by Aaron Hodges
Wings flaring, Chris leapt at another man, driving both feet into his sternum and hurling him across the room. Beside him, Liz slammed her shoulder into a soldier’s chest. The force of the impact sent the man staggering into the soldier alongside him, and the two went down in a pile of limbs.
But even as the soldiers fell, more poured in through the door and window. Beyond the broken glass, Chris glimpsed a zipline running to a neighboring building and realized there was no escape in that direction.
Jasmine was still laying into the men around her, but Richard sat crouched at her feet, his head bent, wings limp. The beginnings of despair clutched at Chris’s throat. Outnumbered and surrounded, there was no escape now.
A sharp pain stabbed at his back. Chris spun and wrenched the weapon from the soldier’s arms. Clubbing his attacker over the head with the heavy rifle, he turned again and hurled it at another invader. The force behind the projectile knocked the man out cold.
A scream came from Liz, and Chris turned in time to see her go down beneath a pile of soldiers. A second later she was up again, hurling the soldiers from her, scattering them like leaves before the wind. Chris started towards her but staggered as his leg suddenly went numb. His vision whirled and his stomach wrenched as nausea swept through him.
Another soldier ran at him, gun raised to finish him off. Straightening, Chris twisted as the gun went off, but the tranquilizer had dulled his reactions, and another dart caught him in the shoulder. Growling, he grasped the barrel of the gun and tried to wrench it from the soldier’s grip. To his surprise, the man held on. The barrel boomed again, sending a dart straight into Chris’s chest.
The strength fled Chris’s legs and suddenly he found himself on his knees. An eerie calm settled over him as he looked up at the soldier, watching as the rifle fired a third time. He didn’t feel the third dart strike. A great weariness settled over him as he swayed on his knees.
“Liz,” he breathed, watching her across the room.
He looked down at his chest, at the darts protruding from his flesh. He fought to reach up, to tear them out, but his arms refused to obey. They hung limp at his side, dead weights as the soldier drove a boot into his stomach.
“Chris!” He heard Liz’s voice from a distance.
He struggled to keep his eyes open, to find her in the growing shadows. But the darkness rose up to swallow him, and he fell away into oblivion.
17
“Chris!” Liz screamed as she saw him go down.
Hurling aside a soldier, she leapt over the bodies scattered across the floor and charged the man standing over Chris. He looked up as she closed on him, even managed to lift his rifle, before her fist caught him in the face. The force of her blow sent his head whiplashing backwards and he crumpled without a sound.
But she had turned her back on the other soldiers now, and two raised their guns and opened fire. Her wings cracked open, the long black feathers brushing aside the darts. Even so, she felt a pinch in her shoulder as one found her flesh. Gritting her teeth, Liz crouched and hauled Chris up, then stumbled away from the door.
Liz heard the click of guns being reloaded, and ahead she saw Jasmine stumble. The girl still stood over Richard, half a dozen bodies scattered around her. Liz felt a surge of hope, that maybe they could carry the boys to the window, that they might still escape. Then she saw the darts protruding from Jasmine’s shoulder and arms, saw the girl’s wings beginning to slump, and the hope withered in her chest.
Lowering Chris to the floor beside Richard, Liz drew back her lips and snarled. More men were pouring in through the window. Beyond the shattered glass, a steel cable led across to a neighboring building, where a dozen men still waited to join the fight.
Hissing, Jasmine gathered herself and leapt at a cluster of men, scattering them with her fury. Teeth clenched, Liz followed after her. But it was clear the darts were beginning to take effect. She could see Jasmine slowing, her blows now lacking power. Jasmine tore a rifle from a soldier and slammed it into his stomach. The man staggered, but seconds later he straightened and drew a steel baton from his belt.
Jasmine stumbled as the baton caught her in the side of the head. She retreated a step as Liz sprang past and sent the soldier reeling with a blow to the face. This time he did not get back up. Side by side, they retreated to where Richard and Chris lay.
“Go, Liz,” Jasmine panted. “Get out of here, before they get you, too.”
