Inhuman

Chapter 4

I wake up and see no one in the pharmacy and all of a sudden the door starts to shake and Crimson Heads come in except they are Keanu, Axel, Catalya, and Sallow. I back away to the wall, I can’t kill them, but they kill me and that’s when I wake up screaming and trying to get out from under the blanket. Axel wakes up and looks at me. I look at him and hug him. He hugs me too, and I feel safe in his arms listening to his heartbeat.  
He rocks me in his arms like I was a child and I feel safe. “Shh, Shh”He says as I cry in his arms. “Do you want to talk about it?” He asks, whispering even though Keanu was already awake. I shake my head not wanting to tell them what I saw. Keanu looks at the two of us and I see the jealousy in his eyes, he holds his gun at the door, but now that he knows no one is there he lowers his gun. Keanu waves at me and I wave back. He stands up and walks over to the counter which he made into a bar and poor's three glasses of liquor. 
He walks back to us and Axel holds out his hands, and I know Keanu will make a joke. “What all of these are for me, get your own” He says and then smiles, he hands the glasses to the two of us and I drink gladly. The liquor burns in my throat, but it was nice and warm. Keanu also starts a fire, when we hear another scream come from the back of the counter it was Sallow he was screaming to someone telling them to leave. Catayla rushes over to him, waking him up. I knew he was talking to Catayla when he was screaming, but nobody else knows. We're way too young, we still are, we're only twenty five, “Let’s talk about something” Keanu looks around the room already with the second glass of liquor. 
Axel looks at everyone and says. “When I was little I wanted to be a fireman” Sallow looks at Axel as if to say, you don’t even know. He shakes his head. “I  used to dress up in the whole outfit, a red hat and a full body suit. I would save my '' He stops for a second and looks sad, but he continues. “I would save my mom and dad” He says and Sallow laughs at this, but it was pure joy. 
Catayla laughs, but then says. “When I was little I guess I always wanted to be a nurse” She says and Sallow looks at her with a smile, and thinks for a second. 
Keanu stands up like he is going to make a statement. “When I was little I wanted to be a basketball player” At this Catayla laughs, because Keanuis her younger brother after all. “What about you? What did you want to do?” Keanu says, his speech slurred and he walks with a wobble, I take the bottle out of his hand. “Thank you love” He says and sits back down, well almost falls actually. 
Sallow puts his hands up when we all look at him. “Oh no that I don’t want I don’t want to say” He says and Catayla elbows him in the side as if saying he has to say. “When I was little I wanted to be an artist” He says and everyone looks at him. “Hey I was good at drawing okay” We all laughed at him, because he got so defencive. To stop our laughing we hear a bang on the door by us and we all jump. Keanu, still drunk, holds his gun, but Sallow quickly takes it from him. He looks out the window and sees nothing until a dog jumps out from the dark, his teeth showing and his eyes wide, Sallow looks at the dog and I notice that Sallow looks slightly different when he looks at the dog. Catalya notices this too, when she looks at the dog she runs to Sallow who was trying to open the door. 
She grabs him and spins him around, his eyes are no longer brown, but almost black, I jump back a little and Catayla stays in one spot. She takes the gun from his limp hand. “Run” She says, turning to us and we do as she says,we all hide behind the counter and we hear Catayla say. “Your name is Lucas Sallow, you love apples, your favorite color is yellow, you’re afraid of fire.” says and you hear her grunt when he punches her. “You’re parents were a doctor and a lawyer” he punches her again and Keanu tries to run to help, but Axel grabs his arm and pulls him back down. “You had two brothers, and you hate sleeping with the windows open” He doesn’t snap out of his gaze and Catayla to the best of her ability tries to hold him back, but he pushes her to the ground and she knocks her out. He walks up to use and almost throws a punch, but then his eyes go back to normal and he puts his hand down. He looks around the room and then sees Catayla. 
He goes to her and picks her head up. “Come on Cat wake up” He says his voice is weak and shaky, “please” He says and Catayla wakes up. “Why didn’t you shoot me?” He says and she just shakes her head.
