"These two just keep circling the place like vultures; we're gonna have to make a move before they do. I don't want any more bloodshed on our hands."

"You heard what they said. You don't really think they plan on killing anyone here today, do you?"

"They're freaks, boy. I never a.s.sume I know what they're going to do. I do however think it's time to force their hand."

Leekasha and Andreas headed up the escalator to the top floor of the shopping mall.

"The restaurant is up there, Chaz."

"I know, they've already walked by it twice. At this rate, they're going to eventually spot the two of us doing exactly the same thing. What I'd really like to know is, where the h.e.l.l is Christa? She's the one responsible for all this. After what she did to Abby, she and I need to spend some quality time chatting."

"Did you know she could do whatever that was she did to Abby? What if these ones can do that too?"

"Christa was different than the rest of them. That much I know. These ones, I don't know. They look human, so they're definitely some of the advanced ones. Maybe they can do what Christa can. They've also been under Pacize for a long time, so who knows what kind of side effects that caused."

"I don't think Christa is showing up here, Chaz. If she is, she's not doing it with these two. None of the surveillance equipment showed her anywhere in the vicinity. Maybe if we take these two, we'll draw her out."

"She's been in hiding for years. If she doesn't want to be found, she's not going to be found. We need to take these two alive, regardless of what Rabban's orders are. I mean to get my hands on Christa, and these two are my best shot at that."

"OK, so what's the plan then? You do have a plan, right?"

"Yeah, I do. For the moment, you're going to hang back and blend into the crowd. I'm going in alone. If it looks like I'm in trouble, I want you to shoot them. Understand?"

"Yes, but ..."

Before Alex could finish, Chaz picked up the pace, narrowing the gap between himself and Andreas. As soon as none of the evening shoppers stood between himself and the two zombies, Chaz pulled out his weapon and fired two shots, one into Andreas' right leg, and the other into Leekasha's right leg. Every shopper in their vicinity immediately dispersed in a panicked frenzy. Chaz ignored the panic and walked directly to Andreas and Leekasha, who were writhing in pain on the ground.

"Where is she?" Chaz demanded. "Where is Christa?"

Both Andreas and Leekasha did their best to slide along the floor away from him.

Chaz aimed his gun directly at Andreas and said, "I will put another round into you if I don't get the answers I'm looking for. I'll ask one more time, where is Christa?"

Leekasha was the first to answer. "We don't know. He sent her away days ago, back on the old highway. We haven't seen her since then."

Chaz looked to Andreas. "How the h.e.l.l could you send her away? She's stronger than the rest of you freaks. Why would she let you send her away?"

Andreas stared back at Chaz with a cold glare. Chaz noticed that his leg was no longer bleeding. He aimed his weapon and shot again, this time into his left leg. Leekasha screamed, but Andreas just grimaced and gripped the new wound.

Chaz said, "I can do this indefinitely. I've got plenty of bullets. How many do you have room for in that body of yours?"

"Relax, man," Andreas answered. "I sent her away by getting into her head. Just like she did to me on the boat. I got into her head and forced her to walk away from us. I'm stronger than she is. That's how I did it."

Chaz shook his head. "I don't believe it. Christa could control all the advanced freaks. What makes you so special?"

"I don't know, man, I just did it."

"Show me. Do it to me. Force me to turn over my weapon. Prove it."

"I can't. I can't focus right now when you keep shooting me. What the h.e.l.l is wrong with you?"

Alex, who had been keeping an eye from within earshot, now came up slowly next to Chaz. "Chaz, what the h.e.l.l are you doing? You trying to get killed? We need to restrain these two and get them out of here. I'm sure by now someone's alerted the police, and we'll have to deal with them as well."

By now, Leekasha's wounds had healed, but she made no threatening movements towards them.

Chaz looked at her and said, "Why the h.e.l.l aren't you bleeding? No one heals that fast."

Leekasha took her hands away from the wounds and said, "I don't know. No one's ever shot me before."

"Chaz," Alex interrupted. "We need to restrain them and get the h.e.l.l out of here. We don't want to be dealing with local authorities here. Remember, we don't want the public knowing there are freaks free from the Pacize drug."

"Fine. If they try anything, shoot them again."

Chaz grabbed both Andreas' arms and cuffed them behind his back. He then placed walking restraints on his ankles. He did the same for Leekasha. Chaz hauled them both to their feet.

"d.a.m.n, man," Andreas complained. "How do you expect me to walk with bullets in my legs?"

"Don't even try s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with me, freak," Chaz said. "I see your wounds are healing already. I don't know how you're doing that, but I'd bet you can walk just fine. Quit stalling. I'm also betting you can't mess with both our minds at the same time." Chaz looked to Alex. "I promise you, if you mess with one of us the other will shoot you." Alex nodded in agreement.

