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

by Ryan, Matt

  Julie ran behind Harris and watched as the man in orange took off his hat. His stone face didn’t cheer, it didn’t have any expression at all. His hands didn’t clap. His eyes stared at Poly with a calmness. He stepped from the crowd and moved to Poly with deadly confidence.

  Poly reacted to the albatross coming at her. She swung her sword at him, but he grabbed it with his hand and yanked it from her. The sword clattered on the ground.

  Julie and Harris were still ten feet away when the man raised his gun.

  Harris’s gun extended, and in a flash the orange man matched Harris’s move. Julie had a split second to decide what to do. She slid her thumb on the Panavice’s hot button and grabbed Harris. The shield formed around them and the bullets bounced off. Harris slowed down a hair as he picked her up with his free arm and ran with her. Julie clung to him.

  The orange man wrapped his arms around Poly and her body went limp. The man jumped and launched into the air. Julie gawked at the sight of the orange man holding Poly ten, then fifty feet in the air. The air around Poly shimmered and she dangled in his arms. A loud humming sound emanated from above. In a second, they were streaking across the sky and out of the city. Julie stared at the dot in the sky as it disappeared.

  “No, no, no,” Harris screamed, hitting himself in the head repeatedly.

  The crowd stopped its joyful roar and started a confused mumble. They pointed to the sky, wondering what happened. Julie didn’t need to wonder, Marcus had Poly.

  She let go of Harris and turned off their shield. She watched Harris hold back tears as he paced and looked to the sky where Poly had been. Julie didn’t have such control, she fell to her knees and screamed, tears falling down her face.

  “What happened?” Travis asked. Lucas jumped from the stage and joined them.

  “They took Poly,” Julie slobbered out. She’d deal with him later.

  “Who?” Lucas asked.

  “I know who took her,” Harris said. “Emmett. The only man to ever make it to rank nine, besides me.”

  “THE COMPOUND ON RYJACK IS nearly completed,” Emmett reported.

  Marcus raised an eyebrow and looked at Emmett. He went back to the steel beds holding Poly, Joey, and Samantha. They lay unconscious, with white sheets draped over them up to their neck. A clear mask covered their faces. They wouldn’t be waking from their dreams anytime soon.

  He leaned over Joey and stared at his face. After all the tests, they still couldn’t figure out how he did what he did. In time, Marcus would solve that problem. But until that time, his prizes would be kept hidden and safe from Vanar’s future in a Ryjack compound.

  “I want you to make the transfer, personally,” Marcus said.

  “Yes,” Emmett said.

  This pleased Marcus. With the kids sent to Ryjack, they would be out of reach for Harris and held in a safe place for when he needed them again. Harris was one of the few things that still intrigued him on the planet. He doubted Harris would try to get them back, he had used them to his extent. Even if one of Harris’s many plans bared fruit, it wouldn’t matter anymore.

  “And the Ryjack scene generator is up and running?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good, I don’t want them even to know where they are. I think we’ll have a better chance of conception with this Poly girl.” Marcus knew eventually something had to happen between the kids, they could only keep it in their pants for so long. Poly or Samantha, it didn’t matter. They’d create the perfect baby just the same. The savior would be born and he’d have all the tools necessary to deal with the inevitable future.

  He sighed. It was time to start closing all the deals he made on Vanar.

  “Do you want me to remove this Samantha girl?”

  “No, they both are equal candidates for conception.”

  Marcus gazed at Samantha, pretty girl. If he had been interested in such things, he might have pursued her. Maybe in another life.

  “Very well,” Emmett said.

  “Do you have the reports about Mutant Isle?”

  “Yes, it appears they were trying to orchestrate an attack on a city. If you like, I can make a personal trip there and get a complete story.”

  “No,” Marcus said. He looked at Emmett’s face, seeing if the question had anymore meaning. Emmett, for a long time, was confused about his handlings of the Mutants. But being Marcus Malliden meant not explaining yourself. After a few seconds, his facial search didn’t show anything. Not that it didn’t mean he wasn’t hiding his emotion, Emmett was very good at that. He bet Emmett would love to go there, he’d always hated the mutants.

