Authors: Simone Pond
Our camp continued to grow, and our army had become indestructible. Word spread throughout the nearby regions, and nobody wanted to challenge what they were calling the Outsiders. Though the Los Angeles City Center loomed in the distance, we felt safe in the arms of our village. Sarah and I often wondered what had happened to William and if he had been uploaded into a new body, but we went on about the business of living.
Phoenix had spoken his first words and taken his first steps, and still no attacks had been waged on the village. It was a time of peace. Phoenix grew from a baby to a young boy, running wildly through the forest, climbing trees, swinging from branches, and building forts. When Aaron and I finally had our own son, the two boys became the best of friends. Yes, it was a time of peace.
But like all things, time changes them.
Around the time Phoenix was eleven years old, Sarah received a transmission from Dickson.
He’s back. And he wants Phoenix.
I tried to comfort Sarah, but she knew her peaceful world would soon come to an end. She had never told Phoenix about his father—she didn’t want him to know anything about the man. She begged Dickson to hold back William—or Chief Morray, as he was now called—because Phoenix wasn’t ready to meet his father yet. Dickson warned that Chief Morray was reestablishing power and starting to develop his defensive arm. Eventually he’d come for Phoenix, and there’d be no stopping him. Aaron and I focused on training each villager in a specific area of defense so we’d be prepared for Morray when the time came. Meanwhile, Sarah retooled the old technology and rebuilt an intricate communications system, giving us the ability to covertly infiltrate the city center’s network.
At the age of fourteen, Phoenix joined our army and became one of our most fearless soldiers. He was way beyond his years. I wasn’t surprised, since he had come from a long line of geniuses—on both sides. There had been no communication with Dickson for years, but Sarah knew Morray would be coming for Phoenix and that he’d probably take out the entire village just to get him back.
Phoenix continued to grow into a brilliant, kind, and loving young man. At sixteen he courted Adrienne, one of the village girls, and just after his eighteenth birthday they married. And then we discovered news of an upcoming reconnaissance mission—Morray was coming for Phoenix.
“Don’t let him take my son!” Sarah cried in my arms.
“We’ll do everything in our power to stop him,” I said. But I didn’t know what Morray had become. I had only known him before his change. He had helped us take down the plantation to free our people. He had stopped his father from destroying the entire world. I didn’t want to believe someone with such good intentions could end up so bad.
“What if we can’t stop this from happening? Phoenix needs to be with Adrienne, she’s pregnant.”
“All of you will leave the village and go north for a little while. Until we’ve contained the situation.”
“You can’t contain Morray, Lillian.”
“At least we can get your family to a safer location.”
But Phoenix, being the brave soldier he was, refused to leave. He wanted to stay back and fight on the front lines with the others, while Sarah would travel north with Adrienne and their unborn child. He promised to come for them after the battle.
On the day Sarah and Adrienne were to leave, Sarah burst into my cabin, crying that she couldn’t find Phoenix to say good-bye.
“Why haven’t you left yet?”
“I sent Adrienne off, but I couldn’t leave without telling Phoenix the truth about his father. I need to find him.”
The troops had been stationed throughout the village and the surrounding perimeter. Before we could get to Phoenix, the village was in a full-blown combat with Morray’s army. We were forced into the bunkers until the explosions and gunshots had stopped and the battle was over. Sarah and I continued our search for Phoenix. In the bloody aftermath, she ran from one body to the next, frantically looking for her son until she finally found him—his face half blown off—cold as a stone. She cradled his body and sobbed. I tried to console her, but it was pointless. Her son was dead.
I looked up to see a strange-looking helicopter lowering into the field. I ordered our soldiers to take aim. They kept their rifles tracked on the man in the black suit who stepped out of the craft, waving a white flag.
“Cease-fire. It’s over!” he yelled as he ran over to Sarah and dropped to his knees. He held Phoenix’s dead body in his arms. “Please tell me it’s not him.” I couldn’t figure out why this stranger cared so much about her son. “Tell me this isn’t Phoenix.” Then I realized who the stranger was.
“This is your fault, William,” she cried.
