Outside
By Be Boring
Chapter 10: Remembering
This is wrong, this is so, so wrong. What was I thinking? I never should have agreed to this. Kay scolded herself nonstop. Everyone had thought she needed a break, so Buddy had suggested she take a little camping trip. Not a real one, but he had a cabin way back in the woods that no one ever went to. He told her to go there and just relax. It had sounded so good, but then Mary had brought up the idea that Zack should go too. After all, he did do so much physical work. That almost made Kay completely lose it. Mary knew fully well that Zack could manage twice the work load he had now. This was just an excuse to get her and Zack alone.
She had heard Mary telling Wendy that they definitely were soulmates. Kay snorted at the idea. She didn't believe in soulmates or fate or destiny or anything like that. She had always been taught to be a realist, so that kind of junk didn't appeal to her. And even if she did believe in that stuff, Zack was most assuredly not her soulmate. They were way too different.
She had been stupid to agree to this. Now she would spend her whole relaxing weekend avoiding him. She was sitting in a very comfortable reclining chair in the cabin while Zack searched the cabin. He liked to know where everything was so he could get to it if he needed it. If you asked Kay, it was a very annoying habit. She had to smile as comments came from the bathroom. He wasn't saying them to her, they were just comments to himself, but she could still hear them.
"Does Buddy have to leave his Viagra in here? Hmm, mouthwash. I should tell Mary to keep that at the farmhouse where she can use it. Same with the deodorant. And the toothpaste. Ah, hot water! That'll feel good. Damn, no soap."
Kay pressed a hand over her mouth to keep from giggling out loud. It was just so weird to hear Zack acting like a normal Peeping Tom, and a rude one at that. She grabbed her beer off the table next to her. She had a feeling she was going to have a lot of these this weekend. Zack walked out of the bathroom.
"Do you have any soap?"
She reached in her bag and tossed it to him.
"Thanks."
He turned and walked back in. She heard him start the water in the bathtub. Well, a bath would keep him occupied for a while so she could be alone.
As soon as she was sure he was settled in, she walked outside. It was a beautiful night, so she decided to do some exploring. She didn't expect to find much, but it would be fun. There was an obvious trail behind the cabin, so she followed that.
After a while, she reached the most amazing sight. It was a large clearing with a waterfall at the edge. The river cut straight through the middle of the clearing and in the dead center there was a weeping willow.
With a smile on her face, she climbed into the tree and found a comfortable spot to sit. She leaned against the trunk and looked up. The stars were really pretty. She was glad to see they were free of any Manticore signal, not that she was expecting it to be there. She didn't know how long she had sat there when she heard Zack calling her name.
"Kay! Are you out here?"
"Up here!" she called back. He strode up to the tree and looked around.
"It's nice out here."
She nodded but didn't say anything. The silence out here was too pleasant to spoil it. He stared up at her.
"Mind if I join you?"
She gestured to the branch next to her. He didn't need any more encouragement. She kept staring at the waterfall, not quite as happy now that she wasn't alone. She wasn't expecting it when Zack leaned over her and kissed her. Not knowing what to do, she kissed back. After he sat back, she looked at him questioningly.
"I was working up the guts to do it, but I didn't know how you'd react. At least you didn't freak out."
She sighed and thought carefully about how to word what she was about to say without offending him.
"It was nice but I would rather you didn't do that again."
Oh yeah, of course that won't offend him! Should have given it more thought.
He smiled slightly.
"I had a feeling you'd say that. You've always seemed nervous around me. Why is that? It can't be because you're shy. I think you just used that as an excuse when I first met you. What is it about me that upsets you?"
Kay thought frantically. She couldn't tell him why. She wasn't supposed to. There had to be something else.
"You remind me of someone I didn't like as a kid. He was really bad to me and even though you're not the same, I still can't look at you without picturing him."
