EVO Shift: EVO Nation Series: Book Two

by Chapman, K. J

  “Manipulating her in the first place wasn’t a wise idea,” says Jude. He’s not angry, just drained. “But the un-manipulation wouldn’t have made a difference. She was already un-manipulating herself. You just sped up the process.”

  Leoni sits beside Jude, her shoulders sagging. “We need to think about this logically. This has gotten worse since you both have been reunited.”

  Jude looks from Leoni, to Adam, and back to me. He nods his agreement, chewing his lip.

  “Nothing you can say will make me leave her.” Adam takes my hand, pulling me toward the door.

  Jude grabs Adam’s forearm. “No one is asking you to.”

  I pinch the bridge of my nose. “You saw how wary Crow was, and rightly so. Maybe Adam and I should-”

  “Should what? Leave?” Jude laughs at the thought. “Where would you go? You have no money, no contacts, and the world knows your faces. You’re safer here with us- with Shift.”

  “But you might not be safe with us,” I say, sighing.

  Leoni takes my face in her hands and kisses my forehead. “Just don’t admit that to anyone but us, okay? Jude’s right, you’re safer here. And I know how strong you both are. You can handle this.” She hugs us both, placing a hand on each of our faces, finally looking like the mother she has longed to be. “We’ll head out if needs be, but for now we stay.”

  Lizzie rushes into the room in a fluster. “TORO soldiers have just broken twenty-nine EVO children out of a detention centre just fifty miles from here. That’s why they’re killing them. They’ve lost control of them.”

  The scorched pile of TORO burns in my mind. That’s it. That’s why they’re murdering them. “Oh my god. There is no one to maintain the TORO any longer. They’re un-manipulating themselves. That’s why they’re killing them.”

  “How do you even know that?” Cooper asks Lizzie.

  “Kesh has used his technokinesis to link to the device that I received all my communications from- Towley’s. Anytime that device sends a message or makes a call we will know about it. Crow has called a meeting. I think he wants to go after them and bring them back to Syndicate?”

  Adam takes Leoni’s hand. “Those men will need your help, Mum.”

  “I know, Sweetheart. I’ve seen the horrors locked inside your mind,” she says, following Crow and Lizzie out of the room.

  It feels as if someone has tipped a bucket of water down my back. The icy chill spreads through my skin. I look to Adam, knowing the colour has drained from my face.

  “I know, Baby,” he says. “Now that I have the telepathy, I’m going to start un-manipulating my conditioning memories from Facility One.”

  My lower lip trembles, and I clasp a hand to my mouth. “I’m so sorry, Baby.”

  He places his hand over my heart. “We have time to figure something out.” He smiles, but I know it’s purely for my benefit.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  Jude steps up to Crow. Crow’s bigger, but there has always been something intimidating about Jude. “Since when do you call the shots?”

  This is a macho display if nothing else. Jude doesn’t want to take orders from a younger man. It doesn’t sit well with him. The corner of Crow’s mouth twitches with annoyance.

  “Crow is our leader,” I say.

  Jude scoffs, rubbing a hand over his unshaven chin. “Are you one of them. Have you chosen Shift?”

  “She’s our little Cub,” Brick says, ruffling my hair.

  “Whether you like it or not, you’re one of us too,” Crow says to Jude. “Syndicate don’t want you. Feel grateful that we’ve got a place for you. After all, you’re not exactly Shift loyal.”

  Jude laughs. “Not a chance. My old man would turn in his grave.”

  “Rafe would be proud of you,” Leoni says, kindly. “You’re not the man you were then.”

  Although, he hasn’t said as much, I know he’s accepting of his role in Shift. He’s just playing hard to get.

  Cooper saunters passed Jude. “Why are you kicking up such a stink? You’re not the damn plan man, right?”

  Jude swings for Cooper, connecting with his jaw. Cooper staggers, but quickly lunges back at him. Adam grabs Cooper, swinging him away from Jude.

  I force myself between the- arms outstretched- telekinesis holding them apart. “Cooper, go and wait outside.” I bark at him. He’s toying with the idea of having another pop at Jude. I can see it in the way his fists clench and unclench. “Please, just wait outside. Do it for me, eh?”

