by J. Rock
29.
I find the hallway outside the room deserted.
Boisterous voices echo up from the main floor, so I head down the stairs. I make my way to the mess hall and find a group of mutants surrounding Traylor and the mutant boy Jurid. To my astonishment, the two are wrestling at the center of the circle, grunts and cries produced as they tangle.
And laughs.
I sigh in relief upon realizing this is all for fun. Then I laugh too. Traylor is actually giving Jurid a run for it! I see Tien among the group, watching. I slip over to him and tap him on the shoulder. He turns toward me and smiles.
"Wanna go for a walk?" I ask. He nods enthusiastically.
We leave together, with more than a few eyes watching us instead of the combatants in the ring. As soon as we're outside, it feels as if a huge weight has been lifted, like I'd been holding my breath for hours. Tien falls into step beside me and I relax.
We head for the dome.
Tien looks at me, but when my eyes try to find his, they dart away.
He's such a timid creature.
"You're not like the others here, are you, Tien?"
Tien finally looks at me as if offended. "We are all the same," he replies. "We are brothers. We all come from Everwinter. We–"
"You know that's not what I meant," I cut him off. "I mean in here." I tap my chest once. "You feel things that they don't." I hesitate. Tien's gone shy again. "You're more human," I finish.
Tien's gaze falls all the way to the ground and he deflates, as if I've just pulled a magic pin from his back that was keeping him upright. He nods. "They call me brother, but they treat me like a human." He pauses. "The people that brought us here, the science people, they all liked me the best. I don't know why. I guess ‘cause I could relate to them. I understood what they were trying to do, even if it was horrific. 'For the greater good', one of them always told me." Tien shudders. "I understood the concept, but my brothers didn't. Or they refused to."
"And you accepted that?" I ask, making my disdain plain. "You accepted the fact that they were experimenting on you so that their kind–humans–could be advanced?"
Tien shrugs. "No, I did not accept it. But, like I said, I understood it. Those people would have done what they did regardless of whether I accepted it or not. Not understanding it would have only served to make things worse. If my life was to be resigned to an endless cycle of pain and suffering, at least some good would come of it. At least there was the hope that it would result in a life being saved." Tien hesitates. "Even if that life was human."
I shake my head, hardly believing what I'm hearing.
Did my Father know what went on here? I wonder for what seems the millionth time. I'm almost positive now that he did. And did he justify it by saying it was for 'the greater good'? He did use that phrase sometimes. Was saving my Mother worth such a hefty cost?
You would have done the same for Jude.
I nod to myself. Yes, I would have. Without a doubt.
I love you, Juno Quinn...
"You really are one of a kind, Tien," I say, interrupting my thoughts, smiling openly at the mutant.
Tien shrugs, saying nothing. I take his hand in mine. I can feel his hesitation, but then he relaxes and our hands clasp as one. His flesh is cold. Not freezing, but a hells of a lot colder than mine.
I don't mind.
We reach the dome.
I hadn't even realized that this was where we were headed. We're standing on a large stone patio before a massive door of frosted glass, standing open. I've never anything like it. There's little trails of dirt, leaves, and grass moving in and out of the building.
"We don't come out here much," Tien says, reaching for the door.
I grab his arm. "We don't have to do this," I say, seeing the pain in his eyes.
Tien shakes his head. "No, it's alright. I've been here many times since...." The Final Judgment, I finish in my head. "A lot of my brothers avoid it altogether," Tien continues, "but I think that's unhealthy. It's just a building, and now it's abandoned. We have to move on."
My eyes go wide, amazed at Tien's maturity. I put a hand on his shoulder. "After you," I gesture.
Tien leads me inside.
It's dark, but then I hear a soft buzzing noise and a chain of bright lights bursts on in an arc overhead. One light explodes, sending sparks showering across the other side of the building.
Automatic power!
"It's really getting rundown now," Tien says.
There's a central concourse shooting straight off before us. On either side, the dome is divided into sections by sometimes transparent, sometimes translucent glass walls. I've never seen so much of the same type of glass in one place. A lot of the walls are smashed; equipment, screens, and desks toppled haphazardly where I can see them.
"My brothers went a little crazy when we were first set free," Tien explains. "The humans abandoned us after the Final Judgment, so we moved into the Manse where they used to live. But our hate of this place drew us back. We took out our frustrations on these inanimate objects." Tien shakes his head. "Why do we do that? It's not like we're actually getting revenge when we do it. It wasn't the building that harmed us, but the people inside it."
I pull Tien closer to me. "Because you're human, Tien," I say, almost whispering. "At least partially. You may be mutants, but you have emotions. All of you."
Tien nods, pulling me deeper into the complex.
Some of the rooms we pass are locked, still clean and sterile, but I don't find it hard to imagine the horrors they'd inflicted. I see tables and chairs with straps on them, used to restrain their victims. I see cold instruments and tubing hanging from the ceiling, hanging over tables and chairs. I see needles, drills, scalpels, cutting instruments, sewing instruments.
I puke up a little in my mouth.
Tien has scars on his body, but unlike human scars, they blend perfectly with the surrounding white tissue, nearly invisible unless felt directly. I brush a hand along Tien's arm and feel quite a few of the hard raised lumps. He shivers, stopping in the middle of the concourse.
My eyes meet his.
"We... We shouldn't do this, Juno," Tien says timidly. But for once he's not looking away.
"Do what?" I ask, bringing my lips closer to his.
Closer and closer.
"I... I'm not good enough for you, Juno," Tien says, starting to shake.
I stop briefly, our lips just inches apart. "Why? Because I'm the last human?" I shake my head. "My kind is doomed, Tien. And besides, you saved my life! If anything, that means I'm not good enough for you. Humanity had its chance."
"You don't really believe that," Tien states.
"Maybe," I grin, and start moving toward him again.
"Juno, I–" Tien's words are cut off as my lips find his, warm flesh locking onto cold. It's the strangest sensation of my life. Nothing like kissing Jude.
Jude!
My eyes go wide but I don't pull away. What am I doing? Jude's been gone little more than a month and I'm–
Tien senses my hesitation. His eyes open and he pulls away.
"What?" he asks, fear plain on his face. "Is something wr–"
KERRASH!!
Tien and I both whirl.
A pair of shapes near the entrance to the concourse duck behind a glass wall. We can hear their footfalls as they run. Then we hear the slamming of a door, opening and closing.
Tien scowls. "Damn them!" he growls. "I knew they couldn't leave me alone with you! Not even for a second!"
"Your brothers?" I ask, though I know the answer.
"Yeah," Tien confirms. "I suppose you've noticed their, ahem, scrutiny of you?"
I nod with a smirk. "Oh yeah, you could say that."
Tien blinks. "You should have seen them fight over you when I first brought you in. It was nearly a riot. Dura had to step in and stop it. He doesn't do that often." Tien pauses. "I wouldn't say Dura likes me, but he respects what
I am. He knew that I would take care of you and that your best chance was with me."
Still holding Tien's cold hand, I squeeze it. But the moment is over, and I reluctantly let it go.
"Should we head back?" I ask.
Tien is reluctant too. "Yes, I think maybe we should. If my brothers covet you this much... If they saw us, um, kissing..." He hesitates. "I don't want Traylor to get caught up in it."
My heart feels ready to stop. I hadn't even considered that.
"Yeah," I say. "Let's get outta here."
