Halfkinds Volume 1: Contact (25 page)

For a brief moment, he snaps out
of his dazed behavior and has a moment of clarity.  Talking about his team
triggers something in him.

“So, what happened to your team?”
I ask.

“I… I left them,” he said.

“You left them?  How?”

“I snuck away.  I didn’t even go
and fight.  I got scared. During training, they showed us movies to prep us
up.  I saw videos of the war, lions getting their heads blown off from all
sorts of weapons I didn’t even know existed.  I wasn’t ready for it, I would never
be.  I’m no fighter, I wouldn’t survive one day out there.  I left the training
grounds and took the first teleporter I could away before they could shipped me
off to battle.  Never fought a gorilla in my life.”

“What happened to your friends?”

“What about them?”

“You said they were your brothers,
your family, you left them?”

“Of course I did.  I wasn’t going
to die because of some silly pact.”

“Wow, you really have no honor
then.  I guess the outside world really is a shitty place.”

“What the hell are you talking
about?” he says as his voice rises.

“You ran off.  You’re afraid of
death,” I say.

“Yeah, whatever, like you aren’t.”

“I’m not afraid of death, I
welcome it.  I welcome it so much that I invite it in so that it can take my
place instead of the people I love.  How could you leave the lions you call
your brothers to die alone?”

The lion stands up.  He shakes his
head and inches closer to me.  My face is still obscured, but if he keeps at it
he’ll know what I am.

“Don’t talk to me, you shit,” he
says.  “Try and judge me about how I shouldn’t leave.  What the fuck do you
know about family and courage?!”

“I know more than you’ll ever
know!” I yell.  It catches him off guard and scares him.  He steps back but
maintains his ground.

“You don’t know jack shit about
me,” he says defiantly.

“I don’t need to,” I say.  “I know
that you left your family behind right before they needed you most.  You made a
pact with each other and you broke it.  They could be dead and your promise
meant nothing.  You aren’t their family, you’re a nobody.”

“Shut up!  I’d do anything for
those guys.  I mean it when I call them my brothers.  I got scared.  I was
thinking and thinking and thinking, and my nerves got the best of me okay?”

“Yeah, sure.  You did a lot of
thinking, but it was only about yourself.  You are a coward.”

“Hey, fuck you!”

His curse echoes faintly through
the sky.

“So what if I left them?” he
says.  “We’re all in in it for ourselves, pal.  You think they give two shits
about me?  Show me one creature who wouldn’t do the same thing I did!”

I step from the shadows and take
off my hood.  My face and body are now clearly visible to him.  I tower over
him like an ant, my hands protrude from my sleeves and my claws stick out.  I
give him a demented smile to make sure he sees my razor sharp teeth.

He looks at me with utter terror
in his eyes.  His face shakes and he steps back slowly, but with each step he
walks faster, and faster, and faster, until he’s far enough to sprint away.  I
stare at him until he is out of my view completely.

“Just as I thought,” I say to
myself.  I put my hood back on and continue on my path.  It should only take me
a few more minutes until I’m there.

November 17, 3040
1:16 AM

The bear halfkind, Oscar, looks
like he has thrown in the towel.  I can tell from his body language he knows
his fight is over.  Commander Trevor has made it clear that he, his brothers,
and sisters are to remain alive.  Simon has always followed an admirable code
of conduct and this order doesn’t surprise me.  After all, how right would it
be to murder a defenseless group of creatures, especially after they had
already surrendered?

“Hey, can I ask you a question?” A
disheveled Oscar asks Commander Trevor.

“Sure, what is it?” he responds.

“How come…”  But he never finishes
the question.  I hear a shrill pop and I instantaneously see his body jerk back
fiercely.  Small flecks of red fly from his skull.  And then, his head slumps down
and his body slouches.

“What the hell happened?!”
Commander Trevor yells.  “Apollo, get over there and check his vitals!!”

“Got it!”

I dash to him and call for my
bioscanner.  A sensor emits from my helmet and scans his body.  When it’s done,
a holographic screen pops open with the results and I hurriedly review them.  I
am hopeful for the best, but the output doesn’t lie.

“He’s dead,” I tell Commander
Trevor.

