The Twisted Future (Teen Superheroes Book 4) (13 page)

Chapter Thirty-Two

I slammed into a pile of black dust. It was like landing on a bunch of pillows as it flew in all directions. For a few seconds I couldn’t tell up from down. I swam in it. Then I dragged myself free, wiped my hood and peered around.

Ebony was clambering about on the ground a few feet away. It took me a moment to understand she was looking for her hood. I saw it almost immediately. I disconnected myself from our rope system and retrieved it for her. She reconnected it to her suit and I heard her
trying to catch her breath.

I realized what had happened:
Ebony had saved us. Falling through the hole, she’d dragged off her helmet and turned the air beneath us into carbon dust. We fell about twenty feet, crashed into it and sunk into its depths.

I asked if she was okay.

‘Yeah,’ she said, coughing. ‘I inhaled a few mouthfuls, but I’m all right.’

I went over to Old Axel who had not fared so well. He had been knocked unconscious by the fall; his head had hit the trolley. I studied his face. At least he was breathing.

‘Where are we?’ Ebony asked. ‘What is this place?’

Storefronts were on both sides of us. A jewelry store. A clothing shop. The center aisle ran away in both directions. Above us was a huge ceiling made from transparent plastic.

‘It’s a shopping mall,’ I said. ‘The dust must have covered it over the years. Our weight made the ceiling collapse.’

The wind and the fog screamed over the hole in the roof. Strangely, the air
here seemed more breathable, but I wasn’t about to test that hypothesis. It was eerily silent after the endless roar of the storm.

‘Hello!’

The voice rang out from the gloom where we saw a small man with a torch moving towards us. He waved at us and I cautiously returned the greeting. I could see a thin face, long hair and dark bushy eyebrows. He was not wearing a helmet.

‘Visitors!’ he said, drawing near. ‘We haven’t had visitors is such a long time.’

‘We fell through your ceiling,’ Ebony said.

‘So I see. And where did all this coal come from?’

There seemed little point in lying. The man seemed harmless enough. Ebony explained we were mods, trying to make our way back to New York. The man nodded thoughtfully.

‘You won’t need your helmets down here.’ He pointed up. ‘We’ll send some people back to fix the roof later.’

I peered upwards. Some of the gas was entering, but not a lot. We cautiously removed our helmets. The air was bad, but breathable. Besides, if this man and other people were living down here, it must have been safe.

‘We love having visitors,’ he said.

Smiling, he reached out and touched our faces. My eyes closed. Somewhere, in the distance, I could hear him laughing. The next thing I knew, I was lying on a bunk in a concrete-lined room. Ebony lay across from me. Our contamination suits were gone. I had no idea what had happened.

‘Ebony.’ I shook her awake. ‘Are you okay?’

She gazed about sleepily. ‘What happened? That man—’

‘He must be a mod. He knock
ed us out.’

‘You’re correct, my young friend.’ A slot had opened up in the door leading to the room and a pair of eyes peered in. ‘I would like to speak to you.’

‘Who are you?’ I demanded, angrily jumping to my feet. ‘Where is the man who was with us?’

‘Your father? He is quite safe.’

I did not correct him.

The stranger continued. ‘My name is Jensen. I am going to enter,’ he said. ‘If you attempt to harm me, there will be repercussions for your father and yourselves. Can we agree to speak like civilized people without the use of violence?’

I felt like pointing out to him violence had already been used against us by knocking us out, and imprisoning us against our will, but I nodded curtly, telling him to come in.

‘Good,’ Jensen said. He was a tall black man, thin with deep recessed eyes. ‘Now we can speak in a reasonable manner.’

‘What do you want?’ I asked. ‘Where’s my...father?’

‘I’m sure you have a million questions, but believe me when I tell you he is safe.’

‘Fine,’ I said uncertainly. ‘We want to see him. Now.’

