Asunder

by Tonnie Johnson

  "Then what the hell are we waiting for?" Michael impatient.

  "For that." She looked above. A small flare danced across the orange sky. "Let's move."

  Chapter Nineteen

  The simple Mediterranean style room was rustic yet comfortable and lavish with dark wood flooring, luxurious over-sized furniture, and rustic wooden ceiling beams. Rich, bold colors of reds and oranges made the bed and accents shine amidst the sea of earthy tones. The Venetian plastered walls and distressed stone texture of the floor made him almost forget that he was in confinement and instead on vacation in some far off Italian villa.

  He sat naked on the bed deep in thought and boredom. He remembered transforming into a creature and he and Hazel.... well he knew what they did... and it was wild and animalistic. When those people walked in on them he lost it, his single thought was protecting his... mate. Hans found them and now he was awake and human again and locked away in this room, even his hateful tattoos were no more, perhaps a side effect of the transformation? He was relieved about that at least.

  The door opened and closed straight away leaving no room for the imprisoned man to escape. His visitor was the bald-headed dark-skinned man he had only seen once in the haze between sleep and awake.

  "Good morning." Xeres sat the tray of food on the dark wood round table. "I take it you are finished banging on the doors? I must say I am quite taken aback by the amount of damage to the metal."

  "Where are we?"

  "The Monolith, a haven for our kind."

  "Why are you keeping me locked up? I recall coming here of my free will before we were knocked out of the sky."

  "You are no prisoner."

  "Could have fooled me." He groaned.

  Xeres sat the bundle of formal clothing on the bed. "You are free to do whatever you want here. The reason we locked you up was because you were untamed."

  "Where's Hazel?" He said waiting until the man turned before getting out of bed and getting dressed.

  "Safe. Safer than you as a matter of fact."

  "Where is she?" Varick stressed his question.

  "Go to your brother. This place is no longer a safe haven."

  "You said she was safe."

  "She is safe. Not you. Your father is preparing her for evac. We're currently under attack. Your brother should be in the lounge downstairs preparing to leave."

  "Why is my father so concerned with whether she leaves safely or not? Last I checked he was my father, not hers." Varick was hardly jealous, his only concern was getting the other man to spill Hazel's location.

  "She holds value for us. Our kind are stronger, faster, and capable of regeneration. However, the side effect of these gifts is the virus destroying our reproductive organs, particularly in women. Thanks to her that is about to change. So, you see, your father will not part with her lightly."

  "Where is she?"

  Xeres sighed though it wasn't born out of frustration or anger. He almost smiled. "West wing. Top floor. His office is the only one there so you won't miss it."

  "Good." Varick didn't bother to button up his suit jacket before heading out the door. He entered what looked like sterilized halls straight out of a sci-fi flick. The lined glass rooms housed various people in different stages of transformation. 'We gotta get outta here.'

  He checked the nearby directory and hit the elevator button to the lounge. He passed the well-dressed men and women leaving the building in a scurry mess until he spotted Steven across the room nestled in the arms of a dark-haired woman.

  "It must be you." She smiled when Varick approached.

  "Why are you still here? I heard this place was attacked?"

  "He wouldn't go without you." She shook the boy awake and when he opened his eyes and saw Varick he flew straight into his arms.

  "Varick! I knew you would come!" He cried.

  "You know I would. Are you okay? Do you know this woman?"

  The woman stood to speak but thought it best to sit back down and remain silent. A man entered the area and paused once he saw Varick and coughed before introducing himself as Steven's father.

  "They say they're my parents." He lowered his eyes, unsure.

  "You don't believe them?"

  "You're my brother! Are they your parents too?"

  Varick shook his head. "Listen. I want you to come with me but, I think that wouldn't be a good idea." Steven protested and Varick allowed him to vent before continuing. "My life will be in danger and I don't want you to get hurt. I—just came to say goodbye, and to tell you that I will see you again, but right now you gotta leave with these people... and I want to say that I'm sorry I didn't look out for you."

