Carbon (The Watcher Series Book 2)

by AJ Eversley

  I sprinted toward the village, using my Carbon speed to get there. I rushed past the trees as I pushed myself with everything within me. I neared the edge of the forest when blinding pain and darkness hit me again.

  I fell to my hands and knees, scraping them against the thorns and bushes on the ground. I waited for it to subside. “Go to her, now,” her voice said before the pain disappeared, and my vision returned. With a quick glance around, I jumped to my feet and broke through the edge of the forest. Quickly, I reached the village to find it was empty, not a single person was in sight. I sprinted to Lena’s quarters. No guards stood out front, and the door was wide open. The room was empty.

  “No…” I said under my breath, sprinting into the control room. “Sam?” I yelled, but there was no reply. They were all gone. Every last one of them had disappeared. I circled the room again and then ran back outside to Lena’s quarters, but it was vacant.

  “Their gone! Everyone is gone,” I yelled into my earpiece, hoping someone would hear me, but there was only silence on the other end.

  The blinding pain returned, and I was on my knees once again. “I’m sorry,” my mom voice spoke, and then I blinked as the pain subsided, and my vision returned. When my eyes settled, I found myself back on the edge of the forest just outside the village. My knees were still pressed against frozen ground.

  What just happened? My legs shook. I stood and brushed the dirt off my knees, shaking my head, as I tried to clear the confusion. My head throbbed as I walked out of the forest and into the village. It was once again filled with the people we’d left behind. But they were gone just a moment ago.

  My pulse raced, and my breath was ragged. I tried to put it together. My eyes widened with understanding, “No—” I gasped. It was a trick; that wasn’t real. What I’d see hadn’t happened. It’d been a vision.

  Chapter 51

  I sprinted toward Lena’s quarters. Two guards stood in front of the door and two more to the rear of the tiny house. “Is she still in there?” I asked.

  A guard scrunched his brows as he nodded.

  “Good. Don’t let her out of your sight.” I moved toward the control room, startling Sam and Adam as I entered.

  “Sawyer, what are you doing here?” Sam asked.

  “He’s coming. He’s coming for her, and he knows where she is.”

  The sound of an engine boomed in the distance, coming closer.

  “But that can’t be. The system projected—” Sam looked to the screen where the blinking dot had diverted from its original projected route. It was coming straight for us.

  “What do we do?” Adam nearly whispered. Panic rolled off of him as his eyes widened. His knees buckled and he leaned on the table for support.

  “Get everyone to safety and hide,” I ordered. “Run!”

  Sam screamed into the radio, trying to warn the others headed in the wrong direction. There was silence on the other end. Coleman had probably severed our communications. I pushed Sam to follow Adam out the back. They tossed tables and chairs out of the way as they ran with haste to find a place to hide. Outside, I heard it. A sharp crack as a large ship loomed in the distance and broke through Lena’s shield. The village people stopped and stared. “Get out of here! Everyone hide!” I screamed. I pulled on that energy building inside of me and took up a defensive stance in front of Lena’s room.

  She peered out the window.

  “Stay in there!” I yelled.

  She listened, though I saw her trying to repair her shield. But it was already gone.

  The people panicked and scrambled, returning to their homes or out to the forest for any place they could hide. The ship hovered over the center of the village and descended, landing right on top of the mini-garden, smashing it to pieces.

  A door slid open, and a large ramp came crashing down with a boom. The place fell silent. The entire forest didn’t move. I was suddenly aware how small and insignificant I felt, but I stood my ground. I balled my fists together and clenched my jaw.

  Coleman was the first to step out. His steps were slow and calculated as he surveyed the place. He wore a black jacket with the collar up, and at first I thought he wore black gloves on his hand, but I quickly realized they were his hands—black as coal.

  The air shifted, sending a breeze my way. The smell was worse than that of the Dred Wulfs. This was a vile, rotten-flesh smell, mixed with decomposing skin and death itself.

  Behind him, two Carbons followed, rather ordinary looking, but I was sure they possessed powers if they’d been stationed with Coleman himself. Behind them, I saw a familiar face. Kenzie.

