‘Who do you work for?’ Kit asked. ‘The FSA?’
There was a sudden gunshots fired from the opposite room and in the moment of distraction, Volstov lunged at Kit with one of the needles. Kit blocked her attack and in a faster than lighting move, had jumped over her and pulled her to the ground. ‘Who do you work for?’ She demanded as she squeezed Volstov’s wrist, trying to get her to let go of the needle.
‘I think you know,’ Volstov snarled as the door was kicked open and guards entered with their rifles armed and ready to fire. In the split second, Lil held out her arm, ignited with a fiery energy ball and flung it at the guards, causing them to ignite in flames.
Volstov was able to kick Kit in the stomach, sending her backwards and was about to make a run for it when Kit flung out her arm and an invisible hold wrapped itself round Volstov. Keeping her eyes on her, Kit got to her feet and as she twisted her hand she could see that it was having a direct impact on Volstov, like she was holding onto an invisible rope. Kit had never experienced this type of power before but it brought strength to her, like she was finally in control. As Volstov lay curled in a ball on the floor, Kit stood over her.
‘Who do you work for?’ She asked again.
Volstov croaked, barely able to breathe. ‘Kit!’ Rook called out but Kit ignored her.
‘I work for Hawk,’ Volstov croaked. ‘A President who wants you dead.’
For a moment Kit’s mind fell into darkness and something snapped in her hand. When she looked down, Volstov was dead.
Lil and Rook hurried over to her. ‘You okay?’ Lil asked her.
‘Fine,’ Kit said, although her voice didn’t sound like her own. Evans hurried into the room, his cheek was bleeding and his shirt had been torn and he looked like he was trying to catch his breath.
‘You girls okay?’ He asked.
Kit heard the tentativeness in Rook’s voice as she answered, ’I think so,’ she said.
‘We gotta get outta here,’ Evans said. ‘They’re not FSA.’
‘She told us as much,’ Kit said as they left the room. ‘Hawk’s trying to ambush us?’
‘Wouldn’t surprise me,’ Evans replied. ‘Looks like Cerkis may have tipped her off.’
‘Cerkis?’ Lil asked. ‘I thought she was one of us.’
‘So did I,’ Evans said. ‘But when your back’s up against the wall and you have to fight, sometimes it’s easier to go with the quickest solution, rather than the right one.’
Kit didn’t say anything. She had lost count of the number of people who had betrayed her in this war and she was no longer surprised when it happened. ‘How many guards do we need to take out?’ She asked.
‘Hopefully none if we can get to a truck,’ Evans said. ‘But seeing as the universe doesn’t like giving us a break, I’d guess we’d have twenty or so.’
‘Seems like small fry to me,’ Lil said.
‘These are Hawks’ super soldiers,’ Evans said. ‘They’re going to give us a fight.’
‘Let them bring it,’ Kit said.
They went back down the corridor and could see the guards in the foyer talking on walkie talkies. Kit was about to launch her attack when Lil held onto her arm. ‘You sure you want to do this?’ She asked.
‘Do you want to get out of here alive?’ Kit asked.
‘Your abilities are changing,’ Lil said. ‘I’ve never seen them like this before, we don’t know what you’re capable of or what they can do.’
‘There’s only one way to find out,’ Kit said. ‘I won’t do anything stupid, I promise.’
Lil reluctantly let her go and Kit formed an energy ball in the centre of her hand. Her abilities had always mimicked others, and only occasionally she had managed to have her own. Now her powers were hers and hers alone. She flung the energy ball out to the men in front of them and she saw it grow and she could feel the energy surge inside her as the power grew and hit the men with an almighty force sending them spiralling backwards.
‘Cool,’ Rook said impressed as Kit tried to catch her breath.
‘Head for the door,’ Evans said over the commotion that broke out. Kit led the way, running as quick as she could, her muscles flexed and moved with her, as though they were willing her onwards. Guards tried to attack them, they were strong and fought in a way Kit hadn’t seen before. But she was stronger, and she fought back. As she outstretched her arms, the floor behind them tore upwards, hurling the guards away from them. She could move the earth and she could harness the power of all the energy around her.
