Trade

I ran. I ran so hard my sides began to hurt, but couldn't stop. The breeze began to annoy me. It caused resistance, slowing me. But I didn't want to go slow. If I went slow, Krit would catch me.
It took longer than I remembered to reach the warehouse. Of course, I was on foot so that wasn't surprising. But when I finally did get within sight of the building, I slowed and approached with relative caution. No reason I needed to rush too quickly into a bad situation.
The doors were open. I saw a limo inside, armed men surrounding it. Ten of them.
"I'm here. Let's go." I said impatiently.
"Are you alone?" came a voice from inside the limo.
"What do you think?" I snapped.
A man stepped out. He was well dressed in a suit that probably cost more than Krit, Syl, and my wardrobes' combined. He carried himself with military posture. He even still had a relatively military haircut. I instantly hated him.
"Well, I wouldn't want to make this a family thing."
"You already did that by poisoning Cade." I growled.
"Is that her name? We were kind of hoping to get her. S.I.C., it just sounds so important."
"Yeah, if you call sleeping with the C.O. for a promotion important." I grumbled.
Royce smiled slightly. I shifted impatiently.
"Can we get this over with? If I know my family, they'll be here soon. So how about we get set to go and then I can be here just long enough to make sure you hold up your end of the bargain?" I said.
My head shot up as I heard the sound of a vehicle approaching.
"And I suggest we hurry up." I added quickly.
"Mr. Avery, please come here." Royce said.
A guy came bumbling forward. He wore oversized glasses and clothes that looked too big for him. Royce reached inside his jacket and pulled out a small vial. He handed it to the Mr. Avery guy.
"Mr. Avery, you will wait here for the Manticore subjects to arrive and make sure they get this." Royce instructed.
Avery paled. He knew that was practically a suicide mission. But he did nod and take the vial.
"And if you will join me." Royce said to me, gesturing at the limo.
I glanced at the guys with the guns. Like I really had much of a choice. But I shrugged and got in without a fight anyway. I didn't need to make this any worse. Two of the armed guards got in to sit on either side of me and another two on either side of Royce. The rest filed outside, probably to another vehicle. I tried to pretend they weren't there. I kept my eyes glued on Avery.
A motorcycle burst through the open doors, swerving to a halt and nearly taking out Avery in the process. Max entered on her motorcycle a moment later. Logan's Aztec with Krit and Syl inside followed her quickly.
Royce signaled to the driver and we sped out of the building. I whirled around where I sat to look out the back window. I saw Zack throwing Avery across the room and into a wall. I just hoped that the man had the sense to keep Cade's antidote in a safe place.
And then I couldn't see anymore. I sank back into the seat and closed my eyes. Memories seemed to flash through my brain like photographs as I prepared to erase them. I wasn't giving Royce anymore than I had to. Of course, I couldn't forget all of them. I had promised Krit I wouldn't forget him and I would keep that promise.
I focused on one memory in particular and relived it in my mind.
"Krit?" I called softly.
It was late and I didn't wanted to wake Syl up. All of us have trouble getting to sleep although Syl and I need it more than Krit does. Usually, when I can't sleep, Krit's still awake to distract me.
"Krit?" I called again.
I laid my head against his door, listening for the noises that would tell me if he was awake. I could hear him moving. I pushed gently on the door.
"Krit? Are you awake?" I asked.
"Can't sleep again?" Krit asked.
"No." I said, pushing the door open all the way.
I froze and blinked in surprise. Krit noticed and smiled.
"Well, this is what I sleep in." he said.
He was wearing loose sweats and no shirt. He was doing push-ups. I was feeling embarrassed.
Krit stopped doing push-ups and sat on the floor, looking up at me. He patted the floor next to him and I sat down.
"So?" he asked.
"This is going to sound really stupid." I warned him.
"That's okay."
"Promise you won't laugh?"
"Cross my heart."
"I've been having bad dreams." I said quickly, "And now I don't want to go to sleep."