  He grunts in his throat and pulls out of Adam’s grip. “Fine,” he says, sauntering out the door.

  “How the hell did you get him to do that?” October asks.

  Jude snorts, wiping at his bloody nose. “Our Teds and Coop are best buddies now, ain’t ya, Princess?”

  “What?” exclaims Seth. “You are m-m-mates now?”

  He’s hurt. Cooper hasn’t done himself any favours in the way he treated them before, but if they only got to know him, then they’d know the truth. I can’t tell them his story, it’s not my place, but I can try and make them keep an open mind.

  “He’s just a little misunderstood,” I say. Seth laughs, and I roll my eyes. “You don’t know what I know.”

  “I know he can be a total prick,” Jude says, spitting blood out of the window. “Teddies, right though. He has a history.”

  October gently brushes her hand over my forearm, reading my emotions. “You think highly of him, don’t you? He important to you.” She looks a little perplexed. “It’s like you are family now?”

  Adam lets out a nervous cough.

  “He’s as good as my brother, and one of the best men I know.” I feel Adam tense beside me. I won’t lie to him or them. Cooper is important to me, and will be a big part of my life in the same way that they are. “He looked after me when I needed him. He taught me to fight, so I could protect myself from the Taggers who were hell bent on raping me, and he threw himself on top of the man who did this to my face before he could carve the word freak into my forehead. So yeah, he is important to me.”

  A hush falls over the room. I’ve shocked them- good.

  “Right, let’s load those vans,” Brick says, breaking the tension.

  ***

  The girls raid my wardrobe, making kind comments, but clearly appalled by my lack of fashion sense. Throwing my rucksack over my shoulder, I head downstairs, leaving them fighting over my jerseys.

  Adam helps Brick and Pug load anything Crow deemed useful from the house. I expected to feel something more poignant when seeing parts of my old life get ripped up for dressings or broken down for firewood, but I feel nothing of significance.

  “Baby, can you wake Cooper? He’s on the couch,” Adam calls from the van. “Kid’s too scared to try.”

  “We don’t call him Psycho for nothing,” Kid shouts back.

  Cooper lies in the foetal position. There is something about the way he sleeps that is childlike in nature.

  I tap him on the head. “Oi, asshole, time to wake up.”

  He opens one eye, grunting and cursing at me to leave him be, so I shake his shoulder until he can’t ignore me any longer.

  “Okay, I’m up. I was on watch with Pug until three, you know?”

  “And Pug is up already and loading the vans.”

  “Then he’s a bloody fool.” He sits on the edge of the couch, rubbing at his eyes. “Are you alright after earlier? Adam’s worried. He asked me to help him keep an eye on you.”

  “Did he speak with you?”

  “Yeah. He came to me after the scuffle with Jude. He thanked me for taking care of you- blah blah blah.”

  A weight lifts from my shoulders. “He trusts you now,” I say. “But I don’t need mothering, thanks all the same.”

  “I told him that I weren’t your damn babysitter, and that you can look after yourself. He asked me to keep on with your fight training. I reckon he’d do it himself if he wasn’t such a pussy about hurting you.”

  “He
knows that you won’t go easy on me. Besides, I’m up for another chance to pummel you.”

  He raises his hand, but I block it effortlessly, only for him to crack me in the guts. “Pummel me, huh?”

  I groan through the pain and the corner lamp explodes, casting us into darkness. We both stare at each other.

  “Let’s keep that between us,” Cooper says, getting to his feet.

  “What was that?” Adam asks from the doorway. He switches on the main light, his eyes surveying the demolished lamp.

  I bury my face into my hands. This is a bloody mess. I feel like I’m back at stage one, when I was unable to control my telekinesis. I could chalk it up to this house. It seems to bring out the worst in me, but it’s not the house. I have too much power to handle. How are we both going to cope with this?

  I push my face into Adam’s chest. “What the hell are we going to do?”

  Cooper slaps me on the back. “You blew a table lamp. Get over it. I blocked the toilet earlier, and I ain’t worried.”

