by Quil Carter
Ceph mumbled something as his eyes shot in all directions. For a moment an anxious quiver in my heart. The way Ceph was looking around reminded me too much of how I knew I looked when I was in my own psychosis. A small fear gripped me that Ceph had fallen into insanity, even though he had been asleep, but a moment later that was dashed as a weak smile appeared on Ceph’s dry and chapped lips.
“Nuuky?” he rasped, his voice scratchy but still there. The smile widened when Nero let out a sob and put his arms around Ceph. The brute chimera, one of the toughest and strongest of them all, broke down and started crying openly into Ceph’s shoulder.
All I could do was stand there and smile; Kiki beside me with his own smile on his face. I knew that trouble and punishment were in store for me and the young chimera standing to my side. I knew that my actions would have a permanent impact on my life and that I had most likely burned a stable bridge I’d once had with King Silas.
But all of that wasn’t important in this moment, because this was Nero’s moment and Ceph’s moment. And what nightmares would come from what I’d done… what blood I would have to give as payment… could wait until the darkness descended on me.
For now there was no darkness, only long overdue happiness – and Nero deserved this happiness.
I will take it as it comes, I said to myself as I watched Nero cry into Ceph. In the greywastes we never planned out our lives because we didn’t know if tomorrow would come. Now if there is one thing I know for sure… it is that I have a tomorrow. I can take that as my solace that King Silas cannot kill me… even if what he may have in store for me is worse than death.
I looked over at Nero, who was now standing up with Ceph in his arms. Though the brute chimera was engineered to resurrect with their muscles and strong build Ceph still looked weak and sickly in his husband’s arms.
“If Kingy won’t be back for a while, I’m taking him upstairs,” Nero said, his face now tear-stained and flushed. “We both need to get clean and eat and… and he needs some time to wake up he’s still… still real drowsy.” Nero sniffed and he looked at me. “I can’t ever thank you enough, Sanguine. You know you have me forever. Come upstairs with us and we… and we can talk after everyone is clean and not smellin’ like death.”
I nodded and put a hand on Ceph’s head as Nero walked past me. “That sounds good, lovely boy. Ceph… what would you like to eat?”
Suddenly to our left there was a loud crash, one that shook the floor underneath our feet. Our eyes turned towards the noise, and I knew we all held identical looks of shock.
Lying beside the sledgehammer was a young man with black hair covered in dirt and grey dust from the concrete. He was on his hands and knees and sharp, hyperventilating heaves were coming from him.
“Oh… shit,” I heard Nero say. Oh shit indeed. The flung sledgehammer had more force behind it than any of us had thought.
We’d… we’d fucking freed someone else.
But who?
I looked around and got my bearings and realized that the shattered concrete pod was one I knew very well. Because it had been around since before I had come to Skyfall. The mysterious first prisoner that everyone told me didn’t exist. Every brother I had asked had thought it was empty or that it held only bones inside. A mortal prisoner whose punishment was a death of suffocation inside of that shell of terror.
But no…
I ran to him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” I stammered. I looked back to Nero who still had Ceph in his arms, but all Nero had for me was a wide-eyed stare.
And when I looked back, I saw his eyes.
They were two different colours, one a dark blue, the other one onyx black, and what I’d thought was concrete dust was actually a frock of white hair nestled in with the black. He was strange-looking and…
… when he opened his mouth to give out a cry of confusion… I saw crooked bottom teeth, and though he looked like he’d be handsome at full health, I saw other oddities none of our chimeras had: a slightly wider nose, detached earlobes, fearful yet narrow eyes, and he had no eyebrows or facial hair, just red bumps like he’d pulled it out.
“It’s okay… we won’t hurt you,” I said as kindly as I could, though I was shaking inside. “Just calm–”
The last thing I saw was his single blue eye turn black… before my own world turned to midnight.
I woke up to Nero shaking me awake and patting the side of my cheek. My eyes opened and I saw that I was inside of King Silas’s apartment.
