Of Royal Descent (33 page)

"Little help here!" screamed Chuck from below.  I looked down over the railing and saw Chuck aiming his rifle at the MZs, whom, under William's orders, remained rooted to the spot, but snarled hungrily at Chuck.  I swung down, picked up Chuck in piggy-back fashion
, and climbed back to the deck. 

"What about them?" he asked, gesturing to the MZs below us.

I barked an order for them to kill themselves and watched as they began to beat their heads into the floor.  I returned my focus to the royals, who were already engrossed in conversation. 

"We need to decide fast;
our window is limited.  I say we go for it.  If we keep to the wilderness, we pose no threat to humanity," said Dylan.

"
Eff humanity.  We know what they’ll do to us first chance they get," spoke a large male.

"What do you think, Doyle?" asked the female.

"The last I checked, this was not a democracy.  I am still in charge, despite recent events," barked William.

My pride involuntarily bristled
, but I ignored it.  "Whatever you decide William, I'll support it,” I responded.

"We stick together.  We all leave together or not at all.  We'll walk out in human form
and try to pass ourselves off as victimized staff to the law who are bound to be swarming the grounds.  Everyone is to follow my lead.  Understand?"  William asked.

The roya
ls began to shade to human form, and for the first time, I realized they were once just as human as I had been.  I no longer saw them as monsters, but as victims.  My eyes went from one face to another.  I sucked in air when my eyes rested on the eyes of the female.

She blushed.  "So you
do
recognize me?"

"Nixie?"
I stammered.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Chuck asked.

I had been a sophomore when I had first met Nixie at school.  Her family had just moved to town, or that was at least her story.  We dated for a short time, and subsequently, she was the first girl I'd slept with.

"I don't go be Nixie anymore," she smiled. 

"Awwww, hell," Chuck said, eyes wide as recognition set in.  "Shit's gonna get real when Addy finds out your safe word is the name of your first girlfriend."

"I'm your safe word?" Phoenix smiled.

I had no idea how to respond, so I just stood there stupidly.

"We can deal with zombie relationship drama later.  Right now, we have to go."  William said, waving the colony forward.

25

W
e clustered around one another as we worked our way up to the lobby of the clinic.  As it turned out, precaution proved unnecessary.  Whether from evacuation or death, each floor was a virtual ghost town. 

William had been right about the law.  A barricade of local police extended down either direction of Highland View
, although it was only the men in suits who strolled the lawn.  We hovered in the shadows of the lobby.

"
We'll calmly walk out.  I don't think our human faces will be recognized," said William.  "We'll say some MZs got loose and started a massacre.  At the first available moment, we run.  If any aggressive action is taken, we run.  Head south and we'll meet in Oak Ridge.  Worst case scenario, Anomaly trails us quicker than we can move.  In which case, maybe the Oak Ridge clinic will offer us safe haven.  Everybody got it?"

There was a collective of head nods a
s William opened the door and stepped out into the night.  Every gun trained on him, and he stopped, blocking our exit.  He raised his hands in the air.

"We're the survivors!" he yelled out into the crowd.

"Doyle," Chuck whispered from behind me.

I gave the universal sign for, "one second" as I focused on the scene in front of me.

"Get down!" yelled a suit from the edge of the sidewalk.

"I know this is a bad time," Chuck continued.  "But I
really
don't feel well."

I turned to look at Chuck as William yelled out into the crowd in an attempt to calm the masses.  "We're unarmed!"

Chuck's eyes rolled back in his head and blood dripped in a steady rhythm from his nose.  I lunged to catch him as he fell. 

"Chuck!" 

"Get on the ground now!" screamed another suit.

The colony remained partially concealed behind William.  He turned his head slightly, sliding his eyes to the group.  "On my order, we run."

I slung Chuck over my right shoulder and crouched in one fluid movement. 

"No!"  Russell was racing across the blockade.  He waved his badge in the air
, and the police allowed him clearance onto the lawn.  Just when I thought it couldn't get any more complicated, Addy's scent carried to me on the breeze.  It was as if everyone on earth I had wanted to protect was determined to scatter themselves among those that would do them harm. 

Russell was now standing between William and the gunmen.  "Nobody else needs to die!  Lower your weapons!"

"Hawthorne, you are not authorized to lead this mission!  You are in direct violation of committing a security breech!  Step down before you are deemed unfit to serve your country!" bellowed a voice behind a megaphone.

