Roth Read online

  Once we realise we’re not going to find anything useful, we decide to head back to camp. Kane and Hank lead the way, their heads close together as they strategize their next plan of attack once we arrive there. I only hear whispers of their words, but they clearly don’t want us to overhear. Or, more likely, Kane doesn’t want Marduke to hear their words. I wonder if that is going to be a future problem.

  Kane is a patriotic guy, though to be honest, any goodness that was in him is likely buried under his anger and hatred. I have seen him attacking several “brainwashed” humans. He’s been lucky to avoid being shot by the machines. They usually guard Marduke’s people, however there have been times where they are alone, and Kane has exploited those brief moments. He hasn’t killed anyone yet, but he absolutely has it in him.

  What will happen if he finds himself alone with Marduke? Does he really believe Marduke is on our side?

  I swallow down those worries, my legs beginning to burn from the long walk. I haven’t done a lot of exercise since arriving here. Before the invasion, I was always running and exercising as part of my training. When the invasion came, I was running for my life, walking what felt like hundreds of miles every day. I lost a lot of weight but was able to keep a little of my muscle on me. Now, I’ve not had the energy to run or walk much at all. The muscle that I maintained throughout the attack is all gone. I used to walk sometimes with Hank into the forest, however we stayed close to the camps and a stroll hardly gets the heart pumping.

  I was aware I would need my strength if I was going to actually make it to Oden and attack Marduke’s brother; however I assumed it would be a quick attack with only an adrenaline rush needed. With the lack of proper food being given to us, I wasn’t likely to be able to build up any strength anyway.

  Now that we’re walking long distances with no end in sight, I’m struggling. Nothing looks familiar in these forests and everything looks identical. How could we know we aren’t walking in circles? Kane appeared to be following the line of the brightest sun, so I suppose that should prevent that, but what if we were heading in the wrong direction?

  “Marduke, are we heading the right way to camp?”

  “I think we are.”

  “If we’re in the middle of the forest, how long will this take to get back?”

  “A few days. If we’re unlucky, it might be weeks. Luckily, this planet is nowhere near as large as Earth. We’ll need to find food and water to survive in here, though.”

  “I guess it’s a good thing I lost my appetite since I’ve been here, and after seeing those awful creatures, I’m pretty sure I’ll never want to eat again.” I pull a face as I recall that vile smell.

  “You must eat.” He pulls on my arm to stop me and stands in my way, releasing my hand to place both of his hands against my face, forcing me to look into his eyes. “You have to keep your strength up. It’s important.”

  “I know, I just meant that I’ve had a lot on my mind. Eating hasn’t been one of them, especially not with what they’ve been serving us.” I grimace, thinking about the strange white mush we’ve been given every day since we arrived.

  “What have they been serving you?”

  “I have no idea, and that’s the point. Come on, we’re falling behind.”

  I take back his hand, happy to be touching him and we walk in silence.

  “Those two people on your spaceship, were they your friends?”

  “No, they were with me because they were loyal to my mother.”

  “Your mother? What does she have to do with this?”

  “It’s a long story.” His hand twitches in mine and I get the distinct feeling he’s nervous. “I’ll tell you about it another time.”

  “Okay.” I think about what Marduke’s words mean. I thought his family were against us, so why would his mother give two friends to travel here with him to find me?

  I soon let go of that mystery as my mind drifts from all that has happened in the past few days to what Marduke has told me about my parents. I try to linger on the fact that Lisa, Hannah and Logan are all alive, but I can’t help thinking of my parents. They were two strong, loving and amazing parents. They were perfect, and I can’t imagine life without them. In every hopeful, imagined scenario that I’ve had, I wished for Earth to be returned to us.

  In my imaginary fantasy, I’ve seen myself back home, safe in the house I grew up in, surrounded by Hannah and my parents. Even when I imagined others joining us, like Logan, Marduke, Lisa and Hank, my parents were always there. I never gave thought to a hope that didn’t include them. And while I always feared the worst for my family, I still didn’t know for sure. Seeing that image of them in our kitchen, moving around each other with ease and grace while Hannah and I pulled faces at each other over our breakfast, was still possible.

  Now, I know that will never happen. I’ll never see them again. Never be held by them or hear their voices. The last time I spoke to them before the invasion is all I have now.

  The loss I feel weighs me down, almost suffocating me. I think I actually stop breathing for a minute. I might even have fallen into that dark hole growing inside me if I hadn’t crashed into Hank’s still back.

  “What—”

  “Look!” he hisses, poking his head past a tree and over a small bush.

  Marduke and I follow his gaze, noticing Kane is already glancing at whatever it is Hank has seen.

  I’m not sure what I expect. I knew it wasn’t going to be good since there is fear laced in Hank’s voice. The fact that Kane looks furious isn’t helping ease my fear, either.

  I poke my head over the bushes covering us and almost faint at what I see there.

  It’s not just the torn down trees or the ripped bushes. It’s not just the three clawed creatures that are circling the area, eyeing off the middle of their unnatural clearing. No, I nearly faint because, in the middle of that clearing they’ve created, snuggled up against the destroyed bushes are large, off-brown coloured, oval-shaped eggs. And as I take in the scene before me, I realise we’re looking at a nest being guarded by angry, feral creatures. A nest of more of these hostile and terrifying creatures, ones which have protective monsters guarding them, looking for the slightest reason to attack any threat they perceive.

