Murder Genes (18 page)

And then, the bad memories began.

Chapter 13

A new drug is being tested.
 
It is not released for clinical trials, but the company NeoGene claims to be on the cusp of altering DNA expression.
 
The study is led by Dr. Andre Mollinda, founder of NeoGene and the Association of Genetic Determinism and head of research at the University of British Columbia.
 
Dr. Andre has won several awards for his research including the NHI Developmental Research Grant Award in 2011 and the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2017 for his research in epigenetics.

-Arens, Caleb.
 
NYOnline: Announcements for Jan 2018.

Jay didn't move.
 
Much.
 
Not yet at least.
 
He sat at one of the highest points in Morir, staring at his target: Bitch.
 
Jay's bells clanged slightly as he shifted, but he was too far away to hear.
 
Right now, the scroungy member of Freckles' team was hiding behind a rock, clearly enjoying himself.
 
A blue flag stuck up, clear as today's midday sun, tucked into his backside as he waved his ass back and forth high enough over a rock so that the ones hunting him could see it.

It'd been months since Jay had joined Esperanza.
 
His leg had healed well and much was different.
 
Morir was the same, the Enforcers were still after Jay, but Esperanza had changed--because Jay had changed it.
 
He was in the hero business, now.
 
Jay smirked to himself, around the bells--the symbolic bells that he kept on for "personal reasons."

Several Teams recently had allied against the Toothaches, teaming up against Freckles' growing dominance in Morir.

Of course, they were losing.

This time, Whisperer scouts were the ones searching for Bitch, a good dozen of them.
 
Despite their numbers, Bitch was way ahead of the Whisperers.
 
He taunted them as he popped from place to place, throwing rocks and dancing where they'd see him.
 
Leading them into a trap.
 
With Bitch, it never mattered how many people chased him.
 
He was too slimy to catch and after weeks of watching him, Bitch still found ways to disappear from Jay's constant surveillance.

Team Whisperers had gotten the brunt of the punishment these last months, falling into traps much like this one.
 
Bitch knew ways to lead any number of people anywhere.
 
No matter how they tried to evade the trap, Bitch made it happen.
 
He was a genius.
 
He'd end up wherever he needed to be and whether they were in a mood to chase or evade, he'd hound them into a location where they'd all die.
 
In a moment, the Whisperer scouts would be surrounded and slaughtered by Freckles' Beaters, just like hundreds of others had been.
 
But, if Jay was right, Bitch would pop up right under Jay's legs in less than a minute.

The Whisperers turned a corner, not following Bitch's obvious ploy to follow.
 
And walked right into the trap.
 
Jay heard the yells and screams as the scouts were slaughtered.
 
He began counting seconds to himself and when he hit thirty, he readied himself.

Jay dropped off the ledge and brought his knees right onto Bitch's back, smashing the kid to the ground.
 
Bitch twisted as he fell, squashed onto his back.
 
He kicked out and Jay dodged.
 
Jay's Onyx suit glistened and Jay could see the second it took Bitch to lock on Jay's figure.
 
The suit needed movement to distort lines and blur the points where your body began and ended.
 
You were there, obviously and clearly, but the suit had a way of tricking the mind into believing there were no lines where you were, and thus, you couldn't be real.
 
Issak had explained it to be like what a person with a stroke to the left brain sees.
 
Lines look like colors and auras instead of solid divisions.
 
Lines do not exist.

"Santa," Bitch said as he hopped up.
 
He leaned forward and flicked one of the bells at Jay's throat.
 
"Bout time you came for me.
 
What took you so long?"

"You knew I was coming."
 
Jay'd gotten good at speaking around the bar.

"Well duh."
 
Bitch glanced behind him and hesitated, as if readying to run.

Jay stepped back and leaned against a rock.
 
Danger signals flashed in his head but he smothered them.
 
If Bitch had known Jay was chasing him, there was a good chance Jay was either standing in or walking into a trap.
 
It was too late to do anything about that.
 
He'd just think and move ass-fucking carefully in the next moments.

"So...are we going?" Bitch asked.

What?

"You're ARE Redeemer, aren't you?" Bitch stared at him, and went back to a neutral, non-running poise.

Redeemer was the name they'd given him when he started to bring people back to Esperanza.
 
Xiaos had been grudging, wary that Jay would bring someone dangerous into the community.
 
But Jay had argued that the survivors of Morir were the ones that needed hope the most and not just the new arrivals who hadn't been killed on their first day.
 
Xiaos was a Protector, and he was naturally over cautious about who he took in.
 
One bad egg could mean the end of Esperanza.
 
Jay got that, but most the people in Morir were victims under a few villains.
 
They deserved hope, too.

Thus, three months later, they now called him the Redeemer.

Dumb, really.

His name didn't tell the whole story.
 
He was a Murderer-Survivor.
 
He'd killed to keep himself and Esperanza safe.
 
There were only four bells left intact on his bar.

Fate's Eyes' Gamer had come close to capturing him not long after Jay'd begun his rescue raids and infiltrated Fate's Eyes' headquarters, recruiting some of the team's best Beaters.
 
That'd been one bell.

A cat had nine lives, Jay gave himself seven.

The other bell had been for a Baiter much like Bitch who'd walked into Esperanza and nearly escaped.
 