Immediately I looked around wildly. I jumped to my feet to search for the strange young man and it took me several moments to realize Nero was trying to calm me.
When I finally looked at him he had his hands out. “It’s okay, Sangy,” he said. His face was unsure, troubled even. “I woke up twenty minutes ago and we’re all safe, Kiki too.” He looked towards the door and cocked an eyebrow. “Um… we’re going to go remake his concrete tomb after we get all cleaned up and, ah… we’re not telling Kingy we just freed that dude. Okay?”
I looked at him, my mind hastily trying to knit together what had previously happened, but as if knowing what I was subconsciously doing, Nero shook his head.
“Don’t fucking think about it because nothing happened, okay?” Nero slapped his hands on both sides of my face and shook it. “Hear me, Sangy? Nothing – happened – down – there. Okay? We didn’t free no one. Okay? So don’t even think about it.”
I swallowed down the hardest lump in my throat before nodding. There would be no question as to why Kiki stranded some of our family in the greywastes, but we could hide the fact that we accidently freed that strange man.
Nero dropped his hands and let out a long breath. “We got a lot of shitty work ahead of us. We need to make that concrete tomb and… fucking hope he doesn’t notice it looks new.” Nero pinched the inner corners of his eyes with his fingers and shook his head.
“Where’s Ceph?” I dropped my voice and looked around Silas’s apartment, but then I saw that my bedroom door was partially ajar.
“He’s still kind of confused and overwhelmed, so I put… put him in the closet in the dark. I, ah, didn’t know what else to do and it helped you,” Nero admitted with a look of guilt. “Kiki’s in there with him. Fuck. Who was that?”
“I was hoping you knew and just didn’t want to tell me,” I replied grimly. “He was here before I was… I remember that tomb. Why doesn’t he have a beard and long hair like Ceph? And his eyebrows… did he pluck them out?”
“That’s exactly what he did,” Nero said. He handed me an open beer. “When I woke up I saw fucking compacted black hair at the bottom. I think he had longer hair at one time because some strands were all thick and long. And his shell was open enough on the inside for him to be able to reach his face, so I’m guessing he pulled out his hair from stress. Poor fucking guy…”
“He’s not… a first gen?”
Nero shook his head. “No. We have tons of baby pictures of all of us and our files all say it was just three embryos and when Ellis split from me there were four. I can see him faking files but you can’t fake that there were only three steel mothers back then.” But then Nero shook his head back and forth like he’d been reminded that it was him who had told us not to talk about it.
And my theories into my brother’s inner monologue were correct, Nero raised his hands again and closed his eyes. “From here on out… we never ever mention him again. Okay? We’ll lie… ah, fuck, I don’t know, but we’re wiping this from our memories, okay?”
I didn’t like this. I wanted to know who that immortal was and why he had been in there since possibly before the first gen… but there was so much more on my plate right now… I nodded and agreed.
Nero let out a breath, a look of relief on his face. He clapped me on the shoulder before taking me into his arms.
“I love you, puppy,” he whispered and squeezed me tight against him. “Thank you for everything.”
I kissed his c
heek back and gave him a smile. “Thank you, Nero. From seven years old to seventy… thank you for being someone I could trust.”
Chapter 2
Elish
Elish watched the road ahead with eyes that only blinked when the dry air burned them. He just stared forward, putting one foot in front of the other as quickly as they could walk. They walked with confidence, as if well-aware of their destination, though that couldn’t be more false. Elish didn’t know where he was going, all he could do is walk southwest towards Skyfall, even if it was hundreds and hundreds of miles away.
Almost eight hundred, Elish said to himself in a desperate tone, a tone that was only allowed to be heard deep inside of his own thoughts. I am eight hundred miles from him. Why did I leave his side?
He’s brain-dead because of me.
Killian is dead because of me, and Reaver will burn for twenty years.
He closed his eyes and pursed his lips. He held those lips so tight his teeth dug into them and threatened to meet through his flesh.
