He moved closer. “See for yourself.”
Confused, I backed up. “Where is David?”
His hand shot out and he took a steely grip on my arm. I swallowed my fear as he yanked me forward and glared down into my face. His eyes, a glowing, otherworldly shade of blue, sent a cold chill of dread racing down my spine. “He’s right here, Sera,” he ground out.
That’s when I recognized the nose, the mouth, the chin, the red hair—so much like my own. I took a quick shocked breath. “David?” I breathed.
He flashed me a dazzling grin and let go of my arm. “Astonishing, isn’t it?” He did a slow spin. “And to think, you almost talked me out of coming.”
I watched as my brother moved around the room with the grace and precision of a strutting lion. He was at least six feet tall. He had large, cut muscles that expanded and rippled as he flaunted himself, a broad, straight back, and long, powerful legs. He looked nothing like the boy he’d been and—mercifully—nothing like Tim or Alvin.
I shook my head. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s Goliath, Sera.” He clenched his fists and flexed his bulging arms. “It’s everything Dad said it would be and more.”
“But we found Tim in the forest and he—”
“I know about Tim,” he interrupted. “It’s quite sad.”
I scowled at him. “Quite sad?”
“They had some problems figuring out Dad’s research and had to improvise to fill in the gaps. But they resolved all that mess.” He beamed. “As you can clearly see.”
Busy preening, David failed to see the look of revulsion on my face. How could he just shrug off what the praetor had done to Tim?
“When I showed up,” he continued, “I solved everything.”
“You solved everything?” I felt like I might be sick. This preening behemoth was more like a distortion of David than the real thing; he was all my brother’s personality flaws magnified tenfold and crammed beneath a glistening skin.
He smiled. “Come with me. I have something to show you.”
With every one of my senses on high alert, I cautiously followed him out of the room. An armed guard posted outside my door fell into step behind us. We passed two more guarded doors, where I assumed Micah, Ben, and Milly were being held.
I looked up at a ceiling lit with fluorescent lights. “They have electricity here?”
“Several buildings on campus, like this one, are solar powered. We have clean water, too, from an underground reservoir.”
We turned onto a broad, open staircase surrounded by large windows, and headed down to the foyer on the first floor. I saw several places where the stairs had been repaired, but no signs of catastrophic damage.
“Most of the newer buildings survived the earthquake with only minor damage,” he told me. When we reached the foyer, bigger cracks could be seen in the dark marble floor. “The ash was their biggest problem,” he went on. “It was over five feet deep.”
He shoved open the glass exit door. It flew back against the outside wall and shattered into a thousand tiny pieces. I flinched, startled by his easy violence. Apparently, he wasn’t used to his new strength.
He grinned. “Oops.” He held the broken door wide for me and I stepped over the glass.
We walked along the pristine cement path. Groups of people wandered past, chatting and laughing. Some sat on the lawn, eating lunch as if everything were right with the world. I glanced up at the surrounding mountains and saw the ash reflecting silver-gray in the sunlight. That’s reality, I thought. All this other stuff is just Europa’s sleight of hand.
David continued filling me in, the admiration in his voice obvious. “They used firehoses to wet the ash, then snowplows to push it off campus.”
The steady rumble of heavy equipment sounded in the distance.
“They’re hoping to have the entire city cleared by the end of the year.”
We approached the large fountain I’d seen from my window. In the center, the bronze statue of a man holding the hand of a gorilla, reminded me of the coal miner statue that had graced the courtyard of the Roslyn City Hall building. Several people relaxed nearby, enjoying the soothing sound of water.
“This is what I wanted to show you.” He looked so pleased with himself and I didn’t know what to expect.
I frowned at the fountain. “This?”
“Sera?” a voice called from behind me.
I looked at the thin, dark-haired man sitting on a nearby bench. I blinked. “Dad?”
His eyes filled with tears and I dissolved. I rushed into his arms; he pulled me into a tight hug.
