Handlers of Dragons (Children of Ankh Book 4)

by Kim Cormack

  Kayn awoke in the pitch black, coldly indifferent to how she’d come to be there. As a Dragon, she preferred the solitude of darkness with only sounds, scents and instinct to guide her way. She was thirsty. Finding water was her most urgent need, it prompted her to get up and start moving. Immortal or not, her system would shut down without it. She wasn’t sure how long she’d gone without it because her memory of where she was and how she’d come to be there had been wiped. Kayn inhaled the putrid scent in the air. It was the unforgettable fragrance of death. Small fragments of her memory began to return. Before she had the opportunity to downshift, she heard the clicking of shoes and humming of voices behind her. She slowly turned around as her memory began to reboot. Zach had gone over a cliff. She’d followed him in. There were sharks blocking the way so they’d chosen to search for a way out through the caves. They’d found bones and then they’d been attacked by cave dwelling cannibals. As Kayn picked up her weapons made of human bones, her mind continued to scroll through scattered events. She cracked her neck while waiting to go another round with the cave dwellers. They could come to her. She wasn’t seeing heat signatures. It was mortal auras approaching her in the darkness. As she stepped forward, she was blinded by an explosion of light. Kayn squinted in the glare, unable to see.

  “Lower your weapons!” a male voice asserted.

  Weapons? Oh yes. She still had the bones in her hands. She heard the cocking of guns as her eyes became accustomed to the light from their head gear. They were all in hazmat gear with their guns drawn. What were they hoping to accomplish with guns?

  “Put your weapons down or we will be forced to take you out!” the same masculine voice bellowed.

  She wasn’t going to be ordered around by a pack of gun toting mortals in white jumpsuits. “No,” Kayn coldly responded.

  “You may have been infected! Weapons down!” another man’s voice called out.

  “They’re human bones,” Kayn casually corrected.

  “Subdue her,” an oddly familiar female voice commanded.

  Kayn heard a whooshing sound as someone shot a tranquilizer into her torso. It was irritating. She casually plucked it out without even wincing. Intrigued by their rather inept knowledge of what they were dealing with, she took in the group of trembling white hazmat suits. Kayn cocked her head and declared, “That was rather rude.”

  The female voice coolly countered, “You may not be in your right mind. Drop your weapons.”

  When was she ever?

  “On the count of three. One... two,” a stranger’s voice announced.

  She was shot by two darts on two. Sneaky. Kayn nonchalantly tugged the darts out while giggling. Whatever they’d just dosed her with was fantastic. She heard Kevin’s voice in her head, ‘It’s the Aries group. Submit or you’ll cause problems for all of us.’

  She dramatically sighed. Party pooper. Kayn dropped the jagged ended bones as suggested, “Next time try leading with, we’re from the Aries Group. Lower your weapons. There’s no need to shoot me again, I’ll come willingly.” Somebody grabbed for her and Kayn warned, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

  The female voice ordered, “Stand down!”

  Now, she remembered where she heard that voice. It was the lady from the Aries Group with the nice smile that ran some tests on her a while ago at the rodeo grounds. She couldn’t recall her name. Kayn addressed the woman in charge, “You shot me before properly identifying yourself.”

  “When you get a look at your reflection in the mirror, you’ll understand,” she replied while leading her past the macabre display of creature’s body’s easily seen with the glare of their head lamps. The agent from the Aries Group questioned, “Did you do this?”

  Kayn nodded as she answered honestly, “Yes, but in my defence, they were trying to eat us.” Zach. Where was he? She froze as she questioned, “Where’s Zach?”

  The woman laughed as she replied, “We have your Handler. We’d just arrived, when he found the way out of this maze.”

  Why had she been so certain he was dead?

  The lady from the Aries Group explained, “He’s already been decontaminated and tested. Zach was quite concerned about you but we couldn’t allow him to go back in after being cleared of infection. He’ll be so happy to have you back safe and sound,” she declared.

