Chapter 27: Insurrection

“M-my God…,” Seth Morgan breathed as the medic raised the young woman’s gray shirt, revealing a marred flap of bloody, discolored skin. “Wh-what the hell happened?”

“I-It’s a long story,” Alice rasped as the physician continued his work.

With as many times as her skin had been pierced by now, she was beginning to lose a bit of feeling in the edges of her wound. She wasn’t sure if that was ultimately a good or a bad thing.

“It was a lion,” Vincent spoke, drawing the young soldier’s attention.

Seth felt his jaw drop. “A what?!”

A yelp from Alice silenced the two boys.

Seth winced, quickly averting his eyes from the grisly sight. He was honestly unsure if it was due to the horrific nature of the wound, or the pitiful, whimpering cries leaking from the blonde’s lips. He also took note of how she clung to Vincent’s hand like a lifeline, almost desperate in its intensity.

A part of him wasn’t so certain he wanted to know the details. Hell, he was unsure if he would even be able to handle them. Clearing his throat, he dropped his tone to barely above a whisper. “And here I thought lions were extinct.”

“Well, someone should have told that to the three at Fort Brein,” Vincent flatly replied.

A frown tugged at Seth’s lips upon hearing the mere mention of that vile place. While its location was a mystery, its name was well known among the masses, mentioned only in hushed tones. Some referred to it as a brutal prison, while others called it hell on earth. People who went in never came out.

“Jesus,” the soldier muttered, his voice lost to the others with the roar of the vehicle’s engine. The group had hastily climbed into the back of a freight truck. Given Alice was a notorious figure among the ranks of The Resistance, as well as supposedly deceased, allowing her to roam about in public would spell trouble if the wrong person saw her.

To be honest, he didn’t feel sure if he was experiencing some fever dream or if the specter in front of him really was her. She’d lost so much weight since he’d last seen her. She most certainly didn’t resemble the strong lieutenant he knew. Alice appeared vulnerable to him. He’d never imagined she could look so weak. If it weren’t for her wounds, he might’ve chosen to cradle her within his arms right then and there.

The medic spared the woman a look mired in sympathy, whispering something to her before he put away his sewing kit. A quick patch job was the best they could spare in a moving vehicle. Once they arrived somewhere that bore a squinted resemblance to safety, they’d have time to get her the proper care she deserved.

Seth imagined she’d spent many days and nights roaming desolate roads, forced to make compromises with her health in order to survive.

“We thought you all were extinct,” Issac said. His eyes shifted among the weary figures in front of him. “From the looks of things, the lot of you came close.”

“Too close,” Kurt murmured. The teen looked at Vincent as he made his remark, swiftly averting his gaze when the brunette caught sight of his stare.

Seth brushed his lip with the finger of his gloved hand. He glanced at the brown-haired man that accompanied the group before he pointed to him. “What’s your story? You pretending to be military?”

“Who's pretending?” the man replied, shifting forward to get a better look at the inquisitive teen. “Sergeant Jack O’Connor, at your service.”

“So you’re legitimate? I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but you’re helping the people you’re supposed to be killing. Why would you do such a thing?”

Jack chuckled. “You looking a gift horse in the mouth, son?”

Seth fell quiet. In the end, the point stood firm. Whether he sat there in enemy uniform, he was an ally right now. He supposed the reasons at this point were all irrelevant. Still, he imagined the sight of him wouldn’t go over well once they arrived at the base, given the recent disposal of prisoners Commander Derwent ordered.

Issac gave the man a deadpan stare. “We’ll be home soon enough. By then, we’ll decide what to do with you.”

Jack offered the youth a puzzled look. “Throw me a party,” he said with a forced laugh. His nervousness only seemed to grow with the uncomfortable silence that followed his remark. Perhaps he hadn’t considered how hospitable his hosts would be given his past.

“Issac, what are you talking about?” Alice asked. “If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have made it this far.”

The youth brushed one of his brown bangs with the back of his hand. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful for what you did, but it’s an awful lot to ask us to swallow that someone from The Order possesses enough fondness for the likes of us that they’d turn traitor.”

“You think this is a ploy? A Trojan Horse?” Jack’s tone grew more incredulous with each question he asked.

“I think you’re a little too hasty in your judgment,” Vincent remarked. “He’s suffered alongside us, Issac.”

