Influence (Influence Series Book 1)

by David R. Bernstein

  Miya looks over her weapon-free shoulder, her eyes scanning back and forth, and calls for our attention. “We’re going to have to fall back into the woods.”

  What does she mean by that? Is this revolt over? Amanda and I have been exposed. We can no longer hide.

  “Ava, I need you to make your way to the front and pull back as many of our numbers as you can. We need to retreat. There is no way to salvage this.”

  Ava takes a quick glance at me before nodding to Miya. With little effort she sprints from tree to brush to boulder and in a few seconds she’s gone.

  Amanda clings to me as if she knows Miya is going to command me to leave her. I will not go anywhere without her. My breathing has quickened and my throat is dry. I crouch into a ball with Amanda. Maybe I can at least use my push to calm her nerves. Waiting for a death order from Miya, I’m rattled from my push attempt. I turn to see Amanda’s eyes bright and almost hopeful. Her gaze intensifies as she points to some nearby armed resistance fighters. I creep up to get a better view and see four or five heavily armed gunmen all synchronized and focusing their aim. Their faces are calm and determined. No sign of fear or desperation. Miya points up the path a little further to reveal more of our armed fighters blasting away with a purpose. That is when I feel it: a powerful push has blanketed the implant-free resistance. A heavy wash of warmth flows right through me. Amanda wiggles free from my softened hold and trains her sight out onto the tree line at the end of the tracks. She too has that clarity in her eyes. She turns to us and says, “Those dirtbags can’t hide anymore.”

  The trees in the distance all start to shatter as our heavy gunfire pulverizes their limbs. Magnus fighters tumble from the tall pine and hemlock trees. Their bodies crash from branch to branch, kicking up groundcover as they pound the forest floor. Our pinpoint targeting is tearing through the concealed snipers. Miya follows the lead of the implant-free resistance and matches their firing patterns. Whoever’s push this is has taken us from dying in ditches to owning this battle.

  Within a few minutes, it is over. The firing has leveled off and now only a few fighters near the front continue to target the tree line. Not long after that the pops of the guns slow before the last shot is fired. Following this, a huge outburst of celebration comes from our resistance. Amanda is the first of our trio to join in with victory calls. Miya and I turn to each other, looking for answers. Without a word, I shrug my shoulders and give her a slight smile. Returning the smile, she rises from our roadside ditch and heads out toward the other fighters. Amanda takes my hand and pulls me out and onto the tracks. “It’s over,” she says. “They’re all dead.”

  “Kaylin!” someone calls from up the path.

  I turn my head to find Farren rushing to me as fast as he can. As he reaches us, he clenches my shoulders and pulls me to the side. His eyes scan me from head to toe. “You’re alright, you’re really okay,” he says as he swallows down fatigue between heavy breaths.

  I look up at his eyes and then quickly grab his waist, pulling myself into him. I rest my head on his chest and let the anxiety of the day melt away. His hand moves from my back to the arc of my neck while the other rests gently on my hip. This embrace does not last long as Ava, Maddux, and Caiden rush to us. Caiden’s excitement pours out with curses and high fives. Farren pulls away from me. Ava’s long arms swallow my body before she breaks away to return to Maddux. I rest an arm over Amanda’s shoulders to soak up the celebration. Others from the resistance join us on the tracks. Curiosity pulls me over to Ava and Maddux as I ask, “How did you use your ability to find all those snipers?”

  “It wasn’t me,” Ava says while turning to Maddux.

  “Sorry, ladies, I can’t take credit for this either. I thought for sure it was you, Kaylin.”

  “No, I was useless during all that,” I say.

  “Well, none of our other Influencers have that kind of push ability,” Maddux insists.

  That’s when I feel something—someone—else. I recognize the same depth of consciousness I felt the first time I met him. It’s full and warm and somehow familiar. I turn to look up the tracks toward the tree line and see him. Jax emerges from the flittering pine needles that still fall from the battle. Stepping over dead Magnus bodies as he reaches the path, he is ALIVE. The rest of the group catch on to what I am seeing and turns their attention on our returning leader. He looks well. Almost too well.

