Chapter 22
Tears rolled down Mara's face as she looked down at the unmoving corpse of Director Henry Pierce. Khan stood slowly on shaking legs, exhaustion and pain mixing in his features. It was clear that he was healing, as he wasn't remotely as weak as he had been before, but it was slow going.
Khan looked to her first, approaching slowly. "Do not weep for him," he said acidly, taking her hand. "Monsters deserve no such devotion."
"Was he?" she asked slowly, looking up at him. "Was he, really? He followed his dream, and created you."
Khan looked angered that she had said such a thing. "I should rather he hadn't created me at all than do so and use me."
With that he turned his back on her, climbing the rubble and kneeling next to Lorran. Lorran grimaced, clutching at his heart as blood oozed through his fingers. Khan spoke softly to him for a moment, then gingerly helped him to his feet. Lorran shook his head, as if attempting to rid himself of the pain.
"Come," Khan said in a low, animalistic tone. "There will be more."
He headed for the access stairs, taking the gun when Lorran handed it out to him and never looking back. Mara followed reluctantly, half afraid and half desirous.
She wanted to go with him… but she was scared. This newfound power was making him different.
As the group surfaced into the gardens, they were met with the rest of The 72, bloody and worn out but united. All of them looked relieved to see Khan.
The sun was beginning to come up, and Mara could see parts of the garden touched by the fighting. There was a collapsed hole to the left of the fountain where Lorran's bomb had made their exit. There was blood on the path, where Rowen guards and techs had obviously fled. It was nothing of the peace it had previously been.
Khan stood before them, every bit the leader he was, despite the damage he had taken. He looked around at them, his eyes falling on every wound, every grimace. It was clear that he didn't want to let himself forget the cost of what they had done.
"You know what to do," he said simply.
They turned, making for the high, electrified fences that formed the outer barrier of Rowen's compound. Khan alone stayed.
He turned to Mara, his eyes downcast.
"You need to go," he said meekly.
"No," she protested, but he spoke over her.
"Mara, they will assume you helped me and…"
"NO!" she yelled back, slamming a fist against his chest. Her voice broke as emotion threatened to overwhelm her. "You can't make me say it, and then force me to leave you. You just can't."
His hands closed on her upper arms, and he pushed her back, slowly, like he desperately didn't want to.
"Mara, please," he asked. "I must ensure the safety of my crew…"
"Let me go with you!" she cried, trying to look him in the eyes.
He thought for a long time, watching his crew as they made it to the fences. Mara jumped as the sound of twisting metal met her ears. She turned just in time to watch the seventy-two of them tearing the electrified fence down with their bare hands.
"Here," Khan said under his breath. He held out a torn-off piece of paper, and it had a single address on it. In what looked like Pierce's handwriting.
"Meet us there in three days' time," he said, closing her hand around the paper and holding it for a long time.
She stared down at it for a while, then looked up at him. All the doubt, anger, anxiety and fear he felt was written across his features.
She ripped her hand away from his and threw it around his neck as she kissed him hard, putting every sense of need into every touch of her lips. She may never kiss him again, and she wanted him to know that this one mattered.
With a passion that surprised her, he wrapped his arms around her lower back, pulling her up against him so hard that her feet lifted from the ground. He kissed her back, a fury in him that overwhelmed her.
As he pulled away, he looked at her like he had never truly looked at her before. His hand moved her hair from her face in an incredibly gentle and affectionate manner.
"How frail the human heart must be…" he said in an undertone, looking at every angle of her face, as if he was cataloguing it so he would never forget.
She smiled, knowing the tone. He kissed her on the forehead and pulled away reluctantly. He turned, and never looked back as he followed his family off of the compound at a brisk jog.