“What did you all do while you were gone?”
Why does he want to talk about work? This is supposed to be a Creation-free zone. “Tonight, Marc, there’s no talking about work or Separation. We’re Normals on a date.”
“Then you’re not doing all this as an act of persuasion?”
And here we go. “No,” I say, sitting up. “I did all this because I cared about making you happy. I wanted to make us comfortable for once.”
“You sure?
“Yes.” Waving my hand, I reject his accusation. “I don’t want to talk about that. This was something I wanted to do for us. I promise one has nothing to do with the other.”
“Collins came and asked me.”
I prop up my knees and throw my hands in my face. “They didn’t tell her to do that,” I bemoan, muffled.
“I told her no.”
“Okay.” I drag my hands down my face and prop my elbows on my bare knees. “Like I said, I don’t want to talk about that tonight.”
He looks up at the sky. “But to answer your question…” he says, continuing to ruin the mood, “Sean and I will help.”
I draw my lips to the side, not wanting to give off my relief and excitement and still not wanting him to think this topic is why I’m giving us tonight. “Okay. Thanks. But—”
“I heard you. You got dressed up and fed me onions because you love me.” He flashes a Marcain smile my way, and I look away from him, fighting to prevent my cheeks from blushing.
“So what happened here while we were gone?”
“Nothing. A few Zombie attacks. They found out a few Normals were implants. Lady Helen, from the draft eight years ago, she was standing in for Jord. She ordered Cory to execute both of them.”
“Ouch.”
“They whimpered and cried until he got the nerve to pull the trigger. He was hesitant, and they noticed. He hasn’t been around yesterday or today.”
“Eh.” I shrug.
I lean down and kiss him as he’s speaking, but he pushes me back. “I think you should stop kissing me.”
I knit my brows. “Why?” I thought things were going fine. The moment calls for a kiss.
“Because,” he stalls. “I can’t keep it that simple.”
“Oh.” I get it.
“I don’t want to make you uncomfortable. Or go too far when I know it may not be something you want.”
“I get it.” I lie back against his chest, and he strokes my hair.
“What you did tonight was amazing, Kylie. I wish I would have thought of it.
“Thanks. Next date is on you.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Were you able to talk to Marc, Ky?” Jord asks me as he, Seits, Luke, and I stand around his office.
“I have. He and Sean will help.”
“Good,” Jord says with a clap. “We also have Collins and Cecilia on board. Tomorrow will be a good day. We will meet with everyone tonight to discuss the mission. To everyone, we are only Creations with a plan to invade the Vojin’s realm, that’s it.”
Luke and I nod.
“Today, work on target practice. Remember where they told us to shoot them.” He points to the center of his chest. “Your groups can also work on target practice.”
We nod again.
“You are dismissed.”
We leave, closing the door behind us. “I couldn’t find you last night, Ky.”
“I didn’t know you were looking for me. How were you able to convince Collins so quickly?”
Luke shrugs “I kissed her cheek and asked her to fight with me. She said okay.”
“And Cecilia?”
“I kissed her cheek too. And she said she wanted to fight with me.”
I shake my head. “You are ridiculous, Luke.”
“How’d you get Marc and Sean?”
“He told me he would. I didn’t have to kiss his cheek.”
“Good. You want to train together today?”
“Sure.” We go to the group’s rec hall and gather them for target practice in the fields. “You all have it easy today,” I tell forty-plus people. “Shoot your targets, talk amongst yourselves, be civilized, and when they call for lunch, leave and come back to do the same thing.” I look at Luke. “You okay with that?”
“No. But you’ve already told it to them now.” Luke works his team to death. They deserve a day’s break.
“Okay, don’t shoot each other and enjoy target practice.” Luke grumbles, resenting the cheerful faces of his team as they hurry to the field. We follow behind them. “Get over it, Luke. We’ve got more important things to focus on than shouting orders at our groups.” I push Luke toward our gelatin targets. “Where are we supposed to shoot them again?”
“The chest, left side, eight inches down from the neck, five inches from the pit of their left arms.” Luke lifts his gun, narrows his eyes as he lines the barrel with his target and fires.
