The Solitarian: Part 1 of The Amaranth Series (10 page)

Keyan manages to drive back to my house with a bullet in his hip. I cry uncontrollably as the blood squirts from his side and down his leg. I help him out of the car and into the pool house. I grab a wet towel and hands it to him.

“It seems like you will be patching up my bleeding wounds for eternity.” He jokes.

“That’s not funny Keyan.”

“I know…McKenna?”

“Yes.” I say searching the room for a solution.

“I should go and your family should send you away. They are going to kill you. You all should run now. I don’t want a repeat of Cor…”

“Don’t you dare say it Keyan. I love you and we are going to leave together. I’ll explain to my mom and dad. They can take care of themselves.”

“No. I won’t watch you die. I can’t, not again.” a tear fills his magnificent eyes. I run over to him and take his face into my hands.

“We will be together no matter what. If I have to live in a cave to be by your side, I will do that. Now come with me, I need to find my dad.” I grab his arm and hurry toward the house. I spot my parents car, so I know that they are home. “Mom! Dad! Where are you guys? I need your help!” I yell and they come running.

“What’s wrong Kenna? Why are you yelling?”

“Okay what I am about to tell you is really farfetched but I need you to trust me okay?”

“Go on dear,” my dad says too calmly.

“A girl named Raven showed up at my school today.” My dad looks over to Keyan and notices that he is bleeding. “Don’t be alarmed dad. This girl Raven is a…”

“Falconer. Raven Dilutor is a part of the Order. If she finds you Keyan she will kill you. And even though you are strong, all of the years that you have lived inside of that cave has weakened you.” My dad stands. “We must leave now.” Keyan and I look at one another.

“I will explain in the car let’s go. I will send someone back here for your things.” We follow my dad and mom. We get into their car and he speeds out of the driveway and down the road. I recognize the route that he is taking as he dips off of the highway and down a back avenue.

“We’re going to the warehouse aren’t we?”

“Yes. No one but my people knows about it.” I hold Keyan’s hand as he lies back taking the pain. He opens and closes his mesmerizing peepers. I look on helpless.

We pull into the back entrance which has a large garage door that opens as we approach. My mom watches as I care for the man that I love so dearly. A sort of sadness dances in her glare. I wonder why she feels so bad. He helps Keyan out of the car and over to an elevator.

“I’ve never seen this before dad where does it lead?”

“Come now Kenna we must get you to safety.” He waves for me to join them.

We step onto the elevator as soon as it opens. My dad holds Keyan up as his eyes start to fade.

“What’s wrong Keyan? Are you alright?”

“He’ll heal darling just give it a moment.” The elevator travels for a while when we get to what seems like the pits of hell my dad punches in a code. He looks at us and we look away. Only I peek when he punches in 33215. The doors open and the bright white walls mixed with the fluorescent lights blind me. My dad places on a pair of glasses like he had on at home that day and Keyan moans because the light hurts him as well. Keyan shuts his eyes tightly as his knees give out beneath him.

“What’s wrong Keyan?” I yell as two brawny men hurry to assist my dad with him.

“Dr. Yoakum please give Mr. McGrath one hundred and twenty milligrams of methohexital immediately.” An Asian man in a lab coat nods as he rounds the corner and follows the brutes that are carrying Keyan away.

“Dad, what the hell is going on? Where are we?”

“We are inside the US headquarters for the Cognoscente Faction of The Order.”

“What!” I yell.

“Before you assume let me explain.”

“Fuck that! You brought Keyan to a lab to be tested on?”

“I was going to tell you honey. This right here is your legacy. Our family started this research forty years ago and we have been making progress. I went to Palasca because someone had reported seeing a caveman bathing in the valley. I took you because you have a natural tracking sense especially because you have Amaranth blood flowing through you.”

“What!” I scream and tears start to fall down my cheek. My father is the mad scientist. “How? Why dad?”

