by Kara
By Kara (anyalindir@aol.com)
Rating: PG
Spoilers: None/Pre-series
Disclaimer: So not mine, so please don't sue
Summary: One night on a training mission, three X-5s vow to stay together forever
A/N: I know there's no forest outside Gillette, and this kind of forest probably wouldn't exist there anyway, but since James Cameron saw fit to make one up, I thought I would too. Poetic license. *g* Part of the "Children of the Shadows" series--http://www.roswellunderground.com/shadows/childrenoftheshadows.html
2008
Max tried not to stare at the Colonel. Looking out of the corner of her eyes at the others, she could see the same shocked looks on their faces. Colonel would be mad that they showed emotion. Emotion was a weakness that only allowed the enemy to beat you. "Do you have a problem with your orders, troops?" The Colonel's voice was mild, but Max knew what the look on his face meant. He was daring them to question the mission. She hoped that Jondy could keep her mouth quiet for once.
"Sir, no sir!" Twenty-four voices shouted.
He signaled for them to separate. "Let the game begin."
Twenty-one of Max's brothers and sisters faded off into the forest. Ben went last, a red flag clutched in his hand. "Good game, X-5599," he said before slipping into the underbrush. Zack saluted him back. Even to Max's trained eyes, the camouflaged X-5s seemed to melt into the forest. This wasn't going to be easy. Sometimes she thought that the Colonel did this on purpose, because he liked seeing them suffer.
The Colonel turned to her and Zack and Jondy. "You know your objectives, soldiers."
"Sir, yessir!" they barked back, their voices sounding small to Max's ears. Three of them against the rest of their siblings? That wasn't fair. But Colonel always said that nothing was fair in war.
"Don't let me down, X-5599." With a salute of dismissal, Colonel Lydecker turned back and headed towards the watchtower.
"Any questions, soldiers?" Zack asked in his soldier voice as soon as the Colonel disappeared from sight. Max exchanged a look with her sister, not surprised to see Jondy's blue eyes burning. Fire-eater, one of the Watchers called her once, even though Max knew that eating fire would burn a soldier's throat and potentially damage the larynx. Maybe it was something from the world Outside Manticore.
"This isn't fair," Jondy said softly. Her face wrinkled up in a frown. "Remember when the X-4s used us as scouts when we played Capture the Flag? Two of us died."
"We were small then, soldier," Zack growled. "And we don't have weapons this time. You are not to question the mission." He stalked over, crossing his arms and glared down at Jondy. It was almost funny, since Zack was taller than most of them now, and Jondy was still so small. They both had the same look on their faces, chins jutting out, blue eyes burning. Zack was a fire-eater too, sometimes. He was her favorite brother because of it, because he was so brave and strong.
"The mission. Remember the mission." Max stepped between them, putting one hand on each chest and shoving them apart. "We have a mission," she reminded them. "And the Colonel will punish us if we don't complete it."
Zack turned his glare towards her, but nodded. "X-5493 captains the other team. He likes heights, so he probably hide their flag in a tree." With a quick gesture, he motioned for her to scout ahead. To Jondy, he flashed the signal to follow behind.
Max could feel excitement rumbling in her stomach. Evasion was her favorite game. She was the best at Stealth, and always had been. Even Zack admitted that sometimes. Brin and Tinga were best at hand-to-hand, and Ben excelled at tracking and hunting, but no one ever caught Max sneaking up on them.
Dropping to a crouch, Max carefully waded into the undergrowth, her eyes scanning the ground for bare spots to step in and any traces of passage. Concentrating for a moment, she heard two sets of careful footfalls behind her. Twigs broken at sharp angles and a smudged boot-print led to the southwest, towards the perimeter fence. With a quick motion over her shoulder, she pointed where the tracks led. Looking back, she could see Zack's nod, and a quick smile that made her stomach feel funny again.
