The Ending Series: The Complete Series

by Lindsey Fairleigh

  “Camille and Mase,” I corrected. I was getting tired of everyone—except for Dr. Wesley, I acceded reluctantly—treating the Re-gens like dogs. They were trained, experimented on, and kept ignorant in the most ludicrous, disturbing ways, and though I knew their brains worked a little differently, they were still human, more or less. They had human emotions and human reactions, and I wanted Gabe to treat them like…well, humans.

  Gabe took a deep breath and gently set down his fork. “Maybe you can tell Camille and Mase what you’re looking for, and they can carry out the search for information for you.” After a pause, he added, “I really don’t think you should endanger yourself, especially not with everything going down tomorrow night.”

  I not-so-softly dropped my fork. “Oh, but I should let them risk their lives because they’re what…not real people? They have feelings like you and me, Gabe, you just have to give them the chance to show you.”

  “But they’re not like you and me, Dani,” he snapped. He lowered his hands to his lap, but I could see his arms tensing as he clenched and unclenched his fists. “Not anymore. I know they look like normal people and they talk like normal people and, hell, they probably really do have normal human emotions to some degree, but they’re not the same as us…they’re not the same as they used to be. She…their brains are different…closed off to me.” Running his fingers through his blond hair, he sighed. “I don’t trust them.”

  “Maybe you’re right, maybe they are different, but you’re right about another thing that’s more important—they are my friends, as much as you are.” More so, even, I thought. They haven’t betrayed me. Pulling a folded-up piece of paper out of my jeans pocket, I said, “Any information you can give me to answer these questions will help us plan our escape better.”

  “Our escape…” Gabe repeated as he reached across the table to snatch the paper from my fingers. It was filled with the many questions I’d written to gather information about the Colony after my mind-convo with Zoe and Jason the previous afternoon. After several long, silent minutes, Gabe stood, strode over to the sink, and pulled a lighter out of a nearby drawer. He held the piece of paper over the sink, and with a flick of the lighter, set it aflame.

  “What are you doing?” I screeched, jumping up as I watched the paper shrivel into an ashy ball.

  Gabe dropped it before the tiny flames burned his fingers, and shook his head. “It’s evidence against you—against both of us. I’ll gather as much information as I can tomorrow morning, but no list. Someone might find it,” he told me.

  I forced myself to reclaim my seat. “Why’d you say ‘our escape’ like that?” I asked softly.

  “Like what?”

  “Like you aren’t actually planning to join me. We’ve been over this. You promised,” I reminded him.

  He didn’t answer immediately. “Why do you even want me to leave with you?” he finally asked into the sink. “After what I’ve done to you—”

  “Because I care about you!” I blurted without thinking, and it was true. I do care about him…probably more than I should.

  He spun around, facing me, his look hopeful. “What are you say—”

  Before he could finish, I added, “I’d hate to see you stuck here forever, or worse, hurt because I left you behind. I couldn’t live with myself knowing I’d done that.” I shrugged. “Besides, I’d like you with me while I plot to take his mightiness down. You know things…you’re useful.”

  Gabe leaned back against the counter. “It might also be useful for me to stay here…for you to have someone on the inside. I can do more from in here.”

  What’s his deal? Why could he possibly want to stay? Is it Dr. Wesley? “I already have someone in the belly of the beast, and she’s far closer to the brain than you are. You’re, like, down in the intestines, but she’s working her way up the esophagus.”

  I’d hoped my ridiculous analogy might wipe some of the torn expression off his face, but it only deepened it. “Wes shouldn’t have to—”

  “Why not?” I snapped. “She owes us. She owes everyone.”

  He held my eyes for a moment longer, then looked away as he walked around the island to reclaim his seat at the table. “She’s not the monster you’ve made her out to be in your mind. She didn’t have a choice. Maybe she can come with us, too.”

