Outside
By Be Boring
Chapter 14: As I Lay Me Down To Sleep
"Kay! Get up! Come on!"
Kay grabbed her blankets and brought them up to cover her head, struggling to drown out the voice. It didn't work as well as she'd hoped.
"Kaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy! Come on, I'm going in a little while and I want to at least say bye! KAY!!!!!!!"
She groaned and raised her hand into the air to extend her middle finger to the intruder. She heard a laugh and some pressure on the bed. One second later Alec was pulling the blanket from her head and talking in her ear.
"Rise and shine, sweetheart! I'm not going away 'til you get up. I can bother you for hours if I want to."
Suddenly, Kay was bombarded by the worst thing she could ever possibly hear.
"I can be your hero baby, I can kiss away your pain, I will stand by you forever, you--"
Kay shoved him as hard as she could and smiled when she heard a loud 'thump'. Alec laughed from his new spot on the floor. "What, I thought girls liked that song?"
"For one thing, I hate that song. For another, Manticore may have made you talented in many ways, but singing was not one of them. We should have reminded Renfro to give us singing lessons."
Alec laughed. "Okay, I'll try this again. I'm leaving in a couple minutes and I wanted to say bye before I went. After all, it was such a memorable time."
Kay nearly burst out laughing. What was he talking about, memorable time? It had been a disaster! First, he had decided to be stupid and sneak down into the basement when she was in heat! It had taken Brin forever to separate them before anything happened. Then, he shoved Ben and Zack into the basement! Zack had managed to get himself out, but once again Brin had had to come down and separate Kay from yet another X5 male. Poor Ben had apologized for days after that. Of course, Alec wasn't done yet. He tried horseback riding, which was one of the funniest things Kay had ever seen until he finally just gave up and kicked the poor horse in the sides as hard as he could. Even he hadn't been able to hold on for that ride. He had to pay for a whole new set of tack because the horse had pretty much wrecked its saddle and bridle while it was running around the farm. Still, Alec hadn't finished on his rampage. He talked Ben and Zack into drinking with him. There had been way too many close calls with Zack nearly giving away that he remembered everything. Alec had set out to get them completely drunk, along with himself, which required a lot of beer. Kay suspected Alec had bought out the whole supply of beer in town to get himself and the other two X5s as drunk as they were. She and Brin had quite a time carrying them back to their beds. Just for laughs, Kay had dragged Zack and Alec into the same bed. The explosion that came from that house the next morning was hysterical.
"Oh yeah, we just have to do that again!" She reached over and gave him a quick hug. "That's about the best I can do right now. I'm too tired to walk you to your truck or anything like that. Don't take it personally."
Alec grinned down at her. "Hey, a hug was more than I was expecting. I was wondering if you could do a favor for me if you've got the time. The guy I bought the beer from the other day ripped me off, but I can't go into details. The only thing I gotta say is he's kinda vain about this really cool motorcycle of his. I was wondering if you could steal it. It's not for me, I just want to piss him off. That's just if you have the time. I guess I'll let you get back to sleep. I'm sure I can do something to bug Max as soon as I get home." Kay chuckled and waved him away. As soon as she heard his truck pull away, she let her head flop back down on its pillow. It was too bad Alec had interrupted. She had been having the strangest dream, but wasn't quite sure anymore what it had been about. She had never been that interested in dreams before, seeing as how she knew they weren't real and she wasn't the type to focus on fictional things. Still, she had the strangest feeling that it was a bad thing Alec had interrupted her. As she lay there trying to remember the dream, she wasn't even aware that she had fallen asleep.
Kay found herself sitting Indian-style on the ground outside Manticore. Her first reaction was to run, but she was strangely planted to the ground. When she looked around, she noticed that this wasn't the Seattle facility, but the Wyoming one. Could this really be a dream? Kay had never dreamed like this before. Usually it was just silly stuff that she easily dismissed the next morning, but this was a memory. It was clear and vivid, almost as if she was actually there. She could hear the familiar sounds of marching feet as they made their way towards the front doors. It didn't surprise her at all when she saw Lydecker leading the young X5s out of the cold, gray building. She saw Zack just behind Lydecker, with Max and Jondy close behind. She also saw herself at the very end, looking as though she'd rather be somewhere else. As people Kay didn't recognize handed out weapons to the children, Kay paled. This was a memory she had forced herself to forget long ago. It was the first time she'd ever been shot. As the targets were set up across the field and the kids prepared themselves to shoot, Kay was already dreading watching what was about to happen. When Lydecker gave the signal, the guns went off. Every target had a hole in the dead center except for two, Kay's and Ben's. The answer became evident as to why when everyone stepped back. Kay was on the ground, seizing horribly with a bullet wound in her side while Ben still had his gun pointed at her. Kay turned her head away, she couldn't watch this. She heard Lydecker order Zack to go get one of the doctors. What upset her more was what she didn't hear; Lydecker wasn't scolding Ben or even asking why he had done it. Everyone knew why, and everyone except for Kay wasn't bothered by it. She could hear her younger self making low noises in her throat as her seizures continued.
