Chapter 37: Kylie & Lew

KYLIE

Kylie was sick. She was sick in her heart, in her head, in her body. Her mother was unwell—maybe even dying, though the medical staff refused to give her a straight answer.

As for Lew… His name was Lew. She couldn’t get him off her mind. She didn’t even know the man! The ~alien~.

It made her feel angry, guilty, and disgusted with herself. All her thoughts should be focused on her mother—and yet it was almost impossible to tear herself away from him.

She would force herself over to her mother, only to find her way back to Lew only minutes later. What was she? A teenage bimbo?

Kylie looked around the room. The other women seemed much the same. None had left their alien “partners.”

Kylie frowned. What had been in those drinks? It had something to do with them—she knew it. So they ~were~ poisoned, after all. But why make her feel like this?

“Kylie,” came Lew’s tired grumble.

She looked over at Lew. He was awake again, his yellow eyes gleaming brilliantly. Instantly, Kylie felt the room brighten. Her dark thoughts vanished.

She couldn’t stop herself as she leaned over to kiss him on the mouth. She’d been doing it a lot lately. Every time he woke up. She couldn’t help it. It was like a reflex. What was happening to her?

“Kylie,” he repeated, licking his dry lips. “Stop thinking.”

“I can’t help it,” she said. She glanced over at her mother with a grimace.

Lew took her hand, smoothing his thumb over her knuckles. Kylie gave a shuddering sigh. She was beginning to understand what was going on. They were connected in some way—this alien and herself.

She’d known it the moment she could understand his words. The moment she could understand ~their~ language. It had been startling, amazing, and terrifying. It had been almost magical.

It wasn’t that she actually understood the language. It was as though she could feel the language, feel the words. Just like she could feel him. Feel him like another part of herself. Not by touch but by another sense she couldn’t begin to describe.

A sense that hurt. It ~really~ hurt. Every time he looked at her it was like a stab in her chest. She needed to be with him. She needed to be ~alone~ with him.

Somehow, in some way, she needed to bury herself deeper inside him. It was such a queer feeling—and it was ~all~ she could think about.

She looked over at her mother again.

He squeezed her hand. “Go over to her, if you like.”

She rose from her seat, then sat back down with a frown. “What’s the point? When you keep me stuck here? When I can hardly even move?”

She felt a flash of anger, quickly extinguished when she turned to meet his gaze. She bent over her lap with a grimace, clutching at her chest. It hurt to be angry at him. It hurt even more to feel his guilt.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered through gritted teeth. The tears rushed to her eyes, which she quickly wiped away.

“I wish things could be different,” he said.

He was staring up at the ceiling, his eyes shining. It was the most he’d spoken since waking up. Always falling asleep. It worried her. It worried Kylie that he might never wake up properly. The medics kept talking about potential “tissue damage.”

He lowered his gaze to hers. Already, she could tell he was struggling to keep his eyelids open. “I can’t believe we’re bonded.”

“Bonded?”

He closed his eyes. “Well, partially bonded.” He grabbed at his chest.

“What do you mean by bonded?”

But he’d already drifted off. Kylie watched him a moment before rejoining her mother.

She studied the alien next to her—“Halo,” as the aliens called him. He had a tube in his mouth. He was very sick, and while he was very sick, her mother would be too, apparently.

The medics had informed her that her mother could only recover when he had. Clearly, it had something to do with this “bonding.” Those drinks. Had the aliens done the same thing to her mother? Had they turned up the heat so she was forced to quench her thirst?

Kylie took her mother’s hand and pressed it to her cheek, glaring at one of the aliens as he walked past. How ~dare~ they?

Everything had been going so well back home. They were healthy and happy. They had a thriving business. Now, they were stuck here through no choice of their own. ~Men~. It seemed they were bad in any species.

Her mother’s hand was cold. Several electrodes were attached to her head. It felt like they were in some ridiculous alien experiment. Her mother’s eyelashes fanned her cheeks. She looked unusually young, restful, and peaceful.

“Please wake up, Mama. I’m waiting for you.”

At least the aliens were taking reasonable care of her, always hovering over her, making sure she had enough fluid and that she was warm. As they should!

Kylie started talking with her mother. About anything and everything. Frequently, she would look over at Lew—but she fought the urge to go back to him. He was fine. He would live. Her mother may not.

Kylie brushed her fingers through her mother’s hair. She pressed the back of her hand to her cheek as she continued to speak. Then she slid her hand into hers.

“At least they took us together,” Kylie finally said. “If they intend to keep us, at least I’ll get to be with my best friend. No matter how scary or dangerous things might become, at least you’ll be here with me.” Kylie kissed the back of her hand. “You just need to wake up.”

She stroked her mother’s cheek again before glancing back toward Lew. The urge to go to him was yanking at her chest. It was clawing at her hips. She was about to release her mother’s hand when she turned back with a start. Did she just feel her fingers twitch?

Kylie’s mouth dropped open. Her mother’s lips were pinched together. The lines around her eyes had deepened in a way that suggested she was fighting to open them.

“Mama?” she breathed.

“Mama!” Kylie leaned over, squeezing her mother’s hand. “Mama! Fight it! Wake up! Come back to me!”

There was a faint beeping noise coming from one of the monitors. She looked around, but there were none of those medics checking on her. It didn’t matter. Her mother wasn’t getting worse. She was getting better. She knew it!

Releasing her hand, Kylie grabbed onto her mother’s face. She smoothed her thumbs over her eyelids. “Open. Open them, Mama! I love you! I need you!”

Kylie’s heart leapt. Her mother’s lips were moving. Her eyelids kept fluttering.

