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

by Mike Essex

  “Save them,” Will repeated the words for a third time, allowing a different set of senses to overwhelm me one by one. Jacobi, Anya, Alyx, Rex, Rufus and the citizens; I felt all of them being destroyed from the inside.

  “How!?” I screamed out and this time the words were given sound, echoing around the dark space in Will’s mind. I felt the fire leave me, radiating out in red spirals that turned the darkness into a world covered with flame. In the flickering sparks I saw the faces of those I was meant to save, Tethered souls waiting for someone to save them; doomed by their connection.

  “Tethered Souls…. All connected,” said Will, echoing my thoughts. “Save them.”

  A wave of orange light surged through the fire, sending a vibrant shockwave charging through the space. It extinguished the flames in an instant, leaving only darkness and a tiny orange ray of light. I felt myself being pulled towards it as my body called me home. I tried to tell Will to make it stop, that I wasn’t ready to leave him and that I would save him. My words remained unspoken as I felt the light engulf me.

  As the light began to clear, reality shifted back into place around me. On a crystal clear display I watched as Grace tended to my body, crying out for me to wake up. Her tears were far more heart-breaking with the crisp audio from the speakers that surrounded me.

  I felt something in my hands and looked down to see a hard piece of plastic held in them, several buttons and sticks protruding from it. I moved one of the sticks and the viewpoint shifted around the room based on my commands. When I pushed it down, it showed me the bloodied hands of Vlad with arms that seemed to run back towards me.

  I tossed the controller to the floor. “I can’t be Vlad,” I told myself, the thought was too horrific to even consider.

  “Who am I?” I wondered to myself. I looked at the hands which had held the controller: perfectly manicured nails, not clogged with dirt like my own. I stood up, looking back at the chair which had housed me. With the weight of my body gone it started to change to a flat surface. I placed my hand on to it and the chair changed shaped around it, perfectly cushioning me.

  I felt something on my ear and ran my hand over it. It felt like an earpiece. “Am I a soldier?” I wondered. Although the thought disgusted me I dared not removed the earpiece for fear it would destroy my connection to this mysterious woman. Instead I opened the door out of the black box that contained me.

  In the corridor outside I walked past other containers which ran alongside each other, with more of them located in the walkways that branched from it. There must have been hundreds of them on this floor alone.

  Slowly I pushed my way inside one of the black boxes, quickly moving my back against the door when I saw someone inside. They remained sitting in the chair, focused on the screen in front of them which showed a viewpoint edging ever closer to Jacobi.

  Jacobi’s eyes were pale and devoid of life, whilst even his screams were starting to weaken, all of his energy running out of him. The man in the chair laughed, as if this was all some sort of game and Jacobi was pushed to the floor by a hand which emerged on the screen. The view moved down and the hand reached out to grab Jacobi’s sword, which was quickly swung around in front of the camera as the man in the chair cheered out.

  I watched as his hands moved around the controller. Depending on the direction he pushed his left thumb he was able to move forward or back. With his right thumb he was able to look around independently inside that space, as if turning a head 360 degrees.

  He swung Jacobi’s sword around with such precision that it was clear he had been doing this for a while. So when he positioned the sword directly above Jacobi’s chest it was clear he wouldn’t miss.

  “Stop!” I shouted and he turned around to face me.

  “Jane?” he replied, looking at me. So that was the name of this vessel. A smile formed on his face. “Watch this, it’s going to be so cool.”

  “You’re going to kill him!” I replied.

  “He’s just a have-not. Don’t worry about it.”

  I grabbed his earpiece and tossed it to the floor, crushing it under my foot. The TV screen faded to black. “Tell me how to stop this.”

  “Woah, take it easy Jane. We’ve nearly secured London now. The game’s almost over.”

  “This isn’t a game! Those are real people in there.”

  “Obviously,” he replied. “It’ll be worth it to get those incredible apartments when this is all over. We’ll be the first occupants in the State of London. How amazing will that be?”

  “You’re sick.”

  “Don’t tell me those charity campaigners have gotten to you? Oh the have-nots are just like you and me, they need our help, blah blah,” he said in a mocking voice. “This is progress. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go to IT and get a new headset.”

  “You aren’t going anywhere,” I told him. I removed Jane’s high heeled shoes and held one in my hand. “Tell me how to make this all stop.”

  “Look Jane, I’ll take you to HR ok? They’ll give you counselling. It’ll be fine.”

  “It will not be fine!” I snarled as I pushed him against the wall and pressed the heel against his neck. It dug into his skin, which caused him to cry out. Desperate not to be found I pushed my hand against his mouth to stop the screams. “Just do exactly what I say, do you understand?”

  He nodded.

  “Good. Can you take me to the room that powers this game?”

  He stared at me blankly, tears starting to form in his eyes. I dug the heel in deeper and asked. “Can you?”

  He nodded and I motioned for him to take me there. I pushed my hand underneath his shirt, feeling the sweat of his back and pressed the heel in to his spine. I rolled the sleeves down on Jane’s jacket so they covered my arm and hid it from sight.

  “Lead the way,” I told him. He took us out into the corridor and started to call the lift. “Too risky,” I explained and he led us down a stairwell instead.