Kay finally turned her head back to see again what was going on when something caught her eye. On the other side of the field was a little boy. He was only about seven years old and she didn't recognize him. If she didn't remember him, how could he be in her memory? He was watching the whole scene in front of him with a look of horrified fascination on his face. He didn't seem to like what he was seeing, but he also didn't seem to be able to pull his eyes away. She was keeping her eyes on him, trying to figure out who he was, when he raised his head and looked straight at her. She jumped, then returned his gaze. How could he see her? She studied him more closely. He had short, light brown hair with some blond along the edges from the sun. His eyes were dark blue, almost gray, and he had a cute little turned-up nose with a couple of freckles scattered across it. Something strange about him was that he seemed to have no hard muscle in his body. If he was from Manticore, despite his young age he would still be sort of tough looking. Still, even if he wasn't from Manticore, the fact that he was looking straight at her was disturbing. Their eyes remained connected for a long time, and Kay was sure that he was really seeing her and not something behind her. He even looked surprised to see her there. She finally tried to call out to him.
"Who are you?" No sound came out of her mouth. She tried again, but to no avail. The boy was still watching her steadily, not noticing her attempts to speak. She tried several times, each time growing louder and louder inside her own head but the message didn't seem to be reaching the boy. Finally, she heard her name being called.
"Kay!"
Those words weren't coming from his mouth. She looked around, but there was no one there who could see her.
"Kay!"
Kay's eyes snapped open. She realized her body was damp with sweat and Wendy was standing over her, looking concerned. In the doorway behind her, Kay could see Ben, Zack, Brin, and Lydecker watching her with confused expressions on their faces. She looked up at Wendy.
"What's wrong? Why did you wake me up?"
"You were talking in your sleep. You kept saying 'who are you?' and tossing around so I thought I should wake you up."
Kay frowned and tried not to show how confused she was. She had never so much as flinched in her sleep, cameras at Manticore had revealed that. Now she was talking and rolling around?
"It's nothing, I just had a bad dream. Don't worry about it."
Wendy nodded, but still didn't look convinced. Kay finally made a shooing motion with her hand and Wendy left the room, shutting the door behind her. Kay sat up to get out of bed and nearly crashed to the ground. She realized to her shock that her legs were completely tangled up in the sheets. She must have been really moving. She spent her next couple minutes working her way out of the bed to freedom. She couldn't believe how tired she felt. It was as though she hadn't slept at all, but lay there and daydreamed everything. She felt a distinctly unsettled feeling in her stomach as the boy's face came rushing back to her. He had seemed confused by her presence, as though he wasn't expecting to see her. She didn't see how it was possible that she had just dreamed him up. He was too real in her mind, and she had certainly never dreamed of anyone with details like freckles before. The touches of blond in the hair that framed his face and the cute little turned-up nose were details that she had never placed on a person in her dreams either. Those details drove her wild. If she could see those things so clearly, then shouldn't she know him? She couldn't see herself making someone like that up in a dream, but her mind was sharp enough for her to remember someone with those kinds of details. She had to have known him at one time, and pretty well considering the clear picture of him in her mind.
Kay's attention turned to the door. She could see shadows just under it, which probably meant that Wendy was worried about her and was waiting for her to come out. She couldn't help the blush that came into her cheeks when she thought of the expressions on everyone's face as they watched Wendy wake her up. They most likely thought she was nuts, and she was starting to agree with them. That boy shouldn't bother her so much, but for some reason it did. She tried to shake it from her mind as she grabbed her robe and pulled it on. Despite the fact that she was wearing the tank top and shorts that she always wore to bed, she felt too exposed. She almost laughed at that. She had flashed two guards she didn't even know but she felt embarrassed about people who knew her seeing her in her bed clothes? That really was screwed up.
Sure enough, Wendy was just outside the door when Kay came out. If the door had been the type to swing out instead of in, Wendy would be sporting a new bump on her head. Kay smiled and gave a little wave, trying to prove to Wendy that she was just fine. Ben, Zack, Brin, and Lydecker were sitting at the kitchen table. She didn't really bother with hellos there. Any speech among that group and there would be a fight. It was hard to believe they hadn't killed each other already. She noticed they were sitting in a semi-circle around the table with Ben and Lydecker at either end with Zack and Brin between them. Even that wasn't all too great. Brin seemed to always jump at the chance to aggravate her ever-watchful big brother. From what Zack had told Kay in the past, Brin never used to be like that. She had actually been a very sweet person who was usually the one he went to when he had a problem. Apparently being back at Manticore had changed her completely.
When Kay wandered into the kitchen to make herself an egg, Wendy followed and sat on the counter as if she were watching five-year-old make a meal for the first time. It irked Kay slightly, but she had to remember that Wendy was a mother through and through and was just worried about her. She decided to calm any fears before they were voiced.
"I'm fine, Mom."
Wendy smiled and ran a hand back through her hair. "That's what you say, but it's not necessarily what you mean."
"How would you know?"
