Judgement 8 (Subject Alpha #1) (26 page)

Tears sprung from my eyes with the force of the current rocking my body. I couldn’t seem to get a grasp on anything. I needed to take my mind back but she’d locked it down. My jaw was vibrating, my blood igniting with the electricity flowing through my veins, the combination lethal and agonising.

Every time I found the little bright white signal, another burst of something was either injected into me or jolted into my brain, snatching away my concentration.

“Argh!” my mother cried out when nothing worked. “Are you sure about this, Elina? I can’t find anything. Your brain won’t give me a hint at anything.”

Opening my eyes and piercing her with my gaze I mumbled a yes. “Go deeper, it’s there.”

She gawped at me, astounded at my demand. “Elina, you do realise what that means?”

I stared at her. This was it. It was time. I felt it in me, a sudden calming sensation taking over and giving me the courage I needed to finish this shit. I’d had no idea what my job was, what I was supposed to do if I wasn’t blowing the place up with lightning. But suddenly and rather strangely it all made perfect sense.

I smiled at her softly and nodded through the pain. “I don’t want this anymore. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to be here. Use me. Take my life and finally put it to use. I’m tired.”

Her chest heaved and her throat bobbed. If I’d known better I’d have misinterpreted it as love for me. But I knew she only saw the end to subject Alpha, and how that would hinder her work. However, what I offered was too great to ignore. I was giving her permission to burrow so far into me that there would be no coming back—ever. She would take everything. She would destroy my brain in the process of understanding it and there would be two choices for the outcome. Severe brain damage or death. I prayed for the latter.

I could see the question in her eyes, her mind relaying different scenarios. Eventually she nodded, turning to Blaine.

“Strap her down.”

He grinned, his eyes finding mine. I shivered at the immorality behind his smug happiness. He was going to witness my death and nothing gave him greater pleasure.

“Oh, this will be fun.”

I ignored him. The last thing I needed was the desire to cook the bastard. I needed to do this for Reid, for Lettie and Petra, and all the other subjects who had lost their lives because of my mother’s sick need for power.

“I’m almost tempted to sink inside you one more time before you lose the capability to realise who’s raping you,” he taunted in my ear when he leaned over my body to fasten the neck ties.

“Blaine!” Janice snapped without even looking at him. She was more bothered that he was taking valuable time to fasten my binds. Giving me a wink, he moved back.

“Enjoy the ride, Princess.”

I couldn’t help but smile this time. “Oh, I will. Enjoy the show.”

He blinked at me but Janice came in front of him, injecting my blood with some more toxic chemicals. I stilled when her hand caressed one side of my face. “I really do love you, El.”

I snorted, unable to nod due to the strap across my forehead pinning my head down in preparation for the pain. “No, Mother. You love the monster you created. The real Elina is nothing like someone you could ever love.”

She smiled softly. “You’d be surprised. You made such a courageous young woman. You’re strong, fearless and determined. And I shaped that side of you. You make me proud. And you’ll always make me proud.”

I didn’t reply. There was nothing to say.

Reaching down, she kissed my cheek. “Sleep well, baby.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, needing to rein in my emotions. A stray tear trickled out, dropping down into my ear and making me shiver.

Giving me a final nod and a smile, my mother turned to the machine beside the bed, increased some dials until they were all at their topmost positions, blew out a breath then closed her eyes in silent prayer as she flicked the final switch that sent my brain right into the epicentre of Judgement.

THE PAIN WAS SO intense that my mind shifted away from it. The light was so bright I wondered if I’d actually bypassed the system and gone straight to Heaven.

I was in trouble. The matrix was too complex, the maze of circuits too intricate and convoluted for me to classify a particular route. I couldn’t find my way through and I started to panic.

As soon as Janice flicked the switch, the force of power that surged through me was overwhelming. But something in my head had clicked, and I fought it back. I pushed through the pain to reverse it, hunting through an assortment of light streaks that were being forced into my head, latched onto one and followed its route, forcing myself deeper and deeper into the web of the Judgement system. It reminded me of one of those images where the photographer has captured the night time traffic at speed, the blur of headlights creating a unique trail of glowing lines.

I didn’t have much time before my brain couldn’t cope any longer and began to shut down. I was already amazed at how much it was pushing back, giving me the time and opportunity to do what was needed. It was like an ally, working with me from the sidelines, even though it was the heart of what was giving me the capability to do what I needed. My manipulated mind, for the first time, worked with me. It supported me, helped me, encouraged me and gave me purpose after all the pain of life. I refused to disappoint it.

I gasped when my body went into shock as Janice increased the strength of the current, the rage of a seizure racking intense spasms throughout me. However, my mind was no longer attached to my body and I pushed the sensation away, willing myself to concentrate.

Somehow I knew what to look for, a primary signal. I instinctively knew once I saw it to latch onto it and follow its indicator, much like when I’d found Reid in the burning house. But I couldn’t find it amidst so many different markers, each one leading me somewhere else.

I couldn’t help but feel I was in some crazy game show, the prize waiting at the end of the path if I chose the right one. If I didn’t, well it was game over without even a consolation prize.

God damn it! My heart raced as my eyes flicked to every track. Time was running out. I needed to get this done before my body gave in to the pleasure of death. I could almost taste the end; hope and excitement that this was nearly over gave me even more courage.

“Just do it, El,”
I told myself.
“Go with your gut and pick one.”

I pictured myself standing at a crossroads and stepped onto one of the paths, locking my focus onto the bright white light I could make out at the end of it. Taking hesitant steps, one after another, the light grew close but I stumbled when the path split into another four.

