“I told you to stay away, Tin! Don’t come after me or you’ll end up like him!”
Michael looked skyward to see X ascending by helium balloon toward the storm clouds. He would scream and scream, and then Michael would realize it was he himself screaming and not X.
His eyes flitted back to the dead diver, and his gun went up at the sight of a horde of Sirens bounding up the street to consume the corpse of the deceased diver—Michael’s father.
Their leathery muscles stretched as the monsters pulled Aaron apart, limb by limb, their shrieks piercing the night.
Michael aimed and pulled the trigger, but his rifle wouldn’t fire. When the Sirens were done with his dad, they would come for him, and every time they were just about to sink their claws into his flesh, he would jerk awake, covered in sweat and sucking in air for another scream.
This time, though, he caught himself and didn’t wake Layla. She was apparently still exhausted from last night. Even the thought of their sweaty bodies and her moans of pleasure was not enough to dispel the horrid images in his mind.
Michael pulled the covers off to cool his hot skin, exposing Layla’s naked body as he did so. He gently pulled the sheet back up over her breasts, and for a moment he just watched her sleep: studying her freckled face, full lips, and eyelids quivering in REM sleep.
I hope you’re dreaming of something beautiful.
He let out a low sigh, careful not to wake Layla. Weeks had passed since Michael slept through the night, and it wasn’t for lack of exhaustion. Three jobs and a rigorous schedule had him falling into bed at night and passing out almost at once. The problem was staying asleep. The nightmares were getting worse.
And now the fatigue was starting to eat at him during the day, sparking the anger problem from his youth. He was always on edge and always a hair trigger away from anger.
“That’s creepy, Tin,” Layla whispered, opening one eye and looking over at him. “You know I don’t like it when you watch me sleep.”
“Sorry,” he said, turning onto his back. The alarm clock went off a moment later, and the wall-mounted screen warmed to life, projecting the image of the sun to represent a phenomenon that had once helped humans awaken in the morning. The mythical image did little to stir him awake at the early hour. He was wiped out.
“What time is it?” Layla mumbled.
“Six, and I’ve got to get up.”
“What? Why?” She sat up and looked at the clock, then back to him. “I thought you weren’t going to the farm today.”
“I’m not…”
Layla rubbed her eyes. “So where are you going?”
“To help train the new divers, remember?”
“Oh, yeah…” She smiled seductively at him. “Was last night a dream, by the way?”
Michael grinned back, his cheeks warming. “I’m pretty sure that was real.”
“And it was ama-a-a-a-zing.”
“Yeah.”
“‘Yeah’?” Now both brows went up. “All I get is a ‘yeah’?”
“I’m sorry, it’s just…”
Layla snuggled closer and put a hand on his arm. “What, Michael? Tell me.”
“It’s X. I just can’t stop thinking about him. I’ve been having bad dreams all night. Slept like crap.”
“Again?”
He nodded.
She kissed him on the cheek and then nestled her head on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I wish there was something I could do.”
Feeling anxious, he pulled away and swung his legs out of bed, leaving her lying there half naked and staring at him in the dim lighting.
“There is something I can do. Something we can do. We can start training the new divers so that when we do find X, we can help.”
Layla patted the bed where he had just been lying beside her. He knew what was coming, and he didn’t want to hear it.
“I really want to get going. Feel free to join me later.”
She frowned, eyes flitting downward and then up again. “Michael, I love you, and that’s why you need to listen to me. Don’t you remember what X told you about coming after him?”
“Of course I do,” he snapped. “But if he needs my help, I’m going after him.” He didn’t bother telling her about the nightmare that had startled him awake. Seeing his dead father and X in Hades had reminded him what was at stake and how precious life was.
“I lost my dad a decade ago, and I also lost X for those ten years since then. Now I’m afraid I’m going to lose X again. But honestly, what hurts even more is that he had seemed okay with that when he left.”
“Oh, Michael. He didn’t leave because of you. He left because this no longer felt like home to him. Deep down, I believe he was too selfless to ask you to go with. He wanted you to stay here and live out your life, with the hope that someday you two might be reunited.”
“Maybe,” Michael replied. He thought back to their final moments in the launch bay of Deliverance, right before they dropped the Sea Wolf into the ocean.
“You remind me of your dad,” X had said with a smile. “He’d be very proud of you. As I am.”
Why didn’t you say something, then?
Michael wagged his head. “I don’t know. I just don’t know what the right thing is anymore.”
He threw on his uniform, the fog of sleep banished by the wave of anxiety born of regret.
“Ugh, I wanted to sleep in for once, but you’re not giving me much choice, are you, Tin?”
The wall monitor buzzed before he could respond, and a voice crackled from the speakers.
“Commander Everhart, are you in your quarters?”
Michael, his foot halfway into a pant leg, hopped over to the monitor and pushed the comm button. “Roger, I’m here.”
“This is Ensign White. The captain is requesting your presence on the bridge of Deliverance as soon as possible.”
“On my way,” Michael said.
“Bring Layla,” Bronson White added. “She’s going to want to hear this.”
Katrina stroked her jaw, trying to listen to the scrambled transmission from Magnolia. Ensign Ada Winslow, seated in front of the radio equipment, was working to stabilize the signal.
“Almost got it,” she said.
The beeps and background noise of other conversations and automated messages filled the room while they waited. Among them came a transmission from the Hive.
“Captain DaVita, this is Timothy Pepper. All systems operating at optimal levels. Next update in T minus two hours.”
“Roger that,” Katrina said.
“There… we… go,” Ada said.
Katrina gestured for Ensigns Bronson White and Dave Connor to turn their monitors down so she could hear. White noise, followed by Magnolia’s voice, filled the bridge.
“Miss Katib, this is Captain DaVita. Can you hear me?”
More static, followed by “Yes, I can. Finally!”
“Where are you?” Katrina asked.
“I’m trapped in a facility on an island. X is on his way back right now with Miles, but we’re surrounded.” She was talking fast, and the static interference didn’t make her any easier to understand.
An emergency siren wailed in the background. Katrina could hear that. And something else.
“What is that sound?” she asked.
“Hogs,” Magnolia replied.
“Please repeat?”
“Not like the kind we have on the Hive. Big pigs. With tusks.”