  It is in this moment that I know we’re in deep shit, and that this is going to only be the beginning of our problems.

  Chapter 7

  Marduke

  I can’t believe my eyes. I even rub them, shaking my head, and give myself a silent talk to be reasonable. Yet, when I glance back into the clearing, I see the same as what I saw before.

  A Claw nest.

  It’s impossible. It’s insanity. How did they get here? How long have they been on Roth?

  We haven’t had anything to do with the Claws for generations. We fled that planet and never went back. I have always believed what I’ve been told—that it was out of a sign of respect we didn’t risk any further lives trying to get that planet—although part of me wondered if it wasn’t in small part because of the fear we felt. We had never been defeated before, not like that. And we had never seen such loss of life. Thousands of women and men were lost. We silently mourned for years on Oden and continue to have memorials of remembrance for the people we lost. There is no way anyone on Oden went back and definitely not to take those same ruthless creatures to put on our other planets.

  Still, Mattie has seen them on one of our spaceships. There is no way she could have been transported to anywhere else—our technology is unique to us. We’ve used the same principals for two hundred years and never before have we seen it replicated anywhere.

  Nothing about this is making sense. Add in the fact that we crashed and the strange spaceship that flew over us yesterday, and I have possibly never been so confused before in my life.

  Also weighing me down are my worries that Mattie is definitely pregnant with my child, confirmed by the fact that she has been able to use our technology, which isn’t possible for humans. I
have no idea how I am supposed to tell her. I don’t know what I should say, how she’ll react. Given our current situation—staring at a Claw nest—I don’t think it wise I worry about it now.

  “What the fuck are those things?” Kane mutters, his head turning to the side as he examines them.

  “Forget that. What should we do?” Hank whispers back to him.

  “We need to get out of here,” I hiss, grabbing onto Mattie’s sweater and pulling her back.

  “Oh, the brainwashed freak wants us to run and hide!” Kane sneers, his voice growing louder.

  “Shut up. We don’t want them hearing us,” Mattie hisses at him. “What Marduke means is that we have no weapons and we’ve already seen what they can do. We need to get back to camp and find weapons that will work against them,” Mattie reasons, her body moving to stand in front of me.

  I know it’s her way of trying to protect me. For as long as I’ve known Mattie, she’s been selfless, brave and willing to put her life on the line to protect others. After living my entire life being on my own, being taught to only rely on myself, I feel warmth building inside me to be reminded that she cares about me. I’m someone she’ll risk her life to protect.

  However, I am also reminded that she’s carrying our child, and she’s not just risking her life anymore. She’s risking our baby’s.

  I place my hand on her shoulder, holding her in place as I step beside her, and then edge my shoulder just in front of hers. “That in there is a nest, which means those creatures patrolling it are in a protective mood. If they even so much as sense a threat, we’re dead. We need to get as far away from this nest as possible.”

  Kane grudgingly nods that he agrees and then we sneak past the nest. As soon as we’re far enough away, we sprint, running for a long time, our pace hindered by the constant dodging of the trees and shrubs around us. The entire time, I am aware of Mattie struggling to keep up, and when I give her a quick glance, I see sweat covering her face and she’s breathing heavily. She doesn’t stop, though.

  I eventually call out for us to slow down. Even if we could keep running, we currently have no access to water or food. Therefore, straining and exhausting ourselves doesn’t sound like the best plan to me.

  It takes until one sun is gone before we find running water. We all collapse by the narrow river in exhaustion. Eventually, it is decided we should sleep and keep moving at first light.

  I hold Mattie to me as she sleeps, my hands spread out over her abdomen. However, I can’t feel anything there, not with the vest on her.

  On Oden, when a woman falls pregnant, she is immediately placed on a special diet to give her body and growing baby the best nutrients and vitamins to keep her and the baby healthy. It is common for women to gain some weight during pregnancy.

  Yet, Mattie doesn’t have any access to the type of foods she should be eating, and because of that, she’s losing weight and our baby is probably suffering because of it. What’s more, any medical supplies we had on the spaceship are long gone, destroyed in the crash. We need to hope that the camps have medical supplies that can handle a pregnancy. Then, as soon as possible, I have to get Mattie off this planet.

  Before, it was only about escaping my family and the humans, who would condemn Mattie for having my child. Now, it’s about escaping the Claws. Something is very wrong about them being here, and I get the feeling I’m not going to like the answer I’ll get.

  Is my father sending them here? Is this a way to annihilate the humans? He can say to our people he offered them refuge, but the Claws came and attacked them. He could claim there was nothing he could do. He’d probably even receive sympathy from it and a renewed fight and purpose from our people.

  After having him pit me and Ival against each other, knowing one of us was likely to die, I wouldn’t put this passed him.

