The Invincibles (Book 1): Trapped: A girl. A monster. A hero.

by Brittany Oldroyd

  Alec is back down with a microscope now. He sets it down and looks at me. We need my blood but he doesn’t know how to get it.

  I do.

  The claws slide out so easily, so simply. No blood, no pain. As much a part of me as skin or bones or heart. I slide a claw across my wrist, cut into my skin, leave blood trailing. Gesturing for a slide, holding my wrist gingerly, waiting for Alec.

  He scrapes the blood onto the glass, covering it with a protective sheet. He’s shaking his head as he puts the slide under the microscope.

  “You just cut your own wrist.”

  “Please, Alec.” I roll my eyes. Press a hand across the cut. “I’ve had so much worse. Shot twice, sliced up by a soldier torturer. And sparring with Zane was never gentle. I got a couple of really good beatings over the months.”

  “Soldier torturer?”

  I touch my face, touch the scar tearing a line through my lip. “They wanted to know who I called when they grabbed me. I refused to share the information.”

  Eyes filling of tears, biting his lip, Alec shakes his head. Says nothing, does nothing. Just looks into the microscope. “Okay,” he says, words slow and unsure and so confused. “This is weird.”

  “Nothing is weird anymore.”

  “Parts of your DNA actually look human,” he says.

  The world freezes over. Human. Still human DNA. Still a part of me that is sane, that is normal, that is what it’s supposed to be.

  I didn’t expect it to be that way. I didn’t expect to have any humanity left. But I suppose there has to be. Because I still have human thoughts and dreams and fears. There is more than the animal inside of me. There is more than the pain that craves anger. There is

  hope.

  “But there’s a lot of other stuff going on,” Alec cuts into my thoughts. “Cheetah, panther, tiger, lion. Parts of your DNA match up with all of them.” He pauses, frowns, tilts his head. “And there’s something here I don’t recognize. It doesn’t match anything.”

  Frowning. Looking down. Watching my wrist knit itself back together. Smiling at Alec. Holding up a perfectly healed wrist. I understand.

  “Healing,” I say. “I heal fast.”

  Alec stands, examines my wrist, gapes. “You cut this minutes ago.”

  “And now it’s healed. That’s not the weirdest part. All experiments can heal like this. But I’ve been able to heal like this since before the experiment.”

  “This is the first time you’ve ever been an experiment, right?”

  “I think I would remember getting injected with animal DNA.”

  “Unless you didn’t know they were doing it.”

  Raise an eyebrow. “You think someone injected me without me knowing?”

  “It wouldn’t surprise me.”

  Tapping claws against the wall, scrunching up my face, thinking hard. “That would mean someone wanted me to able to heal from any injury quickly.”

  Alec is nodding. Slowly and thoughtfully and cautiously. “Maybe someone knew you were going to run into trouble. They wanted to help you.”

  “But who would help me? Who would know about the experiment and still want to help me?”

  “Someone from the inside?” Alec shrugs. “I don’t know. Obviously, you’ve got more friends than you think.”

  I smile and Alec is shaking his head again. “So, you can heal almost instantaneously.”

  I grin. “Pretty much.”

  Alec shakes his head. Stands up. “Unbelievable.”

  “That’s me.”

  “How is it that you can spend six months as a prisoner and come out with your ego intact?”

  “It’s a gift.”

  A hand slapped to his forehead. Exasperated. “You’re ridiculous.”

  He turns his attention back to the microscope. “Okay. So here’s what we know. Cheetah DNA is obviously the reason for your speed. And your tail definitely matches up with panther genes. Your claws could be anything other than a cheetah. Their claws aren’t retractable.”

  “I need to know everything about my DNA, Alec. Everything I can do. I have to know what I can do before I can decide how to fight Glass.”

  Alec nods. His face snaps into solemnity. “We could take a look at each of these animal’s abilities. See which abilities you have inherited. But it will take some time.”

  “Do you have somewhere better to be?”

