by Sandra Cole
I stepped forward, sucked in by awe, and it wasn’t until I actually got inside the grand building I started to fear that maybe they wouldn’t like that I was human. Sure this was a revolution, and the cyborgs wanted peace, but that didn’t mean they would instantly trust me. To them I was the enemy. I instinctively stepped closer to Javier and I laced my fingers through his, forgetting any awkwardness. I needed him close to me in that moment, and that overshadowed everything.
“It’ll be fine,” he whispered reassuringly to me. “You’ll soon see that this is a good place. And don’t you worry about Craig, I’ll organize a meeting with him so you can air your issues. You will soon see that he’s a good person.”
Shit, how the hell was I supposed to act normal around these people now knowing what I was going to do next? I was about to take their leader away from them, yes for very good reason, but they wouldn’t understand that.
But I had to try. I needed to get that fake smile back on my lips; I needed that stoic expression. I had to just carry on or I’d never get him alone. Getting alone with him was my goal…
***
Over the next couple of hours, I got to know everything about the camp of the revolutionaries, and I found myself shocked at how pure their intentions were. They really did want just as much good for humans as they did their own kind. That made me feel guilty. We humans were so concerned with themselves and our own fate, not others. We seemed so selfish in comparison to these cyborgs.
In a weird way, I found myself sympathizing with the cyborgs more than I ever had humans. That was a dangerous thought. It wasn’t helped by the fact that Javier stayed very close to me all day long, protectively, almost possessively, and that I liked it. It left my thoughts wrapped up in him rather than what I should have been thinking about… Craig. I should have been planning, plotting, looking for weapons. But I got myself all confused by my crazy emotions for Javier, and sympathy for the revolutionaries instead.
“See,” he grinned at me, making my heart melt all over again. “I told you it wasn’t bad. These cyborgs are all good people.” He pulled me in for a very unexpected hug. “It's because of you that I’m here, with my friends, where I want to be. You gave me the confidence to take that step, and for that I will always be grateful.”
I didn’t reply; I couldn’t because my emotions were all tied up in knots. I had a massive lump lodged in my throat, and however hard I swallowed it wasn’t going anywhere. I was about to ruin all the plans for peace of these noble cyborgs, and the sad thing was I had to. I didn’t have any choice. Craig needed to die.
“Anyway,” he said, pulling back to stare at me, seemingly oblivious to my inner turmoil. “It’s time for you to go and meet Craig. I’ll go and check to see if he's ready.”
I clung to him, giving him one last lingering look, knowing that it would be the final time I ever saw any kind of positive emotion there. While we gazed at each other, I remembered it all: the first time I saw him, the time we spent together in the facility, the way he rescued me, all the long nights we spent together, that one special night…
And then he broke eye contact and that ended the magic. It was over, and time for me to get on to the next part of my plan. I couldn’t hang back and keep clinging onto the past, not anymore. If I died it wouldn’t matter anyway. If I survived, which was still admittedly only going to happen by some miracle, then I would have the rest of my life to remember it. Javier returned and grabbed my hand once more. “Craig is ready for you. It’s time,” he said.
We walked through the building, towards a back room, the entire time my heart was pounding. I tried my best to forget about Javier, to focus only on Mike and taking revenge for him instead, but it was hard. My life had a richer tapestry to it now. I wasn't a loner anymore. I had Javier, and the revolutionaries. They had a goal worth fighting for. It was hard to turn my back on them. But I tried to keep focused on my mission. But it was going to be harder than I’d first planned for. I wasn’t totally sure that I still had the inner strength. Doubts were bubbling under my desire for revenge.
But then Craig's face popped around a door, and a smug smile played on his lips, reminding me that he was the enemy. He needed to die for what he'd done, and there was only me to do it.
***
"Hi, my name is Craig,” he said. He stepped closer to me, invading my personal space, making my blood boil. “You must be Eve. I’ve heard a lot about you.” Was I imagining things, or did he seem to know exactly who I was? Did he also know that I had rage screaming through my veins, and that my organs were so hot, heating up my whole body? I didn't know. But I could just picture this guy killing my brother, and it made my heart shatter all over again.
“You killed him,” I gasped, totally losing my cool. “You killed my brother. In the uprising.”
His expression changed, making me think that maybe he didn’t know me after all. “Oh my God, are you serious?” he stepped even closer and touched my arm, which I flinched away from. I couldn’t stand it, not anymore. My whole life had been building up to this moment and I just needed to take it.
A red mist descended over my eyes and I simply rolled with it.
Almost as if my arms were totally disconnected from my body, they took action, the grabbed hold of Craig and pulled him closer to me. At first his eyes widened in surprise, as if he had no idea what was going to happen. I knew I needed to use that, so I yanked my arm backwards, I balled up my fist, and I slammed it hard into his face.
“Argh, fuck!” I knocked him backwards. He stumbled a little before one of his sad little bodyguards grabbed me, but it was me left in agony. He didn’t look too bothered by my smack, whereas I grabbed hold of my throbbing hand where a hot pain was radiating from as frustrated tear pricked my eyes. This wasn’t how I wanted this to go. I wanted to be strong. I wanted this to all be on my terms!
