Secrets Hidden Within

Chapter 7

Hauntings from the Past

I awoke by a fire in a dimly lit living room and I felt rested and relived. I stretched and yawned and heard feet coming this way. I ran and hid behind one of the chairs. And then I remembered that I was a cat and a guy owned me. Great situation I got myself in to. I saw my new master's feet and came out and meowed.

"Hi kitty." He answered. "I am going have to name you something since you're my cat now. How do you like Gretchen?" I faked a sneeze for a no. "No. How 'bout Midnight?" I yawned at that one. "No." He sighed a deep sigh. "How 'bout . . . Max?" I put my head down then up and meowed in an approval. Even though I put the thought in his head. "Alright your name is Max. Kind of like that criminal woman over in the US. You and she are The Max!" He did a little chuckle. Oh he knows who I am. How? And how does he know about me? That is something I got to find out before I go.

"So what are you up to Max? Are you hungry?" He asked and I meowed. "Alright, follow me." And I did, and he got me tuna. Not my favorite, but I didn't complain. I ate up willingly. While I was chowing down on that he left me to my dinner. When I was done, I started exploring my surroundings.

Looked like he got a cabin of his own out in the woods, but by himself. What bothered me the most was why was he alone? Why didn't he have a wife? He seems reasonably fine. I thought he had good features and sounds like he has a good personality. He has dirty blond hair, and green eyes. His eyes were strange to me. They were like a cats', knowing, dangerous, good-hearted, and serious. He was a mystery to me, and my curiosity stuck root. I was going to figure this guy before I go.

Another mystery was that he barely used electricity. He had a TV, but that was like the only thing that was running. I guess it was run on a generator. Otherwise he lit candles for lights. Talk about old fashion.

Other than him and his house he had a normal life. At least I think.

1

After a week being in his mystery house, he was all right. I mean he talks to me, he watches TV, he chops wood, and he hunts. And I realized that he wants to go back in the past and change his life or stay in the past.

One day we were walking in his woods and talking (him doing all the talking) when I heard a stick break behind us. It sounded like somebody was following us. And my intuition said something was coming, and that something was bad. They needed to get the hell out of here and fast. I did an annoying meow to tell him.

"What's the matter girl?" The sound was getting closer. He just waited. I didn't want to do this, but I had to save this guy's life. I spoke.

"If you want to live come with me."

"Max?" He looked at me with wide eyes.

"There is no time to explain. But we got to get out of here, unless you want to die." I said serious and calmly.

"I'm speaking to a cat."

"If I was a human right now I would have a bad expression on my face that you would not like!"

"Then why don't you?"

"Damn you! We're already wasted time and I just took a risk. And fine I will." My temper was rising inside me like acid. I transformed into my regular shape and form. I still had my cat's eyes but didn't have the body no more. I was in the clothes I wore when I escaped him and his friends. Man they were dirty.

"You're the wo. . ." I interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm the Maxe that is over in the USA too. Now bug off. I'm trying to save your ass! Get down!" I pulled him to the ground and a dart struck a tree, where his neck would be. "Stay down and stay low! I'm going to give you one of my powers which are invisibility. It will ware off, but right now, you need it." I grabbed his hand and concentrated. I felt the energy leave and decided it was enough. "There."

"You're pale."

"Well that's what happens when I drain myself."

"And all this time you were my pet cak. . . "

"Shh!" A man walked out of the bushes and into view. And he looked military. Great, what did I get myself into? He had a dart gun too. How am I to get out of this problem?

'Talk with your thoughts.' I said.

'We can do that too?'

'Yep. I'm just talking in your head, not in mine. I'm just reading your thought, that's all. I'm just speaking to you in your head. I know it sounds unbelievable, and I don't care if you believe me or not, but it's true.'

'Sounds complicated.'

'It is.'

The guy looked around for a minute and then he looked straight at them. But I guess he didn't see us because he kept on walking. It looked like he was looking for something or maybe somebody.

'I think it's safe.' He thought.

'I never think it's safe. That's what keeps me alive today. Otherwise I would not be here saving your life. I would be dead if I didn't think that.' I smiled at him even though he couldn't see it. And I realized that he couldn't see me. Great I had to give him another power just so he can see me! I sighed and shook my head. I touched him and gave him heat vision.

