Prologue

            I was in the hospital ward’s research wing by myself that evening; bent over my microscope like I usually was since arriving at Isis Antarctica. But tonight wasn’t like any other evening. Tonight felt different.

            I felt different.

            Pushing away my microscope, I rubbed my eyes. My irises burned, seared even, and a sharp tingle flowed over my brain like a thick glaze. The sensation made its way through my head and down my neck. To my arm. My hands… My fingertips…

            I popped my eyes open and the first thing that captured my attention was my water glass.

            I reached toward it slowly, fingers extended.

            A familiar mist flew from my fingertips and my heart raced.

            What the…

            The glass condensed, then the droplets crystalized over in a glistening sheet of ice.

            Holding my breath, I picked up the glass and turned it over. The previously lukewarm water didn’t splash out on the table. In fact, nothing did. The water was frozen to the glass. Completely solid.

            No way…

            Alarms drummed into the room like a nuke blast. The ward’s doors blasted open and in came a member of Commander Galia Eden’s security team. He was strapped with a gun almost larger than him, and he was pretty damn large. I knew that type of weapon well from my brief time spent in the Isis League. We used them if threatened by our own.

By Y-Class.

            “We’re under attack, Nate,” he said to me. “We need to get you to the panic level.”

            I was off my chair within seconds. “Who’s attacking us?”

            “The Nova Group. They betrayed us. Came down on the center in droves. Hurry. There’s still time to get you to safety.”

            Awareness of the danger of the situation spiked my adrenaline and my thoughts only went to one place. To one person. “Is Rory on the safe level?”

            He pressed his hand on the plate to reopen the ward’s door. “I’m unsure of her status, but I do know over half of us have been taken.”

            The door opened and I blew past him.

            “Nate!”

            “I have to check her quarters. Make sure she’s made it,” I called, not turning back.

            “Nate, there’s no time.”

            His voice grew fainter and fainter until it became inaudible. There was time. There had to be time.

            The halls were completely empty. If they were evacuated by our people or vacant in the result of capture I didn’t know. I just knew I had to find Rory before Nova did. I had to make sure she was safe.

            Out of breath and my muscles fatigued from the sprint, I made it to her living quarters. I called her name, scouring the area until only my eyes convinced me of the room’s emptiness. Convinced me of the truth.

            She wasn’t here. She was gone.

            A soft whimpering took my attention in the direction of the closet.

            I shoved it open in hope, but she didn’t meet my eyes. It was a small girl, blonde and curled in the fetal position as she cried against the wall.

            “Are you okay?” I asked, my voice breathy.

            Her head shot from the wall and her eyes flooded in relief. “Are they gone?”

            “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but the halls are clear. Are you the only one here?”

            She nodded. “I ran in here to hide.”

            “We have to get you to the safe level. Are you hurt?”

            She put her leg out and the blood staining her pant leg let me know my answer.

            Without thought, I picked her up and raced toward the closest emergency escape tunnel that led to the safe level. A select few of us were given the tunnels’ secret locations along with the security clearance to access them in case of emergencies. Since I was a former Isis League member I was one of those chosen few.

            I got to the wall where I knew the tunnel to be and placed my hand on what I knew to be the appropriate area. The small, circular mouth of the tunnel opened and I placed the girl inside.

            “I know it’s going to be hard, but you’re going to have to crawl. The elevator at the end of the tunnel will lead down to the safe level.”

            She nodded in understanding. Cringing, she got on her hands in knees, biting her lip as she moved away from me.

            I bent to follow her, but a sharp sear hit my brain again. I put my hand to my head and my fingertips burned in spasms. Pulling my hand away, a set of frozen crystals lining my fingertips met my eyes.

            Why was happening to me? How was this happening to me without… her?

            The girl calling me from the tunnel pulled me out of my thoughts, but what I saw ahead had me place my hand to the plate to close it from entry. The girl’s calls silenced, the wall separating her safely from the figure before me.

            I could only stare in horror at it.

            The figure was half metal. Rusty chrome for a leg. An arm. Where the hand should be was more of the foreign material, but this time a gun. It was connected to the wrist and no fingers could be made out. The entire image burned into the deepest crevices of my mind, but what had the bile rise in my throat was the figure’s face.

Its familiarity.

            There was a metal plate there, replacing a cheek and part of the chin, and the bionic eye lit in red took over part of the forehead and half the hair. Despite that, I could still make out the long waves of strawberry blonde. How it bushed out no matter how many times she’d comb it when we were children. The messiness followed her into adulthood. It was always there. Just like it was now.

