Cadence

by Wilson, Dianne J. ;

  “What about Bree?”

  Pain clouded the man’s eyes. “Look after her. Tell her I loved her.”

  “You’re giving up. Listen to me. You were duped. Your noble intentions exploited. Now you get to fix it. You just can’t back down, not now.”

  It was a broken man standing before Kai.

  Green-infused Affinity pulsed and Kai counted six darKounds sitting around the doctor, close enough to touch him. Their eyes—deep pits of emptiness—followed every move Kai made. The one closest to Kai stood, and his acid paws steamed prints into the tiles where he stood. His eyes locked on Kai, and the onslaught began. It was different this time. Not words that Kai’s mind could comprehend and reject, but a silent pressure that rolled over him with the weight of an elephant, crushing his soul and extinguishing hope. There was only one who could counter this attack. Tau. “Tau can help you.” Silent screams battered his insides, filling his head like a million bats, all teeth and claws.

  The doctor clung to the doorframe as if it was the only thing holding him up.

  Kai backed away on wobbly legs. “Jesus can help you.” Kai forced the words out between teeth clenched against the pain inside.

  “Get out of here.”

  “Talk to Him. He’s been waiting for you.”

  The doctor clutched the sides of his head. “Get out. Please.”

  All the darKounds were on their feet now, circling the doctor’s legs, but their eyes stayed fixed on Kai.

  Kai turned and ran.

  29

  Kai expected to be stopped any second. It made breathing hard. He made it to the car without an incident. So much for high security. His stolen Naviband was servicing him well. He could only hope that the guys were doing well with the kids and amulets. Plan A to neutralize the serum had failed. Now Kai was scrambling for a Plan B.

  He turned away from the road and aimed the vehicle deeper into the desert. He’d seen something on the map back at Beaver’s place that had made his heart pound. He had to take a closer look at what it was. He’d begun to wonder if that change in heart rate was a sign from Tau. As much as Dr S. was convinced there was no antidote for the serum, Kai wasn’t ready to give up yet. To give up was to sign his own death warrant.

  The sand was soft beneath the wheels. The car felt swimmy, and he knew he’d have to turn back. Just not yet.

  He shut it off and sat in silence in the dark. His ears buzzed with the lack of noise. No, not silence. A deep thrumming came from underneath the sand. He got out and felt the vibrations tingling through the soles of his feet. It pulsed in waves, rippling further into the desert. Something was happening below the surface.

  A vague, green shimmery line ran from beneath his feet, and he followed it. His footsteps created a rhythm and the line pulsed in time, growing brighter. He walked until sweat dripped down his back even though the temperature was dropping by a few degrees each minute.

  The line ended abruptly at a circular ring of stone at his feet, a manhole wide enough for a single person to squeeze through at a time. His belly writhed at the thought of lowering himself into the darkness, but to come this far and stop? That wouldn’t do. The serum ran thick through his veins. It was difficult to say what was real and what wasn’t.

  Tau, help me.

  He swung his feet over the edge, hooked his toes onto the metal rung of the vertical ladder and began to climb down.

  ~*~

  Evazee pretended to walk over to where the vehicles were waiting, but the moment she was out of the reach of the light, she stood still and prayed, whispering quietly under her breath. “Jesus, do You remember when Kai was in hospital and every time I prayed, I’d be taken to wherever he was? Well, that would be rather useful right now.” She took a step and then another. “If you don’t lead me, bad things will happen. I’m absolutely lost without You. And scared. Don’t forget scared.” A few more steps. Another few followed after that. Soon she was heading off, without knowing where her feet would take her. The dark became a living thing that swirled around her hungrily.

  It was all she could do to keep walking deeper into the shadows. Evazee had never felt more alone. She kept up her running commentary to Jesus, not expecting Him to answer but taking comfort in pretending. “This place feels off. I don’t like it.” Evazee rubbed her arms against the cold air. It was hard to tell how far she’d walked in the gloom. “I don’t really want to ask, but do You think someone is following us?”

