by J. Rock
31.
"Jude!" I repeat, rubbing my eyes to make sure he's not some ghostly figure ready to disappear. "Is it really you?" I run toward him, my heart fluttering like a leaf on the wind.
Jude is still holding a shooting iron–where the hells had he gotten that?–but it's at his side, pointed at the floor. He watches me approach, but his expression never changes.
I love you, Juno Quinn…
His voice in my mind, once again.
I slow down as I reach him. "Jude?" I ask, smiling broadly. "What's wrong? What's–"
Stars explode before my eyes.
When I recover seconds later, I'm kneeling on the floor, holding my cheek where Jude had struck it. There's blood. The boys in the hall snarl at Jude, but he's pointing the shooting iron at them again. They back off. Tears well up in my eyes. The feelings I have for this man bubble to the surface, suppressed for far too long now.
"Why?" I whisper. "I thought you were dead. I... I–"
"Humanity is a blasphemy," Jude cuts me off. "And the Children of Mutanity must cleanse it."
I feel like a lead weight has been placed upon my chest. "No, Jude," I say, still kneeling and shaking my head. Tears fall. "Don't tell me that. Not now that I have you back. Tell me you're not one of them..."
"We have this place surrounded, Juno," Jude continues as if I hadn't spoken, "twenty men with twenty shooting irons. We don't want to hurt the mutants living here. We just want the last human, nothing more." Jude's voice echoes in the silent recesses. I can't look at him. I don't know how. He's been brainwashed. The Children must have taken him in after the Final Judgment. It's the only explanation.
He's only asking for the last human. One person! Me! They don't know about Traylor! I realize with a start.
Covertly, I turn my head to look back toward the front of the room. Dura is still there, along with Ursa, but I can't see Traylor anywhere.
Where did he go?
And where the hells is Tien?
"Come on," Jude continues, voice cold. "Get up, Juno. Make this easy on your friends. Come quietly, and they will be left alone."
The mutant boys, still hanging on at the edge of the room, are looking outside the tall windows now, whispering and pointing. There are indeed people out there. Other Children, just as Jude threatened. I never doubted it.
There is no choice.
"Okay," I say, finally looking up at Jude, forcing my emotions into a bottle. "I'll... I'll go with you. I think you're faking this whole thing anyway. Do you remember the last thing you told me, Jude?"
I love you, Juno Quinn...
Jude remains unmoved, expression unreadable.
"Let's go," I finally say, defeated.
"NO!" somebody suddenly screams.
Out of nowhere comes Tien, leaping toward Jude from the edge of the room, covering the distance in two bounds. Jude is thrown off balance and Tien strikes him, the shooting iron sent scattering across the floor. The other boys scramble for it. A struggle ensues but it proves one-sided. Tien is much stronger than Jude. He has my former love pinned helplessly, one long fingered hand clasped firmly around Jude's soft throat.
"Stay away from her!" Tien growls, his grip tightening.
Jude hardly flinches.
What's happened to him? Why is he so emotionless?
"If I don't return to the Children in two minutes," Jude manages to croak out, "they have orders to come in after me, irons blazing. They will kill you all."
Tien's grip slackens a bit. A few of the more reckless boys in the room encourage Tien to crush Jude, but he doesn't.
He lets go.
"Get out," Tien orders, teeth bared.
Jude gets to his feet, slow and deliberate. "You have ten minutes, Juno," he says, turning toward the door. Even without his shooting iron, he acts like he's in charge here. "Come out willingly, or we come in. You know what happens then." He turns away and leaves, some of the boys following him as he goes.
I almost collapse from shock, but Tien catches me. He caresses the wound on my face where Jude had struck me. "I take it you know that lunatic?" he asks with a smirk.
"Oh yeah," I nod. "He's, um, from my hometown. We've known each other forever." I don't feel that now's the right time to admit to Tien that Jude and I had been in a relationship.
I thought he was dead.
How could this happen?
"Why does he hate you so much?" Tien asks.
I shake my head. "He doesn't. He's... He's sick, Tien. A group called the Children of Mutanity have him brainwashed. They want to eliminate all traces of the old world, forget humanity ever existed." I pause, letting out a short laugh. "Sometimes I can't help but think that they're right."
I hear a snort of derision, thinking it's Tien, but the other boys have joined us now, most looking downtrodden and worried.