            “Hello, Nate,” came a robotic female voice from her lips. They were half metal, half human just like the rest of her.

            The image would only be the subject of my nightmares.

            I shook my head, parting my lips. “Ali.”

Chapter One

            Her breath rang huskily into the air, her constant breathing muffling any other sounds surrounding her. It was the only feed that could be picked up in her microphone, blocking any and all sounds of the potential threat. This wasn’t our first time around the block. Why couldn’t she get it together?

            I pressed my fingers to my earpiece. “Missy? Missy, calm down. I can’t hear for the infected.”

            A light whimper hit my ear. “I’m sorry, Rory. It’s just…” She let out a breath. “Vic is going to kill us.”

            I kept my groan internal—mostly because I didn’t want to get my ass caught and eaten up by a Xotic.

Definition of a Xotic: Toxin X infected… and fucking psychotic.

I ground my black boots into the concrete of the abandoned parking deck, getting some traction before I slid silently from the coverage of the Land Rover I hid behind. Once I was within plain sight of Missy’s location, I spoke to her again. “Missy, look at me.”

Her black bob popped up from the top of the concrete barrier she was behind.

It was official. Melissa “Missy” Lee was discrete as hell.

She squinted, her tan cheeks with a hint of rose. She was panicking. Missy was always panicking. She spotted me and waved slightly.

I forced myself from slamming my face into my palm. I lifted my hand, lowering it. “Lower your head, Missy.”

She gazed around like she was just now remembering where she was, and along with that, the danger we were in. She lowered her head, but only just slightly.

I lowered my hand again. “Lower, Missy.”

She did, waiting for my next direction.

Controlling my temper, I tried again. I pressed my fingers to my earpiece. “Vic will not find out. This isn’t the first time we’ve done this.”

We only snuck out when he was away on business, and today was a business day. He was scouting with our leader Commander Galia, seeking out others like ourselves. Therefore, Missy and I were able to take our opportunity once again to leave the base on our own mission.

“So we should press our luck, Rory?” Missy asked, her voice hitched. “We could be swarmed by them. We need to get out of here.”

She was right. She was. There was a reason this New York City parking deck was vacant in the middle of the day, as well as any buildings within a one-mile radius of Manhattan. This was ground zero. The original drop point of Toxin X. The city had pretty much been evacuated, the disease of the infected spreading like wildfire. Those who were smart fled the city quickly. Those who weren’t, the ones that tried to tough it out in their homes, were quickly turned. The disease was no longer airborne, but that didn’t matter. The living zombies, the Xotics, took care of them. One bite. One scratch was all it took. Because of that, they were everywhere now. Stretching across the United States.

And it only took a month.

There were pockets of safe cities, the ones who could stay locked up real good. The Xotics weren’t great with door locks. But if one had windows, they were golden for entry. Their madness made them throw their bodies through the glass. The need to spread their disease the only goal.

Many had gone underground like the President and the country’s elite. Our nation’s allies shut us out. Left us to our mess. Not that I could blame them. No flights and cross-country bordering was being permitted until we were stable. The United States was very much alone, a disease ridden country while our officials worked behind the scenes to help us. The whole nation was left to sleep, waiting for the cure that wouldn’t seem to come. The cure would come. It would if I had something to do with it. Up until this point, our Lieutenant Commander—who also just happened to be my boyfriend—had been trying to stop me. Vic said we would find a way to help the sick with a well developed plan. Organization and control.

I was never one to follow orders.

I put my wrist communicator to my lips. “I have a duty to this country. If that means defying Vic so be it.”

“But, Rory.” Missy let out a breath. “You know how the affects of your blood work. You know it won’t last—”

“Don’t do this, Missy,” I bit out, trying to keep my voice down.

Looking away from her eyes, I placed my hand on sleeve of my black jumpsuit. I winced at the pain of the bruises, those resulting from many syringes. I was fully aware of the affects my blood had on the virus, why so much blood had to be drawn from me daily…. Doing nothing about it meant that process would continue. We were going to do something about it today and would keep doing so until we fixed the problem.

“Just follow through with the plan,” I told her, releasing my arm. “The more people we help, the higher the odds of figuring that out. Different host means more of a chance of lasting success. You know that.”

“Rory—”

“The plan, Missy. The quicker we find a subject. The quicker we can head back to base. Now, use your abilities. Find us a host.”

The line went silent. Maybe she was considering retreating. Maybe she was doing what I asked. I didn’t know. Finally, after an agonizing silence, her light voice sounded in my ear. “There’s one nearby. A level up.”

