Chapter 58.

Plan of Action.

Damien Reyes.

Time/Area: August 4th, 2013. Manhattan, NYC.

11:00 AM

It was hard to believe that it was still morning given the current view, but assuming Mr.Synth was as precise with his wall mounted, battery-powered clocks as he was with his words, it was in fact eleven in the morning.

I sat in the chair directly across from Synth, drumming my fingers upon the arm of the seat in heavy anticipation as the orange reflection of fire rippled across the window to my left. Selina sat next to the side of the square table closest to the window, her back facing the dull columns of smoke that had somehow risen to even this height while her eyes trotted back and forth between me and her dad.

Synth himself was processing what I had just explained, fiddling with a fancy mug he could somehow find the peace to drink tea out of as he maintained his cold blue eyes on me,

“So let me get this straight,” Synth started, taking a sip of his tea before leaning back into the chair, “Your sister and Doctor Elizabeth were working on something...for their Inverse project…?”

I nodded slowly, glancing at Selina, “Y-yeah, but I don’t know what.”

Selina stepped in, “And if you had listened to me earlier, Dad, we might not even be in this situation!”

Synth waved her off, pointing towards the window, “This is in no way my fault, young lady,” he nearly laughed, “honestly I’d be quite impressed if I was able to conjure something straight out of a sci-fi movie in less than a year.”

With every passing second…minute…hour, I felt the need to just get up and leave.

How could I just let Henry leave?!

He’s human.

It was bad enough that Jason had gone off, and I had no idea where Mrs.Mabel was…but I should’ve been the one to rescue Hiru.

I shouldn’t be…we shouldn’t be…watching this guy drink tea.

“So your sister also told you to stay away from Jordan?” Synth moved on, ripping me from my thoughts,

“That was probably a good idea.”

KABANG!

I sat up in my seat, the light panel suspended a couple of yards above us flickering as an explosion rocked the ground below.

Selina shot me a nervous glance, to which I just slightly shook my head.

She was talking about the lights, but I didn’t sense any monsters around.

I began tapping my chair even faster, “Yeah,” I replied to Mr.Synth, “then she went to Paris...claiming that she could uh...help… with whatever was happening.”

My mind was still half on the explosion, unable to keep myself from wondering what might’ve been caught in it.

Who might’ve been caught in it.

Synth chuckled, “Her idea must not have worked then.”

I glared at him, stopping the drumming of my fingers before I accidentally broke this stupid table.

Selina shot me a different look, and I could read it perfectly:

Calm down.

I obliged, taking a small breath, “I-I know she was on to something,” I tried again, “I just don’t know what.”

He took another sip out of his mug,

“Okay. I think I’ve got it now,” He sighed, placing the cup on his armchair,

“You’re sister made something for the Inverse to keep something like this-”

He pointed at the window again before continuing, “From ever happening?”

I shook my head, “She didn’t say it would solve the problem.” My tone became a little defensive, “I think whatever she used was unstable.”

“Did she keep notes on what she was doing?” Synth asked, gazing out into the ocean of smoke and debris drifting up into our view.

I remembered the data pad I saw Sarah with at school.

The one I saw her using in the Sci-club room…

“Y-yeah actually..” I muttered, “But we would need an Energis data pad for that.”

Synth raised his eyebrow, “Well..?”

I shrugged, “Well if I had a pad, I’d still need her password…Energis is big on security.”

“The irony,” Synth laughed again, “I must say young Damien, your sister was a fool to get caught up in this.”

I gritted my teeth, “She’s not a fool, she was just trying to help.”

This time he shrugged, “Little good that did-”

Crash!

The light panel directly above the table popped, a small rain of glass falling around us as both Selina and Synth jumped in their chairs.

“Benjamin!” Synth yelled at one of the people in black suits to my right. They were still parading around the rest of the penthouse, trying to contact Mrs.Knight to find out where she was.

One of them immediately fell out of the group, hurrying over to Mr.Synth like a soldier from the military,

“Yes?” He spoke in a low voice.

Synth pointed at a bunch of monitors on the far side of the kitchen table behind us,

“Check any cameras that still work!” He barked, “These things evidently do something with electricity, and I don’t want to be surprised!”

He hurried off towards the computers, checking for what was not there.

As immature as it was, I quite enjoyed seeing Synth so confused,

“Maybe I should break something else.” I wondered.

“A-anyways!” Selina squeaked, elbowing my ribs before returning to her seat,

“It sounds like we just need to find out whatever Sarah was using and uh...fix it!”

Synth glanced nervously at the roof before responding, slowly taking his seat again while swiping off shards of glass from the table.

“Fix it?” He quizzed, “We don’t even know what we are trying to fix.”

He went on, “Come to think of it, doesn’t any other scientist in that building know about any of this?”

“Probably not,” I admitted, “Sarah and doc were so secretive about everything that went into the project, and seeing how the head of security is in charge of Energis now, I doubt they’re trying to figure anything out.”

