EVO Nation Series Trilogy Box Set

by K. J. Chapman

  I drag the sawdust sack targets back into the middle of the room and position them at different distances. Once again, I pick the AK 15 from the armoury. After badgering Brick to show me how to load a magazine before we called training a day, I’m pretty confident I can manage solo. I push the magazine into the slot until I hear a click and take the safety off.

  I fire a few rounds directly into the centre rings of all the targets. It’s too easy, and it’s not like I’m going to be stood stock-still if I’m in a gun fight, right? I need to be moving, so I start to jog and weave around the targets, firing on the go. It’s harder, more like the challenge I need. Hitting the bags every time, but missing the targets, I make a mental note to take offset into account. Jogging in a different direction, I aim and shoot again, this time, clipping the outer rim of the target. I’ve got this. I can do this. Running faster still, I aim and hit the bullseye on the closest target, but miss the furthest two.

  “Damn it,” I curse myself. I’m trying too hard. I can feel it in the tension in my neck and the ache in my trigger finger. “Relax and breathe. Relax and breathe.”

  Picturing each target as a Towley with a gun pointed at my loved ones, I pick up the pace with a determined step. Bang – bang - bang. All targets hit directly in the bullseye.

  “Outstanding,” says Rafe. I spin in shock, aiming the rifle at him, but lowering it just as quickly. He holds Darcy by the collar. “Brick’s right, you have… how did he put it? Serious skill.”

  “I need to be better,” I say, turning back to the target. “Aren’t you going to show me how it’s done?”

  “Why?” He casually leans against the wall, hands in pockets, and feet crossed over. “You’re not going to learn anything from me showing off. Carry on. I just wanted to check you weren’t up to no good. Don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”

  “When were you going to tell me that you had lost track of him?” I ask, keeping my eye on the target.

  There is silence except for Rafe’s inhale of breath. “I have only just got you to agree to waiting, Kiddo. I’ve been trying to find the words all day. I will find him.”

  “There’s nothing we can do until he is located,” I say, matter of fact. “I’ll wait.”

  I hadn’t realised that Rafe had moved closer to me until his hand squeezes my shoulder. “Thank you.”

  “I’m not doing this for you.”

  “I know, but I’m grateful all the same.” He stands straighter, rubbing his hands together against the cold air. “Come on, you and me are going for a drive.”

  Rafe hands me a man’s coat and shows me out of the foyer and into a concrete ladder shaft. The area is well lit, and the ladder attached to the wall seems sturdy enough. The vertical tunnel brings back memories of the fire escape hatches at Facility One. Directly above the tunnel is a round, metal hatch.

  “That’s why there aren’t any windows anywhere,” I say, more to myself than Rafe. “It’s not just the training rooms that are below ground, the whole building is.” I never gave much thought to the lack of natural daylight before now.

  Darcy darts around my legs, tongue hanging out in anticipation. The dog knows more than me.

  “Now, do you see why that dog is the bane of my life? I’ve been on dog duty since you arrived. It’s impossible for the others, except Telekins, to carry him up the shaft, so it’s down to me. When you’ve healed, he’s all yours. Your dog, your responsibility.” Darcy jumps into Rafe’s arms, and Rafe uses his telekinesis to levitate the two of them from the floor. “Ready?” he asks me.

  The floor disappears from beneath my feet, and Rafe’s telekinesis is a solid, heavy force on my body. The hatch opens, flooding the shaft with icy air. Rafe and Darcy breech the surface first, and I hover above the hatch until Rafe settles Darcy onto solid ground.

  “I could have done that,” I say, as he lowers me onto the wet grass.

  “I am trusting you to know your limits until your healed. Don’t make me doubt myself. And will you stop scowling? You’ll have a face like a wet tissue by the time you’re forty.” He laughs to himself, and then closes the hatch, covering it with a piece of camouflage netting and shrubbery.

  My first, genuine breath of fresh air is sweet and delicious. We are enclosed by tall trees and woodland with hills rising behind us. The shadows rise dauntingly against the night sky. The ground is a mix of grass covered rock and mud. There isn’t a hint of what lies beneath the rocks under our feet. Hundreds of people live down there. How is it even possible?

