51 When All Is Lost…

I felt the sudden, brusque wave of a RESAT. Only, this time it wasn’t accompanied by the usual flu-like pain followed by sheer agony. Perhaps the colloidal silver that had taken away my power had also taken away what made the RESAT so painful to us electrics. The colony electrics weren’t so fortunate, as they screamed out in pain, fell over, and began writhing on the ground. They had clearly never encountered a RESAT. They were all on the ground except for Chispa. He was unable to move. I didn’t understand what was happening to him, until Cassy walked slowly from the dark tree-lined circle up to the sacrificial stone.

She touched the tip of the tecpatl softly, which was only an inch above my chest, then, peeling back Chispa’s fingers, pulled the knife from his hand.

“Which leg is it that hurts?” she asked, looking down at Chispa’s legs. “It must be the bent one.” She kicked it hard. Chispa lung-screamed from his frozen mouth. “Oh, it was that one. Let’s try it again.” She kicked it even harder. Tears began rolling down Chispa’s face. “I guess it does hurt.”

Then she gently put her hand on my chest. “There aren’t many hearts like this in the world. A loyal heart that would sacrifice itself for the ones he loves.” She looked me in the eyes. “I love this heart. I loved this heart even before I knew the man it belonged to.” She continued gazing softly into my eyes. Then her eyes turned fierce as she looked back up at Chispa. “And you, a sick, demented creep thought you were going to stop it.” She held the knife a few inches from Chispa’s chest. “You know, I could stop your heart with a mere thought, but that would be too fast.”

Chispa’s face dripped with perspiration.

“You don’t look so scary now. All that talk of ancient sacrifices and ritual just sounds like crazy talk when you’re on the other end of the knife, doesn’t it?

“You probably wish I’d just get this over with, don’t you? Do you know what I wish? I wish you had more lives to give. I really do.” She lifted the knife back up, her eyes narrowing. “Because I’d take every last one of them.” She pressed the knife to his chest. “But, unfortunately, your one pathetic life will have to do. Here’s your knife back, you twisted monster.” His eyes grew wide as she shoved the blade deep into his chest. Cassy moved closer to him, her eyes, inches from his, fixed on his. “Feel it, devil. Feel what justice feels like.”

She must have released him from some of her power, as he suddenly threw his head back and screamed out in one long howl that seemed to silence the jungle itself. Slowly the red glow in his eyes started to dim, then darken, then completely disappeared. When his eyes were black, she pushed him back. He fell, dead, to the ground.

Cassy looked at the other electrics in hoods, all on the ground writhing in pain. She shook her head. “I should do the same to all of you.” She turned back toward the jungle. “All right, Torstyn. I’ve had my moment.”

Torstyn stepped out of the shadow of the trees carrying an automatic rifle. “We’ve got it from here,” he said. “Levanten armas!” he shouted. In a few seconds, the entire clearing was surrounded by more than a hundred cartel soldiers. Some of them were carrying RESAT collars.

“Put the collars on all the colony electrics, starting with the hoodie guys. Cuff the nonelectrics. Then turn off that RESAT,” Torstyn shouted. He grabbed a passing soldier by the arm, then pointed at Neech. “That one likes to run. Break his legs.”

“Sí, jefe.”

While the soldiers locked the collars onto the squirming electrics, Cassy turned back to me. She again set her hand gently on my chest. “Hi, Mr. Vey.”

“Am I hallucinating?” I asked.

“No. This is real. I’m real.”

“How?”

“How did I get here?” She took the knife and cut the leather straps from my neck, arms, and legs. “I had some help. You could say you were saved by Grace.” She smiled at me. “Can you sit up?”

“I think so.”

“Let me help you.” She put her hand behind my back and helped lift me, until I was sitting on the stone. “Let’s get rid of this thing,” she said, taking the headdress off me. “Those are some big feathers.”

“Condor feathers,” I said.

“What a waste of a bird.” She threw the thing into the jungle. Then she handed me a canteen from her belt. “Drink this. It will help get all the junk out of your system.”

I wasn’t sure what “junk” she was referring to, but I drank. Whatever was in the canteen, it tasted delicious, like fresh, cold water.

“By the way, cute outfit. Everyone will be wearing one next season.”

