Chapter 2 Dead Zone Mission

I left before dawn.

My sister was still asleep.

Holding her hand, I quietly fed the current I'd built up in my palm into her pacemaker, little by little, keeping it weak enough that she wouldn't feel any pain.

I could feel my body getting weaker, but I had no other choice.

I'd been into the red zone on the map once before.

That was two years ago, when the doctor was still running experiments on me.

...

The intel Kane gave me was bare-bones.

So bare-bones that less than ten minutes after entering the contaminated zone, I realized something was wrong.

The streets were too quiet.

I crouched behind an overturned police cruiser and heard a low, guttural screech in the distance.

A high-level mutant!

Kane had done this on purpose!

He never expected me to make it back alive!

But I had to go!

For my sister...

...

B2 level, Federal Building.

I was trapped inside.

Four high-level mutants, hunting by sensing vibrations.

I held my breath and pressed my back against the freezing concrete wall, cold sweat soaking through my shirt.

The nearest one was less than ten feet away.

I didn't think.

I shoved my hand into the exposed cable trench beside me and discharged every bit of electricity I'd built up in that instant.

It burned straight through its chest. The electromagnetic shockwave slammed the other three into the surrounding walls. I grabbed the communications device and ran, stepping over their corpses.

By the time I made it out of the building, it felt like someone had stuffed my lungs with shattered glass.

My arms and legs were going cold. The edges of my vision started blacking out. My legs were giving out under me.

In the ruins, I dropped down against a utility pole, clutching the device to my chest, and looked up at Boston's gray-white sky.

Two years ago, under this same sky, I was the "strongest soldier" in Kane's mouth.

Now I was barely hanging on, all to fetch him one damn machine.

...

Kane's tent was brightly lit.

I brought the communications device back, still smeared with black, rotten blood.

"The medicine."

Kane sat in his chair and looked up at me. Then, unhurried, he picked up a cigar from the table and lit it.

"So you made it back."

He exhaled a stream of smoke, glanced at the device, and let the corner of his mouth curl upward.

"Not bad. Guess the product of the 'Aegis Project' really could bring it back after all."

"The medicine, Kane."

"What's the rush? Do you know how much this thing is worth? A camp in northern Massachusetts offered three crates of supplies. I haven't decided whether I want to—"

"You promised me. Bring back the device, and Sarah gets her medicine."

"I said I'd 'make arrangements.' Arrangements take time, Bertrand. You know how it is."

I stared at him.

He just sat there.

Then suddenly, a burst of frantic footsteps sounded outside the tent, followed by someone shouting my name.

It was Marg, the camp nurse.

She yanked open the tent flap, her face white as paper. "Bertrand! Your sister's coughing up blood!"

...

I don't want to describe exactly what Sarah looked like by her cot.

She was lying on her side, blood still smeared at the corner of her mouth, her face ghost-pale.

Marcus, the camp surgeon, was standing off to the side. The second he saw me, he pulled me into the corner and lowered his voice.

"There's something wrong with one of her heart valves. She needs surgery. Now."

"What do you need for it?"

"I need..." Marcus said. His eyes flicked toward the tent entrance, then away.

"...me, and Kane's surgical equipment."

I understood.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and forced down the urge in my chest to burn through something.

"Fine."

I turned and walked out to find Kane.

Kane was already waiting at the tent entrance.

The cigar was still between his fingers. He looked relaxed, like he'd known all along I would come back.

Of course he had.

"She needs surgery," I said, standing in front of him. "Name your price."

Kane smiled slowly.

"See?" he said. "Now that's how you talk, Bertrand."

"You promised the medicine—"

"There was a little problem during transport."

"Maybe it'll take a few more days."

I stared at him, unable to get a single word out.

Kane patted me on the shoulder and shoved a syringe into my hand. It was filled with some kind of pale yellow liquid—judging by the ingredients, barely enough to keep someone alive for a few days.

"Use this to stabilize her for now. As for the surgery, we'll talk tomorrow. I'll need a small favor from you too."

Then he turned and walked away.

I stood there, looking down at the cheap life-support injection in my hand.

From inside Sarah's tent, the pacemaker gave off a faint, thin beep.

I gripped the syringe, but I didn't even dare squeeze it too hard...

I crouched beside Sarah's cot and slowly pushed the medicine in.

The tension in her brow eased just a little.

"Bert..."

"It's okay now..."

"I'm here."