Meet Abby Banks VOLUMES: 1-3

by J. A. Cipriano

  All it succeeded in doing was making the narrow corridor dance with eerie red light. I dropped it down the shaft. It fell for so long that I lost sight of it before it hit the ground. Well, at least there was no elevator that way…

  I reached out, grabbing hold of the cable a few feet away and tugged. Which was silly, I admit, but I still wanted to make sure it wouldn’t cause me to plummet to my death, even though I was fairly certain I weighed way less than the elevator it was designed to carry.

  My gut was somewhat satisfied, but an uneasy feeling still made me wary. I pulled myself into the shaft and let out a tense breath when I didn’t immediately plummet to my death. I began to scurry down the cable, going slow to avoid slipping.

  “You should have grabbed a pair of night vision goggles or a headlamp,” Donovan said as he floated upside down in front of me so that his long blond hair fell beneath him like an obnoxious golden wave. “You know better.” He tapped my forehead with his finger. “I’m your hallucination after all.”

  “Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” I grunted as I shimmied down toward the level where the flit was located. I’d barely gone more than a floor, but my muscles were already starting to burn. “Now leave me alone so I can concentrate.”

  “How are you even going to tell which floor it is from in here?” Donovan asked, spinning around and examining a particularly nondescript wall.

  “You know as well as I do that the flit’s level was six floors down. We’ve gone two floors. Do the math,” I grumbled.

  “So forty-seven more levels?” Donovan asked, smirking at me. “Should I start counting out random numbers? Six, four, eleven, sixteen, blue forty-two.”

  “That’s not even a number,” I said, pausing to take a breath. I don’t know why I’d thought shimmying down an elevator cable would be a good idea. I had not had the physical training for something like this. Hell, I hadn’t even been very good at gym. I’d mostly been the last girl picked for any sport and was usually the one who was sat out the whole game, which honestly, had been fine with me.

  “You’re not even a number,” Donovan replied, sticking his tongue out me. “At least not yet. When some deranged psycho shoots you in the face, murdering you in cold blood, you get a delightful toe tag though. Then you become a number.”

  “Neat,” I said as the cable I was on jerked taut, nearly throwing me off. I swallowed, my heart racing as the sound of a rushing elevator filled the shaft, reminding me of train tunnel. I wrapped my legs around the cable, took a deep breath and started shimmying even faster as the sound boomed in my ears.

  I got to the floor just as the elevator popped into view overhead. I pulled out my crowbar and jammed it in the doorway. The elevator lurched closer, but it appeared to be slowing down… maybe it would stop above me?

  I threw my weight against the crowbar, trying to pry it open while maintaining my grip on the cable. One inch, two. The elevator came closer. Three inches. Six inches.

  I could feel the cold unforgiving steel above me pressing the darkness down into the shaft around me, just daring me to go slow enough for it to crush me. When the opening was about twelve inches wide I threw myself toward it sideways. I hit the metal floor hard and scrambled into the shaft, my side throbbing, and my vision a little black around the edges. I pulled my feet inside just as the elevator surged past with a sound that stole my breath away.

  That had been close. Too close.

  “Note to self,” I said as I got to my feet. “No more climbing down elevator shafts.”

  “Good plan,” Donovan said. “Now how do you plan on getting through them?”

  He pointed down the corridor where six armed guards stood, their weapons pointed at me. A slow clap echoed through the corridor as Stephen stepped out, smacking his palms together. His shirt was still torn from where I’d shot him, but he looked otherwise unharmed. My heart leapt in my chest. He wasn’t dead, after all. Thank god, I hadn’t killed him. I could rescue him, could turn him back to normal after all.

  “I didn’t think you had it in you, Abby.” Stephen smiled, his perfect teeth flashing in the bright fluorescent light. “I should have realized you were a stone cold killer.” He shrugged. “Maybe you inherited more of your mother’s bloodlust than I’d thought. How else can you explain trying to blow me up?”