Was it worth it? Reno’s voice screamed in his head; over and over it screamed, and every time it repeated, a new level of agony was laid on top of it.
“Was it worth it?” Elish repeated quietly to himself before slowly opening his eyes. There was nothing in front of him but the dirt-covered road, the medians with strips of rebar snared through, and…
Elish looked to his side and noticed a building that was fully intact.
It looks like we’re at least out of the plaguelands. This is the first house I’ve seen without at least some char.
“Elish…” Garrett’s voice called after an hour. He jogged up to him until they were walking side by side. “We’re taking a break. Come rest with us.”
“I am not stopping,” Elish said in a dark tone.
“Please…” Garrett pleaded. “Reno’s falling behind. He’s exhausted and he won’t sleep. Please, Elish. I need you to help me with him, I – I don’t know what to do.”
Elish stopped and looked ahead. He didn’t want to admit it to himself but he knew he needed to rest. They had been walking for almost twenty hours now in a desperate break for the barriers of the plaguelands. Nico and Reno were both mortal and all of their radiation juice and Iodine pills were in the long gone Falconer. It had been hard to force Reno to leave, but eventually he did. Though the two of them needed to get back to Skyfall and quickly for more pills and anti-radiation therapy. Their exposure, even the short time that it was, was still high above the levels their Geigerchips could handle and they’d be soon getting sick.
Elish turned around and saw the others heading towards the intact house he had just observed. He followed behind them, with Garrett walking in sync with his own steps.
“I’m sorry,” Garrett sniffed. “I… I didn’t know what else to do. Silas had already given Sanguine the order to kill him and he was seconds away from stabbing him. I had to tell him.”
“I trusted you to keep quiet,” Elish said in a dangerously iced tone. “Killian is dead and Reaver is worse than dead because of you.”
There was a pause as Elish stalked towards the abandoned house.
“My fault?” Garrett’s voice was sharp and holding a layer of darkness that rarely saw light. “My fault?”
“Don’t even start with me,” Elish said, his own tone showing many beacons of warning.
But Garrett didn’t plan on heeding any of those warnings; his green eyes were narrow and glaring with anger.
“If you didn’t start this fucking rebellion in the first place, none of this would’ve happened. If you didn’t have this stupid need to be top dog, none of this–”
“ENOUGH!” Elish whirled around and roared. Jack and Caligula, on the porch and looking on at the tense interaction, raised their eyebrows. “You will not patronize me about shit you do not understand.”
But surprisingly Garrett stood his ground. However his stance was braced, as if expecting a physical blow as punishment for his brazen defiance. “Your husband is dying because of your foolish dream. Two innocent boys are dead, or better off dead, and our born immortal brother is dead. All because of YOU!”
“My husband would already be dead if it wasn’t for me,” Elish snarled, “and you wouldn’t even have one. Know your place, you fucking coattail-clinging coward; I am not above taking back gifts.”
Garrett’s already angry face blazed; his lips pursed together and his head tilted just slightly to the side. “If you ever threaten Reno again…”
“I don’t threaten, I promise.”
“If anything happens to Reno, I will take back the gift I gave you by saving Jade after your order to kill him before he was born. I swear on my life, I will end that brain-dead little shit’s suffering and–”
Elish raised a hand and backhanded Garrett so hard he flew sideways and onto the greywaste ash.
“If you ever speak ill about my husband again… it will be you I kill, not Silas,” Elish said in a dangerous tone. “That… that I swear, Garrett. I will burn Skyfall for my husband, and I will burn the world if harm comes to him, and as the world turns to ashes I will stand on your bodies and the bodies of each of your lovers.”
As Elish turned to walk towards the house a low voice could be heard.
“You sound like Silas, you know,” Garrett said behind him. “I bet you don’t even see it, do you? You’re becoming the very thing you’re trying to convince us to kill. You give us our lovers… and if we don’t do what you want… you take them back.”
Elish stopped, and with his fists locked and his shoulders tight, he slowly turned around.
