AN: This is the final chapter of this story. I've had a wonderful time writing this fic and I want to thank Jacey for beta reading
the final chapter, JZShiri for endless support and to la-angele321, Rose and agmgdafan for reading this :) Thank you so much!
Please read and review:)
---
Jondy scrambled from the hole in her wall. Kneeling on the floor, she hastily brushed the dust from her hair and face.
"Forgot we had a date?" Alec was leaning against the door, with a smirk on his face.
"No. I repressed," Jondy retorted. "So when did the storm troopers bust in?"
"Don't worry. I have set off the alarm. Yet," Alec replied, a condescending smirk across his face.
"Why not?" Jondy asked, jamming the brick back in place.
"I'm not looking for trouble. What you do is your own business," Alec shrugged, straightening. But what I don't get is why do you want out of here so much? You've got a roof over your head, plenty to eat...which is more than you can say about most people out there."
"Think again," Jondy retorted. "Manticore aren't keeping you here out of the goodness of their heart. They are using you. Manticore are the bad guys in this."
"No body is using me," Alec retorted, shoving Jondy.
"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt," Jondy said, shaking her head. "If you aren't one of us, then you're one of them."
"Who is "us"?" Alec asked, standing very close to her.
"The good guys," Jondy replied, crossing her arms over her chest.
"And who am I?"
"The bad guy that I'll reform," Jondy smiled with saccharine sweetness. "Kiss me and you'll never kiss anything again."
Alec took a step back. "Fine. Whatever you want. Did you ever think that maybe you're the bad guy in all of this, 210? Maybe Manticore are the good guys?"
"Alec," Jondy asked. "How many people have you killed?"
Alec stared at her.
"Normal people - mothers, fathers, daughters, friends … they aren't meant to die. Children aren't meant to die," Jondy replied. "Have you ever loved anyone, Alec? And then they died and all you can think about is how they'll never be there ever again and you'll never ever see them again?"
Alec looked at the floor.
"I rest my case," Jondy said softly.
Alec just shot her an angry glare and left the cell.
---
"So, how are we going to do this?" Tinga asked, as Zack looked over the weapons they'd managed to get.
"We go in. Syl and Krit will disable the main generators, Max and I will go in via the north entrance," Zack replied. "Zane and Tinga will cover us. Any questions?"
"Not a single thought," Syl replied angelically.
"What if we run into Justin in there?" Krit asked.
"Shoot to kill," Zane replied instantly. "Anyone we left behind is dead. They were reprogrammed."
"But maybe we can help them," Max said.
"Not at the risk of our lives," Zack replied forcibly. "You are ordered to shoot to kill, Max."
Max frowned.
"I've hacked the security cameras," Logan called from his computer.
"I need Jondy's exact location," Zack called back, loading a gun.
"What if they've already reprogrammed her, Zack?" Tinga asked softly.
Zack paused. "Shoot to kill," he replied softly.
"But it's Jondy," Krit stood up, a glare on his face.
"Shoot to wound then," Zack ran his fingers through his hair, looking drained. "Jondy wouldn't survive the reprogramming process again, and on the off chance she did … it'd break her if we tried to help her.
Max looked at the ground, and silence followed.
----
Jondy lay on her pallet, watching the ceiling. If she watched the ceiling, she didn't have to watch the floor. The floor where there were rats and cockroaches; two things Jondy could absolutely not abide by. She may have been a multi-million-dollar killing machine, but rats still creeped her out.
Jondy shuddered and closed her eyes, trying to calm down. Some days, she thought maybe she'd been okay, maybe everything would just resolve itself somehow. And days like today - more psy-ops - made her want to just die. She couldn't take another thing.
It was past midnight already, Jondy knew. She'd woken up to a rat on her stomach. Just the idea made her nauseous, and knew she wouldn't be able to sleep while she was shut up in this rat-infested cell. She wanted to go home to showers, and soft, clean apartments, and pizza.
