Project Integrate Series Boxed Set

by Campbell, Jamie

  That was going to be difficult. The Originals were out there every day in the media portraying us as horrible monsters. Once the ships started to land and people could actually see the aliens as they stepped out, they wouldn’t be seeing the similarities first. They would only see the differences. And differences made people scared.

  “We understand, Leader,” the woman nodded. “Thank you for your time.”

  “Keep us updated. I want to know the moment our project members are safe in your custody. I’m sure you can imagine we have a lot of anxious parents here. Out.” The line clicked dead with nothing more than static humming through the room. It was the first time our leaders had even mentioned our parents. I wondered if mine were amongst them. I tried not to get my hopes up.

  Conversations immediately started buzzing around me as everyone came up with ideas about getting the project members out of the complex. They could talk all they wanted, but none of them knew what they were truly up against. Only Garrick and I had been inside and knew it would be an epic feat to spring them all. No doubt the Department had stepped up security even further after we had escaped.

  I left them to it, my opinion didn’t count. The satellites were trained in things like strategy, they could figure it out for themselves. I quietly retreated to a much smaller room away from the chatter.

  Looking at my phone, there was still no signal so far underground. We had been in the disused bunker for most of the week, afraid to walk around in public for too long. So far I hadn’t been recognized anywhere but it would only be a matter of time. My adoptive parents were practically prisoners in their own home as the media camped outside.

  I slumped against the steel wall and slid down to the floor. Every little sound echoed in the bunker. It had apparently been built by a wealthy entrepreneur during the cold war. He was paranoid about an atomic bomb so moved his family underground into the massive space. One of the satellites found out about it and commandeered it for our use. As far as I knew, we didn’t exactly have permission to be down there.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about Lochie. Whenever my mind went quiet, he was there. Sometimes I was haunted by the way he had looked at me with such hatred before he left. Other times I yearned for him as I remembered how he used to cradle my head in his hands and lean down to kiss me so tenderly. The two images seemed completely at odds with each other.

  Garrick kept telling me to forget about him but there was no way I could do that. Not when we had shared so much, and even if he hated what I was.

  I guessed after hearing everything the Originals said, Lochie could be forgiven for hating that I was an alien. He was probably repulsed by the fact he had kissed me, let alone slept with me. He had given himself to an alien, a horrible, human-killing alien. I had gotten exactly what I had deserved.

  I would love to have spoken to my best friend, Lola, about everything that happened. She was fine with my alien status, the only person I had ever told had reacted quite well. It had given me hope that Lochie would too, but not in the way he had found out. Hearing it from the Originals was the worst possible way to find out his girlfriend’s biggest secret.

  I missed Lola so much. If my phone worked, I would have called her. I needed to feel like a normal teenager for a while, even if just for a few minutes. I was so tired of having the weight of the world on my shoulders.

  “Is this a private party, or can anyone join in?” Garrick gave me a grin from the doorway. At least in the past week he had stopped fighting with me about everything. Disaster actually mellowed him, who would have thought?

  “Are they still pretending like they can fix the world?” I managed to joke. If I didn’t laugh, I was going to cry. And never stop.

  Garrick joined me on the floor, our arms touching, he had seated himself so close. He nudged me. “They’re the adults, they’re the ones supposed to be fixing the world. Not us.”

  “They have no idea what they’re getting themselves into.”

  “Agreed. But they’ve got to try.”

  “How would you fix it?” I asked, curious. Garrick spent a lot of time thinking, I would often catch him staring into nothing. I didn’t have any doubts that a lot went on behind his dark brown eyes.

  He sighed, grinning. “I would set a fire in the complex and get everyone out while the guards were distracted.” I couldn’t stop the smile spreading across my face as I remembered the way we had escaped from the complex.

  “I guess it worked once,” I shrugged. “But seriously, how?”

  “The best way to get the Department to do anything would be from the inside.”

  I caught on quickly, he really was a genius. “You’d trick the Department into releasing them.”

  “It only takes turning one of them to start a chain reaction. How many people do you know would be fine killing thousands of seventeen year olds? They might be federal agents, but they’re still human.”

  “Do you think any of the satellites have thought about that?” I asked, already sensing I knew the answer. When Garrick shook his head, it was confirmed. “Should we tell them?”

  “Do you think they’d listen?” We both already knew the answer to that question too. The satellites might have been experts in their field and the elite of our planet, but they didn’t understand humans the same way we did. They had been on the fringe of society since arriving, whereas we had been a part of it. Sometimes even the best of intentions weren’t enough.

  I leant my head against the metal wall, hearing and feeling the bump it made. “I just want to go home.” The moment the words were out of my mouth I regretted them. I had a home to go to, but Garrick didn’t. His parents had been reassigned in the Department, not wanting to be in the project anymore. My stupid foot was firmly in my mouth.

  “You could go home,” Garrick stated casually, like it was an actual possibility. I turned my head to stare at him, raising one eyebrow. “You just might be killed, by either the Department, the Originals, or a member of the general public.”

