The Unknown

THIRTEEN | goals.

Tess sat with her head on her knees, hiding with Kyle in a dark shed in some stranger's backyard. The excitement of their escape had worn off, and now she felt dizzy and overwhelmed. "Whose side are we on?" she wondered aloud, rubbing her temples.

"Our own?" Kyle offered. He stared out the lone window that was coated in grime, blurring everything outside into indistinct blobs of light.

"I just want to run away from it all and settle down somewhere. And live. But I feel like we can't do that."

"We could try."

She sucked in a deep breath and released it slowly. "Then I guess the Species will just keep converting everyone. Move onto other cities, and maybe the whole world."

"Is that necessarily a bad thing?" Kyle cleared his throat. "I mean...we are half them."

She looked at him, trying to meet his eyes, but he was still staring outside. "From the humans' perspective, we're evil," she pointed out. "We're destroying them all. Or, at least, taking away their autonomy and holding them captive in their own bodies. I don't know which is worse."

Tess thought of the woman who'd called her a monster—before she'd unwittingly killed her. She extended and flexed her fingers, eyeing her blood-red nails with a shudder.

"Consider that we're also making humans resistant to the radiation left from their destructive wars. We'll cure their diseases and introduce them to unimaginably advanced technology."

"But will there be humans left to appreciate any of that?"

"Well, look at us, here. The fact that we snuck away to be together, and we're actually discussing the ethics of our own takeover, means we're clearly part human. Alien cells have combined with theirs, not just taken over their brains or destroyed them."

"So you're on their side?"

"No," he was quick to assert. "But maybe the Species isn't all bad, and neither is the City and its citizens."

"If only we could all work together and be friends." Her words were half-sarcastic, half-sincere.

Tess stood and began to pace, thinking. The sun had risen midway up the sky and was glaring in through the window, lighting up the swirling motes of dust in its reach.

"Why do you think Jade ended up the leader, anyway?" She asked impulsively, wanting to bounce her thoughts off Kyle for a fresh perspective.

"I've been thinking about that. I figured maybe the Species has some kind of hierarchy, and Jade happened to be, uh....implanted with one of the more powerful ones." He shrugged. "Just a theory."

"We still don't know their end goal. What happens after they convert everyone?"

"You're right, no idea," he admitted, finally stepping away from the window.

"I think that's what we need to figure out first."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw that he was smiling wide.

"We'll find a way. We always do."

"So, what you're saying is that you have no plan and you're going to wing it, as usual?"

He was teasing her. She whirled around and stopped her pacing to meet his eyes. The look on his face struck her—one of profound admiration and warmth.

With her eyes raised to his, she felt how alive they both were, and how deep their connection was. His eyes green and hers blue, like the earth and the sky above. She could feel the blood rushing through her veins, and she felt more human than ever before in her new life.

Kyle stepped closer.

"Everything seems clearer when we're together." His voice was hushed, coming out in an urgent rush. "It's like I've been under hypnosis, in a daze. Following orders without question. But you're like an anchor to something deeper in my brain. Something lucid."

He took her hands. She wanted to hide her lurid nails, but he unfolded her fingers, and she didn't resist. For a moment, he was just staring at her hands, a small half-smile forming on his face.

"If we get out of this alive, I want to marry you."

Her heart pounded against her ribs. She swayed and had to shift to plant her feet more solidly.

"Think about it," he said, and brought one of her hands to his lips to kiss it.

Then he stepped away, leaving her standing there in a daze, breathing heavily.

Now that he'd said what he wanted, there was peaceful, contemplative silence between them—and an inborn understanding that there was no need to fill it. Or maybe the moment was already full, overflowing with unspoken abstractions, imaginings of what their lives might be if everything aligned perfectly. Freedom. Peace at last.

Tess began to fiddle with Jade's communicator. It didn't seem to have a tracker itself, so she'd figured it was safe to keep it.

She checked everyone's location again and found that no one was near them. Then she skimmed Jade's inbox and found, with delighted temptation, that she could send a message to every one of the Species' pawns at once.

She drafted a message without much thought: "The Species is using you. Think for yourselves. Don't trust Jade."

Then she pressed send without showing Kyle. 

Minutes later, Jade's communicator buzzed with an incoming message.