by Jade White
“However, he is not like the rest of you. I am therefore granting amnesty to all of our werebeing brothers and sisters, even those who have had a history of crimes against the state.
“Your presence on this momentous day will prove your loyalty to your country and set you apart from the rebels that threaten to destroy our fragile peace. You are hereby requested to present yourselves at the Freedom Plaza, within twenty-four hours, to be re-registered and given a full pardon. Your safety and comfort is our utmost priority.”
His face was empathetic, a shift in his normally stoic face. His voice seemed pleading, and it was a hit with the viewers. Ryker Locklear had bit on the hand that fed him. He was a boy who had been plucked from obscurity; he had been given riches and fame after the WereGames, and yet, it wasn’t enough. He’d had to kidnap someone from a sanatorium as hostage. He was a loose cannon; he was an animal that had to be put down.
People had reacted immediately, publicly condemning the young man for his acts, and yet no one bothered to ask what he had truly done. The ones who kept mum knew that it was all a ruse. The boy had wanted to be free of Caledon, but of course, Caledon reigned supreme. Even Caledon knew this, and he reveled in their fear.
The amnesty was another ruse; it was all he needed to bring a mass of werebeings together, to weed them out properly once and for all. He should have done this earlier, he thought, but he avoided mass bloodshed. There were an estimated 500,000 werebeings in the country that he needed to control or kill.
His televised appearance ended after a few seconds, thanking the citizens for their vigilance and belief in the government he helmed. The lights dimmed out in his office, and normal lights flooded the room once more. There was the scurry of a few people in the room, busy clearing the stations. Caledon calmly stood up from his desk, and he headed for a large window, overlooking the mansion’s grounds.
“President Caledon,” JJ approached his father. Behind JJ was Stephen, looking every bit a military officer in his new uniform and badges earned from losing his arm.
Caledon looked at the expanse of the city in front of him. “Everyone except General Caledon and Lt. Caledon, leave us for a moment.”
Everyone else dropped what they were doing, leaving father and sons alone in the room. Caledon turned to face them; his eyes had gone cold, a stark contrast to his imploring ones earlier. He eyed Stephen, who stepped up to him. “I see you have adjusted well to your new arm. How are you feeling?” he asked without emotion.
“Fine,” Stephen replied stiffly. He wasn’t. He had just woken up thirty-six hours ago from a drug-induced sleep to keep his violent tendencies at bay. He hadn’t recalled that he had tried to hurt Jeanne Callaway at all, until JJ had unceremoniously informed him of his lapse.
“Just because you showed some flaws doesn’t mean you can escape the impending marriage between you and Miss Callaway,” the president began.
“You think she’d still want to marry me after nearly killing her?” Stephen was aghast. He hadn’t intended to hurt her at all. Sure, he didn’t love her; sure, he could learn to live with her, but he had almost killed her. It was something that went beyond his principles. “You think her parents still want her to marry me?”
Caledon’s lips were drawn into a thin line. “This wedding will take place; it was agreed upon between the Callaways and I-”
“But Jeanne and I didn’t agree on it,” Stephen finished. “I lost a damned arm only weeks ago, and you’re thinking about that arrangement already?”
Caledon sighed. “Then you shouldn’t have been so careless as to lose your arm.”
Stephen’s eyes widened, and for a moment, he wanted to kill his own father. He wanted to squeeze the life out of him. “I did what I had to do. I fought for this country, I fought for you, for what you needed.”
“A duty is a duty, as a sworn soldier. You should have known better than to take on a werebear without the presence of your highly trained soldiers,” Caledon told him quietly. He turned to face his eldest son. “Any updates?”
JJ almost bit his lower lip. “A129 slit her throat earlier,” he said in a steady voice.
Caledon’s eyes narrowed. “And? Did she survive?”
JJ nodded. “They came in just in time.”
“That is a very expensive bio-weapon we have there,” Caledon told his eldest son, and it was as if Stephen had never even been in the room. “Make sure we utilize her as best as possible before letting her succeed next time.”
