The Bloodforged Kin

Tess let the silence hang for a moment, then pointed at the Bouchards, then to Ed. "We are doing everything in our power to make us safer. I'm not asking you to do anything we wouldn't do. In fact, I'm not asking you to do anything - I'm TELLING you. You will give everything you have to making this compound safe or you will find yourself out on your ass to figure out a way to survive on your own. Is that clear?"

The fear she'd seen on the faces was replaced with awe and resolve. They didn't need some politician ruling from on high, they needed a mother. She pointed to the man in the flannel.

"What is your name?"

"Leon, ma'am."

She nodded. "Leon. Will you be the one to die?"

He shook his head. "No ma'am."

"Will you let her die?" She nodded at the woman cowering behind him.

He looked back over his shoulder at her, squaring his jaw. "No ma'am!"

"Will you let them die?" She shouted that, waving to the crowd behind him. This time his entire body went rigid and tall, chest puffing out. "NO MA'AM!"

"ALL OF YOU! WILL YOU LET EACH OTHER DIE?"

"NO MA'AM!" called from one hundred voices, echoing off the woods around them.

"I thought you weren't inspirational, mother! I think you need to reassess that!"

"Shut up, Fara."

Tess pulled the massive sword from her back and leveled it at Chad.

"Why didn't you answer?"

Chad's eyes went wide as he realized his mistake. "I… I don't know. I meant to! Tess, I can help! I can help lead these people! That's how I can keep them safe!"

Tess gritted her teeth. In the blink of an eye the sword was whipping through the air, burying itself in the pavement between Chad's legs. The crowd gasped and Chad jumped backwards, knocking his wife to the ground. Tess hopped off the platform and approached him.

"Pick it up."

He looked at her in disbelief, then to the sword that was still quivering in place. "I can't. I don't…"

"I said pick it up." Her voice was a low growl that somehow carried to the back of the crowd.

His eyes were round with fear as she approached and he lunged forward, struggling to pull the sword out of the pavement. He managed to get it free just as she reached him.

"Hit me with it."

"I'm not going to-" his words were cut off by a ringing slap across his face.

"I SAID HIT ME WITH IT!"

"You can't do that!" Karen stepped around her husband, her finger poking Tess in the chest. She looked down at the offending finger, then met the woman's gaze. Karen stepped back with a whimper.

Tess turned back to Chad. "So help me god if you don't hit me with that sword I will break every bone in your face."

He hesitated until Tess raised her hand again. He hefted the sword with both hands, swinging it in a wide, flat, clumsy arc toward her midsection.

Tess didn't move - didn't even look. She just reached out and pinched the blade between her thumb and finger, stopping it cold. He'd given it everything he had, and still the swing wasn't even fast enough to make him drop it from the abrupt stop.

She yanked the sword out of his hand with a sneer of disdain. "You can't swing a sword. You can't fight. You can't even lift a shovel. What CAN you do?"

Despite being cowed, his voice held an irritating note of haughtiness. His response was quieter than before, but no less entitled. "I can lead these people! I'm no fighter - I'm a leader. That's how I help."

His wife stepped around him. "I can too! I led a foundation before all of this. I have experience leading people too! The two of us can take a lot of work off your shoulders. You won't have to worry about anything - we'll take care of it for you!"

Tess took the edge out of her voice, reining in the violent urges building inside of her. Her question was soft and inviting - like any good trap. "So you've led people before?"

The couple nodded enthusiastically, stepping over each other to respond. "We have! I managed a decent sized staff while I was in office."

"And I managed almost a dozen volunteers!"

"And after The System? You've led people since then?" Tess asked.

"That's right, miss - I have! That's how I got my skills for leadership, from The System."

Again, Tess's voice was soft - resigned - and, again, it carried to every ear in the crowd. "Where are they? The people that you led, where are they now?"

Chad stepped back, mouth opening and closing even as he tried to find an excuse. Tess held up a hand to forestall whatever lie he was about to tell.

Tess had hoped they'd learned their lessons. She'd hoped that it wouldn't have come to this, but she supposed it was going to have been someone at some point. Maybe it was better that it happened in the beginning.

