Around
"Haven't seen you around much lately," Victor commented as Max slipped
into the medical lab a few moments before the others.
"Yeah, this place has gone straight to hell," Max remarked, but then
she raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "Things are changing, aren't
they?"
Victor nodded, a brief jerk of his head.
"Why?"
He shrugged. "New director's got her own ways of doing things."
Max wasn't content with that answer. "There's more to it than that,"
she said, watching Victor closely. He was nervous. Why would he be
nervous? "What do you know?" she demanded, moving in closer to him,
putting one hand on his arm.
The door opened. Victor's eyes darted to see who had come in, but Max
didn't care. "Tell me."
"Max," said Victor.
"What are you doing?" Eva asked. She hung a couple steps back, near
the door. Ready to run, Max thought. But would she be running for
help, or would she just go back out the way she'd come and leave Max
to do what she needed to do.
"Tell me what you know," Max ordered again.
"Be on your guard." Victor spat the words at her.
Max gave him a doubtful look. "That's all?" She shoved the lab tech
lightly as she let him go. The door opened and the other X-5s filed
in, giving Max interested looks, but she just turned her back on them
all and walked out. She was halfway down the hall before she realized
she'd forgotten her meds. Max didn't care enough to go back.
"What's going on with you and Victor?" Eva whispered to Max in the
gym.
"Nothing," Max lied.
Brin walked over to them. "You're wanted back in the med lab," she
said to Max. Her demeanor was businesslike, as usual.
"Why?" Max asked.
Brin shook her head. It wasn't her job to ask questions, or to answer
them. She just delivered orders, if she was requested to do so.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Eva whispered.
"Gee, me too," Max said. Eva frowned at her sarcasm. Not a lot of
smart mouths at Manticore. But she didn't say anything else, turning
stiffly and walking out of the gym, aware that all eyes were on her.
She glanced to one side and saw one of the X-7s miss a beat in their
tumbling routine, watching her.
It's nice to be a star, Max thought bitterly. She threw open the door
to the med lab. "Hey again," she said to Victor.
"You'd better start behaving yourself," Victor said.
Max put her hands on her hips. "You threatening me?" Her tone was
teasing, but her intent was not. Victor looked away, and that was
unacceptable. "I could snap your neck in a second, you understand
me?"
"You'd enjoy it, too," Victor muttered.
Max's eyes widened. Is that how they saw her? Even people like Victor,
who knew her? But there was no denying she'd killed the man during
the drill, and it had sent a sick thrill through her. "Then maybe you
can try to pull the stick out of your ass and tell me what's going
on."
Victor glared. It was as though he'd had a personality transplant
overnight. "The number you gave me for Jace was bogus."
"It's been a whole damn year," Max said.
"I don't think you ever knew. You just said you did to make me
cooperate."
"Have it your way," Max said. Her heart was pounding. She couldn't
really afford to lose any friends right now, especially ones who had
access and information. Not if she was ever going to get to escape.
She was playing this all wrong. The years she'd spent outside had
taught her how to make people want to help her; it was called
survival. Six months in Manticore had succeeded in eradicating that,
or eroding it, anyway. Manticore was all brute force and strength; no
finesse required.
Max walked out of the med lab again, and she could feel the heat from
the bridge burning behind her.
_ _ _
Logan had returned from the black market with his arms filled with
things. "There's more in the car," he nodded to Jondy.
She stood there. "What am I, the help?" she asked after several
seconds passed.
"I had to let the help go," Logan said, as though he was joking, but
there was a plane of seriousness in his voice that made it impossible
for Jondy to tell. He shot her a glance and she saw a twinkle of
mischief in his eye. "I got you a present."
"Oh, boy," Jondy said with false enthusiasm. But it worked. She picked
up the car keys from where Logan had dropped them and went down to
the parking garage to retrieve the rest of his purchases.
She went instantly on alert once the door swung closed behind her. The
garage was perfectly still, the air cool with a note of humidity. She
could hear a big fan or generator humming in one corner, supplying
the building with electricity or ventilation. The feeling that
something was wrong clung to her as she went to the Aztek and lifted
the hatchback.
