The Clash (The Permutation Archives Book 5)

by Kindra Sowder

  My foot caught on absolutely nothing but my own steps, causing me to trip slightly. Nero jerked me toward him to avoid me spilling to the floor in a heap, and I yelped from the slice of pain that moved through my arm from the knives that were his fingertips. There would be a bruise the shape of a handprint. That much I knew for certain.

  “Jesus, keep up, or I’ll drag you out,” he barked at me.

  “Is that a threat?” I responded snidely.

  It was the only way I knew to reply, but, to be honest, the wise thing to do was to remain silent despite his poor treatment.

  “No, it’s a promise.”

  I believed him. He hadn’t given me any reason not to. If anything, he had been more than blatantly honest because the truth hurt more than any lie possibly could. And he had been much more vicious in this version of the world than in my graphically violent nightmares.

  I had been so consumed by my thoughts that I completely missed the entire walk through the plane and to the back toward an open ramp. Five menacing figures were waiting, each one hard to make out past the sunlight except for the single central figure toward the front of the group. They stood in a triangle formation with King at the very front, arms crossed over his broad chest with another disgusting toothpick perched between his grinning lips. His smile widened, and his arms raised at his sides as if he were going to embrace me. My body hummed with anxious energy at the thought of it.

  “Ah, Mila, there you are,” he exclaimed, somehow holding the toothpick in place between his lips as he spoke. “I was beginning to wonder if Nero’s temper got away from him again.”

  Nero didn’t respond, only continued to walk with me flanking him, his fingers digging into my arm even more as we approached. The closer we came to King, the less the sunlight shining behind him burned, and the more I could make out of his attire and the band of brothers behind him. All of the soldiers with him were men, each one massive and each one more intimidating than the last as I studied them. They weren’t worth remembering at any capacity. The only defining feature of one of the men was a circular, tribal tattoo surrounding his left eye. I wasn’t certain of its significance to the man, but it didn’t seem to be cultural. Not outwardly.

  “If you promise to be good, I won’t make one of these strapping young men cuff you. If you break your promise, you won’t like the consequences,” King explained. “Not that you’ll care for what I have planned anyway, but that goes without saying.”

  He smirked with the last bit, which only made me stare at him very pointedly.

  “Where is the doctor?” Nero asked from beside me, his tone exhibiting the fact that he didn’t trust the man.

  I wasn’t certain why. He had done everything King had asked of him, and more from what little I could tell. Who knew what else there was just waiting for us that King concocted and forced him to cook up? The thought made my skin crawl. King’s eyes moved over me, hinting that he had noticed, but he didn’t say a word – only continued to grin like the monster he was.

  “He is at the reactor with the others,” he stated with a dismissive wave.

  Glancing from one man to another, Nero’s eyes shifted away from the soldiers behind King, while King watched Nero carefully. Was their relationship on the rocks? Their interaction truly made me wonder, but I chose to ignore it, especially since Nero’s actions seemed to be aimed more toward the other soldiers than our President.

  “Sir?” the large man with the tattoo around his eye questioned, adjusting himself and the large gun in his hands.

  “Yes, Valdus, it’s time,” Emerson King replied without batting an eye.

  Valdus turned, twirled a hand in the air in a gesture I had seen only a couple of times among military, and addressed the others with a sharp whistle that made me wince. His dark eyes were bright with responsibility – his shoulders, back, and chest pushed out with pride in what he did. For King’s sake, it was a good sign. Not so much for mine.

  “All right, let’s head out! Taylor and Archer, flank the girl. Claus and Hannover, you two stick with the President. I’ll lead the group. And Nero,” he continued, staring down at Nero with the orders evident in his eyes and posture, “you keep your hands and eyes on her at all times.” Valdus pointed at me, jabbing the finger so close to the center of my chest I almost felt it. “She gets away from you at all and hurts the President or any of my men, I’ll take it out of your hide. You got me?”

  “Let’s all get along, now. We all have the same mission,” King chided Valdus affectionately, much like a father would a son.

  I looked him over, dark eyes mirroring King’s exactly, but there was a hint of something else inside. Something that reminded me of myself. I had attempted to hide anything that King had gifted me from myself, but it didn’t seem to have the desired effect. I saw it all the more I remained in his proximity. There was a callous nature just inside, but another layer that exhibited a proud and doting child. It gleamed in his eyes when King spoke to him, it just took a few moments for me to recognize it, and it turned my blood cold. He even had the same, slight cleft to his chin that I did – that King did – which was a common enough feature. It didn’t necessarily mean anything.

  I hoped I was wrong until I watched King do something my father used to do, showing his pride in me in a not-so-obvious manner. King did this as everyone moved into their assigned positions. His hand came down on Valdus’ shoulder and squeezed – reassuring.

  “Son of a bitch,” I whispered under my breath.

  Nero chuckled beside me and said, “What? See something you don’t like?”

  “Shut up,” I barked at him.

