Cassandra saw the Kai’den walk out of the trees, but Barry was not with her. She waited, expecting to see the big man come stepping into the road. Cass intercepted the Kai’den and asked where Barry was.

  “He is not here.”

  “I see that, Druz, but where is he?” Cass wasn’t in the mood for vague Kai’den answers.

  “He is out there. He has proved a worthy human, but now he must prove his worth as a Hol’den.” Druz told Cass.

  “What does that mean?” Druz did not answer, causing Cass to repeat herself.

  “Am I to be questioned, child?” Druz asked, her tone flat.

  “Forgive me, Druz’ka Lanth. This is all overwhelming. I forget my place.” Cass lowered her head and gave a slight bow.

  “It is a lot, even for me. Think nothing of it. Now, gather the other three. The situation is far more dire than I expected, and I will be breaking many customs tonight.”

  Cass was intrigued by the Kai’den’s words, but she took her order and rushed to gather the other three survivors. They followed her to where Druz waited.

  “What’s up?” Jaxon asked the Kai’den.

  “Show Druz’ka Lanth respect!” Cass chided.

  “Why?”Jaxon questioned.

  “Because, she is—”

  “It’s okay, Cassandra. Ignorance is not insolence. I do not believe this one is capable of understanding his rudeness, Druz explained.

  “Who the hell are you calling ignorant? You don’t know anything about me!” Jaxon barked at the tall woman.

  “I detect an underactive amygdala, as well as disruptions in your prefrontal cortex. These are clear indicators of an antisocial personality.” Druz informed Jaxon.

  “How would you be able to know that?” Jaxon asked.

  “I am wrong? I doubt you’ve lived to be your age without somebody noticing your personality irregularities.”

  “Nope. I’ve been hearing about it since I was seven,” Jaxon admitted. “But, that doesn’t make me ignorant. In fact, the doctors that diagnosed me said I was highly intelligent.”

  “I didn't mean to imply you lacked intelligence. I meant you were unaware of who I am.”

  “Oh…okay, then.” Jaxon’s defensiveness disappeared.

  “Everybody, please be silent. Listen to what I tell you, because time is of the essence.” Druz looked into each of their faces, before speaking further. “You are the only survivors to reach me. I did not expect so few. This leads me to believe that the Drol’ka Choth’den are more effective than I believed possible. They are preventing my Hol’den from bringing me survivors. We must adapt to this new situation.”

  “Nobody else has made it? For real?” Doyle asked.

  “Just you three…out of hundreds of thousands. Statistically, most of the population died from the biochemical agents, but I would never have estimated so few survivors would make it to me. Because of this, I have decided to switch from a defensive measure, to an offensive tactic.” Druz walked over to Joel and stood silently. After a moment, he nodded his head and closed his eyes. Druz placed her hands on his shoulders and he began to tremble. The tremble transformed into a series of spasms and a long droning moan emanated from his throat. After a few minutes, Druz lifted her hands away and Joel collapsed into her. She bent down and caught him under his arms. After slowly lowering him to the ground, she stepped toward Doyle.

  “No way! Get back!” Doyle pleaded.

  “Do not be fooled by the spectacle. You will feel no discomfort. The boy is young, inexperienced, and will take time to understand the words he now hears. I have augmented him with the increased healing, and enhanced strength, stamina, and speed. He will remain here, with me, and be a watchman and a messenger. He still needs time to mature physically, so he will have to wait for the gift of agelessness…unlike you two.”

  “Agelessness?” Doyle questioned.

  “Yes. You will not age beyond your current age. I’m giving both of you the same augments I just gave your young friend, and then some. Mankind is on the verge of extinction. Those that are left will not survive without your help. Please, trust me.” The Kai’den’s words weren’t a plea, they are a simple matter of fact.

  “Okay. Go ahead.” Doyle squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw.

  “Your brainstem and spinal cord are robust and have an incredibly rapid conduction rate. Your cerebellum and motor cortex…your nervous system, overall, is the same way. You must have excelled at sports or martial arts.” Druz told Doyle.

  “Nope. I mean, I never played sports or anything.” Doyle admitted, still squeezing his eyes shut.

  “No? Well, even the Kai’den have access to ESPN. It is no wonder Doyle Falcone has excelled as a NASCAR driver. You make lightning fast decisions and have split second muscle reactions. It’s all do that wondrous nervous system of yours. It is precisely why you will be working with Cassandra. The two of you will be running recon.” Druz informed him. “Cassandra will need to strip you of your timidity. I am hoping that the augments will help to embolden you. There is no room for inaction when facing the drol’ka.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  She took a hold of Doyle and began making the necessary biological, chemical, and genetic alterations. Once she finished, she left Doyle wobbling on his feat and faced Jaxon.

  “You are impulsive, irrational, and untethered by the trappings of sympathy. You will be my arrow. I will aim you and you will strike where you’re pointed. The key to disrupting the drol’ka is to take out the leaders. To be clear, you are an assassin. Assassins do not stop to help. They do not distract themselves with the chaos around them. They go and they do.”

  Jaxon smiled and rubbed his hands together, gleefully.

  “But I do not trust you. So you must not delay in your tasks. Your augments will come with a fail-safe. There will be a time limit for each target I give you. This time frame includes completing the task, and returning to me. I caution you to work with all haste, because failure will result in your immediate demise.”