Liz shook her head and reached out to steady Jasmine as she stumbled. “I told you, we’re family.” Liz forced a smile. “And we’re not finished yet.”
Baring her teeth, Liz tore into another intruder as Jasmine slumped to her knees. Her fist crashed into his face, but as she recovered, Liz felt a sharp pinch in her backside. Swearing, Liz caught the soldier by the shoulder and spun towards the hunters creeping towards them from the doorway. In one fluid movement, she hurled the man into their midst.
She grinned as the soldiers scattered, then swore as her leg suddenly went numb. She clenched her fists, fighting back the weakness, as soldiers closed in around her. They must have been running short of ammunition, because they hesitated before firing, waiting to see whether she would fall.
Liz swayed on her feet. She glanced at Jasmine. Her heart clenched as she saw her friend collapsed over Richard. Swallowing, Liz faced the circle of soldiers, alone now against a dozen men. She sucked in a breath, and then stepped towards the nearest man.
Crack.
A gun roared, and another dart tore into Liz’s side. She staggered, the numbness spreading, but she took another step. Gunshots sounded again, and she felt two more stabs of pain from her back. By then she’d reached the man. Stretching out an arm, Liz clawed at his weapon, but he only retreated a step. Then he slammed the butt of his rifle into her face.
Light flashed across Liz’s vision as the blow struck, driving her to her knees. Swaying, she cursed her weakness and fought to regain her feet. But the tranquilizer pumping through her veins was too much for her now. With agonizing slowness, she toppled backwards to the ground.
The soldier smiled down at her. Reaching for a radio strapped to his shoulder, he spoke into the microphone. “Targets neutralized. We’re ready for you, Doctor.”
Liz’s stomach clenched and tears stung her eyes as she looked up at the man. Despair wrapped around her throat and she found herself begging, “Please, just kill us. Don’t let him take us back.”
Grinning, the soldier drew back his boot and drove it into her face. The blow slammed her head back into the floor. Liz tasted blood in her mouth as the man lifted his foot again and hammered the steel-capped boot into her side. The force of the kick lifted Liz and sent her sprawling across the ground.
Lying on her side, she listened as the man’s footsteps retreated. She lay staring at the open door, struggling to sit up. But her limbs refused to obey. To her horror, Liz found she could no longer even close her eyes.
Around the room, the soldiers were pulling the night vision goggles from their faces. The lights flickered back on, filling the room with blinding white. Pain stabbed at Liz’s eyes. She willed them to close, without success.
Moments later, footsteps came from the hallway outside. A man appeared in the doorway, wearing a familiar white lab coat. Liz’s stomach clenched as she looked at his face. The last traces of her courage crumbled away.
Halt looked strangely older, his face lined and his grey hair streaked by white. Only the icy smile was unchanged. Arms folded, he crossed the room until he came to a stop beside Liz. “Well done, Commander. They are all present?”
Before the soldiers could respond, a wild shriek erupted from the kitchen, and Mira leapt into view.
Her grey wings flashed as she emerged from her hiding place and shot straight at Halt. He staggered as the girl crashed into his chest, her unnatural strength knocking him back.
Liz’s heart fluttered as Mira tore at Halt’s face, her lips drawn back in an animalistic snarl. Taken by surpr
ise, the soldiers retreated before her fury. Sensation tingled in Liz’s chest as she found herself hoping Mira would tear Halt’s head from his shoulders.
Cursing, Halt straightened. His arm shot out, catching Mira by the throat. Liz’s heart lurched in sudden fear, before she reminded herself Mira’s augmented strength was more than a match for an ordinary human. She would snap Halt’s arm like a twig.
Mira squirmed in Halt’s grasp, then lifted her hands and brought them down on Halt’s wrist. Liz watched, waiting for the sharp crack of breaking bone, for Halt’s scream and Mira to slip free.
Halt smiled. He lifted Mira higher, even as she kicked and tore at him, and with casual ease hurled her into the wall. Mira shrieked as she struck, and then slumped unmoving to the floor.
