The words stung Alec. “No, but you can learn from it. You can change the future.”
Cole shrugged and kept walking; his footsteps quieter than should have been possible. Behind his brother, Alec felt like a giant trudging around the forest, bumping into everything.
“If I talk about it, will you stop pestering me?” Cole asked.
Alec bristled. Was this what it was like to have a sibling? If so, he would have been happy to continue his life without one. Cole must have sensed his resentment, because he stopped, turning to face Alec. He brushed his shaggy hair from his eyes and sighed. “I’m… I’m not good at this.”
“At what?”
“Talking to people or being around them. You want to hear what it was like? Fine.” Cole pointed to a fallen log—moss and mushrooms grew on its underside—and Alec took a seat. The coyote checked the perimeter, and when satisfied they were safe, it dropped beside Cole’s feet.
“What do you want to know?” Cole asked, resignation filling his voice.
“What’s your first memory?” Alec asked.
Cole’s gaze went distant as fat drops lazily fell from the canopy of trees above them. “I remember blood. I was with a group. Someone shot a deer, and they must have been dressing it.” He lifted his hands, as if seeing something on them. “I had blood on my hands. I must have been four.”
“Who were they?” Alec asked. He pulled the rifle from over his shoulder and leaned it against a tree. Monet had shown him the basics of using a firearm, but he wasn’t confident with the concept yet.
“I don’t know. I was told my parents died in an attack. Trackers uncovered our camp hideout, and when some traveling Freeborns happened across the camp, they found me alive. Barely. I was crammed behind a wall crying is what they told me,” Cole said.
“Your parents?”
“I don’t think they really were. I assume that Tom has all kinds of answers he hasn’t shared with us, and that he left me with people he’d trusted because he had no other choice,” Cole said.
“You knew Tom. How?” Alec again felt the betrayal by Tom cut deep.
“He was always there. Growing up, he’d come around for a month at a time. Teach me things. When I was old enough, I ventured away from the others,” Cole said.
“Why? Safety in numbers...” Alec suggested.
Cole shook his head, dismissing the theory. “I never felt safe with them. They weren’t all good people.”
Alec didn’t press him. “You went out on your own?”
“I did. I must have been thirteen. I understood enough to stay alive,” he said.
“Where did you go?” Alec had struggled through life, but having to fend for yourself at such a young age was unimaginable to him. Alec didn’t think he could even survive out there alone now.
“Here and there,” Cole shrugged as though it was inconsequential. “I’d travel from town to town. I stayed in Arizona for a time.” He actually smiled.
“How long?”
“Probably a year. I made a home there. I figured it was far enough from an Occupation base, but eventually, they came in the middle of the night,” he said.
“How did you escape?”
“Same way I always did.” He patted his own thighs. “I ran. I also shot a little. What about you? What’s your first memory?”
Alec knew this was coming. “I wasn’t very old. When you’re a toddler in the Occupation, you’re raised at the breeding facilities.”
Cole’s face lost its joy in a flash. “Go on.”
“I remember a woman singing to me. She was pregnant. Most of them were. She held me close and sang. Her voice was so perfect and comforting,” Alec said.
“Who was she?”
“I have no idea. She was gone not long after. None of them ever gave me that feeling again,” Alec said.
“It must have been tough,” Cole said.
“On both of us. On everyone.” Alec reached for his canteen and took a swig of fresh water. The rain was coming slightly harder now, and a low rumble of thunder careened through the valley.
“Don’t think today is going to be a good day for hunting,” Cole told him.
“I suppose not.” Alec wanted to say so much to his brother. He wanted to spew out his entire life. He wished he could tell him about his best friend Beth, and how he’d been forced to watch her die at the hands of the damned humans who sided with the Overseers. He felt the need to shout his hatred of the aliens’ takeover, but he held it all inside.
“Do you love her?” Alec asked instead, changing the subject.
Cole stood, brushing his pants off. “Excuse me?”
