The Restrainers: Third Book in The Amplified Series

by Lauren M. Flauding

"He probably already does."

  Miles nods in agreement, and I go to the side of the entrance to turn off the switch.

  "I'll go first," Miles announces.

  "Why not go together?"

  "Because if it's deadly in there, at least one of us will still be alive."

  I hate his logic, but I let him go in. He disappears into the mess of cables. After a few long moments I hear Miles yelping and wires snapping. I rush forward to try and find him in the maze, but before I've even taken three steps the cables start to lift up into the ceiling, revealing the Governor and a large array of screens and controls where Override machines used to be hidden.

  “Miss Quillen," Governor Plenaris remarks, spreading his arms in an odd gesture of welcome, "I'm so glad you've found me. And how wonderful you brought your special friend with you," he adds, glancing up at the cables. I see Miles hopelessly tangled in the wires. He's facing downward and he can barely move his limbs.

  "I'll admit, Miss Quillen, I've been a bit lazy lately, letting you slip under my radar while I've been preoccupied with bigger plans."

  I look at the screens behind him and see the battle going on below. The Dissenters are doing a lot of damage, but half of the robots have returned to the operation building where people are back on the tables, the instruments again lowered and ready to assist with the dreaded surgery.

  "Yes, I always had complete command of the Hybrid operation," he states, noticing my fallen expression. "I had only hoped Clint would take care of it so I didn't have so much on my hands today."

  "Why?" I spit out. "Why was this necessary? Weren't you satisfied with the level of control you had?"

  "Of course not," he replies. "I'm never satisfied. It was all right using the Override for a while," he explains, "but when left to themselves, people would make so many mistakes. They'd choose the wrong thing, they'd waste this incredible potential given to them. When General Remington showed up with his plan to make us all Hybrids, I realized this was the next natural step for the perfection of our Community."

  "If it was so natural, why didn't you tell anyone about this?" I ask, feverishly rubbing the tip of my shortened finger.

  "Miss Quillen, people don't know what they want. I couldn't trust them to make the right decision. Once they get used to it, they'll realize that this is ideal. Their robotic parts fused with their Amplifiers will ensure them immortality. They'll be completely taken care of for the rest of their very long lives."

  "Why involve the East?" I nearly shout. "What was the point of disturbing all of those corpses by filling them with machinery?"

  "We put them to good use," the Governor scoffs. "Plus, I wanted to test the Hybrid designs on them first to ensure all would go well with live subjects."

  It's incredible, I think. He speaks about it all so calmly, and yet what he's saying is completely ludicrous.

  "What about you?" I taunt. "Why aren't you being subjected to this Hybrid operation?"

  "Well, Marianna, my eternity is far more exciting than just robotic parts. Your handler, Clint, was kind enough to bring back the last of the East's preservative. Diluted, the formula won't kill me, but will conserve me as I am forever, provided that my organs continue to be replenished from generous donors. This is where Mr. Paxton comes in, actually."

  "What?" I wheeze, feeling like someone has punched me in the stomach.

  "He'll be the first donor," Governor Plenaris says simply. "You see, all that time in prison he wasn't being trained to fight, but rather to comply. After a little more discipline, he'll be ready to give me parts of his brain, his lungs, and of course, his eyes."

  I hear Miles coughing and choking above me, probably trying to keep himself from vomiting like I am. This surpasses all of my nightmares. I never imagined that the Governor, with all of his sadistic plans for power and perfection, would be capable of something like this.

  “So, Miss Quillen," the Governor announces, "you have been… entertaining, but as always, it seems that you're standing in the way of my goals. I'm going to kill you, but first I'll need you to re-Amplify your friend here, and then I can get back to immortalizing the Community."

  He pushes a few buttons and the section of cables that Miles is caught in lowers to the ground. Then the Governor slides a tray over to me with an Amplifier and several small knives on it. He looks straight at me and activates his personal Override, the band on his wrist that allows him to command another person with only his thoughts.

  "Mari, Amplify Miles Paxton."

