When we’d first shown up at the Oppressed base, Surge had assigned us a tan two-story house. That was the house we were in now.
We were scattered across the living room. The whole place smelled fresh, like it had been built the day before. I assumed the couch was as comforting as ever, but it was presently occupied by Laura and Anderson. However, they were sitting so far apart that they could have easily fit a third person between them.
Rebecca was deep in conversation with Manning, and she was clutching her arm. I didn’t like the looks of that. Opifex stood beside me, but he was staring off into space. Understandable, considering all he’d seen on that day. Beth was…plundering our fridge? She shut the refrigerator door, revealing that she was carrying a bottle of water and an old sandwich. What had she eaten on Epsilon?
“Okay!” I said. “This place only has about four bedrooms. Manning and Rebecca can share one, Opifex can have his own, I’ll share one with Anderson, and Laura and Beth can—”
“I’m sleeping in my ship.” Beth said before she took a bite of the sandwich. Bits of lettuce fell to the floor. “You’re lucky I’m sticking around at all, so don’t argue. This sandwich is awful, by the way.”
She disappeared down a hallway. I heard a door open and then swing shut, signaling that Beth had exited the building. I would have been surprised if she hadn’t done that.
Laura rolled her eyes. “She’s always like that. She hardly ever checked on me after our sparring matches. As long as I was breathing, she didn’t care about how I felt.”
“Sounds like her…this version of her, at least,” I said. “This might be our last opportunity to sleep well in a while, so I want everyone to get to bed as soon as possible. We’ll talk about Frost in the morning.”
Laura and Anderson headed upstairs to their respective rooms. She wouldn’t have to share her room with anyone. That was probably for the best. Even though Opifex didn’t seem to have heard a thing I’d said, he headed upstairs as well. I genuinely hoped that he would get a good night’s sleep.
The only ones left were Manning and Rebecca, who were still deep in conversation. I walked over to join in, and they both looked up at me.
“Everything okay over here?” I immediately looked at Rebecca’s arm. She tucked it behind her back, which wasn’t suspicious at all. “I know things have been rough lately, but they’ll get better.”
Manning’s face lit up. “If confidence alone could win battles, we’d be all set.”
“Are you kidding? My confidence doesn’t even enable me to win my own battles. But I appreciate the compliment. Rebecca, that punch you delivered to Alhabor was great. I hope you’re ready to keep dishing them out. There’s no way we could take on that Dwarf army without your strength.”
Rebecca grimaced like she’d just experienced stomach pain. The fact that she didn’t flex and profess that she’d take down the army alone told me everything I needed to know.
Manning frowned at Rebecca and then sighed. “How did you know?”
“I don’t know anything yet, so would you kindly explain what’s wrong? What happened to Rebecca’s arm?”
“Nothing!” Rebecca flashed a boastful smile. “I just used a bit more strength than I intended to. My muscles aren’t invincible. They can still be strained. Don’t let it concern you because I’ll still fight to the very last breath if it means protecting you all.”
Rebecca stood up and trudged toward the bedroom that she and Manning would be sharing. She closed the door behind her. She didn’t slam it or even shut it firmly, she just pushed it closed. It was such a gentle motion that I almost didn’t believe Rebecca was the one who’d done it.
“As long as she doesn’t push herself too much, she should be fine.” Manning rubbed his temples like he felt a migraine coming. “Rebecca was raised to follow all orders and fight on behalf of others. That must be where her confidence comes from.”
I shrugged. “What about your confidence, Manning? I know how much you hate this war and all, but you’ve got to have some hope.”
Manning rose up too and grinned at me. “I’m confident that you’ll lead us to victory. All of my previous efforts were wasted on a tyrannical maniac in disguise. That’s how I know this will be different; it’s because I know you.”
Manning turned and headed for the door that Rebecca had just closed. I grinned as I watched him open it then I headed for the stairs. I’d never thought Manning would look up to me, especially since he was so much taller. I could do without the pressure, but the trust was reassuring.
I headed upstairs, where a series of doors presented themselves to me. There were four doors on this floor, and my room was behind the second one. My door was wide open at the moment. I went inside and found Anderson sitting on my bed, gazing down at his phone. I could only assume he was looking at a family photo: motivation for the fight that was surely coming.
