GREEN [complete]

CHAPTER 20: Sekam

Three miles. Then five. Ten.

Dylan and Mars lagged further and further behind. Dylan stopped frequently for breaks, each stretching longer than the last. They needed water, and so did Mars, but the water the mountains gave them was unsafe. The creek bled green; they would be dead before it could do them any good.

Sekam pushed them, one step after another, promising water when they reached their destination; when they reached Bek. She would have water for them, and warmth. She would know where they needed to go to get Mars new organs.

The pair stopped for their fifth break in the last hour. Dylan sank into the dirt, dropping their head between their shoulders and slumping forwards. Their hair hung limply in front of their face and their body trembled. "I can't anymore," they said. "I can't. I can't think straight I can't walk ... I just can't. Just leave me here and make sure Mars gets to Bek."

Sekam walked back to them, kneeling in front of them. She kept her expression soft as she grasped their shoulders. "We're almost there. I'm not going to leave you."

"You want me dead." Their voice wobbled, exhaustion getting the better of them.

"No, I don't want that. I want you to make it back to Bek."

Dylan squinted through their curtain of dirty hair. "Why would you want that?"

Sekam didn't have a chance to reply. A helicopter broke the sky over their heads, blades thumping through the air. Its dark shape was barely visible through the trees as it reached past them, then wrapped back around.

Mars touched her arm and signed something she couldn't understand. Her jacket draped over his shoulders, rustling when he moved.

"He's asking if they're here for him," Dylan translated. Then, responded, "Yeah, I'd bet on it. It looks like you won't have to leave me after all."

Sekam rolled her lip between her teeth as she stared at the descending helicopter. How had it found them so fast? Her routing wasn't obvious—not too humans, and they were well hidden among the trees and bushes. Unless they were told.

"Who told them?" she asked quietly, eyes never leaving the helicopter.

Dylan coughed a laugh. "I just helped get him out, why would I want him to go back?"

Mars shook his head emphatically as he spoke.

"Mars didn't do it either."

That was convenient. "Then how did they find us?"

Mars touched the back of his neck and Dylan made a choked noise. "Shit. The tech. The tech in his neck probably has tracking capabilities. On the bright side, they probably have water." They offered a smile that fell away as soon as it formed.

The first mongrel dropped from the helicopter, fifty feet away. Five more descended behind him. All of them were dressed in combat gear and carrying guns. Static crackled between the pieces fixed in their ears and a woman's voice. The woman's voice.

Sekam put herself between him and Dylan and Mars.

"Mars is sorry," Dylan said from behind her. "He didn't know."

Her gun fit comfortably in her hand and she leveled it on the visor of the first mongrel. "I'll keep you safe." Light as a feather's touch, she caressed the trigger, easing it back. Just like Thanuk taught her when she was a girl.

His hand guiding hers, strong and certain. Him saying, "That one. That one right there." His finger squeezing hers down; slowly, slowly—bang! The human's blood spraying like fireworks from their skull. Him saying, "Wonderful, my daughter. You learn so fast!"

And she felt pride, because he had never before called her his daughter—she wasn't really, not by blood, so it was even more special. It was the same pride she felt as the mongrel's visor shattered. Sekam stalked towards them, her teeth flashing in the pale light.

Commotion exploded in the trees.

"Cover! Find cover!" one was shouting.

"Remember: C9M lives!" another yelled.

They all agreed on one thing: "Take her down!"

Their bullets couldn't hurt her. They were human weapons; designed by humans to kill humans. Sekam took another shot. The mongrel jolted sideways, and the bullet drove through his shoulder, sending him stumbling back. Calm, calculated, her stalk almost a saunter. She shattered a second visor and the mongrels returned fire.

Their bullets couldn't hurt her. That she knew. Their bullets couldn't hurt her. That she was certain of. Why then was she sinking to her knees? Why were her muscles unresponsive? Why was her vision blurring? Why did everything sound so, so far away?

A groan sidled up her throat and her eyes lolled uselessly in her skull as her lids crashed down. Shouting and screaming and gunfire rang around her, bursting behind her eardrums in flowers of complete chaos. And then, when it was all over, a gentle hand came down on her shoulder in a series of comforting pats, and Dylan said, "Thanks for keeping us safe. Awesome job."