Redux

by S. A. Stephenson

  Evie sensed the room turn tense, eyes rested on her and she did everything she could to remain composed under the stares.

  ‘One of the visitors has stayed behind and will be joining us,’ Lawson said. Evie’s mouth went dry. ‘Evelyn Fox is a name some of you will have heard, some of you will no doubt have formed opinions but Evelyn is joining us in our operation against Hawk and her government. President Galen is rumoured to be dead, now we need to take out Hawk so we can restore democracy for the American people.’

  There was a murmur across the room and one man in a sharply dressed suit rose to his feet. ‘Excuse me, sir,’ he said. ‘Is Ms Fox, one of them? A Genic?’

  Evie prayed that she wouldn’t pass out as her heart began to race and her cheeks flushed red. ‘Perhaps Ms Fox would like to field that answer,’ Lawson gave her a reassuring nod.

  Evie composed herself, she could do this, she had given talks before, this was no different to that. Except she was now having to be incredibly honest with people she didn’t know, and she had to convince them that Genics weren’t a threat. She walked up to Lawson and turned to the room in front of her. ‘What do I say to them?’ She whispered to Lawson.

  ‘Just tell them who you are,’ Lawson replied.

  Evie cleared her throat and cradled her hands in front of her. ‘Can I ask your name sir?’ She asked.

  The man looked a little stunned at the question. ‘Luke Jones,’ he replied.

  ‘Mr Jones, you are correct, I am a Genic.’ An audible gasp travelled through the room. ‘Now, I don’t know what you’ve heard about Genics, if we have a good reputation or not, but I’m guessing not. And that’s okay because we’ve lived with those misconceptions for years. We’ve lived with people telling us we’re freaks, telling us that we’re dangerous to society, that we can’t be part of it because of what we can do.’ She took a breath and looked at her audience, they were captivated by what they were telling her. ‘The truth is, we were created in labs and we were experimented on. We were created by a government who then tried to control us. All so we could be part of an army, ready to defend America for when the Others come back.’

  ‘Until you fought back?’ Jones asked. The tone of his question wasn’t malicious, which surprised Evie, it was more one of genuine interest.

  ‘Yes,’ Evie confirmed. ‘We don’t want to fight, but we can’t keep living in a world where they experiment on us, torture us, kill us, and all because our genetics are different and give us different abilities. We want to use what we’ve been given for good, for peace, but when we’re under constant threat, that hope keeps getting pushed further and further away.’

  A lady rose to her feet and Evie’s muscles tensed as she prepared to react. ‘Can you show us what you can do? So we can see it for ourselves?’

  Evie relaxed and turned to Lawson and Sinclair for confirmation. Lawson nodded and although Evie was hesitant, the blood in her fingers began to tremble. She found she could control her power easier here, it was as though a simple thought now enabled them and it calmed her, provided her with a new sense of power. The energy began to build up inside her and she saw the white light spiral around her hands. She silently prayed that nothing bad would happen, that people would see it as something good, that they would accept it, that they would see the benefit in it, in her. She wanted them to be unafraid of her, unafraid of Genics and wanted them to help her find peace. The white energy swirled around her and she was warmed by its glow. She allowed herself to dwell in it and allowed it to spread across the room.

  When the room resumed to normal, Evie looked down and saw the energy was gone and people around in the room were looking around at each other. The woman had sat down and Evie looked over to Jones, who was looking perplexed.

  ‘Any-any other questions sir?’ She asked.

  ‘No ma’am,’ he replied. ‘Just, it will be an honour to fight alongside you, and whatever you did to Galen…well, I think we all agree that it was about time someone did something.’

  ‘Here, here!’ someone else called and Lawson rejoined her on stage.

  ‘We’ll be forming an ops team and further information will be made available in the next few hours,’ Lawson said and as there was a small applause they left the stage.

  ‘Well that went down rather well,’ Sinclair said.

  ‘What happened?’ Evie asked.

  ‘You don’t know?’ Sinclair asked.

