Essence: The E.S.T. Org. (11 page)

More clones wait at the exit.

Isa sees them first. “Oh no,” she sighs.

They can see and hear the blue pulses of energy exploding outside. Clones are being struck and killed.

“Where’s that coming from?” Nicky asks.

The ship that had brought them there was now trying to protect them. They battle what was left of the clones to escape. Willy takes the worst of it. Finally they are able to limp over to the ship and enter it. They fly away, all badly injured, but still alive. Nicky tries to reassure Willy just before he passes out, “You’ll pull through, don’t worry you’ll pull through buddy.” Nicky yells to the vehicle, “Get us to help!”

The vehicle replies, “Chlezéon has been contacted.”

“Come on Willy …” Nicky pleads. But he and Isa are so badly injured themselves, they could hardly be of any help.

“He’ll make it. He has to,” Isa says.

“I know he will …” But Nicky isn’t really sure if he will. Nicky does something he never really does. He closes his eyes and prays.

The vehicle takes them back to the church. Z is waiting.

They limp into the church with Isa carrying Willy over her shoulder.

“Put him down here,” Z motions to them. “Do not despair. His body has shut down to heal. Even with the gravest of injuries, it is possible for you three to heal. Your capacity to heal surpasses even our own,” Z reassures Isa and Nicky just before he leaves the church.

It was a long, painful night in the church, but by morning all three have completely healed.

Isa is the first to wake up. “We did it!” Isa celebrates with her hands up in the air.

“Yeah, we did it,” Nicky wipes his tired eyes.

The two look at Willy still lying in a pew. “Hey, I’m fine you wimps …” Willy laughs.

“Come here tough guy,” Nicky motions to Willy.

The three battle-worn kids hug.

“You know, those clones were probably more powerful than any army on earth, and we beat them! At least they can’t clone for a long, long time,” Willy says.

“How many more do you suppose are left?” Nicky asks.

“Who knows? Thousands probably, and the Chreé are not going to be happy after what we did,” Willy says.

“Yeah, but for today, let’s just celebrate,” Isa says.

Out of the blue, a cell phone left behind in the church rings. “Hello?” Willy answers. “Thank you, Z … what? There’s another one. But we barely survived. Okay, I understand, thanks.” Willy slowly hangs up.

“There’s another facility!?” Nicky exclaims.

“Yeah there’s another one. It’s in the Arizona desert,” Willy replies.

“But I thought …” Nicky starts to say.

Willy interrupts screaming, “We all thought!”

Willy and Nicky glare at each other.

“Relax guys,” Isa stands in between them. “We never give up and I don’t think the Apache spirits in us would let us quit anyway. Let’s get in as much training as we can before we go see our sweet brothers and sisters, Okay?”

“I’m sorry,” Willy apologies to Nicky.

“Don’t worry about it, let’s just focus on the next mission. Let’s just hope it’s easier than the last one.”

Back at the safe house, four days have passed since they received Z’s last call. Stuck in the house they are growing bored of doing the same things day after day.

“Good morning boys,” Isa says with a smile as she walks into the kitchen.

“Somebody forgot to buy the salmon. What am I going to eat?” Nicky says rifling through the refrigerator.

“Hey, I’ve got wheatgrass,” Isa smiles.

“Bleh … I’ll leave the wheatgrass to the horse,” Nicky replies. They all laugh.

After breakfast and a long, boring day, the call they have been fretting finally comes in.

Willy answers, “Yeah, we’re ready. Thanks for everything Z. We’ll try our best.”

“Ready guys? The vehicle is preprogrammed. Let’s go,” Willy tells them.

They enter the vehicle. It backs out and transforms under the cover of night and takes off.

“Z told me that three large rocks surround the entrance. When we approach, the door will open like before. They’ll be expecting us, so the Watchers are on high alert. Z warned me that they’ve changed tactics. They can’t sense us, but they can sense each other. So, if we’re close enough they’ll know we’re not one of them,” Willy says.