“That’s Lieutenant Harrison to you,” the youth replied. Everyone stared at him in confusion as he continued speaking. “You’ve not been with us long enough to question our decisions. You’d do well to remember that, cadet.”

Seth grimaced. A month ago, Issac didn’t even want the job. Now he was pulling rank and lording it over the boy.

Vincent crossed his arms. “Congratulations on your promotion. They cram a stick into your butt when they awarded you that title?”

Issac glared at him. “You should be a little more humble to the ones who picked you up from the streets. Commander Derwent doesn’t take kindly to insubordination. Neither do I.”

“Last I checked, he answers to me,” Alice said as she put an arm around Vincent’s shoulder. “And if you’re that eager to prove your point, go ahead and drop us off now. Just don’t expect Leo to be so understanding once we get back.”

“Now Alice-“

“That’s Lieutenant Lynheart to you,” she corrected, narrowing her eyes as she spoke. “You’ve been with us long enough to know better than to talk to one of my soldiers like that.”

Seth couldn’t help but smile as Issac deflated before the woman. There was that fiery spirit he admired!

“Lieutenant, your new friend may be in a world of trouble. I’m just-“

“I’ll take it up with Leo, not you,” Alice remarked. She looked to Jack with a coy smile. “Besides, I found him first.”

That remark garnered a chuckle from both Jack and Seth. Issac, not sharing the amusement, settled for training a nasty glare on them before his eyes wandered over to a large crate. He might’ve, if at least for a moment, considered climbing inside it to nurse his pride that his former superior promptly kicked to the side. Even with his promotion, it was clear where he ranked along the pecking order. Somewhere next to Jack and shit.

Seth’s mirth diminished as he watched Alice’s arm leave Vincent’s shoulders and her hand intertwine with his own. If Issac considered inserting himself inside a crate, he might need to make room for some company. It’d be preferable to seeing all that handholding with him.

He shook his head. Nothing had changed save for her battle scars. She was looking for a source of comfort. Vincent was merely convenient. Things would go back to normal.

They had to.

****

The freight truck came to a sudden halt after the better part of an hour. Given the interior of the dry van was windowless by design, it was Alice’s best guess, one likely shared by the others, that they’d arrived at their destination: Leo Derwent’s outpost.

The door at the back of the trailer ascended. With its rise came several men clad in armor and wielding a set of guns, the barrels of them all pointed in their direction. Alice frowned as she mentally cataloged the weaponry: an Armatek G-20 pulse rifle, the HK-MP5, and a Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun.

“What is going on?” Alice immediately asked as the men briskly strode into the vehicle.

“Throwing you all a party,” one of the men sneered before he smacked Jack with the butt of his rifle.

Alice bolted up from the floor. Her eyes wildly scanned the people around her as she tried to make sense of the situation.

“Get up, you piece of shit,” one of the soldiers growled.

Vincent leapt up. “H-hey, he’s one of-“

He never finished voicing his protest as the rifle thudded against the boy’s temple, which collapsed him onto the floor.

Seth shouted. “Dear God, stop it! What are you people doing?”

Alice couldn’t say she held much in the way of interest concerning their activities, not when those ventures extended to hurting people she valued. She didn’t care where Leo and company had scooped up these brutes from. By her assessment, they came out of the oven a little too prematurely; a problem she intended to immediately remedy.

Embers crackled and formed into a ball of concentrated fire that formed inside her palm. She raised her hand and pointed it towards the men. Unfortunately, she failed to get a read on them with the sudden figure blocking the path.

Issac.

The youth stood in front of her. He shook his head in disapproval. His bravado faltered as the inferno she held intensified.

“Move.”

“Alice, I-“

She unleashed the fire. The ball of flame roared past his head and hit the man who smacked both Vincent and Jack. He let out a yell as the blast propelled him several yards out of the truck.

One of the men audibly cursed as he raised his pulse rifle, pointing the weapon at the tiny woman.

Issac stammered, unsure of what to do in the situation.

Vincent rose from the floor, caressing his jaw as he did so. He glared at the troops before he shoved past Issac, sending the nervous leader onto the floor. He kept his icy gaze fixated on the soldier with the pulse rifle. “Are you really going to shoot the commander’s daughter?”

The man lowered his head.

“What are you waiting for?” Vincent asked. He did little to hide the animosity in his tone as he took another step forward. The barrel of the rifle was now pressed directly against his chest. “Because if she doesn’t get you, and if Leo doesn’t, you can sure as shit bet I will. Drop the gun.”

