The Riser Saga

by Becca C. Smith

  But, Elisha didn’t need to know how easy it was.

  I needed her to think I was using all my concentration on keeping her out so I could really focus on getting me out!

  I made some grunting noises and a couple of gasps followed by some panting.

  I could hear Elisha snicker through the speaker.

  Good.

  Now to really get down to business.

  Okay, Roberta, let’s put your advice to use.

  I imagined seeing outside the metal of the coffin. As if it was made of glass. I tried to picture swirling black holes that were just waiting for me to control. All the while, I continued my grunting and guffawing.

  “Just let me in,” Elisha cooed through the speakers.

  I rolled my eyes in the darkness. She was really getting on my nerves.

  Glass. Glass. Glass.

  See past the metal.

  No blockage.

  I repeated these things over and over in my mind.

  And that’s when I saw that same old something I saw before.

  A thrilling sensation surged up my spine.

  I was actually doing it.

  Just a little more.

  And even in the darkness, that’s when I saw it.

  I could physically see this anti-matter that Roberta talked about. It was swimming in the walls of the metal like millions of tiny snakes. And I could see past them. They weren’t solid. They never were. Just like Turner’s corpses when push-came-to-shove I could see through the barrier and connect to their black spinning chasms.

  So that’s what I did.

  I looked through the slithering material, and it worked!

  I could see past the metal.

  It was like looking through a glass wall with opaque maggots crawling on its surface.

  Eeww.

  I searched for anything dead.

  Anything.

  This really was a dead zone, and by dead zone I mean nothing in it was actually dead. Live zone was more like it.

  Then I saw that something. It was much clearer now that I could see past the metal. It was right at the border of my four-mile radius, so it was a bit hard to distinguish. (Although I was seriously impressed with myself that I’d even sensed it before!) What was it?

  There were two swirling black holes. I was sure of it. But what were they? Dead bodies? Animals? Plants? I couldn’t tell. They were just two spinning holes and I couldn’t sense anything else about them.

  Maybe if I could make whatever they were move, then I might have a better sense of what was rotting four miles away and see if it could help me in the least.

  For Elisha’s listening ears, I made another grunting sound.

  “No oxygen for you,” Elisha’s voice was irritated. She still hadn’t entered my brain, so she was starting to get the hint that I might be up to something. At least that’s how I rationalized her taking away the oxygen.

  I tried not to get flustered.

  She wouldn’t let me die, I knew that from before, but I also didn’t want to pass out for another two days. Not before I figured out what those two dead things were.

  The hissing of oxygen stopped and I connected to the black spinning holes.

  FLASH!

  Bright white light nearly blinded me.

  I disconnected immediately.

  The twins.

  They were buried alive, too.

  Elisha knew my grandparents wouldn’t be able to find them, so she stuck them in…

  …wait a minute.

  They were in a metal box like mine. I could see the swimming wormy anti-matter in their coffin walls.

  My heart went out for John and Samuel. I could imagine their blind eyes staring in the darkness while the two of them held hands. Okay. They still creeped me out a bit. And Roberta’s vagueness on whether or not they were sociopaths put me on edge, too, but I decided I wouldn’t judge until the three of us escaped.

  I needed to use them to help us, but how? Why did I see light when I connected to them? Is that why they were blind? What did it mean? I needed to think. They had to be powerful, otherwise Turner and Elisha wouldn’t covet them like they did. And Elisha must have thought she buried them out of my radius since it was so close to the four-mile marker, which meant she was afraid of me connecting to them.

  Light.

  And my mind immediately went to the hover-van, when Elisha had me connect to the tiny dead particles. All I saw was black. Utter black. Void black. So maybe…

  John and Samuel were the opposite?

  But what did that mean?

  What did that mean?! If that was true, it would mean they could connect to anything alive!

  I was frozen with fear.

  The implications were terrifying.

  Before I let my brain fry with worry, I decided to test out my theory first. No sense freaking out for nothing. But my gut was telling me I was right. And the reason they had black swirling heads was because Turner needed to control them. He had probably found a way to kill something around the brain so he could keep them under his power.

  Stop.

  I needed to try and connect to them again.

  Without going blind.

  The air was growing more and more stuffy by the minute, but I tried to push that out of my thoughts.

  “Eating every two days isn’t good for anyone.” Elisha’s voice was laced with amusement.

  I guess she knew exactly how much oxygen to deprive me of to keep me out cold for forty-eight hours. I wouldn’t even dignify Elisha with a verbal response. I needed all the air I could get. I took small breaths to conserve what little air I had left.

  I closed my eyes and connected to the boys.

  The light was so intense I almost pulled out instantaneously, but I searched for any darker space. I found some immediately. It was the outer edge of their brains, like a shadowed film surrounding the entire surface. As soon as I made my target the outer edge, everything came into focus.

  I was in over-exposed land. Everything was so bright that the details faded into the light.

  I was in one of their memories.

  The boys were standing in the basement of some kind of house. There were other children around, though it was difficult to make out their faces since the light was so blinding. The silhouette of a man walked down the stairs to join the children. All the kids ran up to him like he was their father.

