by Leyton, Bisi
“Jenny, I won’t listen to anymore useless stories from you, or anybody. You’ve allowed Demi’s madness to infect you.”
“The only mad thing my sister did was to marry someone as stupid as Doc and to trust someone as vile as you.” She took out a gun, pointing it at him, and then put the weapon back in her holster. “I need the bullets and won’t waste them on you. I’ll leave you to deal with your town. Now that Felip deactivated the biel core, you’ve got at most, three hours’ worth of power before everything goes dark here.”
“You think I’m afraid? Stupid woman, you can’t hurt me. Nothing can affect me. I built this town out of nothing and I will keep this town alive!”
“Do you not care if she is well?” Enric asked. “She is, after all, one of yours?”
“Who, the bastard or the mongrel?” Alan sneered and stepped back. “You do what you like with her—Ahhh!” he screamed as a biter jumped down, ripping into his face.
More biters staggered up the stairs from behind the guards.
As the men tried to fight off the impending biters, Bach made it up the stairs. They encountered several more biters shuffling toward them.
Jenny took out her gun and shot at the closest biter before taking Wisteria’s sword, slicing another’s head clean off. “Send them away now!”
“Leave,” he whispered, trying to send the biters back, but the infected kept moving forward. “Depart!” he yelled, but there was no effect.
Grunting, Jenny continued to fight her way forward. “Do it now. What’s wrong with you?”
“The poison your people gave us is going to kill us if we do not regenerate.”
“Go!” Enric ordered, and the biters moved back.
Jenny headed to the door. “Give her to me and I’ll take her to the helicopter.”
“No way--she is staying with me and we are going together.”
“She is nothing to you.” Jenny lunged at him, but stopped when she heard more groaning.
“Woman, I will only be able to hold them back a little while longer, so if you have a way out of here, take us there now.” Enric stepped up to her.
“You think I’m going to let you come with me?” she answered in his Dialect.
Her using the Dialect did not surprise Bach, knowing she was Lara’s sister. “Please.” He decided he would have to work with this woman. He did not trust her, but he was running out of options, and out of time. He had barely enough power to get down the mountain, never mind about reaching the Nieves. “You are her aunt? Only a Famila can keep her from waking up and feeding on you.”
“Fine.” Moving back, she let the guys pass.
Bach and Enric exited the facility, onto the side of a mountain that was filled with a handful of biters, with hundreds more less than an hour away.
The fleshers stopped and turned toward the group. They were able to smell Wisteria and Jenny, and they were hungry.
“I’m guessing you can’t keep them away any longer?” Jenny pointed her sword at the infected. “Because we’re going to have to go through them to get to the helicopter and they can’t be following us when we do.”
Still holding Wisteria, Bach sighed. “Watch her and I will handle the biters.” Charging through the swarm of biters with Wisteria would increase the chances of her being ripped apart.
“That was what I was saying. You clear the way and I’ll get her to the helicopter,” Jenny snapped.
Ignoring her indignation, he snatched Wisteria’s sword from her hand and bolted toward the swarm. He swung at the first biter, cutting it in two before moving on to the next. After a few minutes he was kneeling over, almost blacking out in the center of the fallen infected.
A biter sailed overhead.
Glancing behind him, he saw Enric send another biter flying down the mountain.
Bach knew his friend was almost in as bad a shape as he was.
A draug landed in front of him. The deformed creature licked its face with a long, thick tongue. Clawing at Bach, it moved toward him.
Painfully, Bach rose and leapt back. He tried to lift the sword that was still in his hand, but he could not. He was totally spent.
There was a gunshot and the draug dropped.
“Come on.” Jenny stood, holding her smoking gun. “Now.”
“You trust us?” Enric questioned in disbelief.
“Not you. Your brother saved my life; he cured my cancer when he was here, so I owe him,” she answered. “So when I put together what Alan and Doc were trying to do, I contacted Lluc again. I told him to get Ollie away. It didn’t work out the way he thought.”
“Again? When were you in contact with him before?” Bach asked.
“When Doc had you and Wisteria here seven years ago. He was only a little older than you, but he’d come with your father to bring you back.”
“My father?” Bach scoffed. “My father would never come here.”
“No,” she twirled to look at Enric. “You father, Lord Rafel”
“Why would he come here?” Enric asked in disbelief.
“To kill Coia and return you to your father. Bach, you barely remember anything because Lluc fried your mind so much. I wish . . .” She stopped herself and looked down at Wisteria. “You are going to have to leave her behind.”
That was not an option for him at all. “She is my responsibility. She will not attack you. Just get us to your helicopter.” Taking the sleeping girl from the woman, Bach lifted her in his arms, but found he was not strong enough to carry her.
“I have a little energy left.” Enric took Wisteria from him and threw her over his shoulder.
Jenny led them higher along the mountain.
After an hour of trekking, they came to a clearing and found a battered helicopter waiting with the words France2 News painted on the side in blue and red.
“Stop.” Garfield hopped out of the surrounding bushes, brandishing his crossbow. “Bach? What are you doing here?”
