Halfkinds Volume 1: Contact (24 page)

“So that was you the other morning
snooping around our home?  We saw your science division investigating.”

“Well, not me exactly, but yes, it
was an order by the United Species Alliance to investigate your house.”

“They still there?”

“Not anymore,” he says as he
shakes his head, “they’re done with their job, we already have all the
information we need.”

“How’d you find it in the first
place?”  The pace of my voice is slow as I continue to catch my breath.

“A local detective ran into one of
your guys.  Your frog-like brother.”

“Leonard…”  I look around and the
realization of how screwed we are hits me hard.  “Why don’t you just kill us
already?”

“I told you, we aren’t here to
kill you,” he tells me.

“But you killed my brothers. 
Leonard, Lombardi, they were both murdered by you.”

“Leonard was killed by the
detective I mentioned.  It was out of self-defense, your brother attacked him
first.  Lombardi threw an explosive at two of my team members.  They thought he
was dangerous.”

I knew that bomb was nothing but
trouble.  I start to breathe hard, as the adrenaline wears off and the pain
starts to make its presence known.

“Still,” I say.  “They’re both
dead.”

“It wasn’t by me,” the human says.

“Well, that is the plan.  Are you
going to kill us all eventually?” I ask.

“Those are the orders I’ve been
given, but it’s not my plan,” he says dryly.  “I need some information from
you.”

“Information?”  I pause to think
about how I’m going to respond.  “Can you do me a favor?  Can we speak quietly?
I don’t want my siblings to hear.”

“Sure,” he says in a softer tone.

“What kind of information?” I
whisper.

“There are only four of you here. 
We were expecting nine.  I have another team looking for the rest of your
family.  Anything that could be useful for my squad would only make things
easier for you.”

“Easier for me?  Like how?”

“For starters, I’ll make sure that
none of you will die.”

His offer is tempting, but after
what I’ve been through I’m not sure if I can trust him.

“Even if you’re not lying, why
would I help you?” I ask.  “Why would I betray my family?”

“Because from the expression on
your face earlier, it looks like they already did it to you,” he says bluntly. 
“I saw how you reacted when I told you about the supposed meeting.  The shock
on your face meant only one thing, you didn’t set it up.  And no one else on
this planet knows of your existence, let alone where you’re hiding.  No one
else except your own kind.”

I look down at the ground in
shame.  He’s right, my own brother sold us out.

“Don’t you want to get back at
him?  Don’t you want to help us?” he asks me.

I glance at the twins and Maddie. 
They’re still being held up by the pig. They look tired and drained.  This is
his fault.  We wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for him.  He ruined
everything for us and if anyone deserves to get what’s coming, it’s him.  He’s
my brother, but I want him dead for this.

Yet, I think about what has gone
through my head.  Am I thinking clearly?  Have I changed as well?  Before all
of this, I would never even see myself capable of having these thoughts.  If I
help our enemies, rat him out, I would be just like him.

“I’m sorry, sir, but I’m not like
my brother,” I say.  “I will not help you.”

He looks disappointed to say the
least, but he’s not angry.  “I understand.”

“What happens to us now?”

“You’re going to be put under
custody while we figure out what to do.  I’ll need to consult my team and
construct our plan.”

And just like that, grand visions
of us living freely have been dissolved in front of my very eyes.  The end came
so swiftly.  I am the fool who couldn’t see the obvious, even when it was right
in front of me.

Some leader I turned out to be.

November 16, 3040
11:45 PM

I’m almost at the Gonzalez
station, I’ll probably be there in fifteen minutes at the latest.  My walk here
has been uneventful.  Primm isn’t Las Vegas, it’s a dead city.  You would think
that around midnight there’d be people walking the streets, partying their
lives away, but not here.  It’s not exactly safe after the sunset and the only
creatures that would be up would be the shady ones.  You know, the types that
would be into interspecies intercourse.

I guess I should be grateful.  If
it wasn’t for those losers, I wouldn’t be here.  Or maybe I shouldn’t.  They’ve
cursed me to this existence.  If I found out who my father is, these claws and
teeth would see some action.  I’d follow Tiago’s advice and use the gifts given
to me.

