Chapter 40

Freyja stepped out onto Kait's porch just as a small red pickup truck narrowly avoided clipping the back of her car as it skid to a halt. Bumble Bee sat on top of the roof of Freyja's car while Gravy Train rested on the trunk of Gee's car. Both cats' tension came through the Link loud and clear. Each did their best not to bolt for cover from the disturbance. Sprinkles remained present in the Link, but unnervingly calm as he watched from the top of Kait's house.

"HELP! WE NEED HELP!" the driver of the truck shouted after practically kicking her door open.

Freyja hurried to the gate, but didn't run as the driver, a short woman wearing partial plate armor covering her torso, raced around to the passenger side of the little red truck. The door nearly hit the armored woman thanks to a small Latina teenager with a bob haircut flinging it open. The teen glanced back long enough to register the driver was there before diving back in. She braced her boot against the side of the truck and pulled a taller teenage boy halfway out of the vehicle. He was sweaty, pale, and limp. Freyja quickened her pace, hopping the fence with one hand as the driver hooked her own arms under one of the shoulders of the unconscious boy to assist in extracting him from the cab.

"Oh my God, is he dead?" the teen girl asked after they'd half laid the kid out on the gravel between cars. She placed two shaky fingers on the boy's neck under his jaw to search for a pulse.

Freyja reached them and slipped her arms under his body, hoisting him up without much effort. It wasn't that he was light, no. She knew she'd modified her body, strengthening herself without altering the volume of her muscles and bones.

"Whoa!" the girl said as Freyja turned on her heels back toward the gate. "Are you a doctor? Help him. Please! This is all my fault!"

Freyja looked the boy over as she carried him. A dirty makeshift splint and cast made of self-adhesive bandages and sticks reached just below his right knee to his foot. The blood stained remains of his pant leg limply bounced with each step she took. His pulse was weak. Skin clammy. He was clearly in septic shock. Even if they had a doctor on hand, there wasn't a lot one could do without a hospital.

"Get the gate and tell me what happened while we move," Freyja ordered.

Keep watch, she told the cats.

Yes, Commander, Bumble Bee and Gravy Train replied.

Sprinkles remained silent. Watching as the woman in armor opened Kait's gate so the quartet could enter the property. She shut it behind them as Freyja made a bee-line for the Barn.

"We got this money to fight aliens and pooled it to buy this car. Hal and I fixed it up so we could get here but some assholes set up fucking homemade spike stripes. We wrecked out and he got pinned. I was able to get him out and we made it to Carrie's place before the people who made the trap caught up to us but his leg was all fucked up. We thought maybe you could do something. You're the Commander, right? Are you a doctor?" the girl rattled quickly.

The idea of making this boy join the Link made her stomach turn. It was bad enough she'd forced it on her brother without his permission. Sure, that was also a matter of life or death but he was also family. Entering a telepathic connection with a bunch of strangers and aliens, not to mention the shapeshifting powers, seemed like a weight no child should have to bear.

He'll die if I don't do this, she thought to herself.

No one replied, but she could feel Damien and Gee in the Link along with the cats. They were doing their best to keep their conversation between one another private but their emotions were still bleeding over. Anxiety, fear, regret. Neither man wanted to leave the buildings they were in thanks to their cats letting them know someone had arrived with an injury.

"I'm not a doctor, but I can save him," Freyja said as they neared the Barn. "Get the door."

The driver and girl slid the barn door open for Freyja to hurry inside. She didn't slow down until she reached the center of the building and knelt down, laying the dying boy in the soft powdery dirt. The Barn Cats weren't standing at attention and had been taken off-guard by the entry. Many hid, but a few peeked out from behind boxes, the carpet covered cat trees, and rafters to watch.

"I need another volunteer. Which of you will save this boy? If you try to harm him I will kill you," Freyja said loudly in Hive Standard.

The girl and driver exchanged glances with one another that Freyja ignored. She could explain why she was hissing and yowling at the cats after their companion was out of the woods.

Two cats answered her summons, emerging from the shadows. A short haired tuxedo cat with white toes on all four feet and small gray striped tabby with a short tail and clipped ear sat themselves down a few feet away.

"What's wrong with him?" the tuxedo cat asked.

"Septic shock," Freyja replied.

She wasn't even sure becoming a Spark would save the kid.

The two cats exchanged glances with one another.

"He may not survive," the tabby said.

"Indeed. The fact that these creatures can remain stable after becoming Sparks is unusual enough," the tuxedo replied. It turned to look at Freyja. "Will you kill whoever bites him if he dies despite our efforts?"

She shook her head. "No. I will only kill you if you try to hurt him. I know this is risky. If he dies then at least we tried. Your powers will be active and you'll be part of our Link. You won't be allowed to eat his corpse. We'll return that to his family, as per our Tradition."

