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

by Brittany Oldroyd

  “Are you okay, Kate?”

  I shake my head. “I’m fine.”

  “You sure?”

  “Chill, Alec. I’m fine.”

  “If you say so.” He pauses, chuckles. “By the way, you sounded about ready to rip his head off.”

  Curt words and a sharp heart. “That’s not even a little bit funny.” Alec is silent, drawn into a quiet awkwardness by my angry response. I sigh. “Look, I’ll be home in a minute. We need to discuss what you’ve learned.”

  “Okay. I’ll see you soon. And Kate? I’m sorry.”

  No answer. I run, down the street, through alleys and across buildings. Watching, listening, thinking. My mind is lost to memories. Memories of animal experiments, of human experiments lost to DNA that does not belong to them. Memories of Zane. Memories of my own insanity.

  Alec doesn’t get it. He can’t. He couldn’t possibly understand what it feels like to have to fight yourself every waking moment, every single day.

  But Zane does.

  I wish he was here. Because he understands this insanity, the need to control yourself, the fear of hurting someone on accident. It’s what keeps him from fighting, it’s what keeps him in that cage, it’s what keeps him a coward. And I think I can understand that now.

  I stop. Alec’s house. A deep breath and I’m reminding myself to keep my temper, reminding myself that he doesn’t understand, reminding myself that he means no harm. And I walk into the basement.

  “So, what have you got?”

  Alec glances up from his laptop. “I found a path down into the labs below Glass Tech.”

  I take off my mask and turn to the punching bag. Start to get to work. “A safe one? I have to stay unseen. If Richard Glass finds out I’m in there, I will never leave. He’s not going to let both Zane and I walk free.”

  “I can’t make you invisible.” Alec shakes his head. “There’s not a route that would allow that. But I do know how to get you in and out with very little detection.” He stops, pauses, holds his breath. “But you’re going to need some help.”

  “No. No way. You are not coming with me. You might as well stop right now.”

  He smiles. Shakes his head. Pushes back his amusement. “I’m not talking about me.”

  “Oh?”

  “You and Zane aren’t the only experiments.”

  I know. I am Project Five, Zane is Project Two. I can count. Three Projects besides the two of us. And I saw the scaly skinned woman. Of course there are others.

  “Your point?”

  “I found two experiments’ files on the flash drive,” Alec explains. “Projects Three and Four. They’ve both escaped, just like you. They’re in hiding.”

  Impatience is in my veins. “And?”

  “I have a plan to get Zane, but you will need your help.”

  I start punching again. “What can they do?”

  “Project Three is Jayden Riggs. He was a chef here in Chicago. He’s twenty-three years old. He has grizzly bear DNA. He can turn into a bear. The file says that he’s actually in good control of that ability.”

  “And Project Four?”

  “Tatyana Galerkin. Nineteen years old. She was a model from Russia before she was kidnapped. She has snake DNA. Her abilities include a venomous spit that paralyzes the victim temporarily. She’s also very flexible and has scaly skin like a snake.”

  The snake girl. The experiment I saved all those weeks ago. Tatyana.

  “Weaknesses?”

  Alec sighs. “Jayden is constantly moving. They thought it was some kind of tic. He’s always shaking and trembling. Tatyana has some kind of fear imbalance. When she gets too scared, she shuts down.”

  I stop. Rub my forehead. “Why would they even help me anyway?”

  “They’re escapees too, Kate. If they help you, they get to help stop Richard Glass. They’ll be free.”

  “Not if they’re too scared to try.”

  “Give them a chance. You need their help.”

  I study him, analyze his expression. “What’s this grand plan of yours?”

  “The three of you enter from different levels of the building. Tatyana enters from its base, takes out the security at its source. There’s a room on the first floor with a couple of soldiers watching the footage from the cameras in the building. She paralyzes them with her venom.

  “Jayden goes in through the middle and takes out every soldier he runs into on his way down. He won’t have to worry about cameras because no one will be watching the footage.

