Unnatural (The Unnatural Saga Book 1)

by Jakob Farrar

  Grace Taber. His girlfriend.

  A confused “What?” was all that he could get out.

  “I don’t know what they did to me, Stephen,” Grace said, wrapping her arms around his waist. “They took me and they did something. They told me I was supposed to hunt you down, but some other people came and rescued me. I don’t know what’s going on. I’m so confused.”

  “Believe me,” Stephen said as she let go of him, “I am too.”

  Mark’s old friend was flying above soldiers, swooping down on them and wreaking havoc among them as a winged terror.

  Directly below him stood somebody else Mark recognized; Nellie Reed, Caleb’s girlfriend. She jumped around as nimbly as Caleb, yellow streaks of electricity frying soldiers around her. Another person seemed to be controlling the earth itself, calling plants to life to come to his assistance, opening holes in the ground to swallow his enemies whole. And was that…Grace standing off in the distance with Stephen?

  Mark wondered if he was dreaming. He was back at the Secret Service, under the effects of whatever knockout drug they had injected into his system.

  His beliefs were rendered incorrect when the Unnatural ran into action against the others and Caleb’s foot connected with Mark’s face. Mark went down, a sword at his throat.

  “Mark?” he heard Caleb’s voice say.

  “Yeah,” said Mark, “Get off.” Caleb did so hastily, continuing to fight off the soldiers around him.

  “Fight me!” Mark said.

  “What?” said Caleb, confused, “Why?”

  “Because,” Mark said, nodding towards Project Zero, who was watching him carefully from behind. Caleb nodded, seeming to understand. He swung a wing at Mark, who ducked.

  “What are you doing here?” Caleb asked, rolling past a fireball.

  “We were captured by Sector Zero,” Mark said. He ordered his armor to harden and brought his arm up to block another strike, “They’re forcing us to fight. How’d you get those…wings?” Mark went down, kicking Caleb’s feet out from under him.

  “After you disappeared, they started testing on me for some reason. They got Nellie, and said that they’d hurt her if I didn’t cooperate. I just woke up with these things.”

  So Sector Zero had made Caleb, Nellie, and those other two Unnatural. “How’d you get out?”

  “Some people rescued me,” Caleb said, leaping back up, again kicking Mark in the head.

  “Who?” Another dodge.

  “Hopefully, you’ll find out soon.”

  “What?”

  Mark ducked under a swing by Caleb. He came back up, hitting Caleb in the back. For whatever reason, the soldiers had stopped coming at them now. Mark was on Caleb’s back, a fireball in his hand, looking like he was about to bring it down on Caleb’s head. He stopped though, waiting for Caleb to retaliate until he realized that he couldn’t. Caleb was pinned to the ground, unable to get up due to Mark’s superior size and strength.

  “What are you waiting for?” came a deep, computerized voice from behind Mark. Mark looked behind him and saw the looming figure of Project Zero standing behind him. Mark was surprised; she had actually spoken. “Kill him.”

  Mark looked back down at Caleb and up at the other Unnatural. They were all fighting each other, Mark’s side obviously winning because of their superior numbers and technology.

  Mark knew who the true enemy was. It wasn’t these Unnatural; they were trying to help a cause that they believed in. It was Sector Zero. They were tyrants, no matter how good they looked to most of the people in the Sectors. The government only looked out for its own interests; it didn’t care about its people. Mark wouldn’t fight for such a government. Not even if he was forced to. He would do whatever it took to liberate himself and those he cared about from the oppression of Sector Zero.

  “No,” Mark said, extinguishing the fire in his hands and standing up off of Caleb.

  “Resistance and insubordination will not be tolerated, Mark,” Zero said, a fire leaping to life in her own hand.

  “Caleb,” Mark said, pressing his thumb to his hand again, a flame traveling into his palm, “You may want to get back.”

  “Kill the rebel,” Zero said, her voice lowing.