  “Is there anything else before I go to Ryjack?”

  “Yes, we lost Max. I want you to select some candidates for rank eight and send their files to me.” Everything he spoke was on automatic. Emmett could appoint that R4 dolt, Phil, for all he cared.

  “It will be done,’ Emmett said, interrupting his thoughts.

  “Emmett, did you have a chance to kill Harris?”

  “My priority was getting Poly. I could have, yes.”

  Marcus stared into Emmett’s blank face. Emmett and Harris shared history, with Harris being the one to recommend Emmett’s promotion.

  “The other girl, Julie, she created a shield.”

  That girl amused him. She found, in such a short time, what so many had spent a lifetime failing to figure out. If he cared enough, he’d recruit her into the ranks.

  “I could send some Sevens to intercept her.”

  “No, it’s not necessary.”

  Emmett nodded. “I’ll be in Ryjack—”

  “I know where you are going. I wouldn’t be surprised if those other three, Lucas, Hank, and Julie come for them.” Marcus pointed to the slumbering bodies.

  “They will die before they even get to the gates of the Ryjack bunker,” Emmett said.

  “I doubt it.” Marcus opened the door and Emmett left the room.

  Ten million of those vile dead things roamed around the streets of L.A. Marcus suppressed the rising anger. Isaac had ruined an entire world he could have experimented with. He had such plans for Ryjack. But, not to worry, he had another planet to play with now. Another planet to do everything right this time.

  First, it was time to settle up with the Arracks and stop limiting his mother, Alice.

  SOMETHING WET AND COLD SEEPED into her clothes and Poly felt the blades of grass on her fingertips. She sat upright and gazed into the mist surrounding her.

  Where am I?

  She placed her palm over her mouth at the image of a man coming out of the crowd and grabbing her. Who was that man? She scanned the fog around her, searching for Julie, Lucas, Harris, anyone.

  She stumbled getting to her feet. The thick mist around her felt as if it was in her head, she must be dreaming, or worse. Did that man kill her? Was this Heaven? Her body felt lighter, her head spun and she grabbed her temples. Would Heaven have headaches?

  Knives, they never let her down. She searched her body for a piece of metal, but the clothes she wore weren’t the ones Julie and her made. It was a simple black shirt and pants with a pair of flats. Why would Heaven’s clothes be so plain?

  “No,” Poly said. “No, no, no. I’m not ready.” She couldn’t be dead, she had more to do.

  Max had lay dead on a street in Sanct, she’d won. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end. She was going to save Joey and Samantha and get the Preston Six back together. How could she have failed?

  Next to the grass, a dirt path led into the mist. Poly followed the dirt path—she was going to have words with St. Peter. She passed a water fountain trickling water into a large round basin. She walked by, not wanting to give it the time it may have deserved, being so exquisite and all.

  Ahead, the shape of a house—no, a castle—emerged from the fog. She never thought the gatekeepers would be in a castle. Then she looked at the grounds in front of the castle, there was grass leading up to a large oak tree.

  Poly froze, she couldn’t
move. Her mouth opened, wanting to scream, but it choked in paralysis. She knew right then she wasn’t in Heaven, she was in Hell. She would run if she could, anything to get away from what she saw. Her throat stopped its seize long enough for her to get out a scream. Once it started, she couldn’t stop.

  Fifty feet in front of her, on a blanket strewn in the grass, was Samantha Roslin, stretched out on top of Joey Foust. Kissing, under an oak tree.

  “HOW COULD YOU LET THIS happen?” Lucas yelled, pointing to the sky as he approached Harris and Julie.

  Poly had been taken and now three of his friends were gone to Marcus. The surrounding crowd, who had once been ruckus and violent, had fallen silent. They stared at a mere vapor trail—a cruel reminder of Emmett’s departure with his friend.

  Harris regarded him with a distant look, shaking his head absentmindedly. “I wasn’t expecting Emmett.”

  “And what’s this about, you being a rank nine? You were part of them?” Lucas asked.

