Redux

by S. A. Stephenson

  Hawk could imagine the look of fear on every man, woman and child in America. They were hers, they would do as she said if they wanted to stay alive. ‘If you see or encounter a Genic, you are ordered to kill them by any means necessary. We’ll fight the Others if you fight the Genics and together we’ll be able to secure our country once more for a safe and better America. We are at war. And as your new President, it is my duty to do the best for this country and my citizens, so I will be joining the fight.’ She saw Polskin looked up at this and was glad to get his attention. ‘The old government has been disbanded and will be reestablished once we’ve won this war. Our focus now is surviving, not politics. For anyone seeking sanctuary, the doors of Volt are open to you.’

  She signalled to Jenks to end the message here. She had done what she had wanted to for so long, she had taken control and was going to make this country work again.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ Polskin asked.

  ‘That was the start of the new way that we’re going to be doing things around here,’ Hawk said as she got to her feet. ‘The days of conspiracy and collusion are over, I want to survive this invasion and if that means cosying up to the enemy then that’s what I’ll do, if it means killing Genics, that’s what I’ll do, if it means killing humans, then I’ll do that as well. We’ve been considered weak for far too long and it ends today. You’re either with me or against me.’

  She saw Polskin look at her and that he hadn’t been given any options that he automatically agreed with. ‘I’ll assemble the troops,’ he looked positively foul at the idea. ‘Looks like we’ve got to get ready for war.’

  Chapter Seventeen

  They had seen the message. There was no escaping it, the government ordered projectors that had been installed in nearly every establishment since the Blast had made sure that no one had the opportunity to miss the messages that came through from the President’s office. As Kit had watched Hawk, nausea in her stomach churned and as the message closed she rushed to the closest bathroom. Her head spun as she sat against the toilet stall wall and she ignored the knock on the door and could barely hear Lil asking for her.

  The door opened and Lil sat down beside her, for a moment they were quiet. There was nothing Kit could say, her body was numb, her face tingled in shock and she only came back to herself when Lil placed a hand on hers. ‘We anticipated this,’ she said quietly. ‘You’ve trained us for years knowing that one day we might end up going to war.’

  ‘I didn’t think we actually would,’ Kit’s mouth was dry and her throat was scratchy. ‘Somewhere in the back of my mind, I would have thought we could have reached peace without the need for war.’

  Lil didn’t say anything for a while. ‘If we’ve been training for war, and been given a chance to fight, we can finally show that we’re fighting for the good of America and get Hawk out of our lives once and for all.’

  ‘They’re going to come after us, harder than ever before,’ Kit told her. ‘And they’ve told humans to attack us. If we have any hope we’ve got to have an army stronger and more powerful who are ready to take on this fight.’

  ‘And you have it,’ Rook said from the doorway. Kit looked over to her. ‘I have something to show you,’ she said.

  Kit reluctantly let Lil pull her to her feet and they followed Rook. Kit still didn’t know this facility in Little Rock well, Lil had brought them here and had told her that it was a safe house for the FSA. The people here seemed welcoming enough and willing to help them and that was all Kit needed.

  Rook took them to a computer lab. In front of them, Kit saw a wall of monitors and watched as Rook sat down behind the console. ‘What is this?’ Kit asked her.

  ‘You’ll see,’ Rook said. ‘We were busy while you were away.’

  Kit watched with curiosity as Rook pushed a series of buttons and typed away on the keyboard. Kit saw the screens flicker and rooms appeared. People began appearing on the monitors, men and women, young and old, skin colours varied in more shades than Kit had ever seen before.

  ‘Hi everyone,’ Rook said, Kit heard confidence in her voice and her heart warmed at the idea that Rook had overcome the fears that she had in front of people. ‘I’d like you to meet someone,’ she said and motioned for Kit to stand next to her. ‘Everyone this is Katarina Valletta, I believe you’ve heard of her,’ Rook smiled and when Kit looked back to the monitors she saw people clapping, cheering even.

  A man on one of the lower monitors spoke above the noise. ‘Ms Valletta, Louis Bramner from the Canadian quarter, it’s a privilege to finally meet you,’ he said.

  ‘Canadian?’ Kit asked Rook, who nodded as she beamed.

  ‘These people are from all over the world,’ she said. ‘They’re leaders of Genic groups who are uniting together to join us.’

  Kit looked back at the screen and to Lil in amazement. ‘Did you know about this?’ She asked.

  ‘Not until Rook started talking to them,’ she said.

  ‘We’ve always been told that Genics live only in America,’ Kit said.

  ‘And who told us that?’ Lil asked. ‘Genics escaped and were able to flee overseas, some were created in American labs over there before the labs were liberated, we’re the only country where our President decided we should be treated like animals and like slaves.’

  Kit turned back to the screen. ‘So you’re all free in your country?’ She asked.

  There was a collection of nods and agreements. A lady on the top row of screens spoke. ‘We’ve been trying to help America for so long but all of our attempts were blocked. When we saw the broadcast of your President being killed we knew it was going to be a time for a change and we were trying any way we could to connect with someone in your country.’

