Outside
By Be Boring
Chapter 16: At Least Things Can't Get Worse
Kay spent most of her time sitting in her hospital bed, wishing she could just get out of it. She had been here a couple weeks now, her body seemed to be taking longer to heal than usual. Of course, Dr. Carr said this was to be expected seeing as how her body temperature had gone about five degrees past the point where most normal humans would have died. She had reached 113 degrees, which made the fact that she was alive and recovering pretty amazing.
Max had been here every day to see her, as well as Ben, Logan, and Alec. Max always had good stories to tell from Jam Pony, Ben had laughingly told her about Zack being so relieved that she was okay that he had kissed Brin full on the mouth, Logan always brought her his own home-cooked food because she told him she'd rather starve to death than eat the hospital food, and Alec was the main entertainment. He'd piss off the nurses every chance he got because none of them were really interested in him. One time he'd carefully cut off the back part of the skirt of one of the nurses while she was wearing it; she'd walked around the rest of the day with her granny panties showing and she wasn't even aware of it. Kay had never laughed so hard in her life. Still, he was also the reason she'd had to bring Logan into her confidence.
The situation with Alec and Ben hadn't been too good. Alec hadn't been able to find a place for Ben to stay so they had stayed together. That had lasted about 12 hours, they had nearly killed each other. Finally, they had both come back to the hospital to tell her that it was not working out, and she'd been forced to call Logan. After hearing the situation and swearing he wouldn't tell Max until Ben was ready to, Logan had taken Ben to his house and hid him. It had become Alec's job to keep Joshua quiet about Brin, which almost had blown up in his face because by the time he had gotten to Joshua's Max was just about to hear the whole story from the dog boy himself. Alec had stopped it just in time, and made him say that there had been no one else. It had been a close, but thankfully they had managed to make Max believe it.
The strange thing was that lately Max and Logan hadn't been to see her. His blond friend Asha was bringing the food over. Kay didn't particularly care for Asha at first, but that was how she felt about most ordinaries she didn't know well. Really, she wasn't all that bad. They were actually getting along fairly well, Asha had warmed her over by bringing in a portable CD player and a bunch of CDs Kay had mentioned that she liked. Not even Ben had thought of that.
Kay was starting to worry about Max and Logan, Max in particular. It wouldn't have surprised her if Logan missed a few visits, but the fact that Max was missing them too was strange. Max was so protective of her family that it was amazing she didn't just move into the hospital with Kay. Kay knew they were together, but since the virus was still an issue she had no idea what they could be doing. Anyways, there were other problems.
Alec had informed her that Sketchy definitely had that job with the tabloid and was making it his own personal mission to find and exploit as many transgenics as he could. Now they would have to be even more careful to hide their barcodes. Well, that was one more person to be wary of.
At the moment she was talking to Alec while doing physical therapy of her own kind. Even though Dr. Carr had told her that it would be too hard on her body to be up and walking right now, she was already to the point of doing push-ups and sit-ups without letting the doctor know. The poor man would probably have a heart attack if he found out.
"Don't you think you've done enough for today?" Alec asked a little nervously. Kay had done well over 1,000 push-ups, which at the moment was quite the accomplishment for her.
She shook her head in mid-push-up. "I want to get my strength back and I'm going to go until I think there's no possible way I can stand it anymore."
"How many push-ups were you able to do back at Manticore? I could do about 1,200."
"1,500-1,700."
"Really? Are you actually that strong? I saw you kick 547's ass back at Manticore, but I had no idea you had that much power. Did they make you a little differently?"
Kay finally sat back and shrugged. "If they did, I haven't been told about it. Of course, Max never knew before she had no junk DNA. I don't think that's it with me though, since I'm stronger than Max. Maybe I was just a fluke."
"Nah, you're more than that. Lydecker probably knows, why don't you ask him?"
"I don't like talking to him."
"Why not? Max told me he never liked you back in Wyoming, but that was a long time ago."
"That's not it. I have my own reasons for not liking him. I'd rather just find Sandeman and get the answers from him."
"Well, have it your way but I would ask him. If you don't like talking to him face-to-face, then why don't you just call him? Do it right now if you want."
"I can't do it right now. He'd hear what kind of shape I'm in right now. I'm out of breath, sweaty, and have never been more exhausted. Still, going at it that hard made me feel better."
"I love it when you talk dirty."
Kay stuck out her tongue at him, but couldn't help but laugh. Alec had his own way of cheering her up, that was for sure. They both jumped when Max knocked on the door. Kay climbed slowly to her feet and gave a little wave before she flopped herself out on her bed.
"You look sweaty and tired, and he's grinning like a fool. What did I miss?" Max teased.
Alec put both hands in the air, as if in surrender. "I'm innocent, I swear!"
Max snorted. "You're about as innocent as Hitler. Could you go for a while? I have something to discuss with Kay and it's not going to be short."
He offered a playful pout, but got out of his chair and exited the room. Max settled herself into the seat Alec had just vacated. Suddenly, she didn't look so happy, just unsettled, like she didn't know how to approach what she was going to say. Kay decided to break the uncomfortable silence.
