Jaed Read online

  Jaed

  The Cyborgs Reborn Series,

  Book 4

  T.J. Quinn

  GTQ LLC

  Orlando, Florida

  Copyright © 2017 by T.J. Quinn

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, without prior written permission.

  GTQ LLC

  PO Box 540375

  Orlando, FL 32854

  www.gtq.com

  Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

  Jaed/T.J. Quinn -- 1st ed.

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  Chapter One

  Jaed struggled to keep his balance as he shot the Taucet in front of him. He had hurt the alien, but the Taucet still shot back. Right when the pilot turned the small vessel to one side knocking him off balance. The shot hit him right in his chest and stole his breath away for long enough for the Taucet to approach him and shoot him again, this time in the head making his world go black.

  Hannah heard the roar of a vessel flying by at high speed and shuddered with dread. It wasn’t the first time she’d heard them, but she hated it every time she did. It reminded her that the world was at war and that even her small refuge could be destroyed. Hiding under the safety of the tall trees, she looked up to the sky, not really expecting to see anything, the vessels were faster than sound.

  But this time, she did see something; a man falling from the sky and landing just a few yards from where she was standing. Letting out a loud cry, she ran towards the man, sure of what she was going to find, but unable to stay still when there was a tiny chance he was still alive.

  It only took her a seconds to reach him, and for a moment, she thought she was looking at a Taucet since all she could see was the grayish skin on his back. But when she looked closer, she was able to see dark gray human hair, and she knew for sure, he was human.

  Or at least, part human, she corrected herself when she carefully turned him around to check his vitals. Though she had never seen one in the flesh, she was sure she had a cyborg in front of her.

  That simple fact increased his possibilities of surviving the fall, but when she saw the wounds he had on his head and his chest, she doubted he was still alive.

  Feeling powerless, she leaned over and checked for a pulse on his neck. Miraculously, she was able to sense a faint beat. She knew moving him wouldn’t only hurt him more, but leaving him there with the storm coming their way, would certainly kill him.

  Without wasting another moment, she rushed to her camouflaged cabin to get something she could use to drag him inside.

  Next, to the door, she spotted the sleigh she used to gather firewood from the woods around her home and grabbing a blanket from the sofa, she returned to where she had left him. He hadn't moved. Worried, she put the blanket on the sleigh and tried to pull him onto the sled. n

  He was incredibly heavy, more than a regular man and it took her several minutes of heaving to pull him onto the sleigh. Once she managed to get him on it, she covered him with the blanket and started pulling him towards the house.

  The house was just a few yards away, but he was so heavy, the task was almost impossible. At some point, she slipped and fell in the snow, cutting her hand on a hidden rock, ignoring her injury, and continuing with her task.

  She had to make a few stops along the way to catch her breath before she could finally pull him into the house.

  Closing the door behind them, she left him there, while she went looking for her first aid kit, in her bathroom. While grabbing it from the cabinet, she noticed the blood on her hand and cleaned it as best as she could before she returned to her patient.

  She didn’t know much about cyborgs or their self-healing processes, so she was unsure if should take him to a hospital. But according to the meteorologists, a powerful snowstorm was heading their way, and she would be unable to communicate with the rest of the world. It would be impossible to send for help up here or to even take him to the nearest hospital. They would never survive the trip.

  She would have to do her best and pray he didn’t die on her.

  When she returned to where she had left him, she checked his temperature, wishing she knew more about cyborgs. He wasn’t freezing cold but seemed to be colder than a person should be.

  Letting out a deep sigh, she decided to remove his wet clothes and pull him closer to the fireplace she had lit in the middle of the living room. That should be enough to keep him warm during the night.

  There was blood all over him, so she worked as fast as she could, eager to clean up his wounds and cover them. She could tell most of his injuries weren’t from the fall, so she guessed he had been in some sort of battle. He had a huge laceration on the left side of his head and another one on his chest. Both looked terrible, and she was sure no human would have survived such wounds.

  She cleaned him as best as she could before she focused her attention on his wounds. She used everything had available to make sure they were as clean as possible before she wrapped a bandage around them. Curiously, while she was cleaning the blood oozing from one of his wounds, she felt a strange tickling in her skin, especially when his blood, inadvertently, reached the cut on her hand. She cleaned it up rapidly, but the tickling sensation remained for a long while.

  To her surprise, she hadn't noticed any broken bones, which considering he had fallen from the sky was incredible. She remembered having heard they had metallic skeletons, but she didn’t know a metal that wouldn’t at least, get twisted after a fall like that.

  After she bandaged him, she prepared a bed near the fireplace, with blankets and comforters and dragged him there. It was a strenuous task, and when she finally managed to put him on the bed, she paused, to catch her breath.

  For the first time, since she had found him, she had the time to take a good look at him. The man was incredible. Close to seven feet, with a powerful muscled body, he was an excellent specimen of his race, despite his grayish skin and hair.

