by Adam Moon
Apex 2
(Rise of the Super Soldiers)
Adam Moon
Apex 2 copyright © Adam Moon
All rights reserved
If you haven't read the first installment, you can find it here:
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1: Power Failure
Chapter 2: Cheyenne Mountain Bunker
Chapter 3: All Together
Chapter 4: Hank and Sally
Chapter 5: Orb
Chapter 6: State of the World
Chapter 7: Delacourt
Chapter 8: Rising Powers
Chapter 9: Orbit
Chapter 10: Crossed Paths
Chapter 11: Sally's Power
Chapter 12: Alien Attack
Power Failure
Jack Peterson started to feel faint. That could mean only one thing: he was about to phase out again. He sat down on his bed and held his breath, hoping against all odds that he wouldn’t vanish.
His mom was downstairs making dinner. With any luck, he’d teleport away and then manage to get back before she noticed he was gone. The last thing he wanted to do was to further upset her. The poor woman had been through enough already.
His vision flickered; the walls of his room shimmered like a distorted wave before his eyes. He felt the power rise up in him, against his will, and then he disappeared.
He felt the heat first and said, “Dammit, not the desert again.” He couldn’t be sure which desert he was in, but this one was different than the last few he’d materialized in.
He looked around but there was nothing but sand and brown vegetation, clinging on for a meager survival, as far as the eye could see. He sat down on his butt and waited to regain his energy so he could teleport back. His powers had been out of control for a month now. He was just glad he hadn’t appeared in the middle of the ocean again, or in outer space.
He thought he’d be able to rein in his powers as time passed but they had grown too quickly over the weeks since the Grey aliens had attacked Earth.
The Good Aliens
Admiral Liktar asked his first mate, “How long until the Greys reach Earth?”
“My scouts tell me they’ll be there sooner than we thought.”
“Do the Earthlings stand a chance?”
“Of course not. The Greys they defeated were led by an imbecile. This time, General Shaylo himself has been dispatched to eradicate them.”
The admiral shook his head sadly. “Once he wipes them out, he’ll come for us next. We have to hope that the genetically modified Earthlings can put up a fight or we’re doomed along with them.”
“There’s always a punchers chance. They beat the odds last time. They might just do it again.”
The admiral locked his first mate in a stare. “You know they owe their lives to you, right? Your ingenuity saved the Earth from the first Grey attack.”
This time the first mate shook his head sadly. “All I did was alter the disbursement method for the genetic modifier. Instead of empowering their entire planet by a little, we enhanced a few individuals by a lot. It was a gamble that I wasn’t even sure would pay off. I’m a little surprised those few survived it.”
“Well they did and they put up a hell of a fight.”
“I just hope they have plenty of fight left in them because they’re going to need it. Shaylo has never been defeated.”
“If nothing else, the humans bought us some time to beef up our defenses. We should be thankful for that.”
“It won’t matter now that Shaylo’s coming. Our defenses stand no chance against him.”
“I fear you’re right about that. Is there time to launch another modifier into Earth’s atmosphere? If we could create additional superhumans, they’d stand a better chance.”
“We launched two already but they went off course and fell into their oceans. We detonated them anyway but the modifier doesn’t disburse well through water, so I think it was a waste of time. The effects will be negligible at best.”
“Send another one then.”
“If I do, then it’ll have to be the last. The Greys are too close to Earth now and I’d hate to get caught interfering. They might just decide to wipe us out first.”
“Understood. Set the disbursement as you did before. Concentrate it so as to affect a few individuals.”
“It’s a long shot. The odds of it landing safely and then being discovered now that the population is so depleted, are slim.”
“It worked before, and a long shot is better than the alternative.”
“I’ll get right to it, sir.”
The Greys
General Shaylo put his boots up on the console and yawned. To his first mate he said, “Give me an update, now.”
With a quavering voice, his first mate said, “We’ll be at our destination soon. The troops are ready for action.”
The first mate was on the General’s shit-list lately. He had no idea why, but it didn’t bode well for him. He’d be lucky to survive through the mission.
The General waved him off with a flick of his wrist so the first mate did his best to remain as inconspicuous as possible.
Shaylo smiled wickedly at his retreating first mate. He loved putting his men on edge. Fear had always been his greatest motivator. The first mate might prove instrumental in gearing the men for the coming fight. If he executed him at the right moment, he’d instill fear in the rest and they’d fight to the death rather than face his wrath.
Then again, the people they were going up against were puny, so he probably didn’t need to get the men too worked up. How those Earthlings had defeated the first wave still confused him, but the first Commander sent to Earth was an imbecile so he wasn’t ruling out negligence as a reason for the unlikely defeat. But something about the mission had him on edge. He had no intel about the enemy and that always worried him.
