Shocked (18 page)

The energy inside me crackles with the fear and astonishment that course through me. It’d be so easy to end it all—to utterly destroy them all. My hand clamps tightly only because we’re so far underground. For a moment I falter and my hand rises. A hand on my shoulder and across my mouth almost causes me to release the energy.

Lucas spins me so I can see him, though honestly, I knew it was him all along. He pulls me out of my shock and I watch his similar reaction to mine when he takes in the scene below. The emotions wracking through him are plain on his face: disbelief, shock, and ultimately, fear.

He snaps out of it and grabs both my hands. Lucas shakes his head no before he juts his chin towards the way we came. We signal for the others to follow quietly when we see them and move quickly down the tunnel. It’s not until we make the left turn and start the slight incline that we stop to catch our breath.

“What was it? What did you see?” Mason asks between gulps of breath.

Lucas starts to speak and pauses when I hold up my hand. “Not until we reach the surface. We still need to move—quickly.” I lead us out of this hell at a grueling pace with more energy alight in my palm.

I climb out of the musty dirt hole and into the makeshift shelter. I feel sheer relief. All of us are filthy and gasp for air. We rush the entire incline back to the surface. What has taken us three hours to get to only takes us an hour to get back. That’s with gravity pressing against us.

Alex, Jase and Brian, the soldier who’d stood guard, look frantically at us.

I suck in some air and manage to gasp out. “Seal. It.” I point to the rock.

It takes the three of them a little bit longer then Lucas, Mike and Lou, but Alex and Jase aren’t so use to being so physical. They manage. Lucas recovers enough to reach the cooler and hand out bottles of water.

The swig helps a lot and my throat begins to open up again. Once more air travels into my lungs I’m finally able to catch my breath. This is good because every single person there is looking at me for an explanation…the one that changes
everything
.

I take another long swig of water and know I have to spill the beans. I share a short look with Lucas and open my mouth. “We have to leave here.
Now.
What we found looks like the underground equivalent to a hive. There are hundreds—possibly thousands of them. They’re busy and working on something. This is too big for us and we shouldn’t stick around.”

This team has only made it this far for this exact reason. No one asks a single question. After ten seconds of processing my words fully they jump into action. They’ll be plenty of time to freak out once we’re far,
far
away from here.

It takes ten minutes to jam everything into their respective vehicle and hit the road. All’s quiet except the sound of the large engine and the wipers squeaking against the windshield.

A noise pierces through the silence. Cory’s voice breaks through the static of the radio. He’s behind us driving the Humvee. “Where’re we headed guys?”

Lucas looks at me. I stare back at him at a loss. He grabs the radio and looks at all of us in turn. He presses the button and his words come out deliberate and clear. “Home. We’re all going home.”

Mike presses down just a little harder on the pedal and the road flashes by.

Much to my dismay we make it a mere twenty miles before we realize we’re missing someone. Mason’s truck isn’t with us. Lucas and I swap the truck for the Humvee and turn back while the others wait. All the while I fiddle with the radio in an attempt to figure out why he doesn’t use it. I test each channel for a response and get nothing.

Over ten miles back we almost miss him. Lucas pulls around and parks down the road ahead of him, far off the shoulder. My feet hit the ground before Lucas even cuts the engine. Mason’s already out of the truck.

“What happened?” I yell and run towards him. The rain’s picking up again.

“I don’t know. It just stopped running,” He calls back and begins to walk towards me.

Lucas is right behind me. When I slam on the brakes he plows right into my back and has to wrap his arms around my shoulders to keep both us both upright. He tenses as the ground behind Mason start to tremble. It looks almost like an electronic glitch, like when the picture of the digital TV goes out. It’s something I feel before I can fully see. “Mason, run!” I yell and look back to Lucas. “Go start the Humvee!” He gives my shoulder a light squeeze and runs behind me.

Mason runs faster and I move towards him. My strides are purposeful and my power churns inside me. He passes me but I continue and count to ten while I do. At ten I pause and a glance behind me confirms that both of my companions are in the safety of the Humvee. The fog begins to suck the ground from below in a deformed circle a few feet in front of me: an underground tornado full of metallic fog. The energy within me releases when its mouth opens in the center and my control is better than ever.

The fog twists and turns. It hisses at me and surrounds me but I know it won’t win. This is an act of desperation. It knows that I know. Just like it knows I’ll win. With my control and power at an all-time high I close my eyes and I test my own boundaries.

It’s not quite a picture: more an acute feeling. Some type of mutated electrical perception. I use it to reach out and probe the space around me. I feel every particle: every atom and nanobot. I stretch further and even Lucas and Mason can be felt until I pull back. What I’m about to try isn’t meant for them.

Focus!
With a deep breath I wrap myself around every nanobot and release a pulse of energy that crackles around me. The air stills momentarily and I open my eyes.

Even through the rain it’s easy to see the ground in front of me is decimated. It’s when I begin my way back to the Humvee that the first rock falls back down from the sky. Everything drawn up is now falling back down.

