Halfkinds: Survival and Superiority (Volume 1 - Contact)

  Chapter 27 - Fenrir Snow - Recovery

  November 17, 3040 3:46 AM

  I feel like shit. My fur smells like ashes, while specs of blood spot it red. My legs hurt, my back hurts, my head is pounding, and I can't even move my tail without feeling pain. I look around and see only the scattered remains of the teleportation station. That Curtis Lawton sure did a number on us.

  The instant he let go of the trigger, I thought I was done for. All I could do was run as fast as possible. By the time the bomb exploded, I was already near the exit where I had cleared out the mines. I was fast, but not fast enough. I felt the ground shake and a ripple of wind jettison past my legs. Before I could get farther, I was in the air, head facing down, ass facing up. I remember flying straight forward until I felt a violent thud hit my back. After that, it was lights out.

  When I woke up, I was greeted by murkiness. My vision was obscured by debris. Once I lifted my head, the rubble fell off, and I saw the carnage that had unfolded. The whole station was demolished. The smell of soot hit my nose so abruptly that I sneezed it out. Fires raged on and smoke filled the air.

  I looked at myself to survey any injuries I might have obtained. I felt funny on the inside, so I pulled out the bioscanner and gave myself a quick read. A few minutes later, the results came, some broken ribs, a hairline fracture on my hind leg, and cuts on my back, nothing big. But I do have a large trail of blood running from my face. I must've been cut pretty deep, I'm lucky that one of my eyes wasn't taken out.

  I was healthy, for the most part, so I started to look for the others. If I was able to survive with no major injuries, I was hopeful that they did, too. But it didn't take me long to discover their bodies. I found Erawan first. The discovery I made was grim. He didn't talk much, but I respected him. I knew of his reputation and I knew the warrior's heart he had. And now he lies before me, his body defiled like vermin.

  Then I found Colbo dead under some other junk. I didn't like his smart ass attitude, but I did owe him my life. I will remember that. Two team members' lives ended so suddenly, it left me wondering how I was still alive.

  I also wondered what Curtis Lawton was trying to say with his final words. He mentioned something about being a pawn, about being betrayed. From what Trevor told me, the halfkinds he encountered didn't know about any proposed meeting, that they were set up. Then this halfkind tells me in his dying breath that he was a fool who was played and rats out the location of his brother.

  Tiago - that was the name he mentioned. According to his files, he was the oldest and most likely the leader. He must've orchestrated all the events that happened today, from Lombardi's raid to Oscar's standoff to Curtis's kamikaze mission. Judging from Curtis's change of heart, he wasn't playing nicely. He probably used and abused his siblings in some kind of master scheme.

  With my thoughts and realizations coming to fruition, I decided that it was time to run back and warn Commander Trevor. He had to know what Curtis told me. Only problem was I didn't have my communicator on me, it must've been destroyed during the explosion. The only way I could inform him was if I left on foot. I was injured, but I could still run like the wind. I darted in the direction of the Spades and Diamond Casino.

  I didn't have far to go. After a minute or two of running, I saw a familiar hovercar in the air approaching the wrecked teleportation station. It was Commander Trevor and Apollo.

  They landed and were inspecting what was left of the station. I hear them talking and I barge into the conversation.

  "Lucky for you, he didn't," I say. I'm exhausted and aching, and it's the only line I can think of at the moment.

  Both of them stand there astounded by my appearance. I don't think they were expecting me to be alive.

  "You found Erawan's and Colbo's remains, I take it," I say.

  "Unfortunately we did," Trevor responds.

  "So, how did you come out of this alive?" Apollo asks me. "From the looks of things, I thought no one survived."

  "Luck, I guess," I respond. "One second I was running for my life, the next second I woke up conscious and surprised. When the bomb went off, there was a moment when I thought death was certain. It looks like someone, something, up there likes me."

  "I'm glad fate is on your side," Trevor says. "It's been a tough night, half of our team is dead. First Borton, now Erawan and Colbo, not sure if Apollo and I could've taken all of them alone."

  "How many of them are left?" I ask.

  "By my count, six. There's Candy, Ace, Alex, and Tiago Lawton, and the twins who got away. But we're plumb out of leads. The completion of this mission is in jeopardy, we don't know where they are at this point."

  "You didn't hear my conversation with Curtis Lawton?" I ask Trevor. "I thought you were listening in."

  "No, you started breaking up before he let off the bomb. Why?" Trevor asks curiously.

  "Because, he gave them up. He said Tiago Lawton and the others are hiding at the Li station. They're planning to use it to get to San Francisco. From there, the ultimate destination is the Moon."

  "I see," Trevor says. "If they get to the Moon, they could hunker down at one of the uncharted, unsettled plots of land there. They could live there for the rest of their lives, hell, even build a society. The Moon is still an undeveloped free space, they'd be near untraceable if they wanted to."

  "Why did Curtis reveal his brother's location?" Apollo asks.

  "I was thinking about that," I respond. "When he died, he said something about being a pawn, that he was just a part of Tiago Lawton's schemes. I suspect he had something to do with Curtis's death and your meeting with Oscar Lawton."

  "So you think Tiago is the master planner behind all of tonight's events?" Trevor asks.

  "It seems so," I say. "I would say Tiago Lawton is extremely dangerous."

  "You know what that means," Apollo says.

  "Yes, we have to stop them at all costs," Trevor responds, clutching his pistol. "Fulfilling our mission will be the number one priority. We must eliminate them."

