“Sorry for the interruption, but I guess you could say this is breaking news. My name is Isaac Woodman and I am EVO. Many of you will not have heard of this term before, while others will know it well, but would never utter it out of fear and the threat of persecution. We are evolved humans; the next link in the evolution of mankind. For years, your government have hunted us and tortured us for the purpose of research, and now, the EVO Nation Corp is saying -enough.”
Yvette presses a button on the keypad, and Isaac’s image on the screen is replaced by footage of Facility One raging in flames. Every hangar and vehicle is engulfed and hundreds of dead TORO bodies dot the snowy landscape.
“The footage you have just witnessed is of a government, EVO testing compound, known only as Facility One. Although the image you have seen may be upsetting, that is nothing compared to what the scientists at this facility have done to my kind.”
The image of Isaac is once again replaced with footage of Facility One’s therapy suite- footage of me. I’m having seven bells kicked out of me by the TORO whilst Roscoe looks on. The footage switches to Golding, and then to Haydn, receiving the same treatment.
Then, there is Adam. My blood runs cold at the sight of him strapped into a conditioning station. His immobile body twitches randomly at the images he is being forced to endure. His eyes are hidden by the helmet, but his mouth is clenched tight. The footage pans out, and row upon row of occupied, conditioning stations come into focus.
“All the men and women you see in this footage are evolved humans being tortured and subjected to horrific military conditioning. YOUR government want to weaponise us! YOUR government are responsible for the torture and deaths of not just EVO, but their Non-EVO family members. YOUR government have been keeping our existence from you and forcing us into hiding our identities out of fear! YOUR government have forced our hand in this matter, and now, the time has come for us to retaliate!”
Isaac watches himself on the screen with a look of awe on his face. He mouths along to his own words as if reciting a well-rehearsed speech. Yvette gawps at him like a smitten teenager. His words are the most hypocritical pile of shite I’ve ever heard.
“The E.N.C would like to formally accept the government’s invitation to war, and we would like to extend an invitation of our own. Membership to the E.N.C shall be granted to any EVO human who wants a different future, free from prejudice, fear, and inferiority. Now is our time. All you must do is stand up for your rights as EVO humans and you are already one of us. E.N.C for life.”
Isaac’s smug face disappears, and images of E.N.C members showcasing their abilities flash across the screen; the deadliest and most terrifying of abilities to put the fear of God in the nation.
Then, Isaac is back on screen. “This message is for the government. If you think you can fight back, you’re mistaken. If you think that machines and weapons can overcome nature in its newest, wildest form, then think again. I have a secret weapon of my own.”
He walks away from the desk and the camera follows him into the room we’re in now, focussing on Tess lying in the bed with a rainbow of wires linking her head device to the monitors.
“This is Tess. As a Telepathic Influencer, she can enter any mind, at any time, influence you to do absolutely anything, and render you powerless to stop it. Tess is a grade seven EVO, the most powerfully dangerous EVO I have come across, and she is on our side.” Isaac turns to the camera and smirks. “That is all... for now.”
The network goes down, and we’re left staring at a green screen. Yvette jumps up and down on the spot, wrapping her arms around Isaac’s neck. They kiss again.
Gabe looks sickened at the sight of them kissing. However, he holds out his hand to Isaac. “Congratulations. You’ve done it,” says Gabe.
“We’ve done it, my friend. We’ve done it,” Isaac corrects. “We can now sit back as the nation falls apart and watch our EVO nation rise in its place.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Yvette slides a device onto my head and tightens the spines until they’re digging into my temples and scalp. Her hands tremble, but from excitement not fear. Isaac rubs on the base of her back, watching me over her shoulder. He has taken on a different look to me now, and with his back to the light, his face looks dark and sinister. He deserves an Oscar for his performance.
Ty bursts in. “We’ve got a problem, Boss,” he says.
He turns the screen back on, pressing a button on the remote control. The CCTV shows a group of men and woman outside the gate. A brilliant glow illuminates the screen, and the gate starts to automatically swing open. Adam runs forward, the glow disappearing back into his hand.
