Author's Note: I really don't have any explanation for why this took so long, because I was really trying to get it done. I think my muse went on summer vacation too, because I could sit and stare at the computer screen forever and I just couldn't write the chapter. So, I'm really sorry for the long wait, and I can guarantee that it's not going to be this long for the next chapter, since I think my muse has come back to visit me again.
Disclaimer: I own a couple more characters in this chapter, but you'll have to read to find out who they are! Other than that, none of the others are mine.
Family Relations
By Be Boring
Chapter 14: Taking Care of Business
Why was everything so quiet? Jondy would have expected to hear gunshots and the shouts of guards into their walkie-talkies, but only silence filled the cold, gray stone corridors. She easily found her way back to the site of her "reprogramming," but no one was there. Even Lydecker was no longer lying on the floor, although she knew it was very possible that guards had rushed him to the infirmary. He wouldn't be recovering too quickly from a projector falling on his head. Where was everyone, though? Did they capture that other X5, too? she wondered nervously. Since she didn't know where to go to find Kiera, she snuck back to her cell with Shayna. She was sound asleep, but she hadn't touched her sedated food yet. As Jondy approached, Shayna's arm suddenly flew up and struck her in the face, sending her crashing to the ground.
"Dammit, Shayna, it's me!" Jondy snapped, rubbing her nose angrily.
Shayna sat up quickly and turned to face her, relief evident in her eyes. "I'm sorry, but there's been so much commotion in the halls that I didn't know who would be coming in. What's going on out there?"
Jondy stood up and dragged her sister to her feet. "They caught Kiera, and another X5 is here somewhere, but I can't remember who he is."
"I'd bet my whole fucked up life that it's Zack," Shayna commented as she followed Jondy into the hallway. "Who else would be able to get in after us?"
A brief flash of seeing Zack's barcode in the distance while Lydecker talked to her in the Casteau mansion popped into Jondy's mind, followed closely by an image of seeing him seizing on a rickety hotel bed and a faint memory of sitting with him by a fire in a very cozy little cabin. "You're right, that's who it is. I can't believe I didn't remember him right away. Wait, he said something to me about me being the best possible person he could have chosen. What did he choose me for?"
Shayna stopped abruptly, rubbing her stomach. She obviously didn't like running with her pregnant belly. "You're his second in command."
Suddenly, everything made so much more sense. So that's why I forced myself to forget everything; if I was SIC, then I must have known where everybody was. The only thing she didn't understand was how she had been caught. If she was the SIC, then wouldn't she have been able to get away before Lydecker caught her? I guess Zack chose an incompetent person to work with, she thought sadly.
"What's that?" Shayna asked, reaching out a hand and grabbing Jondy's arm. Jondy tilted her head back and looked up at the ceiling. Instead of the usual silence, a faint echo of running footsteps filtered down from the floor above them. The footsteps were too light to be human, but it didn't sound like the way an X5 ordinarily ran either. Shayna had noticed it too. "Is someone injured?"
"I don't know, but let's get up there and see." They both took off down the hall, no longer caring if they were overheard. If they were right, then the Manticore guards were busy chasing an injured Zack or Kiera upstairs. As they climbed the nearest stairway, Jondy noticed a streak of blood on the railing. Whose is that? she wondered nervously. Suddenly, a shout rang out through the hallway at the top of the stairs. "Get the hell away from him!" Then, Jondy heard the unmistakable sound of someone landing hard on the floor. When she finally was able to see everything, her stomach balled up tightly. Kiera was at the end of the hall in a fighting stance, standing in front of Zack, who was lying on the floor. His entire left leg was drenched in blood, quickly answering the question of where all the red smears on the floor had come from. Although he was facing their direction, Jondy doubted he had seen her and Shayna yet. In fact, it didn't look like he was seeing much of anything; his eyes were staring off into vacant space. Standing all around the duo were several armed guards, all of whom had their guns pointed at Kiera, but were obviously trying to get to Zack.
Shayna grabbed Jondy's arm again. "What are we going to do? You're drugged up and I'm not exactly in the best shape to fight a bunch of soldiers. How are we supposed to get rid of them?"
