EVO Shift: EVO Nation Series: Book Two (21 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Jude steps up to Crow. Crow’s bigger, but there has always been something intimidating about Jude. “Since when do you call the shots?”

This is a macho display if nothing else. Jude doesn’t want to take orders from a younger man. It doesn’t sit well with him. The corner of Crow’s mouth twitches with annoyance.

“Crow is our leader,” I say.

Jude scoffs, rubbing a hand over his unshaven chin. “Are you one of them. Have you chosen Shift?”

“She’s our little Cub,” Brick says, ruffling my hair.

“Whether you like it or not, you’re one of us too,” Crow says to Jude. “Syndicate don’t want you. Feel grateful that we’ve got a place for you. After all, you’re not exactly Shift loyal.”

Jude laughs. “Not a chance. My old man would turn in his grave.”

“Rafe would be proud of you,” Leoni says, kindly. “You’re not the man you were then.”

Although, he hasn’t said as much, I know he’s accepting of his role in Shift. He’s just playing hard to get.

Cooper saunters passed Jude. “Why are you kicking up such a stink? You’re not the damn plan man, right?”

Jude swings for Cooper, connecting with his jaw. Cooper staggers, but quickly lunges back at him. Adam grabs Cooper, swinging him away from Jude.

I force myself between the- arms outstretched- telekinesis holding them apart. “Cooper, go and wait outside.” I bark at him. He’s toying with the idea of having another pop at Jude. I can see it in the way his fists clench and unclench. “Please, just wait outside. Do it for me, eh?”

He grunts in his throat and pulls out of Adam’s grip. “Fine,” he says, sauntering out the door.

“How the hell did you get him to do that?” October asks.

Jude snorts, wiping at his bloody nose. “Our Teds and Coop are best buddies now, ain’t ya, Princess?”

“What?” exclaims Seth. “You are m-m-mates now?”

He’s hurt. Cooper hasn’t done himself any favours in the way he treated them before, but if they only got to know him, then they’d know the truth. I can’t tell them his story, it’s not my place, but I can try and make them keep an open mind.

“He’s just a little misunderstood,” I say. Seth laughs, and I roll my eyes. “You don’t know what I know.”

“I know he can be a total prick,” Jude says, spitting blood out of the window. “Teddies, right though. He has a history.”

October gently brushes her hand over my forearm, reading my emotions. “You think highly of him, don’t you? He important to you.” She looks a little perplexed. “It’s like you are family now?”

Adam lets out a nervous cough.

“He’s as good as my brother, and one of the best men I know.” I feel Adam tense beside me. I won’t lie to him or them. Cooper is important to me, and will be a big part of my life in the same way that they are. “He looked after me when I needed him. He taught me to fight, so I could protect myself from the Taggers who were hell bent on raping me, and he threw himself on top of the man who did this to my face before he could carve the word freak into my forehead. So yeah, he is important to me.”

A hush falls over the room. I’ve shocked them- good.

“Right, let’s load those vans,” Brick says, breaking the tension.

***

The girls raid my wardrobe, making kind comments, but clearly appalled by my lack of fashion sense. Throwing my rucksack over my shoulder, I head downstairs, leaving them fighting over my jerseys.

Adam helps Brick and Pug load anything Crow deemed useful from the house. I expected to feel something more poignant when seeing parts of my old life get ripped up for dressings or broken down for firewood, but I feel nothing of significance.

“Baby, can you wake Cooper? He’s on the couch,” Adam calls from the van. “Kid’s too scared to try.”

“We don’t call him Psycho for nothing,” Kid shouts back.

Cooper lies in the foetal position. There is something about the way he sleeps that is childlike in nature.

I tap him on the head. “Oi, asshole, time to wake up.”

He opens one eye, grunting and cursing at me to leave him be, so I shake his shoulder until he can’t ignore me any longer.

“Okay, I’m up. I was on watch with Pug until three, you know?”

“And Pug is up already and loading the vans.”