  “Stephen, I didn’t mean to… this isn’t you…” I murmured even as his words made my heart shatter in my chest and tears roll down my cheeks. I willed myself to my feet, and as I did so, the soldiers tensed. I took a step toward him, ignoring them, one hand outstretched. “Please… Stephen…”

  “Now, now, Abby. I wouldn’t go making any sudden movements.” He scratched his temple with the butt of his pistol. “You wouldn’t want one of them to get all twitchy and, oh, I don’t know, blow you away.” He licked his lips, and the gesture made me feel dirty inside.

  “You could kill them all, Abby,” Donovan said like the angry, annoyed devil on my right shoulder he really was. “You know you could…”

  “I could kill you all before you even pull a trigger,” I snarled, taking a step forward, my arms at my sides. “And I’m pretty sure you won’t kill me.” I smirked, and a shiver ran through the agents, though Stephen seemed unfazed. “It’s about time the tables turned.”

  “Whatever,” Stephen replied, pointing his gun at me and firing. I threw myself forward as the muscles in his arm twitched, giving me enough of a head start to dodge the shot. It ricocheted off the wall behind me as the soldiers opened up, filling the corridor with rubber bullets.

  A couple hit me in the leg as I scrambled to my feet and my limb went momentarily numb as pain shot through me, exploding behind my eyes like a pair of firecrackers. Then it sort of vanished, pushed away under some sort of mental instinct I couldn’t quite understand. My focus intensified as I reached the crowd of soldiers. My hands snapped out, ripping the gun from a soldier and slamming the still firing weapon into his partner’s facemask.

  The mask shattered in a spray of black plastic as I whirled, dancing through their ranks like an avenging ballerina as I tore weapons from their hands and used them like high-tech clubs. A moment later, I was standing in a broken semi-circle of unconscious soldiers. My chest heaved as I sucked in oxygen. Stephen stared at me, that same stupid smirk on his face as he watched me down the barrel of his weapon.

  He fired as I got to him.

  I hit him.

  Hard.

  So hard it hurt my hand.

  He fell.

  I stepped over him and approached the door to the flit’s mainframe.

  8

  I pressed my gloved hand against the frosty chrome door. It ripped heat out of my body, turning my breath to mist in the space of an instant. I tried to pull my hand away, but the blood on the palm of my glove stuck to the door. Which wasn’t really that odd since frost was running along the metal. For that to happen, the room on the other side must have been really cold. Then again, it was a massive computer mainframe. It probably had a state of the art cooling system.

  I jerked my hand free of the glove, leaving it stuck to the door like macabre art and staggered back a couple steps. Blood dripped down my arm, collecting on my fingertips and spattering to the ground. I was bleeding. I hadn’t realized I was bleeding…

  My eyes traced the blood up my fingers across my hand and up under the sleeve. My uniform was stuck to my arm with sticky red goo. That’s when I saw the hole in my arm by my bicep. A good chunk of flesh was missing, not enough to disable my arm or anything, but enough to make my eyes go wide at the sight. How could I have ignored such a wound? Now that I saw it, pain flowed through me, making my vision swim and my steps wobble.

  God, what was I doing infiltrating a military base by myself? Was I crazy?

  I threw a glance at the downed soldiers, and for some reason, my gaze lingered on Stephen’s fallen form. He was sprawled out on the metal floor, eyes clothes and lips half parted. A bruise was forming on his eye from where I’d hit him. G
ood. If he stayed unconscious until I was done with the flit, I could drag him out of here and rehabilitate him. I wasn’t sure how to do that exactly, but I had to try right? I couldn’t just leave him in the hands of the agency, not after everything he’d done for me, not after everything he meant to me.

  “You know he was just playing you the whole time, right?” Donovan asked, kneeling down next to Stephen. “He’s just like me, after all.”

  “No, he’s not. The Agency did something to him.” Donovan just looked up at me and smiled until I turned away.

  “This is your chance, Abby. Stick the explosive to the door and blow it open, then toss a few more charges inside and get the hell out of here before anyone wakes up.” Donovan’s voice reminded me of my mother when she told me to do things I knew I should, but didn’t really want to do.

