“Well, thanks for bringing me back. I’ll try to adhere to uh, your instructions.” I gave a flip of my braid and left the Officer behind. He sped off in the jeep, and I was standing at the steps of my shelter. The door opened, and Lulu came flying out. I had never been so happy to see her.
“Little Owl! Did you see your mommy?” I called out and she barreled into my arms in a bundle of energy and love. Behind her, Annie followed with Tyler.
“We saw everything, and you were amazing. Lulu wouldn’t sit still, she was so excited to see her Mom on the big screen. It was very exciting. But, we’ve got to go and begin the instructional phase Councilman Gallach told us about. Izzie and I are very glad there will be a babysitter to watch the little ones while all this is happening. But, Mina … war? Are they sure?” The lines around her eyes had deepened, and I merely nodded. There was no use denying it anymore. Mack and Isabelle exited the house just then, munching on leftover French toast from earlier that morning.
“D’you think they’ll have lunch ready for us at the mess, eh?” Mack asked, and it was clear he wasn’t all that worried about anything beyond his next meal. Isabelle kept her eyes on Tyler, the worry obvious on her face.
“Well, let’s go and find out, shall we?” I said. “Lulu, I think you’ll be making some more new friends very soon. You and Tyler will have the job of listening to another adult in charge, and I want you to do your best to try to have a little fun while the grown-ups work.” I hoped she bought this, my feeble attempts at dressing up something dire as potential fun.
“I’m tired of always having to be away from you and Daddy. I want to fight, too.” She was pouting, which was rare for her. The stress had to wear her down at some point. I sighed, but kept my hand on her head as we walked back toward the mess hall. Other people were on the dirt road making their way in the same direction, some of them pointing at me and calling my name in recognition. I remembered the Officer’s instruction, and smiled and waved back. Lulu was fascinated by this and distracted from her unhappiness for the time being. Several Originals stopped to introduce themselves to Lulu and me, and the PR junket continued all the way to the hall. My group seemed amused by this attention, but I was secretly worrying who my daughter’s babysitter would be. And a part of me was wondering if I was killed in battle, who would be her mother? Because surely Lulu would survive this. With my very last breath I would ensure her safety. There were no other options.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Alyssa
They didn’t bother to put up screens for us to watch the speeches on. I heard one of the nerds say there were some sort of jumbotron movie theater–type things going on in all the camps, but being a half-morph was turning out to be a second-class citizen situation. But we could hear it all just fine, and I watched Jack perk up and tilt his head at an angle that told the rest of us we needed to listen closely to what was being said. By his wife, no less. Although I sort of wanted to hate her, and trash her speech, she really rose to the occasion. I saw the pride evident in Jack’s body language. He practically puffed out his sinewy chest when he heard the cheers rise up at the finish of her talk. Then that crazy Councilman came on over the loudspeakers and talked about how all the Originals would be instructed in how to use the new weapons. I guessed that maybe a confrontation with those alien bastards was unavoidable. Jack was telling us all to stay calm, but there were changes occurring in all our bodies as the Travelers got closer, even closer during the speeches. It was as if our brains were being triggered by their proximity, and the rage and hunger was only getting stronger. I was able to control myself, but some of the other half-morphs were starting to get restless. The Facility nerds weren’t sedating us any more today, and I figured that was because we’d need to be at our best once the space idiots landed. I was pretty sure they’d have technology that was far more advanced than anything the Facility could have come up with in such a short time, but it would be pointless telling any of them we were basically just lambs going to slaughter. They wanted a fight, and I had nothing else to live for. But Jack, he had a family he loved dearly. The pangs of jealousy I felt at this had only become more intense in this half-morph body, and I whimpered at the sensation. Rory had finished giving his instructions, and I almost laughed at how impossible it would be to control an entire city population. But before I could communicate how futile I thought it all was to Jack, a cry arose from some of our group, and the nerds stopped their bustling around, adjusting machines, and dosing meds. It was eerily similar to the calls we had given as Eaters on the hunt, but the human quality was nerve jangling. Then a bunch of half-morphs started thrashing around in their cages, as if they wanted to get out. I felt alarmed, because if we started acting up they’d sedate all of us to the point of unconsciousness. Jack was trying to control them, but their powerful bodies seemed impervious to the pain the metal bars of the cage were clearly inflicting on them. The nerds were rushing around trying to calm them down, and the air had changed somehow. A scent had arisen and it was a wild, untamed smell that told me fighting or fleeing was essential to survival. It was a siren call, and one I probably couldn’t keep myself from heeding. Unable to resist any longer, my limbs began to twitch, and a frothing gathered at the edges of my mouth. Jack had lost control of the half-morphs and was now losing control over himself. Soon I’d follow the insanity that was consuming us all, rippling out amongst us in a wave. I began to see red, a pulsing crimson that was blood and life and hate and hunger all in one. Soon the cry ripped from my own throat, and I was a slave to the sensations. We wanted to fight, and the only things keeping us from leaping forward to seek out our prey were the steel bars of these cages.
