The Taking 02: Hover

by Melissa West

  “Just tell me.”

  Everyone’s eyes land on me, but it’s Kelvin who speaks. “We need you to kill Zeus Castello.”

  Chapter 5

  We sit in silence for a long time, staring at the now black screen. They want me to kill Zeus. Zeus! I run my hands over my face. “What do you think?” I ask.

  Jackson stands and starts sorting through a stack of paper on the table beside him, his look distant. “I don’t know what to think. Honestly, I’m surprised they mentioned it in front of me.”

  “Yeah, that surprised me, too, though what choice did they have?”

  “True.”

  “What do you think of what they’re asking?”

  He draws a long breath. “I think it’s a death sentence.”

  “I thought you may say that.”

  He turns around, his eyes on mine. “But if you have to do it, surprise is our best defense. He’ll ask to see you tomorrow. I’ll give you a gun.” Jackson starts for the stairs. “I’ll make sure I’m closeby just to be safe. It could work. He might be expecting something, but he would never expect you to try something so soon.”

  “Wait. Tomorrow? You can’t be serious. We should plan this out. Think it through. Tomorrow is too—”

  Jackson laughs, the sound so cold it sends a shiver down my back. “Is there really a good time to try to kill someone like Zeus? The best chance we have is to catch him off guard. He’s arrogant. He’ll believe that you are too afraid and vulnerable right now to try anything.”

  I swallow, letting his words and the logic in them sink in. He’s right. I take my hair out of the elastic I had used to pull it up, and then pile it on top of my head and wrap the elastic around it again, my mind focused on what I have to do. I need to think.

  “I need a shower.”

  “Come on, I’ll show you.”

  I follow Jackson back into the house. A shower is exactly what I need to clear my head so I can think through how to make this happen. We walk down the hallway to a door at the end of the hall I hadn’t noticed before. He pushes through and we step out into what can only be described as paradise. Absolute paradise.

  The backyard is small, tiny even, but it’s fenced in by walls of large flowers, all different colors. Situated in the back center of the yard is a circular, stone something, about the size of a closet, with an open top and a metallic showerhead hanging from one end to the center.

  I hesitate. “That’s the shower? Outside? What about the bathroom in general?”

  He grins, though the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. “Don’t worry. That part is inside, along with a cleansing drum, which is what most use. I had them add this shower out here after I’d spent so much time on Earth. Somehow I no longer feel clean unless I’m bathing in water.”

  “So, I’m guessing a cleansing drum doesn’t use water? What does it use?”

  His grin widens. “Nothing crazy. I’ll show you tomorrow. For now, this has everything you need. Step inside and the water will turn on automatically. There are towels in the bin beside it. Take your time.”

  I wait for Jackson to go back inside. I don’t want him to see how uneasy I feel. Once I’m sure he’s gone, I reach for the small latch that keeps the shower door closed. I unhook it and step inside. The floor of the shower is the same stone as the walls. One wall is lined with shelves containing liquids and solids that I can only imagine must be soap and shampoo and other toiletries. A second passes, then the water turns on, sending a warm shower over me—and my clothes, which I wasn’t willing to take off in the open.

  I slip out of my clothes and embrace the water, standing there for several seconds with my eyes closed, letting it soak me through and through. Wash away the aches of my mind and heart. It feels good, almost freeing. With my eyes still closed, I let my mind focus on Zeus. I think through everything I know about him, which isn’t much. It would be better if I were planning to kill someone I knew more about. His daily activities. His strength and weaknesses. Zeus appears to be elderly, but something about the way his eyes never leave you makes me think he’s more agile than he looks.

  I stay in the shower much longer than is appropriate, and I wonder if there are rules about things like this. Time constraints or something. But no alarms sound, and no one comes knocking on the door. So I stay as long as I can handle it, until my fingers and toes wrinkle from the overexposure. Then I drape a towel around me and move back inside, glad the halls are clear, and slip into Jackson’s empty room.