  Jaxon’s smile evaporated and his mouth hung agape.

  “I have three commandments you must obey. When I assign you a task, it becomes your main priority. You must never harm a human or Hol’den, unless I direct you to. You operate outside the hierarchy of the Hol’den. This means that you never divulge the details of your operations to anybody. Not even if it is another Kai’den. You work for me. You answer to me.”

  Druz stepped closer to Jaxon.

  “Do you accept these terms?” She asked.

  Jaxon looked blankly into her eyes. He held her gaze for a long moment, before his devious smile returned.

  “Sign me up!”

  —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  It had been while since Druz'ka Lanth left, but Barry still struggled to keep his eyes in focus. His brain was unable to calibrate the appropriate degree of ocular focus. It was unaccustomed to the muted hues of his newly acquired night vision. Barry’s eyes were augmented by drastically increasing the number of rods within his retina. This allowed his eyes to detect more light. He also had a new layer behind the retina; the tapetum lucidum. This new layer reflected light back through the retina to increase the amount of light absorbed. Unlike a nocturnal animal, Barry would still need to be able to have that functioned in the presence of bright lights.

  Druz’ka Lanth solved this problem by creating two tiny sacks on the sides of his eyeballs. These sacks were connect by a thin, clear, membrane that covered the back of the eye. When Barry needed to see in low light, these sacks would squeeze out a shiny fluid that filled the connecting membrane and provided the necessary reflective surface.

  To fix the issue of having so many light detecting rods when there is a bright source of light, the added rods did not connect directly to the central nervous system. Instead, those rods sent signals to the peripheral nervous system, before routing back to the visual cortex. This allowed Barry to voluntarily control whether the signals from those rods continued to the occipital lobe, or not. Unfortunately for Barry, he didn’t know how any of this new ability worked. His vision was shifting between night vision and darkness.

  He could fill the little contraction of the sacks as they squeezed out the reflective fluid, but he couldn’t figure out how to keep them contracted. Just when he thought he had it, his vision would dim and his eyes would lose focus. This caused him to trip and stumble as he navigated the dark forest.

  What good is being so fast if I have to walk so carefully to keep from falling over everything!

  He decided to sit against an oak tree and practice controlling the night vision. Focusing on a single boulder, he spent hours focusing on keeping his night vision steady. By the time the horizon began to lighten, he was able to activate the ability at will.

  He watched the tree-tops as the sun began to rise. The closer it got, the more his pupils constricted. Just before the sun came up, he was having to squint to keep from involuntarily closing his eyes against the brightness. The sun’s first rays broke over and he was assaulted by an intense pressure as his pupils closed to pinpoints and his eyes clamped shut. He rubbed away the phantom lights that stained his vision. After a few blinks, he was able to see normally.

  This is bullshit. I have to learn how to see in the day time, too? Fucking Kai’den…couldn’t stick around to explain this shit?

  —----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Bubba was aroused by a light tapping on the rear window. He sprang to a sitting position and pointed the shotgun at the window. There was a very obvious figure standing on the other side of the door. Whoever it was, they were very tall.

  “What’cha want?” he asked the unknown figure.

  The figure leaned down and wiped a massive hand across the dirty window. The dirt fell away and revealed an ebony face.

  “Just a ride. I have a feeling we’re heading in the same direction.” the figure answered.

  “Son’ova bitch!” Bubba exclaimed, as he scooted toward the door and popped the hatch.

  The figure stepped away from the hatch, so it could open. Bubba rolled out and quickly slammed the hatch closed.

  “Cass done had me thinkin’ you was a goner. What’n the hell are you doing out here?” Bubba asked.

  “We can catch up in the car.” Jamal told him. “I’m glad I found you, but now I’m eager to see if the others made it to safety.”

  “Goodness, son. You look like you done been chewed up, and spit out.” Bubba pursed his lips and pushed out a whistle that mimicked a sad trombone sound. “Come on. Let’s get. I wanna hear all about what done that to you.”

  Bubba walked to the driver’s door and slowly climbed into the seat. His more grievous wounds had mended, but his body was still racked with tenderness. The passenger door opened and Jamal reached down and slid the seat all the way back.

  “I’m not sure that seat will back far’nuff. You might’n find the back is more spacious.”

  Jamal peered into the rear of the Pathfinder and noticed the middle seats were folded flat.

  “I think you are correct.” Jamal agreed, before he pushed the door closed and walked to the back of the vehicle.

  Bubba looked into the rearview mirror and watched the too-tall Pen’kai crawl through rear hatch. Jamal pulled his legs inside and yanked the hatch down, before crawling toward the front of the car. He reached between the door and the passenger seat and flipped the lever that allows the seat-back to tilt forward. After he achieved the optimal angle, Jamal flipped over and put his back against the seat.

  “This is about as good as it’s going to get.” Jamal decided.

  Bubba twisted the key and put the shifter in drive.

  “Let’s hear it, ol’ son.”

  “Old son? Well, it’s half accurate.” Jamal joked.

  “Did you beat him? The eater, that is. Cass said he was a quarter blood, at least.”

  “Oh, Bray…it was a draw…at best. Would it hurt your feelings if I just sat in silent contemplation? I promise to recount the entire ordeal, in full detail, when we get everybody back together.” Jamal replied.

  “Sure thang. You are the boss, after all.”