  I shiver at his voice in my head, but otherwise, I don't move.

  "I thought Restrainers were exempt from the Override," I hiss.

  "Generally, they are," the Governor responds, only slightly unnerved that his command has no effect on me, "but based on your behavior over the last few days, you have most certainly been stripped of your position."

  He presses the band on his wrist again.

  "Marianna, Amplify Miles Paxton."

  This time I smile at his perplexed expression.

  "I knew I couldn't trust you with the Override," I explain calmly, "so I decided to take some extra precautions."

  The Governor frantically turns around and brings up old surveillance footage on one of the screens, searching until he finds the day I received my second Amplifier. He watches the exchange between me and the technician as she programs the device in my head.

  "Full name?"

  "Marianna Quillen."

  "And the name you will use to direct your Amplifier?"

  "Clarence."

  The Governor turns around and stares at me. All the hard work I did, all the times I pretended, all of the times I was despised by the Dissenters and my family and Miles; it was all worth it to see this look of terror on the Governor's face. He can't command me through his personal Override without also commanding himself, and if we both tried to implant Miles, we would risk messing it up or killing him.

  Before the Governor can figure out a way around this, I lunge at him. His hand flies off of his Override band and for the first time I hear him actually give himself a command.

  "Clarence, kill her by any means necessary."

  I stumble back as I witness the most extreme case of inequality I've ever seen. The Governor jumps and literally flies at my face. It's clear that his Amplifier is not only enhanced, it's super human.

  I dive out of the way, but he changes direction in mid air and comes after me. I sprint to the wall and run up it to flip over, hoping he'll pursue me so fast that he slams into the wall. He does pursue me, but instead of crashing into the wall he kicks off of it and sprints faster than I can process over to the wall of weapons. He grabs a knife and hurls it at me from 300 feet away with deadly precision. I move just in time and it sticks in the wall where my head used to be. He pulls off a gun and fires it at me. I shield myself with the heavy tray that had the Amplifier on it and manage to block the bullet, but the force of it knocks me to the ground.

  He leaps, flips, and spins wildly through the air. Within fractions of a second he's on top of me, his hands around my neck and his eyes full of madness. I choke as I try to pry his fingers away, but his grip is too strong. I start to black out from the pain and loss of air. Maybe I should just give up, I think in my near delirium. Dying would be really easy. I wouldn't have to resist anymore. But then I look over and catch a glimpse of Miles and realize I have so much worth living for.

  With strength I didn't know I had, I kick him in the groin and flip him off of me. Before he can retaliate, I whip the Adhesive out of my pocket and slap it onto his temple, then reach down and press the personal Override band on his wrist.

  His eyes become vacant as the Adhesive takes over his optical and auditory systems, transporting him to the recording room where Miles is giving him a message. I made Miles say it three times over just to be safe.

  "Clarence, command the robots to gather two miles south of the Mall-cruiser station, then turn off the air turbines and crash this air barge on top of them."


  The Governor’s eyes fill with crazed anger, but he stands and walks to the controls, directing the robots away from the operation building. He's bound by the command Miles indirectly spoke into his head through his personal Override. I wait until the Governor heads over to shut off the turbines to help Miles out of the cables.

  It takes a little longer than I'd hoped to get Miles untangled, and for some reason he can't stop smiling at me. We're only halfway out of the Coliseum when I feel the floor jerk downwards from the turbines being turned off. We move as fast as we can, but it's hard to keep our feet on the floor as the barge picks up speed in its descent. We're practically airborne by the time we get out the door, and Miles struggles to pull me close to him and activate the micro parachute.

  The parachute automatically deploys just seconds after Miles puts it on, proving what a close call it was. We float safely through the air as the massive barge speeds downward and crashes spectacularly into the ground, sending up stray particles of matter in the air. I'm holding on to Miles tightly, but I twist around to see the wreckage of the training barge.