  Moving toward each other, we meet on the path. Farren is silent, apparently in disbelief of Jax’s return. The rest of the resistance behind us is now silent too, as they seem eager to hear him speak. Jax stops a few feet from us, his calm eyes assessing the group.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t join you all sooner,” he says. “I wasn’t able to return or access communications.”

  Understandably, the group remains shaken by the battle, but still keep it together enough to hear him out.

  “There’s something happening at Talas,” he continues. “The Magnus brothers have been very active of late. I wasn’t sure if they uncovered my connection to the resistance. They had me out of the loop with the senior personnel. Some of the leaders and I were on lockdown for ten hours while they performed some sort of assessment of the staff.”

  The gathering stirs as Jax debriefs us. “They were going to inform us of some sort of major change, but that’s when they received intel of your movements toward Talas.”

  “Those bastards knew our every step,” shouts Caiden.

  “I wasn’t able to gather the details of the ambush,” Jax says. “Since I was not involved in the planning, I could only track their snipers while keeping my distance. Once they set up, I had to wait for the battle to start to know our resistance was in range for my push.

  “While gathering intel before I left Talas, I overheard the leadership crafting a plan to ambush us. I had to stay in order to get all the details.”

  You can feel a sense of relief as the group begins to piece everything together.

  “Once I learned of this sniper assault, I had to follow them,” Jax continues. “I’ve spent the last few hours trailing them. I knew they would wipe you all out once I saw them take position at the bottom of the mountain. They would see you far before you would see them.”

  Farren pulls himself from the crowd and stands to the right of Jax. He holds his hand up to get everyone’s attention and says, “I know the losses are hard to take. We need to take a moment to tend to the dead.”

  The crowd has a look of defeat as they scan the battlefield, gazes landing on the bodies that have fallen around us. Some cover their mouths in disbelief while others just sob. I’ve seen enough death in the last few days; I fear I’m becoming numb to it.

  Resting a supportive hand on Farren’s shoulder, Jax adds, “We knew this resistance was not going to be easy. This battle was just a moment in the collective consciousness of our reality. The world just around the corner—a better world, one where we are free to live our lives and think our own thoughts—is what we’re fighting for.” He points down the path. “Now is the time to either fuel our fire or watch it trickle away to nothing. I choose to burn Magnus to the ground and free our family and friends.”

  The group has a collective sense of acceptance as people nod their heads. Murmurs and grunts of dedication rumble through the gathering. I can feel us once again coming together. People have lost friends and some have lost family, but there is no time to focus on that. Jax informs us that Magnus will know about what happened here soon enough. He asks us to take a moment, but to be prepared to move on to Talas within the hour.

  Farren and Jax start directing people to bury the dead. Caiden and Miya coordinate efforts to salvage weapons and supplies.

  Amanda takes my hand and leads me away from the others. We don’t say a word to each other as we make our way to assist with the losses. She is quiet, her wit and sarcasm are gone. Her silence tells me everything I need to know about her emotions. We spend the next hour doing whatever we can to care for the fallen
and wounded.

  Barely a minute passes after the last body is buried before Jax insists we move to take out Talas. Farren walks with us now. He fills me in on what Jax is thinking. Magnus is vulnerable now. Their forces have been thinned because of this ambush. We either take on Talas now or let them call reinforcements from the nearby hubs. There is no time to think or discuss this. We’re moving on and it will only get harder. The well-fortified Talas hub awaits us.

  19

  RESTART

  TWENTY-ONE FIGHTERS and two Influencers were lost in the ambush. That’s nearly a third of our numbers. None of us in the leadership were hurt. A trace of guilt washes over me. We didn’t protect our people. I still don’t feel like I’m really a part of the leadership. Maybe that’s why the loss of life has become a constant pain in my gut. Thoughts of people shot in the head are unsettling. This pattern has not stopped since we started moving again. I have to find a better way to use my push when things get crazy. If not, more people will die. People are relying on me.