Well, it wasn't really a lie, she was just making it sound as though it was a different person. And it was true that he wasn't the same. There was nothing about him now to really compare to what he had been then. Back then he wouldn't have asked what was wrong, he would have made something wrong. He wouldn't care if she felt bad, he would make her feel bad. Now he was actually very sweet. But now he was also looking at her very strangely.
"I'm not so sure that's it. Why aren't you telling me the truth?"
"I am. I can't help it if you don't believe me. That's your choice."
Zack looked at her in a way that she knew meant he was thinking about something serious, but he never let her in on what it was. They sat in silence for quite some time before heading back to the cabin. When they reached it, Kay could feel how upset he was. He didn't believe her.
Zack didn't say goodnight before he went to bed. He was still thinking. Why wouldn't she tell him the truth? A thought ran through his mind. What if he was the one who had treated her badly? He tried to shake off that feeling, but it seemed to stick. He had always thought about Kay a lot. He knew he was falling in love with her, but she didn't even seem to think of him as a friend. It was because of his feelings that he was always curious about their past. She insisted that she hadn't known him before he lost his memory, but he didn't really believe that. She looked strangely familiar to him, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He had assumed that if he had known her before, he must have cared about her, so he tried thinking of her in a romantic way to see if it jogged his memory, but to no avail. Now he had to consider the possibility that he had been bad to her. He couldn't bring himself to really believe that, but since the idea was now in his head, he decided to try thinking about her in a hateful way. He tried to imagine hurting her, but he couldn't picture it. Then something came to him. Whenever he asked her about why she was uncomfortable around him, her eyes looked slightly panicked, like a cornered animal. As he focused on the memory of that look, he saw a flash of something. He closed his eyes and pictured her eyes again, then the flash came again. With his eyes closed, he tried to see what it was.
He was standing in a line of kids, all with shaved heads. His eyes were straight forward, pointing at a man who was giving orders. This man looked extremely familiar, and filled Zack with a feeling of hate. The man turned to him.
"X5-599, you are to make sure that the others make it to the other side without cheating."
Zack nodded and walked to the other side of what appeared to be an obstacle course. To normal people, this course would look impossible, but to Zack it was child's play. He nodded his head again and one of the kids stepped forward to enter the course when the man shouted, "210." The girl started and moved quickly through it. When she reached Zack, he nodded to the man, who shouted, "493." A boy stepped forward this time. Zack noticed his eyes were set on the course. That boy was very determined to make it through perfectly. When he reached Zack, the next number was called.
"656."
Another girl completed the course. As each child came towards him, Zack felt a protectiveness inside over them. Despite the fact that he did not smile or show any signs of approval at all when the others completed the course, he was proud and he cared. They were his family.
"452."
Zack's eyes followed this girl with the most interest. She moved gracefully and quickly, and made sure not to set off any traps on the way. She wasn't the fastest one done, but she had looked the most beautiful doing it.
"358."
Zack's eyes turned cold. His eyes followed the movements of the approaching X5. She moved faster than the others did, but she wasn't reckless. Her every move was perfectly calculated. There was no doubt in Zack's mind that she was better than the others. That wasn't what was bothering him. It was the fact that she was better than him. She made it through fastest out of all the children and with the best form. When she reached him, their eyes connected. Both pairs of eyes were so filled with hate that it was as though they were trying to kill each other with their glares.
The man led them to their barracks and left them to themselves. It wasn't five minutes before all the children jumped on 358. She couldn't fight them all, so she worked on making sure most visible body parts were hid. The last thing any of them needed was for the older people to find out that they had been fighting. After a little while, she dropped to the ground when all the kids jumped on her. She was in the middle of a storm of flying fists and feet. Zack stood near the door of the barracks, watching with pleasure. He felt she was getting exactly what she deserved. When he heard the footsteps of the janitor, he signaled to the others to get off her. They all scrambled to get to their bunks. When the janitor entered the room, he saw 358 lying on the ground, unconscious. She was covered in her own blood and her body was a mess of bruises and cuts. The janitor had seen this before, so he cleaned around her and went to notify a guard. About three of the guards came. None of these men were trustworthy. They studied the form lying on the ground in front of them, then picked up 358 and carried her out of the room. 452 rolled over on her cot so she could face Zack.
