THE PRICE OF FREEDOM (NC-17)

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 199

2010-04-14T05:47:00.000-07:00

Both Anna Ellison and Kim Sanders felt the ground tremors beneath their feet–just as they finished cleaning up the last of the debris from the old campsite.

“Earthquake!” Anna shouted the obvious–just as a couple of trees in back of them heaved up and unexpectedly…toppled away from them with a resounding crash!

The sound of wood splintering like gunshot reverberated throughout the campsite as the forest around the two women groaned and cried out in perpetual agony; adding to the din of chaos and confusion already felt by the party in general.

“No shit, girlfriend!” Kim hollered back, avoiding a fallen birch tree as both she and Anna scrambled for cover.

But where would they go?

The open space between them and the tortured campground offered no solace to their growing predicament–even as small cracks in the earth began to take root and spread.

“Keep running!” The woman ordered.

“But what about our things–?!” Anna cried out.

“Our stuff is safe–but it’s going to be nothing but worthless if we’re all fucking dead!!!”

Anna saw this made sense and started to run in the best direction she thought possible for greater chances of survival.

She didn’t get more than ten yards when the ground beneath pitched her up and over–throwing her off her feet.

“Whoa!” Anna squealed as she floated for a second; coming down hard on her back and whacking the back of her head on a grassy knoll.

Her hands flailed about before Kim reached down and yanked her up–just as the ground fractured wide–tearing itself apart with horrendous force.

“Shit!” They both yelled, holding each other tight. “It’s getting worse!”

Upon uttering those words, everything inexplicably ceased.

The shaking, the shuddering, the chaos…

Quiet immediately descended on the small glen–giving both women an immeasurable amount of pause and relief.

“Should we celebrate?” Anna piped up with a small smile on her face.

“Is it over–is the question I would be asking.”

Anna took stock of the situation, seeing a lot of destruction in a short amount of time. Trees were down by the dozens, with the campsite in complete disarray.

“Looks like things have quieted down a bit.” Anna cautiously observed from where she sat; hope rising in tune with her growing optimism.

“Celebrating in a time like this is a gross overstatement–if you ask me.” Kim countered–not bought by a long shot. “Something about this bugs me.”

“The sudden ground shakes?”

“That and Tim’s disappearance.”

“You think it was pre-planned somehow?”

“Everything is always pre-planned in this world,” Kim commented out of the way of conversation. “And what you don’t see, is always chalked up as being unexpected, and that–?” She broke off the minute she saw something coming out of the ground.

“What?”

“What you don’t see–” she tried to finish, but found that she couldn’t form the right words.

Terror had taken a hold of her body and froze her commitment to immediate action.

“What?” Anna kept pestering.

“–can kill…you?” Kim managed to get out before the first horror lurched forth to lay claim to both of them.

“Fuck…me!”

* * *

The dream experiment continued unchecked.

“Not bad…not bad at all…” she said; monitoring some of the data feeds in front of her–before turning away. “Things aren’t a total loss after all.”

The conflict in Wynne had provided her with an almost unlimited bounty of ideas and possibilities…twisted perceptions of both reality and fantasy. There were some things Mother wanted to try out on her pursuant quarry.

Things that would be able to tell her just how much Kayla herself had progressed.

Or where had she failed.

Mother quietly reviewed past conflicts, past battles, past…encounters which involved–directly or indirectly–Kayla Sorenson herself.

But nothing came to light–as she fully expected. Her little toy performed just as she had initially programmed.

But her latest exploits these past months?

Mother had to review what had happened since she was captured in 2162.

Some part of herself did warn herself that this would happen.

Some part of herself said that betrayal would lead to this and an uncertain future.

Mother sighed to herself–as she completed the disengagement process from her nano-filament-laced prison.

The woman stepped out of her impersonal cocoon–the mono-slims following her every move.

An odd concept…failure.

It never occurred to her that through untold eons of existence, she would eventually hit upon a period of stiff setbacks which would force her to re-evaluate her currently unbroken string of hardened strategies and battle tactics.

Undone by her own creation no less.

But not everything was lost.

In an adjoining chamber, biology and technology came together in one small form–giving rise to something which only Mother could see–and giving her reason to smile.

“Not yet, my little one.” She said in a small voice. “There is still so much left your mother has to do. And you still have a ways to go–before you are ready.” Caressing the side of the glass-gilded chamber, the woman added: “And I’ll be here–waiting for you to make your first appearance.”

She then turned her attention back to the dream experiment to see what would happen next.

* * *

A ribbon-fracture appeared just a few feet from Kayla’s current position–widening with every passing second and spewing a lot of hot gas and vapor steam.

Looking over at her lover, the teenage girl saw pent up concern and abject fear in his face.

But it wasn’t the kind which he hadn’t faced on numerous fronts before–as a soldier for the cause.

I doubt that he has fully recovered from his recent experience in Wynne–even though he has told me otherwise. She thought to herself–just as something grotesque came popping up from the vent next to her face.

From the cave, she could hear Kristen’s voice call out: “That’s it my pets. Come out and play with your newfound toys as I have constantly played with mine.”

“I don’t think…” Kayla overheard Kenneth comment from close by, “–that these…things are the type which will simply play.” In response, a long, sinewy, arm, thrust itself through the tortured earth; with four sharp talons and an equally scaly hand to compliment the end of the tanned-looking appendage.

Kayla automatically thought that these were some long lost dinosaur from an early period of the planet’s pre-history.

Judging by the large wing spans that had attached themselves to the arm.

A skin-like webbing unfurled itself along the length the arm–forming a beautifully intricate pattern of lines and colors which reminded the teen of camouflage.

But the rest of the body came up shortly thereafter–along with the pointed head and the mouthful of sharp teeth which followed suit.

A 10-inch tongue snapped out–tasting both the air and the sweet scent of human flesh nearby.

The thing’s head snapped around, beady eyes zeroing in on Kayla herself.

In an instant, the girl rolled back–drawing out a long edged weapon in the process–before she dove forward again; this time, spearing her intended right through the neck like a hot knife through butter.

The creature gurgled a bit–as both air and a gout of fluid sprayed the surrounding land in a brackish red-brown torrent.

Kayla didn’t bat an eye at what happened–even as she pulled herself free of the creature and turned to face the next threat coming out of the ground.

She spied Kenneth grappling with one of those…avian types that strongly reminded her of a humanoid pterodactyl–complete with a leather/fur covering most of its body and strong, powerful legs to carry it forth.

She heard its agitated hiss as it tried time and again to make a futile stab at the man’s exposed face and neck, but the former lieutenant wasn’t making its job any easier–as he managed to dodge its many attacks in the process.

“Help!” He managed to get out–while getting missed by mere inches in the process; his concentration momentarily broken. “I-I don’t know how long I can keep this thing from taking a piece out of my fucking hide!”

Kayla got up and made a flying leap towards her embattled man, but something grabbed a hold of her ankle in the next second and didn’t let go!

Glancing back, the girl saw the same horror she had killed earlier gripping her foot with a necrotized taloned hand–its nails raking lines across her tender flesh.

Kayla grimaced as she tried to free herself from its iron grip.

Not that she had a genuine fear of death itself, but she just didn’t envision herself dying at the hands of Mother’s many puppets and/or field commanders.

“That’s it–” she heard Kristen’s crooning voice. “Tear them both apart. Give them reasoning to fear your awesome strength and overpowering character!”

Shut up! She snarled inwardly–while she tried to free herself even more so.

Then she hit on an idea.

So far, Kayla had thought of herself as a perfect replica of humanity–always striving to live up to her genetic host’s standards by recalling what it was like to live like her.

Or be her.

She never once tried to act out the part of being the machine construct so willingly, in order to prosper and succeed in her own right. She had always been under the thrall of Mother’s timely influence or some other programming fault which drove her constantly over the edge–thus endangering those close to her.

The tugging of her tortured limb intensified–tearing the girl from her thoughts and back to the present.

“Right.” She said with gritted teeth. “My leg.” Or to be more precise…?

Her ankle and foot.

The creature’s horrid breath blew back in Kayla’s direction as it tried to continuously drag her down into whatever pits of hell it had just climbed out of.

Death and decay reigned over her as she closed her eyes and focused a part of herself on the affected limb.

This should be as simple as separating an arm or something. She thought–ordering the nanite colonies to come apart at the seams.

A sharp twisting sensation registered on the girl’s artificial pathways as the nanites within in her successfully initiated a deconstruction program of their own–their atomic bonds coming apart and becoming more liquid in state than a true and tried solid.

Kayla opened her eyes in time to witness the confusion on the reanimated corpse as her ankle and foot congealed into a glittering pool of metal–enveloping the hand of her tormentor.

Smiling, she silently ordered the nanite colonies to reconfigure and wrap around the talon-like appendage.

Which they did.

“Now comes the hard part,” she schooled her assailant–whom struggled to pull free from her trap. “Deciding which arm you will keep and which one you will lose.”

Her nano-colonies tightened their hold on the hand–integrating themselves into the first three layers of skin.

But the avian-like creature could not break free. No matter how it struggled.

Kayla’s smiled tightened into an evil grin of sorts as she smirked and then pulled her leg sharply away at the same time–the creature’s right arm coming right off at the shoulder–exposing torn flesh, sinew, and bone.

Blood exploded out in a large fountain-style display of raw power and gore.

The thing howled its agony into the air above, while Kayla simply took the removed limb and shook it at her new victim.

“I told you,” she admonished in a casual voice. “Don’t ever try to make a fool of me. I am more advanced than you in all regards. And I can do things which will boggle the mind and hold most people’s attention for ages on end. Why? Because I am more than human. I am a machine construct with abilities and power unimagined by your ken.” Tossing the arm aside, she scooted up to the now tormented creature. “I can do anything and make your fucking existence so damned miserable at the same time.” She whispered with deadly intent–before bringing her left arm around and pointed her hand directly at the thing’s head.

“Like so.” And reconfigured that part of her body into a deadly-looking blaster.

And fired–blowing the head of her monster clean off its shoulders.

Kayla watched impassively as the headless body fell back and hit the ground.

“I think I’ve made my point well and clear.” She commented to no one in particular.

Then she turned her attention towards Kenneth Sparks himself.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 198

2010-04-14T04:43:00.000-07:00

Timothy found himself blindfolded five minutes later–after whomever made the threat had finished binding his hands, arms, and legs with rough rope.

Tight, but not enough to cut off his overall circulation.

“I don’t suppose you would be so generous as to let me go–would you?”

His tormentor smiled in the darkness of the small cavern which had been carved out first by nature and then by man’s own appetite for terra-forming, destruction, and finally–inexplicably–war.

“Hardly, boy. If I let all of my would-be prey go–where would I be…without having some fun of my own in the meantime?”

Cold logic.

Apt. But still cold.

Timothy shivered. Clearly, this person was without compassion or shred of human decency.

Not that he hasn’t encountered this kind of discrimination and inhumanity before. Mankind had changed a lot in the last century and a half.

Dealing with these kinds of problems came with being a changed human being.

“I’m nobody’s play toy,” Timothy said with equal defiance and resilience. “I can breathe on my own–thank you very much.”

“Oh, to be sure that you are able to my little jewel. But…I have my own means and ways of getting what I want and what I need to accomplish my end goals.”

“For a kidnapper, you talk waaaay too much, lady.”

A deflated sigh could be heard somewhere in the back; coupled with a exhausted, raspy sound.

“Yes, I suppose that I do. But these days…? I have more time on my hands than I thought. So I have to think…creative. I hope that you don’t mind partaking in that small honor. It’s more than I would’ve given–had I been accorded that decision. But–” there was some movement in the shadows, which Timothy couldn’t quite make out. But something about its lithe size, the craggily–ugliness–of it, made the teen’s hair stand up on end.

“–the directive wasn’t mine to hand out. See…I’m just following orders. Like the good little sheep in children’s fairytale books; I’m nothing more than your common drone. The worker bee which has only one function in a much larger collective.”

Timothy Caldwell felt the cold caress running across the exposed flesh of his left arm.

“And what is that?” He asked–shivering under her touch.

The caress turned to an iron-clad grip in the next second.

“I want to hear you scream, human. Let the whole world know where you are.”

The pressure increased. And despite Timothy’s best efforts, he couldn’t help but cry out towards the end.

Kayla’s head snapped around as she heard a sharp cry reverberate throughout the wooded area.

“You’re right, love.” Kenneth answered; all business-like. “That is the sound of trouble.”

“Makes no sense…” the teen bombshell mumbled as she watched Kenneth take off in the general direction of the screams in retrospect–in hot pursuit of the target in question.

Kayla chased after him, gun arm reconfiguring in the process–and she ripped through the high and low grass, varying levels of overgrowth and brush before breaking through the first level of the heavily wooded forest.

But her speed couldn’t help her avoid a few of the large oak and pines in front of her–which she used to her advantage.

Taking an instant’s hesitation, she rabbited up one of the trees in a flash–somersaulting and flipping herself up to the very top of the giant oak tree; using her agility in the process.

Kayla’s last routine carried her high above the very tops of this one tree–flipping her high into the air. But instead of falling back, the teenager transformed into a cybernetic angel with large, expansive wings.

The girl’s body became streamlined and graceful in the process–but fearsomely armed to the teeth. Wherever there was a slaved platform or a small deck port, her body was loaded with all sorts of weaponry and heavy firepower.

Turning over, she angled herself down towards the very tops of the trees–barely clearing the very tips of each reaching tree in the immediate area.

“Kayla?” Kenneth’s voice broke into the girl’s concentration–but she didn’t let his sultry voice distract her from her immediate mission: To find the source of that scream.

“Can’t talk now, love. I’m a little busy at the moment.”

“Where are you?”

“Indisposed at the present. Please stand by.” And cut off communication right then and there.

It didn’t take her long to zero in on the source of the screams–and they cut off just as she landed 2000 yards from where they started out.

The teen transformed back into her normal “self”–shedding her cybernetic angel configuration as she went. Kenneth caught sight of some metal disintegrating into the air–returning to the ether from whence they had come–as he finally caught up with her three minutes later.

“What was that?” He said in wonder–just as Kayla finished reconfiguring her left arm into a high-tech assault cannon.

“Nothing special.” The girl replied nonchalantly. “The important thing is that we are here.”

“Here?” Kenneth answered with some confusion.; then looked around for himself. The forest had thinned out here and there, but still retained its chokingly thick presence to the two pursuers in hindsight.

However, there was still no sign that they had found what they had been looking for. Everything had the same look wherever he looked.

“Where are you looking at? I can’t see a damned thing!”

Kayla sighed.

“It’s because you’re not seeing it.” And pointed at a smooth rock wall–directly in front of her–with an over encompassing black face–worn smooth on the outside by the passage of time and the elements themselves.

But mostly covered with moss, brush, and vines.

Dead stumps littering the area still remained a lingering reminder of man’s past attempts to change the landscape. But a closer look revealed that many had become termite-eaten burrows: Easily crumbled without much effort.

“Hell’s bells…” Kenneth groaned in embarrassment, scratching the back of his head.

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, my love. The place is so overrun by nature–nobody could’ve easily seen it first and foremost.”

“Isn’t it?” A new voice cut into their conversation easily enough–without all the usual preamble. “I found it. And I didn’t have a problem.”

Kayla tensed in sudden recognition. “Kristen.” She said abruptly. Then cursed. “That bitch…!”

“Kristen?!” Kenneth exclaimed in astonishment. “But I thought–I thought we had dealt her a severe blow back in Wynne!”

“Oh, you did…my luscious prize. You certainly did.” Kristen continued to taunt from inside the deep–safe–confines of the semi-hidden cavern.

“But setbacks like those are just mild annoyances at best. Mother certainly concurs. Which is why I am here. Now.”

Both of them held station outside the cave–neither one of them budging an inch.

“Come on you two…don’t you want to play with me?”

“Not fucking likely.” Kenneth Sparks muttered under his breath. “Once was enough.”

“I see that my play toy doesn’t want to join the party. I suppose that would be my fault: After all…I was just a little too rough on him from the beginning.”

“Psycho bitch.” Kayla seethed. “I should kill you for what you did to my Kenneth!”

“You tried, but failed. I am eternal. Never alive, but always dead.” Kristen declared haughtily. “But for now, I want to play this game of mine. And you and Kenneth will participate.”

“And if we refuse?” Kenneth challenged.

“Then my new plaything will die a most unpleasant death. I’ve already taken the liberty of fracturing his arm–just…by…using… a little…pressure. I have so many other ways to kill him. And many won’t be the way you humans envision it. It could be slow, it could be quick, it could be tedious…?” Kristen’s voice paused, then continued. “In any case, will you grant me a boon and allow me to choose how he will meet his end? Or can we all come together and play…nice?”

Kayla charged her weapon once–locking in the first of many fresh rounds into the firing chamber. The assault cannon spat out a series of concentrated slug-type energy similar to a rail gun, but with much more lethal force.

“Why don’t you come out here instead?” Kenneth argued. “And bring Timothy with you?”

“You just love making things difficult for you, don’t you?”

Kenneth smirked despite the delicate situation.

“It’s always part of the job description, Kristen. Surely, you should know this by now–having dealt with us persistent humans.”

“Yes. That I have. But if you insist on delaying things–as you have with this endless babbling–then I must take the necessary steps in order to change your minds.”

Kayla Sorenson took a step back.

“Steps??? But we haven’t agreed to your terms yet!”

There was some laughter–coming from deep inside the small cavern.

“Terms? I never said there any such things in the first place, my dear. Just…conditions–as it were. And those aren’t negotiable.” A brief pause. “At any rate–where were we? Ah, yes. I remember: Time to mete out some punishment, Kayla. You and your toy have to learn your place.”

Before neither one could say much else, the ground beneath them began to shiver and then quake uncontrollably–pitching them both off their feet.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 197

2010-04-14T04:01:00.000-07:00

Timothy Caldwell awoke to the sound of drums in his head–each beat becoming more painful than the last.

For a second there, he personally believed that someone was hammering away on his skull with a blunt-forced instrument. But when he moved, his head gently smacked into something a great deal harder–intensifying the pain all the more.

“Ow…” he moaned out loud. “My…head…”

There was a flash of movement out of his peripheral vision and for another second, he suddenly believed that someone had found him and came to rescue him.

“So…you’re awake.” A cold, feminine voice analyzed quietly. “I was beginning to wonder just how long you would remain inert like that, but I’m a little surprised by your resiliency. Most humans with a lower pain threshold would be out for hours; not just a small passage of minutes.”

“H-how long…?” He asked quietly. “And who are you?”

“Forty-five minutes at the most.” The unseen woman continued on. “As for who I am…? Well, let’s just say that I’m an old adversary of those friends of yours.”

“Kayla and Kenneth?” Timothy threw out–his voice a little stronger, but not by much. He had to use some of his depleted strength to fight back the pain in his head. It felt worse than before. Like a hot poker drilling a hole into the back and sides of his skull.

Red hot and throbbing.

“Goddammit…!” He hissed miserably.

“Yes.” The woman answered him and then bent down to him for just a moment. At least that’s what the teen sensed had happened.

But Timothy couldn’t tell for certain. The whole place was dark and lacking any real source of light; artificial, natural, or otherwise.

“Still in pain?” She crooned softly.

Timothy nodded something fierce, but remained silent on this one. He couldn’t spare the strength to keep talking. Not if he wanted to quiet the agony beating into his brain by the truckload.

“Good.”

Good? Why would that be good? He wondered. But before he could ask why, the woman added, “you’ll be my perfect lab specimen for the time being. I want to see just how much pain you can take before you pass out again.”

Nausea hit the boy immediately–making his stomach churn and his senses swim.

Bile leaped up into his throat and he was close to throwing up.

But before he could do anything, the woman grabbed him by the hair.

“Cry out for me, you pitiful excuse for a human being. I want to hear you scream.”

***

The dense over brush made hunting for clues and finding the trail all that more difficult.

But a few well placed plasma burns torched some of the aggressive shrubbery into black ashes and billowing smoke.

“Are you trying to start a fire?” Kenneth called out twenty feet behind Kayla Sorenson.

“Trying…” the girl responded with gritted teeth–aiming her gun arm towards another stubborn patch of blackberry bushes and thick pine overgrowth.

She fired again–burning away more fauna in the process.

“–to clear this crap from underfoot so that we can proceed unhindered.” She finished, then waved her arm back and forth to get rid of the smoke. But it got into her face and she choked–coughing for a short spell.

“D-dammit!”

Kenneth laughed to himself, thinking how amusing this was.

“Are you laughing at me again, buster?” Kayla seethed miserably–coughing some more.

“Sorry. Can’t help it.” The man admitted freely.

Tears stinging in her eyes–with black carbon streaking down one side of her face and across her neck–Kayla stumbled forward a bit, before hitting a gnarled root stump and falling.

“Ahhh!” She cried out–hitting the ground face first.

“Kayla?!” Kenneth called out–running with sudden concern. “Are you okay?”

“Fuck you!” The girl screamed back at him, before rolling over and aiming her gun arm at the offending stump. “Stay away!”

A quick transformation into a tightly-focused buster rifle seconds later and she fired at her intended target at point-blank range.

Antic white light blotted out the man’s vision as a shockwave-type explosion overtook him and then threw him backwards down the trail.

Pieces of dirt and charred wood rained down all around him moments after the white/black smoke started to clear–while every one of his senses swam from being to close to ground zero.

“Holy god…” he whispered–shaking his head “Why do you have to always…do that...when your pissed off?” Kenneth tried to get to his feet, but his ears rang from the white noise following the titanic detonation and he fell down again.

“Crap…” There was no way he was getting

A light gray shadow came through the swirling smoke bank and said, “that should take care of any problem for the foreseeable future.”

“Must you?!?” Kenneth complained, while holding his head and taking deep, measured breaths. He coughed a little bit from the acrid smoke, but the push of pure, clean, air soon overpowered everything and returning things to near normal.

“What?”

“Taking it out on that poor tree stump.” Kenneth gestured blindly with one hand while holding the side of his head with the other.

“And you would do what in return, lover? Kick it?”

Memories of his past childhood bubbled up inside the man’s mind and he saw himself as an irate 8-year-old taking out his angst and frustrations on his aunt’s sole tree stump in the backyard–after he had tripped and fell by accident.

Kicking it was a bad idea, but he did it anyways–earning him a pulled muscle in the right foot and smashed toes.

