“I have been researching the drone technology. I reckon I have five seconds to access the drone and re-programme it before it transmits any information back to its base. I’m hoping that it will give me access into the main system and I can see what intel the government have on where these TORO might actually be.”
“Then, you three can take over,” Crow adds. “Kesh gets us to the haystack, and you three find the needle.”
“Go for it,” I say, before my remaining courage leaves me for good.
Crow pulls over, and Kesh pulls on his mask before stepping out, shaking out his arms and legs.
Seth reaches over and slaps his back. “You can d-do this.”
Kesh grins, if not a little sheepishly, and closes his eyes. For a moment nothing happens, and then the drone starts to make its decent toward us. We all get out as the machine lands at our feet. It looks much bigger up close. Kesh fiddles with the black box that sits amongst the dewy grass, removing a hard drive of sorts.
“This is what we need. The rest needs to be concealed,” he says through the synth.
He starts breaking the light framework with his foot. Crow helps until the drone is small enough to be squished into the boot of the bus.
“Will they not know it is missing?” October asks. She kind of suits the mask. It gives her tough girl vibe much more kudos.
Kesh studies the technology in his hand. “Nah,” he mutters. “She’s still transmitting as normal. Give me some peace a mo. I need to focus.”
The silence seems to last an eternity. Kesh’s eyes remain close, but he pulls odd facial expressions. I watch him in awe. He is linking into technology. Even after everything I’ve seen and everything I’ve been through, I’m still overwhelmed by EVO. Nature is amazing; it’s humans that ruin it.
“Get a pen,” Kesh bellows at us, and then starts spouting numbers.
“Got it,” Crow tells him.
“We’re too late, though. They’ve found them.”
“Shit, shit, shit,” Crow says, almost growling with rage. He types the numbers into Kesh’s tablet. “That’s real close. Literally, a five minute drive.”
“Well, what do you think?” I ask Crow.
“Think about what?” October asks. “What do you expect us to do? Crow said they’ll be no action. We haven’t got physical abilities.”
“But Crow and I have. What do you say, cuz?” I ask again. His eyes bore into mine. “They’re kids. I can’t sit back and do nothing.” I feel sick just imagining what those kids have been put through. They’ve had a taste of freedom and it is being snatched away again. They’re probably terrified. If I can do something to help, I have to at least try.
October grips my forearm. “Teddie, no,” she says, sensing my emotions.
“Teddie’s right. They’re kids, October.” He grins at me. “What are we waiting for?”
I jump in the passenger side, and Crow in the driver’s seat. He chucks Kesh his tablet and a bag of guns. “Get off the road and into the woods. Send word to the others, then lay low until they arrive. Tell them there has been a change of plan and to get here A.S.A.P.” Then, Crow puts his foot down. As we speed down the lane, he turns to me and smiles. “I knew you were one of us.”
***
The sound of gunfire and children’s screams reaches us before we even catch a glimpse of a government truck. Crow pulls over, hands me two guns, and starts for the trees and the cause of the commotion.
“Reach out. I don’t care how, just do it.”
I reach out my telepathy, allowing it loose over the multiple minds ahead of us.
“I want my Mummy.” “I don’t want to die.” “Can I make it to the trees before they shoot me?” “My sister needs me. We can’t get split up.”
The emotion is too much. I stop, lift the mask from my mouth, and vomit in the hedgerow. “We have to help them,” I say to Crow.
More gun shots sound, sending birds flying from the trees. The children scream louder, and I can hear a chopper, but it isn’t in my line of sight.
I reach out again. “Why are we tranqing them? We should be killing the freaks.” “I’ll kill those TORO bastards first.”
I fall to my knees. The emotion and hate in their thoughts cripples me.
“Pull it together, Cub,” Crow says, grabbing my upper arm tightly.
We breach the tree line. Soldiers advance towards a barn, tranquiliser guns poised. We’re to the left. One movement and we could be seen.
“Blast them, and then get inside that barn,” Crow says. “I’ll make use of the distraction. Wait for a sign from me, and then get them out the back.”