Someone was watching her. Jondy glanced this way and that, fussing
with the stuff in the back of the car without lifting any of it. She
wanted to be available for a fight, because she had the feeling one
was going to ensue. She held her breath as seconds ticked past.
Then she saw it. A shadow, scuttling as fast as a rat. But bigger,
although rats were known to come in the human-sized variety. It was a
man. She hear him breathing now, feel the temperature change as he
got closer. He was hiding behind the cement pillar two parking spaces
over.
Jondy found Logan's present for her. It was a handgun, lying on a bed
of bullets. Silently, she slid the clip in and tucked it into the
waist of her pants for easy access. "What are you waiting for?" she
called to her new friend, her voice echoing off the unforgiving
cement walls.
There was no reply. The man didn't move. Did he really think she was
going to let it go? Jondy slammed the Aztek's trunk and when she
turned, he was standing there. That he towered over her was the first
thing she noticed. The second was his eyes, lit with madness.
"What do you want?" she asked. He just stood there. "What, do you
think you're menacing or something?"
He picked her up and threw her across the garage before she realized
what was happening. She tucked and rolled, and managed not to crash
head-first into cement as he'd intended for her to do. Instead, she
smacked hard into a black Jeep with light armor. Set off the car
alarm.
No ordinary guy, she thought, jumping up and trading punches with him.
He was fast, but she was faster, getting in a couple of good jabs.
She'd heard they were out there, other prototypes. The South Africans
had some. Other countries also popped up in the rumors: France,
Ireland, India.
His fist connected with the spot where Zane had hit her the day
before. "Now you're pissing me off," Jondy declared as pain shot
through her. She pulled the gun and pointed it at him. He froze. "So
you're not bulletproof. Good to know," she continued conversationally
. "Now who are you and what are you doing here? Unless --" she blew a
loose strand of hair out of her eyes, "--the better question is, what
are you?"
A smile blossomed slowly across his face. "I am what you are."
"Oh, that's good," Jondy said. "I know a riddle, too: tell me why I
haven't killed your ass yet."
He moved a fraction of an inch, and she fired. The bullet grazed his
cheek, opening a shallow wound that filled with blood, just as she'd
intended it to. He moved again, and she fired, but he was faster than
the bullet, which knocked a large hole into the door of a minicar.
Then Jondy didn't have to ask who he was, because she knew.
"You're not going to stop me," he said, his voice low and silky as he
leaned over her. "No one can."
"I see ego was only one of the flaws of the X-3 series," Jondy
replied. He didn't smile. Apparently, they didn't have a sense of
humor, either. Too bad.
His fingers flicked across her shoulders on the way to the back of her
neck. "Don't mess with the hair," she snarled, driving the gun into
his ribs. Speed wouldn't matter at close range.
"Why are you fighting me, little sister?" he asked.
The nickname turned her stomach. The same government experiment might
have created them both, but he was not her brother. "Give me one
reason." She pushed the gun a little deeper into his chest.
"You can't do it," he said.
"Not the best words to say to someone holding a gun," Jondy said.
"I've never been able to resist a challenge."
"I notice you're not pulling the trigger," he pointed out.
"You haven't told me what I want to know," she said.
"Killing me won't stop it. The wheels have already been set into
motion," he said.
"You're lying," Jondy noted.
"Am I?" he challenged.
He wouldn't be here stalking Logan if his plans weren't a done deal,
if there wasn't something remaining that could be affected by
interference. "When and where," she demanded.
"I told you," he said, his lips turning up in a smile. "It's already
begun."
Shooting him in the chest would slow him down, but it wouldn't finish
him. They all had astounding healing abilities. It took massive
trauma to kill a Manticore prototype, and the quickest way to
accomplish that was a bullet through the brain. Jondy started to
raise the gun, but as soon as she broke the connection
with the X-3s body, he shoved her, grabbed the gun barrel-first and
sprang away.
Jondy dove for cover, but she was too slow. The gun fired. She might
have chuckled, if it hadn't hurt so much. They said you never heard
the shot that hit you. Now she knew they were wrong.
_ _ _
"What happened?" Eva asked Max when she returned to the gym.
"I forgot to take my meds," she said. Eva nodded, not believing her.
