Black-Eyed Kids: The Complete Series

by Miranda Hardy

  Maverick runs towards us, and Lisa struggles to keep up. “Beck, it’s safe to come out, but we need to leave ASAP.”

  Dr. B scrambles out of the cave with Marcus’s other rifle in one hand and a backpack in the other. “Thank you, Astid.” He shoves the weapon into his bag. “I really don’t know how to use this.”

  “It was Maverick and Marcus you need to thank, once again.” I say.

  Detective Jennings’ face lights up when he sees Lisa. “Thank God you’re safe. All I could think about was finding you.”

  She throws her arms around him. “Maverick and Marcus found me. I was so scared being out there all alone with that giant out there.”

  That would explain the wound on Lisa’s leg. They have run into Balor. They are fortunate to be alive.

  I know it. Maverick runs back into the cave to grab our two remaining bags and rejoins us. “We need to go to the falls and wait for Marcus, then figure out our next move.”

  “Agreed,” Dr. B says before leading the way.

  Lisa moves slowly through the thick woods, but Maverick stays beside her the entire time. Guilt weighs heavily on his mind, a result of Lisa being involved with all of this once again. He blames himself for her being injured. Dark memories flood his mind, and his regret is too great to ignore. Tarick. Cadence. Marcus. Lisa. They have all suffered because of him. He wants nothing more than to have Lisa safe at home and far away from him.

  I follow directly behind Dr. B, and I leave Maverick alone with his thoughts. Detective Jennings thinks about how foolish it was allowing Lisa to come with him to Georgia and how worried her parents must be. He never meant to be gone more than two days. They’re never going to buy that she’s sleeping over with a friend. Although he knew it wasn’t right to bring her, he’s relieved that Maverick and I are OK. He thinks about the big monster and how the bullets merely slowed him down. This entire situation is out of his control and he wonders what other creatures Level 6 has created.

  After reaching out with my mind for any sign of Marcus or the agents, I turn to reading Dr. B’s mind. He wonders if those agents would have shot him in the cave or taken him back to the compound to be tortured for information. He hopes he never finds out what they’d do to him if they ever captured him. He knows what they are capable of, and it terrifies him.

  At the rear of our group, Lisa continues to concentrate on her emotions and wishes she could be brave like me. It catches me off guard that she thinks this way. I want to tell her I’m far from it. I’m confused, angry, and scared of the future. I have no place I can ever call home. She has a normal family and a beautiful house. I’m envious of her, more than she’ll ever know.

  None of us say anything for the next couple of miles, and relief washes over everyone when the waterfalls come into our sight. The rush of water flows into a stream which continues north into a small pond. We veer toward an area next to the current where the trees provide a little cover in the darkness. A cool breeze caresses us, relaxing the others a bit.

  I close my eyes and extend my mind’s reach as far as I can. The silence is eerie, and I’m starting to fear the worst.

  “Anything?” Maverick asks me.

  “No.” I don’t sense Marcus or the four agents who went after him.

  Maverick shrugs his right shoulder. At least you don’t sense Balor either.

  Something about Maverick strikes me as strange. Something is off about him. Why aren’t you using your mind abilities?

  Maverick ignores my inquiry. “Marcus should be here soon,” he tells the others before tossing his backpacks onto the ground. “Jennings, you shouldn’t have come here, and you shouldn’t have brought Lisa with you.”

  Lisa gives Maverick a little shove. Luckily, she struck his good shoulder. “Hey, I’m right here.”

  Jennings scratches his head. “I know, but out of a personal duty, I felt I needed to come and find you to be sure nothing bad happened.” He turns to Lisa and scowls. “You are stubborn.” Detective Jennings offers his hand to Maverick. “It’s good to see you alive.”

  Maverick shakes it. “It’s good to be alive.”

  Detective Jennings asks the group, “Can someone fill me in on what the hell is going on around here? How about we start with introductions.”

  Maverick begins with, “Beck, this is Detective Drake Jennings and Lisa from back home. They know all about the Black-Eyed Kids and Level 6.”

