The Tales of Sorath (part seven)
As Zachary began to awaken Jack called Sorath into the room. "How did it go?" Zach said as he tried to sit up. "Don't try to-" Sorath said as Zachary fell to the ground "stand yet. Let me help you back onto the bed." "What am I?" "Well, you are a mustelid but there were a few complications during the procedure." "What do you mean complications? Let me see a mirror." "I don't think that would be a good idea." "All I want to do is see myself in a mirror. Could you get me one Jack?" "No can do little mink boy." "Jack, neither of us know if he's a mink or not." "He looks like one to me." "If he was a mink he wouldn't have th--" "Will somebody please tell me what the fuck is going on!" yelled Zachary as he sat up and turned towards them. "Oh fuck it." said Sorath getting really agitated and grabbing a hand held mirror.
"You really want to see then here. Just don't have a heart attack on me." he said as he threw the mirror onto Zachary's lap. As he looked into the mirror he was surprised to see that his face was pure white. He then noticed that the rest of his fur was snow white and his tail ended in a black tip. "I don't see any problems." "Well, you kinda won't until you get hurt." "It's not like I'm in danger here." Zachary said while Jack grabbed a scalpel. "Jack will show you the problem." Sorath said as he stepped to the right. Jack then threw the scalpel and got a direct hit on Zachary's shoulder. Once he pulled it out he saw that where the blood was flowing out his fur became black. "Okay, my blood turns my fur black, so what?" "Look again." said Sorath pointing towards Zachary's shoulder. As he looked he saw the rest of his fur turning jet black. "What the hell?"
"There was also one more thing that we have to tell you." "What now?" "Well it seems you had a twin that was living, inactive, inside your human body. In other words you have two souls in you one body." "That isn't possible." said Zach as he became completely black save for his tail tip that became white. "It's actually pretty common." said Delilah as she stepped out of the shadows. "A couple of ways to recognize it is the fact that the person has different colors in each eye and sometime even two separate blood types.. Normally they don't do anything and remain inactive. Most people can live through their entire life without knowing that they have this condition."
"However," interrupted Sorath. "your twin became active, and stayed that way, during your transformation." "What does this mean for me." "It means that I can finally speak to you." "What the hell was that?" said Zachary as he tried to stand up again. "It must have been your twin. I'm surprised that he just now became active. You'd think he would have when there was a significant rush of adrenaline or something." "Can you guys stop talking about me like I'm some kind of science experiment of yours. I never even knew I had a twin, much less one in my own body." "Trust me they won't stop talking about you for a while." "Get the fuck out of my body!" "It isn't only your body anymore. It is our body." "It is my fuckin body so get out of it!"
"I think we should get out of here." whispered Jack to the group as they watched Zachary argue with his brother. "I think I'll stay here. You two go." "Okay." said Jack as he stepped out of the door. "Don't do anything stupid." said Sorath as he stepped out quietly. "It seems like all our audience has left except for one." "Hey don't change the subject." "Will you stop yelling. I can't leave so stop telling me to." "I will say whatever I want to!"
"Will you stop arguing, it's pointless. He has no way of going away so you should deal with him." "Easy for you to say. You don't even have a twin, much less one that's stuck inside of you." Delilah ran up to Zachary and held her knife to his throat. "Learn to respect your elders boy. Especially when they are trying to help you out." She said before she pushed him over the bed and onto the floor behind it. "Once you learn to walk then go and ask Bill to make you some food." she said as she walked out the door.
"Where are you going Delilah?" asked Sorath as he followed her. "To get my sword and practice with it." "Okay then. I'll meet you at the elevator with the key." Sorath said as he rushed off to his room. As Delilah entered her room she walked straight to her closet and opened it. As she rummaged through the clothes at the bottom of the floor she came to her hidden spot. As she pulled off the steel top she stopped and looked at the blade that layed beneath.
