Regenesis (Book 1): Impact (27 page)

“You
haven’t heard from Nick, have you?” Ian asked.

Drake
shook his head and said no one had. “I talked to Jordan who hasn’t heard
anything and he spoke to Amy and she hasn’t heard anything either.” Drake took
a sip of his drink and added, “She’s worried about him. She tried calling him a
few times but he hasn’t answered.”

“Did
you try?”

He
nodded. “Once,” he paused to take another drink and said he only got the
voicemail.

“The
same thing happened to me,” Ian sighed.

“You
know it isn’t your fault that he’s missing,” Drake told him. “He was going to
find out about it eventually.”

“I
should have told him though.”

Drake
didn’t agree. “It doesn’t really matter who he heard it from because the result
would have been the same.”

The
boys sat quietly as a few trucks drove past. Drake glanced over at Ian and
noticed how low he kept his eyes and hardly looked anywhere past the soda can
in his hands. Ian’s grip on the fragile aluminum can bent the figure slightly.

“Do
you think I should have lied to him?” Ian asked.

“What
are you talking about?”

“Do
you think I shouldn’t have mentioned that I saw him, or that I thought I saw
him kill Victor?”

Drake
told him he wasn’t sure what to tell him. He looked up at the porch lights
which were off when they stepped outside to talk, yet he noted their sudden
flickering.

“I
just feel like it’s my fault he’s taken off.”

“He
isn’t gone,” Drake told him while he kept his eyes on the lights above. “He’s
probably just venting somewhere and he’ll turn up in a day or two.”

Ian
still frowned though. “I still feel guilty.”

Drake
returned his focus on their conversation and changed the subject. “When are you
leaving?”

Ian
shrugged, “It’ll be awhile.”

“Why?”

“The
apartment I was going to move into was next to the building that was bombed
last week,” Ian told him.

“Oh.”

Ian
let out a small breath and took a drink of his orange soda before he set it
back down and gripped it with both hands again. “So who was that girl you spent
so much time with last night?”

Drake
sipped his soda and cleared his throat, “Her name’s Hiromi Tsukahara. She’s an
exchange student from Kagoshima, she’ll be going to Bothell High this year, and
I’m hoping to see her again soon.”

Ian
smiled for once and asked, “Is she a pretty cool girl?”

“I
think so.” Drake noticed the lights stopped flashing before he continued,
“She’s into videogames and happens to love the
Creeping Darkness
series.”

Ian
looked at him and asked, “Does she realize who you are?”

“You
mean that I’m the son of the head of Winchester Enterprises?” Ian nodded. Drake
raised his can up to his lips and quickly muttered that she didn’t know before
he drank from his beverage.

“When
are you going to tell her?”

Drake
wasn’t sure. He felt he should have told her at the party when they met, but he
didn’t want it to seem that he tried to use his status to impress her. He felt
he needed to impress her on his own, which he planned to do, and hoped that he
could tell her without seeming like he hid something from her from the start.

The
two young men stared off at the clouds on the eastern horizon as they drifted
toward the Cascade Mountains.

---*---

10:48
PM

Baltimore,
Maryland

Ryan
woke suddenly as he believed he heard a shriek. He propped himself up in his
bed, listened intently, yet heard nothing. He felt his pulse throbbing in his
head and neck, found a cold sweat over him, and felt faint.

The
room was pitch dark and even though the window at the end of the room was open
it failed to let in very much light. Ryan stopped. He slowly looked back over
to the window and realized it was open.

His
door opened, the light was flicked on, and a young nurse asked if everything
was alright. Ryan looked at her and asked, “Is that window supposed to open?”

The
young woman showed her confusion and asked, “That window?” Ryan nodded. “The
windows don’t open Mister Sage.”

He
glanced back to correct her but realized she was right. The window was built
into the corner of the building and had no way to open. Ryan rubbed his eyes
and apologized. “I…I must have dreamt it.”

She
smiled, “It’s okay. But I heard you scream, is everything alright?”

“I
was the one who screamed?”

“Yes,”
she nodded. “You actually woke a few of the others.”

He
apologized again and told her he must have had a nightmare as he didn’t realize
he cried out. The nurse said it was fine, shut the light off, and left.

The
air was much colder than he remembered it was earlier. He guessed it was either
the air-conditioning or just some sort of added measure to keep the hospital
environment sterile. Ryan wasn’t sure. It might have been his imagination too.

“You
need to rest.”

Ryan
felt his heart race again. He took a cautious look around his room but found no
one. “Who are you?”

“Trust
me, rest.”

“I
don’t know you. Tell me who you are first,” he told the voice, (even though he
wasn’t entirely sure he really wanted to know).

