J.O.Y

by Yalu Taylors

  “I have them all, no time limit.” I frown at him as he laughs.

  “Oh, I want to keep her, she’s sassy yet innocent, strong yet small, powerful but humble. She’s like a walking contradiction.” He continues to laugh, and I turn my back on him, going over to where the twins are standing, I duck under their arms and let them cage me in behind the couch.

  Braydon gets up and goes into the kitchen. He returns a moment later with Ace. “We need to figure out how we are going to take down J.O.Y Genetics.” Braydon sits back down on the couch as everyone discusses what we are going to do. The plan is actually really simple, we’re just going to get everyone evacuated then blow the place sky high.

  Chapter 12

  Hunter

  “T, you can’t come with us, it’s too dangerous.” I try to say it calmly, but I know she sees my anger. If only she would listen to me.

  “No Hunter, I’m coming with you all. I can help. Ace said I could be useful.” Fucking Ace, always trying to cause trouble. I grab Tessa gently and pull her towards me. Having her in my arms is like coming home. She’s so beautiful and kind and caring, which is why I have to put my foot down. She’s not ready to go out there and start a war with those bastard scientists.

  “T, I need you to stay here, if you came with us, we would all be distracted trying to keep you safe.” I’m being manipulative but right now her safety is my priority. “Please Tessa, stay here.” I can feel her shaking her head and just as she lifts her beautiful blue eyes to mine, I cut off her protests with a kiss.

  Her soft lips taste like cherries, her mouth opens on a gasp and I tangle my tongue with hers. Kissing Tessa is something I’ll never get used to, her taste is addictive. The sounds she makes have me standing to attention. Unfortunately, the deal I made with Braydon, Zack and Zayne prevents me from taking things further with Tessa.

  She pulls back and slaps me across the chest. “Hunter! You can’t just kiss me every time you want to shut me up.” Thinking quickly, I tell her I’d rather be kissing her than arguing with her. Stomping her foot and making these cute little angry noises like a kitten, she huffs at me then storms off to the kitchen.

  Arguing with her was a waste of time, she got her way and now we are heading to the facility. Zack’s driving the van with Ace, Phoenix, Quinn, Declan, and Kalum riding with him. Zayne’s driving Braydon’s escalade with me, Braydon, and Tessa. We agreed to meet back at the cave after we finish our jobs, but things don’t always go to plan.

  Braydon and I walk beside Tessa as we make our way to the facility, Ace’s group are up ahead of us while Zack and Zayne remain behind with the vehicles. I grab Tessa’s hand and pull her closer to me, I can’t stand being away from her for too long. She’s become everything to me and I hate that we’ll be separated once we get to the facility.

  Ace stops just at the tree line and waves us forward, reluctantly letting go of Tessa, I walk forward and join him. “We need you and Braydon to keep those guards down there busy while we go in.” I nod my head, this could be good, if Tessa stays behind with me and Bray, we can keep an eye on her. “We’ll go in as soon as you have the guard’s attention, good luck.” Ace pats my shoulder and walks over to Braydon and Tessa. I follow behind my brow creasing in worry for Tessa.

  “Tessa, Dec, Kal and the twins will come with me into the labs, Tessa, you follow close behind me, I’ll need your help with setting the explosives.” Ace passes his bag to Tessa and I feel my heart breaking at the thought of her going with him instead of me. Just as I’m about to protest Tessa speaks.

  “Don’t look at me like that Hunter, I’m doing this, so just get over it and get your head in the game.” She’s so adorable when she’s angry, shaking my thoughts off, I nod my head, there’s no point arguing now. I check my watch and see that it’s time to get this horror show on the road.

  Bray and I hug Tessa and I whisper in her ear, “Stay safe my love.” I kiss her quickly on the cheek and follow Bray down to the fence. Tearing a hole in the wire, I motion for Bray to go first. The guards are all gathered near the facilities entrance. Six against two aren’t great odds but Bray and I can take them. As the guards turn to us, I see Tessa and Ace’s group hurrying into the facility behind the guards. Showtime.

  Picking the biggest guard, I nod to Bray, and we rush at them, the first two go down easy from a couple of punches but the big guy takes longer. I punch towards his jaw and he ducks, swinging at my head. His fist grazes my cheek as I duck and slam my fist into his stomach, backing my punch with my strength ability. The guard doubles over and I crack him on the top of his head sending him straight into unconsciousness.

  I look around trying to find another opponent but there’s no one left, Bray took the other three out with his fire balls and the dart gun he brought with him. “Shit, that was easier than I thought it’d be. Should we go in and help out inside?” Braydon shakes his head pointing at the entrance door.

