Inhuman

Chapter 2

I am sitting in the cafeteria watching the lightning in my fingers, feeling the power within my fingers. The lightning dances around my hand almost like art. Arya looks at my hand in complete amazement. I close my hand to get rid of the lightning and turn in my seat toward Sallow. The rime around his eyes are red and it nearly crushes my heart seeing him like this, he was always filled with hope and was happy, but now I realize the person that made him happy was Catayla.They made each other happy. He looks down at his arm which is in a poor fashioned sling. The nurses saw no hope in the cause so they left, which left me to wrap Sallow's arm which was broken in four ways and had to be sewn from the top of his shoulder to the bottom of his wrist. "Hey arm scar buddy" Keanu says to Sallow, a fake type of happiness is in his voice, it's only there to cheer everyone else up. Keanu sits down with two trays of food, one for himself and one for Sallow who has neglected to eat for two days. "Look I get the food isn't that good, but you do need to eat it" Keanu says as he sets the tray down next to Sallow who doesn't look all too happy to see the food. Sallow hasn't spoken to anyone, he just grunts when he sees the food and scratches at the stubbles on his chin. Arya looks at Sallow with pity in her eyes that I have not seen from her. I look at her fingers as the red light silently goes into Sallow's brain telling him to eat which he does. "There you go" Keanu says with a mouthful of chicken, from a chicken leg that looks like it was cooked for hours in a fire pit. Nova is the one cooking the food, we haven't seen her very much but we all know she is here and that is all that matters because we need all the people we can get.
Kya walks up and sits next to Keanu, her eyes looking at Sallow who was not paying attention to anyone. She takes Keanu's hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. She looks over at Arya who waves her hands and breaks the spell that Sallow was under. "Hey Sallow" Arya says in a quiet voice. "When I lost Sage I hated everyone and everything, and like you I wanted to stop eating and eventually stop taking care of myself" Kya takes a deep breath and crosses her arms and holds her shoulders, I can tell this pains Kya to talk about I put my hand on her shoulder and she looks at me before continuing, "But then I thought would Sage want me to do this, would she want me to just die and not fight for what she died for." Kya's voice is shaky and her eyes threaten to tear, but she stays strong. "Catayla is still alive, and something tells me Yana is not going to kill her" Sallow looks at Kya.This is the first time he has acknowledged anyone in a week. "Would Catayla want you to just die, if she was here right now what would she say?" Kya asks a little spark of hope in her voice. She knows that whatever she is saying is giving Sallow hope.
Sallow gives a light laugh and looks back down at his food. "She would say I need to take a shower" He says his voice is a little happier and everyone is a little happier as well. "She would also say I need to shave because my beard is scratchy" He says looking in a window at his reflection which is the first time I think he's actually looked at his face.
Keanu laughs at this and everyone remembers that Sallow didn't just lose someone he loved, Keanu lost a sister. "That is more than true" Keanu says pinching his nose, "I mean even the smell of this food smells better than you do" Sallow arches an eyebrow at him and I know Sallow can smell the stale cigarette smoke on Keanu's clothes and the alcohol in his breath.
The two of them may not have that much incommon, in fact I think loving Catalya is the only thing the two of them have incommon. "Really and what would your older sister say about you destroying your lungs, and liver?" Keanu bows his head at the mention of Sallow calling Catayla older.
Keanu fidgets with the fork on the metal tray, bending the fork with his abilities and reshaping it "She's only older by forty five seconds" everyone laughs at this even Sallow, Keanu looks proud that he made everyone laugh. "Besides once you start drinking and smoking it's difficult to stop" Keanu says and Sallow just looks at him, "I will try and stop" Keanu says while he takes out a cigarette and lights it. "At least it's not anything else," Keanu says, aware of everyone staring at him. Just then the T.V blares music and Nova walks out of the kitchen.
Worry is in Nova's eyes as she looks at everyone, "You are all going to want to watch this" Everyone of us looks up at the T.V. Hope of seeing Catayla alive is in every person's soul. Sallow is holding his hands together like he is praying, praying for anything to say that Catayla is alive.
Just than Yana and the guy that was on the battlefield only this time they are not wearing armour they are wearing royal clothes, Yana is wearing a velvet dress that is a dark purple with gold swirls of embroidery on the skirt, the guy is wearing a matching suit only with a cloak. Both of them are wearing crowns, the gold of the crown stands out against the white castle that even the two of them stand out, but that is what they want to do, the two of them want to stand out to cast a look of great power. To let everyone know that they are not people to be messed with. The hope in everyone's eyes goes away when they don't see Catayla, but that is what Yana wants. She knows showing Catayla will only give hope to the rebellion.Yana's mouth twists into a venomous smile that I know is fake, the prince i'm assuming has the same twisted smile, but I think his smile is genuinely real. "First we would like to start out with some good news" Great and what could that good news be, that the two of you have managed to kill everyone. I think to myself. Saying it out loud would only encourage Sallow to leave even more. "Many of you are wondering why the wedding was so rushed" Yana says looking out into the crowd of people that all have more money than what everyone in the rebellion is worth. I look over at Sallow who is shaking his head at the screen and his eyes look like he is in physical pain, though nothing is hurting him but Yana's words. The King and I are to have an heir" The crowd cheers and Sallow sits down in a seat unable to stand up, why is Sallow so upset about this, it's just a child of the kings and well now the queen.
