Trial X6

Free Mutants

  On my way to work, the phone Logan had given me began to vibrate in my pocket. I pulled it out and answered the call by pushing the green phone button.

  "Shadow?"

  "What is it, Logan?" I turned the corner into an alleyway just as a police drone flew over the street.

  "You should come over. Max needs your help, and we have a lead on the other transgenics." I kept walking as I listened. Why did he think I cared about other chimeras? I've never seen them, nor was I ever programmed to have connections with them. Manticore drilled me on what to do with escaped X-series, and I got out of that. Now Max and Logan want me to do it again?

  "Yeah, sure. I'll be there in five minutes." I hung up the phone and turned right toward Logan's den. 'Why am I going?' I thought to myself. 'Because Max needs your help. That X5 pretty much has you wrapped around her finger already.' I answered myself mentally while rolling my eyes.

  Perhaps my raptor DNA was making me loyal to her. She was the closest thing to a commanding officer I'd had since Lydecker.

~

  "Some of them are screwed up, they don't look like you or me or anything anyone's ever seen before." Max's voice told me where she was in the penthouse. "I'm responsible for them just the same." I saw her coming my way just as Logan was reaching for her while I waited by the elevator.

  "Hey!" Logan said in a quick tone.

  "Careful!" Max told him while raising her hands to avoid his touch.

  "You took the words right out of my mouth." I could see the tension and stress between the two of them. When Max saw me, she gave me a forced smile.

  "Hey, Shadow." I gave a short nod in reply, and we were both going down in the elevator in silence. They had been arguing about something concerning the escaped transgenics, and Max didn't say a word about it.

~

  I'd never been on a motorcycle before, but so far, I was seemingly enjoying it. Max was silent since she'd already briefed me on the situation after leaving Logan's den. The trees and plants passed by in a green and brown blur as she raced down the road to get to the rendezvous point before any more transgenics were killed.

  Eventually, a bridge came into view followed by trucks and people. Max gave a sharp turn while hitting the brakes, nearly going parallel with the ground, and took out a few of the men.

  "Run!" She shouted. The other men began to shoot, and one shot a transgenic in the leg. I leapt off the bike as Max reached down to pick the fallen kid up.

  "I'll meet back up with you later." I shouted to Max as she slung the kid behind her and drove off. Bullets kept missing them as Max drove in an uneven pattern, and I jumped off the bridge so I wouldn't get shot either.

  Running into the woods for cover, I then followed Max's scent on the breeze. The forest was so quiet now that the gunshots had scared off the birds and put the other creatures into hiding.

  Avoiding the roads and paths, I kept going until I reached an abandoned-looking barn. Before entering the clearing, I checked my surroundings. Waiting a moment to listen, I heard Max's voice from inside the barn, making my ear twitch. Without further delay, I ran to the barn and stopped at the sight of multiple transgenics in camo and grey.

  "All right people," Max spoke up. "fall in. There has been a change in your mission status." She addressed a group of young soldiers. Standing just to the side of the entrance I had used, I watched as she talked to them. She even started giving them names. Zero, Fix-it, Ralph, Bullet, and Bugler. There was another person behind a wooden beam, asking about a name for the transgenic standing by a window.