"I have, well actually had, a husband and son for many years. Living with two men teaches you that people tend to not admit it when something's wrong, especially when they have a lot of pride." She looked sad at the memory of her family.
Kay pouted playfully, trying to lighten the mood. Anything to get that look off of her friend's face. "Are you saying I'm a proud person?"
"You know that's not what I meant."
"Yeah, I know. You can stop worrying though. I'm as fine as can be." She slid her egg onto her plate and headed back to the dining room, Wendy close behind her. She had the feeling she was going to have a human shadow for a while. As she approached the dining room, she heard the arguing. Well, so much for a nice, peaceful breakfast. She knew before she even entered the room that it was Zack and Brin. Once again, they were arguing about where Brin's loyalties should lie. She heard Zack saying that Lydecker had practically tortured them as kids and was one of the main reasons they hadn't wanted to get captured again. Kay struggled to hold down the laughter that threatened when she saw Lydecker's face. His look seemed to say 'Hello? I'm sitting right here!'. Kay walked around the table, grabbed Brin's chair, pulled it away from Zack's, inserted an empty chair, and promptly sat down in it. There was dead silence at the table as Kay proceeded to eat as though she hadn't noticed what she'd done. Wendy refilled everyone else's cups of coffee, acting as though she hadn't noticed what was going on either. Kay knew this was usually the best way to handle the fights around here. You just split them up silently and acted as though it hadn't happened.
Wendy mentioned her and Brin's plans to go stay at the cabin for a few days, but Kay hardly noticed. To take her mind off her dream, she was thinking about what Alec wanted her to do. Alec probably just wanted her to dump it and that really would be the wise choice because this guy lived so close. Still, she could use a ride of her own and a motorcycle would be great. She had always been jealous of Max's, now was her chance to have one of her own. She knew who Alec was talking about and had seen him around town. Alec was right, he really was vain about that bike. The thing that would work in her favor was that he was no Albert Einstein. He left that bike out in the middle of the night all the time. It wouldn't be that difficult to take. She'd probably have to get it painted so the guy didn't notice it was his.
She spent most of the day out in the barns throwing her focus into the horses. One of the mares had just had a colt and he was the cutest thing around. Everyone walked to that stall at least once a day to see him, even if they wouldn't admit it. Just after supper, Kay sat down on a stool in the stall and let the baby come over to her. With all the attention he was getting, he certainly wasn't shy. He was a beautiful little bay, but he would most likely gray out like his mother. At the moment, the mother was dozing in the far corner of the stall. Now that the baby could more or less handle himself in their close quarters, she was taking advantage of it. The colt flopped down on the ground next to Kay, and she slid off her stool to sit next to him. While she was running a hand continuously down his neck, she leaned against the side of the stall and dozed off.
She was back in Manticore, this time in Seattle. It could only be about a year ago because Kay's hair was red. She had been forced to dye it that color for her one of her missions, but didn't have it changed back for about a week afterwards. At the moment, she really couldn't remember why she didn't change it back immediately. The real Kay was standing in the corner of the room, trying to remember what this memory would be about. The room had almost no light in it. There were no windows and no overhead lights. In the dark, Kay could just barely make out the speakers set into the walls. Her memory self was strapped down onto a stretcher in the middle of the room. It was freezing cold, even for an X5. Kay could see herself shaking where she lay. It was then that the questions from the speakers started.
"Do you believe in the Blue Lady?"
"No."
"Have you ever killed without reason?"
"No."
"Have you ever removed the teeth of a religious person?"
"No."
"Do you go to the High Place?"
"...No."
The last answer was slightly hesitant. Kay knew better. Since she knew how to get out of her cell, she went to the High Place all the time. Of course, it wasn't the same High Place as when she was a kid, and she had never been there when she was a kid, but she found it comforting now that none of the people she feared were there to make her stay down. Now Kay remembered this. When Ben had been brought back dead, his clones and the other X5s who had grown up with him were brought to psy-ops for evaluation. That actually hadn't been many people. It was only Alec, Ben's X7 clone, and a handful of other X5s. Most of the original X5s were gone, either escaped or dead. Manticore had been afraid that those with Ben's blood or those he had grown up with might have the same tendencies for murder that he did.
Kay watched herself tense in expectation of the doctors' reactions. There was no way they wouldn't have noticed her hesitation, and they would most surely act on it. She was right. As the barrage of questions hit her again, Kay looked around the room. She didn't want to relive this, even if it was as an onlooker rather than as herself on the stretcher. As she was looking, she saw something in the far corner of the room. At first she couldn't really bring it into focus, but then it seemed to materialize in front of her. She should have known. It was the boy again. Once again, it took him a while to notice her. His eyes were focused on the scene in front of him. When he finally saw her, he once again looked surprised to see her. His blue eyes remained locked with hers for several minutes. Kay tried asking him who he was again, but like before it wasn't coming out. It didn't even register on his face that he saw her lips move. She kept repeating and repeating....
Kay sat up with a start at the sudden pressure on her lap. She opened her eyes to see the colt's head laying across her legs. He must have moved in his sleep. She took a deep breath and tried to get her thoughts together. She had seen the boy again and he had seen her. It couldn't just be a coincidence. She shook her head and turned her attention to the mare, who was now moving around.
