“Eli,” Blake said, obviously pained. “That’s not your fault.”
“Look!” Eli said pointing to the sky at the rising sun. “When it rises, I’ll be healed. I’ll be at full strength! Just wait!” he finished, desperate to save Blake.
“Eli that will take too long!” Fielding said shaking him. “We have to go!” He was trying to drag Eli to the vortex but it wasn’t happening. Taia grabbed Eli to try to help Fielding.
“I can do it!” Eli said. “I have to wait! That’s my brother! I’m not going to let him die!”
“You aren’t letting anything happen,” Blake said.
The large vortex that everyone else had exited out of then abruptly closed. Another smaller vortex next to the trio opened up. Fielding was immediately sucked into it. Eli used the last of his strength to make gravity hold him down and since Taia was holding on to him, she was held down by the gravity also.
“Blake,” Eli said sadly. “I’m not leaving you man.”
But Blake didn’t speak to Eli. “Take care of him Taia,” he said. “As strong as he is, he gets a little hard headed.”
“Blake just give me some time,” Eli pleaded, tears falling rapidly.
Blake gave a small smile. “We don’t have tomorrow Eli. We only have today.”
He then increased the power on the vortex and Eli and Taia were sucked into it.
The last thing Taia saw was a member of the Core army reaching down to grab Blake and an object flying towards her rapidly. Then everything went black.
Chapter 24
The sun was shining into Taia’s eyes as she slept. She really didn’t want to wake up but the sun was just too bright. She yawned and sat up in her bed.
Wait, this wasn’t her bed. She looked around. Eli was sitting in a chair, mouth open, completely knocked out looking a lot like Carl.
Carl? The battle?
“Eli!” Taia said.
Eli’s eyes snapped open and he woke up. “Taia!” he said, smiling. “You’re awake.”
“Wait, where are we Eli?”
Taia finally took in her surroundings. She was in a small, quaint room that she didn’t recognize. But was a dresser pushed against one of the walls and a small closet in the corner.
“Eli. Where are we?” she asked again.
“Uhh…” Eli began. “We’re in Sector 1.”
“Sector 1?” Taia asked confusedly. “How? We haven’t been in contact with other Sectors in years.”
“It was all Connor. Remember? He and your father still knew the coordinates to all of the Sectors.
Her father. It was all coming back to her now. “Is he here?” Taia asked fearfully. “My father? Can I see him?”
Eli scratched the back of his head. “You need to talk to the people in charge Taia.”
Taia nodded. This made sense. After all, her father had been kidnapping children and shipping them off to the Regime.
“Wait,” Taia said. “How are you here? Connor allowed you to stay?”
Eli just looked at Taia. “How long do you think you’ve been out Taia?”
“I don’t know. A few hours?”
Eli shook his head. “A few days.”
Taia’s eyes widened in shock. “That’s impossible.”
“You were hit with something and fell unconscious as Blake sent us through the vortex. They fixed you up in the hospital but brought you here once they figured you’d wake up when you’d wake up. They figured a mix of shock and exhaustion was going to have you out for a few days.”
Two things stuck out in Taia’s mind at that moment. The first was that was that Eli was here when she woke up. This couldn’t have been a coincidence, which meant that he had spent the majority of his time watching over her the past few days. This, coupled with the fact that one of her freshest memories of Eli was him kissing her, made Taia’s heart pound in her chest in excitement.
But the other thing that stuck out in her mind was that they had left Blake behind and this ruined her mood instantly. She immediately felt like she was on the verge of tears. The last time that Taia had seen Blake, he was bleeding out on the battlefield and had saved their lives.
Taia looked at Eli. Blake was his brother. And he was willing to sacrifice his own life in order to save him. Eli had said it had been a few days since they had been in Sector 1 so she felt that he was dealing with the loss of Blake as best as he could and she didn’t want to bring him up to Eli to depress him anymore than she was sure he already was.
“So when can I meet who’s in charge?” Taia asked.
“Right now.”
Sector 1 had provided Taia with some civilian clothes and she got dressed immediately and left the room that she was in. She realized that she was in some kind of apartment building. After she and Eli went down a few flight of stairs, they went outside.
