"Please!" Kayne shouted, his eyes begging. The sound of his voice instantly put my feet below me moving in his direction. My need to ease the strain in his voice overpowering the fear that told me to stay put.

As Jeremy's hand gripped my upper arm, yanking me back into line with the others, I saw that Kayne's plead didn't have the same effect on our guest as it did on me. The man held KaRayna tighter, her beautiful face turning a strange blueish red as his hand nearly crushed her windpipe down into the floor.

The moment seemed frozen.

Everything was happening around us, and I knew it must have been loud and frantic in that little lobby, but in my head everything was slow motion. KaRayna's blue lips grappled around a scream that wouldn't come out as Kayne dropped to his knees, his hands raised up high.

The man's eyes darted around like a terrified animal. "I won't." Were his simple words, as his hand shook around the gun, his finger lingering scarily close to the trigger.

I jumped at the sound of the blast, a high scream peeling its way up my body and out of my lips as time suddenly lurched forward. Flashes of images played out before my eyes, blocking my view of what had happened.

Kayne as he lingered over me, my mask in his hand, "beautiful." He'd said.

Kayne running, leaving me to the wrath of my group, before turning back. A look in his strange sea foam green eyes. "For you."

Kayne as he brushed hair away from my face before leaning down to kiss me. "It's you."

"You killed him!"

The statement shattered my memories, replacing the images of Kayne's beautiful face with the bloody scene before me.

To my left, Matty stood pale faced and shaking, the gun in his hands still pointed down at the ground where a mass of a man was collapsed and bleeding from the back of the head over the top of a near tears KaRayna.

Dani rushed forward to her husband, pulling him back and taking the gun from his trembling hands. "I had to." He repeated over and over as Dani pulled him close to her, running her hands over his body and through his hair, seeming to take stock that her husband was ok.

"Shhh." She whispered to him. "I know you did."

Everyone was shouting, some crying, others pacing, hands over their mouths.

But Kayne was still in the same spot, uninjured, on his knees on the ground, his eyes staring blankly at the man as KaRayna pushed out from under his body and stood to her own feet, looking down on his with the same blankness as Kayne.

"You killed him." Kayne whispered again.

"What was the man supposed to do?" Brock shouted over the buzz of noise in the room. "He was about to kill the both of you. Were we supposed to wait to see what would happen?" Brock shook his fiery red locks and glared across the room at Kayne.

Kayne leaned forward onto his hands, I wanted to go to him, comfort him, but Jeremy held me firmly back. Kayne crawled on his hands and knees over to the body and KaRayna lowered herself back down at him as well.

They both reached out one hand, placing them on the center of the man's chest and bowed their heads. "In life and in death." Kayne whispered. "I'm sorry, friend." He added even quieter, and KaRayna glanced over at him silently.

Brock pushed forward. "Friend?" He demanded, red cheeks matching his hair. "That man wanted to kill you both where you stood. Would have had it not been for Matty, and you call him friend?" Brock backed up on his heels. "Maybe this was a bad idea. I shouldn't have come back."

Kayne glared up at him and Jeremy's hand tighten even tighter around my arm, sensing my anger probably. "I know that!" Kayne yelled. "I know he wanted to kill me. I know he wanted to kill us all, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about the fact that he is dead now!" Everyone seemed to flinch back instinctively as Kayne suddenly rose to his feet, his fists balled at his sides. "This man came here because I led him here! I wanted to help save the other Mundi from walking into a slaughter at the hands of my people, and instead I led him here to his death all the same. Am I supposed to be happy? You want me to rejoice in the loss of yet another life? Are there not enough dead at this point? Shall I celebrate this man's blood on my hands?!"

KaRayna pushed to her feet again, the angry red marks around her otherwise unflawed skin serving as yet another reminder to everyone here what had just happened. She turned her back on the others and placed herself firmly in front of Kayne, pulling his attention to her as he lips moved swiftly and her voice came out so low the words were only for her and Kayne.

Slowly, Kayne's harsh stance seemed to ebb.

He flexed his finger at his sides, releasing the fists and taking a deep breath before nodding down to her.

She turned back the body, checking his neck very carefully for the chip, while Kayne walked by her and over to Matty where he was still tangled in Dani's arms. He inclined his head to him and sighed.

"Thank you." Kayne said softly. "I owe you my life."

Matty nodded. "I'm sorry."

"No." Kayne shook his head. "You acted quickly and for that I'm grateful. I'm sorry for my outburst."

Matty went on to say something else but I turned my attention back down to KaRayna. With a swift jerk of my arm I detached myself from Jer's grip, feeling the blood rush back through the rest of my arm now that it was free, and I went to her, kneeling at her side.

"Are you alright?" I asked, loudly enough for the others to hear if they were paying me any attention, then I angled a little closer. "Does he still have it?"

The message they left in KaRayna's ship for the others should have instructed the Mundi that come here to have already taken out their chips. But I'd seen how quickly the man moved, and I saw the utter blank distrust in his soulless eyes.

KaRayna rubbed her sore throat with the back of her hand, cutting her eyes to the others before looking back to me. "Intact." She whispered. "I don't know why he came if he didn't believe the message. But if he did it..."

"Others like him might do the same." I shook my head.

There was a whole group of us here and we just barely made it out of this one alive. If other Mundi came here without removing their chips first, especially if they showed up in large numbers, there'd be no way we would survive it. The fate of the human race and the Mundi would be doomed.