I stumble once and kick it into full gear. I’m halfway there as what’s left of Mason’s truck begins to plummet. Its trajectory leads it right for Lucas and Mason in the Humvee. Before I even realize it a stream of energy shoots from my palm. To my utter amazement instead of blowing it into a zillion (hopefully less harmful) pieces it wraps around the airborne truck and flings it out of the way. Which makes sense in an odd way since all I’m thinking is:
move, move, move!

Back in motion now it’s not fully clear exactly how I make it back to my seat—but I do. We tear down the road mindful of any shrapnel that may still be raining down.

We meet the others and don’t stop again until we’re over two hundred miles away. We all feel the exhaustion and defeat from the final part of our mission. We went in hopeful and come out in devastation. I do a comprehensive perimeter check before we hunker down in an abandoned house. I lay my palms flat on the earth too—for good measure.

We have a quick meal and nobody moves. There haven’t been any questions yet and it’s apparent that we’re down a vehicle. The whole scene is too surreal. My stomach protests at the thought of it happening somewhere else.
How far has this hive gotten? Is it the only one? Are we too late?

The questions cause my chest to constrict and the room closes in. The fire in the fireplace (our only light source) is too hot. I need some air.

It doesn’t surprise me to hear footsteps behind me. Lucas follows me to the yard and plops down beside me. The ground’s still damp and it feels good now, refreshing. It helps to distract me from the questions.

“How are we supposed to tell them?” I ask Lucas.

“I can do it if you don’t want to,” Lucas offers. “I don’t mind and they deserve to know.

Of course he’s right. Our team risks everything to save what little of the world we have left. It’s not an issue about telling them the truth. It’s that talking about it makes it real. I’m not ready for it to be real so instead of answering I nod. Lucas seems to sense my mood and doesn’t ask any more questions. He’s good like that.

After a while we get up and go inside. Turns out my mini panic attack for nothing because everyone’s asleep exactly where we left them. My mind still reels but I sit in the same spot again and lean my back against the wall.
At least we’re finally on our way home.

Two days later we’re able to meet the plane. Not my favorite mode of transportation even if there
is
less of a threat in the air. You know—besides crashing.

I white-knuckle my seat belt harness and the plane rumbles into the air.
It surprises me every time we hit a spot of turbulence. Four hours or so later we begin our descent. The wheels touch the runway with a thump and the brakes squeak into action. It’s not until we stop that I finally relax.

A small convoy waits for us and we quickly transport back to camp. The other’s say their goodbyes and head for their respective rooms to clean up after three weeks on the road. I’d love to do the same but there are things that are more important first. Before I check on Brie we have to speak with Captain Jennings and Dr. Ford. Lucas and I move quickly down the hall towards the captain’s office and find the door open.

Captain Jennings stands when we approach, “Good to see the two of you, welcome back!” His smile quickly falls when he notices the look on our face, “That bad?”

Lucas remains quiet and I look at Captain Jennings. “You should call Dr. Ford. He’ll want to hear this to.”

“I have to peel him away from that thing you sent back. I don’t even know if he’s slept since its arrival.” Captain Jennings opens his door and motions us to follow him. “We’ll go to him otherwise it’ll take him forever.”

It doesn’t take long because Dr. Ford’s lab is down the hall from Captain Jennings office. The captain gives a quick rap before he opens the door. Dr. Ford barely notices the intrusion as he hovers over the microscope.

Captain Jennings rolls his eyes and clears his throat before Dr. Ford finally looks up. “Oh, sorry! Welcome back! I’ve been busy with the sample you sent back.”

Despite everything, I smile. “I’ve heard…but we have news.”

Dr. Ford’s face falls. “Not good, I presume?”

There’s no more avoiding it so after a deep breath I let it all out. “It’s a hive—an underground hive full of them. We don’t know how far it stretches but we were attacked a few miles out from below. It was like an underground tornado.”

Whatever they are expecting us to find down there this certainly isn’t it. The looks on their faces move from shock to fear. Dr. Ford begins talking and moving around us rapidly. “From the inside out? Of course, it makes perfect sense! The infected are so far gone that underground suits them as well as above. They have nothing to stop them down there.”

“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Lucas asks.

“It’ll require some modification…maybe both?” Dr. Ford mumbles.

“Doc, you’re losing us.” I point out.

“Sorry. I haven’t shown you because they’re not quite ready yet.” He motions to a corner of the room where five spiked poles lean against the wall. “They’re a small part of a new defense system. But they still need to be tested.” He looks at me, “Speaking of testing.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” No way am I getting out of that.

“So when can we test them?” Lucas asks.

“What modifications?” Captain Jennings asks used to Dr. Ford’s abrupt change of topics.

“The idea behind the poles is for them to bounce our weaponized energy in a current to keep the fog from getting through. It’ll work above ground, but if they’re underground too I’ll need to modify them…unless we can get them on both sides if the earth—which is highly unlikely.” Dr. Ford explains.