“Thanks. I was dying to wear it.”

“That’s not even funny,” she said. “But it was quite a show.”

“Could we skip it next time?”

“There’s not going to be a next time.”

Just then, Taylor ran up and threw her arms around me. “Michael.”

For a moment, we just held each other as Cassy stood to the side watching us. Then Taylor stepped back and turned toward Cassy. “I don’t know how to thank you.” She looked down. “You saved Michael’s life. That’s all that matters.”

“All?”

Her eyes welled up. “You deserve him. If you two want to see—”

Cassy stopped her. “Don’t be such a martyr, Taylor. He loves you. He always has. You belong together.”

“What about your cancer?”

“Grace took care of that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I feel better. Grace says she’s found how to cure cancer in ‘humanoids.’ The doctors don’t know what to think. We’ll see.”

As the women talked, I bent over Chispa’s body and pulled my ring off his finger. “You said I could have it back when I took it from your dead body? Happy to oblige you.” I’m sure it’s kind of psycho, mocking a corpse, but considering what I’d just gone through, I had to say it. I reached into his pants pockets. My Saint Jude medallion, the cross, and the fish were still there.

I put the ring back on my finger, but I didn’t have any pockets for the rest, so I just held them.

“Could someone please help me?” someone said.

I looked over. Abigail was still tied to the tree. “Sorry,” I said. I took the tecpatl knife and cut her free. Tears were running down her cheeks as she put her arms around me. “Thank you, Michael. I knew you would come for me.”

“I wouldn’t leave you. None of us would. And Jack would have come for you without us. He needs you.”

“I know. We need to free him. I’ll take away his pain.”

“He needs you.”

“And I need him. I never want to be without him again.”

“Let’s go get him.” I shouted, “Hey, Torstyn.”

“Yes, Sir Michael.”

“About fifty yards south of the house, they’ve converted an old horse stable into a jail. We need to release the prisoners.”

“That’s fortuitous,” he said. “That will give us a place to keep our new prisoners.” He shouted out something to his men in Spanish, then turned back. “What do you want to do with him?” he said, pointing his gun at Chispa. “Should we bury him?”

“No,” I said. “Let the jungle have him.”

“I’m sure he’ll be tasty to something.”

“Maybe a dung beetle,” I said.

As we started up toward the stable, Taylor asked, “What are we going to do with the colony guys? We can’t keep them locked up forever.”

“We could,” I said. “That’s what they planned for us. But we’ll let Socrates make that decision.” I held out my treasures. “Could you carry these for me? They don’t make sacrificial wear with pockets. I think it has something to do with you can’t take it with you.”

“I can’t believe you’re joking about this,” she said, taking the jewelry from me. Then she noticed my ring. “You got it back?”

“Off his dead body.”

Taylor frowned. “That takes the romance out of it.”

I smiled at her. “Does it, though?”

McKenna and Ostin walked up to us. I turned to McKenna. “McKenna Jo, can you give us a little more light?”

“I’ll try.” She lit up the grounds a few meters around us. Not nearly as bright as she usually was, but enough to help. It was good to see her power coming back.

“I can help,” Nichelle said. McKenna’s light doubled.

“It’s this way,” I said. Even though my body and head ached, I was filled with adrenaline and electricity. And relief. As we walked to the south side of the compound, I put my arm around Ostin. “Are you okay?”

“Still processing the whole getting eaten by ants thing,” Ostin said. “Chispa made Hatch look like the Easter Bunny.”

“I think you’re forgetting that Hatch was planning to eat me.”

Ostin thought a moment, then said, “Okay, a deranged Easter Bunny.”

As we passed the chapel, I said to Ostin, “That’s where they prepped me for the sacrifice.”

“Is that where you got the cool duds?”

“Yes. And a perfume bath.”

“Was it better than Hatch’s rat room?”

“It smelled better,” I said.

When we got to the stable, I opened the door and walked inside, turning on the overhead lights. “Jack’s in the last stall,” I said. “Come with me.”

Abigail, Torstyn, Nichelle, Ostin, McKenna, Taylor, and I went to the last stall. The door was still unlocked from when they’d taken me out. When I opened the door, Jack was lying on the ground, his face against the concrete.

