by S. J. West
My head snapped up as I heard Simon’s plaintive cry come from the room right above our heads.
I listened for the sound of extra heartbeats in the house to determine how many more Harvesters we would have to go through but could only hear two, both of them emanating from the room Simon was in.
“Come on,” I told Lux as I walked toward the foyer.
A polished wood staircase led from the entryway of the house up to the second floor. I ran up the steps two at a time.
Once on the second floor landing, I told Lux, “Stay here and look out for trouble. I’m going to get my son.”
Lux nodded and drew an arrow from her quiver as I walked down the hallway to the room I knew Simon was in. I could smell the faint scent of hyacinth and knew the Queen was in the room with him. I turned the knob of the door and pushed it inward.
The Queen sat in a rocking chair with Simon sitting on her lap crying for all he was worth. His wails grew louder when he saw me.
“I was wondering how long it would take you to figure out where I was,” the Queen said, holding Simon awkwardly on her lap as he stretched his little arms out in my direction as if begging me to come to him.
I crossed the threshold and walked into the room.
“Give me my son,” I demanded.
The Queen smiled. “In a moment, I will, and I won’t even fight you for him. All I ask in return is that you stand there and listen to what I have to say first.”
“What could you possibly have to say that would interest me?”
“What if I told you I’ve finally figured out a way to have you come back to me of your own free will?” she asked, a hint of triumph on her face, warning me I wasn’t going to like what she had to say next.
“I’d say you’re even crazier than I thought you were,” I replied.
The Queen smiled. “What exactly would you give for Jace’s life?”
My heart missed a beat.
“What do you mean?” I asked, having to take in a deep breath to even ask my next question. “What have you done?”
“If we hadn’t been so rudely interrupted by Ash in our little game, Jace would have eventually died. Of course, I was going to make you believe you were the one who did it, but I couldn’t simply leave things to chance now could I? I was biding my time, waiting for you to get to your breaking point before I killed him myself.”
“How?” I asked, my heart racing because I knew what she was telling me was the truth. Her expression was too happy for it not to be.
“I implanted a nano-bomb at the base of his brain stem before you even got there,” she said, her eyes twinkling with pleasure at her own ingeniousness.
“How is it triggered?”
“Oh, I have the only trigger. All I have to do is send someone to get within range of him to set it off.”
I looked into her eyes, hoping to see some shred of decency I could reason with, but saw none. She knew she had me. I knew she had me. It was insane to try and bargain with a mad woman, but I attempted it anyway. I had nothing to lose.
“Let me go back to say good-bye,” I said. “If you let me do that, I’ll come to you of my own free will. That’s what you want, right? For me to choose to be with you for eternity?”
“Of course that’s what I want. But know that if you try to remove the bomb or even if you just try to scan for it in an MRI, it will self-detonate. One touch by any outside force, and it will explode. So, if you’re thinking about removing it from Jace when you return to your group so you don’t have to keep your end of this little bargain, I advise you to think again. Jace will either die from old age with the bomb lodged inside him, or when you try to remove it. The choice is yours to make.”
“I will come to you after I say good-bye,” I told her. “I won’t break my promise.”
“Then for god’s sake come take this child from me,” the Queen said, holding Simon out from her like he was a piece of trash she wanted to throw away. “He’s stretched my last nerve with his incessant whining.”
I quickly walked across the carpeted floor and took Simon out of the Queen’s grasp. Simon instantly quieted.
“You’re just going to let me walk out of here with him?” I asked, not understanding the reason why.
“I don’t need him just yet,” the Queen replied. “He and his sister might be of use to us one day in the future, but right now they will serve me better remaining with Jace. If I know him, he will stay with the children and do what he can to protect them after you’ve come to me.”
The Queen stood from the rocking chair and smoothed down the material of the sleeveless white jersey dress she wore.
“So go make your good-byes, Skye. I will have Walsh come get you from the Roanoke facility when I’m ready for you to join me. I would like to get our new home set up first.”
“Our new home?”
The Queen smiled. “Oh yes. You didn’t think we would be staying here, did you? It’s not nearly fortified enough. No, I will be vacating these premises as soon as you leave, and I’m going to put the finishing touches on our new home. When you come back to me, we’ll figure out how to make you a true Harvester again. I promise you that.”
“I don’t want to be a Harvester,” I told her.
The smile on the Queen’s face faltered slightly.
“I will not watch you die, Skye,” she said, a new madness entering her eyes. “I won’t allow it.”
“My mother’s dead,” I told her, watching for her reaction to the news. “We found her in your laboratory and set her free. We set her soul free.”
The Queen looked at me in confusion. “Her soul? You saw it?”
“Yes. I saw it.”
“Well,” the Queen shrugged, “she wasn’t of any use to me anymore anyway. Honestly, I’m not even sure why I was keeping her body around. I’ve already transplanted all of her organs into myself.”
“Are you the only person you ever think about?”
