Intended Extinction (15 page)

“No,” I started, “Slate was there. He was in the explosion.”

Bollis lowered his voice to a low grumble. “Think about it, Mark. Who would have access to disposable soldiers with advanced equipment like that? There hasn’t been an attack like this since 2036. There’s no one left to do such a thing.”

“But Slate—”

“That’s even more compelling evidence. Look, I don’t have to tell you anything, Mark. You already know.”

The words layered upon my mind, melting my tissues. The acid saturated my body. Bollis didn’t seem to know about the Collectors. But I knew. And he was right. Everything was falling into place. I could only muster one word. It burned my tongue on the way out.

“GenoTec.”

Jonas Repik
held the small, vividly colored globe in his hand, observing the intricate woodwork. He smiled and focused on the American continent. His charred eyebrows lifted.

“It’s a beautiful planet, isn’t it?” he said. His voice carried throughout the otherwise quiet boardroom, filled with the leaders of GenoTec.

Repik sat at the head of the large, oakwood table, not far from the portraits of previous founders hanging to his right.

“We all live on this planet,” he continued, sitting up in his chair and setting down the model Earth. “And we are all working
together
to survive.” He stood and began pacing the room. The nine other board members followed him with their eyes. One of them, Thomas Burke, a fifty-five-year-old man with graying hair and pronounced jowls, interlaced his fingers and pursed his lips.

Repik continued with heightened vigor. “We are all on the same sphere. The same level. Title means nothing here.” He rounded the back of the table and scanned his colleagues with pensive eyes. “I have been closely monitoring those sitting around this table today. For some time now, actually. And though some of you may disagree with me . . .” he stopped and shifted his eyes. He licked his thin lips. “I have decided to choose Miss Saunders as the new Vice President.”

Hushed voices erupted from the table, except from the petite, brunette sitting at the very end of one of the rows.

“Jonas, she’s only been here for a month!” exclaimed a silvery haired man with a slight English accent.

Repik turned back to the table with a raised eyebrow. The men and women calmed down and were once again silent.

“There was a point I was getting at,” he said, in his drunken brogue. “No matter who we are or what position we hold, or even how long we’ve been here, there are people that fit the position for the time at hand. I know it is a step away from what has been done in the past. But I want to make it clear . . . I am not Archturus.”

“Jonas,” spoke Thomas Burke in an understanding tone, “this organization was built upon certain—”

“Don’t presume to tell me how this organization was built, Thomas. If you forget, I was there the day of its conception. Where were you?” Repik gave Burke a poisonous look.

“Jonas, let’s not pretend like we haven’t known each other for years. I may not have been there the day the red ribbon was cut, but I
do
know that there are only a handful of us left that knows as much as Slate did. I believe Sapphira is a wonderful addition to this council, but the knowledge and experience—well, they’re just not there.” Burke received approving nods.

Jonas turned his gaze and nonchalantly said, “I’ve made my decision. Sapphira is to be the new Vice President of GenoTec, effective immediately—”

The doors in the back of the room burst open and a younger man dressed in a GenoTec uniform stood at the threshold.

“Sir,” he spoke to Repik.

Repik smiled at the board members and said, “If you’ll excuse me.” He rounded the table and followed the young Volunteer out into the corridor. As soon as the foggy glass doors swung shut, they talked in whispers.

“Well?” demanded Repik.

“It appears Ellis Island wasn’t exactly a success,” said the Volunteer, trying to act bold.

Repik’s droopy eyes glared back at the young man. One could never tell if the new CEO was angry or calm.

“I’ve seen the pictures,” said Repik, “I’m very confident that it worked.”

The young Volunteer hesitated. “Sir . . . Wenton and Tracer were pursued to the Island, but someone else was already there. He rescued them, after dispatching our men. They’ve also got some kid with them.”

“It must be one of
them
.”

“It has to be. Why else would he be helping Tracer and Wenton?”

Repik’s eyes confiscated the Volunteer’s soul as he stepped forward, pushing the young man against the wall.

“Let Celement know I want him running this operation. I want this done. I want this gone. Find them and kill them.”

“GenoTec,”
repeated
Bollis.

I couldn’t even stop to let it sink in. Every ounce of hope I held on to for the past five years was gone in an instant. GenoTec was behind everything. They must have used the Collectors to lure us to the Turnmont. But why me? Why Tara? All of this started after Vax. Maybe something was wrong with the first two vials. Maybe they wanted to cover up anything wrong with the cure. What mistake did we have that GenoTec wanted erased? Slate’s death still remained a mystery to me. It was possible Repik wanted Slate dead, too. The questions became a vicious circle.

