"Hey, Maxie poo, get a move on it or we'll be late!"
Maxie poo? Blue Lady have mercy on my soul. My handler was just as bad as my brothers. I was in deep, FUBAR waters. I also was in the middle of a nice, luxuriating hot bath and I scowled in the general direction of the closed door. But I obeyed, reluctantly, standing out of the tub to grab a nearby towel.
"C'mon, Max!" I heard Nessie plead outside the door, and I sighed, knowing she could hear me.
"Not my fault Dante and Petra hogged the showers last night," I grumbled, hearing her giggle at the accurate statement.
It was true, the two males of our tiny pack were water-holics…not that I blame them, of course, but when it interrupts my bath time, that's when it becomes a problem. I would have had my bath last night when I could enjoy it to the full extent but noooo…. the boys just hade to get in a water fight took up all the time before lights out so Nessie and I couldn't have our bath time until this morning.
"Max!"
"I'm coming!" I shouted back, zipping up my pants and grabbing my t-shirt to storm out of the bathroom. Growing up in Manticore, we didn't care about seeing each other naked, but Wes and Amanda had some pretty weird rules about coming out of the bathtub and bedrooms completely clothed and they were very firm on that. So Nessie and I usually bathed together, but this morning I was a bit late getting up and so Nessie bathed before I did.
I was growling as I pulled the t-shirt over my head and resisted the urge to tuck it in. Outside girls don't tuck their shirts in unless they were in a private school with a dress code (like Manticore) but we were going to a public school that didn't have one. Not that the shirt was long enough to stay tucked in anyways. That was another strange outside custom…why do girls bare their stomachs, do they get overheated? Amanda had just keeled over laughing and we couldn't get her to share what was so funny.
"Took you long enough, o beloved leader," Dante sniggered as I came down to the table for breakfast. I merely gave him a look, too tired to make a comeback that didn't sound mean, and took my seat. Yet again, another weird custom our handlers had decided upon was everybody eating together for meals. Not an unusual concept except Wes and Amanda ate with us as well, and talked to us. No trainer at Manticore ever did that.
"Trouble sleeping, sweetie?" Wes asked as we passed around a breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes, hash browns, orange and apple juice, and milk. To combat the occasional bouts of seizures we X5s got on occasion, it was discovered milk and Tryptophan worked the best at helping to prevent them.
"Always do," I mumbled, not really in the mood.
"Shark DNA prevents her from getting more than a couple hours sleep every night, sometimes even all week," Nessie explained, taking a big glass of milk. Petra snuck a piece of her bacon and she whipped around so fast Pete didn't know what hit him. That was enough to bring me out of my funk.
"Oh, Petra she got you!" I laughed, the horrible lack of sleep night dissipating in light of the upcoming bout.
"That's not conduct becoming of an officer, soldier," Petra mock-growled, rubbing his sore arm, glaring at Nessie who defiantly ate her retrieved bacon.
"She's not an officer, and neither are you, and you should know better than to come between a transgenic and food, especially when said transgenic is hungry," I grinned at my supposed C.O.
The past few days we'd settled into a routine and hierarchy of sorts. Wes and Amanda were our immediate authority; for some reason, the other three looked up to me for the decisions and guidance. Perhaps it was the extra training or the way I called out orders to things I'd seen that need to be done, most often before anyone knew they were needed. Petra came next, and it was usually a toss up between Dante and Nessie to see who was in charge after that.
"C'mon y'all, settle down. Get these dishes done and then we need to get you to school. Move you're collective spliced tails, soldiers!" Amanda barked out, and we rushed to obey. With genetically empowered talents, the dishes and other morning chores were finished literally in a blur of speed, and we were marched (figuratively) out the door to the waiting minivan for school.
"Why do we have to go to school?" I couldn't help asking as the doors were shut and Wes was starting up the van.
"I mean, I could teach school, why do we have to go?"