And Zack.
Jondy dismissed that thought. 'You aren't a teenager anymore, Jondy,' she berated herself. 'Zack isn't going to bail you out of this. You stuffed up, you fix it.'
Jondy sat up, the moonlight shining directly onto her face. Her face had little cuts all around her hair line, and her left check had a long scratch down it, from her temple, to her chin. Bruises, cuts, scrapes, lacerations … all over her body. Jondy bit her lip.
And Brin. She hadn't seen Brin in days and she hated herself for that; Brin had been taken away. Brin was probably dead and gone and it was all Jondy's fault.
"201."
Jondy looked up. Alec stood in the door way, watching her.
"My designation is 210," Jondy replied haughtily, wiping the tears off her face.
"My mistake," Alec smirked. "Come on; I'll show you where the rat poison is."
Jondy blinked and climbed off her pallet, mentally shrugging. If Alec wanted to be nice to her, she'd accept that. And when he turned on her, she'd kick his ass.
Alec punched in the security code to Jondy's cell door and it slid open.
"How do you know the security codes?" Jondy asked, hands on her hips.
"I caught one of the lab techs having a go at one of the X5 girls," Alec shrugged, a smirk on his face. "In exchange for me to not go to Renfro, he gave me the codes to all cells - yours happens to be 210509."
"How original of them," Jondy replied. "And what do you mean a 'lab tech having a go at an X5...'" At Alec's 'duh' look, she blinked. "Oh. Oh!"
"See, you're smarter than you look," Alec replied as they walked along the hallway.
"Bite me," Jondy replied angelically. "Where is everyone?"
Alec looked around. "Who knows. Who cares. I need to get you some rat poison."
Jondy nodded, and they continued along the hall. That smelt funny.
"What is that?" Jondy made a face.
"X6-890 and…" Alec sniffed the air. "Either petroleum or gasoline. Possibly both. Someone's used air freshener."
"X6-890?" Jondy asked, going grey as they got closer to 890's cell.
"Yes. 210, that is the smell of a decomposing body," Alec clapped her on the shoulder. "And if you turn grey at the smell, I won't tell you why he's dead."
Jondy gave Alec a suspicious look.
"It involved napalm, a hand grenade and the peeling back of skin," Alec summarized.
Jondy felt herself turn green.
"Toldja so."
Jondy punched him on the arm. Before he could retaliate, Jondy slipped on something, toppling into Alec's arms, sending him sliding too. They both ended up in an ungraceful heap on the slippery lino.
"What the hell?" Jondy asked, trying to wipe the wet stuff off her hands, onto her pants.
"It's petrol," Alec said, sniffing his hands.
"Very good Einstein," Jondy rolled her eyes. "I meant, 'What the hell is petrol doing on the floor of a Manticore hallway'."
Alec pointed up. "The pipe is leaking."
Jondy looked up and saw a pipe in the roof steadily dripping petrol onto the floor.
"What's that pipe for?" Jondy asked, a growing sense of unease over taking her.
"Emergency water supply," Alec said, standing up.
Jondy stood up, feeling herself go pale. "They wouldn't."
"Wouldn't what?" Alec asked.
"Either I've watched way too many crappy movies in my lifetime, or Manticore…" Jondy closed her eyes and took a breath. "Think Alec. What does petrol do?"
"Fuels cars and burns stuff. And beauty pageant contestants use petroleum for something, right?" Alec asked.
"Do I look like someone who follows the comings and goings of beauty pageants?" Jondy snapped. "Burns. Highly flammable, okay?"
"Your point, 210?" Alec demanded.
"A highly flammable liquid in the Emergency pipes. Those emergency pipes are in case of a *fire*," Jondy said slowly.
Alec blinked, his eyes widening. "Oh…"
Jondy looked around. Everything was still. No guards were on this level.
"It's just a training thing, 210," Alec shrugged, relaxing. "To see how fast we think."