  “No need, Hunter, they are coming out now.” I turn around and watch as Quinn and Phoenix lead a dozen kids out. Most are teens like us but four of the kids are only little, around five or six years old. I wait until Declan and Kalum come out, doing a double take to make sure I’ve seen correctly I gasp. They are carrying a couple of babies

  “That’s all of the test subjects. Tessa checked on the computers to make sure we got them all. Ace hurt himself and Tessa stayed behind to help, they should be out in a couple of minutes.” Kalum says all this in a hurry then takes off towards the vans. Braydon and I pace back and forth waiting impatiently.

  “I can’t take this Bray, I’m going in.” Bray steps in front of me, blocking my path.

  “I know you’re worried, but they could be anywhere in there, just give them a few more minutes, if they don’t come out then we’ll go searching. Okay?” I grunt a yes and go back to pacing. After what feels like hours but was in fact only five minutes, Tessa finally emerges carrying an armload of files, hot on her heels is Ace, his bag is filled with something heavy. I grab the bag from him and we all turn tail and run back to the tree line.

  “Ready guys?” Ace presses his remote detonator, and nothing happens. “Fuck!” He presses it repeatedly but still nothing. “I gotta get closer, I think there’s interference with the signal.” He takes off before anyone can stop him and Bray, Tess and I stand there staring after him. He gets down to the fence and stops, pressing the button repeatedly.

  I watch as he goes inside the fence and runs up to the door. “What the fuck man?” I mumble under my breath as he runs inside. Two seconds later I’m thrown to the ground as the blast goes off. With my ears ringing I get to my feet and look around trying to find Tessa and Braydon. They are both flat on their backs with dazed looks on their faces. I rush over and check them both over, finding no injuries I help them both up.

  Tessa runs over to the tree line, staring at the mass of flames that now engulf the whole building. I grab her arm, I know she’s looking for Ace, but I saw him go inside, there’s no chance he made it out alive. Pulling her close to me, I wrap my arm around her shoulder as tears roll down her beautiful face. I grab Bray’s arm and tug him along behind us as we head back to vehicles.

  Zack and Zayne are standing beside Bray’s escalade. I lift Tessa up and place her in the passenger seat, I’m pretty sure she’s in shock but there’s nothing I can do about it now. The sound of sirens in the distance makes us all hurry into the car. Braydon drives faster than the speed limit until I tell him to slow down so we don’t attract attention. We pass a few police cars and over a dozen fire trucks before we make it back to the main road.

  The drive home is done in complete silence, I keep thinking about Ace and all the ways I could have stopped him from going back into the building. I know there was nothing I could have done but it doesn’t stop the guilt from eating at me. If it weren’t for us he would never have gone back to the facility in the first place. We pull into the drive way of our house and we all just sit there staring at our home.

 
After a few minutes, I open the door and round the car to Tessa’s door, she’s been crying softly the whole way home. Seeing such sadness in her eyes is killing me, I scoop her up into my arms and carry her into the house. Bray and the twins follow closely behind. I set Tessa down on the couch and grab the throw rug off the back, wrapping it around her shoulders. Braydon goes to the kitchen and returns a few moments later with a flask of JD and a few cups. He pours a shot out and passes it to Tessa. She throws it back and holds the glass out for more.

  Knocking on the front door makes us all jump. Zack runs to the front door and comes back leading Quinn and Phoenix who are carrying a very badly burnt but very much alive Ace. Tessa and Braydon both run over to them and help lay him down on the couch. I watch as they work together to heal his wounds. The silence in the room is killing me, why won’t anyone speak? Once Tessa and Bray back away from Ace I walk over to him.

  “What the fuck man? We thought you’d died. How the fuck did you get out of there?” Ace sits up and the bastard starts laughing.

  “Went out the back door. Ran into the forest just as the bomb went off.” He’s still laughing as he says, “Can’t get rid of me that easily, besides I never did get that kiss.” He winks at my Tessa and she smiles, actually smiles at him. Taking a deep breath before speaking I tell him calmly that he never will get a kiss from Tessa. Ace laughs jumps up from the couch and walks towards the door.

  “Thanks for the healing, it was fun to see you all but let’s leave it a few years before you call us again. We’ll be taking the van and the other test subjects to a safe place, best if you guys don’t know where. Oh and a word of advice, get the fuck out of dodge, it's not safe here anymore.” I watch in shocked silence as he and the twins leave. Turning back to my family I shake my head.

  “Did that seriously just happen?” Tessa asks with a similar expression to Zack and Zayne.

  “Yeah Babe, that just happened.” Zayne laughs and the entire mood in the room shifts. Braydon grabs the bottle and pours a few more shots, we all sit down and drink away the craziness of the last few weeks.

  A couple of days later I'm staring at the for sale sign hanging from the post. The red sold sticker makes me sad but weirdly happy at the same time. This place has been our home for the last six months but it never really felt like home until we met Tessa. She's everything Uncle Frank said she would be. One day I'll tell her the truth about Uncle Frank, for now though, she's safer not knowing.

  I shake my head and jump into the white campervan Braydon's driving. “Let's hit the road.”