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*The Longest Day*
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Spoilers: This is the fourth story in my series – if you haven't read any of my work before, you'd be best off going back to read and understand. The first story was Shattered Trusts and Whispered Confessions. The second is Remembering to Forget and the third, which I only just finished, is Events That Lead To Greatness. This series is set after Hello Goodbye but does reveal spoilers from the rest of the season, as I incorporate it into the story.
Disclaimer: Ideas are mine based on the brilliant work of the Dark Angel team – so don't sue me! I wish I owned Alec, but I don't. So I have to settle for writing fiction about him.
Authors Note: Just a general shout out thanks to all the great readers who have been reviewing my work and totally keeping me motivated. If it weren't for you guys I wouldn't be writing this stuff. I am trying out a new style of writing in this one; let me know what you guys think.
When it says someone's name over the top, it means that the chapter is in their point of view. It wont be like that for the entire story, just when necessary for what I am doing. Have fun and remember to review!
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CHAPTER THREE: Exposed and bloody
MOLE
Seattle; Sector 7; January 1st 2023
1000 hours and counting...
Bloody humans.
If it weren't for them, we wouldn't be in this mess; we wouldn't have to worry about exposure or death. We were designed to be invincible, to be fearless and almighty conquerors. Now look at us, we can't even walk out on the streets without worrying about being seen or killed or caught.
Bloody humans.
I looked over at Joshua next to me, who was sterilely holding a Glock in his hand, the only gun he I had taught his to fire with. Now he never went anywhere without it, even though I knew he probably wouldn't use it. The big guy had too much compassion in him, I knew it was a human trait, but really taking a look at the world right now, I didn't think so. But then, I think it's a canine thing too, along with loyalty. Why else is he still being all faithful and loving to that meddling X5 Max. She's the reason Alec left and now the city is nearly finished with the list he left, what then? Probably escape and evade, meet up somewhere else and do it all over again. Who knows?
I snapped back to attention as I realised that dog-boy was talking to me,
"There, thermal scanners detect two, no three transgenics. Pull up ahead."
"Done. What are those idiots doing out in broad daylight?"
As soon as I said that, I felt almost hypocritical – what the hell were we doing driving around in broad daylight, regardless of the fact that our van had blacked out windows. Talk about drawing attention to ourselves.
I directed the vehicle to the side of the road, and Joshua stuck his head out screaming at the transgenics huddled under a tarp, shying either from the dying rain or from the hoverdrone that had just passed by overhead,
"Hey!"
I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly what would happen. They ran. Big guy stuck his head out further and yelled louder, as though they hadn't heard him,
"No, no! Hey! Hey! Come back! Hurry!"
They climbed in and Joshua's voice quietened towards them as I slammed the door shut,
"Get in. Get in."
He looked at me,
"Go! Go!"
I hate being told what to do. But he was right, so I slammed on the accelerator and off we went, zooming away from out pit stop.
The older female transgenic was the first to speak,
"Hey I'm Gem. X5. This is Dalton."
The slightly younger boy next to her, smiled thankfully at them,
"X6."
I frowned to myself,
"I thought you said there was 3, Joshua."
Gem's soft voice rang out through the van,
"There is. This is Hope."
She produced forward a bundle of rags framing a baby girl.
Interesting.
Well it wasn't like she'd be the first at TC with a baby, we had a whole building for them – far away from us, where it wouldn't hurt our ears with all the crying,
"What were you guys thinking being out there in the middle of the freaking day?"
"We were just trying to safely make it to the Promised Land."
"Yeah, well, Terminal City ain't exactly the Promised Land, honey, but we got a couple guys with some medical training who can take a look at your girl there and make sure she's okay. Make sure you all are."
Did I just call her honey? At least it sounded sarcastic. Kind of.
"Watch out!"
Whenever someone yells that, one tend to look at them, instead of what they were being directed to look at. And that's exactly what I did, what was up with Joshua, screaming like that? My answer soon came as we ploughed into the back of a pick-up truck, which just suddenly reversed onto the street.
Oh crud.
"Is everyone fine?"
Joshua, the nice guy. Makes sure everyone is alive before the growing crowd of ordinaries outside our van kills us. I gave them all a concerned look, thankful when Dalton and then Gem answered,
"Yeah, I think so."
"Yeah."
Dalton looked over at Gem, worried,
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
"Hope?"
"Is fine, otherwise we'd all know. Believe me."
Okay that was settled and now we needed to get out of here. I started the engine – or rather tried to,
"Bastard son of a bitch backs out without even looking."
"We need to get out of here."
"Yes Josh, I know."
"We need to go."
Guess he saw the crowd forming.
"Uh, we need to go."
"Yeah, yeah – hang on."
Dalton poked his head over the back of my seat,
"It's not starting?"
Genius. Pure genius, where had he been all my life?
Gem gazed out the window, seeing the same thing I did. The other driver and his passenger getting out of their vehicles with baseball bats in hand,
"This is not good. We've got company."
I could see the panic written all over Joshua's face,
"Uh, we gotta--we gotta blaze. We gotta blaze now!"
I gave up the endless quest to get the van started, raising my eyebrows at Joshua's gun,
"Man up, dog. You're the one who wanted some action."
What the hell? Idiot driver is now banging on my window,
"Hey! Punk-ass! Look what you did to my truck!"
Joshua grabbed at his gun possessively,
"Uh-oh."
That didn't faze me, what did was what that pond-scum just called me,
"Punk-ass?"
"Uh-oh."
"Punk-ass?"
That did it. Screw Exposure. I stepped out of the van and stared coolly at the offenders, slinging my shotgun casually over one shoulder,
"You mean Mr. Punk-Ass, don't ya?"
"Damn. It's one of those freaks."
"Now, that hurts."
Idiot driver had attracted more onlookers with that last comment, so I did what seemed necessary. Shooting one round into the air, I stared harder at them all, causing the crowd to scatter. Fear of the unknown had its benefits. Or maybe it was the gun. Only one girl remained, a pregnant teenager, staring at me with curiosity,
"What, you never seen a lizard man before?"
"We both know they never let the series mix at Manticore."
So she was one of us. She turned, flashing me her barcode – X5-901. Well what are the chances? I gestured at her and she moved over to the van, just as the others climbed out,
"I'm Auris."
"Nice to see you. You got any plans today?"
"On my way to Terminal City."
"Great, well sign up for a tour guide with dog-boy here. I'll be that guide."
I looked around amused at the area, it was completely empty,
"I'll say one thing for ordinaries--they know when to run."
"Maybe we should run, too."
"We don't run, we fall back. Let's go."
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