by Cheree Alsop
“Anytime,” the cougar Shifter replied, turning back to his leg. He pulled the straps he had cut off his vest around the wound tighter to hold pressure, then put weight on the leg to test the binding. He winced slightly and met my eyes. “Let’s go.”
I tore a strip off the bottom of my shirt and Kyla bound it quickly, her eyes wide and face pale. I opened and closed my hand, concerned at the swelling that had already set in enough to hamper movement. I turned away before Kyla could read my expression. “Let’s go before the Falconans regroup.”
Phoenix opened the door to the first room. I rushed in and caught the first Falconan just under the rib cage, my knife angled upwards. Spinning, I silenced the second with a slice across the throat. The third fumbled against the door in the dark. I threw the knife with a quick flick of my wrist. It sunk deep at the base of the Falconan’s neck.
“Save me a few,” Phoenix whispered in exasperation as he slipped through the door with Kyla close behind. She had a hand on Phoenix’s shoulder for guidance in the dark.
We continued down the hall, taking down the Falconans in each room. The lab scent grew the further we walked. My heart started to pound. We made our way down a side hall, dispatching four more Falconans efficiently and silently. I let Phoenix take the lead and fell back to lead Kyla through the absolute darkness. I could hear her quick breathing, but her hand was steady in mine. It was good to be near her again, even under the dire circumstances.
“This is it,” Phoenix whispered. He had a hand on the school’s lunchroom door. I drew another gun from my vest and made sure Kyla was behind me. At my nod, he pushed it open.
Falconans were everywhere. There must have been another generator that Kyla’s dad and Flint hadn’t found yet. Neon light gleamed off of cages, tables, computers, and lab equipment. A shot rang out and dust chipped from the bricks by Kyla’s head. Phoenix and I returned answering shots. Kyla dropped behind a metal table that Phoenix overturned. We returned shot for shot. Angry yells and cries of pain sounded from around the lab.
A shot from behind clipped Phoenix’s arm. Kyla spun and fired. The brawny Falconan in the door we had just entered fell back. Phoenix jumped up and slammed the door shut. He looked around wildly. I tossed him a metal bar from a nearby table and he rammed it through the door handles, locking more Falconans out and us in.
“What are you going to do, Marek?” Galbran’s voice crackled over the intercom; a hush fell over the room.
I glared up at the intercom above us. I wanted more than anything to see Galbran, to put an end to it all right then and there.
Galbran continued, “Are you going to kill all of them?” His voice was light, but I could tell it was forced. He hadn’t been expecting us. I looked around for the camera Galbran was watching us with. I spotted it in the far corner of the room and took aim. The camera shattered, but the words continued from the intercom above our heads. “If you kill them, I won’t be able to change them back.”
The words fell like a blow on my shoulders. I staggered against the wall. Change them back? Was it possible? I couldn’t center my thoughts. I tried to remind myself that there were dozens of Falconans pointing guns at us, waiting for us to show ourselves. But could they be changed back into children again? Could they go home? Shane could go home.
“Marek!” Phoenix shouted from behind the table. “He’s lying, Marek. Don’t believe him!” Phoenix pumped bullets into the intercom until it fuzzed with static, then went silent.
I met my friend’s eyes, shock surging through my heart. “But what if he’s telling the truth?” I crouched low, out of sight of the Falconans’ guns. A shot hit the table near my head.
“When have you known Galbran to tell the truth?” Phoenix argued. “Besides, this is a horrible time to change our minds.”
I looked at Kyla, torn and wanting to believe. “What if they could go home to their families?” I asked her quietly.
“We don’t have families.”
I spun on one knee, my gun pointed low. A Falconan lay beside the end of the table, blood pooling around him from a mortal wound in his stomach. One of his wings had been broken as well; it spread over him like a brown feathered blanket.
“What did you say?” I asked through clenched teeth. Instinct bade me to kill the Falconan without another thought, but I fought against it.
The Falconan looked calmly at the gun as blood flowed through his fingers. “We’re all dead anyway, just as you are, Shifter.”
