My trigger finger twitches. As calmly as I can, I say, “When you are out there, in it, there is no warning. There is no time to think. There are only threats and execution. You react off your first instinct. Your first instinct should not be endangering yourself or your team members.” I motion my gun toward the people sitting. “Go sit down,” I say, disappointed.
“Trust exercise!” I shout. “Creations, come forward. Good thing you all are great shooters,” I tease with a smile, proud of my team’s improvements. “Everyone will not do this, there are honestly too many of you.”
“You should see how many brave Normals we have in our sector, Ky,” Jesail says, grinning, a thrill filling her bright eyes with joy.
She’s on to something. And I will probably get in trouble for this later, but…I shrug. “Okay, do we have any brave humans?”
A few stand.
There is a loud shrill outside, followed by three more. A few humans screech in fear and crowd together. Yeah, like that would save them.
I check my holster, hoping I brought my other gun. I didn’t. I could stay here and let someone else handle it, but as I think and the seconds pass, I don’t hear any gunshots.
Using these guns, we’ll have five seconds or fewer, maybe a little more before the undead rise.
Come on Ky, think of a plan. What can we do?
I look at my group of Creations. “Okay, got it.” I think out loud. “Creations, come with me.” I talk fast. “I can only say this once so listen up. The guns we have will only falter them temporarily. Me and five of you will go after them. The others will race to the general’s office. He has handguns and shotguns by his door that will kill them. Get the weapons and find us quickly. Remember what I’ve taught you. Do not get bitten or scratched. Try to keep them away from you. And look out for each other.”
I run to the door, yelling, “Everyone else stay here! Creations, fall out!”
The heat smacks me hard when I run outside. I stand still, waiting for the shrill or sound of sluggish or fast approaching footsteps, someone yelling…something.
It’s silent, nothing but the sound of the air conditioners running.
“What’s wrong?” Joe asks.
“Shh.” I listen more closely. They don’t make a sound. “Quietly follow me,” I tell them. “You all heard that shrill, right?”
“Yes,” they say.
Okay, I’m not losing my mind.
We walk the dirt road toward Jord’s office, running into Luke and his group of Creations. “You heard that too?” he asks, handing me a gun.
I take it, putting away the one that will do nothing to these Zombies. “Yes.”
“You want to attract them? I don’t get why we don’t hear them anymore. Or why we don’t hear anything.”
“Me either.”
I pull back out my other gun, preparing to hit them together. “My team doesn’t have any of the guns we need.”
Luke checks his mags and puts a bullet in the chamber. “Only some of mine have them. If there are a lot of Zombies, this may get ugly.”
I nod. “For those of you who do not have the heavier guns, you can shoot them, but because they are not affected by our guns, you may need to fight and use what you can to sever their heads from their bodies. Everyone ready?” I ask. “Respond.”
“Yes, we understand,” they all say.
I raise my guns over my head and clap them together twice. “Watch your backs.”
In no time, we are surrounded. Their approach is quiet until they snarl and charge. We fight and shoot until our guns fire empty. It reminds me of being in Chicago when we were outnumbered by the undead.
A few Normals scream in terror as I punch a Zombie back far enough to snatch my knife from my pocket. I plunge it into the Zombie’s neck and sever the head from its body.
I hear a sound from the Normals. Not a good one.
Where is the general?
Their numbers are not reducing. I can’t leave to check on them. We fight the Zombies until our guns are empty. The heat has no impact on the Zombies, but Creations pant. These monsters are strong and stable.
Creations smash the Zombies’ heads with their guns. Brains and blood cover everyone. Fighting these things takes so long. In the time it takes to keep one down, another advances on us.
We aren’t prepared for this. A guy near me screams, and I’m sick. Shortly, we’ll be fighting Creation-made Zombies. Our team members.
“Luke,” I yell, ramming my gun into a Zombie’s head until its skull becomes mush.
“What?” he answers, sounding like he’s throwing a punch.
