Into the Flames

Chapter 25

Suddenly, Jenna heard shouts and yells coming from outside of the room, the sound of metal against metal ringing in her ears. “The cavalry has arrived,” said Justin, smiling and leaning back. “The more the merrier.”

            Suddenly, three figures were pushed into the room, hands behind their backs. “Jenna?” a voice called out. She turned around: Dylan. Gianna and Adam and Boss all stood by him, disarmed and surrounded by guards. “Jenna, you’re alive,” said Dylan. His voice was full of relief. He looked unharmed, besides the blood trickling down the side of his mouth. Blood trickled down Adam’s arm; only Gianna look unscathed.

            “You shouldn’t have come,” she said. Her heart ached to see them in danger.

            “He would have come even if you begged him not to,” said Duke, watching everything happen with a smug look. He began to move forward. Boss began to growl as the wolf walked toward him, each strand of fur standing on edge.

            “How nice of them to show up to our family reunion, uninvited,” said Justin.

            “Family reunion?” asked Gianna, confused.

            “You didn’t know? Jenna is our sister.”

            “Half-sister,” said Jenna viciously. “And we are not a family.” Dylan’s face went slack with surprise, while Gianna and Adam exchanged looks of confusion.

            “Did you know about this?” asked Dylan.

            “I found out mere hours ago,” said Jenna.

            “If you do anything stupid,” said Jessica. “Jenna dies. Duke, be ready. And Amber, tell your wolf to come back here.” Duke pulled a gun out of its sheath and pointed it straight at Jenna’s head, fifteen feet away from her. With a quick whistle from the young girl, the wolf quickly retreated, yellow eyes still on Duke.

            “You see, the problem with both Timors and Guardians is their inability to use guns. Something about our energy paths just prevents us from using them. However, Gens can use them perfectly fine. That’s why we have developed a new technology for Gens. We inject them with multiple concoctions that change their energy paths. They can be a Timor until it wears off, and then they go back to being Gens. Eventually, the effects will become permanent. But they won’t be a complete Timor, or a complete Gen. They’ll be something in between. That gives them our strength and speed, but lets them still use guns. Our first patient on this project was Duke,” said Justin. “He’s not at that stage yet, but he’ll get there one day.” Duke stood in front of the Guardians, pointing a gun at Jenna’s head.

            “Bloody hell,” muttered Adam. “That’s mental. It’s against the rules. This is a war between the Timors and Guardians. You can’t involve Gens.”

            Justin looked at him and blinked, as if he just realized he was there. “If the object of the Guardians is the protect the Gens, then what makes it against the rules for us to terrorize them and use them against you? But that’s just the beginning. We became curious; does this work on Guardians also? We wanted to find the strongest Guardian and test it on her. Surprisingly, Jenna’s pathetic mother happened to be a descendant of the very first Guardian. Because of that, that makes Jenna’s blood the oldest, strongest Guardian blood there is possible.” Cold fear filled Jenna as she heard that again. She didn’t want to be tested like a lab animal. She didn’t want to become Duke.

            “That’s only the beginning,” said Justin, slowly standing up. “You will all be the first to experience the dawn of a new era.”