  I did my best to control my heartbeat. My breaths were deep and intentional, and my hand hovered over the gun at my side.

  One last Carbon followed close behind Kenzie, and I nearly lost my control. My eyes flickered to my mom moving in step with the rest of the Carbons. Her eyes caught mine, and she gave me a weak smile before her face went neutral—a stoic Carbon.

  “Sawyer, my dear. I never thought I would say I was happy to see you, but here I am,” said Coleman. “You have been a tremendous help to me today.” He smirked as he reached the ground. My finger grazed my gun ever so slightly. His voice sounded more hoarse than I remembered, but his demeanor hadn’t changed. “I would have wasted a lot more time if it had not been for you and your mother’s help.”

  I glanced to my mom who did not break her expression in the slightest; it remained resigned.

  Before I even had a chance to consider my next move, my body dropped to its knees. Coleman had taken over, and I was no longer in control of my body, no matter how hard I tried to fight it. That didn’t stop the cold glare I gave him.

  “Go retrieve my daughter, please,” Coleman ordered the Carbon to his right. The Carbon sauntered past where I stood and beyond the guards who also stood frozen like me, with fear. The Carbon pushed himself into Lena’s quarters as if it weighed nothing more than a paperweight.

  I gritted my teeth, trying in vain to reach for my gun. Coleman glanced at me with a bored expression. “How many times are you going to try this? Have you forgotten that you’re mine?” He raised an eyebrow. He commanded my body to grab my gun and toss it far away from me. I narrowed my eyes at him with rage. My energy pulsed in response, but I couldn’t get it to move. It was frozen inside of me like a flowing river running up against a dam.

  The Carbon returned a moment later with Lena at his side. She didn’t fight him as the Carbon directed Lena toward her father, she had always been willing to sacrifice herself for the sake of everyone else. Reaching out for her, Coleman gave a one-sided hug with an awkward squeeze of her shoulder. His coal black hands were a sharp contrast against her golden blond hair, hanging loose down her back. “I have missed you, darling,” Coleman said.

  Lena glared at her father. “You have what you want, now leave these people alone.”

  Coleman gave his daughter a devilish smile as he raised one eyebrow, but he didn’t reply to her request as he steered her back up the ramp towards his ship.

  I still fought against Coleman’s control.

  Coleman glanced over his shoulder when he reached the top. He sneered at me with a cocky grin. “Kill them all,” he ordered. Kenzie went rigid at Coleman’s side.

  “No!” Lena cried, but Coleman pulled her the rest of the way, and her eyes met mine just before the Carbons took her away. Lena had been wrong. Even with her, Coleman would still kill every one of us.

  My mother marched behind them into the ship, but before she entered, she glanced over her shoulder, catching my eye. For one last moment, I heard her in my head. “I will protect her,” she said, and then my mother disappeared.

  Chapter 52

  Coleman’s control over my body released once the doors slid shut and he was out of view. I barely had enough time to dive out of the way of a fireball that came for my head. Rolling toward my gun and snatching it up, I sheathed my gun in its holster just before I had to dive out of the way of another f
ireball. A Carbon shot fire from his hand, burning everything in its path. The flames and the heat consumed the buildings around me and were poised to devour the whole village.

  Two Carbons remained with Kenzie. He hadn’t taken his eyes off of me since Coleman gave the order, but he also hadn’t moved a muscle.

  The flames grew larger, threatening to engulf the village. Screams of terror rolled through the town. I had to stop the fire-throwing Carbon before the entire city was decimated.

  Lifting myself to my feet, I summoned my powers, bringing them to the surface where they tingled on my skin. I felt them rushing back, and they hadn’t diminished whatsoever in the time Coleman draped his control over me. I threw my powers toward the fire-throwing Carbon, pushing him off his feet. His skin glowed red across his tall lanky body. His insides burned with fire, producing the flames he threw from his hands. His eyes glowed with that same fire as they narrowed on me.

