The Clash (The Permutation Archives Book 5)

by Kindra Sowder

  He was going to die in the exact same way Cato had. He would suffer, and I would let it draw out as long as possible until he was lying in a puddle of his dead, black blood. He was going to feel every ounce of what I could do to him, and what he had made me do to one of my best friends. I would boil his blood, cause his cells to die off one at a time until there was nothing left but agony and emptiness. I wanted him to beg for his end, and there was no telling if I would give it to him at that point. I felt he deserved to suffer like all those whose anguish he had caused – no matter how indirectly.

  “So, how is this going to work?” Genevieve asked, finally speaking again.

  I had a feeling she would be relatively quiet considering all she’d been through, and she was proving me correct. She hadn’t been before, and I couldn’t say I blamed her. I probably would have grown to be just like her if I didn’t have the Fallen Paradigm to lead.

  “She speaks,” Gaia joked, smiling as we approached the very edge of the forest.

  It had taken no time at all to get to this point and had been easy enough, but that would more than likely change once we crossed that obvious line from the wild forest to the controlled city.

  “Why, yes. Yes, I do, and I have a Hell of a lot to say. You guys just aren’t my target audience,” Genevieve jabbed back.

  “All right, all right. That’s enough,” I chided with a chuckle.

  “It’s like working with a bunch of damned teenagers,” Ruckus stated.

  “Ummm, maybe because I am a teenager,” Genevieve said.

  We stopped just at the entrance into the tree line. Fairbanks and I made a joint effort in hushing our companions so that we weren’t heard. Granted, according to the map, there wasn’t a single sentry posted at this point, but that didn’t mean anything. It just meant they weren’t posted there at the time, but it could have easily changed. From what little we knew, each sentry was changed and posted in other areas in a rotation, which meant that at any moment they could be routed to our location.

  “Okay, Baker, how far into the city before we hit Fuji-O’Hara?” Fairbanks asked, squinting past the glare of the metal and glass buildings.

  “Actually,” John began, glancing just past the line of trees before pulling back, “it’s pretty much right through here. Get past this one line of buildings, and we’re there. Well, once we cover the clearing around it. I suggest everyone, even a Special, pull a weapon. There’s no telling who they have posted where, or what they’ve set up. Their security is top-notch.”

  “And you got out of there, how?” Julius asked him, skeptical.

  John smiled and shrugged as he pulled a pistol from his holster, pointing it at the ground with his thumb on the safety. “Queen.”

  No one said a word. No one needed to. We all knew that their connection inside his head was something that none of us could understand. Even me who had another person living inside of them. Cato had been quiet, but I could feel him hovering just at the fringes – a constant reminder of what I had lost and what I had ultimately gained.

  Fight, I heard inside my skull.

  The single word echoed in my thoughts, not in my own voice. In the man’s who had made the largest difference in my life. He drove me to resist with everything I had, driving me to these final moments where the end was so much closer. Our struggle was nearly over.

  Removing my own handgun from the holster, I mirrored John’s movements – movements I had used and seen before – and took my first step toward our freedom. The sun was so bright past the green that I squinted past it, turning back to look at every person that came along for the final battle. I had imagined having a massive army at my back, but I couldn’t think of a group of people I trusted more than those that stood there with me tucked into the foliage. Ready to go to war. My heart swelled with love and with pride when I looked at my sister, blonde hair pulled back into a loose ponytail and blue eyes sparkling with the thrill of what was about to transpire.

  Pulling the warm, crisp air into my lungs, I smiled as wide as my cheeks would allow, and said, “Let’s go take down society, huh?”

  Not only would we take it down, but we would rebuild it – better than ever. And free. It would be the home of the free for the first time in five years. I would have bet my life on it.

  Chapter

  TWENTY-SIX

  Everything moved far too quickly as we cautiously left the trees and the safety of the forest, moving swiftly into the harsh and cold reality of the city of Musgrave, Oregon. John was still in the lead, moving with the same calculated ease of a military man – just like Ryder, Julius, Jameson, Fairbanks, and even Ruckus. Gaia and Genevieve had even picked it up, Doctor Aserov’s feet slapping the damp Earth and then the concrete too hard for my liking. I had to remember that she wasn’t military. She was a doctor and a scientist who normally did not go out into the field. I wouldn’t have brought her along for the mission at all if we didn’t need her. It was vital that all of us made it into the building and to the end in one piece.

  A fine mist began to coat our skin, plastering my hair to my forehead and neck. I hadn’t expected for the weather to change so quickly, gray clouds moving in even more rapidly than we had. Being the Northwest, I couldn’t say the rain wasn’t expected, but I would have preferred for the weather to be as clear as possible considering the circumstances.

  The grass just beyond the cityscape was almost knee-high, and as soon as the rubber soles of our boots hit the concrete and pavement, they thudded loudly. It made me cringe, but I held onto my fear and my panic, deciding to use it as a tool instead of a hindrance.

  Swallowing hard, I kept at John’s back, keeping an eye on our surroundings. From what little I could see, there were still people in the city – King not having felt the need to evacuate anyone much like in Washington D.C. The more casualties, the better, apparently.

