Grim Vengeance

by Jennifer Reinfried

  “So you know where Isaac is, and Emma, no?”

  Charlie nodded.

  “And you are wanting to kill Shawn and the rest of the Synths?”

  Another up-and-down bob of his head.

  Vance lifted his chin, staring down at him. “Then you and I will do so together.”

  Relief flooded Charlie, warming his chest and stomach. He forced his face to remain passive and blank.

  “Wait a minute.” Michael looked incredulous. “How the hell can you trust him just like that?”

  Charlie frowned. He looked at the Russian and hefted the metal weapon in his hand. Smiling, he turned in a quick motion and slid the tip of the spike into Chelsea’s throat.

  —-

  Jaxon came to on his left side, arm numb from the weight of his body. Groaning, he struggled to sit upright. He felt a dry crustiness on the sides of his face and brought his hand up, touching his cheek. His fingers came away with flecks of dried blood. Shaking his unfeeling left arm, he looked up to see the corpse he had destroyed. His gorge rose, and he glanced away in a quick motion.

  -Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey.-

  He groaned and toppled onto his back. “I’m fucking crazy. I’ve snapped.” He licked his dry, chapped lips. “This is me acknowledging that I have gone mad.”

  -Why? Because the first step to realizing you’re crazy is admitting it?-

  “Goddammit.”

  -I’m not going anywhere.-

  “Shut the fuck up.”

  -Don’t speak that way to your father.-

  With a sigh, Jaxon sat up, his head pounding. I’ve gone crazy.

  -No, you haven’t.-

  Jaxon gaped. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” He threw his hands in the air. “Of course you can hear my thoughts, too. Of course.”

  -I can’t help it. Once I discovered how, it just, I dunno, comes easily. Like second nature. Trust me, I don’t WANT to hear every single horrific thing you’ve been thinking. In fact, I was able to read your thoughts before I was able to talk—-

  “Fan-fucking-tastic,” Jaxon muttered as he got to his feet. “I hope you can feel this damn headache I have, too.”

  -Nope.-

  “Great. Now go away.”

  -Let me help you.-

  “All right. Tell me where Vance is so I can send the parts of this dude to him as a warning.”

  Silence. Jaxon grinned. “I knew it. That’s proof right there that you’re in my—”

  -Northern California. There’s a bunker a few miles West of Ninety-Six, just within Klamath Forest.-

  Staring at nothing, Jaxon blinked. “I made that up.”

  -I want to help you. I told you before you killed me that I’d help you, even turn on Vance for you. Because I love you. Because you are my son.-

  Jaxon grimaced. “Stop saying that. I killed you for a reason.” He walked to the kitchen and began to rummage through cabinets, making as much noise as he could to try to drown out the prominent voice in his head.

  -You’re not going to get rid of me.-

  “I can try.” Frustrated, he slammed a drawer and whipped around. His gaze fell on a pantry door, which he yanked open.

  -If I give you Vance, will you stop this vengeful rampage?-

  “No.” Jaxon found a stack of plastic containers with matching lids and removed two from the shelf.

  -Jax...-

  “Look, you’re not going to stop me. I don’t need help.” He walked through the kitchen and back toward the mangled body in the living room. “I don’t need saving. I don’t need you.” Using his mind, he picked up the dried tongue he’d severed earlier and dropped it into the first container. Snapping its lid in place, he next threw the sawed-off digits into the second container. He then stood staring in distaste at the mangled body. It’s still looking at me, he thought.

  “So, tell me, Dad.” Jaxon sneered the word. “If you really want to help me, why can’t you see my side of things?” He tossed the plastic containers into the dead man’s freezer, then made his way back to the corpse. “Why can’t you feel what I feel? What it was like after Julie was murdered? After Emma fucked with Shawn and me. Falling for Julie’s sister only to have her killed, too? How do you think that feels, huh, Dad?”

  The voice said nothing.

