“Unfortunately, that is classified information as well. However, we will catch them and they will be brought to justice. As of now, we are working in full cooperation with local and state law enforcement and Fuji-O’Hara Industries security staff.
“We are also asking local citizens to keep their eyes open and report to us anything that they see that would appear to be out of the ordinary. Just be careful, go about your normal routines. Just report anything.”
“Thank you so much, Sergeant, for your time today.”
“Not a problem, Jessica. If your network would get in touch with our communications officer, you will be provided a name, you will be given provided a scheduled press conference from our commanding officer Commander Korvin Matheson. That should be around nineteen hundred hours this evening. I apologize, seven o’clock this evening.”
“Thank you so much, Sergeant Drake. This is Jessica Sowder WORG Action News. Back to you, Alex!”
The volume coming from the speakers lowered as we all looked at the screen in shock. Slowly, every single pair of eyes in the cafeteria turned to me, seemingly waiting for my response to what we had just seen. I was clueless as to what to say while my stare flicked from one pair of worried eyes to the next. I was just as confused as they were with no idea what to do. No idea what this even meant. Famke and Rayna stated that Gaia and I needed to see it, but me especially. What was I supposed to do about this? Did they know something I didn’t?
Granted, this was all being blamed on the Fallen Paradigm, but why? This happened in Seattle, so it made me wonder just how deep we were in that instance all the way from the East Coast. How far of a reach did the Fallen Paradigm truly have? Obviously, the Fallen Paradigm had agents within Fuji-O’Hara and possibly within King’s ranks.
“Damn it,” I cursed under my breath.
I was more involved in this than I originally wanted to be, placed firmly in the middle by King and pushed even further into the spotlight by the Fallen Paradigm itself. I wasn’t just a pawn. I had turned into a savior of sorts. Meant to save those like me at whatever cost. I had only wanted to avenge Cato and expose King for the cruel master he truly was, but now, with the threat of John Baker as well as Fuji-O’Hara breathing down my neck, there was so much more at stake than just freedom. My life was in even more peril than it had been. King wanted to experiment on me and use me. That was before my complete and total disrespect of his authority as well as my insolence in turning down his offer to live in relative safety on his side of the war.
At that moment, as I closed my eyes and took a breath to center myself, my purpose was even more clear than Cato’s vision had previously shown. That didn’t stop the shuddering nervousness running rampant through my body.
A warm hand came to rest on my shoulder. I turned to see Gaia standing there, her blue eyes filled with not just concern, but a belief in me that I hadn’t seen before. Not even from our mother. It didn’t change the fact that I was extremely out of my element. I hadn’t been trained or groomed for this in the slightest. In school, we weren’t taught leadership skills unless we were born into the wealth that produced our nation’s leaders. Most of the United States was ill-equipped for a role where they were leading others, especially into war, which we hadn’t experienced in one-hundred years. I was certain there would be a point in all of this where I would be forced into a leadership role of some kind, especially if my mother had anything to do with it. I wasn’t even the face of the rebellion. She was, so all I could do was what I was good at. Follow.
All the eyes on me sent a chill up my spine along with the familiar tingle and pinch of fear in the very center of my chest. That and the blooming of my power that spread out in warmth from the same spot. I took a breath and pushed it out of my lungs slowly to bring myself back to center, but someone’s stare behind me caused yet another chill to slither up my spine like a serpent.
Turning, the mass of unblinking stares didn’t help the anxiety that crept into the back of my mind. Then my eyes met two pairs of sky-blue orbs surrounded by thick lashes, pale flesh, and blonde hair. My mother and Gaia watched me with confidence as well as worry and something else just underneath. Belief. What did they expect of me? Did they expect me to fill some role that I hadn’t even been made aware was meant for me? The thought of it caused my heart to lurch within my ribcage and my stomach to tumble and clench.
I shook my head just barely and whispered, “I’m not a leader, Mom.”
She gave me a soft and pleasant smile, weak with fatigue that showed in the half-moons of purple beneath her eyes.
“Maybe not right now, but you will be,” she responded, and then looked behind me at those watching our exchange. “And all of these people will look to you for guidance. It could be in the next minutes, hours, days. Hell, maybe even years, but one day you will be.”
In the seconds after her words, an image flashed through my mind. An image of fire, death, and absolute terror. I shook it away and chuckled with sadness.
“I’m sorry,” I said, not even sure what I was apologizing for anymore. The image in my mind or my unwillingness to be a leader at any juncture?
I pushed past my stunned family and through the crowd I hadn’t noticed had formed between myself and the exit. All I wanted was out, didn’t know where. My feet would carry me to a place where all the pressure of the coming future could drift away, even if only for a moment so I could breathe without the strangling agony of uncertainty.
Walking down the long hallways as fast as my feet could carry me, I came upon the doors that led to this place. The interior doors just inside the ones that would lead outside. A white light moved up and down my face and then disappeared as I moved toward the large doors.
“Mila Hunter, facial recognition. Permission to exit granted,” the female computer voice rang through the empty space.