“That’s simple.”
“Unless they’re moving.” Lowering his gun, he clips on the safety and stuffs it into the holster at his back.
Good point. “When we go,” I begin as I load my regular handgun, “I want us to make it back. I’m not afraid of dying or anything, and if I go in action, I’m okay with that. But I’m not ready to die right now.”
“I want us to make it back too.” He pulls a black tablet from his back pocket and taps on the screen, turning on the moving targets only on our side. “We should go in quiet and undetectable. Be invaders on their turf and bring them inconvenience. We will turn their bodies into time-ticking explosives like they turned our brothers and sisters here into brain-eating Zombies.” He fires at the targets, hitting a few and missing a couple. “Then we should try to make it to the headquarters, to whoever the guy is up there calling the shots, and we will shoot him in his head. Soval, I think was his name. At that point, who cares what his magical dust calls out to. We’ll leave after we take out whatever comes after us. Everything we encounter, we kill. That way no one knows it was us.” He reloads and shoots again, hitting all the moving targets in the perfect spots.
I nod. “I want to find the ones responsible for killing mom and dad.” I aim, lining my barrel with the jolting targets moving one way and then the other. Firing, I miss.
“There is no way we’ll be able to find that out, Ky. No one will admit it. And by us questioning it, they’ll know it’s us, and we’ll probably end up dead the next morning.”
I try again, firing three shots. Two hit. “You’re right. I just want to know what’s going on with them and the Trade and the Vojin. Aren’t you the least bit curious about these letters that’ve been popping up in our rooms of all places?” I fire off three more shots, none hit. “Crap!”
“Come on, Ky. You got this. Remember, we can’t waste bullets so every shot must count. Concentrate. By the time we get there, you’re going to be under far more pressure than right now. Focus. Your mission is aim and fire. You will make every shot count. Say it.”
I roll my eyes upward. “I will make every shot count.”
“Damn right you will. Every shot missed is a bullet wasted, every bullet wasted means another Vojin gets the chance to live. I’m not having that shit. We need to show them we aren’t playing. We have a plan too, and that plan is to stop the destruction they are so insistent on implementing. Like,” he emphasizes, “our parents were trying to do.”
“Speaking of their plan. You remember when I told you about the time in the burrow?”
“Yeah. What about it?”
“They said they would destruct the world, saving only four, and you and I were two of those four considered for the reconstruction.”
He lowers his weapon, turning away from the targets. “I’m not following you, Ky.”
“They also said they will get rid of all the—” I’m cut off by someone shouting. Three gunshots follow the disturbance.
We race over to the growing crowd, shoving people out of our way as we make it to the center. A girl from Luke’s team, t
he one who came to his room some nights ago, is lying on the ground with a shot to her head, neck, and one in her vest.
Luke crouches down next to her. “Who shot her?” Luke asks calmly.
“I did.” A boy, also from Luke’s group, steps forward, standing proudly on the other side of her corpse. He crouches down too, strong shoulders and mighty frame shadowing Luke. “Her mouth was glowing. It was inhuman,” he informs calmly.
“Okay, Charles. What was happening when her mouth started glowing?”
Charles drops one knee to the dirt and rests his arm on the one still propped up. “She was mad, arguing with Abel and Tamela. She was going to yell, and these weird colorful particles burst from her mouth.”
Luke looks up and off to the right at twins who may be Abel and Tamela.
Abel is standing with his arms crossed, deep pink eyes peering through his lashes. “There has been talk about her being an implant. She was accused, and she became defensive. The dusty stuff circled up to the sky and Charles shot her.”
Charles stands up. “She was a friend, but not good enough a friend that it could go ignored.”
Luke stands. “No one is that good a friend to ignore them being an implant.” They shake hands over her dead body. “You did what you were trained to do.” Charles nods. “You are also privileged to carry her body to the general’s office and explain her death.”
A few laugh at Charles twisted face when he looks at her bullet-riddled body, blood pooling beneath her corpse. “I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“You do not,” Luke says.
“Luke and Ky!” Cory is running in our direction, beelining through the group of onlookers. Nearly tripping, he stumbles to a stop, gaze locked on the body. “Who is that, and why is she dead?”
