Chaos Theory (26 page)

Gut roiling, Creighton couldn’t help but turn and stare at
Rikard.

His husband stood swaying alongside the other Host set to
guard them. There was no recognition in his eyes, no animation on
his face.

He was a shell. A ghost.

It broke Creighton’s heart.

“
We have a daughter,” he managed. “I’m worried I’ll get out of
here then miss her if she’s bought in to be….” Neither of them
wanted to be reminded of the female screams they heard in the
middle of the night when the Hybrids went to work. “….If she’s
brought here.”

“
The Half-pint’s yours too?” Valiant nodded to the red head
clamped around Creighton’s legs.

She’d been that way since he’d been thrust into the cage and
found her catatonic in a corner.

“
Madeleine’s not blood, but family.”

“
I get that.” Valiant had more respect for the man now. “I have
a friend who is like a brother to me. Soon as I get clear, I’m
going to look for him. Z’s smart. He’s either hiding, dead, or
Host. If he’s the latter I’ll put a bullet in him and bury his
scrawny ass, but at least I’ll know for sure.”

“
That’s the hardest part, isn’t it? Not knowing what’s happened
to them.”

Creighton pondered his options. His hand ruffled Madeleine’s
cap of fiery corkscrews. That soothed him. She was his
responsibility now, and one he took with the utmost of seriousness.
If he never saw Max again, he would hold peace with not protecting
the boy’s mother better by ensuring the survival of his
sister.

Fear for his own daughter had kept him from sleep. The sick
twisting in his gut had him in constant panic of what might be
happening to her as he paced caged and helpless.

Kali wasn’t beautiful in the traditional sense, but there was
something about her that repelled and compelled in an
attention-grabbing tandem. Aside from her Delphi looks, those two
opposing forces could have strange affects on males. In the past,
she had been protected. With her politically influential HiCaste
fathers to safeguard her, no one would dare physically harm her to
satisfy their curiosity, but with the bounds of society shattered
to pieces, he wasn’t sure if she’d be safer with the aliens or with
who should be her MainLander kin. It was horrifying to accept, but
a reality he had to face. Sitting and hoping she had found
honourable men to guard her was the best he could do, and that just
was not good enough.

Then there was Rikard.

If he had to sit and watch his dead husband shuffle around
with the same feeling of hopelessness as he had for the last five
days he would go insane.

Dedicating the rest of his life to raising the child he held
in his arms, and searching for the one he’d lost would keep him
alive.

Creighton held out his hand to shake. “I’m in. My name is
Loklear, Creighton.”

Valiant paused then a wide grin split his brooding features.
“Huh. Small planet. The name’s Valiant.”

“
The plan?”

“
No matter what happens, stay with me. The nanosec they realise
they can run these guys are going to go nuts, and head straight for
the entrance doors. Don’t get caught up in it. I’ll seem like I’m
going the wrong way, but I know this place, and know where we can
get out unseen. Our priority is to get armed, and get out of here
in one piece. Got it? I know where we can find
supplies.”

Creighton’s eyes widened. He scooped up Madeleine, and pushed
her head down to rest on his shoulder. “Now?”

Valiant slipped his hand through the bars and flashed his
wrist at the scanner, so the OmniLock hidden beneath his skin could
disengage the locks.

The door popped open.

“
No time like the present, old timer.”
Valiant snatched Madeleine from Creighton’s arms and mashed himself
into the bars. “
Door’s
open!
”

The haggard prisoners blinked at the open doorway like parched
travellers spying an oasis.

They moved as one, a sea of bodies crushing each other to get
free.

Creighton barely had time to press his front into Valiant, and
grab the cold bars. They caged a howling Madeleine between their
bodies, her small hands fisted on Creighton’s chest, her whole body
trembling.

People went down screaming. Some clambered back up; others
were crushed beneath the surge of trampling feet. Fists flew and
legs bucked. The first to wedge their bodies out the narrow opening
were the strongest. The meanest. Shoving the weaker aside, they
were twisted to cruelty by the need to survive.

The escapees were loud and messy – a perfect distraction. They
clashed with the Host in a rabid clamour of noise.

As predicted they headed straight for the main
exit.

Valiant motioned to a divot in the wall and they shuffled out
the cage, keeping Madeleine’s head averted when they passed the
dead bodies of the prisoners who had fallen in the stampede and
would never stand again.

No sooner had they slipped into the depression and were
cloaked by shadows, the doors creaked open.

The monotonous droning and shuffling feet identified the
newcomers as Host.

Madeleine whimpered.

The deadly look Valiant levelled at Creighton had him clamping
a hand over the girl’s mouth. Whispering hush noises in her ear, he
turned her face into his chest so she couldn’t see, and covered her
other ear with his hand.

There were heart-stopping moments of silence.

The doors squeaked and the noise levels of the rioting in the
corridors got louder until the door whooshed closed.

Back flat to the wall, sidling warily, Valiant peered from the
alcove. When Creighton shifted he held up a hand to signal he
should wait.

After a few beats, he gave a thumb up.

“
That easy?” Creighton breathed, easing his hold on Madeleine’s
mouth.

“
Don’t jinx it,” Valiant murmured.

He prowled forward, quickened his pace, and hooked an arm
around the neck of a straggler about to leave the room.

With an efficient twist he snapped the Host’s neck.

Matter-of-fact, he patted the body down for weapons. All he
found was a pocketknife the Human probably had before he’d been
paired with a Symbiont. Valiant jammed the blade between his teeth
and checked the body’s shoe size. “These should fit you.” He tugged
the boots off and threw them at Creighton. He could survive a while
without footwear, but he doubted the HiCaste had tough soles like
him. He tugged off the Host’s threadbare jumper and struggled into
it. “You can carry the Half-pint? We won’t find shoes her size
here.”