  “I know,” I replied to my hallucination because it was that kind of day. I reached my stiff fingers into my pocket and pulled out a charge that reminded me of a tube of silly putty. I plastered it to the door and threw another glance back at the soldiers. “What if something happens to him?” I murmured. “He could get caught in the blast…”

  “Good riddance,” Donovan said, kicking Stephen contemptuously with one foot, which was a little funny because it didn’t actually touch him. “He’s the bad guy. It’s not your concern what happens to him, Abby. You kill bad guys. Don’t you remember?” He touched the hole in his forehead and showed me his bloody finger. The look on his face made me shiver.

  “Don’t kick him,” I snapped even though I knew he wasn’t really there. Something about it pissed me off. I stepped away from the door and looked at it. I knew from my trip through the files there wasn’t a “way” into the room per se. It was sealed off. But maybe the files had neglected something? “And, I don’t kill people.”

  “There’s not another way,” Donovan said as though he’d read my mind. “You know that when they leave that room they actually weld the door shut. They get back inside with a torch. The only way in there is with an explosive.” He shrugged. “Either way, you need to make a decision.”

  I shook my head, tears running down my cheeks. Stephen was definitely too close to the blast zone. I staggered forward, grabbed him by the arm and tried to drag him back toward the door and out of harm’s way.

  “Are you being serious right now, Abby?” Donovan tsk tsked at me. “By the time you move him to safety, reinforcements will be here.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Actually, at the rate you’re going, they’ll be here before Stephen is out of the blast zone. Your best bet is to leave him there.”

  “I know.” I swallowed as the truth of his words rattled around in my brain. “I know.” I glanced back at the charge and stared at the detonator clipped to my belt. I didn’t have time for this… But it was Stephen, I couldn’t really leave him in the blast zone, could I?

  “You know what he’d tell you to do right?” Donovan sidled up next to me, and put one hand around my waist, his other wresting on my hand as it gripped Stephen’s wrist. “He’d tell you to leave him, at least he would if he really cared for you, Abby.”

  “I’m sorry,” I whispered as I let Donovan pull my hand free from his wrist. His arm fell, smacking the ground with a thud of finality. I let him lead me toward the elevator as I pulled the detonator free and stared at it. Could I really go through with this? Could I really sentence him to death?

  I took a deep breath and spun so I could look at Stephen one last time. “I’m so sorry,” I blubbered as tears spilled down my cheeks and spattered on the cool metal floor. The sound of it deafening in the empty, lifeless room.

  The elevator doors behind me opened. It was now or never. I moved my thumb to the button on the detonator and began to press it down.

  “Abby, don’t.”

  I spun, my voice catching in my throat. Lisa Ann, my best friend in the whole world, was standing there in the elevator with a gun pointed at her temple. Tears were running down her cheeks, and her hair was all sorts of messed up. Had they taken her hostage to use against me? If they had… well I was going to kill them.

  A vision of Lisa Ann driving me to school in her beat up old car, the windows down as horrible boyband music blared so loud, kids stared at us as we sang at the top of our lungs.

  I took a step toward them and an image of Lisa standing in back of me as she fussed with my hair before we got ready to go to the Spring Fling, even though our only dates were each other.

  Behind me, someone got to his feet, and I turned my head. Stephen stood there, one hand using the wall for balance and smirked at me. “I wouldn’t do anything rash, Abby. You wouldn’t want us to hurt Lisa Ann, would you?”

  “How? How did you recover so much faster than everyone else?” I murmured as he moved past me to rejoin the soldiers, apparently unconcerned with the detonator in my hand, the button half-pressed. Still, he was out of the blast zone, right? Only, only they had Lisa Ann right now, and for some reason, the knowledge that Stephen had taken her filled me up inside, making everything go red and hazy. Stephen, my Stephen, had dragged Lisa Ann into this. Agency mind control or not, he had stolen my innocent best friend and brought her here to use as a weapon against me.

  “I know it’s confusing, Abby,” Stephen said, smiling at me with his stupid perfect lips. Lips I once thought were so kissable. Oh my god, I had let him kiss me. A profound sense of dirtiness oozed over my skin, and my own lips felt dirty. The urge to wipe off my tongue was nearly overwhelming.

  “Stop…” I said, and the words were strangely hollow and empty in my mouth.