“I have a genetic disorder called Hemoglobinopathy. It is a genetic defect that results in abnormal structure to one of the globin chains in the hemoglobin molecule. It causes me to be very ill. I’ve had it before you were born. I started to do research on myself using Amaranthine blood. I felt that because they could regenerate I could excavate the genetic defect. But instead it made me stronger and smarter. I would always have to keep going through dialysis and replacing my blood with that of an Amaranth. I grew tired of the procedure and read about McGrath. He is the only living aboriginal, and if he were still alive, I would be free. You see, the Amaranths that breed now are only distant relatives of an aboriginal. They have to be infected. None of their children are born like Keyan was. They all have to be activated, contrary to Keyan who at the age of transition simply…transitioned. I need his blood. I need him to breed so that I can be cured, so that I can cure the world.”

“Dad you sound insane. Mom?” I turn toward her.

“Listen to your father dear.” She says in a hypnotic tone.

“You are part Amaranth. I thought that because you were born with the blood in you that you would somehow transition on your own. But no. you have some traits. But you too would have to be activated by a male Amaranthine. You found him so easily Kenna. Your instincts are exact. You had envisages without consummating the relationship. It was amazing to watch.” He smiles. “I knew that you would help him escape successfully. I very carefully watched you two bond in the mountains. It was like you were drawn to one another by some incredible force.”

“You’re disgusting! I hate you!” I turn to run and there is nowhere to go. I’m trapped in this scientist’s prison.

“Let me show you all of the good that I have done since I’ve been in charge honey.” He takes my hand and leads me down a hall. I look at my mom with tears streaming down my face and plopping onto the floor as I walk. They are monsters and I led my beloved Keyan right to them. “Here, look my darling, you see that little girl, she has leukemia. Since I have been flushing her blood and refilling it with the blood of an Amaranth woman she is getting stronger. She no longer needs Chemotherapy. We just have to keep the blood flowing through her.”

“That’s terrible. How long has that little girl been locked up in here dad?”

“For about five years. Her mother volunteered. She wants her daughter cured. Look at this man. He had a disease that causes unhealable lesions. I flushed his blood and the lesions started to heal. But without an aboriginal it came back. The mixed blood of the Amaranths in this day is not the same. They can be killed by bullets, knives, any weapon that can hurt us. They don’t get diseases but they can die. They don’t have to wait for someone to sever their life-ring, they are too vulnerable. Be proud my darling you have brought us a cure for the whole world.”

“How will you harvest all of his blood without draining him dry dad?”

“I’m going to create hundreds of him first. Initially I have an Amaranth woman that needs to be activated by him. So I will have them mate while he is sedated and then I will see if they can have a child. Then I will harvest blood from them and continue their bloodline.” I’m horrified. My father is frigging crazy.

As we walk through the underground lab I look through the one-sided glass to each room. There are literally hundreds of patients sedated and locked away. My eyes bulge as the tears fall. My heart breaks for these people that my father and this faction are using as lab rats. I can’t believe that he even did this to his own daughter, me. He expects me to take over this disgusting legacy but I swear I will do the opposite. I will destroy it.

I search each window for Keyan, but I don’t see him. My dad must have locked him away so that I can’t find him. My whole life has been one big lie. He used me as a hound to track and find Keyan to bring him back here. I’m as terrible as they are for following through.

“Dad can I explore alone?” he gives me a suspicious look and nods.

“Take Mr. Grant along with you.” he says as he walks in the opposite direction as me and the guard that is now assigned to babysit me.

I eye the muscle that trails me and he watches my every move. I explore the facility searching for the love that I have condemned to a life of something worse than solitude. I frantically look into each room hoping that I will see his blue eyes again.

Suddenly I see a door. It’s large, steel, and bright red. It has a sign on it that reads Restricted. I stop walking and turn to face the guard.

“Mr. Grant. What is behind that door?”

“I can’t tell you that Ms. Duvall.”

“Why not?”

“Only authorized personnel has access to that area.”

“Are you authorized? Because I sure hell am authorized.”

“Yes I am.” He lifts a key card and it snaps back to the badge that it is dangling from. I search the hall for a potential weapon.

I quickly spot the fire extinguisher perched high onto the wall.

“Well are you going to show me your badge so that we may proceed?”

