Kad awoke on the fourth day after the events in the Reef. The first experience he had was one of pain. A deep ache throbbed from his chest. He could feel his ribs individually, along with a distinct itch he felt along most of his back and right side. He felt confused, trying to remember what happened.
He got flashes, the sensation of his ribs being splintered and crushed inside of him, the feeling of his organs leaking into him. Then there was darkness, a fading coolness that was spreading through him. Then he got a flash of the most unimaginable pain he’d ever felt. The feeling of muscle knitting itself together, of bone growing back in minutes.
He could still taste the blood in his mouth where he screamed so hard he tore his throat, then the burning itch of it mending itself. It felt like hours before he passed into unconsciousness.
It was there in that inky sleepless darkness that he realized he wasn’t alone inside his mind. In the shadows of his mind, in the dreamlike recesses there, he caught glimpses of something dark and amorphous, slipping around in the shadows. Every time he managed to actually look at it, it was like his eyes couldn’t focus, sliding off of whatever it was that was living in there.
He couldn’t tell how long he’d been out, time had no meaning in the abyss of darkness he was swimming in. As time seemed to stretch, Kad was able to identify a few more of the amorphous creatures that slid around in the darkness. They seemed to have distinct ways of interacting with him.
One seemed to slide around outside of his vision on purpose, actively trying to not be perceived, while another felt like a curious presence that poked and prodded at his mind every once in a while to see what would happen. The third one he found pushed itself into his mind’s eye at any given opportunity, demanding to be seen, pushing itself into the forefront of his mind. As he did so, the shapeless nature of the being seemed to shift, as it developed limbs, stretching itself out until it stood there in his mind. A Matal wildcat, except instead of streaks of brown and black they had in the real world, in here it was given shape by a shifting static grey.
Looking at it reminded him of pressing his palms to his eyes when he had a headache, watching the stars dance in his vision. It looked at him, the shifting static of its body twisting and shifting until its form was humanoid. It reached out a hand to him.
Then he was awake, though he felt vastly different from the last time he’d been conscious, the pain that radiated wasn’t life threatening, and it was there with him, in his mind. He could feel the Matal look out from his eyes, and feel it gesture at him with its static based limbs.
It motioned to him in his mind, signaling him to stay still, stay quiet. Kad didn’t know why he felt like he could trust it, but it was like every thought or impression the creature had, he could feel. He didn’t think it was capable of betraying him, not intentionally. There was something else there too, it felt… Young. Like a child’s mind that was constantly absorbing every image he saw, adapting its current state of reality around the information it was receiving.
Two men stood there above him, frowning down at him. One of them was short, and he recognized the voice. In the void of his mind he hadn’t been conscious of it, but this man had been speaking to him the entire time he was asleep, trying to reach him. He couldn’t place the words the man had used but they felt soft and gentle, almost apologetic.
The other man made him uncomfortable, huge pink eyes glared down at him, and Kad could feel pressure in his mind from the gaze alone. He could remember the sensation from back with Pilgrim, this was the man who had caused the pulse of force that had given him the opportunity to strike.
Kad looked down at their uniforms and saw the anchor patches stitched on. He stiffened almost imperceptibly, focusing his eyes on the middle distance and hoping they wouldn’t realize he was there.
An idle thought extended to Kad that what he was doing felt odd. But it was quickly overwhelmed by the subtle hush of the Matal in his mind, coaching him on the stillness and stealth it knew.
Kad refocused, yes, the two men were speaking to him, though he felt very far away, like their words didn’t mean anything. It was as if they were speaking a language he didn’t understand. He focused, and their words slowly gained meaning.
“We need to know, where is Calam”
The name shocked a spike of pain in Kad’s hand, and he remembered the sensation of stabbing with the claw, then pain. He remembered fear and madness. He needed to be still, he needed them to think him broken, then he would leave. He would run into the Reef and dive deeper than ever befo-
No, he couldn’t do that, his mind was still slipping in odd ways. He’d go to the city. Raya has connections, if he called in favors she could get him smuggled out through the old mines where the homeless live and the adults go to get things they’re not supposed to have.
He needed to plan. Time slipped from him as he thought, suddenly it was dark again, though Kad thought it wasn’t as dark as it ought to be, considering the sun was down. Why could he see so well? No, focus, that’s a problem for another time. He saw the nurse that was caring for him take clean clothes out of the closet in the corner. He saw the way the floorboards creaked when she walked in the center of the room, but didn’t when she walked near the edges.
