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  His neck stump became a fountain of blood. A reptilian-shaped head pushed through the ragged hole and opened its gluey eyes. It looked around at its new home and snapped its jaws angrily. It’s a wraith, I thought. A young one.

  The wraith hissed as it tore itself from Sorenson’s body and let it slide away. What remained of the former horseman now lay on the ground like a blood sodden overcoat. The wraith bent its head and devoured its shed skin. At this point I was frozen by a mixture of fear and fascination, like the first time I’d seen rotters.

  I noticed Junior Garrett had flung himself out of the cart and was squirming across the ground to get away. His frantic cries were muffled by the gag tearing into his mouth.

  I shot at the wraith and missed. It hissed and lurched toward me. The thing was growing fast and approaching ten feet or more in length. Its head had already begun to develop a skull vaguely human in shape. The creature’s body, on the other hand, remained snake-like and wouldn’t be growing legs for at least a year. It would take many years more before it learned to disguise itself around humans. Most wraiths were found out and executed way before then.

  I stumbled backwards as the beast stalked after me. It swung its head close to my face and sucked at the air. I could feel each inhale the beast made pull at my skin. Its breath was so putrid it caused bile to creep up my throat. Unless I did something soon, I was going to end up being the wraith’s next meal.

  I stopped trying to back away and stood my ground. My hand was trembling so badly that I had trouble keeping the gun steady. I took aim the best I could and fired.

  The wraith screamed and recoiled. Bleeding, it slithered away from me. I shot again but wasn’t sure if I’d hit it. The creature kept moving away. Finally, the desert swallowed it and I saw the wraith no more.

  I heard the thud of approaching hooves. When I turned around Sorenson’s horse was standing behind me. It bared its sharp teeth and I was certain it was about to attack. I backed away. Having sensed my fear, the horse closed its mouth and nuzzled its chin against my shoulder. I could swear it was purring like a cat.

  I watched the strange animal while catching my breath. When I climbed up into its saddle, I expected to be thrown into a cactus. But the man eater remained calm. The horse and I retrieved Junior Garrett before heading back to the others. I became filled with dread at what I might find.

  Chapter 17

  Planting rotters around the ship was a clever idea. I wondered how they discovered that the dead would lie and wait like guard dogs beneath the sand. Did lack of sensory input keep them in a kind of stasis? Had Sorenson’s shouting stirred them into action?

  As we rode closer, I noticed we’d lost many more of our group. Sprawled before us were the headless bodies of rotters, as well as those who’d been bitten and given an early farewell. I didn’t like the practice of killing the infected while they were still mostly human. But I also wasn’t keen on having a rotter try to bite my arm off. What used to be black and white was now smudged beyond recognition. Shit will change you like that.

  Patch ran up to meet us. He saw the Garrett boy slumped against my back and smiled.

  “Did you kill the bastard?”

  I shook my head. “He’s still out there. But I doubt if he’ll be bothering us any time soon. Where’s Jade and Ramos?”

  “Inside the ship.”

  Patch helped me wake up Junior Garrett and get him down from the horse. When he spotted my bandaged stump his head snapped back in shock.

  “What the hell Brand? Sorenson do that?”

  I finished retightening the bandage with my teeth. The pain had worked up my arm and into the back of my skull.

  “I didn’t give him the satisfaction,” I said.

  Patch’s eyes poked from their sockets. “You mean you beat him to it?”

  I nodded. “Less messy as well... Can you do me a favor? I need you to hang on to Junior here for a bit. I’ll call you when I need him.”

  I turned and walked toward the ship. I could hear the voices of my friends talking. When I passed inside I was surprised to see a crew member bandaging Ramos’s head while he soldered wires in an open control counsel.

  “Hi,” I said. Before anyone noticed, I hid my severed wrist behind my back. The pain had suddenly spiked. I worried it would trip me up any second if I didn’t section it off in my mind. I shoved it into another room and shut the door. But it wasn’t long before the pain began clawing from the other side.

