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

by Mike Essex

  THIRTY NINE

  I knew there was a chance Olive might still talk but there was also a chance I might completely lose it and go on a killing spree across the base. So either way we were both living on borrowed time.

  As I closed the door and walked down the corridor I could see sparks coming from inside one of the rooms. Curiosity got the better of me and after I’d checked that Jacobi’s colleague wasn’t looking I peeked towards the window.

  Inside I could see the soldier that we had rescued undergoing his treatment. Despite presumably being over twenty years old the medical technology they had in the base was far better than anything we’d cobbled together in Smyth West. I watched as a medical team applied a pink clay like substance into his mouth and carefully sculpted his tongue back into shape.

  When they’d finished with his tongue I could see a reflection coming from his face, the overhead light bouncing off his new, synthetic eye. Olive may have called me a monster but I knew that we’d saved this solider; that whatever horrors he’d undergone were being put right.

  I was glad we’d bought him back and was excited at the prospect that he may have information that could lead me to Will. Whatever had caused him to become the snatcher I knew I could help him. After all, if I could lose control so easily then maybe the same thing had happened to him. Hopefully if we worked together we could find a way to make things right; to undo the horrors we had caused. Everything could be put right again. I knew it.

  Back on the balcony above the main hall, I could see that in the room below hundreds of collapsible tables had been laid out with everyone sitting on deck chair style seating. In the middle of each table were a collection of cans ranging from meat, to vegetables, to pudding, that the residents of the base were rapidly working through.

  Jacobi saw me looking down at the banquet and asked me to join them.

  “I don’t want to intrude,” I replied.

  “Nonsense, you did a great thing today Emmie. I really feel that soldier can help us turn the tide on this war.”

  “War?” I questioned.

  “Would you call it anything less? Every second the soldiers on the surface spend reclaiming the city is another chance they’ll find us. When they do we have to be ready.”

  “So you’re going to kill them?”

  “We may want to live peacefully but there will always come a day when everyone has to fight for what they believe in. Don’t worry; the soldier you found will help us prepare for that day, one way or another.”

  I’d already heard what Jacobi would do if the man said nothing. He’d break the man’s nose, tear off his fingertips and scoop out his eye. Then fix him up and repeat the whole thing again. A terrible purgatory that served as a reminder that Jacobi was not ready to live in peace.

  “What about when the soldiers leave?” I asked. “When the regeneration is complete won’t it be safe for you then?”

  “Live peacefully with the haves? You honestly believe that would happen?”

  “Why not? The haves and have-nots live together in Birmingham.”

  He laughed, large wrinkles appearing around his lips as he did so. “You call that living? Being at the mercy of the haves; working in their factories, growing food to make them fat whilst they do nothing? I’m not living in a world of take, take, take. If anyone wants to come to this city they’ll have to earn their place just like you did.”

  “So you want to form a dictatorship?”

  He pulled me away from the balcony’s edge to stop us drawing attention to ourselves. “I don’t like to use that word. If everything went my way the soldiers would leave, my colleagues could reclaim the city and if anyone wanted to join us they could do so if they proved themselves.”

  It sounded a lot like Smyth West, our town where everyone chipped in and helped each other. Jacobi’s plan wasn’t madness but I knew blood would have to be spilled before anything would be resolved. I just needed to make sure I was long gone before then.

  “They’ve been talking about you, you know,” said Jacobi.

  “Who?”

  “Those two cute little twins down there,” he pointed to Anya and Alyx. “It seems you made quite the impression on them and there was talk of a promise to protect them.”

  Those concrete words continued to haunt me. I made a mental note that the next person who asked for help would get a resounding ‘no’, no matter how cute they were.

  “I hope you are planning on living up to that promise Emmie. It would be a shame for anything to happen to those girls if you ever left them behind,” he wasn’t clear but I chose to interpret his words as a threat. The message was clear to me; if you leave you’ll be abandoning the girls.