  “All too well,” Detective Jennings adds.

  “This is Beck,” Maverick continues. “I guess his real name is Dr. Beckett. He was a Level 6 scientist. He was the lead on Project Hero. He and his buddies actually created the BEKs, which they call Dark Angels, by the way.”

  Detective Jennings is agitated. “You are responsible for all of this?”

  Dr. B swallows hard. “I’m afraid so.” He glances down at Lisa’s bandaged leg wound. “And I’m the one who released the thing that attacked you.”

  Before Detective Jennings can throw a punch at Dr. B, Maverick steps in between them. “Hold up! Beck knows he’s done a whole lot of wrong. But, he is the one who let Astid go in the first place. And he did help us escape the Level 6 compound. Everything he’s done since being fired by Level 6 has been to help bring them down.” He throws Dr. B a dirty look. “Despite his screw ups, we can’t do this without him. He can get us in and out of their bases.”

  Detective Jennings backs off, waiting to hear further explanations.

  Maverick takes a deep breath before explaining everything that has happened since we have arrived at the State Park. Lisa sits under one of the trees and listens to Maverick recap our story. She’s exhausted and wants to let sleep whisk her away from this nightmare. As Detective Jennings starts making sense of what all has gone down, he uncrosses his arms and lets his anger towards Dr. B dissipate.

  I concentrate on surveying our surroundings and go as far as I can to once again confirm no agents or Balor are near us. I keep searching for Marcus’s familiar energy, but I find nothing. After Maverick finishes his recap of all the events leading us to this moment, we all fall silent.

  With only the sound of the bubbling water surrounding us, Dr. B and Lisa drift off to sleep first. Maverick’s worry about Marcus is eating him alive.

  Do you feel him? he asks me without speaking.

  Not yet. I am too worried to get any rest. Why don’t you use your abilities to reach out? You are more than capable.

  Maverick kicks at the dirt as he leans back on a tall, flat rock. I think my powers are fading. I don’t know why, but I’m not able to reach out with my mind like I used to. Maybe my abilities were just temporary.

  We never truly understood how Maverick had acquired his abilities in the first place. I have my own theories. One thing is for sure: something strange happened when I interrupted Kren feeding on Maverick’s life force. There was some sort of exchange that happened between them. If that’s true, I wonder if maybe Kren had also gained some sort of humanity in the exchange.

  Let’s not dwell on that right now, I reassure him. Let’s focus on making sure Marcus is all right.

  I don’t know if we are safe here, Maverick says. I don’t know where we would be safe at this point.

  I don’t know either.

  “You’re both doing the telepathy-thing right now, aren’t you?” Detective Jennings asks us while keeping his eyes closed.

  Maverick chuckles. “Yeah. Sorry.”

  After a few moments, Detective Jennings finally gives in to his exhaustion, but Maverick and I remain awake and alert, waiting for Marcus to come back to us.

  15

  MAVERICK

  MARCUS HASN’T ARRIVED yet, and the sun begins to rise above the horizon. Crap. The one thing he feared most, other than coming face to face with Balor again, might have happened. Did Level 6 capture him last night?

  Astid tries to comfort me, but she has a hard time hiding her own fear. Let’s not start jumping to conclusions. Perhaps Marcus could not remember where the waterfa
ll was located.

  Jennings, Beck, and Lisa stir from their sleep. Jennings is the first to sit up and ask, “Marcus isn’t back yet?”

  “No, he isn’t, and I’m beginning to freak out a little.” I bend down by the fall’s edge and splash my face with the cool water. “Maybe he got lost. You know Marcus. He’s got a terrible sense of direction, among other things.”

  A growing rage emanates from Astid’s energy. If we didn’t need to save Dr. B last night, Marcus would be with us now.

  It’s not Beck’s fault. She’s not convinced. I tell her, Don’t forget, it was you who ran off into the woods last night.

  Astid’s expression hardens, but she knows I’m right.

  Beck asks, “Are you guys telepathically arguing with each other?”

