Mutant Academy (The Fundamental Society Book 1)

by Yumoyori Wilson

“Believe me,” I said. “We can trust them. I traveled all the way through the woods with them. They’re the ones who saved me and brought me back here after I lost Maddie in the woods.”

  I left out that I wished I knew why Maddie had run away and left me with a cluster of men who had encircled us. Something just didn’t add up. Her behavior didn’t make sense. I wondered if there was a wire in her mind that had tripped or short circuited after receiving the electric shock from her wrist implant.

  Megan stared at me as if I were a hidden temple that would provide her with the answers she needed.

  “How was she acting before she ran into the woods?”

  I pondered Megan’s question. I wanted to really think about it, to reflect on the memory for clues that might lead us to Maddie.

  “She was…she was acting fine, really,” I said. “We were just going through the routine of the day. We were tired, going to sleep. That’s when the alarms started to sound. We ran out as fast as we could in the direction of the tree line.”

  “Were there other Mutants doing the same thing?” Megan asked.

  “Yes.” I nodded. “Mutants and guards were scattering everywhere. It was impossible to keep track with everything going on because it was utter chaos.”

  “But Maddie was with you the whole time?” Megan asked, leaning ever closer.

  “Yes,” I confirmed. “She didn’t leave my sight. We raced as fast as we could across the Home Base camp lawns. When we discovered that the gates were open, we flew through them. Other Mutants were doing the same thing, but we were skewing off in a different direction.”

  “Maddie stayed with you?” Megan asked.

  “She was with me until the security systems went back into lockdown and our wrist trackers went off. The last thing I remember before waking up in a Safe House was seeing Maddie get up and run away.”

  “It just doesn’t make any sense.” Megan’s forehead wrinkled.

  “No,” I agreed. “It doesn’t.”

  That’s when Liam and Nick approached us. They were tall and burly, with muscles on every surface of their bodies. They had identical buzz cuts and smiles of delight on their lips at running into us in the library.

  “What a wonderful coincidence.” Nick grinned. “We hardly come into the library, but we had to return some books on fighting codes for our Brute studies.”

  I returned their smiles. “Nick, Liam, this is my new roommate, Megan.”

  “She looks familiar,” Liam said as if he was trying to determine where he knew her from.

  “She’s the twin sister of my friend from the Home Base camp,” I explained.

  “She is?” Nick and Liam exchanged a look of surprise.

  “I know, it seems outlandish, like the most improbable situation, but it’s true.”

  Megan’s eyes scanned the pair as if she was curious about them. “You’re twins?”

  “Yes.” Liam and Nick nodded politely but I could tell that they were annoyed with the obvious question. I was sure they got asked that a lot.

  “Maddie was my twin.” Megan’s eyes pooled with tears.

  Nick and Liam shifted their weight uncomfortably and looked at me for a way out.

  “She’s struggling because she just assumed all this time that Maddie was dead.”

  “She’s the same girl who ran away in the woods after we found you?” Nick asked.

  “That’s right,” I confirmed.

  “What happened to her?” Nick said, but it was more of a rhetorical question.

  “That’s what we want to know,” I said. “We want to go and find her. I say we leave tonight.”

  Megan’s eyes widened in shock. “You want to go looking for her…tonight?”

  “Yes,” I said. I was determined, and I had a good reason for hunting for her in the darkness. “We’re less likely to be discovered. As long as we don’t get too close to the Home Base camp, my tracker sensor shouldn’t register.”

  Megan glanced at her wrist. “What about mine?”

  “Was your Home Base camp near the woods?” I asked.

  Megan shook her head. “No, not really.”

  “Then we should be okay. The guards won’t be combing the woods in the middle of the night.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Megan said. Her expression revealed that she was less than convinced by the plan, but I could also see that she was torn between the risk and finding her sister alive.

  “The window of opportunity to find her alive diminishes by the day,” Nick said. “If you want our help, we’re on board.”

  Megan peered up at them in disbelief. “Really?”

  I beamed at her. “I told you they would want to do anything they could.”

  “We love adventure,” Nick said, “but it’s more than that. We want to save as many Mutants as possible. We have free reign to come and go as we please here, as long as we get our studies completed and go to class.”

  “Which is also why it’s a good idea to go in the middle of the night when there aren’t any classes going on,” I added.

  Megan’s eyes searched between me and the gorgeous set of twins in front of us.

  “All right. Let’s do it.”

  I reached across the table and squeezed her cupped hands. “I know that Maddie would do the same thing for either one of us.”

  “I hope so,” Megan said.

  “She talked about you all the time,” I said. “She missed you so much and dreamed of a world where she could be reunited with you. She thought that you had passed away.”

  Now it was my turn to have eyes brimming with soggy tears.

  “Thank you,” Megan squeaked, mouthing the words to me.

  I glanced up at Nick and Liam. “So, you guys are really on board?”

  Nick and Liam exchanged an apprehensive glance with each other before looking back at me and Megan.

  “We want to go with you, if for no other reason than to help protect you, but we need strength in numbers and we need to solidify the plan first before we put it into motion.”

