The Alpha Drive

by Kristen Martin

  Emery ambled closer to the pods, gaping at the incredible amount of technology surrounding her. She peered into the glass, lowering her head closer to the case to get a better look. What she saw rendered her immobile.

  Lying deep below the glass case was Theo’s body.

  Emery leapt backwards, her hands flying over her mouth. She counted the pods again.

  Twelve.

  How many people were with me on the roof before the bomb exploded?

  Twelve.

  “This is where the FCW keeps their bodies,” she whispered to herself. “This is where they control Dormance.” Emery looked around anxiously, wondering where they kept the rest of the dormants’ bodies. The pod holding her own body could be hidden somewhere in this underground fortress.

  Her eyes wandered around the room until they landed on a vault, the word SANARÉ plastered overhead.

  The serum.

  She rushed over to the surprisingly old-fashioned vault, the dial reminiscent of the locker she’d used in gym class at her public high school, except this one had letters instead of numbers. She spun the dial multiple times, trying every five-letter combination she could think of. After eight tries, she slunk down next to the vault and hit her head against the wall.

  Think, Emery. Think.

  She closed her eyes to clear her thoughts from her mind. Five letters. She sat still, imploring the answer to come to her. As Emery opened her eyes, she looked down at the charm dangling from her blood-spattered uniform. That was it.

  A-L-P-H-A.

  After five spins, she tugged at the door of the vault, grinning as the locks released and the door swung open. Her smile quickly faded as rows and rows of empty shelves lay in front of her.

  No, she thought frantically, wiping her hands along the shelves. She knelt down so she was eye level with the bottom shelf. A solitary orange capsule sat, abandoned, in the very back.

  Emery reached for it and brought the capsule close to her face, examining it closely. After shaking it, she realized it was sanaré—not in liquid form, but in gas form. For a split second, she felt victorious; but then it dawned on her that there was only one capsule. There wasn’t enough.

  I can’t save Rhea and save everyone else, she thought glumly, feeling defeated all over again.

  Emery dashed over to the main control unit and started typing on the virtual keyboard. Her hand swiped over a sunken area on the unit, feeling a familiar shape underneath the tips of her fingers. She glanced down as her index finger traced the silhouette of a fish, the image practically identical to the ring her mother had given her. Below the fish was another sunken symbol in the shape of a horseshoe, just like the pendant that hung around her neck.

  Emery pondered over the images for a minute, unable to shake the thought that it was more than just a coincidence. She reached for her pendant, unclasping the hook from around her neck and laid it down on the image in front of her. It fit perfectly, almost as if it were a piece of a puzzle that had gone missing. She turned her attention back to the oversized monitor in front of her and pulled out her phone. Torin had been on mute the entire time. Oops.

  “Emery? Emery, are you there?”

  “Yeah, sorry, I’m here,” she answered as a hologram of Torin appeared from her phone.

  “Where are you?” he whispered frantically.

  “I think I figured it out. I have the sanaré in gas form,” she said as she re-clasped the pendant around her neck. “I’m in the control room now. Theo’s body is here, along with the rest of the Federal Commonwealth. We need to disarm Dormance—this might be our only chance.”

  “You’re in the control room now?”

  “Yes, that’s what I just said,” she sighed, gesturing at her surroundings. “Do you actually listen to anything I say?”

  “Sorry the connection is bad. Hold on, I’m hacking

  in now.” The monitor in the control room flashed, numbers and letters scrolling up and down the enormous display. “I think . . . yep, I’m in,” he confirmed. “The system is asking for something strange. It’s asking for pod identification numbers.”

  Emery turned to look at Theo’s pod, her eyes landing on a gold plate attached to the metal just underneath the glass casing. She scanned one after the other, realizing that each of the pods had one. Starting with Theo’s, she read aloud each code, watching as the combination of letters and numbers appeared on the monitor.

  “Okay, good,” Torin said. “Now we just have to figure out the code to shut it down—”

  Emery coughed, almost choking on her own spit. “We don’t have the code to shut it down?”

