Redux

by S. A. Stephenson

  Evie was grateful for him now more than ever. ‘We’re not far from Galen’s office,’ she said and stopped Jack when he was about to go froward. ‘I’m in charge of this one,’ she told him.

  Jack hesitated for a moment and then stepped aside. ‘You’re no longer my kid sister are you?’ He asked.

  ‘I’ve not been that for a while,’ she said.

  The corridor was suddenly plunged into darkness and there were shouts and flashes of lights from rifles. Someone grabbed Evie and she tried to fight back against their assailants, something heavy hit the back of her head and the world went dark.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Kit was running quicker than she had thought possible. The adrenaline was giving her legs power and her mind focus. At least she was telling herself it was the adrenaline, there were voices flowing through her head and she was certain they weren't from the radio.

  She was in the heart of the compound now, it had been years since she had walked these streets but as old memories came back to her it was as though she had never left.

  She walked down a narrow street and stopped at the end, she was metres from the Capitol Building, she could hear distant the screams, the sound of planes, and then one voice rose above the noise and made her heart rest amongst the chaos.

  ‘Boss?’ She heard Lil ask. ‘You there?’

  ‘I’m here,’ she said. ‘You good?’

  There was a pause. ‘We’ve been better,’ Kit’s moment of peace passed. ‘I don’t know how to tell you this boss but we’re in the Capitol Building, in the basement. We were captured by the rebel soldiers and…Hawk, is here.’

  Before Kit could say anything she heard the voice that made her blood run cold. ‘Hello Katarina,’ Hawk said. ‘So nice to have you home.’

  ‘What have you done to them?’ Kit demanded.

  ‘Nothing…yet,’ Hawk said. ‘But it’s only a matter of time unless you do what I say. I have everyone you care about in this building so don’t even think about arguing with me.’

  Kit gritted her teeth. One thing she hated above anything was being told what to do, especially by this woman. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘To meet,’ Hawk said. ‘We have lots to discuss.’

  Talking to her was the last thing Kit wanted to do but she couldn’t leave her friends to her. ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘I’m outside the Capitol Building.’

  ‘Wait for me in the courtyard, my men won’t fire at you,’ Hawk said.

  The line cut out and Kit was frozen. She didn’t trust Hawk, the thought of talking to her made her stomach churn but she might have a way of ending this so Evie didn’t have to. She wanted to know where Evie was but didn’t dare use the radio. There was nothing she could do, she took a deep breath and walked forward. The courtyard was empty but she could see Armistice Guards surrounding the base of the building. Going against every instinct she had, Kit walked out to the courtyard with her hands in the air, she hated them seeing her look like she was surrendering. Especially when it was the last thing she was doing. The guards instantly turned and aimed their guns at her, red dots scattered across her chest and it tightened in response.

  The doors to the Capitol Building opened and a moment later Kit saw Hawk emerge. The woman seemed different somehow, she glided more than walked, her head was held high and she had a look in her eye that told Kit that she was determined.

  ‘Well, this is a sight I never thought I’d see,’ Hawk said. ‘Katarina Valletta finally surrendering and admitting she can’t win against this government.’

  Kit didn’t say anything, there was a million things she wanted to say, blood boiled inside her as the anger against Hawk rose to the surface. She did what she could to suppress it, she couldn’t let Hawk get the better of her, not if it meant her friends would be at risk.

  ‘Let's get this over with shall we?’ A truck approached Hawk and she opened the door for Kit.

  Kit didn’t move. ‘I don’t want to have a conversation here,’ she told her. ‘We’re going to go somewhere private.’

  Kit lowered her arms and strode over to the truck. ‘You can tell your men to lower their guns, it’s not like I’m going to do anything,’ she glared at Hawk as she went to step into the passenger's seat.

  ‘I’m not taking any chances,’ Hawk smirked and Kit climbed in, the frustration was burying itself under her skin and it was hard trying to ignore it.