“Then he’s a bloody fool.” He sits on the edge of the couch, rubbing at his eyes. “Are you alright after earlier? Adam’s worried. He asked me to help him keep an eye on you.”

“Did he speak with you?”

“Yeah. He came to me after the scuffle with Jude. He thanked me for taking care of you- blah blah blah.”

A weight lifts from my shoulders. “He trusts you now,” I say. “But I don’t need mothering, thanks all the same.”

“I told him that I weren’t your damn babysitter, and that you can look after yourself. He asked me to keep on with your fight training. I reckon he’d do it himself if he wasn’t such a pussy about hurting you.”

“He knows that you won’t go easy on me. Besides, I’m up for another chance to pummel you.”

He raises his hand, but I block it effortlessly, only for him to crack me in the guts. “Pummel me, huh?”

I groan through the pain and the corner lamp explodes, casting us into darkness. We both stare at each other.

“Let’s keep that between us,” Cooper says, getting to his feet.

“What was that?” Adam asks from the doorway. He switches on the main light, his eyes surveying the demolished lamp.

I bury my face into my hands. This is a bloody mess. I feel like I’m back at stage one, when I was unable to control my telekinesis. I could chalk it up to this house. It seems to bring out the worst in me, but it’s not the house. I have too much power to handle. How are we both going to cope with this?

I push my face into Adam’s chest. “What the hell are we going to do?”

Cooper slaps me on the back. “You blew a table lamp. Get over it. I blocked the toilet earlier, and I ain’t worried.”

“I doubt you are,” I say, laughing.

He shrugs and heads out to the vans.

“When I was looking for candles, I came across some photographs in the dresser.” Adam pulls a photo from his pocket. “I thought you’d like to keep hold of this one.”

He hands me an image of Dad and I at the cove. I remember it clearly because it was my sixteenth birthday. He set up the tripod, we posed, and then the flash didn’t work. He fiddled with the buttons, and then came sprinting towards me because the timer had started again. The result was a picture of the pair of us in fits of laughter.

“I thought she burnt them all when she kicked him out,” I say, weeping. “Thank you.” I hold the picture against my heart, sobbing into my hand. “Adam, I need to go to the cove.”

***

The rocks are as wet as the night Dad and I made our escape down them. I don’t attempt them now; I just stand on the cliff edge, staring at the choppy sea below.

“Dad had a small speedboat moored to the rocks over there,” I tell Adam, pointing to the rocks that are barely visible through a sea fog. “The TORO were already on to us, so we swam for it. The chopper appeared from over there.” I point to the far cliffs. “Dad was shot in the chest, but he got us out of this cove and into the next.”

I run along the cliffs; the same route Roscoe would have taken that night. Adam stays close on my heels, just listening to my recount.

I stop dead at the second cove. A wrecked boat is beached on the sand below. Following the slipway down to the sand, I make my way to the mass of broken wood. My legs shake under my weight. It’s the boat. Some of the wood is darker- stained with blood- Dad’s blood.

I turn away from the boat. “Roscoe was stood right here,” I say to Adam, my voice cracking. He runs his hand up my spine. “We were out on the water, but Dad was bleeding out. The plan was for me to head three coves down and I would find a cave that led to a private bay. Isaac would have been waiting for me.”

“So, what happened?” he asked. “I’ve only ever seen glimpses of these memories.”

I close my eyes and take his hand. The fragmented memories join together in a disjointed, slideshow in my mind. The most painful, vivid memory that is forever etched into my soul, and for me, the starting point of this crazy war.

As my memory of Roscoe fizzles to blackness, it is replaced by an intense, bright light.
I’m witness to images of a car rolling from the road, the impact violent and sudden. A younger Leoni screams, shaking a man who is slumped over the wheel. She turns to face Adam. Her face is streaked in blood, her lips move, but there is no sound, just a ringing noise. Then, there’s a scream; a long, guttural scream of a child. The back door opens and Leoni pulls Adam from the car, checking over every inch of him.

