"Dad?" I say, even though it's barely over a whisper.
Matt looks around me and I can feel his hands cover his mouth.
"Oh my god..." he says.
I walk in further towards Dad and kneel in front of him.
"Dad, can you hear me?"
I put my hand on his knee and Dad lifts his head up slightly to look at me. His eyes are swollen from being punched in the face, his cheek swollen as well with bruises and stuff and bad blood bruises developing. He moves his eyes a little and then sees me.
"Ra... mey...?" he says softly.
"Yeah, it's me."
Matt suddenly screams into his hands. I look over at him and get up, grabbing him by the shoulders.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you screaming? Are you trying to get us killed?"
He just trembles under my grasp and then finally points with one finger behind me. I turn to look at what he is pointing at and find myself yelling as well, clamping my hands over my mouth to block the sound. My mother's corpse is tied to a chair in front of my dad where he can look at it all the time. She's dead and disfigured, a permanent look of horror on her face. Her skin is swollen with gaseous juices and her skin is taut with bloating. Her wrists are tied to the chair arms while her ankles are tied to the chair legs, one of her feet fallen off because it swelled up too much and the rope detached it. I turn away, unable to keep looking and throw my hands over Matt's eyes because he keeps looking.
"Hey, you can't look at that anymore." I say, trying to keep from vomiting at the sigh and the smell.
"How can I not?!" Matt screams, hyperventilating.
"Out..."
I turn to Dad and pull Matt with me.
"What?"
"Get out... Take Matt and get out as fast as you can."
"I'm not leaving you like this. I won't let what happened to Mom happen to you." I growl.
Dad lifts his head up to properly look at us and spits out blood on the floor. He looks back at me and leans his head back all the way on the chair.
"This is our punishment... for keeping you..."
"No one deserves to be punished like this! Dad, I'm getting you out of here and we'll go-"
"Where, son? Seriously," He coughed a little and spit again. "Where would we go? Naives already informed me about you being wanted for murder. I can protect you and Matt but I can't protect me. With your face being monitored everywhere, Matt being a flux, and me slowing you down, you'd never be able to get back to the Badlands."
"But we have to do something! This is just cruel and unusual punishment!"
Dad smiles, blood on his teeth and one missing.
"I know. We were prepared for it, your mother and I."
"How can you stand it?" Matt asks softly, finally looking up at Dad. "How can you..."
"I have no choice, son. I'm tied to this chair and beaten half to death, no strength to try and move. I would given anything to see your mother put in a proper grave, buried peacefully in the ground rather than what her body has become, decaying in front of me."
"Then I'll move her-"
"You'll do no such thing!" Dad growls, his grey eyes boring into mine. "Don't you dare do something like that. I would never wish it upon you to have to do anything with that corpse. I know it used to be your mother, but she's gone now, and I would never ask you to do such a thing."
"Then what do we do?" Matt asks. "If we can't save you, we can't bury mom, and we can't get anywhere because of Ramey's face, then what are we going to do?"
"I told you I could protect you but I couldn't protect me, right? I always had my children in mind in everything that I did and you two are no exception. Matt, go and find the keys to my desk. When you find them, bring them to me. I have something special that I never thought I'd have to use."
Matt nods and heads to the desk as I look at Dad with worry.
"Speaking of keys... what did that man mean? He said that I was the key to something."
"You don't need to know-"
"Dad, I'm staring at you beaten half to death as you're tied naked to a chair! I'm tired of being left in the dark! Tell me what's going on."
"I got the keys." Matt says, coming over with the keys.
"The black one is for a book on the shelves. You'll find something to help you in one of them."
"So... I have to go and play hide and seek with these books?"
"It's a black book. I had to keep them well hidden due to the circumstances. I know it seems silly but please, you'll need these."
Matt sighs and goes over to the bookcase. Dad looks at me with a tired look.
"It will keep him busy and away from her... As for you... you... you are something new."
"Something new?"
