Page 27 of My Alien Bughead
Why am I even thinking about D’Aakh? Didn’t I just tell myself I had bigger issues?
No matter how hard I try, my mind keeps drifting back to him. An echo of his scent reaching my nose as if he was right here with me. Which is ridiculous.
Or is it?
My eyes find the bundled up worker in the corner again. I know everyone on the station. Some people I consider friends,some are just fleeting acquaintances, but I know every single person here.
I stride over to the stranger, my hand balling into a fist even as I reach for his shoulder. I am so fucking going to punch him this time!
The male looks up at me, the motion causing his hood to slip. Sure enough, two antennae peek out from beneath the hood, framing D’Aakh’s irritated expression.
“WHAT THE F—”
I don’t get to finish the sentence. Or punch him.
A deafening explosion shakes the tunnel. The train lurches, sending me flying into the nearest wall. Landing with a thud, the tools on my belt clanking against the metal, but while I feel pain just about everywhere, there’s no sharp crack to signal any bones breaking.
Before picking myself up, everything shakes again and then we’re falling, the whole train diving down into the darkness. Darkness that swallows everything.
Chapter 17
D’Aakh
Squinting into the darknessof the tunnel, I flinch as rocks tumble from the ceiling and land next to my head. A sharp piece of metal weighs heavy across my chest and stomach. It seems I have my chitin plating to thank for saving me from being impaled.
Pushing the metal with all my might, I curse at how weak I feel. How frail. Even as I try to assure myself it’s the result of being caught in an explosion and subsequent train crash, I know it’s not true. I haven’t been sleeping or eating for a while and my body is finally letting me know that it can’t go on much longer.Especially, since I’m running out of stimsticks and my ironclad will is beginning to ebb.
A mass shifts in the darkness as I scramble to my feet, the tortured metal groaning as it scrapes against the walls. The train wreckage is unstable. Not to mention this whole tunnel is about to collapse in on us.
Fuck.
I need to get Lucía out of here. Where is she? She was right next to me, quite rightfully yelling at me for following her onto the train and then… Then a bomb detonated and everything went to shit.
It was a bomb, I’m certain of that. This type of train runs on electricity. The worst that can happen to it is faulty power cells combusting. There’s literally nothing on the train that could explode. And something did explode. A proximity-triggered shaped charge, most likely. It took out the floor of the tunnel just as the train approached, dropping us to…
I look at the rough cave walls. Where are we?
It doesn’t matter, I need to find Lucía first. She has to be in here somewhere.
“Lucía?” I call out. A cascade of sparks from a torn cable is the only response. “Lucía! Answer me!”
Stone clangs against metal and I rush to the source of the sound, disappointed to find only a crumbling ceiling. Dammit. Where is she? Panic engulfs me as I frantically search the train wreckage, stealing my breath until I’m wheezing and gasping. She can’t be hurt. Can’t be…
No. I can’t even bring myself to consider it. She’s alright. She must be.
“Lucía!” I holler, still receiving no answer.
My racing heart stutters as I glimpse the FrenCorp coveralls under a pile of rubble. “No. Nonono!” My breathing stops completely, an invisible fist strangling me. “Lucía!”
Fingers bleeding, I shove stones and pieces of metal around to reveal the body. An unnaturally still body.
A tortured wail tears through my constricted throat. This can’t be happening. Not again. Not to her. She was so strong, so full of life, so…perfect. She can’t be dead. “NO!”
I yank a broken crossbeam off the body. It doesn’t move. At all.
“No…”
Digging through the rubble, I grab her hand. It’s cold and completely lifeless and…tinged blue? Humans aren’t blue. They come in various shades of beige and brown but, no matter what fantastical stories Astra and Nikolai spin to little Ellen, no humans are actually blue. Nor do they have six fingers.
