Modified: Book One in the Manipulated Series

by Harper North

  “Fine, stay here with Lacy and Sky,” I say, frustrated. “I’ll go get the mod kit. Maybe, just maybe, they won’t kill me on my way back in, and, if we’re lucky, he’ll stick to his word and let Cia live. We’ll worry about getting out of here later.”

  I make for the exit, but Elias grabs me by my arm. “I’m coming.”

  “You said yourself they’ll most likely gun me down to get the mod kit,” I argue.

  “Well, then we’ll just have to get gunned down together, won’t we?” He lowers his voice. “Besides, if they do decide to ambush you, you’ll require backup.”

  I take one last pleading look Lacy’s way. What if I can will her to come? She shakes her head no. I know she’s worried about Drape. So am I, but if she came with us, we might have a better chance of getting Drape out. But just like I stood up for Lacy in the Oven, she stands up for him. Although she'd never admit it, she relies on him too.

  I whirl around and snatch Elias by the arm, pulling him through the released hatch of our prison. The heat bears down on my body. As soon as we step out, the hatch snaps shut. Good. At least Cia won’t be exposed to as much direct radiation.

  Elias and I hustle from the building, and soon I spot the rock outcropping that we gathered at on the horizon. The mod kit is a couple hundred yards away.

  “Strange that Nero would just allow us go on by ourselves,” Elias says.

  I gesture up. Two drones hover high above our heads, humming as their motors churn.

  “Ah,” he says. “Well, I guess we’re not entirely alone then, are we?”

  “No,” I say. “Can the drones hear?”

  Elias shrugs. “Speak lightly.”

  “I don’t know about you,” I whisper as we continue, “but I don’t intend on dying today.”

  “Me either.” Elias grimaces and stops walking for a second, gripping his side.

  “You all right?”

  “I’m fine… just give me a second.” He takes several deep breaths.

  “They knocked you around good, didn’t they?”

  “Yeah. Pretty sure I cracked a rib.”

  I offer for him to throw an arm over my shoulder and he accepts. “Lacy should have been the one to come with me. You and Sky are out of commission.”

  “I’m not out of commission.” Elias starts walking again with my help. “But I don’t need to overexert myself before we even get to the mod kit. Do you have a plan?”

  “Well,” I whisper, “the pistols are with the mod kit.”

  “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.” He smiles down at me. After a moment, he removes his arm from my shoulder, stretches slightly, and then presses onward on his own. “So, you want to fight our way in. Am I right?”

  “It’s not like we have a choice. We go back with just the mod kit and we all become expendable. Cia dies anyway, and all of this was for nothing. If I could have gotten everyone to come, we’d have a better chance.” The thought of Drape injured forms a knot in my throat. “I don’t know where Drape is.”

  “You two are close? You two and Lacy, right? But you haven’t known Sky and his sister for too long?” Elias ventures.

  “Very observant.”

  “So why are you risking your life for Sky’s sister?” he asks.

  “Isn’t that what you did for us?”

  Without a word, Elias raises an eyebrow and nods.

  “This happened because she was trying to protect us,” I say. “That’s a brave kid who doesn’t deserve to die.”

  “You know, I haven’t been to this particular base, but the layout of this one seems almost the same as the others. If that’s true, then the medical bay is just down the hall from the prison chambers. If we can fight our way through, we can save Drape.”

  It’s a long shot, and unrealistic, but his words give me hope.

  “Listen, Elias… your uncle… he wasn’t in the cells—”

  “I know,” he cuts me off. “He’s gone. And if we go back, and we fight, we’ll have to get out of there fast. There won’t be any searching the whole base trying to find him.”

  Ahead is the rock formation. We pick up the pace. Cia doesn’t have long.

  “If there is a chance to go back for your uncle, know that you have friends who are willing to help,” I say as we enter the space between the cluster of boulders.

  “Thank you, Fin.”

  I peer between the cracks between the massive stones, eyeing the two drones following us. “How do we know they’re not just going to fire down on us?” I ask.

  “They won’t,” Elias assures me. “Not if we have the mod kit. It’s too valuable. They won’t risk destroying it.”