  "We have a safe house in Russia." The man spoke up, we plan to go there.

  "Good." Varick released the boy and reluctantly moved away. "I want the address, so I can check up on him."

  "I...I..."

  "No fucking excuses!" Varick snapped. "I want to know where he is, and if I have to track him down myself, then you don't want to be anywhere near me when I do find him."

  "Yes, of course, we wouldn't dream of keeping this from you." The woman spoke up. She pulled out a card and wrote an address on the back.

  "Thanks."

  "Why won't you come?" Steven cried.

  "I have a friend who needs me, please go with them and live." He looked to the woman and man. "Keep him safe." He said taking his leave before changing his mind.

  Varick marched from the lounge shuttling his way by the line of would be party goers leaving the scene. He stopped in front of the blown in wall, debris scattered everywhere, smoking still rising from the metal and stone. 'Fuck, I didn't hear anything.' The wind whipped his jacket about until he removed it and tossed it from the makeshift rafters unable to see when it ever hit the ground.

  Several guards blocked the elevators and stairs, directing the flow of traffic away from the gaping hole which lead to a very long drop.

  'Fuck it.' Varick sighed gripping the twisted metal and hoisting himself up to the outside ledge. He wondered if he would die if he fell, he survived a plane crash, but he would only test that if he absolutely had to. He sprang to the next ledge moving higher and higher before peering into the window and saw nothing before shattering the glass and slipping inside. He nursed the already healing cuts on his arms. The lights flickered off and on before they remained off and the long wide hall remained eerily silent.

  He hurried fast and quiet to the staircase and began his ascent to the top.

  'This has to be it.' Varick looked about the contemporary designed office, waiting room? Whatever, he couldn't tell. But the massive black stone double doors screamed 'I'm an important rich piece of shit.' "Bingo." Varick smirked.

  He approached the door but couldn't find a handle, knob, or anything to use to open the door. 'Everything had to be fucking complicated.' At least he thought until the door cracked open. The older man stood between the doors, blonde hair slicked back, angular features, sharp eyes, pointed nose thin lips smiling down on him. "Son." He said so simple.

  "Are you Reiniger?" He choked the question out and hated himself for asking such a stupid question. But he didn't hear the answer. That sweet scent wafted from the room to his nose and he tried to push Reiniger aside to get in. The man held him in a vice grip.

  "Let's speak outside."

  "Step aside!"

  Sterile walls and floors, large panes stood between them and hundreds of years’ worth of research and development. Scientists and their assistants flee the rooms to the blearing whir of the alarm. One lab tech tripped and face planted on the ground, the click of the multi-lock system sent a hair-raising shiver down his spine. The ceiling opened and several lined metal tubes appeared and another click emitted a beam of searing rays which spread its cleansing light across the room burning and melting everything in its wake.

  "No!" The lab tech cried before left a steaming pile of smoking bones.

  "They're destroying everything!" Jona cried.

 
"Jonathan!" Michael rushed ahead.

  "How do we stop those things?" Luc asked searching, eager for a solution.

  "Maybe there's an override!" She looked about watching room and after room receive the same cleansing treatment. "On the next floor! I believe a master control center for the labs is there!"

  "Go! I'll help Michael!"

  Jona rushed to the stairs in an inhuman dash to the top.

  Luc checked each room, nothing but burnt equipment, destroyed research, and remains of any poor soul unable to escape.

  "Look! In that room!" Michael bashed against the glass door before shooting it open.

  "Jonathan!" Luc followed rushing by the men and woman floating helplessly sustained in liquid and glass.

  "He's here!" Michael stood in front of the last tube.

  The metal rods descended from the ceiling. 'Hurry Jona!' Luc grabbed at anything that could open the case.

  "Try from the bottom." Michael yelled.

  Luc inspected what looked like a pulse monitor, something all the tubes had that was now silent. He kept his thoughts to himself and pushed at what looked like an opening.

  "Get back!" Michael yelled firing a round into the glass causing it to break and shatter into tiny pieces and mingle with the strange liquid.