When they made it out of the airport and back onto American soil Kit stopped and knelt on the ground as she tried to catch her breath. She had never experienced anything like that before, that surge of power was like electric and everything inside her buzzed. She needed to grasp hold of something to steady herself, to catch herself again before it was too late. Lil was the one who came to her, who put her arms around her as Kit turned and sat. She looked back at the building they had escaped from. It was in ruins, inside was in pieces and the outer structure was only just standing.
A truck pulled up in the distance and Kit saw the faces of the men and women who had been on the flight with them, they had managed to make it out alive and as they came to a stop her heart slowed a little.
‘Well that was intense,’ Rook commented as she sat next to Kit while Evans went over to the others. ‘I’m guessing something happened while you were away,’ she said.
‘I don’t even know where to begin,’ Kit said. ‘But what I do know is this war has just started, and we’re a long way off from winning it.’
She saw Lil look back at the building. ‘Well, if that’s what you can do now, I say we’re in with a good chance,’ she said.
‘So long as you’re still alive at the end of it,’ Rook said and it was enough to make Kit aware that she was changing into something that she couldn’t control, she didn’t know what the aliens had done to her, or why her powers were now ten times bigger than anything she had been used to. But at the same time, she felt more human than she ever had before. She was connected to everything around her in a way that she hadn’t been before, in a way that made her feel complete and whole. She finally felt like she was part of a world that had been trying to make her believe she was an outcast for so long but that was over now. ‘This is going to be the start of a new America,’ she said quietly. ‘Everything we do from now on is for the future we want to create. We’ve been given a power, it’s time we step up and use it, and use it for good for both Genics and humans.’
‘We can really live in a world where both are equal?’ Rook asked.
‘We can if we create it,’ Kit said.
Looking at the building she knew there was going to be more who’d have to die, more she’d likely have to kill as they tried to kill her, but she was ready now. Ready to fight for a future that she could be part of.
Chapter Fifteen
When Evie woke she was in an empty room. She looked at the clock on the wall and saw she was late for training. Panicked she jumped out of bed and quickly braided her hair and straightened her ruffled clothes. She grabbed her bag and headed out the door. She realised she wasn’t sure where she was or where she should be going and wandered down the corridor feeling aimless and hoped that she wouldn’t cop any grief for being late. She turned around so many corners she soon realised she was hopelessly lost. She looked through one of the doors and saw a scientist inside, she knocked on the door but they mustn’t have heard her as they turned away. Evie opened the door to try and find them but found the lab was empty. It was different from the one she had worked in, the technology was less worn and battered, everything seemed to have its place and the room was built for a purpose. As Evie surveyed her surroundings the hairs on her neck began to prickle. What was the purpose of this place? She knew there must be some sort of science programme happening in the UK, it would make sense but she hadn’t thought of asking Sinclair about what they would be studying. She saw a door across fro
m her and walked over to it, thinking it must have been a store cupboard. She tried the doorknob and found it unlocked. As she pulled it open the air on the other side felt cooler, more controlled. She expected an alarm to sound, someone to appear and tell her she was trespassing but when no one did she stepped forward and walked down a narrow corridor. The criss-cross of the metal walkway clicked under her shoes and she came to a flight of stairs spiralling downwards. She stopped for a moment, she could still go back, no one had to know she was ever here but the scientist inside her pulled her forward.
Evie descended into the room below, the air prickled coldly against her skin and she began to shiver slightly. She could hear something scratching in the distance, it was very faint but a knot grew in Evie’s stomach as she reached the bottom of the stairs. She found herself in a room filled with filing cabinets, rows upon rows of storage units. She walked along the side of the stacks and walked down one of the rows. She saw small drawers that had years indexed on them, the one in front of her was labelled 1974-1984, she pulled it open and saw a ream of index cards inside, she pulled one out and saw a name she didn’t recognise Quentin Locke 12.5.82 - 4.9.18. Michigan, Detroit. RX23-924. Occupation: Mechanic. Status: Deceased. Cause: Virus 428.