"There are people like your mother and I who produce a lot of Altered children for no reason. Well... I know my reason, but your mother was just someone who produced a lot of Altered children. At first, we did what we were told to do. We gave them to the respective sectors they were supposed to go in, sent them to the Badlands, etc. But having a child and then having to give it up consistently starts taking a toll on your mind, your heart... When Bal and Ellie were born, we were so happy. We thought that maybe things were better for us... but, then I got pregnant with you and you turned out to be a blue baby. We decided to start Tradding after you, but I couldn't let you go. You were going to be my last swell, the last child that was completely part of me. I couldn't... I just couldn't let them take you. So, I paid the hospital, the doctor, and anyone involved a hefty sum to keep your blood a secret and to keep quiet. Then we did Tradding and your mother got pregnant with Matt... or, Mark and Odysseus."
"So then Nalak was right when we told Mom that Matt was a chimaera."
"You've seen him turn into a swan, so you know that's true... But, your mother was heartbroken, realizing as well as me, that our 'curse' wasn't to be cured except by not having anymore children. She decided as well to keep Matt's blood and condition a secret and we again, paid hefty hush monies to those helping us... The problem is that it is against the law to keep an Altered person from the system. The consequences are... high."
I gulp, realizing what he meant.
"Is... is that why Nalak's parents..."
Dad nods. "That's exactly why Nalak's parents were killed. They knew that he would most likely turn into an albino and paid to have it under wraps. If he hadn't met you then he would have been given the pills to prevent him from turning for a while so he could finish his education and then would have been shipped to the Badlands upon graduation. But... that is where you come into play once more. You're not like other people."
"I know that."
"No... no... that's not what I mean. Remember when you thought that you were special and I told you that you were just another RH-, there was nothing really special about you?"
"Yeah...?"
"I lied. You are special. Very special actually."
I blink at him as he smiles sadly at me but it's hard to take him seriously with his swollen eyes and busted lip. So I laugh a little, hoping he's just joking.
"You're just trying scare me." I say with another laugh.
"I wish I was, but I'm not. You're something very special due to some very interesting things that make up who you are... Rupert, you have the ability to create anomalies."
I stare at him for a moment and make a face.
"Anemones?"
"I know you're trying to play coy but this is serious stuff, R. It means your life. Anomalies, singularities, irregular issues, whatever you want to name it. Your whole being has the ability to make anomalies in people."
"But... what do you mean?"
"Girvan, Nalak, others you may not even realize you've affected... things have happened because of you being there."
"I... I don't understand."
"And that's okay." he said with a weak smile. "You don't need to understand. The fact of the matter is that you are rare and that rarity makes you special and it makes you valuable. When Naives found out that you weren't just an RH- but you were a singularity? It made his rage boil and that's why he's treating me like this."
"But I don't understand what you mean by causing these anomalies. I mean, I know I helped make Nalak turn into an albino and all but I thought that was because I was an RH-?"
"Partly. Nalak's transformation happened too quickly, suddenly almost. The Altered are either born that way or made that way. If they are made due to outside forces, the transformation is slow and progressive. Nalak turned into a full albino almost overnight. That's not normal... It was because of you that it happened and then he got pregnant, something an albino shouldn't be able to do. You caused that, R."
"I got the book but all I found were these weird looking pendants." Matt says, walking over with two long chained necklaces with the strange looking pendants he was talking about.
"Good-"
We all turn at the sound of doors opening and closing loudly and we look back at Dad.
"Those pendants will keep you from being detected by the cameras. They release a certain chemical that blocks the sensor the cameras use to detect unauthorized Alters. It will help you a lot, R, when going back to Badlands."
"This stuff may keep us from being detected on the sensors but what about face to face encounters? If R's supposed to be a fugitive, then won't the police be doing inspections or something?"
"If you press the button on the pendant, it gives you something I call 'shadow face'. It uses the water molecules in the air to distort your features enough to look like someone else. It only works for ten minutes before it recharges. The chemical reacts to your Altered bodies and comes through the pendant and out. It will never run out."
"You created this for us?" I ask, looking at the weird pendants.
"I had a feeling something bad would happen and I knew that I had to keep you safe, both of you. You were the last of us, of me and your mother, and we couldn't just let you go... but now I have to. For you to survive, you have to leave me here and go back to the Badlands. I know it may not seem great and it's been so confusing for you, Ramey, but the Badlands is the safest place for you to be. The closer you are to danger the farther you are from harm and being nearer to the Badlands means they won't think to look there. You're running on barrowed time, boys. Put those on and head back. I'm so sorry you had to see what's happened and what's going on between us and the RDC. I never wanted this for you."
Matt hands me one of the pendants and I look back at Dad.