JJ nodded, swallowing the revulsion he felt for the man that was his father. His own child had nearly died, yet only the tests mattered, only the creation of super soldiers mattered, only his power mattered. He was a man of pure evil, JJ thought as he stared at his cold-hearted father. The plans needed to push through, way ahead of schedule…
CHAPTER NINE
Sarah knocked on his door before letting herself in. She saw Ryker had just put on his shirt halfway, and his muscles gleamed under the warm lights.
“Oh, I’m sorry.” She stopped at the door.
Ryker frowned and continued to put on his shirt. She didn’t leave or turn her back at all. He knew she was more than interested to get to know him, only he didn’t feel like it. “What is it?” he finally asked her.
“They’re looking for you.”
“You didn’t need to come all the way here,” he said. “I know the schedule down to a T.”
“In the less than three weeks you’ve been here,” Sarah said appreciatively. “You just might get lost, you know. My father just asked me to help you.”
He nodded, resigning himself to the fact that she was pushing herself toward him too much. “Uh- thanks.”
“Ready to go?” she asked him brightly. “You’ve got fifteen minutes until the meeting starts.”
“Let me just put my boots on,” Ryker said, glad that their small community had an excellent shoe-maker, a werefox at that. The boots were sturdy, made from bison leather and whatever available materials there were. He looked at Sarah’s face and saw the happiness in her eyes, all for the simple fact that they were walking together. She was innocent from the world’s shenanigans, and she knew she was here to survive against the only evil she had known, and that was Caledon.
He stood up from his bed after a minute, towering over the young girl. Ryker was glad his ceiling was eight feet high or it would have been a source of discomfort. The biggest werebeing in the community that he had seen in human form stood at 7 feet and two inches, and there were times he hunched down to avoid pipes and lower ceilings. He was also part of the community’s military offensive, something that made Ryker glad. Why the weretiger had run away was a story he wanted to hear, soon. They walked past other rooms that were closed, and then they walked down a narrow, damp-smelling corridor.
“I’ve been trying to work on the exhaust in this area,” Sarah told him matter-of-factly. “I don’t want people getting sick when it’s going to get colder.”
What month was it? Was it already January? Ryker frowned, knowing he was losing so much time down there while he had no idea what was going on with Alexia. “Colder?”
“As if it wasn’t cold enough, huh?” Sarah continued. “There was a time when half of the people here got sick from influenza. Even the doctors got sick. It was terrible, and me and a handful of engineers worked to modify the air vents and stuff—I got sick too. Can you imagine I was puking and-” She stopped, realizing her story was embarrassing.
Ryker smiled at her. She was the chatty type, but she was sincere. He could see that now. He had been too clouded with his anger and frustration over the recent events that he hadn’t paid attention to the people who were doing their best to help him. Getting Alexia back was a selfish notion, and he had only thought of himself and her, until today.
“Go on,” he told her, and he saw that twinkle in her eye, glad that he was finally warming up to her when she had tried for quite a while now.
“Well, I was inside a vent with three other human
s,” Sarah continued, her cheeks reddening. “And I felt like I wanted to puke my breakfast, but I didn’t want to because the place was super cramped. Well, it was horrible,” she finished lamely, realizing that it wasn’t the best story to tell.
“Well, if you all came out of it alive, then it’s something that isn’t too horrible.”
“They didn’t talk to me for a week,” Sarah admitted. She smiled shyly. “Listen, I know it’s been hard for you the last couple of weeks, adjusting down here, but Leopold really is a good leader. He’s done more than what was expected from him, especially in keeping us together; it wouldn’t hurt if you heeded his advice.”
“I’m heeding his advice,” Ryker told her, knowing this conversation would reach Leopold’s ears soon. “It’s sound advice, and it’ll help me find my friend sooner than expected.”
“Your friend,” she repeated. “Did you love her?”