“We have to get out of here. We are losing, and they are going to start changing.”
“Plan?”
No. No, I don’t have a plan. Run. Get the ones who are left away from here and run to the nearest house, office, or hall.
Trucks screech to a stop, kicking up dust. Shots ring out, and it’s music to my ears. The Zombies drop like pouring rain. While I’m thrilled he’s come to our rescue, I want to ram my blood-smeared gun into the general’s head for just now showing up and for having so few guns available when he knows there may be a chance of a Zombie attack.
It’s quiet, but only for a second. Growling and the sharp sound of cracking bones alert me to something coming from behind us. I slowly turn around, taking in deep breaths of the scorching desert air. I raise my hand to my forehead, distressed and short of breath.
Three from my group are transforming and two from Luke’s. Their twins are standing over them, trying to heal them. Their efforts do nothing.
I clench my fists so tightly my knuckles go white. Looking them over, I know there’s no help. Joe and Anthony are both hurt, and they lie next to each other, holding hands. Neither of them is healing. Megan is kneeling on the ground next to Alex, holding his hand as he growls and his eyes turn red. Robert is the worst off. His lips are darkening, and his eyes are bloodshot. Edward nods, accepting he’s changing. He stands and turns to me.
I look to Jord, hand extended. He places the heavier gun on my palm. “They haven’t figured out any other options, sir?” I ask low.
“No.”
I nod, turning to Edward. He’s in front of me now. Edward surveys me with vibrant green eyes filled with hurt. “I’m sorry,” I tell him, handing him the gun.
He turns on his heels, head hanging low as he walks back to his brother’s side. He kneels beside him and whispers something in his ear. Robert snaps at Edward, and he jumps back, avoiding his bite. Edward’s chest swells as he stands, aims, and fires.
His brother goes limp.
Edward looks away from him and walks to me. His warm, brown skin is flushed red, and his chin is trembling. I open my hand for the gun, but he slams it against my chest. I catch it before it falls to the ground as he continues past me. I hold back the urge to punch him; his anger is with the situation, not with me, and for this moment, I will allow that disrespect. I look away from him when he runs off.
“Megan?” I call.
She shakes her head as she cries, rubbing her brother’s trembling head. He stares up at her, tears streaming from his eyes, the fear of death keeping him from blinking. Megan isn’t ready to do what must be done. I look at Joe and Anthony. Both are growling, and their limbs are jerking and crack as they fight the change. With them both being under, it’s up to me as their leader to end them.
I won’t draw this out. I won’t speak or give an apologetic face. This has always been a possibility since we found out about the Zombies. Approaching Joe and Anthony, I stand over their heads, aiming my gun between Joe’s eyes first. I fire. His head lifts from the ground, and it hits it, followed by his body going lifeless. Anthony’s next, doing the same.
Alex is getting unruly. “Megan,” I start. “If you can’t do this, I’ll do it for you,” I tell her, rubbing her shoulder.
“I can’t do it,” she cries.
“Someone, take her away,” I say, looking down at Alex. He finall
y closes his eyes.
Foster from Luke’s group picks Megan up from the ground and carries her away as she wails.
I liked Alex. He was nice and tried his best at everything. Aiming my gun at him, I remember his boyish voice saying, “We don’t suck rocks.” I shoot and turn away.
Luke and his group take care of their fallen soldiers too.
“You all can go,” I tell my group. “I know they were your friends and family, I’m sorry about what happened.” They walk off without replying.
“My team is dismissed as well,” Luke says, and they go too.
“Get someone to clean up the bodies,” Jord tells Seits. She leaves, calling the others. Those who came out of the trucks get back in them, and they drive away. “What happened?” Jord asks.
“It was an attack!” I snap. “The Zombies were here, and we all came out to defend our base, outnumbered and with no firearms.”
“Lower your tone, Ky,” Luke warns.
Lower my tone?! I lost three of my group members, and we aren’t even in a war! If we’d had the required firearms and all the Creations had been trained equally, this could have ended better.