I don’t think twice. Racing out from the trees, I send at least ten soldiers soaring fifty yards back into the army trucks. Gun shots fire from further out, but I keep myself cocooned. I blast the barn door open, slamming it behind me. Children scream, and a trigger happy TORO fires at me. The bullet hits into my telekinetic force field and clatters to the ground. I withdraw my telekinesis, holding out my hands in surrender.
“I’m EVO. I’m here to help,” I say. Most of the kids recoil from me, and I curse the stupid synth. I sound like a serial killer.
“How can we trust you?” asks a TORO. I can’t see his face through the VIDI screen on his helmet, but I recognise the anguished tones of his voice- half human and half soulless robot. Adam went through the same transition at Facility One.
“Are any of you Telepaths? Sensors?”
A boy of no more than ten steps forward. “I’m an Empath.”
I hold out my hand to him. One of the other kids tries to stop him, but he makes his way from the back of the barn and takes my hand.
He brushes his ridiculously long fringe out of his eyes and offers me a half smile. “She’s one of the good guys.”
A whistling sound catches my attention, and in the next moment, a deafening screech fills the barn. A rocket propelled grenade crashes through the wooden wall. There’s an explosion and it launches me through the air. My ears ring with a disorienting hum, and my eyes blur and water.
What is left of a TORO coats the walls and floor. The kids are in a panic, but none seriously hurt. A dog races to and from one child to the next in fright.
“Whose dog is that?” I ask, but I’m not offered a reply.
“This isn’t right. They were ordered to not hurt the children,” says one of the remaining TORO, TORO 201. His uniform is ripped open at the chest, and a deep wound bleeds all over his front. He winces in pain, but manages to lift a small girl into his arms. She’s screaming bloody murder. Well, that’s exactly what this is.
I compose myself and attempt to tune in again. Every panicked thought fills my mind, but one mind calls to me; he’s in charge I’m sure. His thoughts ring in his head as he spits them from his vile mouth. I stagger into the wall, desperately trying to ‘sort through the thoughts’ as Leoni would instruct me if she were here. “
Reload boys. Orders are orders. Kill anything that moves.”
“Orders have changed,” I say, dragging TORO 201 away from the open wall. “We need to get the kids out of here. They’re going to fire again.”
Another TORO, TORO 286, points to the roof beams. “This place is going to collapse.”
Come on, Crow. I squint through a gap in the wood. More men advance on the barn with an RPG at the ready. They get into position as a wall of flames engulfs them. Burning soldiers scream and run from the weapon. It explodes taking pieces of them with it.
The roof drops a foot. Dust and splinters of wood fall on us, and it’s hard to hear anything over the creaking of joists. “Go now.” I scream at the TORO. Blasting a hole in the back of the barn, I force my telekinesis up, lifting the roof and holding its full weight. “Get those children out of here. Head into the woods and don’t stop running until you reach the road. Hurry, I’ll catch you up.”
“You need to come- now,” TORO 201 shouts.
“I need to find my friend. Your job is to keep those kids alive.”<
br />
He nods and steps through the hole. “Thank you,” he says, and then disappears.
The dog appears from behind a stack of boxes. He bites the material of my trousers, tugging me toward the hole.
“Go dog.” He tugs a little more. “I can’t go yet, mate. Go on, shoo,” I say, tapping him on the butt with my boot. He whines, but races out of the barn with his tail between his legs.
I throw the roof into the air and toward the military trucks. What is left of the shell falls around me. The wall of flames separates me from the remaining soldiers. Crow is on the other side, using a piece of metal to deflect bullets.
I force my telekinesis into the ground and soar into the air, clearing the flames in a single jump.
“Shit! Heads up,” shouts a soldier. He points his weapon at me, but has neither the time or skill to react.
As I land, I allow the force to ripple outwards. The ground literally shakes, and every man and woman is knocked off their feet.
Crow pulls me behind his sheet of metal, allowing me respite. I know my nose is bleeding. I can taste the metallic saltiness on my tongue. It seeps into my synth and I have to ditch it.