"What's up? And don't say the ceiling."
Max smiled a little, but still looked unsure. Finally, she just spit it out. "We think Wendy's dead."
Kay swallowed hard, trying to push down the lump that had leapt into her throat. "Are you sure?"
"Well, Logan was on the phone with her. She said she had found Ray and needed to get him out of where he was. She was about to say her location when Logan said he heard a loud noise in the background and then the line went dead. He's not positive but he's pretty sure that loud noise was a door being kicked in. He's heard it enough times with me around to know what it is."
"Have you found her body?"
Max shook her head sadly. "No, when we tracked down where she had called us from, we found it to be freshly painted. We know it was her room because we found a roll of film in the freezer that had pictures of Ray. We got him out, but the cult seems to think he's dead."
"Why's that?"
"They were doing some kind of test. It had to do with snake's blood, and if he survived it then he would be part of the Familiars. He wasn't doing so good when I got to him, but at the last second his antibodies kicked in. That was after I got him out of there though, so they probably assumed he hadn't made it. I got some of this snake blood in my system too, but I had no reaction to it. It stamps you with a mark that's not too pretty." Max held out her hand to show Kay what looked to be the medical symbol in the middle of her palm. Kay looked at it, but wasn't all that interested. She couldn't care less about what happened in that freaky cult or what happened to Ray, the only thing that mattered to her was Wendy.
"Where's Logan?"
Max looked surprised by the question. "He's out in the hall. Why?"
"I need to talk to him."
Max's eyebrows were still raised, but she went into the hall and a moment later Logan walked in. His eyes were on the ground.
"I know what you're going to say," he stated before she got anything out of her mouth. "White killed Wendy. There may be no facts for anyone to find that will prove it, but Kody was enough proof for both of us."
Kay nodded, he had known what she was going to say. "I should have seen it coming. I had it figured out when Wendy first disappeared. I saw that tie the day I found Kody. If I ever catch him wearing it again, I'll strangle him with it." No sooner had the words left her lips than she realized that was how her friend had died, staring up into her husband's face as he choked off her air supply with a tie she had most likely bought for him.
Logan didn't notice the look on her face, however. "I wouldn't do that."
"What, strangle him? Why not?"
"I don't mean strangle him, necessarily, but letting him see you at all."
"Why not?"
"You said the last time he saw you was when you were in Joshua's arms, which meant you didn't look all that good. From the way the drug sounds, that fever should have killed you. Just as the Familiars assume Ray's dead, they assume you're dead as well."
Kay smiled grimly. "Wouldn't that be a kick in the ass for them if they found out we both made it?"
"I suppose it would, but we have to let them keep on thinking you're both dead."
"I understand why they have to think Ray's dead, but why me?"
"For your own safety. If you colored your hair, you could live wherever you wanted. Since they think you're dead, they're not exactly going to be looking for you. As long as you don't walk out in front of them and wave your arms around while yelling 'I'm 358 and I'm alive' then you're pretty much safe to live life how you want to."
Kay couldn't help but smile at the crazy image in her head of herself jumping around in front of White while saying she was alive. Then she remembered what had happened to cause her fever and the smile immediately left her face. Logan stood up and reached out to give her hand a gentle squeeze.
"If you want to talk about anything, just call."
Kay forced a smile and nodded, knowing he meant if she wanted to talk about Wendy. She couldn't imagine telling him that she hadn't been alone when the drug first kicked in as it was supposed to. She couldn't imagine telling Max that either. As Logan left and Max came back in, a question occurred to Kay.
"I know this may be a sort of personal question, but have you had any heat cycles lately?"
Max obviously hadn't expected that, but after a moment she frowned. "You know, I don't think I have. I guess that with all that's been going on I never really thought about it, but I haven't gone into heat since just before going back to Manticore. I don't know why that is."
Kay chewed thoughtfully on her bottom lip. "You know, I don't think I ever noticed any of the other X5s in heat except for when we were younger and the cycles first started coming. I'm pretty sure they came up with a way to stop them, but for some reason they never used it on me. They must have gotten rid of your cycles when they recaptured you."
"Why wouldn't they fix your cycles?"
"I have no clue."
"I wish they had known when we were little that this was going to happen, then they might have stopped it then and saved me a lot of trouble."
"What was it like coming into heat in the outside world?"
Max sighed and flushed a little. "I was living in Colorado at the time, in a gang. They basically had the run of a large warehouse and you had to join them if you were going to sleep in it, which was my only option at the time. They weren't really that bad, but after I first went into heat I had to leave. I slept with the leader of the gang, and after I was out of heat he still wanted it. Of course, I wouldn't do it again after that so I had to run before he tried to force it out of me. I thought I was going crazy. I went through a few cycles before breaking into a house for food and finding a book on cats, which fully described their breeding habits. I pretty much put two and two together and started predicting when each heat was going to hit so I could get myself into a secluded area. What was it like going into heat in Manticore?"
Kay turned to look out the window as she talked. She was aware that Logan was standing just outside the door, listening with a sort of embarrassed interest, but she didn't know about her other visitor standing out there with him.
