Hero Reborn (Keepers of Justice, Book 3) (6 page)

X places his hand on Kale’s arm. “
Their telepaths aren’t as strong as you. Push them out.”

“
What if they’re stronger?”

“
Try. If it doesn’t work…”

We’re pretty much screwed.

Kale shuts his eyes. I watch the soldiers move closer to the house. They have determined and confident looks on their faces.

I glance at Kale. His eyes are shut tighter and he’s biting
his lip hard. The soldiers are inching even closer. In just a few seconds they’ll barge through the front door. Then they’ll grab us or shoot us, or I don’t know!

I don’t want to die again.

“Kale! They’re getting closer.”

Kale shakes his head
. “It’s not working!” He opens his eyes and peers outside. He gulps. “Oh, man.” He backs away, hands trembling.

X grabs his arm
. “You can do it. We
need
you to do it.”

“
I…I can’t.”

“
You can. Focus. Block out any other thoughts or distractions.”

Still shaking, Kale takes a deep breath. He
looks outside for a second before closing his eyes and trying again. The soldiers don’t change.

“Kale!”

“I’m trying!”

Crap, they’re at t
he door. That’s it. We’re dead.

I
want to hide inside the coat closet, but I won’t leave my friends. If the door opens, I’ll stretch my arms to grab them and shove us all in the closet.

“Yes,” X whispers. “Good job, Kale. Keep going.”

I look outside. The soldiers
are retreating from the door. They exchange glances before turning on their heels and walking away. They’re like robots, marching in unison. I watch them until they disappear down the block.

“
Dude, that was awesome!” I hold out my hand to Kale for a high-five.

Laughing a bit,
he slaps my hand. “I can’t believe it worked.”

X sighs in relief.

“I thought we were for sure dead men,” I say. Then something dawns on me. “Guys? How did they find us?”

All three of us look at each other. “
The telepaths,” Kale says. “The ones probing our League mates’ minds. They must have read about this house. They know everything—what we look like. What the other survivors look like. Everything.”

“The Elites have blocks, though,” X says. “Our
secrets should be safe.” Cindy put blocks on the Elites’ minds in case one gets captured, all our secrets wouldn’t be exposed. The Elites know more than the regular members of the League, so Cindy’s not blocking everyone. It wouldn’t be right.

“My parents aren’t Elites,” I say. “
Only they know about this house. Those government guys must have read it in their minds.” Which means they were captured…or at least one of them was. Probably my mom.

Kale rubs my shoulder. He doesn’t
say anything. Doesn’t need to.

“Let’s go
search for the others,” X says.

***

It’s eight PM. The crowds are small but loud as we make our way past them. Their voices ring in my ears, mostly bashing the Keepers. We speed up so we won’t get caught in middle of it. Kale’s wearing a long, black wig to cover his blond hair and his cap is down low on his eyes. He’s got brown contact lenses on. X and I are also wearing contacts. X refuses to put on the red wig we bought. His dark, messy hair is hidden in his beanie.

“X,” Kale says. “
See any Keepers?”

“No. Sense any?”

“Nothing.”

I stop walking. “Does that mean everyone’s captured or dead?”

“I don’t know, man.” Kale sucks in some air. “But we gotta keep trying.”

We trudge on, checking around for anything out of the ordinary, but the st
reets are pretty much deserted.

“Dead end,” I say. “What now?”

“We continue looking,” X says.

Wandering around for another hour, we find nothing.

“Let’s head back,” X says. “We might find some others on the way.”

Kale and I slouch behind him. I rest my head on Kale’s shoulder
. “So tired.”

He shrugs my head off. “Me, too.”

I put my head back. “Can barely keep my head up.”

Now he shoves my head off with so much force my whole body flies back. I crash into a pile of black garbage bags.

“Man,” I mutter, shaking the junk off.

“W
hoa. Sorry, man,” Kale says. “Didn’t mean to do that.”

I laugh hard. Kale laughs too. So does X. Glancing around, I make sure no one’s in the vicinity before I stretch my arms out to each of them. “Help me up?”

They yank me to my feet. “Watch it,” X says. “You could have drawn attention.”

I poke his chest. “Admit it, you needed that laugh.”

He swats my hand away and walks off.

I turn to Kale. “He totally needed that.”

Kale rolls his eyes and leaps to join X. I linger behind, sniffing myself to make sure I don’t stink. Ah, who am I kidding? Of course I stink. Probably will for days, no matter how many times I shower.

Kale and I are
sitting on the couch, watching some game show. X is standing by the window. He’s not looking outside, though.

We
searched for more League mates this morning, but nothing again. No one was waiting for us at the house when we returned. And there’s still no word from Kale’s parents. We’ve only been searching in Queens, since none of us can fly. We plan to rest for a bit, then try to catch a cab to take us around other areas in New York.

“I wonder if Furball’s okay,
” I say.

“I wonder where Lindsay is. If she’s
safe.”

X shifts, but doesn’t
utter a word. We all know what he’s thinking about—Stealth. He’s got no way of contacting her. He doesn’t know if she’s all right. I can’t imagine what it’s like for him.

He
changes the channel to the news. The anchor is talking about a virus that’s going around.

“What?” all three of us say, bending closer to the TV. From what I can understand, a few hours ago, a virus began to spread. Fast. Mu
ch faster than a typical virus. It started in Washington D.C. and branched outward. A few nearby states are getting infected, too.

“How did we miss this?
” Kale asks. “Dammit. Shoulda been watching the news, man! A
virus
? You don’t think—?”

