I nod and repeat, “Quick and quiet.” I pull my gun to my side, ready to fire when needed.
We take off like someone yelled, “GO,” rushing across paved ground to grass to an odd-shaped architectural piece. The Zombies are crowded around heavily, but we go unnoticed. We pick up speed. Before making it to General Jord, we hide behind the trees, making sure we weren’t seen or followed. I count the time. Two, four, six, eight, ten… We’ve come unseen and unheard.
Luke greets, “General.”
“You have gained reinforcements. Where did you find them?” Jord asks.
“On a roof a few miles out from here,” I answer.
He nods once. “What were they doing?”
“Sitting,” Luke states condescendingly.
“It’s in your plan to take out this area?”
“Yes,” I respond. We throw anxious glances all around us, trying to keep every corner in sight.
“Captain Cory and his sister have taken on the loop. They also came upon a group of four. How many have you found?”
“Nine,” Luke answers.
“Nine?” Jord questions, stunned. “Well, the more the merrier. We are going to the fountain. We hope to run into others as well. How is your ammunition?”
“I have five grenades, six mags, and an extra gun I’ve not yet used,” Luke says.
“I have only two grenades, five mags and—”
A growl erupts from behind us.
Faster than we can turn around, Seits is attacked. The Zombie grabs her, latching its teeth into the side of her face. Her eyes go wide, and she releases a silent scream. She grabs for the tree branches as it tugs her away, never releasing its clutch.
Two shots bring me out of the scene. Jord runs to her, grabbing her hand.
The patter of heavy footsteps approach from behind us. More are coming.
“Cover us,” Jord yells.
Luke takes one side, and I take another. We aren’t near each other, and I worry about making it to him if he were to be attacked by those things.
I fire, missing because I am distracted by my thoughts.
Marc and Sean…
If the Zombies have advanced on us, they’ve been attacked too, and maybe overtaken. I spare a glance from my attackers to look back at where we ran from.
A Zombie grabs my hand, yanking me to it. It turns my hand toward its drooling mouth. I kick it before it sinks its bloodstained teeth into me. It hurls backward, nails scraping through my flesh on its release. I shoot it in the head, ignoring the burning pain.
Focusing on the Zombie X-Gen advancing on us, I take better shots, but my arm is shaking. It’s tingling. Strikes of stinging pain shoot through it from where I was scratched up to my elbow.
My gun jams. Empty.
Having no time to reload, I pull out my loaded gun and fire as I try to manage my numbing hand. It drops the empty clip and juggles the other while I try to load it.
My left-handed shots are still hitting the targets, but I’m more comfortable shooting with my right.
Reloading my gun, I drop it, losing all feeling in my right hand. I pull it behind me, hoping no one notices. The pain is advancing from my arm to my shoulder, and I’m becoming nauseous, much like I did when I was given that vaccine.
I do my best to ignore it.
The Zombies approaching start dropping from shots plowing into the back of their heads. I clear the remaining three around me with my last three bullets.
I stuff the gun into my front holster, freeing my left hand to pick up the one I dropped.
Luke’s running to me. I stuff both hands into my pocket and pep up a smile to hide my discomfort. Before they can call me over, I head back to Jord. “Is Seits okay?” Her face has not healed, but she breathes evenly and doesn’t look dead as she sits on the ground, snatching a gauze from her first aid pouch.
“We don’t know yet,” Jord says, tending to his sister’s wounds.
“If I turn into one of those things, shoot me,” she says, rubbing her good cheek. Jord pulls out a syringe from his vest pocket and preps it, preparing to stick her with it.
“How do you feel, General Seits?” I ask. If her face feels anything like mine and she’s okay, then I know I’ll be okay.
“I feel fine,” she responds. “It no longer hurts, it just pisses me off.”
I take a step back as Jord rams the syringe into her neck and moves to help her from the ground.
She feels no pain. I feel tons of pain.
“I think we should separate,” I tell Luke. “It will allow us to cover more ground in the short time we have left.”
