The Gender End by Bella Forrest (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📕

him as I slapped the sedative patch on his bicep. “I don’t think I could bear it if I killed you trying to keep you safe from them…”

“You really talking to that thing?” Belinda asked, and I turned and saw her leaning against the doorframe separating the bay from the cockpit. “Seems to me like he can’t hear you.”

“You don’t know that,” I shot back as I straightened up and grabbed another blanket from under the nearby bench seat, draping it over him. The bay was still cold, and it felt like it had gotten colder in the last half hour. I considered asking Belinda to help me move Solomon to the cockpit, but I knew she would refuse, so I didn’t waste the breath. “Besides, it’s Desmond’s fault he is how he is.”

“Mm-hmm.” I didn’t react to the skepticism in Belinda’s voice, although it made me wonder if there would ever be any future in which I wasn’t looked upon by a Matrian woman with doubt and disgust. Probably not.

I knew I needed to get myself out of this mess, but all I could think about for a moment was the fact that Viggo was falling farther and farther away from me each moment that went by. I wasn’t there to watch his back, which meant that when Elena came for our little resistance group—and she would—I wouldn’t be there to fight beside him.

He was probably so worried about me.

I sucked in a deep breath, trying to quell the rising sadness. This entire thing sucked, but it mostly sucked because, deep down, I wasn’t even sure we could get back. Belinda was right. No one had ever come back from The Outlands, not once, not any expedition Matrus, Patrus, or both had ever sent. And that thought sickened me, made me feel queasy any time it crossed my mind.

Which was why I had to keep busy. I wasn’t about to give up, even with the certainty of death. I couldn’t stop fighting, because I had something worth fighting for. Viggo. Tim. Owen and Ms. Dale. Amber. Henrik. Solomon. Morgan. Thomas. Quinn. Cad and Margot. Mags and Alejandro. Jay.

Oh God, Jay, I thought to myself, my heart aching. Please let Morgan have fished him out of the water… and the wound be a simple fix for Dr. Tierney.

It had been less than a year since Queen Rina had sent me on that mission to steal back the egg, and somehow I had gone from being completely and utterly alone, to having a family larger than I could ever imagine. And I couldn’t abandon them.

“Ladies.” Kathryn’s voice carried in from the cockpit, loud and urgent enough to catch my attention. I turned, and saw her once again peering out the window, her body blocking most of the view from my limited angle through the narrow hall connecting the cockpit to the bay. More light was creeping in, though. A glance at my watch through tired and dry eyes revealed that it was almost six in the morning.

I moved toward her, pausing as Belinda slowly turned in the narrow hallway formed by the bathroom on the left. She stepped aside as we drew near, revealing… Nothing.

And by nothing, I meant an absence of something. The ground below was colorful—I could admit that—the earth a blend of purples and blues I recognized, but on the ever-brightening horizon, I saw a contrast of golden and ochre hues, bright, richly striped, and alien.

But there was nothing else. No trees, no creatures, no water. Nothing but never-ending earth touching the never-ending sky. There weren’t even hills. The land was as flat as it was desolate.

“There’s nothing for us to orientate ourselves against,” Kathryn said softly. “Just a few stars in the sky, but once they’re gone…”

“What about the computer?” I asked, turning. “You said it was still there, we just had to interface with it. The holotable—”

“It’s the first thing I checked,” she said, shaking her head. “It’s damaged.”

I frowned, and then looked around. “How about a handheld? Surely you’ve got one of those.”

“Protocol says we leave them in Matrus. After your group managed to get your hands on some, we made certain… changes.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure why that surprised me; I just hadn’t considered that they had developed countermeasures after we had gotten ahold of a few and hacked into them. Well, I assumed they would’ve changed frequencies and codes… but to eliminate an important piece of equipment? That seemed a bit of an extreme response.

Then again, maybe it was clever, and I was just being bitter that neither of them had one. Or me, for that matter. But I hadn’t thought to take ours out of the car after it had been flipped over by an enhanced woman.

A thought occurred to me, and I looked around again. “Did Desmond have a bag or something?” I asked. “She went through one of the guard posts we had taken. Maybe she took one of our handhelds.”

Belinda made a face like she had swallowed something sour, and gave me a hard look. “Which guard posts?” she demanded.

I looked at Kathryn and back to her, warning signals sounding in my head to proceed with caution. “Why?” I asked.

“My sister was at one of those stations,” Belinda thundered. “So which one did you—”

“I would have no way to know that. I’m not sure how you classified your bases.” I cut her off. I had to, or else this would escalate.

Belinda’s neck began to grow red, and she took a threatening step forward. “You murderous cow, you don’t care who you kill for your little war, do you! You don’t know what you’re taking from us, and all we were trying to do was help the Patrians!”

Kathryn stepped in front of her, awkwardly trying to soothe her while simultaneously backing up to keep Belinda from slamming into her and her broken limbs.

I wished that would stop me from running my mouth, but it didn’t. Belinda had just hit one sore