I smiled. Sometimes it helped having an empath that could read peoples’ emotions on ones side. I was talented myself due to my own mutated genes, but having that trump card would definitely have more use than a simple parlor trick at parties.

“All right,” I said. “Any others nearby?”

It had to be alone for us to avoid problems. True, Missy and I both were Classification Y, or Y-Class members, and our evolved genes allowed us to be unaffected by the disease ridden, but that did matter if a bunch of them got a hold of us. We’d be ripped to shreds. Those things attacked until they knew the disease was spread to their prey. Since we couldn’t be affected they wouldn’t stop until we were dead. Bled out.

“No. She’s by herself. She’s anxious. I think she lost her pack.”

They always did travel together. One thing we still didn’t understand. They had no thought patterns. Only that to spread as well as stay alive by eating and resting when they needed. Them getting smarter would only fuck us.

Now, that Missy gave me a general direction I could listen for her. Tune into her with my own parlor trick. Closing my eyes, I put full concentration to my ears. The drums inside tingled, burning to life. My eyes heated underneath my lids as they always did when I attempted any kind of body modification.

In a wave all sounds amplified, all noses blasting into my ears no matter how small. The fly buzzing on the vacant food carts in the street below. The heavy flapping of butterfly wings landing on various buds in the overflowing flowerbeds in Central Park. I was listening too far out. I needed to zoom in.

I pulled it in, my eyes and ears blazing until I heard heavy breathing… An accelerated heart beat…

Thumping steps.

A Xotic. Missy was right. It was right above us, seeking out its prey. After today, hopefully it had seen it’s last.

I moved my lips to my communicator. “You know what to do, Missy.”

She did so she stood. We needed live bait to catch it. Missy knew that. The thing wouldn’t get anywhere near her though. I’d make sure of that. I always did. If not by the trap we set, then the other way. My fingers twitched at the thought, the internal blades ready and waiting.

Reaching into her bag, Missy retrieved the object that would make the thing come right to us.

A simple musical triangle. The Xotics had heightened senses due to their disease. Quicker speeds, better sight, and excellent hearing. One light tap and it would come running. They always did.

“Ready, Missy?” I asked her.

She gulped, the sound radiating in my earpiece.

“I got you, Missy,” I assured her. “If you get too scared just do your thing. Stop it if you need to.”

Missy had more tricks up her sleeve. If she felt threatened she would use it.

She didn’t respond, but simply raised the triangle. She tapped once and the vibrations chimed into the vacant lot, ricocheting its single note off the waves. The sound could have been beautiful any other day, but today it meant one thing.

Feeding time.

The Xotic picked up on it instantly. It thumped down the lot above, breathing and shrieking as it searched. It headed in the opposite direction from us and a door creaked open. Next thing I knew, my sonic hearing picked up its heavy steps down the stairs.

“It’s taking the stairs, Missy,” I said.

She simply nodded, her black hair swaying with the movement.

The stomping continued, and I hovered my thumb over my trigger button. Ready and waiting for the precise movement to set off our trap. It was a net directly in front of Missy. It would drop and pick the thing up. While it dangled, I could easily shoot it up with my blood via a syringe. It was all about the timing of pressing the trap’s button.

The stairwell door down the lot practically shot off its hinges, hanging haphazardly by its bolts. Missy chimed once again and an object breezed out of the stairway. It was quick and it was tiny.

I squinted adjusting my naturally blue irises to the Xotic. As I focused in on its charge, a visual became clear. The being was small. So very small.

A child, a small girl with blonde hair. Her blue dress was dirty, stained in blood just like the smears around her salivating mouth. Her pupils were dilated, yellow and blood shot, and her skin was wrinkled and gray as if waterlogged. Xotics weren’t dead like the zombies in movies. They were very much alive, but the horrific image instilled the same affect. The same fear.

The girl picked up speed, catching the sight of her prey ahead of her.

Missy.

Missy stood before it, a clear shake in her legs. “Rory,” she gasped. “Rory, we’ve never attempted turning a child before.”

I swallowed hard. “I know, Missy. I know.”

The screeching down the way grew louder, the child getting closer. She was only a half a lot length away now, seconds from hitting the net that would trap her that resided in front of Missy.

“Should I stop it?” Missy whispered. “Should we retreat?”

My finger hovered over the button that would drop on the creature. But the creature was a child. Was that barbaric? I didn’t want to hurt it. Her.

“We should leave, Rory. You’re blood might not work.”

She was right. It might not. Up until this point, we’d only used my blood on adults. What if I accidently killed the girl? But how could I leave her? She was a child. She deserved a chance to live more than anyone.

