War Machines

6

     As much as I hated to admit it, Zeke was right. The platform covered with a straw mattress and furs he used as a bed wasn't exactly a five-star hotel bed with high thread count sheets. It was, however, much better than my bed last night on the floor of Zeke's cave. I'd hate to go back to the floor tonight. Oh well. I would enjoy the bed while I could.

     Zeke was lucky I even came back inside. The idea of being locked in his cave with him again didn't exactly make me want to dance for joy. I'd originally had no intention of coming back inside at all. I'd stayed out on top of the hill for hours after Zeke had told me the truth about the rifts and the creepers, or at least his version of the truth. He'd tried to talk me into coming back inside. Then he'd tried pleading. When I'd still refused to budge, he'd made the mistake of trying to pick me up and carry me. That last bit had earned him the black eye he now sported. I strongly suspected he would no longer try to force me to do anything. But simply by virtue of continuing to keep me here, Zeke still had me at a massive disadvantage.

     I'd simultaneously been honest and deceptive with Zeke. When he'd demanded to know why I didn't want to go in, I'd told him it was because I didn't want to be locked in. That had been true, but I'd been paying attention when Zeke opened the doors. I knew exactly how to open them now. Zeke didn't need to know that. Let him think he could still lock me in. That was only to my advantage. He also didn't need to know just how uncomfortable I felt around him since he'd told me his story.

     I'd always found Zeke more than a bit creepy, especially the way he always sought me out and how it always felt like he was staring at me whenever he was around me. The fact that he'd now graduated to kidnapping me did nothing to change my opinion of him. Granted, if he really had been alone for centuries, it was little wonder his skills at garnering allies were somewhat rusty. It certainly explained how he'd managed to alienate most of the Border Guard. But I still didn't know what he wanted from me, and that made me cautious. The more options I had, the better I felt. Being locked inside the cave with him would severely diminish those options.

     Zeke, however, was adamant. "We have already been outside for entirely too long, and you are bleeding," he'd argued. "Our scent is going to be strong on this hill now. We will be hunted. There is a reason my home is behind three rift-sealed doors."

     That was when I'd finally let him take me back inside. I'd leaned heavily on Zeke, letting myself seem far weaker than I was. Of course, after I'd punched the bastard, he likely knew I still had my strength, but every little bit helped. Zeke seemed happy to help me. He handled me like I was made of glass and practically carried me back into the cave, sealing the doors in sequence behind us before getting me tucked into bed. But I had insisted that if I let him take me back in, he'd answer my questions.

     Oh, did I have questions. Once inside, I tended to my dressings and my captive audience. "This doesn't make any sense," I complained. "If you got tossed aside because the other creepers were better soldiers than you, then why are you able to take on whole gangs of them at once? You toss those fuckers around like cordwood!"

     "We were all modified using DNA from various animals," he explained patiently. "Our creators were trying to create soldiers who met specific guidelines. For instance, I was designed to be able to do fast, aerial strikes, with wings and talons to strike from above. That is what I did at first. But one side effect of using rift energy is longevity, something you have yet to realize, I suspect. I have lived for centuries. During that time, I learned to adapt to survive and to fight in new ways. We, the Enhanced, learned that our true power was our ability to harness and mold rift energy to alter our bodies, allowing us to utilize it in new ways. Your Terra Omega program understands that. It is precisely how they train the various groups of operatives to have different rift-enhanced abilities."