Faded Borders (The Convergence Saga Book 4)

by Rick Kueber

  “Where are we?” Tory’s voice called out from the stairs.

  “According to the map, I would say we are heading into Corpus Christi, Texas.” Mariah answered.

  “Any signs of Titans?” Tory asked demandingly.

  “No.” I answered before Mariah could speak. “But if you want to be helpful, why don’t you grab the binoculars. I saw a pair last night. They are in the overhead cabinet by the kitchenette.”

  Elle smiled and Tory stomped back down the stairs and returned moments later. “Here.” She said callously, handing me the binoculars.

  “Looks abandoned to me. No sign of any Titans.” I scanned the horizon.

  “Are you going to tell us what the hell is going on now, Victoria?” Elle sneered at her friend.

  “Let’s get to shore and find a comfortable, safe haven. Then I will answer every question you have and I hope to give you answers to questions you haven’t even thought of yet.” Tory responded politely.

  “I’m not sure what’s going on here, but if there are answers we need to know, then we need to know them now.” I interjected.

  “She’s been promising to tell me everything since I met up with her in Arizona.” Elle grumbled. “So far, she hasn’t really told me shit!”

  “Is she a threat? I can detain her. There are plenty of ropes around here.” I stood up straight and puffed my chest, as much as I could.

  “I’m right here!” Tory exploded angrily. “I just saved Elle’s ass and you ask if I’m a threat?”

  “How are we to know what your intentions are?” Elle questioned the first friend she had made after the invasion.

  “If it weren’t for you, I’d have been dead long ago and so would my daughter.” Tory’s tone softened. “I would never wish any harm on you.”

  “Okay.” Elle backed down a bit, but directed her next statement to everyone who was listening. “We’ll keep an eye on Tory until we dock and find our ‘comfortable haven’ as she put it.”

  Chapter 13

  Band of Rebels

  It took a couple of hours to skirt around the elevated highway to a place where the height of the sails could safely pass beneath it and then to dock at the massive Corpus Christi Marina. During our slow passage, a few of us packed up what we could into duffel bags and back packs. The sight of so many sailing vessels, yachts and boats of every size and color was actually a beautiful and serene vision. After finding a suitable slip and docking our boat, we shouldered our packs and took off to find safe place to camp out for a day or two. Walking from the marina down the elevated road that led us into the downtown area on Shoreline Boulevard, the options seemed limitless.

  “There!” Maya called out. “Best Western. I vote we break in there. Plenty of rooms to sleep in and meeting rooms and stuff.”

  “As simplistic as that statement was, I must agree.” Tory rolled her eyes.

  “Oh God...” Mariah whispered to Elle and me. “I hope I didn’t sound like that, but I bet I used to.”

  “Just realizing that there is a problem with what she said and how she said it, gives me hope that you’ll be just fine.” Elle smiled at her.

  “Every once in while you let your privileged upbringing slip out of your mouth, but nothing like that.” I assured her.

  “I don’t know what you’re whispering about over there, but I think it’s a great idea.” Stellan shouted from the other side of the road where he and Torrance walked together carrying on a conversation of their own. “I am so ready for a real bed.”

  “It’s settled then.” Torrance agreed. “Best Western for the day and tonight and we can make a decision when and where we go from there.”

  We found the hotel open and the lobby in horrible disarray. No bodies, but luggage, personal belongings and lobby furniture were scattered everywhere. We had no trouble accessing the lobby, but with no power, the card keys were useless and all of the rooms were locked. Torrance, however, had no trouble busting in a few doors to gain access to the guest rooms. He and I, after getting a half a dozen rooms busted into, climbed the stairs to the top floor. Peering out of the windows and using the binoculars, we searched for signs of life, whether they be human or alien, but we found none. Returning to the first floor, we found our companions had already begun to settle in, unpacking clothes and food and Elle had already set up the playpen and she and ‘Nix were taking a well-deserved rest.

  “This bed is soooooooo comfortable!” Elle groaned as she stretched her arms and sprawled out even more.

  “Looks amazing, but before we get too comfy, maybe we should corner Tory and get those answers you’ve been asking for.” I hated to put a damper on her relaxation, but it seemed prudent.

  “O...kay.” She moaned. “You’re right. I’ve been hounding her, so probably better not let up now, or she’ll just put it off again. Can you get it all set up and then come get me and ‘Nix?”

  “Sure.” I smiled, knowing she had her hands full taking care of our baby. ‘Our baby’... That thought still made me smile inside more than I could ever express.

