Amber
On Wednesday morning, we were up before the butt crack of dawn, preparing for the arrival of the Alaskan humans who worked for the Baelese. They used to call them the DRP—Disaster Relief Personnel—or Derps, as we named them. They were basically the sellouts who worked for the DRI to round up other humans. But they didn’t know they were aliens. At least, I’m pretty sure they didn’t know back then. Did they know now? Were they working for them because they were evil bastards, or because it was the only way to stay alive?
That’s what we would find out today. And we’d either have some new allies, or we’d have a fight on our hands.
I was finally feeling rested this morning, and had more energy than I’d had in a long while. My hands had healed over. Food and coffee probably had something to do with that. And a comfortable mattress with a sexy man keeping me warm. But in my exhaustion the past couple nights I hadn’t really had a chance to take full advantage of that yet, something I planned to remedy tonight. So, I was really hoping for peaceful proceedings today.
Everyone on base was armed and ready by sun up. We had people lying in wait outdoors, and people at every window facing the gate. The men and women who would be going out to greet them wore the uniforms of dead Baelese. So creepy. Carmen was one of them. She usually wore her chestnut hair back in a simple ponytail, but Shavontae and I had to curl it and dab on some makeup to make her look like one of them. It was bizarre seeing her all done up, but at least she didn’t have to fake the scowl.
I sat between Tex and Rylen with my medic bag at the ready. We watched as Top, New York Josh, Carmen, and several others approached the gate and waited. The next ten minutes felt like an eternity before three civilian vehicles rolled up slowly to the gate. My heart pounded and the tension in the room thickened. Ry and Tex both had their guns aimed through an opening in the window.
We watched as Top approached the first vehicle’s window. After the briefest chat ever, he waved the truck in, followed by an SUV and a sedan. All three parked and people began to file out. Like, literally file out and form a line facing our fake Baelese. I counted ten human men and three women. They looked weird. I’m not sure why. I kept staring, trying to figure out what felt so . . . off.
Top pointed to our building, and the thirteen humans turned as one and walked.
“Something ain’t right,” Tex said.
“Yeah,” Rylen agreed, and I nodded. I felt edgier now than I had before they arrived.
A minute later, Top came in our room and looked at me. “Tate. Come with me.”
I shared a confused look with the guys, and they followed as I went. We met the dentist, Captain Ward, in the hall, also appearing perplexed. We joined Top inside a larger room where the thirteen humans stood. A chill slipped up my spine as I took in the sight of their glazed expressions. Their limp arms. Almost like they were all in shock, yet still functional. What was wrong with them?
Top approached the first person, a bearded man. “What is your name?”
“My name is Bill Richards.”
“And what is your job, Bill Richards?”
“To collect outliers and bring them to you. We have found nobody since Sunday, sir. We have no new news to report.”
Everyone’s eyebrows went up, and I felt a wave of nausea.
“Oh, my God,” Captain Ward whispered. “They have it don’t they? The worm mechanism?” He pointed to his head.
All at once I remembered.
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Top answered. “But how the fuck do we get them out?”
I shook my head. What they were talking about was brain surgery. “I don’t think that’s something I can do, sir.”
Everyone looked at Captain Ward, who was staring at the humans with his brow furrowed. He lifted his arms up to rest on top of his head and blew out a deep breath.
“I’ll need to do some research and run some x-rays on them. But this is out of my area of expertise, so I make no promises.”
I could tell the thought of experimenting on any of these people frightened him. A necessary evil that could end in their deaths.
He looked at me now. “If I do this, I’ll need your help.”
Now it was my time to let out a deep breath. I looked at the people. If they’d been given the worm treatment, they must not have been completely willing to bow to the Baelese. Each of these people was trapped in a prison in their own mind, like having the Baelese voice in their ear all day. I shuddered at the thought. We didn’t know what we were doing, but we had to try. I would rather die than have that worm in my head.
“Okay,” said. “I’ll do whatever you need.”