“Lina… do you love her?” he asked again.
“Where did that came from? We just met…”
“I see the way she looks at you, Cole. I… I loved someone once, and I want to make sure you understand how rare a connection like that is,” Alec said, suddenly feeling like far too much of a sap.
“I don’t have an answer for you,” Cole answered with a smirk, “but when I do, you’ll be the first to know.” He clapped Alec on the shoulder, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
A sound drew both their attention, and Alec’s stomach clenched at the noise. Cole raised a finger to his lips and grabbed the rifle, setting his bow to the forest bed. The coyote stood, his teeth bared, but he didn’t race forward. Instead, they all listened in silence.
Cole pointed down the ridge, toward their Reclaimers camp, and Alec followed his gesture. “Tracker,” his brother whispered almost soundlessly.
Alec’s blood ran cold. He’d expected to be safe here. Tom said he had precautionary systems in place around the region, but it was clear they’d been breached. He thought about Monet’s warning. Where there was one Tracker, there were often Seekers, Hunters, or even the Overseers.
Maybe the Reclaimers were being invaded, the enemy finally learning the location to the camp. Alec fought the urge to take off in the opposite direction. If he was separated from Cole, he didn’t stand a chance.
Cole was moving toward the sound, and Alec reached for his brother’s arm, tugging at it. Cole broke free from his grip and raised the rifle, aiming near the source of the whirring sound. The coyote stayed beside Cole, giving a cautionary growl, and Alec begrudgingly followed.
His gaze darted around the copse, the rain falling harder now, even through the dense tree cover. He wiped his forehead and blinked water from his eyes. Where was it?
There it stood, rigid as a statue about thirty meters away. It was on the path they’d recently walked over, and Alec was sure it was using its sensors to track them. It would no doubt open fire at any moment.
Its head cocked to the side, and Alec pressed against a tree for cover.
Cole crouched, aiming the rifle at the robotic dog, his finger steady on the trigger.
“This will work just fine. Damn me if we haven’t found a better sample than this one before,” a voice said, far too loudly to remain hidden.
Alec expected the Tracker to kill the man, but when he peeked around the tree, it was unmoving.
Cole was standing, lowering his weapon. “What’s going on here?” he shouted, and Alec clued in.
“They’re testing the drone you shot,” Alec said, the pieces clicking together.
The man wore army fatigues, and a uniformed woman stood beside him, kneeling by the Tracker. “Cole, Alec, what are you doing out here in the rain?” the man asked. Alec couldn’t recall his name.
“Captain Soares,” Cole said. “I was showing Alec how to hunt. Is this the one called SW-18?” He nodded to the rebuilt Tracker.
Its hull was welded in the side, the material matte-finished and rough.
“The one and the same. We’ve managed to extrapolate some very useful data from inside this guy, and we’re testing to see if we can control it as we hope,” Soares said. Alec saw the tablet in the captain’s hand.
“Well, I almost shot it again. I’d better stay away from your new friend,” Cole tol
d the man.
“Head in. I think Tom wants to meet with you two soon,” the woman told them before turning her attention to the Tracker.
“Good luck,” Alec said, and they started the trek to the base.
“I hope they can turn the tides with that Tracker,” Cole said softly. Thunder boomed overhead, and Alec watched the coyote race ahead, scouting their path for them.
“So do I. What does Tom have planned for us?” Alec took the offered rifle from his brother’s outstretched hand.
“We’ll find out soon. I think his time in hiding is almost over.” Cole’s pace increased, and Alec hurried after him.
“It would be nice if we can stay together, Cole,” Alec said, feeling foolish. His brother didn’t care about him, and why should he? They were strangers. Just because they looked alike didn’t make them friends.
Cole stopped as they neared the mouth of the tunnel, and faced Alec. He was once again overwhelmed at the sight of his twin. He was thicker, stronger, but they were flesh and blood.
