Outside
By Be Boring
Chapter 19: Storytime
"Kay! Some doctor guy wants to see you! Wake up!" Brin grabbed Kay's shoulders and shook hard. Kay groaned and rolled over, pulling her blankets up over her head. It was too early in the morning to be bothered like this. "Get up!"
Kay finally threw the blankets back and sat up. Ben was next to her, trying to keep the blankets around his waist so Brin wouldn't see anything. Brin was standing next to the bed, hands now on her hips as she stared down at her sister.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Get out of bed!"
"What doctor guy is here to see me?"
"I think he said his name is Dr. Carr."
Kay finally woke all the way up at this. Why would Sam Carr be here? She waved Brin off with her hand and a grumbled "Shut up, I'm coming!", then climbed out of bed and grabbed the first outfit she could out of the dresser. Ben had already laid back down and had fallen asleep again. Kay rolled her eyes at him as she headed for the door, then peered out into the driveway. There was a nice car out there with Dr. Carr in the driver's seat. She couldn't imagine what he'd be doing here. He looked relieved to see her when she came out of the house.
"Kay! How are you feeling? Got over the fever well enough?"
Kay shrugged. "I suppose, I'm feeling okay. What are you doing here? I'm fairly sure it's not to check up on my health."
Dr. Carr stepped out of the car and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, actually, someone who looks a lot like Max threatened me and I had no choice but to leave Seattle."
"What do you mean, someone who looks a lot like Max?"
"She was identical to her, except she didn't have the bullet wound in her side that Max did. She was trying to get her hands on Max's file, but Max asked me to burn that a long time ago. As soon as I figured out she wasn't Max, she slammed me into a wall and told me that certain people knew who I was and that I should leave as soon as possible. What was that about?"
Kay thought for a moment, then came up with a somewhat reasonable explanation. "Well, that was obviously a clone, and don't look at me like I'm nuts! Manticore made clones of all the X5s except for me because I was the only one who survived with my type of DNA. The feds probably came across the clone when they were looking for Max and used her to get any information on Max that they could, which should have been easy considering her looks. You were probably ready to hand over Max's file right away if it had been there, right?"
Dr. Carr blushed and nodded. "I knew something was different, but I never knew Manticore made clones."
"Did you give away any information about Max by accident?"
"I-I don't think so. Wait! I mentioned Jam Pony. Would that have been enough for her to go on?"
"Hell yeah. It wouldn't even take someone from Manticore to figure out how to get to Max through that. How long ago was this confrontation between you and the clone?"
"At least six hours ago. She knocked me out after threatening me and I woke up an hour later. Then I went home, packed my things, and headed for where I knew you were."
Kay turned towards her house and started running. Chances were that the clone had already reached Max, but there might still be a chance that she didn't. As soon as she got to the phone, she was dialing the number for Max's apartment.
"Hello?"
"Cindy?"
"Yeah, who am I talkin' to?"
"Kay. Is Max there?"
There was a long silence on the other end of the line and Kay had to ask if she was still there before she got an answer. "She left a while ago, said she's leavin' town. She wouldn't tell me where she's goin' to. Is somethin' big goin' down?"
"Nothing too big. Talk to ya later."
Kay tried not to slam the phone down. Maybe Max got out of there before the clone could get to her. Then again, maybe not. She dialed Logan's number, but he didn't answer. Why is that guy never there when I call? In desperation she called Alec's number, but he didn't answer either. Kay kept trying to tell herself that Max had gotten out of there, but her instinct was telling her otherwise. She finally walked back out to Dr. Carr.
"What are you planning to do now that you can't go back to Seattle?"
"Are there any hospitals around here that I could try to find work at?"
"This is pretty much a small town area, so I don't know of any, but you could always ask Buddy and Mary. They live right over there." Kay pointed in the direction of the main house. He nodded and walked towards it. Kay walked back to her house and headed for the shower. As long as she was up, there was no point in going back to sleep. Ben was still asleep when she walked past the bed, looking so peaceful that she wished he never had to wake up.