Evie looked at the date the man had died, 2018, he had been 36, not much older than her when the virus had first broken out. Pulling out another card, this time Evie read the name of a woman, the information followed the same, she had also been killed by the virus, she had only been 21.
A sinking feeling plunged into Evie’s stomach. These were death records. Everyone affected by the virus had been catalogued and stored here. But for what purpose? And why were American deaths being stored in England?
Evie closed the drawer and a sudden thought came to her and she hurried down the row and turned round to the next aisle where the years began in 2058. She looked along the row until she came to 2070, the year her parents had been born. She opened the draw and scanned through the names until she found her mother. Her heart raced as she pulled out the card. Erin Fox. 13.4.2070 - 28.7.2112. Louisville, Kentucky. RX5-29442. Occupation: teacher. Marital Status: Married. Children: 2. Status: Deceased. Cause: Unknown. Evie gulped at the last words, her mother and father had died when she was fifteen and Evie had twenty years to live with that knowledge, but seeing it in black and white brought back all the feelings she thought she had dealt with, she saw her hands shaking and realised that she would never be free of the scars the dead leave behind. She could only hope that the wound would heal enough so she wasn’t consumed by grief.
Shaking the feeling away she found her father’s card which read the same. Evie wanted to know what the RX reference stood for. Everything else was clear except for that. Was it an experiment code? Was it just a standard reference? She jumped when she heard a voice behind her.
‘When you get lost you really get lost don’t you?’ Sinclair asked.
‘Jeez, you frightened me half to death,’ Evie said as her heart was about to pound out of her chest.
‘What are you doing here?’ Sinclair asked her.
Evie’s face flushed red as she stammered, trying to find an answer. ‘I got lost trying to find training, I was going to ask someone who was in the lab upstairs and instead, I ended up down here,’ she said and was able to quickly compose herself. ‘What is this place?’ She asked.
‘This…’ as Sinclair spoke her voice became heavy. ‘Is a boneyard,’ she said. Evie looked at her confused. ‘After the virus broke out there were so many remains of people that had been killed, forensic anthropologists were called in to examine the remains and help identify the victims in case any had remaining family members. We were allowed into the U.S. before the borders were closed and helped identify as many people as we could. That’s what these records are. We also identified people who were killed in the UK, Europe, and even parts of Asia. All their bones are kept here in storage. After the borders were closed, we were able to get data by hacking into systems but American intelligence was able to catch us and locked us out. They didn’t want it to be known that they were killing people on a mass scale.’
‘That sounds like them,’ Evie’s heart was heavy in her chest as she thought of all the people who didn’t get a farewell, whose lives simply ended and disappeared into the ether. ‘We have a similar system at home, and part of my job was to use what bones we could to see if we could extract anything of use from them. I can’t say it was my finest work.’
Evie noted Sinclair’s momentary silence before she spoke. ‘There’s not enough space to bury everyone, and these people didn’t have loved ones to claim them, so we’ve been using the bones for testing,’ Sinclair said. ‘Extracting what we can from the marrow and testing it on…certain species. We wanted to try and replicate what the Americans were doing in the hopes that we could find a way to reverse it.’
A million questions began to race through Evie’s head. ‘My parent's names are in here,’ she said, feeling bile rise in the back of her throat.
Sinclair looked at the cards. ‘We didn’t have access to the remains of the RX5 series,’ she said. ‘By then the borders were closed, but scientists we were working with were able to smuggle out tissue samples for us.’
‘What species have you been testing on?’ Evie’s voice was tentative, unsure if she wanted the answer.
‘I think you know,’ Sinclair said. ‘Come with me.’
Evie didn’t want to follow her, she knew she had opened a lid on questions that were going to keep spiralling, but they could lead to the truth and she had to know what that was. She needed to know, so with a heavy sense of foreboding, she followed Sinclair down the corridor and to a door in one of the crevasses. As Sinclair unlocked it using her thumbprint she turned to Evie. ‘I must warn you that you need to brace yourself,’ she said.
