Unremarkable (Anything But) (19 page)

“
Unsuccessful?”

“
The boy went insane. It wasn’t good. That’s all I know. August is taking UDKs and putting this altered blood into them and turning them into monsters. So far Honor is the only one who hasn’t succumbed to insanity and mindless rage.”

“
So far. Meaning she still could. I wondered about her,” Christian mused, rubbing his chin. He dropped his hand and shrugged. “She has to die. It’s as simple as that.”

James jumped to his feet. “It is not as simple as that! Do you know how many people have tried to protect her? She can’t just be killed. That can’t all be for nothing.”

“And how many have died? How many are going to die, because of her?”

Hands clenched, the boy stared him down. “You’re going to kill her for being like you? Where’s the sense in that?”

“She
isn’t
like me. She’s worse.”

“
It isn’t her fault.”

Christian growled in frustration. “It isn’t any of our faults! It doesn’t matter. What happens when he has more success? When the world is overrun with these creatures that are worse than UDs? She has to be stopped. She has to be killed so her blood can’t be used anymore. If it’s true about her altered mortality rate, then she is like an endless blood supply. She can’t continue to live, not if we want this stopped. And we do. This can’t go on. You know it. I know it.” He made a sweeping gesture with his hand. “
Everyone
knows it.”

James’s eyes shifted away. “There’s more.”

He flung his hands in the air. “Of course there’s more!”

“
I think UDs are UDKs. I think this virus was unleashed, there was no reaction, until August and his cronies started messing around with DNA. I think he, they, created this, all of this. We would all be normal, just a little different on the inside, if they hadn’t messed it all up.”

Christian looked at the boy, grim-faced. “You know, I think you’re probably right. August can’t be the only one doing this. He’s just the public face. We have to find all the members and we have to destroy them.”

“And we can’t do that with an army.”

He closed the distance between them and grabbed James’s shirt, bunching up the red material within his fingers. “The hell we can’t! That’s
exactly
what we’re doing. You
agreed
.”

Dark eyes watched him, not looking the least bit worried by his outburst and grip on him.

Christian released him with a curse. “What do you propose we do?” he asked through clenched teeth, his eyes on the UDKs and UDs milling about across the field of green.

“
We build our army, make it unstoppable. During that time, we infiltrate the organizations. It’s a risk, a huge risk, and any who agree have to be aware there’s a chance they’ll lose their life. We need more information. I have some, but not enough, and my sources are gone—either discovered or no longer able to help. We need back in. Armies are for brute force, when intellect no longer has a place. We aren’t quite there yet.”

Christian eyed him, wondering if he should trust his words. “Then why are you here instead of where you were?”

“My station got compromised. I had to flee. I’ve been underground since I was released from my two-week training. I never agreed with any of it, I never thought it was right. I didn’t understand the vastness of the corruption, but now I do. It has to be stopped, Christian.”

“
It will be stopped.”

“
Not all of the people that are here are UDs and UDKs.”

He crossed the short space between them and loomed over the boy. “What…do you…mean?” he growled.

“Which of your parents has the disease?”

Face closed, he answered curtly, “My mother.”

James nodded. “Right. Your mother has it, but your father knows about it. He had to sign a waiver when they married. Some of the people with us that want to help—they’re just normal, average people. There is a woman named Juli with you?”

“
What of her?” he asked suspiciously.

“
Her mother is here. Not her real one, but her adoptive one, who I suppose is actually her real one. Juli was born and she wasn’t wanted by her biological parents, she was supposed to be left to die. The nurse at the hospital where she was born wrapped her in a blanket and smuggled her home. She said she overheard hospital personnel later talking about the situation with government officials. She knew Juli was different, special. She just didn’t know how until recently. And I’m sure there are so many other stories like that that we have no idea about.

“
People know about us, about what’s going on. Of course the majority doesn’t, but enough do. They just don’t talk, but I think they might start now. It’s all going to blow up in the government’s face and I can’t wait for it to happen.”

“
Every day that goes by is one that the UDK society could be stopped. You know what we have to do, James.”

“
I do.” James opened his mouth, hesitated. “Just…if we find her, can we try to keep her alive? Please.”

“
No.”

An image of a pig-tailed six-year old Honor shot through his mind, smiling shyly at him as she offered him a cookie. He shook his head and another took its place. When they were ten she helped him up after a bigger, meaner kid shoved him down on the playground, skinning his knees. And even recently, the day he changed, she had been concerned, looking for him in the hallways of the school and outside it. Then there was their encounter at the facility, and after, when she told him to run.

Christian ran his fingers through his short dark hair and tugged. “We’ll try. And that’s
all
I’ll agree to.”

“
Thank you.”

“
Don’t thank me for allowing a monster to run loose.”

He left him there to begin serious training; thoughts on anything else boxed up and shoved aside. They had an army to produce, and fast. It was the most important thing—it was the only thing.

They trained relentlessly. UDs were
more apt with physical combat than weaponry and easily honed their skills. Droves of UDKs and UDs alike found them, in the woods of upper Iowa. Even people who were neither but somehow knew about their world were there, though their number was small, offering their support and even their lives to the cause.

Makeshift tents littered the grass and were scattered about the trees. It was a camp of renegade UDs and UDKs, meant to be enemies, but somehow learning to work together. Tension was high, but put toward their training as an outlet, they all excelled as they might not otherwise have. The common goal was to annihilate the UD facilities and all were in accordance with that plan.

