by Kory Shen
"Damn, girl. How much juice do you have? Didn't you miss Maiden's last session?"
"Just hurry. I'll meet you by that oak tree next to the playground."
She was trusting Escort to do what was right.
The problem was that, these days, Cover Girl had trouble telling right from wrong, too.
CHAPTER 7
Alan stepped forward as an invisible arm pulled him away from the playground.
"We're heading to that tree," a voice whispered out of the thin air.
Alan stumbled, but the arm gripping him kept him from falling. It was strange walking without seeing his feet, like trying to walk down a staircase with a giant box in his arms.
"Don't look at your feet. There's nothing to see there. Focus on where you're going," Cover Girl whispered. Did she just sigh?
"Sorry. This is my first time being invisible."
They made their way over to the oak tree.
"What now?" Alan asked.
"We wait for Escort."
"Escort? Wait, isn't that the one who killed Cameron and Katie?" Alan tried to pull his hand away.
Cover Girl pulled his arm back. "Stop, you idiot. I'm saving your life."
"What about Escort?"
"It wasn't personal. She was following orders. Now she's not, and she'll pay for it later. So don't push her."
Alan and Cover Girl waited in silence while holding hands. It was almost romantic, if not for his sweaty palms and the constant threat of danger.
"So are you guys heroes or not?"
"I wonder about that myself," Cover Girl muttered.
"But you're alphas. You can do whatever you want," Alan said.
"No. We. Can't." Cover Girl bit off each word angrily. "You know why PIERCR's here? Because of you. Because of alpha protocols."
"PIERCR?"
"Paramilitary Initiative for Extranormal Risk Containment and Response."
Bureaucratic gibberish. All he knew was that they were looking for him. "Why is everyone after me? Mind explaining anything?"
"Not now. Maybe later."
"Oh right, later. After you ditch me?" Alan was still mad about that.
Cover Girl didn't have a chance to respond before a crouched figure appeared next to them. She was dressed exactly as Alan remembered from that deadly night.
"You killed my friend," Alan growled. Despite his terror, he couldn't hold back his anger. "You murdered my best friend."
"Quiet," Cover Girl hissed.
"I don't have time for babysitting," Escort said. "We doing this or not?" She touched her ear. "Maiden's coming here!"
"Fuck…can you do the double jump? Get him out of here?" Cover Girl asked.
"Double jump?" Alan asked. The two women ignored him.
"My panic hole's half a klick from here." Escort grimaced. "I've never hauled luggage that far."
"You have a receiver box prepped?"
Escort nodded. "Assuming I get him there in one piece, where do I take him?"
"College Park. I have a private jet there."
"Hey, what's the plan?" Alan tried.
"Quiet. The adults are talking," Escort snapped.
Shouting in the distance interrupted them. The soldiers were circling a woman with flaming red hair dressed in a silver dress that reached to her ankles. Alan gasped. He had seen and sampled his share of beauties, but the woman was in another league entirely.
"That's Maiden, right?" Alan asked.
Cover Girl ignored him. "Escort, hurry!"
"I'm burning everything for this," Escort said. "I won't be able to come back for you."
"I'll meet you at the airport as soon as I can," Cover Girl said. "Go!"
Alan's hands, body, and legs rematerialized. He opened and closed his fist experimentally. Everything still worked. Thank god.
Escort reached for him with her hands.
Alan's eyes widened in surprise. "Don't touch me! I saw what you did to Cam."
Something whacked him in the back of his head. "Shut up and keep still."
"I'll take my chances with the soldiers," Alan said. "They're military, right? That means they're the good guys."
Escort chuckled. "Can I kill him now and save us all the trouble?"
Cover Girl's face materialized in front of Alan. "Listen, you idiot. There are no good guys. This is the real world."
The sound of gunfire and screams rang out in the distance. Alan turned to see what was happening, but Escort used the distraction to grab him with one hand on each arm.
"Ready for your first time, big boy?" Escort said.
"What?" Alan struggled.
"Hold your breath," Escort said.