Turning to the commander, Halt shook his head. “I suggest you secure the subjects properly, Commander. We wouldn’t want any more…incidents.” He looked around, his eyes sweeping the shattered remnants of the apartment. “When you’re done, take care of the woman and her daughter. They did a great service to this country, reporting the fugitives. But we can’t have any witnesses of this…unfortunate episode.”
Then Halt turned and looked down at Liz, the smile still frozen on his thin lips.
And his cold grey eyes pierced her.
Part 3
Chead
18
Agony pulled Chris back from the darkness, dragging him slowly towards wakefulness. He made to sit up, but instead flopped sideways as he found his arms fastened behind his back with steel cuffs. A sharp ache came from his wound and he bit back a cry. Rolling onto his side, he clenched his teeth, swallowing the pain and forcing his eyes to open.
His heart sank as the room shifted into focus. The first thing he saw was a wall of thick wire mesh. A quick glance around confirmed his suspicions—he was in a cage. Apparently, someone had decided handcuffs were not enough to hold them.
He allowed his eyes to roam the rest of the room and breathed a sigh of relief as he found the others nearby. They had each been given a cage of their own. He spotted Liz lying unconscious, her wings sprawled limply around her. Richard, Jasmine and Mira were in the cages beyond her.
Struggling to sit up again, Chris cursed the cuffs holding his hands fastened behind his back. His wings shifted, stretching out to help steady him. In the narrow confines of the cage he had little room to maneuver, but he finally managed to get to his knees.
A moan came from Liz’s cage, and he scooted across to the wire and peered through. A purple bruise darkened her forehead, but otherwise she seemed unharmed. He let out a breath as her eyes fluttered open.
“Chris,” she murmured.
Before he could warn her, Liz tried to sit up, and promptly fell on her face. A string of curses rolled off the concrete walls as Chris suppressed his laughter. Movement came from the other cages as the rest of their party woke.
Trying to rise a second time, Liz managed to rock back on her haunches. Her eyes narrowed and she shot him a look. “You didn’t see that,” she muttered, then looked around, taking in the row of cages and plain concrete walls. “Where are we? Trying to recreate our first date, Chris?” Her tone was light, but he could hear the fear beneath her attempt at humor.
Chris looked away, blinking back sudden tears. He strained his wrists against the cuffs, but pain shot from his wound, and he quickly gave up. With his arms locked behind his back, he couldn’t leverage his full strength against them anyway.
“I don’t know, Liz,” he said finally. He bowed his head. “I’m sorry, this is all my fault.”
His voice cracked as guilt swept over him. What had he been thinking, rushing off the way he had? They’d had no business being in that alleyway. If not for his stupidity, he would never have been injured, and they would never have found themselves in Daniella’s apartment.
“Don’t be an idiot, Chris.” Liz leaned her head against the wire and closed her eyes. “You couldn’t have known Daniella and her mother would betray us. Besides, do you really think I would have stood there while those policemen attacked her? You were just a step ahead of the rest of us.”
“I was reckless,” Chris argued. “I rushed in without thinking, without caring what happened. If I’d been more careful, if I’d listened to you, none of this would have happened.”
“Maybe.” Liz shrugged. “They had guns though, Chris. If you hadn’t acted so quickly, we would never have gotten close to them, and we might not have saved Daniella. How’s your arm?”
“Sore. Not as bad as last night, though,” he replied.
Liz smiled, but before she could respond, the door on the opposite wall clicked and swung open. Three men stepped through, wearing the familiar blue uniforms of the guards at the facility. Chris’s heart sank.
No, we can’t be back.
His worst suspicions were confirmed as Doctor Halt followed the guards inside. He wore the same white lab coat and sleek black pants as the last time Chris had seen him, though his face was lined by stress, and he seemed older. A thin smile on his lips, Halt strode forward, letting the door slam shut behind him.
“Awake at last, I see.” His voice was cold as he walked down the row of cages, surveying each of them in turn. Chris noticed Jasmine, Mira and Richard were sitting up now, their eyes plastered to the ground, unwilling to meet Halt’s gaze.
