Catalyst (21 page)

             
"I'll
lighten up
when we are back in the bunker."

             
"Alright, I'm going to move on inside. I'd prefer you all wait for me to check first, but if you must come," everyone piled out with gusto, "then…come on," I sighed.

             
"This is the whole point in bringing a team with us," Jeff said as he passed me, towing Marissa behind him.
"Strength in numbers."

             
"Or," Billings replied happily, "it could be the weakness is
the loud footsteps of the many." H
e stopped and stuck his hands in his pockets when
everyone glared at him but me. "D
epending…on how you look at it."

             
"Billings has a point," I said.

             
"Sadly, not a good
enough
one," Simon rebutted
gruffly
.
"We stay together, end of discussion
."

             
"Fine. Simon says lead the way," I replied and swept my ar
m wide for him to do just that.

             
He looked at me in confusion before shrugging, no doubt just brushing my sarcasm off as unnecessary. I did not get people who couldn't appreciate a little sarcasm.

             
"So, it looks deserted, but we better tread lightly just in case," Jeff said and took up the front lead. From the looks of things he'd coined himself the leader of the troupe. Th
at was a-okay with me. I was a S
ergeant no more and had no inclinations to pick back up the stars.

             
"
Great. And I'm guessing you want to lead the way."

             
"Despite what you believe, Cain," Jeff answered easily, his voice steady, "you are still
the more
breakable
of the two
. It's better for a Keeper to go first, always." He started to walk on
,
but then stopped and
barely turned to me. "Besides, y
ou don't want me to have to go back and tell Lillian that you didn't make it, do you?"

             
"Low blow, man," I growled at him
for
even
mentioning her name. I was trying to put on my game face, harden myself up for a fight
,
and he was bringing up the one thing that made me crumble?

             
"It's true."

             
"Regardless,
"
I barked back.

             
"Let's go."

             
I followed, scowling at his back. Maybe I needed to rethink this whole not-in-ch
arge thing
because taking orders sucked.

             
I bit on my lip ring. Something I'd always done before a mission or fight
was pinch or scratch myself to get alert and pissed
. When I pulled it or irritated it, it
made me agitated
. It seemed to bring me an edge of pain that I needed to want to hurt someone. I also used to hum when I cleaned my guns
and polished my boots
. It was a running joke in my barracks that I was a psycho beca
use of it. But for some reason that I was unaware of, Nirvana made me want to hurt people. Hey, whatever works to get the job done right?

             
Billings bumped my arm.

             
"Hey. So, the old guy is your Keeper right? And Jeff is a Keeper and Marissa is a..."

             
"Muse," I provided."

             
"Yes. Muse. Why did we get stuck with all the crazies and the other group only got one?"

             
"They have five
," I told him. "The only one without power is Miguel.
"

             
"Really? I can't keep track. I forgot some of you... Specials," he drug out the word, "have powers too."

             
"Watch it, pal. I'm one of those Specials," I said and bumped back his arm.

             
"I know. That's ok. I'm really curious about it all
,
actually. How did you know you were a Special?"

             
"Simon showed up and told me," I answered steadily.

             
"And you just believed him?"

             
"Well, no. It took some persuasion. But when he spoke into my mind, that was pretty much all I needed."

             
"Oh yeah. I forgot about that too," he grumbled.

             
"Dude, you've got to get over this whole grudge against the Keepers. The Lighters were feeding you horse manure and you were eating it up like Sunday dinner."

             
"You are way too descriptive, man."

             
"Just saying," I reasoned even as I continued to look around for signs of life.

             
"Horse manure or not, the Keepers weren't exactly honest either."

             
"When?"

             
"Well, w
hen I showed up for one. Not one of them made themselves known to me until you outed them."

             
"I didn't out them," I argued and lowered my voice so the ones ahead of us couldn't h
ear. "If you had come down the c
hute and the first thing anyone said was, 'Hey man, I'm a Keeper, can I take your gun for you?' You'd have run for the hills before I could even stop you."

             
"Probably," he conceded. "I'm just saying, y
ou say that the Lighters are deceitful and shifty
,
but I've heard stori
es
, man
. I mean even Merrick had to k
idnap Sherry and lie to Danny to get them to go with him."

             
"For good reason! Same reason we let you settle in and get comfortable before we told you. Could you imagine Sherry being told by some guy, her e
x-
boyfriend no less,
'I'm
an alien
or angel or whatever and I've come to help you
. Pretty please come with me underground?' No way, man. Sometimes you have to
stretch a lie a little bit to see the truth underneath."

