The Modified (The Biotics Trilogy, #1) (22 page)

“All right, here goes nothing,” I say and extend my hand to touch the wall. My hand begins to glow and then we hear the sound of an electronic lock disengage. The wall slides to the side and as my eyes meet Landon’s, a smile forms on his mouth. I smile too and run up to him, enveloping him in a hug.

“I was beginning to worry. Sounds like you guys had fun out there,” Landon says, returning my hug.

The electronic voice sounds again. “Phase two complete. To begin phase three Shaw, Landon, you must activate the switch in your area.” The light from the switch on the post to my right catches my eye when it pulses on. Landon looks over at it too. He gives me a reassuring look as he pulls away and walks over to the switch. As he presses it, an electronic chime echoes throughout the room.

“Milton, Geoffrey, Grayson, Kenley, Shaw, Landon, please proceed into the exam area. Your third task is to reach the exit.”

The three of us enter the maze and the wall closes up behind us, sealing us in. The walls begin to shift and the hallway directly in front of us disappears. The only directions we have to choose from are the corridor to our left, or the corridor to our right. I notice that the zigzag lines of light coursing through the walls are now bright neon red instead of the blue like before.

“Initiating Strike Assessment,” the electronic voice states.

I look at Landon and ask if he’s ready, he nods. I do the same to Geoffrey with the same result. “Which way should we head, Geoffrey?” I ask. His eyes and hands begin to glow as he concentrates.

“Left,” he answers.

“Left it is then,” Landon interjects.

As we begin to move down the left hallway, the electronic voice filters into the room and we come to a halt. “Initiating deployment of advanced combat soldiers.” A few low-lying walls rise up from the floor in front of us after the announcement.

“Advanced combat soldiers?” I ask, turning to look at Landon. I see a little red dot of light on his chest and follow the source to the corner up ahead. The moment I hear the charge up sound of a rifle, I shove Landon against the wall out of the way of the red light. A sharp sting courses through my arm and I let out a cry of pain. Looking down, I see a large red circle on my forearm where the rubber bullet struck me. My hand begins to glow and I feel a surge of power rush into my fingertips. Anger bubbles up in me and makes me forget the pain from the bullet. I clench both hands into fists and throw them down to my sides, as I turn to stare at the three heavily armed Bringers rushing into the hallway. The anger suddenly leaves me as I’m faced down with these creatures. One of them lets out an ear-piercing screech as it points at us. I feel like I’m frozen in place, just staring at the very things that killed my brother. Landon’s voice causes me to snap out of my trance.

“Kenley, get down!” Landon yells at me as he and Geoffrey take point behind the low walls in front of us.

I look down at my chest and there are three red dots resting just by my heart. Hearing the hum of the rifles, I throw up a barrier and just watch as every bullet bounces off. With each bullet, the anger inside me surges until I can’t stand it anymore.

I throw open my hands and clutch my left one into a tight fist, sending the glow to my right hand, making it brighter. Rearing back, I let out a yell as I launch a projectile of energy from my hand in the direction of one of the Bringers encroaching on our position. It pierces through my barrier, causing it to break apart and shower down to the ground. The projectile blows right through the Bringer’s chest, sending an explosion of black cubes out of its back and leaving a large gaping hole. The creature collapses to the floor and shatters into hundreds of cubes upon impact. As the bullets begin to fly at me again, I duck behind the low-lying wall where Landon is. “That was intense,” I state while trying to catch my breath.

“That was freakin’ awesome,” Geoffrey calls out to me. “My turn,” he says and quickly projects his decoy to draw their fire.

Landon grabs my hand and I can tell he’s saying thank you with his eyes. He smiles and kisses me. I forget for a split second that we’re in the heat of battle, but the bullets hitting the wall behind us makes me snap out of it. 