Mina
“Betsy?” I asked, incredulous. We had finally found our way to the mess hall again, and I’d been dodging my new adoring fans the entire way. Once there, I had looked around to find which line my group should get in for weapons instruction. I saw many children gathering around a familiar figure. Was she the babysitter Rory had said all the kids would be assigned to? I was thrilled to see her, and my feet almost tripped over themselves on my way to embrace her.
“It is you!” I exclaimed. “How did you get here?” Betsy had been an ally of mine back when the Eaters had taken over the city, and she’d been a member of the rebels that had gathered out here in the forests. She was a nurse from Four and had guessed I was pregnant but had kept that a secret from the other rebels, who would have probably killed me if they’d known I was carrying the spawn of an Eater.
Her generous bosom and round face were a welcome sight, as she laughed with glee.
“I watched you up on that stage, and I couldn’t have been more proud! You truly have come into yourself since I last saw you. And this must be your young one.” Betsy crouched down in the dirt to get a better look at Lulu, who was shyly clinging to my side. The rest of my group was watching our interaction with some interest, probably wondering what I had been like five years ago, what the rebels had been like. Mack hitched his way toward a growing line of Originals, and motioned the rest of my group to follow him.
“Betsy, this is Lulu. Last you saw her, she was in my belly. Lulu, Betsy knew about your existence before your father did. She’s a very special friend.” Lulu extended her hand in the old-fashioned greeting Jack and I had taught her, although Originals never greeted one another in this way anymore. But Betsy was delighted at this tiny adult gesture and swept Lulu up into a big hug. Her maternal nature was as bright and glowing as ever, and for a brief moment I basked in the warmth of it.
“So are you here to help take care of the little ones? The kids who won’t be fighting?” I asked, and Betsy nodded. And with that nod, some of my fear disappeared. If she was helping with the kids, things would surely be ok.
“Lulu, I want you to listen to everything Betsy tells you to do while I’m away. Can you do that for me?” The crowds were growing around us, and other children were beginning to play tag with one another. Lulu looked distracted by all t
he activity, but she nodded.
“Can I go find Tyler and play now?” she asked, and I agreed.
“I’ve got to go and help round up all the little ones,” Betsy said. “I have help, of course, but there will be hundreds of kids in this camp alone. I’ve got my work cut out for me, but it’s a joy to be able to help in this way. I’ll keep a close eye on your little one especially. I can tell she’s different from the others. Very unique, like her mother.” Betsy winked, and I smiled in response.
“Of course, your husband in the state he’s in, well, I can only hope that’s resolved once we’ve got ourselves out of the way of danger once more.” Betsy was hopeful this situation could still be fixed, I gathered.
There were Obedience Officers accompanied by Facility staff at the head of growing lines, and they were busily unloading the weapons from trucks and passing them around the crowd. “I better join my group and find out how exactly we’re supposed to be soldiers with these weapons. I’m seeing one that looks like a miniature rocket launcher and that doesn’t bode well for a klutz like me.” I was attempting levity, but Betsy looked confused. I guessed she’d never heard of a rocket launcher. But that’s what it looked like, although made of a very light-weight metal I had never seen before. Betsy was being dragged away by a group of little kids, all demanding she join in their game, and her welcome laugh washed over me once more. I turned away, still feeling a bit better at this pleasant development, and focused my attention on what the Obedience Officers were saying. My group was standing alongside the edge of the mess hall, and the sky was beginning to show signs of rain. A fat drop of rain fell just as I was looking up into the sky, and the crowd released a sigh of consternation. They weren’t used to the rainforest, and I doubted they ever would be. Even though they lived in a city surrounded by jungles, many of them had never even been out here, and certainly not this deep into the forest. Mack didn’t seem to mind though, and had gotten his hands on one of the gun-like things. The Officer standing in front of us was telling our line of people how to aim it, and how to activate it. Each gun would emit a wave, soundless and noiseless. But the effect would be powerful, and so no one was actually discharging the weapon at a target.
“One gun can level this entire campsite. So please, leave the safety on and don’t even think about discharging it just yet. Because the waves emitted from these guns travel at the speed of light, we built in a high-diametric medium so that you all can track each wave’s progress, to better ensure you aim properly and keep each other safe.” The Officer was closely watching the crowd of intent faces to ensure the soldiers were heeding the warnings. “Each camp will be organized into groups, and one person in each group will be assigned one of these.” The Officer held up the mini rocket launcher, as the Facility researcher kept an eye on all the weapons being handed out to each Original.
“This gravitational disruptor is the most powerful weapon any of you will be handling. It’s a last resort, and that’s why only one of you will be trained to operate it. If the situation arises, that person will be in charge of coming to the front of your formations and discharging it at the enemy.”
“Hold up now, you want one of us to become a prime target for those alien assholes? I don’t think anyone wants that job!” A frantic-looking man had spoken up, and the crowd surrounding him began to murmur in assent. Oh lord, I thought, we don’t need an uprising right now. The Facility researcher looked around nervously, tugging her dreadlocks away from her moist face. She licked her lips, then softly spoke up. The crowd quieted, and I strained to hear her.