She smiles at him when he looks at her. “You ask too much from me” She says standing up. “We’re Best friends, remember?” She says and stands up. “But best friend I think it’s best you don’t have a gun right now” She says and the three of us come out from behind the counter. 
The dog is gone and Keanu looks at Sallow wide eyed. “What was that?”  He says, not sitting down and staying far away.
Sallow looks away from the fire and I know why he’s afraid of it now, not from the attack, but because of something that happened in Oxite. “Oxitec took the survivors and the ones that didn’t run away” He says and his eyes move to Catayla who is looking at her eye and bruised chin. “Oxitec wanted to know where the rest of the rebels were hiding, I wouldn’t help them” He keeps stopping and closing his eyes, like he will have another episode. “So they changed my memory, morphed it to be bad” He looks at Catalya who was looking at him through the mirror and she shakes her head. “I still didn’t tell them, because I forgot, I was so consumed in my own fear and anger” All of us know the rest, because that is the story he told us when we first met him, about Catayla, but I know now that story was just a cover up, because they knew each other longer then two days ago. Axel and Keanu know this, but they don’t know what I do. I think it better to keep my mouth shut for now, Catayla sits down next to Sallow and he looks at her left eye and chin. “I’m so sorry” He says Keanu turns around and rubs the bridge of his nose and puts his hand on his hip. This is a common stance when he is stressed. 
Axel steps up and says. “We can’t stay here” He says and all of us nod except for Keanu who is still trying to process what Sallow said. Axel packs a bag, “We can look for more survivors” He says when I walk over to him.
I shake my head. “Axel you are suggesting making another rebellion” And Axel nods his head and anger fills him, and I know why, “That was us” I say and Axel nods his head again. I look sad, but inside I was intrigued. I didn't know Oxitec had the type of tech. “We took his life. I keep my voice at a whisper, “Maybe we can give it back” I say biting my lip because I knew it was a long shot. 
He grabs my hands, “You said the nurses are slaves” He says and I nod my head, “We can find people then the slaves can help us fight” He says keeping his voice at a whisper, but I guess Catayla hears us because she starts to listen. 
She goes up to us and says “Let’s do it” She says, “But you're going to need a General” She says and Axel nods his head at Catayla. “I can do that” She says and Axel nods his head and without saying a word that was it Catayla is now the general. Now I was the one that felt jealous how he could choose Catayla over me to be the General. I walk away and start packing my things. 
Sallow walks over to me, “You know don’t you” he says and I nod my head, “Don’t tell Cat you know please, she didn’t want anyone to know about us” He says looking at me with seriousness, but I can tell he wants to smile. “You are mad at Axel now aren’t you” He says looking at me. 
How is he so smart. “No, I’m just frustrated” I say and he nods his head. 
“Okay, but you are trying stuff a box with nothing in it, in your bag” He says and I take the box out and throw it on the floor. “I know that look, Catayla gives the same look to me, what did he do” sallow says smiling. 
“Look Sallow I’m not interested in getting relationship advice” I say looking at him and stop packing. “He made Catayla the general” I say in a pouty voice that makes me feel like a child. 
Sallow nods his head and breaths in, for someone who is only twenty seven he acts like he’s older than all of us. “Well that is a little childish to mad at him for that” He says and I look at him and he chuckles. 
I put a shirt in a bag. “No it isn’t” I say and he arches his eyebrow, you’re twenty five Yana not five. “What made you grow up so fast” I say to him and he just laughs at me. 
“Huh lets see, I was a seven year old boy with a doctor for a Father and a Lawyer for a mother” He looks at me and I nod my head understanding. “Yana really doesn't tell Cat,” he says and I nod my head. “Thank you”. 
Keanu looks at me and asks “What did sallow say to you” He walks with me to the door and unlocks it, the cold air hits me and I shiver “So what did he tell you”. 