Jondy stared around frantically until her eyes landed on an open doorway across the hall. Judging by the three soldiers laying unconscious inside it, just next to a very shabby old cot, Jondy knew it had to be the cell Kiera had been locked in for a very short time, or at least where they had intended to lock her in. If the soldiers approaching Kiera were any indication, then the soldiers in that cell had to be armed as well. Holding her hand up to make sure Shayna stayed where she was, Jondy slid across the hallway and entered the cell. Just as she had expected, the soldiers were armed to their teeth in the newest models of high-powered handguns in circulation in the black market. She reached down and grabbed the guns off the two nearest soldiers and snuck back across the hall to Shayna.
"It doesn't really matter if you're not in the best shape to fight; if you can aim, you're set. Just try not to hit Kiera or Zack, if that wasn't obvious enough already."
Shayna nodded and clutched the weapon tightly in her hands, waiting for Jondy's signal. Jondy held out her hand with three fingers extended, then slowly pulled them in one by one as she counted down. The moment her hand was in a fist, it returned to the gun and they both stepped out into the corridor, weapons raised. Kiera just had time to throw herself on the ground and cover Zack as Jondy and Shayna fired away, taking out all the soldiers before they even had the chance to turn around. Jondy ran to the two on the ground, Shayna close behind her, and helped Kiera to her feet quickly before dropping down and feeling Zack's pulse. It was still strong, but he sure didn't look like it. Jondy's memories of Manticore's layout were very weak, but her orders came out so fast that at first she was surprised they were coming out of her mouth. "We'll go back down the hall until we hit the first intersection, then take a right. At the end of that hall is one of the huge windows that we love this place for. Once we're out, we'll be in the woods so we'll just run like hell until we hit the highway. It's about three miles away, but I know a place we can hide out when Manticore sends some teams out after us. As soon as it's safe, we'll see about hitching a ride."
Kiera stuck her head under Zack's left arm while Jondy took the right, then turned to her as Shayna led the way down the hall with her gun raised. "How do you know it's only three miles to the highway? And what hideout are you talking about?"
"It's the way I went when we escaped, and I estimated it to be about two and a half miles to the highway, but because I was only a kid then, I stretched the number out a little bit. It might actually be less for all we know, it was such a stressful day. After Max fell through the ice, I kept going until I thought Manticore was going to catch me, then I found a hole in the side of this huge hill. It's hard to get into, and it will be especially hard for Shayna, but it's well hidden. I only found it because I fell through it."
"Will we all fit?"
"It'll be tight, but we should make it. It's fairly big once you're inside." She looked ahead and smiled briefly when the window came into view. She couldn't hear anything, but she knew it couldn't be long before all the manpower in Manticore was after them. How many X5s are still here? So far, she had only seen Eva, but there had to be more. So many hadn't even attempted to leave, not to mention the ones who were captured before they made it away. Eli, Vega, Prix, Mark, Jace, Rob, Glenn; any one of them could be in the building right now. She knew she hadn't even remembered all the names of the ones who hadn't escaped, so there was no telling how many X5s would be chasing them through the woods. She was surprised she had remembered everything she had. It seemed to be popping into her head against her will, perhaps because now she was in a position of authority and knew that Shayna, Kiera, and Zack were counting on her to make the decisions to get them out of here. She could have laughed; she had hardly any memories, but because she was SIC they were automatically looking to her for leadership since Zack was so badly injured. Actually, she had assumed the role as well, no one had asked her to lead them. Maybe I should let Kiera make the decisions until I've remembered everything.
Kiera was the first to go out the window, shattering glass everywhere, then she stood waiting as they dropped Zack down to her. Jondy felt deeply unsettled by the silence, why hadn't the soldiers set up a perimeter around the building? This didn't feel like standard operating procedure to her. Shayna gingerly stepped through the broken window and delicately jumped down to Kiera next, landing awkwardly but safely. Jondy leapt down quickly, not landing as comfortably as she would have without the drugs, but well enough to not break any bones. Three stories was quite the drop.
It wasn't until they had entered the trees and could see the perimeter fence in the distance that they heard the marching feet of many soldiers coming out of Manticore. "Just keep going," Jondy whispered. "They're not going to shoot us when we have a pregnant X5, the injured C.O., and the SIC all in one group. They'll try and capture us first."