"I was about thirteen when it happened. I had been shipped back to the others for a little more group training, so I was back with our Wyoming group. Despite not being the oldest, I was the first to go into heat. I even got it before the older clones. It first hit me when we were outside running through the woods, looking for our target. I became really warm and kind of got worried that I was getting sick. My running partner was Sela, so I had no males around me. We were supposed to find someone with the opposite color and fight them. We had been split in half and each side had about the same strength, so there was a good chance I might have been lucky enough to run into one of the other girls. Of course, the only luck I have is bad. Sela and I ran into Lee and Kito, and I wound up fighting Kito. Sela and Lee moved out of sight, so Kito and I were on our own. We actually did start fighting, but I tried to throw him to the ground and he pulled me down with him. He was reacting to my hormones as much as I was and we were kissing before we even knew what we were doing."
Max looked horrified. "You slept with Kito?"
Kay blushed and shook her head. "Sela and Lee were still within hearing distance and they heard the unnatural sounds coming from our way. Thank God it was Sela who came to see what was going on and not Lee, or I would have been in even more trouble. Sela separated us and noticed I smelled different, so she took me up to the infirmary. I nearly jumped the first doctor who came to see what was going on with me. They did every test they could on my head, since they assumed maybe I was going nuts. This went on for about 36 hours, then I guess someone had a theory of what was happening."
Kay had been placed in a chair in the middle of the lab, wires connected to her head. Her hair had been pulled back so they could secure the wires, at the time her hair had been about six inches long since she had just been allowed to start growing it out. When a voice came into the room, perhaps through speakers, it asked her simple questions. She had to state her designation and things like that. She answered perfectly, wondering why they were bothering with this. After about ten minutes, a nurse came back in with a pair of scissors. Kay felt like shying away, she had no idea what was going on.
The nurse kneeled down by Kay's feet and Kay felt the cold metal of the scissors touch her ankle. She was ready to kick out when she heard the scissors cutting. It took her a few terrified moments to realize that the nurse was cutting her pants. The scissors came all the way up and cut along the seam until it ended at her hip. As soon as the left side of the pants had been cut perfectly in half, the nurse started on the right side. Kay was now completely confused. Her underwear had been cut as the scissors had come up. Had the nurse intended to do that? Totally in the dark as to what was happening to her, Kay could only watch as the nurse cut off her bottom layer of clothing completely and removed it. Then the nurse got going on her shirt. It didn't take much, she just cut straight up the middle in the front, then cut down both arms and pulled the shirt out from behind Kay's back. A couple snips and the bra they had given her when her body started maturing was gone.
Kay was stunned when they blindfolded her with her own torn shirt. At least now she could let the fear in her eyes show. Her arms were strapped down to the arms of the chair, which didn't bother her all that much, but when her knees were being fastened to the edge of the chair, she tried to close them. It took a few people to get the job done, and when it was finished Kay's face was a fine color of red. She was completely exposed now and she didn't like it at all. What was the point of this?
New footsteps approached her and she stiffened slightly, already preparing for something unpleasant. She heard the person get down on their knees so they were more on her head level, then she heard the breathing. She had no doubt whoever it was was a man and, despite her fear and confusion, felt her heartbeat quicken.
"Hold still now, 358. This is just a test."
Kay's speeding heart nearly stopped at the sound of the voice. She knew who this was and didn't want him seeing her like this. She kept her mouth shut though, she didn't want to get in trouble. The voice in the speakers was no longer asking questions but was giving orders, and they were not directed to her but to him. They were telling him what to do with his hands. At first, he only touched her in simple, inoffensive places like her face, arms, feet, and stomach. Then, under direction from the speaker's voice, he was no longer touching her innocently. Despite her mind's horror, her body reacted. She bit down on her lip to try and hold it back, but before long there were low, guttural sounds coming from her throat. She squirmed in her restraints, no longer trying to escape but trying to get closer to him. He really wasn't there that long, no more than three minutes, but in her mind it had been forever. At the very end, he pulled his hands off her and kissed her to see her reaction. Naturally, Kay kissed back, not fully understanding what was going on. When he pulled back, he left her so he could talk to the doctors, leaving her completely unraveled.
Kay could hear the doctors telling him that she had the mating cycles of a cat rather than the menstruation cycles of a human. This didn't make a lot of sense to her, but later on when she studied animals it would become clear to her. Her body still was in overdrive, but it was calming enough so she could think clearly. She was horrified by what had just happened. The X5s were so cut off from normal life that they had no idea what sex or intimate touching were. Manticore had never bothered to explain these things, and they really never did. It was the fact that she had no idea what he had been doing that scared her so much, and the fact that it had been him that was doing it.
The nurses came back to her and took off her blindfold and restraints, then handed her some new clothes. As Kay slipped them on, she saw him on the other side of the room, getting a key handed to him by one of the guards. Her mind felt both longing and revulsion at the same time, which scared her as much as him touching her. The men all backed up to give her room as she came through, following the nurses to a cell down the hall. At least this one had a bed in it. That meant she wasn't trouble. When you got in trouble and were put into isolation, there was nothing in the room.
