Collide (Entangled Teen) (The Taking Book 3) (8 page)

“But—”

“What? You thought the rest of the world operated like your perfect Sydia? It doesn’t. What you see isn’t far from what these people have lived with for years. Now all I can do is help them as best I can.”

Jackson edges closer. “So, you don’t have to be here, doing this? You weren’t ordered to count jars?”

“If I don’t, who will? People like to feel there is an order to things, a leader. It limits the chaos, so I provide that order. That leadership.”

“Then why stay at the base,” I say.

Myers laughs sarcastically. “Where would I go? A war is coming. I don’t think it matters where you call home. This fight knows no bounds.”

A crack of lightning hits outside, and then the sky opens up and pours down, beating against the roof. I stare out a nearby window at the rain, finding comfort in its certainty. Everything I thought I knew has changed. Law is now an enemy. My father is no longer commanding the Engineers. Sydia is all but gone. But the weather is still there, shining on good days, pouring on bad, proving that an order exists outside us and this war. There is a world here, and while I can’t count on much, I can count on the rain.

Chapter Thirteen

We stay inside the building for an hour, watching the rain, counting supplies. There’s comfort in the silence, in the pounding on the roof.

When it finally dries up, I step outside, peering around at the buildings, at the people in the windows. Then my mind is made up, and I cross the road to the field. Once I reach the center, I drop onto my knees, the dead wet grass seeping through my pants, sending a chill through me. But I ignore it, my mind focused on my task. I close my eyes and flatten my hands against the earth, concentrating with everything I have on healing it—on creating new growth. I’ve never tried to conjure vegetation when there wasn’t already a remnant of life, but I can tell there were once berries grown here, and while that isn’t much, it’s something. These people need something.

The grass perks up, each blade growing under my command, as though I am water and sun and nourishment, all in one. I can feel the grass thickening around my hands, spreading out, then vines shoot up from the grass, wild strawberries bursting up in patches here and there, remembering their old existence.

I open my eyes and smile at my creation. The field is nearly full now, various strawberry and blackberry patches throughout. They won’t feed these people for long, but I can come back every day. I may not be able to guarantee their lives, but I can give them this.

“What are you doing?” Myers asks from behind me.

Standing, I turn to see the townspeople all around, wonder on their faces. Jackson looks uneasy, but he knows that I could never leave here without helping them in some way.

“I terraformed the field.”

Myers walks out farther, plucks a large blackberry from its vine, and pops it into his mouth. A long moment passes, and I think he might reprimand me. And I almost want him to, so I can go off on him properly. But then he says, “Thank you.” He spins around. “Thank you for this.”

I shrug uncomfortably. “It’s the least I could do.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

Myers returns to the supply building to grab jars for the berries, and Jackson steps up behind me, his arms wrapping around my waist. “You’re too much, you know?”

“No, but look at them.” I point to a group of kids, laughing as they race around the field, grabbing berries and eating them so fast their faces become coated in juice. “It’s nice. Everything’s changing. It’s just nice to see normal for a minute.”

Jackson considers me, then nods to the ground. “Lie down with me.”

My eyes widen. “Here? We can’t—”

He bursts out laughing. “Not that. Just…lie with me.”

Jackson lies back in the grass, blades cradling his face, making him looks so perfect that it nearly takes my breath away. He pats the space beside him, and I lie back, my head beside his. He points up to the sky. “See this,” he says. “The sky is still blue. The clouds are still white. The sun is still there, Ari.” His fingers thread through mine, gripping them tightly. “I know a lot has changed, but the fundamental elements of your world are still the same. There is still air and warmth. There is still a blue sky for day and stars at night. Earth is still the same. And no matter what, no matter what happens, I want you to know that you are the best thing to ever happen to me. I love you.”

A tear slips from the corner of my eye as I watch a puffy white cloud drift by, completely at ease. I will never understand how Jackson knows just what to say, just what I need to hear, but I’m thankful for him. Live or die, I am so thankful. I lean up and kiss his cheeks, then lips.

“I love you.”

Chapter Fourteen

We make our way back to the base in thoughtful silence. I watch the land zoom past, seeing it in a new light. How could Parliament stop feeding its people? How could they leave them to die? Whom or what are we fighting to protect if they’ve already left these people for dead? I can’t process all the questions roaming through my mind.

When we arrive, I leave the truck and continue into the heart of the base, eager to see my family and friends. People who feel and act as I do. Who have the same goals.

I find Gretchen and Vill cooped up around a T-screen, their eyes focused as the male Op in front of the screen clicks from view to view. A random image of the sky. A series of buildings. The entrance to the Underground.

“What is this?” I ask.

The Op, who can’t be more than twenty, turns to me, his eyebrows raised like he wants to ask who I am, and then his eyes widen as they move from Jackson to me. “You’re Ari Alexander.”