Synth tilted his head in annoyance, “Right…” He breathed, “Everything about the ISAC must be on full lock down at this point.” he snorted, “Explains why I wasn’t able to dig up anything with Harumi.”

Harumi Knight was Hiru’s mom.

“I bet the Energis building still has files on the project.” Selina said, nervously glancing at me.

I sighed, because we had already had this conversation.

Synth shook his head, “That place is a fortress right now.”

Selina shrugged, “How about I go to Energis- I could probably-”

“No!” Me and Synth both yelled.

Selina stood up, a mix of anger and annoyance in her face,

“Fine then!” She gritted her teeth, “I don’t even know why I’m out here!”

She stormed off, the sound of her shoes fading as she left the common area.

I looked at Me.Synth,

“She’s just like her mother.” He grunted, gulping down the last of his tea.

“So do you really think you can make a cure?” I coughed, trying to find something to stave away the awkwardness.

“Maybe…” He sighed again, “But when the military…or the national guard inevitably arrive, it would be good to have information for them.”

I slowly nodded, wondering if they could even help. If this was just like Paris, New York was becoming a dead zone. We had no way of knowing just how many places in the country were being affected right now.

I shifted my gaze towards the room beside the kitchen,

I cleared my throat, “I’m uh-”

“Just go.” Synth waved me away, “High Schoolers..”

—--------

“Selina..?” I whispered, knocking on her door.

“Come in already..” She thought.

I smiled a little, opening the door.

She was on her bed,

“Wait did I say you could come in?” She shot up, glaring at me.

I shut the door as I entered, “But uh..I heard you..think?”

Her eyes went wide, “You…uh…what?!”

I frowned, “Uh, oh..” I paused, absently pointing at my head, “I thought we both knew..?”

Selina sat up on the mattress, raising her eyebrows, “I thought only you and Jason could do that.”

I coughed, “Erm, but we just did it…when your dad was telling me to stay here.”

Selina’s eyes widened,

“Oh, he knows about that.” She thought, “OH shoot, can he hear this-?”

“Yes!” I nervously laughed, “I can!”

She gulped, “Well, I-”

“Wait so…” I scratched my head, “You’ve always been able to read my thoughts?”

I froze,

“Wait…” I thought, “does that mean she knows-”

“Know about what?” She whistled, grinning, “Wow, I can see how this can get really embarrassing.”

She continued, dropping her smile, “But no,” she admitted, “It started a bit ago…but it’s not like I’ve heard anything super crazy yet.”

I sighed a breath of relief, to which Selina just rolled her eyes,

“But maybe you should just tell me?” She tried, “Since it’s pretty obvious you’re hiding something.”

I frowned, knowing that was a bad idea.

I tried to keep thoughts of being a ‘monster’ out of my head, but there was only so much I could do.

Selina stared at me for a moment before giving up,

“Whatever,” She motioned for me to sit down, “You’ll tell me eventually.”

I sat down next to her, “Y-yeah.” I said, “But uh…why would you not want to tell me you could hear me think?”

“Hey, that’s not fair,” Selina nudged me, “I’m not telling you anything until you share first.”

She slapped my shoulder before I could speak again, “Look, if we can find your sister’s notes, we could find out what she added to whatever project Inverse is and make the cure!”

I slowly nodded, “Theoretically… I guess..but it’s too dangerous..for uh..you.”

Another slap, “Then why don’t you come with me!”

I looked down, “Well..I’ve never..uhm..-”

“Don’t tell me you’re scared...” She smirked, “Cause that would be pretty sorry.”

I groaned, “I don’t want you to die.”

“More lame excuses,” She breathed, “I’m not going to die, and I haven’t even been outside all day, remember?”

I coughed, “Yeah,” I said, “Lucky you.”

Selina stood up, fully prepared to give a powerpoint presentation as I fell back into the bed sighing,

“Here we go.” I thought.

“I’m pretty sure we’d make the perfect team,” Selina pitched.

I laughed to myself,

“Okay,” I said, “But what exactly can you do?”

Selina walked back to the bed, grabbing a pillow before slamming it into my face.

“...ow.” I said, face full of pillow.

“Anyways,” Selina cleared her throat, “How about you tell me what it’s like out there?”

She pointed outside the guest room window, “The only monster I’ve seen was the one that stabbed you.”

I felt the scar on my chest, “Yeah…”

“Good thing you weren’t infected by that…somehow.” Selina muttered,

I thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to convey what I saw out there.

It…was impossible.

All the bodies…all the screams…It was just-

“Okayyyy, dang,” Selina massaged her temples, “Nevermind, I get the picture.”

I blinked, remembering that she could read my thoughts. It would’ve been nice to figure out how to turn that on and off, but for now I guessed it would remain sporadic.

“But dude,” Selina tried again, “Someone’s going to have to get into that building, and personally- I think it should be us.”

“I mean, yeah,” I agreed, causing her to smile, “But we would probably die.”