“She was an implant and got shot. What is it?” Luke asks.
“A shipment came in for you. Some heavy artillery the general thought you’d want to see asap.”
Luke nods then says loudly, “Ky and I are going. If you all happen to find any more implants amongst yourselves, bring them to us or the general before you execute them. We’d like to keep up with them in case they can be used for testing. Come on, Charles. Pick up Virginia and let’s go.”
Charles scoops up Virginia. Her head dangles over his arm, dripping blood on the way to the general’s office.
Jord throws his hand out when Luke opens the door. “No. Don’t bring that in here. I won’t be able to get the bloodstains or smell out of this wood for months. Take it back outside without leaking all over the porch.” Jord follows us out of his office. “Implant?” he guesses.
Charles informs, “Yes,” placing her on the ground. “I shot her, Sir Jord.”
“Okay, return to your training and have Cory clean this up.” Jord waves his hand in sweeping motions, and Charles nods and runs back to the field. “I have something you two would like to see.” His smile wrinkles the chocolate skin around his eyes and mouth. Going back into his office, he goes through the mysterious door in the back corner. I’ve been wondering about it ever since the first time I stepped foot in here. The door leads to a bedroom-sized room full of bulky suitcases and boxes. Jord picks up one of the suitcases and sets it on top of a box. Opening it, he reveals a black handgun with a long barrel and bulky handle like the one from the lab back in Highrum.
I take it from him. “I’ve been waiting to get my hands on this.” It’s smooth as polished gold and light as a bottle of water. The metal warms in my hand as my grip gets comfortable around the trigger. I grab the mag from the packing cushion in the suitcase and stuff it into the gun. It clicks, and the sound is mouthwatering. I put the gun down to grab another mag and pop out a bullet.
The bullets are sterling silver with a clear line down the middle. A dark mist slowly moves inside of it. It flows like fog, almost unnoticeably if not being studied. The mag is also light, along with the bullets.
I hand the loaded gun to Luke. “You’re going to like it.”
He takes it from me, and I go back to the suitcase to move it from the box. I go to open the box and stop myself. “Can I look inside this?” I ask Jord.
“Yes.”
In the box are face masks with breathing filters; they are thin and light as well. “These are air purifiers, right?” I ask, showing Jord a mask.
“Yes, they are supposed to be light on us and easy to use. They are to be soundless as we breathe through them and filter our air so we are not affected by the explosive particles.” I nod, turning back. “Look at what they got for us. This is the best part.” He picks up a bigger suitcase and cracks it open on the floor. “Check this one out.” Between his hands, Jord cradles the most gorgeous shotgun to ever bless my eyes.
“Aww,” I sigh. It takes my breath away.
“The only girl you’ll ever meet that’s left speechless by a piece of machinery,” Luke jokes.
I scoff. “There are plenty of us out there.” I can’t tear my eyes away from its beauty. “Do you see this, Luke? Please let me hold it.” Jord passes me the weapon. Black steel makes up a double-barrel, pump-action, twelve-gauge shotgun. It’s the length of my arm, and the weight, though heavy, is comfortable. I press it to my shoulder and take the handles in my grips. The finger grooves are easy to align with, and the shot scope will make aiming a breeze. “What is it? Fifteen rounds?” I ask, lowering the weapon and leaving it to rest in my hands as I gaze upon its gorgeousness.
Luke comes to my side and rubs his hand over it. “Yes. It’s nice.” He takes it from me. “And the weight is perfect.”
“This gun is ten rounds,” Jord answers. “The best thing about that gun and its rounds is if there are Vojin in a line you can take them out with one bullet. It will enter them and, before exiting, release the poison, and plow through the flesh. It’s a brilliant round. That thing will keep going until it runs out or until it meets a non-penetrable object.” From another box sitting on the floor, Jord retrieves a narrow bullet with a sharp tip that ends in a point. “This would come in handy.”
I smile. My adrenaline pumps just at the thought. “We’re going to do some serious damage. I want to shoot this gun!”