Leaked Footage
Jack got his energy back just as the heat became unbearable. He stood up and took a deep breath. He could only hope he hadn’t been gone so long that he was missed.
He jammed his eyes shut and concentrated. He opened them when he saw the brightness diminish behind his eyelids. He was back in his room again. The clock said he was only gone about an hour.
He drank three glasses of cold water, washed the salty sweat off of his skin in the shower, changed clothes, and then walked downstairs for some dinner. What he saw on the TV in the kitchen made him want to puke.
Someone from town had snitched on him and Melanie. Someone had leaked their story with video footage as confirmation. They had superpowers and now the world knew.
The footage was shaky, like it came from a cell phone camera, but it was clear enough. It showed Jack using his abilities on a stampeding group of alien dinosaur-like monsters. There was no doubt that he had powers from what the video showed.
His mom saw him standing there, mouth agape, and wrapped him up in a hug. She said, “Don’t worry about it. We’ll weather whatever media storm comes our way.”
“What if the government tries to quarantine me again?”
“Do you think they’d be so stupid?”
She was right. It would be a mistake for them to try and bully him. It hadn’t worked out well for them last time. But this time they knew what they were up against whereas they didn’t have that privilege before. Plus, he wasn’t so sure they weren’t actually stupid.
His cell phone chirped. He knew who it was before he answered.
Melanie was sobbing. “Someone ratted us all out. They’ll send troops in again. Why won’t they just let us live our lives?”
“It’ll be okay. And if things get out of control, we can handle it.”
S
he snorted. “I didn’t think about that. But we won’t kill them, right?”
“Of course not. First we’ll try and reason with them and if that doesn’t work, we’ll persuade them through intimidation to leave us alone.”
A news reporter came on the TV as soon as the crappy cell phone footage was done playing. She said, “We can not disclose names because these individuals are apparently under age, but we are close to securing interviews with each person involved. We may very well owe these remarkable young heroes our very lives.”
She was referring to the fact that the video footage was shot the same day that the alien invasion was thwarted. And she was right. Jack had destroyed the alien mother ship and then the alien ground troops immediately gave themselves up.
Jack hung up on Melanie when a strange number appeared on his phone. He answered it.
A man on the other end said jovially, “Hello, this is David with Fox news. Can I speak to Jack Peterson, please?”
“This is Jack.” He thought about lying, but he was too curious to see where this would go.
“We’d like to set up an interview with you today or tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
“Okay then. I’m sending a crew out to you now. What’s your address?”
Jack told him.
“They’ll be there in a little over an hour.”
“Shit.”
“It’s alright, son. They’re professionals. They’ll treat you well. I promise.”
His mom had overheard the conversation because she’d been leaning her head against his for the entire call.
When he hung up she said, “Dammit. This house is a disaster. Help me clean it up.”
“We can probably just clean up whichever room we’ll be taping in, right?”
She nodded. “I’ll tidy up the living room. You go and clean up. Put on some nicer clothes too.”
“Mom, I think your priorities are all skewed. We don’t need to worry about the news crew. We need to worry about the military men who will end up seeing the interview.”
“But if you sell yourself well enough, they’ll be hesitant to take you in.”
“Huh?”
“If the public loves you, the military will have a very bright spotlight on them. They’ll think twice about taking you against your will.”
He knew she was full of crap. She was just excited about her boy getting on the news. In Ault, Colorado, things like that never happened. But she might be right too. For all he knew, a military chopper could already be heading his way, after seeing the camera footage the news had just shown. But they’d have a hard time abducting him with all of those camera crews around.
He took another shower just in case he had any residual sweat from his hour in the desert, and then he put on his only button down shirt, which he tucked into his nicest jeans. Ault was a tiny town of dirt farmers. There was little need for formal wear.
He took a look in the mirror. His newfound muscles strained against his shirtsleeves. He looked pretty sharp, albeit exhausted. His eyes were ringed with black circles and the sunburn he’d acquired in the desert was starting to set in.
His cell chirped again. He wasn’t surprised to find out it was Melanie and he wasn’t too surprise when she told him she was about to be interviewed too. She was excited about it. He wished he could muster the same enthusiasm.
Cheyenne Mountain Bunker
Commander Watson briskly walked down the dripping, frigid corridor towards the holding cells. He had no illusions about the effectiveness of his interrogations; they hadn’t worked worth spit so far, and probably wouldn’t ever work. But he had to try.
He saluted the door guard and walked into the room. Sitting all along the back end of the room were over a dozen grey headed, spindly limbed aliens. First contact with extra terrestrials hadn’t gone exactly how Hollywood had imagined. These guys had no intentions of opening up dialogue. They had almost succeeded in eradicating humanity when their mother ship blew up in Earth orbit. After that, they immediately surrendered. But just because they gave up didn’t mean they were cooperating. Not a single one of them had attempted to open a line of communication with their captors. That made the Commander uneasy. Why had they given up, and yet still acted so obstinate? What were they playing at?