Memorize, learn everything about your environment. The short E.F. soldier was back. He said his name was Joe, that’s right, and the other one was Buff. Stupid name, stupid man with eyes that make my head hurt. Focus again, he opened the window. The windows aren’t locked. Good.
They’re talking about more people coming in, the way they said a name made me remember it. West. A doctor, he’d try to fix me. He’d try to kill me. The Matal was afraid. I soothe it, pet it in my mind.
“You’ll be okay my friend. You should have a name”
Its form shifted at the idea. It didn’t need a name, it was the Matal, which was a good name, as far as it was concerned. Kad sent it a feeling of amusement, and offered a compromise.
“What if we keep it simple, I’ll call you Matt?”
Its form shifted to that of a humanoid and in its staticky form it sent him a rude gesture he was deeply familiar with. He sent another feeling of amusement.
“I’m calling you Matt, it’s easier for me to remember”
He felt it grumble assent to the idea, and Matt was born, though it didn’t like. The plan worked, distracting it from ideas of the doctor. It didn’t matter, with the doctor coming he needed to leave sooner. They needed to leave sooner.
It was a day later, a full eight days since his day in the Reef, when it happened. Joe had been sitting there for a full two days. Dark circles rimmed his eyes. He kept apologizing. Kad didn’t understand why, he felt great, felt like he could chase down anything. He thought the short man was just sad about something else. He left, his footsteps making the floorboards groan with every step.
Matt didn’t like the way Joe moved, it made him uncomfortable. He didn’t like how heavy the small man was. What was hiding in his head that made him like that? Kad waited for minutes, waiting for the man to stop moving. He could hear him snore in the other room. Kad thought it was odd that he could hear it, but Matt just sent him a feeling of urgency, ushering him to begin.
Kad crept out of bed, placing his feet in places that made no noise. Matt was guiding him. Good, yes, one foot where the other was, good, good, No, lower down, quiet. Matt was getting more vocal with him, beginning to be able to send full ideas to him instead of the vague impression of a feeling.
Kad grabbed clothes, thankful they had real clothing for him instead of simple gowns. He didn’t want to leave with his ass hanging out in the wind, a concept which Matt thoroughly disagreed with.
The window being unlocked made the whole process easier. Kad felt stiffness in his limbs, but he also felt strong, stronger than he should. Matt assured him that’s how bodies always felt, not to worry. The sun was getting lower in the sky. Kad figured he had at most four more hours of sunlight left.
He moved to the edge of the platform that was hanging into the edge of the shoreline and scaled down the leg to the forest floor. He looked toward the Okocea, and felt Matt pull him toward it. He deeply wanted to return to the quiet darkness the forests provided, disliking the loud sounds and strong smells of the growing town.
Kad ignored the pull heading to the tent city. He asked Matt to relax, and walked as he had before he was changed, before he was better. If he walked the way Matt wanted it’d be too quiet, too perfect in movement. People would notice. People notice things that are too good or too bad, but they mostly ignore that in the middle.
Matt was bored, hating this game of sitting back and not helping, not being better than a person. Kad rolled his eyes, and asked Matt to help him get to his tent and get the lockbox out from under the bed. He felt the jolt of elation from the cat. It liked games, and games were easy when you just had to beat dumb people.
Getting to the tent was easy. It was far in the shade of the shoreline, the sun blotted out enough to make it dusky. Kad could see perfectly well in the darkness now, though he didn’t know why. They slid through the shadows until they reached his tent.
Kad frowned, it was collapsed, the tent covered in notes and letters, small flowers and herbs. Trinkets and baubles. Did people think him dead? Who would die when instead you could just become better? He slipped around to the back of the tent where his cot would have been. He saw the vague outline of it humped under the fallen tent. He lifted the bottom edge, grabbing his bag that he took to town on weekends. He slid his hand under the cot and found the loose patch of dirt, dusting it off and snagging the small lockbox.
He hesitated before leaving, and grabbed a pen and paper out of his bag, jotting two short letters down and folding them up. He opened the lockbox and grabbed a few copper marks out before heading to town.
