Our Devils, page 19
“When someone is scratched or bitten by a devil, deep enough to draw blood, they usually don’t bond. For most it’s like any other injury. Others experience an extreme anaphylactic shock. Even with an ephedrine injection, the mortality rate is… not great.”
“About 20%,” added the doctor. “We actually don’t know much about how diseases operate in the devils’ world, but there are only a handful of diseases here that cause spontaneous scarring. So far, the reaction seems to mostly resemble streptococcus.”
“Strep throat,” said Aaron.
“Exactly,” said the doctor. “And given the devils’ extreme immune systems, we believe that helps eliminate a few other possibilities. Devils carry something in their bodies that they are immune to, like a disease or bacterium, or their world’s equivalent. Once it enters a human’s bloodstream, it causes a reaction. Then, it’s a narrow window: the human’s immune system has to be strong enough to partially fight it off, but not strong enough to completely fight it off.”
Aaron got the gist. “So it has to thread the needle.”
“Yes,” said the doctor. “That’s right. It’s a…”
“Goldilocks zone,” offered the director.
Aaron nodded, putting it together. “So it’s sort of like trying to feed the unpaired devils? Too much food and they go feral. Too little food and they starve.”
“Balancing acts upon balancing acts,” said Hugh. “Exactly.”
Hugh and the doctor went on to explain that, instead of letting devils scratch people at random, they had developed a way to compatibility in lab conditions using blood samples. It was a long and frustrating process, but they thought it was their best shot at identifying potential pairings without putting either the human or devil at risk.
Aaron digested this information as Pulsar spoke. “Do you think Nat could ever have another devil?”
The director and doctor traded a glance and sighed, looking cautiously optimistic. Hugh answered first. “Maybe, yes. It’s far from a given, but the fact that she was able to scar once before is a good sign.”
“Or it could open up a completely different set of side effects,” admitted the doctor. “Scar bonding is a process about which we know frighteningly little.”
The director spoke again. “But Miss Shuja is the next focus of our trials, absolutely. The possibility that she could scar with another devil is… exciting.”
The doctor cleared his throat. “But no one has ever scar bonded with two different devils. Not yet.”
The director smiled, cautiously. “If this works, there’s no telling what doors it will open.”
“If,” hedged the doctor.
Chapter 41
After a long day of being treated like science experiments, the agents drove Aaron and Pulsar back to the trailer park. Despite all the poking and prodding, the two had spent most of the day sitting around and letting things happen to them, with the exception of the treadmill. That left them with a little more energy than before, and a little more pep in their step.
“Can we stop for some burgers on the way back?” asked Aaron. The driver kept his eyes on the road.
The agent responded flatly. “You can order from your phone and we will bring it to you.”
“Or we could save you the trip. There’s a Spudburger right there, man.”
The restaurant passed by and the driver stayed the course. “You’ll find their menu on your phone.”
Pulsar rolled his eyes as his stomach grumbled. The protein shakes helped bring his strength back and keep his hunger in check, but a devil still had to eat. Aaron showed him how to navigate the menu, though the devil’s enormous thumbs added a unique challenge to the mix.
They arrived back at the trailer park and the agent left only seconds later. Marcus and Aster had beaten them there and brought a bonfire to life. Nat was already with them.
“I don’t know if I even want another devil,” she admitted, looking a bit less disheveled than before.
“Yeah, I don’t blame you there,” said Marcus, fidgeting with a log. “That’s a big decision.”
Pulsar hopped up next to her and gave her a gentle hug. “It’s good to see you.”
She smiled sadly and hugged him back. “You too.”
“Same,” nodded Aaron. “I got a pretty big lore drop from Hugh about scar bonding earlier.”
“Hugh?” said Marcus, his eyebrow rising.
“Yeah, Director Huxley.”
Aster looked curious. “What did he say?”
Aaron cleared his throat. “He said no one has ever scar bonded with two different devils. Total uncharted territory.”
Aster looked back to Nat, excited. “So you could be the first?”
