Photo courtesy of JensenAcklesFans.com

*****

Alec came through the front door and looked around the interior of the place he, Max, and Joshua had called “home sweet home” for the past few weeks -- a century-old Canadian farm house he’d remembered from his travels that he’d managed to rent cheap so the three of them could have somewhere to lay low for awhile. Located in a small community just north of Pemberton, British Columbia, the location had the advantage of being both out of the country, yet still within easy driving distance of Seattle, a place where he and Max still had old friends as well as connections. The paperwork Lydecker had provided them with allowed the two X5s to travel freely across the border and back whenever they needed to. Joshua, of course, had been sneaked into Canada on the back of Alec’s bike via a series of dirt roads that were really little more than moose trails. Still, their artist-in-residence was a lot happier here than locked up in some drab grey cell at the Gillette Manticore base -- or at least Alec thought he was.

“Anyone come snoopin’ around?” Alec asked, his motorcycle boots scuffing on the wooden boards of the old fashioned kitchen’s floor as he passed through and dropped his backpack into a threadbare arm chair in the sparsely furnished living room. Max had been working at making the place “homey” as she called it, for Joshua’s sake if not for her own, but the house was still pretty much empty of furniture except for a few pieces she’d found at garage sales.

“No,” Joshua said, bobbing his head as he followed his friend back into the kitchen. “No snoops.”

“Good,” Alec said, his expression firm. “One thing we don’t need are curious folk wonderin’ if there’s a werewolf in the vicinity.”

Joshua frowned.

“Hey, no offense, buddy, but you know how rumors get started.”

“I know, Alec,” Joshua said with a huge sigh. “Lay low.”

“At least it’s not as bad as Seattle,” Alec said, trying to ease the hurt he saw in his friend’s eyes. “You can go outside here.”

“Miss my friends,” Joshua said, his nose twitching in a very canine way.

“What am I?” Alec exclaimed, throwing his hands wide. “Chopped liver?”

“You’re gone a lot, Alec.”

“But I’m here now,” he said. There was the sound of a motorcycle coming up the dirt drive and the shine of a head lamp. “And so’s Max.” Alec looked nervously at the door. “Now remember. Not a word about me bein’ shot.”

Joshua made a zipping motion across his lips. “Not a word,” he promised.

“Hey,” Max said as she came through the door carrying a big paper sack that undoubtedly had lots of leftover food in it from the diner. “When did you get back?” She set the bag down on the kitchen table and wrapped her arms around Alec in a big hug which he returned wholeheartedly. “I didn’t expect you until tomorrow.” She then drew back and looked up at him, concern clouding her dark eyes.

“Guys in the pool hall I was workin’ were startin’ to catch on,” Alec said blithely. “Figured I’d better get out while I could.”

“Wise choice -- for once,” Max said, having to add that sarcastic caveat to what otherwise would have been a compliment. “How much did you make?”

“Three hundred, minus gas,” Alec said, taking out his wallet and counting the bills onto the table.

Max made a wry face and pulled a paycheck out of her jeans pocket. “Two weeks wages and not even enough to buy groceries,” she said. “Good thing I get leftovers for free.”

Alec was peeking into the top of the sack. “Smells good,” he said as she batted his hand away. “Lasagna?”

“Mama’s best,” Max said. “Sarah can cook. I give her that. But I wish people would tip better.”

Alec licked his lips and frowned. “Hustlin’ pool, waitin’ tables, tendin’ bar ... Max, you and I are bettern’ this.”

“What do you want to do, Alec?” she asked, unpacking the food as Joshua set plates on the table. “Pull off a big heist then live on our millions in the South Pacific for the rest of our lives?”

“Sounds good to me,” Alec said, coming up behind Max and planting a little kiss on her cheek as his big hands possessively spanned her waist. She turned in his arms and closed the distance, her lips finding his, the two X5s savoring the moment as well as the taste of each other while Joshua pretended to not watch.

“Bedroom that way,” the dog man finally said, still not looking but pointing down the hall to where the master suite was located, its one piece of furniture a large double bed covered with blankets and comforters that allowed plenty of room for both lovemaking and 494’s sprawl.

Alec pulled back from from the kiss with a contented smile on his face. “Food first,” he said, looking over at Joshua. “Haven’t I taught you your priorities?”

“Priorities my ass,” Max joked reaching out and grabbing Alec’s arms to pull him back to her.

He couldn’t help it. He winced -- and of course Max saw. Immediately all trace of playfulness in her eyes vanished, replaced by first concern ... then suspicion. “What’s wrong?” she asked, not letting go of the X5’s arm. She reached up and felt the bandage wrapped around his shoulder before Alec could draw away.

“Nothing much,” Alec lied. “Just a little accident in town.”

“What kind of accident?” Max snapped.

“As in the shooting kind,” Alec said in a rather small voice, knowing he’d been caught and unwilling to lie to Max -- at least not about this.

“You were shot?” Max exclaimed. “By who?”

“It’s ‘whom’, Max,” Alec corrected her grammar. He shrugged, and winced again, the bullet wound throbbing more than he wanted to admit. “I’m not sure. Probably just some red neck sore loser from the pool game who thought he could shoot me in the back in a dark alley.”

“You ran?” Max said.

“Figured it was prudent at the time,” Alec said, meeting her gaze steadily. “Gunshots tendin’ to bring the law and all.” He saw worry warring with anger in her eyes. “Joshua dressed my wound,” he said easily. “I’ll be fine in a day or so, provided it doesn’t get infected.”

