Chapter 11: Morning After

Alec woke to the all too familiar sound of rain pounding against both brick and tile. Lying face down, his head was comfortably squashed into a thin pillow; a slither of drool had escaped his mouth and was travelling along the soft white fabric.

Memories from the night before began to re-emerge. The throbbing headache, the heavy sickness in his stomach and the scattering of bottles across the blue carpet, confirmed that Alec had indeed consumed an unhealthy amount of alcohol. The there was the nocturnal activities he had indulged in; he was, after all, lying in someone else's bed half naked. Couldn't have been that bad a night, Alec's mind re-assured itself, if only he could remember it.

Rolling over so that he was on his back, Alec sat up and looked around. He was in a small room, the walls painted a rather repulsive shade of purple. Across from the bed there was a wooden chest, clothes spilling from its half open drawers. On top of the chest sat a tacky gold mirror and various indistinguishable cosmetic products. A light was suspended from the cracked ceiling and it swayed slightly as the people upstairs went about their business with sporadic thuds.

Alec's eyes continued to trail across the floor as events gradually came back to him. He stopped at one particular patch of carpet, remembering it as the spot where he had landed after being thrust to the ground by a very petit, but very aggressive, blonde girl. Jess; that was her name, Alec breathed a sigh of relief as such information would most likely prove vital in the not too distant future.

After a further five minutes of vigorous thought, Alec's brain eventually discovered the final piece, restoring his fragmented memory. Finally he was able to assess the situation properly and decide on the best course of action. He could hear someone rustling in the other room and so he would have to think fast.

After a brief search he found his clothes in a pile to the left of the steel framed bed. Alec grabbed his black t-shirt and quickly pulled it over his head. The air was chilly in the absence of any form of heating and his body cried out for warmth. Pulling the large grey blanket around his huddled form, Alec sat shifting his toes in quiet recollection.

Jess had been unlike any girl Alec had ever met before. Upon meeting her in Bannatyne's coffee house, he had envisaged another soulless night of passion, the standard procedure in his romantic pursuits. They had both kept quiet on the drive back to her place, he had not felt the need to discover anything more about her and she seemed content with the silence and so didn't push things. This situation changed when he had caught sight of the barcode on the back of her neck. He was surprised, not only because he hadn't noticed it earlier, but also because she hadn't made any effort to hide it.

During his pilgrimage across the states, Alec had often made stops at discreet tattoo parlours where he would have his own barcode removed. It would always come back in a couple of weeks and the procedure hurt like hell, but it was a handy way to avoid being identified as a 'freak'. The barcode had achieved legendary status across America and so it was essential to keep it hidden, even Max made a consorted effort to keep hers hidden. Failure to do so would undoubtedly spark another witch hunt. It was surprising then that Jess showed hers off so proudly as if she wasn't afraid of discovery.

Once inside her cosy but sparse apartment, Alec had decided to raise the issue:

"So you're a transgenic?" he had said matter-of-factly. Jess stared at him a little bemused.

"Well done…so?"

"Well I…"

"Look it shouldn't be a problem right, I mean you're a transgenic too."

The fact that she could tell he was a transgenic surprised Alec as he knew that he had had his barcode removed last week and there shouldn't have been any sign of it.

"How did you know?"

"Because of the way you moved and the way you smell." She had been gathering numerous bottles of alcohol as she spoke.

"You can do that?"

"Well yeah…can't you?"

It was in that moment, in that odd little exchange, that Alec had began to feel a little strange. He felt intrigued by Jess; his mind suddenly began lusting for more information. There was just something about her, not just the fact that she was a transgenic and consequently designed to be highly attractive, for some reason she just suddenly became very appealing to Alec.

After moving into her bedroom, they began to knock back drinks of all kinds from beers to cocktails. As the drink flowed so did the conversation as they exchanged stories and information about their pasts and their lives here in Seattle. Again Alec had felt a strange sensation in his stomach as he found Jess so easy to talk to, he felt like he could tell her anything and she would understand.

Alec had allowed Jess to do the majority of the talking. He was happy just to listen and take it all in, learn more about this rather unique woman, and boy did he learn a few things.