Morray collapsed over Phoenix and cried until there wasn’t another sob left to expel. “I’m sorry, my son. It was supposed to be a simple mission.” He looked at Sarah and yelled, “What happened? Why did your men attack?”
“They were defending our village. You should never have sent in your people.” She pounded on his chest and bawled. “You killed your own son.”
“No . . . No. Not my son. Not my Phoenix.” He stared off to the sky, frozen.
Unable to withstand another moment, Sarah stood up to leave.
William chased after her, yelling, “This is your fault. If you would have just let me have him, he’d be alive.”
“No, William. This is your doing. You were trying to take back something that no longer belonged to you.”
“I’ll destroy all of you,” he said through gritted teeth.
“No, you won’t. Your blood is in this village.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a grandchild on the way. If you destroy the village, you’ll end your family line.”
“You’re lying!” he shouted.
“Phoenix’s wife is expecting, but she’s far away from here and you’ll never get your hands on her. I’ll make sure of that. Now, leave us be.”
“I’ll outlive you, Sarah. I’ll outlive all of you. And I’ll come back and get what’s mine.”
“I hope with each new body you upload that warped consciousness of yours into that you carry this burden. You’ll never find peace, William. It’s something you can’t control.”
Ava set down the journal and wiped a tear from her cheek. This dreadful event was just one more tragedy to add to Morray’s ongoing list. She knew the story, but the depth of Morray’s pain struck her harder this time around. She knew he had never recovered from the loss of his son over three hundred years earlier. No amount of time would ever ease his guilty conscience. That horrible incident pushed him over the edge, fueling every despicable decision henceforth. Ava surmised Morray wanted to use the mainframe to fix something in the past, but she wasn’t sure how he planned to pull it off.
14
IN PREPARATION FOR the first major exam, Grace sat in her room, reviewing footage from her drills from the last few weeks. After what she was now calling “the incident” with Lucas in the Delta training room, she had gone back to focusing on what mattered most: graduating from the academy with honors. Overall, her scores were steady with one exception: she hadn’t fully committed to Search & Rescue. She was still struggling to appreciate the finer points of extensive emergency service. And blood. But the main problem was her lack of working with others. In her team drills, she had been overstepping the others trying to prove herself. The clarity cut through like a sword. Burnout usually set in around this time, and there’d be a handful of washouts. Grace was determined not to be one of them. She’d make it to that silly Survivor’s Shuffle if she had to pull an all-nighter.
The door chimed. She thought maybe it was her mother, who she hadn’t seen in weeks. She was taking that boundary thing pretty seriously. But when she opened the door, it was Lucas, looking awkward and smug all at the same time. There hadn’t been any private conversations since “the incident,” and she was surprised to see him.
“Oh, hi.” Grace leaned against the entrance, trying to appear indifferent—though she was anything but that. Her insides felt as if a tornado had busted loose.
“Hmm, I was hoping for a little more enthusiasm,” he said, half smiling.
“I’m studying for exams.” She folded her arms across her chest.
“May I come in?” he asked.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea . . . Sir.”
He grinned and walked into the room.
“Like I said, I’m studying. I plan on going to the gala event. Whatever they call it.” She walked over to the windows, pretending to admire the view. Below, Silicon Valley sparkled like a web of diamonds. Lucas came up behind her and stood close. She turned around, and he moved in closer until her back was pressed up against the windows and she could feel the heat emitting off his body.
“It’s called the Survivor’s Shuffle,” he said.
“Stupid name,” she mumbled.
He stood there, not saying anything.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her in for a kiss. They stayed locked together as they stumbled across the room and onto the bed. Grace needed to stop him. She needed to study for her exams. But she couldn’t resist his lips moving down her neck. Her heart thumped like a cannon shooting over and over. Each touch was like an electric current bolting through her limbs. She really wanted Lucas, but she wanted to be a soldier more.
“We need to stop,” she panted, shoving him away. “We have exams tomorrow.”
He rolled onto his back, breathing heavily. They stayed like that for a few minutes, no words between them.
“I found my weakness,” Grace said.
“I’m happy to oblige.” He smiled.
