Bounty

Char-broiled acceptance
Alex was more than skeptical at this point. Following behind a hooded James as he led her on foot to a diner that must have been at least a good six miles from the headquarters. He turned to her and slid off his hood as he opened the thick glass door for her. “We’re safe here.”
Alex eyed him dauntingly before entering the establishment. The place smelled like grease and some sort of frying oil, the dank and completely overwhelming scent of which reminded her of America and made her feel slightly less on edge. But only slightly. Alex figured if there were Mexican restaurants in America, it would make sense that there were American restaurants in Mexico. She let James guide her to a booth near the back and after he’d slid into the pleather booth seat and asked her silently to do so as well, she did.
Being ever the control freak and nowhere near patient, she started right in on her questions. “Why are we here?” Though she was whispering if you were only to look into her eyes you would think she was yelling at him. Both of her eyes were sparkling with so many questions and anticipation with a dash of anger thrown in for good measure.
“You asked me what I was.” James answered. “I’m here to tell you.”
“Good.” She said with a nod and leaned back in her seat across from his, resting her hands on the table. “Cuz I, for one, am sick of the lies.”
“Oh Alexa.” He said on a chuckle as he shook his head with that look of what seemed to be apology on his face. “You have no idea.”
Her brows knit on her forehead and she tried to hide her confusion but her eyes told on her every time.
“You have questions.” He said and nodded only twice. “Like most. But I’m not sure you’ll like the answers you’ll receive.”
“Try me.” She replied.
“Fine.” He said. “Your funeral.” He reached over his shoulder and Alex tensed, ready for anything. “Relax.” He told her and tucked his hair behind his ear, disobedient strands fell right back into place but some stayed put. Then he tugged on the collar of his white t- shirt and turned his head revealing…
“A barcode?” she questioned him. “So that’s your big secret? You don’t want the suits to know you have a tat? A weird tat but still a-…”
“No.” he cut her off. His eyes averted momentarily to the waitress that passed their table by and he leaned forward over the table. “It’s not a “tat” it’s my number. And those “suits” you speak so kindly of put it there.”
“What? Your number?” There were so many questions in her head and only those two came out, but her struggle to hide her confusion was lost in the effort.
“122948.” He quoted those numbers like it meant so much more than they sounded. “That’s my number. Alexa, I’m the one hundred twenty-two thousandth, nine hundred and forty- eighth genetically enhanced super hunter.”
She tried to ask but nothing came out.
“ ‘Super hunter’” he repeated. “It was an experiment that the Lab techs in a company called DataTech started back in 1985.”
She seemed to be slowly catching on. “The year you were born.”
“Exactly. The experiment was to see how different types of inhuman specimens would react once spliced with a human’s DNA. They were trying to create a sort of super man, one who could be the missing link between the natural and the supernatural. Why they thought that accomplishing this through science would work is beyond me. But they tried it. They tried it in mothers of every racial background and ethnicity to study its basic effects and the different effects it would have on each individual child. The scientists spliced the DNA of virtually every creature known to man, and then some, with the egg of a human host mother. From Pegasus to werewolves, from Phoenixes to mermaids, from wind walkers to…”
“Ok I get it.” She stopped him. “’Lotta stuff.”
“Yes, and many others. But when they found out it would work, greedy business- men saw dollar signs not hybrid infants. People ordered more, and the scientists kept producing until there were a preverbal plethora of mutants with big company logos tattooed on them. DataTech began to sell the hybrids for big money on the black market to any big corporation or millionaire who could afford to fork over the loot to have a ‘Special unit’ of security guards.”
“Burg bought some guards didn’t they?”
“Yeah.” James looked down at his hands. “Bout a hundred of us. Issued them out to their respected branches as personal bodyguards for the CEO’s or head of security for the entire set, or… bounty hunters.” His eyes met hers then and she wondered what that look in his eyes was. “Each of us were sold as infants, taken in and adopted by our…owners to keep up appearances.”
“You got Burg.”
James nodded, “I got Burg.”