It was double sided, nine feet long, two feet wide at the base, six inches thick at the base,narrowing to a point no thicker than a hair, with a handle that was one and a half feet long, covered in shark skin, and having a pommel that was made of a three inch opal sphere. 'Why did you give this to me brother? It always was your favorite.' she asked herself as she felt tears welling up in her eyes. She then picked it up and started walking out her door before closing it behind her. "I haven't seen you with that thing in months Delilah. What happened in there?" asked Jack as he poked his muzzle out of the door. "That is none of your business Jack." she said as she continued to the hidden elevator. "Here's the key. I'll make sure nobody interrupts you." said Sorath as he handed her the key. "Thank you." she said solemnly as she let the doors close around her and take her down five story's to their underground training area. As she stepped out the doors closed and headed back up. "Why?" she asked as she ran towards the gel targets. "Why did you leave me?" she asked as she slashed through the first target without any effort. "Why me?" she begged as she turned around and slashed through five in one swing. "Why the hell did you do that?" she yelled as she buried her sword a couple of feet into the wall with her last swing. "Why couldn't you have told me what you were planning?" she asked heading towards the automated targets. "I could have saved you." she said hacking one in two with a light swing. "Why did you have to do that to me?" tears started streaming through her eyes as she took out another three targets. "Why did you have to leave me alone?" she screamed as she stabbed the last target on the ground and burying three feet of her sword along with it. She then let her tears flow freely onto her fur and into the ground.
"Well it looks like the filthy human became a mink hybrid. I guess I can put up with you now that you're one of us." Zachary heard Bill say as he stumbled into the dining area across from the kitchen. "Yeah. Can I get some food, I'm starving." "Yeah I kinda figured that." Bill said as he headed to the kitchen. "While I'm cooking go to your room and get dressed. You have some clothes on your bed. I don't feel like watchin somebody walk around in a hospital gown." "Okay, thanks." he said before falling to the ground. "How the hell do I walk? I got lucky getting here." "Shift your weight to the tips of your toes." said Bill as he cracked some eggs into a bowl.
"Thanks." Zach said as he started walking properly, although a little shakily, to his room. "Awww. I was having fun watching you stumble around." "Oh shut up Eddy." "Who's Eddy?" "You are. I don't know your real name so I'm calling you Eddy." "You're joking right?" "Nope." "Fuck you." "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before." Zachary said as he opened his door. "At least the clothes are nice." "They're only normal street clothes." "They're still better than that uniform you use to wear." "You act as if I had a choice." Zachary said as he finally buttoned up the jeans. "Yay, tubby fit into his jeans." "Will you ever shut up?" Zachary said as he pulled on the black T-shirt. "Only when I feel like it, but I have years of catching up to do so listen up whitey." "Ugh. Why couldn't you have just stayed inactive?" Zachary asked as he walked back to the dining table.
"Here you go." said Bill as he handed Zachary a plate of scrambled eggs. "What's up with the color?" said Zachary as he looked at the very dark eggs. "Don't ask questions just eat." "Well they do smell good." Zachary said as he sniffed the eggs before putting a forkful in his mouth. As soon as he tasted the first bite he started shoveling the rest into his mouth. "What did you use to season these things? You know what, forget I asked. I just want more." "Okay then, hold on." Bill said as he went back into the kitchen. "Here you go." Bill said as he set a big bowl of the eggs in front of Zachary. "I gave you a plate to make sure if you liked them."
"Thank you." Zachary said as he began shoving forkfuls into his mouth. Once he got to the bottom he felt something prick his tongue so he swallowed the eggs but held the object still with his tongue. As he pulled it out he realized that it was a rather large chicken feather. "Those must have been some really fresh eggs." Zachary said before going into the kitchen with the empty bowl. When he opened the door he saw Bill butchering fresh chickens on a table about three feet away. As he put his bowl in the sink he realized that there wasn't a trace of blood in the sink. He thought he knew what happened to it but he decided to ask Bill. "What did you do with the chicken blood?" "I put it in your eggs." said Bill as he calmly continued with the chicken.