  “What’s better than helping your crazy best friend figure out what she can do?” He smiles. “We’ll start with the cheetah stuff. Your speed. Do you know how fast you can run?”

  “I haven’t exactly had the time or a way to measure it.”

  He waves a hand to the treadmill. “It’s set up to measure the speed of its runner.”

  I walk over, still barefoot, and step onto the treadmill. Compared to the steel and glass floors, the roads, the rooftops I’ve run across, it feels smooth on my feet. I start running, as fast as I can, moving as quickly as possible, carrying myself into speed.

  It feels like flying.

  And now I stop. With weak laughter and trembling legs and a thrashing heart. And then I look at my speed.

  “Fifty.”

  “Miles per hour?”

  I grin. “I told you I was fast.”

  “I’ll say.” He tries to laugh but it comes out as a shocked, choked out sound. “Kate, most people can only run around ten miles per hour. Even Olympic runners can only get to around twenty five. You just ran twice as fast as the fastest humans in the world. Barefoot.”

  “I should try out for the Olympics, then?”

  “This kind of speed shouldn’t be possible.”

  Neither should anything else about me.

  “If it’s cheetah genes giving your speed,” he says, “You may be able to run up to seventy miles an hour. I’m going to find you some tennis shoes. Let’s see if they slow you down or speed you up.”

  He runs upstairs. I wait. My heart is pounding and my lungs ache. Seventy miles per hour. Seven times faster than most people. No one could ever catch me. Run and I’m invisible. Sprint and I cannot be touched, hurt, killed.

  I am invincible.

  Alec returns with shoes and socks. I slip them on, tying them tight, before stepping back onto the treadmill. I start running.

  My legs are burning. Fifty miles per hour. My head is spinning. Sixty. My heart is pounding. Seventy.

  I bend over, coughing, stopping, stepping off the treadmill, wiping off sweat. I sink down onto the cot, next to Alec, and put my head into my hands.

  Exhilarating speed. Freedom at my feet. Incredibility at my touch.

  I can’t keep it up. Not for long. Too much strength, too much power, too much speed. I can’t do it forever.

  “So?”

  I glance at Alec. Lean over again, place my forehead against my knees. “Seventy.”

  “You look exhausted.”

  A weak laugh. Coughing. “You think? I just ran three times as fast as the fastest humans on earth.” I look up, start to catch my breath. “I think I can only do that in short bursts.”

  “Still, that’s really impressive.”

  “Anything else in cheetah DNA?”

  “How much do you weigh?”

  “Never a good question to ask a girl.” I wink. “You have a scale.”

  Alec points and I stand on it, waiting. And then I frown. No. No way. That can’t be right, that can’t be it, that can’t be possible.

  “Ninety pounds.” I frown. I used to weigh closer to one-twenty. Thirty pounds gone in my time in the cage. “That’s so light.”

  “You have to be very light to run so fast, Kate.”

  I nod. He’s right. This is not the weirdest part of the change. Just the most real to me. I suppose I would have lost weight in the cage, too. Not enough food, too much exercise.

  “Anything else?”

  “We need to go outside,” Alec says. “Cheetahs can see their prey from several miles away.”

  Outside. In the smog-filled city
air and the blank skies and the lively streets. Chicago. I never realized how much I would miss it if I was forced inside for so long.

  Alec asks me to climb into a tree, tell him what I can see.

  Too much, I want to say. And too little.

  Because out there is a city. Because out there are humans and cars and buildings. Because out there is a city that doesn’t realize how it is being used to provide a madman with the experiments he needs.

  “I can see Lincoln Park High School,” I say. “And some skyscrapers.” A tight grimace. “And Glass Tech.”

  Horror. Terror. Monstrosity. Zane is still in there.

  “I can’t see anything past Glass Tech.”

  “Glass Tech is pretty close. But it has to be around five miles off. Can you see it clearly?”

  “More clearly than I want to.” I hop out of the tree. “I can see the broken window I jumped out of the other day.”

  “We’re barely scratching the surface and you have inhuman speed, crazy healing, and you can see things clearly from five miles off. Who knows what else you can do?” Alec laughs. “I think Richard Glass just created the most powerful person in the world.”