A loud bawling erupts from the
mouth of the cow halfkind, Maddie Lawton, and echoes throughout the casino. 
She falls to her knees and uncontrollably weeps in despair.

The two cat halfkinds, Iris and
Isaac Lawton, don’t whisper a peep.  They look too shaken by the events to even
emit a reaction.

“What happened, what happened?!”
Commander Trevor yells demandingly.

“The scanner says it’s a fatality
via gunshot wound to the head,” I say.

“Borton…” the Commander says
grudgingly.  We both look at the suspected murderer.   “It was you!”

His gun is smoking from the plasma
it has fired.  He stands defiantly tall, in a firm position.  He doesn’t even
bat a lash at Maddie Lawton who continues to sob wildly.  His eyes narrow and
his face sneers with disgust.

“I did what you couldn’t,
Commander.”

“What I couldn’t?” Commander
Trevor asks angrily.  “You disobeyed an order!  I specifically said no one was
to die!”

“I disobeyed your order,” Borton
says.  “But I followed the orders given to me.  Hunt and kill, remember?”

“Those weren’t my instructions!”

“I don’t care about your
instructions.  I only care about my superiors and that’s not you.  You’re just
my teammate.”

“He’s our commander,” I snap
back.  “You have to report to him.  What you did could get you discharged from
the mission.”

Borton looks at me smugly.  “Fine,
go ahead, tell on me, you suck up.  But what are you going to do, really?  Try
to get me in trouble for subordination?  I was doing what the United Species
Alliance asked me to do.  You really think they’re going to side against me in
this argument?  I did them a favor.”

Commander Trevor kicks a chair in
frustration.  It falls and slides across the floor.  “What you did was cold
blooded murder!”

“What I did was my job,” Borton
responds.

“But, he was about to say
something,” I interject.  “He could have given us valuable information.”

“He wasn’t going to give us jack
shit,” Borton says bluntly.  “Even if we tortured the poor bastard, I doubt he
would’ve talked.”

“It wasn’t your call!” Simon
yells.  He walks away in disgust, hands on his head and paces around to cool
his temper.  Borton looks at him apathetically, while I observe the situation. 
I’m still appalled by what has gone down.

I can’t believe Borton disobeyed
the Commander.  I’m even more surprised that he killed Oscar so callously.  I
know we were given orders by the Alliance, but I agree with Commander Trevor. 
They were restrained, we had the situation under control.  It was wrong to fire
on Oscar.  I don’t believe Borton’s whole ‘I’m carrying out my duty’ shtick. 
He executed someone.

“Why are you so determined to kill
them?” I ask Borton.  “It seems that’s more important to you than following
orders.”

He looks at me suspiciously. 
“None of your business, dog.”

“There is something else then?  I
believe you have a hidden agenda.”

Borton looks even angrier than
before.  “You can believe what you want to believe, but I’m not talking.”

“Or… firing mode,” I say.  A gun barrel
protrudes from my helmet.  “You can tell me why you want them dead.”

Borton suddenly looks afraid and
yells, “Commander, are you seeing this?  Tell him to put his weapon away!”

Simon looks at me and shrugs. 
“Proceed, Apollo.  I’d be worried about him.  Unlike you, Borton, he’s good at
following orders.”

I shoot him a smile and then shift
my focus back to Borton.  “So, tell us!”

I see sweat trickle down his brow.

“All right, all right!  I did it
because I don’t get my fee unless the mission is fulfilled!” he blurts out. 
“If there are any left alive, then this mission isn’t fulfilled, is it?!”

“That’s what this is about,
getting paid?” I ask irately.  I put my weapon from firing mode back to safe
mode.

“That’s what it’s always about,”
Borton says.  “Don’t tell me you don’t get any compensation for these jobs.”

I stare at him blankly.

“Wow, you dogs really do get taken
for a ride.  Guess the whole ‘man’s best dope’ stereotype is true,” he says.

“And I guess you pigs get the
reputation you deserve,” I reply.  “Greedy bastard.”

“Watch it, dog,” he warns me.

“So that’s all you are, Borton?”
Commander Trevor says, “Just a hired gun?”

