Lydia's Run

"Oh no." My lip quivered.

For a moment I froze. The mass of dark shapes reducing me to a spineless creature waiting for my demise.

The drones were everywhere, seeking, watching, and corralling the inhabitants of the small village I now called home.

"What do they want?" Someone asked me.

I shrugged.

"I don't know."

I stepped clear of the hut, mesmerized by the quad rotorcraft hovering above us. They were new. Bigger, darker, and far more ominous than any drone I'd ever seen in the City. My hand instinctively went to my belly. As though my baby sensed the danger and demanded that I protect it.

Then as if orchestrated by some unseen being with the face of a kindly old man, they showed us exactly what they wanted. Death.

Puffs, individually almost silent, but together, becoming the squall of a violent wind. It preceded the projectiles, more dark shapes that hit the ground amongst us. Black choking smoke bellowed out from the canisters and filled the air. It burned the lungs of anyone near. I saw people falling, their eyes and noses watering. They were coughing and choking. Groups of people everywhere, just collapsing as the smoke hit their lungs. They were still within a few short moments. Others beyond the smoke were struck down with yet another weapon. One that sent unseeable projectiles tearing into soft bodies.

I ran. Everyone ran. Screams filled the air. I remembered the day we'd left the City and the cover the trees had given us. I ran for the trees with my robe flapping widely behind me.

To my side, I saw a child screaming. Everyone ran past her, too preoccupied with their own survival to help her. Even in my terror, I couldn't do that. I deviated, snatching her hand and pulling her after me.

"Keep close." I snapped.

We kept going, into the tree line. Deeper and deeper until I was exhausted. I sat and gasped breaths while the little girl stared at me. Her face was full of hope and despair all at once.

"I know you." I said with a sudden realization.

"You're Lyra."

She nodded.

"I met you when I first arrived. You thought I was a fairy."

I glanced around. Other people were moving about. Women sobbing. Men trying to group people together and organize themselves. I wished Quillan was there. He'd left in the early hours for the hunting grounds and wasn't due back until later.

"Where's your mother?" I asked.

"Shall we see if..."

Tears welled in the little girl's eyes and her face screwed up.

"She fell over. In the smoke."

I gasped with horror and pulled her to me. I held her tight.

"I'm so sorry. But you're safe. You're with me and I won't let you go."

I hoped the words sounded more convincing to Lyra than they did to me.

Then I saw Amelie. She was shaking. Her face streaming with tears.

"Oh no."

I knew straight away.

"Albus?"

She shook her head.

It'd been the one time he hadn't gone on the hunt with Quillan. I felt horrified at myself for being glad it hadn't been Quillan who had stayed back.

"He tried to fight them with his arrows."

The tears overwhelmed her and she broke down, falling to her knees in front of me.

By evening we'd grouped together, guided and calmed by the menfolk. Mostly older hunters, still capable of tracking or hiding but not so youthful that they could keep up with Quillan or Morten on the big hunts anymore.

Amelie and Adora were with me, helping to look after Lyra. Amelie was understandably quiet but Lyra took her attention just enough to stop her from becoming a sobbing wreck. Her instinct to protect a child was just as strong in her as it was in me.

Other children were luckier than Lyra. They still had their parents. And with sadness I realized yet others were less lucky. But the strength of the village was that even in this terrible event, no one was left alone.

"The drones killed nearly a quarter of the village." Adora said sadly, almost unable to believe it.

She sat down next to us.

"Why?

Why did they come?" Amelie asked for answers no one had.

In my head, I questioned whether it was my fault. And Amelie's. Had the drones come because of us? I knew it was nonsense. We weren't the only escapees who'd made the village our home and we held no importance to Protector. But I couldn't help the feeling that it was runners like us that had brought this terrible thing down on the village.

"Lydia."

I jumped at the familiar voice. The first sense of joy I'd felt since waking.

"Quillan."

He kept on towards me, pressing past the other villagers to reach me. He hugged me before putting a hand out to acknowledge the others.

"I'm so glad you're okay.

All of you." He added looking at his sister and Amelie. He gave Lyra a comforting smile.

