The Phoenix Files: Missing Link
Chapter 10
79 Days
Hey guys, I hope you enjoy this chapter and we've hit a milestone! 10 chapter woot woot! Anyway please reveiw because (Amazingly) this fan-fic has 117 veiws but only nine reviews, I would really appreciate the help! Thanks for reading this far! (and this goes to the end of book 2)
As Pryor got closer I heard Luke whisper something to Peter, and Peter said something in reply but I didn't catch what he said either. Peter suddenly stood and walked towards her saying," Morning, miss! Have you got our next assingment for us?" He need to learn how to act casual.
"Come with me." She said as she turned to head back to her office, this really isn't good... As we followed a couple kids gawked at us like we were kings or something.
"What's this about, miss?" Peter asked in what he would call a casual voice and what I would call an excited three year old. Pryor didn't answer and stopped in the doorway to Staples' office.
She then snapped out," Mrs Stapleton, I will tolerate no interruptions this morning. Is that clear?" Pryor spun off down the hall and we followed, she swiped her card and let us into her office, I caught a glimpse of Luke looking over his shoulder just before Pryor shut the door behind us. I noticed two black security cameras in either side of the room, both had a green blinking light on. Peter, Luke and I all sat down on the plastic chairs as Pryor sat in her fancy-ass swivel seat. She looked us dead in the eyes and cleared her throat saying," We have your friend Jordan."
Without thinking I responded," Why miss?"
"Oh you know why. Now then, she is being held in the security centre and is being questioned by officer Calvin, I thought it was only fair to make you aware of this before we continued our discussion."
"Questioned about what, miss? Has something-" Peter said before Pryor cut him off saying," With that in mind, I wonder if the two of you might be willing to answer a few questions for me."
"Of course, miss. What do you want to know?" Peter asked, using his 'supreme acting' skills to trick Pryor.
"Last Friday, a valuable item of property went missing from my office, I'd like you to tell me where it is." She continued.
" What is it you're looking for miss? Maybe we can try and help you... Do you remember where you last had it?"
"In my desk drawer. Shortly before it was stolen."
" Ok. Do you have any idea who might have taken it?" I asked sounding thoughtful.
"Mr. Caldwell there is no use playing dumb with me, miss Burke has already confessed to her invlolvement in the theft and she has also implicated yourself, Mr Hunter and Mr Weir." Pryor snapped at me.
"Miss, I don't understand, you haven't even told us what you say we stole." I added in a confused voice, Pryor was silent for a minute, she was staring me dead in the eyes...
"I suggest you don't play games with me, Mr Caldwell." She said eventually, at this point it was clear that she was lying, I knew Jordan well enough to know that she wouldn't give in that easily. Pryor turned to Peter suddeny," Mr Weir, tell me how's your father holding up after your excusion on Sunday?" Peter didn't answer.
"Don't want to talk about it?" Pryor asked, trying to pressurise him. He was holding the sides of his chair," Well in any case, I'm sure he's learnt a valuble lesson about the importance of not overstepping one's boundaries." I could tell Peter was stuggling to restrain himself.
"Tell me where it is." Pryor demanded, getting angrier.
Peter forced on a confused smile," Where what is, miss?" He asked tilting his head very slightly.
Suddenly Pryor burst to her feet, a burning rage in her eyes," The phone you idiot boy! The phone that you stole from my desk drawer! Where is it?!" Pryor yelled down at Peter, he reeled back in surprise, I noticed something in Pryors voice, it was fear, she was scared of what Shackleton will do when he finds out.
"TELL ME!" Pryor shrieked, leaning over the table," TELL ME what you've done with it, or your friend Jordan may find herself-" Pryor said calming down after shouting 'tell me' she was cut off by Luke who exclaimed," What are you talking about? We haven't touched your phone! Why would we?! Phones don't even work in this stupid town!"
I noticed tears rising in his eyes, he was probably thinking about his dad, or something, it's kind of hard to tell. Pryor planted her hands down on the table, she was studying Luke for a moment, Luke wiped his eyes with his sleeve, breathing deeply.
Pryor sat down saying," Disappointing. I only hope that Ms Burke will be more co-operative." She sighed and pulled a sheet from her printer and slid it over to us.
"Here is your second assignment, you are to have it completed by this time next week, I trust that this won't be too difficult for the three of you to mangage?" She finished coldly before letting us out of the room.
By the end of the day we had decided to go check Jordan's house to see if she was alright. On our way out of the school Mr Hanger threw a hissy fit because Peter was supposed to go to detention. When we reached Jordan's house Peter ran up the the front door and hammered the doorbell until the door opened, Jordan's dad stood in the door with a cold fury on his face until he realised it was us," Oh, hi boys." He said in a calm-ish tone.
"Mr Burke, we were wondering if Jordan-" Luke said calmly before he was cut off.
"Now isn't really a good time Luke." Mr Burke said in a very intimidating voice.
"Is she here? We just want to make sure she's-" Peter said nervoulsy before being cut off by a shaken voice from behind Mr Burke said," Dad?" it was Jordan, she stood beside her dad and looked at us, she had goosebumps all over her arms and she looked very shaken," Hey, Dad, it's fine, let them in." She said. Mr Burke considered for a minute, probably remembering our last visit. "We won't stay long." Luke said calmly.
"Yeah, we just need to catch her up on our meeting with Pryor, you know, staff-student liason stuff." Peter added, Mr Burke looked down at Jordan who was looking at him with a set of puppy eyes.
"All right, all right. Just take it easy okay? You've had a rough day."
"Dad, I'm fine" Jordan said with a forced smile,"C'mon" She said as she turned to head for her room, we followed close behind her. As we entered the room Jordan closed the door and her tone changed completely," Are you guys alright?" She asked with worried expression.
"Us? You're the one-" Luke said before Jordan cut him off.