“What now?” I ask.
A chopper swoops in at high speed. A line of bullets hit the dirt, kicking up grass and mud. Crow drops the make-shift shield, and we both run for tree cover. Every snap as the bullets leave the chopper, and every thud as they embed into the earth, corresponds with my heart beating in my chest like a sledge hammer. I can feel the bullets close on my heels, and we dive behind the closest tree.
A hiss leaves Crow like someone has let the air out of him, and a sting nips at my shoulder. “Are you hit?” I scream at him.
“I’m too scared to look.”
I lift his top to see a graze where the bullet has skimmed his side. “You’re a lucky sod,” I say, sighing with relief.
“Are you good, Cub?” He pulls me forward to examine my graze. “Someone up there is on our side,” he says.
The chopper turns back to us, and I pull Crow’s legs further behind the tree. We’re practically sitting on each other. A shower of bullets kicks the dirt into our faces, but it is short lived. The chopper continues over the demolished barn, and toward the woods.
“They going for the kids,” Crow shouts, pushing himself to standing.
Those children and their TORO saviours don’t deserve this. I won’t be a bystander. I reach out my telekinesis; the force of the chopper is unlike anything I have felt before. Doubt creeps in, but a memory seeps in through the chaos; the clear sound of metal on rock from that night at the cove. I’ve done this before. I can do this again.
The chopper splutters as its propellers screech to a stop. The nose dips, and I drop to one knee, but manage to drag the chopper back through the air. Electrokinesis courses through my body, but I can’t use it in front of Crow… not yet. Anyway, it’s easier to use my telekinesis. I’m an old hat at it.
The remaining soldiers scream in genuine fear. I can hear them trying to start one of the trucks. I step out from the trees, allowing them to see me- to see the blood running over my mouth. I’ve never held my telekinesis for so long, or on something so heavy, and my head feels ready to explode with pressure. The chopper hovers above them for a split second, and then I release it. As it falls, Crow sends a ball of fire toward it. The chopper and the fire ball hit the truck in perfect unity.
For the second time, I’m catapulted backwards. Crow hits into the tree, and I hit into Crow. Both of us roll on the ground until the air graces our lungs once again.
“Come on,” shouts Crow, pulling off his mask. He takes my elbow and drags me over the scorched ground, through the remains of the barn, and into the woods after the TORO and the kids.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
We sprint full speed through the brush and thistles. I don’t even feel them scratching at my legs and arms. I’m exhilarated, and pure adrenaline pulses through me. We have saved innocent people. Crow whoops as we run, he even crows. I laugh despite myself. We are just two and we took on Towley’s army and won. I’m a fully-fledged member of Shift.
We follow the stamped down tracks made by the children until I see a grey uniform and a gun trained on me. TORO 201 lowers his weapon instantly. He’s taken a back at the sight of me without my mask.
“That’s Theyda Woodman,” says one of the older boys. “She’s Isaac Woodman’s daughter.”
“Wrong,” I say. “I’m Theyda Leason- Teddie. Isaac Woodman is not my father. The government are saying that to make the Non-EVO fear me. I killed Isaac Woodman in Italy, not them.”
The kids all start to talk at once.
“Why do they want you so bad?” the same boy asks. His accusation has changed to curiosity.
“The same reason they want you. I was a child EVO, but there is something different about me—
“You have more than one ability,” says TORO 201. “I’m a sensor. I can feel more than one strength within you.”
I forget that they have been locked away. They may be the only people in Britain who do not know of my dual- ability. “I’m a Telepathic Telekin.” Actually, I’m a Telepathic Electrokinetic Telekin, but the little known about that, the better.
Murmurs ripple throughout the group, but general consensus is that I’m pretty cool. I’ll take that compliment today.
“Come on,” barks Crow. “We’ve got to move. Do not use abilities now, okay? There are drones everywhere.”
