VOLUME TWO: FLUX: FlightJack sprinted down the hall and skidded to a stop. The three men behind him copied his movements. They held their rifles at the ready in every direction, protecting him from all sides. He pushed his ear to the door and listened. A few muffled coughs came from within. He summoned fire into the palms of his hands, just hot enough to warp and melt the metal handle. Once it softened, he slammed his shoulder against the door and it burst open under his weight.Inside, a dozen humans stood gaping at their rescuer. Their faces were sunken and bodies' skinny beneath the ragged clothes. They stood crowded in the three by three-meter room.Jack let out a whistle. "Wow, they really pack them in here. Come on, let's go. Come on, everybody gets rescued today." He ushered them out the door. "Be quick and quiet. We're going to get you out of here."A few of the older humans, their faces vacant, slowly moved past him at the door. One man, tall and thin, stood with his arms
Once up the stairs, the women shuffled back the way Jack and his men had first come. Jack kept a look out over his shoulder for any signs of life. It was strange no one had detected them yet. He'd never been on a mission where they'd gotten away clean.Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw a dark shadow. He spun and aimed his pistol at the corridor. The tall man paused to look at Jack then turned to look down the hallway, too. He remained silent and they both listened for movement. Only the shuffling of feet from the women echoed through the hall."Give me a weapon," the man whispered.Jack hesitated for a moment, then silently pulled another matching pistol from the holster under his right arm and handed it over to him. "Protect the women. I'm going to check it out."The man nodded. He checked the pistol before he aimed it ahead of him. He walked backward slowly, following the women while keeping an eye on Jack's back.Jack stalked forward towards the stairs. He wished Alex was
"What do you mean she's gone!?" Henry shouted and gritted his teeth as the scientist stumbled over his words through the speaker."Well, how long has she been gone?... Two months?!" He slammed his fist down on the mahogany desk, a fairly expensive relic from an ancient era. "How does a little girl just up and disappear? Magnetic disturbance? What do you mean you told me about it two months ago?"Henry tapped impatiently. "Don't you think I would remember this? No, I'll tell you what, don't bother coming back to work tomorrow, you're fired." He hung up the call with an irritated flick and the man's face disappeared from the screen.He smacked the corner of his flickerboard and a small window appeared on the screen. It filled with his attractive blonde secretary."Yes, sir?" She asked, cocking her head to the side."Get my wife in here."The women nodded. "Can I te"Henry twitched his hand above the board and the window screen closed before she could finish. A few minutes later, A
Jack balanced the tray of food on one arm and slid the door open to his cabin. A small light illuminated the room from the nightstand and an eleven-year-old girl looked up from her book where she sat on the bed."Hey kiddo," Jack greeted."Was your mission good?" Lexi asked.Jack set the tray of food down on the table across from the bed and pushed the stack of books out of the way with it. "Yeah, we saved a bunch of huge women.""Huge women?" Lexi asked and set her book down in her lap."They were all the way out to here." He gestured as if he had a very large stomach."How'd you fit them through the door then?""We all ganged up and pushed them through." Jack sat at the little table on the bench seat.Lexi quirked her lips to the side in thought. The expression reminded him of Alex and a small pang struck his heart."You're messing with me again, aren't you?" She asked.Jack nodded. "You caught me. But they were all pretty big, very pregnant.""Pregnant? Were they human?"
He pushed the door to his cabin open again. Lexi sat on the bottom bunk bed reading her book."Hey, kiddo, are you ready for bed?""Can we stay up and watch TV for a little bit?" She asked. Her eyes pleaded with him.Jack paused and thought about it. "Okay, just for a little bit."Lexi smiled and scooted over. Jack sat down next to her, ducking his head beneath the top bunk until he was settled.Lexi flicked her fingers and the TV at the foot of the bed flipped on. She handed the remote over to Jack to let him enter in his passcode. He flicked his fingers quickly over it and a TV channel appeared. Lexi flipped through them at warp speed. Her fingers moved lightning fast as the channels sped by.She stopped on a news channel that had the words "World House Representative Campaign" across the bottom. They watched the newscasters chat back and forth. Lexi finally got bored after five minutes and started flipping through the channels again."Ooh, wait," she said and flipped back a f
Alex woke up to a drilling headache sinking deep in her lower neck. No doubt, it was the Vice doing its dirty work. She sat and stretched her head downward, then rubbed her hand over the sleek metal surface, tracing the outline of the "Y", down where it joined into the thick blub at the bottom. Three small circles down the center of it felt like braille. She assumed they were LED lights, but couldn't be sure. Just below was the large vertebra that stuck out of her neck. She leaned her head back feeling the top of the "V" massage into the bottom part of her brain. It did a pretty good job of poking in there and releasing pressure, despite being the cause for the pain in the first place.Her hand reached out and touched the nightstand, flicking once to illuminate the room. She dimmed it down immediately. Why did the lights always have to start out the brightest? Poor design or intentionally meant to fuck with her?She pushed one foot out on to the floor at a time, slowly testing her we
Tom stretched his aching back. The small bed had been one of his best night sleeps in a long while, maybe because it was comfortable or maybe because he was finally free. A headache started to brew at his temple. He touched the small light that illuminated the cabin and tapped it a few times to make it dim. Two men still slept in their bunks. The last one was empty.He stood and stretched again. He tried to keep the breath escaping his lips from making too much noise, but it just felt so good. He reached towards his toes and stretched again, feeling the pull of his hamstrings. After the first two years of being trapped, he had given up. He felt he would be a lab rat forever, but within the last year, he'd had this feeling. Somewhere deep inside he knew somehow that he was going to be free and when he was, he was going to be needed. Since that moment, he'd been preparing, stretching, doing sit-ups and push-ups. Anything he could do to get his body moving. The food they gave him hadn't
Tom rubbed his naked chin. He had been free for less than a day, just a little taste. He tapped the door to his new cell and it echoed a metal ring through the small room. The room only held a cot and enough room to stand next to it. It was more like a closet than a cell. The last thing he remembered was standing in the bathroom brushing his teeth. In that missing time, he'd shaved his beard, gotten a haircut, and ended up here with a god awful headache.He looked up to see a small camera at the top of the cell. "Can someone tell me what's going on?"As if in response to his question, a beep sounded through the intercom speaker over his head."Hello. This is Captain Elaine Shultz. I have some tragic news to give you. This morning, at nine o'clock, a girl was murdered. We have detained the murderer and all survivors that were rescued on the last mission. We are asking all personnel to please report anything suspicious to the senior officers: Jack Swift, Derek Jefferson, Dr. Daniel Gr