-1-
I’d thought The Quiet was like the desert outside of the Sprawl; an empty placeholder for something that once was. But it’s nothing like it. It’s like a petrified time capsule to what life was like right before the Serial Wars. Like we’d somehow run through the woods and came out in another time.
Isaac doesn’t want to be in the woods when the sun goes down so we look for a place in The Quiet to spend the night.
We walk on an abandoned main road lined with decimated military grade vehicles. Every once is a while we come across a body preserved perfectly in the ash. When this happens Isaac uses a pen he carried to write a description down. He says Arkham students would likely come here to take stock and they’d want to know if their were still bodies out here.
We come across a single story hotel that is still mostly standing. Isaac pushes open the door to one of the rooms and the second the scant moonlight shines in I see movement.
“…Guess cockroaches do survive the apocalypse.”
The quip slips out of my mouth but it seems to break the tension. The other rooms aren’t any better so he gathers some blankets that had been left in a dryer and we camp out in the bed on one of the military vehicles.
“We can head back first thing in the morning,” he promises me.
“If there is something to head back to,” I remind him
I look back down at the makeshift bed in the back of the truck. It looked awfully cozy for the two of us.
“Is this a play to get into my pants ? Because you should know I’ve done the bodyguard thing and the fantasy is better.”
“I’m not tired,” he says. “I’ll stay watch.”
“You don’t have to--,”
“I owe everything I have to the Washington family. My job is to protect them.” He says. “You are part of that family.”
I want to argue with him but I’m dead tired and I just want this night to be over. I sleep in fits and starts for hours until the sun comes back up. My body does a fully body shiver and I sit up suddenly.
Isaac rushes over to me concerned but I bat him away as I hop out the truck bed, take off at full speed to the back of a building and puke all over the grass followed by a few more unmentionable bodily functions.
When I’m done I feel raw, delirious and weak. I can’t stand and have to crawl back to where I’d left Isaac.
“El,”
“Are you sure it’s safe here ?,” I ask. “I think I have radiation poisoning.”
“I think you might be dehydrated. You worked hard yesterday with all the walking”
“So did you--”
“Our bodies are different.”
My vision gets blurry and Isaac gets all distorted.
“Fuck,” I spit. “I think you have to go back without me.”
“I’m not leaving you,” he says kneeling down to support my body. I lurch and nearly vomit on him but I turn my face at the last minute.
He gives me his shirt to clean up with and then we start back into the woods. I’m a mess of tears and fluid and he has to literally drag me every step through the wood. I know I’m holding him back but he never complains. Instead he encourages me.
“You got this, El,” he says and “Just one more step. You got this.”
I don’t got this but I keep pushing. Step by step.
We trudge for hours and I know we’re close to the remains of the school when I catch the acrid scent of burning building. Little pieces of debris dance around my face.
“You did great,” he smiles. “We’re so close. You rest here. I’m going to get help, okay ?”
I can barely nod as he lays me down on the dirt and takes off like a superhero in the direction towards the campus. I’m fucking exhausted but I’m too scared to let my body rest. I’m terrified if I close my eyes I won’t wake back up.
I fight with myself for what feels like hours when Isaac comes back with Kenji at his heels followed by two women in Arkham Academy security uniforms carrying a stretcher.
They hoist me up on to the manual stretcher and one of them hooks an IV to my arm. Kenji has a squeeze bottle of ice cold water that he drips against my lips. I want to guzzle the whole thing but Kenji stops me.
“Just sip or you’ll get sick,” Kenji warns.
As the security guards walk the stretcher, Isaac’s hand slips into mine and my fingers absently intertwine with his. The school grounds themselves are decimated but I see people walking around and a flurry of activity in every corner.
“Any fatalities ?,” Isaac asks Kenji as we walk.
“None…all those drills you had us practice helped and the freshman dorms they targeted were empty. Father is getting the visiting families back home,” Kenji tells Isaac.