  I feel my face turn hot. “Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. It’s rude.”

  Lisa is the last to sit up. “It is, Maverick. We’re all involved. The least you two can do is include us in whatever telepathic discussions you’re having.”

  “I am sorry,” Astid says. “Speaking with words is still not easy for me.”

  Jennings asks no one in particular, “You think Marcus has been taken?”

  We’re all in agreement.

  “It’s all my fault,” I say as I pick up a rock and throw it into the water.

  It’s not your fault. Astid turns to me and says aloud, “No, it is not. It is mine.”

  Jennings wonders if we’re still having a secret conversation. “We probably shouldn’t remain in the same location too long, especially since Level 6 is out here looking for that Balor-monster and all of us. We need to get on the move pretty soon, after we figure out what our plan is.”

  Lisa draws her knees into her chest, grimacing from the wound on her right leg. I know it’s wrong to go poking into her mind, but I want to know what she’s thinking. She’s worried about Marcus like the rest of us, but she’s afraid of running into Balor again. Then her mind turns to food. She’s starving and she’s wondering if we have anything to eat.

  “Beck, did you bring some food with you?” I ask.

  Beck gets to his feet and wipes away any traces of sleep from his eyes. He cleans his glasses with his shirt and places them back onto his face. “I have some canned fruit and vegetables. I have some soups, too.” He rummages through his bag and pulls out several cans. “I have some of the nutritional drinks for Astid.”

  He extends one of the energy drinks out to her, but she doesn’t take it.

  “No, I am fine, thank you.” She turns away from him. Looking at him reminds her of her mother too much, and she can’t stand it. Plus, she doesn’t fully trust Beck. I can’t blame her.

  Beck feels dejected by the snub, but he puts on a fake smile. “We’ll just save it for later.”

  Jennings takes a can of soup from Beck. “I hadn’t planned on being on an extended hike. I’m grateful you all came prepared.”

  Beck hands Lisa a can of pineapple chunks. With a wide smile, she pops the top and starts eating them out of the can. “Pineapple never tasted so good. My last meal was a cold turkey sandwich at a dingy diner outside of Atlanta.”

  Beck offers me another soup and I take it with a smile. “Ready-to-serve chicken noodle. Yum.”

  Aren’t you going to eat something, Astid? I ask without glancing in her direction.

  Astid is busy mentally searching the woods, hoping to sense Marcus. Since it’s light out now, he should be able to more easily find the waterfall. If he’s smart, he can use his super hearing to pinpoint its location. Astid wonders if he’s too far away to hear it.

  We both know what’s happened to him, though.

  I’ll eat something later, when I’m hungry. She continues to scan the woods.

  “Can I have a word with you, Mav?” Lisa stands right behind me, and I hadn’t even realized she’d moved from her spot. “Since I don’t have telepathy, can we talk in private?”

  “Sure.” I gulp down the soup and place the can next to her empty one. I want to know what she’s going to say, but decide against probing her mind for the answer. I brush off the dirt from my pants and follow her away from the falls and from the group. “Does your leg still hurt?”

  “It’s sore, but fine.” She gives me a half smile when she faces me. We are several feet away now and no one would be able to hear us, other than maybe Astid.

  I sense her still searching for Marcus. She doesn’t want to intrude on our private moment and I’m grateful for that.

  “What’s up?” I ask.

  “I wanted to apologize to you for the way I acted before you left. The things that happened to us really messed me up. I haven’t slept much at all since you left.” She bites her bottom lip, and I’m reminded how crazy I am about her. “I know I was pretty distant when we said our goodbyes.”

  Being terrified of making the first move had been my biggest fear until the Black-Eyed Kids had barged into all of our lives. I had forgotten how simple and good life had been. Senior year was supposed to be the best year we’d ever had. Tarick and I had big plans. We were going to maybe go to the same college and become roomies. Mom would have argued against best friends being roommates, I’m sure. Life wasn’t perfect, but damn, it was normal.

