by C. M. Owens
“A full blood in change doesn’t have a hairless body or savage attributes,” a man objects.
“Neither does a hybrid,” one of ours scoffs.
“I wasn’t saying they did,” the man snarls.
“Stop fighting,” Hale growls. “This is bigger than any fucking dispute we have. If there is the possibility for humans to change from infected to full blood, then we’re all fucked. Do you think the humans will continue to donate blood for your thirst or our healing needs, or do you think they’ll line up to be turned? Then everyone fucking dies, including them,” Hale snarks.
“We don’t die. We can heal off our own blood,” another hybrid offers, and I see Brazen’s eyes narrow.
“They’re not full bloods,” I say as all the animation and color drain from my face.
“What do you mean?” Hale asks.
“The guy I interrogated… the one we thought was human… he said the true hybrid was coming. What if he was in the changing phase? We have several, what if they do too?”
“That’s impossible. You can’t turn someone into a hybrid,” Brazen murmurs.
“Not our kind of hybrid, but a different kind - a better kind according to him,” I mumble with a hushed tone, as though I’m worried the wind is listening too closely.
“Fuck,” Hale and Brazen gasp in unison, and then I stand to move between them and study the two pictures for myself.
“They were trying to feed. They need blood in the early stages,” I murmur as I tilt my head to side to side. “Those people were taking their pets to eat at a full blood buffet.”
Brazen leans over me to see how I’ve concluded my hypothesis.
“Why do you think that?” he asks when he’s unsuccessful in finding my reasoning.
“This one had just bled a full blood before you threw the knives. This picture was taken from a street camera while he was still inside the wall. This one came when he was outside the wall. They weren’t firing missiles, dropping bombs, or even really attacking. This was a massive feed like what we used to deal with in the early days of the infected,” I say softly while staring at the pictures.
“You’ve been around that long?” Brazen says in playful disbelief, and I roll my eyes while Hale stifles a laugh.
“I don’t think I like the two of you getting along,” I grouse, and then I walk over to pour a drink while Clay processes my theory.
“I think she’s right. Why wouldn’t they feed on a human colony though? Why risk the strength of a full blood colony?”
“My head is fucking killing me at this point,” Hale exasperates. “I need to sleep before I try to theorize any further.”
“There’re more questions than answers at this point,” Brazen huffs.
Clay walks over and pats me on the back, and then I turn to hug him.
“You did good. I forgot how helpful you were in the field,” he whispers.
“That’s because I’ve been on probation for five years,” I grumble.
He laughs lightly, and then shakes his head while pulling back.
“Not probation, just protective detail,” he jokes, and then he steps into one of the oversized homes-on-wheels.
“You ready?” Hale asks softly while kissing my forehead.
“I’m going to study these pictures a while longer. I’ll be in after while,” I say while pulling him down to give him a sweet kiss.
“Don’t be too long,” he sighs, and then he gives me a wink before disappearing inside.
Everyone starts dispersing, and Alex starts to climb onto the same RV as Hale.
“Oh, Ms. Emmerson?” I say mildly, her eyes widening as she turns to face me.
“Yes, Ms. Crush?” she asks with bemusement and a slightly fearful tone.
“My name is Araya, not Area,” I retort, and her lips tighten in regret for her earlier snarky comment.
“Of course. My apologies,” she says with embarrassment, and then she ducks inside to hide her blushing cheeks.
I roll my eyes, and then I slump down against a rock as I begin studying the pictures more.
“I’ll help you,” Brazen murmurs as he sits down beside me.
“I really don’t know what I’m looking for, so I don’t know how you can help,” I mumble while focusing intently on the ghastly photos from the wall and city cameras.
“No one does. That’s why we’re looking,” he says softly while taking one from my hand.
Alex steps out of the RV to pick up a bag she left behind, and her eyes catch Brazen’s perfect body propped up beside mine. He gives her a half glance, and she winks at him before blushing again for new reasons. She disappears back into the moving house, and I roll my eyes inwardly.
