Barcode: Cavern of Youth (40 page)

The nails hardly make a scratch. Removing the lollipop, I exclaim, “I knew that’s why you were wearing armor.”

Dennis whips around with a hook, followed by a jab. He connects a low uppercut to Talib’s stomach and uses the same hand to grapple Talib’s neck. He violently squeezes the wind pipe between his hands.

When the lion reaches for Dennis’ arms, he throws the beast to the ground. Dennis stomps him out while speaking in his creepy double voice, “I warned you not to come near my son.”

“He is not your son,” Talib says while catching Dennis’ foot and pushing him away.

The prophet stands up. He’s bleeding from the mouth and his left eye. Dennis regains his composure, but continues breathing wearily. “He is.”

“That boy murdered Spencer!”

“I love both of my children, and I always will.”

Talib roars, “Spencer was not your child either!”

Dennis’ voice returns and trembles as he asks, “What did you say?”

“Spencer,” Talib cries. “He was not your son either. These boys are abominations and Okodemah did what I should have, killed Spencer. Now, it’s time for him to go as well.”

“Why wasn’t he my son? Why?!”

Talib converts into an exact replica of Dennis, with his possessed arm and all. Matching Dennis’ tone, Talib says, “Spencer was my sin. I secretly loved Beth. One day, while you were away on business, I gave into my weakness. When Takashi realized that we can have children with humans, he made a deal with Eve to experiment. He created the demon with you now.”

Dennis releases a high pitched scream. Talib grabs his heart tightly and shakes his head, “No. Not so soon!”

The beast is losing himself, and Dennis is too. My father charges Talib. Though I try grabbing his arm, he’s too quick. Dennis leaps towards Talib but is swatted away by a beast with Takashi’s face and Talib’s body. The remainder of the transformation completes as the lion’s fur vanishes.

Takashi raises his hands and a cloak perfectly falls on his body. Nevaeh and another monkey run down the stairs. The new girl is three times Nevaeh’s size and wears a small red cloak. Her face is half cat.

The cat-monkey laces the cloak for Takashi and Nevaeh covers his head with the hood. They both silently stand far behind him.

With tears pouring on the ground, Dennis pleads, “Run Kay. Run now.”

“Do not call my brother
Kay
. Okodemah,” he says while turning to me, “I have never been bothered by you shortening your name, but Kay removes all power from it.”

The tiger presses his foot firmly against Dennis’ face. I hear a cracking sound that must mean he’s seriously damaging Dennis’ possessed form. When my dad releases a mournful wail, I assume that he’s being killed.

“Stop!” My voice echoes inside of the large area.

Takashi immediately removes his foot and glides towards me. The large beast towers over my small frame. Nevaeh and her monkey friend trail behind him.

I lean my back against the rock. Takashi is a master of MMIBS. He taught me everything I know about it. Once he strikes the rock behind me, it turns into a stone couch. I fall back on to it and he sits with me.

“You seem tired, brother. Rest.”

“I have questions.”

“It’s obvious that your eyes have provided you with most of the information that you need, but I’ll tell you my purpose. First, your questions.”

“If Talib is my enemy, shouldn’t I just kill you to stop him? Can’t you do it for me?” I ask with a smirk.

“We are not linked together. Talib is a Moreno experiment that went wrong. That evil family slipped his DNA into me, instead of drawing mine out. If you kill me, he will escape, unharmed.”

“Why’d you do all this? Why Eve? Why are you calling me brother when you’re my father?”

Takashi covers his ears as though he hears an annoying sound in his head. After shaking it off he replies, “You are not my son, please never refer to yourself as such. Liminal beings are direct descendents of The Writer. You are His son.”

“You already know how I feel—”

“I do. And I apologize for mentioning something you have no faith in, but I only told you because you asked. Now, it’s time for you to hear why I’m here. My blood and semen are divine ink. I am written word brought to life. I produced you alongside of Monte to hide you from the others. Talib did so in human form, making Spencer weaker. I am an animal king and I mated in this form, creating you. I chose Eve, of all detestable people in the world, because of her connection with the one boy that started this war. You know I enjoy irony.”

I nod and take in his words while closing my eyes. I still don’t believe The Writer garbage, but the other information is interesting.