"Can you answer two more things for me?"
"I can try."
"Who is Mr. Dhanvati?"
Dad frowns. "How do you know that name?"
"The guy who beat you up asked someone about him." Matt says. "He asked if Mr. Dhanvati was made aware of the situation. Someone told him no and he said that it was a good thing. So does that mean this Dhanvati guy is on our side?"
"If he was aware of the situation, then he would be on your side."
"The second question I have is that when I was coming here, someone hacked into my car and then my phone and directed me on how to get in here and all that stuff. He said he knew me but I never knew him. He knew all of the family and knew a lot about you. I met with Trident and Rocket and they put this thing on my phone to keep it from being tracked and he said he was able to hack it because he was the one who taught them the code. Do you know who it might have been?"
Dad suddenly grinned, his blood-stained teeth looking creepy.
"Let's just say that that guard was wrong." Another door opens and we jump in surprise. "Go hide and wait out these people. I love you both."
"I love you, Dad." Matt says, hugging Dad around the neck.
"I love you too, Matthew."
"I love you, Dad." I say, hugging him as well.
"I love you too, son. Don't forget what I said." He whispers.
We leave the room and go back to our hiding spots, closing the door quickly.
Just as we get to our spots, the door opens and three men walk in with nice suits and ties, looking like they are going in for a business meeting. The Italian guy from before walks in behind them.
"So, just letting you know, he's a spitter. Be as delicate as you can for a minute and then you can beat the hell out of him- This door is busted open. Someone's in here..."
The door opens and he sees Dad and makes a face.
"Who busted this doorknob?" he asks. Dad doesn't answer and the man growls. "You three, forget what I just said. Beat him until he reveals who opened this door. I'm going on a little hunt for myself..."
I hear him walking around, knocking things over and stuff when all of a sudden, the sound of honking fills the room and my eyes widen.
"There's that little piece of bird shit!"
I look out of my hiding spot and find Matt is flying around the room, trying to make it difficult for Italian man to do his job. Matt lands on top of the bookcases and taunts him with a couple of neck thrusts. The next thing I know, the man has pulled out a gun and points it right at Matt.
"I've been waiting for you-"
"Matt?!" I yell outside, making me sound like I'm far away. "Matt, where are you?"
I pull back and peek around the curtain. The man has his gun down and Matt is able to get away. I lean to the window again.
"Matthew? Come on, it's me, Ramey! I got your call and I'm here to rescue you!"
"Does no one know how to guard a house? Are these people just letting him- Ergh! Let me get the little fucker myself!"
The Italian guy tromps off when I hear a howl from Dad. I get out of the window and find Matt waddling back in from the room. I scoop him up and point my finger at him.
"You almost got us killed, you stupid feather-head."
Matt honks at me and tries to bite my finger.
"I'll bonk you later. Let's get the hell out of here. I'll jack a car from the garage and we'll head out that way."
I go to the old garage door that had been painted over and open it. I find Dad's car sitting there and I grab a gas can and a few other things, throwing them in the trunk. I throw Matt in the front seat, where he turns back and leans out of the window.
"Jerk!"
"You could have gotten yourself killed, you know that? What the hell were you thinking?"
"I was trying to keep him from going over to the window, where you were. He was about to pull back the curtain."
"Oh."
"'Thank you, Matt, for saving me.' Would be a nice gesture."
"Thank you, Matt, for saving me."
"You need to hurry up. Whatever you did to fool that Italian guy isn't going to last long."
"I know. I'm almost done."
"And... I have no clothes."
I make a face at him as he looks at me expectantly.
"You'll have to be naked for a bit."
"Are you fucking serious?"
"No one told you to turn into a swan at the last minute. I'll buy you some later... actually... I have a better idea."
I find the keys I'm looking for and hop in the car, cranking it.
"And... what is your brilliant idea?"
"One, buckle up; two, we'll need to make a small pitstop; and three, I know a great place to hide for the night at least."
Matt buckles his seatbelt and I rev the engine of the ancient manual drive car. The ones they used to have that you had to control yourself. I pull the lever into R for 'reverse' and look through the rearview mirror.
"Hey, um... do you know how to drive these old cars?"
I smile. "Not exactly."
I hit the gas and bust through the garage door. Matt covers his head as bricks and plastic bust through the back windshield and dent the car. I spin it around and race off.