The Pursuit (The Permutation Archives Book 2)

by Kindra Sowder

  The others were walking slightly ahead of me, Ryder the closest, sheltering me in his protective and ever vigilant shadow. I chuckled a little bit since I believed he was the one who needed more protection that I did. I had more than proved myself to Ajax and the rest of our team, and Ryder had already proven himself to them as well as me, but he didn’t have an ability to help him. And I did. I had an advantage over all of them except for Julius and, even then, we all could admit I was even stronger than he was. Not everyone could turn someone’s internal structures into a bomb of sorts. At least, that was how it seemed since King wanted this power for himself.

  Ryder turned back to look at me, the corners of his lips rising with a small smile. “What’s so funny?” He slowed down then until he was in step with me. The surprise that he heard me must have shown on my face because it was his turn to laugh at my expense. “What? You can’t expect to laugh out loud, and no one hears you.”

  “Well, it didn’t stop me from assuming no one had. Then you had to go ruin it.” I shoved him gently, and he stumbled to the side a little bit before righting himself and coming back to my side. I hadn’t pushed him hard enough for him to fall and I hadn’t even tried. The other two were trying to ignore us, but even their curiosity peaked at what I thought was so funny I had to laugh when we weren’t even in the circumstances that garnered such a response.

  “Well, spill it.” He nudged me with his elbow once, our arms were practically grazing each other as we continued our trek.

  Did I want to say it? Maybe it would help lighten the somber mood everyone had found themselves in since they had been immersed in their own thoughts. I decided to go for it.

  “Well, I think it’s kind of funny that I have this ability, and everyone keeps treating me like they should be protecting me. Shouldn’t I really be protecting you guys? Well, Julius and I, anyways?”

  Silence fell over us, even the birds stopping their persistent song, and they paused. This caused me to stop walking as well. Apparently, I had struck a nerve without meaning to. Ajax turned around, and Julius turned with him, watching as his face turned from one of amusement to one of purpose.

  “You know, when your mother told me we were coming to save you and your friends from the compound, I said no. That I wouldn’t risk any more of our men for yet another useless mission. Then she showed me something that Doctor Aserov had given her. Something that changed my mind. You want to know what that was?” Ajax said in a low tone, speaking more to me than to anyone else in the small group that remained.

  “Do I?” I asked as I stared into his eyes, not sure if I truly wanted to know. I guessed I would only be certain once told or shown what it was that my mother had shown him. Knowing her, there was no doubt in my mind that it was something I would regret anyone seeing. Especially Julius.

  “I believe you do,” he said as one of his eyebrows arched elegantly, his gaze sincere in the way he watched me process his words.

  I was confused. This information had been given to my mother by Doctor Aserov, but shown to Ajax when he had doubted the entire mission to save those in King’s grasp, especially me. I couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t wanted to rescue me in the first place, but I remained silent. He removed a small, flat, cylindrical disk from one of the pockets of his cargo pants and took a step toward me. The disk was only about the size of a bottle cap, but I had a feeling there was so much more to it than was obvious. In the very center was an opaque, blue ball just like the one in my tracking necklace that I was certain was useless now. That blue ball had held a hologram of my mother, so I was certain this one held one as well. It caught the light and threw a tiny beam of it toward the ground for all of a second.

  “Now, I’m not sure if it’ll work because of the EMP that was sent out to stop our vehicle and everything else, but it’s worth a shot because then I think everyone will be on the same page. Ryder, you’ve seen part of this first hand already, but I’m sure you’d want to see the rest. And Julius, you haven’t seen any of it. You have only heard of it so, please, do not take this out on her if this works. I’m sure she already beats herself up quite enough.”

  In that instant, I knew part of what was on that hologram housed in the delicate little blue sphere. My hand rose to my chest, and my fingers played in the long chain that held the small pendant over my heart. It had stung at first when it took a little bit of my blood to register me as the correct user of the device, but now it just sat there, stone cold and silent against my warm flesh as a constant reminder. His words were confirmation that the tracker inside of it had been disabled so, if my mother were to make it to headquarters before us, she wouldn’t be able to see where I was. That was if she was alive. I shook the thought away. She was alive. I felt it deep inside of me down to my very bones. The bond between a mother and daughter seemed to instill you with an instinct, and you knew. You always knew.

  Ajax moved to the center of our group and placed the disk on the ground. It twinkled in the sunlight but did nothing other than that. “It may not work like I said, but it works off of energy from within the ground, so I’m hopeful. And it’s made to be resilient. I need to be sure we’re all on the same page here before we move another inch because, if there is someone in this group that could betray us and had thought about it even, they need to know what we are fighting for and decide which side they are truly on.”

  “But there isn’t…” Julius protested, but Ajax stopped him by raising a hand in his direction. Julius went silent, not even making a move to say anything else.

