The Rebellion (The Viral Superhero Series Book 6) Page 7

  The mighty Doren stepped up to Ted's side. "I once used weights to do that. Didn't stop at 26 miles like you pansies on Earth do though."

  Erica stepped forward and surveyed the planet. "Ted, do you remember where the center of town is?"

  The living soul shook off the cobwebs and scanned the General's memories for guidance. "It should be right here. Where are all the people?"

  The world around them was quiet. Far too quiet for a bustling civilization.

  Ted's throat began to feel tight. "They survived. The General's memories are telling me they survived."

  His breath began to quicken as he took off into the air.

  He could barely hear Erica's voice calling after him. "Ted, wait!"

  Ted zipped through the air, the wind brushing against his cheeks. He scanned the General's recollections and realized quickly that the town the dark souls had attempted to storm, was no longer there. When he saw something twinkling at him from the ground, Ted descended quickly. The thing that had caught his eye was the corner of what used to be a wall. He searched his brain and discovered that what he was looking at used to be the largest building in town. It had been left in ruins.

  Ted put his hand to his forehead. "They killed 'em. I—I killed them."

  Ted went down to one knee and grabbed a handful of dirt. He threw it hard against what remained of an entire civilization.

  Ted pounded his fists into the ground. "I led an army here and I killed them." He could feel his hand and knuckles grow raw until someone in a jet pack landed beside him. Natalie grabbed Ted's wrist before he could punch his bloody hand into the ground once again.

  She tightened her grip. "All right, punchy. You're going to tell me what the hell is going on?"

  Ted's throat felt dry. "They survived the attack but they didn't live through the aftermath. Whatever it was I did, it killed them."

  Natalie squinted. "You weren't around when this happened, Ted. The General did this."

  The living soul shook his head. "I may not have been her for this race. But I did kill people."

  Natalie took Ted's other wrist. "But it wasn't you. Redican once controlled my mind and tried to get me to kill you. Doesn't mean I feel guilty about it."

  Ted slumped down closer to the ground. "I still see their faces, Nat. I may have saved Razellia and Vella, but I killed dozens before that. Whatever good nature I had didn't stop me."

  Erica flew down from the sky with her jet pack and landed beside them. "What's happening?"

  Natalie raised an eyebrow. "Fearless leader is having a breakdown."

  Ted looked back over at the corner of what once was a massive feat of achievement. "I'm not having a breakdown. I'll be fine. I just wish the General hadn't made me like him. That he hadn't made me ruthless."

  Erica frowned when she looked down at his bloody hand. "The world is only going to go on if we save it. More people are going to die if we stop this plan. We have faith in you."

  Natalie rolled her eyes. "It's irritating but it's true. Your stupid plan is going to work, but you have to stop letting things that weren't your fault make you crazy."

  Ted nodded as he looked up at two of the most important women in his life. "Okay. I'll try."

  As Ted and the others camped for the night, he let the thoughts of the broken civilization leave him as he fell asleep. When his eyes opened, he saw himself back on Earth. In fact, he walked down the reconstructed main street of Treasure. Whatever buildings had been destroyed when he and Erica escaped the town were now back the way they'd always been. When he noticed the cheers, he realized that he was in the midst of some kind of parade. He felt his hand squeezed as he greeted members of the crowd. There were many faces he couldn't place, but he saw Sheriff Norris. He was standing there happy with his arm around Jennifer, as if they were somehow whole again. There were plenty of other faces he recognized as well. Sandra the waitress, Mr. Farraday the drama teacher, and even the President of the United States. Blake leaned in as he gripped Ted's hand. "You did it. Thank you for returning us to where we truly belong."

  Ted had no hesitation when he spoke. "I can barely take credit at all." He gestured down and noticed a small shirtless boy beside him. He almost looked as though he'd been plucked straight from the jungle.

  Ted released his hand from Blake's grasp and instead took the boy's. "We never could have done this without you. Thank you."

  The little boy's beaming smile was still on Ted's mind when he woke.

