An excerpt fromEmergence
Prologue
The dank smell of the rotting building mixed with the cries of the kids around me had become so routine I barely noticed it.
Briggs, the hulking man in charge of keeping us compliant, had just left, and my nose was bleeding. He didn’t usually hit me in the face, the clients didn’t like it when our faces were messed up, but the drugs they used on us didn’t seem to work on me.
Besides, the men who came into my room weren’t looking for kids. I was too big. The men who came into my room wanted to hurt me. That’s what they got off on.
So, instead of using drugs, Briggs used his fists. No one cared much any longer where he hit me.
I crawled into the corner—the same corner I occupied most of the time. We’d been here longer than any other place we’d stopped at. I’d heard them say something about local law enforcement being friendly.
That was their way of saying they were clients—or at least some of them were. It was no surprise. Cops, judges, politicians, wealthy and poor who liked to… to use kids.
The door opened, and I cringed. I didn’t mind the beatings as much as I minded the clients. It was too soon for Briggs to beat me again, so I started to prepare myself mentally for the inevitable.
To my relief, Briggs stepped in. But to my horror, in front of him was a young girl, maybe five or six years old. It was hard to tell since the shadows in this room were so heavy. The only light came from the small window that faced away from the sun.
“You’ll stay here,” Briggs said, pushing her inside. She fell to the floor crying silent tears. She wasn’t new here. The new ones screamed.
Without acknowledging me, Briggs left, slamming the door behind him.
I scooted closer to her and asked her name. She didn’t reply, just lay on the floor crying those silent tears. Finally, I moved back and leaned against the wall. Strangely, it felt good to have company even if she didn’t talk.
I figured if she were here, her fate wasn’t good. Only one kid had been put with me in all the time I’d been in use, as Briggs put it. It was when I’d first arrived. I was eleven. The guard, the one before Briggs, called him the trainer. He was probably seventeen or eighteen, and when the drugs didn’t work on me, they used the boy to prepare me, as they’d put it. He’d beaten me daily as well as subjecting me to other, more horrible things.
I’d lost count of the days and years I’d been here, but I guessed I was somewhere around the same age as the trainer had been. I assumed they thought I’d do the same to this girl.
They were wrong. I had fought them since I first arrived. I’d fought, and even though I’d mostly lost, I’d won a few times. I swore as I looked at the dark bundle in front of me that I’d win this time too.
Briggs starved us for two days. No food or water. The girl didn’t move for a full day. She just lay in a heap and cried. Finally, sometime while I’d slept, she’d gotten up and curled into a ball opposite me.
We didn’t speak.
Briggs came back at the end of the second night. I could smell food outside the door, but I’d been hungry before, and this was a regular tactic of theirs. Starvation often broke the other kids, causing them to do what our captors wanted.
Briggs told me what I had to do to get the food. As soon as he gave me the gruesome directions, the girl whimpered.
“No!” I said, waiting for the inevitable.
I didn’t have to wait long. He grabbed me, flinging me across the room. “You’ll do it, or I’ll kill you.”
“No!”
Briggs stood staring at me. “Then, I’ll kill her.”
Something snapped inside me. Something different. A feeling I’d never experienced before.
I was not going to let him kill her.
I stood up, blocking Briggs’s path to the girl.
He laughed mercilessly. “So, the prat wishes to be a hero then?” he said.
As he lunged for me, time slowed down like in the movies I used to watch before they’d taken me.
I felt the heat in my stomach build, filling every part of my body. Finally, when I felt like I was about to explode, I thrust my hands toward Briggs and opened my mouth.
I didn’t understand. Dark light? Darkness and light erupted from me. The second it hit Briggs, he turned to ash. I turned, and the same energy that had burned Briggs incinerated the door.
I couldn’t remember much about that night. Just that I was able to distinguish between the adults and the kids. When the police finally arrived, we were all sitting outside under a tree, and the building was on fire. All the adults—our captors and their clients—were dead, and the old building we’d been kept in was burning in front of us.
That was the night my powers became apparent.
That was the day the world learned to fear me.
Lysander
“Lysander honey, come on, you’re going to be late,” Mom yelled up the stairs.
“Late for what? Sidekick school?” I muttered under my breath.
“Lysander!”
“Okay, Mom! Give me a minute. I’m trying to pack all my frigging stuff.”
“Stop sassing me and get your butt down here. Don’t make me come up there.”
That made me chuckle. She always talked like she was this tough mom, but the truth was she was a big fluffy marshmallow.
I tossed the last of my belongings into the enormous military bag I’d inherited from Pete, my dad’s best friend. Supposedly, it had belonged to my dad. But I thought Pete was lying, since the fact that he’d removed the nametags gave his deception away.
