Pet: Genesis Chapter 29 (Patreon)

Night has fallen over the land. The moon is full in the sky casting a beam of light over the mountainside. Without a cloud in sight, everything is illuminated beautifully for me to see.

I suck in a deep breath pulling my knees to my chest. There’s a weight falling over me. I can feel myself beginning to check out mentally. It doesn’t feel worth it. Nothing feels worth it anymore. I silently pull the locket up to look at my family. I don’t have the tears any longer to cry over what has become of them. Nor do I have the strength to fight. I am utterly spent.

My brother belongs to the rebellion, and my parents are dead. I am nothing more than an orphan, taken in by an extraterrestrial being for his pure amusement. And once his amusement with me ends, my life will be forfeit.

I hear the door to the yard opening but I don’t bother to see who it is. I know it’s Remus. He doesn’t speak as he makes his way to where I am seated. He silently takes a seat next to me looking up at the stars.

“I assume negotiations went awry?” he says gently. I silently drop my locket looking out over the mountainside.

“Yes. But you already knew that,” I say bitterly.

Remus laughs softly and I can feel his gaze on me.

“Why do you think I would know that?” he asks. I shrug.

“Jude was in the room. Can’t you just spy through his inhibitor?” I ask sarcastically.

Remus laughs again and despite my hatred towards him, the sound is nice.

“That isn’t how inhibitors work.”

He gently places his hand under mine lifting it to his lips and I find myself following the motion until I am looking into his vibrant gaze.

“Inhibitors are used for control. I can’t see into your mind and read your thoughts. While that would be convenient, the genetic makeup of a human is much too complex to be able to hear something that isn’t manifested audibly. I can only physically control you and give commands on what to do.”

“Then how was Margot talking to me all those times?” I ask in confusion.

“If I give the command to serve, and the host is required to speak to fulfill that command, then they shall do so.”

I pull my hand out of his grasp finding it in my heart to speak.

“Are you going to put him under an inhibitor?” I ask. Remus studies me and I immediately notice the lack of emotion on his features.

“Usually in this case, I would have tortured and killed him by now. But it would seem that I am once again at odds with my irrational attachments.” I blink in confusion at his use of the word “irrational”, but I don’t ask him to elaborate.

He suddenly looks away from me, his eyes sweeping over the area. A soft smile forms on his lips before he turns his attention back to me.

“What would you rather me do? Not torture him and continue to look for my brother and the resistance’s whereabouts?” he asks.

“I would rather you just leave our planet and let us have our freedom,” I say softly. Remus laughs but doesn’t respond, which is strangely out of character for him. I look at him and he’s still focused on the area around us.

“Why do you want our planet so badly? Why not just kill the people if our resources are what you’re after and be on your way? You can clearly do it,” I say.

Remus finally looks away from the landscape, his eyes focusing on me. Gone is his amusement replaced with an expression I can’t quite read.

“Do you truly think you are ready for that answer?” he asks. My eyes widen slightly. He’s being serious. He doesn’t think that I can handle the answer he’s willing to give.

“I-”

“You’re not ready for that answer, Iris.”

He leans in close to me, grasping my chin between his fingers as he eyes me.

“The day you find out the plans for humanity will be the day you truly will loathe me.” His bright gaze searches mine, “And I don’t think that I am quite ready to enter that stage of our time together,” he says with a smile.

His gaze shifts slightly above mine and I don’t have the time to register what’s happening. A loud train-like sound rushes my ears just as Remus moves at inhuman speed in front of me holding his hand out.

My eyes widen as what looks like a small missile comes barreling right at us, but it never reaches. It collides with Remus’s palm, a raging inferno blasting around us in a ball as he protects us from the recoil. The mountainside and the house, however, are damaged.

Remus pulls me up, his eyes frantically inspecting me.

“Are you hurt?” he asks. I shake my head, unable to find words to respond. He helps me around the molten ground and flames, pushing me towards the burning beams that were once the living room.

“They’re attacking. Let’s go.”

I eye Remus in confusion as he pulls me inside the house.

“Wait, what about Cypress?” I shout. Remus continues to pull me along the familiar halls and I immediately notice that it’s completely empty. No slaves, no servants.

“The rebels are here to kill him. This is not my fight,” he says nonchalantly. I pull my arm out of his grasp eyeing him.

“What? You want me to leave him to die?” I ask. Remus looks at me like I’m the crazy one.

“He was expecting this, Iris. Who am I to-”

He cuts off, pushing me out of the way as a spray of bullets hit the walls. He steps around me, deflecting all of them before pulling me along.