  Julie let go of Harris and the fog lifted from her eyes as she looked around. She made eye contact with Lucas and ran for him. He embraced her sobbing face into his chest, feeling the strange fabric wrapping around her like a shawl. Leaning close, he whispered in her ear, “You look ridiculous.”

  She chuckled and raised her head. Lucas pulled a few strands of hair back from her teary eyes. “We made these clothes to blend in. Poly glued a lot of the seams.” She looked up at the sky.

  Lucas glanced at Travis. He stood behind Harris, a sword trembling in his hand. Harris either didn’t notice him, or more than likely chose to ignore him, as Lucas didn’t think Harris could miss Travis’s rushed breaths as he stared at the back of his head.

  The crowd began to rumble with conversation. Travis turned his attention to the mob and lowered his sword. He jumped on a pile of broken lumber, the remnants of the broken stage. A camera flew close to his face and he spoke loud. “MM wants us to put our weapons down, they want us to give in.” The people booed. “But not this time, my friends. We will be oppressed no longer. Let’s take our city back!” He raised his sword.

  The crowd became a tornado of cheers and movement.

  “What’s going on?” Hank asked, walking up next to the group.

  Lucas spun to face him. “Naptime over, sleeping beauty?” He wanted to hug the guy, but that meant letting go of Julie.

  Hank rubbed his eyes and shook his head. “What the hell happened back there? The last thing I remember was taking off on that plane, surrounded by the mutants.”

  “Oh, you didn’t miss much. I just single-handedly took down the MM pilot and co-pilot of our aircraft, flew us over to Sanct, to where Poly killed Max, live in front of the entire world, just before she was kidnapped by some MM guy named Emmett. Oh, and Harris used to work for MM,” Lucas said.

  Hank surveyed the surrounding chaos. “Where is she?” he said in a slight panic.

  “They took her, Hank. They took Poly. Freaking dude just jet-packed right out of here with her.”

  Hank looked to the sky. The vapor had faded to just a whisper of a cloud, soon there would be nothing. He punched the air and screamed.

  Harris broke into the middle of their reunion. “We’ll get her back. We’ll get them all back.” He struggled with the words, as if they were the third or fourth thing going on in his mind. Or maybe he was at a loss.

  Lucas frowned, he’d never seen Harris stumbling and running his hands through his hair in frustration. If Harris was losing it, Lucas didn’t think they had a chance of getting his friends back. “What are we supposed to do now?”

  Harris turned and looked past Lucas. “Travis,” he called.

  Travis seethed. “What?”

  “Can you take care of them for a while?”

  “I think they’re safer in my hands anyway. Death follows you,” Travis said.

  “That it does.” Harris let out a long breath. “Julie, we’ll have to set up a new way to communicate, I think Almadon has a few other servers out there. I have a plan and I don’t want to risk any more of your lives. It’s a long shot but know that I’m truly sorry and I’ll do whatever I can to get them back, I promise.”

  Harris stood and took each of them in. It felt like a goodbye, but Lucas didn’t know what to say to the man and the rest must have felt the same. Harris nodded and walked to the aircraft he came in on and closed the door. Dust stirred up under the craft and a few boards rattled as it lifted into the air.

  “Where is he going?” Lucas asked the closed door and turned to his friends. “Did he promise to get them back?” He wrapped his bow over his chest and adjusted the quiver on his back. He’d spent a lot of time with Harris over the last couple weeks and the man didn’t promise anything. But he didn’t need Harris’s promises, he would find them.

  Gunfire sounded at a distance.

  “We should go as well. The MM guards will regroup,” Travis said.

  The crowd cheered as they entered the aircraft. Out of the open door, Lucas watched the crowd tearing down MM banners. The guards in black were all gone. In the sky, a few black aircrafts could be seen leaving the city. Lucas looked over the crowd and shook his head. Take away a city’s internet and this is what happens. He closed the door and the din of the crowd silenced.

  “I think I can get the motors back on—” Julie stopped in her tracks. “Holy crap, what happened in here?”