  “He’s not a rebel,” Mark said, “Caleb is like me. Like Byron, like Phoebe, like you, Zero. He is a monster. He is a freak. He may be different and disliked from and by everyone else, but that does not make him any less a person. He is fighting for survival. All he wants to do, all we wanted to do, is survive. We wanted to live like other humans. All we wanted was peace. And we tried. We tried for peace, but we were stopped. So don’t be surprised when we fight back. Caleb is like me. He is Unnatural.”

  “You were warned, Mark,” Zero said, “Peyton cautioned you against rebelling. You have crossed the line, and will be punished accordingly.”

  “Come at me, then.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Unnatural

  Mark felt prepared for anything.

  That is, until his back exploded.

  Zero’s flame shot at him faster than Mark could comprehend. He wasn’t harmed by it, but the fire reached around him and his Bodysuit, crawling across his back until his backpack had been ruptured. A second later, Mark’s ears were ringing and he was flying through the air. He landed on dirt, bruising and cutting his skin. He could still feel the pressure of the fire being blasted on his back. He screamed in pain. That was all he could feel in that moment; pain.

  Mark suddenly felt light, as if something were being dragged out of him. Something that had been inside of him was being dragged out slowly and excruciatingly, yet he felt peace at the same time.

  He felt accomplished.

  But why? He hadn’t done anything, nothing of importance, anyways. He had failed the other Unnatural. He was the only one of them who knew that the other Unnatural weren’t enemies. They would fight each other now, not stopping until the other side was defeated. That would cost lives. Mark had failed; he shouldn’t feel accomplished, or in the least bit happy.

  He had left them behind. Byron, Stephen, Phoebe.

  Phoebe.

  He saw her face, her beautiful face, the one who had woken him up all those weeks ago, the one he had risked his life for time and time again.

  Mark knew then that he couldn’t give up. He couldn’t let the very thing that was his strength, the burning sensation of fire, be his weakness. He couldn’t let the very thing that made him Unnatural kill him.

  Mark stood. He leaned against the pressure of the flames, supporting himself on his hands and knees. He could feel every point of contact the flames made on him. He felt it penetrating his skin. Normally, that kind of pain would make one weak. But not Mark. To Mark, the searing pain of the fire gave him strength, allowed him to stand, more powerful than ever before. He didn’t care that his pack of fumes had exploded; he wouldn’t need that or a lighter ever again.

  The fire stopped pressing him as he rose to his full height.

  “Impossible,” he heard Zero’s emotionless voice say.

  “You can’t fight fire with fire, Zero,” Mark said. He looked behind Zero and saw all of the other Unnatural, staring at Mark, open-mouthed, shocked at Mark’s incredible feat.

  “Unnatural,” Mark said, “We may be fighting for different causes. We may come from different places. We may have different stories, and we may have different powers. We may appear different in every single way possible, but, in reality, we are not that different from each other. We all have one thing in common, one thing that binds us. It is a wish, a desire. We all want peace. We all want to live like other people, away from harm and sorrow. But we can’t get to that point. And why is that? Because we have been hunted down. We have been hurt, each one of us. Someone has prevented us from having peace, and who is that? I’ll tell you who it is,” Mark pointed at Project Zero.

  “Them!” he shouted accusingly, “Sector Zero and its minions are those who wish to hurt us. They want to use us to get r
id of a threat they have already defeated before by themselves. They want to use us as a tool for their victory. Why should we fight for them? All we want is freedom, all we want is peace! Our enemies are not each other. They are!” He pointed again at Project Zero, “So let’s fight against them, all together! Let’s not ourselves but our oppressors!” Mark felt fire in his hand and knew that he was ready. He would be the first to fight, and the others would join him, he knew.

  How did he know?

  Because Mark was Unnatural, and the others were, too.

  “I don’t know what happened to me,” Grace said. She held up her arm. “All that I know is that after I was rescued I could do this.” Suddenly, her arm disappeared. “You can go invisible,” Stephen said, “That is so cool!”

  They both looked up as Mark began talking. ‘What do we do now?” Grace asked, looking up at Stephen.

  “We need to help him,” Stephen said, “We need to fight. Just stay invisible as much as you can. Stay safe.” He began to run, knowing that she would follow him.