Alec had always believed that Max and her 'siblings' were the first to escape from the Manticore compound. He was shocked and fascinated therefore, to learn that this was not the case. According to Jess, she and two companions had achieved the feat a good two years before the supposed originators. Although Jess had been reluctant to divulge too much information about her escape, or her time in Manticore; she did reveal that she had been part of a separate training program and her two fellow escapees' were like her family. Alec had pressed for more information about the others who had escaped:

"So do you keep in contact with the other two?"

"One of them."

"Yeah? What's he like?"

"It's hard to say…he's kind of exceptional, special as it were."

"So you two like…you know." Alec remembered his drunken mind pleading for an answer of no.

"No," her voice had been quiet and solemn. "He just takes care of me, like an older brother or something."

"Did he have a name?"

Back in the present, Alec struggled to remember Jess's answer. He could recall her giving him the name but now in the cold light of day, he couldn't remember what it was. Graham; that was it or maybe it was Greg. Alec decided to give up, it wasn't that important given how things turned out. He had been getting round to telling Jess about Max and his own unwanted but ultimately satisfactory escape, when she pounced on him. Alec let out a dry laugh; it was the best night he had had in ages.

Alec was pulling his jeans on when the bedroom door opened and Jess slipped inside. Her hair was loosely tied back and she was casually dressed in baggy grey t-shirt and scruffy jeans that failed to reach her ankles. She appeared anxious as she took a seat next to him.

"Morning," Alec greeted her stifling a yawn, a little upset at being caught with his pants around his ankles.

"Look do you remember that guy I was supposed to meet last night at the coffee shop?"

Alec pressed his palm against his forehead; it was too early for straight to the point questions. Feeling his stomach lurch, he nodded weakly.

"Well thing is it's one of the guys that escaped Manticore with me. Remember? I told you about him, the one who gave me my name. Anyway, he's here now and he' kind of protective so…"

"You want me to jump out the window," Alec offered, his mind confused over the new details Jess had brought to light. He couldn't remember her telling him about this guy at all, must have consumed more alcohol than he thought…somehow.

"Something like that yes," replied Jess casting a glance over at the window.

Alec rose to his feet and finished getting dressed before grabbing his Jacket and stuffing his feet into his soggy trainers, the old rain water squelched around the rough skin of his feet.

"Look can't I just excuse myself and go out the front door?" he asked not really wanting to engage in covert stealth manoeuvres while hung-over and with his feet submerged in dirty rain water.

"That's not really a good idea. Gray's kind of temperamental and I'm not sure I can guarantee your safety."

Throughout life there come times when one wishes they could somehow travel back in time to undo a mistake they would not have made with the benefit of hindsight. For Alec, this was such a time as his body ran cold infected with dread and panic. Gray's name seemed to echo in his head enticing the contents of his stomach to make a break for it. Swallowing hard, Alec decided to confirm that Jess's Gray was in fact the same one that had kicked his ass back in Greenough. He didn't want to rush to conclusions and lose his cool in front of Jess without good reason.

"Just what are you doing in there," came Alec's confirmation, the deep hollow voice exactly as he remembered it.

"Oh shit," Alec breathed to himself alerting Jess to his now panicked state.

"What's wrong?" she asked concern in her voice and eyes.

"Maybe I should just slip out. I mean I'm hardly dressed to go meeting new people," Alec said anxiously looking for an escape route. "Got any ideas?"

"There's a fire ladder just outside the window," she pointed in its direction, a few feet to his left.

Alec turned and out his arms on Jess's shoulders. He looked into her emerald eyes and spoke in a direct tone of voice.

"Please don't tell Gray about me."

"I wasn't going to, like I said he's very protective of me. What's up with you Alec?"

"Its nothing," he lied, "I might not be able to see you again…I…I have trouble with commitment."

With those words, Alec doused the spark that Jess had lit. There was no future for them. He should have known better, he was a fool for even thinking that he could be with another girl.

Jess opened her mouth to speak but Alec decided it would be best not to hear what she had to say. She seemed upset and it bothered Alec that this mattered to him. This was not what he had anticipated when he had got in the care with her. He wasn't supposed to get all emotional and clingy.