  “Every system is different,” he explained, clearing his throat nervously. “We just need to figure out what works.”

  She watched as word after word, combination after combination appeared on the screen, followed by large blinking red Xs. Torin typed in another combination, but the same red X appeared.

  “This is just great. Of course nothing is working,” he muttered. “Any bright ideas?”

  “Hold on,” she said, racking her brain for answers. She gnawed on a hangnail, her eyes scanning the room for clues: first the door, then over to the pods, until her

  eyes settled on the text over the vault. Everything’s in Latin.

  Suddenly, a moment from her terrae training filled her thoughts. The green mist. Her mother. She’d said something. What was it?

  Emery turned back to the monitor. “This is a total crapshoot . . . but try ‘exarmet’.”

  “What does—?”

  “Just do it.” She watched as the words appeared on the screen, followed by an affirmatory message in green.

  Disarmament Initiated in 30 . . . 29 . . . 28 . . .

  “That’s it!” he commended. “What in the world did I just type?”

  She beamed, reveling in the moment for as long as she could. “My mom said it to me during my terrae training. It’s Latin for ‘disarm’.”

  “Only you would notice such a minute detail,” he laughed.

  “Looks like it wasn’t so minute, was it?”

  He smiled. “Okay, now what?”

  “Okay, now teleport me back to the 7S world before the countdown ends,” Emery instructed. “But first . . .”

  She glanced over at the pods, noticing that each of them had a thick, silver wire connecting them to the control station. Emery rushed out of the room as an idea came to her.

  The dagger.

  She stepped over Rhea’s body and walked over to the weapon, grabbing the handle with both hands as she tugged it from the wall. Emery ran back into the room and began slicing the silver wires that connected each pod to the main station.

  “What are you doing?” Torin yelled as the countdown continued.

  10 . . . 9 . . . 8 . . .

  She slashed the final wire.

  “Now! Do it now, Torin!”

  Emery glanced back over at the control station one last time, her eyes settling on the two familiar images of the fish and the horseshoe. She suddenly realized what the symbols were.

  Alpha and Omega.

  Before she had a chance to analyze further, a tingling sensation overtook her body, hitting her legs first, then her arms and her neck. Emery kept her focus on the symbols, her fingers gripping the orange capsule, until her body was lifted and transported back to 7S Headquarters.

  39

  Torin watched as Emery’s body appeared in segments on the platform—first her feet, then her legs and hips, followed by her abdomen, chest, and arms, and finally, her neck and head.

  “The physics of teleportation will never cease to amaze me,” he declared as he helped her off the platform. “Do you have it?”

  She opened her hand to reveal the tiny orange capsule.

  “And the device?”

  Emery looked at him with a puzzled expression.

  He sighed. “Check your other boot.”

  She reached into her right boot and pulled out another spherical golf ball shaped device. Emer
y handed it to him, her eyes wide with astonishment.

  “What? I saw Naia put them into your boots—one in your right boot and one in your left,” he bragged. “I had no idea what they were for. Until now.”

  Naia put them in my boots? Emery thought back to her training sessions. The orange capsule. The green capsule. The green haze. Theo had said that Naia was the one in charge of her training simulations. Was she helping me the whole time? Where is she now?

  Torin’s interrupted her thoughts. “Bad news. Right after you teleported back to Dormance, Theo and his soldiers came bolting down the stairs looking for you. Fortunately, they didn’t see me, but I heard Theo tell his team to find you. And Mason.”

  Emery bit her lip, pushing her thoughts of Naia aside. “Did they say where they were going?”

  “No, but the good news is, they’re not on the roof anymore. And now I know what to do with this.” He held up the device.

  “Okay, here’s the plan. You head to the roof while I go outside to look for Mason and Theo. When I give you a sign, release the bomb.”

  Torin tilted his head to the side. “What sign?”

  “Hmm,” Emery pondered this for a moment. “Are our phones still connected?”

  Torin checked his phone, then nodded.