  Ted stormed into Erica's tent, in which it looked like she'd been up for hours plotting their next course of action.

  "I dreamed something."

  Erica barely paid him any attention. "Was this the one about the strippers?"

  Ted let out a huff. "I knew I never should've told you about that one, but I'm talking about something prophetic."

  Erica looked up briefly. "What'd you dream?"

  "Okay, so it was kind of vague, but it seemed like some magical shirtless boy found some way to stop the war."

  Erica sighed. "I'm not sure that's much to go on."

  "I'm telling you. Whatever it was this kid could do, President Blake said I put everybody back where they belonged." Erica got up from what she was doing and put her hands on Ted's shoulders. "President Blake is dead. He's been taken over by a Dark Soul, and there's no way to reverse that. Whatever this dream you had, it's not gonna be very productive."

  She turned away and went back to her planning. "So you're telling me not every dream is a prophecy?"

  "If every dream was a prophecy, you would've met those strippers, now wouldn't you have?"

  The living soul shook his head. "I guess you're right. Sorry to bother you."

  Erica nodded and dove back into her work.

  As Ted walked out of her tent and back into the desolate wasteland, he thought over the dream once more. He committed every single detail to memory.

  He took a deep breath. "I think she's wrong. If I can find some way to end this war with the help of one person, I'll risk everything to do it."

  17

  Jennifer attempted to catch her breath as she and her father kept up a quick pace through the corridors to the White House. Despite Van Housen's assertions that the gunfire hadn’t wounded him, he was definitely the one slowing down the pack. Jennifer wasn’t sure how long it would take the General to find out about his fallen guards, but she knew the billionaire’s pace wasn’t fast enough.

  This is going to work. We’re going to find Dhiraj, and we’re going to get out of here. It just has to.

  After what seemed like forever, the trio finally reached the end point on Van Housen’s map. The displays in the top right-hand corner of their visors even blinked a pleasant green in response. The billionaire nearly collapsed, and might have if it wasn’t for the sheriff’s quick reflexes.

  “Van Housen! Are you going to make it?” Sheriff Norris brought him up to standing. “This is kind of a three-person operation.”

  The billionaire breathed heavily and removed the device from his backpack. “They don’t tell you how much getting shot hurts, even if you are a bulletproof.” He pulled a cord from the contraption and attached it into a metal control panel on the wall. “This should be all we need to get us in."

  Jennifer stretched out her leg. “Should be?”

  Van Housen pressed a few buttons, which lit up a display on his handheld device. “If more things were certain, there’d be a lot more billionaires.”

  Jennifer peered over at the device, which seemed to be working as indicated by a progress bar that slowly ticked from left to right. She glanced back in the direction they came from.

  Still nothing at all. Unless they know we're coming.

  When the progress bar reached the far-right side of the device, there was nothing but silence. The hair on Jennifer's neck stood straight up.

  Sheriff Norris tapped his foot. "Van Housen?"

  "Wait for it."

  Jennifer waited. And waited. And waited.

&
nbsp; As soon as she was about to speak, light flooded the room as the door in front of them opened. She turned off her night vision censor and welcomed the incandescent glow.

  Sheriff Norris patted the billionaire on the shoulder. "Never doubted you for a second. Now let's go find Dhiraj."

  "I'm beaming his coordinates into your displays. If we can stay cloaked, get to him, and get back. Maybe we'll have a shot at actually pulling this off."

  Jennifer nodded and stepped forward into the White House. She could hardly believe that she'd gone from playing field hockey and running the yearbook to sneaking into one of the most guarded buildings in the country. The map finished loading and the display came up of Dhiraj's position. In the cavernous building, she supposed they were lucky her ex-boyfriend was only a mile away.

  Her chest warmed with a sense of hope. "Here we go."