  “And you go in through the top floor. Take out any soldiers you encounter. You meet Tatyana and Jayden in the basement.

  “Jayden will take on his bear form at Zane’s cage and force it open by pushing it down. Now, with Zane, you all exit outside through the entrance Tatyana goes in through. You all come back here.”

  I close my eyes. Because it could work. Because it would get Zane out. Because it was cause mass chaos and destruction in Glass Tech. All those soldiers knocked out. Glass would definitely get the message.

  This is war, Richard Glass.

  But I can’t do it alone. I have to rely on others, I have to rely on Tatyana and Jay. And if they don’t help me, this will become a lot more complicated.

  “Let’s say they would agree to this crazy plan,” I say, “How do I find Tatyana and Jay?”

  “It took some time but I found them. They’re staying at a motel here in Chicago,” he says. “Talk to them. If they say no, we come up with a new plan. But if you can get their help, you could get to Zane.”

  I smile. “What’s the address?”

  Forty-Eight

  Daylight is a stranger.

  It’s been so long since I saw the sun, since I was able to walk down these streets without a mask, since I was able to be Katherine McCallister.

  It feels so good.

  Sunlight on my cheeks, a comfortable smile on my lips, I walk down the street. I’m wearing baggy sweatpants, my tail tuck against my leg, a loose sweatshirt to hide my form, sunglasses and a beanie. Invisibility is bliss.

  The motel is at the edge of the city, standing discretely, sitting alone. It’s a sad-looking place, with beat-up doors and a fading neon sign. Not exactly high class. But it’s the perfect place for two escaped experiments trying to stay hidden.

  Room number 114. I walk up to the door, tap my knuckles against wood. Nothing. Silence answers me.

  “Tatyana, Jayden.”

  Neither of them speak but I can hear them. Shifting feet, hushed voices. They’re definitely in there.

  I lean my head against the door. “Look, I know you’re scared but you don’t have to be. I am on your side.”

  “How do we know that?”

  Russian. Sharp and short. A woman’s voice. Tatyana.

  “Because I’m just like you,” I whisper. “You were both kidnapped, forced into becoming experiments. And then you escaped. We’re not all that different.”

  Silence.

  “I’m not leaving until you let me in. A little conspicuous. I imagine you don’t want anyone to notice the girl refusing to leave your door.”

  A soft sigh.

  “You owe me, Tatyana,” I whisper. “I saved your life. If nothing else, you owe me a conversation.”

  There is a long quiet on other side of the door. It stretches long enough that I wonder if she doesn’t care that she owes, doesn’t care that I saved her life, doesn’t care about any of it. But then the door opens.

  I slip inside before she can change her mind, shut the door again. I yank off the baseball hat, shake out dark hair, slide my sunglasses off and onto my head.

  “I thought that they would have taken you.”

  I glance at the woman. Really look at her. Caramel hair lays limp across her shoulders. Silver eyes filled with terror that never seems to end. Skin a dull gold, dim from being trapped indoors all the time. She looks exhausted.

  “Give me a little credit.” I grin. “I’m not exactly helpless.”

&nbs
p; A man steps forward. Dark brown skin, tense black eyes, broad shoulders, all muscle from head to toe. His hands are trembling hard. Jayden Riggs.

  “No,” he says, “Evidently, you’re not helpless. You’re the Black Kat.”

  A slight bow and a small smirk. “Guilty as charged.”

  Tatyana shakes her head. “You’re going to get yourself killed.”

  I laugh. “If I was going to get myself killed, I would have already done it. Let’s see. So far I’ve taken out quite a few drug dealers, some gangsters, a couple of Glass’s soldiers, oh, and broken into Glass Tech twice.”

  “Twice?”

  Uncanny. They ask it in perfect synchronization. The word falls from their lips at the exact same moment.

  I grin. “Once to escape after my experimentation. The second time was a break-in. I stole information.”

  Jayden shakes his head. “You could have been caged again.”

  “But I didn’t. Instead, I managed to get my hands on every file they have. I have access to every blueprint, every plan, every document.”

