Too Many Lifetimes Part Two

Part two

The Rising Storm

9

         I opened my eyes, and saw nothing. Blackness. I moaned as pain came flooding through my body, it felt as if I had been hit in the face with a brick, which I pretty much had, that guy had hit me pretty hard. I felt my wrists were tied together and my legs bound to a chair. Perfect I thought to myself. I stated wriggling my arms to try and see if I could maybe get my hands free, and I got a sharp blow to the back of my head. “Don’t even tink about it” a voice grunted “Ay boss, he’s up, you want ta handle dis?” I heard footsteps, and then the sound of a door in front of me swinging open, banging the wall.

         “Get the blindfold off, I want to look this runt in the eyes.”

         “Yes Capin no problem sir” The voice behind me replied meekly as my blindfold was removed. Blinking my eyes to the new light I glanced around. I was in a concrete box of a room tied to a metal chair. My gun off my back was gone, along with everything else. I still had my clothes on though, thank god. I looked to face this man and had to crane my neck up just to see his face, this guy was huge, at least 6 10 and muscles that put Roland to shame. “Get the hell out of here Rodgers” the man barked at the soldier behind me.

“Sir yez sir” The soldier said, quickly seizing his opportunity to leave. I watched the armor clad soldier leave and immediately set to work trying to undo my hands.

“Well well well, what have we got here? The newest member of Roland’s little honor brigade? Psh, I feel so threatened.”

“Who the hell are you?” I spat back at the man.

“Captain Sprance at your service, head of the B.O.T.I officers. Im sorry about your face but you were just asking for it.” He paused and laughed “And you my friend, I don’t really give a shit who you are or why Roland wanted you. I just know your mine, my bait to draw your little brigade here. They have caused us enough problems and the director has decided its time for her to make her move. You and your boys are done for.”

I thought of Lacey, Steve, and Roland. The only people in this new messed up world that I talked to, who made me ignore this insanity, and I was going to get them killed. I worked my hands harder, knowing I had to get out.

“What are you doin-..” Sprance had just enough time to snarl before I freed my hands and the rope fell to my feet. I wasted no time in spinning around, grabbing the metal chair, and swinging it into Spance’s smug face. I wasn’t as big as him but I sure had some strength. Big or not, he dropped like a stone, blood welling up from a gash on his face. He moaned, clearly not prepared for my attack.

I leaned over his writhing body and said “That’s for before, dick, and you were just asking for it too” I heard shouts down the hall and realized now wasn’t the time for theatrics, it was time to go.

10

I rushed out the door, looked right and saw three guards with long poles running at me. I looked left and only saw one guard rushing towards me. Left it is I thought, sprinting towards the guard and lowering my shoulder. I ran straight through him, my shoulder connecting with a satisfying “OOMF” from the guard, sending him sprawling against the corridor wall. I quickly grabbed the short pole off his belt id seen Roland and Steve using this morning. I sprinted down to hall and came to intersection after intersection. I turned right then left and then I chose left again, bursting out the door on the far end into blinding sunlight. My eyes adjusted to the sunlight and I saw a steel fence looming in front of me. I considered trying to climb it but noticed a sign proclaiming “CAUTION- 10,000 volts” before I could make any decisions, someone to my right barked “Don’t you move!” I looked and saw two more guards rushing towards me each with a pole. I glanced down at the one I had taken and tried to figure out how to extend it like id seen Steve do. I couldn’t figure it out, so I did the first thing I could think of, I swung it out in front of me, and miraculously the pole extended to triple its size and clicked into place. “There we go” I said to myself, grinning and holding onto the pole like a baseball bat. I was outnumbered, but I was pumped up on adrenaline, so I had no time to think of how bad of an idea this was. As the first one rushed me I side stepped him and brought the pole down on his back, hard, driving him to the ground. I spun around to see the other swinging his weapon towards my face. I ducked, but not fast enough, the blow connected with the side of my head. I saw spots and lost my balance falling to my back, my weapon slipping away to my right. He ran to me and I took my chance to kick his leg out from under him. He dropped, his head hitting the dusty ground with a THUMP. I got slowly to my feet grabbed my weapon, glanced at the two downed soldiers, started away, and then thought twice. I ran back and took another one of their poles quickly catching the name on the side “Retractable Oppression Device”