“I’m thinking of you right now,” she said, crossing her arms in front of her. “I’m giving you the peace of mind that the children you care about will be taken care of by someone you love. If I were you, I would be thankful for that kindness. Now, go before I change my mind about this bargain of ours. I’m not a patient person, Skye. And if you’re thinking about double crossing me, don’t. You won’t like the consequences of such an action. By the way, I’ve already moved Jackson and Ava to our new home, just in case you were planning to go rescue them too. They’re not here anymore, so don’t waste your time.”
“How will I know when Walsh is ready to pick me up?”
“Don’t worry. He’ll find you. If anyone knows the Roanoke camp better than I do, it’s Walsh. He’ll be in and out before they know what’s happened.”
“I won’t double cross you,” I promised the Queen. “Just leave my family alone, and I’ll keep my end of the bargain.”
I turned on my heels and left the room. Our bargain was set. I didn’t see any reason to stay longer than I needed to.
Lux was standing in the same exact spot where I had left her on the landing.
She glanced my way but kept her bow and arrow aimed in the direction of the foyer as I walked out of the room with Simon.
“How did you get him without having to fight her for him?” Lux asked, following behind me as I quickly made my way down the stairs and headed back the way we came in.
“She didn’t want a fight,” I said. “Let’s get out of here first. I’ll explain it to you later.”
Lux didn’t argue, just followed my lead.
As soon as we stepped out the back door, I sensed them.
“Take Simon,” I told Lux, handing her my son.
It seemed like I was always handing Lux one of my children to safeguard while I had to plow through the Harvesters who foolishly tried to get in our way.
I drew my gun and grabbed the one Lux had in the holster on her right thigh.
Two Harvesters came running around the right side of th
e mansion. In quick succession, I shot each of them in both of their kneecaps, dropping them to the ground screaming in pain. With the Cain-virus-coated bullets, I knew they wouldn’t be regenerating and were, for all practical purposes, out of the fight. They lay on the ground screaming some choice words at me. So, I shot them both twice on either side of their shoulders.
One of the Harvesters passed out, presumably from the pain, and the other one was too busy groaning in misery to say much of anything.
I always felt a certain amount of hate from Harvesters I encountered, but for some reason, the tension I felt in the air that night all seemed to be directed toward one target: me. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that if I didn’t kill them, they would kill me.
Obviously, they didn’t get the memo about the bargain I had just struck with their Queen.
From the sound of running feet approaching us, I knew there were at least ten more Harvesters coming our way who would have to be dealt with.
“I need you to run,” I told Lux. “Run as fast as you can to the raft. I’ll be right behind you as soon as I can make it. Whatever you hear happen behind you, don’t waste time by looking back. Your only priority is getting to the raft and making sure Simon gets to Jace. Do you understand me?”
Lux nodded. “Yes, I understand. But what about you? I can stay and help you fight them off.”
“No, Simon is the only person you need to worry about right now. I’ll be fine,” I told her, not completely believing my own words. Something was wrong with the Harvesters approaching us, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what the problem was. “Now go. Run like the devil himself is chasing after you.”
Lux nodded again and took off running with Simon crying for all he was worth in her arms.
I only had a few seconds to watch my son being taken away from me once again before returning my attention back to the Harvesters coming my way.
I held the guns out in front of me and slowly backed up into the house. I was in desperate need of a more defensible position. I glanced around the room and saw the spiral metal staircase leading to the walkway that ran along the second tier of bookshelves. I was halfway up the stairs when the Harvesters first entered the room. When I reached the top, I spun around and shot the two Harvesters who had followed me up the stairs in the middle of their foreheads. I didn’t like killing if I didn’t have to, but this was a “have to” kind of situation.
I could feel the bloodlust of the remaining eight Harvesters below me. I looked down at them and was immediately reminded of a pack of rabid dogs Ash and I had run into once. The fierce determination on their faces to kill me said everything. If I didn’t kill them first, they would tear me to shreds.
Three more Harvesters tried to rush up the staircase while the remaining five hid underneath the iron walkway. I shot the three on the stairs easily enough but soon figured out they were merely decoys for the five below me.
The grinding of metal let me know the remaining Harvesters were about to force me down from my position by pulling the walkway off the wall. I cussed under my breath and stood up on the railing, jumping off and landing in a crouch in front of the back door. I stood and quickly spun around, barely having time to shoot two more of the Harvesters in the back of the skull while they were busy trying to pull the walkway down. Unfortunately, that still left three Harvesters to be dealt with.
Like one organism, all three of them rushed me at once, each with a grim determination in their eyes to see me dead.
“Stop!”
I looked toward the interior entrance of the room and saw the Queen standing there. Oddly enough, even with the order, the three remaining Harvesters seemed more interested in killing me than listening to an order from their Queen.
“Kneel!” she bellowed, becoming agitated that her first order had been completely ignored. The Harvesters didn’t kneel. They didn’t even falter one step in their headlong charge toward me.