  “Which is how you know about us.”

  A glance Tatyana’s way. “An associate of mine found your files and tracked the two of you down for me.”

  “Why?”

  Deep breath. “I need your help.” I bite my lip. Here goes nothing. “There’s another experiment still trapped in Glass Tech.”

  “The mute,” Tatyana whispers.

  “You met him?”

  Tatyana nods and Jay speaks up. “He created a distraction and helped us escape.”

  Helped us escape…

  I feel betrayed. I’m just another experiment, just another victim, just another person to save. Just another Tatyana, just another Jay. He saved them, he saved me. We’re all the same.

  Because he never saw me the way I saw him. Because I was a victim in his eyes and he pitied me. Because he helped me to help the city, out of duty. Not because he cared about me.

  Forget about it. Don’t worry about it. Move on.

  “His name is Zane Rothstein and I promised to break him out,” I say. “And I have vowed to wage a war against Richard Glass.”

  Blank stares greet me.

  “And I need your help to do it.”

  Tatyana is trembling. “So, you’re asking us to help you break into the building we escaped from to save a mute and start a war against the man who wants us back in cages?”

  “I’m asking you to help me help Zane the same way he’s helped all of us. And I am asking you to help me stop the madman who forced us all into being experiments.”

  “And risk being caught?”

  “I’ve already gotten in and out of there. And my associate has a plan that will leave us practically invisible.”

  Tatyana’s shaking has gotten worse. Jayden steps close to her, puts an arm around her. “We can’t fight,” she whispers. “We can’t help you.”

  “Look, Zane saved your life. Don’t you think you owe him this, at least?”

  Tatyana stops, her eyes freeze over, and Jayden is glaring at me. “Thank you for that,” he says. “She shut down.”

  I sigh. “I know this is scary, for both of you. But I can’t do this alone. If the two of you don’t help me, I won’t stand much of a chance in there.”

  Tatyana starts, snaps out of her frozen state. “I can’t. I’m insane.”

  I growl. “And you think I’m not? I have to fight every second of every day to stay in control. I will not let it control me.”

  “Good for you,” she says. “I am sorry. But I will not help you.”

  Sigh. Turn to Jayden. He shakes his head. “Sorry. You’re on your own.”

  Shaking my head, feeling my heart sink down to stomach, I put on my beanie and slip on my sunglasses. “Well then,” I say, “I will let you know if I make it out. If not, I suggest you leave Chicago. It won’t be safe for long.”

  Jayden shakes his head. “Don’t do this. Don’t go in there.”

  I turn to the door, fingers on the knob. “I made my decision long ago. If it costs me my life, so be it.”

  Forty-Nine

  “Are you ready for this?”

  I pause. Crouch down. Watch the skyscraper with its broken glass window on the top floor. Press a finger to my ear. “Does it matter?”

  “You’re not making me feel very confident about this,” Alec says. I can hear the scowl in his voice. “Just remember to be quiet. Don’t let anyone see you until you knock them out. Otherwise they’ll let the other soldiers know that you’re there.”

  “If you haven’t heard from me by dawn, assume they caught me.”

  “Don’t get caught.”

  I smile. “Not planning on it, Alec.”

  “Good luck.”

  I stand, stare at the building across the street. Pieces of glass scattered across the building next to it. A gaping hole in the top floor from my last break-in. Glass Tech looms over the street, like a monster about to swallow me whole.

  It’s time. Time to save Zane, time to start a war, time to break into prison.

  I run, scale the building next to Glass Tech, face the hole in the glass skyscraper. Take a deep breath. And jump.

  Rolling into Pelletier’s office, catching myself with my hands, I run to the door. Glance through glass. And push it open.

  A soldier’s back to me. He’s holding a machine gun in both hands. At the ready. Even if he is facing the wrong way.

  Standing directly behind him, smirking to myself, I swing up a leg. Heel hitting skull, foot striking head, I kick him. He falls to the ground, dropping his gun, blood on his temple. I drag him into Pelletier’s office.