“ROD” I laughed to myself. So that’s what they are. I also took an Everet Pistol off one soldier. I pushed a little knob on both ROD’s restoring them to their tiny size and put one on each side of my belt, tucking the pistol into the back of my jeans. I ran to my left looking for a gate, or any way out and just running. I reached a corner where the fence met, turned left again and my mouth dropped. I saw a gate alright, but I also a bunch of guards, at least ten walking back and forth in front of it. In the middle of them all was Sprance, arms crossed, a pulsing yellow beast of a gun hanging from a strap at his side. I drew my pistol, glanced down at it, back to Sprances mammoth of a gun, and sighed. I looked at the side of my gun, looking at a little screen. “Shots Remaining: 14” Fan-freaking-tastic, I need to make some impact though I thought. I knew to never run from a fight. So I did just the opposite, I ran forward firing all the while, slamming the trigger five times. Three guards dropped to the ground, two dived out of the way and the other five turned and began to fire. Sprance just stood there a grin on his face, a bandage running from above his right eye to his jaw line. I took a moment of pride at seeing my handiwork on the captains face then rolled to the side as shots zipped past my head, staying on the ground I fired three more times, and three more guards dropped, one spinning down like a kid on a merry go round. Four left, not including Sprance, who’d just taken his gun into his hands. It was whirring and humming like a helicopter, and the end had begun to glow a faint blue. I did not want to be around to see what came out of the business end of that one. I sprinted towards the corner of the building for cover, just as a million blue lights erupted from the end of his gun, all rushing towards me. I dove behind the wall just as the beams hit the ground where I was standing, each creating a little explosion of its own. I breathed hard, planning my next move. My gun beeped “I know I know!” I yelled at it but glanced down again anyway, “Shots Remaining: Six.” I stared at the screen, knowing I couldn’t take down Sprance with only six shots, let alone the other four guards. As I stared the screen it scrolled down to reveal another message. “Pulse shots remaining: 2.” Huh? I thought to myself. What’s a pulse shot? I examined the other side of the pistol and saw a small toggle switch with a note below it. “Note: Pulse shots require 3 shots each and must be charged for five seconds. A longer charge is not recommended, can harm the user.” How had I not seen that before? Either way I smiled. I had two perfect ideas. I rounded the corner, pressing the toggle then pushing the trigger in, counting silently to myself. Sprance must have seen the look in my eyes because he dove to the ground as a huge searing beam erupted from the tiny pistol shredding the four remaining guards. I stared at the gun again jaw open. “Wow” I said out loud. I quickly turned to my right and pressed the trigger again. “One.. two.. three.. four.. five... six.. SEVEN” I yelled as the gun began to become hot and shake in my hand. I aimed at the fence and released the trigger. A blinding light seared out of the gun and I dropped it, my hand burnt from its heat. I looked up and saw a huge gaping hole where the fence was. I looked left at Sprance rising to his feet and ran straight for the hole I had made. I heard him yell but ignored it, bursting through the fence and out into the dusty world I knew nothing about.

11

         I ran for a solid twenty minutes before I had the courage to look behind me. Thankfully I saw no one so I began to walk. Finally taking in my surroundings, or lack thereof, off in every direction was dust and flat plains with a few dead trees. “WHERE THE HELL AM I!” I screamed. A bird perched on a tree near me took flight, but otherwise there was no answer. I sighed, and continued walking to where ever I was going. I wondered how I couldn’t even see the massive city I had come from, then remembered how we had driven out to find the rest of the crew. “Crap” I said aloud, wondering what became of Roland, Steve and especially Lacey. I looked down and saw only the two ROD’s on my belt, knowing there was no way I could go back and look for my friends in the compound I had come from. I felt the side of my head and noticed a large knob where the soldier hit me, I took my hand away expecting to see blood but it was clean. I thanked God for small favors. I walked for what felt like hours until I saw something on the horizon. Convinced it was just the haze or my exhaustion playing tricks on me, I kept my pace, but as I grew nearer it became clearer. It was a tiny shack, constructed entirely of metal, with a roof dominated by a huge satellite dish. I picked up my pace and headed to it not knowing what to expect. As I reached the run down structure, my nose was assaulted by a horrible smell I couldn’t ever begin to describe, not that I wanted to ever explain it again. Holding my nose I knocked on the steel door hoping someone was home to answer and help me out. Someone did answer, but when they did I screamed louder than I ever had before.

