Shifters (Shifters series Book 1) (31 page)

Chapter 45

Home and Family

–TANNER–

I’m completely broken. Devon is gone. Peanut is gone. I can
’
t let her little body go. Her precious little eyes are staring at me. I can
’
t stand it anymore. I place my hand over them, gently close them, and hold her to me. I’m sobbing inconsolably. I try, but I can
’
t stop. Somebody touches my back. I have no idea who it is. I kiss Peanut’s dusty hair. Her beautiful hair. I can
’
t believe Devon is gone. Why couldn
’
t I save her? Why couldn
’
t I save my sister? I hold my precious little sister to me.

I feel someone
’
s hand under my arm. What are they doing?

“She
’
s gone, son.”

I rip my arm from them and scream, “No!” I hold her close to me. I can
’
t let her go.

“It
’
s okay. You can hold her,” my dad tells me.

I hold her close to me and stumble to my feet. Everything’s blurred. The air’s thick with dust and dirt, and my eyes are heavy with sweat and tears. I won
’
t let her go. Her arms are limp. Her legs dangle at my side. I won
’
t let her go.

There are so many people. Some are soaked in mud. Others are completely covered in gray ash. Someone comes up to me and wipes my eyes and my face. It
’
s my mom. I try to smile at her, to thank her, but nothing comes out. I can see a little better now. Ryland’s covered in gray ash, her face streaked with tears. Her eyes are glistening, and her breathing is erratic. I didn
’
t even notice it before, but there’s someone holding a dented and cracked news camera covered in gray soot.

Ryland stares them down and screams, “Get that thing out of my face!”

The guy walks backward slowly then jerks back and forth between me and my sister.

Ryland launches herself at him and shoves him backward, screaming, “Is this what you want?” He falls back into a group of unrecognizable people. “Is this entertaining? Are you enjoying my family
’
s pain?” He backs off.

I look over and see Chucky and Frederick covered with the same gray ash. They’re just standing there. They look like some strange collection of Medusa
’
s victims. Melinda is next to them, sobbing uncontrollably. Her long gray curls stick to her face as her chest heaves. Dust falls from her, strangely dancing in the wind with every movement.

Her pained expression and quivering lips bring me back slightly. Everyone here has lost something. Everyone here
is
lost. Her lips quiver like she
’
s trying to talk, but she can
’
t. I look around and see everyone is hurting. Some weep on the ground next to torn bodies. Others cry out desperately for some relief from their suffering. I look back at Melinda. She looks like she
’
s trying to talk. Frederick and Chucky haven
’
t moved.

“I
’
m so sorry,” Melinda finally gets out.

What? I
’
m holding my lifeless sister. Devon has disappeared into the sky. We
’
re all sorry.

Melinda is sobbing and trying to keep breathing, “She was trying to get to you when . . .”

“When what?” I ask.

Chucky breaks his surreal pose and says, “She couldn
’
t just sit and watch anymore so . . . we went with her.”

“Alice?” Ryland asks.

“She loved you, Tanner. She had to help Ryland. You two were her family, her brother and sister,” Melinda says through her sobs.

Frederick finally moves and tells me, “When they found us, she fought. She was strong, but they were too fast. We were captured, and she ran.”

“Alice?” Ryland says again.

Melinda drops to her knees, crying uncontrollably and screams, “She
’
s dead. We heard the whole thing. They killed her. They told us if we ran they
’
d kill us too.” She looks up at me through her tears and cries, “I
’
m so sorry, Ryland. I
’
m sorry, Tanner.”

What are they talking about?

“Alice is okay,” I tell them. “She was on TV. That
’
s how we knew you were captured.”

“What?” Melinda says looking up at me. She looks up to Ryland with a glimmer of hope in her eyes. She sucks in a broken breath and questions, “She
’
s safe?”

Ryland shakes her head slowly and lets out a slight, quick laugh. The action is completely out of place in the midst of the destruction surrounding us.

“No,” she says to one of her childhood friends.

She turns back to me and shakes her head saying, “No.”

She turns around to look at the hurting and broken people and yells, “No!”

She looks across the crowd of people and yells, “We are not safe! Don
’
t you see? Not you!” Then, she says in almost a whisper, “Not your family.”

