The X-Variant (The Guardians Book 1)

by Rosemary Cole

  A soft whoosh announced the arrival of the air train. Sunlight glinted off its metallic surface as it hovered above them. The group went up the gravlift in twos and threes; once they were all aboard, the train moved away.

  Kala announced their destination to the Hub, and the group moved down the aisle, peering around them suspiciously. There were five others aboard; each of them sent greetings aloud or via the Dronet. Like Kala’s group, they were all trying to get to the shelter. The young refugees relaxed a little and sat down, attuning their minds to the Dronet.

  Scientists in the Midwest and the East were discussing the theory that a mutation in the symbionts of those affected had caused their hosts to become violent. They had dubbed the mutant symbiont strain the X-variant. Mutant individuals were called Xin, which in Unathi merely meant X-person.

  Kala learned that when the mutation took hold, the first thing to happen was that the victim’s drones became defunct; that was why the victim blinked off the Dronet. Another person’s drones couldn’t find or recognize the mutant’s drones.

  Kala gasped, thinking of poor Teret. Had he become one of those killers, then?

  The time it took to complete the transformation varied, they learned, but at some point the victim stopped being the person he or she had always been. They lost all of their personality and some of their normal brain function. The worst part, though, was that they became violent and fiercely xenophobic, possessed of a powerful urge to destroy anyone who was other—anyone not like themselves.

  Which meant all surviving normal Unathi.

  Kala shuddered. This was like some strange, dark dream she couldn’t wake from. But if the scientists already understood this much, a solution couldn’t be too far behind. She clung stubbornly to the hope that it could be fixed somehow.

  A sound from behind them snapped her out of her musings. She twisted in her seat to look.

  A woman in the back of the train car had lunged forward and wrapped her arms around the man sitting across from her, pinning his arms. Her teeth were locked deep in the side of his neck; blood streamed down over his tunic.

  Unathi genetic engineering had decreased the sexual dimorphism inherited from humans; women were generally of the same size and strength as men. The attacking Xin had been a normal Unathi a minute ago and so should be an equal match for the man, but he struggled in vain to dislodge her. The panicked expression in his wide eyes filled Kala with a sickening dread.

  She automatically reached out with her drones to beseech the attacker to stop, but she couldn’t sense the woman. But Kala had sensed all five passengers when she had come on board. Could they change that fast? Then she realized that this woman was a sixth passenger. Her drones had already been defunct when the refugees boarded, and Kala’s drones had read her merely as an animal. She hadn’t been looking for that, and it had completely slipped by her. Bad mistake.

  She and her companions got to their feet and edged into the aisle, tearing their eyes away from the gory sight. The man had lost a lot of blood and was weakening quickly. His thrashing became mere twitching, and then he stopped moving altogether.

  There was no way his sym could bring him back from that, Kala thought, her heart constricting.

  The woman stood up, letting her victim tumble to the floor. She hadn’t drunk his blood, but her face and chest were coated with a grotesque mask of red. She turned around, saw them and bared her bloodstained teeth. Then she started toward them.

  Liet gave a shriek of terror and dashed toward the front of the pod, Crisfer and the others right on her heels. They scrambled through the articulated partition into the next pod and charged down the aisle.

  Kala followed, looking back over her shoulder. Why hadn’t the Xin followed them? She knew the answer when the cries of another passenger came to her mind, a woman this time. She wanted to turn and go back, help her somehow, but what could she do?

  Her mind raced. Aside from themselves and the Xin, there had been two passengers in that pod; the other three were in the next pod, back in the stern of the craft. Would the Xin go after those passengers next, or come forward after them?

  The group arrived in the leading pod, which was empty. Crisfer slapped the emergency seal button next to the door, and Kala was relieved to see the sealing mechanism activate.

  Liet checked the Dronet. “We’re almost at Belem,” she said, her voice trembling. “Five minutes.”

  Kala looked back at the partition door. The Xin could come through it any minute. The seal would slow it down, but might not be able to stop it. Would they make it to the landing platform?