  We enter the opening to the outcropping and my eyes go straight to the spot the bag is hidden. A scurrying of footsteps just outside startles me.

  Snap.

  I wheel toward the noise, my heart ready to explode from my chest. Half a dozen operatives race into the space. My instinct is to bolt, but there’s nowhere to go. We’re trapped.

  They were tracking us the entire time. What all did they hear us saying?

  Several guards dart forward and grab Elias and me. My gut tells me not to resist. If we’re dead, so are our friends. I tense as the group leader steps forward. He smiles, exposing a line of perfectly crooked teeth.

  “Someone’s been misbehaving,” he scoffs.

  I freeze. The op frowns and marches ahead, ending toe to toe with me. If not for my arms being restrained, I would try to punch that grin right off his mouth.

  The man leans in, his stale breath overwhelming me. “Mod kit?”

  I show them where it is, and they’ll kill us. I don’t show him, and they’ll shoot us and find it on their own. Despite that, I stand my ground and simply glare at him. The leader cocks his head to the side and eyes the guard to his right, giving him a nod. The guard moves to Elias and delivers a powerful jab at his side.

  Elias grunts and stumbles, but the two holding onto him won’t let him down to his knees. The attacker lets out a laugh that sends a chill down my spine.

  “Bet that rib’s definitely cracked now,” he says.

  Yep, they heard everything we said.

  “Is that all you got?” the leader questions, sounding disappointed.

  “No sir.” The goon delivers three more powerful punches to Elias’s gut.

  “Stop it!” I yell.

  “Mod kit—now!” the leader barks in my face.

  “It’s over there!” I shout back at him, pointing to the loose rocks in the face of the stone foundation.

  The leader motions to the lackey who punched Elias and gives him an acknowledgment. The man rushes over, moves aside the rocks, and produces the black bag. He carries it to his commander, who snatches the bag, opens it up, and shakes his head. He reaches into the bag, but instead of the mod kit, he pulls out a pistol and grips it by the barrel.

  “Stupid traitors!” the leader growls, then beams me across the cheek with the gun.

  I scream, and if not for the two men restraining me I’m certain I would have gone down. Liquid drips down my face and splats to the ground, mixing into the reddish dirt.

  “Just wait until we bring you to Nero,” the leader says. “You’re going to wish I’d shot you dead right here. Let’s go!”

  They start marching us back to the base. My cheekbone throbs. I’m confident my left eye is starting to swell as blood keeps gushing from my sliced skin. If I manage to get a hold of a gun, I will shoot all of his crooked teeth right out of his head.

  Poor Elias wheezes, but I don’t dare check on him. If we make it out of this, he’ll have incredible damage to his chest and gut, and I have no idea how I can get him help.

  At the outpost, the ops don’t bother taking us in via the main entrance. They march us up to the hatch leading to the prison chamber. The door opens, and the guards push us through, guns at our backs. Inside, another dozen operatives, including Nero, wait.

  Lacy, Sky, and Cia rest with their backs agains
t the door to Elias’s cell. Cia is a pale cast of green from nausea, and by the smell, there’s no doubt she’s thrown up again. She rests on Sky’s chest, her lids barely cracked. Elias and I have only been gone around thirty minutes, but she’s certainly taken a turn for the worse.

  Nero laughs as the ops who tracked us down close the hatch. “You’re late!”

  The man who pistol whipped me steps around me, black bag in tow, and brings it to Nero. “Looks like they had other plans.”

  Nero rummages through the bag, grabbing the mod kit to examine it and ensure it hasn’t been damaged. He handles a gun and inspects it before returning it. He stares directly at me. “And just what were you planning on doing with those?”

  “Nothing, but I couldn’t get the mod kit without getting them, too.”

  Nero shakes his head, still grasping the mod kit. “Right. You know, I was considering releasing you, sending you back to the hell hole where you came from, maybe even allowing that little punk go home to Reso. But now? How can I do that when you think you can plot to shoot up my operative base and not face the consequences?”

  None of us answer.

  “Line them up! All of them! The girl too!”

  The guards swarm my friends.

  “No!” Sky yells as he and Cia are yanked to their feet.