"Calvin said you guys admitted to taking the phone," said Jordan.
"Pryor said the same thing about you, you didn't tell him anything?" Peter asked looking like a worried parent.
"No, did you?" asked Jordan
"Course not." Peter replied quickly.
"Ok good." Jordan said breathing out.
"What did Calvin do to you?" Peter asked." I mean, he didn't hurt you or anything?" He sounded even more like an overprotective parent every second.
"I'm fine, in fact." she said opening her copy of 'The Shape Of Things To Come' and pulled out a key card," Told you I'd find out what's behind those doors." She said with a slight grin.
"How the hell did you manage that?" I said eyes wide.
"It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be," Jordan said as she began to explain how she obtained the key card," That's it?" Luke asked raising an eyebrow.
"What do you mean 'that's it'? What if he'd seen her?" Peter said getting all snappy for no reason. Then Jordan started explaining what she did and how a nurse reported her to the security centre for walking down a hall. When Jordan finished up we started planning about getting into one of those rooms and figuring out what they were for. It ended up with Peter saying he'd ask his dad. We left and went back home, Georgia had given me a slip of paper with a little message saying ' You aer a Good boy Love GeorGia ' When Peter saw it he looked like he was about to throttle me.
I got home and walked upstairs to my room, I sighed and fell on my bed, I lay there for about five minutes before I sat up and went downstairs to grab something to eat, I grabbed an apple and went back to my room again.
78 Days
After school, instead of doing the assignment Pryor had set for us we decided to let Peter fake the results while we looked for Reeve because Jordan was convinced he could help us, we ended up waiting in Flameburger for Reeve to appear somewhere. After a couple minutes Luke stood up looking at something,"D'you see him?" Peter asked standing up too, I saw Luke's mum and Montag walking down the staircase outside the medical centre.
"Huh, you didn't say anything about a doctor's appointment." Jordan said watching the two of them.
"I didn't know anything about a doctor's appointment, although it's not as if she fills me in on everything she..." Luke said as the two stopped at the bottom of the stairs and... kissed, that was unexpected, Luke started running at them but the three of us caught hold of him, he calmed down but he spent the rest of the day fuming about his mum.
Eventually we all went home, I went straight to bed, I've been doing that a lot lately...
77 Days
The next day we repeated the process except Peter's dad apparently got some message telling them to report anything even slightly odd we do to the secuirity centre. Which I thought was just complete bullshit. We were making our way to Flameburger when Luke pointed, saying," Look!" I realised he was pointing at Reeve, he was with his son. We went into Flameburger and spotted him at the table to the right of the one we were sitting at yesterday. Luke kept an eye on them while Peter, Jordan and I got the food. We sat down in the same table as yesterday. His hand froze halfway to his mouth as we sat down," Relax." Jordan said calmly with her back to him.
"We're just getting something to eat." Jordan continued keeping the calm tone.
"While we're here, though," She went on in an undertone, still not looking at him."I've got a couple of quick questions for you." Reeve's son sat playing happily, oblivious to what was going on.
"We were wondering about those metal security doors, you know the ones with no handle that you need a key card to-"
"Look guys," Reeve said turning around,"I'm just trying to spend some time with my son on my afternoon off, all right? I don't want any trouble."
"And we don't want to give you any. But this is important. Now turn around and stop acting so suspicious."
"I don't know what those doors are for, that's top-level stuff."
"Could you find out for us? That information has to be somewhere, right?" Luke asked.
"I already told you kids, I can't get involved. I've go my family to think about. And you guys shouldn't get caught up in all this either."
"We already are, Reeve. There's a point where you can back out and there's a point you can't. We are to deep in to just forget what we know, and live our lives in this hell hole. Look we are asking you for a simple favor." I said darkly.
"Look even if I wanted to help you, there's no way I could get my hand on that kind of info. That stuff's stored in Aaron Ketterley's office."
"Where's that ?" Jordan asked.
"In his house, behind one of those metal doors."
"Let's say the door wasn't a problem. I mean, theorectically. Then what?"
"You'd have the security on the house to deak with, and Ketterly himself, and even if you did get in-" He stopped and shook his head saying,"Listen, I can't do this. I'm sorry. Just let it go, all right?"
"Officer Reeve, please," Pleaded Jordan," there must be something you can tell us." Reeve just ignored her and stood up to leave. I watched him and his son leave and sighed.
76 Days
It was lunch and Peter was in detention, Jordan, Luke and I were sitting under a tree talking about the security doors. When the bell rang we got up and started heading to class, on our way up the stairs Peter came sprinting down," Peter where the yell are you going?!" I called to him, he ignored me and kept running, we all doubled back and followed him, we ended up at his bike and he was sitting inspecting it when he pulled a sheet of paper out from under the seat, he straightened it out and it said: Ketterly S. Building 4:30 P.M. Sat. Security upgrade being put on his house surveillance down for 20 MINS. Good luck
75 Days
We decided to meet at 4:15 in the bush because Ketterly's house was pushed right up against the bush. I went early, really early. I left at 3:45 and got there about five minutes later. I looked at where we agreed to meet and saw Jordan sitting there already but she had her head in her hands, I crouched down beside her," Jordan, you ok?" I asked looking down at her with a worried expression, sat there for another second before she lifted her head and held her eyes shut," I don't know anymore..." she mumbled sounding a bit sad. She was trying to hide it.
"What do you mean?" I asked calmly. I moved into a sitting posistion and she opened her eyes and a single tear rolled down her cheek.
"Those 'vision' things I was talking to you about, they're getting worse, more painful."
"So I'll assume that was one?" I asked rasing an eyebrow.
"Uh yeah... It was really sudden, it hurt like hell well it was more or less just the surprise of it..."
"Yeah I can tell, wana talk about it?"
"Sure why not." She said with a sigh
"Alright then, what did you see?"