A man emerges from the security booth, but he drops to the floor instantly as a woman shoots him point blank.
“What is this?” asks Gabe, taking a step forward. “That’s Jude—”
Isaac’s eyes flare with anger. “They’re all turncoats,” he spits.
“Jude would never betray the E.N.C,” says Gabe, his mouth gaping.
“Really?” snaps Isaac, watching Jude hold out his hand and fling another guard twenty foot in the air. “This is exactly why I picked the attack team. How do they even know we’re here?” Isaac’s face turns to thunder and he clasps a hand around my throat. “You did this!”
I laugh despite the terror in my chest. I have one eye on Isaac crushing my throat, and the other on the screen, looking for sign of Adam. I’d rather Isaac kill me now than use me to get to Tess and hurt the ones I love.
“You’ve made one fatal mistake.” I wheeze against his hold on my throat. “You didn’t do your research. My Mum had a half-brother.” I revel in his shock. “Can you guess his name- my uncle’s name? It’s Jude Lloyd.”
Gabe steps forward, his mouth wide and his head shaking. Isaac glares at him, his hand still squeezing my throat closed.
“We need her, Isaac,” Yvette soothes. She places a hand on his chest, and his grip releases, allowing air to rush into my lungs.
“Jude turned on you long before I was on the scene,” I scream at Gabe. “All those men follow him now.”
“Enough!” says Isaac, pulling a radio from his waistband. “Action out front,” he says.
The CCTV of the bar comes alive with movement, and a swarm of E.N.C members rush from the door. They appear by the gate in seconds. The two groups clash in a blaze of abilities and gun shots.
“Get out there and help them,” Isaac says to Ty.
“Should I go?” Gabe interrupts him. “I’ll negate their abilities; give our guys the upper hand.”
“No, I need you here to negate these two. Let that lot have their little scuffle. It’ll separate the wheat from the chaff for us if nothing else. Now, this is where you do your bit, Teddie.” He presses the remote, so only the CCTV footage of Yana and Maggie hanging above the pool fills the screen. “You will sync with Tess telepathically or your friends will drown.”
“And what if I can’t?” I cry.
“Then, I’ll force you to watch every person you love die painfully, starting with your boyfriend and your precious Uncle Jude.” His eyes flash over my neck and his jaw clenches. “I’ll be having that back,” he says, ripping the elephant necklace from my throat. He hands it to Yvette. She eyes it like he’s just given her an engagement ring.
“The devices will monitor your brain waves. I will be able to tell if you’re synced with Tess, so don’t bother trying to fool us,” says Yvette. She picks up her tablet and turns to Isaac. “I have no idea how long this will take, so I think it best we make ourselves scarce.”
She taps the screen in deep concentration. The cuff beeps from deactivation and a surge of electricity runs down the wires into my head. Pain explodes through my temples before I’m cast into darkness.
“Teddie?” says a voice in the darkness.
A flicker of light brightens my dream state, and Tess appears in front of me like an angel. She looks healthier, younger, and her blonde hair floats around her face li
ke soft duck down. She wears a white and lilac summer dress. I look down at my own body. I’m wearing my own clothes, but the bandage and injury to my arm has gone.
“Where am I?” I ask.
“We’re sharing consciousness, Honey,” Tess says, smiling. “I thought it’d be easier for you to process if you had something visual and not just the blackness.” Her voice is no longer strained.
“You’re doing this?” I ask.
She nods, holding out her hand to me. I take it. Bizarrely, I can feel the smooth skin of her slender fingers as if I’m actually holding her hand.
“Our minds are amazing things. Mine just won’t seem to let me go.” She swirls her dress about her knees. “I bet I no longer look like this.”
I’m sure it’s a rhetorical question, so I don’t give an answer. “How did you manage to communicate with me from a coma?”
“With great difficulty,” she says. “You must have been close to me at one point. I sensed you nearby. Your mind was like an open door for me, but whenever I tried to reach you, only half my thoughts would get through. I didn’t want to push you too hard for fear of damaging you.”
