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  She walked over and he felt the pinprick of the syringe-like machine she held in her hands. He was about to speak when fire coursed through him.

  The veins in his skin popped up and every muscle in his body flexed. The tension made his jaw clench and pain radiated through his head. Unable to move his hands, his eyes glanced to Heidi with a pleading look.

  “You’ll be okay,” she said. “Just try to relax.”

  Muscles began to shift and loosen. A calming sensation came through his body, as if warm water slowly poured on him from above. The sensation began at the top of his head and travelled down his body to the tips of his toes. Only when his muscles relaxed and he fell to the floor, sucking in air, did he realize that his heart had stopped as well.

  Coughing violently, he curled on the floor as Heidi stood above him and watched. The attack lasting no more than a few minutes, he lay on his back and stared at the ceiling.

  “How do you feel?”

  Surprisingly, he felt good. Energy pounded through his veins now and he hopped to his feet. He noticed that his muscles had grown again. He felt strength in his arm’s movements.

  “How long does this stuff last?”

  “It doesn’t ‘last,’ Jack. This is you now. It causes chromosomal changes in your DNA. You can’t reverse that.”

  “So I’m going to look like a roided up bodybuilder my whole life?”

  She shrugged. “It was either this or let you die in that hospital bed.”

  A loud hissing came from behind them. Jack spun and looked up as the elevator rose.

  “You expecting someone?”

  Heidi walked next to him, watching the elevator lift. “No.”

  The elevator began to come back down. Jack could see its lights through metal grating as it slowly descended and came to a stop.

  Heidi whispered to him, “Don’t say anything. Let me handle this.”

  The doors opened and several men in military uniforms stepped off. One man, older with gray hair and a beard, walked to Heidi with a smile. He glanced at Jack and whistled as if he was impressed.

  “Not as big as Aggie.”

  “Not as unstable either,” Heidi said. “What is it you want, Colonel Finley?”

  “What is it I want? You were asked to leave, Dr. Hendricks. And yet here you are. And with an unauthorized subject no less.”

  “We were just leaving.”

  The colonel laughed. “This man belongs to the United States Army. You really think I’m going to let you leave? After what happened with Aggie?”

  “I had nothing to do with that. If you had provided me the security I wanted—”

  “You didn’t tell us how close you were to success or else I would have.” The colonel looked to Jack. “What’s your name, son?”

  “Jack.”

  “Well, Jack, I don’t know what the good doctor here has told you but you are certainly not free to leave. In fact, you are under arrest for unlawful trespass on military grounds.” He looked back to his men, who moved forward toward him.

  “Don’t let them take you, Jack,” Heidi said frantically. “You’ll never leave if they do.”

  Jack held up his hands. “Guys, I just want to go home. I have a family that doesn’t know where I am.”

  “Sorry, Jack,” the colonel said. “But this is how it’s got to be.”

  One of the soldiers grabbed Jack by the arm. Jack pulled away, trying to get his hand loose. Instead, the soldier was thrown forward, landing hard on the desk behind them.

  Rifles went up, aimed at him. Jack felt adrenaline course through him and something rang in his head.

  “SHOW THEM!”

  Jack sprinted toward the soldiers in a movement that was too fast for anyone in the room to see. He disarmed the first one, spun him, and threw his body into a second. As they hit the floor, one of the soldiers fired. Jack saw the bullets coming at him. It was like they were travelling through water, waiting for his response. He leapt into the air and flew toward the soldier, ramming both legs into him. The soldier became unconscious as his sternum fractured and he was thrown across the room.

  The colonel looked at his men, fury in his eyes. “There’s an entire platoon outside, boy. You will never make it out of here alive. Either one of you.”

  Heidi swung with her left hand and a syringe entered the colonel’s neck. He went to grab her but his arms fell limply by his side and he collapsed onto the floor.

