Darkness
The sky was getting darker; it could rain soon. I noted the information and stored it in my brain, acknowledging that rain would mean impaired vision. My ears strained for the sounds of fighting, something that would tell me what had happened while Alec and I were inside the building and where the enemy was currently located. I could hear the strained yells escaping those who had been hit by attacks and the orders being bellowed by people on both sides, but nothing close by. This didn’t make sense.
I passed the alley where we had met Katie, glancing down it quickly. Still nothing but shadows and trash. I moved on, keeping one eye on the outside fence the whole time. Had the rest of the CAT squadron retreated? And if so, where were Katie and the other two transgenics who had been with her? Had they been taken captive? Or worse, had they been eliminated and their bodies retrieved to take back to some government base where men in white lab coats could cut them open like they weren’t even people? My jaw clenched momentarily with anger at that thought, but I quickly got a hold of myself. I didn’t need to think about what might have happened. I needed to find out what did happen.
I caught sight of two CAT soldiers coming down the street towards me and quickly backed into the shadows behind a dumpster. I waited until they got closer before firing two shots, one at each. Neither of them went down. I frowned. This wasn’t good.
Both soldiers looked in my direction and headed towards me. They showed no sign of feeling the bullet wounds that were bleeding freely. I fired again at the one on the left just before they reached the dumpster. The bullet hit him in the shoulder. He jerked slightly from the impact, but once again ignored the wound. Both soldiers took a hold of the dumpster and flung it aside like it barely weighed anything. I jumped towards them, swinging my rifle like a club at the blonde one closest to me, hoping to catch him off guard. The butt of the rifle struck him across the face, breaking with the force of the impact, but he simply smiled at me.
“Transgenic filth.” he spat on the pavement by my feet.
There was blood in his saliva. I dropped my useless rifle to the ground.
The other soldier threw a punch at me that I narrowly avoided. Not only were these guys insanely pain tolerant and incredibly strong, but they were also fast! Who were they?
I sprang backwards, looking for a way out. The two soldiers moved towards me, splitting apart to try and corner me between them. I jumped over them, spun, and kicked at one them before they could turn around. I was a little faster than them. That was my advantage.
I felt pain surging up my leg, but I ignored it as I lashed out as fast as I could at the two soldiers. They blocked many of my attacks, but I did manage to land some. They didn’t show any sign of feeling the blows, but I had to believe that it was hurting them.
I leaped and kicked at brown-haired soldier’s head, but he caught my leg. I inhaled sharply as his fingers dug into my bullet wound. Then, I grunted with pain as he slammed my body down onto the pavement. Both soldiers fell on me and began to kick and punch me rapidly. I curled into a ball, trying to protect myself. Their attacks hurt like those of a transgenic. I tried to fight back, to push them away, but it was no use. The two of them had me.
I felt like I was going to die. I hurt so much. By the time they stopped, I was nearing unconsciousness. I think another soldier passed by who called for their help. Otherwise I think they would have kept beating me until they killed me. I couldn’t move. Even breathing hurt.
I closed me eyes, feeling the darkness of unconsciousness approaching. Gratefully, I let it take me.
So this is what dying feels like.
That’s what I was thinking. It didn’t really hurt a whole lot. I felt pretty numb actually. And cold, I was very cold.
I’d been shot. I’d never been shot before. But now I was shot, in the stomach, and I knew that I was dying.
I closed my eyes and when I opened them I was on a stretcher, being wheeled down a long, white hallway. I looked around me and saw that there was a woman in white pushing the stretcher and a young man in white walking alongside, reading a clipboard. On my other side was 772. She didn’t look at me, but looked straight forward, back straight, chin up.
“How long ago was she shot?” the young man in white snapped at 772.
“One hour and forty-three minutes, sir.” 772 replied immediately.
“What took you so long?” he demanded angrily.
“Sorry, sir. It took time to bring her back to base, sir.” 772 explained.
“You will report to the colonel for a debriefing immediately. We’ll take care of this one.” the man ordered.
“Yes, sir.” 772 said, saluting.
A second later she was gone from my side. I struggled to make sense of it all, to piece together a memory from what I had just heard 772 report. Then, suddenly it all came back to me.