Jareth appeared from behind him as he stepped away. The first time I'd seen him since leaving the City.

"What are we going to do? Adora asked her brother.

Jareth answered.

"You have to find a new home. A long way away."

"Why? What do you know?"

I could see his face was concealing something.

"The Protector." He started.

"It's no longer tolerating dissent. All the Disses are being rounded up by the Enforcers. I barely escaped. They haven't found the tunnels yet, but Protector knows about the village. Or at least guessed it must exist."

"And they sent the drones to kill us?" Amelie was incredulous.

"Why couldn't they just leave us be?"

I saw Lyra coming towards me with some berries and I gently ushered her away again. I didn't want her to hear too much of this. To his credit, Jareth waited until she was out of earshot again.

"We're a threat. More want to leave every day."

"Two. Just two people came out since me and Amelie." I responded.

"Yours isn't the only village. Others have escaped as well."

I knew there were other villages. We traded with them occasionally. What I hadn't thought about was that they also would be taking in City dwellers.

"Have they been attacked as well?"

Jareth nodded.

"At least one.

You have to head for the mountains. Go to the other side and start again. The drones can only reach so far from the City."

Quillan spoke next.

"It'll be harder for others to escape in the future. We'll be too far to help. And the other villages will do the same. But we have to look after our own first."

It was arduous, especially for me and my big belly. A weight that slowed me down and sapped my energy. And of course, I was trying to look after Lyra. Thankfully, the train of people moved at a slow speed and we walked on.

Supplies were short, but if there was one good thing about the attack, it was that it'd come in the summer. Had it been in the winter there wouldn't have been the abundance of food to gather, or the young animals to hunt on the journey.

The downside was the sun. It was too warm for all the exertion and I was sweating which meant I was drinking water to stay cool. And that came with more problems.

"Wait. I have to pee again."

I was so tired. Adora could see it and quickly came to my aid. I lifted my robe around my waist and crouched as she knelt to support me.

Lyra took the opportunity to sit down and play with some stones. Rolling them like the small marbles children in the City played with.

"It won't be long now." Adora said.

I knew she had no more idea how much farther we would have to go than I did but I didn't argue.

It was a relief as my bladder emptied. Just hearing the trickle of urine hitting the ground was like music.

I glanced down at myself. My stream of warm pee hidden by a rounded belly.

"I hope not. I'm exhausted."

I stood up on aching joints using my friend as a crutch and adjusted my clothing. Slightly ahead the others had stopped to wait.

"Sorry." I called out embarrassed by my hindrance.

Quillan was still at the front. He was the village leader. He spent as much time with me as he could, but I accepted he had other responsibilities. Everyone's safety was his to ensure. Not just mine.

He smiled as our eyes met and reassured that I was ready, we started forward once more. The same steady pace to match the slowest member of the caravan. To my embarrassment, that was me. Weighed down by being seven moons pregnant.

The mountains were rough. An ancient track in places made the going easier, but not without trial. It was a wide passage that had been cut through the rock. Once a smooth route to the far side of a natural barrier we hoped would protect us. But with age, the surface had powdered into tiny stones that slipped underfoot. And occasionally, great boulders blocked our way. Huge stones that'd become dislodged and fallen onto the path. As the mountains gave way to the promise of lower land and grass plains we had to clamber over more fallen debris and harsh bracken growing up from between the rocks. I think this was the worst part of our travel.

The first signs we were approaching something new came on the fourth day. Strange shapes rose up in the distance on a flat savanna. Reds and greys. Symmetrical. We just didn't recognize them for what they were. Not until someone noticed the ground. I looked down.

The grasses were flatter here, more tufts, growing out of tiny black stones. As I glanced about I realized it was another discernible track. A track that was leading towards the rocky shapes that seemed less like rocks the closer we got.

"They're quite regular." Amelie whispered.

"Like they were made."

"They're shelters. Look at the construction. The red oblong blocks. It's like the tunnels under the city." I said.

"It's a city of our ancestors." Quillan announced.

For no reason at all I felt fearful.

"We can stay here tonight. It's cover."

Quillan had no such teachings in his life to frighten himself with.

"Do you think it's safe? What if there are any ancients left?"

