Photo courtesy of JensenAcklesFans.com

*****

He could taste blood ... warm, metallic, sticky in his mouth, fluid and viscous running down the side of his face. Head wounds always bled copiously ... 494 took a breath, nearly choked on the gunk in the back of his throat, then slowly opened his eyes, the throbbing pain in his temples bad enough to make him squint even in the faint light cast by the single overhead bulb that illuminated the barn, and more than equaling the pain in his shoulders and arms from where he was strung up like a side of beef by ropes from an overhead beam. Blinking, Alec tried to assess his situation through the haze of pain, even as he remained still, hoping they wouldn’t notice he was conscious. Glancing around, he saw that there were eight soldiers, all dressed in the camouflage garb that had allowed them to sneak into the house but now visible to the naked eye in the illumination of the light, their suits glinting silver in a way that made his head hurt even more, like sun reflecting off a shiny object. However, they’d removed their masks and he could see their faces -- all white, male, brutal and blank with the expression of drones, none of which he recognized.

The leader ... the man he’d attacked ... was indeed far too old to be an X5 or probably even an X4. Mid thirties, bald, with blue eyes as cold as any Alec had ever seen on a man, he was taller than himself and built like an athlete, muscles rippling beneath the tight fitting sheath of the invisi-suit. The other men in the group were also bald, and equally well-endowed, a crack team of soldiers if ever Alec had seen one. However, their faces told the X5 that they weren’t quite what he’d originally suspected they were. Unlike himself, Max, and the others of his kind ... his series ... they weren’t beautiful or handsome at all, but rather had faces that reflected years of cruelty and hardship, lined and scarred, their features rough hewn and imperfect, bulbous noses and thick lips on some, pig-eyes and thin crooked lips others ... one was even missing an ear ...

And then 494 turned his head slightly more to the right and saw Max ... and his heart turned over in his chest.

She was strung up just like he was, thick rope around her wrists looped over one of the old wooden beams of the barn, and ankles shackled to metal rings set in the stone floor (originally used to tether livestock). Naked, her beautiful body glowing like dark vanilla in the dim light, her breasts rising and falling as she panted not with fear but with rage, she was glaring at the lead captor, brown eyes alight with a glow that promised murder. And when she glanced over at him, the way the emotion on her face changed from warrior to woman just about killed Alec. She’d been afraid not for herself, but for him ...

“Alec,” she whispered his name so low he barely heard, but the look in her eyes said it all ... the relief ... the love ... the sorrow ...

“I’m okay,” he mouthed the words, even as a trickle of blood ran into his mouth.

“So,” the leader of the commando squad said, moving to stand directly in front of Alec, “the tom’s awake. Good. Lydecker always did say his kids were made of pretty sturdy stuff, in spite of all their flaws. Now maybe we can get some answers.”

“We don’t know where he is,” Alec said, his voice a low growl, knowing what the question would be. “If Joshua wasn’t in the house, then he’s gone.”

“I don’t think so,” the chief said, his chiseled pockmarked face coming to within inches of Alec’s, so close the X5 could smell the garlic on his breath and see a maniacal light in those blue eyes that -- quite honestly -- terrified him.

Wrinkling his nose, Alec blinked and dredged up a crooked smirk. “Go to hell,” he said softly.

“I’m already there, son,” the man said. “And soon I’ll be taking you and your pussy back there with me, that is if you don’t cooperate.”

“Who are you?” Max demanded. “Who sent you? And why do you want Joshua?”

Her bravado amazed Alec. No other woman he’d ever known could have managed to remain so cool and calm while strung up naked like she was. However, Max was acting like she was completely in charge of the situation, and her bravery fueled his own.

The craggy-faced commando gave a hand signal to his men, several of whom stepped outside of the barn, presumably to keep watch, while the remaining three took up positions of “at ease” against the wall, their expression totally blank, almost as if they’d just been turned “off.”

“I might as well tell you,” the man said as his gaze roved over Max’s nudity in a way that made Alec’s eyes narrow and his heart speed up again. “In a way, I want you, in particular, to know, 452.” He turned and looked over his shoulder. “You, too, 494. Maybe it will put you in your places, something I really would like to accomplish before I send you both to your graves.”

“The bad ass villain crap is gettin’ a little bit thick, here,” Alec quipped.