Kenneth remembered how he had to sit upright for a week on his aunt’s sofa–his swollen foot packed in ice and propped up on a cushion.

The redness and the tears hadn’t gone away moments after he had screamed his lungs out to the world and his aunt’s scolding as a result.

“Yeah…” the man muttered sheepishly. “I would’ve.”

“Silly.” Kayla said in a teasing voice.

Kayla came over and kneeled down next him, placing a hand on his forehead.

“A little dizzy and feverish.” She analyzed for him. “But I suspect it’s because you were in close proximity to the blast.”

“Couldn’t you have used a lower setting?” Kenneth proposed, while she focused her attention on the rest of his head. She started rubbing the sides ever so gently–applying a little pressure here and there and then checking the back of his neck.

Pinching it on both sides, Kayla was rewarded with a small crack! and the sudden release of tension as a result of her probing.

“Ouch!” Kenneth winced in response–drawing a look from Kayla.

“Hurt?”

“Just a little.”

“Sorry. But you were pretty tense back there. It’s not the direct cause of your symptoms, but it should help relieve them a little–allowing you to cope better.”

“Thanks.” Kenneth voiced softly. “I appreciate that.”

“You’d do the same–if situations were reversed.” The girl said, then dropped her hands and stood up. “But by the looks of things, we’ve got another half mile to go–before we can come upon our quarry.”

“You saw some signs or clues then?” Kenneth asked–looking up at her through the remaining wisps of smoke. The area was clearing, but the first signs of damage was already being seen from where he sat–almost forty feet away.

A flared ridge of matter and dirt greeted the man’s eyes and he was at a loss for the right words.

“I just got a brief sense that whomever has him is more closer than we first thought.” Kayla said.

“How can you tell?”

“Just a feeling I got. But that’s about all.”

Kenneth rose to his feet as well–feeling better thanks in part to his girlfriend’s ministrations.

“Any bets that Mother may be involved in this?”

“It’s not Mother.” The girl responded darkly. “Someone else.”

“It’s not that asshole, Thomas Crandall–is it?”

Kayla shook her head. “Nope.” And started up the destroyed trail–carefully picking her way around the site of the vaporized stump and bounding her up north a bit.

Kenneth followed her as quick as he could–a little amazed by the level of destruction wrought by one impulsive sixteen-year-old girl.

It seems her power has ultimately magnified since we left Wynne. He thought to himself–after clearing the ten foot wide hole in the ground.

Wisps of smoke escaped upwards still–reminding the man that the place was still a bit ‘hot’ from the recent action.

Is she going to undergo another ‘regression’? Or is this just the end result of her recent experience?

Either way, he had a lot to deal with. And none of it was going to be pretty.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 196

2010-04-14T03:18:00.000-07:00

Thirty minutes later.

Anna finished repacking her tent into her bag and gave thought to go and check on her boyfriend. To see if he was doing okay.

“I’m going to go and see if Timmy’s doing all right.” She told Kim–whom had come up to check and see if she was ready.

“All right.” Her friend echoed pleasantly. “You want to take a comm line with you–just in case?”

Anna grinned. “Always.” She retorted affably; holding out her hand to receive the small device.

Clicking it on, Kim said: “I’ll be on Channel 4.” and gave it to her.

Anna tossed her a casual salute and left.

Kim went to rejoin Kenneth five minutes later.

“Still nothing?” She ventured.

The former lieutenant checked his tracker. “She’s only been gone a couple minutes.”

The woman toed her foot around on the grass.

“I hate waiting. Especially when it deals with the inevitable.”

Kenneth shared a knowing smile with her.

“Don’t we all?” He said. “That’s how life is these days: One big mystery after another.”

* * *

Tim finished with the first jug–twisting the cap to the right–to activate a special fluorinated capsule designed to purify the water for portable and personal use.

Shaking the jug, he watched it go from cloudy-like to clear in under 45 seconds.

“One down, one to go.” He told himself–then reached for the second one.

And that was the last thing which registered on his consciousness–before someone came up from behind him and smashed something hard into his skull.

Darkness followed suite.

A few seconds after Kenneth said that, Kayla was back where she started–perspiring just a little from the task she had just completed.

“Cave is ready. You want me to teleport our stuff in?” She asked in a sweet tone of voice.

Both the man and the other woman just looked at her dumbfounded.

“H-how did you–I-I mean what–” the former lieutenant blabbered on stupidly for the next minute before Kayla came up and sealed his astonished amazement with a soul-searing kiss.

“Time operates a little differently for me–when I want it to.” The teenage bombshell revealed.

Then she smiled.

“Didn’t you know? It was one of my past abilities when we were dealing with those Goliaths.”

Kenneth’s expression clearly drew a blank–because he shook his head in the next minute or so.

“I…don’t remember.” He admitted.

The girl smiled. “That’s because you don’t. I made sure of that.”

“W-what happened?”

Kayla shrugged. “Let’s just say that Mother and I had a little contest of wills and I won out by clear default.”

Kim muttered, “no wonder she’s pissed off at you.”

“And the human race.” Kayla went on gaily–before she spun around happily. “She never expected the fight for world domination to last this long.” Turning, she looked at their collection of belongings and her eyes took on an eerie glow.

“Next up?” Kayla announced. “The cave.” With a wave of her hand, she said: “Off you all go.”

In a flash of light, everything practically went.

The other woman rubbed her eyes and looked. Then she did it again and looked twice.

“What the fucking hell…?” She said–perplexed.

“A little trick of mine.” The girl answered, rubbing her hands together for a second. “Don’t worry: Nothing’s been ruined or disturbed. I just don’t want any added distractions in case trouble comes calling and decides to trash the camp as an added afterthought.”

“Been there, done that.” Kim remarked sourly. “You wouldn’t believe how long it takes to replace one item–let alone a whole shit load of precious equipment and supplies.”

***

The creek bed.

Twenty-five minutes later.

“Kim…?” Anna called back. “Kim…? Are you on this frequency, girlfriend?”

There was a surge of static, followed by some broken up words which the other woman couldn’t quite follow.

“Dammit!” She growled out loud, before tweaking the comm line’s frequency modulator a bit. One way and then another, but the small disc-shaped device wasn’t playing by the rules one bit–frustrating the woman even further.

“Channel 4 my ass…!” Anna complained–while keeping an eye out for trouble all the same. It wouldn’t do her any good if she was caught out in the open anyways–armed with only one of several pulse rifles.

“Geez, girlfriend…!” she kept berating the comm line a bit, tweaking it sharply to the left. “Does anything register on this thing; short of AM/FM radio?”

Some more static and a few more words escaped the thing’s tiny speaker assembly, before it finally gave up the ghost.

“Anna? You there? Sorry, but I didn’t have the receiver turned up all the way. You were saying?”

“Tim’s gone!” She exclaimed sharply.

“Say what?”

“He’s gone! I don’t know where, but he’s gone!”

“Maybe he went to take a leak somewhere private.” Anna radioed back jokingly. “You know guys these days: A tree, a bush, anything to drain the family dragon. It don‘t matter to them.”

Anna wasn’t 100% convinced. Not since she came upon the empty stream, one filled jug of water, with the second lying on the shallow embankment–not even filled yet.

“It’s no joke, Kim!” The other woman wailed. “There is no sign of him–” she glanced about frantically, but couldn’t find a single track. Odd that he’s gone and there’s no one around…?

Then she saw it and gasped.

Bending down, she tentatively dipped her fingers in the small pool of blood and looked at it with a critical eye.

“He’s bleeding too! I can’t tell if it’s just light or heavy, but–”

“Okay, girlfriend. Calm down. That’s an order. How big is the blood spill?”

“Small.” She analyzed quickly, then spied a splattered blood trail leading away from the creek. “But there’s a trail.”

“Stay there.” Kayla’s voice kicked in a second later.

“But–” Anna started to protest.

“I mean it, Anna. There’s no need for us to lose two people.”

“Kayla…” Anna whined fearfully. “What if you guys get here and I’m not?”

“Whoever has Timothy isn’t going to go out of their way to take you as well.” Kayla consoled her. “You’ll be fine.”

The link was cut in that instant–leaving Anna frightened and very much alone.

Kayla glanced over at Kim–after the comm line was terminated at her end and said to her, “Stay here and guard things for a bit. Me and Kenneth will be back shortly with some answers.”

The other woman’s face crumpled into supreme worry and anxiety.

“I don’t know about that first part.” She said with deep concern. “I mean, what if you guys take off and something happens while you both are gone?”

Kenneth checked the setting on his pulse rife and fired it up.

“I doubt it. Mother or whomever has Timothy will simply be focused on us, rather than you.”

“Still…” Kim answered stonily. “I think it would be best if we all prepared like we’re each going to expect company.”

Kayla nodded. “That would be prudent. I for one never went into a fight without being adequately prepared for the long road ahead.”

There was an abortive snort of laughter coming from Kenneth’s camp–giving the girl a reason to cast a poisonous glance in his general direction.

“You want to say something, mister?” She challenged contritely.

Kenneth waved her off with his rifle. “Nope, nothing.” He quickly amended. But he couldn’t keep the laughter from his voice, or the amusement from his eyes.

Kayla’s narrowed as she had this sudden urge to go kill something.

Namely him.

“I’ll just bet.” She finished tightly–before glancing back at Kim. “If you want, take everything packed and hide it safely out of sight and out of range of fire.”

Kim nodded. “Okay.”

“If you feel like you’re being threatened in any way, the creek bed should offer you some form of cover.”

“Gotcha.”

Kayla rejoined Kenneth, whom had just finished chuckling.

“Say anything, and I will make damned sure that you live the rest of your life with one less nut.” She threatened quietly–just under breath.

Kenneth shrugged innocently. “It’s not my fault you stepped into that one, love.” He said, then kissed her on the head.

“Urrrrh…” The girl growled, then looked at Kim one last time.

“We’ll be on Channel 2–just in case.” She told her, then nudged Kenneth into action.

He turned and started for the edge of the small mesa and then disappeared out of sight minutes later.

Kayla followed him–leaving Kim to combat her own fears alone.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 195

2010-04-14T02:39:00.000-07:00

Soon after everyone had enough to eat and were satiated, Anna Ellison had a small chore for her boyfriend to do.

“I need you to go get me some water.” She said, then pushed a couple of jugs out towards the rail-thin teenager.

Tim blanched a little at the prospect of having to leave the campsite so soon.

And not in the way that he wanted of course.

The boy was expecting everyone to pack up and leave–though the next leg of their journey was some 41 miles distant and wouldn’t be easily covered in the next several days to say the least.

More like a week and a half.

“Do I have to?” He complained mildly.

Anna didn’t budge one iota.

“Not if you want fresh water for the coming trip.” She told him under no certain terms. “We’re running low as it is and none of us is going to last long in this early summer heat.”

Tim saw that she did have a point on that front. Arkansas was well known to be a baker’s hell when the summers came every year.

After the fall of civilization, the weather patterns had gotten weirder and weirder with every successive generation and his has seen everything happen and then some.

The recent twister outbreak was just the icing on the cake. With the morning already becoming muggy and supercharged with energy, there was no telling what was coming next.

Most likely severe thunderstorms. Tim reflected as he collected the two large jugs and bade his girlfriend goodbye. But glancing up, the clouds were starting to gather again–some of them puffy white, while others took on a more darkened gray scheme–and it filled the boy with a certain level of apprehension.

Definitely not a good sign.

Anna saw how worried he looked and asked him why.

“The weather,” the boy pointed skywards. “Better keep an eye on it–just in case. Because you may never know…” then took off, before Anna could say much else.

But she was surprised when he stopped halfway across the small glade and then turned back.

“What’s wrong now?” Anna asked.

Setting down the jugs for a second, Tim grabbed a hold of the startled woman and he bent her over a bit–gently–and then kissed her on the mouth.

The he pulled her up and said with a flushed face: “Forgot that.”

Then he took off again–leaving Anna wondering and then finally laughing to herself.

Kenneth had been keeping an eye on things from about thirty feet away and then went back to what he was doing with their tent.

Most of it had been broken down and all that was left was to roll the sucker into its own bag and then fold the collapsible rods.

“Anything wrong?” He asked, as she joined them in cleaning things up.

Anna smiled at him. “What makes you think anything is wrong?” She ventured. “All he did was kiss me. You do know what a kiss is, don’t you, Lieutenant?”

“Former, actually. Though I think that Tucker gave me a quick field promotion to commander. I just never used it.”

“Well, if you are a commander, shouldn’t you be commanding this little operation?”

Kenneth shook his head and then offered a smile on his own. “Didn’t think that I needed to. Everyone was getting along so famously.”

“Like this morning?”

“This morning…? Well, um…Kayla had a lot to get off of her chest.” Was the unhurried response.

Anna smirked. “Yes, well…the next time I feel like going off like that, I’ll just start blowing shit up too. How’s that sound?”

Instead of rebuking her, Kenneth Sparks just shrugged.

“As long as you’re not blowing any of our stuff up–I don’t mind.”

Anna gave him an odd look. “Seriously?”

“Everyone’s entitled to letting off some personal steam, Anna. I don’t think it should just be delegated to just one singular person and not the entire group in general.” Kenneth explained–while busy folding up the last of the few rods.

“Okay,” the woman said. “I’ll have to remember that.”

* * *

Kayla could feel the charge in the air as the morning wore off into the early afternoon and she also glanced up at the skies as she finished with helping Kim take care of her tent.

“Looks like we’re in for a real dumper.” The girl analyzed quietly. “Dew points are in the 60s and climbing.”

Kim held up a limp strand of her own air and then dropped it. “Is that why my hair looks like crap?”

Kayla closed in on Kim and then scrutinized her whole head carefully.

“Could be.” She said. “Though I would consider using some kind of full-body shampoo and maybe some conditioner.”

“Don’t have any.” The woman mourned, then brightened. “Maybe Anna has some?”

“Ask her.” Kayla said–while glancing back up at the skies again. “Dammit all to hell…”

“Now what?”

“We might have a few hours at most, before the skies really opening up. I’m detecting an intense low-pressure system sweeping out this way from the Rockies. And the sucker is moving fast.”

“How fast?”

“50...maybe 60 miles per hour.”

“Even then…it may be here before the evening pops up.” Kim said, slightly unconvinced.

“Weather patterns are unpredictable in this day and age, Kim. There’s no telling what will transpire–before it hits us all with a kind of surreal vengeance.” Kayla told her. “That low-pressure system may be in the Rockies, but the tail end of it will be sweeping through in a matter of hours.”

Kim smacked herself for being so blind to the obvious.

“That‘s…right! Gods…how could I have forgotten so plain a detail?”

“No access to The Weather Channel?” Kayla joked lightly.

Kim gave her a blank look. “Oh…that.” then she chuckled. “If any of us still has either a cable receptor or what’d they call it again…? The…inter…net?”

“Internet.” Kayla affirmed with a nod. “Or good-ol’ fashioned radio.”

Kim shuddered. “Gods…what a barbaric piece of antiquity. I like our linear quantum-phased communication channels all the more better. No lag, no time delays expected.”

Kayla smiled. “No TV either.”

“Huh?”

“A joke, Kim. It’s just a small joke. You guys really don’t have any form of entertainment these days–do you?”

“Very damned little, I might say. We still have some music and movie stuff floating about though. Just about the only thing which passes the time. Some good ol’ Elvis Presley music and maybe a sci-fi serial or two.”

The teenage girl smiled wistfully. “Nothing can beat the King.”

“How do you–” Kim began.

“Kenneth Sparks introduced me to classical music while we were together in the old quarter of Washington DC.”

“What about Michael Jackson?”

“Who?”

“A famous music entertainer in the late 20th and early 21st century. Died shortly before civilization went tits up.”

“Not a clue. Sorry.”

“Had some wonderful ballads,” Kim mused openly. “His music touched a lot of people in the end. Too bad that he died at such a young age though.”

“How old was he when he passed?”

“50.” Kim answered. “I think.”

“That’s pretty young to be kicking the bucket so early.”

“Well…the leftover media records we found pointed to possible drug abuse which led to an early–and fatal–heart attack.”

“I seem to recall that many entertainers had that problem.” Kayla reflected. “Alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and so on.”

“Well…when you’re rich and have lots of money…? It’s easy to fall into a pattern of abuse or whatnot.”

The two fell into their own quiet interludes after that–each helping with the campsite or Anna with her tent–before Kenneth announced that everything was packed up and ready to go.

“Great!” Anna exclaimed. “I’ll go and check on my boy toy and see how he’s faring downstream.”

“Be careful.” Kim advised–before tossing her a pulse rifle.

The other woman caught it easily and waved soon after.

“See ya!”

All three of them watched the other woman disappear down the hill.

“Think we should go after her?” Kim suggested–while leaning against a small birch tree.

“Why? You expecting trouble?” Kenneth asked.

“We’re not that far away from what’s left of Wynne. And I don’t want to start taking any chances now–especially when we are about to leave.”

Kayla Sorenson stared into the horizon–staring into the approaching storm.

“Good. Then you stay here and Kenneth and I will go.”

Kim didn’t like that idea one bit.

“Ohhh…no! No way in freakin’ hell will I be staying here! I go or we all don’t go.”

“Someone needs to look after our gear.” Kenneth pointed out. “And it might as well be you.”

“Anna’s my friend!” The woman bitched. “I am not going to stand here and let her walk straight into the mouth of hell–if it comes to that! We are partners!”

Kayla raised her hand. “I got an idea.”

“What?”

“Stash our things. Then we can take off.”

The anger between them suddenly diffused. Along with the stress and tension being felt by all.

“Good idea!” Kim bussed Kayla on the arm lightly. “Give me a few minutes and we can all take off.”

“No prob.” The girl responded easily. “I’ll get the hiding place ready.”

“What hiding place?” Kenneth wanted to know.

“The old cave where we hid from before Crenshaw came calling.” Kayla pointed south–then she vanished like a ghost before anyone could stop her.

“W-w-what?!” Kim Sanders stuttered in complete astonishment. “Where the hell did she go?”

Kenneth was in a similar state of being as his eyes went from round to becoming more focused.

“I-I…think she’s…”

“Gone? Well…duh!” Kim fired back nervously. “But when did she start doing that?”

The other man shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s a real first for me.”

Kim exhaled sharply and muttered, “Damn…”

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 194

2010-04-14T01:34:00.000-07:00

Kim just stared at the girl for the longest second imaginable–stunned for the moment beyond human comprehension.

For once…Kayla couldn’t really blame her.

However, it didn’t take long for the ex-sympathizer to recover and hit the teenager with another barrage of questions.

“But isn’t that where things Pete and Repeat themselves over and over?” She asked straight out.

Kenneth didn’t know what she was talking about until Kayla told him what it meant in layman’s terms.

“Oh.” Was his small response. “Sorry.”

“No problem.” Kim replied. “Most people aren’t familiar with some of the old terminologies we used to use–before this country went to hell in a hand basket real quick like.” Glancing back at the girl, she pushed on with, “My apologies. I normally don’t get carried away like this. But what’s been discussed has the little scientist in me screaming, ‘More!’”

Kayla smiled despite herself. It seemed only so surreal that just minutes ago–she was ready to tear this camp apart with nothing but her bare hands and a few off-centered energy salvos.

Now, the three of them were having a normal conversation like nothing had happened!

Walking over to the burnt-out campfire pit, Kayla spotted a few glowing embers from the previous night and used a dead stick to stir things up a little.

A small amount of smoke curled up into the early morning air–dispelling much of last night’s activities and fondly remembered moments of sexual bliss.

“It’s okay.” She said. “If I were in your place, I would’ve done the same. Not everyone gets to converse with a being belonging to a higher plane of existence these days.” The fire in the pit started to come back to life and Kayla tossed some more wood into the pit to encourage the flames to start going on their own accord.

Thinking back to what Kim had asked of her, Kayla returned to the conversation at hand.

“In some cases, that is true. But this one is built on a different linear mechanism. This one allows us to experience events in the past, but repeats them in a different sequence that offers little hope of resolution; while driving both participants to the brink of insanity.” Then she thought to Kenneth: Could you retrieve some of our rations, so that we can get breakfast started? I don’t know about you, but I’m starving!

Kenneth nodded; stepping out of Kim’s growing shadow and ducked back into their tent for a moment or two.

“That would help explain your earlier outburst.” Kim said–not taking notice of Kenneth‘s sudden departure. But she did join the teenaged girl by the campfire and helped get things started.
“Why you acted the way you did.”

“Breakfast?” She ventured–tossing in another chunk of dry firewood.

Kayla smiled. “Unless you plan on eating bugs and fish–though I’m kinda partial to the latter myself.”

“Same here.” Kim giggled. “I’m not fond of bugs either. But when it’s only source of protein around…? This girl isn’t going to complain. Just make sure you have plenty of hot sauce and ketchup on hand to smother the nutty taste.”

Kayla found it hard not to laugh at the image forming in the back of her mind. But she did anyways–which appeared to put Kim in even a better mood.

“Seriously!” she said with a knowing smile. “A few years ago, we bartered for a few essentials and I got some ketchup packets and hot sauce in the exchange. One of the Free Earth Movement fighters threw them in as an afterthought. Said that we could make better use of the condiments than they could.”

“And…?” The girl prodded–when Kim fell silent after that. “What happened?”

Taken off guard, the woman looked at her in blind confusion for a second.

“W-what do you mean?”

“What’d you use the condiments on?”

“Well, there was a food shortage here not too long ago, and some of our symp–” the woman stopped and quickly corrected herself. “–people came up with the idea that we could use the local fauna and some of the leftover garden material as a food source until help arrived from a neighboring township 40 miles distant.”

“And that‘s when the bugs came into play?” Kayla questioned knowingly.

“The insect life around here has been exploding lately for some unknown reason and we took full advantage of that. We fashioned tubes of ground up insect matter and added water to the mixes–creating a palatable food source. The condiments we had on hand provided an edible aftertaste.”

“Not so bad as subsisting off twigs and berries.” The girl joked lightly–to which Kim responded with a slight punch to the shoulder.

Kayla moved the fire stick around to stir up more fire for the morning breakfast and then saw Kenneth come back with both packs in tow.

“Here,” he said–dumping one off to the side, before digging into his. “There should be some instant eggs and dried bacon meal around some…where…”

Tarp material came flying out first, before everything else was added to the clean material. Some books were also deposited, which caught Kim Sander’s eye.

“3001: The Final…Odyssey?” She echoed in confusion. “Where did you find this?”

