The Rogue Spark series Box Set

by Cameron Coral

  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Tyren struggle against his handcuffs, but Murphy steps in and points a rifle at him.

  “I climbed the ladder quickly at the med lab. The super soldier project was my idea.” He gazes up as if lost in the past. “My masterpiece.”

  “Super soldier project?”

  “The Heavies were strong, their weaponry advanced. As our outfit joined forces with European militaries, we knew it was a losing battle. The Middle East—where the Heavies launched their invasion—suffered greatly, losing tens of millions of civilian lives. The military forces fought, but were decimated, scattered. I pitched the idea of super soldiers—an army that could fight the alien invaders. Foreign invaders against creatures with super-human strength. I became fast friends with a scientist. Kenmore could solve any problem. He was absolutely brilliant.” Hunter gestures at the machines I’m hooked up to. “He invented this technology. He perfected gene recombination, DNA splicing. He made the impossible come true.”

  Murphy and the two soldiers exchange bewildered glances. They’re hearing this for the first time, too. How long has Hunter kept the hybrid origins a secret?

  I peek sideways at Tyren. Hunter catches me, and his gaze darts wildly between us.

  “Looking to your precious Tyren for reassurance? Oh, don’t be fooled by his dreamy, fatherly wisdom act. He knew all about the super soldier program. He was part of it from the beginning.” Hunter saunters over to Tyren, who hangs his head low. “Isn’t that right, Tyren? After all, it was you who brought Ida to me.”

  I tense.

  Against the wall, Vance chuckles. Oh, this is getting good. I think I like Hunter more and more.

  “You see, Ida…” Hunter fixates on me. “The super soldier project wasn’t given enough time. Some soft-hearted politician grew a conscience and ordered a halt on all hybrid experiments. The idiot.” He paces. “We’d only managed to reach stage two. We still had two more stages to go. The animal creatures were strong, yes, but we hadn’t yet been able to program their hostility and anger. That would only come with more surgery and splicing, but the program was canceled. It was short-sighted. A mistake.”

  I sneak a glimpse at Tyren, and our eyes connect. The tube with my blood continues draining, making me weak and foggy.

  Hunter goes on. “But Kenmore and I made a pact. We continued our experiments in secret. We brought in Tyren because we needed a third to carry out our plans. The top brass had taken away our access to animal DNA, so we did what we could with leftover samples and Kenmore…improvised.” Hunter leans in close. “Our access to volunteer soldiers cut off, we were forced to experiment on other human subjects.”

  “You mean experiment on children. We were orphaned, homeless, and brought there against our wills. I was only seventeen for shit’s sake!”

  He leans back. “Your precious Tyren brought you to me. Offered you up. You were one of the early subjects.”

  “How many of us were there?” Keep going, Hunter. If I ever get out of this, I swear I’ll burn that lab to the ground with every scientist in it.

  “You were patient three. There were at least twenty of you, I can’t quite recall. Can you, Tyren?”

  He grunts and shuffles his feet. The soldiers stand by with their weapons.

  “Tyren’s being a grump. He never enjoyed this as much as me. Well, back to the story. So, patients one and two were abysmal failures. Things went so haywire, they both committed suicide in their rooms. Pity.”

  My head lolls to the side and my vision blurs.

  “That’s enough,” Hunter says to the female soldier who then withdraws the long needle from my arm.

  I inhale deeply and try to focus.

  “Then you came along. And your results were…well, unexpected. We designed you to be a fighter. Strong, lighting-fast reflexes, strategic. But something happened. Rather than the killer instinct we thought we’d infused into you, you ended up as a healer.” He eyes Tyren. “Interesting results, but not a super soldier who could mow down fifty Heavies at a time.”

  Glancing at the flashing digital screen on the console, Hunter still hasn’t started the countdown.

  “I wanted to dispose of you. Write you off as another failure, but Tyren intervened on your behalf.”

  Across the room, Tyren lifts his head.

  “Tyren was assigned to active duty—leading a platoon. He said he’d take you and monitor you as long as we wiped your memory of the surgeries and experiments. As long as we wiped the memory of him and what he did to you.”