Krit smiled and shook his head.
"Don't laugh! You promised!" I said, just as quickly.
"I'm not!" Krit protested, "It's just...all of us do that. Syl stayed awake for almost two weeks once before she crashed and slept for two days straight. Max says it's one of the best things about not sleeping. Her and Jondy have always been like that. But the rest of us, including you, need to sleep."
"But I don't want to sleep."
"You need to."
"But I don't want to."
Krit smiled again.
"Why don't you tell me about these bad dreams?" he suggested.
I looked down.
"Manticore."
One word could describe every bad dream I've had since I was little. I'm sure it was much the same for the others, too.
"I could have guessed that." Krit said.
"Don't make me go to sleep, Krit." I pleaded, feeling like I was a little girl, sitting up in my barracks.
"I won't. I'll stay awake with you as long as you like." Krit promised.
"You're too nice to me, Krit."
"I'm a nice guy."
"That's not what Zack said."
"Well, what does he know?" Krit replied, leaning over and kissing me. He pulled back slightly and spoke very softly, "You need to sleep, Ty."
"Not fair. Coercion." I replied, feeling his hot breath against my face.
"Yep. Come on. You can sleep in here and I'll stay up with you until you fall asleep." Krit said.
I slowly nodded. I was glad that Krit understood. I didn't want to go back in my room. My room was dark and isolated and it reminded me of my bad dreams. I didn't want to be alone right now. It was stupid, I knew. I was a soldier. I shouldn't be afraid of something as stupid as a bad dream. But I was and I couldn't help it.
Krit's bed was made all nice and neat. You could probably bounce a quarter off it. I supposed that he hadn't shook that Manticore neatness. It had never sat well with me. I had never understood why my bed needed to be made. I could understand why a gun needed to be cleaned and such. That effected the usefulness of the weapon. You didn't take care of it, it might not work next time. But it wasn't that way with a bed. I had learned not to question it at Manticore, but once I had left it, I had never made my bed.
Now I felt bad as I messed up the covers and slipped under them. They were warm and they smelled like Krit.
Krit pulled up a chair next to the bed and settled into it.
"Comfy?" he asked.
I nodded and Krit smiled.
"Tell me a story?" I joked.
"Once upon a time there was a pretty girl whose brother was a jerk. He was big and mean and smelly...but you couldn't hate him. Because that brother had looked out for his entire family for his entire life and they all owed him." Krit said.
"I think I know this story."
"I'll bet you do." Krit agreed.
"There's a handsome boy in this story, isn't there?" I asked.
"Of course." Krit grinned, "See, one day the pretty girl met a handsome boy when she was looking for her brother. The handsome boy didn't know her and wasn't sure if he could trust her. 'Cause there were bad people out there that were looking for all of them, the pretty girl, the handsome boy, the girl's brother, and the brother's family. And the boy wasn't sure if the girl was one of the bad people or not. But the girl convinced him and he saw that she was very brave. She went up against the bad people and rescued her brother from them, as well as the boy's friend, Max. They had some more adventures and battles with the bad people, but everything worked out. The brother fell in love and the girl and the boy finally got to spend some time together."
"Did they like each other?" I asked.
"Yes, they did. They liked each other a lot. The girl thought the boy was the perfect specimen of masculinity." Krit said with a grin.
"Oh, did she?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yep, she did. And the boy thought the girl was absolutely fantastic and he decided that he would put up with the girl's brother and stay with her. 'Cause the brother didn't like the boy being with the girl, at all. And he made that very obvious. But that didn't stop the boy and girl. They ran away to a land far away from the brother along with their friend, Syl. They had lots of fun there and they were happy." Krit finished.
"Did they live happily ever after? Did the boy and girl fall in love?" I asked.
"Well, you know, no one knows that yet. Because it's very hard to live happily ever after."
I yawned. Krit smiled softly and brushed hair out of my face.
"Go to sleep, Ty. I won't let anything get to you." he promised.