Sector 1 was very different than Sector 6. The city that Sector 1 was based out of clearly wasn’t a former metropolis like Sector 6. The buildings were much smaller and were much more spread out. But those weren’t the only differences.
Taia had thought that Sector 6 was hot in the summer, but Sector 1 was almost unbearable. It was scorching hot and as she and Eli walked, Taia loved the moments when she and Eli walked under one of the many Palm trees in the Sector because she got a little bit of relief from the shade.
What was most odd to Taia though, as she went through the streets of Sector 1, following Eli, were the people. Unlike how Sector 6 citizens would have done, they did not stare at Eli and Taia; instead they acted as if there was nothing abnormal about the two, even though Taia was sure they had all been informed that Eli was Transcended. In addition, there seemed to be two type of soldier uniforms in Sector 1.
Whereas in Sector 6, the soldier uniforms were beige and white camo due to the deserted climate of the Wasteland, in Sector 1 there were two different soldier uniforms. One of the uniforms were a green camo, while another one was red. However, Taia saw a lot less soldiers in red than in green.
As Taia was walking, she saw some children playing in the street when suddenly, she thought she saw one of the children disappear in midair.
She gasped. “Eli!” she exclaimed, grabbing him. “Did you see that?”
Eli just looked down at her and smiled and kept walking. Taia began to say something else when she was interrupted.
“Taia!” Kate yelled as she engulfed her friend in a crushing hug. Jesse stood behind her smiling.
“Kate! Jesse!” Taia was smiling widely. “You’re okay!”
“Yea, we’re good,” Jesse said. “Most of the Sector 6 civilians are. We lost a lot of good soldiers though.”
“Where is everybody?” Taia asked sadly, thinking about all the families that had lost loved ones in the battle.
“Everybody is still getting acclimated to the Sector,” Jesse said. “It’s….difficult. But the General is being very accommodating.”
“The General?” Taia asked, thinking of her father.
“I’m allowing the General to explain what’s going on,” Eli said, staring Jesse in the eye. “It’s better coming from her.”
Her?
Eli then began leading Taia further into the Sector before stopping at a small building. This was the Sector headquarters and as far as size was concerned, it was nearly the opposite of the headquarters at Sector 6. Eli walked into the building and Taia followed.
Eli went up to a door and knocked. The door opened and Connor, an older woman with her hair in a bun, and a young man in a red camo uniform were in the room.
The woman looked Taia directly in the face. “We will talk later Tyler.”
“Yes, General” the young man in red replied. He then left the room but not before bumping into Eli unnecessarily on his way out.
Eli ignored the action. “Taia Morris, General.”
“Yes, come in Taia,” The General said.
Eli smiled at Taia encouragingly before she went into the room alone and Eli shut the door.
“Cad
et Taia Morris,” Taia said, saluting the General.
The General saluted her back. “General Leah Young” she said.
“General,” Taia began. “Where is my father?”
The General and Connor shared a look before Connor spoke.
“He’s not here Taia,” Connor said.
This confused Taia. “He’s not here? Then where is he? Isn’t this where Blake sent everybody?”
“Yes,” Connor said slowly. “But he didn’t send your father anywhere.”
“Explain please,” Taia said.
“When the teleporter and I went to collect your father, he was gone from the cell we put him in.”
“How is that possible?” Taia exclaimed. “You put him in a cell without a trap door.”
“I don’t know Taia,” Connor said. “I am sorry.”
And he sounded sincere. But Taia was still livid. Her father was missing. Granted, her father was a kidnapping sociopath who almost blew up the entire Sector by sabotaging the nuclear reactor, but he was still her father. And she would prefer if she knew where he was. She would prefer if she knew he was safe. Or at least alive.
“Best not to have him here anyway.” General Young said unsympathetically. “I wouldn’t want him around my people.”
“My father was a lot of things,” Taia said irritably. “But he would never do anything to harm Resistance civilians.”
“Even if those civilians were Transcended?” General Young asked.
Taia paused. “What?” she asked.
