Halfkinds Volume 1: Contact by Andrew Vu Read Free Book Online Page A

with us or someone had taken us
hostage, we’d respond four.  If we were injured, we’d respond fifteen.  Eight
means everything is clear.
    Tiago instructs Alex to open the
locks.  This place isn’t automated, it’s old.  We were able to find some
industrial padlocks in the warehouse, but only Alex has the strength to unlock
and lock them thanks to his rhino DNA.  Alex usually does a lot of the physical
work in our family, like lifting heavy things and helps with the tough manual
labor.  His personality is rough, like his grey skin, and brutish, like his
large physique.  He usually hangs with Tiago.  I feel Tiago keeps him around
for protection, like a bodyguard.  Personally, Alex kind of frightens me.
    Ace bursts through the door,
breathing deeply.  He is wearing a coat that is hooded and wide lens black
sunglasses.  We concealed his identity as much as we could, especially since
he’s moving in daylight.
    He rests his body on his knees to
recuperate.
    “Give me a minute,” he says,
panting.
    We back up and wait, all of us are
on pins and needles to know what he discovered.  Isaac and I exchange glances. 
I have a worried look on my face, but he shakes his head reassuringly.  Ace
finally gets settled in.
    “What did you see?” Tiago asks.
    “I was able to make it about a
hundred feet away from the house.  When I got there, there was already a group
of people snooping around.  They were taking our things and putting them into a
large storage hovercar,” Ace says.
    “Were they bill collectors?” 
Maddie, my half cow, half human sister asks.  Some of my brothers look at her
dumbfounded.  Her question doesn’t surprise me though, she’s not very bright.
    “I don’t think so,” Ace responds. 
“They look like they’re members of law enforcement or something.  I saw the
letters USASD on their vehicle.”
    “United Species Alliance Science
Division,” Candy responds.  She’s probably the smartest in our family, and is
usually on top of the world’s current events and scientific breakthroughs.
    “The United Species Alliance?” Oscar asks.  “What do they want with our things?”
    “I don’t know,” Ace says.
    “You heard him,” Tiago interrupts,
“It’s the science division.  They come to experiment on us.”
    “You don’t know that,” Oscar says
defensively.
    “What other reason could it be? 
It’s their science division,” Tiago emphasizes the science.  Oscar is silent. 
I look around and see the grim expression on everyone’s face, even Isaac’s. 
The hard truth is becoming apparent, mother was right about the outside world.
    “What about Leonard?” I ask Ace. 
“Did you see him?”
    Ace is quiet and looks at the
floor.  His nose begins to twitch and I hear a small sniffle.  His whiskers
droop down and his pointed ears fold to the side of his head.
    “Yeah, I saw him,” Ace says.  “The
science team packed him away in a body bag.”
    I don’t understand what Ace means
at first.  Body bag?  Why would they need that?  But then Ace makes it all too
clear.
    “Leonard is dead,” he said.
    The room is silent.  I think back
to when Leonard was a child and mother held him in her arms so proudly.  I
remember how much he adored her, how he never questioned her, and always went
by her word.  He was endearing not only to her, but to all of us.  A baby
brother to everyone.  He was the only one who cared about mother enough that he
went back to see her off.  And now, he was dead for it.
    “How did it happen?” I asked.
    “I don’t know.  I just saw him
being carried away into the truck.”
    None of us want to speak.  Leonard
was so young and caring.  He didn’t know the world like we did, because it
wasn’t his nature to acknowledge the brutality around us.
    But that’s what caused him to
die.  He deserved better.
    “He was murdered,” Tiago says
angrily.
    All of us acknowledge the truth
that Tiago speaks, but none of us step up to respond