She fixed them both with a hard stare. "Do you know what you can do for me?"

"What?" they said in unison.

"Get out."

"Uh…" Chad's reply was confused. He looked to Tess then to the people around him. "Out? Where?"

"Out of this neighborhood. As far away from here as possible."

"But you can't do that. You can't just kick us out!" He raised his voice, turning to address the crowd gathered around them. "At the very least we should vote on this! Let the people decide who stays and who goes! This is still America!"

He turned back to her only to find the tip of a sword a hair's breadth from his eyes.

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"I said 'Leave.'"

"You can't do this! This is America and we are still a democracy! You can't just send us out there to die!" Karen was punctuating each of her sentences with a finger stab into Tess's chest.

There was a swish of air, the sound of a finger bouncing off of pavement, and a scream. Tess raised her voice to address the crowd.

"Let me make something clear. This is NOT a democracy. We are NOT going to vote on anything. We are trying to keep each other alive, and that means that there is no time for distractions. You want a democracy? Survive the upcoming challenge and form one. You want to elect a leader? Pick one from the survivors AFTER this challenge is over."

"You don't like the way I'm doing things?" She leveled her sword at the crowd, turning to point it at each in turn. "Come and stop me."

She let the challenge hang in the air. When no one stepped forward she continued, softer than before.

"I know we don't know each other, and we're all learning how to work together. We will do those things - later. Right now, we only have a few weeks left to make sure we survive this. Our lives are literally on the line - we don't have time for anything other than preparing for that. If we survive - WHEN we survive - we can talk all day about who is going to do what. But for now, the only people whose voices matter are Jason and Madison. Anyone who doesn't fall in line with that can leave."

Chad and Karen were kneeling on the ground, Karen's bleeding fist held to her chest and Chad's arms around her. They glared daggers at Tess.

"Fine," he said. "We'll shovel dirt if that's what it takes."

Tess kept focused on them but spoke to everyone. "Something you should know about me is that I don't bluff. Everyone gets one chance, and you had yours. You can leave now or I can make you leave."

"We'll die though! You're killing us!" Karen's voice was shrill.

"We're not leaving. You'll have to kill us in front of all of these people if you want us to leave."

Tess looked at the couple, the expectant crowd, the wide eyes of the Bouchard children, and the concerned looks of her twins. She met Cass's gaze for a moment longer than the rest, then turned back to the Blankenships. She lifted her sword high and wide in the most dramatic execution setup she could display, pausing long enough to let everyone see it and to give the cowering couple time to scream.

Her sword flashed down, narrowly falling behind a blur that carried the Blankenships away.

The crowd gasped, objections and questions sounding out all around her. She hopped onto the platform again, holding her hand up for silence. The murmurs died down and a pregnant hush filled the neighborhood as Tess stood, stoic and still, waiting.

A minute later there was a blur and Cass was on the platform, whispering into Tess's ear. She nodded, then turned to the crowd.

"They're fine. Cass dropped them off in another town with other people."

"Were you going to kill them?" Tess didn't recognize the person who asked the question. She wasn't sure how to answer that. Did she tell the truth? Did she placate the crowd? Did she even know what she would have done?

"Well mother, would you have killed them?"

"I really don't know, Fara. Is it weird that I don't know? That it was enough of an option to me that I can't be sure? What does that make me? What am I becoming?"

"I can't answer that, but do you want to know a secret, mother?"

"Sure, what's the secret."

"I'm getting very good at reading your neurotransmissions. I can estimate with 88% confidence what you would have done."

Tess sighed internally. "That sounds ridiculous, Fara. How could you know what I would do before I do?"

"Because your brain is already sending signals through its decision centers long before you are aware of it. I'm discovering that, for humans, by the time they realize a decision needs to be made they've already long-since made up their minds."

"And what was I going to do?"

Fara giggled. "You were going to cut them right in half!"

Tess didn't know if she believed the sociopath living in her head, but she supposed it didn't matter. What she would have done wasn't as relevant as what the people staring expectantly at her thought she would do. If they were going to survive this she needed them to think she was Machiavellian and unbending. She'd just have to deal with any fallout later.

