Fletcher dashed away from the airplane and flung open the door to the bunker. George was such a gentle guy, which meant he was probably too nervous to leave the only home he’d ever known. But he had to find him. His mom would lose her mind if she discovered the sensitive [Insectoid] had hung around.

  He took the steps down as fast as he could. At least he didn’t have too big of an area to search since George never left the bottom floor unless absolutely necessary. To get the extra speed, Fletcher turned on [Frenzy] as he reached the final stairs and burst from the stairwell.

  [Activating; Frenzy]

  He didn’t run into anyone from his mom’s team, but that was for the best. He didn’t want to try explaining George and his interesting habits to someone who would definitely not understand.

  “George!” he shouted. “George, where are you?”

  A shadow appeared around the corner, but it was no [Insectoid]

  Fletcher swore as he found an unlocked door and stepped into the storage closet.

  Heavy footsteps came down the hallway.

  “I heard you, jemkl’wp scum. Don’t go hiding now,” the female Unhuman purred.

  Unhumans… in the base. Again. But where was his mother? What was going on? Deities, the plane needed to leave, and it needed to leave soon.

  Fletcher’s mind whirled with questions and concerns, especially for George as he waited for the steps to pass. Only they didn’t pass. They stopped right outside the room he was in.

  Bad news, once again.

  Glancing around, Fletcher caught sight of a metal pipe. That was the best he was going to get. Taking hold of it, he positioned himself to the side of the door, just as the doorknob turned.

  The Unhuman—a [Bloodhound]—stepped inside as the door swung open, and Fletcher brought the pipe down hard on her head.

  She wailed, holding her head, as Fletcher grabbed her gun and ripped it from her hands. He shot her in the head, wanting to be sure of killing her given she probably had [Frenzy], and according to Jeric, headshots were the single best way to battle that.

  “George!” he called out again, keeping the gun at the ready as he dashed into the hallway. Where was that [Insectoid]? They needed to get out of here.

  Even with his diminished hearing, Fletcher picked up on the sound of shouting and footsteps throughout the floor. There were more. He needed to find George fast.

  Considering where the [Insectoid] might be, Fletcher decided to try the hydroponics bay first. George loved that garden project even more than he did, so he really hoped that the [Insectoid] had just gotten stuck saying goodbye to their plants.

  Miraculously, Fletcher made it to the garden room without running into more Unhumans, and in another stroke of luck, he found the [Insectoid] hunched in a corner, crying.

  “George. Come on.” Fletcher pulled him to his feet. “We have to go.”

  “I-I just wanted something to remember our garden,” the [Insectoid] said in a shaky voice. He opened one fist to reveal a collection of leaves taken from the plants. “But then they came, and I was too scared to leave.”

  “It’s okay. We’re going to get out.”

  “How? There are so many,” George whimpered.

  Fletcher hesitated. There were too many. And they were on the lookout for him now after all that shouting and the gunshots. He sighed, knowing what he had to do.

  “George, I’m going to distract them and lead them away from the stairs. You’re going to wait thirty seconds, and then go out and run straight for the stairs. Don’t stop. Get to the plane and tell Major Palacios to go. Okay?” Fletcher said to him.

  “What about you, Lieutenant?”

  “I’ll meet you up there. I’m faster than any ol’ Unhuman,” he lied. “Do you understand? George, you have to go alone, but you can do it. I believe in you.”

  The [Insectoid] shook his head. “B-b—”

  “You have to.” Fletcher went to the door. “Remember. Count to thirty and then leave.”

  George gave a shallow nod.

  “I’ll see you,” Fletcher said. He waved to George, offering a small smile, and then he yanked the door open and rushed out into the hallway. At first he headed towards the stairs, wanting to be sure he got all the Unhumans near that area on his tail. He actually fired his weapon a couple of times into the walls, hoping to attract as many as possible.

  It worked. It worked really well.

  Four Unhumans popped out of other hallways and rooms. Hopefully that was all of them. Fletcher took a sharp turn and headed down a different corridor which led away from the stairs, towards the catacomb entrance.

  He knew that was probably where the Unhumans came from, but the catacombs were large enough that he was hoping he could slip past any that were still down there and make his way to the city ruins. From there he should be able to defend himself until help came. Or he died. Or maybe he’d just live as a wildman with Backup and Trevor, eating tooth fairies and mangies until he reached a ripe old age.

  Whatever happened, he just had to make sure he didn’t get caught by the Unhumans. He would not let himself be taken to a conversion facility.