  “I want you to keep me on the line and turn on your speakerphone. Release it when you hear me yell, ‘Alpha’. Okay?”

  He nodded again, his hands trembling slightly.

  Emery reached out and placed her hands on top of his. “We’ve got this. I’ll be back before you know it.” She squeezed his hands before heading into the elevator shaft. She pressed her gun tightly to her side as the numbers above the elevator doors decreased with every passing second. She readied herself as the metal box landed on the ground floor, taking a deep breath as the doors opened. The lobby was still deserted like before, so she took advantage of the emptiness and rushed to the main entrance. She pressed the button on her headset to reignite the force field helmet, then burst through the entry doors, her eyes surveying the premises for any sign of Mason or Theo. She didn’t have to look far because they were standing right in front of the building she’d just walked out of. And there was a gun.

  Pointed at Mason’s head.

  Mason was on his knees, arms tied behind his back, his face bloody and beaten from a scuffle with Theo and his army. Emery gazed at Mason’s terrified expression, her confidence wavering.

  “Where is it?” Theo bellowed, his eyes blazing with rage.

  “It’s over, Theo,” Emery asserted. “Let him go.”

  “The serum, Emery,” Theo hissed, digging his pistol deeper into the back of Mason’s head. “I know you have it. Give it to me. Now.”

  “There’s none left,” she lied, immediately wishing that she hadn’t.

  “Funny,” he chuckled, his finger on the trigger. “I never took you for a liar.”

  Emery’s eyes widened. “Theo, don’t—!”

  Her words were cut off by a resounding boom. Her eyes ignited with fury as she watched the bullet leave the gun and enter Mason’s skull, the remnants tearing through his forehead.

  “ALPHA!” she screamed as she lifted her rifle, unloading a full round of bullets on Theo and his followers. The light left Theo’s eyes, his body falling to the ground in a deafening thud. The others fell to the ground shortly after, their eyes wide open as their heads hit the pavement. It was then that the sanaré bomb lit up the sky, a flash of blinding white light followed by a vibrant orange haze.

  Emery ran over to Mason and fell to her knees as the auburn haze drifted around them. She pressed her right hand underneath his skull, applying as much pressure as she could to stop the steady flow of blood. The haze quickly turned into a thick fog, her visibility of Mason’s face fading until, eventually, it disappeared altogether. Emery remained still, her left hand on Mason’s chest, hoping and praying for some type of movement. A flinch. A muscle spasm. Anything to tell her that he was still alive.

  Time stood still as memory after memory flooded over her. The confusion she’d felt when her mom had given her the ring. The uncertainty when she’d first met her new roommate. The shock when Theo had told her about Dormance. The disbelief when Torin had told her it was all a lie. The heartbreak when Anthony had failed to recognize her. The regret when she’d rejected Mason. The anguish that had consumed her entire being when she’d killed Rhea. She could only remember the bad. There was nothing good left. And now Mason was going to die.

  After what seemed like an eternity, the fog finally lifted and Emery’s sight returned back to normal. Much to her surprise, something good started to happen. Through her tears, she could see victims of the battle lift themselves up off the streets. One by one, they rose from the dead. Everyone seemed to be coming back to life . . . everyone except for Theo and the eleven other FCW members.

  It worked.

  By some miracle, Mason’s chest quivered. Emery immediately turned her attention back to him. Oh, please. Please let there be one more good thing. She watched miraculously as the orange particles healed the gaping wound in his head, the skin joining together again to make one cohesive unit. Mason’s eyes fluttered open, his pupils dilating as he tried to regain focus.

  He’s alive. Mason’s alive.

  Emery bent over and kissed him on the forehead as tears formed in her eyes. “You’re okay,” she coaxed, stroking his bloodstained, matted hair. “Everything’s okay. We’re safe now.”

  Mason gazed up at her, a small smile crossing his lips. “I have a headache.”

