“I know Ahshay. He had this blank look in his eyes and he was patrolling the halls for the whipipo,” I said. I tried to gage her body language and I could tell that she was upset and skeptical about what I was saying to her. I knew that I had to try and get through to her though. No matter what she needed to know that he was no longer the man we thought he was.
“If you spoke with him then maybe you would have gotten through to him and snap him out of whatever trance he was in. We’re his kids. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt us.”
I sighed because I knew what to expect and it still was frustrating to me. “What kind of fantasy world are you living in Shay? Have you been paying attention to what we’ve all been dealing with lately?”
“But he’s our dad Ty! Our dad! You could’ve tried to save him. Tried to get through to him. You did nothing!”
“And risk our lives? My life? To turn out just like he did? Is that what you wanted Shay?”
“He gave his life to protect ours!”
“And he wouldn’t want me to waste the chance he gave us by exposing ourselves like that and getting caught. By letting what he did go in vain.”
She looked at me in disgust. “I know that you think that you did the right thing. I know that you think that you did what was best for us. But, doesn’t it at least bother you that you were that close to him and didn’t say anything? Didn’t even look him in the eyes.”
I sighed. “Honestly no it doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is what they did to him. What bothers me is that if they could break a man as strong as our dad, what could happen if we get caught? I don’t regret in the least little bit not speaking to him because at that moment he was everything I didn’t want to be. I know it sounds selfish but that’s what it is Shay. That’s how it has to be.”
“You know..” she replied slowly. “I never thought there’d be a day where I’d be ashamed to call you my brother.” She got up and stormed over to where Rahz was and took a seat beside him.
I shook my head. I was hurt by the way she was reacting. I knew she would yell and be upset but I never thought she’d say that she was ashamed to be my sister.
“She’ll get over it. She’s just upset,” said Tamoia. “It’s almost time to go under and begin our shifts. Maybe a little sleep will make her look at things more rational.”
“You don’t know my sister. When she has a grudge she holds onto it tight. When she does get over it, it’ll be a few days from now. Until then, I know she’s going to give me the cold shoulder.”
“Well, at least you told her. I don’t know if I would’ve but you made the choice that was right for you.”
“I just hope that the choice I made was the right choice. I can’t shake the feeling in my gut that she’s going to try something stupid. I just feel it.”
“How can she? We’re all always watching over one another. We’ll make sure she stays in line.”
“I can promise you that’s a lot easier said than done. She’s going to try something. She’s going to try something and none of you are going to be able to stop her because when she takes her mind up it’s made up.”
“So do you think that she’s going to try and see your dad?”
I rubbed my hand across my face. “I’m not sure but if I had to take a wild guess I would say yes.”
Tamoia sighed. “I knew you should’ve kept the information to yourself. Now we’re going to have to watch her closely to make sure that she doesn’t do something that risks the rest of us.”
I looked at her and shook my head as I stood up to walk to the opening where Clayahr and Tyleah were already heading down. I was tired of everybody today. I was getting blamed for stuff and being lied to. I really just needed a few moments to myself before I went crazy and flipped out on everyone. I sat at the corner where Dezzie and I sat last night to begin our shift. I grabbed a packet, some canned fruit and water and just sat. Ahshay ignored me and at that moment I didn’t care.
“So do you want to talk or are you going to stay mad at the world all night?” asked Dezzie as she took a seat next to me and drank some water.
“I’m not mad at the world. I just need a few moments to myself. That’s all. Just a few moments,” I said as I took a sip of water.
“Okay,” she said as she tossed a folder beside me. “Well while you’re mad you might as well do some studying. No need to be mad and blind.”
I shook my head but took the folder and opened it. I was barely reading the pages until something popped out that caught my attention. “Patients are being prepped for the next phase of experimentation. During this we will gain control of their minds and make them into power soldiers. Marshyn is our first super soldier and he will help bring the whipipo into a new era.” I re-read the last paragraph as I tried to understand what was going on. “Super soldier?” I mumbled to myself.
“Yeah, we still aren’t sure what it means. Although, I’m pretty sure what they did was wipe your dad’s mind clean and reprogrammed him to work for them,” said Dezzie.
“So he didn’t break?” I asked.
“More than likely not,” she said.
I nodded my head and looked back at the file. “Upon some testing we have found that melanins possess a resentment gene towards one another. More than likely stemming from slavery which is why most will never ban together, even though it will make them stronger. They also have a sentimental gene, which makes them soft to those melanins that they do trust. This will make our takeover of them go a lot smoother once we exploit it.”
“We’re still not absolutely sure what that means. It’s not in any of the other files. We hope that we can find answers within the new files. There are still a lot of holes and gaps into what exactly they’re doing. And since we can’t steal a lot of files at once we get the information in bits and pieces.”
“You think I should’ve spoken to him?” I asked as I closed the folder and sat it between us.
“No, and only because we don’t know what they did to exploit his genes or reprogram him. Nor how will it affect us with contact. You did the right thing and your sister will realize that soon enough,” said Dezzie.
