ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ Tethered ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ

Chapter 44

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• Luna •

Too much emotion was swirling inside Luna. Like a typhoon, she was about to wreak mayhem. Noise and sensory stimulation made her feel out of control.

Windows broke seconds earlier.

Her mother died.

The Earth's axis tilted. All because of control. It was nothing new. Nothing different. She could wager that everyone in the world would think it was crazy, ridiculous control, and was used to it like her. Control changed everything.

There was no genuine reason behind it. It was irrational. Tahir was also resentful.

She chastised him.

He ran toward the front door without blinking. Luna pulled the modified Glock's butt behind her. It happened so fast. She aimed as men around her shouted.

She knew they couldn't catch Tahir if he crossed the front door. They'd have to restart their search since he'd never be held accountable.

She didn't know the monster. She wasn't interested. Amir's memories had shown her his sliminess. The unfriendly man judged her husband's lifestyle a year before. He ordered Amir to create "miracle formula" serums for BARDA. Tahir hid his true self from everybody.

Luna pointed the gun toward Mr. Malik's head with her thumb on the trigger. A pop followed her squeezing.

It was over in two seconds.

Tahir Malik fell on the floor face first.

Dead.

She learned too late that someone else shot him. Elizabeth's death would have been slower and more painful. She muttered, "Tahir was lucky." In a flash, he wasn't breathing anymore.

She only noticed Amir glancing at her and the strange men turning to face them through their shields when she laid down her weapon.

Her enemy died.

She was pleased.

Superhumans died differently. Tahir died without a light show. He died on Earth like the souls he hated—the soul he was. He had ancestors who were tethered. Did he hate himself? Did Luna really care? It didn't matter now.

She gasped. Her body froze and heated.

One guard turned and touched his helmet. After static, he said, "I see them."

She discovered he wasn't talking about the two dead bodies inside the house as the halo flashed from the outside, directly at them. She wasn't sure who these men were or if they were part of Legion. All she knew was that they came in the nick of time.

"Let's go!" screamed a SWAT member.

Several soldiers passed through windows. She tried to show them the door with her hand, but Amir snatched it.

Backing off, Luna grabbed the weapon.

"Moon . . ."

She looked at Tahir to her mother's body as shouts came from the yard. Early morning light seemed to hit at an angle. Amir murmured while looking between her and everybody else. He stared at her and the others.

"We can't leave," she said calmly.

He softly nudged her. "We must go. For Sarah."

"No." This fight wasn't over. Energy, wrath, and other emotions overwhelmed her. "We have to stay. I need to fight."

"Luna . . ."

After turning, she hurried toward the entrance. She opened the door with Amir.

Then chaos.

Many BARDA agents, Trojans, and Defectives arrived at her house and shed. Liberty and Greer weren't shown, but superhuman and military bodies were. Tasers and modified weapons blasted the yard. Several more superhumans sprang from the field and fought several Defectives.

Like Texas, it was a battle scene, and they were on the battlefield. Thin branches in her yard caught fire. She coughed when she smelled charcoal.

Superhumans threw lightning bolts at the men in black like beach balls. An injured man slumped backward near the porch. He fired his sniper weapon to strike Luna and Amir.

Amir grabbed her after bullets broke the screen door.

Vikram emerged and fired a gun across the driveway. He shot a Defective. One, two, three dropped. They crumpled into a human shells.

As he reached the porch, Vikram said, "What's up? Interesting seeing you two here." His eyes darted between Amir and Luna.

"Well, Vik, you know me. I missed my house a lot," she told him as he hit a BARDA agent in the back of the head. He laughed at her response. "Where's Sarah?"

"Everyone is safe at another base," he said. "Sarah is staying with her grandparents. When Faisal and I found out that Elizabeth had been taken, we left to go find her. We were told that she was here."

"So, Faisal is still out there somewhere?" Amir asked him that while he slammed his palm into the neck of an agent.

"Yeah, but I think they took him. I lost sight of him for one second, and then he . . ." Vikram's voice faded as he cocked his elbow back and knocked a Defective off the porch. "Let's talk about everything later."

"Agreed," Luna said.

Greer then ran out of the woods and into the yard two seconds later, punching and kicking people left and right.

She noticed Liberty reaching the Jeep, charging at several Defectives.

When a man ran up to the porch and his arm lit up white, Amir crouched over Luna. Before he could react, her husband knocked him from the balcony.

Damn, Amir was like a boxer, super bold, too, she thought, grinning at him.

Because she couldn't sit still, Luna fired at other agents until the weapon was empty. She got two or three people. Greer's lightning blasts knocked them out but didn't kill them.

As a Defective reached Amir with an agent, Luna ran downstairs and dropped the gun. Her husband stomped on the men with his arm cocked. A punch was coming.

The attackers' whitish-yellow light from across the grass startled her. Yelling for Amir to look was too late. The shoulder hit knocked him down. Shrieking, he gripped his arm.

