Alpha

by Daniel Schmidt

  Chapter 28

  Luke’s men dragged me out into the hallway and past several more rooms with the same metal screen doors. As we passed the last two rooms, I saw my men.

  Several of the men were lying on the ground sleeping or sitting up against the walls with looks of utter despair on their faces. Walter and two others crouched by Carlos, who was lying motionless on the ground.

  “Is Carlos still alive?” I shouted at them.

  Walter rose and came to the screen door. “He needs to get to a hospital.”

  I looked at Luke. “Get that man to a hospital.”

  “We have a doctor of sorts. I’ll send him down.”

  “A hospital, he needs a hospital.”

  Luke reached out and gripped my throat, squeezing it. “I said I’ll send the doctor down.”

  Walter banged on the screen door and Luke let me go.

  “You think he’s with you?” Luke said to Walter.

  “Luke, no,” I pleaded.

  Luke smiled down at me and one of his men handed him a manila folder.

  “If you’re going to work for me, these men can’t owe you any loyalty.”

  Luke opened up the manila folder. I saw several photographs of myself, and as Luke flipped through the documents I knew there would be no mistaking that I was an undercover cop.

  Luke slipped the folder through a crack in the frame and let it drop into the cell. The papers and pictures spilled out.

  “Do you know who this man is?” Luke shouted.

  No one answered.

  “He’s a traitor, a rat. He’s a cop that we had infiltrate your organization and he is the one who brought you here. He’s the reason you are all behind bars and the reason you will remain there.”

  No one said anything. They just stared blankly at Luke, as if they didn’t believe him.

  “See for yourselves. He’s a cop, an undercover cop who has been plotting your demise,” Luke said as he pointed to the papers and photos on the floor.

  No one moved. Luke nodded his head, and his men dragged me away. Luke slapped me across the side of the face. “Sorry I had to do that. I needed to remind you that your loyalty is with me now, not them.”

  They took me down several flights of stairs to another hallway with metal screen doors and concrete rooms. Luke’s men plopped me down in front of the first door.

  I saw Christine strapped to a chair in the center of the room. Large leather straps ran over her arms, legs, and chest. Needles were stuck in her wrists, feeding tubes that ran down to small metal cylinders. Her head was down, her chin resting on her chest.

  “Luke, what the hell are you doing with her?”

  Luke chuckled. “Christine’s blood is the pure stuff, the only stuff that has the real power. Only her blood can create an Alvar or an Alpha.”

  “You can’t do this to her.”

  Luke just shook his head.

  I yelled Christine’s name but she didn’t respond. I looked up at Luke. “Why are you doing this? You have plenty of other Alvars. Can’t you just use their blood?”

  Luke placed his hand on my shoulder. “Like I said, Christine’s blood is the only pure stuff. You can’t create an Alvar or an Alpha without her blood. The other Alvars’ blood is really useless, very interesting, but useless. That’s why I don’t mind selling an Alvar off to whoever, because their blood and abilities are fascinating but you can’t replicate anything with it or them. Christine on the other hand is the golden goose, the Prophet.”

  “You won’t sell her blood?”

  Luke shook his head. “No. Her blood goes to my boss, no one else.”

  “Whose your boss?”

  Luke smiled. “Don’t worry about him.”

  “What does he do with the blood?”

  “He has his own plans.”

  Luke opened the door to Christine’s cell and turned a knob on the tubes running from her arms. He then disconnected them from the metal cylinders that had been filling with her blood. He handed the cylinders to one of his men and said, “Load them up on the drone and send them to the boss.”

  Luke stepped out of the cell, closed the door, and then patted me on the head. “I’ll leave you two alone for a bit.”

  Luke and his men left the room. I said Christine’s name several times before she slowly lifted her head up.

  My stomach nearly jumped through my throat when our eyes met. They were not the light blue I remembered; they were a light, rich purple. She smiled weakly.

  “Your eyes?” I asked.

  “I wore contacts to hide them.”

  “Why?”

  Christine pulled against her restraints and took a deep breath as if she was suddenly infused with strength. “Because it was safer for no one to know who, or what I was,” she said. I stared at her and her smile melted away.

  “How did they know?” I asked.

  “Luke’s boss was one of my father’s colleagues, the man who wanted power and profit from my blood.”

  “Your father? You mean your father is Dr. Thomas?”

  Christine nodded her head.

  “So you were the first? Why didn’t you tell us?” I asked.

  “Would it have mattered? Would it have changed anything?”

  “Yes,” I said sharply. “We could have taken you somewhere safe. We could have protected you.” I paused for a second and a horrible realization came over me. “You could have been killed. With us you were putting yourself in danger every day. With how many bullets were shot at us, how many men died? You could have easily been among them.”

