"It's too soon," Jessica whispered.
Betty bent over the canister still situated in the middle of the wall between where the full ones slid through and where the empty ones remained. She stood immobile for a full minute before turning back to us. "There's one coming!"
I jumped forward to help shove the empty canisters back into the places we had removed them from. "We have to go," Steve, who had taken over Betty's position, declared.
Grabbing hold of Jessica's elbow, I pulled her toward the edge of the platform as the others leapt off. I landed smoothly on the ground and took a swift step back so that we were underneath the edge of the platform. The wall behind us should keep us blocked from the Seeker but even still I bent low as I crept toward the edge of the platform and rested my hand upon the ground. Drawing within myself, like I had taught Bethany to do, I searched the world outside of myself. My ears became more attuned to the subtle sounds of the earthworms moving through the dirt, the mice within the forest, but I mainly focused upon the creature less than twenty feet away from us.
I could hear the pulse of blood exiting the creature as it filled the next canister in line. The sounds of it withdrawing from the canister reached me as the line of containers was shoved forward. Another click indicated that another full canister was moving forward but from the less forceful pumps of the Seeker I realized that the creature was starting to empty out. Jessica knelt by my side as another canister slid into place. More blood rushed out, but the next container wasn't completely filled as it didn't slide forward.
Dull thuds resonated as the creature retreated from the platform. "We might as well take our clothes off now," Jessica suggested in a low voice when the ground stopped trembling from the Seeker's retreating weight.
I glanced at her and then back at the others. "Why do we need to take our clothes off?" Betty inquired.
"The minute we climb into those canisters we're going to be coated with blood. We can't walk around the ship like that."
I nodded as I pulled the folded up plastic bag from my back pocket and began to hastily unbutton my shirt. I didn't look at the others as I carefully folded the shirt and wrapped it within my other clothes to keep the explosives as protected as possible. I barely noticed their naked bodies as I pushed my sneakers and socks inside and knotted the bag.
Their eyes didn't flicker away from mine when I looked at them again, I didn't try to shield myself from them nor did they attempt to cover themselves either. I assumed the sight of my naked flesh had the same affect on them as theirs did on me, nothing. I didn't feel curiosity, didn't feel a stirring of lust or attraction or even a morsel of embarrassment at being naked before them.
The air was cool against my skin as we stepped back out from under the platform but I barely felt it as we maneuvered ourselves back onto the platform. I made sure the others were in containers before settling into one with the bag on my lap. I met Jessica's gaze across the platform before I pulled the lid into place and tugged it down until I heard the click of the locks sliding into place. The blood still lining the container was warm against my flesh but I fought the impulse to taste it as I impatiently waited for the smaller ship to come and pick us up.
Chapter 20
The ride was far less jostling than I'd expected it to be, a fact I was extremely grateful for with Lloyd's makeshift bombs in my lap. I wasn't sure how much time had elapsed though before the container was finally settled into position somewhere aboard what I assumed was the main ship. I remained where I was, curled up amongst the blood and over my bag of clothes. I was about to lift the top off the container when a small tap on the side sounded near my ear.
Dim illumination flooded in as I pushed the top off with a soft pop of air. I inhaled the fresh air as I rose to my feet and stretched out my cramped legs. Grabbing my bag of clothes I climbed from the container. The others were streaked with blood that smudged their cheeks and foreheads, and coated their backsides. I knew I wasn't much better though as I could feel it sticking and cracking against me with every step I took.
As I worked the cramps out my legs I got my first good look at the ship I'd spent the first two years of my life on. I didn't remember those days, but then I had no aspiration to either. Especially not as I looked around the football field sized room that contained canisters for as far as I could see. I'd never imagined anything like this could exist and though I'd never been ashamed of what I was before, I was suddenly disgusted by the more twisted ones amongst us that thrived on such atrocities.
"Oh," Betty breathed and lifted her hand to her mouth. She winced and instantly jerked her hand away to reveal the blood print it had left on her mouth. "This is awful."
I met her stricken gaze. "If we're successful it will end today."
Tears briefly swam in her eyes before she nodded. "Art will never know this atrocity, he'll never experience this. I don't care what I have to do to make sure of that."
I knew exactly how she felt as I began to move through the endless rows of blood and human life that cluttered the room. It wasn't until we were halfway through the room that I realized it was even more massive than I'd originally thought. At least three football fields could fit within this part of the ship, and at least two of them were full of containers. The other one was stacked full of people that remained frozen within their bodies.
I stopped walking, and so did the others, as we spotted the humans packed like sardines into the other third of the ship. "What is this room?" I asked Jessica.
"It's the lower level of the ship. There were only a few canisters the last time I was here, I wasn't... I didn't expect this," she choked out.
Though the room appeared cavernous and never ending, our voices didn't echo amongst the nearly black walls that had an almost reflective quality to them. I tilted my head back to take in the recessed lights burning down from the ceiling. It's like some kind of crazy ass greenhouse except they aren't growing plants, they're cultivating humans, I realized.
I half expected twigs and vines, or perhaps even a flower, to be sprouting out of the human's heads but they remained immobile and completely human in appearance. "Let's get out of here," Betty whispered.
"There's a shower station at the other end," Jessica said.
"Why..." Craig's question faded away as he took in the people. "They bathe them when they bring them up?"
"They're unclean," Cory said in a hushed voice.
"Thank you Jodie," Craig muttered the name of the human woman that had stood by his side all week. The woman that had given him a new perspective on human life, and his own.