The Amnesiac Weapon

The grenade landed with a soft *thud* in the mossy dirt, inches from my boot. Time fractured. I saw the serrated casing, the pulled pin, the inevitable mathematics of death.

I kicked it.

It was an instinct, not a plan. I swung my leg, connecting with the heavy metal sphere, sending it skittering back toward the well.

"Down!" I screamed, tackling Elena.

The explosion was a concussive slap that lifted us off the ground. Dirt and stone rained down, pelting our backs. My ears rang with a high-pitched whine that drowned out the world.

I rolled over, coughing in the dust cloud. Dante was already up, his gun trained on the well. Chloe was scanning the tree line, her knife ready.

But the figure on the well was gone.

"Where is he?" Chloe hissed, wiping blood from her forehead.

"He didn't run," Dante said, his voice tight. "He vanished."

I scrambled to my feet, helping Elena up. She was shaking violently, her eyes darting around the clearing.

"Who was that?" she whispered.

"I don't know," I said. "But he wasn't trying to kill us. Not really."

"He threw a grenade at you," Chloe pointed out.

"A flash-bang," I said, pointing to the scorch marks. "If it was frag, we'd be paste. He was playing with us."

"We need to find shelter," Dante said. He looked at Elena. "She's crashing. The serum withdrawal... it's going to get worse before it gets better."

I looked at my sister. Her skin was grey, slick with sweat. Her pupils were dilated, swallowing the blue of her irises.

"The sea cave," I said. "It's below the cliffs on the north side. It's hidden from the air."

"Can we make it?" Chloe asked.

"We have to."

We moved out, leaving the clearing behind. The forest was alive with the sound of the hunt—engines revving, dogs barking, the shouts of men coordinating a grid search.

We reached the cliffs as the first drops of rain began to fall. The storm that had been threatening all night finally broke, unleashing a torrent that soaked us to the bone in seconds.

"Down there," I shouted over the wind, pointing to a narrow fissure in the rock face.

We climbed down, the wet stone slick under our hands. The cave entrance was a dark maw, smelling of salt and decay. We huddled inside, out of the wind but not the cold.

"Fire," Dante said, his teeth chattering. "We need a fire."

"It'll give away our position," Chloe argued.

"She's hypothermic," Dante countered, nodding at Elena. She was curled in a ball, convulsing. "If we don't warm her up, the cold will kill her before the Liquidators do."

We gathered driftwood from the back of the cave. Chloe used a flare from her survival kit to ignite the damp wood. The fire sputtered, then caught, casting long, dancing shadows on the walls.

I pulled Elena close to the flames. "Stay with me, El."

She looked at me. Her eyes were clearer now, but filled with a terrifying lucidity.

"I remember," she whispered.

"What do you remember?"

"The lab," she said. "The needles. The pain. But before that... I remember you."

She reached out and touched my face.

"You left," she said. "You ran away."

The guilt was a physical blow. "I had to. Lucius... he would have killed me."

"He told me you died," she said. "He told me you abandoned us. He made me hate you."

"I know," I said, tears mixing with the rain on my face. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," she said. Her voice changed, deepening, distorting. "It's *ours*."

Suddenly, she lunged.

Her hands clamped around Dante’s throat.

"Elena!" I screamed, trying to pull her off.

She was strong. Inhumanly strong. The serum wasn't gone. It was dormant. And the stress had woken it up.

"Who are you people?" she snarled, her face twisting into a mask of rage. "Where is Lucius?"

Dante clawed at her hands, his face turning purple. Chloe moved in with her knife, but I shoved her back.

"Don't hurt her!"

"She's killing him!" Chloe shouted.

"Elena!" I grabbed her face, forcing her to look at me. "It's Aria! Look at me!"

She stared at me. The blackness in her eyes pulsed.

"Aria?" she whispered.

"Yes. Let him go."

She released Dante. He collapsed, gasping for air.

Elena looked at her hands. "What... what did I do?"

"It's okay," I said, though my heart was hammering. "It's the drug. It's fighting you."

She looked at me, terrified. "I'm a monster."

"No," I said fiercely. "You're my sister. And I'm going to fix this."

Dante coughed, rubbing his throat. "We need the antidote. The real one. The formula is in the lighthouse."

"If we can get to it," Chloe said.

She moved to the cave entrance, peering out into the storm.

"They're close," she said. "I can see their lights on the ridge."

I looked at Elena. She was shivering again, the rage replaced by exhaustion.

"We can't stay here," I said. "If she turns again... she'll kill us all."

"Or we use her," Chloe said, turning back to us.

"What?"

"She's a weapon, Aria. Lucius made her a super-soldier. If we're cornered... maybe we let the monster out."

"Absolutely not," I said.

"It might be our only choice," Dante said hoarsely.

I looked at him, betrayed. "Dante?"

"Look at us, Aria. We're hurt. We're outgunned. And we're trapped."

He pointed to the back of the cave.

The shadows were moving.

Not from the fire.

From something else.

A figure stepped out of the darkness. The white porcelain mask gleamed in the firelight.

The man from the well.

He hadn't vanished. He had followed us.

And he wasn't alone.

Behind him, emerging from the cracks in the rock, were a dozen more figures. All wearing the same mask. All silent.

"Catch," the leader said.

He didn't throw a grenade this time.

He threw a phone.

It slid across the sand and stopped at my feet.

The screen lit up. A video call.

The Broker's face appeared.

"Hello again," he said. "I believe we have a negotiation to finish."