They may have looked exciting in the magazines. Big tits and cocks. Creatures intent only on the delights of fucking in every position imaginable. But they were a violent people who destroyed a world.

I looked about at that thought. Had they?

"If there's any Ancients here." Quillan grinned. "They'll be... pretty ancient."

In the dark I lay with Quillan, my belly forcing me to face away from him while his arm draped over me. The ground was hard and uncomfortable, but it was better than sleeping in the open on rough ground. Especially as that night we had the pitter-patter of rain on the dilapidated roof. A melodic tune rising and falling with the wind to drift off into sleep with.

Everyone was grouped in the one shelter. A box with a sloping roof and oblong frames set in the walls. Broken glass betrayed them as viewing ports so that the primitives who'd once lived here could see out.

Lyra was next to us sleeping soundly. Adora was nearby with Morten.

I could hear them. Low murmurs and muted caught breaths. The rustle of their clothing as they moved as one. It wasn't the confident unashamed fucking that people participated in at the village. This was a quiet, snatched moment between Life-Mates, not knowing if their lives would ever be the same safe experience again.

Pregnancy had brought my activities to a near halt now and even as I felt slightly aroused listening to them, imagining her pristine thighs parted around his body I couldn't bring myself to disturb Quillan from his slumber. The beautiful delight of fucking would be something I wouldn't know again for a while.

Then I became aware of another sound. Amelie was sobbing. She wasn't the only one. But I knew her sound.

Two extremes of our situation. One, the connection of two people who still had each other but feared if that wouldn't be so for much longer. The other, the sound of despair and loss already visited.

Oblivious to my discomfort I pressed myself tighter against Quillan, grateful that we still had each other. And the life we'd seeded growing in my belly. I drifted into an exhausted sleep with only optimistic thoughts for our future.

It was first light when they found us. Drones swooping from the sky turning our number into a rout. We ran. We all ran. Quillan though, ran in the opposite direction with his bow coming to the ready. Alongside him more of the hunters, protecting our escape.

I struggled. Amelie found me, dragging me on and calling for Lyra to run ahead.

"Go. I'm slowing you up." I pleaded.

I was stumbling and my lungs burned. Labored breaths restricted by my pregnancy.

"No."

Wisps of the black smoke drifted around my ankles only to be carried away on a fortunate breeze. A villager nearby fell with a grunt as some other weapon struck him in the back. I was convinced any moment the same fate would befall me.

We were being herded. I could see the walls ahead. Closing in with no exit. The work of the ancients, crumbling but still sufficiently solid that we couldn't escape once hemmed in. I could see it and so could everyone else. It was just that no one could see an alternative.

"Quillan." I screamed.

He was still at the rear with the other hunters. Arrow after arrow firing true and straight, searching out the rotors to bring the machines crashing to the ground. But these drones were different. They stayed higher, they moved quicker. The arrows fell short.

Pushed on by the scrabbling villagers I was becoming trapped in a cage of red rock. Any moment the black smoke would come and we'd be no more.

Amelie grabbed my hand and I saw resignation in her eyes. My lip quivered then quickly I pulled Lyra between us, burying her face so that she wouldn't see...

The first explosion made everyone turn. A fireball of twisted blackened drone dropping like a stone. Then another and another. Streaks of fire coming from the ground. From positions we couldn't see. But more drones fell.

For a moment there was a hushed prayer from our numbers as some magic took our enemy from existence. Within moments there were no more drones and no smoke.

But what replaced them was equally terrifying. A ring of men appeared, rising from the rocks and shrubbery where until now they'd remained invisible. Each was dressed alike in randomly patterned clothing of greens and browns that acted as camouflage against the terrain. And they had metal hats.

"Ancients." Amelie muttered fearfully as she stood and took several steps forward for a closer view.

These men were without question ancients. Big, strong masculine creatures that dwarfed our slight frames. Even Quillan and the village hunters seemed slender and smaller next to these people.

Some of our group tried to disperse. Free of the drones dropping death from the air, they made for the undergrowth only to be brought to an instant standstill.

