by J. Rock
32.
They're waiting for me, of course.
The Children of Mutanity no longer have the Manse surrounded. They've gathered at the front, the metallic bulge of the dome behind them like a massive mechanical grub. As it always does this far east, the sun sits just above the horizon, making the shadows long and drawn.
Jude steps away from his cohorts to greet me, noticing my hesitation. The Children all have shooting irons, but they're holstered, none pointed my way. They're trying to make me feel comfortable, I guess. We meet in the grass and Jude holds a hand out to me. "You're doing the right thing, Juno," he says. "I'm sorry it has to be this way."
"Me too," I sneer, not meeting his gaze nor taking his hand. I stride past him with disdain.
WHAM!
Something slams against the back of my head and I stumble to my knees. My head swims, but I force myself back to my feet.
"What the hells was that for?" I snarl, teeth bared at Jude. His face swims before my vision, but I can see that he's expressionless.
"What's wrong with you?" I plead. "You used to love me!"
Jude's eyes go wide and he raises his hand again, butt of his shooting iron ready to crash down on me once again.
"Jude!" a familiar baritone calls out, laughing at the same time. Jude stops, startled. "Well done! But that won't be necessary. Let's not draw this out longer than we have to."
It's Blaine.
The dark haired man comes toward us, hand outstretched. The tumor above his eye looks like a mountain. Jude looks at Blaine, then at me, then at the weapon in his hand. I can see the conflict within, even as his face morphs into a scowl. He points the iron at me.
"Get on your knees," he says.
I'm stunned.
Blaine laughs again, finally reaching us. "That's right! Let's end this quickly!"
I feel like crying, like pleading, my heart ready to burst from my chest. But I don't give in to it. I remain steady, on the surface at least. I get on my knees in front of Jude.
He lowers the iron to my forehead.
"I don't know what they've done to you, Jude," I say, keeping my tone civil, "but we were friends once. Good friends. You loved me. And I..."
"You never loved me," Jude finishes, nearly whispering. I shake my head, forcing it up to look at him. He actually smiles. "It's okay, Juno," he says. "I knew it the moment I told you I loved you. Your face said it all."
I'm speechless, but I don't deny it.
Jude is right.
I hadn't admitted it to myself yet, because I hadn't had to.
But it's true.
I never loved Jude.
We were together, but we were never as one.
Jude continues, iron still pressed to my head. "You never said it back. You never said it ever. I thought you were dead after the Final Judgment. But then I started hearing stories about a red haired girl who was still human. It seemed farfetched, until I started hearing it more and more. That's when I came to realize: the last human is real, and she's the girl I'm in love with." Jude pauses, smiling to himself. "Funny how that girl never came looking for me."
I gasp, flabbergasted at Jude's accusation. "I thought you were dead too!" I explain, trying to keep my cool. "My Father..."
"Your Father knew I was alive, Juno," Jude continues. "When I went into hiding that morning after the beach, I was captured by the Deacons. I never got out of Krakelyn. Your Father detained me. He told me you were dead. But then the Final Judgment happened, and I was no longer the only mutant in town. Your Father kept me locked up, but when the Children raided your Manse, Blaine set me free."
I shake my head in disbelief.
Jude was in the Manse the day I fled Krakelyn?
It hardly seems possible but, of course, it is. There's ancient rooms in the Manse's cellar–cells–and Father used them now and again to interrogate a prisoner.
Me and Traylor were never allowed down there.
These new revelations spark anger in me toward my Father, but I give myself an irrational second and realize he'd just been trying to protect me. At any cost.
"Blaine explained to me how the Quinn family had been in charge long enough," Jude continues, "holding the old religion over our heads like a knife. The world is a new place, and new leadership is needed. The Children of Mutanity took me in that day."
Jude pauses, lost in remembrance. I'm just trying to process all I'm learning.
"You managed to escape from Krakelyn," Jude sneers, "but you never once stopped to look for me."
"I was kind of fleeing for my life!" I snarl back, anger swelling. The nerve!
"I would have looked for you," Jude counters. "I wouldn’t have stopped. You didn't know for certain that I was dead. Your Father told you that even he didn't know for certain."
"And how would you know that?" I snipe, disbelieving.
"One of the servants at the Manse told me," he replies. "After some...persuasion."
"You bloody bastard!" I scream, flailing from my position on the ground. I feel the shooting iron press harder to my skin.
"You didn't love me, Juno," Jude says again.
I have nothing more to say. This isn't the man I used to know. That man is dead.
When did Jude get so insecure?
I turn my gaze and it falls on Blaine, who's smiling greedily. This is the man responsible for Jude's betrayal. The brainwasher. I snarl and spit at him.
Blaine laughs. "Enough, Jude. Finish the last human, and the Children of Mutanity can claim their rightful place as the heirs of this world."
Jude cocks the weapon.
He hesitates.
"Do it, Jude!" Blaine orders. "The last human must die!"
I feel the iron pressing harder, but nothing happens. My eyes are squeezed shut, awaiting the inevitable, but now I let them open.
Blaine is in a frenzy.
"Do it!" he screams. Jude doesn't. Blaine pulls out his own iron, pushing Jude roughly out of the way. "Say goodbye to the last human," he admonishes.
He levels the pistol at my heart.
"NO!" I suddenly hear a scream from out of nowhere. A white blur bursts up from the tall grass, completely hidden until now. Tien! The young mutant has the shooting iron that Jude had dropped in the mess hall.
He pulls the trigger.
In an expansive spatter of blood and brains, Blaine's head explodes, his body falling limply to the grass.
"NO!" yet another voice calls out. This time it's Jude.
He still has that other shooting iron in his hand, the one he'd had pressed to the front of my head, leveling it at Tien.
He pulls the trigger.
"Tien!" I scream, ignoring all else.
I fall to the mutant's side, but it's too late.
Tien isn't moving.
I hear a commotion behind me and I whirl, expecting to see Jude finally finish me off. Instead, I'm flabbergasted to find the Children of Mutanity are completely overthrown! The rest of the boys in the Manse have snuck out the back of the building, stalking around through the tall grass. Though the mutants are just boys, being of Everwinter, they are naturally bigger and stronger, overpowering the men with ease. Dura has Jude by both arms, holding them forcefully behind his back.
I look Jude dead in the eyes. "I hate you," I say, turning away. "You are truly dead to me." For the first time since our reunion, Jude finally shows a hint of emotion on his face.
Sadness.
It's too little, too late, however.
"What should we do with them, Juno?" Jurid asks, but I'm too stunned to speak. Just moments earlier, I'd been preparing to die.
I watch the boys, and a few of them are fiddling with their newly acquired shooting irons, pointing them at the Children. A shot goes off and one of the Children collapses.
"No!" I scream, rushing over. I take the iron from the offending boy. "If you kill them, you are no better than they are!"
"Then what are we supposed to d
o?" another boy asks. "Let them go?"
I shake my head, my eyes falling on the domed laboratory on the horizon ahead.
"I've got a better idea," I say.