There at the edge of town, kids were playing on the side of the road. They held sticks and the lids to barrels and crates, swinging them at each other. Matt was confused until Kad explained what pretending was, then Matt was enthralled, absorbed by the dreamlike plots that children created. Kad was here to honor the age old tradition of paying Rootsaw youth to be messengers. He politely waited for their mock battle to end. The victor of the battle was given a crown made from sticks, and he walked up to Kad, his stick still in hand. The boy’s cheeks were flushed red and he was breathing hard, but he eyed Kad with a small measure of fear.
The boy took the letters, then stuck his hand out. Kad dropped two copper marks into his hand, and the cub- no, the small boy glared up at him. Kad smiled and dropped three more marks into his small hand. A full silver for two letter, what a rip-off. The boy smiled and ran back to his army, raising the money in his hand. They cheered, raising their sticks in the air and touching them together in victory.
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Kad smiled again, and set off on the road to Edgeport. The wide path wound its way uphill toward a set of grey walls that were visible from down here. It was the only entrance to the valley that was easily accessible. Kad thought about the walls he had grown up behind and realized now, for the first time, that the walls weren’t meant for people coming to siege the city. It was in case anything like Calam crawled out.
Kad passed the dozens of settlements between Rootsaw and Edgeport, now mostly just empty square lots with giant holes where the crawler frames had their legs buried before coming down to the shoreline.
Kad reached the city without issue, the sun set an hour before he made it there, which made it simple for him with his enhanced vision to find the spot he was looking for. An old section of the wall where he and the other kids in the city had pushed out a loose chunk of stone, making an easy secret passage they covered with a board. He slipped in, and he was home.
The smells of the city assaulted Kad as he moved through. It was bustling this time of night. Most of the root workers had been sent back to the city with a little extra pay because of what happened to Kad, so there were a lot of extra people roaming around, partying and drinking heavily.
Matt didn’t like the smells of the city. It didn’t like much about the city, to be honest. Kad ignored its protests as he walked down the cobbled streets toward the center of town. Huge brick buildings were down here on the river bank, old and decrepit. They leaned on one another, a couple of them even sunk a full story or two into the mud of the riverbank, making them inaccessible except for the rooftops. Kad looked up and saw the multitude of cheap boards that had been fashioned into bridges that crisscrossed above him.
He passed through the center and turned down a small valley that ran alongside the mountain the city was backed up against. He made his way to a tavern known as “The Filthy Mutt”. He found her there, in her booth in the back corner of a smoky room covered in pillows and spilt wine. She was bleary eyed, surrounded by bottles and passed out men and women.
He waited for her to get up. She was clearly sauced, and Kad had a small tickle of emotion that this was her reaction to him being grievously wounded. Then he thought better of it and remembered this was also her reaction to it being Tuesday.
She eventually got up and went into a bedroom at the back of the tavern. This was where she stayed, because her father thought it was unbecoming for people to see his daughter blackout drunk on a weekday morning. He was right, but that didn’t make it sting any less, according to Raya.
Kad slid the door open and stepped inside, shutting it loudly behind him. Raya yelped, spinning and almost falling down in her drunken stupor. She looked at him with a confused face, like she didn’t recognize him. Kad looked past her at the giant mirror that served as her headboard, and realized why she was giving him that look.
His face was covered in a short beard, his hair was at least an inch longer, his brown hair starting to curl at the ends. He also seemed taller, his face looked sharper and more defined. He looked better than he ever had. He almost didn’t look like him. Almost.
Raya’s eyes went wide, and she began to shake before running over to Kad, throwing her arms around him. Kad returned the hug, then scrunched his face and tried not to breathe too deeply. She smelled soured, something beyond the alcohol and filth. He pushed the thought down and schooled his face into a smile.
“Kad, h-how are you here?” She was grabbing his arms, touching his face.
“I don’t have a lot of time to explain, I need to get out of the city” He was shocked by his own voice. It sounded hoarse and rough. He realized he hadn’t spoken out loud since that day over a week ago.
Raya stopped him for a second before going to a drawer and pulling out a hydration shot. She slammed it into her thigh and winced as it brought some color back to her face. She shook her head then looked at him seriously while cleaning herself up.
“Don’t tell me anything. If people come knocking I don’t want to be able to tell them anything” Kad was slightly taken aback. He knew Raya had dealt with some rougher crowds than she told him about before, but he didn’t think she’d be this on board.
