The Riser Saga

by Becca C. Smith

  Ryan and I separated from the crowd, who were there to take a tour of the maples. We veered East toward the marked tree. No one saw us go and it didn’t look like anyone would care anyway.

  Walking for about an hour, we finally reached the marked tree. It looked exactly as it had when Elisha brought me there last night.

  “Everything’s going to be okay,” Ryan said. He leaned down to kiss me. It made most of my brain turn to mush, but I was still freaked.

  I needed to calm down if I was going to do this. I still wasn’t even sure if it was going to work…

  “I know.” My voice was shaking a bit. “We better start.”

  Ryan’s hands were immediately framing my face. “I’m serious. You don’t have to do this.”

  I gently pulled his hands away and tried to smile as bravely as I could. “Yes, I do.”

  Ryan nodded and kissed my forehead. “Just tell me everything you see and I’ll lead you to the Farm.”

  “Okay.” I turned toward the building. “Here goes.”

  I closed my eyes and searched the building for a dead body. It wasn’t hard: there were about a hundred people in there with swirling black holes. I searched for the twins’ black spinning heads and couldn’t find them. Had Turner moved Elisha and the boys? Were they even in the building? I quickly calmed myself and concentrated on the task at hand. I’d try and find Elisha first, then go from there.

  I connected to the dead body closest to the basement where Elisha was being held. Of course, Turner had all one hundred dead people protected by the invisible barrier he placed up with his voodoo rituals, but I had long since been able to break through them like they were nothing more than a hiccup.

  Having my own eyes closed made the whole experience easier as I made myself see through the corpse’s eyes. I looked down at the body I was using and made note of the fact that I was a slightly overweight male. He was sitting at his desk staring at a holo-monitor displaying 3-D charts and graphs of something or other. I still didn’t know how my grandfather used his dead servants. It seemed like they still worked and functioned without his constant attention. I honestly couldn’t imagine that. Keeping my stepfather animated for ten years took at least some kind of concentration even if I was on auto-pilot for a lot of the time. But the amount of people that were dead under Turner’s spell? That would drain me to the point of knocking me out cold. How did he do it? Another question I hoped I’d find the answer to, but somehow I doubted I’d know anytime soon.

  This guy was mine now. And that was all that mattered at the moment.

  His office was small and sparse with generic holo-paintings of grass fields and sailboats mounted on the wall. The desk was clean and free of any kind of personal kitsch, just a computer and an electronic reader. I made him stand up and walk out of the small room to the hallway beyond.

  “I’m on a floor near the bottom of the building in the hallway,” I told Ryan, still keeping my eyes closed.

  I could feel him clasp my hand tighter in support. “Are you nearer to the North side or the South side?” he asked.

  “Somewhere in the middle.” I gauged.

  “Face South and there should be a door up on your left in about twenty feet,” Ryan voiced from memory.

  Sure enough, the door was there just like he said. It was hard not to be impressed with Ryan’s brain. To have memorized the entire schematics of a building a mile wide and who knows how far down was truly mind boggling. But once something was in Ryan’s brain, it was in there forever. It was probably as much of a burden to him as it was a gift. Like my power. We never really talked about it, but I made a mental note to broach the subject when this was all over.

  “Okay, I’m through,” I said as I made the man open the door.

  I was on familiar ground now. This was the same stairwell where we escaped from Turner’s dead army two months ago. It was four levels of grated walkways and staircases like a jumbly mess of metal. I could see I was on the third floor down: only one floor away from the entrance to the ventilation shaft that would lead me to the Farm.

  “Recognize it?” Ryan answered my thoughts.

  “Yeah,” I said and made the corpse walk down the stairs and jump to the bottom floor. “Just through the grate, right?” I asked just making sure I was in the right place.

  “Yeah. Once you’re in I’ll lead you through.” I could tell Ryan was trying not to sound nervous.