  As if in answer to her unspoken question, a loud thud on the door made them all jump. The Xin had chosen to come after them.

  Thankfully, this pod had a debarkation hatch. Its metal cover was locked firmly in place; it would open only after the train had stopped and sensed a landing pad in place below, and a gravlift had been activated to lower passengers to the ground.

  There’s no time, dear heart, Araka said. You have to get off this train right now.

  “What are we going to do?” Mani cried. His hands were clenched together, eyes fixed on the door. There was another loud thud, followed by a cracking sound.

  “We have to jump,” Kala said.

  Mani stared at her disbelievingly, but Crisfer went straight to the debarkation hatch. Kneeling down, he gripped the edge of the round hatch cover in his hands. Sunita and Liet grabbed hold as well, and all three pulled as hard as they could. The hatch cover came loose with a screech of broken metal, and they slid it aside. Fresh, cool air whistled into the pod. Crisfer, poised on the edge of the hole, looked up at Kala.

  “Hold on!” she cried, darting to a window to look for the best place to jump. Araka, how high are we?

  Forty-eight to fifty-three feet, depending on where you land. You should all survive the drop, but it won’t be pleasant.

  At that moment, there was a loud crash as the pod door broke open. They looked back to see the Xin standing in the opening. Blood coated her face, chest and arms; her eyes spilled malevolence. She climbed through the remains of the door, kicking shards away.

  Crisfer stepped into the hole where the hatch cover had been and dropped down through it, disappearing in an instant. Mani and Sunita followed.

  Liet teetered on the edge of the hole, waiting for Kala. “Come on!” she screamed.

  With a howl, the Xin bounded down the aisle just as Kala reached Liet. She grabbed Kala’s hand, and they jumped together.

  The pair plummeted toward the ground, their syms trying to compensate for the sickening sensation in their stomachs. Kala lost her grip on Liet’s hand. She was screaming, but the roar of the wind drowned out the sound. She felt herself beginning to tumble and desperately tried to regain some control, her arms windmilling. Araka did his best to help, maximizing her senses of balance and direction and calming her so that she could think. She needed to stay upright in order to land on her feet, so that her legs would take the brunt of the impact.

  It felt like she had only been falling for a second or two when Araka said, Get ready! The ground rushed up at her and there was a brutal jolt as she hit, the impact slamming through her every fiber like an explosion. She lost consciousness.

  Chapter 3

  Belem Sobran

  August 2616

  Day 2 of X-Crisis

  KALA OPENED HER EYES and squinted into dazzling sun. It was noon, and her caremother was desperately hailing her.

  I’m here, Fawan, she said, struggling to focus.

  Oh, my darling, you’re finally awake. Are you all right?

  I think so. For the moment, yes. How is it there? asked Kala.

  We’re up in the top of that storehouse by the river. They can’t get to us here.

  Kala heard a soft moan somewhere nearby—Liet.

  Fawan, I’ve got to go. I’ll get back to you soon.

  Okay, darling. Please be careful.

  I will. You, too.

  Kala trie
d to sit up, but pain knifed through her feet and legs, and she fell back again with a gasp.

  “Liet, are you all right?”

  “No. I think I’m dying.”

  Kala forced herself to turn over, gritting her teeth. She crawled to Liet and looked her over. A large gash on her torso was starting to close up, and the broken bones in her feet and legs were already healing. “You’re not going to die. Your sym is fixing you up right now.”

  “No, I’m going to die. I can feel it. Hey—you know I love you, right?” Liet whispered, tears squeezing from behind her closed eyelids. Her hand fumbled for Kala’s.

  “I know you do, sweetness. Shhh. Relax, let your sym do its work.”

  “Listen to me—just in case I don’t make it. I know sometimes I don’t show it, but you’re everything to me, Kala. If we make it through this, I want us to be together always.”

  Kala cradled Liet’s head in one arm and kissed her forehead gently. “I know you love me, and I love you too, very much. I promise we’ll be together, always. Now go to sleep, let yourself heal.”