  “I think I’m almost ready to take that chance,” I sighed. I meant it too. Even the possibility of a horrible death sounded better than spending another day holed up underground.

  “We should get back. They’ll eventually miss us.”

  “By they, you mean Kyle, right?” I teased, Garrick just smiled in return. He stood and held his hand out for me. I took it gratefully and he helped me up. We returned to the meeting hall where everyone seemed to be getting a little heated in the discussions.

  We took our seats and listened for a while to gauge the gist of their plans. From what I could tell, some satellites wanted to storm into the complex and take all the project members. Others wanted to sit back and observe for a while. There didn’t seem to be any in between. Either they wanted to go in guns blazing or do nothing for a while.

  The arguments went around in circles. Even the woman seated in front of the microphone couldn’t make everyone agree. I didn’t think either of their plans would work. If they suddenly attacked the complex, they would be no match for the guards. It was a huge building and there were only a hundred satellites. Not only would the guards outnumber them, but they were also heavily armed and trained. Even if we could get weapons like they had, none of them would be able to use them effectively.

  On the other hand, if they did nothing and just sat back and observed, the day grew closer where the Department would dispose of all the members. By not doing anything but watching, they were risking the members’ lives.

  Neither plan was going to work and Garrick knew it just as well as I did. I couldn’t take it any longer. The walls felt like they were closing in on me as the disembodied voices just screamed around me. I pictured all those guns pointed at the members and then a bloody massacre in the dining room of the complex. That was how it was all going to end.

  I stood up and banged on the table, unable to stop myself. The room grew deathly quiet as all the satellites turned their attention my way. With hundreds of eyes staring at me
intently, I swallowed my fear. Someone had to do something and it may as well be me.

  CHAPTER 2

  “Your plans aren’t going to work,” I said clearly, my voice louder and steadier than I imagined it would have been. “You need to infiltrate the complex from the inside. You need to turn a Department Agent. That’s the only way to get them out.”

  Garrick stood at my side. “She’s right. We’ve been in the complex, we know how it operates. You have no chance of getting them out by storming in. You’ll all be dead and the project members will be soon to follow.”

  I was so grateful to have half the attention shared with Garrick now. At least I wasn’t just a madwoman anymore, I had backup. Or just a madman, either one.

  The satellites continued to stare at us, their mouths either pursed in thought or hanging open in disbelief. We may have been the youngest there and certainly not trained for espionage, but we did have experience on our side. That had to count for something, right? We had been there, we had seen beyond the walls. None of the satellites could say the same thing, they had to listen to us.

  We were wrong. The woman at the microphone spoke first. “We will observe then. I’ll set up a roster and arrange a vehicle. We will observe for a period of one month and then reassess. Any objections?”

  Apparently it was only Garrick and I objecting, all the others nodded in agreement. We sunk back into our chairs, completely defeated. The only good thing to come of it was that they weren’t going to storm into the complex. At least that would save a few hundred lives.

  They concluded the meeting and we were all free to go as a smaller group started on the planning. Having people sit outside a government building didn’t seem like it would take much organizing to me. All they had to do was make sure they weren’t seen by the Department. But even if they were, they would just say they were private citizens.

  Since I had posted the complex’s address on the conspiracy message board just over a week ago, there had been people staking the place out anyway. It got so bad the Department put out a press release saying it was merely a training camp for agents. Which only added fuel to the ever growing fire. After the announcement by the Originals, it was a hotspot on the alien conspiracy theorist’s roadmap. I felt a small sense of accomplishment at causing the Department some inconvenience at least.

  I pushed my chair back, the air was too stuffy in the bunker to remain down there. They could all fight about it, I didn’t care what they said anymore. Garrick grabbed my hand before I could go anywhere.

  “Where are you going?” He asked, concern in his eyes. It was better than the anger that used to be there when he looked at me. I don’t know what had changed but something obviously did.

  “I need to get out of here, I’m going for a walk.”

  He pushed his own chair back. “I’ll come with you.”

  “No, I need some time alone,” I said quickly, too sharply. “I just need to clear my head. Thank you, though, really,” I added softly. Garrick let go of my hand and nodded. He watched me leave until I was out the door.

  In the corridor, I didn’t stop. I climbed the steel ladder, warm from the heat of the bunker. Our air supply came from a series of vents. We didn’t have the air conditioning running as it used too much electricity. Our entire electrical supply was powered by a small generator, it was used only for the essentials.

  When I reached the top, I had to push on the door for it to creak open. There was nobody around so I climbed out and secured the entrance. I was standing in an open field, nothing around except the odd tree here and there. I started walking.

  Kyle’s car was parked a mile down the road, he kept the keys hidden underneath the wheel hub for an emergency. I fished around and pulled them out, letting myself into the vehicle and getting out of there.

  I resisted the urge to go see if Lochie would talk to me. I knew the outcome would just be silence as I stood like an idiot on his front stoop. Even if he was home he would refuse to come to the door. It was pointless going there. I knew that, but I still had to fight hard to resist the temptation anyway.