Then she did something that made Kylie burst with excitement—she reached for Kylie’s hand. She heard a yell from behind her. Kylie instinctively knew it was Lew, doubtless feeling Kylie’s excitement.

She looked over as a loud, scary-sounding alarm went off above Halo’s head. Several of the “medics” ran over. They surrounded him.

Kylie tried to hear what they were saying. Then she turned back to her mother. Kylie gasped.

“Mama?”

Her gray eyes were cracked open and shining back at her. She gave Kylie a weak smile.

“Mama!” she screamed.

Heads turned. Another medic rushed over.

“She’s awake!” he cried.

Someone took Kylie’s arm and tried to pull her from the chair.

“Stop!” she cried. “She needs me! I’m the one who woke her! I’m the one who woke ~him~!”

They released her, and Kylie sat back down. “Mama, stay awake for me. Keep your eyes open.”

“Kylie,” her mother murmured.

Grasping her mother’s hand tightly, Kylie continued to speak.

LEW

Lew sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. He felt so awake. He could feel Kylie’s excitement bubbling away inside him, and it made it impossible for him to sleep.

He needed to get up. He needed to jump around the room—anything to expend the nervous energy pouring into his veins. He stood, only for his knees to bow weakly beneath him.

He hit the floor hard.

“Lew!” somebody cried.

Someone grabbed his shoulder, but Lew wrenched away. “Leave me!” he demanded.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he grabbed at the bed and pulled himself to his feet. This time, his knees held. He staggered across the floor, people moving out of his way as they watched him with wide eyes.

He was halfway across the room before he realized he was naked. Not that it mattered. Nothing mattered but Kylie. She was in the midst of all the commotion as the medical team fussed about—but she was safe.

He could feel her excitement growing and growing until it turned his stagger into a lurch, then into a hobbling walk. Somebody grabbed his arm again, but again he wrenched away.

“Kylie!” he cried in a powerful voice that echoed around the room.

More heads turned. They all made space for him as he approached her. She was sitting at the bedside of a gray-haired woman—the woman who had to be her mother. She was awake.

Kylie’s eyes were dark and wide as she stared up at him in amazement. He grabbed her shoulders, then leaned his chin upon her head as he wrapped his arms around her. For the first time since he’d woken, he felt strong.

All the medics’ talk of cellular degradation seemed so far away. The woman with the gray hair was staring up at him. Then she turned to look over at the Zibon next to her—Halo.

Lew struggled to see what was going on with the old Zibon, but there were people everywhere. He was sick, he knew, but the crowd didn’t seem panicked.

The head specialist was standing back—Miktar, if Lew remembered correctly—watching, looking calm and relieved. As he met Lew’s gaze, his eyebrows shot up. Lew felt Kylie stiffen as he came over.

“You’re up,” Miktar said.

“I am.”

“How is he?” croaked the older woman. She tried to sit up.

“Careful, Mama,” Kylie said.

“No, I need to see him.” She threw off the sheet and pulled herself to the edge of the bed, a little breathless, a little pale, but strong enough. She stood.

Miktar went over and grabbed onto her as she wobbled. “Careful,” he said.

“I need to go see him,” the woman gasped.

Kylie rushed over to help her. Miktar let them go.

“Is he going to be all right?” Lew said, watching them. He cleared the hoarseness out of his voice. “They’re bonded, right? Completely, I mean?”

He thought he could feel the power of their bond, though he needed to know for sure. If Halo died, then Kylie’s mother would likely die and Kylie would suffer—and then he would suffer.

“Yes, they’re bonded. He’s going to be fine,” Miktar said. “Very fine, in fact. He’s waking up.”

Relief swept through him, and Lew didn’t know whether it was his own feelings or Kylie’s. Her mother was at Halo’s side, weeping with happiness.

Lew tried to get closer, but a wave of dizziness made him take a seat on the bed.

“Careful,” Miktar said, grabbing his shoulder. “You shouldn’t even be up yet.”

“The Wrilings—what happened to them?”

“Dead. They’re all dead. We tried to keep them alive to study them.” He shook his head. “But the trauma of their forced detachment killed them.”

“How exactly? How did you detach them?” It had something to do with the Rictorians, clearly. Something to do with the bond.

“I’ll get someone to explain it to you. I have to stay with Halo.” He turned his attention back to the stricken Zibon.

Taking a deep breath, Lew gripped his knees. He couldn’t remember anything of his infiltration—just snippets of dreams and incomprehensible images.

He remembered the attack, though. He remembered how the animal had slung from the door and clasped onto his face. He touched his throat. Even now, he felt the pressure of it, like it wanted to suck out his lungs.

In those brief moments before he’d lost consciousness, he knew he was dead. And yet, here he was—and it was all because of Kylie.

His heart swelled as he watched her. Even as the fatigue began to settle once more upon his shoulders—so crushing that it hurt to keep his eyes open—he watched her: her gleaming hair, the pink in her cheeks.

He could feel her happiness. Her small, perfect hand was braced against her mother’s back. He touched his lips, remembering her kiss. She turned, her eyes shining—perhaps on her own, perhaps because she sensed his feelings.

His heart swelled to the point where he thought it was going to burst. She came over, her eyes pinned upon his. She leaned over, her hair falling over her shoulders as she kissed him.

Lew reached for her hip, drawing her close. He tried to reach up to wrap his other hand around the back of her neck, but he suddenly didn’t have the strength.

Kylie’s face wrinkled with concern. “Lew?”

Then he was falling backward, his head thumping against the mattress. He strained to keep his eyes open as Kylie hovered over him, but weariness seemed to cloak his head.

It pressed down hard upon his eyelids until he heard nothing and saw even less.