Max didn't care. She'd had it. She threw herself into one of the
gymnastics practice routines. After a moment, Eva moved away and
resumed her own training.
It was a free session; they had use of the gym to train, but no one
was watching them. Increasingly, there was no one to supervise them.
Maybe they were supposed to police each other, Max thought, pausing
to watch the X-7s. They were all so damn serious, their little faces
done up in matching frowns.
"You're landing too hard," Max said to the one she'd been watching. He
looked up at her with Ben's face. "It's costing you the seconds it
takes you to recover. Try to be lighter."
He just stared at her. The X-7s didn't talk much.
"You're welcome," Max snapped with a roll of her eyes, then did the
move he'd been doing, to show him how to land and come out of it with
a bounce.
Except she didn't bounce. She wobbled, and before she could catch her
balance, she was shaking so badly she hit the floor. They didn't use
mats to train on. The floor was just as hard and cold as the one in
the bathroom of her apartment, where she used to sit mornings until
her tryptophan kicked in.
This attack was as severe as it was swift. As much as she wanted to
pick herself up, she couldn't make her arms or legs move. They just
twitched as she spasmed on the floor, vaguely aware the gym had gone
silent and the others had gathered around her.
"I thought they fixed that defect." It was one of the typically
superior X-7s, remarking to one of the others. But why would they say
it aloud? Max wondered. But maybe they hadn't. Maybe she was hearing
things. Maybe it never really happened at all.
Strong arms grabbed her and dragged her across the floor. At first she
thought it was one of her brothers or sisters coming to her aid. But
then she heard Eva's scream tearing through the silent gym. "No!"
The doors banged closed behind them. Max struggled, but it was easier
to give in, to go limp and let the impulses in her screwed up brain
do what they wished. She heard the pounding beat of high heels, which
could only be Renfro joining the party.
The light overhead was bright and Max could smell the metal of the
operating theater. She'd been here too often as a child. Or maybe she
was in the autopsy room, being dissected alive like Jack, like the
X-2 they'd dragged in from the woods. They'd won, she realized.
They'd finally won, and losing meant her death.
Then everything went mercifully black.
_ _ _
"What took you so long?" Logan asked, without looking up when he heard
the door open. He was busy trying to make his exoskeleton work again
with the spare parts he'd picked up on the black market. The only
thing he wouldn't be able to replace easily was the chip stolen from
a robot arm in a nuclear reactor, but he was pretty sure if he asked
Jondy nicely enough, she'd help him snag another one.
There was no reply, so Logan raised his eyes from his work. "You're
bleeding," he frowned at Jondy, who was just standing in the
doorway.
"You noticed," she said, trying to smile. Then she slowly sank to the
floor with a small grunt of pain.
Logan was at her side in seconds. "What happened?" Damn the
wheelchair. He couldn't reach her or try to help her up without
falling out of it.
"Blood's a bitch to get out of leather," Jondy raised her head. This
time she managed to smile. "Saw your friend in the parking garage."
There were flecks of blood on her lips, and one of her eyes didn't
seem to be focused all the way. "Thanks for the present, by the way,"
she said. "He shot me with it."
"No...Jondy...hold on. I'm going to get help," Logan said.
He was freaking out. Worried about her. "Hey," Jondy said, grabbing
his hand before he could get away. "I'm okay."
"Yeah, you look okay," Logan told her, his eyes lit with fear. He'd
lost Max exactly this way. He couldn't just let it happen again.
"He missed everything important," Jondy said.
"There's so much blood." Logan's voice broke. Jondy shivered at the
tone of it. He shouldn't cry, not over her.
"Give me a hand," she requested, not quite able to pull herself up
from the floor. Logan reached down half-heartedly. Jondy took his
hands, hard, and felt him strain to pull her up. She found her feet
unsteady and pressed her back against the wall, curiously picking up
the edge of her shirt to examine her wound. When she probed it with
her finger, Logan made a choking sound.
"I could use a needle and some thread," Jondy said. Logan just stared
at her, swallowing hard like he was going to be sick. "Don't tell me
you don't have any medical supplies."
"Yeah. In the, uh, the bathroom," Logan said.