Kay had lain on the bunk, trying to figure out now that she was on her own what was going on with her. Was she going crazy? Why wasn't Kito being tested as well? He had acted just like she had. She never really got the answers to those questions until she figured it out on her own later. She didn't know how long she lay there, but she eventually heard footsteps coming to her door. It couldn't possibly be time for her to go yet. She sat up to meet whoever it was and her face paled when she saw his shadow in the doorway. She really had no control over herself, unknown to her she had reached her peak, and she basically threw herself at him. He saw it coming and shut the door behind him before she reached him.
He didn't leave until she was out of heat.
"They touched my body to see how I reacted, and I think you can guess how I did. I saw them give the one who tested me the key to my room. Later on, when they had locked me in there, he came in. I don't think I need to give you any more details."
"Yes, I think you do."
Kay was surprised. "What kind of details do you want? I told you what you wanted to know."
"You didn't tell me who it was."
"Who?"
"The one who tested you and came into your room later. Who was he? Was he one of the doctors?"
Kay was chewing on her lip again as she shook her head. "No."
"Then why was he there?"
"Probably hoped I was going nuts and they would have to put me down," Kay spat bitterly. Max thought for a moment, then her eyes widened.
"Oh no."
Kay looked up at her, knowing that she had figured it out. "What?"
"It couldn't have been...Your heat cycle couldn't have been that bad...but he's the only man that I know of that would wish you dead. Please tell me you didn't."
Yep, she definitely knew. "Didn't what?"
"Do I actually have to say those words out loud?"
"Maybe, to see if we're talking about the same person." The look on Kay's face was enough to tell Max that what she had guessed was true.
"Oh my God, you lost your virginity to...Lydecker?!"
Kay cringed after hearing it said out loud. She couldn't make herself meet Max's eyes. She knew perfectly well the expressions that were running across her sister's face. When Kay didn't deny it, Max walked over to the window, the look of stunned horror still on her face. Kay could hear her muttering over there.
"How could he? He thought of us as his kids!"
"He never thought of me as one of his kids."
Max didn't reply, and Kay turned to look at the door. She saw Logan there, watching Max with concern in his eyes, but was stunned when she saw the other person standing there. Most people would have thought Alec hadn't left, but she could tell by his eyes it wasn't Alec. Ben looked like he was ready to kill again, but this time Kay knew it wouldn't be her. She met his eyes and saw the pain in them that she had gone through something like that. He was the one to break the eye contact as he turned and headed off down the hall. Kay knew perfectly well what he was going to do. Despite what Lydecker had done to her, he was important to them and they couldn't let anything happen to him yet. She mouthed to Logan 'call Buddy'. She could tell that he didn't know why she wanted him to do that, but he took off down the hall for the payphones anyway. Max was still standing by the window when Logan came back and nodded to Kay that he done what she wanted. He turned and shut the door to give Max and Kay some real privacy.
When Max turned to come back by the bed, she couldn't look at Kay. Kay felt a little hurt, but knew it wasn't Max's fault. "Max, don't be upset. It was eight years ago, things are fine now."
"But that was practically rape! I felt terrible when I slept with this guy named Rafer the last time I was in heat, but you couldn't really hold it against him because he didn't know what was happening. Lydecker did know what was going on and he took advantage of you. How did you face him after that?"
"I didn't have to. By the time I was out of heat, the others had finished the group training and they sent me back to Seattle. He was there, but his time was spent either looking for you guys or training the X7s. He didn't come back any of the other times I was in heat, if that's what you're wondering. It was just that one time."
"How many other people took advantage of you like that?"
"A couple curious guards, a doctor or two. Only once was it another X5, but he's dead now."
"Who was it?"
"X5-206, Zane's clone. He was killed in one of his missions. We were on a mission together once when I came into heat and Manticore ordered him to keep me away from people until I was out of heat. He took me to one of those hunting cabins in the woods, but he couldn't control himself any more than I could once we were there."
"Have you ever wound up pregnant?"
Kay shook her head. "Do you remember when we were young and Ben shot me in the side during one of our target practices?"
Max nodded.
"The internal bleeding ended up destroying my ovaries, so I couldn't become pregnant. Unfortunately, due to the fact that I still have my uterus, I still go into heat. They could have removed that and saved me the trouble."
Max nodded again, looking a little relieved. It would have made the story worse if Kay had been pregnant with Lydecker's child. "At least after Lydecker you can't ever get anything worse," she managed to joke.
Kay didn't answer, she had done worse. At least, she might have. Max noticed the silence.
"Don't tell me you did worse."
"I really don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know?"
"I mean that I don't remember."
"When did it happen?"
"When I got the drug that landed me here."
"But I thought you were alone when Joshua found you?"
"I was, but I wasn't alone before that."
"Don't tell me..."
"I think you can guess."
"White?"
"Maybe, but like I said, I can't remember."
"What exactly can't you remember? If you knew you weren't alone before Joshua got there, then you must remember something."
Kay hesitated, she didn't want to give Max any more bad news today, then plunged into the story anyways. "I remember White coming in and I remember kissing him, but things get fuzzy after that. The next thing I remember is waking up with Joshua there and feeling like I was burning up."
