Tethered Twins Saga: Complete Trilogy (Twins, Souls and Hearts)

by Mike Essex

  For now the arrangement served them well. Tobias had promised them that in a week’s time he wouldn’t need to take them over anymore but that he would keep the link alive. It would allow the twins to live forever. They would be invincible and free to control their own fate. It was something they both had dreamed of. Serving Tobias in the short term was a small price to pay for immortality.

  Tobias watched through their eyes as they saw Rex and Rufus leave through the city boundary and head towards a large stone building. A military base? What business would they have there? he wondered.

  Tobias ripped control from the tall man and stepped his foot on the brake pedal. The car stopped sharply and Rex disappeared in the distance. “What did you do that for?” asked Vlad. “We’ll never catch them now.”

  Vlad heard a voice in his head. A thought that wasn’t his own. “Leave.”

  “No! We have to stop them. I will kill them,” replied Vlad, unwilling to give up his prey. He looked over at his brother and saw that he was not in control. His head hung downwards as he waited his next instruction.

  “Leave or I will make you leave,” stated Tobias in Vlad’s head. Vlad was powerless and not happy.

  The tall man sat upwards again and fixed his gaze on the road ahead.

  “No Brother!” shouted Vlad. He tried to grab his brother’s arms and stop him from turning around but Tobias amplified the pressure in his brain and took over his mind. He sat back in his seat and put his arms on his lap. Tobias had complete control of him now.

  --<><>--

  Rex T Jules

  “Did you have to bring that?” asked Rex, as he pointed to the frying pan in Rufus’ hand.

  “Oh yeah,” replied Rufus. “This baby saved my life. There’s no way I’m letting it go. It saved your life too bro. Never did get a thank you for that.”

  “I’m pretty sure I said thank you.”

  “Whatever. As long as you save my life one day then we can call it even,” playfully teased Rufus.

  “I’ll try to remember that.”

  “So this is a trap right? The stabby twin and the time loving twin back to finish what they didn’t do last time?”

  “Probably but if it’s really Emmie then we have to know if she is still alive. We still don’t know what she’s caught up in.”

  “That girl always was good at keeping secrets. What makes you think she’ll need us? We’re not soldiers. We’re just one amazingly attractive guy, me and one slightly chubby brother, you. What can we do?”

  “If she sent us a message then she needs us, that’s more than enough for me,” replied Rex as he parked the car.

  “Then it’s enough for me too,” said Rufus as he looked out at the military base in front of them. It was a large stone bunker comprised of snaking walkways that had once housed tanks and jeeps. The army had used it as a large storage facility years ago but they no longer had a need for it. All military vehicles now patrolled the large cities and coasts twenty four hours a day on rotating shifts.

  It made the country feel safer but really it was just a power play to stop other nations from invading the UK and taking our remaining wealth. Soldiers didn’t receive a salary but they got their food and living expenses paid for so for any of the have-nots it was an appealing prospect and many people applied. Most of them assumed war would never happen so their lives were fairly well looked after with minimal risk. Yet, they dreaded the day that war would eventually arise.

  For Rex and Rufus this base was the perfect hiding place. When they had been growing up the two of them along with Grace and Emmie had come to this base to play hide and seek. It was only two hours walk from Smyth West and it provided a lot of entertainment for free.

  So when Emmie had simply texted Rex the words “Hide and seek?” he had known exactly where to go. He hoped the message had been cryptic enough that no one else would find them either.

  They entered the base through two large metal double doors which automatically turned on hundreds of overhead lights revealing several stone pathways that curved around the building in spiral patterns. They had learnt the path to the centre of the base over many years. Right, left, left, second right, over the walkway and then one more right.

  --<><>--

  Emmie Keyes

  As I saw them turn the last right they shouted to me. “Emmie!” Rufus was carrying a frying pan which seemed odd even for him.

  I hugged them both and was happy to see familiar faces that I could trust. “I missed you both.”

