The Genome Project

by Aaron Hodges

  He ran for what felt like hours, stumbling over roots and crashing into the pale shadows of tree trunks. He ran without thought of where he was going, only of what came behind, of the death that stalked him through the ill-fated woods.

  Finally, lungs burning, body aching, Scott could run no more. He staggered to a stop, shoulders heaving, one arm clutching at a tree trunk for support. Bending in two, he gasped in great lungfuls of air. He had lost all track of time, all sense of direction, but he was sure he’d traversed several miles.

  Straightening, he let out a long breath and looked around. Somehow in his terrified flight, he’d managed to keep hold of his rifle and night vision goggles. He studied his backtrail, searching for movement, for the telltale glow of warm bodies. But the forest remained empty, and nodding to himself, he turned away.

  …And froze as an ethereal green figure stepped from the trees ahead.

  Soft laughter whispered through the forest as the Chead approached. Through the glow of his goggles, Scott watched a vicious grin twist its features. Out of sheer instinct, he raised his rifle, but the Chead was faster still. With brutal ease, it tore the weapon from his grasp and hurled it away.

  Iron fingers gripped Scott by the throat and lifted him into the air. The Chead stared up at him, its eyes bright in the glow of his goggles.

  “Human,” the creature spoke in a guttural growl.

  Scott gasped feebly in its grip, mouth wide, struggling for breath. He kicked out at the creature, slammed his fists into its arms, anything to break its hold. Fire burned his lungs and darkness swirled at the edges of his vision, but nothing he did seemed to have any impact.

  As his sight began to fade, Scott remembered, finally, the EPIRB on his vest. It would bring help, send the helicopter straight to his location. With the last of his strength, he slammed his fist into the button on his shoulder. The EPIRB gave a low beep, then fell silent.

  A smile tugged at his lips as he looked down at the creature. His lungs screamed for air and a dull pounding drummed on the back of his skull, but help was on its way.

  “You will not own us.” The Chead’s teeth flashed.

  Scott opened his mouth to scream as the grip around his throat tightened. Stars flashed across his vision as the creature struck him in the face. Darkness loomed, threatening to swallow him.

  No! he screamed in the silence of his thoughts as the Chead raised its fist again.

  And then everything went black.

  49

  “Go, go, go!” Chris shouted over the gunfire.

  He darted under the flailing arm of a soldier and leapt towards Richard and Jasmine. The young girl was already on her feet, but the other two were slower. They still knelt on the ground, mouths wide, staring at the horror unfolding around them.

  But there was no time to contemplate the fate of the soldiers. Chris grabbed Richard by the collar and hauled him to his feet. Liz did the same with Jasmine, and then they were moving again, sprinting through the dying men and howling Chead.

  A second later they were amongst the trees, the chatter of bullets and awful screams behind them. Chris raced on, catching glimpses of the others as they stumbled through the dark. None of the five made an effort to mask their passage. If the Chead had wanted them dead, they would already be in the ground.

  Instead, the creatures had saved them.

  Chris swallowed as he ran, remembering the Chead’s sudden appearance. The creature had frozen them with a whisper, its cold grey eyes stealing away their voices. Silently, it had lifted a finger to its lips and shook its head. Then it was gone.

  A few seconds later, the screaming had started.

  Now as Chris fled, questions raced through his mind, one after another. Who were these Chead? Where had they come from? Why were the creatures helping them?

  There was no time to stop and wait for answers. Despite the Chead having the element of surprise, the soldiers were well-trained and well-armed. There was no guarantee the Chead would be victorious. If the soldiers prevailed, Chris doubted they’d still be in the mood to take prisoners—only bodies.

  Leaping a fallen log, Chris ran on, silently cursing their sluggish pace. The time for stealth was over—they needed to be airborne, to take to the skies and leave the soldiers and Chead far behind. He searched the canopy for a hole, for any gap in the branches that might allow them to escape. But the trees stretched out overhead, unbroken.

  They ran for over an hour before finally reaching a clearing. By then, the sounds of battle had fallen silent, and the first rays of the morning sun were streaming through the canopy. The clearing appeared out of nowhere—one moment they were racing through the trees, the next there was light all around, and they were stumbling to a stop.

  Long grass stretched out for a hundred feet from where they stood, sloping gently down towards the west. The others drew up around Chris, their shoulders heaving as they caught their breath, their wings already stretching to embrace the light. They stood on the edge of the tree line, but as Chris looked across the clearing, he realized they were not alone.

  A herd of goats stood amongst the long grass, their white coats shining in the sun. Their heads were raised, their beady eyes turning to stare at the intruders. Sleek black horns twisted from their heads and blades of grass hung absently from their mouths. A kid danced amongst the adults, ignorant to the danger posed by humans.

  Before either group could react, an angry roar erupted through the clearing. The goats scattered in all directions. Screaming, several bolted towards Chris and the others. A swirling wind raced after them, bending the grass beneath it, tearing leaves and branches from the trees.

  “Get down!” Chris heard someone shout as a shadow flickered at the edge of his vision.