Jondy crossed her arms over her chest and was about to reply when alarms began sounding. All of a sudden, Alec didn't look very confident. In fact, he looked shocked.
"What the hell?"
----
Zack looked around the penthouse. They had all the weapons packed into a false bottom in a van Zane had tracked down.
"Zack," Logan came out of the kitchen. "I just had an idea."
"What?" Zack half grunted at him.
"When you get into position, I send out an Eyes Only broadcast, revealing Manticore. To distract them," Logan said confidently.
Zack blinked. Everyone else looked up.
----
"What is that alarm for?" Jondy asked, as Alec looked around, an uneasy look on his face.
"They're locking down the cells," Alec said.
Jondy felt herself go silent, and then stood in the dark, silent, listening as locks slid into place and every single transgenic in Manticore was put in a cage, like an animal.
"You can unlock them though; you have the security codes," Jondy said in a low voice.
"No. Not the main one," Alec said. "Vic was killed before they installed the lock-down system."
Before Jondy could reply, another alarm burst into life.
"The fire alarm," they both said at the same time.
"Shit," Alec said. "Shit, shit, shit. What the fuck are we going to do? We're the only transgenics that aren't locked up. They're trying to kill us!"
"No shit," Jondy said, sounding a lot more calm than she felt. "And no, we're not."
"What do you mean? They locked down the cells!" Alec's voice was reaching a pitch only dogs and whales could hear.
"The Nomalies in the basement," Jondy said clearly. Before they could move, a thin trail of smoke caught their attention. They could hear other transgenics calling for help, but Jondy tried to block the confused sounding voices out.
"We've got bigger problems than that," Alec said, as smoke began filling the hallway.
"And that is what?" Jondy snapped. "We haven't been given direct orders? This is not the time to go spitting out Manticore propaganda…!"
"No," Alec interrupted. "Our clothes have petrol all over them. We get too close to the flames and we'll be incinerated."
Jondy paled slightly. "Shit."
"Exactly," Alec replied. "So, what do we do?"
"Why do I have to give the orders?" Jondy threw up her hands.
"Why should I?" Alec retorted. "Besides, you're the control freak."
"I am not! And you've got more training than I do," Jondy protested.
"You were the SIC of your unit," Alec said. "And the fire is getting closer."
"Fine!" Jondy snapped. "Go to the control centre and try and disconnect the electricity and the lock-down system? I'm going to go and get help."
"Jondy!" Alec said exasperated, as she headed for the basement door. "The closest town is 12km away!"
Jondy rolled her eyes. "If I was going to go to town, which I'm not, what would I say? 'Hi, my name's Jondy and I've been help captive in the genetic engineering slash secret military facility 12km up the road and they've tried to barbeque us. Mind bringing up some water and, oh, maybe some marshmallows we can roast after you help me?'"
Alec blinked.
Jondy rolled her eyes and went down the basement door.
---
"Logan, it won't work!" Zack yelled. "All we need is for something to go wrong, and they kill Jondy. Because they aren't completely stupid - they'll know Jondy is the reason you're revealing Manticore!"
"I'm not doing it for Jondy!" Logan yelled back. "Or you! I'm doing it for Max!"
"We need to go," Zane broke in. "Now."
----
Jondy ran down the hallway in the basement. "Joshua!" she called. "Joshua, it's Jondy, I need you're help!"
The other Nomalies screeched and roared and made Nomalie-noises. Damnit, damnit, where the hell was Joshua?
"Joshua, there's a fire. I need your help!" Jondy yelled, getting frustrated. "Please, Joshua!"
"You didn't come and visit Joshua last night," a voice came. Joshua. "Joshua isn't going to help Jondy."
"Please Joshua!" Jondy yelled some more, not knowing where he would be and not daring enough to poke her face into the shadows. "I thought you were my friend!"
