H.A.L.F.: ORIGINS

by Natalie Wright

  While Jack wanted to catch up with Ian, he couldn’t take one more minute without knowing if Erika was with them. “Is Erika here?”

  Ian shook his head.

  The roiling in Jack’s stomach churned harder. “Oh no. Please don’t tell me—”

  Dr. Randall clapped him on the back. “She made it back with us and survived the virus, so don’t worry about that.”

  Virus? “Can I see her?”

  “She’s not here,” Ian said.

  “She went back to Ajo?”

  Ian let out a low breath. “Oh dear, you don’t know about the virus, do you?”

  “Ian, what the hell’s going on?” Jack’s palms were sweaty once again, and the old, familiar feeling of his gut falling to the floor was back.

  Ian knew his friend well. “Calm down, Jack. Erika is fine. She’s with Tex, and they’re on their way to New Mexico.” Ian checked his watch. “Probably there by now, I suppose.”

  Ian’s words were meant to comfort him, but Jack didn’t feel comforted. Erika had taken off with Tex—to New Mexico. Not only was she alone with a guy that Jack considered the most dangerous person he’d ever met, but she hadn’t waited for him. She hadn’t even tried to contact him when she got back to Earth.

  He felt as though he’d been punched in the gut. I wasted time feeling guilty that I’d dared have thoughts about Anna.

  Ian seemed to read Jack’s mind. “Don’t be angry at her. You don’t understand the situation. Tex needed to get out of that place. I was really sick. Dr. Randall was too. There was no one else to get Tex away from the Makers.”

  Jack would have to discuss the issue later with Ian in private. Ian made excuses for Erika, but the problem wasn’t just that she’d helped Tex. Ever since she laid eyes on the guy, she seemed lost to Jack, as though she’d do anything for that alien guy—risk her life, even—for a person she hardly knew. I wonder if she’d do that for me?

  Jack kept the subject off Erika for the time being. “So what’s this about a virus?”

  Dr. Montoya gave a nervous cough. “Yes, well there’s much to say about that. How about I fill Jack in on that in my office while Dr. Randall… You can talk with Anna and the work you’ll need her to help you with here.”

  Dr. Montoya led Jack by the arm to an office tucked into the back corner of the large lab. Instead of sitting behind the desk, she sat in a white molded-plastic chair across from the desk and gestured for Jack to sit as well.

  “What I’m about to tell you is classified information. I’m not supposed to tell anyone. Seeing as how you were at A.H.D.N.A. and you’ve seen hybrids and the alien ship, I figure I’m not going to be telling you anything that will rock your worldview more than it already has been.” She gave him a wan smile.

  Jack was impatient for information and didn’t respond.

  She coughed lightly again. “About a month ago, there was an outbreak of a pernicious virus. We now know that the virus was seeded into the population by the aliens we Earthlings refer to as the Roswell Greys. But we have learned from Dr. Randall that they refer to themselves as Conexus.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “That is an excellent question. And we likely would not know the answer if it weren’t for the fact that Dr. Randall and your friends ended up in their world and learned the truth. They intended for the majority of the human population to die from the virus.”

  “So they could take over this planet?”

  Dr. Montoya shook her head. “Not exactly.” She took a deep breath. “It’s a bit more complicated than that.” She eyed Jack. “Have you heard the reports of the war in Europe?”

  Jack nodded. “But it’s not what it seems, is it?”

  “No, it’s not. It’s an alien attack, but not by the Greys.”

  Jack hit his knee. “I knew it!”

  “Don’t be too happy that you were right. Not about this, anyway.” She looked at him gravely. “There’s a lot more that Dr. Randall and I or even your friend Ian can tell you about all of that. But I don’t want to get off track of the virus because this pertains to you.”

  Jack sighed with impatience. “Spit it out, already.”

  Dr. Montoya wrung her hands. “When the virus first hit—it spreads so very quickly—we had no way to fight it. Have you seen anyone with it yet?”

  Jack shook his head. “I’ve been in New York. And driving here.”

  “There have been many casualties.”