  Standing here next to Lisa takes me back to my old life. Her presence reminds me about how excited I was when she finally paid attention to me, outside the friend-zone. Looking at her lips, I remember kissing them for the first time. I wish we could go back to that moment and had it happen under different circumstances.

  But I can’t go back.

  I finally say, “You have nothing to apologize to me for. None of this was your fault, and I understand what you were going through. I blame myself for getting you involved with this.”

  She shakes her head. “No, it wasn’t any of our faults. I did a lot of thinking about all of it, particularly how I handled it. The BEKs freaked me out, and I had a hard time processing all that had happened. Tarick and Cadence’s deaths, Marcus being turned into a mutant BEK, and even Ronald dying…all of those things just put me in a constant state of panic and fear. I’m tired of crying and being so weak. Now that I’ve had a lot of time to process it, all I keep thinking about is how I should have been here with you this whole time. I had to come, Maverick.”

  She gazes into my eyes, and I don’t need to read her mind to feel the sincerity in her words. I pull her into my arms and feel her warmth. She hugs me and breathes into my chest. My right shoulder is on fire, but I don’t care.

  “Can you forgive me?” she asks.

  “Lisa, there’s nothing to forgive.” I figure we shouldn’t make out in front of the others, so I bend down to kiss her forehead. “No regrets. Maybe the time at home after I left was good for you. You needed to pull yourself together after all the craziness.”

  She pulls back and a hint of doubt crosses her beautiful face. “We’re in this together then?”

  “I can’t…” I’m not able to think of the right words to say. I don’t want her to stay with me and get hurt. I’d love it if she and Jennings went home so I’d know they were safe, that would be the rational thing to do. She’s determined to see this thing through, though. “Maybe we should all talk about this first before we decide.”

  “You’re afraid I’ll get hurt. I see the hesitation in your face.” She purses her lips together. “Besides, I’m already wounded. I survived my encounter with Balor. Don’t underestimate me, Maverick.”

  “I wouldn’t dare.”

  She play-punches me in the chest.

  “Hey, I meant to ask Jennings about my dad. Is he OK?”

  Lisa nods. “He went back to your house, started going through stuff. I stopped by, as did Jennings. Your dad was helping with the search for you, Marcus, and Cadence. They all still believe the cult kidnapped all of you and killed Tarick.”

  It hurts to even imagine what Dad is going through. He was never an emotional guy. He never got really happy or really sad. He was always so even. But
now he’s out searching for me, along with Cadence’s parents and Marcus’s mom.

  Is there a happy ending for any of us?

  I’m about to ask Lisa about the other parents when my brain feels as if it’s going to explode.

  Maverick! Astid yells into my head. No, she yells into both our heads.

  “It’s Astid,” Lisa’s mouth drops open and she starts rubbing her temples. “You can keep the telepathy-stuff to yourselves. Yuck.”

  Astid projects intense excitement, which is a relief. Come quick.

  16

  ASTID

  MAVERICK’S IMMEDIATE THOUGHT is that I have found Marcus.

  I begrudgingly tell him, It is not Marcus. I wish it was.

  I complete a quick mental search of the area, hoping to touch upon Marcus’s energy, but I still feel nothing.

  “What is it?” Maverick catches his breath after he and Lisa return to the group. “What has you so excited?”

  Lisa says, “I heard you, by the way.” She is still uncomfortable with my being able to project into her mind like that.

  “Yes, I am sorry if I startled you,” I tell her. “I was searching through Maverick’s pack looking for food and found the cell phone. It is dead, of course. However, I remembered how I manipulated the alarm system at the compound, so I focused my energy into the phone and it charged.” I show him the screen on his phone. “It is up to twenty percent.”

  Dr. B stands next to me with his mouth open. “That’s remarkable. You’re able to transfer your energy into electronic objects. Fascinating.” His thoughts turn to something called energy transference, but what I’ve done has surprised him. “None of the others were able to do it, though. Not Kren. Not even Anna.”

  Maverick frowns. “But you’re using up your energy to do it. Beck has those nutritional drinks that will make you feel better.”