“You know, you guys haven’t known my sister very long and she’s really not the forgiving type. She will hold that grudge or do what she needs to do to make the situation right. Which is why I believe that she’s going to do something crazy and you guys can’t tell me any different. Call it my big brother intuition.”
“Big brother intuition huh?” she asked with a smile.
I laughed. “Yeah, big brother intuition. Don’t you have a twin intuition with Dizzie?”
“Yeah, but we shared a womb.”
“We shared a womb to. Just not at the same time.”
We both looked at each other and laughed.
“I’m serious though. I know my sister and what she’s capable of and I just have this gut feeling that whatever she does it’s not going to end well.”
“Well, if that’s what you think then maybe Rahz can keep a closer eye on her when they do their shift.”
“I don’t think it would help. Plus, I don’t want to set her off anymore than she already is. I think we should just play it by ear.”
She shrugged. If that’s what you think is best.”
I sighed. “I do. I just hope that it’s the right thing to do. I mean today has already been a weird day for me and honestly I just don’t know how much more I can take. My whole world has literally been flipped upside down again. I mean, knowing that my dad is how he is, it’s a process. I just don’t know how to process it. It was honestly easier when I thought he was dead. As messed up as that sounds it’s true. At least that way I could imagine him going out like a hero and not this super warrior they made him into.”
“I understand that,” said Dezzie as she gripped my hand. “We honestly thought we were doing the right thing keeping it from you and we really didn’t expect to see him. It's not an easy thing to see the man who you worshipped as an hero to go out
the way that he did. Even if it wasn’t voluntary. I know that he didn’t go without resistance though.”
I sighed. “I understand what you guys were trying to do but I didn’t need to be coddled. I can handle anything that comes my way if I’m prepared for it. But, what I saw today, even if you did tell me, nothing could prepare me for that. My dad was a great man and a hero to many. I don’t even know how the other melanins would react to seeing him like that. I know that hope would go further down because he was the one person everyone looked up to and they would never expect this from him.”
She sighed. “You’re right. I don’t think that we’d ever be able to recruit anymore people if they found out what happened with your dad.”
“You think so?”
“I mean he was the great melanin hope.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, you have a point. But hopefully it can be avoided for as long as we can.
She let go of my hand and looked me in my eyes. “You know...there might come a time where we have to go against your dad and you may have to take him down. Is that something that you think you can do? He is your dad and the man that raised you. So would you be able to do what needs to be done with no hesitation?”
“Yes, I would with no doubt. Even if it meant going against everything that I believe in. I would do the right thing for everyone.”
She nodded. “That’s good to know. If not, Tamoia was going to take you out.”
“I believe it.”
“Just good to know that you have a good head on your shoulders.”
“Always.”
She smiled at me and I smiled back hoping that I could do everything that I just said because truth be told if I saw my dad face to face, I had no idea what would come of it.
Chapter 13
“She’s gone!” screamed Rahz as he woke me and everyone else out of their sleep. I looked around and it registered to me that Ahshay wasn’t there and I jumped up.
“How did you let her go!” I screamed at him.
“She was crying and said that she needed some air. Whipipo don’t really look at night because they are just as afraid of the animals as we are so I just let her go. And then when she didn’t come back I went to look for her and she was gone,” he said.
“How could you be so stupid? You knew how she was feeling all day What made you think that she wouldn’t run off?” I yelled.
“Calm down,” said Breyrian as he gripped my shoulder. “I know you’re upset but yelling isn’t going to bring her back in here.”
I turned and looked at him as if he were crazy. “Calm down! My little sister just ran off into the night. The most dangerous time of day since ‘the end’ and you want me to calm down! Are you crazy!”
“I know you’re freaking out but Ahshay is trained well. She’ll be fine wherever she’s going,” he said. “She knows how to protect herself.”
I stepped closer to him and got in his face. “My sister isn’t thinking rational right now! She ran off into the middle of the night to find dad. I knew that she was going to do something crazy. I knew it and I said it repeatedly. And now she’s gone. I told you I know my sister and you didn’t take me serious. None of you did!”
“We took you serious. We just didn’t think that she would run off into the middle of the night,” said Tamoia as she looked at me.
I shook my head because I didn’t pay as close attention to her as I could have. “We have to go after her.”
“It’s dangerous out there right now. We could all get killed. The sun will be up in a few hours. We can go then,” said Tamoia. “I mean we already know where she’s going.”
I looked at her as if she had lost her mind. “Are you crazy? I’m not waiting to see my sister in the morning. I’m leaving now and if you have a problem with that then to bad so sad. No one comes before my little sister. No one! She’s the only family that I have left.”
“I’ll go with you,” said Breyrian.
“So will I,” said Tyleah and Dezzie at the same time.
I nodded my head and grabbed a flashlight as we headed out of the bunker. As soon as we stepped outside of the bunker I saw a figure that looked like my sister walking towards us but she wasn’t alone and my senses began to tingle.
“Ahshay,” I said slowly as I shined my flashlight on her body.