“I’m going to stop her, Rory. We need to leave.”

Missy lifted her fingers to her temple, and I knew what she was going to do. She was going to bend reality. Put the child in a trance long enough for us to evade. But we couldn’t do that. We couldn’t leave a kid here in this chaos of the diseased.

I moved my feet before her fingers even touched her temple. I was that quick, another advantage of my genetic mutation. They called me Metamorphosis. I could transform myself. Push myself farther than normal humans, and I could heal the infected. Just like I was about to do the girl in front of me.

I came up on her quickly. She didn’t even see me. I gathered her small body in my arms and pulled the syringe of my blood from my utility belt.

I stabbed the girl in the arm with the needle, and she howled into the air. Her scream was so loud that I nearly dropped her so I could cover my ears. Missy did protect her ears. She dropped to her knees, pressing her palms to her earlobes.

The girl jolted in my arms, and her howl cut off instantly. She went limp, her body lifeless.

Lowering the girl, I checked for a pulse. Missy’s steps came from behind me.

“Is she…” she started. “Is she…”

“She’s alive.” I turned to her, breathing heavy from the adrenaline. True, I was fast, but that didn’t mean that shit didn’t make me tired.

Missy’s face flashed relief and she dropped down beside me. She studied the girl. “She’s breathing normally, Rory. She’s at least human again.”

Thank god for that. If this little girl died… She deserved a chance. Just like anyone else. I stood, picking her up in my arms. Thank god she was light. “Let’s get her back to the base. Hopefully, the cure will stick.”

Missy nodded in understanding. She started to gather the net, but stopped at a shrieking noise. It wasn’t coming from the girl in my arms though. I closed by eyes to listen for the source of the noise, but I didn’t have to. They came.

And they came quickly.

It was at least a dozen Xotics barreling out of the stairwell, and they were bee lining straight toward us.

I heard myself tell Missy to run, my own feet carrying me away from the pack. The little girl bounced in my arms, the rubber of my boots gripping the pavement. There were so many. Missy said she felt no one else around but this girl. Where did they come from?

I lifted my hand. Stretching out my fingers, I propelled a sharpened blade from my fingertip. It hit my target with accuracy. The elevator button ahead.

“Elevator, Missy,” I yelled.

She was already on it. The doors opened and she slipped inside, waving me in. Once I cleared the entry, she pressed the down key, hitting the button repeatedly like that would make the door close any faster. The shrieking got louder, thicker as the Xotics were getting closer.

The pack charged toward us, the elevator door inching shut. One of the infected escaped the group, the fasted amongst the bodies. It was a woman, petite, with tattered clothes on just as the little girl. What was off was why she was the fastest. She wasn’t the tallest, didn’t have longer strides. She looked so weak, very small. Yet she was making ground, full lengths in front of the others. Her bloodshot eyes connected with mine, her cheeks tearstained and mouth surrounded by cracked blood. She growled as if trying to speak, but Xotics didn’t speak. They couldn’t. Despite that, there seemed to be an attempt there.

There couldn’t possibly be.

The door slid closed, cutting me off from her image, and multiple banging hit the metal shortly after. I didn’t have to guess what it was. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen Xotics slam themselves into a door to get at their prey. I wondered if one of those bangs was the woman. The one who looked at me.

The elevator moved and Missy and I both sucked in a breath, still tense. Our heavy breathing remained the only sounds in the descending metal box we were in.

 “I’m sorry, Rory. I don’t know where they came from.” Missy shook her head, wrestling with her hands as she started above at the descending elevator numbers.

I had no answers for her so I kept silent as the elevator moved. I adjusted the girl in my arms and a set of little green eyes gazed at me. Her little hand was on my arm, almost like she was trying to get my attention.

“Do you know where my mom is?” she whispered.

I cringed. This girl’s mom was most likely turned. Maybe even dead. Many people were quick to kill these days to stay safe from a Xotic. I didn’t want to be the one to break any of those outcomes to her. It turned out I didn’t have to tell her. Her short sentence took a lot out of her. She turned her dirty cheek into my chest, her skin still so pearl white despite how filthy she was. I touched her cheek lightly, her skin even brighter when offset by my dark.

The door opened to the ground level and only the chirping of the birds could be heard.

Missy and I didn’t waste any time.

We bolted toward the street and to our ride. Our military vehicle was parked right out front. Yes, the two of us stole one of the few combat vehicles our people “borrowed” from the U.S. government after the city was abandoned. The way I saw it, Missy and I were borrowing it too.