  Liet smiled weakly and her eyes fluttered closed, her body relaxing.

  Kala turned her attention to the others. They lay where they had fallen from the sky, scattered like so many autumn leaves, in various states of consciousness as their syms worked to repair them.

  Araka, am I fixed already?

  Of course.

  How come I’m fixed before they are? she asked.

  You weren’t hurt as badly as they were. I was able to harden your feet and lower legs as you hit.

  Why didn’t their syms do that for them?

  Because it’s me, dear heart. I’m better.

  Why?

  I’m afraid I can’t help you with that question.

  Kala sighed. She rested for a while longer and then stood up. It hurt, but the pain was tolerable. She walked around, stretching and working out the soreness.

  They had landed on a wide, flat-topped hill. A walkway threaded around it and carried on in the direction of Belem. There were no buildings or homes nearby, and her drones found no one in the area except for them. No creatures, either, except for the small ones who belonged here.

  Aching and sore, she struggled to stay awake throughout the afternoon, until Crisfer woke and could take over watching with his drones.

  Now, dear one, lie down, close your eyes and let me finish restoring you, her sym said.

  She did.

  Liet’s Journal

  August 2616

  Day 3 of X-Crisis

  I’ve decided to start this journal in case anything happens to me. The way things are going, it’ll be some kind of miracle if I see the end of this year. I’m storing it in a virtual file in the Hub that’s going to be strictly confidential—user’s eyes only, plus anyone I designate. So far it’s just me.

  Let’s see, where to begin? Oh, yeah—I almost died. When I woke up after that jump and realized I was still alive, I was so relieved that I didn’t even care much about the pain. It meant I had a chance to tell Kala how I really felt about her. She probably already knew, but I’ve never actually said it out loud.

  Right after I told her, I must have passed out again, because I woke up with my head in Kala’s lap, looking at tree limbs swaying against the night sky.

  She said, “Hi, sweetness. Lie still, you’re not completely healed yet.”

  I nodded and tried to smile. Believe me, I wasn’t planning on jumping up to gather firewood or anything. From my left, I heard sobbing. I turned my head and saw Sunita in Mani’s arms, her face buried in his shoulder. Her injuries from the Xin on the train were mostly healed, with only long red lines marking the worst gouges in her legs.

  Mani looked at me sorrowfully and said, “Her careparents are gone.”

  My heart skipped a beat, and I reached out on the Dronet to check on my own carefather. Jaen was alive, thank the Oneness. I checked on Fawan, Marin and the baby as well, even though Kala was probably monitoring them. They were okay too, but for how long? And who would be next?

  I knew from my sym that I’d been out for two days and during that time, the Xin crisis had only gotten worse. Everywhere, Unathi were turning into Xin and killing other Unathi.

  Why was this happening? When would it stop?

  The moon had always looked warm and friendly to me, like the face of an old friend, but tonight it seemed cold and uncaring. Pitiless. The stars glittered like ice. For the first time I’d ever known, the world seemed a terrible place.

  I wondered how we would make it to the shelter. It was only a mile or so away, but it might as well have been hundreds. The single shred of hope was that the Xin couldn’t sense us, according to reports from the Dronet. Our own drones, on the other hand, could tell us that a living creature of some kind was there. That meant we had a slight edge—a chance to hide from them.

  If not for that, we’d all be dead.

  I nervously swept the area with my drones, dreading that strange, blank sensation of encountering a Xin.

  “Don’t worry, sweetness,” Kala told me. “There’s nothing there. From now on, one of us will always be on drone watch.”

  Feeling better, I lay back and closed my eyes.

  Kala didn’t much care for staying out in the open, even with the trees sheltering them, but Liet wasn’t strong enough to travel yet. They decided to give her one more day of rest and leave when night came. The darkness would present no obstacle to their genetically enhanced eyesight. Maybe, if they were lucky, the Xin had lost their night vision when they mutated.