“Don’t do that,” Borton retorts back. 
“You both act like you’re better than me, because you hide behind that veil of
your honorable service.  But when it comes down to it, you’re no different. 
I’m just smart enough to make some credits off of it.”

“Whatever, you’re a low life mercenary,”
I say.

“I don’t care what you think,
brownnoser,” he shoots back.

“Enough!” Commander Trevor says
with a raised voice.  He pauses to collect his thoughts.  “I’m not going to
judge your motivations, Borton, but your actions defied my direct commands and
I won’t stand for that.  From now on, you will listen to me at all times.  If
you’re worried about the Alliance, don’t be.  You should be worrying about me
first.  And, you will treat your squad mates with respect.  If you continue to
have this attitude, if you fail to follow one more order given by me, I’ll have
you off this team in a heartbeat.  You can practically kiss that paycheck good
bye.”

Borton looks at him cautiously. 
He’s trying to determine if he should call Simon’s bluff.

“All right, Commander,” he says. 
“You win.  No more renegade actions.”

“Good.  You can make up for what
you did by cuffing the others.  If I see you harm a single hair on them, you’re
done.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he says
dismissively.

As Borton approaches the rest of
the family, I notice something odd about Maddie Lawton.  She’s no longer
weeping, but what’s strange is that it happened so suddenly.  A few minutes
ago, she was crying her brains out and now she’s as quiet as can be.  She might
have calmed down when the three of us were arguing, but I’m not sure.

Her facial expression is even more
peculiar.  Her eyes are bugged out and her head is shaking.  She’s on one knee
and her hands, which are very human like, are placed firmly on the ground, like
tree trunks.  Her posture is intense.

That’s when I notice an item in
her hand.  It’s rusted, long and narrow, like a stick.  I take a closer glance
and realize it’s a piece of debris that resulted from our assault.  She grips
it tightly, but I’m unsure why she has it.

If I had more time to analyze the
situation, I would’ve realized what she was about to do.  But because we spent
so many minutes arguing, I didn’t keep track of her movements.  It is now that
I realize what she is planning and I only have a few seconds to react.  But I
am too slow.

Borton is only a few feet away
from her.  In a savage moment, she jumps towards him, rod clutched tightly with
both hands, and jams it straight into an exposed area on his neck.  He is
caught off guard and probably doesn’t even know what hit him until after the
metal stick is already lodged in his head.  He squeals out and falls to the
ground, rolling in agonizing pain.  Blood spews out of his neck like a water
fountain on a hot summer day.

Maddie still has her hands grasped
on the rod and her attention turns to the Commander.  She starts to lunge at
him the same way she did at Borton, but before she makes it to another victim,
I say “Fire!”

A shot from my helmet goes
careening out of the barrel and makes its way directly to her head.  It knocks
her off her feet and blood flies across the room on impact.  Her body lands
hard on the ground and ends up in a contorted position.  Now two halfkinds are
dead.

“Are you okay Commander?” I ask
him.

He ignores everything and rushes
to Borton.  He’s still squirming on the floor, flopping around like a fish out
of water.  I hurry over to see if I can help.

Commander Trevor uses his hand to
cover the wound and tries to contain Borton, but it’s difficult because he’s
moving around too much.  Simon’s palms are painted a crimson red and more blood
flows everywhere.  The red liquid seeps through his fingers and a pool starts
to form under Borton.

“Apollo, I’ll take care of Borton,
go restrain the others,” Simon says.

But when I look to where they are,
something horrifies me - they’re not there.

“Commander, the twins are gone!” I
yell.

“Shit!” Simon screams.  “What else
can go wrong?  Apollo, there’s no way they could’ve gone far.  You need to find
and capture them at all costs.  Use whatever tools you have at your disposal,
just get it done.  I’ll stay here and try to treat Borton’s wounds.”

I look at Borton.  His screaming
is fading by the seconds, his skin has turned pale.  He’s already lost a lot of
blood and I literally see life draining from his dead eyes.

“Um, Commander,” I say trying to
make him see the obvious.

“Just go!” he yells.

That’s my cue.  I equip my scent
booster and sniff the area.  Within a few seconds, I have a lock on their trail
and follow it.  It leads me out the back door and into the alley from which
Borton and I had entered.  I look around and see no signs of them.