Kyle West - Darkness

“And grab a sheet to drag him with,” Ashton said. “Don’t want his blood getting everywhere.”

I still wasn’t entirely sure of my immunity, but the Wanderer had told me the Elekai version of the xenovirus was the dominant form. It was hopefully enough to protect me.

I headed aft to find a sheet. Before I got far, an Angel met me in the corridor, holding a large, white sheet that must have come from one of the cabins. He panted, as if he had run. He must have overheard my conversation with Ashton, who by now had returned to the anteroom.

I grabbed the sheet and took it to the bridge. I laid it on the deck at Elias’s feet. I grabbed the former cult leader’s boots, sliding him onto the sheet. I then wrapped his goo-covered corpse as tight as I could. Purple splotches soaked through the sheet — it wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was better than smearing the purple, virus-ridden goo all over the deck.

I started pulling Elias’s corpse from the bridge. I would come back for the head later — I didn’t want it rolling out of the sheet, as much as I wanted to finish this in one trip.

It was a long haul dragging the headless Elias down the corridor. When I entered the anteroom, there was a collective gasp among the women. The Angels protected me, but to my surprise, the women gave no reaction. They just stared, dumfounded.

I found the blast door button and pressed it. It opened, revealing the cold gray sky outside.

I pushed Elias off ship. His body entangled with the sheet as he spiraled downward. The sheet came loose, floating and spreading in the gray air even as Elias’s form continued to tumble. The corpse became lost in cloud.

I shut the door and without a word returned to the bridge. There was no way Elias could survive that fall — not that I believed he was still alive.

I returned to the bridge to retrieve the head and walked back into the anteroom. Once more, I opened the door and lobbed the head out. I quickly shut the door before it even had the chance to open fully.

I went to the galley to give my hands a good, long wash with plenty of soap. I then returned to the bridge, going over to Anna. She was slumped forward in her chair, her breathing heavy. I thought she might be hurt.

“Anna…?”

She turned slightly, grabbing me around the waist and pulling me closer. I felt her body shake against mine.

“You did good,” I said, stroking her back.

She still shook a little bit, saying nothing.

“Sit still,” I said. “Relax.”

“I can’t stop shaking.”

She didn’t meet my eyes. I rested my hand on the top of her head and began to stroke her hair. She pulled me close so that we were both sharing the seat.

“I don’t know why,” she said, her voice quiet. “But this has affected me far more than anything else.”

I listened. It looked like she wanted to say more, but couldn’t find the words.

“You’re just stressed,” I said. “We can finally rest.”

Anna said nothing. I held onto her, as if my holding might be able to stop the shakes. So far, they hadn’t.

I’d expected Ashton to have made it up here by now. I clicked the call button on my radio.

“Ashton, location?”

“Amidships, with the prisoners. Something’s going on.”

“What?”

“I don’t know, they seem to be…lost. Dazed. Like they don’t remember a thing about…anything.”

I frowned. Apparently, it wasn’t over yet.

Anna squeezed my hand, intertwining her fingers in mine. Her hand quivered.

“Come on,” I said, softly. “Let’s see what’s going on. I promise. This is almost over.”

She nodded. I wasn’t sure if she’d heard me. She tried to unstrap herself from her seat, missing the button a few times before her finger connected. She stood. Then, she suddenly lurched toward the control stick and pressed a button.

“Stupid,” she said.

“What?”

“I…forgot to put it on cruise. We might have crashed into something.”

Shaking. Forgetting to do things. I didn’t want to think that she had reached a breaking point, but if she had, then she had lasted a lot longer than any of us should have. We both stood, and I guided her toward the corridor that led amidships. Michael watched.

“She alright?” he asked.

“Yeah, she’s fine,” I said. “Just a little shook up.”

“Just try to relax,” Michael said to Anna. “You’re a superstar. That was good flying back there.”

“Not just good,” I said. “Amazing.”

Anna didn’t give any reaction. The three of us left the bridge and headed for the anteroom. We were never supposed to leave the bridge unoccupied while the ship was in flight. It was a hard and fast rule both Makara and Ashton hammered into us. But I wasn’t going to leave Anna alone up here, and we had to take care of the situation with the Community. I made a mental note to have Ashton in that pilot’s seat as soon as possible.

Makara’s voice came from my radio.

“Alex. What’s going on? I saw that ship take a dive again.”

I reached for the radio. Now, my own hand was shaky.

“We’re fine. Everyone’s fine. Elias is dead. Really dead this time.”

“Yeah. I saw him take a tumble from the ship. Can’t get any deader than that.”

I turned to look out the windshield, catching sight of Gilgamesh dropping gently from above. Its nose was pointed toward us, allowing me to see Makara at the controls. Julian sat in the copilot’s seat.

“So let me get this straight,” she said. “You go through all the trouble of getting me a new ship after crashing the first one, and then you almost wreck this one? This isn’t good, Alex.”

“I’ll take the blame for this one,” I said. “We have a slight situation with the Community that Ashton alerted us to, so we’re headed that way to see what’s going on. We could probably use your help again.”

“Alright. Julian and I are coming on board. This boy needs a lot of work before he can be a trained pilot.”

I wondered why Julian got pilot training before I did, but I remembered that Makara seemed to have a thing for him. Maybe that was why she chose to have him come on board rather than Michael earlier.

“Alright,” I said. “I’m leaving this bridge hanging, but I plan on sending Ashton to the bridge as soon as I can. Anna needs a bit of a break.”

“Copy that. Meet you amidships.”

With that, I walked the rest of the way to the anteroom.

We walked into a scene of chaos. The New Angels had formed a ring and were doing their best to restrain panicked Community members. The loudest among them was Lyn.

“We want out!” she shouted.

Something had definitely changed about the women. The inhuman quality to their eyes had fled, replaced now with panic and fear.

With Elias dead, some sort of spell had been lifted.

The women jostled against the New Angels, but they were strong and they were armed. The Community women had been stripped of their weapons and many of them were in tears. I had no idea what to do about any of it.

Every head turned when a click sounded from the blast door. Gilgamesh was docking. A moment later, the door opened, revealing Makara and Julian walking into the anteroom, followed by Nathaniel, a bearded man we had met after finding the Exiles near the Great Blight, and another man named Chris, the blond-haired Raider who had guarded Silver Arched Bridge that spanned the Colorado River. I still remembered that night, Makara and I racing across the desert in our Recon, trying to reach Char and Raider Bluff in order to save Samuel from the bullet he had received.

“What’s going on?” Makara asked.