I didn't even have time to speak my fears out loud before the creak of the front door had everyone's single undivided attention all over again. Everyone in the room seemed to take a collective breath as the door opened wider and an older woman stepped warily inside. She looked scared, nervous, and on edge, but she stepped inside anyway, warry of the eyes all on her.

She took one more tentative step into the lobby before her large brown eyes landed on the body on the floor. The color seemed to drain from her face, leaving her almond shaped eyes as saucers on her face.

She froze. Almost like she thought if she was still enough, maybe we'd all forget we saw her and she could sneak back out of the room before she was met with the same fate as the man on the ground in a pool of his own blood.

She didn't even look like she was breathing as she turned suddenly, rushing back towards the door.

Running is better than shooting.

"Jora!" Kayne shouted, breaking the strange dreamlike silence that had encased the moment. The woman flinched at the sound of her name, halting just outside the door, while still holding it to block most of her thin body like the weathered old wood would protect her.

Her shoulders heaved up and down and her eyes searched out Kayne before she leaned further around the door. "My child," She whispered, her voice smooth as silk. "Tell me truly, what is this?" I could hear her nerves, but she worked hard to keep her face cooled into a controlled mask. "What have you done?"

Kayne took up the same stance he'd done with the last man, holding both of his hands up in front of him, offering no threat. She tried to watch him, but her eyes kept leaving his to look around the room and then back to the body.

"Jora, please, look at me." He whispered, taking the tiniest of steps forward. She complied and he tensed his jaw as he stared at her. "I only want to talk to you."

"Is that what you told him?" She inclined her pointed chin towards the body.

"It is." Kayne said truly. "But he was more interested in killing me than hearing me out. I hope you'll chose differently."

"So I'm to listen or die?" She demanded, a little authority sneaking up into her tone. "Some choice you give, my child."

Kayne took an even bigger step then, sparing a quick glance down at me where I still knelt with KaRayna, before he passed me, ever so slightly positioning me and KaRayna at his back and out of the woman, Jora's, view. "I promise you Jora, I want only to speak to you. You have to see. Truly see."

She moved, ever so slightly behind the door some more, nearly disappearing on the other side. "I don't know that I want to see what you've got to show me, boy."

He nodded back. "Let's go outside, away from the others-."

"Are they-." She stopped herself, like she was scared to ask. "Are they what I think, child?"

I waited, unsure what Kayne would do.

If he lied, she might have a harder time believing anything else he had to say afterward, and that wouldn't be helpful, but if he told the truth...she may react violently, just as KaRaya and this dead man beside me had. And this time Matty might not be fast enough to save Kayne's life twice.

I should have known what Kayne would do though.

He won't lie to his people, even if it might be smarter and be the difference between him living or dying.

"They are, Jora." He admitted without remorse. "They are the ones condemned to die for us. It isn't right, Jora. I need to help you see the error in our thinking."

"Boy-"

"Jora, please." He interrupted her. "Let's go outside, we can talk freely there."

"And if I refuse? Do you kill me then?"

I could see it then. A light in her eyes, a defiance, a soul. She didn't have her chip in anymore. She could be swayed, and if anyone could do it, it was Kayne.

"No." He told her, and I felt the movement of the others in the room, looking between one another. "If you don't want to be a part of this after you've heard what I have to say, then you can go on your way...unharmed."

"Kayne!" Brock shouted, the other men seeming to back the shock. "We can't let her go."

Kayne didn't risk looking away from Jora, he knew better. "We can and we will." He said sternly. "We won't kill those who don't agree. How are we any better then?" He asked the others and when they had no replies, he spoke to Jora again. "I only want to talk. We can sit outside and speak and after I've said what I need to say, you make your decision. Free to do what you wish afterwards."

She stills for a moment, and I wait on bated breath.

Finally, she gives him the slightest of a nod. "Come, child." She whispered to him and he slowly walked out onto the porch with her, the door clicking shut behind them.

The others broke out in arguments.

"What if she goes to her leaders?"

"She could ruin it all."

"She can't be allowed to leave."

"We are no better than them if we kill her."

"But she could get us killed."

I tuned them out and turned to KaRayna. "Who is she?" I asked her, but she shook her head.

"I don't know her face or name." She shrugged.

I sighed and looked back at the door. "Will he really let her leave?" I asked, already knowing the answer. "If she does...If she doesn't want to help us and the others, then what?"

"Then we work faster."

"How?" My questions sounds defeated already. There is no way we can move faster. No way we can be more convincing quicker. We aren't even good at this at our current pace. Everything was seeming to become more and more hopeless and vutile.

Jora would leave here, and run back to the ones in charge and beg her forgiveness in exchange for forgiveness and her life. She may even ask for her chip back. Maybe she'll be with them when they track us down. Maybe she'll be the one to kill us all.

Eternity seemed to pass while the two were outside.

So long that my mind started to go to even darker places.

What if she killed him out there? We could all be waiting for him to come back in while he's bled out on the porch and she's long gone. Ready to tell her tale to the first person who will listen.

My heart began to pound before finally the door opened up and Kayne's figure appeared in the doorway. Everyone held their breath as the door began to swing shut behind him.

He'd failed.

We are doomed.

It's all over.

But then a hand caught the door.

The door opened up and Jora stepped carefully back into the room at Kayne's side.

"Everyone, Jora would like to meet you all."

*ď -q