Watcher

by AJ Eversley

  We had one last team of mostly untrained civilians who’d help lead the rescued group of humans back to camp.

  Sam would be overseeing the whole operation from the control room back at camp along with Max, who Murray made stay behind no matter how hard Max argued. Murray claimed he needed Max to lead his operatives as he was best trained in the Link system. I suspected Murray was protecting his only son, despite Max’s protest. Along with a few of the operatives still there, they’d initiate the attack by linking in nearby and drawing as many of the Carbons away from their base as they could.

  We moved into a slow jog, making our way through the dark forest. Adam was already out of breath beside me.

  “You can walk, you know,” I told him.

  “And let you young whippersnappers have all the fun?” He gulped down another breath with a smile.

  We came to a steep hill, and I slowed down so Adam would too. He couldn’t jog to the top.

  “You make sure that boy doesn’t exceed thirty seconds,” he said.

  “What?” I looked at Adam, confused.

  “Didn’t Kenzie tell you what I found?” He scrunched his eyebrows as he wiped off the sweat dripping into his eyes with a small handkerchief.

  “No, he didn’t say anything. What is this about?” I looked to the top of the hill where Kenzie was helping a girl over a fallen log.

  “His body will crash if he holds on at top capacity for longer than about thirty seconds. The power burning through him will kill him from the inside. I made very clear to him that at that level of intensity, he has to be fast,” Adam explained.

  I knew why Kenzie didn’t tell me before.

  “Thanks, Adam,” I said. “Take care of Chevy.” I signaled for the dog to stay back as I sprinted to catch up to Kenzie.

  ~

  Once I had caught up, I pulled Kenzie to the side.

  “Adam told me. Why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.

  “You know why,” he replied. “We’ve got to do something, and if turning off that mainframe is the best we can do, then we sure as hell will get it done.”

  I understood. I hated it, but I understood it.

  “Keep this for me.” He placed something in my hand. It was the other star pendant; the other key.

  I was shaking my head, but he pressed it into my hand and closed my fist. He kissed my hand and then rejoined the crowd to Kuros as we reached the boundaries of the city.

  I waited there. I had already lost so much that I’d think I’d be used to this feeling. But the unease in the pit of my stomach had stopped me, and it took all my will to urge my legs to move once again. Today, everything changed. If I lived or if I died, nothing would ever be the same.

  ~

  The first explosion told us the assault team had made it to the center of the city, and we could make our move inwards. The Carbons had followed the assault team, so the streets were empty as we jogged through them. It was an eerie sort of quiet that set me on edge.

  We followed behind Murray’s team. We had been instructed not to engage or help, just to stay behind them and wait for the all-clear signal. This was the hardest part for me.

  Another blast went off, and I heard people screaming. Panic rolled through the city center as buildings went up in flames.

  We rounded the corner, and I almost dropped to my knees. All around us were bodies, our bodies, unmoving. They were all dead. We were right; it was a slaughter. We hadn’t even put a dent in their defenses, and we were outnumbered by the Carbons.

  We stayed hidden behind a building as Murray’s team ran in to clear a path. My eyes were wide in horror as our people fell, one by one.

  Another explosion sounded not far from us. A group of Carbons flew back from the blast, but they climbed right back up and sprinted back into the action like nothing happened.

  “We can’t stop them,” I whispered. “We don’t stand a chance.”

  We watched as they tossed our people out of the way, bodies thrown like rag dolls, left limp on the floor. Our men tried to push back with everything they had, but the Carbons didn’t give an inch.

  I gasped and had to cover my mouth to stay quiet. I spotted Kyle in the distance being thrown into the side of the building. He tried to get up, but a Carbon was on top of him. The Carbon grabbed Kyle by the throat and lifted him up so his toes were grazing the ground. Kyle clawed and grabbed at the Carbon, but he wasn’t strong enough.

  “We have to do something.” I was already moving to join them, but Kenzie pulled me back.