  I take my time combing my fingers through my hair, then search the room for some clothes. Behind the beaded curtain is a small closet with one rack of clothes and lots of tiny drawers built into the walls. Inside the right-hand side drawers are clothes, all my size. I can’t differentiate the pajamas from the everyday clothes, so I just pull out something that seems comfortable enough and slip it on.

  I sit down on the bed, my legs crossed, and wait for Jackson to come back. I wouldn’t say I feel ready for what I have to do tomorrow, but I’ve prepared my mind that I have no choice. Now, I need to see the gun he wants me to use. Feel it in my hand. Practice pulling it from where ever I plan to stow it.

  I hear a knock outside the door, then Jackson’s voice. “Dressed?”

  “Yes,” I call.

  He slips into the room and sits in a chair beside his closet. His eyes sweep over my face, my wet hair, down my body, then back. He swallows hard.

  “Okay.”

  “Okay, what?” he asks.

  “I’m ready. Where’s the gun? I need to practice.”

  Jackson watches me for a moment. “Ari, maybe I should—”

  “No. It has to be me.”

  He sighs heavily before going to his closet and opening the third drawer from the top. He sets the clothes all on the floor, pops out the wooden base, and reaches in and grabs two guns, placing each on the bed beside me. “One of these should work.”

  I pick up the one on my left. It’s small, about the size of my hand, polished silver and black exterior. I lift it up, close one eye, and peek through the sight at one of Vill’s figurine’s on Jackson’s shelf. “Are all those drawers loaded down like that one?” I grin up at him. “If I didn’t know any better, I would say you were a spy among spies.”

  He doesn’t return the smile. “This is serious.”

  “I know.” I return my attention to the gun, letting it balance in my hands. Pointing it at various things around the room. I wish I could shoot it. Only then would I really know, but there is no way I could fire a gun at this hour without drawing some attention. “Does it have a laser?” I ask, not seeing one affixed to the weapon, but it could be built it, like a trick knife that can do numerous things.

  “No. Most of our guns have lasers, so the screening at Zeus’s office will be set to detect the laser. This one should get you through without a problem.”

  “And what about the sound? Lasers are quieter than bullets.”

  He reaches back into the drawer, pulls out a tiny cylinder, and screws it onto the tip of the gun. “Not when you have a silencer.”

  I point the gun at a small tiger on Jackson’s shelf and fire. “True.”

  Jackson laughs, the sound producing such a change in the air that I stop to look at him, mezmerized by his smile. “Vill’s going to kill you,” he says. “That was a favorite.”

  “Yeah, well, he has thousands around here. He’ll live.” I place the gun down gently on the bed and pick up the other. It’s heavier than the first, feeling almost twice as heavy in my hands. I let it balance, eyeing another one of Vill’s creations, but I don’t shoot. I can tell it’s not the right fit. “I’ll go with the first.”

  “Okay.” The playful expression from before disappears from his face, and he returns the unwanted gun to the third drawer. He sits down in front of me, his demeanor serious, controlled, like he was back in the Panacea. Was that only today? It feels like weeks ago now.

  “This is what you’re going to do,” he says. “You’ll go se
e Zeus as he’s requested. Act natural. He’ll want to see you in his office with no one else around, though of course he has surveillance watching. He likes to face his windows while he talks, leaving you behind him so you can’t see his face. Ask him how he came to control Triad. It’s a lengthy story that he loves to tell. When he gets to the part about building the Healer’s Wall, he’ll go to his windows to look out over Triad, to look at his creation. That’s when you shoot.”

  I crack one of my knuckles, planning to stop at just the one, but before I know it, I’ve cracked all the joints in my left hand. “How do you know he’ll tell the story? He might say it’s none of my business or something.”

  “Oh, he’ll tell it. Zeus’s ego is too large for him to not tell it. Just remember to wait until he gets to the part about the wall. I’ve seen him tell this story a thousand times and he always goes to his windows when he gets to that part.”

  “Okay.” I reach behind me and slid the gun under one of the pillows. “For good luck.”