Sallow shakes his head unable to say anything other then, "I'm going to kill her" He repeats this over and over and I don't hear what else Yana says, I just focus on Sallow, whose eyes are turning black and he puts his hands in tight fist, trying to control his abilities. Arya looks at Sallow whose eyes are now completely black and he looks like he will kill me and anyone who gets in his way. Arya pushes me out the way and stands by Sallow.
I try to get Arya away from him but she holds me down with her powers and holds Sallow down as well "I will kill her and I will make sure everyone sees" Sallow says his voice is full of vengeance though I don't know why, I get that Catayla is captured by why does this news anger him. Unless, no that can't be it. I look at everyone and they all know something I don't, they all have been hiding something from me. That secret that Yana mentioned, when Catayla and Sallow asked me about DNA, when Catayla hesitated to tell me something before we went to battle. When Sallow was talking about names. I thought every single one of those things had a different meaning but what if they only have one meaning. What if that one meaning is something that is making Sallow sad, not Catayla being gone but missing out on important moments in a child's life. Yana isn't having a baby, Catayla is and that is why Sallow is mad because that is Sallow's baby too. I look over at Sallow who is calmed down and his eyes are back to normal. "So You figured it out" Sallow says with a sad smile, "It took you long enough, everyone else figured out about a month ago" Sallow says and Arya sits next to him rubbing his back, "It's okay though Catayla didn't want to tell anyone, including me, and now I can see why" He says softly, "That wasn't the only secret she was hiding you know" Sallow say and the minute he says that I know he wishes he hadn't. "She knows way more then we do" Sallow says slowly, "She can see what the future looks like, She only changed the future twice" Sallow says and he doesn't have to say when I already know, when she saved Sallow from Oxitec and the whole battle itself to save Keanu, "She will only change to future to save people otherwise it's dangerous and it has consequences. I guess that is one of them?" Sallow says waving his hand at the T.V. Keanu laughs at something, it's a happy laugh. We all look at him, Sallow arches his eyebrow.
Keanu has a huge grin on his face, "You know they made another announcement if you want to hear it" Keanu says and Sallow just nods his head, his eyes once again look hopeless. "You know how I was joking around one time that if I have a Nephew his middle name should be my name well" Sallow looks at the T.V once again a little smile on his face, but it goes away. "We could get the two of them out, you know," Keanu says to us. His voice is full of hope and his eyes sparkle. He loves his sister more than anything, maybe even more than food. "After they are born of course".
Sallow looks up at Keanu a little worry in his eyes, "They?" Sallow asks standing up Keanu nods his head, "Twins?" Sallow says his voice a little more excited Arya laughs a little and I smile at the hope in Sallow's eyes "Both boys?" Sallow asks and Keanu shakes his head at this, and Sallow runs his shaky hands through his hair and laughs a little "A boy and girl?" Keanu nods his head and Sallow runs up to Keanu giving him a hug, we all laugh at the two of them and then quickly stop hugging. "It will still be next to impossible to get them out of the castle" Sallow says looking sad again.
Keanu just looks at him, "On the contrary my friend" Keanu says in a goofy voice that even though we are all adults makes us laugh. "Given that we only have what four months to plan this rescue we need to start planing" Keanu says and we all gather around the table Arya takes the tray of food off the table and Keanu takes a cracker from the tray before the trays are gone, Nova comes back with a map in her hand and lays the map down on the table. "Why is this important?" Keanu asks Nova in an annoyed voice.
Nova rolls her eyes at Keanu, "Yana has made an alliance with Barca" Nova says pointing to an island that is also a small country there are other countries around that one that are even smaller. "And the neighboring countries have been fighting with Barca for centuries" She points to the two islands around Barca, called Dearg, and Wyrdd. "There is just one problem, Dearg and Wyrdd have also been fighting together, not for as long but they have". Everyone looks at Nova confused, "Think of it as Barca is the mother, and Dearg and Wyrdd are siblings" Nova says smartly.
Keanu looks at Nova, "I hope your Geography is better than how you cook" Nova who is standing next to him pinches his arm. "Ouch" Keanu says, pulling his arm away and rubbing it gingerly. Sallow and I both laugh knowing that Nova had to deal with three brothers so Keanu picked the wrong person to mess with. Mateo walks over to us and looks at the map, he isn't wearing his eyeliner that he usually wears. Instead he is not wearing anything around his eyes, just sadness. "Mateo we are making a plan, a poorly drawn one, but a plan" Nova just shakes her head.
