"James!" I cried, pounding on his apartment door. "James Wilson!" Although, I was starting to believe that his father may have been Lydecker, I still wasn't ready to refer to James by that last name. It would be too weird. Too wicked.
The ride to his building had been all but relaxing. On the way there, I had brushed shards of glass out of my hair and off my coat, shaking my head to remove all traces of having crashed through a window high above the ground. Less than five minutes later, I was standing outside James' apartment door, ready to break it down from impatience until I heard footsteps approaching and slowly the door creaked open in trepidation. Then, he sighed in relief and opened the door fully.
"Alanza…" he said.
Furiously, I pushed right through the door and grabbed him by the collar of his silver shirt. "Where the hell is my family?" I asked, shoving him up against a wall.
"What?"
"My family!" I bellowed.
"Alanza, I-"
I had heard enough of his pussy-footing around; in one harsh move, I pressed my forearm against his jugular, threatening to destroy him. My rage and hatred were nearly blinding now, and I didn't know how much longer I could control myself. I glared with my cat eyes, trying to bring out primal fear in him. "What did you do to my family?"
"I didn't do anything," he protested, pushing me back, which irritated me further, but I could see his anger beginning to flare. I had let him move me away. Had I wanted to kill him, I could have with one bare hand-or so I thought.
"Like hell," I shot, turning my back to him.
"I don't even know what you mean."
Then, I whipped around, my hair spiraling outward. "Your father, James, who is he?"
"What?" He was coming to his senses now, getting over his weak and mild state of mind from an unknown cause. If he was going to take me on, he couldn't be a wuss about it; I'd destroy him.
"Your damned father that I saw at the restaurant tonight and shook my hand, who the hell is he?!" I screamed through monstrous vocal chords. James glanced away, and I nearly pounced. Then, I hissed with venomous poison, "If you don't tell me, I'll hurt you…badly."
"Fine," James spat back, his own rage now building, which made us to be a very temperamental bunch of folks. "My father is Donald. Michael. Lydecker," he replied, carefully annunciating each individual word. "Happy, Alanza? What does it mean to you?"
"Did he take my parents?"
"What would my father want with your parents?" He was playing dumb, trying to get out of it, and we both knew it. Finally, it occurred to me why he was doing so: he didn't know that I knew about Manticore. James must have assumed that I didn't understand the secrets of Manticore, or he was unsure as to what I had been taught. Also, he probably wanted to save his own butt in the process, so he figured that if he played stupid, he could get away with his family heritage. All right, Jamesy boy, time for a reality check. Can't keep on hiding the mystery forever. Besides, he didn't have to find out who, or what, I was; I didn't think that I ever wanted him to come to that conclusion.
"Personally, I don't know exactly what your father would want my parents, but can tell you why he does."
"And what would that be?" James shot back, not looking at me, but instead at the golden door handle beyond his reach.
"One word," I paused, inhaling deeply and feeding the furious fire inside of me, "Manticore."
James' head whipped towards me, and it was at this time that I noticed his shirt was ripped on the sleeves, while he had a growing black eye on the right side of his face. Apparently, I had been blinded by hatred, and failed to notice his injuries. "You know about Manticore?" he asked, his voice lowered tremendously.
"Yes," I acknowledged. "What you know about it, though, is much more important."
"You want to hear what I know, Alanza?"
"Yes, I do."
"All right, then," he responded and slowly began walking over to his tiny kitchen as if walking to his death. Once in the kitchen, he began to open and close cupboards, apparently looking for something. As he was sifting through numerous drawers, he started to talk. "I know about your parents."
"What about them?"
"I know that they go by the names Max and Zack that their unit gave each other when young, but are truly genetically engineered soldiers born in Gillette, Wyoming, under careful surveillance of lab technicians. They both have barcodes in their DNA. Your mom's is 332960073452 and your dad's is 330417291559. But, their designation numbers, which begin with the code X5 that symbolizes the group they were born into, are X5-452 and X5-599." He glanced up at me, removing a piece of paper from a tiny cupboard, and tried to press out the wrinkles on the counter.
Swallowing harshly, my anger giving way to slight fear and sadness as the truth began to fully bombard me in the face, I arched a weak eyebrow, wanting to pretend that I was still the strong person I claimed to be. "And what else? What else do you know?"
"I know who you are," he whispered, attempting to brush a strand of hair out of my eyes. I jerked away under his touch, trying to dilute the physical contact into extinction.
"What?" My voice was weak, a lame hiss that would have sickened the poorest snake.
"I know who you are, Alanza Guevara, X10-415."
To say that I was nauseated would not even have begun to describe my feelings. I was ready to scream in rage and strangle James, then throw his pitiful body out of the room. I was prepared to go into insane sobs that would have racked my entire being until I was reduced to a sniveling pit of disgrace. I even wanted to do nothing but remove all food products from my stomach, then vomit some more.