"Hey Martha." She had jokingly been given that name after Martha Stewart just because of the careful and neat way she ate her hay. While other horses tended to play with theirs and get it all over, she never dropped a piece of it. You could feed her in the alley of the barn and when you came back it would look as though there had never been any hay there at all.
The mare came over to where Kay and the baby were sitting. She first moved her nose down to sniff the sleeping colt, then raised her head to let Kay pet her. Kay glanced outside the stall to see if anyone had seen her napping and realized it was getting dark outside already. Had she really been asleep that long? The memory had been short, so she must have slept a while before having it. She'd have to head out soon to steal that motorcycle. She gently moved the baby's head off her lap and scooted away from him to let him sleep. When she came out of the barn, she saw Mary climbing into the farm truck.
"Hey, where are you going?"
Mary smiled when she looked up and spotted Kay. "I'm just heading into town. I've got some things to pick up."
"Could you give me a ride?"
"You'll be waiting around for a while once we're in."
"No, you just have to give me a ride in. I might be gone a few days."
Mary seemed a bit confused but nodded her head anyway and motioned for Kay to get in. The ride wasn't too long, but Kay was rather excited. Even though she'd never really thought of getting one before, now she realized she really wanted that motorcycle. It would be a cool thing to have. She had decided against repainting it because it would probably look stupid, black was a better color. Anyways, she rarely ever went into town and if she did, she'd make sure to take someone else's truck instead. It would be a nice change to have it around though. She could use it to go visit Max. The reason she didn't go to Seattle just to visit was because she hated being jolted around in one of the many trucks on the farm. Didn't anyone around here even have a car?
Kay thanked Mary for the ride after she got out, then headed to the bar where the motorcycle owner always was. Kay tried to think of his name. She was pretty sure it was Ian, but she wasn't positive. It didn't take too long before she spotted the bike in the parking lot of one of the old bars. She could tell Ian was proud of it because while the other vehicles were covered in dirt from driving on gravel roads, it was completely spotless. Kay couldn't stop a grin from crossing her face at the sight of it. That idiot had left the key in it. She swung her leg over it and started it up. No one was around so she was free to take it now. She spun it around and got out of the parking lot. Now was as good a time as any to visit Max.
Kay was happy through pretty much the entire ride. Thoughts of a little boy who could see her in her dreams were far from her mind. She had a new motorcycle and was going to get away for a few days. That was all that really mattered to her at the moment. She needed a vacation.
She had just entered Seattle. She started paying more attention to her surroundings. She didn't really need to, it was just something Manticore had trained her to do so she'd have a good escape path or hiding place ready if she needed it. She glanced at people in the parking lots as she went by simply out of habit. Manticore also trained her to be extra careful when starting a new mission that someone wasn't there from their last mission that could ruin the whole thing. She was just about to turn when she thought she saw someone familiar in the parking lot of the building closest to her. Even from a distance she could tell it was Otto. He was walking around the back of the building. Most of the people inside probably didn't even know what it was being used for. She looked up that the sign in front of it. MARRIAGE COUNSELING. She frowned. That was just great. If she was curious as to what Otto was doing in there, she'd have to be married. I'd need to find a real idiot to pretend to be my husband!
"Hey, Kay!"
Kay turned her head and grinned. She'd found her idiot. "How's it going, Sketchy?"
"Fine. What brings you back into town?"
"I have a little business to tend to. Could you do me a teensy little favor?"
Sketchy grinned. "Anything for you, you know that. Whatcha need?"
"I need a husband."
"What? Wouldn't you want to go on a date first?"
Kay laughed and shook her head. "That's not what I meant. I need you to pretend to be my husband so I can get something."
"Am I gonna get any of the perks?"
"Nope, we're going to be cutting straight to the fighting. We have to be a couple with serious problems. Will you help me?"
Sketchy looked like he was thinking about it. Don't take too long, I haven't got all day! Finally, he nodded. "Where do you need to go for this?"
She pointed across the street to the building Otto had gone into. "Right over there."
He looked at the building and nodded. "Okay, let's go."
Kay parked her bike in the parking lot and slipped the key into her pocket. She just hoped Sketchy didn't slip up and ruin things for her. She didn't need Otto catching her because most likely wherever he was, White was sure to be. Or maybe it was the other way around. She wanted to just find out what was going on and get out of here. She almost laughed at herself. She was turning into Max.
She grabbed Sketchy's arm and made him stop just before they reached the door. She rubbed her eyes as hard as she could, which wound up being pretty painful. When she removed her hands, her eyes were watering like crazy. She smiled at Sketchy, then put on the saddest face she could. He laughed at her, then tried to make himself look disgusted with her. He actually did it better than she would have thought.
When they went in, it looked like they had just had a fight. The girl at the counter looked shocked when she saw them walk up.
"We need to talk to someone right now!" sobbed Kay. "We can't go on like this!"