  Her lips moved, but the words were like a far-off mumbling in his ears. She said something about first deaths and mentioned his mom’s name. Her hand was on his, her eyes warm and glistening.

  “I’m so sorry, Jack.”

  Jack had been overly warm before in the stifling, still air of the lab. But now he was shivering with cold. Blackness played at the edges of his vision, and despite his chill, his neck was covered in sweat. A wave of nausea hit him, and he swallowed to prevent himself from upchucking on this Dr. Montoya whom he had just met.

  “Are you okay? Do you need to lie down?”

  Jack couldn’t speak. If he did, he’d likely vomit. He forced a slow nod.

  Dr. Montoya helped him up and led him by the arm to another office that had a pleather couch in it. He lay on the small sofa, thankful for the cool upholstery against his hot cheek.

  “You just rest here. I’ll get you some cool water.”

  Dr. Montoya brought him a paper cup of water, and he drank it in one drink. It helped push the bile back down his gullet.

  “Do you want to talk to anyone?”

  He shook his head.

  “I understand.” Dr. Montoya turned off the harsh overhead fluorescents. “Rest here as long as you’d like.” She closed the door quietly behind her.

  Jack lay on the lumpy couch, his feet hanging over the side. He wanted to cry, but tears did not come. He wanted to scream, but his throat was too dry to speak. He wanted to run, but he had nowhere to go.

  In an instant, his world had been obliterated. An invader so tiny one could only see it with a microscope had murdered his mother and taken from him the one thing that mattered to him more than anything else. If a person had killed her, he could at least have mustered the ambition to find the son of a bitch and wrestle the life from him. Instead, a silent marauder had taken her, too small to have its ass kicked.

  But if the Greys—these so-called Conexus—had created the virus, he could have his vengeance on them. As he lay there with his face stuck to the fake leather, he fantasized about wrapping his hands around the scrawny necks of Tex’s so-called “cousins” and watching life ebb from their big, black, terrible eyes. Tears came to his eyes at the realization that in the span of less than six months, he had gone from a pacifist to having murderous thoughts. Once you’ve killed a man, I suppose the idea comes more easily.

  Finally, the tears spilled over the dam, and he cried for the loss of his beloved mother and friend. He cried because she had died without him being there with her. He wept because while she lay sick and dying, he had killed people. He cried for the loss of his mother and friend as well as for the loss of his former self. A terrible knot of hatred that he’d once held toward Commander Sturgis redoubled. If she hadn’t taken them to A.H.D.N.A. in the first place, he would have been home. I would have been there for her when she died. The thought made his throat tighten.

  Of course if he had been home, then he likely would have been infected as well. If Sturgis hadn’t compelled Jack, Ian, and Erika to A.H.D.N.A. that night, they might all have died.

  Sturgis’s actions had forced him to become a soldier, something he had never wanted. The war these so-called Conexus had started took whatever had been left of his youthful innocence. He was alone in a world that suddenly felt harsher than he had ever imagined it could be.

  Jack had no idea what to do next. Even if Ajo wasn’t quarantined, he couldn’t imagine ever going back to it. He would forever associate the place with the pain of knowing his mom died there alone.

 
; Anna, you may be stuck with me for a while longer. Joining her quest to take down the Croft family would at least give him an outlet for the unwelcome rage growing within him.

  12

  ERIKA

  Niyol and Kai’s house was even smaller than Dana’s cabin. A living room connected to a galley kitchen and eating area, a single bedroom, and a bathroom.

  Aunt Dana and Niyol had carried Tex into the cottage and laid him on a small couch by a heating stove. The warm house smelled of burning piñon pine. The wood stove filled the air with a faint smoky haze, but Erika didn’t mind.

  Niyol and Kai worked quickly to remove Tex’s shirt while Niyol peppered Erika with questions. Since having met Tex in the desert, her life had been one of subterfuge and survival. Answering questions honestly felt strange to her. She still worried what Dana would do with the information that the Makers wanted her and Tex, but she knew Niyol would have no chance of helping Tex if she lied. She would have to deal with Aunt Dana later.