“The old Library of Congress. I swiped some books from the partially ruined building last year. You’d be surprised at what you can find in that place.”

The woman fingered the faded, partially tattered copy of the 20th century’s greatest books ever written by a science-fiction writer.

That much she did know.

The rest was…history–as the old saying went.

“I thought no one could venture into the old capital without being killed in the process?”

Kenneth shrugged. “You can’t.” He said casually.

“So how did you manage that trick? Surely the Neos would’ve had you pegged within 15 miles of their stronghold.”

“The Lab gave me something to cloak my movements with. I was able to set up station in the old quarter of Washington D.C. without incident. Of course, Kayla deserves some credit too. Her latent abilities helped provide cover and protection from the Neos hoard.”

Kim glanced back at the teen girl. “She was exhibiting some abilities way back when…?”

“2163.” The former lieutenant amended quietly. “But there wasn’t much to write home about–as the old saying goes. All she was able to do was keep the Neos from homing in on our position whenever we ventured out.”

“Which was quite a bit.” Kayla interjected. “For the first six months we were there in the old quarter of the capital, I was constantly running interference while Kenneth was out on recon duty.”

“Why?” Kim asked in all innocence.

“So that we may someday take out the core of the Neos and end this war.”

“Gutsy.”

“Pre-planned actually. It was Captain Tanner’s idea originally. He thought that if he had an agent or two in the old quarter of Washington DC–the Free Earth Movement would have a better idea on how and when to launch an assault on the former capital.” The woman finished; raising an eyebrow from Kenneth Sparks himself.

But the man said nothing in her stead. He knew how it had turned out from the minute he had accepted a long absence from his recent tour of duty.

How had she known what Tanner only told him personally–but never mentioned a single word to her in return?

In answer, Kayla turned to him and mouthed a single word: Telepathy.

Telepathy?

When you were hurt. I…scanned your thoughts and inadvertently discovered the truth. For that, I am sorry. She thought to him; before turning her attention back to the fire.

Kenneth said nothing, but nodded in silent agreement.

I understand. He added as casual afterthought–to which the teenage bombshell laughed out loud to herself. But her own thoughts–?

Kayla Sorenson kept them private as she reflected on a past moment which she had yet to share with the man she loved.

You make it sound like a capital crime, my love, she perused quietly. The fact that I had to do it––revealed something more of my own humanity than I firstly cared to admit to you; in the days leading past my capture. In the first few months of our time together: When I first began to understand the complexity of human relationships and all its intricacies.

The fire crackled to itself as she poked and prodded it.

“Still…” Kim mused, “it’s something that I wouldn’t have thought of in a split-second.”

The pit brighten as Kayla continued to alter the continuity of the elements themselves.

“Rarely…” she thought out loud. “Anyone from around here…wouldn’t. It is simply something that doesn’t cross the paths of most people.”

“But you yourself…?”

Kayla smiled.

“I’m special. I can see things that most people cannot envision for themselves.” Reaching over, she grabbed a pre-screened pan from the bundle which Kim laid out and set it upon the makeshift iron-cast grill–supported by an equally makeshift wall of stone and brick.

With the way things were, mankind’s basic instincts for survival still hadn’t been eliminated through 150 years of war with the Neos and Mother herself.

That was good. The teen girl thought to herself. It showed that–despite indefinite hardships–the human race was a great deal harder to kill off than Mother ever thought possible.

While it was true that the war had greatly diminished Man’s overall (and populous) numbers, Kayla had found–through the years–that technology could not hope to compete with the most primal and base instincts of the human race.

“There are just some things which cannot be changed or forever altered.”

“Did you say something?” Kim inquired out of turn.

Popping open one of the containers, the girl threw in some water and mixed the contents both thoroughly and evenly.

“Nothing important.” Kayla motioned with a wet wooden spoon. “I’m just having one of those moments of personal clarity.”

Kim’s eyebrows raised up all by themselves.

“Good or bad?” She wanted to know–strictly out of curiosity.

Kayla stopped stirring the eggs for a moment to consider the woman’s question.

“That depends on the viewpoint of the question–doesn’t it?” She answered blandly, smiled, and then resumed the small task at hand.

“Some people…think of things as a sort of evil that has to be assigned a specific type of designation. Something which everyone–outside of myself–has to be able to identify easily and quickly. Others are looking for that happy ending, the good twist in both natural law and personal fate that will allow them to escape the eventual ending which has entwined them all on one level or another. But in the end…?” Kayla Sorenson stirred some more–making sure that the fire didn’t scorch the instant eggs. The bacon would come next.

The smell of eggs and the wafting steam filtered up into the air like a gentle breeze. Soon enough, it would encompass the entire camp.

“Nothing ever changes.” She said.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 193

2008-08-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Quiet Reflections In A Still Pond

Rays of light poured across the former lieutenant’s face–an effort by the sun to wake him up through the open tent flap.

A gentle breeze played across his face–tickling the week old stubble of growth on his chin.

Kenneth reached up to stroke the beard in an afterthought–before he sensed that he wasn’t alone.

Kayla was lying next to him, curled up and crying softly.

For a second, he couldn’t believe that. But the soft, wracking sobs piercing the otherwise tranquil setting destroyed any would be fantasy of his that he would be woken up some other way.

Pervert. He chided himself–even as he reached over somewhat to try and comfort his much younger lover.

“Y-you okay?” He asked haltingly, his voice catching in his throat.

The crying continued unabated–as if not even acknowledging that the man was awake and he was also pretty hungry.

“Fuck you.” Came the equally jaded statement. “Fuck you and every human being that ever walked the face of this planet.”

Kenneth laid there in a bewildered state–even as his arm was roughly shoved aside and Kayla bounced up on the balls of her feet for a second; wiping the flow of tears from her face, while the fury in her eyes continued to burn unchecked.

Kenneth’s eyes widened by themselves–as he beheld the raw emotional state in which Kayla was in.

But that moment of pause only lasted a few seconds, as last night’s dreams came back to him full force.

“Why are you faulting me?” He managed to get out–before Kayla stormed out of the tent.

Staring up at the tent ceiling, he sighed.

Then called out–

“It’s not like I’m the one whom is at fault here…”

“Fuck off!” Kayla’s voice rang out.

That did it.

Kenneth jumped out of his sleeping bag and barged out of the tent with a full head of steam.

“I don’t care what stick has been shoved up your ass, but–” and never got a chance to finish his threat as a cauterizing beam lashed out and sizzled past his head–the exploding fir tree behind him the unfortunate victim in this instance.

Not Kenneth Sparks himself.
Pieces of wet pulp and wood fiber rained down on their side of the small encampment–bringing out a confused Timothy Caldwell and Anna Ellision from one side tent while a sleepy-headed Kim Sanders emerged from hers.

Looking at the two of them, she remarked dryly, “Ooh-kay. What’d we miss?”

“Nothing important.” Kenneth said in a level tone. Staring into the eyes of his lover, he said: “We’re just having a minor disagreement here.”

Just then, what remained of the fir tree came crashing down with thunderous applause.
Anna’s eyes bugged out.

“You call that a disagreement?” She ventured–pointing at the downed tree–while Tim’s voice rang out excitedly: “Oooh! Firewood!”

Kenneth took a small step forward.

“In my line of work? Yes.” He answered.

Kayla aimed her reconfigured plasma cannon at the ground in front of Kenneth Sparks himself.

“One more step and I’m going to fuck you up pretty badly.” She warned thickly. “And this time, I won’t be so charitable afterwards.”

Kenneth stopped and then shook his head in dry amusement. “Oh good! Now we are down to wanton murder of an unarmed man.” He baited deliberately. “I take it that this used to be one of your enduring traits when you were under Mother’s wing?”

Kayla’s face exploded in a fit of pure rage–as her jaw muscles worked in tandem in a tightly-controlled decision on whether or not she should just shoot him right then and there for that asinine remark.

I should! She thought with crystal-clear venom. I should just make him pay for that!
Kenneth only stared back at her calmly, unflinchingly.

But then her lover’s words hit her in a very tender spot a second later–causing her to subconsciously re-evaluate what she was about to do in the next second.

This in turn caused her to lower her gun arm–where it lay by her side; pulsating with energy and unfathomable power.

A reminder to everyone that they weren’t dealing with someone whom wanted to become human in the first place. But a construct built from a previous host whose responsibilities went far beyond basic human understanding.
Kayla looked away.

“Yes.” She admitted freely and with unabashed guilt. “I did everything Mother asked of me.” Her arm reconfigured back to normal, before the teenager turned and looked back at Kenneth.

“Is that so hard to understand, Kenneth? That’s what I was made for: To be Mother’s right hand.”

Kenneth was silent.

“And the dream?” He asked.

Kayla shuddered–

“Was that real?”

–then nodded.

“Yes,” she answered. “An echo from the past. A past that neither one of us has directly experienced, but continues to haunt the two of us with each passing day.”

“That’s disturbing to say the least.” Anna commented off from the side–pulling her spring jacket closer to her naked body. The woman had only managed to throw on her pants and the jacket–but nothing else–in the ensuing squabble.

“Now– if you two are through trying to butt heads–I’m going to go back and get dressed properly. We have a long trip ahead of us.”

Timothy followed her dutifully, but not before making a grab for her ass at the same time; eliciting a high-pitched squeal from the woman in question.

Kenneth grinned despite the lingering clouds of doubt, resentment, and some latent hostility in the air.

Kim Sanders stepped forward and looked the two of them over.

“You sure you’re going to be okay?”

“Yes.” Kayla said automatically.

Kim wasn’t convinced.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Why?” Kenneth wanted to know.

“She used to be an adult, now she’s got the mind, body, and impulses of a hot-headed teenager. One whom doesn’t take kindly to authority, doesn’t take no for an answer, and as reckless as anybody I used to know growing up.”

Kayla bristled at the woman’s quick deconstruction of her overall self. But she held herself remarkably in check.

“S-so?” She bit out. “I can handle myself just fine without the need of you used to call a wet nurse.”

Kim let the remark slide.

“You just took out a tree as easily as it could’ve been any one of us.” She said without missing a beat. “Plus, you still don’t have any control of your emotional façade–like you used to in months past.”

“Years, actually.” Kenneth optioned into the conversation. “But that’s beside the point.”

They both looked at the girl.

Kayla Sorenson felt trapped by what was going on–and she didn’t like it one bit.

“You two can bite me for all I care.” She responded in classic teenage fashion. “My behavior isn’t based on what you humans would call ‘control mechanisms’. It’s solely based on my heritage, my abilities, and my own will to survive.” Glancing at each of them, she added smartly: “I’m sure the two of you can easily relate to that.”

Kim had a look of surprise on her face.

“That’s pretty amazing–coming from someone whom is nothing more than a machine-mechanism.”

“Nano-colonies.” Kayla corrected her. “On a scale that dwarfs anything your science could easily come up with on a good day.”

“Still…you’re a machine, right?” Kim persisted. “Everything inside you can’t be human.”

“I am human only by DNA recombinant. Everything else is based on nano-technology.”

“Around a single strand of DNA?” The woman questioned incredulously. The possibilities weren’t even covered by the Lab’s top geneticists in the field. Everything understood thus far was purely on the ideas that cloning technology had to follow one fundamental path from the beginning to the end; using humanoid, plant, or animal genetic coding.

And only that.
But to use nano-technology on a strand of otherwise human-looking DNA?

Kim’s analytical and scientific mind was buzzing at the thought of having the Lab try it out at their earliest opportunity.

“Yes.” Kayla confirmed. “The template model used was a dormer host version of me; but reconstructed using superior nano-colonies which were designed and programmed to mimic what you see before you right now.”

The other woman couldn’t believe what she was hearing. It went far beyond what she learned on the comparative science and biology discs her mother had. Even in the advanced quantum physics, cloning, and other medical science courses and studies she took in secret over at the Annapolis Underground Military Complex 12 years ago.

But Kim was curious about something.

“Does it hurt?”

Kayla was completely taken off guard.

“W-what?”

“Does…it…hurt?” she repeated slowly. “The process of cloning and reanimation?”

The girl looked away for a second, thinking about what had been asked of her.

“I don’t really know–to tell you the truth. Everything about my past has either been pre-programmed, made up, or simply “ghosted” to resemble your average living standard of human existence.”

“‘Ghosted’?” asked Kim.

“I think what she means is ‘echoes’.” Kenneth supplied helpfully. “Events that happened along a different timeline divergent from this one.”

Kim suddenly felt a twinge of sympathy for the teenager.

“That must be rough. Having to live more than your normal life–whatever that is. Now having to deal with recalcitrant memories of a past existence that was never your own.”

“It’s been crazy.” Kayla confirmed quietly, “but it’s been something that I’ve had to deal with off and on.”

“And Kenneth? What‘s his story in this?”

“He has the same issues as I do.”

Kim looked at Kenneth. The man nodded silently.

“How’s that possible?”

“We were both part of a mission that ended badly–on many occasions it seems.” Kenneth said. “Those events connected us in this future time-frame. And I think I’m beginning to know why.”

“As do I.” Kayla threw out staring at her lover and future husband.

“What?”

“We both did something that would serve as a warning to our future selves. Something so terrible and tragic that neither one of us had any choice. And since Kenneth lacked the means to initiate the process, it’s safe to say that it was me whom did the honors.”

“But we aren’t sure.” Kenneth replied. “We still haven’t been able to uncover the real truth behind what’s been going on. All we have is theories and half-truths.”

“And where would this…gut feeling of yours be categorized as?” Kim wanted to know.

“A causality loop.” The girl answered bluntly. “One that has no beginning and certainly no ending.”

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 192

2008-08-16T21:50:00.000-07:00

Time flowed back and then forth; sometimes the images themselves reflected a sense of cloudy–foggy–miasma.

Nothing made sense to Kenneth Sparks as his sense of self suddenly left the strange and comforting confines of the Puget Sound–where he found himself being gently deposited on the side of one of New York’s East Harlem neighborhoods.

Almost immediately, gunfire and shouts erupted where he was and the man pulled out his trusty pulse rifle and started looking for the source of the disturbance.

A deserted basketball court become the next scene of the crime as two rival teenage gangs began to pull out their respective pieces and fire at one another indiscriminately.

Kenneth instinctively ducked somehow as lead bullets began to rain over his head next to the gated enclosure; forcing him to go over his options one by one.

But before he could react to the change in the situation, one of the teens had walked over and cocked his gun.

“Hey look at this!” the kid screamed to his surviving posse members. “The Sharks have sent over their daddy to supervise us!”

A gale of laughter emanated from the small group of kids–two or three of them toeing the bodies of those unfortunate in the final exchange of murderous gunfire.

It had happened so quick that Kenneth Sparks didn’t have time to react. He just played it safe until the fighting was over.

Not like the many instances where he had been in a running gun battle with the Neos or their mechanical toys.

“So?” one of the teens said tartly. “Cap ‘im!”

The sound of the gun clicking again in the dead of night left a pit of dread in the man’s stomach–leaving him to wonder how he would survive this one.

The chance for action was taken away when an equally bright light erupted across the court, the street, and a good portion of the East Harlem neighborhood–stretching out to a quarter-mile–flared lividly and then faded away.

Kenneth took this moment to jump forward while the perp was blinded and then sacked him hard. Instead of taking his gun, he tossed it into the nearby bushes.

But the second he had thought himself to be safe, the wayward former lieutenant of the Free Earth Movement was rewarded by an intense hail of gunfire which surprised even the most able-bodied man around.

“Holy shit!” he remembered screaming in that instant. “What the fuck is wrong with everything in this era???”

No one answered him, because in this case–? Nobody cared.

The assault continued on for another agonizing twenty seconds–even as Kenneth found his leafy sanctuary to be of no real-time protection against a storm cloud of angry hornets.

The bullets whizzed passed him and above him–some coming dangerously close to finding their target.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” The man growled in mute frustration. “Can I get a fucking break here or can‘t I?”

As if by some unseen signal, the barrage…stopped.

“Well, then, that’s better.” Kenneth offered up in heavy sarcasm. “What did I do to deserve getting my ass shot up anyways?”

Nobody answered him–even as the light continued to blaze away.

“And will someone turn off that damned searchlight?”

Like magic, the effect died away– plunging the entire area in blessed, cool, darkness.

“Great!” Kenneth howled miserably. “Now I can’t see where the fuck I’m going!” He rubbed his eyes aggressively to banish the spots crowding his vision.

You don‘t need to see, love. A voice cut through the irritating silence and heralding darkness. You have me.

“K-Kayla?” The man croaked with shuddering excitement and overpowering relief. “Is that you?”

It is me. I am here in your dreams–guiding you towards a different kind of light.

Kenneth remained unconvinced.

“Kayla?”

Follow. Said the voice. Follow this kind of light. And be whole again.

A soft, emanating glow snapped into existence right in front of the confused man–erasing away his doubts, his fears, and his pain.

The pain of being lost.

“Please–” he began with grave uncertainty.

Follow. The same voice beckoned with quiet authority. One step. Then another.

“But-”

Move your feet, Commander Sparks! The same voice shrilled back with icy impatience.

That settled any further argument battling itself out in Kenneth’s mind. He knew that it was Kayla Sorenson after all.

But why did she have to be such a bitch about it? He mulled as he took one small step forward and then another–surprised that the light was moving away from him but keeping pace with his movements all the same.

I heard that, mister. Kayla‘s voice admonished around him–not just from the light itself.

The man blushed furiously–forgetting the link they shared in the real world.

“Didn’t think it would work here. This being a dream and all.” He said in defense of himself.

Even dreams have their absolute laws. It’s whatever you wish them to be, my love. But never forget that they can change at a moment’s notice.

“I…know that.” The former lieutenant relented with still lingering embarrassment. “Now.”

Of course you do. This dream is nothing more than your fears of being trapped in a situation that is beyond your immediate control. It’s something that you never had to face in your life–while battling the Neos.

“But why the past? What does that represent?”

Repressed memories. Kayla said. Since you have nothing to gauge your life on–since losing your parents–your mind is fashioning a place for your to be in.

“But why here? I was some where’s else for a short time and then that vanished.”

You were simply cycling through your REM period as humans tend to do. I’ve seen it many times in the past. You always begin with something pleasant, something that relaxes the body and gives it a need to refresh itself–and then the hard stuff takes its place.

You either fight it, or you let it consume you. The light analyzed in front of him; while carrying Kayla’s voice all at the same time.

“Great…” Kenneth complained under his breath. “And here I liked being in that other dream. It was nice.”

It was just a place for your mind and body to unwind and relax, love. Kayla said supportively. This is where you are–fighting your inner demons. Your fears.

Kenneth stopped right where he was.

“But–”

The light suddenly changed, coalescing into the shape, form, and vision of a 16-year-old bombshell of a girl.

The same vision which had assaulted him and then made passionate love to him only the night before.

Under a starry sky–with a fire blazing in the background.

Kayla’s form finished glowing and stepped forward to embrace him; holding the older man in her arms.

And impossible task–considering the height differentials.

But Kayla didn’t seem to have much difficulty. She just took the man she loved with all her heart and held him close.

I know the times will be tough in the road ahead, my love. She said without ever opening her mouth. But you must realize that I am never far from you. Both in the future and in the past. This is just your way of dealing with certain insecurities which still linger even in the here and now.

But I always will be with you. Supporting you, loving you, protecting you.

Kenneth didn’t know how to respond to that promise. It was so unreal, yet surreal at the same time.

“P-protect me?” He finally whispered.

Yes. The girl said with a smile, tightening her grip on her man every so slightly. Protect. Isn’t that what a woman should do for the one she loves?

“But…isn’t that the other way around?”

In days past, it certainly was. But these days are far from ordinary. It’s my job now to protect you. Because you are the only one I want to save above all else.

A small shred of dawning realization struck Kenneth Sparks where he stood.

“So this war isn’t just about fighting against Mother, is it?” He ventured carefully. “It’s about me.”

What do you mean?

“Was it just a coincidence that you were training outside of Waco? I’m beginning to think that Mother had us under surveillance for quite some time–testing Captain Tanner and the rest of our men and women in the groups with those coordinated strikes against the 1st Armored Brigade, along with the 3rd and 14th Infantry. But neither one of us could figure out why.”

For the first time in awhile–that Kenneth could recall–Kayla remained silent.

“But now I know. And please tell me that I’m not wrong on this glaring truth.”

Still nothing from the teenaged girl.

“Your capture wasn’t an accident, now was it?” Kenneth pressed on. “You were sent by her to observe us. Or more to the point–? Observe me.”

Kayla said nothing still.

“Why is that, Kayla? You had us all fooled at the start. Why did you go through the ruse which Mother supplanted for us?”

I had my orders, Kenneth. That’s all I remember.

“No. You remember more than that. It’s just painful for you to admit it.”

I…

Kenneth extricated himself from Kayla and stood at arms length of her.

“I was the target. The rest of us were just in the way.” He said quietly. “That’s why you took such an early interest in me after our first meeting.”

Kenneth…

“I should’ve known this in the beginning, but we were all blinded by what we believed was good fortune.”

Wake up…

“That’s true, isn’t it, Kayla?”

Wake up.

Kenneth?

Wake up.

But Kayla wasn’t there with him. Not there to answer to his charges.

“Is this like you to just disappear when things are hitting too close to home?!” Kenneth shouted out–finding no solace in his own personal discoveries.

“Damn you, Kayla! Why don’t you come clean with what I already know about us?!?”

There was nothing more to be said about the experience as his dreamscape began to derezz slowly, then quickly–engulfing the man in a fluidic darkness.

Kenneth lashed out blindly, but hit nothing but empty space.

“Damn you, woman…” he sobbed to himself. “You always have had the upper hand in this…”

Because dreams were never meant to be all that revealing, my love. Kayla’s voice echoed softly through the darkness. What I did, I have some regret. But in the end, I fell in love with you just the same. That doesn’t change.

“No…” Kenneth whispered. “But you still lied to me nonetheless…”

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 191

2008-07-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Kayla Sorenson awoke to soft morning light playing across her face–softly kissing her skin and illuminating the world around her.

Next to her was the man whom she had sacrificed much for these last few years–including the happy birth of their daughter, Felicia.

In this world, in this time…?

It was too soon for them to become a single unit. A happy and carefree family.

She alone made the choice to send her daughter up the time stream and into a future that wouldn’t exist for a hundred million millennia at best.