"Don't even say anything." he said while raising a finger to Zach to silence him. "You are a mink and weasel hybrid. Weasels will kill chickens and drink their blood in the wild. Besides, I didn't hear you complaining when you were shoveling those eggs into your mouth. If you don't feed your wild side every now and then you will slowly become more and more feral until you eventually become nothing but an oversized wild animal." Zachary just stood there speechless. "Delilah seemed upset when she walked out of the lab. You should go and apologize before she gets her sword out. If she isn't in her room then come back here and I will take you to her."
"Fine." Zachary said as he walked out the door towards Delilahs room. "Oh yeah, were did you learn to be such an asshole to nice women?" "Shut up." Zachary said under his breath "Just don't neglect your wild side got it. I don't wanna become some rich bitches coat." "Whatever." he said as he knocked Delilahs door. "Delilah, can I come in?" Once he asked he heard a noise and moved to the right side of the door before he saw a giant sword go through her door before knocking it off the hinges and carrying it about a foot away from the doorway. Zachary walked over to the sword and started to try and grab it before being hit from the side and pinned to the ground.
"DON'T TOUCH HIS SWORD!" she yelled at him while holding him on the ground by his throat. "Delilah!" yelled Sorath as he ran towards Delilah with everyone else behind him. "Delilah stop, you're going to kill him if you keep this up." he said while Zachary fruitlessly trying to get her to let go of his throat. She let him go, walked over to the sword, pulled it out of the door with one hand, and put it back on her bed. She then came back out, grabbed her door, put it back in place, and closed it. "I forgot to tell you about her temper when it comes to that one sword. It use to be her twin brothers before he died."
"How did he die?" "He sacrificed himself so that the rest of his unit, including Delilah, could escape to safety. He died right in front of her eyes." "What happened after that?" "She escaped with her unit, paid for his entire funeral, and then stayed in the army until she allowed herself into the experiment that turned her into what you see today. That sword used to be his favorite thing in the world. He left it to her, and her alone. That is the only thing she has left to remember him by. She only brings it out on his birthday and when she is reminded of him." "What the hell did you do?" asked Jack as he lifted Zach off the ground by his shirt.
"I was annoyed earlier and I said she didn't have a twin much less one that's stuck in her." "You jackass." he said as he threw Zachary onto the ground and went to comfort Delilah. "You'd think they were in love by the way they act." "They were stuck in the same room for almost the entire time that we were in that facility. He is more like a big brother to her than a boyfriend." Sorath said as he helped Zach up off the ground. "Hey Zachary, come over here." said Bill motioning for him. "What is it Bill?" he asked as he stopped about a foot and a half away from him. "Here." said Bill as he handed him a piece of paper. "What's this?" "Your first job. Sorath will accompany you to make sure you don't fail. I gave you one that has a specific, but simple, request on it. The weapon, time, and all is on the paper along with a detailed picture of your target. You only get one shot at this so don't fuck up." "I thought I could choose my own missions?"
"Once you successfully complete three prechosen missions without any assistance you can start choosing your own, once you succeed on five missions without leaving any evidence you will no longer need somebody to go with you, and once you complete ten missions successfully then you can come with us on debt collections." "Okay then. When do I get to fly the B2?" "Once you get the proper training and even then very rarely." "Okay then." "Stop talking so you can hurry up and get ready." Bill said as he walked off. "Okay, so when do we leave?" asked Sorath as he walked up behind Zachary. "We leave in one hour so we can get to the target area. Go get a Dragunov with-" "With what?" "Some kind of bullet. It says Depleted ball."
"You're in for a real treat." Sorath says with a grin on his muzzle as he walks to the ammunition room. "Why's that?" Zachary asked as he followed Sorath into the room. "Does it say HV?" "Yes but what does that mean?" "I will tell you as soon as you tell me if the last thing on the list is a C or NC." "It's a C now tell me what the fuck those things mean." "C and NC stands for Carved or Not Carved, HV means High Velocity, and Depleted ball means that we put depleted radioactive material into the tip of the bullet." "Isn't that shit illegal?" "Your asking an assassin if somethings illegal?" he said with a questioning stare at Zach. "Good point."