“Maybe,” shrugged Nat. “I don’t know.”
Marcus toyed with one of the logs, urging it to light. “Well I think that would be pretty fucking cool. If you wanted it, I mean.”
“Yeah, no.” Nat exhaled hard. “Maybe.”
Aaron jumped up to grab some more joints from his trailer. He was a little hesitant to take his bong out to the fire pit, since dropping it on the loose gravel could ruin it for good. But on the other hand, he wanted to get really high. He sat down on his bench with his bong and nodded to Nat. “So this is okay now?”
“Weed always gave me a headache,” she said. “I’ve tried it enough times to know it’s not for me. But you go right ahead.”
“Damn,” said Aaron. “Sorry to hear it.”
Nat cracked open a soda and shrugged. “It’s fine. I barely know what I’m missing out on.”
As the others passed around the bong, the conversation quickly devolved into idle chatter. After the last few days, it was exactly what they all needed. The agent who dropped Aaron and Pulsar off before returning with a sack of hamburgers from the place they passed on the way. Marcus asked him if it was too late to place an order, and once again the agent said “You can place an order on your phone.” Then he left without another word, leaving them to place orders. The high took hold, and they devolved into idle chatter once more.
“You’ve seriously never seen Twilight?!” Pulsar’s goofy grin was a welcome sight.
“Come on, man.” Aaron laughed and dramatically shook his head. “Not this again.”
“What’s Twilight?” asked Aster, being Aster.
Nat and Aaron chuckled awkwardly, knowing there was no stopping that train. Eventually Pulsar dragged Aster away to watch the movie. He was only briefly disappointed that no one else joined them. The night was cool and clear, with thin wispy clouds streaking across a low half moon. Aaron packed another bowl, hoping this next one would last a little longer.
Marcus asked Nat, “Did they tell you about the Gates?”
“Yeah,” she said. “They told me.”
Aaron sighed. “I guess we’re all on borrowed time, huh?”
“We sure are,” agreed Marcus.
Aaron handed the green hit off to Marcus. “What are we even going to do when this is all over?”
Marcus took a big hit and sputtered. “I don’t know, man. Maybe I should try to get into college.”
Nat scoffed. “Yeah, have fun with that. No thank you.”
Aaron took a hit and coughed lightly. “I don’t think they want me back.”
“You went?” asked Nat.
“Yeah. I…” He took a deep breath and steeled himself. “I got kicked out.”
“Grades?” asked Marcus.
“No,” admitted Aaron. “I… sort of brought a weapon to class.”
“The fuck?” Nat whispered, leaning in closer.
Aaron tried not to trip over his words. “I wasn’t going to do anything with it. I was just… I was miserable there, and my parents wouldn’t let me drop out. So, I got kicked out. So yeah. I got arrested, and then they kicked me out.”
“Jesus.” Marcus ran a hand through his hair. “So they… damn.”
Aaron’s breath shuddered. “Yeah, that kind of fucked up everything. I lost friends, had a hard time getting a job after that, etcetera.”
“What did your parents say?” asked Marcus, a quiet urgency held tight.
“Oh, you know.” Aaron groaned and slumped down. “I should call them.” He closed his eyes and remembered that they were all stuck in the cone of silence now. “Shit.”
“Well, what would you tell them?” asked Marcus, his expression softening.
“Sorry I’m such a fuckup.” He laughed helplessly.
“Bro.” Marcus put the bong down and smiled at him. “Life ain’t over yet. We could do some real shit here. We could cure cancer.”
Chapter 42
They stayed outside and talked for a good, long time. Aaron checked his phone—they still had at least another twenty minutes if they wanted to avoid walking into Twilight. So he packed one more bowl and started it off. Not long after the bowl finished, Aster came bursting out of the trailer, blubbering his way into Marcus’s lap.
“I don’t get it. Why wouldn’t he make her a vampire?” whined Aster. “They’re so perfect together and I—I can’t…” The frog buried his face before he could finish the thought.
