GREEN [complete]

CHAPTER 15: Sekam

"You're immune," the woman breathed. "Truly immune."

"All the gods are," Sekam told her. Her finger slid into the comfortable nook created by her gun's trigger. The only thing keeping the woman alive was the bear god. Thanuk didn't want her to kill any more.

Dylan crept closer to Mars, slipping their hand into his. "It's gonna be okay, Mars. You're gonna be okay." He didn't respond. "Sekam. Kill her or leave her, we need to get out of here." Their heart ricocheted around in their chest, beating so fast Sekam wasn't sure how they looked so calm.

The woman gawked and spluttered and tried to form an appropriate response—any response—and Sekam twitched her aim a little to the left. She pulled the trigger. The glass shattered and glass rained down over the woman in the lab coat. Chaos exploded in the room behind the glass as men and women in suits scattered.

"Can you get his lower half?" Dylan asked, immune to the chaos.

Sekam grimaced. She really didn't want to; she would prefer not to touch any part of him if she had any choice. But she didn't, did she? So she did what Dylan asks. She collect as much of Mars's body as she could, lifting it to near the height of the table. He was a lot heavier than he looked, even with several feet still resting on the ground.

The woman trembled where she stood, blood and glass decorating the floor around her. "I'll find you," she said. "I will find you." Sekam wasn't sure if it was a threat or a promise, and she didn't care. The woman was harmless.

Dylan let go of Mars and grabbed the wheeled table he was on, spinning him around to go head-first through the door. They traced their steps back, following the trail of bodies Sekam had left in her wake. The body Thanuk had been occupying, then the mongrels. They were nearly to freedom when security's reinforcements showed up.

"Stop where you are."

Sekam let go of Mars and turned to face them. Dylan didn't stop. The mongrels that advanced on her were an unnerving mixture of feline and canine; abominations the Thanuk would never permit if was still alive. Surely, he wouldn't mind if she drowned the world in their blood. Sekam reached over her shoulder and grabbed her submachine gun.

The mongrels slowed to a stop to assess her. One stepped forward, showing Sekam her palm. "Put down the weapon," she said. Her words churned with the same guttural tones that plagued the voices of most mongrels—not quite human, not quite animal. "We don't want to have to hurt you." She spoke like she was reading from a script.

Too stupid to think of her own words, Sekam thought. "I really want to kill you," Sekam told her. "Don't give me an excuse."

The mongrel stepped towards her. That was excuse enough.

Sekam eased the trigger back. For a single second, the hallway howled with the sound of gunfire. For the minutes that followed, it sobbed tears of mongrel blood. Shell cases decorated the floor around Sekam's feet, sparkly as fine jewelry in the clean white light.

Sekam turned back to Dylan and Mars. She caught them when Dylan reached the door they came in through. They let go of the table and moved to take Mars's hand again. "Are you ready?" The giddy smile on their face was foreign to Sekam. She didn't understand it, but something hurt her deep inside.

"We don't have time for his feelings," she snapped.

Dylan shot her a glare. "He's never been outside. I want to make sure he knows where we're going." They turned their attention back to Mars. "Alright, Mars. Here we go." The transition was less of a dramatic step into freedom and more of a weak jolt as Dylan tugged the table out the door and into the dirt.