“Two alone isn’t safe, Kylie,” Jord says. “It’s better to have someone on every side in case you’re ambushed like what just happened. You and Luke alone would not have been enough for that bloated crowd of things.”
“He’s right, Ky,” Luke agrees. He flicks his gaze up to me from reloading his gun and his eyes widen before sobering. “Let’s go check out the other end, see where more might be. We’ll be back.” He moves me by my shoulder. “When we return, we can move to the fountain, sir,” he calls over his shoulder before nudging me to run with him.
At the end of the park, just out of sight, Luke and I stand silently. Luke waits for me to speak, folding his arms across his chest. “Don’t shoot me,” I tell him, removing my hands from my pockets.
“Ky,” he cries, shocked. He grabs my right hand. It’s darkening, veins turned a dark purple, sprouting up my wrist. Four deep-set scratches open my flesh, but the laceration doesn’t bleed.
“I can’t feel that,” I tell him. He’s holding it, and I can’t even feel the wind that is blowing on my face. “Are you trying to heal it?” I ask, noticing the light radiating from our clasped hands.
“Yes. It’s not working?”
“I feel nothing. There are small pricks scattering over my arm, but I’ve lost all feeling.”
He breathes heavily. “Your eyes are turning bloodshot red. The veins in your eyes are even darker,” he says, looking away from me to something across from us. “Pull your goggles on. I’ll call out to them and ask what we are to do to keep you from changing.”
“What makes you think I’ll change?”
“It’s enough we aren’t average Creations or complete Vojin. Now consider the way you were affected by the vaccinations. You turn into one of those things, Ky… I’m going to shoot you.” He points to my forehead, leaving his finger there. “Head shot, no questions, no hesitations,” he says.
I swat his hand away. “What do we do? I can’t battle like this.”
“We’ll have to separate, but they aren’t going to let us do that, and it’s not safe for two against the millions of these things in this city. Let’s go off with four of us. I’ll get separated, and you’ll think I’m lost. If they need to make an appearance to fix you, that’s what they need to do. I don’t want to lose you.” He rubs my shoulder. “And they’re the reason the Zombies are here,” he continues. “We must have some type of clearance, something that keeps us from turning into Zombies, especially with us helping the Vojin.”
I grit my teeth, clutching my arm to my chest. Through my teeth, I ask, “What happens if they decide not to help?”
“If you turn because they refuse to help, I’ll go there and make them regret that decision.” Luke throws up his hands, cutting me off. “I have to stop talking about it.” His face has flushed red with anger. “First things first. Let’s go back, and I’ll tell the group what we’ll do.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Ky and I would like to check over another area,” Luke says to the full group. “Any twins want to come with us as backup?”
“Yes,” Marc says, along with Carla and Katy.
“The six of you will be better than four, Luke,” Jord starts. “We meet at the black building nearest the lake, don’t forget. The two of you should know how to get there,” he says to Marc and Sean.
“We understand, sir,” Luke says, looking a
t his watch. “Three hours.”
“Everyone else, we are heading toward the fountain,” Jord commands. “Head out.”
“What is it that you wanted to see?” Katy asks.
“Over there.” Luke points to a cluster of buildings with train tracks overhead.
“Good idea,” she responds with interest.
I head for the overpass.
“We have three hours,” Luke starts, coming next to me. “Three hours to clear this and that, then make it to the rendezvous.”
We always have our hands full during any mission. “I got it, Luke. Back off,” I tell him, frustrated. I’m more irritated with myself and the pain in my arm. My head’s spinning, and most of my focus is on hiding my discomfort from the others. I feel as though I’ve spun in a circle for sixty seconds and started on my way.
Luke falls back, giving me my space.
The others laugh and talk about the city and their memories together. My arm goes limp, and the only thing keeping it from dangling at my side is my hand being stuffed into my pocket.
Something scurries in the shadow of a nearby building. I pull my gun out with my left hand and scan the area.