“Jude said you have been stretching my ability,” I say.
A smile stretches the full width of her face at the mention of his name. “Yes, but only a little. Telekinesis is your dominant ability, but your telepathy isn’t as strong. You responded well, though. I was disappointed when I learned you were not my niece. You are a strong, brave girl, Teddie, and my Golding loves you dearly. You have been a good influence on him.”
Her mouth curls down a little. “My brother, on the other hand, is a sadistic, power hungry narcissist. I’m sorry for what he has put you through, for what he has put all of you through. You must remember he has been through some terrible things, and now, that evil has seeped into his heart.” She has the same look in her eye that I have seen in Golding’s; a little deflated, but full of sincerity. She feels sorry for Isaac.
“Isaac is expecting me to wake you up. I don’t know how he thinks—”
“He has long given up on me waking up, Honey. He expects me to use you as a vessel,” she says. “He has Golding and plans to use him to get at me. He thinks I will do his bidding to save my son.”
I step back, pulling my hand from hers. “Isaac said Golding is safe. He promised Gabe that Golding would be safe?” I say. I’m sounding hysterical.
“He was lying.” Her shoulders sag and she takes my hand again. “I need you to be incredibly brave, Teddie. I can put a stop to Isaac, but only with your help.”
“You want to use me to kill him? Can you really do that?”
“I hope so. I’m stronger with you, but it could end...badly.”
“By badly you mean I might die?”
She takes my face in her hands and there is a slight sensation of motion sickness. I’m outside, looking through someone else’s eyes like windows to the battle raging in the complex.
A man throws a blast of flames from his palm, and the body I’m in jumps out of the way of it just in time. The Pyrokin’s hands burn brighter, but before he can send another blast, he is sent soaring sideways by Jude. He crumples into a dead heap as his head slams the building with a huge amount of force.
“October, get the hell out of here,” Jude screams at me.
I’m in October’s mind. She runs, tripping over a small curb, and sprawling into a flower bed. She crawls behind a large bush, peering out to see a bloody and battered Adam aim a blast of electricity at Ty. Ty drops to the floor and rolls out of the way. Adam falls to his knees as Ty inflicts on him. His eyes roll back in his head as he cries out in agony.
I’m screaming inside my own mind.
October scrambles out from behind the bush, picks up a large plant pot, and races up on Ty from behind. Bringing the pot down hard on his head, he sprawls forward howling in pain.
“October, move it,” shouts Adam, jumping to his feet, and blasting Ty with electricity.
Ty’s body convulses as the blue tendrils spark and dance over his skin. I can’t tell if he is dead or unconscious. I don’t care. Adam rushes over to help Wheeler who is fighting manually with a baseball bat and a gun.
A gunshot rings through the air, and October jumps out of her skin. I can feel her nervous energy like it’s my own. She watches Jude grip at his head. The bullet has clipped his ear slightly. He reaches out a hand, anger contorting his face. The gun soars from its owner and into Jude’s palm. He turns the weapon and fires it in a split second. A scrawny man slumps backward at an awkward angle, his dead eyes still open and wide with morbid realisation.
There is another sensation of motion sickness, and then I’m looking at Tess once more.
“We can end this, Teddie. We can put a stop to the fighting and to Isaac. Your friends, and my son will be safe,” she says. Her face is serious, and she shakes my head in her hands lightly.
“Okay,” I say. “I mean it, Tess. Do what you have to do.”
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
I’m sitting up in the room, or at least my body is. I’m not in control. I can see, hear, and feel like I would normally, but it’s as if my mind is protected in a bubble. Everything feels distanced from me. Tess’ body, which was lying beside me, has gone.
“Let’s do this,” Tess says to me.
She pushes my body off the bed, catching sight of my reflection in the mirror. The device looks like a crown of silver spindles creeping from my hair and onto my forehead. She reaches up to remove it, but Yvette’s words ring in my mind.