She smiled a weird smile and looked over beside her. “Look who I found in the woods. It’s dad. We can be a family again.”
I stared in disbelief as I looked from her to him and saw the glowing W’s on both their foreheads. This couldn’t be good. Not at all. I couldn’t believe that this was happening.
“Ahshay,” I started to say but I couldn’t even get the words out. I knew what I had to do and it was going to be the last thing I wanted to do. In my mind, I was completely prepared to kill my dad if it came down to it. But what I wasn’t prepared for was the loss of my sister. If I killed both of them I would have no one.
“Damn bro, this some messed up stuff,” said Breyrian as he looked from my dad to my sister. “It’s both of them.”
“Do you think that you can do what you need to do?” he mumbled under his breath.
“I don’t know. I really don’t know,” I said as I looked at Ahshay. Tears began to stream down my face as I was unsure what to do. I knew that every moment that they were standing in front of us that they were collecting information and sending it back to the whipipo so I knew that something had to be done. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Come with us Ty. Come let’s be a family,” she said as she stepped closer to me.
I took a step back. “Why would you do this Ahshay. Why?”
“Come join me and dad. It’s not that bad. Come with me. Be with us.”
I raised my gun in my hand and it began to shake. “I’m so sorry Ahshay.”
I pulled the trigger and the bullet went right between her eyes. Immediately her body slammed to the ground and blood oozed out. Breyrian raised his gun also and shot my dad between the eyes and he slumped down to the ground. But only he didn’t die and it was a shock to us both.
“He’s not falling Brey,” I said as I watched my dad stand back up.
“I see that Ty,” he said as he watched my dad step closer towards us.
“Come with me Ty. We can be great together. We can rule the world,” he said as he walked towards me with his hand out.
“No, I’m not joining you and what you have going on,” I said. “I don’t need to rule the world. I’m fine.”
“But just think about it, we can fight side by side again. Don’t you miss your father,” he said as he took another step towards me.
“I do, but you’re no longer that man. You’re someone else completely,” I said as I took another step back. I had no idea how we were supposed to stop him if he wouldn’t go down from bullets.
“I want you to join me son. I miss you,” he said as he continued to walk towards me.
“What are we going to do Brey? I don’t know what to do. Killing him isn’t as simple as we thought,” I said as I watched his every move. Maybe being a super soldier meant that he was invincible and that’s why the bullets wouldn’t work on him. But, if he was invincible then we really were screwed because you can’t beat an invincible man.
“Try and see if you can find a weak point on him,” said Breyrian as he glanced at me and then back at my dad.
“How am I supposed to see that?” I asked him as I continued to keep my eyes glued on my dad.
“I hate to say this, but you might have to actually talk to him. It might be the only way,” he said as he looked at me in the eyes.
I stared at him and then back at my father. I knew that he probably had a point but how could I talk to a man who was just a shell of the man that I once loved. Would we have anything in common? What if all of his memories were wiped out? Then all of this would be useless. But, I had to give a shot because I couldn’t lose anyone else tonight. “Dad, can we talk for a moment?”
He stop
ped walking forward and for a minute I thought I saw something human in his eyes. “Talk about what son?”
I took a small step forward. “You raised me to be the type of man to stand on my own two feet. You raised me to always protect my family, especially Ahshay, and now, why is it that you want to harm us? Bring us into something that you fought so hard for us to be against?”
“Son, I’m trying to protect you. Joining me will not harm you in the least bit. It will make you stronger and make you feel more alive. The whipipo aren’t that bad,” he said with a dead look in his eyes.
“Dad, you’re not even the man that you were before.You were a strong warrior. A man that wasn’t afraid to stand up and do the right thing. A man that had his own mission and not the mission of someone else. I hate to say this but I’m ashamed of you. Look at what you’ve become. You’ve become a slave and not only that you turned Ahshay into one and I had to kill her. You made me kill the only family I had left. You are selfish. You’re not helping anyone. You’re just hating everyone around you,” I said as tears flowed down my cheeks. I didn’t know if he understood what was going on but I at least wanted to get what I had to say off of my chest.
“You’re ashamed of me?” he asked slowly.
“Yes, I used to want to be just like you. Now, I’m doing everything in my power to avoid it. You’re not the man that I was once proud to call my dad,” I said.
He stared at me for a long minute and then glanced behind him at Ahshay who was still lying motionless on the ground. He took a few steps back and I was confused as to what was going on. If he was a super soldier why did it seem as if he had emotions?
“I’m sorry that I am someone that you’re ashamed of son. Just know that I always love you,” he said. With that he touched a button on the wristband that he was wearing and shortly after his body began to shake and fizzle.
“What’s going on?” I said out loud.
“I think he’s self destructing,” said Breyrian.
I continued to watch as my dad fizzled and shake until he stopped moving completely. I sunk down into the ground and began to sob uncontrollably. My life would never be the same after this. My whole family was gone. Dead on the ground in front of me. I felt a hand on my back and saw that it was Breyrian and he had tears in his eyes also.
Melanin Wars Page 10