The Misbegotten

It came from her mouth as a band – a band of pure energy. It was the exact width of the diameter of her mouth. And, it gave off an audible thrum as it flashed passed me and burst into the troopers now filling up the stairs.

“God help us,” mumbled Flavia, crushing her body to mine, hanging onto me for dear life.

Wherever the beam touched, whatever it touched froze. For a split second, nothing, then what it touched seemed to swell at an ever increasing rate. Seams, then cracks, then rents of light began to alter it, distort it, turning it almost ghost-like, and finally… it exploded.

The balustrade, some of the floor, most of the stairs, the wall and every single trooper there detonated.

It came at us with such force, the blast tossed Flavia and I half way down the hall. We landed next to the bathroom door, some thirty feet from where had been moments earlier.

I never knew what became of those first few bullets they had shot at Katie. Maybe they had melted in mid-flight.

Flavia came down hard on me, expelling the air in my body violently. I saw stars for a three heartbeats. She was dead weight upon me. I knew the concussion had knocked her out cold.

I twisted and writhed upon the floor, trying to get my step-sister off me as fast as possible without hurting her.

Katie strode up to us and pulled Flavia up, holding her under both armpits. Other than appearing pissed off, she looked no different. She seemed the same as she had when she had put her head down on one of pillows to go to sleep a few hours earlier.

“There are still more of those fucking bastards out there. We have to leave,” she said, almost cruel. My cousin was furious.

I million thoughts were speeding through my mind. I wanted to ask her how she had done what she had done, but I didn’t want to make her any madder. So, I pushed them aside. I took Flavia from her and found with my newfound density came a degree of added strength. It was easy to swing her around. I cradled her to my chest, backpack and all. She had lost her handgun.

I followed Katie down the hall until it widened, three doors facing us. From right to left was the door to my parents’ living area, the door to the Multimedia/Theater room and the door to the Rumpus room. This was where Martín and Lucia played. It was a room constructed especially for them. It was full with safe toys and games, and ultra- thick carpeting to help cushion falls and such.

The thought they’d never play in their Rumpus room again, staggered me so unbearably, I just about dropped Flavia. I couldn’t help the tears. They came of their own accord. I was helpless against them. They fell as I walked on with my step-sister in my arms.

Katie didn’t stop though. She turned left with the hall and ran toward the Guest bedroom, the room that had once been mine.

I followed.

The door was open.

Johan and Ramona were peering out, both of their faces anxious, frightened. Both shuddered with relief at the sight of us. They waved us to hurry and we picked up the pace.

“What the fuck was that explosion?” demanded Ramona, then her eyes met Katie’s. My girlfriend stepped back like Katie prodded her with a Taser. “Holy shit!” was all she said after.

“What happened?” asked my brother, shaken, ashen even in the dim light. His face was dirty from snot and bloated from crying.

“I’ll tell you later,” I said, gruff, pushing my way into the room.

“Is she okay, Eff?” he queried regarding Flavia.

I nodded and glanced around.

The others bunched at the far corner of the room their heads swinging back and forth as they moved from window to window. They were an unorganized chorus of movement. Their eyes seemed glued to the scene outside.

Tirza saw me first. Since she was the smallest of us, she’d hung back, well aware she wasn’t about to get a good look outside. She rushed toward me and my unconscious step-sister. “Is she hurt?” The dismay in her voice was thick enough to eat.

“The explosion knocked her out,” I explained. Then I pointed in the direction of the outside with my chin. “Are we trapped?”

“I don’t think so,” she replied, keeping her voice down.

“You sure?” I blurted, surprised to hear such news.

She dipped her head up and down. “Yeah, whatever that explosion was, right after it happened, all the rest of the guys standing around ran inside the house.”

“Can you watch her?” I asked her, indicating Flavia.

“Sure,” she said and waved me to the bed.

I was quick to place Flavia at the foot of it and made my way through the throng by the windows. I came next to Sandy. “Is the way clear?” I asked.