  Instead of going down that well travelled road, I headed in the opposite direction and drove even further out of town than I already was. I doubted I would get any further at my new destination but it was worth a try. I headed for Special Agent Robert Bower’s house.

  The last time I had seen him, it was at the Department as he sacrificed himself for my freedom. He saved my life that day and he had been plaguing my nightmares ever since. I needed to know what happened to him. I needed to see for myself that he was okay.

  I had only been to Rob’s house a handful of times. Each time was when he had held a barbeque for his birthday or on the fourth of July. My parents had driven with me every time, I had to look for landmarks to find my way there.

  At least Kyle’s car was easier to drive than the old VW Bug Garrick and I had been driving previously. His new four wheel drive didn’t rattle and shake, nor did it stall at every intersection. And it was completely void of bullet holes – bonus.

  It was pleasant being outside in the sun, away from all the dramas in the bunker. For one moment, everything felt normal. It felt like I could just drive home or to school and resume my life like nothing had happened.

  The feeling only lasted a few seconds. I recognized Rob’s house and pulled up at the curb a few houses down. I slipped the key into my pocket, just in case I needed to get out of there quickly. I had no idea what would confront me when I knocked on the front door. I did it anyway, holding my breath.

  “Amery?” Rob whispered in disbelief when he opened the door. If was such a relief to see him in one piece. My mind had envisaged all kinds of torture the Department could have inflicted upon him.

  I fell into his arms, squeezing Rob tight to make sure he was really there. He felt real as he hugged me in return. He pulled me inside and closed the door with his free hand.

  “I’ve been so worried about you,” I confessed as we sat on his sofa. “I thought the Department might have locked you up.”

  He waved away my concern. “I was fired and I had to pass a polygraph test. But they couldn’t prove anything so they let me go freely. I’ve been more worried about you, soda pop. Are you okay? Safe?”

  “I’m fine. Garrick and I are in hiding,” I replied carefully, not wanting to betray the existence of all the satellites. I trusted Rob, especially after he had freed us from our prison cell underneath the Department headquarters, but it was a habit to protect others now.

  “The Originals kind of put a spanner into the works, huh?” His mouth was smiling but it didn’t translate into his eyes. He had believed in the project as much as I did, to have the existence of aliens revealed so callously was as much his tragedy as it was mine. Seventeen years of work, all down the drain.

  “They definitely didn’t do us any favors,” I laughed sarcastically. “Everybody now hates us and wants to kill our kind as much as the Originals themselves. We need some seriously good PR.”

  “If the project continued like it was supposed to, this never would have happened. The Department brought it on themselves.” To hear Rob speak badly about his former employer was like seeing your parents kissing. It was weird. “Not that they’ve come out of it unscathed. People are demanding answers, they think it’s a big cover up that’s put all the human race in jeopardy.”

  That information was new to me. As far as I had known, the Department were ignoring everything the Originals threw at them. If they were suffering from the negative press, then good. We shouldn’t have been the sole bearers of that particular burden.

  “Do you know what the Department is planning for the other members? The ones still in the complex?”

  He shook his head and my heart fell. I had hoped he would have some inside knowledge. “No, I don’t. Before I was fired, they were planning on killing them eventually. Now, after the Originals’ exposure, I’m not so sure. It wouldn’t be wise to kill them when there is so much evidence
of their existence at the facility. Would you like something to drink? I know you like tea.”

  I smiled, touched he had remembered. “Thank you.”

  I followed him into the kitchen, the window overlooking a valley of houses and trees. It was a nice house, modern and airy. A far cry from the steel of the bunker. Rob wasn’t married and didn’t have any children that he knew of so I felt safe there knowing my presence wouldn’t be accidently discovered.

  As we waited for the kettle to boil, I asked the question that was burning in my mind. “Rob, how would you free all the members at the complex?”

  He didn’t have to think about it long. “I would convince the officer in command to let them go.”

  “How?” Just the thought of Agent Harrison made my skin crawl. He was a creep, a harsh and unforgiving creep.

  “Give him orders, convince him they were real.” He made it sound so easy.

  “What would happen if someone stormed the grounds and tried to take them by force?”

  Again, he was so confident of the answer he didn’t need to think about it for more than a second. “They would get shot before they even made it inside. There are snipers stationed along the fences, they each have a shoot to kill order for anyone who breaches the boundary.”

  “Were they always there?” I asked, remembering the night when Garrick and I had escaped from the place. I hadn’t noticed any shooters, which was probably a good thing.

  “No, just since…”

  “Since we escaped,” I finished for him.

  “Yeah,” Rob said sheepishly. “They stepped up security so they didn’t have any copycats thinking they might be able to get away with it. You caused a bit of a problem for the Department.” The thought of his last statement only made me happy.

  He poured two cups of tea and handed me one. “Aren’t you addicted to coffee?” I asked, remembering all the coffee mugs that were constantly on his desk. They always had a few dregs left at the bottom, like he had been distracted before he could finish any of them.