  Christine tightened her jaw. “I could have not been in a safer place. I could not have felt more protected than with the Eine. Had I been anywhere else, the Legion would have found me, they would have killed me, just like everyone else. That is why I stayed with the men, with you because you were the only ones who could protect me, you were the only ones who were going to survive.”

  I shook my handcuffs and pointed to her restraints. “We didn’t protect, look where we are now.”

  Christine stared at me for quite some time and a hint of a smile returned to her face. “This is not the end,” she said softly.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You were meant to come here. There is a reason you are in this place.”

  “Then tell me why I’m here,” I asked softly.

  “You will see soon enough.”

  I became so overwhelmed with thoughts, with questions, with fear and anger that I became speechless. I shrugged my shoulders but I couldn’t form words to speak.

  Christine spoke softly. “Paul, sometimes when I look at someone and concentrate, I see parts of that person’s future. I see a little bit of what they will become, what they will accomplish, what drives them, their motives, their fears, their thoughts, their dreams and so much more. Much of the time I curse this gift because most people amount to nothing and are driven by fear, greed, or lust. Most of the time it makes me sick.”

  Christine looked down at the ground briefly and then back up at me. “But there are a few, very few who are different, who will accomplish greatness and are driven by other things, more noble and honorable things. These people amaze me. You probably wondered why I was always staring at you. The answer is I look at you the way I do because I am amazed every time I do. You are like no other person I have met. I see what you will become, what drives you, and I am mesmerized, humbled, proud, and excited all at once. Paul, you will go on to do great things, things that will become legend. This is not the end, it is the beginning. Paul, you were meant to be in this place. This is exactly where you are supposed to be and this is where your story begins.”

  “So you must know who I really am?” I asked slowly, not wanting to know the answer.

  “You are an undercover cop, sent to infiltrate the squad and bring them to justice.”

  My heart sank even further. “You knew?”

  “Yes, I knew eve
n before I talked to you at the graveyard and gave you your coin,” Christine said softly. “But you were meant to come to us, to bring us to this place.”

  “Why did so many men have to die?” I asked.

  Christine took a deep breath. “I don’t know. I don’t see everything, only bits and pieces of the future.”

  My eyes wandered down to my hands. “And I’m guessing you must know what has happened to me, what Otto did to me?”

  Christine’s jaw clenched several times. “My blood flows in your veins.”

  I clenched my fists together. “So what does my future hold? Will I turn into a monster like Otto?”

  “You will turn into an Alpha. It is your destiny.”

  We both stared at the floor for some time, and then I spoke.

  “What is going to happen to us, to the men?” I asked, again not wanting to know the answer.

  “Paul, this is one of many reasons I don’t reveal myself as the Prophet. Why I don’t tell people I can see the future. Not only is it dangerous for me and those around me but often the future is filled with things people don’t want to hear, things that hurt.”

  Christine’s eyes started to water. “Paul, I was just a young woman when I changed. I was so full of dreams; I wanted to do so many things. I wanted to have a family one day, a husband. But do you know the first vision I had? I saw my own future first, what I would become, and what I would not.”

  “Christine… if you can’t tell me what’s going to happen, tell me what I need to do.”

  “Keep fighting, keep moving. The Alvar need you.”

  “I’m going to turn into a monster – the Alvar don’t need me.”

  “They do, now more than ever.”

  I shook my head. “Captain Otto claimed he knew all the prophecies. He said there would be the Alvar, the Eine, and the Fen, just as you said. He then claimed there would be a great war, Rok followed by subjugation by the Alvar. Is he right?”

  Christine nodded her head. “He is right about the Alvar, Eine, Fen, and I am sorry to say he is right about Rok. There will be a great war, a war like none other, a war that will nearly destroy us all. But I will not reveal the final prophecy to you.”

  I raised my eyebrows and Christine knew what I wanted.

  “It is not yet time to reveal the final prophecy.”

  “Why not? Is it because what Otto fears is true? Will the Alvar put everyone in chains?” I asked.

  “The Alvar will carry the knowledge of this world and provide leadership through the Chaos and the Great War,” she said softly.

  “And what happens after the Chaos and the Great War?”

  “No one will end up in chains, I assure you.”

  “How did he know the prophecies?” I asked.

  Christine closed her eyes and shook her head. “He was my father’s second colleague. He too was there when the prophecies came to me. I revealed the prophecies to him; unfortunately he chose to interpret the final one in his own way.”

  Before I could respond, Luke appeared with his men.

  “Well, I think you’ve had enough time with the Prophet. Come now Paul, we have to talk about how you are going to win me a war.”