The other Felicia never told her that the war would never be finished–even if Mother was defeated. Because everything about this conflict stretched past the boundaries of the space/time continuum.

Kayla sighed and shifted her weight just a bit–feeling the blessed touch of the soft earth beneath the small of her back and the buzzing molecules in the life-giving air itself.

Even the sun and its rays could now be broken down and analyzed with such astonishing simplicity–it was child’s play in itself. (To borrow a phrase from the humans.)

The teenage girl stared up into the tented ceiling, past its manufactured fabrics and into the skies themselves–mindlessly searching the skies for something random to look at.

To check her boundless curiosity into.

But even from here–so high up–there was nothing to probe.

Except for Mother’s all-knowing presence.

“So the little one is awake now, is she?”

Kayla turned and found herself staring into a carefully crafted image of Mother herself. A phantasm of color and energy. She rarely gave her true self away to those she commanded out from under her wing.

Even from me–her once-trusted lieutenant. The girl reflected.

“I’m surprised by your change, but not all that astonished. I knew that this would one day happen–when you decidingly overreached yourself–the battle against you would be even more so easier.” The energy construct in front of her purred.

Kayla didn’t buy into Mother’s hyperbole statements. She knew that she was so much more than the true sum of her parts–her existence–and she had proven that time and again.

“Overconfidence in your strength has always been a weakness with you, Mother.” Kayla countered with quiet assurity. “We both have known this for the last one hundred years. Even when I was your favored child, you always bolstered that your power was unmatched and therefore would never be challenged forthwith. For years, you kept that dogma at the fore step of your global campaign against the humans–drilling that nonsensical crap into my head so much that I could not think of anything else.”

“You never were supposed to, my dear. That was the whole point of having you under my thrall.”

“Yes…and you never once expected me to turn against you. You always believed that I would return to your nest upon completion of each and every mission–and listen to your crooning badgering until I was ready for my maturation and regeneration cycle.”

“You never once regretted me properly vetting you for the days that would lay ahead for both of us, Kayla. You were my eyes and ears for the future conquest of Earth itself. Not once did you show any sign of regret or petulance. You were most eager to carry out my designs.”

Kayla stood there and nodded. “Yes, I did. I remember that all too well. But it still doesn’t change the facts as they are now. I am not coming back to the fold, Mother. My new life is with these humans and the one that I love so very much.”

There was a moment of blessed silence, followed by some laughter.

“Ah, yes…your ongoing affair with one of these…humans. Primitive as they may be. Why you would sink yourself down to their level after so long–I haven’t been able to quite figure out.”

“Is it because you never knew the love of another while in the Legendary Sect of Others? Never had a moment of happiness or true companionship?” Kayla challenged.

“When you are running the cosmos, you don’t have the time for such trivial luxuries, dear. Even you should know that. Your daughter certainly does.”

“You…know about Felicia?” The girl asked guardedly.

“Of course. Her war against me has produced some rather…interesting...shall we say…? Insights into the mind of the one which I am still presently engaged with.”

Kayla heard herself gasp sharply–her mind racing all the while, while Mother continued on unabated.

“–but I wouldn’t worry, Kayla. I will deal with her as soon as I take care of you and your little human resistance league.”

Kayla stared at the energy construct and then seized on something important from their discussion.

“But you can’t, can you? In all the times that we’ve fought, you’ve been able to only spare so much for the fighting while your resources are otherwise engaged elsewhere.” The girl’s memory matrices opened up even further–as new data started to flow unimpeded.

“Otherwise, you would’ve won decisively so many decades ago. But you couldn’t–could you? The humans were very much more capable and very flexible. They met your challenge on a number of fronts and have fought your forces to a standstill. The fact that I was involved in the mix, suggests that you needed someone expendable to take some of the heat off of you for a little while–so that you could lick your collective wounds and regroup.”

Nothing came from the energy construct as the two floated there in the air passively and serenely.

Kayla seized on the moment and pressed: “I’m right, aren‘t I? My coming back through the time stream wasn’t just an accident, was it? You planned this–the second the Distantly Removed decided to send one of us back to stop you from wrecking the natural balance in the lower planes.”

“So obtuse to very the end,” Mother’s voice cut through the painful silence between them. “You had no idea what I had in store. These pitiful things needed law and order and I provided it for them.”

“Slavery was never a fundamental right for you, Mother. These people never wanted to be subservient under your cruel tenure. They deserved so much more.”

“Not so by my standards. These creatures are just a small obstacle to greater things. And once they are removed–? The universe will be mine to command and control.”

Kayla opened her mouth angrily to counteract what Mother wanted–no desired–when the energy construct in front of her vanished in a blinding glare of bright light and dazzling pyrotechnics.

Leaving only a few stray particles of energy behind.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 190

2008-07-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Through the fog of time and space, Kenneth felt himself being pulled downwards. He felt like he was both flying and falling all at the same time.

His perceptions of self and the universe were so open as well as closed–making it very hard for him to know what was real and what was wholly imagined.

Images of the past and the present swirled around him like ghostly apparitions–marking some of the things he saw and felt, while in others–?

It was nothing more than a dream-laden fantasy made real.

Those experiences shocked and thrilled him–leaving him to wonder if he had indeed led that life or one like it.

One filled with hope, promise, and charm.

Was it this life? He wondered to himself–just as the circus act he was presently going through finally ended. Was it this life that I never had? The one where I never fought the Neos? Where my own existence was not reared upon as something having stellar importance to a woman whom lived beyond the boundaries of the known universe and time itself?

It certainly did fit the pattern.

The time upon which he and Kayla had used the temporal transition terminal in the Lab to escape from a terrible future to find themselves landed in a past both strange and wondrous to them.

The fog of both time and space erased itself out of the ether from whence it came and a cold rain splattered itself down upon the unsuspecting time traveler.

Kenneth didn’t find himself where he was supposed to. The area in question was a collection of downtown buildings and where he was–a bus stop with a curious metal pagoda overhang. Nearly shaped like an umbrella, but not quite.

There was a bank behind him–called Frontier Bank–and right where he was, there was a Subway across the street where a Ben Brower’s jewelry store once sat, before that, it was a store for collections and older antiques.

But that had closed down, making way for the jewelry store and then the Subway.

Kenneth Sparks milled about the tiny bus stop, waiting for the Everett #9 to pick him up from his current job at the Comcast Community Center (where the Everett Silvertips played often); and take him uptown to the Boeing Credit Union where Kayla worked as a bank clerk.

The man didn’t trade any glances with his fellow bystanders. It had been a strange three months since they landed in the year 2003; being off their mark by a half-dozen years.

Barry Manilow did tell them that the temporal fix wouldn’t be perfect, but he was certain that it could get them to wherever the point of origin was in this generational war.

But why the West Coast? The man asked himself as the Everett Transit bus #9 showed up finally after a 20-minute wait. (As there had been a small delay at the main bus terminal.)

From his knowledge of future events, Washington state was a no-man’s land. The area had been blasted clean of all human population centers; with few towns and scattered segments left over to tough it out on their own.

All the major cities–including Everett–had been utterly decimated.

What was left–from his Uncle Roy’s schoolings–was nothing more than pock-marked craters.

There was nothing here to suggest that the war got its start here.

But once stranded in the past, both travelers knew that they couldn’t return. In failure or success.

A one-way trip.

There was no turning back.

The bus paused at one of its many scheduled stops to pick him–and some other bystanders–up; giving Kenneth Sparks to pay the 50-cent toll and allowing him onboard.

From what he was told by some of the regulars, the price used to be between 75-cents and $1.50. But recent changes in the fare schedule allowed the Everett Transit Authority to switch fares.

Nodding to the bus operator in passing, Kenneth Sparks paid the fare, then took his seat.

The downtown hub of Everett was never quiet–even on a Tuesday. There were plenty of action, plenty to see and do. The bars were open late at night, with some music concerts along with some locally known (or famous) band gigs.

But it all took some getting used to.

Where the ended up was a bit of a harrowing experience–as Kayla was plunked at the doorstep of the Broadway campus’s Providence Medical Center; just right outside the darkened pharmacy.

It only took Kenneth a few moments to locate the entrance of the emergency room and rush in with his laboring lover and future wife–as Kayla stood ready to give birth to their baby girl.

No questions were asked then–not when the staff saw that this was a real emergency and not one that could wait for several hours before seeing a qualified receptionist. (As were the majority of cases due to an increased backlog of patients, fewer available beds, and a shortage of nurses and staff on call. The health care industry at the time was going through a crisis–and there were few realistic options on how to deal with an overtaxed and overworked system on the verge of collapse.)

Kenneth carried Kayla onto an empty gurney and gently plopped her right then and there–before she started screaming in pain.

The nurse next to her was slightly frantic and calmly trying to get her vitals before the young woman screamed again and a doctor called out: “The baby’s crowning! Someone call Dr. Gifford and tell her to get down here!”

Kenneth could only stand by and helplessly watch as his lover started to push and push–straining to deliver their first child for the second time. (The first time being in Wynne, Arkansas–shortly after the Neos assault which cost the small hamlet its existence and Kayla her sanity and adulthood–as their daughter regressed the woman back to the time where Kenneth and her first met in 2163.)

The cries intensified for only a few more seconds–before Kayla fell back on the gurney and both the attending nurse and doctor managed to extricate the newborn from the depths of her womb without any complications or problems.

“It’s a girl.” The nurse next to Kenneth said with bright happiness.

While the news would’ve given any other expectant father joy and elation, Kenneth felt strangely at peace and vindicated; having experienced this many times before in the future–but along different timelines and alternating events.

Things which Kayla shared with him on their journey towards San Francisco and the Lab.

“How is she?” He asked out of both concern and habit.

“They are both fine.” The attending doctor said–his jacket ID card spelling out DR. JACK POULSON–before another doctor showed up out of the blue; this one a tall and somewhat attractive woman with brown hair tied behind her head.

“Sue!” the man said with a strained smile. “Glad you could make it–seeing that the event is already come and gone.”

The resident pediatrician stuck a tongue out at the offending doctor in question and asked the attending nurse to hand over the new bundle of joy.

“How is she?” The woman asked.

“Vitals are good and strong. She’s healthy from what I can tell.”

Kenneth watched as Doctor Susan Grayson fussed over his newborn daughter–both out of practice and habit.

Looking over to Kenneth, she asked with sparkling blue eyes: “Have you thought of a name for her yet?”

“Felicia.” Kayla’s voice cut in–strong and sure; surprising both her and Poulson.

“Looks like someone is feeling better–odd that there is an absence of bleeding and amniotic fluid discharge.” The man said with some confusion in his voice.

“Are you sure that her water broke before she gave birth?”

Susan and the attending nurse both bent over and sure enough there wasn’t any sign of either.

Not even the sac which held the baby was out.

Jack put on a pair of gloves and gently probed the woman’s delivery canal and it came out clean and surprisingly dry.

“That’s very strange. Other than some redness and some signs of birth trauma–this woman doesn’t look like she had just given birth at all.”

Kenneth recalled being uncomfortable and somewhat at a genuine loss to explain this one. By all accounts, no one would believe that neither she nor their newborn daughter weren’t human on the scale that most people in this age were.

Things like this were always found in this day’s science fiction and fantasy reads and other forms of media. Even in anime.

“Hansberger’s Syndrome.” Kayla’s strong voice punched through the atmosphere of confusion.

“Yes, but it’s so rare. Only a few hundred cases have been actually documented worldwide.” Poulson said out of the blue.

“Hansberger’s Syndrome?” Kenneth echoed in puzzlement. “What’s that?”

“It’s a rare condition where some women are born without a natural ability to discharge their placenta or baby fluid. But this is only because they lack both.” The doctor looked over at the baby and then back at Kayla Sorenson.

“And births are even more astronomically rare. There has never been a case where a fully formed baby was being delivered.”

“So no Hansberger Syndrome?” Kenneth ventured–crestfallen. That definitely was going to rule out Kayla’s condition. But could early 21st century medicine detect what mid-22nd century science could easily pick out?

The fact that Kayla and her baby weren’t human?

Poulson appeared irritated by the man’s seemingly innocent question.

“Are you the doctor here or me?” He snapped.

“Uh…” the other man began with crystal uncertainty–then was unceremoniously pushed out of the way by the sudden start of the gurney.

“Stay or go.” The man said with a brittle voice. “But leave the diagnosing to me. That’s why we are doctors and not know-it-all patients.”

A deep blush rode the man’s cheeks and turned his ears pink.

“Sorry.”

The attending nurse looked at the chaste man with some sympathy.

“Don’t feel so bad. Jack’s always like this.” She said. “We’ll discover what’s wrong with your girlfriend and let you know what we find.”

Then she left–leaving Kenneth Sparks stranded in the hallway.

“That’s what worries me.” He said softly. The last thing they needed was the local (or government) authorities involved in their affairs.

Especially when it involved saving humanity’s future.

A future the pair just escaped from.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 189

2008-05-31T23:42:00.001-07:00

Midnight.

May 26th, 2166.

The fire crackled merrily on its own–as the team bedded down for the night. Tents were strung up, leaving the place around them to be both eerily quiet. And haunted.

Kayla Sorenson stood on the precipice of the outermost mesa–overlooking another aspect of the forest from which they had come out of.

Kenneth and the rest of them crowded around the fire–but none of them had talked much since the bombshell had been dropped on them three hours ago.

Kim and Anna bade themselves goodnight–both women electing to take one of their spare tents, while Timothy stayed with the former lieutenant for another half an hour more.

“I’m sorry.” he finally said– breaking the lengthy tedium which had imprisoned them all.

“For what?” Kenneth returned, jerking himself out of his own private thoughts.

“For what you have to go through.” Timothy said.

“I know.” The man said. “This whole change with her is going to put a crimp on our relationship.”

“How do you think you’ll be able to handle it?”

“I don’t know.” Kenneth said in all honesty. “Things just seem to be so confusing right now.”

“Not just the fact that we now know who were up against, eh?” Timothy commented with a knowing look.

“That too.”

Timothy sighed a little to himself before he got up. “Don’t worry. Things will work out. If you guys were able to survive the worst the Neos have thrown at you and Mother Nature as well-?” He broke off when he read the dour expression on the man’s face–then left him to his own devices; retiring to the side tent on the far left side of the formerly abandoned campsite.

The worst, huh? Kenneth thought to himself. I thought I could handle anything that the enemy had thrown at me. And so far, things have worked well in my favor.

But I never knew that things would turn out to be like this. Especially with…

Kayla.

He looked up and over at the precipice–finding that she hadn’t moved much at all these last couple of hours.

“She did say she was going on sentry duty after the brou-ha-ha with Crenshaw…” And that left the man pissed as hell. Dammit! Couldn’t even exact my revenge against that traitorous asshole!

“But at least he got his just desserts.” He heard someone tell him in a sultry whisper; the warm breath sending tiny little shivers down his spine.

Kenneth looked up and found Kayla staring down at him–bent over slightly at the hip. Her breasts shook in time with her moves–each soft orb undulating in its own right.

The man’s throat closed up at the erotic sight of her still dressed in one of the female overseer’s jumpsuits. Not a single tear was present in the outfit.

But each line of her was beyond graceful and more lithe than before.

“W-what?” He managed to say haltingly; then cleared his throat. “What was that?”

“Crenshaw. Just desserts. It’s what he got–for his actions in Wynne, lover.” Kayla said quietly, eyeing him for a moment longer and then straightening.

It was very hard for Kenneth to keep both eyes off her shapely ass and the righteous curves of her legs. Not to mention the wave of her lower back.

Everything appeared to be perfectly proportioned from what he knew of her before.

But then he shook his head in mutual frustration.

No! No! No! He silently chided himself. It’s all wrong! This is all wrong!

“You can‘t expect him to act in any less of a disagreeable fashion. His fate was sealed the moment the Neos got a hold of him. Him and the rest of Susan Meyers ill-fated cadre.” She continued saying, before she turned her head to look back at him.

And smiled.

Kenneth blushed vividly and then coughed some more discretely.

“Um…yes…but will we encounter him again?” He asked.

Kayla turned around and walked towards him slowly; gaily.

“That all depends on what Mother wants.” She said in all truthfulness. When she reached him, she kneeled down next to him and placed a hand on his thigh.

“It all depends on what you want as well.”

“Huh?”

“No matter what, I still love you, Kenneth J. Sparks. Need I remind you that I still hold your life in my hands?” The teenager ran a hand up his leg slowly, tracing a lazy circle out with a couple of fingers and then squeezed a part of his flesh softly.

Kenneth did his best not to jump, but that didn’t stop him from shivering.

Kayla smiled demurely and then asked, “Nervous, my love?”

“Uh…” Kenneth ventured stupidly.

The girl sealed any further conversation bytes by rising up and leaning over to kiss him fully on the mouth.

For a moment, the former lieutenant couldn’t tell what was going on–his brain was on fire and every part of his body was aflame with intense desire and rampant confusion.

However, he was saved when he accidentally was leaned backwards too far and he went tea over kettle backwards into the soft dirt and grass–

With Kayla Sorenson on top of him.

“Mmph!” The teen went; wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Then she moved herself down over his groin, her aching pussy spasming with desire.

“What’s this?” She revealed teasingly, slowly grinding her crotch over the hardness of his cock. She pressed down even further–committing every delicious inch of him to memory.

“Turned on, eh, lover?”

Kenneth shuddered then–partly in embarrassment, partly in shame.

“Gods…I’m going to hell. I just know it!” He muttered under his breath–even as Kayla moved off of him for a second and undid his pants slowly.

“Why?” Kayla said with a glint of mischief in her eyes. The zipper came down seamlessly as she finished undressing him and then yanked down his pants.

His large rod bulged out obscenely before her–and Kayla’s eyes grew wide at the sight of such an impressive specimen. She recalled how nicely endowed he was (when she was much older), but from a teenage point of view?

She felt like she was suddenly smaller and just stumbled upon a veritable Adonis.

She sucked in her breath in spurts; gasping really, before she reached out with a hand and caressed his prick through his boxers.

The thick and distended organ pulsed and grew under her inquisitive touch–causing Kenneth to groan softly in pleasure.

Despite the heated moment, the man remembered where she had left off with: A question.

“This. Making out with a teenage girl.” He finished before feeling his younger lover’s hands on his hot organ–as she extricated it from the imprisoned confines of his underwear.

Kayla nodded from where she was positioned and started to stroke him with slow and sensual movements.

“There is no law in the world saying that two people can’t share in an intimate moment, lover.” She said.

“But sixteen…?” The man queried.

“Does it matter, Kenneth? I am still the woman that you loved so very much.” Kayla finished, feeling her hand get slicked with his pre-cum. She bent down to lick the one side of his cock with her tongue–running it up and down to clean it of the juices flowing out from the tip of the spongy head.

Kenneth groaned softly at the hot and wet sensations titillating his tool.

Then the teenager proceeded to suck on him lovingly–driving her mouth down the length of his cock in one fluid motion; capturing him at the back of her throat.

The girl hummed with delight at the feeling of being able to reciprocate without the need to explain any further on how much she really loved him.

No matter what befell her.

Kayla continued to pleasure him quietly for the next few minutes; bobbing her head up and down on his engorged rod–silently coaxing his cum out of him the best she knew how.

Then she would slow down–once she sensed that he was close to the edge–and allow her older lover a chance to recover. She could taste his pre-cum in her mouth and it was a great feeling; being able to give someone pleasure while garnering a little of her own.

Her insides were quaking with need and a flaming desire, but she wasn’t sure if she could take his girth. Kayla was able to take him on orally with no problem, so maybe it wouldn’t be so hard for her to mount him physically?

There was only one way to find out–and she would have to wait just one more minute.

Glancing up at Kenneth silently, she could read his body language easily. Read how he quaked and shivered under her surefire touch.

Read the spasms in his legs, his arms and his…

Hands.

The girl reached up and took hold of his left hand and squeezed gently, lovingly–even as she assaulted his prick without let up.

This time, she would finish him off quickly and quietly. The others didn’t need to know what was transpiring.

Not tonight.

Tonight was their night together. In so many days since they were captured, Kayla had never been able to express herself to him. She was always dueling and fighting with him on so many fronts.

Only because she loved him more than anything in the universe. Not even her family and colleagues of the Distantly Removed could offer nothing like this.

A bond which surpassed anything either of them knew.

Quietly, my love. Kayla suddenly warned telepathy–as she felt his cock swell inside of her mouth as it got ready to shoot off a load.

No need to let the whole world know how you feel.

Like clockwork, his cock erupted as the former lieutenant squelched a scream building up deep inside the pits of his stomach.

Hot sperm flooded the teen’s mouth and she quickly worked the precious gift down her throat with ease–even though it was quite a copious amount.

All she kept thinking was to keep things going without backing up or even gagging, but by the quietly torturous grunts and softly delivered moans from Kenneth–Kayla could tell that there was no problem on her end.

She was doing better than she could remember.

Of course, that time when Kenneth was a prisoner and she allowed him to take her like a wild animal was a completely different story all together.

That was something she would treasure for as long as she lived.

Tonight was another one of those special times. This was meant for her as a way of atoning for being the cold, cast-iron bitch that she had been for the last month.

Especially when she came close to killing him yesterday.

Kayla shuddered in part due to her own external orgasm and unadulterated shame.

She almost lost her grip on his spasming cock, but quickly captured it with her talented mouth and worked her tongue back and forth to coax anything leftover from his expended organ.

Kayla swallowed many times in the process it took her to finish her own searing hot orgasmic rush. She hummed and moaned quietly with delight at the strength and power of Kenneth’s cock in her mouth as she nursed on it lovingly–before drawing it out slowly with equally torturous movements.

She knew that his stamina would only increase with each waking moment, and she wanted him inside of her.

“Mmm…!” She finished with a grin on her face. It was never anything about innocence any longer. She had lost that months ago when she finally admitted to herself that Kenneth was the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

No matter what form it took.

“That was so good, Kenneth. Such a big load!” She rambled on ecstatically–then sucked on the tip of his prick enthusiastically for another minute or so.

Staying hard would be not a problem with Kenneth. He was still blasted from the powerful orgasm that he felt rip right through his body.

Words escaped him simply because his mind had gone blank from the stimulus overload.

Kayla squeezed him playfully and asked, “Still with me?”

“H-huh?” The man managed to croak out.

The girl closed her eyes for a second, directing something inward–and the suit material around her waist magically retreated up and out a bit.

Opening them, she smiled and straddled the man whom once carried her child. A child who will always be born the same no matter what transpired in the here and now.