  ‘I know I showed them what I could do and was praying it wouldn’t go wrong, but I don’t know what you saw or experienced,’ Evie said.

  Sinclair took a moment, as though she were considering her words. ‘It was a strange feeling, like it carried reassurance and comfort. It was quite powerful.’

  ‘It put me at ease,’ Lawson almost sounded wistful. ‘I’ve not experienced that level of calm since I was a young boy.

  Evie was surprised. ‘I’ve never had that response before.’

  Sinclair took them into a large room that had surveillance photos across the wall. ‘Tell me,’ she said. ‘Do Genic powers mutate, or do they remain static?’

  ‘Research I did in New York suggests it differs between Genics and can be linked to emotions, not in every case, but definitely in some,’ Evie replied, feeling her cheeks flush a little.

  ‘And Hawk,’ Lawson said, offering her a seat. ‘Did either her or Galen have Genic powers?’

  ‘I can’t say for certain,’ Evie said and winced as she moved her waist the wrong way.

  ‘Something wrong?’ Sinclair asked.

  ‘A few months back I got shot,’ Evie said. ‘I don’t think the wound ever healed properly.’

  Sinclair got to her feet. ‘Can I take a look?’ She asked and Evie lifted the hem of her shirt. The bruising was still prominent, the veins had turned dark and looked like it had spread. She had grown so used to it, she barely thought of it anymore. ‘Does this hurt?’ Sinclair pressed lightly on her waist and Evie screwed her eyes as the pain throbbed through her.

  ‘Only when I move the wrong way,’ Evie said.

  ‘It looks infected,’ Sinclair said. ‘We should get you to the hospital wing.’

  ‘How did you get wounded?’ Lawson asked.

  Evie took a moment to compose herself, as she remembered the night they were attacked. She thought she wouldn’t have to share the story of how she was betrayed, of how her own brother turned against her. She quickly tried to dismiss the tears she could feel brimming but could hear her voice wavering as she spoke. ‘We were ambushed in Fort Isa. Hawk attacked us there, as it’s one of the last areas in America where Genics can get Sanctuary, and after the Stacks have fallen, it’s likely the only place left.’

  ‘Meaning it’ll be vulnerable to Hawk’s attacks again,’ Lawson said.

  ‘Evans will protect it with his army,’ Evie said as she winced again.

  Sinclair decided to intervene. ‘Okay, I’m taking you to get this checked out, we can take planning with us,’ she said.

  Evie found herself fall into a sense of ease with Sinclair and Lawson, it was a comforting feeling to have strangers care about her and value what she had to say, she wondered if it was why her powers were acting differently, if it’s why the energy in her was feeling different, like it was settled. She didn’t know for sure, but if it meant she could fight for good, fight back so she didn’t feel like she was going to fall apart afterwards, then she wasn’t going to turn away from it.

  The journey back to America had been in quiet reflection. Kit had sat next to one of the windows and had tried to keep herself occupied by reading the files Evans had given her but she let her gaze fall on the window, absorbed by the clouds as they floated past leaving her feeling suddenly adrift from the world. Leaving Evie behind had been gut-wrenching and her mind buzzed with a flurry of thoughts of everything that could go wrong. What if they couldn’t contact her when they got back to America? What if it had all been a rouse to isolate Evie and they went back on their word? What if Evie liked it so much over there
that she didn’t want to come back? The last question made Kit’s thoughts stop as the fear of Evie not returning to her made everything inside her freeze. Evie had given her a new sense to live that Kit hadn’t realised she needed. Evie had given her a new sense of purpose that had kept her going at a point when she was ready to give up. Fighting in this war had often left Kit feeling alone and like no one else understood. Even with Rook and Lil, they didn’t have that sense of intimate understanding that Evie had brought. Evie knew every sinew of Kit because they were the same, they were the missing half of each other and now they were apart it tore a deep cut in Kit. She quickly tried to shake tears away, she couldn’t let the others see what she was going through, she’d have to wait till she was on her own before she could let herself break again.