“Shit! What now?”

Forcing myself to step forward without thinking I found myself on the third path, my feet moving quickly. Then it split again and I went with instinct and allowed it to direct me. The junctions were becoming more and more frequent, delaying my time and making me angry. My emotions were already hanging on by a thread, but it was too dangerous to yield to them yet, I needed to build them up for the end.

I presumed each route to be different programs within the Judgement motherboard. That was how I looked at it, anyway. And I was searching for the default program, the primary driver. I smiled to myself. I was a virus. Reid had been right. I was the worm wriggling my way through the apple to find the core.

Taking more involuntary selections, I eventually found myself in what seemed to be a huge white dome. I knew as soon as I beheld it that I had made it. I couldn’t help but allow the excitement to build in my gut. It rose above me like one of those bubble umbrellas, the clear but frosted plastic in this case a bright glowing mass of intricate veins of energy.

In the centre was what appeared to be a tall fountain of twisting and swirling streaks, trails of electricity reaching from the ground up to the centre of the dome, each one branching off to create the structure. They were the elements and foundations to the Judgement nucleus. To put it in other words, this pulsing pillar of data was my creator, the very thing that had given this disease inside me sustenance and order. It was the very thing that fed information to my brain. Its power over me was incredible, I felt it inside me, flowing, demanding, controlling. It was my real mother.

It seemed to spit at me as I made my way over to it. It didn’t want me there. It could read what I was going to do, almost like it was a physical entity. But it wasn’t. I was.

The atmosphere around me darkened, the walls to the dome morphing into a deep hue of red, the anger it greeted me with warning me things were about to become much more intense.

I stalled, I couldn’t help it. Anyone would when facing their death. Numerous second thoughts held me back. Shaking my head, I discouraged them, refused them access into my mind. The very thing I was going up against was feeding my mind with anxiety and fear. It was playing dirty.

Yeah, well so could I.

I laughed, tilting my head back as I spanned my arms to the side when it tried to defend itself and struck me with its energy, bolts of red and white lightning taking me to my knees before it.

But what it didn’t seem to grasp was that I’d mastered it now. I had full control, I was in charge of myself and over time, I’d learnt to submit to it. That and the fact I had accepted death made me unstoppable.

But still it fought me, spat at me, pushed me back with a barrage of tremors and explosive sparks, and still I soaked each one up. I took my enemy’s ammunition and loaded my own weapon with it. With what Janice was pushing into me and the Judgement hub trying to kill me, my whole essence was on overload, my body trembling violently, the walls to the dome shaking as I started to fight back.

I felt the familiar lockdown of each organ, the rapid build-up of cement coating my veins and turning my blood to sludge to obstruct the voltage from reaching my brain.

I vomited. I couldn’t help it. The agony forced every fibre of me to scream in torment. My brain struggled under the pressure, my concentration slipping with each second that passed, but I wasn’t ready, I needed more. I needed to be so crammed full of power that it didn’t stand a chance.

I blinked, my concentration slipping when I heard Janice panicking. She knew what I was doing. I could hear her frantic ramblings, another shot of poison flooding my veins and driving me deeper into the danger zone.

It was winning, forcing me back, and I let out a frustrated cry. Pushing myself harder I released an agonising scream, struggling to cope with the pain. It was too much. I could feel my bones splintering with the force, my organs starting to roast inside me.

“Shit. No. NO!”

I blinked when I spotted a blue glow in the air. It raced along one of the paths to the left of me. As it neared I felt its heat radiating around me, the soft sensation of calm and pleasure that came with it enthralling, its simple appearance immediately dulling the agony cursing me.

“I’m here, little girl.”

I released a sob.
“I can’t do it, Reid. It’s winning. I can’t control it!”

“Listen to me. We do this together.”

“No. No I won’t let you. Lettie needs you now.”

“You need me, Elina. I’m here for you. I told you. You’re mine now. We do this together.”

The air seemed to shimmer until Reid’s image appeared beside me, his beautiful handsome face looking at with me with awe. I couldn’t help but feel encouraged by his admiration for me. It was the first time in my life someone was proud of me and my emotions burst, the power of it making the core splutter when I suddenly released an overwhelming amount of power.

Reid smiled at me and took my hand.
“Now you’re ready, little girl. Let’s do this shit!”

I puffed out a breath, nodded in return and closed my eyes, concentrating on the images Reid fed me.

A choked sound resounded from me when I let him consume my mind.

He stood before me, his hands framing my face as his eyes told me everything he needed to say. “Marry me. You own my heart, El. My soul is coupled with yours forever.”

My head tipped back when his lips whispered over my throat, his fingers stroking down my arms until he linked them through my own and brought our joined hands to rest against his chest. I could feel the rampant rhythm of his heart. Each beat was mine, they belonged to me. Reid gave them to me willingly and I allowed them to flow through our fingers and into me. I could feel the throb of each one moving freely through me until they reached my heart and pulsed life into it when my own rhythm stopped.

“Take me, Elina. Take what I’m giving you. My life is yours, baby. Use me.”

Both our screams were loud and agonising in the air when we joined forces and fed the system with so much energy it parted in the middle and finally allowed me in.

I saw it then, the tiny ball of power that fed so much destruction. Taking it in my hands I stared at what had taken and given so much.

Lifting my eyes to Reid one last time, I watched as his own devastation rolled down his face. He knew it was the end. But he also knew there was no other way. I had to consume it to blow the circuit. We both instinctively felt it.