  She should know better than to ask questions out here in the dark alone. Evazee’s teeth were beginning to clack, she was shivering so hard. “I’m beginning to think this might not have been my brightest idea. Also, this whining is driving me nuts.”

  Evazee rubbed her ears. “Maybe it’s a migraine coming on.” She tilted her head and listened. “That’s odd. It’s like I’m seeing the sounds I’m hearing. Is that You, showing me something, Jesus?” She dropped to her haunches and put her hands on the ground. She felt a vibration through the sand, then saw a line of glowing green light starting beneath her fingers and leading away into the distance. “This glowing sand is a little freaky.”

  She didn’t want to follow the line, but she knew she would. Every trembling footstep made the light pulse brighter. Evazee couldn’t see where she was going. It shook her. “I don’t think Kai is out here. He’s the whole reason we came, right?”

  She hunched over, following the invisible trail, picking up speed. “I don’t want to go out into the desert. There’d better be Kai or something important out here.” She picked up speed until she was running to keep up with the streaming light. She could hear footsteps behind her speeding up too. The sound was too much.

  She spun around with her hands clenched into fists, the ones she’d practiced in boxer-cize class at the old gym. “I’m warning you. Show yourselves.”

  ~*~

  At the bottom of the ladder, Kai’s feet hit the floor and he stumbled to regain his balance. The floor seemed metallic, polished to a slick, high shine, pulsing gently with an inner light that made Kai’s head woozy, shifting through a cycle of colours.

  The room had a high, vaulted ceiling, curved and organic as if he were inside an oyster. He’d never really thought of himself as a pearl before. The thought made him want to chuckle. The irritation that became something valuable. He could only hope for the latter. A loud buzz followed by footsteps came at him from behind. It was a person in a bio-hazard suit, and they waved their arms as they ran towards him, yelling a muffled warning that he couldn’t understand a word of.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t hear you.”

  The person pulled off the helmet. It was Roland, Kai’s father. He looked flustered and angry all at once. It almost made his face blotchy-purple. “What are you doing here? It’s not safe.” An alarm sounded and panic flooded his face. “Come with me, there’s a pocket that we might get to in time.”

  Kai’s feet slipped underneath him as if he ran on ice. Roland hit a button on the wall and a panel slid back, revealing a shallow room, just large enough for the two of them to fit in next to each other. A violent wind blew through the room, but the man pushed Kai, threw himself in, and shut the door as the strong wind slammed into it.

  “What was all that? And why are you wearing a biohazard suit?”

  Kai’s dad ran his fingers through his hair just the way Kai did. It was eerie to see such a familiar mannerism on someone else.

  “No. You don’t get to ask the questions. What are you doing down here? Do you have a death wish?”

  “Well, that’s two questions. Which should I answer first? Though why don’t we start with why you abandoned me when I was a baby? Yeah, I know all about that."

  “We just have to figure out how to get you out of here safely.” Roland’s eyes held a wild look. Panic had apparently blocked his ears. His face showed no sign that he’d heard Kai.

  “Are you even listening to me?”

  Roland grabbed his arms. “No, you listen. You shouldn’t be down he
re. Any moment now the room outside will be flooded with serum. The final ingredient will be injected before it gets pumped into containers and shipped out. Do you have any idea what that amount of serum would do to you?”

  Kai’s mind spun. “So if one wanted to alter the serum, this would be a good place to do it?”

  Roland halted, his head tilted in puzzlement. “Theoretically, yes. But I’m more concerned about getting you out of here alive and in one piece.” The question shifted his thinking to the cerebral, and it seemed to calm him.

  “Now? You choose now to start playing the interested father? I don’t get it.”

  “Trust me, there’s a lot you don’t get. Now is not the time for a heart-to-heart.” He pressed his ear up against the door, listening to what was happening on the other side.

  “Can I ask one question that isn’t about…” Kai cleared his throat, “you and me?”

