Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80439 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 402(@200wpm)___ 322(@250wpm)___ 268(@300wpm)
“They shot the ship down, but they don’t have a hoverbike or something?”
“They have defenses,” Thor says. “Because they’re Vikar. But they’re not here to build up tech. They’re not like us.” He squeezes me tight. “I don’t know how you got out of that crash alive. But I’m going to make sure you stay that way. Come on. We need to keep going.”
We move through the night, in which shadows are thrown back and forth like crazed demons as a result of the pyre that burns so bright and so high that even at this distance it can be seen. The souls of the crew I barely knew are being sent off by those who claimed them, and I could not be more sad, or more furious.
“They’re like animals,” I say.
“They’re worse than animals,” he replies. “Because they’re men, and they know what they are doing and they take pleasure in it. Come.”
We keep going for another few minutes. There is great tension in the air, because at any moment Drako may realize I am missing and then a search party would be mobilized. It would be a drunken, stupid search party, but still.
We stop by a river, and we boil water in a little pan Thor has managed to salvage from the ship. I don’t know how he worked out what he needed. I guess I tried the same thing but I was forced to drop it to try to run. The pack on his back is all that separates us from surviving like animals.
He motions to me with a finger to sit down and turn around.
“I’m sorry, baby, but I need to get the chip out,” he says.
“How?” I ask the question, but I already know the answer. There’s only one way to do something like this.
“It can’t stay in there. I have alcohol wipes from the ship, a couple of small first aid kits. We dig it out. Then we put it on or in something. An animal. They can chase that for a good long while.”
I almost ask if it is going to hurt. Then I realize it doesn’t matter. I want that chip out of me no matter what.
I turn around. The mark from where the chip went in is still evident of course.
Thor takes a scalpel, and does what needs to be done. It does not hurt as much as I thought it would. I think my body has been through too much too quickly. I’m not reacting or even sensing the way I usually would. I feel almost numb, or maybe that scalpel is just very sharp. Either way, I don’t really feel anything until there’s a stinging from the alcohol washing the wound he just made.
“Good girl,” he praises me.
I feel a tremor of excitement run through me, a flush of what feels like joy but might just be the first positive thing that I have experienced in a while. Pain is a weird thing. You’re supposed to escape it, but so many times in life you just have to fucking endure it. And sometimes, you can be praised for that and then it’s quite the heady cocktail.
“There,” he says. “It’s out.”
He puts a butterfly clasp over the incision he made, then follows it up with a small bandage.
We look at the chip in the moonlight. It is an old-fashioned silicone chip, a thinking rock, with red pulses running through it as the battery powers it. It looks brutal and rough, just like the Vikar themselves.
“What are we going to attach it to?” he asks.
“We could tie it to a rock and throw it off a cliff. They might think I died and got eaten by animals.”
“They might,” he says. “That’s simpler than trying to wrestle some of the wildlife into submission.”
“I think we should just smash it,” I say. “We’re literally leading them right to us.”
Thor snorts, then agrees. The most satisfying moment is the one where we place that chip on a rock on the ground and then I pound it into fucking dust with another one. It’s the only sound we’ve allowed ourselves to make this whole time, and it is worth it. With every blow, I grit my teeth and think of the arrogance that has to exist to think such a thing would ever be effective on me.
With the chip destroyed, we get moving again. It’s important to put as much distance between ourselves and the Vikar. From time to time, it sounds like loud shrieks and wails are coming from their direction. The sounds are made thin by the miles though, so we can’t be sure if they are giving chase or just having a good time.
Eventually though, we have to stop.
“We’ll make camp,” Thor says. “A small one. You sleep. I will watch.”
“I have to do something first,” I say. “I need a knife. A real one.”