The two cats exchanged glances again before the tuxedo nodded.

"I will take this one," it said then walked closer.

Freyja shoved the near-dead boy's hand at the cat who leaned in to bite his finger without further complaint. The new mind hitting the Link reminded Freyja of Page. Analytical and complex. Calm and collected. This worm was used to engineering and technology, more-so than Odin. A scientific specialist.

"It is beyond my ability to force him to heal," the tuxedo cat said in English after backing away. "I have never performed that maneuver with a Spark before, but you have, Commander."

She leaned into it, hijacking the poor kid and forcing his shapeshifting powers to repair dying organs, knit the compound fractured bones back together, and heal the rest of his damaged soft tissue. The wounds confirmed he would have died if they had waited much longer. As it stood, she was just barely able to patch him back together before withdrawing to herself. She tried not to read his mind but still came away with some information that corroborated the girl, Kaylee Ochoa's, story. His name was Hal Baker, age seventeen. They were best friends who'd been contacted by Kira-217 via Sam's livestream Chat. Their families didn't know they'd left, much less secretly bought a car last month to fix up in their spare time.

His eyes fluttered open and Kaylee raced to his side.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" she asked quickly.

"I think so," he replied, then sat up. He looked around, searching for the faint voices he was hearing through the Link. Damien and Gee were still bleeding over as they spoke to one another about whether or not one of them should go outside to see what was going on. Like distant whispers behind multiple walls.

Freyja put her hand out toward the boy. He took it and got to his feet, making a face at the splint on his leg as if he hadn't realized it was there to begin with. She resisted the urge to make herself taller to look him in the eye. Their green color reminded her of Page, even if the boy's mussed up hair was considerably more brown. She doubted the pair was related, however.

"You..." he blinked a few times then caught sight of the tuxedo cat who purred ceaselessly.

"It was the only way to save you. I'm not a doctor. We don't have one of those. All we have are aliens in cats with superpowers and some guns," Freyja said.

"What do you need guns for if you have superpowers?" Kaylee asked, skeptically.

Freyja started to reply but was cut off by the girl scooping up the gray bob-tailed tabby. She grinned at the cat.

"Do they all grant people superpowers?" Kaylee asked.

"Put her down," Freyja said.

Kaylee hugged the cat closer. "And if I don't she'll bite me, right?"

"Don't bite her," Freyja instructed in Hive standard.

"I will not," the cat replied with a nod.

"She won't bite you unless I tell her to," Freyja said in English. "Believe me, these powers are not something you want. Follow me. All of you."

Hal hopped on one foot while trying to free himself of the splint on his now healed leg. Kaylee, reluctantly set the cat down before joining him. Carrie took up the rear, keeping her eyes on the animals and the rest of the area. The cracked dirt and gore covered grass spoke volumes neither of the children had noticed as they had raced to the barn.

"So, there really are aliens?" Carrie asked as they walked around the carnage soaked ground.

Freyja turned around. "Yes."

Carrie pointed down. "You kill one?"

She nodded. "I did."

"The rest of the cats in there also aliens?" Carrie asked.

Kaylee rolled her eyes. "Obviously, the aliens are in the cats. Why would aliens look like cats from Earth?"

Freyja pursed her lips. This was wrong. How many other kids had Kira-217 recruited for this? Was it just kids like some young adult novel from forty years ago? This was no place for a child.

"The aliens are brainworms. They took over the cats. Not all of them are evil but many of them are dumb."

"Oh my fucking gods, you had one bite a fucking kid?!" Kait shrieked from around the side of her house. She had one arm through a roll of clear packing tape as if it was a bracelet and several cardboard boxes wedged under her arm.

Freyja raised her hands in the air. "Yeah, but he was about to die."

"Like your brother? Right? You see the pattern here, don't you? You're just taking my cats and hooking them up to anyone you think's about to die as if you have any godsdamn right to do that!" She dropped the cardboard and let the tape fall before closing the gap between them. "I want you gone. Stay in your godsdamn shed. You're not coming in my house again and you're sure as hel not going in the barn. If I catch you doing this again I'll find a way to kill you myself, you piece of shit!"

Hal bent down and picked up the tuxedo cat, who continued to purr. He did an awkward bow. "I'm so sorry, Ma'am. I was about to die. This is my fault for accepting the money from that robot lady online last month."

Kait's lip curled until she locked eyes with the cat. "Wait. Who the fuck is this? That's not one of my cats."

The cat bowed her head. "Apologies. My Host was a stray. I walked a great distance to join the colony last month. I have been stationed on the far side of the property since then."

She grit her teeth. "Then you're still one of my cats and I'm still pissed. No more house privileges. None of you. I don't want a single one of you in my house!"

Freyja nodded. "We'll stay in the Armory."