  “I agree,” I said.

  “So, where do we start?” There was a lost expression on Megan’s face.

  “I think we should go get Pete, Gabriel, and Jude,” Nick said.

  “They are wonderful assets,” I agreed.

  “Who are they?” Megan glanced between us.

  “They are our best friends here at school,” Liam said. “They’ll be on board too. They won’t want to miss something like this.”

  “Except maybe Pete.” Nick snickered.

  “He’s not that bad,” I said, feeling the need to defend Pete. He was a little bookish, but I admired him because he thought things through before he acted. We would need him on our team if we hoped to succeed.

  He was still exceptionally sexy to me, especially the way he looked at me through his glasses. I loved his tousled hair and his eyelashes that went on for days. He was the only Mutant I knew who could pull off a plain gray t-shirt and a pair of skinny jeans with the cuffs rolled up. Pete was essential to our operation.

  “Are we going to get the others?” Megan asked.

  “Yes,” Nick and Liam said in unison. “We can catch them up and get some essential items to bring in a backpack or two.”

  “Sounds good to me.” I stood up. I had been born ready for a sting like this. Action and adventure were what I lived for, especially when they involved the safety and well-being of a beloved friend.

  “Hey,” I whispered softly to Megan as we walked out of the library, the four of us. “Maddie was like a sister to me too. I would die before I let something happen to her. If I hadn’t been debilitated at the time, I would never have let her run through the woods. I would have chased after her.”

  Megan gave me a warm smile for the first time since meeting her earlier in the evening. “I know. Thank you for reassuring me. I feel better knowing that I have new friends to help me through the process.”

  “Absolutely.” I grinned at Nick and Liam, handsome on
their own accord.

  We were lucky to have them. They were stocky and enormous. One look at them and I was certain any guard with half a brain would run in the opposite direction just to dodge their path. We were lucky to have them on our side.

  I didn’t want to tell Megan that there was still a chance that we might not find Maddie tonight, but if we didn’t, I would promise her to keep looking until we were successful. It was important to bring Maddie home. Everyone deserved a chance to start over, me and Megan included.

  19

  Pete

  I was the only one in the group who had massive reservations about going out into the woods in the middle of the night to hunt for some strange girl whom I had never met. Everyone else had wanted to leave the night before when Tara had initially proposed the idea, but I had talked them into waiting another day so that we could get our bearings on the situation.

  Nevertheless, I was thoroughly outnumbered, and I wanted to impress Tara. I didn’t want to get on her bad side. I wanted her to respect me and enjoy my company. None of that was going to happen if I was the only one resisting her and telling her that it was a horrible plan to go out into the woods.

  I knew the twists and turns of those woods, the ins and outs like the back of my hand. I had studied maps and satellite navigation extensively, but nothing could prepare you for being snatched by a Fundamental Society guard.

  The satellites didn’t tell you where the guards were hiding. At school, I was studying high tech devices. I was working with and learning from some of the most highly esteemed and equipped Mutants in the field of technological advances.

  We were working to create devices that could emit a radio signal every time a human was around. It wouldn’t pick up a signal if the person was a human/Mutant mix, like Tara. It would only be able to generate a blinking light for a human with no Mutant DNA.

  The devices were still in the early testing stages. We didn’t have all the resources yet to bring it to the board of education at the school for students or teachers to be able to use, but we were getting there and working diligently each day.

  I was tech savvy. I loved reading. I loved research. There was something about immersing myself in the content of the internet and the development resources at my disposal that I knew I could use them to my advantage, and for the greater good of my professors and peers.

  That being said, I felt like I knew more than my friends about going out into the deep thickness of the woods in the middle of the night without exceptional planning beforehand.

  “Come on,” I whispered to Jude when we had a moment alone. “It’s not like you to agree to something like this without ironing out the details. We never go into the woods on a whim.”

  Jude was staring at Tara as if he didn’t hear a word I was saying. He was distracted by her beauty, by her overall intoxicating presence. I understood where he was coming from. I was the same way. She was exceptionally gorgeous, yes, but we had lives to protect, including our own.

  Jude finally glanced in my direction, although he still seemed a little unfocused.

  “Look, Pete.” He crossed his legs and leaned in closer to me as if he wanted to start up a lecture or a debate. “I know you like to plan things in advance—”

  “We need to keep her safe,” I interrupted.

  “And we will.”

  “There’s no arguing this subject, is there?” I sighed and rubbed my temples.

  Jude grinned at me. “You were outnumbered from the start, brother.”

  “Fine,” I groaned.

  I stood up and walked over to Tara, who was sitting next to Megan and Gabriel at a lunch table. I wasn’t going to try to convince her not to go on the trip, but I did want to prepare her for the events to come.

  I would be the first to admit that both Tara and Maddie had sold their story to us extremely well. Tara was so cute that it made it even more difficult to say no to her. I, along with the rest of my friends, didn’t want to disappoint her. She had already been through so much as it was. We wanted her to feel comfortable with us and to trust us. That meant we had to appease her to a certain extent.