  Mark ignored the fire that blasted against his chest. It barely slowed his mad charge for Project Zero. All he knew was that, in a matter of what seemed like seconds, he was in Zero’s face, his fist of fire connecting with her jaw as he yelled something incomprehensible.

  Zero flew back, propelled by the force of Mark’s fist. She should have been dead, but she wasn’t. She had been given the ability of Resurrection; she couldn’t die. At least, it would take a lot to kill her. She was alive again by the time she hit the ground, but was given no rest. She felt something heavy and metal hit her square in the back, a blow so heavy it should have snapped her spine in two. Zero was knocked to the ground, but she got back up with surprising speed, elbowing Gabe’s metal jaw so hard that he fell back. Zero felt a bullet enter her chest, but she ignored it. It would fall out soon enough. She ran for Caleb, his swords whirling. Zero absorbed the concrete on the ground and blocked Caleb’s swing with one arm. She brought her other arm up in an arc, hitting Caleb in the chest, knocking him down. She felt a hole open up underneath her, but she allowed herself to fall in. As the hole closed, she absorbed the dirt, becoming one with it. She traveled through the ground until she was just underneath the Terrakinetic, that is, the one who controlled the earth, and came out behind him, kicking him in the back. She shook the dirt off and teleported behind Grace without having to see her coming. She kicked her neck, and she went down. Good. Four down, seven more to go. She ducked under a fireball and jumped over a stream of water, bringing her heel down on Byron’s helmet. He didn’t fall unconscious, but he was stunned for the moment, which allowed Zero to come down and connect her fist with his neck and then his face. He sprawled out onto the ground, coughing as his head spun. She turned around, elbowing Phoebe in the chest. She could see a bullet coming at her head, but she ducked before Stephen could pull the trigger. She teleported to where he was, pushing him from his perch. He recovered, though, teleporting to the ground. Zero teleported down to him, and their intricate dance began. They teleported around each other, trying to strike but missing each time.

  “You are a most formidable opponent,” Zero said, ducking under a blow and trying to sweep her leg under Stephen’s. He was gone, though, before her heel could connect with his ankle. She teleported behind where Stephen would show up next, but he dodged her, teleporting above her. Zero ducked back so that, when he landed, she was behind him again. He teleported away quickly. “How are you-?” She began to ask, wondering how he could be anticipating her every move so precisely, as if he, too, were a Premonitionist. Then she looked up and understood. Kyle Hunter stood several yards away, guarded by Mark and Kaytlen. And…Stephen? Impossible! She was fighting Stephen now-oh. Zero realized that she was looking at Ashley, who was disguised as Stephen. Suddenly, that Stephen disappeared and appeared next to Zero. Zero teleported away, knowing where to go. She landed there, but Stephen dodged out of the way. Zero knew she could barely handle one Stephen, let alone two, that were helped by Kyle’s future broadcasts. She teleported next to Kyle, but had two Stephens on her tail. She had to make these few seconds count. She lifted her hand, but saw fire coming at her. She teleported out of the way, making the fire fly past her and into a building behind them. It exploded, shaking the building. Zero could hear Kyle say, “Oh, that isn’t good.” The building began to lean, the metal groaning. “Get Phoebe!” Kyle shouted. Looking over, Zero could see that most of the Unnatural had begun to wake up, including Phoebe. Zero, at first, wanted to go and knock her out again to keep her from holding the building up, but she acted against that instinct. She had a better plan.

  Instead of going away from the crashed building, Zero teleported right underneath it. She would bait the Unnatural to her, and that would be their demise.

  Phoebe woke with a headache. She wanted to go back to sleep and rest it off, but she couldn’t; she saw Mark saying something to her.

  “Phoebe!” he yelled, “We need you out here!” Phoebe stood, rubbing her head. She immediately saw what Mark was referring to. She saw Zero fighting with-was that two Stephens? Above them, a building was falling, threatening to crush them.

  “You have to hold it up,” Mark said to her. Phoebe focused on the building, telling her Bodysuit to tell her how much the building weighed.

  It soon became obvious that she was not going to do it.