Creighton crouched, and as he put on the boots, Madeleine
climbed onto his back. She looped her skinny arms around his neck,
laying her head beside his. “We’ll be fine. What now?”

“
We leave through those doors, real careful like, then sneak
towards the back of the building. Half way to our exit there’s a
narrow corridor that’s rarely used, and a cubbyhole off it is full
of supplies. LiquiNu pouches, weapons, ammunition, the works. We
grab all we can carry and slip out the back door. I had to
transport criminals through it back in the day before I made the
Starless unit.”

“
Starless
?”
Creighton lowered his voice. “They’re a myth.”

“
Yeah, not so much.” Valiant checked the room to make sure
there was nothing valuable he could use. “I’m heading towards the
OutRim. Last intelligence implied the greatest concentration of
Host and Hybrid was inland. The further into the wastelands we head
the safer it’ll be. You and Half-pint are welcome to join
me.”

Creighton puffed out his cheeks. “My daughter?”

“
I’m looking for my friend too, but we need to find somewhere
safe. We can reconnoitre when we have a firm base. Survival first.
We’re no good to them dead.”

They made it to the back of the building with no problems. The
Host and Hybrids were busy regaining control of the Human uprising
charging for the entrance.

Reaching the ‘cubbyhole’ Creighton lifted an eyelid at the
massive steel doors Valiant had led them too. “This is a
vault.”

“
Our society is built on the illusion of peace.” Valiant
flashed his wrist at the scanner and the bolts holding the door
closed snapped open. “Of course the weapons are hidden.”

Madeleine was set down by the wall with instructions to hit
them if she saw anyone coming, and they used their combined muscle
to push open the heavy doors.

Valiant cautiously slipped inside.

Shelves of food and weapons lined the wall as he expected, but
what he found in the middle of the room had him fisting his
hands.

A young female, dressed in a black-sequined choli and brocade
skirt, her short crop of white hair matted with blood. At her feet
was her discarded dupatta, a twist of jade silk. She rocked on the
spot, digging her fingers into her skull. Henna stained her skin in
an intricate swirl up her arms and stopped at two rings of silver.
Her eyes lifted and burned molten gold. Unbridled hatred sparked in
their depths promising fiery retribution. Topaz jewels were
suspended on her brow between her eyebrows in a detailed sunburst.
The cosmetically adhered bindi was what gave the StarChildren their
name.

He uncurled his fingers.

Valiant could smell her from where he filled the doorway.
Spices and fresh herbs mixed with a warmer undertone, something
like stone baked bread.

“
Namaste,” Valiant stuttered, his hands coming together
briefly.

Despite the respectful greeting, the Hybrid stiffened. She
clenched her arms tighter around her bloodied knees. A gem winked
at the side of her nose. “I don’t care what you do to me,” she
rasped, voice faintly accented. “Torture my mind as you wish. I
will not serve.”

Valiant stared at her golden skin, witchy eyes, and lush lips.
He felt his heart roll over in his chest. “Never?” he asked
dumbly.

She glared at him. “Never,” she hissed. “My mind is my own, as
are my feelings.”

“
That’s good to know.” Valiant cleared his throat. “So you’re a
good one secluded from the bad ones? Make my day and say
yes.”

“
You can’t be serious,” Creighton muttered. “She’s
dangerous.”

“
She’s a StarChild, unarmed, and female. I have a
vibe.”

Creighton rubbed tired eyes. “Cosmic. Your ‘vibe’ will keep
her from sticking parasites on us and marching us back here the
first chance she gets?”

“
No, nine years of combat training and being the most decorated
operative in my squad will. That and my shiny new rifle.” He hefted
one of the weapons off the wall as he spoke, petting it fondly.
“But like I say, old timer, I have a vibe.”

“
I’m not Host.” Valiant turned and showed her the back of his
head. “I’m not Hybrid either. I’m Human through and through, but
I’m not going to hurt you.”

Madeleine peered inside the vault curiously, sucking hard on
her dirty thumb.

The wariness on the StarChild’s face was unmistakable, but
some of the tension in her shoulders eased at the sight of the
child. “And?”

“
What’s your name?” Valiant asked gently.

She tipped her chin. “Pushpa. In my culture, my real culture,
not the one they’ve tried to trick my mind into believing, it means
flower.” Her knuckles turned white she clenched her hands so hard.
“I will not forget who I am. They can’t make me.”

Valiant knew fortune when it smiled on him.

He eased closer, keeping his arms open in a nonthreatening
manner.

As part of his training, Valiant had studied the different
cultures that existed within the Alliance. The motto was OEOP, but
the reality could not be further from the truth. Like the CatEyes,
true StarChildren didn’t leave their continent much. MainLanders
weren’t all that friendly, despite the government hype that led the
do-gooder Flush to believe otherwise. It was safer for the purer
bloods of the old races to stick to their own, but you got the
occasional few who broke away from their societies to brave the
world’s capital.

Valiant wasn’t narrow-minded enough to see this alien takeover
as a black and white situation.

There were two sides to a war, and always two sides to every
story.

Yes, she was a Hybrid, but they were born Human. They had
mothers, brothers and sisters, whole families, and lived for years
as Human. Some of them had to retain a lingering sense of loyalty
to humanity.

He wished hard on the laws of science she was one of them. All
the signs pointed to the conclusion she was.

He knelt in front of her and set the rifle down. “How’s it
going Push? I’m Valiant.” He offered his hand to her. “Come on,” he
coaxed. “There’s no hurt here. I’m not the religious type, I’ve got
Z for that, but I think we were meant to meet.”

“
Maddie
,”
Creighton hissed. “Where are you?”