The Genome Legacy: Part Five (The Genome Legacy Book 5) Read online

  By

  Luna Wolf

  Copyright © Luna Wolf 2017

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locals are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events, real locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental or used fictitiously.

  Text copyright © 2017 Luna Wolf

  Cover copyright © 2017 Luna Wolf

  Editor: Lyn Forester

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

  Book design Luna Wolf

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Secrets

  We traipse over the path already cut by the A.I. from its journey to find us. It's much less time consuming than having Arrow cut the narrow path he had.

  I glance around us every few seconds. The quiet around us sends a shiver down my spine, goosebumps cover my arms. Those wolves came from inside here. How are they not around now? Where the hell are they hiding? What other predators will I have to face when the sky turns dark in an instant?

  Echo touches my arm from my left, bringing me out of the spiral of panic I fell into. "Your heart is racing off the charts. You'll pass out soon. What's wrong?"

  I let out a long breath, trying to calm myself. No need to worry them for no reason. "I guess I'm just uneasy knowing those beasts we ran into could b-be hiding in plain sight."

  Arrow glances over his shoulder. "Just keep your guard up."

  Octavius snorts. "You're comforting skills are astounding, oh great leader." He wraps an arm around my waist. "I assure you, Squeaks, as long as you stay here in the center of us, nothing bad will befall you."

  I shut my eyes. When will they understand that I don't want them to get hurt because of me? Just because they want to risk everything to keep me safe, doesn't mean I want them to. If one of them were to die because they were protecting me from some otherworldly monster, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. A part of me would die with each of them until I have nothing left to give.

  "I-I don't wa-want you guys dying ei-either. Not for me."

  King lifts me off the ground, forcing Octavius to remove his arm from my shoulders, as I'm enveloped from behind. He continues to walk as he hugs me. "You are worth the risk, Velma. I hope you see that one day."

  Being in his arms, as he carries me, comforts me a bit, but I still hate it. "I'll ne-never se-see that. It isn't fa-fair to any o-of you."

  Arrow stops, causing the A.I. leading us to stop as well. "You and the other girls are more important than us. There's only three of you. We're expendable. You need to be alive to bring life into this world. Stop fighting us over it and accept it as a fact."

  I frown, but keep my mouth shut. Nothing I say will get them to see I don't care. I rather have all of them alive, than ever succeed at having children.

  After a little bit King puts me back down.

  "If you go one and a half miles in that direction, you will find a river. If ever lost, follow it and it will lead you to base." The A.I. blurts as it's mechanical arm flings off to the right.

  King grumbles, "Does that mean we're getting close? I could really use some food, not sure how we'll prepare it, but I could really use some."

  Something in the A.I. whines. "We have approximately half a mile to go before reaching the edge of base."

  Arrow hurries his step forcing us all to quicken our own.

  He taps at his implant and tries to call Earth, still no signal. If we're only half a mile from base, shouldn't they be working by now?

  "Damn it!" He tries again, running now. Still nothing.

  The A.I. rushes to stay ahead of us, clearing away any plants it missed the first time.

  Sweat runs down the sides of my face. This type of heat wasn't meant to be run in when life and death isn't on the line. A static like noise increases with each passing second. What is that?

  "We've arrived!" The A.I. blares before we all follow it into a area where a good portion of the trees have been cut all the way down. A grouping of them stand together, other droids move up and down them. A base of a treehouse house, or should I say houses rests in the tall, thick branches. Further off to the left of the tree grouping roars a waterfall, flowing into a lake basin. The stream wraps around the backside of the construction to return to the jungle.

  We all still, taking it in. I didn't picture it like this, but knowing we have somewhere to sleep up off the ground when the darkness comes fills me with some relief.

  "Why can't I reach my father on Earth, aren't the signal towers around here?" Arrow tries the call again, but the red alert flashes over the screen, denying him.

  The A.I.'s head jerks to the side. "I do not have reference for signal tower, can you please rephrase?"

  Arrow pinches the bridge of his nose. "I need to call Dr. Langsting, but my implant still has no signal. Have you brought us somewhere that can make a call possible?"

  "Implant calls are impossible on Earth 2, son of Dr. Langsting. I can create a message for you and send it to them, and them I, but the technology for implant calls is not found here."

  I frown now. Didn't Dr. Langsting say it was possible before we left. That he would speak to us when we landed?

  Echo reaches for my hand. I glance at his expression, worry.

  I rub circles into his skin with my thumb.

  "No, my father told me it would be possible to make calls. How do I do that?"

  The A.I.'s head jerks to the other side, it's permanent smile sends a flash of ire through my chest. "I can send a message for you."