I pulled the triggers on the pistols in my hands only to find out I didn’t have any more bullets left. I threw the pistols from my hands and unsheathed my sword just as one of the Harvesters reached me. I swung my sword, slicing easily through his neck and severing his head from his body, but the other two Harvesters tackled me to the floor, jarring my body and causing me to lose my grip on the sword.
The last remaining female Harvester was just about to plunge her hand into my abdomen when I saw her arm unceremoniously ripped off at the shoulder, causing a spray of blood as she howled in pain.
My eyes were drawn to the Queen as she stood over me with the Harvester’s arm in one hand. With her free hand, she grabbed the last of my attackers by the throat and pinched his head off with one effortless squeeze, adding to the blood already drenching her pristine white dress.
I quickly scrambled to my feet.
“What the hell happened? Why didn’t they listen to you?” I asked, catching my breath after the fight.
“I upgraded their programming to make sure they protect me at any and all costs,” the Queen said, her face creased with confusion. “After all the attempts you people seemed to be making on my life, I felt like I needed the extra protection.”
The Queen looked at me, her head tilted to the side.
“By the way, why does it seem like your people are trying to kill me? You know the consequences of doing something like that. Or do you think I’m bluffing about the shield?”
“No, we know the shield is real. Maybe you’re just being paranoid,” I said, not looking her directly in the eyes but instead diverting my gaze to the carnage around us. I feared she would see the truth on my face if I tried to lie while looking straight at her.
“Did you program them to kill me on sight?” I asked. “They seemed more determined than usual to turn me into a corpse.”
“No.” The Queen looked down at the two Harvesters she had to kill. “Actually, I told them to subdue you if I were in any danger. I’ll have to adjust their programming before you return to me.”
“If your plan is to have me remain in one piece when I come back, it would probably be a good idea.”
I walked over to the back door and retrieved my sword.
“Expect Walsh in a few days,” the Queen said to me. “I want you with me as soon as possible.”
I stared at her as a scenario of me chopping her head off with my sword ran through my mind. But I knew she would never let that happen. She would see it coming. I needed to be patient and wait for the right time. Plus, this wasn’t the way Jace’s vision of me killing her went. Tonight wasn’t the night the Queen would die by my hand.
“I’ll be ready,” I said, turning my back to her and walking out the door.
When I reached the raft, Lux was valiantly trying to push it into the lake by herself.
“I’m here,” I said, tugging on the other side of the raft and easily setting it onto the surface of the lake.
Lux climbed into the raft and picked Simon up from his spot inside. He protested hotly when Lux picked him up and sat him on her lap. I wished I had the luxury to coddle him but putting as much distance as I could between the woman who thought herself my mother and him was my first priority.
“Why do your children hate me so much?” Lux asked, bouncing Simon on her knees but having no luck in quieting his cries.
“Don’t take it personally,” I said. “It’s just been a while since he saw me. I’m sure he just wants me to hold him instead of you.”
“But Rose did the same thing,” Lux whined, taking my children’s rejection of her to heart.
“Maybe it’s the pink hair,” I suggested with a grin, “like Ian said.”
“Pfft, don’t suppose you have a hair salon here in the future?”
“No,” I replied, trying not to laugh at her predicament. “But we might be able to find a bottle of bleach somewhere.”
“I’m about ready to try anything,” Lux said, continuing to bounce Simon on her knees in a useless effort to stop his cries.
I rowed us back to the other side of the lake in what I felt sure was record time. Jace and Ian weren’t back yet when we reached the shoreline. Sam helped Lux pull the raft onto shore while I took care of Simon.
Simon clung to me like he was scared I might disappear if he let go. I kissed him all over his face and hugged him tightly, trying to reassure him that no one would ever separate us again. I knew it was a lie, of course. In a few days, I would have to leave him, Jace, and Rose. But it wouldn’t be forever.
I would bide my time with the Queen until an opportunity presented itself and I found my opening to kill her, an act which would finally end our torture and free the world of a mad woman. If there was one thing I knew without a shadow of a doubt, it was that the Queen was completely insane and locked within her own self-delusional world. Unfortunately, she had destroyed the real world to make her dream world our reality.
About thirty minutes passed before Jace and Ian made it back.
“We couldn’t find them,” Jace said, walking up to me as I sat with Simon in the opening of the helicopter.
“No, she moved them,” I replied as I handed Simon to Jace.
Simon cooed with happiness to be in his father’s arms again. Jace held him against his chest, hugging him tightly.
“Hey little man,” Jace said, kissing Simon on the cheek. “We sure did miss you. Rosey’s waiting for you back home. She’s missed you too.”
Before I could even blink, Jace and Simon suddenly disappeared.
I stared at the empty space and sighed.
“Uh, where do you think they went?” Ian asked, one of his arms hanging loosely across Lux’s shoulders as they approached the helicopter.
“My guess would be wherever Rose is right now,” I said, realizing Simon had just given me a gift in disguise. “It’s just as well. I need to tell you two the deal I made with the Queen.”