“Yeah?”

“I was there when you fought at the airport. You let me go.”

I scan his face and the memory hits me—shooting Op after Op, then the scared looks of two who I knew weren’t ready to fight. Maybe would never be ready to fight. I screamed for them to run before having to shoot another one in the head. A shudder moves through me before I can stop it. I swallow hard, unsure of what to say.

“Thank you,” he says. “You gave me my life. I owe you.”

I shrug. I killed too many people that day to feel as though anyone owes me anything, but I can’t bring myself to say it. Instead, I focus on the screen. “What’s this?” I repeat.

He swivels his chair back around. “It’s satellite imaging. We can zoom in and take pictures of virtually anything. This is how Kelvin plans to watch the attack unfold.”

“What do you mean,
watch
?”

“Sydia. Parliament has no plans to join the fight. That’s what the Underground is for. Their intention is to survive it.”

I feel my blood boiling at his words. “So you’re telling me Kelvin plans to sit comfortably in his room while Zeus attacks?”

The Op glances to the screen like it holds the answer to my question, then peers over at me. “Honestly, Ari, I have no idea what Kelvin has planned. I only know that he feels hiding, at least initially, is the best course of action.”

Myers clears his throat from behind us, and I spin around, needing someone to take my anger out on. “When were you going to tell me this?”

He cocks his head. “I don’t know you, and I certainly don’t owe you any explanations. We only know a fraction of the plans and intentions of Parliament. Zeus will very likely use weapons we’ve never seen before. He could blast a city with one blow. We don’t know. Parliament fears whether we can survive the initial attack. I do, too, which is why…” He trails off, and I feel Jackson tense beside me.

“No,” Jackson says, his tone firm. “That isn’t an option.”

Myers’s eyes land evenly on Jackson. “I assumed you would disagree, but I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to her.” His gaze swings to me, and instantly I see an image in my mind—an army of half-breeds. Half human, half Ancient. The same abilities—same speed, same healing ability—as Zeus’s army, but how does he expect that to happen?

I open my mouth to ask, when Vill says, “He wants you to heal them.”

“What? Who?”

“All of them. The Operatives,” Vill says. “And I agree with him.” Jackson faces him, his eyebrows threaded in anger, but Vill tosses up a hand before he can argue. “They’ll serve better as fighters if they’re Ancient. You know it. And I know.”

“You weren’t here when the neurotoxin was released,” Jackson says. “You don’t know.”

“Neither do you,” I say, my voice growing louder with each word. “I’m the only person standing here who has any idea what it feels like to be poisoned to death. Me. So don’t think I would make this decision lightly.”

“You’re considering this?” Jackson spits out.

I look away, wishing I could freeze the moment so I can think without all of them staring at me like my decision is the only one that matters. “I don’t know. I think we have to consider everything. Zeus could arrive any day now. And then what? Either we give these Operatives a means of surviving or we fight this war alone, because they don’t have a chance as they are now. As humans. Forget our mind-control abilities—our reflexes are faster. Our minds sharper. And then with xylem giving us the ability to heal, we’re practically indestructible.”

“Unless Kelvin releases another neurotoxin or some other defense especially for Ancients.”

“He won’t do that,” a deep voice says from behind my shoulder, and I turn to see Dad and Cybil behind me, Dad’s expression intense. I wonder how long he’s been listening. For a moment, I feel embarrassed. Daddy’s little girl, pretending to be big. But then his chin lifts. “Kelvin does not have the means to release anything at this moment. Parliament’s plan of attack is traditional, if not archaic. The valued members of each country have been placed safely underground. Operatives will move both in air and land, fighting with nothing more than the weapons in their hands and the determination in their hearts. That isn’t enough.” His eyes land on me, and he shakes his head just a touch, his expression some combination of pride and sadness. “Ari is the only one here who has lived as both human and Ancient. Who has fought as both human and Ancient. She’ll make the call.”

…

The day ends early, and we head to the bunkers on the other side of the warehouse to sleep. There aren’t true rooms here, only tiny beds separated by tiny walls, like the cubicles where the people here work. I can hear everything. Creaking noises from the wind hitting the base. Breathing sounds more like whispering. I expected Jackson to follow me to bed, to comfort me, but he never came, too angry, I supposed, to talk. Or maybe he knew it would do no good to discuss the matter. I had already made my decision. I just wasn’t ready to say it out loud.

I toss my arm over my head and stare at the ceiling yards upon yards above us, picturing an air strike, then the ceiling collapsing on top of us. As Ancients, we would sense it coming. We would flee. The humans wouldn’t be so lucky.

Sighing, I sit up, sure I won’t be able to sleep anytime soon, and slide on my jacket before heading outside for fresh air. I walk down the dirt road and stare off into the distance, my mind on the impending war, when my eye catches on something beside the road. A half mile away, but absolutely there. I edge closer, another step, then another, my heartbeat picking up. The wind slowly slips around me, throwing my hair in my face as I strain to see.