  Chris obeyed without thinking, hurling himself down amidst the long grass. He glimpsed the others following suit, then a terror-stricken goat leapt past, obscuring his vision. The dark silhouette of a helicopter followed, blades whirling, sun glinting from its metallic body.

  Then it was gone, disappearing in the direction of their camp. Chris waited in the long grass, listening as the angry buzz of its blades faded, waiting for the pilot to realize their mistake, to turn back. It took a long time to convince himself it was truly gone. If the helicopter had had infrared sensors like the soldiers, the goats must have camouflaged their presence.

  Finally he stood, fists clenched, heart still pounding hard in his chest. The stench of gasoline now stained the air, and Chris could feel his panic rising. He closed his eyes, struggling to hold back the terror of the night. His legs shook as he realized how close they had come to disaster.

  “Chris…”

  He turned to find Liz standing beside him. Their eyes met, then they were embracing, and Chris could feel her shuddering with the same horror. They clung together for a long minute before breaking apart.

  Taking a breath, Chris finally managed to push past his fear. “Are you okay?” he asked, looking at the others.

  Richard and Jasmine stared back, their hair frazzled, their faces marked by dirt. Otherwise, they looked no worse for their brief period in captivity. The young girl sat in the grass between them, her grey wings hanging limply from her back. Richard kept his expression carefully blank as he nodded, but Chris could see the fear behind his eyes.

  Jasmine’s brow creased in anger. “We’re fine,” she snapped, stepping towards him, “but where the hell were the two of you?”

  Chris blinked, almost retreating from the force of her fury. “What?”

  “Where were you?” Jasmine hissed, jabbing her finger at them like a knife. “When the soldiers came, when we woke with guns in our faces. Where were you?” She all but screeched the last words.

  She broke off as Richard placed a hand on her shoulder. “Jas, don’t,” he breathed, looking across at Chris. “I saw them go off. I was on watch.” He bowed his head. “It was my fault. I was so tired, I must have fallen asleep.”

  Chris’s stomach wrenched at Ric
hard’s words. A hiss came from Jasmine as she twisted away from Richard. She pushed him in the chest, sending him stumbling back. “You fell asleep?”

  Holding up his hands, Richard tried to retreat, but Jasmine shoved him again. The boy made no move to defend himself, only bowed his head before her rage. With a shriek, Jasmine swung a fist at his face. The blow caught him in the cheek and sent him reeling. Tripping over his own feet, Richard crashed to the ground.

  Before Jasmine could land another blow, Liz caught her by the arm. “Jasmine, stop!”

  Growling, Jasmine turned on Liz. Quick as a cat, Liz caught her by the other wrist. “Don’t,” she snapped, looking Jasmine in the eye. “It’s not his fault. We should have come back earlier, taken over the watch. We were careless, foolish. We should have guessed they’d be waiting for us to leave the mountains. We could spend all day debating whose fault this is, but there’s no time. That helicopter will be back any minute.”

  Chris swallowed. Liz was right—there was no way of knowing whether those in the helicopter already knew what had happened to the soldiers, but it wouldn’t take them long to find out.

  “We have to risk it,” Liz continued, “we have to fly. If we stay low to the trees, it’ll be difficult to spot us. But we need to get clear of this forest, and fast. The whole place is going to be flooded by soldiers when they see what the Chead did.”

  “How?” Richard asked as he picked himself up. Ignoring the glare Jasmine shot him, he gestured at the sky. “There’s no cliffs to jump off around here, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

  Chris looked across the clearing, studying the gently sloping ground, and the trees on the far side. “I think we can do it,” he answered. “If we run hard across the clearing, I think we’ll be able to generate enough lift to take off. Just like a kite.”

  He flashed the others a grim smile, and then started to run. Darting across the damp grass, he spread his wings and picked up the pace. The air cracked as twenty-four feet of tawny brown feathers beat down. Muscles tensed along his torso as the wind caught in their expanse.

  Gritting his teeth, Chris watched as the trees on the far side raced towards him. When there were only a few feet remaining, he sucked in a breath and sprang. His auburn wings beat down, and his stomach lurched as he lifted higher. He grinned as the earth fell away, then he banked quickly to skirt the trees on the other side of the clearing. Circling back, he watched as the others followed after him.

  When the five of them were airborne, Chris shot above the treetops. He cast a glance back in the direction the helicopter had taken, but the sky was empty. It could not have gone far though, and shifting his wings, he raced down the valley towards the distant Californian plains. Wings cracked as Liz settled in beside him, her eyes fixed straight ahead.

  A broad valley opened around them, the redwoods covering its floor like a carpet. To either side, low cliffs hemmed them in, stretching down to the mouth of the valley, where the last of the hills gave way to floodplains.

  Chris scanned the cliffs as they flew, searching for the shadow of a cave in which they might hide, but there was nothing. He could still see no sign of the helicopter, but over the roar of the wind, he heard the whine of an engine again, drawing closer.

  Ahead, the cliffs bent away to the right as the valley altered course. Straining his wings, Chris shot for the cliff-face to their right, where the curve in the rock would hide them from the helicopter farther up the valley. Beside him, Liz’s black wings were a blur, beating hard to keep her above the treetops. They were so close that Chris could have reached out and touched the pine needles.