The X5 had a fraction of a second to tighten his stomach muscles before the butt of the rifle landed in his midsection. It was all that saved him from what would probably have been a fatal blow. Grunting with pain, he bit down on his lower lip, but refused to let out the cry that rose in the back of his throat, not wanting to give the bastard the satisfaction.

“Any more smart remarks, 494?” the commando asked.

Alec glared, but didn’t answer.

“Any more?!” he roared.

“Alec!” Max implored.

“No,” Alec said quietly.

“No what?”

“No, sir.”

An ugly smile revealed crooked teeth as their captor grinned. “Good. The Colonel said you could be tractable if given the proper motivation. Now, as I was saying, I’m going to tell you exactly who I am and why I’m here, and then I’m going to ask you again where the transhuman is. And if I don’t like your answers my men are going to rape and torture first one of you--” He reached out and took hold of the elastic waist band of Alec’s sweat pants, pulling it out and letting it go so it snapped against the bare skin of the X5’s belly, “--then the other, until you either tell me what I need to know or you’re both dead.” The grin intensified. “And from what I understand about your species, that could take a very long time.”

“I’m listening,” Alec said, his voice utterly neutral even as his mind raced, trying to come up with a way out of this horror story.

“My designation is Y-13,” the man said, turning slightly so they could see the back of his neck where there was, indeed, a barcode. “My men are also Y series soldiers, created and maintained by the same Manticore that birthed you, your bitch, and that abomination that’s been murdering people you call “Joshua.”

“What are you?” Alec had to ask, his brows drawing down even as he spit out a mouthful of blood and swallowed thickly.

“Human,” their captor spat. “Unlike you two. There’s no filthy animal DNA in me or my brothers and sisters. We’re one hundred percent, pure homo sapien.”

“But you’re still supersoldiers,” Max said. “Like the Reds. Ordinary humans transformed with gene therapy and implants.”

Reds, Alec thought, light dawning -- the South Africans’ attempt to create a superior soldier using not genetics, but neuro technology via brain implants that endowed ordinary men with super human powers, albeit very short life spans ... a year at most if he recalled correctly. In fact, through a heroic but ultimately nearly fatal attempt to boost her own powers some years back Max, herself, had put one of those implants into her own skull -- and nearly died from it, her hyper metabolism completely overloaded by the neural stimulation. To this day, the unique alloys in the device could be used to track her whereabouts, at least at short distances ... something else they had to worry about. The X5’s eyes went back to the back of the man’s neck, and sure enough, he saw the faint round depression in the skin that indicated the implant.

“Similar,” Y-13 admitted, “but far better. The flaw with the Red soldiers was their bodies’ inability to handle the stimulation. Using genetic technology admittedly acquired via the X-series program, Manticore scientists have been able to overcome that little flaw.” His eyes raked Max’s naked torso in a way that made the hair on the back of Alec’s neck rise. “And we have you to thank for it, 452, at least in a way. It was your replicated blood that has endowed us with the ability to heal at a rate fast enough to overcome the damage incurred by the implants.” He glanced at Alec and nodded at the still seeping head wound on his temple. “That cut of yours will be almost healed in three days,” he said. “Far more quickly than if you were human. A similar wound on myself or my siblings, however, would heal in three hours.” He turned back to Max. “Such was your contribution, sweetheart ... the pleuropotents and undifferentiated stem cells circulating in your bloodstream given that extra little boost by Sandeman’s science in his ‘special’ child. Your X5 body has never been capable of fully making use of the miracle that is your genetics, 452. However ... our bodies can. Once, we were mere Ordinary soldiers who volunteered for a secret program. Now ...” He made a mock bow. “We’re gods. You, on the other hand, are obsolete.”

“Whoop-te-do,” Alec snarked. “Cut me down and I’ll still kick your godly ass.” He glanced at the other men standing several feet away. “Provided of course you’re willing for a little one-on-one without your back-up singers to protect you.”

“Alec,” Max said sharply. “Don’t.”

“She’s right,” Y-13 said with another ugly smile. “Much as I’d like to break every feline tainted bone in your body, 494, we’re not going to go that route. Because, you see, my strength is greater than an X5’s all the way around and it really wouldn’t be that satisfying.”

“He’s right,” Max said tightly. “Reds are stronger than X5s. You wouldn’t win, Alec.”

