by J. D. Cavan
“The whole speech and that’s the line that pushes Zim over the edge to want to fight you?” she blurted out, continuing to giggle and flinching in pain as she did.
“You mean finally wanting to use James’s face as an Ereb punching bag?” Luca said to more laughter.
“I beat him up pretty well with my jaw, didn’t I?” James smiled.
“What about when you threw the beer can down and it sprayed all over you? Another brilliant move, obviously a distraction tactic!” she said sarcastically to more laughter. It stung her body to even laugh, but it made her feel a little less rotten on the inside.
It got quiet in the cab and the rain continued to fall. The wipers squeaked over the windshield and Samantha gazed out at the passing landscape of fields and thick green trees.
Her mind went to him again, and she thought of his offer. The countdown to mass extinction loomed over the mess in her head. She sighed quietly. At least she knew his name now. Dr. Myers, she said to herself. Dr. Myers, the Original.
She tried to doze off but couldn’t, so she watched Luca drive in the pouring rain. As she watched the tiny drops hit the windshield, her mind got hazy, and a strange sensation of vertigo fell over her. It felt like a Time Grip, one she had absolutely no control over. She then got an uncanny sense of time holding still, bending and opening to reveal a future world in front of her.
7
SHE WAS STANDING high up on a mound of steel and concrete wreckage again. Thick smoke burned her eyes and then began to clear she could the see warped and bent metal, burnt out and collapsed buildings.
Samantha climbed down the giant hill of debris and walked the littered streets; black ash covered crumbling storefronts and gutted buildings on either side of her. She was looking for Luca and the others, but this was nowhere land—an empty ghost town of a city.
It was incredibly silent as she crunched through the chunks of broken cement and other piles of crap. The air was stale and motionless, and thick dusty smog covered the falling sun. She took a deep breath and could taste the ashy particles in her mouth.
As she moved further down the street, her synchronic senses starting kicking, and she scanned the nooks and crannies of the burnt-out and busted-up spaces around her.
She popped the clips on her holster and unsaddled her two blasters. She felt her pulse tick up and her vision focus, and then she heard something behind her. She swung around, the pistols ready. Then she noticed that the strange rustling noise was just a swift wind moving a bag of garbage around, papers and shredded stuff falling out of it. She breathed out and shook her head, then turned around to face the street. That is when she saw them, shuffling around aimlessly.
It was a group of humans standing many yards away down the street. “Are you okay?” she called to them, re-holstering her guns. None of them answered. They were slumped over, as if they were injured or sick.
“Hey!” she shouted, talking steps toward them. She got closer and then stopped dead in her tracks. Something was definitely wrong with them. Her body started gearing up and she fixed her eyes on the figures. She couldn’t make them out clearly, but they didn’t seem right. Their movements were jerky and grotesquely bizarre. She felt the immediate threat, the danger, and a sense of evil all at once.
8
“BAD DREAM, SAM?” Luca asked.
She came out of the vision, breathing heavily, and shook her head back and forth.
“It didn’t have that quality to it. I know a dream, and that wasn’t one.” It started to dawn on her what was happening. “It’s the Time Grip. I held it too long when I was in the bank—I must have ripped a hole in time-space. I’ve started seeing visions of the future, but I have absolutely no control over when they come.” She understood better now how Myers had shown her the images from his mind. He had used the Time Grip to access a future vision of the apocalyptic world after Aion’s extinction phases.
“That’s a new one,” James said after a long pause. “Well, what’s the news?”
She didn’t want to get into the details, the wreaked world and whatever unknown wickedness lived in it. “Very bad. Which is why we have to stop Aion.”
Luca turned to look at her. “If the future is already giving you the shitty preview, then it’s fait accompli, right?”
“As of now, this moment. When time rips, it collapses—in a sense. That means that the future I am getting is the future as it stands now,” she said, sounding more confident than she was.