He looked up and flinched. “Locke! Don’t sneak up on me, loser.”
“All I did was walk into my room,” I said.
My room was simple. I hadn’t spent any time on decorations, so it only had a bed and a dresser. I would leave my space suit in the closet at night. Speaking of, it was time to get out of my current suit. I stepped into the closet only to realize that Anderson’s fancy Constellations suit was already in there. I hadn’t even noticed that he’d taken it off. I had been a bit jealous that he got to wear such an advanced suit…but now I only saw evil in that starry pattern.
“I’m ditching that suit the first chance I get,” Anderson said, reading my mind. “If Ben knew who Alhabor really was, he wouldn’t want me wearing it. Heck, if he knew who Frost really was, he’d quit the Constellations! Dang…what happened to the galaxy, Locke? Why doesn’t anything make sense anymore?”
“I asked myself that the second we teamed up.” I sat beside him on the bed. The mattress lowered under our combined weight. “The craziness you’re experiencing now? I’ve been dealing with it for a few months. Why do you think I’m doing all of this? I want to create a galaxy where no one has to deal with all this.”
Anderson scoffed. “I don’t get you, Locke. The president herself offered to make you her little Karate Kid and you turned her down. You could have been the president one day! I’m not saying you should have betrayed us, I just want to know what made you turn her down. You know, besides the fact that she enslaved your hometown.”
“No, you’re right. That totally isn’t reason enough.” I chuckled as I rolled my eyes. “No offense, but you’ve still got a lot to learn about being selfless. As weird as it is to say, I’m the Alpha. My weird tech powers give me a fighting chance against Frost and the AI. If I turn evil, the galaxy loses its best chance at surviving this mess. Besides, I don’t need Frost. I’ve already got you guys. My friends are all I need.”
Anderson pretended to gag. “Take it easy before you make me barf. I’m real happy for you, but those friends you love so much? They still flinch if I so much as open my mouth. I doubt I’m ever going to fit in.”
“Are you kidding? That stunt you pulled with the White Dwarf and the tower was a great first step. Keep it up, and you’ll be one of us in no time. If that is what you want.”
“Frost has what I want.” Anderson groaned as he pulled my covers over himself and lay down. He took up the entire right half of my bed. “Night, Locke.”
“You know you can call me Wander now, right?”
There was a brief moment of silence.
“I said: night, Locke.”
Fair enough.
As I lay down beside my former worst enemy, a thought streaked across my mind. I had never thought that Anderson could change, but here he was. Maybe there was hope for Frost too. She wouldn’t have offered me that apprenticeship if she had been pure evil. Then again, she had stuffed me with the Implants of my dead grandfather. Maybe it wouldn’t be that easy. Still, if it was a choice between her or the AI…well, I still had a lot to learn about those evil machines. Maybe then I could make the choice.
Darkness preyed on me as I drifted off to sleep.
----------------------------------------
ZWOOM!
I gasped, bolted upright, and looked around for the source of the gunshot. The rays of the rising sun crept in through the window, painting the room greenish gold. Anderson still lay beside me, but he was tossing and turning so much that it was like I was in the middle of a quake.
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and urged my rapidly beating heart to calm down. There had been no gunshot; I’d only imagined it. My imagination had to be powerful because it had been the loudest thing I’d ever heard. I must have been having a nightmare about what had happened in New Selene, more specifically…what had happened in Opifex’s house. I’d seen and experienced tragedy before, but that? It would stick with me for a while, and for good reason: it had been the first time someone had died before my eyes.
Tears welled in my eyes. I hurried to wipe them away. No more of that. I forced my exhausted body out of bed and trudged over to my space suit. Having climbed into it, I marched out of my room. The morning’s golden rays followed me into the hallway. It was pretty early. I might have been the only one awake. What I needed more than anything was fresh air, so it was time to head outside.
I tiptoed down the stairs in my full metal suit and opened the front door. Warm sunlight smacked me in the face. I smiled through it. Nothing like soothing warmth to get my mind off things. As I blinked through the light, I spotted someone sitting on my front porch. There was no mistaking that edgy armor.
“Beth?” I called.
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She whipped around. “Your front door is locked. I couldn’t get in.”
“Oh. Well, you can come in now—”
“No.”
