Halfblood Heritage

by Rheaume, Laura

  “Probably not for a while,” the man said smoothly, his hands moving slowly at the restraints, his heartbeat giving him away. Something wasn’t right about his answer. Scythe suspected a half-truth.

  “Yeah, why not?”

  “We just started our shift.” That was a lie.

  “How often are the patients checked?”

  “Two stay on the floor all the time for a long shift,” the man told Scythe truthfully.

  “How long is that?”

  “Eight hours, usually.” The truth.

  “When is your shift over?”

  “I just said, we just started,” he lied. “But it doesn’t really matter, because you’ll be caught way before that...as soon as the doctors continue their rounds or someone notices a missing nurse.” Truth.

  “When you don’t leave after your shift, what will happen?”

  “Someone will come looking. Many someones, maybe.” Scythe was surprised to find the man was lying.

  “No, they won’t. Why not?”

  The man paused, startled, “What?”

  “No one will come looking, why not?”

  “When we don’t report, the next shift will check it out,” he lied.

  “Hurry up,” Scythe said as the man finished the second sleeping patient and moved to the Kin who had spoken. “I know you’re lying and, frankly, I’m beginning to get frustrated.” Scythe let a little of the anger loose, his lips peeling back from his teeth in a grimace. He started looking for a good place to shoot the man.

  “Okay, okay, take it easy.” The guard was beginning to get enticingly scared.

  “Release him or I’ll just...” Each breath began to come faster, and he gave the liar a wild look. “I’ll just do it myself. I don’t need you if you’re not going to be any help to me.”

  The man started working quickly on the ties, releasing the Kin’s hands and chest, “I’m going, alright? Just…don’t panic, okay?”

  “Why won’t they come looking?”

  The man let out a breath he had been holding and then said, resigned, “It’s generally lax around here, since nothing ever happens. They’ll slack off as much as possible until someone comes looking for them.” The truth. He finished untying the last patient.

  The Kin man made an effort to get off the bed and stand. He was obviously weak, but he pushed himself nevertheless. He asked in Kin, “What are you asking him?”

  “I’m trying to figure out how to get out of here.”

  “Ask him how many soldiers are here.”

  Scythe asked the guard, “How many soldiers are between us and our freedom?”

  “Fifty,” he lied.

  Finally, Scythe let himself smile fully, anticipating a release. His body was tense from a build up of aggressive urges. He had never felt anything like it before, but he liked it. A lot. He moved sideways to one of the beds and pulled a pillow from behind a sleeping Kin’s head. “This will muffle the sound enough, I think.”

  “Wait!” The man protested, turning. Scythe rushed him, his heightened strength and speed easily taking the turning, unbalanced man to the floor, despite his larger size. Scythe landed on top of him, the gun pressed against the pillow on his chest, just above his heart.

  “No, I’m done with you. Your shift is up, not just starting, and there are only about half the number of guards...I wanted your uniform, and your help, but now all I want is to smell your steamy blood and to hear your lying heart slow to a stop...” Scythe no longer pretended, even to himself, that he was acting the part. He relished the feeling of what little control he had slipping away. His finger gripped the trigger, pausing only at the smell of fresh urine. He leaned forward, making a show of sniffing the man. “You have something else you’d like to add?”

  “Yes, yes. Oh, god, don’t kill me. I’ll tell you whatever. Please, oh, shit.” The man’s eyes shot from side to side and his heart was beating almost out of control. “You’re right, there are only like twenty of us stationed here. There will be two at the gate to the town and six on patrol outside, two on the entrance to the facility and two more that patrol inside. They should be here any minute. Okay, is this helping?”

  “More,” Scythe urged, using the deep, commanding voice that came from his center. It sent the man into an even higher level of hysteria. Scythe sucked in a breath, drinking up the fear coming off him in waves. He wanted to roll in it, wrap himself up in it; he wanted so much more of it.

  “Our commander could be anywhere, but is probably at the meeting with the docs with one of his aides. They’ll be there for a while, maybe an hour. Oh, god, please, I’m helping you out, right?” When Scythe didn’t respond, he whined, “Okay, okay, so that’s like...um...”

  “Sixteen, including you and your dead friend Derrick.”

  He closed his eyes, panting, “Yeah, and the other guys will be around, maybe in town or whatever...”

  “But two are taking over for you soon, right?”

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s right...”

  “I want out of here. How can I do it?”

  He paused, unsure, “I don’t know.”

  Scythe said, unconcerned, “Okay.” His body tensed.

  “No! Wait! Let me think...”

  Scythe felt himself itching for a death to complete what he had started with the guard. His goal of escaping blurred with an increasingly powerful urge to dominate and then kill. And then to do it again, but faster. He felt impatient with how long it was taking to get what he wanted.

  “Hurry,” his deep voice encouraged.

  “Yeah, right...okay. You’ll need one of the trucks if you’re taking any of the patients with you. Those are in the yard right outside the building. The keys may be inside, or they may be locked up. It depends on who used them last. You’ll need more fighters and firepower to get through the guards at the gate.”