  “We have to get inside that base. It’s the only way we can help,” he said calmly. I nodded, but I felt my eyes burning with the tears.

  I couldn’t watch.

  Kyle struggled against the Carbon, kicking him with all his might, but the Carbon held tight. And then, with a sickening crunch, Kyle’s body went limp, and the struggle was over. The Carbon tossed Kyle to the side and moved onto the next assailant. My eyes burned a hole in the back of the Carbon’s head.

  My heart stopped. Body shaking in rage as Kenzie held me back.

  It took everything in me not to go after the Carbon, to hold back, to not let Kyle’s sacrifice be for nothing. Tears spilled over my cheeks, which were red-hot with fire and anger. I couldn’t look away from Kyle’s lifeless body.

  Murray kept his composure as he signaled for his team to move forward. We stayed close behind. Carbons guarded the front of the building, more than we had expected. They pushed back with all their might, and Murray yelled out, “Now!” We sprinted through a small opening, crashing through the door.

  There were two Carbons inside the small room. I shot both in the head. They fell briefly, but they didn’t stay down. Byron aimed for one but was tossed to the side before he had a chance to pull the trigger. These Carbons were different from what we’d seen before. I took aim again, and this time they dodged the bullets and advanced on us. I was knocked back as a Carbon reached for Kenzie.

  I was scrambling to get up when a flash of light shot past me. Both Carbons dropped to their knees. A hole the size of my fist was drilled through where their hearts would be and out the other side. I turned to see Kenzie with his left arm raised and aimed at the Carbons.

  I raised my eyebrows at him, but he shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. Neither did I. Where had that come from?

  There was no time for questions. Kenzie and I barricaded the door with whatever we could find. Byron opened the hatch leading to the next level, containing the panel we needed to unlock the final hatch. We climbed down the ladder and looked around. The room was empty.

  “Shouldn’t there be someone here guarding this?” I asked.

  “They probably don’t think we can get in. They don’t know about our secret weapon,” Byron suggested.

  Kenzie and I exchanged a look. Coleman did know about Kenzie, and either he didn’t think Kenzie was still alive, or this was a trap.

  Kenzie read my mind. “We have to try,” he said.

  This didn’t feel right, but we’d come too far to turn around. Too many lives lost to turn back.

  “Uh, guys?” Sam’s voice came through our earpieces. “We don’t have much time. We need to turn that thing off.”

  “He’s right,” Kenzie said, taking a step toward the panel.

  “When the system goes black, you will only have about fifteen seconds to get down before the backup system reactivates. If the hatch is still open, the whole base will go into lockdown and you guys will be trapped,” Sam explained.

  “Ready?” Kenzie asked.

  I nodded.

  Kenzie placed his hand on the pin pad, and sparks flew from the panel. The lights flickered. Sweat was already dripping down his brow as he held on and pushed harder.

  “Almost there. Just a little more,” Sam said.

  Kenzie keeps pushing. His whole body shook with the effort.

  I was counting the seconds in my head as he held on. Twenty-one…Twenty-two…Twenty-three…

  “Kenz
ie, you have to let go!” I yelled.

  “I’ve got it,” he said through clenched teeth and pushed on. His knees buckled under him.

  I tried to run to him, but Byron caught my wrist.

  “You can’t touch him!” he yelled.

  Twenty-five…Twenty-six…Twenty-seven…

  “Kenzie!” I begged.

  Twenty-eight…Twenty-nine…

  The room went black. It was silent, and I was frozen where I stood. My body fought the urge to run to where Kenzie was. I couldn’t see him. I stretched my arms out, waiting to feel him reaching for me.

  Byron had opened the hatch and tried to pull me through.

  The world was still. Time had stopped. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, all I saw was Kenzie’s limp body on the ground. Not moving. Not breathing.

  “Go! Now!” Sam yelled, but I couldn’t move.

  “Sawyer!” Byron pulled at me again, but I didn’t budge.

  My ears were ringing. The world around me was spinning.