  I snort. “Please. Glass didn’t make me powerful. I’ve always been the most powerful person in the world, Alec.”

  “Let’s just go back inside.

  I shake my head.

  Because I can hear it. Because my sight isn’t the only thing heightened by experimentation. Because I can hear screaming.

  “Kate?”

  “Shh,” I hiss. “Quiet, Alec.”

  Again. Screaming. Cries. Hysteria.

  Why is no one helping? Why does no one else hear? Why is this world so selfish?

  I shake my head. Because no one ever comes, because people like to keep their heads down and mind their own business, because no one came to my aide either.

  “Kate?”

  No answer, no explanation. Because I’m already gone, running, listening. Because this is too much like what happened to me. But no, it shouldn’t, it won’t, it can’t. Not again.

  This is not happening to anyone else.

  Thirty-Six

  I’m running through the streets with a frantic panicked terror. Because I don’t know why there’s screaming that no one else can hear but I can’t I won’t I refuse to let it continue. This is wrong.

  I stop.

  Nothing. Silence. The quiet of a sleeping city. No more screaming.

  I run my hands through my hair. Uncertain. Worried. Frustrated.

  Come on. Help me out. Scream. Yell. Call for help. Groan, moan, stomp on the ground. Anything. Quiet, loud, it doesn’t matter. Just give me something.

  “No! Help!”

  A hysterical young woman. Screaming. Sobbing.

  “Someone help me!”

  I turn to the sound. There. I run. The screaming gets louder. So close. So very close.

  “Not another word,” a low voice growls. “You’re expendable. Don’t you forget that.”

  I jump, spin, whirl across the street. He sounds so close. Whispering in my ear, standing right behind me, nowhere to be found. Heightened hearing is disorientating.

  Focus.

  I smile. Because those are Zane’s words, because those are the words that taught me how to fight, because those are the words that will save a life. He’s still saving people and now I’m the instrument to do that.

  I close my eyes. Listen. Wait. Focus.

  Another piercing scream. Loud. Close.

  Open your eyes, turn to your left, run into the alley.

  Turning, listening, watching, I see them. Finally. There they are. A man with a gun. Grabbing a young woman. A woman with scaly skin. An experiment. He’s one of Glass’s soldiers. And now this just became a little more personal.

  What am I dealing with?

  Man with gun, holding a struggling experiment with mascara running down her face and a split lip. It’s like a reflection, it’s like seeing myself. Because I can see raw fear in her eyes. The same kind of fear, terror, horror I felt.

  No more.

  Stop him.

  I dive, claws digging into his back, arms yanking him away from the girl. And now he’s turning and his back is facing the girl and he’s grinning.

  I hiss.

  It’s him. The man who kidnapped me all those months ago, the man who scarred my body for the name of the person I called, the man who faked my death.

  Justice.

  “Miss Katherine McCallister.”

  “You’re going to leave,” I snarl.

  “Not without the two of you. You’re escaped experiments, both of you, and Mr. Glass wants you back.”

  I look at the girl. Look at her terrified eyes and trembling lips. Watch her clutch her arms, shiver in the night. Her mind must be a desolate place.

  I look back at the man. “Too bad. We’re not coming with you. You are going to walk away, or you are going to regret it.”

  He laughs.

  “Go run off to your master.”

  “Don’t you remember the last time we met out here? You only have two choices. Come quietly or die.”

  Neither.

  I lunge, jump over him, grab his shoulders as I throw myself over him. He lands on his back, groans, grunts, and I crouch down, bare my teeth. “Leave.”

  He’s standing. “Not happening.”

  Bad decision.

  Lunge forward. Shove him back into the nearest wall. Jam my forearm into his throat. Hiss with bared teeth. Glance back at the woman.

  “Run!”

  She takes a stumbling step back, runs down the street. And then she’s gone. The experiment I never expected to see, to know, to save, is gone.

  “You should go,” I tell the man.