“Do you know Alex?” I murmur curiously, trying to mask my jealously.
He smirks a little, and then he shrugs.
“A little. Not really my type,” he says with a flirty tone.
I stifle a grin, and then I roll my eyes for him to see this time.
“That’s not what I was asking,” I mumble.
“Yes it was. You just didn’t want to be blunt about it because you’re with someone… for now,” he suggestively rattles out.
“Anyways, maybe they need blood from a full blood like you need blood from a human. Maybe that’s why they didn’t attack a human colony instead,” I say to distract him.
“It’s possible, and I can’t believe I’m saying that. It feels like we need to start thinking anything is possible with these people though,” he says with more seriousness. “I never got to tell you how incredible you were during the interrogation. It’s been a while since I got to see you in action. It’s pretty fucking hot, especially when I become a prop,” he smolders, and I have to stifle a smirk again.
“Easy boy. It was scene, not an invitation for more,” I snicker out.
“I think that was just your way of giving into me without making Hale mad,” he seduces.
“I think you’re reading too much into this. He was drinking blood too close to a human’s vein for him to be seduced by the real deal. It was apparent he thought I was hot, and he was pissed that he did. I just used it against him,” I say in explanation, even though it was pretty fucking hot. “I sure as hell wasn’t going to touch him if I didn’t have to. Therefore, you were absolutely necessary.”
“If you say so. I’ll be your puppet anytime you need one,” he sighs out with elation, and I laugh a little at his playfulness.
“I’m going to bed,” I huff out. “My eyes are starting to cross now.”
I hand him the pictures as I stand, but he follows my lead when he rises to his feet.
“I’m turning in as well,” he says menacingly.
“I’m not surprised,” I playfully retort, and then he follows me onto the RV.
He walks to the back, and I check the bunks to find Hale on a bottom one. I smile as I climb in beside him, and his sleepy eyes lift long enough to pull me to him in a spooning motion. He kisses my cheek, and then snuggles up next to me. I turn to twist up into his wonderfully heated embrace.
I can feel him smiling against my forehead, and I’m forced to mimic the goofy grin. I gently kiss his exposed collarbone, and he brings my face to his before his eyes fully open.
“I love you,” he whispers so as not to disrupt the others.
“I love you,” I murmur with my girly tone. “I hate Alex,” I add with a more grouchy, irritable tone, and he has to choke back a laugh.
My eyes move over to the bunk on top of the column beside us, and I see her blond hair hanging down as she stirs slightly.
“She would pick the fucking bed beside you,” I grumble.
He smiles as he kisses me harder, and then his eyebrows dance up and down menacingly.
“Is my girl jealous?” he pokes, and I have to stifle an unwelcome grin when I see his gloating face.
“Maybe a little,” I say with the grin I’m unable to suppress.
“Don’t be. She’s not the girl I’ve been in love w
ith for-fucking-ever,” he says with a huge grin, and now my grin hurts my face.
“I was your first love,” I sigh out. “I remember that, and you were mine.”
“You are my only love, baby. There’s never going to be anyone else. She knows that. That’s why she was so snarky about you. Everyone knows it,” he sizzles out, and then suddenly the unoccupied bottom bunk beside us is no longer free.
Brazen’s shirtless body glistens under the dim light overhead, and he plops down on top of the covers while still staring at some of the pictures.
“Of course he takes that bed,” Hale snickers in disbelief.
“Hale?” Brazen says softly.
“Yeah,” Hale huffs.
“This picture has a glimpse of our hooded mystery girl, though all I can see clearly is her eyes. They’re hybrid eyes, sort of,” he murmurs, and Hale sits up to climb over me and take the picture from him.
“We knew she was gifted, so she had to be hybrid,” Hale murmurs distractedly.
“Look closer at her eyes,” Brazen instructs, and Hale pulls out his phone to magnify the image only Brazen’s full blood strength eyes can see without aide.
