the killing kind - (lgbt | onc 2022)

2

word count: 1831
total word count: 4026

The carpeted floor of the hallway provided little comfort. Laura had tried—begged Kavi to get some rest as the hours inched closer to nightfall, the sun long gone by now. He'd resisted, insisting on sitting outside what had once been Jasper's bedroom and was now his prison cell.

The thought made his stomach turn. Did Jas recognize it, or was he scared out of his mind, trapped in unfamiliar surroundings by people he didn't know anymore?

One way or another, Kavi had to get in there.

Laura slid the screwdriver she was using into her back pocket and gave the doorknob a tug. Apparently satisfied with the resistance it gave—removed entirely from the door and put back in place so the lock was on the outside—she got back to her feet, brushing off the knees of her work pants.

Along with the tool belt she wore everywhere she went, there was a new bulge under the hem of her t-shirt that indicated a handgun. The last time Kavi had seen it come out of its place in the nightstand next to her bed was five years ago, before he was out of the closet, when the military had made a show of trying to convince the council to allow Ashwell back into their control. The commander who'd spoken to the cluster of adults that collected votes and made decisions for the colony had been surrounded by soldiers meant more to intimidate than actually threaten—but they'd done a decent job of it, with rifles slung casually across their backs and faces hard beneath their helmets.

Kavi could still feel the brush of Jasper's shirt sleeve against his arm where they'd sat together, instructed by Laura to "stay in the damn house." From the view of the kitchen window, she'd stood statue-still as she and the rest of the council spoke to the soldiers, spine straight and that handgun in clear view at her side. Rock-solid and impenetrable.

Evidently, Ashwell's independence wasn't worth a fight, because the soldiers had left after a single tense afternoon.

Ashwell was committed to peace, Laura always said, but sometimes that came at a cost.

Now it seemed the cost was restraining Jas to the bed he'd grown up sleeping in.

The door opened and shut again with a click. Declan stepped out, holding his medical kit in one hand and haggard exhaustion lines marking his face. Kavi scrambled to his feet; Laura raised a brow.

"Well?"

"He's completely placid now." The doctor heaved out a sigh. "Pupils and heart rate are back to normal. If he remembers any more, he won't share it with me."

"Did he tell you anything?"

"Yes, actually. He mentioned the military—said they'd be looking for him."

"What the hell did he get himself into?" A deep crease formed in Laura's brow. A lump rose in Kavi's throat, the grudge he'd held against her for attacking Jasper beginning to fade. This was the woman who had raised the two of them, cleaned their skinned knees when they fell and checked on them each night before sleep took them in their separate beds.

She was probably in as much pain as Kavi was.

"I don't know. He doesn't trust me—hardly says anything. There's something very wrong with him, Laura." Declan glanced at Kavi, who felt a brief spike of worry that he'd be sent away.

No, he was an adult now, not a scared little kid who wasn't allowed to listen to the grownups talk. Laura knew that. She'd never sheltered them from the truth regardless.

When Laura folded her arms, waiting for more, Declan continued. "We'd have to take him a city over if we wanted access to lab work—I'd like to do blood tests and x-rays, find out what this is. But he's not the same boy who ran away from Ashwell a year ago, and I don't just mean mentally. Something's happened to him—or maybe something's been done to him, I don't know. What I do know is that he has no injuries that weren't sustained earlier today. All that blood belongs to someone else."