Rose Tinted

  “Awesome,” Amber said, surprising Brynn, yet again, with how on board she suddenly was for adventure.

  All of her friends had been surprising her lately and Royter’s words soon came back to her; maybe you could teach yourself to be curious. Once they were able to see that something bigger than them was actually going on they seemed to be ready to do their part.

  “Last we have Ty, Bennett, Tate, and Dash,” Hadlock said. “You guys will be stealing information about the sugar scented gas. I want to know where it is, how it’s deployed, and how we can shut down manufacturing and destroy whatever stock they already have saved up.”

  “Fair enough,” Ty said, looking over at Brynn and obviously worried that he wouldn’t be there to watch over her during their separate missions.

  “You guys will actually be pulling double duty because I want you to plant the bug in the facility as well,” Hadlock told them, handing over a small device. “Which is why I’m sending Dash with you. He’s our stealthy little spy. I’ll let you know how to install it once you’re in position.”

  “And I’m guessing you’ll be staying in the safety of the train car?” Devey asked sourly.

  “For your information, I’ll be tracking the movement of not only you guys, but the A.I.s to navigate you safely through A1. You’ll have two way comms units in your ears so we can hear each other and I’ll let you know where to go. So you’d better start being nicer to me or I might just have you turn down a wrong corner by accident.”

  “You wouldn’t,” Devey said, narrowing her eyes at the boy.

  “Do you really want to take that chance?” he asked her with a challenging look. “Besides, I’ll be staying in the train car, which we’ll move off to the side on a maintenance track. If the Worker train comes by and stops at A1, chances are they’ll notice there’s a train car that wasn’t there before and if they do, I’m probably a dead man anyway,” he said nonchalantly.

  “It kind of sounds like we’ll probably all end up dying from this plan,” Brynn said dryly.

  “That’s probably true,” Hadlock agreed with a slow nod. “But won’t it be fun to go down swinging?”

  Chapter 21: Pinch

  “Brynn!” Rusty called as the groups were preparing to head into A1. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

  Jonah shot Brynn an odd look but she shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the girl, anxious to hurry up and get their mission over with. They had guided the train onto the small stretch of track that ran parallel to the main line, forcing the group to walk over the tracks to get into the facility.

  “What is it?” Brynn asked, a little more impatiently than she had intended.

  “I want you to take this with you in there,” Rusty said, handing over a small metal ball with a red button on top. It was no larger than an egg and fit easily into Brynn’s pocket.

  “What’s this?”

  “It’s the pinch Hadlock’s been working on,” Rusty said, making absolutely no sense to Brynn.

  “What’s a pinch?” she asked, turning the small device over in her hand before Rusty covered it with her own, wordlessly directing Brynn to put it in her pocket.

  “If you press that red button within three feet of an A.I., it scrambles their inner functioning for about a minute,” Rusty explained in a hushed voice. “It’ll completely immobilize the A.I.s so they can’t attack you and you’ll have a chance to get away. It takes a good ten minutes to recharge so don’t push it unless they’re right on you and you have no hope of escaping.”

  Brynn looked at the sphere with new eyes, impressed that Rusty and Hadlock could have constructed something so advanced.

  “Don’t tell anyone you have this,” Rusty warned in a serious tone. “Anyone.”

  “Why not?” Brynn asked.

  “Just don’t. Don’t tell Ty, or Rift, or Amber… anyone,” she said, forcefully reminding Brynn of the distrust Royter had voiced before Brynn left for Halcyon. She couldn’t help but feel that this group had a serious trust issue going on.

  “Why are you giving this to me and no one else? If we have a way to stop the A.I.s we should all be using it.”

  “The sad truth is, the A.I.s will almost definitely go after you before any of us. They want you Brynn and they’ll do all they can to get you, so it makes the most sense to give the pinch to you.”

  “And why doesn’t anyone else have one?”