Max couldn't believe she was hearing this. She felt more than sorry for her sister going through this, but she also felt a little repulsed by it. "I'm going to go get something to drink. Do you want anything?"
Kay shook her head and nearly burst into tears when Max left. She felt horrible, even though she hadn't really willingly done anything wrong. When Max disappeared at the other end of the hall, Logan came back in by her.
"You didn't, you know."
"What are you talking about?"
"You wouldn't have done anything with him."
"What makes you say that?"
"You said earlier that you had it figured out when Wendy disappeared that White was going to kill her. If you knew that when you got drugged, I find it hard to believe that even with your body going crazy that you would have done anything with him. Try to think hard, do you remember pushing him away from you at any time?"
Kay thought as hard as she could. She started by running through what she already remembered, and just let it continue. She remembered the kissing, and she remembered starting to tear his clothes off. She saw herself ripping off his jacket, then trying to get at the shirt. She felt the shirt not quite want to give way, then she remembered getting off the tie. Then it hit her that that was the moment that she'd realized White was going to kill Wendy. She could feel herself pushing him away, fighting her desire when she saw his bare, sweaty chest heaving from breathing so hard.
Logan smiled when he saw the delighted grin break out on her face. "See? You didn't do anything with him, did you?"
Kay was almost laughing with relief. "I made him stop! It's all okay, I made him stop!" She felt like screaming it out for everyone to hear. She actually jumped up and threw her arms around Logan, squeezing him until she heard him grunt in pain. She blushed and stepped back, then blushed harder when she saw Max standing in the doorway. Max had her eyebrows raised sky high, and Kay nodded her head to acknowledge her presence. Logan's face flushed when he saw her, then he sat down in the chair and Kay settled herself back onto the bed.
"Relax, I was just happy."
"About what?"
"I just remembered not doing anything."
Even though most others wouldn't have understood at all what that was about, Max did, and the smile that lit her face practically made the room glow. For once she had good news from Kay. She leaned down and hugged Kay. This time it was Kay who gave the grunt of pain. When Max sat back, she looked up at the clock in the room.
"Oh, Normal's going to kill me! I gotta get back before I lose my job. I'll be back to see ya later, okay?"
Kay nodded and waved her and Logan off. She leaned back into her pillows, still as happy as she could be that she hadn't slept with White. Lydecker was bad enough, she didn't need her list to get even more embarrassing for her.
Kay had probably slept for about three hours when her bedside phone rang. She groggily reached over to answer it.
"'lo?"
"Kay? It's Mary. What in the world is going on here? Zack, Ben, and Brin are all tearing Lydecker apart! I think he's locked himself in the tack room of the barn, but that's not going to last long!"
Oh great, there's three X5s on that old bastard now. He needs to answer some questions for me first. "Just hold on Mary, I'll be there soon."
When she hung up the phone, she had no idea what to do. She had no doubt that Ben had taken her motorcycle back to the farm, so she was left without a ride. She was so deep in thought that she nearly jumped out of her bed when there was a knock on the door. Sketchy held up a hand in the peace symbol as though that would calm her down before he stepped through the doorway.
"I heard from Max and Alec that you were hurt, but I've been busy. I had a delivery here so I just decided to pop in. I haven't seen you since we pretended to be man and wife." He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.
Kay rolled her eyes and motioned with her hand for him to sit down. Maybe he could help her.
"You don't happen to know a place where I can get a ride, do you?"
"What, you need new wheels?"
"Yeah."
"There's this guy in some town just outside Seattle that owes me a favor. He lost a bet to me a while back and owes me a lot of money, but I might be able to talk him into giving me a car for you."
"What's this going to cost me? It's an awful lot to offer without wanting anything in return."
"Pay me in cash once you have the money. I could get kinky, but you wouldn't go for it. Am I right?"
Kay nodded, even Sketchy was smart enough to know she wouldn't go that far just for a car. "Do you think you could take me over there now?"
Sketchy looked surprised. "Are you even released from here yet?"
"They don't have to know anything. I'm strong enough to hold my own."
"Well, I was looking for an excuse to play hookie from work this afternoon."
Ten minutes later Kay found herself going down a strangely familiar road. "What's the name of the place we're going to?"
"You know, I don't think it really has a name. If it does, then nobody remembers it."
Now Kay knew where they were going. They were going to where she used to live just after she got out of Manticore. Hopefully no one there was on the lookout for her because of White. She wasn't sure if he had left her description and what she was so that the people could tell him when she showed up again. She felt a small pang when they entered the town. She had missed it here with everyone knowing each other and being friendly. There weren't many places like that anymore.
When Sketchy pulled into the driveway of one of the nicer houses in town, she was horrified to see it was Mark's neighbor. She knew this place because this guy gambled all the time and was always buying new vehicles to show off how much he won. No wonder Sketchy had figured he could get her a car from here. She just hoped to God that Mark wasn't home. No such luck.
Sketchy was pounding on the door while Kay waited in the car, but no one was answering. That was when Mark walked over.
"He's at the bar on the other side of town. He might not be back for a while."
"Why is he at the bar?"