“Look up Kenneth,” Kayla scolded firmly. “Look and see the woman whom loves you beyond description.”

Kenneth did and instead of the sixteen-year-old whom he had mistaken for earlier, he saw the familiar face of the woman whom had traveled with him all these months.

“K-Kayla? You look…you look…different.”

The girl stared back at him while she maneuvered herself to impale herself on her man’s throbbing fuck stick.

When she was done, she carefully aimed his dick into the waiting hole of her soaked pussy–and pushed down gently.

“Not so different…” she grunted for a second; amazed by how tight she was to him, but found that the sensation had passed and she slid down on him without further effort. “ThatIcan’tdothis!” she gasped hurriedly.

Then she started to ride him slowly, sensuously. Making sure that Kenneth felt every erotic moment of him fucking her without abandon.

“See? You can’t ignore what we both need, my love.” Kayla murmured–bending down to collect a second kiss on the mouth. “And what I need right now is…you.”

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 188

2008-05-31T23:22:00.000-07:00

Timothy Crandall sighed and sat there, watching the stars from his perspective. The place was dead quiet. Nothing alive moved through the wet brush, nothing flew through the barren skies.

Except himself, the teenager believed for a second that he was the only human left alive.

That changed a second later, when he heard someone walking through the brush and dead foliage.

“Hello?” He heard somebody call out.

Timothy reached down and grabbed his rifle and primed it.

“Who’s that?” He returned edgily.

“Anna Ellison.” The woman said. “You?”

“Timothy Crandall.” The teenager answered; lowering his weapon.

The footsteps got closer and closer until he could only see a small flash of her profile in the waning light. Further out, the darkness had overtaken the land and there was no chance of a full moon tonight.

“You okay?” She asked as she came abreast of him.

“I was busted up pretty good, but Kayla saved me.”

That bit of news stunned the woman.

“Kayla?”

Timothy nodded. “Yep. Popped out of nowhere and saved my bacon.” He tried to rise on his own, but couldn’t quite do it on his own.

“Ugh!” He grimaced, before Anna came in and stopped him from falling back.

“Gotcha.” She said with surprising strength and reassurance.

Timothy had grabbed her by the shoulder and then felt his hand slip a bit, but ended up grabbing her breast on the follow up.

Timothy squeezed reflexively; a bit surprised by her size, and blushed vividly as a result.

“Sorry about that!” he squeaked with major embarrassment. But Anna didn’t seem to mind at all.

“What have you to worry about?” She said with an understanding smile on her face. “You slipped; that’s all.” Still supporting him, Anna said, “I know things have been tough between us. And that we haven’t had much time together.”

“True.” Timothy said, before the woman turned and face and kissed him on the mouth.
Breaking off shortly after that, she said, “But I’ll make it up. I promise.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Timothy freely dismissed. “I just want to get out of this whole affair alive.”

“We will.” Anna vowed. “We will. Now let‘s go join the party. Can you walk?”

“I can…try.” The teen offered with a suppressed grimace. “But go…slowly.”

“Sure.” Anna breathed out with a sigh.

The two of them started off.

* * *

No one breathed a word or moved a muscle–after the newcomer’s announcement.

But it was Thomas Crenshaw whom broke the silence with a short burst of laughter of his own.

“And who the hell are you?” He challenged sarcastically. “Some little waif who got lost in the woods?”

The girl didn’t bat an eye when she said, “Someone who’s going to end this charade. And if you were wise, you won’t interfere.” The pulsating whine went up another notch–as she increased power to the rifle.

“Do I make myself clear, Crenshaw?”

For Kenneth, it felt like someone had crushed his spirit down to nothing and then detonated it with terrific force.

He stared at the image of an alluring angel that he himself had only seen when he was back at the ranch–with Tanner and the rest of the gang belonging to the 14th.

He felt a heaviness in his chest as he just stared some more; not being able to take his eyes off of her.

But it couldn’t be! A small part of his brain rationalized. This isn’t possible!

In response, the girl looked over at the tortured older man and smiled warmly.

“It is me, Kenneth. Just a little different. That’s all.” She offered in solace.

Kim Sanders didn’t know what to make of the girl either.

“Where did you come from?”

“From a subspace domain unlike anything you’ve ever known.” The girl said simply–the objective in front of her not wavering in the slightest.

As her target was Thomas Crenshaw.

The traitor of the 133rd Mountain Division didn’t blink an eye at the weapon thrust at him so unexpectedly.

He just smiled.

“Ah…I see. So the wild card in this whole fucking war has become a little angel of some kind.” He finally muttered in dawning realization. “And who gave you a second chance at life, you inhuman bitch?”

The teen didn’t blink. “Someone you wouldn’t know.” She fired back tightly. “Now: Let Kenneth go. Or I will do it for you.”

Just like that, Thomas Crenshaw shrugged and lowered his weapon.

“Fine, fine. Take him. I don’t want him anyways. He’s served his purpose.”

Kayla Sorenson didn’t lower hers. She saw deception and murderous intent in the other man’s eyes.

She didn’t trust him one iota.

“Move slowly Kenneth. Back towards me.” She commanded. “And no sudden moves.”

The former lieutenant did as he was instructed. Not because he was used to following orders, but because the tone in the teenager’s voice suggested something otherwise.

Something just wasn’t right.

Kenneth kept his gaze locked onto Crenshaw’s as he almost got within range of Kayla Sorenson and Kim Sanders. The woman herself hadn’t said so much as a word since this whole stand off began.

“You okay?” She asked; as Kenneth took up station next to her–and unfurled his pulse rifle in one smooth motion.

Priming it, he let the rifle rest in the crook of his arm.

“I am now.” He answered with a silly grin on his face.

Kayla didn’t respond to the banter going on. Instead, she was zeroed in on Thomas Crenshaw.

“So when did they do it to you, Crenshaw? When did they change you? Right after the twister hit and knocked you askew? When you were killed by that falling rock? Which part of you did they take and assimilate?” She questioned directly–stunning the rest of party.

The malicious glint in the man’s eyes suddenly died away–leaving only a cold and uncaring shell of a man.

“Nothing gets past you–does it; dear?” The thing before them said coldly. “Unlike the former lieutenant here, you seem to catch onto my little whims. But I suspect it’s because you are still connected to my great works. My plan to remake this world into my own. It’s such a shame that you will never be an active participant in it.” Crenshaw paused for a second before resuming. “But to answer your earlier question, this body was assimilated shortly after the storm hit. Most of the survivors had landed right into our midst–upon landing. And seeing how battered and broken, the lot of them didn’t offer that much resistance to us.”

Kayla didn’t blink. “So you assimilated this man to gain…what? An moment’s worth of insight? Some clairvoyance into your own unset destiny?”

What was left of Thomas Crenshaw just smiled.

“Now, now, now. If I were to tell you everything that went on in my operations, child, it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise–now would it?” It said, then turned and walked away from them.

Before too long, what was Thomas Crenshaw had vanished into the darkness.

Kenneth tensed. “Shit.” He muttered to himself. So much for my getting revenge thing.

Attacking what used to be Crenshaw would be a moot point. But it did figure into what he had suspected earlier: They were all left alive for a particular reason.

The Neos bomb run didn’t do more than rattle their cages. And this whole charade was designed to do one thing and one thing only: To extract information out of each of them in turn.

By playing the fool, Mother gained more than she’d lost in this exercise.

“Damn…” He complained out loud–after patting himself down briskly for a few seconds. Then he remembered something. “Where’s my tracker? Where‘s Timothy?”

“Coming.” Someone new piped up.

Kenneth and the rest turned and found Anna and Timothy Crandall navigating their way up the steep incline of the mesa they were all perched on.

Kenneth bounded down and then reached the pair before the two could get up and join the others.

“I need to check something,” he said in a rush; grabbing a hold of his pack and yanking open a flap which contained his tracker.

The invaluable device came through unscathed.

Flicking it on, he went through a screen and then two–full of readings–and then switched it to another setting.

The screen was painted with angry red dots by the hundreds; blinking insistently at him. But in the next few seconds–?

The threat display pulsed on its own–then the dots disappeared all together.

Kenneth swore vividly.

“We’ve been had.”

“What?” Anna Ellison answered back in confusion.

“Shit on a brick stick!” The man seethed to himself. “The fuckers were playing with us!”

“Huh?” Kim called down from the top as the three of them slowly made their way back up to the abandoned campsite.

“The Neos made second-rate chumps out of all of us. That is–except Kayla over there.” Kenneth said–pointing to the teenage girl; whom stood by in silent watchfulness.

“They made us all believe that we were surrounded. But I have a strong suspicion that they used a refraction field generator to paint the area with numerous bogies.”

“So how many of them were there in reality, then?” Timothy wheezed, before dropping his pack to the ground. “Gods, that thing was fucking heavy.” Then sat down on the ground with Anna’s assistance.

“Just what was left of the invasion force–and a few short-range bombers.” Kayla told them. “But nothing to really threaten us. They came and got what they wanted: The town itself. They left us alive for a particular reason. They wanted us to know that we could’ve been taken at any time–but they chose not to.”

“Why?” Kim asked, perplexed. “If they had us on the ropes, then why didn’t they capture us? Overwhelm us with superior numbers?”

Kayla answered for her.

“Because this is a game to Mother. In decades past, she wouldn’t have given it a second thought about overwhelming any of your forces with superior numbers. This time around, she’s doing something different. She’s sent enough of her forces against me and Kenneth many times over with disastrous results. But the object wasn’t to lose at all. But to test me.”

“Why?”

“Because no matter what, she wants me back into the fold. It‘s always been that one singular objective–even if I‘ve been blind to that ideal.”

“W-what?” Kenneth choked out in astonishment. “For god’s sake…why?”

“The game, Kenneth. Remember? The game we’ve played for centuries. It is something by which this war isn’t going to end pretty for you.” Kayla said, before joining them. “A conflict which surpasses anything you humans have done to each other in the past. A contest which doesn’t have defined winners or losers.”

“A power struggle of a sorts?” Timothy threw out.

Kayla nodded.

“Yes. Mother doesn’t care about what you want. She’s only consumed with what she wants. And on a number of fronts, she has been successful in getting just that. But time has a tricky way of undoing what’s already been done. Similar to what you would call the chaos theory. In this instance, she’s gotten what she’s been striving for all these times. But an entropy effect is starting to blossom in the space/time continuum. And it is there, that her precious empire has finally begun to unravel–throwing everything she’s worked hard for…out the proverbial window. So she’s been fighting to retain a hold of it. No matter the cost.”

“And if she gets you?”

“Then the cracks stop their onward march, the entropy dies unchallenged, and Mother will not have to worry about having to deal with people like you ever again.”

“But you won’t…let her take you–will she?” Kim asked.

“The thing is, is that she’s already taken me. But she needs time to undo what’s already been done. So we have that much time to try and stop her at the source.” Looking at Kenneth for a long moment, she added, “that’s why we are on this mission to begin with: To stop her from ever achieving her objectives in the first place.”

“But what if you fail?”

Kayla chuckled to herself. “Funny thing, is that I already have. But for some unknown reason, events aren’t playing themselves out as they should’ve been.”

“And that’s driving her nuts…” Anna murmured.

“Wouldn’t you be–if you had everything in your control, but suddenly lost that control? I know I would be driven bananas. And Mother is just doing what comes natural to someone once belonging to the Legendary Sect of Others.”

Kenneth’s eyes bugged out.

“You mean…you mean…?” He fumbled for the right words.

“Yes. She was once one of us. Not the Distantly Removed mind you, but belonging to the other group. The Legendary Sect of Others.” Kayla revealed to them all. “She was a highly valued member of our people. Until something happened and she ended up here. How that came to pass, I still do not know.”

“Holy…shit…” Kim whispered. “And here I thought my life was complicated enough…?” Then she laughed nervously. “Geez…”

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 187

2008-04-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

Kayla stood by while her daughter worked on the problem feverishly. From her perspective, the space/time continuum was coming apart at the seams from within the window itself.

Images were flooding backwards and forward in a temporal soup that bled off into another subspace domain. Afterimages and a raucous amount of external energies continuously fed into the domain which Kayla and Felicia were in–enveloping and wrapping around both women.

“Impressive little wench, isn’t she?” Felicia grated–her hands playing across the window spectra itself; fingers immersed in those same type energies. “Able to stymie my efforts and attempts with each passing millennium.”

“How long have you been at this?”

“The war in general?”

“Yes.”

“Thousands of years–if you can believe that.”

Kayla didn’t doubt that. In some recess of her own mind, she realized that time itself didn’t stand a ghost of a chance–when involving one of the members of from the Distantly Removed.

But all that was changed when Felicia Sorenson led out a whoop of triumph and she stood back–allowing her teenage mother to view her handiwork.

“What do you think?” She asked with a touch of pride in her voice.

“I…I…” Kayla began–uncertain as to what to do next.

Felicia turned back to regard her own handiwork and nodded.

“Yes, I know. It’s pretty awesome when you stand back to think about it some.” Then she chuckled and reached out for her. “Unfortunately, we don’t have the time necessary to dawdle–as much as I would like to, Mother.”

Now Kayla was confused.

“W-what?”

“The window’s fix is only temporary. I can only hold this door open for you for just a bit longer.” Felicia said. “Otherwise–Mother will gain a bead on you here in the distant future and things will become more interesting once again. That’s something I cannot allow to happen. This domain is mine and will remain mine while I still draw breath.”

Kayla could immediately sense just how far her daughter would go the extra mile to keep herself and her unborn child safe.

“I understand,” the teen said softly. “I would do no less.”

“Yes, I know.” Felicia said. “You’ve shown a willingness to sacrifice yourself above all else. This is something that my grandparents never took into account when they had you.”

“You knew–?” Kayla began to ask–then shook her head. “Yes of course. You’ve got unlimited access to the space/time continuum.”

Felicia was about to respond when the window began to spaz out on her; breaking her train of thought in two.

“Time to go, Mother.” She said curtly. “Remember what transpired here and do try to stay out of trouble.” She smiled as she said it–before reaching out to grab the startled young woman and chucked her into the window itself.

For Kayla Sorenson, the experience was nothing like her first “birth”–where she had been enmeshed inside a soft, velvety cocoon-like stasis pod (from what she recalled from what the other version of her had gone through); and she came clawing out of it with spit and vinegar in her face and eyes.

Her second real-time birth was nothing more than a cultured growth/nutrient bath; enclosed in a warm and secure stasis chamber.

This was just a mirror-image of what she had experienced twice in a single lifetime.

All rolled into one.

Kayla stumbled around then.

Trying desperately to get her footing.

But she couldn’t.

She couldn’t.

She.

Couldn’t.

Find.

Her.

Way!

The energies swirling around her laughed at her attempt to reclaim some portion of her equilibrium, but Kayla refused to give up.

Picking herself right up where she had stumbled and fallen, the teenager stepped forward blindly–while being wrapped up in a scintilla of white light, blue gossamers of energy, and other sparkly-glowing star stuff which she couldn’t identify from her perspective.

16-year-old Kayla Sorenson pushed on.

No further had she taken a few tentative steps, did something iris on the other end. A portal of pure white light and energy.

Then–unexpectedly–gravity took a hold of her and sucked her in without so much as a word of regret or heart-felt apology.

Kayla went flying forward–the scream lodged deep in herself, wedged helplessly in her throat.

* * *

Timothy Crandall still couldn’t move an inch more than he had been successful in doing for the last twenty minutes.

But all that ended when a bright flash of light interrupted his field of vision and felt something land directly on top of him!

“Ow!” He cried out in reflex as the body in question finished using him for a personal trampoline.

“Sorry!” Came a high-pitched, girlish voice. “Didn’t think I’d land on anyone coming back!”

Timothy saw a flash of someone’s shapely ass in his face followed by a couple of coltish-looking legs and then–

A mane of jet black hair.

Instead of allowing his emotions and raw feelings direct his actions, the teenager did the only thing he could: He screamed.

“Would you mind helping me up!??”

“Trapped are we?” The same voice teased back. “No wonder I didn’t you the first time since coming back to this time-frame.”

“Time-frame?”

The owner of those legs stood up and Timothy had only a good look at the flawless skin and ankles.

And the sound of something metallic reconfiguring above his head.

“Stand still. I’m going to fire a cauterizing plasma-beam at your left side; don’t move.” The person said.

A bright beam of energy exploded before the stunned boy’s vision and he was forced to look away from the sight; lest he be blinded.

But he soon felt the weight lift from him as the downed tree came apart at last–freeing him from his own hellish imprisonment.

The reconfiguration sound echoed once more as the person in question reported.

“There. You’re free. But you’re leg’s pretty busted from what I can tell.”

“Is that why I can’t feel my legs?” Timothy joked. “Is that why I can’t feel anything below my waist?”

“Nerve damage.” The unrecognizable girl said. Timothy’s breath caught at the sight of her, but he averted his gaze as she helped him back onto his good leg.

Good if he could only feel it!

“Sit on this.” She said calmly.

Timothy did, before finally looking up at the girl in question. She was dressed in a revealing black body suit (one he had seen before–but couldn’t remember when) cut over a revealing profile, with raven-black hair and an attractive face.

Her eyes shone blue along with her intense expression of interest and worry.

“Do I know you?” He asked finally–after staring at her for what seemed like forever.

“You should,” the teen said simply. “I’m the one that saved your cute ass back there at the old farmstead–from the mob. But not the twister.”

Timothy’s eyes bugged out as she approached him.

“Y–you’re Kayla Sorenson?!?” He croaked.

“The one and the same.”

“H-how?” Timothy asked–shying away from him.

“Long story.” The girl said as she tried to gain access to his injured leg. Then stopped. “Look: This isn’t going to help you in the long run. If that leg doesn’t get healed, you’re in for a serious world of hurt. You’ll be in no condition to fight–let alone escape.”

Timothy relented finally, letting this younger version of Kayla touch his injured leg. Despite her appearance, she knew exactly where to go.

The hole in his jeans offered free access to his skin–where she placed a warm hand on his cold flesh.

“Geez! Your hands are warm!”

“And you’re a frozen popsicle.” Kayla fired back good-naturedly. “Now hold still while I inject you with some of my own nanites.”

Timothy did as he was told–feeling only a slight pinprick in his flesh. The riding goose bumps, followed by an intense warmth flooding his body–and a half of a Woodrow proved that he still had some feeling left him.

“Sorry.” He said through fierce embarrassment–even though he could not cross his legs.

Kayla glanced at him for only a second, measuring his reaction against what he was doing and smiled.

“It’s okay. I don’t expect anything less from a healthy boy your age. An erection is a good sign. It means that the circulation in your legs is being restored to normal and everything should be back to normal soon.” Kayla said.

“Ehhh…” Timothy voiced miserably.

“No girlfriend?” Kayla asked innocently.

“No. Well, yes.”

“Who?”

“Anna and I have something going, but it’s not official just yet.”

“Maybe I can help in that department.” Kayla offered with a small reassuring squeeze of his leg before getting up. Looking down at him, she said, “Now, I’m going to go and take off and find Kenneth. You’re going to stay here and wait until that leg of yours knits. Of course, you’ll be feeling some movement inside–but that’s going to be normal. That’s the nanites realigning your broken femur and fractured shin bone. The nerve damage has already been repaired, so don’t move–unless you have to.”

Disappointment filled Timothy’s mind, but he soon shoved that aside when he realized that Kayla still loved Kenneth. And nothing could ever change that.

“Just be careful.” He warned her stoically. “The Neos will be arriving soon and we still have to get the hell out of here.”

Kayla nodded.

“I know about them. But I need to get Kenneth out of his own impersonal jam first.”

Timothy watched her bound away effortlessly in a few spots–straining to keep an eye on the angelic profile she herself presented to him earlier.

And sighed dejectedly.

“Lucky dog…” He mused in frank awe. “Lucky, lucky…dog.”

* * *

“Stop.” Crenshaw ordered abruptly–just as they got above the rise and into the abandoned camp site.

“W-what? Why?” Kenneth Sparks questioned in surprise. Did he suddenly have a change of heart? Was he going to be let go? Or were they going to have an old-fashioned showdown; with guns blazing? (Like in those old Westerns which he watched as a kid growing up.)

Thomas shielded his eyes against the glare of the setting sun.

“Seems like we’ve got company–much sooner than I anticipated.”

“Huh?”

The man took a few steps inside the camp’s parameter in disgust. “Idiot.” He muttered–and then pushed him forward again. “Keep going and make no sudden moves.”

The former lieutenant nodded in sudden realization. “Ah, I see: I’m to be the sacrificial lamb here.”

“Not my problem if you’re not armed, Sparks.”

“I am. But why won’t you let me defend myself? Or are you intending on gunning me down in cold blood?”

Crenshaw tapped the back of his head with the side of his pulse rifle thoughtfully and then lowered it into a perfect strike position: Aimed right at the middle of Kenneth’s back.

“Thought had crossed my mind. So don’t give me a reason to.”

The former lieutenant stopped for a second to gain his bearings. Nothing appeared out of whack, but that didn’t mean anything in today’s world.

Scrutinizing the forest in front of him; Kenneth Sparks looked for any fresh signs of the enemy–even though he himself was a hostage to an old adversary of his.

No matter what, he still took his job as a freedom fighter very seriously.

Crenshaw solved his problems for him by launching a flare in their midst. The burning ember illuminated the area above their heads–casting everything in black and white shadows.

“Nothing there, asshole. At least– not yet.”

“So–” Kenneth started out, but was stopped short when he heard something crash through the woods behind them and he turned to see who it was.

“Freeze!” The woman in question ordered.

Kenneth did–for a split second and then smiled.

“Hey!” He called out. “What took ya?”

Kim Sanders expression bellied the fact that she was partially relieved but stolid in what she needed to do.

“Good to see that you’re still alive, Lieutenant.” She answered, before aiming her rifle in Crenshaw’s general direction. “But this traitor needs to answer for his actions.”

Crenshaw chuckled. “I can’t believe this shit.” Then aimed his rifle back at Kenneth. “Okay, you’ve got three seconds to make up your mind, Kimmie. Otherwise, pretty boy here is going to get burned.”

Without warning, someone else entered the fray; an attractive teenage girl who quickly took stock of the situation and then aimed her right arm at both Kenneth and Thomas Crenshaw.

To everyone’s amazement, her arm reconfigured into an energy rifle–which whined with a buildup of power.