Missy took the passenger’s seat while I placed the girl in back. I strapped her in really well as she lay against the wall. We could have a rough ride out, and I didn’t want her bouncing around.

“Rory?” Missy asked.

“Yeah.” I slid my black jacket down my arms, balling it up for the little girl. I could at least give her a pillow.

“Rory, we have a problem.”

I froze, listening closely. I heard no sounds. No movement. It couldn’t be a Xotic—

I turned and my eyes widened. Standing in the distance ahead was a line of people. They weren’t rouge, weren’t raging wild. But there was still no denying what they were. Ripped and tattered clothing. Dirty, blood-stained mouths, and yellow eyes.

They were Xotics, but they were different. They were moving slowly toward us, honing in. I turned and the same line came at us from the back. Ten maybe twelve, but they were all doing the same thing.

Stalking prey.

Focusing in on them, a bright light took my attention. It flickered near their wrists.

I didn’t give the creatures another thought before I got into my seat. I shoved the key into the ignition and turned. The engine wouldn’t catch so I tried again. Then again.

“What’s the problem?” Missy asked, bouncing in her seat.

“Don’t panic, Missy, but it won’t start.”

She panicked. She always did.

“What do you mean it won’t start! Did you check the gas before we left.”

No. “Yes, I’m not stupid.”

Apparently I was because she was right. A look to the dash told me the problem. We were out of fuel.

I gazed up. The line of Xotics were getting closer, they’re breathing louder. Why weren’t they charging? How were they doing this without coherent thought?

“What do we do, Rory?” Missy asked, her voice breathy.

I grabbed her shoulders. “Don’t panic. We’re going to have to make a run for it.”

Her brown eyes grew into saucer size. “Run for it! We’re not all as fast as you and we have that little girl.”

“We’re near a parking garage, Missy. There are abandoned cars, everywhere.”

“Yeah. The garage that is currently filled with infected. We’ll never make it. I knew this was a bad idea.” She was hyperventilating. Her body shaken. “We’re going to die—”

I shook her. “We’re not going to die. I won’t let that happen. Now, calm down. I need you calm. You’re going to have to slow-mo these things. You do that we can make a line through.”

The nervousness played all throughout her face, flushing her cheeks, and I knew why. She’d never done something like this before. Not of this magnitude. Bending reality to slow them down took deep thought. She had to capture each person’s mind for it to work. This would be a challenge for her, and Missy was never good under pressure.

I took a deep breath, focusing on her eyes. “You can do this.”

Keeping my hands from shaking, I let go of her, trying to be brave for her. She faced forward and I watched the pack ahead. They continued to move, stalk slowly. Missy placed her fingers to her temples, her heavy breath ricocheting off the walls of our car.

I didn’t move an inch. I didn’t dare too. I couldn’t afford to do anything that might hinder her. Barely allowing myself to breath, I watched her closely. Her body shook, her lips quivering, and eventually, a line of tears ran down her cheeks that caused my own eyes to glass.

She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t strong enough.

I opened the door and shot out of the car. Missy called my name, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to let her die. I wasn’t going to let this little girl be succumbed to them either. If that meant I had to take a life, or in this case, many…

So be it.

I clinched my fists and my forearms burned. Rounded silver blades pierced the surface of them like a set of fins. They were sharp, lethal, and had the potential to cut a human body in half with a quick wave of my arm.

I released my clinched fingers and spun out long knives that grew from my fingertips. I twitched my neck and my hair changed down the individual strands that rested on my shoulders, from dark brown to electric blue. Right now, I was Metamorphosis so I would be just that as I fought.

Hunching down, I got ready for battle. This wouldn’t take long. I was quicker than them. I always was.

I dug my boot into the ground, preparing to charge when Missy’s struggled breaths ripped me from my stance. I gazed through the open window at her. Her mouth was parted, her face paling. She was holding her chest, her body falling limp in her seat.

I stepped to the car and shrieking hit my ears like a nuke blast. It was the Xotics. They all grabbed their heads, twitching and calling out into the air. Some were on the ground in the fetal position and some were banging their heads on the concrete. Their eyes were all closed and some were even attempting to scratch them out.

Missy had fully collapsed in her seat now. Her own eyes closed. But she seemed to be simply resting, not in pain like the infected.

I went to open the door, but the feeling suddenly drained from the arm that was already weak from so many bruises. A slow numbness moved throughout my body and my legs could no longer hold me up. I collapsed to the ground, holding my own chest now. It was so hard to breath, so tiring. I attempted to move my limps, but the feat was lost. There was no use. I was simply too tired. There was only one other time I had felt this weak. This drained.