  “Enough,” Tyren shouts. “Stop. Let her go. She’s done nothing wrong. Only a pawn in your game. Let her have a chance to survive and live her life. Let her go, and you and I can finish this. Hand to hand.”

  Hunter cackles. “Temper, temper. Always spoiling for a fight, my man. Now that you two are reunited, I plan to study Ida’s power. Has it changed over the years, I wonder? Into the hot seat he goes.”

  Murphy and the other grunt grab Tyren and buckle him into another chair like mine. The woman injects another needle deep into his veins.

  “No!” I twist in my chair, trying to stop them. If my touch killed the woman soldier, what will my blood do to him?

  “Why?” Hunter strides over. “What’s the matter? Your blood should only make him stronger than he was before.”

  “I think he could die.”

  Hunter narrows his eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “Something, my coma maybe…changed me. I can’t heal anymore.” I stare down, avoiding his eyes boring into me.

  “I suspected something was wrong. A drone managed to film part of the riot. The footage showed you attempting to heal the soldier, but she died. I thought her injuries must have been severe. But you…”

  He leans closer.

  “You killed her.”

  Thirty-Six

  Hunter howls with laughter. “Your touch kills now.” He clutches his stomach. “Oh, perfect,” he says, wiping away tears. “I couldn’t have planned it any better.”

  My eyelids grow heavy.

  “Give her something to pep her up.” He motions to the woman. “I want her to be alert when I annihilate Section H.”

  The nurse eyes me as she hooks an IV bag on a stand, then inserts another needle into my forearm. “This’ll help you regain a bit of strength,” she says under her breath.

  “What do you think changed you?” Hunter scratches his head. “We’ve known all along you have the alien steel inside you. Then you were in a coma. Must have been something that happened to change the nanobots in your blood.” He searches my expression.

  I try to mask my emotions so he won’t have the satisfaction of figuring me out.

  “Well, it doesn’t matter.” He shakes his head. “I have your new DNA. I’ll create an army of soldiers with your deadly abilities.”

  “I’ll kill you and hunt down everyone in those labs.” My head starts to clear, and my muscles tighten. I want to rip myself out of my bed and tear him to pieces.

  “Yeah? You want to kill me and destroy your sample?” Picking up the vial that contains my blood, he approaches a console and slides it into a slot. A digital screen flashes on and starts a rapid analysis.

  “If I let you out of those restraints, would you fight me so you could seize the sample before it gets into the wrong hands?”

  I strain against the cuffs. My damaged hand throbs with a dull pain.

  He leans in, his face inches from mine. “It’s too late,” he hisses. “The analyzer is already transmitting the composite of your blood and DNA to the lab. They have it already.” His eyes shine.

  My stomach sinks. How many people will die as they conduct their horrific experiments?

  “You should be thanking me. You have an extraordinary gift. Your DNA may be the key to defeating the Heavies.”

  “How many innocent lives will you destroy in the process?”

  “A few. You got me there.” He saunters across the room. “But their deaths will help advan
ce science and help save us all.”

  On the inverted table, Tyren clenches his hands into tight fists. The soldiers keep their gazes locked on Hunter.

  “Let’s do our first test, shall we?” Hunter removes the vial from the analyzer. “Needle.”

  The medic quickly retrieves a fresh needle wrapped in a plastic bag and passes it to Hunter. He draws my blood from the vial before snapping it back into the machine.

  A chill runs down my spine and legs as I follow Hunter’s stare. “No, please!”

  Hunter treads toward Tyren. “We’ve been through so much, man. You were a good partner, most of the time. But now, you’re on her side. And that ain’t gonna fly.”

  Tyren tenses, his muscles rigid.

  “I need a test. No hard feelings, huh?”

  “Hunter, please no.” I fight against the buckles strapping me to the chair. My legs flail as I kick them, trying to gain leverage. The heavy seat slides back a few inches.

  “Any last words?” Hunter leans in close to Tyren.