  The heat from the flames forced Kenzie and the other Carbon to retreat, leaving me alone with the fire-throwing Carbon. The flames drew sweat from my brow and filled the air with dark, ashy clouds. Flames flung from the Carbon’s outstretched hands, and I dove to my right. A burning sensation hit me just as I smelled flames singeing my skin.

  The sleeve of my arm was nothing more than a black patch of burnt skin. I winced from the pain but pushed myself up and out of the way. His flames were on me once again, but I stumbled away, hiding behind a building that was sure to be consumed with flames.

  A mother and daughter peered through the window of the house I hid behind. I swore under my breath. Just before the fireball came my powers rippled through me quickly. Like an extension of my own body, a second limb, my powers reached for the wall I stood before and pulled it clean from its foundation. Just in time. The house burst into flames only seconds after I pulled the mother and daughter to safety.

  “Run!” I screamed, pushing them toward the forest. The young girl tripped as she gaped at the inferno around her. Another fireball was launched toward them, but I stood in its path. I reached my hands up, and with my powers still on the tips of my fingers, I pushed the fireball away from its target. It exploded against a tree and engulfed it in flames.

  I helped the girl up, and her mother grabbed her in her arms. They fled as fast as they could.

  The Carbon’s energy raged behind me. I didn’t need to turn around to know the Carbon was coming after me. The heat from his flames radiated closer with every step he took. A wall of flames danced around me, leaving no room to escape. A vicious sneer crept up one corner of his mouth while he rubbed his hands together. He eyed me with pleasure.

  I reached for the two knives tucked in my boots, using my powers, not my hands, to control them. My knives flew through the air aimed for the Carbon’s head. He dodged them at the last minute, causing one knife to barely slice his cheek and the other to miss. He smirked as if he already had me beat with his hands raised out in front of him, but I wasn’t finished. He was.

  I used my powers to turn the knives back on him, lodging them deep in the base of his skull with a silent stab. With his mouth still open in shock, he went down hard, falling to his face in a pool of his own blood. With all my powers, I found the Carbon’s microchip through the thick Alatonion barrier at the base of his skull and ripped it out clean from his lifeless body. One down.

  The flames surrounding me fell to the ground as I surveyed the destruction. The control room was engulfed in flames, and a struggling Sam pushed his way out the back, dragging a badly burnt Adam with him. The whole village was a raging inferno. People all around cried out in terror and ran for any shelter they could find.

  In the distance, I saw Kenzie with his eyes locked on me. He took powerful strides toward me, not daring to look away, but an advance from one of the guards who had been left behind to protect Lena stopped him in his tracks. And Kenzie was forced to take his attention off of me.

  I took only one step before I was knocked to my knees from behind. An unseen force pushed me down as I clawed against my attacker, but I found nothing that my energy could hold onto. When I rose to my knees, I saw the whisper of a girl before she disappeared.

  I jumped to my feet, ready to fight, but I was unsure from where it’d come. She was at my side before I could react, and she aimed an elbow to my face. Blood poured from my nose.

  I turned on her, but instantly, she disappeared again.

  I circled on the spot where I stood, trying to hone my powers onto her location. But she was nowhere and everywhere all at once.

  A slithering whisper came behind my ear. “Come and find me.” The vicious Carbon pulled my hair, yanking me to the ground. A menacing laugh tickled my ears before she appeared in front of me. One side of her mouth lifted into a sinister smile.

  I threw my powers at her, but she disappeared before I could grab a hold. Her ominous laugh echoed all around me. She appeared again to my right, and I spun on her. I waited, holding onto the energy I felt from her as she stood before me.

  “No more running, you have nowhere left to hide,” she sneered. “Stop trying to pretend you’re the hero. We both know the monster that lives inside of you. I can feel it.”

  I narrowed my eyes and gave a cocky smile. “If you can feel it, then you should know to be scared.” I felt for the energy that draped over her like a blanket. My powers locked in on her energy, surrounding it and holding tight.

  She raised an eyebrow as a smile flickered over her mouth. “You and I are not so different from each other.” Her voice was a whisper all around me, tickling my neck. “It takes a monster to kill a monster.”

