Once the meat was finished frying, they all sat down to have breakfast, the twins eating the meat like it was a luxury. I had seen several food stands serving meat the previous day, so I wasn’t sure why they didn’t appear to eat it very often. Trinity got to consume most of it though, and she devoured it along with everything else she could get her hands on.
Liz, on the other hand, didn’t eat at all, instead sitting next to me on the couch, flashing me the occasional pleading expression, silently begging me to either not go or take her with me. Now that she understood that we shared a special bond, she was using that information to her full advantage, silently making sure I understood the full extent of how devastating it was for her that I was leaving.
I finally wrapped my arm around her shoulders and pulled her against my side, speaking up quietly to verbally reassure her that I’d be back. That seemed to help more than anything, and I managed to get some reprieve from her bombardment of emotions while everyone finished breakfast.
Once they were done, Zayden finally complained about us taking forever, threatening to leave without us if we didn’t get a move on.
Ava and I gathered a pack each, leaving the rest behind except for the radio that Zayden was carrying, and we said our goodbyes. I gave Liz and Trinity both hugs, holding onto Trinity much longer while Ava thanked the twins and went out to wait with Zayden.
Once I made my way outside too, Ava gave me a sympathetic look as Zayden took off down the alleyway. He was itching to go, so we let him lead, trailing behind him as he attempted to make his way through the maze of streets.
Surprisingly, he managed without my help, although not without several dozen curse words regarding how stupid the roads were set up. As we neared the edge of town, Zayden stopped by a fabric booth to buy some clothes for him and myself to change into later. He paid with money the twins had given him. It wasn’t much – just enough to purchase new clothes for the two of us with barely any change to spare. Granted, it was difficult to estimate whether or not we were paying the right amount, since the woman didn’t speak our language at all. She probably ripped us off, but we didn’t have any use for what would have been left over anyway.
After stuffing the clothes in Ava’s pack, we made our way into the trees, hiking single-file with Zayden in the lead and me trailing behind. I was barely paying attention to our surroundings though, instead focusing on Trinity and Liz’s signals that my sixth sense was picking up.
Ava kept glancing back at me occasionally, making me wonder if she thought I was going to change my mind about going back. But I was firmly resolved. I had to keep Liz safe and give Trinity a normal life, or at least a safe life away from the military, both of which required me to keep them here while I dealt with this threat against the world.
Not to mention that my very existence was a threat to them both, which was a topic I had attempted to avoid thinking about after snapping previously. I knew I’d hate myself if I ever accidentally killed them, but I also wasn’t sure if I was altruistic enough to stay away. I was far too selfish.
Which was ironic, considering I had given my life to protect Trinity once before, when I didn’t know it wouldn’t kill me. But protecting her from myself seemed more difficult. Staying away forever seemed impossible. I could barely handle knowing I wouldn’t see her for a while, but not forever.
I was lost in my own thoughts for several hours as we hiked silently through the trees and fields.
But then it finally happened.
I came to a full stop in the middle of a field, my heartrate spiking in a mild panic.
Chapter 6: Betrayal
It took Ava and Zayden a moment to realize I had stopped, but then she glanced back at me from thirty feet away, as she had been habitually doing the last few hours, only to stop too.
“Jake?” she called out, prompting Zayden to halt as well.
“Now what is it?” he muttered in annoyance.
I quickly shook my head at them both, not wanting to budge from this spot, desperately wanting to take a couple of steps backwards. “Nothing,” I choked out. “Go ahead. I’ll catch up.”
Zayden scoffed and did just that, marching away in irritation. However, Ava immediately drew closer, until she was standing right in front of me.
“Jake,” she whispered, reaching out with her hand to touch my arm.
I met her gaze, seeing the unspoken question there. I looked away as I answered her. “I can’t feel Trinity anymore,” I admitted quietly. “Her signal was strong and then it just dropped off, like she stopped existing.”
Ava was silent for a moment. “Can you still feel Liz?” she wondered.
I nodded hesitantly. Liz’s presence was as sharp as ever. There was something…strange about Liz’s signal, but otherwise it was strong.
“Then I’m sure Trinity’s fine,” Ava replied gently.
I met her gaze again. “I know,” I agreed. “But…” I paused. “It’s hard…knowing that I could just take a couple of steps backwards and sense her again…”
Ava’s fingers slid down my arm, stopping at the inside of my hand, her fingers in my palm, as if she might grab it to tug me along. I looked away again as she spoke with a pained expression. “It’s hard,” she agreed quietly. “Leaving those we love to protect them.”
My eyes widened and I glanced at her, seeing the full weight of that statement in her deep brown eyes. The weight of having to leave her family to keep them safe – of having to continue leading a life she hated to protect them.
I felt my hand twitch around hers, squeezing her fingers gently before letting go to take what felt like my first step away.
Away from the girl I loved.
I could sense Ava hesitate as she watched me follow after Zayden, before she trailed after a few seconds later.
And that’s how we stayed for the rest of the trek, with Zayden leading and Ava taking up the rear.
