Kristi Helvig - Burn Out

“A dog?” Kale asked, incredulously. “As in furry creature with a tail?”

“Yes, sir. That’s what I mean. I’ll show you.”

The closer we got to the room, the louder the barking got. Kale pressed the panel on the door, but kept his gun in hand.

Lucy flew out and jumped all over Alec, licking his face and barking. Alec laughed and petted her. “Easy, girl, I said I’d be back.” He reached into his pocket and fed her some sort of treat. Lucy scarfed it down without signs of chewing and then sniffed the air. She circled over to Markus and started to whimper, trying to nudge the lifeless form in his arms with her nose.

Markus looked like he was about to lose it, so I called Lucy over. “Come here, girl. It’s okay.”

Lucy moved backward hesitantly, but turned and came over to me. I pushed my hand into her soft fur, amazed at how comforting it was to touch her. She nuzzled my arm, and I smiled. My sister would have loved Lucy. My sister. I gulped, feelings of guilt breaking over me again.

“Does she drink a lot of water?” Kale asked, eyes narrowed.

Alec’s eyes flashed with fear. “She does need some water … sir.”

“Luckily, we have plenty of water on the ship, and it’s everywhere in Caelia, right, Markus?” I asked.

Markus was laying Britta’s body on the floor of the hatch room. He looked up with sad eyes. “Water?” His eyes focused on Lucy, and seemed to clear. “Oh, yeah. More than enough water for that mangy thing.”

Kale grunted but didn’t push the issue. For now.

The ceremony, if you could call it that, happened several hours later when we were in what felt like the center of the universe. Nothing but space around as far as you could see, and the dark vastness sent a chill through me. I was glad they kept the blanket around Britta when sending her out the hatch door. I had the irrational thought that she’d be cold without it. Kale wouldn’t likely take the time to hand me a blanket when it was my turn. He’d just shove me out into the icy air.

We stood around Britta, and Kale tried to say a few words, but they sounded stilted and forced. Because you killed her, you hypocrite . Markus shook his head, too upset to say anything. I held his arm, a lump in my own throat. All I could manage to say was, “I actually liked her in the end.”

Alec shrugged. “I didn’t know her long, but I trust my dog—and my dog loved her. If Lucy liked her, she had to have been good.”

James went next, and I wanted to smack myself in the face when tears jumped into my eyes at his simple words. “Britta was Britta. You got what you saw with her—there wasn’t a fake thing about her. I thought about what Britta would want people to say about her at a time like this.” A wan smile appeared on his lips. “She’d want to end with this: Britta was no apocawuss.”

A small half-smile escaped me. It’s exactly what Britta would want said about her. The smile died quickly though. What would James say about me after I was killed? Assuming they even had a ceremony.

My hand gripped Markus’ arm tighter and he patted me, probably thinking I was only reassuring him in his time of grief. Instead, I was grieving my own likely death. Guess I was selfish to the end.

After a few seconds of silence, Kale cleared his throat. “Why don’t you do the honors, Markus?”

Markus moved Britta to the area near the hatch door behind a thick red line. Her hand fell out of the blanket as he set her down. He took her hand. “Good-bye, Britta. I’m sorry.” His voice broke. “I wish I knew you longer is all.”

He rearranged her hand under the blanket and stepped back to join us. Kale pushed an interior button in the room and a clear panel dropped down, enclosing the area behind the red line. A second later, the hatch door opened and Britta’s body was sucked out into space. Her hand escaped the blanket once again, and it almost looked like she was waving to us as the door closed behind her.

“Good-bye,” I whispered.

Markus downed the rest of his flask, which Kale had refilled several times using his own supply, and his eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot. Everyone had been drinking, except for myself and James. Whatever happened next, I didn’t want to die drunk. I’d even kept my suit on, minus the helmet, as if that could protect me from death. We sat in the small room used as a sort of combination dining hall and rec room.

Alec sat next to me, with Lucy settled between our chairs. We accidentally brushed hands a few times as we petted her, but there wasn’t the electrical charge I felt when James had touched me.

“You know what I liked best about Britta?” Markus said out of nowhere. “You always knew where you stood with her.”

James couldn’t help but smile. “There’s the understatement of the year.”

Alec stroked Lucy’s head. “I still can’t believe how Lucy took to her so quickly. She can spot the good ones, that’s for sure.”

No wonder Lucy stayed far away from Kale.

“You really had a lot in common with her, Tora,” Markus said, turning to me.

“Minus the whining. No one could complain the way she did,” said James. His eyes locked with mine a second before he turned away.

I bit my tongue hard to keep from agreeing with James. “She told me you saved her life,” I said to Kale. Maybe I could keep him talking long enough to figure out an escape plan.

Kale scoffed. “That’s true. It’s rough for survivors out there. Not everyone had the money your daddy did.”

Bite me . I wanted to tell Kale all the good my dad did by protecting his family and keeping his lethal guns away from the world. That even though my mother hated leaving the comfort of a pod city and all it provided, and even though her depression grew worse every week after, my father knew it was best for us, for humanity, in the long run. But Kale wouldn’t care about that.

Alec reached under the table and squeezed my hand. His touch was warm and comforting.

“Kale saved me too.” James addressed me directly for the first time since we were in the med room. He ignored Alec entirely. At least he was finally answering my question. “I would have died if it wasn’t for him.

“I first heard about him from Britta,” James continued. “She said he attempted to stop some of the Consulate W.A.R. machine retrieval missions.”

I couldn’t help but notice Kale’s clenched jaw whenever Lucy wandered over to her bowl to slurp up some Caelia Pure. Like every drink she took was a form of stealing from him.

James’ eyes flickered in my direction. “Anyway, one night the Consulate came to our pod and killed my family.” This was the ultra brief version of the story he’d told me in the weapons room. “After my sister was killed, I closed my eyes and waited for it to be my turn. I heard more blasts but felt no pain.”

Alec slammed his hand on the table. “Asesinos!”

James said that when he opened his eyes, the officials lay dead on the floor. Kale and Britta stood before him, armed to the hilt. The rumors were true. A rogue ex-Consulate operative was taking on the government. He’d learned that the Consulate was planning to sweep the pods outside the city walls to take what they wanted from the weakened survivors. It was exactly what Alec had described. Since Kale lived on the outside, he cared.

“That sucks.” Markus was nothing if not succinct.

“Now you know our story,” said Kale, no trace of emotion on his face. “See, I’m not such a bad guy after all.”

Yeah, you’ve got a heart of gold . He’d probably done something to cause his fall from favor with the Consulate. If he’d remained inside the pod city, he wouldn’t have given a damn what happened outside city walls. He likely would have helped them. His efforts were only in order to survive at all costs. Saving James and Britta allowed him to recruit more soldiers.