Halfkinds: Survival and Superiority (Volume 1 - Contact)

  Chapter 4 - Iris Lawton - Outcasts

  November 15, 3040 11:21 AM

  When we woke up this morning, we discovered that Leonard had gone missing. I remember earlier seeing him asleep next to us on the dingy ground of this abandoned building, and then mysteriously, he was gone.

  We're not sure where he snuck off to, but Tiago has a good idea. He knew how much Leonard loved mother, we all did. We remembered how outraged Leonard was when we left so hastily, that we didn't even give her a proper burial. Tiago thinks that Leonard went back home to let her rest peacefully.

  I personally didn't want to leave mother rotting away in that house either, but things happened so fast, and we were afraid because mother had told us so much about how the outside world would persecute us. When the others said that someone could stop by the house within a day or two, I was petrified. If we are discovered, they'll kill or capture us for their experiments, like mother warned us. I don't want to die. That's why I agreed with the others to leave so quickly.

  But Leonard, I could tell that he didn't want to. He said nothing, but his face gave it away. When Leonard was sad, his upper lip would tremble a little, and his large, black eyes would blink rapidly. I saw both of those things happen the moment we left home.

  It was hard for him. It was hard for all of us. I didn't sneak out like Maddie or Lombardi did, so that house was the only place I knew for seventeen years. Mother kept us in a very sheltered existence. She let us go on the infospace to learn about the civilization around us, but it wasn't tangible. We couldn't interact with it physically.

  From what she told us, I figured the world wasn't a nice place to live in. But the idea she reinforced most often was how all of them, humans, dogs, gorillas, pigs, all of the animals, would be against us. We were different, too different for a world like this.

  I didn't want to believe her, but who else was there to believe?

  "He should be returning at any moment," Tiago says. He had sent Ace to go back to the house, to see if Leonard was there. Ace was eager to help out and he is the best equipped to scout the area, even in broad daylight. He's part cheetah, meaning he runs the fastest of all of us, and the paws he has help him tread lightly. He boasts about his prowess, how he's so good he could run circles in broad daylight. It's not something I would do, but his cheetah ancestry also means he's not that smart.

  "Do you think Leonard really went back home?" I ask Isaac, my twin brother.

  Isaac twitches his nose and his whiskers shake. "I don't know Iris, but it seems pretty likely. He was the closest to mom. Remember how much she used to baby him? He always was her favorite."

  Isaac speaks in the past tense and it irks me a little. Mother is dead, and we now have to talk about her as a memory, not someone in the present. It makes me sad. I wasn't as close to her as Leonard, but she was still my mother. She took care of me and my brothers and sisters, and it's something I couldn't shake in just a week.

  I twitch my nose and sniffle a bit. I try to prevent the tears from coming out of my eyes, but in doing so I let out a faint sigh. Isaac senses my sadness.

  "Are you okay?" he asks me. Isaac is the one I am closest to, he is my twin after all. He is usually my confidant and can sense my emotions better than any of my other siblings. He's earnest and on good terms with the rest of the family, but they usually refer to us as one entity. They say it must be a cat thing, that we stick to our own kind. I think it's because Isaac understands me, and I understand him.

  "Yeah, I'm okay," I say.

  "You're sad about mom, aren't you?" he asks.

  "Yeah. I mean, who isn't."

  "Tiago for one."

  Since mother had died, Tiago quickly took his place as the leader. Throughout the week, he was the one who had been giving orders and telling us how to ration our supplies. He was also the one who commanded Ace to search for Leonard.

  I can't imagine how it must be to have the weight of ten other siblings on your shoulders. Isaac thinks that in the last few days, Tiago has come off way too cold, especially the way he handled us leaving in the first place. I could tell Isaac disagreed with how we left mother and the house so suddenly. It seemed wrong to leave her corpse to rot. He wanted to punch Tiago in the face.

  But I know what we did was for the greater good. Tiago was thinking rationally. It was too dangerous to stay in one place, and Tiago had to do what he could to protect us. Sometimes the best decision isn't always the most popular one.

  Tiago has also been discussing with our second oldest brother, Oscar, on what our next move should be. It's odd that they are working together, they've never really seen eye to eye on anything. One is a softy, one is as hard as a rock. I guess to formulate a plan, you need to hear both sides.