  Niyol didn’t seem fazed in the slightest to learn that Tex was a hybrid being, genetically engineered from both human and alien DNA. While they spoke, his hands slowly worked from Tex’s scalp to his face, down his neck and arm, then back up to his chest, down the other arm, and back. Tex lay as still as a stone and gave no indication that he had any awareness of Niyol’s touch. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was dead.

  Niyol’s eyes were closed as he felt Tex with his age-gnarled fingers. He didn’t seem to be listening to her, but he must have been because he followed up each question with another.

  Niyol opened his eyes briefly when she told him how the Conexus had taken a piece of Tex’s liver, a kidney, and part of a lung. He closed his eyes slowly, shook his head, and moved his fingers to those regions of Tex’s body as though he could feel something that wasn’t visible to Erika.

  Kai stood by and watched Niyol work, her face an impassive mask. Erika had no idea what the woman was thinking about having a human-alien hybrid being lying on her couch, life ebbing from him. If she considered Erika’s story a pile of crap, she didn’t say so or even look askance at her.

  Niyol stopped asking questions. His knees creaked as he rose from the floor. “He has told me what medicine he needs.”

  Tex had never been able to communicate with humans telepathically, but maybe Niyol was gifted with the ability to speak to Tex on a wavelength where Erika had never been able to go.

  “He spoke to you?” Erika asked. “You mean telepathically.”

  Niyol shook his head. “Not like that. His body spoke to me. Our bodies are wise. Much wiser than our heads.” Niyol thumped his chest lightly with two fingers. “Wise in here.”

  “What does he need? I’ll help—just tell me what to do. I’ll get anything you need—”

  Niyol grabbed Erika gently by the shoulders. “Calm yourself. You have done what you can. He needs herbs and sweat.”

  Erika had never participated in a sweat lodge ceremony, but she had heard about them, and she knew that moist heat was an integral part. The heat was a fine idea, but moisture…

  She shook her head, her eyes wide. “No. You can’t do that.”

  Niyol’s eyes, once warm and kindly, grew dark and stormy. He likely wasn’t used to having someone, particularly an outsider, question his guidance. “You know what medicine he needs? Then you don’t need me.” He turned to walk away from her.

  She wanted to argue that bringing him to Niyol hadn’t been her idea. That had been all Dana. She opted not to argue with the one person among them who might have been able to help Tex, though.

  “Wait,” she said. “I meant no offense.”

  Niyol stopped. His eyes had softened, but only a little. Impatience played at his eyes.

  Erika continued. “He’s not like us. He takes water in through his skin. If he gets too much moisture, it weakens him. He may even die. He’s so frail right now, even a moist room may kill him.”

  Niyol nodded once to Kai. She quickly left the house, a cold breeze immediately sucking the heat out of the room.

  Niyol grabbed a blanket from the back of the recliner and motioned for Dana to help him. They wrapped Tex in the blanket, his face peeking out. He looked like a burrito. Niyol knelt and hoisted Tex up in his arms and groaned under the weight of him.

  “Steel is forged in fire. Diamonds form from heat and pressure,” Niyol said.

  Tex wasn’t made of metal, though. He was no lump of carbon. He was flesh and bone and blood, and in that moment, he was more fragile than an eggshell.

  Niyol didn’t wait for a response or argue the point further. Dana opened the door for him as he carried Tex through the small portal.

  Erika followed Niyol out into the cold night. He turned and his breath was visible in the air as he spoke.

  “This is a journey he must take without you.”

  Aunt Dana caught Erika’s hand and held her back. “Stay here with me. There’s nothing more you can do for him now. Trust in Niyol.”

  Erika had no reason not to trust Niyol, but hope and trust were in rare supply for her those days, and she’d only just met him. She knew nothing about him. She allowed Dana to hold her back though the reason might have been more from her desire not to sit and watch Tex die than from obedience to Niyol’s command. The memory of holding her mom’s hand as she took her last breath drifted into her mind, and she mentally batted it away before it brought tears.

  She watched Niyol’s back for a few seconds as he walked toward a small round hut with a domed top. Dana pulled at Erika, and she allowed her aunt to guide her back into the small house.