The girl looked taken aback by the way she had been approached, but nodded and picked up her phone. When she hung up, she nodded to them.
"Dr. Starner can see you now. He's on the second floor, take a left turn once you're up, and he's the third door on your right."
Kay turned and walked towards the elevators, dragging Sketchy along by the arm, still sobbing. She wiped her cheeks dry before they made it to Dr. Starner's office, knowing her eyes were still red and puffy. Dr. Starner ended up being a short man in his middle to late forties with a receding hairline and huge wire-rimmed glasses. He shook their hands when they came in, then gestured towards the two chairs in front of his desk. Sketchy and Kay took their seats, then launched into a rampage.
"He never listens to me!"
"She's always sending me places!"
"He's always out drinking with his friends!"
"She never stops nagging me!"
"All I want is a little quality time with him!"
"All I want is some time away from her!"
"He would rather get himself dead drunk than sleep with me!"
"That's not true!"
Kay tried to stop herself from laughing at that. Sketchy would give up drinking any day if he could sleep with her, or any girl for that matter. Poor Dr. Starner didn't seem to know what to say.
"Could we try talking one at a time please?"
Both Sketchy and Kay nodded. Dr. Starner pointed to Kay. "You go first. Tell me what you're unsatisfied with in your marriage."
"What am I unsatisfied with? Everything! He drinks, he's always dragging over his friends for parties at our place, then goes to a bar with them and leaves me to clean up the mess. He pays no attention to our kids. He even stopped wearing his wedding ring and I think he's cheating on me!"
Sketchy jumped to his feet. It was evident in his eyes that he was enjoying this. "I stopped wearing mine because she threw hers away! I don't even think those kids are mine!"
Kay jumped to her feet as well. They may as well be convincing. "Of course they're yours. Who else could be their father?"
"Well, I don't know, but one of them is definitely not mine because he's black!"
"He is not! His skin is just dark, that's all. Is there a problem with that?"
"Yeah! His hair naturally grows into an afro!"
"His hair is curly!"
"Neither of ours is!"
"So?"
The doctor finally got to his feet along with them. "Stop it! You're never going to get anywhere if you fight like this and refuse to hear each other out! I think I'm going to need some help. I'll be back in a moment if you'll excuse me." He went out the door and took off down the hall.
Kay and Sketchy grinned at each other. Kay was surprised, Sketchy didn't seem to be the type to be a good actor, but he was. "How'd you learn to act like that?"
"I didn't learn, I just kept pretending you were Normal."
Kay couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing. No wonder at the beginning Sketchy kept saying she kept sending him places and nagging him. Finally, she brought her mind back to what she had originally come here to do. "Okay Sketchy, I have something to do, so if the good doctor gets back here before I do, I want you to keep him busy. Okay?"
He nodded and grinned again. He was having fun with this. Kay poked her head out the door, made sure Dr. Starner wasn't coming back yet, then slid out the door and down the hall. She wasn't exactly sure where she was going, but she'd head to the back door first. She clearly remembered Otto wearing a lot of cologne, she'd probably be able to follow that to wherever he was. Hopefully someone hadn't ordered him to quit wearing it. Thankfully, they hadn't. The smell invaded her nostrils the second she neared the back door. There were stairs heading down right in front of the door. That didn't surprise her. If they were using this building secretly, the basement was the best place to be.
Kay came way too close to being caught by one of the scientists down there because she nearly ran into him when he was turning the corner. Luckily, she pulled herself out of the way before they collided and he had his eyes glued to his clipboard. When she looked into the room he had just come out of, she nearly fainted. In the middle of the room, surrounded by scientists and being watched by White and Otto, were two transgenics. They both looked normal, but Kay knew they had to be transgenics because she recognized them both. There was a young woman with long dark blond hair and large blue eyes. It was the eyes that gave away who she was. Jondy! Then there was the other one. Kay had to rub her eyes, shake her head, and finally just pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. Nope, he was still there. His dark blue eyes seemed blank as they stared out at the people surrounding him. His light brown hair still had that little bit of blond around his face as though it had been bleached by the sun. Even his freckles were exactly as she remembered. There was no doubt it was the little boy from her dreams.
Kay had to whip back around the corner to keep another one of the scientists from seeing her. She would have to come up with a distraction. There was no way she could rescue them with all those people in there, not to mention White and Otto who would probably be armed. She slid back upstairs and looked for anything that could help her. After a short search, she reached out and opened a door that said 'FOR EMERGENCY USE ONLY. ALARM WILL SOUND IF OPENED.' When she heard the alarm go off, she headed back downstairs. Sure enough, everyone was evacuating. White didn't look too happy about leaving Jondy and the little boy without supervision, but he left with everyone else. Kay walked out to them. Jondy didn't recognize her when she looked at her, but Kay signaled for her to be quiet so she could get them out safely. Jondy nodded and didn't make a peep, but the little boy was looking at Kay in shock. He obviously hadn't expected to see her any more than she had expected to see him. After only a short struggle with the handcuffs that kept the pair together, Kay managed to break them. Jondy headed straight for the door, keeping an eye out for a sign of someone coming back. Kay reached down and picked up the little boy, who held on to her as though she was his lifeline.
