Page 76 of Ava Greasemonkey

Ava sat there, rocking, holding her biologics in her blood-coated hands. She rocked them in her arms like she did her baby sisters long ago in the nursery. Soon after, tears started to flow.The words from her nightmare echoed in her mind.Worthless. Worthless.

Only then, when she started to feel again, after the crying came strong and hard, was she receptive to the humming that was happening from beneath her.

“We need to leave, Ava.” Vox spoke from below. His rumbling voice reached her ears instead of projecting in her mind. Her ears worked, even if her mind did not. Vox. He was here.

Still she did not move, frozen in the vents from the aftershocks. Her muscles were still twitching.

“Ava!” Vox said louder. Again. He smacked the side of the vent, metal reverberating up to her where she was slipping back into unconsciousness. She startled back awake with a jolt, head hitting the side of the vent.

“Ava! You need to come down. Please. For the love of everything sacred, Ava. Please move!” He slammed the side of the vent in frustration, beginning to tear the sides apart to try to get to where she lay nearly comatose. “I will take care of everything. I will take care of you.” His voice broke as the metal squealed. “Just return to me. You belong with me. Come down. Please.” He let out a mournful yelp, a desperate tone, as he continued grasping at the vent sides.

Where she was and what she was doing rushed back to fill her upon hearing his mournful wail.I need to get down.She turned and stumbled down the vent she had just climbed, clumsily bracing herself to reach the bottom. She banged on the sides, not feeling the pain her rough descent caused.

“I have you. I have you. I have you,” he said calmly, repeatedly, breathing out raggedly in relief, grabbing her under her arm and pulling her out of the metal he had ripped a hole into when she got close. His eyes were possessive and focused, riveted on her face.

Ava grazed her arm on the exposed, sharp edges as Vox helped her out the rest of the way. The metal ripped a hole in her suit and left a jagged wound that leaked blood. The pain brought her consciousness into sharp focus as she grasped her arm with her other hand.

“Ava . . .” Vox picked her up like she was weightless, cradling her in his arms, eyes mournful. His hand ran down her face, lightly tracing it. He grasped her close to his chest, his arms easily encircling her. They were alone except for several Tuxa who stood mindless at attention as their broken guards.

Vox turned with her in his arms and bolted. She did not ask about the other females as he carried her out of the small, closed room. She turned her head into his chest. She heard the females once they cleared the entrance to the room they were held in. She buried her head, burrowing into him, and didn’t turn to see any remaining fighting as they walked as a group. Her mind couldn’t even form thoughts to herself.

Her consciousness slipped as they traveled, coming back to awareness as Vox’s gait shifted, and then slipping back out into dissociation.

The journey took a long time, crossing several of the domes that looked very different on the ground level than they did from up above in the vents. Pauses happened, which was when she raised her head, frightened, only to bury it again as more blood spilled around her. Unlike earlier, when Ava was eager to see something new, she had only indifference now, even when the path was clear.

Ava didn’t attempt to communicate with Vox other than asking once to be put down to walk during a lull in the fighting.

“No,” was his simple answer, gripping her harder to him. Ava didn’t argue further. She discovered that if she rubbed her fingers over the cut in her arm, the pain kept her alert and centered. She didn’t want to be unconscious any longer.

“Ava, your mind . . .” Lirell was in front of her suddenly. Ava blinked up, looking at his worried expression, before turning to see the Phor ship, herR526, open and welcoming for them. The lights were on, the thrusters already warmed up. It was waiting. They’d made it back. She let go of her bloodied arm to grip Vox on the shoulder.

Vox grunted forcefully at Lirell, who fell back, before looking down at Ava. His eyes gentled briefly before he hiked her up higher in his arms. The women all collapsed in a heap in the cargo bay as they entered.

Rhutg closed the doors as Vox came in, last. Ava looked at him as they passed, making eye contact. His eyes were consumed by sadness as he dutifully fulfilled his duties tending to the other women. The other Vorbax women. Not his Violie.

Ava registered all of this as she was carried by, Vox not stopping his stride.

They left the rest of the women in the cargo bay. Vox carried her into the engine room, not slowing down until he reached the little alcove that was her room for so many years. There he lay her down on her small, familiar pallet bed. He stood over her, chest heaving, body shaking. He was breathing deep to catch his breath.

Lirell trailed in a minute later. He’d fetched her patchwork blanket from the crew member room she had used before. He looked at Ava sadly while fingering the fabric before handing it over to Vox. “Ava. You’re safe now,” he said haltingly.

Vox grunted his thanks before motioning for Lirell to leave. Lirell left after one more backward glance at Ava.

Vox shut the curtain behind him, closing off the room. He took the blanket and put it carefully over Ava’s shoulders. He wrapped her in the blanket exactly the same way she had when he initially broke the barriers between them. The same way she was covered when he held her gently to him for the first time.

He cautiously moved to gather her in his arms now, pulling her onto his lap while they both sat on the pallet bed. Ava did not resist, but was not as malleable as the first time he held her like this.

Her mind was becoming clearer, and his soothing touch helped, but it felt like a scar was across her entire being that wasn’t there before.

There was no easy mental box to put this in like she did for all her other losses. The box she had constructed previously was crushed and destroyed, the memories in it still swirling before her. They no longer had a hallucinated form, but Ava could see them every time she closed her eyes. She stroked the wound on her arm, the pain banishing the memories away for a moment.

Fresh tears finally came for her, and Vox sighed. “I do not understand your tears, but when you have them, the pressure inside you becomes looser,” he stated, then hesitantly added, “I have to think that is a sign you are returning to me.”

Ava pushed against him to sit up, and his arms looped around her more loosely. He was a mess himself, covered in blood. Some of the blood was from the fighting, but there was a lot that was fresher from the wound on her arm. He paid it no attention as he regarded her possessively with his eyes, his posture still tense.

With her senses returning to her, she looked at the wound. It would need to be heat sealed. She let out a shuddering breath. Everything seemed to just take so much effort. Even breathing.

She pointed to the wound with her other hand. “I need this closed.”

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