"What am I, chopped liver?" Kiera quipped as she helped Jondy drag Zack along. He seemed to be looking around, but at the same time he didn't appear to be fully conscious.
Jondy glanced back over her shoulder at the approaching soldiers, watching them branch out as they headed to surround the foursome. "So, just what happened to Zack?"
"Well, everything was going good as he knocked out all my guards and unlocked my cell, but one of them must have managed to tip off some others because they showed up when we were trying to get back to you guys. They took us by surprise and shot Zack in the leg a couple times, so we had no choice but to go back upstairs. You two showed up not too long after that. Are you sure they won't shoot us? They already shot Zack, and there's nothing saying that they couldn't shoot us in the arm or leg just to slow us down. Just because they're not shooting to kill doesn't mean they won't be shooting."
Jondy looked up at Shayna, who had drifted far enough ahead of them to be out of earshot. "I know that, but I don't want Shayna to panic. I just said that crap before to keep from worrying her. With any luck, shooting will be their last resort anyway. Do we really look all that dangerous right now? You're the most threatening out of all of us, but you're helping me carry someone else, so you're a little preoccupied. I think unless we seriously fight back, the worst we'll have to deal with is tasers."
"Are you saying that if they try to capture us, we're just supposed to go without a fight?"
"No, but we'll wait to seriously fight until then. Look, I know it's risky, but we're not exactly prepared to make a powerful offensive move. For now, we have to remain defensive."
They managed to reach the perimeter fence without the soldiers making a move, but Jondy knew that wouldn't last long. They wouldn't accept letting their targets get over the fence. Kiera jumped over first, and that was when the first taser was fired. Jondy's entire body snapped like she had been hit with a bat, pain shooting through her from the very center of her back. Just ignore it, it will take at least five tasers to stop you. At least get Zack and Shayna over the fence. She stepped behind a tree quickly so the taser's contact with her was broken, then rushed to Zack's side again. "Zack, can you hear me?" When he turned blearily towards her, she whispered urgently, "You're going to have to help us a little bit here. If Shayna and I give you a boost, can you jump over the fence? We'll do most of the work, but you can't just go limp in midair." He nodded slowly, placing one hand carefully on her shoulder and the other on Shayna's. Both girls leaned down and cupped their hands as he struggled to get his feet into the footholds they had made for him. Despite his blood loss, he managed to prepare himself fairly well for the leap. When Jondy and Shayna threw him upwards, he did manage to push against their hands and give himself a little extra spring, clearing the fence easily and landing roughly next to Kiera, who caught him before his legs gave out beneath him.
As Jondy kneeled down and cupped her hands for Shayna, two more tasers hit her in the back, and three more hit Shayna. "Go!" Jondy yelled, putting all her strength into propelling Shayna into the air. Shayna's landing was just as awkward as before, but she immediately turned around. "Jondy, jump!" she shouted, pulling out her gun from the waistline of her pants and firing into the woods at one of the soldiers who was keeping his taser on Jondy. With one less taser plaguing her, Jondy jumped as hard as she could, suddenly sure there was no way she would make it. With the drugs in her system, how could she be expected to do something that was difficult enough when she was a perfectly healthy child? Perhaps it was the adrenaline rush that came with the urgency of their situation, but she surprised even herself with how easily she made it over the fence. Maybe the drugs are wearing off a little bit. Before she had even hit the ground, Shayna and Kiera were pulling Zack through the woods and out of sight of the soldiers. Before running after them, Jondy turned to survey the scene behind her. Everyone was swarming towards the fence, preparing to fire at her again to keep her from running off, but they weren't the ones who had caught her eye. At the angle she was standing, she could see straight through to Manticore, and three people had just come out of it that made her heart stop.