“We have to go, right now.”

“But Dad,” he sobs.

“Dad’s dead, Sweetheart. I need you to be really brave for me. Can you do that?”

I open my eyes back at the cove.

“You showed me your worst memory, so I showed you mine,” says Adam. His hand in mine is slick with sweat. “Years apart, but both our father’s lost their lives for the same reason- their EVO family.”

“I keep trying to find reason in everything that has happened and all routes lead back to me. I’m the common denominator. When I was younger I would think of how life could be. I would be someone’s Mummy, I would be married, I’d have a St Bernard dog called Mr Darcy, and one of those huge wagon cars that Mums drive on the school run. Even then, I knew it was just a dream.”

“No, not a dream. You can still have that. It may be a little different, but I can give you that,” he says, resting his forehead on mine.

I shake my head, tears spilling over my cheeks. “I’m not supposed to have any of that because I’m not supposed to survive this.”

Adam holds my upper arms and shakes me. “Never say that. Do you hear me? Never say that.” He is angry, and my words hurt him, but it doesn’t lessen their truth.

“Dad, Mum, Norah, Boyd, Golding, Haydn, Tess, Maggie, Fabian, October’s Dad, and not forgetting all those men and women at the complex, and the TORO at Facility One. That’s the list of everyone who has died because of me- those that I know of anyway.”

He pushes away from me, growling in frustration. “Don’t start this again. What happened to the Teddie I met at Facility One? That Teddie didn’t wallow in self-pity, or blame herself for the actions of others. That Teddie was fierce. I’m tired of this bubble of self-loathing and resignation that you’ve trapped yourself in.”

Taking a step away from him, I cross my arms over my chest; a barrier between us to shield me from his words. “This is me, Adam. This is the result of the last four weeks. I’m sorry if you don’t like it, but this Teddie has had her eyes opened.”

“So, you’re mad now, huh? I don’t care if you don’t like what I have to say because I’ll say it regardless. If I can’t call you out, then who can? That’s what you do when you love someone, and Christ knows I love you. You are the only woman who can amaze and infuriate me at the same time, and you are strong enough to take it when I put a stop to your bullshit.”

“My feelings are valid, not bullshit,” I shout, stamping back up the cove. “You want me to be fierce, but at the same time you want me to depend on you, to need you. I don’t need anyone to babysit me, not you, not Cooper, not Jude. I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me, and you’re right, I am strong. I’m sure as hell strong enough to hold my own against anyone and everyone who threatens me or my family. And you know what? I’m going to make sure that everyone I’ve lost hasn’t died in vain. I’m not sure how yet, but I will.”

“There she is,” Adam says, laughing. “Phew, you worried me for a minute there.”

I spin to face him, his cheeky grin dispersing my anger instantly. I smack his arm, hiding a smile, and continue marching up the cove. “Very good,” I say. “I’m still mad at you though.”

“Nah, you’re not,” he says, jogging to keep up with me.

***

“Cub, Tech, October, and Seth with me,” Crow calls from the small van. “We’ll be going on ahead to assess the area. Each of you need to be on your toes with your abilities, got it?”

Adam doesn’t look happy, but I kiss him anyway. He grabs my hand. “I don’t like this. We shouldn’t split up.”

I smirk at him. “Don’t contradict everything you’ve just said to me. I’ve got this.”

“Be careful, especially with the electrokinesis. Link with me whenever you can, okay?” he says, kissing the top of my head.

“And you be careful with my abilities. Remember, that you just have to focus on one or the other for now. I hope you have more luck with the telepathy than me.” I remember the advice Jude gave to me when I was trying to master my telekinesis. “You will feel it here,” I say, tapping Adam’s chest. “It is erratic and scary, but don’t act on that sensation. Concentrate on the heaviness in your mind. Always, always, control it from your mind. Just picture that kitchen in there if you struggle.”

Crow barks my name from the van.

“No goodbyes,” I call back to Adam.

