by Cohen, Bryan
10
Jennifer Norris waited until 2:00 AM to get out of bed that night. Everybody on the ship was on edge after the nuclear attack. Aside from the army losing a few rhinos, rumor had it that only a few thousand people on the outskirts of the base felt the effects of the weapon. Afterwards, Ted had used his powers to clear the air and send it to a barren planet, but the damage had already been done. Jennifer was energized for another reason all together. Earlier that day, the General had given her the words she'd been waiting for nearly a month.
Once she was in the hallway alone, she repeated those same words to herself in a reverent tone. "Begin phase two."
It had been torture for the newly converted dark soul to not show off her new abilities. She'd been a bit careless with Dhiraj during their exploits after the escape from the White House, but the General admonished her to hold back until the time was right.
She smiled to herself as she turned the corner and came closer to her destination. I finally get to show who I truly am. She shifted uncomfortably. Not killing that scrawny, wannabe millionaire has been the toughest part.
While she knew the General wouldn't praise her restraint over not killing her boyfriend, she gave herself a pat on the back for her self-control.
Jennifer came upon the door she planned on opening. Earlier that day, she had shorted out the wires to the only camera pointing in her direction. Everyone had been too worked up about the nuke to notice. With a mighty heave, Jennifer broke the lock upon the door and pulled herself inside before anyone could notice.
She flipped on the light and the fluorescents warmed slowly. As the illumination spread through the room, the undercover dark soul could see what she'd been craving. Unattended and ripe for the picking were all four books that had once lined the walls of Page's Diner. The General had used the tomes to impersonate Ted Finley undetected for months. The protector had used them to transport a massive army. Now it was her turn.
Suddenly, the door opened and closed behind her. She turned quickly and crouched into a fighting stance. Standing just inside the door was the tall and strapping Agent Vott.
He had a surprised look on his face. "Jennifer. I heard a noise from down the hall and I wanted to check it out. Was this room unlocked?"
Jennifer slumped her shoulders and turned her resolute face into a whimpering one. She sniffled and rubbed her nose. "Yeah. I was just looking for somewhere to be alone for a while. The door was cracked open."
Vott shook his head. "It's a good thing you showed up then. We can lock it up on your way out. Are you okay?"
Jennifer doubled down on her feigned sadness. “I don’t know. All those people dying. What if he’d used the bomb on Philadelphia? Or New York?”
Vott approached her and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's terrible to think about, I know. But he hasn't attacked the major cities yet. We can only hope we stop him in time to make sure that doesn't happen."
Jennifer let herself melt into the former DHS agent. "I hope you're right." She looked up into his eyes. "I know I'm not supposed to come in here. I just couldn't sleep and I didn't want to wake Dhiraj."
He nodded and gave her a tight hug. "You two have been through a lot. I can never apologize enough for trying to arrest you two."
Jennifer let out a little half laugh, half cry. "Your brain wasn't yours. I can't blame you for that. Consider yourself forgiven."
She pulled away from Vott slowly and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. So far, he seemed to buy the act. Humans were suckers for a girl crying.
Vott smiled. "I appreciate that. Now, why don't you see if Erica is awake and maybe the two of you can talk. I hear that's what female friends are for."
Jennifer sucked back the fake tears. "That's okay. I know she's been through a lot. I'll just go and find Dhiraj."
Agent Vott's breathing changed slightly. She watched him straighten up and slowly turned toward her. "I thought you said you were the one who didn't want to wake Dhiraj in your room. Shouldn't you know where he is?"
Jennifer stepped in front of the only way out. "I'm afraid you're much better at lying than I am, Agent Vott."
Before he could prepare himself fully, Jennifer struck first. She spun toward him and delivered a backhand to the side of his face. He yelped in pain as he blocked the next two attacks. When she swung again, Vott ducked under her elbow and wrapped tightly around her waist. He picked her up and ran with full force into the metal wall.
Jennifer crumpled slightly when she felt the air knocked out of her, but the blow didn't seem to reduce her enhanced strength one bit. She brought her legs toward her and kicked them out into the center of Vott's chest. The agent flew backwards across the room and hit his head on the adjacent wall. As he winced in pain and rubbed the back of his head, Jennifer made a move for one of the books. She was inches from touching the first in the set when Vott dove straight through her legs and tackled her to the ground.
"We're not going to let you win."
Vott swung his fist with all his might toward Jennifer's head. She caught his wrist a moment before it made impact. He attacked with his left, but the dark soul caught that too.
Her eyebrows danced. "I don't think you're going to stop us."
She whipped her head back and brought it forward into Vott's skull. She could feel it fracture as she made impact. He gasped and brought both hands to his head as he rolled off her. She kicked him hard in the side, eliciting a deep grunt. As Jennifer cracked her neck to the side, she reached for the first of the four books. When she opened the pages and placed her palm inside, she could sense the power coursing through her body. In a way, it felt unnatural, but it also tasted so good.
She used her mind to reach out to the minds in the ship. The power seemed to bend to her will, letting her connect with the one person she planned on.