Jondy headed straight out the front door, making sure no one could see her face. Kay looked for Sketchy in the crowd. It took a while but she finally saw him. She crept between people, making sure nobody could see her or the little boy's head above the crowd. It seemed to take forever to reach Sketchy.
"Get out of here, okay? I think I caused a little bit of trouble and I don't want you to get caught in the middle of it."
Sketchy nodded, although he didn't know what she possibly could have done to get herself into trouble. Kay went the opposite way through the crowd from Sketchy. If she got herself caught, she didn't want Sketchy to be associated with her. Suddenly, the little boy panicked and started kicking her sides. Kay had a feeling she knew what was about to happen when the taser hit her in the back. She quickly let go of the kid and whirled around, sending her foot into the side of the enemy's face. She didn't know who it was, or even care. If she could make the pain stop, she would have kicked the pope in the face. The taser was dropped to the ground and Kay picked it up as fast as she could. Her body was still recovering from the shock, but she'd be alright. She looked down at who had been tasering her. She clucked her tongue sympathetically. That would be quite the bruise on poor Otto's face.
Kay nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a scream behind her. She turned and took off in the direction of the scream. She had no doubt that it was the little boy. She just hoped he hadn't run into White. Of course, the moment she thought that, it happened. She realized she had come to a stop two inches away from running into his back. She took a step away from him and saw with no surprise that he was holding onto the arm of the little boy.
"Shut up! No one is coming to get you." He took off his tie and started to wrap it around the boy's wrists. At the first touch of White's tie, the kid screamed at the top of his lungs. It wasn't an attempt to escape, it was an actual scream of terror. White jumped and froze momentarily. Kay was shocked but clasped her fists together and brought them down as hard as she could in the middle of White's back. He hit the ground hard and she heard the air rush out of him. She didn't give him any time to react, she just grabbed the boy and took off running. The kid dropped the tie just as she started to run, leaving it at White's side. The poor boy was still shaking like nuts. Kay wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but it didn't seem to be a seizure. He had just been scared that badly.
About fifteen minutes later, Kay was pulling up outside Foggle Towers. If anyone could help her, Logan could. Anyways, Max would most likely be there too. Despite her horrible way of naming them, she did have a special way with kids. The boy was still shaking as she actually knocked on the door of Logan's apartment. When he answered the door, it was obvious he didn't expect the sight before him. Still, he stepped back to let her into the apartment without asking any questions, which she was grateful for. She set the kid down on the couch where he curled himself up into a ball and continued shaking as he was. Kay stepped back, still worried, then Logan motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen. As soon as they were out of earshot, he turned to her with a worried face.
"What's going on and what's wrong with that kid?"
"I found him with White. I'm not really sure what's wrong with him. I found White trying to bind his wrists with a tie, and the kid freaked out when the tie touched him. I mean, he really freaked. I've never heard a scream like that."
Logan studied her face carefully. "You're not telling me everything."
"What makes you say that?"
"I don't know. It's just something in your eyes. There's something troubling you about the kid. What is it?"
"Do you promise you won't think I'm nuts?"
"Of course. Why would I think that?"
"Okay, this might sound a little weird, but I've seen the kid before. I don't mean face to face like tonight, but I've dreamed about him. Really weird dreams."
"Like?"
"Well, they start out as bad memories of Manticore. Instead of me being in my body and remembering like usual, I'm sort of a bystander. I see everything from the sidelines. I'm frozen in place, just watching everything happen, and that's when he comes in. He appears across from me and he doesn't see me at first. He's just watching my memory with some sick sort of fascination. It's only after a little bit that he looks up and sees me. I mean he really sees me, not me in my memory. I know this sounds weird and I would have dismissed it as coincidence, but when he first saw me tonight he recognized me. I could see it in his eyes. Now, you can't tell me that's just a coincidence."
Logan was quiet for a bit and Kay was sure he was about to suggest a psychiatrist for her to see, when he finally spoke up.
"You're right, that does sound farfetched, but Manticore made several weird kinds of transgenics and not all of them were made just for power. There were transgenics with all sorts of strange mental abilities. It wouldn't surprise me if you just happened to stumble over one."
"So you don't think I'm insane?"
Logan chuckled. "Of course I do, just not in this case."
She stuck her tongue out at him. "How am I insane?"
"Well, I couldn't really tell you, but I've never really seen you on the best occasions. The first time you gave me such a strong cold shoulder that I had to leave my apartment to let you and Max talk, then you asked me about my relationship with Max and figured out I was Eyes Only. Then you show up on Halloween bleeding in the side and asking if I knew of a place you could hide out. Then you stayed at my apartment and nearly ate me out of house and home. Oh, and we can't forget when you showed up in heat. I know you didn't pull anything, but you wanted to worse than any woman I've ever seen. I didn't even know what was up with you until Max told me. So I can definitely say you're insane."