They headed deeper into the forest, and Max could feel dread growing in her stomach. There were signs, but the tracks looped back on themselves a lot, as if Ben was trying to trick them. He was a good soldier, but sometimes he wasn't a great commander, which made Max wonder why the Colonel had put Ben in charge of the other team. When they were younger, he'd carefully rotated each of them through the chain of command, but now he usually divided them up with Zack as the CO over all of them. She couldn't remember a time that she'd been split up from Zack or Jondy. The Colonel had tried every scenario he could think of too, to prepare them for everything possible that might happen on a mission.
A hand fell to her shoulder, and she turned back around. Zack, face and camos smeared with mud, motioned to a tree branch that hung over them. Jondy quickly scrambled up it, scanning the forest. She shook her head and jumped back down, landing neatly beside Max. No sign of them. Either Ben was better than they all thought, even the Colonel, or the other team had some help. It wasn't fair for three of them to be put against twenty-one others. Nothing was even.
But before any feelings of insubordination could arise, Max remembered that war was never fair. It wasn't a game of Capture the Flag, it was a mission to get a vital piece of information out of enemy hands and bring it back to base. She would be lucky if she had two brothers watching her back behind enemy lines. Brave soldiers named Max didn't whine about fairness. They did the job, and made their big brothers proud.
Zack began to move off into the forest again, but Max tugged on his shirt. Not that way, she motioned. Ben liked heights, but he hated the water. Tinga said once that the first night they'd all been thrown into the showers, Ben howled until the Colonel came in and slapped him quiet. Max knew that the Colonel looked at her and Zack and Jondy different from the others. If this really was a test…
She pointed towards the valley, where the stream cut its way through. Cover was thicker there. And from the sun's position behind the clouds, it looked like it was heading towards afternoon. Her brother stared at her for a moment, then looked at Jondy. Jondy just crossed her eyes at him and nodded towards the stream. With a sigh, Zack finally nodded and motioned for them to continue on their way.
This time, Max took to the trees, crossing nimbly from branch to branch. She knew Jondy would like that, because one of the Watchers said once that she had monkey DNA. Max was careful to choose sturdy branches, knowing that Zack's heavier weight might bring all three of them crashing down. With a quick look over her shoulder, she could see her brother and sister keeping an equal pace with her as she swung through the trees. If she imagined hard enough, she could almost forget that this was a mission, and that there was most likely a battle at the end. At least they weren't given guns today.
A light touch clasped her ankle as she began to move forward again. Looking back, Zack pointed towards where the stream glinted through the trees. Focusing on the water's edge, she saw a flash of movement as a small body briefly surfaced and then ducked beneath the water again. Panning back across the valley, Max also noticed rustling in the underbrush, as if someone was hiding and waiting. They were getting close. Zack gave her another brief smile and poked her in the back, urging her forward. He was gonna let her lead. Her biggest brother was proud of her.
This was going to be the most dangerous part, sneaking into enemy territory. They were patrolling the water, which made Max doubt that Ben was working on his own. If she was the CO, she'd have soldiers in the trees, patrolling a possible aerial route as well. A three-pronged attack was probably best, since they didn't know where Ben had his scouts, or the location of the flag.
She felt another touch on her shoulder. Turning her head, Max saw Zack shoving Jondy higher up in the tree. He nodded his head up, and then swarmed up the trunk after their sister. Max automatically followed, her mind still focusing on how to infiltrate the enemy camp.
With quick, careful motions, Zack outlined a plan of attack. Jondy would circle around from the left. He would take the right. And Max would come from behind, cornering the troops until they located the flag. Then, whoever spotted it would grab it and run like hell. If need be, the others would sacrifice themselves for the mission.
Max shook her head. This wasn't about leaving anyone behind, not if you could help it. Family didn't abandon family. Grabbing both of Zack's wrists, she gave a second slow shake of her head. No way, big brother.