  “That’s what I thought.” Turning his focus on the dead Vance employee, Jaxon took a deep breath. Reaching out, he slid the man’s couch away, shoving it down a side hall. Next the coffee table flew into the air. He pushed it away until it rested atop the couch. Then the recliners were added to the spacious kitchen until Jaxon was left with just the fireplace and the dead body. He felt along the floor with his mind until he was a good distance away from the corpse, then lifted. Carpet tore up in random patches, far from the neat, even rectangle he’d had planned.

  He let out a frustrated sigh and called his wraiths.

  -My mother killed herself, you know.-

  “Oh, great, you’re back.” Jaxon watched as his minions tore the carpet in precise motions, seething that he still couldn’t hone his ability to do what they did.

  -I found her body. I was younger than you are now. There had been no warnings, no signs. Sure, she’d been mourning the death of my dad, but she never gave any hint at her true feelings. Shortly after I moved out and started dating, Mom took her own life. I spent years thinking it was my fault.-

  Jaxon sighed. “Is this your villain backstory?”

  -Are you serious? You think I’M a villain? I haven’t even killed anybody.-

  “That’s not even what defines one.”

  -I only ever did what I did for the good of my family. My loved ones.-

  “Sounds like a villain speech to me. Listen to yourself.”

  Silence once again. Jaxon continued as his wraiths severed the final sections of carpet. “A villain is a person who is deliberately involved in wickedness or crime, regardless of the reason. Sound familiar?”

  Still nothing.

  Dismissing his wraiths, he took hold of each side of the ragged rectangle they’d carved and pulled the carpet up with a loud tearing sound. “Villains oppose what the heroes are attempting to accomplish.”

  -Like you.-

  “Like me.” Once the carpet was free of the floor, holding the body up, Jaxon began to wrap it up in a tight roll. “But I know now that’s what I am. You, on the other hand, are still telling yourself that your whole life you were the hero. Do you know how pathetic that is? How sad?”

  -I did it for you. For Shawn.-

  “You did it for yourself. Plenty of single parents survive with more than one kid without having to work for a crime boss. Plus.” He lowered the dead-man-burrito-wrap to the ground once more, keeping a hold on it to ensure it didn’t unravel. “With your Evo ability, I’m pretty sure you could have found a way to avoid joining up with Vance. So tell me. Why? Why the fuck did you do it?”

  A pause, then, -You’re right. You’re...absolutely right. I did it for myself.-

  “Villain.” Jaxon’s left eye twitched.

  -Yes...yes, I suppose I am.-

  The thought that had been nagging him every waking moment since he’d learned his brother had rescued Emma and Isaac from his wrath finally broke free. “And the hero, then, is without a doubt Shawn?”

  -He’s attempting to stop you and take out Vance before anyone else gets hurt. So yeah, I guess so. But the world doesn’t work like that, Jax. It isn’t black and white, dark or light.-

  Jaxon flexed his mind, shattering the granite countertops in the kitchen with a mere thought. The loud snap drowned out the shattering of the glassware kept in cupboards and the tearing of the couch’s expensive fabric.

  “Keep telling yourself that, Dad.”

  —-

  Emma’s heart hammered against her chest as Duncan took a turn too quickly, nearly toppling the van. The tires squealed a short protest. Horns honked, and people yelled, but they didn’t slow. She shot a glance at Mari, whose eyes were glued to the screen of Duncan’s c
ell phone.

  “Left at the lights. Right up here!” she shouted.

  The van swerved again, bringing more protests from outside.

  Watching a blue sign with a large “H” on it fly by, Emma gripped the back of the seat in front of her. The seat belt she wore chafed the exposed skin of her chest from the times she strained against it during the wild ride to save the clones.

  Please, please, please. They can’t die. Shawn can’t die. Please, let them live.

  “Right up here! There!” Mari pointed forward, arm stretching past Duncan. He nodded and maneuvered the van toward a small three-story brick building. The back tire bounced up on the curb, flinging everyone to the side.

  “Holy shit!” Isaac exclaimed from the back where he and Aaron had been watching Shawn and Lucas. When Emma turned, she saw him pushing off the floor of the vehicle, rubbing his shoulder.

  Slowing to a stop, Duncan flung his own seat belt from his body and leapt from the car, almost forgetting the keys. Emma followed suit, jumping from the van and running around back just as he flung the doors open. Mari, however, sprinted toward the hospital’s entrance, two sleek sliding-glass doors.