“That’s a horrible family you left me with.”

Talib shakes his head, but not in disgust. He knew what he was doing all along. “I was confident you wouldn’t stay with them. Your father knew about my betrayal because of his ability. He confronted me and we fought a fearsome battle. Wounded and bleeding to death, he admitted that he’d like to see a change in this world also. Blake convinced your mother that Monte was my child. I reworded my prophesy to assist him by saying,
the boy with the largest tattoo will be The Writer’s child.
”

“You lied.”

“No. I did not lie at all. Your strength is only limited by your vision. The more you see, the larger your barcode becomes. Blake understood this truth, which is why he named you Okodemah—son of The Writer.”

“What if Talib’s prophesy is true?” I look down at Dennis. He’s listening to everything and fighting desperately to lift his head from the ground. The possession has vanished and the bones in his face are fractured. “What if I don’t want to help with the war and somehow I gain the ability to end the world?”

Surprisingly, Takashi chuckles under his breath. I’ve never heard him laugh in my life. “In all honesty, that is what I hope for.”

Takashi folds his arms in his jacket and walks up the stairs without another word.

As I help Dennis, he stutters, “You’re not paralyzed.” He cries openly, but he shelters his undeniable pain within a genuine smile. “How?”

It takes some time, but I walk my dad to the hospital and get him the medical attention he needs.

Twenty Eight

When I make it home, I have a full house of women. My life has truly evolved into a hell. I once envied Spencer for having multiple girls after him. I regret that wholeheartedly.

But here’s the strange thing, after all the time I spent preparing myself to enter the apartment, nothing happens. When I walk in, all the ladies continue talking and greet me as though I were never injured. I wave silently. For a brief second, I open my eyes and take in all of their amazing color.

Before Angie looks over, I close them again. “What’s wrong?” she asks calmly. “Oh. We just had dinner. You didn’t tell us when you’d get here.”

She’s helping Hayley load the dishes. Though Hayley’s putting up a great front, she can’t speak. If she does, it’ll turn into rage or a flood of tears. That will likely cause the others to cry with her. I prefer the silence.

“I need a serious shower,” I stutter.

Cautiously, I stroll through the room.

“Cool. I’ll make you something for when you get out,” Hayley articulates loudly.

Angie holds Hayley’s hand sweetly. Carmen continues flipping through the channels and waves at me without turning around.

Hayley’s voice booms as she states, “I do want to say one thing.” That obviously took some effort, but she doesn’t continue. As a motivator, Angie elbows her in the ribs. The pain is enough to make her cough up the rest, “I was really proud when you kicked her ass. But here’s the thing, sweetie, you can’t keep going into matches looking to get hurt. I know you’re a tough guy and all, but you probably could have surprised her with a few punches and beaten her without any effort.”

Angie smiles and leans on the kitchen counter. “Nice, but stop telling him how to beat me.”

Now, Hayley’s too distracted to care about my recovery. She blabbers, “No. He needs to know. I never want to see you take that much damage on purpose again. It was fine against Arnold, but as you move up in the world, it’s going to be taxing on your body. That’s why....” her eyes water and she stares at the bandages.

“Okay,” I reply with a smile. “Wait, no. The punches really push me. It stirs up my blood and gets me motivated.”

Hayley rushes over to me shouting, “No way! You’re motivated by pain?”

“It’s all I know.”

“I hate to say this, but keep doing it. If taking a punch is what helps you up, go for it. But, dodge the ones near your face and vital organs. You can move around to avoid the direct hits while still feeling the attacker’s power.”

“That’s not a bad idea. Taking that blow to the back of my head was rough.”

“Exactly! Now go take a shower because you stink.” I kiss Hayley on the cheek. She screams with a magnificent smile and rushes back to the sink to wipe off the dirt. As I enter the bathroom she yells, “I still love the kiss, but you’re filthy.”

A few minutes into my shower, I hear a knock on my door. It’s Professor Gardezi and he’s looking for me.

I drain the tub and allow the bandages to dry for five minutes.

The girls make him a snack and cram onto the couch together. Carmen flips through the channels, but Hayley makes her turn back to the news. They’re showing my interview with Janet. Angie watches it intensively. She seems much more serious than I thought she’d be. It isn’t until she hears my final line about her and Seth that she finally breaks a smile. Hayley leans over and squeezes her shoulders gently.

