Watcher

by AJ Eversley

  Watcher

  Book 1

  By AJ Eversley

  Watcher

  Copyright © 2015 by Amy Eversley

  First edition 2017

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Edited by Q Book Editing

  Interior formatting by Tugboat Design

  Book cover artwork by Salome Totladze

  Book cover typography by Tugboat Design

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Epilogue

  The Journey Continues...

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  I knew I wasn’t alone. They’d never leave until every last one of us disappeared.

  From the edge of a rooftop high above the boulevards below, I breathed in the cool, damp air as my eyes monitored the near empty streets. Whispers of rain threatened to erupt from the melancholy sky above, as if to echo the sentiment of this place. The ruined city, once a place I called home, was nothing more than a pile of rubble thanks to the Bots and Carbons roaming the streets. Buildings had been torn to pieces, leaving gaping holes in those that still stood, uninhabited but for a few survivors. It wasn’t a livable place, not the refuge I’d known ten years ago, but it was my reality. And as my eyes scanned the dark metropolis before me, I clung to the feeling of freedom before the burden took over me. The silent promises I had made and had yet to fulfill.

  Quiet and cold as it always was, the darkness hung like the night even at the peak of daytime. Smog and cloud lingered over the city, leaving us in a constant state of gloom with the threat of rain hanging over us. The only light that shone in this dark city was Sub 9, the enemy’s headquarters. The lone building lit up in the distance as I stood bathed in darkness, hidden in the shadows. Darkness was my friend, my confidant, my ever constant reminder of who I was and my purpose here.

  I was invisible to those below me, but I saw them. All thanks to Adam, a scientist with a fascination for robotics before the war broke out.

  “All clear and ready to go, Sawyer?” The voice of Sam, one of our technicians, startled me as it reverberated through the earpiece.

  “Yeah, all good.” I clicked on ‘the Eye’ and it blinked to life over my right eye. “I’m turning you off now.”

  “Aww, come—” My earpiece was muted before he’d finished his argument.

  The six Bots that marched below me lit up green through the Eye. Their oversized steel frames were hard to miss as they stomped through the city streets looking for survivors. Most towered over me with ease, and at nearly four times my weight they were hard to take on alone, but their boxy structure and heavy feet made them easy targets for our weapons. Although they weren’t swift and agile like the Carbons, they were still dangerous and had to be eliminated if we hoped to survive another day.

  Another two Bots were a mile away, and four more were stationed past them shining green on the little lens over my eye. They were indispensable and a constant entity in the city. The Carbons, however, were saved for the more important tasks and hadn’t been seen in weeks.

  No matter how human-like the Carbons looked, they all had one flaw—a microchip at the base of their skull. They were carbon copies of us, hence the nickname, but despite their obvious human appearance, they were not of us. They’d become the deadliest foe mankind has ever known, and my constant enemy for the past ten years.

  I was a part of a team searching the streets of Cytos. Watchers. Together we eliminated any Bots and Carbons that crossed our path. Twelve Bots tonight. Twelve to eliminate. I’d fought more than this at once; twelve was nothing to me.

  Standing, I held steady waiting for the right moment as the wind pushed me onward. My lungs filled with the damp, cool air that surrounded me. My long dark hair that was secured in a braid threatened to escape, but I pushed it back. I never feared being seen for I was a shadow. I was head-to-toe covered in black, unseen and unheard, even to my companions.

  I checked the line again, mostly out of habit. Then I leaned forward and let gravity take me over the edge as the butterflies moved from my stomach to my throat like they did every time despite my fearlessness. Free-falling ten, twenty, thirty stories before the belt around my waist tightened. The line tethering me to the building held strong as I glided to earth.

  I dropped the remaining ten feet. My feet didn’t make a sound as they hit the pavement. Bots could sense human presences, but they hadn’t spotted me. Yet. They walked closer, oblivious as I crouched and hid behind an overturned trash can. One breath in, I took my gun out of its holster. One breath out, I steadied my aim. I knew where to shoot. One more easy breath, and I squeezed the trigger. Once, twice, six shots in all, and they were down, an easy kill as usual.

  Wasting no time, I sprinted north, staying in the shadows. I caught my reflection in a passing window. My small frame and pale complexion didn’t match the assassin that lived inside of me. My cheeks flushed with adrenaline as my legs pumped harder, pushing me forward through the shadows.

  I’ve enjoyed the anonymity of it all. Living to prove everyone, including myself, wrong.

  My gun was out and ready. Two more guns were strapped across my back.

  “You can never be too careful, Sawyer,” my dad had repeatedly said, ever the cautious one. He wouldn’t recognize his own daughter if he saw me. But he wouldn’t see me. He’d been dead, along with everyone else I knew, for what seemed like forever.

