Halfkinds Volume 1: Contact Read online

“Well first thing’s first, we’re running out of supplies.” Tiago replies. “We’ll need to go into the city and get some food. But we can’t do it now, not in broad daylight. We’ll have to wait until the sun goes down. We’ll only be safe moving in the shadows, to avoid running into anyone. We’ll need enough supplies to last us until we decide to move on.”

  “Move on to where?” I ask.

  “Away from here. We need to leave Primm,” Tiago says.

  “Oh, really?” Oscar says skeptically. “And where do you suppose we run to.”

  “The Moon,” Tiago says.

  All of us are shocked by the bomb that Tiago has laid. Leaving our home was hard enough. Leaving Primm would be even harder, but leaving Earth, that was just insane.

  “The Moon?!” Oscar yells. “You’ve lost it.”

  “You know as much as I do that the Moon is probably our only bet for living a safe life,” Tiago says. “Leonard was killed by a government agency. Do you think they’re going to leave us alone now? Do you think even if he hadn’t died, that we could hide around Primm forever? We’ve been hiding all our lives, I’m done hiding. I want to live in freedom.”

  “But why the Moon?” I ask him.

  “The Moon may have been finished terraforming fifty years ago, but it’s far from being as organized as Earth,” Tiago says. “There are still areas of the Moon that are uninhabited and developing. Areas away from governments or scientific agencies, away from the kinds of people who are and will be looking for us. These kinds of places are the only ones left for us. If we stay here on Earth, we’ll be found and killed. At least on the Moon, it will be a lot harder for anyone to track us down. It’s our only option if we want to live a full life, and not one in hiding.”

  “But how do we get there?” Candy asks. After learning Tiago’s plan, Candy suspects there will be tech involved. My guess is she knows the answer to her question, and her expertise will come in handy. She is not asking ‘how do we get there’, but rather ‘how can I help us get there’.

  “There are teleport stations in Primm,” Tiago says. “They can instantly transport us from one station to a larger hub that will teleport us to the Moon. I did research a while back, before all this happened, and if we can connect to the San Francisco teleport hub from Primm, then we can get to the Moon via the station there. ”

  “But we can’t waltz into a station without causing a commotion,” my brother, Isaac, says. “We won’t be able to hitch a ride in broad daylight, we don’t have credits, so how are we going to get access to a live one?”

  “We’ll have to break into one of the stations at night,” Tiago says. “Once we’re in, Candy, we’ll be counting on you. We’ll need you to figure out how to operate a teleporter and send us out of here and to San Francisco. Then when we make it to a station there, you’ll need to send us to the Moon. Are you up to the task?”

  Candy looks hesitant yet eager at the same time. She moves her hairy arms and puts her long fingers on her chin. She walks forward and then backward, dragging her other knuckle on the ground, much like a chimp would. She wants to take on the challenge of learning new tech, but is unsure about her abilities. But then she looks at the rest of us, knowing that our escape hinges on her skills. She can’t let us down and she knows it.

  “Yes,” Candy says. “I can do it.”

  “Good,” Tiago says. He then turns to Ace, who has now fully recovered from all the running he did earlier. “You did good, Ace. Without you we wouldn’t have been able to get the information we needed. We would’ve never known how much danger we’re in without your help.”

  “Really?” Ace’s eyes are beaming. I know Ace has an admiration for Tiago. His approval means the world to him.

  “Yes. Do you think you’re up for another task?” Tiago asks.

  “Of course. Anything to help out the family,” Ace says.

  “Good. This is going to be a riskier job, but I need you to go and get supplies for us. Food, water, clothes. We’ll give you a list of things we’ll need. Don’t worry, we’ll wait until night so it’s safer for you.”

  “Where do I go to get these things?”

  “There’s a supply depot about a mile away from here. It should have all the things we’ll need. You can use our packs to carry everything.”

  “A supply depot? I don’t think I know where that is.”

  “We can draw you a map.”