For a moment, the air around them felt like it had reached freezing temperature. Then again, to Alice, it could have been the way she felt from the sudden harnessing of her powers. She didn’t exactly feel well, and calling upon her talent with a stomach that growled louder than her conjured flames did little to improve her health.

The rifle clattered to the ground. Alice held her breath as it hit the floor. She knew firsthand that those things could accidentally discharge. The shock from one could seize a person’s nerves, forcefully tensing every joint in the human body with one blast. ‘

Seth snagged the weapon from the ground. As he did, more men came marching into the vicinity. Someone had brought a blanket and had begun to help snuff the rising fire outside the freight truck.

A familiar figure in a black trench coat emerged from the group. The blond man looked at them all with bewilderment as he tried to make sense of the chaos ensuing around him.

“Alice?” Leo asked with a breathless whisper.

Despite the cartwheels going on in the young woman’s head, she spared him a greeting. “Nice to see you too, Dad,” she said before her legs refused their continued support of her. She hardly felt the collision with the hard bed of the trailer. She wouldn’t have been surprised if her stitches, for what felt like the sixth time now, came unwound from the fall.

A chorus of muffled voices shouted her name and the light around her gave way to black.

****

Vincent sat in the commander’s office after they’d brought Alice to the medical ward. It took two men to pull him out of there. If it weren’t for the dizzying sensation he felt from being hit by that rifle, they might’ve needed a third man.

Leo marched into his office. From the look of things, Vincent couldn’t decide if the end of the cigarette the man smoked was redder than his cheeks.

“Start talking,” demanded the commander before he blew smoke from his nostrils.

For a moment, Vincent imagined he’d turned into some sort of dragon. One that was prepared to incinerate him in a stream of flames if he gave an improper answer. After some consideration, he decided to let Leo steer the subject.

“What about?”

The commander frowned at that answer as he pointed the lit cigarette at the youth. “We believed the lot of you were dead. You come waltzing back here with one of our enemies and you lit one of my men on fire.”

The chair skidded along the floor as Vincent stood up. “Sorry to disappoint. We didn’t choose to get captured. The person you’re calling our enemy saved our lives, sir.”

Leo frowned. He brought the cigarette to his lips and took a puff. From the looks of it, he’d smoked it down to a stub as the cherry bounced from the end onto the floor.

“And for the record, it was your daughter that roasted your man like a marshmallow,” Vincent said with a smile before he stamped out the ember along the floor.

“That make it better, does it?”

Vincent crossed his arms. “It certainly doesn’t make for much of a warm welcome. Well…perhaps warmer, I’d dare say, for your subordinate given what happened.”

“Your humor isn’t appreciated nor wanted,” Leo briskly warned. He closed the distance between them. His stature towered over the youth. “People are our most precious asset. I can’t afford to jeopardize them.”

“Interesting train of thought, sir. I’ll keep it in mind next time one of our own points a gun at me.”

“Don’t get cute.”

Vincent glared. “At your daughter then.”

The room became silent. The only sound was a harsh intake of breath from Leo.

“How about you start talking? I think you owe it to me after what we endured. All over a mistake you made.”

Leo grabbed Vincent by the collar of his shirt and slammed him against the wall. The boy gagged as he felt the fabric tighten around his throat.

“I don’t make mistakes you mouthy little shit!”

Vincent shoved the older man off him, knocking him against his office desk. The lamp resting on it fell onto the ground; the bulb shattered into pieces.

Commander Derwent appeared flabbergasted as he looked at the mess littered along the floor of his office and then back to his recruit that had the audacity to shove him. That was likely a first.

“That makes the situation worse, sir. See, if you don’t make mistakes, that leads me to believe you allowed us to get captured and shipped off to Fort Brein.”

Leo balled his hands into a fist. From where Vincent stood, Commander Smokey’s face turned red enough to where he resembled an inflated balloon; one that looked like it was going to pop.

Seconds passed. The fingers of his closed hands opened before they sank into the pockets of his coat.

“You’ve got balls, boy. It’d be a shame to have you neutered.”

“It’d be a shame to hurt you.”

A hearty laugh escaped the commander. Vincent failed to find the humor in the situation. His words were not said in jest. If Leo intentionally threw them to the wolves, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill the man in his own office.

“My, my. You’ve grown so much since we last met. I’d say you found yourself a spine ever since finding how nasty the world truly is.”