I peek over the wall and notice that two more Bringers are posting up at the corner leading into the next hallway. With the two directly in front of us distracted, I’m able to cast a barrier over both of them. They cease fire and Landon hurdles over the wall he’s hiding behind and dashes up to their position with both hands glowing. He clenches his fists and his hands ignite. Leaping into the air, he comes down onto the creatures and rips through the barriers with both fists, causing them to shatter like glass. His fists penetrate both Bringers, and they crumble into a pile of shiny black cubes. He ducks down behind another wall when the Bringers up ahead open fire.

I wait for a break and leap over the wall I’m posted up behind and dive behind the next one. All three of us look at each other and then nod, knowing what one another is thinking. We each project a decoy, sending them out into the fray. As the Bringers begin to fire, we jump over the walls and huddle behind our “twins,” using them as shields from the bullets. My decoy’s image begins to shutter and I decide to throw a barrier over Landon, Geoffrey, and myself. As the three decoys fade, all that’s between us and the flurry of bullets are my barriers. I stay behind, concentrating on keeping our defenses active. The amount of energy I’m expending takes a toll on me as my hands and arms begin to tremble. I dig down deep and keep the barriers strong enough to withstand the bullet barrage. Beads of sweat dribble down my forehead, but I hold my ground knowing that I’m the only thing between those bullets and the people I care for.

I see Landon and Geoffrey push through and lunge at the creatures. Landon punches through his own barrier, breaking it apart, and while using full force, smashes in the Bringer’s face. It shatters from head to toe under the pressure of the punch just as Geoffrey dispatches the other one with a barrage blast from his hand.

After feeling drained of energy, I release the barrier around me and hunch over while clutching my knees. My breathing is a little labored, but I pull myself together and wipe away the sweat pouring down my face. Landon and Geoffrey look back at me as I make my way over to stand with them.

“I’m not sure how much more of this I can take,” I murmur, feeling an ache all over my body.

“We’re almost to the end, I think,” Geoffrey states while using his scan ability. “There are only a few more rooms until the exit.”

“You can do this, Kenley. We can do this…together,” Landon says, reaching his hand out to me.

“Yeah, what he said,” Geoffrey jokes, extending his hand toward me as well.

I reach out and grab both of their hands. “All right, let’s do this.” They both smile at me and we move ahead into the next hallway.

It’s quiet and all I can hear is our breathing echoing off the walls. I expect to hear the heating up of rifles at every turn we make. For this being the last part of the test, we sure haven’t run into anything else for a good stretch of the maze.

Just before we round the corner to the next area, Geoffrey tells us to be still. We all stop immediately in our tracks and wait for his go-ahead. He stands there, his eyes and hands glowing as he uses his ability. “There’s something big ahead of us, and a few smaller signatures in the next hall. The small things are probably gun turrets, but I’ve got no idea what that other thing is,” he explains as his eyes return to a normal blue color and his hands stop glowing.  

Landon tells us to stay put and he’ll check out the next area. Geoffrey and I nod, but follow closely behind him just in case he needs assistance. Landon holds up his hand in a fist, signaling us to stop. He peers around the corner and then moves back to our position to give us a report of what he saw.

“There’s five turrets in the next hall. They seem to be guarding a room at the end of it. I bet that’s where the exit is,” Landon explains.

“Yeah, and that big thing is probably in there too,” I chime in.

“Let’s just stick with the strategy we’ve been using and down these turrets. Then we’ll regroup for the big bastard in the next area, okay?” Landon says, looking seriously at us.

“That thing is giving off a lot of energy. So we need to keep our wits about us out there,” Geoffrey interjects.

“Don’t worry. We’ll deal with that
after
we take these turrets out,” Landon reiterates. Geoffrey and I nod. I place an arm around Geoffrey because he seems nervous.

“It’s going to be all right. Let’s just stick to what we’ve been doing so far, and we’ll be fine,” I say reassuringly, trying to calm him.

“I hope so,” Geoffrey replies with a strained smile.

