Fallocaust (The Fallocaust Series) (100 page)

Oh my god Leo had told Greyson… of course he would, they were in this together. I swallowed a lump in my throat, it turned to needles half way down.

“I just don’t understand how where I was born… could determine why I am pre-disposed to be a bad person.”

I tried to calm my pounding chest, thank god Reaver thought it was my inquisitive nature and curiosity regarding where he was born.

“It… it doesn’t,” I whispered, I decided to dangle him a carrot, just to hopefully stop his mind from racing. “Maybe your dad was like you, and he’s afraid you will turn out like him.”

“Maybe,” Reaver whispered, his brow furrowed. “Maybe Greyson had to kill him? Maybe my father is some psychopath and I’m following in his foot steps.”

He smiled then let out a chuckle, I could feel the nerves dance the edges of his tone though. I knew he was curious but I knew he could never admit it. “Well, whatever. I don’t care.”

“I care.” I snuggled up closer and he put his arm tighter around me. “No matter who you are, you’re my Reaver. I love you.”

“I love you, but… you shouldn’t care.” Reaver’s cheeks puffed out as he let out a breathe. “I don’t care, nothing matters, it’s in the past. All that matters is the six of us.”

Hm, six? Did his personalities finally split?

“Six?”

“You, me, Reno, Greyson, Leo and Asher.”
My heart lurched up. So it was official now.

Reaver snorted, he held out his hand and made the motion like he was squeezing something. I had the impression he was mock clenching my heart. I poked him in the side, making him let out a surprised noise. “No fair with your super hearing.”

“He saved me last night, you know that, right?”
I glared at him, but I was more than happy to steer away from our other conversation. “You saved him too, I saw you drag him after the dirt bike crashed. You’re even.”

He didn’t say anything back to that, his eyes found the ceiling again. “I want to tell you something that happened. I wasn’t planning on telling you, but I don’t want to lie to you.”

If the mere mention of Asher being in our group clenched my heart, this one exploded it into a thousand pieces. I felt a endless pit form where the organ used to be.

He looked at me curiously as my face crumpled.

They had slept together... I knew it. I started to whimper, and as I did I heard him chuckle. “No, Killibee I didn’t sleep with him. For fuck sakes, really?”

I wash of relief swept through me. “Sorry...” I blinked away the tears burning in my eyes, even the thought of that... after what Reno and I had talked about hit me in the worst places. “Continue, I’m sorry.”

“There were people in the cache town. Four of them, all arian wasters...” Reaver began. “All of them were practically unarmed, ready to let us go peacefully with the cache... but Asher saw a dirt bike he liked. He shot one, we both shot the rest.”

I stared at him, I was at a loss for words.

“Just so you don’t look at me with a fresh hatred... this isn’t the first time I’ve killed unarmed arians and it probably wont be the last. I did it all the time when I was younger, and before I met you. I just well... it’s not like those stories ever come up in conversation so it’s not like you would know stuff like this might happen. But that is me, you know it’s me, you know I’m sociopathic like that. So, I mean-” Reaver kept tripping over his words. He was trying to hard to translate what he felt.“Greyson said you’re my morality. You’re what makes me make good decisions... I...”

“Baby, stop and take a deep breath.” I held up my hand, and placed it on his chest.

Reaver didn’t argue, he stopped for a second and took a large breath. He was quiet for a moment, before he spoke again. This time very slowly, and audible.

“I wanted you to know. I would have let them live. Not because I cared, but because I didn’t want to risk not coming home to you. When Asher started killing them, I well, decided we might as well finish off the rest but... if he hadn’t shot first I think we might have just gone home.”

I smiled at him just slightly. He looked at me confused.

“So you weren’t going to shoot them because of me?”

Reaver nodded. “I think that was it.”

My heart swelled with pride. I had made chimera engineered to kill people (possibly) not kill people! Well... they ended up dead, but what was important was that if it wasn’t for Asher they would have been alive.

Fucking Asher, I wish he would have snapped his spine in that accident. My thoughts turned to the devices I had hidden in my satchel, courtesy of Reno’s uncle. I would deal with that asshole soon.

“Greyson is right then, I am your conscience!” I kissed his lips. And I meant it too, we could be two fractured people who when stuck together form one perfect person.

