Daniel wiped his palms on his dark jeans, clearly nervous about what he was about to show Jack.
Jack pulled his thick knitted sweater over his head and tossed it to a wooden chair along the wall, before stopping at the computer screens.
“Show him, Laurie.” Daniel crossed his arms, and Jack leaned in, staring toward the map that appeared.
“It’s on the west coast of America, sir.” Laurie pointed to the map, her finger stopping over northern California.
“And the Mason twins. They live?” Jack asked.
“We think so. Thomas Mason said as much,” Daniel told him.
“He could be lying. Trying to rile us up.” Jack played the devil’s advocate.
“I don’t think so. Jack… we’ve talked about this for years. Now is our chance,” Daniel said tensely.
Jack had never asked to lead this group, and he turned, staring out the window. From this vantage point, he saw the entire population. Hundreds of homes constructed under the protection of his drone army, and their numbers were in the thousands. He suddenly felt how foolish they’d been living in the open like this. They were lucky the Overseers hadn’t returned to destroy them too.
“We have a way to communicate?” Jack asked, and Laurie grinned, pushing off against the desk to roll on her chair across the floor. She flipped the radio receiver on, and the series of lights illuminated. The radio was cabled into the receiver, and she pressed it toward him.
“It’s set up. All you have to do is talk,” she told him, and he took the handheld radio.
This was it. Time to make contact. “This is Jack Paulson of the Barony. Come in, Reclaimers.”
He smirked at Daniel after saying their group’s name. His friend hated the moniker, but Jack thought it had a nice ring to it.
“This is the Reclaimers. Happy to hear from you, Jack Paulson. Over.” The voice crackled through the speakers, and the hair on Jack’s hands stood on end.
“I want to speak with the Mason twins. Over.”
“They are in a meeting… if you can tell us about…”
“Tell them I need to speak with them. We have… an army. In the UK,” he said, assuming his dialect would have given him away.
“Hold, please. Over.”
Jack glanced at Daniel, who was pacing around their computer headquarters, stepping over loose cables strewn over the floor.
The radio remained silent for minutes, and Jack stood still, waiting for it to beep again.
Finally, the sound emerged, the voice on the other end confident and strong. “This is Alec Mason.”
Chapter 1
Alec
It was bright outside, and Alec was reminded of the few times he’d been exposed to the daylight while working in the Detroit manufacturing plant. All those years, and he’d been helping to construct what would become their final doom. The Gateway.
It pained him to think of the people he’d worked alongside who were likely dead by this point. There weren’t many humans remaining around the world, especially after the last few weeks.
“Are there more coming in?” he asked Izzy, who was typing on her tablet as they walked down the rocky pathway that led to the medical facility.
Izzy didn’t peer up from her device as she answered. “You bet. Another hundred in the last three days.”
“Where are they from?” he asked, genuinely curious how so many had been able to decipher the code Tom had embedded into his video feed.
She shrugged. “All over. Last batch started near Del Mar and picked up stragglers along the way. When they realized there was no one coming for them, the ones that escaped the final facility purges ran for the coast.”
Alec was glad to hear it. The west coast camp had filled up, but they’d already begun to expand outside its walls, making cabins and temporary shelters in the forests lining Zhao’s fortress. From above, the Occupation wouldn’t see much, but Alec was confident the Overseers weren’t exceedingly concerned with the humans any longer. From here, Alec could hear the echoes of construction and it drew his attention to the left, beyond the chain-link fence.
“What’s our count at?” he asked. He knew the numbers, but liked to ask.
“Five thousand, three hundred and seven.” Izzy finally broke her stare with the screen, and she pressed the sleep button on the side of the tablet. “That’s a lot of mouths to feed. Which is why my father didn’t expand.”
“And he reminds us about it daily, doesn’t he?” Alec grinned.
Izzy smiled at him, pulling him in with an arm around his waist. Their hips bumped together as they walked, and he didn’t want the moment to end.
