COVELENT: XenoTrait

A single bulb hung from a wire, swinging slightly across the room. The light dragged shadows back and forth across the floor.

A girl was on her knees, her wrists tied behind her back.

A man in a black suit held her jaw. His thumb pressed into her cheekbone as he barked, "Hah! Still not ready to talk?"

Another man in white watched, leaning against the wall. "She’s tougher than the last one."

The man in black smirked. "You talk too much, Greg."

Greg laughed. "And you take too long, Uvon. Just finish it."

Uvon grinned. "Hmm, you do have a point." He turned back to the girl and tightened his grip. Then he snapped his fingers.

Greg pushed himself off the wall and dragged an inverter across the floor.

"You have a nice body," Greg said. He stepped closer and ripped off the girl’s T-shirt. Buttons scattered everywhere.

The girl’s voice came out in a broken hitch. "Please... no... don’t," she said as her voice cracked.

Greg leaned in, licking the girl’s face. "Are you ready to talk?"

The girl pressed her lips together, squeezed her eyes shut, and thought, "Don’t say anything. Don’t say anything."

"Well then... it can’t be helped." Greg grabbed the jumper cables and pressed them onto her breasts. He paused, looked at her, and said, "Last chance..."

The girl said nothing.

Greg turned on the inverter, electrocuting her.

"AHHHHHHH!" she screamed.

Above, on a stairwell with cracked concrete steps and a rusted handrail, a man with long black hair and green eyes stood at the top. He tilted his head and mumbled, "Found you."

He grabbed the rusted handrail, stepped onto it, and jumped off.

He folded his hands against his chest as he fell. Air rushed past his ears.

"Please! St... stop!" the girl gasped, breathing heavily as tears streamed down her face.

Greg laughed. "Hahaha... are you crying?" He turned the dial higher. "Let me give you a reason to cry."

"AAAHHHHH!" the girl screamed in pain.

"Scum!"

Uvon and Greg looked up and a heel came down onto Greg’s face, crushing his skull against the concrete. Dust exploded outward.

Uvon stumbled back and shouted, "Greg!"

The man in the long coat looked down as he scraped his shoe against the floor. "Oh... so his name was Greg." A pause. "Ugh... his blood is all over my shoe."

Uvon stood frozen as he saw Greg’s lifeless body. His vision blurred. Tears fell as he mumbled in a low tone, "Greg..."

He looked up at the man in the coat, his voice cracking. "Everyone, shoot!"

Men poured from the shadows. Muzzles flashed as countless bullets were fired.

The man in the coat staggered and fell. The guns clicked empty.

Uvon exhaled. "He’s dead now."

Dust settled.

The girl stared at the floor, her shoulders shaking. The cables still pressed against her chest.

"He is dead now..." someone said.

A twitch came from the man. He exhaled. "Dead... who is dead?" he said as he pushed himself up.

"No..." someone whispered.

His coat hung in shreds. His shirt looking like a sieve.

Then a faint cracking sound came from him.

Small light-brown scales pushed up through his skin, starting from his chest and crawling outward over his shoulders and down his arms. The scales layered over his body, pushing the bullets out.

Click.

A bullet fell from his arm and hit the floor.

Click. Click. Click.

More fell until there was nothing left.

Someone’s gun clattered to the ground. "...What the hell..."

Uvon stepped back. His heel hit a broken chair. "You... you’re a monster."

The man rolled his shoulder. "Monster, huh." His voice was flat. "I don’t like being called that."

Uvon opened and closed his mouth.

The man stood. His pants were shredded, but scales covered everything above his waist.

"How... how are you still alive?" Uvon’s voice came out thin.

The man looked past him at the girl, at the cables. "What did you need her for?"

"You were shot by everyone!" Uvon barked.

The man ripped off what remained of his shirt. "So what? It wasn’t enough."

Uvon’s knees bent. "You’re a monster."

"I have a name, you know," the man said.

"Who and what are you?" Uvon swallowed.

The man stepped forward. "My name is Felix, and I’m human... just like you."

Uvon shouted, "Shoot him again! Pump him with lead!"

They all fired at him.

Felix didn’t move. The bullets hit the scales and bounced off immediately.

Click. Click. Click.

The last shot faded, and silence filled the room. Only the ringing in everyone’s ears remained.

Felix coughed. "...Are you done?"

No one answered.

"Have you had enough?" He tilted his head. "Your bullets won’t hurt me. Now answer my question. What’s your name?"

Uvon fell as his back hit the wall, and he slid down until he sat on the floor. "M... my name is Uvon..."

Felix crouched in front of him. "Thank you." His fingers elongated, nails thickening into claws. Felix smiled. "I’m going to kill you now."

He sliced Uvon’s throat open.

Uvon choked, raised his gun, fired one last shot into the ceiling, and then his hand fell to the ground.

Felix stood, cracked his neck, and muttered, "Well." He looked at the remaining men. "I’m going to kill all of you... maybe leave one or two alive."

He disappeared from view.

The first scream came three seconds later.

The girl watched as people dropped one by one. Screams from the hallway, a wet choke, a thud, then another scream somewhere else.

"Four. Seven. Twelve." She counted.

Her hands shook. Her chest burned where the metal had touched. Her torn clothes clung to her skin.

Footsteps approached, slow, steady and coming toward her.