“And if it does?” Max exclaimed. “We can’t afford to go to a local doctor, and I mean that in more ways than one. We’ll have to go to Seattle ... see Sam Carr ...” She was already planning the trip in her mind and Alec reached out to take hold of her by both shoulders, giving her a little shake.

“I’m fine,” he repeated, his voice and his eyes brooking no nonsense. “I’ll heal. And I won’t go back to that bar in Vancouver.”

“You weren’t followed?” Max said, her eyes involuntarily going to the window where the moon was illuminating the farm’s driveway, a winding gravel road that led through two miles of woods before emerging onto a county highway.

“No. It was a simply robbery attempt, Max ... probably.”

“You’re sure you weren’t made?” she persisted. “Alec, you know how the Breeding Cult has been trying harder than ever this past year to take the rest of us out. It’s like its become their life’s work -- killing off all of Sandeman’s transgenic and transhuman children so their precious bloodlines are safe and they can continue with their attempt to overthrow humanity.”

“Max, that was a mouthful,” Alec said, but at the same time fingering the two leather bracelets he wore around his right wrist -- one representing his own people, and the other representing the humans he’d been created to protect ... his supposed mission in life ... his purpose ... (Max, herself, only wore one bracelet, although whether it stood for her own people or Ordinaries Alec wasn’t sure.)

“If you’d wear your damn hair longer,” she groused, turning around and going back to unpacking the lasagna. “Cover your bar code better ...”

“Max, it’s not against the law to be an X5 any longer,” Alec said with a sigh. “I’m not gonna hide who I am and you, of all people, should understand that.”

“I do,” she said as she brought out a loaf of warm French bread and reached into the kitchen drawer for a knife. Then she looked up at him. “But I’m just afraid that--” She stopped.

“Afraid of what?”

“Afraid this is too good to be true,” she finally said. “Here ... us ... living peacefully ... I’m afraid it’s all going to come crashing down as in you getting your sorry ass killed. You’ve got a target on you so long as people can see your bar code, Alec. It might even be something so stupid as a drunk Ordinary deciding he wants to bag a supersoldier with a shotgun some night in a parking lot. You might never even see it coming.”

“Hey!” Alec exclaimed, grabbing hold of Max’s hand as she almost cut herself with the knife. She tried to pull away but he held on. “Stop it. We were never meant to have long lives anyway, Max. You know it, and I know it.” He looked up at Joshua who’d been listening solemnly. “Let’s just be glad for the family we have right now and not look a gift horse in the mouth with this set-up we’ve got goin’, even if we could use a little more money.”

Max just sighed and shook her head, her long dark hair falling forward as she continued preparing their meal, hiding her expression from both of the guys.

They ate in silence, and the silence continued after he and Max had gone to bed, his shoulder and weariness from the drive an excuse, he supposed, for not making love. However, Alec knew that long after they should have been asleep, both of them were lying wide awake staring at the ceiling.

*****

Cleaning off a bar room table with a wet rag, the sleeves of his flannel shirt rolled up exposing his forearms as he wiped up spilled beer and crumbs, Alec wasn’t in a very good mood later the next morning, even without the added duty of having to play bus boy as well as bar tender because one of Moe’s teenage hires hadn’t shown up for work. I really do need to get a better paying job, he thought to himself as he glanced over at the swinging passthrough doors on the other side of the room that led into the restaurant area where Max was already waiting tables, serving late breakfast and early lunch customers. Both of us do. It was just so ... undignified ... for two of the finest soldiers on the planet to be working for minimum wage plus tips in a dive like this. He knew anonymity had a price, but he really hadn’t expected it to be this high.

However, Alec had to concede that the set up wasn’t all bad. The honest money they made in the old fashioned, family-owned Pemberton bar/restaurant was enough to keep the three of them fed and a roof over their heads in a place out of the way enough that they were essentially “off the grid.” Plus, there were always their outside forays to Vancouver and Seattle on their days off when they could make a little extra cash -- usually by hustling pool or poker, selling one of Joshua’s paintings, or sometimes he and Max working a carefully planned scam or small time heist.

Wiping up the last of the mess on the table, Alec turned around -- his thoughts still glum -- and almost ran into a customer. “Excuse me,” he said, apologizing before he’d really taken a good look at the young woman who was standing a bit too close to him. The X5 didn’t like to be touched -- an old phobia from his harsh Manticore upbringing -- and he also didn’t like people crowding his “personal space.” This chick, by reaching out and grabbing his arm as she practically stood on his feet, had just violated both of those taboos.

Politely, but deliberately, Alec stepped back and pulled his arm away from those cool fingers. Then he sized her up, taking in the wavy, shoulder-length bleach-blonde hair, big blue eyes, an upturned nose that was too “perky” to be real, lush red lips, and a set of boobs which -- in spite of himself -- made Alec’s pupils dilate and his cock rise to half-mast. The rack was definitely a Double D. The X5 hadn’t seen cleavage like that in quite awhile. It was cold in the tavern, a fact the girl’s nipples seemed to relish as they poked out at him, hardened and screaming for attention beneath the cream mohair of her two-sizes-too-small sweater.

