Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) (24 page)

I
reached the gated entrance to the graveyard and luckily, the gate
was open. I stumbled onto the sparse street and watched as the
lamps that littered the pavement sparked on. The skyline was a dark
orange, and stars were already visible through the cloudless sky.
The streets however were still wet from whatever rain had plagued
the day, and I realised that I too was soaked. Never before had I
felt that dirty, even the month of terror and lack of showering
under Greystone.

When I
started on my way again I had to fight the urge to stop someone and
ask for directions. The authorities were still after me no doubt,
and I drew enough attention in the state I was. I kept to the
backstreets as the moon took to the sky again. I turned corners at
random, hoping with the energy I had left that I would luck onto
the street I searched for. As if by thinking it, I turned onto an
empty street, and down the far end was a set of buildings covered
in graffiti and boarded up to the heavens.

I almost
burst with emotion and I picked up speed. I turned the corner and
found myself faced with the towering edifice of our home. Homeless
men and women stamped around the alleys on either side, stopping
every so often at metal bins that lit the night with flames. No one
took any notice of me as I trudged up the front steps; they just
readily accepted me as one of their own. Once inside, I stabbed the
elevator button and threw myself against the wall
inside.

As the
box slid upwards I couldn’t help but crave for Anna and my son.
Being dead had punched a hole in me that without them I couldn’t
fill. The elevator came to a stop, and my surroundings rocked with
the sudden halt. I had made it. With that realization every piece
of energy I had been clinging to vanished. I stumbled and braced
myself at the side of the door as it opened.

‘
Well I’ll be damned to hell,’ Jessica gasped. She held a gun
aimed at my head, but as soon as she saw me, it faltered. ‘Slap me
silly and throw me to some wolves…’

‘
Alex…’ I whispered and tried to slouch forward, but before I
knew it, I was falling.

*

I was
back in the War Room when I opened my eyes. Jessica sat next to my
sprawled self and watched over me. She spoke to Brian when she saw
I was awake, and he spun in his chair by the computer bay and
walked over.

‘
Hey,’ I croaked. My throat was raw.

Jessica
fetched a bottle of water and handed it to me as I sat
up.

‘
We took the liberty of cleaning you up and patching your
wounds,’ Jessica said.

I did
feel cleaner, and looking down at myself I saw my clothes had been
changed. My hands were bandaged, and I felt constricted around my
chest, as if there was one there too.

‘
Thanks,’ I said.

‘
Don’t mention it,’ Jess replied.

I
mistook her retort for sarcasm and went to thank her again, but she
held up her hand.

‘
No, seriously, thank me again and I’ll kill you. It was not
pleasant,’ she grimaced.

I
avoided apologising.

‘
You look like you’ve crawled up from hell,’ she continued.
‘Plus you’ve got a wicked scar on your chest.’

I lifted
my shirt and peeled back the bandage against Jessica’s half-hearted
protests. There in the centre, was a star-shaped lump of flesh. It
itched and stung like a mother, but I replaced the bandage and
focused back on my two friends.

‘
What the hell happened?’ Brian spat, and I looked up
startled.

Brian’s
face was contorted in a snarl, much like his dead father’s. I
flashed back to Paul Butcher, his attempt on my son’s life, and on
my own. Brian had killed him, and it was apparent he blamed me for
that.

‘
I died,’ I retorted, ‘that’s what happened. Then I crawled out
of my own grave.’

The boy
faltered.

‘
Jesus,’ he whispered. ‘Where are Anna and Chris?’

‘
Where
are
Anna and Chris?’ I replied.

‘
They went after you,’ Jessica said. ‘Chris woke up not long
after you left and saw on the computer what you’d been looking at.
It wasn’t too hard to figure out where you’d go. Anna and Chris
grabbed weapons and rushed after you, we stayed to protect
Alex.’

‘
That was over a week ago,’ Brian concluded.

Shit.

