40

ADAM WOULDN’T STOP BLEEDIN. When would the healing take over? Couldn’t he fix it? His hand dipped into his side every several minutes, almost like he was massaging the wound or waiting for something other than blood to spill out. Emery’s mind still reeled from the battle she had survived.

“Are you okay?” he kept asking.

“All this time away from home. All this strangeness. I thought I’d be ready to handle this stuff.”

Adam winced as she spoke. She wondered how he could still focus on the road and drive when his fingers were digging into his stomach like that. She imagined them as bloody splinters. Had he even heard a word?

“I’m still waiting for the alarm to go off in my head,” she continued. “Then it’ll stop. I’ll wake up from this nightmare.”

Adam grinded his teeth. “This is real, Emery. There is no waking up.”

Did he have to sound so hopeless? Couldn’t he allow her five minutes to wish for something, anything? Maybe warring and running and thrusting his fingers into his ribcage was a typical morning for him, but it wasn’t for her. A hundred different words scattered her brain. Words like crazy and freak and terrified.

“You showed a lot of power back there,” she said.

Adam didn’t respond.

“If you healed me, why can’t you heal yourself right now?”

“I’m weak. When we escaped the asylum, I wasn’t strong enough to use all of my powers.”

That explained the gun.

“It takes a while for my body to catch up. It seems my powers have a deeper hunger than I can handle. My mind can take it, but my body sometimes can’t. I’m weak, Emery. I used a lot of it. Not sure when it’s gonna come back.”

“Are we talking hours or days?”

“It’s always different.”

“So you’re saying you lose it sometimes?”

He nodded.

“Well, what are we gonna do?”

“I don’t know. Drive until we run outta gas or figure something out. I can’t really think right now.”

Emery didn’t like I don’t know. It failed to give her any kind of security or confirmation that they’d be all right. “I want to go home. I want to have a screaming fight with my mom. I want to hug my dad. I want this to be over.”

How long would she wait for comfort that wouldn’t come? The false hope of safety or of returning home created a void at the center of her being. She ached and had no way of making it stop. 

“You’re strong, Emery. Trust me.”

“Trust you? It’s because of you we almost died back there!” She didn’t realize she was yelling.

“I saved us, Emery. You’re welcome.”

“Yeah, thanks. Whatever.”

“Would you have preferred me to leave you back there? You wanted me to leave you there to die like him?”

A moment came and went. It was coming back to her now. Adam’s story. Creating another. But who? The last few hours, all she had been worried about was staying alive. She hadn’t had time to logically process everything. To sift through it all. The gunfire, the smoke. Adam’s power like lightning and fire. All distractions to what she had always believed at the core. There was someone else back at the asylum. Someone like Adam.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing. Forget it.” He punched the pedal.

“Adam, don’t do this. Tell me, please. You know the truth. I’ve trusted you all night. Trust me now. Is there someone else?”

His eyes darted from her to the road. She counted the seconds between her question and his answer.

“Salvation is just the beginning. It’s one of many other perfect prisons just like it. Places where they can create and pervert and take!”

Her lips stuttered, but nothing she was thinking made it out of her mouth.

“Emery, I got you out before it was too late. They were experimenting on you, on us. Years I’ve spent locked away, but no more. No more being afraid of them. No more.”

“How many, Adam?” she said slowly. “How many others are there?”

“I don’t know. More. Ten, twenty, a hundred. Who’s to say? It’s only a matter of time before the final location goes public. It’s where they will begin their new order. That’s the endgame, Emery. Look, we’re different. Don’t you get it yet?”

“Yes, I get! I get that’s what you believe.”

“It’s not just what I believe. It’s the truth. I had to save you.”

She scanned the horizon. The sun was almost full in the sky now. The trees were whispering, one to another, something she desperately wanted to hear. The hum of morning and back road streetlights all blended together.

Looking down at her wrists and her shirt, she saw the blood. Whether it was Adam’s blood, or other men’s blood, she wasn’t sure anymore. But it was blood. How long could they keep running before someone found them again? If he could lose his powers so easily, how could he protect her?

