Would our baby have superpowers, too? Did we have the ability to transfer special skills through reproduction? Could we only transmit our powers, or was it altered DNA that made us susceptible to the beneficial mutation?
Maybe a baby born from Stella and I wouldn’t realize their gift until they became an adult. If they had one at all. I certainly didn’t want to have to train a toddler how to control a powerful special ability. What if the kid could fly? Or shoot lasers out of his eyes? Talk about a change in the group dynamic. Being morbidly scared of your baby’s temper tantrums would completely change your world.
I didn’t share any of my thoughts with Stella. And I was glad that Alexa was not close enough to pick up my vibe. I wasn’t eager to discuss this possibility out loud. At least not yet. If we could get these Children of the mutant-hating Phoenix to back down, the super baby topic would make for an interesting conversation after dinner one evening.
In the middle of the night Bianka and Stella went back to the house as Riley and Jada took over guard duty. I decided to sleep in the same chair, right there in the yard with Alexa by my side. She could be relied on to get my attention if there was danger near us. I woke up suddenly to find that morning was upon us already, and there was the distinct sound of another vehicle approaching.
We tensed up expecting an attack. Instead, a black Jeep drove our way on Southwest, then turned onto Oakwood before retreating back down Northwest toward the main road. It kept a steady even pace except for the turns. No stopping. We watched to see if it was meant as a distraction, but all of their people that we could see remained as they were.
"It was a test," Alexa announced. "To see what we would do, or maybe they hoped that we would reveal our positions. Something like that."
The suggestion made me think about football. American football. I was certain the girls wouldn’t see the connection, so I kept it to myself. Putting a player in motion before the snap of the football forced the defense to reveal if they were in man-to-man or zone coverage. Was that tactic relevant to our situation? I didn’t know.
"I think that is a signal that they are about to attack," Bianka said then. She just returned to the front but had not yet relieved Riley from her spotter position. She had a tension in her voice when she spoke that suggested that it was more than a casual comment. I glanced up to witness her game face. She was ready.
"You may be right," I told her as I shuffled forward in my chair and shook any post sleep fog from my brain. “Let’s be ready.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:
An hour after the Jeep drove by things started to happen fast. More forces arrived at the guard stations, all of them appearing to be armed and half of them in combat clothes. Well, at least what went for military duds these days. Typically, a plain dark t-shirt and cargo shorts, green or black. Or camo.
It was impossible to get an accurate count of weapon bearers as they began moving forward, but it was estimated between twenty and thirty. It could be worse, but that was plenty to have to deal with all at once.
Three separate groups sticking mainly to the roads made their way cautiously toward us. One on Northwest, another on Southwest, and the third on Oakwood where it curved to go toward the main road. As they neared our position the two on the wings halted and the center group continued. I was then able to make out that it was led by Esther, the woman that knocked on our door yesterday. She didn’t strike me as the military type, but she was a leader. A spokesperson perhaps. That thought gave me some hope.
I moved slowly toward the street they were headed up, taking cover behind the corner house. It was one of the smaller houses, a brick ranch home with a wide driveway to connect to both streets. The concrete slabs were lined with small boxwood shrubs that had not yet grown into a hedge.
Esther’s group kept strolling along like they didn't know where we were. I had Stella at my side and Alexa a little behind me crouching between some trash cans. Riley kept watching the other side of the house to make sure that we didn't get flanked.
"That's far enough," I yelled out into the street before they could get past us. Esther jolted in surprise then turned to search for me in the early morning light. The four people with her raised their weapons. Three women and one man. The exact same group as yesterday. That must be her assigned squad.
The redhead did that tilt of her head thing again. I wondered if she had an ability similar to Alexa's. Was she analyzing us on another level? That wasn't likely since she hadn't warned her friends where we were. What the hell was her deal?
"What do you want?" I asked. My revolver was in my hand but pointed at the ground to exude confidence. Both of Stella's nine-milli-glocks rested the same way. Under my protection she would have plenty of time to raise her dual-wielding arms to fire. She wouldn't even need to aim, just look at her targets. As much as she hated harming any living soul, she had become accustomed to this incredibly valuable skill of hers.
"We are disappointed that you didn't come to register yesterday," she said with a shaky voice. Perhaps our advanced presence had disrupted her plans. "We are here to resolve the issue. Please come out to the street so we can talk."
"I don't think so," I replied. "We are staking claim to this area. You don't have any people living on this block, so we are not infringing on your territory. Your rules do not apply here anymore."
"I'm afraid that is not going to work for us," Esther said showing even more nerves. The man beside her was super twitchy again and beginning to raise a second hand to help steady his pistol. Without me needing to tell her Stella slowly raised both of her guns.
"Oh, shit!" I heard Alexa mutter from behind me. She knew what was about to happen without even seeing our opponents.
