Paradise of Lead Trilogy

  The electricity begins to flicker then the lights shatter, showering down glass as the power goes out. Damien kicks at Isidore who slashes blindly with the sharp ceramic. He hits something then rolls backwards to get away from the bright sparks of Damien's electricity that fill the room with an eerie blue glow.

  "Activate your combat program, Isidore!" Clara shouts at him as she runs for Katarina.

  He can't yet. Without Kazimir's initiation words, there's no way to turn it on manually. He has to get hit first, but getting electrocuted defeats the purpose. For now, he'll have to do this the old school way. If only he knew where his revolver was.

  Someone grabs Isidore's shoulders and slams him into the wall then holds him there. As he squirms to break free, a sudden jolt of electricity racks his body in pain. He screams, but no sound escapes him. Just when he begins to black out, the hands drop him and he reaches out for his makeshift weapon as his combat program starts. He can see everything more clearly, hear Damien's breathing, and his racing heartbeat. He hits at Damien in the dark, but he misses.

  How did he miss? Then he feels his normal senses returning, numbing him again to the hypersensitivity. Why is it shutting down? He must be too weak after so long without food, water, or sleep. He has to fight, though. When he grabs Damien's leg and trips him, the emergency lights turn on as they throw punches at each other, Isidore having to dodge the electricity. Where is Xavier?

  From across the room, Clara screams. A chill runs down Isidore's spine as he hears Zach's demented laughing. Damien lands a hit to Isidore's eye and reaches to his belt where he draws a familiar gun.

  Isidore crawls back up against the wall and stares at the barrel of his pistol aimed at his face. The blood is trickling down his cheek and he gasps for air, still recovering from the electricity. It's loaded. He knows because he's the one who loaded it. He looks over at Clara who is on her knees clutching Katarina to her chest. Zach takes the baby from her as he aims his laser pistol at her. He then handcuffs her again. Xavier looks confused and conflicted as he stands in the middle of the room, his eyes darting between Damien and Zach. What is he going to do?

  Damien places the gun against Isidore's head. "This is my revolver, 42. You stole it from me years ago. Now I will be the one to use it to kill a thief."

  "No." Xavier says as he draws his laser pistol and points it at his father. "I won't let you kill him."

  "Don't do this, boy." Damien warns.

  "If you shoot Isidore, I shoot you. You know I'm a good shot, so don't think I'll miss."

  "Die!" Zach shouts and a loud buzzing sound fills the room followed by a flash of green light.

  A laser pistol clanks against the tile. The room is silent as Xavier drops to his hands and knees.

  Zach giggles and stands in front of his brother. "What's wrong, Xavier?"

  Xavier coughs and spits out blood. "Bastard."

  Zach pets his brother's blonde dreadlocks. "Awe, you're so cute when you're shutting down."

  "W-why?"

  "I couldn't let you spoil Daddy's plans. How is it to feel your hardware in your brain melting?"

  Xavier lets out a scream of sheer agony and collapses to the floor.

  "Just end him, Zach." Damien says.

  "But Daddy, it's so much fun to watch him writhing in pain."

  "You missed his microchip on purpose so you could watch him suffer. He might have betrayed us, but he's still my son. Now put him out of his misery."

  "Fine. Bye, bye!" Zach pulls the trigger again and Xavier stops moving and is silent.

  24

  Isidore reaches into his pocket and pulls out Yuri. "Farewell, friend." He tosses the mangled butterfly at Damien where it explodes, sending out a shockwave and knocking Damien and Zach to the floor. Isidore sees his opportunity and races across the room to his daughter. He scoops her up and rips the Inquisition insignia from around Xavier's neck.

  A laser beam flashes past Isidore's face. He has to hurry. Damien is screaming at him. A powerful shock spreads through Isidore's body from his collar. He tries to ignore it, but he grits his teeth and whimpers as he doubles over in pain. He can't stop here. He can't. Clara jumps up and kicks Damien in the groin. The shocking stops and Isidore pushes open the door as they chase after him. Clara cries out for him as he reaches the locker where his equipment is stashed.