  She rummaged through her bag and pulled out a notebook and began jotting down tasks that needed to be done so she wouldn’t forget everything that she had to do. There was so much to think about she didn’t know if she had enough capacity to process everything. She rubbed the temple of her brow as Evans came over to her with a plastic cup of water. ‘Nothing stronger?’ She asked as she took a sip.

  ‘Sorry,’ Evans said. ‘This isn’t the party plane unfortunately.’

  ‘Maybe in the next version,’ Kit said. ‘But I appreciate it,’ she said and gave him a tired smile. ‘Are we going to Little Rock when we get back like we originally planned?’

  ‘We need to build an army, there’s a group in Little Rock who can help us and one in Alto where Jack and Canaan are.’

  ‘So we go to Alto?’ Kit asked. ‘We’ve always talked about going, now it seems we have no choice.’

  ‘You know Ryx controls that area,’ Evans said.

  Kit shifted in her seat. She hadn’t encountered the man before but had heard enough horror stories to know that their paths were better off not crossing. She had heard from Kingsley that he took in Genics, trained them to the point of death, if any survived, then they became part of his army. He gave them powers from the black market that Volt could only dream of. Where Galen and Hawk angered Kit to the pit of her stomach, Ryx scared her and that was worse. ‘Maybe it’s time his leadership was challenged,’ she said.

  She saw Evans look at her with concern. ‘You want to take on a Death Mark and his army?’

  ‘No,’ Kit said. ‘I want to end this war, I want to have Evie with me and I want this all to be over,’ she realised she had raised her voice and people were looking over to them. She resumed to a whisper. ‘This war is going to make us do things we’ve never had to do before, make decisions we’ve never had to make before. You’re a leader, you should know that more than anyone else. We need people on our side who’s going to help us achieve the same goal. Can you honestly tell me that Ryx is going to play fair?’

  Evans was quiet for a moment. ‘No,’ he admitted. ‘He’s a ruthless bastard at the best of times.’

  ‘And sadly the ruler of America’s last free state,’ Kit said. ‘He got his way to the top of the chain by murdering people and showing the brutality of Genic abilities, we’re never going to achieve what we want as long as he’s in charge.’

  ‘So we go to Alto and challenge his leadership?’ Evans asked.

  ‘And take over Alto, create a base for an army and end the war for good,’ Kit said.

  ‘You make it sound so easy,’ Evans said.

  ‘It’s going to be the hardest thing we ever do,’ Kit said. ‘But if we get freedom at the end of all this, isn’t that worth fighting for?’

  ‘Is that what you’re fighting for?’

  ‘Should there be anything else?’ Kit asked. ‘Without freedom what do we have? What life do we have if we don’t have the same equal freedom as humans? I have hope that we’ll get that freedom one day, that one day we’ll be able to live our lives in peace and harmony, where there are no camps, no experiments…just life. A normal life.’

  Evans smiled at her. ‘You know, most people with a normal life would want something interesting, something to make them different. It’s funny how we want the opposite of what we have, thinking it’ll be better for us.’

  Kit looked at Evans. ‘Do you think this life is good for me?’ She asked. ‘That this is better than living a quiet life with Evie, where we don’t have to live every day with the fact that we’ve murdered people in order to survive…for the greater good - sorry,’ she said and got up and pushed past Evans. Her head was light, and her stomach churned. She sensed Evans was behind her but as she reached out for him, her balance became unsteady and her eyes widened in fear. Black wisps came swirling around her again and shrouded her as she fell to the ground.

  The white light seared through her brain and sliced through Kit like a blade. She was on the floor, in an empty white space that seemed to stretch for miles. The light made it a struggle to open her eyes, but when they adjusted she saw dark figures swirl around her. At first they reminded her of Death Marks, and she prepared herself to try and fight them, her body became sluggish like it was underwater and she couldn’t move properly. Panic rose in her throat but as the black swirls came closer to her, her body relaxed and she found a warm sense of calm spread through her abdomen. It was as though she was alight with power, and had a sense of strength that she hadn’t known before.

  Instead, the black swirls dropped to the ground next to her and formed a tall shadowy figure that loomed over her. ‘Rise,’ a deep voice said.