Mateo looks at the two of them and shakes his head as well. "It is not a poorly drawn plan it is perfect" Nova says, "We will make a Alliance with Dearg And Wyrdd" Nova says saying the names a lot better than I did in my head and it make me feel stupid. "If we make an alliance with them then Oxitec will stand zero chance against us." Keanu just shakes his head.
He pursed his lips and narrows his eyebrows. "That will be great, hey guys so I know that the two of you hate each other but will you maybe band together to help a country that is none of your concern" Keanu says to Nova and she crosses her arms and looks at him with anger in his eyes. "This isn't some fairytale Nova, this is war," Keanu says to her. "Especially since only a few years ago Dearg tried invading Usonia, which is here Nova" Keanu says anger in his voice.
Sallow looks at the map again, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" Sallow says shrugging and Keanu looks at him, "We have the jets to get there, which Mateo gave to us during the battle" Sallow says, "It's just a thought" It's a good thought, Nova and Sallow are both right.
Keanu shakes his head, "When has that ever actually worked, the enemy of my enemy is my friend" Keanu scoffs at this.
Sallow looks at everyone, he can tell they were starting to side with Keanu, "The second world war someone named Winston Churchill said those same words and eventually the Russians formed an alliance with the allies and left the axis powers,because Russia and Allies had the same common enemy and that was Germany" Sallow says everyone of us looks at him and he just shrugged his shoulders. "I was bored so I read some books, only most of them are about war"
Keanu looks at the map, "I don't see those places on the map" eanu says speculating that Sallow just made that up.
Just then Sallow points to the map, at three different places. "Barca is or was England, Nutome used to be Russia, and Eivind was Germany" Keanu looks at the map, "We could also form an alliance with Stivale, if we really wanted to" Sallow Says and now everyone was listening to him, "Barca took everything from Stivale, they cut off their trading, and forcing them to grow their own food, Barca also had a cure for the virus, but refused to give it to the Stivaleians, or anyone for that matter" Sallow says the whole room goes silent. "Fear does a strange thing to people, it twists them and takes away their hope and leaves them searching like mosquitoes searching for blood, taking away other people's hope to get their own" Everyone looks at Sallow shocked that he would say something like that as true as it is, the words feel strange coming from Sallow. Keanu looks out at, the dark thinking something will come from it, fear is in his eyes. I see fear in Sallow's eyes scared that our hideout will catch fire, Nova looks at the ground scared that spiders will crawl around on the floor. Mateo and I are the only ones that are not afraid because we still have hope, the others are still here but they don't have hope. They have all been consumed by fear. By continuing threats hanging over their heads, Arya sits in a chair away from everyone fear in her eyes. It pains my heart that even Arya has lost hope.
I look at the map,"Lets go to Dearg first, there are other ways to make allies then asking" everyone looks at me, snapping out of whatever daze they were in,"They already hate each other, what will a little lie do" I tell them what the lie will be and everyone thinks for a second."So will it work" I say crossing my arms over my chest and biting my nails, i'm nervous to what they will say.
Sallow thinks for a moment longer before nodding his head "It is risky lying to a country with more power then a few people, but it will work" Keanu laughs at this because he knows it's a bad idea, but it's the only one we have. "We will leave tomorrow" Sallow says Determination in his voice and in his eyes. "But we need someone to stay here in case Yana does anything else". Sallow says thinking for a second, he looks around the room none of us look like we want to stay here alone.
Kya steps forward, her green eyes darting around the place as if she is seeing ghosts, "I'll stay, it's not like you need me for the plan anyway" Kya says, Sallow nods his head at her like she is being the bravest one here. Which she probably is, these walls hold the memories of people that have died at the hands of Yana, no I need to stop calling her Yana. Itzayana has betrayed all of us, she has way too much blood on her hands to be called anything other than the name her parents gave her. Maybe if she was actually fighting for Oxitec with the rest of her soldiers I would have a little respect for her, but she is just hiding in her castle away from battle. Only when she knows she is winning she goes out of her castle to see the people that are still alive before pressing a gun to each of their heads and killing them one at a time. Itzayana has no mercy and it would be treason to think otherwise, nevermind anyone who would think that is stupid.
The other rebeal group has fallen, they were too weak and scared to ever fight in the first place. They are cowards, everyone one of them. They took one look at her castle and surrendered. The castle is no longer white but a cold metal. The points at the top look like knives that make my stomach twist and send shivers up my spin. There at the top lay the heads of the rebellion that surrendered to her unmerciful will. Their heads rest there on metal poles "Let this be an example to anyone who decides to commit treason on the Queen's land" She said pointing up at the heads fear still in their eyes from the moment they were killed. That broadcast was something that brought fear into every citizen of Oxitec, scared to ever even speak one word ill of Itzayana and that is just how she likes it.