“Here we are.” Izzy let go as they stopped at the medical building, and he held the door for her.
Alec glanced inside the room, which had been all but vacant the first time he’d visited a month ago, checking on Becca after they’d arrived. This time, the half dozen beds had increased to ten, and they were each occupied. Doctor Parvati bustled around, Issuing orders to the three staff, and she noticed Alec and Izzy, waving them near.
She met them near a desk at the front of the room, her mouth covered by a white mask, and she raised her eyebrows. “Want to see him?”
Alec nodded, licking his suddenly dry lips.
“Have your hands full, I see,” Izzy told the doctor.
“They keep coming. I have everything from the common cold, to infections, to far worse. We’re not equipped for this, Izzy,” Parvati said softly, and Alec noted the bags under her eyes.
“I heard Father mention there was a doctor in the last bunch of newcomers. At least he used to be. He’s going to send him here tomorrow once he’s rested and fed,” Izzy told the woman, and Alec saw the corners of the doctor’s eyes crinkle as she smiled beneath the mask.
“That’s good news. Thank you.” Doctor Parvati turned as someone called for her. “Help yourself to the room and lock up when you leave.” She left them unattended, and Izzy stalked through the beds, Alec trailing in her wake.
The door was at the far left recesses of the main room; a solid metal slab with no windows on it. His companion pressed a key into the handle and turned it, tugging the entrance to the storage room wide.
Inside, the alien was seated, and his almond-shaped eyes blinked, a slow, clear eyelid shooting from the side of the socket.
The lights were dim, just enough for the creature to see its food or makeshift latrine. The room’s scent was almost overwhelming with the mixture of bleach and the leathery musk of the Overseer.
“He’s getting stronger,” Izzy said, stepping up to the bars of the cage.
Alec stared at it, uncomfortable with being this close to one of them. This one was no longer menacing, but its alien essence remained, and he watched as its long fingers rubbed bony backward knees.
It coughed and spoke a series of words they didn’t understand. “Where are we with the translation?” he asked.
Izzy kept staring at it. “We’re close. Their ships seem to have a supplementary program that allows them to read our language, so we’re tweaking that, and expect to have the ability to speak to them very soon.”
“That’s great news.”
“It seems so weak. It’s hard to imagine these are what ended our world,” Izzy said.
Alec bristled. “It’s not so difficult when you’ve been forced to be a slave under their rule.”
“If only we hadn’t sided with them. We never would have ended up here, would we?” she asked, her voice soft.
“That’s what Tom said. The first arrival was only a scouting team, sent far across the galaxy to set up camp and build the gateways. Now that they’re open, they’re going to pillage our world, leaving us the husk. At least that was his theory,” Alec said, wishing the thought of his uncle didn’t bring a rush of loss each time.
“I think he was right.” Izzy and Alec stood in silence as the creature began to cough again, its body doubling over. She pulled something from her pocket and held it up. Instantl
y, the sickly Overseer’s back went rigid, and he crawled across the floor, holding his hand out toward her.
“This is the key, Alec. This is how we defeat them,” she said, letting him take the mister from her grip. He pressed the sides, and a gentle flow of damp medicine sprayed from it, and he inhaled through slotted nostrils, falling over as he did so.
“You know this plan is crazy, right?” he asked.
“All the good ones are. Do you think your plan to steal a spaceship from Las Vegas was any saner?” Izzy laughed, and the sound felt wrong in the cramped space.
“You have me there. Come on, I haven’t eaten breakfast yet,” Alec said.
Izzy shook her head. “You go ahead. I’m going to hang here for a bit.”
“Why?” he asked.
“I… I’m curious.”
“Want me to stay?”
“No. You go and eat, and we’ll meet later with my father about the pre-meeting details, okay?” She grabbed his hand and leaned forward, kissing him gently on the lips.
“Okay. But don’t stay too long. Your dad will freak if he finds out you were in here alone,” Alec said, and turned to leave, glancing back for a moment as Izzy leaned against the wall, staring at the pitiful creature.