  Turning west down an alley, I rounded the corner and came up behind the next set of Bots, exactly where I’d expected. Only two. They turned to me as I walked out of the shadows, and I shot them before they had a chance to take another step. The bullets hit their chests dead center. We’d found out—well, Adam found out—that the center was where their control panels were. One shot to the middle of the chest, and it’s sayonara.

  Four more to go.

  I picked up my speed, adrenaline coursing through my veins. My steps matched the beat of my heart. My pace softened as I approached the next corner. Peeking around the bend, I saw something was different. The Bots were not alone. A Carbon was with them. They didn’t come out that often anymore, especially not with just a few Bots for protection. O
nce they’d realized we could track them, target them, and were picking them off one by one, they’d stopped coming out. We weren’t entirely sure why as their thousands outmatched our hundreds easily. The few Carbons we eliminated only swayed the numbers by a small amount; we were always outnumbered and likely would be forever. The Bots, however, were always expendable as many were unskilled, having been made to serve humans, not kill them.

  The Carbon sensed me before I was close enough to fire. The Eye might have helped us see better, but our weapons weren’t as advanced as theirs, and they limited us greatly. My aim was good. Better than good, actually. But at that distance, it would’ve been a challenge even for me.

  The Carbon ordered the Bots to separate, two on each side. They were hoping to surround me, but they were no match for my training. I was certain she’d already raised the alarm to their headquarters, detailing their coordinates and requesting back up, so I had to be swift and decisive.

  Sprinting hard, I returned to the alley, knowing they sensed me but didn’t yet see me. I still had the upper hand. I doubled back and turned down the next street, hidden as I passed the Bots. The Carbon would sense me coming, so I stood a better chance one-on-one without the Bots to deal with. I stepped out from the shadows and loosed two rounds. Two Bots fell. The other two retreated, frantically searching for me as I strode back into the shadows. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. They walked into my line of sight, and then they were dead. Might’ve been fun if it hadn’t become so routine.

  There was no time to gloat however as the Carbon was unusually fast and on top of me before I could move. Her weight knocked me hard onto my back. I kicked my legs up and threw her off, but she was agile and quick. She landed on her feet with cat-like reflexes before I could pull the trigger to end her. She picked up a metal rod and swung, aiming for my head. I rolled out of the way in the nick of time, but I wasn’t so quick on her second strike. Pain shot across my ribs and knocked the wind from my lungs, causing me to double over.

  Willing my body to move, I was barely to my feet when another strike landed with deadly precision. My leg buckled under the pain as my head whipped to the side, sending out a spray of crimson blood. Stars flashed before my eyes. I couldn’t see and was forced to rely on my other senses. Twisting my body back, I aimed an elbow to her face. It connected with substantial force. As my eyes focused again, the Carbon staggered back. Her nose was no longer straight, but no blood flowed out. Carbons didn’t bleed. I took the moment of distraction and sprinted to create some distance.

  Her energy pulsed right behind me. She was gaining on me fast. Too fast. Carbons were normally decent runners, but I was superior and had never been caught.

  Her hand brushed my back and I knew I couldn’t outrun her, so I dove to my knees, skidding a few feet on the wet pavement. She flipped over my back, surprised by the sudden stop just as I had hoped. My gun was out and ready before she hit the ground. One shot to the head was all it took to incapacitate her, but I knew it wasn’t over. I reached for the knife tucked into my tall boot, turned her over, and made a swift incision at the base of her skull. My eyepiece lit up green, and it was only then that I realized she hadn’t lit up before. That’s why I hadn’t seen her from the rooftop. Instinct had taken over when I saw something was different before, but she didn’t light up. Only now, as her chip was exposed, did the Eye detect her. I quickly removed it and destroyed it.

  More would come soon, and there was no time to waste wondering what had happened with my hardware. I had to see Adam right away; the Eye must have been malfunctioning. I took off at top speed, racing down the streets unseen, not slowing down until I was in front of that familiar building. A pile of rubble to the untrained eye, but buried twenty stories underground was the hidden haven we called home.

  Chapter 2

  Kenzie

  Kenzie sat in front of the glass window, overlooking the city of Cytos as he often did. The city looked peaceful from the sanctuary he lived in, even though the image didn’t fit the reality of what had happened down there. It sickened him to think of it.

  For ten years Kenzie had watched from this window as his friends and family were destroyed.

  Sitting there alone was the only peace he could hope to find these days. It was the only place he was sure that his thoughts were his own. He reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out the little key chain he carried with him, a star-shaped pendant at the end.

  This was the only thing that made him feel human. The only thing that reminded him of what he’d lost and the monster he was.

  Kenzie was ten when he received it, only weeks before the war broke out. He sat in front of this same window crying. That was the day his family left him; the day they abandoned him to this hellhole, this prison, and sealed his inevitable fate. He recalled a gentle hand rested on his back, and a sweet voice that spoke beside him.