  Except for John and Samuel.

  They just held each other’s hands and kept their distance.

  The man was the only dark thing in the basement. My skin was chilled when I looked at him. He was like Brady, I knew it instantly.

  “He was our first owner,” John said as the two of them stared at the man.

  That’s when I noticed that the two of them weren’t blind in here. I guess that’s how they kept sane and connected. Just the fact that they were always together, even in astral projection land, was serious mojo. Or serious brain connection.

  “Who is he?” I asked.

  “Larotte Fielding. He made us like this,” Samuel answered, though if I hadn’t been staring at them I wouldn’t have been able to tell which one said it, since the two of them sounded exactly the same.

  Larotte Fielding. The founder of I.Q. Farms. Jason had told us how Fielding started taking kids and experimenting on them in his basement. He was arrested in 2133 and supposedly all the children were returned home. Apparently, there were two exceptions.

  I knew we were in Fielding’s basement, but why?

  “Why stay here?” I asked. “Isn’t there somewhere else you’d like to be? Like anywhere?”

  John and Samuel both looked at me directly and I stepped back from the creepiness of it. I was instantly ashamed, because I could see the fear and sadness pouring out of their eyes.

  “This is the only place we can remember,” John answered quietly.

  Oh man.

  “When he made us discover our powers, we went blind,” Samuel said. He seemed the braver of the two. “W
e don’t remember anything before the basement.”

  “But what about Turner and Roberta? Don’t they let you see things?” I asked with a slight hope that these boys would paint a nicer picture of my grandparents.

  “No,” they said in unison.

  “We have been in the metal room since we were brought there,” Samuel said.

  Of course. Why should I have thought any different?

  “Geoffrey deadened the cells surrounding our brains so we couldn’t kill anymore,” John spoke with such a deadpan voice it made my skin crawl.

  “We like to kill,” Samuel offered with little emotion.

  Wait. Fantastic. Roberta’s vagueness equaled crazy-ass-twin-freaks!

  But her words were as clear as a bell. They picked sociopaths for the I.Q. Farms. Why would these two boys be any different? I was stupid to think there was a chance they were actually sane.

  “What exactly is your power?” I decided to keep them thinking I was their friend and hoped they wouldn’t try and kill me.

  “We connect to everything that has life,” John said.

  “Down to atoms,” Samuel finished with almost a smile.

  “We can’t get past the metal barriers, though.” John looked sad.

  “Right when we discovered what our powers were, Geoffrey and Roberta collared us with the metal that stops us.”

  Go team grandparents.

  “Did you ever use your powers?” I asked, scared to hear their response.

  “Oh yes, we killed Larotte and the other kids in the basement,” John said with a proud grin.

  “Just by a single thought,” Samuel agreed.

  “That’s when Geoffrey came in with the collars,” John said quietly. “We thought we’d killed Roberta, but she lived somehow.”

  “She’s powerful,” Samuel cooed.

  “We don’t know how she survived,” John finished Samuel’s thought.

  “Geoffrey knew about Larotte the whole time and was watching,” Samuel added.

  “The metal and the dead cells keep us imprisoned.” John stared at me like I was supposed to help him or something when I was never so grateful for my crazy grandfather in my life.

  If they could kill with a single thought, and they could connect to atoms, they could destroy life as we know it in an instant.

  I wondered suddenly if they had the same four-mile restriction that I did? I certainly hoped so for humanity’s sake. If they were to get free…

  Yet somehow Roberta survived their attack.

  Probably through some kind of voodoo mojo, I couldn’t be sure, but that was her usual modus operandi. I was never an advocate for killing, but I couldn’t fathom why Turner would keep them alive. It was too dangerous! I never thought I’d even think such a thing, but these kids were the most dangerous human beings on the planet. Gramps probably thought his brain deadening thing and the metal room were enough to keep them safely contained. And he was right.

  Until I broke them out.

  Even Elisha buried them so deep that no one could find them. She wanted my power so she could use the twins. She could kill all her enemies in a single thought. Not even Turner tried that. (Or at least, I don’t think he did. I just figured he would have tried to use them on me a couple of months ago.) No, I think Turner was as scared of these boys as I was, and for the first time in my life, I trusted his decisions pertaining to them. Maybe killing John and Samuel would unleash their power? Or, maybe he wanted to transfer their power to someone more stable? After all he was a power-hungry tyrant who wanted to dominate the world!

  Wait a minute.

  I could totally use the twins, and they couldn’t do anything about it.

  They can’t get past the metal, but I can. And I could control their brains by controlling the dead brain cells.

  “I’ll get us out,” I said and forced a smile. I still wanted them to believe I was on their side. “I’m going to have to use your powers though. You ready?” I tried to look as nice as possible.

  The twins nodded vigorously.

  “Okay. Here goes,” I said and closed my eyes to shut myself out of their little basement setting.

  I focused on the black swirls around their heads, separating myself from their astral connection. (The less I was in their brains the better.) And…

  FLASH!

  There was that bright light again.

