Black-Eyed Kids: The Complete Series

by Miranda Hardy

  I wallow in the newfound power and let it settle in my belly.

  The Specials are in shock, but they are eager to try. Kren directs them to each choose a tree and give it a try. Felix claims the largest tree in the area. Its trunk is so massive, he is unable to reach around its circumference with outstretched hands. It takes several long moments, but the giant pine shrivels down to a skeleton of a tree until nothing but ashes remains.

  The color in Felix’s face returns, and I can see his auric field strengthen. I require more.

  It takes mere minutes for all of them to have consumed their first tree, and they all move on to replenish their energies. Kren feeds himself as well before rejoining me.

  This changes everything, Kren says to me.

  It is a wondrous thing to see him smile again, so I return the gesture. I know. There is hope for us. All of us.

  Felix consumes a third tree before he is satisfied. He is rejuvenated, back to his playful self. The others gather around us, but Kren is preparing what to tell them about our plan. He anticipates they will all be reluctant, but he understands they must be willing to face Balor. They cannot be forced or coerced to come with us.

  The abomination has a name, Kren tells them. His name is Balor, and he wants to consume every single one of us. He wants to feast on our strength. He will stop at nothing until he has taken all the Specials. He turns to me to allow me to speak.

  Up until now, Balor has chosen where and when to fight us, I explain. Our plan is to unite our renewed power to draw him out of hiding.

  Felix shakes his head. Even with our restored strength, we are no match for him.

  Kren argues, Marcus has the ability to break through his victim’s free will to feed. He will draw open the way to drain Balor. If we siphon his strength at the same time, he cannot possibly stop all of us at once. He is strong and seemingly invulnerable, yes. But he is also clumsy and stupid. The only way this is going to work is if we pull his power out of him simultaneously. There can be no hesitation.

  What about the young ones? Alyssa asks us.

  Kren replies, They are to remain here. Salim will watch over them while we go back to the state park. We will avenge Wanek and all the others Balor has killed. Only then can we ever have hope of finding peace.

  Most of them are reluctant, but they continue to put their trust in Kren. The consensus is strong, despite their fears of having to face Balor once again. No one else requires additional feeding, so I lead them out of the forest back towards the clearing.

  Marcus and Garn have brought the children back to the cave. All the little ones have likewise brightened up. They chase Marcus around, laughing loudly when they finally grab onto his legs. This is the happiest I have ever been, and I feel Kren’s own contentment at the sight of playing children. Our battle with Balor is imminent, but it still feels good to revel in a little joy.

  Kren suggests we take the time to rest before we head back. Nightfall has come quickly, but most of us are finding it difficult to relax with our newfound energy. The anticipation of what tomorrow will bring also keeps us on edge. Each of the three small caves has enough room for six or seven of us, but Marcus and I remain laying in the grass in the clearing, just in case.

  Knowing I’m still awake, he says, “My life is a million miles away from where I thought it would be.”

  His thoughts turn to all the things normal eighteen year olds do. He was looking forward to finishing school, getting a job as a lifeguard, and maybe finding a real girlfriend. He thinks of his mother, and his younger brother. He regrets all of the things he’s never had the chance to do.

  “Your mother said you were special,” I tell him. “She was right.”

  Marcus lets a chuckle escape his lips. “Yeah.”

  “You care very much for others. That is why the children are drawn to you.”

  “Maybe I should have been a kindergarten teacher,” Marcus jokes. “I was the kid who picked his boogers and pretended to eat them.”

  I have no idea what he’s saying, but I laugh with him anyway.

  “Ever since we left home, I knew I couldn’t go back to my family.” Marcus turns to me. “Not with these black eyes and crummy vibes I give off. Sure, I can suck the life from trees and stuff, but I will never belong.”

  I take his hand. “We are your family now.”

  Marcus smiles at me before gazing back up at the stars. “That’s not so bad.”