The four of them made their way through the mall without any incident. Andreas led the way, followed by Leekasha, with Chaz and Alex side by side. It was slow moving with leg restraints on the zombies.

Walking through the parking lot, Alex asked, "What now, Chaz? The regent and Rabban gave us orders to kill these two. I'm not so sure they're going to be happy if we show up with these two in tow."

"Actually, they gave us kill or capture orders, and it was for all three of them. Not just these two. I opted for a capture this time, and they're still our best chance to find Christa."

"We're going to capture her as well though, right? You're not thinking kill, are you?"

"The orders were kill or capture. I'll make that decision when I come to it."

Alex wasn't happy with Chaz's answer as they approached their SUV, but before he could say anything else bullets ripped through the air around them. Windows shattered and car alarms started going off. The four of them dropped instantly to the ground. Chaz and Alex did so out of instinct, but Andreas and Leekasha dropped because bullets tore through both their chests.

Adventures in Shopping More shots rang out in the now emptied parking lot. One whizzed by Alex's ear, while another clipped Chaz on the shoulder. They both scrambled under the SUV for protection as Leekasha and Andreas lay bleeding in the parking spot next to them.

"Jesus, Colonel! Who the h.e.l.l is firing at us? Are there other freaks on the loose that we don't know about? Christa wouldn't shoot us, would she?"

Checking the blood coming from his shoulder, Chaz said, "Not likely. Why would they shoot their own kind? On second thought, this one is kind of a p.r.i.c.k, so maybe they would."

"Are they dead, Colonel?"

"They should be from where those shots. .h.i.t them, but you never know with these freaks. They always seem to have some trick up their sleeves. Did you notice how quickly their wounds healed?"

"I did. That can't be a good thing."

"It's certainly not good for us. Keep an eye out. We need to get a bead on whoever is shooting at us. I think there are only two shooters. Otherwise, we'd all be lying out there bleeding."

Whispering, Alex replied, "I've got boots over to my side, Colonel. Two pairs. See them?"

Chaz could see two pairs of boots moving in their direction from under the parked vehicles.

"We gotta move, kid. Follow me and keep low."

They both scrambled on their bellies under several vehicles till they'd put some distance between themselves and their SUV. Alex kept looking back to keep check on the boots of their attackers.

"Colonel, they've stopped. They're standing right next to the zombies."

They could both see boots walking around Andreas and Leekasha. Neither of the zombie bodies were moving. The boots kicked at the bodies, then the attackers poked at them with their rifle muzzles.

Chaz looked to Alex. "Stay here."

Chaz wriggled out from under the car and half stood to peer through the windows at what was going on. After a few seconds, he dropped back down and joined Alex.

"There are only two of them. They're talking on their headsets with someone. We need to move quickly. You stay on this side and work your way around using the cover of the cars to get closer. I'm going to move around the other side to flank them."

"Colonel, we should just go. They're probably waiting for new orders, so we have time to get away."

"No d.a.m.n way, kid. I came here to get those two freaks and Christa. They're our best shot at finding her, dead or alive. I'm not running away from this."

"Colonel. Those are government soldiers. You've been betrayed. You know that, right? There's probably backup coming for those bodies."

"Kid, I don't care who they are. Right now, all I know is running away from this takes us further from Christa. That's not a direction I plan on moving in. Now get your a.s.s up and do what I told you."

Alex followed Chaz's lead and crawled out from under the car. Chaz moved swiftly between vehicles and worked his way around and across the lot. Alex worked his way closer to their attackers. He could see one of them still talking on his headset. There seemed to be some confusion as to what they were going to do next. Alex stopped next to their SUV. The soldiers were right on the other side. As Alex peeked around the back, he could see both soldiers.

Suddenly, the soldier standing guard turned and shot the other soldier in the head before turning his own gun on himself. In the blink of an eye both soldiers were lying dead on the ground. Alex came around the SUV before he realized that Leekasha and Andreas had both gotten to their knees. Leekasha was looking straight at Alex, and he heard a woman's voice inside his head. It told him that everything was OK, and that he could relax now. It beckoned him to come closer and help her.

Alex moved around the SUV and could see Andreas was looking in the other direction. Chaz was slowly walking towards them with his weapon lowered. The voice in Alex's head urged him forward, telling him to release Leekasha. It promised not to hurt him. Alex fought the voice. Something didn't feel right about this. His brain told him to run, but his feet kept moving closer.

Leekasha looked towards Andreas. The pain in her chest was intense, but subsiding. Andreas' wounds were fully healed, but hers weren't. She was getting tired. Controlling Alex and healing her wounds was sapping her energy.

"Andreas," she said. "I can't hold him much longer. Controlling him is too hard."

Both Chaz and Alex raised their weapons and pointed them at each other. Andreas couldn't help but smile.