"Yeah. Did it say collapsible?" "Yes." "Looks like you're going to be using a collapsible Dragunov." "Apparently so." said Zach as he watches Sorath load a Humvee up with the weapon cases and ammunition. "We don't have to leave for a while." "You need time to set up your weapon system and get everything right so hop in. On the way there tell me all you need to do." "Okay." Zachary said as he crawled into the passengers side seat. "What's the condition?" Sorath asked as he floored the gas pedal. "Simple. He's a Russian who is selling uranium and other radioactive materials to people, not even caring about the consequences. A company that legally sells radioactive materials want revenge since they're losing customers to him. They want some irony so they want us to shoot him during a transaction with a Russian made weapon and some radioactive material that has been used up." "That is some irony." Sorath said as he made an almost 90 degree turn without slowing down.
"How the fuck did you get a military Humvee anyway?" "Same way we get the rest of our transportation." "Okay." Zach said before being slammed into the door. "Will you stop that?" "Okay." Sorath said as he slammed on the brake, sending Zach into the dashboard. "Really funny jackass." "It was." "Oh yeah, we're here. Get ready for your first kill as something other than a human." "Fine." said Zach as he grabbed his weapon case to start assembling his gun.
"Sergeant Johnson I presume." asked the general. "Yes sir that's me." said the sergeant as he tried his best to salute with his wrist in a cast. "Explain to me how you lost three hundred and seventy four of your men to one person." "I don't know sir. I was knocked unconscious right after the first explosion shook the building. Did the missile get them?" "You mean the missile that exploded over a populated area? It was detonated but did not hit the jet. Now thanks to your dumbass decision to launch a missile at them instead of letting them go we have to find a way to explain what caused that explosion and those gunshots to the media, along with why there's a military base in the middle of a forest so close to a town." "It was only a minor town though." interjected Johnson.
"It doesn't matter. Either way it made countrywide headlines. You have been removed from work until further notice." "You can't do this to me." yelled Johnson as he grabbed the Generals shirt in his hands. "Let go of my uniform unless you want me to have you discharged." "But how am I going to pay my bills?" "You have enough money in your bank account to pay for an entire apartment complex so I think you can manage a few months of bills." "But General isn't there anything you can do to help me out here?" "If you bring in one of the pelts of those mutants then I will make sure you get a promotion and go back to your own SWAT team. Is that good enough?" "How am I supposed to find them without any military assistance?" "That's your problem not mine." the general said as he walked out of the door. "Wait, general, what if I get the pelt of Veronica Hunt?"
"What about my aunt?" asked Corporal Hunt as he got into the doorway. "What are you talking about? Veronica had no family." "Well I never met her but my mom told me about her. But my aunt never learned about mother since grandma didn't talk about her much. So what about my aunts...pelt did you say?" "Just leave and act like you never heard me say anything." "No. Tell me what you were talking about." "Fine. Your aunt allowed herself to be subjected to a test that dealt with genetics and she became a half human, half fox creature." "I can't believe that my own sergeant would lie to me about something so simple." said the Corporal as he walked out of the door.
"What's this?" said the sergeant as he bent down to pick up a card. As he looked at it he saw that it was a card for calling in an assassination. He then realized that it was for Sorath and his group. "I think I am gonna have to make a call once I get out of here." he said with a grin on his face.
"Okay the target has arrived on cue. Hurry up and make all necessary adjustments for your shot. I'll tell you when the client has arrived." As Zachary started making adjustments he realized he was going to have a little trouble aiming. "I'm finished adjusting but I can't aim right, the stock is getting in my way." "Lean the rifle slightly to its left and aim slightly more to the right. The client has arrived so make your shot."
"Okay." he said as he slowly breathed in then out and paused. He squeezed the trigger until it fired. As he put his target in the middle of the scope he saw that he hit the man in the middle of the back and went through the other side. "Holy shit." He muttered as he lifted himself up slightly. "Now you see what the high velocity round combined with depleted radioactive material can do to a human body. You made the kill nice and clean along with fulfilling the requirement so now you have two more missions before you can choose your own. Alright lets pack up. Don't forget to grab your shell casing." "Okay. I need something to get rid of the smell of gunpowder from my nose though." "You'll get used to it." He said as he grabbed the gun case from Zachary. "Got it." He said as he hopped into the passengers seat beside Sorath as he turned the key.