  We drift to sleep, but we’re jolted awake with the presence of someone approaching. I don’t know if I had been out of it for a few minutes or a few hours. Kren and Garn stand outside the caves. Marcus and I get to our feet, and we are joined by the others.

  Salim looks to be maybe twelve years old. He was not part of our original group that had escaped Level 6. He is confident he can keep the younger ones safe. Kren tells him to wait two days for us to return. If we fail, he is to take the children west.

  It’s still dark, but there is just a hint of light on the horizon when we leave the children behind. We do our best to instill confidence in them, but they sense our fears anyway. Marcus waves them goodbye and puts on a huge smile for them. They hold back their tears, and he does the same.

  Kren takes the lead with Garn, while I stay in the middle and off to the side of our group. We keep up a hastened pace, but we are careful to not use up too much energy. I block them from my thoughts, and I keep to myself. We are all lost in our anxiety, and staying within myself is the best way to try to regain some semblance of calm.

  We stop to rest in short intervals. Felix and Alyssa drain the life from several smaller trees, but the others remain satiated and ready to continue. Marcus is strangely calm, and his mind is unburdened from his normal nonsense.

  Several hours later, the rising sun floats just below the tree line. Kren is the first to reach the field with the purple flowers. There is no mistaking the dark presence nearby. Garn catches up to Kren, and both have stopped in their tracks. The rest of us are already in the heightened state. The presence of dozens of life forces dance in the distance, and the rapid bursts of gunfire confirms my fears.

  We join Kren at the edge of the clearing, and the sight before us takes our breaths away. Balor is in the field already, and he’s fighting Level 6.

  23

  MAVERICK

  OUR THINGS REMAIN scattered all over the ground near the rushing water. Jennings picks up his backpack and opens it up. He breathes a sigh of relief when he finds Beck’s files inside. I can’t stop staring at the large rock where Balor had taken Beck’s life, and there’s not even a pile of ashes left as a memorial to the guy.

  “Do you think Balor will come back here?” Lisa asks us.

  “I don’t think so,” I blurt out. “I mean, he’s a monster going on pure instinct. If anything, Astid and Marcus are the ones in danger. Balor would rather eat them.”

  Lisa goes under the pine tree and plops down. “Good. Because I’m exhausted.”

  Dad motions for me to talk to him privately. He takes me further down the river where the river crashes against the rocks even harder, making it tough to hear him. “It’s the calm before the storm, so I think now is a good time to talk.”

  I play dumb. “About?”

  “I don’t need to have ESP or whatever you have to know you’ve got questions,” he answers. “Ask away, Maverick. Just in case we don’t get the chance to talk like this later.”

  I stare at the rapids for a long time before asking, “What about your new wife. Susan. Will you go back to her if we get out of this thing alive?”

  Dad cocks his head as if I’m from Mars. “That was complete fiction. I never remarried. I told your mother that to make it easier to break things off after the divorce, and to help her move on.”

  “Why did you divorce?” My question gives him pause. “You two didn’t fight or anything. The day you sat me down to tell me, it was like a bomb being dropped on my head.”

  “We actually got along just fine,” Dad replies.
“But your mother wanted more. As I got one promotion after another, so did my security clearance. I guess I kept my mouth shut too well. I was never great communicating to begin with, and your mom wanted a relationship where sharing everything was a two-way street. We both just fell out of love with each other, no matter how hard we tried. It hurt when I couldn’t fix us. After the divorce, I threw myself into my work, and I needed to have very limited contact with friends and family when I took the lead on Project Aurora. Telling you I had remarried seemed like a good reason to be distant.”

  I’m angry, yet I’m relieved he’s telling me the truth. “When Mom died, I totally lost it. My rage brought me here.”

  “I’m sorry for everything.” Dad is on the verge of tears. “I had no idea about the nature of the Deep Black Projects underneath me, but I still feel responsible. Ignorance is no excuse. That’s why what we’re doing is so important. If we pull this off, we can trigger a full on Federal investigation that could very well bring Level 6 to its knees.”