“Are the authorities coming ?,” Isaac asks.
“Not yet,” Kenji says. “We haven’t called them.”
“Why not ?,”
“...We need to do our own investigation first.”
“What can I do ?,” Isaac asks.
“Go see my mother. She’s in the library making sure all valuable items have been accounted for. She may need you to go back in for something.”
“I will. Um---and Kenji,” Isaac says desperately. “I know it’s not the time but I’m sorry I overstepp--,”
“No,” Kenji cuts him off. “You were right. As much as it pains me to say that. I should have done more to help…I brought this on us. And now I’m going to help make it right.”
When we breech the campus Isaac gives me a longing look and then runs off towards the library.
“You said everyone is okay ?,” I ask Kenji. “Because I need to see my family--”
“They know you’re fine. Let’s get you stable first,” Kenji says.
“I’m fine. I feel better now. Get me off this thing.”
“El--,”
“Please.”
I’m not in tip top shape but thanks to the water and IV I’m better than I was.
They let me get off the stretcher and I have to carry the bulky bag of IV fluids under my arm. Kenji shows me to the laundry room that is still mostly standing, I wash up the best I can in the sink and change into clean clothes. When I step outside Kenji and Luce are waiting for me and arguing in hushed tones.
My uncle looks like shit. His face keeps ticking, he’s slumped awkwardly to the left of his chair and he has oxygen cannulas in his nostrils.
“Luce--,” I start.
“I’m…f-f-fine,” he says hoarsely but his voice sounds slow. “I n-n-n-need to show you something. Now.”
“Why are you stutter--,”
“She’s not ready,” Kenji interrupts softly.
“Thought…you…said…you….w-w-w-were ready to work with us,” Luce spits at Kenji.
This seems to shut Kenji up.
Luce puts his hand on his wheels and starts manually moving his chair towards where theTudor house once stood.
“Your chair doesn’t work,” I realize aloud. “What happened ? Just tell me.”
“They set o-o-o-off an EMP along with the bomb,” Luce says stiffly. “My chair died…I’m booting b-b-b-back up on a tem-m-m-p emergency p-p-power reserve.”
“How long can you live on that ?,”
“Few days,” he shrugs.
Kenji leads the way to the Tudor house’s cellar door. He explains this is where they all went when the bombs went off.
Luce and Kenji have to work together to get Luce down the cellar stairs. I didn't know what Luce wanted to show me down here but I wasn’t expecting the three blood soaked men in their underwear tied to chairs with chicken wire. I smell them before I even see them.
The men are quivering, sobbing messes and the tarp beneath them is splattered with their slowly congealing blood. They’d each been sliced several times over every inch of their body. It looked like they'd been cut with something very,very,very sharp.
The loudest whimpers are coming from a man I recognized as Thad Jens. He was one of the guards in the house. He’d always seemed reserved and stoic. More like decoration than a person I wanted to get to know. Now, he was desperately rocking back and forth in pain.
Thad was more chopped up than the other men. There was a bloody patch in the crotch of his underwear and two of his dismembered toes were sitting in front of him.
I was horrified and kind of pissed no one warned me about the torture scene I was walking into.
“What the fuck--,” I hiss.
“They set of the bomb. Arkham’s s-s-s-security caught them trying to make an escape,” Luce bites out. “Jean and I’ve gotten all the information you’ll need from th-th-th-them…They work for a Kian Donnelly...your Uncle.”
“My what--,”
“Rayne had another kid no one knew about,” Luce explains. “He’s the one we met who was pretending to b-b-be Kenji. He’s behind all of this. Kian sent these fuckups to bomb Arkham and take you. They failed…They’re yours now.”
I wanted to say I don’t want them but I get a sense this isn’t an option.
“How did they find us?,” I ask.
Luce hesitates and I know he's keeping something from me.
“N-n-not important.”
“Shouldn’t I decide what is important ?”
Luce just holds out a shaky hand to me and passes me his gun.
