Page 95 of Pet: Genesis

The room is so massive that I can’t see what’s happening until I feel a hard pull on my arm, yanking me away from Zaya. I barely have time to register who it is when I’m looking into a pair of familiar green eyes.

“Cypress?” I shout. He doesn’t respond as he steps in front of me, his weapon aimed at Zaya. She’s watching him with an amused expression. The weapon he’s holding illuminates from the beam of energy rushing through it. Zaya crouches slightly in a combative stance, ready to attack, but Cypress doesn’t let her get that far, firing the weapon. A high-pitched wave of sound fills the air as the weapon fires, hitting Zaya straight in the chest. The force of the weapon fires her through the crowd and into the nearest column, the material collapsing from the sheer force.

My eyes are wide as I take in the rubble, waiting for her to get up. But she doesn’t.

“Oh my God,” I whisper. More rebels storm the room, firing their weapons at unsuspecting Leviathan to create more chaos. Cypress still doesn’t speak as he kneels, pulling a blade from his ankle holster. He then turns to me and begins cutting the bottom of my dress away. I note that the commotion surrounding us grows impossibly loud as some Leviathan remain and fight while others clear out into halls.

“What’s happening?” I ask in a panic.

Cypress tosses the remains of my dress, standing to his full height.

“We’re getting you out,” he says. He clasps my hand in his, pulling me out of the room and into the fray with other Leviathan. I look around, my heart fluttering as hope courses through me. Then, I remember Remus. But as I look at Cypress, he isn’t concerned with the leader of the Leviathan race. He only seems concerned with getting me out.

He finds his way easily through the building, leading me up several flights of stairs, and it dawns on me that we’re heading to the rooftop. Cypress kicks open the door, and the wind whips around me from the altitude of the building. More rebels fan out from behind us, and as I look over the rooftop, I notice near the edge that they’ve created a zip line, some already making their escape down it to the ground.

Cypress pulls me along with him, barking off orders that the surrounding rebels immediately adhere to. I watch Cypress in his element, joy filling me when I see he has no scars from the rebel attack at Remus’s home. I have so many questions for him but now doesn’t seem like the time to ask.

“Is hers ready?” he shouts gruffly to the rebel manning the zip line. He nods in response, tossing a belt to Cypress, who immediately turns to me and begins fastening it around my waist.

“How did you do that?” I ask, referring to the weapon. Cypress chuckles gruffly, roughly pulling at the ties around my waist before looking at me. He pulls me toward the zip line as he speaks.

“That was a weapon curated for the Leviathan scum. Worked beautifully, huh?” he asks. I slowly nod as I think of the rubble with Zaya’s body in it. Zaya was one of the generals Remus chose to serve him during his time on Earth, meaning she was insanely strong, and Cypress took her out with a single blow.

“Are the charges set?” Cypress shouts, pulling me out of my thoughts. The rebels confirm their places with Cypress just as the doors to the rooftop are blasted open. Leviathan come charging out of the stairwell with weapons firing, and the rebels start screaming orders. The rebel Cypress spoke to only seconds ago starts shouting at us.

“Go, go, go! We’ll detonate as soon as you hit the ground!” he shouts.

My eyes widen, but Cypress wastes no time.

“Hold on!” he shouts. I notice that he doesn’t have anything attached to the line as he jumps with me, holding onto my equipment as we make our way down the building. Gravity pulls us fast to the bottom. It only takes a few seconds, but it feels like hours as my mind shifts to Remus. He’s not going to be happy, especially after the compromise I made with him. I scream as the explosion from the rooftop sounds behind us. When I turn to look, the explosion sends a blue wave of energy through the sky, and the zip line grows lax just as we’re a few feet from the bottom.

We crash into the street, rolling uncontrollably from the speed that we came in. Other rebels immediately surround us, helping me out of the belt, and as I stand to look at the building, it occurs to me that everyone up there is now dead.

They sacrificed themselves.

Hands are around my face, pulling me into focus. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt?” Cypress shouts at me, but I can’t manage to form a sentence. I slowly nod, and he takes that for what it is, pulling me toward the hidden alley full of motorbikes. There are already humans strapping on their weapons and gear to prepare for their departure. The bikes are made for two people. One place for someone to drive and the other for someone to shoot. These have clearly been modified for combat, as I notice more rebels locking their weapons to the front of some.

I follow Cypress to his waiting bike as he pulls the weapon he used on Zaya from his back, prepping for his departure.

“The information you gave Jude was great, Iris. Without you, we never would have been able to coordinate an attack on their main port. And when we figured out one of the siblings was coming to our planet, we had the perfect opportunity to implement that attack,” Cypress says.

“You did that?” I ask, referring to the giant plume of smoke that was enough to pull Remus’s attention away from the party.

“Yeah. We destroyed the whole damn port with his sister in it. There’s no way she survived,” Cypress says as he pulls a pulsing canister from his bike’s bag, attaching it to the weapon he used on Zaya.

Against my wishes, my mind shifts to Remus, and I push down the fear in my chest from the wrath he’ll execute on this planet once he finds out.

Cypress smiles, patting the pulsing canister lightly as he speaks. “After our little encounter, we made some major modifications to our weapons. This releases a concentrated blast that breaks down its target on amolecularlevel. If he comes, we’ll be ready.” Cypress quickly straps his weapon to the front of his bike, grabbing a simpler one from his passing comrades.

“Ready to rollout?” he shouts.

“Yes, sir!” The echo of compliance fills the air, and as I look around, I notice Cypress is the only one with this updated weapon. It looks like the production of it isn’t where it should be for them to bring more than one. Cypress presses the simpler weapon against me, and I grab it out of reaction.

“We’ll be sitting ducks if we can’t defend ourselves. Can I trust you?” he asks.

He’s watching me cautiously, and I know what he’s truly asking. Am I with him? The last time I saw him, I tried convincing him to give up this fight. And now, he’s risked everything in coming back for me. Even if we can’t win, Remus can’t hold his life over my head any longer. Not if I’m with him. Not if I can fight and die alongside him. Remus was right. I only lost my drive. But not my will. I clench the weapon to my chest, smiling.

“Hell yeah,” I say.

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