“I’m not looking for a lesson in quantum relativity, but huh?” James said.
“We can still do something to prevent it from happening,” she explained. “Change the future as I see it now.”
James stared at her blankly.
“If we do nothing to stop Aion, then yeah, it looks really messed up.” It was too much for them, she could tell. She couldn’t blame them. It was too much for her, and she was high-status.
Luca pulled the rig over into a truck stop with a huge gas station and market. He shut the truck off and the exhaust blew out loudly. They had driven though the early morning hours and into late afternoon.
The sun was falling and Samantha breathed the cool air into her lungs as she hit the rocky ground of the parking lot. She could feel the cooler temperatures of fall finally arriving. Luca and James came around the front of the truck.
“I’m stiff as a board,” she said, stretching her legs.
“Let’s check on them,” Luca said, heading around back of the truck. Luca opened the door and slowly Janey, Dani, and Bags emerged from the back.
“Sam!” Dani said, looking relieved. “We couldn’t tell what was happening back there.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t stop.” Luca helped Janey down, who ran over and hugged Samantha. James and Dani held each other.
“No Pete?” Janey asked, her voice shaking.
“No, but we’ll find him,” Samantha said quickly. “We’re going to find the Potentials. I’m sure he will be there.” Janey looked into Samantha’s eyes and then over at James, who quickly turned away from her and pretended to fix something on the truck. Even though Samantha buried her hurt feelings about Pete, Janey was picking them up. She was so high on compassion that her powers of empathy couldn’t be contained.
“Careful Janey,” Samantha told her. Compassion could cross over into telepathy, and that could alert Replica. She felt Janey shut her feelings down, but she continued to gaze into her eyes. Tears filled them and Samantha pulled Janey close and held her.
“I hate to push us, but we have to keep moving,” Luca announced. “I don’t think Replica followed us, but you can never be too sure of anything.”
“We’re going in, what’d you all want?” James asked.
“A pair of pants and shirt would be nice,” Samantha said, “if they have it.”
Luca and James went off into the market to get food, water, and whatever else they could find. Samantha was able to catch up a little bit, telling them what had happened to her in the van, before Luca and James returned to the truck.
“We got lucky. The place has everything for truckers on the road.” Luca tossed some clothing to Samantha. “There was a back room with hunting stuff, so we have tents and sleeping bags and bunch of other gear.”
“I want to ride in front!” Janey cried.
“Alright Janey, I’ll ride in the back with Bags and Dani,” Samantha said, kissing her on the head as she followed Luca around to the front of the truck.
“We’re going to fill up and drive through the night, get in,” James said as Samantha, Dani and Bags jumped into the back of the trailer. James climbed up on the tailgate and reached up for the strap that ran to the trailer’s sliding door. “Bang really hard if you really need to stop. Otherwise we’re driving through,” he said to them before yanking the enormous door down.
The door crashed loudly and it got pitch black. Dani and Bags clicked the flashlights on. The trailer was completely empty, except for a duffle bag full of money and some wea
pons. That was Luca, he was always thinking. He must have been able to get some of their cash and guns while all the chaos was going on at the hideout.
They went all the way to the front of the trailer and laid the sleeping bags out for them to sit on. They opened some of the food and began to eat.
After a while Bags moved her sleeping bag over to the other side of the trailer, climbed into it and clicked her flashlight off. Samantha and Dani remained sitting together with their backs against the trailer wall.
“Heading to bed already, Bags?” Samantha asked. Without a word Bags thrust two fingers up into the air giving a peace sign and then zipped herself up in her sleeping bag.
“Girl of few words,” Dani said, and she and Samantha chuckled.
“Why bags, anyway?” Dani stretched her legs out straight.
“She always has it in the bag, but Bags sounds better,” Samantha replied. “Not that mind barriers protect us from Replica anymore. Sorry Bags, you’re out of job.”