  Arrow growls. "Fine. Tell him something went wrong and we crashed off course. We've made it to base, but there's no signal towers here. We need advice on what to do about that."

  Its smile lights up. "Sending message now. It will be one day before a response will be made."

  "What? A day!"

  "Yes. approximately twenty-four hours, fifty-eight minutes, and thirty seconds from now you'll receive a response."

  "Fuck!" Arrow paces. All the pent-up worry finally spilling out.

  Octavius sighs. "This is exactly why I will never trust anyone who wears a silver jumpsuit."

  Arrow whirls on him. "Are you calling my father a liar?" His grey eyes gleam with such anger I take a step back, bumping into King, while Echo grips my hand tighter.

  Octavius sniffs. "If the shoe fits."

  Arrow tongues at his cheek, while his fists clench at his sides. "My father wouldn't lie to me. I'm sure this A.I. just doesn't have the specs needed to tell me where the towers are, and why it didn't take us there in the first place."

  A shrug from Octavius. "You know, I bet they didn't send us here for procreation at all. Why send us to a planet that can kill us every time it decides to turn out the lights?"

  "Darkness will fall in approximately six hours, three minutes, and ten seconds. All units must be in their stations then, or risk being destroyed."

  My attention goes back to the droid. "It knows about the darkness?"

  Rosie cries from behind me. Pansy whispers words of comfort to her.

  Octavius throws his arms up in the air. "If that damned thing knows about it, that means they knew about it, and decided not to tell us the damn planet is bi-polar. I guess dear old dad didn't want us to succeed."

  Arrow lets out a scream before tackling Octavius. "I'm so sick of hearing you run your damn mouth. You don't know shit about my father!"


  His fist lands in Octavius’s jaw.

  Hooking his leg around Arrow's back Octavius flips them, getting the upper hand to land his own punch.

  My heart hammers. They shouldn't be fighting like this. It won't help anything. "S-stop i-it."

  Neither of them hear me as Arrow's fist goes for a kidney punch.

  King and Herc rush forward to pull them apart. The enraged duo fight the massive arms that hold them back, but they do little in getting the men to release them.

  "Stop it! What good is fighting going to do either of you?" King growls.

  Rage burns in Arrow's gaze. "I hate you! I've always hated you!"

  Octavius sneers. "You can't handle the fact she chose me over you."

  Blood rushes around in my ears as my heart tries to escape my chest cavity. What?

  Arrow nearly gets out of Herc's grasp. "I'm going to kill you!"

  "I'd like to see you try."

  Both men fight harder to get at each other. the veins in King and Herc's biceps strain as the work to keep the two from ripping out each other's throats.

  "Are you still butthurt over the fact you didn't get chosen to be her partner in the graduation challenges? Why don't you tell Velma the truth?"

  Hearing my name come from Octavius jolts me out of my shock. He's never used my name before.

  Arrow kitcks. "Shut up! You shut the fuck up!"

  Octavius laughs. "Tell her the truth!"

  Truth? Truth about what? I drop Echo's hand. "Stop it! What are you ta-talking about?"

  Neither one hear me. Herc jolts with sudden pain, his arms involuntarily releasing their hold on Arrow. He wastes no time sprinting forward, a throwing knife in his grasp.

  Herc hisses as he peers at the charred flesh on his arms. "He fucking shocked me!"

  Octavius flips King over his head, sending him through the air, as if he wasn't more than a sack of potatoes.

  He gets ready to take on Arrow.

  This must stop and there's only one way I'm going to get them to wake up. In a second's decision, I rush forward, meeting them in the middle and catching their arms in my hand before they can plunge the knives into each other.

  My footing slides. They're both stronger than me by a lot and it takes all my strength to keep the knives from going into me as well.

  "Knock it off, or so help me I'll find a way to knock both of you out!"

  Reality hits both as their eyes widen and they pull back from me, dropping the knives.

  Octavius pulls me into a hug. "Are you insane? We could've killed you!"

  I gently push him away. He frowns. I stare up into his four, solid-black eyes. "Never again use me as a weapon to fight with. I don't care how mad you are." I then glance around at the others. "That goes for you all, too. I'm not some wild card you can use to make the others angrier. I have varying levels of relationships with all of you. Stop being petulant. If it happens again, I won't be with any of you. I rather be alone than be the cause of anger and jealously."

  Octavius rubs at the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, I won't ever bring you into a fight again, I promise. But you should know—"

  I can almost feel Arrow tense from behind me. My finger goes over Octavius's lips, stopping him from telling me whatever the truth is. "I don't care what it is, but obviously it is Arrow's truth to tell, not yours. He'll tell me when he's ready. For now, let's figure out what we can eat and how, and then maybe help these droids. We have six hours until the darkness returns and want to be somewhere safe."