“Trust
me.”

“Show
me who you are.”

“Trust
me.”

“No.”

Another
cry pierced the air. Ryan’s eyes shot to the window. It stood open, against the
wall, and a crow sat on the windowsill. Ryan called for the nurse who walked
in, turned the light back on, and asked him what the matter was.

“Th-There’s
a bird over there at the window,” he started. “Could you get rid of it and
close the window?”

The
young woman looked at the window again. It was built into the wall as it’d
always been and there wasn’t any sign of a bird. “Mister Sage, are you
alright?”

“Send
her away,” the voice whispered. “Trust me, send her away and rest.”

“Shut
up I don’t need any sleep!” he barked.

“Mister
Sage?”

“Trust
me. Sleep.”

“Shut
up!”

“Mister
Sage,” the young nurse shouted. “Who are you talking to?”

Ryan
looked back at the window as it had righted itself once more and he cursed.
“You’re doing this aren’t you?” he snapped at the voice. “Who are you?”

“Who
are you talking to Mister Sage?”

Ryan
glared at her, “That voice, who else?”

“What
voice?”

“The
voice!” he yelled. “The one that says I need sleep! The one that tells me…tells
me…” he cautiously looked at the woman and felt his pulse race again. He
cracked a smile and asked her to leave.         She hesitated but told him she
was going to call his doctor. The voice returned, alarmed, “No, this wasn’t
supposed to happen…”

“What
isn’t?”

“There
isn’t any time left; you must believe in me.”

The
window of his room was abruptly torn out of the building and a swirling flock
of black crows flew into the room and attacked him. They tore through the bed
sheets and eventually past the bandages at his left knee which revealed the
bloodied stump of his leg. The crows proceeded to bite, tear, and claw through
his skin and to the bone and hastily merged together to reform his leg. Flesh,
bone, nerves, blood, and all were there, and just in time as Doctor Grayson and
two large male nurses entered. They found Ryan on the floor with his repaired
leg, dozens of crows, and a massive hole in the wall of their building.

“Mister
Sage,” Grayson began, “What happened?”

“Don’t
say a word,” the voice instructed him. “You need to leave.”

“What?”

Grayson
repeated his question.

“Leave,
now.”

“How?”

“Who
are you talking to Sage?”

“The
wall.”

“No.”

“Mister
Sage.”

“Trust
me.”

“No.”

“Sage!”

“Trust
me!”

The
men tried to seize Ryan, but he finally believed in the voice and fled through
the hole in the wall. Feathers fell beneath his feet when he stepped on the
glass from the window that lay scattered across the floor. He jumped out of the
building and noticed something for the first time since he woke in the
hospital. He was completely at peace. He wasn’t concerned with the sudden
events or the probability of falling to his death. Ryan fell two stories before
the crows from the building caught up with him and circled round him. His body
burst into a flock of a dozen crows and all of the birds fled into the
Baltimore twilight.

---*---

Chapter
10

August
27
^th
, 2029

8:30
AM

Mumbai,
India

The
three gathered members of Mizuno’s group sat on the steps of a large Romanesque
building that reminded Nick of some of the monuments he caught glimpses of two
days earlier while in Washington DC. In three days he’d left his home in Washington
State and traveled to the other end of the world. Before his sudden voyage with
Mizuno, the furthest Nick had ever traveled was to Oregon for a camping trip.
Beyond that he had never paid any mind to travelling.

Since
it was still rather early in the day it was far cooler than Nick remembered it
being after he stepped off the plane. He only wore his jeans and his tee-shirt
and opted to leave his jacket in the room they stayed at. Nick looked at
Mizuno, who sat nearby on the tiled steps; Mizuno wore his usual attire of
slacks, a dress shirt, his trench coat, gloves, and none of it seemed to faze
him at all.

“Aren’t
y-you–” Nick stopped and remembered the exercise Mizuno plotted out. He took a
breath and slowly repeated his question from the beginning, “Aren’t you
exhausted?”

Mizuno
shook his head, “Why would I be? We haven’t done anything yet.”

“No,
I-I mean b–” Nick stopped again and repeated the process, “I mean aren’t you
tired because of the heat and all of the clothes you’re wearing?”

Mizuno
grinned. He retrieved his notepad and a pen from his coat, flipped to the page
he left off on, took some notes, flipped it closed, stashed both items in his
coat again, and answered, “I spent a few years in this area of the world and in
this same general getup, so I’m accustomed to this kind of heat. Besides, it’s
not even that warm out at the moment.”

