“This is bad. Very bad,” Heather said as the realization set in as to what Fletcher meant.

  Fletcher agreed with the sentiment. But what could terrorists want with a couple of buses of teachers and support staff? Surely there were much bigger targets out there.

  “Everyone stay calm,” their bus driver shouted back to the scared riders. “Just sit down and wait while we figure this out. I’m going to call for help.”

  No one really listened to her first instruction, but most people did sit back in their seats, even if they remained on edge. Fletcher chose to remain standing, carefully watching the Human-[Golem] who stood outside, unmoving.

  Before the driver could reach for where she kept her cellphone, something thumped onto the roof, startling everyone. In the next second, the emergency exit embedded in the ceiling was ripped open, and a woman dropped down. Her skin was a cool shade of dark brown, and she wore a green tank top with military style cargo pants.

  Despite the assault rifle in her hands, what drew Fletcher’s attention first was the white fur sprouting from her hands, faintly trailing off as it stretched up her lower arms. Her eyes were completely white, and her bare feet were far larger than a normal Human’s with the same type of white fur as her hands, which led Fletcher to guess her species type was [Yeti], but he couldn’t be completely sure.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, if you could all be so kind as to exit the vehicle, we have some business to attend to with you,” she announced. “I promise that no one will get hurt if you all behave.”

  The Human-[Yeti] looked to the front, casually pointing her weapon at the bus driver, whose hands immediately shot into the air. “Open the door, dearie. I don’t think you guys want to go out my way.”

  With a shaky hand, the driver used the lever to swing the door open, and at the woman’s urging, the first of the occupants stood up to exit.

  Fletcher used this chance to slink back into his seat and take a look outside where more Hexed Humans waited, all armed. Most of them were like the woman on the bus with just a few noticeable Unhuman traits. Only a small number were similar to the half-[Golem] where they seemed to have lost most of their Humanity.

  “That’s it. Nice and easy,” the [Yeti] woman said, redrawing Fletcher to the scene inside where the entire front third of the bus had emptied. She moved to stand in an empty row of seats, so she didn’t block the aisle anymore, but she aimed her weapon towards the rest of the bus, reminding everyone that this was not a peaceful exit.

  “Leave your bags where they are. You won’t need them,” she said as one of the teachers stepped out of her seat with her backpack. The teacher gulped and set the bag down before returning to the aisle to shuffle outside with the others.

  As it worked out, Fletcher was the very last one in line, and the [Yeti] woman fell in behind him as he walked past her. The hair on his neck stood up as he thought of the rifle trained on his back, and part of him wanted to be a hero and take the weapon from her. The only problem was that within the past twenty-four hours, Fletcher had already had two good lessons showing just how poorly he fared in a fight, and he had a feeling that this woman would be a whole lot tougher than Bigot.

  He stepped off the bus, and the woman shoved him towards the two lines which had formed between the occupants from both buses. They were traveling through the canyon that separated the Academy from Alcett, and a thick forest stood on either side of the poorly paved road. Peaks of mountains stood in the distance, with the sun hanging well below its apex.

  Fletcher took his place at the end of one line and glanced around at the shifting feet and nervous faces. This wouldn’t be an execution, right? The more he looked at the Hexed Humans now holding them hostage, the more sure he became that they weren’t here to kill anyone.

  “Get your hands off me, freak,” someone shouted, and everyone turned to see Dean being hauled off the bus by a dog-man creature. A [Werewolf] from the looks of it. During the daytime, they bore a more Human like appearance with only a light layer of fur covering their bodies, wolf ears on the top of their heads, and yellow eyes. At night time, they could take on the full form of a wolf, though larger than any of the natural kinds. This one, being only part [Werewolf] had patchy fur like the [Yeti] covering his cream colored skin, leaving even his pointed dog ears bare.

  “Careful. There’s a Cloud only a couple of miles from here, and I’m not against dragging you there myself to provide you with a real taste of ‘freak,’” the man growled.

  Dean’s skin turned white enough nearly to be a [Vampire] as the Human-[Werewolf] shoved him towards the lines, marking the last of the occupants.

  A man mixed with [Jinn] strolled between the two lines with the [Yeti] and [Werewolf] tailing him as bodyguards.

  “Good afternoon. My name is Jeffrey. Sorry to interrupt your travels, but unfortunately this was too important to wait. You see, once you arrived in Alcett, one of you was going to be condemned, and we couldn’t let one of our kind be handed over to death. That just wouldn’t be neighborly,” the man said, his silvery skin almost blinding in the sunlight. The translucence typical of [Jinn] had not affected him yet, only the base coloring.

  Anxiety set in inside Fletcher. They knew someone here was Hexed, and there was only one person that could be…

  Him.

  His palms started to sweat, but he refused to panic yet. There was always a chance it’s someone else, he told himself.

  “Your kind? Nobody here is one of you nasty Hexed,” one of the teachers spat.