Amir sprung as an angel with exquisite brown skin tinted with gold. He'd unleash a new evil, but Luna was bloodthirsty. She was ready to end this war.

Near the trees, she saw a Defective. Static electricity pinched her. Grief and wrath. Luna released energy like a nuclear explosion.

Liberty left the Jeep. Black curls enveloped her broad face. She couldn't speak.

Luna rushed over the lawn after hearing her name. Vikram and Greer screamed for her, but she raced. Her pulse and heartbeat were like a trapped bird fluttering its wings.

Overheated, her hair was behind her shoulders. Branches tore her clothes and thrashed her face and arms. She kept running. She jumped over large branches and potholes despite muscle strain.

Luna chased a Defective through the forest and moss. She wondered if her fiery energy was tested enough to prevent self-destruction like Lily. If it wasn't, would this be how hurting herself felt?

She was enraged and in agony over her mother. Her heart was beating super fast.

'Luna!'

Amir's voice flowed into her mind while she focused on defeating the enemies so no one escaped.

When the Defective looked back, the trees vanished. His legs made her stumble.

Too late.

When she looked up at the bayou, Luna saw a line of Tanzanite crystals gleaming in the sunlight, their tops resembling broken talons rising towards the sky. Her house was far away.

After she slowed down, the Defective ran into the trees. She looked at the roofs of the buildings that were pointed at the crystals as she slid across the surface, kicking up debris and other things. She scanned the crowd in front of her.

They weren't ordinary people—there were dozens or hundreds of BARDA agents and Defectives. Trojans, maybe? It didn't matter. Her heart nearly broke at the shocking revelation.

"Oh, shit," Luna gasped.

When she retreated in fear, a female Trojan smiled.

Bad. Bad. Bad. She regretted running so far.

She would of all days waltz right into a BARDA outpost.

No time to turn away and run. Luna's shoulder burned after a reddish flare blinded her. Her balance was thrown off. She looked towards the sky.

She wasn't standing.

Sweltering, Luna rose above the dirt with strong arms. Amir then angelically snatched her before the community.

He blocked everyone from her.

Defectives marched like troops preparing for battle. There were too many of them ready to attack. She and Amir couldn't fight them all. Running would be impossible. She blamed herself.

"Oh, Amir. The only thing that came to mind was that one of us might escape them if the other created a distraction," she said. Her shoulder stung as she moved away from him. "We're cornered."

Amir blocked her. "No. Don't think about it. If this is it, let's take care of it as a team," he said as his light went out. Chocolate eyes, dark waves, and prominent cheekbones reappeared. He whispered, "One."

Her breath sputtered. Her stress caused her body to twitch. "One."

Amir bowed and kissed her after a brief blast of sounds stopped her blood flow. She feared the end.

Hundreds of birds flew overhead. Then they soared toward Luna and Amir. Massive trees and evergreens trembled, branches snapped, and millions of birds fled.

What in the world?

Strange. Dust clouds hovered over Tanzanite. Clouds fell swiftly.

Not clouds.

"Whoa," Luna whispered.

When the Defectives moved closer, Amir and Luna stepped back an inch.

A Defective who must have grown up in BARDA pointed up and yelled, "Rebels!"

Every Engineered Soul, Tethered Soul, Lazarus Soul, and Hybrid descended from tons of helicopters with their country's flag. They cloaked the homes in gray smoke before landing. Cold air hit them.

Allies burst through the trees and sprinted forward as the Defectives swarmed like insects.

Amir murmured, "They're here. Enzo and his army."

They were there all right. Some superhumans levitated.

They attacked like vultures. While on the run, Enzo's ground crew wiped out the Defectives. A cluster of Engineered Souls snatched a group of falling Trojans and hurled them into the air, where some of them were grabbed by other clusters and altered into solid and non-solid forms.

Luna was shocked to see so many Resistance Fighters, mostly chemical. BARDA-made serums and other toxins.

She was knocked back by a female Trojan. A Lazarus Soul tore her apart. This happened before the Trojan fell. Parts of her flew.

The Trojan's hair was pink. The Lazarus man adorned with an Australian flag pin slammed into her, crushing her chest. The woman screamed.

Where a Defective had fallen from behind Luna was a mystery to her. Leaves and trash rattled trees when the man skidded. He appeared out of the shadows. White light splits trees. Defectives and the Resistance were affected.

Another wave of Engineered Souls and Hybrids overpowered others and burned the Defectives' crimson auras.

Luna uttered a trembling, "Holy . . ."

Turning, the Trojans fell. Luna has never seen a massacre like this take place. It was an exhibition of aggression and pent-up rage, but the flashes of light and dense fog were unsettlingly breathtaking, creating a stunning contrast.

Another person came into view. High cheekbones. Mouth. Straight nose. Shirtless and leather jeans. Dark skin. Braids.

Enzo stood quietly. Crimson liquid covered his body. He smiled. "Payback time."

Before either Luna or Amir could react, he returned to the scene. That disturbed her. She knew it was a massacre—a well-deserved massacre—because Enzo was breaking necks and killing everyone he could.