Halt reached the end of the row and turned back, stopping finally in front of the guards.
“All still in one piece, it seems,” he said, arms clenched behind his back. “Fallow’s little escapade did not prove so disastrous after all. We’ll call it as an unplanned test run, I suppose. The President and his Director will certainly be pleased with the results. It’s lucky this facility was never fully decommissioned, after our move into the mountains.”
Chris stared up at the man, struggling to shake off the clutches of despair. But crouched on the ground, his arms bound behind his back and the wire mesh hemming him in, he could not summon the energy to offer resistance.
“This isn’t the end, Halt,” Liz growled from her cage. She struggled to sit up straight, her wings flailing against the wire.
Halt stepped up to her cage, the smile falling from his lips. “You’re wrong, Ms. Flores. This is very much the end. The President will soon approve the extra funding I need to continue with my project. Once I’ve finalized matters here in San Francisco, I will have you all shipped back to our primary facility. There, I will watch you get torn apart, piece by delicate piece, and I will use what we find to perfect our recombinant DNA. You and your little friends will be consigned to the pages of history, remembered as nothing more than stepping stones on our path to the perfect soldier.”
Chris shuddered. There was an almost fanatical rage in Halt’s eyes as he glared down at Liz.
But shaking her head, Liz laughed in the face of Halt’s fury. “I know what you are, Halt,” she replied. “I saw what you did to Mira, before I passed out. You’re not human; you’re Chead!”
Chris gaped at Liz’s accusation. He stared at Halt, watching for some reaction. The doctor’s grey eyes hardened, and his posture seemed to stiffen. He glanced at the guards. “Out!” he snapped. The men obeyed without question, and Halt turned back to Liz. “You had best keep such notions to yourself, Ms. Flores. Or I may decide to dissect you right here in San Francisco.”
Liz snorted. “Go ahead. I’d rather die than go back to that place.”
“And what about your friends?” Halt said dangerously. He glanced at the others, a sneer twisting his face. “Such a sordid bunch. It sickens me to see such precious gifts go wasted on the progeny of traitors.”
“Our parents weren’t traitors!” Chris snapped.
Halt waved a hand. “They were traitors to our principles, with their talk of change and reform. Such beliefs can only lead to our downfall.”
In the cage beside her, Chris’s mouth hung open. A tremor rippled through him. “You mean you killed my mom because she wanted to make things bett
er,” he grated.
“Did Fallow never tell you? No matter, no one would believe you anyway.” Halt laughed. “Now, as invigorating as this conversation is, I am needed elsewhere. On my return, you’ll each be introduced to a fresh set of collars—and a lesson in etiquette to go with them. For now, you’ll have to make do with the company of the guards.” He shouted out, and the guard stepped back into the room. “They haven’t had much excitement all the years this facility has been out of action, so I’m afraid their conversation skills may be lacking. But they’ll ensure you don’t have any mishaps.”
With that, Halt turned and walked from the room. The three guards edged forward to take his place, their rifles held loosely against their chests. Their eyes flickered over the rows of cages, lingering on Liz and her outstretched wings.
All the fight seemed to leave Liz with Halt’s dismissal. She sat with her head bowed and shoulders slumped, unaware of the guard’s attention, until one of them spoke. “You think they’re real?”
Another of the men laughed. “You heard the doctor—they’re experiments.” He stepped closer to the cage and raising his rifle, slammed it into the mesh.
The wire of Liz’s cage rattled, and she glanced up, her eyes widening. The guard laughed again as her wings lifted slightly from the ground. He turned to the others. “Look pretty real to me!”
The guards stepped closer, peering through the wires at the dark feathers filling the cage. The cages were only ten feet wide, but Liz’s wingspan spread more than twenty, and they pressed up against the wire. Chris could hardly blame the men for their curiosity, though it made him sick to his stomach, seeing Liz treated like a caged animal.
“You think she can actually fly?” another of the guards muttered.
“Of course she can fly,” the first replied. “You think these people are stupid or something? Why would they give her wings if she couldn’t use 'em?”