"I don't really know, I think it was just a staircase going down to somewhere..."
"What do you think it means? Do you think it has something to do with Tabitha?"
"Yeah I mean what doesn't have something to do with Tabitha?" Jordan replied sighing.
"Fair point, ok do you think it could have something to do with the doors?"
"Could do, we never really know though do we?"
"Well we'll probably know after today."
"Probably."
"By the way, have you noticed Peter is getting easier to annoy by the day?"
"Not as much as you have." She replied lightly, I snickered a little.
"You can say that again." I replied smiling a little. There was a moment of silence before Jordan sighed," What if we can't stop it? What if we can't stop Tabitha in time?" She said sadly, I looked at her and saw there were tears in her eyes.
"Then we'll be dead. I'm not letting this shit happen as long as I live, so I'll have to be dead if they want me to let them win." I replied determindly, Jordan smiled at me before she leaned in and gently kissed me. She sat back down," Thanks." She replied calmly, I heard a slight rustle and saw Peter approaching the two of us, He sat down beside Jordan, uncomfortably close, she slid away a bit, Peter asked what's wrong, and she simply replied," Nothing.". A few minutes later Luke arrived and sat down. We waited for a few minutes till the tech guys arrived," Let's go." Jordan said standing up and walking out of the tree line. Peter started comlaining about what we were going to do about the guy inside.
"Just don't let him see you." Jordan said glancing back at him.
"Oh right, hang on a sec I've got to turn on my invisibility." He said rolling his eyes. We approached the house and went inside, we stopped just before the living room and Jordan peeked in, she instantly recoiled, the guy was probably in there, she nodded at something before running across to the other side of the entrance to the living room. We stopped again looking at a steel door that would've lead to a bedroom in any other Phoenix house. Suddenly we heard the ladder creak, I spun and saw the ladder and a second later a boot was planted down on one of the rungs, crap. Jordan grabbed the keycard from her pocket and waved the card in front of the sensor, nothing. The ladder guy was getting closer and Jordan tried again, the door made a familiar clunk and slid open, we ran in and shut the door behind us.
We sat there hoping nobody heard the loud bang as we closed the door, after a minute we started searching, Peter apparently managed to make a hacking program on his laptop and put the data onto a memory pen. We searched around the room and didn't really find anything. Peter heard something and went over to investigate, he stood for a second listening carefully, something he doesn't do much. Until a hiss of compressed air came out from the floor, Luke dived behind a large L-shaped sofa and Jordan followed, I ducked behind it not reall seeing many options, Peter ducked in as well and we sat waiting I heard a clunk and voices, I didn't pay attention, too on edge to take anything in, I looked under the sofa to see two pairs of feet step out of the floor, hidden tunnel. Wait, Reeve said he would be at the Shackleton building, so it must have been some kind of tunnel system, or maybe he never went to the Shackleton building. We sat there, I realised that the other person was Calvin. I also realised Peter left the memory pen in the laptop and he left the laptop on...
It felt like we were there for hours but Calvin and Ketterly left eventually, through the door not the tunnel though... They left the room and we waited about half a minute before sprinting out of the house, Peter collected his memory pen first though.
74 Days
I was making my way to Lukes, he had found something, apparently. Yesterday Peter split the files into four and giving a part to each of us so we could make a more efficent job of looking through the files.
I arrived a minute later ringing the doorbell. Luke's mum let me in but looked frustrated, Luke probably confronted her about Montag. Can't imagine how much of a pain in the ass that was. I opened the door to Lukes room and saw him sitting staring at the T.V. He looked at me as I entered, I sat down on the desk chair," So... I'll assume you told your mum about Montag."
"He was here, talking to her when I got back, she denied everything and I said I saw the two of them outside the medical centre and she started complaining about privacy and all that crap."
"So I'll assume she's the kind of person who doesn't like loosing an argument."
"Damn right, she got all pissed at me, she was acting like she didn't do anything wrong." Luke said with a frustrated look in his eyes.
"I-" I said before the door opened and Peter walked in, glared at me and sat down on the bed," Jordan not here yet?" He asked looking at Luke.
"On her way." Luke answered. Peter looked at me," So yesterday arvo... You and Jordan just so happend to get there early did you?"
"Honestly Peter I was hoping to be on my own, but Jordan was already sitting there. There's nothing else to say."
"Oh, you mean aside from the fact she was crying?"
"Peter that's a personal reason."
"Oh and she tells you and not me?"
"Well I'm not an obsessive stalker who thinks he owns her, I think that's reason enough to make me more trustworthy... But if you want another reason I don't act like I'm her mother and anyway it's her choice who she tells not yours." I said calmly, but as soon as I'd finished speaking Peter lunged off the bed at me, I dodged out of the way by jumping off the chair, but as Peter jumped at me he knocked Luke off the bed. Peter collided with the chair and it went rolling across the room," What the hell is wrong with you?" I said watching him get off the chair.
"You're what's wrong!" he said charging again, as he got closer he raised a fist, he swung his fist forwards, but before it could collide with my face I grabbed it and was about to push him off when he kneed me in the crotch, I dropped to the floor," What the fuck is wrong with you?!" I said groaning, I heard the door open and Jordan walk in, she looked at Peter for a second as he bent down and grabbed my shirt, he raised a fist but Jordan came up behind him and held back both arms before she pushed him to the side," What the hell is wrong with you?!" She said giving Peter an enraged glare, Peter picked himself up off the ground and looked at Jordan then me, Luke was standing by his desk with a shocked expression on his face.
"Him." Peter said pointing down at me.
"And what did he do to upset you?"
"He-"
"He's pissed because he wants to know what we were talking about yesterday but I won't tell him because I'm in no place to go telling him."
"Why the hell do you want to know?"
"Becuase I'm worried about you Jordan I don't want you getting hurt."
