Socket 1-3 - The Socket Greeny Saga (76 page)

“Sir, I need you to put your hands where I
can see them!”

Pike drew a whistling breath between his
lips. The temperature in the market suddenly dropped.

“I need you to—”

His face paled. And Pike drew deeper. The
policeman dropped to his knees. Pike was drawing out the man’s
essence, absorbing it like a parasite. Then the crowd began
shouting outside as he drew on them, too. People were falling,
screaming. I felt them weaken and clutch their stomachs as they
felt the essence of their lives siphoned away.

I stiffened, throwing out my awareness like
a protective bubble, penetrating every person within a square mile,
coating their consciousness like a membrane. Pike smacked his
lips.

“It’s like a cool, minty rush, isn’t it?” He
flicked his tongue under his cheeks and lips. “Tingles the tongue.
You need to get some of that, wonderboy. There’s only so much to go
around.”

He knelt next to the policeman, struggling
to breathe. “Would you be so kind as to leave us alone?” Pike
asked. “We’re having a private conversation. Thank you.”

The policeman crawled away, pushing the
canvas wall open and gasping for air.

“And tell your friends,” Pike called through
his hands. “We’ll be done soon.”

It was all I could do to contain Pike’s
influence. While I felt limitless in the desert, I felt more human
since merging with Scott. Maybe since I wasn’t stealing life, I was
running out of it.

“Look at you.” Pike walked near me,
pretended to wipe a bead of sweat off my cheek. “You try so hard to
save them. And for what?”

“They’re real.”

“Is that right?”

More sirens sang. Police were listening to
the stories of what was going on. It wouldn’t be long before they
stormed inside.

“It stung when you discovered the truth,
didn’t it,” he said, sharply. “When you found out what you really
are, it hurt. Am I right? One day, you’re walking around, doing
good, helping people, saving the world, making a difference, paving
a path to heaven then
thhhhhhppt,
you find out you’re just a
pawn.” He pinched his fingers together. “Stings, just a bit.”

“No more than watching you murder.”

“They’re already dead. They just don’t know
it.”

“They’re the reason I’m here.”

“You’re… you? You’re here because of… oh, I
get it.” He wagged his finger over his head. “Yes, yes! Pivot
created you to save them! Well, isn’t that just grand and holy of
him. Isn’t that just divine, that he only thinks of them. Wouldn’t
you say, because he certainly doesn’t care about you or any other
pawn in his game.” He ground his teeth. “We’re all just pawns. The
question is, do you want to keep playing?”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“Open your eyes, wonderboy! You’re doing
exactly what he wants you to do. It’s all part of his plan, his
great master plan to save the universe from the evil of humankind’s
very own creation.”

“Fetter still exists.”

“I know, I know.” He waved me off. “You’re
the savior that brought her back, blah, blah, blah… Why do you
think I let you live, huh?”

“
YOU, IN THE MARKET.”
A policeman’s
voice crackled over a speaker
.
“
YOU NEED TO COME OUT WITH
YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD. I REPEAT, COME OUT—”

Pike threw his hands out to the sides. A
sub-sonic wave thumped through the ground, shaking the walls.
Despite my efforts, many people fell unconscious. The police
abruptly reorganized to evacuate the area, calling for
reinforcements.

“So fucking annoying!” Pike shook his head.
“Anyway, where was I?”

He hurt them. How was he doing this? Even if
he was here, in the flesh, the display of power was beyond me. But
he was doing it through a projection! I felt my body shrink as I
continued to protect the innocent.

“Did he tell you that you’re special, is
that it?” Pike said. “Is that why you’re so dedicated to them, mmm?
Is it because you met your original self, got to merge with your
soul, is that why you’re so irrational? Let me guess.” He looked
very serious, spoke in a gritty tone. “
Socket, you’re the only
one that can help them. You are the one. The One. Just like in The
Matrix. That’s you
.”

Pike tilted his head, like he was studying
something genuinely curious.

“Do you know what happened to my original?”
He put his finger in his mouth and cocked his thumb, jerked his
head back. “Blew his goddamn head off his shoulders.”

“Original?”