  "Hurry Jona!" Luc heard the first click followed by the second and the beams emitted their cleansing light. "Grab him and let's go!" Luc rushed along the available path and Michael found himself blocked before he knew it.

  "C'mon!" He cried, holding his son's body in his arms. "So cold..." he heard Luc shout his name along with something else yet it didn't matter, a part of him believed something would go wrong if he found his son, the universe seemed to play a cosmic joke on him. He held his sleeping boy in his arms focusing his love and attention on him, the light becoming ever more blinding. And just as fast as the lights approached, they vanished in a burst of light.

  "Michael!" Luc called to him and rushed back inside helping he and Jonathan to safety.

  "Holy shit!" Michael coughed, the smell of burnt plastic and god knows what else inside stung his nose. He laid Jonathan down and felt for a pulse which he couldn't feel. "Don't do this to me." He breathed afraid and began work on CPR right away. Luc tilted his head and began mouth to mouth while Michael pumped. They each worked on him over and over again, each pump on his diaphragm and every breath given more vigorous than the last. Luc's phone rang but he couldn't answer it now. "Come on!" Luc breathed once again placing his lips on his again and again until a stream of slimy spittle flew into his face. Jonathan coughed and sputtered and sucked in a deep vast amount of air.

  Michael laughed and hot tears poured down his angular cheeks. He grabbed his son, his pride and joy and held him close. "Thank you, God!"

  Luc wiped his mouth of the strange smelling substance and pulled out his phone. "I'm sorry, I have to get this, are you okay, Jonathan?"

  The boy nodded ragged from his ordeal.

  "I'm getting him out of here right now. Come with me." Michael pleaded.

  "You know what it's like. I have to save Hazel now--" He coughed hard bringing up blood and spit.

  Michael drew back hovering over his son. "You're infected!"

  "I can't be." He tried to protest though the dry and soreness of his throat said otherwise. He looked to Jonathan. "He's infected!" The realization washed over him like a blanket of doom. "He infected me?"

  "My son is fine!" Michael glared at his friend and before Luc knew it he was staring down the barrel of a high-powered rifle.

  He reached for his gun but was too late on the draw, his hand resting on its grip.

  "I'm taking my son out of here. Don't try to stop me." Michael reached for his son, a frail looking waif who was naked as the day he was born. He lifted him into his arms and ran for the exit.

  Luc stood alone, his head now aching something terrible; struck fearful by what this could mean. 'Jonathan is infected and now I am too. Is this a different form of the virus?' His mind filled to the brim with one question after the next. He looked on his phone.

  Jona: Headed to top floor, west wing. Hazel is here!

  He hauled ass toward the stairs, now in a race against time and the unexpected. If he would become one of those creatures, then he would at least make sure his sister was alive and recovered beforehand. He didn't know what fate lies in store for Michael and Jonathan but Michael made it clear it was no longer his concern.

  He reached the large double doors and a strange tall dark-skinned man who stood like royalty nearby. But what troubled him the most was no sign of Jona. He coughed and wiped the blood from his mouth and raised his gun ready to fire. He heard the shuttling of feet on the other side and what sounded like a fight inside.

  "I don't know who the fuck you are, but get the hell out of my way!"

  "Showing signs already." Xeres eyed inquisitively. "Remarkable what modern science can do."

  Luc fired a round hitting the wall behind him but it only illicit a chuckle. "Lucifer Dantes, it's over. You're by our latest batch of Subject Zero, turn rate is 100% every single time."

  "Then you don't want to fucking be here when I turn!"

  The man held up two syringes full of light blue liquid. "You don't have to turn. Besides, I still need you."

  "Do I know you?"

  "Yes, and no. You can call me your boss, your real boss. Not Quinn."

  "You're one of them?!" Luc gasped hating the wheeze left behind.

  "This is something we can discuss later once you and Six are reunited in person."

  "Where is she?!"