X motions for him to lower his voice. The anchor continues, “We’re updating you on the latest
news. Government officials have pinpointed the source of this terrible virus. The Keepers of Justice have struck again. This time, Kale Zenith, son of Samson and Cindy Zenith, has chosen to terrorize civilians.”

“What the hell?” Kale’s eyes are the hugest I’ve ever seen.

The TV changes to a camera footage. Kale is seen climbing into the window of a house. It’s nighttime, probably last night. I guess the inhabitants have cameras around. He walks into the living room, where two kids are sleeping. A teen and a little kid. Kale walks over to the younger boy, lifts his hand, and stabs him with a syringe. With a mischievous smile, he leaves through the same window.

“What you
just witnessed was Kale Zenith, of the Keepers of Justice, invading a home and infecting a little boy with an unknown virus. He was rushed to the hospital, where he infected the entire staff and all the patients. Several hours later, more than half of our nation’s capital has grown ill. The virus is spreading. It is highly contagious. Doctors and scientists are baffled, but have managed to treat it. They claim that if treated correctly, this virus is non-lethal. Government officials see no need to evacuate, and are doing everything in their power to bring the culprits to justice. If you have the following symptoms, seek medical help immediately: severe abdominal pains, excessive vomiting, and some patients have been coughing up blood. Again, if you have these symptoms, seek medical attention as soon as possible.”

The footage shifts to hospitals and doctors’ offices in D.C. People are lined up, waiting for medicine
to help with the symptoms. They’re all clutching their stomachs. Some have bloody cloths pressed to their mouths.

Kale jumps to his feet
. “What the hell is this crap?”

X paces around. He mutters and curses under his breath. “Those bastards. I can’t believe she actually did it.”

“
Did what?” I ask.

Kale looks at X
. “You really think it’s…?”

“Yeah.”
X punches the wall. “She did it. Damn, she did it.”

“
Guys?” I ask.

Kale
turns to me. “You know about the virus thing and Vlayne, right?”

“
Yeah. The Blades want to release it to the world and kill off the humans.”

I missed a lot when I died, but Kale and X updated me. Apparently, Virus Boy
was in the ShadowBlades’ possession fifteen years ago. Vladimir, who was the leader back then, wanted to release the virus to the world and kill off the normies. His daughter, Vlayne, fell in love with a normie. She didn’t want him to die and convinced her father not to release the virus. But one day, she found out her boyfriend was cheating on her. Furious, she wanted to punish him. Not to kill him, but to have him suffer. X’s mom—his biological one—was working for the Blades as a scientist. Vlayne forced her to change the virus, to make it kill over a long period of time, as opposed to killing him instantly. What she didn’t know was that X’s mom also created an antidote, a cure to the virus. X’s mom asked Scar to conceal her thoughts from Vlayne so she wouldn’t find out about the antidote.

X’s mom created the new strain
, and Vlayne’s boyfriend got infected. But then Vlayne learned that she made a mistake. Her boyfriend didn’t cheat on her. In a rage, Vlayne killed X’s mom and dad. X’s mom’s dying wish was for the antidote—that would cure any strain of the virus—to be safe. She knew the Blades would eventually release the virus and she wanted the humans to be safe. Scar hid the formula in X’s head.

Four
months ago, as the three of us were trying to expose Lightning as a spy for the Blades, Vlayne found out about the formula in X’s head. Her boyfriend is still alive, but he’ll eventually die. That’s why she wants the formula. The League got it out of X’s head to save Kale, when he got sick from Lindsay, because it also repairs damaged cells. Samson and Cindy have the formula hidden somewhere Vlayne can’t get it.

“Guys,” Kale says. “Vlayne would never release the
instant-killing virus to the world, because her boyfriend would die. Which must mean
this
virus doesn’t kill. It must be the same one her boyfriend has.”

“So why
did she release it now?” I ask.             

X turns around
from the wall. “She wants the antidote. She knows Samson and Cindy will give it to the humans.”

“So this is good,” I say. “
Samson and Cindy have the formula. They’ll cure the normies.”

“Will they?
” X says. “The League’s gone. Maybe the formula’s gone, too.”

“
But then Vlayne wouldn’t have a cure for her boyfriend,” Kale says. “None of this makes sense.”

A shadow passes over X’s face. “
Unless Vlayne’s so pissed she doesn’t care about her boyfriend anymore. Or maybe she has him isolated on some island.”

“Then why not kill the humans instantly?”

“Um, guys?” I ask. “Maybe this has nothing to do with the Blades. Maybe whoever set Samson and Cindy up is setting Kale up, too.”

“
No, it’s the Blades,” X says. “I don’t understand what she’s trying to do…” His eyes widen.

“What?” Kale and I say.

“The Blades
are
behind the attack on the Tower. Think about it. Except for our League mates, who are the only people who know what Samson and Cindy look like?”

“The Blades,” Kale says.

X nods. “Remember, Lightning spied on us for years. Samson and Cindy didn’t wear their masks around him. And Vlayne was in his head the whole time and saw everything.”

“Stealth, too,” Kale adds.

X’s face tightens before he nods. “Vlayne must have controlled the military to attack us so she could steal the formula.”

“Why would she need the military?” Kale asks. “Why not just attack us and steal it?”

X doesn’t say anything for a bit. “I’m not sure…the only thing I can think of is she doesn’t want the humans to trust the League.”

“Or maybe she wanted us gone so we can’t create the antidote,” Kale says.

“Then how would she cure her boyfriend?” I ask.