Vincent took a step forward and, for the third time that day, he found a gun trained on him by a supposed ally.

“Careful, Vincent. I like you, but not that much.”

The boy frowned. “So endearing.”

“Hmph! Merely a statement of fact. If it is any consolation, I did not set you all up. Alice is too valuable to throw away on a risk. Same with Kurt.”

Vincent knew his name wasn’t going to be listed among those who were essential. He didn’t care about such a trivial matter. What he did care about was Leo’s insistence he didn’t make mistakes.

Over time, Vincent found that a dumb man can be outsmarted, while an arrogant man could have their ego played like a stringed instrument. The boy wasn’t entirely sure what he could say, let alone do, against a man who was both stupid and overconfident, especially when that same individual had the barrel of a gun pointed at him.

“It was…yes, a miscalculation. You all should have been more cautious. Rest assured, the mistake with Pheora won’t be made again.”

How convenient he could blame the misfortune on them.

“And I’m supposed to take you at your word?”

A dark smile befitting a predator emerged on the older man’s lips. “I’d invite you to ask the people of the city that question. Too bad you can’t though. You see, I had Pheora blown to hell and back. I doubt you’ll find anyone left in the rubble, save for their charred remains.”

Vincent took a step back. For a moment, he saw a bit of Cain and Vladsco leak through the commander’s words. Those three men didn’t seem all that different to him in this light.

“When my daughter scooped your body out of the river, she didn’t find the dog tags on you. Now you all return with a man wearing dog tags and a uniform. Maybe I should dedicate a wing to all you defectors.”

“He’s not an enemy. And Alice knows all about me. Kurt couldn’t resist telling her repeatedly that I was a traitor.”

Leo clicked the hammer of his revolver. His smile widened. “Now that’s a scary sound, isn’t it? That cocking noise. The only thing scarier is the ensuing bang that follows. You had some bullets in you when we found you. This trigger anything? Spur any memories?”

Flashes of his dream earlier in the morning came to him. The boy did his best to conceal his feelings. “No, sir.”

The man studied him intently before he used his finger to block the hammer of his weapon from striking the firing pin. He pocketed the gun and gave a scoff. “What a shame, eh, Vincent?”

“So what now?” Vincent asked as he chose to ignore the question posed to him.

Leo hummed contently before he walked past the youth. “I think you and I need some bonding time. Teach you to appreciate my methods.”

“Sounds swell.”

“I’m not so bad once you get to know me,” he said as the door to his office clicked open upon his turning of the handle. Leo looked back at Vincent. Something resembling malice danced within the commander’s stare. “And I need you to know me. I need you to know the hornet’s nest you stuck your foot into today. That’ll be swell, kiddo.”

He motioned him forward. Vincent reluctantly followed. There was little point in putting up a fight. Even if he could beat Leo, he’d still have a base full of his supporters he’d have to contend with immediately afterward. Alice wouldn’t have wanted him in such a situation. She would’ve likely urged him to obey whatever it was her father had in mind.

The man led him down the hallway and to an auditorium. The beams along the ceiling curved into the steel walls of the room at a bizarre angle.

Vincent winced at the noise as he was led inside; the din sounded deafening.

A figure knelt at the center of the stage set at the front of the room. A white pillowcase with a prominent red stain towards the middle of it was affixed to the person’s head. Vincent didn’t need to see the face to discern their identity. The uniform worn belonged to Sergeant Jack O’Connor.

Leo shoved Vincent forward. The commander didn’t verbalize anything, nor did he need to do so. The situation was clear enough. They were putting on a show for the troops. Unfortunately, Vincent imagined he was going to play a role in the entertainment being produced for them whether he wanted to or not.

“Gentlemen, thank you for attending. Today is a day worthy of celebration. We’ve done the impossible. We infiltrated Fort Brein.”

Vincent didn’t even think it was possible for the noise in the auditorium to grow more deafening, but the ensuing cheer sounded like an explosive going off in his ear.

“Friends, we’ve outwitted our enemy. We even captured one of them as a trophy,” Leo declared as he pulled off the pillowcase from the sergeant’s head.

Vincent couldn’t refrain from gasping at the sight. They’d beaten him severely. He’d lost some teeth from how hard they’d hit him. His nose was broken. One of the man’s eyes had swollen into a discolored lump.

Jack looked delirious. He gave Vincent a pitiful look as the youth stared back at him in horror.