  We can't hide in this warehouse forever and our supplies are slowly dwindling. The younger ones, like me and Isaac, have to rely on their leadership in order to get through this.

  I myself am scared of what the future holds, but I've always been afraid. What kind of future could I ever possibly have? We have no home anymore and we can't bounce from place to place forever. Even worse, if something did happen to Leonard, if he got found out, our existence would be known. We'd be mobbed down and murdered.

  Thinking about my future makes me shudder.

  Suddenly, we hear knocking from the back entrance of the warehouse. I grab a lead pipe I had been sleeping next to. We had locked the doors tightly, but we are still on edge over possible intruders. First we hear three fast knocks, followed by a pause, and then two more fast knocks. I ease up a little. It's the secret knock we had made before. Ace has returned.

  "Ace, is that you?" I ask.

  Isaac shushes me. "Let Tiago handle this."

  "Ace, what is the code?" Tiago asks.

  "Aww, c'mon, just let me in," Ace says impatiently.

  "The code," Tiago says again sternly.

  "Eight," he says.

  Tiago had made a coding system for us during the week. If there was someone with us or someone had taken us hostage, we'd respond four. If we were injured, we'd respond fifteen. Eight means everything is clear.

  Tiago instructs Alex to open the locks. This place isn't automated, it's old. We were able to find some industrial padlocks in the warehouse, but only Alex has the strength to unlock and lock them thanks to his rhino DNA. Alex usually does a lot of the physical work in our family, like lifting heavy things and helps with the tough manual labor. His personality is rough, like his grey skin, and brutish, like his large physique. He usually hangs with Tiago. I feel Tiago keeps him around for protection, like a bodyguard. Personally, Alex kind of frightens me.

  Ace bursts through the door, breathing deeply. He is wearing a coat that is hooded and wide lens black sunglasses. We concealed his identity as much as we could, especially since he's moving in daylight.

  He rests his body on his knees to recuperate.

  "Give me a minute," he says, panting.

  We back up and wait, all of us are on pins and needles to know what he discovered. Isaac and I exchange glances. I have a worried look on my face, but he shakes his head reassuringly. Ace finally gets settled in.

  "What did you see?" Tiago asks.

  "I was able to make it about a hundred feet away from the house. When I got there, there was already a group of people snooping around. They were taking our things and putting them into a large storage hovercar," Ace says.

  "Were they bill collectors?" Maddie, my half cow, half human sister asks. Some of my brothers look at her dumbfounded. Her question doesn't surprise me though, she's not very bright.

  "I don't think so," Ace responds. "They look like they're members of law enforcement or something. I saw the letters USASD on their vehicle."

  "United Species Alliance Science Division," Candy responds. She's probably the smartest in our family, and is usually on top of the world's current events and scientific breakthroughs.

>   "The United Species Alliance?" Oscar asks. "What do they want with our things?"

  "I don't know," Ace says.

  "You heard him," Tiago interrupts, "It's the science division. They come to experiment on us."

  "You don't know that," Oscar says defensively.

  "What other reason could it be? It's their science division," Tiago emphasizes the science. Oscar is silent. I look around and see the grim expression on everyone's face, even Isaac's. The hard truth is becoming apparent, mother was right about the outside world.

  "What about Leonard?" I ask Ace. "Did you see him?"

  Ace is quiet and looks at the floor. His nose begins to twitch and I hear a small sniffle. His whiskers droop down and his pointed ears fold to the side of his head.

  "Yeah, I saw him," Ace says. "The science team packed him away in a body bag."

  I don't understand what Ace means at first. Body bag? Why would they need that? But then Ace makes it all too clear.

  "Leonard is dead," he said.

  The room is silent. I think back to when Leonard was a child and mother held him in her arms so proudly. I remember how much he adored her, how he never questioned her, and always went by her word. He was endearing not only to her, but to all of us. A baby brother to everyone. He was the only one who cared about mother enough that he went back to see her off. And now, he was dead for it.

  "How did it happen?" I asked.

  "I don't know. I just saw him being carried away into the truck."

  None of us want to speak. Leonard was so young and caring. He didn't know the world like we did, because it wasn't his nature to acknowledge the brutality around us.

  But that's what caused him to die. He deserved better.