“If we have different paths, we will find each other at the other end of this war. Mark my words,” Cole told him.
“You mean that?”
Cole stuck his hand out, and Alec did the same. They clasped hands on forearms, and Cole pulled him in, hugging him close. “We’re brothers, Alec. We’ve been through so much, and it's only going to become more difficult, but we have that. We have each other.”
Alec clenched his jaw tight, refraining from saying more. His resolve firmed, and he wanted more than ever to get their battle over with; he needed to watch as the Detroit gateway was destroyed. Then they could once again reclaim their world, starting anew. All of humanity had lost so much, but for the first time ever, as he stared into his brother’s eyes, he felt the hope needed to go on.
“We have each other.” Alec mirrored Cole’s words, unsure he had anything better to say.
Chapter 2
Dex
Dex walked through the corridor, wishing he’d worn his leather jacket. It was always cool in this damned underground hideaway, but he was healing nicely and couldn’t complain too loudly. They’d let him live, which had been enough of a surprise. If Dex had been in their shoes, he wasn’t sure he’d have made the same decision.
Not only that, he was able to walk the facility freely. His chest continued to offer a dull ache, especially as he was being weaned off the painkillers, but he was patched up and as healed as he could be given that only a week had passed since he’d been shot.
Tom’s office was on his right, and he knocked on the door, hearing the leader tell him to enter. Tom looked stressed, his eyes puffier and more bloodshot than the first time Dex had met him.
“Everything okay?” Dex asked the man.
Tom stroked his trimmed white beard and nodded. “Just the usual. Ironing out the final details and hoping like hell I haven’t messed anything up too badly. Take a seat.”
Tom’s office was stark and simple, exactly the way Dex preferred things. He sat across from Tom at the man’s desk and leaned into the chair. There was a glass of water waiting for him, and he drank half of it before setting it to the desk.
“Dex, we can count on you, right?” Tom asked.
“I think there’s only one answer to that, even if I wasn’t on your side,” Dex told him.
Tom had the decency to smile. “I like that about you, Dexter. You’re a straight shooter. Here’s what’s going to happen.”
Dex braced himself. He’d bargained his inclusion into their mission and knew he was going to have to return to his own Hunters soon enough to follow through. He was dreading the return. He closed his eyes and pictured Kathy’s head as his bullet tore through it. She was the same woman he’d shared his bed with on occasion, when he’d felt alone enough to need human contact. Yet she was dead, by his hand.
“You are going to head the trip to Omaha as we discussed, but I’ll be joining you,” Tom advised.
“I should have seen this coming,” Dex told him. “How much of a bargaining chip do I have if you’re with me?”
Tom leaned toward him, resting his elbows on the desktop. “You’re asking me to trust you, and I’m going to suggest you return the favor. I need what’s in the locker if I’m going to fulfill my end of the bargain for this looming war. Without it, I don’t think I have enough support.”
Dex wasn’t sure what he was alluding to. “When is the meeting I’ve been hearing about?”
“Tonight,” Tom told him.
“Am I included?”
Tom shook his head. “No. You realize they’ll interrogate you when you return to the Hunters, right?”
Dex understood this very well. A couple of years ago, one of their own vanished for a week, and when he came back, he was suspicious, acting like everything was cool, but Dex noted how the man’s hands shook, but his eyes never stayed in one place for more than a second. Then he’d come; the human leader of the North American Occupation. The top man of the Hunters; the man known as the Colonel. Dex had hated a lot of humans in his life, but this one took first prize.
But, at the end of the day, was he so different than Dex? He’d spent years hunting humans and returning them to the same bastards who’d invaded and occupied the Earth.
After the Hunter had stopped screaming inside the interrogation room, the building had been set on fire, and the turncoat hadn’t left. Dex tried not to imagine meeting the same fate, but the possibility was there.
“I’m aware of what they’ll do. I’m prepared,” Dex lied.
