Destinata (Valguard)

by Nicole Daffurn

  Dear Mr. Aiken,

  As per our recent conversations regarding the girl, I feel the need to remind you that in light of recent events your complacency among the humans will no longer be tolerated. Although I am sure you remember your agreement just fine Mr. Lucas has requested that I also remind you that Lucas Corp. bought the town of Tole at your request, agreeing to let you keep its inhabitants and any other future generations to use as you saw fit upon the agreement that you also conducted experiments to breed a new race of Valguard. Mr. Lucas understands that you now have conclusive evidence that Valguard and human DNA mix effectively to create a super-being and that according to our records you now have the means to help your race from becoming extinct due to not being able to interbreed.

  Now that this has been brought to our attention, your contentment within the town is no longer welcomed. You are advised that your experiments are to start being conducted effective immediately and that half of the super-Valguard’s created are to be handed directly to Lucas Corp. for further experimentation. If you do not comply our original agreement will be void and the lives of you and your ‘family’ will be forfeit. If you do comply however, when your experiments are complete the force field that surrounds the town of Tole and prevents you from leaving will be lifted and you will be free to move around and settle in other towns in the area surrounding Tole.

  Regards,

  Harlem McNeish

  Vice President of communications, Lucas Corporation.

  Three things came to mind upon reading Mikal’s letter from Lucas Corp. The first was that she now knew that he had lied to her the day that she had confronted him about being his daughter. He had known everything from the start. She wasn’t sure how to feel about that. The second was; how on earth had Ford breached the force field to get back into town? With the death of Ford, it was a question that would never be answered. And the third thing; Zane had told her that first day in the woods that the Valguard could move between towns. He had been very wrong.

  Charlie didn’t need to read any further correspondence; she had gotten what she had come for. She now knew that the Valguard were trapped here just as much as the humans were and without the humans to experiment on they were as good as dead anyway. All that was left for Charlie to do now was start a new uprising. One that meant the human’s would have the upper hand but how could she made sure that happened when the Valguard were so much physically stronger? Even without their hazing power they could outfight and outrun every human that resided in Tole but they couldn’t outsmart them. Sure most Valguard’s are pretty smart, but they would be relying on their physical attributes to win them this war, not their brains. And Charlie knew then what she must do, but first she needed to get back to Matt, she was going to need him for this plan to succeed.

  Letting her Valguard DNA consume a little bit more of her human DNA once again, she raced down the tunnels and back towards the cottage where she found Matt and El’ in exactly the same spot she had left them. Gesturing for Matt to stay quiet, he gently slipped El’ from his arms and followed Charlie into the kitchen.

  “What’s going on Charlie?”

  Producing a laptop that she had taken from Mikal’s desk before leaving the shelter, Charlie told Matt what her plan was and asked for his help yet again. Of course he was all too willing to help and considering he could help from the cottage without getting himself or El’ in harm’s way he started work straight away.

  Charlie left him working on it in peace, walked over and gave her best friend a quick kiss on the forehead and left her sleeping. There was no need to take the tunnel this time, she needed to walk the streets of Tole to execute the next part of her plan and besides the tunnels weren’t going to conceal her forever, she had been lucky so far not to be caught by a wandering Valguard but she knew her good luck couldn’t last forever.

  The burns on her arms were weeping through the now dry cloth that was wrapped around them, and she wished she’d had the sense to include a first-aid kit in the bag that she had packed back at Zane’s. She guessed she had just figured that if she were to be harmed, it would be a fatal wound produced by a Valguard, not burning herself trying to rescue her friends. Whatever the reason, she was kicking herself for it now. She was injured and with nothing left to cover her arms with, the Valguard would see the weakness and aim to deliver crippling painful blows to her arms.

  No time for regrets now Charlie, just keep moving.

  It took her a little over half an hour to spread the word through town that everyone needed to meet at the town square by 9pm which left Charlie a little less than half an hour to duck into the local hardware and pick up supplies before heading there herself. And she would have succeeded if not for running into James strolling through the aisles of Harry’s deserted hardware store. She had her bow and arrow out faster than he could attempt to capture her and the gesture made him freeze in place knowing that she could take him down with one shot.

  “Ahh, Charlie, how nice to see you again.”

  “Yea sure it is. Are you going to get out of my way or am I going to shoot you?”

  “Oh I don’t think you’ll shoot me girl.”

  “And why not?”

  “Because I’m the only one that knows where your little traitor friend is being held prisoner.”

  Charlie fixed him with a stare that let him know she was less than impressed but not shocked by the fact that he was holding Zane captive somewhere.

  “Who the hell are you anyway? Yesterday you were a barista and now you’re the leader of the Valguard’s? I find that hard to believe actually.”

  “Oh but it’s all true. I was working for Mikal while he was alive or so he thought anyway but now that’s he’s dead, I get to do things my way.”