When she got back out, Ben was no longer in bed. She walked into the kitchen and straight into the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life. Ben and Zack were standing by the stove, trying to put out the fire on top of it with the flexible faucet from the sink. It really didn't come out that far, so while Ben held the faucet Zack tried to stomp out the fire with a not-yet-used pot. Ray was sitting on the counter, watching this scene while giggling so hard that tears were running down his face. Kay struggled to keep a straight face and crossed her arms in front of her.
"What is going on here?"
Both Ben and Zack were so shocked to see her that they dropped what they were holding, sending the pot crashing to the floor and causing the faucet to spray water over the rest of the kitchen cupboards and the floor as it dangled from the edge of the sink. Ray toppled over and nearly fell off the counter he was laughing so hard. He was the only one to try and answer her question. "B-B-Ben tried to m-make b-b-breakfast and h-he turned on the w-wrong b-burner and the n-newspaper c-caught on f-fire." He couldn't keep going after this as Ben and Zack both blushed and stared at the floor. Kay couldn't keep her straight face anymore and burst out laughing.
"I guess this is what happens when I let you two cook!" While she was laughing, Kay reached out and shut off the running water, turned off the stove, then grabbed the almost completely burned up newspaper and tossed it into the sink. She then grabbed the faucet, put it back in its spot, and turned it back on to put out the rest of the fire. "See? That wasn't so hard."
At the embarrassed looks on both men's faces, Kay started laughing all over again. The poor guys were never prepared for cooking in their training as kids. Zack picked up the pot and set it back on the stove, blushing the whole time.
"Could you make breakfast? Please? I don't really want to try again." Ben nodded his agreement fervently. Kay grinned, hearing Zack say 'please' was a whole new experience.
"Well, since you asked so nicely."
It wasn't until after breakfast that things started to get interesting. Kay went over to the main house to see if Dr. Carr was still there. Thankfully, he had left and was headed for the city Buddy had mentioned had an understaffed hospital. In her head Kay knew this was good because he'd be nearby if one of the transgenics ever needed his help.
"Could you make a run into town for me?" Mary asked tentatively. She knew Kay didn't like being in public since her enemies thought she was dead and also because she had stolen the motorcycle. Of course, she was hardly recognizable with her new hairdo.
"Sure. It'll be nice to get out of here for a little while." Kay couldn't help feeling a little trapped with having to spend all her time on the farm. As nervous as she was about being spotted, she liked to get away. Her little wasted trip with Ben hadn't been enough for her.
Kay pulled into the parking lot of the little grocery store in town, then looked down at the list Mary had given her. Decaf? Lydecker's not gonna be happy about that! She had just entered the building when she heard a familiar voice.
"Do you know of any places for sale around here?"
That voice sounded so much like Max's it was amazing. Max wouldn't have come here when she left Seattle, would she? Kay headed for the checkout counter and was stunned to see Max standing there talking to the cashier. The strange thing was she wasn't alone, there was a man and a little boy with her. After the cashier told her he didn't know, Max turned around and saw Kay. Funny, her eyes didn't show any signs of recognition. Kay smiled and gave a little wave, Max just offered a tiny smile in return. Her eyes still didn't show that she knew who Kay was. As she walked past, Kay looked down at Max's right hand. There was no Caduceus on her palm. Damn, is this the same clone Dr. Carr was talking about? Kay turned and followed the woman out into the parking lot, then rushed forward and grabbed her by the arm. The clone's first reaction was to whirl around and try to kick, but Kay blocked her foot as it was coming up and twisted her arm hard.
"Relax, I'm not looking for trouble. I just have a couple questions to ask."
The woman stepped back and studied Kay mistrustingly. "What do you want?"
"I just want to know if you were in Seattle recently."
"What's it to you?"
"I have a friend there who looks an awful lot like you and I want to know if you ran into her."
The woman frowned at her. "Yeah I ran into her. She's still there now as far as I know. Who are you?"
"Kay."
"I meant your designation."
"I don't use it anymore and don't really think there's a point in bringing it up. What's your name?"
"Sam."
Kay smirked slightly. "Is there something in your DNA that calls for boys' names?"
Sam studied her face carefully, then half-smiled when she saw that Kay was joking.
"Are there a lot of transgenics in the area? I mean, Seattle has Terminal City, what about this place?"
"The closest thing we have to Terminal City is the farm I live on, but there's not as many of us there."