We creep up to the end of the wall with Landon in front. He stops and peeks around the corner. “There’s a low-lying wall in the middle of the next hall. We just need to make it there, and then we can take out those turrets. They’re too far away right now for any of our powers to have an effect,” he states looking back at us. “Barriers up, everyone. This is going to get serious.”

I focus and throw a barrier up around myself.

“All right, move out,” Landon says.

The three of us come around the corner and are immediately fired upon by all five turrets. As the bullets bounce off my barrier, everything seems to be going by in slow motion. Every shell gracefully deflects off the bubble of neon blue and falls to the floor. The sound of the shells hitting the ground is oddly comforting since that means one hasn’t passed through my barrier yet. Landon makes it to the wall first and I’m almost there when I hear a groan of pain behind me right on my heels. Looking back, I see Geoffrey on the ground. I feel every syllable of his name scream out from my throat as I stop and begin running back toward him. Immediately, I cast a barrier around him, weakening my own in the process. I hear Landon cry out to me, but I must see if Geoffrey is okay. I begin to feel every bullet as they continuously pound into my barrier.

Geoffrey’s lying there on the ground with his eyes squeezed shut and his hands holding his chest. I see several shells around him on the ground.

“Geoffrey, are you okay?” I ask him as I kneel down by his side.

“Yeah…just got the wind…knocked out of me,” he replies.

“You need to get up. We have to make it to the wall and then you can rest, all right?” I say as I begin to help him stand. He throws his arm around my shoulder and I lead us toward the wall. Our barriers fuse together, creating one large one. Though our barrier feels stronger now, the constant barrage of bullets almost becomes too much to bear. I feel like I’m losing control when all of a sudden I feel a surge of energy course through it. It almost feels stronger somehow. I look ahead of me and see Landon focusing on us, his eyes and hands glowing. He must be helping us keep our barrier up.

When we reach the wall, I let Geoffrey down gently to rest behind it. As I plop down, my barrier fades away. I take a deep breath in, preparing myself for yet another onslaught when we try to take out those turrets. Looking over at Geoffrey, he seems to be recovering and is in the process of catching his breath.

“Are you okay, Geoffrey?” I hear Landon ask him over my shoulder.

Geoffrey nods. “So what’s our next plan of attack?”

“You sure you’re okay to continue right now?” I ask him with worry present in my voice.

“Yeah…I feel like a million bucks,” he jokes, and then laughs slightly while clutching his chest. “Just tell me what I have to do, and I’ll do it.”

“Can you muster a decoy?” Landon asks him.

In a matter of seconds Geoffrey’s “twin” was kneeling next to him. “I think so,” he laughs.

“Good, now when Geoffrey sends his decoy out there to distract the turrets, Kenley, you and I will throw barriers over them. And the ones that don’t disable themselves we’ll hit with barrage, okay?” Landon explains.

“Got it,” I reply and then I look over to Geoffrey, who gestures in agreement.

“Ready? Go!” Landon says forcefully.

I watch as Geoffrey’s decoy leaps over the wall and instantly we hear gunfire. Landon and I peer over and cast our barriers as planned. As their bullets bounce off our energy fields and pound back into them, three of the turrets go limp and begin to spark. We see that our barriers failed to reach the two farthest targets.

Landon and I both look at each other and then at the two remaining turrets that seem to be out of our power’s reach.

“Kenley, remember what we did with that medicine ball?”

“How could I forget?”

He grins. “Well, we’re going to do the same thing here. Give me your hands and we’ll combine our power into a stronger barrage attack, okay?”

“Got it,” I reply and Landon moves behind me, grabbing my hands. I can feel his strength as he presses up against my back. His muscles constrict as his arms and chest touch me. A tingle surges through my body as his power melds with mine. He’s so strong.
We concentrate and the light around our hands intensifies and envelops both of us.

“On the count of three,” Landon whispers in my ear. “One…two…three!”

Two large electrified projectiles shoot from our hands, barreling through the air toward the turrets. They pierce through them, causing an explosion. When the smoke clears, a pile of twisted broken metal is all that’s left of them.