He took a seat on the bench near the door and stared at the line of grey faces. The aliens barely acknowledged his arrival. They’d been in custody for a month and yet no headway had been made.
He said, “Your comrade has died under interrogation. I’m so sorry for that.”
The aliens ignored him.
“We didn’t kill him though. We’d barely begun our interrogation techniques when he simply fell unconscious and died. Can you people do that? Can you simply will your bodies to fail?”
One head lifted and stared at him but it was only a fleeting glance.
“Why have you attacked us? What purpose does it serve you?”
No answer.
“Why did you surrender? What defeated you?”
Silence.
“Is another invasion imminent?”
Crickets.
“If you’re hoping for a rescue, I wouldn’t hold my breath.”
The alien on the far left got to its feet quickly and locked the Commander in an awkward stare. Its lipless mouth parted in a half smile, half snarl. It turned its back on him and stared at the wall defiantly. The others followed suit, standing and turning their backs on him.
“We have thousands of you under military quarantine all across the world. What do you think we’ll do to you if one of your alien ships appears again?”
The pervading silence only served to further anger the Commander.
“We’ll summarily execute every last one of you.”
A sound not unlike a snicker came from one of the aliens.
Watson sneered. “You failed once and you’ll fail again.”
The pointless interrogation was interrupted by a squawk from the Commander’s radio.
“Sir, we think we’ve found out what caused the enemy to surrender. Come to the communications wing as soon as you can.”
Watson keyed the radio. “What do you mean?”
“It’s all over the news. You won’t believe it.”
“I’m on my way.”
Submissive
The Grey captain ordered her troops to resume their activities now that the human had left.
She said, “If I’d known that those enhanced Earthlings were so rare, I wouldn’t have ordered our surrender.”
“We were under attack, sir. We had no way to know what an anomaly they were. You had no choice. Even if we’d finished the species off, we had no ship to go back to. They destroyed it.”
Another Grey added, “I wonder when the rescue party will get here?”
The captain sighed. “Maybe they’ve abandoned us because we failed so miserably.”
“You know High Command doesn’t operate that way. We were sent to cleanse this planet for a reason. They’ll at least come back to finish what we started.”
The captain said, “I’ll be executed for my cowardice.”
“You’re probably right.”
“But I’ll die happy knowing that these Earthlings will suffer the same fate. With any luck, I’ll get a chance to join in the slaughter before my execution is carried out.”
New Hope
Commander Watson watched the replay of the news footage. It made no sense to him. The young man on the video was exhibiting some bizarre abilities. Not only could he simply vanish and reappear somewhere else, but he seemed to be able to make other things vanish too.
A stampede of enormous dinosaur-like monsters was felled by him in a matter of moments. He’d heard rumors about those dinosaur-like creatures but he’d dismissed the idea as another bizarre exaggeration brought on by the fevered minds of the survivors of the invasion. Many weird stories swirled around that were easily dismantled after a cursory investigation and the dinosaur attack was one suc
h story because there was no evidence left to prove it had ever happened.
But the video evidence proved otherwise.
After the replay, he watched in stunned silence as Fox news broadcast a live interview with the boy.
He looked to be around eighteen, muscular, and confident. He admitted that he had odd powers ever since he and his friends found a metallic sphere that had fallen out of the sky and spritzed them with a strange mist. He claimed responsibility for destroying the alien mother ship too.
To Watson, it all sounded like hokum until the interviewer asked for a demonstration as proof.
The boy sighed, looked over at his smiling mother, and then vanished. A few awkward seconds ticked by and then he reappeared in the same spot. The interviewer jumped out of her seat and stumbled backwards. The boy caught her by the arm and laughed. “If you think it’s weird for you, just imagine how I feel.”
The screen changed and an anchor back at the studio said, “Very strange indeed, but if it’s true, it explains how the invaders were thwarted. We are receiving live footage of the young woman that helped discover the metallic sphere.”
A cute young girl sat at her kitchen table answering questions. She was fit too, with musculature not normally seen on a woman so young, bulging against her sleeves.
She reiterated the boys bizarre account. Of course they could’ve cooked up the story in advance. It could all be an elaborate hoax as far as the Commander knew. But when asked for a demonstration, the girl came through. Her eyes squinted in concentration and her hands swelled pink as they were engorged with blood. And then a frying pan floated toward her. It came to rest on the tabletop gently.
The male interviewer laughed. “Nice trick, but you could’ve rigged something up before we got here. Try this instead.” He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and slapped it down on the kitchen table.