It was well into the evening, the sun beginning to finally set, when we laid eyes on some buildings peaking above the trees in the distance. We had past a couple of smaller villages on the way, but they were all extremely remote. Too remote to easily get picked up by vehicle – the streets weren’t even paved, and we doubted they had much communication with those outside their tiny towns.
Once we reached the edge of the much larger city, we changed into our new clothes, and Zayden made the call after burning our old ones.
We didn’t get the General on the phone this time, but Zayden explained that he had only been able to locate Incubus and Shadow, suspecting that the other three might have died in the attack. They were then able to triangulate the signal from the massive radio to determine our location.
I was a little surprised that we only had to wait a couple of hours for someone to pick us up. I half expected to spend another night in the wilderness, but before I knew it, we were loading up into the back of a battered rusting truck, driven by a couple of natives dressed in casual clothes – their military IDs were the only indication that they were our ride.
I tried to look depressed the whole way, knowing that I had to seem like Trinity just died. I doubted anyone would question these natives about our behavior, but it was better to play it safe.
We arrived on a military base late in the evening, and then proceeded to load up onto a plane just after midnight. Again, even though the two of them had slept most of the previous night, their internal clocks told them that the daytime was nighttime, which meant they both were extremely exhausted having walked all day when their bodies wanted to sleep.
Once the plane took off for our long flight home, they both passed out for a solid twelve hours in our seventeen-hour ride. The plane was significantly larger than it needed to be for the three of us, having a row of three seats coupled with a row of two seats, separated by a spacious aisle.
However, that worked out to their benefit since the armrests moved – Zayden and Ava both laid across a set of three seats as a makeshift bed. I sat in a window seat directly across from Ava�
�s sleeping form in the middle of the plane, while Zayden found a spot for himself all the way at the back.
It was a long flight, made even longer due to my anxiety.
Anxiety…because I could still feel Liz, and I was just waiting for her presence to drop off like had happened with Trinity. I was afraid of how that would make me feel, concerned that the reality of them both being a world away would really hit me like a truck then.
When Ava finally woke up, she noticed immediately, moving to the seat by my side. When she asked what was wrong, I explained the basics of my concern, and she fell silent after that. We both stared out the plane window, ignoring when Zayden woke up and moved closer a few seats behind us.
The sea gave way to land again, and yet still no one had anything to say.
It wasn’t until the pilot announced that we would be landing soon that Ava finally broke the long silence.
She took a deep breath before turning towards me more. “Okay Jake,” she announced. “I need to see your best sad face.”
I looked at her in surprise. “I don’t look depressed now?” I wondered seriously.
She pursed her lips. “You look…unhappy,” she conceded. “But not devastated like you just lost Trinity.”
“Oh,” I replied, glancing out the window again as I tried to work up the right emotions. How would I feel if she was really dead? After a moment of looking sad, I glanced at her again expectantly.
She was frowning.
“Not sad enough?” I wondered hesitantly.
She shook her head. “No. And we really need you to pull this off, or else they won’t believe our story. You need to look devastated, Jake.”
Zayden scoffed a few seats behind us, but I ignored him. “I’m not sure how to look more sad than what I just did,” I admitted. “I mean, I do feel sad, considering I’m probably not going to see her for a long time.”
“But it’s obviously not enough,” Ava replied. “So you need to try harder. I need you to think of the saddest possible thing you can manage.”
“Why not just tell him the truth?” Zayden scoffed extra loud. “I bet that’ll burst his little bubble.”
“Zayden!” Ava warned, her entire body tensing next to me.
My muscles tensed too in response to her. “Tell me the truth?” I repeated in disbelief, turning partially in my seat to look back at him.
He was glaring at me now. “Yeah, dumbass. Are you really that dense?”
“Zayden!” Ava repeated, visibly leaning away from me now, like she was about to bolt out of her seat.
I glanced at her, before returning my attention to him. Part of me wanted to believe that he was just pulling my leg – just being an ass like usual, but Ava’s reaction was too real. There was something I didn’t know about – something they had been keeping from me.
“Just spit it out,” I finally replied.
He continued to glare. “You really are an idiot. Trinity and Zane have been together ever since I’ve been on the team – that’s two years! They’ve probably been together ever since she became leader three years ago!”
“W-What?” I exclaimed breathlessly, feeling like someone had sucker punched me in the gut. I immediately looked at Ava, but she was looking away, her expression…afraid? Her hands were trembling, clenched into fists tightly on her knees.
I shook my head. I couldn’t believe it. He had to just be messing with me, probably jealous because I had something going with Trinity while he had no one.
Zayden continued when he saw my reaction. “Whatever, dumbass. You just keep believing what you want. But I told you to watch out for her. I warned you that you didn’t want any of that crazy.” He finally looked away, though his expression didn’t lose any of its arrogant attitude. “I thought it was strange when she started showing interest in you out of nowhere, and even stranger that Zane was completely fine with it. He played along like it was totally normal for his girlfriend to be yanking someone else’s chain. But then I realized what was going on,” he admitted indignantly. “Right after I tried to burn you alive and you survived without a scratch. They must have told Trinity to do whatever it took to ensure the team’s safety, them knowing that even she wouldn’t be a match for you in a fight.” He scoffed again. “And that’s exactly what she did. What better way than to get you to fall head-over-heels in love with her – a girl you don’t even know.”