  “Ida, I’m sorry I lied to you,” Tyren says. “I love you like you’re my own daughter. Be strong.”

  Hunter drives the needle into Tyren’s bicep and pushes my blood into his veins.

  I lurch forward. “Tyren!” He swallows and looks up as if in prayer.

  Hunter checks his biocuff. “Computer, make a record. Subject Reginald Tyren injected at 2107 hours. Pending reaction.”

  Then Tyren twitches and begins to shake all over, his muscles bulging against the straps.

  “Computer, subject is experiencing sudden, severe tremors, and I observed a blue light surging across his skin. Most interesting results.”

  Tyren manages to open his eyes and lock his gaze on me.

  “I’m sorry,” I say as tears stream down my face.

  Then he seizes up. His body goes limp.

  Hunter strides over to the console and engages the drones.

  The clock starts counting down.

  Fifteen minutes.

  Thirty-Seven

  “You bastard! You promised an hour.” My heart feels like it’s wedged in my throat.

  Hunter shrugs. “Life isn’t fair. The more hybrids destroyed, the better. They should be grateful I gave them any warning at all.”

  As seconds tick by, it feels as though I’m running against a tidal wave.

  “Hunter, please. Stop the bombing. What will this solve? You’ll end up killing innocent humans too. Everyone will turn against you.” What can I say to change this madman’s mind?

  “Hmmm. A few civilian casualties are to be expected. I’ll blame the hybrids. Say they took hostages.”

  I look at Murphy and the two soldiers. “Do you see what he’s doing? He’s going to destroy Section H and everyone in it. There are innocent people there. Not to mention thousands of hybrid lives that’ll be wiped out in an instant.”

  Murphy stares with a frown. The other two avert their eyes.

  “Murphy,” I shout. “Are you listening?”

  “I-I’m obeying orders. The Colonel knows best.”

  Hunter folds his arms across his chest. “It’s useless, Ida. My troops will not disobey me. Save your breath.”

  What can I do? Tyren is dead. My body shakes as time slips away.

  “Thirteen minutes until detonation,” announces a flat AI voice.

  Vance lurks in the corners of the room.

  Vance, help me. Do something.

  I’m out of ideas, he says. You’re on your own. I’m sick of his army rah-rah bullshit. He’s going to blow shit up, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

  “Screw you,” I shout.

  “Nah, not today,” Hunter says, thinking I meant it for him.

  If there’s one thing Hunter has loads of, it’s pride. Along with a heaping dose of arrogance. Will he rise to a challenge? He busies himself at the command console, his back to me.

  “Fight me like a man, Hunter.” My voice is firm.

  He pauses. “What did you say?”

  “Let me out of these chains and fight me. Hand to hand combat. No weapons. Just you and me.”

  He laughs. “You’d destroy me with your touch. I’m no idiot.”

  He attends to the machine.

  Please take the bait, I think.

  Vance leans against a wall, studies his nails.

  “I have an idea.” Hunter crosses the room to the bench near his soldiers. He picks up the steel helmet. “I wear this, and the fight is fair. You against armor. You in?”

  Careful, says Vance.

  “In.”

  That helmet is more powerful than anything you’ve experienced.

  “I’ll take my chances,” I say out loud.

  “Have it your way. Open room,” Hunter says, and the immense glass dome structure enclosing the command center slides away to reveal the night sky. A balmy, frenzied wind swirls around us. The consoles and stations shift neatly into corners, leaving a generous empty space for our combat.

  Then he pulls the helmet on. Nothing happens.

  I eye Vance.

  He needs to activate the helmet first. Does he know?

  Hunter approaches a console and places his palm on a biometric screen. In the middle of the room, a floor panel slides open. A platform appears and rises from below. A thick metal rod rests on the center.

  “While Gatz and his hybrid friends were scratching their heads over how this thing worked, I was busy tearing these towers apart looking for any clue as to how the helmet worked. Imagine my surprise when I found schematics hidden in a vault.”

  Ah, he found the vault, says Vance. I’d been wondering about that.