I laugh at him, “We just talked nosy” I say and he arches an eyebrow he knows me better than that. I ignore him which just adds to the suspicion, but he drops it. This is the first time we had a real conversation and it’s nice, “You know what” Keanu says as we walk away and everyone else follows us. Keanu leans in close so no one else hears. “I’ve never seen Cat so happy,” Keanu says and smiles.
I just ignore him, but I know what he’s talking about. “you sly fox” I finally say quietly and he smiles. “You know about them,” I say and Keanu nods his head. “When did you find out?” I asked him. 
He smiles at me. “Since the mall” He says and I can see that. “I may have been so drunk that I could barely stand, but I know my sister” He says and he laughs. 
Only I wasn’t laughing, “You’re always drunk” I said to him and he put his head down and his hands in his pockets, an ink stain was on the leg of his jeans as an attempt to take the security patch off. “You know there is an easier way to get the ink patch off of your jeans” I say changing the touchy subject. Keanu never had a good life. He was the one that had to get food, his father was gone for hours at bars and when he would come home he would be drunk and angry, always taking his anger out on him. At one point they were even homeless living off of garbage and the little cash they would get from sympathetic business people. At some point when they finally had a good house and his father had stopped drinking. Keanu was a five year old with a family, a real family. That’s when the virus hit his parents and put Catayla and Keanu in the hospital, they were cured. Only his parents weren’t, and like mine they washed away slowly transforming into Crimson Heads. 
He looks at me and laughs a little. “Really” He says and I nod my head feeling pity for Keanu after remembering what he had been through in five years, just five years of life. “What is it?” he says, noticing that I’m changing the subject and he is so grateful for that. 
I smile at him “all you do is go to the cash register and use the machine that they would use” I say and I look over at Keanu with a smile and he just looks at me and smiles. 
He laughs and pats my back. “I missed this Bean” he says and for the first time I laugh with him when he calls me Bean, because now it is no longer a joke that means I am short,it is more of a friendship thing. I remeber a part of my life, it was a cold christmas eve, my house was huge, it had a large tree in the living room and underneath the tree were dozens of presents, only I didn’t want any of them. I just wanted a family to spend Christmas with. A woman walks in, but it wasn’t my mother it was a nanny. 
She smiles at me her chubby cheeks and dark skin warmed my heart, I smiled at her and the little me hugs her she was more of a mother then my own mother, “Are you ready to open your present little bean” I nod my little head my curiosity comes to light, “Okay, now go get them, go on” I come back to reality a tear stings my eyes begging to come out, but I don’t let them. Who was this woman, and why was she important to me that I remember her over my own parents? 
Keanu looks at me slightly confused. “Are you okay?” he says with a sympathetic look, I nod my head and keep walking. Keanu gives me the space I need, because he knows I have something to work out whatever he thinks it is. 
Unlike Keanu, Axel walks up to me, his eyes look at me confused,”What’s wrong” he says and I know he means well, but I just need space, if this woman is still alive even if she is a Crimson Head I can save her. 
I shake my head, my eyebrows fured, “Nothing, I just need some space.” I say only he doesn’t leave me alone and that is when I snap at him. I didn’t even mean to, I just did. “ I said I need some space, if you want to talk to someone why don’t you talk to your new general?” I say bitterly. 
Axel looks at me confused, “Is this what it’s about” He says looking at me and chuckles a little. I shake my head, “Then what?” He asks. stopping me from walking. 
I shake my head. “No that’s not what it’s about” I say letting out a sigh and I push him out of the way, I feel his eyes burning on my back as he watches me walk away. My eyes stay focused on a building that looks oddly familiar. I turn to Sallow who is the only person I can talk to who isn’t worried about why I’m walking away, “I want to go in there” I say to him. 