I believed him. I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep. I woke up at one point, in a panic. I felt someone pinning me down and started struggling.
"Shh. Shh. It's okay. It's me. You're safe." Krit whispered.
I stopped struggling and relaxed. He released me and I rolled over on my side so I could look at him.
"I..." I started,
"Had a bad dream?" Krit finished, resting his arms on the bed next to me.
I nodded. I could still see the images fresh in my mind. Kids being beaten by instructors, dragged away screaming. Shaking in my bunk, praying I wouldn't be next. Feeling with a cold certainty that if I wasn't killed, I would always be kept isolated, watching the others, the X5's, through a glass window that seemed like it was a mile thick.
"I don't want to be alone."
"You're not." Krit said, making me realize I had said that out loud.
"Thank you, Krit."
"Go back to sleep, Ty."
"Okay."
I snuggled close to Krit's arms and closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. For a long time, I just breathed in Krit's scent. Finally, I fell back to sleep. I didn't have any more bad dreams.
***

As I faded into the darkness I had come to know so well, I had another vision. But this time it wasn't a hallucination, it was a memory. The memory of Zack and my first night together.
We drove for what seemed like an eternity, not quite sure where we were going. It began to get dark and we knew we had to stop. The first motel in sight was the Fairview Motel. Zack made a sharp swerve into the parking lot, causing me to hold on tighter to remain balanced. I could almost feel that sarcastic smirk of his. He shut off the engine and we both got off.
"That was very funny." I remarked dryly.
He smirked and said nothing. We made our way into the main office.
The clerk behind the counter seemed very annoyed that we had interrupted his TV time with the annoying bell on the door.
"We want a room." Zack informed the man, who was relatively young, but suffered from a receding hairline and coke-bottle glasses.
He looked at Zack in what I believed to be jealousy. I was good at reading people and could sense emotional insecurity. He then looked at me.
"We're booked." He stated flatly in a high, nasally voice.
I glanced behind him at the room keys. Only two seemed to be missing.
I could see Zack tense with anger. But instead of decking the guy like I expected, he simply reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick wad of bills and placed them down on the counter. The man eyed the cash and sighed, turned around and retrieved a key.
"Room 16." Were his only words before he returned his attention to the TV.
Zack and I walked out of the office and around the corner, counting the room numbers until we hit 16. Zack unlocked the door and we both went in. He flipped on the lights.
The room was small, but hell, I've seen worse. By then it had to be nearing eleven o'clock. I stifled a quick yawn, which again made Zack smirk. At this time our eyes both wandered to the single bed. Okay, this would be awkward.
Zack cleared his throat.
"Um…I'll sleep on the floor." He said, retrieving a pillow and dropping his keys on the nightstand.
"No way." I replied, "Floor's mine."
"You couldn't possibly expect me to let you sleep on the floor." He argued.
I gave him a hard look.
"Floor is mine."
He just sighed.
"Fine. Have it your way." He replied, folding down the sheets.
He then stripped the comforter and handed it to me. I grabbed it and laid it on the floor, caught the two pillows he threw me and sat down.
I then reached into my jacket and pulled out a toothbrush from the inner pocket.
Zack's eyes went wide.
"You carry that everywhere?" he asked amused.
"Sure." I replied.
He reached into his jacket, retrieving his own toothbrush.
"Match made in heaven." I joked, making my way into the bathroom.
By the time I was out, Zack was already in bed. I sat down on the floor, positioning the covers. From there, I moved into a sleep position.
"Is this the part where I say goodnight?" Zack asked.
"I think so." I replied.
I wasn't really sure.
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
There was a brief moment of silence.
"I feel stupid." Zack remarked.
He then threw the rest of the pillows off the bed as well as the sheets and sat on the floor next to me.
The room was silent again. I could hear him breathe.
"Zack." I said, piercing the silence.
"Yeah." Came the reply.
"You asleep?"
"Yes."
"Oh." I said, quieting again, "Zack."
"Yeah?"