'What did you just do?'

'I gave you another power.'

'It looks like heat vision, because now I can see you.'

'Exactly.'

'It looks like you need blood.'

'Well, I probably do. Since I gave you two powers and earlier I've been drained in the week. I hadn't sucked blood for eleven years, and just sucked blood in the week. But that has been drained from me, from the very person I sucked it out of. And that person needed it more than I did. And now I need it bad, or I'll pass out because I need blood. Question? Want to turn in to a vampire?' I chuckled. Even though I was serious. I might as well kill the person and suck him dry for blood.

'Are you serious?'

'Never mind. I'll just suck him dry.' I rolled my eyes. I got up and went into my stealth mode. In this mode I'm so quiet, nobody can hear me. I'm like an animal sneaking up on one. I was behind him now. I was planning a little surprise for him. And it worked. I got out of my invisibility power and tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't have a chance.

2

Jack Moonkraft searched everywhere for Zack Anderson. He had his orders: bring Zack Anderson alive. But if he didn't come back with him, he might as well shoot himself. He had to find him. So he started to look in the woods.

He was half way in the woods when he started to hear voices. It sounded like Zack and a woman. He considered this strange because he heard his wife had died and didn't date any more. He also heard that he had a mental breakdown when his wife died, and just gave up. Poor guy. But he followed where the voices were and heard the conversation. The woman said 'If you want to live come with me.' He thought this was even stranger.

He fired a shot but missed. The dart stuck into a tree, which was behind Zack. But then he stepped in the clearing and so no one. But then he heard something and looked that way, but saw nothing. He started the other way when something tapped on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a woman fall on top of him and bites his neck. He screamed.

He felt the energy and blood slipping away from him. And he felt the awful pain all over his body. It felt like scapulas were everywhere on his body.

He felt the woman drinking his blood and she liked it! She liked it! She stopped when he only had an inch of life left. He felt her strong hands hold him upright. He looked into her eyes and saw they were blood red. She looked like a very dangerous animal that shouldn't be messed with. But that animal has been messed with and is going to kill whatever is in its path. But once he saw her fangs he passed out and was beginning to turn into a vampire.

3

He awoke to a pain in the neck, and also felt weakened badly. The ropes were digging into his skin on his wrist. He tried to twist them but felt warm blood going down his hands. Probably his last. But then he saw a shadow had fell on him. He looked up and saw the woman that bitten him. He had to bite down his lip just to keep out a shriek.

He looked at her before but now, she looked more deadly than ever. Red-bluish eyes. They kept changing into different colors. She kept on grinning, to let him know that she still had fangs. But he kept on looking at her eyes. They were hypnotizing him. Just glowing in the darkness, like a predator's. She had her arms crossed beneath her breasts, looking like a hotshot.

"Who are you?" Bringing out of his daze. Her voice was beautiful, and yet so dangerous.

"The question is, 'who are you?'" He asked back. He tried not to let her know that he was terrified. His voice sounded fake to his own ears, how could she think he was terrified.

"Answer me first and maybe I'll tell you." Her voice was low and soft, and yet so deadly. He practically got a hard-on from this voice of hers.

"Jack Moonkraft. I'm from the government." He was going to say more but she cut him off.

"All I asked was your name. And let me guess, Manticore. Right?" Still speaking low, as if to whisper. But it was only one notch more than a whisper. But still, he can hear her perfect.

He was speechless. How did she know about Manticore? It was a secret government agency. Even the President of the United States doesn't know. "How do you know about Manticore? Who are you?" He changed his tone at the end of the question.

"Let's say I'm one of their projects that flew the coop. But you may want to call it, running away." The only person that escaped from Manticore was Adam Guevara (X5843) and his daughter. But then he realized that she was her. The lost project (X5454).

"X5454?" He couldn't believe it. It was the missing link that they needed. White only said to bring back a soldier, but he can bring that and the missing link.

"Who do you think it is? Yes, if that's what you want to call me. But I like the name Maxe. The one that my father and mother gave me. The E is silent." She grinned at the thought.

4

"What do you want with Zack?" I asked him. I thought he could start by how he knew me, but that can wait.