"Do you mind?" Jondy asked. "I'm trying really hard not to fall down
here."
Logan gave her an odd look and headed for the bathroom. You'd think
he'd be used to it, Jondy thought, steeling herself and focusing on
the window as she used her finger to examine the wound. "God," Logan
said. She hadn't heard him return.
"I guess I should have washed my hands first," she allowed, checking
out the medical supplies in his hands. "That all you got?" She
reached for the needle.
"Let me," Logan said.
"You look like you're gonna pass out," Jondy told him.
"So do you," Logan countered.
Yeah, well, she felt like she was going to pass out. A look down at
the floor where a large amount of her blood was collecting was a good
indication of why. The wound was healing, but she needed to stop the
bleeding.
"Lie down on the couch. Now," Logan ordered.
"I thought you'd never ask," Jondy teased, but did as he said. Amongst
the medical supplies he'd gathered was a bottle of alcohol. "Can I
have some of that?"
"I think you'd rather have this," Logan said. He pushed up her sleeve
and injected her with something.
"Mmm, painkillers," Jondy murmured.
"Nice?" Logan inquired grimly.
"Takes the edge off." Jondy let her eyes close for a second, then
forced them open. "I can do this, you know. I'm a trained soldier."
"And I'm sure it's a point of pride that you can perform surgery on
yourself," Logan said. That overly sharp tone to his voice that was
supposed to make him sound like he didn't care only betrayed how much
he did.
"Stitches aren't surgery," Jondy pointed out. "We don't have time for
this." He couldn't get the thread through the eye of the needle. She
had superior hand-eye coordination and managed it on the first try,
then put it back between his fingers. She met his eyes, and nodded,
giving him permission to go ahead.
She felt the first sting of the needle. Logan made the stitches
quickly and neatly. It was over in moments. "Thanks," Jondy said, not
moving.
"Don't mention it," Logan said. "Who did this to you?"
"The X-3 terrorist guy," Jondy said. "He said the plan was already in
motion."
"What?"
"I think he was bluffing," she added, and pulled herself into a
sitting position. The room swam for a second, but she was getting her
strength back already. "We have to get Max out of there."
"We have to stop them," Logan said.
"All we can do now is minimize the damage," Jondy replied. Logan
reached for the phone. "There's no time to reach the others. Even
Krit and Syl couldn't get here that fast."
"That's not who I'm calling," Logan told her as he dialed.
Jondy frowned. "What, you're gonna send the police to go pick him up?
Are you insane?"
"This will at least give them time to prepare," he said. "Warn people.
Make arrangements."
"What about Max?" Jondy was stunned. "If we don't get her, she'll
die."
"And if we go save her, thousands will die and millions more will
suffer."
"But...it's Max," Jondy said. Her eyes were burning and she could feel
her lips trembling. Like she was going to cry. And she didn't cry.
"I know," Logan said, and sighed, holding the phone in his hands. "But
she's just one person."
"I thought you loved her." Jondy felt a tear drip down her cheek and
prayed he wouldn't see it.
"I do."
"Then how can you just give up on her like this?" Jondy demanded. She
got up, feeling twinges where she'd been shot, but she'd survive.
"Jondy --"
"Fine," she said, very quietly. She was furious, and if she lashed out
at him like she wanted to, she might kill him. "Stay here. Save your
little world. But I have to help my sister." She waited for him to
protest, to argue with her, but he didn't say anything. Just sat
there with the damned phone in his hands, the hands that had only
minutes ago been so gently working to heal her wounds. Jondy
shook her head bitterly and walked out of his apartment.
_ _ _
Max came around slowly. Her mouth was dry, her tongue like sandpaper.
That was typical. But her head hurt. She shook it, trying to knock
the pain out of whack, but she couldn't.
Her hands were strapped. It smelled like damp, which meant she was in
the basement. There was cement beneath her cheek. For a second, she
thought she was in the hole, but then she saw there was light. A
blink brought the small, barred window into focus, and she knew where
she was.
She was in the basement, behind a door four inches thick, made of
solid steel. Max let her head drop back against the cement. She was
X5-452.
And now, she was one of the nomalies.