  “Um…” Ace looks confused, unsure of the task given to him. This mission requires intelligence that he doesn’t have. A map in his hands would surely lead to disaster.

  “Let me go. I can get the supplies,” a shaky voice from behind me says. It’s Lombardi, my older brother. He’s usually pretty quiet, not one to talk. He lacks confidence because of his appearance. While we look different compared to a normal human, Lombardi would be considered uglier than all of us. He’s the only one with a beak. It’s large and sticks out of his face. It’s kind of an eyesore. He also is the only one with feathers, and they’re usually oily. The rest of us either have a light layer of fur or hair, or none at all, but his feathers make him look dirty. His arms are wing shaped, but he cannot fly, and he has small, grotesque hands sticking out of them.

  Lombardi is also somewhat socially awkward, most likely from a lack of confidence generated by his appearance. He wasn’t big and strong like Alex, nor was he tough, like Curtis, whose rough, scaly skin matched his disheartened interior. He couldn’t run fast, cheetah like speeds like Ace, nor was he smart like Candy. And he definitely wasn’t a natural leader like Oscar or Tiago. Lombardi was kind of useless. It was sad to say, but he was an outcast among outcasts.

  And because of that, he always wanted to prove himself. This time was no exception.

  Tiago looks skeptical, almost annoyed, that Lombardi has volunteered to help.

  “This is not a task for you,” he says.

  “Aww, c’mon big brother,” Lombardi says. “You know I was able to sneak out when we lived in the house. And I can read maps like a charm. In fact, I know these neighborhoods pretty well thanks to all the creeping around I’ve done.”

  Lombardi did have that going for him. He is the most knowledgeable about the surrounding area.

  “No,” Tiago says firmly.

  “He has a point, though,” Oscar says. “I don’t think any of us has had as much exposure to this area as Lombardi.”

  Tiago looks at the rest of us and then looks at Lombardi. Lombard is frozen, his eyes wide open, hanging on Tiago’s response.

  “All right,” Tiago says hesitantly. “We may act tomorrow night. Don’t fuck this up.”

  “I won’t!” Lombardi responds eagerly.

  They and Oscar walk to another side of the room to go over the details of the supply raid. I walk over to Isaac. Everyone else also separates, doing their own thing until the night comes.

  “What do you think of the plan?” I ask him.

  “Which one? The supply raid or Tiago’s master plan?” he asks.

  “Tiago’s plan.”

  “I don’t know, sis, I’m kind of skeptical.”

  “Me too.”

  Isaac looks at me curious. “Any visions or senses?”

  “No,” I say dodging his question. “You didn’t finish your answer. What do you think?”

  “On one hand he has a point. The Moon is the ideal place to live. It’s just like Earth climate wise, and since things haven’t completely settled down there, he is right. We could live there unnoticed. We could find a place, and get food and supplies teleported to us online. We could live anonymously. Hell, mom was able to do it so well that no one even knew we existed.”

  “What about the other hand?”

  “It seems kind of rushed. I don’t know if Tiago has fully thought this plan out yet.”

  “Oscar doesn’t seem too confident about it.”

  “Do you blame him? Tiago is shooting for the stars on this one, figuratively and literally. A week ago, none of us would’ve even considered being
away from home and now, all of a sudden, we’re being asked to leave Earth? It’s too much to ask in such little time.”

  “We’re running on a short timeline. It looks like people are going to be searching for us sooner than we thought, with Leonard being taken away and all…”

  We both stop talking to let the words of my statement sink in. Neither of us can believe that our little brother is dead.

  “He didn’t deserve it,” I say.

  “I know, sis.”

  “What if… what if we’re next?”

  “Hey, don’t say that kind of stuff,” he says reassuringly.

  “I mean it. If they were able to take out Leonard so easily, so quickly, what chances do we have? None of us know how to fight and we don’t have any weapons or anything.”

  “Hey, we have each other.”

  “I’m being serious.”

  “So am I! Look at me,” I tilt my head up and look at his eyes. His arms are at his side, paws clenched together. His tail lies perfectly still.