'Very dramatic, Jondy,' she mentally told herself. 'Day-time soap opera much?'
Silence.
Jondy turned around and left. They were just monsters. Nothing else. Monsters. Sad monsters.
---
Alec arrived at the control centre and froze. Renfro was there, with a team of guards.
"… I want a firing squad lined up outside the perimeter and all escapees disposed of," Renfro was saying, putting files and disks in her briefcase. "I want no survivors."
Alec stared. This wasn't happening. Manticore took care of it's own. This wasn't happening.
"Dismissed," Renfro said. Before Alec could refocus long enough to hide, the door swung open and the guards saw him. Alec stared at them.
"Hello boys," Alec said. One of them moved to grab his gun from his holster. "Don't… or I'll have to hand you your spleen."
Guns were cocked and aimed.
"Sorry we couldn't do business," Alec retorted.
----
Jondy was at a loss of what to do. Half of the transgenic were already dead, burnt to death. The building was burning fast, she had petrol all over her clothes and Alec was no where to be found.
And Joshua was a lost cause. But then, he was only a Nomalie, it didn't matter.
Jondy wished she didn't care about what happened to Joshua.
Brin. That train of thought caught her attention. She had to find Brin. Brin couldn't be dead, she was always there. Jondy span on her heal, racing towards the Psy-Ops labs, praying that they hadn't already been incinerated.
Where the hell was Alec?
---
"Holy crap," were the first words out of Krit's mouth as Zane pulled the stolen van up outside Manticore perimeter. They all climbed out of the van, their eyes fixated on the scene that lay before them.
Manticore was going up in flames. Zack had never really understood the phrasing of that statement until now. The windows were shattered from the heat, yells from the transgenics stuck inside echoed out.
And a firing squad was lined up, the staccato machine gun firing echoing out every time one of the guards saw movement within the burning building.
"What should we do, Zack?" Tinga asked softly.
Zack swallowed hard and looked around. He could smell the burning flesh of the transgenics who had already burnt alive in the building. He could make out the forms of at least fifty guards acting as the firing squad. Jondy, and Brin, were still inside of that building … if they were still alive.
"We wait," Zack said, sounding more confident than he felt. "We wait and then look for survivors."
Syl and Max exchanged looks behind his back. "Zack, Jondy…" Syl began softly.
Zack sent her a murderous look. "We wait."
---
Jondy could hear things. The screams of the other transgenics as they were burnt to death. The crumbling of the building, the shattering of the windows and the guns shots killing any transgenics that had managed to get out of their cell. And the fire was getting closer.
"Brin?" Jondy called out. "Brinny, are you here?"
Psy Ops was still. Worse than still. Jondy closed her eyes and took a step into the room. And wanted to scream out.
How could they… how… Brin… Brin… how …
Jondy felt herself slide to the floor only second before the roof came crashing down.
---
Alec knew he was stuck. The place was about to come down on them all. The control centre was a lost cause. The fire had spread too much and Alec didn't like his chances against the firing squad.
So the basement was his last option. Even if he could just hide down there till the firing squad got bored.
He swung open the basement door, half hoping to see Jondy down there, with some sort of plan. Nothing.
The basement door swung shut on him, and Alec managed to jam it. At least no one could double check the basement if the door was jammed.
Alec turned around and stared.
"Whoa."
---
Hours had passed. The firing squad had gone. Zack sat on the hill, watching the still smoking building. Max rested her hand on his shoulder. He hadn't said a word, moved a muscle since the roof had caved in.
"Move out," Zack suddenly snapped, feeling tired, drained… lost.
"What?" Krit looked shocked.
"It's over," Zack said, looking over his shoulder. "I love you Jondy."
-- The End --
AN: Okay, before you all kill me for not giving you a nice ending with closure, there is a sequel. Yes, I promise. It will be titled
"A Family Affair: Book Three". :D I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you'll read the final part in this trilogy. Please
review, just so I know that someone is still reading this and interested in knowing what happens in Book 3 :)
the final chapter, JZShiri for endless support and to la-angele321, Rose and agmgdafan for reading this :) Thank you so much!