“Watch me try,” Alec growled the three words, teeth clenching. His arms were killing him, the muscles of his shoulders screaming from the strain and his hands going numb from lack of circulation. If only his feet had been free he’d have kicked this bastard in the face by now, but unfortunately his ankles were shackled the same as Max’s.

“Oh,” Y-13 added, almost as an afterthought that seemed to track perfectly Alec’s train of thought. “My series do have one other slight advantage over the Manticore hybrids beyond our superior strength and healing abilities.” He unsheathed a knife from his belt, held out his own hand, and cut a deep slice into the fatty part of the skin without so much as blinking. “Just like our Familiar forebearers, we feel no pain.”

The agony in Alec’s head intensified to the point his eyes began to water as he realized just how thoroughly screwed he and Max really were, not just by the situation, but by their own command ... their own people. “Lydecker sent you?” he whispered, needing to be perfectly clear on that point and wanting names to look up in Hell before he undoubtedly died.

“He sent me to take care of the transhuman,” Y-13 said. “By any means necessary.”

That was nebulous, Alec realized, clinging to a tiny bit of hope that maybe ... just maybe ... Donald Lydecker didn’t realize what he’d unleashed on two of his supposedly favorite “kids.”

“He wouldn’t want us harmed,” Max said. “The Colonel still has uses for us. We’re valued.”

“Not so much any more,” Y-13 said with a shrug. “Now.” He glanced at the doorway of the barn where night still ruled even though it seemed to have been hours since their capture. “I do have to admit that, even though you’re an animal, you’re very beautiful, 452.” He stepped forward and touched her breast, pinching a nipple between his calloused thumb and forefinger.

Max glared ... stoic ... but resigned to her fate.

Alec, however, twisted in his shackles, nostrils flaring ... eyes on fire. “Don’t touch her! If you do I swear I’ll--!”

One of the men who’d been standing at ease stepped forward and touched the tip of his rifle on a spot directly between the X5’s eyes. “Silence,” the drone grated. “Or I pull the trigger.”

Alec -- knowing his death would accomplish nothing -- closed his mouth, but the look in his eyes was still pure murder.

“I’m going to enjoy this,” Y-13 continued, his voice dropping an octave as he unzipped the fly of his camouflage suit and moved behind his victim. “Watch closely, 494, and you’ll see how a real man fucks a pussy.”

The rigid cock loosed from Y-13's pants was large, dark and curving, his pubic curls sparkling moistly in the light from the 60 watt bulb, the tip of the glans glistening with pre-cum as he snugged himself up behind Max while she futilely writhed. Holding her breasts cruelly in his big hands, he grunted with pleasure as he thrust his hips and penetrated.

She couldn’t help it. She cried out, the sound small, but audible.

Not caring about his own life any longer, or the rifle against his head, Alec pulled so hard hard on his own shackles that blood ran in rivulets down his bare arms, but it was no use. He couldn’t get free. Which is when he knew what he had to do.

“Stop!” 494 screamed. “Leave her alone and I’ll tell you where Joshua is!”

“Alec!” Max shouted, her own face set in stone as she clenched against the blasphemy being done to her body. “Don’t!”

“Stop hurting her and free me, and I’ll lead you to him!” Alec yelled, breathing so harshly his lungs felt on fire. “Just ... leave her alone!”

Y-13 heard, but finished himself off anyway, taking his own good time, each thrust of his cock stabbing deep into 452 until his cum spilled out and dribbled obscenely down the back of her bare legs. Only then did he step back, shaking himself off, and glanced toward his other captive. “You’re a lucky tom, 494,” he said mockingly. “The pussy’s a nice tight fuck. Now, take me to the transhuman and maybe ... just maybe ... I won’t cut off your balls and feed them to her while my men enjoy her as much as I just did.”

Alec swore to himself right then that, even if it was the last thing he ever did in his life, he was going to kill this bastard. But first, he knew he had to save Max, which ultimately meant saving himself. “There’s a cave in the hills about two miles from here,” he said, keeping his voice under control with difficulty and hoping it was just blood still running down his cheeks and not humiliating tears. “Joshua goes there sometimes, and I’m betting that’s where he’s hiding now. I’ll take you there, but first you’ve got to promise me you’ll let me and Max go.”