Typical Beth. I’d already decided to come outside, so I just figured I would join her. When I sat beside her, I was surprised to see that she didn’t even flinch. I had thought she’d walk away for sure. I sighed in relief as I looked up at the greenish-gold sky. It was way more beautiful than it deserved to be.
“Did you walk here from your ship?” I asked. It seemed to be her only option because she couldn’t drive the public cruisers here.
“Of course. You know I like walking.” She hugged her knees, pulling them close to her chest. Her eyes drooped like she was fighting the urge to sleep. “It’s calming. Taking a walk was one of the first things I did after I was Implanted. It helped me collect myself.”
Beth’s Implantation was not a subject I wanted to discuss. I couldn’t believe she was even bringing it up. The old Beth…I mean, the new Beth…the old-new Beth would have insulted me and called me “Alpha.”
“Why are you here?” I asked before I realized how bad it sounded. “I mean, why are you helping us so much? I know it’s because of Frost, but I doubt that’s the full story. You used to hate me too much to even consider helping.”
“I still hate you,” she grumbled like a child, “but, if you must know, it was Gamma’s conviction that made me reconsider my stance.”
“Laura?”
“Correct. She didn’t resist as much as I expected her to when the AI Implanted her. I suppose it was because she’d seen what you could do with your abilities. You left a positive impact on her. You’re the primary reason why she allowed us to go through with it. It made me feel…petty for hating you so much. Plus you defeated me the last time we fought, so I know you’re not as weak as you used to be.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Uh, thank you?”
“Shut up. Anyway, this is excruciatingly painful to admit, but I’m more like your sister than I let on. I may act like the Beta Hybrid, but, somewhere inside me, I still feel everything that Beth did. I just shove those feelings aside because they’re irrelevant. Being nice and caring in the middle of combat is dangerous. Plus I feel alive when there’s adrenaline coursing through my veins. I don’t want ‘Beth’ messing it up for me.”
She’d admitted to something I’d believed for the longest time: my sister was still in there. I should have been crying with joy, but all I felt was relieved. It was good news, but it didn’t have the impact it would have had a month previously. Too much had changed since then. It wasn’t like she had completely changed her mind either. I knew she still hated me because I was the Alpha and she wasn’t. Since I had the same inferiority complex when it came to our grandpa, I knew that those feelings wouldn’t just fade.
Still, this was better than nothing.
“I’m glad to hear that, sis,” I said. “I was tired of fighting you anyway. Have you ever been shot by your own rifle? It’s not a fun experience.”
Her eyes snapped open. “That’s all you have to say? Do you know how hard it was to admit all that? Last time we met, you were begging me to come back. Now I’m giving you what you want, and you don’t even care?”
“Man, you’re almost as bad as Anderson. Do you have any idea how horrible you were when we were enemies? I’m glad you’re not trying to kill me anymore, but I wouldn’t call us buddies either.”
Beth clenched her jaw as she seemed to realize what I meant. When she’d stopped me from taking Laura back on Epsilon, she’d shown her true colors. That was why I’d had no problem shocking her. I could only hope that things wouldn’t deteriorate to that extent again.
A gray cruiser popped up in the distance. It zoomed toward us like a speeding asteroid. Was that Surge’s cruiser? What did he want this early in the morning? The cruiser drove up to the curb and parked there. Surge stepped out, scowling as he did. Why was I friends with so many cranky people?
“Wander, there’s a matter that requires your attention,” Surge said as he approached us. He grimaced at Beth. “Your sister would be a big help too. As long as she’s still on our side today.”
Beth rose to her feet. “I’ll consider it if you consider my offer. The one that involves gaining an unstoppable army named the AI. Ring any bells?”
“Actually, this is related to that.” Surge furrowed his brow. “But don’t get your hopes up. Into the cruiser please.”
I hadn’t even agreed to anything yet. Not that it mattered since I was going anyway. I got into the smoke-scented passenger seat of Surge’s cruiser. Beth sat behind me.
“Surge, have you ever tried to stop smoking?” I asked as I rolled my window down.
“I’ll stop when my life quits being so stressful. Once you see what I need you two for, you’ll understand.”
This was that serious? My life usually waited until noon to kick me in the face.
