Page 4 of Black Mamba

Hitching and shaking, tears stream down my cheeks as I try to vomit. Nothing comes out except spittle, which infuriates me. There’ll be no relief from the sour ache in my belly. I bang my head on the toilet ledge and let out a sob.

I tried, for days, to convince Mom and Dad to leave The Dreadnaut, but they refused.

They believed in Volp.

I’ve never believed in the Supreme Commander. I believed what my eyes saw over what I was told.

I even offered to fly their ship back into port to pick them up despite already having escaped to The Dreadnaut’s orbit. By then, ships were fleeing in droves. And they still refused.

I wipe my teary face on my sleeve and sit back, pressing against the cold wall at my side. Bringing my knees to my chest, I hug them tightly, unable to stop shaking.

I didn’t want to be right. I didn’t want my misgivings to be real. When things were getting bad on The Dreadnaut, I wanted to leave. I wanted to flee the moment I saw a soldier shoot a lower caste citizen in the head just for demanding the ports be reopened. He was just yelling…

I squeeze my legs tighter.

I couldn’t convince them.

I tried.

I should’ve tried harder.

But I never thought The Dreadnaut would explode. At worst I thought there would be mass rioting, fighting, looting, death—not the destruction of the ship itself. The Dreadnaut is—was—ancient. It’s been through riots and fights before. Just because one of the reactors went out didn’t mean it couldn’t have a new reactor put in? Right?

I told my parents what was happening in the lower castes, but they didn’t care. We had our own generator for our unit, so they didn’t think things were more than inconvenient. They didn’t know the majority of the ship was without adequate power and people were panicking. That it was more than just the rebels. My parents were oblivious to all else, happy in their ignorance, attending parties with their friends who were equally ignorant. They didn’t find it odd that the public ports were closed as long as theirs stayed open.

Wiping the tears off my cheeks, I get to my feet to stare at my face in the mirror. My hair is a mess and my eyes are red, my face splotchy from being rubbed continuously.

The blast The Dreadnaut made nearly blinded me.

There’s no doubt that my parents are gone.

“What else was I supposed to do?” I ask my grim reflection.

My parents never paid much attention to me before things went to hell, why would they pay attention when life got more stressful?

I walk out of the bathroom. It doesn’t matter. It’s all over now.

They’re gone. And my sister is… missing. Hell, she could be gone too if Mateo’s ship didn’t make it out of the blast radius in time.

At the bar, I open one of the top drawers behind the counter and snag the key to the alcohol cabinet. A strainer and a loose tea bag catch my attention. My hand hovers over the tea bag but I decide against it, shoving the drawer closed instead.

Facing the wall of liquor, I unlock the glass case enclosing the bottles and slide it open. Grabbing the closest one, I yank it out of its clamp and hug it to my chest. I don’t bother reading the label since it’s not the taste that I’m after. Lunia Mule. Starken Mead. IO Nix vodka. Whatever it is, it’s all the same to me.

It’s the numbing oblivion that I seek.

I would’ve started drinking on the flight to Earth, but I’d been too concerned about the ship blowing up as it passed through Earth’s atmosphere. Others around me had. The fear of imminent death kept me frozen.

Now that I’m safely on the ground and The Dreadnaut’s gone, and my parents’ ship’s AI brought me here, of all places, I have no idea what to do next. I have no idea where to go, or who to contact.

Scratch that—I know exactly what to do.

Clasping the top of the bottle with my hand, I pop the stopper and bring the lip to my mouth. Tipping my head back, I gulp down three heavy swallows before I let the taste hit my tongue. I cringe as the liquor burns my throat. Hauling the bottle back against me, I glance out the floor-to-ceiling curved window.

The enormous amount of green catches my attention. It’s an unusual color for me, having spent my entire life on The Dreadnaut or other colony ships where greenery is segregated. Wild and vivid, it’s hard to take it all in. It’s chaotic, not purposely designed.

I’ve landed in a clearing at the base of a mountain. Bringing my liquor with me, I head to the front of the ship to get a better look. As I do, I lick my lips in awe and fear.

It had been a horrific rush fleeing here with the others, but now that it’s over…