  Lucas sighed as he looked at the man strapped to a pipe in the corner of the cargo bay, just as he’d left him. A muffled moan sounded as the man moved his head. There was another man in the ship, but Lucas avoided looking at him, shivering at the thought of their last encounter.

  “We should let that one go,” Travis said and walked to the MM guard. “Try anything and I’ll make you join your friend there.”

  The man nodded and grunted through his gag. Travis cut his ties and the man rubbed his wrist and pulled his gag out of his mouth. “Marcus will kill you all for this,” he sputtered with rage.

  Travis laughed and grabbed the man by the back of his shirt. “You think he cares about some rank six?” He led him to the door, opened it and pushed him out onto the ground. The crowd cheered at the offering and pulled the man away.

  Lucas sighed and closed the door. He didn’t like being cruel, even to the enemy, and a crowd charged up as much as they were, was only looking for a reason to lose control.

  “Got it,” Julie exclaimed and tapped on the screen of her Panavice.

  The motors of the craft hummed to life. Lucas adjusted his footing as they lifted off the ground and leveled.

  “So we got set up with the mutants?” Hank said, rubbing his head.

  “It was a total setup,” Lucas said. “It wasn’t Harris’s people picking us up, it was MM. They must have found out about the plan. This whole room filled with gas, knocking everyone out. I don’t know what they did with the mutants, but when I woke up, it was just me and you.”

  “Yep, they tricked us as well,” Julie said. “They hacked into our server and placed fake messages like they came from Harris. That’s how they got us to come out of hiding.” She folded her arms and tears formed. “And now Poly’s gone.”

  “I bet they wanted to put on a show,” Lucas said. “Arrest you in front of a worldwide audience.”

  “Yeah, well, Poly gave them something to talk about alright,” Travis added.

  “I doubt there’s a person on Vanar who doesn’t know of her now.” He walked to the cockpit and pushed numbers into the craft’s screen. Once they were airborne, Lucas looked out the front windows as buildings moved by, and then just sky.

  “Where we going?” Julie asked.

  “My office,” Travis replied.

  They landed on top of Travis’s building and took the elevator to his floor. The doors slid open. Gladius sat behind her desk and upon seeing her dad, she bolted out of the chair and ran for him, jumping into his arms. Her doll scurried across the room and joined in by hugging his leg. He kicked it off with a gentle
nudge. Lucas would have booted the creepy doll to the sun.

  “Dad, I thought you were going to be killed,” Gladius said with her small red hat sitting on the side of her head.

  “I’m fine.” Travis petted her head.

  It was heartwarming to see a father-daughter reunion, but Lucas wanted to get going and everything else seemed to be a waste of time. He tapped his foot impatiently.

  “We need to tell Opal,” Hank said.

  Lucas nodded his head in agreement. Poly’s mom needed to know what had happened. All the parents had a right to know. “Can we use your stone?” He looked to Travis.

  “Of course,” he said.

  “What stone?” Gladius asked.

  “Nothing, dear.”

  She scowled at her dad. “You shouldn’t keep secrets from me.”

  Travis took in a deep breath. “Let’s go into my office. Gladius, can you make sure the shorefront house is ready? I don’t want to stay here any longer than necessary. Gather your things.”

  Her face crunched up in anger, but she walked to her desk and started typing into her screen.

  Lucas remembered Travis’s office, the weapon-filled chamber where he conducted business. He adjusted Prudence on his shoulder as he crossed the door.

  “How do you like the bow?” Travis asked.

  “It’s fine, thank you.” He held back his glee over such a superior weapon, with the idea Travis might want it back.

  Travis nodded once. “I’m happy it has a good home.”

  “Speaking of home,” Julie said. She seemed rather annoyed by him.

  “Oh, yes.” Travis pulled the key from around his neck and opened the secret elevator. “I’m sorry you lost Poly, she’s an amazing woman.”

  “We’ll get her back,” Julie said as they loaded onto the elevator. She held her arm out to stop the door from closing. “We are going home briefly and then we are coming back to find her. I will expect you to help find viable options upon our return.” She scowled at him.