  They’d left the door ajar, and the cottage had become chilled. Dana wordlessly motioned for Erika to lie on the couch. Her teeth chattered as Dana wrapped her in thick woolen blankets.

  “There is nothing you can do for him now. The medicine he needs will take a while. Maybe days,” Kai said.

  Erika bolted upright. “Days? But—”

  “It is late.” Kai handed Dana a small cup made of glazed pottery. “Something to help her rest.”

  Dana held the cup to Erika’s lips. “Drink.”

  Erika had not been mothered in a long time. She hardly remembered what it felt like. Dana smoothed Erika’s hair off of her forehead as Erika sipped the warm, slightly bitter tea.

  Dana’s fingers were frigid from the cold, but her touch still soothed. “Sleep. You’ve done what you can. Time to let someone else worry for a while.” Soft lips grazed Erika’s forehead.

  Erika’s shoulders relaxed and released weeks of tension she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. The crease in her brow uncrinkled. She had assumed it had become permanent. The wood stove warmed the small room up quickly, and the coziness coupled with the sleeping tea worked their magic. Before she had the chance to think about what to do next, she drifted off to a deep sleep.

  13

  JAck

  Jack stayed in Dr. Montoya’s office until he’d cried himself out. Then he pulled himself together and sauntered back to the heart of the lab. He didn’t know what he was going to do next. Ever since they’d met Tex in the desert, his overarching goal had been simply to go home, but he no longer had a home to go back to.

  Things had been strained with Anna, but as soon as she saw him, she wrapped him in a hug. Her tears made a wet spot on his T-shirt. They now had something in common—a horrible thing, to be sure—but they were now in a club together of people who had lost their parents. He stroked her back and coaxed the tears from her that she’d pent up since seeing her dad get killed.

  Ian sauntered over. He put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “You okay?”

  Jack wiped a tear. He thought he was cried out for the time being, but as soon as Anna began crying, his tears flowed again. “No. But I will be.”

  “What can I do?” Ian asked.

  “Put me to work.” Jack meant it. Empty time on his hands was the last thing he needed.

  Ian nodded and gave him a small smile. “I can do
that.”

  Jack primarily spent his time being a lab assistant to the lab assistant helping Anna help Dr. Randall with his gene-therapy work. He and Anna eased back into the companionship they’d had in New York. She seemed to understand his need to keep his mind off of what had happened to his mom. She kept him occupied most of his waking hours, and he was glad of it.

  On their tenth day in Phoenix, Dr. Randall announced they had succeeded in creating a gene therapy that he hoped would work. He was prepared to inject Alecto, but Anna put on the brakes.

  “Did you even ask her if she wants it?”

  Dr. Randall’s blank expression was the answer.

  “Look, treat her like you would a human patient because, you know, she is part human. Tell her the risks and the benefits. Informed consent,” Anna said.

  Jack nodded, his heart swelling with affection for her. Though she was nothing like Erika, they both shared a passion for compassion for others. That was something he admired about each of them.

  Dr. Randall fidgeted with his glasses. “Perhaps that is why I did not become a medical doctor, Anna. I am no good with bedside manner.”

  Anna rubbed his forearm gently. “It’s okay. I didn’t mean to scold. It’s just that my mission was to free her from Croft. And the way she’s been treated throughout the years… Well, we need to put an end to it.”

  Dr. Randall nodded. “I completely agree. I will… I’ll do my best.”

  Jack and Anna found Alecto where they’d last seen her. She had spent most of her time in the small apartment she shared with Anna, Jack, and Ian. She had never watched TV before and sat with her eyes glued to the screen for hours as if sucking up a lifetime of mediocre sitcoms and made-for-television movies in just a week.

  Jack was flabbergasted that she was content to remain holed up in an apartment all day, the blinds closed and draperies drawn, when she could have been out exploring the world. Unlike her half-brother Tex, though, Alecto seemed to enjoy the darkness and comfort of enclosed spaces. She was the least social person Jack had ever met, even including Thomas.