by Mel Todd
Anne sighed. "I don't know much about kids and I have no idea how all of you aren't blubbering piles of terror. How about I find some sugar and you watch a movie for a bit? I've got calls I need to make."
Charley glanced at Jessi and Jamie and they shrugged. He could see the low tremors in them and felt their fear rolling in their links.
"Sure," he said, pulling them to the large beanbag in front of the TV. He put in their favorite movie. Well, the twin’s favorite movie. They loved the animated Jungle Book, he preferred the Lego movies but didn't mind Mowgli.
They cuddled up in the beanbag, leaning on each other, as Anne gave them a bowl of chocolate covered peanuts. They let the familiar sounds of the movie wash over them as they leaned into each other and Charley tried to sooth them.
He could feel the stress in their mind links and he tried to help. But he just wanted to be in Kenna's arms and know she would protect him. But she couldn't protect herself.
~Don't cry. You cry and I'll cry too.~ Jessi whispered in his mind, so silent not even Jamie heard her voice.
Charley blinked his eyes rapidly, holding both of them tight, silent as they waited.
Adults Take Over
In the last few months the shock waves of accepting new abilities have rippled through our country and others in a manner similar to the race issues of the last century. But amazingly the backlash has been more subdued globally than experts first expected. When following up with Harvard trained sociologist Grace Neman, she had this to say - “One of the reasons shifters have integrated into our existing society so well is they were still a part of it. Their parents, siblings, spouses, and children were there to keep them anchored. It isn’t like they are a new race.” ~ TNN Science News
"Jessi? Jamie?" Carina's voice pulled them out of the trance of familiarity, and Jessi and Jamie bolted up and ran for her. She sank to her knees and grabbed them both in her arms. At that they both lost it and burst into tears, babbling and sobbing.
Charley looked away, wanting to be pulled into that hug and wanting McKenna back. He sank down a little farther into the beanbag, ignoring the adults and trying to pay attention to Baloo dancing on the screen.
Jessi plopped onto one side of him and Jamie the other, startling him. He’d managed to block out so much of the world around him he hadn’t noticed they had quit talking to Carina. Glancing over he saw Carina and Anne talking furiously in the kitchen, Carina’s hands waving as they talked, but their voices were low and he didn’t feel like trying to listen in.
~You okay?~ He asked them.
They shrugged and snuggled down. He welcomed their warmth and just sat back and waited. There wasn’t anything he could do and he just wanted to cry. But that would not be a good thing to do. Not now.
They ignored the adults, watching the movie until Anne stepped in front of the TV. Charley hit pause and they just looked at her waiting, knowing that whatever she would say it would not be good
Ann started to speak. “I’ve talked to our captain, Captain Kirk.” She paused as if waiting for something but Charley didn’t say anything. He just watched her, waiting. She took a deep breath and then continued. “He’s on his way over and I’ve called in crime scene techs to take a look at everything. The question is: What do we want to do with you guys?”
Before any of the kids could respond there was a knock at the door and Anne stood back up.
Charley watched her walk away and sent a quick thought to the twins. ~Do you guys care if I come with you? I really don’t want to stay here. At least I know Carina.~
Jessi‘s response was instant. ~Of course you’re coming with us. Where else would you go? You’re going to stay with us until our parents get home.~ She stuck her lip out and glared at him and he knew that the matter had been decided regardless of what any of the adults thought.
He shifted his attention back to where a man talked to Anne. He didn’t recognize him but that didn’t mean anything. Charley noticed a gun on the man’s hip and an odd air of command.
That must be the captain she was talking about.
He needed information about their chances of finding McKenna and the rest. Charley pulled himself out of the beanbag shooting a quick thought to the twins.
~Just stay here. I want to talk to him. He probably won’t tell me anything, but you know I have to ask.~
He felt the assent in his head and headed over to the three adults. Carina with her arms crossed and a familiar mutinous expression on her face
So that’s where Jessi learned it.
The thought made him half smile even as he shifted his weight standing in front of the adults. The man, McKenna’s captain he assumed, turned and looked at him and smiled. It wasn’t a friendly smile but it wasn’t an unfriendly one either. It struck him more as the smile of a man who didn’t know what else to say to someone hurting. That was okay, Charley didn’t know what to say either
“I want to let you know that we’re looking for McKenna now. Trust me, we have all resources available looking for Officer Largo.” His voice was meant to be reassuring but Charley heard more in it.
“You’re going to find her?” Charley hated the fact that that his voice cracked as he asked but there wasn’t anything he could do about it.
“We’re going to try our best to find her, yes.”
At least he didn’t lie to me.
It was an improvement over most adults he’d known. He just nodded, trying to figure out what he wanted to ask but the man talked first.
“Charley, can you describe any of them? Did you get a look at the cars? Did they say anything you remember? Did they use any names? Did you see how they got here?” The questions came out rapid fire and all he could do was shake his head at each question. As his failure became more and more obvious he hunched his shoulders and clenched his hands in tight fists.
“Captain.” Anne said softly, stopping the stream of unanswerable questions. The man paused and sighed.