  “You can’t stop this you know. We control over 6,000 soldiers across the globe. What can you do?”

  “I can save my friends,” I replied, and I pushed the shoe into his vertebrae to remind him who was in control.

  After walking down five flights of stairs he pushed through two double doors, taking us into a room lit only by the dim glow of rows of monitors that ran across the walls. Underneath each monitor sat a computer, hidden behind a grate, and a handle, one of which he pulled on to reveal a keyboard.

  “Log in then,” I urged him.

  “I … I can’t,” he replied.

  “You’re lying,” I pushed the heel in harder and felt a popping in his spine.

  “My password won’t work. I swear,” he keyed something into the screen and a message appeared to back him up with the words “Access level denied.”

  “Dammit,” I screamed out. “Who can gain access?”

  “I can,” said a mysterious figure at the entrance to the room. “Ms Keyes.”

  SIXTY

  My previously captive prisoner ran out of the room without looking back, leaving me alone with a woman, who was pointing a gun directly at me. The golden rimmed name badge on her pinstriped suit confirmed that her name was Catherine McDougal.

  The McDougal’s were one of the richest families in the world and from her perfectly pressed dress suit, permed red hair and expensive looking watch it was a safe bet she was one of them.

  “We’ve been watching you for a long time Ms Keyes,” she explained. “Ever since Tobias Zen pulled his little, what are they calling it now? Right, the ‘Rapture’. Yes, you certainly caught our attention that day.”

  “I’m nothing special,” I told her.

  “On the contrary. After all, I’m pretty sure the lovely Jane Smith is not your twin and yet here you are; controlling her body as if it was your own. Remarkable.”

  “Stop or I will hurt her,” I held the shoe up towards Jane’s face, inches away from her eye.

  “You think I care about her?” she laug
hed. “No. I’m much more interested in you and your brother; he’s certainly proven himself in our little test.”

  “Your test?” I asked.

  “Yes, the London test has gone far better than expected. In a few more minutes we’ll have wiped out the entire resistance in the city.”

  “I’ll give you one chance to stop this,” I replied. “If you don’t then you’ll lose everything.”

  “What do you expect to do? You’re in a body that isn’t your own, armed with nothing more than a shoe. This technology is worth billions…” she started to walk towards me, holding the gun with both hands. “And I will stop at nothing to protect it.”

  I knew Catherine wouldn’t give up easily. With my brother under her control and her army of soldiers she could wipe out any city she wanted. She was about to become the most powerful woman in the world. Nevertheless I repeated my request. “One chance.”

  “You really are a stupid little girl aren’t you?” said Catherine as she grabbed the shoe from my grasp and tossed it to the floor.

  “As you wish,” I replied, as a bullet pierced its way through her calf muscle. Her face showed the disbelief as she stared at me without a weapon to protect myself. As her body twisted round from the shock she let off a bullet towards me, which narrowly missed my face and ricocheted off one of the server casings. I kicked her leg, forcing her down and pulled the gun from her grasp.

  “How did you?” she questioned.

  I pointed towards the entrance to the room. Catherine turned to face it and watched in horror as fifty of her own staff made their way inside, their weapons aimed at her. Their eyes shone a bright orange whilst I commanded their every action.

  “How are you doing this?” she asked, as the soldiers started to pick her up from the floor. “You don’t have this power.”

  I grabbed her face in my hands. “You will never know what power I have,” I pushed her back and had my newly acquired soldiers march her to the double doors.

  “This building is no longer in your control Catherine. I gave you a chance to stop this and yet here we are. So now all I want you to do is watch. I yanked at her hair to pull her face upwards. “Watch,” I repeated.

  As the server room started to twist and change in-front of her eyes, I wanted to make sure she saw every second of what I had planned. This was her punishment for the damage she had done to my friends.

  “No, stop this!” shouted Catherine. “You don’t know what you’ll do.”

  Metal casings disappeared from sight, exposing the machines hidden beneath as the room began to fade in and out of existence. In the sky above a regeneration machine shone it rays upon us, focusing its energy on the room, controlled by one of Catherine’s own soldiers, now under my command. He had been very helpful; giving me exactly the information I needed.

  “I know exactly what I’m doing,” I moved closer to her ear and whispered to her. “Your seventeen backup facilities are experiencing the exact same thing. Soon you’ll have nothing left.”

  “I am going to hunt you down,” threatened Catherine. “No matter where you hide I will find you and everyone you hold close.”

  I felt my vision start to blur as the machines were replaced by rows of prison cells, modelled on the dark hell they had kept Will in. As the last server vanished from the room I felt my grip on Jane slip as my own body began to call me back.

  “Emmie, come back to us,” I could hear Grace’s voice calling to me.

  Just one more thing. I begged.

  “Your brother was one thing but you are something else,” said Catherine. “As of right now you are my number one priority and I will use every asset at my disposal to find you.”

  “Good luck with that,” I grabbed Catherine by her hair and tugged her to her feet. With the help of her own soldiers we dragged her into the cell and closed the door behind her.

  “Your staff were very helpful Catherine,” I explained. “Service with a smile.”