The boy looked at Leo. This was a nightmare. One he couldn’t seem to wake up from; one that fostered a rage within him.

The commander kept saying we in his speech.

We. We.

We what? There was no we! He hadn’t bled with them in a prison cell. He hadn’t contended with hunger and dehydration. He hadn’t found love in the most unlikely of places. What did he know?

“Men, what would you have us do to this snake?”

Vincent felt his blood run cold at the proclamation. Kill him. Those two words were repeated as a mantra. Mindless. Remorseless. Kill him. Kill him. Each utterance felt all the louder to him.

Alice had insisted they were the good guys. They didn’t kill for sport like The Order. She’d have to forgive him, but this looked like an elaborate game with a home team vastly outnumbering the opposition. This was a slaughter.

“Here is one of our heroes,” Leo declared, planting his hands along the boy’s shoulders. He rubbed them harshly, rough enough to leave a bruise from the feeling. “Vincent bravely fought this man. He brought this enemy before you. Broken. Weak. And he will perform his duty and execute this man!”

The crowd roared again at the claim. Vincent looked around helplessly for some support. No one there was a voice of reason demanding they stop this madness. Instead, a court of animals observed, excited by the prospect of bloodshed.

Leo slipped something both cold and heavy into the boy’s hand. The polished steel of the revolver gleamed in the light of the auditorium.

“I kill my enemies, Vincent,” the commander harshly whispered to him. “And the time has come for you to decide here and now what you are to me. I trust you’ll make the right decision.”

The teen felt his stomach churn. Leo had decreed to the soldiers that Jack was a snake. From where he stood, the only serpent in the room slithered on stage next to him hissing horrible things in his ear, urging him to murder an unarmed man as a trophy.

The bastard had planned this elaborate game from the beginning. Vincent wagered the moment the report came in on their return, the commander set this sick display up immediately for his men to watch. His role as executioner was likely decided at the last minute. He was probably going to be merely a spectator before he crossed Leo.

No. None of that felt right to him. This was going to be a test from the beginning. All he’d done in the office was remove any doubts Leo had about going through with it.

Vincent raised the gun, which only broadened the smile on the commander’s face.

The ensuing shot killed the crowd’s elation.

****

“Seth, I need you out here now!”

The youth was jerked away from his reverie at the sudden proclamation from Issac. He’d been sitting there holding Alice’s hand. The intrusion brought a frown to his face as he gently placed her wrist onto her chest and stood up from his chair.

“What’s going-“

“No time for questions. Just get moving.”

Seth obeyed and rushed behind his lieutenant. He mentally chastised himself as he thought of his current superior. His lieutenant was lying helpless in a hospital bed. Issac was nothing more than a shallow imitation that had crudely been fashioned from an inferior material. There was only one Alice.

Thoughts of the enemy closing in on them dispelled his romanticized thoughts. Based on the young man’s tone, something troubling was happening. Something serious enough to prompt the interruption of his reunion.

She didn’t come back here just to get put in danger!

The teen picked up the pace. As they approached the auditorium, a grim silence seemed to follow the gunfire that tore through the air.

Gunfire! Seth thought with panic. Maybe they really had been infiltrated.

The pair stepped through the doors leading into the auditorium. Standing on stage was a familiar youth sporting a set of eyes that belonged to an enraged cat. They were presently narrowed at the attendees.

“Listen to you people,” he said. His soft voice had been projected by the microphone placed in the center of the stage. Vincent’s cadence was unusually harsh, writhe with disgust and frustration. “Kill him, kill him. Hasn’t there been enough bloodshed! I, for one, have seen enough death to last me a lifetime.”

“What in the world is he doing?” Seth whispered to Issac. As he voiced his concern, he took notice of where the boy’s gun was raised. He’d obliterated one of the lights on the ceiling with a bullet based on the set of shadows looming over a segment of the crowd.

If the substitute for the lieutenant had any thoughts on the subject, he was mentally checked out, likely fantasizing about sunbathing on a warm beach with a beautiful woman on one side and a shot of tequila on the other. Anything to get his mind away from this uncomfortable setting.

“You all want to kill someone you’ve never even met. This man saved us. He saved Alice,” he said before he pivoted on his heel and faced Leo. “If it weren’t for him, your precious Golden Phoenix wouldn’t have risen from the ashes.

The commander’s expression turned stony. From where Seth stood, he bore a disposition that would have garnered envy from a gargoyle if such a thing were sentient.