“This is—well, you obviously have an explanation,” I said, recovering from a near blackout.

“I do,” he stated, getting to his feet. He paused the conversation, grabbing a rusty fire poker. He kept his back to me as he quickened the flames, so I approached him, feeling the warmth of the fire on my skin. “But that’s as much as I can tell you for now.”

Like an exploding rocket, I lashed out.

“What?!” I caught myself before yelling. “No, you’re gonna tell me what’s going on! Now!”

We stood toe to toe.

“Mark,” he said, “I will keep my word—you will know everything. But right now, you have to trust me and calm down.”

“Of course!” I stepped away, letting my sarcasm do most of the talking. “I forgot. This is
my
life.” I reveled in the ridiculousness of my sorry existence.

“We aren’t safe yet. If I told you everything I knew, they could take you and torture you. I could compromise years of crucial information.”

I gave Bollis the most dissatisfied look I could muster. I was more enraged than I had ever been. All this time we had been fighting for our lives, and for what? We traveled all this way for nothing.

“You know what?” I seethed. “You’re not going to help us.” I walked over to Tara, about to wake her. I was done. I hated being someone’s pawn. I wasn’t going to let someone control my life.

“All right, leave,” he responded. “Let Tara get shot again.”

I stopped right as I was about to grab her hand.

“You go back out there,” he continued, “and you’re back to square one. Back to running. More unanswered questions. No options.”

I stood with my back to Bollis, infuriated. What was I supposed to do? Was he right? If we left, would I be sending us to our graves? But he wasn’t giving me anything! I turned to him and began another assault.

“Why did you even bring us here then? Why did we come?”

He hesitated, looked at the floor, and then approached me.

“I can take you somewhere safe. Away from GenoTec. We would already be there, but I can’t let them find out where it is. That’s why they destroyed Ellis Island.”

“All right,” I said rudely, “You’re insane. I’ll take my chances outside.”

Before I could ride my prideful comment, Bollis grasped my neck and wrenched me into a paralyzing position.

“I have had
enough
,” he stated fiercely. “Twice I have risked my life for you. I have given you refuge and I’ve healed Tara. I am
not
here to hurt you; I am
here
to
help
you. Now, stop creating excuses about your life. GenoTec is the enemy now, so get that in your head. Accept it. You either stay with me and live, or you will die out there with them.”

He released me and I gasped for air, holding my sore neck. I crouched down, recuperating, while Bollis strode away, taking his weapon and exiting the room.

I was
alone
again.

I sat in a daze as the flames danced into the night. I thought my reaction would be something akin to a string of curse words, or an even warmer hatred toward Bollis. Astoundingly, that wasn’t the case.

Because of what he had said, there arose a glimmer of trust. I couldn’t believe it, but it was true. His words were branding me with a new perspective. In a matter of seconds, Bollis had managed to turn me from disbelieving and disrespectful, to quiet and reflective.

But how could he expect me to cope with all of this so easily? I had just learned that the last five years of my life had been lived off of a lie—or something like that. All I really knew was that GenoTec was responsible for the Turnmont and for sending those masked soldiers after us.

Maybe I just needed to calm down.

I stood, rubbing my throat and making sure I was the only one awake. Tara and Justin were still out cold, as if there hadn’t been a heated debate going on right in front of them. As I looked at their bodies, I wondered how they were going to react to all of this.

I padded over to Tara’s couch and lethargically dropped myself onto the floor again, leaning against one of the armrests. Looking deeper into the flames, I became mesmerized. It was time to work things out in my mind.

All right. What if all of this was true?

I started to piece together stray information that hadn’t made sense before. The riots in London. The radioactive explosion in Moscow. The incident in Manhattan that killed Tara’s sister. The stories that were chalked up to be rogue terrorist attacks were starting to become eerily clear now. What was GenoTec’s motive? Why would they provide so much hope to the world, and then have some kind of ulterior personality?

I started to think about Slate. Archturus Slate: CEO since the beginning. Now, all of the sudden he’s gone, and those metal-heads start popping up everywhere. Had something from within the corporation spurred some kind of insurrection? Was this just the beginning of a mass rebellion?

That sounds ridiculous.

There
was
a reason for all of this. I remembered the news report in Justin’s hovel.
Repik
. If GenoTec
was
as corrupt as I thought, then everything Repik had said was a lie. It must have been him sending those men. Right? Or was he oblivious to everything? I kept coming back to the idea that maybe it was just a group of people responsible. Maybe for the most part, GenoTec was okay.

But Bollis seemed to think the whole corporation was the problem. Then again, he had only revealed so little. I sighed and leaned my head against the worn couch. What a twisted reality I lived. Amazingly, I was almost wishing to be back in my apartment, coughing up blood instead of dealing with all of this.