  "He was murdered," Tiago says angrily.

  All of us acknowledge the truth that Tiago speaks, but none of us step up to respond to him.

  "That science team probably ran into him and killed him," Tiago says. "Mom was right, they want to experiment on us like we're a bunch of freaks."

  "Now let's not jump to conclusions," Oscar says. He stands up from his sitting position and looks Tiago straight in the eyes.

  "It's the only conclusion!" Tiago yells. "What else could have happened?"

  Oscar is silent. He knows Tiago is right, but doesn't want to admit it. Admitting it would show the truth that we were not welcome in this world, that we would be killed without hesitation.

  "What do you think we should do now?" I say, interrupting the conversation in order to ease the tension.

  "Well first thing's first, we're running out of supplies." Tiago replies. "We'll need to go into the city and get some food. But we can't do it now, not in broad daylight. We'll have to wait until the sun goes down. We'll only be safe moving in the shadows, to avoid running into anyone. We'll need enough supplies to last us until we decide to move on."

  "Move on to where?" I ask.

  "Away from here. We need to leave Primm," Tiago says.

  "Oh, really?" Oscar says skeptically. "And where do you suppose we run to."

  "The Moon," Tiago says.

  All of us are shocked by the bomb that Tiago has laid. Leaving our home was hard enough. Leaving Primm would be even harder, but leaving Earth, that was just insane.

  "The Moon?!" Oscar yells. "You've lost it."

  "You know as much as I do that the Moon is probably our only bet for living a safe life," Tiago says. "Leonard was killed by a government agency. Do you think they're going to leave us alone now? Do you think even if he hadn't died, that we could hide around Primm forever? We've been hiding all our lives, I'm done hiding. I want to live in freedom."

  "But why the Moon?" I ask him.

  "The Moon may have been finished terraforming fifty years ago, but it's far from being as organized as Earth," Tiago says. "There are still areas of the Moon that are uninhabited and developing. Areas away from governments or scientific agencies, away from the kinds of people who are and will be looking for us. These kinds of places are the only ones left for us. If we stay here on Earth, we'll be found and killed. At least on the Moon, it will be a lot harder for anyone to track us down. It's our only option if we want to live a full life, and not one in hiding."

  "But how do we get there?" Candy asks. After learning Tiago's plan, Candy suspects there will be tech involved. My guess is she knows the answer to her question, and her expertise will come in handy. She is not asking 'how do we get there', but rather 'how can I help us get there'.

  "There are teleport stations in Primm," Tiago says. "They can instantly transport us from one station to a larger hub that will teleport us to the Moon. I did research a while back, before all this happened, and if we can connect to the San Francisco teleport hub from Primm, then we can get to the Moon via the station there. "

  "But we can't waltz into a station without causing a commotion," my brother, Isaac, says. "We won't be able to hitch a ride in broad daylight, we don't have credits, so how are we going to get access to a live one?"

  "We'll have to break into one of the stations at night," Tiago says. "Once we're in, Candy, we'll be counting on you. We'll need you to figure out how to operate a teleporter and send us out of here and to San Francisco. Then when we make it to a station there, you'll need to send us to the Moon. Are you up to the task?"

  Candy looks hesitant yet eager at the same time. She moves her hairy arms and puts her long fingers on her chin. She walks forward and then backward, dragging her other knuckle on the ground, much like a chimp would. She wants to take on the challenge of learning new tech, but is unsure about her abilities. But then she looks at the rest of us, knowing that our escape hinges on her skills. She can't let us down and she knows it.

  "Yes," Candy says. "I can do it."

  "Good," Tiago says. He then turns to Ace, who has now fully recovered from all the running he did earlier. "You did good, Ace. Without you we wouldn't have been able to get the information we needed. We would've never known how much danger we're in without your help."

  "Really?" Ace's eyes are beaming. I know Ace has an admiration for Tiago. His approval means the world to him.

  "Yes. Do you think you're up for another task?" Tiago asks.

  "Of course. Anything to help out the family," Ace says.

  "Good. This is going to be a riskier job, but I need you to go and get supplies for us. Food, water, clothes. We'll give you a list of things we'll need. Don't worry, we'll wait until night so it's safer for you."

  "Where do I go to get these things?"