  “Try and behave rationally here. If you don’t surrender, I’m going to shoot your friend in the face.” He shoved the barrel against Lisa Ann’s head, forcing it to the side. She whimpered.

  “You were playing me the whole time, weren’t you?” I asked and for some reason, my voice reminded me of Donovan. I had the sudden urge to look around for him, but even as my eyes glanced around, I didn’t see him anywhere.

  “Is this where you say ‘if I hurt even one hair on her head’ you’ll make me regret it?” Stephen asked, grabbing a handful of her black hair and jerking it free. Lisa Ann screamed, and my vision turned several shades of scarlet as I charged forward, but before I made it even three steps, Stephen fired.

  The bullet didn’t hit Lisa Ann, but only because he hadn’t meant for it to hit her. It shattered the space in front of her eyes before pinging off the wall and ricocheting into oblivion. My heart hammered inside me as the realization that Lisa Ann was still alive filled me up. He hadn’t killed her, thank god, he hadn’t killed her.

  “I’d stay where you are, Abby, otherwise the next time we’ll be cleaning Lisa up off the walls.” He shrugged. “But that doesn’t matter to me. I won’t be the one to clean it up.”

  “What a jackass,” Donovan said before glancing at me. “I can’t believe you were going to have sexy time with him.”

  “What do you want, Stephen?” I asked, my voice cracking partway through. “Why do you have Lisa Ann?” As the words left my mouth, I knew I would do anything to save her from him. I just needed a plan, a way to do that. She was my best friend, after all. It was my fault she was here. That made it my responsibility to get her out of this. I took a deep breath, willing myself to calm down. I was going to save her, even if I had to take down Stephen to do it.

  “I want you to surrender, Abby. Isn’t that obvious?” He gestured toward the men behind me. “We have big, big plans for you.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said, swallowing back a sob as I depressed the button on the detonator. The explosion rippled outward, throwing me forward as the soldiers in the elevator scrambled backward. Stephen lost his footing as I crashed into him, tackling him to the ground. Lisa Ann pitched to the side, slamming down hard on the metal with a shriek.

  I started hitting Stephen, my hands coming down like a jack hammer on his face, chest, and arms as he struggled to cover himself.

  A foot struck me hard in
the side of the head, knocking me off of him. I crashed into the wall, my vision spinning. Lisa Ann took a menacing step toward me, her eyes distant and unforgiving.

  “You’re trying to kill me, Abigail, aren’t you?” she asked in the robotic voice of the flit. Her hands clenched and unclenched as she stepped over Stephen’s bloody body. “Why are you trying to kill me?”

  “You can’t die. You’re just a machine!” I snapped, getting to my feet as Lisa Ann’s hand lashed out. It caught me on my wounded bicep and stars flashed across my vision. Another blow came, and I stepped into it, knocking it aside with my shoulder and just as I was about to lash out with my elbow, I stopped. This was Lisa Ann… if I hurt her… No… I couldn’t.

  “So you will not hurt this body, interesting…” Lisa Ann grabbed me by belt and flung me like a rag doll. My back struck the wall, and I slid to the ground, leaving a glistening trail of scarlet in my wake. I struggled to pull air into my lungs as soldiers rushed out of the elevator, weapons pointed at me.

  “Why do you wish to destroy me, Abigail?” Lisa Ann asked, holding one hand up and signaling the soldiers to stop. They did. Well that was interesting. Did they have to obey the flit? Why?

  “Because you’re trying to kill me,” I snarled, getting to my feet just as her boot caught me in the stomach. I flopped onto my back, struggling to remember how to breathe as she stepped on my throat. She shifted, cutting off my air supply as I reached out, trying to grab onto her leg, my hands clawing uselessly at her jeans.

  “My orders are to bring you in. Not to kill you,” she said, and I swear she seemed annoyed. “So I do not understand why you are trying to kill me.” The pressure relaxed just a touch, enough for me to barely breathe. “Explain.”

  “It’s because she’s a human, flitty,” Stephen said, getting to his feet and wiping his face with the back of his hand, smearing blood along his sleeve. “It’s what humans do. They try to destroy things that threaten them, even if those things really mean them no harm.”