Deserted Highways

Lies Bind Us in Chains

was you they hit? You can't just go around taking matters into your own hands," Jordan exclaimed.

"I can Jordan, and I will. He would have died. Or been really hurt, did you really think I would just let that happen?" she retorted.

Jordan's eyes softened. "No. No, I know you wouldn't. It's just not your nature. But honestly, you need to be careful. Under the radar. Low profile."

"I had contacts!" she pointed out mulishly and Jordan laughed.

"I do love your purple eyes," he said and then he wandered out of the room. "Good night."

She rolled to her stomach and closed her eyes, but sleep didn't come. Eventually, she got up, put her contacts back in, and slipped out of the little apartment, silent and unnoticed. A walk might clear her head, but after hours of aimlessly wandering, she found herself outside of a modest two story home, a little silver car parked out front with a stick figure mother and child on the rear window.

The light on the second story window was out, and she saw the glow of a monitor inside, but no one in front of it. She stood there for a long time, and when the sun started to peek out from behind the mountain, tinting the sky orange, she retreated across the street, leaning against a hedge. She heard an alarm go off inside the second story room. After another thirty minutes, the front door opened, and a head of black hair emerged, hiding gray eyes. He didn't look around despite the previous night's events, and started walking.

She waited, and then followed, telling herself it was just to make sure he made it to class- because honestly, why else would anyone be up at this hour on a Wednesday- and made sure to keep her head down in case he turned around. It was silent for a few minutes, and then she heard steps fall into line behind her. She ducked down a side street and next to a house and she watched. There was a short man trailing behind them, in a suit that didn't fit, and he edged closer and closer to the boy in front of him.

She stepped quickly from the house, and caught up to the man without his notice, and she was glad for the early hour for once, as no one else was around to see anything out of the ordinary. She wrapped an arm around his throat and squeezed, dragging him down an alley. "Who the fuck are you?" he spat and she cracked him across the face without hesitation.

"Doesn't matter. Why are you following him?" she said.

"Like I would tell you," he retorted and she hit him again, and then slid a knife from her boot. His eyes widened. "Look, I just got told to grab him, and make it look like an accident. A robbery or something. I don't even know him, I just took the money. Times are hard, you know?" He looked to be on the brink of snivelling at her feet and her lip curled in disgust.

"I think it would be best if you didn't, don't you?" she said and he nodded rapidly. "Get lost, dumbass. If I see you near him again, you will get to meet your maker. Understand?" He turned and ran, stumbling over himself, and she stepped back out of the alley. The mop of black hair was disappearing in the distance, and she cursed, speeding up. When she finally caught up to him, he was disappearing into an older building on the local college campus. She could see construction in the background, behind the building, tall fences hiding the destruction of the building that had once been there.

She didn't know what she was thinking, not past knowing that she had to stay close to him. Two people had made an attempt on his life in two days, he was not safe. She followed him into the building, picking up a pen off of a side table as she did so, and swiping a notebook from a young girl too busy talking to her friend to notice, or care. She caught sight of him slinking into a classroom at the end of the hall. She stood outside the door for a few moments, pretending to have taken interest in a poster about the open mic night.

She watched him out of the corner of her eye, watched him sit in a chair at a long table in the middle of the room. Somebody dropped their bag heavily on the floor and he jumped, before slouching lower in the chair. She stepped into the room, and he didn't look up until she brushed past his table on her way to sit in the back. He looked up, and she knew she shouldn't, shouldn't draw anymore of his attention to her, but when his eyes widened in recognition, she gave him a knowing smile, a wink.

She sat down at a table a few behind the boy, putting her feet up and leaning back in her chair. She studied the back of his head, and he almost turned around, she could hear him clicking a pen from here. The soft sound of a door handle turning pulled her attention away and towards the entrance to the room. A tall, lean man entered, muscled, bald, with penetrating blue eyes. He didn't say anything for a while, looking over a paper and then glancing up periodically to match a name to a face.

His eyes met hers for a moment, confused. "Miss? Are you supposed to be in this class? What is your name?"

She saw a head of black hair turn in her direction, gray eyes focusing on her, along with everyone else in the room. She put on a charming smile. "Yes, Sir. My name is Hera. I transferred from a different college."

The professor raised an eyebrow but didn't question her further. "Very well. Welcome, Hera. I'm Dr. Mescher."

She glanced back at the boy she had followed here but he'd turned away from her. "Let's start by watching a segment from a press release held by the president earlier this month. Remember, we're looking at this through a macro lense, we want to think about how this affects the big picture."

The lights dimmed, and a video pulled up on the computer, the president's voice rumbling through the speakers. "Good morning. I am here today to inform the public of a dangerous threat, as is your right to know. There is a dangerous group of people walking amongst you. The U.S government, along with other foreign governments, began a project several years ago to create soldiers through genetic engineering that were immune to diseases that kill millions, humans that could see farther, hear better. We wanted humans that were stronger, many times stronger than any normal person. It was felt, at the time, that this project could aid in protecting the people of this world from those who would otherwise see us dead. It was defunded for a period as leaders began to get cold feet. But I preservered, because I believe that my people deserve to be safe, to feel safe."

Her skin crawled at the sound of his voice, the words leaving his mouth. "A group of subjects escaped. Former employees of the Illusion Lab Corporation have separated. These people are dangerous, even more so because they look just like you or I. They can kill you easily, and they won't hesitate. They are bloodthirsty, engineered for death. Keep vigilante. In a few moments, for those that are watching this as a televised newscast, pictures of the known group of radicals will be put up on the screen. Call the hotline listed under if any of these people are spotted."

A photo flashed on the screen, a surveillance camera photo of a holding room. The person in the middle looked nearly feral as she stared at the camera, a bloodied knife in her hand, a body face down on the floor in front of her. Tangled red hair hung around her sharp features, a scarred throat, and two mismatched eyes, one blue, one green.

She heard the boy in front of her suck in a sharp breath and the scrape of his chair on the floor raised goosebumped along her arms as she cringed. He didn't take anything with him, just bolted from the room, and she stayed for a moment as the picture changed to a tall man, with his brown hair pulled back into a sleek bun.

Chapter 3

Lies Bind Us in Chains

Jace didn't take anything with him, he didn't know how he made it to the door. The image of Kaelie's face, fierce and angry and broken in that holding cell was seared into his mind and suddenly he was back in the Illusion headquarters, standing next to Kaelie as she killed the young Hunter girl. He was back on the other side of the glass listening to her scream for him as Serna put a gun to his head.

He couldn't breathe, his chest felt tight, his eyes burned, he needed out. The door bounced harshly of the wall, shaking in its frame and he could hear the professor calling to him but he didn't care, he couldn't turn around. He stumbled into the wall, and then he leaned on it, using it to support his weight. Somehow, he made it to the door and the hot Arizona air felt cool on his face, tears dried on his face.

He sank to the ground, leaning his back against the outside of the building and he tried to breathe, tried to focus on breathing deeply in and out. Kaelie's face still swam in his mind, and then he could see her body crumpled and broken on the cement, he could see