  Octavius stays quiet as I pull my finger back.

  "Can I get some healing spray over here? Who has the med bags?" Pansy stands with Herc looking at the charred skin where Arrow zapped him.

  Octavius sighs before giving me a pleading stare. "I do, hang on." He unclasps the clips in front of his chest before taking the large bag off his back and meandering over to them.

  A firm touch grasps my arm and I turn around to face Arrow. He won't meet my gaze. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine. I had to get you two to stop before you killed each other." I take his hand in mine.

  "I'm...I'm sorry. He's always known how to push me. My father is an easy subject to get me seeing red."

  How long have they known each other? "No killing each other. A p-p-punch here or there, I get it, you're males. Pro-proving who's alpha and all that."

  "Listen, about what he said—"

  I glance around, several of the others watch us, King included. "You don't need to tell me right now. Tell me when we have a chance alone. It wasn't right for him to out you like that, no matter what the secret is. I ba-barely know y-you. I course you have se-secrets." Even if they're about me. I rather him tell me when we don't have a dozen wanting to know ears straining to hear our conversation.

  His Adam's apple bobs in his throat. "Okay. Later."

  I nod, letting of his hand before going to King. "Are you okay?"

  He grins at me and nods. "My ass hurts a little, but I've dealt with worse. I never expected someone his size to be able to throw me like that. He has a lot more strength than his lean build suggests."

  "I'm glad you're okay, and that they didn't kill each other." Hot tears fall down my cheeks at the relief of side-stepping tragedy.

  King reaches out pushing the tears off my face before gathering me into a warm hug. "You could've died. Promise me you won't do something like that again."

  I hold him back. "I want to, but I can't make a promise like that."

  Chapter Sixteen

  Honesty

  Working together with the other A.I.s we manage to get several of the tree houses walls up. There's still a ton of work to do on them; more walls, roofing and anything else we may decide to add.

  Octavius and Arrow have stayed away from each other, but the tension they caused hasn't left the group. At least we don't have to worry about them killing each other.

  "Velma, we still need those nails!" Pansy calls from inside the treehouse.

  I stand in front of the metal working droid that dispenses nails and other metal fastenings. "It’s still making them!" My voice echoes over the jungle.

  The bottom of the small droid opens to dispense the nails into the bucket it supplied us with earlier. It beeps and I take the bucket, before climbing the ladder we made from thick vines. Pansy takes the bucket before holding her hand out, she helps pull me up onto the deck of the first room in the so far three-room tree house.

  Rosie lines up a board the droids made from the surrounding trees and hammers it to another board with a rock.

  Several of the men yell in unison. From over the edge of the deck Pansy and I peer down at them as King, Herc, and Emerson work together to push down one of the nearby trees. They yell, egging each other one. The tree groans under their strength before a crack reverbs off the nearby mountains; it falls to the ground.

  I roll my eyes. One the droids could’ve easily cut that down, but they had to go and show how strong they are. A sawblade droid begins cutting the tree into chucks so more boards can be made.

  “Boys,” Pansy mutters before going to help Rosie lift another board up.

  Now with their new supply of nails, the twins don’t need my help anymore. I climb down the vine-ladder. Maybe the guys building the fires will need my help.

  Rounding the tree, I pause, Octavius stands bent over one of the fire pits, placing the large rocks just right. A grin spreads across my cheeks as I stare at his perky butt. Without a second of hesitation, I stride up behind him to place a firm smack on his ass. “Would you li-like some help?”

  He snaps upright, his hand going to his backside. He stares at me for a moment before laughing. “We’re almost done forming the fire-pit circle. We pretty much just have to make sure we have enough kindling to keep them going throughout the darkness.”

  I glance at the pile of leaves, branches and other things the guys found to burn. “Th-the fi-fires aren’t t-too big, th-that should hold us.” My hand covers my mouth, it’s been a while since I st
uttered so much with just Octavius and me.

  He reaches out for my hand, pulling it away from my face. “Are you okay?”

  I frown. “Yeah. I’m n-not sure wh-what’s wrong.”

  “Thirty minutes and twenty-two seconds until Darkness falls. All droids need to be in their stations or risk getting destroyed.”

  I tense. The thick darkness and creatures will be back. This time we’re inside the jungle, their domain. What will come out to hunt us now?

  The rough pad of Octavius’s thumb rubs soft circles into the top of my hand. “It’ll be okay. We have the fires a first line of defense and being up a tree where we can throw weapons if needed.”