After Flux (The Flux Series Book 2)

by Marissa Farrar

  I twisted my head, frantic, trying to spot another rock. There! As I moved, my limbs began to tingle. I was getting the feeling back. I set my sights on the rock and flung it toward him. It was nowhere near as big as the previous one, and he put out a hand and ducked. It struck him on the shoulder with a satisfying thunk! Middleton let out a yell of pain, but it didn’t stop him. I craned my neck over my shoulder. He was right on me, and I gave a whine of fear. I wanted to do more, felt I should be able to do more, but he reached into the inside pocket of his jacket.

  His gun!

  But instead of the gun, he pulled out a second syringe.

  No, no, no, no!

  He’d obviously figured out that whatever was in that vial was a far better weapon to use against me than a gun.

  “Where do you think you’re going, Arianna?” he asked again as he leaned over me.

  I focused on him, trying to fix him with my ability and throw him instead, but the rock throwing seemed to have sapped whatever small amount of power I’d gotten back. Instead, I scrabbled and kicked out with my one semi-working leg, but it was a feeble attempt. I wanted to physically hurl him away, but I wasn’t strong enough. He grappled at me, and within seconds had hold of my thigh.

  I tried to cry out, but it only came out a strangled moan, and he plunged the needle into my leg and depressed the syringe.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I blinked open my eyes, unsure of what had happened or where I was. Then it all rushed back to me, the memory of being taken by Philip Middleton, the stuff he’d injected me with, my pathetic attempt at escape.

  Cautiously, I tried to move. My fingers and legs both responded, and I twisted my head back and forth, making sure my neck was working. My cheek brushed against the surface I was lying on, cold and smooth, like ice. My whole body throbbed with pain, and a headache thumped right behind both eyes.

  Where was I?

  Tentatively, I pushed myself to sitting. Immediately, the room began to spin around me, and I squeezed my eyes shut, my fingers clawing into the cool, hard surface beneath me to try to get some traction. Of course, I wasn’t actually moving, it was all in my head, but that didn’t stop my body responding to the sensation. My mouth flooded with saliva, and I swallowed hard, trying to hold it back, not wanting to throw up. I’d always hated being sick, on the rare occasion it had happened. I didn’t like how it left me weak and shaky, my eyes streaming with tears. No, I had to get a grip on my nausea, and dizziness, and figure out where the hell I was and how I was going to get out of here.

  I steadied myself enough to be able to open my eyes again and take note of my surroundings. The floor I was sitting on was cold and hard because it was stainless steel. I glanced around. The walls were also steel, shiny and unforgiving, as was the ceiling. There were no windows, nor any obvious door. I was effectively sitting in a huge metal box.

  The thought caused my heart to race, claustrophobia clawing at my insides like a monster trying to escape a pit. My breathing came in panicked gasps, whooping in and out of my lungs, the sound the only thing I could hear. I clenched my fists, my blunt nails digging into my palms.

  In desperation, I centered my thoughts and then pushed them out, into the ether, hoping my friend would hear me.

  Dixie, I need you. Where are you? Please...

  I listened intently hoping to get just the faintest hint of her, a feel for her, even, but there was nothing. Only me, and my rapid breathing in the inside of the tin can.

  Whatever Middleton had done to me, he’d found a way to keep my abilities contained. Was it only the drugs he’d injected me with, or was it the walls, roof, and ceiling surrounding me now? Was I sealed in here?

  Like a metal coffin.

  The thought made me burst to my feet. I raced around the outskirts of my prison, my palms pressed against the smooth walls, trying to find the way out. I must have been put in here, so there must be a way in or out. It wasn’t as though this place had been constructed around me as I lay unconscious.

  Had it?

  I studied my meager surroundings. Metal plates, soldered at the joints. Screws in the huge rectangular metal frame that held the whole thing together. I focused on the screws, willing them to turn, to move and pop out, one after the other, so one side of the box would fall free, but there was no movement at all.

  Damn it.

  “Hello, Arianna.”

