by Alex Fedyr
A man on the corner lowered his newspaper and turned to give his full, frowning attention to Xamic. A couple more cops stepped out of the coffee shop across the street, hands on their guns. Marley climbed out of his sedan, shotgun in hand.
Xamic noticed the shotgun and laughed. “See! He’s got the right idea! You other boys better man up! Your little pistols ain’t gonna do dick!”
Terin shouted, “Xamic! What’s the deal?”
Xamic held out his arms and grinned. “Check it out!” He had a small remote in his hand. Kalei raised her rifle, but before she could lift in an inch, his thumb slid over and pressed the button.
Four of the Wardens dropped their heads back and released a frenzied roar. Similar sounds drifted from the park and echoed off the city streets. Then the four Wardens ripped off their gloves and tackled their comrades.
Kalei moved forward to break up the madness, but then she heard Xamic yell, “Alright! It begins!”
She looked up in time to see Xamic tear off into the park, Terin flying past her after him, shouting over his shoulder, “Erit! Find the source!”
Kalei dropped her rifle and ran after them, determined to help Terin put an end to Xamic. Breaking up the scuffles wouldn’t help. They had to take out the mastermind.
They had just passed inside the gate when Terin noticed her and ordered, “Go back to Erit.”
“Like hell!”
She expected him to protest, but Terin grunted and kept running. Kalei was relieved that he had his priorities in order. All that mattered now was taking out Xamic.
Xamic was already at the far end of the path, and the gap between them was only widening. Gritting her teeth, Kalei shifted her darkness to all the necessary muscles and took off at twice the speed. She passed Terin and started gaining ground on Xamic, unable to contain a wolfish grin.
She was only a few feet away when Xamic looked over his shoulder and flashed a grin to match her own. Then his speed tripled, leaving her in the dust. Before Kalei could react, Terin flew past her, matching Xamic’s burst of speed step for step.
Kalei growled in defiance and tried to force more darkness into her legs, but she had nothing left to give. The pair easily outmatched her, like a pair of motorcycles outrunning a jogger, and as they disappeared around a distant bend, Kalei was forced to stop and catch her breath.
She walked over to a nearby tree and braced her hand against it, impatiently waiting as her darkness worked to alleviate the physical strain from her sprint.
Xamic was getting away, and there was nothing she could do about it. Kalei screamed and punched the tree.
She took a couple more breaths, and then she heard another scream immediately behind her. Kalei jumped and spun around, just in time to catch a tackle from a young woman. The two fell to the grass, the young woman pulling and tearing at Kalei’s clothing as Kalei tried to seize her attacker’s frantic hands.
Jenna’s voice came over the intercom: “Attention all Wardens, a riot has broken out in the Downtown district. Also, the Northeast fence has been breached. All units are authorized to use any means necessary to take them down.”
Kalei finally managed to grab the woman’s left hand, and was not surprised to find that the nails were black. But the woman’s right hand moved even faster now that the left was seized, and the woman shrieked hysterically as her attack failed to expose Kalei’s skin. Grateful that the woman was half her weight, Kalei rolled the woman off of her, releasing the woman’s hand as she reached for her Taser. The woman let off another shriek as both women climbed to their feet, and then she charged after Kalei. But before she could take more than a step, Kalei shot off her Taser and the woman dropped to the ground, her body seizing to the tune of 50,000 volts.
Kalei dropped the Taser and pulled up her comms, hailing Jenna on a private line. Her sister answered with a distracted, “Yeah?”
“Jenna, what the hell is happening?”
“Shit hit the fan, Kalei. Every Estranged in the district is goin’ nuts.”
The woman moaned softly from the ground. Kalei kneeled down, pulling the woman’s hands behind her back and securing them with one of the zip-tie handcuffs from her belt pocket.
As she worked, she asked Jenna, “How did they break through the fence?”
“Fifty of ‘em just charged straight at the damn thing. The first dozen of ‘em fried, but the others broke through. Damn idiots managed to short out the entire system.”
