by Matt Blake
Stone kicked me back.
I went flying into the waterfall. Splashed through it and crashed into the rocks behind it. I tried to heal myself, but I couldn’t. I tried to get myself away from here, but I couldn’t.
I knew what I had to do.
I had to fight Stone, as much as I didn’t want to.
He appeared right at the mouth of the waterfall. He stepped up to me, his rocky feet echoing against the solid walls of this cavern. His fists tightened and the rock solidified even harder. “You just don’t know when to stop fighting, do you?”
I cracked my jaw back into place. It was agony, and it wasn’t a full heal, but it’d do for now. “I won’t stop fighting. Not while Saint’s minions are controlling you.”
He rushed over toward me and punched me heavily, right in my gut.
“You’re going to fall,” Stone said. It was his voice, but I knew he wasn’t really talking. He wouldn’t say words like this. “You’re going to fall, and so too is everything around you. It’s going to crumble.”
He hit the back of the rock wall.
I felt rocks tumble down around me.
“I won’t fall because I’ll keep fighting,” I said, looking Stone in the eyes now. “I’ll keep on fighting you and I’ll keep on fighting Saint until you’re—”
Another punch to the gut.
More rocks fell beside me.
I looked back up at Stone. His eyes had completely glazed over. I didn’t recognize him. Didn’t recognize anything of the Stone I used to know. And as he pulled back his fist for another punch, the anger built up inside me.
I didn’t see Stone. I saw Saint.
And I knew what I had to do to Saint.
“You’re weak,” Stone said. “Weaker than you think you are.”
“How’d you figure that one out?”
Stone smiled. It looked forced. “You just are. You’re driven so much by hate that you don’t see the damage it’s doing.”
“If it puts a stop to Saint, then it’s working just fine.”
“Let’s see if you’re still saying that when I put your friends through hell.”
I couldn’t resist the urge to fight back then. The mention of my friends tipped me over the edge, even if I was well aware that it wasn’t Stone swinging the punches at all.
I grabbed his wrist. Put all that anger and focus on holding it in midair. “Bad idea,” I said.
Then I fired the pair of us out of the waterfall and down into the water.
I held my breath as I was submerged. Stone tried to hit back at me, but I kept on pushing him further and further down. I saw red. I didn’t see Stone. Just Saint. Saint and his minions, like Controlla. The people who’d torn my life apart; who were tearing the whole planet apart.
I couldn’t forgive.
I couldn’t forget.
I had to stop him, even if it meant taking Stone down.
I squeezed my hands around his neck, the power inside me getting stronger. I saw the life return to his eyes. Saw the look of Stone return. I heard him gurgling under the water. Saw him grab my wrists, try to bend them away. But we kept on descending. I kept on pushing him down.
And as we descended further, for a moment, I felt like everything was going to be okay. Like I was going to make Saint pay for what he’d done. And this was just the start of that. This was just the very start.
Stone’s mouth moved in the shape of my name. “Kyle! Kyle!” he silently shouted under the water. I noticed the rocks from his hands had gone. He was just a person. Just a person who I was holding underwater, pushing them to their death.
He patted my hand and I saw the life disappear from his eyes.
I saw them glaze over completely.
In that instant, I saw what I’d done. Exactly what I’d done.
And it horrified me.
I dragged Stone out of the water. Put him down by the waterside.
“Stone!” I crouched beside him. Pressed my hands on his body. Fired air into his lungs. “Stone, please!”
But Stone was completely still.
I pressed my head against his chest and punched it, hard. I banged my fists against it, hoping the water would spout up from his lips.
But still, nothing happened.
I leaned back and felt the horror of what I’d done. The horror that blind vengeance could bring.
“You little shit.”
I looked down and saw Stone’s eyes were open.
His fists were tensed.
He punched me in the side of the head and knocked the consciousness out of me.
The last thought I had as I drifted into blackness?
I probably deserved that punch.
13
I opened my eyes.
There was a bright light above me, which made my head wreck with agony right away. The buzzing, static sound that I’d heard back on the island was still there, grating in my mind. I could taste blood, and my muscles felt weak and heavy.
But I was still alive. That had to count for something.
I was still here.
I lifted my head and looked around. I was in some kind of cell. Outside the cell, I could hear chatter and footsteps. I could see other cells just like this, towering up above. I had no idea where I was exactly, but I could have a good guess: Saint’s very own tower.
Saint built this tower very soon after his assault on the planet. It didn’t take much to erect it. He already had the plans in place, and he more than had the abilities to put it all together. Besides, he had ULTRAbots working for him too, some of which I could see hovering around the tower right now.
I reached out to put my hands on the bars.
When I got within an inch, I felt a strong force build up under my palms then throw me back across the room.
I slammed against the back wall. The dim light shuddered. I brushed myself down, heart pounding, and went to stand again.
That’s when I saw I wasn’t alone in this cell.
Stone was standing over me. To my left, Ember, Vortex, Roadrunner, Orion. The last remnants of the original Resistance, all of us trapped in here.
