Next

Ding Dong.

Richard answered the door quickly as if he were waiting right by it. “Almost ready,” he announced. “Come in!”

Beta, Hershey, and Matrix did, scanning the area. Many of the family’s bags were packed and pushed into the living room, including the baby in the stroller.

“Looks like you lot are ready,” Beta commented.

Richard nodded. “Min is, Ah still needs a few minutes. She’s packing up a few…relics.”

“I’ll go help her,” Matrix replied quickly, stalking out of the room.

“I…I’m going to be honest,” Richard said. “I don’t like the idea of Ah leaving after Min and I do, especially with three strangers.”

Beta’s mouth opened, but for some reason, Hershey sensed what he was going to say wouldn’t be comforting. “Well don’t think of her as innocent, then,” Hershey said, jumping in quickly. “She has Beema and Talon. Think of it as her having two angels watching over her shoulder…and protecting her no matter what.” Hershey fidgeted. “Not to mention you’ve got us doing whatever we have to to keep her safe.”

Richard nodded, looking down at his feet and scratching his neck. “I appreciate that,” he said. “I really do.”

“Ah?”

Matrix continued his decent into the basement. “Woah,” he muttered. The basement was cold, but it wasn’t worn out like he expected. There was a long couch in the center of the room facing a flat screen T.V. connected to the wall. A light fixture was embedded into the ceiling and a stereo sat on a desk pushed against the wall. It wasn’t much, but it was better than the basement Matrix had growing up. Once he got to the bottom of the stairs, he walked around the corner and saw Ah huddling over some boxes.

A lot of boxes.

Too many boxes.

“Are we taking all of these?” Matrix asked.

Ah didn’t turn around, looking down at something in her hand. Matrix walked closer, sitting down next to her. He glanced over at the picture frame in her lap.

It was a picture of her, Richard, and Min when she was first born at the hospital. Ah looked worn out and in pain, but in a way so did Richard. Both smiled through the hurt. “You know I was pregnant with her when they got me.” Matrix looked at her face now, watching her expression. “I mean, of course Richard nor I knew that at the time. He would’ve never let me travel alone, but it was the early process of it. When you’re vomiting and don’t know why…well, of course, I thought it was because of the operation Walker did on me.” Ah let out a short laugh, and then let it fade out. Her smile started to dwindle until her face fell neutral. “I…I live every day afraid that Walker did something to her…to Min.” Ah took in a sharp breath, hanging her head. “I don’t want her to be a part of this…I can’t let her be.”

“Hey,” Matrix said, putting a hand on her arm. “There’s absolutely no way we’re going to let that happen.” Matrix tried to catch her eye. “Even if she’s got hair growing out of her eyes…we won’t let the Syncs get to her.”

Ah sniffed, turning to look at him with tears in her eyes. “I want to say thank you…” She sniffed again. “But the hairy eye thing was too far.”

“Okay okay,” Matrix said as she started to full-on cry. “Sorry. No eyes, no hair, just a beautiful baby; a wonderful child…” Matrix got Ah to calm down a little. “I mean you birthed her; did she feel evil to you?”

Ah’s mouth twitched, a smile blooming. “No…she was perfect.”

“Then she still is,” Matrix confirmed. Ah leaned on his shoulder, sniffing some more before taking her glasses off and wiping her eyes. Matrix sat there for a few seconds before coming up with the question he really wanted to ask.

“How does Richard do it?” Ah looked up at Matrix’s forehead—being all that she could see on his shoulder—and squinted.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“I mean…how does Richard understand you so perfectly? Or at least enough to know what you need in a…ridiculous time like this?”

Ah looked back down and shrugged. “I think you’re missing the point.”

“What point?”

“Richard and I don’t fully understand each other. That’s not what relationships are about. They’re not about fully understanding the other person, they’re about knowing that you’ll never be able to fully understand the other person…but caring enough to try anyway.”

Matrix just nodded as if he understood now. Ah started smiling again, borderline laughing. “Why? Is there someone you’re trying to understand?”

“No,” Matrix said simply. “There’s someone I want to understand me.”

“Guys!” Beta came pounding down the steps and Ah and Matrix turned around to look at him. “Richard and Min left, we’re leaving in ten. Ah, you need any help? Those are a lot of boxes, mate.”

Ah shook her head, standing up. “No, it’s okay. I’m not taking all of them.”

Matrix peaked into one of the boxes and his eyes widened. “Are you sure? It looks like there are a lot of memories in here.”

Ah shrugged. “They’ll still be here when we come back. But right now, in this climate, we don’t need to set-up home, we just need to survive.” Ah dropped the picture in one of the boxes and slid it into the corner. She straightened herself up and smiled.