  “I won’t…” I stopped myself, aware that I was about to make another deal I couldn’t keep, except this was a promise that had already been made. “I’ll protect them,” was all I could say.

  “Once Will is safe,” I thought to myself.

  “Good,” said Jacobi, “well I hope you’ll join us for dinner. It’s in your honour after all. Now go and get dressed, you still look like a military soldier and no one wants to see that.”

  I looked at my dirty and stained uniform and then down at the regal costumes worn below. The residents were all wearing period clothes from the giant wardrobe; big thick dresses and tailored suits with flashes of reds, blues and yellows.

  “Alyx, Anya,” shouted Jacobi over the balcony. They looked up with expectant faces. “I’ve got a favour to ask,” their eyes lit up and they started to run up the stairs towards me. Jacobi grabbed my arm before the girls could reach me and said “Remember your promise,” he winked and walked away.

  The girls hugged one of my legs each and looked up at me expectantly. “We knew you’d protect us Auntie Emmie.”

  FORTY

  As the girls skipped along either side of me I couldn’t help but wonder if Jacobi had planned for them to find me the first time we met. Could he have known that seeing the girls would make me want to protect them? Or known that the guilt of seeing two children so young in such a deadly place would make me want to help the citizens of Q-Whitehall?

  It was a long shot but what if the girls were another part of his plan? What if it was all just some elaborate trick designed to make me stay. Was I that valuable to them that they would manipulate me just to fight in their war? I’m no soldier, just a failed police officer who didn’t even get to start her first day on the job.

  I didn’t want to believe it and for the moment chose not to. Trick or no trick, A&A were too young to be caught up in all of this. They didn’t deserve to be treated like pawns in the battle between Q-Whitehall and SO13. If I needed to protect them then so be it.

  “Did you see the snatcher?” asked Alyx; at least I assumed it was her. Their hairstyles were the same as last time, so unless they had switched them I figured it was her.

  “No girls, I didn’t,” I replied.

  “Aww. We thought you were going to stop him,” said Anya. Her words troubled me. Everyone in this base except for Grace wanted the snatcher, I mean Will, dead. How could I possibly protect him from hundreds of citizens and soldiers?

  “Girls. What do you know about the snatcher?” I asked them.

  “He wears a cool purple cloak,” said Anya.

  “He’s not cool. He’s evil,” Alyx shot Anya a glance.

  “Yeah I know. Duh. But his costume is cool. Like a superhero. Except ummm… he’s more of a villain.”

  “What if he isn’t evil?” I asked. “What if he only took those people so he could help make everyone else in the world better? Would that make him a hero?”

  The girls thought about this for a second, I don’t think they were quite old enough for moral dilemmas.

  “Maybe,” said Alyx, “but did he hurt them?”

  “He couldn’t be a hero if he hurt people,” said Anya. “That’s not what good people do.”

  “What if he had no choice?” I asked.

  “You shouldn’t h
urt people. Ever,” said Alyx, clearly well trained by her parents, wherever they were now.

  I knew they were only kids but their words hurt me and made me rethink some of my own actions. It had seemed so easy to kill that soldier until I’d seen his broken face up close. I’d forgotten he was a real person and I couldn’t afford to do that again.

  “Are you crying Auntie Emmie?” asked Alyx.

  “No girls,” I lied as I wiped my face and tried to stay strong. “Now let’s go find the perfect outfit.”

  “Yaaay!” they both excitedly shouted.

  As I removed the camouflage the girls noticed the King of Clubs dog tag around my neck.

  “What’s that?” asked Alyx.

  “It’s a symbol of hope,” I told her, knowing that it was something I’d never take off. It had reunited me with my father, and would help me find my brother. I refused to let Olive’s accusations taint it.

  “Then we should show it to everyone,” said Anya.

