Chapter 13
"Let! Me! OUT!" With every word I scream, my hands slap the hard metal door.
"Oh, you'll get out, freak." The guard growls and I feel myself bristle inwardly. "In fact, I think your ride is here." His cruel laughter is the only warning I get before the container jerks violently, the ground flying out from under my feet.
The back of my head connects hard with the ground and then I'm being thrown onto the wall, then backwards again. I try to yell but my voice freezes in my throat. Another jolt, and my front is thrown into a wall (or is it the roof)? I don't know—I've given up trying to keep track. Then, just like that, it still. Gold lights wraps around me and no matter ho fast I try to limp away from it, it refuses to let go. One minute, I'm trapped in that dark metal shipping container, the next I am blinded by light.
"How are you feeling?" A kind but confident voice asks and I turn my glare towards the sound…but I can't make who—or what—has just spoken.
"Are you alright?" He asks this time allowing concern to paint his words but I couldn't help wondering vaguely if it was all some kind of trick. "What's your name, lady?" I fall weakly into a wall and then people are shouting. The same man as before rushes towards me and I can just make out the golden yellow color of his shirt.
"Bones, quickly!" He screams. "Bones, I think something is wrong." Dizziness brings me to my knees and then gentle hands are pushing me down onto my side.
"Easy," a gruff voice with a lazy southern accent murmurs…but it sounds far away and is fading quickly. "Easy, relax. Everything is going to be alright. Someone get me an IV and a gurney! I need to get her to medbay stat!"
Then I'm lying on my back on a hard, flat surface. My head begins to spin wildly as they race me through cold, white hallways, the southern man snapping irritably at the others from time to time. Finally we reach a large room stinking of antiseptic and I'm moved onto another bed. An IV is pushed quickly in my arm and I flinch at the needle.
Moving slowly, I try to roll off of the bed and make my escape but a nurse quickly moves forward and pushes me back down after positioning a pillow under my head. A strap is then secured loosely around my waist. The blackness comes not soon after.
…
A groan and open my eyes.
"Oh, don't be so dramatic. You were only dehydrated and had low blood sugar." A man with kind brown eyes said in a smooth southern accent. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine." I try to sit up but he pushes me carefully back down onto the bed.
"Relax. You need to rest." He shines a light in eyes and I carefully weigh the rewards versus the punishments of punching him in the face. He sees my look and sighs. "Look, I'm not here to hurt you. Are you experiencing any pain, dizziness, or nausea?"
He turns the light off and then analyzes the various monitors around me with a scrutinizing gaze.
"No."
"Good." Then he sticks me with a hypo and I pass out.
…
"So," the man in gold walks me around. "This is your quarter. Unfortunately, you'll have to share until we can add on another room somewhere else. Is that alright?"
"Sure…?" I still understand why I'm here. I was given a choice of Star Fleet and death…and this is not what I had picked but so far things seemed to be going alright. No one had tried to hurt me or anything so, that was good.
"How do you like it?" he asks.
"It's…nice." The room was bare but functional. In short, it would due. I didn't plan on staying long anyway. I'll play along for a while, but I'm leaving this ship one way or another. Adva is still out there and I'll be damned if I'll stay here and do nothing about it.
After saying very loudly that his name is 'Captain James Kirk', he leaves me in peace. I wander idly around the room, examining the beds, the dressers, the bathroom. Whoever lived here was neat and orderly, almost obsessively so. Their bed was made tight and crisp, military style. Their few belongings were lined up neatly, taking up exactly half of the room. No more, no less. There were no personal pictures although I did spot a few paperback books. Hm. I like this person better already.
It doesn't take my long to make up my bed and a red shirted ensign drops off some clothes (some plain black t-shirts, dark grey pants, black boots, black socks, black belt, and under garments), soap, and towels. I nod at her appreciatively and she smiles back in return before marching onto her duties.
"Nice to meet you." She calls over her shoulder.
I put my clothes up in a gray dresser bolted to the wall and frown as I sit on my bed. These people were not what I expected of them. They were kind, not cruel even though they had to know that I didn't trust them. Hm. Maybe they aren't so bad after all…
Or maybe not. Who knows?
I step into the shower and wash off the blood and dirt that had accumulated over the last week. Feeling clean once more, I walk into back into the bedroom and snuggle into the bed. Before too long, I pass into sleep.
…
'They be here soon'. My dad whispers and he hugs me close. 'You have to be strong. Take Adva and run. No matter what, never look back and don't stop until you've reached the safe house.'
'What about you? What about mom? Don't leave me alone! Come with us!' I beg. 'We can all get away, dad. It doesn't have to be like this.' The tears start to fall and I can't stop them because I know. I know that this is the last time I'll ever see them alive…and I want more than anything to hold off the inevitable.
'Please. Daddy.' I beg. 'Please.'
I hadn't called him that in years but I'm desperate now. I know nothing of caring for a child. What if I mess up? What if they catch up and kill us? What if I fail? I don't want to do this! Please don't make me do this!
'I'm sorry.' He whispers and I can see that he truly is.
The pain is ripping him apart from the inside out and he wants more than anything to go with us…but he can't. We both know that he can't. As long as he lives, they will always hunt us. With his death, maybe, just maybe, his secret will live.
'Here.' He pushes my bag into my arms and then gently pushes Adva towards me. 'Go.' His voice is firm and strong, leaving no room for argument. 'Go to the safe house. Stay there for a month and then go to the next one….And then the next one and the next one. Never stop moving. Never make attachments. Change your name with every place you go until you lose yourself in your lies. Hopefully by then…by then they would have forgotten…and you would be safe.'
And we do.
I grab Adva's hand and we never stop running even when the ground shakes with explosions and our house collapses inwards. We run and we run and we run but it didn't matter.
They got us both in the end anyway.
…
Khan stalks down the hallway. Still, he had nothing about Meira. They must have killed her why else would there have been silence for this long? She was dead and he was a fool for having ever thought it possible for him to help her.
He freezes when he marches into his quarters. Something was…wrong. The room smelled…different. Frowning, he looks around. The bed that had previously been unoccupied now holds a sleeping person. Slowly, Khan stalks forward and then his heart stops as he looks at the newcomer's face.
"Meira?"
Why was she on the male's wing? And how did she get here?
"Hmm?" The woman hums and she blinks open her eyes. The moment she sees him, she bolts upright in the bed and hurls her pillow at his face. Surprised, he doesn't even bother trying to duck. The plush object softly hits his face and he catches it easily in his hands.
"Khan?!" She yelps and he smirks at her reaction. Her can hear her heart pounding wildly in her chest and he watches as she wills it to slow.
"I have missed you as well." He hands the pillow back and then lies down flat on his bed on the opposite side of the room, staring at the ceiling. A warm blanket of contentment fills his chest. She was safe. She was on the male's dorm, which my present some problem's to her safety…but she was safe. Alive.
After a while, she settles back down and falls again back in sleep. Once he's sure she won't wake up, he slowly gets to his feet, covers her back up with her thin blanket, and takes a shower. Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day. For the first time since he got onboard the ship, the sonic shower didn't bother him.
He was just glad that she was here.
This one was fun to write. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. :)