"Shut the door, otherwise Lydecker might think we tried to escape."
Zack got up and moved to the door silently, glancing out to make sure no one could see him. He heard Lydecker's voice scolding 358 for getting into another fight. He smiled and shut the door. He knew she wouldn't tell Lydecker what had actually happened. When he came in, the others gathered around him. They sat in a circle and 493 started telling a story about someone called the Blue Lady. Zack leaned back against the wall and stared at 452. She wasn't looking at him, but his eyes remained on her.
Zack sat up in his bed. He couldn't see anymore. Even though he still felt that strange burning hate for 358, he now knew that leaving her to be punished for what the others did was wrong. Of course, at the time he had just been looking out for his own interests. Zack decided not to think about her. His thoughts wandered to 452. He still felt happy just remembering looking at her. She was perfect, but she also seemed familiar. Zack sat thinking about it. Suddenly it came to him. He had seen her sitting in the chair just outside the hospital room when Buddy was bringing him home! He had thought at the time that she looked familiar, but she had told him she didn't know who he was. Now he also remembered her from his dream about shooting himself. He had killed himself to save her. Thinking about her caused more flashes to come. He saw himself in another cabin with her and talking to her, then outside it fighting her. She wanted to go to someone. He could see himself in a room with lots of computer equipment in it. The girl was there with another man in a wheelchair. As the flashes came faster, Zack remembered everything. He remembered Max electrocuting him! The only reason she had done that was to protect her precious Logan. Zack felt the rage bubbling up inside of him. He would kill that man if it was the last thing he did.
Zack snuck outside as quietly as he could, trying not to wake up Kay. He didn't want her to know he was leaving. He wondered what she would think if she knew he wasn't human. He approached the car and was about to get in when he heard something behind him. He looked around, but there was no one there. When he turned back to the car, Kay was standing in between him and it. She had her arms crossed.
"Adam, where do you think you're going?"
"Kay, I remember everything and I want to go take care of some unfinished business."
Kay was startled that he remembered, but he didn't seem to have made the connection between the Kay at Manticore and the Kay standing in front of him. She knew that in order to stop him from getting to Logan, he would have to find out the truth.
"Kay, get out of my way!" he growled. His voice was threatening. He was planning on using force if she didn't let him get in the car. She stood her ground and shook her head. He grabbed her arm, ready to throw her out of the way, when she grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.
"I don't think so, Zack," she replied in a calm voice. Zack was stunned. How did she know his real name, and how was she so strong? He shoved his elbow into her ribs and pulled his arm free. He punched her and sent her flying onto the hood of the car. She lay on her back for a moment, then jumped to her feet and leapt onto him, sending him over backwards. They hit the ground and rolled over as they both started punching at each other. She nailed him hard in the jaw and he brought his fist up into her chin. When he went to punch her in the mouth, she caught his fist with her teeth and bit down hard. He cried out and tried to pull his hand back, but she dug in harder and refused to let go. He stood up and yanked his hand back hard. He managed to get it out, but there was blood steadily flowing from the bite marks. She took the opportunity to kick him hard in the groin. He went down hard. She grabbed him by the hair and pulled him to his feet. She dragged him into the house and threw him onto the couch. He looked up at her.
"Who are you really?"
"My name hasn't changed. Think about it."
Zack thought for a moment. It hit him finally that 358 had been named Kay. His eyes widened and he looked at her in shock. She could see by his face that he knew and she nodded to confirm it.
"I've actually made it to my adult years. Back then I never would have thought it possible. Of course, that was thanks to you."
Zack couldn't look at her anymore.
"Why didn't you ever mention to Lydecker what we did to you?"
Kay was surprised that he knew she hadn't told Lydecker the truth. She looked at her feet nervously. She didn't like discussing this.