Pulsar followed close behind. He hopped up next to his human and wiped away a whole bunch of tears. Aaron wrapped an arm around him and chuckled. “You’re such a fucking softy, dude.”
“S-shut up,” whimpered the devil. He settled down soon after. When he realized they had just missed a bowl, the devil packed another. They smoked the final bowl together and headed back to their trailers.
Aaron used the bathroom and joined his devil on the couch when a text came in from Reyes:
“Hey Aaron. Tomorrow we begin training. Get good sleep. Good night.”
He chuckled at the formality—she texted like a boomer. They stayed up for only a little while longer, watching Alton Brown lecture the camera over which breads did and didn’t make good French toast. Then they went to bed early, and the devil converted seamlessly into a space heater.
The next day, the driver took them down a different road, toward a different facility. Like the main complex, this place was also built around an airplane hanger, but the vibe was different. There was razor wire on the chain link fence around the perimeter, and a coyote hunting in the scrub not far away. Agent Reyes stood outside to watch them arrive, one car at a time.
“How did you sleep?” The agent’s aviators reflected the big broad sky and she looked unusually energized. Instead of her usual black suit, she wore a pink and black jogging suit. Marcus whistled in approval.
“Like a sack of shit,” said Aaron. “No complaints.”
“Well that’s good,” beamed the agent. “You’re going to sleep even better tonight.”
She led them into the hangar, which housed a full-sized boxing ring. “I like your approach to sparring,” she said. “Good practice, good exercise. Good way to train without taking damage. I think it’s a good place to start, just to see where everyone’s at.” Aaron caught Nat’s expression—she almost looked excited.
“Pulsar, I would like to see what you can do first.” Reyes slipped through the ropes and up into the ring.
“Right.” The devil smirked and took his spot.
Reyes grinned and took her stance. Agent Reyes was on the taller side, and her fighting style was seasoned. She moved around the ring like a predator, bouncing on the balls of her feet, feinting three times before making a real move. The feints caught Pulsar off guard and he dodged the wrong way. The woman scooped his torso and threw him to the mat in one swift motion. “That’s one,” she smirked.
The devil looked stunned, and at least a little embarrassed. He jumped to his feet and cracked his neck. “That’s the only one you’ll get.” Then he ran backwards and vaulted off the ropes. Reyes caught him easily, spinning him over her shoulder. But Pulsar was expecting it. He spun his momentum all the way around and drove her down from above. She hit the mat with a thud. “Devils one,” he gloated.
She hauled herself back to her feet and dropped into a crouch. She threw a couple of short jabs that didn’t connect, followed by a loose roundhouse. Pulsar took the bait and blocked it with his forearm. The agent crouched low to sweep the leg. The move was too fast and the devil went down hard. “Game, set, match,” she grinned.
Nat went next, taking on Aster. The frog was still regrowing after their last big fight, but he was much trickier than before, wrapping her arms up with his tongue and giving it enough slack to deprive her of leverage. He had to fight to take her down the first time, but the second one was almost instantaneous. Nat kicked the mat, embarrassed how easily she went down.
“It’s alright. It’s alright,” encouraged Marcus. He took her place as Aaron climbed into the ring, the ropes reluctantly parting for him. This time, Aaron held his ground, making Marcus do the work. Any time he tried to grapple or pick a leg or engage in any way, Aaron used Marcus’s momentum against him, reinventing judo in real time. Aaron didn’t realize just how much stronger he had grown until he tossed Marcus clear into a turnbuckle from over ten feet away. Marcus recovered and charged him—if it weren’t for the ropes, Aaron would have gone down. Instead he bounced back and fell on Marcus a little too hard. They jumped up for the next round, and Marcus quickly took the second point. Aaron sobered up for the final round, which ended in a rare double butt-down. Marcus made an exaggerated bow and Aaron returned it. The big man looked for a towel as soon as he was out of the ring.