Zack rolled his eyes and looked to Jondy. Normally, he would've just knocked them both out of the tree and stomped off in anger, but they had to work as a team. And as much as Max didn't like Zack sometimes when he got into CO mood, she knew he wouldn't let the team down. You didn't betray your family.
Jondy looked torn. She shrank back against the trunk of the tree and closed her eyes for a moment. Then, without warning, she dived out of the tree.
Max opened her mouth to yell, but Zack's hand clasped over it before the sound could escape. Looking below, she saw Jondy land neatly on her feet. Her sister scanned the ground, grabbed what she wanted, and scrambled back up the tree. Without a word, she showed them the sharp rock she'd found, a piece of slate, it looked like. And before either of them could stop her, Jondy rolled up her sleeves and slit her pale skin right below each wrist.
Zack immediately pulled up his shirt and ripped off a bit of his brown undershirt to staunch the blood, almost knocking Max out of the close quarters of their tree nook. "Are you crazy?" he hissed, in spite of the fact that they were on a mission. Even Zack forgot to be a soldier sometimes.
Jondy shook her head, moving her wrists out of Zack's reach. Blood began to well up from the thin cuts. "No. Trust me." She cradled her wrists toward her so that the blood fell on her camos, and not on the tree or the ground, letting the others know where they were. "It's so we won't get separated. Remember?"
Taking the gray rock in her hand, Max felt the sharp edge with one careful finger. One of the lessons the Colonel taught them was that all the X-5s had the same blood, in case of an emergency, and they needed to do a field transfusion. There was secret power in their blood that said they could mix it and it would help them. Their blood bound them together. "Blood brothers," she finally said in a low voice. Sharing blood to keep them connected forever.
Jondy nodded. "Like the guard said. His blood brother's got his back."
Zack gave them both dubious looks. His blue eyes flicked back and forth between her and Jondy. He was there that night that the guards had talked outside the door to their barracks. They listened a lot to what the others had to say, trying to figure out exactly what went on in the world Outside Manticore. He reached out, taking one of Jondy's thin wrists in his hand. He looked from her to Max. "My blood already knows your blood. I'll always be able to find you," Zack said softly, eyes only on her. It gave Max that weird feeling in her stomach again, like her food wasn't agreeing with her. She didn't know if she liked Zack looking at her that way, even though he was the most important person in her world. She would walk on water if he asked her to.
But then her big brother took the rock from her hands and neatly slashed his own wrists. Taking one of Jondy's hands, he clasped his wrist to hers, and handed the rock back to Max. With the same precision, Max cut her own wrists, breathing in and out like the Colonel taught them to make the sharp pain fade away. She could see the blood ooze up across the narrow cut, and took Jondy and Zack's free hands in hers. Wrists pressed together, they sat in the tree and waited.
Moments passed. Zack gently peeled his wrist away from Jondy's, and then Max's, since their skin was already beginning to congeal together. Without a word, he bound each of their wrists under the sleeves of their camos, so that the blood wouldn't leak through. The Colonel might not notice that Zack's undershirt was missing a few pieces. I'll always find you, his eyes said to her. And Max had no doubt that he would.
Zack again outlined the plan. Max would sweep in from the right, Jondy from the left. He would act as the diversionary tactic, taking out scouts as he came upon them. When they heard his signal, it would be time to stealth into camp and steal the flag. There would be two signals. The owl was the false one. The crow would be true.
Max and Jondy looked at each other, and then nodded. Zack might think that he was being noble by using himself as bait, but Max knew that both she and Jondy would do whatever necessary to get their whole team out alive. Jondy and Zack fought a lot, but Max knew that her sister felt the same way about their brother that she did, maybe even more sometimes. She reached out, clasping Jondy's wrist so that her bandaged wound rested against her sister's. Blood to blood. Jondy nodded, squeezing her wrist. Blood brothers, forever.
