by Matt Ryan
LUCAS RUSHED TOWARD THE MAN, stone in hand.
“No, get away from me.” The man cowered, keeping his attention on Lucas’s hand.
Lucas waved the rock around, thrusting it toward the man. “You don’t want this near you, do you?”’
“No, and how can you be holding it? What are you?”
Lucas grabbed the man by the shirt and moved the rock near his face.
“Please, no.”
“Just stop this contraption from taking people. End it.”
“I can’t. It’s automatic. I don’t have control over it.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I’m just here to make sure there aren’t any anomalies, like you.”
“Then you throw this at them? What is it supposed to do?”
“Kill you. It should dissolve into your skin and kill you. No one can hold onto a stone like that. . . .” His eyes went wide and he scurried backward, but Lucas held him tight. “Are you like the queen?”
“Maybe I am. Now, why don’t you tell me how to stop this thing, before I have to use this stone on you.”
“I told you, I can’t. I swear. I wish I could help you. I don’t like this any more than you do.”
Lucas let go of the man and pushed him back. “We’re going to stop this, one way or another.”
“Sorry, kid, but she’s going to kill you and there’s nothing you can do about it.” The man shoved his hand in his pocket and disappeared.
“Crap. Where the hell did he go?” Lucas regretted not killing the man.
After being sure the man had completed a disappearing act, he went back to the machine. There had to be some way to stop it. But there was nothing on the walls, no controls, or levers, or screens to type into. Where was Evelyn when he actually needed her?
The egg flashed on the next person, like a prolonged lightning bolt, and then faded. Something clanked around on the inside and Lucas knew another person had been killed. The door clattered and Lucas ran to it. If he couldn’t stop the machine, he’d stop them from getting in.
“Stop it,” he screamed at the door, pushing back with his best efforts. “They are going to kill you.”
Something struck the back of Lucas’s neck and he spun around to see five people standing near the egg, glaring at him. The man had returned with friends.
“See? They don’t affect him. They just bounce off.”
“Did you use a breaker on him?” A man with a long coat asked.
“No, just some absorbers.”
Lucas looked around for an exit. He knew of some stairs beyond the door . . . as long as the building had the same layout as Hector’s. But the second he opened that door, the people would flood in.
“You there, boy, what’s your name?”
Lucas reached for Prudence, but she wasn’t with him anymore. He cringed and pulled an arrow from his back and held it out like a spear.
“My name’s Ben,” the man with the long coat said. “You should put that little pointer down before you get hurt.”
Lucas walked sideways, giving space for the door with a group of people desperately trying to end their lives.
“Don’t take another step,” Ben said.
“You guys are going to regret the moment you stepped on this planet.”
Ben laughed and the men with him shared in the chuckle. “You think we care about regret? You think we want this job? No, we just want you all to lie down, face the facts, and stop giving us a hard time.”
“Have you heard from your friends back at the dome?” Lucas taunted, kicking at the foot of the chair holding the door closed. “Oh, that’s right, they’re all dead. Sorry about that. Real bummer.”
“What’s he talking about?”
Ben held his hand up and took a step closer. “If what you say is true, then you must know of the little one.”
“I do.”
“She’s all the queen wants. Just tell us where she is and we can be on our way. We won’t even kill you.”
“She’s close,” Lucas said.
“How close?”
“Real close. Just check up your friend’s ass.” Lucas kicked the chair loose and the door flung open, five people collapsed into the room.
A stone flew by and hit the wall in front of him. Green smoke poured from the stone, but Lucas ran through the cloud and to the stairs. His eyes watered from the mist, as he bounded down the stairs, glancing back up to see the men entering the stairwell with him.
He raced down the next three flights and reached the bottom of the staircase. Kicking open the door, he slid to a stop. At the end of the lobby, stood a large group of men and women. One stepped out front, or more like she floated past the people as they gave her space. She looked beautiful, angelic. Lucas couldn’t help but stare.
“Hello, Lucas,” she said and even her voice soothed him. “I’ve been waiting for you. We have much to discuss.” She appeared directly in front of him and ran the back of her hand across his cheek.
Lucas closed his eyes and felt her smooth skin against his. “Are you—”
“Yes, I am her.”
“You’re. . . .” He couldn’t find the words.
“I have that effect on people. Don’t worry, it will all be over soon. Just relax your thoughts and we can have a conversation without words,” she said.
Lucas grinded his teeth and let the woman think she had him under her spell as he nodded his head. Maybe it worked on simple-minded people, but living through a grinner bite and being one of the Six, allotted him some powers of his own. “That would be nice,” he said.
Spotting the part of her neck he’d attack, he stared at it, gripping the black stone in his hand, waiting for his chance. The crowd behind her watched him, vying for the best view, as if he was a sideshow freak they weren’t sure if they were supposed to fear or pity.
She closed her eyes and he felt her mental punch at his head, but it might as well have been against a steel wall. Her eyes shot open in surprise. He seized the moment, slamming the black stone onto her neck. It absorbed into her and she screamed, clawing at her neck.