  Bad, bad idea. There was no way I was letting Jason and Zoe find out the truth about their mom…about what she’d done to protect them. “She’s seeking redemption, Gabe. I highly doubt she’d ever agree to leaving”—desperately, I hoped I was right about that—“but if it makes you feel better, ask her. Invite her, whatever. I don’t care,” I lied.

  Gabe was silent for a long time, looking into my eyes like he was studying my soul. “Fine, I will. And I will leave with you, regardless of her answer.” He looked away, staring down at the table like he was trying to burn a hole in it.

  “How long have you been working with her?” I asked.

  He said nothing for a while, then finally, “I knew of her, but I didn’t know her until the Virus started spreading throughout the base.”

  So he didn’t help kill everyone. My relief almost choked me. “Good to know.” I watched him for a few heartbeats, wondering what he was thinking about. Is he making plans for tomorrow…for the escape? “Do you have a way to get your friend out?” I asked. Gabe was always very guarded when he spoke of the woman who was “like a sister” to him—I knew next to nothing about her.

  “I, uh…I’m taking care of it.” Before I could ask for clarification, he said, “You, uh, probably need to leave soon to get ready for your excursion tonight, but before you go, I want to give you something.”

  Wait…what?

  Meeting my eyes, Gabe stood. He walked around the table, pulled out the chair nearest mine, and sat. As he reached into the pocket of his slacks, he said, “I wasn’t sure I wanted to give you this, but…”

  I had no idea what he was talking about, but I was getting the very uncomfortable feeling that he was about to cross the just-friends boundary I’d carefully constructed. My eyes were wide.

  Gabe set a small digital camera down on the corner of the table. “Take this with you tonight,” he said, looking into my eyes as he nudged the camera closer to me with his fingertips. “It’s fully charged and has a sixty-four-gig memory card, so you should be able to take pictures of whatever you find. Just…” His eyes squinted, his expression turning pleading. “Just please be careful with it. If anyone finds it on you…”

  “Gabe, I…thank you,” I said, picking up the little camera and turning it on to get a feel for its various settings. “I mean it. This’ll be a huge help.”

  “I wish you weren’t going at all.”

