“Okay.” She nodded and gave out a slightly hysterical laugh. “I guess that’s the best way.”
“I’ve got to actually go. I need to go save Walter and his family--”
“I’m going with you!” She hefted up another axe.
He smiled. “What about--”
“Sami! Are the monsters gone?” George’s voice came up behind her.
“--George?” Jace finished.
The little boy’s eyes were huge when he caught sight of the Omull and the soldier’s dead bodies, which was--to Jace’s horror--were both slowly dissolving in the Omull’s blood. He stepped in front of the horror, not that he could completely block George’s view, but the little boy focused on him instead of what was behind him.
“It’s okay, George!” Jace wondered if he sounded at all convincing. He doubted it.
Sami quickly dashed down the aisle towards her little brother. When he saw the axe in her hand his eyes grew even wider.
“Daddy says we’re not supposed to touch sharp things!” George cried.
Sami picked him up in her arms and clutched him to her. “Yeah, but today is an exception.”
“You stay here with George, Sami,” Jace told her again. “Like I said, I’m going to go to Walter’s. Maybe I can bring them back here.”
But Sami was shaking her head. “We’re staying with you. That weapon seems to be the only thing that hurts them. So… the safest place is with you, Jace.”
He opened his mouth to object. Was it the safest place? He wasn’t a trained soldier. He was just a clerk and a guy with crippling migraines. Yet here was Sami putting her and George’s lives in his hands. He opened his mouth to tell her that wasn’t a good idea, but then Gehenna was speaking.
She is right, Gehenna said. Nothing but the weapon you have will affect the Khul and they have sent their drones out here to capture as many humans as possible. Sami and George will be captured unless you protect them.
Why did the soldiers leave then? Jace asked, feeling ready to pull his hair out. This was insane. He was not a soldier.
Because they have realized that this is a ruse, she answered.
A ruse? Jace frowned.
What the Khul want is… is back at the base, she said. The soldiers are returning there to defend it.
Jace frowned deeper and was rewarded with a throb of pain so he quickly smoothed out his expression. The base?
She meant Area 67. Where his parents were. His stomach roiled. Those things were going towards his parents! But then he realized that the soldiers with the weapons came from the base. Those soldiers were likely under his mother’s command. So she knew about the aliens and the tech. His parents would be safer than Sami and George.
Mom and Dad know about the Khul and the Precursors? Know about all of this, Gehenna? He asked as a stab of betrayal went through him. He had always known that his parents were involved in things that they couldn’t tell him about. But he had always scoffed at the idea of Area 67 having an alien connection. And I feel a little pissed about it now. Aliens… Knowing that aliens exist… that would have mattered to me!
Yes, if it gives you any solace, keeping this information from you--especially after what happened--was very difficult for them, she said. Nothing I did would cause them to bring you back to the base.
He almost frowned again, but a warning throb kept him from doing so. After what happened? Something happened at the base?
He suddenly remembered his mother’s downcast eyes when she told him how she had been exposed to something at the base that had caused his illnesses. What had she been exposed to?
Again, I know you have questions, Jace, and I have answers, Gehenna reminded him. But we do not have time right now if you wish to save Walter.
I do, he said firmly. I won’t let him die!
What the Khul will do to him is worse than death, Gehenna said.
A chill went through Jace. He didn’t ask her to explain. He didn’t want to know right then, especially since he was going up against these creatures. But he also knew that this meant he couldn’t risk any further delay.
“Okay, let’s go. Stay behind me, Sami. Keep an eye out for more of those things,” Jace told her. He swallowed.