  Jeffrey paused and shook his head. The [Werewolf] stepped up to the speaker and bashed her head with the butt of his rifle as many in the crowd gasped.

  “We are Mixhumans. Hexed is an improper description. After all, are we not all Hexed? How else could we live amongst the radiation they call ‘translation magic?’” Jeffrey pointed out, ignoring the startled cries from the brutality.

  Technically, he wasn’t wrong about everyone sharing some kind of “Hexing.” Immunity to the translation radiation was genetic, so after those without died off during the early years post-Merger, the rest of the population hadn’t had any problems with the deadly side of the magic that allowed vocal communication between species which had encapsulated the world.

  “Monsters,” Heather mumbled from where she stood next to Fletcher.

  He subtly elbowed her, begging her to do nothing more that could draw the Hexed Humans their way.

  “If you could all just have a little patience with us, this will be over shortly.” Jeffrey waved to the terrorist guards surrounding the buses, and one of them stepped forward. At first glance, he seemed to be akin to the [Werewolf], but even with only a few Unhuman traits to go on, Fletcher recognized the crimson fur as a defining characteristic of a different, more deadly species.

  [Bloodhound].

  This one had even less fur than the [Werewolf] and [Yeti], only his hair and beard showing signs of the blood-red fur indicative of his species. He looked to be about forty years old, and his olive-brown skin blended into the dirt colored uniform he wore. Something about him was familiar, like someone Fletcher had known a long time ago.

  He stared as the [Bloodhound] man walked forward, trying to piece together who he resembled from his memories.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “It would seem our friend is not interested in revealing themselves. Jeric, if you could be so kind,” Jeffrey said to the man.

  Jeric…?

  Yes, that was it! He looked just like Jeric’s father back in Loketa.

  The joy of the realization was cut short as Fletcher remembered that Jeric and his father hadn’t shared a first name. So if this man was called Jeric, then that must make him…

  The one and only Jeric Jordan, his best friend for five years of his life before the Cloud and the Hexing. Though somehow he'd aged significantly faster than a normal Human in the fifteen years since they last saw each other.

  The blood drained from Fletcher’s face. Jeric would have plenty of reason to suspect him given that they’d both been out when the Cloud approached touchdown all those years ago. That more or less confirmed that they were here for him, but he wasn’t going to admit anything. If they wanted him, they could figure it out for themselves. He’d been amongst a room full of Unhumans without being detected, and he was willing to take his chances with [Bloodhound]-Jeric’s detection skills.

  Jeric walked slowly between the two lines, [Sniffing] with each step. Everyone remained tense, waiting to see what would happen. He reached the end of the line near Fletcher and stopped, his nose still twitching.

  This was it.

  Fletcher’s secret would be discovered, and he’d be taken away by the terrorists instead of the Unhumans. Unhumans supposedly cared for the Hexed Humans and gave them their own communities to live in, but Fletcher couldn’t fathom what the Mixhumans—as they called themselves—would want with him. He surely was never going to join up with them and tote around guns, threatening innocent people in hopes of starting another war.

  Time seemed to slow down as they all waited for Jeric to reveal the secret Hexed Human. Fletcher wouldn’t even be able to say goodbye to his father.

  “This one,” Jeric said, pointing at the culprit.

  Fletcher released an involuntary sigh of relief as he traced Jeric’s pointed finger to a woman standing directly across from him. He’d passed another test. Somehow.

  As soon as the moment of relief passed him, Fletcher’s heart dropped as he considered the pained face of Lisa, the librarian who’d just been outed.

  “I-I’m not Hexed,” she stammered without much conviction.

  “It’s alright,” Jeffrey said as he walked up to her. “We’re going to keep you safe. We found out a Hex-positive blood test had been taken, so we came as soon as we could to prevent the Unhumans from executing you.”

  Fletcher frowned. He wasn’t going to buy into that propaganda. Humans would never have agreed to a contract in which they sent off their own to be killed for something as minor as non-fatal radiation poisoning.

  “No!” the man next to Lisa yelled as he put his arm in front of her—Nate, her husband. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s as Human as me. You leave her alone, freak.”

  “No. She’s not Human anymore. She’s grown beyond that to become a Mixhuman, isn’t that right?” Jeffrey looked at her.

  Lisa swallowed heavily as tears started in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Nate, but they’re right. I went for a walk one evening, and I guess I strayed too far. Next thing I knew, the words popped calling me a [Orc].”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Nate began to cry as well.

  “You’re welcome to come with us, but we do need to be going. After all, I promised that this wouldn’t take long,” Jeffrey said.

  The [Yeti] joined Jeffrey near Lisa and grabbed her arm. “It’s time to go,” she said softly.

  “Don’t touch her!” Nate screamed as he launched himself into the half-[Yeti]. With shocking strength, she shoved him off of her body, sending him flying in the air.

  Nate landed with a thud over three yards away. The [Werewolf] raised his gun and took aim at his limp body as the [Yeti] and Jeric grabbed Lisa, keeping her from running to him.