“Damn, this will be harder than before,” Nicky says.

“Yeah, but we know what to expect now. Plus we’re tougher than the first time; obviously our skills increase the more we use them, but somehow I feel more powerful now,” Isa tells them.

“It’s true. It’s as if the more we are connecting to the spirits, it is somehow making us more powerful,” Nicky says.

“I feel it too! Well, were going to need it. I’m sure the Chreé will throw everything they got at us,” Willy states.

They quietly land many miles away. It is pitch dark … for normal humans anyway.

“You guys see the rocks?” Nicky asks.

“Yeah we see them,” Isa replies.

They adapt and carefully begin their trek.

“You guys suppose our essence goes somewhere when we die?” Nicky asks while they travel.

“We won’t find out today,” Willy reassuringly responds.

“Yeah, we got each other’s backs. What can go wrong?” Nicky looks at Isa and Willy, then smiles.

“Always brother,” Willy says.

“And don’t forget the sister, too,” Isa smiles.

They arrive at the rocks. A hidden door lifts from the desert floor.

“Between my hearing, your smell, and Isa’s telepathy, it should be easy to find the cloning room again,” Willy tells them.

“The only problem will be getting out,” Nicky says.

This facility is longer, but has the same basic layout with the obligatory white walls. Even the clones’ enhanced eyes haven’t spotted their adapted bodies. They search until Isa senses the cloning room.

“I think I know where it is.” Isa leads them to a massive double door. Right above the door is the same glowing green light from the last facility. “This must be it,” Isa says.

When the double doors open, they are amazed … again.

“Whoa! There are a lot more basins here,” Nicky says looking up in disbelief.

They freeze for a second at the sheer magnitude of the room. It’s similar to the last creation room, except there are thousands of basins stacked horizontally and vertically. They are stacked about fifty feet high, and each basin is dripping the gelatinous blue fluid to the basin below it. The three can only guess how many they’re looking at.

“Looks like they learned how to make better use of the space,” Nicky points out.

“We still haven’t been spotted. We need to destroy this place as quickly as possible and get out with minimal engagements,” Willy suggests.

“Yeah, like Agent 47 in
Hitman
,” Nicky interrupts.

“I need you to focus, Nicky. Okay guys, first we destroy the machines around the perimeter, second those crystals above the basins, and finally the basins where the clones are created. We have to move fast and stay hidden as long as we can,” Willy tells them.

The three move so fast that the human eye would have difficulty seeing anything but a blue blur. After the first explosion, the ear piercing screams of the Watchers begin.

Once all of the alien machines are destroyed, they focus their attack on several massive blue crystals situated approximately a hundred feet high above the basins. As the room fills with smoke, clones begin to enter.

«Hide!» Willy says telepathically. They start climbing the basins reaching the crystals 100 feet in the air. They adapt their bodies perfectly, blending with the crystals high above.

«Nicky, take the center rows, I’ll take the left, and Isa take the right,» Willy instructs them.

They jump down and land as quietly as possible. They begin to sprint, shattering basins as they speed past, and in the process, running through clones. Destroying the bottom rows begins a chain reaction. Basins start collapsing on each other. The clones begin to attack. They cannot fight and remain adapted; they are now exposed.

Nicky begins to fight back. Several clones lay either unconscious or dead at his feet.

More begin to pour into the room.

«Isa, there are too many. I need you to focus on the clones from a distance. We’ll keep at the basins!» Willy tells her.

Many of these clones are now armed with machine guns. The three can now easily see the bullets as they travel towards them. Any bullet that manages to hit one of them is quickly absorbed and any internal damage is healed instantaneously.

Isa’s arrows begin taking out clones as quickly as she releases them. She moves around the room with amazing speed and agility.

«Okay, Isa, we’ve destroyed all the basins,» Nicky tells her.