“Fuck,” he breathes.
“What?” I prompt.
“She’s in her savage form, but she’s controlling it. Her pupils are heavily dilated, but she’s not acting like we do. If she can control it, then why not attack? Why hide?” he ponders aloud.
“What if she’s not controlling it? What if it just works differently than ours? What if she’s like them?” I add.
“If they’ve learned to alter the genetic code to produce gifted hybrids, we’re really fucked,” Brazen inserts.
“We don’t know anything for certain,” Hale sighs out. “We’re still grasping for tidbits, no coherency in the small bit of information we have, and I hope we’re giving them far too much credit. Let’s sleep on it, and we’ll talk to Clay in the morning.”
He climbs back over to the other side of me so that his back can face the darkly tinted glass. He always sleeps with his back to the window, and I’ve always loved his overly compulsive need for it.
His arms wrap me up, and then his head nestles against the back of mine before he kisses it softly. I look up to see Brazen wink at me before turning over, and I take a deep breath before closing my eyes.
Well, this isn’t awkward at all.
I scream in agony as they stick the cables to the rods that have been forced into my body. The excruciating pain of the electricity violently contorting my body is enough to leave anyone screaming for death to come. My hands rattle the chains binding them, and the cold floor beneath my feet provides a wet, slippery surface to give the electricity even more depth. Lights shatter as they overload the system, the currents losing their torturing hold on me, and I scream for help when I have a second of reprieve. His pale eyes stare into mine, and he smirks as he takes a step closer to shove a new rod into my stomach.
I scream again, and then he forces packaged blood into my mouth so that my body heals around the conducting metal rod to secure it into place.
“Fix the damn box,” he growls to the shadow in the distance.
“Already done, Sir,” a cold voice answers.
“Let’s see how much this bitch can take before she gives us her savage,” he snarls out, and then he snaps a fresh cable to my new rod.
He smirks as he takes the lever in his hand, and the pain surges through me as the overwhelming pain of the vicious currents surges through me, trying to rip me apart. I pray for death, but I’m left with silence as an answer. I plead for mercy only to receive more torture, and the laughs of the vicious mouths continue to taunt me as they revel in my torment.
“Get another rod,” he orders.
“Hale!” I scream out.
My body jolts forward, and my head slams into the bunk above me again. I gasp for air, watching the shadows of the night still gripping my mind turn into the monsters from my dream. I scream as I try to dust the invisible volts of electricity off my body, and Hale’s arms wrap around me to pull me out of the bed. I convulse violently as the shocking waves continue to haunt me, and all I can see is the spotlight shining on the scorpion shredding a bird. My hands scour my body to find the rods that were just protruding from it, but they’re not there anymore.
Where are they? I can feel them. I know they’re here.
“It’s okay, baby. It’s okay,” Hale coos.
Brazen swishes over as a bump in the road sends me falling into his arms. His hands stroke my hair as he pulls me into his chest. His breaths are slow as they try to steady my ragged ones. His cool touch soothes the demons within as he protects me from my nightmares.
“Araya, you’re in an RV, not the prison cell. You’re not chained up, you’re not being tortured, and no one can hurt you,” he says in mantra.
He always explains where I am and tells me I’m safe when I wake from a night terror. I stare blankly into his trembling eyes, and he looks up momentarily to meet the eyes behind me before retuning his gaze to me.
“I’ll go get you something to drink,” he murmurs softly while staring into my terrified eyes.
His cool, soft lips stroke my forehead as they have so many times before he relinquishes his hold on me. Hale’s arms clutch me to him so that I don’t go falling forward anymore.
“Talk to me, baby,” he gently urges.
I’m too numb to talk though. I still feel panicked, and I’m just waiting on the next burst of the violent energy to attack.
“She won’t talk for at least twenty to thirty minutes after an episode that bad,” Brazen answers in my place.