Pain ripped through Alan's entire body, like a thousand knives cutting him into small pieces. He tried to scream but no sound would come out. His vision went black, and for a moment he thought he had passed out. Then, the pain left, but it was still pitch black.
"Shut up!"
Alan couldn't see who had spoken, but it had to be Escort. He realized he was screaming. He stopped. "Holy shit. Am I dead?"
"You will be if you don't stop pissing me off. Wait here."
"Don't leave me here!" Alan flailed about with his arms, trying to catch Escort. Something kicked him hard in the chest, throwing him backwards.
"Jesus. Keep that up, and you'll lose an arm."
There was a light popping noise and a gust of air.
"Escort? Escort?"
She was gone. First, Cover Girl. Now, Escort. He hated having women ditch him like that.
Something nearby creaked. A sliver of light appeared and widened to reveal an opening doorway. He was in some kind of storage container. Escort was waiting.
"You need a personal invitation? Come on. Get out of there."
Alan climbed out of the container. He took one look at Escort, then turned and ran in the opposite direction.
"Oh Christ," Escort said.
Something hard hit his head, and the world turned black once more. He slept.
* * *
When Alan woke up, he found himself seated on the ground of a spacious airport hangar. A small passenger plane was in one corner of the hangar. Escort gestured towards it.
"I need to prep the plane. You should get on board so you can leave as soon as Cover Girl arrives."
"Hold on, hold on." Alan rubbed the back of his head. Had she knocked him out? "What's going on? Why are people trying to kill me? Where are you taking me?" He stood, then fell backwards as a wave of dizziness swept over him.
Alan sat down on the concrete floor instead, holding his head in his hands. "All I did was fuck an alpha. Now Cam is dead. Katie, too." When Alan raised his head again, there were tears in his eyes.
"I was following orders. You understand?" Escort crouched down to meet Alan's eyes. "God damn. Don't give me puppy eyes." Escort looked away and swallowed. "Fucking hell," she muttered.
"Why would someone tell you to kill Cam? That's bullshit!" Alan yelled.
"Not Cam. Just everyone in contact with you."
"What? But why?"
Escort sighed. "You'll probably be dead soon anyways. Well, here's the short version. You're a walking disaster."
"Me? I wouldn't hurt anyone."
Escort laughed. "That's what you think. Here's the slightly longer version. You might be infected with the alphavirus. The virus that makes us alphas."
"I'm infected with a disease? But how would that happen? Why me…oh. No way. This has to do with me and Cover Girl hooking up, doesn't it?"
"Was it worth it?" Escort asked.
Was she joking? Escort wasn't smiling. He looked away. "But that doesn't explain why everyone's trying to kill me."
"I don't have time to lecture you on alphas one-oh-one. Look, you spread the alphavirus. You make more alphas. Alphas make even more alphas. Soon you have a catastrophe. Meltdown. Got it?"
"So? We'd have more heroes? What's wrong with that?" Alan asked. He was having trouble wrapping his head around the idea of an alpha
virus.
"Do we look like heroes?" Escort laughed bitterly. "And we're the nice ones. More alphas means more problems. What happens when a serial killer turns into an alpha? Or a gangster?"
Alan had a disturbing thought. "If I caught this alphavirus from Cover Girl, what happens if I sleep with someone else? Will they catch it, too?"
Escort shrugged. "Sometimes. It depends. Your alphavirus strain shouldn't be strong enough to do much, but with biology you can never tell. That's why at the first sign of an unregulated alpha, they execute a blanket kill order."
"I get Cover Girl and you. But why is the military after me? Do you all work together?"
"Sometimes. The military and alphas don't quite get along. They want to chain us up and use us like weapons. You can imagine. Alphas try to solve alpha problems without the military. Someone is fucking with us by getting PIERCR involved." Escort saw his blank stare. "PIERCR's the group that's supposed to keep alphas in line."
"But how—" Alan stopped. Sally. The gas explosion on the news. Shit. That wasn't possible, was it? And how could they react that quickly? He looked at the masked woman in black who could teleport. Anything was possible.
