Page 45 of Rebirth

“You alone?”

His question makes my eyebrows want to shoot upward, but I manage to keep my face schooled. Years of having to control my reaction at stomach-churning events have finally come in handy.

I smile again, glancing over my shoulder to see…no-one there. My eyebrows furrow slightly before I turn to face the people again, the corners of my eyes crinkling with friendliness I don’t feel.

And shouldn’t I feel friendliness?

I force a smile at the couple in front of me, hoping it hides the unease settling in my gut. “Yes, I’m traveling alone.”

“Looks like you’re heading away from that place,” he says.

I tilt my head slightly, gaze sliding to the female at his side who hasn’t said a word yet, before moving back to him.

“Place?”

“Haven’t you heard of it?” He tilts his chin, looking down the line of his nose.

I’m not imagining the tension. Or maybe, it’s just a result of everything I’ve encountered since I left my bunker. Maybe I’m imagining what’s not there because the reality of everything I’ve seen is too hard to believe.

“Heard of what?” My gaze slides to the woman again and lingers. She doesn’t even blink.

They’re both dressed in worn clothing. Brown from days of use, tattered in some places. But they both look fed, and most of all, they’re alive. Which means they’ve been surviving fine.

They exchange a glance, suspicion lingering in their eyes. They don’t trust me. Heck, I don’t trust them either. But, I can’t really blame them. I’m in relatively clean clothes. I don’t look haggard or drawn. I’m traveling “alone”, and my pack is small and light compared to theirs. I don’t look like I’ve been living it too rough.

“That place,” the man continues, gaze piercing me, noticing my every movement. “Unity. The new city.”

The only thing I reveal is my eyebrows rising. Should I say yes or no?

“A city?” I say instead.

The man makes a sound in his throat as to the affirmative.

“Which way is it?” My gaze bounces between man and woman once more. She’s still staring at me as if I’m not human like she is, and the man’s eyes narrow slowly.

“You don’t want to go there,” he says. “It’s not what it seems.” He jerks his chin at the woman at his side and I see her jaws clench before she reaches into the pocket of her overalls and pulls out a crumpled piece of paper. She throws it at me and it lands about a foot away from my feet.

I know what it is even before crouching to pick it up, eyes on both of them as I do. It’s a flyer for Unity. One just like the one I found a few miles away from my bunker.

I open the crumpled piece of paper anyway, schooling my features as I do, and watching the area through my peripheral vision.

Where the hell did He’rox go? He clearly saw these people leagues before I even became aware of their presence.

“This is…” I begin.

“Some advertisement. They fly over us, dropping them from their ships,” he says.

I glance at him. “They?”

“The aliens.”

I don’t let any emotion on my face. But I don’t need to, because he continues all on his own.

“Humans are working with them,” he says. “Turn it around.”

I force a lump down my throat as I turn the paper around and sure enough, there’s the image of a Vullan on the back.

The man spits and it hits the ground with such force that my gaze flies back to him. His suspicion of me seems gone now, only to be replaced with derision.

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