  “Sawyer!” Sam yelled again, but it was muffled; muffled by the sound of my own screams I wasn’t aware were escaping my body.

  Byron pulled me closer. “Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain,” he whispered. It snapped me out of it, and I dropped the hatch as the lights went back on. The hatch was safely closed behind us, and Kenzie’s lifeless body lay above.

  Chapter 46

  I crumbled to the ground. My eyes widened as I looked up to Byron. “You knew,” I whispered.

  He nodded. “He knew you’d need someone to keep you going,” he said.

  I was so mad at Kenzie. So angry that he’d left me alone, that he’d abandoned me, right at the end. I was angry that he thought I was strong enough. I wasn’t. I couldn’t do this alone.

  “He did this for you. Don’t take that away from him.” Byron crouched beside me and offered me a hand up.

  “Sam, vitals?” I asked desperately.

  “I’m sorry, Sawyer,” Sam said.

  That was it, he was gone. Just as quickly as I had believed in happiness, it was taken away. Just like I had expected, just like it always was.

  I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to leave him, but Byron was right. I might not be strong enough for myself, but I was strong enough to keep going for him. It was what I’d expect him to do for me.

  I grabbed Byron’s hand and stood, wiping tears from my cheeks that I hadn’t realize was there.

  “Let’s go.”

  I kept it together, for him.

  I sprinted harder, for him.

  I was here, for him.

  The building went down farther than we expected, and it was empty and unguarded.

  “Any suggestions, Sam?” Byron asked as we blindly sprinted down hallways, opening door after door.

  “If I were an evil genius, I’d probably keep my mainframe in the center, somewhere in the middle to make it harder to find. Behind a secret door, maybe?” Sam suggested.

  “Secret door…helpful,” I mumbled.

  We reached a spiral staircase and took it down. A door was at the bottom, and as we pushed it open, a huge warehouse was revealed. This was the warehouse from Kenzie’s vision.

  “Whoa!” Byron exclaimed as he stepped inside.

  “That room is huge,” Sam whistled. He saw through Byron’s eyepiece. “Those look like pods, are they—”

  I walked up to one and peered in. “Humans,” I said, finishing his sentence.

  There were so many of them—literally thousands. And each pod held a human host who looked to be sleeping. The room was larger than two football fields combined. We couldn’t even see the back wall.

  I weaved in and out of the rows, scanning each pod, looking for that one face I’d recognize. I was nearing the edge when I spotted her. I slowed down and walked closer. Her still body was frail and thin. Although her chest rose and fell as she breathed slowly, it was labored and shallow.

  I placed my hand on top of the glass.

  “Mom,” I whispered.

  “It’s over here,” Byron’s voice echoed from far away.

  I had to force myself to move away from her, not wanting to go yet.

  At the center of the warehouse was the mainframe. Thick, long cables fed out of it, connected to the endless stream of pods.

  “Hidden behind a secret door, hey?” Byron scoffed as I reached him.

  “I said if I was an evil genius, which clearly I’m not!” Sam retorted.

  We reached the mainframe and found two star-shaped openings at the front. I reached into my pocket and pull out the two pendants—Kenzie’s and mine.

  “Just in time, guys. Our troops have opened a hole in the fence to release the trapped humans, but we can’t distract the Carbons any longer,” Sam said.

  I gave one pendant to Byron, and we placed each into the star-shaped openings. They fit perfectly. A handle popped out from the center of the pendants, allowing us to turn them as keys.

  “Count of three?” I suggested.

  “Yeah.”

  “One…Two…”

  “Three,” a voice behind us echoed through the warehouse.

  I knew the voice before I even looked.

  Coleman.

  Slowly, I turned around, not releasing my grip on the key. He smiled smugly as he walked closer. His guards surrounded him.

  “Go ahead, turn it,” he said.

  We didn’t.

  “You really think I would allow your father to install a kill switch without my knowledge?” Coleman chuckled and took a step closer.

  There were twenty or more guards surrounding him, all Carbons, all willing to take a bullet should we try to take Coleman out.