I just stared at him in disbelief. I could see the disgust in his eyes – disgust at me for being so stupid.
He continued. “They only risked it because they needed you to kill Weaver. They were probably going to get rid of you after that, but her charm worked so well that they kept you around. I bet her and Zane are both relieved to have to stop pretending though. You should have seen the look on Zane’s face when you suggested that he and Trinity both stay behind. He was like a kid in a candy store.”
I felt like the world around me was spinning. He had to be lying. And yet, everything he was telling me was stuff I couldn’t verify. I had no idea what had happened prior to me arriving on base a week ago, and his comment about Zane couldn’t be verified either, since the big guy had been sitting behind me when I had mentioned the idea of him and Trinity staying behind.
I shifted my gaze to Ava, my only hope of proving his words a lie. “I-Is that true?” I asked in bewilderment.
She refused to look at me, her voice coming out choked. “Jake, that office back on base used to be Zane’s room, not Trinity’s…and she ‘moved in’ when she became the new leader, replacing him.”
I stared at her, the world having lost all its color.
They had to be lying. They had to be.
There was no way that was true.
What were they even suggesting? That Trinity and Zane had been sleeping together for the last three years? That they had never even broken up, instead just playing me for a fool when I showed up to protect everyone from the uncontrollable monster that I was?
Trinity was amazing at strategy, but would she really use her skills for something like that?
Could I even say for sure either way?
After all, I had only known her for a short time…
I recalled the fact that Trinity had been reluctant to have sex, and that we hadn’t even really kissed, except when she needed to pull me out of my emotionless state…
Except when she needed to pull me out of my emotionless state – a state when I looked like a cold-blooded killer.
Suddenly, it felt like someone had shot a gaping hole in my chest, like a void appeared and destroyed all my insides in a crushing force.
Because all the facts were starting to add up, in a new light.
She hadn’t argued about staying.
She had been reluctant to officially be boyfriend and girlfriend.
She didn’t want to have sex with me.
Not to mention that the story she used as an excuse was something only she and Zane supposedly knew about.
Had that been a lie too? A lie to avoid cheating on her real lover? A twenty-six year old man who she had been with for three years?
Zayden scoffed when he saw that it was sinking in. “Maybe next time, don’t fall in love with someone you barely know, stupid. After they’ve had to pretend to not be boyfriend and girlfriend for the last week, I bet they’re both relieved to have you gone. She’s probably sitting on his lap right now in the extra bedroom, glad to be alone again so they can get back to–”
“Zayden!” Ava exclaimed again, cutting him off. “Enough!” She sounded panicked.
I stared at her visibly trembling body again.
She was afraid, which only confirmed what they were saying was true, beyond her words. But it was more than that – the situation was even worse than they were hinting at. Granted, it didn’t take a genius to figure it out. I already had.
I’d really been played.
It was all a lie – a deceit to keep me under control. After all, I hadn’t been the only one who ran to Trinity’s aid
when that panic guy had been making her scream during that fake mission. I hadn’t been the only one who had almost abandoned the mission to go to her aid. Zane had been right behind me, seemingly just as eager to get to her. To protect her.
Not to mention that she had seemed genuinely concerned when Zane had voiced that her flirting with me was too much. I had assumed it was because of the pain from his previous girlfriend’s death, not from the pain of seeing his current girlfriend messing around with another guy.
They had both been so convincing.
All for the sake of self-preservation – to keep everyone safe from me. From a monster that had wiped out a mall full of people and didn’t even remember doing it.
Trinity had been so complimenting about my ‘big massacre’ when I had first shown up, saying she was my biggest fan.
Why? To get on my good side?
Because the girl I’d grown to know in the last week wasn’t like that. Certainly she was callous when it came to killing, as most might be in her situation, but she didn’t seem like someone who would be a fan of a monster who had slaughtered a bunch of innocent people.
No, that had definitely been a façade.
I could feel myself on the edge of breaking down as my eyes began to sting, Zayden’s words echoing in my mind, ‘Maybe next time, don’t fall in love with someone you barely know, stupid.’
And then it began happening.
As my eyes began to fill with tears, my devastation reaching its peak, a different kind of void appeared, beginning to take it all away. My pained expression began to relax.
“Don’t leave me!” Ava yelled urgently, grabbing my face in her hands. When I didn’t respond, she abruptly leaned forwards to bury her head against my throat. “Please Jake. Please,” she begged. “Don’t go!” Her voice was full of terror.
I heard the armrest between us whine as the metal yielded to my grip.
“Jake,” she pleaded again, her voice desperate. As if she was the one standing on the edge of a cliff, afraid she was about to fall to her death.
And then it happened – not what I was anticipating.
Omega Zero Page 8
