you if they got their hands on you, the tests they would run, they'd cut you open, time and again, then there's the vampires, they...”

  “That's why I need you to teach me how not to get caught, or how not to die.”

  “Why do you have to be so stubborn?”

  “Adam what am I doing here? What am I being kept safe for? What's the point when everyone else is…?”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay, what? You'll teach me.”

  “Yes, I'm not pleased about it, but you're going to get yourself killed if I don't teach you, but I have conditions.”

  “Fine, anything,” Chloe promised.

  “We leave here. I meant it when I said it's not safe and you don't go into situations like the one last night, until I say you're ready and never on your own.”

  “Thank you,” Chloe flung her arms around Adam, who returned her hug.

  “Sorry, am I interrupting?” Toni stood in the doorway to Adam's room.

  Chloe pulled away, “er...no...Adam's going to teach me how to fight.”

  “That's great,” Toni replied half-heartedly, “Adam I just came to tell you, Kirsty's still struggling with the levitation.”

  “What? Levitation?” Chloe asked as she looked from Adam to Toni in confusion.

  “Most of those who survived the tests, developed some kind of ...ability.” Adam said as the three of them made their way downstairs.

  “Really, what about you?” Chloe stopped halfway down the stairs and turned to Adam.

  “I guess I got lucky; the tests didn't affect me,” he said, gently pulling at her arm to lead her to the bottom of the stairs.

  The blonde woman, who Chloe assumed must be Kirsty was holding onto the sofa, screaming as her legs rose towards the ceiling. The others were doing their best to pull her back down.

  “Careful,” someone called out, “remember the guy in the lab when they pulled at him too hard."

  ”What happened to the guy in the lab?” Chloe asked Toni and Adam, who stood at each side of her.

  “You don't want to know,” Adam said, before stepping forward, “Kirsty, just close your eyes and breathe, remember, find your inner calm.”

  Kirsty followed his instructions.

  “How is that even possible?” Chloe asked Toni, while watching Adam, coax Kirsty back down until she was standing on both feet again.

  “Anything is possible when they mess around enough with your genetic make-up,” Toni responded.

  “Like turning people into vampires?” Chloe raised an eyebrow.

  “That's what I suspect too,” Toni agreed.

  “What I don't understand, is why they would keep messing around with this shit after messing up so badly the first time.”

  “Different tests I think, to clean up the original mess,” Toni speculated.

  “Well that worked out well for them, so what can these people do?”

  “Kirsty, Levitation as you've just seen; Duncan reads minds. Honestly, I don't know about the others.”

  “Duncan reads minds, seriously?” Chloe tried not to sound freaked out.

  “Yes, but you've got nothing to hide, right?”

  “No, it's just my thoughts are private; it's...weird to think that someone could just read them like that.”

  I think I'll be staying away from Duncan. I don't want someone inside my mind. 

  “If it helps, I think it freaks him out too,” Toni offered.

  “We've got to stop the government, before this gets worse.” Chloe decided out loud.

  For the next few weeks, Adam kept his promise to train Chloe. By then they'd found an old factory and their group were holed up there. The training was intense and lasted for up to eight hours a day. The only respite for Chloe was when it was Adam's turn to go out for supplies.

  “I never thought I'd be so happy to see him leave,” Chloe told Toni, watching Adam leave with two of the others, Graham and Tess. He had probably chosen them to go with him because as Chloe had discovered Graham was fast. His running mile was now under a minute. Tess with her slim frame and height of little over five feet didn't look much, but since the tests, she was a lot stronger than she looked. Chloe thought back to the second day after they'd arrived here at the factory. She'd been practising running around the car park as part of Adam’s training plan.

  “I'm getting good at this,” she'd been showing off to Adam after running laps in record time.

  “Do you want a race then?” Graham had asked.

  “Sure, why not?” Chloe had responded, feeling a little confused as Adam struggled to contain his laughter. She had soon discovered the reason for his amusement. Graham was at the finish line within seconds.

  “That's cheating,” she had complained.

  “Still think you're good at this?” Adam grinned at her.

  “That's not fair. You could have warned me,” Chloe grumbled.

  “But then I wouldn't have the joy of seeing that look on your face.”

  “You're mean," Chloe accused.

  “The people we're fighting are going to be a lot meaner than me, get used to it,” he told her unapologetically.

  “Trouble in paradise with the love birds?” Toni interrupted her thoughts.

  “What?” Chloe looked confused.

  “You and Adam, all this fighting, leading to actual fighting?”

  “No, me and Adam, we aren't...never mind.”

  She thinks we're an item, why should I care? Maybe it's better if she thinks me and Adam are like that, but just yuck, that'd be like getting together with my brother.

  “What? You and Adam aren't what?”

  “Aren't any of your business.”

  Too harsh? Maybe but I shouldn't encourage Toni.

  “Well he seems to really care about you and you're both really good at keeping people at a distance, so I reckon you're perfect for each other,” Toni announced before she left Chloe standing on her own in the middle of the make-shift training room, which used to the storage area for the factory.

  Should I go after her? No, I've pushed her away. That's good. We shouldn't get involved right now.

  Chloe went to the small cupboard that she'd turn into a tiny bedroom. She was about to lie down on the single mattress on the floor when there was a gentle tap at the door.

  “What now Toni?” she grumbled answering the door, only to be caught off guard by Kirsty standing there instead. “Sorry I thought you were Toni.”

  “I was going to practise my levitation. I've almost gotten the hang of it, but it helps to have someone there, would you?” she asked nervously.

  “Of course,” Chloe liked Kirsty. She had been a receptionist before all of this and she was nice to everyone, in all likelihood too nice. Chloe followed her downstairs to the room Kirsty was using for training, probably because the ceiling was higher in there. Kirsty sat cross legged, closed her eyes and concentrated. She began to lift off the ground, slowly rising higher.

  “Careful, that's a little high,” Chloe called as Kirsty rose closer to the ceiling. She opened her eyes and looked panicked for a moment. ”Just breathe, remember, calm,” Chloe coaxed.

  Kirsty took in deep breaths and began to sink slowly back to the ground, breathing deeply as she landed, her forehead sweating slightly.

  “You're getting really good at this, what's it like?”

  “It kind of feels like something inside of me pulling me up. Before I could control it, I used to think it would tear me apart from the inside
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net

Share this book with friends

Amanda Steel's Novels