  “Even if you are driving?”

  “Um, well, maybe not. I’m not sure if they’d go for it. I mean...why would I be...”

  “You’ll come up with something, because you want to live so bad.”

  “Yeah, yeah, that’s right.”

  “Okay. Get up and stay quiet.” Despite his words, Scythe made no move to rise. He was fighting with the impulse to kill him right away. The guard, sensing his indecision, held still, terrified. Somehow, Scythe found the strength to rein in the new, powerful side of himself, pushing it back with an assurance that it was only for the moment. It retreated, but only so far, reminding him with a distant buzzing that it wasn’t going anywhere. Finally, he rose smoothly off the man. He waved his gun at the bed. “Get on and strap yourself in.”

  “Right,” the man sagged, weak with relief. He used the bed to pull himself up, climbed onto the bed and started doing the straps. After a moment, he was aided by the Kin man.

  “Gag him and then tie up the nurse.” Scythe told the Kin, striding to the door when the guard was fully immobile. He cracked the door and whispered, “Flame.”

  Her excellent hearing picked up the faint sound easily, “Yes?”

  “One more room.”

  “Yes.”

  Scythe turned to the Kin. “I’m gonna check the other room. Here, take this, but try not to use it.” He handed him the spare weapon before crossing to the final room.

  Two Kin lay still on their beds, their breathing and heartbeats informing Scythe that only one was asleep. He walked up to one young man, who opened his eyes as he neared. Scythe began to untie him, saying, “Can you walk?”

  The young man answered, gritting his teeth, “If I have to, I’ll crawl, brother.”

  “Her?” Scythe indicated the woman next to him.

  “She’s dosed until the next mealtime.”

  Scythe nodded and finished with the straps. “What is your name?”

  “Resner. You are the halfblood.” Scythe nodded.

  It didn’t surprise him that the captives from Poinsea knew who he was. He had been the only halfblood living there. In fact, Scythe was the only halfbl
ood that most living in the small city would have seen in their entire lives, if they gave in to their morbid curiosity and sought him out.

  When he was little, he became used to people he didn’t know showing up out of nowhere just to have a look. There was usually a small group of them, mostly young people, who would stare and make comments like, “Look at those enormous eyes,” or “Shame about the skin, though.” Then they’d have a gander at his mother, the only Human in the settlement, before they would leave without having spoken a single word to them.

  Scythe helped him down and they were both glad to find out that Resner could at least stand on his own. Together they began to untie the woman.

  Scythe turned to the door at the sound of a distant knock and footsteps, leaving the man to finish. He cracked the door. One of the nurses had left the station and was coming down the hall. She slowed as she reached Flame’s door and went in. Scythe left the room, striding toward the door just swinging shut. The last nurse down the hall continued to type on her datapad without looking up.

  He heard a thud and a screech just before he entered, finding Flame and the nurse struggling on the floor. He approached them, intending to knock the nurse out, but Flame beat him to it, grasping the woman’s head and bashing it into the ground. Scythe didn’t stop her when she repeated the movement four more times, but merely turned back to the door, satisfied that the nurse was unconscious. He cracked the door, listening, and then speaking when the sounds behind him ceased.

  “We have one guard contained and two more Kin that can move around on their own. There are at least fourteen helpless patients that we will somehow have to move to a truck outside and then make a run for it. What do you think?”

  He heard her get up. He turned, taking in the nurse with the crumpled skull, and listened to the heart slow. He felt strangely envious. He ground his teeth and consoled himself. There are lots more, still.

  She said, breathing heavily, “I don’t know.” She joined him by the door, tucking her trembling hands under her armpits.

  “We’ve got just the two rooms past the nurse’s station to clear…”

  “The one on the left is nothing. It is just the storage and surgery...”

  “Okay. Good, but there is a patrol due any time and the doctors will return when they finish their meeting. I’m afraid we might not have the time to do this.” He stopped and they both listened to the urgent beeping that was coming from the nurse’s station.

  The nurse called down the hall, “We’ve got a security alarm! Locking the doors.” Within a few seconds, they heard a loud slamming sound. Scythe waited a few more seconds before leaving the room. He rushed down the hall with Flame behind him. The nurse, her attention on the panel in front of her, didn’t look up at Scythe until he held the gun right in front of her face. She jumped in her seat with a gasp and stared up at them.

  “The doors locked yet?” Scythe took in the large metal door that covered the opening across from the nurses’ station. He couldn’t hear anything from outside.

  “What? Oh, um, yes.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Huh?” she asked, confused.

  “Are we locked in or is everyone locked out?”

  “Both.”

  “Good. Who is in the other two rooms?” Scythe nodded at the two rooms at the end of the hall.

  “The nursery?”

  Scythe blinked before answering, “Yeah.” Nursery? Were Kin children taken?

  “Four nurses, with the patients.”

  “Any guards?”

