The Preston Six Collection: (Book 1, 2 and 3)

by Ryan, Matt

  She let out a long breath and relaxed on her bench. “When we get close, let me know.”

  “I will.”

  She looked at a passing building. “There’s something’s been bothering me. What if the next door, is the door?”

  “What do you mean?” The soft ripples of water bounced against the boat. He never really thought about what was on the other side because they would never find a door leading to anywhere MM didn’t want them going.

  “Let’s say we open a door and it’s like the MM control room for this place. Then what? Can you take on a room full of people?”

  Joey felt the metal bracelets on his wrists. Without them on, he could have. “No.”

  “I’ve been thinking of something, a theory.”

  Joey leaned back, enjoying a new conversation. “Let’s hear it.”

  “I think there is a stone attached to this place.”

  Joey shook his head.

  “Think about it. You could transport someone here, you could make them believe they were somewhere they weren’t. It would just be a jump here and bam, you’re in the scene generator. You could fool people easily, manipulate them.”

  Joey’s brow furrowed and he leaned forward, curious about this theory. He knew from the look on her face she was holding something back.

  “How did you come up with this?”

  She crossed her arms and glanced ahead, a bit of color hit her cheeks. “I found something a while ago, and it didn’t make sense until now.”

  “What?”

  “I was searching through my mom’s old notebooks from high school, you know, snooping around for information. Anyway, I came across a letter she wrote. She wrote about how she and my dad went on this fantastic trip to a magical land with a castle.”

  “Sounds like a fairy tale.”

  “Just listen,” she blurted. “She spoke of a magician man that took them there. She talked about a dome and opening the dome to get to this fantastic world.”

  He wiped the skeptical smile from his face and leaned closer to her. “You think your parents came here?”

  “I do, all of our parents actually.”

  Joey felt the thumping in his chest. He looked around and wondered if his parents came to this place or one like it. Was this part of what Isaac had done to them? Was he conceived in a place like this? His mind rattled on with wild thoughts.

  Samantha placed her hand over his. “I couldn’t make any sense of it, so I just put it back and figured it was a fairy tale, like you said. But look at this,” she pointed around them, “look at what they can create. They could have fed our parents any reality they wanted.”

  “I just can’t believe it, why wouldn’t they tell us?”

  Samantha laughed. “My mom wrote it all out and I didn’t believe it or understand it. Some things you just have to experience.”

  Joey looked ahead. He felt, for the first time since she opened the maintenance door, anticipation for the next door. He wanted the boat to move faster. If she was right, a stone could be on the other side of one. The idea seemed so out there, how could it not be true?

  She shifted in her seat and snuggled up closer to him. “I’d love to hear another story about what happened while we were apart.”

  Joey swallowed. He’d told her most of it, but had left out some parts.

  “What would you like to hear?” They passed under another bridge, the lights dimmed and the area opened up to a large party on the shoreline. People danced and partied around the empty spaces between tables. It looked like a wedding. Last time it was a concert.

  “I’ve got to hear more about this Arrack planet.”

  Joey looked to the floor boards of the boat. He kept most of the story after that to a minimum. Reliving it in his mind was bad enough, but describing it to someone else was unbearable. “Nothing much, we found a friend and she helped us escape.”

  “Yeah, but Simon was on you, right? He just let you go?”

  “Pretty much.”

  That prying look spread across her face. He was terrible at keeping things hidden.

  “You know you can tell me anything?” Her eyes narrowed. “I’m not some fragile thing you have to protect. If we are going to make it out here, for who knows how long, we can’t hold anything back, I don’t want there to be any distance between us.” She moved closer and slid her arm behind his back, resting her face on his chest.

  Joey sighed and brushed her hair. He knew eventually he would have to start telling her the awful things that happened as well. She was right about holding it in, she had the right to know what had happened, so he told her. He explained in detail the events surrounding their escape from Arrack, Simon shooting Poly, and ending with them getting caught in a toy store.

