Everwinter: The Forerunner Archives (20 page)

"We don't come out here much," Tien says, reaching for the door.

I grab his arm. "We don't have to do this," I say, seeing the pain in his eyes.

Tien shakes his head. "No, it's alright. I've been here many times since...."
The Final Judgment
, I finish in my head. "A lot of my brothers avoid it altogether," Tien continues, "but I think that's unhealthy. It's just a building, and now it's abandoned. We have to move on."

My eyes go wide, amazed at Tien's maturity. I put a hand on his shoulder. "After you," I gesture.

Tien leads me inside.

It's dark, but then I hear a soft buzzing noise and a chain of bright lights bursts on in an arc overhead. One light explodes, sending sparks showering across the other side of the building.

Automatic power!

"It's really getting rundown now," Tien says.

There's a central concourse shooting straight off before us. On either side, the dome is divided into sections by sometimes transparent, sometimes translucent glass walls. I've never seen so much of the same type of glass in one place. A lot of the walls are smashed; equipment, screens, and desks toppled haphazardly where I can see them.

"My brothers went a little crazy when we were first set free," Tien explains. "
The humans abandoned us after the Final Judgment, so we moved into the Manse where they used to live. But our hate of this place drew us back. We took out our frustrations on these inanimate objects." Tien shakes his head. "Why do we do that? It's not like we're
actually
getting revenge when we do it. It wasn't the building that harmed us, but the people inside it."

I pull Tien closer to me. "Because you're human, Tien," I say, almost whispering. "At least partially. You may be mutants, but you have emotions. All of you."

Tien nods, pulling me deeper into the complex.

Some of the rooms we pass are locked, still clean and sterile, but I don't find it hard to imagine the horrors they'd inflicted. I see tables and chairs with straps on them, used to restrain their victims. I see cold instruments and tubing hanging fr
om the ceiling, hanging over tables and chairs. I see needles, drills, scalpels, cutting instruments, sewing instruments.

I puke up a little in my mouth.

Tien has scars on his body, but unlike human scars, they blend perfectly with the surrounding white tissue, nearly invisible unless felt directly. I brush a hand along Tien's arm and feel quite a few of the hard raised lumps. He shivers, stopping in the middle of the concourse. 

My eyes meet his.

"We... We shouldn't do this, Juno," Tien says timidly. But for once he's not looking away.

"Do what?" I ask, bringing my lips closer to his.
 

Closer and closer.

"I... I'm not good enough for you, Juno," Tien says, starting to shake.

I stop briefly, our lips just inches apart. "Why? Because I'm the last human?" I shake my head. "My kind is doomed, Tien. And besides, you saved my life! If anything, that means I'm not good enough for
you
. Humanity had its chance."

"You don't really believe that," Tien states.

"Maybe," I grin, and start moving toward him again.

"Juno, I
–" Tien's words are cut off as my lips find his, warm flesh locking onto cold. It's the strangest sensation of my life. Nothing like kissing Jude.

Jude!

My eyes go wide but I don't pull away.
What am I doing?
Jude's been gone little more than a month and I'm–

Tien senses my hesitation. His eyes open and he pulls away.

"What?" he asks, fear plain on his face. "Is something wr–"

KERRASH!!

Tien and I both whirl.

A pair of shapes near the entrance to the concours
e duck behind a glass wall. We can hear their footfalls as they run. Then we hear the slamming of a door, opening and closing.

Tien scowls. "Damn them!" he growls. "I knew they couldn't leave me alone with you! Not even for a second!"

"Your brothers?" I ask, though I know the answer.

"Yeah," Tien confirms. "I suppose you've noticed their,
ahem
, scrutiny of you?"

I nod with a smirk. "Oh yeah, you could say that."

Tien blinks. "You should have seen them fight over you when I first brought you in. It was nearly a riot. Dura had to step in and stop it. He doesn't do that often." Tien pauses. "I wouldn't say Dura likes me, but he respects what I am. He knew that I would take care of you and that your best chance was with me."

Still holding Tien's cold hand, I squeeze it.
 But the moment is over, and I reluctantly let it go. 

"Should we head back?" I ask.

Tien is reluctant too. "Yes, I think maybe we should. If my brothers covet you this much... If they saw us, um, kissing..." He hesitates. "I don't want Traylor to get caught up in it."

My heart feels ready to stop.
 I hadn't even considered that.

"Yeah," I say. "Let's get outta here."

30.

The Manse is full of shouting, much as it was when we'd left it. My only hope is that the boys are still wrestling in the mess hall.

They aren't.

We get there and the place seems to be on the verge of erupting, curses coming from every corner of the large space. Dura is at the front, shouting something, but we can't make it out over the cacophony. 

Then our presence is noted.

Slowly, one by one, every head turns our way, the voices coming to a stop. The glares that greet us are icier than the kiss I'd just shared with Tien. 

The kiss that
started this all.

I look at Tien and he's returning the stares, heedless. I get the feeling that Tien is a courageous individual, but only when it's forced out of him, kicking and screaming
as it is now.

Tien strides toward Dura, purposeful
ly. "What is this about?" he asks, voice stern and confident. There's no denying it: I'm crushing hard on Tien.

"Your friends need to leave, Tien," Dura says, without preamble. "Now. For the sake of our community." Dura's eyes fall on me and I shiver.

Tien sneers. "I saved her life; that makes me responsible for her." He snarls at the rest of his brothers. "Is this how we treat those in our care? If it is, then we are no better than the humans that imprisoned us here all these years!" Tien points toward a wall. We can't see it from here, but the dome sits in that direction.