Now I’d really lost my mind.

I guess I didn’t need much fact. I had all the evidence to believe Bollis. The soldiers. The Collectors. Bollis’ strange appearance and motives. The hard part was accepting the truth.

I erased my mess of thoughts and embraced the silence. I listened to my breaths and closed my eyes. Tara’s face appeared in my mind. I thought of her, as she lay motionless on the couch. Her familiar voice came into my head, from the night I had killed those three soldiers. I was reminded of her conviction, her bravery. It was here that I began to feel a stirring motivation. When Tara awoke, who was I going to be? The scared skeptic that would lead her to her doom? Or was I going to be strong, mature, and ready to do whatever it took to keep her safe?

Bollis burst through the door. He stopped and looked at me with a serious face.

“Well,” he said, “so much for a dramatic exit—we’ve got company.”

I hit my head against the armrest, wanting to escape. More metal-heads? When were they going to stop? How was I
that
important?

Sitting there wasn’t going to help anyone. There was nothing I could do. It was time I accepted my life for how it was. No more sulking, no more complaining. I had to act.

I stood and swallowed my fear. “How many?”

At first he narrowed his brow, unsure if I was serious or not. Then he stepped forward. “A lot.” He pointed to Tara and Justin. “Take them through that corridor and you’ll find a staircase. Wait for me at the top. Go!”

The adrenaline kicked my ass.

As Bollis crouched and rummaged through his bag, I moved to Justin, shaking his frail body.

“Justin!” I said. “We’ve got to move, c’mon!”

His head lifted lazily, hair as crazy as lion’s mane. I could now see his features in the light of the fire, revealing a large bruise nearly covering the entire right side of his face.

“Where’s the other dude?” he asked with a hoarse voice.

“I’m right here,” said Bollis from behind the couch. “Just listen to Mark,”

As Justin started to recuperate, I rushed over to our weapons, placed near Tara’s couch, and slung both rifles over my chest. I realized there was fresh ammunition loaded into the weapons. I rounded the couch and scooped Tara’s limp body into my arms, knowing it might be a while before she woke.

“We bustin’ heads?” asked Justin, coming back to himself, reaching inside his backpack and shoving his dog-eared beanie upon his head.

“Just follow me,” I said, doing as Bollis had directed. As we were crossing the hardwood floor, I hesitated for a moment, turning back to Bollis.

He lifted his head and saw we were standing there in the patch of moonlight.

“Go!” he said, “I’ll be fine.” He lifted a small device from the black bag and set it on the floor.

I took a deep breath and paved the way again. We crossed the threshold of the corridor and were immersed in blackness. I told Justin to activate one of the torchlights so we could find our way upstairs.

“Careful,” I cautioned. “Once we get there, turn it off.”

He nodded and clicked the flashlight.

“You feel that, Marcus?!” he whispered. “It’s re-veeeeenge!”

“Hey,” I said, grabbing his blasé attention, “this isn’t some sort of . . .” but then I realized who I was talking to. “Let’s just go.” He flashed me a grin underneath his knit cap and goggles.

After making a U-turn and going up a few more steps, we entered the upper level and waited for Bollis. Justin quickly turned off the small light and started humming a soft tune.

The room was small and cramped. Moonlight illuminated the corridor-like area from an expansive window to our right. The bricks of the fireplace cut the pane in half as they rose through the roof. On our immediate right, a door led outside, probably to a balcony. We must have been in an old Ellis Island building.

I propped Tara against the nearby wall and checked her pulse. It was steady and normal. I set her rifle next to her and secured my own. Justin was peering out the nearest window like a sniffing hound.

“Tarmucks, Tarmucks, Tarmucks-Tarmucks-Tarmucks . . .”

Bollis bounded up the stairs, toting his bag, rifle, and a weird helmet. His weapon was a sub-machine gun, loaded with top-of-the-line accessories. A suppressor, scope, stock-inserted magazine, and a silver sheen arrayed the mini death machine. I looked down to my plain MLM-GR and envied Bollis.

He crouched down next to us. His whisper was filled with urgency. “Listen to me very carefully. There are at least twenty of them out there. We will be just fine if you do exactly as I say. Mark, over by the chimney, a piece of cardboard is covering a hole. It overlooks the commons. If they come through that door downstairs, kill them. The fire will give you enough light to see.”

My heart was pumping faster by the second, but I knew what I had to do. I could shoot. I had done this before.

Twenty of them, though? I hoped Bollis was as competent as he looked.

