“What is it? Have you found someone?”
“Not… not exactly…”
The labs have been stripped in a hurry. Desks are open, emptied. Some tech has been removed, but anything bolted has been abandoned.
“Server room has been wiped,” Lili explains, appearing from behind a door. “I can’t get anything from it. Sorry.”
“What do we have?”
All of the chimeras standing in the room immediately look away from me.
“What? What is it?”
Lili pushes back the steel door. “You need to see it,” she says.
“It?”
I’m ushered into the next room. I recognise part of its set-up. There are three small tanks by the side, each about a metre high. There is nothing in them at present, which is just as well. I know this machine. We jokingly called it mother; it’s where we gestated until we were ready to be born, if that’s what you can call how we came into this world. Glass containers and test tubes were our parents.
An audience stands behind me, stiff with silence. What could have spooked them so?
And then I see it.
At the back of the room is another, much larger tank, like the ones they stored the bodies of my comrades and siblings in, like the one they stored me in, when I was recovering from my burns.
The creature in this tank isn’t recovering. It is so devoid of life I wonder if it was ever alive to begin with. It is a tall, skinny thing, completely hairless and covered in scales. Its limbs seem too long for its torso. One of their earlier creations? Perhaps it had been left here from the original facility, of so little use to them they couldn’t even be bothered to dispose of it.
“You ever seen anything like it before?” I ask the others.
There’s a chorus of non-commital sounds, a faint mumbling of no.
“Ashe, its eyes,” Dell gestures towards the glass, looking too nervous to point directly.
I peer closer. Its face is fairly flat. There is only a suggestion of a nose, holes for ears, a mouth but no lips. The eyes are strangely-lidded, and wide open. They are colourless with age, but despite this, I can still make out distinctly slitted pupils.
Eyes like mine.
“Get Julia,” I order Dell.
I stare at this creature intently, waiting for Julia to appear. I study every inch of it, waiting for some other similarity to jump out at me. This cannot be, it cannot be.
Footsteps behind me. A sharp gasp.
“Do you know what this is?” I ask.
Julia steps towards the tank, her face white. “They called them the Ouroboros.”
“What… what are they?”
Julia exhales. “Ashe… how much do you know about the Shift?”
The Shift generally refers to the time that the world as people knew it, ended. They taught us a bit about it at the Institute. Massive climate upheaval, followed by wars over resources and eventual nuclear disaster, wiping out huge sections of the globe entirely. Most people in the slums only have a dim idea of it, now.
“A fair bit,” I admit. “Why? What’s that got to do with anything?”
“After… after the Shift… a group of these creatures were discovered in the wasteland. No one knows if they’d been there before, undiscovered, or if they… evolved. If they were once humans that had adapted to a drastic change in climate.”
“OK… what’s that got to do with me?” I’m really worried about where this is going.
“As you can see, there are some obvious physiological differences between us and them…”
“Hadn’t escaped my notice.”
“But the biggest one is that these creatures had certain… abilities. Immunities.”
“Go on.”
“Their skin was fireproof… and they could breath it.”
A silent murmur flits through the room.
“So… I’m part that?”
“Yes.”
“Right. Sure. Not quite how I imagined meeting my family–”
“Ashe–”
“I’m kidding.” I have no biological parents, just dozens of DNA donors. No family. None apart from the one I’ve made myself.
And Eva.
“It’s all right to be shocked.”
“At this point, nothing should really surprise me.” I swallow, wishing I could tear my gaze away. “Why did they want a firestarter? Or… or why didn’t they want us all to be like that? Why… why me? Us?”
“Us?”
“You know… the other Eves.”
“There are… more of you?”
I frown. “You didn’t know.”
“Didn’t know what?”
“About the other Institutes. The other versions of me.”
“I… I knew the Institute had other sites. Just… just research facilities, they said... I didn’t, I didn’t think… there are more of you?”
“I’m from one of them,” Dell interjects. “We all have doubles, pretty much.”
I turn back to Julia. “How many other Institutes are there?”
“Five,” she says shortly. “That I know of. I was… I wasn’t very high up in terms of access.”
That I know of. God, what were we up against? What were they planning?
“Why leave this here?” Dell asks. “Seems like it’d be useful to them.”
“Maybe they couldn’t take it,” Lilil offers. “They left in a hurry, it’s pretty large–”
“If it was important, they would have taken it,” I finish. Like they took Adam and Eva.
“Either they aren’t planning on making any more, or… or they already have what they needed it for in the first place.”
Five Eves, one dead, one escaped… and one Eva.
“What… what should we do with it?” Dell asks.
“Break it out,” I say. “We’ll bury it with the others. No one deserves to stay in this place.”
Chapter 49
We take the Ouroborus, and the rest of the twenty-seven bodies left behind, and bury them out in the woods. Sia and her family bury Fee by themselves, under an oak tree, on a hill looking away from the Institute. Fifteen years in that place, and this is the closest she ever came to freedom.
Five Institutes or fifty, I don’t care. I will burn them all down. No more creatures in tanks and kids in cages. No more lives treated with such disdain and disregard. No more shallow graves.