“Let’s get to it.”

Beta and Ah shut the trunk together. “That’s it?” Beta asked.

“That’s it,” she confirmed. Ah took one last look at the house, sighing. “You’ll be back,” Beta said. “I promise.”

Ah looked over her shoulder at him. “Thanks, but don’t make promises you can’t keep.” Beta’s face scrunched as Ah got in the backseat of the car. He got in the passenger seat, Hershey in the back with Ah, and Matrix driving.

And they were on the move.

As Matrix got them out of the driveway and onto the neighborhood’s road, Ah started talking.

“Oh, Matrix?” she said.

“Yep,” he replied, approaching a stop sign.

“I know you were talking about Elias.”

The car jerked to a stop at the stop sign much harder than Matrix implied. Beta looked over and saw Matrix’s hand clutching the steering wheel so hard the knuckles were turning white. Matrix started driving again. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Before in the basement,” she clarified. “Saying ‘there’s someone I want to understand me’? I know you meant Elias.”

Matrix could hear his own heart beating faster than usual as for some reason he was either driving too slow or too fast, never in between. “Uh…maybe this is a conversation for another time?”

“No, actually I think it’s healthy to have it now,” Ah went on. She leaned forward in her seat. “You think just because he’s some big, conceptual, God-like being that he’ll see you and won’t be able to accept your vices.”

“Ah,” Hershey pitched in. “Maybe this isn’t the best time—”

“You’re taking it the wrong way Matrix,” Ah continued, ignoring Hershey’s warning. “Elias has killed people, I’m sure of it. You’ve done the same…but for good reasons—”

“No,” Matrix interjected, shaking his head. He looked into the rearview mirror at Ah. “Ah, you don’t know me, not the way I know me. Because if you knew the person I really was…you’d run.”

“Matrix!” Beta screamed and Matrix slammed on the breaks before ramming the car into the crowd of people.

The three boys and Ah leaned forward, slowly comprehending what they were seeing. A blockade of people blocked off the exit to the neighborhood. They could hear the sounds of cars passing by the main street, and it sparked Ah to look around harder. She saw Richard’s van parked on the side of the road and she could only assume what for.

They didn’t make it out.

“Who are these people?” Matrix breathed out.

“Those are my neighbors!” Ah announced, unlocking the door and getting out of the car.

“Ah!” Hershey exclaimed, getting out after her. Beta and Matrix followed suit.

“Where’s my family!?” Ah shouted to the lady; she was the neighbor in the sunhat who lived across from Ah and Richard. “Stephanie I swear to God if you hurt them—”

“Relax Ah,” Stephanie said in a calm voice. She stepped forward, meeting Ah halfway. Beta, Hershey, and Matrix held back a few feet. “Richard and Min are okay, they’re just sitting patiently in the car.” Ah looked over at the slightly tinted windows and saw a flash of Richard’s worried face. But in an instant one of the neighbors blocked him from view. “Let them go,” Ah demanded. “They have nothing to do with this!”

“They don’t, I agree,” Stephanie said. “But I wouldn’t want them doomed either.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Are you really going to run off with them? Ah, you must know that you are one of us at heart. Or at least…” Stephanie pointed to Ah’s head. “…up there you are.”

Matrix cursed under his breath. “Syncs,” he whispered. Hearing the word made Beta’s hairs stand on end. It felt as if he had bulked up more, ready for a fight. “And we’re just going to let her talk to them?” Beta hissed.

“You have a better idea?” Matrix asked.

Ah smacked her hand away and pointed her own finger at the Sync. “Don’t say that. You don’t get to say that, your kind did this to me!”

“Yes! And you should rejoice!” Stephanie said. “We made you royalty, Ah! If you come with us, we will leave the humans alone. You have the power to do that with what’s up here. So please, join us. Trust me when I say these demons of the afterlife have no plan for peace!”

“What’d you just call me bitch?” Beta said, surprising Hershey and Matrix with his foul language.

Stephanie’s gaze slid over Ah and turned to Beta. “You heard me, devil. You’ve slaughtered more Syncs than you know, and what? We’ve killed a total of one of you? Don’t try and play it off.”

“We only did that as self-defense!” Hershey shouted, stepping up. “And you’ve killed a lot more humans, which is the only reason we got involved!”

“‘Kill’ is such a strong word,” Stephanie said. “I’d prefer exterminated, sent to a better place suited for them. Don’t tell me you didn’t see it in their eyes, begging to be put down.”