  I made the man open the grating on the floor and dropped him down to the ventilation tunnel below. The shaft was at least a foot higher than the body I was in, so I didn’t have to make him duck. Ryan guided me down four more levels of metal hallways and tubes until we reached the giant grate that led to the I.Q. Farm. So far, so good. I was surprised that Turner hadn’t locked down all entrances to the Farm since our last break-in, but the more I thought about it the less strange it seemed. My grandpa didn’t see me as a threat and never would. He probably figured if I was even going to attempt anything like this he’d have ample warning. Well, his mistake was my advantage.

  I tried to sense the twins’ swirling black heads, but I still couldn’t see them. I didn’t know how I was going to find Elisha without using them as a compass, but I made the corpse open the grate just the same. I quickly had him jump down.

  And then I surveyed the horror that was an I.Q. Farm before me.

  Hundreds of children filled the room, oblivious to everyone around them. Some were hooked up to machines, some were in virtual reality suits jumping and kicking at unknown objects, some were at computer stations typing a mile a minute. But all of them had the same dark circles under their eyes and the same comatose expressions on their faces. It was a terrifying spectacle. I felt relief that Ryan wasn’t there to see it.

  “Okay, I’m in the main room. Where do you think Elisha is being held?” I asked, hoping that no one with authority was in the vicinity to see the man whose body I was controlling. I didn’t sense any dead guards, which was both good and bad. Good because maybe there weren’t any guards down here and bad because if there were guards I’d prefer it be with people I could control.

  “There are two doors on the East wall,” Ryan directed. “If she’s down there she’ll be behind one of them. Those doors are the only exits, and the rooms are small. Like prisons.” I could feel the sweat on his hand as he squeezed mine. Although maybe that was my sweat. I couldn’t tell I was so nervous.

  “Which way’s East?” I asked, slightly embarrassed. I had no sense of direction down there and I didn’t want it to be the reason we failed.

  “If you’re standing with your back to the vent opening the doors will be on the left wall,” Ryan said without a hint of condescension in his tone. (One of the many reasons why I loved him.)

  I made the man walk toward the doors and past the section of comatose children strapped into machines with strange looking wires and suction cups attached to their heads. Their hair was shaved: they almost looked like aliens with the spider-like wires seemingly growing out of their brains connecting to some unknown source above. I really didn’t want to know what was happening to them. It was sickening to watch.

  Making the corpse look around, I still didn’t see any signs of guards. If Elisha was set for execution tomorrow morning wouldn’t she be under heavy guard?

  Unless she wasn’t here.

  I made the man open the first door.

  Inside was a small room about eight feet by eight feet. About three feet in front of me was a plexiglass wall with no door or opening to speak of. But huddled in a ball in the corner I could see Elisha with her head down.

  Great.

  I found her, but how was I supposed to get through what looked like four inches of plexiglass?

  “Elisha,” I made the corpse say.

  She lifted her head and a huge smile spread across her face when she saw the man in front of her. “Chelsan?” she asked.

  “Yeah, how do I get you out?” I made him ask.

  “Turner just put in the
plexi wall this morning.” Elisha was cut off by a sudden blaring screech filling the air.

  The alarm.

  Fantastic.

  “Chelsan, I’m going to need you to concentrate.” Elisha was standing in front of the man I was controlling now. Only the plexiglass between us.

  I could hear the thumping of guards running toward us and their clacking of guns.

  “Hang on. Let me take care of them first,” I made him say and I put Jason and my plan into play.

  I made the corpse open the door to see the oncoming guards running toward him.

  Then I connected to the millions of pieces of dust in the room. Like a swarm of gnats, I made the dust fly up their noses and slammed it into their lungs.

  Just like I had with Jill.

  The result was just the same. They all grabbed their throats gasping for air. Their effort was futile as I kept the dust in their lungs. After a few seconds they dropped to the ground unconscious. I quickly removed the dust from their lungs and knew I only had minutes before they awoke.

  I made the man turn back to Elisha. “What do I do?”