“Then you understand why you won’t be privy to our plans. If they have an idea of what we know, and where we’ll be, then it's over before it begins. Hell, I’m of half a mind to shoot you right now and take our chances without the contents of the locker,” Tom said, his words calm.
Dex steeled himself for an attack, but Tom’s hands didn’t move from the table. “I’ll trust you.”
“Good. Then we’re on the same page. We leave tomorrow. You, me, and the kid.” Tom stood, walking to the wall where a window oversaw the operations room below.
Dex joined him, watching as a dozen soldiers moved around, some on computers, others pointing to maps of the USA, placing pins in various locations.
“The logistics will be hard. The hardest part,” Tom said, and Dex only nodded, not sure what he was agreeing with.
“The kid? The one from Detroit?” Dex asked.
“The very same one you were hunting,” Tom said.
“What’s with those two? I’ve heard some excited murmuring around the base.”
“They’re special, Dex.”
“They don’t look like much to me,” Dex admitted.
“Good. When you only have a small army, you need an element of surprise to win the war, am I right?”
“Sure. But I don’t see how two nobodies can turn the tide of the Occupation. Forgive me for my bluntness.” Dex stared forward, seeing the other woman he’d hunted walking through the operations room and toward the mess hall. Patricia Bond. He’d heard them call her something else around the base. A painter’s name… Monet.
“I don’t expect you to understand. But they’ll bring unity to our side.” Tom stopped speaking and the only sound in the office was the humming of the lights.
“Tomorrow, then?” Dex asked.
“Tomorrow.”
“What do I do until then?”
“Go through your story repeatedly until you convince yourself it's true. You need to bring an award-winning performance so you can do your part in the end,” Tom told him.
Dex decided the meeting was adjourned when a woman entered and glared at him before waiting for him to exit. Tom didn’t say another word as he left, walking through the corridor that led to a set of metal stairs. He clanged down them, his breath shortening from the effort. As healthy as he felt, he was still trying to heal from the gunshot wound, and it would take a while.
There was so much to the facility Dex hadn’t seen. There was an en
tire team dedicated to powering, heating, and providing services to the base. One of the maintenance team walked by him, wearing a gray jumpsuit, and nodded as he hurried by with a tool pouch slung over his shoulder.
He’d heard there was an entire level dedicated to hydroponics and food production. He wasn’t sure how many Reclaimers there were in this base, but it was far more than he’d initially guessed. This was no rag-tag group of tramps, preparing to throw spears and rocks at the aliens; they were the real deal.
The mess hall was ahead, and at that hour, there were only a few people inside. He glanced around the room, his gaze lingering on the one called Monet at the far edge. She was facing the exit, her back to a wall, and Dex appreciated the position. It was the same one he would have taken.
She locked stares with him and nodded. “Want to join me?” she asked, drawing the attention of another table.
“Sure. Thanks,” Dex said.
“You’re Dex, right?” the woman asked. Her eyes were light brown, her skin almost the same color. Dex thought her cropped haircut suited her perfectly.
“And you’re Monet,” he said.
“You were tracking me. Did a hell of a job too. How did you do that?” she asked, kicking a chair out from under the table.
Dex shrugged and rested his hands on the sides of the chair. “It’s what I do… did.”
“You’re hanging up the leather jacket?” she asked, a sparkle in her eyes.
“I wouldn’t go that far, but I am turning it inside out.” He glanced at the food station, seeing a few platters of heated food remaining. “Do you mind if I grab some food?” He saw her plate was mostly uneaten.
“Be my guest. Stay away from the peas. They’re a little mushy.”
He laughed. “I’ll take them pre-chewed at this point. Do you have any idea how rare it is to have a hot meal?”
She watched him as she answered. “Yes, only too well.”
He hung his head in shame and peered up, offering a faint smile. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply anything. I’m not great with people.”
“Neither am I.” She had the decency to return his grin.
Salvation (Rise Book 2) Page 2