  A tall, long-faced man looked up at me and smiled. “Welcome aboard, Captain Brand.”

  “Who the hell are you?” I asked.

  “I’m the nurse on this ship,” he stated. “You can call me Abe.”

  “You’re also not human.”

  The nurse laughed. “That’s open to debate, isn’t it? If humans created me, then what does that make me?”

  “I’ve never heard your kind bother with those questions before.”

  Abe smiled. ‘You’re right. My creator’s interest in philosophy got slipped into my programming. I guess she thought it would help with my bedside manner.”

  “And you’re here, why?”

  “I was dispatched to Lazarus with the President’s son and a full crew to investigate resource extraction possibilities. They left me here to watch after the ship while they were gone. But thanks to the deadly virus sweeping across this planet, I’m afraid the mission has turned into a monumental failure.”

  “No kidding,” I said.

  I was never comfortable with a being that wasn’t made of flesh and blood. Many of the guards back in prison were also artificial. At first, I thought I wouldn’t have much to worry about. They’re just chips and circuitry put in a human-looking package, I’d tried to remind myself. Except you forget they’re learning more about you every day. Better than you even know yourself, in fact. And they can be programmed to use that information against you in the cruelest ways imaginable.

  “Come on,” Ramos said. This one’s harmless.”

  I noticed the nurse was checking Jade’s head. The terrible wound where the horse had ripped her scalp had virtually disappeared.

  “What happened to the others?” I asked. “Did you kill them?”

  “Jesus Brand,” Ramos shouted. “What’s wrong with you? He’s a nurse, not a mercenary.”

  I glanced over at Jade and saw she was trying not to smile. I started feeling foolish about being so edgy and untrusting. It had to be the blood loss and sheer exhaustion doing the talking.

  “I hope you’re right,” I said. I guess I ought to give Abe a chance to prove himself. I turned to Ramos. “Is this ship capable of travel?”

  “She’ll need some tender loving first...but I think we can get her off this hot turd in one piece.”

  “Show them your arm,” Patch said loudly in front of the others. They turned and stared at me. Fearing the worst.

  I looked them each in the eye. “Forget about it. There’s no time to waste on me. We need to get off this planet before someone tries to stop us.”

  “Let Garrett in!” I called.

  As I watched the boy walk unsteadily through the blazing doorway, I was hit by a wave of dizziness. Every sound in the room had become magnified. Pulsing thuds from inside the walls made my skull buzz. Abe rushed toward me and pulled my arm away from my back.

  The bandage covering my wrist was soaked with blood. In the time I’d spent talking, a plate-sized puddle had formed on the floor behind me. It was no wonder I was beginning to hallucinate. Everything was going numb. The nurse stared at my wrist, frowning.

  “Were you bitten by an infected?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “How long ago did you amputate?”

  “A couple of hours maybe. I’m not sure I remember...”

  Abe turned to Patch. “Did he save the hand?”

  “He’s got it with him.”

  Chapter 18

  The house was on fire.

  It was the middle of the night and thick with t
hundercloud. Flames licked at the roof where a torch had been thrown. Two Federation soldiers stalked around the outside with rifles, waiting for my terrified kin to try and escape. I could hear the killers laughing with excitement, anxious to shed blood or do whatever else came to mind.

  They were too focused to notice me approach them with my knife held at my side. Shooting them was not an option. There were others not far away who’d hear the gunfire and come running.

  The first one was easy. I slit his throat and dragged him off into the dark before his partner rounded the house and spotted me. The roar of the fire had kept the soldier from hearing his comrade’s scream before it was cut off.

  I stayed back in the shadows and waited to strike the remaining killer. He came around the house and stopped where I’d cut the other soldier. He bent down and stared at the splash of blood reflecting from the ground.

  When he reached for his radio, I didn’t react quickly enough. I swung my knife at him and he ducked. His fist flew out and connected with my jaw. I hit the ground and my knife flew out of my hand. I stretched my arm to reach for it but it was too far away.