Melanie
sat on Mizuno’s right and spent her time watching the cars, motorcycles, buses,
mopeds, and people pass by. They waited for someone to arrive, someone Nick didn’t
know, and Melanie seemed eager to get out of the open city before the heat
truly hit them. She wore shorts, a short sleeved shirt, open toed sandals, and
sunglasses.

“Did
you have to wear that when you were here last?” she asked Mizuno.

“No,”
he laced his fingers together and rested his elbows on his knees. He looked at
the people as they passed as well, though not in the same method; Melanie
searched for someone and from what Nick knew about Mizuno (however little it
was) he doubted Mizuno scanned the few people who passed by simply to see if
any one of them was their comrade. Mizuno continued, “I chose to.”

Nick
frowned, “Why?”

“Because
I knew I would inevitably be in places and situations where the temperature
would be a factor and if it was a drastic heat I would need to be able to adapt
in order to better accomplish my goals.” He sighed slightly, “Even with my
abilities I’m still human and as such I still felt the effects of hot and cold
and each of those varying degrees was enough to sway me in whatever endeavor I
took.”

“It
‘was’ enough?” Nick echoed.

Mizuno
nodded, “I got over it.”

“How
do you l-learn…How do you learn to ignore something like heat?”

He
continued to look out at anyone who passed by the building but spoke directly
to Nick, “The mind is an extremely powerful tool and if one is able to utilize
it properly they can learn to ignore whatever they want, be it temperature,
hunger, thirst, pain, pleasure, desire, hatred, sorrow…” his eyes flashed, “You
get the idea.”

“So
where is Mithra?” Melanie asked to change the subject to something she felt was
far more relevant.

“He
had some family matter to attend to before he could join us here, but from my
estimation he’ll be here shortly,” Mizuno told her.

Nick
glanced back at the building behind him and tried to read the words on the wall
near the top of the roof.

“It
says, ‘The Asiatic Society, Mumbai, eighteen-oh-four, State Central Library,
Town Hall,’” Mizuno told him.

“So
it’s a library?”

He
nodded, “Among other things. At the moment it’s a meeting place for the three
of us and Mithra. It does however house the sole remaining original copy of
Dante’s
Divine Comedy
, as the last other original was destroyed in a
terrorist attack seven years ago.”

“Why
did you have us meet here though?” Melanie asked. “Mithra could have just met
us at our hotel, or better yet we could have called him and told him to meet us
in America.”

Mizuno
shook his head, “He’s not the only reason we’re here.”

“What?”
she scowled, “Then why are we here?”

He
ignored her.

A
pudgy man in khakis, a short sleeved shirt with a collar and tie, and glasses
walked up to them. He had short, curly black hair, a duffel bag slung over his
left shoulder, and a perplexed look once he saw Nick.

“Who
is this boy?” he asked Melanie.

“Nick
Jacobs,” Mizuno answered for her. “Nick, this is Mithra Mehra.”

Mithra
gave a slight wave to the young man and asked, “So what’s his power Melanie?”

She
shrugged, “I have no idea. Mizuno hasn’t told me anything as usual.”

Mithra
then asked Nick the same question but Nick only shook his head, “I-I don’t…I
don’t know yet.”

“What?
How can you not know?”

“We
haven’t gone over it yet, but we will soon,” Mizuno explained.

Mithra
took a breath and nodded. “Was it you who stopped the Dáfù attack in America?”

“Yes.
It’s odd though, their attacks have ceased entirely.”

“What
do you think that means?” Melanie asked.

“I
assume they’re shocked that someone was able to counter them at all,” he
started, “Yet at the same time I fear they might be plotting some other attack
to try to reestablish themselves as a dominant terrorist faction.”

“Did
you learn anything from the man in Washington DC?” Mithra asked, “Anything that
could lead us to figuring out who is behind the group?” Mithra asked that
because the Dáfù hierarchy was unknown then. Their leader, or possibly leaders,
were unknown, even to its members.

“No.
Nothing. Whatever method of communication they use…Well no one can interfere or
trace it. They’ve got someone good on their side,” Mizuno answered.

“A-Any…Anyway,
shouldn’t we be going?” Nick asked.

“No,
we have one more stop.”

“Really?”
Mithra asked, “Why didn’t you just take care of it before I arrived?”

“I
needed to buy him time to set everything up rather than have us wait for him to
get ready,” Mizuno told him.

Mithra
cocked an eye brown and asked, “Who are you talking about?”

“You’ll
see once we arrive.”

“Then
where are we heading?”

“The
main branch of the State Bank of India.”

Mithra
scowled, “My work?” Mizuno nodded. “Why are we meeting someone there?”

“We’re
actually going to meet him on to roof of your building,” Mizuno explained.
“I’ve asked this individual to assist Nick with honing his ability.”