             
He was silent for a second before he muttered, "Did you just make that up?"

             
"I did," I said and smirked proudly. "Like it?"

             
"You are something else, Cain."

             
"Hey, slowpokes! Let's get going," Jeff called and then put Marissa behind him as they flanked the door.

             
He rapped slowly and lightly on the big wooden door. It was an old abandoned house. Merrick's gro
up took the business district. W
e took the side with mostly houses on the outskirts. In honesty, I was glad we got this. We'd probably see more action, I figured.

             
No one answered so Jeff tried the knob. Locked.

             
"Kick it in, Chuck," Billings told him
eagerly
.

             
"What?" Jeff asked. "Who?"

             
I laughed as B
illings said, "How can you not know who Chuck Norris is?"

             
"Um, I've been somewhere else, and s
ince the Lighters c
a
me I haven't had time to dig into earth's pop culture.
Chuck Norris had his own Keeper
, I'm sure,
"
Jeff
sneered sarcastically.

             
"Seriously?
" Billings replied in excitement. "You really think he had one? He could still be alive somewhere. We could track him down-"

             
"Really?" I said incredulously. "We're really having this conversation?"

             
"Chuck would be a vital asset," Billings sulked. "He does
all of
his own stunts and everything."

             
I didn't know whether to laugh o
r kick him for being an idiot, s
o I just said, "This isn't Zombieland, ok? We aren't going to run into Hollywood and land
ourselves
in
to
Bill Murray's mansion."

             
"Bill Murray," he mused. "Think about all the people who could still be alive out there somewhere. I bet we could find Chuck if we looked hard enough." Marissa was laughing into her fist and Jeff and Simon were positively clueless.

             
"Ok," I
stopped him, "f
irst off, we need to eat soon because Billings is going into delusions." I heard his disgruntled 'hey' but kept going. "Secondly, move."

             
I kicked the door open for them and it gave
way
surprisingly easy. But the wood was rotted and my foot landed on the other side all by itself. I grunted in annoyance. This was the most ridiculous, unorganized mission I'd ever been on.

             
Jeff smashed the wood around my leg the rest of the way with his boot and the door fell loudly to the floor inside the house. We waited for a second. I had to hold out my hand to Billings who was trying to make a break inside.

             
"Don't you know anything about entering enemy territory?" I asked and pushed him back a little. "Don’t ever enter head first. That's how you end up headless."

             
"Hey, I know that," he argued, his tone indignant.
"
I've seen plenty of cop shows."

             
Marissa was no longer containing her laughter. I peeked back and even saw her wiping her eyes. Jeff looked at her funny, not
understanding what was so hilarious
. I almost wanted to sit there and explain it all out to him. How this was so utterly ridiculous, just so he'd understand and know why my eyes were rolling every eight seconds, but there was no time.

             
I'd just have to bear this burden of idiocy myself. So after I checked the entrance I dragged the idiot through the door with me.

             
"Hello?" I called and heard nothing.
I sniffed
and almost gagged. "It's rank
."

             
"If it's empty," Jeff started, "we should go ahead and move on. By the next place it'll be dark and we can bunk down for the night."

             
"Agreed. I'll head upstairs."

             
"With me," Simon said and pushed in a blur to move in front of me. I gawked at him. He'd never moved fast like the other's before. I realized there was plenty I didn't know about my old Keeper.

             
I followed him upstairs and we began to search the rooms, Simon first each time.
The further we got the more I knew what we were getting closer to. I started to warn Simon, but he already knew. He nodded and had the look of a solemn man. We ventured on anyway, like we had to see it with our eyes.

             
Even
with
me
expecting it and being
a military man, a hard-
nosed
jerk, a guy who'd seen death and used a gun more than I'd used a hairbrush…I gasped at what I saw.

             
There on the bed in the master bedroom was a middle aged couple
and two small children
. They were
all
lying on their sides, spooned together with their h
ands entwined in front of them, all had
on pajamas. It had been a while since they died and though the window was open slightly to let out the stink, it was still rancid. Their skin was wrinkled and a pale gray from death.

             
A
bottle of something was sitting on the nightstand and a single sheet of paper lay on the bed next to them. My fingers trembled as I reached for it and read it aloud because I couldn’t seem to stop myself.

             
Demons,

             
We died on our own
,
but were not alone. You tried to take us, use us, but we were one step ahead.
We refuse to be your puppets.
Judgment shall come and it will not be swift for you. My only regre
t is that we
won't be alive to see your demise. Rot in hell while we rest in peace.