Page 21 of Doom

They’re not going to make it.

There were too many, far too many. All the ones who fell were quickly replaced. I forced myself to look ahead at the road the minute they closed in around Doom. He had grown too small in my mirror anyway, and I didn’t want to see him die. A searing pain lacerated my chest as the distance grew.

Off in the distance, a huge explosion rocked the sky. Whatever ship had blown up, it had been massive and flying somewhere high up in the atmosphere. Fiery debris fell down like blazing tears. I could only pray it had been a Kryptid vessel and not one belonging to Doom’s brothers. But even as the thought crossed my mind, a multitude of black dots flying at lightning speed seemed to suddenly appear out of thin air.

They resembled a swarm of locusts moving with a purpose, intent on devouring everything in its path. Like an ominous cloud hanging over my head, it reminded me of the precariousness of my situation. I may not have known who the destroyed ship had belonged to, but I didn’t doubt for a moment that these small dark ones belonged to the bugs. Despite the slight hum of the hoverbike’s cloaking shield and its shimmering effect around me confirming it was active, I further picked up the pace, eager to get off the street and find myself inside the shelter of closed walls.

God only knew how I found my way back to Our Mother of Mercy, with my mind fogged as it was by both fear and grief. By the time the silhouette of the church rose before me, I had grown numb.

I had left my heart behind.

I never got to enter the building. A small shuttle decloaked a few meters ahead while completing its landing. I nearly jumped out of my skin. Even after I recognized the Xian Warrior ship, my heart continued to try to pound its way out of my chest.

I stood shaking by the hoverbike while a familiar silhouette stepped out of the vessel. It took me a second to remember his name: Wrath. He jogged the short distance between us, a concerned look on his perfect face.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, giving me a quick once over.

His words registered, and I meant to answer them, but different words spilled out of my mouth instead.

“Save him! There are too many. Please. Please save him.”

Tears flooded my eyes, and I couldn’t hold back the sobs. I barely knew Doom, and yet my heart was being shredded to pieces as horrible visions of those monstrous creatures devouring him alive played in a loop in my mind.

I was vaguely aware of Wrath drawing me into his embrace. He wore a look of compassion on features so like my Doom’s and yet so different. The world tilted as he picked me up and carried me inside the shuttle. Another presence retrieved the hoverbike.

“He promised he’d come back to me,” I stuttered between sobs, “but there were too many. So many …”

“Hush, Victoria. Do not fret so. Doom always keeps his word,” Wrath said in a soothing voice. “However long it takes, hewillcome back to you.”

I heard his words, that oddly echoed those Doom had said, and yet knew them to be meaningless. As a doctor, I’d too often had to speak empty words of encouragement to desperate families. Unseeing, I stared out the shuttle’s window as we took off. A part of me had died out there with Doom and Stran—who also had carved a place in my heart. But only minutes after our departure, another massive explosion rocked the sky, this one, too close for comfort. I couldn’t see what had caused it as our shuttle was flying away from it. A part of me hoped it was the stadium and all the hellish creatures pouring out of it that had been obliterated.

After a short flight, we landed inside the docking bay of a larger vessel where Wrath dropped me off before leaving again on another rescue mission. Within, an impressive number of Hulanian females seemed to be running the show. A handful of other humanoid species assisted them. Under different circumstances, I would have—respectfully—feasted my eyes on such an improbable occurrence to be surrounded by friendly, intelligent alien life forms. Right now, I was just trying to keep it together.

Despite their warm and composed demeanor, our alien hosts were clearly frazzled and tense—a distress that had nothing to do with the normal pressure of dealing with so many frightened and traumatized refugees. Something had happened, something probably quite bad and they, too, were trying to keep it together for their own sake and ours.

As much as my tongue burned with the need to question them, I held myself in check and instead, looked for Shoyesh in vain. As Doom’s assistant, she would certainly know whether he’d made it out alive. I’d been so lost in my distress that I’d forgotten to ask Wrath to try to mind-speak with Doom to find out if he still lived. But I wasn’t given much chance to dwell on any of this.

One of the Hulanians escorted me to a massive room crammed with human refugees. The vessel was on its way to one of the safe camps to unload us. Within minutes, I’d volunteered to examine and tend to the people with medical conditions. Burying myself in work would help me forget what I had lost before I ever truly had it.

Chapter 6

Legion

Iwiped the blood and gore trickling down my face and all over my body while heading towards the shuttle. We were late already to assist Doom and his soulmate further south. And yet, we were once more forced to delay this assistance. Ignoring the bone deep exhaustion settling in, I gratefully accepted the bottle of water and the energy bar that Leija—one of the Hulanian healers from the rescue shuttle—handed me. I’d been fighting nonstop for the past thirty-six hours, and a time for rest didn’t seem likely in the short term. I downed the entire bottle’s contents before handing it back to Leija. She smiled, with a sympathetic look in her reptilian eyes.

“I need to get to Doom immediately,” I said to Wrath between two bites of my energy bar.

“I’m afraid that needs to be delayed,” my brother answered from the ramp of the shuttle he had just brought here to pick us up and transport us back to the Paragon.

“What’s going on?” I asked Wrath while getting onboard.

I settled inside, Chaos and Rage taking a seat next to me.

“Horrible news,” Wrath answered as the rest of our brothers sat down and buckled for takeoff. “Khepri is under attack.”

The same shocked expression appeared on all our faces.

“WHAT!?” I exclaimed, staring at him disbelievingly.

---