  We began to walk down the ramp and into the cool air. It bit at my flesh slightly like at the beginning of autumn, causing me to shiver slightly while I watched Valdus’ large back. The U.S. capital came into sight past the glaring sun, trees, and forest looming in the distance past the rows and rows of government buildings, businesses, and transport offices. D.C. was still crowded, filled with shuffling people that went along their business in crisp suits and stunning business attire. I barely heard Nero say his next words as I took it all in, a massive lump rising into my throat that King would let people remain in the city knowing what his plan was. Of course, it wouldn’t bother him. The price of war and all that. I wanted to scream, to tell them to run out of the city as fast as they could. Take a car, a train – whatever they had to to survive.

  “I was surprised you had a brother too, but I’m sure it’s hitting you in all the wrong ways. Now, I just think it’s funny,” he scoffed.

  “Stop it, Nero.”

  “It stings, doesn’t it? That he was there for Valdus and not for you?” Nero pushed.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I muttered to him as we continued to make our way up the slight hill and through the crowd to our destination.

  I didn’t see where we were headed past those around us, most of them acting as if this were a regular occurrence. No one stared – barely even glanced at us as the soldiers and King guided us through the throng. No one even seemed to notice my glowing eyes that resulted from the serum they pumped me with.

  Nero hissed past the commotion of stomping high-heels and shuffling feet, “I saw you, Mila. I know you well enough to know when you recognize something. It was painfully obvious, especially since you keep staring at his back.”

  “God, do you ever shut up?”

  He laughed again, his fingers letting up just a fraction.

  “Why? Am I getting under your skin?”

  The honest answer was that he was, but I couldn’t tell him that. I had to be immovable, untouchable, uncaring. I couldn’t let him or King see that I realized Valdus, the man I just met, was my brother. From the look of him, he seemed to be slightly older. Maybe a few years, but I didn’t have the time or the energy to consider it.

&
nbsp; I hoped that I wouldn’t get the chance to get to know Valdus even on the most basic level, and I wished I could say he didn’t matter to me. As a fellow human being, he did, and I hated that King had been able to manipulate him. But a father had a way of blinding their children. As a sibling, I cared about him, but that was as far as it went. Could I trust him? No. Not even as far as I could throw him, which wasn’t far at all.

  At the same exact moment the thought crossed my mind, Valdus turned, and his nearly black eyes met mine for an instant. A smile spread over his lips, reaching his eyes with a knowing stare. That was when I knew he was fully aware of our genetic link, and that he was extremely prideful of the love King showed him. He didn’t have to say the words. I felt it as his energy rolled over my skin, giving me the inkling that Valdus possessed an ability of some kind, but not enough of me wanted to know to test him. I shot a glare in his direction, then looked away to see a hint of the same expression on Nero’s handsome face. Both men were enough of a reason for my entire mentality toward Valdus to shift once more from uncaring to hatred. And all it took was a manner of seconds to do so.

  “Yup, there it is,” Nero muttered under his breath.

  My mind also snapped to a new thought. The fight to survive that had been there in the beginning resurfaced with so much vigor I felt it boil my blood inside my veins. Not only was it survival. It was an urge to kill King for so many more reasons than just what he had done to me and those I knew and loved. It was for everything, including the large man that walked next to our father with arrogance.

  I scanned for a gap in the crowd, the sidewalks opening up before us like the parting of the Red Sea when Moses led the Jews out of Egypt. It was as if it were meant to be. That I was meant to run. I didn’t know how far I could make it, but I would try. I spotted our destination in the distance, the forest rising above the steepled roof of the Basilica – the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. I laughed, not missing the irony of our situation and the religious importance of the landmark. The spark ignited, turning into the flames that bred my own brand of resistance to begin with. It bloomed inside my chest as adrenaline began to flow, every muscle twitching with anticipation for the actions I could feel were coming. And the words I wanted to say to Nero at least. And I wasn’t cuffed or drugged, which would make all this so much more satisfying.

  I had even been threatened with handcuffs, but it would be well worth it. The snap judgment and change in mentality I also attributed to the medications I had been given, but it didn’t change the fact that an attempt at escape needed to be made so that I could somehow make it to the others to finish this once and for all. Plus, handing some justice to Nero was something I had been wanting to do since day one.

  “That’s okay, I’m sure I’ll be getting under yours in a few seconds,” I stated, making certain my gaze met his, steel gray colliding with forest green.

  “What the f…?” he began.

  Even without my ability, I felt powerful and invigorated as I closed my right fist, lashed out, and punched him square in the jaw. Without the protective shield of my power, pain radiated through my knuckles and up into my wrist, but I held back the pained hiss and turned toward the other two at my side. Everything happened in a flurry of motion. I kicked, and I punched until they were on the ground, looking up at me in shocked wonder at the girl who could still be their undoing despite being relatively powerless. King backed up, and the other soldiers came to stand between us, but this wasn’t the moment to take him on. That would come later. Now, it was about escaping his grasp just long enough to regroup.

  Panicked shouts rang out amongst the pedestrians, each person stumbling to get as far away from myself and the others as possible. A few almost fell as they tripped over their own feet.

  “Mila,” I heard King yell over the crowd.