"Are you mad I handcuffed you?"
"No." he said with a little laugh.
"Zack."
"Yeah?"
"This is like my first night as a free person, free of Manticore and Renfro, etc. Right?"
Zack propped his head up with his elbow.
"Yeah, I guess it is." He said with a smile.
"So, why are we sleeping on the floor?"
Zack laughed.
"I don't know."
I smiled to myself at the memory and suddenly the blackness the intruded on me was a peaceful kind. I sighed and fell asleep.
***

In the words of Krit: this sucked. I was having a hard time making myself forget things. First off, I had to decide what I really needed to erase from my memory. Anything about the location of the others or things I thought they didn't know about us. Maybe the fact that I was the C.O.'s little sister. It was difficult to decide what parts of my life I had to pretend never happened. And being sandwiched between too heavily armed guards in the back of an enemy vehicle was not the best atmosphere either. I missed Krit already.
But I had to accept that. I was never going to see any of the other again. I wasn't even going to remember some of them. I had to make the best of the situation. Or make it as bad as possible for my captors. That might be fun.
"You know when Lydecker captures us, he doesn't usually bring a limo." I said, "I've never ridden in a limo. I didn't think they still made limos. I'll bet it's an antique. Still, I'd take a motorcycle over a limo any day."
"Do you all talk this much?" Royce commented.
"No. Zack just grunts one syllable words." I said.
"Tell me about this Zack." Royce pressed, probably trying to get as much information out of me as he could.
"Well, he spells it Z-A-C-K. Some people spell it with a C-H. I don't know why they do that. Doesn't that spell Zach? Is Zach a word?" I rambled, hoping I was starting to drive him nuts.
"That's…interesting. I didn't think Deck raised such…inquisitive kids." Royce said.
"That's us. Inquisitive." I agreed, "Although I don't know 'Deck' too well. What's with you guys anyway?"
"Nothing as interesting as the spelling of Zack, I'm afraid." Royce deadpanned.
"You don't like the way he spells his name? 'Cause that's his thing. You don't like, you'll have to take it up with him. By the way, he's right behind us and he doesn't look too happy." I said.
Royce looked over my head out the back window and saw what I had seen in the rearview mirror: Zack on his motorcycle, tailing us.
"You are so dead." I informed him.
***

I felt someone shaking me and opened my eyes to see Logan. Not who I was hoping for. He looked worried, but also extremely relieved. Don't ask me how that's possible.
"You blacked out again." He told me.
Thank you for those profound words of wisdom, Wonder Boy, I thought. I pushed myself up into a sitting position and saw Max behind him.
"Any word from Zack?" I asked.
"Well, he said he hopes you get better quick enough to join in the fight." Max commented, holding up a small bottle of a blue liquid.
"Is that…?" I asked.
"Your antidote. We got it." Max nodded; pulling a small very petrified looking man into view.
"And Ty?"
"They're trying to get her back now."
"So what are we waiting for?" I pressed, sticking my arm out in preparation for getting the antidote.
"Well, give her the injection." Max commanded, shoving the bottle of antidote into his hand, "And don't screw it up."
The man's hands shook as he took out a needle and filled it with the antidote. I didn't like shots. I closed my eyes and tried not to think about it. I felt a prick and then it was over. I opened my eyes, wondering what I should be feeling. How was I supposed to know the antidote actually worked?
"How do you feel?" Logan asked.
"Boy, you're a frickin' gem, aren't you?" I said sarcastically, "I'm just gonna assume that worked. So let's get the hell out of here and go find Ty."
"'Cause payback's a bitch and so are you?" Max offered.
"Damn straight." I agreed, and then continued with a teasing smile, "But if I die, Wonder Boy's giving my eulogy due to his gift of stating the obvious."
"My pleasure." Logan remarked, rolling his eyes.
"Logan, I think Avery's gonna be your houseguest for the time being." Max said.
"But…" Avery began.
"Don't talk. It won't help your case." Max said quickly.