  “We’ve only been able to make one so far,” Rusty answered dejectedly, looking disappointed in herself. “We haven’t been able to replicate it on a larger scale or else we’d just shoot the entire facility. Plus they aren’t exactly easy to make so we’ve only gotten one successful prototype so far.”

  “Thank you for this,” Brynn told her, pocketing the device and hoping she wouldn’t need to use it.

  “Just don’t tell anyone.”

  “Brynn, turn left,” Hadlock’s static filled voice commanded through the communication unit in Brynn’s ear. “You should be clear. A few A.I.s just passed through that hallway and took an elevator to another floor.”

  “I still don’t think I trust your technology enough to believe you know exactly where they are at all times,” Brynn whispered back to the boy who sat safely on the train far underground.

  “Well, you don’t have a choice so turn left and follow that hall to the end. You’ll see a door on your right. I want you to go through it.”

  Though Brynn definitely didn’t think they were safe just because Hadlock had apparently found a way to detect the A.I.s, she was glad they weren’t going into the facility as blindly as they had the first time.

  “We got the files,” Ty said from wherever he and his group were. “We’re transmitting them to you right now Hadlock.”

  “I see them,” Hadlock confirmed. “Did Dash plant the bug like I told him to?”

  “Got it,” the young boy’s voice rang out happily.

  “Head back as soon as the files finish uploading,” Hadlock instructed. “Rusty, how are you guys doing?”

  “We’re good so far we just…,” Rusty began, before nothing but static filled the ear pieces.

  “Rusty?” Brynn asked.

  “This stupid facility is like a maze and we keep…,” her voice cut out again.

  “She’s getting out of range,” Hadlock explained to the group. “Her comms unit keeps going out.”

  “How will she know where the A.I.s are?” Brynn asked incredulously.

  “Brynn, stop and go into the door on your left right now. Some A.I.s just got off the elevator on your floor,” Hadlock yelled, causing her, Amber, and Jonah to bolt into the nearest room.

  The three friends pressed against the door as the silence persisted over their ear pieces. It was as if the entire group were collectively holding their breath. The stark white walls were just as blinding as Brynn remembered from her dreams and from the last visit she’d made to A1. She was glad that, this time, everyone was wearing white and they had someone to guide them in their search.

  “You’re clear,” Hadlock finally said.

  “Brynn, are you doing okay?” Ty asked over the ear piece.

  “We’re fine. What about you guys?”

  “We’re already almost back to the train,” he told her, sounding more relieved than she’d ever heard him. “Now you just need to make sure you get back here too.”

  “Will do,” she told him with a smile that she knew he’d hear, even if he couldn’t see it.

  “Are we almost there?” Amber asked behind Brynn.

  She and Jonah had been mostly silent the entire time they’d been in the facility and Brynn could see how shocking the whole thing was for Amber. She could remember the first time she’d seen A1 and how overwhelming the entire experience had been. She couldn’t really be surprised by her friend’s amazement.

  “That door coming up on your right should be where the files are held.”

  “Let’s get this over with then,” Brynn said with a shudder.

  Sh
e opened the door slowly and was relieved to find that the room was empty, just as Hadlock knew it would be.

  It looked just as every other space in the sprawling facility did, too white, too clean, and loaded with screens and consoles.

  “I trust you and everything Hadlock,” Amber began in a whisper. “But I don’t believe for one second that the Workers don’t know we’re here. They have to have cameras or something.”

  “I’m not detecting anything, so if they have them, they’re pretty well hidden,” he reassured her. “Besides, if they knew we were here, they’d be doing a pretty awful job of stopping us from stealing their information.”

  “It just seems way too easy,” Amber went on undeterred.

  “Easy?” Hadlock asked incredulously. “This was not easy. The preparation alone--.”

  “Would you both be quiet?” Brynn interrupted, feeling entirely on edge about her current situation. “I’d really like to make it out of here alive.”

  “We can do this, Brynn,” Jonah said behind her, giving her shoulder a light, reassuring squeeze. “We’re so close.”