"How many and what kind?"
"We're all X5s, and there's four of us."
Sam bit her lip thoughtfully. "My designation is 453. What's theirs and yours? And don't give me any crap about not using it anymore, I just want to know if I remember you from Manticore."
"The others are '09 escapees: 734, 493, and 599. I was in Manticore until it burned down. I'm 358."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "I know you. Renfro called you her pride and joy except for your rather loud personality."
Kay grinned. "I never liked to make things easy for her. Do you know if Max is staying in Seattle?"
"As far as I know."
Kay turned to look at Sam's companions, who were standing well away from the two. "Who are they?"
"My family."
Kay didn't ask any more questions, she knew the boy couldn't possibly be Sam's child. She figured Sam adopted him when she married his father. She couldn't have asked any more questions if she wanted to because she spotted the Skeptic crossing the parking lot with four new men behind him. He got new replacements already? They didn't even glance in her direction, but she still didn't like being near them. Sam's eyes followed her gaze.
"Who're they?"
"Bad news. You might want to get your family out of here, those people can't be trusted." Sam nodded and headed for the SUV she had been driving with her husband and step-son close behind. Kay got in her car and waited for the Reds to come back out. Mary's list could wait. She watched as they climbed back into their van and took off. She followed closely, making sure she wasn't being too obvious. They apparently weren't staying in their metal shed in the woods anymore because they didn't head in even the general direction of it. They actually went out the other side of town and pulled off onto a gravel road. Kay drove past it and watched to see where they stopped. They made it to a few old houses that had been abandoned long ago by some rich families that had taken off after the Pulse hit. It's effects had come into Canada as well.
Kay pulled over to the side of the road once she was out of their sight and took off across the field towards them. They couldn't see her coming once they went into one of the houses, but Kay still kept herself as low as possible as she ran. She didn't want to take any chances.
Once she reached the house they had gone into, she looked for a good way in. She didn't want to use the front door, she had heard its squeak from the field. Her best chance would be a broken window, which there were plenty of. She finally found one that satisfied her, it was on the second floor and there was no way they could see her once she was in or as she was jumping up. She made sure she couldn't be seen before taking a tiny running jump at the window. Her fingers grabbed the edge of the sill easily enough, but she had to be careful not to cry out in surprise as broken glass cut through her skin. She pulled herself through the opening and examined her hands as soon as both her feet were firmly planted on the floor. There was blood flowing steadily from nearly all her fingers and glass was still embedded in her flesh. She picked as many tiny pieces out as she could, then set off down the hall to find the Reds.
There was a classic stairway going downstairs that could be seen by the first floor. Kay had to crouch low and creep up to the banister in order to peer down at them without being seen. The Reds were grouping in the living room, directly in her line of vision. Kay settled herself down to watch them, but before she could see any more, the world went black.
Kay woke up to find herself bound and gagged on the couch with the Reds all watching her. The thing that surprised her was that there were six of them, one of them had not been at the grocery store. He must have been upstairs the entire time. He was the one who reached out and pulled off the rag that was blocking her mouth, but it was the Skeptic who spoke.
"What are you doing here? I thought I made it clear last time that I had no business with you. You seem to be persuaded otherwise."
"Cut the fancy bullshit. Anyone who attacks me once and doesn't give a reason has business with me."
"Do you want to know why I attacked you the first time?"
"Well, I'm more than a little curious."
"It's because we were led to believe something that I later found out wasn't true."
"You've already said that. Did it have something to do with the Coming?" He looked at her in surprise. Kay knew she was taking a chance here, but if she could find out what the Coming was through him, then so be it.
"What do you know about the Coming?" he asked her cautiously.
"Not much, other than the fact that it's bad news for normal people. Is that why you're looking for the key?" Once again, he gave her a stunned look.
"Well, as long as you know there's a key, I can give you more information on why I attacked you. In the beginning, I believed that the key was a transgenic, specifically an X5. I had information from Manticore that led me to believe a couple of the X5s had different purposes than the others. There was always the chance that you were one of those X5s, so we came after you. I found out later that the key is not a transgenic, so I no longer have an interest in you."
"Do you know what the Coming is?"