She felt a sharp pain in her back as Agent Vott brought a chair down upon it. She barely reacted, as she was too absorbed in the new power to notice. She spun quickly and elbowed the human in the throat before he could react. He made a gagging noise as he slumped to the ground once again.
Vott could barely get the words out. "They're going to find you. If you kill me, they're going to find you."
The door opened right then, and a glazed-eyed Dhiraj entered.
Jennifer smiled. "Hey, honey. Did you bring what I asked for?"
Dhiraj nodded as he began to chant strange series of words that the dark soul side of Jennifer recognized easily. The entranced Indian had his eyes focused completely on the struggling agent.
Vott backed away on the ground. "Dhiraj. It's me! You can fight this."
Dhiraj kept chanting and chanting, and before long, a familiar design started to appear on Vott's arm.
The agent looked down at it in horror. "No, Dhiraj! This isn't you."
Jennifer felt warm inside as she reached for another book. "It's not worth it, Vott. You might as well save your breath for the second life you're about to live."
Vott kipped up and leapt to his feet. When he attempted a spinning kick in the Indian's direction, Jennifer touched and absorbed the power of the second book. Quicker than you could blink, she had the agent frozen in the air.
He struggled for a few seconds before the human's body relaxed before her. "Your plan isn't going to work. Humanity has fought some incredible odds in its time. You aren't the first and you won't be the last to try to kill us, but you will be unsuccessful."
She gave a slight chuckle. "Agree to disagree." She looked over at Dhiraj. "Whenever you're ready." Dhiraj pulled a large knife from his back pocket. Without hesitation, he drove the blade straight into the agent's chest. His precision was perfect, piercing through Vott's heart.
Jennifer used her borrowed powers to close the man's mouth before he could scream. His body shook a few times before it went completely limp.
Jennifer walked over to her mind-controlled boyfriend and gently touched his arm. "You are fantastic." She put her hand around the back of his neck and kissed
Dhiraj deeply. Under her thrall, he could do nothing but kiss her back.
As they made out, the new version of Agent Vott sprang to life. He gasped awake and looked at his blood, which Jennifer had suspended in midair with her powers.
He smiled as he pulled the knife out of his own chest. "A little dramatic, don't you think? Stabbing me through the heart?"
Jennifer let the agent float back down to the ground. "All I did was give him the command to kill. It's not my fault my boyfriend is so damned efficient." She snapped her fingers. "Speaking of which. Dhiraj, will you be a doll and dispose of this knife and blood over the side of the ship?"
Dhiraj nodded twice and disappeared from the room with the evidence.
She patted her new compatriot on the back. "It's so nice to have you here. I've been lonely." She looked toward the other books and let her tongue move slowly along her teeth. "With your help, it will be so much easier to recruit an army."
11
It had been days since Razellia packed up her life once again to escape the wrath of her own people. As their transport hovered above the sand, Vella had cried at the sight of their village burning to the ground. While she, too, mourned the loss of their neighbors, Razellia figured that the dark souls’ efforts to incinerate the small town gave her and her daughter a little more time to break free.
She wasn't quite sure how far they were ahead of the army, but she wasn't about to wait up to discover the answer.
Razellia kept her eyes focused on the path ahead, hoping that the light souls would both heed their warning and let the two of them inside. Though with only one tank of fuel remaining, she knew it would take a miracle for them to even reach the city in time.
For the first two days, Vella had talked nonstop until her mother warned her about breaking a driver's concentration. But it seemed that her daughter had forgotten the warning.
She sidled up beside her mother. "Who do you think is going to be the one to save us? Ted or Natalie? Or maybe both!"
Razellia stared so hard ahead that one of her eyes began to water. "Nobody is saving us this time, baby. Sometimes, you have to be the one to save yourself. Or you do what you can to save others."
"So that's what we're trying to do here? Save ourselves and maybe save others?"
Razellia smiled. "Exactly. And you got the trying part right. Or trying as hard as we can."
Vella looked in the same direction as her mother, shielding her eyes from the sand that kicked up from the transport. "Do you really think the Light Souls will take us in even though they're the bad guys?"
Razellia took her eyes off the path ahead for just a second. "It's not always clear who the bad guys are. We thought Ted and Natalie were our enemies, and they saved our lives. It's what's inside that—"
The transport lurched to a sudden halt beneath them, throwing Razellia high into the air and rolling down a sand dune. The initial impact brought her a whole new world of back pain, as she finally rolled to a stop at the end.
Razellia groaned and brushed the sand from her face. She looked up at the transport, which had buried its front in a few feet of sand above. Her heart sunk when she realized her daughter was nowhere to be seen.
"Vella! Vella!"
Nobody called back.
Razellia was getting pretty good at ignoring immense amounts of pain as she pulled herself to standing and used her hands and feet to climb back up the dune. Her heart seemed like it might explode by the time she reached the side of the transport. Inside, she could see her daughter's lower half.
"Vella!"
Her daughter's voice shook as she spoke. "I held on, Mama. I didn't let go."
Sure enough, the attack hadn't sent her daughter through the air because she had an iron grip on the dashboard.
Razellia breathed a little easier, though her injuries still reminded her not all was well.