Ryker was quiet. Why? Did it matter? Sarah was only hurting herself for some reason, and she was bringing up feelings he had tried so hard to control. He was desperate, close to becoming a madman, and his every waking moment and every dream included Alexia somehow. “She mattered to me,” he said simply. Yes, he loved her. He regretted not telling her he did…
Sarah nodded, wishing she mattered to him, no matter how minimal the time and conversation they had spent together. “You’ve met my dad, right?”
Ryker nodded. Sarah’s father was her opposite, but he certainly knew what he was doing in regard to tactics. Listening to the colonel made him nervous, realizing he had been ill-planned with Alexia the whole time. They had survived more on luck than on skill, and it felt like he had taken a crash course on military tactics.
Ryker wasn’t lost; he had memorized the way to the military base. But he let Sarah indulge herself when he saw the happiness she felt when she was with him. It was an uncomfortable feeling for him, and he did his best to ignore it. The last time he had been smothered with this much attention was when he had won the WereGames and people he didn’t know wanted to have their photos taken with him. Even his mere presence had sent them cheering for him.
It was a far cry every time, he thought. First, he had been obscure, then he had become a champion for the games, then he had become a fugitive, but only in secret. It would not take Caledon long before he’d decide that Ryker Locklear was public enemy number one.
As soon as they got to the military base, Sarah bid him goodbye, and Ryker thanked her for the company. Leopold’s face looked troubled as soon as he entered the office.
“What’s the matter?” Ryker asked the genteel leader.
Leopold took a sheet of paper from his desk and held it up against Ryker’s presence. Ryker paled. On the sheet of paper was his face. He was now wanted for treason.
CHAPTER TEN
“They already know I’ve escaped. Everyone will be after me. What makes you think I can even set foot in the capital?” Ryker said, holding onto the paper that had his face on it. “They’re doing this on purpose. They’re baiting me.”
“Good you know. Now, before total panic sets in, what is the best way to go about this concern?” Leopold asked him. “Surely you don’t want to cancel this mission, now do you?”
“Of course not,” Ryker said. “She needs to get out of there.”
“What is so important about her, Ryker?” Leopold asked, clasping his hands in front of him. “Aside from the obvious fact that you clearly have feelings for this young woman.”
“I promised the doctor I’d keep her safe, that I’d get her here,” Ryker said. He didn’t plan on turning Alexia into another experiment here, especially when her freedom and safety was his aim. “I’ve already told you everything I know, and if I knew more, I’d have offered this information way before, just so we’d move faster.”
“Impatience isn’t a virtue, young man.”
“We don’t have time. Soon enough, they’ll find you here, and they’ll kill everyone in this place.”
“I highly doubt it,” Leopold said. “Perhaps in a few years’ time, but this community will have long escaped to safety.”
“You think you can escape from him?” Ryker looked flustered. “Even I can’t, and I’m supposed to be dead already,” he snapped, banging his hand down onto his wanted photo. He didn’t even bother to ask where Leopold could have gotten that news. Had it recently been circulated?
Leopold quickly took the paper away from his desk, just as Sarah’s father came in.
“Sir,” the colonel saluted. “The meeting will begin shortly. In 0100 hours, we leave for retrieval operations.”
Ryker glanced at the watch on the table. It showed they had roughly ten hours before the planned retrieval. He wasn’t completely shut off from the plans, but there were certain discussions where he wasn’t allowed to listen, almost as if he was a child. They just needed the city layout from him. Would Alexia be there? In the city? Would they have kept her there on purpose? So Caledon could keep a close eye on her?
He followed the two older men as they walked down another dark hallway, heading for the military section of the underground city. They passed by jets and other military-grade vehicles to be transported inside their planes. Ryker saw ten other men in the room, with a holographic map in front of them, a map of the country. One soldier zoomed in to New York, and he saw the city map he had described to them in near perfect detail. How in the hell did they get it to do that?
They immediately got down to business, describing to Leopold and to him the process of their planned succession of air raids on the White House. There was no mention of where Alexia was at all.