  ‘And they found Rook,’ Lil said and Kit saw Rook blush.

  ‘And they want to help,’ Rook said. ‘They have weaponry we could only dream of, they have manpower that we would never have access to here and they’re ready to be mobile, they just need the order.’

  Kit’s mind began to race again, she had never dreamed she would have such an army at her disposal. ‘We need to have a plan,’ she said. ‘Hawk’s opened the doors to Volt, people are going to head there but she’s not going to be rolling out the red carpet for them.’

  ‘What do you think she’s going to do?’ Lil asked.

  ‘When the Blast happened and people went to Volt for sanctuary they became part of the system, enslaved to Galen, Hawk’s got some big enemies about to come her way so it makes sense that she’ll want to have an army ready to fight back with,’ Kit said.

  ‘But the American public aren’t soldiers,’ Lil told her.

  ‘She won’t care,’ Kit began to pace as her thoughts began to connect together. ‘Evie and her crew are planning a strike in what must be hours. If we mobilise a full strike we could bring Volt to its knees. The Others won’t know where to target and will end up scattered, meaning we can counteract them easier while they’re apart rather than if they were all together.’ There was a murmur of approval from the people on the screens. Kit turned to them. ‘How long will it take you to get to the east coast of America?’ She asked.

  A man with a heavy South African accent replied. ‘We will need 24 hours at least,’ he said. ‘We’ve got people from all over the world and we need to mobilise our troops and get to you.’

  ‘And we need to get to Volt without being seen,’ Lil added.

  ‘Which is at least a two-day journey,’ Rook said.

  ‘So we head out to Volt, these guys travel here and we coordinate when we’re all together?’ Kit proposed.

  ‘Are you saying we’re uniting in the war against Hawk?’ Rook asked.

  ‘If no one has any objection?’ Kit asked looking at the screens.

  There was a chorus of ‘No ma’am,’ from their new comrades and Kit’s heart fell into a rhythm she was used to, one where she was in charge and where there was an objective for her to achieve. ‘Then let's go kill a dictator,’ s
he said.

  Rook had taken Kit to the equipment room after the meeting came to an end and Kit was nearly overjoyed when she saw that she could stack up on things that she had missed having access to since leaving the Stacks. She looked at the clothes and was grateful to see clean combat trousers and t-shirts. Her current outfit was dirty, scratching against her and while she tried to ignore it there was no denying that she operated best when she was in a uniform that was familiar. Taking off the clothes that Arlo had given her was strange, as though she were separating a part of herself from that had given her a sense of regenerated power. Something in her mind also shifted, it was as though it became disconnected from something. Kit sat on the bench and held the fabric in her hands, Arlo had given her something that could help her connect to the Others, she looked closely at the fabric and could see the small strips of silver. She slowly began to weave them out until she had a full thread of slim metallic wire in her hands. She looked at it with intense curiosity, this simple device surely wasn’t enough to connect them to the Others when everything else they had tried failed. She needed Rook to see it, and more importantly, she needed to know what they could do with it. Placing it carefully in a plastic vial, Kit tucked it in her pocket and carefully folded the remaining fabric so she could keep hold of it.

  She pulled out a new backpack and looked along the range of options in front of her, there was ration packs, water skins, bullets, guns, and then Kit saw the comms devices. Her heart raced with anticipation at the sight of them. She had been longing to hear from Evie and needed to hear what they were planning to do. Evans interrupted her train of thought.

  ‘Pretty sweet set up they’ve got here isn’t it?’ He asked.

  ‘Almost as good as the Stacks was,’ Kit was still distracted by the device.

  ‘We can try and contact them,’ Evans told her. ‘Now that Rook has set up her comms channels it should be easier to see where they are.’

  Kit smiled. ‘It’s starting to feel like we’re actually making some progress,’ she said. ‘Even if we have a major battle ahead of us, for the first time it’s like we can win.’

  ‘It’s what you’ve been preparing for,’ Evans said. ‘And now that we have Others on side to help us we’re in a better position than we’ve been before.’

  Kit nodded but couldn’t help think about all that had changed in such a short amount of time. She could sense a change within herself since she had been contacted by the others, her muscles were stronger, she was lighter on her feet and able to control her thoughts quicker. Were they turning her into a weapon? She didn’t know and she couldn’t think about it, if the changes meant that she could fight back then that’s all she cared about.

  ‘How about we do one last training session before we head out?’ Evans offered. ‘You’ve been knocked around a bit since going to London so it’d be good to see where you’re abilities are at.’

  ‘Sounds good to me,’ she said.

  ‘Great, I’ll get everyone together, give them a bit of entertainment for the evening.’

  Evans left her to pack up a few remaining items and Kit looked at the storeroom for a moment. She missed her old building in the Stacks, the one where she had found her strength again after she had escaped but as she looked at this room she wondered if the Stacks was something she would have ever go back to.

  Shaking the thought away she went to find the training room when she saw Evans talking to Cerkis in the shadows. She stood behind the corner of the wall so she wouldn’t be seen. Kit’s hearing had always been pretty good but as Evans talked quietly she listened intently and found she could hear the conversation easier than expected.