I looked for him.

Coming toward me was the man I already knew was there. The one who had drained Missy, using her power to fight off the Xotics, then took my power shortly after.

He was tall, with high cheekbones and deep, dark hair. The coloring was onyx, so dark sometimes the inky-tone hinted shades of blue. He also had these eyes. Ones that were hazel, but held flecks of gold when hit just right by the light. I knew because I stared into them many times. They were the ones that helped me fight the dark at night, the ones that only brought the light.

When he got to me, he squatted down. He touched my cheek and a wave of subtle warmth flowed into my skin both from his touch and his own supernatural abilities. I knew that feeling well. He was nurturing my pain. Making the discomfort in my drained body easier to deal with. The sensation felt so good that for a millisecond I forgot. I let myself push away the fact that he was the one that brought the initial feeling on. He always had a way of doing that to me. Making me feel wonderfully euphoric. Completely at ease no matter how mad I should be at him.

The ass.

Vic ran his finger along my bottom lip. “Stand down, Metamorphosis. I can take it from here.”

This was my boyfriend, the man I loved so dearly yet frustrated the hell out of me. He quite literally drained the life out of me again.

Oh… he’d definitely hear it when we got home.

Chapter Two

            The beeping of the heart rate monitor tickled my ear.

            Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

            It had been constantly moving, ticking and chiming.

            Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

            The difference between now and before was I’d been so out it, so frickin’ drained I couldn’t do anything about it.

            Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

            Now? I was revived and kickin’ and well aware why the fatigue burned my limbs. Why my head rushed like I’d been spun into overdrive.

            Victor Ryken was gonna pay.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeeeeeep—

The flatling of my monitor caused the three medics wearing white coats in the room with me to spin around, no doubt wondering if I was dead. Oh, I was far from. Far freakin’ from.

I ripped the rest of the wires and cords sticking to me off. I even pulled out the IV that had no doubt given me my energy back, leaving the tube hanging loose like a dead vine.

I hopped off the bed they had me on, and the three men who I assumed were suppose to be monitoring me rushed me. Saying things like “Cadet Daniels, lay down” and “Cadet! Cadet, you’re not well yet.” These men were of course Y-Class. Just like me. Did Vic actually think these guys would be able to home me back? I wanted to laugh.

I braced myself for combat. I wouldn’t hurt these guys. They were no doubt just doing their job, but I had to get away.

From behind them, a girl ran past them and my way, blurring slightly to a stop just ahead of me. She had on a white jacket like the rest and spots on her face like a cheeta. With her quickness like a cat I supposed the spots were explained. I hadn’t seen her around before. Must be new. Had to be if she risked getting this close to a patient who was clearly pissed the fuck off. She raised her hands. “Please get back in bed, miss. We need to run some tests before we release you.”

I didn’t need any tests. Felt better than fine. I backed away, only one thought on my mind. “Where is he?” I asked, my words sharp as broken glass.

She squinted, shaking her head. “I don’t know who you’re talking about, miss.”

I blew a long current of air through my nose, my patience managing to thin more than it already was. With fire in my eyes, I watched the medic behind her place a cautious hand on her shoulder.

“She’s referring to Lieutenant Commander Ryken,” he said, then looked up at me. “He’s in a meeting, Cadet.”

A meeting. A meeting?! What the hell was he in a meeting for? We only had officer meetings on the weekends. Though I was by no means an officer I was allowed to the meetings as I had a hand in discovering key information on our enemy, the Nova group and their leader Knight. Knight had betrayed all Y-Class, once posing as an ally by building a school to help us, protect us. Little did we know the school was a front for his own ulterior motives. He was responsible for the spread of the disease, a tactic to blackmail the government to hand all Y-Class over. He wanted us to destroy us. Plain and simple. He got away the day he spread the disease, but that fact wouldn’t be forever if our people had anything to do with it. We got closer to tracking him, discussing our goals at every meeting, but since last I checked today was a weekday. If they were having a meeting today I could only gather it was an emergency one.

I had to get to that meeting.

“You can’t leave until we clear you, Cadet,” the medic in front of me continued. “So please get back in bed. The Lt. Commander has authorized us to retrain you by force if necessary.”

My head shot up to the guy, a simmering heat surging behind my irises, the burn blazing them. In front of me, the guy’s eye widened. I hoped making my eyes electric blue would get a response.

Crouching low, I sparked tiny blades out of my fingernails. I eyed them all. “I dare you,” I growled.

