Climatic Climacteric Omnibus

by L. B. Carter

  Shame shambled through Reed in the aftermath as he caught Mrs. Juarez's blank eyes pointing right at him as if she could see him.

  Mrs. Juarez had wanted him to sleep with the girl he thought was Jen. Good thing she had resisted—now he understood why. He wasn't sure he'd be able to live with himself if he'd gone that far with the wicked witch. The house should've dropped on her. The wrath rekindled, bubbling through him. His body screamed to run, to leave all the negative emotions behind and burn them out until he couldn't run anymore. It was his normal go-to when the sludge began to expand and affect his temper.

  But he couldn't this time.

  Mrs. Juarez raised a hand in parting as a soldier took her arm.

  Damnit. Reed owed his hosts a better goodbye after their last few days, after he helped bury their family member. But he couldn't bring himself to show compassion or grace. He too had suffered.

  They were shown to a group that was heading east, trailed by a gracious thanks from Nor and Henley, and the reiterated promise from Henley to send them the water filter—and many other devices—she felt she owed them in appreciation once they were situated somewhere safe.

  "This way." Ace slipped into the front of their group. Reed allowed the transfer of leader. He needed to get in control before he considered himself worthy of holding all these lives in his hands.

  Whether it was the somber scenery, the hot air, the lingering tension broiling in Reed's and Valerie's chests, or the difficulty of breathing through cotton, the group was perfectly silent as they made their way toward where they hoped Sirena waited.

  Chapter Nine

  Conceited, arrogant son of a— Valerie kicked out at the remnants of a soda can, sending it flying into the charred rear bumper of a nearby car with a clang instead of into Reed's groin like she craved.

  Honestly, she had only herself to blame for expecting better of him. The signs were all there: egotistical, cocky, broody, mysterious, sarcastic. Those were the kinds of guys you couldn't count on to support you or care for you, no matter what.

  He wouldn't be so pissed at her if the girl he'd dated hadn't stupidly chosen the name Valerie as her alias. They hadn't agreed on switching names. Valerie should have given her one to use rather than letting her choose. Everything was flawlessly successful if Val held the reins and people just did exactly as she instructed without question or complaint. She shouldn't have left Jennifer to take care of covering their tracks on her own.

  That negligence had ended explosively. The two girls' switch was never supposed to lead a freaking suicide mission.

  So, Reed could shove his anger up his ass. Val had enough of her own frustration without having to deal with his misplaced blame, thank you very much. If anyone was at fault, it was his goddamn ex-girlfriend, who he was no doubt martyring.

  Val's footsteps came dangerously close to defining her temperament as a "tantrum."

  Forget him. It wasn't like Val needed him. He was a leech. She could almost feel him behind her, raising the hackles on her neck. Didn't he have something better to do? Like clean up the remains of his family's organization? Or get his ego stroked by some nitwits in a bar somewhere? He and his brother were trying to take Sirena away from her. Let them try. Val had the full force of the government behind her.

  Well, she would... once she explained about her procedure to someone who might actually listen and understand, someone at her clearance level. She wasn't wasting any more of her breath on these low-level minions who didn't believe her because she didn't match her ID.

  Hello! People changed or got surgery all the time. It wasn't that bizarre. Granted, she and Sirena were some of the first to get the full-on gene mutations, which was severely regulated in the government. In fact, the government wasn't aware that such procedures had advanced to the extent that she and Sirena existed. Duh. That's why Val was trying to break Sirena out as proof and incentive for their own scientists to just freaking do it already.

  The world wasn't waiting for them to do trials and pass strict approved policies.

  Val herself was bonus proof it worked as it should, though her alterations weren't of interest for her scientists to mimic since they played no part in the long-run for the whole save-the-human-race issue currently dominating the entire government's attention span.

  They were sucking funding from her department—the most freaking overworked department with disasters swarming across the planet. And yet R&D was getting it all and spitting out dumb-ass results under meaningless titles like "Study finds heightened C-O-two emissions may lead to greater risk of drought." No shit, Sherlock. Just take a jaunt in the dustbowl that was the Midwest like she did. Didn't take a genius to make the logical leap that hotter equals dryer.

