by S. J. West
Ken nodded with a tight-lipped smile. “Good.”
Jace leaned down and kissed me on the lips before releasing my hand and going to sit on the bed by Ken.
I walked to the other side of the bed.
“How does this work anyway?” I asked. “How is Jace able to see into other people’s futures?”
“It’s really quite ingenious,” Ken said. “Part of it’s based on quantum mechanics, which says that all matter is made up of tiny bits of energy called quanta. When these bits of energy coalesce, they form atoms that vibrate at a particular frequency. Thus, each person has their own unique frequency that they vibrate at. Kind of like every person has their own unique set of fingerprints. No two people have the same fingerprints and no two people share the same frequency. Now, you add in the resonance theory, which is based on the block universe model. In this theory, the past, present, and future time lines all exist simultaneously. Since the future exists in what we perceive to be our present, a particular person’s memories already exist in the universe as well. By uploading a person’s genetic code to Jace’s chip. …”
“Chip?” I asked, surprised by this revelation. “What kind of chip?”
“It’s not a Harvester chip,” Ken reassured me. “Jace’s chip is embedded in the right neocortex of his brain, which is thought to be involved in psychic abilities. When we upload the genetic code of a person to the chip, it adjusts the frequency of the nanites in Jace’s body to match that of the frequency of the subject we are interested in. The nanites also stimulate Jace’s pineal gland to produce a neurochemical called dimethyltryptamin or DMT, which enhances his precognitive abilities a thousandfold. So, in essence, Jace is able to adjust his body to an individual’s frequency and pull their memories from what we perceive as the future.”
“It sounds like magic to me,” I confessed, “but if it works, let’s do it.”
Jace lay down on the bed.
“Does it hurt when it happens?” I asked Jace as Ken placed a series of four electrodes across his forehead.
“No, it doesn’t hurt,” he said, a pleased smile on his face at my concern for him. “I do get extremely sleepy though, which is why I always have to lie down when this happens.”
“It’s the amount of DMT in your system that makes you sleepy,” Ken explained while turning his attention to the computer Jace was now hooked up to. “Okay, ready?”
Jace nodded. “Yes, let’s find her.”
Ken tapped his fingers on the keyboard. Right after he hit the Enter button, Jace’s eyes immediately closed, and he looked like he had just fallen instantly to sleep.
“How long does it take?” I asked.
“Not long,” Ken said, watching Jace expectantly, just like me. “A few minutes at the most.”
About ten minutes later, Jace’s eyes opened and he took in a deep breath.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said with a nod before smiling at me. “I saw her, Skye. I saw Zoe’s sister.”
I closed my eyes and let out a pent up breath in relief.
“Thank God,” I said, before reopening my eyes. “Do you think you can find her?”
Jace nodded. “Yes, I have a good starting point.”
“How do you know where to start looking for people anyway?”
“Lucena uploaded specific geographical points of reference into my memory to make it easier to pinpoint where people are. From what I saw, I think Piper is in one of those trading caravans you told me about once. From the age she’s supposed to be now and the image I saw, I think she’s actually made it down south somewhere because she was standing on a broken bridge that used to cross a wide river. There were acres of cleared land around her, like it used to be farmland. From what remained of the trees in the area, I would have to say she’s somewhere along the Mississippi River. I’ll need to take a helicopter, but I think I can find her fairly quickly. There are only a few bridges that cross the Mississippi in areas like that.”
A genuine smile lit my face. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in a while.”
“You might want to wait a day or two before going on your search,” my father said as he came to stand beside me. “Your father is supposed to be back soon.”
“So he’s visited all of the Cain virus camps Ian knew about?”
My dad nodded. “Yes. He sent someone ahead of him to let us know things went well and to expect more people to come into the camp soon.”
“Then what?” I asked. “What do you plan to do first?”
“Take out every remaining installation Lucena has,” my father said with certainty. “Short from killing her outright, it’s the best way to take away her control. The less she has, the less she can provide to her troops and hopefully the less loyal they will remain to her. Even Harvesters have to eat.”
“She reprogrammed the Harvesters around her,” I said, realizing I had completely forgotten to mention this important fact to them earlier. “They tried to kill me, and she stopped them. She told me she reprogrammed them to defend her at any cost since it seemed like we were trying to kill her.”
“Did she ask you if we were?” my dad asked.
“I told her we weren’t trying to kill her, just take away her control.”
“Now that you have Simon back, I’ve given the order to kill her on sight. Do you think she’ll remain at the Geneva compound?”
I shook my head. “No, she said she was moving somewhere else, but she didn’t tell me where she was going.”
“It doesn’t matter,” my dad said. “She’s running out of places to hide. We’ll kill her, Skye. Don’t worry.”
I prayed Walsh came to get me before my father found out where the Queen was hiding out. I needed things only she could provide. I needed to destroy the trigger that would detonate the bomb in Jace’s head, and I needed medication to control my seizures so I could have a normal life. I guess to some it would seem odd I simply took the Queen’s word that such a device even existed inside him, but I had more reason to believe her than not. Unfortunately, I could always count on her sadistic side.