  Their response intrigues me. "You seem to be acting different. I thought all you wanted to do was capture them and let the Alliance deal with them. I thought you had the whole we 'come in peace' mentality."

  Trevor looks at me. "After our last encounter, I've changed my mind. Apollo and I have discussed things. We've been underestimating them. They are dangerous. They're against the wall and all they can do is fight back. We either kill them, or be killed by them. We can't take them lightly anymore."

  "Seems like a drastic change in strategy after one incident. Those twins must have really rattled you two, huh? You know, you kind of sound like Borton."

  "We're different," Apollo says, "And we won't be killed like Borton. He wanted to massacre them. His overconfidence got him murdered. We respect our enemy and that is why we have to take every precaution necessary."

  I smirk off his comments. "Sure, whatever you say, dog. Tomato, tomotto. It sounds the same to me."

  I can tell he's slightly annoyed.

  "And what about you?" he says. "All of sudden it looks like you're getting soft on us. Still think this is a walk in the park, even after Curtis almost blew you to smithereens?"

  "I never thought things were going to be a walk in the park!" I snap back. "Wasn't I the one who told you fools not to underestimate them? Wasn't I the one who warned you of their traps? Well, guess who was right."

  He wants to go at it with me, but Trevor looks different. He kneels with one knee and wipes the grime from his face.

  "You're right, Fenrir, you did warn us," he says. "And I'm sorry that I didn't listen to you. I didn't expect much from our enemy. If I had given them the credit you gave them, then perhaps three of our team members would still be alive. I bear this responsibility and I'm not going to fail at it again."

  He takes a quick glance at Colbo's body and continues.

  "Listen, I wanted t
o come in peace, I truly did," he says. "I wanted to extend my hand and let these halfkinds know that we won't be their executioners. The last thing I wanted was for anyone to get hurt. But things haven't turned out the way I expected, and because of this desire, this weakness, Erawan and Colbo are dead. Perhaps what we're doing isn't ethical. I think the same thing, but the halfkind that's left, Tiago, we've seen what he's capable of. He's turned on his family members, he's sent some to their graves. If he's willing to do all this, what other lengths could he possibly go to in order to achieve his goals? If we don't stop him now, we may be letting a monster loose on the world. It's true that we may not know our enemy that well, maybe his motives are virtuous, but I'm not going to take that risk."

  Commander Trevor makes some valid points. Whoever we're dealing with, this Tiago Lawton, he's done things so ruthless and cruel it makes me wonder what else he'll do next. He could go away forever, or he could come back with a vengeance. Against us, against the High Dog Council, against my Brotherhood. Perhaps coming at him armed and prepared is the only way to go if we want to prevent any of this.

  "What we do going forward, what we do at the Li teleportation station, it won't be easy," Trevor says, "but based on what we've seen today, it will be necessary. Decisions like these are hard to make, but I finally feel like it's the right one. I'm done making the wrong choices. My order is to take on Tiago Lawton with full force and I need all the team members I can get. We three are the only ones left and I intend to finish things that way. Are you in?"

  When I started this quest, I wanted to do what the Brotherhood of Wolves asked me. As the night became darker and the task became grimmer, I started to question my objective. Even now, even after they have nearly killed me, I wonder if hunting these halfkinds is the right thing to do.

  But then I think about Tiago Lawton, the architect of all this deceit and madness, and I feel compelled to join Commander Trevor and his dog.

  "Okay," I say, "I'm in."

  "Thank you, Fenrir," he says.

  "So, what is the plan?" Apollo asks.

  "They're at the Li station, right?" Trevor asks me.

  "Yes," I respond.

  "Apollo, find directions and an ETA, stat," he says.

  The dog pulls out the graphical interface hooked up his helmet and does a quick search. "It's about 11.7 miles away from here. ETA by hovercar should take ten minutes, tops."

  "Good," he says. "Fenrir, what kind of defenses do you think they'll have? You've seen them in action tonight."

  "Most likely they'll have mines of some sort, possibly like the garden mines that we encountered."

  "I'm not sure about that," Apollo says. "Such puny arms might be good for some decoy operation, but if this is their ticket out, I think it'll be heavily fortified."

  "I agree," Commander Trevor says, "when we arrive, I want both of you equipped with scent boosters to scout the area. I want to know what's in there before we make our attack. I know wolves don't like relying on that tech, but I don't want to take any chances. Equip your scent booster, got it, Fenrir?"

  "Fine," I say begrudgingly.

  "Once we're in, keep your communicators on at all times," Trevor says. "I'll give you commands from there."

  "I lost mine," I say.

  Commander Trevor takes a communicator out from his belt and hands it to me. I'm surprised because it's a wolf model.

  "Always be prepared," he says.

  "Thanks," I say. I think this is the first time I've thanked him for anything all night. Who was I turning into?

  "Stay focused and be prepared to eliminate anything onsite," Trevor says. "I don't want a moment of hesitation. As we've learned tonight, that hesitation could get you killed and no one else is dying under my command."

  "Understood," Apollo says. Like a stereotype, he's loyal as ever to the human, it kind of makes me sick.

  "Fenrir," Trevor says to me, "are you ready?"

  I think about the moral questions swirling in my head, about what's right and what's wrong. I think about Curtis Lawton's last words. And then I think about our opponent, Tiago Lawton. He's not above sacrificing his own brothers and sisters. The most dangerous types of people are the ones who are willing to do whatever it takes. In the end, they think their actions are justified.

  But we're doing the same thing.

  "Yes, I'm in. Let's go," I say reluctantly.