"X7937?"

"Whatever." I was getting tired of these number names.

"I was supposed to bring him back, dead or alive."

"Oh. So he's a soldier? And how can you tell if they are soldiers of yours?" I was interested in the subject. I can maybe tell if I really was a soldier of theirs.

"Yes, he's a soldier. How you can tell is that there is a barcode on your neck."

"Au-huh." I was thinking about my past, trying to remember if any of my friends saying about my neck. And I do recall an incident with Original Cindy A.K.A. Boo.

"Did you get a tattoo?" Boo asked.

"No, why?"

"There are lines on the back of your neck, girl. Kind of like a barcode on a box or something." Looking confused and the back of my neck.

"Where is it?" Looking as if I didn't understand.

"At the base of your neck. Almost at the hairline." Now lifting up my hair.

"Whatever." Right now I thought she was high or something.

Then there came another incident with Logan.

Our first make out session. He was kissing my neck and looked at me weird.

"What's wrong?" I asked dreamily. Breathing heavily too.

"There's something on the back of your neck."

"What?" It was kind of waking up to a dream.

"There are lines or something." He looked at me with a confused look.

"What's the matter with my neck?" Asking defensively.

"Nothing it's just, there's something there."

"What is it?" I asked more calmly. Lifting up my hair. He looked at it more closely.

"Looks like a barcode?" He looked at me questionly.

"I don't know." I looked back at him trying to think. "Just leave me alone. I knew I should never trust you!" We were like fighters at the time. And to make matters worse I was in heat, because I have cat DNA in me. It was the kinds of type of people. We were the kind that we were fighters or lovers with each other. It was like one or the other.

At the time, we knew each other, but we always threw insults and crap at each other. But today I was in heat, and I met him and we started fighting. But then I couldn't take it no more so I kissed him and he kissed me back. And we got into the moment.

"Are you okay?" Jack booming voice brought me back to the present. "It looked like you were dreaming?"

"I hate you!" I said in a low but hateful voice. And I wondered myself of what I said.

"What did I do?"

"You killed my father!" I realized that with dawning horror. I was looking in his mind for something useful, and then I found myself in people that he killed and found my father's. I started to feel tears stinging the back of my eyes. I tried not to make then fall, but they did.

"What? I killed lots of people."

"But you killed my father!" I shouted this, and he looked like as if I slapped him. "You were assigned to track him down and kill him! You bastard!!!" I shouted at him. I was coming after him to kill the rest of him when Zack stepped in.

"Get out of my way!" I shouted and tried to push, but he stayed put.

"NO! I won't let you kill him. I need to know more!" He said firmly.

"BUT HE KILLED MY FATHER!" I screamed! I was crying now. "He killed my father." Shapes blurred my vision but I still wanted to grab the man and punch the living shit out of this man! But I knew Zack and I would need him. I stood my ground and then turned and stormed off.

I stumbled into the bathroom and locked the door. I sat there in the darkness for I don't know how long. I tried not to listen to them. I tried to go back into my mind to find my father. To remember the face of my father and found it. And I prayed to him, and I cried and mumbled a prayer. But I cried and tried to listen for his voice but it didn't come.

I finally stopped my crying and went to my thoughts. And then my father's voice came to me. He said it was ka. The wind is like ka. Ka is your destiny; Ka is what is to happen in your life. You are not to change it. He always followed ka. And sometimes I would joke about ka. Like saying ka is kaka. Like saying life is unfair. And I would smile, but he would give me a frown, but then a smile. But he was right.

This is my ka. It's supposed to happen. Ka is kaka. And I smiled at the thought. My head hurt from thinking too hard and from the amount crying I had done.

"Oww." I said slowly as if to joke-hurt. I smiled and thanked my father. I got up and felt lightheaded. I didn't turn the light on, because right now, I was sensitive to light, especially when you're a vampire. So I stepped out of the bathroom and came back to Zack and Jack. And thought, Hey that rhymed! I grinned.

I came toward Zack and Jack. And slowly Zack got up.

"Don't . . ."

"I won't. I now have control of myself." I smiled. Then I turned toward Jack. Zack was just about to untie him. Not a good idea. But then I punched him out-cold.