“What happened to your units are unfortunate.” Jord looks back and forth from Luke to me. “It’s about time for you all to wrap up for the lunch break. Get yourselves something to eat and meet me in my office. Tell everyone else the day is done.” He turns his back to us and heads off toward his office.
W-What? All we get is a “that’s it for now” and he walks away? I stifle the emotional imbalance passing through my heart and mind. My heart wants me to scream at the top of my lungs and shoot a round through his back, but my mind knows I must find an appropriate way to express the burn of anger that makes it feel like something is melting in my chest. At the moment, neither can I give in to.
I sulk all the way to the training room with Luke striding tall at my side, unfazed by the event. I must be broken. He’s so good at hiding his emotions, making it seem like nothing is bothering him. I want that. Losing four of my team members and knowing the distress put on the twins who are now, well, no longer twins. It’s kind of hard to fight the way I’m affected by it all. Their lifelines, only family, best friends are gone forever, and they will never be the same. They’re…normal. While Luke over here, even after losing two of his, hasn’t batted an eye.
I pull Luke to a halt, stopping on the dirt road a quarter mile to the training room, between the mess hall of the leaders and the lecture hall. I step in front of him and lift my gaze to his.
Luke squints and arches a brow. “What is it now, Ky?”
“How aren’t you affected by this?” I lift my shaky hand between us. “This is how angry I am.”
“Bury it, Ky. Bury it in a deep place, and when it’s time to see red, that’s when you let it go.” He walks around me and continues to the training room.
I sigh angrily, pursing my lips. If I bring up our parents or the Vojin, he blows a gasket. But this stuff? Nothing. After I revealed Jord possibly being in cahoots with Cory, he didn’t blink twice about that either, which makes me believe I’m being left out of a bigger puzzle.
I turn on my heels to follow him and look to the west, seeing a storm far in the distance over the mountains. The clouds are thick, hovering near the peaks, lightning striking between the two. I can’t hear the roar of the thunder, and the breeze doesn’t make it this far over. But the blur of the storm is clear. Much like what’s going on in my heart. So like Luke said, I bury it, muffling the roar of my thunder and just letting the rain pour inside me.
Chapter Twelve
Luke and I enter the training room. The chatter is loud, like transport vehicles rushing down an interstate. When the doors whine closed behind us, a hush falls over the room. Everyone’s attention is eagerly drawn to us. Their faces are relaxed, mirroring the perfect lack of emotions expected in Creations.
Luke’s voice booms through the quiet as he says, “You all are done for the day. You can stay here until you are finished with your lunch.” He looks at his watch. “Lunch will be delivered here at thirteen hundred hours. Do not leave here and bombard the Creations that were once here with your questions. If anyone wants to discuss what happened, they will offer the information and should not be questioned about it.”
He turns to leave, and I follow him, heading to Jord’s office.
Luke’s had this impassive demeanor for a while now. Maybe it’s his additional workload weighing on him too. Or maybe we’re being watched even more closely, and not by just the Guidance or the Trade, but by others around our camp. Like Seits so subtly mentioned the other day she and I visited the hole.
She showed a great interest in my relationship with Cory, and warned I should be careful around him. She said Cory is being watched. That he knows the implants of the invaders and will reveal who they are without tipping off the individual but will notify Seits and Jord. And although Cory and I appeared to have a close friendship prior to his exposure, and even while she and Jord are doubtful that I’m an invader implant, others may not be. Seits thinks Cory’s closeness may be interpreted as a telling, and she warned me to keep my distance.
It was in that moment something occurred to me that has skated by since the night Cory revealed what he was doing in Jord’s office. Jord has already known who the implants are… Cory was stealing the list from him, and if Jord had the list, keeping this information from the Trade would make Jord the hoarder which is frowned upon. Cory would’ve not only taken down our commander, but himself. And if he’s picking off implanted Creations one by one by simply speaking with them, that would explain why they welcomed him back to the leaders’ group and didn’t kill him.