  “Get to one of the computers and plug in the card I gave you,” Hadlock instructed in Brynn’s ear, sounding shaken at his argument with Amber.

  She did as she was told quickly, wanting nothing more than to be on a completely different continent than Eris. She was sure they wouldn’t get away with what they were doing but was amazed that so far, the plan actually seemed to be going off perfectly.

  “It’s plugged in,” Brynn said.

  “Good, it should start automatically sending me the files we need,” Hadlock told her.

  “How long will it take?” Amber asked nervously, looking over her shoulder every few seconds and fidgeting with her cotton candy pink hair.

  “Done,” Hadlock exclaimed. “Now get the card out of the computer and get back here as soon as you can. I still can’t hear Rusty but her, Devey, and Cambria should be back in about two minutes. I expect it’ll take you guys about five and then we can get out of here.”

  “I switched the tracks like Rusty showed me,” Ty piped up from the train. “That way we can leave right when you guys get back without running the risk of hitting an actual Worker train.”

  “All right then we’ll hurry back,” Brynn said, looking at her friends almost happily. “Can’t wait to not be in here.”

  “Ditto,” Amber agreed nervously.

  They navigated through the maze of a facility that was A1, cloaked in complete silence except for the occasional instruction from Hadlock on which door or hallway to take. Jonah walked close to Brynn, his protective side coming out as they got closer and closer to their goal. His hand absentmindedly brushed her back a few times as he led her down the hallways and she tried to ignore the shiver it sent through her.

  “You guys should have a straight shot out now. Just go down the hall and take your third door on the right,” Hadlock said, sounding like someone who was very happy to almost be done with this experience.

  Brynn walked a little faster with the end in sight. She tried to keep her breathing even and ignore the nerves that were rising up in her stomach at the thought that they might actually make it out of A1 undetected. It seemed much too good to be true.

  “We’re almost out,” she whispered to herself, chanting that same phrase internally to keep herself from breaking down.

  “Well, you’re definitely out of time,” said a deep, rich voice that Brynn would recognize anywhere.

  “Brynn, what’s going on?” Ty asked in her ear. He had obviously heard Eris’s voice as well. “Hadlock is anyone near them?”

  “My screen doesn’t show anything,” he promised in a panicked voice.

  “Oh, so you’re all connected are you?” Eris asked.

  Brynn spun around on her heel to see the Angel from her nightmares walking towards her with two other Workers; one Brynn had never seen before, and the Worker with short black hair who had harassed her in the library many times back in Seaside.

  Amber backed up a few steps, her mouth hanging open in shock and her eyes wide as she saw Eris for the first time. Part of Brynn always knew Amber didn’t really believe her stories, but seeing her now, she knew her friend would never doubt her again.

  Jonah kept his eyes firmly locked on Eris but didn’t seem frightened and Brynn instantly wished she could be as brave as her friend. He stood a little straighter and set his jaw firmly as the Angel came closer to them. She could imagine that he was reliving the last time he had been with Eris; when she had given him the scar on his cheek.

  As disturbing as it was for Brynn to see Eris again, there was something much more pressing about her appearance that Brynn couldn’t ignore, no matter how eager she was to run away from the woman.

  “Blood,” Brynn said quietly, as the woman grew ever closer to her.

  Eris’s stark white pants and lab coat were spotted with red drops and a large line of smeared red liquid dripped from her stark white face, making the Angel even more terrifying than Brynn thought humanly possible.

  “That’s blood,” she said again.

  The contrast of Eris’s pale skin against the bright red blood that smeared her face was one that made Brynn sick, and suddenly, she was glad that Maxwell had only been subjected to gas rather than the full wrath of Eris’s physical prowess.

  “Really now, Brynn,” Eris said as she closed the distance between herself and the three people who were breaking into her facility.

  Her two Workers stood silently behind her, staring at the scene before them with mild amusement on their sharp features.