12

I was face to face with the most grotesque thing I had ever seen. Its face was drooping on one side and rigid on the other, and its left side had an extra arm with only three fingers. Its right leg was clearly longer than the other and it leaned on a cane. Dressed in only light brown rags the… person… took little note of my scream.

“What first time meeting a refugee is it? Don’t act like you haven’t heard about us.”

I gathered my breath and looked into the soft eyes of a woman. “Im sorry, Im uh… New around here. I assumed refuges were just people lost out in the wastes not…”

She interrupted me saying “Deformed?”

“Well.. uh.. yeah..  I was just wondering if you could help me, I’ve been wandering for hours and I could really use something to drink.” The woman nodded, hobbled inside, coming back moments later with a cup in her right hand and a small tube in her.. extra.. hand. She handed me the tube first. “This is a nozzle piece, a lot simpler than your big gas mask, I have no idea where you could even get one they are so outdated. I am a collector of sorts though, shall we trade?” I quickly held my breath, ripped off my gas mask, and handed it to the woman. She took it in her left hand and moved the extra hand to me. I was beginning to become used to this woman’s features already and felt myself turning red over embarrassment. “I shouldn’t have screamed” I said “Im sorry.” 

“No worries child, you’re better than any reaction I could get from a B.O.T.I. agent if they ever found me.” I took the nose piece and inserted it into my nose like I had seen my friends placed before. It sat there uncomfortably until I inhaled, and then it set into place and I barely even noticed its presence.

“Thank you again” I said taking and downing the glass of water “I was beginning to think I would never find anything else out here.. I actually jus-”

She cut me off “Shhh child listen!”

I listened, heard nothing and was about to say something smart, when I  way off the distant roar of an engine caught my ears. I looked at the woman and she nodded. “Don’t worry. I know who you are Nate. I just had to test you first, to make sure your intentions were true and that Roland was right about you. I am The Overseer, and I can see everything that you cannot” She said this and I realized for the first time that she was blind, and seemingly saying she could read minds. “That’s exactly what I can do Nate” She said with a creepy smile. “Don’t worry your friends are on their way here now everything will be fine.” She nodded towards the incoming truck. “Those are not your friends though, be careful. I know how you have gotten here, and I also know that sadly you are stuck here, we cannot send you back, and we need you here.”

“Me? Why me? You all make me seem so damn special! I haven’t done anything extraordinary in my life!” I almost yelled. I was beginning to get really tired of people giving me more questions, not answers. I felt my rage building up inside of me and before I knew what I was doing my hands flew to my sides and I withdrew the ROD’s extending them both. I turned to the sound of the engine and saw a monstrous vehicle with six wheels tearing up the sand towards me. A smirk crossed my face and I began to walk towards the vehicle. I began to pick up speed, going to a jog then a full sprint. I had no idea what I was doing, but I couldn’t stop myself. I was running full speed directly into the path of this monstrosity, at least sixteen times my size and I wasn’t even scared. I wasn’t thinking anything, I only knew I was pissed off and this crew picked just the wrong moment to come looking for me. I came to a sliding stop and watched the vehicle come even closer. I could now see a man atop it with a gun, pointed right at my head. I wasted no more time. I took the ROD in my right hand and threw it at the soldier on top, hitting him square in the face. I shifted the other ROD to my right hand and threw it directly at the grill of the monstrosity. To my satisfaction the vehicle exploded, the chasse skittering off to my left like a wounded dog. I watched it come to a stop and felt a weight returning to my hands. I looked down at them, and both of the ROD’s were back in my grasp, and somehow it didn’t surprise me one bit. I looked up at the bright broiling sun, and fell backwards to the dust.

13

         I slowly opened my eyes for the second time that day, except this time I wasn’t blindfolded. I was in a steel building and The Overseer was standing over me with a wet rag. “That my dear Nate, is why we need you.” She beamed.

My head was pounding with the worst migraine of my life, and she clearly noticed my pain. “Sorry dear, that comes with the Serenity, the first few times it is tapped into.”