“Yes. Give me a second.” I dig into my empty pocket as he suspiciously watches me. I lean against the wall that has the extinguisher on it. I fumble with it and he frowns.

“What are you doing?”

“Oh, I…ummm…was…uhh…admiring…this nice red color on the extinguisher?” I nervously say.

“What? Let’s go. I’m taking you back to your father.” He attempts to grab my arm.

I yank the extinguisher from the wall and he is puzzled. I step toward him and he smiles.

“What are you going to do with that?” I lift it into the air and he watches it with a confident smirk. As he is watching the extinguisher I draw my foot back and swing it toward the Mr. Grant’s cannolis. Immediately he bends to clutch them. I guess as a man squeezes it relieves the pain. He lets out a loud yelp as he goes down. I take the extinguisher and slams it over his head repeatedly until he is unconscious. I make sure that he is still alive by checking his pulse. It is weak. I grab his badge and hurry over to the restricted door. I swipe and a green light blares above the door. I turn the knob and quickly shove it open. There is a long hallway that look as if it leads to a cluster of hospital rooms. I shut the door behind me and hurry down the long narrow hall. The lights are extra bright throughout the building and I’m beginning to think that it’s intentional. I come to a room and there is a beeping sound luring me closer. I peek into the room and I spot a woman with tubes stuffed into various parts of her body. I see a pump that is forcing something in and out of her body. I step inside and there is a chart tucked into the cart beside her bed. I open it and start to read. She is 47 and is an Amaranth. She was turned when she was 16 by her husband. He was killed by a doctor here at the facility by accident.

She is in a state of constant sedation. Her eyes hasn’t opened in about five years. My eyes tear. I can’t believe that my father is responsible for such horrible acts against living beings. I place her chart back onto the cart and take one more look at her. I hurry down the hall. I see more Amaranthines in a state of coma. My heart bleeds for these people and although I know that it could save lives I don’t think that they deserve to be experimented on. I come to a room that has very little machines. I see the man that my dad ordered to sedate Keyan. He is attaching Keyan to the same machines that the others are attached to. Keyan in unconscious and helpless and it’s all of my fault. I never should have convinced him to come out of hiding. Now he may be a guinea pig for the remainder of his life. I creep into the room, careful not to alert Dr. Frankenstein. I swipe a scalpel from the table, which he probably used to slice at my love’s arm. I see containers of blood that they have stolen from him. I take a step and the doc hears me. He turns around and spots me.

“What are you doing in here McKenna? This is a restricted area.”

I’m stunned. “How do you know my name?”

“I treated you as a child. You were a little ill for a minute from the rejection of the gene that was passed by your father. I treated you with Amaranth blood and you were fine from that day forward.”

“You people are disgusting. You should be ashamed of what you are doing to these innocent people.”

“They can help us live longer. And by you finding Keyan McGrath, we can do so much more. I have a mate coming in for him tonight. This is the biggest discovery since our faction was created.” He says completely excited.

“Are you going to force him to have sex with her?” I ask. My hand is quivering from the thought of him being connected with someone else.

“No.” I sigh. “She will do everything. She is on our payroll. She lures male Amaranths to us so that we don’t run out of test subjects.” I’m horrified. “She is used to it. He will like it even though he can’t participate.” He giggles. I cover my mouth and step away.

“Where is your father? Did he bring you into this area?”

“Yes. I…” I don’t even feel the need to lie. I take the scalpel that I’m hiding behind my back and slice into his back. He reaches for something to grab onto as he goes down. In a fit of rage I jab him in the neck to keep him from getting up.

I start to cry again. I just killed a man. I snatch the single tube from his arm that I assume is pumping the medication, to keep him out of it, into his system. I pull at his arms for him to sit up. He is as heavy as a dead person.

“Keyan, wake up.” I slap his cheek. “Keyan, please?” I wrap one arm around my neck and try to drag him out of the bed. When he does not budge, I decide to roll the whole bed out of the room. I know that soon they will notice that I’m missing and come looking for me. Especially when they find Mr. Grant and Dr. Death himself.