  "There's a supply depot about a mile away from here. It should have all the things we'll need. You can use our packs to carry everything."

  "A supply depot? I don't think I know where that is."

  "We can draw you a map."

  "Um?" Ace looks confused, unsure of the task given to him. This mission requires intelligence that he doesn't have. A map in his hands would surely lead to disaster.

  "Let me go. I can get the supplies," a shaky voice from behind me says. It's Lombardi, my older brother. He's usually pretty quiet, not one to talk. He lacks confidence because of his appearance. While we look different compared to a normal human, Lombardi would be considered uglier than all of us. He's the only one with a beak. It's large and sticks out of his face. It's kind of an eyesore. He also is the only one with feathers, and they're usually oily. The rest of us either have a light layer of fur or hair, or none at all, but his feathers make him look dirty. His arms are wing shaped, but he cannot fly, and he has small, grotesque hands sticking out of them.

  Lombardi is also somewhat socially awkward, most likely from a lack of confidence generated by his appearance. He wasn't big and strong like Alex, nor was he tough, like Curtis, whose rough, scaly skin matched his disheartened interior. He couldn't run fast, cheetah like speeds like Ace, nor was he smart like Candy. And he definitely wasn't a natural leader like Oscar or Tiago. Lombardi was kind of u
seless. It was sad to say, but he was an outcast among outcasts.

  And because of that, he always wanted to prove himself. This time was no exception.

  Tiago looks skeptical, almost annoyed, that Lombardi has volunteered to help.

  "This is not a task for you," he says.

  "Aww, c'mon big brother," Lombardi says. "You know I was able to sneak out when we lived in the house. And I can read maps like a charm. In fact, I know these neighborhoods pretty well thanks to all the creeping around I've done."

  Lombardi did have that going for him. He is the most knowledgeable about the surrounding area.

  "No," Tiago says firmly.

  "He has a point, though," Oscar says. "I don't think any of us has had as much exposure to this area as Lombardi."

  Tiago looks at the rest of us and then looks at Lombardi. Lombard is frozen, his eyes wide open, hanging on Tiago's response.

  "All right," Tiago says hesitantly. "We may act tomorrow night. Don't fuck this up."

  "I won't!" Lombardi responds eagerly.

  They and Oscar walk to another side of the room to go over the details of the supply raid. I walk over to Isaac. Everyone else also separates, doing their own thing until the night comes.

  "What do you think of the plan?" I ask him.

  "Which one? The supply raid or Tiago's master plan?" he asks.

  "Tiago's plan."

  "I don't know, sis, I'm kind of skeptical."

  "Me too."

  Isaac looks at me curious. "Any visions or senses?"

  "No," I say dodging his question. "You didn't finish your answer. What do you think?"

  "On one hand he has a point. The Moon is the ideal place to live. It's just like Earth climate wise, and since things haven't completely settled down there, he is right. We could live there unnoticed. We could find a place, and get food and supplies teleported to us online. We could live anonymously. Hell, mom was able to do it so well that no one even knew we existed."

  "What about the other hand?"

  "It seems kind of rushed. I don't know if Tiago has fully thought this plan out yet."

  "Oscar doesn't seem too confident about it."

  "Do you blame him? Tiago is shooting for the stars on this one, figuratively and literally. A week ago, none of us would've even considered being away from home and now, all of a sudden, we're being asked to leave Earth? It's too much to ask in such little time."

  "We're running on a short timeline. It looks like people are going to be searching for us sooner than we thought, with Leonard being taken away and all?"

  We both stop talking to let the words of my statement sink in. Neither of us can believe that our little brother is dead.

  "He didn't deserve it," I say.

  "I know, sis."

  "What if? what if we're next?"

  "Hey, don't say that kind of stuff," he says reassuringly.

  "I mean it. If they were able to take out Leonard so easily, so quickly, what chances do we have? None of us know how to fight and we don't have any weapons or anything."

  "Hey, we have each other."

  "I'm being serious."

  "So am I! Look at me," I tilt my head up and look at his eyes. His arms are at his side, paws clenched together. His tail lies perfectly still.

  "Nothing is going to happen to you or me," he says. "I promise."

  "Thanks, brother."

  His words comfort me, but that comfort fades away the more I think about the next day. The future scares me.