  She didn’t say anything at first and searched his face, probably seeing if there was more. “Thank you, and don’t ever give me half stories again. It’s just as bad as lying.”

  “I won’t.” He leaned back a bit and felt as if some of the weight was lifted off of him. It felt good telling her the whole story, but it also brought back vivid memories of Poly.

  Samantha put one hand on his leg and the other over his shoulder, pulling him closer. She kissed him on the cheek, a soft, sweet kiss that felt more intimate than some of the kisses they shared on their lips.

  “I’m glad you found me,” she said.

  Joey smiled. “I’m glad I’m with you.”

  “That’s another thing I’ve been thinking about. Remember my mom’s story—”

  “Diary.”

  “Yes, her diary. There’s something I didn’t tell you. In it, she wrote about her first time with my dad.” Hints of red hit her cheeks and she said in a rush, “it wasn’t as if I was expecting my mom to write about it in her story. I shoved the paper back in her folder and never looked at it again, but they were in this place or something like it. I think we were conceived here. If Isaac hadn’t done what he did, I don’t think we would be here.”

  Joey didn’t like this theory. “Our parents created us.”

  She seemed annoyed. “I know that, but I’m saying Isaac set in motion the events that led to us being born.”

  She rubbed his leg as he turned to face the party on the shore line. Another tune started up and the party erupted into a ruckus of fast dancing. They weren’t robots, they all moved with fluid accuracy. Must have been a projection of some kind, he liked to think it was a real event that they recorded and played it back here.

  “We decide our fate now.” He never wanted to find the door more than then.

  “Yes, we do.” She nudged up closer to him, while her hand moved higher up, finding its way into the tight space between his inner thighs.

  He reacted to her touch and squirmed back. He cleared his throat, and pointed ahead. “The door’s up here.”

  She jolted from her seat and looked ahead. “Up there? We can jump onto the sidewalk.”

  He spotted the landing, right next to an ornate stone chapel with leaded-glass windows and doors. Joey stood with uneasy footing. The boat swayed and he held Samantha’s hand.

  “I’ll jump first and pull you out right after,” Joey said.

  She nodded her head and faced the oncoming platform. Joey stepped from the boat, onto the stone pavers. Samantha extended her hand and she stepped on the edge of the boat, but it was rocking quite a bit from when he got off. He gripped her hand tight. She tried to jump and the boat moved under her foot, dropping her off the back of the boat.

  Joey held her hand tight and gripped her wrist with his other hand. “Hang on, I got ya.”

  “Hurry, another boat’s coming.” Her legs kicked in the water.

  An empty boat floated toward her. She would be smashed against the concrete wall if the boat got to her. Joey kneeled down and pulled at her. If he had his normal strength, he could have yanked her out with no problem. Now, he strained and had to pull with everything he had.

  Samantha used her free arm and grabbed the stone edge. The
empty boat passed under the bridge and was only a few feet away. With Samantha’s help, he pulled her onto the sidewalk. His back leaned against the chapel wall, breathing hard.

  “Man that was close.”

  “You’d think they’d have some safety thing on these rides.” Samantha’s black pants dripped water onto the gray stones. She took in deep breaths, staring at the moving water in the canal. “Where’s this door?”

  Joey used his thumb to point behind him.

  “The chapel?” She stood up and stared into the leaded windows. “I see it.”

  He knew she would. He stood and gazed into the window with her. Rows of seats faced a podium and at the back of the room a small green exit sign hung above a door.

  Samantha yanked open the flimsy glass door and moved so fast to the back, he had to jog to keep up with her. She placed her hand on the knob and stared him in the eyes. “You think this is it?”

  “Only one way to find out.” He thought the chances were about zero, but at least he got another boat ride with her out of it.

  She turned the knob and slowly opened the door. They stood there, stunned at the sight.

  LUCAS SAT ON THE WARM sand with his pants pulled above his ankles. He pushed his toes into the white sand and watched the small waves roll up, soaking the earth, before pulling back out. He liked the way the sand changed as the water receded, looking muddy to sandy as the water drained.