  The girls helped me pick out a red ballroom dress that curved around my chest, revealing the dog tag around my neck. It snaked in round my waist and out again over my hips. Around the top of the skirt were little white flower petals that curled into the shape of a lion, rising towards my chest. “Very fitting,” I thought.

  The red dress flowed down to the floor where it split in two; the gap revealing an ivory base underneath. “You look like a mermaid,” said Alyx pointing to the end of the red dress that flowed over my feet looking like flippers.

  “No she looks like a dolphin,” said Anya. I preferred the mermaid comparison but thanked both of the girls.

  I looked at myself in the mirror and had never felt so needed. Coupled with expensive jewellery that the girls handed me, the stunning dress only reminded me that to these girls I was incredibly valuable and I couldn’t just give up on them.

  “Auntie Emmie?” asked Anya. “You’re not a dolphin. You’re a princess.”

  “Yeah,” said Alyx. “The bestest princess ever.”

  “Let’s go show everyone,” I said with glee, which led the girls to erupt in fits of excitement.

  FORTY ONE

  “There she is! Emmie Keyes,” said one of the citizens pointing directly at me.

  A crowd rushed over, their ruffled shirt sleeves and puffed out dresses flapping wildly as they dashed to be the first to reach me. I held out my hand to defend myself but they walked around me and then one of them lifted me into the air.

  “Get off,” I shouted and he quickly put me down.

  “Sorry. I’m just so excited to meet you. I’m Carter and that’s my brother Cecil,” the two of them stood there expectantly, their faces hard to make out in amongst their overgrown hair.

  “Ok,” I said trying to remember their names. For the next hour I met almost everyone in the base and remembered precisely seven names by the end of it. People were obsessed with the day’s events asking me the same questions over and over.

  “Did you see the purple hooded man?”

  “Were you scared?”

  “How did you survive?

  “What did the regeneration look like?”

  On top of more and more questions. I wished I had a pamphlet entitled “Emmie’s Big Day Out” that I could just hand to each of them. The attention quickly became overwhelming.

  When the crowd had started to die down I noticed that Carter had joined the back of the line ready to come round a second time. I wasn’t ready to talk to everyone again, the heavy dress was starting to weigh me down and I felt ready for bed.

  “I’m sorry about them and I do realise that I’m just as bad,” said Carter. “We’re just a bit excited. No-one has ever survived a meeting with the snatcher before. Let alone saved someone from him. I don’t know what I’d do if I met him.”

  “Surely you’d be ok. You’re part of Jacobi’s army right?”

  “Yeah,” said Carter sheepishly. “I went out on the hunt yesterday but secretly I was hoping we wouldn’t find him. Truth be told I’ve got no idea what I’d do if we met him.”

  “Didn’t Jacobi train you?”

  “Yeah, but most of us are not soldiers, no matter how hard he wants us to be. We just want a quiet life and for them to leave us alone.”

  “You have to fight though, you can’t just give up?”

  “We won’t. Jacobi’s plan will see to that and he told us you’d stop the purple hooded man, isn’t that right everyone?” he shouted the last part so everyone could hear and a rallying cry lifted the spirits in the room.

  Jacobi’s army was suddenly starting to sound a lot weaker than he had insinuated. If soldiers had attacked us there and then I doubt many of them would have survived.

  A chant started to form in the room. “Emmie! Emmie! Emmie!”

  “Listen to me,” I climbed onto one of the tables, my red dress flowing over the canned foods. “I’m no hero. I’m just a have-not from a small city trying to survive day by day, just like you. You don’t want me as your idol, you need to protect yourselves.”

  The crowd listened intently so I continued on. “Whoever you have lost, you can’t just give up. You have to fight on in their memory and most importantly of all you have to be ready for an attack,” I wished Chris was here, he’d be so much better at this than me. “Whatever training you already do, double it and then double it again. Please protect yourselves.”

