HMS Valediction

Chapter 20.2

My dreams are no longer of Earth's battlefields. The VRAPs, the Invaders, the people melted to bubbling puddles of human guts, the ceiling caving in on us — none of it.

The only image I see when I close my eyes is my son, curled into himself, his hand in his mouth, floating in the tank of orange liquid. In my dream, he stares at me with pale green eyes as the bull rushes him away. I'm strapped to the table still, tentacles squirming over my body. Attached to nothing, they slither up and down, knotting themselves tighter around me until I suffocate. They compress my throat until my neck snaps and I wake up again in Knuckles' arms or Coodi's.

When I startle awake this time, I'm leaning against Coodi, her arms wrapped tight around my shoulders as I lean back into her chest. We're so close in size, her being more slight and graceful than my bulky brawn, but she has so much more warmth. She whispers soothing words into my ear like I'm some spooked animal in a confined space.

"Shhhh... it's okay. It's okay. I've got you. We're here. We're here."

Knuckles perks a few feet away. He watches me as I melt into a calmer state. Once I fully relax into my friend, he nods once and returns to picking the skin around his nails.

I survey our surroundings.

The people haven't changed. We've been in this box, this room, whatever it is, for hours. Days, maybe. But so far, everyone is still here.

Except for my son.

I need to get up and find him. I struggle in Coodi's grasp for a fruitless second before slumping back again.

Not yet. I can't. Inside my head, I scream with frustration at my limp body that won't listen.

A few more hours pass and I drift in and out of sleep.

Moyra appears. She smiles down at us. A flicker of something suspicious appears and dissolves between her and Coodi before I have time to analyze it.

"How you feeling, Neeks?" Her gaze flits to the woman behind me.

I know that look. I'll tuck this discovery away for later. "Never better."

She smiles brighter, her bald head now matching the multitude of shiny domes in our herd. "I knew you always envied my style. Stealing my jacket and now my 'do? Why couldn't you admit you admired me so much before?"

I run a hand over my head. I never thought about the state of my own hair in all this. My fingers brush over slick skin and what feels like sutures holding together freshly split scalp.

"Don't touch it," Knuckles scolds from a few feet away.

"What happened here?" I ask, prodding at the skin around it. I wince as I touch a particularly sensitive bit on my forehead. The last image of the room with the tentacles snaps to the front of my vision. I must be shuddering because suddenly, Coodi is attempting to scoop me further into her body.

Moyra drops to crouch in front of me. She takes my hand off its exploratory track across my forehead and clasps it in hers. She places her other hand on my cheek. "I wasn't there for you, Sister. I wasn't there for you before, but I'm here now. We're going to get your baby back and we're going to make the bastards pay. I promise. I'm going to find my nephew."

Moyra's face blurs as she presses her hand deeper into my cheek.

"It's the only reason I became a Reaper in the first place — to protect my family."

I raise my shaky arm and cup her cheek. "I should have trusted you."

"Nah. I would have been suspicious if you did."