Please read and review:)
---
Jondy scrambled from the hole in her wall. Kneeling on the floor, she hastily brushed the dust from her hair and face.
"Forgot we had a date?" Alec was leaning against the door, with a smirk on his face.
"No. I repressed," Jondy retorted. "So when did the storm troopers bust in?"
"Don't worry. I have set off the alarm. Yet," Alec replied, a condescending smirk across his face.
"Why not?" Jondy asked, jamming the brick back in place.
"I'm not looking for trouble. What you do is your own business," Alec shrugged, straightening. But what I don't get is why do you want out of here so much? You've got a roof over your head, plenty to eat...which is more than you can say about most people out there."
"Think again," Jondy retorted. "Manticore aren't keeping you here out of the goodness of their heart. They are using you. Manticore are the bad guys in this."
"No body is using me," Alec retorted, shoving Jondy.
"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt," Jondy said, shaking her head. "If you aren't one of us, then you're one of them."
"Who is "us"?" Alec asked, standing very close to her.
"The good guys," Jondy replied, crossing her arms over her chest.
"And who am I?"
"The bad guy that I'll reform," Jondy smiled with saccharine sweetness. "Kiss me and you'll never kiss anything again."
Alec took a step back. "Fine. Whatever you want. Did you ever think that maybe you're the bad guy in all of this, 210? Maybe Manticore are the good guys?"
"Alec," Jondy asked. "How many people have you killed?"
Alec stared at her.
"Normal people - mothers, fathers, daughters, friends … they aren't meant to die. Children aren't meant to die," Jondy replied. "Have you ever loved anyone, Alec? And then they died and all you can think about is how they'll never be there ever again and you'll never ever see them again?"
Alec looked at the floor.
"I rest my case," Jondy said softly.
Alec just shot her an angry glare and left the cell.
---
"So, how are we going to do this?" Tinga asked, as Zack looked over the weapons they'd managed to get.
"We go in. Syl and Krit will disable the main generators, Max and I will go in via the north entrance," Zack replied. "Zane and Tinga will cover us. Any questions?"
"Not a single thought," Syl replied angelically.
"What if we run into Justin in there?" Krit asked.
"Shoot to kill," Zane replied instantly. "Anyone we left behind is dead. They were reprogrammed."
"But maybe we can help them," Max said.
"Not at the risk of our lives," Zack replied forcibly. "You are ordered to shoot to kill, Max."
Max frowned.
"I've hacked the security cameras," Logan called from his computer.
"I need Jondy's exact location," Zack called back, loading a gun.
"What if they've already reprogrammed her, Zack?" Tinga asked softly.
Zack paused. "Shoot to kill," he replied softly.
"But it's Jondy," Krit stood up, a glare on his face.
"Shoot to wound then," Zack ran his fingers through his hair, looking drained. "Jondy wouldn't survive the reprogramming process again, and on the off chance she did … it'd break her if we tried to help her.
Max looked at the ground, and silence followed.
----
Jondy lay on her pallet, watching the ceiling. If she watched the ceiling, she didn't have to watch the floor. The floor where there were rats and cockroaches; two things Jondy could absolutely not abide by. She may have been a multi-million-dollar killing machine, but rats still creeped her out.
Jondy shuddered and closed her eyes, trying to calm down. Some days, she thought maybe she'd been okay, maybe everything would just resolve itself somehow. And days like today - more psy-ops - made her want to just die. She couldn't take another thing.
It was past midnight already, Jondy knew. She'd woken up to a rat on her stomach. Just the idea made her nauseous, and knew she wouldn't be able to sleep while she was shut up in this rat-infested cell. She wanted to go home to showers, and soft, clean apartments, and pizza.
And Zack.