The words I had to save you replayed in her head like a broken record. She knew it was true, but she wished it weren’t. All her life, she’d been waiting for someone to save her, to fix her, to make her right. Her father couldn’t; her mother couldn’t. She believed Arson could, but he wasn’t here now, and even he could die. Was there anything strong enough to take on the darkness in this world? Humans, freaks, aliens, whatever they were. Flesh and blood and weakness. They cried. They bled. They had fears.

“Ever since they started testing me, they’ve been creating. Little by little. They’re making fighters who will do their bidding. Shipments of my DNA code put in food, baby milk, drugs. I let them do it. For years I let them change humanity. But it takes time. They’re creating freaks without warning, without incident. The whole world changed.”

“Adam, tell me the truth. Who is back at that facility? Who did we leave behind?”

 He said nothing, one of his hands dripping with new blood. She was starting to get used to it.

Emery thought back to that day at the hospital, when she had been abducted. She had no idea why anyone would want her. Until Adam created this theory that she was different like he was. But beams of energy didn’t shoot from her wrists or her eyes. She couldn’t heal her own face, for heaven’s sake. She was convinced that maybe Adam was wrong. From what she could tell, what she could feel, she was just an ordinary teenager.

As new images danced to life in her mind, she relived that hateful day, being ripped from the only world she’d ever known, torn from the boy she loved. If she had no power, why would they take her? The frustration climbed her brain. Think, Emery, think.

They took her because she knew him; that had to be the answer. She knew Arson, and he had powers. The faces of the ones who sought to burn her again came flashing back. She experienced their fear, their melted flesh, their tormenting screams all over again. He was like Adam. He could do things, things that would kill a normal person.

Adam was focused on the road. The cars passed them, and the wind seemed to forget them on these country trails. If the world were okay, this picture of color, forest, and distant cities would have been beautiful. But today, it was miserable.

“Where is he, Adam!” she finally said. “Where did they take him?”

He was slow responding. “Who?”

“Don’t lie to me. Don’t you dare lie to me! Arson Gable. Where is Arson?”

“Who is Arson?”

“I’m not special, okay! I’m not some witch or warlock or superhuman freak! They wouldn’t want me! I’m nothing.”

“Don’t believe that,” Adam said, his voice weakening. “You are special, Emery. You are.”

“They took me because I knew him. That makes sense. I knew what he could do. Crap, how could I have not figured this out before?” Her eyes flashed with sudden revelation. “They took him, Adam. They had to have taken him. There’s no other way. He would’ve come for me. He would’ve…they knew what he could do. He’s like you.”

“He’s nothing like me!”

Emery finally had the truth. Adam knew where Arson was. Maybe he’d known all along. She wanted the truth, and now she had it. But the torment that followed, the fear of not knowing, was eating her alive.

“He’s dead. He didn’t make it. Is that what you wanted to hear? I told you, he’s not like you. He’s not like me.”

“I don’t believe you!”

Adam pulled off the road. “Look into my eyes, Emery. Do I look like I’m lying? I’m not sure how this messed-up little story ends, okay? All I know is that I’m not gonna let anything happen to you. You’re all I care about.” His crimson hand brushed her cheek, blood sticking dry to her hair.

“He can’t be dead. He can’t be.”

“Believe what you want, but I swear it’s the truth. He died weeks ago.” Adam was almost lifeless as he said it, like he didn’t care about Arson. He must not have known him like she did. “His mind couldn’t take it. Our power begins in our blood, but it is controlled by our minds. Most human beings can only use a certain part of it, but not us. The gene Henry Parker discovered in me, it’s the same in you. I’m sure of it. They want us for a reason. They have a purpose. When my body no longer responded ideally to their trials, they focused more on him. They wanted to use him to destroy the world.”

“That’s impossible. One person can’t destroy the world.”

