Here's Something to Fight For

Half awake, Sam experienced a nightmare.

In her blurry, disorientated state, she underwent every horror she could imagine as she drifted in and out of consciousness. One moment, she was choking on salt water. The next, she was buffeted by exploding sand on the beach, gagging on her pulled collar. Then she slid into a tunnel, felt a gnawing sensation on her leg, stumbled as an alien Hare barreled straight at her, stared down the monster's hungry jaws, and then, nothing.

When she finally woke up, the stench almost killed her again. The pouch of the alien Hare was filled to the brim with corpses, sloshing around in various states of decay or dismemberment. It seemed like they were meant to be taken alive, but their wounds were so horrible, and the air was so putrid that they either died moments later or were gone when the animal stuffed them into his arm pouches, firing on natural instinct. Everywhere Sam touched, if it wasn't the leather sack was marinated human flesh, soft and yielding, innards finding any way to escape.

She tried her best not to vomit, and she failed. That was when the darkness came for her again.

It felt as if an eternity had passed, as if she was in a coma that she could never escape.

When consciousness returned, she woke up propped against the wall, hands in lap, legs spread for balance. The room was hot and humid, like a warehouse without air conditioning, sweat beating down her face with clear streaks across her brow. Only the metal floor was icy cold, a reprieve from the oppressive air and that stench. Now the cell was filled with corpses. It was like a dumping ground, all left in the corner to fester.

Sam wondered how she wasn't like them and why she was spared when these Pandemians met their end in ways she had never imagined possible. Fear, desperation, bravado, each twisted contortion looking back at her through their eerie grim eyes like fish at a market, showing a complete lack of anything that denoted a spark. How did she survive? What happened? She tried to remember what made her decide this would be their choice. A flash sent her screaming, the faces of aliens assaulting her in her head, in her thoughts, in her dreams.

A hand laid on her immediately. "Sam! What's wrong!?" he asked. "Stop screaming! Are you hurt? Sam!" 

The girl threw him off. "Go away! Don't touch me!"

"I'm sorry." His hands shook as if wanting to reach forward but were forced to keep back. "I'm just glad you're alive. We need to get out of here. Uh, um, I'll plan out an escape! We may not have weapons, but my dad's been caught like this before, and he's always gotten away scot-free!" 

"Just stop it."

"Um...I know I'm not as good as him, but as his son, I'm-."

"I said shut the fuck up!" Her eyes looked up with a hatred Vinisnu had never seen before. The blue mirrors he had delved into were blackened and bloodshot, possibly infected. "It's over! I'm done! You don't understand that because you're too stupid to think that far ahead! Big news, mop head! Having a daddy with connections doesn't stand for shit when the entropy in this large and unknown galaxy DESPISES you for no other reason than your idiotic dreams!" 

Sam fell back to the ground and wailed into her arms. No words could be exchanged because each utterance from Vinisnu's lips fell as if a curse had fallen upon him.

"I just wanted to have an adventure," she whimpered. "Live something amazing, and now I'm gonna die. It's not fair. It's not fair. It's not fair." 

Vince's face soured. "Stop saying that, Sam! We'll be alright! Just trust me."

"We're gonna die." Sam sobbed. "We're going to die here."

"It. Will. Be. Alright!"

"It won't!"

"It will!"

"Stop lying!" her voice strained so hard she coughed. "You're just as scared as I am, and you know it! I saw you crying on Dozae's tower! I've seen what makes you tick. You are a delusional child! You-!...Where's your tail?"

It took her a moment to see clearly, but the boy was beaten to hell. No, it was worse. He was cut and bruised all over. Scorch marks marked his appendages, and right at his tailbone, the large mass that was his tail was ripped from his spine. He shouldn't be standing. He shouldn't even be alive. It was only through his willpower and powers that the wound was sealed.

Then, it all came back to her. Snu saved her. He carried her and fought for her. He never left her side for a moment.

"Snu, I'm so sorry." Her voice shuddered. "I didn't know. I'm sorry."

"It's alright," he said, even though it wasn't. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"No, this is not okay! Why would you do this for me!? Snu!"

"I didn't wanna leave you," Vinisnu sniveled. Soon, his facade fell to show his true pain. "If I left you behind, I don't know what I'd do with myself. It'd make me so sad." 

"Snu-."

"Look, I know I'm not brave enough. I know I don't have the brains to think of a way out of here, and I know I'm not as strong as you." He wiped his tears. "So maybe, when the time comes, when they come and eat us, I'll distract them first and buy you enough time to-."

"No, no, stop!" Sam reached for his collar. "I won't let you! You can't die for me like that!"

"I've never…met someone as amazing as you are, Sam. Your life is worth more than every star in the night sky." 

Sam felt her heart swirl like a hurricane. It really wasn't fair. This boy was still here to offer his hand, gritty, bloodied, his face repulsive with snot and viscera all over. She wished he would stop with the bravado, that he could understand for one moment, but this boy, this simple, amazing boy still held onto hope, and she couldn't help but take his hand. It was calloused and tender all the same, and immediately, she could feel its strength, still able to pull her up. 

Since she was a girl, her mother would tell stories from Kanian legends, show her the epics of romance and terrific excitement on the film screen, dazzling her with what life is like beyond the pale blue world beneath her feet. She imagined that one day, she would be the vexing heroine, and the galaxy would be her set, makeup perfect and spirit undeterred. She now sat in a putrid cell, covered in the worst refuse imaginable, but at that moment, hands together, Snu's forehead pressed against her own, the magic flashed before her eyes. If they were to survive this, it would be the most beautiful moment in their lives.

"Even if there's no hope left," Vinisnu choked. "If evil casts us into shadows, and no good will ever come to us again, I won't stop fighting."

Under the planet's surface, the last line of men separating the tunnel system from the manufacturing plants of Ublaneth drew their weapons, shotguns in one hand and swords in the other. Emperor Szeer emerged from the front adorned in his ceremonial armor. He was too young to wear it gracefully, but his stride wasn't hindered. 

"Rally to me!" He commanded. "Whether we're friend or foe, we fight together!"

The barricaded northern entrance into the cavern hissed with a high-pitched squeal. The EVO had torn through the tunnel system with firepower and endurance, and the Monos outperformed in the human's home territory. Their keen senses had brought them to their objective, and with a well-placed detonator, the sealant over the entrance burst into rubble. Before the dust even settled, Szeer sprinted into the fray.

"With me!" He bellowed. "For mankind!"

Elsewhere above the surface, the sand shifted silently, and flat straw figures emerged from the desert wastes and into the scorch-marked battlefield.

"Because I know," Vinisnu gritted. "Even if I die now, I'll die for something worth fighting for. My life will have meaning!"

Sam clasped his face. "No, I won't let you die for me! I can't explore the galaxy with a corpse! If we're escaping, we're doing it together!"

"But, what if-?"

"I'll make it simple for a boy like you to understand! You want to fight for something!?"

With a hard press, Sam kissed him. She wasn't sure if it was magic or an awakening in his mental circuitry, but in the moment of passion, Snu's lizard tail regrew, shooting into the air like a rocket, bigger and longer than ever before. When their lips parted, Sam stared back at a boy so red he couldn't speak.

"If you wanna do that again," Sam said. "Then keep living."

In that moment, Flock 37 shook.