  “Are we there yet?” Shawn mumbled, his eyes closed.

  “We are. Hold on, hon.” Emma reached in and rested a hand on his uninjured leg. She could see that both his and Lucas’ wounds had closed about halfway and their bleeding had subsided a great deal. But they can’t make blood fast enough to keep up with what they’ve already lost. They need a transfusion before they’re out of the woods. She threw Isaac a look as he climbed out of the van and wrapped his arms around her. Emma rested her forehead on his shoulder, unable to take her mind off of her injured friends.

  “Here, over here!” Mari ran toward them, blonde hair flying back from her terrified face. A group of hospital staff charged up behind her with expressions of determined concern, two stretchers in tow. Their expert hands quickly pulled Shawn and Lucas from the van’s depths and loaded them onto the gurney before jogging them inside, two EMTs on either side of the hurt men. Emma followed, unable to decipher the medical jargon they all calmly spewed as they entered the hospital.

  A tall thin man with white hair stepped in front of her, holding up both hands. “I’m sorry, folks, but we need to take it from here.” His voice was soft and comforting. It completely enraged Emma.

  “No!” she yelled. Pushing past him, she made it three steps before someone grabbed her wrist. Whirling, she nearly put a fist in Isaac’s face. “We can’t leave them! They need us!” Panic bubbled through her, bringing anxiety to the forefront of her mind. All she could picture was Shawn, eyes open and unseeing, smothered in his own blood. She attempted to pull free of Isaac’s grasp but failed.

  His hands were coated in dried blood, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Emma, please. Stop. Let them help.”

  “No, I can’t. What if they don’t make it? What if they die back there alone? What if—”

  “Enough, Emma.” Duncan’s voice was hard, commanding. He put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her away from the still open doors to the ER.

  She wrenched free. “I’ll fucking make them let me in.” She turned, glaring at the tall man that had stopped her. “Let me pass.”

  He instantly dropped his hands and stepped to one side, bowing his head in a low nod.

  “Emma!” Duncan grabbed her again. This time he grabbed her face between his hands and stared at her. “Not here, dammit.”

  His eyes bored into her. She felt her terror begin to drain, slowly leaking out of her in waves. “I...I didn’t...I don’t want them to die.”

  Duncan nodded and let her go, but he stayed close. “I know. None of us does. But we don’t need to make a scene, remember? Remember what you talked about in the van?” His gaze jumped to the tall man who still stood off to one side. “How we needed to get them here, to let the doctors help them, to trust that they’ll be able to save their lives?”

  She nodded and closed her eyes. Letting out a trembling sigh, she drooped in his grasp.

  “All right. Okay. Good. Isaac, Aaron, go clean yourselves up. Mari, quit glaring and go sit down. I’ll deal with admissions. Emma?”

  Glancing up, she noticed he was tilting his head toward the tall man who watched her with a confused expression. Sighing, she walked up to him.

  “Get out of my sight.”

  The man turned without a word and sprinted down the hallway. Emma let out a defeated whimper as the doors slid shut in her face.

  Chapter Eight

  Shawn’s eyes snapped open. He was lying on his back on an uncomfortable cot. An IV poked out of his right arm, its tube snaking up past his shoulder and into a half-full clear bag of liquid. A moment passed where he thought Duncan would be at his side, smiling, asking how his new sight was, but his mind focused quickly, and the memories of Vance’s attack came flooding back. He sat up, wincing at the dull ache in his torso.

  “Hey, now.” A smooth male voice floated over to him. Ignoring it, Shawn glanced at Lucas, who was awake, propped up against some pillows, staring at him. Why does he look scared?

  “Glad to see you’re awake. You lost quite a bit of blood, the both of you.” The speaker, a dark-skinned man in his early thirties, stepped away from the machines that monitored Shawn’s vitals.

  “Where are my—” Shawn’s words were cut short as he shifted on the bed again only to find his left arm snagging on something wrapped around his wrist. His vision tilted softly, and he closed his eyes until the vertigo passed. Opening them again, he saw that his arm was restrained to the rail of his bed with a black plastic zip tie. Oh. That’s why.