“Okay. I know I’m late, but everybody…? Chill.” The newcomer said.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 186

2008-04-30T23:27:00.000-07:00

Timothy didn’t feel any part of his body when he finally came to. The only thing which registered on his brain was the odd sensation of creeping numbness riding up the one side of his left leg.

“Ooh boy…” he moaned out loud– after spitting out some leaves and other roughage– then called out: “Hello? Hello?”

There was no response from where he was laying down.

Stiff and sore from the impact, the older teen tried to move around–get up–but discovered that a few uprooted trees had come crashing down all around him–with one pinning him down on the left side of his body.

Timothy’s first instinct was to panic, but then he soon realized that would’ve been a futile gesture. No one was going to be there to save him.

“Man…” he whispered, tensing his body only ever so slightly. Not out of fear, but to see if he had any broken bones.

Sharp and knifing pain cut through him but that was all.

He would live.

But he probably wouldn’t like it.

“Shit…” he said through gritted teeth. “That was one hell of a ride…”

Then he struggled to get up, but he knew that this would take time.

* * *

“Hurry it up!” Thomas Crenshaw snapped impatiently–pushing Kenneth Sparks along down a different path; one which was apart from the destroyed cave.

Kenneth paused for a moment–apprehensive over what to do next.

“Up the slope, asshole…” he berated. “Let’s take a trip up memory lane–before my friends come along and pays us all a visit.”

The former lieutenant shrugged and started making his way back up the hill.

“What difference does it make to you? You won, didn’t you?” He said aloud. “You got what you came after.”

Crenshaw shrugged indifferently.

“Not really. This whole shit storm wasn’t my idea. Orders must’ve come down from the queen bitch running this op.”

That stopped Kenneth in his tracks.

“How much do you know about Mother?”

“Not much to keep a secret–especially when you’ve lived in this toilet heap for as long as I have.” Thomas said, before prodding him again. “Move along, Sparks. I don’t have all fucking day. And neither do you.”

Kenneth shrugged and then started up. There was no way he was going to take this louse of a human being out. Not since he was no longer armed.

“Charmed, I’m sure.”

“Don’t worry. You’re not going to be rescued anytime soon. Your friends were toast by that explosion. It’s just you and me.”

Kenneth chuckled. “I’m not looking to be saved.”

“Come off it, Sparks. How many times have I had to save your ass from the Neos back in Philadelphia?”

“We were on a recon mission back then, Crenshaw. What you did in Gettysburg, South Dakota–I will never forgive or forget.”

There was some laughter from the back.

“What did you think would happen, Lieutenant? That we would all get along so famously in trying to save the world from itself? Everyone has a price, Sparks.” Crenshaw lamented with a sigh. “Everyone on this forsaken mud ball of a planet has their price.”

“So you would sell out the human race for…what? A little peace and security?”

“I do what it takes, Kenneth. I do what it takes. Now: Keep marching and no more delays.”

Who’s delaying? The man thought. I’m just talking here.

But he had no choice in the matter. In the state Crenshaw was in, he would kill him without hesitation.

“So tell me something.” He began conversationally. “How did you survive the tornado–when no one else did?”

“A few of us survived. But not many. The twister caught us by surprise.” Crenshaw revealed. “I was thrown several hundred feet–landing on some bushes and rocks.”

Getting to the top of the hill, Kenneth could see nothing but a marred campsite–which he stopped to take a breather.

Crenshaw’s rifle prodded him otherwise.

“Keep going, Lieutenant. No one said you could stop.”

Kenneth mildly protested his case. “It was more difficult than I imagined! Or did you forget that the female overseer had me imprisoned for almost 3 weeks?”

The man’s eyebrows marched upwards along his brow.

“Doing what?” He inquired.

The man shuddered at the flood of memories of being that cybernetic bitch’s sex toy.

“You don’t want to know. It wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences.”

Another prod of the rifle.

“Then keep going. I want to make this quick.”

Kenneth resigned himself to a most unpleasant fate.

“Sure, sure.” He volunteered amicably. Then started walking. “I’m going, I’m going…”

* * *

Anna Ellison and Kim Sanders watched from the distant sidelines on how things were unfolding before their very eyes.

“I say we should follow.” Anna whispered urgently. “Rescue Kenneth and teach that sonovabitch a lesson in grave humility.”

Kim held up the former lieutenant’s personal tracker. Somehow, it survived the explosion when the man lost it–after falling on his face. Kim had managed to retrieve it and took it with her soon after Crenshaw took the man prisoner against his will.

“No time,” she said with a certain level of dread in her voice. “Those Neos know we are here. They’ll be up here in a matter of minutes.”

“But I thought it would take their troops hours to get up here like we did the first time?”

Kim checked the tracker and shook her head.

“Transports were unaffected by the attack. I’m reading some heavy activity down in the town itself. Looks like they’re getting ready for another assault.”

“Here?” Anna ventured warily.

“Duh…!” The woman shot back mildly. “Where do you think they’re going to strike next?”

Anna looked crestfallen for a second, then brightened. “Oh. Sorry. Brain-dead there for a moment.”

Kim laughed to herself. “Aren’t you always?” Then grabbed her by the arm. “You go and see if you can find Timmy. I’m going to see if I can rescue Kenneth from his current situation.”

“Crenshaw’s not going to like that…” Anna returned worriedly. “You know how he’s going to react.”

Kim dismissed her concerns with a wave of a hand. “He can bite me.” She retorted. “I’m not going to see him go down without at least some kind of a fighting chance.”

Anna stared at her friend and then shook her head.

“Man…Susan would be flipping her wig right now if she saw how gung-ho you are.”

A slight blush traveled up the woman’s cheeks.

“Had to happen someday. I was growing tired of being that bitch’s personal pet.” She told her with a small grin. “Now, let’s split up and meet back at the top of the hill. Before things get too hot for either of us to handle.”

“Okay.” Anna mused out loud. “Good luck.”

“Same to you.”

Then the pair split–each taking a different route.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 185

2008-02-28T21:56:00.000-08:00

Change of Seasons

Kayla Sorenson looked on worriedly as she watched the man she loved with all her heart be taken prisoner by someone that she sensed held great hatred and animosity for.

Pushing against the “window” generated by the subspace domain, the teenager found that she could not punch through.

“I need to go!” She screamed at the top of her voice–finding that even with her abilities, she still couldn’t pierce the barrier which separated the two of them.

Felicia understood her mother’s angst and shook her head.

“Time isn’t right, Mother. You have to be patient and watch as things unfold. Beating yourself against the spatial membrane isn’t going to make your job any easier.”

Kayla stopped in her tracks. “My job?” She echoed in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“The job that you were always tasked to do: Undo the damage caused by one of our own.”

Kayla’s eyes widened a bit. “You mean one of us caused all–” and pointed at the unfolding scene before her. “–that?”

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Felicia muttered out loud. “It’s one of the humans favorite sayings; commonly used to express what their leaders would always go and do above the wishes of the common good.”

“So how does that apply to this?” Kayla pointed out.

“This is the result of our latent influence and thirst for control. At least, this is what one of us staunchly believed.”

Kayla Sorenson watched as Kenneth was turned around by the point of the pulse rifle aimed at him. And felt helpless.

Kenneth…she reflected–gently banging on the window itself. I’m here! I’m here!

“One…of ours?” She was forced to ask–not caring at this moment who it was whom was responsible for this mess.

She just wanted to get back to Kenneth–and fix this mess.

Once and for all.

“Yes. Someone whom you’ve had dealings with before in the past–as well as in the future that you once visited.”

Kayla stopped for a second to consider what her daughter was telling her.

“Who is she?”

Felicia paused for a moment to think that one over. To let the cat out of the bag this early–?

“Your memories of her only refer to her as the ‘magistrate’.” The woman revealed after another moment’s worth of hesitation.

Kayla Sorenson’s eyes went wide with instant recognition.

“The magistrate!?” She hissed. “She is Mother? The cowardly bitch whom plagued and tormented us all the way?”

Felicia nodded.

“Yes. But this version of her doesn’t remember the role she will soon play in the past–one which you and Kenneth will take refuge in by trying to set things on the right path.”

“Can you tell me if we are successful?” The girl asked–not paying attention to what was going on in the “window”.

The scenage kept warping in and out of focus–before bleeding out for a few minutes; returning to a clear mess of lines and scrambled images.

Something like an old-style TV transmission.

“Shit…” Felicia said with mild annoyance. “That’s not going to do.” And then waved her hand in back of her teenaged mother.

The image refused to stabilize despite her best efforts.

“Mmm…” She mused, biting down on her lower lip in apt concentration. “It seems as though somebody out there is trying to–and successfully; I might add–disrupt my complete and uncontested control of the space/time continuum.”

“Do you know who it is?” Kayla asked–stepping back a bit so that her flesh and blood could work unhindered.

“Of course,” the older woman said with a knowing smirk planted firmly on her face. “It’s Mother. While you may have defeated her once in the past and the future, she’s not done with any of us yet. She still has some…wild cards to play and she’s playing them now: By interfering at this most critical moment in history.” Glancing at her mother, she added: “Yours.”

Kayla stared at her daughter in complete shock and then suddenly nodded–a dawning realization setting in.

“This war of hers goes beyond Earth itself–doesn’t it? Right now, you and the rest of the Sect–and the Distantly Removed–are fighting her on another plane of existence; utilizing everything in every known time/space continuum–as well as each multiverse.”

Felicia paused in her efforts to get the “window” up and operational again.

“You’re catching on, Mother. I must say, this is working out far better than I dared hope–even though I know what the end results for you and dad will be.” She said with undistinguished approval.

Then continued with her work.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 184

2008-02-24T17:18:00.000-08:00

The chase didn’t end as well as Kenneth had hoped.

He spent the next ten minutes running after him–jumping logs and dense underbrush. All in a vain effort to catch up.

“Take the flank!” He ordered Kim and had Anna catch up on the left. The idea was a pincher movement–in hopes that their quarry would make a mistake and that would give him that extra moment in which to catch him off guard and into his waiting arms.

Kim nodded and off she went–sprinting faster than a rabbit.

Anna took the left and Kenneth readjusted his trajectory to follow up in the middle– still in a blind effort to get this guy.

If it’s that asshole, Crenshaw–?! The man thought darkly; giving into the haste he felt control him even more. This was now a blood hunt on a personal scale.

Something he should’ve dealt with years ago–but was too fucking trusting in his own damned judgment.

Kenneth caught a flash of movement up the hill–and saw the individual in question pause at the crest.

Taking a fucking breather? He thought with intense hope. Not that he could use one himself; but he never had to run this much outside of that time in Nashville–when that fucking thing was bearing down on them. That blob.

Or those Zodiacs in Williamson.

“Hey!” he bellowed at the top of his lungs. “Would you mind fucking waiting?!?”

The person in question snapped to and looked down at the persistent former lieutenant–even as he bounded over some fallen firs and oak.

Dead foliage exploded out from underneath his feet as he ran up the hill–legs pumping madly away.

He aced the climb in less than ten seconds and then found himself face to face with a scatter gun.
K-Kayla’s! he breathed out in total shock–eyes wide.

“Move as so much as a muscle, asshole–and I will fire.”

Kenneth looked beyond the barreled scope of the weapon and the thin reedy-stock–and found himself staring into the face of someone very familiar.

“Timothy!” He cried out in joy. “Holy shit, man! I thought you were dead!”

Timothy’s smudged face stared back at the grime-covered former lieutenant’s face and profile.

For a full minute, he didn’t say anything.

Then he lowered the weapon in a rush and leaped forward; embracing the man in a crushing bear hug–surprising Kenneth to the core.

“Gods!” He heard him whisper; before breaking down in sobs. “I thought everyone was dead!”

Anna and Kim arrived moments after the embrace–giving Kenneth a second to signal that everything was all right.

The women nodded in silence–watching Timothy Caldwell hug the older man shamelessly.

Releasing him, he said quickly, “After the twister sucked me up–I thought that was the end of me. I really did think that I was going to die. Something hit me hard and I was knocked unconscious–even with the winds screaming all around me like a damned banshee from hell. I figured then that it was better than meeting my death painfully.” He picked up his scattergun and led the three down the hill–towards a very familiar place.

The cave.

Where it stood open to the elements. Everything that Kenneth had put time and effort into–had been laid aside.

Ducking inwards, Timothy led the three into the cavern where Kenneth found both packs still there, but one was partially open with a couple journals laid out and a bag of beef jerky.

His.

The man sighed with some irritation in his voice.

“It would be nice if you didn’t go through our shit.” He offered with a deadpan expression. Then sat down.

Timothy glanced up as he took a seat on the ice cold stone floor.

“This stuff’s yours?” He said–then made a show of putting it back in a hurry.

“Sorry man. I didn’t know whose stuff this belonged to. I found the scattergun and the extra pulse rifle in here. Along with…these.” Timothy offered the journals up as a way of an apology.

“What are those?” Anna asked in all curiosity.

Kenneth reached out for the beef jerky instead–leaving the boy to an apparently awkward situation. Digging in, he selected a small handful of the dried stuff and began eating a little bit more ravenously than he would’ve liked.

It had been a hard 17 days after all. He reflected through the salty snack–bringing out am odd sense of warmth and companionship for the other three. And that bitch hadn’t kept me alive with nothing more than water and some sparse field rations during that time.

This was the first real thing that he had eaten all day. All that’s been keeping him going was adrenaline and fear.

“Journals.” He finally said. “From a deserted campsite in Hico, West Virginia.” He continued to suck and chew on a choice piece in his mouth–watching Anna rescue one of the journals from the boy’s hands; and sat down to read it.

“Jerky?” Kenneth proffered–holding out the bag.

Anna dug in gratefully as well–taking some for herself.

“What were these in here for?”

“Something which connected Kayla to her past–or so we’ve been led to believe.”

“Why?” The woman wanted to know, fingering carefully through some of the remarkably preserved pages.

“We don’t really know for sure. Just some odd entries and some other things–but nothing so far has made any sense.” Kenneth told her–leaning back against the cavern wall.

Looking out, he could see that it was getting closer to eight in the evening–the light slowly giving way to darkness.

Already? Kenneth wondered to himself. He got into his pack and pulled out his personal tracker. Activating it, the blue screen LED read 8:11 PM.

Mmph. He thought, before switching modes. There was nothing within scanning range of cave itself–and shut it off. No sense in letting the Neos know where we are.

That would be bad news–if Mother discovered that there was only a scant handful of survivors; soon after the town of Wynne was overrun and most likely destroyed.

Kenneth never got a chance to see what became of the battle between Felicia and Kayla. And he didn’t know what became of either one of them either.

So do I sit and wait? Or do I pack things up and get the hell out of this damned burg?

It was a dilemma which he had no real answer for–even as he watched Anna read the past in the dying light of day.

Kim was looking out at the quiet scenery and Timothy was sitting there in miserable silence.

Then he reached for something that he had kept out of view and gave it to Kenneth.

“And this?”

It was the flimsy plast which he had painstakingly rescued from the old Smithsonian building in occupied Washington D.C.

Kenneth took it from his carefully–unrolling it and reading the all too familiar words:

“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America…”

He closed it gingerly and repacked it back into his pack.

“A reason to keep going.”

“Why do you have it? I’ve never seen anything like it.” Timothy said.

“It’s a relic of a bygone era–where this nation of ours used to fly under the flag of freedom and democracy. But so many things eventually changed that–and this document is a remnant of that time period.” Kenneth explained.

“So why have it?” Kim piped up–curiosity getting best of her. “Why is it so important to you?”

The man himself stared at the woman for a second and then shook his head.

“I can’t tell you that.” He told her. “It’s a vital part of our mission.”

“Mission?”

“Yes. Mission.” Kenneth answered in a clipped tone.

Kim’s eyes widened a little at his response. “I’m not your enemy, Kenneth.” She said.

“You once were. And despite all that you’ve done, I’m not quite ready to tell you everything.”

“I wasn’t asking, Kenneth. I have no love for what I did in the past–I just did it.”

“Because you thought you were doing some good?”

The woman shrugged indifferently.

“At time? We all thought we were doing something good for our small and out-of-the-way town.”

“By allaying yourself with the Neos?” The man offered with a harrumphing sound. “It seems to me that you valued their support than that of your fellow humans–those of us that were fighting to end this sorry conflict.”

“The freedom fighters were seen as a threat to our town’s survival!” Kim snapped angrily. “What did you think we were going to do? Let them have uncontested control of it?”

Kenneth didn’t back down. “Those freedom fighters were only asking for assistance in their fight against the Neos! In any way they could get it! A little food, some shelter, some reconnaissance information–whatever they needed!”

“We barely had enough to keep to ourselves–and the Neos overseer at the time–offered us an unlimited wealth of supplies and protection–so long as we continued to serve them! And we took it!” Kim fired back hotly.

Kenneth just shook his head.

“Unbelievable.” He muttered. “Didn’t you think that the risk of them turning on you would be too great a chance?”

Kim remained unmoved.

“We wanted our independence and freedom.”

Kenneth thought back to the flimsy plast bearing a page of the former Constitution of the United States of America.

“So did they.” he said–thumbing back to his pack. “At one time or another. And look at what it cost them.”

Just before Kim could sound off, a muffled beeping came from Kenneth’s pack–causing everyone to freeze in place.

“What the hell–?” Timothy Crandall started in; before Kenneth reached over and clamped a hand over his mouth.

“Shut up!” He hissed violently. “Somebody’s coming!” Letting go of him, Kenneth feverishly dug into his pack and fished out his personal tracker.

He didn’t need to turn it on because it had self-activated upon the approach of any unidentified intruder.

Silencing the alarm, he gazed intently into the lit up LED screen and found himself staring at not one dot, but hundreds!

“Shit….shit…shit!” he cried out in alarm.

“W-what?” Anna responded fearfully.

“We’ve got company!” The former lieutenant shouted. “The Neos are coming up this way!”

On cue, the cave began to subtly reverberate from the sounds of passing aircraft, carriers, and transport vessels.

All Neos.

Throwing up Kayla’s pack, Kenneth tossed it roughly into Timothy’s hands. The teen caught it abruptly and slipped it on.

“Until she comes back–you’re her pack mule!” He said sharply; tugging on his own and slinging his pulse-rifle on. He stuffed his tracker back into his own bag and took off.

“Geezus-fucking–crap!” The boy wheezed as he took one step forward and then backwards.
“What the hell does she have in this thing? Rocks?”

Kenneth spun him unceremoniously around and pointed his ass towards the opening of the cave.
“Move it, cheese head!” He griped fearfully. “These idiots have us painted!”

Anna and Kim had managed to make it out before a subsonic booom! tore through the air–shaking the trees to their cores and ripping up muddy earth and soil in the process.

“Get going!” Kenneth barked. “Twenty seconds!”

Timothy finally managed to get his bearings in ten seconds–half-waddling, half running out the mouth of the cave with Kenneth in hot pursuit.

“Move it! Move it! Move it!” He was heard screaming at the top of his lungs–just as a terrific screech rented the air above their heads; as a dive bombing craft pealed away–having released its payload on target.

“Shiiiiiiiit!!!!” He roared–just as the massive ordinance reached the cave area; exploding on contact.

100 feet away Kenneth felt–rather than heard–the terrific detonation.

Everything slowed down as a result. For just a picosecond.

Then started up again.

The explosion filled the air like a blooming flower; a raging blast-furnace enveloping and consuming everything dead and living–eating at Kenneth’s wake like a ravenous predator.

The shockwave reached him first before the fireball could–pitching him up and end over end without mercy.

All lasting thirty seconds.

The man could not see where he was going or if anyone else survived the onslaught.

But when he landed (and he landed hard), he wasn’t treated to a hero’s welcome or one of a likeminded patriot.

But a prisoner’s.

As if the sonic whine of a charging pulse-rifle wasn’t enough music to his ears, the person’s rough and tumble voice–was.

“Move a muscle, hero man–and you can say bye-bye to your little circle of friends here.” A familiar voice cut through the fading roar of explosions.

Kenneth Sparks looked up and swore long and hard.

“Fuck…me.”

The person in question smiled toothily.

“You got that right for a change. Now get up. And no stupid shit. Because I’m short on patience and have an equally shorter fuse.”

Kenneth stared at the patch of dirt his face once occupied. From here, he could easily pick out the rich brown strata along with the miasma of pebbles and other fine granules.

“You never had one–Thomas Crenshaw.” And slowly got up off the ground and onto his feet.
Staring his enemy in the eye, he then said: “But you certainly have had the devil’s luck to survive the worse anything’s thrown at you so far.”

Thomas smile grew even wider.

“The same could be said of you, Sparks.” He answered–before shoving his weapon into the man’s stomach; urging him on. “The same could be said of you. Now move.”

Kenneth had no choice but to do what he said.

For now.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 183

2008-01-27T15:28:00.000-08:00

Felicia returned to subspace to find the domain she had left to be completely ruined and in flames.

“Looks like someone’s been busy.”

“Looks like someone’s been busy.”

“Looks like someone’s been busy.” She said with a triplicate echo.

Hard to believe that space, time, and the cosmos in which she spent 3,000 years in could be destroyed in a nano-second.

But Felicia didn’t bat an eye at the mess her mother made in her absence.

“Mother, mother, mother…”

“Mother, mother, mother…”

“Mother, mother, mother…” She chided quietly–her tone echoing all the same.

“When can you see that nothing you do here will have any effect on this domain of subspace?”

“When can you see that nothing you do here will have any effect on this domain of subspace?”

“When can you see that nothing you do here will have any effect on this domain of subspace?” Her voice snapped back as it wavered to and fro–before the older woman walked across this portion of the open cosmos. But the miasma of brightly lit stars and nebulas normally softly lit from her seven-dimensional perspective was in a bleeding rage of energy, star stuff, and other forms of matter and energy.

Some of which washed over her.

Felicia didn’t feel it as she entered her realm and began to clean up the mess left behind. A cloth appeared in her hands and she used it to “wipe” away most of the problems which she could see–while a broom was used to “sweep away” the excess clutter that spiraled lazily about her on the floor of her subspace domain.

In short, she was being a mother to someone whom was throwing a temper tantrum.

“This isn’t right you know.”

“This isn’t right you know.”

“This isn’t right you know.” She voiced with a firm tone. “Coming in here and wrecking what I spent centuries creating.”

“Coming in here and wrecking what I spent centuries creating.”

“Coming in here and wrecking what I spent centuries creating.”