Right.
This is what he had been training me for. This moment.
The men are staring at me and all I can see are men. Scared men whose lives I couldn’t just take.
“Let’s just leave them alive for now,” I say holstering the weapon.
“No, El!,”Luce snaps suddenly. “They haven’t-t-t- sh-sh-shown mercy. Neither can you.”
“I know that,” I say and turn my back on the men and Luce to look at Kenji. “Where is Grandma Sara ?”
I needed someone sane and Luce was acting oddly bloodthirsty. It frightened me.
“She’s in the infirmary,” Kenji says softly. “Her heart is cybernetic. It went out during the EMP blast but we have her stable.”
“Take me to her,”
I move to head back up the stairs but Luce grips my hand hard.
“Kill Jens,” he growls at me. “Ma is hurt. Kenji won’t do it. I’d do it m-m-m-myself but my aim is shit r-r-r-r-ight now and I want him a bullet in his heart n-n-n-now.”
“I can’t, okay ? Not him. I knew him--”
“---Kian has Lex and Grayson.”
For a moment I consider if he is lying to me, but Luce wouldn't lie about them. I was relieved that we knew where Haley was but the other part of his sentence made no sense.
“Grayson ? How ?--,”
“I…I….I th-th-th-th-thought h-h-h-e was hiding...but he r-r-r-ran away the night before the bombs went off.”
“Well….maybe if we can keep the guards alive we can trade them--”
“No.” Luce barks. “Thad raped Alex. He f-f-f-f-fucking bragged about it to m-m-m-m-y face. Jens doesn’t g-g-g-get to live.”
I felt sick. This was too much to put on me. I could see the hurt in his eyes and I realize why Thad looks more cut up than the other too. I want Thad punished too but I didn’t know if it could be at my hands.
For the first time I thought about what my Dad would have said in a moment like this. I didn’t know much about his cartel life but I knew Dad kept his hands clean even when shit was piling up around him.
“Fine. You can kill him,” I tell Luce. “You don’t need your gun or aim for that.”
***
-2-
Grandma Sara look even worse than Luce. She’s in the school’s infirmary and while it’s nice for a school it’s not what she needs. Our big fancy hospital could barely save her when she first got shot. I needed to get her out of here and to a specialist. Luce too.
If Grandma Sara and Luce didn’t survive this I’d never forgive myself.
Her bare chest is covered in a blanket and she’s hooked up to an external machine that is pumping her heart and another one that is using disc like magnets to keep the shrapnel in her chest from puncturing the veins.
Grandma Sara smiles a somber smile when our eyes meet and it’s such a foreign expression on her usually stoic face.
Grandad is sitting at her bedside holding her hand. He’s still covered in dark streaks of drying blood from torturing the hostages. He opens his arms to hug me and I sit next to him on her bed.
“Can you please give us a minute ?,” Grandma Sara asks Grandad and Kenji.
They
both leave and it’s just us in the room. In 18 years I don’t think I’d ever
been alone with my grandmother. I scoot closer to her on the bed and she takes my hand gently.
“It’s not,” I scoff. “You should see the way Luce looked at me just now. I showed mercy to the men who killed my family. Dad wouldn’t have done that and I’m sure Rayne wouldn’t have either.”
“That's a good thing, El,” she says briskly. “When I was a little older than you I started killing. I killed a lot and I didn't let it weigh on me then because I thought I was doing what I was supposed to be doing. I thought it was the way things were. But I was wrong. I had other options. Most of my victims just happened to work on the wrong side o a fight. The more I’ve watched you these last few days the more I’ve been thinking about the way things are. How wrong it’s always been.”
I don’t know what to say to that so I keep my lips in a firm line. We'd always kind of known what Grandma Sara did for the cartel when she was younger but she never talked about it.
“What does any of this have to do with me ?”
“El...The entire Washington family fortune and cartel is built on the pain of women like you.The power in your family always had to go through sons and fathers,” she explains.