  “Nothing is going to happen to you or me,” he says. “I promise.”

  “Thanks, brother.”

  His words comfort me, but that comfort fades away the more I think about the next day. The future scares me.

  Chapter 5 – Fenrir Snow - Allies

  November 16, 3040 7:00 PM

  I got the call last night from the Brotherhood of Wolves about a special assignment they wanted me to undertake. They said that a mission had come up in Las Vegas and a tracker was needed. Wolves are natural trailers, and amongst them, I am the best. The Brotherhood can vouch for that.

  Naturally, I accepted their mission, no questions asked. I come from a long line of loyal soldiers. The Snows have militaristic prestige written all over their names. I would do anything my fellow wolves ask me, especially the high council in the Brotherhood. I’m battle tested due to my service. Unlike humans or pigs or any other animal, I am not greedy. I do it simply because my kind asks me to.

  This mission is organized by the humans, which initially caused some hesitation. I’m not fond of their kind, but the Brotherhood needed someone who can speak human. I don’t need to rely on those stupid translation boxes. A computer doesn’t do my speaking for me, I do.

  They allowed me to rest for the night before I journeyed off, but I couldn’t get any sleep. I hate Las Vegas, it is human territory. Most of North America is, only the coldest of North America is our territory, the Wolf’s Den as the humans call it. They gave us that wasteland when the negotiations happened hundreds of years ago.

  Just the mere thought of being around so many of them makes me nervous. I have never trusted them and I know of their history with wolves. Before the Event, wolves were their sport. We, the natural hunters of the wilderness, were reduced to dodging their weapons. Many of us were pushed out of our homes, brought to near extinction. And for what? To make them pretty coats? To be targets in their games? I would hardly consider the slaughter of my brothers a game. They could do what they wanted because they had weapons we couldn’t compete with. First, it was bow and arrow and then it was guns. We never stood a chance against them.

  I still don’t understand why after the Event, when the playing field became even, we remain underneath them. We had formed our society, formed our civilization, all within a few hundred years. Their technological development hit a brick wall. Despite all these handicaps, humans still dominate society, even today. We have our own guns now, but we still do not dare to strike back at the real alpha in this world. It’s a numbers game. There are far too many humans for us to fight. Even if all the intelligent animals banded together, we still wouldn’t be able to take them on.

  They spent century after century killing and reducing the numbers while multiplying. And then, by their own foolishness, they gave us the gift of intelligence. But even then, our numbers had dwindled so much that we still cannot fight back. There are only millions of us, while there are billions of them. I guess that was their back up plan. As long as they didn’t kill each other off, they would still rule the land.

  It’s not right. We are superior to them in so many ways. We’re faster than them, stronger than them, more durable than them. They cannot fly on their own, they can’t swim without their precious machines. They can barely out run the slowest of winds. The only thing they had to their advantage was their brain, but even that isn’t much of an edge anymore. No, it’s because of their numbers. It’s the only advantage they have.

  We should be the rulers of this world, not them.

  But I didn’t come to Las Vegas to spew my anti-human ideology. I came here for a mission and I intend to serve as best as I can.

  I’m currently sitting in a large conference room in the local United Species Alliance headquarters in Las Vegas. The escort picked me up from the teleportation station and brought me straight here. He is a rookie human agent for the United Species Alliance, probably some gopher that gets stuck with all the remedial tasks. He tried to make small chatter with me, but I pretended that I didn’t speak human, so he quickly shut up.

  I learned how to speak human during basic training in the Brotherhood’s Academy. It’s a tricky language for wolves to pick up, as our physiology prevents us from making certain sounds, but I try to cover my wolf accent as best as I can. The Brotherhood tells me that it is barely noticeable, yet sometimes I tend to stumble on ‘b’ sounds here and there. Other animals say I sound like I’m growling, but that is not my intention.

  I’m glad that humans only speak one language. I heard long before the Event, humans used to have hundreds of languages among them. Then, they started to unify it into one universal language to make communication easier. Thank goodness.