Someone in the crowd says, “But Tanner brought them down.”

“This time,” she says directly to the ash-covered crowd. “Don
’
t you see?”

Now everyone is looking up to her as she climbs a pile of debris, the remains of a car or helicopter. It
’
s almost impossible to tell.

“The only reason you
’
re still alive. The only reason any of us are still alive is because of their stupidity,” she says, shaking her head at them and chuckling darkly to herself. She swings around to the side to get everyone
’
s attention and continues as she slams her fist to her chest, which releases a small cloud of dust that swirls around her in the wind. “Our hearts are still beating because of a . . . miscalculation.” She grows louder as she tells them, “The only reason we can take one more breath is because of their arrogance!”

She climbs higher on the pile and screams, “They’re still out there. Can
’
t you see? If you think for one minute, we’re safe, you’re insane! If you think for a moment that they
’
re not out there right now planning to come back, then there
’
s no hope.”

She pauses and surveys the scene. Her voice carries through the rubble, “When they do . . . they won’t make the same mistake! They’ll exterminate us!” From the top of the heap of broken vehicles, Ryland searches the disheartened faces of the survivors as they realize the truth.

Then, she holds her chin up and yells, “But THIS is
my
home! YOU are
my family
!”

She looks over to me holding my broken little sister and says, “These are our sisters. These are our brothers. Our mothers. Our fathers. And if
anyone
comes to hurt our family, I
’
m gonna fight!”

She motions for us to come closer. We all walk forward and gather around the debris surrounding her; then, she continues, “It
’
s up to you. Are we family?”

“I am,” a single voice calls out.

She looks at the young girl and nods, saying, “Then I’m your sister.”

Another calls out, “I am.”

She looks at the teenage boy and tells him, “You’re my brother.”

Then several others call out in a symphony of agreement, “I am.” “I am.” “I am.” Ryland stands there for several moments as all in the crowd join in the song of hope.

I turn to my mom and gently release Penelope from my body. It
’
s time to let her go. Mom reaches out to take her and ever so gently cradles her only true daughter in her arms. Her eyes well up immediately.

I climb up next to Ryland, and she takes my hand.

Devon’s still alive somewhere. I’m going to find her. If it takes my whole life, I’ll spend it searching.

Ryland looks me deep in the eyes and, knowing exactly what I
’
m thinking, says, “We
’
ll find her.
”

At that moment, with my sister by my side, we both look to the sky, and I know somehow, someway, Devon and I
will
be together again.

We will defeat the Shifters. We will make them pay. We
will
fulfill the prophecy.

This generation, a Shifter will arise,

Hidden amongst the lost and lies.

A great many will see

The life that could be.

The universe will shake;

The greatest among us will quake.

The towers will fall.

The ruled will rule all.

Epilogue

Brandi walked along the cold blue stones at the edge of the yellow stream every morning on her way to work. She worked at a factory that produced uniforms for the Shifter “Peace Patrols.” Every day, she slaved, and her back ached.

It was a good job according to her parents. She was lucky to have work. She was lucky to be on Colony Ten where the air was fresh and the wilderness loomed like a beautiful painting just outside her door.

They were right. She should be satisfied with her ordinary life, her ordinary job, her ordinary apartment, her ordinary friends. After all, she was Ordinary.

Somehow, though, something was gnawing away at her, making her discontent. She’d always lived this life. Her parents on Colony Four had it much worse. The pollution produced from the mining on their planet was making them very ill.

She’d been lucky to move to Ten. The air was fresh and clean. The wildlife was lovely. She should be enjoying her wonderful, blessed life.

The stones pricked at her bare feet, and she stared past her gray smock to look at them. She wondered briefly about saving up to buy a pair of shoes, but quickly tossed the thought away. Shoes were a luxury she simply could not afford. Luxury was not meant for Ordinaries, or that
’
s what she’d always heard growing up on Four.

When she emerged from the small wood she walked through every morning to the colorful city that contained the warehouse in which she worked, she ducked right away. One of the Peace Patrol officers was inspecting the morning commuters.