  I took a step forward as she tried to disappear again, but my powers had grabbed a hold of her already. Her eyes were wide with shock. She tried to move and disappear, but I held on. Her image flickered as half of her was a shadow while the other half I held within the grips of my powers.

  “You’re right, only I’m not just a monster. I am vengeance and power. I am everything I have to be for all the reasons you could never understand. But unlike you, I don’t hide from my demons. I embrace them.” I summoned the powers inside of me. They were ready and eager, sensing what I wanted from them. I felt them mold to my every thought as they flowed from me and wrapped around the Carbon’s neck. She choked and clawed at the invisible force squeezing tighter around her throat. Her eyes widened, but I didn’t stop. I didn’t release her neck until I felt it crack and she slumped to the ground. I pulled out the microchip and broke it in half.

  As I returned to my feet, my eyes caught Kenzie’s. He was watching me from across the flames burning through the village. The blood of the guards he’d killed dripped down his fingers. Our eyes met, but not as they used to. His were filled with rage and venom, and his nostrils flared with wrath.

  I couldn’t move. Before I had a chance to consider my options, Kenzie took off, heading straight for me with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.

  Chapter 53

  I braced myself for impact as Kenzie ran full speed ahead. He knocked me hard to the ground and onto my back. Scrambling to get up, I felt the full weight of Kenzie as he pinned me down by my wrists. A burning pain ignited my insides. I could barely move as his powers threatened to consume me. It became almost unbearable.

  I focused all my energy on the tiny current still flowing beneath my skin. It pulsed with anticipation. Like opening the cage of a wild beast, my energy lunged, pushing Kenzie off me a few feet away. I was struggling to catch my breath when he sprinted toward me. I dodged out of the way as he thrusted his powers into the ground where I’d just been standing.

  I reached for a door still attached to a house. Using my powers, I pulled the door off its hinges and slammed it into Kenzie. He staggered a step before he caught his footing.

  I ran, creating some distance to give myself time to think and breath. My energy was still boiling when I looked down to the cuff on my wrist. It glowed in the light of the flames engulfing the village.

  Behind me, Kenz
ie came quickly. He ran, moving with grace and speed, as I fled through the empty, smoldering village. I darted behind an empty house, but he blew the house into tiny shards, which became caught in my hair.

  I uprooted a tree, struggling with all of my powers coursing through me. My knees nearly buckled as I raised the tree high in the air before throwing it. The tree skidded across the frozen ground with speed, causing Kenzie to dive out of the way before he was steamrolled by its thick trunk.

  But Kenzie didn’t slow down, nor did he falter. His powers grazed my rib cage, sending burning pain throughout my body and ripping through the vest meant to shield me. I dropped to the ground. My back arched, and I cried out in pain. Climbing to my knees, I turned and faced him as he stalked closer. The man I once loved and who once loved me was going to kill me. His eyes weren’t the same as they once were. His energy rippled through him with more haste and anger than I’d ever felt before.

  “Please, just stop. Just leave,” I begged.

  “You know I can’t.” His eyes narrowed on mine. We were only a few feet away from each other.

  I wanted to reach out for him. I wanted to feel his touch again, and my heart longed for him. But it would’ve been a cold embrace.

  A shadow crossed over him, and he hesitated for only a moment. He shook his head and planted a scowl back on his face as he stepped closer.

  I didn’t move. My energy swirled around me, waiting for a command, but I couldn’t look away from Kenzie. Every step closer he took, my heart pounded harder. He set his shoulders back as he brought his hands up to me. I knew right then and there—it was me or him. And the promise I’d made to Max echoed in my mind—the promise to fight and not give up again like I almost had on the ship. I promised Coleman wouldn’t win, and I couldn’t break that promise. Not here, not now.

  In the brief moment before Kenzie released his powers on me, I grabbed my gun and squeeze the trigger. The sound rang in my ears. I waited for Kenzie’s energy to strike me. He stood with his eyes locked on mine. But then, he dropped to his knees with hands clutching his stomach where my bullet had entered.