I tried to speak, but couldn’t. The last few moments had felt like a dream, as if I was watching myself, not being myself. She sat me up and let me have a drink of water. I finally gasped out a few words,

“What… just happened…? My head is pounding… how did any of that just happen?”

“My dear like I said, you have the Serenity, and we just tapped into it for the first time.”

“Im sorry… The what? Can’t you guys come up with better names for things, the righteous, the Serenity, ROD’s? What is this Serenity stuff? I didn’t mean to kill anyone...”

“Well… you did. You have. But it was the enemy. Face it, you’ve taken lives. Let that thought build, store it.” Said the woman who could see into my mind.

“What….. No…. I….” Was all I could stammer out. Kill someone? I wasn’t apt to kill a spider, now I was killing people?? Even if they are the enemy it just wasn’t right. 

“Sweetheart don’t worry. Almost all Agents are mechanical; there are more agents than people left in this world. They are all controlled by Sprance and Director Kinstler. The few that aren’t mechanical are just as brainwashed.”

That made me feel a little better but I still felt queasy. “Your still avoiding my question” I stammered “What is Serenity?”

“Serenity,” She began “Is a… Disease of sorts, that existed only back in your lifetime, it was just always dormant. You must have seen it in a less vicious form, when someone loses control and does something without thinking. It’s similarly the same idea, but those people suffer from quick bursts of rage, the full blown Serenity virus developed and mutated with the toxins in our air. That is why it is mandatory that everyone wears some sort of gas mask. All who come into contact with the virus die, almost immediately. Except you. Your body had adjusted to the toxin during your life and developed anti bodies against it. The nose piece I gave you awakened that sleeping virus. So now, here, you are the only surviving person infected with Serenity.”

“Cool so im sick. Sweet. Just what I needed”

“No sweetheart, you are not sick in that sense at all. You have power you haven’t even begun to understand. Having metal return to your hands didn’t surprise you at all? The fact that the truck just exploded doesn’t scare you? Nate you are extraordinary I told you.”

I tried to swallow everything that this woman had just told me. So now I was some kind of mutated freak? I refused to believe this woman, she must have been crazy or something from all the sun.

“Sweetie I’m not crazy I promise I just need you to…”

“I don’t care what you’re trying to do! I just want to get out of this freaking place! Where are my friends? Where are they? You said they were coming!”

The woman glared at me. “Contain yourself Nate. You don’t want to let this out now, not now.”

I glared back at her, but knew she was right. Something was happening, I could feel it. My muscles were twitching, I was on edge. I gritted my teeth and let out a beastly roar. I felt the emotion spilling out of me and my body relaxing. “…I’m sorry. So… that happens whenever anger builds up inside of me?”

“Yes” she replied “you must keep yourself in check, you don’t want to lose it around anyone you care about. Oh.” Her blind eyes shifted to the roof. “Your friends are here.”

14

I rushed outside to see the Beast pulling in. Lacey hopped, out followed by Roland and a somber looking Steve. Reverting to my normal self at the sight of my friends I yelled across to Steve “What happened to you man, lost your favorite ROD or something?” Before the taste of the words had even faded off my lips I knew it wasn’t the right thing to say. Steve was pale and red eyed, he had clearly been crying. He walked up close to me, staring me down, his eyes boring into me.

“No you cocky little shit. Not a ROD. We found my brother.” He swung his right hand towards my head. I prepared for impact, but I only heard a muffled smack. I looked, and saw that Steve’s fist had connected with Roland’s bearish palm, not my jaw.

“I DON’T NEED TO DEAL WITH THIS. NOT RIGHT NOW, NO INFIGHTING” he bellowed, clearly enraged. Steve quickly apologized.

“Sorry man, it’s been a long day.. alots happened” He clapped me on the back “Glad we found you though, what’d we miss?”

We all piled into the Beast, and I was just happy to be heading home. I explained what had happened and how I had gotten out. Lacey explained that the fighting had stopped after I was taken down, and the soldiers had left with me in tow. There was nothing they could do to stop them. They found bodies at the top of the tower, Chris and Mackenzie. I had been gone for four days and was hungry beyond all belief. “ugh guys not to complain or anything but PLEASE tell me we have something to eat.” I remarked as we pulled back into the bay at our home base, my old high school.