“I was wondering if you could help me with something,” she asked, her voice oddly disconcerting because she sounded like a little girl while her body was anything but immature. She actually looked to be in her late teens or perhaps early twenties, Alec thought ... the tons of make-up she was wearing perhaps deceiving. He wondered if she was a hooker. She sure looked like one, high heels, miniskirt, mesh hose, red knee-high boots, and all. But it was a little early in the day or her kind to be out and about, plus Moe -- the owner of the tavern -- frowned on that kind of thing and chased working girls out if they bothered his patrons. Usually the prostitutes hung around on a corner of Pemberton’s secondary Main street about three blocks south of here.

“I was driving through town and had some car trouble,” she said, once again taking a step too close to him.

Again, Alec backed up, but made the move seem less deliberate by flashing one of his patented charming smiles. Just because the chick had a bad sense of body space didn’t mean he had to be rude. “There’s a garage four blocks ease of here,” he said. “Run by a guy named ‘Jimmy’.” He does half decent work and he won’t cheat you.”

“My car’s already in the shop,” the girl said. She held out a slender, white, frighteningly well manicured hand adorned with a diamond bracelet that looked real. “Gina,” she said. “Gina Calero.” She sighed then, her lush chest rising and her breasts tightening even more against the sweater.

Unable to see a way out of it, the X5 briefly took her hand and replied, “Alec.” He dropped her fingers and once more picked up the wet rag. “How can I help you then?”

“I need a place to stay,” Gina said. “I’m really nervous, traveling alone here. It’s practically wilderness. I was on my way to Seattle when my car broke down. It won’t be fixed for at least three days because the garage said they had to order parts that might be hard to find.”

“Moe rents out rooms on the second floor,” Alec said, glad he had a ready answer for her so that maybe she’d go away. There was a time in his life when he’d have been more than glad to “help” a girl like this ... help her right out of her clothes and into his bed in fact. But it wasn’t like he was looking for companionship any more, and besides ... Max was right in the next room.”

Stepping closer for the third time, she pressed her breasts against his biceps. If there had been any doubt in Alec’s mind as to what she really wanted from him, that moved banished it. “Not interested,” he said, his voice still polite, but with an edge as he firmly took hold of her shoulder and pushed her away. “Go find yourself another John, lady. But not in here. Moe doesn’t take kindly to whores bothering his customers or his staff.”

“I’d like to bother your staff,” Gina said, her pink tongue licking those luscious red lips. “In fact, I could do all kinds of wonderful naughty things to your ... staff.” And then she touched him, her hand boldly cupping his crotch through the denim of his worn blue jeans.

Alec had always appreciated forceful women. Case in point, his attraction to Max. However, he knew he had a good thing going in his life right now ... a home ... a family of sorts ... a girl who loved him even if she rarely said it out loud. And his days of doing something impetuous and stupid just to satisfy his dick for a few minutes were long in the past. That had been the old, just-out-of-Manticore Alec ... Alec the boy ... Alec the inexperienced kid. He was a man now, in more ways than one ... pushing thirty ... with a whole new life of his own to live that was finally on the right track, or at least he liked to think so. And a girl like this Gina was a danger to everything he had. Somehow, he instinctively knew that. Then again, Manticore hadn’t made given him empathic abilities for nothing.

He grabbed hold of her intrusive hand, squeezing her wrist just hard enough to make her wince as his hazel-green eyes grew cold and his jaw tightened. “Get out,” he said quietly.

“What are you?” she laughed, not taking him seriously. “Don’t tell me a hot guy like you is gay?”

“Get. Out.” Alec repeated softly.

Her eyes went to his left hand, checking for a ring.

“I’m just not interested,” Alec clarified. “At all.”

Gina’s smile broadened in a maddening way. Apparently the bitch (because that’s how Alec now thought of her) couldn’t take even a direct order, let alone a hint. “Let me guess,” she purred, grabbing hold of the front of his belt with her free hand and putting cool fingers down his fly. “You’ve got a cute little girlfriend somewhere ... someone you think you’re in love with. Well, soldier, you have no idea what you’re missing. I can do things with you ... to you ... that would make your naive darling blush her pretty little head off.”

“I sincerely doubt that,” Alec muttered under his breath as he forcefully yanked her hand out of his pants. She was surprisingly strong, and one of those long polished red nails actually scratched the skin of his wrist. He looked around hoping their little scene wasn’t being observed. The last thing he needed this morning was to lose his job.

And then suddenly the room began to spin, just as he realized she’d called him “soldier.”

*****

Photo courtesy of JensenAcklesFans.com

Alec was fucking tired of waking up in places that weren’t his own bed -- like now. Blinking his eyes as his brain rebooted he realized he was lying on his stomach on a freezing metal floor and that a very cold wind was whipping across his shivering body. Wherever he was, it was also very dark. Opening his eyelids to slits, cat pupils focused on the flickering flames of a fire just beyond the bars of what appeared to be a cage.

Great. Just great.

Sitting up slowly, his head spinning from the drug that bitch had given him (and perhaps more sedatives as well), he shrugged stiff shoulders and took stock of himself. They’d left him his jeans and t-shirt, but other than that he’d pretty much been stripped. Even his boots and socks were gone, his bare feet half numb from the cold. Chafing his arms, the X5 clenched chattering teeth and peered out at the camp where he could see a number of dark figures walking around the perimeter of the lighted area, some carrying rifles from the looks of their silhouettes. Other cages like the one he was in surrounded the immediate area -- he counted ten in all. Not really big enough to stand up in, they were approximately 6 feet square -- large enough to uncomfortably hold a man ... or a transgenic.