“Let’s go!” Jord says, waving me toward the door.
“There are multiple of these?” Luke asks. He moves it out of my grasp as I reach for it. Jord nods and picks up another suitcase, setting it beside the first. “Stop, Ky.” Luke swats my hand. “Get your own.”
“I had it first, Luke. Why must you be a jerk your entire life?” I huff and pop open the new suitcase for the gun I am going to carve my name into. “Do we have test bullets?”
“A few,” Jord responds. He grabs a box of shotgun shells and a handgun. I grab a handgun for the Zombies and stuff it into my spare holster. Luke follows my lead. “Get the others and meet me in the target hall.”
“I’ll get Marc and Sean, you get Collins and Cecilia,” I tell Luke, leaving, keeping the shotgun glued to my hands.
On my way to find Marc, I run into Sean running laps around the base with his team.
“Two more laps then hit the showers,” Sean shouts to his team. He slows his run, and his eyes immediately admire my shotgun. “What is that beauty?” he sings, reaching for it.
“It’s nice, right?” I keep it out of his grasp. “It’s new. Made for a specific being.” I wink twice. “Come on, we have orders to test it out. Where’s Marc?”
“This way,” he says, turning on his heels and heading for the weight room. “Can I hold it?”
I hand it to him. “Sure.”
Gripping the barrel, he sings, “Whoa, it’s not heavy. With how bulky it is, it looks like it should be.”
“It’s incredible. We also got these.” I pull my handgun with the long barrel from my back holster and show it to him.
“Cool.”
We enter the weight room, and Sean shouts, “Marc! Look at Kylie’s new gun.” He holds it up with one hand and points to it with the other.
Marc looks up from help
ing someone on the weight bench. He leaves her and comes over to us. “Whoa.” He snatches the gun from Sean and feels it in his hands, testing its weight. “Hey,” he greets me.
“Hey. You like my gun?”
He nods, examining the weapon. “I like your everything.”
I blush and bite my cheeks to fight the smile. “Good. You both get one, and we’re going to test them.” I wave for them to follow me. “Let’s go.”
Marc passes the gun back to Sean and turns to his group, ordering, “Continue until lunch. I’ll meet you all by the obstacle course after.”
“We understand,” his group says in unison.
We head for the indoor target range. Sean asks, “Would this happen to be for our vengeance on the outer world?”
“It would,” I tell him. “I wish you could see what the bullets do.”
“Ky,” Marc puts his arm around my shoulders, “You are very attractive in a dress, breathtaking, but seeing you excited about guns…you are drop-dead gorgeous.”
Blushing, I bump my elbow to his side. If we were back home or hidden from the world in his room, I’d kiss his cheek and whisper, “Thanks, handsome.”
“Aw, you two are so cute,” Sean teases. “Now, Ky, you should say, ‘And Marc, you’re remarkably hot when you hold my guns.’” He and Marc laugh, but it’s over my head.
“Sean, I don’t get it. But can I please have my gun back?”
“Here,” he hands me the weapon. “Let me see your new pistol. I see the handle peeking from your holster, and it looks superb.”
I take the shotgun and pass him the handgun. “Here. Wait ’til you all see the bullets for these things.” We enter the target hall where Jord, Luke, Collins, and Cecilia wait for us. It’s brightly lit with the recessed lights shining off the white bulletproof walls and tile floor.
“Close the doors behind you,” Jord instructs.
Sean closes the door. “Is this some secret target practice operation where we’re all going to strip to our socks and shoot guns? Because I’d like to be a part of something like that.” He skips back to the line of us.
Jord throws his hand over his eyes and rubs his temples. Gesturing with his free hand, he orders, “Grab a gun from the table, one of each. We can’t use the bullets we will be using in action because we have a limited number, but we’ll use dummies because our targets must be on point. I planned to discuss our mission tonight, but since we are all here, let’s go over it now. Then we can enjoy shooting these new weapons.” He straightens his spine and crosses his arms. “In battle, I’ve fought with most of you in the past. We have all accomplished our missions and made it out alive. This will be nothing like that…”
The Separation Trilogy Box Set: Books 1 -3 Page 58