Alexa sighed and shook her head as she watched James lower his. “Oh God, James I…” She reached out and gently placed her hand on top of his. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry for me.” He said and slowly grabbed her enveloped her hand with his much larger one and held it like he was about to tell her that her mother had died. “You should be sorry for you.”
“Me? Why me? What do I have to do with this?”
“Your abilities Alexa where do you think they came from?”
In all truth she didn’t know. That question, along with many others, had been one that had plagued her since childhood. A question, also, that she ignored most of the time. She tried to change the subject and took her hand away from his. “Wh- what are you trying to say?”
“I’m trying to tell you…” he looked her square in the eyes, “… are one of us.”
Alex’s mouth fell open but no sound came out, she averted her gaze. Her mind was racing, on over drive at the moment, going faster than any NASCAR driver would ever hope to reach. Finally she chuckled once, but it was dry and bitter. “No. No. James I’ve always had a full head of hair and everything but I think I would know if I had a barcode on the back of my neck.”
“You don’t have one.” He explained. “You see your mother –your biological mother escaped the compound while she was pregnant with you. She had you and left you there on the steps of a local church and they found parents for you- human parents.”
Alex only looked at him, her face the picture of disbelief. “I don’t believe you.” She whispered, finding herself unable to make her voice sound any higher than that.
“You don’t have to believe me, Alex. You know I’m right. Somewhere in there you know that something has been missing your entire life. You know that you only feel whole when you fight, and that your abilities…your powers weren’t of the norm. You’ve known all along that you were different. I’m telling you know that you don’t have to be. You can have a group. You can belong, Alexa.”
Her eyes were as big as they’d ever been. She reminded him a child with those big brown eyes, all doe eyed and confused. She exhaled once and it was shaky. He knew she had never belonged before and that everything he had said had not fallen on deaf ears. She gulped once as if to regain herself and closed her mouth that had been catching flies since he’s began speaking. With and inhale through her nose she straightened herself in her seat and met his stare evenly. “I’m sorry.” She said and he took the time to sigh already, he knew that tone on her. She was about to do one of her classic bails. “That you have been dealt the hand that you have been given, but I don’t believe that you, or anyone else for that matter, know me enough for me to even think about “belonging” with them.” She stood and nodded, “See ya later… Mr. Smith.”
Alex turned and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw James standing there. She jerked back and glanced at the booth to find it empty. “How? What? How did you…”
He smiled, amused by her surprise, “I’m James, half human half wind walker. I’m pleased to meet you.” His smile got wider. “Still think you won’t fit in?”
Her gaze was then fixed into a glare. “You don’t know me James.”
“Oh but I do.” He smiled walking closer to her. His genuine care was making her want to vomit or hit him in the nuts, whichever came first. “I know you have power beyond your own imagination and that if you come with me I could help you harness it.”
“James you have no idea.” She said with more than a twinge of warning. “Just let me leave please. I’ve had a lot of stress today and I…need to deal with that before … before I …”
“Before you what, Alexa? Set this diner on fire? Yeah I know way more about you than you think I do.” He kept walking forward and with every step he took forward she matched it with one she took backwards. “Let me help you.”
“No. I don’t need your help James. I’m not some charity work you do to get kudos in heaven ok? I’m a human being…or at least I thought I was.”
“So now you believe my story. I knew you would come around.”
“James.” She pushed past him and turned on her heels to face him. “I’m not coming around ok? I’m me.” She pointed to herself as if he didn’t know. “And if you did know me like you keep saying you do, you’d know what that means.”
“Alex.”
“I do not belong!” if the tone and sound of her voice didn’t accent it then the sudden explosion behind the counter at the grill sure did that for her. She jerked while the others screamed and the workers rushed to douse the rising flames. James looked up at her as the sprinklers sprang to life automatically and drenched everything and everyone in the place. She met his eyes from under wet hair and James wasn’t sure if the water from the ceiling stained her face or oddly placed tears. She stood there as the people panicked and ran frantically around her. Even through all the screams and fire alarms James still heard her voice. “Still think I’ll fit in now?” On that she turned and left the diner melting into the crowds of hurried people