He rounded the corner of the stack, took two steps toward the door, and fell to his knees. It physically pained him to take another step and leave his father like this. It felt wrong and cowardly, and he knew that this decision would haunt him for the rest of his life. It didn’t matter that damned Tao and his damned father both had told him to leave, that it was the right thing to do. He loved his father too much to do the right thing. Every fiber of his being told him that the price he’d pay wouldn’t be worth it.
Cameron closed his eyes and breathed in. And out. Then he inhaled again, each successive breath longer and deeper and slower. It was one of the most difficult things he’d ever have to do, to attempt to find the calm in the midst of panic, to try to find that balance and peace when he knew his father was being beaten to death a few meters away. He knew that the more desperately he wanted it, the harder it’d be to grasp. So he breathed. In. Out. Instead of being a drowning man grasping for the surface of the water, he let go.
When he opened his eyes again, he felt a surge of energy. He was still there, conscious, and the control of his body was as simple as putting his hands on the steering wheel, but right now, Tao was in control, and this connection was stronger than it had ever been. Tao powered up his body and shot it around the corner and back at Jacob.
Jacob saw him coming and took a defensive stance as Cameron attacked. They clashed, and he threw a combination of elbows, leg kicks, and arm locks, all while sidestepping whatever the Adonis threw at him. Jacob’s eyes widened as he realized that something was different here. The speed between their exchanges, the attacking and defending, the quick movements and tactics, was blinding.
Jacob proved stronger, but Tao was faster, and his movements were smoother. Tao took a few hard blows to the face and stomach, but in return he hacked at Jacob’s left knee until it buckled. Their exchange continued for several minutes as both used the terrain to their advantage, playing a deadly form of tag. Cameron could feel both Tao and his body weakening, but he trusted Tao to pull through. However, nearly five minutes into their frantic fight, Tao finally gave out.
I cannot maintain control. This is too much.
And then Cameron felt his entire body sag as full control returned. He nearly fell on his ass. Jacob was hardly in better shape. Both men were exhausted as they broke their exchange and eyed each other warily.
Jacob, unsteady on his feet, smirked. “You put up a really good fight, boy. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
His beautiful Adonis face was a mass of purple putty, and by this time, he was dragging his useless feet along the ground. Cameron was even worse off, though, if that were possible. The entire left side of his body screamed from pain, and his left eye was so puffy, he couldn’t see out of it. Jacob watched as Cameron straightened his back and readied for one more round in their fight.
Cameron was on his own now. No more Tao. No more master to guide him. The two stalked in a circle, each probing for the right time to attack. Cameron leaped in, but was easily repelled by Jacob dancing to the side and popping him once in the cheek for his troubles. Cameron got a kick to the side of Jacob’s knee that nearly buckled him.
“What’s the matter, boy?”
You can do this. Tao’s voice was so weak he could barely hear it in his head. He is as exhausted as you are. You are ready. Your parents and I believe in you. We are all with you.
It heartened him that Tao was still there, and it reminded him that he was fighting not just for himself, but for his dad and for his Quasing. They depended on him. He couldn’t fail them, but he knew he couldn’t beat this guy. Jacob was stronger, more skilled, and faster. He held every advantage.
Then Master Lin popped into his mind. The wise old kung fu master was fond of saying that winning a fight was sixty percent aggression, twenty-five percent conditioning, and twenty percent skill. Cameron never had the heart to tell Lin that he sucked at math.
In this case, Cameron was outmatched on two of the three, but that aggression he could manage. There was nothing more desperate for him than winning this fight. Right now, exhausted and outmatched, aggression was all he had left. He thought about his family and their destroyed house, then he saw the disgusting smirk on Jacob’s face. Cameron dug deep; the only thing left was to charge, to just keep going until he was dead. He gave his unconscious father one last glance, then dug deeper and darker than he ever had, and with a snarl, focused his aggression on one thing.
The attack took Jacob by surprise. The Adonis’s leg was too injured to dodge Cameron barreling into him. He managed to pop Cameron in the face once, and then the two were on the ground with Cameron on top. Blinded by fury and desperation, he attacked on instinct and left nothing back.
All he could see were the images of his family and loved ones, of his Prophus friends lost and of the life they had had to lead for all those years of being hunted by the Genjix. In addition, he saw an image of Edward Blair, of Zhu Yuanzhang, and of Rianno Cisneros. All the pain and grief Jacob, Chiyva, and the Genjix had inflicted upon Tao and Cameron, he repaid now.
The exchange last a few seconds or a few minutes or an hour, Cameron didn’t know. In the end, he stopped only when his arms gave out and he saw a white sparkling glow leave Jacob’s body. His eyes followed as the light moved and flitted in the air, first to the locked door on one side, and then all the way across to the other. It moved from the bodies of the dead Genjix, floating over each one by one. Then it moved into the center of the room as if trying to decide what to do next. Cameron looked to the side and saw his father lying unconscious a few meters away. The thought of the Genjix inhabiting Roen filled Cameron with abject terror.
Chiyva must have thought the same thing. Realizing that Roen could be the only host available in the room, the Quasing moved toward his father. Cameron searched desperately for a way to prevent the Genjix from inhabiting his father. He looked down at Jacob’s belt and saw the handheld flamethrower. Quickly plucking it out of his harness, he stood over his father’s body and shot a stream of flames into the air, keeping Chiyva at bay.
“Stay back, you bastard!” he screamed, the words coming out garbled in his blood-soaked mouth.
Chiyva darted left and right, trying to get around the flames, but Cameron followed the sparkling being’s path, shooting bursts at the Quasing if it got too close. The two sparred for several minutes, until finally, in a fit of desperation, Chiyva went low and dove for Roen’s body. Cameron stepped in front of his father and shot a full burst directly into the Quasing. He watched grimly as the flames consumed the sparkling white creature until pieces of it, like embers of a fire, floated up into the darkness.
When he was sure there was nothing left of Chiyva, Cameron fell onto his back next to Roen’s body, too exhausted and hurt to move. He thought about passing out, thought about how nice it would be to sleep it off. Maybe never wake up again. It wouldn’t be a bad way to go, would it? Then he thought about his father. Was Roen still alive? He opened his mouth and tried to call his dad’s name. Nothing came out. It took him a few more tries before he could muster the syllables together and force them out of his mouth.
“Roen?”
There was a long pause and whatever worry Cameron’s broken body could muster began to grow. Was he too late?
“What did I say about calling me Dad?” Roen’s voice was weak, barely a whisper, but it came across clearly in the otherwise dead-silent room. “And when did you get such a filthy mouth?”
And just like that, the panic disappeared, replaced by a glowing sense of relief. “Are you alive?”
“I think so, but I kind of wish I was dead.”
“Well, I’m glad you’re not.”