‘That’s not immediately possible,’ he said. ‘There are a few things you must be made aware of first. Then we can discuss terms.’

Terms. I didn’t like the sound of that.

‘I manage the games. Come with me,’ he said. ‘Let me show you our home.’

Games.
I didn’t like
that
word, either.

We followed Jensen down a dark passage
lined with locked doors. The end opened up and artificial light flooded in. We entered a wide corridor that led to an underground stadium. Hundreds of seats filled the stands. Crowds were filing in. A show was about to begin.

‘What is this?’ Ebony asked.

Jensen smiled. ‘This facility was owned by the Agency in the old days. James Price had a plan to make genetically modified animals fight to the death. It was abandoned years ago when the ecosystem above become uninhabitable.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s a good life down here. We have nuclear power. Water. Hydroponic farms.’ His smile faded. ‘But there is never quite enough food. To keep people’s minds off starvation, we give them entertainment.

‘The city is divided into four quarter
s: Easterners, Westerners, Northerners and Southerners. Each quarter has several chemically enhanced humans, one of which is chosen each week to compete in the games.’

‘The games?’

‘It is a fight,’ he explained. ‘It keeps the people entertained.’

‘We just want to get out of here,’ I said.

‘And you shall. You may have your freedom once you have competed.’

‘And if we don’t want to compete?’ I asked.

‘No-one is forcing you to do anything, but it is important that the stakes are high.’ He pointed to the stadium’s other end where cages perched on top of columns. A person was in each cage. One of them looked familiar. ‘High enough to make it interesting,’ he said, ‘for everyone.’ 

‘That’s—’

‘Your father. Yes, my boy. He will be killed. The losing team, incidentally, does not receive rations for a week. You will be fighting for the Easterners. They are very hungry right now as their champion was killed last week.’

I gazed up at the cage. Even at this distance I could see the cage was surrounded by glass. A gadget on the top looked like it would release gas into it. I was fast. I could probably be across the stadium in seconds, but I wouldn’t be fast enough to save him. Old Axel had proven to be a pain in the ass, but I couldn’t let him die.

‘You father told us about your powers,’ Jensen said. ‘You have a good chance of winning.’

I didn’t care about
playing their stupid game. I just wanted to escape this crazy place. ‘I’ll fight,’ I said. ‘And then we’re leaving.’

‘Good.’ Jensen smiled. ‘And remember, my boy, you must fight according to the rules.’

‘Which means?’

‘It is a fight to the death. Only one of you will leave this stadium alive.’

Chapter Thirty-Three

The siren rang out loud and clear. To me it sounded like the wail of a dying creature as it echoed down the tunnel to where I sat with Ebony. We had been waiting in the preparation room for almost three hours. A guard stood nearby. He nodded to me.

It’s time.

I had caught glimpses of two other enhanced humans fighting as we waited. Both had super strength. Soon after, the fight ended and we saw a man being dragged across the stadium to an exit. 

There was clearly a difference between enhanced humans and mods. We still looked human, but these people had mutated into something very different. Jensen had explained to us that their powers only lasted a short time. This way the competitors were just as much in the dark about their powers as the audience.

‘Stay where I can see you,’ I said. ‘And be ready for anything.’

Ebony nodded. ‘After everything we’ve been through,’ she said, ‘I’m permanently ready for anything.’

I stepped into the stadium. The crowd went crazy. I would have felt like a hero if this whole situation had not been so sick and evil. When I looked closer at the audience, I didn’t see the crowd you’d normally find at a football game. These people were malnourished. Starving. This whole society was on the verge of collapse and these games were merely a diversionary tactic to keep them distracted.

‘Welcome to the final round of the Sixteenth Games for the year!’
a voice boomed from the loud speakers. ‘We have a special surprise today as a true mod joins the Easterners.’

The crowd cheered. I could feel hundreds of eyes on me. Strangers down here were a rarity, modified ones more so.