“I should ask you the same thing.” Strangely, Bach felt relieved to see a friendly face of sorts.
“I contacted them.” Jenny took out what looked like a far-eye. “Doc isn’t the only person who understands how to use Famila artifacts.”
“Who the hell are you?” Garfield aimed his weapon at Jenny once he noticed she was armed.
“Relax, Garfunkel. That’s my sister.” Lara emerged from the helicopter, dressed in black. “What did you do to my daughter?”
“She is infected Lara,” was all Bach could say. “I am sorry.”
“You did this, you green-eyed freak! I’m going to kill you. I'll cut out your heart and feed it to you. You . . .” she rattled off a string of what had to be curses in her native language.
“Lara.” Major Coles appeared behind her. “Our priority is getting everyone out of here.”
“My priority was getting my daughter back alive. I don’t know what you guys came here to do.” Lara scowled at her husband before she returned her death stare at Bach “Has she been cured?”
“No, I have not killed her yet, if that is what you are asking,” Bach admitted. “I have made her sleep. She will not wake up again.”
“Good.” Lara turned to look up at Jenny, and then turned back to the helicopter without another word.
“I thought you’d at least be glad to see me. I’m still your sister,” Jenny said unemotionally. “Lara? That is what these people call you now, right?”
Lara spun around and swung at Jenny, knocking her to the ground. “You were supposed to protect her.”
“I tried. I contacted you as soon as I heard she was here. You should’ve gotten here sooner,” Jenny moaned, getting to her feet. “If you’d kept better control of your children, I wouldn’t have to. Damn it, you let her meet him, again.” She pointed to Bach.
“My child—what happened to Ivy wasn’t my fault.” Lara tried to kick her sister again.
Coles hauled her away. “This isn’t why we’re here.”
“Lara, can you act like an
adult for once?” Bach let out.
How she could find the levity to pick a fight with her sister when they were all trying to escape with their lives infuriated him. “Vadda, what is wrong with you?”
“Whoa.” Garfield backed away and into the helicopter.
“What?” Lara glared at Bach. “This is more your fault than anyone else’s. You asked your psychotic friend there to take Wisteria from us again.” She gestured to Enric. “So you better shut up before I pump you both full of bean vine.”
“I did not send Enric to take her. And he is going to answer for that once we are out of here, but now, leaving Franklin is imperative.”
“You think you’re leaving with us?” Lara asked.
“I am the only person who can keep her sleeping. If I do not, you will have to cure her. You do not want that,” Bach informed her coldly. “So we go with you and you will take me to my boat.”
“And then what?” Lara seethed. “What are you going to do with my daughter? There is no cure.”
The doors to the facility burst open and more of the RZC guards emerged, firing at Bach’s group.
Taking out a firearm, Coles shot back as the escapees dove out of sight.
Moving into the helicopter, Bach noticed a familiar kid duck behind one of the seats. It was Jenny’s son, Del.
“Get in. Get in now!” the pilot yelled at him.
Quickly, the group boarded and the helicopter took off.
As they flew over Franklin, he saw the frenzied panic from inside the facility was spreading to the town.
“You think everyone’s going to get eaten?” Del asked his mother.
“No, baby. Doc will find a way to get everyone out.”
“They’ll get eaten. Your father too.” Lara checked the guns she was now holding. “You did deactivate the emitters, so no one will survive it.”
“Lara!” Jenny seethed.
“Don’t keep secrets from him. Take it from me--he’ll start to hate you for it,” Lara continued in a cold tone.
The helicopter flew over the sea, away from Franklin and away from his boat.
“Drop us in the open seas and my boat will come to us,” Bach said.
“What kind of boat do you have?” Lara asked calmly.
“You would not understand,” Enric retorted.
“You either have a converger or a concealer, since they are the only boats small enough to bring through a threshold without an army.”
She was right--Bach’s boat the Nieves was a converger--but he did not respond.
She was way too unstable, now that her daughter was dead—not dead, hurt, he told himself with desperation. This woman just might try to take his boat and kill him again.
“We will jump. We no longer require any more of their help,” Enric suggested in a low tone, speaking in the Dialect.
“Shh,” Bach muttered.
Even though Enric was speaking their Dialect, he knew Lara understood the language.
Looking at Wisteria’s mother, he could see that she was distracted, watching her sleeping child. Lovingly, she tucked Wisteria’s hair behind her ears. It was the first time Bach had seen any emotion from Lara, aside from indifference or rage.
“We can make it,” Enric insisted.
Normally, they would, but not in their present state, and not with Wisteria along.
“Where are we going?” Bach asked while ignoring him. “This aircraft cannot take us all the way back to your island.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Lara answered.
For hours they flew over the open sea.
Eventually, the helicopter descended over a tanker. Coles landed on the deck, as several humans dressed shabbily, and stinking badly, circled around them.
“So, you made it back, Elliot.” A man walked up to the group. “And you brought back more than the three people you promised.”
“Don’t worry; we’re good for it, Captain Bensiah.” Coles disembarked from the copter.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Wisteria was taken to the tanker’s hold where she was chained to the floor. The captain of the tanker had made that the only condition of her being allowed onboard.