  Chuckling to herself for her crazy thoughts, in a moment like this, she covered him with a blanket and let him get some rest. She prayed he would get better, though she felt she was asking for the impossible. There wasn’t much more she could do.

  She picked up his dirty clothes and the blanket she had used to bring him to the house and cleaned the entrance. Outside, night had fallen, and the storm was making itself known.

  Hannah checked her firewood supplies and secured the windows, closing the shutters, before she went to the kitchen to prepare something for dinner. Doubting her guest would wake up, she made a sandwich for herself and some soup for him, hoping she would be able to make him drink it.

  She decided to bathe before she tried to feed him. Her clothes were still wet, and she needed to change into warmer clothes. After checking on her patient, she headed to the bathroom, unbuttoning her clothes on her way there.

  She took a quick shower, not wanting to leave the man alone for long. She had no idea what kind of internal damage he had, and the last thing she wanted was for him to die by choking on his own vomit, or something of the sort.

  She was brushing her long blond hair when she remembered the wound she had in her hand. Putting down the brush, she looked at her palm, frowning. There was no sign of the injury. Puzzled, she checked both her hands, but there was no trace of the deep cut she had sustained to her hand.

  “Well, I guess I’m losing my mind,” she mocked herself, as she finished combing her hair.
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br />   Back in the living room wearing her coziest pajamas, she collected the soup she had prepared for her patient and took a seat next to him, carefully sliding a couple of pillows underneath his head.

  She took a syringe from the first aid kit and filled it with soup, carefully pouring it in his mouth. Fortunately, he seemed to swallow it, and she managed to give him about a cupful of soup. She didn’t want to give him much, in case he threw up.

  Apparently, the bleeding had stopped, since the bandages showed no blood, and she sighed in relief, caressing his forehead, gently.

  “You better get well, big boy. I’d hate to be wasting my time,” she warned him with a smile.

  For a moment, she could have sworn he had furrowed his eyebrows, but she dismissed the idea as ridiculous. He seemed too hurt for that.

  She prepared a bed for herself next to him, unwilling to leave him alone. Opening her electronic reader, she pulled up the book she had been reading. It was going to be a long night.

  He didn’t move during the night. Hannah checked every two hours, making sure he was still breathing and that he didn’t have a fever, but it was as if he was in a self-induced coma. Perhaps, it was his way of healing the severe injuries he had.

  Chapter Two

  The following morning, he looked exactly the same, so she decided to give him some more soup, figuring he would need something to keep him going. She wished she had the means to administer an IV to him to give him some fluids, but she didn’t have anything like that in the cabin. As she lived alone, she didn’t think she would ever need it.

  He ate a bit more than he had the day before and that pleased her, but his stillness still worried her. Even his chest barely moved every time he breathed.

  She dedicated her time to her chores inside the house, always keeping an eye on him and making sure he was alright. Outside the weather was getting worst, which meant she would be completely isolated for a couple of weeks, at least. Of course, she had no place to go, but it worried her not being able to call for help in case the cyborg got worse.

  The strangest thing was that he hadn't displayed the need for any bodily urges. Though she was happy he hadn't, it worried her a bit. It wasn’t very normal.

  That night, she decided to check on his wounds and change the bandages. He hadn't shown any sign of a fever, but she wanted to make sure he was well as possible.

  She first removed the bandage on his chest, and she had to blink a few times to make sure she didn't imagine things. The wound was practically healed. The huge laceration he had the day before, was now half its side and seemed to be healing perfectly.

  Amazed, she cleaned it anyway and covered it with clean bandages, before she checked the one on his head.

  It showed the same amazing recovery. The parts where the skin was fully recovered were starting to grow hair. It was unbelievable. She couldn’t understand why the technology used on the cyborgs to make them this remarkable wasn’t being used on humans. It would save millions of lives, she was sure of it.

  She cleaned the wound and wrapped a new bandage around his head. The moment she was securing it to his head, a strong hand came out of nowhere and grabbed her wrist.

  Startled, she looked at his face. He was awake and staring at her with his disturbing metallic gray eyes.

  “Who are you and what are you doing?” he asked, in a harsh tone.

  “My name is Hannah and I rescued you when you fell out of the sky,” she replied, in a calm tone. He looked disoriented and lost.

  “When did that happen?”

  “Yesterday morning. I brought you inside and cleaned your wounds as best as I could,” she explained.

  He went silent for a few moments before he slowly released her hand. “Where are we?”

  “Somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. There’s a storm outside, and I wasn’t able to call for help.”

  “I see, can you help me get up? I need to use your bathroom,” he asked, trying to get up.

  “I really don’t think that’s a good idea. I don’t know how high your fall was, but there’s probably some internal damage. You shouldn’t get up, I can bring you something,” she warned him.

  “I’m fine,” he grumbled and tried to get up again, to no use.