With a loud clatter and flashes of fire, the ground was spat up as dust in front of anyone moving. For a moment there was silence. Then came the panic. The screaming was a cacophony in my ears and we huddled together. This was more terrifying than the drones and we were just as trapped.

Quillan was our leader and by far the most thoughtful and courageous. I wished he wasn't. I wished he was just my Life-Mate. My First, and at my side. I wished he was here with me and that someone else was the figure walking out to our front.

More noise and the ground in front of his feet kicked up dust. He stopped. I realized each of these newcomers was carrying a metallic pole that spat the fire.

I felt Amelie shaking next to me and I knew it wasn't just her. I looked around quickly for the others I cared about most.

"Lyra." I snapped just loud enough for the girl to hear.

She came running and I pulled her down between us as I watched, waiting for what came next.

"Are you from the City?" A commanding voice called out.

"Who are you?" Quillan snapped in return.

He took another step forward to challenge the newcomers. This time he wasn't met with the noise and projectiles at his feet. Instead one of the strangers came forward to face him.

"The question is. Who are you?"

His eyes surveyed the survivors of our village. And of all of them, this man's eyes settled on me. I shuddered.

Then he turned his attention back to Quillan.

"You. You're a villager."

"Yes."

"And the others amongst you?"

"Villagers also."

"The girl you held in the night. She is a City dweller. And there are others."

With a stab to the heart I realised we'd been watched. All through the night, these people had been there, quietly watching and assessing us.

"They're villagers now. Like me. Like the rest of us."

"Which village?"

"We're from the lowlands. Beyond the mountains and near the forests."

That was met with silence for a while. Quillan stood his ground looking majestic in the face of these evidently powerful and dangerous people.

Then.

"You will come with us."

I didn't know if that was a good thing or not. They weren't killing us, and they were capable of defending against the drones. But that wasn't so comforting when not knowing what our fate would be at their hands.

While we waited in near silence, Quillan's questions went unanswered and eventually, he came back to me.

"It'll be okay." He said holding my hand to reassure me.

Then the open carts arrived. Wooden constructions each drawn by two large and majestic animals.

"Horses." Quillan told me.

"Where do you think they are taking us?"

"I don't know. But we have no choice. We can't fight them. They have weapons of great power."

"Weapons of the ancients." I said fearfully.

"Yes.

But I don't believe the ancients are the monsters Protector tells you they are. They're just people. Like us."

I looked at the men around us. Sturdy, like their horses. Not the slender naked waifs of the City like myself. Not even the larger, more athletic people of the village. These were big muscular men. Uniformly dressed and acting as one. They were more akin to a termite colony, or a machine. Snapped instructions were passed between them. Each instantly obeyed. As I climbed into a cart with the help of Amelie and Adora, I wished I was as confident as my First.

Quillan was waiting until everyone had mounted our transport. Guiding and talking to his people to reassure them. Then finally he was the last.

I was watching him, feeling proud that he was my Life-Mate when terror struck.

It was over in moments but in my mind, it played in slow motion. The sounds muffled and the movements drawn out into an age. First, the distinctive puft sound. Quillan falling. And then the roar of the ancient weapons, turned skyward to the lone drone where it had managed to position itself high above us silently and unseen. Little more than a black dot in the blue skies. It fell in flames before it could do any more.

But it had taken Quillan. For a second I was in disbelief. I wasn't even sure I was breathing. I watched as one of the Ancients knelt beside his still figure, reaching out to touch his neck. Then his face turned to me. His eyes told me what in my heart I knew but wished would not be confirmed.

My heart exploded and I wailed as Adora jumped from the cart and ran forward to her fallen brother.

Ten

The place we were taken to was like something I'd never seen. A large open place surrounded by a barrier twice my height. A wire mesh that stretched in all directions with gates that opened to let us in.

More of these Ancients stood or moved around. All with that image of a colony of ants. Organized and obedient.

Buildings reminiscent of Protector's teachings about the dwellings of the ancient primitives were everywhere. One, a tall tower with what must be some kind of observation post at the top. A circular construction full of glass.

Further out in open space, strange shapes lay rotting. Streamlined monstrosities with wings.

"Warplanes." Someone muttered pulling the words of passed down memories from her head.