  She laughed as happy tears streamed down her face. “I bet you do.” Emery continued to stroke his hair when her eyes landed on a figure standing just a few feet in front of her. There stood Torin, motionless, his eyes locked on hers. In that moment, there were so many things she wanted to say to him. She wanted to thank him for reaching out to her. For telling her the truth about 7S. For trusting her, even in his moments of doubt, but the words wouldn’t come. So, she did the one thing she knew he’d understand.

  She nodded.

  Torin nodded back, a brief smile faltering on his lips, before lowering his head and turning toward the doors that led to 7S Headquarters.

  Their work here was done. Emery wasn’t sure if or when she’d ever see him again. She wasn’t sure what the future had in store. But one thing was for certain. Together, they’d freed the world from Dormance.

  Together, they’d defeated The Alpha Drive.

  40

  President Novak watched from his office as specks of orange dust hit the window, a thick cloud hanging in the air. Bodies that were once immobile began moving again, waking up from their brief entry into Dormance.

  He’d never doubted Emery. He knew all along that she’d be the one to get him to this point. True, his plans would be difficult without the assistance of his former colleagues, but he’d manage.

  He had to.

  Victor reached into his office drawer and pulled out a small tin box with a yellow bow plopped on top. He lifted the lid and ran his fingers along the fish-shaped ring, grinning at what was to come.

  All he had to do was get Emery on his side.

  Acknowledgements

  I’ve always been a writer, but it’s been a lifelong dream to become a published author. Now that it’s here, I can hardly believe it. The child in me is freaking out right now . . . in a good way.

  First, I’d like to thank God for blessing me in more ways than one.

  I’d like to thank my incredible critique partner and newfound writing buddy, Vivien Reis. You catch things that I wouldn’t, even after I’ve read my manuscript 10+ times. Your insight has been invaluable and has helped make me a better writer. I feel so lucky to have you not only as a CP, but also as a friend.

  Thanks to my beta readers. You guys rock. Your comments are the first ones I go to when I need a little pick me up. Thank you.

  I’d like to thank my parents, Barb Marvel and Ed Martin, for always supporting me no matt
er what choices I make. And for listening to me read every rendition of The Christmas Monkey every holiday season with full (terrible) illustration. I love you guys.

  I’d like to thank my sister, Erin Martin, for being so incredibly supportive and excited to read this book. You were there from inception and stuck with me to the very end. I’m so lucky to have a sister who loves books and the art of storytelling as much as I do.

  I’d like to thank my fiancé, Jonathon Bills, for sticking with me through every stage of crazy and for helping me come up with the concepts for the book covers. Loving a writer isn’t easy, but you’re always there, loving me and encouraging me every step of the way. I love you so much and cannot wait to call you my husband.

  Lastly, I’d like to thank YOU, my readers. Without you this book would not be possible. So thank you. Thank you for taking the time to jump into the worlds of Emery and Torin and for choosing to read this book. There are so many incredible writers with amazing stories to share and it’s so humbling to know that of all those stories, you chose to read mine. Cheers!

  DON’T MISS OUT ON THE BREATHTAKING SEQUEL:

  THE ORDER OF OMEGA

  Emery Parker must continue on her journey to save those she loves—all while coming to terms with her past and the terrifying power her family’s secret holds.

  Emery had all the answers to change the course of the future—or so she’d thought. The clarity of her situation diminishes as new things come to light during her quest for the truth. As she fights to maintain control, the grey area between betrayal and allegiance only grows larger. In a time of full-fledged uncertainty, Emery must fully embrace her past, even if doing so may mean losing everything, and everyone, she ever loved.

  TURN THE PAGE FOR A FIRST LOOK!

  1

  The sound of crunching glass beneath her blood-stained combat boots reminded Emery of a much happier time than this. Stepping out into the first Christmas snow in Northern Arizona, her family curled up by an outdoor firepit, watching as the blazing sun fell behind a wide canvas of mountains. It was one of her happiest memories, a time where she felt like everything had finally come together. Every aspect of her life had been perfect. Nothing had been missing.