“No, leave it. If the reading dies, then they’ll kill my friends,” I say from inside my own mind.
Tess nods in the mirror, leaving it in place.
The room is deserted, and the screen is now displaying nothing but white noise. Tess moves my body effortlessly through the penthouse and into the office. It’s a surreal sensation to have someone else manoeuvring your limbs, even blinking on your behalf. It must be a release for her after all those years in the coma.
Isaac, Yvette, and Gabe have gone, but Roscoe and Haydn still lie in pools of their own blood. I want to look away, but Tess keeps my eyes on their faces.
“Your friend betrayed you?”
I can’t tell if she is stating a fact or asking a question.
“Yes, but he only did it to protect the others.”
I can hear my Converse shoes squeaking on the stairs, and feel the weight of each step Tess takes, but I feel like a body snatcher inside someone else’s body.
She steps into the noise and chaos unfolding outside, and taking slow, confident steps, takes me into the midst of the fighting.
Adam drags a woman out of the way of a speeding bullet. He turns and sees me stood in the middle of the madness, his face flooding with a relief that is quickly replaced with concern. Jude notices me too. He shakes his head like he’s imagining me stood there.
Adam races toward me, but Tess raises my hand, stopping him dead in his tracks. He fights against the telekinesis with little effect.
“Teddie?” he asks, his brows knitting in confusion.
A fat man rushes toward him wielding a crow bar.
“Tess!” I scream.
She raises my hand, swatting him away like a fly. The man skids across the concrete, his skin grazing off his elbows and cheek. The crowbar hovers above his head, and then meets his cheek in one swift movement.
“ENOUGH!” Tess shouts, but it’s my own voice I hear echoing around the courtyard.
It does little to stop the fighting.
She forces my arms rigid beside me and my body rises twenty feet off the floor. This time, she shouts again, but telepathically. Her voice fills my head. Everyone grips at their skulls, and all eyes turn to my body levitating in the air.
“That’s the Telekin. Kill her,” shouts a short, thick set, E.N.C man.
Tess turns my eyes on him. “Not just the Telekin,” she says. Everyone staggers from the effects of her telepathy. “Where is my brother? Where is
Isaac?”
The short man pulls a gun and fires. Tess casually holds out my hand. The bullet turns mid-flight and flies back, hitting the man right between the eyes. He takes a step, wavers on his feet, and then slumps forward, slamming the floor with a sickening crunch.
The remaining E.N.C members rise up onto their tiptoes. Their eyes bulge from pressure on their throats, and sheer terror is etched on their faces.
“Where is my brother?” Tess asks again.
The men grapple at their necks and fight with the invisible force that holds them, powerless to stop it. I’m witnessing my telekinesis in all its glory, only, I’m a bystander.
“Tell me!” Tess shrieks
“What does it matter? You’re too late. The war has begun. London is rioting as we speak. EVO are taking a stand,” grunts a middle aged, balding man, gasping for breath. He looks around at his fellow members and starts to chant. “E.N.C – E.N.C – E.N.C.”
They join in, still fighting the force of Tess from their necks, but overcome by a strange sense of patriotism for Isaac.
“E.N.C for life,” groans Ty. He’s still alive, but his arms and clothes are scorched from Adam’s electrokinesis.
“If you say so,” says Tess, and with a whip of their necks, every member drops to the floor dead.
Only Adam, Wheeler, Jude, and a handful of men and women from Jude’s meeting remain standing. They’re all bloody and bruised. Tess lowers my body back to the ground.
There’s a whimper from behind, and October races forward, dropping to her knees in tears. Gruff guy, October’s Dad, lies in a bloody heap. His skin is charred on his face, chest, and arm. October kisses her Dad’s cheek and closes his eyes with her thumb and forefinger. Yana and Maggie run behind her, both dripping wet, but safe. October saved them.
“Tess?” Jude staggers forward, his shirt splattered in blood from his injured ear.
“Hello, Jude,” she says, with softness to her voice. She takes his hand in mine.
EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set Page 27