  “I know.”

  ~~~~~

  Before she left the previous afternoon, Camille had given me the address of the location where I would meet up with her and Mase at midnight. It was an empty house in an unoccupied part of the expansive residential area.

  At a quarter to midnight, I slipped out the back door to my house as quietly as possible. Ten minutes later, I’d made it a block to the south, flitting from shadow to shadow, grateful that the moon had waned to a little less than half its full size. The house where we were to meet was on my right, looking almost identical to both mine and Gabe’s. It was a two-story, modern craftsman painted a deep earth tone I couldn’t make out in the darkness. As I stepped onto the overgrown lawn, I heard a soft whisper coming from the front porch and froze.

  “It’s too dangerous,” a male voice whispered. I was fairly certain it was Mase.

  “Nobody’s going to catch us,” Camille countered.

  “That’s not what I meant.”

  After a brief pause, Camille whispered, “I have to know. I only know what you told me before…which wasn’t much.” Again, she paused, and when she continued, her soft voice held a plea. “Giant, I need to. Don’t you want to know?”

  “I’m afraid.”

  Camille cooe
d soothingly. “You’ll always be my Giant, no matter what we find out, okay?” I heard nothing for a few seconds, then Camille’s, “Thank you.”

  Feeling awkward, I took a few more steps and cleared my throat. The noise sounded obscenely loud, and I cringed.

  “C’mon,” Camille whispered, stepping out of the impenetrable shadows and onto the porch steps. She was wearing military gear—fatigues and a few weapons—which made her look more like a girl playing dress-up than a soldier. “We’ve got stuff for you to put on. You can change inside.”

  Camille reached for the door handle, and I started up the steps. I could finally see Mase in the inky darkness. Only after I stopped beside Camille did I hear a click, and she twisted the knob. She’d unlocked the door, but she hadn’t used a key.

  “Uh…Camille?” I said quietly.

  “Yeah?”

  “What exactly is your Ability?” I was pretty sure I’d just watched her pick a lock with her mind.

  She turned her face to me, and her eyes appeared to be half-dollar pools of night. “I control metal.”

  “So…why’d you need me to get Dr. Wesley’s key?”

  Camille opened the door and ushered Mase and me inside the house before answering. “We needed to know how committed she was. She won’t talk to me, not really, and she almost never interacts with Mase. She still sees us as, um…”

  “Puppets?” I offered. The three of us stood clustered together in the entry hall. “Someone she can control, sort of like how the General controls everyone else?”

  She nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, exactly.”

  “And the key?”

  “Oh, right. If she gave you the key—an action that could pretty much seal her death—it meant she was fully committed.”

  Committed to what? But before I could ask, Mase thrust a black duffel bag at me and said, “Put this stuff on.”

  It took me nearly ten minutes and Mase’s help to shuffle through all the clothing and gear in the bag and get myself fitted up. When I was finished, I was pretty sure I looked as out of place as Camille. Beside Mase, we looked like a couple of elves who’d escaped from the North Pole and bedecked themselves in combat gear. Regardless, I figured it was a better disguise than running around after curfew in black hoodies and jeans.

  “Alright,” I said once my pistol, combat knife, and assault rifle were situated. I shifted my shoulders and cringed at the noise. “There’s no way I can move silently wearing all this.”

  “Silent isn’t the goal,” Mase said, looking down at me with no hint of amusement. “We want to look like we belong, not like we’re sneaking around.”

  Hide in plain sight? It made sense, so I didn’t argue. I glanced at the door. “So, uh…where to first?”

  “We’re only going one place,” Camille said, grinning wickedly.

  “And that place is?”

  “Headquarters.”

  I stared first at Camille, then at Mase, before taking a deep breath. “Shit,” I said as I exhaled. Headquarters was where the General’s office was located, and there were bound to be guards posted at all hours.

  “Please tell me you have a plan,” I said weakly.

  Camille’s expression melted into innocence, and it was Mase’s turn to grin. His smile was even more wicked than Camille’s had been.

  ~~~~~

  The plan, as it turned out, was comprised of Camille using the metals that saturate the human body to hold any guards we came across temporarily motionless while Mase and I injected them with a chemical compound that would both knock them out for several hours and cause short-term memory loss. By the time they could recall their attackers—if they ever could—we would be long gone. Or we would be dead. Either way, we would be out of the General’s reach. Unless he brings me back as a Re-gen…

  We took out the two soldiers guarding the main entrance without complication, and Mase even managed to prop them up against the building so the unlikely passersby wouldn’t suspect foul play simply by seeing the out-of-commission guards. Two more men were stationed in the dark hallway just outside the General’s office, and they went down just as easily. My Ability to observe and keep track of the minds around me like a built-in radar was priceless.

  Mase searched the downed guards while Camille and I waited patiently by the door. Neither had the three keys required to unlock the deadbolts barring the door. Fortunately, we had Camille, who was better than any key. She closed her eyes and concentrated. After two achingly long minutes, she glanced at me over her shoulder, her lips spread into a self-satisfied smirk.

  It was my turn. I concentrated, and, not sensing anything beyond the door, gave Mase a go-ahead nod. He shouldered between us and opened the door to the dark office. All clear.

  “Next shift change is at two,” Mase whispered. “Nobody should be walking around the building until then.” He glanced at the high-tech watch on his wrist and pushed a button to light up the face. “We’ve got about an hour until we need to be gone.”

  “Okay.” I closed my eyes and focused, searching the night sky with my Ability. I couldn’t find what I was looking for in or over the Colony, so I reached beyond. My consciousness expanded, an undetectable sphere of mental awareness, and I found my quarry less than a mile to the east, soaring over a prairie as they hunted. For the briefest moment, I felt like I was flying with them…like I was them. What the hell was that?