“18 years ago,” General Young began. “We had our first Transcended child born here. It was difficult and frightening, but they were still part of our family. Soon we had more. Not many, but more. So we began training them to fight for the Resistance. And eventually, we were able to create a community where Transcendeds and humans coexist, and where we even have Transcendeds that fight for us. I’m sure you noticed the soldiers in red?”
Taia nodded, speechless.
“Those are my Transcended soldiers. We don’t have many because Transcendeds aren’t born very often here. But they are a very significant part of my Resistance.”
Taia couldn’t believe this. “I saw a little girl,” she said. “She disappeared into thin air.”
General Young smiled. “That’s Macy. Her gift is that she can turn invisible.”
But all of this was just too much for Taia. It was so different than her own Sector. “But how do your human citizens deal with this?” she asked.
“It was hard at first,” General Young admitted. “But we got used to it. We realized Transcendeds raised in a loving environment can be caring. And they can understand that the Regime’s way of life is not right.”
This made sense to Taia. After all, Eli Proof was a perfect example of this.
“But,” General Young continued. “Your people have been taught something completely different the past 2 decades. They’ve all been taught that Transcendeds are evil and honestly Ms. Morris, it’s all of your father’s fault. He sent innocent children to the Regime and your Sector never saw the good that Transcendeds could do.”
This saddened Taia immensely. This couldn’t have been truer. But then the General continued.
“Until you brought Eli Proof to your Sector.”
“Excuse me ma’am?” Taia asked.
“I knew both your mother and father,” General Young said. “It was years ago and we were all much younger. And I hadn’t had contact with them since communication between Sectors was shut down but I knew them well. You are just like your mother. Such a risk taker and seeing the best in people. By bringing Eli Proof to your Sector, you began showing them that all Transcendeds are not evil. And it’s up to you now to show them that they can coexist with Transcendeds.”
“No,” Taia said. “Lieutenant General Connor is the leader of our Sector.”
“Officially, he is” General Young said, nodding at Connor. “But your father was the General and your mother was a war hero, who according to what Lieutenant General Connor has told me, sacrificed her life for her home. You saw the good in Transcendeds before anyone else in your Sector and you need to show support for the Transcendeds here; both the people of my Sector and Mr. Proof and his team. I don’t need anyone like your father betraying us. Do you understand?”
And she did. “Yes ma’am.”
Chapter 25
Life in Sector 1 was much different from what Taia was used to. The Sector was overcrowded because of the Sector 6 members that now were living there in addition to its own inhabitants. But General Young did her best to provide for all of the Resistance citizens. Even the ones new to Sector 1.
Taia spent the majority of time with Eli, her best friends, and Eli’s team of Transcendeds. Carl was wearing a cast and was on crutches because of his broken leg, but outside of that and the loss of Blake, everyone else was okay.
Taia did not bring Blake up because she did not want to make Eli sad. But she thought about the young man every day. And was sure that Eli thought about him more.
For the most part, the citizens of Sector 1 were cordial to their new brethren from Sector 6, as well to Eli and his team. The only people that seemed to have a problem with the new arrangement were the Transcendeds of Sector 1.
They didn’t have a problem with the Sector 6 civilians but for the most part, they were very unfriendly toward Eli and his team. The individual who was the most unfriendly, was the young man from the General’s office the first day that Taia woke up. In fact, he seemed to go out of his way to be rude to Eli especially. After several days of the discourteous behavior, Taia had to ask Eli what was going on.
“He knows that I was in the Core because I told the General,” Eli explained. “Tyler Young. He was the first Transcended born in this Sector and he’s the General’s son. She’s put him in charge of his own team of Transcendeds that he commands; that’s who the people in the red are. All his team. And he’s lost a lot of comrades to the Regime and the Core when they’ve fought against them on missions.”
Wow. So that’s who the guy from the office was. He was the General’s son and he had his own team that he was in charge of. “His team goes on missions?” Taia asked.
Eli nodded. “Evidently. And I told them the truth of how Melissa and I were formerly in the Core. So he doesn’t trust us.”
“But you saved us.”