He was a young Shifter with a crooked nose and wandering hands. He had a poor reputation with the Ordinary women, not that the Shifter overlords would do anything about it. Supposedly, one of the women
’
s husbands attacked him, and the Shifter strangled him before stringing him up naked in the town square on Nine. That
’
s why he
’
s here now. Apparently, he needed to be reassigned.

Brandi may not have been a Shifter, but she was a particularly pretty young woman. Her dark brown hair fell in curls down her back the same way the stream snaked through the woods. Her blue eyes were almost luminescent.

She was pretty enough to attract Officer Garrett
’
s unwanted attention. Not that he was too picky. His wandering hands were blind, or so she
’
d heard.

Officer Garrett was, at that moment, cornering a girl that Brandi knew was no older than sixteen. She was backed into a corner, frightened, trying desperately to keep her voice polite. Being rude or offensive to a Shifter in any way was the quickest way to earn yourself a death sentence—a transfer to Colony Twelve.

Brandi ducked behind the stall of a merchant selling gray smocks. She got a glare from the vender, but he didn
’
t say anything, noting the proximity of the officer. He wouldn
’
t do that to her.

She felt guilty about allowing the officer to harass the poor girl who, like Brandi, worked long hard hours in the uniform factory. She, too, would have hands riddled with pricks and a back which ached morning and night.

She should’ve attracted the officer
’
s attention and freed the girl, but she couldn
’
t bring herself to do it. She didn’t want his attention, so she looked away. She pretended she hadn
’
t seen anything unjust. She did exactly as she was trained to do. She was, after all, only Ordinary.

When she finally arrived, she had her eyes scanned by the Shifter who oversaw their operations. He frowned down at her. “You’re late.”

“My schedule said to report at 5 AM, sir,” Brandi mumbled meekly.

“Incorrect. I typed those schedules myself after I fired my useless, brainless Ordinary secretary,” he snapped.

“Yes, sir. I apologize, sir. I will not be late again, sir,” Brandi pleaded fearfully.

“See that you aren’t, or I’ll have you sent back to Two or Seven or wherever you came from!” he threatened as Brandi cowered and scampered inside.

“What was that about?” Brandi
’
s new friend Melanie asked in hushed tones.

“I was late,”
Brandi mumbled.

“Were you really? Or was your schedule wrong?” Melanie asked, rolling her eyes. “This guy’s an idiot. Just because he
’
s a Shifter . . .”

“Don
’
t talk like that!” Brandi snapped, glancing around furtively. “If someone reports you . . .” Brandi shuddered at the thought. They would both be . . . God only knew what would happen to them if they were reported spreading slander about a Shifter.

“Don
’
t freak. We won
’
t have to worry about it after today,” Melanie said ominously, slinking off to her work station.

Brandi was left wondering what Melanie meant by her strange comments. Perhaps, Melanie was not such a wise friend for Brandi to have. Perhaps, she was someone better to avoid in the future.

Brandi sat down to work at her station, hunched over the fabric, staring into its strange shifting depths. Her back was aching, and her mind reeling as she completed her monotonous task.

At lunch, Brandi avoided sitting with Melanie in their usual corner and sat with some of the more quiet workers. They were safer choices for friends. Brandi was unlikely to be reported for sitting with quiet, dedicated workers.

After lunch, work continued long into the night. As the light faded, it was harder to distinguish the painstaking stitching in the odd black fabric. She made more mistakes. Everyone did.

At around 9 PM, she heard her boss screaming his head off. She tried not to look up. It was none of her business who was in trouble or for what. She didn’t need to know.

Then, she heard a familiar voice yelling back at their Shifter taskmaster. It was Melanie.

Brandi couldn’t help it now, she looked up. Melanie was standing, inches from their boss
’
s face, screaming about how useless he was.

Brandi felt bile creeping up the back of her throat. This would not end well for Melanie. She couldn’t believe Melanie had the gall to do something like this open rebellion.

Melanie lifted her smock, still shouting something incomprehensible at their boss. Then Brandi saw it. There were red lights flashing along the strange contraption Melanie had under her clothes.

The Shifter panicked, but before even he could move, there was a flash. For a moment, everything was white. Then, the world of light faded, and there was only darkness.