"What would Lydecker have done about it? He hated me as much as the rest of you did."
"He would have at least known you weren't breaking the rules."
They were both silent for a while.
"I'm sorry."
"What?"
"I said I'm sorry. We were terrible to you."
"Why are you saying this? If you remember, then don't you hate me again?"
"I don't know. I hated you then, but I like you now. Now it's just the fact that I just found out you're the same person I used to hate. I really don't know what to think."
"Why don't you just go back to bed? We'll talk about Max and Logan in the morning."
Zack's head shot up, surprised. "How--"
"I've been in contact with Max and I have been keeping an eye on you for her. If you show any signs of remembering then I have to let her know and keep you here."
"You've known this whole time who I was?"
"Yeah, that's why I've been so uncomfortable around you. I can't look at you now without remembering Manticore."
Zack remembered what she had said before, about him reminding her of someone she used to know that had been terrible to her. No wonder she had been distant. He couldn't say anything else to her tonight, so he walked back into his room. He had a lot to think about.
The next morning, Zack was pleading with Kay. "Don't tell Max I've remembered anything. It's better if she doesn't know."
"But what if you go after Logan again? Max needs to be able to protect him, but she can't if she doesn't know."
Zack clenched his jaw. Kay could see he didn't like the fact that Max felt the need to be warned about him, that she considered it a bad thing for him to remember her.
"I won't go after Wonder Boy, I promise."
"What makes you think I'll believe you? Manticore brainwashed you into thinking that Logan sabotaged your mission to destroy them so they wouldn't have to worry about Eyes Only anymore, and you're buying into it every step of the way! I can't leave Logan to be attacked by you without knowing what's coming!"
"What, so now you're in love with the guy too? What is it with women and him? I know it's not his physical abilities."
"I'm not in love with Logan. It's just that he's the reason I'm alive and don't have to run from Manticore anymore."
"What are you talking about?"
"He did an Eyes Only hack to tell the location of Manticore, and Renfro made the place self destruct. Max came and let everyone out, so in a way I owe my life to them and I don't have to worry about being taken back there. Of course, now there's other problems."
"Like what?"
"You've missed a lot while you've had amnesia."
Zack wanted to know what was going on. He still felt protective over the X5s, and he wanted to make sure that they were okay and would still be that way in the future.
"There's this guy that has been tracking down transgenics since they escaped, and he's dead set on making sure he gets rid of us all. His name is Ames White. I've had a few encounters with him and he is not a nice guy. Wendy was his wife. I know she's been using her maiden name Olsen so that no one around here gets news to him. She had to run from him because he tried to kill her. It turns out he's part of some breeding cult that has been working to make the perfect human being. He can fight just as well as a transgenic, and he was going to have his son sent someplace to join the cult. Since he couldn't get Wendy to leave it alone, he tried to get rid of her. Max managed to get Wendy out of there and she came here to live. I'm supposed to protect her from White."
"Have any of your encounters with this White guy happened while I've been here?"
"Just one. Do you remember when my arm was busted and I went to Seattle to stay with some friends because they were just visiting and I hadn't seen them for a while?"
"Yeah, Buddy told me about the friends."
"I was actually helping Max and Logan get some water transgenics away from White. I managed to get them out of there but White caught me and I ended up having to wait for Max to come get me out. That was certainly an interesting time."
"How many times have you come across him?"
"Let's see. The first time was when I was trying to stop him from using the Manticore signal to round up and kill the transgenics, then I got an X6 boy away from him, and there was the time he was at a Halloween party and flirted with me until he found out what I was, and I can't forget the time he caught me in a lab in Seattle and wanted to take me apart, but of course I hadn't been getting too much sleep due to my living arrangements at the time and I was a little slap happy. Then there was the one I just told you about, so I guess that makes five times in all."