Alec knew where he was -- well, not exactly where he was, but he knew who had him. He also knew what that cunt who’d tricked him was -- Breeding Cult, one of the inbred, advanced humans who’s legacy included an agenda for genocide of the Ordinary human race, not to mention a renegade “Father” who’d created Manticore’s human/animal hybrid transgenics in an attempt to thwart his peoples’ evil plan.

“Familiars” as they called themselves hated his people with a passion, Alec knew. They considered his kind worse than animals -- a taint on humankind’s genetics -- and were as intent on wiping his race out as they were intent on destroying Ordinary humanity.

It had been a Familiar in that alley the other night in Vancouver, he guessed. Maybe one that had followed him home?

The thought was chilling even moreso than the frigid air of this mountain camp. Alec looked around at the other cages and their occupants, but he didn’t see Max anywhere. Maybe they hadn’t gotten her, or maybe she’d gotten away? Or maybe ... He didn’t want to think about that. After all, he was alive, wasn’t he. Obviously they had a reason to keep him breathing, at least for awhile.

There was a blond-headed kid in the cage next to his, probably an X6 from his age, curled up asleep in a corner, arms wrapped around himself trying to keep warm.

“Hey,” Alec whispered harshly, keeping one eye on the armed guards on the other side of the big fire. “Kid! What’s goin’ on here?”

The boy stirred and raised his head, which is when Alec realized he knew that face. It took a moment to place, but he’d always had a knack for remembering people and his mind didn’t fail him this time. It had been almost six years ago in an old barn just north of Seattle, right after Manticore had gone down, half a dozen or so X6s and and an X8 running for their lives when he and Max had come across them. Max had named this one--

“Zero!” Alec said sharply. “Report, soldier! What’s our status?”

“Sir?” the boy mumbled, his blue eyes widening as he recognized the X5. “They got you too?”

“Looks like,” Alec said with a grimace. “Who are ‘they’? No, wait. Lemme guess. Breeding Cult, right?”

“Yes, sir,” Zero said, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. His face was dirty, his clothes in rags, and he looked way too thin. Alec had to wonder how long he’d been a captive here.

“What are they doing with us?” Alec asked, needing to know the worst first.

The boy looked away, and Alec could swear there were tears in his eyes. “Anything they want to,” finally came the answer. “They hate us so much ...”

“Well, the feeling’s mutual,” Alec said, his jaw tightening. “So, they’re not just killing us?”

“No, sir. They’ve ... they want to keep us alive, at least some of us ... for awhile.”

“Why?”

Zero just shook his head and buried his face in his arms.

Alec’s gut clenched and he swallowed hard. It took a lot to break an X series soldier, but whatever they’d been doing to this kid had pretty much done the job.

“Are there any more X5s here?” he asked, looking around at the other cages where dark bodies lay mostly unmoving.

Zero shook his head. “Usually they kill the X5s right away,” he said quietly. “They’re too much trouble.” He looked up at Alec. “I don’t know why you’re still alive.”

“Because we have special plans for X5-494,” a smooth, syrupy voice said from behind the brilliant flames. Gina stepped into the light. Appropriately enough, she was dressed head to toe in black leather, and was even carrying a small whip. She looked ridiculous, Alec thought ... but also cruel and dangerous. He’d seen that gleam in peoples’ eyes before, and her hatred for him was almost palpable. “You led us a merry chase,” she said. “But luckily we’ve got a tracker on that motorcycle of yours. You led us right from Vancouver to Pemberton. Of course we almost had you in Madrid last year, and again in Panama three months ago -- remember?”

The knife scars from that last encounter had pretty much faded on Alec’s rib cage, but the memory was still vivid. He’d almost died on the docks that night. Then of course he’d just been shot two days ago. “You people need to improve your aim,” he said dryly. “Or am I just that good?”

“Oh, you’re going to get a chance to prove how good you are, animal,” Gina said.

“What does that mean?” Alec had to ask, the hair on the back of his neck prickling just above his bar code. He didn’t have Max’s sense of prescience, but he could clearly feel hatred, especially when it was aimed at him. Question was, why wasn’t he dead already? He glanced around at the other cages. Why weren’t they all dead?

“We have a use for a strong male like you,” Gina said. Another Familiar, a tall muscular dark-complected man who’d been adding logs to the fire, turned his head and grinned at her words -- or rather leered.

“Use?” Alec said, needing to know the worst.

“You’re accustomed to being hunted, right?” Gina said, planting hands on her hips and cocking her head to one side as she regarded him.

Alec had never felt so much like an animal in his life. It was just the way she was looking at him ... something in her eyes. “More like I’m used to being the hunter,” Alec corrected her.

“Bred to kill,” Gina said, sucking on her lower lip. “Tell me something, 494. How old were you when you murdered your first human?”

“Nine,” Alec said without hesitation, remembering his first Manticore pack hunt and the taste of blood as he’d licked it off his hands while Lydecker stood to one side smiling proudly at his feral “kids.” It hadn’t exactly felt good -- that kill -- but it had felt natural. It was something that haunted the X5 still ... that he had something deep inside his psyche that, when the circumstances were right, overrode his conscience ... allowed him to slay without thought or mercy. Then again, his mind whispered as he saw the way the bitch was looking at him, that kind of genetically programmed homicide just might come in handy soon. “What are you gonna do with me?” he asked bluntly.