I felt his lips tighten as he smiled. “I ignore my conscience a lot, so don’t go thinking you can make me do good things.”

I kissed him again and beamed at him. “Too bad! You’re going to repent for your murders, Teufel. We’re going to Doc’s and you’re going to give blood.”

Reaver groaned and rolled off of the bed. “No way! I like my blood, all of it.”
I got up and we started to get changed together. “Yep! Mr. Type O negative. You’re going to give blood to poor Matt.”

“Matt’s probably dead by now,” Reaver shrugged.

I glared at him. “We care that Matt’s hurt and we’re going to be sad if he dies.”

Reaver waved me off and walked out of the bedroom. I sighed, decided to pick my morality battles. Well at least it was a good start. Any bits of humanity I can put into my chimera was a win.

I wondered how much longer his origins would be a secret to him.

When Doc saw us his face lit up like a beacon. “Type O! Hey demon spawn remember when I helped save your life and the life of your boyfriend? Sit down, I need blood.”
Reaver took his shirt off and gave it to me. “That’s what I’m here for.”

Doc started hooking up an IV right in the reception area, behind him I could see the injured laying quietly in their hospital beds. I tried to spot Matt but some of the curtains were closed.

“Is Matt still alive?” I almost didn’t want to ask.

Matt had gotten pounced on by two ravers when he jumped down into the walls. I hadn’t told Reaver but he had jumped down as soon as he had seen the bike crash, Mickey right behind him. He dropped the single board they had on the north gate, a pulley bridge for quick access to outside the walls, and ran off guns a blazing. He had taken out several of the raver who were closing in on Reaver and Asher.

“He’s ass first in the woods but he’s alive. He’ll be even more alive after I get some of Reaver’s deliciously nutrient blood into him.” Doc flicked the needle and I started tying off Reaver’s arm.

“He’s given blood before?” I asked.

The doctor nodded.

“We usually pay him, but he has.” Doc sunk the needle into Reaver’s arm and started poking around for a vein. “His blood is a miracle worker, my theory is he’s done so much drugs his blood is now laced with them.” He gave a successful
‘ah hah
!’ and I watched the line of red swirl around the plastic tube into the baggy sitting on an IV stand. “Now stay.” He gave Reaver a painful clap on his injured shoulder and quickly sped off to the recovery room.

“He needs to lay off the coke.” Reaver watched him leave. Then he turned to me. “What’s your blood type?”

“AB, I can...” I thought for a second, Doc had spent many hours hammering this into my head. He had all of the residents of Aras’s blood types on file. The same way the ACL did but unlike the Arian Compliance League, he had Reaver’s on file too. “I can donate blood to other AB's only, but I can receive blood from anyone.”

Reaver nodded, I think he was happy that he could give me blood if he ever needed it. But I hated that no one but his own blood type could donate to him. At least his chances of getting mortally wounded were rarer than mine.

I sat with Reaver and watched the blood bag fill up, when I heard the door to outside open. I looked over and saw Greyson walking into the reception area.

He noticed us right away, his eyes widened in surprise.

“Is he paying you?”

Reaver gave him a single disinterested glance before his eyes decided the window was more interesting. “No,” he said, sounding like he had just become incredibly bored. “My conscience decided this would be a good idea.” He nodded towards me and I beamed a little bit.

Greyson’s dark eyebrows raised, but I think he new better than to draw too much attention to it. “I’m here to check on Matt. I’ll tell him he’s getting some primo blood.” Greyson gave us a nod and disappeared into the recovery room.

I busied myself changing Reaver’s bandages and cleaning his wounds. Behind us I could hear Doc mostly, but also Greyson and at some times the weak voice of Matt. At least he could still talk, those ravers seemed to like going for the face and the throat.

When I was done cleaning up Reaver, I watched with a cringe as he pinched the IV needle out and handed it to me. He brought his arm up to his mouth and licked the blood off. I shuddered, it reminded me of when Perish would lick my blood. It was always so creepy, even if it was your own. I think it was a chimera thing.

Reaver got up and took the bag off of the rack. “I’m going to give this to Matt and say a few words to him. Wait here.”

I hoped he was going to say nice things to him. I smiled proudly watching my Reaver walk into the recovery rooms. I was so proud of him for making an effort, even though I knew it was a huge effort for him to care.

