After The End

Who's Your Family?

As Jackson pulls away he takes a deep breath and I shake my head, "I'm not leaving."

"Kat, my only living relative wants to kill me, so the safest place for you is not here."

I place my hands on the back of Jackson's neck, "Look, your sister and your father, they're not your family. They might be your blood relatives, but family is who defines who you are. Abraham, Dariela, me, the rest of our team, that's your family."

Jackson shakes his head, placing it against mine, "I am so sorry that I hurt you. That they hurt you. You are the last person that I ever wanted to cause any pain. You saved me. When we had to leave and become Dylan and Elizabeth, I thought we'd lose what made us, us. But we didn't, because of you. How do you thank the person that gave you your life back?"

I smile up to him, "You go save the world, genius." I lean in and kiss him. "With me right beside you."

Jackson takes a deep breath, "Yeah. With you right beside me."

Once the plane lands it doesn't take long for the group to get on board and we take off again, looking for the radiation signs the kids should be giving off. Mitch had passed out upon seeing Abendegos, but then again I don't blame him. And with the added stress of the bio-drive in his head, it's understandable."

Once Mitch is settled I start to examine Clem and the baby since I was in charge of mother and child needs at the camp, even though I hadn't seen a pregnant woman since I worked up in New York some twelve years ago. Even so, we figured it would be better for Clem if I examined her instead of Abe. "Well, the baby is healthy. If it wasn't the only baby on the planet, I would say it was a textbook pregnancy."

"What about the CLM-protein?" Clem asks.

"And the stem cells from Abendegos' spinal fluid?" Jackson adds having come in once Clem and I were done and she was decent.

"As long as Clem's baby continues to develop normally, we should have enough CLM-protein to make our synthetic reproductive hormone."

"But?" Clem looks up to me.

"But I did find something unexpected when comparing the genetic samples from the new hybrids" I gesture over to one of the monitors and pull up the two genetic profiles. "Those shared markers prove that the woolly rhinoceros, winged hybrid, and Abendegos are related."

"Related?" Jackson looks to me, confused, "What if Abigail created the new hybrids using common DNA as a starting point?"

"What that means for us and ending sterility is that Abendegos' spinal fluid only has part of what we need. We need the stem cells from all the hybrids that share the genetic marker."

"How many are there?"

"Given the three samples Abe and I have seen, and their genetic variation, my best guess is that there are six breeds altogether."

"There are six new hybrids, and we need spinal fluid from each of them. How will we find them?" Clem sighs.

"I don't know. But if we want to stop this reproductive problem, we need to find a way."

I turn as I hear footsteps come up behind me and see Jamie coming up, "I think we've found the kids."

Logan nods, following her, "Yeah, radiation signatures are high upstate, so the kids should be there, and the Melvatox pills."

"Let's go get Isaac." Jackson looks over to me.

We head up to the conference room and look over some of the of the satellite photos around the compound. I notice a rather large road, "There's a service road here," I point to the screen just big enough for us to land."

Jackson nods, "From there, we head to the building. It's an old pharma research facility. It's the only place large enough to stash that many kids within 20 miles of the radiation spike we detected."

Logan looks over to us, "We don't know what kind of hostiles to expect. Abigail herself could be there."

I scoff, "What you aren't looking forward to that little reunion?"

Dariela nods, "So we go in the Southwest. More cover, no choke points."

"I got access to thermal imagining from the IADG satellite," Jamie walks over to the group and pulls up one of the imagines, and there is a large heat signature coming from the building, "This is from an hour ago."

"That's where Isaac is." Abe looks to the rest of the group, "It has to be." The group looks to each other before getting ready to head out. It doesn't take long once the plan lands for us to move out. Everyone geared up in vests and guns, heading out to the compound. Once we are there we are able to fry the keycode lock on the door, opening it. Once we are in we head down to the bottom level, careful to clear every room and hallway we come across, looking for the children. Or Abigail, honestly, I'd be happy with either one, she may not be but...

As we search, we decide to split up, Jackson and I going one way, Jamie and Mitch going another, and Logan, Dariela, and Abe going the other. Jackson and I make a round of one side and meet Jamie and Mitch on the other. "Anything?" I ask as we walk over to them.

Mitch shakes his head, "Empty."

"Same." Jackson sighs.

"This isn't possible," Jamie comments as she and Mitch walk past us, "There was heat-signature confirmation on our descent. How can there be no one here?"

I take a deep breath, "Let's keep looking."

As we continue our search we get to a room with a large tank inside of it. Mitch sighs once he sees the tank, "well, that looks oddly familiar."

I look over to Jamie and Mitch, "What is that?"

"It's a stasis tank." Jamie comments, "Just like the one Mitch was in."

"Then what is it doing here?"

Jackson looks around at a few of the tables in the room, "Wasn't Abigail dress as a cop in New York?" He picks up a police bomber jacket, "Logan said he took a shot at her. Well, it looks like he hit her." Jackson sighs as he raises his hand to his ear, "guys, we have confirmation that Abigail has been on-site."

Before long we hear Logan over the headset, "guys, we found the kids, second level. I've already called to get an evac."

I look over to Jackson and smile, sighing a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank god."

Of course, once Logan calls in we have found the children it doesn't take long for officers, EMTs, and reports to get here. Jackson, Jamie, Mitch, and I beat the other three outside and once Isaac sees Jackson and I he runs over, "Uncle Jackson! Anut Kat!"

Jackson hugs Isaac tightly, "Hey, buddy. Are you okay?"

Isaac nods, "yeah, I'm okay." Once Jackson lets go of Isaac I hug him tightly as well, "Thank you."

I smile and pull away from him, "For what?"

"Coming back to help find me and everyone else, and for helping my mom and dad keep trying."

"That's what families do." I smile brightly as Isaac before he gives me another tight hug.

Once he pulls away he looks over to Jackson, "and thanks for the Hybrid spike." He grins before running back to Abe and Dariela.

I look over to Jackson shocked, "You actually sent a ten-year-old a hybrid spike as a present."

"I cleaned it." Jackson protests.

"Jackson..." I sigh.

"Hey, he loved it. Isn't that the most important thing?"