The Warrior

by Rebecca Royce

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” I pulled back and wiped at my eyes. When had I started crying? I didn’t know. “You were planted with memories. You did what you were supposed to do.”

  She took my face in her hands. “When Micah started talking, it was like a dawn went off in my head. Of course, it all made sense. All of it.” She shook me. “What did you do? Anything could have happened to you and no one knew you even existed.”

  “Mom, did they explain to you—?”

  My mother waved her hand in my face. “I know. About the cloning. It’s all too complex for me. I’m here. That’s all I know.”

  At that moment, that was all I knew, too.

  “Rachel.” My father’s voice sounded strained. I still held on to my mother while I looked at him. Coming to some kind of reconciliation with him was going to be harder than getting used to having my mom around again. Things between us had gone from bad to worse before I’d left Genesis.

  “Dad.”

  Mom squeezed my arm. “I know what happened. He told me. Everything.” From the tone of her voice, I gathered things between them might have followed the pattern of my situation. Good to bad. She didn’t sound pleased.

  “Rachel, I have nothing to say, nothing to make this any better. I mean my memories of last time; I don’t know who he is. I don’t behave the way I did. I can’t remember ever being drunk before we were in Genesis. How? We….”

  I put my hand on his arm. “It’s totally possible Icahn did something to you. Although why he would want to, I don’t know.”

  “Maybe I made him upset.”

  Anything could be called possible at this point. “Maybe. Why don’t we leave last time where it belongs? There are things we need to do now.”

  My own words stopped me short. Yes, there were a lot of things to handle. Jason needed to be contained before he did something dumb. Icahn had to be stopped. Nothing had changed. It felt great to be back with my people but what if they tried to stop me?

  I took two steps back. “I have to go back to Redemption and finish what I started.”

  “No.” My father’s words struck out at me like he’d tied a rope around me.

  I hadn’t heard him use that particular tone since the time before Armageddon. My body jolted with the sense-memory of the whole thing. Even though I knew he couldn’t really stop me from doing what I needed to do, I reacted like he could.

  “You’ve done enough,” he finished.

  “I’m afraid I haven’t.” I shook my head. “Not quite yet, Dad.”

  Patrick walked over to us. “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

  “No, you’re not.” My mother threw her hands in the air. “You’ve been itching to get over since she showed up. I’m lucky you gave us five minutes.”

  “Be that as it may.” Patrick did not seem sorry. He shrugged. “I don’t mean to seem flippant but we have a very limited amount of time here before Icahn will take our people, his people, and everyone else he has up his sleeve and then come and get us. I don’t know about you but I’d prefer to either not be killed or have my mind altered for what may be the third time.”

  “You need me to go destroy his cloning machines.” I didn’t know what had happened to my backpack, and the bomb I’d spent hours creating would have been long ago dispensed with. But, if someone had a baseball bat I’d make it work, too.

  “Tell me how to do it, and I’ll do it for you.” Keith stepped up, joining the group. He nodded to both of my parents and smiled at me.

  When my father had been drunk all the time, Keith had been a candle in the darkness to help me steer my way. But he couldn’t do this.

  “Listen, if you all want to help me….” I had everyone’s attention. “You can come along and create a diversion.”

  “Why not just kill him?” Keith had never spoken to me about murder before. I’d never heard him advocate anyone’s death. I’d watched him kill Liam Icahn to save me but he’d not been happy for having done it. Of course, Liam now walked around as alive as my mother and Chad. These were the days we lived in.

  “His sons will just bring him back.” I held up my hand when he would have said something. “Trust me on this. End the cloning and they’ll change how they approach us. The Icahns are cowards. They don’t want to die.”

  None of us really did but we’d lived life not aware we had a choice in the matter.

  “Since time is of the essence, I’m going to get moving. Whoever wants to come can join me. If you don’t want to, I’ll meet you back at Genesis after I’m done.”