Beta’s nostrils flared and he stepped forward. Matrix grabbed his arm, holding him back but took it away quickly as it was cold as ice. “What about all those people you killed in the previous war? Were they bad too?” Beta argued.

“We killed more Pernas than we did humans back then. Not so efficient for with every human you killed you got another Perna in the enemy’s army,” Stephanie pointed out. She took a step past Ah and toward Beta. “And are you suggesting that we’re at war now…demon?”

Beta forced air out of his nose, taking his own steps forward until he was right in her face. “Oh, I am begging you…say it again.”

Matrix was scared; he had never seen Beta look this angry before.

Stephanie practically snarled, leaning in so her nose touched his. Her teeth showed under her lip, and they were sharp. “Demo—”

Before anyone knew it, Stephanie was moving through the air at record speed, hitting the wall of a house so hard it not only left a dent but a long blood smear running down it.

Hershey gasped involuntarily, putting his hands to his mouth.

Another of the Syncs growled, the others following. “Fine, Perna. If it’s a war you want, then it’s a war you’ll get.”

Beta felt like he had been waiting for those words his whole life. His adrenaline kicked when the words seeped out. His body went into overdrive and every instinct he ever had turned into action. All the powers he kept hidden away, all the powers that wouldn’t cooperate at times…oh, they cooperated now, and they definitely weren’t hidden anymore. He thought about the previous war, he thought about all the bloodshed it had brought to both parties, he thought about the child, and he thought about the Pernas’ death…And he thought he wanted all of it to happen again.

And suddenly, all hell was breaking loose on Winds Street.

Matrix and Hershey thought about fighting, they thought about it hard. But not only did it seem covered, but as Beta ripped them apart—literally—they began to feel guilty if they dared move to throw a punch.

Ah screamed as Beta sunk someone into the Earth before her and chopped off his lower half. The door opened in the car parked on the side of the road and Richard came out running. “Ah!” he yelled, trying to avoid the Syncs as they ran for the powerful Perna; ran to their death.

“Richard!” she yelled back, trying to get past all the violence.

Matrix and Hershey couldn’t move. Although they didn’t always get along—and they definitely didn’t agree very much—at that moment they had never been so in sync with their emotions.

Terror.

Beta had lost it. His eyes seemed to glaze over red when he tossed Stephanie aside like an unwanted dish. It was like adrenaline was controlling him instead of himself, and it had done terrible things.

Matrix hadn’t seen Beta with this much power since the day they first met, and Hershey hadn’t seen it at all. But that didn’t stop them from giving one look to each other that set them in action.

Hershey ran over to Ah, still trying to make it to Richard on the other side of the bloodbath, and Matrix headed for Beta.

As Beta lifted his hand to kill another Sync headed his way, Matrix grabbed his arm and shoved him backward. “Stop!” he yelled, and as the Sync kept coming for him Matrix blasted him backward. As Matrix turned back to Beta, Beta was already heading for the Sync again. “Beta I said stop!” Matrix blasted Beta back a few feet and a small amount of sanity came back to him. Beta gave Matrix a look like he was being betrayed.

“Matrix we need to destroy them!” Beta exclaimed, a murderous tone in his voice. “Is this not the righteous path I’m—we’re—supposed to take?”

“Matrix watch out!” Hershey yelled, trying to hold Ah back before she ran out into the heavy, bloody, traffic. Matrix turned and saw the remaining four Syncs heading their way. “I said get back!” Matrix yelled, desperation in his voice. He shoved them all back with his powers, knocking most of them to the ground. Once they were down, Hershey released his grip on Ah and she ran for Richard.

Keep them safe, she told herself. Richard ran as well, his feet moving just a bit faster than hers.

Keep her safe, he told himself, and he planned to do that.

“I’ll finish them off,” Beta said, trying to get past Matrix, but Matrix was holding a tight grip on him with his powers. It was barely holding him back. “Beta please!” Matrix exclaimed, begged.

“Look out!” Richard pushed Ah down as an axe went straight over her head, nearly taking it off.

Matrix ducked as well as now the axe headed toward Beta, but without moving an inch the Perna stopped it. Beta looked at the person who threw it and barred his teeth. “You son of a—!” Beta flung the axe back at the adversary with a violent speed.

Richard breathed out rapidly, helping Ah back up. “Are you oka—”

The axe embedded itself into Richard’s neck before cutting it clean off, leaving him decapitated.

Ah’s whole body tensed up as it happened and her grip only tightened on Richard’s hands as they began to stiffen and then go limp. “No,” Ah breathed out as Richard’s body dropped, head dropping afterward. She dropped with it. “No, no please.” Ah’s hands shook violently as she put a hand on his chest. “Richard…R-Richard? Hey…Hey, answer me!” Ah knocked on his chest and that’s when Hershey ran over to her, attempting to calm her down.