After helping Vella to her feet, they examined the engine together. While they still had enough fuel to travel most of the distance from there to the Light Soul Capital, another component of the engine had overheated beyond repair.
Vella bit her lip. "Does that mean we're stuck here?"
Razellia was exhausted from the last couple of years, but she somehow found the strength to smile one more time. "Do you still run fast, little girl?"
Vella nodded. "You always tell me to slow down, but I run fast when you aren't looking."
Razellia felt the pride warm her chest as she looked down upon her daughter. "I'm glad you have the practice. You're going to be going on alone from here." Vella had tears in her eyes, as if she'd already known what her mother was going to say before she had said it. "I'm scared. I don't want to go alone."
Razellia kissed her daughter's head. "You know that your mama is too broken to go fast. But I've got one more thing left to do here, and I think it will give you enough time to get to the capital safely."
Vella shook her head. "Are you sure that Ted isn't coming?"
Razellia hugged Vella tightly. "He's off saving his own world, honey. Now you're going to go and save ours."
Vella nodded and blinked away the tears. She grabbed up her small pack of food and water. Before she left, she whispered one last thing into her mother's ear. "I hope you find peace, Mama."
Razellia fought hard not to cry. "Thanks, baby. You go save the world, okay? Don't stop running until you get there."
Vella grinned, as if she knew she was about to make her mother as proud as she could possibly be.
With that, her daughter called out to her and sprinted toward the Light Soul Capital.
Razellia was thirsty and tired over the next half day. They'd actually been further ahead than she anticipated when she saw the first wave of the army approaching. She had rationed out most of the food to Vella, but she took her last sip of water when the army surrounded her and began to approach.
A pair of laughing soldiers hopped off their transport and walked toward her. Razellia held a sharp piece of rock in her hand.
She looked up at the two happy murderers in front of her. "I suppose you aren't here to help me fix my engine."
The dark souls laughed at her words. The shorter of the two looked up and down at her body. "No, we're not fixing to help you. We're here to get something for ourselves."
The other soldier glanced at her hand. "Is that the little weapon you are going to use to fend us off?"
Razellia smiled and tensed her arm. "No. It's something my daughter carved for me. I don't think you're going to like what it can do."
As the seedier dark soul came closer, his nose twitched. "What is that smell?"
Razellia took in a deep whiff of the fuel her vehicle was coated in. "It's the smell of peace."
Before the soldiers could do anything about it, Razellia brought the sharp end of the rock down hard on the metal dashboard of the transport. The sparks that flew ignited the fuel immediately. The soldiers barely got out a scream before the fire caught and exploded. Through her painful final moment, Razellia sure did enjoy watching the look on their faces.
12
Ted paced in a path outside of Natalie's door. The mood had been extremely grim on the ship the previous night, and Ted didn't want to piss off the basketball star by waking her at night again. While the sun had risen almost an hour ago, Ted had been up much longer than that. But he'd only been pacing in front of her room for the last 10 minutes.
He struggled for the words that would start the conversation.
Good morning, Commander. You look fine this morrow. No, I can't say that after something so terrible.
Ted paced some more.
I'm sorry about what happened. I'm here if you ever need to talk about it. I'm actually here, right outside your door. Creepily walking around. Damn it.
Ted paced some more.
Natalie Dorn, I love you. If I say that, she's probably going to kill me.
Ted finally stopped his pacing and brought his hand up to the door. Just as he was about to knock, Dhiraj came runni
ng around the corner.
"Ted! Where the hell have you been? I've been trying to reach out to your mind for the last 20 minutes."
Ted wrinkled his nose. "I didn't hear anything. Maybe you should have thought louder?"
Dhiraj shrugged his shoulders. "I still don't really know how your powers work. I was looking for Natalie, anyway. Is she up?"
The door opened to Natalie's room.
She looked none too pleased. "You two could raise the dead, you know that?"
Ted felt his face grow hot. "I'm sorry about that."
Dhiraj let out a huff. "No time to be awkward. Erica called a meeting for 10 minutes ago. Come on!"
Dhiraj hustled down the hallway as Natalie gave Ted a sideways glance. "You pace loudly." She started walking in the same direction as Dhiraj went before turning back. "I kind of hoped you might have breakfast for me. Just my luck."
As she kept walking, Ted wished he had brought more than his words to Natalie's door.
He hustled up behind her and matched her pace. "Are you okay?"
She kept her eyes forward. "I'm alive. Thousands of people aren't, but at least I am."
"I'm truly sorry I wasn't there."
Natalie looked at him genuinely. "It wasn't your fault. You weren't on that mission. And you certainly shouldn't blame yourself."
Ted let out some of the tightness from his chest. "You shouldn't blame yourself either. Nobody could have known what was about to happen."
She grumbled. "Somebody knew. And that's why thousands of people are dead."
Ted instinctively attempted to go inside Natalie's mind to see how she was really coping. Much to his surprise, he was unable to read her thoughts.
He frowned. "We're going to find whoever set us up. Maybe we'll make them walk the plank."
A laugh escaped Natalie's mouth before she could stop it. "You are such an idiot. Occasionally funny, mostly annoying, but definitely always an idiot."