Zack was looking at her strangely. She was saying everything as though it was a joke to her and wasn't a big deal. Some of these things did sound funny though. He realized she was just like Krit and Syl. They always joked about their close calls and made them sound as though they weren't important. That had always bugged the hell out of him. It was as though they didn't care if they endangered themselves, but that wasn't the case. Syl had said it was just to take the pressure off. He realized Kay was trying to distract him. She had pulled him off the subject so she could keep his mind off Logan. She could see he had figured it out.
"Your ass is staying here, do you understand? I can beat the crap out of you if you still are set on becoming a psycho killer like Ben, but I would rather not do that. I wouldn't want to have to use the measures that Max did to stop you from killing an innocent person."
Zack frowned, he didn't like being compared to Ben. He loved his brother, but the man that Max killed was very different from the brother he had known in Manticore.
"Even if he didn't sabotage the mission to destroy Manticore, he's endangering Max's life by sending her on his Eyes Only missions. She's risking her life for him just because she claims to love him. I can't let her ruin her life for this guy."
"Max is a big girl and can take care of herself, so I suggest you shut up! She doesn't need you to protect her anymore. She handled herself for ten years before you showed up and made her feel miserable, so maybe it's better if you let her get on with her life as if you never came back. From what I hear she was happier that way!"
Kay knew that had been a low blow, but she had to convince Zack to stay away from Seattle. She didn't want to hurt him, but at the moment she had no choice. He looked speechless.
"Will you stay here?"
He looked up and was about to answer when Kay heard her cellphone ring from her bedroom. She ran to get it.
"Hello?"
"Kay, it's Buddy. You've got to come back. Wendy's missing. She left a note saying that she went to get her son. You know more about the situation than I do, but even I know this isn't good."
"Ok, I'll be back in a little bit."
Kay hurried back into the living room with her bags. "We're leaving, so get your stuff."
Zack didn't ask any questions, he just grabbed his bags. Kay sped the whole way home, not caring if she got pulled over. If she could just get to Wendy before she did anything stupid, then maybe she could change her mind. Ray was part of the breeding cult now, he wasn't really her son anymore. Of course, being a mother Wendy couldn't really understand that. Blaming her would be a waste of time. The second they pulled into the driveway, Kay ran to her house and called Logan on his secure line.
"Hel--."
"Logan, Wendy's gone looking for Ray."
"What? When?"
"Just today from what I know. Do you have any idea where she might be looking?"
"No, if I can't find any leads on Ray, then I don't know how she could. Do you think she'd risk contacting Ames?"
"No. She knows he'll kill her. Anyways, he wouldn't tell her where to find the kid."
"Well, did she give any indication of where she was heading first?"
"If she did, would I be calling you?"
"I guess not. I'll tell Max if I get the chance. Call me if anything changes."
Kay was furious when she hung up the phone. Calling Logan hadn't helped anything. She didn't even know why she bothered. She went to look at the note Wendy had left. It didn't tell her anything she didn't already know. She tried to think about everything Wendy had said to her lately, hoping maybe there was a clue there. Finally, she thought she had something. It wasn't that big, but it was what she had. Wendy had once mentioned a hotel in San Francisco that White often stayed at because it was very secretive about the people that stayed there. They never let out information on their guests. Kay didn't know if Wendy would go there so White wouldn't find her while she was looking for Ray, but it was worth a shot. She sat down for a bit to figure out what she was going to do. She couldn't do this alone, and she had gotten the feeling from her conversation with Logan that Max was busy, so she wouldn't find any help there. She groaned inwardly. That left her with Alec or Zack. She didn't want to have to put up with Alec on a trip, so that meant she'd have to take Zack along. After grabbing some food from her fridge, she threw it in the car and motioned for Zack to get in as well. He seemed to know she needed him, so he climbed in without saying a word.
The drive to San Francisco was long. She spent most of it explaining to Zack what had happened to the other X5s after the escape. She also told him about everything that had happened after Manticore was brought down. She even explained about why she had been acting so strangely when her arm was broken. Now that he remembered everything, he understood about her being in heat. He told her about what life had been like for him after the escape and how he had protected the others. When he got to the part when he found out that Ben was a serial killer, he seemed nervous. The way he told it, he had refused to protect Ben after finding out. Kay could understand. Ben had been a liability. Something occurred to her and she didn't know how to approach it with Zack.