Kay rolled her eyes at him and went back into the living room. The boy had stopped shaking now and was looking at her with his large blue eyes. She felt that unsettled feeling in her stomach again and tried not to show it. She sat down next to him on the couch.
"I'm Kay, what's your name?"
"Kody."
"I'm an X5. Are you part of the X series?"
He shook his head solemnly. Kay got the strangest feeling that he would rather be part of the X series than what he was. "I'm from psy-ops."
So Logan had been right. "What's your specialty?"
"I can read stories."
"What?"
"That's what they called it. They said everything has a story, both living things and objects. I can read those stories. The things that have happened to it and what will happen."
"What about dreams?"
"Usually I have to touch something to see its story, but sometimes when I sleep I go wandering. That's what they called it when I read the story of something or someone from far away. Most of the time it's someone or something that will cross with me. I have no control over it when I'm asleep. I've never met anyone like you before though."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've read lots of people's stories before but none of them has ever seen me reading it. Usually I'll just stand there in their memory and watch it happen, but you were the first one who ever saw me. You did see me, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I saw you. How did that happen?"
"I don't know. Maybe it's because you're from Manticore. You know weird things can happen because you know what they made. It's usually pretty easy to read a stranger's story because they don't believe you can do it, so they don't see you doing it. You always knew that others like me are around, even if you never saw any of us. They probably taught you how to protect yourself from us, just to be careful."
Kay couldn't remember them teaching her anything like that, but she had deliberately let herself forget many things about Manticore, so that didn't surprise her. Suddenly, something else occurred to her.
"Kody, did you read the story of that tie earlier tonight?"
Kody's eyes grew wide with fear. Whatever he had seen must have been pretty bad. He nodded very slowly, as if trying to stall for more time in any way possible.
"What was its story? Was it something in the future that you saw, or something from the past? Why did it scare you so bad?" she asked curiously. She knew White's story had to be bad, but she didn't see what would be so wrong with a tie.
Kody took a deep breath before starting. "It was a little bit of the past and future. What already happened was an order. It wasn't for the tie of course, but it had something to do with what is going to happen. There was an old woman, I don't know what she was saying but it made the bad man sad. He didn't want to listen to her. Even though I don't know what she was ordering him to do, he's going to do it. He doesn't know it yet, but he's going to do it."
Kay was thoroughly confused now. This was just a little over her head. "Okay, that was the past. What did you see was going to happen with the tie?"
"It's going to kill someone. I don't know who, but it's going to kill someone and he's not going to want to do it but he'll do it anyways and it's going to be bad and no one's going to know it happened--" He continued babbling like this, but it was just repeating what he'd already said. Kay shot a worried glance at Logan, who was watching the boy with concern in his eyes. He stood up and walked into the kitchen. Kay knew he meant for her to follow him. She slowly moved away from Kody, who was still babbling and didn't even notice that she'd moved, and went after Logan. He was standing at the far side of the kitchen, and he was actually drinking a beer. Kay had never seen him drink before and had always pictured him drinking a martini or a cocktail for alcohol rather than beer. His eyes looked far away, and she wasn't sure she liked seeing him like this.
"What wrong, Logan?"
He looked up at her for the first time. "What if that kid's seeing White kill Max?"
Kay was shocked. That thought had never occurred to her before. "I don't think that's it."
"Why not? He would definitely do it."
"See, that's the problem. Kody said White would be sad about what he was going to do, and he would be more than happy to kill Max. It has to be someone else."
Logan looked a little relieved. "I guess that makes sense. I guess the first thing that came into my mind was a picture of White strangling Max. He's strong enough."
"Well, forget about that, because that's not going to happen. Max would give him a good ass-kicking beforehand."
Logan smiled and downed the rest of his beer. Thankfully, he didn't get another one. "What are you going to do with the kid in the meantime?"
"I was thinking I might take him down to Joshua's for a night or two. Joshua would love him and it might take his mind off what he saw."
Logan nodded. "That's a good idea even though I figured you'd just stay here for the night."
Kay pointed towards the window. "The night is almost over."
"Oh, I guess it is."
Kay went back into the living room and scooped Kody into her arms. He stopped babbling at least. She waved goodbye to Logan and carried Kody down to the motorcycle. She made sure he had a good grip on her before taking off. She didn't want to lose him accidentally. She was about halfway to Joshua's when she spotted Jondy at the edge of the road. She pulled the bike over.
"Hey, where are you headed?"
Jondy looked at her in surprise, then recognized her from earlier. "Wherever I can find a safe spot to stay I guess."
"Do you even know who I am?"
Jondy studied her face, but eventually shook her head. "No, you don't look familiar at all."
Kay wasn't too upset by that. It might be better if she wasn't known. She was about to say something when she felt a sharp pain in her side. She looked down and was stunned to see blood pouring from her left side. She put her hand over her mouth when she saw Kody. Her left side was where his head had been, but it wasn't there anymore. In fact, it wasn't there at all. Kay couldn't stop the uncontrollable rage that flowed through her. She turned her head to see who had fired the shot. There was a black car behind her and she easily spotted White and Otto sitting in the front seats, but the man who had the gun was standing right next to the car. He was about to get back in when Kay snapped. She had been responsible for someone and he had been killed. She wasn't about to let that go unpunished.