“We don’t even know where she is,” Ryker suddenly spoke up. The room quieted. They all stared at him like he was an imbecile, someone who shouldn’t have been in the room in the first place.
“Whatever do you mean, young man?” the colonel asked.
“Do you know? And you just don’t want to tell me?” Ryker asked, his eyes narrowing. “All this time, I’ve been kept out of crucial meetings. I’ve already told you what I know about the capital, and it’s time I should know about where my friend is.”
“Don’t shift, young man,” Leopold said. “I can smell it off of you.”
Ryker shook his head. “I won’t. I just need to know where she is. I have as much stake in this as anyone in this place. I’ve suffered as much as you have; I lost my family and I don’t even remember them, so don’t tell me I don’t have a right to know.”
“Caleb Auberon is correct,” Leopold told the men. “I don’t see why he should be kept in the dark about her.”
The rest of the men mumbled.
“We know she is a few miles upstate. A good hour’s flight away from the capital, near Michigan Lake,” the colonel told him, folding his hands in front of him, as if in prayer. “As for the actual building, we can’t pinpoint it yet. As previously mentioned, we’ll be dropped off far from capital radar and proceed on foot or by vehicle. It’ll take us at least seven hours to trek into the city, a city that will be crawling with soldiers and police, all checking for identification. A nationwide amnesty program has begun, and it already smells of a bloodbath. He plans to clear the country of the rebels via this.”
Ryker no longer bothered to ask him where they got the information. It seemed that the supposed wait of weeks or months for information had become mere hours now. He felt apprehension rise up in him, and all those days of preparation suddenly crashed into him like the avalanche that had separated him from Alexia.
“We have a short window of entry into the capital,” the colonel continued. “Our informant has provided us that window.”
“And you trust his word?” Ryker frowned. “You told me you haven’t even met him. What makes you so sure he won’t surrender us to the amnesty program?”
“We’re taking this chance for you, Ryker,” Leopold said. “I’ve already discussed this with the men present.”
“I don’t want people dead because of this operation,”
Ryker said. “For all we know, my friend’s already dead.”
“She’s alive, that much we know and believe in. And we don’t want you dead because of this, either,” Leopold told him. “Don’t you see, Ryker? You’re our bastion of hope against Caledon’s regime. Your presence means that Caledon will be unstable at some point, and the earlier his regime becomes unstable, the better it will be for everyone. The last Auberon,” Leopold said with relish. “The last of the Auberons.”
Ryker closed his eyes, remembering the paper that Leopold had showed him, one that mentioned “treason.” He had been treacherous already without knowing it; he was the last of his bloodline, and in Caledon’s eyes, it could only mean one thing: he was competition. Despite his age, despite his credentials, an Auberon was an Auberon, and the last Auberon had been a champion for the people. But he was not.
He was in it for himself. He had no semblance to the Auberon legacy, not even a shadow. How could he? He didn’t even remember them. He was only alive because of pure instinct, that wellspring of democracy wasn’t in his soul. He had tried to incorporate the qualities that Leopold had, but he couldn’t find it in himself to. He was an embarrassment to his family’s legacy. Still, Ryker steeled himself for the task he wanted to do. All he wanted was for Alexia to be safe with him.
Ryker opened his eyes and saw everyone looking at him, as if waiting for him to say something crucial to the rescue ops. “I want Caledon dead,” he uttered without hesitation. He saw the glint in Leopold’s eyes, and he saw the rest of the men’s faces glowing with approval.
The president had to die. The president had to be deposed, the way he had deposed Ryker’s family. He had never felt such a consuming hate for anyone before, and it was a hate that made him forget Alexia’s face for a moment.
He took a deep breath, taking a step closer to the table where their plans were. He eyed it carefully, fragmented memories taking over him. He could hear their voices again; he could hear his mother’s. He could remember how desperate she had been to keep him safe, remember how his father had taken bullets to his head- “I want Caledon dead,” he repeated again, knowing he was going to stick to his words, when he couldn’t do the same for Alexia.