“Well, have they—”
“Shit!”
“What?”
“There’s another riot being reported in T-Town. Somewhere near the new courthouse. New Port is being slammed too.”
Kalei stood up, facing the path that led to Tech Town. “The T-Town riot, is it around the Luxury Grove Condos?”
Jenna paused. “Yeah, looks like that’s in the damn center of it.”
“Shit!” Kalei turned off the comm and took off down the path.
She had just finished shifting the darkness to her legs and was getting ready to put on speed when she heard Xamic laughing. She stopped and turned around in time to see him walk out a side entrance to the park.
He was walking.
Kalei took one more glance over her shoulder, at the wooded park path that led to the Tech Town entrance, and then turned away to go after Xamic.
He didn’t seem to notice her, so Kalei followed from a distance, like a cat trying not to spook a speedy mouse. She ducked behind cars and crouched behind newspaper boxes, and as she carefully followed Xamic’s steps, she realized Terin was nowhere to be found. Kalei didn’t put too much thought to it, though. She assumed Xamic had lost him in the park somewhere.
Xamic led her down alleyways, across wide streets, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around him. Cars were stopped dead in the streets, locked in a sudden, mid-day traffic jam. The screams of men and women frequented the air, occasionally followed by the sound of shattering glass and crashing metal. Kalei found herself dodging through panicked crowds as police officers climbed the highest objects they could find, megaphones in hand as they ordered people to go home and lock their doors. She had no idea what had caused this mayhem, but she knew it had something to do with Xamic’s red button. And she knew Estranged were probably the source of all the screams.
She only spotted one Warden running toward the attacks; more often than not, it was a group of police officers armed with shotguns responding. Kalei watched as a third group of police officers ran by, and she realized most of the Wardens were stuck in Downtown and Tech Town. The people here were on their own.
Kalei stopped. She looked at the panic around her and realized she was needed here. But what could she possibly do? Even as she scanned the area, she saw a half dozen attacks in progress, and another half dozen officers who needed help getting the mob under control. She couldn’t be everywhere. She couldn’t save them all. She had to choose. It was a bitter reality to swallow, but it was the truth. Kalei took a deep breath and decided the best thing she could do for all of them was track down Xamic and find out what he had done.
But as she looked across the street to where he had been standing, Kalei realized he was gone. Kalei cursed and sprinted through the crowd, pushing people out of her way and climbing over the cars. There was an alley close to where he had disappeared, so Kalei took a gamble and plunged into it.
She rushed past dumpsters and a few passed-out hobos as she rounded the corner, praying she hadn’t lost him. Then she stopped short, spotting Xamic’s blonde head as it disappeared through a trap door at the back of the building. A few stacks of old tomato boxes and a small dumpster for disposing of cooking oil told Kalei it must be a restaurant, and a high school job in a kitchen told her that trap door must lead straight to the basement where they stored incoming supplies. Either Xamic knew he had a tail and he was trying to lose her, or he was up to something. Probably an attack on whoever remained in the building. Either way, Kalei had to get in there. It would be close quarters in the ba
sement, and probably her only chance to pin him down before he could take off.
Kalei loosened her pistol from its holster, praying a full cartridge of hollow points would be enough to slow him down, and then followed.
The stairwell took them past the back end of the storage refrigerators, through a sort of service tunnel, and then down a second set of stairs. Kalei waited at the top to make sure the coast was clear, still unwilling to spook him just yet. When she heard sounds of a struggle, she stopped waiting. She rushed down the stairs, gun drawn. “Hey!”
Kalei reached the bottom in time to see a uniformed Warden fall from Xamic’s grasp. He turned and smiled at her. “You made it!” Before Kalei could say anything, he disappeared into a door on the far wall.
Kalei made her way across the small room, careful not to collide with the dozens of racks crowding her on either side, each one fully stacked with kitchen supplies. She slowly stepped through the doorway, her finger dangerously close to the trigger.