At
that revelation all three members looked at Mizuno. Melanie asked, “You know
what his power is?”

“I
do.”

“What
is it?” asked Mithra.

Mizuno
stood up and started down the stairs toward the street. He only told them
they’d see in a short while and headed in the direction of the State Bank of
India building.

---*---

4:11
AM

London,
England

Audrey
hadn’t slept much since the incident. She was powerless in life and in her
dreams, and Jason needed her in both. Even when she did take the time to rest
it did little to aid her health or fatigue. Her mother insisted she sleep and
Audrey tried her hardest to oblige, but terror filled nights didn’t soothe her
whatsoever.

Jason
was always the one awake because of his insomnia. He rarely slept more than a
few hours each night and as such he would leave for runs or would try to busy
himself with reading. It bothered her when they began to live together but over
time she grew to accept it and completely ignore it. All she thought of was
whether he was awake then or if he managed to find sleep.

Her
sister Suzy quietly opened the door and crept in. She walked over to Audrey and
took a seat next to her. Suzy gave her a quiet hug and handed her a cell phone.
“His doctor called and wanted to speak with you. Don’t worry about getting the
phone back to me, just keep it with you in case she needs to get in touch with
you again,” she told her sleepily.

Audrey
thanked her and answered the call.

“Miss
Templar, this is Jamie Reynolds, one of your husband’s doctors,” she began, “I
apologize for this unorthodox call, but I felt you’d like to know that we’ve
discovered a change in your husband’s health.”

“Yes,
has something happened?”

“Yes,
though the news is quite uncanny. Let me preface this by reiterating how
closely we’ve monitored your husband so far, but recently we’ve discovered that
your husband’s recovering at a rather alarming rate.”

“What
do you mean?”

 “He’s
already recovered five percent of his original muscle mass, and his skin and
nervous system are healing faster than anyone here in this hospital has ever
heard of,” the doctor explained.

Audrey
smiled, “That’s wonderful.”

“It
is, though we are all baffled how someone in critical condition and on life
support could miraculously make this level of progress. That’s the other reason
I called; I would like to look into more of your husband’s medical history in
hope of finding something that could have triggered this.”

“You
think this could be a chemical reaction to something he took and something you
gave him?”

“Possibly.”
The doctor continued, “What medications did he take before the attack?”

Audrey
paused and thought a moment, “He doesn’t take anything. In fact, I’ve only seen
him take aspirin on occasion to relieve a headache.”

“Does
he have any unlisted medical conditions?”

“No…well
he is an insomniac,” she told the doctor.

“Do
you know of any drugs or supplements he might have been taking?”

“He
doesn’t take any. He’s always been against that sort of thing.”

Doctor
Reynolds continued down a very long list of questions, most of which Audrey
either didn’t know the answer to or she knew he never took or wasn’t taking or
never would take. Overall the information from the brief inquiry proved to be
less than useful for Doctor Reynolds.

The
doctor sighed, “Well thank you for your time. We’ll be sure to keep you
updated.”

“Um,
could I ask you when I’ll be able to see my husband again?”

Doctor
Reynolds said she wasn’t sure. “It all depends on whether this change continues
or not, as well as a few other factors.”

“Oh.”

The
doctor paused for a moment before she added that there was one other
revelation. “We tested what we could of his blood and found that he has trace
amounts of radiation within him.”

“And
what does that mean?” she asked.

“We’re
not entirely sure at this moment, but there could be complications down the
road.”

“Like
what?”

“Cancer,
for example.”

Audrey’s
joy sank. She trembled and asked how that would affect his recovery.

“Again,
at the moment we aren’t certain. I’ll update you as soon as we know anything
else,” Doctor Reynolds assured her. The doctor apologized again for waking her
and hung up. Audrey took a moment to process the news, both good and bad, but
decided to wait to tell her family the news until morning. Jason would live and
it was only a matter of time before he was recovered.

---*---

9:21
AM

Mumbai,
India

The
group arrived at the State Bank of India and slowly climbed the stairs to
access the roof. The group utilized the emergency stairwell to get to the roof,
though Mithra questioned how they were able to get access through the security
as well as the alarms.

“I
called another member of the group and asked him to disable the fire alarms in
this stairwell as well as looping the security throughout the building until
we’re gone at ten.”

“You
planned this all out before we left?” Melanie asked.

He
nodded. “I estimated how long it would take Mithra to pack, eat, and leave his
home and arrive at the steps of the Asiatic Society of Bombay, then added the
duration of time it would take us to arrive here and then another plotted time
that would enable us to meet the individual on the roof, talk, and leave.”