  The voice boomed through my prison, making me jump and clutch at my chest like a woman in a historical novel. Wide eyed, I stared around, trying to figure out where the voice had come from. I had the crazy idea for a moment that it might have come from inside my own head, but then I saw a couple of round speakers embedded into the metal, right in the top corner where two sides of the frame met.

  “I see you’re awake,” the voice continued.

  I recognized it instantly.

  Middleton.

  After so long, I was almost surprised I could use my voice. “What do you want with me?”

  He chuckled. “You really don’t know the answer to that?”

  I remained silent. Of course, it was to do with what I was, what I could do.

  “My driver, by the way, I’m sure you’ve been worrying about him, about what you did to him. Well, he won’t be working for a while. You shattered both his kneecaps with that trick of yours with the boulder. Poor guy’s going to be in a wheelchair for some time.”

  “Good,” I spat, unable to hide my bitterness.

  “Now, now. That’s not the sort of reaction I expect from a young lady. I must say I’m impressed by what you were able to do, however. The shot we gave you was ten times what we give the others, and it renders them completely incapable of using their special... skills”

  Others? There were others here. Others like me.

  “Don’t get your hopes up,” he continued. “You won’t be coming into contact with them any time soon if I can help it, though my scientists insist it may be necessary if we’re really going to understand what you are.”

  I barely heard a word he said. All I could think about was that there were other Kin here. Were they ones who’d already met Kit and Hunter and the others, or had they been forced to deal with all of this by themselves, thinking they were alone, that they were the only ones with these crazy abilities?

  “You won’t get away with this,” I said. “You’ll have the police after you. Your security guy shot your son, and you used the car to deliberately run over someone else, before kidnapping me. You can’t actually think you’ll get away with it.”

  “No cameras caught any of that. I believe my son and your friend had already seen to it, which was a good thing for me. You took me by surprise the last time we met, Arianna. I hadn’t been prepared for the level of your abilities, but I wasn’t going to be caught so unawares this time. I was ready for you, as you can see.”

  “Who told you we were coming?”

  “I know my son, Arianna. Of course, he would notice if I was about to make a public appearance.”

  He hadn’t really answered my question.

  “So, you figured making your location public would bring him in?”

  “Exactly. Though I will be honest, I thought he’d come and find me after the ceremony. I wasn’t expecting him to come to the hotel.”

  Good, at least we’d tripped him up that way. I remembered Zane had been the one to suggest we do things in that order. I hoped they’d managed to figure out where I was and that they were on their way to get me.

  I experienced a rush of anger at myself. They shouldn’t be coming here. If anything, they should be staying as far away from here as possible. What if they ended up locked in metal boxes like me?

  “There’s something else I want from you, Arianna.”

  I hated the way he said my name, as though it was something that tasted bad on his tongue.

  “I want you to tell me where the base is for the rest of the young people like you. I know it’s in San Francisco. I’ve had people out looking.
Why can’t we find you?”

  I wasn’t going to answer him. He’d never get that out of me, no matter what he did.

  “I know you think you’re never going to tell me anything. They all think that. But after only a short while here, I promise you’ll change your mind.”

  His use of the word ‘they’ again. He’d already asked others, but no one had told him. Either they didn’t know, or they knew how to keep their mouths shut. I longed to find the other captives—other Kin. How long had they been kept here?

  I needed to get out of this damned box.

  But I couldn’t even see a door. I had no idea how I’d get out, but there had to be a way. Middleton would want to take me out of here to conduct whatever experiments he had planned. Plus, if he wanted to keep me alive, he needed to feed me, and I hoped he’d let me use the bathroom.

  The thought made my bladder ache. “I need to pee,” I shouted out.

  “You have a bathroom,” he replied.

  I frowned and looked around, seeing nothing more than I had before—endless steel walls. “No, I don’t.”

  “Walk forward and place your hand against the wall in front of you.”

  I frowned. “What?”

  “Just do it.”