Slowly, I shrank against the wall, trying to put distance between James and myself. He terrified me because, deep down inside, I knew that he spoke the truth.
Nonetheless, I still whispered a faint, "No…"
"Yes. Alanza, it's all right here." He held out the piece of paper, wanting me to take it from him. I met his eyes, but refused to touch it. Finally, he crouched next to me on the ground and showed me the wrinkled and faded paper. "See?" he asked, pointing to the words that I couldn't comprehend, "this is you. It says that your father is X5-599, your mother is X5-452 and you were created on April 15, 2020 in the main Manticore base, Gillette. Eventually, all of this information comes together to form a barcode…your barcode-my dad never got around to putting the sequence into your DNA, though-but you still were given one: 885994520415. That's you in Manticore terms." He sighed. "I know that this probably doesn't mean anything to you, but my father gave this to me when I began to work for him. He told me that this, this creation…you…were the ultimate goal. With you on his side, he would be unstoppable. I've kept this paper because I thought that perhaps, I could imagine the person that this barcode would be, and from there, I would find the courage to build Manticore. Then, I found you and everything changed."
I stared at the paper for a minute, forcing myself to understand everything that was laid out in front of me. A harsh red slash spliced the paper, while a stamp read, "Aborted" in big capital letters, convincing me that I was supposed to be dead.
James, seeing that I wasn't moving, sat down next to me, but, smartly, avoided touching me. Finally, not turning to make eye contact, I said, "Your father kidnapped my parents."
"I know…Alanza, I tried to stop him. Really, I did. I fought him, pleading with him, ripping the two-way from his grasp until I split my cuticles," James told me, raising his hand outward so that I could see the dried brown blood around his nails. "But, I couldn't fight all of them. They tied me, threw me in the back of a Hummer and knocked me unconscious. I woke up here, confused and hurt, still partially drugged, too. I tried to stop him. That's why everything's been so twisted lately. I've been trying to protect all of you."
"James?"
"Yes?"
"If I were to ask you any question, would you start talking?"
"I will answer everything. No more secrets. No more lies."
"Fine. I want you start about how you came around and end up now."
"All right, that I can do. The beginning starts out innocent enough, but I can't tell you the ending…not now, at least because, Alanza, I don't know the ending to this story.
"My father, Lydecker, was out on an escapee X5's trail in early 2018, when he ran into my mom in Michigan. Dad was still partially dealing with his alcohol addiction at the time because of the numerous failed attempts at X5 recapture, and she was lamenting the loss of her most recent boyfriend, so between beer and depression, they ended up in a hotel room. This is where I come into the picture because, I, unknowingly, was created that night. Once Mom found out she was pregnant, she told Dad. He threatened to kill her but let her live because he was weak, having not been hardened yet by the deaths of his precious X5s. If she promised never to say a word to anybody and live with the guilt of being a teenage mother, he would let her live. Obviously, she did so, and raised me on her own, never truly telling me what happened until I was older, right before I went off to college. Needless to say, I was shocked, but accepted it because, after all, I didn't know any of these 'transgenic freaks', so I didn't push the issue. By this time, she was living in northern Wisconsin with me, away from her hometown in Michigan where the pregnancy would only feed her drugged guilt.
"Once at college, I ran into Case. He was visiting from France with Charlie, and they weren't sure whether or not they wanted to live in the States. We hit it off immediately, neither one ever knowing how 'predestined', you could say, we were meant to be. One day, my father showed up in my dorm, babbling insanely about super-soldiers, and the next, Case disappeared. I got a phone call saying that I was to work for Manticore unless I wanted to see Case dead. Now, remember, I didn't know all that much about Manticore, but I cared for Case a lot, so went along with the plan. To make a long story short, Dad wanted me to work with him, and I didn't want to. I got Case out and instigated the big drug party at college not long after.
"Not being a professional crook, I had to find an easy way to get Case a new identity. So, I found a few guys that looked rather similar to Case-most college guys all look alike anyway-and made sure they were at the party. After some switching of dental and medical records with assistance from Victor-Max Jr.'s father-who was my only friend inside Manticore, I went to work. I purposefully made these guys overdose on drugs and was able to make it appear as though Case was the one who had died. Dad swooped in, found some guys that weren't an X5 child, and Case escaped. Little did I know, Max Jr. was still out there and found Case after I had mistakenly killed her boyfriend. To this day, she doesn't know what happened except that her ex died of a drug overdose. Case knows, but I don't think that he'll ever tell her.