She squeezed her eyes shut. "No. No, no, no." She thought.

The footsteps stopped right in front of her.

Nothing happened.

"Why am I not dead?" She pondered.

She opened her eyes.

Felix stood there, blood on his face that did not belong to him. The scales were gone, leaving pale skin beneath. He looked at her and crouched down slowly.

"I’m not here to kill you," he said quietly. "So you don’t need to worry about what I might do."

She stared at him.

He reached for the cables. She flinched, and he stopped.

"Just removing them," he said.

She didn’t move.

He removed the cables, one at a time. The metal clips left red marks on her skin.

"What’s your name?" Felix asked.

She looked at his hands. "What if you kill me afterward?" Her voice was raspy.

Felix scoffed softly. "If I wanted to kill you, you would already be dead."

A pause.

"Now tell me your name."

She swallowed. "...I... it’s Amme."

"Amme." He nodded. "Well then. Would you like to tell me why you’re here?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it." Don’t cry. Don’t cry." She pondered.

"I was..." She stopped, pressing her palm to her forehead. "I was kidnapped from a church and..." She paused. "They... they killed everyone there."

Felix’s expression didn’t change. "Why?" he asked.

"My father donated money to the church..." The words came out flat. "They took me because they wanted to use me as collateral. They thought they’d get a large ransom for my freedom... but my father..."

Her voice cracked. "He was at the church.....He was one of the people they killed."

Her hands pulled at the torn sleeve. "Then they started to torture me for the password to my father’s safe... I never knew he had one."

Felix said nothing for a long moment.

"Scum," he muttered.

Then, "You did well holding on."

She looked up at him.

"Do you want to leave this place?" Felix asked.

She nodded twice.

"One more thing." Felix turned his head slightly. "You. Behind the pillar. Come out."

No movement.

Felix’s voice dropped. "Do you want me to drag you out myself?"

A skinny man stepped out from behind the concrete pillar. Feminine face, soft jaw, tall but folded into himself.

"My name is Kim Jung," he said in Korean.

Felix raised an eyebrow. "Not American."

Kim nodded and switched to English. "I’m Korean."

"What are you doing here?" Felix asked.

Kim clenched and unclenched his hands at his sides.

"My family is being forced to work for this group....They have my little brother."

Felix studied him, "Then I’ll ask you this. Will you work with me? I want to take them down."

Kim’s expression hardened. "Yes."

"Do you know where their headquarters is?" Felix asked.

"Sadly, no. But the person I was assigned under does."

Felix nodded. "Leave your shirt here and go to headquarters."

Kim froze for a second then pulled off his shirt, dropped it on the floor, and ran.

The sound of his footsteps faded up the stairs.

Felix yawned, then looked back at Amme. She still sat on the floor, shaking, picking at a loose thread on her sleeve.

He said nothing. He just waited.

After a long minute, she tried to stand. Her legs didn’t work at first. She stumbled, then caught herself on the wall.

Felix walked slowly toward the exit, making sure to stay where she could see him.

She followed without a word.

Cold air met them outside. A single streetlight buzzed overhead. The building behind them had dark windows and a door hanging off its hinges.

She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, fingers digging into her elbows.

Felix stopped. "Oh. I left that shirt."

He ran back inside and came out thirty seconds later with Kim’s shirt balled under his arm.

Amme looked at Felix then at the shirt.

Felix ignored her.

"Where do you live?" Felix asked.

"The U.S. But here... I was staying at a hotel," Amme said.

"Find another one," Felix replied.

She shook her head. "They’re probably all booked by now."

Felix scratched the back of his head. "Then stay where I am. There’s a vacant room."

She looked at him, thinking, "Why is he helping me?"

"...Okay," she said.

They walked for a while. A motel came into view. Two stories, an outdoor walkway, a neon sign flickering "VACANCY" in pink letters. The parking lot was nearly empty.

Felix pointed to the front desk....a small window with a metal gate with a man inside watching a tiny TV.

"Go register," Felix said.

She did as she was told. Her hands shook as she signed the paper. The clerk slid a key across the counter without looking at her.

She returned. "I got room 48."

Felix nodded. "Right next to mine."

They walked down the outdoor hallway. Numbers passed: 42, 44, 46, 48.

Felix stopped at 47.

Amme stood in front of her door, staring at the brass numbers. "Goodnight," she said. "And thank you."

"Yeah... get some rest.....oh and tomorrow we leave at 10:00am," Felix replied.

She nodded as put the key in the lock, turned it, and pushed the door open.

One bed with clean sheets, a window facing the parking lot, and a small bathroom with a flickering light.

She stepped inside and closed the door, leaning her back against it.

Then she slid down until she sat on the floor.

Her hands went to her face. Her shoulders shook. The sound came, muffled behind her fist. Her throat burned, her eyes swelled shut.

In the next room, a single bed, a wooden chair by the window, and a shirt draped over it was Kim’s shirt.

Felix lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Water stains spread across the plaster like maps.

Through the wall, muffled crying accompanied by hitched breaths, small, wet sounds where heard every few seconds.

Felix didn’t move. "Tomorrow I’ll send that kid off."

He turned his head, looking at the shirt. "Then I’ll go see that man... I have to deal with him."

The crying continued on the other side of the wall.

Felix closed his eyes and slept.

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