Half-Breed

Chapter 13

Dun dun duuuuuuuuun!  Weren't expecting that were you!  The next chapter is gonna be about Ace's past!  Lots of info that'll come up again in the far off future is in the next chapter.  So you better read the next one!

The picture is what Ace's eyes look like in case anyone was wondering.

Pleaz comment or vote!!! I live off of comments so I am slowly dying from lack of.  If you wish to save my life, please leave a COMMENT or VOTE!

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“You guys mind telling me what’s going on?” I asked after we had settled in Ace’s room.  Hinda was sitting in a rolling chair to my right and I was sitting on Ace’s bed facing Ace who was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.  Ace was wearing a grim and calculating expression like he was trying to solve an extremely difficult math problem with his life on the line.  Hinda, however, made no attempt to hide her panic as she tapped her foot and drummed her fingers against her leg while her eyes darted back and forth refusing to focus on one thing for too long.  I decided that it was best to wait if the news that they were about to deliver made them so nervous.  Finally, Ace cleared his throat, getting my attention and causing Hinda to jump in surprise.

“I think it’s best if we go through with the plan,” Ace said to Hinda.  Hinda nodded stiffly.

“You know what to do.  It’s up to Blade, Jiro, and you to run things for now,” He continued, still talking exclusively to Hinda.  Hinda nodded again and then Ace turned to me.  Immediately the cold-seriousness left his face being replaced by an enormous amount of guilt.  He walked toward me and took my face between his hands gently stroking my cheeks with his thumbs.

“I’m so sorry that I’m doing this to you,” He said sadly and hung his head down.  I gave a sad smile and lifted his head.

“It’s okay, no matter what I will never blame you,” I told him softly, surprised by my own confidence and sincerity in what I was saying.  He frowned at me, the guilt becoming even more accentuated in his face.  He dropped his head.

“You don’t understand!  We have to leave and you’ll never be safe again!” He yelled in frustration.  My brow furrowed in confusion and I turned to Hinda trying to find answers.  She looked sadly at me and then sighed in preparation for what she was about to say.

“Up until now, HACK had no idea that there were those of us that could transform into animals.  This was our one advantage over them.  We still have that advantage as long as they don’t get you.  They don’t have enough details to make a judgment yet so they will probably be looking for you so that they can conduct some tests on you,” I felt Ace shudder after Hinda said tests and looked down at his head that was now resting on my lap.

“Ace, what are we going to do?” I asked unsure.  His head slowly rose and in his eyes there was a fiery determination.

“I’ll protect you,” He stared into my eyes. I felt the blush rise to my face and quickly hid it behind my hair.  Damn my easily bashful personality.

“You two should probably get ready to leave,” I heard Hinda say to the both of us.  I nodded and quickly walked out the room.  I whipped my hair out of my face and found the children standing in front of my bed.  They all turned and looked at me with worried eyes.  I smelled warmly at them, masking the panic I held inside.

“Welcome back,” I frowned pretending to just notice their worried faces.

What’s wrong?” I asked bending down and opening my arms wide inviting them into a hug.  All the children bustled into my embrace and I heard one say,

“I have a funny feeling, like something bad is going to happen.”  The other children chorused in with ‘yeah’ and ‘me too’.  I managed to hush them with promises that nothing was wrong and nothing is going to happen.  When they were finally asleep I made my way back to my bed and found Ace standing there, staring at me sadly.

“Ready?” He asked.  I nodded and felt a stone drop in my stomach.  So this was really happening, nobody’s going to pop out and yell “You got Punk’d!” because life doesn’t seem to work that way for me.  Ace noticed my hesitation and dropped the backpack he was holding to the ground.  He grabbed me into my arms and held me there, crushing me to his body.  My body automatically responded and tears formed in my eyes.  I sobbed into his shirt and didn’t stop even as we left the only home I had ever known.

I quietly munched on a cheeseburger in the park as Ace conned the heck out of an ATM with credit cards he “found.”  But hey, you do what you got to do to survive or in this case, outrun psychotic weirdoes that believe killing Half-Breeds is gonna save us all!  I noticed a mother and daughter staring at me and I nervously pulled my beanie lower over my head.  Ace returned with a triumphant expression.

“We got about 2,000 dollars now,” he beamed.

“Oh yeah!  Here’s a fake ID in case we need it, your alias is Jasmine Smith, okay?” He explained pulling out an ID with a picture of me on it.

“I’m Jacob Smith, your…uh-cousin?  We don’t look alike enough to be siblings so I’m your cousin,” he thought to himself.  I was so confused.  Since when did Ace know how to do all these things?  I mean, stealing credit cards?  Fake identities?

“Ace, how do you know how to do all these things?” I asked silently.  His face fell and became very sad.  He looked up at the gray sky, covered with ominous rain clouds.  He struggled with the words and said,

“There was, once a time when I needed these skills…desperately,” His face was pained with memories and horrors that only he could see.  What happened to Ace?  What does he mean “there was a time”?  As these questions raced through my brain, I realized I knew nothing about Ace’s past or where he came from.  I became curious, was his past so painful?  What kind of events would make a young boy have to learn how to con people and make a new identity?

“Ace?” He snapped out of his trance and looked at me desperately, sadly.  I was shocked to see such an expression from him, but he immediately snapped out of it and cleared his throat.  He turned his opal eyes away from me and looked off into the distance.

“We better find shelter to rest,” He grunted and I nodded in agreement.  We swiftly moved out of the crowds of busy Detroit and into an abandoned subway tunnel.  Ace jumped onto the deserted tracks and then helped me down.  The tunnel was damp and smelled of mold and rot.  The place was dimly lit by half working and blinking lights.  Ace and I walked deeper into the tunnel.  I began hearing voices and the bustle of people.  I could see the flickering light of fire coming from around the next bend and I gripped Ace’s jacket sleeve with both hands.  We turned the corner and found a small community of homeless people, some humans and some half-breeds.  We walked through the people unnoticed but I still kept a tight grip on Ace’s sleeve.  We finally reached the edge of this small community at the back of the tunnel and settled down.  The mood between us was still awkward after what had happened on the surface.  Oh what the heck!  I might as well just come out and ask him!  I cleared my throat to get his attention and then coolly asked,

“So, what was your childhood like?” I could see Ace stiffen out of my periph.  Ace relaxed his shoulders and gave a sigh in defeat.

“Very well then, listen closely.  What I’m about to tell you is something that only a few people know about me.  I was born in a lab for half-breeds…”