“I think so,” she answered, uncaring if I’d been talking to her or not.

“Any helicopters?”

She shook her head “no”.

I bit my lip thinking. We were running out of time. We had to get out of the house, otherwise we’d be sitting ducks. The NIA troopers weren’t going to hold back too long, regardless of what Katie had done. They’d marshal their forces, regroup, re-strategize and come flying in after us. They’d be hell-bent on killing us all, especially after we’d bloodied them a bit. Who knew what had kept them this long. Maybe they were waiting for air-cover to arrive or maybe Katie had demolished the stairs to shit. Who knew? We didn’t have the time to stand around and figure it out.

“We’re going out, down the escape ladder like we planned. And, we’re going now.” I had made my decision. I was all about action. I didn’t even care how I’d manage to get Flavia down the emergency fire escape. I would manage somehow.

With Johan’s help, I opened the window with the reinforce sill pretty quick. We unlatched the fireproof, metal box containing the ladder and pulled it forth, tossing it outside. It unrolled all the way to the ground. To my relief, it didn’t bang against the side of the house.

I turned to gather Flavia and found her sitting up on the bed whispering to Tirza, whimpering.

“Can you climb down the ladder?” I asked her as I approached.

“Y-yes, I think so.” Her voice cracked.

“Okay, good, come on,” I said and motioned for her to take my hand. “I’ll go first, you come right after.”

She mouthed “ok” and took my hand.

I didn’t say anything to anyone. I climbed out the window and as quick as I could and still be methodic. I made my way down a few rungs and stopped waiting for Flavia. She got onto the metal and nylon ladder, a bit wobbly at first. But, within a few moments, she began to gain the usual confidence she had possessed during one of our many practice runs. My parents had made us use the ladder at least once a month. They had wanted to make sure we all knew how to operate it should a fire break out in the house.

This night, we all made it to the ground without mishap. We gathered between the fence facing the street and a large storage shed my dad had installed against the side of the house. I punched the combination into the keypad lock latched to the wooden gate. It opened with a low-pitched click, making us all cringe.

Nothing happened, so I disengaged the lock and opened the gate. I stuck my head through it and saw…

…No one.

Tirza had been correct. The street was deserted.

As swift as we were able, we made our way through the portal and were tip-toeing across the lawn. We were regrouping under the only tree on that side of the property when I heard the first helicopter. It sounded like whoever was flying the fucken thing was in a mad rush to get to the house. Its engines were screaming in protest.

I motioned for them to follow me. I stepped from the cover of the tree, into the open just as an NIA soldier came around the garage.

He saw me, stopped dead in his tracks, his mouth open with shock. “Hey!” he yelled, raised his machine gun and fired.

I felt my heart sink to my shoes when the bullets took Tirza square in the face. The impact threw her to the ground.

Oh god, not Teezee, not Teezee! I screamed inside as the other Estefan burst forth from his prison. He consumed me in an instant. My vision turned red and I made to charge to trooper.

“Nooooow yooouuuu diiiieeee!” bellowed Katie and the stuff made of stars burst forth from her mouth.

It took the trooper in the chest.

I stopped.

He stood no chance, erupting with a sickening squish against the garage doors. The whole area where he’d been standing steamed, the ground scorched.

“Estefan let’s go,” said I a small voice at my side.

It was Tirza, tugging at my shirt, unscathed.

I experienced a second of profound astonishment before I understood. She’s like you, you buffoon. Bullets only tickle her.

Everyone looked stupefied and, for a while, we didn’t move until sounds coming from inside the house increased.

They had heard us. They were coming.

We bolted for the sidewalk, shooting around the fence marking the boundary of my parents’ property.

Bullets smacked into the heavy, wooden structure, showering us with splinters.

Someone screamed, but I didn’t know who.

Sandy’s car was a block and a half down the street. She had faced it away from my house, so she'd parked it on the other side of the road. We angled for it.

I glanced back and saw Jolene clutching at her shoulder, blood running between her fingers.