I
groaned and stood shakily. Jessica rose beside me, and I proceeded
to fill them in. I started with me taking off, rushing into
Digilock, and everything my father said. I asked them if they
retrieved my father’s gift from my jumper, and Brian headed back to
the computers to slip it in. I continued with how with my Dad’s
help we revived my sister, and how she had plunged her fist through
me. I finished with my burial breakout.

‘
Richard Bishop isn’t the only big guy in FOG,’ I said.
‘Something and someone bigger is at work.’

‘
Bingo,’ Brian whispered.

Jess and
I joined him and watched as a video played out on the screen. It
was dated a few years before my father moved to Greystone. A man
was tied to a chair in a dark and clutter free room. Beside him
were a simple table and a man holding a syringe: It was my father,
Richard Bishop. His hair was a faded blond, and his face appeared
more youthful. The man who was restrained started to struggle, but
undeterred, my Dad plunged the syringe into his neck.

We all
watched open-mouthed and wide-eyed, completely mesmerised. My
father left the room, and took up position behind a glass
partition. He watched expressionless as the man convulsed and
screamed. The leather restraints snapped as the poor guy changed
into a monster and threw himself about the room. His guttural
screams pained our ears and he flew at my father. He punched and
flailed, but the glass must have been sturdy. The image died, and a
similar video took its place.

‘
This is it,’ I sighed. ‘Along with Richard’s notes, this is
it. We can fight back against our own bloody
government.’

‘
Too little too late,’ Brian growled and shot up. ‘My Dad’s
still dead. Maybe he was right.’

‘
Right about what?’ I snapped. ‘Murdering an innocent
child?’

Brian
gaped.

‘
Look, I did everything for your Dad, everything. For you too,’
I spat. ‘But I didn’t kill him, he chose his own path.’

‘
But if it wasn’t for you he-’ Brian rushed to defend
himself.

‘
Don’t you dare!’ I shouted, cutting him off. ‘You want to
blame someone, fine, blame who’s truly responsible. I didn’t cause
any of this. I’m a victim as much as you are. My whole world was
shattered! My mother died, my father turned out to be a monster and
a week ago MY OWN GODDAMN SISTER KILLED ME! So don’t you dare try
to pin the blame on me; I’m sick of it.’

I
couldn’t explain the relief of fighting my corner and no longer
burdening myself with my father’s evil. I closed my eyes and sighed
as Brian rushed from the room. I wasn’t pleased I’d upset him, but
I was done taking the brunt of everyone’s anger. I turned to
Jessica, who looked strangely amused.

‘
Wow, look who died and came back with a can of kick-ass,’ she
nodded.

‘
That wasn’t fun,’ I whispered.

Jessica
shrugged and said, ‘The truth hurts. He’s been a massive pain in
the backside the whole time you’ve been gone. It took everything
for me not to kill him. I’m still deliberating on whether to just
settle for maiming him instead. What do you think?’

She
turned with a questioning expression and I shook my
head.

‘
No one is maiming anyone,’ I said and Jessica
pouted.

I
stretched carefully and took a deep breath. Anna and Chris were
gone, and I had a sneaking suspicion they’d been kidnapped. I took
solace in the fact that they were unlikely to be dead. They were
far more useful alive, especially if the big bad were after what I
assumed they were. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it
out.

They
were after my remarkable and naturally gifted son. They had to be,
he was a miracle in the flesh.

I had
been changed and experimented on to receive my gifts, but Alex
hadn’t, and that to crazy people, was priceless. I had fulfilled my
part, and had been removed from the playing field. Whoever was
behind my father had to have bigger plans ready to go.

‘
I want to see my son,’ I told Jess.

Her face
lit with a genuine smile, and I followed her out into the corridor.
I was hit with an awful smell, the stench of decay. I looked at
Jessica who didn’t seem to notice.

‘
What the hell is that smell?’ I asked and grimaced.