Then Samantha slid the folded pile of new clothing over toward her. She’d been so tired and in pain and hungry she hadn’t changed out of her torn jeans and James’s leather jacket. “Let’s see what kind of taste Luca has.”
Samantha spread out a pair of Carhartt work pants and a white V-neck T-shirt. She stood up carefully and pulled the biker jacket off and then her wrecked clothing and began to get into her new stuff.
“Not bad for a truck stop,” Dani said.
“Oh God, a men’s small is never going to do for me—my hips and butt,” she muttered as she squeezed into the work pants. She grunted as she pulled them up over her hips. She was still in a lot of pain, and the rough material of the Carhartt rubbed against her burns.
“Well, it’s doing it for me,” Dani blurted with a smile. Samantha felt herself grin and then she shook her head a little. She felt Dani’s eyes on her.
Samantha took her long, dark hair out of its tie and let it fall down her lower back. Samantha was tall and her body was strong, and she could fight. Years of brutal foster care, homelessness, and grimy street life had made her that way. Not to mention that all that had been enhanced when she was Actualized into an Ereb with off-the-chart strength.
“What does Luca think, I’m a runway model?” She put the shirt on and it fit much better than the pants. She gingerly sat down next to Dani, flinching in pain as she did.
“Hey,” Dani said to her softly, gazing into her eyes. She slid her body closer to Samantha.
“Hey,” she replied, trying to suppress her smile.
Dani put the flashlight on Bags for moment. “Poor kid, fast asleep.” She put the flashlight down next to her. It cast a dim light between them.
“Kid? She’s like five years older than you. Twenty-seven, I think.” Samantha shifted a little and grimaced. Her side was tender. She was sure all her ribs were busted up.
“Figure of speech, she just seems younger to me. It’s actually hard to tell what she really looks like,” Dani whispered. They both laughed quietly. “I’m getting cold.” Dani scooted over, leaning lightly up against her body.
Samantha could feel the cold night air seeping into the empty trailer, but she could also tell what Dani was up to.
Dani looked into her eyes again. “I’m sorry you’re in so much pain. Where does it hurt?”
“Where doesn’t it,” she replied.
“How about here,” Dani said, before she inched up closer to her face and then softly kissed her on the lips. Samantha slowly pulled back, staring at her before Dani gently moved Samantha’s long hair from her face.
“You’re making my pain go away,” Samantha uttered.
“Good,” Dani replied, then she took her hand and kissed her again.
“Does James know about us? Our history?” she asked.
“No, but he wouldn’t care,” Dani said. “He’s not as much of a caveman as you think he is. Before he was Actualized, it was pretty rough for him. His mother died when he was young and they were stuck with a drunken nightmare of a father. James tried to protect Pete and Janey, but the guy was a monster. After Noah Actualized him, he put an end to that and they all left.”
“I didn’t know it was that bad for James. But I do know you love him,” Samantha said.
“We’ve been through so much.” There was a pause before Dani asked, “Do you ever think of him, you know who?”
“I try not to,” she uttered. “But I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving Charlie.” It was hard for her to even say his name. “He called us the Firsts, well before we were Ereb. Charlie was the first one to change, and he changed me.” It was incredibly bittersweet because he had Actualized her only moments before he died. The pain of it got unearthed every time she thought about him.
“There’s so much about Charlie I don’t know. All I know is that he was the one who got all of this started.”
“Yes,” Samantha mumbled. Her mind was going back, but she stopped the memories and changed the course of the conversation. “So who Actualized you?” she asked Dani with a devious smile.
“You did,” Dani replied, putting her lips on her again. Samantha felt the moist softness of her lips and her sweet breath. She felt Dani touching her body, and it felt good.
“What about Luca, is he still totally crazy about you?” Dani whispered in her ear while kissing it.
Samantha sighed. She felt herself wanting sleep suddenly. “Nothing can ever happen between me and Luca. He’s my Primary Protector, and he respects that. So do I.”