"Do you think they did the same thing to Ben as they did to you? I mean, if they can bring you back to life after you shot yourself in the head, then they could probably bring him back after having his neck snapped."
"I doubt they would have. He was crazy, if he was brought back he would just be locked up, and I don't see why they would bother."
Kay could see his point. She tried to picture Ben. She knew Alec was identical to him, but Alec was such a womanizer and was so carefree and reckless that she had a hard time imagining someone with his face as a murderer. She was still thinking about Ben when they reached the hotel. It didn't seem to be out of the ordinary. Her eyes glanced at the cars in the parking lot. It only took a second to spot Wendy's. She couldn't help feeling relieved. At least they had found her right away.
"I'm going to run distraction. That's when you find what room she's staying in and go get her."
Zack nodded and followed her in. There was a teenage boy running the desk. Kay smiled, this was going to be easier than she had thought. She gave a quick nod to Zack, who went to stand around the corner behind the boy, who was listening to a portable cd player and hadn't even noticed them. Kay reached out and tapped him on the shoulder, making sure Zack was out of sight.
"Excuse me, but are there some open rooms available? I've been traveling for a while and I need a place to stay."
"Listen lady. I don't care what your problems a--."
He had just looked up at her and seemed to be in shock. Kay smiled sweetly at him.
"Is something wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."
The boy shook his head and smiled back. "No, nothing's wrong."
"Good, can you help me with some stuff in my car? I'm really not that strong, and I could use a pair of manly arms."
Zack tried not to laugh as Kay pulled the kid out the door, going on and on about how strong he was compared to her. He slid behind the desk and grabbed the guest book. He flipped through it for a bit but couldn't find Wendy's name, but something else caught his eye. Ames White had made a reservation for today. It didn't say what time he would be getting there, but it was only about five o'clock in the morning, so he probably wouldn't be coming for a while yet. Zack tried to figure out what name Wendy might have used for herself and almost could have hit himself when he saw that she had registered herself as Mary Thompson. He took a quick glance at the room and headed upstairs. He made it up to the eighth floor on the stairs and looked for her room. When he saw it, he easily picked the lock. He walked over to the bed where she was sleeping and gently shook her. She looked up at him and nearly screamed. He put a hand roughly over her mouth.
"Wendy, shut up! Do you want everyone in the building to wake up?"
He took his hand off her mouth.
"What are you doing here? How did you find me?"
"Kay remembered what you said about this hotel. We're here to stop you from making a huge mistake."
"Looking for my son isn't a mistake! You don't have to stop me, I'll be fine."
The door burst open as Kay kicked it down. "We've got to go now. White just showed up downstairs. Since I knocked out the clerk, he's going to get suspicious pretty fast."
Voices were coming from the elevator. They all sounded angry."Whoever it was knocked out that kid without putting any real work into it. That sounds like a transgenic to me."
"Sir, why do you think one of them would knock that kid out?"
"I don't know and I don't care. I just want to find them."
Wendy's face paled. She knew how bad it was for her if her husband found her. Zack opened the window and looked down. "You can make it if you use the pipe. Kay and I can just jump down."
Wendy didn't argue, she just allowed Zack to help her out the window. As she started to climb down, Zack turned to Kay.
"Kay, you go out. There isn't enough time for us both to make it before White comes through the door, and I know I can take him."
Kay walked over to him by the window. "White already knows who I am, so all I can say is I'm very sorry about this."
With that, she shoved him out the window. She glanced out to make sure he righted himself in the air, which of course he did. A moment later, White stepped through the already kicked down door, his gun pointed straight ahead of him. He looked surprised when he saw her.
"358, what the hell are you doing here?"