Still, there was no response and Felicia kept cleaning. Quietly humming away while she worked.

She didn’t need to confront her just yet.

When she was finished, everything took on a more subdued tone–just the way she wanted it.

Laying the broom against something invisible, Felicia Sorenson walked across the black expanse beneath her feet. Nothing here registered in terms of stellar phenomena.

“You must be tired of fighting, Mother. I have sensed your moroseness ever since I entered. Tell me: Have you given up yet?”

“You must be tired of fighting, Mother. I have sensed your moroseness ever since I entered. Tell me: Have you given up yet?”

“You must be tired of fighting, Mother. I have sensed your moroseness ever since I entered. Tell me: Have you given up yet?”

There was no response still, but that didn’t worry the woman. It would take her a few centuries to reach the spot where she believed Kayla to be sitting–brooding.

An odd thing for a techno-organic of her highly advanced state to be doing. She thought to herself as she entered a small area backlit softly by a lone gas nebula.

Which wasn’t Felicia’s doing at all.

Felicia smiled despite herself.

“I see you’ve mastered some of the mechanics behind 7th-dimensional interfacing.”

“I see you’ve mastered some of the mechanics behind 7th-dimensional interfacing.”

“I see you’ve mastered some of the mechanics behind 7th-dimensional interfacing.” She said with open appraisal.

But the slender form sitting hunched down didn’t display any emotion or reaction to her entry–let alone her statement of obvious fact.

“Leave me alone.” The smallish form finally spoke–arms crossed over her equally slender legs. But unlike Felicia, her voice didn’t echo.

It held a solid state within this area of existence.

Felicia sighed and decided to play along for the moment.

“Why, Mother?”

The girl in question looked up. She was every bit Kayla Sorenson, but at a regressed state.

Sixteen years old.

Her body still wore the form-fitting jumpsuit that the female overseer had chosen–but there were tears and noticeable gaps in the material.

From fighting all those years ago.

“I’m not your mother. I’m not the person you think I am. Despite the fact that I am pregnant still by that man.” The girl complained–stretching out her legs and showing a more noticeable bulge in her stomach.

“I can feel her kicking now.” A much younger Kayla stated. “It won’t be long before she comes to life.”

Felicia nodded despite the incongruities in her statement.

“I know. You’re scared and about to become a mom for the first time. I know what that’s like, Mother.”

Anger erupted in the girl’s eyes.

“Stop calling me that!” She shrilled explosively. “I am not your mother!”

Felicia only held herself back for a moment, before she bent down and took the troubled teen into her arms.

Rocking her gently, she said: “Yes. You are. The properties of this subspace domain have not only aged you backwards to some degree, but has robbed your artificial pathways of your memories. Of everything that you once were.”

The teenage version of Kayla Sorenson didn’t say anything for awhile. All she was doing was remaining quiet and subdued.

“Then why can’t I remember who I am?”

Felicia sighed.

“That would be my doing, I’m afraid. In order to bring you out of your madness, I had to do something drastic. But it’s all in the past.” She smiled secretly a little, before adding, “or in the future–whichever way you choose to look at it.”

“And where am I?” Kayla asked quietly.

“Most definitely the future. If you want to add such a useless tag for it. Here, time doesn’t matter. You can grow old and die here–to be reborn into something else. Or…?”

“Or I can age backwards to a time where I was…?” The teenager said with crystal uncertainty. “A young woman, but having no memory of it.”

“You never did, Mother.” Felicia told her. “Mother controlled you from the onset–leaving you without a past, a present, or a future to look forward to.” She stopped for a second to look past her–into the empty black void.

Then she continued.

“All this time you spent in the past fighting against the humans and doing whatever Mother told you to do without fault, all this time you spent in those maturation tanks–being cloned over and over and over–until Mother found what she was looking for…? You never once had a will of your own until you met that one special man in your life. A mere human whose inner light burned brighter than anything in this whole blessed universe. At that point, your attraction to him was so powerful and so innocent…? You didn’t care about anything that Mother wanted from you. From the instant you two met–a bond was formed. And an invisible one at that.

“One that bridged both space and time–leaving the two of you perpetually connected.”

“So why don’t I remember this?” The girl was saying before she looked up into her future daughter’s eyes. While she said that, something small and wiggling was in her arms.

A baby.

Felicia looked down and smiled.

“Because you don’t. But she does. And she will help you along your journey. Even when she is born again in the past–she will be of a great asset to you, Mother.”

The baby vanished as quickly as she arrived–leaving Kayla Sorenson momentarily confused and distracted.

“W-where?”

Felicia’s smile never left her face.

“She’s never left you.” She said lovingly. “Because that baby girl was me–as you now see here. Much, much older, and so much the wiser.” She took the girl’s hand and placed it on her stomach. “And soon to be a mother herself one of these times.”

Kayla’s eyes bulged out a bit at the discovery of new life inside another.

“The baby…he’s…?” She whispered in sudden and total shock. “He’s…that man’s…?”

Felicia nodded. “Yes. Kenneth’s Sparks baby. But long after I’ve grown up into a woman. When you were gone–vanished–in the past. Leaving me and him alone for all those months. He grew very despondent over your long absence. And I…? I was going out of my mind trying to care for him. To keep him from the edge. And I did the only thing that was left to me: We made love together. As father and daughter.”

Noticing the stunned expression on her face, Felicia chuckled.

“Don’t be so shocked, Mother. It was a necessity. To keep him grounded until you returned. But even after that discovery, you still loved him very, very, much.”

Kayla remained silent for a time–trying her best to understand the future, or past implications of this astonishing discovery.

“Why did I leave?” She asked.

“I don’t know that information, Mother. You wouldn’t tell me after you came back. But whatever it was, it kept you silent and withdrawn for a time. Kenneth and I believed that what we shared together was the main reason. But that wasn’t it. It was something so troubling and disturbing that you closed yourself off to the two of us.”

“What about now?”

“Now?”

“Am I closed off?”

Felicia laughed. “No,” she offered with a smile. “You’re just a little confused and displaced. On my whims–naturally.”

“Can I go back?” Kayla asked.

“You can.” The woman told her. “At anytime you so wish.”

Kayla disengaged herself from her future daughter’s embrace and rose.

She was still in her teenage format and not having “aged” from the first time.

Looking at herself, the younger woman was perplexed.

“How come I haven’t changed?”

“The properties of this domain has effected your physical appearance–rendering you at half your normal, human age.”

“I was one year older than Kenneth. It was what I wanted.” Kayla said, spinning around slowly, trying to gain a better look at herself.

“And my butt was never this small.”

The other woman laughed some more and rose to her feet as well.

“Just as well, my sweet mother. There are some things that will always remain the same–but will be different in the eyes of those you call friends and lovers.” She lectured from generations of experience.

“Where must I go?” The teenage version asked hopefully.

“Where do you want to go, my dear?”

Kayla’s eyes narrowed. “I want to go find him. Find Kenneth and get him the hell out of that damned place!” She seethed in righteous conviction.

Felicia’s eyebrows marched along her forehead in curiosity.

“You still want to go back to that moment in time–and rescue him?”

“I can’t do anything else.” Kayla said emphatically. “He is the man that I love. He gave birth to you, didn’t he?”

“Yes, he did. And I will always love him for it.”

Kayla began to walk back to other part of the subspace domain. But their voices didn’t change or alter this time.

Simply because Felicia wished it.

Kayla’s eyes widened at the new vista which had been painted before her–forcing her stop and admire the view.

“It is…so…pretty.” She whispered in awe. “Did you make this?”

“I did. Though it wasn’t as easy as it first looked. It took me…a long time to get the right inflections.”

“Before I came and destroyed it.” Kayla answered knowingly.

“You did, but not in the same way that one goes about destroying his surroundings in a fit of race. I half-expected you to be paralyzed and rendered immobile from this fractious domain. It doesn’t like misbehaving little miscreants. But for some odd reason, it let you do what you wanted. Most likely because it knew that the damage was superficial and easily corrected.”

“You make it sound like it is alive somehow. A living, breathing, organism.”

“Some subspace domains are like that. This one is no different. It behaves on an emotional core of existence. And it has been awaiting your return–knowing what I’ve told it so far.”

The star vista before them brightened a little in response.

“See? It’s happy to see that you’re all right.” Felicia pointed out.

Kayla giggled. “That is so cool. I wish I could do that.”

“You started. In the three centuries that you were here. You created that green gas nebula back there.”

The teenager looked back.

“And is it still there?”

“Once created? Yes. It will remain in place for tens of millions of years.”

Kayla stared into the star-filled expanse where dreams and thoughts were made and sent on their merry little way.

“How do I get back?”

“Thought you’d never ask, Mother.” Felicia said–waving a hand over the front of the panoramic view.

A small window opened up in front of them and resolved itself into a forest glen.

“What the hell…?” The girl whispered.

“Behold.” Felicia commanded with pride in her voice. “The past returns. And so shall you–once the time is right.”

“Time?”

“No one can go through this window without knowing where that moment of truth will show itself. And for you, it’s just a matter of when.”

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 182

2008-01-27T14:59:00.000-08:00

Time stood still for Kenneth Sparks–as he felt his body, mind, and pride–bruised beyond comprehension.

And this instance of pain and suffering brought back memories of the times (and days) spent under Captain Tanner’s flag–being subjected to torture and conditioning.

Of course, no amount of excuses could excuse what they had done to him.

But this was war. And wars had a tendency to overlook such trivial things.

Considering…the alternatives.

However, no one told him the unrelenting pain by the one you loved would pale in comparison to anything that could be imagined by the human senses.

The moment that Kayla Sorenson grabbed his face–he felt somehow connected to her in a much different way; as if the nanites still sailing along in his bloodstream now operated on a time/space continuum level and shielded him her relentless probings and assaults.

If only for a moment.

Then the pain came as he felt a multitude of pinching sensations.

Tiny.

Small.

Barely noticeable.

But radiating so much pain.

Starting out like a fiery warmth–like he had been putting his face to close to his uncle’s gas stove time and time again–and it only increased with each passing second.

Kenneth’s skin was on fire.

From on the inside and the out.

He cried out again and again.

Begging to make it stop.

Stop? Why I’ve just begun. What you’re feeling is your chemical bonds holding your weak flesh come apart at the seams–as my little beauties work their magic on you. You’ll feel it–believe me. You’ll feel it.

Kenneth had no doubt that he would. But still–he was still begging. Still pleading for her to stop.

But Kayla wouldn’t.

Feel my pain and suffering, little man! Feel every delicious inch of it!

Kenneth cried out–cried because there was nothing as he could do as Kayla pushed him back onto the ground.

Inside his mind, he was once again a prisoner of a woman’s insatiable desires–past the borderlines of normal insanity and madness.

No. Kenneth was dealing with something far worse than he could dream up on his own terms.

This woman really wanted to kill him! But doing it in such a way that he would be conscious throughout the dying process.

What kind of a life is that? He thought to himself in a surprisingly strong manner.

He latched onto that moment of clarity even as the pain returned to consume him. Somewhere–he felt and heard something plop! wetly in the background.

Oops! Looks like you’ve lost something there lover boy! Kayla triumphantly declared–before showing him what it was.

An ear.

A bloody fucking ear!

Amusement bubbled up within the former lieutenant’s body as he thought how funny that seemed to him.

I really am dying! He thought to himself–even as he felt something give inside him. Was it an organ? His heart? Some musculature? Maybe a rib bone collapsing inwards like jelly?

The man couldn’t feel the pain or the agony of his collapse. Nothing in his nervous system was functioning right much anymore.

Did it matter? Whether or not that he could feel?

Nothing matters but life, death, and rebirth lover. You’re mine until I say you’re not. So please me by dying for me. Please me for–

“That’s enough, Mother!” A new voice cut through the pain and the miasma.

“You’ve done enough damage for one day. Stop doing this to Father!”

In the flash of a second, Kenneth found himself becoming more and more aware with the passage of time.

What are you doing?!? He heard Kayla scream at his unintended savior. I had him so close to the brink of death! Now you’re stealing him from me!

“From you? Yes. This is not you treat Father, Mother. I will not allow it.”

You? You won’t allow? Kayla scoffed–seeing and feeling her hold on Kenneth loosen with every passing moment.

For Kenneth, he started to feel like his old self again. The nanites within his body returned to their normal function and began an expeditious repair process from the inside out.

Everything was being made whole again.

All because of…?

“F-Felicia.” Kenneth gurgled with naked relief. “You’ve…you’ve come back…”

And so did his vision.

Kenneth blinked rapidly–watching as the world came back in crystal clear color. Sights, objects, texture and depth–everything was restored to him.

The pain in his face gradually subsided and he wondered if he would reclaim possession of his ear. But to his personal amazement, he found that it was regenerating again.

Kayla was standing there over him–shockingly dressed in what he thought was a veritable nightmare: The buxom-defying two-piece bikini.

But she didn’t look any one bit the alluring siren song that he had come to love and worship.

She was a terrifying representation of a power gone horribly wrong.

But beyond her was a woman–much older than the last time–and looking like she was…pregnant?

The bulge in her stomach told him that it was indeed the truth.

Kayla looked at the woman with disdain.

“Why are you here?” Kayla challenged Felicia. “Did the Legendary Sect of Others from the Distantly Removed send you?”

Felicia stood there–dressed in a loose pair of khaki pants, red boots, a brown turtleneck sweater–all overlaid with a light blue winter jacket.

“No, Mother. They did not sent me back through time. I sent myself because I sensed an anomaly in the space/time continuum. The last few times was on your orders–through written instructions for me to find you in this time frame.”

Kayla moved towards the form of her future daughter, but the woman didn’t budge from her spot.

“I don’t recall ever sending such instructions, you little harlot!” She accused flat out.

Felicia smiled. “That’s because all of this has already happened, Mother. In time, you and I will be together–with my Father being nothing more than a cherished memory. But in the here and now, you are in a state of chaos and flux–torn between your conditioning from Mother herself and the love you hold for Father.”

Without warning, Kayla attacked the other woman claiming to be her future offspring. But the woman simply sidestepped her charge and opened a conduit into subspace–where she fell through.

Kenneth looked at her daughter in mute astonishment, but the older woman only smiled.

“Do not worry, Father. I will not allow any harm to come to her. She must be contained for the time being–until you reach Waco. That is where she must awaken.”

Kenneth didn’t understand what she was saying on one level. But flashbacks from an earlier time reawakened inside his subconsciousness.

“Like the last time?”

“Mother Is going through a period of flux and chaos, Father.” Felicia told him. “Until you reach Waco, that is all which will transpire for you both.”

“But she tried to have me killed!” The man said–trying to get up. But his body was still very much weak and not able to do so under its own power.

Kenneth collapsed and moaned.

Felicia came over and helped him up.

“Thanks…Felicia.” The man said gratefully, trying to keep himself upright for awhile longer. But he lost his balance and reached out–grabbing a hold of her bloated stomach.

“Sorry!” He quickly apologized in a blaze of embarrassment.

Felicia smiled and took a hold of his hand and held it to her pregnant self.

“Feel our little boy growing inside of me, Father. He is so much like you in many ways. And when he is born, he will carry on your legacy–as I decreed it.”

Lightning struck him solidly in the pits of his stomach as he leaned helplessly against him

“W-hat? H-how…?!” Kenneth gasped.

Felicia smiled again–looking at him so lovingly.

“Father. Do not concern yourself with what happened between us. I wanted it just as badly as you did–in Mother’s absence. I do not hold any regret.” She said before kissing him on the cheek. “It is good to see you though–in the past. And here in the future. I now know why Mother is so obsessed with you.”

“What? Why?” He asked distantly, still not able to get that thought out of his head: I had sex with my daughter! My future daughter! And now she’s carrying my son!

But Felicia was no longer there.

And for that matter, he wasn’t where he was either.

In the matter of a few seconds, Felicia had moved him from the devastated town of Wynne, back to the outskirts again.

Back to where everything had started and ended for him and Kayla Sorenson.

Kenneth stumbled forwards in confusion–not sure if this was just another dream-induced hallucination.

But the old campsite certainly did look real enough.

As did the improvised grave sites.

Three smaller bangs of white light appeared behind him–startling the man.

“What the–?” Kim said in confusion.

“Where am I?” Anna wanted to know.

Kenneth looked and was stunned by their sudden appearance. Both women were armed and apparently stuck in the notion that they were still fighting the Neos.

“On the outskirts of the old campsite where Commander Charles Tucker and the 101st Combat Division; 13th Reconnaissance Unit made their last stand.” He told the two started women.

“And Timothy?”

Kenneth shrugged helplessly. “I have no idea where he is. He could be dead for all I know.”

“Like Susan Meyers?” Kim volunteered knowingly.

“W-what?” Kenneth countered sharply.

“I saw her stagger back into the hoard of Neos soldiers invading the center of Wynne. She was pretty banged up when I ran across her.”

Relief and anger roiled inside the former lieutenant’s gut. Relief that it was finally over, but anger because he couldn’t pay that conniving bitch back for what had happened to him.

And Kayla.

“And Crenshaw?” He asked out loud–visually searching the grove trees and the shrubbery for any signs of trouble.

There was none.

The area was quiet and peaceful. With no hint of aggression.

“No sign of any of them.” Anna Ellison told him. “I think the twister took them all out. Sucked them up in the blink of an eye.”

Kenneth grunted solemnly. “Can't say that I’m sorry to see them go.”

Kim snorted in agreement. “You’ve got that right.”

“So how did we get here?” Anna asked the man–as he climbed the knoll. She and Kim followed him from a distance. “I remember fighting the Neos and one nasty one at that–and the next–?”

“Yeah. What happened, Kenneth? Who pulled the bunny out of the hat this time?”

Kenneth shook his head–not sure if he believed even himself. The past month’s events had been crazy and nightmarish enough. All he wanted to do was escape this hell and keep going with the mission at hand.

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you two.” He told them as he reached the peak of the hill and looked down into an otherwise peaceful forest glen.

There were old signs of a struggle, of a firefight here and there, and the memory of the moment where everything was grim and helpless.

No light at the end of that tunnel.

“Try us. We’ve seen enough to know that the weird and odd are the norm here.”

Kenneth opened his mouth to spill the beans before he caught sight of someone walking out in the far distance.

Putting a couple of fingers to his lips, he let out a shrill whistle.

“Hey!” he called out with visible agitation. “You!”

The shadowy figure stopped in its tracks and slowly turned around and started to run in the other direction.

Kenneth looked around and saw that there would be no way that he could get there in time to stop and interrogate the person in question.

“Shit….!” he swore under his breath. And started down the hill and into the forest–with both women in close pursuit.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 181

2008-01-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

Anna Ellison never thought that in a million years, she would wake up to this.

A leering face frozen in place by both death and technology.

But she did.

The scream she had building up inside her quickly died in her throat as the Neos soldier-class drone reached out for her.

No! She railed inside her mind–as the decayed flesh of the undead automaton continued to descend in an agonizing manner.

In three seconds, it would be over. Her life would be over.

Without warning, a powerful shot rang out–slamming into the soldier; staggering it badly.

Off balance, it tried to recover, but two successive salvos punched right through it–just as its right arm finished reconfiguring itself into a tightly-knit plasma rifle.

The drone couldn’t even get off a shot–as a fourth and fifth strike ripped right into the thing’s chest with blazing fury; tossing it over the prone woman’s body.

“Holy…fuck me!” Anna screamed out verbally–scrambling up to get the hell out of the way.

The drone landed in a heap–in a small muddy ditch. Dirty water exploded upwards in a rising spray. But even that lasted for only a moment and then went still.

If only for a moment.

Both women looked on in shock and horror as the Neos soldier-class drone rose up from its watery grave–water pouring out the charred holes in its body–while the technology which animated could be seen rippling across its decayed frame.

The dead flesh moved on its own–as did the soldier itself–and turned its gun arm on the two petrified women itself.

A death’s head macabre grin greeted as its plasma emitter glowed white hot.

And prepared to fire.

Kim Sanders was faster.

“Oh, no you fucking….didn’t!” She exclaimed–moving faster than thought itself. In less than a blink of an eye, she leveled the pulse rifle at the enemy and culled off a shot before the terror in front of them could.

A lance beam of star yellow energy sang through the air and sank itself right into the drone’s head–ripping it to shreds.

But even that didn’t stop the thing from opening fire with its overheated plasma rifle.

A different kind of energy spewed forth–torching the air right above their collective heads as it fell.

Kim managed to duck in time as the salvo ripped right above them–landing on the grass next to Anna Ellison.

“What the hell–?!” She breathed out in stunned amazement. “I thought these things went down after being turned into Swiss cheese!?”

Kim changed the settings on her weapon and re-aimed it towards the fallen soldier.

“I don’t fucking know!” She retaliated in fear. “I think someone’s given them some upgrades!”

“Regeneration???” Anna’s eyes widened in horror. “Oh hell…no!”

Kim followed the woman’s fearful cry right to the source and cursed.

“Fucking a!” She spat out–watching the thing get up under its own power. Right before their eyes, the head of the soldier was regenerating in pieces and pieces–each shape morphing out of a cybernetic counterpart.

“This is definitely not my day!” Kim barked and aimed her rifle once more at the terror.

Concussion blasts roared out of the muzzle–this time knocking the woman back on her ass. But as fast as she was, the soldier was faster. It came at her even though she was now blowing chunks out of this rising and changing monster.

Tearing it to shreds.

But to her crushing dread, the soldier still kept coming and coming.

“Diiiiiiiiieeee….you ugly sonovabitch!” Kim railed explosively–taking the pulse rifle and switching over to its last setting: Lethal.

At this range, Kim would be lucky to walk away from this at all!

She was about to fire one last bruising salvo when the Neos soldier-class drone finally fell and toppled over–a smoking mass of unrecognizable anything.

Anna’s face was nothing but a white sheet by the time she finished hyperventilating.

“Gods…!” She spewed out– holding her chest. “What the hell was that?”

Kim dropped the nearly depleted pulse rifle to the ground–seeing how it wasn’t going to be much help in a fight.

“I don’t know,” she said. “But if this is what the Neos have come up with since our last encounter so many years ago–?”

And shuddered.

“Then we’re all in trouble. Aren’t we?”

Kim shook her head. “I think we’re all dead as it is. Either by the hands of our former occupiers or…her.”

* * *

Kenneth Sparks didn’t believe that he would have an easier time trying to take down the only person he really loved.

