Parallels

Chapter Fifteen: Are You, Are You? (Coming To The Tree?)

Trying to ignore the shame that I feel and the wet spot right there, I take a deep breath and try to calm my nerves, which are shot to the point that I don't think that they'll ever ever recover from, trying, trying, trying not to look even more like a complete fool and knowing that there's no hope of that ever happening, especially not when I look like this...

"So what's the consensus? Have all of you made up your minds, or am I going to have to make them up for you?" Matthew Aspen says, and I really, really, really just want to leap on him and have it done with, but I can tell that he's a lot stronger than me, and besides, I'm pretty sure that he isn't entirely Terran anymore... he'd make mincemeat out of us.... Damn it, now I'm hungry.

"Well, are you going to answer me or not?" he asks, his voice higher and angrier this time. "I don't have much longer to wait, so either make up your minds and answer me or I kill you all. Plain and simple, it's as easy as that. So what's it going to be?"

"We'll come with," I say, looking everyone in the eyes, hoping that they'll be able to see that I'm telling them that they'll be okay, and they all not.

"Oh, and to think that I thought that this was going to be difficult," he says, smiling maniacally, and I can't help but wonder what the fucking hell happened to to him. The last time that I remember seeing him, he was just going off to war, and he was so much saner, to say the very least, and I dread to think that I'm probably going to end up meeting the thing that screwed him over, yeah, I'm not really looking much forward to that.

"Oh, it might be, Dad, it might be," I say, hoping that I've managed to keep my voice quiet enough so that nobody's going to hear us, and even my own sharp ears can barely pick up the sound of my own voice. I'm not complaining, of course, because like I said, him not being able to hear me is exactly what I want.

Fuck, and here I thought that I was going to have a nice reunion with my father, who, need I remind anyone, I thought was dead. I even wear his fucking dog tags around my neck, and you know what? I really, really, really want to just tear these damn things off, but you also know what? I won't, because they remind me that I can and I will be a better mammal...

Don't be like him, in other words...

"What was that, Mister Aspen?" my father asks me, and I curse under my breath. Flock, he did hear me...

"Other than I'm not Theo Aspen anymore, you son of a bitch," I say, unable to contain my temper any longer, "I'll fight you to the end!"

"I'd welcome that," he says, pointing the barrel of his gun right at my head, and I can see the little red dot of the laser pointer right between my eyes, "but you won't really be able to fight if you're missing half of your brain and nearly all of your skull. I'm going to give you ten seconds to decide, Theodore Michael," he says, and for whatever reason, the cuts on my cheek choose that moment to hurt, making me yelp in pain.

Apparently, the son of a vixen who calls himself my father takes that as a sign of weakness, and he laughs. "That's what I thought. You should know better than to let your guard down, now, come with me, or I'll go for your friends and your girlfriend. Oh, wait, no... he says, his eyes catching sight of the silver band on my finger, "she's your wife, isn't she? Where is she? Is that her?" he asks, pointing a finger at Mrs. Neve, who cowers in fear, and that shocks me. Well, if she can't be strong, then damn it, I'll do it!

"NO, father," I say, my voice harsh and biting, I'm sure, and really, I don't have any flocks or fucks left to give, I ran out forever ago, "she's my mother-in-law!"

"Oh, so you finally got to fuck someone, how nice," my father says, and it's all I can do to keep my cool, and I can tell that he knows it. "So who's the lucky lady? Or guy? Heaven only knows, Earth could've bent you in more ways than one..."