  “Just a sedative,” Heidi said. “There’ll be more. We need to go, now.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Avoiding the elevator, Jack followed Heidi as she ran across the laboratory and to a locked steel door. She opened it by swiping a keycard and let him go through first. Bare cement walls and the smell of dust filled their nostrils as they ascended a staircase.

  “They don’t have access to this stairwell,” she said. “I changed the codes a few weeks ago. It’ll take them hours to figure it out.”

  “What I did back there. I felt like…”

  “You probably didn’t realize, but I couldn’t see you. You thought the men were moving in slow motion, right? You were actually just moving much faster. Think of it as relativity on a small scale. The closer you approach the speed of light, the slower time moves.”

  “I felt invincible.”

  She stopped and turned to face him. “In a way, Jack, you are.” She reached up and wiped blood off Jack’s shoulder. He hadn’t noticed it before. “But in another way, you’re very human.”

  Quickening their pace, Jack felt like he could jump ten stairs at a time but he held back so he could follow her. After going up five stories, she swiped her keycard on another steel door and pushed it open, revealing a parking lot.

  “They don’t know we have cars in here,” she said, walking down the rows and staring at each license plate. “There’s a much larger parking lot for employees in an underground lot adjacent to the building. Only a few people know about this one.” She stopped at a Jeep. “This is ours. You drive.” She tossed Jack the keys. Jack climbed into the driver’s seat and turned the ignition. The Jeep came on instantly.

  He pulled out of the stall, heading to the only exit in the lot. A ramp leading above ground. Five stories up and they were still underground, Jack thought. How many floors does this building have?

  The ramp twisted and curved several times but Jack didn’t slow his pace. He increased the speed of the Jeep to over 80 mph. The curves didn’t bother him. He felt like he could almost sense them coming and adjust before they were in his field of vision.

  The ramp narrowed and the darkness began to fade. Coming out into the bright sunlight, Jack could see the facility in the rearview mirror.

  “Why didn’t they have someone guarding this exit?” he asked.

  “I told you, they don’t know about it. We’re more than half a mile from the facility.”

  “They can see it from the air.”

  She shrugged. “They’re not in the air.”

  Jack swerved the Jeep, narrowly avoiding a series of scattered rocks before heading in the direction of a dirt road. Though he was in a covered Jeep with the air conditioning turned up full blast, he felt the heat acutely, penetrating his skin and his eyes, and he realized he had never felt heat like this. But it wasn’t painful or even uncomfortable. It was simply there.

  “Are you hot?” he said.

  “No, I’m fine. Why?”

  “No reason.”

  After long stretches of empty road, broken only by the occasional semi-truck, they reached the small town of Lublock. No more than a gas station and a motel, the town had a sign that read, WELCOME TO BEAUTIFUL LUBLOCK.

  The gas station had no customers as they pulled to the fuel pumps. Heidi stepped out and swiped her credit card on the pump as Jack put the nozzle into the Jeep. The smell of gasoline overpowered him. He felt weak and stared at the little waves coming off the nozzle as the fuel pumped into the Jeep. The waves were distorting the reality around them, like some sort of relati
vity explosion, gravity pulling on everything and twisting it to its whim.

  “You okay?” Heidi said.

  “Fine.”

  “You look like I lost you there for a second. What were you looking at?”

  “The gas. And the pump and the cement and the fumes…everything looks different.”

  “Different how?”

  “More detailed. The colors are brighter and it’s like I’m looking at everything with a telescope. I can see everything up close.”

  “Your ocular nerves are enhanced. So is your occipital lobe. What does it feel like? To see the world like that?”

  “Like everything’s interesting and worthy of attention.”

  She appeared sad and paused a long moment. “I wish I could be there with you.”

  Jack went inside to use the bathroom. On his way out, he grabbed a bottle of water and a sandwich and realized he didn’t have any money. He put them back and went outside. Heidi was leaning against the car, staring off into space.

  “Are you hungry?” she said, sensing what he was about to ask.