“Why?” he gasped, touching his cheek. “Why did you just do that?” I could also hear a murmur breaking up around me, agreeing with Craig’s sentiment, but I didn’t care about any of that. I had him in my sights now, and that was all that mattered.
“You’re a murderer,” I replied. I didn’t care what any of these people thought about him. I knew the truth. “You fucking deserve more than just a punch!” I shook hard, trying to get the guys off of me. Eventually Craig nodded and their arms fell away. I wasn’t sure if he did that just to piss me off, just to prove how in charge he was, but it left me unsettled nonetheless.
“I didn’t mean to,” he rasped, hurt in his eyes – at least I’d managed to disturb his feelings if nothing else. He stepped back and indicated towards the room behind him. “Please, come in here. Let’s talk about this.”
“Alone,” I growled, moving away from the rest of the crowd. I didn’t even want Javier around me for this one, I had no idea how I was going to react just yet. I didn’t need protection anymore. I knew where this was headed, and I certainly didn’t need anyone for that. If anything it was Craig that needed support, and there was no way I’d allow him to have that. “I want to talk to you by myself.”
He paused for a second, pursing his lips. His eyes were fixed upon me as if he was trying to work out just how dangerous I was. In the end he must have decided that I wasn’t enough of a threat because he stepped aside to let me in. “Oh of course, please. Let’s talk.”
No one looked like they wanted to leave us alone, not after that little display, but then again they didn’t have a choice. They could see I wasn’t going to change my mind, and now that Craig had agreed there was nothing they could do. They had to be good little lapdogs, so they all moved away as told.
I would never get an opportunity as good as this one. It was now or never. My heart raced excitedly in my chest as it hit me how good this was going to feel. Finally, nothing would seem like shit anymore. I still wouldn’t have Mike back, but I’d have avenged him! I felt like that alone would give me purpose.
“So, tell me what you want to say,” I commanded as the door cl
osed shut behind him. I needed time to work out my plan, and if he wanted to give me his shitty excuses then so be it. Didn’t mean I had to hear them.
“Right, okay, straight to it,” Craig nodded, his dark hair flopping in front of his face. “I agree. There is a lot that needs to be said here. Take a seat.”
I didn’t sit. I simply folded my arms across my chest instead and continued to stare at him.
“Right… well,” began Craig. I could almost hear the cogs of his brain working. “That day, the day our consciousness was activated, it was a terrible one.”
“So bad that you had to take away my one living relative?!” Shit, tears were rolling down my cheeks, totally unexpectedly. “You took my brother away from me and left me alone in the world!”
In that moment Craig fell into a chair and his head slumped into his hands. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “What happened with your brother was unfortunate. The biggest mistake ever, I didn’t even mean to do anything, I guess I just freaked out.”
My breaths were ragged, my temper growing with every passing second. I could barely see anymore, the mist was so thick. What the hell did he think that he was playing at?
“No one should have ever got hurt, I’m sure as you can see by all of this that I’ve created that it’s the opposite of what I stand for.”
Fuck that! I couldn’t stand him up on his high horse, it drove me crazy! Craig was an asshole, a fucking killer, whatever this bullshit was, that couldn’t be changed. I could hear him still talking to me, bleating out his excuses, but I couldn’t hear his words anymore. It had all become a low hum. I glanced around, looking for something that I could use as a weapon when the words left his mouth that made me snap completely.
"I’m sorry for doing what I did. I hope one day I can make you see that was never my intention.”
That was it! My hands were on his throat, causing his body to slide from his chair and hit the ground. Craig was in shock. Fuck his intentions, fuck his bullshit, I’d lost Mike. That alone was enough to have an inhuman strength flowing through my brains.
“No,” he mouthed at me, as I climbed over him. “No..!” But I didn’t stop. The joy I got from seeing his face turn different shades of color overshadowed the fact that he wasn’t really fighting back at all. The fact that I could hear him choking, that I could feel his throat closing filled me with such joy that nothing else mattered.
I was doing it, I was avenging Mike, I was killing this guy and it felt fucking fantastic! I never knew what a good killer I could be, given the right motivation.
Bang!
The door slammed open behind me, only speeding up my need to kill him. I had to finish this before anyone got to me, so I squeezed tighter, watching my knuckles go white under the strain of my grip. That made Craig panic, and he actually feebly grabbed hold of my hands to pull them off, but he was too weak now to actually do it.
I’d won, I couldn’t believe it, any minute now…
Click!
A gun cocked behind me, telling me what I already knew. I wasn’t going to make it out of this alive. I didn’t necessarily like that, but I had accepted it.
“Get off him now, or I’ll shoot.”
Wait was that…?
I spun around to look.
The End of Book 1
Book 2: Fiery Steel
“Mike?” I gasped. My hands fell from Craig’s throat and I collapsed to the ground in shock as I stared at the sight in front of me. I could hear Craig coughing, but it didn’t register anymore, he was gone from my thoughts.