  I was briefed earlier about the mission from my own wolf superior, so I didn’t have to be briefed by the human superior agent. It’s a case of some renegade human group deciding to play around with genetics, again. But now I and a group of other animals are stuck cleaning up their mess. Typical. Just like a careless human, they never learn their lesson the first time. Though I should be grateful to the first time, I wouldn’t be standing where I am today if they hadn’t.

  These things are half human, half something else. I will probably be the primary tracker on this team, meaning I will be the one responsible for catching their scent and hunting them down. There is a dog on this team as well, but their skills are weak compared to us wolves. They have to rely on their toys. They’re only here because they’re good at sucking up to humans. Dogs have spent their existence being pets. The funny thing is even after the Event, when they were free to do as they pleased, they still play second fiddle to humans in their society. They support the humans any way they can. They are their waiters, their cleaners, their butlers, their servants. They do have their own government, the High Dog Council, but they always vote with the Human Council in the United Species Alliance. It’s pathetic. They may not be on a leash physically anymore, but humans hold a metaphorical one over them.

  The room is filled with my other team members. First is the aforementioned dog. I do not know my dog breeds that well, but judging from his large size and golden yellow coat, he is a Labrador. Like many other Labs I’ve seen, he looks big, friendly, and dumb. He sits on the floor with a pleasant demeanor. He has a black Dog Alliance uniform on, which is the High Dog Council’s police force. It covers his body and legs, but leaves his paws exposed. It’s made out of a strilium high fiber polyester synthetic. I’ve been told that it is light and can nullify most small energy projectiles. It’s human technology, so I know it’s top notch stuff. Humans were always good with their tech, and they share it with their closest animal allies.

  I, on the other hand, am wearing my standard issue reflector uniform, black in color. It’s not as high quality stuff as the strilium, and it doesn’t nullify energy projectiles, it just deflects them. But it’s wolf technology and I’m fine with that. There isn’t much human tech outfitted for wolves anyways. The humans don’t think there’s a mark
et for their goods in the Wolf’s Den. I’d say that’s a true statement, we don’t want their overpriced wares.

  The uniform is also extremely light. My fur had already been reinforced with wolfspray, a high aerosol alloy that strengthens my fur’s durability. It’s standard for any member of the wolf military to go through this procedure. We already have a natural coat, so why not reinforce it with something resilient?

  Sitting across from me is a gorilla. His kind I can respect. They share roots with the humans, but unlike the dog, they have carved out their own niche instead of being servants and second tier citizens. Together, them and animals like them such as chimps, along with the lions, were able to claim the southern parts of Africa as their own. The humans gave them some land down there as part of the negotiation, but it wasn’t enough. Thus, the rebellion against the humans in Africa started, and the gorillas were highly adaptable. They already had the physiology similar to humans, so retrofitting human weapons and equipment for their own needs was a piece of cake. Within twenty years, their alliance with the lions helped them push most humans out of South Africa. Naturally, once the struggle was over, their agreement was broken and the great war between the gorillas and lions still rages on today.

  I’m guessing eradicating these halfkinds was so important that the Gorilla Government decided to send one of their own to help out.

  Most of the intelligent species have already claimed certain areas of the world to call their home. We wolves occupy Northern Canada, dogs are spread out across the world, sharing whatever territory they live in with humans, the pigs have Australia, and countless other animals claim other parts of planet Earth. It’s all chump change compared to how much the humans still have.

  The weird thing I find in all of this is that despite all these new territories, we still call them by their human names. Our territory is called the Wolf’s Den, but it’s an unofficial name. The official name is still Northern Canada. The pig’s territory doesn’t even have an unofficial name, it’s still referred to the human name Australia. The city names haven’t even changed. I hear stories that long ago, when humans ruled the world, when settlers came to the United States, they used names given by the natives there. I suppose the same thing has happened, but out of convenience. We already know Canada as Canada, so why change it?