  Elisha’s purple eyes were intense but calm in a way I envied at the moment. “Chelsan, I’m going to ask you to do something to your vessel you probably haven’t done before, but it’s the only way I can think of to get out.”

  I knew we were cutting it close on time so I just wanted her to spit it out. “Tell me.”

  “You’re going to have to make his blood boil,” she said.

  What?

  “What?” I made him say out loud.

  “Plexiglass becomes malleable at a hundred degrees Celsius and blood boils at the same temperature. If you can make your vessel’s blood boil there’s a good chance you’ll simply be able to maneuver an opening for me,” Elisha said as if I were an idiot and should have known better.

  “But…” How was I supposed to do that?

  “The vessel you’re controlling is completely under your power which means you can do anything to it,” she said as if coaching a student.

  And then I remembered.

  I had made my mother explode. And Jill’s dad. And all those other corpses. Granted, I was in a state of shock and reacted on impulse, but still. I did make their bodies go boom.

  “Is everything okay?” I heard Ryan say out loud.

  I was so enwrapped in what was going on, I almost forgot I wasn’t actually in the building itself. I squeezed Ryan’s hand and he squeezed mine back. I needed him to be my lifeline. “No matter what, don’t let go of me,” I said to him.

  “Never,” he said, and held my hand tighter.

  I focused all my attention on the dead man I was controlling. I visualized heat warming up his blood. Gross. I had no way of telling if it was working or not.

  “Put your hands to the plexiglass,” Elisha instructed me.

  I did as she said and made the corpse put his hands flat on the smooth surface. I nearly pulled them away when I noticed the color of his skin had changed drastically. It was white and puckery like boiled chicken skin. Eeeww. And then I felt it.

  It was the strangest sensation I’d ever experienced.

  Inside the corpse it felt like a million bubbles popping continuously. I swallowed hard and nearly cut off the circulation to Ryan’s hand, but he didn’t say a word.

  I was making this man’s blood boil.

  Elisha’s eyes were round with anticipation and excitement. Disturbing.

  But I couldn’t think of that now. The guards were going to wake up soon and the alarm was still blazing, which meant more troops on the way. I made the man’s hands push into the plexiglass. I was amazed at how he was able to push through the plastic like it was made of thick custard. It was such a strange sensation, it was almost cool, but I had only a matter of minutes so I couldn’t let myself enjoy the moment. And besides, the bubbling blood inside the corpse was so distracting it was literally making me sick.

  I pulled down with his hands, opening the plexiglass by the handful. I made him pull and swipe until he had created a small two-foot by one-foot hole. Elisha was on it. She squirmed her way through until she was out.

  “We have to get John and Samuel,” Elisha said.

  “I didn’t sense them in here,” I made the man say. “Maybe Turner had them moved?”

  “No. They’re in the next room,” Elisha said and left the room we were in.

  I made the corpse follow and stopped his blood from boiling. This was a much easier task, since all I had to do was stop concentrating on heat. But as soon as I did, the skin from his forearms slopped off. I guess the skin couldn’t handle the continuous heat and now it was dropping off him one section at a time.

  “Elisha!” I made him call out.

  Elisha was opening the second door and turned around to see my problem. Her face was more irritated than anything else. “Anything else you can connect to?”

  I felt around, but all the dead people were at least four floors up.

  Wait a second…

  Oh crap.

  “Elisha. Turner’s dead army is coming,” I made the man say just as his jaw fell to the floor. Yuck.

  I guess Turner’s soldiers were a part of the hundred dead people I sensed in the beginning. I was losing control of the man I was in. The more skin he lost, the less power I had over him.

  “In here, quickly.” Elisha held the door open for the man and I made him shamble through.

  Inside was a metal wall with a metal door.

  “They’re in there,” she said with authority.

  “But I can’t see their black holes,” I made him say, though it came out more as a garble due to his lack of jaw.