No matter. I had barely known my dad; just had vague memories of a man that were more than likely only triggered by pictures I’d seen, and things people had told me.
Pete and Dad had served in Afghanistan together. Dad had died. Pete came home. Since then, he’d been a surrogate dad to me. In fact, he was more than a dad. Friendship was more like what I felt for him.
I came down the stairs and right into Mom’s arms. “Oh, baby,” she said, wiping her eyes. “I can’t believe you’re all grown up.”
Pete put his hand on Mom’s shoulder. “Libby, it’s okay.”
She wiped her eyes and stepped back. Pete smiled and embraced me just as hard as Mom did. He liked acting strong and powerful, but I knew he was just as mushy inside as Mom.
Pete grabbed the huge green canvas bag, Mom grabbed the box of books I’d decided I couldn’t live without, and I grabbed the box that held my most prized belongings. There was a picture of Lowen, the first hero to acquire her powers, and two love letters Mom had given me when I graduated from high school. The first was the letter Dad wrote to her when he first went overseas. The second was the last letter she had received from him. She said both letters were more about his love for me than her, so I should have them.
I had a few other odds and ends. My grandpa’s watch, which he’d given me before passing away, and my best friend Lambert’s flyball I caught in the outfield, causing his team to lose, among them.
I stuffed the box into the trunk along with my other things and climbed into Pete’s old sedan.
Parents without powers weren’t allowed to enter the school, and neither Mom nor Pete had shown any propensity for special abilities. Usually, these things tended to be hereditary, so we all assumed mine came from Dad. Of course, we’d never know for sure. Pete said Dad was very talented at getting into trouble, and of course, he’d been particularly talented at drinking his buddy’s beers when they weren’t looking. Other than that, there was no indication he’d been special.
“Do you have everything, honey?” Mom asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.
“Yeah, if I don’t, you can send me the rest.”
Mom sighed. “You know you don’t have to go to that school.”
“Mom, we’ve discussed this.”
“I know, but I thought I’d just say it one more time.”
“Mom, if I don’t, they’ll take away my powers. You know I don’t have a choice.”
She shrugged and pretended to give up. It wasn’t like I hadn’t heard the arguments before. Unfortunately, my powers weren’t strong. I’d been one of the only black kids in school, not to mention I was also short and a bit of a science geek. Luckily, I didn’t have a lot of bullies, but I did have one. The only reason I knew my powers existed was because my bully, Jeff Jones, had acquired the ability to electrocute people and decided to zap me while I was in the bathroom.
I had just zipped up when I heard the door open, and turned to see Jeff. He lifted his hateful little finger and pointed it at my crotch. Fear of what his electrical abilities would do to my junk caused me to absorb his zap. He tried zapping me three more times, and I absorbed his attack each time.
Jeff was without powers for the rest of the day. Of course, he beat the crap out of me after school, but I’d learned I could absorb powers. What good did that do me?
Absolutely none. I couldn’t turn his power back on him. I couldn’t even keep him from beating me up. So, I decided to head to Colorado’s super college and learn how to use what little skill I had, even if it meant I’d end up as some more powerful and arrogant asshole’s sidekick.
We pulled up at the bright modern building called Lowen Depot. Mom and Pete helped me carry my luggage, and we were met at the entrance. A handsome older man smiled and took our things. One second, we were looking at my stuff, and the next, it was wrapped in plastic, so it didn’t get separated, and loaded onto the conveyer belt behind us.
“How…? How did…?” Before Pete could finish the question, I pointed to the sign above the conveyer belt that said, Superpower training awaits you!
Pete swallowed hard and nodded. He and Mom were out of their element, and I was, too. For the most part, people with special powers didn’t let them possess their daily lives. Jeff had been an exception, but after my zapping incident, he’d been suspended from school after crossing the line with the principal’s daughter. Last I heard, he’d been sent to Juvie, where I figured he’d probably have his powers removed, at least.
Pete hugged me, then stepped aside, letting Mom embrace me again. She cried silently, and I considered for a moment telling them I’d rather stay closer to home. Finally, she let go, and I could see the resolve on her face. She had accepted my decision.
“I love you, Mom,” I whispered so only she could hear.
“I love you too, baby,” she said, and hugged me again before turning and heading out the door with Pete.
I watched the two of them leave and felt my heart ache. Mom and Pete had always been part of my life. Why am I doing this? I thought to myself.
I shook my head because something felt important about what I was doing. I might be overthinking it, but I felt a drive in me that said I might be the thing that saved us from total annihilation. I needed to know if that was true or just my fantasy. I needed to learn what, if anything, the pitiful powers I possessed could do.
***
Join us next week as we return to the adventures of Milo and Clack!
|