Crow jogs ahead. The kids follow suit, and I bring up the rear with TORO 201 and TORO 286. A blonde girl takes my hand and the gesture surprises me. She can’t be more than six; my heart ache for her. Her face is smudged with dirt, and her clothes are filthy, but she smiles none the less. The front of one of her shoe is ripped clean from the sole causing her to limp along. I crouch in front of her and she climbs on my back. She’s so little, and yet, she could have died today. This injustice must be stopped.
My head screams with a migraine, and my shoulder stings now the adrenaline is wearing off, but I’m damn proud of myself. The little hands clasped around my neck only enforce that for me.
We circle around until we’re back on the track Crow and I had followed, and he holds up his hand as trucks and vans speed up the road. “The cavalry has arrived,” he says, relief in his voice. “Come on, kids.”
They all sprint from the tree line, whooping and catcalling. Crow leading them like the Pied Piper of Hamlin. I run behind them, basking in their euphoria. The little one on my back giggles as she bops up and down to my footfall. The TORO keep to my side, hands on guns.
Brick’s huge frame hangs out of a window, letting out the loudest, happiest crow of us all. Everyone jumps out of the trucks, cheering and clapping. Finally, we have something good to celebrate.
The kids reach the trucks first, shaking hands with all the Shift members. Pug notices mine and Crow’s lack of masks and seems a little concerned.
“Remove them,” Crows instructs. “We’ll get Leoni to manipulate their memories later.”
The masks come off, and the kids run around in joyous chaos.
“Okay, tiddlers, let’s get you in the vans,” Brick calls, rounding up armfuls of kids.
I lower the little girl to the ground, so she can join in the fun.
Adam stands at the back of the crowd, hands in pockets. “Why?”
“It was the right thing to do.”
“You could have been killed. Look at you, Teds. You look half dead.”
“It was the right thing to do,” I say, firmer. “Did you mean anything you said at the cove? Decide what you want from me, Adam, because I’m confused.”
There’s a tug on my jersey. “Miss Teddie,” says the little girl I had carried.
I crouch to her level. “You can call me Teddie,” I say.
“Thank you for coming to help us.”
“You are welcome, Sweetie. What’s your name?”
“Millie.” She scrunches her nose, eyeing my stitches. �
��What happened to your eye?”
“That’s another story,” I say, smiling. These kids have enough to worry about without learning the horrors of the fight houses too.
“A bad story?”
“Yeah, a bad story.”
“Can I make it better?” She reaches out a muddy hand and covers my eye with her palm. It smarts from the pressure, but I don’t let on. I concentrate on her little face- eyes closed- and her tongue poking out the corner of her mouth in concentration.
Everyone else is quiet now, even the other kids. Her hand feels hotter than natural, and my skin burns under her touch.
She lifts her hand and examines my face, a grin spreading over her own. “All better.”
I touch my eye. The skin has healed, the stitches have fallen away, and all I can feel is the thin line of a scar. “That is a special ability you have, Sweetie.”
“I’m going to be a doctor when I grow up. I can help people,” she says. There is a beauty to her naivety.
“You will make a fantastic doctor.”
She wraps her arms around my neck, perching on my knee. “Should I fix your other eye too? I’m tired now, though.”
My other eye? I check my reflection in the wheel trim. The white of my left eye is totally red from a burst blood vessel. I look demonic.
I shake my head, lifting her as I stand. “I need something to scare the boys, right?” She giggles. “Get in the van with Brick, Millie, and we’ll get you somewhere safe, okay?”
She springs to her feet, fist bumps me, and races into Brick’s arms.
“That is why,” I say to Adam without looking at him.
His arm slides around my waist, and he presses himself up against my back. “I’m just not having an easy time of letting you go.”
I turn into him. “You don’t have to let me go. Just loosen the reins a little. I’m hard-core remember.”
He plants a strong kiss on the top of my head, pulling me in tighter. “I can do that. Just go easy on me and let me look after you a little...like right now.” He lifts me off my feet, pressing a solid kiss to my lips. The kids on the bus make woo noises, and Adam smiles against my mouth. “We have an audience.” I allow him to scoop me up and carry me onto the truck.
EVO Shift: EVO Nation Series: Book Two Page 21