  I figured I had nothing to lose. Cautiously, thinking this must be some kind of trick, I took a couple of slow, shuffled steps until I reached the metal slab of one of the two shortest ends of the rectangle. I lifted my hand, half expecting to get an electric shock or something for being so stupid and believing what I was being told, but I placed my palm against the metal. At first, nothing happened, but then a blue light glowed around my hand and each of my fingers, as though someone had traced around them with a glowing pen, and suddenly the wall shifted.

  I let out a squeak and snatched my hand away.

  To my surprise, the entire side of the box slid away to reveal a second section behind it containing a small bathroom. I didn’t want to step inside, frightened the wall would slide shut again and close me inside, but I really did need to use the toilet. I peered up, looking into the corners. Were there cameras in here? Were there cameras in the main part, too? I hadn’t thought of them before, but I suddenly felt self-conscious, and wrapped my arms around my body. Middleton could speak to me, so there was no reason to think he wouldn’t be able to see me as well. Cameras could be tiny these days, hidden into one of the screws or a crease in the joints. He could easily be watching me.

  Middleton’s voice made me jump. “Go on. Just put your hand on the wall to open it again when it closes behind you. I won’t be watching. That’s not my thing.”

  I scowled up at the faceless voice. Was he not watching the bathroom side of things, or was he not watching at all?

  Even so, I lifted a foot and stepped forward, crossing into the bathroom. It must have been on some kind of motion detector, as the steel wall slid shut again, enclosing me in the much smaller space. With my heart beating hard, I looked around. It was small—about four feet by three feet—but it had everything I needed. A shower, a sink, a toilet. There was a small cupboard beneath the sink, and I bent to check what was in it. A couple of folded white towels and some toiletries. There were clothes, too—clean white t-shirts and some loose white pants. I spotted something else and picked them up, my cheeks heating as I realized what the items were. Clean underwear. He could drug me and kidnap me, but it looked like he still intended for me to stay sanitary.

  I pulled down my jeans quickly and used the toilet, looking up anxiously, still worrying I was being watched. I half expected his voice to boom out at me again, but all was quiet. Might this be a place of privacy? If so, perhaps I’d be able to use it at some point, though I didn’t know how. I’d thought the Cavern could be claustrophobic, but this place took things to a whole new level.

  I finished and washed my hands, then placed my palm back on the moving wall. Once again, the blue light glowed from behind my fingers, and the wall slid open, allowing me to step back into the larger space. I might have showers and a change of clothes, but there was no bed, or blankets, or anything of comfort. Just steel all around.

  “Middleton?” I called out.

  I listened, but there was no response. Had he gone? Distracted by another one of his captives, or perhaps an employee? Did other people work here? Did they know what was going on? Of course, they did. I’d seen his security team shoot Kit, and I’d been carried at least part of the way in here by a man he’d referred to as his driver. They knew what they were doing.

  Sadness and fear flooded over me, and my legs gave out. I slid down to the floor, my back pressed up against the cold metal wall, and put my face in my hands. I wanted to be strong, but a trembling took over my limbs and spread down through my torso. I let out a sob. I wanted Hunter and the others.

  I might have been twenty-two years old, but I wanted my dad.

  Feeling useless and miserable, I gave in to my tears.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I jerked awake, still in the sitting position. How long had I been asleep? It felt like minutes, but it was impossible to tell. My limbs and neck felt stiff, my skin cool after leaching the cold from the surface below and behind me.

  A voice made me jump. “Stand up, please.”

  It wasn’t Middleton this time, but another male. I looked up, though I knew I wouldn’t be able to see the person.

  “Stand up, please,” the voice repeated. “Move into the center.”

  Should I refuse? I couldn’t see any point in fighting. There was nothing I could do from in here. I took a moment to focus, to see if my abilities were back. No, they weren’t, but it made me wonder if the reason for being in this box was a precaution against my powers coming back. There was nothing I could move here. No items I could lift and throw. No doors or windows to mentally open and escape from. If my abilities returned, could I stop the microphones from working, or try to find the cameras? I could try, but what would be the point? It wouldn’t help me escape.