  Besides, if anyone bothered to stop kissing each other's asses long enough to look behind the smoke screen, they'd find the research is already out there.

  Without using any of their precious, frugally-distributed budget, the answers were hidden in plain sight, lurking behind the more financially beneficial outputs that private, non-governmental organizations such as BSTU were flaunting. Outputs like drones and automatons or whatever they were calling them—the stuff Henley was working on.

  And those outputs were useful, but they were temporary fixes—Band-Aids. Because if there was no humanity to use those dog-shaped robots to fetch your mail without you having to pluck your oversized ass off your couch or whatever, then what the hell was the point?

  And BSTU knew that. They knew their business model wasn't sustainable. So they were still employing people like Professors Tate and Hutchinson who worked on a more permanent solution: Sirena. If it was too late to prevent the Earth from changing, they could change themselves to adapt to their new home.

  It was time the government got on board that boat, or they'd drown arguing about the proper way to handle their own demise. Val was bringing them a life vest.

  Ace slipped past Val with a muttered, "Shouldn't you be managing the damage, not worsening it?"

  "Shouldn't you be modeling these fires and helping us prevent them?" she shot back.

  She didn't really have anything against her bookish brother. He'd done what she asked, when she asked, and helped get both her and Sirena out of BSTU in blind faith.

  But she wasn't in the mood for sibling rivalry. And yelling at Reed hadn't made her feel better because the asshole just yelled back, making her even more irate. They were stuck in a feedback loop. Just like the climate. Bad news bears for everyone.

  "You can take it out on me," Ace permitted. "But not Reed." He glanced at her, his eyes, much darker than hers used to be, pinning her. "He lost his girlfriend."

  "Oh, you're all sympathetic now? Now that you've decided to have a girlfriend? Now that you've decided females might not have cooties, you relate?" She looked away. His betrayal stung. Where was the family loyalty? "I didn't kill her if that's what you think—the girl he knows as Valerie."

  "Didn't claim you did," he grumbled placidly. He was always outwardly placid. Val never learned that skill.

  "You didn't have to," she spat and took a few deep breaths. "None of you did." Her vexation didn't bother him. She used to think he never felt anything since he'd compartmentalized his reaction to their dad's accident so thoroughly. She knew better now; they just handled it differently. Ace shoved it deep and used it as slow-burning fuel to buckle down and repair what was broken. Val exploded, using heat to propel her to her astronomical extravagant goals to replace the damage.

  "So tell us what happened," Ace suggested, the voice of reason.

  Val walked further, watching a few couples pass them, carrying gray-coated children. The soldiers shouted at them to move along. Her people—her mom's people at the moment—were doing their job. She was grateful they'd gotten the fire mostly contained in this area. "I wish I knew," she whispered, tipping her head back and closing her eyes as she strolled.

  Snapping back, Val glared ahead, chin dipped low. "Ask. Him. He was the only one actually th
ere." She refused to communicate after that. If Reed wasn't going to, then she wouldn't either.

  Ace dropped back, mumbling occasionally in opposition to Henley's soprano. Val zoned out, trying not to listen into their conversation. She was still consciously aware that Nor and Reed were also discussing Val behind them. Both Vals.

  They rounded the turn in the road that led to the port, and Val was finally forced to stop marching off her angst. Here, the fire wasn't yet contained. Firefighters and soldiers were running everywhere. Several hoses were pumping water straight from the Seaway onto the bridge and the buildings across from it. It was a roiling incendiary nightmare, such a bright orange it seared Val's retinas like a neon sign summoning her people.

  Ace stopped beside his sister. "Don't say anything," he warned in a low voice.

  Henley had acute hearing, though, coming to a halt beside Ace. "It's okay. I've come to terms with my mistake." She didn't sound like she'd come to terms with it.

  Jesus, they were a guilt-ridden troupe. Each of them was just trying to fix his or her errors forever. There was no bravery here.