The room on the other side was a small living room. A couch, a TV; the full set-up. A hallway at the back led off to what was presumably bedrooms and perhaps a bathroom. Xamic sat comfortably sprawled on the couch.
Kalei opened her mouth to speak when she heard, “What’s going on?” Fenn walked out of the hallway, wiping his hands with a cloth towel.
No. No. Kalei sprinted for the door.
“STOP!”
Kalei stopped at Xamic’s command, one hand on the doorframe. Her whole body was shaking.
His voice was calm and mocking. “Before you leave, Kalei, I want your advice. Which one should I kill first: Teia, Kas, or Fenn?”
“You bastard!” Kalei turned around and opened fire. Xamic wasn’t on the couch anymore, and tufts of cotton puffed into the air as the bullets ripped through it.
“Kalei?”
Kalei tried to ignore Fenn. She searched for Xamic and found him in the corner by the TV. Before she could redirect her gun, he closed the distance and knocked the gun from her grasp with a blow that felt like a sledgehammer. Unarmed, Kalei switched to throwing fists, but he easily dismissed them all with casual blocks. With every block, Kalei grew increasingly desperate, but Xamic appeared to be getting bored. She threw a quick right hook at his face, but he dodged low and followed up with a swift blow to her gut. Kalei doubled over, clutching her abdomen.
Before she could recover, she heard the safety clip at the back of her helmet click as Xamic said, “Let’s get rid of this. It’s time for Terin’s little flower to bloom.” Fresh air rushed at Kalei’s face as her helmet was pulled off her head.
Kalei coughed and then straightened to retrieve her helmet from Xamic, but instead, she found herself facing Fenn. She froze. He froze.
She had a hard time believing it was him. It had been so long since she had seen his face, her memories had done little justice to—
Kalei’s terror returned. He took a step toward her, but she stepped back, trying to get away from him, but unable to tear her eyes away from his. She felt herself being pulled into them, she felt her arms aching for his embrace. But she couldn’t. She had to get away.
Kalei took another step back, but her foot caught on something, pulling her leg from under her and sending her crashing to the ground. She heard Teia yell, “Auntie!” Before Kalei could turn her head, she felt Teia’s small arms around her neck.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Broken
There was so much happiness. Not a high, not ecstasy, but happiness. Wholeness. She was home again. She heard Fenn shout out, but then he was with them too. And Kas. They were all finally together again. Everything was perfect. Everything was right. Kalei opened her eyes. She wanted to see their beautiful faces. Kas and Teia lay across her left leg, faces turned away. But Fenn was on her right, eyes fixed on her with an open, dead stare. Dead.
Kalei screamed. She pushed them off and scrambled back, but then she slumped over and heaved as her stomach tried to vomit. Kalei crouched there, retching, crying, her darkness ripping through her in complete chaos.
“Kalei! Run!”
Kalei looked up and saw Xamic and Terin struggling outside the apartment. Terin had both of Xamic’s hands in his own, his body between Xamic and Kalei. He repeated, “RUN!”
Instead, Kalei charged at them. Terin cursed and tried to get in her way, but Xamic let go of one of Terin’s hands and sidestepped as the teen lost his balance. Kalei crashed into them both and they all went down.
In the tumble, Kalei felt Xamic’s arm close around her wrist. At some point, while she was out of it, both of her gloves had come off, and now his skin pressed against hers. She felt his darkness coming for her. She raised her defenses, but they were so small, so insignificant next to the mass of violence mounted against her.
“NO!”
Terin’s hand was on her other wrist. His darkness rushed through her and met with Xamic’s head on. Terin cried out. Kalei thought it was from the collision, but then saw Xamic’s left hand still clamped onto Terin’s right. She felt a subtle “snap” echo from Terin’s darkness.
