Child of Recklessness (Trials of Strength Book 2) (23 page)

The Burial

I
thought my outburst was only an attempt to stop the voices, but
once the words erupted from my mouth, I realised I believed it. The
heat vanished from the air, the voices stopped and the walls
returned to their places. The four figures in front of me stood and
their faces returned to normal. Jane’s hand reached behind her, and
out of nowhere a grenade appeared. Before I could stop her, she
pulled the pin and the small object exploded in an orange
light.

When I
opened my eyes I was on a hilltop. I squinted through the rays of
the sun at the clear blue sky, and at the sparse clutter of trees
in the distance. Beside me was a hole in the ground, around six
feet deep. I backed away from it when my mother appeared on the
other side.

‘
Do you get it now?’ she asked.

I
nodded.

‘
I let guilt cripple me,’ I whispered. ‘Especially what should
be Dad’s guilt. I wanted all those deaths to mean something, and
they do, but I let it get to me more than I should.’

‘
Yes,’ Rebecca smiled. ‘You never really overcome things like
fear and guilt, but they are there for a reason honey. Use them,
but don’t let them destroy you.’

She
started round the grave and took my hands in hers.

‘
Let go of what you can’t control and fight for what you can,’
Mum whispered. ‘You look at yourself as the one to blame, but,
sadly, you’re a victim like everyone else. But that doesn’t mean
you can’t fight back. Remember the selflessness of that little boy
who saved that dog, all you need to do is think before you leap.
Don’t let guilt drive you to your death.’

‘
What would have happened if I hadn’t realised?’ I asked
knowing the answer.

My
mother sighed before she replied, ‘Your body has healed as much as
it can. Thanks to your gifts, your heart was able to kick start,
and the healing process began.

‘
But if you hadn’t let your mind heal too… You would never wake
up.’

Rebecca
let go of my hands with a squeeze, and turned back to the empty
grave.

‘
There’s still something bothering you,’ she said. ‘Work on it
with me.’

It only
took a second to figure out what she meant.

‘
My sister,’ I growled, ‘Hazel. If she was put through similar
trials like me, why didn’t that work?’

‘
What does your father think?’ my mother said.

I went
over Richard’s notes in my mind and remembered his
question.

‘
He thinks there’s something else,’ I replied. ‘That I had
something Hazel didn’t. But after everything he did to get me into
the perfect mind-set for the change, I still have no
idea.’

‘
You’re trying to find some physical reason,’ Rebecca stated.
‘Think outside the box. What were you thinking before the change?
What were your desires, your goals?’

I closed
my eyes and cast my mind back. It was shockingly clear the
memories. Before, they had been hard to sift through, no doubt my
guilt trying to lock me out of them, but after my mental
intervention, they came a little easier. It was still horrifying,
and the fact I’d even been subjected along with others to the
tortures we had been made me sick. I focused in on the moment I had
changed and the time before it.

The
group had exiled us, doubtful of our loyalty. At that point in
time, my mother had changed and my father had been revealed for the
human monster he was. I myself had progressed further than I would
have thought possible, from a scared boy to an adult desperate to
fight back, desperate to help save the others.

‘
And there you have it honey,’ Rebecca laughed. ‘Science can
only account for so much, but you have to take a moment to think.
That selfless saviour of an animal was back, it wanted to save the
other survivors over himself. Maybe that contributed to you being
able to accept the change.’

I worked
with that angle, weighed it up against scrutiny. It was plausible
in a way, and I tried to pull up other people who had been tainted
by my father’s creation. The bloodthirsty residents of Greystone
had been hit with massive doses, almost destroying any hope of
their survival. I, on the other hand, had been prepped. The drug
slowly, and over time, being introduced to my system before my dear
old Dad thought I was ready for the final shot.

But even
if the changed townspeople hadn’t been overdosed, would they have
survived? I thought back to my initial entry to that world, when
things first went to hell. I was overtaken by the desperate,
selfish need to save my own arse, probably the same emotion
experienced by everyone else.

‘
So you’re saying…’ I started.

‘
Put it this way,’ my mother cut in, ‘even the monsters of
reality, the ones who consciously choose to hurt other people, they
know right from wrong. Take your sister for example. She was
undoubtedly raised with the murder of you in mind. Even putting her
in a similar position you were in, somewhere deep in her mind she
knew her goal was wrong. That it was evil.

‘
Perhaps, one of the key factors in overcoming your father’s
drug is to be a force for good, to find balance in all things, not
just strength and weakness. There’s already enough evil in the
world, it could be the person being affected by the drug has to
have strong moral integrity. Something that comes from experience,
like you had through your trials in Greystone, when everyone else
affected by the drug had self-preservation on their
minds.’

‘
But Hazel did kill me,’ I grumbled, ‘and I helped
her.’

‘
Yes,’ Rebecca replied with downcast eyes.

‘
I just don’t understand. After what Dad did in Greystone,
after his lack of involvement after,’ I said, ‘why have me
killed?’

‘
You’re assuming he did,’ Mum said. ‘But remember, your father
was with us for the past twenty years, and your sister
wasn’t.’

‘
So what, someone else raised her to kill me?’ I
asked.

‘
I think it’s worth entertaining the idea that your father
isn’t the big fish he makes out,’ Rebecca replied and faced me. ‘He
may be twisted and insane, but he’s made it clear what he is
fighting for.’

‘
His work,’ I nodded.

‘
Yes,’ she said. ‘But his work is now you. You are everything
his life has been pledged to. You’re his success. Why would he
destroy that?’

He
wouldn’t. So if my father wasn’t the one who told Hazel to kill me,
then there had to be someone else. I flashed back to the last
moments of my life. Richard Bishop had given me everything I’d
wished for. A DVD disk that contained what we needed to get the
government off of our backs. He had promised not to have me killed,
and had been working to make my sister like I was, to give me an
ally.