Stone didn’t look too happy to see me.
“What hap—”
“You little asshole!”
Stone wrapped his hands around my throat. His arms and fingers solidified into rock right away. I could see him struggling as that electricity repressing our powers intensified. But he kept on gripping anyway, trying to squeeze the life from me.
I struggled. Tried to hit back. I couldn’t get him free of me. My powers were too dampened.
“You tried to kill me,” Stone said. “Held me under the damned water and tried to drown me.”
“I—I—”
“You knew damned well I’d come outta my trance. You knew damned well that douchebag had stopped controlling me. But you kept on going, didn’t you? You just had to keep on going.”
I tried to break free. I looked at Orion, Ember, Roadrunner, and Vortex, waited for some kind of help from them. But they just let Stone keep on gripping my neck. Allowed him to squeeze the life out of me.
“I was just—”
“Time for excuses is up, Kyle. Time for excuses died when you held me under that water.”
“Please. I just thought—”
“How’s it feel, hmm? Seeing the light yet?”
I could see a light above me. But there was a weird sensation too. I felt like I’d been in a position like this before, held down, unable to breathe.
And it felt like Orion had stood beside me that time, too.
As my consciousness slipped further, the voices and noises around me fading into the background, I felt that blurry memory becoming clearer.
The water.
The presence beside me.
The voices…
I felt myself sinking further into the warmth of that memory, praying for it to take over me completely.
Then Stone loosened his grip and stepped aside. “You watch yourself, kid. Next time,
you won’t be so lucky.”
I rubbed at my neck. Stone’s hands had bruised it, bad. I looked up and saw the rest of the crew scowling at me. Orion just stood there observing.
“So what’s the plan?” I gasped, eager to move on to the more urgent matter of getting out of this place.
Orion paced around the cell. “The electromagnetic currents running through this room are strong.”
“Not strong enough to hold the six of us, surely.”
“Stronger than any I have ever encountered.”
I didn’t want to accept that, but I could feel the electromagnetism squeezing my powers as I walked around the cell. It felt like my head might burst. “The island. Is it—”
“Taken? Yes.”
My stomach knotted. “And the rest of the Resistance?”
Orion lowered his head.
“Lot of ’em dead,” Ember said. “Some of ’em still living. Most of ’em, we don’t have a clue where they are.”
“They split us up,” Stone said. “And you didn’t help matters.”
“Look,” I said. “I saw someone was controlling you all. I tried to stop him.”
“You tried to kill me.”
“Yes. Yes, I did. But only because—”
“‘Only because’ what? Because you thought it might get you closer to Saint? ’Cause you thought as long as you put Saint through a little bit of pain, nobody else mattered?”
I didn’t want to answer that question. Of course I wanted revenge for everything Saint had done. But at the expense of my people—my ULTRAs, my Resistance? That was way off the mark.
“Look,” I said. “I know… I know what I did was wrong. And I’m sorry for that. Really.”
Stone didn’t look too convinced.
“But right now, our focus should be on getting out of this place.”
“I already told you,” Orion said. “It’s too strong.”
I smiled. Shook my head. “You really think I’m gonna take that for an answer?”
Orion looked at me, as did the others. Vortex had a smile on her face now too.
“These bars and these walls might be tough. But we’re gonna break out of them and we’re gonna get out of this place.”
“And then what?” Roadrunner asked.
“Hmm?”
“When we get out of here? Then what?”
I knew what she was getting at. The whole world had fallen. We had nowhere to go to. All we could do? Fight.
“We’ll figure that out when we figure this out,” I said. “You ready?”
There was a moment where the faces of my peers looked happy. Optimistic. But that soon diminished.
They were looking outside the cell bars.
I felt someone’s presence there. A presence I knew I’d felt before already.
I held my breath. Turned around. I couldn’t accept my suspicions. I couldn’t believe they could possibly be true.
When I saw who was standing there, all of my optimism crumbled.
“Hello, Kyle,” Daniel Septer—Nycto—said. “We’re making an awful bad habit of bumping into one another lately, aren’t we?”
14
“Well? Aren’t you even going to say hello to your old friend?”
I walked along the metal walkway, Nycto moving behind me. My hands were tied behind my back with some kind of cuffs that repressed my power, like a more focused form of the electromagnetism in the cells. Nycto had got me out of the cell and left the rest of my peers in there. I had no idea where he was taking me, only that wherever it was couldn’t be good.
I looked around at the tower. It was even bigger than I’d first thought. The cell openings stretched on further than I could see. Above, I saw little hovering specks. I didn’t know what they were at first until it clicked that they were ULTRAbots.
“Quite something this place, isn’t it?”
I felt a knot in my throat every time I heard Nycto speak. “I thought you were supposed to be dead?”
“Well, I probably should be. I mean, you should’ve killed me when you had the chance. But you didn’t, things happened, and then here we are.”
“Saint. He knocked you out of the sky like an annoying little fly.”