  Sound...Hell no. Safe...That depends on how they were planning to decontaminate her. She’d seen Grey decontaminate Frost before. Hopefully that’s not what she meant. She’d already lit herself on fire for the greater good once this week. Up ahead she saw the glimmer of natural light and it felt like walking out of hell into heaven. As Kayn stepped outside into a plastic tube she changed her mind. She was directed into one compartment and everyone else into another.

  A loud voice from a speaker ordered, “Remove your clothes and seal them in that large bag in the corner.”

  She glanced down at her blood-soaked bra. Yes... She was rather impressively covered in blood. The red strip of t-shirt she’d tied around her stomach made her grin. Imagine how freaked out they’d be if she told them what that was for. She tore away the material used to hold in her intestines and shimmied out of her blood stiffened shorts. She felt her hair, knowing why her curls were matted with blood. Kayn was down to her unmentionables, when the voice directed, “Including your underwear.” It would be less embarrassing if they just lit her on fire to decontaminate her. It might be preferable to some stranger watching her undress while ordering her around. When she was naked as the day she was born, Kayn was told to step into the next room. There was a woman and a man in full protective gear, holding sponges. On the floor were two buckets filled with something that smelled uncomfortably like household cleaner. Seriously?

  “It looks like you’ve been through quite the ordeal dear. I know this may seem a little harsh but we’re going to need to thoroughly scrub you down. This may sting if you have any open wounds under that blood,” the woman warned.

  It was obvious that they hadn’t all been let in on the backstory of who she was and what she was capable of. At least after this stranger bathing incident, she wasn’t going to end up a virgin sacrifice as she had at the Summit. She was healed and super chill from the crazy amount of sedatives they’d shot into her. Red water was pooling on the ground beneath her feet. Yes, she’d been absolutely covered in it. She was a little disappointed she hadn’t had the opportunity to look at herself in the mirror. It must have been epic.

  While soaping her up, the lady enquired, “Do you feel lightheaded? Can you tell if you have a fever?”

  Kayn grinned as a voice came over the monitor, “She was shot with three rounds of Etorphine and she’s still standing up, I’d hazard a guess that she’s fine.”

  “What’s Etorphine?” Kayn enquired quite curious as to what they’d used to try to subdue her.

  The women answered, “It’s an opioid that's about 10000 times the strength of Morphine, traditionally used on large zoo animals. That can’t be what they used dear. You’d be dead.”

  Yes. This lady had absolutely no idea what she was dealing with. Kayn shrugged as she exclaimed, “Well, for the record it’s lovely. I’m super relaxed right now.” She must have been insanely amped up when they shot her. Kayn was ushered into the next room.

  Zach’s voice came over the speaker, “This is going to hurt.”

  Kayn’s heart swelled. Her Handler sounded like he was all good. How bad could it be? She was sprayed by scalding steam from all sides. The surface of her skin bubbled with excruciatingly painful blisters. She winced but barely reacted. This Etorphine was magnificent. The heat of her healing ability kicked in and in seconds the blisters had disappeared. Kayn yawned and asked if they had any snacks.

  Zach’s voice piped in, “She’s all good.”

  Kayn grinned as they instructed her to go into the next room, put on a gown and a mask and take a seat. She sat in the covered chair as the same two people that bathed her, started fumbling around. They were going to
take her blood. That made sense.

  The woman whose face was completely obscured from view except for her eyes drew some blood and whispered, “This is just a precautionary measure. After testing your friend’s blood we’re quite certain the virus isn’t airborne. I have to say, you’re healing ability is absolutely miraculous. I’m truly honoured to meet you. My name’s Karen and as soon as we’re finished up here, I’ll get you something to eat. You’ve been in there for a good week. I bet your starving.”

  A week without water? She must have died of dehydration and come back. That’s how they had the time to get here and set this up. Kayn nodded politely at Karen and asked for water.

  “Silly me, of course you need water,” Karen said as she grabbed a six pack of bottled water and passed her one. Kayn downed it and she passed her a couple more.