  The three owls were confused when they felt my touch, but curiosity convinced them to heed my call. They flew across the starlit sky with incredible speed, agreeing to keep watch over the building I showed them mentally—headquarters—while we were inside it. I could’ve used my Ability to observe the movement of minds around me, but then I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate fully on the search for information.

  “I’ve called in some friends to keep watch from above. They’ll let me know if anyone’s coming our way,” I told Camille and Mase.

  They said nothing and simply stared at me, clearly confused.

  “Oh, um, my Ability works on animals, too,” I explained. I watched as understanding lit their features in the darkness. “So…I’ll take the desk, I guess, if you guys want to start searching the file cabinets?”

  I reached into the neck of my fatigues and pulled the camera Gabe had given me out of my sports bra. “Let me know if you find anything important and I’ll take a picture.”

  Again, their faces filled with confusion.

  Crap…they don’t know what a camera is… “Just let me know if you find anything that looks important or like it could help us get out of here, okay?”

  Finally, they nodded and turned to the wall of file cabinets, clicking on their flashlights before opening neighboring drawers.

  With a sigh, I looked down at the General’s desk. It took me a moment to figure out why it looked so odd. There was no computer, not the laptop or tablet I’d seen General Herodson using the only other time I’d been in his office. Instead, all that cluttered his desktop was a stack of trays labeled IN, OUT, and URGENT, a cup holding writing utensils, the usual office supplies—stapler, tape dispenser, and notepads—and a stack of manila file folders. One of those folders was labeled DANIELLE O’CONNOR. Has the General been checking up on me?

  I opened the folder. My face stared up at me from an eight-by-ten photograph I’d never seen before. I wasn’t positive, but it looked like it had been taken inside my borrowed house. Creepy. There were only a few sheets of paper beneath the photo, so I quickly flipped through them, taking a picture of each to read later.

  The rest of the folders were dossiers devoted to individuals, just like the one with my name on it. Why is mine here with these other people’s? Unwilling to waste time searching each and every paper, I photographed the profile sheet contained within each folder. It gave a good overview on each individual, including their personal identifying information, a small photo, basic characteristics, Ability, and an “Additional Notes” section at the bottom. They must be important to the Gener
al too.

  Underneath the stack of dossiers was a black, leather-bound organizer. I unzipped it carefully, not wanting to disturb any loose contents. My caution proved fortuitous—several dozen loose papers, tabbed and color-coded, had obviously been organized in a specific order; messing up that order could easily clue the General in to what his nocturnal intruders were searching for, and I was determined to do everything I could to avoid that. He couldn’t know my plans, couldn’t know my intentions, until I was long gone. Not if I wanted to make it out alive.

  I scanned the top sheet, then the three beneath it. It took my brain a few seconds to register what my eyes were seeing. It was a detailed outline of the General’s schedule for the next two days, including start times, end times, and locations for each appointment. His schedule was packed, even in the evening hours. I took pictures of the four pages before moving on.

  The next set of papers had been paper-clipped together, and a small green sticky tab had been stuck to the upper right corner of the top sheet. DAILY GUARD ROTATION had been printed neatly on it. I barely glanced at the words written on the pages as I snapped pictures of each. The remaining papers related to other day-to-day matters, but none seemed significant to my escape.

  I almost squealed with excitement, and my heart most definitely skipped a beat, when I set all of the loose papers aside. The first item bound in the organizer was a detailed, laminated map of the Colony. I didn’t hesitate before taking a picture.

  “Dani?”

  I jumped and looked up to find Camille standing on the other side of the desk, holding a folder out to me. PROJECT EDEN.

  “Sorry,” she said softly before waving the folder back and forth. “This looks important. I thought you’d want to see it.”

  Smiling, I laughed nervously and accepted the folder. “Thanks. Don’t worry about me…spy work always makes me jumpy.”

  Camille cocked her head and shrugged before returning to the file drawer she’d been searching. I spared the briefest moment to watch her and Mase as they searched, side by side, stealing momentary glances at each other.