"We won't let them have you, Juno," a new voice announces. I see Jurid pushing toward us, my brother in tow.
"They don't know about Traylor, do they?" Jurid asks.
I shake my head. "No, I don't think so."
"We're sorry, Tien," Jurid says as similar sentiments are expressed throughout the group. "We... You are the only one of us good enough for Juno. She is special. She should be yours."
"Hey, I'm not property that can be passed around!" I interject, but I see from Tien's embarrassment that he agrees with me already.
"We won't let the bad people take you," Jurid says to me. "We're with you." Most of the boys seem to agree. I'm inspired by their courage, but it's foolish.
Courage won't shield them from a bullet.
"Thank you, Jurid," I say, addressing the entire group. "Thank you all. But–and please, don't be upset about this–I have to go out there."
The boys erupt. It's Tien I'm looking at though.
His head is downcast.
He knows I'm right.
"They will kill you all," I announce, as if Jude hadn't just made that very threat. I inch toward a window and look out. I see men–sentries posted at intervals in the grass outside. A group of is congregated out there too. I see Jude, and another man that I'd hoped to never see again in my life.
Blaine. The leader of the Children of Mutanity.
The man who'd led the raid on our Manse in Krakelyn.
The mutant responsible for killing my Father.
Probably.
Now that I know that Jude is alive, anything seems possible.
My anger surges.
"If I don't give myself up," I say, turning from the window, "I might as well sign death warrants for you all. I'm sorry, but there is no other way."
Traylor bursts toward me, eyes glazed with tears. "No!" he admonishes. "Juno, I won't let them! What's wrong with Jude? Is he just pretending? Is he secretly gonna save us?"
I shake my head. I'd already considered that possibility, but inwardly I know it's not true. The man I used to know is now buried, lost beneath layers of hate, suppression, and vitriol. Jude hated the old religion as much as I did, but I suspect he’d joined the Children for protection after the Final Judgment. Living in that environment has warped his mind. Who knows what the Children made him do? I can only hope he's still in there, somewhere.
Maybe I can bring him back.
"I'm coming with you," Tien announces, speaking up after going quiet a moment.
"We all are," Jurid adds, puffing his pale chest out.
I shake my head. "That will only give them an excuse to kill you outside of the Manse. Don't make that task easier for them. Please."
I turn to Tien. "You can't come with me," I say. "This is a one way trip, Tien." He shakes his head. "You know it is."
I see his eyes getting wet, but the young mutant finally nods. "It figures that the one person I could ever be happy with is also the last human."
I smirk.
"Hey! I'm getting sick of everyone referring to Juno as 'the last human'!" Traylor suddenly protests. He gestures to his unblemished fac
e. "I'm still just as pretty as she is!" I laugh, but Traylor's face is not amused. He isn't joking. He's trembling, trying to hold back the waterworks.
"Traylor," I say, bending low to my little brother. "It'll be alright. After this, you really will be the last human." The words are harsh, but it's the truth. I don’t sugarcoat it.
"No." He says, shaking his head.
"Yes. As soon as Altair is better, he and Ursa will take you to Everwinter. The good thing is that no one will be hunting for you. Nobody knows about you. As far as anyone outside these walls know, I am the last human." I pause, but Traylor won't meet my gaze.
I reach out to him but he recoils. "I hate you!" he screams, bolting and disappearing into the Manse. Jurid follows him. I'm shaken and on the verge of breakdown, but I keep my head up. Ursa's hand falls on my shoulder.
"He'll be alright," I say. "Traylor has a flair for the dramatic."
Ursa nods, her own eyes dripping. She wipes the tears away. "I've barely known you a week and... Look at me!" More tears fall.
I chuckle. "I feel the same way, Ursa." We lock eyes. "Take care of my brother."
Ursa nods, reluctant to let me go. But she knows it has to be this way. "For the greater good, Juno," she whispers back.
I turn away.
Tien is waiting for me at the mess hall entrance. I go to him.
"I really want to tell you that you don't have to do this," he says, face sheepish, "but I know that you do. I understand it."
"Take care, Tien," I say, caressing a hand across his cold, bluish cheek. I steal a last glance at the mutant boys assembled in the hall and they're all staring back, eyes glazed, expressions forlorn.
Some of them wave, but I don't wave back.
It's time to end this.