“Sera, my little princess.” He brushed the hair back from my face and gave me a tremulous smile. “You’ve grown up.”
“But Seattle—”
“He wasn’t there, Sera.” David sounded accusatory, as if it was my fault that we’d never found him. “He’s been here in Ellensburg the entire time.”
“Here?” I looked at my dad. He nodded.
David arched his perfect brow. “He’s the reason the Goliath Code worked for me.”
And not for our friend, he’d failed to add.
My father grimaced. “The Goliath Code is the praetor’s work, not mine.”
“Don’t be coy, Dad,” David practically growled. “This is your victory, too.”
My father gave him a weak smile. “Of course.”
“Now that Sera’s here,” David went on, “we can be a family again.”
I snorted and looked at my dad. “We’re not staying here.”
David’s eyes darkened. “Of course we’re staying.”
“I’m getting our friends and leaving. And if you’ve got half a brain in that perfect head you’ve been given, you’ll come with me.”
David’s smile twisted into a cold, hard sneer. Something completely terrifying came up in his eyes. I got a strong feeling that he was about to lunge at me.
My father rose to his feet, effectively moving between us. “Your sister needs time to adjust, David. We can’t expect her to take up our cause without explaining the important work we’ve been doing.”
“What work is that?” I asked, wary.
David seemed to relax. “Dad solved the delivery—” His watch alarm beeped, interrupting him. His eyes suddenly lit up. “Gotta run.” He smiled broadly. “Vitamin shot.”
I watched my brother hurry off on long, strong legs and turned to my father. “Dad?” I said carefully. “What’s going on?”
My father glanced at my armed guard, then nodded at me. He grabbed the cane that had been leaning against the bench. “Let’s walk.”
I realized he was wearing a knee brace. “You’re hurt.”
“Just a little present from the quake.”
We started off down the path. As the armed guard fell into step behind us, my dad gave him a quick, mirthless smile that the guard didn’t return. “The complex guards are harmless,” Dad whispered to me. “As long as you stay clear of the gauntlet.”
“Gauntlet?”
“That’s what they call the road leading in and out of the complex. It’s aptly named. Heavily mined. Completely impassable.”
Good to know, I thought. “What are you doing in Ellensburg?”
“My team was granted use of the new genomics lab here at the university. The quake hit just after we arrived, then the ash started to fall, completely locking us in. I was desperate to get to Roslyn, Sera, to you, and mom, and David. But—” He gestured at his leg.
“Our people scouted west. There was no way through. The ash was just too deep.”
“Until Praetor Stanislov arrived. About six months ago, he showed up with his troops and big trucks. He told me you and David were alive, and I…” His voice broke. “I couldn’t believe it. He said that your grandfather had died, but you and David had left Roslyn with some friends.”
Fury tightened my jaw. “Grandpa didn’t die, Dad. The praetor killed him.” I didn’t even try to disguise the venom in my voice.
His exp
ression hardened. “I know.” He linked his arm through mine and moved closer. “Tim told me.”
I gasped. “You talked to Tim?”
He nodded. “He was one of their first experiments.”
Violence bubbled inside me.
“When the praetor cleared the ash and got the lights and water on, people started thinking he was some kind of savior. The moment we met, the guy told me that we were going to be the best of friends. That’s when I knew I was in trouble.”
I grunted scornfully.
“All he ever talked about was my work on the achondroplasia cure. He wanted me to begin human trials. I refused—we still had animal testing to do and the Devastation had set us back at least a year. I guess he got tired of hearing me say no. He seized my research and put his own scientists to work on it.” My father’s eyes pooled with tears. “He tested it on children, Sera. He used my work to cause unimaginable harm. I could hear their screams echoing down the hallways at night.”
“But you were sure the cure would work. How did it go so wrong?”