  He turns around to see Zach holding Clara's neck between his hands and Isidore's pistol in Damien's hand pressed against her temple.

  "Stop right there or Clara dies." Damien warns.

  Clara calls out to him as she cries. "Go! Save Katarina."

  With one last glimpse of the only woman he has ever loved, Isidore turns and dashes down the hallway until a gunshot rings out and Clara's sobbing stops. As he quickly zips up his protective gear with his arms inside so he can hold onto his daughter, he looks behind him to see Clara crumple to the floor and a pool of blood spreads out around her. Damien looks up and takes aim at Isidore, but he is quicker. He swipes Xavier's insignia through the hologram and slips outside into the blowing sand. The bullet hits the doorframe.

  Isidore doesn't know where he's going, but he knows he has to get somewhere fast. It's cumbersome to run without being able to move or use his arms and Katarina is waking up, probably because of the heat. He continues to walk, trudging through the deep brown sand for what feels like hours. He's getting nowhere and Katarina is crying. It's too hot in here. While the air outside may be radioactive and polluted, the heat inside this suit is going to kill them both if he doesn't take it off so he fumbles around and manages to break the zipper then remove the helmet. A cooling breeze greets him and he finishes removing the gear. That's better.

  Katarina's cheeks are red and she has stopped moving. No, no, no. This isn't good. Isidore wipes the sweat from her face and touches her chapped lips. "Kat, wake up. Come on. Wake up for Daddy. Cry or something."

  She doesn't respond.

  He places his hand over her mouth and nose to feel for her breathing. Nothing. "Breathe. Please, breathe. Daddy's here. I've got you." He gives up for now and rocks her in his arms as he continues to walk out into the blazing sun where the wind picks up and blows the sand around him. When Katarina coughs, he knows she's alive. But she's far from being safe.

  Another hour passes and Isidore knows he can't go any farther. It's the middle of the afternoon and the sun is bearing down on him. His arms are deep red with sunburn and he's getting lightheaded and dizzy. Katarina hasn't moved or made any other sound. He takes another step then loses his balance and falls into the course sand. In order to keep her from burning more than she already is and to shelter her from the hot sand, Isidore strips his shirt off and wraps her in it then cuddles her close to his chest. If he could cry, he would. He tried.

  "Isidore!"

  The voice wakes Isidore up and he looks up through his sweat-drenched bangs with the sand plastered to his face. Who is that? He can barely see, especially with his right eye swollen shut from where Damien hit him. The wind howls around him, sending sand into his face and he simply lies back down. He can't put his faith in his helpless imagination. The sun must be baking his mind.

  "Come on, man. You can't stay out here. God, you look horrible." Combat boots step in front of Isidore's face and strong arms pick him and Katarina up.

  Who is this person? Is it God? Did they die? If he did die, he's grateful that this horrible place is almost gone from his memory. Wait. Why would God wear combat boots? When the arms lay him down in the sand up against a car and pry Katarina out of his grasp, Isidore rethinks his previous assumptions about God. This is a Ferrari, after all. Hold on. A Ferrari? Blice has one of the only ones left.

  "Drink this." His rescuer opens a bottle of water and holds it out.

  Isidore takes it and greedily drinks from it until the strong hands snatch it away.

  "Too fast. You'll get sick. Now lie down. I'll take care of your daughter."

  He obeys. "Is she okay?"

  "She'll be fi
ne. We need to get back to Paradise as soon as possible."

  Isidore brushes the sand from his face and looks at his rescuer. He smiles. "Byron."

  "Yes?"

  "Thank you."

  "No problem, buddy." Byron says. "You're lucky you walked far enough out of that radiation cloud and the tracking device in your collar started working again or I wouldn't have found you. Don't talk. If you can, please move up into the front seat and I'll fix a place for Katarina in the back."

  "Sure." Isidore weakly stands and eventually makes it to the front seat where he collapses and feels the coolness of the air conditioner. Yep. If God had a car, it would be this one.

  Byron pulls out some blankets and leans over the seats where he makes a bed for Katarina in the back seat. "Where's Clara?"