The only comfort Bensiah provided was a plastic mat and a shotgun.
Bach sat on the floor next to her, watching her sleep. While she lay there, she looked normal and not like the flesher she was becoming. He couldn’t leave, because he knew the crew on the tanker would take any opportunity to cure Wisteria.
The cure was going to be a bullet to the head.
Coles and Jenny had disagreed with Lara on this and tried to convince her to cure Wisteria immediately.
Lara hadn’t listened to what anyone else said, but that wasn’t a surprise. Her response was that the time wasn’t right and insisted as long as Bach or Enric were onboard, they’d be able keep her asleep to slow down the infection.
“You can leave now.” Lara walked in.
Even now, Lara obviously did not want him in the same room with her. Big surprise. “You could at least pretend like we are on the same side,” Bach responded.
Lara squinted angrily. At that moment, her expression reminded him of Wisteria when she had seen him kissing Radala. It was scary how much they looked alike. “Stop staring at me and get out now.”
“You should at least ask me how she is.”
“Why? If she was dead, you would be gone.”
“Till then, you need me here to make sure the Ghanaians do not cure her.”
“Need you? You’d be left at the mercy of my ex-husband. No matter what he said, he would have cut you up before either of you could regenerate. I found you, got the helicopter, and got you out of there. So I saved you, and for that you owe me a thank you.”
“Thank you for hiding the wahr-chart from everyone and the flasks of your daughter’s blood you used.” Bach reiterated what he had overheard Lara explain to Jenny.
Livid, she bit her lip, unable to speak.
“Tell me, were you and your sister in full contact the whole time you were in Smythe?”
“You need to regenerate. It seems you’re losing your hearing, because I told you to leave,” she fired back.
While he was far from fully regenerated, he could hear perfectly well. “What the hell is wrong with you? You could have warned Wisteria about what was going on there. I could have protected her.”
“You protect her? If you’d left when I asked—when I begged--this might not have happened.” She pointed at her daughter. “The Family would’ve stayed away from her. I thought you finally understood that when you abandoned her and returned to your realm.”
“Wisteria said I abandoned her? She was the one who decided to be with a human. I would never leave her.”
“Not until she’s dead, at least.”
He rose up, towering over the older woman. “Understand this: Whatever is going on was started long before I came to the Isle of Smythe. Keeping your family hidden on that island would not have changed anything. The empirics would have still come for her, with or without me.”
“Then my sister was right. I should’ve killed you the moment I realized who you were.” Lara stepped up to him, unafraid. “I should correct that mistake.”
“You will not, because I am on your side. I am the only person on this realm who wants Wisteria alive. You cannot afford to fight me.” Not waiting for a reply, he stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Needing air, he charged through the corridors, toward the deck. Being surrounded by so many humans, who wanted nothing more than to destroy someone he loved, made him uneasy. Going up the on the deck would mean he would be able to see the sea, which helped calm him, but he could not leave Wisteria down there for too long.
Reaching the deck, he saw Enric leaning over the railing, looking into the water, hypnotized by the waves. Like the rest of The Family, Enric found the water calming, and tranquility was what they both needed right now. Nearing the other Famila man, Bach saw the Nieves floating behind the ship.
&
nbsp; Enric had summoned the boat unbeknownst to the humans. The piron net made it impossible for the humans to see the boat, but Enric and Bach could because they boarded the Nieves before the piron net was turned on.
“You have finally decided to talk to me,” Enric remarked.
“I am sorry Radala is gone. I wish I could have done something to save her.” They had not spoken since they had arrived because there was nothing to be said. Enric had betrayed him and forced Wisteria to reject him. The notion of her turning into a biter must be exactly what Enric wanted.
Radala, strangely, had wanted something else. She, like Bach, seemed to believe Wisteria was valuable--granted, for different reasons. She’d also been convinced his mother was deranged. Bach wasn’t sure what exactly to believe himself, but one thing he knew, he wasn’t going to give Enric a chance to gloat.
Enric clung to the railing and his head dropped. “Not as much as me.”
Bach headed across the deck, away from Enric, to be alone with his thoughts.
“Bach, wait.”
“I have said what I need to say.”
“I was thinking Lluc probably went to Franklin alone because he could not confide in anyone about your child, or whatever he was looking for there.”
Bach shook his head. “Enric, I want to meditate.”
“That is why you never told me you were looking for your child here. You knew Oleander was somehow your child, but you did not tell me because you did not think I would help you.”
“I will not discuss it with you. All you have to know is Wisteria will die, which is actually what you wanted. Congratulations.”
If Enric was not mourning Radala, Bach would have beaten him down and thrown him overboard for everything he had done to destroy what he had with Wisteria. With Enric in pain of his own, Bach settled for ending their friendship.
“Your brothers were never going to kill you. Yordi needed you to return and persuaded her to make you leave,” Enric attempted to explain.
“Yordi did this, but you stood and watched, right?”
Enric cracked his knuckles.
“How?”
“He said he would let you die and kill her mother if she did not. Yordi promised to spare her mother when the truth came out that the woman killed your mother.”