  “That’s because of the metal. It’s designed to keep people with your gift out,” Elisha informed me.

  What?

  Oh.

  The room that Brady the serial killer had kept me in.

  It must have been made of the same metal. I hadn’t been able sense anything dead outside of the room. It wasn’t until I had used Larry the dead cockroach that I discovered Brady’s victims buried in his backyard. I had to clear the doorway before I could connect with them and use them to escape. Turner must have had it installed for him knowing that people like me would be rendered useless. More questions were running through my head about a mile a minute, but I had to focus on the present.

  The dead army was one floor up and making their way down.

  Both of my corpse’s thighs slid to the ground.

  “Ryan this is so gross,” I said to Ryan in the forest. My eyes were still shut and I desperately wanted to open them to see him. I felt that just one look from his big brown eyes would make the nightmare I was experiencing in the building all better. But I needed to keep my concentration at full power if I were to help Elisha and the twins escape.

  “I’m right here. If you want to leave now, I’m with you.” Ryan tried to calm me.

  “No. I’m good, just more typical me stuff.” I kept it vague. Ryan’s over-protectiveness would probably make him force me to stop.

  Ryan let go of my hand to wrap his arms around me from behind. He kissed the top of my head and I immediately relaxed into his chest.

  Since the man’s face was starting to melt off, I knew I had to find another black hole fast.

  I was tempted to tap into the oncoming dead army, but I knew I needed to save my strength for that. And besides, I wasn’t even sure I could. I really didn’t know if Turner had found a new way to block me from his corpses. What if he used this metal somehow? It obviously worked on me…

  I’d find out soon, I guess.

  Before I lost sight completely, I connected to a dead fly on the ground. I really wished I hadn’t. It was like seeing the same image through eight hundred points of view. So, watching the bloody pulp of a corpse I was just controlling slop to the floor in gumpy mess like it was on a thousand holo-tvs: not good.

  I made the fly buzz in front of Elisha hoping she’d understand that it was me controlling
the insect. I wasn’t disappointed.

  “You’ll be able to connect to the boys soon. I can pick this lock.” Elisha made quick work of the locked door with the use of a stylus she found in the corpes’s bloody pocket. She apparently wasn’t fazed at all by the pile of guts at her feet, which made me wonder what she’d been through over the last hundred years to desensitize her.

  The door swung open and John and Samuel were standing there just like in my vision that Elisha sent me last night. They were holding hands while their milky blue eyes stared straight ahead at nothing. I still couldn’t see their swirling heads yet, but when Elisha led them out of the metal room the black masses spun wildly.

  “Connect to them,” she ordered. I shuddered from the look in her eye. From the hundreds of violet eyes giving me the same expression. It was almost like a challenge. Like she wanted to see what would happen if I did. I felt Ryan hold me tighter. He obviously didn’t like my reaction.

  He leaned down and whispered in my ear, “I’m here. You’re okay.”

  I was instantly more at ease, but my doubts about Elisha were growing by the second. I was almost tempted to leave her there and run away with Ryan as far as I possibly could. But there was something about the boys that made me stay. They were so helpless. So vulnerable. The fact that they were brain dead because of my grandfather… It was too much to bear. I just couldn’t leave them there.

  And I couldn’t leave Elisha to die. If I abandoned her now it would feel like I pulled the trigger myself. If Turner was going to execute her, I needed to give her a fighting chance. I didn’t have to trust her, I just had to help her.

  She was right though: the boys would be easier to connect to than the fly.

  I slammed myself into their swirling black holes.

  FLASH!

  The light was so intense it was like stepping into the center of the sun. I couldn’t see anything, just the glaring light all around me.

  I jumped out of them and reconnected to the fly.

  I was still in shock at what just happened. I was suddenly afraid I would open my eyes in the forest and I’d be blind myself. What was that? I knew in that instant that yet again there was way more to this than I originally thought. Again, my instincts were to run. But my stubbornness won out as usual.