"Just waiting for you Ames, what else?" she said sweetly. She had to make sure no one saw Wendy climbing down the side of the building. She could hear Otto coming down the hall. She kicked out and sent White's gun flying. She knew he had more, but she could keep him busy until Otto came. White wouldn't dare use his strength against her with Otto watching. That would blow his cover. She grabbed his arm and hurled him into the wall. He caught himself before hitting it and rebounded with a hard punch. Kay managed to stay standing, but her face was stinging. He really was strong. He went to punch her again and she caught his fist with her hand and punched him in the stomach. He barely flinched at that and kicked her in the shin. A burst of pain went through Kay's leg. She let go of his fist and ducked as he went to punch her with the other hand. From her crouching position, she shot her foot straight into his knee. She heard him give a low grunt. At least that had some effect. She jumped up and punched him in the face. He grabbed her arm as she pulled it back and twisted it. She reached up with her other hand and grabbed his throat to stop him from breaking her arm. He grabbed her hand and pulled it away after only a little struggle.
"You can't win against me, 358. I'm much stronger than you are."
"Maybe so, but you have your weak points."
She drove her knee in between his legs as hard as she could. He cried out and managed to stay up, but his grip on her arms loosened. She took the opportunity to pull away and grab the phone and bring it down on his head. He dropped to the ground. He was still conscious, but she had left quite the mark on his head. Otto had heard his boss cry out and was now running towards the room. Kay glanced out the window again. Wendy still wasn't that far down. She still had a few more floors, otherwise Kay would have jumped out right then. She wasn't expecting it when White tackled her from behind. They both landed on the bed and he struggled to hold her down. He would keep her there until Otto came in and could get handcuffs on her. Kay wasn't about to let that happen. She slammed her head into his, making his head hurt even more, but he kept his grip on her. She could feel something against her ankle that was harder than his leg. She kicked off her shoe and used her toes to grab the knife that was in his sock. She brought her leg up and got the knife in her hands. It was only a pocketknife, but it would have to do. She drove it straight into his ribs. He twisted and tried to grab it, but she pulled it out and stuck it into his hip. When he reached to grab it, she managed to shove him off and get his gun that was lying on the ground. He threw the knife at her and it hit her in the shoulder. She screamed, but still fired the gun at him. It hit him in the leg. When Otto ran into the room finally, she slammed the gun into his face and took off down the hall.
After she made it to the second floor, she took the time to yank the knife out of her shoulder. Despite the stinging, she knew it hadn't hit anything important. She picked the lock into the nearest hotel room and went inside. She walked to the window and looked out. Wendy had finally reached the ground. Zack was leading her to the parking lot. Kay jumped out the window and ran to them. Wendy's mouth dropped open when she saw the blood on Kay's shirt. Kay shoved her into the truck before she could ask questions.
"I'll take Wendy's car. I can dump it somewhere and meet you back home."
"Kay, I'm not leaving you here," Zack insisted.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't need you to protect me. I've managed just fine so far without your guidance and I've gotten out of scrapes with White before on my own, so just go."
Just as Zack backed the truck up and Kay jumped into Wendy's car, White came out of the building. Blood was flowing freely from his leg and the red mark on his head still looked terrible, but he was moving as though he wasn't hurt. His eyes widened as they landed on Wendy in the truck. Kay started up the little car and drove it straight at him. He didn't have time to react before he was thrown up into her windshield. Kay screeched to a stop and climbed out.
"I'm afraid I was looking more for a bird as a hood ornament, not a rat."
He practically growled at her as she shoved him off the car, but was too weak to do anything more. She got back in and took off, knowing full well that she would have to dump this vehicle soon, and preferably on the south side of town. She didn't want him to even suspect that she was living in Canada. She drove as normally as possible, trying not to attract attention, but she couldn't help wanting to just get out of this car and head home. After she dumped it in another hotel parking lot, she hotwired a van nearby with a full tank of gas and took off. She knew she would have to make a stop somewhere, so she decided to get to Seattle and stay with Max for a while. She could call and tell Zack that she was fine, but she wouldn't mention where she was. She didn't want him coming to finish off Logan.