  Rafe waves to a couple of men perched in a tree den that I wouldn’t have noticed without direction. “I’m taking Teddie up to the field for ability training. No one is to come up there.”

  “Aye, Guv,” one of the men shouts down, shining a torch on our faces.

  Rafe beckons me on, but I remain staring at the ground under my feet.

  “It takes a little getting used to,” Rafe admits. “This place was commissioned in the late eighties by a paranoid, conspiracy theorist who just so happened to be a billionaire. He had it built to survive the ‘apocalypse, a kind of extinction proof bunker.”

  “How is this place a secret. The people who worked on it—”

  “Signed confidentiality contracts. I did some digging, and there is not one surviving contractor or builder. The owner, Peter, was an original member of Shift. He brought me here when things started turning ugly after Grayson’s wife’s murder. Peter was definitely a character, and a good friend of mine too. He only died five years ago. Old age finally caught up with him. He’s buried right over there.”

  He points to a small clearing through the trees. Stacks of stones have been placed at the heads of what I assume to be five graves. Small flowers grow from the grass covering them. There has been care taken to honour those laid to rest.

  “We keep them well tended,” Rafe adds, whilst walking in the other direction.

  “What was Peter’s ability?”

  “A good heart,” Rafe says. “A good heart and Telepathy. Peter was my oldest and dearest friend. I relied on Peter and Leoni for too much back in the old days. Peter kept me going after… well, I wasn’t my best self after what transpired.”

  With a final glance at the men in the tree, and returning their wave, I follow after Rafe and his torch light with Darcy running circles around me.

  Four golf buggies are hidden under more camouflage netting a little further into the trees. Rafe hops in the nearest one and drives it toward me. I climb in without question, Darcy mounting the back, and we set off over the uneven ground.

  “How did you escape the government? Leoni was sure you were murdered and it staged to look like suicide.”

  He grunts and readjusts his grip on the wheel. “The government knew only my name, never my face. I was careful of that, but not careful enough to protect my people. Peter’s brother was renting one of my apartments. It was he who was killed in error. Another to add to the list of people I have failed.”

  I want to know everything and anything from that time to this, but I can’t press him more on something that still clearly causes him a lot of pain.

  The buggy trundles further along the hillside. The expanse of unoccupied land is both breath-taking and comforting. There is no one around who wants to hurt us or outcast us. This is EVO territory.

  We pass vans, trucks, and mini buses hidden under well camouflaged tents and rigging systems that have been hung in the trees. In this darkness, you’d be hard pressed to notice them at all. There is a rickety, corrugated-iron garage secured with only a padlock nestled in the far back. The set up here is impressive and ingenious.

  “Those are our vehicles. We cannot bring them any closer due to the density of the trees around The Hive. Fuel, parts, and tools are in the shed. The buggies were Peter’s idea. It saves a hell of a lot of walking and carrying,” says Rafe.

  Taking a sharp bend onto a beaten down dirt track, the buggy lurches me painfully in my seat. Darcy’s wet nose continuously finds my ear
, and at least three bugs have smashed into my face. Pulling the jacket up around my chin and mouth, I brace myself against the onslaught of critters and the jarring pains shooting through my body.

  The ‘barely a road’ road leads to a wide, open area of land. Moonlight illuminates bunkers, barrels, dug-outs, and trenches that create the coolest looking combat zone. Similar to The Hive, this area is totally shielded by trees.

  Darcy is as happy as a pig in muck- or a dog in a massive field. He sprints away, leaving me to follow Rafe into the centre of the field.

  Rafe sits on the grass with crossed legs and an unnatural, impressive posture. He looks ready to do yoga and taps the ground in front of him. I’m not meditating. If he starts humming and hawing, then I’m out. I sit facing him, crossing my legs in a similar fashion, but not quite mastering the perfect posture. I have always been a sloucher, and my ribs still protest against any forced movement.

  “Now, show me what you’ve got,” he says, closing his eyes.

  “Are we okay to use our abilities? What about drones?”