“I-I need to get out of the city, preferably through the old mineshafts, then taken to a highland city, somewhere with a big enough population that they couldn’t track me down”
She strode over to a desk covered in wine bottles, she swept them off and grabbed a sheet of paper, jotted a few things down on it and handed it over.
“Here’s a list of five names. Any of will get you out as a favor to me. Don’t tell me who you picked and destroy the list afterwards.” She looked at a clock on the wall “Most of them won’t even try to get you out until after midnight. They’ll wait for shift change on entry points. You’ll have to make it until then”
She stood on her toes and put her arms around his neck, giving him a tight hug then a kiss on the cheek. “I don’t know what went down but nobody thought you’d walk out of that hospital in one piece. I’m glad you made it”
He smiled at her sadly, trying his best to not relive the events again. He could still feel the pain in his hand from the claw digging in. Kad turned to leave before stopping and turning.
“Raya you need to see a doctor, something is wrong inside you”
Her eyes widened as he said it, then she laughed, her eyes wrinkling at the edges. “I already know Kad, be safe for me please” In the moment of her saying that, she stilled and Kad saw for the first time that she was afraid. Not of Kad, but of something nameless and petrifying to her.
The whole time, she’d been doing this because she knew she wasn’t getting out of something worse than being a drunk, and decided to live on her own terms instead. Kad tried to think of something to say but she just laughed again and ushered him out.
Trying his best to not think of the souring smell of Raya, Kad moved to his next destination. It was his last stop before he picked a name from the list and left the city forever. He needed to really go home.
On the edge of the mines, a large manor was cut directly into the stone hillside. It towered above him in the darkness, a stone archway that had a sign hung on it. “The Easton Estate” in swirling script. A large wrought iron fence surrounding an overgrown yard. The years had not been kind to this place, and Kad hoped he could help before he left.
He lifted the large brass door knocker on the massive doors. It only took a minute for an older man with a balding head to answer. He asked for a meeting with Mrs. Easton and the man stepped aside, gesturing in toward the study. Dusty Matt noted as he led them in.
Kad walked into the study with its large hearth. A roaring fire was going, and Kad sat in one of the high backed chairs that sat on either side of it. He pulled the small lockbox out and waited. His heart was beating fast.
Kad looked around the corner as he heard footsteps, and a man was standing in the doorway, instead of Mrs. Easton. He was tall, with a wild mane of red hair that seemed to reflect the fire. He was dressed like a professor and had a kind look on his face aside from one thing. Where normal human eyes should have been were two pools of liquid silver, flowing and rippling as he looked Kad up and down.
Matt screamed inside his head, and he felt energy flood into his arms and legs. He needed to run he needed to fight he need-
“Don’t try. I’m not here to hurt you” His voice was smooth, but it felt tired. “I was just showing you who I am, I’m not here to trick you” He held one hand up, the other pushing down onto a long cane at his side.
The man took long staggering strides to move over to the chair and sat down with a wince. He sighed then looked at Kad seriously, the silver in his eyes replaced with a sharp green. “My name is Dr. Marshall West and I’m going to ask you a series of questions and I want you to answer honestly. I’ll also let you know that I didn’t come alone, if you try and escape, Buff and Joe are waiting out front and they’re to act with impunity should you walk out and I’m not with you.”
He pointed toward the back of the manor. “In case you think we didn’t know about the emergency evacuation tunnel, Sofia, the leader of this team is waiting in there, and I think if you tried to fight her she’d make what Pilgrim did to you seem pleasant by comparison. Understood?”
Kad nodded, not trusting his own voice to hold. Matt was pacing back and forth in his mind. Kad got the distinct impression that if he wanted to, Matt could take over completely. The idea sent goosebumps down his arms. Dr. West began his questions.
“Do you remember anything before waking up in the hospital?” he looked at Kad seriously.
“Yes, I remember getting thrown by ‘Pilgrim’ or Calam” He winced at the memory, grabbing at his hand. He looked down and realized there was a thin white scar that ran across the width of his hand. Dr. West nodded.
“Good, why did you run?” There was an edge to his voice that the calm face didn’t have, it made Kad nervous.
“Calam was E.F. and said one of their people arranged to have me out there. I woke up after being thrown and realized I was in E.F. custody. What else should I have done?”
Dr. West didn’t answer, just nodded and continued questioning. “Do you know what they did to you?” Kad saw a little of the silver return at that question and paled slightly.
“They healed me, more than that, they made me better” Kad said, feeling an affirmative nod from the still pacing presence of Matt in his head.
