by Quil Carter
I could see old mattresses covered in plastic, a steamer trunk, bicycles, plastic totes, a plastic Christmas tree, and something that looked like a cage.
I took a step forward and held up the lamp to shine some more light onto it. Nope, not a cage; it was a crib.
It was Reaver’s baby crib! Inside were plastic totes. My heart started to bang in my chest as I walked towards the crib. Like all of the other things that had belonged to baby Reaver it had bite marks all over it, and a cover made from wire mesh. They must have used it as a cover when he tried to escape. He sounded like a very difficult baby to take care of, but most two year olds were.
I set the bluelamp on top of a dust-covered coffee table and peeled the mesh cover back. I gently lifted up the totes and put them down beside the crib.
There was no sound but my own breathing, no other light but the cold glow giving shape to the dust motes flying through the air, disturbed from their many years of slumber. I was all alone here, only my thoughts, my disappearing guilt, and my ever growing curiosity.
I took the lid off of the first tote.
Photo albums, video cassettes, papers, more toys, and some electronics I didn’t recognize. I picked up a photo album and opened it. It contained a few pages of Polaroids, the only way you could take photos nowadays. King Silas had banned all other cameras and put a five dollar bounty on any recovered. Polaroids were allowed but they were expensive as hell. Usually families only got pictures done when a new baby came along or someone was dying. I had some pictures of my family and me. Even a few baby pictures.
I smiled as I saw a man that looked a lot like Greyson; I assumed it was his father and the former mayor. Beside him was a lady with black hair and a little baby on her lap which I assumed was Greyson. These were very, very old. I gingerly put the album aside, treating it like it was breakable. I wanted to be careful.
The next two albums were also full of little Greyson so I also put those aside. This whole box seemed to be Greyson’s stuff so I put it all carefully away. In case I had to escape quickly I put the first tote back where I found it.
Now the second one. I rubbed my hands together and opened it. I smiled as I saw a blue baby blanket with little brown bunnies on it with bows. I ran my hands over the soft fabric and gently took it out. I placed it on top of the tote lid and looked down.
More baby clothes, a folded sheet, and toys from the looks of it. I picked up a little t-shirt, complete with baby food stains, and held it up. It was so tiny! How could my Reaver ever be that small.
I pulled out a few more pieces of clothing, but one of them puzzled me. It was a onesie stuffed inside a blanket but it was scorched and burned, the blanket was singed too. If baby Reaver was in this onesie he would have gotten badly burned. I wondered if that was the reason Reaver’s parents had to escape with him. Maybe their house caught on fire, or maybe someone was after them.
I put it aside and dug in deeper, my spark of curiosity fast becoming an inferno. It was like finding little puzzle pieces.
I reached the bottom of the tote but I only found a few more baby toys. I let out a sigh and looked around for any more boxes I could look through. I decided I might try and find the death records Greyson took; that might have Reaver’s parents names on them, but the more I thought about it the more I dismissed the idea. Those records would be almost impossible to find in the time I had.
I started to gently put everything back, my hands once again falling to the burnt blanket and onesie. I shook my head. They had been trying to escape something. Maybe Reaver’s parents had died from their injuries when they came to Aras?
I was about to put the tote lid back on when something drew my attention. A small corner of something sticking up from a blanket I had just put back in. I pinched the end of it and pulled it out.
It was a Polaroid. I brought it over to the bluelamps, and kneeled down to get a good look.
My heart hit the floor.
A little baby was being held by a young man with short black hair in a lab coat. The baby had dark hair too and piercing black eyes. His face didn’t have the usual baby chubbiness; it was thin, serious, and pale. There was no mistaking it, it was Reaver.
My eyes fell to his father, a dark-haired man. As I looked closer, I noticed he had burn injuries. His hairline looked like it had been scorched and the side of his neck was pink with fresh scars.