So that’s what it’s supposed to do.
Something struck Lucas in the back of the head and he fell to the ground, as people rushed to the queen.
“LET’S DO THIS,” EVELYN SAID to Travis, nodding at the group of purge people surrounding their car. She and Travis put their hands on the car door and pushed it open.
Travis led the way and fired multiple shots before she’d even left the car. Jackie shoved by her and threw a stone at the purge group. More purge people through stones from a nearby alley. Evelyn sneered and tried to stop them with her mind, but it didn’t work. They were blocking her. She looked at her small hands and equally small body. If she couldn’t do the things she could do, what use was she?
“Get back,” Jackie said as a stone struck the ground and turned the asphalt road into a black pool of liquid. It smoked and reeked of tar. Jackie pulled on Evelyn and spun her around as she ran behind Travis to the back of the next car. He fired over the trunk at the purge people huddling next to their cars, while Jackie threw another stone high into the sky. It broke open and bits of the stone rained down on the purge people. Screams could be heard and Evelyn eyed Jackie. Was she really helping them?
Doing the things she was doing, meant she’d crossed a line with her kind; one she’d never be able to walk back over. Evelyn grew a smidgeon of trust in Jackie, even if the woman had tried to have her killed. People could change, she had to believe in that.
“They’re blocking me.” Evelyn tugged on Jackie’s arm.
“They probably have a white stone. They’d need something from you to make it work though.”
“At the diner, that cop pulled out some of my hair.” She felt the top of her head.
“It also means they have some powerful people on their side, if they are able to make a stone like that. We just need to find the person using the stone and stop them, then the block will end.”
Jackie looked over the back of the car. “I don’t see anyone. But they’ll be struggling to hold down a person like you. They’re probably in one of the cars.” She threw a stone. It flew and struck a car. The whole car exploded, then a brilliant white light shone. Many of the nearby purge people ducked behind their own cars. The white light disappeared, as well as the car it’d struck.
Evelyn looked from where the car had been to Jackie. What could these not do? She tried to slow down time, but she was still blocked.
Travis kept firing. “What’s the plan here, ladies?” he asked between shots.
“You need to find this person, and kick their ass,” Jackie said. “You can do it with your mind, I bet. Just feel the ground and you’ll be able to sense where they are.”
“How do you know this?”
“I’ve seen the queen do it when she wants to find someone. I’m betting you can do the same.”
Evelyn knelt down and put her hands on the ground. She wasn’t sure what it was, but she felt something; she had a greater connection to whatever it was. Evelyn closed her eyes and searched for the place she couldn’t go, to the wall blocking her.
She imagined a 3D world to travel in, seeing the brick walls on all four sides. One wall seemed larger than the rest, but it was purely a construct of her mind. If she learned anything from studying Julie, she knew there would be a workaround, like a back door or a secret knock.
She approached the wall and heard Travis yelling. But it wouldn’t matter, soon she’d have her powers back and she’d end all of them.
Closer to the brick wall, she found a crack. Not quite big enough for a finger, but it might as well have been a mile wide. She built her rage to a boiling point, then unleashed a scream at the wall, right at the crack. It blew down, disappearing into the black void. On the other side, a young girl lay on the ground in a fetal position. She couldn’t have been more than sixteen.
This girl had power over her, and she couldn’t allow that.
She found the girl’s mind and then probed into it. She felt a lot of resistance from her, more than the average person, but it was no matter, she got in. The girl covered her head with her hands and groaned.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick.” Evelyn pictured a mind bullet, then stopped. She didn’t have to kill. Maybe just disable her. If this simple girl could stop her from doing her thing, than anyone could stop her. A bum on the street might grab her, or some child molester could snatch her up and she’d never be seen again. She couldn’t let that happen. Never again. And if they brought up another one of these savants, she’d know how to handle them quickly.
She forced her idea into the girl’s head of deep sleep, and then wiped her mind clean, so she couldn’t wake up and do this again. Evelyn didn’t like being so cruel to a stranger, but she couldn’t have a person like that stopping her. She released the girl, and she disappeared in every sense, even her stream of embers; her golden strands of connections to the world, gone.
The shock sent Evelyn out of that world and into reality. Travis and Jackie had dragged her behind another car, further away.
“I killed her,” Evelyn whispered to Jackie.
“Sorry, kid. Sometimes, people deserve to die. Time to do your thing, end this.”
Evelyn closed her eyes and heard the dull tones of the slowed down world. She stood and walked around Travis. The purge people crowded behind their cars, as bullets struck the doors and windshields around them. A few people hadn’t been as lucky, and lay on the ground, clutching various body parts.
A gunpowder smell filled the air as she walked toward the purge people. They didn’t see a single gun on them. Were they solely using stones as their offense? A few stones hung in the air. They were heading toward Travis, but she’d make sure they never hit him. She just needed to take care of these people first.
Walking past the first open car door, she touched the man with his arm reeled back in preparation of a throw. A green stone lay in his hand, but Evelyn gave him the thought to pass out and forget everything he knew for the past few months.