  “Ari, you don’t have to do this. We can tell them no. We can figure out a different way.”

  I fumble with the hem of my shirt, pulling a loose thread until it unravels much of the hem. “No. They’re right. There is no other way. As long as Zeus lives, we’re all in danger.”

  Jackson starts to argue, but seeing the resolve on my face, goes for the lights instead. “Well, get some sleep. You’ll need it.”

  I slip under the covers and instantly smell Jackson on the sheets. They smell earthy and clean and I find myself burying deeper into one of the pillows, comforted by the smell. Jackson turns out the light, and keeping to his word, slips down onto a makeshift bed on the floor. After that, silence finds us and soon the ringing in my ears is replaced by Jackson’s smooth breathing. I lean over the side of the bed and watch him sleep. His right arm is drapped lazily over his head against the pillow, his hair scattered in a mess, shading his closed eyes. His chest rises and falls in easy rhythm, and for a moment, I forget who he is and what he’s done and remember that aside from all that, he’s only a boy…and I’ve just agreed to kill his grandfather.

  I lay back down and close my eyes, allowing my thoughts to drift in and out of focus. Before long I’m asleep, my thoughts replaced with a nightmare—the same nightmare I’ve had since arriving here. I’m back at the site of the execution base where President Cartier had ordered all infected humans be brought to be killed. Jackson comes for me. And then I watch from a distance as a bomb drops over the site, killing everyone in one devastating blow. But this time, someone enters the dream. Red fills my mind, growing so dark it’s almost black, and while I can’t see him, I know it’s Zeus. The bomb drops, as it always does, but instead of me waking, a chilling laugh echoes all around me, growing louder and louder until I’m left with nothing but the screams of the innocent…and the laugh of the wicked.

  …

  Sirens startle me awake, pulling me from the nightmare. I cover my ears with my hands, and Jackson leaps from the floor and goes to the door, listening, then jerks it open. “You stay here, understand?”

  I shake my head. “No. I’m coming.”

  “Stay here.”

  “No.” I’m up and to him before he can argue and I know I’ll hear about this later. I’m not the sort of person to wait to hear what might be happening. I want to see it. And when we reach the front porch, I see I’m not alone. Everyone is outside, most disoriented. Vill walks up beside me. I look around for Jackson. He’s already down the street, edging toward the source of the sound.

  “What’s happening?” I ask Vill.

  “Someone’s breached the border.” He points to the Healer’s Wall that surrounds Triad, where a flying craft has someone pinpointed below a strobe light. I can’t tell what’s happening or hear anything beyond the siren. We all stand on our porches or the street, frozen, watching as the light grows closer and closer to the man. And then just like that, the man is sucked into the craft and the light disappears.

  I stumble back, my hands to my mouth. “What did they just do?”

  “Back inside,” Jackson says, rushing toward us. “Now.”

  I hear the sound of footsteps coming down the main street and see armed men and women marching, others continuing to the other streets. This is nothing like what Jackson had said about Loge, all peaceful beings who wanted happiness for everyone. This is madness and terror.

  The Ancients on the streets all head back into their homes like us. Jackson closes the door behind Vill and me but remains on the porch. I edge over to a nearby window and peer out as one of the armed guards walks up our steps to Jackson. They exchange words I can’t make out, then the guard continues on down the street.

  “What was that about?” I ask, as Jackson comes through the door.

  He glances behind him as though the guards can hear him through the door. “One of the infected humans escaped.”

  “Escaped? I didn’t realize they were being held captive. What aren’t you telling me?”

  Jackson rubs his eyes and sits on the table in the common room. It’s another one of Vill’s creations, the legs shaped like folded wings, the face of the table a girl weeping. “The humans are growing restless. There have been some uprisings. Zeus is planning to give them all injections if it doesn’t get better. I’m hoping we can stop him first.” He gives me a knowing look.

  “What sort of injection?”

  Vill sits down on one of the chairs. “It’s a control substance, allows certain responses to go into hybernation and others to rise to the surface. Basically, it makes it easier to control the person.”