  They drag the three of them toward us and force us all into a line. Sky carries Cia’s nearly lifeless body. She’s not even fully aware of what’s happening. One of the ops draws his gun and redirects it at us.

  “Shoot the girl first,” Nero says. “Go ahead and put the poor slag out of her misery.”

  “No, please!” Sky pleads, wrapping himself around Cia, placing himself between the drawn gun and her, quite ready to take a bullet to the back on her behalf.

  “You heartless leech!” Lacy shouts.

  “Really?” Nero raises an eyebrow. “And here I thought I was merciful. What if we just wait until the radiation kills her?” He laughs. “Go on. Shoot the girl and her brother and then get rid of the rest.”

  I failed them.

  Cia goes limp in her brother’s arms. Teeth gritted, Sky thrusts an arm at the executioner. “She’s only a chil—”

  Bright light and thunder blow in the outer wall and I crumble in a heap. Chunks of cement fly in all directions. Dust blurs my vision. I fight to stay conscious as the world spins.

  And then everything’s gone. Everything.

  CHAPTER 16

  With a sharp inhale, my eyelids shoot open to a blurred world. I cough from the smoke and dust filling my lungs. Ringing pierces my ears as I place my hands palms down on the debris coated floor. Slowly, I push myself upward onto my knees.

  Two versions of Nero lay flat on his back opposite of me, out cold. I blink several times and they merge into one. I study him. Like a good soldier, he’s still gripping the mod kit.

  Despite my vertigo, I jump up and snatch it, stashing the device in my pocket. Nero moans, and without a second thought, I deliver a kick to his head, ensuring he sleeps a bit longer.

  “Jerk,” I say, reveling in the minor victory when I hear a deep throated groan behind me.

  “Elias?”

  His legs are buried, but it’s no more than dust and small stones. “Fin?” he says.

  I race to him and wipe at the blood seeping from the side of his head. I dig around his legs to push back the heavy layer of dust and help him sit. Pain washes his face and he clutches his side.

  “You alright?” I ask.

  “No, but it doesn’t matter.” He scans the room. “Let’s get out of here.”

  I pull him to his feet and spot one of our pistols. I snatch it up. “Let’s find the rest.”

  A moan sounds from the side, and I swing my attention to a soldier blown right into one of the cells. One of the mangled, busted bars pierces him. My stomach rolls over and I gag, turning away as fast as humanly possible. Across the way, Lacy and Sky have been thrown on top of one another during the blast. We stumble for them, tripping on debris. I grab Lacy, waking her, and Elias does the same for Sky. As soon as Sky comes to, he jolts up.

  “Cia!” Sky yells.

  My heart leaps into my throat. “Be quiet!” I whisper. “These guards could wake up any moment.”

  “She’s here,” Lacy groans as she sits and raises her hand to her head. Blood trickles from her eyebrow. The poor girl, coated in a layer of dust, lies just beyond Lacy, camouflaged in the rubble.

  “Cia!” Sky yells, scrambling to her side, practically falling over. “Cia, wake up. Cia?”

  I lean away from Lacy and put my fingers to Cia’s neck. “She’s alive.”

  Tension falls from Sky’s shoulders and he reaches under Cia’s body, scooping her into his arms. Something shuffles behind us.

  “Let’s go,” I say.

  We rush toward the blown-out hatch.

  “Stop, or you die!” Nero’s voice echoes.

  I turn to five or so men plus Nero, their weapons drawn. The falling dust starts to clear. My mind reels. Escape or surrender?

  I don’t have a chance to do either as a blue arc shoots through the hole in the wall from outside, striking one of the waiting operatives.

  I take my chance and bolt out the exit. Mason stands there, gripping a blaster. Behind him a dozen or so fighters, all carrying weapons, head into the building.

  “Come now,” he says. ‘We don’t have much time.”

  “Uncle Mason!” Elias calls.

  “Move!” Mason roars and rushes the group down a small slope toward nearly a dozen destroyed drones scattered about the outer yard.

  “What’s going on?” I yell as men in operative uniforms rush our way with blasters. More are armed with enormous weapons over their shoulders.