We had been on a mission. We had been sent to assassinate someone in Billings, Montana. I couldn’t remember if we had been successful, but I did remember that there had been more security that we had planned for. Something had gone sideways. I had been shot. I didn’t remember the car ride back at all. All I remembered was being shot, lying on the ground bleeding, and then oblivion. It had been nice in the darkness. I had enjoyed the slow fading into nothing as my body went cold. I remember my mind thinking that I had nothing to worry about anymore before it had shut down.
But now I was awake and there were glaring lights shining in my face. Pain was surging through my body as people in white tore open my abdomen to retrieve the bullet. Searing heat cauterized my wound, sending flames of pain through me. I missed the cool darkness where there had been no pain. But it was gone.
Wet. Something wet had hit me. I slowly, painfully opened my eyes. Rain was falling on me. The splash of water on my face had dragged me back to consciousness. I groaned loudly, feeling like this was just a practical joke. In reality, I was dead. It wasn’t possible to hurt this much.
I tried to move, but I couldn’t. Just trying to wiggle my fingers sent a wave of pain through me that threatened to take me back to unconsciousness. I thought about that for a second and then realized that I had no qualms with returning to that state. I concentrated on moving my fingers until I passed out a second time.
494 stood in the line next to me. Of course, he was at the head of his line, being a C.O., and I was far back in mine, but I could still easily see him and identify him. I tried to keep from glaring at him out of the corner of my eye. I tried to focus on the lecture we were being given by the tac leaders.
“It has come to our attention that you soldiers are letting phony sentimentality interfere with your judgment. You’re getting attached to the members of your unit, giving them stupid names that serve no purpose. Some of you might even be thinking that they are your friends. You have no friends! You are all soldiers! The person next to you is another soldier and nothing more. The only reason you should give a shit about them at all is because the success of your mission might be dependant upon them. Do you understand?” the tac leader demanded.
“Yes, sir!” the assembled X-5’s chorused as one.
My teeth clenched as I noticed the almost imperceptible smirk on 494’s face. It was like he was knew he was better than the rest of us or something. Like he knew that this lecture didn’t apply to him because he was fucking perfect.
I reigned in my temper quickly. It was going to get me in trouble if I didn’t get it under control.
“The Board of Directors thinks we need to reassign units. Is that necessary, soldiers?” another tac leader took over for the first.
“No, sir!”
“Are we ever going to have to have this discussion again?” the second tac leader glared at all of us in turn.
“No, sir!”
“494, fall out!” a third tac leader ordered suddenly.
494 almost looked like he was about to grin as he took a step forward.
“Sir?” he asked.
“494, you will demonstrate to these soldiers the detachment that you practice in your unit. Who do you spend the most time with, 494?”
“X5-511, sir!” 494 replied immediately.
“511, front and center!”
511 ran forward to stand at attention next to 494, his C.O.
“494, render X5-511 unconscious.” the tac leader said emotionlessly.
“Yes, sir!” 494 said crisply.
Without any hesitation, 494 whirled on his second in command and proceeded to beat him. 511 almost visibly winced before a sharp kick to the head sent him to the floor. He didn’t rise. 494 turned back to face the tac leaders, resuming attention. The uncaring look on his face had never wavered.
I hated him.
“You would all do to follow 494’s example. You all mean nothing! You are a means to a purpose and nothing more. Any of you so much as breathes to the contrary, you’ll be sorry. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
The tac leaders exchanged glances, then nodded.
“Resume sparring practice!”
I paired up with 772 again to practice hand-to-hand combat. I had been secretly calling her Kira, a name she had assumed on our last mission and she had been calling me Jess in return. I irrationally began to think that somehow Alec had discovered this and had turned us in to the tac leaders. It seemed almost like he purposefully tried to antagonize me. But not just me. It was like he enjoyed making everyone hate him. I had seen him pick on some of the others. How he got away with it, I couldn’t figure out. He seemed to get away with everything.
I glanced in his direction, hoping that maybe he would slip up and his opponent would land a punch to his face. Unfortunately, while I was looking in 494’s direction, Kira was sending a kick towards my stomach. I grunted as the air rushed out of my lungs and focused my attention back on my opponent. Inwardly, I cursed 494. That had been his fault!
The almost instinctive reactions that had been forcibly ingrained into me dragged me back to consciousness. My eyes snapped open. I sensed someone approaching.
“Jess?” a familiar voice questioned.
A moment later, Alec came into my field of vision. He was frowning and looked worried.
