the hell is going on,” Hannah snaps.
“This tunnel might be empty of water now, but it… won’t be for long,” Ival snaps, talking over Lisa, who I think was about to tell Hannah our story from the beginning.
“What?” Marduke asks Ival, but Hannah and Lisa are staring angrily at me.
“We have a lot of walking to do, over a… full day’s worth I would guess. Every three… days, there is a pressure valve that releases water into… here and the tunnels fills up completely. I am… unsure how much time we will have before… that happens. If we are unlucky, then it will… be soon and we will drown.”
That catches everyone’s attention.
“I want out of here right now!” Lisa demands.
There is no way for us to go back, not with the collapse of the building outside. We’re trapped in here, and I have helped put the others here in danger.
“What the hell, Mattie? You said this was safer than the bunkers! We weren’t going to drown in them!” Hannah snaps at me.
“This isn’t her fault; she didn’t know about the water. Neither of us did,” Marduke defends me.
“Yeah, like we can trust you,” Lisa snaps at him, but her eyes quickly stray to me. They don’t soften as they take me in, the friendship and love I saw earlier no longer present in her stare. She’s furious with me.
“ Humans …” Ival angrily mutters to himself, switching to his own language, which causes the others to shiver and Marduke to tense up next to me.
Ival storms away, clearly eager to keep moving, and Marduke lightly pushes me to follow him.
I hold in the groan of pain at having to keep walking. My feet are aching, my back is sore, and the added weight of Logan in my arms isn’t helping any.
“Do you need me to hold him?” Marduke asks, his hand moving over the side of my face to brush some wayward hair from my eyes.
“Not yet, I’m not ready to let him go,” I admit.
He nods in understanding. “I don’t want him to be in this situation, but I am pleased to see him,” he says quietly.
While I feel Lisa and Hannah’s eyes on us, maybe even Hope’s as she grips onto Lisa, I glance at what is ahead of us, taking in the unchanging, damp tunnel. There are small lights along the ceiling, but they cast strange shadows along the walls and over us.
Hannah’s voice carries to us as we tread quickly through the tunnels. She demands I tell her everything, so I do.
I explain what happened to us on Earth after Lisa was taken away. I leave out the sex and attempt to make Ival appear not as awful, since I know that won’t help them to trust him. I speak of Roth and linger over stories of Hank. I hear Lisa crying over how dedicated he was to finding her again, and I decide to leave off the last story of how things left off with him. I change it so that he made it back to the camps, and that Marduke and I stayed in the forest.
My story puts Logan to sleep, and with my entire body aching, I hand him over to Marduke who carefully cradles him in his arms. Seeing him being so careful and protective of Logan makes my heart soar. He might be concerned about what type of father he will make, but I know he’ll be amazing.
I have left Hannah and Lisa speechless, so we walk for a long time in silence.
After what feels like hours later, Hannah voices her first question.
“You know Mum and Dad are dead, right?” Her voice cracks with her heartbreaking question. It opens up the dark hole living inside me, still waiting to consume me.
“Yes,” I whisper, my voice hitching. Marduke frees a hand from supporting Logan so he can grip onto mine, squeezing it in support.
“And you don’t care that he’s part of the reason for that?”
I take a deep, shaky breath and only speak once I feel I have control and won’t break down. “I hate that Mum and Dad were killed. I’d give anything for them to be alive, but I don’t blame Marduke.”
“But if his people hadn’t attacked Earth, then they would still be
“This tunnel might be empty of water now, but it… won’t be for long,” Ival snaps, talking over Lisa, who I think was about to tell Hannah our story from the beginning.
“What?” Marduke asks Ival, but Hannah and Lisa are staring angrily at me.
“We have a lot of walking to do, over a… full day’s worth I would guess. Every three… days, there is a pressure valve that releases water into… here and the tunnels fills up completely. I am… unsure how much time we will have before… that happens. If we are unlucky, then it will… be soon and we will drown.”
That catches everyone’s attention.
“I want out of here right now!” Lisa demands.
There is no way for us to go back, not with the collapse of the building outside. We’re trapped in here, and I have helped put the others here in danger.
“What the hell, Mattie? You said this was safer than the bunkers! We weren’t going to drown in them!” Hannah snaps at me.
“This isn’t her fault; she didn’t know about the water. Neither of us did,” Marduke defends me.
“Yeah, like we can trust you,” Lisa snaps at him, but her eyes quickly stray to me. They don’t soften as they take me in, the friendship and love I saw earlier no longer present in her stare. She’s furious with me.
“ Humans …” Ival angrily mutters to himself, switching to his own language, which causes the others to shiver and Marduke to tense up next to me.
Ival storms away, clearly eager to keep moving, and Marduke lightly pushes me to follow him.
I hold in the groan of pain at having to keep walking. My feet are aching, my back is sore, and the added weight of Logan in my arms isn’t helping any.
“Do you need me to hold him?” Marduke asks, his hand moving over the side of my face to brush some wayward hair from my eyes.
“Not yet, I’m not ready to let him go,” I admit.
He nods in understanding. “I don’t want him to be in this situation, but I am pleased to see him,” he says quietly.
While I feel Lisa and Hannah’s eyes on us, maybe even Hope’s as she grips onto Lisa, I glance at what is ahead of us, taking in the unchanging, damp tunnel. There are small lights along the ceiling, but they cast strange shadows along the walls and over us.
Hannah’s voice carries to us as we tread quickly through the tunnels. She demands I tell her everything, so I do.
I explain what happened to us on Earth after Lisa was taken away. I leave out the sex and attempt to make Ival appear not as awful, since I know that won’t help them to trust him. I speak of Roth and linger over stories of Hank. I hear Lisa crying over how dedicated he was to finding her again, and I decide to leave off the last story of how things left off with him. I change it so that he made it back to the camps, and that Marduke and I stayed in the forest.
My story puts Logan to sleep, and with my entire body aching, I hand him over to Marduke who carefully cradles him in his arms. Seeing him being so careful and protective of Logan makes my heart soar. He might be concerned about what type of father he will make, but I know he’ll be amazing.
I have left Hannah and Lisa speechless, so we walk for a long time in silence.
After what feels like hours later, Hannah voices her first question.
“You know Mum and Dad are dead, right?” Her voice cracks with her heartbreaking question. It opens up the dark hole living inside me, still waiting to consume me.
“Yes,” I whisper, my voice hitching. Marduke frees a hand from supporting Logan so he can grip onto mine, squeezing it in support.
“And you don’t care that he’s part of the reason for that?”
I take a deep, shaky breath and only speak once I feel I have control and won’t break down. “I hate that Mum and Dad were killed. I’d give anything for them to be alive, but I don’t blame Marduke.”
“But if his people hadn’t attacked Earth, then they would still be
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