“Remus! Please!” I screech. He stops, turning to face and I can see in his expression he isn’t worried. He seems irritated. Like this is an inconvenience to him. His head perks up as if he senses something, and he turns around just in time to see a missile head shooting towards us. He shoves me backward and puts his hand out.

The missile explodes against his palm on impact, a raging inferno catching fire to all of the house surrounding us. None of the flames touch Remus, and he seems to be looking beyond the bomb for something. His eyes narrow, and I notice a ghost of a smile on his face.

“Fucking traitor.”

He looks back at me warring with himself on a decision and finally relents.

“Fine. This has suddenly become my fight. Go get your brother, Jude will meet you and take you to the ship.”

He doesn’t say another word as he makes his way towards the raging inferno, disappearing within the flames. I immediately take off towards the part of the house that hasn’t been destroyed yet. The smoke is beginning to fill the halls just as the fire starts to take hold of more material.

My legs are burning as I sprint through the halls, making my way to where Cypress is being held. Jude is already waiting in front of the door for me and I throw open the door to see Cypress still in the same place, his body rigid as he takes me in.

“They’ve come for both of us,” he says with a smile. I ignore his words making my way to where he is. I let out a cry of frustration when I realize I have no idea how to loosen his shackles.

Jude silently moves to a panel near the wall, placing his hand over it to release Cypress’s shackles.

“What are you doing?” he asks.

“Saving you! We have to go, we can’t stay here!” I shout. I make my way to the door just as another explosion sounds outside, rocking the foundation of this place.

I reach the door realizing Cypress isn’t following.

“What are you doing?” I ask. He shakes his head looking around.

“I can’t go with you. If I go, the rebels are as good as dead. This is their contingency plan. They’re here to make sure I don’t leak information.”

I glare at him in confusion.

“Cypress, do you hear yourself?” I ask in confusion stepping closer to him.

“I’m not leaving you here to die!” I shout. Suddenly, the room itself explodes, and I cry out as my body is thrown back by the force of the blast. My body lands in a pile of rubble, and I cry out in pain from the impact. I can’t stop coughing from the smoke and debris I’ve inhaled. My eyes are burning from the heat and flames and I find it harder to breathe with each passing second.

“Cypress!” I scream as another explosion sounds. The creaking of the roof collapsing around me drowns out my voice and suddenly the heat feels much worse as more piles of burning wood surround me.

I look around the room for Cypress or Jude, but I see nothing and no one. Only smoke.

The sound of my name faintly penetrates my haze of consciousness.

“Cypress?” I call out.

I slowly move, pushing debris out of my way as I try and rise from my place in the rubble, but the heat and flames are too much. Another tremor shakes the ground around me and I look up just in time to see what remains of the solid beams breaking apart and falling.

Everything seems to move in slow motion, and I can’t move fast enough to dodge. Nor is Remus here to save me. I cry out as everything collapses on top of me. My body is immediately crushed, and I feel pain. Unimaginable pain. The boards that aren’t intact completely are on fire and are burning into my flesh and my bones beneath are broken.

I scream in agony. Even my voice is crushed. I can feel the prickling sensation as the fire burns through my flesh, and I wish more than anything that I could die now. Anything to escape this pain.

I feel the boards slowly being lifted from my body, but it’s not enough. It’s not moving fast enough. With every passing second, more and more of my body catches fire underneath the heated boards. I can’t decipher pain from anything else, not even common knowledge.

“Iris, listen to me.” I can hear Remus’ voice. It’s strangely soothing, but I can’t bring myself to decipher what it is he’s saying to me.

“Cypress…,” I say his name over and over again, hoping that he’s ok. He’s all I have. I feel myself coming in and out of consciousness, the pain forcing my mind to blackout. The sound of more explosions and warbled noises sounds around me, and as I open my eyes to see, the world is blurred. I can’t focus on anything.

“Stay with me, Iris.”

I know that voice. It’s the voice that I adore. I always find myself leaving unconsciousness to follow it.

“That’s it, come back to me…”

There’s a hint of panic to it though. I cry out, screaming in agony as another wave of pain washes over me.

“Please please please!” I scream. I don’t know who I’m begging, but I hope that anyone hears me.

I vaguely register Remus shouting something in his language, and I can’t understand it. I feel hands on my face, pushing my hair away and lightly tapping my cheek, but I can’t find it in me to focus. I feel… faint.

Remus’s shouting becomes frantic and aggravated and I feel sharp prickles of pain washing over me until I finally feel fingers pressing against my temple, and darkness overcomes me.