Unlike the other soldiers, these three were dressed completely in black, and they were several years younger than all the others. In fact, they were merely teenagers, but Jondy still recognized them from when they were children. The first, a tall young man with skin even darker than Kiera's, but with hair still in its old buzz cut, was undoubtedly Prix. He didn't look anything like the quiet, shy, soft-spoken child he used to be. Perhaps his mild mannerisms were the reason he couldn't escape with them that night, he was simply too scared to do anything that went against Manticore. Now his eyes were hardened and the shy smile was gone that he used to have whenever one of them quietly congratulated him on doing a good job during a training session. They loved congratulating him just because they loved that smile, but now Jondy couldn't see any evidence that he had smiled like that since they were kids. The young woman behind him was extremely tall, the top of her head perfectly even with her brother's. Her long black hair was pulled into a low ponytail at the base of her neck and her dark eyes were scanning the trees. How could that be anyone other than Jace? Then there was the last X5. She was the shortest of the three, the others towered over her by at least five inches. She was a sharp contrast to them, with chin-length blond hair and piercing blue eyes that Jondy could just barely see from her distance. Her small, lean frame wasn't much different from when she was a child, so she was easily recognizable as Vega.
"Jondy, come on!" Kiera called from somewhere in the trees. Jondy turned and ran towards her voice, her body tensing as she heard gunfire ring through the air behind her. Once she was deep in the trees, she could see Kiera and Shayna shuffling along as fast as they could, Kiera glancing back every few seconds as she looked for her. "What took you so long?" she hissed once Jondy was close enough.
"I saw Prix, Jace, and Vega come out of Manticore. It's not going to be long until they're on top of us. How long do you think we can keep going like this before we have to stop?"
Kiera shrugged the best she could with Zack's heavy arm draped across her shoulders. "I think if you take over Shayna's side of Zack, then we can go for a while. I hope they don't catch us too fast, I'd rather confront them when we're not so close to the herd of normal soldiers."
Jondy replaced Shayna on Zack's left side and they started heading due east, not even bothering to cover their tracks. With Zack's blood everywhere, what was the point of trying to sneak away? Their only hope was to get as far as they could now. Jondy doubted they would even be able to use her hill hideout, the blood trail would lead the other X5s straight to it. Suddenly, Jondy stopped in her tracks, forcing Kiera to stop before they stretched Zack out too much. Jondy pulled off the long-sleeved gray shirt Manticore had given her, leaving only a very simple tank top underneath. "Help me get his pants off," she said quickly, propping Zack up against a tree. The expression on his face became a little bit confused, but he didn't seem to care much about what they were doing. Once Jondy had the blood-soaked pants in her hands, she used some of the few dry patches to mop up the lower half of his left leg before she wrapped her shirt tightly around his thigh to cover up the three bullet wounds just under the bottom of his boxers. She brought her left arm up, signaled for them to head slightly northeast, and whispered, "Cover your tracks the best you can. You'll have to curve back in about a mile so that you can get back on track, and it won't be far to the hill. It's pretty easy to see, but you'll have to look around for the opening." Then she turned and continued in the direction they had already been going, making sure to get a little bit of blood out of Zack's left pant leg every so often and knocking down a fair amount of brush as she went along.
By the time she had gone a quarter of a mile, she was pretty satisfied with the trail she had left. She backtracked several yards and moved off to the side of her trail, kneeling behind a large collection of brush. It wasn't long before Vega came down the trail, her hand on the gun at her side as she walked. She could see Jace ten yards on the other side of the trail, staying hidden in the trees, which meant that Prix had to be somewhere behind her. Sure enough, she could hear his footsteps not far behind her, but he was moving along at the same steady yet wary pace that Vega and Jace were going. As soon as the trio had passed her by, Jondy carefully rose to her feet and slowly followed them, making sure to keep a good distance. She finally stopped when she knew they would be spotting the end of the trail; she didn't want to be too close when they started branching out again.
Vega was the first to notice the end of the trail, and she stopped so suddenly that Jace and Prix wandered nearly twenty yards ahead before they realized that she had stopped. She started signaling immediately, ordering Jace to go to the north and Prix to go to the south. When the two had taken off, Vega continued going forward. Jondy knew her first priority was to get Jace heading in a different direction, she would be sure to run across Shayna, Zack, and Kiera. Once Vega was out of sight, Jondy slipped across her own trail and took off after Jace, hoping she wasn't making too much noise. Now she had definitely noticed that the drugs were wearing off, she felt as if she could punch a hole through any tree nearby. She hadn't felt this strong ever since she had been brought back to Manticore.