My eyes narrowed. I heard Galbran’s voice in my mind. ‘The irony about all of this is that you aren’t even Marek. The human and wolf parts that make you up died. You are nothing, no one.’
“Galbran can’t change us back, and we can’t go home because we don’t have homes to go to. We’re dead to our families because we are truly dead.” The Falconan gave a harsh laugh, then clutched at his stomach in pain. “We all died to become what we are, just like you.”
I glanced back at Phoenix. The cougar Shifter stared at us both, his face pale. “Why should I listen to you?” I asked.
The Falconan’s lips pulled back in a snarl of pain. “I had someone I needed to live for.”
My heart slowed. “Who?”
He met my eyes, his own deep green and wide with pain. For a second, I saw a flash of a young, scared boy in the eyes of the Falconan. Everyone waited, listening to us. He gave a cough of pain and said, “My brother. He’s in the rejected cage and Galbran will kill him if he doesn’t get out of here.”
I stared at him; the familiarity of his story gripped my heart in a fist. I nodded, my heart pounding. “I’ll take care of him, don’t worry.”
He pushed up to a sitting position against the wall, blood pooling around him and his face the gray color of someone who was taking his last breaths. “You hear that?” he shouted, his eyes flashing. “Let them leave or you’ll answer to me.”
I looked at him with wide eyes.
“Go,” he growled. “You’ll have to kill any Falconans who stand between you and the auditorium, but at least you’ll get out of this room alive.”
He held out a bloody hand. I hesitated and glanced over the edge of the table, but the other Falconans held their fire. I gritted my teeth and crossed the open floor to the wall. The Falconan grabbed my injured hand and pulled me close, ignoring my grimace of pain at the strength of his grip. “Get Andy out of here,” he growled, pain warring with sorrow in his eyes.
I nodded again and he let me go. The room was quiet. Kyla and Phoenix rose beside me, guns low but ready. The Falconans around the makeshift laboratory room stood still as the Falconan took one last breath and slumped back against the wall.
I rose and glanced warily at the quiet Falconans. “Let’s go,” I said to Phoenix and Kyla. I took the bar from the door and opened it slowly. Falconans waited in the dark with guns drawn. I let out a slow breath as I pulled the trigger with my left hand. The first shot took down a Falconan on the right, followed by his neighbor, then two more near the middle of the hall.
I ducked back behind the door and slid a new clip into my gun as answering bullets peppered the wood. Phoenix kept low and opened the door just far enough to shoot. A yell sounded when a bullet met its target. I looked back, worried that the Falconans behind us would attack to defend their brethren, but none of them moved.
“Clear,” Phoenix said; blood streamed from the gunshot wound in his arm, but he didn’t appear to notice. Kyla wrapped a quick bandage around it, then nodded at me.
I stepped out into the darkness and Kyla and Phoenix followed. A pad of feet sounded behind us and I spun. My heart leaped when I saw Tarnick and his gang with several other Shifters around them. A few had already phased and I smiled at the intimidating sight of several wolves, a leopard, and two coyotes pacing toward us.
“Reinforcements,” Phoenix said with a satisfied grin.
He held out his hand and Tarnick took it. “Long time no see, old man,” the gang leader said with a steely smile.
�
�Good to see life on the street’s been good to you,” Phoenix replied, glancing at Tarnick’s group.
“There’ll be time to catch up later,” I warned them quietly. “We’re about to be overrun.” The sound of hundreds of footsteps echoed down the four different hallways that led to our hall. Tarnick’s gang pulled out guns, knives, and clubs; the Shifters already in animal form spread out around us.
I led Kyla to a tiny alcove next to the drinking fountain. “Stay here,” I said. It wasn’t my place to order her around, but I wouldn’t be able to fight if I was worried about her safety.
Her green eyes held mine. “Be careful.”
Her hands shook, but she held her gun as though ready to use it. I hesitated, then leaned in and kissed her. She closed her eyes and kissed me back. The moment was fleeting, but the touch of her lips stayed with me as I walked swiftly back to the front of the hall. Phoenix checked his guns and threw me an extra clip. I slid it into my vest and listened to the footsteps draw closer.