“We’re going to play a little game in the morning,” Gina said, glancing over her shoulder at the man behind her. “My boys need practice, and you need a chance -- however slim. You’ll be set free, 494 ... given a head start. And then you’ll be hunted down.”

Zero was listening in his cage, his blue eyes wide and terrified. Again, Alec had to wonder what they’d been doing to the X6 to have beaten him down so badly. “What about him?” he asked, nodding at the boy. “And the others?”

“Not worth our effort,” Gina shrugged. “Oh, my men still play with them. Just not the same way they’re going to be playing with you. You present a bit of a challenge, 494, and yes, that’s a compliment. These others ...” She glanced at Zero and made a wry face. “They broke too easily.”

“And if you catch me, what then?” Alec asked tersely, although he already knew the answer.

“You’ll become one of my men’s toys too,” Gina said with a lascivious smile. “Maybe mine as well.” She looked him up and down. “You’ve got a nice body for an animal.”

“And if I get away?”

Her eyes flickered with what Alec almost thought was pity. “Don’t worry about that,” she softly said. “You won’t.”

*****

They raped Zero that night, and all Alec could do was watch, seated in the corner of his cage, arms wrapped around his knees, shivering with cold and his eyes filled with murder.

There were four of them (including the guard from earlier who seemed to be the one with the most authority after Gina) ... four fuck-strong Familiars holding the young X6 face down over a log with his pants around his ankles while they took turns sticking their dicks up his ass.

Zero endured the torment silently, his expression ... his eyes ... blank. But then what else could he do? Bound hand and foot as well as outnumbered by creatures every bit as strong as he was he had no way to fight back other than with his apathy.

Beneath his rage, Alec was proud of the boy ... proud of his own kind. And he also wondered if -- when his turn came -- he’d be as brave.

Afterwards, when they were essentially alone and Zero had been thrown beaten and bloody back into his cage, Alec tried to talk to the boy ... comfort him. But the X6 simply lay on the metal floor of his prison, eyes open and staring, responding to nothing ... catatonic, and eventually Alec closed his own eyes in sleep.

It was still dark when they came for him -- six big Breeding Cult guards including the ones from the night before. Jolted awake by the sound of his cage door being unlocked, Alec scrambled to his feet and backed against the bars, half-crouched, half-ready to spring. If they thought they were going to do to him what they’d done to Zero the night before they were going to be fucking a corpse because 494 had already decided he’d die before allowing himself to be raped.

However, the biggest of the guards, Gina’s man -- his black eyes glittering and a vicious smile cutting through his swarthy face -- was stepping back from the open cage door. “You’re free to go,” he said, the leather of his black biker’s jacket creaking as he swept an arm wide.

Alec looked down at his own bare feet, then out at the snow-covered landscape. “Go where?” he asked, his voice rough with thirst.

“Anywhere you want to,” the Familiar said.

“So you can hunt me down?” Alec snarled, still not emerging from the cage. “Contrary to what you might think, I’m not an animal.”

“Yes, you are,” the man said with a tired sigh. “And you’re going to run, and we’re going to chase you, and you’re going to be caught and, after we’re done with you, you’ll be killed and your body and all its filthy bastardized DNA burned.

“Boy, you just said a mouthful,” Alec quipped. “What if I don’t wanna play your little game?”

“You saw what we did to that boy last night?” the swarthy man said, nodding toward Zero’s cage where the X6 was now curled in a fetal position on the floor.

Alec clenched his jaw and raised his chin a fraction higher.

“Well,” the guard continued. “Let’s just say that we’ll be spending a lot more time and attention on you than we did on that little piece of shit. You ever seen someone who’s been raped to death, 494? Eventually you die from internal bleeding, but it takes a hell of a long time. Of course,” he glanced around at the other five men, “me and mine will be enjoying ourselves the whole time so it’s nothin’ to me if you wanna just drop your pants now and bend over so we can get the party started.” Emphasizing his point, he reached down and very slowly unzipped the fly of his black denim jeans.

Alec’s heart speeded up. He really didn’t have a choice. No way could he take out six of these bastards. Hell, even one would give him a hell of a fight. “All right,” he said, swallowing hard. “I’ll play. How much head start do I have?”

“Ten minutes,” the guard said.

“Ten minutes!” Alec shouted. “Aw, come on, guys! That’s not fair!”

“Ten minutes,” the words were repeated.

“I need shoes.”

“No, you don’t.”

“How about food ... at least some water.”

“Eat snow, and it’s nine minutes now.”

“How do I win?” Alec asked quickly.

“You don’t,” the guard said with a big smile. “Your reward is getting to breathe a few hours longer.”

Shit, Alec thought as he looked up at the mountaintops, visible now in the faint pink glow of the rising sun.

“Eight minutes,” the big man said quietly. “Tick tock, 494.”

The words sent a chill up Alec’s spine, stirring a memory from a long time ago when another Cult member -- Ames White -- had tried to force him into service.

“You won’t win, you know,” Alec said as he stepped out of the cage, his eyes on the woods.

“I’ll see you dead at my feet within a day,” the guard said levelly.

One corner of Alec’s lips quirked in the smallest of lopsided smiles. “That’s not what I was talking about.” Then, in a graceful leap, he whirled on his bare feet and blurred, vanishing into the tree line before any of his captors could so much as blink an eye.