But
against whom?

‘
What comes next will be hard,’ my mother’s voice brought me
back. ‘But I truly believe you’re better equipped than ever to deal
with it. It’s not about getting up when you’re knocked down, or
even how much you can take. It’s about being able to fight, whether
standing tall, or lying broken; just always fight for what you
believe is right.’

Rebecca
Bishop turned and smiled. I felt like time was up, that it was time
to go, and as if in response, the sun started to set. The ground
rumbled and headstones shot out from the ground around us as the
moon took to the sky. Stars also took their places, and they
twinkled down on the fading image of my mother.

‘
When I tell you I love you honey, it isn’t to cause you pain,’
Rebecca’s distorted voice stated. ‘It’s to remind you how much you
were loved, how much you yourself are capable of giving to the
world.

‘
No matter what honey, I love you.’

I
blinked hard to stop my eyes from watering.

‘
I love you too Mum,’ I whispered. ‘Always.’

Rebecca
finally faded from my mind, and in her absence indistinct voices
drifted up from the empty grave. I slouched over to it and looked
down. There was a pale wooden box open at the bottom. A stone slunk
from the top of the grave, and my eyes caught the name, temporarily
confusing me.

Lucas
Bishop was inscribed on the stone.

‘
Looks like things are gonna get freaky again,’ I
mumbled.

`The
rustle of grass behind made me turn, and I was faced with the woman
who murdered me. My sister’s features twisted into a
grin.

‘
I’ll be seeing you soon,’ I promised.

I gasped
startled as my sister blinked into existence in front of me. Her
arms shot out and pushed hard, and I tumbled into the grave. I
screamed as I hit the wooden box, my sister staring down from
above. I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t work. With a
nightmarish laugh and a wave of her hand, a lid slid over the
coffin and locked me in.

*

I woke
in a blanket of darkness. The feeling of claustrophobia prickled my
skin and I knew I was back in reality. My chest was on fire, the
pain drowned out all thoughts until I tried to groan. I opened my
mouth to pull in air, but there was none. I went to gasp, but
couldn’t.

What the…

I passed
straight into panic, my arms flailed and smacked wood on all sides.
I was boxed in, riddled with pain and robbed of oxygen. I flashed
back to my mental journey and came to the dreaded conclusion, my
sister, pushing me into my grave and shutting me in. It had been my
mind’s feeble attempt at explaining where I was in the real
world.

Buried
alive.

Oh my God!

I
smacked the box I had been laid in frantically, my lungs burned and
screamed as they tried to fill with air that wasn’t there. I needed
out. I tried to pull on my heightened strength, to punch a hole in
my prison, but it flared up only to vanish. My body passed between
feeling strong to being empty of all energy. I kept it up though. I
punched and pushed above me.

White
pricks of light dotted my vision and I felt certain my dream had
been in vain. I’d awoken only to be trapped, to be left to die all
over again, and to remain that way.

What comes next will be hard. But I truly believe you’re
better equipped than ever to deal with it.

As if my
abilities had been a stuttering engine, they turned and sparked
back to the life. The agony in my chest subsided, and with renewed
determination at my mother’s remembered words and returned
strength, I hammered at my coffin. I gritted my teeth as the white
spots in my vision grew, sweat rolled down my face, and finally, my
ears caught the crack of wood.

My fist
travelled through the box and buried itself in hard packed dirt.
Filled with hope, both my hands shot up to the crack and pulled.
Splinters pierced my skin but I didn’t stop. Dirt cascaded into the
box, the sound like a waterfall of rocks. I closed my mouth and
tried to keep my head out of the way. Planks snapped and broke free
as my arms worked and the force of the dirt weighed it down.
Eventually, the hole I’d made gave way, and more mud and rock
surged into the box.

GO NOW!

I
pitched forward and dug into the falling dirt. I clawed and climbed
and crawled what I only hoped was upwards to air. I felt the tears
swim in my eyes as I was met with more darkness. My mouth filled
with stone and I choked. My eyes stung and blood oozed from the
cuts on my face and hands.

I had
just given up hope when my hand pierced the earth, and I followed
through into the night.

The Return

As my
head breached the earth, I gasped with agonising delight. Oxygen
burned as it travelled to my lungs, and the spots in my vision
intensified until I passed out. I wasn’t sure how much time had
gone by when I regained consciousness, but the moon was still in
the air. I remained half buried in the ground, and I struggled to
free myself. Once I had, I crawled over to a nearby tree and sat
heavily against it.

I looked
around. I was in a graveyard filled with headstones and tombs, but
the hole I’d crawled through held no indication that anyone had
been buried there. But I had. I flexed my bloodied hands, and
touched my tender face. When I’d erupted from the ground and passed
out, it was as if my abilities had fizzled away to nothing. I was
no longer strong, my senses were weak and the pain coursing over my
body had me grinding my teeth.

I was
powerless.

I felt
my eyes flicker shut, and when they opened again, the sun was
setting over the horizon. I gave my head a shake and winced. I had
to get up and move, otherwise I had a feeling I’d stay there for
the rest of my days. It took me almost twenty minutes to find my
feet, and even then I teetered with every step. Every so often I
stopped and rested on a nearby headstone.

I was
still wearing what I had on when Hazel had stuck her fist through
me, and as I clutched my stomach, I felt a circular object in my
pocket. I fished around and brought out the DVD disk my father had
given me, and sighed through my dry and cracked lips when I found
it was undamaged. If it held what I hoped it did, what my father
said it did – not that I took his word as reliable – then it was a
major plus for us.