Jondy dismissed that thought. 'You aren't a teenager anymore, Jondy,' she berated herself. 'Zack isn't going to bail you out of this. You stuffed up, you fix it.'
Jondy sat up, the moonlight shining directly onto her face. Her face had little cuts all around her hair line, and her left check had a long scratch down it, from her temple, to her chin. Bruises, cuts, scrapes, lacerations … all over her body. Jondy bit her lip.
And Brin. She hadn't seen Brin in days and she hated herself for that; Brin had been taken away. Brin was probably dead and gone and it was all Jondy's fault.
"201."
Jondy looked up. Alec stood in the door way, watching her.
"My designation is 210," Jondy replied haughtily, wiping the tears off her face.
"My mistake," Alec smirked. "Come on; I'll show you where the rat poison is."
Jondy blinked and climbed off her pallet, mentally shrugging. If Alec wanted to be nice to her, she'd accept that. And when he turned on her, she'd kick his ass.
Alec punched in the security code to Jondy's cell door and it slid open.
"How do you know the security codes?" Jondy asked, hands on her hips.
"I caught one of the lab techs having a go at one of the X5 girls," Alec shrugged, a smirk on his face. "In exchange for me to not go to Renfro, he gave me the codes to all cells - yours happens to be 210509."
"How original of them," Jondy replied. "And what do you mean a 'lab tech having a go at an X5...'" At Alec's 'duh' look, she blinked. "Oh. Oh!"
"See, you're smarter than you look," Alec replied as they walked along the hallway.
"Bite me," Jondy replied angelically. "Where is everyone?"
Alec looked around. "Who knows. Who cares. I need to get you some rat poison."
Jondy nodded, and they continued along the hall. That smelt funny.
"What is that?" Jondy made a face.
"X6-890 and…" Alec sniffed the air. "Either petroleum or gasoline. Possibly both. Someone's used air freshener."
"X6-890?" Jondy asked, going grey as they got closer to 890's cell.
"Yes. 210, that is the smell of a decomposing body," Alec clapped her on the shoulder. "And if you turn grey at the smell, I won't tell you why he's dead."
Jondy gave Alec a suspicious look.
"It involved napalm, a hand grenade and the peeling back of skin," Alec summarized.
Jondy felt herself turn green.
"Toldja so."
Jondy punched him on the arm. Before he could retaliate, Jondy slipped on something, toppling into Alec's arms, sending him sliding too. They both ended up in an ungraceful heap on the slippery lino.
"What the hell?" Jondy asked, trying to wipe the wet stuff off her hands, onto her pants.
"It's petrol," Alec said, sniffing his hands.
"Very good Einstein," Jondy rolled her eyes. "I meant, 'What the hell is petrol doing on the floor of a Manticore hallway'."
Alec pointed up. "The pipe is leaking."
Jondy looked up and saw a pipe in the roof steadily dripping petrol onto the floor.
"What's that pipe for?" Jondy asked, a growing sense of unease over taking her.
"Emergency water supply," Alec said, standing up.
Jondy stood up, feeling herself go pale. "They wouldn't."
"Wouldn't what?" Alec asked.
"Either I've watched way too many crappy movies in my lifetime, or Manticore…" Jondy closed her eyes and took a breath. "Think Alec. What does petrol do?"
"Fuels cars and burns stuff. And beauty pageant contestants use petroleum for something, right?" Alec asked.
"Do I look like someone who follows the comings and goings of beauty pageants?" Jondy snapped. "Burns. Highly flammable, okay?"
"Your point, 210?" Alec demanded.
"A highly flammable liquid in the Emergency pipes. Those emergency pipes are in case of a *fire*," Jondy said slowly.
Alec blinked, his eyes widening. "Oh…"
Jondy looked around. Everything was still. No guards were on this level.
"It's just a training thing, 210," Alec shrugged, relaxing. "To see how fast we think."