Chapter 47– Kyla
I peered around the corner, but the dark hallway showed only shadows of Marek’s small battalion. My eyes fought to focus in the darkness. I wished for the first time that I was one of them, that I could see in the dark and could fight next to them with the knowledge that they had my back and we fought as a pack. Instead, I sat in the dark hoping they would take down the Falconans before the beasts found me. There had to be another way.
I tried to think of what I could do when a body brushed past my hideout. The soft touch of a feather on my cheek made my blood run cold. “Falconans!” I shouted. I dropped to the floor in time to avoid the cold bite of the soldier’s wing blades. I scooted under the drinking fountain just as a feline growl sounded and the Falconan was attacked by several of Marek’s group.
The black forms struggled and several more ran past. The Falconan grabbed the leopard Shifter and threw him into the wall with a sickening thud. Two others fought to keep the beast down, but it lashed out with a knife and cut deep into the stomach of one of its attackers. The last Shifter held on with a desperate fury. The Falconan grabbed his neck in both hands and clamped down, then he froze at the cold metal of my gun barrel against his forehead. I closed my eyes and squeezed the trigger.
The thwack of the silenced gun sounded loud in the confines of the hallway and the Falconan slumped to the floor. I opened my eyes to find Tarnick staring at me, his eyes wide. “Thanks,” he forced out past his bruised throat.
“Anytime,” I replied, my chest heaving.
He rose to his feet and helped me back into the alcove. “You’d better stay here,” he said softly. “I wouldn’t want to be on Marek’s bad side if something happened to you.” He disappeared into the fray before I could say anything.
The sound of fighting slowly diminished until only a few low moans could be heard. I started when a black shadow ghosted up and took my hand. “It’s alright,” Marek whispered. “It’s me.”
The brush of his bandaged hand against my hair reassured me; I followed him around the motionless black forms. He limped, but no sound of pain escaped his lips. I could feel damp blood that had soaked through the makeshift bandage on his hand, but he didn’t seem to notice. Several in his group waited for us at the end of the hallway.
“The cops are here,” Tarnick whispered.
Marek nodded. “Send two of your boys to tell them we have Shifters in the fight. There’s too much going on and I don’t want anyone to get shot.” His voice tightened at his words, but he turned and led us down the next hall.
A rustle of bodies and gunshots told of fights happening all over the school. My heart thundered in my chest. We passed several classrooms and Marek sent Shifters in to finish the Falconans inside. He followed something I couldn’t see, his eyes flashing gold in the beam of the emergency light that flickered overhead. My hands shook and my breath caught in my throat.
He led us to a set of double doors that were heavily guarded by Falconans. He pulled out another flash grenade and I knew this time to duck behind the wall and cover my eyes and ears when the explosion sounded. “Stay here,” Marek said afterward.
I was beginning to hate it when he said that, but he dropped my hand and turned down the hallway with the other Shifters around him. I peeked out to watch them take down the writhing Falconans with swift, ruthless efficiency.
The fierce snarl on Marek’s face told how much he hated killing; but there was fierce determination in his eyes. He was finally getting his chance to atone at least a little bit for the pain and heartache caused by Galbran, the Falconans, and the labs. He would make sure Galbran had kidnapped his last child.
I watched the last Falconan fell to the ground when a heavy footstep sounded behind me. I turned with my gun out, but a thick arm knocked it aside and a hand clamped on my throat, lifting me from the ground and holding me against the wall. I kicked him in the groin, but the Falconan merely lifted his lips in what might pass for a smile.
I tried to cry out for help, but his fingers tightened, cutting off my windpipe. I struggled against his hands, trying to find some way to loosen his grip, but he wouldn’t let go. The gleam in his eyes told of his enjoyment at watching me die. But I refused to be a victim.
The edges of my vision sparked with white and my heart thumped erratically against my chest. I slipped a hand behind my back and found the knife in the sheath Marek had given me. I pulled it out and stuck it in the Falconan’s eye. He dropped me and stumbled back just as Marek stepped around the corner and slit his throat. Marek pushed the beast away and rushed to my side.