Partially toxic air blew through my hair as Surge drove us through the base. Fall was around the corner, so the air was a little chilly. The few people we passed were sipping on coffee. When was the last time I had eaten? Oh no! I was back on the adventurer’s diet!
Surge drove until we reached a white house splattered with patches of yellow. The yellow wasn’t part of any pattern. It was more like someone had tried painting the house but realized that they were awful at it, so they had quit. The owner must have been pretty carefree. I think I knew which blue-streaked sharpshooter this house belonged to.
“The problem is inside,” Surge said as he stepped out of the cruiser. “It’s something that will be best explained once you see it.”
Surge knocked on the front door then stepped back. I expected to hear screaming or thumping, but I didn’t hear anything at all. A silent emergency? A series of approaching footsteps shattered that silence. The front door swung open, revealing a familiar face.
“Wander?” Kaela Fire’s eyes widened as she scanned me up and down. She broke into a huge smile. “You’re here! When did you get back? How did you escape Dictator Frost?”
Kaela Fire was my oldest Oppressed friend. She had long black hair with a single dyed streak of blue. The dye had faded: it was still there but faint. Her lips were as red as rubies. She had always been chubby, but I thought she’d gotten a bit chubbier since I’d last seen her. When I was depressed, I ate a lot, which made me wonder if she was the same way…
“Long story,” I said as relief flooded my chest. I hadn’t counted on being this happy to see her again. “By the way, that nickname? Some of your finest work. I can’t wait to tell you everything.”
“I can’t wait to listen, but why are you guys here?” Her eyes widened as she looked at Beth. “Why is this nutjob here?! Did Frost wipe your memory or something, because I don’t get why else your criminal sister would be here.”
“All will be explained, but don’t you think we could use her help with the patient?” Surge asked.
Kaela’s face fell. “I guess. Whatever. Just follow me. I’ll show you guys to his room. He never leaves that place.”
His room? If I remembered correctly, the only person that Kaela had ever shared a house with was…oh no.
The house smelled like flowery perfume with a hint of pizza. That pretty much summed up Kaela. Immediately to our left was a set of stairs. To our right was a hallway littered with doors. A simple clock hung on the wall beside a much larger cuckoo clock. It was easy to tell which one belonged to which resident of the house.
Kaela led us up the stairs, and I began to hear something besides our footsteps. The panicked groaning sounded like it belonged to a nervous ghost. This patient must have been in some real pain. The stairs led us to another hall. Kaela brought us to a door that had been marked off with yellow caution tape…actually it was just duct tape painted yellow. Underneath that tape was a piece of paper that said “Come on in.” Kaela didn’t even take things seriously in her own home.
“Stand back. I gotta make sure he’s accepting visitors.” Kaela gripped the doorknob, pulled the door open, and poked her head inside. She shuddered. “Yeah, he’s ready. Watch your step.”
She pulled the door open, revealing a dark room. The light from the hall was the only thing illuminating it. Kaela tiptoed in, and I followed close behind. The room smelled like an old bowl of beef. The first thing I noticed was the fire extinguisher in the upper-right corner beside a bed. Maybe that was because it was the most colorful thing there. Also, who would personally own a fire extinguisher?
The patient was hunched over beside the bed with his back to us. His panicked groans filled the room. He was messing with something we couldn’t see, and his clothes were entirely black, so they blended in with the darkness. I couldn’t see his hair that well, but I saw that it was clinging to his shirt. It was greasy, which confirmed my suspicions.
“Dylan?” I said to him as I stepped closer.
He whipped around, revealing beady eyes. His hands were coated in clear jelly. I could tell by the way they shone in the limited lighting. That was what he was doing? Putting on Vaseline?
“You…you!” Dylan pointed a scraggy finger at someone behind me. I turned and realized that he was pointing at Beth. “You did this. Finish what you started!”
Dylan lunged at her, but Kaela jumped in between them. She grabbed his arms and pinned them to the floor. He struggled, but there was no way his thin arms would throw Kaela off. He was much bonier than he had been the last time. Whatever had happened must have seriously messed him up.
“No, don’t thank me. All I did was protect you!” Kaela said through clenched teeth.
“The protection was unnecessary.” Beth crouched beside the restrained Dylan. He didn’t break eye contact with her even though he was struggling against Kaela. “What’s wrong with him?”