  “Starving.”

  “There’s a little truck stop ahead. The food’s not bad.”

  The truck stop was another gas station with a diner attached. White with blue trim, the building looked like something out of the 1950s. Waitresses came out and took orders from people that still sat in their cars. A large menu hung over entrance. It consisted of nothing more than burgers, fries, and drinks.

  Ordering from their car, Jack got a double cheeseburger with chili fries while Heidi settled for a Diet Coke and a small fry. When the waitress had left, Jack looked out the window to an elderly couple parked nearby. They were eating quietly without speaking to each other. Each knew that they had approached the end of their lives and there wasn’t much left to say anymore.

  “I never asked what you do,” Heidi said. “Or started any other small talk to get to know you. Where’d you go to school?”

  Jack looked at her in amazement. “I took on a squad of Army Rangers without breaking a sweat today and you want to talk about where I went to high school?”

  “This is a weird situation for both of us. I’m just trying to lighten it.”

  They were silent a long while, each looking out their own windows.

  “West Haven,” Jack said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I went to West Haven High.”

  “Where was that?”

  “San Diego. It was a little school, meant for suburban kids that were lucky enough to be born into families that kept them out of the gangs.”

  She paused. “You’re right. This is ridiculous.”

  He smiled at her. “Tell me about what’s happening to me.”

  “Your chromosomes are changing. You are in a very literal sense becoming a new type of human. Agamemnon thinks it’s a new species. You’re becoming something else, Jack, and I’m not sure I can tell you exactly what that is.”

  CHAPTER 24

  Thirteen hours of driving took its toll on Heidi but Jack felt as fresh as he had when they started. Something about being back in California excited him. He was looking forward to seeing Nicole, and as he thought of her the thought of Autumn burst into his mind, and then the image of his legs crushed into the cold floor of a bank.

  Jack glanced over and saw Heidi asleep. The lights of Los Angeles glimmered before them like sparkling gems as he came off an exit near the condo he had recently bought. From there, it was only another twenty minutes until he had parked next to his Viper.

  He didn’t want to wake her so he left the engine on and the radio turned up slightly to a classic rock station. The Who’s “Love Reign O’er Me” was playing and he watched the stars above him as he listened.

  “Where are we?” she said quietly.

  “My house. Will they be coming to look for us here?”

  She shook her head, her eyes still closed. “I was very careful to make sure no record of you was left anywhere.” She opened her eyes, looking at him. “I can stay at a hotel.”

  “Why? I’ve got plenty of room.”

  “I don’t know. If you’re married or something.”

  “I’m not. You saved my life. The least I can do is let you crash on my couch.”

  Inside, his condo was cold, and mail was piled up on his floor, probably requests for the condo fees that he hadn’t paid in a year. He opened a few windows to let the stale air out and saw that Heidi had lain down on the couch.

  “I was kidding,” he said. “You’ll have the bed upstairs.”

  “I’m fine right here.”

  “I have three bedrooms. Just choose one.”

  “Actually, I could really use a shower.”

  “Be my guest.”

  Jack watched as she ascended the stairs, and then he sat on the couch and realized he didn’t have a phone. He looked at the clock: it was 1:17 a.m. He would have to wait until tomorrow to see his sister anyway.

  He took a deep breath and put his feet up on the coffee table. A flicker off to the side caught his attention and he thought it was a fly. He brushed his hand toward his face but the flicker didn’t move. He glanced over and saw a blinking light through the window. His heart dropped as he jumped off the couch and the window shattered, the rounds flying through the walls and blowing holes into the furniture. A canister came flying through the window, acrid smoke filling the condo.

  Jack was on the floor, crawling on his stomach to the stairs and he jumped up them like a leopard, reaching the top step in less than a second. The power suddenly shut off and the house went dark. He could hear the shower and opened the bathroom door. Heidi poked her head out from the curtain.

  “They’re here. Get dressed.”