Suddenly, Jace came to a stop and turned around. Jondy froze, half-hidden by a large bush. She was also in the shadow of a large tree, so she remained perfectly still. Even when Jace started looking in her direction suspiciously, she refused to move. She waited patiently as the other X5 approached slowly, her hand lowering to rest on the gun at her side. Jondy's hand was also moving towards her gun, but she didn't really want to use it. Killing Eva had been different, Eva had deeply betrayed her. But Jace was just doing her job. To her this was a simple matter of collecting lost merchandise, she wasn't thinking of it as forcing her brother and sisters into a life that was basically servitude. Jondy couldn't just kill her.
The click of a gun behind her finally made her spin around, only to find herself staring into the barrel of a gun. At the other end of the gun was Vega, not looking even remotely sisterly. "I've been following you for the last five minutes. Did you really think you could trick us like that?"
"Not really," Jondy replied, shrugging unconcernedly. Before Vega could do anything, Jondy pulled her gun out and fired at Vega's kneecap, knowing she had to have shattered it as Vega leapt backward, grabbing the nearest tree and holding her leg up to examine it. Suddenly, Jondy was tackled hard from behind and sent straight into the ground. She threw her elbow back and forced it hard into Jace's nose, then pushed off the ground and rolled over so she was above her sister. She jumped to her feet and kicked Jace in the throat as she started to get back up. Vega was already reaching for her gun, and Jace was quickly getting her breath back, struggling through her choking. Jondy knew she wouldn't stand a chance against both of them, even with Vega seriously injured. She took off running to the south, ignoring the fact that she would eventually run into Prix. The only thing that mattered was steering them away from the others.
She soon heard Jace chasing after her, but she thought she heard Vega going the other way. At least she was noisy with her injury, Kiera and Shayna would be able to hear her coming a mile away. If Shayna could hide Zack, Kiera would be able to knock Vega out before she could alert everyone else which direction they were heading in.
Jace's footsteps sped up, but Jondy kept her pace steady. She could hear the other woman well enough, she would be able to defend herself if Jace made the first move. Finally, she heard Prix's movements up ahead. He had apparently heard them running through the woods, and was now heading straight for them. Jondy waited until she heard the click of Prix's gun before she threw herself to the ground. When the bullet flew over her, she had to look back and watch Jace hit the ground. Don't let her be dead. Even if she is working with Manticore, I don't want her to die. She rushed to her sister's side, vaguely aware of Prix rushing toward them. She sighed with relief when she saw that the bullet had only hit her in the shoulder. It must have scared her, because she went over backwards and hit her head on a rock on the ground. She was breathing steadily, and her wound wasn't anywhere near fatal.
"Put your hands on your head and stand up slowly," came a deep voice from behind Jondy. She obediently placed her hands on the back of her head where Prix could see them clearly and rose to her feet as slow as she possibly could, then carefully turned around. Her brother's eyes flashed down to see Jace's chest rising and falling steadily, then returned to Jondy's face. "Where are the others?"
"Prix, you know I'm not going to tell you that. Do you really think I would give them up?"
"It would be better for all of them. 599 is severely injured, 608 is pregnant, and 830 could put her skills into something better than that feeble laboratory she was working at. Even you would be happier here. You could use your skills for a good purpose. What can you possibly do with yourself in that filthy world without discipline?"
Jondy glared at him, wishing she could make him see how wrong he was. "I can live my own life how I choose. Who says I can't find ways to use my skills? There's always a way, and if I choose to, I can find it. Shayna, because I refuse to call her by that number Manticore forced on her, would much rather have her baby where she can raise it herself. Manticore will never let her do that. Kiera was perfectly happy with her life, even though it will have to change now that you know where she was living. Zack can be taken care of by others, and you can be damn sure he's happier outside of here. What I don't see is how you can stay in a life of complete servitude, unable to use any of your own free will."
"We're soldiers, we are meant to follow orders." Now Prix's golden brown eyes were narrowing in what he seemed to feel was justified anger.