“Can’t you smack around monsters?”

“Actually, I can blast them now,”

“Say what?!” Selina gasped, “You have lasers?”

I shrugged, “Something like that…but I’m out of energy.”

“Oh,” Selina stopped pacing the room as another explosion boomed past the window,

“Ew, does that mean you have to do that feeding thing?”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, I have to do the feeding thing…but even then, it’s too dangerous.”

“This is so unfair…and stupid.” Selina huffed, “Before the apocalypse kicked into high gear, I thought we were going to be crazy about it and just do stuff-”

“But then things got a lot more real.” I tried, “I have to keep everyone-”

“Damien,” Selina put her hand on my shoulder, “When it comes down to it…seriously…you are not Spider-Man.”

She waved her hands around, “With great power comes great possibility!”

“That’s not how it goes,” I muttered.

“You get my point,” Selina said, “You said it yourself- we can’t stay here, so I’m going to leave eventually.”

I searched for more points,

“You didn’t even listen to why I said we can’t stay here.”

Selina coughed, “Oh right,” she said, “Something about you and Jason’s house…?”

“Yeah,” I remembered, leaning back into a pillow, “For some reason, monsters stay away from it, so I was thinking that could be like…our base?”

Selina slow nodded,

“Creepy, suspicious…and definitely coincidental,” She clapped, “But why not.”

I shook my head with a small smile, missing her sarcastic humor.

“Good luck convincing my dad though.” She snorted, “But are we good to go, then?”

I began to ring my hands, “Erm..but..ugh,” I gave up, “If we did do this…how are we going to sneak behind your dad?”

She gave a mini cheer,

“Yes!” She exclaimed, “A-and I don’t know, I thought you had invisibility or something.”

I glared at her, “I don’t.” I stated, “And even if I did, I’m out of juice, remember?”

She looked bewildered, “Wait so none of your powers work?”

“No, I still have super strength” I hissed, “J-just not the flashy stuff like-”

“Like laser vision…and that red thing you do.” She finished, narrowing her eyes, “gosh, why are you so complicated?”

I shrugged, “Not my fault.”

“Well when night comes, we’ll sneak out the old fashioned way.” Selina rubbed the blue strands in her hair, “This will be fun, I promise.”

“Selina..” I started, not sure if she understood the gravity of the situation, “Those things will not hesitate to kill you...you know that right?”

She gulped a little, “Well…” she bent her head, “they would be some pretty sorry monsters if they did, right?”

I blinked,

“Wow.”

“Anyways Dami,” She went on, “Stop trying to take the fun out of this…anything else we need?”

I nodded, “Aside from feeding, the power will probably be completely out by night so maybe some flashlights, some bottled water, and maybe a-”

“Okay, shush.” Selina rubbed her temples, “How about we just go with the flow?”

“Selina,” I shook my head, “This isn’t like taking a subway without our parents knowing.”

She stuffed her hands into her pockets, “Sure it is,” She pointed out, “Just without the subway part.”

I groaned, “Why are you so positive?”

She shrugged, “Someone has to be...or this will never work.”

I looked down.

“Well, you should probably pick a room.” Selina whispered, “I don’t think Dad will let you stay with me.”

I blushed, “R-right...probably not.”

I got up to leave,

“I-I’ll see you later tonight then…if we’re actually doing this.”

“We are.” Selina laughed, watching as I approached the door, “Plus, we’ve got a while until then, so if you want to come back to just…I don’t know…talk about normal stuff…I’ll be here.”

I smiled at that, “Right,” I said, stepping out of the room, “Thanks, Selina.”

She waved as I closed the door.

I’m rather shocked you agreed to that.

“So am I.” I thought.

I suggest you use this time to fully recover, and feed as soon as possible.

“I know I know.” I pushed away Terry’s voice, “I got it, thanks.”

As I walked back into the common area, I noticed Tristan asleep on a white couch next to the kitchen.

I shook my head, finding it a battle in itself to stay calm with everything that was going on.

We were going to break into Energis, during a monster apocalypse, and somehow get everyone back to my house in one piece.

I didn’t even know how we would go about that last part.

Did Henry even manage to find Hiru and his mom?

Did Jason get to Melissa?

Was Mrs.Mabel back at the house?

I saw Mr.Drake’s shop empty…was he okay?

And what about that thing causing all of this?

Where was that going to lead?

I walked past Mr.Synth, who was currently talking with one of the people in suits, before entering another guest room.

It looked brand new, which wasn’t surprising, and it had the same set up of Selina’s room next door.

I fell onto the bed, staring at the roof while trying not to shift my gaze towards the window.

For a moment, as selfish as it was, I didn’t want to see all of it. I wanted to pretend that this wasn’t the end of the world.

Maybe we weren’t all going to die.

Maybe Sarah really was okay.

I kept my gaze on the roof for a minute.

Maybe not everything fell on my shoulders…

…

I turned over to face the window, watching the fires and explosions rage on before drifting off to sleep.