  He’d never been on a beach, except for the brief encounter with Poly before they rushed with Harris to Sanct, and even then, it was with shoes and not a moment to actually feel it. The water rippled from the nearby aircraft. It hung there with a ramp leading to the sand.

  This was their fifth beach today, searching for the mutants. Lucas glanced over his shoulder into the jungle. Somewhere in there, Hank and Harris were trekking through the thick jungle while he sat on the beach to guard the ship. He let out a sigh and took a fistful of sand and squeezed it through his fingers.

  “Lucas?”

  Shocked at hearing a voice, Lucas spun to his feet, drawing his bow. Breathing hard, he lowered it. “Kris?” He remembered their brief encounter before they boarded the aircraft with Poly.

  “What are you doing here?” Kris’s hand rested on the dagger at his hip.

  “We’re looking for you,” Lucas said.

  Confusion spread over Kris’s face. He took his hand off his dagger and folded his arms. Lucas didn’t think he’d be the one talking to Kris. He stood straight as he pulled the bow back onto his shoulder.

  “We need your help, let me call Harris and he can meet us.” Lucas held his Panavice to his mouth. “Harris?”

  “Yeah,” Harris’s voice warbled through.

  “I found Kris, we’re at the beach.”

  “Be right there.”

  Lucas lowered his Panavice and glanced at Kris’s eyes, they were full of questions. Harris and Hank had spent a few hours in the jungle and he didn’t think “be right there” was an accurate description of the time.

  “Please, Lucas, tell me. What do you need from us?” Kris asked.

  “It’s Harris’s plan, better to wait on him,” he stalled.

  “Well, if it’s anything us mutants have, it’s time.” Kris smiled and opened his arms. “Let us sit and we can talk about other things, like Poly.” Kris sat on the sand and patted it with his hands for Lucas to sit next to him.

  Lucas adjusted his bow and looked at the spot. A few steps and he settled in next to him. The shirtless man’s muscles rippled as he extended his arm for a handshake. Lucas took the hand and felt the power in his grip. He squeezed back, not wanting to be some limp-man-hand-shaker.

  “Tell me, how is she?”

  “Fine,” Lucas said.

  “She left an impression on a few here. She’s got the girls back at camp wearing their hair like her and playing with bamboo swords, throwing anything similar to a knife around. They call her Blade Girl.”

  Lucas chuckled at the way the man talked about her, as if she was a super hero. He thought of her as the girl from Preston, his friend. Then he blinked and looked at the sand, thinking of some of the things he had seen from Poly—her duel with Travis, killing grinners and MM guards. Maybe she was amazing.

  “She would be happy to hear that,” Lucas said.

  “I assume she isn’t with you all?”

  “No, it’s just me, Harris, and Hank.”

  Kris’s head cocked sideways at Hank’s name.

  A rustling in the jungle shrubs announced Harris’s arrival. He emerged at a near run, breathing hard. He glanced at Lucas as he walked over and shook Kris’s hand.

  “You’re not an easy man to find,” Harris said.

  “Well, after half my tribe was killed, you find ways to be cautious.”

  “I’m so sorry for your losses,” Harris lowered his head and shot another glance at Lucas. “Kris, I take you as a no-nonsense man and I won’t dance around why we’re here. We want you and your tribe to make an appearance at Brissels City.”

  “Brissels? The city on the edge of MM’s reach. . . .” Kris appeared to be talking to himself, looking away.

  “If you can stir up enough trouble there, it may give me enough distraction to get to him,” Harris said.

  Lucas had heard Harris’s plan on the many hours they had trekked through the jungle together. He held back a chuckle at the thought of a tribe of mutants taking over a city. Harris said Marcus wouldn’t harm the mutants and would only send them back to the isle. What went wrong with Poly then? Half the tribe was killed off.

  Hank busted through the green banana plants, sweat dripping from his face and shirt. He hunched over and breathed in deep. Harris had obviously left him.