Everyone else was in the cafeteria area or other places within the Paradigm. All where they belonged, but my sense of home was quickly slipping away with each obstacle and each person to tell me that I would be the one to fight against the obscenity of our circumstances no matter what I did. It was fated, as Cato had originally shown me and would continue to do time and time again.
The doors clanged open and, as soon as I hit the threshold, I ran toward the doors that would lead to the green and blue outside. The fresh air that could possibly slow my rapidly beating heart and my racing mind. The pressure was too much and the power exploding within my gut told me that, if I didn’t get outside and bring myself down, I could tear down what my mother had worked so tirelessly to build. I didn’t want that to happen no matter how much things had changed. How much she had changed.
How much I had changed.
The blonde woman inside of the glass office-like area just inside of the doors I was headed toward had been replaced by a dark-skinned woman who typed away furiously at her computer. Her light brown eyes looked up at me with worry, and an ounce of fear shifted across her features. She stood up from her desk, athletic body clothed in all white that clashed beautifully with her dark flesh. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun. Professional. A small device was attached to her ear and looked much like a communication device, but I couldn’t be certain.
“Miss Hunter?” she began.
I slowed to a brisk walk as I neared the doors, shot her a glance, and raised my hand in a dismissive gesture.
“I’m fine,” I snapped.
“Are you sure? I can find your mother or Doctor Aser….”
“No, no need. I’m fine. I’ll be right back. I promise.”
She stood there and watched as I passed her office like she had no idea what to do. Her hand shot up to the device in her ear, and she nodded.
“Yes, I understand.”
In the end, she pushed a button to open the doors for me and leave me be after that.
Cato’s whis
pers began to move through my mind and my gut clenched. Moving through the narrow passing as the doors opened, I shook my head and pressed the heels of my palms to my stinging eyes. But I didn’t stop. As soon as I was through the doors, I dropped my hands and let the tears flow, breaking into another run through the expanse of the clearing before the forest along the shoreline. I wanted the beach of the island. I wanted the open sky above me and the open ocean beyond even though I could see the restraining Wall in the distance.
The energy in me fluctuated and pulsed in my veins, spreading outward from my gut. As I ran toward the trees, it shifted and turned as if it were begging me to be free of its cage of flesh and bone. Its breakable shell that seemed far too fragile to truly contain it.
Right as I approached the line of trees and the darkness just inside, something stopped me mid-stride. Fear seized my heart and gripped it so tightly that I almost couldn’t take a breath in or push one out. The air around me was still, and no noise other than my strangled breaths could be heard. Birds beyond the leaves and branches didn’t make a sound. There was no chatter of squirrels or other wildlife. There was only me.
Sinking to my knees in the damp grass, I knew I couldn’t ignore Cato’s words in my mind forever. And I couldn’t ignore the flow of power moving through me looking for an outlet.
“What do you want?” I whispered to the voice floating around in my brain with clenched fists.
I still couldn’t understand his beautiful tenor. The volume didn’t increase or decrease. It was just hard to hear overall. More images of what I had seen inside of the building flashed through my mind. Screams from so many others, including those I loved, joined Cato’s words in a clashing crescendo until I couldn’t make out one voice from another.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I leaned forward until my forearms and elbows held my belly up off the ground like I was praying. I wasn’t. I had never been the type, but maybe it was time to start. The images didn’t stop, and the cries only grew louder and more intense until I felt as if my eardrums could shatter, even the one I could no longer hear from. Tears rolled down my cheeks even faster now, but I didn’t bother trying to wipe them away.
“Please,” I begged to the invisible forces within me, “stop. Please.”
Behind my eyelids, all I could see were the terrified faces of those in the Fallen Paradigm, their screams echoing in the dark recesses of my mind. If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn that they could be heard outside of the confines of my skull. I saw shattering glass and drywall followed by the metallic clang of falling beams. The bitter tang of fire and smoke nipped at my nose and flowed down the back of my throat. I nearly gagged, swallowing it down as I felt hot acid burn its way into my throat.
The ground rumbled beneath me, but barely. A loud screech, much more profound than the others, crashed through my brain. My eyes shot open, and I saw something I had never seen before. Something I didn’t believe I could do that seemed to be beyond the limits of my power.
Bright green grass peaked out from between my fingers, small flecks of the matter that made up the brilliant blades floating away from their plant bodies and toward me. Slowly, as if a slight breeze carried them. The brilliant color began to fade from the pieces of matter the closer they got to meeting my flesh. Raising one hand, I held it out palm up. The closest detached fragments fluttered down and landed in the apex of my palm. Within milliseconds, the vibrant hue turned into a sickly, decaying brown like fall leaves putrefying and becoming a part of the Earth again.