  “I doubt you are,” I say, laughing.

  He shrugs and heads out to the vans.

  “When I was looking for candles, I came across some photographs in the dresser.” Adam pulls a photo from his pocket. “I thought you’d like to keep hold of this one.”

  He hands me an image of Dad and I at the cove. I remember it clearly because it was my sixteenth birthday. He set up the tripod, we posed, and then the flash didn’t work. He fiddled with the buttons, and then came sprinting towards me because the timer had started again. The result was a picture of the pair of us in fits of laughter.

  “I thought she burnt them all when she kicked him out,” I say, weeping. “Thank you.” I hold the picture against my heart, sobbing into my hand. “Adam, I need to go to the cove.”

  ***

  The rocks are as wet as the night Dad and I made our escape down them. I don’t attempt them now; I just stand on the cliff edge, staring at the choppy sea below.

  “Dad had a small speedboat moored to the rocks over there,” I tell Adam, pointing to the rocks that are barely visible through a sea fog. “The TORO were already on to us, so we swam for it. The chopper appeared from over there.” I point to the far cliffs. “Dad was shot in the chest, but he got us out of this cove and into the next.”

  I run along the cliffs; the same route Roscoe would have taken that night. Adam stays close on my heels, just listening to my recount.

  I stop dead at the second cove. A wrecked boat is beached on the sand below. Following the slipway down to the sand, I make my way to the mass of broken wood. My legs shake under my weight. It’s the boat. Some of the wood is darker- stained with blood- Dad’s blood.

  I turn away from the boat. “Roscoe was stood right here,” I say to Adam, my voice cracking. He runs his hand up my spine. “We were out on the water, but Dad was bleeding out. The plan was for me to head three coves down and I would find a cave that led to a private bay. Isaac would have been waiting for me.”

  “So, what happened?” he asked. “I’ve only ever seen glimpses of these memories.”

  I close my eyes and take his hand. The fragmented memories join together in a disjointed, slideshow in my mind. The most painful, vivid memory that is forever etched into my soul, and for me, the starting point of this crazy war.

  As my memory of Roscoe fizzles to blackness, it is replaced by an intense, bright light. I’m witness to images of a car rolling from the road, the impact violent and sudden. A younger Leoni screams, shaking a man who is slumped over the wheel. She turns to face Adam. Her face is streaked in blood, her lips move, but there is no sound, just a ringing noise. Then, there’s a scream; a long, guttural scream of a child. The back door opens and Leoni pulls Adam from the car, checking over every inch of him.

  “We have to go, right now.”

  “But Dad,” he sobs.

  “Dad’s dead, Sweetheart. I need you to be really brave for me. Can you do that?”

  I open my eyes back at the cove.

  “You showed me your worst memory, so I showed you mine,” says Adam. His hand in mine is slick with sweat. “Years apart, but both our father’s lost their lives for the same reason- their EVO family.”

  “I keep trying to find reason in everything that has happened and all routes lead back to me. I’m the common denominator. When I was younger I would think of how life could be. I would be someone’s Mummy, I would be married, I’d have a St Bernard dog called Mr Darcy, and one of those huge wagon cars that Mums drive on the school run. Even then, I knew it was just a dream.”

  “No, not a dream. You can still have that. It may be a little different, but I can give you that,” he says, resting his forehead on mine.

  I shake my head, tears spilling over my cheeks. “I’m not supposed to have any of that because I’m not supposed to survive this.”

  Adam holds my upper arms and shakes me. “Never say that. Do you hear me? Never say that.” He is angry, and my words hurt him, but it doesn’t lessen their truth.

  “Dad, Mum, Norah, Boyd, Golding, Haydn, Tess, Maggie, Fabian, October’s Dad, and not forgetting all those men and women at the complex, and the TORO at Facility One. That’s the list of everyone who has died because of me- those that I know of anyway.”

  He pushes away from me, growling in frustration. “Don’t start this again. What happened to the Teddie I met at Facility One? That Teddie didn’t wallow in self-pity, or blame herself for the actions of others. That Teddie was fierce. I’m tired of this bubble of self-loathing and resignation that you’ve trapped yourself in.”