  “We thought you had died Emmie. What happened to you?” asked Rex.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “Well it’s a good thing we bought tea, a kettle and some marshmallows!” replied Rufus.

  “Grace would hate you right now.”

  “Well she’s not here is she?”

  Whilst we made a small fire from some logs and boiled the tea, I told them what had happened with Will, Tobias and The Deck. I left out my relationship with March as I really wasn’t sure what I thought of him now but I told them about Grace’s deception with her fake twin.

  “But you’ve always been able to trust Grace. She’s one of the good one’s surely?” asked Rufus, tucking it to a rapidly melting marshmallow.

  “I did. I mean I do, I still do trust her. I just don’t know enough about The Deck and what they want from me. No matter what I do it seems like Tobias and The Deck want something from me.”

  “Well duh! Everyone wants something from everyone. That’s life. All you can do is decide who you want to give yourself to. It sounds like The Deck want to save the world and Tobias wants to bring it to war. It’s a pretty easy choice Emmie.”

  “He’s right.” said Rex, causing Rufus to let out a gasp in shock. “As much as I hate to say it my brother makes a good point. Whatever The Deck want, it sounds like if you do nothing then a lot of innocent people will die. There’s no way Grace would let anything bad happen to you.”

  R&R had always spoken a lot of sense and I regretted not confiding in them earlier. They had proven to be the most truthful people of all and I should have trusted them in the first place.

  “Loverboy here is right,” said Rufus. “Besides he practically died to save you.”

  “What?” I asked, shocked.

  Rex opened his shirt to reveal a large scar on one side of his chest. “I was attacked. The man you said attacked Will, the one with all of the knives, he attacked me. He wanted to know where you were so I lied to him so he wouldn’t find you.

  It made sense. The men who had killed Will had the same orange eyes as Tobias’ experiments. If he knew I was alive, he would probably have sent them to look for me. Yet something didn’t add up about them. In all of his experiments that Tobias had shown, one of the twins sat stationary whilst he controlled the other. Yet when Will was attacked both men moved independently, despite presumably being related and having orange eyes. It was as if a third force was controlling them but I didn’t know how that could be possible.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I didn’t want anyone else to be hurt because of me. That’s why I’d never told R&R about the orange eyed men in the first place. Although I wanted to protect them they’d been hurt anyway. I felt horrible.

  “It’s ok. I may have lost a lung but as long as I don’t put too much pressure on my body I’ll be ok,” said Rex. I couldn’t believe he would endure so much pain for me. We’d known each other a long time but his sacrifice touched me.

  I hugged him and said I was sorry. He told me not to blame myself and that he’d do it again.

  “How many lungs do you think you have?” Teased Rufus. “I doubt you could do it again. Anyway you missed the best bit,” Rufus started swinging the frying pan he had been carrying since I saw him. “I saved my bro and possibly the world.”

  “I doubt you saved the world,” said Rex.

  “Always so ungrateful!” replied Rufus and it was just like old times.

  --<><>--

  Rex T Jules<
br />
  In the town of Birmingham, on the twelfth floor of Mr King’s tower a server turned on by itself. The virus Tobias had installed started to work its way into the system. No one was there to stop it. Mr King was being interviewed by the police and his staff were either at home or being subjected to questions. The virus was free to do whatever Tobias wanted it to do.

  The server sent out a command deep into space where it was received by a satellite. The satellite tilted its angle slightly and pointed towards the south of the UK. A signal was beamed down back to the Earth, where it landed in the town on Smyth West.

  In an army base.

  On Rex’s phone.

  His phone emitted a small buzzing sound, which raised in volume until it was so loud Emmie, Rex and Rufus had to cover their ears. When the sound had passed Emmie looked at Rex and saw that he had changed. His eyes now pulsed a dark orange colour. She looked at Rufus and his eyes did the same.

  “Hello Emmie,” said Rex. “I knew I’d find you again.”