“actually I have just the thing,” Roland remarked with a sheepish grin.

Ten minutes later he was laying down a steaming ham in front of us on a huge wooden table. “well, eat up he” he exclaimed.

I looked at him sideways “uh… you.. you can cook? Are you sure this isn’t like going to explode on me or something…?”

Roland laughed and took and took a seat at the table. “alright down to business kids, I’ve got good news,” he said glancing at Steve “and we all know the bad news..” Steve looked away. We all knew. There was no more looking for Chris or Mackenzie. They had both died, for our cause. “I have a plan.” Roland said focusing his eyes on me. “It involves our new friend here, and what he can do. Now that we have this kind of power, they one the stories from our childhood have talked about, we can skip all the other ideas I’ve had. We can storm Kinstler Tower. Were going right for her. If we get her, that’s it. Registration will be over, barcode’s will be gone, and the refugees will be allowed back in the walls of West Bellville.” I swallowed. This was a lot of pressure, pretty much all on me. I understood now why they needed me. But I still couldn’t accept it. I grunted out a thanks to Roland for dinner and went into my bunk room. I laid down and caught my breath. This was too much to handle, I had never had so much depending on me. I was always the kid that was just there, no one expected too much from me, and didn’t really get it. It was a lot to stomach. I lay there for hours, I should have been happy to have a chance to finally get some sleep, but of course I couldn’t drop off. I heard a noise and my whole body tensed, it was late, no one should have been up, not even me.

15

“Hey Nate.. You alright?” A voice asked shyly. I sat up in my bed. It was Lacey’s voice. She came in and sat on the bed across from mine. “I heard you tossing and turning, you were keeping me up too.”

“Oh… I’m sorry Lacey I didn’t mean to keep you up, there’s just a lot bouncing around in my head.”

“Yeah I bet, Serenity huh? When we were little they told us stories about it, how someone who was able to survive the full virus would be a being powerful enough to destroy anything. It was a story that scared me when I was little.. But now that I see it face to face it’s not so scary.” Lacey’s eyes met mine. The moon gleaming through my window caught off Lacey’s hair. I moved onto the bed next to her, I put my hand on the back of neck and pulled her in close to me. Her lips met mine and a wave of feeling washed over me. Lacey pulled her head back. She got bright red “Oh.. Uh… I have to go Nate” She stood up quickly knocking over the table by the bed near her and rushed out, slamming my door behind me.

“What just happened…?” I said aloud to myself. I picked up the table she had knocked over and I crawled back into my own bed and finally drifted off to sleep.

         I woke up the next morning sore, confused, and a little bit excited all at once. I hopped out of bed and went into the common area. Roland and Steve were at the table eating some cereal. Steve gave a nod over to the corner where there was a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and a fridge. I beamed. “this stuff is still around” I proclaimed picking up the half empty box “I love this cereal!” I sat down next to them and took my first spoonful. It tasted exactly the same, and I was ecstatic to have something to grip onto, to prove that this was a reality. “Where’s Lacey?” I mumbled in between mouthfuls.

“I think she’s still in her room, someone should probably get her up we have training today.” Roland said picking up his bowl and taking it to the sink. “Ill do it” I responded quickly. I wanted a chance to talk to her about last night. I knocked on Lacey’s door and there was no answer, so I slowly cracked her door open and saw her laying there on her bed. I walked up next to her and lightly shook her awake. “Hey, Lace, Steve says you need to get up we have a lot of training.”

She rolled over and looked at me with dreary eyes, and then groaned. Lacey clearly wasn’t feeling too good. “Nate…” she groaned. I quickly ran and got Roland who rushed in and felt her forehead.

“She has a fever.” He remarked grimly. “Ill be right back.” He left the room and came back with a syringe. Lacey grimaced. “Roland... I can’t stand needles.” She protested

“No choice Lace, I’m worried about you.” He drew some blood, Lacey tensed up the whole time. “Ok, that’s all it is Kiddo, ill be right back” He looked at me. “Nate you come with me.” Too nervous to speak  I followed willingly oblivious to what was going on. Roland took me into a room littered with medical supplies and put Lacey’s blood on a slide examining it  under a microscope. He stared at it for a few minutes then took out another syringe. He  looked at me. “Nate come here” he said sternly. It all clicked in my mind, I began to protest but then Roland plunged the needle deep into my forearm.