  “Why?”

  My eyes are narrow and I’m shoving his throat deeper against my arm. “Because you don’t want to make me mad. Because I am very unstable when upset. Because I have spent the last six months training with Zane Rothstein. Because I don’t have time to deal with you.”

  “No,” he sneers. Not threatening, not angry, just annoying. His voice comes out strangled. “You’re too busy worrying about the mutt. Tell me, do you feel guilty about leaving him behind? It was pretty selfish.”

  That’s it.

  I let out full-throated roar, still holding him against the wall. “You are going to leave,” I snarl. “You are not my problem. Richard Glass is my problem.” Insignificant, not worth my time, not worth my energy. “I suggest you return to Glass Tech,” I say, “Before I become, not just an escaped experiment, but a murderer.”

  Fear. In his eyes, his face, his stance. He can’t hide it.

  Vengeance. I smile. Oh, how the tables have turned. Because now are roles are switched. Because now he is terrified and I am dangerous. Because now he is under my power.

  I step back, shoving him to the ground. “Go.”

  He’s an idiot.

  Lunging forward, reaching for his gun. He’s not giving up yet.

  I throw up a leg, slice through the air, moving with a new kind of music. I kick him in the head. Hard. Too hard. Harder than I expected. He’s unconscious.

  “That was…”

  I look up. Alec. Open mouthed. Staring. Shocked. “You just…”

  “He’s the man that kidnapped me,” I say. Cold. Freezing. Ice. “He was trying to kidnap someone else. Another escaped experiment. I didn’t actually mean to knock him out.”

  “But you’re not complaining.”

  “No.”

  “Good.”

  My head tilts with a tug of my own confusion. “You’re not a violent person, Alec. Where’s this vengeance coming from?”

  “Richard Glass isolated us, kidnapped you, made me believe you were dead. I think that’s a pretty valid reason to be angry.”

  “You’re supposed to be the forgiving one.”

  “Forgiveness only goes so far.”

  Alec pushed over the edge. An impossibility in my mind, a rea
lity in his. I shake my head. “We need to get out of here.”

  “You know,” Alec says, walking, thinking, watching me, “That was probably the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. You were scary. I mean, scarier than usual.”

  I grin. “Am I usually very scary, Alec?”

  Alec snorts. Doesn’t answer. Doesn’t have to. Because I am. I must be. Because I’ve always been a frightening person and now I have the power to prove it. Like I’ve always been this animal. Like I was always meant to be an experiment. Like I was born to be a monster.

  “My point is,” Alec is saying. “You were like a real life…” He trails off, stops talking, freezes where he stands.

  “A real life what, Alec?”

  He stares at me. Like we’re strangers, meeting for the first time, seeing each other clearly, looking without being clouded by friendship.

  “Like a real life superhero.”

  I snort.

  “Kate, think about it. Inhuman abilities, looking for justice, skilled fighter. That’s exactly what a superhero is.”

  I sigh. Tired. Amused. Exasperated. “Alec, life is not a comic book.”

  “I’m not saying it is. I’ll I’m saying is there are some serious similarities between you and a superhero. You want to stop Richard Glass and protect people.”

  “That’s different,” I argue. “I’m not trying to save the world from some psycho madman who wants to take over it.”

  “Isn’t that what Richard Glass is?”

  “What?”

  “Richard Glass. He’s kidnapping teenagers and experimenting on them. I’d say that makes him a ‘psycho madman’. And you’re trying to protect people from him and stop him from doing anymore experiments. Kate, you have incredible abilities. Why not use them?”

  Serious eyes, wary lips. “Because those same abilities could kill innocent people.”

  “You’re afraid.”

  I wince. Sigh. I can’t keep pretending fear is just a nightmare. “Terrified,” I admit. I meet his surprised, shocked, staring gaze. “Alec, I’m afraid of what I could do to a person. I’ve seen what happens to unwilling experiments. When Zane transformed in front of me, he almost attacked me. He was unaware of his own humanity. It’s not that we have animal abilities. We become animals.”