  “They’re with me.” Mason stops, glancing back to the base, his expression frustrated. “Kid, what are you doing?”

  I turn to see Sky on the floor, clutching Cia. “She’s dead… I think she’s dead.”

  We’re all dead if I don’t do something.

  I snatch the mod kit out of my pocket and run back to them. I press it against her and set it off, and her entire body jolts. Cia’s eyes shoot open and she gasps, but her head falls back as she passes out again. I have no clue if she’s alive.

  “Get up and go. Do you hear me?” I shout in Sky’s face. “Don’t get the rest of us killed.”

  He nods and lifts her up, rejoining our fleeing party.

  Lacy trips and barely recovers. The blood on her head is still flowing. Who knows how much she’s lost.

  I grip one of Lacy’s arms. “Elias, help me.”

  Elias does as I say and grabs the other, and we lead her forward after Mason. A loud alarm blares as we dart to the far side of the base. Mason and his men herd us to a hanger, taking out the few men guarding the area.

  “Establish a perimeter,” Mason says to his men. “I need a pilot on that craft getting it prepared for launch. Let’s make sure we get our men before we go. Now move!”

  Sky crumples to the ground, cradling his sister. Elias and I help Lacy sit and then I slump beside her.

  Mason turns from his men to us. “Thank God,” he says and strides toward Elias, wrapping him into a tight embrace.

  “Drape…” Lacy whispers, eyes pleading. “Fin, please, we can’t abandon him.”

  “You know me. I’m not leaving Drape, I promise.”

  A tear drips down the side of her filthy face, leaving a trail in the dust on her cheek. “I know,” she says. “But I can’t walk anymore. The world is spinning.”

  I rise, looking at Mason. “My friend is in there, and I need to find him.”

  “No you don’t!” Mason shouts.

  “You just ordered your men not to leave anyone!” I yell. “I feel the same way about my friend.”

  Mason pinches the bridge of his nose. “Do you know his location?”

  “Probably in the medical wing.” Elias steps forward. “Not far from the prison chambers. Have your men clear
ed that area?”

  “It’s clear, but we haven’t secured the whole base.” Mason shakes his head. “You have twenty minutes. Twenty minutes, and this craft launches, do you hear me?”

  “I’m going with her,” Elias says.

  Mason sighs and gestures to a handful of his men. “Jase, Todd, you’re with them.”

  “Yes, sir!” the two men in operative uniforms shout.

  Elias snags a blaster and I keep my pistol. After the day I’ve had with these leeches, I don’t intend to shoot with a weapon meant to stun. The four of us race up the hillside and into the now emptied prison chamber, our weapons drawn.

  “Which way?” I ask as we pause near the door leading into the base.

  “If it’s anything like the other base I’ve been to, the medical bay is located just down this hall,” Elias says.

  “It’s not,” Jase says, looking forward. “This one is laid out differently than the ones I was stationed at. It’s embedded into various rock formations. The medical bay is on the opposite end of the outpost.”

  “Well that’s just great,” I grumble under my breath. “We’ll have to shoot our way in, won’t we?”

  “Looks that way,” Todd says.

  Elias defers to the taller, older man. “Let’s do this. Jase, can you lead the way?”

  “Yep,” Jase says, and we move out into the first of many hallways. Jase assures us he knows exactly where the medical bay is. We enter down another dark hallway, the lights pulsating from the loud, screechy emergency alarm system.

  As of yet, we haven’t run into any operatives. Hopefully they’ve already been taken out by the initial shootout while we were being rushed to the hanger. Unconscious bodies, hit by blasters, are strewed through the halls. I spot the lead operative, Mr. Crooked Teeth, lying in the hall. He obviously ran into the blast, and my trigger finger itches. My cheek throbs from where he beamed me, and I have to admit, it’s tempting. I know he’s alive, hit by the non-lethal blaster. It would be so easy.

  I wave the thought away. We come to the back of the hall and Jase signals us to pause. He peers around the corner, then quickly backs up and shakes his head.

  “How many?” Todd asks.

  “Six—all locked and loaded,” Jase whispers. “You three ready?”