"What the hell? You're not my bloody parents Peter I can handle myself."
"Bu-"
" 'But' nothing this conversation is over, I came here to see what Luke found not to listen to you worry about me." Jordan finished turning to Luke who had turned on his laptop and was flicking through the files. I stood up and walked over to him.
He pulled up some slideshow and I didn't pay attention to the pictures till little gray boxes appeared in every major building in Phoenix, each box had a grey line coming out of it that led to the center, the Shackleton building, next was a computer generated diagram of the Shackleton building, each floor was labelled, but there was a grey section underneath the ground floor with a grey line that went right up to the top of the building, tunnels, just as I expected. the grey line going to the top floor must have been an elevator, at the top floor there was a little room marked external communications I heard Luke and Peter say something but I was to zoned out to hear properly, I was just thinking of how we could get there, I mean of course we are gonna go there we need to.
73 Days
We were at the security centre, looking for Reeve's bike, we had a note telling him to meet us on tuesday. Luke found Reeve's bike and we ran over, Jordan stuffed the sheet under the seat and we were about to leave when a very pale kid and a freckle faced kid. I recognised them from school," Hey, what are you guys doing?" the freckled girl said.
"We are just taking a shortcut to his house, I'll assume you have some things you want us to tell Pryor." I said calmly.
"Uh yeah I guess but first why are you guys still staff-student liasons if you did all that vandalism and theft stuff?"
"Pryor can't be bothered to find anybody else probably. Anyway got you comlaints on a list or something? I can just hand them over to Pryor next time I see her. To make up for the time you guys couldn't find us alright? Oh and what are your names? Just so we know for next time." I asked keeping a calm tone.
"Ok, uh... I'm Lauren and he's Jeremy." She said awkwardly before she started checking her pockets, she pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to me," Thanks Lauren, I'll give this to Pryor the next time I see her."
"Uh thanks." She said turning around and leaving with Jeremy close behind, once they were out of earshot I turned and said," And that is how you deal with stubborn kids." I smirked a little and we all left.
72 Days
When we saw Pryor she had clearly given up on the friends forever act. Peter gave her our assignment that he filled with fake information because it would just be a waste of time when it was just a waste of time not doing it properly becuase Pryor saw right through his little rouse, made us do it again and make us do it today until 4:30, while under supervision from Staples. Well done Peter, well bloody done.
It was afterschool and it was pouring rain, the others were standing talking about Peter's failure of a faked assignment while I sat and watched for anybody to leave the building. Suddenly Peter started walking over to Staples and 'negotiating' with her and he actually came back successful to my surprise. We quickly headed for 'the nest', as it came into view Jordan skidded to a stop narrowly missing me but covering Luke and Peter. I got off my bike and looked around, I could barely see in the rain. Rain is something you get used to when you lived in Ireland... Barely ever sunny, just rain and coldness.
Peter deicded to do a lap around the rock people called 'the nest' but about half a minute later I heard Peter yell and the three of us instantly ran around to see what happened only to see Reeve pulling Peter to his feet. Reeve turned and looked at us, half of his body was covered in mud and his broken arm wrapped up with a plastic bag. We led him back to the outcropping we had taken shelter under and explained the situation to him, but Reeve just tried to convice us to 'give it up'. We basically pulled out our 'trump card', I think thats what people call it anyway, Luke pulled out his phone and played the recording. His facial expression changed throughout the recording, from shock to disbelief to a kind of shaky despair I suppose would be a way to descirbe it. He placed a hand on the rock to support himself. I looked at him, his face was distraught. He didn't know how to react... After about two minutes he replied," Where did you get that?" His voice was shaky.
"Does it matter?" Jordan replied. Reeve didn't answer.
"Like we said, we discovered what those security doors are guarding. There's a network of tunnels under the town, leading up to a secret part of the Shackleton building." Jordan continued calmly. Reeve just nooded, probably still shocked about the recording.
"There's some kind of communications centre up there. We need to get inside and call for help. But first we need your help to get us past security." Jordan finished. Reeve didn't answer for a few minutes but eventually he said," It'll have to be tomorrow."
"Good the sooner the better." I replied calmly, Reeve then went on to explain the details of what he would do and why. When we were done Reeve left first and we waited about ten minutes then left. Suddenly Peter said," CRAP!" and the next thing I knew he was in the air, as the bike landed he went flying off the bike and into a tree. Luke, Jordan and I stopped before jumping off our bikes to check if he was injured. He wasn't, he had his hand wrapped around a small metal box, Jordan pulled him to his feet and we looked at the box, Peter scanned the top of the box when he saw the word 'Tabitha'. He threw the box to the floor like it would kill him if he held it for any longer," Hey, careful!" Luke said bending down to pick it up.
"Me? You sure you want to be touching that thing?"
"You sure you want to be chucking it around like that?" Luke shot back, despite the curcumstances Jordan laughed, I noticed I was smirking a little," So Peter, you scared of words now?" I said still smirking. Jordan tapped the writing saying," Look at the writing, it's from Bill."
"Oh awesome, totally safe, then." Peter said in a sarcastic tone, but suddenly he pulled out his wallet and took out the 'BEHIND THE WINDMILL' key, he snatched the box off Luke and stuck the key in the little hole, he turned the key and the lock clicked open, I heard Peter say," How did he know." Then suddenly I remembered back to when we were hiding in Ketterley's office, they said something about a fallout and the whole town being turned into Crazy Bill's.
I looked over to Jordan, she was frowning, probably thinking the same as me.
"What?" Peter said turning around.
"Nothing." I replied instantly.
"Hurry up and open it." Jordan said.
Peter slowly opened the box, we looked inside to see a paper slipcase with a DVD inside, the rest of the box was filled with dirty water. The slipcase was labled 'Tabitha Trial - Final'.
