>>>>>>>NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA<<<<<<<
>>>>>>>11:15 AM EST<<<<<<<
For the third time this morning, Sophia carefully but hurriedly pounded up the steps as she carried another cold towel to put over Alexis’ forehead. Since early yesterday morning, Alexis had been complaining of persistently sore and dull throbs in her arms, stomach, and head. Today, her symptoms had practically erupted into a fever that shot up to almost 104 degrees Fahrenheit in just two hours. But despite the obvious pain their daughter was in, it seemed reassuring to Sophia and William that Alexis was fighting to stay conscious and healthy. William had also done the favor of calling into their trucking company and telling their boss that neither of them would be on-call today due to a family emergency. The absence of the job hanging over her head helped Sophia calm down a bit as she recalled both her terrestrial paramedic and A.T.X.D. Tactical Rescue Service training.
“Mommy, it hurts,” Alexis whined painfully. She stifled a moan by hissing pitifully through her teeth instead and shutting her eyes tearfully.
“It’s okay, Goldie,” Sophia reassured, letting some of the wet chill in the towels soak into the hand she put over her daughter’s forehead. “Where does it hurt? Your head, still?”
“No, ugh, my arms.” Alexis shifted in her bed uncomfortably. “They’re burning up.”
Carefully lifting the covers up and ignoring the sweaty stench that billowed up at her, Sophia looked down at her daughter’s arms….and widened her eyes with horror when she saw what was happening to them.
“Uh…I’ll be right back with another towel, Goldie,” Sophia replied, trying to hide her horror if only to keep her daughter calm. “How’s your head?”
“It’s getting better. But mom, my arms….”
“I’m coming, Goldie. I’m coming.”
But after applying a soapy, bubbling sedative that helped dull this allegedly burning pain to a tickle and was based on a similar force-issue burn dressing, Sophia took a break.
William had just come home from a trip to the nearest pharmacy when he saw Sophia sitting on the steps. She was frozen with horror: her eyes were the size of golf balls, her hands and lips were shaking, and the thick heel of one of her black Timberlands nervously tapped at the wood of the step.
Oh, God. Has our daughter contracted something fatal? William worried.
But instead of howling in teary agony to confirm that, Sophia just uttered fragments to communicate that their daughter was still alive. However, she did not lock eye contact with William.
“Lo….lo….look at our daughter’s arms…when you….”
Upstairs, William checked in on his daughter to find that she was actually feeling a little better now.
“That foamy stuff Mom put on my hands seems to be helping, though my arms are still a bit sore.”
“And your head, Alex?” William inquired, taking off one of the towels and feeling the girl’s forehead.
“Getting better, but I still feel hot and tired.”
Carefully, William lifted the sheets up and took a look at Alexis’ arms. Despite the limbs each being masked by a towel smothering some cottage cheese-looking fluid on them, William could see a flickering aura still emanating from his daughter’s arms. It was a glowing gas-like aura that gently wafted up from the skin and faded into the darkness of the bedsheets the further away it got from Alexis’ arms. The color signature was a moderate orange mixed with a sickly green and a tinge of bright red. The energy pattern resembled that of Viurian energy, and not just any ordinary Viurian soldier. William remembered very well that this color signature was unique to that superhuman monster Kaurus: the pet project of the fallen Luminara Society and their K.S.V. allies who had attempted to rip A.T.X.D. to shreds from the core. And he almost succeeded in doing so: Sophia and William were living proof of that horrendous experience over six years ago as revenant anti-operatives who almost killed some of their teammates.
But then why does our daughter have his powers? Sophia became pregnant two months after we killed that sonuvabitch.
“Dad? Is everything okay?” Alexis asked worriedly.
“Yeah, honey.” William realized he’d been staring at his daughter’s arms a little too long. So he quickly swept the concern off his face and recalled his secrecy training as an operative. “Everything’s fine. I just want to make sure Mom did a good job of covering your burns. Looks like you briefly came down with some kind of…heat illness.” It’s a sufficient excuse, right? William pondered internally. It’s late summer outside and Pennsylvania is known for its humidity during this time of year. Looking back at Alexis, the ex-SEAL calmly advised, “I’ll get you some more water.”
“Actually, Ginger Ale, if you have it.” Alexis flashed one of those cute smiles that was a mere twist of the lips; something she’d clearly gotten from Sophia. “Mom gave me some earlier and it seemed to help.”