  We’re both simmering in our own version of bitterness. Dad bends down, picks up a rock, and throws it into the river. “Level 6 won’t go down without a fight. It’s a powerful organization that touches just about every secret project we’ve got. They’re tied to the CIA, the military, NASA, and even private corporations. But you got to start somewhere, right?”

  I nod, and Dad puts his arm around me. “We need to get some rest. We’ll need our legs for all this walking we’re about to do.”

  We join the others and sit down with Lisa under the tree. She’s fallen asleep. I lean back against the tree trunk, and the constant rush of water eventually lulls me to sleep too. The sound of crunching grass next to me jolts me awake, but it’s just Jennings coming our way. He’s about to sit with us when he stops and turns his eyes to the sky.

  “You hear that?”

  We all listen for anything out of the ordinary, but the violent waterfall makes it hard to hear anything else. It does sound like something is out there, and it’s a rhythm beating that sounds mechanical.

  “It’s a helicopter!” Dad warns us.

  Jennings, Lisa, and Dad jump to their feet, and I lead them back to the edge of the thick trees to hide. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later, a black helicopter flies right over us and continues on its path to the north and west. We wait for the thumping of the copter’s engine to fade away before we start to walk back towards the water, but Jennings shoos us back to the tree line.

  He pulls me back under the heavy foliage. “Damn! It’s another one!”

  Another helicopter heading southeast goes by. This time, we remain under cover just in case. Jennings has his machine gun at the ready, but he brings it down before turning to Dad for any answers.

  “Definitely not the same chopper that went by the first time. Something’s up.” Dad glances at his watch. “We’ve only got a little more than two hours before dark.”

  I’m about to ask about our plan to get Dad’s files when the thundering of another helicopter reverberates all around us. It looks like the first helicopter, and it’s following the exact same flight path as the last one.

  “I wonder what’s going on,” Dad asks himself out loud.

  Jennings keeps glancing up, but he’s the first to leave the safety of the trees. “Level 6 is moving someone or something out of the compound.”

  “An evacuation?” I ask Dad.

  He shrugs his shoulders. “Maybe. I’m not sure. I’m accustomed to those things coming and going. You probably noticed that Red Top doesn’t actually have very many personnel. There’s usually just a dozen or so engineers working on the Aurora’s reconnaissance systems here. Most of the work is done in Indy and Nevada.”

  Dad’s mind races, formulating a plan of some sort. Jennings is, too, but Lisa looks worried. All she can think about is Balor. Maybe staying here is not a good idea. Too much bad stuff happened here.

  “Let’s wait just a little bit,” Dad finally says. “I want to see if the choppers come back to the facility.”

  Sure enough, maybe fifteen minutes pass before another helicopter approaches from the south. Once again, we take cover under the trees and wait for it to pass. None of us say another word. Ten minutes later, the same helicopter speeds by, heading away from the compound.

  Dad says, “Either Level 6 is shuttling reinforcements from nearby back to the base, or they are evacuating my engineers.”

  Jennings laughs sarcastically. “Great. I guess we have to assume the worst. If they’ve evacuated the compound, that makes things easier for us. Obviously, if the place is crawling with more agents, we’re in big trouble.”

  “Dr. B had a secret tunnel going to the first bunker,” I say. “But your stuff is in the third bunker. There’s a lot of space between one and three. There’s no way we can sneak into your office with a ton of agents on high alert.”

  “Do we need your files that bad?” Lisa asks.

  “Without them, we lack the evidence to show how I’ve been forwarding funds to the Deep Black Projects,” Dad replies. “We’ve got Dr. Beckett’s evidence, but that just sheds light on Project Hero. I’ve got information that could shut down several initiatives.”

  Lisa tightens the bandage around her leg. “Maybe we should get going, then. If we can’t break into the compound on our own, we might have to wait for Astid and the others to return. We’d need their help getting in there.”

  The others are in agreement.

  “By the time we reach the facility, it’ll be dark,” Jennings says. “Let’s get going.”