He made a deal. But that doesn’t explain why Cory would need to reveal what Jord may already know. I still doubt Cory or Jord knows anything about Luke and I, but the conversation with Seits is making me reconsider Cory’s intentions.
I look at Luke again. He keeps every step in line; the scarf pulled over his mouth, rim wet with sweat. We’ve discussed my discoveries, and this must be why he’s keeping a lid on his bottled-up emotions. He and I are the exact same, and I know he feels the pain of losing his team mates too.
We make it to Jord’s office, climbing the couple of steps to his porch and crossing the creaking wood to the whining screen door. I close the main door behind me. I pull off my helmet and tug down my sweat drenched scarf as I turn my attention to Jord.
He backs away from a file cabinet stuffed in a corner, saying, “We’re moving Cory to a captain position. He’ll no longer be following training orders. He is working on building his trust with us, and we are giving him the opportunity to prove himself.” Jord takes the seat behind his desk, slapping a pile of papers on its center. Seits leans against the edge of the desk, arms crossed.
The news is far from shocking. There’s definitely something deeper going on here. I can tell Luke wants to question Jord’s decision, but he is in no position to do so. His helmet is tucked under his arm, and he’s drawn down his scarf as well. There’s the tiniest twitch to the corner of his mouth that hints at his anger, but the composed look he maintains is admirable.
Jord continues, “Just because he’s trying to regain our trust, this does not mean he has it or that he will have it.”
“You, the both of you, will keep an eye on him,” Seits informs, picking up a packet of paper.
“Kylie, Cory seems to have taken a liking to you. Find out what you can if he’s willing to release information. Specifically, uncover what he meant by ‘destruction being reconstruction,’” Jord says.
“Reconstruction?” Luke questions.
“That was our reaction,” Jord responds. “And none of us can make sense of it. There is no reconstruction after things are destroyed. Who and what would reconstruct?”
“What will destruct? Should be your question, Jord.” Seits corrects. She is right, and the only beings who would know the answer to that are the ones who originally said it, and
maybe the implants from the Vojin.
Jord changes the topic. “Things have gotten out of control in some of the states of the America. Some of the Creations will be gone longer than others, and with over fifty Creations gone to other countries, our numbers here are minimal. We cannot afford to lose any more like we did today. The humans are not ready to fight, but we need to push them to get ready,” he says, index finger pressing against the table. “Those Zombies don’t stop, and I don’t know if you all noticed, maybe you didn’t have the time to, but—” he points toward the window. “—it is daytime.”
The sun’s slicing through the vertical blinds, casting lines of sun rays on the floor. I lift my wrist, as if the sun wasn’t proof enough, to check the time. “Twelve thirteen PM.” We now have day-walking Zombies. “Why is that?” I ask.
“There was an accident with an experiment. A Creation’s blood was mixed with a vaccination that was administered to a few Zombies. They thought they were testing a cure. Things went haywire.” Jord looks away from us. He turns the papers on his desk face down as he soberly admits, “We wouldn’t have been able to fight our way out if they had come after us. There had been too many of them.” He shrugs. “We left the old and new Zombies, the doctors, and the scientists.”
I nod, looking away from him. This is getting good. We are Creations designed to manage and maintain order in the America, fight in the wars, and some of us are to train and control the citizens. But now, this battle against Zombies is trying to take over everything. Like Chicago. Without us, the Zombies would have taken over their entire city.
“Is there anything else?” I ask, ready to leave. Luke and I have plenty to discuss.
“No, you two are done for the day. Luke, check in with me in three hours.”
“Yes, sir,” Luke responds as we leave the office. It’s easy to ignore the scorch with my anger still raising my temperature. We march across the vacant roads to the houses and enter our silent home. We’re the only two here. “You want to lie in the den and watch a movie?” Luke asks.
“Sure. Was it Jord’s idea to leave the people there with the Zombies?”
Salient Invaders: A Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Series (The Separation Trilogy Book 2) Page 11