Ziya to crack the slightest of smiles. Kaihime knew Alli was getting through to the girl. She wished she could so easily interact. But she only knew the concept of human interaction from the television shows she watched from The Aerie. It seemed such behaviors were harder to emulate in reality than they were on the shows. Empathy clearly was a behavior best mastered through interaction rather than simple viewing.
“We are here to help you,” Alli said to the young girl.
This close she seemed even younger than she had before. Ziya chewed at her bottom lip as she studied Kaihime and Alli. Kaihime wished she could have any insight into the girl’s mind.
“Baba and Mama will be worried sick if I leave. They will call the police. They’ll start a manhunt—”
“You can call them after you’re somewhere safe,” Alli said. “But believe me that you don’t want to be here much longer. The police are coming. And our friends in GENESIS didn’t make it on the news when I fought them a week ago. I don’t think the cops will be our friends in this. Maybe I’m wrong and maybe they will take you somewhere safe. But I already know how this town feels about metas. I can only imagine how happy they would be to make you disappear and ship you off with a bunch of paramilitary whackjobs.”
“I—you’re scaring me.”
“Good,” Alli said. “You should be scared, Ziya. Fear will keep you alive. I’m not saying you should run away forever. But I am saying that you need to stay with us. You need to help us. If we’re going to stay free and find my friends, we have to make it clear to GENESIS we will not let them continue to manipulate our lives and make us afraid of our own shadows.”
Ziya stared at Alli and Kaihime. It was clear she was deep in thought. Alli looked to Kaihime. It took Kaihime a few seconds too long to realize she was looking for something else to be said.
“We will do everything we can to get you back to your family,” Kaihime said. “I know how important family is. But right now, we need to move. I have two more names on this list. With or without you, we need to find them. Are you with us or will you stay?”
Ziya looked back to Alli. Alli shrugged. It was clearly a signal, though Kaihime didn’t understand it.
“I’ll come with you,” Ziya said. Her eyes turned cold. “One way or the other, I want to learn why these men attacked me. And I want to make their masters pay.”
Kaihime could only wonder if GENESIS had created a far more dangerous foe than they could have ever imagined.
No comments:
Post a Comment