Jordan instantly pulled out her laptop and Luke grabbed the DVD, he removed it from the slipcase, Peter said something but I started blocking out the conversation, it was irrelevent. Jordan took the DVD from Luke and put it in, it whirred and the laptop's media player program started up, Jordan hit the small play button and the video began.
Two people stumbled into a room, similar to the interogation room at the security centre. They were the people from the 'welcome to phoenix' video that played on loop on the TV's, the man started talking to somebody at door, a smiling uninjured Calvin, a women stood beside Calvin, I heard Peter mention her name was," Dr. Galton.". Galton was tall and skinny, guess this is what 'slender man' would look like if he was a woman. She had long, straight brown hair. She leant past Calvin and said something, her face was expressionless and calm. She moved back and Calvin shut the door, the girl ran to the door and started smashing her fists against it, trying to escape, she kept on hitting the door and the man yelled at the camera. Unitl, they dropped to the ground, Jordan gasped. I watched silently as the two writhed on the floor, the girl curled up into the foetal posistion and clawed at her own skin, the guy crawled over to her and they lay on the ground, eyes closed as they hugged eachother tightly and screamed. The whole video was silent annoyingly, anything they had said in that video might have helped us. But suddenly the screen flashed red and then all that was left was a pile of torn clothes.
Then the video cut back to the moments before the flash of red, their skin splitting apart and slidding away, leaving muscle tissue then it and the remaining flesh started bubbling below the flesh and muslce tissue, giving it a boiling effect, or literally boiling it. It was like a sped up version of starving to death, the body eating itself. Tabitha was clearly some sort of biological weapon that tricked the body into thinking it was starving so it began to eat away at itself to maintain energy or Tabitha increase's the body's temperature so high that it causes it to literally dissolve into nothing. That's all the possibilities I can think of.
I was dragged out of my thoughts when Jordan slammed the laptop shut, I looked at her to see tears streaming down her face. I also saw Peter sitting against a tree and Luke vomiting on the ground. I looked back at Jordan," Are you alright Jordan?"
"I just watched two innocent people melt on my laptop and the same thing is going to happen to all our families if we don't stop this, how do you think I feel?" She replied clearly angry at the question.
"We WILL stop this Jordan, no matter what the cost. I'm not letting that happen to anybody else, even if the cost is death..." I said placing a hand on her shoulder and looking into her eyes, she smirked a little. I looked at Luke who was still hunched over coughing up what was left in his stomach, I walked over and patted him on the back," Feeling better, you know aside from the video."
" What could do that to a person?" He said wearily.
"Very strong acid, lava, something that speeds up the process of starvation and decay and a massive, literally massive increase in body temperature, I mean the average body temperature is around 37.8 degrees Celsius. It would have to increse that by over 100 or 200, hell might even be 500 degrees. I've never made an entire human evaporate into nothing."
"I didn't ask for a science lesson."
"Right, sorry." I replied stepping back.
Luke walked over to Jordan and took the laptop from her and opened it," We should watch the rest." He said trying to keep his voice calm.
"Ok..." I replied walking over, Jordan stood beside Luke and Peter stood beside Jordan. Luke hit the play button.
We watched in silence as the two bodies evaporated into nothing. I heard ragged breathing behind me and turned, Cathryn. She looked at me and ran, I took of after her, completely concentrated on catching her and trying to convince her we didn't do that. Suddenly my vision went white and an split second later it cleared and I was literally running beside her, she looked at me with a shocked expression, she looked back just in time to leap over a fallen tree, I did the same and before she could gain any ground on me I tackled her to the ground, the impact sent mud flying in all directions, I looked down at her," Let me explain that to you. We didn't make that video, I know you think we did. I can't tell you who did, all I can te-" I said calmly but panting before she slapped me across the face and tried pushing me away, I looked back down at her, she had genuinly started crying, her eyes were wide and she was muttering something unaudible. I pinned her hands to the ground and looked into her eyes," I'm not going to hurt you, you complete moron. We had nothing to do with that video aside from that we're trying stop it from happening to anyone else."
"S-s-stop lying! I-I... Do-don't t-t-t-touch me!" She screeched finally managing to get me off by slapping me again and hitting me with a small rock, I felt blood slowly slide down the side of my face," Dumb bitch." I muttered sitting against a tree. I heard running footsteps then saw Jordan, Luke and Peter come running around the edge of a tree, Jordan noticed me and she and Luke ran over, Peter stayed back looking at me with a angry-jealous glare." Jesus, Brandon what the hell happened?!"
"Barbie slapped me twice then hit me with a rock when I tried convincing her we didn't make the video. But she didn't believe anything."
"Okay sure whatever but what the hell did you do, one second you were behind her then suddenly you were right beside her. Like you teleported or something..." Peter said with a suspicious glare.
"It's not important." I said touching the side of me head but recoiling as a sharp sting went through the side of my head, I looked at my head and saw a small drop of blood," She has a harder hit than I thought." I said to myself as I moved to stand.
"You sure you're alright?" Luke said raising an eyebrow and looking at the side of my head.
"I have to be, we've got a busy day tomorrow." I said with a smirk as I moved to head back to our bikes.
We walked back to the path and got on our bikes, Luke left as soon as we got to our bikes and I was about to but heard Peter ask," Would you want me to take you home?" I couldn't help but chuckle a little, when Jordan rejected him, I rode off as Peter grumbled and got on his bike, I heard someone peddling rather quickly. Then Jordan came round beside me," Hey." I said as she slowed to stay level with me.
"Hey, so this teleporting thing is real?"
"You didn't believe me?"
"I wasn't sure if you were just joking or something."
"Why would I joke about something like that Jordan?"
"I don't know it just didn't seem possible."
"Anything is possible in Phoenix."
"I suppose..." Jordan answered as we continued, the rain was still rather heavy but it wasn't as bad as it was earlier. I felt the water slowly drip off my chin and glanced over at Jordan, she looked deep in thought," You alright Jordan, you look confused."