They broke, Jondy heading left, Max heading right. It was easy to sneak through the huge oaks and ash trees that grew along the valley bottom. It was high summer, so the leaves would provide cover as she snuck along from branch to branch. She didn't know if the valley was planned this way, since most trees were close enough together to jump from the branch of one to the limb of another. In two years, she would probably be too heavy to do this. In three or four years, she would be ready for the field.
Stopping for a moment, Max scanned the trees ahead. She thought she caught sight of a leg hanging down from a branch. One of the enemy was being careless. That soldier would be last in line for the evening meal for a long time. Moving her head to the left, she noticed rustles in the underbrush below the tree about five feet away. Sentries. Lazy sentries, but sentries.
Max slowed as she approached the enemy line. She had to be careful when she took out the sentry in the tree, so that the one below wouldn't notice. They must be close to camp, for Ben to have placed sentries so close together. Either that, or her brother had forgotten his lessons already. Maybe he would be last in line for the meal. Or worse. She still had scars from the last time she lost a game. Max shook her head slightly, forcing herself to focus on the objective. If the scouts were placed close together, she might have to take out several in order to sneak into the camp…
Taking a deep breath, she launched herself at the tree next to her, aiming at a limb just above the one the leg hung from. Whoever sat beneath noticed though, because the leg was immediately pulled back up. Max dropped beside the enemy soldier, taking her bandana out of her pocket and gagging him before he could call for help. The enemy struggled against her grip until she tied his hands and feet to the limb. At least Lydecker had given them the white zip-ties that Manticore used to bind people. Sometimes they weren't even given that.
Tawny looked at her with murder in his eyes. He shouldn't have been so lazy. Laziness was against the objective. Lazy soldiers got thrown to the nomalies. If Tawny was up in the tree, that meant Jack was probably in the bushes below, which meant that she had to get out of there fast. Scanning for the next sentry, Max aimed for the next tree in enemy territory.
She made her way in, tree by tree. There didn't seem to be any more sentries posted above ground, so she was careful not to alert any of those below. She hoped Jondy was having the same luck on the other side. And that she'd reach the center of camp before Zack gave the signal. On her tenth tree in enemy territory, Max heard the sound of low voices. Either two of her brothers were even stupider than Tawny, or she'd reached camp.
Off to the west, she heard the sounds of an owl hooting. The call sounded natural, but it was enough to make the voices stop. As she crept out on the limb of her tree, she heard the muffled sounds of footsteps below. One tall figure and two shorter ones walked into her sight, the tall one wearing a red flag about his neck. A noble act, for the commander to be guardian of the flag, but not one intelligent enough to win a war…
Quickly scanning the trees, Max looked for any sign of her sister. Off to the right, she noticed a thrashing in the underbrush and the muffled sounds of attack. An owl hooted again off to the right. It looked like the cavalry had arrived, even if there weren't any horses.
Max launched herself at Ben, grabbing at the flag around his neck. She knocked him to the ground with a thud. Her fingers quickly unknotted it before she scrambled up another tree. This ash wasn't as stable. It bent under her weight as she tried to crawl out on a sturdy limb. All around her, she heard the cry of crows as the sentries passed the call down the line. And the branch underneath her began to creak…
"Max!" The ground was rushing towards her. She tucked into a ball, ready to tumble into the ground. But the ground was closer than she thought, and she caught it with her shoulder…
Pain wrenched through her right shoulder and arm as her body slammed into the ground. Max gritted her teeth to keep from crying out. The world darkened for a moment, but she fought it off. She was not going to lose this battle. Stuffing the flag inside her shirt, she rolled to her feet and began running.
"Max!" The voice was closer this time. She thudded into something soft and solid, making her shoulder hurt even worse. "Max." The voice was gentle, hands quickly moving over her body to see if anything was broken. "Okay?"
She looked up into Zack's blue eyes and nodded. She wasn't down yet. The pain could wait until they got back to the rendezvous point. He nodded back and touched his hand to her cheek once. "Go!"
