Page 57 of Her Eternal Mate

“He’s right. That was crazy,” Maliha said.

“How come you never told me about this?” Alexis asked.

“Because you’d think I was crazy,” I said. “I mean, if you came to learn that I’d secretly been planting bombs in that building, you’d have worried about my mental health, wouldn’t you?”

“Well, your craziness just saved all our lives, so…I’m thankful that you had that impulse,” Alexis said, running her fingers through her hair. “Jesus. I’m just shocked, that’s all.”

“I’m sorry. I should have told you earlier,” I said.

“I’m just glad we’re all safe,” Alexis said.

***

We were back at the commune. Even from this far, the smoke issuing from the burning building was visible. The townsfolk aside, the pack members were all out of their houses and looking at the giant spectacle unfolding in front of their eyes.

Vincent, Alexis, Maliha, and I went into my home, where Maliha revealed her thoughts.

“Hive minds are weak. It may seem like they’re strong from afar, but when you break down their hierarchy, it will be clear to all that they cannot behave individually. They are controlled by one source through one wavelength. You want to stop them from acting like a hive mind? Jam the wavelength they’re operating on. Of course, there’s a risk to it,” Maliha said.

“Is any risk too big when it comes to taking down a deranged army of mindless soldiers?” Vincent asked.

“How can they be deranged if they’re also mindless? Only a mind can get deranged,” Maliha said, cracking up.

“Is this really the time for wisecracking?” Vincent asked impatiently.

Alexis and I were standing on the other side of the room while these two talked.

“Are you sure we’re fine? I mean, you have every right to be mad,” I said slowly.

“Will. I am not mad at you. What you did saved our lives. I can’t stay mad at you for that, can I? It’s in your instinct to be protective. Someday, we’re going to have a child together. And you’ll be awesome at protecting them, too,” she said.

“Child? Alexis? Are you pregnant?”

“What? Jeez, no. I so am not. It was just a figure of speech.”

“Guys! Let’s get back to the point here,” Maliha said, coming back to the center of the room. “The downside to creating a device that can jam signals and block the wavelength that controls these soldiers is that the device can kill all those soldiers. There’s a one in a hundred chance of that happening, but still. I’ve done the math. I know what I’m talking about.”

“With a single press of a button, you could potentially kill all those soldiers, leaving Blair without an army?” Alexis whispered.

“Yes. But that’s genocide,” Vincent said with a grave face.

“Will?” Alexis looked at me.

I had no answer. Not at once.

Tonight, when I had pushed the button, I had gotten a small taste of what it would feel like to kill so many soldiers at the same time. Now, Maliha was talking about raising the bar. With a single press of a button, thousands of soldiers would die. Not hundreds. Thousands.

“No. We’re not doing that,” I said. The regret building up in my chest was too enormous, even though I knew that those soldiers I had killed had no way of being saved. Their minds had been turned to mush. Their bodies were like ticking time bombs. But even then, killing them all in that explosion had made me consider the barbarity of what we were doing. Blair might not care, but I did.

“Will. It’sthesolution to all our problems,” Alexis said.

“But so much death on our hands,” I said.

“Will’s right,” Maliha said. “There’s no telling how many soldiers die. It’s not a war anymore when there’s just one side remaining.”

“Yes. That’s a victory,” Vincent said. “Are we really going to let victory slip out of our hands like this, Will?”

“Maliha, if you make that device, I want to make sure that it only jams the signal. It should not kill those soldiers. Their deaths have to be on Blair’s hands, not ours. I will not risk creating a device that can kill them all, even if that means an easy victory,” I said.

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