"Huh? Oh, no I'm just thinking. I noticed you never really talk about your family."
"There's not much to say, I've got a history loving dad, a mum that spends all day doing pretty much nothing, a little brother named Oliver who loves to know everything about everyone and then there's my big brother..."
"I thought Phoenix houses only had three bedrooms?"
"They do, my big brother's twenty and in the army reserves, we never really got along. I mean we argued every day, but I always looked up to him. He just treated me and everybody else in the family like shit. Hell he never spent anytime with Oliver. Only reason Oliver even remembers him is because he came downstairs every now and then." I said looking at the ground, thinking.
" Oh I'm sorry... Shouldn't have asked."
"Don't be, I stopped caring about him three years ago, when I was twelve and he was deciding what to do with his life, wanting to become a lawyer, a writer, an archaeologist or a game developer not in that order. He ended up taking the military route. Who gives a shit, it's his life and he's only ever been a prick."
"Brandon I..."
"It's fine Jordan I don't need simpathy or support, I got over it." I noticed Jordan had stopped, I stopped too and looked at her, she looked upset.
"Jordan? What's up are you ok?"
"I... I'm fine, just thinking."
"About what?" I said as I walked up to her, she looked at me with a simpathetic look on her face. She stood for a second then dropped her bike and wrapped her arms around me," Jordan, seriously, you don't need to feel sorry for me or anything, seriously, if you should feel sorry for anyone it's Luke, his dad's out there." I said returning the hug, I'm still not used to Jordan showing this side of her. She released me and looked at me I smirked a little and was about to leave when she leaned towards me and gently kissed me on the cheek," Uh right see you tomorrow Jordan. We've got tons of shit to do..." I said as I picked up my bike and peddled off.
71 Days
When I got to school the next day Cathryn showed no sign of ever seeing the video, I considered trying to convince her we had nothing to do with it but she's a moron and would think I was lying.
The school day passed quickly, all we did was plan how we were going to get into the tunnels. We'd ended up with 'meet at 11:45pm outside the back of the school, sneak inside, get into Pryor's office, find a way to open the tunnel and wing it from there' I left at 4:30, as did the others. I was about halfway to my house when I noticed Peter was following me, I stopped and got off my bike, I waited for him to get close enough and asked,"Peter why are you following me?" Peter stopped and got off his bike and walked up to me.
"Making sure you and Jordan really go to your SEPARATE homes." He said angrily looking into my eyes.
"Oh so now you're stalking both of us, great."
"Shut up. I know what you're doing."
"What the hell are you on about?"
"You're trying to keep Jordan away from me, stopping her from talking to me."
"Oh aye sure, because anybody can even slightly influence what Jordan chooses."
"Shut up! Leave her alone she's mine not your's."
" Here we go with the Jordan is mine bullshit, she's a living human being you moron, I'm going home, and stop being a twat." I said getting back on my bike and riding home.
I opened the door and heard Oliver running around the house. I smirked a little and went up to my room. I sat at my desk and turned on my laptop looking for something to do for seven hours. I ended up playing a game for about four hours. I looked at the clock, 8:47pm. I got up and had a shower. I walked back into my room and looked for something to wear, I pulled on a black hoodie, the same one I wore the day I arrived, a pair of dark blue jeans, black socks and my trainers. I sat down and looked around the room for a minute then stood up and grabbed one of my books and started reading. About three hours later my phone buzzed and I picked it up and saw the time, 11:35, it would take me about ten minutes to get there anyway. I got up and crept out of my room, then downstairs and out the door. I went through town easily enough, the guards weren't paying much attention. I made it to the school and climbed over the gate, I softly landed on the ground and crept around the area to check for anybody else close by. I came back and sat against the wall waiting for the others to arrive. I sat for about two minutes then Jordan arrived, a couple minutes later Peter arrived and then at five to Luke arrived, wearing only black clothing.
We decided to go in at five past middnight, giving Reeve plenty of time to shut down the security system. The front entrance was locked so Jordan used a stone to break it. We crept in making our way to Pryor's office, the red light was blinking,"Uh-oh. Does that mean the security is still on?" Luke said noticing the light.
"No, Reeve would've left the doors switched on deliberatly. Otherwise they'd be stuck bolted shut, right?" Jordan explained.
"If you say so." Peter replied, cringing.
Jordan swiped Montag's keycard across the scanner and the door clunked open we walked in and I looked up at the cameras, they were off, good. The Luke, Jordan and Peter started looking around the floor for the trapdoor and I started looking for a way to open it. I checked under Pryor's desk for a button but found nothing, as I was about to get up I felt the table shake a little, I looked up to see Jordan leaning against the table with both hands, I stood up and walked over," Jordan, you alright?" I said placing a hand on her shoulder, Peter ran over looking at me like he wanted to rip me in half, Luke walked up to the desk and looked down at her. She stood up straight and squinted," Yeah... I was only..." She muttered. She turned and looked at Pryor's massive tapestry, she walked over to it and pulled it up, there was a power outlet behind it, she flicked both switches and suddenly a hiss of compressed air came from behind us, I turned and saw a section of the floor moved down a little then slid away revealing a silver staircase leading down into what I assumed was the tunnel system.
I started walking down the stairs, I reached bottom and looked around, a small room, about half the size of the office, made of the same metal as the stairs. The others caught up and we began walking down a long tunnel, the tunnel was narrow and empty leaving us nowhere to hide if somebody came down the other side. When we made it to the end of the tunnel a large, one foot thick, metal, automatic door slid open, groaning as it did so. We walked inside to see a huge, circular room with doors around the edges, the other tunnel entrances. The room itself had nine neatly made beds, a small kitchen built into the wall, two frosted glass doors probably bathrooms, stacks upon stacks of food and supplies and on the wall were about 30-35 T.V's, I heard the others talking but I wasn't interested I was busy looking around the room.