Jondy crossed her arms over her chest and was about to reply when alarms began sounding. All of a sudden, Alec didn't look very confident. In fact, he looked shocked.
"What the hell?"
----
Zack looked around the penthouse. They had all the weapons packed into a false bottom in a van Zane had tracked down.
"Zack," Logan came out of the kitchen. "I just had an idea."
"What?" Zack half grunted at him.
"When you get into position, I send out an Eyes Only broadcast, revealing Manticore. To distract them," Logan said confidently.
Zack blinked. Everyone else looked up.
----
"What is that alarm for?" Jondy asked, as Alec looked around, an uneasy look on his face.
"They're locking down the cells," Alec said.
Jondy felt herself go silent, and then stood in the dark, silent, listening as locks slid into place and every single transgenic in Manticore was put in a cage, like an animal.
"You can unlock them though; you have the security codes," Jondy said in a low voice.
"No. Not the main one," Alec said. "Vic was killed before they installed the lock-down system."
Before Jondy could reply, another alarm burst into life.
"The fire alarm," they both said at the same time.
"Shit," Alec said. "Shit, shit, shit. What the fuck are we going to do? We're the only transgenics that aren't locked up. They're trying to kill us!"
"No shit," Jondy said, sounding a lot more calm than she felt. "And no, we're not."
"What do you mean? They locked down the cells!" Alec's voice was reaching a pitch only dogs and whales could hear.
"The Nomalies in the basement," Jondy said clearly. Before they could move, a thin trail of smoke caught their attention. They could hear other transgenics calling for help, but Jondy tried to block the confused sounding voices out.
"We've got bigger problems than that," Alec said, as smoke began filling the hallway.
"And that is what?" Jondy snapped. "We haven't been given direct orders? This is not the time to go spitting out Manticore propaganda…!"
"No," Alec interrupted. "Our clothes have petrol all over them. We get too close to the flames and we'll be incinerated."
Jondy paled slightly. "Shit."
"Exactly," Alec replied. "So, what do we do?"
"Why do I have to give the orders?" Jondy threw up her hands.
"Why should I?" Alec retorted. "Besides, you're the control freak."
"I am not! And you've got more training than I do," Jondy protested.
"You were the SIC of your unit," Alec said. "And the fire is getting closer."
"Fine!" Jondy snapped. "Go to the control centre and try and disconnect the electricity and the lock-down system? I'm going to go and get help."
"Jondy!" Alec said exasperated, as she headed for the basement door. "The closest town is 12km away!"
Jondy rolled her eyes. "If I was going to go to town, which I'm not, what would I say? 'Hi, my name's Jondy and I've been help captive in the genetic engineering slash secret military facility 12km up the road and they've tried to barbeque us. Mind bringing up some water and, oh, maybe some marshmallows we can roast after you help me?'"
Alec blinked.
Jondy rolled her eyes and went down the basement door.
---
"Logan, it won't work!" Zack yelled. "All we need is for something to go wrong, and they kill Jondy. Because they aren't completely stupid - they'll know Jondy is the reason you're revealing Manticore!"
"I'm not doing it for Jondy!" Logan yelled back. "Or you! I'm doing it for Max!"
"We need to go," Zane broke in. "Now."
----
Jondy ran down the hallway in the basement. "Joshua!" she called. "Joshua, it's Jondy, I need you're help!"
The other Nomalies screeched and roared and made Nomalie-noises. Damnit, damnit, where the hell was Joshua?
"Joshua, there's a fire. I need your help!" Jondy yelled, getting frustrated. "Please, Joshua!"
"You didn't come and visit Joshua last night," a voice came. Joshua. "Joshua isn't going to help Jondy."
"Please Joshua!" Jondy yelled some more, not knowing where he would be and not daring enough to poke her face into the shadows. "I thought you were my friend!"
'Very dramatic, Jondy,' she mentally told herself. 'Day-time soap opera much?'