  He doesn’t open his eyes. “We haven’t seen a single drone in weeks. My techs believe it could be to do with cost. EVO are one hundred times more cautious now. The drones are obsolete if no one is using abilities. However, we always have look-outs with eyes to the sky.”

  That makes sense. I’m pretty sure every EVO still on the run or in hiding lives by the motto ‘don’t draw attention to yourself’.

  “Are you going to read me?” I ask, changing the subject.

  “You are going to read me. I will guide you. Crow told me of your confidence issues, and guess what, Kiddo? It’s all in your head. Nothing has changed with your telepathy, you’re just accessing your full potential. Fear is what’s holding you back. I’ll help you with that.”

  “I’ve been stretched before. It wasn’t pleasant.” The memory of Tess’ power coursing through me before she died isn’t a fun one.

  Rafe leans a little closer. “Tess Kersey stretched you?” he asks.

  I nod. “And body-jumped into me. At least, that’s the name I would use. You know, taking over someone’s body, using it as your own.”

  “That’s quite something. She has to be the strongest telepath I’ve ever heard of. I’m the most powerful telepath that I know, and even I’m not strong enough to risk that. I’d end up killing you, Kiddo. To exert that level of power and control is unprecedented. Perhaps Tess’ Influence had something to do with it. I would have loved to have met her.”

  “Jude was in love with her. They were linked,” I state. “Her death broke him.”

  Rafe has no response.

  “If you’re not stretching me, what are we doing?”

  Rafe resumes his unnatural posture. “I’m teaching you to use what you’ve got to the best of your ability. That is all any of us can do. Right, get on with it. Read me.”

  I can do that - one man - one train of thought. Closing my eyes, I reach out to Rafe. There is silence. I know I’m reading him because of the steady, yet powerful current that fills my mind. “You’re blocking me.”

  “Not blocking per se. You are in my mind, I’ve just cleared it. I will teach you this technique. It’s not only useful for shutting out telepaths, but empaths, and sometimes, even sensors and negators.”

  “Okay, but I can still sense you. Everyone has their own… their own… I don’t know what to call it? A pulse- aura?”

  He opens his eyes. “I call it an aura. I’m impressed that you can sense them. I’ve known some powerful telepaths who couldn’t differentiate between auras. Do you feel Darcy’s too? Animal minds don’t work like ours, we can only pick up on emotions and auras.”

  I reach out and feel a faint, almost non-existent energy. A sense of unabated euphoria tickles at my mind. “Is that Darcy?”

  “He’s a spirited mutt, I’ll give him that. It’s subtle, but you can read his emotions to an extent. He is extremely protective over you, Kiddo. You talk of your telepathy like it’s weak, like you have no control. You’re lacking confidence, yes, but you do have control in you. Only exceptionally strong telepaths can read auras.”

  “I’m not saying that my telepathy is weak, I’m saying that I’m weak.” I pick at the grass in front of me. “I’ve only ever felt one aura as strong as yours before. Adam’s aura is beautiful. It’s like warm static and has a crackle like—” I catch myself before I open up too much.

  “Blah blah blah,” Rafe interrupts. “Less talking, more doing. I want you to stretch your telepathy to The Hive, and not only that, I want you to pin-point Crow. Speak to him and only him. Go.”

  “I can’t handle crowds of minds. It’s too much.”

  “Night time is the best time to practice because everyone is asleep. Do it.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Get on with it.”

  “I said I can’t!”

  “I’ve given you an order, and as your Governor, I expect you to act on it.” His voice is hard and commanding. “I said now, Cub!”

  I get to my feet with rage bubbling within my chest. “What is this?”

  “This is me not pandering to you just because you are my granddaughter. You will be treated just like every other Shift member, and when I, the Governor, tell you to do something, you better do it, and with a God damned smile on your face.”

  “Or what?”

  “Or I will think of a suitable punishment. Right now, considering your condition, I will assign you to bathroom cleaning duty for a full week… women’s and men’s toilets.”

  I turn and start to walk away. A pain rips through my head, making lights spot before my eyes. Screaming out, I fall to the ground, writhing in pain. Just as quickly as it comes, the pain dissipates, leaving me breathless and in shock. Darcy darts about me, whining and growling in unison.