  “Now, please,” the voice boomed, stern, though I didn’t miss that the person was at least saying please.

  I scrabbled to my feet. I still didn’t feel great—my stomach loose, the headache, though receding, continued to thump deep within my skull. I shuffled forward to what I estimated to be the middle of the space. My stomach churned with nerves, my shoulders stiff in anticipation of what was to come. Would I be getting out of the box?

  Movement came from above me.

  I gasped as the entire lid of the box slid off, in much the same way the wall had slid away. A platform lowered down the side of the metal wall in front of me, like a streamlined industrial lifting machine, to stop a fraction of an inch above the floor, right where I’d been sitting.

  “Get on,” the bodiless voice instructed.

  I glanced at the platform nervously. I didn’t have much choice if I wanted to get out of here. Cautiously, in case it suddenly started to move again, I stepped onto the flat square of metal of the lift. I wanted something to hold onto, scared it would jerk or jolt as it moved upward, throwing me off, but as soon as both feet were on the square, it began to slide up again.

  Still weak from the drugs, my legs wobbled beneath me. Frightened I’d fall, despite knowing I wouldn’t be hurt if I did, I dropped to a crouch, lowering my center of gravity. It only took a matter of seconds for me to be brought level to a metal walkway where a man in a lab coat waited for me. He was older—in his sixties, at least, with a sallow, pinched face and black framed glasses.

  “This way, please.”

  Still feeling wobbly, I rose to standing and then stepped off the contraption and onto the same walkway the man was on. On either side of us were flat metal rectangles, and it took me a moment to realize I was looking at the tops of metal boxes, identical to the one I’d just been lifted from. I’d thought I’d been raised to a higher platform, but it dawned on me that this was ground level. The box I was kept in was below ground. No doors, no windows. That was because all that surrounded m
e was the cold, hard ground of the desert the facility was built upon. Dread wound its way inside me. I couldn’t escape from that, not without the lift. Even if I managed to get the roof open, without the lift, I’d have to levitate myself up there, and that was beyond even my skill set.

  “Come!”

  The man’s command jolted me into action. I followed him along the walkway, our steps silent against the metal underfoot. I tried to absorb every piece of information around me. We walked past more of the metal boxes, though I could only see the outside of the top of the roofs. How many had we passed? Six ... Eight... Ten now. Did each box have someone living inside, a member of the Kin, like me? The thought made my head spin. I wanted to leap on top of one, bang my fists against the metal and call out to them to make that connection, so neither of us felt so alone, but I didn’t want to risk another injection and being thrown back into the box.

  I watched out for any chance of getting my hands on a phone or a computer. My own cell phone had been lost or taken somewhere along the way, I couldn’t be sure. Could I even remember Hunter or Dixie’s cell phone number? I thought so. No, hell, I would need to do more than call my friends. I’d been kidnapped, together with God-only-knew how many other people. I would have to call the police, even if it meant I ended locked up in a psych ward on medication for my story. That would be preferable to being locked up and experimented on by Philip Middleton.

  If he was going to experiment on me, surely he’d need to let whatever drugs he’d given me wear off completely. He’d need for me to have my abilities back, and as soon as he did, I would crush him, release every single person he held here, and bring this God-damned building down around his ears.

  I followed the man’s back into a room. I noted how he’d made no attempt to constrain me. Did he know the drugs were still working? Or was it simply that he knew there was nowhere for me to run?

  “Hello, Arianna.”

  Philip Middleton was waiting for me. Unlike the man who’s led me here, he wore a sharp suit rather than a lab coat, and he stood with the confident arrogance of a man with a lot of money and a lot of power. I was alarmed to see two other scientists as well, one a young woman. Both appeared to be busying themselves at a counter which held circular glass dishes of a clear jelly, together with what looked like other science equipment I couldn’t put a name to. An expensive-looking computer was at one end, and I flicked my gaze to it and quickly looked away again. I didn’t want Middleton to notice that I’d clocked it. Would it have internet access?