Red and black liquid covered the small community's fields and paved paths. Lightning flashed. The battle moved toward the homes near the bayou.

Defectives and opponents destroyed roofs. Electricity cables fell, exploding. Homes burned. When a building exploded, Luna gasped. The scarlet blast was somewhat soothing.

Plywood and glass broke another house. She jumped when Amir called but couldn't avoid the chaos. The sky ignited. Screams from everywhere seized her flesh.

Luna became nauseous.

It was silly and weak because she had already killed people.

That thought hit her in the head like a second burst of frigid air. Her vision blurred. She killed how many people in self-defense? She lost track.

"Your heart . . ." Amir caressed her chin. Luna couldn't believe such beauty could exist among such sadness when their gazes met. "Relax, Moon. It's over."

Was this real? She yanked free after seeing the scene.

She didn't know what she needed. She stiffened. Heat returned. She wanted out of there, away from Amir, from everything.

Her pulse surged.

After spinning, Luna ran alone. Maybe she hunted herself. She didn't know. She ran until she left the battlefield and started climbing a long slope on a trail carved high into dirt and sand before realizing she was speeding toward a Tanzanite-covered hill.

Luna stumbled many times on the rough climb. She struggled to breathe and focus as she kept moving.

She realized then that she wasn't activating. She remembered her last shift as she scrambled up the steep incline. She only thought of hunting, which stung her insides.

After calming down, her second thought was, what if she was self-destructive? I can't be. She remembered Lily's eruption. It was like putting an unsuitable item in an oven.

She almost collapsed on a levee shelf above a scary drop-off. She stopped thinking, moving, and going.

Luna looked about, breathed softly, and saw ghosts. She thought Chase and Sam were watching her below. She looked down the other slope.

No ghosts.

No Chase or Sam.

Suddenly, Luna remembered a few things. When Sam saw her four years ago on that same hill, he called Chase, who gave her medicine. Genesis. She was back where it all began when she saw Sam and assumed he was a ghost.

"Luna?"

Amir's voice made her gasp. She gently turned, chin to chest.

It was just the two of them there.

He stared at her. His pulse matched hers. "Luna," he whispered again.

Luna felt uneasy to step off the edge. She shook as she backed up on the smooth ground. Her breath caught in her throat as she closed her eyes and visualized her mother having gorgeous hazel eyes rather than red eyes. Tahir Malik ran for the front door quickly. She saw Chase's mysterious smile. She pictured Lily, about whom they would never find answers, and then she thought of a lot of faces whose names she didn't know.

"Moon," Amir said. Her eyes met his. "Why are you here?"

"We're both here."

He smiled weakly. "Yes, but why?"

"I'm not sure," she whispered. "I needed to run."

"Oh."

That was reasonable, right? She stepped back, glancing at him. It was clear that she wasn't suffering anymore. She sat. Or plopped down. She couldn't decide which. She suddenly remembered the strangest thing. "We hiked this levee last year."

Amir looked at her like she'd gone mad. Maybe she did and forgot. "What?"

"This was our heaven." She viewed the cliff. Her body ached. Since Luna was exhausted, she may have had a hole in her arm. She couldn't tell. "When you were in Islamabad, I was here."

Amir's brow pinched.

"I climbed this hill while you climbed a mountain near your house." She took another deep breath and licked her dry lips. "We exercised here regularly before St. Matthew's." Her attention softened his expression. "My dawn was your evening. Sunrise and sunset were always shared." She paused. "We exercised five times a week. Six if I didn't sleep in on Sunday. Saturday was our rest days."

Amir moved closer. "I remember. April—your favorite month."

"That was it." She smiled. "We were great friends then."

He tilted his chin. "Happy memories. You were strong and beautiful."

She swallowed again. Her thoughts filled with memories of them.

"You didn't realize Chase was acting horribly after going through so much, Luna. You're strong, and you're a survivor." He caressed her heart. "Your bravery is incredible. It's what makes you different."

With trembling tears, Luna exhaled. His words affected her. She was normal. Not crazy. She had always been sane. Amir had always thought she was beautiful inside and out, even if she didn't feel it. "Thank you."

He took a deep breath and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. "Gizmo, you don't need to thank me."

She giggled. "We need to start writing down all our nicknames for each other because let's be honest, we'll never run out."

"Never, Moonlight." He spoke with a smirk. "Oh, baby . . ."

From where they stood, it looked like thick, gray clouds were moving and burying tiny stars. Amir's palm on her back and chin on her head calmed her. The choppers were flying away. "They're dead. They killed everybody who was on the other side."

"You think so?"

He kissed her lips, nodding. "Yes. Enzo's team took care of everyone after us, and they also seized Dr. Kim before leaving. We're done."

"What about Faisal?"

He inhaled a breath, then said, "Vikram and Liberty freed him. He was tied up in the back of an SUV. But he's okay now. The war is over."

Sighing, Luna closed her eyes. They were done. The battle was now finished.