“What is it, Ky?” Sean asks.
“Something,” I respond, zoning out his smart remarks. “Hush,” I growl, seeing another scurry past my other side. I stop, realizing. “They’re surrounding us.”
We fall silent, continuing onward, cautiously.
Out of nothing, no sound or sight, they pour out—lines of Zombies. We disperse, all headed in different directions, shooting, dropping the ones getting too close.
I sprint to an opening, a blocked off alleyway. I’m alone, grimy walls to my sides and back. Snarls erupt from behind me, echoing in the closed off opening.
I turn on my heels, gun raised, and fire. The clicking of my empty clip joins the echoes of the rumbling snarls. My heart pounds, and my raised arm lowers.
I’m done for.
The one before me doesn’t attack. She just stands there, dead, breathing roughly. She was a Creation, joints in her arms and shoulder bent in the wrong directions, eyes bloodshot red, neck leaking tar-like fluid from a gash.
I raise my left hand in surrender; my right is heavy and useless. They may be dead, but something tells me they aren’t stupid. “If you turn me into one of you, my brother is going to kill me,” I tell it. “I have instructions to do away with all of you. Back off,” I say, low and kind.
The one in front of me stops snarling. Color returns to her pale skin and her face brings forth a sincere smile. In a kind tone, she says, “Let me see your hand, Kylie.” The snarls remain heavy behind her.
“Your name?” I request with skepticism.
“Lafren. Once I remove the infection, you will be free to end us without our attack. That only goes for us here. Others of us will still attempt to attack and turn you and Lukahn.” The name doesn’t sound familiar, but I take it she’s okay because she knows Luke.
I step to her, using my left hand to lift my right arm by the elbow. “What’s the cause of all this? Why has this war and destruction been engaged on our home?”
Peacefully, she answers, “This is not your home, Kylie Alexander. Your home is with us. You feel attached to this…place because you have spent your early life here, but this is not where you belong.”
“But why destroy it? There is beauty here.” I point around me, but around me, there are only moldy walls, dark shadows, litter, and graffiti. “Well, not in this alley but in this world.”
“There is no beauty here. There is hate, there is death, and there is already destruction. The people who walk this planet are their own destruction. They cannot handle this gift. They do not deserve it. As instructed, we are ridding this planet of its infestation, and when our Instructor is ready, a new beginning will dawn. What will happen from there is unknown.”
“And what will happen to us, Luke and I?”
“This body will go, along with everything else; your implant will be restored. Another option is, you may move on to your next mission as long as this one is fulfilled accordingly, but we have no use for this body.”
I narrow my eyes. “No growth?”
She slowly shakes her head, lifeless, gray eyes narrowing in on me. “No, not in this body and not on this planet. It will not be long before it is nothing, so if you are so enraptured in its beauty, enjoy it while you can. Do not forget your mission.” She steps toward me. “Now, your hand.”
I give her my hand, and she places hers over it. I feel nothing at first, then tingling follows a sweltering sensation that radiates from my hand to my elbow. The pain leaves, and my feeling is restored.
“Thank you,” I say, removing my hand from her rough, cold skin.
She backs away and nods once. “You are welcome.”
The group of Zombies part, allowing me to pass. At the end of the alleyway, I throw a grenade into the crowd and walk away as it explodes.
I follow the wall of the building to an opening and post up with my back against the wall as I stretch out my fingers and look over my healed hand. Alone, I stand, reloading my weapons, recalling what Lafren said.
There is no avoiding the inevitable. This planet, what we have known our entire lives, Luke and I are helping destroy it. This is not what they told us we were sent here for. The Vojin are supposed to be protectors of this planet. Sure, after being treated with little to no respect for decades, they took it upon themselves to take over, but not destroy. Now, Luke and I are supporting their beliefs by working for the wrong team but we are on the right team. Creations protect this country. That’s the mission. There’s no intent to overthrow our leaders, only keep this place safe and balanced.
