They came to a halt. The street was dusty but empty. She looked around, seeing nothing but ruined buildings and a deserted street. Smoke hung thick in the air, further along, rising up into the heavens in a dark cloud. The scent of charred flesh came again, and she wrinkled her nose against it.
Sorrow hit. How could she be considering deserting these people? It was clear that they needed help. Not these; not the Rovers. But the ones who were not Rovers, the ones who were desperate to stay on their planet and to make it a better place.
A voice came from somewhere, and she stiffened as she recognized it. Marik’s familiar tone drifted along the currents of the breeze as he called out, “We are here!”
Where? Where was he? She was not the only one gazing about, trying to decide where it was that that voice had come from.
Talon, Marik, Jessica, and the others appeared as if by magic. A few of the Rovers drew back, muttering nervously, and she couldn’t blame them. It was as if they were ghosts and had just risen from some underground crypt or something. She had no idea how they could’ve gotten there that fast or where they had come from. She had a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with the tunnels that she had run through on the day of her arrival.
Marik carried a chest, and he walked toward them.
He called out, “It was good of you to agree to meet with us and show us the sight of our healer.”
Ben went rigid. He called back, “Open the chest, creature!”
She stiffened at the offense. Marik might not be human, but he was not a creature. He was a sentient being, and one who was gifted with all of the things that Ben himself would never know. Love, compassion, and care.
But was that really true?
The memory of what he had done to her came back, and with it came hurt and rage.
Marik settled the chest onto the dusty street and said, “It’s here, midway. Send her over.”
Ben shook his head. “No. Open the chest, or she dies now.”
Marik looked at her. He asked, “Have you remembered everything?”
Then she knew.
That implant.
It had not burst of its own volition. He had somehow been able to reach into her mind, even from a distance, probably because the implant was hooked into some sort of technological device. He had deliberately spilled all of that knowledge into her brain, knowing that it could kill her.
But why?
She stared at him. Ben gave her a little shake and her head went rolling about on her neck until she stiffened it and yanked herself away from him slightly. Ben’s shouted, “I don’t have time for this! Open the goddamn chest, or she dies now!”
His weapon pointed right at her head. Marik looked at her from across the distance. His eyes bored into hers, and she felt as she always did: that sensation, that strange feeling that he knew every part of her and that he saw every part of her.
Then he said, “It’s the last thing that I gave you.”
What was he talking about? What was it?
It bloomed up in her mind’s eye again, that book. It flipped all the way to the back, each page flying by before she had a chance to scan them. Her rage grew with each page that went by. He could’ve killed her. Perhaps he intended to kill her. It made no sense; if he wanted her dead, he would not be there to rescue her. Was there something else happening here? If so, what was it?
Then she saw it.
She saw an illustration of a woman, her body still and quiet, her eyes closed, and an enormous light radiating out from her body. What did that mean?
Marik said, “You must use it.” Use what? She had no idea what it was that he wanted her to use. But that image stayed in her mind. The woman, quiet and still, and the bright light emanating from all around her. Coming from within her. What was it?
Her eyes went to the other page of the book, and only one word flashed in front of her eyes.
Weapon.
Weapon? What weapon? All she had was the little metal jug tucked into the back of her trousers. Ben’s weapon rested against her temple now, the steel of it cold and somehow warm at the same time. He spoke in a whisper. “I think I will kill you anyway.”
Of course he would. She had a sudden premonition. She would start walking across the distance, toward them and he and his Rovers would open fire but not before they got the chest. Ben would already be gone, running hard and fast when his Rovers opened fired on the group and her. Even if they killed all the other Rovers, he would escape. Perhaps he planned it that way. Fewer people to share it with.
Weapon.
Heat blossomed in her stomach. Her entire body vibrated. Her eyes closed tightly and a bright golden light filled her mind, filled her consciousness.
A weapon. She was the weapon. Marik had done something with that implant, done something that would see to it that she was a weapon.
And she was.
A scream, so horrible and so shrill that it tore at her senses, echoed right into her ear. The gun pressed closer to her temple and then it began to jitter up and down, on its edges, raking against the flesh of her face. Her eyes flew open, and her arms came up.
And then all hell broke loose.