  Taking a step away from him, I cross my arms over my chest; a barrier between us to shield me from his words. “This is me, Adam. This is the result of the last four weeks. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but this Teddie has had her eyes opened.”

  “So, you’re mad now, huh? I don’t care if you don’t like what I have to say because I’ll say it regardless. If I can’t call you out, then who can? That’s what you do when you love someone, and Christ knows I love you. You are the only woman who can amaze and infuriate me at the same time, and you are strong enough to take it when I put a stop to your bullshit.”

  “My feelings are valid, not bullshit,” I shout, stamping back up the cove. “You want me to be fierce, but at the same time you want me to depend on you, to need you. I don’t need anyone to babysit me, not you, not Cooper, not Jude. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me, and you’re right, I am strong. I’m sure as hell strong enough to hold my own against anyone and everyone who threatens me or my family. And you know what? I’m going to make sure that everyone I’ve lost hasn’t died in vain. I’m not sure how yet, but I will.”

  “There she is,” Adam says, laughing. “Phew, you worried me for a minute there.”

  I spin to face him, his cheeky grin dispersing my anger instantly. I smack his arm, hiding a smile, and continue marching up the cove. “Very good,” I say. “I’m still mad at you though.”

  “Nah, you’re not,” he says, jogging to keep up with me.

  ***

  “Cub, Tech, October, and Seth with me,” Crow calls from the small van. “We’ll be going on ahead to assess the area. Each of you need to be on your toes with your abilities, got it?”

  Adam doesn’t look happy, but I kiss him anyway. He grabs my hand. “I don’t like this. We shouldn’t split up.”

  I smirk at him. “Don’t contradict everything you’ve just said to me. I’ve got this.”

  “Be careful, especially with the electrokinesis. Link with me whenever you can, okay?” he says, kissing the top of my head.

  “And you be careful with my abilities. Remember, that you just have to focus on one or the other for now. I hope you have more luck with the telepathy than me.” I remember the advice Jude gave to me when I was trying to master my telekinesis. “You will feel it here,” I say, tapping Adam’s chest. “It is erratic and scary, but don’t act on that sensation. Concentrate on the heaviness in your mind.
Always, always, control it from your mind. Just picture that kitchen in there if you struggle.”

  Crow barks my name from the van.

  “No goodbyes,” I call back to Adam.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  Seth wraps an arm around my shoulder, and I rest my head against him. I’m glad he’s not pissed at the Cooper situation. I’ve missed kind and gentle Seth. I know we were brought together through Golding’s death, but I think that was Golding’s gift to us. When it comes to relationships and the length of time we have all actually known each other, I know that its quality over quantity. In this fast moving world at present, everything of value needs to be fast paced to keep up.

  “How are you doing?” I ask him.

  He shrugs. “The s-s-same as anyone, I guess. I’m not a-a fighter, Teds.”

  “And that’s why I love you.” I hear a snort in his throat. “What? It’s true. Once the fighting is done, what then? We need the Seth’s to rebuild the world for us.”

  He wraps his other arm around me, pulling me deeper into his embrace. The seatbelt cuts in a bit, but I don’t mind. I like this; this is something Towley can never take away from us.

  “I’m sorry I can’t talk to you like we did before,” I say. “I’m struggling with the telepathy.”

  Seth squeezes tighter. Sometimes things don’t need to be said to be understood.

  Kesh shifts in his seat beside Seth to rest his back against the door. “I envy you guys. Your group is tight.”

  “We h-h-have to be,” Seth replies. His face flares red from embarrassment.

  Kesh winks and taps Seth’s knee gently. “Perhaps, we’ll be like that one day.”

  Seth smiles at Kesh, his heart racing that little bit faster under my ear. Something is happening here- I can feel it. It’s the same feeling I got when Leoni spoke of Rafe. October catches my eye in the rear view mirror and grins. She feels it too. I hope Seth does find some happiness soon. He needs something to fight for.

  “There’s a drone,” Crow says, pointing to the sky. “Tech, you’re up.”

  “What are you attempting to do?” I ask.