I wheel the bed down the hall and around a steep corner. This place never ends, it is huge. I finally come to another elevator. I don’t know where it leads but I’m desperate. I fumble to get Grant’s key card and I swipe it. The doors open and I step inside. The doors close and I push the highest floor possible. I don’t know how far down we are but I’m sure that the higher I go, the closer I’ll get to civilization. The floors light up one by one. The elevator stops on the 14
th
floor. The doors swing open and I push the bed off. I stop when I look around and notice that I’m inside of someone’s penthouse apartment. I slide the bed over to the side of the entrance and start to explore. My heart thumps against my chest as I walk toward the finely decorated apartment. I’m careful not to make too much noise. I pull out the blood stained scalpel and peek around each corner. I make my way to the bedroom and I see instructions on the outside of the door. It is cleaning instructions. They explain how to clean the bedding after mating is complete. I’m appalled once more by the callousness of this entire group of mad scientists. During my search I also find out that test subjects fly through here like a drive thru. There is a way to cut off entry and exits. There is also a separate elevator that leads back to the warehouse. There is a master code that must be punched in. I go back where Keyan is and mimic the punch code that my dad keyed in. I concentrate on the numbers in my head. I try 32153. It blinks red. I stomp my foot and think. I key in 33215 and a list if instructions pop up on the high-tech screen. There is an action to lock the penthouse down from this particular elevator. I select it and sigh in relief.

I hear the elevator power down and Keyan is safe for a little while. I go and search for something that I can eat and come up empty handed. There is no food stored in the entire apartment. The thought of this place is so offensive. They bring Amaranthines up here to mate them. My father is the devil himself.

I shake my head as I walk around once more. There is one window in the entire place. I peek out of it then sit down onto a pure white sofa and close my eyes.

“McKenna? McKenna, are you alright?” I toss and turn at the sound of the soulful voice that brings me back from my nightmares.

“Keyan? Hi. I had a terrible dream. I dreamed that my father killed you.” I hug him tightly, yanking him on top of me. I hold him so close. I never want to let go.

“What happened?” I start to explain everything that I witnessed. He is just as flustered as I am about the whole thing. “What are we going to do know?”

“Well I have the code that my dad keyed in when we got here. So I can control the elevators with it. I was waiting for you to wake so that we could escape.”

“I’m awake. We need to get out of here right now. The thought of them forcing me to mate is driving me insane. I wouldn’t be able to handle it.” I pull his face close and plant the wettest and most sensual kiss I can produce. He leans in and returns my affection. We kiss and become engulfed in it. Keyan tears himself away and snatches me up from the couch. We hurry toward the elevator that leads to the warehouse. I punch the code in to power the elevators up again, the doors open. We hurry inside and I smash the button that takes us to ground floor.

“What are we going to do once we get down to the warehouse?”

“Run like hell.”

Wide eyed I look on as the elevator descends. When the doors open there is a beautiful woman standing there waiting. Her hair is very bright and her eyes are very gray. She looks a little scary but still very beautiful.

“Hello? I didn’t expect to see anyone coming from this elevator.”

“Hi. I’m McKenna Duvall.”

“Dr. Duvall’s daughter.”
Doctor?
I shake my head.

“Yes.” She looks to Keyan and smiles.

“You are one of us. What is your name?”

“His name isn’t important. You are Amaranth.”

“Yes. I’m here to mate with the aboriginal Keyan McGrath.”

“Really? I mean what do you get out of doing this for my father?”

“Excuse me?” she is puzzled by my question.

“Never mind I need to go.”

“Why were you in the mating suite? I am the only woman that sleeps there.”

“Goodbye whoever you are. You deserve the things that my dad does to you.”

“My name is Amari darling and I will be the mother of an aboriginal soon. Our children will be superior to the Amaranthines that troll the earth. They will not be so easily disposed of like the others. I will be one as well.”

“Fool.” I spit before Keyan grabs my hand. We run as fast as we can out of the warehouse. “I wanted to hit her so bad. How dare she think that she could just sleep with you all Willy Nilly.”

“I know. I could feel your rage as it was building.” He smiles but continues to drag me along. As soon as we clear the warehouse we run as fast as we can.