“Please. I’m talking about the team drills.”
“And?”
Grace got off the bed and readjusted her ponytail. “I’m not doing my job in Search & Rescue.”
Lucas got up and patted her head. “I’m glad you finally came around.”
She pushed away his hand and laughed. “I’m glad
you
finally came around.”
He headed toward the door. “I’ll get going, but do me a favor, Grace.”
“Anything for my team leader.” She jokingly jumped into attention.
“Ace your exams tomorrow. I plan on taking you to the Survivor’s Shuffle.”
“Can we not call it that?”
“So, it’s a date?”
“If you say so.” She saluted him. “Sir.”
“It’s an order.”
She shoved him out into the hallway and sealed the door shut. He was sweet, and she was happy for the about-face, but she still needed to study.
*
The next day, Grace arrived at the Delta training room feeling confident that she had crushed her first big Search & Rescue exam. That part was over. Now she had to do well in the team drill and she’d be golden. She sat down in her assigned seat and waited for her teammates. When they entered the Delta training room, they looked as drained as she felt. Missakian’s black headband was resting around his neck like a deflated scarf. Blythe dropped into her chair and folded her arms across her chest. The scowl on her face was more severe than usual. Lucas strutted into the room and gave a subtle wink to Grace that the others didn’t catch.
As Lucas settled into his chair, they said in unison, “You ready to kick some butt?”
“Good luck, team,” Lucas said, focusing on Grace.
They plugged into the system panel to begin their drill . . .
Inside the virtual, Grace found herself standing in the middle of a desolate boulevard surrounded by tall buildings with ads plastered on them. She knew this location. It’d be hard to forget.
“Sunset Boulevard,” she said to herself.
The others weren’t with her. That was strange. They always ended up together. That’s when she knew this drill was similar to the first one she took at orientation. It was designed to test an individual’s aptitude for their specific role. In her case, Search & Rescue.
A missile whizzed overhead and collided into one of the gargantuan hotels, blasting chunks of cement everywhere. Then a fusillade of smaller rocket-type launchers started coming in from behind, hitting the billboards and igniting them on fire. The buildings were crumbling by the second, and she needed to move out of the middle of the street. She ran over to the curb and ducked between a couple of oversized vehicles. There was noise all around her and smoke billowing down the middle of the street. She didn’t know what to do, but she knew this wasn’t just about her survival. Her job was to find and extract her team members and get them to safety.
Sticking close to the parked cars, she stayed low and jogged down the street toward the action, assuming that’s where she’d find the others. She got to an intersection and scanned the area before darting across the street. That’s when she saw a body in the gutter. She ran over to find Blythe, half conscious, with a metal rod stuck in her chest. Punctured lung. She checked her pulse, which was barely moving.
“They got me, go on without me,” Blythe mumbled.
“No way. I know what happens if I leave you behind. Listen, I need you to stay calm.”
“I couldn’t get much calmer. Maybe you should turn it down a few degrees,” Blythe said.
For a split second, Grace considered leaving her in the gutter.
“I gotta get you out of the street so I can fix you up. There’s an alcove only fifty feet away. I’m gonna drag you over. Okay?”
Grace grabbed Blythe by the ankles and pulled her across the sidewalk into the alcove of the shop. Another bomb dropped, shaking the earth. Grace sat down next to Blythe and opened up her medical bag. First she’d need to remove the piece of metal, then seal the wound with petroleum jelly and a bandage. She tore open Blythe’s jumpsuit to get a clean view of the puncture. Good thing the piece of metal wasn’t too big. Still, Blythe released a howl as Grace pulled it out of her chest. Blood gushed out. She quickly cleaned the area and filled the hole with the jelly and sealed the bandage over the wound. Blythe was having trouble breathing. Grace dug through her supplies and pulled out a syringe.
“I need you to turn a little. This is gonna hurt for a second.” Grace pushed the hollow needle into the area above one of Blythe’s ribs, being mindful not to hit any veins, nerves, or arteries. As she went in, she slowly pulled back on the syringe until she was pulling back air. She sucked out as much as she could to get Blythe breathing a little better.