  “Shit,” Ryder and Julius said at the same time.

  My eyes didn’t leave the multitudes of foot traffic just beyond where we stood – no one seeming to notice us – I hissed, “This doesn’t change our plan. It’ll just make it more difficult. That was King’s plan all along, and we can’t let it stop us. No matter what happens. Now,” I paused, taking a shaky breath, “let’s move.”

  “What? Just, like, shove ourselves out into the mass of people?” Caius asked, pointing out toward them on the sidewalk beyond the clearing.

  “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. Unless you can think of another way,” I replied.

  “Fuji-O’Hara is just across the way. We can do this. A few people might get hurt, but damn we have to at least try,” John whispered. “We’ve come too far to stop now.”

  “I’m with John,” Gaia said.

  “Fuck, me too,” Ruckus huffed.

  “Yeah, me too,” Fairbanks muttered.

  “Can’t we at least try to be a little inconspicuous?” Genevieve mentioned.

  “And how do you suggest we do that with these?” Ryder sneered, lifting the massive AR-15 strapped across his chest.

  “Hell, I don’t know. Maybe put them down at our sides instead? Maybe they won’t even notice,” Genevieve suggested.

  “Yeah, I think you missed them,” John pointed out, using his index finger to motion toward two armed sentries within the crowd, scanning thoroughly.

  “Damn it,” Jameson glared. “We need a distraction, so we can get in the building. Get some of these people out of the way and get those guards away from the damned place.”

  We all sighed and watched the guards and the crowd. The two men were decked out from head-to-toe in protective gear and military-grade weaponry much like what was strapped to us. Ajax stood beside me and Ryder, completely silent – feeling no need to say anything. Completely quiet except for his steady breathing as I watched the gears turn within his mind. He hadn’t said a lot since we left
, but that was expected. He didn’t speak a lot – only when he felt he needed to – which was typically to give me a pep talk of some kind to get me going.

  “Mila can’t fake a surrender, and we bring her in?” Gaia suggested.

  “No,” John shook his head, “they know what every single one of us look like. I’m sure of it. They had to have passed our photos out to every soldier and had our faces plastered all over the television. There is no way we could get in that way.”

  I looked at Ajax again.

  “What are you thinking?” I asked, leaning in toward him.

  His eyes met those of someone behind me when he looked over my head and leaned toward me as well, opening his lips to speak.

  “Me and Jameson. We can get you guys in there. We just need a minute, and you go at the signal,” Ajax said with a nod toward Jameson who was undoubtedly behind me.

  “What the Hell are you planning?” Julius hissed, coming to stand beside me, his elbow grazing mine as he held his pistol steady.

  “Don’t you worry about it, kid,” Ajax replied, moving past me. “Let’s go, Jameson.”

  Jameson turned and walked a little into the tree line and then around the back of another building until we could no longer see them. Then everything grew silent except for the rushing feet of those beyond the border of the city. The citizens of Musgrave were innocent bystanders, so I only wished that no one was harmed as we made our way inside after whatever the two men had planned. Or were planning as they stalked away from us and into the brush like predators.

  I realized I hadn’t heard from Doctor Aserov in a few minutes, which caused me to worry. I looked at her, her brown eyes wide behind her glasses, but other than that she seemed relatively calm. If anything, she was tensed and ready to go, crouched slightly like the rest of us with her eyes focused on Fuji-O’Hara’s headquarters.

  The silence was how I knew something was about to happen, and it caused my heart to thud even more rapidly in my chest.

  It wasn’t long before I heard a masculine shout, drawing the attention of the people walking and the guards, gunshots sending rapid shocks of sound into the air. Shrill screams ripped through the atmosphere, and everyone began running in all directions in hopes of getting away from the gunfire. The soldiers looked stunned at first, and then came quickly to their senses – raising their own assault rifles and slamming through the massive crowd to get to Jameson and Ajax. Both men appeared in the distance, yelling their war cry.

  I was taking this as our signal. We could get through without being spotted if we moved right at that moment while the guards were occupied.

  “Go, go, go!” I shouted over the commotion.

  At that moment, John led the rest of us as we pushed into the crowd with weapons drawn. There was no way we were going in with them at our sides now. Our numbers weren’t large at all, but I had a feeling just our presence would be enough to intimidate anyone within striking distance. People ran all around us, a few people tripping over their own feet – a child crying in the distance as her mother and father carried her away from the violence and bullets as quickly as they could.

  That was when more soldiers came out of the woodwork – as if they had been waiting for our arrival all along. They flooded the street and sidewalk like black specks of dirt, rifles, pistols, and blades drawn – one soldier moving in with what I recognized instantly as a rocket launcher. It wasn’t necessary. It was a scare tactic. A large part of me thought they would never use it. Not with all these people around, running for their lives even though we would never be the ones to harm them.

  Despite my thoughts, the man whirled it around and aimed, his finger very visibly on the trigger.

  “Down! Get down! Run!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, sprinting for the door to Fuji-O’Hara in hopes the others would obligingly follow.