“Done,” Y-13 said. “The objective of the mission was never your destruction, 494. It was to eliminate the threat the transhuman has become.” He pointed a finger at the X5. “But remember the punishment the female will suffer if you misbehave. You’re on my leash now, animal. And you’d better not forget it.”

“Who wrote this stuff for you?” Alec snarked as the soldier who’d been holding the rifle against his head silently cut his hands and feet free with a large Bowie knife. However, false humor aside, his eyes remained on Max for as long as they could as he was escorted out of the barn, the look of utter despair on her face burned in his mind as he betrayed his best friend to save her.

*****

Time was 494’s only ally ...

It was cold ... a light covering of snow on the ground ... the half moon shining brightly. Rocks cut Alec’s bare feet and only his transgenic heat kept him from hypothermia as he stoically led the enemy away from Max, into the woods, and up a nearby hill toward a clearing he’d seen once and Joshua had talked about since. It was only the X5’s gut instinct, but he had to hold onto the hope that the dog man would indeed be hiding out in the cave there, and that -- if he was -- they could both somehow figure out a way to escape from these soldiers and still save Max.

Two of the men had remained behind in the barn, the other six were with him -- odds Alec knew were probably impossible, especially since he didn’t have a weapon and had little chance of wrestling one away from men more than his equal in strength.

He walked quickly though, thoughts of what those two who’d stayed behind might be doing to Max making his heart pound with fear.

“How do you know Joshua even did anything?” he asked Y-13 after many minutes of total silence.

“We found the bodies,” the soldier said. “The two missing hunters, and the farmer you helped bury a few weeks ago. They were all on this property ... all killed the same way ... the evidence irrefutable.”

“You’ve been watching us?” Alec said, trying to keep the surprise out of his voice.

“Constantly,” his captor said with a smirk. “You didn’t think Manticore would allow the three of you to live the dream without supervision did you? We always knew there was potential for trouble, especially with the transhuman.”

“Why didn’t you stop him?” Alec had to wonder. “If you knew?”

The Y series shrugged. “Not my job. Ask your colonel if you really want to know, that is if you survive long enough to go whining to him.”

“The cave’s just up ahead,” Alec said quietly, not having a smart alec answer to that one, mainly because he was about as exhausted and beaten up as he’d ever been in his life. He swiped blood out of his right eye from that head wound that just wouldn’t quit seeping, then wrapped his arms around his naked torso, seeking a little bit of warmth.

Y-13 motioned four of his men to move off to the sides, coming in from different directions. With their suits on they were nothing more than ghosts. If Alec hadn’t known they were there, he wasn’t certain that even he could have detected them. Hopefully ... if he really was there ... the Big Fella would catch their scent.

The sound of gunfire close by made the X5 jump. Six short bursts, followed by one more definitive round that -- to him -- meant a kill. By the time they reached the clearing it was all over, Joshua’s body lying in a shaggy heap on the ground with half a dozen bullet holes in him, the last dead center between his open, staring, blue eyes. Without thinking about it, Alec’s hand closed around the amulet he still wore around his neck ... his gift from Joshua so long ago ... and then his eyes filled with tears.

“It’s over,” Y-13 said quietly from beside him, and 494 felt the cold pressure of a gun barrel pressing against the back of his head, just above his bar code. “Get down on your knees, animal, and put your hands behind your back.”

Alec tensed, preparing for one final fight.

“Try it, and she’ll be the one to suffer,” the soldier said grimly.

The X5 closed his eyes briefly, then sank to his knees in the snow, the pressure of cold steel against his skull never wavering, his sweat pants soaking up the freezing moisture and the shivers beginning at last as he relaxed, hands behind his back as ordered. At least he’d have Joshua to keep him company on the other side.

There was the sound of the gun being cocked. “I ought to have some fun with you first,” Y-13 chuckled softly. “You’re as pretty as the bitch. But you’re also clever, strong, and probably quite willing to die for her right now so this is my safest option.”

The sound of the trigger being pulled was loud in Alec’s ear, but then he realized he shouldn’t have been able to hear that ... not if a bullet had just gone into his brain stem. Slowly, he turned his head and looked up into those cold, cruel, blue eyes.

