Where was she?
I fling my tail out and knock the machine that’s following us away and hear it crash into a tree. Right after, only a few paces further, the forest opens up again into an even larger trampled field scattered with debris and packed with dirt. On the other side of the field is one of the entrances to the encampment.
For a moment, I am stunned, seeing so much of my past home cut away.
To my right are spaceships of all different designs, sizes, and colors. A few humans move amongst and between them. Soldiers in uniforms are stationed throughout, walking around with guns.
How do I approach?
Smoke trails into the sky en masse coming from the other side of the wall. The sound of humans talking, machines—andtheir accompanying smells—has never been so thick. I have not been this close in months. I left not long after the soldiers retook the territory. The wall hadn’t been fully erected then, nor was there a cleared-out field surrounding it.
I search for the most pertinent danger while making sure Olivia and I are not seen by the soldiers. More machines fly above and around the entrance in the distance and, noticing them, I slink back into the shadows of the closest patch of overgrowth as I decide what to do. Olivia sucks in a ragged, shuddering breath.
Hearing a shout and a loud crack, my eyes flick far to my right, past the spaceships, where a large tree has fallen. Humans in uniforms carrying guns emerge around it as one of the machines, a large one I have not seen before, aims a red laser at its trunk. Another tree falls while the first one is cut apart. Beside it are other fallen trees that have already been broken up. Smaller machines are lasering them down further.
Watching another tree fall does something to me, causing my jaw to clamp angrily.
Trying to look at what is causing all the noise all of the sudden, Olivia jerks, searching for the source.
“Do not be afraid,” I reassure her. “We are here. You will get the care you need ssssoon. I need to figure out the best way to approach without putting you in additional danger.”
She settles back against me, choking back a sob. “It… hurts… Please be… careful.”
Her voice is so faint and weak, and my stomach drops.
Without seeing a better option other than to flag down the machines and humans, I press out of the deep overgrowth and head for the treeline. Across the field, a bunch of soldiers have gathered in front of the entry point, their eyes scanning everywhere. For me, probably. But before I can emerge from the forest, a voice calls out to me.
“Copperhead.”
Tensing, I curl over Olivia as a naga I missed drops from the canopy to land in the bushes to my left. He rises up and faces me, peering from me to Olivia. Upon seeing her harrowing state, he hisses angrily at me.
I straighten, hissing myself in warning for him to back off. “She is hurt and not by me, mixed-breed,”I growl. “She will die if she does not get to a human who can tend to her. You will let us passsss.” I tighten my grip on Olivia.
The naga tilts his head in consideration.
He is one of the few that I have seen before in this forest. I have forgotten his name but I have encountered him on occasion due to his preference to hunt around my old territory. His coloring makes him a good hunter. Like most of the mixed breeds around these parts, he is a collage of green and brown and only has basic patterning along his scales—perfectly camouflaged for the forest.
But he, like the greater portion of his kind, lives a more nomadic lifestyle and often sticks to the less dense woodland and mountains west. I will see their tracks or encounter them sometimes when I am at the Observatory. Though mixed breeds mostly do not create clans between them, they are more often friendly with one another than not.
We have never had reason to fight.
He drops back to let me pass. “Approach them slowly and they may not kill you. Others have tried before you. They may speak to you, they may not.” He points his chin at Olivia. “They will take her regardlesssss.”
I hesitate, narrowing my eyes, wondering if he can be trusted.
He lifts a dark brow at me. “Do not expect help if the humans attack you.”
In the distance, I hear another tree crash to the ground.
I nod without saying anything more, sensing he will not be a threat to us. Moving past him and into the sparser trees before the field, his weighted gaze follows me the rest of the way to the edge of the forest.
Stopping at the threshold, my eyes glue onto the uniformed humans and their long guns.Rifles... The same type of weapon Julia uses.
“Hold on, female,” I murmur down to Olivia. “We are heading into the camp now. You will be safe with a healer soon.”
I slip out from the last of the trees, claws and venom at the ready.
I barely slip my tail out of the forest before I am spotted and shouting fills my ears. Aerial machines begin flying in my direction. I continue forward despite the threats hurling at me to stop, choosing, instead, to keep the majority of my focus on Olivia. Some of the soldiers approach me cautiously from across the field, meeting me halfway. Knowing I should go no further for fear of risking Olivia’s life, I stop and gently lay her on the ground, baring my fangs at the humans and robots alike that quickly surround us.