As I was about to rejoin the others a familiar roar blasted through the room, Bill. We dived under the beds and I saw Bill lumber into the room. I watched him very closely as he walked in between the two shelves of food, leaving a blood trail behind him. A second later three security guards walked in, guns raised. But before they could do anything Montag burst in yelling,
"DON'T SHOOT!" Following close behind Montag was Peter's dad, he looked terrified, I heard Peter gasp but the guards didn't notice. The guards came walking down inches away from my face trying to lure bill into the open when the shelves burst out from bills hidding place and knocked the first guard down and the other two dived for cover. One of the shelves landed on top of the bed Peter was under, he just about avoided having his head crushed. I heard people yelling then gunshots, everything was a blur, the only words I took in were,' FIND ME UNDER THE GROUND!' bill shouted that as he ran off.
70 Days
We stayed under the beds for a few more minutes to make sure they were all gone, at some point Calvin joined the fray. I pushed myself out from under the bed and looked around the room, a guard was trapped underneath the shelf that bill threw at him, only his boots left peeking out, another guard was lying on a pile of broken T.V's. I couldn't tell if either of them were alive.
We moved to the elevator at the end of the room and the lift took us up to the actual top floor, we stepped out, I didn't take in anything that was being said, I had my mind set, nothing but complete concentration on the task at hand. I stepped out and a second later automatic lights clinked on, I continued to look around the room. As I searched I heard Luke say," Uh... Guys?" he was hunched over a computer watching the screen very carfully, I walked over and looked down, I read what was on the screen, a list of names with the words 'Genetic Suitablility Confirmed' in green somebody said 'what does that even mean?'
"It means that Shackleton only took in people with a specific set of genes, that would make them suitable for some kind of test or something, probably has something to do with tabitha." I said walking off to investigate a little more, I found a room labelled,' External communications' I noticed a flickering red light coming from inside the room," Found the room." I called back to the others, then I kicked the door open, incase there was anybody inside, there wasn't. I walked in.
The room was tiny, just a desk, two chairs and a large computer monitor with a dock on top and cables that went out of the wall. I walked over and looked at the screen, the Shackleton
Co-operative's logo span around on screen, I tapped it then the words 'System ready' flashed on screen. I noticed the others were behind me. I looked at Peter then down at his feet remembering that was where he hid the phone last time, I bent down and grabbed his leg.
"What the hell are you doing?!" He yelled trying to shake me off. I pulled up his trouser leg and grabbed the phone from his sock.
"Getting the phone, dumbass." I said lazily as I plugged the phone into the dock. A dial-tone played through the speakers and a number pad appeared on screen," Your time to shine Luke." I said stepping back, I smirked a little when he rushed passed and started tapping a number in, calling his dad. He pressed the call button and it rang.
I nearly jumped as a hand gently came down onto my shoulder, I turned to see Jordan smiling, I returned the smile and watched the screen, it rang for what felt like forever, then a click and the ringing stopped," Hello?" Luke said leaning closer to the screen as he said it. A few seconds of silence then," Luke?" I saw Luke's expression jump, I watched him closely as tears rised in his eyes, I couldn't help but smile. I glanced at Peter, he was completely transfixed by the screen, watching it and never taking his eyes off it. I looked at Jordan, she had moved beside me and had an even bigger smile, she looked over to me and wrapped her arms around me and rested her head against my shoulder.
"You there mate?"
"Dad! Yeah. Yeah, I'm here" Luke croaked, tears rolling down his cheeks, he deserved this, he deserved this time to talk to his dad.
"Luke! Are you alright? I've been trying to call you, but-"
"Yeah. Me too. But it's not - they've cut the phone lines."
"Who has? What's going on out there?"
"It's the Shackleton Co-operative. They're-"
"Your mum's company?"
"Yeah. I'm in trouble, dad. We all are and we need your help."
"Anything, mate. Tell me where you are and I'll-"
"I can't. I don't know where we are. Phoenix isn't- We're in the desert or something. They're holding us prisoner here." Luke said looking anxious but happier than I'd ever seen him, not that I'd ever really seen him smile. Luke's dad didn't answer and I felt Jordan's grip tighten.
"Dad, please. I know it sounds crazy but-"
"No, Luke, it's alright I believe you." His dad answered calmly. He then asked about Luke's mum, Luke hesitated but said she was fine, he began explaining what was going on when the screen blanked out and the speakers cut out. Luke started hitting the screen, devastated that he couldn't finish talking to his dad. I moved away from Jordan and walked up to him, I patted him on the back," He'll find us, somehow. I'm sure he will, Luke." I said calmly. Then another voice came from behind us, I spun to see Shackleton standing in the doorway in a suit and tie.
"Shit..." I muttered under my breath. I didn't listen to what he was saying just observed him, I saw Calvin behind him, both of them smiling, Calvin with a dark and dangerous looking smile but Shackleton with a warm welcoming smile. I stepped forward. Infront of the others and looked him dead in the eyes, not showing any fear, nervousness or worry just pure confidence.
We ended up being escorted to the 'conference room' Calvin had his gun in the back of my head the whole way. "Please take a seat." Shackleton said calmly, we obliged and sat down, I sat closest to Shackleton with Jordan beside me, Peter beside her and Luke beside him. I stared at Shackleton with a cold glare and I felt Jordan's fingers interlock with mine. "I'm afraid we have a slight problem." He started, he waited a moment, expecting an answer.
"From what I heard of your telephone conversation, it appears that you four have discovered the true nature of the work we're undertaking here in Phoenix."
"Oh, yes quite. We have come to understand that you plan to irradicate humanity from the face of the earth, excluding us here in Phoenix, am I correct?" I answered changing my posture completely from a cold glare to sitting up straight and smirking a little at him, showing him I'm not scared of him.