I got to my feet slowly, waiting to see if I stayed on my feet or fell back onto the couch. Everything seemed okay so I followed Max out the door.
***

I watched closely through the rearview mirror. Zack was getting even closer. I couldn't see Max anywhere, but the Aztec was close on Zack's heels.
I saw Royce tense as Zack pulled a gun with one hand and shot at us. I heard a pop and knew Zack had taken out a tire. Another pop. Now we were going on two rims. The limo skidded to a halt and the armed guards piled out. I turned around in my seat to watch.
Zack swerved his motorcycle into one of them, hitting the guy in the face with his elbow at the same time. I don't think Syl even slowed much, she just ran right over another guy. The Aztec stopped suddenly and Krit jumped out. One of the guards shot at him. He dodged the bullets and ran at the guy, using the guy's own weapon to knock him unconscious. The last guy, Zack took out. He grabbed the guy's collar and flipped him hard into the ground. He then pummeled him into a bloody pulp. Zack was really mad.
I heard a click and whirled in my seat. Royce had a gun pointed at me. He looked worried.
"Don't try anything." Royce warned steadily.
"You mean, like this?" I asked, springing at him and twisting the gun away from me.
I twisted his arm enough to get him to release the weapon. I turned it on him.
"You don't try anything. I doubt you can pull that move on me."
My head snapped to the side as the door opened.
"Ty?"
"Krit!"
I grabbed a handful of Royce's expensive suit and yanked him over, pushing him out of the limo before me. I kept the gun pressed against his back as I got out behind him. Then, I forgot about him and hugged Krit tightly, but kept a hold on him.
"Ty, you're an idiot." Krit told me.
"I had to, Krit. I had to." I repeated.
Royce struggled violently to remove himself from my grasp, but with a caulk of the gun, he went still.
Zack came up behind Krit. The look and mood he emulated was enough to make a hardened war veteran pee themselves. Royce began to regain his composure.
"You really aren't too bright, are you?" I remarked sarcastically.
"You must be Zack." Royce started, his voice a bit too high pitched, "Deck told me about you. You were always the strong one, the smart one."
"Shut up." Zack growled, punching him in the face.
Royce foolishly didn't take the advice.
"He said that you were always the best. He saw so much of himself in you Zack." Royce continued.
Zack looked a bit taken a back by this remark.
"That's how I knew that this would work." Royce said in a low tone.
I don't remember what happened, just the world going black.
***

Max kicked her Ninja into high gear and we sped through the streets of Montana. I still felt a bit woozy, but I was quickly recovering. My head was fully in the game and my soldier instincts had returned completely, all I had learned. Zack would be proud.
"You sure you're okay?" Max yelled back at me.
"Don't worry about it." I yelled back.
We had more important things to worry about. If Royce was anything like Lydecker, he would plan for us to try and rescue Ty and would have some kind of a backup plan ready. Which meant Zack would need our help. Especially since Royce knew how many of us were here and would be planning for that number.
"You sure they went this way?" I called to Max.
"Positive!"
"How do you know?"
"Logan tracked his Aztec on his laptop!" Max explained, "And we can't be too far behind them!"
Max slowed as we caught sight of a limo. Two of the tires had obviously been shot out and it had been abandoned. I quickly looked up the road and saw a large, military-looking van driving away quickly. I increased my sight and saw Zack through the back window.
"Damn it. Can't they stay out of trouble just once?" I grumbled.
Max gunned the motorcycle again and took off after the van. Obviously, she had seen it, too. We tailed the van all the way to some remote compound.
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You guys have no idea how long we have wanted to say that line to Logan, "You're just a frickin' gem, aren't you?" He always states the frickin' obvious! We love him dearly, but it's like "Duh, Scully, duh!" Give the boy a Scooby snack!
By the by, Zack is unconscious, too. I doubt they'd be able to get him in that van if he were conscious. He's in a very scary mood. Hell, we were scared!

Ty and Cade