  Xeres leaves the vials on the small table nearby. "Alive and safe, unlike you. This virus works faster than ever before, I'd say you got an hour before we see what you could turn into. If lucky Eurlian, if not, something else entirely but you can stop it, cure yourself."

  "How?" Luc perked up and hated himself for allowing his desperation to show.

  "One vial will weaken Reiniger enough to kill him and the other will cure you."

  "How do I know---"

  "You can't. Life is all about chances and remember I need you still."

  "Who are you?"

  "You want to play twenty questions with me? Or save your family?" He walked away before Luc could register the movement.

  Luc snatched the vials from the desk and rushed inside weapon drawn on Reiniger who stood over Varick's bloodied body with Jona at his side. Not at all hurt save for a scar or two which were almost healed.

  "Don't shoot!" Jona yelled. "Reiniger knows where our son is! He's alive!"

  Luc spotted Hazel in the containment glass and without a thought he fires into the glass breaking it to pieces. Hazel rushed to Varick's side helping him up.

  "Luc! Thank you."

  "No!" Jona yelled. "Luc, we need her!"

  "Jona, what are you doing?" Luc cried

  "Luc..." Hazel gasped as she stared into his severe blood shot eyes.

  "Looks like you've encountered Subject Zero." Reiniger smirked. "Kill him." He looked to Jona.

  "No!" Jona protested. "What is this Subject Zero? What about the airborne virus?!"

  "There is an airborne virus, just not what you think."

  "Liar!" Jona swiped at him only for the blonde to leap away without much effort.

  "Do I have to teach you a lesson like I did my unruly bastard?"

  Luc dropped to his knees unable to stand on shaky legs.

  "Luc!" Hazel ran to him only for Jona to block the way, kneeling by his side, holding him in her arms.

  "I've never seen eyes like that before" Jona lifted his head gently and noted the silver tint to his iris. "I don't know what you're becoming." She sobbed.

  "It's okay... I think." He reached into his vest and pulled one vial free.

  Reiniger roared and charged hard and fast knocking Jona away and kicking Luc across the floor in what seemed like one swift movement.

  Varick charged slamming his body against the stronger opponent, wrapping his a
rms over half his body from his upper shoulder to under his arm and locking his fingers tight he used the force of his body to slam Reiniger to the floor.

  The glass vial slid across the floor and Hazel rushed to snatch it but Jona was hot on her heels and the two struggled with the vial until Jona fell into a slump.

  "Varick!" Hazel yanked the needle from Jona, less than half the liquid remained inside. She flung the vial to Varick.

  Reiniger stumbled to his feet and Varick slammed the syringe into his neck. "I'm glad I never met you." He raised his fists over the convulsing figure ready to deliver the killing blow.

  "Varick, no!" Hazel yelled, but it was too late.

  The torn heart pulsed in his mighty grip before he crushed it spraying thick hot blood across his face.

  Reiniger let out a small chuckle before falling still, his body transforming into the man he once was.

  "It's done." Varick breathed deep oddly satisfied though he held no personal grudge.

  "Jona." Luc called out to her, his voice weak.

  Hazel's eyes widened at the empty syringe peeking from Reiniger's neck. "Luc! The cure!" She screamed realizing her blunder, that she had tossed the syringe in a desperate attempt to aid Varick and damned Luc in the process. Hazel rushed to his side, his skin was paler than before and he was shaking and sweating.

  Luc didn't acknowledge her; his thoughts were only on the woman he had loved and lost and now was losing again.

  Hazel pulled back full of regret, believing her selfishness were rearing its ugly head once more.

  "Luc, I'm so sorry."

  "I just wanted our fami---." Jona gave out and fell still.

  Luc held her closer than ever, savoring her soft sweet scent. He held her and talked to her about the last eight years, how much he missed her, the dreams he had of her. His regret at not having the chance to say goodbye.

  Hazel and Varick remained at a distance to allow them space and privacy, Hazel drawing into herself and Varick reassuring her that Jona left her with no choice. Then the topic shifted to the still lonely corpse on the floor.