“Johan!” I hollered. It was a beseeching bellow.

He looked at me, his girlfriend firmly in his grasp. “She’s ok, took a splinter of wood to the arm! Run!” He waved for me to continue.

Ahead of me, I saw Katie reach the opposing sidewalk. With no warning, she spun around, facing me. She was peering beyond us though.

I could hear at least three sets of booted feet chasing us.

Then, “Tiiimmmme toooo diiiieeee!” The Stuff of the Stars shot from her mouth again, in four super-fast pulses.

From behind, I heard, then felt four more explosions, but I kept running.

The others never turned either. They ran passed her as she kept her vigil upon our “six”.

“Katie, come on!” I called after my cousin, but she was already striding after me.

Less than twenty seconds later, we were all at the car.

Sandy was a savage, rummaging through her ring of keys when something straight out of hell swooped down from the sky.

It was so close to the ground, I swore it was missing the telephone poles by mere inches.

Sandy found the correct key and disengaged the alarm and unlocked the doors at the same time.

My companions began to hurtle themselves into the car, but not me.

I was waiting for Katie.

She was still about four car lengths down the road.

From a block away, the airborne beast began to shoot. It was a modified Apache Longbow. Its M230 chain gun was hurtling 30mm rounds at the rate of six hundred twenty-five rounds per minute right for us.

“Hurry up!” yelled Johan, still in the car. His upper body was sticking out of the window.

The pilot saw Katie, because the heavy gun swiveled in her direction.

That’s thing with the Apache targeting systems, they point wherever the pilots’ head points. So when I saw the gun turn, I knew he had spotted her beforehand.

Then came thousands of rounds, each one of them aimed at Katie.

I watched in horror as the tracers and live rounds alike zigzagged across the street, tearing up huge portions of the pavement. They cut through cars and trees and bushes – everything. They could’ve appeared made out of cheese for all I knew.

The weirdest thing happened next.

The gun began to shoot, erratic, downright haphazard, as if it had malfunctioned. The helicopter itself began to slow, then list to one side. It planed crazy-like to the right. Its chain gun was still firing. Only now it was tearing up the houses on the other side of the street, cutting the telephone poles in half, laying waste to everything.

Screams began to fill my ears. It was the screams of the innocent.

I started when I felt Leda come up to my side. I stared at her, dumbfounded, my expression locked in place.

She never glanced at me. She was staring at the raptor in the sky. Her eyes were twin shards of ice, ancient and deep blue. I could tell, because they burned with just enough light, I could discern color. Her hair was wafting in the wind, though I was certain there was no breeze, not even the slightest movement of the air.

“Diiiieeee!” shrieked Katie as a beam of star-light shot from her mouth.

It was the deadliest close-quarter, aerial combat platforms menacing the battlefields of the modern world. Somehow that did not matter. The thick armored Apache Longbow vanished into a titanic conflagration.

My ears popped. It blinded me.

Both Leda and I ducked as the bits and pieces of fuselage, body parts and shrapnel rained down. The debris showered us and the neighborhood in a half a mile radius.

The great bulk of the helicopter’s remaining fuselage smashed into the houses on our other side of the street. It set off secondary and tertiary explosions that lit up the night sky, casting long shadows in all directions.

My entire neighborhood was on fire now. I could hear the people I’d lived beside for so many years screaming and wailing for help.

More families destroyed. More lives ruined.

I had to block it out or I’d go insane. I had to force myself to not think about broken bones, gory lacerations and burning flesh. I had to ignore the smell, not hear the agonizing shrieks, the shredding of vocal cords, the grotesque pop and sizzle of charring, human meat. It was all around me. It assaulted all my senses. I had to get away, but there was one thing I needed to have before I could go.

I needed her.

“Katie” I called for my cousin, but she wasn’t hearing me.

She marched from the sidewalk and into the torn up street. Her hands she’d balled into fists, muttering, furious to the point of recklessness.