“Oh, you didn’t know? Where are my manners?”
He slapped his thigh, then extended his hands in consolation.
“Pivot made me, too. Did I forget to tell you? Yeah, I was his
first attempt to fool the Almighty Fetter.” He spoke into the back
of his hand, like he was telling a secret. “So you see, you’re not
that special after all.”

“Impossible.”

“The hits just keep coming, don’t they?”

“He wouldn’t have let you live.”

“He can’t kill me, wonderboy. He created a
monster, yes indeed. And in case you haven’t noticed, they can’t
kill you, either. But nothing will get in the way of the Papa
Pivot’s master plan, bring forth the devil,” – he took a short bow,
then gestured to me – “or the savior.”

As long I live, so will he.

“Listen, there’s not much time left before
these morons march in here with their weapons and begin shooting
air, so let me make you an offer before I have to vaporize their
asses into cockroach shit.” Pike bounced his fingertips together
gleefully. “I feel sorry for you, wonderboy. Really, I do. You’re
young and naïve. You still have emotions and feel for these lab
rats. It’s all very confusing, I know. It’s tough to be a teenager
these days, really it is. But it’s time to grow up.”

“Pike—”

“Just listen.” He held up a finger. “Pivot
is a master, I’m not denying that. After all, he’s going after the
greatest predator that has ever existed. He wants to take down
Fetter, something that has survived for billions and billions of
years, in measurable time. In order to take down a tiger that size,
he’s had to sacrifice a few lambs along the way. So how do you
capture a jewel thief? You dangle the shiniest diamond right in her
face.” He gestured to me. “You, wonderboy, you are the jewel.
Fetter couldn’t resist. So do you think he needs you any more?
Pivot still believes he’s god, am I right?”

“Why didn’t you just tell me this earlier,
huh? Why all the games and clues and deception?”

“Now what fun would that be? Besides, I
needed you to bring Fetter back.” He jabbed at the ground like a
lawyer making his final argument. “The game is about to
change.”

“I already delivered Fetter to Pivot.”

Pike looked around, feeling the
reinforcements arrive outside. Blue lights flashed beneath the
canvas walls. Hundreds of boots scuffed the pavement. It would take
everything I had to protect them.

“I’m going to relieve Pivot of his duty,” he
said.

“I can’t help you. I won’t.”

“Loyal to Pivot?”

“I will destroy you.”

“I’m counting on it.” Pike sneered. “And in
return, I’ll find a special place for you in the universe. You can
be my first in command, once you stop all this nonsense. After all,
we’re brothers, you and me. All part of Pivot’s big happy
family.”

“You’re no better than Fetter.”

“I am what I am.”

“You’re nothing.”

“As are you.”

As I released my mind from protecting the
people outside, I felt a thread of his presence slip through the
veil that hid his true location. It was faint and delicate, but I
could follow it, I just needed time. I couldn’t let him destroy
them. Not the human race. He was right, I had no reason, but I
loved them, even if it was just emotion for my mother, for
Streeter. For Chute.

“IT’S NOT RIGHT!” I shouted.

“It’s the law! Evolution! Man was made in
the image of God and I was made in the image of man, therefore, I
will become god. I will become a god, an unforgiving one. I will
strike these motherfuckers with reckless abandon and devour what is
mine. I will become the black planet that absorbs the universe, all
that is, until all is gone. The universe will beg for forgiveness.
And I will remind them… some sins cannot be forgiven.”

“I won’t let you.”

“Then stop me.”

He smiled and opened his presence. I pressed
forward, shooting my awareness through it, following his projection
with my mind, slithering through space and time, across the world,
into the mountains, into the ground, slamming into Pike’s skin. He
stood unrelenting on a stone slab, knowing I was watching, I was
seeing. Behind him, the grimmet tree.

The Garrison!

I returned to my body. “I’ll be right
there.”

“Don’t dally.”

“
YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS TO COME OUT WITH
YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR HEAD!”

“And one more thing,” Pike said.

“
WE WILL FIRE. I REPEAT, WE WILL
FIRE.”

Canisters of tear gas shot beneath the tarps
and rattled over the floor, releasing noxious clouds.

“
TEN SECONDS.”

Pike pursed his lips. Drew a deep
breath.

