Ava’s comment left it suddenly quiet again. As I considered her request, I glanced over at Trinity, unable to read her expression. I then sighed, glancing back at her. “I can do that…or at least try. Unfortunately, I can’t promise right now, because I might not ‘feel’ like it when it happens. But I will try.” I felt Trinity gently squeeze my hand, and I looked back at her still unable to read her expression. If I had to guess, I’d say she was approving of that small gesture.
Ava replied quietly. “That’s good enough for now.”
We were all quiet again as we kept up a quick pace through the vegetation. Liz’s barrier didn’t just keep out the insects and vegetation, it kept out a lot of the moisture too. We probably would have been drenched already from the dew collecting on the leaves were it not for her. At one point, her shield knocked a large snake off a branch above us. It fell to the ground roughly three and a half feet away from us and slid away.
Just after two hours into the trek I began to feel uneasy, but I wasn’t sure why. I reached out with my sixth sense only to find harmless animals – at least, harmless to me. When the uneasy feeling abruptly turned to a sense of impending doom, I stopped in my tracks causing Zayden and Ava to almost collide with me.
“Wait,” I said urgently.
“What’s wrong?” Trinity whispered, concern in her tone.
I spoke at a normal volume now, rushing my words. “We’re all in danger and I don’t know why.”
Zane quickly turned around, shifting into his werewolf form. “What do you sens–”
I cut him off, just as the sense of imminent death began to peak. I rapidly twisted just as I simultaneously grabbed Trinity’s hand to give her a quick tug before letting go.
“RUN!” I screamed, already bolting – I slammed into Zayden and Ava, wrapping my arms around each of their waists and hoisting them onto my shoulders. Within a matter of seconds, I was running as fast as Zane could keep up.
We all heard it then.
The sound of a missile soaring from the sky.
It was traveling faster than sound though, because the moment we heard it high above was the same moment we heard an explosion on the ground.
Instantly the forest floor beneath us disappeared and I shot my blood out to keep Trinity and Zane inside Liz’s shield. In that same second that we began falling, I shot more of my blood out below us to find something to hold onto. We stabilized, suspended in the air, as a torrentuous flow of debris flew past us, slamming into Liz’s shield as if we were bolting through a hurricane at a thousand miles per hour.
Very rapidly, I began to feel extremely sick and my mind felt uneasy. I quickly lowered us to the new floor a good hundred feet below us and cut off my tentacles of blood that had been holding us up. The blood was immediately in the storm and my uneasiness shifted to feeling like I was freezing. I began breathing heavily, loudly. I realized it was silent now, despite the ongoing explosion outside. Liz’s shield really could block out almost anything harmful, including sound. The noise alone could have harmed us.
They were all shocked, but as I let go of Zayden and Ava, pulling the rest of my blood back inside of me, including what had held Liz in place, Trinity quickly shifted her focus to me. “Jake, what’s wrong?” She said urgently.
I gasped, sinking to my hands and knees. “I had to…get rid of…a lot of my blood. I felt…sick…and it was messing with…my head.”
It had been bright enough to see for just a few seconds, but now it was pitch black again. I sensed Trinity look over at Zane before returning her attention to me. “It might be a nuclear bomb…maybe the radiation…”
Liz abruptly spoke up. “His blood is a part of his mind – that’s probably why it was messing with his head. Even though his body was inside my shield…”
“How do you feel now?” Trinity whispered urgently.
“Freezing…” I shivered unintentionally as if I was illustrating.
“Shit,” Zane said under his breath.
Trinity ignored him. “Do you still feel sick?”
I shook my head. “No, releasing the contaminated blood stopped it. But now I’m really hungry. We need to get out of here.”
Ava abruptly spoke up. “And we have to stick close to Liz. Even once the explosion is over, there will still be radiation – it won’t go away for years.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“Why?” Trinity asked. “You saved all our lives.”
I laughed at that, a humorless sound. “No, Liz saved our lives.”
“It was both of us,” Liz abruptly countered from behind me. “You kept everyone inside my shield.”
“Yeah man,” Zayden added. “Seriously. She’s right.”
I was surprised that even Zayden sounded appreciative. I tried to stand to my feet, only to stumble back down again, breathing heavily. “Well, I guess that solves that mystery. My strength, durability, all of it is tied to how hungry I am. I can barely stand right now.”
“I can carry you,” Trinity reassured me. “And Zane can carry Liz. We’ll all stick close together to make sure no one accidentally gets outside the shield.”
I shook my head. “Trinity, I’m really hungry. My body is begging me to eat, to get warm. And your body is too warm. I might start absorbing your blood without even meaning to.”
“Then what do we do?” Zane asked.
The urge was already strong, but it was getting even stronger. I was freezing, and I wanted – no, needed – to be warm, and I had five perfectly warm bodies right next to me. Their warmth was so inviting it was almost unbearable. For once, I was a danger to them, which meant there was only one option left if I was going to protect myself from them.
“Leave me,” I whispered.
Everyone gasped.