“The praetor isn’t what I’d call a patient man. His scientists used nanobots as accelerants. They forced massive developmental changes, which should have taken place over the course of years, to manifest in days. The human body can’t adapt to complex evolutionary changes that quickly. His experiments failed, over and over again, ending in disfigurement, brain damage, even death. I told him it was the accelerant, but he insisted his Goliath Code was useless if he had to wait years for the results. He’s trying to build an unstoppable army.”
“For what? He’s already won.”
“I don’t know. But I was determined not to help him do it.” He paused. “And then David showed up.”
I nodded, understanding. “Giving the praetor leverage over you.”
“He planned to use your brother as one of his test subjects. I told David to escape, that Praetor Stanislov’s Goliath Code wasn’t his cure. But he didn’t care.” His expression filled with anguish. “Sera, he begged me to help the praetor transform him.”
I squeezed his arm. I, more than anyone, understood how desperate David had been to be normal.
“I finally agreed to go over the protocols. It turned out that their mistake was a simple delivery failure, an easy fix. I insisted that I be the one to administer the treatment and that I be allowed to keep David under anesthesia for two days to spare him the pain. He woke up yesterday morning just as you see now—tall and strong.” He looked despondent. “Everything he’s ever wanted to be.”
“But he’s not the same.”
“No.” The word was ragged and raw. “The procedure enhances more than just physical attributes. We see heightened activity in the limbic system, resulting in lack of impulse control, amplified emotions, increased appetite, and diminished sympathetic response. The Code is buried deep, on a sequence of genes that up until recently were considered junk DNA. Honestly, I’m not even sure it’s human. That’s why animal trials were so important to the research.”
“Are you saying it’s alien DNA?”
He stopped and turned towards me. “What I’m saying is that the praetor is turning children into monsters. And I’m going to tell you the same thing I told your brother.” He put his arm around my shoulders and spoke low in my ear. “Get out of here, Sera. Escape any way you can and never come back.”
I sat alone at a long table in the cafeteria, picking at the fried chicken and mashed potatoes on my tray. My father and I had walked the complex for almost an hour before he’d been called away to his lab. During that time, he’d told me about Ellensburg’s impenetrable defenses, including the Gauntlet, the main road leading in and out of the university complex. I realized that, even with help from the rebels, we never would have made it inside alive. Now that we were here, I had no idea how we were going to get out.
The rebels had their work cut out for them; convincing the American citizens here to turn against their Europa liberators wasn’t going to be easy. Ellensburg offered clean, well-lit living with fresh water and plenty of delicious imported food. At the long tables around me, people talked and laughed with soldiers as if they were old friends. I wondered if any of them knew—or cared—about the atrocities those same soldiers committed against citizens out in the real world.
I had yet to see Micah, Ben, or Milly. Not knowing what was happening to them had me on edge. My father didn’t know anything about them, either. The guards seemed to lack tongues as well as personalities. I was about to climb up onto my table and demand somebody do something, when Ben and Milly entered the cafeteria.
Relief flooded through me, then white-hot anger. Ben’s face was battered and swollen. Milly had bruises on her neck and a deep cut above her eyebrow. They looked exhausted, worn by battle, and it was my fault. I had asked them to come on this impossible mission for the sake of my brother. I had to get them out.
I stood and waved at them. When they spotted me, they hurried over. We hugged, then sat on opposite sides of the table.
Mindful of the armed guard standing nearby, I leaned across the table toward them. “Are you guys okay?”
Ben nodded. “Yeah.”
“What about you?” Milly asked. A clump of her beautiful blonde hair had been pulled out at the scalp. “They hit you pretty hard.”
“Better now that the drugs are out of my system.”
She grunted. “Yeah. Wasn’t that sweet of ’em?”
I glanced back at the entrance. “Where’s Micah?”
Ben shook his head. “Haven’t seen him.”
“We thought he was with you.”
Fear swirled through me. The praetor had already tried to kill Micah once.
“Don’t worry,” Milly added. “Micah can’t be hurt, remember?”
“You’re forgetting his face,” Ben threw in. “You know, that big, long gash you stitched up yesterday?”
