We The Forlorn (Book #2) (Completed)

22. Alien

They landed in the dust fields a few miles from the outskirts of town in order to access Mi's secret tunnel. It was common sense not to try and enter the city the normal way while smuggling in an entire airship worth of girls. Adam had admitted he wasn't even sure they would make it in on their own, not with Clayton and the rest having surely radioed to the city militia that the Forlorn would be making their return soon.

So, Mi's tunnels were the only way they could enter without encountering a battle. They needed Mi, anyway, to organize escorts for all the girls as they returned home. Only a very small handful were actually from the city, with the rest being from random settlements and even nomad groups that were scattered far and wide across the dust fields.

"Mi's not gonna like you draining all his resources like this," Helga said. "You'll be taking away around twenty men and twice as many hoppers."

"I'd use Silver's ship if I didn't think the militia would be scouring the dust fields looking for him," Adam replied. He looked out over the bannister of the airship at where the Forlorn were helping to unload the girls and the injured Forlorn, and ready them for the long walk to Mi's base. The women were all still weak from being kept in cages, and the injured couldn't even stand. The Forlorn scurried around, trying to find anything that could be used to carry those too weak to move.

"We should go help them," Bo said, pushing away from the banister and heading for the ladder meant to give access to the top deck by bypassing the chaos of the underbelly of the ship.

Helga, Khan, Bo, and Adam approached the crowd of Forlorn and women from behind. Helga and Khan peeled off to help one of their own who cried in pain as their comrades tried to get him on his feet. Bo and Adam continued on, coming to where the majority of the rescued women huddled together. There were so many injured of both the women and the Forlorn, that Bo wondered if Mi really would be upset about the drain on his resources. His stores would be empty after this, and she knew how hard it was to obtain many of the medical supplies without groveling to the militia.

Bo leaned toward Adam. "Maybe we should just risk the airship," she said, low.

Adam shook his head, and gave a small smile. "It's fine. The whole reason we stockpile supplies is so that we can use them, right?"

"Right," Bo said, sighing and looking over at the airship as they finally unloaded the last of the women and injured, and the attention turned to letting everyone know where they were going and what to do.

A few feet away, one of the girls swayed on her feet and started to crumple. Bo took a step forward, but before she got far Adam had already launched forward to grasp the girl around her waist and support her. Her head lolled, but after a few seconds she blinked a few times and her legs took her weight again.

"Thank you," the girl rasped, rubbing her forehead. "I'm not used—" Her words stopped as her eyes met Adam's face. She stood frozen for a moment, but then shook violently and her skin blanched to a grayish pallor.

"What's the matter?" Adam asked.

The girl's mouth moved, but no sound came. It took her a few seconds before she could find her voice. "Alien," she gasped out. "Alien!" She repeated the word until it turned into a hysterical scream, and the girls around her all whipped around to stare in horror at Adam. The screams of alien swept through their ranks. Adam let go of the girl and backed up, his hands out in a plea of peace, but it did no good. Weak as they were, they scrambled away on feet or hands and knees.

Bo stared at the sudden panic that swept through the crowd. She had become so used to the slight blue tinge under Adam's skin, that she had practically forgotten that it might be seen as odd by some others. His long canines were mostly hidden and his long blonde hair did much to disguise him as fully human. Yet, here these girls leapt away from him with screams and fear in their eyes.