The medic next to the guy who spoke put his arms out, maneuvering the others out of the way. “Let her go guys, shit.”

A smart man this guy.

Retracting my blades, I took a step forward. The breeze blew past my nethers, and I realized they had me in a hospital gown. God, with the theatrics. It wasn’t like I was sick. Just drained to shit. “My clothes?” I snarled.

The girl with the spots blurred away, when she came back she had my clothes that I wore when I was taken out folded in her hands. All that was missing was my utility belt. Of course they wouldn’t give that back and give me advantaged by being armed. I snatched them up, and they left me to my self. I swear to God I went quick time getting dressed. Had to, to see what that meeting was about. Once I had myself in order, I charged out of the room. I didn’t catch the medics, but odds were they went far from me.

The moment I hit the halls, I was blasted with the familiar smell of fresh earth, my way lit by the light of burning torches illuminating the rock walls around me. This is what we had become, our group of Y-Class resulting to that of cave dwellers. We were forced into hiding after the disease spread. Hiding from the infected, Knight and his allies, hell, just regular humans in general. The caves kept us discreet, yet close to ground zero where this all started. We built the caves on our own with little effort, a perk of being a race of supernatural humans. We even managed to get electricity going down here. Another Y-Class making that possible as he acted as a human generator. We owed our abilities to our accentors, experimentations to cure an active disease in the fifties gone wrong. Years later the abilities showed up in the patients’ grandchildren. Us. Both our blessing and a curse. Like many others my abilities left me alienated, forced to hid amongst the normal thinking I was the only one. That was until Vic, and his crew found me. I did owe the man I loved a lot, but that didn’t mean I didn’t deserve respect and I was about to show him that by sniffing him out and confronting him. Quite literally zoning in on his scent with my heightened abilities.

Stopping in the hall, I extended the reach of my senses. Those medics said he was in a meeting, and as I picked Vic up with my senses I knew that to be true. He was in the southeast quarter of caves, which was exactly where our makeshift conference room was. It should have been hard to find one person amongst the dark caverns, but I picked up Vic like I was in tuned to him. He had a sweet smell. Like honeysuckle, while at the same time spicy and masculine. That scent charged a reaction in me every time.

Today it wasn’t a good reaction.

Pressing my boots into the ground, my body reacted barely after my senses found him. I went super sonic, my boots gripping the earth at full speeds underneath me. Maneuvering the cave halls, I sped away. I twisted and turned corners, passing Y-Class in full conversation. One couple asked what our mess hall was serving for dinner tonight. Canned stew. A common meal around here. We ate what we foraged from the city. That usually left with non-perishables. We did what we had to do to survive.

I kept moving, accidently clipping the next couple I went passed. I’d say sorry, but they wouldn’t hear me I was going so fast. I was actually going so quick I got to the southeast quarter in only seconds, the meeting room right ahead of me. Not long now.

As I got closer, my boots gripped down to the earth beneath me to stop, to break, but I was going too fast, couldn’t control it. I slammed into the guards barricading the conference conclave like a human door. The poor guys didn’t see it coming and we all hit the floor, a pile of bodies on the ground.

Shit, that hurt. A burning in my limbs and a searing ache in my neck, I lifted my head slowly. My vision blurred for a second from impact, but as my sight cleared my eyes went wide. The officers were having a meeting all right. They all sat at the conference table, a half semi-circle facing the conclave door.

And they all stared at me.

Stark frozen by their gazes, my own filtered over the crowd, but ended up stopping on one set of eyes in particular. Or should I say one person in particular. His golden brown eyes wide, Vic stared at me with the rest, a clear shock etched into his handsome face. I probably was the last person he thought he’d at this meeting after what he did to me.

I snarled at him, and the expression definitely went noticed. His brow jumped a bit, and the chuckling beside him let me know someone else noticed I was pissed as well. His friend Turk, a fellow Y-Class member the size of a freight train, lifted his dark fist to muffle his light laughter. He leaned over to Vic. “Looks like you’re in trouble.”

Damn right he was.

“Rory?”

At the sound of Commander Galia’s voice, our leader, I attempted to shoot to attention… then realized I was still on the floor.

Fuck.

In a frenzy, I made to get up, but sets of hands went under my arms. The guards I crashed into. They helped me up, getting me to my feet.

“Cadet Daniels, are you all right?” one asked. “Don’t hurt her,” said another. “She’s fragile.”

Groaning, I batted their hands away. Sometimes I hated people knew what my blood did. It was because of my genes I’d been on lock down for the last month, underground like a pariah. “Must protect the cure,” our officers came into agreeance one day.