She addressed the question. "Yes, I was going to kill them. We don't have the time or luxury of being neutral right now. Everything and everyone is either a net positive to this group or it is a threat, and I will not allow any threats to our lives. If we don't all pull our weight then it doesn't matter if you die today by my hand, or by a creature's claws in two weeks. You're dead either way."

"That's enough talking about this. Everyone get to work. Cass, Luna - with me."

She hopped off the platform and walked to the Bouchard's tunnel. It had been left open as of late since the deck had become a meeting space and there was too much activity going on back and forth.

When they were inside the walls and away from prying eyes Tess slumped slightly.

"Mom, I didn't like that at all." Luna was watching Tess's face with concern. "You're becoming cold - like, REALLY cold. It's just not you."

"It's who I have to be, Sweetie."

"Luna's right, mom." Cass stepped to her other side, taking her hand. "This isn't like you. If I hadn't been fast enough I think you would have really killed them."

"I thought you did great, mother!" Tess ignored Fara, snatching her hand away, wincing at the hurt look in her son's eyes. She didn't have time for this. "Look, you two - I'm sorry if it seems like I'm being a little more strict than usual, but it's not like I have a choice."

"A little more strict?" Luna whispered that under her breath.

Tess heard it, naturally, and turned to her. "Yes. A little more strict. I'm not doing anything I didn't do before, I'm just doing it at the appropriate level required by our current situation."

"You're starting to sound like Fara." Cass said.

"That's so sweet! Tell him he's being sweet and I appreciate it!"

"I'm not…" Tess put her hands to her head, closing her eyes and gritting her teeth. "I'm not sounding more like her, I'm just trying to help us survive."

"But mom, you always help us get through things by being… well, a mom!" Luna took a tentative step forward but paused before reaching out.

"You're always the one that guides us when we don't know what to do. Dad has ideas but you are the one who-"

"Tell them you're getting stronger and that's what's best for everyone!"

Tess began banging on her head with the palm of her hand. "Shut up! Shut up! EVERYONE SHUT UP!"

Fara went mercifully silent and Tess took the moment to take a steadying breath. She opened her eyes and saw Cass and Luna with their arms around each other, eyes wide with fear. Had she ever yelled at them to shut up before? She didn't think so. She reached a hand out but they both flinched back. She let it drop.

She slumped against the wall, her voice quiet. "Look, kids, I'm trying to be a mom. Not just to you, but to everyone. I have a psychotic child in my head who won't give me a minute's rest, I have two children who are some of the most powerful people around, and I have a whole neighborhood of strangers that I'm somehow supposed to keep alive through god-knows-what. I don't know how to do this! If your father was here…"

"But he's not." Cass's voice was soft and filled with pain. "He left us to go do whatever it is he feels like he needs to do and you're stuck trying to fix it all without him."

"That's not fair." Luna said. "He's trying to get stronger for us! He trusts us to get stronger too. He knows we can do it without him."

Cass turned to her, his face going red. "He doesn't know that! Sure, he trusts us - but he doesn't know what's coming. He can't know if we are going to be strong enough to handle it, or if we're going to die. He just… left us."

"That's enough, both of you." Tess pushed herself up. "We can argue about your father all day but it won't get anything done. The reality is that we need to figure out a way to survive this without him. I have no freaking clue what to do, I'm completely lost. I've accepted that my role is to just keep getting stronger, but other than that I'm lost. And as for them out there," she waved a hand in the general direction of the neighborhood. "I really don't know what to do. All I know is that someone was threatening what we're trying to do, so I took care of it."

"That's still pretty cold of you, mom."

"I know it is, Luna, I know. Do you have any other ideas?" She challenged both of them with a stare.

The twins stared back, then dropped their eyes and shook their heads.

"I don't know, mom. I just feel like we're losing you," Luna said.

Tess stepped forward and wrapped them both up in a hug. "I feel like I'm losing myself, honey. But I'll be damned if I let anything risk your lives. Everything I'm doing is to protect my babies, and I'll become whoever and whatever I need to do to do that."

It wasn't a perfect solution and it didn't offer any promises or hope, but it was enough for today.