I closed my fingers around the tiny particles and looked at my fist in wonder, more and more pieces of plant matter floating around me. I wasn’t completely certain what this was. All I did know was that this was something I hadn’t expected. That no one else could have possibly expected. I didn’t have the slightest idea what this even meant. And I needed to figure out how my power worked and to control it. To harness this power to take King and his band of violent and discriminating brothers and sisters down. Those that had helped him kidnap and experiment on those like me as well as those who stole the power of others or turned against us. There were too many possibilities for the gift I held within my body. Within my genetic makeup. Now I vowed to use them, as nature intended. Even though I was terrified of what I was doing without meaning to.
My heart thundered in my chest, and a part of me felt that if I could tamper down on my anxiety and my fear produced by the vision of utter destruction shown to me by Cato, I could make this reaction stop. It had worked on the other aspects of my abilities in the past.
Closing my eyes, I pushed away every grotesque and horrifying image from my psyche.
“Calm down,” I muttered to myself through gritted teeth. “Calm down.”
The pungent smell of smoke mixed with the iron of blood returned. I pulled cool air in through my nose and pushed it out through pursed lips. My heart began to slow, and my breathing evened out even though my mind continued to race.
Cato wanted me to see this and learn something from it. The only thing I learned from the barrage of images was that everyone I loved or even barely knew would die. Everyone I came into contact with would cease to exist no matter how little contact they had with me from day to day. Just that fact made me anxious, but I continued to focus on slow and steady breaths I needed to take to help me settle down.
In. Out. In. Out.
In.
The insistent beating within my chest finally began to slow even more until I could no longer feel it. The racing thump, thump of it had dissipated to the point of deafening silence, the only sound the birds and the chirping insects all around within the forest and the grass.
Out.
The familiar buzz and heat within my belly ebbed away, and I squeezed my eyes shut, taking yet another breath in. My chest no longer felt tight, the horrid pictures of my loved ones dying faded into the background, and Cato’s desperate unintelligible pleas disappeared. And that was that. Everything that terrified me at that moment was gone, only to be replaced by something later on. That much I was certain.
On slightly shaky legs, I stood sluggishly. My muscles trembled as the adrenaline left my body. What I saw next shocked me to my very core.
A perfect circular ring of dead and decaying grass surrounded me. Flecks of what had floated up into the air had settled in between what little fresh blades were left beneath my feet. The circle was at least a three-foot circumference, made up of small patches of bright green, fading green, and the putrefying and deathly brown.
Shock overtook me, my mouthing hanging open at the new display of power. Something I didn’t even know I could do until that moment. There was no sign of something new to come. No inkling of another range of my abilities that could better save us from King. Even possibly working to slay John Baker, who I now knew was the man King had created by Fuji-O’Hara Industries to take me in dead or alive. All so my power could be exploited to obliterate an entire city in what would be called an ‘act of terrorism.’ Whatever that may be.
If only Cato had that to show me, I could work even harder to stay out of the man’s grasp entirely.
Then I felt a hovering presence on my back as the warmth that I recognized from the reliving of Cato’s vision in the forest not so long ago blanketed me. It was stifling in the humidity that surrounded me, but there was something else. The feel of eyes on my back.
I turned and was greeted by the wide but understanding eyes of the four women in my life I had truly come to depend on. My mother, Gaia, Cecilia, and Doctor Aserov stood at least twenty yards from me. All others that knew who I was within the compound and watched me walk out were just inside the doors, Doctor Devi from King’s Forge, and Caius at the front. His arms were crossed over his chest. It was as if he wasn’t the least bit surprised by the new revelation. That he had seen something new on the horizon for me and my abilities all along.
It just would have been nice if he had let me in on the secret.
Chapter
TEN
I sat in a small, crowded office in the Fallen Paradigm’s compound, arms crossed over my chest, and one leg slung over the other. Each pair of eyes that fluttered over my body wondered, trying to figure out where the power inside of my body was held that they had witnessed. I couldn’t even begin to tell them that I didn’t have the answer either.
I was just as clueless as they were, except they had the tools to find the answers.
Cecilia, my best friend since I was a child, was made to stand outside of the office. As I walked through the door, our eyes locked for all of a few milliseconds and. in that time, she said all she needed to. Worry, sorrow, and terror were all wrapped into one snowball of emotions that punched me in the gut.
Gaia, Caius, Doctors Aserov and Devi, and my mother sat in the room, surrounding me in a suffocating tension that made my chest tight. Everyone that was injured in the attack during our supply run were still in the hospital wing and would be ready to be discharged in the morning, healed and fit for duty. And now, we didn’t only have to contend with King and his army of Specials, but Fuji-O’Hara Industries as well as John Baker himself. All because King wanted something I wasn’t willing to give him for a purpose I wasn’t keen on fulfilling.
The silence was stifling as they all studied me. I took a deep breath in and forced out the only question that came to mind.
“So, what do we do next?”
A beat of silence before my mother, being the woman she was, took the initiative to speak first.
“Well, with your permission, we’d need to run some tests. Without them, we won’t know the extent of your abilities…”
“Or the added boost from whatever the clairvoyant passed to you before his death. Unfortunately, things only get passed in certain ways,” Doctor Aserov continued to explain, interrupting my mother altogether.
The Scorned (The Permutation Archives Book 3) Page 11