The figure moves toward me, and I toward it, then I see long white hair whip in the wind and suddenly my blood stops pumping, my legs stop moving, my lungs stop drawing breath. But still, he continues to move. I scramble back, falling, digging into the dirt, desperate to get away. I have no weapon, nothing. I’m not prepared. I can’t fight him. Not here. Not now. And then in a blink of the eye, he’s in front of me and every muscle in my body quakes with fear. A slow smile creeps across Zeus’s face, and then one word is placed in my mind as though it were my thought instead of his.

Soon.

“Ah!” I gasp for a breath that won’t come and scramble up, only to find myself tangled in blankets. I fight against them, just as Jackson pulls me against him. “Jackson?” I blink hard, momentarily disoriented. “How did I get back here? Where is he? Did you see him?”

I try to stand, but Jackson forces me to sit still. “Ari, it was just a dream. You had a dream.”

“No. You weren’t in here. I was alone and then I went outside and—”

“You didn’t. I came in shortly after we all went to bed. I couldn’t sleep without you. And I’m sorry about earlier.”

My mind reels, unable to stop. “Wait, no, you weren’t here, and I left. I went outside. I—”

“Why don’t I get you some water? Stay here, okay? I’ll be right back.”

He steps outside the makeshift curtain, and I sit back in my bed, my hands shaking. I clench them together in hopes of steadying them, and that’s when my gaze lands on my fingers, on the thick red mud caked underneath each nail. I hold them out in front of me, fighting to keep a sob from escaping my lips.

It wasn’t a dream. Zeus is here.

Which means the war has already begun.

I scramble out of bed and out the curtain, grabbing Jackson’s arm as I pass. “You have to come with me.”

He grips my hand tightly. “Okay.”

A few steps later and we’re outside staring down the dirt road, just as I was before. I walk until I find the claw marks in the dirt. My claw marks. I hold out my hands for Jackson to see and then point at the marks. “Do you see? It wasn’t a dream. He was here, Jackson.”

Jackson bites his lip and peers around, like he’s searching for Zeus—or searching for my sanity. “I don’t know, Ari. Why would he come here without doing anything? That isn’t Zeus. He prefers a surprise attack.”

“Yes, but he’s also calculated. No one would expect him to be here already. Maybe he’s lying low, waiting for the others to come. Or maybe they’re here, too.”

“But then why wait? I’ve been an RES for years now, Ari. This isn’t Zeus. You’re right, he is calculated, but he thrives on the shock value of his actions.”

I stare out to the spot where I first saw Zeus standing, his long white hair whipping in the late-night breeze. “But maybe that’s exactly what he’s doing. No one would expect him to be here, Jackson. It’s the perfect strategy.” Then I turn to him, my eyes filling with urgency. “I need you to believe me on this. I need to know you trust me, trust my sanity, because there are days I wonder if I’m losing myself, and I can’t have you questioning me, too.”

Jackson wraps his arms around me. “I trust you. Don’t worry.”

“Thank you,” I say, then I lean away to look at him. “Will you trust me when I turn Myers?”

“What?” He steps back, rage taking over his face. “You don’t know him, Ari. You can’t possibility know his intentions. What if he wants to be an Ancient just so he stands a better chance of killing us?”

I shake my head. “My gut tells me he wants to help. And he’s right. Humans don’t stand a chance. I think we should turn any Ops that are willing. In fact…” I feel the idea registering in my mind, releasing possibilities that were never available before. “That’s it.”

“What’s it?”

“We start a healing tour. We go from base to base, changing as many Operatives, even humans, as possible into Ancients. It’s brilliant. Zeus would never expect it, and then we have a stronger defense ready for whatever he brings.”

Jackson walks around, refusing to look at me as he processes what I’m saying. “What makes you think Kelvin would allow this?”

“He wouldn’t have to know.”

Jackson laughs sarcastically. “Are we seeing the same things here? Kelvin knows everything, and besides, you can’t guarantee the ones we change would keep it a secret. This is dangerous even for you.”

I take a step toward him. “I don’t see how there are any other options. This isn’t some training we’re preparing for. People are going to die. Earth could be destroyed. But I refuse to just lie down and accept our fate. We have to fight. And to stand a chance, we need more soldiers like us.”

Jackson stops pacing to look at me. “You’ve already made up your mind, haven’t you?”

Normally I’d say yes. I would say that I don’t need anyone else behind me, only myself, but that was the old Ari. I need Jackson. I need his support. “No,” I say. “I want your input.”

Jackson reaches for me, hugging me close. “Like I said, I’m with you.”

“Really?”

“Always. Now, where do we begin?”

I turn toward the warehouse. “It starts with Myers.”