*****

He was cold. He was hungry. And his stomach hurt from eating snow. But other than that X5-494 was pretty much all in one piece. He at least had that much going for him, Alec thought as he loped through the slushy pine-needles of the forest, trying to put as much distance between himself and his pursuers as possible without burning himself out. This was actually a lot like an exercise back from his old Manticore days, he thought as he ducked his head to avoid an overhanging branch then picked up the pace again, ignoring the way rocks and branches were cutting into his feet. He’d been on exercises ... even missions ... where he’d had to rely solely on his own stamina for hours or days at a time and he’d always made it through with flying colors. If nothing else, 494 knew he could count on his genetically empowered body to see him through. Even the hunger and freezing temperatures didn’t phase him that much. He could survive up to two weeks without food if he had to ... six days without water (although there were plenty of creeks and streams around to take care of that problem). And he’d taken a good dose of tryptophan just the morning before, Max still nagging him at least once a day about his meds to make sure he didn’t have a serotonin deficiency relapse after that dry spell Marina had put him through. He’d be good on that front for at least another 48 hours, in which time Alec pretty much figured he’d either be out of this mess or dead.

Max ... Alec thought of her as he ran. She’d be wondering what had happened to him, but would she have a clue where to look? Glancing around at his surroundings, the X5 squinted into the rising sun and realized he was headed east. If this was still Canada -- and he had a strong sense that it was -- then the mountains were probably someplace in Alberta Province ... real wilderness territory. He’d need to find a road ... transportation ... But first ...

The X5 stopped in his tracks, listening, nostrils flaring slightly, using every bit of his feline senses to try and detect how close his pursuers were. And then he heard it -- there was someone to his left. Head swiveling, his vision zoomed and he caught sight of the top of a black knit cap.

Gina’s head guardsman. Of course he’d be leading the charge. The sound of a rifle being cocked sent Alec into a leap, diving for cover even as the sharp crack of the shot echoed painfully in his ears. He crashed through a thorny shrub, landing on his already injured shoulder on the rocky shale of the mountain slope.

This couldn’t continue, the X5 knew as he caught his breath and heaved himself back to his feet. If he simply ran he’d be shot in the back -- not the way he wanted to leave this world.

But X5-494 had a plan, if he could manage it.

*****

The large swarthy Familiar checked in with his fellow hunters via walkie-talkie even as his eyes scanned the rocks and short trees mounded at the base of the mountain slope. He’d gotten a glimpse of his quarry, but only a glimpse. Those damn mutants were faster than Hell when they wanted to be, and this cocky bastard was no exception. He was really looking forward to putting a bullet in that cat’s flesh, only hopefully the shot wouldn’t be fatal. No ... he really did want to play with this arrogant male for a little while before slitting his throat and taking his head and genitals back to headquarters in a sack where they’d be mounted on the trophy wall alongside myriad other grisly body parts representing the transgenics his people had hunted down and killed over the years.

There was a sound to his left, and the Cult member turned that way. His team wasn’t far. They’d spread out to cover more territory. With luck, this hunt would end soon and he’d be back to camp in time for dinner and another go at that pretty little X6 boy he’d gotten into the habit of enjoying before bed each night. Then again, if things went right, it might not be the X6 who’d pleasure him tonight, but the X5.

“You could give up, you know,” he called loudly. “Come out and I promise I’ll make it quick. It’s not like you can escape. You have no food ... not even any shoes. You’ll probably freeze to death tonight.”

“Actually,” Alec said, stepping into the clearing behind the guard, “I’m not particularly cold. High metabolism and all that. Remember?”

The guard jumped, instantly bringing the rifle to bear. “I’ve got him,” he said into the walkie-talkie. “Converge on my coordinates.” Then, to Alec, “You didn’t give us much of a hunt.”

The X5 shrugged. “Like you said, what’s the use?”

“Wise man.”

“Man?” Alec replied, his lips quirking in a little smile.

“Animal,” the Familiar corrected himself.

Alec strolled further into the clearing, ignoring the sharp gravel as it bit into his feet, his eyes narrowed and focused completely on the cultist.

“Stop right there,” the guard said, bringing the rifle to bear.

“Hey,” Alec said innocently, spreading his hands wide. “You’re the one with the gun. I’m just surrendering.”

The rifle swung down, aiming at his leg -- a move the X5 had halfway anticipated -- cripple instead of kill -- and Alec blurred. His strong hands closed on the weapon before the Familiar even realized his prey had moved. Alec was that fast. However, getting the weapon away from the guard wasn’t as easy as the X5 had hoped it would be. Breeding Cult warriors might not have a transgenic’s feline attributes or their speed, but they were their equals in strength and couldn’t feel pain. Alec realized the second his muscles met such powerful resistance -- resistance no human would have had -- that he was in trouble.

With the gun between them, the two warriors wrestled, each trying to wrench the weapon free. Alec was at a disadvantage with his injured shoulder, and the guard managed to get the stock loose from his hands. Yanking the rifle away, he took several steps backwards as Alec lost his balance and fell. Then he took quick aim and pulled the trigger. The shot was incredibly loud in the silent woodland clearing ... and wide. Once again Alec blurred, this time tackling the man around the legs and bringing him to the ground where they both rolled. And then the Familiar had both hands around Alec’s throat and all the young transgenic could see was that dark-complected, pock-marked face inches from his own and a pair of black eyes blazing with hatred. His vision began to dim ... his heartbeat skipping as blood was shut off to his brain. Frantically reaching with his hand, Alec’s fingers closed around a rock.

