Page 81 of Eat Me Alive
I cannot stand losing this gift. Whatever it may be, it doesn’t matter to me. This gift was given freely. With no expectations except to give me some sort of morbid pleasure.
“Oh, Datu…”
On the piss-stained walls, I stare and let the tears fall as I connect all the dots that I could not before. In all my thirty-two years of existence, I have never lived for myself. I’ve always lived in Mother’s shadow to please her and others around her.
She had tightened her hold on me ever since the monster disappeared. After I saw that mouth eat him, leaving me in that bloody room, Mother had made me think I didn’t see anything. That everything had all been in my head. She’d made me think I was insane.
I had not seen how bad it was until now. Until this clarity. My skin pulses a deep hue, and I see my veins from here. It is all over my body like Datu’s tattoos.
I do not look like Mother’s Xiaoyu anymore. I am his down to the bone. Down to the very guts of me.
It is always the losers who drown in the weight of their own ego. And right now, I am so, so ready to drown this ship’s captain. There are several ships now, prepping to load all the canisters I’ve collected. Maybe I’d been a daze, but those are one too many canisters. I don’t remember collecting hundreds of those.
I feel sick to my stomach knowing what I did to Datu to get those, too.
Some people just arrived in another ship—with at least fifty people in it—and they have come to collect more things I had notprovided for them. Men in hazmat suits emerge from the tent, and there’s that symbol again on their clothes.
My face frozen in horror, I watch as they stab open a tree and drill a hole into it. They are shoving thick metal pipes until it pours out that same purple sap I’ve been seeing around. The worst thing? There’s more ships coming.
Grinding my teeth, I can’t control myself when I slip away from the shore and into the ship where the Piece-of-Shit Moriarty is blathering about his conquests. It’s ridiculous how someone can be so disgustingly animated at all the atrocities they have done. It seems almost cartoonish. He doesn’t seem real. He needs to die for what he has done to the TerraandAlani. Like, real bad. Maybe…accidentally. Piece-of-Shit Moriarty likes to drink his liquor…
“Did you see that female with the skirt? Guess what, that wasn’t actually a skirt but her vagina. They don’t even give birth here! I don’t understand these plants, man. They’re built so fucking stupid, no wonder they’re dying.”
I just had the perfect idea.
He sees me standing in the dark corner, hollering, “You look like you’re plotting my death!”
I grin wide. “It’s as if you’ve read my mind.”
The other men laughed like I just said the most hilarious thing. Everyone here has gone insane. To be honest, if I killed all of them, it would be a mercy.
The good thing about my fresh unsavory character is that no one can stand me. I can go wherever the hell I please. It is Alani who has latched on to me, because from the looks of it, it’s just the two of us girls there. Right now, I am in search of one particular plant that grows uncontrolled in this land despite “the drought.”
Foxgloves.Digitalis purpurea.There’s foliage just a couple of minutes from here. Iknowit. The only thing stopping me right now?
I swallow thickly as I watch the night sky. Rain stopped hours ago, so the moon shines, barely. In my pocket is Datu’s gift to me with the glowing opal stone. It’s not boulder opal like I’d first thought. It’s something more special.
I had snuck into the galley to slip sharp things and a flashlight into my worn borrowed crewmate pants. You’d think they could at least bring appropriate clothes at the amount of women they are bringing here, but no, they expect us to be naked as the day we were born. Because…you know…we are fucking prey here. Make it easier for the predators, right?
What a cop out. I’d been given a weapon by Ingar, but probably for more selfish reasons. He’d expected me to protect myself while he dallied with his lady.
Security with those big tranquilizers guns round a corner. I duck into some sort of closet that smells a lot like feet, keeping my breathing at a minimum. I pinch my nose, breathing through my mouth. Even so, I gag.
There’s a skittering sound on the floor, and before I can jump away, my ankles are pulled from behind me. Something covers my mouth, muffling my scream of terror. The dull light from the ship illuminates my captor, and it’s Teva.
“What the fuck?” I hiss at her.
Her usual bitchy demeanor is gone, and she looks worn out. Almost defeated.
“My apologies for sneaking up on you. I found it necessary to talk to you directly rather than go through channels.” Her voice is scratchy like she’d just been crying.
“Did something happen?” The beat of my heart thunders in my ears.
“The sprouts have hatched early—they need you.”
“Of course, take me to them—”
“No, youneedto leave. Leave Esoterra altogether.” She clutches my arm, hard. The urgency in her voice frightens me.