  Jack stood on the top step and listened. The gunfire had stopped and he could hear boots outside approaching the house. No one identified themselves as the door was kicked open, raining splinters of wood over the living room. Jack ran to his bedroom and looked out the window. Soldiers patrolled the yard and the front of the house. They weren’t going to let them get away this time.

  Heidi stepped out of the bathroom, her hair still wet and slick with shampoo. Jack grabbed her arm and placed her in the closet.

  “Wait here.”

  “Jack, wait.” She ran over to her bags, which were laid out on the bed. She reached into one and took out a small box. Opening it, she revealed what looked like black metal. But as she took it out, Jack saw its flexibility. It was clothing.

  “What’s that?”

  “Put it on.”

  “We don’t have time—”

  “It’s bulletproof, Jack. Put it on.”

  Jack waited a beat and then grabbed it. It was a suit of what felt like flexible plastic. He quickly stripped down and put it on. It fit loosely as he did but he could swear that it began to tighten once it touched his skin. Attached to the back was a hood.

  “It’s okay,” Heidi said, sensing his apprehension. “It’s perfectly safe. Put the mask on.”

  He reached back and pulled the flap of plastic over his head. It didn’t feel like he was wearing anything and he had full visibility. He moved his arms and legs around.

  “You sure this is bulletproof?”

  “Tested it myself.”

  Jack wanted to know what material it was made of when he heard boots running up the stairs. He ran out, ducking low, and waited.

  Slowly, the barrel of a rifle came around the corner. Jack snapped at it like a cobra and ripped it out of the soldier’s hands. To his surprise, he broke it in half like a breadstick and threw it to the floor as he grabbed the man and pulled him into the hall.

  One blow to the side of the head and the man was unconscious. Jack made sure he still had a pulse before placing him down gently in the hallway.

  “He’s upstairs!” someone shouted from below.

  Jack sprinted across the staircase to the bedroom across the hall. Gunfire filled the hallway as bullet holes appeared in the wall next to him. One hi
t his arm. He felt it, but only like he would feel a bee sting or a needle prick. He checked his arm once he was in the bedroom; no blood.

  Opening the window, he climbed outside. Because he was dressed fully in black, they didn’t notice as he climbed to the roof, and deftly approached his bedroom window. Two soldiers had been placed directly underneath. He jumped and landed on their heads, knocking them cold. In a maneuver he didn’t think he was capable of, he leapt at least fifteen feet in the air and grabbed the edge of the roof, climbing back up.

  What the hell am I?

  Jack opened his bedroom window. He could see the soldiers out in the hall. Grabbing the doctor, he covered her with his body as shots rang out. But it was too late. He was out the window and on the ground in his neighbor’s yard before they were even in the room.

  He sprinted through the yard and leapt over the fence, the doctor in his arms. He held her closely as he sprinted and leapt, sprinted and leapt. He could sense a dog in the next yard, hearing its breathing before he ever saw him. He jumped to the top of the fence and ran along its perimeter, bypassing the house entirely. He stood underneath a tree until all the soldiers had run inside. The Jeep wasn’t far and he sprinted and jumped inside, placing the doctor in the passenger seat next to him.

  Taking neighborhood side-streets to avoid traffic, they were on the freeway in minutes, neither of them speaking.

  “How do you think they found me?” Jack said.

  “I don’t know. I was so careful.”

  “The Jeep. Did you check the Jeep?”

  She paused. “No.”

  Jack pulled to the side of the road underneath a street lamp. He opened the hood and scanned the engine. Leaving it open, he got underneath the Jeep on his back. The undercarriage was the best place to install a GPS.

  Though it was dark, Jack had no trouble seeing.

  “Do you need a flashlight?” Heidi asked.

  “No.”

  On the lower right-hand side, underneath the battery, a small, round device blinked red. He pulled it off and got out from under the Jeep. A car honked at him from behind. He was unable to make a right turn because of the way the Jeep was parked.