How did Nikki take a picture of two boys on a picnic table in a golden field to a dark futuristic tale? You'll have to ask her. But enjoy the story, first:
The Promise
"Just promise me something." Deacon asked as he stared into the distance.
"Alright bro." his friend Hayden said with trepidation.
Deacon had been Hayden's best friend since they were babies. Their mothers had been best friends and when they had been both been sent to Sherwood School, it was with each other that they had found solace. To themselves, they were brothers and DNA didn't change that. Hayden looked at Deacon and for the first time he was afraid that he was going to do something that was going to throw their whole lives out of balance.
Deacon was just a hair taller than Hayden. He had thick unruly dark hair and clever but unusual violet colored eyes thanks to his genetics. He was a half-breed like Hayden, but unlike Hayden he had more of his paternal parent's lineage. Hayden was blonde headed and his eyes were almost silver with splinters of gold in them. They both had run from the Sherwood school, which had been more of a prison than a school. They and many others had been placed there because of their "gifts" and genetic encoding.
Deacon's DNA came from an ancient race of aliens that had crash-landed on earth more than eighty years ago, and his mother had been willing to have one of her eggs fertilized with altered sperm that carried the alien DNA.
Hayden had been created with animal hybrid genetics. Already Hayden's senses were heightened. Hayden was a mixture of human and hybrid wolf DNA and the only one to survive it. Like Deacon, their mothers had escaped before giving birth, not willing to give up their children, and had been hidden away for the first eight years of their lives until the Government had found them. Their mothers had been killed and they were sent to Sherwood. A month ago they had escaped, and so far had eluded capture.
"Promise me, Hayden, that you won't let yourself be caught and if they capture me, you'll kill me first." Deacon's voice was quiet but serious.
Hayden's head whipped around, "What the hell, Deacon we're not going to be caught!"
Deacon turned, his eyes swirling "I won't go back to Sherwood. I can't, Hayden. There is something changing in me and I'm scared of it. I don't know if I'm even going to be safe to be around and I need to know that if the worst should happen that you as my brother and friend will do what needs to be done!" he explained almost pleading.
Hayden ran a hand through his hair. How could he promise what Deacon was asking him to do? They both were changing, but Deacon could never hurt anyone. They had both seen the records and the archives. Deacon's alien ancestors had never been violent. Deacon had inherited certain things such as telepathy, telekinesis and an ability to absorb energy. One of the reasons they had left Sherwood was because the scientists had wanted to use him as a weapon.
They both looked over the countryside not knowing where they would go or what lie ahead. For several minutes there was nothing but silence other than the breeze blowing the grass and a few birds over head.
Hayden turned towards his friend, "Okay, if they ever get you or," he swallowed hard, "or you become a danger to yourself or others...I'll do it. I'll put you down but it isn't going to get that far! Do you hear me, Deacon, it will never come to that!"
Deacon smiled sadly,"Let's hope not, Hayden. Let's pray it doesn't."
What Deacon hadn't told his friend was that more and more, he was changing. Dreams that weren't of his past but of someone else's haunted him. Already he was craving blood, because that was what the Krios, the alien stock he was bred from, needed to survive. He didn't want to become a blood-thirsty monster. His mother had always told him that no matter what, he was a good boy. He hoped he would never have to face the day when he would make a liar out of her.
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My guest post on the tour this week is a new installment in my story about the Worst Person in the World. It's on Brad Fleming's blog at http://bradfleming.co.uk/blog/. Visit the whole tour for some great fiction!
