I'm Awake

Elliot

Reece, Mark, and I are running full speed toward the front lines with Kane's army when Trevor's voice echoes through my mind.

'ET1s?' ask. Apparently, he is trying to communicate with some or all of us.

We all respond, and I can tell that we are all praying for the same thing: that he has found Kamila and that she is safe.

'It's gone,' Trevor says instead.

'What's gone?' I ask without stopping my step.

'Kane's shop,' he replies, and my heart sinks. 'He was here an hour ago, and now he's gone. I think they distracted us with the fight so they could leave.'

None of us respond, increasing our speed as we approach the battlefield. Trevor doesn't try to contact us again; He certainly knows what state of mind we are all in. I can feel the other ET1s falling into despair over Kamila, though they remain firm on the outside. I myself am struggling to overcome the pain.

Finally, we reach the battle area and see that there does, in fact, appear to be a change in the tide. It's not that our armies are winning, although there are plenty of enemy casualties everywhere; but there just seems to be... fewer ET´s fighting.

'I imagine Kane is slowly retiring,' says Reece. 'Now he has the definitive advantage.'

With that, my blood boils and I launch myself towards the nearest enemy ET, who has one of our boys on the ground. The soldier looks up just as I lunge at him, tearing his carotid artery and launching him into a pile of dead ET´s with my mouth. The other ET1s join the fray, and together we eliminate every enemy ET in the area.

We stop and as...ess the situation; we are on a large hill of trampled gras... slightly elevated from the rest of the field, giving us a clear view of the rolling hills that make up the battlefield. The fighting is still intense closer to us, but the further I look, I see the rear of Kane's army retreating. These soldiers closest to us are simply all the poor souls who are being sacrificed so that Kane and his strongest warriors can escape.

With Kamila.

Little by little, the hills become saturated with blood and the din of battle subsides as all the experienced changelings Kane has put on the battlefield become exhausted and succumb to death. Reece and Mark run towards me, and we all transform; The attendants run forward distributing a pair of pants to each of us, making the gesture of respect before turning and running towards the next changelings who are returning to human form.

'He's gone,' says Reece in a somber voice.

Mark and I nodded. 'Most likely he took her to her castle,' I say. 'And that is an impregnable fortress, but we will find a way in.'

'What if she is...?' Reece starts to say.

'He'll need her alive,' Mark says quickly before Reece can finish that horrible sentence. 'She and the cubs are... valuable.'

Each one takes a deep breath.

'We'll have to come up with a strategy,' I say. 'As much as she wants to run straight forward and not stop until she's ripped the damn head off of Kane and anyone else who touched Kamila, she wouldn't want that from us. She would want us all to survive this.'

'Then let's regroup,' says Reece.

'I have an idea,' I say. 'We have to go back to Gene's castle.'

'Back to...' Mark starts, but Trevor runs from behind.

'I have a team as...essing our wounded,' Trevor says quickly. 'I can gather some of our greatest warriors and we will be proud to follow them, ET1s.'

I shake my head. 'We're not leaving yet,' I say, and Trevor looks surprised. 'It's suicide to go there suddenly. We will never make it past the outer walls of the city, much less the castle gates. We need to find another way in, so we'll regroup back at Gene's castle.

He nods. 'I'll take care of everything here,' she says. 'Where's Cora?'

'He escaped,' says Reece. 'We were busy with some renegades, and she ran away.'

'Shit,' Trevor says. 'I can't believe I trusted her. I've worked alongside her for months.'

'It's not your fault,' I say. 'And we have more important things to worry about.'

“Okay,” he says, making a gesture of respect. “I will report on the troops when I have more information.”

He leaves, and we change, quickly running back to the castle where we can better plan our plans. I have an idea about some papers I saw in the library that could help us get into Kane's castle, and I share my idea with the other ET1s as we run.

I don't even feel exhausted despite having been running almost non-stop since I found out about Kamila. The ache in my chest from worry for her and our babies radiates to my stomach, but I have no choice but to ignore it, or we'll never get her back. I know the other ET1s are on the same page as me once again. She is our top priority.

I just pray we're not too late.

* * *

*Kamila*

Purples, blues... I see strange colors everywhere in my head. I can't even describe how sick I feel. I'm so dazed I haven't been able to open my eyes in... well, I have no idea how long I've been dragged around, all while my head is poun..... and my stomach feels like I've eaten a seven-course meal. ...one that has rotten eggs on every plate.

It doesn't seem like it has much body either. That doesn't make sense, but I don't have anything I can muster the will to move, other than a finger or two. Slowly, I feel something like pins and needles in both hands.

The first thing I do is touch my belly. I'm relieved to feel it still swollen with the bodies of my precious babies...although they're not moving right now either. Whatever is happening to us, I silently pray to the Moon Goddess that she has protected you from harm.

I hear many voices, but none of them make sense right now. My brain is awake enough at this point to recognize that I've been drugged and I have anguished concern for my babies, but nothing else is really processing yet. It's like the world is a big ball of fluff, and I'm stuck in the center of it.

And I don't like this feeling.

I wake up slowly in a strange way, working from my inner world outward. I know myself, I know my babies, then the next thoughts that come to my mind are about my babies' parents. Oh, how they must be worried about me! Wherever it is, I hope they don't just walk in and kill themselves. I don't know how I could live without any of them.

As my world becomes clearer, I keep my eyes closed because the voices are so close, and I have enough sense to know that I would rather they believe I'm still unconscious so they don't give me more drugs. Who knows what they gave me, or if the dose has harmed the babies?

“The dog is still unconscious,” one man says, then laughs.

“She's pretty fat,” says another.

“You're a fuc... idiot,” a woman says hoarsely, sounding a little closer to me. She “she is pregnant with babies. Four, to be exact.”

“How the hell was I supposed to know that?” the second man asks.

“It must hurt to be a fuc... idiot,” the woman says.

The voices keep arguing, and I try to ignore them because they are really horrible people saying horrible things about me. I still can't move, so I decide the best thing I can do right now is relax—for the babies' sake—and get into my mind.

I think of my ET1s... Tristan, Reece, Mark and Eli... Eli! He was missing; I remember it now. I wonder if the same people have kidnapped him. Could he be close, I wonder? I decide to use the mental link and try to communicate with him, but I cannot sense his presence or that of any of the other ET1s. Something is not right.

I remember Eli coming to me recently, while I was with... a unicorn? Everything seems so strange. My mind must still be clouded by the drug, which must be why I can't use the mental link.

I'm sure all my ET1s are fine. They have to be!

My body is starting to recover a little more, and now I can feel all my body parts. I panic for what must have been several minutes when I feel nothing inside my belly... but soon, that familiar feeling of my little ones comes back to me. Thank the Goddess, I think, although I can't really tell how many babies are there moving around. If there is one of them, then they must all be fine. That's what I have to continue believing.

My head is still poun....., but my stomach is starting to feel a little less nauseating, and I'm grateful for that, too. Feeling a little more like myself now, I try the mental link again, but still can't get through to anyone. Is it possible that a mental link has been broken?

A loud noise echoes through the room; It's the sound of a metal chair scraping against a hard floor.

“The bit... is awake,” the first man says.