  I pull my backpack tightly against my back. Jennings hands me the compass Beck had given him, but I push it away. “I know the way to the tunnel’s entrance. Once we get there, I’ll need help finding the damn thing. Beck hid the door pretty good.”

  The four of us follow the river north for about a mile before going west. The forest is thick, but I easily find the path. We walk at a pretty steady pace for several miles, and even Lisa doesn’t slow down. There’s barely any light out, and even though I know we’re in the right place, the surroundings look totally different in the twilight.

  “It’s eerily quiet out here,” Dad says. “We’re only 150 feet from the gate. It’s too dark to see if the two agents are guarding it.”

  Jennings says, “Maybe it’s our lucky day and they did evacuate. We’ll find out here in a minute.”

  “This is it,” I tell them. “Spread out and start pulling at the grass. There’s a cover over the door that’s camouflaged pretty good in the daytime. Finding it at night will take a miracle.”

  We scatter and get on our hands and knees. I’m grabbing at nothing but tall grass and dirt, and by the sounds of it, so is everyone else. It’s pitch black now, and I get out my flashlight from my pack. Jennings has one, too, so he and Dad go left while Lisa and I go right.

  “Give me the light,” Lisa tells me. “I think I found something.”

  I shine the flashlight where she’s pointing, and sure enough she yanks the cover off the door. She throws it off to the side, and I kiss her cheek.

  “I bet you kicked ass at Easter egg hunts.”

  Lisa wipes her dirty hands on her jeans. “You betcha.”

  I pull open the wooden door, and Jennings goes in first with gun drawn. Dad goes in next, and then I let Lisa go down before I bring up the rear and shut the door behind me. It’s a snug fit, and Jennings curses as his broad shoulders slap into the dirt walls.

  “Who built this thing, a Hobbit?” Jennings stops to brush the dirt from his tight curly hair.

  Dad has to bend down to keep from hitting his head. “I had no idea this was here the entire time I worked at this location. It looks new from the entrance to about this point, and then you can tell the wooden planks keeping the tunnel from collapsing are very old.”

  “Spoken like an engineer,” I say as I examine the ancient wood. I turn off my flashlight since the old yellow light bulbs illuminate the tunnel from here to the bunker. “We�
��re close. Just keep going until you come to a wall made of rocks.”

  Jennings nods and continues forward. He steps into a dugout hole in the ground, and he stops himself just before he fell in. “Booby trap?”

  “There’s access to this passage from the floor below,” I reply. “Go ahead and just pull the rock wall.”

  “Do it slowly,” Dad adds. “There could be agents on the other side of that.”

  I reach out with my mind, but I can sense my range is much shorter now. “I’m not feeling anyone out there, but my reach ain’t what it used to be.”

  Jennings takes hold of a rock that’s sticking out of the wall and pulls the secret door open just enough to peek through with one eye. “Looks empty.” He opens it further and sticks his head out. “Totally empty.”

  One by one, we step out into the dimly lit hallway. We stop to listen for any sounds, but all we hear is the humming of the ventilation system. I lead them to the wall of glass, and the door to the chamber is wide open.

  “It must be our lucky day,” I say to Jennings. I take Lisa by the hand. “There’s some crazy stuff in here. I just want you to be prepared.”

  Lisa starts to shake. “What do you mean? What’s in there?”

  “A bunch of specimens,” I reply. “They’re all pretty gruesome, as I’m pretty sure all genetic experiments conducted by mad scientists are.”

  We all take one collective deep breath before I push the partially door all the way open. It’s completely dark for a moment, but then row by row, the florescent lighting snaps on. Lisa lets out a gasp and closes her eyes. I’m completely and utterly stunned.

  Everything is gone.

  No glass coffins of chimeras. No laboratory equipment. Nothing.

  “Evacuation it is,” Jennings says as he searches the lab for anything left behind that could be of value.

  Lisa is relieved, however. “This huge lab was full of specimens?”