  The more men I knock unconscious, the faster they’re going to know something is wrong.

  I make my way through Glass Tech, running through glass hallways, knocking anyone out that gets in the way, slipping past cameras that don’t see my speed. And now I’m standing outside the security office.

  A peek inside the room shows two men staring at screens, watching the live footage. On the backs of their chairs are slung black rifles.

  “The boss seem a little uptight to you lately?”

  The other soldier snorts. “Three experiments escaped. One of which is taking out every criminal in the city. He has every right to be uptight.”

  The first one pauses. “What?”

  The first man scoffs. “Don’t you watch the news? The Black Kat. Project Five. She’s scaring every criminal in Chicago into turning themselves in.”

  “So?”

  “So, none of this is exactly legal. She’ll come here eventually. I don’t know about you but I am not all that thrilled at the idea of getting threatened by an insane experiment.”

  Smirk. Swallow a laugh. Slide into the room, sprint over to the man that was worried about me, the man that last spoke. I clamp a hand over his mouth, my other arm holding him to his chair, one leg slashing through the air to hit the other man, shoving him back into the wall with a hard thud that knocks him unconscious.

  “You’re right.” My lips right next to his ear, my voice a growl. “Glass Tech is a filthy crime hole. Richard Glass needs to be stopped.”

  I slide my arm up, his throat against the crook of my elbow. “Get out while you can.” I tighten my hold on his neck, push his head down. A couple of sounds and he’s limp, unconscious in his chair.

  I drop him and leave the room. And walk into a basement of steel. Slipping past cages, running my hand across metal walls, listening for soldiers. I don’t run into a single one.

  Stop. Don’t forget to breathe. Remember what you have to do. Because I can see him now. Because he’s right there. Because he’s just a few feet away, just on the other side of the cage.

  He’s standing at the wall, fingers over the deep scratches in the steel, back facing me. His head is bowed, the muscles in his back tense.

  “Zane.”

  Ice. He turns, too tense to be close to humanity. Kate.

  I step up to the bars, wrap my
fingers around them. “Hi,” I whisper.

  Zane runs up to the bars too, slipping a hand through the cage, touching my cheek.

  Don’t react. Don’t respond. Don’t do anything. Because he is touching my face and I can’t let it affect me, can’t let it mean something it doesn’t, can’t start fantasizing again.

  He’s not looking at me. Out across the room, in the darkness of this barely lit room. I wonder if he’s seeing something.

  “Zane?”

  He focuses on me again. You have to get out of here.

  “What—”

  He’s shaking his head, dropping his hand, stepping back into the cage. I realize he’s afraid. Completely terrified.

  Please, Kate. Just run.

  “Not without you.”

  Cold, cruel laughter fills the space of the room, bouncing off steel walls, reverberating in the darkness. “Stubborn, stubborn Katherine McCallister.”

  No. No, no, no, no, no. Not now. Not here. Not him.

  Frozen. Refusing to look, think, believe. Because he’s not here, he can’t be here, that’s not his voice. Because I will never see him again, never hear his voice again, never think his name again. Because that can’t be him, this can’t be real, that can’t be the voice of

  Dalton Knight.

  He’s grinning. “It’s about time you showed up.”

  I take a step back. “You—”

  “Yes, me.” He takes a bow full of dramatic flair. “Project Six. I’m the Invincible.”

  I close my eyes. Try to make sense of this. Try to understand. Because Dalton is an experiment, a Project, Glass’s definition of perfection. And it doesn’t make sense or seem real or feel right. Because he is the Invincible and the universe is collapsing within itself because of it, because he is too strong, too powerful, too dangerous.

  Closing my eyes was a mistake.

  Dalton steps forward, grabs my throat, picks me up. A short-lived gasp and I’m clawing at his hand. “You’re lighter than I remember,” Dalton says. Nonchalant, at ease, relaxed. Like there’s nothing wrong here.

  All I can do is blink, open my mouth, dig my claws into his hand.

  He grins. Throws me into a wall. Like I weigh nothing, like I weigh less than air.