What I saw beyond her made me break into a sprint.

The remaining contingent of troopers we’d left back at my house had saddled up. They were racing down the road in their black vehicles. The lead was an armored personnel carrier. This was the one with the .50 cal. heavy machine gun. The gunner already had my cousin in his sights.

She was faster. She didn’t have to try and aim while jostling this way and that in a bouncing vehicle. She didn’t have to cock her gun.

She yelled, “Diiiieeee!”

He did. The entire vehicle vaporized.

When one behind it swerved and came into view, she took that one out as well.

When the following one did the same, she dealt with them.

Two more drove onto the front lawns of people’s homes, but it mattered little.

Katie blasted them with a scream of “Diiiieeee!” for the first one, and a “Nooooow!” for the second.

Three more remained, but they had stopped, engines idling. It was easy to see they were trying to make up their minds if they should or shouldn’t take on the petite, copper haired Muto. She appeared harmless enough standing in the middle of the street, wearing only her Pj’s and sneakers.

Yet, her eyes and mouth dripped with liquid fire. She looked like a demon, straight from the deepest pit of hell.

Four seconds later, their tires squealed as they jammed their vehicles in reverse. They made amazing backwards three-point turns and drove away.

I came up to my beautiful cousin and hugged her from behind.

She knew it was me by the hardness of my skin, and leaned into me. “You scare me sometimes,” I told her, so relieved she was still alive.

Mama, Lucia, Martín, and my loveable step-dad weren’t…

“You scare me too.”

I frowned.

“I saw you take off a grown man’s head with a single swipe of your hand and… he had a helmet on.”

“I did that?”

“Yeah,” she replied.

“Fuck me.”

She reached around and cupped the side of my face. “I’m a little tired right now, but after some sleep, I’ll put a smile on those lips.”

I smiled, grateful for her ability to make me feel good, even in the worst times. We held hands as we ran back to Sandy’s car.

Leda beckoned for us to hurry.

By the time Katie and I stuffed ourselves into the front seat, the tears had returned.

I could hear Flavia and Johan weeping as well. Now that things were calming down, the reality of what had just happened began to sink in.

Katie turned in my lap and held onto me as Sandy drove. All I could do was cry like a baby in those wonderful arms of hers.

Then I felt Ramona’s hand, then Leda’s and finally Tirza’s tiny palm – they were all upon my shoulders. Sandy kept both hands of the wheel and both eyes nailed to the road before her.

We were on the run now.

We were outlaw Muto’s trying to outlive the efforts of an international government agency that wanted us all dead, no matter the cost.

It was the end of many things for us. But, it was the beginning of many things as well. When the worst of my weeping passed, I wiped my nose with the back of my hand. I looked deep into my beloved cousin’s eyes.

“I’m going to kill them all,” I said with as much conviction I could apply to a beaten and bruised voice box. The pampered, bored, sex-fiend I was, died in the wee hours of that morning. In truth, I don’t think I’ve ever been the same since.

Katie Chaz held my head in her hands. “And I’m going to help you.” Then she kissed me for so long, I lost track of time. I could think of one thing – how much I loved her. I was crying again, quieter, a deeper, more personal sort of weeping. It was for mama – for my step-dad – for Martín – for Lucia.

In the driver’s seat next to us, after a few minutes, I heard from Sandy. “I will help you too, Effy.”

Then, “I always help those I love,” from Leda.

“You and me, Babes, I will always be by your side.” Ramona.

Finally, Tirza, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil… For thou art with me…,” said this. I knew how blasphemous her statement was, especially for her. She’d supplanted God for me, and she’d meant it. The others didn’t understand the double meaning. I guess you have to go to church for a spell to get the gist of how hard it was for her to say.

Our fledgling group – Katie, Ramona, Tirza, Leda, Sandy with Johan, Flavia, Jolene, Jacob and my Uncles and me - had all just declared war on the NIA.

It would prove to be a bloody one.

[He terminates the Delving program.]