"Haven't seen you around much lately," Victor commented as Max slipped
into the medical lab a few moments before the others.
"Yeah, this place has gone straight to hell," Max remarked, but then
she raised an eyebrow and looked at him. "Things are changing, aren't
they?"
Victor nodded, a brief jerk of his head.
"Why?"
He shrugged. "New director's got her own ways of doing things."
Max wasn't content with that answer. "There's more to it than that,"
she said, watching Victor closely. He was nervous. Why would he be
nervous? "What do you know?" she demanded, moving in closer to him,
putting one hand on his arm.
The door opened. Victor's eyes darted to see who had come in, but Max
didn't care. "Tell me."
"Max," said Victor.
"What are you doing?" Eva asked. She hung a couple steps back, near
the door. Ready to run, Max thought. But would she be running for
help, or would she just go back out the way she'd come and leave Max
to do what she needed to do.
"Tell me what you know," Max ordered again.
"Be on your guard." Victor spat the words at her.
Max gave him a doubtful look. "That's all?" She shoved the lab tech
lightly as she let him go. The door opened and the other X-5s filed
in, giving Max interested looks, but she just turned her back on them
all and walked out. She was halfway down the hall before she realized
she'd forgotten her meds. Max didn't care enough to go back.
"What's going on with you and Victor?" Eva whispered to Max in the
gym.
"Nothing," Max lied.
Brin walked over to them. "You're wanted back in the med lab," she
said to Max. Her demeanor was businesslike, as usual.
"Why?" Max asked.
Brin shook her head. It wasn't her job to ask questions, or to answer
them. She just delivered orders, if she was requested to do so.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Eva whispered.
"Gee, me too," Max said. Eva frowned at her sarcasm. Not a lot of
smart mouths at Manticore. But she didn't say anything else, turning
stiffly and walking out of the gym, aware that all eyes were on her.
She glanced to one side and saw one of the X-7s miss a beat in their
tumbling routine, watching her.
It's nice to be a star, Max thought bitterly. She threw open the door
to the med lab. "Hey again," she said to Victor.
"You'd better start behaving yourself," Victor said.
Max put her hands on her hips. "You threatening me?" Her tone was
teasing, but her intent was not. Victor looked away, and that was
unacceptable. "I could snap your neck in a second, you understand
me?"
"You'd enjoy it, too," Victor muttered.
Max's eyes widened. Is that how they saw her? Even people like Victor,
who knew her? But there was no denying she'd killed the man during
the drill, and it had sent a sick thrill through her. "Then maybe you
can try to pull the stick out of your ass and tell me what's going
on."
Victor glared. It was as though he'd had a personality transplant
overnight. "The number you gave me for Jace was bogus."
"It's been a whole damn year," Max said.
"I don't think you ever knew. You just said you did to make me
cooperate."
"Have it your way," Max said. Her heart was pounding. She couldn't
really afford to lose any friends right now, especially ones who had
access and information. Not if she was ever going to get to escape.
She was playing this all wrong. The years she'd spent outside had
taught her how to make people want to help her; it was called
survival. Six months in Manticore had succeeded in eradicating that,
or eroding it, anyway. Manticore was all brute force and strength; no
finesse required.
Max walked out of the med lab again, and she could feel the heat from
the bridge burning behind her.
_ _ _
Logan had returned from the black market with his arms filled with
things. "There's more in the car," he nodded to Jondy.
She stood there. "What am I, the help?" she asked after several
seconds passed.
"I had to let the help go," Logan said, as though he was joking, but
there was a plane of seriousness in his voice that made it impossible
for Jondy to tell. He shot her a glance and she saw a twinkle of
mischief in his eye. "I got you a present."
"Oh, boy," Jondy said with false enthusiasm. But it worked. She picked
up the car keys from where Logan had dropped them and went down to
the parking garage to retrieve the rest of his purchases.
She went instantly on alert once the door swung closed behind her. The
garage was perfectly still, the air cool with a note of humidity. She
could hear a big fan or generator humming in one corner, supplying
the building with electricity or ventilation. The feeling that
something was wrong clung to her as she went to the Aztek and lifted
the hatchback.