But despite his ordeal he looked happy. He had a smile on his face and his eyes were full of life. The smile looked familiar. Actually, he looked familiar.
I stared at him. His black hair was long in some places but the flames had burnt off patches in areas too, showing off his scalp.
No… not his scalp, the paleness wasn’t skin.
I looked closer and realized he had blond roots. His hair had been dyed.
When the realization hit me, I gasped and felt the blood in my veins turn to ice. I stared at the picture as a wave of light-headedness come over me.
I thought I was going to throw up.
I stared at Leo, as he held the baby.
Reaver… baby Reaver, with Leo – almost the exact same age as me.
It was too much to handle. I quickly put the tote back. My breathing was sporadic and rapid, my heart just pounding and pounding. I was horrified and disgusted with myself for being up here, looking through these personal things. I had to get out of there as quickly as possible. It was too much… fuck, this was way too much.
They had lied to him. They had lied to him his whole life. Leo was his father.
Shit… Leo was his father.
Leo was Reaver’s father.
The memories Reaver had, the dark-haired man with the ball. It had been Leo the whole time.
That lab coat he had been wearing though. I had seen it before.
A cold and disturbing thought came over me. I looked down into the tote and pulled out what I thought had been a folded up sheet.
It was a lab coat. Crisp, white and pressed. I unfolded it and felt a lump in my throat as I saw a name stitched on the breast, in the same cursive writing that Perish’s had had.
Lycos.
This was a Skytech lab coat… this was a fucking Skytech lab coat…
I ran my hands along the name, before looking back at the photo. Exact same lab coat.
Was Leo a chimera? Was Leo a fugitive from King Silas on the run?
Oh god, what had I just gotten myself into?
I quickly covered my tracks and closed the pull-down stairs that had led to the attic. I went back into the living room.
I realized to my anger I had tears streaming down my face. I quickly wiped them up and went to the couch.
I looked down. I still had the picture in my hand. I put it beside the table of opiate powder and inhaled the remaining two lines. My hands were a shaking mess, my body was as well. I kept repeating ‘oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck’ in my head over and over again. I didn’t know what else to do, there was nothing else I could do.
What had I stumbled upon? Fuck, you really did it this time Killian. This is what you get for snooping, this is what you get for being nosey. Reaver told you to stay away from all this shit, you nosey fucking moron.
I slammed my hand against the coffee table and cursed, mainly at myself. I glanced down at the picture and clenched my head with an angry yell.
In the background was painted metal, a bunker, just like Reaver had remembered. Fuck, fuck, FUCK! They had been lying to him this whole time. Leo was a chimera, Leo was his father. Did he just knock up some woman and flee with the child? Why would a scientist from Skyfall run with a baby? It didn’t make sense.
I had to tell Reaver… no, fuck, was I suicidal? Reaver would kill me, and he had enough worries right now. No, I couldn’t tell Reaver.
Leo’s hair was dyed because he was a fugitive, and in a sense Reaver was too. A chimera scientist from Skyfall who defected and ran with a newborn. Why did he come to Aras? How did he know Greyson?
I felt angry at myself. If I
had only paid more attention to the goings-on in Skyfall I might have more questions answered, but at my age that hadn’t been a priority. What I would give to know just what Skytech scientists did.
What I knew for sure was that Leo had acquired Reaver, and had spent the first two years in the bunker a mile away from Aras. He’d had to hide him, then pass him off as an orphan.
Was Reaver his son? Was he really a chimera? That I didn’t know, chimeras looked like us. He could have been an apprentice who got himself into trouble.
I felt so much guilt and shame inside of me. I shouldn’t have snooped through this stuff. Now I would have to keep this from Reaver, and have all these unanswered questions. I had pulled back one layer of Reaver’s past only to find a million other layers mixed in with the billion layers of Leo’s past.
Oh gosh, in a way this made so much sense, but in so many more it made none.