Seth wraps an arm around my shoulder, and I rest my head against him. I’m glad he’s not pissed at the Cooper situation. I’ve missed kind and gentle Seth. I know we were brought together through Golding’s death, but I think that was Golding’s gift to us. When it comes to relationships and the length of time we have all actually known each other, I know that its quality over quantity. In this fast moving world at present, everything of value needs to be fast paced to keep up.

“
How are you doing
?”
I ask him.

He shrugs. “The s-s-same as anyone, I guess. I’m not a-a fighter, Teds.”

“And that’s why I love you.” I hear a snort in his throat. “What? It’s true. Once the fighting is done, what then? We need the Seth’s to rebuild the world for us.”

He wraps his other arm around me, pulling me deeper into his embrace. The seatbelt cuts in a bit, but I don’t mind. I like this; this is something Towley can never take away from us.

“I’m sorry I can’t talk to you like we did before,” I say. “I’m struggling with the telepathy.”

Seth squeezes tighter. Sometimes things don’t need to be said to be understood.

Kesh shifts in his seat beside Seth to rest his back against the door. “I envy you guys. Your group is tight.”

“We h-h-have to be,” Seth replies. His face flares red from embarrassment.

Kesh winks and taps Seth’s knee gently. “Perhaps, we’ll be like that one day.”

Seth smiles at Kesh, his heart racing that little bit faster under my ear. Something is happening here- I can feel it. It’s the same feeling I got when Leoni spoke of Rafe. October catches my eye in the rear view mirror and grins.  She feels it too. I hope Seth does find some happiness soon. He needs something to fight for.

“There’s a drone,” Crow says, pointing to the sky. “Tech, you’re up.”

“What are you attempting to do?” I ask.

“I have been researching the drone technology. I reckon I have five seconds to access the drone and re-programme it before it transmits any information back to its base. I’m hoping that it will give me access into the main system and I can see what intel the government have on where these TORO might actually be.”

“Then, you three can take over,” Crow adds. “Kesh gets us to the haystack, and you three find the needle.”

“Go for it,” I say, before my remaining courage leaves me for good.

Crow pulls over, and Kesh pulls on his mask before stepping out, shaking out his arms and legs.

Seth reaches over and slaps his back. “You can d-do this.”

Kesh grins, if not a little sheepishly, and closes his eyes. For a moment nothing happens, and then the drone starts to make its decent toward us. We all get out as the machine lands at our feet. It looks much bigger up close. Kesh fiddles with the black box that sits amongst the dewy grass, removing a hard drive of sorts.

“This is what we need. The rest needs to be concealed,” he says through the synth.

He starts breaking the light framework with his foot. Crow helps until the drone is small enough to be squished into the boot of the bus.

“Will they not know it is missing?” October asks. She kind of suits the mask. It gives her tough girl vibe much more kudos.

Kesh studies the technology in his hand. “Nah,” he mutters. “She’s still transmitting as normal. Give me some peace a mo. I need to focus.”

The silence seems to last an eternity. Kesh’s eyes remain close, but he pulls odd facial expressions. I watch him in awe. He is linking into technology.  Even after everything I’ve seen and everything I’ve been through, I’m still overwhelmed by EVO. Nature is amazing; it’s humans that ruin it.

“Get a pen,” Kesh bellows at us, and then starts spouting numbers.

“Got it,” Crow tells him.

“We’re too late, though. They’ve found them.”

“Shit, shit, shit,” Crow says, almost growling with rage. He types the numbers into Kesh’s tablet. “That’s real close. Literally, a five minute drive.”

“Well, what do you think?” I ask Crow.

“Think about what?” October asks. “What do you expect us to do? Crow said they’ll be no action. We haven’t got physical abilities.”

“But Crow and I have. What do you say, cuz?” I ask again. His eyes bore into mine. “They’re kids. I can’t sit back and do nothing.” I feel sick just imagining what those kids have been put through. They’ve had a taste of freedom and it is being snatched away again. They’re probably terrified. If I can do something to help, I have to at least try.