"They're not hurting anyone!  You're all pointing weapons at them and they aren't fighting!  Doesn't that tell you anything!" he screamed. 

"Now that's the first good idea I've heard.  Why don't we just kill them all?  Problem solved," grumbled one of the royals from behind me.

"My family's out there!" I hissed.  "No one's going to touch them!" 

I knew one way or another, for the good or bad, things were escalating to a breaking point.  The natives were growing restless, and someone was going to be the first to cross the line.  I was beginning to wonder if it would be me.

Chuck had passed out
, and I knew there were only a select few medical professionals that were trained to treat him.  My ESP screamed at me that his sudden illness was somehow viral related.  I could only listen helplessly while Russell continued to plead our case.

"These men are only guilty of serving their country! 
We
did this to them!  They will cooperate.  Let me speak with them!"

"This is your last warning!  Step down or we will fire!"

Russell turned to face the doors of the lobby.  I knew he was searching the shadows for me.  "I'm sorry, Doyle."

"Gunner One, take out Hawthorne!"

"NO!" I screamed, letting Chuck slide from my shoulders and leaping past William to my adoptive father. 

E
verything moved in slow motion.  I heard the rifle fire and saw the recognition blaze in Russell's eyes just before he fell slack against me.  I was too late. 

For a moment, I thought the world had actually stopped moving altogether.  But then I realized I had shaded
, and my involuntary eye shift held the gunmen paralyzed.  No one so much as flinched as I crossed the sidewalk with a series of hypnotic torso weaves and head movements and stopped in front of the agent who had shot my father.

The man trembled but otherwise maintained his position.  He reeked of fear, sweet on my tongue.  With a snap of my teeth, I cleaved his head from his shoulders.  My body wanted to eat, but my mind was only concerned with protecting my family from the situation.

"Attack anybody with a gun!" I shrieked.

The royals blazed from the clinic as the gunmen awoke from their daze.  Chaos erupted as shots were fired and screams pierced the night.  It was over before it even began.  Under different circumstances, it would have been a beautiful, breathtaking display of speed acrobatics
- blurs of blue vaulting through the air, tumbling and pivoting in the next second.  Through the front line of gunmen, they weaved, leaving a trail of screams and mutilated bodies behind them.  Once the Anomaly agents were disposed of, the royals sought out the local police holding the blockade. 

I looked up to see Gretchen, Jenny, Addy, and Kai come running down the street.  Gretchen had her pistol pointed down, but my own words haunted me.  I had ordered the slaughter of everyone with a gun.  I couldn't, I just
couldn't
, allow one more person I loved to die.  Like a nightmare, I watched as the closest royal caught sight of her. 

"Stop!"
I screamed, launching myself forward and slamming into the male royal.  He did indeed stop, but once again, I was too late.  In an effort to save her mother, Jenny had thrown herself in front of Gretchen, taking the brunt of the attack.  A deep bite wound had been gouged into her forearm.  She writhed on the ground, screaming.

I closed my eyes.  As far as I knew, Chuck and Russell were both dead and now my sister was bitten.  And all of it, every bit of it was my fault.  It all traced back to me.  Anger and self
-loathing gnawed at my insides.

"Doyle!  He's still alive!  Help me!" 

I turned to see Stephen kneeling over my father.  I was overwhelmed with relief and fought to keep a level head.  I grabbed Gretchen's pistol from her and ran back to Russell.  I hoisted him up and delivered him to the backseat of a police cruiser.

"Wait," I spat out, racing back into the building for Chuck. 

Stephen opened the front passenger door, and I sat Chuck gently into the seat.  On seeing his lifeless body, Kai came screaming down the sidewalk. 

"Tell me he's okay!  Please, Doyle, please tell me he's okay!" she sobbed.

"I've got a pulse," Stephen said.

Kai exhaled forcefully and sank to her knees.  "I'm coming with you," she said, beginning to clamber into the back seat with Russell.

"No.  If you want to help, get Addy.  I'll need someone with me that knows first aid," Stephen replied.  Without a word, Kai fled in the direction she had come from. 

Addy came running,
and I rubbed my thumb across her cheek.  "Thank you," I breathed into her ear, before letting her go.

She stared up at me.  "Thank me when you come home."  Her eyes were huge and round
, and unshed tears sparkled in the corners.

"I soon home," I spoke quietly against h
er cheek, just far enough away I wouldn't accidentally slice her with my teeth.  As inappropriate as it was, I couldn’t help but be distracted by the scent of her pheromones.  I stepped back from her quickly.