Someone was watching her. Jondy glanced this way and that, fussing
with the stuff in the back of the car without lifting any of it. She
wanted to be available for a fight, because she had the feeling one
was going to ensue. She held her breath as seconds ticked past.
Then she saw it. A shadow, scuttling as fast as a rat. But bigger,
although rats were known to come in the human-sized variety. It was a
man. She hear him breathing now, feel the temperature change as he
got closer. He was hiding behind the cement pillar two parking spaces
over.
Jondy found Logan's present for her. It was a handgun, lying on a bed
of bullets. Silently, she slid the clip in and tucked it into the
waist of her pants for easy access. "What are you waiting for?" she
called to her new friend, her voice echoing off the unforgiving
cement walls.
There was no reply. The man didn't move. Did he really think she was
going to let it go? Jondy slammed the Aztek's trunk and when she
turned, he was standing there. That he towered over her was the first
thing she noticed. The second was his eyes, lit with madness.
"What do you want?" she asked. He just stood there. "What, do you
think you're menacing or something?"
He picked her up and threw her across the garage before she realized
what was happening. She tucked and rolled, and managed not to crash
head-first into cement as he'd intended for her to do. Instead, she
smacked hard into a black Jeep with light armor. Set off the car
alarm.
No ordinary guy, she thought, jumping up and trading punches with him.
He was fast, but she was faster, getting in a couple of good jabs.
She'd heard they were out there, other prototypes. The South Africans
had some. Other countries also popped up in the rumors: France,
Ireland, India.
His fist connected with the spot where Zane had hit her the day
before. "Now you're pissing me off," Jondy declared as pain shot
through her. She pulled the gun and pointed it at him. He froze. "So
you're not bulletproof. Good to know," she continued conversationally
. "Now who are you and what are you doing here? Unless --" she blew a
loose strand of hair out of her eyes, "--the better question is, what
are you?"
A smile blossomed slowly across his face. "I am what you are."
"Oh, that's good," Jondy said. "I know a riddle, too: tell me why I
haven't killed your ass yet."
He moved a fraction of an inch, and she fired. The bullet grazed his
cheek, opening a shallow wound that filled with blood, just as she'd
intended it to. He moved again, and she fired, but he was faster than
the bullet, which knocked a large hole into the door of a minicar.
Then Jondy didn't have to ask who he was, because she knew.
"You're not going to stop me," he said, his voice low and silky as he
leaned over her. "No one can."
"I see ego was only one of the flaws of the X-3 series," Jondy
replied. He didn't smile. Apparently, they didn't have a sense of
humor, either. Too bad.
His fingers flicked across her shoulders on the way to the back of her
neck. "Don't mess with the hair," she snarled, driving the gun into
his ribs. Speed wouldn't matter at close range.
"Why are you fighting me, little sister?" he asked.
The nickname turned her stomach. The same government experiment might
have created them both, but he was not her brother. "Give me one
reason." She pushed the gun a little deeper into his chest.
"You can't do it," he said.
"Not the best words to say to someone holding a gun," Jondy said.
"I've never been able to resist a challenge."
"I notice you're not pulling the trigger," he pointed out.
"You haven't told me what I want to know," she said.
"Killing me won't stop it. The wheels have already been set into
motion," he said.
"You're lying," Jondy noted.
"Am I?" he challenged.
He wouldn't be here stalking Logan if his plans weren't a done deal,
if there wasn't something remaining that could be affected by
interference. "When and where," she demanded.
"I told you," he said, his lips turning up in a smile. "It's already
begun."
Shooting him in the chest would slow him down, but it wouldn't finish
him. They all had astounding healing abilities. It took massive
trauma to kill a Manticore prototype, and the quickest way to
accomplish that was a bullet through the brain. Jondy started to
raise the gun, but as soon as she broke the connection
with the X-3s body, he shoved her, grabbed the gun barrel-first and
sprang away.
Jondy dove for cover, but she was too slow. The gun fired. She might
have chuckled, if it hadn't hurt so much. They said you never heard
the shot that hit you. Now she knew they were wrong.
_ _ _
"What happened?" Eva asked Max when she returned to the gym.
"I forgot to take my meds," she said. Eva nodded, not believing her.