“That’s different,” Milly replied. “The ogre isn’t human.”
I blinked at her, wondering if she was onto something. Doctor Reinkann had said that Micah was protected from earthly harm. Goliath Tim was the furthest thing from earthly that I had ever seen.
Ben scratched at a bandage on his arm.
“What’s that for?” I asked.
He scowled. “They took my blood.”
“They didn’t give you a blood test?” Milly asked, showing me her bandage.
“No.” They didn’t need to. My father had my DNA on file, like David’s. I leaned closer. “We have to find Micah and get out of here,” I whispered. “Tonight.”
“How?” Ben whispered back. “My room’s locked and guarded.”
“Same here.” Milly leaned in. “And what about David?”
As if on cue, a tray piled high with chicken dropped down onto the table. “How I love cafeteria food.”
I felt the bench sag as my brother sat down beside me. I hadn’t seen him since he’d run off for his vitamin shot. I couldn’t bring myself to look at him now. His transformation, inside and out, disturbed me. I was beginning to understand how Milly felt about Tim. This wasn’t my brother. My brother had vanished the moment he’d undergone the Goliath procedure and this heinous reproduction had taken his place.
Ben glared across the table at him. “This is a private conversation, pal.”
“Whatever, Turner,” David growled. “You’ve been trying to get private with my sister for a while now and I keep telling you it is not gonna happen.”
Ben sat back, his eyes wide.
Milly looked confused. “And who, exactly, are you?”
“It’s…” Ben shook his head, not believing what he was seeing.
“It’s me, Mills.” David’s use of Tim’s nickname for Milly was nothing but cruel.
Milly’s chin trembled. “David?”
“Well, look at you catching on so quick. That’s gotta be a new record, right?” He stuck a drumstick in his mouth and tore all the meat off in one savage bite.
“But how—” She
couldn’t finish.
I knew what she was thinking and my heart broke for her. How had Goliath done this for David, while leaving her own brother so destroyed?
Oblivious to her pain, David grinned. “My father, that’s how. He’s been living here since the eruption. Wasn’t even in Seattle. Isn’t that right, Sera?”
I didn’t respond.
David sat back and flexed. “Hey, Ben, check out these Goliath guns.”
“Yeah.” Ben frowned. “Good for you.”
Silent tears dripped down Milly’s face. I reached over and placed my hand on hers, trying to offer some comfort.
David scowled at everyone. “What’s the problem?”
“Problem?” Ben shot back. “They burned the cabin. Did you know that? They shot Jude. My brother almost died because of you.” He stood from the table. “And I’m so very happy for you and your Goliath guns, but we’ve met a couple of people who weren’t quite so lucky.”
David’s expression darkened and my blood ran cold. “Sit down, Ben,” I whispered.
“No, Sera,” Ben retorted. “Enough with the coddling. He’s deserved this for a long time.”
David rose to his full height, several inches taller than Ben’s. “Praetor Stanislov told me you’d be jealous,” he growled. “I should have known you’d make everything about you.”
“No, David, this is about you. Which should make you really happy, because nobody matters more in David Donner’s world than David Donner.”
“Do you—” Milly bit back a sob. “Do you know what they did to Tim?”
“Tim! Tim! Tim!” David barked. “Yes, I know what they did to precious Tim! And a hundred other kids after him! Pain is necessary in achieving perfection!”
The cafeteria had gone silent. The other people in the room, including the soldiers, had stopped eating to stare in our direction. My brother’s face had contorted into a mask of fury. For the first time in my life, I was genuinely afraid of him.
I stood up beside him. “Calm down, David,” I said gently.
“Shut up, Sera!” he shouted at me. “You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore!”
“Perfection?” Ben scoffed. “Is that how you see yourself now? Because all I see is a pretty face and some big muscles wrapped around the same selfish bastard you’ve always been.”
The Goliath Code (The Alpha Omega Trilogy) Page 30