  A part of Jennifer wished she could stop and marvel at the nearly 300-year-old interior of the building. There were portraits and artwork that might have astounded her if she'd had the time to take them in. But she kept putting one foot in front of the other as they progress forward toward their goal. When they came upon a crossroads of two perpendicular hallways, Sheriff Norris put up his hand. The three of them stayed silent and motionless as a few employees walked by. Jennifer had no idea if these were dark souls or just dedicated employees who'd hitch their wagon to the wrong president. After the two workers passed, Sheriff Norris waved them on. The moment that Jennifer and Van Housen walked beyond the archway, an unexpected gate came out of nowhere, splitting their party up. As it latched shut, Jennifer turned and pounded on the thick wood. While Van Housen was next to her, her father was on the other side.

  "Dad!"

  Despite their cloaking devices keeping them out of view, gunfire shot through the room in their direction. Jennifer dove to her right under an antique table. Van Housen crouched awkwardly in the corner. He was a sitting duck. The moment the billionaire drew and fired his weapon, the four Secret Servicemen unloaded their magazines. Jennifer covered her mouth to prevent herself from screaming as the bullets slammed into the billionaire one after the other. She heard him groan and then choked as she saw the cloaking device break and the bullets penetrate the man's neck. Blood spurted out onto the light blue carpet.

  Jennifer clenched her teeth and drew her weapon. She knew she wouldn't have much time before they found her. With four well-placed blasts from her device, she landed kill shots on the four soldiers in the General's army. As they dropped, Jennifer ran from her hiding position to Van Housen. She brought her hand up to his wound, but it was far too late to stop the bleeding.

  "Stay with me, Van Housen. We need to stick together!"

  As she pulled up the visor from the billionaire's helmet, she saw his eyes completely glazed over. He didn't make it.

  Jennifer wiped her bloody hand on the wall as she pointed her weapon at the gate that had surprised them. She screamed with fury as she shot several holes into the blockade. She ignored the heat as her hand gripped through the hole and pushed the gate open.

  She saw her father almost immediately. He too had taken enough gunfire for his cloaking to shut down, but despite several wounds on his arms and legs, the sheriff kept on fighting. About a dozen Secret Service men lay on the ground, but from the footfalls Jennifer could hear, she knew about another dozen were on the way. She made quick work with a well-placed shot and took out the last man in the room. Sheriff Norris collapsed to one knee and looked up at Jennifer. "I'm sorry. We tried."

  Jennifer sniffled. She pulled down her visor tried to wipe more of Van Housen's blood on the wall. "It's not over. We can still get to him."

  "Actually, Miss Norris. I would say things are more than over."

  Jennifer knew the voice, but she also knew two people who sported it. Unfortunately for them, the person who walked forward looked like Ted, spoke like Ted, but he certainly wasn't a hero.

  The General stepped forward with another dozen guards. The sheriff dropped his weapon to the ground, but Jennifer pointed hers directly between the General's eyes. She didn't mind the sensation of a dozen weapons pointed at her direction. "I'll do it. Don't think I won't do it."

  The General's smile was more than unsettling. "If there is one thing I learned from sleeping with the enemy, it's that none of you should be underestimated. Humans with hope are a very dangerous breed."

  With the cue to his right, one of the Secret Service men fired his weapon. The gunshot blasted through the air and slammed into the head of Sheriff Norris. Jennifer let her weapon fall from her fingers as she knelt down beside her dead father for the second time. Tears streamed down her face and she removed the helmet completely. It clattered to the ground as she held the sheriff's hand in her own. "You're a monster. And monsters don't rule for long."

  She reached back for her weapon, but the Secret Service men were ready. A barrage of bullets slammed into the protective armor in front of her chest and abdomen. While none of them penetrated, they burned and stung and sent her flying back. The cloaking armor let out a low hum as it failed. She tried to catch her breath and get up. But three of the guards quickly ran over to her. One kicked away the weapon, while the other two pointed their guns at her head.

  The General walked into view, and Jennifer's hatred boiled over.

  She spit toward him. "Humanity will live and you will die."

  The General's grin was ear to ear. "You know, Van Housen's loss is a global tragedy. As a Medal of Honor winner, your father's death is something we should all mourn over." Ted's doppelganger gave another cue to one of his guards. "But when you die, it won't matter in the slightest."