  Hawk closed the door and Kit scowled as she got in the driver's seat. ‘You know if the wind blows the wrong way your face will stay that way,’ the words hit Kit hard, they were something her mother used to say to her and she had to look away so Hawk didn’t see her fight back a few tears that welled in the corner of her eyes. She was tired, her muscles ached, it was as though her brain had fallen into a cloud and she couldn’t process anything else but she pushed herself to keep going. She couldn’t let Hawk win, not now.

  Kit sat in silence as Hawk drove them away from the Capitol Building, she seemed to be taking the back streets, away from the chaos and she took them to a compound on the outskirts of Volt’s perimeter.

  ‘Why have you brought me here?’ She asked.

  ‘Because I think it’s time you got some answers,’ Hawk said as she parked the truck.

  ‘In amongst a war that’s on your doorstep you think now is the time to be honest?’ She asked.

  ‘Absolutely,’ Hawk looked genuinely sincere and it made Kit feel on edge. Hawk climbed out of the truck and as her hands were shaking, Kit did the same. There was a truck that had followed them with some of Hawk’s guards and she motioned for them to stay. They didn’t look too happy but hung back and as Kit turned to follow Hawk they headed towards the building that lay in the forest. Hawk took Kit down a side alley, the smell of the damp trees filled Kit’s lungs and she remembered the days she spent hiding out in the forest after she had first escaped. The grief that had torn through her from being separated from her father and friends hit her again in waves, the fear that had swept through her as she was terrified of what her life was to become.

  ‘Where are you taking me?’ She asked Hawk.

  ‘You’ll see,’ Hawk brushed past another tree branch and they came out to a small courtyard. ‘We’re here.’

  Kit looked around her. They appeared to be in somewhere that looked like an old church courtyard. There was an old stone walkway that led into the building, the arches had been battered by the elements and were covered in moss. ‘What is this place?’

  ‘This is the place where the government was created,’ Hawk answered as Kit looked at it with confusion. ‘It’s not quite what you were expecting?’

  ‘Governments are created in the Capitol,’ Kit said.

  Hawk smiled, Kit hated it, it was a smile that told her she didn’t know anything, that Hawk was her superior and knew everything that had been held back from her for decades. ‘To the public they are,’ she said. ‘But no, this government was created here, when we learnt the potential of what we had and what we could create. Would you like to see inside?’

  Kit didn’t say anything and Hawk led them across to the archways. ‘Why have you brought me here?’ Kit asked. ‘All this time you’ve wanted to kill me, why not do that instead?’

  Hawk turned back to look at her. ‘I don’t want to kill you,’ she told her. ‘If anything, everything I’ve been doing is so that you can remain alive.’

  Kit looked at her confused. ‘That’s not what I’ve been led to believe,’ she said.

  ‘It was Galen who wanted you dead, not me,’ Hawk pushed open the heavy wooden door and led Kit into a medium size stone room. ‘She saw you as a threat, something she secretly feared, but she just didn’t understand.’

  ‘Well that makes two of us,’ Kit said. ‘She wants me dead, you claim to be my mother and supposedly want to keep me alive, but you work for her, so tell me,’ Hawk turned round to her as Kit stopped. ‘What’s the truth? After all these years, I think you owe me that.’

  Hawk motioned f
or Kit to follow her and with a disgruntled sigh, Kit followed her into another room. This one was out of place with the rest of the building, it was cold and sterile, there were two old hospital beds against the wall and in the far corner was a metal door with a circular window. Kit could hear the whirring of a machine inside and Hawk stepped to one side so she could go and look through the glass.

  Kit’s heart pounded, her mind raced at the thought of what she was about to see and as she raised her eyes up to the window it took a moment to find what Hawk wanted to show her. When she saw them she almost stepped backwards in shock. On the other side of the glass was rows of hospital beds, pregnant mothers lay upon them, motionless, their wrists and ankles strapped down with leather handles. Kit saw a shadow flash across the room, at first she thought she had imagined it but it moved again and hovered by one of the walls. It was a dark-skinned creature, it’s skin looked like it was covered in some sort of transparent slime. Its eyes were big and covered as circular discs and when it looked Kit straight in the eyes it felt like it was penetrating her soul.