  She stayed in silence, waiting for him to give up. It didn’t take him much.

  “Alright, bring me the damn thing,” he muttered, falling back on the pillows, exhausted.

  She nodded and went looking for the clinic kit she had stored away somewhere. She had bought it for her father, but he had passed away before she had been able to bring him back home.

  She found it in the bathroom cabinet and handed the urinal bottle to him. He pulled the blankets away and, shamelessly used it, right in front of her.

  Blushing at the sight of his huge manhood, Hannah turned around and waited for him to finish.

  “I’m done, thank you,” he informed her.

  She turned to look at him and grabbed the bottle he was handing her. His urine was darker than it should be and she looked back at him concerned. “Is this its normal color?” she asked him, with a slight frown.

  He looked at it and shook his head slowly. “No, it should be a very light shade of yellow. I guess my kidneys are still affected.”

  “You should be in a hospital. But there’s no way of taking you to the nearest one,” she explained, furrowing her eyebrows, worry displayed in her blue eyes.

  “No, I don’t need a hospital, my nanocybots will heal me,” he assured her. “I just need some time,” he concluded, closing his eyes.

  She disposed of the contents of the bottle in the bathroom and returned to the living room. “Well, darling, take all the time you need. We’re not going anywhere for the next few weeks. We’re surrounded by snow,” she replied, with a tremulous smile.

  Suddenly, the idea of being locked up in a cabin in the mountains with a total stranger took an entirely different twist.

  “Snow wouldn’t stop me,” he assured her, his eyes still closed.

  “Well, I’m sure of it, after what I’ve seen, but right now, you’re in no condition to go anywhere.”

  He scowled but didn’t refute her words. “Thank you for helping me,” he said, after a few moments of silence.

  “Well, you fell out of the sky, right in front of me. It was a bit hard to ignore that,” Hannah teased him.

  He chuckled. “Yes, I guess,”

  “Are you hungry? You haven’t eaten much.”

  “We don’t need much food, but yes, I could use some,” he admitted.

  “I prepared some stew, would you like some of that?” she offered.

  “Yes, thank you, that would be great,” he accepted. “I’m Jaed, by the way.”

  “A pleasure knowing you, Jaed, I’m Hannah.” She stretched her hand, and he took it keeping it for a bit longer than necessary. Hannah felt a strange tickling, rushing up her arm and spreading through her whole body.

  She cleared her throat and walked straight to the kitchen to get him some food. She served him a generous plate with stew along with some rice and vegetables and took it to where he was.

  “This smells delicious,” he said when she approached him. Again, he tried to sit up on the improvised bed she had made for him, but he wasn’t able to.

  “Are you in pain?” she asked him, as she watched him struggle to get up.

  He frowned but didn’t confess being in pain. “I guess my spine and legs were more damaged than my arms. I can’t sit up,” he admitted.

  “Then stop trying. I have no idea how high you fell from, but it surely was over a thousand feet. A normal person would have died instantly,” she scolded him, taking a seat on the floor next to him. “I’ll help you.”

  “I’m not an invalid,” he grumbled.

  “I know you aren’t, you just need a bit more help than usual, that’s all,” she replied, not paying much attention to his grunts.

  She filled a fork with some rice and meat and took it to his mouth. For a momen
t, she thought he was going to reject it, but at the last moment, he opened his mouth and ate the food.

  “Mmmm, this tastes even better than it smells,” he moaned.

  “You’re acting as if you had never had stew before,” she pointed out, sure he was overreacting.

  “Well, I haven't. I was raised in a military camp, and our food had all the necessary nutrients to keep us fit, but it tastes like crap,” he assured her. “This is the first time I’ve had real food.”

  “That’s unfair. Why can’t they give you real food? Everybody is entitled to enjoy a nice plate of delicious food whenever possible,” she protested, outraged by what she was hearing.

  He scowled. “We’re not considered people, I believe they call us ‘the machines that are almost humans’” he said, referring to the government’s propaganda on cyborgs.

  Her frown became even more profound. “You look pretty human to me.” She offered him another bite of food and this time he didn’t hesitate at taking it.

  “Since we come from an egg and a spermatozoid like all humans, I would say that we are. But if the government admitted that we are humans, the rest of the world would realize how inhumanly we are treated, and they can’t afford that.”

  “Judging by the way they feed you, I would say you’re right,” she said, offering him more food.

  “Who else lives here?” he asked, curious.

  “No one. I live here alone,” she explained.

  There was no point lying to him, He would soon realize the truth. She didn’t even have any visitors. She was always alone, ever since her father died, and the fact was she didn’t miss having people around her.

  Chapter Three

  The world was a huge mess, and now with the alien invasion, it was even worse.

  It was his turn to frown. “Isn't it dangerous?”

  “The world is a dangerous place, Jaed, hadn't you noticed?” she asked, scowling.