  In the last functional scout vehicle, Caiden works with Owen on the new weapon tech we salvaged from the battle. The scout driver rolls next to the rest of us, who are on foot, matching our pace. Owen raves about how the guns are made of the wonder material, Graphene. As smart as he is, this guy is just as young as the rest of us and it shows. He grins as if he didn’t just watch our people gunned down before his eyes. Either he doesn’t really care about human life or he’s too immature to feel the scope of what just happened.

  One by one, Caiden calls up his best shooters to have them swap out their guns for the new ones. As if they’re made of cardboard, he effortlessly tosses them to each fighter. How can something so powerful and precise be so lightweight? There’s enough ammo left to arm ten fighters. The rest of the fancy guns are dismantled and tossed to the side of the tracks. More than twice of what’s handed out is now roadside trash. Seems wasteful, but they’re useless if you run out of bullets.

  Incredibly light body armor is now distributed among the frontline fighters. There had to be forty or more snipers in those trees. Some are still dangling from branches as blood pours from their wounds to the forest floor below. For the most part, our remaining resistance received a much-needed upgrade. Maddux makes his way over to Farren, Amanda, and me with three armor vests in hand. Farren grabs one and fiddles with some display on the inner shoulder pad. He looks it over and holds it up to Amanda. She reaches out her arms to allow him to slip it on her narrow frame. The dark-gray vest covers her shoulders, chest, and core. The material itself adjusts to adhere to her body shape. She winces as it tightens. Before he has a chance to adjust one for me I say, “I’ll be fine; there aren’t enough for everyone.”

  “Sorry, Kay, it’s not your call,” he insists as we follow behind the others.

  “Aren’t I one of the leaders? I want someone else to wear it.”

  The idea of leaving others unprotected while I get one doesn’t sit well with me. They might call me part of this leadership, but I am still one of the newest members. Not that Farren would care if I told him that.

  “Oh, thanks,” Amanda says. “Way to make me feel like a selfish coward, Kaylin.”

  In a raised voice, Farren says, “Kaylin, please don’t be stupid.”

  Kaylin? Stupid? Did he just go all full-first-name on me and then call me stupid? Before I have a chance to respond to that little nugget, Caiden comes up to Farren and grabs the vest from his hands. Without saying a word he forces my arms through the openings before adjusting it to my fit.

  “Hey,” I snarl. “What are you doing?”

  As he walks away, he turns to me and says, “You and Farren saved my life at Hawthorne, so I owe it to him to keep you alive.”

  Huffing for a moment, I eventually give in and accept the vest.

  Farren checks the fit before he notices my gaze. Looking up at him with a halfhearted glare, I say, “I’m stupid, huh?”

  He avoids my eyes, and it’s probably for the best.

  Amanda makes her way to the support members, as Caiden calls them, near the back. Maddux and Ava join us as we make our way up to the front, where Jax and Miya lead the march. The resistance, while thinned out, still can have an overwhelming presence. We fill the dirt pathway that leads to Talas. The tracks slope slightly down, packing us in tighter as we slow to control our descent. Jax hasn’t sent the scout vehicle ahead because he knows Magnus is expecting us now. It has been about two hours since the ambush began. The snipers would’ve reported back by now if they weren’t all half-naked and dead on the side of the road. They didn’t get the proper burial our own fallen received. Knowing Jax and Farren, they probably would have if it wasn’t for a lack of time. We are not the Magnus Order.

  We march on as heavily armed fighters surround us. The leadership strategizes up front. With the element of surprise now gone, we need to reassess.