She matched him glare for glare. "Maybe that's how you're choosing to live your life, but the rest of us decided on a different path. I loved you so much when we were kids, I still do as a matter of fact, but if you force me to go back there, not to mention making the others go back, I will hate you. That's not even a strong enough word. I will absolutely despise you. Perhaps loath is a better word. Do you want that? I understand you feel the need to stay here, but I don't. You can always lie to Lydecker and tell him that I overpowered you. I'll even hit you as hard as I can so you can go back with some proof. All that matters is that you let me go. Do you have enough free will to do that?"
"I would be betraying my superiors."
"No, you would simply be listening to me. I would be the one betraying your superiors. Please, Prix, just let me go."
He studied her hard for a moment, then lowered his gun and nodded. "Fine, but get out of here fast."
She nodded and gratefully and walked in his direction. When he stiffened and raised his weapon again, she held up both hands. "Whoa, I just need to go in this direction." He nodded again and stepped back, letting her continue south. Once she was level with him, she turned on her heel and flung her gun at him, striking him square in the forehead. He dropped to the ground, then lay there breathing slowly. She reached down and picked up her gun again. "Sorry, big brother, but you would have followed me. It's too bad you're so loyal to Manticore." With that said, she turned to the northeast and started running. She eventually passed Vega's unconscious body, bleeding slightly from the temple. It looked as though she had been hit with the tree branch that was lying a few feet away.
When the hill finally came into view, she smiled as she heard hushed voices. Shayna's was easily recognizable, then Kiera's. They just seemed to be talking comfortably, so she approached casually. She crossed over the top, smiling again when the voices stopped abruptly beneath her. "Easy, you guys, it's just me," she murmured softly, moving down to the nearly invisible opening. Kiera's head popped out and she smiled with relief up at her younger sister.
"We were really worried about you. Actually we were just talking about moving on without you, but I'm glad we didn't. Are you sure the others didn't follow you?"
"I'm positive. They're all currently knocked out, so I'm not too worried. You're right though, we should be moving out soon. As soon as they wake up, they'll start tracking me, and I want to reach the highway before they catch up to us. We're already about halfway there, so this last bit should be easy without a bunch of X5s on our tails. What happened with Vega?"
Kiera pulled Zack out through the hole, then helped Shayna squeeze her swollen belly through. "Actually, Zack's the one who knocked her out. Shayna needed to take a break, so we set Zack against a tree and sat down so she could rest. Vega came right up behind us without us hearing her, which is surprising given what bad shape her leg was in. I think she was about to attack me, but Zack popped up behind her and hit her over the head before she could do anything. It wore him out though, he's been sleeping ever since."
"Well, I can help you carry him. Let's get going." Things moved much faster now that they were heading straight in the direction they wanted to go. Zack woke up a couple times, but he didn't say anything, and was soon out again. Jondy grinned at Kiera as the sounds of vehicles roaring past on the highway reached their ears. "Zack's not going to be too happy when he wakes up completely and I tell him that I left his pants somewhere in the woods outside Manticore." Kiera offered a brief grin, then gritted her teeth again as they dragged Zack towards the road, now in sight just ahead.
Shayna turned towards them as they approached the ditch. "Won't we be easy to track if we hitch a ride? If Manticore starts asking around, it's not going to take long to find out who picked up a bleeding man with no pants, a pregnant girl, and two other teenage girls. This is a lot of exposure."
Jondy shrugged as they finally set Zack down on the ground. "I don't see how we have much choice. I'd rather have a shot at getting away than get caught so close to Manticore. Wait, what's that?" A large black truck was slowing down and pulling over on the side of the road near them, but none of them was even signaling for anyone to pull over.
A large grin broke out on Shayna's face. "It's Ben!" she cried excitedly, hurrying towards the truck. Sure enough, Ben was sitting in the driver's seat. Kiera and Jondy pulled Zack into the back of the truck as Shayna crawled into the passenger seat. Jondy reached over and opened the window that led into the cabin of the truck. "How did you know where to find us?"
He looked back at her as he pulled back out onto the road. "I didn't, I've just been circling Manticore in different vehicles ever since I dropped Zack off. What happened to him?"
Jondy sighed and flopped out next to Zack while Kiera did the same on his other side. "It's a long story."
Zack's head slowly turned to the side as his eyes opened, focusing unclearly on her. "Are we … out?"
She smiled and nodded to him. "Don't worry, Zack, it's all taken care of."