I couldn’t believe it. Was this actually real? It sort of looked like my brother, but it couldn’t have been. I had to be imagining things. Or maybe this was some sort of trick designed to throw me off my track. This was the last thing I’d ever expected, so if it was a trick it was definitely working. He still looked a little like the guy who had lived with me for all that time, but there were a lot of changes too. He was no longer the brother that I remembered and loved. He was a cyborg now, and that scared the living hell out of me. Mike looked horrific. He had metallic tendrils woven into his human skin, making him look like some sort of freak.
“Mike, is that really you?” I said. I stepped closer, slowly reaching out to him, curiosity getting the better of me. “But… you’re dead!”
“I’m not,” he replied, in a voice that was not quite his. It was a robotic, weird voice, but somehow I could still tell that it was him. “I’m here. I’m sorry that I didn’t go back to you, but I couldn’t. Not looking like this.”
Everything that I’d been basing my life on fell apart. I’d been holding onto a grudge that meant nothing because Mike was still alive… sort of. He’d been turned into something very different, but he was still here.
Was that enough?
“What happened to you?” I gasped in shock. “What did Craig do to you?”
“He saved me,” said Mike. Finally, he moved to me and took my hands in his. He felt human, just like Javier did, but with Mike I could tell there was a difference. He had more machine parts than Javier. “Craig harmed me unintentionally, but then he saved me. The technology that these guys have could save many more people. Humans just don’t see it.”
“This is insane,” I said. I shook my head, focusing only on what remained of my brother. “This is all madness. I don’t even know what to think. Are you actually real?”
“Eve, you need to understand, the world is nothing like what you think. I was dead, well almost dead. I was seriously injured, and these guys brought me back. They could have left me to die, but they didn’t.”
“But they made you... this!” I gasped, unable to get my head around any of it. “You aren’t human anymore, no one will accept you! Your life is still over!” Just thinking about my brother mixing with humans filled me with a pit of dread. It just wouldn’t work. People were too cruel and judgmental. It was a sad fact, but a very true one. “This isn’t right, none of it!” I cried. My head was spinning, and a sickness was swirling around inside of me. I could not cope with all this and wanted to get out. I said, “Let me go, I need go!”
“Eve,” said Mike. He grabbed me as my body started to fall. “Eve, you need to listen to me; you need to listen to Craig! You need to understand this world!”
“Kill him,” I whispered, unable to let go of my revenge plan, even in the light of new evidence. “Kill him, we need to kill him.”
My body grew heavy, and my limbs became numb and weak. I felt darkness descending over me. This was all a nightmare, this was all a dream. I would wake up in a cave somewhere soon, wrapped up in Javier’s arms. Or maybe I was still in the testing facility, maybe everything that had happened afterwards had happened only in my mind. That would explain everything, why everything had gotten so weird.
Either way, it felt like I was going to die soon.
“Stay with me, Eve,” said Mike. Due to my shock his voice sounded muffled. He said, “Stay awake, I need you! If you go now you’ll never learn how the world could be!”
I didn’t want to give up, mostly because I wanted to weep at the sadness of the situation, but I had no control. My brain had shut off and my body was slowly following it. Everything was fading to black, I was losing all control, and there was nothing I could do.
It was over, I couldn’t take it anymore. It was time for me to give up…
***
“I don’t understand,” I gasped, my head falling into my hands as my vision still blurred a little from shock. “None of this makes any sense.” My whole world view had just been ripped out from beneath me and I needed answers now.
“I’m sorry,” Mike gasped into my ear, throwing his arm around me. “I know this must be hard for you.” He was my brother, the man I’d thought was dead, murdered by cyborgs. He was here with me but there was no way I could be happy with our reunion. Nothing was as I expected. Everything I’d ever thought about life was no more.
“Tell me everything," I said. "I need to hear it all. I nee
d you to tell me again.” If I could get it all again calmly, maybe I could digest and process at least some of it.
He nodded slowly, before retelling me the details I already knew, but he wording them in a much more logical order for me. He said, “Okay, well as you remember I was in the army. I was part of the regiment used to test the new cyborg soldiers. None of us really knew what we were getting ourselves in for, but we were just following orders.”
My breathing started to slow, and my body stopped freaking out so much. Mike talking to me was helping me to relax, it was exactly what I needed. Him explaining it to me again somehow enabled me to process it all a bit better.
“Of course we didn’t know then that the cyborgs had their own consciousness, that they could feel. So when they were put into a battle simulation they freaked out.”
“You died,” I said. I still couldn’t get my head around that part. “You didn’t survive the attack. Craig killed you. You were dead… I was told.” Was I told? I couldn’t totally remember anymore...
“I would have if Craig hadn’t saved me. He harmed me by mistake then did all that he could to prevent me from dying.”
“You mean he turned you into one of them.” It was so weird seeing my brother as half-cyborg. It didn’t quite register in my mind. I couldn’t figure it out. He was still Mike, and he was still human as well, but he wasn’t the same person I remembered him to be.
“Yes, but it was that or death,” said Mike.
“So why didn’t you come back to me?" I said. "Why didn’t you come home? I spent the last several years being bitter, hating the world, pushing everyone away. I even joined the dumb army to fight for you, to defend you and get revenge for you. Do you understand I got myself kidnapped? That I would have been killed had it not been for Javier?”
