Keary Taylor - The Human

I stood, only to collapse to the floor.

Tristan swore and helped to pull me to my feet. “I swear I’m not just trying to catch a peek, but it looks like I’m going to have to help you get dressed.”

Holding Avian firmly in my mind the entire time, I let Tristan help me stand while I awkwardly pulled the hospital gown off and slid into clothes that weren’t mine. I was immensely grateful when I realized the necklace Avian had made me was still around my neck.

“Drink some of this,” Tristan said when I was clothed. He handed me another plastic bottle of red liquid. “It tastes like crap, but it will help bring your strength back quicker.”

He was right, it was awful. Like liquid sugar. But it instantly flooded my system with energy.

“Come on,” he said, slipping one of my arms around his neck and half hauling me out the door.

He dimmed the lamp when we got into the hallway. He turned left down a passageway and we walked silently for about fifty yards. We took a sharp left, and then another immediate right. Tristan opened a door with a set of keys and then locked it again behind us.

The space we were in was large and dark. An old bed was pushed into one corner and a guitar leaned against the wall.

“This is my room,” Tristan said, leading me to the bed and easing me onto it. “It’s right under an old coffee shop. I opened up the floor to it a few weeks after I joined the Underground. Like you said, there’s something not moral about a few people here and I wanted a way out if I needed it, whenever I wanted. No one else knows about it.”

I nodded. “Just give me a second.”

I placed my hands over my eyes. My fingers were shaking violently.

I was always the one who saved people. I wasn’t the one that needed saving. This wasn’t who I was.

I took five deep breaths, then sat halfway up.

“You could come with me,” I said, meeting his eyes. “You’d fit in in New Eden. The people there aren’t perfect, but they’re good people.”

“You have no idea how tempting that offer is,” Tristan said, shaking his head as he looked up at the ceiling. “But there is something else you need to know.”

The air grew colder somehow with his heavy words and I knew whatever he said next would be bad.

“I overheard Margaret talking to some of her crew,” he started explaining. “That beacon they tried setting off down where you live? They left another one there and they’re planning to set it off remotely.”

“What?” I growled. “When?”

“New Year’s day,” he said, his expression darkening. “Margaret is pretty pissed off. Her entire mission seems to have failed, first with getting your colony to cooperate, and second with you. Sounds like they didn’t get what they wanted from you.”

“New Year’s,” I breathed. “How far away is that?”

“Thirteen days,” Tristan replied.

“What about West?” I asked. “I’ve got to get him away from these people. West hasn’t exactly been pleasant to be around lately, but he shouldn’t be here.”

Tristan shook his head, pacing the room. “He won’t be ready to leave for at least a few more days. You can’t wait that long. You’ve got to warn your people.”

“How am I supposed to just leave him here though?” I said, my chest tightening. I was pissed with West for what he’d done, but I wouldn’t let them keep swaying him into being a bad human being.

“I’ll stay, keep an eye on him. I can’t guarantee what Margaret will do when she discovers you’re gone. I’ll protect him until he’s strong enough to travel. Then I’ll tell him what happened, the truth. We’ll follow you as soon as he’s ready.”

“And you’re sure you’ll be able to get the both of you out?” I questioned. Tristan really was a good man if he was willing to protect West, not even knowing him.

“I’m going to try my best.” He walked to the far corner of his room and pulled an armoire away from the wall. I saw the dim cut out square in the ceiling.

“I’m sorry, I know you’re not at your peak, but we’ve got to get moving,” he said, crossing the space back to his bed. He reached underneath it and pulled out a shotgun and a box of ammunition. “There’s only twenty shells left,” he explained as he emptied the box into one of my cargo pockets. He also slipped a knife in. “Hopefully it’s enough to keep you alive until you can get home.”

“I’ll make it enough,” I said, accepting the shotgun. It was old, but it was going to have to do.

“Come on.”

With his help, I climbed on top of the armoire and lifted the board to the floor above.

Dust clouded my lungs from the rug that covered the hidden door. I coughed as quietly as I could manage. Tristan lifted me into the space above.

It seemed to be one of the few buildings in Seattle the Bane didn’t occupy. How Tristan had managed that, I didn’t know and I wasn’t going to risk speaking and calling them to us. Tristan popped up after me, and taking one of my hands in his, led us out of the building.

It was raining lightly and I felt my clothes slowly dampening. Once again, we walked in the middle of the road, up the street, rising away from the water.

We moved slowly and I was getting tired of feeling weak and human. But I kept pace as best I could.

Thankfully, we didn’t go far before slowing at the side of a road.

“These are the keys,” Tristan said, placing something cold and hard in my hand. He stopped beside a very aggressive looking motorcycle. “This is a bullet bike. It’s built for speed but it isn’t necessarily built for stability. The roads aren’t exactly in good shape these days so you’re going to have to be careful. You know how to drive one of these?”

I nodded. Avian had been teaching me how to ride his.

“Good,” Tristan said. He kept checking around us but there wasn’t much to see. With the overhead clouds, it was incredibly dark. “You’re going to head up this block and get on the freeway. This road will lead you right to it. You’re going to drive on it for a few hours and watch for the exit for highway 101.” He was speaking quickly now as if sensing our window of time was closing. “It will take you straight back to your home and it’s a smaller road than the freeway. Smaller cities, less Bane. It’ll take you longer than the freeway, but you stand a higher chance of surviving.”

“Got it,” I said. I stretched my neck from the left to the right. I was starting to feel like my normal self once again. My skin felt tight around my scalp. The stitches were already healing. I’d have to cut them out in a few hours.

“Now, it’s probably going to wake the Bane when you start this. It isn’t exactly quiet. This might sound a little non-chivalrous, but wait until I get back inside before you start the engine, okay?”

This managed to crack a smile on my lips.

“Chivalry is wasted on someone like me,” I said.

This brought a upwards curl to his lips. For the first time, I noticed his bottom teeth were crooked. But unlike Margaret’s, which were disgusting, Tristan’s were…endearing.

He met my eyes again. “I regret that I haven’t gotten the opportunity to get to know you more, Eve,” he said. “I can only keep my fingers crossed that I will get the opportunity later.”

“Me too,” I said, my expression growing serious again. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Somehow I have a feeling you’re more important than just learning how the Bane came to be. Something tells me you might be able to save us all someday.”

“I think you might be overestimating me,” I said, shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other. I wasn’t unsure how to deal with his over spoken, very serious statement. “But I appreciate the heroics.”