For the next two days, Jace helped my father coordinate the troops we now had in camp into three strike force teams of four thousand troops each. My father would lead the troops designated to head south while Michael would lead a group to the north. Ian was placed in charge of the troops heading west. With four thousand troops in each team, most of them Cain-infected Harvesters, taking out the rest of the Queen’s installations should be fairly easy.
By the time Michael returned on the second day, we had almost twelve thousand Cain-infected Harvesters in camp with the promise of three thousand more on the way. Things were running smoothly in camp, which just made me even more suspicious of the Cain-infected Harvesters. Neither my father nor Doc Riley told me about Michael’s promise to provide them with a cure. I’m sure they felt I already had enough on my plate to worry about. I couldn’t argue that they were wrong, but the fact was I did know about the promise.
What would the Harvesters expecting a miracle cure do once they learned we had no intention of giving it to them? Even worse, what would happen when they found out I was the cure? I shivered at the thought and prayed their ignorance would continue indefinitely.
Not long after Michael arrived and Jace was able to spend a little time with him, we decided he should start his search for Zoe’s sister.
“It won’t take me long,” Jace promised as I walked him up to the helicopter he would travel in to help facilitate his search. “I’ll be back before you have a chance to miss me.”
“I doubt you can find her in a few seconds,” I told him.
Jace chuckled, but I could tell by the smile on his face he was happy to know I would miss him the moment he left my side.
When we reached the helicopter, he drew me into his arms.
“I won’t be gone any longer than I have to be. I can promise you that much, because I’ll miss you too.”
I leaned up a
nd kissed Jace like it would be the last time I saw him. I knew it wouldn’t be, but I also knew our separation could be a lot longer than either of us could possibly foresee. I would have to go to the Queen soon, and I feared I wouldn’t be home to welcome Jace back. So I kissed him. I kissed him long and hard, trying to memorize everything about the way his lips felt pressed against mine, the way he smelled, the way he tasted. I knew the memory of our kiss might have to last me a very long time.
When I drew back, Jace looked at me with worry in his eyes.
“Is there something you’re not telling me?” he asked, knowing me better than anyone it seemed.
“Just come back to me,” I told him.
I could tell he wanted to ask me more, but he didn’t.
“I won’t be long,” he promised, kissing me one more time before he stepped into the helicopter.
I walked back to the car, unable to watch the helicopter rise behind me and take off. I got in behind the wheel of the car and forced myself not to cry. I didn’t have time for tears because when I looked in the rearview mirror I saw Walsh looking back at me.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“I wondered when you would be showing up,” I said, staring at Walsh’s reflection in the mirror as he sat in the backseat.
He didn’t say anything, just stared at me. I was beginning to wonder if he would talk at all.
“The Queen sent me to take you to her,” he finally said, even though by the tone of his voice I could tell this little errand wasn’t exactly something he wanted to be doing.
“I suppose you want to leave now,” I said, realizing I wouldn’t get the chance to say good-bye to Rose and Simon. But maybe that was for the best. I wasn’t sure I could do it without completely breaking down in front of them.
“You suppose right,” Walsh said irritably. “We have a helicopter waiting just outside camp. Get on Interstate 581 and head south out of town. There’s a little community college just off the interstate. The helicopter is waiting there in the parking lot for us.”
I cranked the car and drove toward the interstate.
“You know there are roadblocks on the way there,” I told him.
Walsh lifted up a black wool blanket.
“Found some camouflage.”
There were three roadblocks between the airport and the outside of camp. Walsh crouched down to the floorboards when we approached one and simply hid underneath the blanket. Since everyone knew I was John Blackwell’s daughter, they didn’t question where I was going. They didn’t even make me stop, just waved me on through.
I found the helicopter exactly where Walsh said it would be. Once we were inside, it didn’t take long for us to get into the air.
Walsh sat across from me on the ride. If looks could kill, I knew I would be a dead woman from the way he was staring at me.
“Do you have a problem?” I asked, not liking his attitude.
“Yeah,” he said, his eye narrowing. “I have a problem taking you to Queen Lucena. If you ask me, I think I should just kill you right now and tell her you had an accident.”
“Then why don’t you?” I asked, not caring for his empty threat.
“Because the Queen wants you with her for some unknown reason. And I do what my Queen asks me to.”
“What a loyal little puppy you are, following your master’s orders without question. Let me guess, you’re her favorite because you do exactly what she tells you to do.”
“I would watch what you say to me,” Walsh said, his mouth tight with repressed anger. “Once I deliver you to her, my job will be done. But there’s no telling what type of accident you might have while you’re with us.”
“Is that a threat?” I asked. “Do I need to warn the Queen to keep you away from me?”
“You can do what you want. I really don’t care,” Walsh said, doing nothing to hide his disgust of me. “But know this, I’m not the only Harvester under the Queen’s command who hates your guts.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” I looked out the window of the helicopter. “Where are we going anyway?”