Silence.
Jondy turned around and left. They were just monsters. Nothing else. Monsters. Sad monsters.
---
Alec arrived at the control centre and froze. Renfro was there, with a team of guards.
"… I want a firing squad lined up outside the perimeter and all escapees disposed of," Renfro was saying, putting files and disks in her briefcase. "I want no survivors."
Alec stared. This wasn't happening. Manticore took care of it's own. This wasn't happening.
"Dismissed," Renfro said. Before Alec could refocus long enough to hide, the door swung open and the guards saw him. Alec stared at them.
"Hello boys," Alec said. One of them moved to grab his gun from his holster. "Don't… or I'll have to hand you your spleen."
Guns were cocked and aimed.
"Sorry we couldn't do business," Alec retorted.
----
Jondy was at a loss of what to do. Half of the transgenic were already dead, burnt to death. The building was burning fast, she had petrol all over her clothes and Alec was no where to be found.
And Joshua was a lost cause. But then, he was only a Nomalie, it didn't matter.
Jondy wished she didn't care about what happened to Joshua.
Brin. That train of thought caught her attention. She had to find Brin. Brin couldn't be dead, she was always there. Jondy span on her heal, racing towards the Psy-Ops labs, praying that they hadn't already been incinerated.
Where the hell was Alec?
---
"Holy crap," were the first words out of Krit's mouth as Zane pulled the stolen van up outside Manticore perimeter. They all climbed out of the van, their eyes fixated on the scene that lay before them.
Manticore was going up in flames. Zack had never really understood the phrasing of that statement until now. The windows were shattered from the heat, yells from the transgenics stuck inside echoed out.
And a firing squad was lined up, the staccato machine gun firing echoing out every time one of the guards saw movement within the burning building.
"What should we do, Zack?" Tinga asked softly.
Zack swallowed hard and looked around. He could smell the burning flesh of the transgenics who had already burnt alive in the building. He could make out the forms of at least fifty guards acting as the firing squad. Jondy, and Brin, were still inside of that building … if they were still alive.
"We wait," Zack said, sounding more confident than he felt. "We wait and then look for survivors."
Syl and Max exchanged looks behind his back. "Zack, Jondy…" Syl began softly.
Zack sent her a murderous look. "We wait."
---
Jondy could hear things. The screams of the other transgenics as they were burnt to death. The crumbling of the building, the shattering of the windows and the guns shots killing any transgenics that had managed to get out of their cell. And the fire was getting closer.
"Brin?" Jondy called out. "Brinny, are you here?"
Psy Ops was still. Worse than still. Jondy closed her eyes and took a step into the room. And wanted to scream out.
How could they… how… Brin… Brin… how …
Jondy felt herself slide to the floor only second before the roof came crashing down.
---
Alec knew he was stuck. The place was about to come down on them all. The control centre was a lost cause. The fire had spread too much and Alec didn't like his chances against the firing squad.
So the basement was his last option. Even if he could just hide down there till the firing squad got bored.
He swung open the basement door, half hoping to see Jondy down there, with some sort of plan. Nothing.
The basement door swung shut on him, and Alec managed to jam it. At least no one could double check the basement if the door was jammed.
Alec turned around and stared.
"Whoa."
---
Hours had passed. The firing squad had gone. Zack sat on the hill, watching the still smoking building. Max rested her hand on his shoulder. He hadn't said a word, moved a muscle since the roof had caved in.
"Move out," Zack suddenly snapped, feeling tired, drained… lost.
"What?" Krit looked shocked.
"It's over," Zack said, looking over his shoulder. "I love you Jondy."
-- The End --
AN: Okay, before you all kill me for not giving you a nice ending with closure, there is a sequel. Yes, I promise. It will be titled
"A Family Affair: Book Three". :D I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you'll read the final part in this trilogy. Please
review, just so I know that someone is still reading this and interested in knowing what happens in Book 3 :)