Without looking back, Max hightailed it for the trees again. She could use the stream to find her way back to base. They knew this valley as well as the barracks now, after so many years of training sessions. Kicking her way through the crowd of soldiers that appeared at the camp, she shinnied up the nearest oak. Looking around quickly, she found what looked like a line of strong trees leading towards the stream. With one quick look back, Max used her good arm and hands to scrabble out along the branch and jump for the next one.
The sounds of pursuit began to draw closer. Muffled footsteps pounded the dirt beneath her, and she heard a shout as someone noticed her flight. Sunlight glinted off the stream straight ahead. The stream was deep enough here… In one mad rush, Max flung herself off the branch to the ground and took off at a run for the water. When she reached the stream's edge, she took a deep breath and dove in. The stream was ice-cold, but it felt good on her shoulder.
The current wasn't swift here, but it was flowing in the wrong direction. Max struggled to paddle against the current, thrashing her legs as fast as she could to propel her forward. Her hands grappled with rocks to pull her along. If she could get past enemy lines… She felt hands or branches try to grab at her as she swam past. Almost there…almost…
Her lungs burning, Max finally surfaced. With a quick look around, she found the clearing apparently deserted. Time to take to the trees again. The water was almost getting too shallow to hide her. Forcing her wet body out of the water, she ran for the nearest sturdy tree and launched her body at it. Her good arm hooked around the branch, and the treads on her boots managed to get a good foothold on the bark. Grunting, she pulled herself up. A survey of the area told her that she didn't have far to go now, but she still had to be careful. The enemy could be anywhere.
Max rested for a moment, leaning her forehead against the rough bark of the tree. Her left palm was skinned, and all she could do with her right arm was cradle it against her chest. It hurt. With her good hand, she patted the flag that was stuffed in her camo shirt. At least the mission was almost accomplished. All she had to do was make it home…
Again, the sound of crows calling. The enemy must've spotted her. It was time to run again. Her heart was starting to pound in her chest. If she just ran straight for the rendezvous point… Swallowing, Max made her decision and jumped to the ground. As soon as her feet touched the earth, she ran as fast as she could. She ran as if her life depended on it.
The trees blurred past her. She heard shouts and footsteps behind her, but her eyes remained focused on what was in front of her. Breathed in, breathed out. The pain faded as Max concentrated on placing one foot in front of the other. There was no time for stealth now. She ran like there was a nomaly on her tail. She could see the edge of the trees that marked the end of the training yard. She could see--
"X-5452!"
An arm reached out, grabbing at her. Max stumbled to the side. She couldn't let the enemy get her. She had to complete the mission. She had to--
"X-5452, stop!"
She could see where the others were gathered now, enemy soldiers forming a mass at the edge of the treeline. If she could just rush through… Picking up speed, Max jumped into the air. The wall of bodies was coming up fast. If she could hurl herself over their heads--
But her body didn't catch enough momentum. The pain in her shoulder flared up again as the force of her jump hurled her into one body after another. Hands grabbed at her as she tried to fight her way free. She had to get free, had to--
"X-5452, the game is over." The voice was gentle now. A pair of large hands lifted her up and set her on her feet. Max opened her eyes, surprised to see the concerned faces of her brothers and sisters around her. Most of them looked bruised and battered, just like she felt. Her arm was beginning to throb, and no amount of breathing was making the pain go away. She could feel tears burning her eyes, but she wouldn't let herself cry. Soldiers didn't cry, because emotions made them weak.
"X-5452." It was Zack's voice this time, Zack's hand that forced her chin up to look into his blue eyes. His eyes were concerned. She could almost feel his worry in the pit of her stomach, and how afraid he was of her getting hurt or worse… For a moment, Max wanted to throw herself in Zack's arms the way the X-6s did sometimes with the watchers. But she wasn't a younger anymore. She was a soldier. And soldiers didn't get comfort from their COs. Maybe they did from their big brothers though.