  Caiden has made his way from the scout vehicle to join the discussion. Farren tells us we have about an hour before we get to Talas. This doesn’t leave us much time. Farren suggests we break the resistance into smaller groups and take the hub from all access points. Caiden likes this, as it gives him more ways to use tactics. His face lights up at the thought. Miya isn’t so sure. She believes this will just weaken us, taking away the newly sniper-free advantage. She suggests we take them head on. Jax agrees with her. Both of them have the most knowledge of the inner workings of the Talas hub. If anyone’s going to know how this hub will react, it’s Miya and Jax. How they could have worked so closely with Magnus without dying a little bit inside is crazy to me. Maybe they did. I still don’t know them all that well.

  It’s midday, the sun filtering through the overhanging evergreens. The scout vehicle hums as it crawls in front of the group now. Two gunmen stand ready out of the open sunroof. This provides us with a bit of a shield if Magnus has any new surprises waiting.

  Jax asks if I can use my ability to scan the area for the awareness of anyone unfamiliar. Beyond our group, it’s peaceful. I only pick up the faint haze of wildlife as it scurries throughout the woods. Ghostly images scatter just out of my direct eyesight as these creatures sneak into my awareness. It’s like seeing a shadow of the animal as it filters through the forest around me. In this case, these faint shadows phase through the trees and natural landscape. I can never directly see them. The moment I turn to look at them, normal conscious reality once again fills my awareness. It’s like looking straight ahead, but always seeing something hazy just out of your direct sightline. Luckily, I have to open myself up to it in order to feel the nearby awareness of others. If not, I would always be feeling paranoid. Shadowy figures lurking around me at all times would be creepy. It’s all clear for now, but I will keep my antenna up just in case.

  Amanda has become comfortable with her assignment. It appears she enjoys people a lot more than she did just a few days ago. Her trust in this resistance has come a long way. Before, she was always hanging by my side looking out for me. I don’t get that maternal attitude as much anymore. It’s nice, but I miss her, too. I turn to find her chatting with a couple of frontline guys. Her smile warms my heart. These two young guys laugh as they peer over her. Their interest looks genuine. Amanda flirting with guys—that’s just odd to me. I hope I’ll see this side of her again after this next battle.

  “Okay, hold up here for a bit.” Jax turns, holding his hand up to the group. “I’m starting to feel the consciousness of the Talas civilians.”

  I don’t feel them. His reach is truly amazing. No wonder Magnus expanded so fast with him at the helm. He was a super-charged beacon, pushing the evil agenda of the Magnus Order. That just sounds scary, even though I believe I know the real Jax now. His heart seems to be pure. Forced to do something against your will is all part of being an Influencer in today’s world.

  “We’re about five miles out. We need to be prepared,” he says.

  Caiden and Maddux call the frontline fighters and Influencers over to a small clea
ring just off the tracks. He has everyone check their weapons and look over supplies. When he’s not goofing around, Caiden can really be intimidating with the way he gets in the faces of those not prepared. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Miya and Jax turn their attention to me and Ava. Nerves tighten my throat as the reality of what is going to happen soon sinks in. A cough clears my airway as I prepare for what is next.

  “Hi, Kaylin,” Jax says with a simple smile. “Sorry I haven’t had a chance to talk with you since my return.”

  “Hey,” is all that slips out of my mouth. Seriously, Kaylin, is that all you can think of to say?

  “Hi, guys, what’s the plan?” Ava says.

  “Nice to see you again, Ava,” Jax replies. “Well, we need you to gather all the backline Influencers. We need them ready to react to our first attack.”

  He shifts his focus between us. The relaxed manner in which he leads emits confidence.

  “You two need to direct the young ones however you see fit. Miya and I will be trying to locate the Magnus leadership. I won’t be able to guide your efforts. You two must protect this group. Do not put yourself or these kids in the line of fire. Your abilities will be vital to winning this battle.”

  Ava and I have already discussed how to use each of our abilities to help, so when that time comes we will be ready. What I’m concerned with is Amanda’s safety.