October grips my forearm. “Teddie, no,” she says, sensing my emotions.

“Teddie’s right. They’re kids, October.” He grins at me. “What are we waiting for?”

I jump in the passenger side, and Crow in the driver’s seat. He chucks Kesh his tablet and a bag of guns. “Get off the road and into the woods. Send word to the others, then lay low until they arrive. Tell them there has been a change of plan and to get here A.S.A.P.” Then, Crow puts his foot down.  As we speed down the lane, he turns to me and smiles. “I knew you were one of us.”

***

The sound of gunfire and children’s screams reaches us before we even catch a glimpse of a government truck. Crow pulls over, hands me two guns, and starts for the trees and the cause of the commotion.

“Reach out. I don’t care how, just do it.”

I reach out my telepathy, allowing it loose over the multiple minds ahead of us.

“I want my Mummy.” “I don’t want to die.” “Can I make it to the trees before they shoot me?” “My sister needs me. We can’t get split up.”

The emotion is too much. I stop, lift the mask from my mouth, and vomit in the hedgerow. “We have to help them,” I say to Crow.

More gun shots sound, sending birds flying from the trees. The children scream louder, and I can hear a chopper, but it isn’t in my line of sight.

I reach out again.
“Why are we tranqing them? We should be killing the freaks.” “I’ll kill those TORO bastards first.”

I fall to my knees. The emotion and hate in their thoughts cripples me.

“Pull it together, Cub,” Crow says, grabbing my upper arm tightly.

We breach the tree line. Soldiers advance towards a barn, tranquiliser guns poised. We’re to the left. One movement and we could be seen.

“Blast them, and then get inside that barn,” Crow says. “I’ll make use of the distraction. Wait for a sign from me, and then get them out the back.”

I don’t think twice. Racing out from the trees, I send at least ten soldiers soaring fifty yards back into the army trucks. Gun shots fire from further out, but I keep myself cocooned. I blast the barn door open, slamming it behind me. Children scream, and a trigger happy TORO fires at me. The bullet hits into my telekinetic force field and clatters to the ground. I withdraw my telekinesis, holding out my hands in surrender.

“I’m EVO. I’m here to help,” I say. Most of the kids recoil from me, and I curse the stupid synth. I sound like a serial killer. 

“How can we trust you?” asks a TORO. I can’t see his face through the VIDI screen on his helmet, but I recognise the anguished tones of his voice- half human and half soulless robot. Adam went through the same transition at Facility One.

“Are any of you Telepaths? Sensors?”

A boy of no more than ten steps forward. “I’m an Empath.”

I hold out my hand to him. One of the other kids tries to stop him, but he makes his way from the back of the barn and takes my hand.

He brushes his ridiculously long fringe out of his eyes and offers me a half smile. “She’s one of the good guys.”

A whistling sound catches my attention, and in the next moment, a deafening screech fills the barn. A rocket propelled grenade crashes through the wooden wall. There’s an explosion and it launches me through the air. My ears ring with a disorienting hum, and my eyes blur and water.

What is left of a TORO coats the walls and floor. The kids are in a panic, but none seriously hurt. A dog races to and from one child to the next in fright.

“Whose dog is that?” I ask, but I’m not offered a reply.

“This isn’t right. They were ordered to
not
hurt the children,” says one of the remaining TORO, TORO 201. His uniform is ripped open at the chest, and a deep wound bleeds all over his front. He winces in pain, but manages to lift a small girl into his arms. She’s screaming bloody murder. Well, that’s exactly what this is.

I compose myself and attempt to tune in again. Every panicked thought fills my mind, but one mind calls to me; he’s in charge I’m sure. His thoughts ring in his head as he spits them from his vile mouth. I stagger into the wall, desperately trying to ‘sort through the thoughts’ as Leoni would instruct me if she were here.
“

Reload boys. Orders are orders. Kill anything that moves.”