  I really didn’t want to go blind, but I didn’t want to be stuck underground either, since I was running out of time and air.

  I sucked it up and tried to keep my eyes shielded.

  Man. They were right. When I really concentrated on the details of the light, I realized that it was actually a billion tiny lights. Molecules? Atoms? No, they were too big.

  Soil!

  I was seeing dirt!

  And it was alive!

  If no one could find me to dig me out, then I’d dig myself out.

  I concentrated on the dirt around my metal box and through the boys I connected to it like I connect to dead things. The weird part was, it felt exactly the same. I made the dirt push and pull the coffin up.

  My body felt the movement of the box and I nearly lost my connection from the excitement.

  “What’s going on!” Elisha’s voice crackled through the speakers. The movement of the coffin was causing the sound system to break.

  The dirt was so bright, I knew I couldn’t stay connected for much longer or I really would be blind. I made the dirt move me up as fast as I could. How far down was I?! Almost there! I could see the surface drawing closer because it was slightly darker. Not as much life in the air as in the ground, I guess. It was like a beacon to me. My heart leapt that I was finally going to be free.

  In a dead zone.

  What if Elisha was on her way?

  Couldn’t think about that.

  Just needed to free myself.

  I almost felt bad that I had zero intention of rescuing the boys, and there was nothing they could do about it. I was using them like everyone else had in their lives.

  For their power.

  And it was intoxicating.

  To feel every atom of life...

  I tried to see if they had the same four-mile restriction I did, but there was no way of telling. It was too bright. It felt like I was connecting to all of it. Everywhere. The light was so beautiful.

  The box pushed out of the ground and I disconnected from the dirt. But I couldn’t seem to disconnect from the boys. The light. Life. It felt so right.

  “OUT!” Roberta’s voice jolted my connection to the twins.

  I was so focused on my connection and keeping Elisha out, Roberta had managed to sneak back inside my head.

  I immediately disconnected from the boys.

  What had I been thinking?

  I could see the trails of light even in the darkness of the coffin. Was I blind? Did I stay connected to them too long? I was so ashamed I let their power engross me like that. If it hadn’t been for Roberta!

  I lay back down and used both my legs to kick open the lid.

  I had to cover my eyes from the onslaught of sun that attacked my eyes. I wanted to cry and scream at the same time. Cry because I was free and scream because I was so angry at myself for losing control with the twins’ powers.

  I blinked my eyes really fast so I could adjust to the light. At least I wasn’t blind.

  “We’ve got your signal. We’re on our way,” Roberta’s voice sounded in my head and despite the relieving news, I kicked her out.

  No one in my head again without my permission.

  That was a violation I never wanted to experience again.

  My eyes slowly adjusted to the light, though I knew that after two days confined in darkness it was going to take longer than a few minutes for my sight to be normal again.

  I stood up and stepped out of my prison. My legs were shaky and I found it hard to stand. I looked at the metal box in front of me. If I could burn metal I would have. I never wanted to see a coffin or a man-si
zed box again!

  The oxygen tank was bolted to the side. The sound system I had smashed when I flipped the lid off since that’s where it was attached and the feeding tube was bent and broken from its way up to the surface. Dang, that feeding tube was long. Just the parts that were still intact were sticking up at least forty feet high. I must have been more than a mile deep.

  Which meant the twins were that far down as well. I tried not to care, but I couldn’t help it. Being buried alive was not something you’d wish on your worst enemy, and I’d used them to escape that fate. I just couldn’t help them. They were too dangerous. I’d tell Turner where to dig and he could deal with them. I couldn’t believe I was even thinking that, but the reality was that John and Samuel were killers who wanted to kill. I couldn’t let that happen. Even if it meant trusting my grandfather to keep the twins prisoners for eternity. And I couldn’t pass judgment on his reasons for not killing them. It still struck me as odd since he didn’t seem to have a problem murdering a third of our populous, but that was another issue entirely.

  I took in the view before me. Miles and miles of dirt. No trees, no flowers, no grass. Nothing grows, nothing dies. Just the dirt. I was amazed that there weren’t even any dead insects or worms, or anything. The land must be treated with some kind of insecticide or repellant or something. It amazed me that these zones even existed. Because it meant that they existed specifically for people like me.

  I heard the whirling of hover-cars in the distance.

  Question was: was it Elisha or Turner?

  I couldn’t believe that the day had actually come when I wished it was Gramps.

  I felt around for anything dead, but aside from the twins, there was nothing. I was tempted to use their powers again, but I knew I’d be asking for trouble. I couldn’t allow myself to connect to John and Samuel anymore. I couldn’t take the chance of losing myself like that again. With a little more time, I honestly didn’t know what I would have done with their powers.

  To connect to every atom of life like that…

  It was more than an adrenaline rush. It was unreal. And terrifying.

  I wanted no part of it.

  It suddenly occurred to me what Roberta was talking about when she said she and Turner had tried to kill me for the greater good. They had no idea of my character and were afraid of what I’d do with the twins’ powers if I ever got hold of them. If I had been a psycho I could have killed everything. Scary.