Alan shivered. He hoped he was wrong, but the sick feeling in his gut wouldn't go away. He might have killed Sally and anyone else at the burger joint. It would be his fault. Cameron and Katie, too. Escort hadn't killed them. He had. Him and his wet dick.
He buried his head in his hands. "I killed them. Oh god, I killed them."
"Christ."
Alan felt two hands hold him by the shoulders again. Was Escort going to kill him? He started to resist, but stopped. Maybe he deserved to die.
"Come on, cheer up. I've killed thousands of people and look at me. All happy and smiling, right?" Escort sighed. "Idol's better at this stuff than me."
Alan pushed Escort away and stood up. "I'm not a psycho like you. When I kill people, it feels wrong. It is wrong. What the fuck is wrong with you people?"
Escort rolled her eyes. She pointed at the plane. "If you're done moping?"
Alan didn't budge. "Where are you taking me? You didn't answer that."
"Cover Girl's taking you, not me, and I don't know where. I don't want to know in case Maiden or Idol drag it out of me. They'll still find out, but at least you'll have a head start." She looked worried.
"Maiden's your boss? That red haired woman?" Alan asked.
"Yeah." Escort turned around to face the plane.
"Are you going to be in trouble?" He didn't get the woman. One day she was trying to kill him. The next she was going against her boss to help him.
Escort shrugged. "I'll survive. Maiden needs me." She headed towards the plane. "Come on." She waved at him to follow.
Alan didn't move. Everything he had just learned from Escort was overwhelming. This was a new world, a world of alphas. He wasn't ready for that.
He took a deep breath. Focus. He had to focus on…what? Staying alive. This was survival, plain and simple. Okay. He could do that. Survive.
He hurried after Escort, rubbing his temples.
Damn, did he have a killer headache.
CHAPTER 8
She should have gone after Alan right away, but Cover Girl couldn't abandon the school, not while the families and teachers were still there. She crept closer to Maiden and the soldiers. A man, presumably the squadron leader, was arguing with Maiden.
"Where is he?" the gruff man barked at Maiden. "You're hiding him, aren't you?"
"Don't be silly," Maiden said. "I don't even know who you're talking about." Maiden shifted her stance, crossing her arms.
The man stepped back at Maiden's sudden movement, and the nearby soldiers trained their rifles on her.
"Fucking alpha," the man said.
Maiden clucked her tongue. "Mind your language, captain. There are children about."
The civilians had been rounded up and were sitting together on the lawn. Some of them were crying. Others were hugging each other. Soldiers ringed them with their weapons pointed inward. There was no mistake. The soldiers were there to keep anyone from escaping, not to protect them.
Cover Girl had heard gunfire earlier. What had happened? There it was — a small body lying face down on the grass. Cover Girl closed her eyes for a moment. Shit. The child had probably run out of fear. A Black Death protocol didn't leave any chances for mistakes. Not even for children.
"In any case," Maiden said. "If this person you are searching for was in fact around, he'd be eliminated already. Trust me."
"Trust you? Over my dead body," the man said.
"That can be arranged."
"Is that a threat?" The man touched his belt and his clothes shimmered with a soft glow. He drew a pistol from his hip holster.
Cover Girl was close enough to recognize the captain's face. She scowled. It was Karl Fisher. Fisher was a savage who hated alphas, looking for the slightest excuse to hunt them down. A rogue alpha would be exactly what he needed to convince the military brass that alphas were too dangerous to exist.
"You sure you want to do this?" Maiden looked at her fingers. "I'll be mad if I chip a nail. I had them done this afternoon."
"Bring it on, bitch," Fisher said.
"Wait!" Cover Girl screamed through an audio transmitter while remaining invisible. "What about the families and teachers?"
Both Maiden and Fisher turned to face the direction of her voice. They chuckled.
"One of yours?" Fisher asked.
Maiden rolled her eyes. "The moment Fisher showed up, they were dead. Run along, Cover Girl. I'll deal with you later."
A few reporters were huddled among the other civilians. "You can't do that!" one of the journalists shouted. "I'm calling our station!" He tapped his phone, but nothing happened. He stared at his dead phone in surprise. "It's…dead," he said in shock.