  “I did not get this far by being naïve or trusting. Oh no, I removed that program a long time ago.” He moved closer, always smiling.

  I stiffened as he neared, but I kept my hand on the key.

  “Turn that key, and all you’ll do is kill thousands of humans in one shot, including your mother.” He leaned in so close I felt his breath on my cheek.

  The only way to save her was to let her go. I understood.

  My eyes narrowed. Tremors passed through my hand as I squeezed the key. I didn’t want to let her go. I’d lost so much already. I needed her to still be alive. I needed her here with me.

  But, if this was the only way to save her, then I’d have to do it.

  “Think I am bluffing?” He turned his back. “She is here, and she is not alone.” He smirked at me. A menacing smile like he knew an inside joke that none of us understood yet.

  “Why don’t you just save us all a little time and explain yourself?” I demanded.

  “And ruin the surprise?” He gasped. “Go have a look at what’s inside pod 2856.” He gestured to his left, a few rows over.

  I shouldn’t have trusted him. I shouldn’t have even given him the satisfaction of telling me what to do. I should’ve turned the key, but I didn’t. I looked to Byron, and he nodded. I let go of the key, and he took over both. Slowly, I walked down four aisles to my right, coming up to the pod Coleman had pointed out. I stepped in front of it, and my breath was gone. I shook my head. It couldn’t be.

  I leaned in closer, and what was looking back at me was—myself. My naked body covered by three straps, attached to multiple cables lying inside the pod. My eyes were closed, and I saw my chest slowly rising up and down with each breath.

  Coleman cackled with laughter. I stepped back, unable to comprehend what this meant.

  “That’s right, dear. You are not quite yourself at the moment.” Coleman sneered.

  “How?” I asked, my voice barely audible.

  “What, did you actually think you had developed magical healing powers?” Coleman asked.

  I closed my eyes. I remembered being shot, an injury that should’ve taken me down, but I healed so quickly. So well that Doc didn’t even see a wound. I recalled being in the blast as Cytos was destroyed. I shouldn’t have lived through that, yet here I was alive and well. I
looked down at my hands, suddenly foreign to me. I stepped back, try to step away from who I was or what I was.

  “The lady—” I mumbled to myself, recalling the doctor who gave me the shot of blue liquid back in Sub 9.

  “Your father was of great help in that department. He seemed to think he was helping you somehow, but he had to have known you would not survive. No matter what he did. You are one of mine now. You belong to me.”

  In a split second, I pulled out my gun. I aimed it at his temple, just as I heard the click of twenty more guns pointed at my head.

  “I will never belong to you,” I said between clenched teeth.

  Coleman smiled back at me. He motioned for his guards to put down their guns. “Silly girl, haven’t we played this game before? I cannot die. And you will not shoot me.” I tried with all my will to keep the gun trained at his head, but my arm grew heavy as he spoke. I couldn’t control it as my hand dropped to my side. Coleman smiled with satisfaction.

  “All my Carbons are loyal to me, and me alone. There is nothing you can do about it.”

  “We can turn off your power supply!” Byron shouted.

  I forgot he was even there.

  Byron’s hands rested on the two keys still in place, ready to turn the moment I gave him the signal.

  “You would kill your own friend?” Coleman asked. “Sawyer’s human body would die, but my Carbons would live. Shut off the power supply and all you do is condemn your own. My Carbons cannot die, and I will find new humans. It is no major loss to me. This would be but a blip on the radar.”

  “You’re lying,” I challenged.

  “Don’t believe me? You could try to fight back. It is quite entertaining to see your meaningless efforts.” Coleman shrugged.

  “That’s all this is to you? This is just a game? The extinction of the human race is entertainment for you?” I took a step forward. He didn’t move.

  “Not complete extinction, my dear. The lucky ones will live on forever in their newer, better form. I have given them a chance for immortality,” he exclaimed.

  “What kind of life can you live without any control? This is no life at all,” I argued.