“Dammit Jake!” Trinity exclaimed. “I’m not leaving you!”
I tried to yell back, but I was too weak for it. Instead, I lowered my head to the ground. “Trinity, I might kill you. I might kill all of you. You need to leave now. I can live with dying, but I can’t live with killing any of you.”
“No!” Liz and Trinity both said at the same time. Liz abruptly threw herself on me and my blood shot out of my back into her chest.
“Get her off me!” I screamed. Trinity and Zane quickly did, but my blood came with her.
Trinity whispered urgently. “Jake, pull your blood out.”
I concentrated as hard as could, forcing myself away from the warmth that was desperately trying to flood inside me. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Please tell me she’s okay.”
Liz was gasping, but I realized it was more in surprise than pain when she answered me in a quiet voice. “I’m alright. You didn’t hurt me that badly.”
“But I promised!” I was to the point of tears now. “I promised I wouldn’t hurt you. I’m so sorry.”
Everyone was quiet for a few minutes as it sunk in that they were either going to have to leave me or risk dying themselves. I was crying now, surprised I hadn’t snapped like normal. But I was glad I hadn’t, because I wasn’t sure my emotionless self would be so considerate of them.
“Please…” I whispered one last time. “I don’t want to hurt any of you…just leave me…”
Unexpectedly, Trinity threw herself on me in a tight embrace, my blood shot out of my back again but there was no one strong enough to remove her. Her lips were at my ear. “I love you Jake. Just try not to take all of it. I can heal if you can find me something large to kill.”
“No! Get off! Stop!” I felt Zane trying to remove her, and I think Zayden tried helping, but no one was as strong as she was – not even close. The warmth in her body began flowing into me like a black hole was sucking it in, and with it my strength began coming back. Zane was finally able to pull her off when she went unconscious.
She fell to my side, lifeless…
I snapped.
My crying stopped, and it was suddenly perfectly silent.
I slowly sat up, looking at Trinity�
�s limp body next to me. She was still alive, but just barely. We had to find something, or someone, for her to kill as quickly as possible. I slowly reached out to her, but Zane’s warning stopped me.
“Jake!” He said in a firm voice.
I paused, without looking at him. In a cold, empty voice, I replied. “I’ve had enough to eat for now. None of you are in danger anymore, but Trinity is. We need to find someone for her to kill as fast as possible.”
“Jake,” Ava whispered, fear in her voice.
I looked up at her with dead eyes. “Cupcake, Ava. Cupcake. It’s a stupid code word.”
She didn’t seem offended. Instead she just silently nodded. I continued reaching out towards Trinity and scooped her limp body in my arms. I then stood up with renewed strength, only feeling slightly chilly now. I looked over at Zane, nodding my head towards Liz. My words came out slowly, controlled. “Come on. Let’s hurry.”
He quickly helped Liz climb on his back and we began walking rapidly through the wasteland. The dust had cleared some. And, with no trees above us anymore, the moon and stars provided plenty of light for everyone to see even without night-vision goggles. At the very least, I could look down and actually see Trinity’s unconscious face. Her peaceful expression warmed my heart in a way that threatened to bring my emotions back, but the fear that she might die because of me kept them at bay.
My sixth sense was on high alert for anything, anything, that Trinity could kill. At this point, I didn’t care who or what it was. I couldn’t tolerate her dying on my behalf.
Zane unexpectedly spoke up, startling me slightly. “I’ve called out to a wild boar and a leopard to come be a sacrifice for her, but they’ve collapsed from the radiation. If we can just get to one of them, Trinity might be able to use their life before they die.”
“Closest one?” I demanded.
He pointed slightly towards our right, and we all changed course together. Everyone was silent while we walked, and it was still almost another thirty minutes before we saw a pile of hair from a slowly dying boar. I was impressed Zane could reach out to animals so far away. Granted, at our speed it had probably only been a little over a mile.
The heaving boar was almost bigger than Liz, so I hoped it would be enough for Trinity to recover. Just as we got about seventy feet away, I suddenly felt the presence of the boar begin to become distorted before it’s life vanished completely.
Trinity didn’t wake up though. It wasn’t enough. I looked up at Zane. “Where’s the leopard? She’s already killed the boar.”
Zane briefly looked at me in surprise, before pointing again. “The leopard is too far away now, but I’ve managed to get a Komodo dragon to come. It’s more difficult to get reptiles to obey.”
I nodded, not really caring about the extra details. When we found it about fifteen minutes later, it was still slowly crawling towards us. Part of me wanted to thank these creatures for sacrificing themselves for my love, but they all probably would have died anyway. Those who survived a nuclear bomb typically wouldn’t live longer than a day or two. The lingering radiation would kill them. If anything, Trinity taking their lives was a mercy – a release from the suffering before their inevitable death.
And really, if I wanted to thank these creatures, then I needed to find out who had dropped the bomb and get revenge on their behalf.
Trinity sucked the life out of the massive lizard, and we all continued on towards the jungle in the distance. As we neared the edge of the devastation, it became clear that rather than creating a crater with cliff-like edges, it was more like a smooth rise up towards the forest.