  Jennifer heard the click of a weapon and she closed her eyes tight.

  I'm sorry, Dhiraj. I'm sorry about everything.

  The weapon discharged loudly and then there was nothing but silence and the dark.

  18

  Natalie woke up hating herself for what seemed like the 30th consecutive day. As was common in all of those days, she woke with the thought of Travis on her mind. She could see the image of him lying next to her. It was transposed over the scene of his dead body in the school gymnasium. She breathed in the stale air of the tent. "Damn it, Travis."

  She got dressed and exited out into the wasteland of a fallen civilization. "What a happy place. It's a shame I didn't bring my camera."

  She saw Erica and the gathered forces discussing their next plan. She stepped into the back of the conversation and eavesdropped.

  Erica spoke proudly. "Because of your hard work, we've been able to recruit more than enough members to our aerial assault. Good work, team."

  Most of them clapped, but Doren nudged Natalie in the side. "Is it really a good thing if we got less than half of the worlds we went to join up with us?"

  Natalie shrugged. "On our world, three out of 10 gets you into the Hall of Fame."

  Doren gave a sideways glance. "And the Hall of Fame is a good thing?"

  Natalie laughed. "Yeah, it's a pretty good thing."

  Erica cleared her throat, as if to stop the chattering in the back of the pack. "Our next mission is to start recruiting our navy. Ted has given us a few leads on some worlds we can check out. We're a third of the way there, everybody. That brings us one step closer to bringing the General down."

  As the applause continued, Doren leaned toward Natalie once again. "Did you have a chance of being in the Hall of Fame?"

  Natalie nodded. "Yeah. Maybe if we don't die I'll still have a shot."

  Natalie kept an eye on Ted through the next three worlds they traveled to. A planet of pirates lent a few hundred warships, though the powerful living soul got a little seasick during the negotiations. On another world, a race of incredible underwater breathing assassins joined their ranks. As was the case in the aerial worlds, Ted created a portal large enough to bring the new forces to the Realm of Souls. Natalie wondered exactly how they were feeding all of these troops, but she figured at the least, Mrs. Finley would get so
me cookies ready for them.

  As the last water assassin went through the portal, Erica turned toward Ted.

  "What's next?"

  Ted looked down at his feet before glancing back up at Erica. "Actually, I was thinking maybe we could check out that dream I had."

  Erica shook her head. "No, we stick to the plan. What's the next water planet on your list?"

  Ted sighed. As Natalie peered into his eyes, she could tell that whatever he was dreaming about, he wasn't going to let it go easy.

  "Fine. The last one I have here is a group of primitive creatures with a fin and a tail instead of legs."

  Natalie's mouth opened wide. "Are you talking about—"

  "Mermen. They don't call themselves that, but they're essentially mermen."

  Natalie patted Doren on the back. "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll have a few mermaids for you guys."

  Doren shrugged. "Either way. I'm equal opportunity."

  Before Natalie could dive deeper into that topic of conversation, Ted cleared his throat. "There's a reason the dark souls weren't able to take them down. Aside from them being incredible fighters, they're also resistant to mind control. That means I'm not gonna be able to share my story like I've done in these other worlds."

  Erica rubbed at her chin and she appeared to think. "I think we can risk it. If they're a primitive culture, we'll just show off some of your fireworks and hope that they follow us."

  Ted used his hands to close up one portal and open up another one just big enough for their group. "I just wanted to warn you guys. If they're angry, this could be a short trip."

  Erica nodded her understanding as she gestured the team toward the portal. "Let's go hang out with some mermen."

  The members of the team fired up their jet packs and flew into a world covered in water.

  As Natalie smelled the salty air, she noticed something in the clean and watery world. Everything seemed perfectly calm there. She didn't see any mermen or any creatures whatsoever, but somehow the world still felt somehow inviting. And to Natalie, that meant she knew something was wrong.