  He allowed himself a grim smile as they passed around the curve in the cliff and out of view. But the respite would not last long. Ahead, the cliffs ended abruptly, while below the forest spilled out onto the Californian plains and gave way to the prairies. Beyond, brown fields stretched as far as the eye could see. Sheep and cattle dotted the land, but the open space offered nothing to hide them from the prowling eyes of the chopper.

  Beside him, Liz shouted and suddenly banked to the right. He cried after her, but her hand rose, waving them to follow. Then she was racing away, leaving Chris and the others no choice but to give chase. His eyes roamed over the land beyond, finding a small mountain rising amidst the endless flat. Liz was making straight for it.

  Realizing her plan, Chris picked up the pace, his wings beating hard to catch her. Below, the forest turned to dry grass. Their shadows flashed across the fields, their wings stretched wide. The mountain grew larger, extending five hundred feet above the prairies. Scraggly trees covered its steep slopes, though they would offer little cover. He hoped Liz knew what she was doing.

  The mountain stood at least two miles from where the valley ended. Flying hard, they raced to close the gap, ever aware of the growing buzz of the helicopter.

  When they were still a few hundred feet away, the thud of whirling blades turned suddenly to a roar. Ahead, Liz folded her wings and plummeted from the sky. Chris dived after her, pulling his wings tight against his back, spiraling down towards the plains below. Less than a hundred feet from the ground, Liz snapped her wings back open. The air cracked as they caught, halting her fall. She shot towards the mountain.

  Leveling out, Chris gave in to his fear and glanced back. The chopper had emerged from the mouth of the valley and was hovering above the last stretch of trees, a dark shadow staining the sky. So far it did not seem to have spotted them. Filling his lungs, Chris pressed on.

  The mountain rose before them, a dark blemish on the endless grasslands. Liz banked as she reached its rocky edge, flying horizontal to its slopes until she disappeared around the far side of the mountain.

  One by one, they followed her.

  The mountain’s shadow fell across Chris’s wings, hiding him from view. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and started to slow, expecting Liz to pull up, and then realized she was still flying hard around the mountainside. His chest burned and a sharp cramp had begun in the small of his back, but Liz wasn’t giving them any time to argue. Feeling the ache of their weeklong flight through the mountains in every inch of his body, Chris continued after her. Mutated physiology or not, he desperately needed food and rest.

  Liz drifted closer to the mountainside, the beat of her wings slowing as she neared its rocky slopes. The scraggly trees were taller on this side of the mountain, offering at least a little cover from prying eyes. Ahead, Chris noticed a sharp split in the mountainside, as though some giant had carved a piece of rock from the steep slopes.

  Chris frowned as he realized Liz was making straight for the crease, as though she had known it was there all along. He blinked as shapes took form within the shadows. A cluster of buildings clung to the mountainside, all but invisible in the gloom of the valley. Thick vines and creepers clung to the aluminum roofs and wooden walls, and it was clear the settlement had long been abandoned. Even so, the sight sent a tingle of renewed energy through Chris, and he raced to catch up with Liz.

  A few minutes later, he touched down in the broken courtyard between the buildings. His wings shook with the effort, and he stumbled slightly as his legs took his weight. Folding his wings, he groaned at the ache spreading up his back. He kneaded the side of his head, feeling the first tingles of a migraine.

  Liz had landed a full minute before him and was already moving towards the largest building. Before he could call out, she pushed through the broken door and disappeared inside. Exhausted, Chris shook his head and chased after her, leaving the others to catch their breath outside.

  Pausing on the threshold of the house, he looked down the empty corridor. Dust covered the floor, untouched except where Liz’s footprints led down the hall. A dark stain marked the floorboards at the end, and an untouched silence clung to the shadows. Taking a step inside, Chris found himself wondering why the occupants had left this place.

  His ears twitched as he sensed movement from deeper inside the building.

&n
bsp; “Liz?” he called.

  When she did not answer, Chris swore softly under his breath, and started along the corridor. Apprehension grew in his chest as he followed Liz’s footprints through the dusty rooms.

  He found her in what must have been the lounge. She stood in the empty room, back turned and head bowed, wings half-spread behind her. Her body shook with silent tears.

  Chris quickly crossed the wooden floor and placed a hand on her shoulder. She shivered at his touch, and a single sob tore from her throat. The first prickles of fear touched Chris as she turned, her blue eyes finding his.

  “Liz, what is this place?” he whispered.

  Tears streaked her cheeks as she looked up at him. “Home.”

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  Phase One: Complete.

  The Evolution Gene continues in…

  The Pursuit of Truth

  Note from the Author

  Hello, and thank you for reading The Genome Project! This series was originally known as The Praegressus Project, but that was always a bit of a mouthful and the series failed to take off under its old branding. And so last year I decided to undertake a mission to improve the series, rewriting and editing it and commissioning a new series of covers to properly convey the story. I hope it worked and that I found some readers that truly love the world and characters I created in this book. Write on!

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  Also by Aaron Hodges

  The Evolution Gene

  Book 1: The Genome Project

  Book 2: The Pursuit of Truth