  I saw Jacobi, on the balcony, let out a sly grin. I knew that rallying up the citizens was giving him exactly what he wanted; to revitalise morale in his struggling army but I had no other choice. If these people expected me to save them then they were severely mistaken. My list of people to protect was already far too long.

  I don’t know if it was because I was an outsider, or because of the lies Jacobi had told them about me but my words seemed to offer them fresh hope. In amongst the darkness of the cave, peoples’ faces started to light up. I hoped their troubles would be coming to an end soon.

  One of the people from the crowd starting chanting “King of Clubs” and quickly catching on to what he had seen the chant spread throughout the crowd. I looked down and saw the reflection of my dog tag, the symbol of hope.

  “Look,” shouted one of the crowd and I turned around to see that Grace had entered the room in a turquoise ball gown with black patches etched in a pattern across it. The same member of the crowd shouted. “It’s Grace!”

  “What the?” said Grace as the crowd descended on her now, a new hero to worship. I had no doubt her speech would be better than my own. She was a much better leader than I could ever hope to be.

  As the crowd began to part I saw two familiar faces. “Rex! Rufus!” I called out to them.

  I ran over to Rex hugging him tightly and then remembering the tenderness of his kiss let go and hugged Rufus. I didn’t want to let go of his large squishy frame because I knew the second I did I’d have to talk to Rex about what had happened. About the kiss.

  “Woah there,” said Rufus. “I knew you liked my bear hugs but this is ridiculous.”

  He let go of me first, something that had never happened before and I was left looking at the two of them not knowing what to say.

  “Emmie I…” said Rex. “I’m sorry.”

  “Tell me it was an accident,” I said, hoping that he could explain it away, that we both could.

  “It wa…” Rex started to reply but Rufus quickly interrupted. “Oh no. This is not happening. I’m not letting the two of you write this off as some-one off mistake. I’ve hoped too hard and for too long to let the two of you just ignore this.”

  “But I,” I struggled to reply.

  “Rex admit it,” said Rufus. “You’ve had feelings for Emmie since the day you met her and they’ve only been getting stronger over time. Isn’t that right? Trust me Emmie there are some Tether events I’ve shared with lover boy over here, where he has not stopped thinking about you.”

  Before Rex could reply Rufus continued. “And Emmie don’t give me any of that friend-zone
nonsense, I’ve seen the two of you together for a long time now. There are feelings there you have to admit to.”

  Rex and I looked at each other, even more confused about what to say than we had been at the start.

  “Ah I feel better,” said Rufus. “Everything out in the open. It’s your turn now lovebirds,” he grabbed my hand and forced it into Rex’s open palm.

  For a long time neither of us said anything and then desperate for an answer I mumbled “You’ve always had feelings for me?”

  Rex looked at his brother who made an ‘ok’ symbol with his thumb and forefinger. “I have. Yes.”

  It was a lot to process. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I knew I’d felt the same countless times but I didn’t want to ruin what we had and now there was no going back to those days. Everything was broken now.

  “I didn’t want to ruin it.”

  “It?”

  “Us. I love you Emmie and …” he realised what he had said and then stopped talking.

  “You love me?” I played the words back in my mind. In all the time I’d been with March he’d never once said he loved me and now those words were tumbling out of Rex’s mouth like they were the easiest phrase in the world to say.

  Rex looked down at the floor. “He loves you ok,” said Rufus. “Big, giant, wonderful love that he’d shout from the rooftops if he could.”

  “You are not making this better!” said Rex.

  “Sorry,” said Rufus, holding up his hands defensively and pulling a mock sad face. “You’re the one who said it. This boy lost a lung to protect you! Doesn’t that say it all?”

  Our conversation was interrupted by an irregular beeping sound. “What does that mean?” I asked.

  “If it’s one beep every five seconds like now that means everyone is to go to the war room for an unscheduled briefing,” said Rufus. “Didn’t you pay attention at orientation? Oh that’s right you were twenty minutes late. Come on.”