  I really hoped they wouldn’t leave me alone. Feeling the group again had been a very heady sensation. I liked being Rachel who was part of Genesis, who had a mother and a father, whom Chad liked to kiss.

  As if I willed him to do so, Chad grabbed my hand to walk with me. “I know where the cloning machines are. I was in the room with you. If I hadn’t been worried Deacon was going to kill you, I’d have stopped to bust the things myself before coming after you.”

  “Do you really think Deacon would have killed me?” I hated the idea. It made my skin crawl. How could he hate me so much? Deacon Evans never took to any training without objecting. He’d given in to reprogramming so easily?

  “I do. You should have seen his eyes. They were huge, dilated. Deacon didn’t seem himself. Not at all.”

  “Wow.” If I could have been a fly on the wall wherever he’d gone to, I’d love to know what he thought about. Or maybe not. Maybe it would be better if I went my entire life without ever knowing.

  “Yeah, ‘wow’ isn’t the word I used. Even before we got into the room, Icahn never asked us to beat you senseless. He said to get you subdued. I had to assume by the time I cued into what was happening, Deacon had also. Personally, for me, it had altered the second we were entered the lab in Genesis. Why didn’t it shift his perspective?”

  I squeezed his hand. “I don’t know.”

  “So how long has this been going on?” My parents flanked us on both sides. “You and Chad? Your dad is not sure and I’m catching up.”

  We had never had to face disruptive parents before. I’d even been ready to run off with Jason and live with the wolves, assuming my dad really wouldn’t have cared. I’d been wrong but we were used to lots of freedom.

  Did they think I’d step back into the role of groundable teenager?

  “Well, we were together for a while before he died.” I groaned. “I really need to come up with a better way of referring to what happened.”

  Chad shook his head. “We’ll come up with a different phrase so every time you say it, I don’t want to go hide in a cave. How about ‘when Chad was away’ or something.”

  “Right. So now you’ve just picked back up? How serious is this relationship?” My mother always did have a way of cutting to the heart of the matter.

  “Serious.” Chad answered for me before I could.

  I swallowed through the dryness threatening to overtake my throat.

  He continued. “I mean to be with Rachel forever.”

  “She’s sixteen.” My mother put her hands on her hips.

  “Seventeen now, Mom. Almost eighteen.”

  My father nodded. “She’s right, Kate. She’s almost eighteen.”

  For a second, my mother stared at me like she’d just seen me for the first time. A lone tear slid down her face and she wiped it away. “And we don’t live in the world we left, do we? Eighteen is very grown up here.”

  “Can we talk about something else?” Right this very instant. Please?

  ***

  “Here.” Micah handed me the large branch he’d acquired some time in our walk toward Redemption. “This is going to have to do as a stake and Keith had a couple of extra machetes we raided.”

  “Thanks.” I smiled at him.

  Toward the back of the group, my mother and father were arguing with Patrick about whether or not I should be allowed to continue with this mission all by myself.

  I tried to ignore them but li
ke a high-pitched squeal, I couldn’t quite tune them out. Keith nodded toward the habitat.

  “It looks empty.” He shook his head. “All the times I’ve been out exploring and fighting. How did I miss this?”

  “Maybe you didn’t. Remember how they made me think Chad died in some explosion before the Vampire change? But he’d really been killed here? Don’t underestimate how many times you’ve been altered.”

  “My head hurts.” Keith rubbed his eyes. “Do you think they’re in there?”

  “No. They’re not.” Because they were on the move after us. I could feel it in my bones, like I could when a Vampire came into the vicinity. “We need to go now.”

  “You’re not going in alone.” Keith had repeated this a couple of times like I might like it better if he said it many times. I wanted to go in alone. Patrick thought I’d be more likely to be successful if I did. But we’d both been overruled. A small crew would be entering the building with me. For what reason, I wasn’t sure. Weird things happened to me all the time. If they thought they could stop it that would be one thing, but I worried they’d all end up getting killed.