"Hello." Veronica said quietly as she opened the door of the darkened room. "Delilah are you in here?" "What do you want?" Delilah said quietly from her makeshift bed. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Is it alright if I turn on the light?" "No. Keep it off." "Okay then." Veronica said as her eyes finally adjusted to the darkness. Once she looked around she understood why Delilah wanted the light to stay off. All of her clothes from the closet lay tattered in a pile, her pillows had gashes in them with the feathers spread around, her bed was slashed and torn open, and her bedsheets were in the middle of the floor with Delilah curled up in a ball in the middle. "Are you okay Delilah." "No I'm not." "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"No, there isn't. I'm only going on because I am following his final wishes. I told him that I would join him in heaven, and his last wish was for me to live my life to the fullest. I guess I'm doing a pretty shitty job of it." she said as she silently let her tears flow. "Not completely. Jack loves you and I can tell you love him." "He is a fellow assassin and I love him like family. That's it."
"Maybe that's how you see it but he loves you more than just family. Once he saw that you were upset he not only threw Zachary onto the ground but he came in here to comfort you." "He cannot help me, nobody can." "I hope you feel better soon." said Veronica as she stood up to leave. "Could you come over here for a second please?" asked Delilah timidly. "What is it?" asked Veronica as she kneeled down beside her. "Thanks for saving me." "No problem." said Veronica as she saw Delilah start to cry again. As Delilah started crying Veronica pulled her into a comforting hug. "It's okay." she said as she let Delilah cry on her shoulder.
"We're back." said Sorath as he hopped out of the Humvee to see Bill carving something out of a thick piece of wood. "How did it go?" he asked gesturing towards Zach stumbling out of the Humvee. "He did it perfectly. I didn't even need to be there." "Don't get to happy, he still has four more to go before he doesn't need you to go with him." "Yeah I know. Hows Delilah doing?" "Veronica went in there about ten minutes ago and just now came out. She said that we need to order brand new stuff for her since she destroyed it all." "Okay then." "Oh Sorath." said Zachary as he got back from putting the guns back. "I found out what kind of blade I want." "Okay what is it?"
"I want a fixed blade knife that has a twenty two inch long double sided blade, a seven inch long grip covered in sharkskin for great grip, a tight fitting sheath, and I want it to be sharpened to a nine degree angle." "Okay what metal do you want it to be?" "I want it to be made out of galvanized steel with a tip that could make a hole the middle of a hair." "Okay. How thick do you want it to be?" "One inch thick." "How wide?" "I would like it five inches wide." "How thick do you want the handle?" "About one and a half inches." "Okay then it should be done by tomorrow." "Also, what do you want the sheath to be made of?"
"Would it be possible to carve me one out of ivory." "Yeah. It should be done at the same time your knife is." said Bill as he stood up. "What do you mean?" "Sorath specializes in making bladed weapons, I specialize in making the sheaths, Delilah can alter our bullets to do more damage or less, depending on the situation, and Jack can modify vehicles to make them perform better." "Okay. Thanks for the explanation." "Why are you acting interested when you just wanted to know how he would make a knife and carve a sheath in one day."
"Do you ever shut up?" "Only when I want to and right now I don't wanna." "Fine. I'll be in my room if you need me guys." Zach said as he started heading towards the hangar. "No you won't." said Bill as he stood up. "Why not?" "You need to learn how to use that body to its fullest extent." "It's night time." "Then catch." Bill said as he tossed something to Zach. As he caught it he felt that it was heavy for its size. As he looked closer he realized it was a sword. "Why did you give me a sword?" "So you can practice against me." said Sorath as he grabbed his from Bill. "How are we going to keep from killing each other?" "My blade is dull so I won't kill you when I hit you. Yours is razor sharp so if I get hit we will both know it."
