“Talis is dead,” he repeated. “They’re both floating in space,” Cade said.
Head bent against a storage container, my vision facing the windows to the outside. But I wasn’t looking at anything. I was just staring into darkness.
I yearned to see the sun rise in the distance. Even now, I remember what that felt like. Warmth on a summer day, when all of the kids got a break from school. When my family and I could imagine lives far beyond ourselves, dream for the future, and feel in love with the world.
I could see nothing now. The dream of flying through the stars had turned into a nightmare. I was face to face with my needs, and I wished to go back. Back home. My planet had died without me. As far as I was concerned, the only real tragedy was that I had somehow lived.
I blinked and winced, the pain creeping up my back, cheeks, and nose. I was sure he had broken me more than I currently knew, but the magnetized floors made it even harder to get through it.
Above me was the emergency fire button. If I could’ve somehow reached it, I’d be able to distract him. That would be my only chance to escape. I just had to convince him to release the magnets.
I coughed out blood and groaned, sucking in air grievously. “The emergency sequence,” I said as loudly as I could. “You need to punch in the code, or we’ll die.”
Pain. The legs of my child, whipping through my ovaries. He had learned new tricks. Every minute that passed, he seemed to grow stronger and more aware. He wanted a way out; my body wasn’t a fertile garden. It was rejecting him. If he died, I’d die with him.
“Spread your fuckin’ legs, cow.”
Cade’s voice crawled like a lizard. I couldn’t turn to see him in all his demented horror, but I knew he was naked. I could hear the subtle sounds of hand against soft skin. He was having... troubles. In space, this was common, and, as the leading expert on fertility, I often left the room and let them use the pump or whatever toys were necessary.
Talis didn’t need any of the toys. All he needed was my body. His cock took care of everything.
I lay in silence, tears resting in my eyes. Quietly, I sniffed my blood and snot, rolling my forehead against a spot of dry ground. I couldn’t look through that window anymore—there was the thought of the bodies I had set free. Were they really floating alongside Talis?
“Why do this? Whatever pleasure you get from this won’t last,” I told him.
Cade spread my
legs and wriggled his fingers up my calves. I tensed.
Forcefully, he pounced and took my hair, pulling back. “I don’t need to fuck you to know that I’m better than you,” he sneered. “Your privileged life has amounted to nothing, just like mine. It’s a true joy to know that morality meant nothing. In the end, this is what it all led to.”
Fine. I accepted it. This was the end. It had to come sooner or later. Cade managed to get the best of Juliana. He killed Talis with the airlock. My baby was eating me alive.
In all honesty, I had hit a brick wall. I felt as if there was nothing to live for.
Game over, man.
“Please, just let me go. I want to die in peace,” I cried, searching for the only ounce of decency inside him. I couldn’t wrap my head around why someone would want to kill if they knew the end was coming for everyone. But some people can’t turn off the darkness inside them. Cade had been living like this all his life.
Using my fingernails, I clawed at the sewed wrists. He curled his body around mind, grinding his hips forward, closer by the second. I tried to kick back, and it helped briefly, but the magnetization held me in place, stopping my efforts.
He was about to enter me when he justified his actions. “You robbed us of everything. You let an intruder into our world, our ecosystem. You caused us to lose our place. You’re a parasite that needs to be eradicated.”
“Cade, wait!” I arched my shoulders up, but he quickly twisted them back to the ground.
“I’m going to rape you like they raped our planet. I’m going to take you like they took me. But do not worry. I will show you some benevolence. By the time I am finished, I will have set you free.”
“Permanent Black initiated. T-minus ten minutes.”
It was already starting. Permanent Black. It was the final straw, the last string of codes that needed to be entered before complete shutdown and termination occurred. I needed to enter the backup code into the system to make sure the shutdown procedures didn’t go all the way through. If I didn’t, the ship would self-destruct.
“The backup engines will overload in less than three,” Cade said, coiling his arms around me, resting his temple on the back of my head.
It was too late for remedial action. The power core had been considerably damaged. I should have given up, but every time I thought about Talis, the more I wondered if he’d somehow survived. I wasn’t too great at being an optimist, but I felt some semblance of hope.
“Okay,” I said, out of breath and shaken. “You win. You can... I’ll let you have me.”
I nearly vomited as soon as the words came out of my mouth, but it was the only thing I could say to convince him to let me go. He ran his lips across my ears, pausing as soon as the hairs began to rise. I clenched my eyes shut and listened to his horrifying wishes. “Let me get this straight. You’ll let me take you? All of you.”