"I take it you're someone else he owes for gambling?" At Sketchy's nod, he continued. "He's there right now paying off someone else he owes. They seemed like tough people, I'm not so sure he'll even be coming back. Want to have a beer while you wait? I've got too many to finish off on my own."
Sketchy turned towards the car. "I've got a friend along, otherwise I would."
When Mark saw her, his eyes widened to roughly the size of golf balls. "Kay? Is that you?"
Kay sighed in resignation and climbed out of the car as he walked down towards her. She had just shut the door when he pulled her into a close hug. "Haven't seen you for a while. Where did you go? Did you leave because of that Halloween thing?"
Now Sketchy looked curious. "What Halloween thing?"
Kay shot Mark a pleading look. Since Sketchy was now on the lookout for transgenics, she couldn't have him finding out about anything even slightly suspicious. Mark seemed to get her drift.
"Oh, nothing really, but Halloween was the last time I saw her. So, where did you go?"
"I stay in Seattle every now and then, but I have a place quite a ways from here." She wasn't about to tell anyone where she lived. He nodded, but didn't seem quite satisfied. Kay turned to Sketchy.
"Why don't you go ahead and get the beers out? If we have to wait then we'll wait."
Sketchy was no longer suspicious now that he was getting beer. He headed for Mark's house while Kay stayed behind with Mark. She knew he had questions, but she didn't want them asked in front of Sketchy.
"What happened that night? Why was that guy after you? How did you run so damn fast?"
"That guy holds a grudge really well, and I guess I'm just a fast person."
He didn't seem wholly convinced. "Why did you leave though? Were you in really serious trouble? He left an order that you're to be arrested and handed over to him when we see you. That sounds like more than a grudge to me."
"The trouble was pretty serious, and I guessed he would be keeping tabs on this town so I was forced to leave. Don't take it personally, I missed you guys when I was gone."
"Katie was practically heartbroken when you disappeared. You were the first gal pal she had in a long time. Once you were gone she was just back to me and Jason."
"Oh, the horror."
Mark smiled a little, finally relaxing around her. "I could always call them and have them come over. They'd love to see you again."
"I'm not so sure that's a good idea, seeing as how I'm going to be leaving again right away. I wasn't even planning on seeing you, but I didn't know Sketchy was going to bring me here." She could see he was hurt by that, but she couldn't help it. That was how it was.
"You'll be leaving as soon as you get what you want from Barry, I take it."
"Yeah, something like that. Don't look at me like that, I have a reason I need to get home fast, otherwise I would stick around a little while."
"Something important?"
"Might be life and death." Well, it wasn't really a lie. Lydecker's life was at stake, but she was more worried about losing the information he had rather than losing him.
"Well, do you want to go to the bar and see if we can get him to pay you guys back there?"
"That sounds good."
They had to drag poor Sketchy away from his free beer, he'd already had two while they had been talking. Kay was getting her strength back faster now. Maybe it was being out of the hospital finally, or maybe it was just the fact that she knew she'd have a fight on her hands once she got home. It wasn't going to be easy pulling three healthy X5s off Lydecker when they were really angry.
The bar was exactly as she remembered it: looking like a haunted house from an amusement park. The old shutters on it were banging around it and it looked like it hadn't been repainted in years. If it wasn't for the cars in the parking lot, you'd think it was abandoned. Despite its outward appearance, it was actually quite nice inside. It was easy to spot Barry, he was surrounded by muscle-bound men. Mark was right, they did look tough. Their eyes were what worried her the most, they were strangely red-rimmed. Their necks were thick and the veins stood out clearly, while they stood as though they knew they were strong and wanted everyone else to know it too. Punks. Still, they made her nervous. She slipped off the bracelet Ben had given her a few days ago and started toying with it anxiously.
Barry looked relieved when he saw Sketchy coming to him. "Oh hey there, finally want to be paid back, huh?" The muscle-men were staring at Sketchy as though they were sizing him up. Kay really didn't like their eyes. Sketchy nodded nervously, squirming a bit under the critical glares of the other men.
"How do you want to be paid?"
"I just need a ride, that's all. Then you can consider yourself out of my debt."
Barry looked as though he could have kissed Sketchy. Kay had the idea that he was very low on money and couldn't have paid Sketchy in cash if his life depended on it, which it looked like it did with this group.
"Go back to my place and pick out any one you want. Mark knows where I keep all my keys."
As they headed back out, Kay dropped the bracelet from her hand. She leaned down to pick it up, but when she straightened out again she noticed one of the muscle-men was looking at her intently. She returned the gaze, then felt a cold breeze on the back of her neck as Sketchy headed out the door. My barcode's showing! Her hair had fallen to the sides when she reached down to pick up the bracelet and now her barcode was completely exposed. She ran a hand back through her hair, causing it to straighten out and cover her barcode again. The damage was already done, but hopefully that guy had been the only one to see it. His eyes never left her as she was walking out the door.
They were just climbing into Sketchy's car when Barry came running out. "Could I have a ride back to my place? Those guys in there gave me the ride here." Sketchy jerked his thumb at the back of the car, indicating the empty spot next to Mark. Kay didn't like the look on Barry's face. He looked way too relieved.