I hate that last thought. I can control my assault against the Institute. I cannot control who dies in the process. There will be more graves and funerals before this is out, and I will be utterly powerless to stop it.
My fingers itch. Flames ripple between my fingers.
I look to Dell and Lili, and the rest of the people who volunteered to strip the base of anything worth taking. “Is the building clear?”
They nod.
“And Xaph, you definitely ready to face the big wide world?”
He hugs his small bundle of possessions close to his chest, trembling slightly. “Yes.”
“All right then.”
I head back down to the site, the itching in my fingers expanding. The flames cover my arms. I start in the laboratories, burning away the tanks, the beakers, the test tubes. I watch as the glass tightens and shatters. Bye, mother.
I blaze through the rooms, through the gym, the cafeteria, the locker rooms, the holding cells, the dormitories and classrooms and offices. I burn away every container. I pull brick from the walls, exposing the ribs of the building, and then I tear down those, too.
Abi’s suit is incredible. It doesn’t smoke, doesn’t singe or simmer or melt. It’s like I’m wearing breathable rubber, but I feel nothing, nothing but the dim swirling heat around me.
Only when the flames are licking the outer walls do I finally walk through them, back towards the others. They are all speechless.
“I can’t even see, and I know that was insane.” Mi stares sightlessly into the inferno. “That’s a lot of fire, isn’t it?”
“A lot,” Abi agrees. “Two down, t
hree to go?”
I don’t think this site was included in Julia’s original number, which is ten years out of date anyway, but now isn’t the time to mention that. There has been no victory here, but finally reducing this place to a heap of ash soothes the wound, just for a moment. No one else will be imprisoned here. No one else will die here.
Finally, we head back to the vans. Joni, Ben, and some of the other younger ones we didn’t want dealing with the burials have packed up most of the equipment and made a meal. No one feels like eating, but our bodies demand to be fed.
I introduce Xaph to Ben. Far from being shocked by his appearance, Ben is enthralled, although he can’t stop asking questions like, “can you swing from the rafters using your tail?” and “why do you look like a monkey?”
“Some people look like monkeys, other people just act like them, bud,” I explain.
“I don’t get it.”
“You will if you ever have kids.”
When the otherwise solemn meal is over, we pack that up as well. The groups split off.
“I’m going to go with Sia,” Dell announces. “It’ll be nice to live with others for a change.”
“Are you sure? No hot water in the woods.”
He grins weakly. “I’ll manage. Abi’s given me some comms, we’ll be able to keep in touch this time. In case...”
“In case I ever find the other sites and need your help destroying them?”
“Precisely. Don’t keep us waiting too long.”
“I won’t. And if you ever want a hot shower…”
“I’ll find Mi. Thanks.” He rocks back on his feet for a moment. “I know… I know you’re not her, but… it was good to meet you, Ashe. Despite the circumstances.”
“Right back atcha.”
He nods, we shake hands, and he heads back to his rickety van with Sia and the others. We remaining few climb into Julia’s medical vehicle. Scarlet and Mi take the one we purloined from Phoenix. It is a long, quiet journey back, broken only by Ben and Joni asking Xaph a barrage of questions. Julia is silent the entire time. Her cheeks become ravines for the rivers of tears flooding down her face. I’m surprised she can see through them, but it’s not like there’s any traffic to avoid. These roads are deserted.
We have to take the vans back to the base. It wouldn’t be right to let Julia face the music on her own. I’m starting to think I’m never going to enter Phoenix again without dreading something.
Thankfully, Rudy isn’t in the hangar when we arrive. Harris is. He’s wheeling over to us before the van has even come to a complete stop. He screams towards the doors, banging on them to open, peering into the back.
“Julia?”
“She’s up front,” I tell him.
He skids to the driver’s side without even a single glance at any of us. Julia slides out her seat and practically topples into his lap, her face still stained with tears.
“What happened? Why is Julia crying?” He fixes us all with such a venomous glare I half-expect him to whip out a shotgun and start firing.
“It’s fine, nothing happened,” Julia sobs. “Well, no, actually, quite a lot happened, and I’ll tell you everything, but I’m fine, honestly–”
“Hi!” Xaph climbs out of the van behind us, and the sound is sucked from the hangar.
Harris is the first to speak. “Um, hi…”
“Harris, this is Xaph,” Julia explains. “We… have a history.”
“Julia rescued me!” Xaph proclaims proudly, still stumbling slightly on her name.
“That’s not quite–”
Xaph hops over to Harris' side. “I like your chair,” he says, grinning,
Harris blinks. “I like your tail.”
Xaph’s beam widens, flicking it back and forth. I wonder if anyone has ever paid him a compliment before.
A shadow cuts across the hangar, and the sound, a mere murmur before, is crushed entirely. Rudy leaps down the ramp with such force I begin to wonder if his legs aren’t metal too. He storms across the room. I expect him to stop before he reaches me, but he doesn’t. He barrels past Julia, takes no notice of Xaph, and keeps charging. I’m too shocked to move when he extends his arm of steel, wraps his fingers around my neck, and smashes me into the side of the van.
