Keri Wilson
Dreams and Desires
Hell in Paradise, chapter 2
Where Do We Go From Here, part c
Jubilee thought, if someone
calls me mutie again I'll scream. All around her in this room were
crying children and angry adults, mostly women with infants or
children. The truck had deposited them on some island, possibly not
far from Manhattan. They had definitely gone through the city on the
way here.
"Jubilee!" Kitty saw Jubilee as
she and the three younger LeBeau children were herded along with
other women with infants or preadolescent children into the same
room.
The two women hugged gently and
Kitty touched the top of baby Gwen's head.
"She okay?"
"So far. How are you holding
up?"
"I'm okay, but I want to see
Kayley and Fion and hold them tight."
"Kayley is here. There she is"
Jubilee pointed to a corner of the room, where most of the school's
younger children clustered in close group with frightened faces. "She
hasn't seen you yet with all these people crammed in here."
Rowena LeBeau overhead the
conversation and was off through the crowds before anyone noticed.
The other LeBeau children followed in her wake.
"Oh I believe the LeBeau progeny
are bringing Kayley to me." Kitty smiled in spite of the
situation.
In moments Kitty had her
daughter hugging her for dear life. Kitty couldn't keep the tears
from welling up in her eyes as she picked Kayley up and hugged her
back. With two of their teachers there the other children followed
the young Lebeaus. Jubilee and Kitty had soon had all the younger
children from the school surrounding them.
"I didn't see Piotr or Fion
anywhere as they brought us in and split us up. They took Remy off
alone and those guys looked mean."
Kitty and Jubilee exchanged
worried looks; Remy probably was in the most danger of all of
them.
Kitty continued, "The took the
older Lebeau kids off together. Apparently this was supposed to just
be the waiting point for people like us. Older kids go
elsewhere."
"Probably where Fion is. You
didn't hear Kelly's speech. He said anyone 12 and older 'suspected of
engaging in outlaw activities would be sent to work camps'. Our kids
are automatically suspect just for being our kids and at the
school."
Kitty's hands clenched. Work
camps! More violations of basic human rights. How far could they go
before the public realized what outrages were happening here.
***************************************************************************
"Hey Jono, you and Paige
need to stay over there. It's gone to hell here. Sentinels and
everything." Jonothon Strasmore played back the entire message from
his old friend Angelo for Paige, Rahne, and Moira. Angelo had
obviously made the transmission in an almost panic.
Jonothon and Paige had gone to
Muir Island a couple of weeks ago, so Paige could undergo a
rather sophisticated form of invitro fertilization. It involved a bit
of genetic manipulation of the zygote. Then she would have to rest
for at least two weeks to make sure the egg had implanted and
continued to develop.
Paige had wanted a child, but Jono had been too
fearful for Paige's safety if they did it the traditional way. He had
even expressed strong fears about invitro if no genetic work was done
to insure his mutation was not active in the child, and if possible
not passed along at all. To placate the fears of her husband Paige
suggested asking Moira for help. Knowing how insistant his wife was
on having a child Jonothon agreed. The process had been sucessful so
far. But now this had happened.
"Yuir not thinking on goin back
right now are ye?" Moira looked at them sternly.
"But they're in
trouble." Paige said insistantly.
"No, luv, think. Angelo was
right. Better we stay here. At least till we can figure out a plan
and get together anyone else that was outside yer country to rescue
them."
After over an hour arguing
Jonothon finally convinced Paige that going now was foolhardy. But
when Paige awoke the next morning it was to a message left by her
beside. From Jonothon.
"You convinced me luv. But
don't follow. I want you and the baby to be safe as possible. As soon
as I find them I'll be back here."
"No, Jono, why did you do
this." Paige hurried to the hanger hoping he hadn't left yet. She
found the flyer gone and an angry Moira shouting to all and sundry.
"Damned fool boy! Had to run
off all by himself to be a hero, going to get himself killed and
where will that leave Paige and her bairn! Husbandless and fatherless
that's what!"
Rhaine quickly broke in before
this went on anymore in front of Paige, "Mum, stop!" and pointed to
Paige standing in the hanger not 20 feet away.
Moira looked ashamed. "Did he
happen to leave any kind of message?"
An ashen faced Paige wordlessly handed the note
over, but her hands shook when she released it.
"It's just as I thought. The
boy is right about you staying here at least though. I've already set
up the remaining flyers to only operate under my direct command, is
that clear? No more foolhardy leave takings from anyone!"
"Yes mam." Paige and Rhaine
said automatically, temporarly cowed by such strong maternal
authority.
Paige felt frustrated at Moira,
but she feared if Jono commlinked them she would scream as loudly as
Moira at his stupidity, going on this alone.
*************************************************************************
Renee, Roger and Regina Lebeau
stuck close to one another. Even when they were loaded on the trucks
they carefully counted off the numbers loaded onto each truck and
made sure they were right in the middle of the a group. When the
truck was underway they took notice of their fellow passengers. One
was a surprise.
"Andrew?"
"Yep, they got me too. I saw
the three of you and did the same thing you did while we were
waiting."
"Did they get-"
"Yeah and they seperated us
too, Lisa and the baby got pushed into the group with the women with
babies and little kids. I got sent here like you all."
"Sentor Kelly took mama away
while we were still at the house."
"He found out Mom Lebeau was
his daughter?"
"Yeah, don't know how
though."
"I'm really scared they're
going to hurt dad though." Renee whispered.
"What?"
"They took him off seperate at
the station. The guys looked like ultramutant haters. Like the old
videos we watched in history class about the Friends of
Humanity."
"Oh sa va brute" (this is
really bad) Andrew muttered.
"Oui." The other three LeBeau
children replied.
***************************************************************************
Piotr hadn't been as lucky. His shouting and resistance to the guards had lead to him being sedated again and tossed into a different truck than his son Fion. Piotr woke to find himself among strangers. Ones like him that had tried to fight with the guards despite the power suppression collars they all wore. He did not recognize any of his fellow passengers. But his heart was filled with hatred for the people who had control of his life for the moment. He vowed to wreak great venegence in his loved ones names.
***************************************************************************
Remy Lebeau thought, Well dey
haven't killed me yet so dey want me alive for some reason. As long
as I'm alive I've got hope. Both for everyone else and for me.
It
hadn't been a pleasant trip, and they had injected him with some
chemical that had knocked him out for a good many hours on the trip
to this place.
Some maximum security prison. Miltary, security was too advanced for anything else. Some technology must have been stolen from de mansion. Definitely Shiar based. Wonder how well de guards know how to use it. It could be an advantage for me.
***************************************************************************