Dr. West shook his head “No, they just made you different, not better” The way he said it was tired, like he’d had this argument before. Kad wanted to disagree but held his tongue, letting the questions continue.
“What was your plan tonight, we’ve been following since we found your trail in the city near a tavern.”
Kad hesitated but saw no reason to lie, if they wanted him dead he was dead, there was no getting away now. “I asked a friend for a favor in getting me out of the city. I was here to drop this off” Kad gestured at the lockbox sitting in his lap.
“Yes, you’ve got a good friend out there Kad, we sent Fia and Buff in to talk to her and she wouldn’t budge even in the face of those two” His voice was serious. “Why here.” The way he looked at Kad let him know that he already knew the answer, he just wanted to hear it.
“This place fed and clothed me, even got me a job when I got old enough. I figured I’d return the favor” Dr. West smiled at the answer, his green eyes twinkling as he did so. He straightened in the chair and cleared his throat.
“Ok Kad, I’m going to explain a few things to you, then I’m going to make you an offer” He grunted as he pushed himself up to his feet. He dug in his jacket and pulled out a file with Kad’s name on it stamped on the front.
“What they did out there to save you, they shouldn’t have done. They put the genetic instincts of a dangerous creature into you.” He crossed the distance and handed the file to Kad.
When he opened the file, Kad saw charts and notes, assessments from when he did his certification exam for R2. He looked up at the tall man.
“Every creature on the planet has some set of instincts that are ingrained in it. Humans exhibit instincts that fall into broad categories. If you look at your file, you show signs of pack instincts, as well as protective and territorial instincts.” He walked over and leaned on Mrs. Easton’s desk.
“If you had made your way to us organically, you would have been presented with options of what instinct you should take, then given a couple years of training in how to handle having one added to you. Based on your profile, we would have suggested a Canine or Ursine instinct to go along with your natural behaviors.”
“Is that the other ones I felt in my head when they added this one?” Kad asked, his mind whirring.
Dr. West’s head snapped up, his eyes wide. He approached Kad. “You felt another? More than one?” He sounded excited, maybe a little manic.
Kad felt inside himself again, and confirmed that there, in the liminal space of his mind where Matt resided, two other presences were still there, currently hiding in the darkness as if this man could see them in Kad’s eyes.
The doctor schooled his face into one of impassivity and said something quietly to Kad. “If you do accept my offer at the end of this, I’d advise you to tell no one else about the other ones you sense”
He stood up and started speaking loudly again, and Kad wondered if someone else was listening. “You were given an instinct that is considered highly volatile and dangerous, and one that is at odds with your nature as a person. This carries risks that your personality, you as a person could be subsumed by the Matal instinct.”
Kad chilled, hearing the truth in his words. Matt sent feelings of palpable anger and distress. Kad looked up at Dr. West. “I think you just hurt its feelings by calling it dangerous and volatile”
Dr. West stopped his lesson and looked at Kad before bursting into a loud, heaving belly laugh. “You can feel its emotions. That is just wonderful”
He looked at Kad seriously. “We’re a specialized team of people who all have an instinct in us. I’d like you to join us for the next couple of years while we teach you how to manage the symptoms of it better, then we’d offer you the chance to retire and go off on your own as long as you’re not a danger to yourself or the public.”
Kad thought about it for a second. “What if I don’t want to.” His voice sounded braver than he felt.
“Then we let you go, you live your life until something goes wrong and you or someone else gets hurt, and I get sent back.” His eyes rippled to reveal the silver color that hid underneath. “Then I do what needs to be done”
Kad didn’t have to think very long, considering his options were be trained by superhuman soldiers or (judging by the look on Dr. West’s Face) have his spine removed via his throat.
“I’ll accept, though I don’t think Matt is gonna be happy about being controlled”
Dr. West gave him a confused look before he shot out another short laugh
“Did you name your Matal instinct, Matt?”
“Yeah”
“Sofia is going to absolutely hate this” He smiled, shaking Kad’s hand. He turned to leave then stopped abruptly, patting his pockets and fishing in the inside of his coat.
He dug out two pieces of metal and slapped them on the table by the entrance to the study, then winked at Kad and walked out. Kad’s eyes went wide when he realized what had just happened. The two black marks would fund this place beyond his wildest dreams.
Maybe these guys weren’t so bad after all.