"That's from father." I spoke low to him, even though he couldn't hear me. I turned back to Zack. Still speaking low. "I'm done with him. Nothing more to say!" And I stormed off once again. I left him wide eyed.

"And don't untie him!" I shouted back, but didn't turn to meet his eyes.

5

She stormed off to the bathroom, clearly upset. But he had his owns thoughts twisting inside his head.

She left him with the man that tried to take or kill him, but he needed answers from this man. He felt he didn't belong here right now. Even in his own home. With a soldier that tried to kill him, where he used to work, and also got a lady that can turn into a cat, that's a vampire, and has other fucking powers. He needed a fucking break in his life! First it was his wife (died from a car crash), then his own kid (died from a drunk driver), quitting his job because he had depression, then to top it all off, a cat that is a lady, but the lady is a vampire and tried to kill somebody that was trying to kill you! Isn't my life beautiful? He thought.

He looked at the man, which claims to be Jack Moonkraft. He was in the cult with Ames White. He heard that they were all dickheads, and it seemed to be true. Was it true that he killed her father? It probably was, because they were trained to be killers.

But was she the missing link to their research? But that had been almost fifty years ago. How old is she? He wondered. She only looks like her late twenties. But she's a mutant, but how?

"Question? When are you going to ask me questions?" Looking at him wondering.

"Yeah, you're a dick!" He grinned. He pulled up a chair and sat and started to ask him questions.

After two long hours later of waiting and asking mad questions, Maxe came out. It took her long enough. She looked older, as if she aged within minutes. She walked slowly, just to maintain her balance, as if she was lightheaded.

He got up, because he saw the determination in her eyes.

"Don't. . ." He was about to say more, but she cut him off. He thought she would turn him in a bunch of rags, just by punching and kicking the shit out of him. But what she said was true.

"I won't. I now have control of myself." She smiled one of her devilish grins that made him shudder. He reached down and was just about to untie him, to let him go. She did a full swing and hit him squarely on the chin. And he went out! I only stared at her. As if, what you do that for? Kind of look.

But then she mumbled something and turned back to him. "I'm done with him. Nothing more to say." And it was the truth. And she walked her graceful way of hers again. "And don't untie him!" She shouted back. And he didn't, and it might have saved his life once again.

6

"Okay, let's try this again." Keeping my voice low and deadly. That's the only way to get the truth out of fearless people. Got to keep them scared and off their feet. "What am I? And why?"

"What you are is a super-human."

"Okay. That means another word for mutant. Or freak, if you want to go people wise."

"What you really are . . ." He struggled to find the words. "A highly-genetic soldier. I guess I could put it that way. We made you, and all the other transgenics."

"Wait!" Stopping him. "So what you call them or us, is transgenics? What the hell of a name is that? Don't answer that. But why?"

"Because it was the future and some were already made."

"Wait a minute." Cutting off him once more. "You mean there are more of us? Who were the ones that were already here and how long were they here?" I was shocked. I thought I was the only one. I thought that I and Dad were the only ones left. But no, he didn't tell me.

"The ones were the eldest, but they didn't look like it. The eldest is two thousand years old. But he simply looks like in his forties. His name is Ames White. But there was one before him, his name was Sandman. He was anomaly. A failed experiment and didn't work right the way we wanted. He was the boss, until White was in charge. But then there were escapees. Not you and your father, but after that." He all said this with such calmness that it scared me.

"Who is this Ames White fellow?"

"He's the eldest. He's the boss. And he's a dick!" He said with an edge in his voice.

"Okay. Does the name Donald Lydecker sound familiar?"

"Yes. He was in the group that helps train the kids. He's quite good."

"How long have you had him?"

"He was one of the children that we taught. But he's. . . "Thinking of how long he was there. "I'd say about seven hundred years now."

"Damn. He's that old?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I recently bumped into him."

"He disappeared from the area, but he does that sometimes. But this time he knew something, and he didn't tell White. I was trying to sneak up on him, but I lost him."

"Is any of you guys, you know, soldiers, looking for me?"

"Well actually yes. White has been trying to track down the escapees and kill them. But recently he read your report and decided to come get you to."

"Why is he interested in me?"