  “Tobias?”

  Two more orange lights had been activated on the computers around Tobias. One for Rex and one for Rufus. Tobias looked out through the eyes of Rex at the girl he had let escape. He saw the fear in her eyes and it made him smile. It made him feel powerful.

  FORTY-FIVE

  Emmie Keyes

  “Rex, if you can hear me you need to turn back,” I said. “Whatever is happening you can fight it.”

  I hoped Rex had heard every word but if he had then he certainly wasn’t reacting to them.

  He dashed towards me and I ran into the twisting stone structure of the base. Rufus didn’t follow us. The last I saw of him he was fiddling with a broken control panel.

  “You can’t do this Rex!” I shouted back at him. He’d always been faster than me and this was a race I knew I couldn’t win. The stone corridors twisted around me as I dashed left and then right trying to find the exit.

  As I worked my way around the maze he caught me and grabbed my shoulder yanking me backwards. I instinctively threw my other arm back to try and hit him but the pain was too much and my punch was not strong enough, causing him to barely flinch.

  Still holding my shoulder he curled his other arm around my neck and squeezed tightly, cutting off my airflow and holding me in a headlock. “You are coming with me,” he shouted as he tried to drag me to the exit of the base. “I’ve got her,” he shouted to Rufus who did not reply.

  Fearing for my safety I jabbed my arm back into Rex’s chest. It hit him on the scarred side where he had lost a lung and he instinctively hunched over. When we’d attacked Kull earlier he hadn’t felt our attacks so I was surprised to see a response but used the opportunity to run away.

  I started to gain distance. Rex should have been able to catch me but I couldn’t hear his footsteps. Something wasn’t right. I started to wonder if I’d really hurt him and I slowed down my pace slightly to see if he would catch up but I could no longer see him. I stood still to try and hear him and it was only then I could hear his panting for breath.

  I ran backwards towards Rex to check if he was ok. I didn’t want to be responsible for another injury. As I turned a corner I saw him lying on the floor coughing up blood. His body had been pushed too hard. With one lung this had been a chase he couldn’t win.

  As I took another step closer to him the lights in the base flickered out. I suddenly realised that was what Rufus had been doing. He’d been trying to turn off the lights! There were no windows around the base and the stone walls blocked any outside light. We were sealed in complete darkness. All I could see were the orange glows in Rex’s eyes. Somewhere in the darkness Rufus lurked as well, his orange eyes glowing just as fiercely.

  “You can’t do this Rufus!” I shouted. “Your brother needs medical aid and I can’t help him in the dark,” I looked around to try and see a light source but there was none. I needed to escape to get help for Rex.

  Ok Emmie. Lets’ see how well you’ve memorised the route, I thought to myself. When trying to escape earlier I had taken a few wrong turns so I tried to picture the route in my head. I couldn’t run fast or I’d run straight into a wall, so I quickly felt my way along the wall step-by-step.

  A light flickered in front of me illuminating the corner ahead. An exit? I wondered but it was not. Rufus turned the corner holding a log that was on fire. He must have taken it from the fire we had made earlier for our tea. He and Rex now had the upper hand. They knew this base as well as I did and now they had the advantage of sight.

  I turned backwards from Rufus and tried to find another way. I walked slowly along the side of the wall. I was scared to make any noise for fear that it would help them find me. My heartbeat grew faster as the terror set in. My two best friends wanted to kill me and I was powerless to stop them.

  My best bet was to escape and hope that Tobias released them from his control. I didn’t know what to do after that. The Deck was starting to seem like my only option.

  “Emmie!” shouted Rex.

  “Emmie!” shouted Rufus.

  Their voices then became one in unison. “Surrender now or I will destroy these bodies.”

  He had to be bluffing. R&R meant nothing to him. Killing them wouldn’t help him. I hoped that The Deck could help me turn them back to normal. That was the only solution.