“I am not Silas,” Elish said in a cold whisper. “Enjoy your jabs, brother. You will never get the chance to say such untrue filth to me again.”
“No, I won’t,” Garrett said as he got to his feet, a trickle of blood running down his chin. “Because we’re done. I’m not helping this stupid rebellion, it already almost cost me Reno. I’m out, do it yourself.”
“Very well,” Elish said casually. Then, to Garrett’s horror, Elish pulled out the small pistol he kept inside of his overcoat and walked towards Reno, who was huddled in a corner with his arms clasped over his drawn-up knees.
“Elish! NO!” Garrett screamed. He tried to pull the gun out of Elish’s grasp but Elish whirled around, and with a quick swing of his free hand, sent Garrett crashing into an old, worn table. It splintered and broke, spilling Garrett onto the ground in a plume of dust.
Elish stood in front of Reno and raised the gun.
Reno stared back at him. His eyes were sore and puffy and his body an angry red from the heat of the white flames they had left behind.
The greywaster sniffed before his face twisted in agony.
“Just do it,” Reno said in a weak whimper. He lowered his head and shook his half-silver, half-black hair slowly back and forth. “Please… just do it.”
“Reno, no!” Garrett cried. The sound of wood and debris being shifted around was heard before Garrett dove in between Elish and Reno, his hands up in surrender. “Please, Elish, don’t. He’s been through enough. Don’t hurt him.”
Reno stared down at Garrett, then back up to Elish. “What the fuck are you waiting for, Ice Man? I got nothing – I got… I fucking got nothing. Just do it already.”
“Don’t – don’t!” Garrett cried, tears starting to well in his eyes. “I’ll align with you. I will… I… I was just upset. You have my allegiance.”
Elish’s eyes narrowed at Garrett before he put the gun back into his overcoat. “You will not get a second chance to backtrack.” Then his eyes flickered over to Jack who was sitting beside Silas. The Grim had a piece of something charred in his hand and his mouth was moving up and down. The explanation was right in front of Jack, strips of Silas’s black skin had been peeled away, showing off the ruby-red meat underneath.
“Stop eating the fucking king!” Elish snapped, and with a sweep of his robes, he left the terror-stricken Garrett and the indifferent, depressed
Reno.
“It’s all going to slough off anyway,” Jack replied casually, like the intense confrontation in front of them hadn’t even happened. Jack just sat there with his chin resting on his hand, chewing away. “I’ve dealt with many burnt chimeras before. You all might as well dig in. It’s a free meal and we might as well save the meat we got from those slave bodies we found.”
“I’m not proud…” Caligula walked over with a radiation-burnt Nico beside him. Elish swallowed the growl in his throat and stalked out of the abandoned and crumbling house and onto the porch.
Elish sat down on a sun-bleached bench and stared out into the greywastes, seeing nothing but grey terrain, rocks, and the dirt-swept road. Everything looked the same in front of him, the greywastes never changed. He could only be twenty miles from Nanaimo Harbour and the scenery around him would be the exact same.
But he wasn’t twenty miles from Skyfall… or a hundred, or two, or even five.
Eight hundred miles…
An hour after sitting on the bench in silence, Jack came out holding several aromatic strips of Silas’s blackened skin. He sat down beside Elish and offered it to him. “Everyone inside is eating, even the greywaster. If you want to get to the nearest town, you should be eating.”
Elish stared forward before grudgingly taking the flesh. He took a bite out of it and grimaced as he chewed. When he was done eating the overcooked meat, which tasted like burnt jerky, he let out a reserved sigh.
Jack noticed it. “Sanguine is watching over your husband, brother. He wouldn’t let harm come to him; you know how much Sanguine loves him. We’re already much too late returning, I bet he has a Falconer coming to pick us up right now.”
Elish was quiet for several more moments before he finally spoke. “Sanguine is the one that put Kincade up to it. No one is coming for us.”
Not only did a silence fall between the two of them but inside had also gone quiet.