Nathan Hystad - The Survivors - Books 1-3

“We killed no one!” Terrance yelled. “And we didn’t attack anyone. What do you mean?”

“Mae. You attacked Mae on your way out!” Mary yelled back. The guards got between Terrance and Mary, separating them.

“We didn’t even see Mae. The guard listened to us, and he let us go. We left unseen, and quietly,” Leslie said calmly.

My hands started to shake hearing this. If they didn’t kill those guards on Long Island or fight Mae, then who had killed them? And who had attacked Mae? I turned slowly, looking for Mae so she could fill us in. We needed to hear her side of the story, to bring the truth out, and show these hybrids for the liars they were. But Mae wasn’t there.

“Where’s Mae?” I asked quietly. No one seemed to hear me. “Where is Mae?” I asked louder, and the others stopped talking. We looked around the dim hangar, and she was nowhere to be seen.

“Mae!” Mary called. Silence.

“Go find the missing woman,” Kareem said, his cloak flapping as he pointed to the entrance in haste. The guards raised their guns and started for the doorway.

“It was her the whole time. She must have killed those guards after we slipped out of the University. She killed the guard at the base after we left, beating herself to make it look like there was a fight,” Terrance said, and it all made sense. I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t. But the facts lined up. Don’t trust her. The text I’d gotten from that unknown source at the gas station last month flashed through my mind.

We ran to the doors as we heard pulse rifles go off in the distance. Red beams shot toward the forest and moments later, a green light emanated from the area before a ship lifted from the clearing where we’d seen the hybrids’ ship as we’d scoped out the village.

“She’s getting away. And in our ship!” Terrance cried.

What just happened was taking a long time to process. One minute we were all there, and Mae used the moment the guards separated Mary and Terrance to sneak away. She got onto the hybrid ship and stole it.

“I can’t believe it,” Mary whispered. “All this time. All of this time. She gave you blood, Dean. She saved us after the Event. She stayed in our house .” Mary ran her hands through her hair, tears falling down her face. I wiped the tears away with my thumbs and brought her in for a hug. “She was… our friend.”

“What the hell is going on there?” Clare’s voice came through our earpieces. “Are you all okay? Do you need a pickup?” The questions came in frantic succession.

“It was Mae. She ran off, taking their ship,” I said in reply. The words didn’t even make sense to me as they left my mouth.

“Mae. I knew those damned hybrids were going to be the death of us,” Clare said, making my blood boil. Maybe she was right. Janine, Vanessa, Mae… they’d all used us.

“Why are you really here?” I grabbed Terrance by the collar, getting close enough to his face to touch noses. Anger flushed through my body so intensely I thought I might punch someone. As I stood there, waiting for an answer, I wished I was back home. Before any of this. Before the Event, and before Janine. I wanted to just go back in time.

“I told you! We just want to leave Earth. We need somewhere to go. Somewhere off the grid. This is it, a safe haven,” he said, spittle hitting my face.

Maybe they were telling the truth. Probably not, since history had told me all hybrids were full of shit.

“Leave him,” Kareem said calmly, and I looked back to see the two guards holding guns pointed at me. I wasn’t going to give them the honor. I let Terrance go, and he straightened his shirt. The anger was still there, but muted. I shoved it down, along with all the fear and suspicion. Bottle it up. That’s what a man was supposed to do, yet I felt worse for it, like I needed that anger to keep going.

“Come. We have much to discuss,” Kareem said, motioning for the guards to lower their weapons. They did so, and I felt slightly better off.

“We don’t have time for chit-chat. We need to go after her,” Mary said.

“It won’t take long, and I think you’re going to want to hear what I have to say.” Kareem turned and walked toward the home’s front doors. We had no choice but to follow along, and soon were inside the large open foyer. He took his shoes off, implying that we do the same. Embarrassed, I remembered I was covered in mud and stank something fierce. Kareem didn’t seem to even notice as he called to someone to bring langols , which my translator said was some sort of beverage.

Beside what looked to be a kitchen of sorts was a large wooden table. Some things crossed species well. There were a dozen chairs around it, and we sat, the three of us on one side, Kareem and the two hybrids on the other.

“First things first, tell me what brings you here.” His voice was calm, soothing, and I found myself comfortable around him.

Terrance told him the story of the Kraski, and Kareem twinged at the name but pulled it together quickly. This guy had a hell of a poker face. Terrance told him of the plan to remove all humans from the world, sacrificing their own hybrids in the process. Terrance was passionate as he talked about being created for nothing but sacrifice and death, and how he wanted to lead the remaining survivors away to be safe and live their lives out in peace.

Kareem sat stone-faced as Mary and I told him of our journey, and the backstabbing of the Deltra. I didn’t speak of them all dying, but he seemed to get the gist of it. He leaned forward as we told him about the final rescue, and how some hybrids came too, helping us stop the ships from exploding into the sun.

Leslie spoke of the year since, the internment camp they were at, and how for the most part humans had been nice to them. Kareem’s face softened at this, and we drank our langols , which was much like a hot flowery tea.

“We really just wanted to stop these two, whom we thought were murderers and terrorists, from getting to the Bhlat and…” I was cut off by Kareem instantly after saying their name.

“The Bhlat! Don’t speak that name here!” he yelled, getting to his feet. “If you thought the Kraski were bad news, you haven’t seen anything.” Just like that, the energy seemed to drain from him, and he sat back down, slumping forward. “I’m here because of them. My grandfather created the ‘Shield,’ as you called it.”

“That means you would have to be…” Mary started.

“I’m over two hundred by your calendar years. Yes, my grandfather was the one to create the device that would save our race from the Kraski. Only hundreds of years under their oppression seem to have turned my people from a loving, nurturing race, to a blood-lusting race, just as bad as their tormentors.” Kareem stopped, silence filling the room. The night’s adventures and the retelling of our harrowing story had sucked the life out of me. I looked him in the eyes, and he stared right back as if seeking something deep within me. “Dean, can I trust you three?”

The question hung in the air a moment. “You can,” I answered, wondering if I could trust him in return.

“Can I trust the rest of humanity?” he then asked.

That was a much more difficult question to answer. Humans had been through a lot, and most of my life I wasn’t sure I fit in. I hated our internal strife, our abuse of each other, warring for things like salt or oil or just plain power. But my views had changed after hearing the stories of the vessel ships. We had so many heroes, ones that deserved the title more than I did, and for the first time in my life, I did think that as a species we could be trusted. Past Dean would have struggled to get the answer out, but I felt confident and powerful in my reply. “You can. I trust them. You can trust them too.”