  It wasn’t difficult to finds an open conference room and one by one, I brought everyone to the meeting. When all were gathered together, I made my last trip down the corridor and brought Elle and Phoenix to the conference room and set up his playpen in the corner. For a child of less than a year old, he was extremely attentive, sitting up and paying close attention to every word spoken.

  “Tory, instead of an interrogation, why don’t you just tell us the truth... The whole story... And then if we have questions, we can ask them when you’re finished.” Elle spoke first.

  “I suppose the best way to begin is to explain why we needed to abandon the others and the Titans. Did you notice that there were no hybrids like Mariah in our Titan?” She began with a question which was not what we intended.

  “I did notice that, I suppose.” Elle thought aloud.

  “There are two types of hybrids. For lack of a better explanation; one is a human who has a physiological anomaly that makes them immune to the beings of light and allows them to acquire some of their traits and the other kind is someone, like Mariah, who has been given the gift by another hybrid through a blood transfusion of sorts. The gathering we were at a few nights ago... There were no hybrids. They don’t want hybrids. What they want is to take over the planet through the, what did you call them... Ahsushas? And the rest of the humans to become Takers, until there are no humans left. One class to rule and one to serve.” Tory stopped and took a drink from her bottle of water.

  “And you don’t want that?” Elle asked cynically.

  “No matter what you think of me, no matter what role I played, the truth and the fact is that I am still human. Hybrid’s show the Takers that there is another way. The more the Takers are around hybrids and humans, the more human they become. Their memories do not seem to return, but their intelligence and even emotions and morals seem to either return or are re-learned over time. Having two types of hybrids blatantly shows them that there are two classes of beings aside from humans.”

  “Three.” Maya blurted out and captured everyone’s attention. “Well, ‘Nix... He’s a third type of hybrid. He is the first of a possible generation of new hybrids.”

  “Can we call them something else.” Stellan raised his shoulders and shivered. “It just sounds so cold and impersonal and Torrance is one, but he’s also my friend.”

  “Humaliens...” Elle muttered under her breath.

  “Regardless of what we call them, they are a threat to what the beings have planned. They want to rule the planet and create an army of Takers to fight the Grays, when they find that their game of chess has ended.” Tory was beginning to make more sense and was actually believable. “Phoenix is their worst nightmare. We have no idea what his powers may be and neither do they, but they also know that he is proof that humans and aliens can not only live together in peace, but that we are compatible enough to become one race, in time.”

  “So, we ran away from
everyone at the Titan because...” Maya tried to draw the answer out of Tory with her open ended sentence.

  “Because, my friend... you, Elle, and I would eventually be taken if we had stayed and little Phoenix... Well, all I can say for certain is that they would do whatever they could to make sure that his life ended and from what I understand, they would leak a story... A rumor that would eventually be believed by all. Phoenix would die and everyone would eventually believe that it was because humans and aliens weren’t physiologically compatible. That would end anyone being willing to mate with a hybrid or undergo a transfusion. Alien mutation and alien hybridization would be known as the post-apocalyptic plague.”

  “So are you trying to tell me that Irene and Bailey are on the side of the aliens and are plotting to kill Phoenix?” Elle sat in shock.

  “Irene, yes...” Tory spoke solemnly. “She and the alien beings tried to brainwash me. Really it was more like very intense torture. They drowned me in this slime for days and played these horrid images in my head over and over. It half worked and even though I would have done anything to end the pain, I kept my memory and my humanity. I played the part they wanted and expected, but when I introduced you and Phoenix to the tribe, I was punished again. They tried to retrain my thoughts and how I survived at all is still a mystery to me.”

  “And what about this Bailey person that Elle mentioned?” I wanted to move the conversation on to a different subject. Tory’s torture talk hit way too close to home and I didn’t want to relive any more of my own drowning nightmare.

  “Yeah. She was the hologram we saw the other night. Is she in on the whole ‘two class world’ plan too?” Elle threw up air quotes with her fingers.

  “No. She is not.” Tory stood up, rubbed her forehead and puffed her cheeks out as she exhaled forcefully. “How do I put this...”

  “Just spit it out.” Torrance wanted to speak, but he had reservations about becoming the focal point of the interrogation.