Max didn't care. She'd had it. She threw herself into one of the
gymnastics practice routines. After a moment, Eva moved away and
resumed her own training.
It was a free session; they had use of the gym to train, but no one
was watching them. Increasingly, there was no one to supervise them.
Maybe they were supposed to police each other, Max thought, pausing
to watch the X-7s. They were all so damn serious, their little faces
done up in matching frowns.
"You're landing too hard," Max said to the one she'd been watching. He
looked up at her with Ben's face. "It's costing you the seconds it
takes you to recover. Try to be lighter."
He just stared at her. The X-7s didn't talk much.
"You're welcome," Max snapped with a roll of her eyes, then did the
move he'd been doing, to show him how to land and come out of it with
a bounce.
Except she didn't bounce. She wobbled, and before she could catch her
balance, she was shaking so badly she hit the floor. They didn't use
mats to train on. The floor was just as hard and cold as the one in
the bathroom of her apartment, where she used to sit mornings until
her tryptophan kicked in.
This attack was as severe as it was swift. As much as she wanted to
pick herself up, she couldn't make her arms or legs move. They just
twitched as she spasmed on the floor, vaguely aware the gym had gone
silent and the others had gathered around her.
"I thought they fixed that defect." It was one of the typically
superior X-7s, remarking to one of the others. But why would they say
it aloud? Max wondered. But maybe they hadn't. Maybe she was hearing
things. Maybe it never really happened at all.
Strong arms grabbed her and dragged her across the floor. At first she
thought it was one of her brothers or sisters coming to her aid. But
then she heard Eva's scream tearing through the silent gym. "No!"
The doors banged closed behind them. Max struggled, but it was easier
to give in, to go limp and let the impulses in her screwed up brain
do what they wished. She heard the pounding beat of high heels, which
could only be Renfro joining the party.
The light overhead was bright and Max could smell the metal of the
operating theater. She'd been here too often as a child. Or maybe she
was in the autopsy room, being dissected alive like Jack, like the
X-2 they'd dragged in from the woods. They'd won, she realized.
They'd finally won, and losing meant her death.
Then everything went mercifully black.
_ _ _
"What took you so long?" Logan asked, without looking up when he heard
the door open. He was busy trying to make his exoskeleton work again
with the spare parts he'd picked up on the black market. The only
thing he wouldn't be able to replace easily was the chip stolen from
a robot arm in a nuclear reactor, but he was pretty sure if he asked
Jondy nicely enough, she'd help him snag another one.
There was no reply, so Logan raised his eyes from his work. "You're
bleeding," he frowned at Jondy, who was just standing in the
doorway.
"You noticed," she said, trying to smile. Then she slowly sank to the
floor with a small grunt of pain.
Logan was at her side in seconds. "What happened?" Damn the
wheelchair. He couldn't reach her or try to help her up without
falling out of it.
"Blood's a bitch to get out of leather," Jondy raised her head. This
time she managed to smile. "Saw your friend in the parking garage."
There were flecks of blood on her lips, and one of her eyes didn't
seem to be focused all the way. "Thanks for the present, by the way,"
she said. "He shot me with it."
"No...Jondy...hold on. I'm going to get help," Logan said.
He was freaking out. Worried about her. "Hey," Jondy said, grabbing
his hand before he could get away. "I'm okay."
"Yeah, you look okay," Logan told her, his eyes lit with fear. He'd
lost Max exactly this way. He couldn't just let it happen again.
"He missed everything important," Jondy said.
"There's so much blood." Logan's voice broke. Jondy shivered at the
tone of it. He shouldn't cry, not over her.
"Give me a hand," she requested, not quite able to pull herself up
from the floor. Logan reached down half-heartedly. Jondy took his
hands, hard, and felt him strain to pull her up. She found her feet
unsteady and pressed her back against the wall, curiously picking up
the edge of her shirt to examine her wound. When she probed it with
her finger, Logan made a choking sound.
"I could use a needle and some thread," Jondy said. Logan just stared
at her, swallowing hard like he was going to be sick. "Don't tell me
you don't have any medical supplies."
"Yeah. In the, uh, the bathroom," Logan said.