The freaky redhead bolted to the left as she fired a couple shots from her pistol. They weren’t even close to striking us. She was then quickly out of view. The rest of them got off a few more shots that I easily directed into the dirt long before they reached us. Then almost simultaneously they all dropped to the ground. Dead. Fresh bullet holes in their foreheads.
Four shots from Stella. Four perfect kills. My heart sank at the sight as I heard a faint whimper from my girl. These people were more like civilians than militia. People with families perhaps. Not evil, just doing their job. Unfortunately, that put them in harm’s way. We had a right to protect ourselves, too.
Jada's sniper rifle fired once, and Bianka's assault rifle twice. I couldn't see the people they were firing at from my position, so I moved toward the street. Stella knew the routine by now. Stay close to my side and there would be nothing to fear.
"Alexa!" I heard Riley yell with her stern voice. "With me!"
I didn't let their safety distract me. I had to trust that together they would be fine. Riley was as clearheaded in a crisis as anyone I had ever known.
Six of the seven opponents rushing up Oakwood Street scattered when one of their heads exploded. It would be much harder for Jada to take the life of a second one that dramatically. But one of them quickly dropped to the ground holding her plump ass. Once she became stationary Jada was able to put the woman down easily.
Of the five left Stella dropped three of them before they could find cover. The other two rushed toward the house where Jada was positioned on the roof. They had deduced where the sniper was that killed their friends.
I was torn on what to do next. Bianka would have six to eight opponents on her side. Riley might be heading that way to support, but with their particular skill set they could be outmatched. Bianka was instructed to flee if she was greatly outnumbered and didn't see us. If she did that, Riley and Alexa could be in deep shit. My heart tried to pull me in that direction.
On the other hand, Jada had two remaining on her side. And the redhead was nowhere to be found. Based on her last position and bearing she should still be between the two groups. If she had a superpower, we had not yet witnessed it. She was alone, but the most unknown factor.
I decided to take care of the easy side first
. I placed two forty-five caliber slugs in the back of a guy that was aiming toward the roof where Jada had just been a few seconds before. I was pretty sure it was the patrol guy that I made drop his two-way radio a few days ago.
Stella got the last one in the side of her head as she pursued Jada. My dark-skinned newest wife had jumped down from a window ledge and scrambled around the side of the house.
"I think that is the last one on this side," I told Jada, adrenaline pumping through my veins. It was the only way that I could end the lives of people that I didn’t even know. Near panic over the safety of my loved ones was required. "I'm not a hundred percent on that. But Bianka is in trouble."
"Go!" she yelled as she limped around the corner. I hoped that it was just a minor ankle sprain and not a bullet wound. I didn't have time to question her about it. She would no doubt downplay the injury anyway, and there was obviously no time for a debate.
I quickly spotted Bianka darting from her sniper house to the one behind, bouncing from one tree trunk to another like a flying squirrel. At one point she ran up a skinny branch that shouldn't have been able to hold her weight, then leaped over a six-foot privacy fence. She had been dodging gunfire the whole way. Did she get lucky or was she now able to avoid projectiles traveling at hundreds of miles per hour?
We weren't able to see the shooters yet as we approached Northwest Drive. Riley and Alexa came into view first and pointed which way to find our targets without hesitation. In our usual style Stella and I faced a barrage of bullets as we rounded the corner of the closest house. There were four women all dressed like they had once been part of the Coalition. Two more instantaneous head shots for Stella, but the other two managed to get away.
I knew there had to be more. When Bianka saw us appear on the scene she returned to the offensive. It took us a few minutes to kills the rest. Some were hiding in fear but had to be shot when they attempted to fire at us. The last one was running down the street toward our house when they went flying sideways into a cartwheel. Another sniper shot by Jada. Badly injured, but the woman wasn’t dead yet. She struggled to pull her side piece from its holster before rolling over to aim at us. Bianka put that one down from a closer range to save on sniper ammo. Her dainty booted foot pinned the shooting hand to the ground as she slit the woman’s throat. The scene was overly gruesome for my taste, but I couldn’t linger on it.
We weren’t able to find any more attackers in our newly claimed territory, so we focused more on the direction that the three of those squads had approached us. Did they have reinforcements? It didn't appear as though anyone else was coming.
Finally, we made a rendezvous in the side yard of a centrally located house. Jada was the last to arrive, still favoring one leg heavily. My next concern was to determine the extent of her injury. Unfortunately, as she walked past a small plastic storage shed the missing redhead jumped out and grabbed Jada with her arm around her throat and a handgun to her head.
Stella calmly raised her right pistol and pulled the trigger, but it just clicked. I saw no panic in the enemy’s expression until she heard the failed attempt. Before Stella could raise her other weapon, the redhead turned her gun toward Stella. I quickly reached forward with my hand, but I had carelessly let my timid sure shot wife get out of my protective range. Now I had two of my lovers in danger.