“What about us?” Dani asked, looking into her eyes.
She replied, “It’s not about us anymore, Dani. It’s you and James.” Her mind was getting hazy, exhaustion overtaking her.
“I know, and I never thought I would fall for a boy, but there’s just something about him. Something special.”
Samantha was nodding, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open much longer. Her head was heavy and her eyes began to close.
“But I love you too,” Dani said.
“I know,” she muttered half asleep before straightening out flat on her sleeping bag. She thought about Charlie, and then the thought of Myers imposed upon her again.
As she dozed off, she felt a bit of regret for kissing Dani. Things were going to get very, very tight, and she needed to keep her head uncomplicated. Her feelings for Dani, if opened, could definitely complicate things.
It was all changing now, whether she or any of them wanted it to or not. Dr. Myers had changed everything—she just hadn’t figured out exactly how.
9
DR. BEN MYERS and General Zim stood in front of the Order while a Replica projected the Order’s images.
This time the Order was in one of the sacred rooms in the Great Community. It was built like a church or temple, with an enormous image of a male lion-headed winged figure in the background. The head appeared more human than lion, eerily so, and the wings shot out majestically from the back of its body. It was the ancient Mithraic symbol of Aion, the all-powerful creator deity that existed eternally and controlled conventional time. The symbol loomed large and could be found displayed all over Aion’s compounds and communities.
Bernard started the conversation. “Both of you chaps disobeyed a direct command, and you have a lot of explaining to do.”
“General Zim, unnecessary hand-to-hand combat with an Ereb? I’m surprised by your behavior,” Dr. Carlyle reprimanded him.
Zim crossed his arms. “You’ll have to excuse me, I still have old genetic material in me from my Original, and it sometimes goes against my total dedication to Aion.” He bowed his head.
“He did provoke you, didn’t he, General?” Silva Myers said, defending him. “You are a proud solider, that’s understandable.”
“But to try and capture her in the van instead of ending her life, that was egregious!” Dr. Carlyle proclaimed.
“That was my fault,” Myers admitted. “I had the Replica put her into the van and strap her in. She was near dead from the rocket
, and I took advantage of that. I didn’t think she could adapt so quickly to our sedation.”
“Precisely why, Dr. Myers, you were not to try and capture her,” Bernard snapped.
It was silent for moment before Ben’s mother spoke. “However, something good did come of it all.”
There was a pause. “Yes, the doctor’s use of the electronic sedation shed some light on her biology—very little, but enough for Aion to re-Calculate.” The virtual Bernard walked out from behind the panel.
“So what is the new Calculation?” Myers asked anxiously.
“It seems now that the probability of capturing her safely and studying her are higher,” Silva replied. “We captured a small amount of her blood and Aion Calculated a sedation that is likely to work.”
Myers tried to hide his excitement. “Very good.”
The virtual Dr. Carlyle stood up now and began to pace. “Not so fast with the congratulations. This doesn’t prove a thing, Dr. Myers. Even if it did you do not have an open road here.”
“I understand,” Myers replied quickly.
“We have one shot to get her, and if it goes rudely in any way, it’s over. She must be terminated.”
“I’ll ensure this goes well,” Myers said.
“Actually, we think your involvement would prove otherwise,” Carlyle said. “The high status and her bodyguards are likely seeking Potentials as we speak, and we cannot predict with a hundred percent certainty that one of them isn’t a high status in waiting, so we are sending Replica now to search for them.”
“And why would that preclude my involvement?” Myers asked.
“We believe you have mixed emotions about all of this, which could jeopardize the mission,” Bernard told him.
“Mixed emotions?” Myers asked accusingly before stopping himself from going on. It was no use.
“We are analyzing multiple results now from the truck they stole and will trace it shortly,” Bernard reported. “Replica are conducting reconnaissance as we speak, and when we are absolutely sure we have her location, we will pin them down and apprehend her.”