Kalei froze. She recognized that sound. She looked to Terin, his face contorted in a mix of pain and surprise. Then his darkness was rushing out of her, pouring through her left wrist and into Xamic. Terin was fading. His hand frantically tried to pull away, but Xamic wouldn’t relinquish his grip.
Yet Terin still had time. There was so much darkness in him. He had about as much as Xamic, maybe even more. When pulling his hand away didn’t work, he tried to redirect the flow, attempting to push it into Kalei, but his darkness was sucked through Kalei and into Xamic’s other hand.
Terin’s reservoir began to run out. Kalei felt his presence dwindling. She felt all his sorrows, all his regrets brushing past her as they rushed up Xamic’s arm. Terin’s head dropped. His body sagged. A last whisper of darkness fled past Kalei’s heart.
He was gone.
Kalei felt Xamic release her. She heard him step away as he screamed and hooted and shouted. It didn’t feel real. None of this could be real. She felt as though she was drifting away from this world, Xamic’s antics happening in some distant place, the screaming in her heart happening to someone else...
Xamic cried out, “DAMN!”
Kalei pulled her eyes away from Terin’s limp form and saw Xamic jumping around the room, knocking cans and utensils off the shelves. His hair was full black now, not a hint of blonde left. Bursting with energy, he sprinted at a wall, running so fast that he ran up it, made it halfway across the ceiling, and then came crashing back down again. The fall didn’t seem to faze him, though. He jumped up to his feet and stretched out his neck and arms, bouncing back and forth from foot to foot like a boxer ready to fight, or a dancer getting ready to dance. His grin seemed to be permanently fixed onto his face.
He said, “This is perfect! So fucking perfect!”
He laughed and turned that grin onto Kalei. As he approached, she stood up, looking away from the eyes that greedily appraised her skin.
Kalei held out her hand. “Here,” she said dully.
Xamic’s eyebrows came together. As though it were a joke, he laughed and asked, “What?”
No emotion. No rage. No sorrow. She had nothing anymore. She was nothing. She continued to hold out her hand. “This is what you want. Take it.”
“Hey! Wait a minute! There’s supposed to be anger here! What about revenge? I just murdered your grandfather. You just murdered your dear husband and two little nieces.” He shoved her and got right into her face. “How does that make you feel?”
She had no response for him, emotional or otherwise. She repeated, “Take it.”
He spun away. “NO!” He slammed a can of peas off the shelf. He turned back, grabbed her by the shirt, and picked her up, shaking her violently. “You’re Kalei Distrad! You won’t stand for this! You want me dead. I know you do. You want to kill me with your own hands.” He looked down at those hands and grinned as he looked back at her.
She didn’t respond. She was none of those things anymore. Her chest was one hollow cavern, stoic and uncaring as a cold wind blew through.
The anger returned to his face. He slammed her into the shelf, knocking a cascade of first aid supplies off the top and sending them crashing onto his head. A plastic bottle broke open on his skull, a gush of clear liquid pouring out onto his head and shoulders, releasing a strong scent of alcohol as it fell. “C’MON, Kalei!”
Kalei didn’t give him a response. Her eyes traced the pattern of wetness on his shirt as the liquid expanded its reach across the fabric.
Xamic released her, grabbing a nearby shelf and throwing it across the room. He threw his arms up and screamed with rage. “No. NO! You’ve ruined the moment. You’ve ruined it!” He grabbed a second shelf and threw it into the first.
Kalei’s eye alit on an old Zippo lighter sitting on a box near her hand. She picked it up. Fire seemed like a fitting thing to bring into this world. All consuming, all erasing fire. This was it. She was finally going to die. Xamic was going to kill her, and she wouldn’t have to be an Estranged any longer. There was nothing left for her anyway.
Then she remembered what Marley had said to her on the roof, how he had been so mad at her for sitting there, waiting to die. Right now, you’re the only one I trust to help me protect my son.
She let the cold nothing in her heart encase her like a suit of armor. She decided she wasn’t going to let Marley’s kid die, and she wasn’t going to let the man who killed Fenn live.