At least the heat illness lie seems to be working on her. But for how long? William wondered as he advised his daughter to get more sleep. Maybe it’s just some other power that looks like a Viurian pulse. Does everything have to be Kaurus’ doing, William? The thought that these energy-flare symptoms could be some other race’s doing, however, was hardly convincing to the former Bravo Team Sergeant.
Downstairs, William found Sophia leaning against the countertop, staring at a mug of tea on the center island ahead. Almost as though she were terrified to sip its refreshing flavor, Sophia remained stagnant against the counter, staring at the mug and digging her fingers into the marble behind her. William wanted to tell Sophia that their daughter was fine, but it didn’t seem like she’d respond to that. To avoid putting pressure on his wife, William looked away and tried to busy himself with kitchen inventory.
“Kaurus.”
“Sorry?” William froze but turned a gentle look back towards Sophia, who hadn’t budged an inch despite speaking.
“Kaurus. That….son of a bitch…Even after death, he plagues us.”
“Sophia, Kaurus died back in Raven’s Pass, remember?” Cautiously, William approached his wife but was prepared to skip back if she became defensively hostile. “You were one of those who beat him up fatally before he got knocked into that acid pit. Remember?”
“But he’s left his mark on our family so we won’t forget.” Sophia’s fearful look began to harden with reproachful anger, and her untied golden hair seemed to shimmer in the kitchen light as though emphasizing the emotion. “He’s infected our daughter. Now she’ll….she’ll be just like him.”
“We don’t know that, Sophia.” But even as he tried to calm his wife down, William couldn’t help wondering internally, Could that be true? It’s not like we can just ask the local doctor to diagnose the symptoms. We’d need Scollay’s expertise…or at least somebody from SIO who has intel on Kaurus’ powers in particular and the progression of symptoms.
“He probably injected himself into me.” Sophia’s look was getting darker and the color was starting to flare up in her face. “While I lay on the floor of that laboratory in Outpost 207, he must have put something inside of me before resurrecting me. A bug, a chip, a wisp of his powers. That mother fucker….he probably….”
Sophia’s back began to arch as she pushed herself away from the countertop only to grip the island counter in front of her and look down at the mug. She then huffed lightly with her eyes still wide, and William initially wasn’t sure if she was surprised or angry.
“Son of a BITCH!” The mug went flying to the left and against against the stove at the back of the kitchen after Sophia swiped it aside with her hand.
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Sophia Danes! What has gotten into you?” William demanded with shock, lowering his hands that he’d initially raised to defend his face in case something got thrown his way instead.
“What’s gotten into me? What’s gotten INTO ME!?” Sophia was white hot with rage. “I’ll tell you what’s gotten into me. That superhuman necrophilic. He impregnated me! He….” Sophia quieted down, but jabbed her Timberlands into the tilework as she marched up to William and looked him in the eye with remorseful anger and shaky, hissing breaths, “He probably raped me. What if….what if Alexis isn’t our child?”
“What are you saying, Sophia?” William was beyond horror at the remark. But he did his best to return to a calming state as he tried to pass that demeanor to his wife. “Of course Alexis is our daughter. Scollay confirmed that during the initial maternal inspection back at the Infirmary. And if the most brilliant scientist in the entire history of A.T.X.D. didn't find any signs of foreign tissue in the fetus, it’s reasonable to assume that Alex’s premortal existence wasn't tampered with.”
“I almost died giving birth to her, Will,” Sophia reminded him, and the anger was beginning to subside to morbid sadness. “At the time, I just thought my internals were still out of place. But Scollay never actually told us the cause. Why the placenta detached. What if something she got from Kaurus….”
“Turns her into that very thing?” William kept his cool, and Sophia could see the barest edge of an empathic smile just vaguely beginning to show as he continued in his attempts to reassure her. “Sophia, nobody is ever born a demon. Sentient beings become demons as a result of subsequent experiences. And the one thing I know from experience that causes a demon to form in one’s own family—coming from a military lineage where not all of us talked about our hardships—is a lack of love.”
“Will, I would never abandon our daughter because of this. But how do we explain the presence of that energy on her arms? The fevers?” Sophia lifted her hands and widened her eyes with a look of worried inquiry. “What are we supposed to tell her? That mommy was turned into a horrific zombie warrior and now Goldie has gained the ability to shoot energy from her hands thanks to some hellish lab experiment?”