"So, Case-with his new identity-and Max left, but I kept in contact with Case and made sure that Dad didn't trace me. I went back to Wisconsin, finished college there, and started working as an architect. Then, one day, I received a phone call from my father. He said that an uncle had died, and he wanted me to attend the funeral. Needless to say, I wasn't too receptive, but went along under my mom's persuasion of 'you need to learn about that side of your family, honey'. This supposed 'uncle' was the man your father saw dead in Phoenix."
"That's why I didn't believe that your dad's really Lydecker," I interjected.
"That's what you were supposed to believe: that Donald Lydecker died searching for the precious child of X5-599 and X5-452. Here's what he did, though, so the stories can be explained: Dad created a clone of himself after he realized that Renfro was out to kill him back in late 2019. He gave the clone steroids so it could bulk up enough, then injected it with Progeria so it could age to look like him. Brainwashed the sucker into believing that they were just going to take a nice trip through the desert in early 2038. Naturally, of course, this was not the case. The clone, which wasn't all that old, but could have passed for being a version of Dad-not exact of course, but it worked, went right along with Dad's psychotic plan. Then, using a faithful X7 female-X7-656, ironically-the clone was forced into the ditch and killed, making it appear as though Dad was the one who had died.
"So, I was called out to Seattle, but it wasn't really for the funeral. I was supposed to be in charge of designing his new Seattle Manticore base. Apparently, a fire in 2020 had destroyed it, but he hadn't been able to find a trustworthy architect to rebuild the thing. I needed the money and told myself that as long as I didn't become emotionally attached to the project, I would be fine. Well, you came along and things began to turn ugly. I couldn't go to the site, which is located in the forests, any time I felt like it. That's what you heard over my cell in New York: Dad was yelling at me in the background to get to work, while I was at the base.
"Eventually, it was getting too risky. I had seen what had happened to Case, so I told him to start lying to you if anything about my father was asked. After all, he's the only other person who knows that my dad is Lydecker. He lied and he deceived you for the longest time, and we all know that. It wasn't his fault; I told him to."
"I still can't believe all of this…" I muttered.
"Anyhow, Dad began getting more and more impatient, pushing his way into my life, wanting to know every minute detail in case something, anything could be found. Case and you were both too close for comfort. Max Jr. I've never had to worry about because she's, hate to say it, but not that keen on the whole Manticore deal and would never be suspected of being part of it. Case, though, he knew way too much, and your parental background gave you away right then and there. So, I did what I had to: I destroyed lives."
"What do you mean?"
"I killed Max's baby."
"How?"
"Saline liquid into the amniotic fluid. I drugged you with a little bit of sleeping aid that night in bed while you dozing, then headed over to her apartment. She didn't even know what hit her because she was asleep the whole time and woke up a little bit later with violent contractions."
"You could've killed her."
"I didn't, but Case was being too carefree with his identity, and I had to stop him. Hospital records would have noted that Case Smith had a child that night, and my dad would have been all over it."
"Still…"
"Still nothing. That's why Case called me a 'son of a bitch' because I told him what happened. I had to, the guilt was killing me. As for you, I did what any normal female would hate: I lied, I pretended to cheat. The condoms in the bathroom were a face to make you believe that I was sleeping around, while the entire 'don't go in the bathroom deal' was because my dad was in there."
"Lydecker was in the bathroom the whole time while we were lying on the couch?" I asked in disbelief, shocked as any person would be.
"Yes."
"Why didn't you just say that you had company?"
"He's not company. Besides, I didn't…I just…I couldn't. Ok? Still, because I didn't let you in the bathroom, it gave me the perfect opportunity to plant the condoms. The extras are under my bed, never even been touched.
"I know what I've done, Alanza. I know that I've killed. I know that I've destroyed lives, but I did what I felt was necessary…necessary to protect you, all of you from my father. You have to believe me, and I'm not asking for forgiveness, I'm asking for understanding."
I cupped my face in my hands as the awesome truth began pour down on me. Donald Lydecker was real, and he had my parents. They could die, while I was left alone with a man that I no longer knew.
James, seeing that I was obviously distressed, asked me what was wrong.
"What do you think is wrong?" I replied, refusing to look at him.
"I know that I gave you a lot of information, but-"
"James," I whispered, lifting my eyes to look at him beside me, "I don't even know who I am anymore. Am I Alanza, or X10-415? Are my parents Max and Zack or X5-452 and X5-599? My life, as far as I know it, has been wiped away completely."
He smiled faintly and moved around in front of me so that we were facing each other, still sitting on his floor. Outside, the sky was dark and I catch a glimmer of falling snowflakes. Barely into December and already there was snow. Still, I ignored it, wondering what James was up to.
"Alanza," he said, wiping back a strand of my hair, "I know who you are." He paused, as if admiring me for whatever reason. "You're better than all those other people out there, and it's not because you were made to be…it's because you choose to be."
