Final Mission

Jordan was struggling to focus on the show they were watching. His mind kept going back to the fact that his mother was in the same building as him. It had been so long, he was not certain if he would even be able to recognize her.

He knew that he would have to push past the fear and face his mother. It was a generalized fear of exposing his physical appearance to humans that held him back. He did not want to see fear in the eyes of anyone looking at him. He held no bitterness over how he looked, he had long ago accepted it. If anything, he hated Dr. Valle for purposely changing his appearance.

Jordan had been enjoying the presence of the other evolved because none of them looked at him like he was a monster. Neither did Avery, even though he was still human. Though, if he was being honest about it, Avery had experienced scarier things than Jordan's mutated appearance.

Jordan let out a sigh and felt Avery pat his shoulder. He was almost ready to go down and see his mother, he knew that Avery knew this. It was just about then that there was a knock at his door.

"Jordan, I've brought your mother up to see you."

~Bastard.~

He heard Soren's laugh in his head and felt the urge to punch him.

~You've been hiding long enough. I've already told all of them that we're not human. Your mother refused to leave after everything I told them. She's not going to be afraid of you, Jordan.~

Jordan grabbed the notebook and started writing a note out for Avery.

~I was just about to go out if you'd just waited a few more minutes.~

Avery took the note and read it while Jordan paused the show and got up.

'Thanks for sitting with me.'

Charlotte was standing next to Soren when the door opened. It took her mind a moment to process what she was seeing. At about that moment she could see the hints of the six-year-old Jordan in his face; the dimple, the shy smile, and the way his eyes lit up at the sight of her.

"J-Jordan?"

He nodded his head and her eyes blurred with tears and she stepped forward and hugged him.

*******

Issac arrived on the campus of UMKC mid-afternoon. He had taken his time driving over from Raytown, observing everything around him. The further into Kansas City he got, the more cars he found on the side of the road.

His current theory is that everyone had gone to ground for the tornado that had appeared early in the morning. Once the tornado was gone everyone started to come out to assess the damages. Unfortunately for them, on top of everything that the tornado had destroyed there were mutated humans who were hungry for human flesh.

For every two empty vehicles, there was one that was nearly identical to what he had found in Raytown. The mutated had not been smart enough to pull the humans from the vehicle, they had simply waited until the humans had fled in fear. Issac had started to hold his gun in his right hand while driving with his left on the off chance that he came close enough to a mutated that he could shoot and kill.

Issac's senses were going crazy. He could smell death in the air, but underneath that was the heady scent of human blood. It took all of his willpower to hold himself together. It had not even been a full day since he had eaten and he now fully understood why Soren had directed him the way he had. He knew that he would need to stop soon and eat if he was going to maintain control.

From what he could tell, the tornado had touched down somewhere near the Missouri River. From there it ran parallel to highway 70, taking out downtown Kansas City. It had moved to run between 71 and 70 until it connected with 350 and took out a large part of Raytown.

UMKC had not been on the path of the tornado, but it had suffered some damage from the debris thrown from the tornado. He saw a lot of broken glass, upturned vehicles, and bent posts. Issac parked the car on the side of the road and pulled out his phone to double-check the address Soren had said to check. Once he got confirmation he locked up the car and started out on foot. He had his gun out and ready, with two spare magazines just in case.

Issac knew that his current condition gave him stronger than human strength. Right now he was too unfamiliar with what he was capable of doing and planned on utilizing what he did know how to do and that meant continuing to use his gun as his primary weapon.

It took about five minutes of walking for him to come across the resident hall that Ava Marsh was supposed to be living at. Getting in was not a problem, finding the entrance was a little trickier. The door was securely locked, but the storm had destroyed every trace of glass and Issac was able to open it from the inside.

There was no one on the main level. He got lucky when he moved up to the second floor and found that the way was blocked. Issac had taken the stairs, not trusting the elevator, and the door refused to move.

"Hello? Is anyone there?"

Issac thought he heard something on the other side so he called out again. He did hear something then. The sound of heavy items being moved was loud after he had gone so long with silence. The screech of metal being dragged was especially grating on his ears.

The door opened inward and a young man with wild, curly black hair stuck his head out and looked both ways before looking at Issac.

"Hurry and come in."

The man disappeared behind the door and Issac followed him. The moment Issac stepped into the hall the door was slammed shut and the man who had spoken to him, as well as two other men, started to move the barriers back in place.

"Have you had a lot of trouble with the mutated?"

The one with black curly hair turned his attention to Issac and stepped out of the way of the other two.

"Something like that. Shit was fucking trippy as hell the way people started to change after the tornado. I can't tell if I'm still dreaming or not. We got a bunch of people here, trying to keep the monsters out."

Issac had the urge to bash his head into the wall.

"I'm looking for someone."

"Oh, lemme take you to everyone. Maybe you'll get lucky. Hey, dudes, Imma walk this guy over."

The other two let him know that he was clear to leave and Issac followed when he started to head down the hall.

"We've been taking turns watching the door."

"Have they attacked it frequently?"

He shook his head, "Nah, man. The door's been clear since we got here, it's been lucky like that. Oh, my name is Roy. Not the coolest name, but it's easy to remember."

Roy laughed as if he said something funny. Halfway down the hall, Roy opened a door to reveal an apartment. Issac stepped in and stopped almost immediately. He was forced to close his eyes as he fought for control of himself. Someone inside was hurt, the smell of blood permeated the air like the most alluring perfume Issac had ever smelled.

Issac's mind felt sluggish and his heart began racing. Slowly he breathed in, then out, as he pushed back on the hunger. He had to do this two more times before he felt like he was safe to go in further.

"You ok, dude?"

"Yeah, just tired."

"Ah, cool, cool. It's a little tight but there should be enough space for a nap."

Issac opened his eyes, he was standing just inside the door and found himself looking at the living room. There were three people sitting on the couch and a handful of people sitting on the floor. The kitchen was a step to his right, the flow from the living room to the kitchen was quick and the only markers that it had changed was the fact that the kitchen floor was tiled while the living room had carpet.

There was one person in the kitchen, looking through the fridge. Straight ahead he could see the bathroom. From what he could see there was a room to the left and to the right of the bathroom.

"I'm looking for Reece Marsh or Ava Marsh."

Issac spoke up, loud enough that anyone in the back should have been able to hear him. It seemed to work because a moment later a young woman with short brown hair walked into the living room followed by a man in his mid-forties. They looked similar enough to be related, and something about them reminded Issac of Jordan. While they looked worn out, they appeared to be unharmed.

"I'm Ava. Who are you?"

"I'm Issac, I've been sent to get you and see you safely back to Culton."

Issac stepped forward and offered her his hand, after she shook it he turned to her father who shook his hand as well.

"Did Charlotte send you?"

Issac shook his head, "Jordan sent me."