  Roland propped his shoulder against the door. “Sure. But I might not answer.”

  “Why the amulets?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Kai couldn’t tell if he was playing dumb deliberately or if he genuinely didn’t know. “You know, the necklace thingies. Each one has an image that somehow links to the person it’s attached to.”

  “Oh! You mean receptacles. Simple, really.” The man’s face lit up as he shifted into teacher mode. “If you want to pour something into a container that is already full without wasting anything, you have to decant some of the original contents to make space. The receptacles are a way to keep things safe but out of the way.”

  “What things?” It all sounded caring and kind, but Kai’s skin crawled.

  “Sometimes it’s a memory. Sometimes hopes, dreams. We try and get to the essence of the person. It seems to work better that way. The extractor pumps the essence into a receptacle. The receptacles are designed to analyze the contents and create a mark on the outside that is a reflection of the essence of the person it came from. Each receptacle will resonate with its owner.”

  “What would happen if the owner tried to access what is in the receptacle?” The picture of Zulu chasing the priests and Ruaan growing so easy to please slid through his mind.

  “That wouldn’t be a good idea. Reversing the process is not something we’ve had opportunity to investigate heavily just yet.” Roland tripped over the words and coughed. “We were persuaded to make sure the first part worked. There was no importance placed on the second part.”

  Kai reeled. There was so much wrong with everything that came out of Roland’s mouth. One thing snagged at him, a burr not to be ignored. “How do you,” Kai faltered over the word, “extract what you need?”

  Roland was positively glowing. “We devised a few different methods. We even built some extractors with the ability to fly. I was particularly proud of those. Flying extractors.

  “You mean the bugs. LightSuckers?”

  “Yes! Exactly. What did you call them? LightSuckers. That’s quaint. I like it.” He rubbed his chin as if rolling around a new taste on his tongue. “We always just called them the airborne extractors. I should rename them.”

  Kai’s blood boiled. His father had developed the bugs that had nearly killed him. The man was both blind and cruel. “Those bugs nearly killed me.”

  ~*~

  Evazee braced herself for soldiers. Or guards, or scary homeless people, but when the followers stepped out of the shadows, her jaw dropped.

  It was Runt, Peta, and Paintbrush. Peta rolled her eyes at Runt. “I told you we were too close.”

  “So you’d prefer getting lost in the desert, is that it?” The two girls were the same size and Runt took full advantage, glaring at Peta hard enough to bore holes in her skull.

  Paintbrush watched the exchange with a pained expression on her face. The small girl did not seem to like conflict.

  Evazee’s mouth dried up. “You shouldn’t be here. How did you find me?”

  All three girls started talking at once, hands flying and fingers wagging. Evazee tried to follow, but they were too loud.

  The bag on Runt’s back meowed.

  “Guys, shh. You’re too loud. I don’t want anybody finding us. Runt, what is in your bag?”

  Runt looked at the other two and shrugged. “I didn’t know how long we’d be gone. I didn’t want to leave them.”

  “You brought the kittens.”

  Runt nodded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world to do. “Kai brought us all here to get our amulets. But he’s got mine, and he hasn’t given it back to me yet. Paintbrush doesn’t want hers, and Peta...” She stopped to think and rubbed her chin. “Why are you here, Peta?”

  Peta frowned. “Because I don’t like that place.” She thumbed back towards the enormous building behind them and crossed her arms.

  “But girls, why aren’t you with him? Why are you out here in the dark all alone?”

  Runt shuffled from one foot to the other, and Peta developed a deep interest in her cuticles.

  “Girls...”

  “Kai left us all with the crazy one and the hungry one. We decided to follow him. Just in case he needed us, you know? Also, we’re not really alone. Three isn’t alone.” Runt grinned at Evazee.

  Paintbrush tugged on Evazee’s hand. “You weren’t alone either. I saw Him walking with you. Where’s He gone? I like Him.”