“Sorry. This is why I don’t have kids. So, you don’t remember, or can think of, anything that might help me find my officers?”
Charley wanted to protest, to say they were their parents, and that if he knew anything of course he’d say something. Before he could say anything, there was another knock on the door.
The sergeant answered it and a bunch of people with yellow suit‘s and boxes and all other sorts of equipment that he had no idea what it would do, stood outside the door.
“We’re here about the crime scene? Sergeant Holich called us in? She wanted us to take a look at something?” Anne nodded to them, then looked at Charley.
“Charley, will you show them where it happened? Tell them what you remember, so they can review the area and see if there’s any evidence?”
He shrugged, headed towards the back. It wasn’t like he was going to say no but what was he supposed to tell them?
With a quick reassuring thought to the twins, he led them out back and pointed out where he thought he saw McKenna fall with that needle the men in dark clothes shot at her. The only thing he did actually manage to tell, or show them, was the dart that they had fired at him and missed. When the crime tech picked it up he was very glad that dart hadn’t hit him.
“Thanks kid, you did good.” With that they dismissed him and instead started taking lots of pictures and talking about things that not only did he not understand, he just didn’t care about. All he cared about was that it might help them find McKenna.
Charley walked back into the kitchen and looked at the three adults, well that’s how he thought of them, as the adults--the captain, the sergeant, and Carina. All three turned to look at him and he shuffled uncomfortably.
“Yes?” he asked suspecting that anything they told him wouldn’t be good for him.
Carina turn to him. “Hey, you want to come home with us? Stay the night? We can order pizza on the way home. That work?”
Charley gave her a funny look. Like he was going to say no to pizza. “Sure. That’s fine.”
Carina gave a triumphant glance towards the two police officers, as if to say See?“ “Okay Charley, go grab your stuff and we will leave here in a minute.”
The twins jumped up and beat him to his bedroom. Jessi grabbed a bag and started packing his stuff.
“I can pack my own stuff,” he muttered.
She just shot him a look and didn’t stop packing. And he had to admit she grabbed what he would need. He took a minute to grab the spare keys for the house. It also had JD’s and Toni’s keys on it, along with the pocket knife JD had given him. Fifteen minutes later they had all of his stuff packed up in a simple backpack and Carina had buckled both of the kids into their car seats. Jessi hated it but even she had to admit she wasn’t big enough or old enough to get past the laws.
“So, what are we going to do?” Jamie asked later, his voice low, while twiddling with the pizza crust. Jessi grunted and grabbed the pizza crust from him and the other paper plates at the same time, standing up.
“What do you mean, do? We can’t do anything. We’re just kids.” Her voice had both anger and tears at the edges.
“Charley did something when we were taken by those other guys.” Jamie protested.
Jessi fell silent. Jamie was right but Charley was the only one who had done anything. He hated remembering that day.
“We can’t do anything. We just have to hope the adults can.” Charley’s voice stayed low as he muttered that last part and everybody fell silent.
Carina had put in a new movie, a comic book one, letting them watch it and stay up late. But when it ended she sent them all to bed and none of them had an issue with it. They were all tired, so no one protested.
Maybe just maybe, when we wake up everything will be back to normal before.
Charley fell asleep trying not to think, but in a mental voice so quiet that even Jessi couldn’t hear it, he kept pinging McKenna’s link. ~Kenna? Mom? Are you there?~
Squad Tactics
While the percentage of people who can shift has remained steady at two percent worldwide, the amount of children in that percentage is much smaller. This has raised questions about why there seems to be clusters of children in some areas and almost none in others. Parents have raised the question of if it is healthy or not for shifter children to be gravitating towards each other. Do they need the presence of other shifter children or is it just a like-attracts- like sort of thing? ~ TNN News teaser
“Everybody down! Aim at the target assigned to you. Do you hear me?” The voice bellowed in his head and ears and Charley reacted without thinking. Hitting the ground, rifle up and aimed down range like everyone else next to him.
“Sir, yes sir, we hear you sir!” The answer in a chorus from all the other people around him as he focused down the scope of his weapon at the bobbing lights racing towards them. The word didn’t sound right, that wasn’t the word he said. He couldn’t pull out what word he’d really used but the meaning matched, so he let it go even as he tried to figure out what was going on.
Part of him noticed that the hand gripping the rifle was fur covered, with long sharp claws. But the only thing that mattered right now was paying attention to the voice. Even his dream self couldn’t look around. It had to listen to the voice.
“When I say fire, I expect everybody to shoot. Do you understand me?” The person yelling moved behind him and he ached to turn and see but the body didn’t move.
Once again as a group, “Sir, yes sir!” He realized as he focused on the scope that the lights were actually tracers on figures racing towards him.
Tracers? How do I know that word? How do I know what it means? Am I supposed to shoot at those figures? Is this a game?
But the thought wasn’t important. What was important was obeying the voice and so he aimed and waited for the command. Even as he tried to figure out where he was.
This isn’t real, is it? It’s like a video game but more real.
