The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (mini ebook reader .txt) 📕

“Michael, I’m sorry about what happened on the island. I was lost in the moment. I didn’t expect you and Sammie would be there. I was excited.”

“More like digging the whole scene, if you ask me.” Michael leaned in this time. “Dude, look, I saw you kill people before today, but it was always different. Self-defense, or maybe you were being controlled. But that shit back there was something else. You were in control and loving it.” He pleaded to Sammie: “You figure I’m going overboard right now because your folks trained you to be just like these mountains in red pajamas.”

Sammie cupped a hand over Michael’s lips.

“It’s OK. I understand. You’re not out of line, Michael. We’re all trying to figure out the next step.” Then to James: “I can’t say I wasn’t jealous. Look at you. In three days, you became everything I grew up thinking I’d be. I guess your growth shouldn’t surprise me. We realized the Jewel would change you somehow. I just want to hear it straight. Are you officially a peacekeeper? And if so, how is that even possible?”

James wanted this to be over with. He leaned back.

“You can’t see my most important improvements. Sure, I’ll admit, I like this new body. I suppose it is badass.” He grinned at Michael. “But it’s what’s happening up here, in my mind, that matters. All I need is a keyword, and I know everything about it. I spent one day training with my brother, and I learned every battle technique of a peacekeeper, how to use every weapon, how to design combat strategies. I could lead a battalion into a firefight, and we’d win.

“I’m wearing this uniform because it suits Perrone’s agenda. It opens every door I need. The places I have to go, I can’t take you.”

Michael started to speak, but Sammie grabbed his hand and held tight. James saw the power she had on his best friend, and he wondered what they shared with each other these past few days. They were closer – more than even they realized.

Sammie spoke for them both.

“And where are these places, James? How are they any different than what we were facing when we crossed the fold?”

“Sammie, we left Alabama because we were out of choices. We were stupid enough to figure if we survived that shit, we could pull ourselves through any-damn-thing. Maybe we could, but now …”

“Now what?”

“Now, we can put names and faces on our enemies, and we know these Chancellors are bastards on a good day. Worse, they’re playing for keeps – their whole existence. They’ll sell out anybody, kill anybody, with competing agendas. Just because I’m wearing this uniform don’t mean I’d trust Perrone far as I could throw him. He’s out there talking about invading SkyTower to reveal a conspiracy. Sammie, Michael: There’s no conspiracy. It’s a cover. All of it. Perrone has another agenda. I haven’t nailed it, but there’s a thing between him and my father. He’s obsessed. It’s like the book his wife had us read in English. Moby Dick. I think my father is the admiral’s white whale. But why?”

Michael groaned. “Shit. Ain’t it obvious? Your father stuck his willie up the ol’ Queen Bee. Hell, Christian might have been your half-brother. See, dude? Guys like that are the same everywhere. They wanna prove who’s got the bigger dick.”

“Whatever it is, Michael, there will be bodies. I have a feeling we’re walking into something savage. Maybe even a trap. The people who survive will be the ones who never hesitate and don’t waste time making moral choices. Do you get my speed, Michael?”

Michael looked away. James saw the doubt he needed.

“Yeah, dude. You don’t reckon I’ll cut the mustard when it comes down to us against them.”

Sammie didn’t allow James to respond. “Michael, he’s saying you don’t have the experience to …”

“Wait, what?” Michael pulled his hand away from Sammie. “As if he’s been pulling the trigger since he was a young’un? Hell, Sammie. Your Daddy took you in the woods to gun down people like animals, and Mr. Universe here don’t want you around. So, I reckon you also don’t got enough experience, either.”

The awkward silence and the pooling water in her eyes told James he was making progress. Michael set him up; now he needed to finish. Their choice had to be an easy one.

“C’mon. Please, both of you. This isn’t about experience. We know what it’s like to kill. But there’s a world of difference between people who’ve killed and people who are killers. Sammie, they trained you to be a soldier, and a soldier kills when she has to. Michael, you killed a lousy son of a bitch who had it coming. You’re alive, and so is Sammie. You’re not a killer.”

The next words sat behind his tongue, harder to unleash than he expected:

“But I am a killer. Maybe it’s what I always was, but the Jewel brought it out. It’s part of who I am now. It feels natural. It’s this … hunger. I don’t have a better way to describe it.” His heart raced as the confession slipped through his lips. “What you saw on the island … that last man without his weapon? I stood over him and I aimed my rifle at his head, and I felt … I felt like a giant. I shot him and watched his brains blow out the back of his head.” His throat felt parched. “I enjoyed it. I wanted more. I still do. I always will.”

James brought them to tears, but he mustered none of his own. The mere talk of killing fueled the dark within. His stomach roiled with mounting anticipation. He wanted to be alone with Rayna, to go deep inside her mind, to explore her fuel for mayhem.

“Dude,” Michael choked back tears.