  “We don’t know that and, as much as I’d like to say I trust each of you, I only know for sure where one person’s allegiance lies.” His eyes met mine, and I nodded, knowing that he meant he was only sure about my own position considering I was the one this entire thing centered on now. Ryder wasn’t a wild card as far as I was concerned, but that didn’t mean anything. And Julius. I had known him my entire life. He was quick to defend me after Cato’s death when Nero had already chosen a side as soon as I made him aware of the situation.

  “Are we sure this is the best time? With King’s men all through this forest coming after us?” Julius asked as he fidgeted nervously with a belt loop.

  “I can’t think of a better time,” Ajax answered as we waited for the disk to eventually begin working as it should.

  After seconds that felt like hours, I had nearly given up on anything happening, but then the small disk hummed to life. It began to expand in plates; tiny prongs shooting into the ground as the blue sphere began to glow, alerting us that it was ready for use. I knew my tracker didn’t work, but what about the hologram? I was certain my pendant didn’t work like this disk, but you never knew. My heart raced as the ball grew brighter and brighter, eventually bringing the hologram to life and tears sprung to my eyes instantly as I recognized the scene before us. It took all of the will I had not to turn away immediately.

  My heart rate picked up even more as I spotted my own form, showing King just what my power was capable of. Well, what I believed all it was capable of at the time, but I learned differently on that day. And Quickly. Then, before I knew it, King was standing before me, and Cato was brought into the room, and he didn’t even struggle. He had been beaten severely, and King threatened to kill Julius and me right then and there, followed by my friends and family, if I didn’t use my power to kill Julius at that moment. He had the gun poised in Cato’s direction, aiming directly between his eyes and there wouldn’t be any second chances. There was no sound, so I watched as I first begged King to change his mind and he refused, and then watched Cato’s lips move as he begged me to give into King’s request to save all of us. Little did he know that King’s promises weren’t even worth the air he breathed to make them.

  I recognized the instant I asked King to make everyone leave the room, him only agreeing to leave the good doctor and Ryder just in case I decided to try to make a
run for it with Cato in tow. There wouldn’t be any of that since the compound was so well sealed no one could leave without permission or the proper credentials. Not unless you killed your way in or out. I tried to hold the tears back as I watched myself implore him not to make me do it. That I couldn’t. He wouldn’t have it. I could even see my shoulders shaking as I sobbed the words to my friend, none of them making a difference. He had been beaten into submission, giving up before we had even truly begun to fight. I absorbed the moment I backed away from him, knowing full well what was coming next as his torture at my hands started. And it was as if I were doing it all over again.

  No one knew I could still hear his screams of agony as I killed him from the inside out as we watched, and then came the moment where something had changed. I felt it as something snapped inside of me, but now I saw exactly what had happened. A glow came from my eyes and disappeared just as quickly, causing a crescendo of bursting atoms within his bloodstream that couldn’t be stopped. A part of me still wanted to believe all of this was a nightmare, but the confirmation was there in front of me in blue and white. His cries rang through my mind. I turned away from the image and squeezed my eyes shut, clapping my hands over my ears even though I could still barely hear out of the right one, if at all. Of course, the sound wasn’t really there. It was a memory triggered by the images shown to me, and I couldn’t stop it no matter how hard I attempted to halt the sound. Tears fell down my cheeks in cascades. I couldn’t turn back. I couldn’t make myself even though a part of me was curious as to what else was on the hologram after this. I wasn’t interested enough to find out.

  I felt a warmth spread through me like a thick blanket, a comforting energy attempting to make it all go away as I felt what I would best describe as a specter wrap itself around me from within. I didn’t believe in ghosts, but I did believe in energy and the consciousness that dwelled within all of us. But I didn’t want to think that Cato had done something as reckless as this without knowing the consequences of it. That was if my assumption about it now was correct. Was he here, inside of me? I had no idea, but now it seemed possible. Was it even probable? Did Cato transfer what he could of himself into my mind and body? Could our abilities even be transferred that way? Could what we were meet the same fate? Was that what he tried to tell me before? I shook my head in disbelief, refusing to believe it for even a second. It wasn’t possible. And now I was left with far too many questions that no one around me could answer, or even venture a guess at.

  Nothing could’ve prepared me for what happened next. I felt a pair of real, strong arms wrap themselves around me. When I turned, I was staring into full steel gray eyes that filled with tears that Julius refused to let fall, his eyes wide enough to hold them at bay. Ryder and Ajax stood not too far behind him, staying far enough away to let us have our private moment, but close enough for us to remain guarded. Ever present sentinels charged to look over us, strong and capable as the hologram continued to play, the vision Cato had shared with me going by in flashes and images at Julius’s back.

  “Mila, when you told me what King made you do, I thought I understood it. Now, after seeing that, I realize I didn’t know anything. I still have no idea what you went through, but now I’m one step closer to truly understanding it. I’ll never feel what you do or remember it like you do, but I get it, and I’m here.” He paused, wiping a tear away that had settled just below my left eye. “And I’m never leaving your side. Let’s fight this way together.”