At his house, he surprised them again. After Kay had decided on which car she wanted, he said, "Come in with me to get my keys. I'll get you a drink inside." This was almost too friendly, but it was obvious Sketchy was planning on going in so she followed along. The house wasn't very nicely kept, but she supposed that was normal for a man living on his own. After all, even Ben and Zack's house was a mess, and they were supposed to be soldiers. They apparently decided to ditch that one aspect of military life.
Kay took the keys from Barry's hand as soon as he offered them to her. "If you don't mind, I'll just be goin--" She was cut off because as she turned around to leave, Barry raised the paperweight he'd been holding behind his back and hit her over the head with it. Although it would have been enough to knock a normal human unconscious, it wasn't nearly strong enough for her. Still, she let her body slump to the ground as though it had. She would make Mark and Sketchy suspicious if she was still awake, and it might be the best way to find out what was going on.
"What the hell?" Mark had started to step forward, but Barry pulled a gun out of his jeans and pointed it at the two men.
"You two are going to sit down at the table and be quiet, do you hear me?"
Sketchy and Mark both nodded, still a little stunned by what had just happened. Right after they had lowered themselves into some chairs at the kitchen table, the front door burst open. Kay did her best to see who was there without anyone being able to tell her eyes were open. It didn't shock her too much when the muscle-men from the bar walked in. The two in front seemed to be having an argument.
"Are you positive?"
"Yes, I saw it."
"For your own sake you had better not be lying or seeing things."
"I'm not! I saw it clear as day. She knew I did too."
The one who Kay immediately nicknamed the Skeptic reached down and grabbed her off the floor. Mark almost made the mistake of jumping to his feet.
"What are you doing with her?"
One of the other muscle-men stepped in front of him before he could do anything and he carefully lowered himself back down the couple inches he had risen. The Skeptic smiled condescendingly at him.
"Just checking to see if she is what we think she is."
This time Sketchy piped up. "What do you think she is?"
The Skeptic looked at the back of Kay's neck and smiled again. "Look for yourself." He turned Kay's body so both men could see the barcode. Kay heard Sketchy gasp, this probably wasn't a nice piece of news for him. The Skeptic continued, "I think we'll be going now."
"I think not," Kay growled and slammed her elbow into his face before he could react. The others were already in motion, moving towards her in their lumbering fashion. Kay turned and ran up the wall just behind her, flipping herself over their heads and landing behind them. She grabbed the heads of the two closest to her and slammed their heads together. Amazingly, they didn't fall unconscious. What the hell are they? Kay had to duck the fist of one of them, and it ended up going through the wall. Are they Familiars? She shot out her leg and dislocated the knee of the one who had tried to punch her. He jumped back and looked stupidly down at his leg, but didn't seem to be hurt otherwise. Kay bounced back to her feet and lashed out with her left foot and right fist at the same time, hitting men on either side of her. This did little more than delay them. Kay's hits were flying fast and furious, but she didn't seem to be getting anywhere. The only thing she had over them was her speed. They can't be Familiars, they don't seem to have a fighting style. They were fighting with their fists and didn't seem remotely interested in using their feet. Being on the clumsy side, the only thing they really had going for them was sheer strength.
As Mark and Sketchy ran back outside, Barry raised his gun, trying to hit Kay. She saw the second his finger started to tighten on the trigger and grabbed the muscle-man closest to her and shoved him in front of her with his back facing Barry. It was too late for Barry to change his mind, he'd already pulled the trigger just as she got herself positioned. The bullet hit the man in the base of the neck. Kay heard the sound of his spine shattering from the force, then saw something hit the ground. It resembled a screw. Did that just pop out of the guy's neck? She managed to slip it into her pocket before the Skeptic slammed both fists into her back. Luckily, it didn't break anything, but it knocked the wind out of her. She crashed into the kitchen counter and grabbed a knife out of the sink as one of the others came at her. She whirled around and drove it straight into his chest before he even knew what she had in her hand. She ignored the look of shock on his face and threw herself straight out the patio window.
Kay almost didn't manage to catch herself when she landed. She was still recovering from the fever and although her body had been getting better, it certainly hadn't been ready for that. She felt as though her strength had been drained from her. Body shaking slightly, Kay dashed for the car she had picked out. She still had the keys in her pocket, right along with the screw thing that had popped out of the muscle-man's neck. She just made it out of the driveway when the remaining muscle-men came out of the house. Sketchy's face as she pulled away was almost unrecognizable. He looked furious, probably about the fact that he'd been friends with one of the freaks he'd been trying to expose. Mark just looked stunned, but at least he knew why she had been forced to run away on Halloween.
Kay couldn't bring herself to think about Sketchy as she drove home. She'd have to do all sorts of damage control. Other than making sure Mark and Barry didn't report sighting her to White, she also had to make sure Sketchy didn't put something about her in that tabloid. She wasn't sure if he had a picture of her or not, but he could still give her description. Then there was the matter of the muscle-men with screws in their necks. They weren't transgenics or Familiars, and it seemed that the screw was probably what gave them their strength. Maybe Zack would know, there was always the chance some of the other X5s had gotten into trouble with these people at one point or another.
