SIXKILLER

There is a surprise in this chapter, remember Jimmy? I mentioned him briefly in chapter three, he's a supposedly 'dead' member of the gang, and who killed him? Yours truly; me! (Joking its Sixkiller) Anyway, there's more about that story, plus Tom uncovers a link between Jimmy and…well, find out.

Chapter Ten

"We call ourselves Freedom fighters. But to tell you the truth, I don't think that was what we were fighting for in the past few months.

"Honestly Tom, we used to fight the Yeerks hard and right, we didn't do anything out of line. We didn't kill controllers, well, the human controllers we didn't, we killed Hork-Bajir all right, I've always hated them, they seem like they were created only to kill, that's exactly what they do anyway, and Taxxons? These disgusting cannibals; they're hardly sentient! So no hard feelings spent there.

"Mark used to be a sweet boy, he wasn't ever so violent as he is these days, I…I don't know what to tell you about him, there would be no point for me to tell you what he used to be like, I'd be trying to justify what he did, only I can't. You see…it isn't easy trying to explain what happened, you see, there was this girl who joined us, she was Sedra then…"

Abby swallowed and decided to push the issue, "There was no way we could tell, none of us knew exactly what we were dealing with, first time we saw her she looked like she could barely lift a hand to kill a butterfly, and to think we nursed that bitch back to heath so she could-" Abby drew in a quivering breath, Tom looked at her with wonder, she managed to contain her suppressed anger and continued, "as for Mark; it was love on first sight. I've heard people say 'love knows no boundaries' and 'love is blind' but this, this was ridiculous."

Abby stopped in front of a particularly tall tree; Tom had decided they should take a walk in the forest, away from civilization, "she put a spell on him, that witch. Actually, she managed to weave her charm on all the boys, I swear they were blind to everything she did." Abby glanced down at her tea and said in a high mocking voice with a heavy foreign accent, "Would you mind doing this? I was counting on you to figure it out, Mark. Victor, are you sure you don't oppose my temporary control over the group? Mickey we wouldn't mind it if you slipped in a couple of dollars on this, and Roger, can you help me with this? Its heavy. Jimmy you can take the surveillance shift today, I know you don't like the pool. Abby, you don't mind me spending the night with Victor do you?"

Abby curled her fingers around a low hanging branch and a tranquil expression entered her soft eyes, she looked at the branch with wonder and said, "If only this is your neck Sixkiller, I swear I'll-" Tom reached out and touched Abby's arm.

"You really hate her don't you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Abby shook her head wistfully, then her expression turned to sorrow, "She killed Jimmy."

"Jimmy?" Tom questioned.

Abby nodded miserably, her auburn hair was a dark brown with a tingle of red beneath the silvery rays of the moon, "It used to be Victor, Mark, Mickey, Dominic, Jimmy, Roger and me." She sighed, "What would I give for it go back like it was. Jimmy didn't really have a heart for killing animals, let alone people or sentient aliens." She smiled a bit, "He used to invite me over to his family's farm, it was the first time I met black people in America, I've met the ones in Britain. I don't know why people discriminate against them. It was cozy in there. It wasn't like a normal day in Britain but it was close enough for comfort, I used to be a farm girl you know, before I came here. I have a thing for farms."

Abby shed tears, "I…what happened to Jimmy was terrible. You see, his family never mourned for him, they never got to know what they lost. What Sixkiller did was truly vile, and that's what scares us about her. Why she managed to get control over us."

"What did she do?" Tom asked. He led Abby to a fallen log and they both sat down, in front of them was a spectacular view of a small lake, the entire meadow was bathed in the moonlight, and looking up, the sky was dotted with billions of twinkling stars.

"I don't know how she did it, I don't really know why, I guess you'd have to speak to her about it if you're curious, but I don't advise that, she's so secretive-" Abby shook her head, "You could look up Jimmy in any data base in the world and still you wouldn't find his records."

Tom looked puzzled, "What do you mean? She wiped his identity? But that's impossible, isn't it? His teachers would still recognize him, his family would too.'

"It isn't like that Tom." Abby said, she fidgeted slightly, she stopped and continued, "Sixkiller didn't just wipe Jimmy's identity, she wiped his timeline, completely, his family and the entire world doesn't know he ever existed."

"How do you mean?" Tom looked worried.

"I…I told you I don't know how she does it, but she has the power to meddle with time, and, I don't know what Jimmy did or discovered about her that caused her to do this to him. I don't know, maybe she wanted to teach us a lesson or something," Abby looked frustrated, "But no one, no one in the universe but our group and maybe god, knew that a boy named Jimmy ever existed.

"I think this incident with time effected the sister, but I don't know, could have caused her to become an abnormality in space time continuum, she was attached to him, I hope she remembers some part of him subconsciously, I don't think I could face a world that could so harshly forget a gentle person like Jimmy. My heart still aches for him. I really wanted to visit the family again, but I couldn't, they wouldn't have remembered me."

Tom looked at her. It just occurred to him what sort of depth the Freedom Fighter's problems were bordering; he certainly didn't know how to help them.

"Tell me about Jimmy's family." Tom said quietly, he gazed deep into Abby's clear green eyes, "If that would make you feel better."

Abby nodded, she brushed a fallen leaf from her plaid skirt, "It would, he was such a sweet boy, he wasn't a single child, he had a little sister, she'd be about Jake's age by now"–Abby noticed the pang of sorrow that crossed Tom's face-"He had parents, they are decent people too, kind, warm, they liked me, they remind me of my own folks, but my folks weren't vets, these people are. They had a barn too and it was a sort of rehabilit-"

Abby stopped, she regarded Tom's startled expression with surprise, "What is it Tom?"

"What is Jimmy's sister's name?" Tom said breathlessly.

"Jimmy's sister?" Abby looked puzzled, "Why, she's called Cassie."

"I know her." Tom whispered, "she's my brother's girl friend -was- my brother's girl friend, he'd never admit it."

What Tom didn't add was that she was the person who made his freedom possible, and simultaneously, caused the death of his little brother.

Maybe she was an abnormality in space-time continuum, if so; maybe she'd have answers. Or maybe she'd know something they didn't.

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Yahhhhh! How do I come up with things like this? I just have to make things more difficult. Grrr. I have to go and figure out what to write next. Or possibly wait for a life saving burst of inspiration…hmm…I wonder which one is going to come first….