Stephen slid into the driver's seat
, and Addy climbed into the back.  They sped away and a modicum of stress was alleviated.  I glanced around to see the royals killing off the MZs they had created.  I thought of Jenny and gripped the pistol tighter.  She was due to reanimate at any time.  I tugged gently at Kai's arm, and we made our way back to Jenny and Gretchen. 

I kne
lt next to Jenny and stroked her hair.  Blue-tinged, crystal tear drops splashed against her cheek.  I was about to do the unthinkable.  Even when we were kids, we got along.  We were allies.  There were no knock-down drag-outs like some siblings experience growing up.  How could I possibly shoot my sister in the head?  I thought of her as an MZ.  How could I not?  Shading back to human form, I asked them to step back.

"Why?" asked my mother.

"Because it should be me.  She trusted me to protect her, and I let her down.  Let me do it before she turns."  Tears streamed down my face, and I didn't try to hide them.

My mother smiled.  "
Jenny's going to be fine."

I stared at her, not comprehending.

She took a deep breath and cocked her head to one side.

"If you ha
ven't caught on yet, Caring Hearts isn't your typical adoption agency, and we aren't your typical adoptive parents," she said.

"What are you
saying, Mom?"

"Jenny's special, like you.  She's not going to die from this or even turn."

"Like me?  She's a royal?"

"No, not a royal.
  Something else."  Gretchen blew out a sigh.  "This isn't exactly the way your father and I had wanted to tell you kids about your backgrounds.  Jenny isn't exactly human."

"Isn't exactly human?" I echoed.

"Please Doyle, help me get her to the car, and I'll explain later.  She's going into hibernation."

Kai had been too absorbed by her own grief over Chuck's condition to have taken part in our conversation.  She sat on the ground with her head in her hands, her body convulsing in rhythm with her sobs. 

I glanced around.  Our business here was concluded.  Bradbury was long gone, the royals had been freed, and no one was left to threaten us. 

I carried Jenny to my mom's car and placed her delicately in the back seat next to Kai.  I walked to the front and placed the pistol in the glove box.  Gretchen drove away with an unconscious Jenny and an inconsolable Kai. 

I made my way back to the colony, whose members were awaiting my participation.  As I neared, I could sense the tension flare.  The others were still shaded to royalty, and I suddenly felt under-dressed for the occasion.  I chose to shade, blending in quickly.

"Now that the immediate danger has passed, we need to get something straight," William said.  "I am the commander of this battalion, not you.  I give the orders, not you.  You could have gotten us all killed tonight."

"Me?" I growled.  "I wasn't the one telling them to wait until we were being fired upon.  That was all you.  At least my plan of action involved giving them a chance to live," I fired back.

"You think that's what you've done here?  Given them a chance to live?"  William extended to his full height and beat his chest with a closed fist, in ape fashion, before squatting back to his haunches along with the rest of us. 

"I was hoping a grandson of mine might be a little smarter.  All you've done here is instigate a war with the humans.  Running, instead of striking, could have given us the opportunity to blend into the background, and maybe,
just maybe
, after years of flying under their radar, we could have lived half-way normal lives.  But now, thanks to you, we'll be hunted the rest of our days.  Our families will pay the price of our so-called crimes.  I hope you're prepared to lose everything dear to you.  Because,
that's
what you've done here.  You might as well paint a target on your ass."

Not only did I understand what he was saying, I couldn't help but agree with him.  I had been stupid
, and now I felt ashamed.  Ashamed,
and yet
, also insulted.  True, I had acted thoughtlessly, based solely on emotion.  But something about being reprimanded in front of the colony stirred my indignation.  This display wasn't just to prove he was a more experienced choice of leader, this was to prove he was still the only leader.

Stephen's words came back to me. 
If William is threatened by you, he will confront you so he can show you and the other royals who's boss.  He's been the alpha since the beginning.

Well I couldn't say I hadn't been warned.  He'd told me it was coming, just like he'd told me it would be hard for me to walk away.  Maybe it was due to my rampant levels of testosterone and adrenaline...  Maybe it was from my unusually high viral count...  Or maybe I had just had a crappy week and was in a
pissy mood, but I just felt the urge to knock him down a peg.

"I can't believe I'm getting a lecture on peaceful measures by the same guy who brutally raped my grandma."  I'd barely gotten out the last word when William lunged for me, knocking me to the ground.  His teeth wedged into my right shoulder, but there was no pain, only fury.