“Engen?” Xander murmured, the words striking a chord.
“Also known as Alpha Quadrant. You see, I believed that you and the others on the outside could be assimilated into life on the inside. But first, we had to sever all of your links to the outside. We had to end your relationships with those you love, those you hate... everyone associated with you. This would leave you susceptible to the mind tempering needed for the final step of assimilation.”
Xander looked over at Genblade. “So you sent this walking militia to kill off my friends.”
“No, boy. We needed to do research. I found you online after months of searching through chat sites. Finally I found you and, using a user name that was not easily traceable, I approached you and eventually gained your trust.”
“Soul,” Xander said, cursing inwardly.
“Precisely. Then, my dear Spider began contacting your friends via the internet, making them trust you even less.”
“Spider.”
“Exactly. Thinking we would never meet, you felt free to talk to me about your friends, your loved ones, and even people you didn’t like much at all. We thought it wise to begin there, sending Spider to herd the cattle to a certain spot for Genblade to mow them down.”
“Jamie,” Xander whispered as shock ran down through his face.
“You hated him because Sara loved him. Pathetic, teenage drivel! You were bred to be better than that! Cur! But what else could I expect from you, really? Whether you blame it on nature or nurture, you didn’t really have a chance. You were made of junk DNA and raised by white trash... How could we hope for you to grow into anything but garbage?”
The thoughts crashed upon him like a wave onto the shore. It was his fault. All of this. Jamie’s death, Carl Dent’s death, the attacks on Mike, Cathy, Sud, Tommy... all his fault. And Sara. At the thought of her, he wanted to cry. He’d killed her. He may not have actually done the deed, but he may as well have pulled the trigger. It was his fault that she was dead. Dead.
“You fucker. You killed all these people... just to get to me?” The hatred burned in his eyes.
“No,” Genblade said, his smile growing ferociously as he wrapped his hands around Spider, letting them trickle up and down her front. “I killed Jamie Dawkins. I loved it. He came apart so easily I could taste it. That old couple and your little whore, yeah I did them too. But that was it.”
“Then who?!?” Xander shouted, pulling against his restraints. Electricity surged up from them, forcing him back down. “Who did it? Give me a name. I’ll kill him right after I’m done with you, you sick son of a...”
“You want a name?” Genblade interrupted, laughing hysterically. “You want the name?”
“Just give me the damn name!” he shouted. This time when the electricity surged, he ignored it. The emotional pain outweighed the physical.
“Xander Drew.”
CHAPTER NINE:
TRUTH
All was quiet. The words sunk deep.
“What?” Xander spat, his upper lip curling.
“It was you. Or rather, the ‘savior’ within your veins.”
“You’re a liar. And a killer. Give me one good reason why I should believe you.”
“Because,” came the voice from the darkness. “It’s true. The Black Womb’s consciousness resides within you. You have remarkable skills, my boy, but not even you can control a Black Womb twenty-four hours a day. These past few months ever since you hit puberty, when you sleep and your mind is overpowered by that of the Black Womb, he escapes. It’s easy to identify. When you call him, that is, when you have his body surrounding yours but you still remain in control, your eyes have a reddish tint to them. But Black Womb’s consciousness is let out when you stop thinking rationally, when you get extremely emotional or when you sleep. On one of his outings, the Womb happened upon Genblade murdering Jamie Dawkins. Spider and Genblade thought it to be an extraordinary bit of luck and allowed you to watch and participate as they stripped him of his usable organs. The Black Womb’s savage instincts took over. He had gotten a taste of the blood that he was meant to bathe in and he wanted more. There were other programming methods, of course. Engen.com filled the Womb portion of your consciousness with subliminal messages while that screen was flashing. But in the end, it was that simple act of getting blood on your hands that brought out the real you. So each time you slept, he went out to claim another. Or at least to try. It seems that your consciousness had some residual effects on Black Womb. When it came time to strike down someone you loved, Mike Harris, he could not. A pity.”
“M-me?” Xander stammered, the words cutting into him worse than any of Genblade’s daggers ever could. He had maimed and killed all those people. Not indirectly, but in pure form. “Kill me.”
“Oh! No my boy, no,” the figure laughed. “Not quite yet.” Then, his captor’s voice became surprisingly sympathetic. “I wanted to die once, too. Once, when I was just a security guard, waiting for death to claim me as I lay in that