“I…” Beta breathed, but his breath caught. “I’m so sorry, I just…” He swallowed, turning to Matrix. Matrix looked at him in horror, unsure of what to say back. “I…I’ll go take care of the others.” And without another word, Beta was gone in a flash, and all Matrix heard was the screams the Syncs made before their inevitable deaths.

“Damn it!” Ah exclaimed as Hershey grabbed her, holding on as tight as he could. “You were supposed to stay with me! You were supposed…!” Ah clammed up then, the tears catching up to her. Her face contorted into an ugly array of guilt. “I was supposed to…die with you…” Hershey lessened his grip on her and she began to lean back over Richard’s body. “You were supposed to live with me,” she whispered, and once she clutched on she couldn’t let go.

Matrix breathed in deeply…and he immediately wished he hadn’t.

The smell of the dead haunted him, bringing out his own Mr. Hyde. Matrix clenched his fists, bit his lip, and tried to think about anything else but the endless buffet surrounding.

His toes curled and his muscles tensed, but no matter how much he stiffened his impulses wouldn’t fade.

No, he told himself. I am not about to feed at a time like this. Richard just died…and if I start eating the dead…he’ll definitely be a candidate for my entrée.

But the more he thought about it, the more the images of Richard’s decapitated, bleeding corpse came to mind…

He couldn’t help himself.

He wanted it, and he wanted it bad.

Matrix dropped to the ground in an instant and started crawling, taking in scents.

His hand landed on the body Beta had cut in half, and it wasn’t long until his nails dug where his teeth followed.

Matrix took a bite of him and swallowed, not a second later his hunger quickening. It wasn’t a matter of savoring the taste, it was a matter of getting it inside him as fast as possible. Matrix kept sliding on the ground like a snake, taking bites from each body he got to, more and more each time.

He ate.

And he ate.

And he found himself not in control anymore.

It was like he had gone blind, and the only thing on his radar was thick, juicy—

“Matrix.”

Matrix’s head snapped upward as he was about to take his next bite, and then stopped when he heard the heartbeat.

Over.

And over.

And over.

His vision suddenly came back to him, and he saw himself staring eye-to-eye with Hershey.

Matrix’s mouth opened just enough for a little bit of bloody drool to spill out. His eyes widened, and suddenly humanity flooded back into him. Hershey wasn’t scared, he didn’t even seem worried, at least not for himself. But as Matrix backed away frantically, he saw what Hershey was really doing. He was blocking Richard’s body from him.

From Matrix.

Matrix’s eyes started to get puffy, realizing that he’d never gone that far before.

“Matrix,” Hershey said again, this time more authoritative. But he said nothing afterward, as if “Matrix” should have been enough. And strangely, it was. Matrix got to his feet, swallowing the remaining fluid in his mouth.

“W-We need to go,” he uttered. “We just need to go.”

Hershey watched Matrix head back to the car and got up himself. “Ah,” he said, and he looked back to see that much of her crying had stopped. She stood up as well, slowly but surely. “Yeah…let’s go,” she agreed.

“Ah,” Hershey and Ah both looked up as Beta was walking toward them. Hershey tensed as he saw Beta holding Ah’s baby and rocking her.

Ah met Beta halfway, taking Min swiftly. “Don’t you ever lay your hands on her again,” Ah said. “Or I’ll kill you myself.” Ah knocked Beta on the shoulder as she headed to the car Richard had left behind. She turned back around, looking strictly at Hershey. “I’ll lead the way, follow my car.”

Hershey sighed, rubbing his face. He put a hand on Beta’s shoulder and Beta turned to him. “I didn’t mean to,” he defended. “I-I’m supposed to fight this battle against them…i-is that not what my destiny is?” Beta swallowed the bile building up in his throat, making it hard for him to breathe. “Is this blood…not supposed to be on my hands?” Beta’s eyes began to glisten as the first tear fell. “It wasn’t my fault.”

“Sometimes it’s no one’s fault,” Hershey said, much calmer than he would have liked. “Come on.”

Beta let Hershey walk a little bit ahead of him, but as he got farther away Beta’s adoptive mother started to reappear again. Beta hustled after Hershey, following him to the car.

As Ah shut the door to her vehicle, it dawned on her…

…that she would never be able to get those boxes of memories back.

The picture of my family, my life…

Ah looked at Min as she began to cry in her car seat.

…is gone.

She started the engine.