"From what I know, it's an airborne disease. The breeding cult that knows of the Coming has been preparing for it for several generations. According to my sources, thousands of years ago a young woman was found with a strange disease in her blood. It was a different form of the virus that was commonly found in a certain breed of snake, which was fatal to humans. That snake of course is the one used in the cult's rituals today. The disease was usually passed through being bitten by the snake or somehow having the snake's blood flow into your own, but the strain of the disease that was in this girl's blood could be passed to the air if the right technique was used.
The people who found out about it immediately began thinking of power. As I'm sure you know, some people are naturally born with a better immune system than others, so those that knew about this girl started pairing up these kinds of people and making them reproduce. Once the child was about six years old, blood from one of the snakes was put into them. The first group all died immediately, but they kept reproducing. The second group lasted a little longer with the disease in their system, but they eventually died as well. It was in the third group that a few lived. It wasn't very many, but those few children now had an immunity to the disease. They were later matched with more people like their parents who had good immune systems. They were not paired with each other because it was feared that inbreeding would eventually ruin what they had. It was always the third child that was used, so the first two were just destroyed immediately so there wouldn't be a hassle.
The girl with the disease in her blood was paired with one of the immune children as soon as he was old enough and their third child was a daughter just like her mother, that particular strain of the disease resided in her as well. As this breeding continued, these people grew stronger as well. The descendants of the girl with the disease were all female, that seemed to be something that came with having the disease in their blood. Every one of these daughters was paired with one of the immune children. Somewhere today is a woman with this blood in her, and she'll be much stronger than the other cult members as well. Since her ancestors were always both Familiars, it made her family line stronger than the others. She's the one known as the key to the Coming."
Kay finally had to interrupt. "As great a story as this is, if they had a key in every generation, then why didn't they just do it right away?" While the Skeptic had been talking, one of the other Reds had untied her since she was no longer a threat, so she was now sitting upright on the couch with the Skeptic sitting in front of her on a chair and the others off doing work that she couldn't see.
"Well, they wanted to have more of their own in the world. They also wanted to be sure they were all strong enough to handle a slightly different strain. The way they determined this was to wait for the year that all the children who took the initiation test survived it. It hasn't happened yet, otherwise they would have started the Coming. The only information I got out of the last Familiar I killed was that there was only one child killed this year, but they're not positive."
Ray! Now Kay had even more reason to keep that little boy safely hidden.
"Why do you want the key? What does it have to do with you?"
"Well, it's not exactly the key we're looking for so much as the anti-key. There was also a family line that held the antidote for the disease in the key's blood. As far as I know, these have all been male. The cult has never been able to determine which family line it is, but if this family's blood was changed slightly, how I don't know, then added to the blood of the key, it would neutralize the disease. The same formula that would neutralize the disease also has a sort of lasting effect. It's sort of a preserving method that makes your body last longer. That is what we want. We are all going to die shortly, me before these others because I've had the implant longer, and this would give us a normal life span. We'd be able to survive the implants' side effects of wearing us out. That's why we want it."
The Skeptic was snapped out of his story when the same Red that had knocked Kay out earlier came into the room with Sam in his arms. She was squirming in his grasp, but wasn't anywhere near strong enough to break free. Kay stood up and walked over to them.
"It's okay, she's with me."
The Red looked at the Skeptic for affirmation, then let Sam go at his nod. Sam stood up straight and brushed herself off, then took a step back as the Skeptic approached her.
"Aren't you 452?"
"453 actually. I wish people would stop getting me confused with her. Do we look that much alike?" Same quipped. Kay grinned, then gestured to the Skeptic that Sam was telling the truth.
"Did you follow me all the way here?"
"Yep. You seem like the sort that gets into trouble a lot and I just thought I'd be nice."
"For one thing, even when I do get into trouble, I get myself back out of it. And secondly, I have spent enough time here for one day. I'm going home."
Fortunately, the Skeptic didn't have any objection to this. That made Kay feel a little better, that was one less enemy for her. Sam later drove off in a different direction, so Kay gave her a wave goodbye and headed back to town. After all that went on she still had to buy Mary's groceries.
When she returned home, Mary came out to meet her in the driveway. "What took you so long?"
Kay grinned coyly. "Grocery shopping is a dangerous thing."