  Before Evazee could ask Paintbrush who she was talking about, a deep shudder passed through the ground below their feet. It felt like an earthquake but over a much smaller area and more intense than any Evazee had felt before. It shook them off their feet and they huddled together, shaking.

  When it subsided, Evazee turned to the three. “Girls, you have to go back. This place is dangerous. But first, tell me which way Kai went.”

  Runt leaned towards Peta and whispered at a non-whisper volume, “I told you she’d say that.”

  ~*~

  “Oh, no, that’s not possible. You don’t have to fear them. They are quite harmless. I can imagine a swarm of them in the dark being a little scary, but honestly? It might sting a little when they first attach, but there are no harmful side effects.”

  Kai’s stomach turned at the memories of swollen sores weeping black goo, the fever that nearly drove him out of his mind. This man was clueless. “Get me out of here.”

  “Wait, what’s the matter? I don’t understand.”

  “There’s a lot you don’t understand.” Kai’s teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached.

  Roland blinked. The man looked puzzled, but any trust that Kai might have had in his goodness was annihilated. “Kai, when this project is complete,” he waved a hand that took in the entire expanse of the Crux, “I want to hang out.” He shuffled awkwardly. “With you, I mean. I’ve always done what I thought was right, but I can see now that I might have missed a few things along the way. Made some mistakes.”

  “We probably won’t survive this.” Kai didn’t have the heart to speak his full thought...because of you.

  Roland’s face twisted in puzzlement, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he pressed his ear against the door. “There’s a lull. Come on. Now is your chance.” He breathed for a moment, threw back the door and ran out, pulling Kai with him.

  The room was empty, but there were residual traces of serum collected in pockets along the edges.

  “Quickly now. There’s no time. The batches come through in quick succession.” Roland escorted Kai across the floor back to the ladder.

  “Are you telling me that this entire space fills with serum? This whole room?”

  “Mostly, yes. At regular intervals.”

  Blood drained from Kai’s face, his skin prickled with pins and needles. The volume of altered serum being produced was overwhelming.

  They reached the ladder, and he grabbed the side to swing himself up and climbed. He crawled out at the top and stopped dead.

  A man stood, waiting for him with arms folded. Shasta.

  “It’s been a whi
le. You can’t stay away, can you?” He paced across the desert and covered the distance between them in a few short steps. “What’s this I see?” He reached out and pulled Kai’s bottom eyelid down, away from his eyeball. “You’ve already had some of the good stuff. Eager, are we?” He chuckled as he walked a slow circle around Kai. “This is an unexpected development.”

  Kai stood frozen. His mind scrambled for an escape route, while the rest of him was paralyzed by Shasta’s closeness. He wanted to vomit.

  “Do you know what I find most interesting about this batch of serum? The moment it enters your system, it begins to change you. It gets to work on your DNA. Isn’t that phenomenal? Rewriting things you thought you’d be stuck with forever. My man here, Roland, he’s been leading the research. He is single-handedly responsible for this latest development. We wouldn’t have been anywhere close if not for this one.”

  Roland had climbed out behind Kai and stood off to one side with his head down, staring holes into his boots.

  Kai would have given anything to read his thoughts, especially if the conflict on his face was anything to go by. Kai’s mind took it all in, still hunting for an escape.

  You should really just yield. A gift like yours would be a terrible thing to waste. I can see that you get everything your heart wants.

  30

  Evazee walked blindly, feeling her way forward with her toes. She kept hoping her next step would be a bump into Kai. Something shifted in the air and invisible heaviness dropped over her like a cloak. Standing upright was hard. She felt exposed, vulnerable. A bug kept in a glass jar. Thoughts like eels probed her mind. She knew this silent voice. A shudder ran through, and she nearly tripped. Each step took her closer to where she didn’t want to go. But she couldn’t abandon Kai.

  She touched her throat where her imprint had been, felt the empty chain where her amulet used to hang. She’d been stolen from, cut down, and shoved aside. Right now, she was nothing but a blob of fear with a bunch of hang-ups and issues thrown in.