“It doesn’t matter. Even some of your people that I saved still hate me.”
“So does everyone in Tyler’s team hate you?” Taia asked.
“Thankfully, no,” Eli answered. “In fact, I have one of them doing me a favor right now.”
As if right on cue, a short, plump young man in a red camo uniform came up to the pair. “Proof,” he said. “I’ve found who you were looking for. I’ve found Bartholomew Gates.”
Eli immediately hopped up. “Great. Thanks Christian. I’ll get my team.”
Eli then took off running through the streets of Sector 1 with Taia following closely behind him.
“Wait!” Taia said. She didn’t understand what was going on. “What does he mean he found Blake? Blake’s alive?!”
Eli came to a halt and looked at Taia. “Of course he is. You didn’t know that?”
“No I didn’t know!” Taia exclaimed disbelievingly. “I’ve been crying my eyes out every night because I thought he was dead! That’s why I haven’t brought him up. I thought it would be too much for you!”
Eli scratched the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. “Yea I’m sorry. That kid—Christian—his gift is that he can hear radio signals in his head. They use his ability to spy on the Core. And a few days after we got here while you were still sleep, he heard some rumblings on the Core channel about a Bartholomew Gates. Said he was still alive and wasn’t going to be executed but that’s all we heard. So he’s been looking for where they’re holding him.”
Taia couldn’t believe it. Blake was alive. “They didn’t kill him?”
Eli shook his head. “Nope.
He survived the battle and then they didn’t execute him. That’s one tough kid. And being a Senator’s son has its benefits so he was left alive.”
“Well what are we going to do?”
“We’re going to find him,” Eli said. “And then we’re going to bring him home.”
The pair gathered the rest of their team and they met Christian, the plump young man in the red, in the Sector 1 headquarters.
He was there with General Young, Connor, and Tyler. Tyler looked very irritable. Eli, Taia, Fielding, Carl, Melissa, and Jesse were in the room to hear any news on their friend.
“What’s the word?” Eli asked.
“Well I’ve been listening to the radio waves,” Christian said. “Looking out for any mention of this Gates kid.”
“You didn’t have to do that for them,” Tyler said irritably.
“Tyler,” General Young warned.
“I didn’t mind,” Christian said. “But I heard some stuff about him. They’ve taken him to a prison.”
“A prison?” Taia asked, remembering Eli mentioning them. “A Regime prison?”
Christian nodded. “Yep. Some place called the ‘Abigo’? Or ‘Afalo’?
“The Alamo,” Melissa said. For the first time since Taia had known her, it sounded like there was emotion in her voice. She even sounded worried.
Fielding swore.
“Alamo?” Taia asked. “What’s the Alamo?”
“It’s the most fortified prison in the world,” Eli said sadly. “Impossible to break out of.”
“We can’t break him out of that place,” Carl said, shaking his head.
“You were planning to?” Tyler asked. “Not using any of my people,” he really didn’t trust Eli and his team.
“We don’t need your people,” Jesse said angrily.
“It wouldn’t matter,” Fielding said. “We can’t break him out of the Alamo. The Regime’s most dangerous enemies are locked up there.”
“No,” Taia said. “We’re the Regime’s most dangerous enemies.”
Everyone in the room looked at her. “Look,” she continued. “We have arguably the most powerful Transcended in the world on our team,” she motioned to Eli. “And a whole lot of bad-asses. Humans and Transcendeds working together! What the Prime Minister is most afraid of. Our team was able to fight off 2 legions. 2! But we wouldn’t have been able to do that if Blake hadn’t put this team together; if Blake didn’t see something great in all of us. Without Blake, none of us would be here and the Regime wouldn’t be scared of us like it is. Who cares that breaking into the Alamo is impossible? We’ve already done the impossible! Who cares that it’s the strongest prison in the Regime? We’ve fought the Regime and won! Blake is a good guy who’s been locked up by the bad guys. Isn’t doing the impossible and saving the good guys from the bad guys, really what makes someone what Blake saw this team as in the first place? Isn’t saving the day what makes someone a Superhero?”
Becoming Super Page 28
