Chapter 7: The end is near

Krit's shadow glanced on the brick wall. His face determent; his eyes showing no emotions and his hands tensed. He screened the surroundings but the troops were gone already. There was no point in visiting Syl's room, so he decided to meet up with Syl's Trypthophan dealer. With strong steps he walked the two blocks and he busted in to the small market. He'd expected to see the Chinese man but instead he watched into the faces of Syl and Jondy.

Aware of the fact how dangerous Krit might be, the girls jumped on him; forcing him to put his hands behind his back. Syl quickly checked his pockets and she threw away all of her Trypthophan. Jondy groaned; "You're drugged my friend and you have to choices! One; you cooperate and we won't have to fight you, or you can struggle and I might knock you out… what's it gonna be?"

"Bite me!"

"I'd rather not…" Syl hit him in the neck and he collapsed on the ground. She and Jondy stood there for a short moment; realizing the fact that Manticore was able of setting them up against each other.

Then, without saying a word, they grabbed him and stumbled away. Syl ignored the voice in her head that was telling her to take out Jondy and she easily broke in to an old pick-up truck. Together they placed Krit in the back and Jondy told her sister to drive.

"Where we're going?"

Jondy hadn't thought about that before but she answered; "To my place. San Francisco."

And so they headed to San Francisco; one unconscious man, one unstable girl and one young woman tough as nails. The ride was long and they only stopped to drink and buy some gas. Luckily, Krit slept all way long and after a while, Jondy saw her sister changing more and more. The old Syl was returning with sometimes a sarcastic joke, a smile or even laughter. It persuaded Jondy to leave some of the control to Syl and they switch places once in a while.

When they arrived San Francisco, Krit had just wakened; small seizures running through his muscles. "I need something."

Silently and careful not to wake up Syl, Jondy searched her bag and she handed Krit some proper Trypthophan. In a hurry he swallowed it before Jondy could pass him the bottle of water.

"We're going to your place?"

Jondy nodded. "If it hasn't been trashed already."

"Why would it be trashed?"

She gasped and suddenly hit the brakes. "Damn ass… Duck Krit!"

Krit wasn't planning on ducking if not knowing what for and Jondy screamed into his ear. "Lay down, now!"

Syl woke up and sat up. One glance was enough to tell her they were in deep shit. She was some TAC-troops and Jondy tried to keep track of the vehicle while Krit pulled on the door to get out. For the third time she smashed Krit and his head hit the iron frame which made him lost conscious immediately. In half a second she pulled Krit down and she lied on him, hoping they wouldn't start searching the car; two people laying on each other from which one of them head a head injury would surely alarm them.

Jondy slowly drove to the checkpoint. She managed to control her shaking hands and wondered if it were the seizures or her nerves. This moment was the worst place to get a breakdown.

They were blessed by the Blue Lady –or so they would call it afterwards- the troops were bored and not very motivated to find the target. The X5 in charge had just left to be reported by other checkpoints and it gave the troops some breathing space. Without a blink, they passed the checkpoint and instead of going to Jondy's place, they checked in at a former youth hostel…

Epilogue:

Krit restored within days. Both he and Syl needed a couple of weeks to get rid of the bad Trypthohan. Jondy stayed with them and she protected them from each other if needed. Syl had two times she attempted to self-harm but Jondy kept her away from sharp objects. She told stories to her and held her sister when she panicked. Krit on the other hand was harder to control; once he ran out on the streets, yelling for Lydecker to come and get him. Syl and Jondy told the police he was drunk and lost over losing his fiancé. They cops bought the story and by the time Lydecker got notified, the three X5's had left town.

After losing the subjects, Brin got in trouble; Lydecker questioned her and tortured her believing that she was covering her siblings. Research and a few visits on Psy-Ops showed Lydecker that Brin was loyal to Manticore and that the X5's were a good team. Brin recovered from her mental breakdown in Psy-Ops and returned to the usual program. It would take months but then again she was send after a sibling; Tinga.

But in the meantime, Zack had been recaptured and escaped once again; Syl and Krit decided to stay together for at least a while and Jondy returned to San Francisco after half a year.