Mantrin Imperial Guard - 002 Inner Demons

Chapter 6: Signs of Things to Come

"Help! Someone help me!" Voices. Voices in the dark. Her surroundings were vague, but her best guess was the middle of a forest. At night, for she couldn't see well and what little pale light there was came from above. The tall objects looked like the trunks of trees and as her legs carried her to the source of the voices that echoed all around her, her legs and arms were struck by branches and leaves as she ran. "Help me!"

"I'm coming!" she yelled back.

These survival challenges were difficult. They sometimes took place over the span of several days and the amount of tools they were allowed to take with them were limited. The beating of her hearts. Her controlled breathing. Her well-trained body and disciplined mind working together in unison to keep up the speed at which she moved, which was several steps per tick. She figured she moved in the right direction as the voices became louder and because of the echoes she became more and more convinced that it was only one person in distress.

"Moa, help me!"

How does that person know my name? Did he or she recognize the sound of my voice? The thinning roof of the forest and growing distance between the trunks allowed her to increase her speed even more. Her hoof-like feet were excellent for running, the moss-covered soil dampening the noise of her beating steps as she seemed to fly. Almost there.

"Moa!"

She was almost on top of the other survivalist when she came to a scraping halt as she spotted a Mantrin figure. Huddled against a tree she couldn't see him or her well, but the voice sounded female and familiar.

"I'm here," she said between two breaths. "Are you injured?"

The light of two moons brightened the face of the other person as she approached, giving her skin a gray tone. A black beak, like all members of her tribe. Long hair bond together in two tails. In a moment of shock she realized she was looking at herself.

"Help me, Moa!" the girl whimpered.

What the...

With a shout she jolted upward. The scene did not fade in front of her eyes until she had taken the time to focus on her real surroundings. And even then, it hung in the back of her mind, solidifying into a memory, until she came to the conclusion that it was. It was a memory. She had experienced these events before. But the victim had been a friend of hers. A member of her tribe.

Rubbing her stinging eyes with the palms of sweaty hands, the shock caused by the strange dream paled into insignificance when she began to realize where she was. White sheets. The smell of cleaning agents and medicine. The occasional beeps, chimes and whirring of equipment. If her shout hadn't woken those with enough strength left in their bodies up already, the soft groan that escaped her mouth let them know who to blame.

The three teens in the corridor trying to hack the airlock doors. The security team. The Rutani dropping the device in his hand. The explosion. The fall. It all came back slow and out of order. The throbbing pain in her head and the stinging in her ears she could link to these events. The tickling in her throat that soon made her cough and the sweat that soaked the sheets around her, she could not.

"It's all right, dear. Take a few deep breaths."

The voice of the person sitting upright in the bed on her left sounded warm and caring. A woman of her own kind. Sogowan race. Tilting her head, she looked straight into a pair of copper-colored eyes that held a twinkle despite the situation they were in.

"No, no I cannot be here. I cannot be here." She let herself fall back into her pillow, strangely appreciating how it felt cold and moist because of the way her skin seemed to glow with fever. Enforcing her will upon her aching muscles, she grabbed the sheets and tossed them aside, feeling her legs drip with sweat. Her hair was wet and sticky, and her tongue felt like a piece of leather inside her dry mouth. The subdermal IV line attached to her arm did nothing to remedy that. "How long have I been here?" she croaked, trying to suppress her cough.