“Hey, hey!” Mi tugs at his arm. “Put her down!”
Ben kicks his leg. “Let her go!”
“What were you thinking?” Rudy bellows. “Dragging Julia into–”
“It was my idea!” Julia hisses.
Gabe grows tired of waiting for me to react. He grabs Rudy by his own throat and hauls him away from me.
“Gabe–”
“Don’t touch her.”
“I’m fine,” I insist, standing between the two of them. The darkness in both of their gazes is unfathomable.
“It was my fault, Rudy,” Julia insists. “I made them take me. I stole the supplies. I had to…” She glances at Xaph. “It’s a very long story. If we could just go somewhere–”
“I’ll get to you!”
Harris scowls. “Don’t yell at her–”
“While it is lovely to see these gentlemen valiantly come to our rescue,” I say, “Julia and I are more than capable of talking for ourselves… providing there’s not a giant metal hand crushing my throat.”
Rudy growls.
“You can do whatever you like with me,” I tell him. “It was a total bust anyway. The Institute killed everyone we could have rescued. They were all dead. But we had to know that. I couldn’t have gone on for one more day, thinking about them there. Julia felt the same about Xaph, only it’s been almost ten years for her. I know you know what that’s like, to have your people out there.”
Rudy says nothing. “I’m rescinding your access. No missions, nothing. I daresay I can’t stop you from training the others, although I’ve got a good mind to tell them they’re not welcome here if they’re with you.”
Anger rises inside me, but something else flashes inside Rudy. Fear, he’s afraid of something. It’s not the Institute. They’re my enemy. Something else is making him act this way.
“The Chosen,” I whisper. “You’re afraid of them.”
I wait for him to deny it. He doesn’t. “They are… more dangerous than you think. Never underestimate the power of a true believer.”
“Then let me help destroy them!”
“No. It can’t be you. You’re too involved.”
“What problem do you have with me–”
“You don’t follow orders!”
“If I followed orders, I’d still be in that place, I’d be fighting you and your resistance, and Mi would be dead. Is that what you want?”
Rudy is silent for a moment. His eyes shift guiltily towards Mi, who can feel his gaze but says nothing.
“Some orders are not meant to be followed.” I say.
“And some are. Your problem is you don’t know the difference!”
“And your problem is you won’t give me a good reason why–”
“I don’t need to–”
I curl my hand into a fist and slam it squarely into Rudy’s cheek. He doubles back with the force.
“Yes you do! You all do! I want a reason why I had to snap a ten-year-old’s neck. I want to know why I have to shoot that creature whose eyes are more human than mine! Why are some lives worth more than others? Why do you want me to take them? Why am I…” The words fall slippery on my tongue. “Forget it,” I say. “You’re not worth it. When you’ve got a reason I should follow you, I’ll listen.”
Behind him, through the crowd of people watching, I see Nick’s face. It is as blank as always. I was so afraid of what he would think of me if I ever told him what I’d done, but there is nothing there, and no fear left in me.
I turn to my family. “Come on,” I tell them, “let’s go.”
Chapter 50
It takes at least three days for my anger to dissipate. I am angry at Rudy, I am angry at the Institute, I am angry at myself and life a
nd just about everything. I don’t want to go back, I do want to go back. I want to do something that will make all of the death and pain worthwhile.
I am not used to being this powerless.
Gabe finds me on the roof one night after the others have gone to bed. I am fixating on the blurred terracotta ribbons dancing through the darkening skies. The horizon is ablaze with orange light. How can a world this bad ever look beautiful?
Nick and I watched the sun set over Luca once. It was even more beautiful there. For a moment, I could even see why Luca was so obsessed with beauty. Nick understood that too, but then said, “The sun sets, and you realise a few moments of prettiness aren't worth the darkness that follows.”
Here, I am seeing the opposite. I am experiencing a droplet of beauty after so much darkness, but it almost seems like it is mocking me.
Gabe sits down beside me. “You’re not happy, Ashe.”
“Neither are you.”
Gabe sighs.
“Why… why aren’t you happy?” I ask him. “Is it the Institute? Do you still feel–”
“It’s not that.”
“Then… us?”
The corner of his mouth twitches. “It’s not that, either. It’s… it’s what Dell said. Or rather, where he went. Do you not think… maybe we should join them? Be with…”
“Our own kind?”
“Yes.”
I look out into the slums below, at the people going about their evening, unaware that anyone is watching them. “They’re my own kind,” I tell him. “I don’t expect you to understand. It took me years to care about them–”
“But wasn’t it easier when you didn't?”
“Easier, yes. But not better. And it doesn’t matter, Gabe. Not any more.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t turn back the clock. I can’t be cold, unfeeling Ashe any more. I care, and so I have to help.”
Slowly, all the breath ekes out of Gabe’s body. He runs his hands through his hair, stopping at his neck. “All right,” he declares.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I’ll help you.”
“But you just said–”
“If it matters to you, it matters to me.”
“Because you can feel me?”
Resurrection Page 21