  Kit couldn’t move. ‘Who are you?’ She asked, her mouth dry and her voice croaked.

  ‘We are the ones you have been searching for,’ the figure said, their voice was cool metallic. It rose its hand and Kit became lighter and rose from the ground so that she could stand.

  ‘You’re the Others aren’t you?’ Kit asked. ‘The aliens?’

  ‘Are we what you expected?’ The figure asked.

  ‘To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect,’ Kit groaned as her skin became ice cold. Her veins became prominent and she could see electric lights of blue burst dance through her skin. Ice cold flowed through her veins and she rubbed her arm. ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ She asked. ‘How are you doing this?’

  ‘We have extraordinary abilities,’ the alien told her. ‘You are still in your body, on the aircraft, but you have entered a different type of plain, one upon which we can communicate with you.’

  ‘And you speak English?’ Kit asked.

  ‘We speak our own tongue, but to your ears, you hear the language you know best, in this case, English,’ the alien answered.

  Kit paced a few steps as thoughts and questions flowed through her mind. ‘Why are you doing this to me? What do you want me to do?’

  The second figure spoke. ‘You are the key,’ it said. ‘We’ve been searching for you for a long time.’

  ‘The key to what?’ Kit asked.

  ‘Bringing around the end game, one where humans and our kind no longer live separately, but instead are one with each other,’ the figure replied.

  ‘That’s what we’ve been wanting for years,’ Kit told them. ‘Genics and humans to live side by side, both free, both living in a democracy.’

  ‘But we’re not Genics,’ the first alien said. ‘We are not you, and you are not us, you are part of us and part of them.’

  ‘An in-between,’ Kit said.

  ‘We cannot exist in your world as ourselves,’ the alien continued. ‘This is why we wanted Genics to be created, and why we gave your government the tools to do so. So that we can inhabit your planet in human form and exist after your race is defeated.’

  ‘Defeated?’ Kit asked.

  ‘They wish to wage war with us and do not wish to form a coexistence. Therefore we must concede that the human race must be extinguished,’ the alien declared. They spoke in a way that was a little too simply and matter of factly for Kit’s liking.

  Kit took a couple steps backwards, it was like she was walking on air and was unsure if she would tumble through into an abyss. ‘You intend to mas
sacre the entire human population?’ She asked.

  ‘It’ll start slowly at first,’ the alien said and Kit saw the white space around them begin to shift. She was back in New York, people were hurrying around them, unaware they were there. ‘There’ll be a contagion, a mass outbreak,’ the alien continued as the sky turned dark. When Kit looked up she saw a large spacecraft fly over what used to be downtown Manhattan. The world became dark, cold and screams and fear filled the people around them. A swarm of something came down from the craft, Kit strained to see what it was and finally saw insects. They surged around her and she tried to fight them away. The buzzing of their wings rang loudly in her ears and grated through her. She saw one coming towards her and was able to strike at it before it struck. When she opened her hand she saw a small mechanical bee.

  ‘This is what caused the first outbreak,’ she said, raising her voice above the noise.

  The scene shifted and she was in a large cropped field. The eaves of corn rose high above her and in the distance, she could see five luminous white orbs. ‘The humans have been breeding viruses for centuries,’ the alien told her. ‘They took material from us when they found one of our ships at Roswell and began manufacturing a weapon that could wipe out the planet so that we could settle and rebuild.’

  ‘Why?’ Kit asked. ‘Why would any government organisation agree to that?’

  ‘Because the human world is beyond hope,’ the alien told her. ‘There is war and famine unlike any seen in a generation before. There is corruption in every corner of the world and with everyone being of the same genetic makeup, there is a constant battle for power. By creating the in-betweens, Genics, we’ve been able to give those power who will be able to save the world from itself.’

  Kit was trying desperately to process what she was being told, how it matched what she had grown up believing. She wanted to know the truth, had wanted to know for so long but it was as though it were quicksand, slipping through her and she couldn’t catch it. ‘Then…then why have we been living like slaves? Living like criminals?’