"That's a lie!" voices scream from a suddenly erupting crowd.

"We are nothing like them!" others concur.

"
Humans
are the blasphemy!" still others contribute.

The room is near boiling.
 

Dura screams for silence and, for once, the brothers listen. But now a new voice enters the fray.

"What's going on here?" Ursa's familiar tone sounds from the main entrance.

Upon seeing Ursa, Dura's expression becomes grave. Tien and I are standing in front of Dura at the head of the room, and he gestures for us to move closer. "You and your friends leave now," he says to me. "Or the consequences will be disastrous."

I bare my teeth. "I thought you were the leader here, Dura," I counter. "Yes, I get it, your boys have been suppressed for most of their lives, but if you don't rein them in now, sooner or later, your society will crumble." Dura's gaze is hard and only growing harder. "We can't leave, not until Altair is recovered. If you really are the leader here, now's your chance to prove it." I pause to gesture theatrically. "Tell your boys to stay away from us, and we'll do likewise until we leave. Traylor included."

I've just caught a glimpse of my little brother, hiding among the mutants, inching towards me and Tien.
 

What are you doing?
he mouths at me harshly.

I just shake my head to indicate that he should join me.

Dura finally sighs. "It is not that easy," he says. "Tien doesn't know what it was like for the others. He was well liked by the humans. Some of his brothers, what was done to them can never be reversed." Dura pauses to tap his skull. "In here," he says. "They cannot escape the nightmares in their minds and the hatred they have for humans."

I nod, sympathizing. "Look, Dura, I get that you've all been through a lot, but that doesn't excuse this kind of behavior. They want
to beat or kill Tien and fight over me. This cannot go on! If you let it, you've lost them forever. Your community will die right here in the place you despise so much."

Dura nods, his stone expression finally melting. He lowers his voice. "I agree with you, Miss Quinn. More than you know. Unfortunately, I must do what is best for my brothers. You leave now, or I will let it be known who your traveling companion is." He gestures to Ursa, who has just joined us at the front
of the room. "For the greater good," Dura finishes with a hiss.

My eyes go wide.

He knows.

My conversation with Tien, not more than half an hour ago, replays in my mind:
"The people that brought us here, the science people, they all liked me best. I don't know why. I could relate to them, I guess. I understood what they were trying to do, even if it was horrific. 'For the greater good', one of them always told me..."

I turn toward Tien, my body feeling like it's encased in thick jelly. I expect his gaze to meet mine, but Tien's eyes are cast elsewhere.

He's looking at Ursa.

He turns back toward Dura, keeping his head low, eyes squinted. He shakes his head, then finally looks up at Dura. "How did you know?" he asks, stealing a quick glance back at Ursa. The mutant woman approaches timidly. "I barely recognize her."

The exceptionally tall Dura stoops low as well, keeping the conversation between us three. "She was one of the few good ones," Dura answers. "You wouldn't know because they were
all
good to you, Tien. More or less. But I remember the
truly
good ones." Dura pauses, gathering himself. "Do you think I'd let her stand here among us if she were not?"

Tien shakes his head. "If you tell the others, they won't care whether she was one of the good ones or not. All they will care about is revenge." Hoarse whispers and muted curses echo from behind us and I turn to see that the mutant boys
are getting restless, eyeing us warily. We need to wrap this up quickly.

"They'll tear them apart," Tien pleads, turning his gaze on mine.

Dura shakes his head, expression returning to stone. "I know, Tien, which is why I am giving them the chance to leave now. They have until the tenth hour to leave this place." He pauses. "If they are still here after that, I will have no choice but to tell the brothers the truth." He crosses his arms, indicating that the matter is settled. I hear a few vicious growls from the onlookers.

I'm getting nervous.

Tien checks a large clock on the wall–one of the few still working machines in this place. He looks at Dura, then at me. "It's the eighth hour," he informs. "That is not much time." Dura remains stern. Tien bows. "Very well then. I have no choice as well. I am going with them." He announces it just a little too loudly. A few of the boys near the front hear it, relaying the information to their brothers. I'm shocked, but unsurprised. 

Tien never really belonged here anyway.

The hall is getting louder.

"Then I suggest you be gone by the ninth hour," Dura admonishes. "For your own good."

Is that a threat?

Before I can dwell on it, the crash of a table behind us makes us all whirl. A boy near the back has flipped one over. He's still throwing things, his rage growing.
 

"Why does Tien get to have her?" he screams over the escalating shouts. The rest of the boys seem to agree.

Tien pulls me in behind him as a few of the boys advance toward us. I turn and look to Dura for some form of help, but the lead boy has stepped away, indicating that he's washed his hands of the situation. Traylor and Ursa are behind me now too, both shaking in terror.

"What do we do?" Ursa stammers.

Tien snarls at a boy who gets close, swinging a long limbed arm. But it's all a ruse. While Tien's off balance, another boy sneaks in behind and goes to his knees as yet another boy shoves Tien from the front, knocking him hard over the kneeling boy and sending him crashing to the stone floor.

"No!" I protest.

But it's too late. 

The boys surround us...

KRAKOOOM!!

An absolutely deafening roar mutes all the oth
er noise in the mess hall. It's a sound I've heard all too often now on this adventure.

A shooting iron.

The boys halt their advance, many leaping for cover. They are all looking toward the front of the hall, but I can't see anything over the taller mutants.