Page 46 of Rebirth

“Only a fool would go to a place like that,” he says. For the first time since this whole conversation began, the woman at his side smirks a little.

“You should come with us,” he continues. “We’ve got a camp not too far from here. Many of us there. Humans. We’re gonna rebuild this world.”

I blink at him. “There’s a camp?” All I can see is a replay of that deer that came after me. The veins embedded underneath its skin. The network in the cave. The unknown danger lurking all around us. “How many of you?”

“About fifty, last I checked,” he replies with a shrug. “Families mostly. We get new folks from time to time. Some are running from Unity, some just trying to survive, like us.”

“Fifty,” I repeat, my mind racing. That’s a small community, enough to share tasks, provide security, a measure of companionship and solace. But it’s also enough to draw attention from hostile humans…or worse.

If that unknown danger out there gets to a group of humans so large, it will be disaster. I swallow hard, thoughts racing in my head that I hide from my face, my father’s teachings repeating in my head over and over again, the image of that deer overlaying all of it.

“Yeah, and we could always use another set of hands. We’ve been scavenging for food and supplies but it’s not easy out here,” he continues. His gaze is calculating, sizing me up. I feel a wave of discomfort under his stare, and I silently wish He’rox were still by my side. Not that he’d even wanted to stand close to me after what happened between us.

I resist the urge to groan.

Fuck. This is all messed up.

“Why are you so far from your camp?” I ask, changing the subject. It strikes me as odd that they’d be out here, alone, without any visible means of self-defense.

The woman’s piercing eyes never leave me and the man’s brow furrows at the question. “We were headed to Unity, hoping to find someone,” he admits. “A family member who went there. Haven’t heard from them since.”

“And you found...?”

He shakes his head. “Nothing. Even if we get there, there’s no telling they’ll let us in. The city is a fortress. They don’t let anyone in, or out, unless you’re part of them.” The bitterness in his voice is unmistakable as he shakes his head, chin gesturing to the flyer still in my hand. “And I’m never going to be a part of them. Not when they’re working with those things right there.”

“Aliens,” I say, my gaze falling to the crumpled paper in my hand. The Vullan depicted there stares back at me, looking everything like my companion but not at the same time.

Staring at the picture, I realize now that He’rox’s limbs are a little longer than the others. There’s the fact that he’s white too. His ba’clan having lost their color as if they’ve been bleached, or maybe not. Maybe they were like that from the start. But then there are also the tentacles that hang at the corners of his mouth.

Thinking about them now, I can almost feel them brushing against me at that moment I’d kissed him.

“Yeah,” the man says, a dark laugh in his voice. “Isn’t that a kick in the head? After everything, we end up in bed with the very things that ruined our world. But Unity doesn’t care about that. They’re all about power, control. They’d sell us out to those things if it suited them.”

My gaze flicks to his as I swallow back the first words that come to my mouth. That he’s mistaken and he’s got it all wrong. Still, I can’t help but frown at his words.

The world I’d known was already gone when I emerged from my bunker, but when I arrived at Unity and saw the Vullan in person, even I knew they weren’t the same beings that came to destroy us. They were different. Apparently, not all of us think so.

“Come with us,” the man suddenly says, his gaze intense. “It’s not safe out here. Not for someone alone.”

I swallow again and glance back over my shoulder, half-expecting to see He’rox hiding behind a tree or something. But there’s nothing. Just the forest, the underbrush, the silence.

I force a smile on my face, my decision made. “I appreciate the offer, but I can handle myself. I’ve got someplace I need to be. I’m also looking for someone.”

Understanding dawns in his eyes even though he looks like he wants to argue, but instead, he just nods.

“Come on, Maisie,” he says to the woman at his side. “Gotta get these herbs we found to Bert. Kara’s probably gotten worse off.”

Something tugs inside me and I bite the inside of my lip.

Don’t do it, Sophie, you have other things to take care of. The fate of the world hangs in the balance.

But my tongue doesn’t always listen to my brain.

“Someone’s sick?”

They pause and look back at me, suspicion still in their eyes. “Why do you wanna know?”

Fuck me. “I’m a doctor.” The words tumble from my mouth before I can stop them.

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