  “Why are you crying, dear?” she asked. Her hair looked so smooth and dark, practically black as it sparkled in the artificial lights of the room.

  “I’m alone,” Kenzie replied.

  She seemed to know the meaning of what he said, not that he was physically alone, though he was, but that he was alone in spirit. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the little star-shaped key chain and put it into his hand. “You are never alone. The millions of stars in the sky will always be here for you. Even when you can’t see them, they are there.” She smiled.

  He longed to feel her embrace – the embrace of a mother.

  She gently patted the top of his head and whispered, “The stars are the key; they will keep you safe.” And then she was gone.

  Kenzie never knew who that lady was and could only assume she was dead like so many others. He clutched the pendant in his fist and squeezed it tight as the door behind him opened.

  “It’s time,” the voice said.

  Kenzie knew he must become someone else. The only one that mattered in the world they live in. That little boy who Kenzie once was, died the day he arrived there, and the man he was now was his destiny.

  Chapter 3

  “Whoa, Sawyer. That looks bad.” A guard pointed to my face as I walked through the heavy steel door entrance to our base. In my distraction, I hadn’t noticed the blood still pouring from the gash on my forehead.

  “Where is Adam?” I asked.

  “You should probably go see Doc first and get that checked,” he said, ignoring my question.

  “Not now, I need to see Adam. Are you going to be helpful or not?”

  “Yeah, yeah. He’s in the lab.” He pointed down the hall, as if I didn’t know where I was going. “You’re welcome?” he called after me, but I was already gone.

  I jogged down the hallway which was identical to every other hallway in the building. Cement walls, dimly lit, and steel doors all around. The building was a giant cement maze, and I was constantly finding new hallways and areas to explore.

  Adam was sitting at his desk in the lab looking over charts when I arrived.

  “This thing is broken!” I threw the Eye down onto his papers. “Your crap nearly got me killed tonight!”

  “What seems to be the problem, my dear?” Adam asked calmly, the ever-patient old man.

  I’d never understood how a person could be as composed as Adam was, especially with what he’d gone through. Though he never told me directly, I found out his whole family—wife of twenty-eight years, two sons, a daughter, and four grandkids—were all killed one day when he left on a supply run. He’d blamed himself. They were found hidden in an abandoned farmhouse inside the city walls. Many were picked off this way. We had to stay within the city’s boundaries to obtain food and supplies easier and avoid the nuclear wastelands that lay beyond the wall. But with so few places to hide, it was inevitable some of us would be found.

  He soon met up with us and dedicated himself to our cause for survival.

  “Damn thing didn’t light up for a Carbon. It didn’t turn green until I cut her open to pull out the chi
p.”

  Adam took the Eye and pulled off the back. He held the charger up to it. “Battery looks fully charged,” he said. “Are you sure you weren’t just too focused to notice the green?”

  “Do you think this is my first time out? That I don’t know what’s what? Just have it fixed by tomorrow night.” I stalked out.

  I knew Adam didn’t deserve that. I regretted what I’d said as the pit of my stomach clenched with guilt, but that Carbon encounter had me rattled. Come to think of it, I also hadn’t eaten in a few hours. Food was sparse and locally grown in the tiny indoor greenhouse. We strictly rationed our portions, but with the amount of training we put our bodies through we needed more food than there was available and that could often lead to tired, angry Watchers.

  I ended up at Doc’s office. As I wandered down the winding hallways, I suddenly found myself at his door.

  “Training accident?” Doc asked. That was usually what happened when someone was injured, seeing as we didn’t engage in much hand-to-hand combat, opting to shoot the Bots from a distance whenever possible instead.

  “Carbon,” I said, sitting down.

  “Seriously?” He looked surprised. “That’s the first one I’ve heard of in weeks.”

  He was right, which was why I was so unsettled by the Eye not working. Bad timing if you asked me. I nodded, too tired for small talk. I sat and let Doc patch me up. He was young for a doctor. Not actually a fully licensed doctor but the closest we’ve had. We rarely needed doctors ten years ago since Bots did most of the work, and guys like Doc were around for research or as assistants. He was still in school ten years ago being trained to aid the Bots and add a human touch to make the people feel more at ease, just like my mother. I pushed back at the memory.

  I didn’t mention the ribs because I could tell they weren’t broken, and now it had hit me how starved I was.

  Once I was patched up, I made my way down two levels to the mess hall and walked straight to the back kitchen. Theresa was there as usual. She was our only cook, and that’s the way she preferred it, refusing any offer of help. We made do with the garden and a little meat from animals found before the war broke out, but Theresa knew how to work her magic. She barely looked up as she handed me a plate. I was there often enough that she’d become familiar to my routine. Once my plate was full, I took a seat at the small table at the back of the room.