The sound of the stone hitting the Familiar’s skull was like an egg breaking. For just a second, those dark eyes widened with surprise. Then the pupils dilated and blood gushed from the guard’s nose and mouth as he slumped forward on top of the X5.

Alec pushed the distasteful weight off of himself and scrambled to his feet, his hands massaging his bruised throat as he tried to listen to hear if the others were coming. Someone had to have heard that shot. The guard’s walkie-talkie blared with static and a voice inquired, Milo! Come in! Did you get him?

Alec knew he had only a minute or two. Shaking with adrenaline overload and the after effects of near strangulation, he went to his knees beside the Familiar’s body and searched him, pocketing the guy’s wallet, keys, and a big hunting knife he had in his belt. The shoes were too large, but were better than nothing, and the socks were soothing to his own bloody cold feet. Last, he stripped off the guy’s black leather jacket, shrugged into it, and was reassured by the feel of extra clips of ammo in the pocket.

There was a sound to his right, and Alec’s head shot up. Time was up. Grabbing the rifle, Alec leaped into the underbrush surrounding the open space, then took up a position behind some rocks.

He wasn’t going to run any more.

He waited until the three Breeding Cult members were all in the clear, two bending over their buddy’s body and the third standing watchful guard. They probably thought their quarry had fled.

One of them brought out his walkie-talkie, but before he could speak into the mic a small round red hole appeared in the middle of his forehead followed instantly by the sound of a single shot. Alec had been a crack sniper at Manticore back in the day, and, even out of practice, at this range he hadn’t missed. Chambering another round, the X5 squeezed off two more shots as the other two Familiars scrambled for cover. One went down with a bullet in his back -- dead before he hit the ground. The other caught a round in his thigh and fell. Pulling a hand gun ... a .45 from the looks of it ... the young Familiar, a blond who wasn’t any older than Zero, aimed directly at Alec as the X5 slowly stood up on the edge of the underbrush and stepped into the clearing.

“Drop it and I’ll let you live,” Alec said quietly, not even bothering to aim the rifle at the kid. He knew panic when he saw it, and he sensed the boy had probably never killed before in his life -- just something in his eyes ...

“Stay back!” the youngster yelled, cocking the gun and pointing it at the X5. “Stay back you filthy piece of animal shit!”

The kid’s finger squeezed the trigger, the shot as loud in the clearing as the first had been. Only his target wasn’t there.

“Sorry,” Alec grunted as he landed on top of the kid and his hands grasped and twisted the boy’s neck, snapping it neatly. The young body slumped beneath him and, for just a second, the X5 closed his eyes, swallowing bile that was rising in his throat. 494 might have been bred and born do this kind of thing, but he still hated it ... could only do it when provoked ... Rising shakily to his feet, he spared one small thought of contriteness for his actions, then searched the boy’s pockets too, coming up with another 50 bucks. Last, he tucked the .45 into his jeans. There were still two more hunters out there after him. His job wasn’t done.

And then there was also Gina ...

*****

Alec could have preternatural patience, a trait that served him well in poker, battle, and sometimes even with woman. However, it was all he could do to force himself to wait for the friendly darkness to make his next move. In the meantime, he lay low, kept warm, and listened to the walkie-talkie as the two remaining hunters found the bodies of their comrades, contacted base, and ultimately headed back with the apparent intention of ordering a helicopter to expedite the search for their escaped prisoner the following day.

In the meantime, Alec rested in a rocky depression concealed by some small trees and watched the flickering light of the Familiar’s main camp a quarter mile away as dusk descended. The moon had just risen over the horizon, and the X5 was considering making his move, when he heard shouting ... screams. And then came gunfire and he sat up higher, peering through the half-light, his cat eyes zooming in on the dancing shadows running in and out of the firelight down below. Something was going on.

Which is when Alec remembered the other transgenic prisoners in those cages and his heart turned over in his chest.

*****

He got there just in time to see Zero’s body being pitched into the fire where it lay first smoldering, then flaming alongside several other transgenic corpses -- the X6’s blue eyes open and staring sightlessly, seemingly right at him. A dozen other Familiars were hauling the other X6 and transhuman bodies out of their cages as Gina watched, preparing to do the same with them. All were dead -- mowed down in their cages in that round of gunfire Alec had heard several minutes before. There was nothing he could do now ... no way he could have anticipated the mass execution -- or so he told himself.

The smell of burning human flesh is unmistakable, and the transgenics are ... were ... mostly human.

Alec buried his nose in the sleeve of his jacket, breathing through his mouth, his eyes watering with more than the smoke, as he watched the horrific sight of his murdered brothers’ bodies being cremated. If Max had been here instead of me, she wouldn’t have let this happen. She wouldn’t have screwed up.

Filled with rage and his heart aching, 494 fought the urge to run shrieking into that group of ghouls so he could tear out their throats with his teeth and bare hands. But then he saw the machine gun lying on the ground near one of the guard’s packs.

*****

Gina was used to dealing with transgenics ... tracking them ... capturing them ... torturing them ... and ultimately killing them. However, most of her captures over the years had been youngsters ... X6s ... kids barely out of their teens and still not wise in the ways of the human world and therefore relatively easy targets, or else transhuman mutants that were more animal than human fleeing and fighting on instinct alone. The few X5s she’d managed to get her hands on had either died quickly, fighting like tigers, or had been handicapped by genetic problems, seizures, progeria, and the like. X5-494 had been a real treat for her to hunt down and capture ... a challenge, not to mention a fine looking specimen who’s head and body parts would bring bragging rights when mounted on the wall of the Familiar’s hunting lodge -- a trophy worthy of her own high status in the Breeding Cult. Plus, everyone knew that 494 was rumored to be the infamous 452’s breeding partner. And 452 was number one on the Cult’s “most wanted” list. In fact, Gina had seriously considering keeping 494 alive and in agony for a very long time just so she could one day torment 452 with the knowledge that her mate had died slowly and screaming. However, there hadn’t been time for that, so she’d arranged the hunt.