  Even if it wasn’t the best idea, I wasn’t going to be able to get anyone else on board with delaying the trip back across the treacherous sea. There would be no convincing determined Mutants, especially if they had a strong will and drive from the start.

  “Hey,” I said and gently touched the side of Tara’s arm. “Can I steal you away for a few minutes?” I laid on my most charming smile.

  Tara glanced between Megan and Gabriel and then back to me. “Uh, yeah.” She returned my friendly smile. “Of course.”

  “Will you excuse us for a few minutes?” I asked and gave Gabriel a subtle wink. He rolled his eyes in response, undoubtedly irritated that I was scooping Tara away from the group, but most of all him.

  I didn’t care or feel guilty. We had to share her as a friend and potentially something more, something on a spiritual or sexual level. If I wasn’t going to get my way about going into the woods, then I was going to make damn sure I had a say in being able to talk to Tara privately.

  “I want to show you something,” I told Tara as we walked away together in the direction of the library.

  “Sounds good to me. Where are we going?” Tara asked.

  Her demeanor was lighthearted and eager. She didn’t suspect me of anything, which in my mind was a great sign. I wanted to teach her that she needed to stay cognizant of her surroundings and that she shouldn’t trust easily, but with me and my friends, she had nothing to worry about or fear.

  “The library,” I said.

  Tara chuckled. “Okay.”

  I glanced at her. “I know that my friends think I’m a nerd, but—”

  “Who cares what they think, right?” Tara gave me a zesty smile.

  “Certainly not me,” I said. “They just like to give me shit, but in the end, I’ll have the last laugh when I outsmart them all and become the president of the Mutant Information Technology Team.”

  Tara raised her eyebrows as if she was impressed. “Is that an aspiration of yours?”

  “It certainly is a goal of mine,” I said with a nod as we entered the library. I could explain to her all about what that prestigious job entailed, but for right now I had more pressing matters to deal with.

  “Let’s go over here to these computers,” I said.

  I steered her in the right direction. “I wanted to show you a live satellite map of the woods so that we can plan out a better route. I don’t want to be blindsided by burly and unruly guards.”

  “That’s a great idea,” Tara said, enthusiastically interested in my suggestion.

  “Thank you.” I pulled out a seat for her in front of a computer and I took the one next to her.

  I began typing codes and information into the system at rapid, fluid speed because I was familiar with the classifications.

  “Wow,” Tara said. “You’re good at that.”

  “Thanks. I’ve been working hard since I got into the school. I always want to impress my professors.”

  “There is nothing wrong with wanting to soar to the top of your class,” Tara said and gave me a warm smile.

  I knew I was beaming from her compliment, but I glanced back at the computer because we had a lot of work to do to prepare for this journey into the forest.

  “Now,” I said and leaned back so that Tara could get a better look. “This is a map of the woods next to the Home Base camp where you lived. Do you see the water there?”

  “Yes.” Tara nodded and narrowed her eyes to inspect the map.

  “Good,” I said. “That is the water we have to cross, that we already crossed in order to get here.”

  “Are you going to take a printout of this map with you?” Tara asked and gave me a curious glance.

  “Yes,” I said with a reassuring nod. “I’ll be the one navigating.”

  Tara grinned. “See, sometimes it pays off to be the smartest guy in the group.”r />
  “I’m always the smartest,” I said and gave her a playful wink.

  “I have no doubt.” Tara was flirting with me. I felt my heart begin to pound with excitement.

  “You seem like a ‘live in the moment’ type of girl,” I said.

  Tara shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know how else to be. I have learned to live by always expecting the unexpected.”

  “That’s a good motto to have,” I agreed with a chuckle.

  The truth was, I admired Tara. I thought she was fresh and vivacious. She breathed new life into the stagnant air of the group. We weren’t exactly bored without her, but now that she had entered the picture, her energy balanced ours.

  I already felt like she was a wonderful asset to have on campus, both physically and emotionally. She seemed to have a positive attitude that reflected on everyone she crossed paths with, and she certainly had proved herself on the pretend battlefield.

  She had taken my friends and me down twice when we weren’t expecting it. I had to believe in her in the same way that she believed in herself.

  After we discussed a few tactics for the journey, I logged out of the system and we began to walk around the library for a few moments.

  “I love the windows in here,” Tara said in a dreamy tone.

  I took the opportunity and ran with it. I glanced over my shoulder to the left and right. I didn’t see anyone around. We were in a private area of the library where hardly any foot traffic came by.

  I stopped walking and gazed fondly at her, brushing her silver hair off her shoulder. She looked so slender and petite, like a porcelain doll. She was kissable. She was incredible. And I couldn’t resist her.

  Temptation compelled me and then took over. I leaned in and kissed her. A hundred sparks of chemistry surged between us.

  When we finally parted ways, my head was dancing in the clouds. Tara still had that wistful expression on her face, and she was grinning from ear to ear. Her red eyes were radiant and playful.

  “I want to kiss you in a different place,” I told her. “A secret place.” My voice was barely above a whisper.

  “What do you mean?” Tara took a step backward and chuckled.