Volume 6: Gamma-11, Chapter 6.30

“

NOOOOO

!” I  screamed—bellowed at the top of my lungs, and rushed forward, diving to the ground to try and pick up the ash—to try and put my Eve back together.

“Eve—Evie! Please, please please

please

don’t leave me here like this!” I cried, digging into the ash, clawing at it desperately, throwing away the useless inhibitor field shackles and collar from the mess.

It had to be some trick, right? Part of her plan—Eve could turn into ash now, I was sure of it.

I tried to gather the ash as though if I piled it back together she would return to me, but no, I was just staring at a dead pile of ash on the cold chrome floor.

“Do you want to…?” Belmond asked, gesturing towards me.

Their words were muted—like they weren’t even there, and all I could focus on now was Eve’s remains.

Kei-Torruk hissed out a sigh, “No, this has been such a disaster, but he’s easier to manage, and we need to recover something from the assets at this point so it’s not a complete loss.” He waved out to the few remaining soldiers around me, “Secure him in the brig; once this mess with the mysterious interlopers is handled we’ll transport him to a research station for the dissection.”

Tears were streaming down my face as the overwhelming loss consumed me; my mind was sluggish, my hands were numb, my throat burned, my skin was cold, and all I could think was how I wished I was dead with my Evie.

There was a hole in me so deep I wondered if I’d been physically wounded; my time in the hellscape of the void was nothing compared to this. The pain, the loss, the anguish, it was indescribable, and yet somehow tangible—vivid and visceral.

I knew Eve was my soulmate, even if I didn’t understand our bond, and I knew I wanted to spend eternity with her even if I couldn’t really comprehend the concept of forever, and yet I had no idea how painful it would be to lose her—as though a piece of my soul had been ripped away from me.

I was lost in a fog, so I didn’t even notice when a soldier put my arms in the electrified manacles behind my back. There was one guard on either side of me, and they hoisted me back up on my feet.

Suddenly, I remembered what happened and who took my Evie away from me, and I started fighting against the manacles so I could unleash mindless violence upon my enemies, but even with my enhanced strength I couldn’t break free.

“I’ll fucking kill you all, you hear me? If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll get free, and I’ll make you all pay! I’ll tear down your entire fucking Empire—there’s nowhere you can hide from me!" I declared.

Kei-Torruk almost looked bored and just waved me off, “Take him away.” He said, then turned to look at one of the technicians, “And call in a custodial crew to clean up this mess.”

Even bound in the manacles, I still had my superstrength, and I fought against the power armor soldiers holding me so two more had to come help, while a third zapped me with that paralyzing rod.

The shock hurt, a burning numbness that spread through me, but it was nothing compared to the loss of my Evie, and I barely bent my knees while I fought to keep my eyes on my hated enemy.

“You’ll regret this, you’ll see! Someday, there’ll be nothing you can do to stop me! I’ll wait, I’ll be patient, I’ll bide my time and survive and then come for you and everything you hold dear—all of you!” I promised, an oath I swore on the pain I felt in my soul.

The soldier zapped me again, and this time I buckled, and the four power armor soldiers picked me up and started carrying me out of the control center.

The last I saw of the Lord Generals, who I swore on my soul I would destroy, they resumed their normal business, coordinating their forces against the mysterious enemy attacking

The Judicator

, already moving on from me and Eve’s interruption—as though it never happened.

As we moved into the hallway, I tried to wiggle and break free from the soldiers’ hold, but they zapped me again every time it seemed like my strength was returning. There were six of them, all in power armor, one holding each of my limbs, with one leading the pack, and another with the paralyzing rod off to the side.

I tried to look around at the soldiers, but I was facing the floor while they carried me.

“You should just let me go; there’s no justification for keeping me contained like this you know? The Empire’s kept me and Eve bound all this time, and you think you’re—” I started.

The soldier with the rod zapped me again, and I noticed he gave me a double dose this time.

“Shut the fuck up bastard, you realize how many of our men you killed—friends of ours! You’re lucky we’re following orders ourselves rather than seek some well-deserved justice.” The soldier insisted.