“The Stone Mountain facility.”
I knew exactly where he was talking about. It was where the President of the United States had led the outsiders who had destroyed the Southern Kingdom to their doom.
I also knew it was where I would kill the Queen.
Jace’s vision was coming true. He said he saw me standing on a mountain when I killed her. It couldn’t just be coincidence. It had to be fate, my destiny.
I smiled.
“What are you smiling about?” Walsh asked harshly. “I thought you would have broken down into tears by now.”
“No,” I told him. “This doesn’t make me sad. I’m just ready to have it all over with to be honest.”
Walsh just shook his head, not interested enough to know what I was talking about. It was just as well. I really didn’t feel like talking to him anyway.
We arrived at our destination a little over two hours later.
The mountain loomed large, and I was amazed that the carving of the confederate leaders still remained intact on the side of the mountain after the passage of so much time, plus a war. I wondered what those men would think about their memorial becoming the home of the woman who destroyed the world. I imagined they would be turning over in their graves. I know I would be if I were them.
The helicopter landed on a steel platform built on top of the mountain. When we disembarked, Walsh walked over to an enclosed elevator. Once inside the elevator, we made our descent into the mountain.
We seemed to be going deeper than what I felt was the height of the mountain.
“Are we going under the mountain?” I asked Walsh.
“The Queen has her quarters half a mile beneath the harvesting facility housed within the mountain itself.”
The elevator finally came to a stop and the doors slid open.
I’m not quite sure what I expected to see, but what I faced was unexpected to say the least. I stood in the elevator as Walsh walked out.
When he noticed I wasn’t walking out too, he turned to me and asked, “Are you coming? Or are you just going to stand there looking like an idiot?”
Seeing that I didn’t have much choice, I walked out and found myself standing in the middle of a small town square. The elevator doors behind me closed, and the elevator itself disappeared from sight being replaced by what looked like a small stone building.
“Hologram,” Walsh said, answering my unasked question of what happened to the elevator.
I looked up and saw the sun, but I knew it wasn’t the real sun. It was just like the nuclear powered one in the Southern Kingdom. I lowered my gaze and scanned our surroundings. People milled around the square. Some even carried shopping bags as they walked along the sidewalks and stopped to enter the stores lining the perimeter of the square. If you didn’t know better, you would think yourself in small town USA replete with a white gazebo in the center of town with a small water fountain and park benches. Hyacinths grew in flower boxes hanging from the railing of the gazebo, filling the air around me with their delicate fragrance.
“What is this place?” I asked Walsh.
“Something your mother built for you,” Walsh answered.
I looked over at him. “Built for … me?”
“If you don’t like it, for God’s sake don’t tell her that. She went to a lot of trouble to construct this for you.”
“But why?” I asked completely perplexed by the world I had just stepped into. “Why would she go to all this trouble?”
“Do I look like a mind reader?” Walsh asked me agitatedly. “Because I’m pretty sure I’m not.”
I looked around again at the people.
“Is everyone here a Harvester?”
“No, in fact it’s the exact opposite on this level. Everyone here is human except for you and the Queen.”
“Where did they come from?”
“The Southern Kingdom—the second facility that th
ey went to hide in. She brought them all here to populate this town.”
I had wondered why she would kill so many humans when I saw the destruction of the Southern Kingdom. Now I had my answer. She didn’t kill them. She just herded them over here to become part of this “town.”
Walsh began to walk off, and I realized I was meant to follow him.
As we walked along the sidewalk of the town, I noticed a few of the people recognized me as they smiled and nodded in my direction, even calling me by name when they said hello.
What was the Queen’s motivation in bringing me to such a place? Why go through the trouble of building a town complete with human neighbors? It didn’t make much sense to me. But I had to believe she had an ulterior motive for doing it. I just didn’t know what yet.
We ended up walking out of the town and into what looked like a quiet suburb. I felt like I had been transported back to a simpler time in history. A boy who looked to be around the age of nine sped by us on a bicycle with an orange flag on a slim white pole connected to the back of his seat. A man was mowing the green lawn in front of his house and waved as we passed by. Some of the houses in the neighborhood were surrounded by white picket fences and most of the homes were small clapboard houses painted in bright welcoming colors. Walsh finally stopped in front of a two-story yellow clapboard home with a white wraparound porch. Hanging baskets filled with pansies of various colors hung from hooks over the porch rails, and green ferns stood on either side of the screened door, offering an invitation of welcome to enter the house.
I stared at the house, completely caught off guard by what I was seeing. I knew what it was. It was an almost perfect replica of the home I had shared with my parents when I was a child.
“This is your residence,” Walsh told me. “The Queen is inside waiting for you.”
Having performed his duty, Walsh quickly walked away like he couldn’t stand being in my presence a moment longer.
I turned toward the house feeling uncertain I really wanted to go inside it. The smell of food wafting through the screen door made my mind up for me.