Twenty minutes later, Alec found himself in the mess hall, where it was busier than he’d ever seen it. He recognized a few faces from the Roamer group, some of them volunteering to serve food behind the makeshift buffet tables, and he waved at Marisol, who winked as she dropped some eggs on a Freeborn’s plate.
“Over here, Mason,” a familiar voice shouted, and he spotted Monet at a table, sitting with Becca. They were both wearing old army fatigues, with Becca’s sleeve tied at her missing hand.
“Good morning.” Alec sat in the plastic chair, across the small table from them.
“Have you seen your brother?” Monet asked, and Alec shook his head.
“No, not today.”
“I think I saw him wandering around with the girl,” Becca said.
“Lina?” Monet asked.
“That’s the one. Are they…?” Becca asked, and Alec almost laughed, imagining his brother being in any sort of a relationship with another human. He hardly seemed able to stand his own presence.
“I’m not sure, but they do have a dog together,” Monet said with a smile. “Two, actually.”
“That Tracker creeps me out,” Becca said, poking at some scrambled eggs.
Alec wished his brother would turn that thing off, but as long as it was programmed for protection, he supposed it wasn’t doing any harm. “Monet, have you heard any news?”
“About the Overseers?” she asked, and he nodded, his stomach grumbling.
“Same as ever. Sylvie has her scouts heading for Spain, where rumors have the Occupation mines being developed. We’ve heard some scattered comments about Africa too.” Monet drank black coffee from a chipped coffee mug.
“I don’t get it. Why build the Gateway in Detroit if there are mines around the world?” Alec asked. The answer came to him right away, and he felt foolish for not guessing sooner. “They have other gateways, don’t they?”
Monet waved her fork in the air. “That’s what we’re thinking.”
Alec’s stomach dropped, and suddenly, his hunger was gone. “How can we stop them if they’re spread out around the world? We have two ships and a few drones.”
“That’s what we’re going to figure out tomorrow,” Becca said, staying cheerful. She’d been through a lot, but Alec admired how upbeat she tended to stay.
“Tomorrow. Right.” Alec remembered the hope that filled him when he’d first heard the communication from Jack Paulson two weeks ago. His world had turned upside down when they’d learned about the group in the UK. Then a French woman had contacted them, claiming to inhabit a village of two thousand camped out all around the South of France. Alec wondered how many other hidden caches of people existed, and guessed there were far more than he’d ever discover.
Becca pressed her plate to the side, and stood, stretching her back. “I have field duty today, so I’ll catch you two later.” She walked away, and Monet leaned in.
“Izzy likes you. She mentioned it to Becca.”
Alec averted his gaze, looking toward the buffet. “I don’t have time for that kind of thing.”
Monet’s expression softened, and she spoke quietly. “Alec, you were a slave your whole life. If you don’t live now, you might never have the chance.”
He thought about Izzy and had no clue what was really happening there. “You might be right, but we have a long way to go.” Alec rose, moving for the food. “Want any more coffee?”
Chapter 2
Cole
Cole walked slowly between the lines of crops surrounding the canopy of trees hiding their camp from the harsh and unforgiving world outside. He was exhausted, more mentally than physically, and threw each leg lazily forward from the hip. Lina, head bowed and walking in silence, padded along beside him with her near silent footfalls.
Their companions, both four-legged and canine but so wildly different in almost every way, followed at their respective heels. Buddy, their oddly domesticated coyote, kept a wary eye on the dull-painted metal chassis of the drone that tracked Cole. It did this not out of a sense of loyalty but borne of programming to keep the young man safe.
Cole watched as Lina reached out a hand, running the flowering stalks of the waist-high crops through her fingertips gently so as not to disturb them. The feeling was odd for him, even more so after the terror and rage he felt having been in battle only a short time ago. It felt like it was yesterday, and he couldn’t seem to shake that tension, which cramped his muscles as though he expected to have to take cover and return fire at any moment.