  The man announced, “She’s good to go.” They both removed their protective gear.

  “Follow me. I’ll take you to your friends,” Karen announced as they unsealed a door and stepped out into the glaring sunshine. Kayn was practically cowering from rays after a week in the dark as Zach ran up and hugged her.

  “I’ve been out three, maybe four days. I guess I had to be stored until they could get this mobile quarantine unit set up. I was decontaminated yesterday while I was still out cold, thankfully. Lexy and Grey told me all about it though so I knew what you were in for. They’d sent a team in to search for your body but we suspected you’d continue to heal even after you’d died of dehydration.”

  Lexy and Grey joined in on the embrace and Kayn whispered, “I guess we missed our plane.”

  “The Aries Group is flying us to our next job. The boy in Alaska’s Correction has already happened. He died. The girl in British Columbia also died. That was our next job. We’re off to Washington State. Seattle, to be exact. Grey and Lexy are taking point so we can have a breather.”

  Seattle sounded way better than Alaska after being in sweltering heat for more than a week. They heard tires peeling away. Most of the tenting was already gone. These guys were crazy efficient.

  Karen wandered over, handed them a cooler and explained, “These are sandwiches with deli meat and cheese. Fill up during the drive. It’s a short trip to the airport so eat fast. You can have something else as soon as you’re off the plane in Seattle.”

  “You don’t have meals on the flight?” Zach enquired.

  Lexy nudged him and whispered, “We have to be stored in the cargo bay in containers. It’s not optional.”

  Kayn gobbled down her entire sandwich in seconds and reached for another, slightly disappointed because she’d never been on a plane. She wanted the experience but apparently it wasn’t in the cards.

  A man strolled over and handed them each a card along with a cell phone. He explained, “The cards are to buy whatever you need once we arrive in Seattle. It doesn’t matter which phone you use, they’re not personally assigned. All I ask is that you text the first contact on the phone with the name of who has each number. You’ll need to be sedated for the flight. I understand sedation is no longer effective for Kayn. We’ll still have to dose you. It’s a paperwork thing. Just think of the bright side, it’ll be a relaxing trip even if you’re awake. You’ll be in your compartment for the duration of the flight. There’s WIFI so you should be able to keep yourself entertained. Everyone else, as I’ve said it’s mandatory to sedate you.”

  They all sort of shrugged as they followed the unnamed man to one of the remaining vehicles. Kayn glanced back at the now exposed entrance to the cave she’d spent a week in. She wanted to know more. What were they? Why did they treat it like an outbreak? Many of the immortals she’d encountered were infected by something to turn them into something else. Was this a wide scale thing or just a random occurrence? She didn’t bother saying anything aloud, opting to keep her concerns to herself. She’d ask Markus when she saw him. They piled into the back of the black sedan with a film of dust on it and once again it occurred to her that their vehicles couldn’t be more of a cliché. But they were clichés with glorious air conditioning. They smiled at each other. Zach took her hand as the driver slid a see through slightly tinted barrier up obscuring their view of him and the doors locked as they took off. They rode to the plane in peaceful silence.

  They’d only been driving for about fifteen minutes when they parked at a deserted air field.

  The driver got out of the sedan, strolled around to open the back door and instructed, “Walk over to that first building. There should be someone waiting for you.”

  “Thank you,” Kayn said, because she was Canadian and frankly she was programmed to thank anyone that did anything for her.

  The driver gave her a strange look as he replied, “You’re welcome.”

  They wandered over to the building they’d been directed to in the sweltering afternoon sun. She was still holding Zach’s hand as they were instructed to get into four suntan booth sized pods by the lady who’d introduced herself as Karen back at the caves. Lexy and Grey didn’t hesitate, they’d obviously done this before.

  Kayn enquired, “Can I watch for a minute? The sedatives won’t work on me. I’m just curious.”