  We land just outside of the crash site. There are some electrical fires smoldering in what's left of the barge and I can see some arms and legs of the smashed robots sticking out of the rubble. It'd be morbid if they hadn't already been dead.

  "I can't believe you, Mari," Miles laughs as he puts away the micro parachute. "You were Amplified all this time and you never used it! You lied to me!"

  His smile is enough to make me melt, but I hold my ground.

  "Not necessarily," I reply. "You never directly asked me about it."

  “You are incredible, Mari," he says as he wraps his arms around me.

  He kisses me and I'm filled with that fire again, but this time it's tinged with sadness from the loss of my brother. I realize that Miles won't be able to take the pain away, but he can soften it.

  "Kissing me twice in one day?" I tease him as I pull away. "Miles, I'm shocked! Where's all your self control?"

  His eyes fill with amusement.

  "When you spend most of your life resisting," he says, smiling, "it makes the moments you give in that much more significant."

  I roll my eyes as he pulls me in again, but I have to admit it's true.

  Chapter 27

  We buried Adrian next to my father. I look at his fresh gravestone, a modest cement slab that looks almost exactly like the one on my father's grave. It's interesting because my dad and Adrian were so different, but they both died with purpose. Wherever they are, I hope they're having a good time together.

  The Governor ended up surviving the crash. I figured he would. He got out with a parachute or something before impact, but he broke his leg. That's probably how Roxy was able to catch him. The Dissenters headed over to the destroyed air barge after they saw it fall and on the way ran into the hobbling Governor. I don't know exactly how Roxy overtook him, but I would have loved to see that fight. She took out his Amplifier and she’s going to put him on trial. It’s not looking too good for him, especially since mostly everyone was outraged when they found out about the Hybrid plan.

  The Dissenters have been welcomed back into the Community. I guess everyone is grateful that they helped hold off the operation. Now the Community is considering getting rid of the Amplifiers altogether, or at least limiting their capacities.

  Miles and I decided we wanted to try to find the West. With the North's airship, I'm pretty confident we'll be able to figure out where they are before running out of supplies. At first we thought we would just take a small group with us, but once word spread that we'd be going more and more people became interested. There will be about 20 of us altogether, including my mom and Daniel, Alia, Liam, and Juro, Clint, Brice, Joby, Cassidy, Tristan (probably because he didn't want to get left behind), Blaine, Felix, and all of the Fioras. And lately, Joby and Brexlynn have been spending a lot of time together despite the strong objections from Brexlynn's parents. It's going be a fun trip.

  I look back at the gravestones of my deceased family members. We're leaving for the West today, and I wanted to come here one more time before we go just in case we never come back. I say my last goodbyes and start running back to the city. I almost trip as I try to untangle the wires of my ancient music device. I think about what Adrian would say if he could see me right now, and I smile. He would definitely make fun of me.

  Read on for a preview of the Lauren M. Flauding’s next book:

  The Halting

  Chapter 1

  September 18

  At first I think they're dead, but how can they be dead? They're standing and sitting and walking mid-stride, getting into cars and talking on phones. Children are playing in their yards, ready to catch balls that have long since fallen to the ground and rolled away.

  I reach down to pick up the car keys I dropped when I came outside and saw... well, whatever this is. I turn around to go back inside my house when I hear an alarming crunching sound. I whip back around to see two cars that have just crashed into each other. A few moments later a third jams into the back of one of them. I rush forward to make sure the drivers are okay. The airbags have deployed, so their faces are pressed up against the inflated material, but for the most part, they seem to be uninjured.

  "Hey, are you all right?" I shout to one of the drivers, a woman with long blonde hair and hoop earrings. She doesn't answer me. She doesn't move. I walk back to check on the third car, but before I can even look in the window, a large truck comes rumbling down the street, drifting slowly toward me from the other lane. I move out of the way as the truck screeches against the side of the third car and finally comes to a stop. The driver of the truck, like everyone else, is frozen.

  I run back to my house and burst through the door.