They didn’t talk much, just walked in tense silence as if both wanted to blurt out how they felt, but neither possessed the vocabulary necessary to communicate their feelings adequately.
“I…” Cole began, hearing his voice sound quieter and weaker than he wanted. “I…”
“I know,” she said with a sad sigh. Perhaps, he thought, she was trying to tell him that she felt the same anxiety. That she was tired and frightened of what had happened and what might happen soon if they were to have any chance of overthrowing their oppressors and to live free.
He lacked the words and experience of the feelings to fully understand them, but he was unhappy that they would be sent in opposing directions again soon, that their individual missions wove differing paths in the fight to exonerate their race and planet from the Overseers.
“There’s a briefing tomorrow morning,” he said finally.
“Yes.”
“You’ll be there?” he asked.
“I will.”
Cole opened his mouth to speak before his mind caught up and he realized he had nothing to say. He was saved by the arrival of a hulking shadow at the exit doors they wandered toward. He recognized the man by size and shape alone, fighting a stab of something in his chest that made him want to attack Yas. The drone, hijacked and reprogrammed, pushed to lean the right side of its chassis against his left leg, which made Cole wonder if someone, Soares probably, had programmed the Tracker to act like a real flesh and blood canine companion.
He reached down with his left hand to place his fingertips on the head of the drone as if reassuring him—it—and wonder why it had reacted that way.
“I have to go,” Lina said, stopping and turning to angle her face up to his. “I’ll see you in the morning?”
Cole nodded, watching her walk away and allowing himself a smirk of amusement at the wary sniff the coyote gave the robot as he passed. He observed Lina greeting the big man who shared so many cultural similarities with her, leaving him feeling angry and inadequate. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, he focused his concentration on more important and relevant matters.
He peered at the drone, which had sunk to its back legs to conserve energy. It canted its head a little to the side as if patientl
y waiting for a command. He shook his head, telling himself that it was his own childish stupidity and desperate need for companionship that made him interpret the gestures as that of a living creature.
SW-18
It watched as the human subject departed, allowing a distance of three paces before resuming the automated follow protocols as if attached by an invisible tether.
[SUBJECT HORMONE LEVELS SUBSIDING TO NORMAL PARAMETERS]
[THREAT LEVEL REDUCED FROM MODERATE TO NORMAL]
[RECOMMENCING GUARD PROTOCOLS]
Lina
Lina returned to the Freeborn’s camp and was greeted as warmly as if she were family. She reserved some happiness as thoughts of Cole and her real family tugged at her mind. She felt guilty for finding joy when so many others had died—not just the people of her own village but for the thousands killed in the failed attack and subsequent clashes—and when she thought of Tom’s final sacrifice to spread the word to everyone, her heart dropped again.
Buddy took off from her side, making her wonder if there was a nearby danger. She spun away to see the young girl, Cheyenne, rolling on the ground with him and muttering in his ear as he played with her.
“He loves her,” Yas boomed, beaming a smile at the pair.
“I’m pretty sure it’s reciprocal,” Lina told him, happy to leave Buddy to play, safe in the knowledge that he and everyone around him wouldn’t be harmed. She wandered through the overcrowded areas provided for them in the outskirts of the facility, smiled at faces she recognized, exchanged greetings with others, and felt the familiar awkwardness of being treated as some kind of celebrity.
“You’ve been invited to their meeting tomorrow?” Yas asked. She nodded, looking up at him to ask a question with a raised eyebrow.
“I have,” he said, answering her silent query.
The two walked on in peace, a comfortable silence unlike the awkward one she’d shared with Cole, until they reached the thick viewing ports set at eye level into the outer edge of the camp. She didn’t know its purpose before the invasion, before she was born, but it was perfect for their current needs. At least it had been before the mass arrival of so many refugees.
Rise | Book 3 | Reclamation Page 2