  Isidore only shakes his head and presses his hot face against the cool window.

  "Isidore, what happened?"

  "Damien happened. He shot her with my revolver."

  Byron turns around and closes his door. He rubs his eyes and doesn't say a word as he starts driving. Is he crying?

  Isidore sees his reflection in the mirror and he almost doesn't recognize himself. He looks awful. His face is red and blistered, his hair is matted and tangled, his eyes are bloodshot and he looks like he hasn't slept in days . . . which is true.

  "Did she suffer much?"

  "I don't think so. Damien and Zach enjoyed torturing me so they left her alone most of the time. I took the brunt of it."

  "Thank you. I can't think about women suffering."

  "I did what I had to do." Isidore says.

  They drive on in silence for what feels like an eternity. Isidore finishes off two more bottles of water and closes his eyes until Byron begins talking again.

  "Who is Zach?"

  "What?"

  "You said Zach enjoyed torturing you." Byron says. "Who is he?"

  "Your brother. He's Damien's son."

  "Damien isn't my father."

  "Vladimir Evans is your father and Damien has been Evans this entire time. I could have sworn we had this conversation already."

  "Oh my God." Byron says. "That means I kissed my father."

  "Serves you right for drinking all that tequila. It always makes you do stupid stuff that you later regret."

  Byron sighs and shakes his head.

  "Clara is in a better place, Byron."

  "I know. Were you mad at her for cheating on you?"

  Not as much as he should have been. "No. I guess I've gotten so used to never having anything that belongs to me alone that it doesn't really get to me. At first I was hurt, but looking back, I kind of expected it. She wasn't happy with me anymore."

  "She loved you, Isidore."

  "I know. I loved her too."

  "So what about the man she slept with?" Byron asks.

  "What about him? It doesn't matter anymore. Clara's gone and I'm sure whoever it was is far away from here. I'll probably never even meet him."

  Byron puts his hand on Isidore's shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

  "About what?"

  "That man might not be as far away as you think."

  "What are you saying?" Isidore asks.

  "It's me, Isidore. I've been sleeping with Clara. She was pregnant with my baby."

  Is he joking? Not Byron. "Stop playing around. I'm not in the mood for jokes."

  "I swear it was me. I was with her the other night after she got married to Blice too."

  Isidore crosses his arms across his sunburned chest and looks out the window as the wasteland speeds by. He has nothing else to say to him.

  "Are you angry at me?"

  "No."

  "She reminded me so much of Leena and I-"

  Isidore interrupts him as his heart breaks all over again. "Stop talking, Byron. I can't think about Clara right now."

  * * *

  "Niko! You're safe." Blice runs to Isidore and embraces him then pulls away when he notices Katarina in his arms. "Is she okay?"

  "She needs to get to a hospital. It looks like Clara was able to use her regeneration magic to stop most of the bleeding, but the cut on the back of her left hand is pretty deep. I don't think they were feeding her. Byron tried to give her some formula, but she wouldn't eat."

  Byron steps forward and takes Katarina from Isidore. "I'll take care of her. Go get cleaned up."

  Isidore watches Byron take Katarina into the bedroom. What does he do now? The daunting realization hits him. He's a single father now. He doesn't know much about being a father. Clara had been doing most of it. Now he alone is responsible for her. Blice hasn't formally adopted her yet.

  "Where's Clara?" Blice asks.

  "She's gone, Blice." Isidore holds onto Blice and the tears stream down his face. "She's gone."

  "Gone? What do you mean? You can't mean-"

  "She's dead. Your father shot her."

  Blice holds onto him. "Niko, I'm so sorry."

  "Katarina is all I have now."

  "You have me."

  "Perfect. I have the man who raped me and tortured me for years then lied about it to my face and pretended to be my friend. What else could I want?"

  Blice lets him go. "I'll leave you alone. I was only trying to help."

  "I don't need help. I will do this on my own. I will be a father and I will find a way to end this war."

  "You can't do both."

  "What do you mean?" Isidore asks.