‘
That would be Paul,’ Jessica sighed. ‘No matter how hard I try
Brian just will not get rid of him. He stays with him, day and
night in his room.’

‘
That can’t be healthy,’ I said and glanced at the door
opposite the one we’d exited through.

‘
I’ve seen and smelt worse things,’ Jessica replied.

We
started down the corridor, further into the darkness, and away from
the elevator. Before, I hadn’t even noticed the hallway had
continued. Our steps were silent on the red rug lining the floor,
and the walls were barely distinguishable in the dark. We
eventually came to a set of wooden double doors, and Jessica
whipped a key from her pocket, and slid it into the
lock.

‘
I’ve been keeping Alex in here, it’s locked whenever I leave,’
she said as she glanced over her shoulder. ‘You heard what Brian
said, but so far he hasn’t stepped foot near it.’

‘
Let me guess,’ I replied, ‘if he had you would’ve killed
him?’

‘
Damn straight,’ Jessica replied.

I was
overwhelmed with gratitude towards her, but before I could voice
it, she’d opened the door and stepped through. I followed into the
room and surveyed it. The entrance we stepped through was at the
back of the space. To our left the room grew in length and ended at
a bank of windows looking out onto the streets. It was a little
brighter there, thanks to the pale light of the moon. A long table
had been pushed up against the wall across from us. It looked like
some sort of conference room.

Jessica
walked over to the table and clicked on a small lantern. It emitted
a soft blue light, enough to brighten the room, but dim enough to
avoid anyone from outside seeing it. As if sensing my reasoning,
Jessica spoke up.

‘
We had a close call a few days ago,’ she said. ‘The police
stormed the homeless on the ground floor; must have been a
coordinated sweep because they didn’t come up here, just put
pressure on the poor bastards downstairs.’

‘
Nobody talked?’ I asked and she shook her head.

Along
the wall to my left was an assortment of objects. Stuffed toys,
plastic keys, baby things, and in the middle of it all was a crib.
I wandered over with my heart thumping my chest. Alex lay sound
asleep, his little chest rising and falling with his breaths.
Practically silent snores punctuated the air. I bent and lifted him
carefully and hugged him to my chest.

God I’d
missed him.

The Past

I held
Alex as tight as was possible without waking him. He seemed
content, and I was glad that he wasn’t yet able to understand the
world we lived in, and the situation we were stuck with. I slipped
him back into his crib and joined Jessica at the long table across
the room. She sat next to the pale blue light of the electric
lantern, and it lit up her model-like features with a gloomy aura.
I pulled out a chair, and took a seat.

For a
while neither of us said anything. We had lots to say though, and I
hated the silence. But it felt like both of us had to catch our
breaths. I’d died, and Brian and Jessica had been left wondering
what the hell had happened to the three who had sprinted from the
building.

‘
Jessica, I can’t thank you enough,’ I said into the silence,
keeping my voice low. ‘Brian, too. I shouldn’t have sprinted out of
here like I did, but at the time I thought it was the right thing
to do.’

‘
You don’t have to apologise to me tough guy,’ Jess smirked.
‘Believe it or not, I understand. If I had been you in your
position, trust me, I’d have done the same.’

I
returned her smile and she shrugged.

‘
Only I’d have succeeded were your candy arse didn’t,’ she
said.

‘
I’ll take your word for it,’ I hit back.

Another
lapse of silence hit us.

‘
How are we going to get them back?’ Jessica asked.

‘
I don’t know,’ I admitted, ‘but we will. Like I said, I’m not
sure we know the big picture here. Before, it was simple. Hunt down
my Dad and put him out of business. Then the government stepped up
behind us, and we added getting them off our backs to the list of
impossible things to accomplish.’

‘
Well that’s one down,’ Jessica said smugly, ‘right? I mean,
couple your Daddy’s notes with those video files and voila, instant
and effective government repellent.’