  Near sunset, Kala attuned to the Dronet. Those who weren’t dead or mutants were in shelters by now. The Xin couldn’t use their drones to sense people, so they couldn’t sniff out these shelters, but the survivors had to come out to look for supplies. The Xin had learned to watch for this in order to pinpoint a shelter, and then would group together to mount an attack. Kala’s stomach turned over at this information. How safe would it be at the Belem shelter?

  Araka detected her anxiety and did what he could to calm her. Everything’s going to be all right, dear one, he said. You need to trust in me and in your exceptional abilities. With my help, you’re going to get yourself and your companions through this.

  When it was fully dark, the band of refugees got up and began the trek to the shelter. Guided unerringly by their drones, they made straight for it, crossing through woods, fields, lawns and gardens. Walls and fences were unknown in Unathi culture, so there were no obstacles to their progress.

  A foul stench drifted to them on the breeze, and they began to cough and gag. Kala spotted something off to the side of the walkway they were on, and stopped to look. The mangled bodies of several Unathi lay on the ground. One man’s abdomen had been torn open, pale viscera spilling out into a tangled heap.

  “Oh, no, no,” moaned Sunita. She lurched away, her hands clapped over her mouth, then bent over and was sick.

  As they walked on, they saw corpses lying across walkways and scattered in gardens like macabre ornaments.

  Sickened and grieving, they pushed on toward the shelter, one of them on drone watch, the rest frequently checking in with their loved ones. Presently the tops of buildings came into view, rising up into the dark just beyond a low ridge.

  “That’s it,” Kala said. “We’re here.”

  Their drones warned them of large moving creatures ahead. Kala and Crisfer edged up to the top of the ridge and peered over it. Several Xin, their backs to the refugees, were working their way down a grassy slope that leveled out near a cluster of buildings. In an open square, Xin milled around like ants. The shelter was in a building on the opposite side of the square. As they watched, the Xin on the hillside joined the others in the square.

  Kala and Crisfer backed away quietly and the refugees hurried back the way they had come, taking a halting, meandering route to avoid wandering Xin.

  “What were they all doing back there?” Mani wondered aloud.

  “Only the O
neness knows,” Crisfer said. “It can’t be good, though.”

  They entered a dark strip of woods surrounding the sobran, planning to make their way around in a wide circle and try to approach the shelter from the other side.

  Crisfer hissed a warning just as Kala’s drones picked up a large creature drifting through the woods about a quarter mile away from them. The Xin, if that’s what it was, didn’t act as if it was aware of their presence.

  “Let’s hurry it up,” Kala suggested to the others, and they picked up their pace. Maybe it really was an animal this time, but Kala kept didn’t want to take any chances. She kept her drones on it as they hurried through the shadowy woods, dead leaves crackling under their feet.

  The creature abruptly changed direction and veered toward them, moving fast.

  “Run!” shouted Crisfer. “Everybody, move!”

  They took off, zig-zagging through the trees. Kala risked a look back. With horror, she saw a man—the Xin—closing in on Mani, who had been bringing up the rear. She stopped abruptly and ran back, the others following. They shouted and waved their arms, hoping to distract the Xin, but he ignored them, fixated on the boy.

  “Faster, Mani, faster!” Liet screamed.

  Mani fairly flew, catapulting himself off trees and jumping over bushes, but the Xin gained on him steadily. The boy reached the rest of the group and plowed right through their midst, his eyes wild. The refugees scattered as the Xin charged through after him. They watched helplessly as he closed the remaining distance and then leaped, tackling Mani to the ground.

  “No!” cried Kala as the Xin buried his teeth in the back of Mani’s neck.

  Stop! Get off me! Mani screamed on the Dronet. They heard an awful sound of bones cracking, and he went limp and silent. The Xin lay full length upon him, grinding his jaws deeper into the boy’s neck.

  “Let’s go, come on,” Crisfer snapped. He darted off, blinking away tears, and the others followed. They ran for as long as they could, breaking into different directions to confuse the Xin, then coming back together. Later, when they were sure they’d lost him, they met up in a meadow.