I spat on the ground, no idea if it was even close to him, “Then let me free, pussy, have your chance at justice.”

Rather than respond, he zapped me again.

The weird paralyzing rod was rather strange, it felt like the wind was knocked out of me due to numbness without the lingering pain of a punch, and it spread around my body like a weird heat, robbing me of my breath and words for a few minutes.

I coughed a few times until my breath was back and I could talk again, “Fucking bitch, fight me on your own and even with these arm constraints I could still kick your ass.”

Again, he didn’t dignify my taunts with a response and just zapped me.

“Shit this guy’s got a mouth on him.” One of the soldiers grumbled.

“Yeah, let me get a turn at the rod next time he talks out of turn.” Another added.

I coughed, but I turned it into a laugh, “Don’t threaten me with a good time, pussy-ass-bitch.”

They doubled up on me then; first I was hit with the rod, then a couple punches from their armored gauntlets.

“Keep it up asshole, I promise you’ll get tired before we do.” The rod soldier said.

I laughed and shook my head, “I doubt it, bitch.”

The soldiers continued carrying me down the hallways while responding to my taunts with regular violence, and I had to admit I actually needed the pain—needed the distraction.

I wanted to fight, to kill, to get as bloody and violent as possible—to make Eve proud with how much destruction I could cause. But the other side of that was absolute bottomless despair, and if I relented in my anger or aggression for even a moment, it threatened to consume me.

Aside from the pain of loss, I felt sick to my stomach—full-on nauseous. I’d never experienced such grief before, and I honestly had no idea how I’d ever move on. My emotions were turbulent and destructive, threatening to consume me—overwhelm me. I wondered if I would actually die from a broken heart.

But no, I wouldn’t die—not yet at least; I needed to have my revenge, to destroy the Lord Generals and all I promised—tear down the entire fucking Empire if I could.

Then I could rest, then I could die.

As we continued down the hallway, my rebellious spirit started cooling down as the cold reality of what happened finally hit me.

Eve was dead—she was gone.

I tried to remain strong and tough before the soldiers, but the sorrow was starting to win over.

“Holy shit, is he actually crying over that monster?” The rod soldier asked.

“Hey, I heard he was fucking the thing—said they were in a relationship or some nonsense.” Another added.

“Fuck, what a freak.” The soldier said, and they all laughed together.

I didn’t even have the energy to respond—my anger was slowly dying away now as utter hopelessness filled my mind and soul.

How could they call my wonderful Eve a monster? So affectionate and adorable, so lovely and loving, so silly and smart. I could still remember what she felt like, what she tasted and smelled like as though it had been imprinted in my brain. I remembered how frail she’d been when she first came to Earth, the tiny squid-creature that slowly grew into that cute little kid.

Of course things got weird as Eve rapidly grew up and went from surrogate alien daughter to wildly possessive lover. I was sure most people would think I was a freak for giving in, but Eve wasn’t about to let me say no; she wanted that development—always planned to be my soulmate.

Sure I’d been lonely these past few cycles, but it was ever since we were contained by the Empire and Eve was forced into the inhibitor field. It hadn’t been easy for either of us, but we held onto hope for a brighter tomorrow—for a blissful forever.

And yet that forever would never come now as Eve was stolen away from me—by the people who created and abused her, and then contained and enslaved her.

My despair was once again burned away by the hatred and fury I felt for the Lord Generals and their precious Empire.

I finally killed someone, in my desperation to be free with my Eve, and while I hated it had to come to that, I hated the Lord Generals even more, and I wouldn’t stop—wouldn’t relent until they were dead.

They called my Eve a monster? Well, I would become a monster too, all to satisfy my revenge—to avenge my Evie.

My emotions were so wild and turbulent, it really was making me sick—anger, hate, sorrow, despair, hopelessness, over and over they worked each other up in a frenzy, leading from one into the next without slowing down.

I felt dizzy, more than just overwhelmed, I felt physically sick—like I was actually going to puke.