Logan was in shock when he opened his door and saw Kay standing there. "Kay! I didn't think I'd be seeing you for a while. What brings you by?"
"I just need a place to crash for a while. I've had a long, interesting day."
"Really? What happened? Did you get Wendy back?"
"Yeah, but not before I fought with her wonderful husband. That guy really gets on my nerves."
Logan studied the blood on her shirt. "Did he do that to you? Wait, I already know the answer. Come in and I'll fix that up for you and you can tell me what happened."
Kay spent the next ten minutes telling him everything and letting him dress the wound. It was a little uncomfortable for her to let someone else take of her for a change. He couldn't seem to believe her story.
"He really is strong then. Max got lucky that their fight was cut short. I know you're stronger than her and he managed to do a lot of damage to you."
"Yeah, but if I hadn't managed to get to the knife and the gun then he probably would have finished me off. I shouldn't have been shy with my fighting."
"What do you mean 'shy with your fighting'? Why would you have held back when you're fighting him?"
"I've always held back, well, almost always. I've known since I was little that I was much stronger than the rest, but when I was thirteen Renfro paired me to fight with another X5. It was Zack's clone, X5-600. Just looking at him made me remember being little, so when I fought him I slipped up and used all of my strength. He was supposedly the strongest of all the clones, but I killed him in about five seconds. I guess just seeing his face, even if he wasn't really Zack, made me lose control. Renfro was proud of me even though I had gotten rid of one of her strongest fighters because it just proved that I was much better. Ever since then I haven't wanted to use everything just because I'm almost afraid of losing control again. You wouldn't understand because you're normal, but having all that extra strength can really get to your head. When you start fighting and realize how much power you have, you just lose it and start using it excessively. It's kind of exhilarating, being able to do so much damage, so you just keep going until there's no more damage to do.
"I'm probably the only one who truly understands what made Ben kill all those people. I'm guessing that when Ben got out into the real world, he found out how much stronger he was than the people around him, and felt the same thrill I did. The only difference is that Lydecker was there then to stop me from using my extra strength, while Ben was all on his own. It was more than just his obsession over the Blue Lady. That was what made him go after those people in the first place, but if he just wanted the teeth then he could have just grabbed people off the streets and pulled out their teeth. It was his feeling of power that made him hunt people down like prey. He liked the fact that he could do this to them. I've always hated losing control like that, because then you become unpredictable. You might kill them quickly or you might torture them first and thoroughly enjoy it until you come to your senses later and the realization of what you've done hits you. Ever since killing Zack's clone, it's just become second nature to me to not fight with all my strength. Even when fighting enemies I've held back. I'm still stronger than the others even without using my full potential, so there's never been a need to use more. I guess though if I'm ever going to fight White again then I'm going to have to get over that."
Logan seemed a little shocked at the story. It scared him a little bit that someone so innocent looking had a dark side like that. He felt guilty about his fear though as he studied Kay's face. She really hated having that side to her. They sat in silence for another few seconds, then Max walked into the room.
"Kay!"
Kay winced as Max squeezed her tightly. Max felt it and stood back to look at her.
"Oh my God! What happened?"
Kay had to go through the whole story again, not mentioning what she had told Logan about not using all her strength. She wasn't sure what Max would think if she knew that Kay had killed Zack's clone out of rage. Kay also didn't mention Zack's involvement in the whole rescue mission. She hadn't told that to Logan either. She just made it sound like Wendy had gotten away on her own after Kay got her out of the building. She would keep her promise to Zack not to tell them about his memory coming back as long as he didn't come back here. Max's face was very worried by the end of the story, but split into a grin.
"Well, hurt or not, now that you're back you are going to have to get some partying done! You are coming to Crash tomorrow night and you're not leaving Seattle for a week, do you hear me?"
Kay grinned back. "Well, if you insist."