  A whole team of Unhumans was behind him, so as Fletcher rounded the next corner, he slid to a crouch and leaned around the wall, sending off a spray of bullets. That sent the Unhumans ducking for cover, and while they were distracted, he scampered to his feet and took off running again.

  Thanks to that little boost, Fletcher actually did manage to outpace the Unhumans, though he assumed that was largely due to his [Frenzy] since he’d learned back in Bren’it’p he really wasn’t that fast compared to most Unhuman species.

  The shouting behind him warned that he succeeded in getting a lot of tails. Far more than he could handle, so his only hope was to lose them in the catacombs. But hopefully that meant the way to the stairs was clear for George. As long as his friend made it, this would all be worth it.

  As he rounded the next corner, entering the hallway with the room that held the catacomb entrance, he discovered a [Diwata] on guard at the door. Fine. He’d have to kill her. Not his favorite plan, but if he could do that, he stood a real chance of escape.

  Raising his weapon, Fletcher choked on his breath as he got close enough to make out the [Diwata’s] face.

  Ssiioowwll.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  One of the first Unhumans he ever taught. More than that. One of the first students he ever taught. His experience tutoring her was one of the main reasons he became a teacher in the first place.

  She didn’t seem to recognize him as she turned to him with her weapon raised and her teeth bared.

  If he didn’t shoot now, she’d kill him.

  But he couldn’t shoot her. He couldn’t kill a former student. He’d spilt far too much blood already, and he wasn’t going to add Ssiioowwll to that list. Not her.

  Fletcher lowered his weapon and slowed to a stop. This was it for him. He prepared for the bullets, but Ssiioowwll didn’t fire her weapon.

  He saw recognition on her face.

  “Mr. Anders…?” she questioned tentatively.

  “Ssiioowwll, it’s me,” he confirmed.

  “You shouldn’t be here.”

  “I could say the same to you,” he countered.

  “B-but you’re dead,” she said quietly.

  “What happened to being a scientist?” he asked instead. “This is a far cry from that.”

  “You don’t understand. And you’re one to talk.” She kept the gun pointed at him, her face hard despite the emotion in her voice.

  Their conversation ended there as the rest of the Unhumans caught up to him. Ssiioowwll said nothing more as the [Golem] with the group grappled Fletcher and the [Jinn] tore his gun away.

  “He killed Seesh’a,” the [Jinn] growled. “Now it’s my turn.” The silver-skinned man put the gun at Fletcher’s forehead.

  Good. He needed to die.

  “No!” Ssiioowwl cried out.

  The [Jinn] looked back at her with an angry face. “I want revenge.”

  “No. Commander Kirred wants as many prisoners as possible. You can’t,” Ssiioowwll continued.

  Fletcher struggled against the hold of the [Golem]. No. That was bad. He couldn’t be a prisoner. He had to die or get away.

  “Fine. But once Kirred sentences him to death, I get to pull the trigger,” the [Jinn] said, lowering the gun.

  “Bring him. Let’s return to camp. The others can finish sweeping the base, but the Commander will want to interrogate him immediately.” Ssiioowwl turned back to the catacomb room.

  The [Golem] dragged Fletcher along, despite all his squirming. Okay, yeah. This was not at all how things were supposed to go.

  The whole group entered the catacombs, Ssiioowwll at their head as they made their way through the stone tunnels. After enough squirming from Fletcher, the [Golem] just picked him up entirely so he had even less freedom.

  They trekked through the caverns for a long time, long enough that Fletcher lost track of the path back to Vesi, and he even wondered if they might be past the city given how much time they spent walking. But eventually they arrived at a hallway with a series of rooms, and the [Golem] hauled him into a mid-sized room with other Unhuman military personnel waiting.

  For all Fletcher’s squirming and attempts at freeing himself, he was only more tired and bruised, and as trapped as he was before. His only hope was that this Commander Kirred he was going to see would find him completely useless information wise and then let that [Jinn] shoot him to get his revenge. He couldn’t risk going to a conversion facility given his [Demanlic] secret. More than that, he would rather die than convert and lose himself in that manner.

  “Commander,” Ssiioowwll called out as the group entered the room. “We caught another one.”

  Another one? Who else did they take prisoner? He was certain everyone from Vesi was on the plane except for George. But what was the point of all this if George somehow got caught too? No, that didn’t make sense. The [Insectoid] would have been brought alongside him if he’d been captured, so Fletcher chose to believe that he made it out okay, and with that, hopefully that meant so did the plane with the rest of the personnel.