The poor man probably didn't even know what happened. Kay was off the bike in a flash, letting Kody's body drop to the ground. Despite the wound in her side, she moved faster than usual and was at the man's side in an instant. He didn't even have time to turn and see her before she easily snapped his neck with one hand. He slumped to the ground and she grabbed his gun before it fell. Before she even realized what she was doing, she was firing through the windows of the car, shattering all of them and causing White and Otto to duck down. Kay knew she had hit Otto with a couple of shots, but that wasn't really what she was going for. She just wanted to cause as much damage as possible. She took a step back and shot out the tires, then went around to the front of the car, opened the hood, and pretty much blew the engine to pieces. She didn't stop firing until the gun ran out of ammo, and by then the fire inside her was already dying down. The last thing she did was throw the gun as hard as she could into the windshield, making glass fly everywhere in the car. With that, she turned and climbed onto her bike. Jondy had already disappeared, which was probably for the best. Kay changed her mind about going to visit Joshua and headed straight out of Seattle. She just wanted to get home as fast as was humanly possible.
When Kay finally pulled up in front of her house, she didn't go inside. Instead, she turned and headed for the tallest barn. She had to be by herself for a little while. When she made it to the top of the barn, she was upset to see that Ben was sitting there. She was about to climb back down when he turned around and saw her. He started to smile, then stopped when he saw her face.
"Kay, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
Kay reached a hand up and touched her face. Sure enough, her fingers came back wet. She hadn't even noticed the tears. She thought about just going back down and sleeping in her own bed, then thought better of it. Maybe she really shouldn't be alone right now. She climbed up by Ben and sat next to him. His eyes showed nothing but concern for her, which at the moment was comforting. Before she could stop herself, she was pouring out the entire story to him, from the dreams to killing Kody's murderer. When she finished, she was worried he would say something about her overreacting or that she must have imagined the dreams, but he didn't. Instead, he reached over and put his arms around her. He didn't say a word, he just let her cry against him. Somehow, that was better than all the comforting words in the world.
After about a half hour of sitting like that, Ben broke the silence. "Do you want me to walk you back down to your house?"
Kay nodded meekly. She just wanted to be back in her house. Ben walked next to her holding her arm, as though afraid she might fall. She wouldn't be surprised if she did. Everything seemed to be hitting her right now. It wasn't just about Kody. He was what had started it, but he was no longer the main reason. He had been right inside her head and she felt as though he was trespassing, he had seen things that she had never let anyone else see. He was the only person to ever see what happened to her because of the others, the only person to understand what she had gone through. That was her problem. She had built up walls so nobody else would know how she felt simply out of the fear that no one would understand. It was those walls that made her lonely.
Ben led her carefully into her house, and she felt even sadder when she looked around. Wendy would have been someone to understand, but now Kay remembered that Brin and Wendy had gone to the cabin. Kay stood up straight and wiped the tears from her eyes. She was positive now that she was sick and tired of being alone. She reached out and grabbed Ben's arm as he went to go back outside.
"Don't go. I want you to be here with me."
He turned to her, still concerned. "Don't you want to go to bed?"
"As a matter of fact I do, but I'm not tired. Could you please stay?"
He studied her face carefully. "You're not in heat, are you?"
"Nope, I have a few months before that happens again. I just want you to stay. Please?"
Ben didn't seem to know what to say, but she didn't give him the chance to say anything. She reached up and pulled his face down to hers and kissed him. She could feel his surprise, but he finally wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. After another moment, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom.
Kay watched Ben's face as he slept. She had been watching him for a while now. He looked so peaceful when he slept. It was hard to believe that he had been a serial killer at one time. It was actually funny to think that he had wanted to kill her. He didn't anymore, that was for sure. She rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. She wasn't planning to fall asleep, but she hadn't realized how tired she was.
Kay was standing in the barracks at the old Manticore. She watched the kids sleeping. This was an old memory; her sleeping form in front of her couldn't be any more than four years old. She realized she couldn't really remember much about this time. She had forgotten pretty much everything before the day the others had seen her coming out that Nomlies' cell. This was still a couple of years before that. She watched as her younger self's body started to shake. She heard footsteps approaching and felt the fear she usually did when remembering her childhood, but her fears turned out to be pointless. Even though she was nervous as she watched Ben climb into the bed with her, she had to force herself to remember this was before he had hated her. He lay down next to her and held her as though he was trying to hold in the seizures. Sure enough, the seizures slowed to a stop within his arms. Kay's younger self woke up and rolled over to smile at him.
"Tell me a story, Ben."
As he started to tell the story of the Good Place, Kay let her eyes wander around the room. Her mouth fell open when she saw Kody standing on the other side of the room. He saw her right away this time, then smiled and waved to her. She smiled and waved back, and in the next instant he disappeared.
"Goodbye Kody," she whispered softly to herself, then sat down on the cold floor and listened to the rest of Ben's story.