  "Where is she?" Val demanded, eyes scanning the chaos. She didn't have the protective wear to approach and accost those fighting the flames for news of her missing girl. There were too many evacuees for them to be able to pinpoint the one Val needed, in any case.

  "The firework stand. If she went where I told her to," Ace replied.

  Nor also joined them with the person she refused to acknowledge or address. "She'll be there."

  "Which is where?" Val had no patience left, and Nor shared DNA with Reed. "In case you forgot, I wasn't with you last time. I was back in the middle of freaking nowhere with he-who-shall-not-be-named."

  "Ooo, I'm as high-ranking as a genocide-happy evil wizard on your hate list? I'm honored." Reed's voice was a wasp, buzzing incessantly in Valerie's ear.

  She swiped a hand through the air, shooing him.

  "Well," Nor said, "it was there." His finger pointed at a particularly bright section that had two streams of hoses combating the flames shooting into the sky.

  The asshole, of course, made a joke when none of them were in the mood. "Well, fireworks are pretty flammable, after all. Bet it was pretty when it lit up."

  Henley balked. "Do you think—?" She cut herself off with a glance at Ace. "She shouldn't have taken off on her own," she said instead.

  Ace shook his head. "She didn't. I made her leave."

  "Made her?" Nor's tone was a bomb rigged to blow.

  These goddamn kids and their obsessions with their significant others. The world freaking revolved around each other. Val was happy she wasn't tied to anyone.

  "Tossed her over the side of the bridge." Ace was not so good at recognizing danger. That's why it had been easy to coerce him to go to BSTU instead of any other minion.

  "What?" Henley too turned on Ace.

  He blinked, seeming to realize he'd messed up. "To keep her safe. There was a chopper coming for us. We didn't know it wasn't BSTU's. At the time, all we knew was that Barb was working with Professor Tate, so her chopper was just as dangerous. "

  "Yeah, because the Tates hired us," Reed countered. "Barb was a great person." Val noticed his fists curl. Val was happy to use her brother to divert Reed's vengeance for a moment. The Actons were not his favorite people.

  Back atcha, buddy.

  "So you threw her off a bridge?" Nor faced Ace, his muscles bunching.

  "Oh, here we go. Let's have a muscle-off and fight out our dominance." Val rolled her eyes. "Can we focus on finding Sirena?"

  Ace ignored his sister, explaining to Nor as if the guy deserved his attention. "We couldn't know it was a second, new chopper sent from the USGCS. She's designed for water. She's safe there, camouflaged. It was the better option at the time."

  "At the time," Nor repeated. "What about now?" He gestured behind him at the fire. "Do you think she's safe now?"

  Henley jumped in. "Let's consider where she might go if danger arose."

  Nor paced away, a hand dragging through his shaggy hair. He stared at the boiling kiosk, emanating stay-away vibes himself.

  Yeah, well, Val wasn't so happy cooling her jets there either. She'd worked hard to get that girl.

  "Where would she go?" Henley repeated. "Nor? You know her best."

  Nor remained where he was for a second longer then flipped around, shoving his hands into his pants pockets with enough force, Val was surprised he didn't push his pants down to his ankles. "I don't know." His ocean eyes were wild, darting around the busy area as if hoping to incidentally land on Sirena who was just standing there waiting to be noticed. If only.

  "Don't panic." Henley should be a therapist with her soothing balm. "That won't help us find her. Just take a deep breath. Put yourself in her position. Think of her personality, her background. What would you do if you were her?"

  Shutting his eyes and taking the breath she ordered him to, Nor's face furrowed as he thought.

  "Don't take a nap," Reed said snidely after it had been quiet except for the shouting of the fire-fighting teams, the crackling of crumbling buildings, and the whoosh of the hoses that reminded Val of the tornado. She was gaining a lot of understanding for trauma experienced by those her department aided.

  "She'd go east. Away from the water." Nor finally responded. His blue eyes opened. "Back to the only home she's known, where I could find her."

  "Ah, fuck." Reed's head tipped back on his neck. "You're going to make me go back to that salty podunk town again, aren't you?"