  “Don’t worry. Everything’s fine right now.”

  “Who are you?”

  “Dr. Christiansen. I’ve been overseeing your...rapid recovery.”

  Shawn’s stomach did a quick flip. “Oh. Nice to meet you.” He attempted a smile that was not returned.

  “I know you’re still coming down from the sedative I gave you, but I would love to hear exactly how two men were wounded in the exact same places with the exact same weapon.”

  “Well, I, uh...”

  Lucas intervened. “I already explained to you that we were stabbed. Restrained, held against our will, stabbed.”

  Dr. Christiansen nodded. “Yes, that you did. Yet neither of you sport any signs of restraint on your bodies.”

  Thinking quickly, Shawn sat up further on his bed. “They had us at gun point.”

  The man’s expression didn’t change. “I see.”

  “Please, go talk with Duncan, the man with the beard that brought us here. He was there, he can explain it better than we can. The pain made things a bit, you know, fuzzy.”

  The doctor nodded but didn’t move. “I’ve spoken to Duncan already. His story doesn’t seem to match yours.”

  Fuck, fuck, fuck. Shawn forced himself not to swallow and cleared his throat instead. “That...that doesn’t make sense. What did he tell you?”

  “Never mind that right now. The important thing is we get to the bottom of this before the police arrive.”

  Shawn felt his heart pick up speed. “Police?”

  Nodding, the doctor moved around his bed and stood between them. “I called them already. There is no way you two are telling the truth. And then there’s the matter of how your wounds are already closed.”

  “Look, sir...Doctor...” Lucas grimaced. His right arm was restrained in a similar fashion.

  “My wife,” Shawn blurted. Both men stared at him, Lucas’ expression almost comical. “My wife. Bring her in here, she’ll clear the air.”

  “Wife? The blonde or the brunette?”

  “Brunette.”

  “The one that’s been curled up in the other guy’s lap for the last hour?”

  “That’s, uh...her brother.”

  “Interesting.” The doctor didn’t seem convinced. He started for the door. “When the police arrive, we can all have a discussion. Until then, rest.”

/>   “No, please. Please. Bring her in here. You can supervise her, just...let’s clear this all up, okay?”

  Dr. Christiansen paused and glanced over one shoulder, then was gone.

  “Son of a bitch,” Lucas whispered. He looped a finger through the zip tie on his wrist and flicked upward, snapping it with ease. He shimmied downward until he could swing his legs over the side.

  “What are you doing?” Shawn whispered back. “They’re coming back with cops, you heard him.

  “Yeah, and we’ll be gone when they do.” Lucas stepped up to Shawn’s bed and reached forward, but Shawn shook his head and slapped his hand over his restraint.

  “And if we walk out of this room, it will provoke so much suspicion we could be taken away in the back of a squad car. If we disappear, they could take our friends. If Mari freezes, well, can you imagine how that’ll look on the security cameras here? If we’re reported, don’t you think there’s a slight chance the government will discover what happened, come looking for us? We don’t need to be tracked down by the people that led our creation on top of everything, Lucas. We have to wait here, at least for now.”

  Lucas stared at him, giving Shawn goosebumps.

  “Look,” he said. “If anything, they can’t arrest us on what they have now. If we can convince them to get Emma in here, she’ll make quick work of their minds and we’ll stroll out the front door without anyone getting hurt or taken in.”

  His clone sighed but got back in his bed. “You better be damn convincing, then.”

  “So will you.”

  The door opened, and for a split second, Shawn panicked. He gestured wildly at Lucas’ right arm where the zip tie had been. The man’s eyes widened, but he flipped the side of his blanket up and over the rail, making it look as if he had been struggling. Lucas scowled at Dr. Christiansen, who walked into the room moments later.

  Shawn couldn’t help but smile when he saw Emma walk in behind him. “Hey, babe.”

  She blinked and raised an eyebrow.

  “Did you two talk yet? Did my wife explain what happened? Honey, tell the doctor how we got hurt.” It took every ounce of restraint not to wink.