"Yes that, as you can imagine, this information is not something we can afford getting out into the public sphere. Not for a couple of months, in any case. Of course we can quite easily track the location of the man you were speaking to, so within a few hours, he will no pose a problem to us."
"NO! Please Mr. Shackleton you can't!" Luke yelled.
"Oh, I think you'll find I can, which means the only question remaining is what to do with you four."
"Just do it, then, if you're going to kill us, drop the theatrics and get it over with." Jordan said.
"Yes. That is starting to seem like the best way forward, isn't it?"
"You're insane!" Peter said rolling his chair back, but Calvin grabbed his chair.
"Easy." Calvin said raising his gun. The rest of the conversation was pointless, but one thing Shackleton said made me genuinly laugh," however, in seventy days, there will be a new humanity. And it is my hope that they see thing differently." It was that idiotic statement that made me break, I burst out laughing, when I calmed I looked him dead in the eyes," Mr. Shackleton you are the single most idiotic human being I have ever met. Let me get this straight, you plan on wiping seven billion people off the face of the earth and rebuild humanity in your own image? Yes? Ok, let me explain the human race. Humans are the most destructive force of nature ever imagined, we kill and slaughter each other for no reason aside from our political stance. We have never been peacful, there has always been war and there always will be. No matter how hard you try Mr. Shakcleton you will just set humanities course of destruction back a few decades. Humanity is full of idiots, politicians who sit and do fuck all except say bullshit that they never follow through with and if you kill them, they just come back again, over and over until you die. Then there's idiots like YOU. You're the kind of idiots who think they are some sort of devine being that can completely change humanity forever. But all you'll do is delay the inevitable. The death of humanity due to idiocy, hell you might even speed it up. I'd love you to think about this." I said calmly, looking right at him the whole with with a smirk on my face. I relaxed in my chair and looked at him with a calm gaze.
"Although I admit you have presented some valid points you fail to see the bigger picture. But I shall not extend this meeting any further, Officer Calvin please do as you will, but do it in the corner, blood stains are a nightmare to get out of leather."
"Oh the response of a true idiot! See you on the other side dumbass." I finished with a smirk, Calvin ordered us to get up and we obliged. We walked to the corner, Peter begged for mercy and dropped to the floor shuddering in fear. I stood straight and calm, not taking my eyes off Calvin, keeping eye contact.
"The girl first, after all it's only polite." Shackleton said with a smirk, Jordan stood beside me, holding her posistion, staying strong. Clavin raised his gun and aimed it at Jordans head. But I reacted before he could have guessed and swung my foot into his leg, he dropped the the floor grunting, before he could try and stand I had kicked him in the side of his head, he grunted but as I went kick again he grabbed my leg and pulled it out from under me, I crashed to the floor and Calvin stood grabbing his gun," Brandon!" Jordan yelled as Calvin pulled the trigger, eveything slowed and I heard the mechanisms in the gun going off as the trigger was pulled, then a familiar flash of light appeared obscuring my vision for a second, then I was just about out of the way as the bullet tore through the ground. My ear rang and my vision was blurred but I pushed myself up and tackled Calvin, but he smashed the side of my head with his gun and I stumbled to the floor. There was no escaping this, just let him do it," You know what go ahead." I said smiling up at him but still feeling my chest and throat tighten.
"Bruce, wait! Don't!"
BLAM! The gun fired but Calvin got startled by the sudden shout from the door and the bullet instead shot through the window, but narrowly missing Jordan, even though I was the target. The other three had screamed, I sat up and looked up to where Calvin was standing but he wasn't there, he was on the other side of the room. I stood up and looked down at Peter and Luke, both of them shaking beside eachother, hiding their heads in their arms. I looked at Jordan and she looked at me, wide eyed then she ran towards me, wrapped her arms and my neck and kissed me. She pulled back and smiled, hugging me even tighter. I hugged her back and we sat there for a second before we realised where we were, we separated and looked at who burst through the door, Montag. Calvin stumbled to his feet with his crutch, disoriented and Shackleton was completely fixated on Montag. Luke and Peter stood up realising nobody was dead and walked over to me and Jordan.
Everything was a blur for the next few minutes, until we were pinned against the table and Montag was injecting each of us with what Shackleton called 'suppressors'.
First was Luke, then Peter, then Jordan and then me. I watched the others shudder on the floor and then as Calvin held me down, Montag lifted the back of my shirt and place the bright silver needle on my back and pulled the trigger. I yelled but held my posistion, not showing weakness, I felt my legs give way and put all my strength into my arms, not letting myself fall I stayed there until I managed to grabhold of a chair and pull it under me I looked at Jordan who was fighting to push to a stand, but couldn't, I grabbed hands and pulled her up, she planted her arms down on the table and copied what I did, she grabbed my hand under the table, Shackleton was saying something but I was to focused on keeping my balance, but the next thing we saw was him holding a phone up with security camera footage playing, Reeve tied to a table, Galton came in and injected him with and earlier version of Tabitha, it killed him... I lost all my strength, having used it up when I was forcing my self to stay up. I don't know what happened after that, but Calvin pulled me to my feet and we left the room. My body was on auto pilot, I didn't do anything. Just walked... but in the middle of the hallway Jordan doubled over and vomitted over the, I stumbled back to her and pulled her up, we ended up keeping eachother standing till we got to the elevator. We left the building I couldn't register anything aside from whether I was standing or not... The last word I heard that night were," There's something wrong with the baby!" But my vision blacked out and when came to I was at home in bed.
End of book two, Next chapter will be the start of book three!
whew! Finally done! Don't worry I won't make a chapter this long every five chapters, I just wanted to get this book over and done with because it was my least favourite book but still I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I hope you'll enjoy the next :D (don't forget to tell me what you think about the story so far :D )
-Ben