  "Lucy," I call out, "I don't know what's going on, but you've got to…” I swallow the rest of my words as I nearly run in to my twin sister. She's at the bottom of the stairs with her bag over her shoulder. I study her still face, identical to mine except for a cluster of freckles on her cheek. Her black hair is in a ponytail, her green eyes are bright. She looks excited. She should be, we're going to go take our driver's tests. Or, we were, until...

  I catch my breath. For some reason, I didn't think this disease or this phenomenon or this… thing would be happening to my family too. If I'm still moving, why wouldn't they be?

  I swallow hard and go look for my parents. I find them in the kitchen. My dad is in the middle of taking an aspirin like he does every day when he gets home from work. My mom is washing dishes. Her hands are in the sink and the water is running over them. Fast, steady, unrelenting. I reach past her to turn the faucet off and brush her arm. It's warm. She's not breathing. I carefully check her pulse. Nothing. But she's warm.

  I stagger backward, shaking. I start to hyperventilate. I'm having a panic attack. I bump into the wall and slide down it until I'm lying on the cold tile of the kitchen floor. I remember when I was 10 I had an episode at an amusement park. There were just so many people and there was so much activity. There was too much going on. My mom took me behind an ice cream cart and tried to calm me down.

  "Pretend everything is still," she had said, stroking my long hair.

  This time, I don't have to pretend.

  I stretch out on the floor and try to control my breathing. It's okay, I'm not going to die, I think, closing my eyes. I try to focus on something concrete, but my mind keeps flitting back to all of the motionless people. For all I know, I could be the only person still moving in the world.

  I should check the Internet, I think suddenly. That'd be the best way to figure out if I'm alone in all this. Having a purpose helps to pull me away from my panic. I get up slowly and head to my room. I'm careful as I pass my sister on the stairs, not wanting to knock her over. I keep expecting for her to turn her head and look at me, but she continues to look straight forward.

  I get to our room upstairs and open up our laptop. It is ours, mine and my sister'
s, but Lucy is the one that uses it most of the time. I close several messages that pop up for my sister, but then I decide to read through them. There are several messages from her friends asking about her driving test and one from this greasy boy that she likes asking her out to a movie tonight, but the most recent message was sent over 30 minutes ago.

  I pass the timing off as a coincidence and pull up a search engine. I type in "frozen," but all that comes up are movies and recipes. I try "frozen people" and "people freezing" and see tons of images of people in the cold. I type in combinations of "motionless," "stationary," and "petrified people," and finally, "people going still in Newton, Iowa," but nothing comes up that would explain what's happening outside my window. I shut the laptop and close my eyes.

  I could be hallucinating, I think, surprised at how calm I am about that idea. Probably because hallucination would be a far more reasonable explanation to all this than reality would. My therapist did mention I could start imagining things if I didn't get control of my attacks. It could also be a bad dream, even though it feels very real. I climb into my bed, holding on to that last thought.

  It's all a weird dream. I'll go to sleep and when I wake up, everything will go back to normal and I'll be able to finish my sixteenth birthday.

  Chapter 2

  September 19

  It's not a dream. I wake up when a glimmer of the sunrise comes in through my window. I stumble out of my bed, feeling like I haven't slept at all. I peer tentatively out my window. In the dim morning light, I can just make out my neighbor, Mr. Franklin, still stooped over to pick up a stray flyer in his front yard. His automatic sprinklers have come on and he's getting drenched.

  I don't know how to feel. I guess deep down I knew it was going to be the same as yesterday. I'm numb, and I prefer to stay that way. I catch a glimpse of the clock as I walk out of my room. It's 5:17.

  At least I know that time hasn't stopped, I think drowsily as I slip past my sister on the stairs. The world is still turning, the sun must have gone down last night because now it's coming up. Electricity, plumbing, and the Internet all still work. This petrification apparently only affects people. Maybe animals are frozen too, I wonder, realizing I haven't heard a dog barking in a while. I start to step out the front door to check, but immediately my chest tightens and all of yesterday's emotions come flooding back. I slam the door shut and head to the kitchen.