They went for several more rounds, in several more combinations. The devils and the two scar bonded humans won out overall, by a sizable margin—it appeared that Nat had lost some of her advantage since the loss of Cirra and her scar. But Aaron was happy to have her back in the fight, so he made the rare and wise decision to keep his mouth shut.
Once everyone had two matches under their belt, they stopped for water and a breather.
Nat offered a bottle to Reyes. “You want to go spar for real? Full contact?”
“With you?” grinned Reyes. “Absolutely.”
The pair got back into the ring. Suddenly it was like a completely different event. Pulsar and Aaron cheered for Nat, and Marcus cheered for Reyes. Aster served as the referee. While Nat probably had more formal martial arts training under her belt, Jess’s experience and reach made it an even fight. They traded blows at blinding paces, blocking them and returning them just as quickly. Nat scored a point, Reyes scored a point, and Nat scored her hard-earned second. In the end they both bowed deeply, in stark contrast to Marcus’s mock bows.
Then it was time for some actual lunch: pre-packed portions of chicken, steamed veggies, and mashed potatoes, with plenty of protein drinks. The food was bland and forgettable, but filled them up without weighing them down.
“So what exactly are we doing here?” asked Nat, eating her chicken first.
“You’ll be undergoing a specialized training regimen.” Reyes put away her meal in a blink, with ruthless efficiency. “We’ll be working on your fundamentals—strength, speed, agility, and endurance—while also training you on a few unarmed fighting techniques and the weapons of your choice.”
“Yeah, but why though?” After the dragonflies, Aaron assumed that the feral devils had to be some sort of national emergency, warranting a national response. “Are we still going to be on the front lines?”
Reyes folded her napkin and slid it under the food tray. “First, we want to study your scar-bound performance in real time. We want to see just how strong, and how fast, you can get under ideal conditions.”
“Bet,” said Marcus. He tried a banana bread Burn Ward and, satisfied with the taste, downed the bottle.
“Second,” said Reyes, “You should realize that you performed exceptionally well during those other wild devil attacks. You cooperated well, took down some big devils, and successfully minimized loss of life to civilians. I suspect that one of you has the most devil kills of anyone on the planet.”
The group looked around in shock. Pulsar and Marcus celebrated by trading a violent high five.
Aaron looked skeptical. “But now you can just call in drone strikes or whatever, right?”
“We’re trying to access as many military resources as possible,” said Reyes. “But the attacks are unpredictable. The next one could be in the middle of nowhere, or in the middle of a population center. It could be one devil or hundreds. We think the military could struggle with some of those scenarios.” She leaned back, folding her hands. “There is also a bunch of bureaucratic…” She waved a hand, expressing things too complicated to put into words. “We shouldn’t count on full military support.”
“So we’re gonna be super soldiers.” Marcus looked torn between living ‘the anime life’ and becoming the government’s dog.
“Not soldiers,” said Reyes. “You’ll function more like mercenaries. Since Agency D exists in a bit of a legal gray area, we have a… surprising amount of discretion in some areas.”
“It does?” Nat looked confused and a little relieved. Reyes just chuckled instead of elaborating.
“Time out,” said Aaron. “Mercenaries? Does that mean we’ll be doing your dirty work?”
Agent Reyes smirked a bit. “Sorry, dirty work is my job. You can opt out of any mission that you want. But you'll also have to live with that.”
The group went silent for a moment, letting it sink it. Reyes hung her head a bit and made her plea. “I know we're asking a lot of you, but it's nothing I don't ask of myself. I'll be right there with you. And unlike most of you, I don't have a scar to fall back on.”
“Join the club.” Nat pushed her food away. “But I'm in.”
“I'm in,” added Marcus.
The frog chirped, “In!”
The hare shot off a finger gun and winked. “You know I'm in.”
“Screw you guys.” Aaron chuckled under his breath. “Yeah I'm in.”
Reyes cracked open another protein drink to celebrate. “So in the short term,” said Reyes, “We have two big priorities. One, learn as much as we can, while we still can.” She counted on her fingers. “And two, subdue any wild devils that come through.”