  I turned a corner and then I saw him. Rex stood in front of me with a burning log. The fire was tickling his arm and lightly burning away at his wrist but he didn’t react to the pain in any way. The light from the fire made his orange eyes flicker menacingly. He was standing in front of the exit. There was no way around. I turned back to see a further glow of light approaching me. Rufus was closing in on me.

  “It’s over,” They both spoke together. “Surrender and your friends won’t die.”

  As I looked at Rex I could see he was straining. Chasing after me must have hurt his body. With only one lung he wouldn’t do well in another chase. I couldn’t keep putting this pressure on him.

  “Ok,” I said. Rex threw his log to the floor and grabbed my arms behind my back. They walked me through the double doors and out into the light.

  A dark blue saloon car was waiting for us with the engine running. Inside the car I saw two faces I hoped never to see again. Two orange eyed men sat in the car. Both of them had large and muscular frames with one of them sporting scars on his face.

  I knew it was them instantly, the same men who had killed Will.

  Rufus opened the door so suddenly that I felt like the hinges might break. Rex sat down in the back of the car and Rufus threw me inside where my head hit the cream leather seats with a dull thudding sound. Rex grabbed a clump of my hair in his first and pulled me upwards. The stinging sensation from the pain made me start to cry.

  Rufus sat next to me and he and Rex held my arms so tightly that I couldn’t fight them. As the car drove away and I began to realise that no one was coming to help me the tears started to flow down my face.

  FORTY-SIX

  Grace Wilkerson

  As Grace rode her motorbike towards the town of Smyth West she tried to think of places Emmie would go. She checked her home, the police station where Emmie had trained and some of her favourite shops. There were no clues.

  In desperation she knocked on the door to Rex and Rufus’ home in the hope they might know something. No-one answered. She tried both of their places of work and didn’t find them there either.

  It was as if Rex, Rufus and Emmie had disappeared. As she was about to give up her phone rang.

  “Grace?” asked Jill.

  “Yes it’s me,” she replied.

  “We’ve managed to hack into Emmie’s phone and we’ve found something that might help. The last message she sent was ’Hide and Seek?’ Does that mean anything to you?”

  “It does,” replied Grace, knowing that there were only three other people who would know what the message meant. The same three people who were missing. She jumped on her bike and rode towards th
e abandoned army base hoping she would make it in time.

  She reached the base and saw Emmie’s bike waiting outside with another bike next to it. I’m not too late, she though.

  Dashing inside the large concrete structure she saw that the lights had been disabled and that the room was pitch black. Grace called out to Emmie, Rex, and Rufus but heard no reply. She removed her phone and turned on its torch. Grace dashed through the stone corridors looking for Emmie and hoped she wouldn’t find a body.

  She looked down every pathway and saw a glowing control panel in the middle of the base. In all her years of coming here she had never seen the panel activated before. On the screen glowed a view from outside of the base. Someone had activated a camera.

  Grace pressed redial. “Jill?”

  “There’s no one here. I’ve found a control panel with recorded footage. Any chance you can hack it from there?” asked Grace.

  “Sure can!” Jill replied, eager for the opportunity. “Get back to the base and I should have the footage by the time you get here.”

  --<><>--

  Emmie Keyes

  The motorway drive felt like it took forever. As we passed other cars I hoped they would see me and help but they were oblivious. The orange eyed men now wore sunglasses to hide their true allegiance. For anyone looking in, we were just another car on the road.

  I tried to break free but their arms were so strong. R&R were not muscular but it was like they had an extra force giving them more power. Wherever we were going I wouldn’t be able to escape.

  On the horizon I saw an unmistakable sight. Large metallic pillars loomed ahead of us. Their orange circular tops and the humming sound that grew ever louder as we drove forwards could only mean one thing. We were going to London.

  --<><>--

  Grace Wilkerson

  Grace arrived back at The Deck’s base and dashed inside. “Do you have anything?” she shouted to Jill.