  “How come I’ve never seen you in town before?”

  “So curious for one so young. If you must know, you have seen me before just not quite like this.”

  “What do you mean? Not like this. I’ve never seen you anywhere before.”

  “Oh, but you have. On a particularly rainy day about three and a half weeks ago. I followed you home intent on ending your life before you interfered but then your oaf of a boyfriend got in the way. I promised him no harm would come to you. Of course I was only placating him but now I couldn’t killed you even if I wanted to.”

  “Jaramm?”

  “The one and only.”

  The smirk on his face told Charlie that the words he spoke to her were nothing but the truth. Jaramm and James were the same person but why then didn’t Zane recognize him that day at the coffee shop?

  “You’re confused.”

  “Yes. Why didn’t Zane recognize you?”

  “Oh is that all that’s bothering you? Don’t worry child, your friend hasn’t betrayed you. He didn’t recognize me because the last time he saw me I only had half a face. You see I was burned badly years ago but you have some fantastic surgeons in this town and after they fixed up my face it was only a matter of resting a few days and letting my Valguard blood work its magic and I’m as good as new. It looks great don’t you think?”

  “Sure. Why are you here? It’s obvious that you haven’t resided here for as many years as the others. You’re different.”

  “Oh what the hell, I might as well tell you, it’s not like you have anyone else to tell. I was sent here to make sure that you didn’t get in the way.”

  “Get in the way of what?”

  “The experiments. You see, the Valguard to human DNA ratio in your blood is going to be nothing compared to what they have in store for the rest of the humans in this town. You were merely a test to see if it would work. Now though, every single person in town will report for mandatory blood infusions. It’s kind of like Dialysis if you think about it but instead of having their blood cleaned of any impurities, it will be syphoned out into a machine designed by one of your own doctors, blended with donor Valguard blood and then entered back into their bodies.”

  “But why? Just so t
hat your race can survive? Surely you could find humans willing enough to fall in love with you and conceive children. Hell even if they aren’t willing you could just haze them anyway.”

  “This isn’t only about the survival of our race Charlie. This about creating a new super-breed of Valguard, one like the world has never seen. They would be similar to me actually but much stronger, much smarter and much more disposable.”

  “I still don’t understand why you need to do this.”

  “Because the new Valguard’s wouldn’t care for the lives of others, nor would they care for their own. They would be kept in confinement until such a time that they are needed, say in the event of another world war.”

  “So they whoever they are. Are building a disposable army of super-Valguard’s?”

  “That’s exactly what they are planning. Yes.”

  Charlie knew exactly who they were but there was no point in letting James know just how much she knew yet so she played along. After all the more he spoke the more knowledge she was armed with.

  “But there aren’t enough people in Tole to create an army, especially since they are so disposable.”

  “Tole is just the beginning Charlie. Haven’t you worked that out yet? Your precious little town’s people are only the lab rats.”

  “What? You’re planning to turn the entire population into a Valguard army?”

  “No of course not the entire population. Just about forty per cent of it. The other sixty per cent will be ruled by the Valguard and live by our rules and in our way and do our bidding.”

  Charlie let every ounce of sarcasm drip into her next words, knowing that more than anything she needed to know what her fate would be if things didn’t go to plan.

  “Right. And what about me? Am I supposed to do your bidding or join the disposable army? Because I can tell you, neither of those options are actually that appealing to me.”

  James laughed in her face and narrowed his eyes slightly before answering her.

  “Not quite sweetie. You see, Tole isn’t the only town the experiments have been taking place for the last twenty years. There are dozens. It’s just that Tole is the only one that has fought back and so they will be the first subjected to the change. And when we regain control you will be shipped to a containment area outside of town where you’ll get to meet all the other successful experiments like yourself and then you will be subjected to further testing before being disposed of. Or maybe we’ll make a little game of it and make you dispose of the others first, you’ve been so good at killing in cold blood these last few days. I’ve rather enjoyed watching actually. Such grace, such poise, such malice for one so young.”

  Charlie couldn’t stand to listen to one more word come out of James’s mouth. He thought all of this was a game and she could see then that what Zane had told her about the first ones being different was nothing short of the truth. The other Valguard no matter how cold and cruel they were didn’t take enjoyment in killing the way that James’s… Jaramm, whatever his name was did. He was something else, something that didn’t feel. There was not one ounce of human left inside him. The thought made Charlie sick, she needed to get away and fast.

  “You disgust me.”

  She leaned forward slightly and spat directly into James’s eyes rendering him blind for a second and before he could regain his composure she shot the still readied arrow from her bow straight into his stomach. A small trickle of blood started to run out and she knew by the fact that he was still standing -though clutching his middle – that she had missed his heart. She ran from the store without a glance backwards and without her supplies for making new arrows and headed for the town square.