  “Fine.” She spluffed. “Elle shot Bailey... in the chest. She was nearly dead when the Takers brought her into the Titan. The beings knew that her survival was detrimental to keeping Elle on-board with the plan until they could start their war with the Titans who are supportive of the hybrids. Once that war has begun, their plan was to assassinate Elle, ‘Nix, and Tanner if they could find him. Your deaths would have become epic stories of martyrdom and would only fuel the ignorant passion of their armies. That’s one of the reasons they were so adamant about tracking him to the coast. They wanted to have a million people, Takers and Ahsushas there to make sure he didn’t slip through their grasp.” Tory paused to catch her breath and the tears began to stream down her cheeks. “I never wanted any of this. I never wanted to be taken and tortured. All I ever wanted was to survive this nightmare with my daughter, but now, I don’t even know where she is... I don’t even know who she is.”

  “It’s okay Tory.” Maya crossed the room and gave her a genuinely loving hug. “We’ve all done whatever we had to, to survive. I think you’ve been braver that you realize.”

  “Yeah, like showing ‘Nix to everyone. You had to know they’d be pissed.” Mariah wanted to participate, and even though she had not had any real encounters aside from being chased by Takers, she had a fair sense of the intensity and seriousness of the tales that Tory had told.

  “They really didn’t want anyone to have any proof that Phoenix existed. There would of course be rumors, but I wanted to show him to the world, or at least our world.” Tory wiped the tears from her cheeks but her eyes only poured even more over their edges. Her stomach clenched and her heart broke when she spoke the next words. “I sentenced you to death. When I introduced you and ‘Nix to everyone, that was the moment that I gave them no choice but to...” She couldn’t continue.

  “I saved your life once.” Elle remembered. “And now, you’ve saved mine and Phoenix’s. I guess the real question now is, what do we do now? Can we save Bailey?” Elle couldn’t believe the words came out of her mouth. Bailey was the most irritating person Elle had ever met, but somehow, she felt that she had a good heart and good intentions.

  “We begin our own rebellion.” Stellan burst out, over-excitedly.

  “Yeah dude, perfect.” Maya gave an intentional eye roll. “So what, seven against... What did they say at the gathering, five hundred million.”

  “Seven and a half.” I corrected her as I picked Phoenix up, out of his playpen.

  “Stellan and... Maya? are both right. We have to take our own side, but we need others too.” Tory stumbled over her words awkwardly. “But... I don’t... really... know how to do that. For the moment, I’m simply glad we escaped and we’re all alive” Everyone smiled or nodded in agreement even though our worlds had been turned upside down.

  I hugged ‘Nix, kissed his cheek and handed him to Elle. “How do we do that? I might have an idea. It involves a huge RV, hybrid blood transfusions, an alien brain implant and as many Pale Titans as we can find... One at a time. Let’s take a day to relax and make some basic plans. Tomorrow we’ll begin our biggest adventure yet.”

  “I’m in!” Torrance stood up enthusiastically.

  A meager lunch was put together and served on the board room table. The seven of us mingled and chatted about our future. We had choices: run and hide for as long as we could, rush head first into the storm and pray for the best, or move forward, in careful calculated steps, towards a goal. If we didn’t achieve our goal, even if we didn’t succeed... If we gave it our best effort, we would never fail. We dug out phone books and paper city maps from the hotel lobby to find home improvement stores, grocery stores, department stores, sporting goods stores, pharmacies, construction companies, and RV dealerships. I had a plan; a series of ideas that scared the hell out of me, but I knew it just might work.

  Our band of rebel brothers and sisters had survived more than a year of the invasion, but the most difficult and troubling times were ahead of us. Nevertheless, we felt fortunate to have each other and blessed to be alive. Mother Earth was smiling and Father Sun was shining down on us from above. Our story was far from over, and our fight had not yet begun.

  The Convergence Saga begins with The Pale Titan by Rick Kueber.

  Book One

  The Pale Titan Complete Book

  The Pale Titan Pt. 1 The Pale Titan Pt. 2 The Pale Titan Pt. 3

  Stellium Books is releasing this epic Sci-Fi adventure as a serial with a new part coming out each month. The Pale Titan Part 1 released in November 2015.

  Follow Rick Kueber’s author page here.

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  Shadows of Eternity: The Children of the Owls

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  The Convergence Saga Book 2

  The Genesis Project

  Dissension

  The Convergence Saga Book 3

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  Featuring Rick Kueber

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  Stellium Books August 2015

  Amazing Paranormal Encounters

  Volume 2

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  Amazing Paranormal Encounters Volume 2

  Stellium Books February 2016

 

 

 
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