The Magnus Order spreads across most of the former state of California. Their ruthless expansion is well known in Lost Souls. The Southern Coastal region is the sector bordering ours and Magnus mostly controls it.
It was a neighboring sector group like this guy’s that overran Amanda’s Terrance Party. Nothing remained of her childhood home. Her parents died defending her group’s ideals. Amanda was lucky to make it out before they placed her for assignment against her will.
“Thanks for waiting,” he says, combing his hair back with his free hand. The gesture allows us to finally see his full face. No longer hidden by his shaggy, dark brown hair, I can’t help but notice the strong facial features. His sculpted jaw line and solemn brows draw you into his eyes. It looks like he’s due for a haircut, but the style suits him.
He rummages through his bag as he calmly says, “My name is Farren, by the way. Farren Knox.”
I swallow as my heart races. He digs deeper into the backpack. Does he have a weapon? He can’t know what I am. Amanda’s face whitens with fear; she must have come to the same conclusion.
We jump back as Farren pulls something out. His brow tightens, noticing our reaction.
“Take it easy, ladies, it’s just a snack,” he says while the side of his mouth inches up in apparent amusement.
Three hydro-nutrition bars crinkle in his hand as he zips up his pack.
“Sorry, we don’t know you, and your sector clothes scream stranger-danger,” Amanda blurts out.
“I’m just passing through,” he insists while handing us a bar. “I’m on my way back home, that’s all. I was visiting family here. I just pushed myself too hard. Luckily, you found me.”
“Hey, Amanda, we don’t have time for this.” I try to change the subject.
“So, her name is Amanda, and you are?” His eyes narrow and his head tilts to the side as he focuses on me.
I pull my ponytail over my shoulder, combing through the damp ends with my fingertips. Scanning over the sealed package, I wonder if it might be laced with something. What have I gotten us into?
“Where’s home?” I ask, ignoring his question. “Oh, and thanks for the hydro-bar.”
Apparently Amanda wasn’t worried about getting drugged, as she has devoured half of her bar. Glancing at her, she shrugs as if I’m crazy to be cautious about eating it. We pick up our pace and continue walking north as the sun sets on the western horizon. No longer able to ignore my rumbling stomach, I dig into the moist, lime-flavored treat. I forgot how good these were. The snack gives us energy and has a slight hydrating effect, thus the name. Farren is able to keep pace with us as his dehydration continues to wear off.
“I live with the Magnus Order.” He pauses, as if reconsidering his words. “I know what you’re thinking—that I must be evil or something. I’m not. They forced me to work for them.”
“How were you forced to work for them?” Amanda asks, knowing full well how manipulative sector groups are.
He takes our wrappers and stuffs them in his pack before returning his attention to Amanda.
“If I didn’t, they would take it out on my family. It’s that simple.”
“What kind of work do you do that is so important they need to threaten your family?” I ask, knowing that the Magnus Order has no honest work to offer.
“Well, I am a…” He looks straight ahead, avoiding our eyes. “I’m what they call a Push Recruiter.”
My heart drops into my stomach as the reality of what Farren says sinks in. There is no need to ask him to explain, we know exactly what he is and what he does. The man we saved represents everything Amanda and I are running from. The recruiters scout out the neighboring regions in search of promising Influencers, like me, who they can take back to their group for placement, most often against their will. Regardless, those recruits’ lives are changed forever. Manipulated by whatever means necessary, they are forced to spread the influence of the group, expanding its power in the region and beyond. Strategically placed like beacons, Influencers help shape the reality of the nearby population. The people ‘pushed’ are then steered to the desired outcome, which is usually to be submissive and stay in line with the group’s interests.
How can I be this stupid? We’ve been so careful for all these years, but now I am side by side with the enemy. If I use my push ability on him, it will only expose me and make me a target for every recruiter they have.
Not wanting to tip him off about what I am, Amanda follows my lead and we play along for now. I inform him of our destination and we all decide to stick together until we reach Bullhead. From there, Farren will continue on to the Magnus sector. With him not fully recovered, he needs us. Traveling at night just became a little safer with this guy around, as well. If we can pull this off, that is. With no working infrastructure for electricity, the lack of lighting will make it very dark very soon.
2
INFLUENCER
A PUSH RECRUITER and an Influencer traveling together is not uncommon these days, but normally the Influencer is manipulated or being forced. The fact that I’m choosing to do this is terrifying—and dumb, but our only option.
It’s been more than six years since I’ve been this close to someone discovering my abilities. The last time, I almost killed two people.
It was a couple of years after Amanda and I met at the ironically named Hopeful Outlook Shelter in the Lost Souls. I was eleven and she was sixteen at that time. That was our last stop before we started our lives as wandering, homeless kids.
Hopeless, as the kids call the shelter, gives the impression that they are a place where orphaned children find refuge and begin a new life, but we all know they just operate to find recruiting opportunities for nearby sector groups. There’s no effort made to actually find homes for the children. Having a family requires finding more food, and dragging the kids around puts you at greater risk of being discovered by the ever-present sector personnel who troll this area. That means few are interested in taking in extra mouths to feed unless there is a strong blood tie.