“
FIVE, FOUR…”

Before I could reach out to protect the
thousands of innocent minds, darkness settled over downtown like a
blanket. The canvas walls shredded. Cars flipped and bodies tumbled
through the streets. Windows shattered. Screams.

There was a bright light. I didn’t hear the
explosion, but I felt the ground lurch. I was spinning above the
market. I felt the city cry. I felt their panic in my chest. And
before I landed somewhere far away, I heard Pike’s final
thought.

[God will be dead.]

L E G E N D

Refuel

She was old. Maybe seventy. I didn’t know
her name or her exact age. I could barely open my eyes. Her brown
wrinkled face was soft. She smelled like roses.

“Just relax, honey,” she spoke, quietly.
“Help is on the way.”

I was on the wide concrete steps leading up
to the Customs House, almost two blocks from the market. My body
was twisted at an odd angle. As my senses returned, the smell of
smoke and crushed concrete overshadowed the woman’s scent. The
streetlights were dead, but the dark sky flickered orange from fire
somewhere in the market. I looked around but the woman put her hand
on my forehead, shooshing me to relax.

“Nowhere to go, right now, honey.”

The perfume on her wrist was strong. She
patted my cheek, making sure the only thing I could see was her
face. Her eyes involuntarily flicked down to something she didn’t
want me to see. Gravel and debris were scattered on the steps,
along with charred boards and metal.

Sirens were interspersed with cries for help
and military orders. Blue and red lights ran across the walls and
the old woman patted my face, singing a hymnal song without the
words, humming lovely tones in her throat. Pain began to vibrate
along my back and I was finally able to take a physical inventory
of my condition. My pelvis was shattered and there were deep
contusions along my ribs and liver and kidney. If that wasn’t
enough, my left lung was completely deflated. I tried to move but
felt nailed to the steps. A rusty iron rod was driven through my
back and poked out between my ribs.

My strength was returning quickly, but I
wasn’t sure how. I brought my nervous system under control,
quelling the sensations of pain. I was stronger, but still not
enough to see with my mind, so I looked left and right, the streets
filled with ambulances and fire trucks. EMTs ran with orange boxes.
How long had I been on the steps?

“Help is coming,” she said, mistaking my eye
movement as panic. “Don’t you worry.”

A surge of strength emanated from her,
filling my body, quickly healing broken bones. I shifted my legs to
reconnect my pelvis, moving just enough to straighten out, even as
she tried to keep me still. I reattached crucial arteries and
repaired damaged organs. All that was left was the metal rod.

A pair of emergency workers in white shirts
jogged past with keys jangling.

“Excuse me, excuse me!” the woman shouted.
“This boy needs some help, please.”

“We’ll be right there, ma’am,” one shouted
back.

“Okay, okay,” she said, putting her hands
back on my face and starting her song again. “They’ll be right
here, honey.”

“Please, no,” I said, spitting out the words
with only one working lung. “Others… need help.”

“Shoo-shoo-shoooo.” She touched my lips. “No
talking, help is coming.”

I could feel her mind, now. Her name was
Anna. She was seventy-four years old. She’d lived downtown all her
life. She had four children and twelve grandchildren. She went to
church on Sundays and rarely uttered a bad word. And she called
most people honey. And it was her strength that was filling. Not so
much her strength, but her love and genuine caring for me, lying on
the steps of the Custom’s House with a fatal wound bubbling from my
chest. She stopped to help me die, if she was honest. She stopped
so the last thing I would see was a caring face. So I would not die
alone.

I wouldn’t have died without her, but I
would’ve lain helpless unless I stole essence from those around me
to recover. Right now, they needed all the strength they could
get.

“Okay, ma’am.” An EMT took a knee next to
me, opening his box near my head. “Let me take a—” He choked after
spotting the metal rod, even jerked back. He looked at the other
EMT on the other side, both knowing their only recourse was to make
me comfortable in my last few minutes.

Anna sat near my head. She took my hand and
patted it while her song trickled between our palms. My awareness
began to expand outward, penetrating the EMTs and the pedestrians
standing back. They all held the same thoughts:
Terrorism.
Somebody blew the downtown up, but for what? Religion? Politics? Or
had the duplicates finally returned?