  “Do you want to be able to block attacks such as that?” Rafe hollers at me. “In mere seconds, I was able to reach out to Charley in the tree den and ask him to inflict on you. I managed it. He managed it. You can manage it. You might need assistance like that in the future, and I will make sure that you can damn well call for it.” I roll in the dirt, grasping at my skull. “Now, get the hell up and stretch your telepathy to The Hive, single out Crow, and prove to me that you are the person that all our people hope and believe that you are.”

  “What if I’m not that person?”

  “You better pray that you are.”

  “Why do you care so much?” I scream at him.

  “Because you’re my granddaughter and you’re all I have left! STRETCH YOUR TELEPATHY TO THE HIVE AND SINGLE OUT CROW!”

  Leeching off of his motivated energy, I scramble to my feet, sending out my telepathy as far as I can reach. I feel Rafe, I sense Darcy, and then hundreds of minds blast into my own. The furore of voices is like needles in my brain, but something in me fights through it. Considering it is the middle of the night, it’s a crowded affair. I must be hearing their dreams. I need to find Crow in this noise. Then, I hear him. Just a few indiscernible words, but I’m close. A solid, strong, heaviness fills my mind, and I know that it’s Crow’s aura. It’s how he makes me feel- grounded.

  “Crow,” I whisper, falling to my knees on the damp ground.

  Instantly, the connection breaks and I vomit into the grass. The wind licks at my sweat drenched skin, and Darcy cowers close to me. Every part of me aches from the tension, and as Rafe drops to his knees beside me, a sob shudders passed my lips.

  “Again!” he barks. I shake my head, scrunching my eyes against the raging headache. “Again, Cub!”

  Once more, I stretch out my telepathy despite the growing nausea. It is much easier to find Crow now, and knowing what to expect helps me navigate the various voices, thoughts, and auras. I’m more in tune to Crow this time.

  “Wake up, Crow,” I say into his mind.

  “Cub?” he replies. His thoughts are fuzzy from sleep.

  Withdrawing my telepathy once again, I can’t help but grin at R
afe. “I can do this.” I say, and then collapse in a heap.

  Rafe lifts me into his arms and calls Darcy to follow as he heads back to the buggy. “I just needed you to prove to yourself that you could.” I look up into his tired face. “I’m proud of you, Kiddo,” he says, telepathically.

  We arrive back at a chaotic Hive. The two guards in the tree den pace around an open hatch.

  “Something strange occurred, Guv. Everyone is gathering in the foyer. They’re worried.”

  Rafe effortlessly steps into the hatch shaft, telekinetically lowering us to the ground. Darcy squirms in the air just above us. “I’ll address their concerns and get you up to bed for some rest. I think they may have felt your strength,” he says with a smug smile.

  “I’ll do it,” I say. “I need to be honest with them. They deserve that much, especially if they think I’m some kind of messiah.”

  Crow holds the door to the foyer open. I can hear the gathering crowd before I see them. There’s a new tension in the air; anxiety mixed with plain, old fear. The crowd falls silent as Rafe enters with me in his arms.

  Coco’s eyes meet mine. “Are you okay?” she mouths.

  I tap my head, so she knows what went down. Rio, Brick, and Kid offer me sympathetic smiles, but it does little to ease my apprehension about addressing the horde.

  Rafe stops our descent on the stairs, and then speaks to the members. “Firstly, is everyone okay?”

  A bald man steps up. “What was that, Guv? Something got inside our heads.” The crowd murmurs agreement. “Have we been compromised?”

  Rafe laughs out loud. “Far from it.”

  “It was me,” I blurt. “You deserve to know that I’m not able to control my telepathy properly. Certain things caused me doubt myself, but I promise I’m a quick learner and will master this. I just need you to bear with me.”

  “At least we know you’re as powerful as we hoped you were, Cub,” shouts a male voice from the back of the foyer.

  A woman at the front of the crowd steps onto the bottom step. “You can do this, Darling. You’ve been through so much already. We’re here to help.” She takes my face in her hands and places a kiss atop my head.