Page 78 of Ava Greasemonkey

Chapter 29

She woke in the middle of her rest, drenched in sweat, a nightmare she couldn’t recall seared into her brain.

Vox was sitting next to her in the darkness. There was darkness. In the engine hall. It was never dark.

“It’s dark. Where am I?” Ava choked out. The darkness reminded her of the vents. And the vents now reminded her of the horror she’d experienced.

“We figured out how to turn the lights off. It’s more natural to sleep in the dark.” Vox’s voice was soft in the black.

Ava could hear the engine in the room over, and her eyes adjusted to see the biologics around her chest letting off a muted light of their own. “Can you turn the lights back on?”

Vox hummed and then glowed himself. Within a moment the lights turned back on, flooding her with brightness.

Relaxing now that it wasn’t so dark, Ava slowly crawled until she was in his lap. He put his hands over her and they sat with him rubbing her hair and down her back.

More tears came. “Why am I feeling like this? Nothing physically happened to me,” she sobbed out.

Vox answered for her, “Sometimes emotional pain leaves deeper wounds than flesh ever can. It will heal, Ava. It already is. With time.”

Ava nodded, not fully trusting his assessment. Her breathing slowed as she lay there, taking peace from his calm demeanor.

She sat in his arms and felt him quake underneath her with tremors that had never been there before. “Vox, are you okay?” she asked. Immediately, she felt ashamed she didn’t ask before. He looked whole, so she just assumed he was. Fear rushed down her spine.

Vox sighed as a tremor ran through him. “I will be. It is just my body . . . purging the minds that I had to take on Torga.”

Ava moved to get up as another tremor went through him. Her hands trembled as she felt the wave of shaking.

“Do not leave. It helps . . . having you here,” he said stiffly.

“Is there anything more I can do to help?”

“Just stay with me.”

Ava lay back down on his lap, mind clearer now that it wasn’t just focused on herself. She stroked down his arm and crooned out the lullaby tune she used to soothe herself. Vox closed his eyes, listening, as she distracted him.

Vox spoke again, once the tremors slowed. “You did it though.”

Did I?Ava turned the words around in her tired brain. He was right. After all, she did get them the weapons. She completed the mission.

“You did too,” she said, clasping him tightly.

He sighed, a tremor carrying his breath further. “Yes, we both did.”

A small bloom of pride came into her, the first positive emotion she had felt since the females . . . they were . . . she pushed herself to ask, recognizing it was important, even if herheart was numb. “Vox, what happened? Is everyone okay? Are the females on board?”

He hummed a pleased note before answering, “Yes, all that were with you are back on board.”

“Rhutg?”

“He is mourning. His pain is deep. As any would be that lost someone so dear to them.” Vox tightened his arms around her as he spoke.

Ava’s heart panged for him, thinking of his loss. Soon she would need to go find him. She felt a kindred spirit with him in the loss of ones they loved.

After what felt like an eternity, Vox’s shaking stopped and he was breathing normally again, evening out. His hearts underneath her were also not pounding as hard now. Vox kissed her head absently. “It is done for now,” he said into her hair.

Ava let out a sigh of relief. Forgetting the idea of sleep, Ava pulled at her jumpsuit, disgusted with the way she smelled. How did she tolerate it so long? The blood was stiff down the front of it. Her hair too.

“I want to get this off and shower,” she said slowly. Not really because she wanted to. She just wanted the smell to go away.

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