However ... her team had blundered badly. The X5 had apparently escaped -- for now -- and it was time to clean up the mess. There would be consequences for this fiasco, but hopefully her high ranking connections would salvage her position on the Council.

Dusting her hands off, Gina looked around. A movement on the edge of the camp caught her attention and she squinted, trying to focus in the encroaching darkness, for once wishing she had the genetic enhancements of her enemy. The last of the X6s’ bodies had just been thrown into the fire -- the stench made her want to retch -- and her men were finishing packing when the lone figure stepped forward into the edge of the lighted circle.

Tall, muscular, and moving with the grace of a natural athlete (or an animal), X5-494 clenched his jaw as his eyes collided with the female Familiar’s. Then he raised the machine gun.

The last thing Gina Calero saw in this lifetime was the brilliant flicker of hatred filled, glowing green-gold eyes as, without any qualms whatsoever, X5-494 opened fire, cutting her voluptuous body in half with a stream of bullets.

*****

Photo courtesy of JensenAcklesFans.com

She opened the cabin door and just stared at him, her eyes full of both relief and suspicion.

“Hey, Max,” Alec said quietly. He wiped the back of his hand across his mouth and licked dry lips. She opened her mouth, and he held out two fingers. “Wait,” he said simply. “I can explain.”

“You can explain why you staggered out of the bar with a hot blonde two days ago and haven’t been home since?” she said, eying him up and down. She noticed the cuts on his hands ... his face ... and then Alec raised his chin a fraction and she saw the deep bruises etched in the skin of his neck -- the hand print of his Familiar attacker. “What?” Max asked, her own fingers going to his throat and lightly touching the ugly purple marks. “You weren’t good enough in bed and she tried to throttle you? And where’d you get the bike, by the way?”

“Try almost raped and murdered,” Alec said quietly. Her eyes widened and he took pity on her. “Only it didn’t come to that. I got away.”

“Got away? From who?”

“Who do you think?”

And Max -- bless her heart -- instantly understood. “The Breeding Cult,” she breathed. “The blonde? She was a Familiar?”

Alec nodded, then swallowed hard, swaying slightly on his feet. It had been a long hard ride to get here and he was almost ready to collapse. After killing everything that breathed in Gina’s camp he’d fled down the mountain and found a road. A passing hunter had given him a ride into Edmonton where he’d stolen the black Kawasaki motorbike he’d just ridden up on -- its engine noise alerting Max to his arrival. “Same bitch who shot me in Vancouver three days ago.”

Max looked back down the lane, her worry obvious.

“Where’s my Ninja?” Alec asked. “There’s a tracking device on it.”

“In the barn,” Max said. “One of the guys from the restaurant gave me a ride into town yesterday so I could get it.”

Exhausted as he was, Alec knew this couldn’t wait. Staying on his feet by sheer willpower alone, he headed for the barn. Switching on the dim overhead light, he then knelt beside his midnight blue bike and began checking it inch-by-inch for the damning bug. It didn’t take long to find. Triumphant, he held up the small wired silver disc that had been attached beneath the right rear fender. Then he dropped it on the barn floor and ground it to bits beneath his heel. “It was fairly short range,” he said, putting Max’s fears somewhat at ease. “The receiver was in her camp. I destroyed that too. Hopefully no one else was tuned in.”

“Hopefully,” Max said as they walked side-by-side back to the cabin. Just before they reached the door, she took hold of his hand and pulled him to a stop. “You’re hurt,” she said.

“I’ll heal.” Alec grinned. “Those good genetics, ya know. The stuff that drives our Cult buddies nuts.” He wanted to tell her about the others at Gina’s camp ... the X6s that had been slaughtered ... Zero ...

“What?” Max said.

“Inside,” Alec said. “Where’s Joshua?”

“Joshua’s here,” the dog man said from the door as he opened it. “Alec all right?”

“Alec all right,” Alec assured him. “Mostly.”

“Do we need to expect company?” Max asked as he sat down in a kitchen chair and rested elbows on the table while Max made coffee.

“Hope not,” Alec said truthfully.

“But ... you got away. Won’t they be coming after you?”

Joshua was watching him closely, sensing what Max wasn’t.

Alec dropped his face into his hands. “No,” he said quietly.

“Why not?” Max persisted as she put the water on to boil on the gas stove.

Alec looked up at her then, directly into her eyes. “Because I killed them all,” he said, stating it bluntly because he didn’t know any other way.

For a very long moment Max just stood there, and Alec’s heart began to beat faster. He honestly wasn’t sure how she was going to react. Max preferred to negotiate ... peaceful solutions ... and above all else she hated guns. Is this going to change the way she feels about me?

“All of them?” she finally said.

“All of ‘em.”

“Blondie too?”

“Yep.”

A smile slowly lit up Max’s face. “Good,” she said softly.

“Good,” Joshua repeated from behind her.

And then Max leaned down and -- mindful of his bruises -- ever-so-gently kissed Alec on the lips.