  “All I needed was to get back the helmet which Gatz stole. I couldn’t blow up Section H until I retrieved the helmet.” Hunter approaches the rod and grabs it in both hands. “Luckily, you arrived and handed it to me. You know how much trouble you saved me?”

  A jolt of current travels from his arms, across his chest and neck until it reaches his head. The electricity jolts the headgear, and Hunter pulls away from the activation device.

  The helmet vibrates and seems to come alive on its own. Layers of shimmering metallic steel unfold and wrap across Hunter’s torso and midsection before enclosing his arms and legs.

  Now Hunter wears a fully adaptive metal suit perfectly aligned to his body. Somehow, the metal flexes and melds with his limbs; it’s advanced tech that makes the best armor of our marines look like a tin can.

  Marvelous, Vance purrs.

  Hunter holds up his arms and admires his new cyber armor. He spins around and jumps, testing the weight of the suit.

  My prototype. It’s magnificent.

  Running out of time. “Let me out,” I yell.

  “Murphy, release her,” Hunter barks.

  The soldier jogs over and releases the buckles holding me in. I slide off the table and fall to my knees. My legs feel rubbery. I lean on the edge of the table to pull myself up, shake my legs until the feeling in them returns.

  “Eleven minutes until detonation.”

  I scan the room for a weapon, anything I can use in defense. Against the wall, I spy large steel pipes. I lunge forward and pull on a long piece with my right hand. Yanking it with all my weight, the metal bends slowly. Groaning, I kick and pull until the force snaps it out of its joint. The pipe clatters to the floor, and I grab it, feeling cold steel in my grip. I advance on Hunter as he explores the mech suit.

  He levitates a foot off the floor, testing the hover ability when I ram the steel pipe into his back like a sword. He lurches forward, staggers, but doesn’t fall.

  Rounding on me swiftly, he sulks. “That wasn’t nice.” He advances, propelled by the suit, hands outstretched, reaching for me.

  I dodge to the right. His metallic fingers graze my shoulder. Spinning, I whip the steel rod toward him. The metal careens off the armored suit without making a dent.

  Useless. I’m like a gnat fighting a bear.

  “Vance, how do I fight the
suit?”

  You can’t. Vance circles the edges of the room like a referee in a boxing match.

  Hunter spins and hovers several feet off the ground. “Who are you talking to?” He surges forward, launching his body at me. This time, he grabs my arm and drags me through the air. I land against the wall. My back screams in pain as he knocks the wind from me.

  He flies to the center of the room. “I’ll be unstoppable. An army of soldiers who can kill with their touch and me leading the charge.” He catches his reflection in the glass panes. “I’ll send the Heavies scurrying back to wherever they came from. Then I’ll conquer every country on Earth. No army will stop me.”

  As Murphy and the soldiers gaze at the suit, distracted, I grab a pulse rifle leaning against a wall. “Think again, Hunter.” I lunge forward, firing rounds at the suit.

  He flails, his body crashing against a window partition. Shards of broken glass spray onto the open-air deck where he falls. Motionless.

  I jog over and kick him.

  Then he grabs my ankle and bursts up into the air. He drags me as he levitates, and I’m hanging upside down as he cackles.

  “Vance…help me!”

  Hunter tosses me onto the deck like a wet rag. My shoulder hits the concrete first sending daggers of pain into my arm and shot-up hand. I slide across the surface and my head and neck hit the small waist-high wall that separates me from a sixty-five-story plunge.

  My vision fades. Then silence. Hunter and the mech suit disappear. The soldiers have vanished. Tyren’s dead body erased.

  Just me and Vance.

  On the rooftop.

  “Just like old times.” Vance looms above me.

  “No time for this shit.” I crawl forward at his feet, staring up. “Tell me how to defeat the suit. Gatz, Lucy, everyone will die.”

  Vance squats, faces me at eye-level. “Let me take over your body. I know a weak spot. I can beat him.”

  “Is this a trick?”

  “You want to win? The clock is ticking.”

  Alkina warned me never to give up control to him. But what choice do I have? Anything to stop Hunter.