  But the only others left were his mother and her team…

  Surely his mom wasn’t taken prisoner. There wasn’t a chance of that, right? She was too good at the whole soldier thing, and he assumed her team was nearly as good as her.

  Fletcher’s thoughts were cut off by a hulking [Ogre] coming towards, bigger even than Knarf. The guy was at least nine feet tall, with turquoise skin and a brown lion’s mane surrounding his face that had streaks of gray in it. Based on the fancy uniform, Fletcher assumed this was the mighty commander he was due to meet.

  “Well, well, well. What do we have here? An officer even.” Kirred approached Fletcher with piercing brown eyes.

  Fletcher jerked against the [Golem] who held him fast, forcing him to stand before the commander with little room for movement due to his arms being pinned behind his back.

  Kirred glanced at the name on his uniform. “Dixon, is it? Tell me, what is your assignment?”

  “That’s not right,” Ssiiowwll interrupted.

  Fletcher silently willed her to shut up. He needed his cover. Badly.

  The [Ogre] turned to her with a raised eyebrow.

  “His name is Anders, Fletcher Anders. He… was part of the staff at the Human-run summer school I attended,” the [Diwata] continued with a more hesitant voice, each s elongated.

  Kirred looked back at Fletcher with a grin. “Fletcher Anders? Really? My, my. What a coincidence that I’d meet Vi’le’s favorite pet for his precious Diplomacy Initiative here of all places, shooting at my people.”

  Fletcher shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Diplomacy Initiative? He’d never heard of that term, but he supposed that must be the program that brought him into Bren’it’p for teaching. Strange that Vi’le never mentioned it, but he supposed the Prime Minister always liked to keep some secrets being a politician and all.

  The [Jinn] from before hissed. “He’s telling the truth, Commander. He is of no use. Let me dispose of him.”

  “No, Crater. At the very least I can do the Prime Minister a favor by returning his candidate to him, only slightly worse for wear.” Kirred grabbed Fletcher’s face, turning it up so he could look into his eyes.

  His maroon eyes, an obvious sign of Hexing for a Human.

  Fletcher shook off the hold. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Kirred smiled at him. “No, I’m sure you don’t. But there are lots of other things I’m curious about. Things that I trust you will know.”

  “I wouldn’t bank on it,” he replied. Deities, he wasn’t going to be able to withstand a [Skill]-enhanced interrogation. He’d been under [Truth] once, and that had been a terrible time. The only good news was that he really didn’t know anything that could be useful, but he had a feeling it was still going to suck. A lot.

  “Tell me, why do you use a false name?” Kirred asked.

  “There’s some bigshot in the military with the same name, so I changed mine so people wouldn’t associate me with them,” Fletcher said. That was the truth. They couldn’t fault him for that.

  “Bigshot…. you mean General Hazel Anders, I’m assuming?”

  Fletcher nodded. If the [Ogre] already knew who she was, there was no point in trying to lie about it, not when they had [Detect Lies] from the [Jinn] active.

  “And you have absolutely no relation to her?” Kirred continued.

  He shrugged. “If we share a last name, I’m sure there’s a blood relationship involved.” Please let that be vague enough.

  “But you don’t know of any,” Kirred confirmed.

  Fletcher hesitated. That was either a “yes” or “no,” and that meant he would be caught lying or have to tell the uncomfortable truth.

  “Crater, switch to [Truth],” the [Ogre] commanded.

  The [Jinn] stepped forward and placed his cold hand on Fletcher’s forehead, and then a familiar sensation crossed over Fletcher’s body, marking the use of the [Skill].

  “What is your relation to Hazel Anders?” Kirred asked directly.

  Fletcher strained as the words tried to leave him. No. He couldn’t admit it. He couldn’t tell them. But the [Skill] was too powerful for him to hold back for more than a second.

  “S-she’s my mother,” he stammered out in a tight voice.

  Kirred laughed and patted Fletcher’s cheek. “Oh, this is perfect. You are just what I need.”

  Crater stepped back, releasing the [Skill] so Fletcher had complete control of himself.

  “No. Wait. It’s not what you think,” Fletcher said, trying to backtrack. This was bad. How could he have given in so easily?

  Kirred shook his head, still laughing. “Shut him up. And prepare him. She’s already waiting.”

  Fletcher’s stomach dropped, but there was nothing he could do as the [Golem] hauled him away to whatever terrible fate awaited him. It sounded like it involved his mom, and that meant if he managed to live through this, she would kill him herself. Deities, this was definitely not how things were supposed to go.