Vessels || Dustin Bates

The Order

Safety. It's what we all long for. However, as a Messenger, we are never safe.

Team 5501 had been with The Messengers for six months and in those six months, we had had four close calls with The FEC finding us. In those six months, the team and I had returned to Alexi twice undercover to snoop out the FEC. Shay had gone alone the last time. That's where our story picks up. Ron, Brock, Adam, and myself attempting to help her get out.

"Shaylee!" Ron yelled, trying to get her attention from where she had been throwing other Carnivores.

"What?" She yelled back, golden hair following the swing of her head.

"We need to get out! Not everyone is practically invincible here!" He backed up closer to her, trying to stand back to back so he didn't have to shout over the sound of firing guns, but she had disregarded her weapon a while ago, yelling that it was more difficult to use than just using her Carnivore abilities on them.

"And whose fault is that, DeChant?" She rushed forward, literally tearing the throat out of one of the attackers. "Yuck! That was a horrible idea!" She yelled, wiping her hand on her black pants.

"Diaz! Stop blooding up your clothes! You've gone through literally four pairs in two months! Doctor's gonna start thinking it's because Bates keeps tearing them off of you!" Adam's laughter rang over the sound of our guns and the screams of our victims.

"Shut the fuck up, Adam!" She yelled back, chasing down her next target.

"Yeah, uh, I don't do that. Really, I see value in clothes. So, no. No, please don't," I argued,  taking out one over Adam's head. He huffed.

"We know, we know." He rolled his eyes, running in closer to me.

"Guys! We really need to get out. Siobán is here to pick us up!" Brock called to us. Shay sighed, snapping the spine of one more Carnivore.

"Okay! Fine! Retreat!" Her voice carried the order. We all began to back out of the room so we could go back to Prox. We made it up the stairs. At the top, some human guards started to stop us, but Shaylee, who was leading the party, pushed them out of the way, sending them into the walls around. We made our way out without any further problem. "Load up." She turned, staring back at the building as the rest of us got on. Her eyes were trained on one window. I followed her line of vision.

A man stood staring down at us. He had salt and pepper hair, cold blue eyes, a straight nose, and a stoic face. He seemed to be staring back at Shaylee. It was a mirror. He nodded to her. She sneered, throwing up her middle finger before boarding behind me. The two of us sat down together. Everyone else was walking around the cabin as we took off. We knew we would be chased. It was typical, but we knew how to lose them. I slowly let my fingers thread between Shaylee's.

"That man..." I started, my voice soft so only she could hear me.

"Yes..." She didn't even need to wait for the rest of my question. "That was him. That's my father." Her voice was even quieter than mine. "I met him and got to fully understand him while I was there. Worse than anything I could ever think of doing. Human or not at this point, that man is more of a monster than all the genetic modification in the world could make me."

I sighed, letting go of her hand. Her eyes flew up from her lap to mine, hurt evident in them. I smiled softly, letting her know that I didn't let go for the reason's she expected. I slowly reached under the curtain of long blonde hair to the back of her neck. She winced as I pulled the small chip off of her, the blonde hair and brown eyes she had to disguise herself going away, sending her back into her striking blue eyes and black hair.

"There's my girl," I whispered, pulling her closer to me. She leaned into my neck, allowing me to hold her.  Covered in blood, exhausted, but alive. My family was still alive. All that mattered was on that ship. I just wanted to get back to the place where I knew we could let our guard down for just a little bit.