  The soldier slammed the butt of his rifle down on my head and I saw a smattering of stars. For a few seconds, I drifted somewhere far away. I opened my eyes and saw the soldier’s face above me, a twisted mask of fury. The house exploded and we were showered with splinters of burning wood.

  The heavy rifle butt slammed toward me again. I rolled my head away from the blow and felt the thud as it struck sand. Leaning over, the soldier loomed above me, cursing incoherently. I grabbed a glowing splinter of wood and ignored the pain as it burned into my palm. I thrust the smoking blade up into the exposed belly of my attacker. It hissed as it passed through his belly and pierced his guts.

  The soldier thrashed above me. He tried to grab hold of the stake but I knocked his hand away. I pulled myself out from under him and let him fall all the way onto it. A red geyser jumped from where the glowing point ripped through the back of his shirt. A curl of blood smoke and steam rose into the air.

  The man’s body was still twitching when I got up and ran through the burning doorway. Somewhere beyond an impassable wall of flame I could hear the agonized screams of my brother and sister calling my name...

  “They’re still alive,” I heard Cutter’s voice say again.

  I woke up shaking. I was back inside the ship.

  Junior Garrett gazed down at me, grinning. “Welcome back, Brand.”

  “Someone else welcomed me back me not long ago. I’m still waiting to show him my thanks.”

  “Who?” Junior asked.

  “My old warden.”

  The boy lowered his eyes.

  I tried lifting myself up but my body felt as if it was filled with wet sand. I fell back, bathed in a cold sweat. Laughing to myself.

  “Take it easy,” Garrett said. He touched my forehead with a cool sponge.

  “Where are we?”

  “Close to the Federation colony. Ramos says we’ll be docking in three hours.”

  “How long have I been out?”

  “A couple days maybe. You missed all the fun earlier. Take off was a rough go.”

  “Have you made contact with your father?”

  Junior shook his head. “All comms with the Federation are down. Jade has been trying to hail them for days.”

  Garrett ordered the monitor across the room to show us the view from the cockpit. I saw the colony floating before the backdrop of fathomless dark. It was helix-shaped and looked like a string of dirty pearls falling through space.

  It was hard to look upon my old prison without feeling my anxiety rise. All those years spent stored inside that giant hive of greed and corruption. Unconscious and available to replace a stranger’s hands, lungs or face with my own should he be in need of one. Would I have been able to feel again through a stranger’s fingertips, or would I have remained in oblivion?

  “Is there something wrong?” Garrett asked.

  “Turn it off.”

  The boy gave the command and the screen went black. He sat down on a chair next to my bed so our heads were almost level. I saw nervousness pacing behind his eyes.

  “I don’t blame you for not liking us,” the boy said. “It took a lot of guts for you to keep searching for me. I want to thank you for that.”

  “We didn’t have much of a choice,” I said.

  “But you still could’ve gone for broke as soon as you were sent back to Lazarus. Run off into a world you know a lot more about. A lot more than anyone in the Federation for sure.”

  I raised my hand and stared at the thin white scar circling my wrist. It was nearly impossible to tell it had been amputated by a knife. The older scars on my palm were still there. From the time when I’d picked up the burning stake and killed the soldier. The raised flesh resembled melted plastic. A painful reminder of my failure to save my brother and sister.

  “How are you?” Abe asked.

  I closed my hand. “Not bad. Thanks for the reattachment by the way.”

  Abe smiled. “We were lucky given what we had to work with. I thought the odds were slim but the equipment here is top notch.”

  “I’m sorry for the way I acted toward you earlier,” I said. “There was no reason for it.”

  Abe waved his hand. “No apology necessary. You had every right not to trust me. But I assure you my programming conforms with the Hippocratic Oath. With my higher empathy settings, it would be impossible for me to work prison detail.”