It’s not only Influencers who catch the eye of these recruiters. Having any valuable skillset makes you a prized target. Living in an Influencer-guided sector strips you of your freedoms, and the worst part is you are completely unaware of the manipulation.
While living at the shelter, I discovered something strange and quite frightening. The way I perceived and interacted with the world had changed and I was no longer a naive young girl. One day stood out more than any other in my life, and the events of this day changed everything.
It was like a switch was flipped. My life of being normal in a less-than-normal world ceased to exist. This event will be burning in my head until the day I die. Something awoke inside of me and I had no clue what it was until it was too late.
I can still smell the burnt chemical odor of the cafeteria. The walls dull and free of personality. Functionality and purpose are all that matter to the sector sponsors. The end goal is not to help children, but rather to help themselves. The emotional wellbeing of the child is secondary to the discovery of untapped talent.
Amanda and I entered the mess hall for what would be the last time. The eating area consisted of several long, folding tables and an assortment of mismatched chairs all lining a poorly ventilated room that had once acted as a storage wing. After the staff handed out our prepackaged meals, we found a couple of spots on the rusted and wobbly table toward the end of the room. No one usually sat at that table since one bump would topple it over, but Amanda wasn’t big on making friends. Distance from the rest of the kids was perfect.
We forced down bland rations and expired cans of fruit as we kept to ourselves. It started out as any ordinary day, but that would not last.
Alex and Billy Wilson approached our table, arms folded, flexing their unnecessarily large muscles. Their eyes trained solely on Amanda. The Wilson brothers were troublemakers and not the kind who played pranks on people—rather, the kind who lived to create chaos, pain, and
fear in others. The boys’ attitudes had led four shelters to expel them before they invaded ours.
With devious grins, Alex, fifteen, and Billy, seventeen, headed straight for Amanda. Billy had been in several fights in his short stay at this shelter and looked ready for one more. You could not overlook Alex, well over six feet tall and I guessed close to two hundred pounds. He made for a dangerous and rather intimidating sidekick to Billy.
“Hey, Snob,” Billy hissed. “I heard you came from the Terrance Party. It must suck to be here with no maid to serve you.”
“I bet you think you’re better than everyone here, right?” Alex added.
The boys inched closer to us.
“Well, you know what?” Billy said, leaning in. “You guys didn’t put up much of a fight when we took over your homeland. Our Southern Alliance made quick work of your fancy little party group.”
The Southern Alliance was a sector group that controlled most of the southern region of the former United States. The group didn’t like the idea of “political elites of the past,” as they called them, forcing their way of life on their people. The rigid alliance saw it necessary to take out Amanda’s Terrance Party.
“When we took over your homes and ended your new government fantasy, you guys stood there helpless, holding on to your stupid books and fancy clothes while your town burned,” Alex said.
Amanda’s jaw locked, grinding her teeth, before lashing out at the brothers. “Your alliance is nothing more than a bunch of hicks with pitchforks who are afraid of the outside world,” she leaned closer to him. “Besides, it looks like they didn’t care too much for you two idiots since your parents threw you out like the rotten food the shelter dumps out for the dogs.”
Blood brightened the brothers’ faces. With one swipe of his hand, Billy knocked over our table. It crashed against the wall, quickly drawing the attention of the other kids in the room. Amanda and I scuttled back to the cool cement wall at the rear of the mess hall and huddled together.
With spit flying out of their mouths, the brothers snarled as they edged closer, cornering us. The hatred that clouded the air was something I had never felt before. Amanda placed an arm across my midsection in a futile attempt to protect me. These boys could’ve snapped our necks in seconds.
Alex grabbed Amanda by the shoulders and lifted her off the ground. Amanda was a head shorter than him, and easily outweighed by a hundred pounds. Her body scraped against the rough surface of the backing. Failing to find a concerned face in the crowd, I wondered why none of the shelter staff had stepped in. Then I remembered who sponsored the shelter: the Southern Alliance. Amanda had been struggling with the recent sponsorship change for the last few weeks. One trait those people were known for above all else was their unyielding loyalty to anyone associated with their sector group. At that moment, I knew we were alone and hope was fading fast.
Amanda’s legs hung about two feet off the ground as Alex pushed her higher up the wall. Fear and anger grew as I watched my only friend in excruciating pain.
“Stop, leave her alone!” I shouted. Not even a quick glance made it my way. I was as insignificant as the ants on the floor.
My fingernails dug deep into my thighs. I looked into the faces of the kids in the mess hall and prayed someone would step in to protect us. Their faces ranged from scared to excited to indifferent. I was a rat trapped in a corner. My heart felt like it was going to rip out of my chest as I searched for help. None came.