  A weak smile pulled at the corners of my mouth and, as I stared at him with reverence, the last image of the vision Cato showed me came into view. I pointed to it, and he turned, his breath catching in his throat as he took in the scene before him. We were standing there, together and accompanied by Ryder and Caius just like I remembered. Breathing ragged and bodies prepared for brutality and our bodies were strong. Ready to fight a war that we all knew was coming.

  “I knew you would,” I whispered as I stood next to him and took his large hand in my small one and giving it a squeeze.

  “What is this?”

  “It’s what Cato shared with me. His vision of our future and there you are. With me as you’ve always been,” I pointed out to him. We had known each other our entire lives. Our whole group had, but it seemed loyalty hadn’t been engrained in all of us. Nero was missing now, leaving a hole that no one else could fill, but he and I knew he wouldn’t be back. Now, all there was, was a question, and I looked up at Ajax and opened my mouth. “How did you get that?”

  He let out a small laugh and shrugged, a sheepish grin spreading across his lips. “That doctor is one sneaky woman. Somehow stole it for herself and kept King from getting his hands on it. I guess she was testing him when he had the vision and was able to grab it before it went into the system. That’s just a guess, but, if you really want to know, you’d have to ask her when you see her again.” He meant if we saw her again.

  “But what about the guards? There was a guard in the room when they tested me. Didn’t they do that with everyone?” Julius made an excellent point. Mine was Ryder, but who was with Cato during all of this besides the good doctor?

  “It was me,” Ryder admitted as he watched the both of us. The hologram had paused on the image of all of us standing together; ready to fight a war that no one should have had to if greed hadn’t factored into the equation. “I’m not sure how this stuff works so even I don’t have the answer you’re looking for. Sorry.”

  I nodded in understanding as the hologram finally focused into one small beam of light and folded back into the blue orb, the disc shrinking back to its original size. “How deep does this all go, Ajax?”

  He smirked and picked the disc up from the ground, tossing it into the air and catching it before sliding it back into the pocket of his black cargo pants. The standard military issue just like what I was currently wearing. What we were all wearing.

  “All in due time, little lady. All in due time.”

  “You don’t think I’m ready.” It wasn’t a question. I could see it on his face as he stared at me, his eyes questioning even now.

  “No one’s really ready, Mila. I just want you to be a little angrier, is all. You’re not angry enough. You need something else to drive you besides this one event, and I’m waiting until that happens. Of course, your mom may see it differently, but this is how I feel. You never know. I could be entirely wrong.”

  I laughed at the thought that I could be more filled with rage than I already was. “I’m infuriated, Ajax. You have no idea.”

  He turned toward the river, which I could still hear. We were trying to stay far enough into the tree line from the bank of the river not to be easily spotted, while still making our way to headquarters. Every now and then we’d stop for water. And we were practically drowning in the humidity.

  “Angry enough to do what it takes to get the job done?” he asked, his eyebrows rising as he waited for my answer.

  “Absolutely.” I nodded.

  He shrugged. “Then maybe I am wrong, but I’ll let your mother decide that when we make it to headquarters.” His eyes scanned the others. “If we make it.”

  With those words he made his way toward the river, letting us know now was the time for a water break or any other kind of break we needed to take without saying so many words. Who knew when we’d be able to stop again? If we continued to stop it would take much longer to get to our destination, and I wanted to get there as quickly as I could. Hope fluttered in my chest that the others had made it there or would. That they were still alive after that last attack. I was too busy contending with not only another shot of Paralisix, but a shifter that wasn’t smart enough to figure out I wasn’t someone he wanted to mess with. At that moment I decided to take any hope I had and to bury it in a deep, dark corner where no one could dig it back out. Not even me.

  As I did so, my stomach rolled, and nausea rumbled
up into my throat, the pressure of everything I was fated to do to save our kind too much to take at that moment. Anxiety was taking hold, only making it worse. I ran to the nearest tree and placed my hand against its rough bark and vomited onto the forest floor. As I watched the acid within my stomach move along the vibrant green of the foliage, I couldn’t help but think that there were still too many secrets. Too many things they felt they needed to keep from me and until I’m ready. Until I’m angry enough. Until there is only one outlet for my rage and only one will do. Was I there yet? I had honestly believed I was, but maybe, just maybe, I needed more of a push. But what could push me more toward the end result than what had already transpired? I was too afraid of the answer to ask what anyone thought it could be.

  I felt another pull of nausea, but swallowed it down and wiped the corners of my mouth with the back of my hand. When I stood and turned, the only person there with me was Ryder. He watched me with a furrowed brow and a frown, the concern plain on his face as he penetrated me with his stare. At that moment I had only wished people would stop looking at me in such a way. It made me want to curl up in a ball underneath a rock, so they couldn’t find me. I was fine. I was alright. And I would do what I needed to do. I was not backing down no matter how much King wanted me to give up. Little did he know it wasn’t in me to do that. Not when I had an entirely new race of people depending on me to end it all so we could live.

  “I know it’s rough, but you can do this. We’re all depending on you,” he said as he took a step toward me, holding his hand out to me in a beckoning gesture. I took it, and he pulled me into his embrace, his chest warm and stable.