I rooted through my bag and took one and a half of the Xanax pills, hoping that would be enough. If I didn’t I’d drive myself insane with questions. So many more were flowing through my head.
As the Xanax hit I started to feel an overwhelming sense of pity towards Reaver. His past was shrouded in mystery. He didn’t know who he was, or where he came from.
He would hate it if he knew he was from Skyfall. He took pride in the fact he was a waster orphan. If he knew he had been stolen, or smuggled out, how would that affect him?
I wished Leo and Greyson had told him this from the beginning. They could’ve raised him to keep quiet. Instead they just made him into a ward of Aras, then got pissed at him when he didn’t want to fit into the mould they had created for him.
What a pair of fucking assholes.
I put the picture in my bag and got my jacket. I looked back at the dimly lit living room and felt the burning anger inside of me. Reaver deserved better than them, they had been horrible parents. They had tied him up in the backyard and had put a dog collar on him – wild child or not, he was still a person. I guess if Leo was a chimera prick it wouldn’t be surprising that he was, deep down, a heartless asshole.
I didn’t want to be in this house anymore. I didn’t want to be anywhere near the evidence I had found, or Greyson and Leo’s things. Hell, I never wanted Reaver to find out about this. This would only upset him, this would screw him up… I had to protect my baby. Even if he was a murderous, sociopathic baby.
I walked out the door and took a breath of fresh air, still holding back tears.
“Oh, ready to–”
I screamed from surprise. It was Matt, walking down the stone pathway.
“Sorry…” I gasped, holding my chest, but the tears were already falling.
“What’s wrong? Want me to call Reaver?” Matt asked, reaching for the radio on his belt.
“No, no, no, god no.” I shook my head and zipped up my satchel. “Let’s… let’s just get me home. I’m pretty tired.”
“You’re trembling, bro,” Matt said. He looked behind me to the house.
I waved him off politely. “No, please, I’m okay. I took some Xanax, just a bad dream.”
Matt accepted this response. I think all of Reaver’s coworkers knew I had anxiety issues. “Alrighty, well I’ll watch you to the street. God knows Reaver would blow a blood vessel if I knew where he lived. I swear he just lives under a bridge.”
I laughed, though the Xanax was still making me feel a bit woozy. I said some things back to lighten the mood and we carried on towards Quil Street.
I bid him farewell when I was a block away from Reaver’s and he carried on towards the north gate where he was stationed. I wiped my nose and my eyes as the tears started to flow and walked to the house. I gave the west wall a wave. I knew if I didn’t Reaver would think something was wrong.
At least it was too far away for him to see me crying, even with his night vision.
I didn’t sleep well that night. I ended up having to take more Xanax to calm my nerves. The picture of Leo and baby Reaver was burned into my head. I knew I would never get that image out of my mind. I had the proof… in my satchel, only a few feet away from me. The proof that proved Reaver’s origins, and to an even bigger extent: the chimera scientist that had been pretending to be a block mayor this whole time.
What had I gotten myself into.
Chapter 32
Reaver
It felt like I had just barely put my head onto the pillow when my radio crackled to life.
“Shadow Cat, Shadow Cat.”
Killian jumped a mile high; I probably should have turned it down.
“Go back to sleep, it’s just Redmond.” I yawned and got out of bed. Killian mumbled something about Greyson not coming back soon enough, then rolled over.
I walked out into the living room. “Shadow Cat here.”
“Turn to channel five please.” I glanced at the radio and noticed all the other sentries were tuned into the channel. I switched to five and made sure that we were alone on that channel. This was the super special mayor channel, even I wasn’t allowed on it usually.
“Reaver, Justin Kerry has a fever. The other two are fine, but we have them all in quarantine right now.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” I said. I quickly got dressed and grabbed my pistol and my combat knife. My M16 wouldn’t be needed.