  “No, they’re...” Her eyes slid toward the long hallway and then returned to Scythe. She swallowed when she finally comprehended the meaning of his bloody uniform. “No, there were just two,” she finished breathlessly.

  “Call the nurses out here.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Well, if they make any problems, I’ll shoot them. But, if they cooperate, we’ll just tie them up. Same with you. Call them and then come around to this side.”

  “Alright.” She pressed a button on the display in front of her. “All nurses report to me immediately.”

  Scythe moved down the hall with the head nurse moving in front of him toward the nursery. He tried to avoid figuring out what a nursery entailed until the last possible moment, but some of Flame's comments returned to him, forcing him to make the connections anyway.

  Two nurses strode through the right door almost immediately, nearly running into the head nurse before looking around to see the gun pointed at them. They started to raise their hands, backing up to the wall at the end of the hall at Scythe’s motion. He called through the door as it swung shut on the two unsure women that were hovering beyond the doorway, “All of you who want to live need to sit along the wall.” That motivated them both to quickly join the others.

  “I’ll check the rooms, Flame,” said Scythe, handing her the gun, “See if you can avoid killing one of these nurses.”

  “No promises,” she said, taking the gun and stepping back to make sure she had everyone in sight. “We don’t need them all anyway, do we? I mean, how many do we need to have alive?”

  “We need to carry a bunch of people upstairs, remember?”

  “Oh, yeah. Alright then.”

  “But if anyone moves, they’re off the ‘Helper’ list and on the ‘Piece of shit, shoot them in the kneecaps and beat the crap out of them until they cry for a mercy they’ll never see’ list.” He repeated it in Human, just to make sure everyone understood.

  Soaking up the smell of fear and sweat, Scythe entered the nursery. Inside he found a large room with several beds and cribs. Five Kin women, three of which were obviously pregnant were spread around the room tending to a handful of small children, all below the age of two. One woman was restrained: her hands were tied to the bed on either side of a slightly swollen belly. She recognized him immediately, calling out, “Scythe? What are you doing here? Look how big you are!”

  He went to her bed and started undoing her straps, “Serena! I can’t believe I found you! I was so afraid you might have...”

  “Died? Hell, no. Thank you,” she said, pulling her arm free, clambering up, and hugging him the best she could around her belly and his sticky uniform. “Oh, my god! What is this? Is that your blood?”

  He shook his head, “No. I’m alright.”

  She looked around, “What’s going on? Where are the rest?”

  Scythe headed toward the door, motioning the women who started to follow him to wait. “There is no one else, it’s just us. The children should stay here until we have a plan.”

  “Just us?” she repeated, shocked and a little scared as she followed him into the hall. “And no plan?”

  Seeing the Kin woman, she exclaimed, “Flame! I’m glad you are well. Your daughter is inside. Shall I bring her to you?”

  “Not yet, but soon, thank you, Serena.” She was eyeing the nurses with a fierce look that had them unconsciously huddling together.

  Scythe moved through the second door to find a small room with a large supply closet on one side and a window that afforded a view of a well-equipped surgery. He returned to the hall, saying, “Okay, until the doors are unlocked, we have a little time. Let’s try to get everyone moving if we can. For that, we’ll need their help.” Scythe indicated the nurses with a nod of his head. “Watch them, I’ll be right back.”

  Scythe retraced his steps, rapidly checking each room again for movement.

  Within a few minutes, all the mobile Kin joined the women outside the nursery: Resner and the other man from the end of the hall, Temblor, plus two others that had awakened.

  Scythe brought the guard from the last room down to the nurses' station, his hands secured behind his back and his legs tied together with enough slack to permit limited movement. He seated him in the chair at the display panel.

  “Find out what’s going on.”

  “Okay,” the man said, relieved at Scythe’s calmer manner and eager to prove
his usefulness. He tipped his head at a button, which Scythe pushed for him, “What’s our status?”

  A voice came over the speaker, “We’ve got a situation here, an unauthorized visit.”

  “So?”

  “So, they’re carrying a big gun.”

  “Ah, got it. What you want us to do?”

  “You know the procedure, Ben. Wait it out, but get the contingency doses ready.”

  “Will do.” He leaned back and explained, “Someone is trying to visit the facility. That happens sometimes, but if they don’t get proper authorization, they are no way getting in unless the doc speaks for them. But this group has some kind of backup with them, so they’re proving problematic.”

  “What are the contingency doses?” Scythe asked.

  The man’s eyes flicked to the side before he nervously answered, “In case of exposure, the subjects are to be...uh...eliminated. There are lethal doses of the toxin used...uh...that are ready for quick use.”

  “Get them. Now.”

  Scythe’s hard voice startled several of the Kin around him, prompting Serena to ask, “What’s happening?” He shook his head at her and motioned for her to wait.

  “Um, right.” Ben pivoted awkwardly in his seat, indicating two doors in the wall behind him. “They’re in this cabinet.” He moved aside to make room for Scythe, who found two neat trays of self-injecting syringes, each filled with a yellow fluid.