A few minutes later Greyson walked out of the recovery room, I’m assuming Reaver booted him out. He kicked the door stop away and closed the doors behind him. He looked just as proud as I did I bet.

I reached into my pocket and offered him a quil, he gave me a thankful nod and took it. I lit it for him, and passed it to him before lighting my own. We sat in silence, hearing muffled speaking behind the door.

“I’m just... glad he’s talking,” Greyson said after a few minutes of silence.

I noticed the deep gouge marks on his hand, now starting to scar. My mind went back to my desperate clawing, trying to pry his hands away from Reaver’s throat. His eyes filling with blood, his gasping struggling breaths.

And Leo... Lycos’s threats towards me. Both of them... Reaver might slowly make amends but... how could I forgive them that easily? For what they had done  to us recently, and for what they had been doing to Reaver his entire life.

My heart started to palpitate. They might make nice now, but what about the next time Reaver made him mad? This couldn’t have been the first time he physically hurt Reaver, why would it be the last?

“If you so much as raise a hand to him again I will shoot you on the spot.”

The adrenaline was a tsunami inside of me, it filled me with such a high I felt like I was floating. I had a feeling I might be running in a second, so I hoped the rush stayed with me.

The silence between us was thick, the smell of the quil heavy in the air, mixed with antiseptic and blood. I stared at the door to outside, going over every detail, analysing every paint chip, counting every bolt. I tried to breath steadily but I was sure I could feel him staring at me. I became increasingly aware of the fact that he knew that I knew Leo’s secret. I hoped I didn’t just sign my own death warrant with that threat.

“He’s lucky to have you, Killian.”

Well I wasn’t expecting that. I turned my head slowly towards him, and saw him smirking. “You’re getting better, but you should stand up straighter and square your shoulders when you want to be threatening... here.” Greyson turned and faced me, he puffed out his chest slightly and crossed his arms. “Like this. Not hunched over like a scared kangaroo.”

I felt my body droop, Greyson chuckled at me. “I’m not trying to take the wind from your sails, son. I’m just giving you some pointers.”

“Thanks,” I grumbled. I bet Asher could be intimidating, he had the body for it and the stance.

Greyson shifted and took another drag of his cigarette. “I should be thanking you…” Greyson coughed and I saw his blue eyes shift toward the door. “For not… for leaving it to us to tell him.”

The back of my neck went hot. “I shouldn’t have been looking in the first place, and it’s not my place to say anything.”

“Does it scare you at all?”

I shook my head, when I drew the cig up to my mouth I noticed my hand was trembling. “I just want him safe and happy, like we all do.”

Then the doors to the recovery room swung open. Reaver came walking out, he glanced and both of us before nodding at me to follow him.

“Reaver...” Greyson said as Reaver opened up the door to outside. “We got a lot of meat right now, I got some of the good cuts. If you want come over tonight, pick up your mayor’s share...”

“If you’re trying to invite us over for bbq, just say it,” Reaver spared him a fleeting glance.

“How about it?”

“I want Leo there.”
“Leo’s... not really talking talking to me right now.”
“I’m bringing him.” Before Greyson could tell him no, he turned and walked back onto the street with me. I stuck close to him in case the blood donating made him woozy but he seemed fine.

Reaver put his shirt back on, I tightened my jacket around my sweater. Cold day today. “How are you going to get Leo to come down?” I asked.

Reaver clicked his radio off of his belt and spoke into it. “Yo Reno, turn to channel three.” He pressed a few buttons on the radio that made it beep.

“What’s up? Turn into a zombie yet?”
“Only on the inside. Listen I need you to make up some BS excuse to get Leo’s to Greyson’s at five thirty, alright?”

“Sure thing, I’ll do it when he gets back.”
“Alright, thanks, over and out.” Reaver clicked the radio into his belt. “There see? Easy-.”

“Hey fuckfaces!” A faint voice down the street called. We both turned around and saw none other than the dork we were just talking to. He was waving his radio in the air.

Reaver snorted and started quickly walking towards him. “Looks like he spent the entire night with Asher.”

I felt a bitter taste in my mouth but I didn’t say anything, I followed Reaver to where Reno was jogging towards us.