Still drying my dreads, I walk out to greet my professor. “Hey Gardezi.” He laughs at my Texas Borders neonball shorts. I know he’s a Smogmen fan.

“Kay! Glad to see you’re doing okay, little man.” He slaps me on the shoulder affectionately.

“Thanks,” I cringe as the pain stretches across my entire body. When Gardezi folds his arms, I notice a really bad cut on his forearm that didn’t heal properly. Normally, he’d wear his long sleeved shirts down to his wrists, but he’s also the type of guy that enjoys showing off his battle scars. His sleeves are rolled up for a reason. “What happened to your arm?”

Gardezi slowly covers his right hand with his left and hangs his head. “That’s kind of why I came here. I want to apologize for the fight you had to put up and say I’m sorry for the injuries you endured.”

“No problem. It’s not your fault.”

“Actually, it is. I’m the one that put you on the search team.”

“So?”

“Didn’t you hear? Maria’s been locked up for creating those monsters and letting them free. I’m the one that had to capture her.” He uncovers his scar. I imagine that capturing that psychotic woman would lead to more problems than a grotesquely bruised arm.

“No. I’m sure Gonzales wouldn’t attack me. Plus, she couldn’t have made that many creatures.”

“She admitted that they were hers, but denies letting them loose.”

Carmen interrupts, “Why would she shoot him with a tranq?”

“What?” Gardezi looks perplexed. He scratches the back of his head and keeps his eyes glued to Carmen.

She runs between us and removes a small device, no larger than my pinky, from her pouch. “When I worked on Kay, I pulled this out of his neck. It was invisible to the naked eye, but we found it during his first body scan. Seth ran tests on it and discovered traces of benzodiazepine and other powerful chemicals.”

Gardezi lowers his head and sighs as he removes the empty tranquilizer from her hand.

“What’s wrong?” I ask.

He runs his finger across the needle on the edge of the device and while examining it. “Nothing. You mind if I take this and look into it?”

“You know who makes these, don’t you.”

“Yeah. Jules.”

“How’d you know it was Gonzales’ creatures with so many other scientist in the area?”

“I found out—after speaking with Jules—that she was upset you ruined the mission over some little girl. She planned to get her revenge.”

“How did I ruin the mission?”

Gardezi rests his large hand on the crown of my head. “You never brought back the computers and the lab was destroyed. Did Angie knock out your memory?”

“But you didn’t really want the computers. You wanted the location of the lab in Florida.”

Gardezi’s eyes light up. Even Atlas’ tattoo on his back shines momentarily.

“You have the coordinates?”

“We all have them,” I say while looking at the girls. “I texted it to everyone before we entered the building.”

A beaming smile stretches across Carmen’s watermelon lips as she removes her phone from her pocket. She enters the date of the mission and searches through her list of text messages. Then, she shows Gardezi the text I sent her outside of the building.

“Those are just random numbers.” He waves his hand to dismiss her phone.

“Yeah, but add all three text messages and you’ll have the coordinates for the location.”

Angie smacks me in the back of the head and flares, “You mean we never had to go in?”

“Ow. And yes. They told you and Monte to bring the computers, right? My purpose was to get you past security.”

Gardezi lifts me into the air and spins me around. “Well, I have a mission for you.”

“I bet you do.”

“Are you up for it?”

“Hell yeah. I need to get that information to prove Gonzales had nothing to do with the attack.”

“Why do you insist on that? You think Jules is behind it; don’t you? He’s not that bad of a guy. Someone could be setting him up too.”

“No. I’m just aware of how much she loves those animals. She’d never send that many after me. If she wanted revenge, she’d release the one she’s breeding on the seventh floor. She started feeding him mortal level barcodes still attached to their human hosts just to see if he could give me a challenge. Last I checked, he was four times your size and she often rides on his shoulders. It’s a twisted relationship.”

Gardezi slaps his hands together. “I’ll help you in any way I can. I’ll call the prison tomorrow and stop them from transferring her upstate until we get this cleared up. Make sure your team’s ready to go tomorrow.”