Kay couldn't help a tiny smile when she saw what was going on at the farm. They had managed to get Lydecker out of the tack room, tied him onto one of the horses, and made the horse run around the pasture while dragging him behind. Buddy was standing back, watching this with a look of disgust on his face. He knew they had to have a good reason for doing this, but he didn't like the fact that they were dragging his horses into it. Kay was thrilled inside, she felt he deserved whatever he got, but he still had important information. She jumped into the pasture before the others even knew she had arrived, then grabbed the terrified horse's halter as he came galloping by. After digging her feet into the ground, he was forced to stop. She reached back and untied the ropes that had been used to fasten Lydecker to the horse, then inspected the damage. She was inwardly delighted to see that most of the skin on his back was a torn and bloody mess. Grabbing him by the hair, she pulled him awkwardly to his feet.
"You're lucky you know stuff, otherwise I would have let that continue." He met her eyes and knew she wasn't lying, her eyes were cold and merciless. Then again, they always looked that way when she saw him.
"Why did you stop? This bastard was getting what he deserved!" Zack snapped as he reached her. Apparently Ben had told him what Lydecker had done to her.
"I need questions answered. Let's start with this." She pulled the screw-like object from her pocket and held it up. "What's this ugly thing?"
Both Lydecker and Zack looked shocked at the sight of it. Lydecker decided to speak first. "I knew someone who was working with some South Africans to make an implant that would create a super soldier as soon as it was put in, calling this soldier a Red Series, or Red for short. It's inserted at the base of the neck and spreads from there to go into the brain. It makes anyone much stronger than even an X5, but that's all it gives, strength. The only downside was that it wore the person's body down so they only lived from about six months to a year once it had been put in, and it can't be removed, just defused. They had an interest in catching an X5 because they believed with transgenic blood they might be able to let the people with the implants live longer. I thought they gave that up a while ago."
"Apparently not," Kay grumbled bitterly, still feeling the dull throbbing in her back where the Skeptic had hit her.
Zack had been listening to Lydecker's explanation without interrupting, but now spoke up. "I had to get these people away from Zane and Syl, and Max told me later that she actually has a defused implant in her from her last meeting with them."
This made sense to Kay, but the news that Max had an implant in her came as a shock. "Okay, for another question, is my DNA any different than the other X5s? Max has no junk DNA, but I'm stronger than her."
Lydecker thought for a moment, then hesitantly started. "Your DNA is different, but I don't know exactly how. Sandeman had a special scientist work on you, just like he had one work on Max. There was a difference with that though. He had a purpose for Max, while I think you were more of an experiment than anything else. You're the only one he did this with that survived, and it makes you the only one with your kind of DNA. You still have feline in you, but he added something else which made you separate from the others. The advantages to your DNA was that you were stronger, faster, and more agile than the other X5s, and you also fixed your own seizures. I don't know how your body healed the serotonin deficiency, but it did. Your seizures stopped at a relatively young age. The disadvantage of your DNA is that it meant the method we used to stop the heat cycles of the other X5s wouldn't work on you." He stopped after the mention of her heat cycles because Zack looked ready to kill him all over again.
Kay had had enough of talking to him. She nodded her thanks and walked away, knowing fully well that the others would probably start back up where they left off when she got here. Brin came running after her as she headed towards her house.
"Be quiet when you go in. The kid's sleeping."
"What kid?"
Kay's question was answered for her when she opened the door of her house. Laying on the couch was a little boy who she didn't recognize, but sitting next to him was a woman Kay had only met once, Wendy's sister, Julie. That made it fairly easy to guess who the little boy laying on the couch was.
Not even a minute later, Kay was listening to Logan's phone ring on the other end of the line.
"He--"
"Why the hell is Ray White here? Why didn't you tell me?"
There was nothing but silence for a moment. "You're back home? I didn't know you were released from the hospital."
"I left on my own. Why didn't you tell me about Ray?"
"I was going to tell you when you got released, no one was expecting you to just take off."
"Why do you keep sending me people like this? I know you didn't know I was here when you sent Zack up, but you've sent me Wendy and now her son and sister? You already know about Ben, Brin, and Lydecker, so I'm pretty much running a fugitive circus up here! Wasn't there anyplace else for him?"
"I figured they'd be safer with you. It was Ben who suggested it in the first place when he was staying with me. What do you have against him?"
"He's the reason Wendy died. If she hadn't been trying to save him, she'd still be alive right now. Not to mention that he could try to contact his father at any time and rat out everyone living here. He could even tell White who you are."
"Ray doesn't know I'm Eyes Only. Even Wendy thought I only worked for him. Just give the kid a chance. As Max said when we got him, his mother's dead, his dad's a freak, it's not really a fairy tale ending."
"I'll give him a chance, but if he so much as says 'Daddy', I'm shipping him outta here."
"Fine, but I don't think you'll have problems."
"Yeah right."
Once she was off the phone, Kay's eyes landed back on Ray. The kid was the perfect mix of his parents. He had his father's overall face, but his hair and probably his eyes were like his mother's. Well, at least things couldn't get worse.