Evie nodded, part of her wanted to turn back and run, part of her wanted to be back in America where things made more sense than they did her, but the bigger part of her knew that she was onto something, following a lead that she couldn’t ignore. She held her breath as she followed Sinclair over the threshold. On the other side was a large room, much like the one she had been in but instead of the filing cabinet she saw an empty expanse, dark grey walls that had moisture exuberating from them. In front of her, there was a cloudy white screen. Sinclair didn’t say anything as Evie looked up at it curiously. Taking a few steps forward, Evie could sense something was there, something living was waiting for her to approach it and as she got closer, she held out a hand, pulling back only slightly when she was about to touch the glass pane. Something black snaked forward, the mist around it moved as if to make way for its host. Evie could see it was a tentacle, her instinct was to step backwards, return to safety but instead, she placed her palm on the glass and the creature on the other side did the same. Something inside Evie changed, her blood began to tingle and dance under her skin in a way she had never experienced before. She saw white wisps of energy begin to form and flow around her, she took a step backwards and broke contact with the creature and she saw it move away in the mist.
‘What was that?’ Evie whispered as Sinclair walked over to her.
‘That is your origin,’ Sinclair said. ‘The creature in there is alien, we found it on one of the crash sites in the U.S. after the first virus broke out. It’s over a hundred years old and has its abilities…they’re quite extraordinary.’
Evie looked back at the screen. ‘How have you managed to contain it for so long?’ She asked.
‘It’s become tame,’ Sinclair told her. ‘Reports say that originally it tried to fight back when it was first brought here but over time scientists were able to forge a relationship with it, keep it alive and in return it gave us some startling information.’
‘Like what?’
‘Like how there are other galaxies aside from our own, that life exists in multiple forms in multiple dimensions, that humans aren’t the only ones searching for extraterrestrial life but they’re
searching for us as well,’ Sinclair said. ‘There had always been a belief about this of course, but the government had done a good job of covering it up since Roswell and it was only with Galen’s government that the public exposed to the information. That’s why there was a panic, why there was such resistance against Genics, because of fear, fear of something that the public had never been given a chance to understand before they were forced to deal with it.’
Evie’s thoughts were racing and she was trying desperately to put the pieces together. ‘The boneyard,’ she said. ‘You’re testing the samples along with samples from that creature aren’t you?’ She asked.
‘We are,’ Sinclair said.
‘For the purpose of what?’
‘Finding a cure,’ Sinclair said. ‘We believe that there will be something in evolved human genetics that can counteract the virus and if we can counteract the virus we can protect our population and even reverse some of the genetic engineerings that have already happened.’
‘You want to make Genics human?’ Evie asked.
Sinclair looked at her. ‘Isn’t that what you want?’ She asked. ’To be a human like everyone else?’
Evie faltered at the question, surprised by it. ‘I thought you accepted us,’ she said quietly.
‘We do,’ she said.
‘No, you just want us for your tests, to try and see if you can stop us from being who we are,’ Evie argued.
‘You’re not meant to be who you are,’ Sinclair told her. ‘You were infected with a virus, tested on in labs for the purpose of what? Have you ever asked yourself why Genics were created in the first place? What the point of you all are?’
Evie paused, she didn’t know how to respond. ‘We’re part of President Galen’s army, we’re created to serve, protect and defend America from its enemies and to be proud patriots as this country rebuilds itself to a great nation,’ she said eventually, the words were rote, ingrained into her from the time she had spent in Volt. They had been given a purpose, a meaning and now as Evie began to finally see things with clarity anxiety rose in her chest. ‘We were created to kill, we were created to be nothing more than slaves in part of a machine. We were never meant to be human, never meant to be cared for, to love, to be free, we were meant to be ruled over, dictated to but the world changed when we began to fight back. When we began to escape.’
Redux Page 15