  Kris watched Hank as he walked to the edge of the water. The sun, high in the sky, painted the ocean with an orange streak. It was reflected in the shaky waters. Kris turned to address them, the playful look on his face gone. “Are you going to kill him?”

  Harris’s face looked grim, the wind blowing his hair around, the sunlight bouncing on and off his face as the trees above swayed around. Lucas could feel the tension building as Harris didn’t answer.

  “If I can, I will.”

  “Then you have our service,” Kris said with a wicked smile. “But I can’t guarantee everyone will play nice.”

  Harris bowed his head. “Thank you. And Kris, please let all of your abilities shine. I think it’s time for the world to see you and your kind.”

  Lucas studied Kris, looking for a third arm or some kind of laser vision, but he looked like a regular guy. He wondered what the mutants could do. Poly mentioned a girl that could blow hard and that had definitely piqued his interest, but she’d walked away, annoyed, before he could learn more about this girl.

  Hank staggered past them, sweat dripping down his pale face.

  Lucas thought he might throw up. “You gonna make it, Hank?”

  “I . . .” Hank tried to talk between breaths, “ran . . . the whole way. Harris . . . is so fast.” He swiped the sweat from his forehead and shook it off his hand onto the sand.

  Lucas had a few jokes wrapped up in his mind, but looked at Kris and thought he better not push it.

  “Well, big man,” Kris jumped into the conversation, “go splash your face with some water. It’s cold.”

  Hank stumbled to the water line, ignoring the water running over his sneakers and grabbed at the shallow water, splashing his face and rubbing it on the back of his neck.

  Lucas peered up at the sun, couldn’t have been more than ninety-five degrees, what a big baby. He glanced at Harris and held back more jokes at Hank’s expense.

  “You any good with that, son?” Kris asked.

  Lucas turned and pointed at his chest. Kris nodded.

  “You could say that,” Lucas said as he looked over Kris’s body. “What’s your mutation?” The words stumbled out of his mouth. He wanted to grab them back, but it was too late.

  Harris shook his head, but Kris smile
d.

  “Sorry—” Harris said.

  “No, it’s fine. It’s a tradition among us mutants. We’re not ashamed.” Kris pulled his dagger from his side and held it in his hand. His arm began to spin around like a windmill. The speed increased until it blurred. The dagger left his hand and impacted the trunk of a palm tree, splintering it. The dagger was deeply imbedded.

  Lucas stared at the tree, adjusted his bow and turned to Kris. “Pretty dang cool.” It was way more than cool. Lucas stared at the dagger and back to Kris’s arm. It was one thing hearing about these abilities, but a whole other thing to see them in person. Lucas’s mind ran wild with the possibilities of what that man could do. He smiled. “Do you hurt yourself . . . when . . . you know?”

  Kris laughed and looked at his hand. “No, but my wife sure does love it.” He wiggled his fingers and laughed again. Even Harris cracked a smile. “You guys should come to the village. We’ve set it up inland, until things with MM cool down. Maybe a two-mile walk.”

  Hank, hunched over, waved his hand and shook his head. “We really should be getting back to the bunker.”

  “Why do we need to get back to the bunker?” Lucas asked.

  “We need to plan stuff.”

  “Oh yeah, like what?” Lucas liked stringing Hank along.

  “Stuff,” Hank let out.

  “Thank you for the invite, Kris, but we’ll have to do it another time. I need to get these boys back to the bunker,” Harris said. “Here’s a Pana. We can communicate on an encrypted line.”

  Kris took the Panavice. “Thanks, I’ll get everything organized on my side.”

  “Great seeing you again, Kris.” Lucas extended his hand for a handshake. Kris’s hand grasped his and shook it up and down violently. Lucas jerked his hand back and shook it with a painful sting.

  Kris laughed and Lucas glared at the man. Harris put a hand on Lucas’s shoulder and turned him toward the aircraft. Lucas looked over his shoulder to give the hand-shaking man a dirty look, but he was gone. Hank walked next to Lucas with a big smile on his face.