She moved around and was surprised at how few of the purge people there actually were. There couldn’t have been more than ten, and in a few minutes, she had touched them all. She then went to the alley, where two more men were waiting, and gave them the same sleep command and memory wipe.
Skipping down the alley toward Travis and Jackie, Evelyn felt good about besting these people. How dare they try and take away the thing that makes her special. Those few errant stones floating in the air didn’t pose a risk once she dragged Travis and Jackie to the next block. Far away enough from it all but close enough for her to see the stupid men fall to the ground.
She released time.
Travis spun around, taking in his new surroundings. “If you’re going to do that, you need to tell me.”
“Nice work, girl.” Jackie said, eying the collapsing purge people. “You kill them all?” she asked with some hope in her voice.
“I didn’t kill them. I just gave them a reason to lay down. And when they get up, they might not know where they are, or what’s been going on for the last few months.”
Travis shook his head and smiled. “You are a wicked one, Evelyn. I’m glad you’re on our side.”
“Who said I’m on your side?” She smiled and watched as he took her in with his piercing eyes. The temptation to look into his mind grew, but she looked at the ground and took a deep breath. It wouldn’t be right to read him in that way. Besides, he would know. Having a friend in a world was rare for her, and she didn’t want to risk losing him.
“Watch out!” Jackie yelled.
Evelyn spun around, only to see the cop from the café standing at the end of the alley, pointing a gun with a large round barrel at her.
She went to slow time as the projectile from the gun came hurtling toward her. Travis pushed her out of the way, and it struck him in the neck.
“No!” Evelyn screamed and fell to his side.
Jackie screamed and threw a stone at the cop. A young man with bright blond hair stepped out from a door. Jackie’s eyes went wide as he struck her in the face with a stone. She crashed to the ground and didn’t move.
Something struck Evelyn in the back, like two pens stabbing her. Then shockwaves crashed through her nervous system, and she lost touch with the world. Everything seized, as all her muscles fired. She fell to the ground, convulsing. A shadow moved over her, and another shot of electricity raced through her. She would have screamed if she could have, but only a grunting sound left her lips.
“Should have killed me when you had the chance.” The cop dropped a stone and it struck her on the forehead.
The world went black.
POLY STARED AT THE SKY. The cubes were gone, and with them, Lucas Pratt.
She wanted to know why these things kept happening to them. They were good people, trying to live normal lives, but the worlds were against them. Maybe the six of them were cursed. Maybe Simon hadn’t genetically modified them for Marcus, but for some long con about how much a person could handle and still be a human.
Derek put a hand over her shoulder and pulled her close.
The Preston air blew past them as they stood together on Trip’s front porch. Julie sobbed nearby, while holding onto Will. Trip could be heard cursing about how he didn’t steal enough RPG’s. And Poly openly cried, not just for Lucas, but for all of the days she’d been holding back for Joey.
Leading a simple life at her house, with her mom and Evelyn by her side, she’d felt like she might be able to live without him. But this invasion was too much, and she needed him more than ever.
“Will, we have to get you hooked back up to the radio. All those people. . . .” Julie said.
“Something happened, the power went out.” Will pulled the wires attached to his head. “I can keep you all safe, I just couldn’t reach Dad. I don’t know, he’s . . . blocked from me.”
“How did you know how to do that?
” Julie said as she squeezed him.
“Evelyn taught me.”
Julie shot Poly a look.
Poly had felt Will’s mind in hers when they were battling the cubes. If it wasn’t for him, they’d all be in that cube. She slammed her eyes shut, forcing out the last tears. “We can get to him,” she said. “I saw the direction the thing went. We just need to get to the tower before they process him.”
“What do you mean?” Trip asked.
“We’ve seen this before, in another world. They will take him to a tower near here, and do something to him. We were able to stop Edith.”
“Evelyn stopped Edith,” Julie corrected.
“But we have to try.”
“I’ll go as well,” Derek offered, lifting his good hand up. Poly nodded.
Tears fell from Julie’s face and then she leaned down to Will. “Can you stay here with Trip to get the radio back up and working?”
“If you’re going to save Daddy, I should probably come along. What if those cubes come after you again?” Will said.
“We can handle it, sweetie. You stay here and protect Trip and Gretchen. We’re going to go save Daddy and be right back.” She grabbed him in her arms and squeezed him tight.
Poly took in a deep breath. She’d never gotten that one last hug from Evelyn.
“I bet a breaker blew,” Trip said to Will. “Think you can give it another go?”
Will frowned and looked back at Julie. “I lied. Nothing broke. I just didn’t like getting into so many of their heads. It’s not right to know all of their thoughts. I never knew how horrible people can be inside their own heads.”
“What are you saying?” Julie asked.
“Nothing. I’ll save them for you because I know this is important. Plus, we can’t let the queen get any more souls. If she gets any more powerful, Evelyn won’t have a chance against her.”
Poly jumped at the mention of her daughter’s name. “Have you been contacted by her?”
“No, not since she left the planet,” Will said. “And I haven’t felt her return since.”