  “Sure, why not,” Karen replied as Zach climbed into the third pod. “I’ll be riding in the cargo hold with you guys for the duration of the flight.” She knocked on Grey’s container and said, “Gas, needle or dart?”

  He replied, “Gas.”

  She closed his chamber. It lit up, flashed and hummed. She pressed a button on the side and there was a hissing sound. She slid something down, peered inside and exclaimed, “He’s out.” She looked at Kayn and questioned, “Do you want a peek?”

  Yes, she kind of did. Kayn wandered over and looked through a small plexiglass observation window. Grey was out cold. It was kind of cool. That only took a few seconds. She remarked, “That was quick. How long does it last?”

  “Only a couple of hours with each dose. I stay in the cargo hold, just in case one of you wakes up. These chambers are a little claustrophobic. I had to take sensitivity training and do a flight while locked in the chamber to get this job. I assure you it’s all very humane. The chambers are made of Sterenimite. A little something, we picked up at a crash site ten years ago. It blocks energy in all forms. It’s practically indestructible. I know you’re new so this all probably seems strange to you but it’s a safety measure for our crew aboard the flight. Some of you have abilities that can mess with the equipment and impair the crew.”

  Frost came to mind. Kayn smiled as she replied, “I can see how that could happen. It makes sense.” Karen moved to each chamber. They all chose gas and in a minute all three chambers were humming in tune. “I guess it’s my turn,” Kayn volunteered as she got into the one remaining chamber. “I’ll take the gas,” she added. This was going to be so boring. There was no way there was enough room to play with her new cell phone.

  “If you get bored in there I have a headset and mic on, I’ll be able to hear you. We can talk,” Karen offered.

  The chamber filled with gas and Kayn inhaled deeply hoping for a nap. Nothing happened. She recalled the spray Kevin used on her that day they’d been kidnapped by Triad and left to cook in a storage container in the desert. She’d been out for a few minutes at least with whatever that was. Things had changed. She was stronger.

  Karen’s voice piped into the chamber, “You still awake?”

  “Wide awake, “Kayn answered.

  “Do you want me to try another dose?” Karen enquired.

  “Fill your boots,” Kayn countered, while already painfully bored. The chamber filled with gas again and she started to giggle. “I can feel it a little bit now, it’s lovely stuff.” She heard the lady’s laughter.

  Karen’s voice said, “So, I read your file. I’ve seen everyone’s files. Ankh has some good-looking guy’s. Can I volunteer?”

  Kayn laughed and answered, “Everyone’s hot but the training is brutal and the hours are shitty.” Karen was laughing a
s Kayn sparred, “I really thought this whole sacrificial lamb thing would come with more perks.”

  “What? You mean you don’t consider being gassed on a plane a perk?” Karen teased. She opened the visor so they could see each other.

  “Thanks,” Kayn said as their eyes met. She hadn’t had a conversation with a mortal in a while.

  “I’d let you out if I could without being fired,” Karen apologized.

  “You’d definitely get fired for letting me out. How did you end up with the Aries Group?” Kayn asked.

  “I’ve only been working with the Aries group for a couple of months. I was a lab tech in Florida. I tested the blood of a child who’d miraculously healed after falling ten stories. My partner and I discovered some oddities. It was at the end of our shift so we hadn’t even reported it. We’d planned to double check our results the next morning. We usually car pooled because we were also roommates, but that night my girlfriend picked me up. I guess my lab partner gave a few friends who were also working that night a ride. They were in a car accident. Everyone knew Laurie was my roommate so I was called right away. Everyone else was pronounced dead at the scene but they were still trying to revive my friend when I arrived at the hospital. Laurie was pronounced brain dead. I was distraught. I wanted to stick around to be there for her family so I decided to go down to the lab to keep myself occupied. I walked in on the Aries group covering up our results. I knew then that we’d stumbled across something we shouldn’t have. I was sure they were going to kill me too but they drugged me and I woke up blindfolded in the back of a van. I was offered a job and here I am, privy to all of this craziness.” Karen explained.