“These are all just precautions. You’ll be organized in such a way that safety is the first priority. We’ve been studying war strategy for many years, just in case we ever had to … help … the populations we oversee. We’ve got all the best information, and you can trust that these weapons are formidable.” She looked self-conscious at all the scrutiny, but she turned away to begin unloading the vests from a waiting truck. Turning back to the watching crowd, she put a vest on.
“These are our ace in the hole, as it were. The vests provide a sort of force field around your entire body. We’ve made it so they are easy to operate, even for the youngest among us. Nothing is getting past these vests. Here, along the side, is where you activate them.” Obedience Officers passed out vests, and people began putting them on.
“They can sense an incoming threat on an atomic level, and deflect anything that might harm your person.” She seemed proud of this fact, and although the science was lost on me, I could see Mack was listening closely to her descriptions. As a physicist, I supposed this was the stuff he lived for. I was thankful I was in biology. I could still hear strains of children’s laughter although they were well out of anyone else’s earshot, and I knew the youngest ones were being entertained by Betsy and the other helpers. I scanned my sharp eyes over the dusty landscape to find my own child in the melee, but the tones of my communicator began to go off. Oh no, I thought, what now? With a sense of dread that anyone calling me wouldn’t have any good news, I took out my device. It was Eva’s worried face that filled my screen. I sighed, expecting it to be some kind of message from Rory.
“Hey Eva, how are things? We’re just in the middle of the weapons tutorials. You didn’t tell me the Facility has been studying war strategy all this time.” I stopped when I saw the frown on her face deepen.
“Mina, we’re having trouble with the half-morphs. We need you to come and communicate with them. Don’t worry, I still haven’t told anyone what you can do, other than Rory, of course …” She hushed her voice at this, and looked over her shoulder. When she looked back, her face had grown even more pale, her freckles standing out. “Something is wrong with them and no sedation of ours is calming them. Can you please come, quickly?”
Jack. What was wrong with Jack? “Eva, is my husband ok? Is he hurt? Did Luke do something to him?” Suddenly I forgot about the looming war, and my only thoughts were of his well-being. The buzz of having spoken to a million people had worn off, and the safety Betsy had brought with her was fading from my mind as well.
“He’s actually the only half-morph able to contain himself. He’s still in charge. We need you to talk to him,” she repeated, and I nodded. Looking around for Lulu once more, and not finding her, I thought perhaps it was better she not know about this most recent drama.
“Is there one of those fast jeep things around to take me to the camp? I’m ready right now,” I told Eva. She said there would be one waiting for me at the edge of the camp.
“If you can, please run to it, we don’t want to alert anyone to the possibility of a half-morph uprising, if that’s what this is. The last thing we need is some kind of panic taking over the camps.” Eva’s voice was taut with worry, and I began to jog toward the northern edge, where I’d met Luke the previous night. I glanced over my shoulder to my group and saw them watching me depart with looks of confusion on their faces. I still had Eva on the screen, and I managed to tell her one more thing before I logged off.
“Whatever you do, don’t hurt him. Don’t hurt any of them.” Then I picked up my pace and sprinted, covering ground as fast as I possibly could. I tried not to pay attention to the attention I was getting, but I realized I was now a celebrity behaving oddly. For a brief moment I had a memory of gossip publications from my era, and paparazzi snapping pictures of erratic movie stars. My thoughts were bordering on a meltdown, and I wanted to slap myself back into reality. I focused my thoughts back on Jack and worried what would be waiting for me at the half-morph camp.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
I could hear the snarling and high-pitched screams rending the air long before we arrived at the camp. The swelling cacophony was horrifying and soul wrenching, because the pain and anger of those calls was unlike anything I’d ever heard. I sat with my hands covering my ears but was unable to block the noise. The Officer driving the jeep kept his mouth set in a grim line, but his knuckles were white as they gripped the steering wheel. W
e flew over the barren ground, and a clap of thunder met my abused ears. Without the cover of the trees, the torrent would be a deluge, and I thought of my daughter back at our camp, surrounded by adults and older children going through military drills. But her father was my main concern now, and I kept my eyes forward on the road. At the perimeter of the half-morph camp, the Officer ground the jeep to a halt and I leapt over the side of it, sprinting once again toward the sounds that were ripping my soul apart. Jack was among them, and I felt impotent to offer him any aid. The cages were rocking back and forth with the force of the half-morphs inside them, and I saw several researchers standing around, looking totally unable to control whatever rage had taken over the disfigured clones. I wondered briefly where Luke was keeping himself, not noticing him in the crowd of Facility staff.
The rain had started to come down in sheets, and it fell over the canopies with a pounding sound that reminded me of jackboots marching to war. Rory, pacing under a tent and surrounded by his usual retinue, broke away from the rest of the researchers when he saw me. He hurried over with Eva by his side to talk to me. They both knew my secret now, and they’d be wanting me to communicate with the creatures.
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