If he'd told his team where Esperanza was, there would be no more hope for Morir.
 
He'd been the other bell.

Bitch was supposed to be the next bell.

Except that Bitch...
 
"You thinnk I'm taking you to Esperanza?"

"I need to get away, Jay.
 
Sooner or later Gamer is going to push me too far, and I'll be caught.
 
To be honest, the fun is running out."

Not pure Thrill-Survivalist then.
 
More Survivalist.
 
This was a surprise.
 
"Why would I do that?
 
You've been searching for Esperanza for months.
 
What's to stop you from telling Gamer once you find out where it is?
 
I'd be an idiot to risk Esperanza on your ass."

Freckles wanted Jay bad.
 
So Jay'd already reserved a bell for
him.

He was running out of spare bells.

"Because I already know where Esperanza is," Bitch answered.
 
"I've known for weeks, but I've been waiting for an invitation in.
 
You, buddy."
 
Bitch walked right up to Jay and grinned up at him.
 
When Jay looked at him, close, he realized Bitch couldn't be more than a few years older than Kyle.
 
He was a child.
 
A child who'd caused the death of hundreds of people.

Jay kept his expression neutral.

"Hey Redeemer,
 
I don't have a bomb on me, there's no trap, and I need help.
 
I'm practically begging.
 
Say something."

"It'd make more sense to kill you," Jay replied.

Bitch jutted his chin at Jay's.
 
"And waste a bell on me?
 
Yeah, that's right, we've heard the stories.
 
Each time you kill, you use up one of your bells because that's all your fucking conscience will let you handle before you break down and commit suicide or something."

"Tell me where.
 
Where is Esperanza if you already know?"

Bitch grinned again.
 
Damn, he DOES know.
 
"Under Haven is a series of tunnels, through Pope's hat and passed Clairvoyance, between the Two-bloody-Towers.
 
I'm Morir's fucking Gollum, of course I know where Esperanza is.
 
I also know you've been following me for weeks."

Damn.
 
Damn damn damn.
 
"Turn around and don't move," Jay said.

Bitch laughed.
 
"Yeah, right.
 
I turn around and you chuck me off the cliff.
 
I get it."

"You're gonna have to trust me, because
I
can't trust you."

Bitch hesitated for about a whole minute be he turned around.
 
Even when he did, his legs twitched like he was ready to bolt at any second.

"Fuck you." Jay said as he picked up a rock and smashed it over the back of Bitch's head.

Bitch weighed maybe sixty pounds if he was lucky.
 
He was a small kid, but combined with the lifestyle of Morir, there was nothing on him.
 
Carrying him was a more matter of maneuvering than strength, and the path to Esperanza had plenty to maneuver around.

Just in case Bitch woke up, Jay'd bound hands and feet and tied Bitch's shirt over the kid's face.
 
Good thing, too, because over Jay's shoulders came a groan.

"Bastard," the boy said.

"You deserve it after what happened to me last time you were around.

"You're probably right, but you're still a bastard."
 
Bitch coughed, and then a tiny hiccup came out.
 
"Thanks for saving me, I owe you big."

Jay didn't reply.
 
But he did feel a little better about his decision.
 
"Morir does a number on all of us," he said after a while.

"Yeah."

Bitch didn't struggle as they walked, or complain.
 
He just hung there loosely with his muscle relaxed.
 
And then he was snoring.
 
Jay smiled, the kid probably hadn't slept in months or years, depending on how long he'd been in Morir.
 
Out there, you never slept.
 
Not really.
 
You'd close your eyes, but you never slept.

"I think you'll really like it in Esperanza, buddy," Jay said to the snoring kid.
 
Everyone in Morir understood that you did what you did because you had to, and not because you wanted to.
 
As horrible as Bitch had been, Jay understood.
 
Things were the way they were, and you could either die quickly or die slowly, not play, or play.
 
The power of instinct ruled those in Morir stronger than most.

It took maybe half a day to get to Esperanza.
 
Jay didn't stop to rest.
 
He never did.
 
Maybe it was because he was looking forward to seeing the city so much that he couldn't stop, or maybe something inside told him that if he did stop he'd lose his way and never find Esperanza even if he'd gone there a hundred times before.
 
Or most likely, Esperanza was his home and all he wanted after walking through Morir was to go home.

And see Kyle.

Kyle wasn't in Esperanza or in Morir...Jay had made sure of that.
 
No, of course he knew that.
 
But Esperanza would give him the time he needed to discover a way to escape and go back to his real home where his son was.

Jay admired the town as they walked from the shadows.
 
It was like a piece of heaven, here.
 
The glistening prisms and gardens and running water.
 
In the two months he'd been here, Esperanza had doubled in size, from maybe one hundred people to two.
 
And the average survival rate here?
 
Changing every moment, every second, every day.
 
No one was being murdered in Esperanza.
 
Jay would've cried at the thought, but he was too much a cold bastard now to do so.
 
Issak, taking away the only time I ever thought I'd cry.
 
Jay WAS bitter.
 
Crying was an important psychological release.

Bitch stirred.
 
"We're here?"

"Yeah, quit moving."
 
Jay went for the only brick building in Esperanza.
 
It was the closest thing to a headquarters they had.
 
Jay pushed through the doors into headquarters and dumped Bitch onto a chair.