  ***

  I don’t sleep at all that night and barely any of the other nights we spend in the forest. During that time, we come across three more nests. I’ve seen over a dozen Claws now, which puts me on edge and makes me frustrated. We found some fruits growing in the forest that we’re able to pick and eat. All foreign to the others, but I convinced them to give them a try. Given the fact that they were starving, they gave in easily. Even Kane ate the fruit.

  To be honest, we consider it more of a weed because, once planted, it grows quickly and rapidly. We found the fruit on this planet, so it has never been eradicated from here. On occasion, it is used on Oden as a base ingredient in soups, but not often. The skin is not supposed to be eaten, although with no sharp tool to cut through it, we’ve had no choice other than to eat our way to the juicy centre. It tastes bland and there is very little energy or nutrients in it, however when you haven’t eaten anything in days, a weed tastes like the finest food in the world.

  I count seven nights before we find the edge of the forest and the camps in the distance.

  Hank and Kane find renewed motivation and rush forward, eager to get news to the camps about not only the Claws, but also the possible rebellion.

  With the realisation that my father might be engaging in a mass murder of all of these humans on probably all of our planets, I can’t put much hope in the humans fighting back. Suddenly, the lack of contact on the other planets makes more sense.

  They probably are being slaughtered by the Claws. I haven’t shared my suspicions with Mattie, though. I can’t bear to take away the hope that perhaps humans can reclaim Earth. She’ll realise it soon enough, so there is no reason to get her there sooner.

  As exhaustion and hunger have settled in, her mood plummeted quickly. Even though she’s stayed close to me, letting me hold her every night and often holding hands during the day, I have felt the distance growing between us. I often also hear her crying through the night and calling out for her parents. Sometimes, she cries for Logan as well, and when she wakes, I have to reassure her he is alive. Hank told me about the nightmares she has had every night since arriving on Roth, and it makes me angry she’s had to face them without me. I am furious with the situation we were stuck in, which meant she thought I was dead, and the fact that it added to her pain and loneliness.

  So while Hank and Kane run towards their people, I hold Mattie back, stopping us so we’re just outside the forest and standing in the large clearing surrounding the camp. In the distance, machines patrol along the outskirts on the other side.

  “When we get to the camp, I think you should take a break. You need to eat some proper food, gain your strength back, and get checked out by a medic.”

  “Marduke,” she sighs my name, sounding annoyed, but I can’t help loving my name on her lips. No matter how she’s saying it. “I’m fine. I don’t need a doctor. The food here is shit—even worse than that boring green stuff we’ve been eating—and we don’t have time for a break. We need to get ready for the fight. We not only have to destroy the machines, but we need to kill those creatures, too. Then we have to figure out how to get off this planet.”

  I frown at her stubbornness. Now is the time I should explain that she’s pregnant. I should tell her so she’ll know slowing down and keeping out of harm’s way is important. In spite of this, I feel reluctant to say anything, feeling like, maybe once I do, things will change between us. I’m not sure it will change for the better, but it’s not right to keep it from her. She deserves to know.

  “Listen, Mattie, there is something I need to—”

  “Oh, shit!” she cuts me off, her eyes peering over my shoulder. “Run!” she screams, grabbing hold of my arm and pulling me forward.

  Hearing the screeching of the Claws behind me, I don’t have to wonder why she’s dragging me along as though our lives depend of it. Our lives are very much in danger.

  I speed up, charging forward until I am instead pulling her along after me. The ground vibrates as we are chased down, and I remember from stories that outrunning the Claws is almost impossible. We’re out in the open with nowhere to hide. We’re exposed, and it will take a
miracle for us to survive this.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I notice movement. When I quickly glance to the side of us, I find several more Claws running towards the camps. To our other side, there is the same sight. Some of them might be chasing us, but their main goal is to attack the camp ahead.

  “Faster!” Mattie gasps, her feet faltering from a misstep before she almost falls over. I catch her, yet we slow down, and I turn to see how long we have before we’re killed.

  The Claws chasing us are only seconds away, but then I hear a new noise enter the fray. A mechanical crunching and scratching, and then an automatic gun is repeatedly fired at the incoming Claws.

  The hinemas are defending the camp. In front of us, one comes storming through, and I dive Mattie and me out of the way as it reaches the Claw on our tails and a battle ensues.

  Standing us both up, we leap forward and wind our way around the battle. The Claws are no match against the hinemas, however they are outnumbered and the saliva of the Claws is like acid. It eats through the hinemas outer skin and weakens their resistance.

  As we enter the camps, we see humans staring out at the battlefield in wonder and fear. I keep ahold of Mattie’s arm, running her farther into the camp for safety, moving us towards the back. When we’re a good distance away with no one around us, I stop us so I can make sure she is okay.

  I hold her soft face in my hands, moving my thumb over her cheeks and finding a few light scratches lining her forehead. I then move my hands down her arms and hold both hands in mine. Her hands appear small against my own larger ones, the stark pale colour standing out against my dark skin. I step back, double checking there are no injuries to her legs, then quickly move back in close to her and hold her in my arms.

  “Those… the machines… they’re fighting the…” She appears to be in shock.

  “They were placed here to protect you. They’re just doing their job.”

  “On Earth, they were trying to kill us,” she shrieks. She’s definitely going into shock.