My mother’s a different story.  I
would never lay a finger on her.  Just like I would do anything to protect my
family, my mother is the same.  It’s too bad she died.  There’s been a lot of
controversy over what happened to Leonard.  Though my brothers and sisters are
sad that he died, the overall feeling I get is that they don’t understand why
he did it.  Why go back home and risk everything for someone who’s already
dead?

I get it, though.  She was the one
who raised us, our blood.  She sacrificed so much to help us get a taste of a
normal life when we should never have been afforded such luxury.  We did nothing
to repay her, to show our respects.  It’s too bad.

The others can’t read me well,
they’re too scared to look me in the eyes.  But if they did, they would have
seen that I was ashamed to call myself her son.  I already was ashamed of my
own existence, but at least I knew someone loved me.  My brothers and sisters
may have been afraid of me, even Tiago to a degree, but my mother was not.  She
saw me as her boy.  I wasn’t coddled by her like Leonard was, I didn’t need
it.  But I did love her just as much.

I’m so misunderstood by my
family.  Because I run with Tiago, they think I have the same opinions as he
does about mother.  They think that I hate her like Tiago does.  I do not.  I
would’ve gladly done what Leonard did when he decided to leave.  I’d be killing
two birds with one stone, giving mother the proper send-off she deserved and
getting the send-off I wanted.  If only I had thought of it first.  Poor
Leonard.

Candy has given me a route that I
can safely take.  It’s simple enough and runs through an undeveloped part of
town.  It seems there are a lot of those in Primm.  If I stay on her track, I
should encounter nothing.  There are some street lights here and there, but I
make sure to avoid them.

My path isn’t a street, but rather
a dirt track that used to be a train line when those things existed.  The
tracks are buried deep beneath the ground.  It’s impossible to grow anything on
this soil, so the walk is quiet and abandoned.  It makes me feel alone.  My
mind drifts to the dark side.  I think of the suicide that should’ve happened,
the years of feeling like an outcast.  I was going to be rid of my pain
forever, but my brother intervened.  I wonder why I took this job for Tiago
when I wanted to end things on my terms.  How did I get sucked into one of his
schemes?

I guess it’s because I feel I owe
it to my family.  What I’m doing will help protect them from these bastards who
are chasing us.  It could help get them off our tail completely.  Just the
thought that they’ll be left alone gives me a shred of happiness in an
otherwise chronically depressed mind.

But then I think about whom
exactly I am protecting.  Tiago is the one who hatched this plan.  Is it just
for him?  Oscar isn’t with him, only Tiago’s cronies are.  I’m not even sure if
Tiago cares about Oscar.  But when I think about the plan that Tiago has
outlined for me, I can’t see how it wouldn’t help everyone.  Even if Tiago is
only looking out for himself, what I am going to do isn’t just for him. 
Getting rid of these agents will surely benefit us all.

I was going to end it all a few
nights ago, but it seems my contract with our maker has been extended.  If
living on this God forsaken planet for a few more days will help my family,
sign me up.  I’m in.

There aren’t many things to look
at on this deserted road, but there’s a nice view of the Vegas lights.  It’s so
bright.  They’re twenty miles away, but the neon signs illuminate the sky
giving it a rainbow of hues.  Beams shoot into the air, the result of the
spectacles the different hotels offer.  Some of the lodgings tower so high
above the skyline that even from my position, I have to tilt my head up to see
where it ends.  It seems to stretch more than a mile into the atmosphere. 
Hovercars zoom around the landscape like bees in a hive.  I wonder what it’s
like to live that kind of life.  Must be great.

The view itself impresses me. 
It’s nice.  I don’t think I’ve ever had the chance to see it.  Our house was
facing the opposite direction, so live images like these were a rarity.  The only
way I could see something like this was if I snuck around and I didn’t do that
often.  I’m not exactly the stealthy type.

Looking at this beauty depresses
me further.  I know this is the closest I’ll ever be to experiencing that kind
of life.  Imagine me walking around Vegas.  The gamblers and hedonists would no
doubt run in terror.  I’d be spending the whole time dodging gunfire.  It’ll be
like what we’re doing now, on the run, except in tenfold.