“What about Hitler, Nero, Alexander? Great men who conquered this planet. What if they had possessed something more? Imagine if they could do what I could. Imagine if they had entire armies that could, with a whisper, lay waste to our cities, our homes? One battle might endanger a continent. These leaders reigned with their words and daggers, but imagine if they could breathe fire and control the seas.”

“No. No one is that powerful.”

“I am. You don’t understand yet. Listen, you witnessed a glimpse of the kind of thing I’m talking about, and still you do not believe. I’m weak now, but my powers will return, and every time they do, my body adapts. I become stronger. While they had me in that cage, they found a way to control me. They feared my unpredictability. Humanity trembles before that which it does not understand.”

Adam leaned back with a sigh. “But he wasn’t strong enough. I didn’t know you knew that boy, I swear. Listen very carefully to me now, Emery. Let it sink in. They used me. They used my mind and my blood. They’ve got machines and an infinite supply of money. They influenced me to create more like me. Like us. They’re triggering events that mankind isn’t ready for. All this,” he said, pointing around him, “it’s the past. It’s all gone. Cities, hospitals, churches, homes. Gone. Very little will survive. Most will die.”

“This is crazy. Why would they want to destroy themselves? They’re human beings. Why would they destroy each other?”

“God favored Abel, and Cain killed him. Brother against brother. We’re the new kids in town. More powerful than ordinary humans.”

“We are human, Adam.”

“A part of us, maybe. But we’re not like them. In time, my DNA, my gene, would sift through the children of men. It would become stronger because it would begin a new race. My line might be kings, maybe even gods. Nothing this world has ever seen would be able to stop us.” Adam tried to hide his obvious agony. “But they stole it. They think they’re controlling the cards now. But they can’t fully fathom what we are or the consequences of what they’ll do. They’ve blindly begun creating more, Emery. Arson Gable was the first of their experiments. Actually, he was an accident. His mother was Frances Parker, the girl I tried to fix with my blood. Remember this, Emery. They can adapt too. And their hands have been busy…for a long time.”

Emery’s cheeks flushed red then went pale. What he was saying was a reality she didn’t want to believe. But Adam didn’t flinch. His eyes were locked on hers for every word. His mouth didn’t stutter. His hands shook some, but he obviously believed everything he told her. And he was asking her to believe.

“It’s strange how little can stay,” he said softly. “This world has changed so much. Nothing remains the same for long. Decades I wasted. The time I missed. I never should’ve trusted them. Humanity is dark. They’re liars and thieves and murderers.”

“And you think we’ll be any different. You said it yourself, a part of you is human. I’m human. These people, they’re not all bad.”

“It’s people like them who took us. They can’t be trusted. They lie. They manipulate. And now they’re going to control it all. These fiends will wage war on this planet so they can stay at the top of the food chain.”

“So we’re gonna run? We’re gonna let the world burn because a few a-holes say so?”

“Emery, I’ve lost so much already. My sister, my family, everything.”

“And I haven’t? Look, there won’t be a place to run to if they get their way, Adam. If we turn away now, then everything will be lost. We have to go back and do something. We have to stop it!”

“No. This is the future they wanted. Let hell sort them out. We must keep moving. We watch the streets, the news. When it happens, we’ll be ready.”

“It’ll be too late,” Emery said, her breath fogging the chilled window. She studied his breathing, a slow chore. He was in immeasurable pain, but she was so concerned for the rest of the world. The ruins she knew might become familiar if evil men burned these woods and the cities like them. Tore families apart and fulfilled their twisted plots while those they created with power fell in line.

Was her heart actually beating? Arson was gone. If Adam was telling the truth, he was dead. But he was so strong. He had saved her once. He had saved her. As the frightened shakes overwhelmed her body, the fear of losing everything she held dear, she swore to herself that it wasn’t real.

“Emery, do you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

Adam’s head fell back on the seat rest, his eyes spinning until at last they shut. His mouth lay open and void. His hands, stained with blood, went limp. His face, his arms.

“Adam! Wake up! Adam!” It didn’t matter how many times she screamed his name. He was lost in some other place. She checked his pulse and put her ear to his mouth. But he wasn’t breathing.