  I still wasn’t close enough. Whatever type of rocket they launched would hit a building along the tree line, but it would still injure plenty of the people stampeding around me as I pushed and moved as quickly as I could. My eyes scanned my surroundings, and I saw everyone that came with me moving toward the doors – all except for Ajax and Jameson who were still covering as our distraction. Not that some of the soldiers missed us all, because they didn’t.

  “No! Get out of here!” I screamed at the citizens as they ran in all directions. “Get out of here!”

  They couldn’t hear me over their own shouts, and it was then that I decided I needed to focus on my objective. There would always be casualties, and if I could avoid using my ability until I met with King, I would do so. That was until I heard the rocket explode from the launcher, whistling through the air. I couldn’t tell where it was going. All I knew was that I heard it collide with a building, and I turned to see a large piece of it begin to crumble and fall toward the ground and the people below.

  My power flared inside me, I dropped my pistol to my side gripped firmly in my palm and raised my free hand – letting the power move through me of its own volition. Pushing it from within my body, I projected it toward the falling masses of debris. As the building crumbled and fell, I felt the resistance of pieces hitting the shield my power provided like a heavy weight on my shoulders. The shield shimmered much like the one that had enveloped me and Gaia in the forest when we were finally reunited. The concrete, metal, and other building materials began to crumble further as it met the shield, sliding down and floating off into the air like radioactive ash. I hadn’t meant for the result, but it saved a lot more lives than the alternative. The sensation of something sliding over my entire body was unnerving, but I held strong until the debris had turned into nothing but ash and began to float harmlessly down through the air. Dropping my hand, the power zapped back into my body, but the fight outside wasn’t over yet.

  Not by a long shot.

  When I turned, I was met with the butt of a military rifle to the teeth – blood filling my mouth and my bottom lip splitting open. Crying out in pain, I stumbled back a few steps, nearly dropping my weapon. When I looked up and gained my feet, I looked into the eyes of a massive, tall man that I didn’t recognize decked out in King’s military garb emblazoned with his insignia. The same savior-type emblem that had been on the weapons my mother stole from King’s Forge before. Blood dribbled down my chin, and I used the back of my hand to wipe it away. The man’s goatee was clean-shaven, his dark eyes hard as he watched me and moved to hit me again. I avoided the strike, kicking out with my prosthetic foot and catching him in the stomach as soon as his arms were raised with the gun in hand. He screamed and doubled over in pain. That was my moment to strike. Raising my pistol, I removed the safety, aimed, and fired into the top of his head. Gore splattered. and I turned my head to miss getting hit in the face by skull fragments and brain matter, hearing him drop to the ground with a thud over the sounds of chaos.

  I was met with another soldier, coming toward me with speedy efficiency. I could tell he had been on the frontlines plenty of times. When and where, I couldn’t be certain, but he had been. The United States hadn’t seen any kind of war in one-hundred years, so it was difficult to imagine where the experience I saw in his expression came from.

  Removing the tri-dagger from its home on my hip, I raised my hands with the weapons gripped firmly, and prepared for his assault. I could see the others in my peripheral vision and in the background, attempting to fight their way to the building just as I was. I focused on the man that ran toward me, and when he raised his first to hit me, I lashed out with the dagger. He was fast enough to see the glint of the blade and evade it entirely, taking a step back to dodge its bite.

  He smirked and advanced again. I wasn’t quick enough. His fist landed at my temple, and I stumbled backward but regained my footing in enough time to miss his sweeping leg. As he came up, I lunged, raising my knee so that it took him in the chin. He fell to the ground and cracked hi
s head, but was still moving. I decided to walk away. This man wasn’t who I was after, and I didn’t want to end anymore lives that didn’t truly deserve it. He was only following orders. Amongst the gunfire, I heard him yell at my back as soon as I turned away.

  “You’re that Hunter bitch. I expected more of a fight, especially with that ability of yours. After all, you killed your friend with it like a traitor,” he taunted.

  I turned to see that he was standing, breathing heavily as blood from his scalp ran down the side of his neck. After those words, I had lost all patience and all sympathy I had for him. My body reacted, my power activating, and with a mere thought, he exploded into a million tiny flecks of human pieces – floating through the air as people ran through what remained of him. Some screamed even louder than they had been at the sight, but I just smirked.

  Within seconds, the sound of another rocket exploding from the chamber of the launcher met my ears, and the familiar whistle came barreling at my back. It was obvious they didn’t care about any of the people left in the city. All that mattered to them was keeping me from the inside of Fuji-O’Hara. Alive or conscious. My power whipped around as my gaze flew to the oncoming rocket.

  The image of the rocket breaking down into thousands – millions – of tiny flecks of metal, plastic, and other materials floating off into the air until there was nothing left. With my will, my invisible hand reached out and gripped it, smoke trailing behind it in a long streak of gray.

  “Mila!” I heard Gaia shriek over all the other noise.

  The rocket came to a stop mere inches from my face and began to dissolve just as I had imaged – pieces coming off of it in soft waves as the air took them away. I didn’t have time to stand and watch in awe. Turning away from the awesome display of power, I spotted my sister and the others amongst the rampaging crowd – all moving toward the building. I took off like a bullet and the soldiers that weren’t busy trying to calm the people were right behind us, pushing bystanders roughly out of their way.