“Surprise, 494,” the Y soldier said, his grin merciless as he yanked Alec’s head back by his hair. “Be glad you’re Lydecker’s pet. My orders didn’t include killing you, not unless I had to. So ... consider this one of your nine lives used up.” He let go, glanced over at Joshua’s body, and added with mock sweetness. “Oh, and thanks for your help.”

Then he and his men quite literally melted away into the moonlit shadows of the night, leaving X5-494 shaken, confused ... and enraged. Climbing stiffly to his feet, Alec looked back the way they’d just come, needing to go to Max, but then he turned to stare down at Joshua’s body.

“Alec,” a deep voice said from the darkness of the cave to his right.

The X5 jumped. He didn’t believe in ghosts, but that had sounded like--

“Alec, it’s me.” Joshua stepped out of the blackness, looking very much like his usual self in flannel shirt, ragged jeans, and Army jacket. He was even wearing Father’s pendant.

“But--” Alec stammered, his head whipping around to the body on the ground.

“Noah,” Joshua said softly, the name followed by a quiet, keening, canine wail. “Brother.”

“But I thought Isaac was--?”

“Other brother,” Joshua said. “Little Noah found me, Alec. But he didn’t know how to live with humans. He kept making mistakes. I couldn’t tell you.”

“So, you’ve been keeping him up here all this time?” Alec said, hugging himself again as his teeth began to chatter, although more from the adrenaline drop than from the cold. Joshua saw, shrugged out of his jacket, and draped it over his friend’s bare shoulders.

“Yes. Bringing food ... keeping Noah safe.”

“But he killed those hunters, didn’t he?” Alec said. “Vaughn Miles, too. You took the fall to protect him.”

Joshua hung his head and sniffled.

Alec realized something ... that he had to explain what seemed to be a betrayal on his part. “They’ve got Max,” he said, taking hold of Joshua’s shoulders and looking earnestly into those wise blue eyes. “That’s the only reason I led them here. Josh ... I wouldn’t have if-- They were hurting her.” He swallowed hard, hoping his friend would understand.

“Alec did the right thing,” Joshua said, those few simple words absolving the X5 of all wrongdoing in the dog man’s mind. “Alec has to protect Max, just like Joshua had to protect Noah.”

Alec nodded. “I have to get back to her ... make sure she’s all right. But Josh--”

“I’m leaving, Alec.”

“You have no place to go,” the X5 said, although secretly he was slightly relieved his big friend realized the truth of the situation.

The dog man looked to the north. “I’ll go where Noah came from,” he said. “He told me where.”

“And that is?”

“Better Alec not know,” Joshua said, and Alec couldn’t blame him for keeping the secret. Not after this.

“I’ll bury your brother,” Alec said.

“No,” Joshua replied. “I will. Then I’ll go.” He reached out and drew the X5 into his arms in a huge bear hug. “Don’t worry about Joshua,” he said gruffly in Alec’s ear. “Just keep you and Max safe.”

“Count on it,” Alec whispered hoarsely as elation at Joshua still being alive warred with sorrow over the fact his friend really did have to leave.

Joshua set him back. “Now,” he said -- an order. “Go to Max. It’s where you belong.”

Alec smiled briefly at that, nodded, and with one last look directly into the eyes of one of the best men he’d ever known in his life, he turned and leaped into the woods, headed at a run back to the farm.

*****

True to his word, Y-13 had left Max alive. His men had even cut her free from her shackles, but not before ... taking turns. Lying limp and unconscious in the straw, her long dark hair a halo around her ashen face and her beautiful nude body bruised, scratched, and smeared with sweat, blood, and semen, she looked like an injured fallen angel. Alec allowed himself a single sob as he cradled her against his bare chest, the feel of her steady heartbeat at least a little bit reassuring. It was several minutes before he rose and carried her to the house.

Lying Max carefully on the bed, he covered her with blankets, then got his cell phone out of the pocket of his jeans that still lay slung over the back of a chair where he’d tossed them the night before.

Obsolescence. Planned or not, that was what he and his siblings were facing. Death by attrition ... by deliberation ... even head-on. And it wasn’t going to be pretty. They’d been replaced and now were nothing more (or less) than something worthy of extinction.

He knew the number by heart.

“Lydecker,” Alec said into the receiver, his voice rough and his mouth cotton dry. “Are you gonna tell me what’s goin’ on before I come and kill you?”