Dr. Hill strapped herself into a free seat. The rest of us melded without any prompting.
The engines roared, and the vectorjet lurched forward. We were off.
No one spoke until we were high in the air. The engines settled to a steady hum, the acceleration dying away. Dr. Hill unstrapped herself, the others taking that as the cue to unmeld.
Before, I had thought we were safe in the sky. Now, though, I knew better. I hesitated, then finally unmelded as the others approached.
Dr. Hill made her way through the girls towards me. She stopped, letting Stella reach me first. Someone made a hushing sound.
Stella stood an arm's length away, staring into my face. "Dustin. You're still Dustin?"
I nodded. "Yeah. It's me, but…there's more now. Zoe's not the only one. I have another."
SHE'S CUTE! I LIKE HER.
Quiet. Give them some space.
Stella reached out with her left hand. I opened my right eye wide, so she could touch it.
Her hand moved past my eye, though, instead cupping the side of my face gently. Her fingers tips were warm, soothing.
Stella's brown eyes quivered. "We thought you were gone," she whispered. "That you were dead."
The slap jerked my head sideways. "Ow!" I rubbed the side of my face. "What was that for?"
"Don't you ever do that again! Don't leave us like that!" She swung her hand at me again. I could have dodged it with my reflexes, but I stood still, closing my eyes. The blow didn't land. I opened my human eye.
Stella's arms were at her sides, tears streaming down both cheeks.
I moved, wrapping her in my arms, holding her close to me. "Stella." I murmured her name again and again, savoring its taste and sound. "I won't leave you again, I swear."
Stella hugged me tight. "You better not." She looked up at me, a sparkle in her eyes, not from the tears. "Or I'll kick your ass."
Her slim lips curled into a grin, so damn cute and inviting. I lowered my head. Stella's eyes widened, but she didn't pull away. Her mouth opened slightly—
"I missed you, too, Dustin." Another arm slid between us, catching me in a hug. Stella's ferret let out a squeak as Kayla inserted herself between us.
Kayla twisted my head toward her, then locked her lips with mine. Her hungry tongue massaged my own, and she sucked in sharply, taking in my saliva.
"My turn, my turn!" Someone pushed Kayla aside. Nikki reached for me, but she screamed as someone grabbed her by her long hair, pulling her backward.
"Stand down!" Dr. Hill stomped her way to the front. She glared at the girls, her eyes resting on Stella. Dr. Hill muttered something and shook her head before turning to me.
She grabbed me by the front of my uniform, her face an inch from mine. "Dustin, you're coming with me," she whispered.
Dr. Hill dragged me towards the bathroom while the others watched.
WOW! IS SHE GOING TO—OMG! OMG! I CAN'T WAIT TO WATCH!!!
Don't get your hopes up. The last time Dustin had his pants down for Dr. Hill—
Zoe!
Dr. Hill shoved me into the bathroom and stepped inside the narrow space. There were hoots and whistles. Dr. Hill stuck her head out the door.
"Quiet! Everyone stay sharp, and monitor the situation," she ordered.
"I can monitor the bathroom!" That had to be Nikki.
Dr. Hill ignored her and withdrew her head. Zoe squeezed into the bathroom at the last second, climbing into the bathtub. Dr. Hill shrugged and slammed the door shut.
Dr. Hill turned to me. "Take it all off."
I raised a hand. "No, no. I know how this goes—"
"It's not like that, Hunter. I need to check you. Anything else besides that metal eye? What if they did something you don't know about?"
I hesitated. They had kept me unconscious for almost a day, when I had first zeroed.
Vikki? Uh, did you guys do anything else to me?
NOT THAT I CAN DETECT.
"Vikki says they didn't do anything else to me."
Dr. Hill raised an eyebrow. "Vikki?" She glanced at Zoe.
"Vikki." I tapped my metal eye. "I have Vikki and Zoe, now."
Dr. Hill leaned closer to peer into the eye. "Nice to meet you, Vikki." She moved away and twirled her finger at me. "Hurry up, we don't have all day, Hunter."
I sighed and stripped off my uniform. She gave me a very thorough inspection. I stretched my limbs, bent this way and that way, letting her poke and prod me everywhere like a piece of cattle. But true to her word, Dr. Hill kept it professional.
"You look like you're in good shape, other than that eye. Any pain or discomfort?"
I quickly put on my uniform again. I tugged a bit of bunched fabric out of my butt. "No, I'm good now."
"Explain the dragon."
"Dragon?"
"You were a dragon when I first saw you."
"So, um, Vikki lets me do more stuff. I'm like a full Beastmaster now."
"Full Beastmaster?" Dr. Hill looked to Zoe. "Did anything happen to her?"
You're the same, right?
Zoe licked a paw coyly. I'm fine.
Weird. "No, they didn't touch Zoe. It's…how do I explain this?"
ZOE + DUSTIN + VIKKI = <3 <3 <3
Right, thanks…
"So, the Mekanics," I said. "You won't believe this, but Mekanics and Chimerics originally bonded with each other. A long time, like a long, long time ago."
Dr. Hill frowned. "Go on."
"They can't do it anymore, but humans can act as a bridge. Oh, and maybe only higher Chimerics like Zoe can do it. Oh, I forgot. The Mekanics want to make babies, too. And they used to have foursomes…" I trailed off.
Dr. Hill nodded as if she had understood everything I had said. "Can they do it again? What they did to you?"
I paused. "I guess. If you found a higher Chimeric. But higher Chimerics hate bonding normally."
"And you can mimic other Beastmasters?"
"Yeah. But it might be different for others. I have all these new abilities and evolutionary trees, and—"
Dr. Hill waved her hand, signaling me to stop. She closed the lid on the toilet bowl and sat on it. "So, it's hopeless. With what's happened to you, we don't even know if you can still breed. Not that it would matter."
I froze. "Dr. Hill?"
What happened after we left, Dustin. The Academy.
I had forgotten about everything else while on the airbase. My only goal had been to get out of there alive.
"What happened out here?" I asked. "The Academy?"
"Not just the Academy." Dr. Hill rubbed her face.
It was then that I noticed she wasn't wearing her usual makeup. Her face was worn, tired. Something was wrong.
"Dr. Hill, what is it?"
Her eyes met mine. "While you were gone…" She stopped and took a deep breath.
"The War. Dustin, we lost the War."
CHAPTER 26
Once the initial shock wore off, Dr. Hill and I pieced together what we could. She told me her side, and Vikki filled us in with the Mekanic side. Garvek hadn't let Vikki access all the Mekanic military details, but it sounded like I hadn't triggered the attack on the Academy like I had originally thought.
It was the opposite. Although the Mekanics had finally transported the resources to defeat us, Garvek had convinced many of them to delay the War because of his project's development, that is, me. He wanted to string the humans along, see what other goodies we came up for him. Two other factions opposed Garvek. One group wanted to conquer Earth immediately in agreement with the Second Strain, while another wanted to wipe humans out. The Mekanics had grown tired of waiting. The final Mekanic vote had been close, but the day before the Academy's attack, they had chosen to proceed with the conquest.
Garvek had made a last ditch-effort to snatch me up before everything went crazy. Meanwhile, Dr. Hill had managed to escape the destruction with a small group of soldiers. Two days later, the Mekanics had descended upon the remaining major capitals of the world, pushing aside our meager defenses. In the aftermath, most Beastmasters were dead or missing. The Mekanics had demanded unconditional surrender, and with no choice, the governments of the world had complied.