  I marched forward toward Redemption. Chad arrived, flanked by Glen. They’d taken the people who couldn’t fight and hidden them in the woods, with a few guards to keep them safe. The babies and small children had no place in the world we now entered. What had surprised me, however, was the non-Warriors, the civilians we protected, had insisted on coming with us.

  Everyone wanted to see this done.

  I’d been lucky. My friends and family hadn’t been able to forget me. Well, some of them. My heart stuttered whenever I thought of Deacon. I needed to do a better job of not letting him enter my mind. Next time I might lose more than Deacon.

  If Icahn had manipulated me, and I felt certain he had, then I couldn’t let it happen again. His bargaining piece would be out of the way.

  Redemption had been abandoned. Had it only been days earlier I’d trained with Darren, running around, thinking about the future? Wondering what would happen?

  I flipped open the light when I walked into the science building. As I turned to Micah I stopped moving. “Do you think they could have taken all the equipment with them?”

  “No. They’d have needed trucks. Even they don’t have vehicles. Unless they’ve somehow managed to bring in airplanes.” He waited a beat. “Do you think they could have?”

  I shook my head. “Hope not. My mind could be erased, but I don’t recall seeing anything like a jet in the next six months.”

  “You know.” Micah grinned and behind me, Lucy, one of the younger Warriors, sighed. I would have rolled my eyes but at the moment I didn’t care. “This not being able to count on our own memory really sucks.”

  “It does.”

  I moved forward. If they couldn’t take the equipment with them, there was no way they’d leave it behind to be destroyed.

  Chad grabbed my arm and I stopped moving. “It’s a trap.”

  “What?”

  He backed up a step pulling me with him. “This has to be a trap. Everyone out of the building.

  The same senses had kicked in for me had bothered him as well. Not being alone did have some advantages.

  Pain threatened to overtake me and I doubled over. Micah yanked at me and my knees gave out. Damn it. When the Vampire senses hit me, they took me out hard.

  “The Vamps are here.” I managed to get out the words before I hit the floor entirely. There must be a whole slew of them to destroy me like this. Chad picked me up off the floor and hauled me over his shoulder. I groaned.

  “Put me down, Chad. Save yourself.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  He hissed and I knew his own Vampire senses had turned on. Mine came earlier than his. They always would, thanks to my near-death experience with one, but the rest of the Warriors did eventually get their cues, too.

  The Vampires slithered into the room in a long line, two by two. They were silent and I could tell by the way they were able to stand up straight instead of hunched over, they were not the lazy, worn-down variety of Vamp. These creatures would kill us or turn us. Either way, I wanted no part.

  “Chad, put me down. I have to fight.”

  He set me on my feet. Other girls might like to be taken care of, and there was a time and a place for being a princess in need of rescue, but I preferred knowing my boyfriend understood I could kick butt at his side when need be.

  “Yes, Mr. Lyons.” Icahn’s voice radiated over the loudspeaker. “It was a trap, and like the small-minded ninnies I know you to be, you walked right into it.”

  Icahn had addressed Chad but Chad’s father answered him instead. “Icahn, you sent a group of highly trained Vampire hunters into a room against Vampires. Do you think we’re afraid? Come down here like a man or stay there like the coward we know you to be. None of us care. Not one bit.”

  I kind of cared but I wasn’t going to argue with Patrick. Not in his big moment.

  Keith grabbed my arm. “You wanted a distraction, you’re going to get one. Run, fly, kick—I don’t care. Just get to the room and destroy the machine. Micah, Chad, you’re with her. Nothing happens to our girl. Got it?”

  “Right.” They spoke in unison. The hard line of their gazes made them look more like brothers than was usually noticeable.

  My mother yelled as she tripped one of the Vampires. The Undead creature hit the floor and chaos broke out. Screams and moans of pain filled the room. I plunged my stake through the creature’s heart before running forward.