Once we were in the trees, we continued to find animals for Trinity to feed on. It took more than I expected it would, but before long we knew she was fine because the animals stopped dying. However, she didn’t wake up right way. We weren’t sure why, so we focused on just getting as far away as possible, to escape the linger radiation.
We walked all night without stopping. It wasn’t until the sun was beginning to rise, making it light enough to see in the dim forest, that Trinity finally woke up. My emotions flood back the moment her red eyes popped open, and I abruptly pulled her into a kiss. Without hesitation she wrapped her arms around my neck and pushed her lips into mine.
I pulled away briefly so I could talk, resting my forehead against hers. “Thank you,” I whispered. “For saving my life…and for not dying…”
Her red eyes were intense as she stared into mine from an inch away. “I love you Jake. And I’ve finally decided what you decided on day one – that I’d die to protect you. Without a doubt.”
Chapter 21: Choice
We had no idea how far we needed to trek away from ground zero to avoid suffering from radiation poisoning the moment we left Liz’s protection, but after walking all night we decided to take a break. The sun was up now, just high enough to allow some light to stream through the thick canopy above. But it was still fairly dark, so we collected some wood as a group and Zayden lit a small campfire. At this point, we weren’t worried about the mission, which was technically accomplished by the bomb, nor were we concerned with being stealthy.
I sat with Trinity in my lap, with Liz leaning against my arm, wedged between me and Zane. Both Ava and Zayden sat slightly in front of us, but angled so that we were in a tight half-circle around the small fire. The main purpose of the fire wasn’t for warmth or cooking, instead it was just to provide light. Liz’s shield kept the heat away at her will anyway. Really, watching the flames helped us all relax a little. It wasn’t really a logical decision. It was just something Ava mentioned and we all agreed to without hesitation.
We were all quiet, trying not to think about how close we had all come to death. It really was thanks to Liz that we were all alive – not that I was denying that I had played a major role too. But apparently, even though I was highly durable when well-fed, radiation wasn’t something I could keep out of my body. I didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if Liz wasn’t there. The only team members who might have survived would have been Trinity and Ava. And that was a big might. Ava had no idea how radiation affected her shadow form, and just because Zayden was like the sun didn’t mean he was radioactive or capable of surviving a nuclear bomb. Heat and fire were one thing – radiation was a whole other level.
Finally, after a while, I decided to bring up what was on my mind. The biggest question was whether or not his was a setup by the General. Did he want us all dead? Or was another player at work? I decided to ask what everyone thought.
“Okay guys,” I finally said, “I think we need to consider the options we have before us.”
Liz looked up at me, but everyone else kept their eyes trained on the fire. Likely, they had been considering the same topic, but I had just been the first one brave enough to bring it up. I continued. “First of all, I think it’s obvious that the best-case scenario here is that a third party was targeting the syndicate. However, that would then make me wonder how they managed to pull off a nuclear strike. Obviously, we were being sabotaged from the beginning. Was it the same group? Did they know Liz could protect us from the explosion? And if that’s true, how did they even know the nature of Liz’s ability? Her codename may be the most revealing of all of ours, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they would know how to kill her.”
I sighed, pausing briefly as I considered my next words. “And the worst-case scenario is that this is a repeat of the other day – where the General is actually our enemy…” I took a deep breath. “If that is true, then I think we need to consider the implications of that fact. For all they know, we’re dead right now. They have no way of tracking us as far as I’m aware, which means this would be our only chance to leave them behind forever.” I then quickly clarified, not wanting them to think I was suggesting escape lightly. “The only reason I’m bringing that up is because if the General wants us dead, then that’s our only hope of survival. If we contact him to reveal we are alive, then we’ve missed o
ur chance to save ourselves.”
Still, no one said anything, staring into the flickering flames. I decided to stop there for awhile to let that sink in. I didn’t know where everyone would side on the situation, especially since they had been conditioned for so long by the military, but I hoped we would end up agreeing on whatever path we chose.
Trinity finally spoke up, looking at me as she did. I tightened my embrace on her. “If I’m being honest Jake, I’d love to have a normal life with you – to leave all this behind. However, I don’t think this was the General’s doing. His reaction when we told him we almost died earlier seemed consistent with someone who wasn’t aware of the sabotage. And also…” She paused to look at the fire again. “No matter how I think about it, I can’t think of a strategic or logical reason why he would want all of us dead.”
Zane spoke up then, surprising us all with what he had to say. “We also need to consider the possibility that this is higher up than that. Maybe the General is ignorant of the sabotage, but ultimately he’s just another gear in a massive machine. It might be the ones closer to the top who have decided to dispose of us.”
“But why?” Ava asked abruptly. “Why would they want to get rid of us? We do a good job, and for the most part we obey orders to the letter.”
Zane shrugged. “Unfortunately, we have no idea what their motivations might be.”
“So then…” I wondered. “Do we try to make contact? Or do we risk trying to disappear?”
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