  ‘This strike is going to define the war,’ Cerkis said.

  ‘And it’s going to go in our favour,’ Evans told her.

  Cerkis hesitated. ‘But what if she can’t handle it? What if they’ve done something that we won’t know about until it’s too late?’

  ‘Kit can handle whatever’s thrown at her,’ Evans argued.

  Cerkis paused again and Kit furrowed her brow. What was wrong with this woman? They had known each other for years, what had Kit done to deserve being doubted like this? ‘She’s just got so much to deal with, I wonder if she’s up to the challenge of leading this army. We’ve always been stronger together,’ Cerkis said and Kit saw her take Evans hand. ‘Why are we handing over our moment to her? Because she’s the poster child for a revolution?’

  ‘Because she’s worked damn hard to get here,’ Evans said firmly, pulling away from her.

  ‘And we haven’t?’ Cerkis asked. ‘This whole time we’ve been preparing her for this, shaping this very moment because she’s the one strong enough to take on our enemies, but we both know she won’t survive and certainly won’t be the next leader of America.’

  Kit slunk to the floor as she listened, her heart was being smashed into a million pieces. People she trusted, people she cared for had been using her all this time. ‘She’ll survive,’ Evans sounded like he was speaking more out of hope than of certainty. ‘I have faith that she will.’

  ‘When the tests have been designed to make sure she dies?’ Cerkis asked. ‘Galen knew that one day the Others would return and they’d need a soldier strong enough to fight them, strong enough to take on weaponry that we’ve never seen before. That’s why Kit was created, that’s why she was allowed to escape, so that she could build the strength and the hatred needed to fight back. But she wasn’t created to survive, her body won’t be able to handle it.’

  ’So why are you against her being a leader, if you’re certain she’s going to die anyway?’ Evans asked and there was a pause. ‘Because you want the credit so that when it’s time to elect a new President you don’t have the ghost of a true hero hanging over you.’

  ‘Evans,’ Cerkis said quietly.

  Kit heard footsteps and Cerkis sighed. She looked around and saw they had walked away and all Kit could do was slide to the floor below and collapse into the pain that washed over her.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Evie found a sense of strength in her that she had never experienced before. Her muscles flexed and her mind was sharp as she was sent through a number of training drills. She dodged and swerved every attack and was able to summon her abilities at will through a simple thought. She liked this feeling, knowing that she could do what she needed to in combat without having any surprises or dangerous consequences.

  By the end of the first hour she took a seat on one of the benches in the training room, sweat was pouring down her back as her heart was racing. She had never been trained this hard or at least hadn’t trained as much in a while and she was shocked that her body couldn’t handle the intensity. Sinclair sat next to her and handed her a bottle of cold water with a towel. ‘You’re doing good,’ she said. ‘Which is reassuring to see as we’re flying back to America in a few hours.’

  ‘That soon?’ Evie asked.

  ‘A strike is being coordinated on Volt,’ Sinclair said. ‘It’s being organised by Katarina who’s managed to get help from other nations.’

  Evie raised her eyebrows. ‘Well she’s efficient.’ She paused for a moment, worried about the question that had been on her mind for so long. ‘Have you heard anything about Jack?’

  Evie noted that Sinclair took a moment before she answered. It was as though she were choosing her words which made Evie’s heart rate escalate even further. ‘We’ve only been able to get some information,’ Sinclair started. ‘We’ve had word he’s alive, and is in California…the Alto sector. Other than that we don’t know anything else.’

  Evie’s mind raced, everything she knew about the Alto sector flooded through her at once. If Jack and Canaan were there it was because they had a death wish. ‘Alto helped us with the last strike against Volt,’ Evie said. ‘It’s how Jack was able to get a plane but Galen told me she was behind it, that they had only been able to be successful because she had made it possible. But everything I know about Alto is telling me that she
was lying. There’s a Genic there, one of the biggest and brutalist we’ve seen who’s in control. He wouldn’t let Galen tell him what to do in a million years.’

  ‘So who do you believe? The President who told you your brother deserted you, or your brother who could be trying to help you?’

  The question made Evie squirm more than she liked. She wanted to trust Jack absolutely, but he had been a loyalist to Galen for years, even though he were a Genic. He had always believed that if he showed absolute loyalty then it would be enough to spare him. But what if it had all been a game, that he was playing them all by telling them what they wanted to hear? Galen got a soldier, Evie got a brother and Jack got his life. Everyone would win. Evie’s brow furrowed, she hated that things weren’t clear for her, that she was being made to question the one family member she had left. She knew that if Jack had been disloyal to her it would be the end of their relationship for them. If he had been loyal, she didn’t know if she could trust him again. ‘I don’t know,’ Evie said quietly. ‘We were raised to believe that everything the President told us was the truth and we were’t to question it, Galen told me my brother worked for her and always would. My brother always said that he would be loyal to Galen if it could keep us both alive. I don’t know him anymore and I think until I can see him and get him to explain it to me, it’s no use trying to figure him out.’