“Justin, here are some gas bombs—use them only if you hear them coming up the stairs. I set a few charges at the bottom, but it would be best if we could use these first.” He handed Justin three cylindrical tubes with a couple of buttons on the side. “Use the red button when you hear them, then throw it. The black one—”

“Yeah, yeah, ‘
Balls
’! This is day-one stuff!”

I guess Bollis had a new nickname.

Bollis hesitated. “Mark, there’s an explosive by the door downstairs, but I didn’t have enough proxy’s to go around, so you’ll have to shoot that one. Try and group as many together as you can.”

“Where are you going to be?” I asked.

“Outside on the balcony. They don’t exactly know where we are, so I’ll try and take as many out as I can before they get inside.” He took a deep breath and said, “You guys ready?”

Justin and I sat there like a couple of deer.

“Good, then let’s get started, shall we?”

He donned his form-fitting helmet and clamped the sides. The helmet was made out of some kind of flexible material, like a more solid version of plastic. It followed every curve of his skull, sporting a v-shaped visor that somehow didn’t reflect light. The design was unlike anything I had ever seen. Parts of the helmet were sectioned, akin to scales on a lizard.

Where the hell had he come from?

He slowly opened the door to the outside and crept at a low angle. The door stayed open, letting more moonlight invade the small attic. Outside, there was a six-foot concrete balcony, with a three-foot retaining wall.

As Bollis got into position, I turned to Justin and said, “Are you gonna be okay?”

“Stop worrying about
her
, Shinbutt,” he whispered, shaking my composure. “Let’s just kick some Tarmuck ass!” I almost lost focus for a moment. Disregarding his failure to say my true name, he knew I was worried about Tara. More shockingly, he let me know. Maybe I was underestimating the kid. Maybe he was more observant than I thought.

For the first time in our short-lived relationship, I gave him a mischievous smile and said, “Let’s kick some Tarmuck ass.”

Without warning, the sound of a muffled nail gun echoed off the walls. Bollis had begun.

Justin hopped over to the staircase, looking down the shaft. I jogged over to the piece of cardboard covering the hole and carefully pushed it aside. Bollis was right; a gaping, splintered opening presented itself, allowing me a magnificent view of the bottom floor. I sat down, planted my feet on the sides of the threshold and aimed downward.

The light from the fireplace cast flickering shadows all over the couches and hardwood floor. I aimed at the entrance and scanned the area for the explosive. Before I could find it, the door creaked open. I waited as the door sat there, barely ajar, breathing as quietly as I could.

Instead of a body, a small, round ball rolled out of the opening. The sphere continued until it reached the middle of the commons, lying still under the glow of the moon. Suddenly, three metal legs shaped like spikes broke free from the sides of the sphere. The legs turned down and brought the globe to a standing position. On the top of the sphere, a tiny, square cutout rose above the body, emitting an eerie green laser. The head swerved around, scoring the entire room with its eye.

They must have been mapping the room. I waited tensely until the small robot finished its unsuccessful attempt to find someone. The green laser shut off and the legs and head of the robot retracted back into its body. In my peripheral vision, the door below opened further. As I watched a darkened body emerge from the shadows, my grip intensified.

More of my enemy’s body moved forward, crouched and taut. I didn’t let hesitation take its hold of me and promptly placed my reticule onto his head. Just as I pulled the trigger, Bollis fired another shot, causing my target to jerk his head to the right. My bullet struck the wall inches away from the soldier’s head, and he instinctively lunged to take cover behind one of the couches.

I noted my ammunition capacity and took a deep breath. Luckily for me, my position still gave me the advantage. Right as I was about to take aim again, the door burst open, swinging and hitting the wall. Three more soldiers bounded into the room, scattering throughout the open commons. I froze for a second, wondering where to locate the explosive.

I still had all four soldiers in my sight, but they were spaced out. If I didn’t act now, they would be moving to the stairs. I scanned the area again, straining my eyes to see through the darkness.

I spotted it. A small, nearly invisible square package, attached to the base of the wall near the door that led to the bedroom. Fear tried to take hold of me, but I was done following orders from the emotion. I aimed and took the shot.

I missed. One of the metal-heads jerked his head toward the ceiling. Even with the suppressor, my rifle made enough sound to be heard. Once again, I tried to hit the charge, but I couldn’t aim worth a damn. My window of opportunity was closing fast. I only had one more try . . .

I pressed hard on the metal trigger.

The whole building shook as the explosion sent plumes of flame and smoke throughout the bottom floor. I caught myself before falling fifteen feet, and glanced over at Tara and Justin. Tara was still out cold, while Justin looked back at me with shocked eyes.

I did it. I actually hit the thing.