Red Awakening (Red Zone 2)

“What happened?” Keiko’s soft voice brought him back to the present.

“The bomb fell. We were knocked out. But we didn’t die—obviously. Best we can guess, the chemicals in the bomb and the unique combination of minerals in the cave combined to force something else to happen. Instead of killing us, it put us to sleep for a century, and when we woke, we found we were alone in the caves. All the animals who’d taken refuge there during the fighting were gone.

“At first, we thought they’d died, but then we realized we’d absorbed them. Our DNA had sucked in the DNA of whatever animal was closest to us at the time. And we’d become something else.”

Her eyes flickered as though she was chasing her thoughts around the air in front of her. “That’s why your hearing is enhanced. It isn’t an implant—you hear like a bat, don’t you?”

“Yeah.”

“And the broken glass?”

“I sent out sound waves to muffle the noise.”

There was a long silence as Mace watched Keiko think. “Do you sleep hanging upside down?”

“No!” Just when he thought they were on the same track, she was off again. And then he saw the sparkle in her eye. “You’re messing with me.”

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“It’s either that or have a meltdown. This is a lot to take in. You have a bat living in your body. You’re over a hundred years old. And I had sex with you. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

“Well, when you put it like that, it doesn’t sound so good.”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “What other way can you put it?”

“I’m still in my thirties. I was in stasis for a century before I was lifted out of my time and dropped in this one. And the bat doesn’t live in my body. It rests on my skin.” Yeah, no matter what way you put it, it still sounded bad.

“If you put aside all the freaky aspects of this conversation—”

“Which would be all of it.”

“—then what you’re left with is kind of funny. I mean, look at you. You’re huge. And you’re sharing your body with a teeny, tiny, furry bat.” She fought back a giggle.

This was why he’d never told Friday what his animal was, even though it irritated the hell out of her not knowing Well, irritating the hell out of her might have been a reason, too.

She pointed at him. “You’re Batman!” And then she howled with laughter.

Mace just sighed and waited her out. Three years he’d been living with this crap from his team. It had gotten old. And how the hell could she not know about movies but still get comic-book references? He didn’t understand one damn thing about this world.

Keiko wiped away tears from her cheeks. “I’m sorry. It’s not funny. Really. It’s just…a lot.”

“No kidding.”

“So, you have a bat. A real live bat. And you told it to set off the fire alarm?”

“Yeah.”

“So it speaks English?”

“It’s only just started talking, but it understands what you say just fine. We’ve spent the last three years communicating in images. Now the little rat is using words. I preferred it when it was silent.”

“Where’s the bat now?” She looked around the room as though she might find it hanging from the ceiling.

“Hunting.”

“Of course.” She nodded. “It’s nighttime. Bats are nocturnal.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes while Keiko absorbed everything he’d told her, and he watched her closely to make sure she was okay. The fire alarm suddenly stopped, telling him that Freedom had sorted the problem and retreated back to base. It was time to get moving again.