"At ease, X-5s." The Colonel's voice carried over the training ground. Max noticed that all twenty-four of them were lined up now in the at ease position. Jondy stood on Zack's other side, blood from a head wound trickling down her cheek. She gave Max a slow wink and a slight smile before turning back to face the Colonel. "X-5493, X-5599, front and center!"
Zack and Ben moved to the front. Max fought the urge to follow at Zack's heels, ready to defend him if he needed it. Even though Zack could take care of himself, she still felt like she needed to watch over her biggest brother sometimes. Someone did. She thought that might be the Colonel's job, as Zack's CO, but the Colonel didn't do it very well.
"How would you rate the performance of your army, X-5493? Did they accomplish the objective?" The Colonel's voice was softer, but it still made Max shiver. She hoped that Ben answered the question the way the Colonel wanted it answered.
But Ben wasn't a good commander. He knew how to follow orders, and he was the best story-teller. He just stared at the Colonel, frozen like the rabbit they found in the trap on a mission one night.
The Colonel turned to Zack with the same hard look on his face. "You, X-5599? Did your army accomplish the objective?" Zack didn't say a word either. He just stuck out his chin and glared at the Colonel. "Answer me, X-5599!" The Colonel slapped Zack across the face. "I asked you a question, soldier."
"No!" Max didn't even know it was her voice until she found herself running towards the Colonel. Fumbling with her good hand, she reached for the wad of cloth she'd stuffed down her shirt. "The objective, sir," she said, thrusting the red cloth into the Colonel's hand. "We accomplished the objective."
The Colonel blinked, as if he didn't know what to say. He looked at the wad of cloth in his hands, and then back at her. An odd look flashed across his face, one that might've been pride if the Colonel was Zack. "Dismissed, troops. To the showers." When they didn't move, the Colonel barked, "Are you deaf now too? To the showers, soldiers! Dismissed!"
Zack nodded, and Max automatically formed two lines with her brothers and sisters. Her shoulder was beginning to throb again. Her arm didn't feel broken, but she might've popped her shoulder out of the joint. Zane or Zack could probably fix it. They were strong.
It wasn't until they reached the showers that Zack said anything. As Max tried to take off camouflaged shirt, she remembered the brown strips still wound about her wrists. Peeling them off carefully, she noticed that the cuts had healed. She was still staring at her wrists, shirt still hanging half over her head, when gentle hands tugged at her sleeves.
"Here, Maxie." Zack carefully unbuttoned her shirt. Max tried not to wince as he slipped it over her bad shoulder. "Hurt bad?"
She shook her head, biting her lip. "Not too bad." Not bad enough to go see the Doctors. If she was damaged too bad, they might put her in the basement.
"Try to lift your arms up." Zack was already stripped down to his shorts, his camos neatly folded in the cubbyhole marked with his barcode. "I'll pull it on three. One, two--" With one swift movement, he yanked her undershirt off and shoved it into her cubby. "Go stand under the shower, X-5452."
The hot water felt good on her shoulder. Max closed her eyes as the water washed over her, clearing away the matted blood and dirt. Even the blood on her wrists washed clean, leaving a neat scar on each arm. Their blood was magic.
"All healed?" Jondy's voice could barely be heard over the pounding water. Her blue eyes smiled a secret smile as she held her hand out to Max. Max automatically clasped Jondy's wrist, pressing her arm against her sisters.
"All healed." Blood brothers. Looking across the room, she saw Zack giving them the same look. Max looked back at Jondy. "Forever, huh?"
"Forever, little sister." And with one last squeeze, Jondy let go of her wrist. "We'll always find each other."
Even closing her eyes, Max could feel a ball of warmth in her stomach that told her Jondy was still next to her. Her blood called to Jondy's and to Zack's. No matter what happened, she'd always be able to find them again.
The End