  “And they’re going to give all the humans the injection?”

  Vill glances at me, and I realize Jackson has told him the plan. “Unless we stop him first.”

  Jackson runs a hand through his hair. “I’m gonna shower and head over to see Zeus, now. Be ready in an hour. Your first day as an RES begins today. Remember the plan.”

  …

  Jackson arrives back at our house an hour later, his look lethal. He motions for me to follow him without a word, and once outside releases a long exasperated sigh. “Well that was a complete waste of time.”

  We make our way back to Gaia Road, the main street of Triad, and turn left past the rest of the homes and up toward the Vortex. It’s a cool day with a light breeze, the open air comforting after being inside all night. I glance over to where the hovercraft had taken the man just hours before. “What did he say?”

  “He said lessons are meant to be learned and refused to talk to me about it any further. Then, as I guessed, he requested that you see him after RES training today.”

  “So this is it?”

  “This is it. Do you have it?”

  I turn my ankle and feel the gun press against my leg, just inside my boot. “I have it.”

  “Good.”

  A nervousness settles in my stomach, and I walk the rest of the way to the Vortex in silence, listening as Jackson explains the surroundings of Triad. The Healer’s Wall that wraps around the city, built so the healers could focus in on specific regions to terraform. Beyond the wall, there is nothing but a dying land until you reach one of the other civilizations on Loge. There are only twelve now, each sanctioned with a trade. Hovercrafts go between regions, bringing food or clothes or whatever, so each civilization can operate soundly. Jackson goes with Zeus monthly to each of the regions, but beyond him, no other Ancients are allowed to leave their designated region.

  “Why aren’t they allowed to leave?” I ask, stopping him at a second bridge that leads over the Cutana River we sailed down yesterday.

  Jackson considers the question for a long moment. “Because Zeus says so.”

  I glance down at the river, its water full to the banks edge that surround it. Jackson said their water supply was dwindling, but the river shows no signs of a drought. “Is this the only body of water you have? I mean, I know you said your water supply was the issue, but the river looks…” I point dow
n at it.

  “It’s the healers. They keep Triad alive, the river full. They’re the reason we’re still alive, but there are very few of them and one hasn’t been born in a very long time. There aren’t enough of them to sustain us forever, which is why we have to get back to Earth.”

  We reach the Vortex, just as the two main doors in the center of the building begin to open. Chants and stomping echo from inside, one then the other, the sound a harmony of structure. A series of men and women, all dressed in deep green, all with weapons in hand, march from within the building. There are five rows of Ancients, ten in each line, all of them marching in perfect sequence. They continue out of the building and into the grass just across from it. I realize I’ve stopped and that I’m staring, but I can’t pull my eyes away.

  “So that’s the RESs?” I ask, awe in my voice. They look so deadly.

  “Some of them. Yes.”

  “Do you have military beyond the RESs? Are there some that aren’t spies?”

  Jackson pauses. “No. We’re fully trained.”

  “By fully trained, you mean—”

  He focuses on me, his voice hard. “We’re trained to kill, Ari. And right now the RESs are being trained against one enemy—humans.”

  I feel my back tighten, anger bubbling to the surface. “And what about the humans who are here? What are they to your RESs?”

  Jackson starts for the doors. “Bait.”

  I freeze, my mouth gaping open. Bait? Suddenly, the fear over what I have to do is replaced by a renewed urgency. I have to kill Zeus.

  We go through the large main doors of the Vortex, and into an open area so blindingly white that it reminds me of the Chemist labs back home. It’s the shape of an octagon, with a door centered within each of the eight walls. I expect Jackson to lead to one of the doors, when instead he turns on me, leans in close to my ear, and whispers, “You’re going to have to fight your inner instinct. Remember, you are an RES now. Act like it. If Zeus suspects that you are a threat, he’ll kill you without hesitation. And I can’t…” He trails off, a pained look on his face. “Just promise me you’ll try. Be careful.”