  "I should have told you this a long time ago."

  "No more secrets, Blice."

  "The success of W.A.N.D. relies on you being sacrificed to run it." Blice says. "You have the alpha code and you're the only one who can use it. The one to save humanity is the one who never was human to begin with."

  "What am I going to do? I can't let everyone down. They need me to save them, but I can't lose my daughter." Then a solution presents itself in his mind. He looks up at his owner. "Blice, will you be a father for Katarina? I know it's a lot of responsibility, but I trust you. I will go through with activating W.A.N.D. if you will raise my daughter."

  Tears swell in Blice's eyes as he pushes past Isidore. "No. I won't."

  25

  "Just a little more. I have to make sure you are completely covered with this stuff."

  Isidore winces as Blice's hands smear on the aloe vera gel. "Do sunburns always hurt?"

  Blice rubs the cooling gel into Isidore's neck. "Have you never had a sunburn before?"

  "No."

  Blice puts the bottle down on the bedside table. "You're twenty-one years old and you've never had a sunburn?"

  Isidore stretches out his arms on the bed. "Nope. Remember when we would go to the beach? You'd be more tan than you normally are and I'd still be as pale as when we went out there."

  "True. If your super regenerative skin got this bad, I'd hate to see what would have happened if you were a human."

  "Is it that bad?" Isidore asks. "It feels pretty bad."

  "Let's just hope you don't have to leave this building again. I think if I have to whip you, you'll just die."

  "Oh, perfect. I wasn't even thinking about that."

  "Maybe I can tell them I punished you by making stand out in the sun all day."

  As Blice continues to massage his body, Isidore closes his eyes and rests his chin on his arms. "Blice?"

  "What's up?"

  "What's the point of doing this?" Isidore asks as he traces the pattern on the blanket with his finger.

  "So that you won't be in so much pain. It's supposed to help."

  "Does it really matter if I'm in pain? In a week, I'll be dead. Who cares? I think I can deal with a little discomfort until then."

  "Don't talk like that, Niko." Blice says.

  Fine. Then he'll change the subject. "So you don't want to adopt Katarina anymore?"

  Blice rubs the aloe vera gel on Isidore's arms. "I'm not discussing this right now. Just relax and clear your mind while I do this. Don't think about everything."

  "When
I find out that I have a week to live, it kind of weighs heavily on my mind. Not only that, but I just lost the only woman I've ever loved."

  "I know." Blice says. "I loved Clara too."

  "So did Byron, apparently."

  "He told you?"

  "I never thought it would be him." Isidore says as the cooling sensation tingles in contrast with the warmth of Blice's hands. "I thought that he was better than that."

  "So did everyone else. I bet he's crushed, though. He wanted to be a father, you know? He had just accepted that when Leena was pregnant. Then he lost that one. Now he's lost another baby."

  "Do you think he'd be a good father?"

  "I know he would." Blice says.

  Then it's decided. After Blice finishes this, Isidore is going to have a talk with Byron. Maybe they can come to some sort of agreement. While Isidore is a little hesitant to treat a half android baby as if she was fully an android, he knows that she will benefit from it. Isidore has and he wouldn't trade this unique kind of relationship for the world. What he has with Blice is unlike anything else he's seen.

  The door opens and Kazimir steps inside. "Whoa. Do I need to come back later? What is going on in here?"

  "Not what you think." Blice says.

  "Why is Isidore red?"

  Blice laughs and wipes his hands on his pants. "Sunburn."

  "Dear God, that looks bad." Kazimir says.

  "Byron found him without a shirt on lying down in the Unclaimed Lands. He managed to get past the worst of the radiation before removing his protective suit, so I'm not too worried about that. But yes, he has a bad sunburn and he was hurting so I thought this might help."

  "You needed to speak with me about something?"

  Blice gently pats Isidore's back. "Get dressed and meet me for dinner at five, Niko."

  Isidore sits up and groans with the pain of putting a shirt on. He should add this as another reason to be just a computer. No sunburns. "Don't need me for the meeting?"

  "No. Go check on my Nika, okay?"