“Soldier, I am telling you to kill this man,” Leo replied after some hesitation. Even he seemed uncertain with his read of the room.

The revolver slammed along the floor, sliding to the commander’s feet. Vincent met the man’s stare with a defiant one of his own. “His name is Jack, and I am telling you to go fuck yourself, sir.”

The commander’s lip quivered upon hearing the anatomically impossible request.

Seth looked at Issac a second time. True to form, he proved about as useful as an umbrella while submerged in a swimming pool. Shaking his head in disgust, Seth began his approach to the stage. Maybe he could convince Leo to merely toss Vincent’s butt behind bars instead of having him murdered.

Leo began to shout as Seth approached. “Pick it up! Pick up the gun! You shoot that man right now! Now!”

Vincent crossed his arms and looked at the leader like he was an overgrown toddler pitching a tantrum. “No,” he flatly replied.

Leo looked seconds away from bursting a blood vessel as he snatched the gun from the floor. He licked his lips as he aimed the firearm at the boy, much to the crowd’s horror. “Then I’ll kill you. I’ll shoot you dead right here and now, you snake! You…you traitor!”

Oh, dear God! If the shit hadn’t hit the fan, it most certainly had been diced by the blades and splattered all over the crowd at this precise moment. Seth ran as fast as he could. He had little choice but to try to tackle the commander. That’d be the only way to keep Vincent’s brain from decorating the floor of the stage.

Heat blazed by Seth’s ear. A trail of fire ripped past the teen as he made it to the steps of the stage.

Leo let out a startled cry as the gun held within his hands flew out of his grasp. He burrowed his hands inside his coat as he fell onto his knees.

Seth whirled around and saw the unmistakable form of Alice. Even in a patient’s gown, she exuded authority with the fire glowing in her hands. She stepped past the assembly, making her way to the stage with a confident gait. The woman looked to be a far cry from the figure dancing in and out of consciousness within the medical bay.

“Have you lost your mind, Dad?” she asked as she stepped onto the stage. “Because where I’m standing, you’re pointing a gun at my soldier.”

Leo glared at her. “You…how could you?”

“Because he’s my friend. And he’s been nothing but loyal,” she said before she looked to the crowd. She forced a sheepish smile. “By the way, it’s nice seeing you all. Would someone be courteous enough to take Jack to the medical bay, please? Jack is that kind man bleeding over there,” she continued before she turned back to her father. “Someone who sacrificed everything just so we could have a chance. Just so we could come back here.”

“Alice-”

“To this,” she said gesturing at Jack. “He gave it all so you could spit on him and beat him.”

Leo rose from the ground. He barged over to his daughter and snatched the microphone away from her. “Look, I’ll forget the whole thing happened. You’re obviously sick-“

She stole the device away from him. “This coming from someone making a show out of the execution of an ally. You need to take a step back and-”

The game of microphone tag continued, this time with the commander smacking the device out of her hand. Aside from the sudden burst of static coming through the speakers in the room, the silence that followed felt oppressive and overbearing.

Seth felt that the world was tilting. Pretty soon everything would be upside down at the rate everything was falling apart.

“Fine, Alice. You want this piece of shit to have a chance? You want him to be one of us, I’ll make him one of us. Take him to the lab!”

The girl looked appalled at his declaration. She grabbed onto the sleeve of his coat. “You can’t!” she shouted.

Several of the soldiers pulled her back from the commander. Vincent made a move to intervene when another soldier sent him onto the floor. They whispered something to him. From where Seth stood, he couldn’t hear if it was a warning to not make things worse for himself or a threat.

“Seth Morgan,” Leo snapped, jerking the teen’s thoughts back into focus. “Escort Alice’s new friend here to the lab.”

The teen felt a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. Nothing good could come from the request. He had a few ideas on what the end result would be.

He took his stand right then and there. Seth told Leo no. He said it was all wrong.

If he hadn’t misplaced his spine wherever Issac had discarded his, he might’ve gone and actually said those things. Instead, he helped Jack off the floor and marched him forward with his gun drawn. “Let’s get moving.”

****

Kurt finished part of his report, logging the draft of it into the system for further revision. He was telling them everything they needed to know, including how Vincent was a psycho and how Alice had fallen head over heels for that knife-wielding maniac.

The door to the lab burst open not even two seconds after he hit save. The teen whirled around with his eyes as wide as saucers as a bloody mess staggered into the room. It was Jack! From the sight of him, it looked like he got into a fight with a good number of soldiers.