"One of yours?" Maiden asked.
Fisher nodded. "Our media blackout isn't as good as Electrophile's, but good enough. So, shall we dance?"
Cover Girl stared in horror, first at Maiden, then at Fisher. If she wasn't sure before, she was sure now. They were both insane.
If she could take out Fisher, then—
"Don't even think about it, Cover Girl," Maiden said. Somehow Maiden knew where she was. Maiden reached out with a hand and groped her chest.
The world flickered. Cover Girl was sitting in the driver's seat of her black car. Maiden was sitting in the passenger seat with her hand squeezing Cover Girl's right breast.
The world flickered again. Cover Girl and Maiden were still sitting in the car, but the car was in a parking lot that she didn't recognize.
Maiden patted Cover Girl's cheek. "You stay safe, dear. I'm the only one that gets to hurt you. I need to show Fisher a good time now."
Maiden disappeared.
Cover Girl gripped the steering wheel in fury, her knuckles turning white. They were going to kill everyone at the school. Fisher, Maiden, they were both the same. She screamed and punched the wheel. The car honked.
Fuck.
Cover Girl made up her mind. She started the car and let her invisibility end. She checked herself in the rearview mirror, adjusting her hair.
There was still one person she could save.
* * *
Alan lounged in the reclined plane seat. The small private jet had first-class seat booths. Not bad. He closed his eyes and began a simple breathing exercise to calm himself.
The door to the plane slowly opened. Alan peered at the doorway but couldn't see anyone. After several seconds, the door closed on its own with a gentle thud.
Escort was in the cockpit. She peeked into the main cabin.
"Cover Girl. You're all set for take off," Escort said.
The familiar voice spoke. "No trouble?"
"Nope."
Escort didn't seem the least bit phased talking to empty air, but Alan hated it.
"Can't you become, like, normal?" Alan asked.
Someone sighed. Then, Cover Girl app
eared wearing a white catsuit. She was hunched over so that her head didn't hit the ceiling. Alan looked at her feet. She had three-inch spikes.
Cover Girl shrugged. The spikes retracted so she could stand up straight.
"Happy now?" she asked.
Alan couldn't help himself. He grinned. "You look seriously awesome."
Cover Girl smirked. "That's what they tell me."
Escort made a gagging noise. "Are you lovebirds done? I'm off then."
Cover Girl hugged Escort and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thank you so much. I know what this is going to cost you."
"Don't remind me," Escort grumbled. She opened the plane door and stepped outside.
"You're a real hero," Cover Girl called after her.
"Thanks," Alan added. He had mixed feelings about thanking a murderer. She had saved him just now, though. Maybe things weren't so simple.
The cabin door closed. Cover Girl turned to Alan. "Now we deal with you."
That sounded like a threat. Alan balled his fists in response. "What are you going to do with me?"
"Good question. Maiden's not the only one after you anymore. Fisher wants you."
"Is he with the military?" he guessed.
Cover Girl nodded. "Sort of. He's in charge of PIERCR. They're our watch dogs."
"Escort said something about the military and alphas not getting along."
Cover Girl studied Alan as if seeing him for the first time. "You're quicker than the size of your pecs would suggest."
Alan scowled. "Right back at you."
Cover Girl put a hand over her mouth in mock outrage. "Sassy too."
"So what's the deal with the military? And Fisher?" Alan prodded. He flicked his eyes over Cover Girl's ample chest and back to her face. She didn't blink.
Cover Girl stretched her back, puffing her chest out further. "The deal with Fisher is that he's an asshole and a bigot. He hates alphas. The military and alphas never really saw eye to eye."
Cover Girl sat down in the booth next to his and gazed intently at him.
"And?" Alan prompted. He had to admit being alone with Cover Girl was distracting, but he needed to figure out what was happening if he was going to stay alive.
"We have a truce of sorts. We help them out from time to time. We take care of our own. They leave us alone. Fisher wants to change that. He wants to shackle us. Chain us up like dogs for the military. Turn us into slaves." Cover Girl's eyes narrowed. "Although one of us may have tipped him off about you."