“I’ve never seen one that bad.”
“I’ve seen them worse. She blew out the side of our house once after one far more severe than that. Not to mention the three she destroyed before that. Nothing even vibrated this time. They come in waves. She was probably provoked by the earlier encounter with that symbol.”
“Fuck,” Hale huffs, his arms tightening around my trembling body.
“She said she always screams for me,” he murmurs softly.
“She does,” Brazen huffs out, his eyes closing momentarily. Hale pulls me to be completely in his lap as Brazen continues. “She told me you gave her hope to keep breathing. They forced her to drink blood daily, and they denied her any other drink or food, trying to force her to be a beast. I didn’t understand what that meant at the time, and she never elaborated. She said she knew you would come, and she kept breathing because she didn’t want you to find her dead.”
Hale’s grip tightens on me again, and then I snuggle into his embrace.
“She’s responding sooner than normal. That’s a good sign,” Brazen says, noticing my reaction to Hale’s embrace.
He forces a straw into my mouth, the plastic scratching against my dry, now cracked lips.
“Please drink this. It’ll help.”
I can’t drink though. My mouth is on fire just like always, but I’d rather feel the burn than taste anything right now. It will feel too much like the blood they force fed me to keep me healed.
“Please drink baby,” Hale coos. “Please talk to me.”
I’m frozen stiff. I’m terrified this is the dream and the reality is the nightmare I just jarred out of. So many times I dreamt I was in Hale’s arms only to wake up to thousands of volts of electricity surging through me with merciless force.
Hale sighs when I refuse to respond or react, and Brazen comes over to kneel in front of me.
“Her eyes are very weak. She may need blood to recover from this one.”
“No,” I cry out, and then my body starts convulsing violently once again.
I feel blood running from my mouth after my tongue is sliced by my teeth, and Hale grips me tighter to keep me from doing further damage to myself. The vehicle starts swerving wildly when my gift seeps out.
“Pull the fuck over,” Brazen yells, and I feel the fresh air slapping me in the face as Hale rushes me outside t
o keep me from tearing the vehicle apart.
“Fuck,” Brazen breathes, and I feel liquid oozing into my throat.
“What the fuck happened?” Hale barks.
“It must have been the blood dream. Fuck. I’m sorry, Araya. I’m sorry,” he says so soothingly, and I feel more liquid being forced into my throat as it mingles with the taste of my own blood.
I begin spitting out the liquid along with my blood, and I feel my tongue’s wound closing up as it heals. I gasp for air, and very gradually the numbness subsides to allow my true reality to become clearer.
“Did I hurt anyone?” I whimper while clinging to Hale.
“No, baby. No one was hurt. Please tell me you’re okay,” he coos.
“I’m fine. I’m hungry, but I’m fine,” I murmur while checking my body over.
I finally exhale in relief when I see the rods really aren’t there, and my hand grips my side where one of the many had been forced in. Hale’s hand covers mine, and his eyes stare so pitifully and helplessly into mine.
“I’m sorry baby. I didn’t know how bad they got,” he murmurs so guiltily.
“I never wanted you to know because you would look at me like you are right now.”
Brazen sighs as he drops to the ground in relief, and then he stares at me with the same pitying look.
“I didn’t know it was a blood dream. I’m sorry.”
“How could you have known? I’m okay. Thank you.”
“What’s going on?” Alex mutters with fear etched onto her face.
“Araya has traumatic scars that haunt her in a way you’ll never understand,” Clay inserts as he walks up. “We should get back on the road if you’re okay to travel.”
“I’m fine now,” I grumble in embarrassment, and Hale takes my hand as we make our way back in.
“What happened to her side?” Alex asks Brazen when she takes notice of my hand clinging to it.
“It’s the last rod I removed from my body after it had fused itself to me. It felt like fifteen rounds of uranium being driven in before a bomb exploding inside of me,” I mumble, and she gasps slightly at my very vivid explanation.