No points on guessing who won that exchange. Why is Seth behind him with a gun?

The youth stumbled back from the soldier. His movement resulted in the spilling of papers onto the tiled floor. Aside from the noise, the teen barely registered the mess. His eyes remained fixated on the horror movie leaping out of the screen, parading around before him screaming, “Look at me, look at me!”

“What is going on?” Kurt asked.

The thing that was going on stormed into the room with a scowl. Commander Derwent.

“Get his ass onto the table,” he said with a gesticulation towards the injured Sergeant.

Alice came through the door, shoving the man holding her off. “You can’t do this!”

“Remind me again, who is the commander around here?”

“You, but-“

“Then shut it,” Leo declared before he turned around back to Kurt.

The teen still hadn’t made any movement to fetch Jack. Seth stood around looking just as bewildered. This was all too much to process at once.

“Anytime now, sweethearts,” Leo sneered.

Seth, after a few seconds worth of deliberation, gave the sergeant another shove. He pointed the gun at him. “Just get on there.”

Jack possessed no fight. He wordlessly obeyed, climbing onto the table. Kurt hesitantly approached the soldier and began to put straps on him.

“Seth!” Alice yelled.

The teen looked back at her with hurt prominent in his eyes. He didn’t want to do what he was being asked.

Kurt shared the same sentiment. The technician couldn’t say where this whole mess was going, but he imagined there was a cliff not too far ahead that made for a reasonable guess for the destination.

The door opened once more, and Vincent was carted into the room. The tall brunette glared at the commander as he was pushed forward. Leo grabbed the teen’s chin, moving his head to eye level.

“I’ll deal with your insubordinate backside later. For now, watch.”

Kurt finished strapping the male onto the table. He couldn’t say he liked the emphasis Leo placed on the word watch. The youth’s stomach knotted as he spared a glance in the direction of his father. “S-sir, what exactly are we doing here?”

Leo fetched a scalpel from the tray near the table. He approached Vincent with it, grabbing onto the boy’s hand.

“Dad! Wh-what are you doing? Stop it!” Alice yelled while one of the soldiers restrained her. From where Kurt stood, the man was giving it his all holding back the tiny firecracker that was getting ready to explode on him.

“The virus can be spread by fluids. You want to save him so bad, take responsibility. It’s only right you be the one to induct him,” he said before he made an incision across the youth’s hand. The teen let out a sharp cry as blood flooded from the center of his palm.

“Father, no! Release him! Please!”

Leo shoved Vincent forward and crammed the boy’s hand into the soldier’s mouth. Jack choked as the fluid flooded his lungs.

“Shhh. Don’t fight it. This is your salvation,” the commander declared as he effortlessly shoved Vincent aside. The teen collided onto the ground.

Alice fought off the soldier restraining her, striking him in the throat with her palm. While he fell onto his knees clutching his throat, she ran over to the downed youth. Seth stood unyielding. Everything unfolding before him was a display of madness. The Resistance. There was resistance alright, a fierce struggle against anything bearing resemblance to sanity. It looked more like they were running a circus than they were an organized military.

Leo continued his droning as the sergeant began to writhe and squirm along the table, choking from whatever havoc the blood was wreaking upon his body. “It was my salvation when I lost everything. My wife. My daughters. I watched my dreams go up in smoke. Poof!”

Kurt frowned and looked away from his father. Alice and he were nothing more than a pair of strays he found and took in. He seldom ever discussed his real family with them. That subject had always been off-limits.

“They were robbed from me. I was prepared to kill myself. The virus fixed that. It changed me. It gave me purpose. If you’re worth saving, you will fight it like I did,” Leo said. He banged his fist onto the table. “Come on! Fight it!”

The man’s spasms worsened along with his choking. Within a minute the gagging stopped. The vessels in his eyes grew bloated and red. A trickle of blood leaked from them before his gaze became vacant forevermore.

Leo pressed his forehead against the soldier’s head for a few seconds before his eyes locked with Alice’s. “Consider him released,” he declared with finality before he walked out of the room. The door slammed behind him as they all gawked at the macabre sight lying deceased on the operating table.

Kurt threw a towel over the man’s face. It was the only dignity he could afford him now. He looked to the others, desperate to see a sign, anything to make sense of what happened. The grim silence told him everything: There was nothing normal about any of this. They’d all been a party to a senseless murder.