“Sophia, you weren’t able to shoot balls of fire…”
“I know that, Will. The question is how, do we, explain that, to her?” Sophia broke her sentence up in wary breaths. “Alexis is only ten. She’s still too young to know our history. All the horrible things we saw and faced.”
Little did William and Sophia know that their daughter was upstairs in the hallway. And she’d heard everything since mom had smashed the mug.
I’m not their daughter? What? Alexis was beyond tears, but suppressed the urge to cry. Retreating towards her room, Alexis looked up at a picture in the hallway. It showed William and Sophia, happy as ever, holding Alexis in their arms when she was only three years old. The threesome family stood by the shore of a local lake during one of their camping trips, and Alexis remembered it being a very joyous time right before they all went swimming in that lake.
A rumble in the heavens above that was audible through the ceiling brought the girl back to Earth and hinted at the approach of a thunderstorm. Entering her room, Alexis looked first through her bedroom window then up at the skylight, watching the darkening cloudscape smother the sky with an angry blackness. Some vague flashes in the green outback beyond the house confirmed that a storm was indeed on the way.
“God, is this you telling me that I’m no longer welcome here?” Alexis whispered sadly towards the window after opening it and letting the heavy cold air begin to drift into her warm room.
A grumble of thunder outside followed by a jingle of the wind chimes down on the back porch was her reply. Alexis then looked down at her hands, which began glowing again.
“So this is what mom and dad are scared of?”
A blaring buzz from the Emergency Alert System followed by the shrill beeping of their storm warning radio in the living room interrupted William and Sophia’s morbidly-worried exchange. They quickly transferred to the room, where the terrestrial-made weather radio began transmitting the audio message of a Severe Thunderstorm Warning. A projection tool of extraterrestrial design displayed visual data to accompany the alert.
“The National Weather Service in Williamsport has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for southwestern Pennsylvania, until 11:30 am Eastern Standard Time,” the local weather station’s automated Tom voice announced. In tandem, the projector showed both a grid-reference of the Danes’ house and then flipped to a radar projection showing a yellowish-orange wave sweeping in their general direction. “These storms are capable of producing winds in excess of 60 miles per hour, deadly lightning and very heavy rain. For your protection, move to an interior room on the lowest floor of your home or business.”
“I’ll go bring Alexis downstairs,” Sophia informed, going into action and hurrying up the steps.
But the message didn’t stop there, and William grew pale when he heard what came next.
“This is a Particularly Dangerous Situation. These storms have the potential to cause serious injury and significant damage to property. A Tornado Watch remains in effect for your local area. Although a tornado is not immediately likely, if one is spotted, act quickly and move to a place of safety in a sturdy structure, such as a basement or small interior room.”
“William!” Sophia’s cry jolted the ex-SEAL’s already throbbing heart, and he pounded so hard up the stairs he thought his feet might go through them as he hurried towards Alexis’ room. “She’s gone!”
“What!?” Looking inside, William was horrified to see Alexis’ tennis shoes missing and the bedroom window open all the way. The wind was starting to pick up and the flashing sheets of lightning in the distance were beginning to get brighter as the storm neared.
“Tomcat, grab a torch and your windbreaker, and meet me at the backyard door.” Getting into full action mode himself, William didn’t hesitate calling his wife by her old callsign in the force as the familiar dedication to save a life shot to the top. “We’re going out there.”
“Should I call the Sheriff’s Department?” Sophia demanded desperately.
“They won’t be able to come,” William advised. “The Weather Service has put our county under Tornado Watch and labeled the storm as a PDS. The local station will likely be flooded with calls. Besides, I was only up here about ten minutes ago, so Alexis couldn’t have gotten far.”
Yanking open their closet door, Sophia pulled out her L.L. Bean raincoat and powered up the battery flashlight and radio so she could stay abreast of the storm reports while searching for their daughter. She also grabbed two walkie talkies so she could communicate with William during the search. Something then dropped to the floor as she retrieved the radios, and she realized it was a trinket from her A.T.X.D. days: one that she had surprisingly been allowed to take with her into exile.
Strapping the force-issue Tracker to her wrist and turning it on, Sophia set the watch-like device to maximum range and thundered back down the hallway to meet William at the back door.
“We’ll find her, Sophia,” William assured his wife.
“I know we will.” Sophia had that brave, reassured look in her eyes that—for the moment—gave William some reassurance. But as he pushed open the door and they ran into the darkening noon sky, the ex-SEAL knew that the only thing which would fully relieve him was when they got their daughter back home safely.