"How does it feel, Colonel, when your body won't do what your most base instinct tells it to? We may all be animals, but we still crave control. It's what separates us from the rest of the animals. How does it feel knowing you're about to kill your friend over there?"

Chaz's arm was shaking but he couldn't lower it. Beads of sweat ran into his eyes, but he couldn't wipe them away or take his eyes off of Chaz in his sights. Alex managed to loosen his grip on his weapon and throw it out of his reach. Then Leekasha collapsed, her whole body heaving, trying to suck in big breaths of air.

"I'm sorry, Andreas, I'm losing him," she said in between gasps.

Alex looked into Chaz's eyes as they widened. He could see Chaz's finger slowly put pressure on the trigger. Alex dove backwards out of the way as the bullet fired and went through the windshield of the vehicle behind him. Andreas, angered by Leekasha's loss of control, lost focus on Chaz long enough for him to yell, "Run, boy, get the h.e.l.l out of here now!"

Alex tore off across the parking lot as Andreas regained control of Chaz.

"Just give me a few minutes, Andreas, and I'll get him again," Leekasha said.

"It's too late for that now. He's already out of your weak, pathetic range." Andreas turned to look at Chaz. "It doesn't really matter though. We've got the big fish here now. This should make things a lot easier. We're going for a ride, Colonel. Let's all get back into your fancy car, shall we?"

Getting Leverage Christa paced the docks nervously, keeping an eye out for anyone that came off the freighter. She doubled checked the dock number and the freighter's name in the dark. It wasn't easy to make out in the rain with no moonlight, but it was the right one. The sign read Dock 125 and the freighter's name, Cosmic m.u.f.fin, was written in rusted red lettering. What the h.e.l.l kind of name is Cosmic m.u.f.fin? This is all like some kind of bad joke. I thought tweaking Abby's head to get Chaz's attention was stupid enough, but this really tops that. I need to stay away from the water. This has to end better than my last trip on a boat.

Three people appeared at the top of the gangplank on the ship, and Christa stepped out of the shadows to stand under the light. The biggest of the three came down the gangplank to meet Christa. One of them stayed at the top, and the third moved cautiously halfway down the plank and waited there.

The man wore a dark hooded raincoat and old jeans. "My name is Marcus," he said. "It's an honor to meet you, Christa ... Mother of Them All."

Christa grimaced and answered, "Don't call me that. Just Christa is fine. Do you have them?"

"Yes, we got them both, but it wasn't easy. We lost one of our contacts on the inside during the attempt."

"I'm sorry to hear that. And Caius? Is he here as well?"

"Yes, but he won't be going with you."

"That wasn't part of the deal. I need all of them."

"Caius would prefer not to travel with other members of his family today. He needs time to contemplate the meaning of this new development. At first he did not believe that the Mother of ... my apologies, that you were interested in the other members of his family."

"Let Caius know that it's important that I meet with him right now."

"I'm sorry ..."

"Look, I don't have time for this. Bring out Abby and Shax then. I'll be leaving with them now."

Marcus motioned to the man at the top of the gangplank, and two more figures appeared out of the dark. By the time they reached the bottom of the gangplank, Christa was sure it was Abby and Shax. They had Abby restrained and she was muttering obscenities. Shax followed reluctantly from a distance. She said nothing.

"The mother was violent when we took her, so we sedated her to prevent her from injuring herself. I'm sure you'll be able to keep her under control once the drugs wear off."

"I want the girl restrained as well."

"The girl has been no problem. I a.s.sure you she's as meek as a lamb."

"She might be now, but she might just change her mind when she figures out what I'm up to. Restrain her."

"As you request." He motioned to the man halfway up the plank to get restraints for Shax. "Now for your part of the deal, Christa. You promised to release the zombies in our hold from the drug. The same way you did for the others."

"Not tonight."

Marcus argued. "I don't understand. That was our agreement."

"Yeah, well, the deal was you deliver all three of Sheperd's family members to me and I release your zombies. When Caius is ready to come see me, bring the zombies along and I'll complete my end of the deal."

"Perhaps you could release just a couple of them then, as a token for our partial delivery."

"This is not negotiable, and I don't accept partial payment. You need to light a fire under Caius or whatever it is you people do when someone needs convincing. When he shows up, I'll do what you ask. Not before."

"Yes, Christa, I understand. I will have a conversation with Caius personally. The Freeze is an honorable organization, so you will get what we promised you."

Christa half smiled and turned towards Abby and Shax. "Let's go, ladies. We've got some work to do."

Neither one moved or made eye contact with her. Christa grabbed each firmly by the arm and rushed them off in the direction of the car. She could feel all three men watching her back as she left. Christa forcibly moved the group as quickly as she could. Nutcases. Thank goodness they gave me an out with Caius being so difficult. I was hoping he might pull something like that. Plan B would have gotten pretty ugly. Now maybe the grumpy old b.a.s.t.a.r.d will listen.