  “I won’t be able to,” Phoebe said, looking at the warnings that flashed across her screen in a flurry.

  “You have to.”

  “I’ve never held anything up that heavy before. Even with my Bodysuit, I won’t be able to do it.”

  “Yes you will,” Mark said. Phoebe looked up at him. He had been encouraging before, but not like this. He spoke as if it was a widely known fact that she could do this, that it was obvious that she could hold tons and tons of weight up even for a short while. Phoebe knew she couldn’t do it, but she had to. She lifted her arms, feeling every part of the building, every support, every beam, and lifting it upwards. It fought against her, but she managed to slow it nearly to a stop. Phoebe heard heavy footsteps near her and saw Gabe running forwards towards the battle between Zero and Stephen. “Wait!” she heard Mark say, “Gabe, stop!” But Gabe didn’t stop. He ran for Zero, absorbing the concrete as he ran.

  One of the Stephens teleported back and changed, revealing the true identity of Ashley. Zero still remained locked in combat with the real Stephen. Gabe reached Zero, a man made of solid concrete. Stephen teleported back to Phoebe’s side, and she saw Grace materialize next to him. Gabe jumped for Zero, who dodged out of the way. Gabe stumbled onto the ground. Zero touched his back, not violently, but gently. The metal on Gabe’s Bodysuit traveled up her body until she was made of it. Her arm came up and down, connecting with Gabe’s shoulder. He screamed, his arm falling off at the joint.

  “I need to help him,” Stephen said, typing something out on the screen on his arm.

  “Don’t,” he heard Grace say next to him. “You won’t make it.”

  “If I don’t help Zero might kill us all.”

  “Please don’t,” she said, grabbing onto his arm. “I need you.”

  “If I don’t do this you won’t be safe. None of you will.”

  “No, Stephen. Don’t you remember what you told me about killing myself? About how it would just make you hurt? Why don’t you realize that you’re doing the same thing to me?”

  “Grace if I don’t do this we’re all going to die.”

  “If you do I might die.”

  Stephen looked at her pleading eyes. He leaned over, bringing her lips to his. “I love you, my Grace,” he said. And then he disappeared.

  Phoebe’s grip on the building slipped. The building fell further down. She managed to grab ahold of it again, but just barely. Zero brought her hand up again, this time going for Gabe’s head. But, just as it came down, Stephen appeared in front of Gabe, his arms reaching back, somehow instinctively grabbing a large tube on his back and swivel
ing it over his shoulder. He pressed a button and an explosion from his shoulder rocked the ground. He let the missile fly, and the following explosion caused Phoebe to lose her grip on the building until it landed on the ground.

  Grace fell to her knees, screaming. Phoebe collapsed next to her from the strain of holding up the building. Mark got down next to her. Byron was up now; running towards Grace. He knelt down beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder. She leaned against him, sobbing, tears flowing freely from her eyes.

  “Stephen was under there, wasn’t he?” Byron asked Mark quietly. Mark just nodded. Byron turned back to Grace, wrapping his arms around her, trying to comfort her. And there they sat for several minutes.

  Suddenly, Byron heard someone clapping slowly. He looked behind him and saw the last person he wanted to see.

  “You’re here,” he said sourly to the man they had first met in Sector Four, then later in Sector Seven.

  “Oh, but of course!” he said, grinning, still clapping. “Where else would I be?”

  Byron let go of Grace, who was beginning to calm down. He stood, helping her stand behind him. “What is going on here? How are these new Unnatural showing up? Why are they people we know? And what are you doing here?”

  “My people are very ambitious, aren’t they?

  “Your people?”

  “You know, Byron, for all your intellect, I am shocked that you haven’t guessed my identity yet.”

  “No, I haven’t,” Byron said. He felt frustrated, all of a sudden.

  “Think, Byron. Put all of the pieces together, and you will understand!”

  “You caused the military occupation of Sector Seven,” Byron said, thinking of what this man had done in their past together, “And you were able to teleport both us and yourself to my home without us knowing it. You must be very powerful, able to influence and have control over people.”