“Jack!” Abigail cried. She ran to him and fell at his side.

He looked up at her from the ground. “Abi?”

“Oh, my Jack.” As she embraced him, the pain left his face. I don’t even know if Abi was using her power.

“Let’s get him out of here,” Torstyn said. Taking a knife from his belt, he walked over and cut Jack free from the rope. Then he cut off the plastic cuffs.

Jack looked at him in disbelief. “Torstyn?”

“Hey, buddy.”

Jack groaned as he stretched out in relief. “Does anyone have any water?”

“Here,” I said. I handed him the canteen Cassy had given me. He drank what was left of it in one gulp. Then Abigail and I helped Jack to his feet.

“What happened?” he asked. “How did you get free?”

“I showed up,” Torstyn said. “And a few of my men.”

“Don’t forget Cassy,” Abigail said.

“Cassy too? What happened to Chispa?”

“Cassy dispatched him,” Torstyn said, drawing his finger across his neck. “Chispa has joined the cycle of life. Or death. Or whatever it is.”

“Man,” Jack said, exhaling deeply. “I wish I had been there. What a ride.”

I patted him on the back. “What a ride.”

“All right,” Torstyn said. “We’ll free the others.”

“Wait,” I said. “In the first stall is Socrates. Let’s free him first. He’s their rightful leader.”

Abigail stayed with Jack as we returned to the front of the stable. Through the open front door, I could see that Torstyn’s soldiers had reached the building and were standing outside with their new prisoners.

Socrates’s stall was still locked. I looked in through the slotted window. Socrates was lying on the ground.

It took three rounds, but Torstyn shot off the lock, then opened the door. Socrates had gotten up at the sound of the first gunshot. He looked fearfully at Torstyn. Then, as I stepped inside, his expression turned to disbelief.

“How are you still alive?” he asked.

“I told you I’d be back. You’re a free man, Socrates.”

“Free?” He said the word as if it was the most beautiful thing ever. Maybe it is. “Where’s Chispa?”

“Chispa is no more,” I said.

“He’s jungle food,” Ostin said.

“You can free the others now,” I told Torstyn.

“Roger that. We’ll take care of them.” He turned back to his men. “Vamos, hombres. Aquí dentro. Carlos, dile a Fernando que lo necesitamos aquí arriba. Christian, tú y Alfredo tráigannos un poco de agua. Veinte botellas.”

One by one, the prisoners were freed. There was only one other electric, Thoreau, who had turned blue as well. All of the prisoners were sick, and three of them had to be carried out by Torstyn’s men or the rest of the Electroclan, who had now joined us. Ian had his hand on Tara’s arm, as he was still recovering his sight. Most of the prisoners were Shining Path guerillas who had come too close to the colony, or locals who had run afoul of Chispa.

At Torstyn’s orders the freed prisoners were given fresh water, then brought out next to the colony electrics.

“See what you’ve done to them,” Torstyn shouted at the colony. “Now it’s your turn.”

Pascal fainted.

One by one the colony electrics were brought into the stable.

As Epic walked by, Quentin stepped in front of her. “You know, you’re not very pretty without your powers. In fact, your personality makes you downright ugly. What did I see in you?”

“You saw what you wanted to see,” she said.

Tara punched her, knocking her to the ground. “That’s what I wanted to see, skank.”

“How can you do this to us?” Kylee asked as she and Bryan were brought in. “We’re not with them.”

“I guess you chose the wrong side,” Taylor said to her.

Each of them had to walk by Socrates as they were taken to their stalls. All of them—except for Neech, who was dragged in screaming with pain, and Sartre—hung their heads in shame.

“We’ll be back on top,” Sartre said to him. “You’ll be sorry.”

Socrates frowned. “Oh, Sartre. The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing. And you truly know nothing.”

“What are these things on their necks they’re wearing?” Socrates asked.

“They’re called RESATS,” I said. “They take away their powers.”

“How long do they last?”

“I don’t know. They run off the electric’s power, so I’ve never seen one stop working.” I looked at him. “Are you going to leave them on that long?”

“We’ll see. It’s that or the colloidal silver. Maybe we’ll all be blue someday.” He grinned. “Imagine that, a colony of Smurfs.”