With an unusually heavy heart, Alec quickly slipped out the window and down the cold rusty ladder. Once on the ground he looked up; Jess was standing at the window. She raised her hand in a timid wave and he gave her a weak smile in return. The sky rumbled as the rain became more intense soaking Alec in a matter of moments.

"Fucking typical," Alec grunted zipping up his jacket. He thought about going to see Max, tell her of the information he had just accidentally ran into. Probably best to leave her for the day, she could do with the peace. After all he felt bad enough for the two of them.

Alec stuffed his hands in his pockets and trudged off down the wet street, vowing to never again fall for the charms of a pretty, green eyed transgenic female.

Back in her apartment, Jess watched Alec trail away in to the distance. The rain blurred his outline until he soon became nothing more than an empty patch of fog. Jess sighed, she felt strange again like she did after Gray had killed that Asha girl. She had enjoyed her experience with Alec and it saddened her to think that she probably wouldn't see him again. Her heart fell, there was definitely something wrong with her. Lately she had been experiencing all these emotions that seemed so foreign in her body. She had felt guilt and remorse and now she was longing for a stranger that she had only picked up for one night of fun. Jess smiled; perhaps she was losing it.

"What have you been doing in here?" Jess turned to see Gray standing in the doorway. He was dressed in his beloved black trench coat and his hair was matted to his head as a result of the rain. She looked down at the puddle around his feet and gave him a look before she answered his question with a lie.

"Nothing, I thought I left something in here but I hadn't." Jess decided it would be best to change the subject: "so how did it go with 452?"

Gray looked upset at the question as he moved over to her bed, slumping onto it his arms outstretched like wings.

"I couldn't kill her."

"Why," Jess cried, surprised that Gray was capable of mercy, especially toward 452.

"I don't know, cos she's family I guess." His eyes flicked around as he searched for the answer. "She is an angel Jess, she should have seen her. She is everything they were hoping for, everything that they hoped I would be." Gray lingered on his words before he snapped upwards taking himself out of the trance he had lulled into.

Gray hated thinking of the past for it had no relevance. His past was an affront to what he had become. It hurt to think that the fools back at Manticore considered him a failure when in fact he was a success. He was everything that he was meant to be, they just couldn't figure it out. Sometimes though, he couldn't help but remember, sometimes he even needed it; perhaps to remind him that even he had limitations… after all he was dying, slowly but surely he was fading away.

"The time will come," Gray said his mind reminded of the importance of killing 452, "It is destiny after all. We shall meet and in the hands of the victor shall lay salvation." Gray rolled up his sleeve; his scarred skin was covered in dozens of black markings arranged in compact and organised groups. He ran his fingers tenderly over the strange tribal like designs and murmured softly to himself the words they represented.

Jess watched as Gray continued to muse over the tattoo's on his arm. Her life with this man had been like a whirlwind of violence, waiting for a reason to exist. The appearance of the prophecy on Gray's body last year had given them the purpose they craved; it gave them justification for their actions. It also gave Gray a chance of survival, answers to what was ravaging his body.

Jess looked at Gray and remembered their time together. She had to admit that she had revelled in the suffering that she helped inflict. But things felt different now, over the past few months she had been changing. Now that Gray had a way to survive she longer felt as bound to him as she once did. She wanted a life of her own, one where she would be free to seek redemption and atone for the sins that now plagued her mind on a daily basis. Maybe she could even have a normal life…one where she could get to know Alec better. He had given her a taste for normality and she longed for more. However, she knew that Gray would never let her go, he would always have a hold over her and there was nothing she could do about it.

Again Jess looked at Gray still wrapped up in his world of destiny and apocalyptic battles. He was the man that had moulded her into an instrument of death, not the people back at Manticore. In the past she had been grateful and thinking of Gray filled her with warmth, pride, maybe even love. Now though, her affection for her saviour was marred by feelings of disgust and hate, but most of all she felt afraid. She knew that once Gray killed 452 he would be cured and then nothing would stop him. He was the closest thing to pure evil on this earth and at present there was only one person capable of stopping him; his opposite, his twin, Max Guevera.