16

         “YOW!!” I yelped out as the needle drew blood from my arm. He took the sample and put it on another slide and only looked at it for a few seconds and looked up at me, eyes glazed over. “Nate,” he said quietly. “what did you do?” Roland was practically whispering

“W..what do you mean?” I stammered out as Rolands eyes began to burn with rage

“WHAT DID YOU DO NATE, WHAT DID YOU DO? LACEY IS INFECTED WITH SERENITY! THAT’S FROM YOU SHE SHOULD BE FINE!” Roland bellowed, his words alone knocking me back. My head spun and my vision blurred… I did this? I got Lacey sick? It just wasn’t fair, I did something that felt right and it ended up just ruining everything. Roland charged me and threw me up against the wall

“Explain yourself, NOW!” I stammered out last nights events and this seemed to calm him a bit. Ok… so there’s still time” he let me go and I fell to the ground in a heap. He left the room and came back holding a moaning lacey in his arms. He laid her down on a flat metal table and immediately began to take various supplies off the shelved walls and apply them to Lacey’s forehead and wrist. “Nate… please, just go.” He said, clearly calmed back down for the time being. I begrudgingly left the room and returned to the table with Steve. His face was a pale white. “So he yelled did he? Could hear it a mile away.” He stood up and cleared the table. “Ill be in the other room if you want to come man.” I stood up and followed him into a room with dark blue paneled walls and a few lounge chairs and a black leather couch surrounding a bank of TV screens. “This is the command center,” Steve remarked gesturing his arms around him “we can use it to scan frequencies or something to look for refugees or to find out if the B.O.T.I. is chatting about us. Honestly I have no clue how to work it, I leave it all to Roland, but I do know how to make these TV’s pick up some regular channels, they don’t need to always be used as radar scanners or stuff.” He shot me a goofy smile “Sit back relax, I get the feeling were not training today.”

17

         Steve actually did a good job of putting my mind at ease. We watched TV until late in the afternoon, watching crazy shows like “Robot Bludgeoning Battle” and “Dinosaurs Re-born.” Not only did Steve put my mind at ease, but he got me to laugh, something I only then realized I hadn’t done in a really long time. After a breid pause in the laughter Steve turned the 22 inch TV off. I gave him a questioning glance. His eyes were glowing “I just realized, this whole time you’ve been with us, all you’ve been doing is helping us with our battles. Im guessing this is the first actual relaxation you’ve had right?” Still confused I only nodded. “Well then I have something even better for you. Come on follow me!” Steve hopped up out of his brown leather chair and raced out of the room. He had my curiosity and I followed him out into the hallway where he stood waiting for me. He caught my eye and simply nodded, opening a door on his left marked with a faded old sign of stairs leading up proclaiming “Roof Entrance” he raced up the set of stairs enclosed behind the door, and I had to struggle to keep up, even with my cross country training. He burst out of the door at the top and again stood waiting for me like some patient dog. “Ok, seriously, what is this about man?” I panted out. He still said nothing, but nodded his head behind me. I turned, and saw two skateboards. “Oh cool…. But I uh... I don’t skate man.”

He patted me on the back. “Look closer man, this isn’t skateboarding.”

I looked and realized he was right, these boards had no wheels, and were bigger than your average skateboard. “So…. Hover boards? Back to The Future style?” He again gave me a puzzling look.

“I have no idea what your talking about man… but yeah! Hover boards! These are the quicksilver 680’s, the best money can buy. Or that we can… liberate” He gave me a wink as he walked up to one and flipped it up into his hand with his foot. I walked up to the other board and picked it up. “So uhm… how’s it work man?”

“Like this!” Steve screamed running off the side of the school.

“STEVE!” I yelled out as he plummeted from sight. I ran to the edge of the roof, only to have him woosh up past me. “Come on man try it!” I walked back to the center of the roof and put my right foot unsteadily on the boards black surface. There was a sucking sound, and my shoe was molded into the grip of the board. I did the same with my other foot, and with the same result. “Ok well… How do I make it mov- WOAH” I screamed as the board rushed forward.

“Just think about it man its not hard!”

“Just think?! What is this Neverland? Thanks for the heads up!!”