“You tell us,” Surge said. He looked at the floor then at the ceiling. It seemed like he just wanted to avoid looking at Dylan. “He began acting like this after I retrieved him from Epsilon. Whatever you did before I arrived, that’s what caused this.”
We had only gone to Epsilon to get Dylan back after Beth had captured him. She had mostly done it to taunt me. It was odd that she, Dylan, and I were all in the same room considering how awful those events had been. I was starting to think that I was too forgiving…
Beth shut her eyes. “Let me think. After I brought him to the AI, I think they placed him in an acceleration chamber. That may be the cause of his strange behavior.”
Surge sighed. “Go on. Explain what an ‘acceleration chamber’ is.”
“Before a Hybrid candidate can be Implanted, they must be placed in an acceleration chamber. It’s a chamber full of breathable liquid that’s designed to stimulate and enhance the human body, preparing it for the evolution that it’s about to undergo. This boy is experiencing the drawbacks of being accelerated without being Implanted. His body is craving the Implants.”
I looked at my hand. “What happens if a Hybrid is Implanted without being put in one of those chambers?”
“A Hybrid who doesn’t undergo the acceleration process will have difficulty mastering or even using their abilities.” Her expression softened. “You never were accelerated, were you?”
“Nope. I guess Frost didn’t have one of those chambers handy when she handed down Grandpa’s Implants to me. It sure explains why I couldn’t use my powers until a month ago.”
Here I’d thought my abilities had taken so long to master because they had been so powerful. In reality, it had been because I had been disadvantaged from the start. Was it too late to be accelerated? Aside from a few drawbacks, I had basically mastered my powers already. I didn’t need a stupid chamber to help me.
“What’s this about your grandpa’s Implants?” Kaela asked, unaware of the atrocities she wanted me to explain.
“Later,” Surge said. “So, Dylan’s problem is that his body is demanding something, and it’s rebelling because he doesn’t have it. It’s like he’s hungry…more like starved. How do we fix this?”
“Implant him,” Beth stated calmly as though it were that easy. “I wasn’t like this after I was accelerated. Gamma didn’t experience it either. This is something odd. We need to get him back to Epsilon and Implant him immediately.”
“Yes!” Dylan growled as he continued to fight (and lose) against Kaela. “Implant me. Grant me power!”
“Shut up!” Kaela heaved. She was getting tired. “Surge, don’t tell me you’re considering this. We barely survived the last trip to Epsilon.”
Surge’s face was unreadable. He was definitely considering it. Dylan was the first child he had ever adopted (and the only one he had legally adopted). That was why Surge loved him so much despite his unsavory personality. Surge just might have been willing to go back to Epsilon to help Dylan.
“I swear that you’ll be welcomed back…as long as I’m the one escorting you.” Beth gestured to herself. “They’ll help this manic child, and they’ll lend you the assistance you need to counter Frost.”
“As if…we’d trust you! Oh god, is the room spinning?” Kaela heaved once again before she fell over. Dylan was free.
Dylan jumped up and rushed at Beth. “Take me back! Implant me!”
Beth extended her leg, catching Dylan in the stomach. He hacked and fell to the floor. She scowled as she took a few steps back. Finally, Surge relented and looked at Dylan as he lay groaning on the floor. Dylan was rubbing his face with his slimy hands. He probably applied that petroleum jelly to his skin to try and numb the strange feelings that the acceleration had left him with.
“Fine, we’ll go to Epsilon.” Surge’s shoulder slumped like it exhausted him to say those words. “Happy now?”
Beth smirked. “A little.”
“Surge, do you have any idea what you’re saying?” Kaela asked. She sat beside Dylan on the floor. “This is just a trap! She wants to hand Wander over to the AI. We can’t keep handing people over to those monsters. We’re not their mailpeople.”
“We’re not handing anyone over. A small team of us will accompany Wander’s sister to Epsilon. After they fix Dylan, we can discuss Frost. Obviously, I don’t trust an army of murder machines, but with Beth to act as our ambassador, we might come out of this alive.”
We were going back to Epsilon. In the recent past, I had been determined to go there because of Laura, but I already had her back. I didn’t really want to go there anymore, but, if it would shut Beth up, we might as well try.
This was such a stupid idea.