“Spare some creds?” a gravelly
voice says behind me.  I look to where it came from and I see a homeless lion
sleeping on a cardboard bed.  His mane is grimy and dirty, his fur stringy and
greasy.  He looks malnourished or hung over, maybe both.  He’s wearing tattered
clothing and has a chewed out hat to his side.  It appears to be a military
cap.

“Um, sorry,” I say discreetly.  “I
don’t have any.”

“It’s okay, brother.  Didn’t
expect anyone to be walking around here anyway.  Sorry if I caught you by
surprise.”

“Uh, no problem.”

I realize this is the first time
I’ve talked to someone from the outside world.  I’m nervous, I don’t really
know what to say.  I’ve never talked to any creature other than my own family
members and I could barely keep a conversation with them.  Now I am talking to
someone who is part of that world I learned to fear.  I’m terrified, yet
curious at the same time.

I’m actually surprised he hasn’t
run for the hills yet.  But I look at him, eyes half open, laying in the
light.  On the other hand, I am concealed by a veil of shadows.  I’m also
covered from head to toe in clothing.  Hood, thick sweater, pants, I’m wearing
anything to hide my identity.  It must be hard for him to see what I am. I feel
a little relieved.

“What are you doing out here,
anyway?” he inquires.  “Seems kind of late for someone to be around this part
of the neighborhood.”

“I was just, um, going for a late
night walk,” I say.  He talks slow and slurs a bit.  He sounds like he’s under
the influence of something, but I’m not familiar with what substances are out
there.  I’m hopeful that my answers won’t trigger any suspicions, but in his
state, it would be hard to recognize if anything is off.  His awareness has
gone out the window.

This is a rare opportunity.  I can
actually interact with another being consequence free and my curiosity gets the
best of me.  I wonder what this lion has to say.

“What are you doing out so late?”
I ask him.

He gives a yawn and licks his
snout area.  He uses his paws to scratch the top of his head.

“I’m running,” he says.  “I’ve
been on the run for a while.”

“Running?” I say.  “From what?”

He looks at me oddly and peers
straight at me.  I get a little nervous, unsure if what I said has tipped him
off.  I don’t think he can see anything, though, it’s too dark and I’m too covered. 
After a few moments of piercing glances, he lowers his head down and looks at
his hat.

“You speak human,” I say.

“Of course,” he says.  “All
military members, human, wolves, lions, learn all the languages.  In a human
city like this, it comes in handy.”

He bites his hat and flings it my
way.

“You see this hat?” he says.  “I
was a soldier in the conflict.”

“Conflict?” I say.

“Geez man, where have you been? 
The conflict!”

He raises his voice as if
something I said angers him.  I step back cautiously and he notices.

“Sorry, pal,” he says.  “I didn’t
mean to get testy.  I just haven’t had a good drink for a while.  Anyways, the
conflict, you know, the Lion-Gorilla War?”

I’m vaguely familiar with what
he’s talking about.  I wish I had paid more attention to current events.

“So, you’re fighting in that war?”
I ask him.

“Was fighting.  I left about a
year ago, went AWOL,” he says.  “Somehow I ended up in Vegas and blew my creds
away.  Now I’m stuck in this goddamn city trying to get whatever I can.”

“AWOL?  You mean you left the war
without permission?”

“No shit.”

“Why’d you leave?”

“I got scared, pal.”

He shakes his head and pauses.  He
looks at the ground and moves his head up and down in a dazed fashion.

“Yeah, I got scared,” he said. 
“Got drafted into it when the gorillas started their attacks.  They came to my
house, threw me a uniform, and shipped me off.  I didn’t even have time to say
goodbye to my family.  You know what that’s like?”

“I think I do,” I say.

“Basic training wasn’t so bad. 
Got some good food there, learned some cool shit, and made some good friends. 
In fact, I trained with my company from the start.  Those guys are like my
brothers.  We even made a pact to make it out alive, through thick and thin.”

“Brothers?  So you were part of a
team?”

“I was part of a team, but I ain’t
anymore.”