“Fire,” the voice ordered, and his finger contracted. Between the contracting of his finger on the trigger and the explosion of the figure racing towards him there was barely a delay between the two actions as the figure crumpled out of his line of sight. On automatic he shifted, centering on the next figure in his assigned area. “Again,” yelled the voice and again he fired, and again the bobbing lights fell. Over and over, and one by one, until there were no more racing towards them. An odd hush fell, but he listened for the voice.
Internally, Charley wanted to scream, to run away. He’d just killed people. He knew this, even without seeing the body at his feet he knew that people had died.
I want to wake up now. I don’t like this. I don’t want to kill people.
The thought was frantic but he still stared out at the strange landscape with calm detachment. The colors were just wrong though he couldn’t say how. He wanted to fix them, make them the right colors. People on either side of him weren’t humans but he didn’t know what they were. He’d never played many video games. Shelia had always sold them for drugs and all the one’s JD had got for him were funny or driving games. Now he just wanted to be sick. How could anyone want to do this or pretend to do this?
“Good job. Everybody up. Form into your squads now.” Charley reacted without hesitation, leaping to his feet, his weapon snug in his shoulder. Two other people joined him. He caught black fur out of the corner of his eyes. Turning he looked and saw Jessi and Jamie stare back at him in warrior form. A sense of relief, something to hold onto grabbed him, even as he realized he’d never seen them in warrior form.
How do I know who they are? Why are they adults? Why are we adults? Why am I calling it warrior form? That is what McKenna changed into to save us.
The thought registered deep in his mind but rather than focusing on that, he sank into a squatting position. They covered each other, ready to move out on command.
“Forward. Each of you have an assigned sector. Clear it. I want every creature in this area eliminated and a clean sweep completed. Move out.” The voice held no emotion, just the order and they responded.
A heads-up display, HUD, popped up in front of his eyes, showing all the other soldiers and his squad’s sector. Each group had icons and colors, letting them know where their allies were. He broke into a light easy trot heading towards his sector. It showed clear in his mind though he had no idea how he knew where it was. Moving his gun from side to side, he checked each area as they went through their building. The first one in their area loomed directly in front of them. He went through the door and he could feel Jessie and Jamie behind him. Each of them turning, as if on cue, to clear the rooms. They went through them in a logical, quick manner until a noise behind one of the doors drew his attention.
Charley waved them both to stop with a hand signal. Though he had no idea how he knew the signals for stop and go forward, he used them without thinking, without even having to try and remember what they were.
Stopping in front of the door, his squad members flanking him on either side, he lifted a booted foot and kicked down the door.
My feet are huge. I’ve never seen boots like that.
The boots wrapped up to his knee, but rather than the rounded toes he was used to, they almost looked like gloves for his feet with a place for each toe. At the end of the toe the material seemed soft, flexible, and he knew if he extended the claws on his feet they would shoot out through that material.
He moved in with his gun focused on the creature in the corner of the room. It looked like something from one of the sci-fi movies JD liked to watch. Scales, large eyes, oddly pretty. It screeched or screamed at him, hands in the air, as it cowered back from him.
Charley’s hands pulled the trigger and the head disappeared.
What? Why did I do that?
Even as he flinched back in horror his body turned and moved through the house. One more of the creatures died at his hands before they exited the building.
“House clear. Moving on to next.”
“Acknowledged
.”
They moved into the next house. Charley was numb as his body moved and acted, ignoring his thoughts. By the time they were complete, a total of fifteen of those creatures, beings, aliens, had been eliminated. Even watching from outside his own actions, his brain wouldn’t allow him to call it murder.
“Sector clear,” he said, even as his squad mates fell in next to him. He could sense one was missing, squads were made up of four, but it didn’t solidify. More like a missing tooth that he poked at.
“Fall back to retrieval point. Drop ship inbound.” The voice allowed no argument, no dissent, so he and his squad moved. As they trotted across the field, a flick of light to his right pulled his attention.
“Down,” his voice cracked sharp both in his mind and physically even as he dropped and rolled. Without thought he came up aiming at the flickering movement. Jamie on his left had adopted a prone position and had his rifled aimed at where Charley saw the flicker. Jessi had rotated, landing in a crouch her body and gun covering their backs. She had to cover too much area since they were down their other squad member but she adapted just fine.
His eyes locked on the flicker of light, a figure running towards them, but the transponder didn’t match to anything in his display.
“Put it down,” his voice had no inflection or intonation, though he never planned on saying those words. Even as he spoke he targeted and pulled the trigger. The running figure went down. He scanned, no other incoming targets. “Stay, cover, will investigate.”
Assent filtered to him through the link. It felt different from what he normally felt from Jamie or Jessi but still felt like assent. He stood, stalking over to the figure crumpled on the ground. At first it looked like one of the lizard dragon alien things but as he got closer, it changed, morphed, and McKenna’s lifeless eyes stared up at him.
The feeling of his claws growing, his body shifting, pulled him up to consciousness. Panting and gasping, recognizing the warrior form he had started to shift into, he pushed it back, lying trembling in his human body. The warning McKenna and Wefor had given them, about them being too young to shift, echoed in his mind.