  “You’re awake,” Jade said sliding next to Abe. She took my hand and gazed at the thin scar with fascination. “I had my doubts, but this is some fine work.”

  “Thanks,” Abe said, beaming.

  “How is everything going up front?” I asked.

  Junior Garrett glanced at me. Looked worried that he might have talked too much earlier.

  “Take off was scary, but Ramos has a short learning curve,” Jade said. The comms are down and I can’t figure out why.”

  “Garrett told me. They must know who we are. If they’d wanted to attack us, they would have already. An outer guard fleet would have been detached to make a fly-by at least.”

  “You’re probably right,” Jade agreed. “But the fact they didn’t come at all has me concerned.”

  “Then maybe they’ve determined who we are by some other means,” I offered. “They’re obviously not expecting us to be a threat.”

  “Or you’re still loopy from surgery and it’s a trap.”

  “Haven’t felt better,” I corrected her. But inside I knew it was a lie. I’d never been this scared in my life. I couldn’t believe we were on the cusp of completing our mission. It was a wonder we’d survived this far.

  Jade looked at me from the corner of her eye. She wasn’t buying my attempt to look confident.

  “I’m going to check the comms again. And make sure Ramos hasn’t found any tequila stashed on this hopper.”

  ****

  “Still no luck with communications,” Jade said when she returned fifteen minutes later. “I don’t understand what’s happened. I even did a close visual check with the hopper’s telescope.”

  “And there was nothing odd?”

  Jade shook her head. “Other than zero flight traffic, the colony helix seems normal. I saw no signs they’d sustained an attack of any kind, no evidence of a fire. And yet it I couldn’t shake the feeling there was something wrong.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “I saw no evidence of human life. Every bio dome I checked with the scope -- from the farming sectors to the recreational areas -- appeared vacant. Usually you can spot somebody in there.”

  “Where could they be?”

  Jade shrugged. “Maybe they had to move to another place on the helix. Could be some contagion on board they’re trying to quarantine until they can take action.”

  “Or maybe they have a rotter problem,” I said.

  Jade couldn’t hide her shock. “What t
he hell Brand? How?”

  “Trevor said there was a ten-day incubation period before the rotter bug goes full blown.”

  “What does this have to do with the helix now?”

  “There were people who left Lazarus before the outbreak hit. They could have carried the rotter bug with them. Some might have stopped in at the helix to visit the robot brothels or had other business.”

  “So why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?” Jade fumed.

  “I didn’t want anyone to get spooked before we gave back the boy. If I’d told you the helix might be compromised, I doubt if any of you would have come this far.”

  “That’s a lame excuse, Brand. You know better.”

  The screen behind her flickered on. Ramos sat in the cockpit, arms crossed. It was their time to put me on the hot seat.

  “What’s this you’re talking about?” The big man asked. His face was mostly in shadow, but his eyes picked up the blue lights from cockpit panels.

  I sighed heavily. “Come on you two. It’s just a theory. And you know my theories end up being complete train wrecks most of the time.”

  I waited. No one tried to argue with me.

  And I called them my friends.

  Chapter 19

  Unless you were high up in the Federation, you had to dock near the prison. It’s where the security force inspects you before they’ll let you in. There are two big airlocks at the end of a great chamber. The right passage leads to the prison. The left gets you into the Federation.

  “Ready for me to open up?” Ramos asked.

  We nodded. Our weapons were raised and ready to blow away anything planning to rush our ship.

  Ramos hit a final switch and air hissed around the edges of the retreating door. The room outside was frigid and dark. We flicked on headlamps before stepping outside. Jade warned us our clothes weren’t going to keep us warm for very long. Unless we found a source of heat inside, we’d have to return to the shuttle within an hour or risk hypothermia.

  It didn’t concern me. I was enjoying the cold of space. It beat the punishing heat of Lazarus. In fact, the deep chill embraced me like an old friend. All those years in deep freeze have changed you, I thought.