“I’m gonna be sick.” I told the soldiers, feeling a weird hot-flash, a headache, and a strange twist of my stomach all at once.

“I bet you are, after the stupid shit you pulled.” One of the soldiers said.

“Or he’s sick realizing how much he’s fucked up; life in military prison, can’t get much worse than that.” Another added.

“Actually, it can; you’re forgetting they’re going to try and dissect him first to reclaim all that Predazoan genetic material, remember?” The rod soldier laughed.

I shook my head quickly, “No, seriously, I’m going to be sick.”

One of the soldiers pulled my shoulder up so they could look at my face, but I couldn’t see their expression with the power armor helmet, “Oh shit, he looks like he’s going to puke.”

“Better not puke now, we’re right around the corner from the brig—go puke in your cell, live with your sick.” The head soldier insisted.

I felt these horrible, rolling waves of sickness building up in my stomach, like nothing I’d ever felt before. I wasn’t sure if it was just the grief, but I’d never experienced nausea like this.

“Oh shit, I’m really going to—”

“Hang on, asshole, we’re almost there!” A soldier snapped.

The soldiers rushed forward and opened the door to the holding cell rooms and tossed me on the ground the moment I started dry heaving.

“Shit, get him into the cell.”

I was facedown with my arms bound behind me, gagging and coughing violently as my stomach felt like it was doing flips. I knew it was coming, so I did my best to sit up on my knees once I started puking.

I puked more than I have in my entire life, waves of sickness spewing out of me, and it felt like something was getting ripped out of me as I puked. It was gross and horrible, but I felt wildly relieved the more I got out.

“Oh fuck, what is that?” A soldier asked.

It felt like I’d gotten everything out of me, so I was finally able to sit upright and see what I puked out.

I wasn’t exactly sure what I was looking at, but it appeared to be a large pool of black sludge. Everyone watched in horror as the sludge slowly started to congeal and collect, forming together into a more solid mass. The strange black mass gathered into an orb the size of a softball, and slowly it gained a little color, with red splotches forming like wrinkles on a brain. Once it was solid and pulsing I recognized it immediately.

It was a Predazoan biomass core.

“Oh shit, that’s—” The soldier started, but before anyone else could react, six massive tendrils with vicious, fanged mouths on the ends snapped after the soldiers, killing them and consuming them all before they could even scream.

I watched, transfixed and dumbfounded as the biomass from the soldiers was assimilated into the Predazoan core, and it slowly grew and solidified until it was the size of a short human, then slowly changed color, growing rapidly paler before my eyes.

I watched as the creature before me turned into a beautiful, wonderful, flawlessly pale human/Predazoan hybrid, standing before me, naked, in a form I was intimately familiar with.

My soulmate, my Evie in her perfect form with the perfect face and perfect body stood upright and stretched out enticingly—as though she’d just woken up from a long slumber.

I couldn’t believe it—I

wanted

to believe, but I just watched Eve die and turn to ash before my eyes. Was this possible, could it really be Eve—

my

Evie?

I couldn’t stand, my legs felt like jelly, my arms still uselessly bound behind my back, and my emotions were still so raw and wild, I could barely direct my mind to form a proper thought.

“Evie…is it…?” I couldn’t even finish the question, hoping beyond all hope I wasn’t in a dream.

Eve turned to me and smiled that same, brilliant, beautiful smile she always shared with me, equal parts adorable and girly along with loving adoration. In one swift motion of a manifested tentacle, Eve snapped the manacles off my arms as though they were nothing more than a bundle of twigs—strong, and yet surprisingly gentle so I hardly felt a thing.

“Of course, darling.” She said in her same musical, alluring voice that was both sexy and innocent—like a virgin succubus. She held her hand out for me to take, and I grabbed it, feeling her impossibly silky-smooth skin with no barrier between us for the first time in so, so long.

When I noticed the direct skin contact, Eve’s smile was twice as bright, with a hint of mischievousness to it.

“All according to plan.”