He half shakes his head when he walks up to me “I don’t know Yana” He says putting his gun behind his back and scratching the rough bristles of hair on his chin. “It could be risky” he says but then he looks in my eyes and sees the desperation in my face. “Alright, lets walk” Sallow says and everyone looks at the building. The sunlight glems off of the broken glass of the grand buildings, it’s almost blinding, almost. I led the way to the building that looked way too familiar like my childhood. The memory was fuzzy, but it was still there. I go into the building and I remember the lobby. Everyone follows me unwillingly. Sallow stays close by, but he doesn’t ask any questions. Axel is the farthest behind a gun point towards every door as he looks around, I walk up a flight of stairs and go through the hallway. I notice a dent in the wall and for a second a smile spreads on my face, there are people here I know it. I open the doors of every room, my heart racing with both fear and anticipation. Sallow looks back at Catayla checking on her, and she nods her head. I open the last door and there in the room is the Christmas tree from my memories, under that are the presents. Sallow look at the room then back at me. “Yana,” He whispers, but I ignore him and walk into the large apartment. I sat down next to the presents and looked at one that was open, it was a small cat carrier, it definitely was too small to hold a real cat. I look over at the otherside of the floor and see a small toy cat, the batteries are dead, but I could tell it could walk. I walk out of the living room and into the kitchen. I look at a chair that was under the table, when I walk out of the kitchen I see two rooms, I go into a pink room and see so many things that look way too familiar. “Yana” Sallow says again, this time a little louder as everyone else waits outside. Sallow looks like he remembers this place to and when we walk into the dinning Sallow looks at a chair that was sitting on the edge of the table. “Yana if you go any further you're going to get hurt” He says, but I just ignore him. Who is he to say I will get hurt he doesn’t know me. I walk into another room, this room is a bright white, with simple curtains. This must be the guest room, but when I look at the nightstand I see a picture of the woman, and even me the woman had dark skin and was heavy set, I was young. Really young maybe less than five years old, this is before the outbreak. Sallow opens the closet but quickly jumps back when he sees something, “Yana don’t open that closet” He says and despite his order I open the closet door, the smell of rot once again burns my nose, only this time it wasn’t animals it was human organs. I collapse to the floor because I know who it is. Sallow closes the closet door and looks down at me, he takes me out of the room and sits me down at the kitchen table. He gives me a glass full of water. Something tells me that our lives are more intertwined than we think. “Yana I told you not to open the door” He says pity fills his voice. He breathes out. “I was Seven years old the first time I came here” He says and my attention was on him. “It was a christmas party, and I was wandering around the Apartment” He says and another memory comes back it was the same one, only a little boy was there it was Sallow. “I was so bored, but then I saw this nice lady” He says and he takes a deep breath. “She led me to you” I look at him already knowing where this is going. “My father worked with your parents, they were the first to get sick and we saw it first hand” He says looking down. “Your parents got it first, then my parents” He says and now all the memories come back, and it explains everything. From the boy in the Helicopter to him knowing me before I knew him. “The lady took us and hid us in a closet, we were safe in there” Then the memory of gunshots came to mind. I ran back into the room and I look under the bed. “Yana” Sallow says his voice sounded almost helpless. I take the shotgun from under the bed and I don’t even know how I know where it was. Sallow sits on the bed next to me when everyone else walks in. 
Sallow stands up to let Axel sit next to me, everyone else walks out of the room and leaves Axel and I alone. I let myself cry, “Yana you don’t need to hide anything from me” He says and I nod my head slowly. 
I look at him and I feel the tears roll down my face. “I just don’t want to hurt you” I say I don’t know why I said that though and neither does Axel, he just looks at me and his grow sad only for a moment. 
He just shakes his head, “Yana look at me.” I look at him, his face is serious now. “You could never hurt me” He says and I look at him and smile, these words make me feel better. We walked back out and everyone was in the kitchen. Each of them had a glass of water, and Keanu was by the sink dumping liquor into the sink letting it drain. I smile at him and he smiles back. 
Catayla looks at all of us and crosses her arms. “Axel, and Keanu are going to look for survivors down stairs, Yana and I will look up stairs” She stops when she sees Sallow. “And Sallow you are going to keep guard here” she says he nods his heads feeling slightly left out, but he understands why. “Can you handle a gun” She says and Sallow nods his head, he must have had another episode. I give Sallow a considerate smile as I walk out of the apartment. I just hope nothing comes into the Apartment and nothing tries to attack us either.