“Orders have changed,” I say, dragging TORO 201 away from the open wall. “We need to get the kids out of here. They’re going to fire again.”

Another TORO, TORO 286, points to the roof beams. “This place is going to collapse.”

Come on, Crow. I squint through a gap in the wood. More men advance on the barn with an RPG at the ready. They get into position as a wall of flames engulfs them.  Burning soldiers scream and run from the weapon. It explodes taking pieces of them with it.

The roof drops a foot. Dust and splinters of wood fall on us, and it’s hard to hear anything over the creaking of joists. “Go now.” I scream at the TORO. Blasting a hole in the back of the barn, I force my telekinesis up, lifting the roof and holding its full weight.  “Get those children out of here. Head into the woods and don’t stop running until you reach the road. Hurry, I’ll catch you up.”

“You need to come- now,” TORO 201 shouts.

“I need to find my friend. Your job is to keep those kids alive.”

He nods and steps through the hole. “Thank you,” he says, and then disappears.

The dog appears from behind a stack of boxes. He bites the material of my trousers, tugging me toward the hole.

“Go dog.” He tugs a little more. “I can’t go yet, mate. Go on, shoo,” I say, tapping him on the butt with my boot. He whines, but races out of the barn with his tail between his legs.

I throw the roof into the air and toward the military trucks. What is left of the shell falls around me. The wall of flames separates me from the remaining soldiers. Crow is on the other side, using a piece of metal to deflect bullets.

I force my telekinesis into the ground and soar into the air, clearing the flames in a single jump.

“Shit! Heads up,” shouts a soldier. He points his weapon at me, but has neither the time or skill to react.

As I land, I allow the force to ripple outwards. The ground literally shakes, and every man and woman is knocked off their feet.

Crow pulls me behind his sheet of metal, allowing me respite. I know my nose is bleeding. I can taste the metallic saltiness on my tongue. It seeps into my synth and I have to ditch it.

“What now?” I ask.

A chopper swoops in at high speed. A line of bullets hit the dirt, kicking up grass and mud. Crow drops the make-shift shield, and we both run for tree cover. Every snap as the bullets leave the chopper, and every thud as they embed into the earth, corresponds with my heart beating in my chest like a sledge hammer. I can feel the bullets close on my heels, and we dive behind the closest tree.

A hiss leaves Crow like someone has let the air out of him, and a sting nips at my shoulder. “Are you hit?” I scream at him.

“I’m too scared to look.”

I lift his top to see a graze where the bullet has skimmed his side. “You’re a lucky sod,” I say, sighing with relief.

“Are you good, Cub?” He pulls me forward to examine my graze. “Someone up there is on our side,” he says.

The chopper turns back to us, and I pull Crow’s legs further behind the tree. We’re practically sitting on each other. A shower of bullets kicks the dirt into our faces, but it is short lived. The chopper continues over the demolished barn, and toward the woods.

“They going for the kids,” Crow shouts, pushing himself to standing.

Those children and their TORO saviours don’t deserve this. I won’t be a bystander. I reach out my telekinesis; the force of the chopper is unlike anything I have felt before. Doubt creeps in, but a memory seeps in through the chaos; the clear sound of metal on rock from that night at the cove. I’ve done this before. I can do this again.

The chopper splutters as its propellers screech to a stop. The nose dips, and I drop to one knee, but manage to drag the chopper back through the air. Electrokinesis courses through my body, but I can’t use it in front of Crow… not yet. Anyway, it’s easier to use my telekinesis. I’m an old hat at it.

The remaining soldiers scream in genuine fear. I can hear them trying to start one of the trucks. I step out from the trees, allowing them to see me- to see the blood running over my mouth. I’ve never held my telekinesis for so long, or on something so heavy, and my head feels ready to explode with pressure. The chopper hovers above them for a split second, and then I release it. As it falls, Crow sends a ball of fire toward it. The chopper and the fire ball hit the truck in perfect unity.