  I hesitated for all of a second before my mind and body’s instincts merged. Turning on the balls of my feet, I faced the direction of the nearest line of trees that converged with the forest, and took off like a bullet.

  “What the Hell are you doing? Get your ass up and bring her back here! Now!” King yelled.

  I didn’t dare turn back, even if it were just to look and see if anyone did as ordered. I knew they would, but I wasn’t entirely certain if he had more pull over Valdus or Nero. Both of them wanted to please him so much that they’d probably do anything. Even kill me if it came down to it, even though that obviously wasn’t the desired result. That didn’t stop me from running, taking off as quickly as my feet could carry me despite the fact I hadn’t eaten or drank anything during my captivity. It didn’t seem to be affecting me nearly as much as I thought it would. I nearly collided with a young woman in a pantsuit and high heels, red hair pulled up into a neat bun. The way she held herself showed an air of aristocracy, but I avoided her. She shouted after me, but I didn’t hear any of it. The near collision had caused me to lose my focus on the oncoming trees just long enough for my shoulder to slam into a bystander that hadn’t been able to get out of my way in time.

  Pain lanced through that side of my body, ripping at the stitches in my side from the bullet graze as I slammed into him and fell to the ground. We landed in a heap, but I didn’t have time to linger despite the agony that spread out from my side with warmth. I popped a stitch. That could be the only reason I felt what I assumed was blood spreading out from my wound and into my shirt, but there was no time to look down. There was only time to run for my life.

  When I rolled to my feet, dizzy for all of a second, I saw the man on the ground before me – dressed in an expensive suit that was now covered in filth from the sidewalk. His face was hard and pinched with anger when he rose to his knees and brushed off his suit jacket. The clean façade was gone, replaced with mussed hair and grime.

  “I’m so sorry,” I gasped before turning on my heel and sprinting toward the line of trees, not even taking a minute to see the man’s expression or if he was injured.

  My feet carried me as quickly as they dared, my thighs burning with the effort while my prosthetic shifted uncomfortably with sweat. I hadn’t had the issue with it before, but this was the first time I was exposing it to the nonstop action it wasn’t made to endure. It was a basic model of the sleeve – not what I needed for this amount of activity. And this was a far cry from the treadmill at the hospital.

  It wasn’t long before the haven of the forest met me, and I exploded through the branches and leaves, what little light there was to see by swallowing me whole without remorse.

  Chapter

  NINE

  Shouts and screams echoed off the trees surrounding me, but I couldn’t stop. I kept running, knowing that I had to get as far away as I could, regroup, and attempt to find what remained of those I loved and the Fallen Paradigm. Slight branches whipped at my arms and my face, slicing tiny cuts into my flesh, but those were nothing compared to the burning in my side from the bullet graze that I was certain had popped at least one stitch when I struck someone in my quest for an escape.

  “Find her,” I heard King yell past my ragged, strained breaths.

  My hand went to my side, warm blood oozing from the fabric and through my fingers. It stung like Hell, but I had to stop the bleeding – even if it meant doing so while I ran through a forest I knew nothing about. I had never even been to Washington D.C., making all of this brand-new territory I had to try to navigate. Tall, proud pine trees stood like giants, offering protection to the frail and the weak. I was both. I had no power – nothing to fight back with except my body, which was quickly running out of steam.

  The flimsy shoes on my feet offered no protection from what littered the ground, sticks and thorned vines stabbing my soles from beneath the brilliantly green foliage. Rays of light peeked through the branches, casting sinister shadows over the ground that I continuously mistook for my pursuers. Shaking my head, I kept going, never s
lowing even though my entire body begged me to do so. My heart pounded, and sweat ran into my open wound, stinging past the point of the agony already present.

  A familiar sensation took root deep within my lungs – as if all the oxygen had abandoned me to give life to someone else. I gasped, but couldn’t pull air in. Black and red splotches nipped at the edges of my vision while my lungs burned, and my entire body gave out from the lack of oxygen. With one final gasp, I slowed and stumbled over my own feet as they shuffled through fallen pine needles before sprawling onto the ground. Air attempted to move into my chest, wheezing as I writhed. I recognized the sensation instantly. I had felt it a number of times, and it came from the same power – the same person – that ripped my mother from me.

  Nero had found me, but hadn’t shown himself yet. He liked to watch the struggle. He had even stated it himself.

  Rolling onto my back, the entire world shifted around me – red and black spots dancing across the muted greens and browns of the woods. Clapping, like someone was applauding my performance, pierced the air and rang in my ears despite being partially deaf in one of them. Somehow, I had remained conscious enough to see Nero emerge past the wide trunk of a massive pine tree, Valdus close at his back with the same expression of amusement on his face.

  Neither one of them had even broken a sweat nor were short of breath.

  “Good effort, old friend. I have to say, you caught me off guard,” he admitted, coming to crouch beside me as I fought for air.

  I opened my mouth, but the words I wanted to say refused to come out. I choked on my saliva, thick in my throat with the humidity.

  “I take it you have something to say?” Nero asked with an entertained lift of an eyebrow.