"Do you mind?" Jondy asked. "I'm trying really hard not to fall down
here."
Logan gave her an odd look and headed for the bathroom. You'd think
he'd be used to it, Jondy thought, steeling herself and focusing on
the window as she used her finger to examine the wound. "God," Logan
said. She hadn't heard him return.
"I guess I should have washed my hands first," she allowed, checking
out the medical supplies in his hands. "That all you got?" She
reached for the needle.
"Let me," Logan said.
"You look like you're gonna pass out," Jondy told him.
"So do you," Logan countered.
Yeah, well, she felt like she was going to pass out. A look down at
the floor where a large amount of her blood was collecting was a good
indication of why. The wound was healing, but she needed to stop the
bleeding.
"Lie down on the couch. Now," Logan ordered.
"I thought you'd never ask," Jondy teased, but did as he said. Amongst
the medical supplies he'd gathered was a bottle of alcohol. "Can I
have some of that?"
"I think you'd rather have this," Logan said. He pushed up her sleeve
and injected her with something.
"Mmm, painkillers," Jondy murmured.
"Nice?" Logan inquired grimly.
"Takes the edge off." Jondy let her eyes close for a second, then
forced them open. "I can do this, you know. I'm a trained soldier."
"And I'm sure it's a point of pride that you can perform surgery on
yourself," Logan said. That overly sharp tone to his voice that was
supposed to make him sound like he didn't care only betrayed how much
he did.
"Stitches aren't surgery," Jondy pointed out. "We don't have time for
this." He couldn't get the thread through the eye of the needle. She
had superior hand-eye coordination and managed it on the first try,
then put it back between his fingers. She met his eyes, and nodded,
giving him permission to go ahead.
She felt the first sting of the needle. Logan made the stitches
quickly and neatly. It was over in moments. "Thanks," Jondy said, not
moving.
"Don't mention it," Logan said. "Who did this to you?"
"The X-3 terrorist guy," Jondy said. "He said the plan was already in
motion."
"What?"
"I think he was bluffing," she added, and pulled herself into a
sitting position. The room swam for a second, but she was getting her
strength back already. "We have to get Max out of there."
"We have to stop them," Logan said.
"All we can do now is minimize the damage," Jondy replied. Logan
reached for the phone. "There's no time to reach the others. Even
Krit and Syl couldn't get here that fast."
"That's not who I'm calling," Logan told her as he dialed.
Jondy frowned. "What, you're gonna send the police to go pick him up?
Are you insane?"
"This will at least give them time to prepare," he said. "Warn people.
Make arrangements."
"What about Max?" Jondy was stunned. "If we don't get her, she'll
die."
"And if we go save her, thousands will die and millions more will
suffer."
"But...it's Max," Jondy said. Her eyes were burning and she could feel
her lips trembling. Like she was going to cry. And she didn't cry.
"I know," Logan said, and sighed, holding the phone in his hands. "But
she's just one person."
"I thought you loved her." Jondy felt a tear drip down her cheek and
prayed he wouldn't see it.
"I do."
"Then how can you just give up on her like this?" Jondy demanded. She
got up, feeling twinges where she'd been shot, but she'd survive.
"Jondy --"
"Fine," she said, very quietly. She was furious, and if she lashed out
at him like she wanted to, she might kill him. "Stay here. Save your
little world. But I have to help my sister." She waited for him to
protest, to argue with her, but he didn't say anything. Just sat
there with the damned phone in his hands, the hands that had only
minutes ago been so gently working to heal her wounds. Jondy
shook her head bitterly and walked out of his apartment.
_ _ _
Max came around slowly. Her mouth was dry, her tongue like sandpaper.
That was typical. But her head hurt. She shook it, trying to knock
the pain out of whack, but she couldn't.
Her hands were strapped. It smelled like damp, which meant she was in
the basement. There was cement beneath her cheek. For a second, she
thought she was in the hole, but then she saw there was light. A
blink brought the small, barred window into focus, and she knew where
she was.
She was in the basement, behind a door four inches thick, made of
solid steel. Max let her head drop back against the cement. She was
X5-452.
And now, she was one of the nomalies.