dark, like two moons.
Mutant, I think.
I could be wrong. His eyes could be implants. But my gut tells me that I’m not. And my instinct is rarely wrong. That’s how I stayed alive during my travels alone. I know when to run and when to hide. I know when an enemy is to be avoided at all costs.
And the man who stands in front of our cell is one of them. He’s the kind of creature you make sure to avoid.
The man pulls the door with his bare hands, and the lock gives in. Proving my theory that he’s a mutant. No normal human is that strong. He steps back and gestures for the slaves to escape. They hesitate, and his gesture turns impatient.
“Go,” he grumbles. His voice is deep.
This time, they obey and push each other on the way out. The mutant follows, and I’m left alone in the cell.
You’ve got to be kidding me… They completely abandoned me. So much for looking up to me.
“Hey!” I scream. “Hey! Don’t leave me! Untie me!”
But the only answer is the sudden rumbling in the ground. It starts small, with barely perceptible vibrations. But then it turns into an earthquake. And I realize with horror that we might have all been wrong. Shai-Hulud has made his way to us. I guess the gunshots weren’t that discreet.
“Fuck…” I breathe out.
I try to reach the rope tying my legs and hands together with my mouth, but I’m not flexible enough. I scoot on the concrete floor to rub it on a sharp part of the stone wall. It will take forever to cut the rope, but I have no other choice. I can barely crawl in this position. If I can’t free myself, I’m as good as dead out there.
The mutant appears out of the darkness once again, and I freeze. He pulls out a knife and cuts my ties.
“Thanks,” I say.
But he’s already gone. Another quake pushes me into action. I get out of the cell and there are slaves running on all sides, trying to gather supplies, or simply panicking. I jump above the corpses of the slavers. The mutant cleaned this place well before freeing us.