Seconds later, I felt an inner shift and my mind focused as it never had before. Surrounding sounds became softer and diluted. Details sharpened and reality narrowed into a funnel before my eyes. The entire room became an accessible focal point. I heard the kids’ jumbled thoughts racing around my head. The chaos would not last. It wasn’t long before their disjointed inner dialogue was sucked out of my head and our minds became unified and quiet. Captivated by what was going on, I connected with the onlookers in the room. We were one mind, one stream of thought. An incredible sense of unity and clarity filled the mess hall. No longer did I feel like an individual. I had a lock on their minds. I could see it in their eyes; their attention had completely shifted to the brothers.
Slipping out of the heightened state, I turned my attention to Amanda. With her fragile body pinned high up on the wall in Alex’s fierce grip, Billy continued to hurl disgusting slurs at her. Doubt about my so-called mental powers entered my thoughts when a jarring, loud whack echoed off the wall. A metal serving tray fell to the ground, narrowly missing Billy’s head. The brothers snapped out of their intense lock on Amanda only to turn and find at least twenty motivated youth ready to attack. Alex dropped Amanda as the brothers faced the unexpected, angry mob.
“What are you fools looking at?” Billy said.
Amanda sat still as she caught her breath, then turned to find me. She retreated to where I sat crouched up against a trash can near the rear wall. Then, with little warning, the shelter kids attacked.
Serving trays and utensils acted like weapons as the boys and girls lunged at the brothers. Forks and knives sliced the brothers’ limbs; trays pelted them from all sides. Only the cries and screams of the boys could be heard. No longer did they sound like the hulking figures who had been about to hurt Amanda. Brought to their knees, battered and bloody, the crowd overran the brothers. Only when the threat ended did the mob snap out of their rage.
They staggered out of the mess hall as though not sure what had happened. Toppled over on the filthy floor, the brothers were swollen and almost unrecognizable. I watched them barely breathing and became horrified at what I apparently caused. Amanda, still in a state of adrenaline-filled panic, grabbed my arm and forced me out of the mess hall, then out of the shelter completely.
After what felt like miles, she finally ran out of steam. We found ourselves at an abandoned restaurant where we stopped to regroup. We made our way into the broken-down kitchen and collapsed against a metal workstation. After several minutes of catching our breath, Amanda turned to me.
“It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” I said without thinking. “I don’t know what to say—it just happened, I guess. One minute I’m watching you about to be killed and the next I’m creating some sort of mental link with the kids in the room. It happened so fast. It was horrible.”
Amanda’s former Terrance Party had been taken down with the help of what she called Influencers. Never having any experience with this crazy phenomenon, I never really understood what she was talking about. I just knew she resented them and partially blamed them for the loss of her parents.
Amanda’s hatred for Influencers made it hard for me to look into her eyes. Was I really one of them? Would she hate me now as well?
Instead, Amanda took my hand in hers. “Thank you, Kaylin. Thank you.”
Right then, I knew things between us would be okay. Amanda has always been able to make me feel like everything would be all right.
“We can’t ever go back there, or to any shelter again,” Amanda continued. “They’re aware of you for sure and I know word of the powerful push you did will bring in recruiters from all the nearby sectors.”
“Push? What do you mean?”
“From what I’ve seen, no one has ever had a push happen that quickly and never that directly. It always takes time and outside planning for the push to force change. I’ve never heard of anyone able to change the focus of a group so quickly and with such direct intention. Those kids just freaked out on Alex and Billy.”
“I know, it was awful.” I sighed.
“We can’t talk about this with anyone. They will take you—make you do horrible things,” she insisted. “The evil sector groups are crawling all over Lost Souls.”
Filled with uncertainty, my mind shifted to what had just happened. No matter how horrible they were, I always had empathy for life in whatever form it came. I melted into Amanda’s arms and cried for what would be the last time in years. Life had changed. I had changed.
I was now an Influencer.
3
PUSHED INTO A CORNER
I WAVE MY hand up at the crimson-tinted horizon in hopes of manipulating the setting of the sun. Please stay up for a little longer. The excessive heat has given way to a more bearable temperature; still hot, but bearable. Right now I would take the baking sun over the perceived dangers that hide in the night. But, this is not the only worry Amanda and I face as we are one slip-up from putting ourselves squarely in the sights of the self-serving Magnus Order. Running from Farren is not an option. If we travel with him, we increase our chances of making it safely to the town of Bullhead. Our only choice is to continue to play it cool, for now.
Farren has recovered fairly well in the short twenty minutes of traveling we have done together. The water and hydro-bars have given him the strength to maintain the faster pace Amanda and I have set. Even knowing what he is and where he comes from, I’m still glad we did not leave him to die.
“You never told me your name,” Farren says, trailing a step or two behind me.
“I’m Kaylin,” I say as Amanda shoots me more disapproving looks.
Farren notices her continual disdain and edges closer to both of us as he matches our pace.
“You know, you guys can trust me.” He rests a hand on both of our shoulders. “I’m from Lost Souls like you. I grew up here.”
“Well, life has taken you on a different path, hasn’t it, Magnus Man,” Amanda says, shrugging her shoulder away from Farren’s hand.
Humanity's Protectors: An Influence Series Origin Novella Page 6