"Are we whining back there, Maxie?" Wes asked, turning to grin at me, but his eyes were serious also.
I opened my mouth to retort –did it sound like I was? - when I realized in time that a) it did sound like whining, and b) Wes may be laid back but he was still Manticore appointed and therefore must be observing everything for a report to his superiors. Having one of the commanding soldiers whine so pathetically would not look good, especially if said soldier was one of Lydecker's favorites.
"No, sir," I finally replied, this all happening in a split second. Wes held my eye for a second before turning back to drive.
"Just stating a fact sir," I added, grinning as Wes gave a surprised bark of laughter while the other three fought not to laugh too hard.
"Keep it up seniorita, and we'll see who's laughing in the end," Wes warned, and that was enough for me to be quiet for the rest of the trip. I didn't mean for the rest of the others to be quiet as well, but when I fell silent, so did they. I could see Wes giving us looks in the mirror occasionally, shaking his head.
I forced myself not to sit in the rigid way taught to us by Manticore, and it was difficult trying to erase eight years worth of brainwashing and training. My back wanted to stay ramrod straight, never touching the back of the seat, hands placed upon my knees.
Wes was tapping against the steering wheel, and suddenly, I sat up straighter. I listened to the tapping, the sound having triggered something in my brain and my left hand unconsciously started to tap out in time, my body having recognized what my distracted brain didn't at first. Wes was tapping out Morse code. It was only a few seconds for my brain to translate once I switched my focus on it.
Relax, Max.
Relax, Max? I cocked my head, and my eyes flew up to meet Wes' in the rearview mirror. He was looking directly my way, and then I got it. The others were following my lead, and they wouldn't relax until I did. I glanced over casually and saw that the others were just as rigid as I was.
I couldn't believe it. Sure they'd follow my orders and follow my lead if the situation warranted it, but copying me? That was some other side of funked up. I was about to make some comment, but then I stopped, another more disturbing thought had surfaced. If they were acting how I acted toward Zack, did that mean I had copied Zack as well?
I frowned, thinking back hard. Had there been signs that we'd copied Zack, our leader? Yes, yes we did! I remembered now how I was always watching Zack, looking for some telltale sign to relax, be alert, or time to play. I'd taken for granted the close body language I'd shared with my family was just another part of our DNA…I hadn't realized we'd also mimicked Zack. Now that I thought about it, Zack himself copied after the Colonel and Sergeant Major Vaughn. So it wasn't just me and a few other submissives.
Submissive. Me? As if!
Not pleased with this thinking at all, I decided to undertake a non-intrusive experiment. I consciously eased my tense muscles, leaning back to touch the back of the seat, telling myself to relax and not spring up like a daisy come summer. I slouched, slouched, against the window and threw an arm over the seat edge, humming a wordless little tune Lark had come up with.
I watched the others ease up gradually, and within moments of my humming and finger tapping experiment, they were loose and smiling with the secure knowledge that I was okay with it and that it was okay. It was amazing and I glanced over at the rearview mirror. Wes' smile dazzled me and he gave a wink. Mission accomplished.
We pulled into street that was packed with traffic and when I saw what lie ahead, I knew why. The entire block was a continuous stream of buildings, all of them somehow identifiable as institutional. It was like one giant campus, only instead of college, it was a mix of the elementary, junior high, and high school levels. They were massive and many storied, and I wondered how in the world there could be enough young people to fill just one building with a certain age group.
"Okay, kids, I'm going to drop you off here, but I want you to wait for me while I find a place to park. It'll only take a few minutes. Remember; keep your aliases in place, which means cover story and accents. Max, you're in charge."
What? Me, in charge to face this? Zack wasn't around to bail me out of this one. I hid my gulp and I did what I'd been trained to do: I took command.
"You heard your superior, let's move! Move movemove!"
The others hurried out without protest and I joined them to wait on the curb. The four of us were left alone, truly alone for the first time in our lives. And I was in charge.
Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.