«Go, go, go,» Willy yells. This time they try not to engage, but rather avoid and take out the clones only when necessary.

But the corridors are full of them.

Nicky roars and clears a path.

«Run through them now!» Willy yells. Willy leads the charge, his claws tearing and slashing as he runs. «I see the exit.»

They finally make it outside. «Oh no, not again!» Isa yells.

“How many do you think there are?”

“Thousands I guess,” Nicky answers. They all stop and simultaneously start to concentrate on their essences. Connecting, they start to dimly glow a light blue as the essence begins to surge through them.

“You guys see that mountain?” Willy points to it. “Let’s get to the top. We’ll have a tactical advantage up there.”

They quickly reach the top with clones following close behind. The clones start ascending. They don’t know how or why, but all three feel compelled and begin making a beautiful sound, like a Native American war song. Nicky, Isa, and Willy begin glowing more brightly. Their essences are somehow making them more powerful with every passing second, almost as if preparing them for the battle ahead. The clones are almost at the top with them.

In waves of forty to fifty clones at a time, they begin to reach the peak. Isa begins flinging arrows desperately. Nicky’s tomahawks and Willy’s war clubs are raining down on the clones so fast, they appear only as blue streaks across the sky.

Eventually, because of their overwhelming numbers, clones begin to reach the peak and the battle turns to hand-to-hand combat. Each of the kids have now manifested their powerful animal weaponry.

The beautiful and powerful legs of the palomino horse emerge from Isa. At the same instant, the intimidating claws and teeth of the grey wolf appear as a part of Willy. Nicky manifests menacing claws and teeth like those of the grizzly bear. All of them glow more brightly and intensely as the essences that flow through them increase their power.

Isa begins to kick and strike the clones tactfully and at amazing speeds as they approach her. Her kicks look like blue streaks. They are so powerful and precise that she kills multiple clones with every kick. Dozens upon dozens of clones fly through the air with every devastating blow.

Nicky fights in a much more aggressive manner than Isa. He’s delivering such vicious strikes and slashes that bloody bodies begin amassing all around him. Clones begin to fear getting near him, especially when he begins to roar. Any clone in the way of his devastating sonic weapon is instantly sent flying, eventually to the bottom of the mountain.

Willy attacks in an aggressive but tactical style. He advances with incredible agility, retreats, then slashes and bites. His speed is devastating to the clones as he slaughters them before they even have time to mount an attack.

In all of the mayhem, three clones in a prone position manage to crawl through the blood near Nicky’s back. Nicky has almost lost control to his grizzly essence allowing one of the clones to stand and kick him on the side of the right knee. He falls to one knee. The other two clones grab him and quickly throw him off the mountain.

Isa can see what’s happening. “Nooo!” she yells.

Willy stops and can only stare helplessly at what is transpiring.

As Nicky falls down the mountainside, he closes his eyes and thinks back to his training. He tries to connect with the eagle whose essence he shares and suddenly …

Nicky manifests wings!

“Ha! Ha … YES! I knew I could fly!” Beautiful blue, glowing eagle wings could be seen by everyone as he soars back up the mountain side. Everyone on the mountain stops fighting for just a second and stares in awe.

“He did it! He did it!” Isa screams.

“They can’t stop us!” Willy yells.

Their essences begin glowing even more intensely than before. The light projected from their bodies is almost blinding. The top of the mountain glows so intensely that in can be seen for miles around. The skill and the power that the three demonstrate is power this earth has never witnessed. The battle is so intense that the topography of the mountain is permanently changed.

Finally it’s over. Tens of thousands of clones lay dead all around the area.

After Nicky lands, he hugs Willy and Isa.

“Unreal! The clones never quit! They just kept coming. They really were like us,” notes Isa.

Police lights can be seen in the distance. The lights are getting closer and closer. Their alien vehicle arrives.

“Take us home, buddy. Take us home,” Nicky says.