  ‘It’s one of them,’ Kit whispered.

  ‘Yes,’ Hawk replied matter of factly. ‘They’ve been living amongst us since the early days, we’ve had some control over them, thankfully, but not without sacrifice.’

  Kit’s body was cold as she turned to Hawk. ‘What sacrifice?’ She asked.

  ‘The women in there, the mothers, they came to us for help and that’s what we’ve offered them,’ Hawk said.

  ‘In exchange for what?’ Bile rose in Kit’s stomach as she asked the question.

  ‘Their children,’ Hawk whispered and Kit thought she almost saw her shaking. ‘The unborn children in their will become the next generation of Genics,’ Hawk walked over to a window and looked out over the courtyard. Kit looked at her curiously, she was different here, she wasn’t the strong woman she had been at the Capitol building, it was as though she had become softer, tamer, than Kit had ever seen her.

  ‘You’ve been here before,’ Kit said.

  Hawk looked at her and Kit saw pain etched in her eyes as she nodded. ‘When I was a teenager, my family had been killed by the virus, I was on my own and desperate. I had met a man who said he could help but he was only after one thing. I heard that Volt had been created to offer people sanctuary as America recovered from the invasion and the Blast. I was given a room on this compound until one of the nurses discovered I was pregnant,’ her voice was softer now, and Kit saw that she was finally dealing with Hawk on a level she hadn’t experienced before, one that was human and one that was broken. ‘They brought me here, left me with that creature. I was sedated so they thought that I didn’t know what was going on but I did, then my daughter was born and I named her Katarina, after my great-great-grandmother who had emigrated here from Italy.’ The bile rose to Kit’s throat. ‘But the moment she had been born, she was taken away from me and I didn’t know where she was taken to until later, but by then she had already been taken in by another family. I was so angry, so furious that they did this to me when they promised protection and safety. But I was part of the system now, I had to do what I could in order to survive, I could see what they were doing to the babies who were born to be different, I could see that they were training them to be soldiers in a war that they thought they could win. I had been made to sacrifice my daughter so she could be a part of a victory that would never come, until I learned what the Others were planning,’ there was no denying Kit was now engrossed in what Hawk was telling her. She had thought she would get more propaganda, more half-truths within lies but this seemed to be Hawk telling her everything, which made Kit realise there was a reason why. ‘They want to completely take over, wipe us from the planet so that they can have a place to survive. But they know that they need people here who are adapted to where they’re living, so they created Genics, people who are half way between human and alien. They gave their DNA to us so that we could use it and cultivate a race of people who would ultimately survive the Armageddon.’

  ‘By giving us powers that were strong enough to withstand what was being thrown at us,’ Kit said.

  ‘Why else would we create Genics?’ Hawk asked. ‘We want to survive in whatever world they’re wanting to turn this place into, so it makes sense to create a new race that will be accepted into theirs.’

  ‘But for years you’ve had humans believe we’re the enemy, that they should fear us and exclude us from their society,’ Kit said.

  ‘Because we couldn’t let them know the real reason why you were here,’ Hawk said. ‘If we sent out the message that Genics are the ones who are going to survive the war, then every person will want to become one and we don’t have the ability to cope with that, nor will the Others allow for that.’

  ‘They don’t want humans to survive at all,’ Kit said.

  ‘And it’s only Genics who can protect them,’ Hawk said. ’This government believes that we should let the Others take over, there’s no way they can fix this country after the invasion and the Blast, Galen’s family had a dictatorship for years but with no successor, the time was upon us to look at how this country was going to work in the future. Galen’s method couldn’t continue, and we didn’t know how to begin fixing something that’s been broken for so long.’

  ‘So with Galen out of the picture, it means you’ve made way for the Others to begin their final attack,’ Kit said.