  Training Keith had given me years earlier, but I’d never forgotten, kicked in. I swayed, maneuvered, and jumped around any object falling in my way. Chad and Micah were behind me. I didn’t have to turn around to know. Trusting my team in the heat of battle came easily to me.

  I rounded the corner and pushed my way into the room with the cloning machines. I’d taken one step inside when I saw him. Deacon Evans stood, his machete raised about his head, all his attention focused on me.

  My heart beat fast. I’d run hard. Chad and Micah were behind me and yet nothing in the moment mattered more than Deacon. My eyesight tunneled.

  “Are you planning on using your weapon on me?”

  “Yes.” He nodded. “Dr. Icahn told me if you got this far to make sure you didn’t see the light of day.”

  “Fine.” I gritted my teeth, pulling out my own machete. “Let’s get this done, because I’d rather see you dead than be this person, this creation of Icahn’s I can’t even recognize anymore.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Then

  The pounding on my window woke me seconds before Jason busted through it. I screamed, pulling the covers up to my chin.

  “What the hell are you doing? Have you lost your mind?”

  My parents rushed through the door and my father said some words worse than the one I had just used. My mom sat on the bed, pulling me against her like her arms could keep me safe from the insanity surging into my room at three in the morning.

  “You all have to come with me.” Jason raised his hands in the air. “Okay? There’s something happening. It’s very bad. There’s one chance for survival.”

  “Son.” My father flipped on the light, his almost healed black eye the first thing I noticed. “I don’t know what you’ve taken tonight but you need to go home and sleep it off before I call the police.”

  “Sir.” His politeness was preferable to the way he’d spoken to my dad the last time he’d presented himself in my room. “I realize you have no reason to believe anything I say. I know you don’t trust me. You have no reason to. My hope is you’ll come to see how much I love Rachel and find it in your heart to forgive me someday.”

  “Jason.”

  He shook his head. “I’m sorry, Rachel, I really am, but I can’t give you a choice. You have to live through this and I have the means to make sure you do.”

  My father had enough. He stormed forward and Jason growled at him, which mad
e my dad stop in his tracks. It was just so weird he made those noises. I shivered. Maybe scary would be a better word.

  “Autumn. Luna.” Jason’s sisters came through the window. Autumn nodded and Luna smiled before looking at her feet.

  “I don’t like this,” Luna whispered.

  I bet she didn’t. Whatever this proved to be.

  “No choice.” Jason stretched his neck, his gaze meeting mine. “I’m sorry you have to see this now. We should have had years together first.”

  “What?” I sat up in the bed. So what if he saw my blue nightie with the bows on it? I needed to get control of this situation. “Jason, please, go home. See your dad. Get some help.”

  But he never answered me. In front of my eyes, Jason’s and his sisters’ bodies started to change. At first, I couldn’t believe what I saw. My mother gasped and I knew it was real even though my mind screamed to stop this horrible dream. I needed to wake up.

  His features elongated, with his nose and mouth changing color while they became animal-like. His ears grew up from the top of his head into a pointy-shaped feature, covered in dark fur. My mother gripped me even closer. I could feel her heart beating rapidly, matching my own.

  “Jason!” I screamed. “Please stop this. Please, won’t you make this end?”

  As if begging him would make it cease, as if I pleaded long and hard enough, Jason Kenwood would not become a creature best left in fiction. Because as I watched, unable to pull my eyes away even as I wanted nothing more than to run and hide, my ex-boyfriend became a Werewolf—as did his sisters.

  My parents did nothing. All any of us could seem to do was stay still and wait to see what happened next. I looked left and right. Why didn’t my parents do something?

  I stood up, grabbing my nightstand lamp. It ripped out the wall, sparking while I yanked on it. “If you come near me, near any of us. I’ll hit you with this. Do you understand, Jason? I will whack you over the head with this lamp.”