“Are you alright?” he breathed, checking me over quickly.
I nodded, but my throat hurt and my eyes burned with tears. He pulled me against his chest and held me tight. “It’s okay,” he said quietly. “It’s over. He’s dead.”
I swallowed past the angry throbbing and pushed him gently back. “I’m alright,” I said, my voice ragged. “Let’s finish this.” I picked up my gun and checked to make sure there was a bullet in the chamber.
He stared at me for a minute, his golden eyes searching mine. When he saw I was serious, he helped me up and put his arm around me.
“Geesh, Kyla,” Phoenix said, meeting us at the corner. “You don’t have to take them on by yourself, you know.” He smiled, but the worry in his eyes as he looked me up and down to make sure I was alright was comforting. I was one of the pack.
Chapter 48- Marek
Tarnick’s men opened the doors to reveal the auditorium. Falconans were hunkered down behind tables and equipment, ready to defend Galbran’s work. A shot rang out and a bullet struck close to my head. I dove to the side and fired two answering shots. They hit two Falconans who slumped down near the far wall.
Phoenix and the others came rushing in behind me. Kyla crouched near my table and fired. Her arm was steady and expression tight as she took down a Falconan near a cage of children. The huge room was filled with more cages, testing equipment, and experiments of all kinds. The scent of anesthetic, blood, birds, and fear colored the air.
The Falconans outnumbered us at least three to one. “Take your time,” I shouted to the Shifters. “Make every shot count.” In answer, three more Falconans fell, then a Shifter next to Phoenix collapsed to the ground followed by another near the door. More footsteps sounded down the hall behind us. Phoenix met my eyes. We were surrounded.
The doors to the opposite side of the auditorium burst open. Police officers in SWAT gear stormed in, firing as they moved. Falconans shot back, but their bullets bounced ineffectively off the shields the officers carried.
“Take them down!” I shouted. My team shot at the Falconans who were distracted by the officers. They began to fall back, grouping together behind a stand of tables and cabinets.
The doors behind us opened, but we were ready. We peppered the Falconans with bullets so heavily they retreated. The Falconans behind the barrier stopped shooting. They looked as though they didn’t know whether to fight or surrend
er.
I spotted Officer Brayton across the room. “Drop your weapons!” he barked. The Falconans looked at each other, then the welcome sound of guns falling to the floor answered. The officers surged forward.
“Kyla, Marek!” Kip yelled from a big cage in the corner. Other Lost were in that cage, too, their eyes wide and faces pale as though they had seen things children their age shouldn’t have to deal with. My heart went out to them.
“Kip!” Kyla shouted. She ran across the room and grabbed his hand through the cage.
Two officers joined her while Officer Brayton crossed the room to me. His face was flushed and a bruise colored one cheek, but the fire in his eyes deepened when he reached me. “My officers followed Galbran to the roof. I assume you want to help me take him down,” he said.
“Where?” I demanded.
He opened his mouth to answer when the auditorium doors behind me flew open. Mr. March and Flint stumbled in, shoved by an angry Ras.
“Marek!” the Falconan shouted; his yellow eyes flashed angrily.
“Let me handle this,” I told Officer Brayton. He looked like he wanted to argue, but my tone left no room for argument. A quick check of my weapons revealed an empty gun and one knife.
Ras’ lips pulled back in a snarl when his eyes met mine. He stalked forward, his outstretched wings making him look twice as big. “I should have known you’d be here, Marek.” He spat my name. My emotions warred between anger at what he had become and pain at the shadow of Shane that remained behind his eyes. I couldn’t accept that it was him, but my brother’s next words turned my blood cold.
“Have you seen them, brother? Have you seen our parents with little Matthew? Our precious little brother?” Ras smashed a microscope. He yelled, “The brother that replaced us?”
We circled each other now. Falconans and humans alike stared in silence, unable to do anything. Mr. March held Kyla and Kip while Phoenix and Flint calmed the Lost. It was all a blur to me. I saw only my little brother, now a huge, genetically altered Falconan because he had never been rescued.