"How do I know when to stop?" "When you hit me." said Sorath as he rushed forward. "Hold your sword at an angle at the seven o clock position." Zachary did it without hesitating and deflected Soraths shot into the ground. He slashed upwards at Sorath but it was dodged and countered with a strike to the left leg. As Sorath backed away Zachary ran after him. "Stop you fool it's a trick." Zachary then watched as Sorath quickly spun around and rushed a swing at his head. "Oh for fucks sake." Zachary heard before his arm slashed quickly at Sorath, missing by only centimeters.
"What the hell did you do." "I used your arms, now how about a little cooperation?" "What do you mean cooperation? I told you this is my body." Zachary said as he moved to the left to barely dodge Soraths shot. "And I just proved it is our body." Eddy said as he struck at Sorath. "Whichever one of you is coming closest to me is doing a great job in this fight." Sorath said as if he was toying around with them. Zachary felt his arm grab some dirt from the ground , threw it into Soraths face, and followed it up with a scratch on Soraths left arm.
"What the hell was that?" Sorath asked as he stood up. "What was up with that Eddy?" "Nobody ever said it was supposed to be an honorable fight so I took advantage of my surroundings." "What did he say?" "He said that since nobody said it was supposed to be an honorable fight he decided to use the terrain to his advantage." "Well then he has the right mindset. Bill, sorry that we missed dinner but do you think that we could get something to eat?" "Sure." said Bill as he walked into the hangar. "Can we have something that tastes as good as those eggs did?" "Will you stop talking about those bloody eggs like that. They were no better than regular ones." "You and I both know that's a lie." "They were bloody, fucking, eggs."
"Bloody eggs?" Sorath asked Bill as he opened the door. "Hey he needed something to keep from going feral so I gave him some scrambled eggs with chicken blood. He practically licked the bowl clean." "He didn't know there was blood in them did he?" "Nope." said Bill as he pulled the chicken livers out of the bottom fridge drawer. "You gonna feed him our catfish bait?" "I would feed it to him raw if I didn't think his human mind would reject the idea."
"The rest of us have no problem because we normally would either steal food from humans or get fed by them. Zachary will eventually get used to the fact that he will have to eat things he normally wouldn't." said Bill as he finely chopped them up before adding them to the pan. "So how are you gonna sneak them into his food this time?" "Turn them into gravy and put it as a condiment on a chicken sandwich." "Sneaky." Sorath said as he stood back and watched Bill do his magic. "Zach, foods ready." he called as he sat down their plates on the table.
"Good I'm pretty hungry. What's for dinner?" "Just a chicken sandwich." Sorath said as he sat down across from Zach and started eating. "Aww man." "Oh shut up." Zachary said as he took a bite. "Tastes kinda funny." Zachary said after he swallowed the first mouthful. "I think it was pretty good." "It might be the gravy he made." said Sorath before taking another bite of his. "Okay." said Zach as he kept eating. Once he finished he took his plate into the kitchen and saw Bill in the fridge. "Whatcha doin in there?" "Grabbin a little snack." He said as he grabbed a couple hot dogs and closed the fridge. "How did you like the sandwich?" "I thought it was pretty good but it tasted kinda funny. What did you make that gravy with?"
"Chicken liver." Bill said as he finished off the hot dogs. "I think I'm gonna be sick." Zachary said as he headed for the closest trashcan. "Look, Zachary, you need to face the facts that you aren't human anymore so your diet is going to have to change." Bill said as he walked up behind Zachary. "Easy for you to say. You volunteered to be a guinea pig." "You could have stayed there instead of joining our group. You made your choice and have passed the point of no return. You can never go back to your old life." "He's got you there buddy." Eddy said quietly.
"Can I see a pen and a box?" "Sure. Here's a pen and let me get you a box. For the return address use this one so we don't get caught at our base. I'll get you some stamps to." "Thanks." Zachary said as his pulled out one of the switchblades Sorath gave him. 'I hope she forgives me for not coming home.' "If she cares about you then she won't mind. You might want to break off the relationship though because I don't see you two havin any kids." "Just shut up for the rest of the night, okay." Zachary asked in a sad tone. "Sure. I'm still gonna be here though so get used to it." "Fine." Zachary said as he found a piece of paper and started writing.