“He did. And it hurt; I’m not going to lie. It took me some time to regain my pride and confidence after that. But when I did, I saw the way the world was. I saw just how glorious and powerful Saint was, and how much I could help him.”
“You sound just as insane as ever.”
Nycto chuckled. I felt him tighten his mind powers around my throat. “I always love it when you say that.”
We walked further down the metal walkway. We must’ve been walking a while because my knees were starting to ache.
“I didn’t just back down,” Nycto said, continuing his droning on. “I rediscovered my strength. I fought my way in here and told Saint how things were. What I could offer him.”
“A running commentary?”
Again, Nycto laughed. “If there’s one thing I like about you, it’s your sense of humor.”
“I wish I could find one thing I liked about you. Just to even it out.”
“Well, we always seem to keep crossing paths. That has to count for something, right?”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
I looked at the cells as I passed. Unlike the one I’d been kept in, they were all faded out. I couldn’t see through them. “More ULTRAs in here than I expected.”
Another laugh from Nycto.
“That wasn’t a joke. That wasn’t even meant to be a joke.”
“You’ll see the comedy of your words soon.”
He pressed my shoulders down. Up ahead, I saw a dip in the passageway. So we were going down. Far, far down.
We walked further. Passed more of these cells. On the way, we passed ULTRAbots too. They all seemed to glare at me but didn’t even acknowledge Nycto’s presence.
“Oh, we programmed them to accept us,” Nycto said. “But you… well, they still see you as a target. It’s just a good job I’m with you, or I hate to see what’d happen.”
“If you’re so hell-bent on destruction, then why don’t you just kill me?”
Nycto took a few seconds to respond. “I think I’d miss your comedy.”
The further we descended, the more anxious I got about where we were going. It seemed to be getting more chaotic the further down we got. To my left, I saw some ULTRAbots zapping inside a cell, heard a few whimpers. There was a smell of metal in the air. Hot metal. All of it melded together to create a pretty unpleasant atmosphere.
“It’s a pity you couldn’t see the light like I did.”
“Serving Saint’s the light? Serving the person who killed my sister? Who killed my mom?”
“He killed my father, too. Made my upbringing a misery. But I look back on those sixteen miserable years now and I’m thankful for what he did. Because he made the anger build up inside me. And although the powers must’ve been dormant in me for years, it was only through the anger that they finally surfaced.”
“I think I preferred you when you were a scrawny little nerd.”
“Ah, yes. Being scrawny little nerds. Another thing we had in common before.”
“Wow. Touché.”
I saw a door right in front of us then. There was no left and no right, just this door. I knew there was only one outcome: we were heading toward it.
“Daniel, it’s not too late to turn around.”
Nycto laughed. “You always call me ‘Daniel’ when you’re trying to appeal to a better nature you think I have.”
“You must have some sense in your skull. I mean, you’ve seen what Saint wants, really. He doesn’t want us ULTRAs now he’s got the ULTRAbots. And if he’s told you you’re special, then there must be something in it for him.”
Nycto brought me to a stop, right outside the door. His grip around my already aching neck was tighter than ever. “He told me I’m special because I am special, ‘Glacies’. As for the
ULTRAs being worthless to him, perhaps at first. But not anymore. Not anymore at all.”
He lifted a hand and opened up that door.
What I saw inside wasn’t exactly what I expected.
The room was massive. It was spacious and airy. And it was filled with beds. Metal beds stretching out further in each direction than the eye could see.
And on those beds, there were people.
“If they’re ULTRAs then that’s how you’re going to turn out too,” I said. “You’ll end up unconscious on a slab, just like them.”
Again, Nycto laughed. He patted my shoulder, with his hand or his telekinesis, I wasn’t sure. “Kyle, Kyle. These aren’t ULTRAs at all. These are humans.”
I felt my knees go weak. “What?”
“These beds are filled with humans. And when they are emptied, they will be filled with more humans. And more. And more, until eventually, there’s no humans left.”
My chest tightened. My heart pounded. I felt a shiver go up my spine when I looked at the still, sleeping bodies of all these people. “What… what do you want with the humans?”
Nycto stepped in front of me. For the first time since we’d started descending, he looked me right in the eyes with a smile. “We turn every single one of them into mindless slaves to do our bidding. Every single one.”
15
“Kyle? Are you okay?”
I heard Vortex’s words, but I didn’t hear them, not really. My mind and attention were too focused on what I’d seen behind that door; what Nycto had shown me.
The rows and rows of humans, all stacked up, all ready to be brainwashed.
And the most selfish thing of all? When I saw those humans, it wasn’t just any old face I saw on them. It was Damon’s. Ellicia’s. Dad’s.
All people I loved, about to be taken away and turned into something else entirely.
Vortex touched my arm. I flinched.
“You’ve barely said a word since you got back here looking like you’ve seen one of my visions or something.”
“Trust me,” I said. “This was worse.”
Vortex didn’t look too pleased that anything could be worse than one of the visions she created.