  "You think she'd go that far?" Henley asked, reasonably.

  Nor's blue eyes landed on her. "I think she'd try."

  "How?" Henley was more calculating than uncertain. She pivoted to stare the direction they'd come, the direction Nor was postulating they had to go back a-goddamn-gain.

  "She can't walk that. There's no water," Val agreed, giving Reed a pointed flick of her eyes.

  Nor walked past them, already heading back toward their cars. "She's unique. She can survive a lot more than we can."

  "Yeah, but not dehydration." Val shook her head. "She was made for water."

  Reed shouldered past her, showing support for his brother. "What do you know? You're not actually her creator or even a BSTU student for that matter. Did you ever take a science class, oh powerful director who sits on her throne and orders her peasants to fetch her more bottled mineral water?"

  "Well, you're just a freaking bodyguard for scientists. What do you know besides push-ups?" Val seethed at his back, wishing she'd left him for dead with the vandals and stolen his Jeep. She would've found Goldfish or Cheez-Its somewhere en route and intentionally got crumbs all over the seats.

  "What about supplies?" Henley raised a hand.

  Talking about water, she realized theirs was limited in supply, and they hadn't found anything to replenish their calorie intake. The shops at the port weren't an option for restocking. "Rena might make the trip, but we won't without food," Val agreed. Especially when Reed withheld her cut of the protein powder.

  "You wanna run into a burning building and see if anything survived, be my guest. I think we'd all appreciate that."

  Val bristled at Reed's comment, thinking of her father.

  Ace sighed, likely thinking along the same lines. Nevertheless, Ace plodded behind, towing Henley with him. The hand Ace towed, Henley's stolen BSTU goods was also a touchy subject when it came to fire.

  Reed had no tact.

  "All the way across the country for nothing. Heading right back again," Henley said morosely.

  "Not for nothing," Ace disagreed, pulling her closer to him.

  Henley giggled. "Yeah, we avoided termination."

  "We got to see my dad. And you got your clock back."

  "Oh," Val could almost hear the blush in Henley's response. "That. Yeah. I thought you meant... Never mind. What about my family?"

  "We'll find them after Sirena. Your sister went east anyway, right? A deal is not v
oid simply because it's delayed a while."

  Her head turned, and Val could see the smile lift her mouth on her profile.

  Val tried not to throw up, reluctantly trailing after the rest of them with a rueful glance at her people. She should be dealing with this battle, not gallivanting around the country with a bunch of horny kids. She just needed Sirena. Then, she could sort everything out and get rid of all the people slowing her down. It would all be fine.

  "This is like a nightmare that I can't fucking wake up from!" Reed shouted from ahead to the cinder treetops.

  The nearby evacuees stopped, and the soldiers looked around, tensing.

  Reed stomped over to the nearest one who had paused in the midst of handing out rations to the ashy people passing him. He was getting them food! Val tried not to salivate. He ripped several granola bars from the guy's hands. "There any protein in this?" he demanded, ripping it open with his teeth and taking a savage bite. Never mind. "Doesn't matter. Everything else in my life is exactly the opposite of what I want. Just keep it all coming. I won't fold."

  ◆◆◆

  When they got to the cars, there was a moment of indecisive reluctance from a certain someone, but he was outnumbered. In the end, Val was permitted inside his baby. It didn't make sense to keep chancing the homemade engine Henley had outfitted on Lindy's truck or to split up.

  "I just don't see why we're all going. I don't need the rest of you," Val argued again.

  "Good luck getting there," was the short retort from Reed.

  He didn't really need to reply; she already was overtly conscious of her current dependence on him since she'd been relegated to the pop-up back seat in the trunk. Her legs were wedged between water tanks and various tools from the chopper she couldn't identify. She'd already rooted around to confirm there was no food. The granola bar Nor had been kind enough to redistribute from his brother had just reawakened her hunger. And Reed had been right. It didn't have enough nutrients to sustain them.

  "You must feel a kinship with that trunk by now." Reed rolled her suffering around in his mouth with dark pleasure.