  Catherine wouldn’t be escaping any time soon. I’d used some of her team to forward evidence of their entire corrupt operation to Jill at The Deck. Soon she’d be living in a very similar cell for real.

  “You have to come back,” Grace begged me to return. “I can’t do it. I can’t kill you.”

  “I’ll be watching you,” said Catherine, staring at me from behind the cell bars. “The day you feel safe is the day I will find you.”

  My vision was flooded with light and then moments later I felt myself being pulled backwards away from the light, away from Jane’s body. Although the servers were destroyed millions of lights were laid out in front of me. So many bodies I could jump into, so much havoc I could wreak.

  I could be anyone I wanted. I could go anywhere I wanted. I could change this world if I wanted.

  “Come back to us Emmie,” I could feel Grace’s body pressed around my own, holding my hand, pleading for me to come back and escape from this world of wonder.

  As a bright light rapidly drew itself towards me, I could feel every emotion of my friends washing over me at once; the sadness Rex was feeling at losing me, the fear Grace had of being alone again, the anger bubbling up inside Jacobi.

  The pull of their emotions won out and I felt my grip on Will’s mind weakening. I gave up control and felt my own body pull me back as the light engulfed me.

  “So … cold,” were the only words I could weakly muster.

  “We were so worried,” said Grace as she picked me up in her arms, not caring about the intense cold that ran throughout my body. “What happened?”

  “Will?”

  “He’s ok. Jacobi’s medics are just checking him over now.”

  I tried to ask about everyone else but Grace just held my hand and told me they were all ok. “Just rest,” she said.

  I closed my eyes and felt the exhaustion win out. We had won. It was over.

  The sound of two gunshots woke me, followed by the words; “It’s time to collect on our deal.”

  SIXTY ONE

  The snatcher stood over my body, fiddling with the clamp in his hand.

  “You promised me you were special but I never expected that,” he explained “You are what I have been searching for.”

  “You don’t have to do this,” I begged.

  “Don’t I?” He placed a hand around my mouth and forced it open, inserting the clamp into the opening. The taste of metal and sweat made me feel sick and I retched, turning my head away from him. As I looked down at the floor I saw the dead bodies of Jacobi’s medics.

  Fighting against the pain in my arm I twisted my body away in an effort to get free. In retaliation he placed a hand around my head and held it down.

  “Stay still, this won’t take long,” he placed his gun on the table and reached down to retrieve a knife. “Stick out your tongue,” he demanded.

  I shook my head and desperately tried to speak. “Wa.. i .. t” I weakly proclaimed before he twisted the clamp and forced my mouth open. He fiddled with some dials and fixed it in position, exposing my open mouth. I knew the words that would force him to stop but with my jaw fixed in place I couldn’t utter them.

  “Tongue!” he repeated.

  Seeing no other option I stuck out my tongue and waited for his knife to swing down upon it.

  “Thank you,” he confirmed. As he raised the knife into the air his nose started to sniff aggressively at an unknown odour. It was followed by a sickening taste that caused him to double over and violently vomit onto the floor.

  Using the opportunity I reached for the clamp around my mouth and quickly started turning the screw that held it in place. He had twisted it incredibly tightly and it refused to budge.

  He spat on the floor to try and remove the taste and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his cloak. He steadied himself but was startled by a deafening sound that rang through his ears. “Not again!” he shouted, sensing that the signal had returned.

  I dived from the bed, landing on my knees on the floor. As he clawed at his ears
desperate to hear again I dug my nail into the rust behind the screw and scratched away at it. I begged for him to stay away from me, to give me more time.

  Ignoring my request he swung the knife towards me and before he could reach me a bright light shone through his eyes disorienting him. He stumbled and fell towards my hand, cutting my palm. As I screamed out, the last bit of rust fell away from the clamp’s screw and it snapped shut freeing my mouth. I pulled it out and tossed it to the floor.

  “Wait!” I begged, my mouth now free.

  His eyes were filled with fire as he stared at me, waiting to strike.

  “It’s Suri,” I said. ”She’s dead.”

  “That’s impossible,” he replied as his senses returned to normal. “If she was dead I wouldn’t be standing here.”

  “You know it’s true. You can’t feel her presence any more can you?”

  “Of course I can… I …”

  “Let me show you. You are free now.”

  He picked up the pistol and reluctantly followed me down to where we had left Tom and Suri. For the entire journey back through the prison he kept the pistol aimed at my back, ready to strike if I had betrayed him.

  We found Suri face down in her chair, the fight no longer within her.

  “I’m sorry. I did all I could,” said Tom when he saw us. “She died right after the signal stopped.”

  “Lies,” the snatcher replied “I didn’t break the Tether. I couldn’t do it. I failed her.”

  “I did it,” I told him. “When I had control of everyone I broke the Tether and allowed her to be free of you.”

  “She held out as long as she could,” said Tom. “She must have wanted to wait until you were free of the signal.”

  Tears filled the snatcher’s face as he held Suri in his arms. “I never asked for any of this. I just wanted my sister to live.”

  “She wanted the same for you,” I explained. “That’s why she held on until you were free.”