That was the first time I’d ever felt the burden of my rank.

By the time the dudes finally got their hands off me, Commander Galia had made her way from behind the table and in front of me. She had her platinum hair up in a tight bun as usual and donned a brown tunic covered in medals. She may have been in her youth like the rest of us, but her age didn’t affect her commanding presence. I stood tall in front of her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t at the meeting today, Galia. It won’t happen again. I assure you.”

I fought from shooting my boyfriend the death stare. This wouldn’t be happening again. Not after I was through with him.

Galia she waved off the apology with a motion of her hand. “Of course it’s fine, Rory. You weren’t well. Vic informed me you’d taken ill. That you weren’t feeling quite like yourself so you’d been on bed rest.”

I was sure he’d failed to mention he’d been the reason I wasn’t feeling quite like myself.

“Anyway, I’m glad to see you’re up and moving. And don’t worry about the meeting. We were finishing up anyway.”

Her gaze moved to the side of me. To Vic. He nodded and picked up remote, aiming to the large screen at the front of the room. On it, there looked to be a shot of a strand of DNA, computer generated and spiraling in blue on the screen ahead. Before I could get much more than that, the image clicked off. Vic placed the remote on the table and stood, the rest of the group doing the same and gathering their papers from the table. I wondered what today’s meeting entailed. I’d know if I hadn’t “taken ill.”

“See you later, Rory.” Galia looked as if she’d pass me, but I needed to ask her something. I lifted my hand slightly to talk to her longer.

“How did uh, the scouting go?” I asked, trying not to sound too hopeful. I stopped doing that weeks ago.

Galia simply smiled. She knew what I really wanted to know. Who I really wanted to know about. She placed a hand on my shoulder. “I’ll let Vic inform you of our progress.”

I nodded, and she passed me. When she did, the last person I thought I’d see charged into the room. Missy ran up to Galia, holding in her hand a set of papers. I figured she’d still be out like me. In fact, she should have still been out. I didn’t know exactly how Vic used my powers when he stripped them from me, probably because I passed out pretty quickly. But I did see how he used Missy’s and the extent of it. She should have been drained to hell.

I walked over to the pair.

“Got those copies you asked for, Galia,” Missy beamed, handing off the papers to our Commander. I shook my head. She always loved being helpful. Hence why she was my go to girl. It didn’t matter if she was uneasy about the things I asked her to do sometimes. Her loyalty came in bounds.

Galia took the copies. “Thank you, Missy. I appreciate you missing the meeting to do these for me. I really need them.”

Missy was allowed at the meetings too like myself. Though I think that was more for me as I couldn’t contribute much, and she was my friend.

Missy waved Galia’s comment off of course, then let Galia pass her. Missy looked a bit star stuck from the attention of the Commander. She had to have been because she didn’t notice me standing not a foot away from her. She turned, and nearly jumped out of her sandals.

“Rory,” she said, plastering on a crooked grin. “You’re up. Good to see.”

Why was I not so sure? That grin seemed very… forced. Missy never could lie. I cocked my head. “Yeah, I’m up. But why are you up? I saw what Vic did with your powers. That had to have taken a lot out of you.”

Biting her lip, she looked away and warning signals went off in my brain. I shook her arm. “Missy? Why are you up, and why I am just now waking up? What’s going on? Tell me.”

Sighing, she rubbed her arm. “Well. Vic, he…” she said, the words coming out in a whisper. “Vic drained you more than me.”

What. Tell. Hell.

Clenching my teeth, I whipped to spit fire in the form of insults at him, but there was no trace of him, his space at the table clear of his stuff. If he thought he could avoid a confrontation that easily he had another thing coming.

I left Missy’s side.

“Don’t be too mad at him, Rory,” Missy said behind me. “He covered for us. You and what happened last week.”

My boots froze. Did she say… I turned, my heart racing, my blood fuming. I assumed I had only been out a few hours. A day tops, but not… Not… I raced back to Missy and she jumped when I grabbed her shoulders.

“How long did he put my out?” I asked, though I already had an idea. I remember what day Missy and I ventured out into the city. I remembered because I mentally documented everything about those days we went out. One tended to do that when they knew they’d face unknown elements, uncertainty to what you’d find or even if you’d return. You remembered the most mundane things. Yes, I remember that day clearly. I should have known something was off when I found out about today’s meeting. Our meetings were only on weekends, and I had a feeling today was a weekend.

Missy went real small in my hands after my words, dipping her head before she responded. She said two words: “Four days.”