I knew this much. My mom had us all in quick succession because they wanted a boy and I knew some people thought it was bad luck Dad never had a son to inherit.
“But there was never really a reason why it had to be that way," Grandma Sara says. "Lots of Washington women could have done great things with power. Instead, every daughter or wife either suffered silently or was pushed aside for her son’s or husband’s legacy. Rumor says Rayne had an older sister his father gave away so he could tell the story that his first born had been a boy.
“According to Federation law and cartel tradition this Kian Donnelly motherfucker is the rightful heir. But listen to me, El. Fuck that. All the power and money your family has...it belongs to you.”
I don’t even know what to say to that.
“I don’t exactly want it,” I admit. “I couldn’t have even saved myself without you and Grandad and--.”
“Don’t say that about yourself,” she says. “You are enough. Build on the rage of all those forgotten women, find Kian Donnelly and go take back what should be yours. And I think once you have it…I think you can change everything for the better. And I can’t wait to see it.”
“You’re not coming with me are you ?”
“I can’t stand without my heart rate skyrocketing,” she sighs. “Luce should probably sit this one out but…he won’t. He can’t. Let Jean and Luce fill you in on what Kian’s men told them. You need to make a plan. They’ll help. But remember, this is your fight.”
“I love you,” I say hugging her and I think it’s the first time I’ve done both.
“I love you too,” she says.
An hour later I walk out of the room to Isaac, Kenji, Luce and Grandad waiting on the other side of the door for me. Luce somehow looks worse, his body convulsing in tiny tremors that look painful. He's also covered in fresh blood.
“She didn’t tell you to pull her plug or any other dramatic nonsense, did she ?,” Grandad asks.
I shake my head and he flicks a tear off my face.
“Tell me everything I need to know about my Uncle,” I say. “Let’s get this motherfucker.”
---
Twyla
-3-
“Are you ready ?,” I ask Ivy.
She nods and presses her syn. I stand in the corner, out of frame. She’s sitting on her balcony in full makeup and closes her eyes as the call connects. I can see his face appear in the reflection of the hologram as Kian Donnelly answers her call. His resemblance to my brother is faint but it's there in the line of his nose and tilt of his chin.
“Kian ?,” Ivy asks. “It’s me. Your mother--,”
“I know who you are,” he snaps.
“I heard….I heard you were behind what happened to Rias ?”
“I saw your little memorial service,” he sneers.
“Did you ? I was going my job. Your dear old mother always goes where the influence is…and I think that’s shifting.”
He looks at her and a devilish grin passes his face.
“Aunt Alannah told me everything before she passed,” he says. “How powerful all of the families used to be until the Shy and Mjollner decimated us and shoved us on this fucking island.The Shy Cartel and Washington family need to be exterminated and I must be the one to do it.”
“You do know they are your family too--,”
“I know. And I’ll rebuild a new Washington family in my image,” he says. “The family hated you but I’ll spare you, Mother.”
“I don’t need to be spared. I’m not some helpless little old lady,” Ivy snaps. “ I want a deal. You can kill and scrape your way to power in the cartel but not with MBC. Its too public. You’ll need me to navigate or you’ll lose billions. I was a terrible mother for a child but you’re far from a child now. Let me in. I can help you. Side by side.”
He stares at her and Ivy’s face doesn’t crack to reveal her lies.
“I need you in Catalina in two days,” he says. “At the Avalon Hotel in the De Pierres Ballroom--”
“I’ll be there.”
“You’re not going to ask what for ?,”
“I’m showing you I trust you.”
“I’ll send more information through a secure network.”
He hangs up
without another word and Ivy looks over at Colette and I.
She’s shaking.
“I let them raise a monster,” Ivy whispers.
To my surprise Colette goes to Ivy’s side to comfort her and I call Isaac Prior’s secure syn. El picks up on the first ring.
“Okay. Ivy got the invite,” I report. “What’s next ?,”