Juli worked with the Ns, as they called the “normal” people. She was compassionate and had more patience than Christian. Lee had silently proclaimed himself her partner, never keeping her from his eyesight unless there was no way around it. It would be nauseating to watch if Juli hadn’t accused him of the same thing with Natasha. It was completely untrue, but it still managed to chafe. He watched her train—so what? She was good. That was the only reason she held his attention so often.

At once such training session, again and again his gaze was drawn down the hill to where she trained.

Christian tore his eyes away from her when James elbowed him in the gut. With a grunt, he glared at the boy. “That is not part of the training.”

“
Neither is staring at Natasha. You’re supposed to be teaching me how to throw effective punches, since you said I’m a disappointment in all things combative, not gazing off into the horizon at a girl. She is impressive to watch though,” he added, turning his dark head in her direction.

He nodded in silent agreement, though James wasn’t even looking at him.

“Maybe I should train with her,” James murmured grumpily.

Natasha was working with Jax and Dominic, gladly taking on both. Her expression showed she hungered for battle. Her moves were lethal, precisely executed; a jab to Jax’s nose; a sidekick to Dominic’s stomach. She whirled in a graceful circle of vengeance, her face a mask of concentration. The UDs should have been able to take her down time and again, but she remained elusive, her skills more honed than their natural instincts.

“Or try to stay away from fighting as much as possible.”

“
As pathetic as this is going to sound, I actually agree with you.”

Christian snorted.

His shirt was dirty and hung on Natasha, and still she hadn’t removed it, instead washing it by hand in the small body of water near their encampment when it got too grungy. That small detail made his chest expand whenever he let his mind acknowledge it. He was always quick to direct his thoughts elsewhere when that happened.

He glanced at the UDK. “We’re done for now, James.”

Christian was already walking toward the dueling threesome when James began to argue. He ignored him.

“
I think you need a more equal opponent,” he said when Natasha glanced his way.

“
It’s not a competition,” she gasped out, blocking a jab from Dominic and retaliating by sweeping a leg behind his knees. He careened face forward to the ground, flipping onto his back and calling out his surrender.

“
It’s not training either, not this way. You’re annihilating them.”

Natasha shrugged, brushing hair from her eyes. Her skin was flushed and her eyes were shining. Christian felt his heartbeat pick up in response and glanced away.

“That’s how they learn, right?” When he didn’t respond, she said, “Okay then. You asked for it. Let’s go, big guy.” She grinned, hunching down. “Are you sure you want to embarrass yourself in front of everyone?”

Christian glanced around them, noting the growing number of spectators. He looked at Natasha. “I think I can handle it.”

“It’s your ego.” The last word hadn’t even left her mouth when the punches started flying; a small fist clipping the side of Christian’s jaw. The smirk on her lips grew as she waited for his reaction. His jaw throbbed once as he shifted it back and forth.

He tuned out the eyes on them, the sounds of birds chirping, and farther away, that of a trickling stream, focusing only on Natasha. She was it. It was Christian and it was her and everything else disappeared. Their eyes locked, an awareness of her breaths, her body heat, settling over him.

Rolling his shoulders, he let a smile overtake his lips as her eyes slightly widened and her lips parted. He motioned her forward, loosening his knees and lifting his arms in preparation of blocking her advances. 

The instant of wariness he’d witnessed vanished and Natasha was in full UDK mode, coming at him with her elbows, fists, and legs. He blocked her moves, not going on the offensive. His plan was to wear her out. Her frustration showed when a succession of kicks became sloppy, missing their mark. Christian grabbed her foot, halting her attack.

She bounced on one foot to remain upright, her eyes blazing at him, lips in a thin line.

“
Do you give up?” he asked softly, his fingers brushing across the soft, firm skin of her calf once.

She shivered, stiffening. “Never.”

He dropped her foot, immediately lunging for her and gripping her small waist between his hands instead. Bowing his head, his lips grazed her temple as he whispered, “Good. Don’t.”

A tremor wracked her body and she stepped back, his hands falling from her. He clenched his fingers to keep from grabbing for her again. Natasha stared at him, her expression indefinable. He watched her, not speaking, his attention divided between all her unique facial features that made her Natasha. She drove him insane at the same time she centered him.

Wordlessly, she fisted the front of his shirt between her hands and yanked him to her, her lips melding to his. Whoops and whistles broke out around them; making him once again aware they had an audience. He didn’t care. Christian kissed her back, a peacefulness seeping through him. Who would have thought he could find that in the one person that exasperated him more than any other?

As the weeks passed, the
number grew to the hundreds and something tangled through them all, weaving them together. It was hope. Hope was deadly, Christian knew, but it was also necessary. Talk of a new reality, one without rules or regulations, or any overruling organization, was frequent and lengthy. But all the information needed to go forth with that plan wasn’t within their grasp. It was all taking too long and he was losing patience.

Hands on the back of his head, Christian paced the length of a small stream, keeping his gaze averted from the blinding sun, the sound of gently rushing water anything but soothing.

“Do you know where the facilities are located, how many there are? How many high ranking officials there are? And the government—we were under the assumption they were in charge of the UD virus being unleashed, but maybe that is false. We don’t know enough. We need to know all this, James, days ago, and we don’t. We need a map, weapons.”