“Hi.” I said weakly, my voice sounding more like a croak.
“Oh, my God. What happened to you?” Alec asked, dropping to his knees next to me.
Water streamed down his face and I realized that the rain had gotten heavier.
“I ran into some CAT guys that didn’t seem to want to go down like they’re supposed to.” I coughed, trying to dispel the lump in my throat but the action of coughing made me gasp from the pain.
“Familiars.” Alec said.
My brow furrowed with confusion. Alec saw my look and shook his head.
“I’ll explain later. Let’s get you out of here. Can you move?” he asked.
I shook my head weakly.
“I’m sorry.” I apologized.
“No, it’s okay. I can carry you.” he said immediately.
“You’re stomach.” I reminded him.
“It’s fine.” Alec said, shifting so that he was crouched next to me and sliding his hands under my shoulders, “I’m sorry if this hurts.”
I nodded, gritting my teeth against the pain as he lifted up my torso enough to get one arm around me and then shifting me so that he could get his other arm under my legs. I almost squeaked with pain as he lifted me off the ground, holding me tight to his chest. I saw the look on his face and knew that he was in pain, but he saw me looking at him and quickly dispelled any sign of the discomfort. I slowly let my breath hiss out between my clenched teeth and closed my eyes, letting my head rest again his chest. I could tell he was trying not to jostle me as he hurried off somewhere. I didn’t really care where. Despite Alec’s care, the movement was causing waves of pain to wrack my body.
“Please, don’t pass out.” Alec’s voice penetrated my thoughts.
“Why not?” I gasped out the words.
“Because.” Alec grunted and shifted me in his arms again, getting a firmer grip. I gasped a second time, “Because I need you here.”
I couldn’t reply. Darkness was encroaching upon me. I could feel myself drifting.
“Jess?” Alec’s voice sounded far away, “Jess! Open your eyes, damn it!”
Automatically, I struggled to comply with his order. It was extremely hard to pry my eyes open.
“Do not faint on me.” Alec ordered, but his voice lost the edge it had had before, “You’re going to be okay. I just have to get you somewhere safe. Just hold on for a little longer, okay?”
I tried to say okay, but no sound came out of my mouth. I focused my eyes on Alec’s face as he looked down at me. He was so worried. I wanted to reassure him, but I couldn’t. So, I simply continued to stare at him as he turned his attention back to where he was going.
Suddenly, I was jarred as we stopped. I realized that I had been drifting again, but the sudden stop had snapped me out of it. I turned my head ever so slightly so that I could see what had caused our halt.
Alec was surrounded. Three CAT soldiers. Slowly, he set me down on the ground and raised his fists, ready to fight. The CAT soldiers smirked, amused that the transgenic was going to put up a fight despite the odds against him.
“Give it up, freak.” one of them said, “We’ve almost got the place secured. You might as well come quietly.”
“Fuck you.” Alec snapped.
“Have it your way.” the soldier shrugged.
The soldiers closed in on Alec, moving with cautious precision. Alec lashed out quickly, smashing his fist into the face of the guy who had spoken. The soldier crumpled to the ground, instantly unconscious.
“You know what you guys’ problem is?” Alec asked as he spun around to catch the second soldier across the face with his elbow, “You’re jealous of us.”
“Jealous of you freaks?” the second soldier said incredulously as he rubbed his jaw in the interval provided by his companion’s attack on Alec, “Never!”
“Denial, man, is an ugly trait.” Alec said as he caught the other man’s fist and pulled the guy off balance.
Alec’s arm came down on the back of the guy’s skull and he face-planted on the pavement. A swift kick to his temple insured that he wouldn’t be getting back up. Alec turned to the final soldier.
“What do you got against me, anyway? Oh! Was it your girlfriend I slept with last week? Sorry, man.” Alec grinned and ducked a punch, “You know, maybe if you were genetically engineered the ladies would throw themselves at you, too.”
“Shut up, you fucking freak!” the soldier screamed, hurling himself at Alec.
Alec socked him in the stomach.
“Stop calling me that.” he said quietly before punching the guy in the face and sending him to join his companions.
Alec turned back to me quickly and picked me up again.
“Sorry.” he said, trying to be gentle as once again he had to jostle me, “Thank God they were ordinaries.”
I couldn’t reply because I was miles away by the time he finished speaking. Everything became fuzzy before I closed my eyes.