It was cold tonight, the coldest night we’d had. The residents would be lighting their stoves soon, and the rains would come. I was looking forward to a bit of rain; we had planted the peach stones, the apple cores, some blackberry seeds, and other random crap last week. Hopefully the rains wouldn’t be too irradiated. It would be nice to have some real fruit for once.
I took in a deep breath of the sharp night air and held it for a second. I always felt more alive at night; I think I was born to be a night owl. My senses always seemed so much sharper, not just my improved night vision, but my hearing and my reflexes as well.
I hoped this wouldn’t take too long, I had a warm bed and a warm boyfriend to get back to.
What I would have to do would be quick, but dealing with everyone’s emotions would probably take a while.
The first thing I did was what I knew I’d have to do all along: Shoot Mrs. Kerry and smother the sick baby. I left afterwards and walked towards the main quarantine shacks where the rest of the family was being held.
I saw the silhouette of Redmond in front of the shacks, several small buildings that had once been a dentist’s office. They were now reinforced with insulation, sheet metal, and medians to make them pretty much everything-proof. Even escape proof… we needed that one the most. People got desperate when they realized they were dying. I didn’t know why but the ones who couldn’t accept it sometimes wanted to just escape at all costs. Even if it meant endangering the block. We had a guy run into the door and break his neck once.
That was pretty amusing.
I nodded at Redmond as I walked up to him and lit him a cigarette. I took one for myself. I waited until he had taken a few drags. I could tell the ol’ man needed it.
Past him the cracked, moonlit pavement was empty. Office buildings and stores streaked with rust from bleeding roofs and curls of peeling paint stood on either side of the road. Some of them were three-storeys tall. They were all abandoned and had been left to decay. In a few years they would fall and would be dismantled for supplies and firewood like the others, but until then they stood without dignity. Their windows and doors were boarded up, blinding and silencing them until the ebb of time took what little pride they had left. A fate that would eventually reach all of us.
I looked around my surroundings; we were in the heart of Aras. What Aras would have looked like if Greyson’s distant grandfather hadn’t settled it. This is what our world was; we were just a bandage trying to stem the inevitable.
I heard Redmond exhale, the cigarette was half gone. My ears picked up the distant sound of crying. It was the oldest son in the furthest cell, perhaps the younger one was already dead, or he was upset he couldn’
t be with them.
“Thanks for giving me a moment.” Redmond dropped the cigarette and stepped on it. “The other two seem fine, but I knew you would want them in quarantine anyway. The kid started showing symptoms last night but the father failed to tell us. It was Mickey, the new kid, who told us. Good thinking putting a sentry out there.”
Mickey was a respectful guy; I had hoped I would be able to trust him. Though I would be keeping an eye on him too, I assumed he wasn’t dumb enough to talk to the family or get near enough. The disease was spread by blood or other body fluids getting into an orifice, like the eyes, mouth, something like that. So he should be alright, unless he had been tonguing one of the sons and with the way he got all puppy around Jess, I assumed that wasn’t a risk factor.
“I’ll handle it from here.” I pulled out my pistol and checked to make sure I had enough bullets. “You can go back to sleep.”
Redmond gave me a nod. “I’ll send an officer to watch over the other two.”
I shook my head and opened the door to the quarantine house. “No need; I’ll be exterminating all three.”
Shocked was an odd look for Redmond, he was usually very even-faced and serious. “Reaver, they haven’t shown any signs of infection…”
“And they may not. Maybe they would be one of the ten percent that never catch it, but I don’t trust the father and the son enough to not report the next fever… even to each other,” I said. “Decisions have to be made and, as mayor, this is my decision.”
Redmond didn’t look happy but he was silent. I knew he agreed but as a compassionate human he probably felt at odds with himself. His silence was all I needed; he gave me a nod and I opened the door to go inside.
“Their generator is still on… and their lamps, we had to… take them by force,” Redmond said. It seemed like he didn’t want to admit to the last part. “It’s on the way back to your street. Can you shut everything down?”