‘Today we have a battle of the giants as,’ the announcer paused dramatically, ‘
Easterner
versus
Westerner
!’

The crescendo from the crowd rose even higher in pitch. I was in the midst of the Easterner stands. I could understand their desire for me to win; it meant they could eat for the first time in a week. High up in a podium, I spotted a man speaking into a microphone, obviously the master of ceremonies.

On the other side of the arena, a thin man with gray hair appeared. He bowed to his ecstatic followers, but I could feel him watching me the whole time. 

Jensen appeared at my side. ‘Good luck, my boy,’ he said. ‘Your opponent’s name is Crenshaw. I’m not sure what they’ve pumped into him. It’s some new concoction they’ve devised.’ He squeezed my arm and nodded to the nearest stand of spectators. ‘They are very hungry. Fight well.’

Nodding, I looked across at Crenshaw. I was supposed to kill this man. A complete stranger. There had to be a way out of this—but what?

‘Let the games begin!’

I took a single step forward. In that time the stranger had crossed the stadium in a blur and slammed a fist into my chin. My vision blurred as I hit the ground.

Super speed
, I thought.
He has super speed.
I urged myself upwards.
Fly. Fly!

I got into the air. It wasn’t easy and I wasn’t graceful. Almost unconscious from the single blow, I veered dangerously towards the crowds. People ducked in their seats as I almost slammed into them. Rubbing my chin, I tried to clear my head. That one punch had almost finished me.

Crenshaw was darting about the stadium. I focused on robbing him of oxygen, but he was so fast I couldn’t focus on him.

But these people didn’t know the extent of my powers.
Creating a wall of wind, I slammed it into the arena, hoping to corner him. This time I saw him stumble. The audience screamed and booed. I tried pinning Crenshaw down, but missed him.

He picked up a handful of sand. I saw the whir of an arm and then it was in my eyes. I was twenty feet off the ground and blinded. No sooner had this registered than something slammed into my stomach. I instinctively flew higher as a series of punches smashed into me.

Somehow Crenshaw had made it off the ground. Maybe his powers included flight as well—I had no idea—but I couldn’t take this much longer. I created a shield close to my body and pushed Crenshaw away. He fell. 

Slowly backing away to the end of the stadium where Old Axel was imprisoned, I was careful to keep my attention on Crenshaw.
Forming a tornado of air, I sucked up a mass of sand.

I made it look like I was about to use it as a weapon against the running man. This would take some precision.
Making a second flat plane of air, I fired it at Old Axel’s cell, destroying the contraption holding the poisonous gas. I released the tornado of air in all directions, blinding most of the audience with sand.

Pulling Old Axel free, we flew over the stadium. Jensen had tried tackling Ebony, but he was no match for her. I saw a solid steel shackles appear around his ankles. 

I lifted Ebony up. 

‘What are you doing?’ Old Axel gasped.

‘What I should have done in the first place.’

I built up a blast of air and fired it straight into the ceiling. A huge crack appeared. People screamed and began scrambling from their seats. Building up another blast, I smashed it into the ceiling. This time a huge circular
gash appeared. I had started a panic in the stands, but I was beyond caring.

I wanted out. And now. I built up another blast and this time the ceiling shattered completely. Beyond lay the endless storm. Gas began to pour into the underground world as I zoomed upwards. I formed a bubble of air around us.

‘Hold your breathes,’ I yelled.

An instant later we were in the storm, the screaming wind tearing at us. I flew higher, watching the sun, a brown circle of light, grow brighter with each passing second.

Just a little further
, I thought.
Just a bit more.

The terrible yellow cloud cleared and we flew
into crystal clean air. I whooped and laughed. Ebony cried out and waved her arms about. Even Old Axel looked momentarily relieved. Still, he couldn’t stop himself from souring the moment.

‘You shouldn’t have done that,’ he said. ‘The skies are probably still full of Agency ships.’

‘Good,’ I told him. ‘I’m counting on it.’