  ‘This is their final war against us, and we don’t have the human power to win against them,’ Hawk confirmed. ‘Genics are going to fight against us because they’ve learned to believe in your cause but you’re the one thing that can stop them,’ Hawk told her. ‘In all the years that I’ve known of your existence I’ve been doing what I can to make sure you’re the one who was strong enough to go up against them, that you had enough in you to fight and win.’

  Kit’s heart lurched as she remembered what the Others had told her. ‘They said that I’m a weapon,’ she whispered and then looked at Hawk. ‘They’ve been contacting me, sending me messages, and I think I’m only now piecing it all together.’

  ’They needed someone who could manipulate the power of others, someone with enough skill and determination to face them and use what they could against them,’ Hawk said. ‘You have the ability to take their powers and use it against them, which might be the only thing that can stop them.’

  Kit paced for a moment as she tried to process what she was being told. ‘Will it work?’ She asked.

  ‘I have every belief that it will do,’ Hawk said. ‘But it will come at a cost,’ she added, her voice croaked a little as she took a breath.

  Kit looked at her and knew immediately what it would be. ‘My life,’ she whispered, tears welled up in her eyes again.

  ‘I know it’s hard to believe me, but I wish there was another way,’ Hawk said and went over to her. She put her hands on Kit’s shoulders but Kit shrugged them away, it was too late for any sign of motherly affection from her.

  ‘You’ve kept me alive all this time just so I could die at this moment,’ Kit said. A well of anger and pain swirled inside her, and she didn’t want Hawk to see her emotional but she couldn’t contain herself.

  ‘We needed a saviour,’ Hawk said grimly. ‘And who better than my own daughter?’

  Kit scowled at her. ‘You’re a monster,’ she said through gritted teeth.

  ‘Yes,’ Hawk said. ‘As are all who operate as part of this government and we should have done better by you, had a different course of action, but here we are,’ she said. ‘The question is where do we go from here?’

  Kit couldn’t think, the walls were closing in on her and her throat was tightening. She hurried out of the room and into the courtyard where the heavy rain pounded onto her. She tried to breathe, tried to regain some sense of calm, but it was all gone, everything she had ever hoped or wished for had been taken away from her, it was never meant to be hers, this life was never meant for her to live, yet she had been given the hope that she c
ould, that she could build something that was normal, that was safe and secure, that was with someone she loved, but it had all just been a lie, a false hope to get her to this point. She saw Hawk in the walkway and turned to her, rain mixed with her tears, but she was unable to hide the pain that was etched in her face. Hawk had broken her. She had won.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ Kit’s heart thumped as she said the words, blood boiled round her skin and wisps of purple energy rose from her fingertips. ‘But I’m not doing this for you, or your government, I’m doing it for Evie, for Rook, for Lil and everyone else in my life who’s made it worth living. We might be nothing more than human experiments to you, but we made a family, we created a life for ourselves and they deserve to live and be happy and if I can give them that, then I will.’

  Hawk smiled, this time it wasn’t one of malice, or a sneer, but one of admiration. ‘I’m proud of you,’ she said. ‘Whether you believe it or not, regardless of what you may think of me, I knew all along you were the one who would save us.’

  Kit was going to be sick, as much as saving her friends meant more to her than anything, she knew it also meant the people she despised the most would also be saved, they would get to continue their lives instead of her. It wasn’t fair, but it was what she had to do.

  ‘I want to say goodbye,’ Kit said. ‘If I’m going to do this, then I want to say goodbye and I want a guarantee.’

  Hawk nodded as she came over to her. ‘In whatever time we have, I will try,’ she said.

  Kit nodded, the purple wisps faded from her arms and she started to feel numb as shock took over her. ‘Then there’s no time like the present,’ Kit said.

  Hawk opened the truck door for her and Kit stepped inside, the world had completely changed in such a short amount of time and as Hawk started the engine the fear of what was to come, settled itself into Kit.