  Chapter Seventeen

  As Charlie ran towards the square she could see her vision from earlier changing and shifting. Something must have altered the course that they were on originally because now she could see the Valguard gathering in the square and the town’s people forming a human barricade of sorts around them. They were all in the exact same positions as in her earlier vision but this time they weren’t shackled to each other. They stood proud and defiant against the Valguard. As the images ran through Charlie’s mind, a smile came to her face. Finally the people of the town were ready to win this. They had faith in Charlie that she herself didn’t have yet. The feeling was intense, she felt the sting of tears in the corner of her eyes but held them back. She needed to be strong for her people now. No one was going to trust a blubbering mess to get them out of this.

  She arrived at the town square covered in perspiration and exerted beyond anything she had ever felt. She thought that she could very well lay down on the grass right here and fall asleep within seconds but it only took the sight of the Valguard that had gathered to put a damper on that thought.

  From amidst the crowd Charlie could hear mumblings of ‘What’s going on?’ and ‘Why are we here?’ And she knew it was time to speak up and take her role as temporary leader among the humans.

  Still donning her contact lenses the residents of Tole wouldn’t doubt Charlie. She had grown up here, most had watched her grow from a baby, to a child, to a rebellious teenager and then into the young adult that stood before them. She felt disgusted at herself for keeping her true identity a secret but revealing herself now was just going to do more harm than good. She needed them to follow her to succeed with her plan and taking her contacts out now would ruin that.

  Glad that she had a friend like Matt on hand – who had sent an automated phone message to everyone in town, telling them where to meet. She closed her eyes and silently congratulated him on a job well done.

  Standing in the middle of the circle she cleared her throat and addressed the people and Valguard alike that surrounded her.

  “You’re probably wondering why I gathered you all here when I knew the Valguard would be returning at the same time.”

  Murmured agreement and annoyance.

  “Well the truth is I needed human’s and Valguard alike to be here tonight because you all need to know that we are trapped in Tole, not by the Valguard but by a corporation called Lucas Corp. They own this land and they think that they own us. They agreed to let the Valguard settle here nearly twenty years ago to conduct experiments on us to see whether they were successful in breeding a new super race of Valguard’s but Lucas Corp. was smarter than they had anticipated and not only have they kept the humans of Tole captive for almost twenty years but they have also kept the Valguard captive.”

  There was outrage among the Valguard at the thought of being trapped here like animals. It was obvious that only those higher up among their ranks new of the deception and agreed to it.

  “That’s right, you can’t leave town any more than we can. I’ve come to support a truce between the humans of Tole and the Valguard’s.”

  Now there was real outrage between the two races, neither willingly wanting to cooperate with the other and thinking what Charlie suggested was complete and utter nonsense.

  She waited for the yelling to stop before continuing but it didn’t. Not until she felt big hands grasp her shoulders and realize that everyone in the square was staring straight at her. Looking down at the blood stained hands she knew who it was that had her gripped so tightly he threatened to cut of the blood circulation.

  “Now, now Charlie, we wouldn’t be trying to convince the enemies to get along now would we? Because that would be wrong. Right?”

  “We both know that the only way we are getting out of here is in a bag or joining forces James.”

  “My dear, you seem to be forgetting why we are here. Don’t you remember the little chat that we had back at Harry’s?”

  Before Charlie could retort James had gripped her burned arms tightly in his hands and squeezed tighter and tighter until the pain was unbearable and she let out a high-pitched blood curdling scream. He ripped the make-shift bandages free from her arms and the cool night air hitting the burns brought tears to her eyes. Tears that this time she couldn’t hold back.
Holding her arms in the air by the wrists James addressed the people for the first time.

  “This… Is what happens when you defy your masters. If you play with fire, you are going to get burned.”

  The cries of outrage at Charlie’s suggestion of a truce were nothing compared to what surrounded her now, the roars of the people deafening. But outrage was not the only emotion conveyed at the sight of Charlie’s burns somewhere from within the crowds of people she could hear murmurs of submission. She had failed them, there was no way they would declare a truce now, but she couldn’t give in that easily. She had to keep trying, after all it was keep trying or end up in confinement with others like herself and then be forced to kill them for Lucas Corps. own sick and twisted amusement.

  She wrenched her wrists free of James’s hands and elbowed him in the exact spot that she had shot him with the arrow. He bent forward involuntarily and clutched his chest giving Charlie the precise reaction she had wanted.

  “Yes James but I’m not the only one wounded. And unlike you, whose wound was delivered by me, a lowly half-human girl. My own wounds were acquired by saving my friends from the fire you set in their house.”

  James was smiling now though he had no reason to be. Charlie had shown him up in front of the Valguard and the human population of Tole. All around her she could hear the people whispering and she realized all too late the mistake she had made. She had admitted to being only half human and from the angered looks on everybody’s faces she could tell they weren’t receiving this news well. Closing her eyes in exasperation she turned to face the crowd once more.