Not Just A Breeder

*Eli*

"Well, I hope you're... comfortable, ET1," Pete says.

The two men behind him laugh a little, and I as...ess the situation. Clearly, they are trying to intimidate me, but they fall a little short. The main guy, Pete, is obviously not an ET1, but he's trying to act like one. And the other two seem to be formidable if they weren't practically starving, but it's clear they've missed too many meals to be in good shape.

Who are these people?

“It's a good place,” I say, deciding to be friendly. Renegades can be unpredictable, and I don't want to be any more combative than necessary, at least not until I know what's going on with Kelly and the others. It's not a lie; It's a good place, or at least it was, when this resort was new.

Pete doesn't seem to like my tactic, however, and moves closer, frowning at me. —Are you trying to make fun of us, ET1?—I notice that he doesn't get too close, but enough to make a spectacle for the other boys.

If he wants to play ET1, I decide I'll play too. I stand up straight to my full height and use my ET1 voice to say, “I'm not in the mood for games.”

He tries to save face in front of the others, but he can't help but back away a little to make it a little less overwhelming, although he tries to keep looking me in the eyes. The other boys no longer have smiles on their faces.

“This isn't a game,” Pete says. —I want to know why you keep driving through my territory.

I sigh, then think about Kamila, and the babies, Kelly, my broken hand, Kane, Gene, and everything else I need to manage and decide I'm really not in the mood to play 'ET1 games' with the guy.

“First of all,” I begin impatiently, “it's not your territory.” You are clearly not an ET1.

With that, Pete's expression changes to something between shock and embarras...ment. He's obviously been trying to fool these people for a long time. And the game is over.

“Secondly,” I continue, “I don't have time for this shit.” What kind of game are you playing here, anyway? You destroy our vehicles, killing two of my warriors in the process, beat us up and take us to this old ruined hotel, then turn around and try to heal my hand.

Pete's eyes widen, but he doesn't respond.

—And who do you think you are, sending a young woman to tend to a strange ET1? “What the hell were you thinking?” I ask, raising my voice a little in irritation.

“It was a test,” Pete says, and the other kids nod.

"Proof of what?" I ask. "Why would you risk his life for a stupid test?" Do you think I'm not mad at you? If I were any other ET1, I could take it out on that innocent girl. I'll say it again. You killed my men!

With that, everyone starts to back away a little.

“It could have been anyone,” I say. —You have no idea who I am, so you don't know what kind of ET1 I am. What if he was like ET1 Stephen or ET1 Kane?

With those words, all of their eyes widened. "Do you know Kane?" Pete asked.

“Yes, I know him,” I say. "And I'm on my way to ripping out his throat, or I was, anyway, until you stopped me and killed my people."

I open my mouth to say more, but at that moment, the girl who had healed my hand, Heather, ran into the room, along with Kelly, Trevor, and my other warriors. They freeze in place when they see Pete is here and look from me to him.

"Are you okay?" Kelly asks.

Seat. “I'm fine,” I say. "I was just trying to find out from my new friend Pete here what his problem is."

Heather laughs at that, and I'd think it's funny too if it weren't for the rest of the situation... and the men we lost. I'm terrified of having to tell their families. They were both good men with partners and families who will be devastated. Their lives have changed forever, and why? By some stupid idiot who wants to pretend to be an ET1.

And somewhere, Kamila is sitting in a room, maybe with Kane right there with her, fearing for her life and the lives of my pup and the others. None of this shit is fun.

I turn and face Pete again. “Listen to me, idiot,” I say, not exactly in my ET1 voice but in a voice that makes it clear I've lost every last ounce of patience. —I have a battle to fight. My partner——I say it without hesitation and I can feel Kelly's surprised reaction,——my partner is pregnant with my child and is being held by ET1 Kane. I have to get to her, tear it apart, save her, and make sure she and her kits are safe from her!

Pete steps back and falls into a chair, his shoulders and head falling as he puts his hands over his face. He looks at me. —You have a partner.— It was a statement, not a question.

"Yes!" I shout.

I've never called her that before, and I know she loves the other three ET1s as much as she loves me, but that's exactly how I feel. When I'm around her, I want nothing more than to be in her arms. When I'm away from her, I want nothing more than to come back to see her beautiful smile. And when she's in danger, held by a monster like Kane, the pain in my heart feels like a hundred knives tearing through her.

Yes, she is my partner. Is it possible that the Moon Goddess gave her as a companion to all of us? She certainly is more than worthy of having four strong ET1s at her side.

“I had a partner once,” Pete says, almost in a whisper. "I wanted nothing more than to be with her."

As angry as I am at the man, seeing the look in his eyes instantly snaps me out of my rage.

“She was like a golden light that illuminated the world,” he says.

Was...

I lower my head. “I'm so sorry for your loss,” I say. I know it doesn't help at all, but what else can you say in these circumstances?

“Loss,” he says, spitting out the word and almost laughing at it. —'Loss' is not enough of a word for that.

I lift my head, and the two tall but skinny men flanking Pete are almost crying. Clearly, there's a lot of history with this group of renegades, but I don't really have time to delve into it. Everyone just goes silent for a moment, and I use this time to search my mind for the other ET1s.

I call them for several moments, but I don't feel their presence at all, so I try to contact Adam again at Gene's castle, but he doesn't answer either.

“How is it possible that we are out of range?” I ask out loud.

One of the skinny men looks down as if waiting for Pete to respond, but Pete is clearly somewhere else now, lost in his memories.

“You,” I say, nodding toward the skinny man. -What's your name?

“Eustace,” he says timidly.

“Eustace,” I say. —Where the hell are we? We were within range of the castle before, and now I can't contact anyone.

"Oh," says Eustace, "we're about a hundred miles away."

We all turn our heads towards him. -That?!

"Yes," he says. —We have a large territory.

“Good Goddess,” Kelly says, and I share her sentiment.

I look at her, then back at Eustace. "How did you bring us here?" I ask him.

His face lights up, like he has some secret weapon he's proud of. —In the van.

“So this is how you're going to get us out of here,” I say. I turn to Kelly. "If we stop by, we'll pick them up for a proper burial." I couldn't leave my men there in the forest alone.

"But..." says Eustace.

I look at him, completely losing patience again.

“The van is broken,” he says, shrugging.

“Oh, good Goddess,” Kelly says again. We're really on the same level on the irritation spectrum.

"What's wrong?" I ask.

"The axle is broken," he says.

—Do you have parts?

Think about this for a moment. -Yeah. “I think so,” she says.

“Show them to me,” I say, gesturing toward the door. I look at Kelly, and she gives me a nod of approval.

'I'm going to stay and talk to the girl more,' he says in the mental link. 'I need to find out what's going on here.'

'Okay,' I say. 'Just be careful'.

'Always says.

I motion for Brent and Sean to follow me, but instruct Trevor on the mental link to stay back with Kelly. I don't want to leave her alone with these people when we don't even know how many of them there are, or how crazy some of them might be here in this abandoned hotel.

I follow Eustace to where they keep the vehicle and hope to the Goddess that she really has the parts we need.

Kamila's beautiful smile appears in my mind as I walk, and I feel the knives cut into my heart again.

Nothing will stop me from reaching her.