  “Colony scum,” the [Werewolf] said, lining up his shot.

  Fletcher’s breath was caught in his throat. No one was stepping in. The Mixhumans were absolutely fine with one of their own murdering a man for the crime of caring for his wife, and all the Humans were too afraid to say or do anything.

  No.

  Most of the Humans.

  Fletcher wasn’t. He was a Future Breach Explorer, and Explorers never got scared. That motto from his childhood popped back into his mind, likely caused by seeing Jeric. Earlier in his life, it’d been something he used to hype himself up to do something he feared, and now it seemed extra applicable given how dumb his plan was.

  With purpose, Fletcher stepped out of line and marched up to the [Werewolf], ignoring Heather’s whispers for him to return. He grabbed the barrel of the gun and forced it downwards, causing the Mixhuman to turn to him with a snarl.

  “You want a taste of it too?” the part-[Werewolf] asked.

  Fletcher met the yellow eyes, keeping his face even despite the fear coursing through his veins. “You and I both know he did nothing to deserve death. You’re talking about taking away his wife for deities’ sakes. Show a little compassion.”

  “How dare you tell me what to do,” the Human-[Werewolf] sneered.

  “Leave him alone,” he reiterated, keeping the barrel pointed downwards. His hold was really only symbolic. If this guy decided he wanted to shoot someone, Fletcher was nowhere near strong enough to stop him.

  “Maybe I’ll just kill you all. It’s not like you deserve to live any more than him,” the man said. He ripped the gun from Fletcher’s hold and placed the barrel right at his chest. “And I’ll start with you.”

  “And in doing so, you’ll also solidify the image of Hexed Humans as rampaging terrorists who have no regard for life. I’m sure that’s exactly the message you want to send with this ‘peaceful’ stop.” Fletcher refused to flinch as he stared down his own death. Future Breach Explorers never got scared.

  “He has a point,” Jeffrey said. “Leave them alone.” The [Jinn] motioned to some of the other guards. “Collect the husband. He’ll come with us as well.”

  Jeric walked up to the [Werewolf] and pushed the gun down. “You heard the Colonel.” He glanced at Fletcher, but there was no recognition in his eyes. How could there be? It’d been over fifteen years, and if it wasn’t for Jeffrey having named him, Fletcher wouldn’t have recognized his friend either.

  Two of the guards grabbed a dazed Nate, and then all the Mixhumans, including Lisa, grouped up and set on their way into the surrounding trees. The [Werewolf] offered one last glare as he went, but within a few minutes, all was quiet again.

  With the terrorists gone, the bus driver could finally fulfill her promise to call for help. She was the only one who even had a phone. A strict no cellphone policy was enforced for everyone who worked at the Academy over the summer. The claim was that carrying such technology would be too tempting for the students for theft, and phones were expensive, typically a purchase made only every fifteen years or so.

  She pulled out a palm-sized device with a small screen and number buttons on the front that could slide out to have a formal keyboard for texting, the usual model.

  Supposedly before the Merger, phones were a lot “cooler” and flashier, but nowadays, everyone got a rather standard model that had a few basic functions and would last for a very long time.

  The driver dialed some kind of emergency number, tears streaming down her face as the others in the group milled about in shock. Heather walked up to Fletcher and grabbed him in a hug.

  “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a giant idiot?” she asked with a shaky voice.

  He smiled. “Not since this morning.”

  Javier joined them as Heather released the embrace and slapped Fletcher’s shoulder. “Glad to see that you’re willing to love freaks of all kinds, Fletch. That’s very mature of you.”

  “Shut up,” Fletcher said as he shrugged his hand off. Normally he didn’t mind Javier’s constant teasing, but he was too shaken by everything to accept it this time around.

  “It’s just a joke,” Javier said with an apologetic tone.

  Before the conversation could continue further, the bus driver gathered everyone’s attention.

  “Okay. I got in contact with Alcett, and they said we should just continue on our way. They’ll send an escort to meet up with us and guide us into the colony, but the best thing we can do is keep moving. Everyone on the buses,” she said. Her tears were dry now, and her voice strong as she ushered everyone, including the other driver, into their places.

  Fletcher was happy to return to the bus and settle in his seat at the back where no one could stare at him. He never liked being the center of attention, but sometimes doing the right thing meant stepping into the spotlight for a few minutes.

  Heather sat next to him, her face still a little pale.

  “Do you think that thing would have killed Nate?” she asked.

  Fletcher shook his head. Part of him still couldn’t believe what just happened. “I’m glad we didn’t have to find out.”

  “What you did was really brave. Stupid, but brave,” she said.

  “I got told the same thing when I first volunteered to teach Unhumans over the summer,” he replied with a grin.

  Heather rolled her eyes as the bus engine started up. She pulled her laptop out.

  “I’m going to watch a movie to try to relax. Do you want to watch it with me?” She held one of her ear buds out.

  Fletcher nodded and accepted it. He could use some relaxing of his own after the past few days.