  “Did you think I didn’t know you were here?” she asked innocently. “I know everything you do darling.”

  Brynn’s stomach turned at the false endearment coming from the Angel’s lips and she wondered what she was playing at with her current act. If she really had known Brynn was there, then she knew about all of them which brought the next question to Brynn’s mind; whose blood was on Eris’s face?

  “Brynn, we need to go,” Amber whispered.

  Eris’s expression of innocence instantly turned to one of anger as she looked at Amber. In a flash the woman knocked Amber off of her feet, sending her flying into the wall and crashing onto the floor.

  “Brynn what’s going on!” Ty shouted. “Brynn!”

  “I liked it better when it was just the two of us,” Eris said as she turned her attention back to Brynn.

  Her voice was calm once more as she slowly brought her hand up to Brynn’s cheek in a delicate manner. Brynn closed her eyes and tried to calm her frantic heartbeat as a long cold finger stroked her face before reaching up to tuck her long black hair behind her ear.

  “That’s a lovely piece of equipment,” Eris said smoothly, letting her finger run over the comms unit. “Maybe you aren’t as brainless as I thought.”

  Brynn finally opened her eyes, her legs shaking so much that she thought she might fall over at any moment. She tried to channel Rachel; to be as brave as the girl she was made from, but no matter how hard she tried, Eris’s psychological hold on her was too strong.

  She glanced over at Jonah for a moment, wondering if the boy stood a chance now that they had been caught. Eris didn’t want him, and there was no doubt in Brynn’s mind that she’d dispose of him and Amber at any second. She just wasn’t sure if she’d make it quick, or draw it out in an attempt to get into Brynn’s head.

  Amber groaned behind the group as she got slowly to her feet. Eris’s eyes twitched over to the girl for a moment before finding Brynn once more. Apparently the task at hand was more important than keeping Amber on her back.

  “Whose blood is that?” Brynn finally managed to ask, her voice sounding small and frightened.

  “That’s not what matters right now,” Eris said, looking over at Jonah as if sizing him up. She smiled a terrifying smile at the boy before turning her attention back to her prize. “I think you and I need a little one-on-one time. We need to get rid of the excess.??
?

  “Don’t you dare touch them,” Brynn shouted, remembering almost too late about the pinch Rusty had given her.

  “Brynn, don’t make things difficult. You know how well that ended for Rachel,” Eris said with a self-satisfied smile. “Now, why don’t you come with me while they take care of your friends?” Eris suggested as she grabbed Brynn by the wrist in her iron grip.

  Acting purely on instinct, Brynn kicked out at the woman in front of her, catching her in the stomach. Brynn knew she was absolutely no match for what Rift had referred to as a ‘human with upgrades’, but the element of surprise had worked in her favor as Eris released Brynn’s wrist and took a step back from the unexpected force of the blow.

  “Get them,” Eris screamed out in rage as she lunged towards Brynn and her friends.

  Panicking, Brynn shoved her hand frantically into her pocket to locate the small device and pulled it out just as Eris reached out for Brynn’s throat.

  “What is that?” Eris asked, sounding genuinely shocked by the sight of the little metal ball and stopping her hand only inches from Brynn’s neck.

  Her Workers stopped as well as they took in the unknown object in Brynn’s outstretched palm nervously.

  Jonah looked at the device in her hand too, his eyes widening as he recognized it from the first time they’d met Hadlock.

  “Brynn?” he asked, puzzled as she pushed the button that she knew would save them.

  It emitted a short, high-pitched beep, and at first she thought it hadn’t worked.

  “What is that thing?” Amber asked from behind her, coming closer to her friend for the first time since seeing Eris.

  Brynn was silent but looked straight ahead at the terrifying Angel in front of her and the Workers who stood still. Eris wore a scowl with her purple eyes narrowed at Brynn and her arm still outstretched, but she didn’t move. Her chilling face was completely frozen as she stared blankly ahead.