Cynetic Wolf
TOUCH DOWN

We picked off two more soldiers crossing the shadowy stadium but didn’t hear anything, eerie silence resuming. I was worried. Where were they?

We headed toward the other end and were about to turn back when there was another yell, a female voice this time. My heart stopped. Zedda?

I ran harder, safety and stealth the furthest thing from my mind as Henk struggled to keep up. Not my problem. Zedda needed me! There was a volley of blaster fire at midfield.

Someone got hit, falling hard to the ground. My eyes sharpened. It was Calter, he stood over two bodies.

“Calter, you bastard!” I sprang, tackling him. As I flew, time slowed. He turned, raised his hand and fired. I recognized Keff—the lionish I’d met at the farmhouse—a gaping hole in his chest. Next to him, Drue, half his face missing.

Calter fired twice more as we collided, hitting my left foot. My nerves exploded in agony and I disabled them as we thudded to the icy turf. Henk collapsed.

Fury’s elbow clobbered my face as we rolled, stunning me—the force inconceivable for a human. I slammed my fist into his gut, coming face to face with a third body. It was Zedda, a bloody chasm in her belly where our child had been.

NO… “Bastard!” Pure agony impaled me, a howling scream escaping my lips as my claws tore at his throat. “Lars, Rogers, Ashlo, Zedda, my whole family… you killed all of them!”

He fought back, throwing punches and kicks, powerful, yet helpless as I pounded him, claws piercing his light body armor. He lifted his hand to fire but I sliced it off. Roaring, he kneed me in the stomach and shoved me away. “Dammit, boy. I’d never hurt Preta.”

What? “You knew her?” I slashed for his throat as he tripped over Zedda’s lifeless body. Screw the plan, screw the future. Screw everything.

He fired as my claws connected, shredding his worthless...wait. What? My fingers slipped, the tips gone, incinerated. I struggled, squeezing his bloody throat with my nubs. My left hand battled his right. I had to kill him.

“Of course I knew her. How do you think you—”

As I choked the life out of him, he tried to roll. I held firm, locking my legs like Lars had shown me. It didn’t work either. The leverage was off, my foot a ruined stump.

His injured arm smashed me and he managed to free his throat enough to croak, “Raek, you’re my son.”

My heart stopped and grip slackened. “What’d you say?” I spat, still crushing his throat. It wasn’t possible.

“I’m your father. Your mother, Preta, we met in Itany ages ago.”

“I don’t believe you!” I shouted, unable to comprehend what he was saying. But he knew her name...

“How do you think you got nanoSTEMs?” He was no longer resisting. “We’re more alike than you think, son. I’ve missed you.”

“You’re lying.” I pressed harder. It couldn’t be true, it couldn’t...

“Thorn’s your brother,” he gasped. “Half-brother actually. Why would I lie?”

My grip died as he proceeded to describe Mom, and how they’d met. It all made sense. A bomb detonated inside me, annihilating everything I’d ever known about myself. Him? No… I was going to be sick. Hands failing me, head spinning. “Dad?”

His arm whipped toward me, firing

I dodged, rolling and slashing with my good hand. “We are nothing alike!” Tearing at his throat. “Nothing!” Blood erupted as slack-jawed shock registered on his hard face. Nothing...

“You—” He coughed, gasping before crumbling to the ground in a pool of crimson.

I threw his limp body off me and screamed it again in a desperate whisper as poison torched my veins and heart. “We are nothing alike.”

Zedda. I crawled toward her, every meter, searing agony. I reached her, but it was too late. Our child, our future… splayed across weed-strewn concrete. Taking her beautiful face into my hands, I lost it. Shaking convulsions gripped me. “Zedda!” I gagged, vomiting, writhing pain. “Zedda, No.”

But the warmth of her body was already fading, a bluish tint to her perfect lips. She was gone, she was really gone. Pure agony. I sobbed, holding her in my arms as emptiness engulfed me. First Elly, now her. Sopping misery, bleary nothingness.

It was all over. And all for what?

After what felt a million heartless lifetimes, a VTOL approached. It landed twenty meters away and Ganla yelled, “Raek, Raek?”

What was she doing here? What did it matter?

This must have been how Fitz felt when he lost Kira.

I passed out.