A blur of black hair raced toward our opponent as the sound of a gunshot rang through the air. Then I saw Riley holding the redhead's arm upwards. It must have been in time because Stella was unharmed. However, the enemy was much stronger than Riley and was in the process of throwing her to the ground. The red-haired attacker started complaining like Riley’s attempt to save her friends’ lives was somehow uncalled for.
Before she could level her weapon again Jada threw an elbow to her face. Her eyes went cross as she pulled the trigger once more. By then I was close enough to make sure that it didn't strike any of us. The woman appeared as though she was about to say something to us as she was knocked unconscious.
Jada pulled a large knife from the sheath on her hip and knelt down beside the dazed foe. Riley was able to wrestle the woman's pistol out of her hand rendering her powerless against us.
"No!" I yelled to Jada. Not only did I not want to watch another gory kill this woman was defenseless. Something inside me told me to spare her life. "Don't kill her."
"Interrogation?" Jada asked, wincing in pain.
"I don't know if that is a great idea," Alexa then said. She closed her eyes as the familiar blue streaks appeared on her neck and face. She must have been concentrating harder than usual for them to appear. Over the last few weeks, she had diminished the effect of the telltale sign that she was using a power. "That redhead is a freaky one."
"We don't currently have a freaky redhead in the mix," Bianka offered as she went to help Riley and Jada contain our prisoner.
"Ha ha," I said sarcastically. "Let's get her back to the house and tie her up. We should retreat now, I think. We've lost our ability to see them advancing more squads. I don’t want to get surrounded."
We made it back to the house without facing another enemy or hearing more gunfire. Bianka then went on lookout as Alexa bandaged Jada's ankle. It was cut but she claimed it felt more like a sprain. Riley and I restrained our new hostage and waited for her to recover from the elbow blow to the forehead.
I saw no recognition in the woman’s eyes as we shook her. Just the same dead doll-eyed stare. She struggled to speak a couple times, but instead, she eventually fell back asleep.
CHAPTER NINETEEN:
The unconscious redhead had flawless porcelain skin, much like Celeste had. Not many freckles either. In this disease and injury riddle new world that was rare. The blemishes that I had spotted in her previous visit turned out to be a ruse. Make up or dirt had been applied to look like scarred tissue, perhaps. Chances were that she would have a black eye or a bruise on her forehead now, though.
She had a toned athletic build similar to Bianka, or maybe even Stella. Not as muscular as Jada. Her sports bra below her green tank top contained what looked to be bigger breasts than you would normally see on someone of her build. I tried to visualize what they might be like once freed from their confinement until I felt the slap on the back of my head from a dainty hand. Alexa knew what I was thinking. Maybe not specifically, but it wasn't really that difficult to guess if she saw where my eyes were glued.
Her short cargo shorts revealed strong slender thighs. Those legs were long, maybe even longer than Riley's. Her combat boots appeared to be store bought (or stolen) and not government issue. The style was a bit too fashionable.
"What if she never wakes up?" Jada asked. “Are we going to continue to hover over her…”
"She will," Alexa replied. "Her brain activity suggests that it might even be soon."
"We need better intel on this Children of the Phoenix group," I told them, supporting my decision to keep this enemy alive. "It could make a huge difference in what we do now."
Riley walked into the room. She had gone to check in with Bianka to get a situation report. "Still no aggression," Riley informed us.
"There won't be," an unfamiliar voice said. The redhead. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but was able to hear us, and to speak.
"Why not?" I asked. She didn't answer. Nor did she open her eyes.
"If no one is actually coming after us right away," Jada said. "We should collect all the guns and ammo from their dead."
"I'll do it," Riley said. Before I could object, she added, "I'll have Bianka help. If it makes you feel any better Stella or Alexa could join us. Because getting those guns doesn't just help us, it hurts them."
That was a valid point. I nodded my consent and turned my attention back to the redhead. She had offered information before we even knew that she was awake. Why was she refusing to answer my question now? Maybe she just needed to recover some more. I should take it slow.
"What is your name?"
Large eyelids wit
h lashes to match flipped open like a doll. Lifeless eyes behind them stared at the ceiling for a few seconds before she answered. "Mila."
"What is your deal, Mila?" I asked. Her manner was really freaking me out. Would she reveal to us that she is a mutant? Probably not.
"You wish to make a deal?"
"No," I corrected her. "I want to know who you are and why you act the way that you do."
"Oh," she answered without any show of disappointment at not being offered a deal. She also made no attempt to struggle against her binds. I had a quick flashback to the day that Celeste was bound to a medical table. That was the instance that she used her dream weaver power on me. I focused on being more careful this time. "You must be referring to my vision impairment."
"You are blind?" I asked in shock. How could that be? She was running around in battle and firing a gun! I was familiar with the whole handi-capable concept, but this was the most extreme demonstration of it that I had ever observed.
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