Endosymbiosis

40. Necrosis

Second circle of the Empire
Poison District

I climbed down from the rock, sliding slowly through the snow until I approached the black buildings on the outskirts of the camp. Some of the rebel soldiers followed me to the attack, while others carried the body of the pione I had hit to our trucks in the forest – one of those who would become our new soldiers.

I walked silently through the empty corridors between the buildings, almost thanking the snow for muting my steps. But I knew it would do the same for the Empire soldiers... And that, unlike me, they would shoot to kill.

I needed to be careful.

I scanned the corridors, completely empty, until a pione appeared from a corner right in front of me. He pulled out his gun, full of bullets craving my blood, but before he could pull the trigger, I fired first. And as he fell, he banged his head against the stone wall of the building, making a solid noise that I felt like a hammer inside my own head.

Other piones approached, intrigued by the sound, which had practically echoed from every corner of the camp. They immediately fired at me and one of the projectiles dug a hole in the wall beside my head, barely missing my skull and filling my legs with the rush to run. I fled through the buildings, but the piones followed close behind, shooting at my legs and spraying snow in my face with each mistake, while their screams attracted other enemies. My weapon wasn't enough to take all of them. My fingers fumbled with one of the pockets, but I managed to pull out a special sphere, pale as a plastic-enclosed snowball, and my only alternative. I hit a button and hurled it toward the piones, watching it explode into a dust bomb that engulfed all the enemies. And then they stopped firing.

I hid behind one of the trees on the outskirts of the camp in an attempt to catch my breath and watched that white river take the snowy streets, contaminating every pione that made the mistake of going to check what was going on. It looked like the fog that had immobilized Donecea and me in the Oasis... And then her face filled my mind, as she was actually far away safe in the iatric tents, hating me.

All I wanted was to go back and take her in my arms... But she would probably prefer to see me dead. I was an idiot. And pushing her away had definitely joined my list of reasons to hate myself – a list far longer than I was proud to admit.

I had reasons to stay away, as I had for so long, but this time it felt... Stupid. Painful... Because Donecea had embedded herself in my mind like a splinter I couldn't get out. Maybe I should surrender to her closeness without worrying about the future and the pain it would bring, just to relieve myself of the one I felt now... But maybe it was already too late.

When I heard a scream from Deinos, I snapped back to reality.

I stared at the camp but couldn't see anything but the fog, so I climbed a tree branch strong enough to support me until I was above the dust cloud. I could see Deinos' body on the roof of one of the buildings, fallen and pinned to the ground by the sting of a pione deeply embedded in his arms. The enemy's glowing venom migrated from the bulb to the espinero, navigating beneath his skin in scarlet-painted veins and awakening in Deinos roars that perhaps Donecea could hear from the iatric tents.

He was dying. But maybe I could save him.

I balanced on the branch and jumped onto the roof, catching the pione's attention with the sound of my feet hitting the rock. The enemy turned on me, plucked his stinger from Deinos' arm and hurled his bulb at me, barely missing my body as I rolled to the side with the fevino's reflexes. The pione came forward and aimed the tip of his stinger directly at my chest. I tried to hold on to it, but more and more the sharp glow approached, nearly ripping through my uniform, skin and muscle below, on its way to my heart.