Now, what’s the right thing to do?
Gunshots ring out as I pull off my goggles and lean against the wall, seeing this small alley as a safe spot to catch my breath for a moment.
Which mission do we stick to? Follow the Vojin or stop them?
She said to me, “Enjoy it while you can.” They will attempt to take us from here or do away with us, like scrap paper. Or try to take us out of the beautiful bodies Luke and I have worked so hard to maintain and keep healthy. Maybe their plan is to remove the implant and insert it into another brain of a new species with a new subconscious and mission.
If this is their plan, it will put Luke and I in serious danger. They won’t find that disgusting implant still attached to us. We removed it years ago. And for them to discover we’re no longer being controlled by our hosts… We’ll be accused of treason and exposed to the Vojin as Rebellious Hosts and to The America as Alien Implants. Both are punishable by death.
If we’re to be discarded, what have Luke and I been working so hard for? Why are we trying to be the highest ranked in our division? Become leaders of Separation and guide our fellow Creations into a war meant to protect this world?
Or are we just aliens, foreign to this land, which is why we look like the humans and Creations, first here as a mission to become their leaders, and now, instead of protecting, we will lead them into destruction? Was this our true mission?
Running footsteps hasten in my direction. They’re ordered instead of dragging like the Zombies’. I press myself against the wall, so whoever it is will run past me instead of stopping. Unless it’s Luke.
Or him.
I grab Marc’s arm as he turns the corner and nearly passes me. “If I was a snake, I would’ve bit you,” I tell him.
He stumbles to a stop, taking quick breaths. “Right. I was looking for you.”
“That worried thing again?”
“Right.” He catches his breath, stroking the back of his neck. “But you’re fine. Luke’s looking for you too. He took one way. I took the other.”
“I want to ask you something.”
Before he agrees, he checks our surroundings, ensuring nothing’s going to come up on him. “Okay. Why are you just standing here?” he asks, brows knit so tightly I can see the wheels turning as he�
�s trying to make sense of my actions.
“I thought I was hurt,” I begin quickly, speaking too fast, “but I’m fine. I wanted to catch my breath, and nothing was over here. Well, they were here, but now they’re gone. Can you kiss me? The Zombie things came, and when everyone dispersed, I ran this way and threw a grenade and cleared out this—”
“Stop,” he interrupts, throwing up his hand. “What?” he asks, dumbfounded.
“When they came running, I ran this direction and happened upon a few Zombies. I killed them with a—”
“No, not that.” He grabs my arm and drags us around the corner to the alleyway I came from.
There’s no residue from the blown-to-bits Zombies, and that proves who’s behind this. For the Vojin to go this far, it makes me doubt what we have fought so hard for and what we are supposed to be working toward. It’s all been for nothing.
Enjoy it while you can, is what she said. Maybe enjoy this world while we’re still here or while it’s still here.
Once my back is against the wall again, Marc’s rough hand slides along my neck to its nape, awaking tremors through me. I request again, “Can you?” Blood’s rushing through my lips as they crave to be pressed to his. I stuff my nerves down, not allowing them to get the best of me.
“You sure?” he asks, eyes shifting from mine to my lips and back. I nod. “I will, but I have an issue with jealousy, and I would need to be the only guy you kiss.”
I nod. “Okay,” I say. My legs shake, and I resist the urge to chew on my lip. He tugs me from the wall. There’s a short stall before our lips meet.
My legs stiffen, and my body goes numb.
Marc’s only a little taller than I am, and a small rise to my tiptoes gives me enough leverage to lean into his kiss and feel more of him.
He steps forward, squishing me between him and the wall. My tongue grazes his lip, and he meets it, causing the air around me to heat. It circles around us, hot as fire, rushing my heartbeat. I know I should stop, but our bodies act as if they have known each other for years and are not just meeting for the first time. I’m diving in, mission forgotten.
The Separation Trilogy Box Set: Books 1 -3 Page 19