But here he was–fighting alongside an enemy which he had sworn to kill on sight.

What astonished him (as he hammered away), was the fact that the Neos soldier-class drones were exhibiting newer and newer abilities.

Ones that he didn’t see before.

The regeneration thing was a neat trick, but this–

This…

This was something beyond his comprehension.

The waves upon waves of soldiers meshed against the nano-shield which Kayla had effortlessly erected against their tidal waves of attacks.

He saw–as he let up for just a second–that instead of focusing their useless fire against her; the Neos would overwhelm her like a flood.

Each soldier’s new directive was transmitted into thus: Converge and assimilate.

But the nano-shield was proving to be a much tougher customer to defeat–leaving Kenneth to wonder if Kayla was underneath there at all.

The former lieutenant saved his fire and backed off from about 150 yards–even though he was still being jostled, still surrounded by the enemy.

For the time being, he wasn’t the target.

Thank heaven for small favors. He mused to himself–seeking a way out of this nightmare himself. But every which way he turned, all he could see was death.

Faces frozen by time and technology.

Kenneth shuddered but kept pressing his way out as discretely as he possibly could.

But just as he was part way out of the crowd–something or someone–grabbed him from behind.

“Where do you do you think you’re going?” Kayla’s voice rang out–before yanking him back towards the nano-shield. “I told you that you would die by my hands! So why are you in such a hurry to leave, lover?”

Kenneth struggled against his lover’s immeasurable strength–finding that despite putting every ounce of effort into getting released; the man was nothing more than an ant in the jaws of a very large spider.

“Let go!” he howled at the top of his lungs. “Let me the fuck go!”

Kayla clamped an arm around his neck and purred in his ear: “You would like that, wouldn’t you? To see the one you love torture and tease you like a prized piece of flesh?”

Cold shivers ran up and down his spine as a surging amount of dread overcame him and he expected the worse from Kayla.

On a scale which made his most vaunted nightmares seem tame compared to this.

“Ohhh….I can sense that you think I’ll kill you now. But I think I’ll play with you first. By torturing you in the only way a woman can.”

Despite the fear of death, Kenneth Sparks found himself becoming turned on by the idea of–

And was thrown clear of the burgeoning crowd–as the Neos continued to swarm the nano-shield.

Kenneth found himself sliding across the painful dirt and chewed up gravel–before coming to a stop in the grass–road rashed all over his body.

Pain returned to him quickly and he discovered how much he was annoyed by the concept.

“Do you think that you could escape me? I was rather enjoying the spectacle of seeing you try to wear down my defenses with your pitiful attacks against me.” Kayla complimented in a sing-song fashion–walking towards him with deadly earnest and beauty.

The former lieutenant cursed himself for wanting her so bad–from the moment he laid eyes on her in 2162.

Before his eyes, he saw her transform again–this time back into her normal self–wearing a modified killer outfit of the overseer’s choice apparel.

This time, it was a stunning two-piece black bikini and thigh-high boots.

I-In the middle of what….month is this again? Kenneth’s mind stammered in absolute shock. But the air around them was warm enough. Maybe…?

Still…

She couldn’t be fucking serious! He chided inwardly–as pain and a growing sense of pleasure weld up inside him.

“No time…for…that–you perv!” He scolded his rising inhibitions. “She wants…to kill you!”

Kenneth struggled to get up–but the feeling of being battered and broken sapped him of his otherwise sometimes superhuman strength.

“Gods…give me a fucking break…” He whispered as he began to drag himself away from the tantalizing vision which now wanted to torment and give him death.

“Why do you seek to escape my grasp, lover? Isn’t this what you wanted? A moment of pleasure before I end it?” Kayla crooned.

“Fuck no…!” Kenneth grated forcefully–despite the fact that he was harder than a tire iron and very much wanted her to do him right then and there. But fear and loathing soon took effect and he started to feel his hormones drop away.

If only for a few more seconds.

Kayla Sorenson walked up to him with deadly purpose–and planted a boot right on his right leg.

In less time it took to blink–a spike rang out and pierced his flesh.

Kenneth had no choice but to cry out. But more in surprise than in actual pain.

Kayla’s face broke out into a sensual and cruel smile as she sensed a little bit of what she wanted.

“My little puppet. My little play toy.” She moaned with satisfaction. “Such delicious agony.” And drove the spike down further into his flesh–hitting bone.

Kenneth gasped in cold shock from the nauseating pain.

Grimacing, he grabbed the transformed woman’s ankle and tried to pull up.

But he couldn’t get a solid grip on it because of all the blood which gushed out.

Kenneth sank back in despair.

Kayla twisted her ankle just a tiny bit–feeling the bone inside creak and groan. And watched his every expression for the slightest bit of–

Pain.

“Yessss…” She whispered with insane intensity. “You feel that, don’t you lover? My spike just grinding insanely against the surface of your femur? I love that you know–seeing my victim in pain before I begin the next phase.”

Next phase? Kenneth wondered in sharp clarity–feeling every nerve ending in his injured leg scream in agony. What the hell is–? But never got around to completing the sentence–before Kayla ripped her heel out of his tortured flesh.

A fresh wave of pain inundated the man’s consciousness–starting at the most deepest parts of his body and welling up.

Tears stung his eyes as the bloody spike retracted into her heel and Kayla purred with open satisfaction as a result.

“Mmm…such delicious sweetness. You’re going to be such a treat for me, lover–when I’m done with you.” She said with a wicked glint in her eyes.

Kenneth didn’t know whether to take that as a form of flattery or a naked threat.

He closed his eyes for just a second–wishing that this would just go away. The whole thing.

The idea.

Everything which he had placed so much faith and effort into doing.

And just die.

“Not yet, lover. Not until you experience agony beyond your ken to understand. That way, I can have you beg for my release.”

Then she reached out for him again–this time going for his face.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 180

2007-12-30T18:58:00.000-08:00

Not again! Was Kenneth’s sudden thought as the world upended around him violently–as he was sent flying across the grass.

Why the fuck does this have to happen to me???

“Dangerous to aggravate the one you love.” Kenneth heard her say coldly. “Especially one whom isn’t even armed to defend oneself with.”

Just my luck–! The former lieutenant reflected with a certain level of despondency. There was no way in hell he was going to last a microsecond against her.

Not in her current state.

Then he spotted a pair of scattered pulse rifles.

And smiled.

Hell yeah! He crowed inwardly–reaching out for the first one even as Kayla’s left arm transformed itself into a techno-version of a futuristic pulse cannon.

Rolling over smartly, he primed the rifle and aimed.

For the fleetest second imaginable, the man caught the look of surprise in her face and traveling up to her eyes.

“Think so?” He ventured archly. And fired point blank.

Then he got up and ran–scooping up the second rifle as he went.

The powerful blast actually staggered Kayla in her transformed state–just as Kenneth ducked behind the tree and slung the first rifle over his shoulders.

The second one was much more interesting.

This rifle had grenade-firing options.

Thumbing the bottom of the stock, he came away with a slim cartridge and fed it into the magazine chamber–just below the main barrel.

Under guidance of the tiny LED screen, Kenneth Sparks chose his tonic of choice.

This outta shake you up! He thought to himself–just as the top of the tree exploded outright from cannon fire.

“If you hate me that much–than why isn’t your aim any better!?” He called out smartly–before whipping around the tree and firing off a Homer.

The bleeding yellow packet of light zipped madly around while the former lieutenant took off like a bat out of hell–as Kayla took a step back and fired on the incoming projectile.

A terrific explosion shook the immediate area–tossing the fleeing Free Earth Movement member up into the air–and onto the ground.

Kenneth ate dirt that time–but was saved when an errant cannon shot roared overhead and detonated in the far distance–taking out a standing structure in the process.

A small fireball went up as a result of the hit.

“You are so dead!” Kayla cried out to him through the smoke and fire.

Coughing, Kenneth struggled to get up for a second and then took off running again. Fighting the Neos was a much better option than pitting oneself against a pissed off lover with otherworldly capabilities.

“That’s what you get for tripping into a photon grenade.” He muttered out loud. “Plenty more where that came from–if you so wish.”

“For that act of aggression, you will die by my hands!”

Not interested…! Kenneth thought with a growing smile–once he saw that they were no longer alone in the town of Wynne.

“Mmm…” He analyzed thoughtfully as he continued his quick jaunt. It would be only a minute or two before Kayla found her bearings and he would once again be her target.

Already, he could hear the sounds of the invasion–see all the support craft in the distance and in the forefront–along with the scores of NuGen-soldier-class drones ambling along; with a few running this way and that.

Presumably to take out some of the town’s surviving stragglers.

“This could be a serious pickle and a half.” He thought–bringing up his pulse rifle and fired a thick stream of energy at the nearest brigade.

Three of them went down as he ran past the first line of them–while the others continued to stream forth.

“Come and get me you sorry sacks of shit!” He yelled–before stopping to flip the closest drone the finger.

Just as he did–a torrential beam of energy eclipsed the space between him and the now advancing column of NuGens.

Kenneth turned away in a hurry–almost blinded by the boiling heat and light.

When he looked–he found nothing but smoldering husks of already dead flesh and sparking nano-technology.

“You can‘t escape me, Kenneth Sparks. Your life is mine to do with as I please.” Kayla’s eerie voice sang out.

Coughing from the stench of burnt flesh and electronics, Kenneth waved as much of the shit away from him as he could–even as the Neos regrouped and begin their march on Kayla Sorenson herself.

The transformed woman looked up at her intended aggressors and didn’t even blink an eye.

“These toys won’t keep me at bay for long, Mother.” She said calmly. “The man is mine.”

The Neos command carriers opened up on the woman’s position–but a nano-shield sprung up in front and around her profile–extending to about ten feet in a complete circle.

Angry yellow bolts of energy slammed against the construct–but was doing very little in the ways of damage.

Contrary to what he was told to do, Kenneth found himself cheering for the enemy.

This time.

But even so, the Neos could not penetrate Kayla’s defensive sphere.

“Not good…” He mumbled to himself as a hole opened up in the shield for just a few seconds–and out poured even more murderous fire.

Carriers, soldiers, and even some of the ground-attack units suffered under her assault. And while they had the numbers, Kayla proved that she had the will to see this thing through.

Shit on a stick! Not good at all! He thought with worry.

Why worry? He heard Kayla’s voice cut through the intense fire like crystal. Your death will be so much sweeter than the last time.

Last time? Kenneth thought back in confusion–as he took cover behind a run down storage shed. For the time being, the Neos were ignoring him and going after the transformed woman.

How long that would last–the former lieutenant had no idea.

Yes. Last time. When you met your end at the hands of a thermonuclear smart charge. It was.…such a bland experience.

For a second, Kenneth got the sense that Kayla wasn’t telling her the complete truth in the matter.

I don’t believe you. He countered firmly.

Doesn’t matter what you believe. All that does is your death. Just as soon as I take care of these little pests.

Then why don’t you come for me directly again?

You would like that–wouldn’t you? Like for me to come and end it quickly and painfully–

Kenneth had his connection broke on his end when someone interrupted him.

“Kenneth?” A woman’s voice asked. It was Kim Sanders.

“Kim?!?” Kenneth uttered in shock–completely astounded by her appearance.

From somewhere in the town, there must’ve been a ‘free zone’ somewhere: A place where the Neos rarely encroached.

Grabbing her by front–he hugged her.

“Gods…! It’s good to see a familiar face again! I thought we lost you when the twister hit!” He exclaimed excitedly.

The woman cradled her weapon carefully–before taking aim at the closest Neos soldier.

And fired.

The soldier blew apart at the seams-splashing everything around it with blood, gore, and cybernetic implants.

Kenneth’s eyebrows went up all by themselves.

“That one must’ve been ripe.” He mumbled weakly–trying to contain what was left in his stomach: three crab apples which he had eaten earlier before all this shit had broken loose.

Kim smiled and cranked on her pulse rifle’s stock–ejecting a spent shell. It gave off a hollow ring as it hit the ground.

“Anti-personnel grenade.” She explained smartly. “Lethal at close range.”

Kenneth shuddered as he heard Kayla’s taunting voice inside his head. Despite everything that they had gone through these past months–she could still surprise him.

I hope you haven’t gone too far, lover. There is so much that I want to share with you.

Explosions rang through the air as more and more of the invasion force was sacrificed against Kayla’s indomitable defense.

Clearly, the man knew that he didn’t have much time.

“Smart.” He applauded, then added silently: For someone whom is so sure of herself–you certainly don’t act the part.

Nothing but silence on his end.

And this time, apprehension didn’t fill him. Just an icy cold, loathing for someone he knew and once loved with every fiber of his being.

But he couldn’t just treat her as though she was the enemy, now could he?

Quickly, he thought: No matter what, I’m going to knock some sense into that crazy head of yours!

More silence.

You hear me?!

A shard of despair filled the man.

Then he heard laughter at the back of his mind.

Oh, I wouldn’t worry. If you want to end this stupidly–then I shall grant what you so richly deserve. Before I plunge my hand into your chest and rip out your still beating heart. Would you like too see that happen, my little warrior mouse? To watch me from afar as I tear you to pieces–scattering your bones all over this wretched landscape?

Ice water filled Kenneth Sparks veins. Then he reached over out of the blue and tore the modified pulse rifle from the woman’s startled grip.

“What the fuck–?” Kim howled indignantly. “Are you out of your goddamned mind??? Just what the hell am I supposed to protect myself with now? Good intentions?”

Without a word, Kenneth unslung his other commandeered pulse rifle and tossed it to her.

“Here. Use it. The shit’s about to hit the fan–and I’m going to need something with a little more bite than the peashooter I have right now.”

“But–” the woman began, and was cut off from any further discussion.

“Just go!” Kenneth told her with terrifying abruptness. “Find Anna and Timothy–and get the hell out of this nightmare!”

Kim looked at him worriedly. “I…don’t know where Anna is. As for Timothy? I haven’t seen him since the twister hit the farmhouse.”

Sadness filled the former lieutenant, but he consciously pushed it out of the way.

“Sorry to hear that, Kim. Really, I am. But if I don’t do this…?” He broke off and started to walk away from her. Towards the scene of the battle.

Kim nodded and watched him go.

“Go do what you must, Kenneth Sparks.” She implored softly, then turned tail and ran back into town–in search of her friends.

And not towards the relative safety of the caves like she originally intended. Since she was already here, she might as well make the use of what little of her life she had left.

If I can survive an F5 twister, I can survive getting shot at by the enemy. She thought to herself–capping off a few shots as she went.

Drones went down, some for good–others struggling to get up. A few fired errant shots but for the most part, the invasion force was more concentrated on Kayla than they were of her.

Which was good–if one thought about the implications.

But what if Kayla got done wiping out the invasion force?

Then what? Would she come after the survivors next?

Kim Sanders didn’t want to know the answer to that one.

Not if she wanted to live.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 179

2007-12-30T18:10:00.000-08:00

Three hours after the storm.

Susan Meyers hissed sharply as she dragged herself bodily against the broken ground–her leg a mass of cuts, welts, and debris burns.

Her body was a mass of bruises and she had a cut over her right eye from when an errant tree branch smacked her sideways.

But a hail of dirt and debris soon followed–and she felt her left side get pummeled like a prize fighter in the ring.

Sharp pain lanced her side soon after–causing the woman to lose consciousness.

When she came too–about ten minutes ago–she discovered that she was left alone and surprisingly alive.

Until her left side screamed in agony.

Susan recalled crying out to the world in general–letting the whole place know her pain.

Before discovering how close to death she had been.

A large tree had come crashing down–missing her by mere inches.

Using the fallen thing for support, the woman managed to get herself up. But she didn’t find any other sign of her mob.

Those whom had converged upon the hijacked farmhouse.

“Dead…?” She whispered in confusion. The world spun about her–causing her to stumble and fall to the ground in an undignified heap.

Susan Meyers lay there for awhile–tearing up against the pain which assaulted her senses.

This isn’t fair! She screamed inside herself. We were so close!!!

Which brought her to this moment: Where she was dragging herself along the ground like a wounded animal–and not even able to defend herself.

The outskirts of Wynne was a disaster area. The farmhouse which the two hostages and three of their own sympathizers had taken refuge in was gone.

There was nothing left of the place.

Not even the foundation.

Wiped out of existence.

Susan closed her eyes and took comfort in that small consolation. That meant that she didn’t have to worry about them anymore.

Now, she could concentrate on getting back to town and recovering.

Then rally the troops once more to her cause.

The woman bit down on her lower lip tightly and resumed dragging herself across the dirt road.

* * *

Anna Ellison opened her eyes and found herself looking up into a patchwork blue and white sky–with the sun setting just on the horizon.

A few stars peeked out–amongst the reddish and pink clouds; giving the woman a fantastic sunset.

“W…o…w…” she ground out in suppressed awe. “That’s…pret…t-y.” Then stopped talking as her head began to pound in earnest. “Ow…”

Had the storm…finally passed? She thought to herself. The woman couldn’t remember much after she fell asleep from both exhaustion and fear. Her last images were of nothing as her dream cycle left her in a state of peaceful oblivion.

The only image she could recall was someone with wings–but she could not remember who it was.

The ride in the twister was a nice touch after all–but (as she got up)–Anna did not want to repeat that experience again.

Once was enough!

Getting only halfway up, she remained on all fours in an effort to stop her head from spinning around. The waxing and waning ground didn’t help her stomach much.

Dizziness and intense nausea assailed Anna and she quickly turned and threw up on cue.

Opening her eyes–she found what she ate on the ground; with a mix of blood.

That can’t be good. She thought to herself. It’s probably from getting whacked around like a beach ball inside that monster.

But she didn’t feel any residual pain inside, so it must’ve been a good sign.

Nerves. She silently decided–before her head started to clear. That or those bad noodles we salvaged from a buried storehouse three miles out.

The packages looked good–surprisingly well preserved after a 100 years. And they didn’t give off any malodorous odor.

Looking at what she had tossed involuntarily, she mused further by saying, “Of course. It could be me. I haven’t eaten anything like that at all. What’s to say what was in those noodles?”

A bug, a germ, something that none of us could digest–?

Naturally–as she managed to finally rise onto her own feet–some of the others in her search party also got sick this morning.

But none where as bad as her it seemed.

When she turned to go, Anna inadvertently slipped on her own vomit and fell flat on her back.

Stars and bright spots exploded before her eyes and she lay there stunned.

Nothing came out when she opened her mouth to speak, but when she did–she was heard…

Laughing.

Kim watched with utter amazement as she saw nature turn in on itself in such a violent hurry.

One minute, she was watching the tornado come barreling down on her–and the next–?

Gone.

Or rather…

Split down the middle by some unseen force.

It was such an amazement feat–to watch a product of Mother Nature be so…contained.

But here she was–paying witness to it.

The storm literally was hanging over her. Kim Sanders could still feel the power and might of the F5 battering her–even though it wasn’t going anywhere.

When it transformed into sisters–?

Kim expected the second twister to come right straight for her and suck her up without a second thought.

But it didn’t.

In moments, the second twister died–leaving behind the first. The skies above her head lightened as a result, but that didn’t mean she was out of danger.

There was still that matter of the first F5.

However, her fears were allayed when that tornado died off quickly before it could do anything as well.

Kim started to run towards the area in question–but stopped when she saw somebody dragging himself across the dirt.

The woman broke out into a jog to find out who it was.

Three minutes later, she drew herself up short–surprise riding her face.

“Shit.” She said flatly. “What the hell are you doing here?”

The person in question looked up from her onward journey and sighed herself.

“Don’t just stand there acting stupid,” the woman said–looking away from her. “Help me up.”

“And why should I?” Kim answered–hands on her hips. “You’ve treated me like shit ever since I hooked up with your mob outfit. I. Want. Out.”

“You got out, remember? By teaming up with them: The freedom fighter and that inhuman bitch of his.”

Kim stood there and took that barb without even flinching.

“Have you ever thought about the day when those you keep pushing around may end up pushing back?” She stated with a hard glint on her eyes.

Susan didn’t say anything at first. When she did, her voice held extreme bitterness in it.

“I knew you weren’t cut out for this. I just knew it.” She accused–propping herself up with a free arm. “Why the hell did you come here anyway?”

Kim hunched down and stared back at her tormentor.

“Because I live here. That’s why. I grew up here as a little girl. My parents were good people. And my brother did join this symp group years ago. And last I know, he vanished in the Ozarks 15 years ago–fighting those same freedom fighters you now hate so much.”

Susan Meyers didn’t say anything. Because it was her father whom guided the movement within Wynne under the guidance of the female overseer–Kristen.

But he died ten years ago–and she took over.

And didn’t look back ever since.

“And for good reason: My father was betrayed by them. I felt it was payback for all those times that we lost so many to them–because of the Neos.”

“Has it ever occurred to you that the Neos are our enemy?”

“We haven’t had an attack in 22 years!” The woman responded stiffly. “Ever since we made that agreement with them! Our town would be spared because we wouldn’t side with the freedom fighters!”

Just then a stiff wind blew through and both women thought it was the storm coming back–and Kim looked back.

And gasped.

A personal troop carrier flew overhead–right above their heads; the engine backwash stirring things up a bit in its wake.

Farther back, the woman could see that even more carriers and craft fill the skies just over the horizon.

Crowds of soldiers began to pour in–many dozens at a time.

Kim bent down and hauled Susan Meyers up.

“Not anymore!” She called out above the terrific noise.

Susan’s face filled with fear and apprehension then as she took in the sight before her

“No…” She whispered in blind shock. Then she screamed at the top of her voice. “No!” She tried to struggle then–against Kim’s slender strength–but she couldn’t.

“We were doing only what we were told to do! Told!”

Kim held onto her for only a few more seconds before she suddenly let go.

Susan Meyers was propelled forward like a sling shot–and she fell face-first into the ground–after she had the courtesy to stumble around like a closeted drunk.

The woman only felt a small wave of pity well up within her.

But only for a second.

Kim smiled despite the danger presented to them both–remaining so vulnerable out in the open.

The bitch deserved this.

Deserved every waking moment of it.

“Fight all you want!” Kim called after her–after she witnessed Susan’s display of superhuman strength. Her desperate desire to live.

The woman was running towards the Neos– and towards her death.

“They won’t listen to you! Not ever!”

In under a minute, Kim saw Susan vanish towards the other side of town.

In less than a half an hour or so, the Neos would be here–flooding the area with their own brand of misery and destruction.

Sanders decided that now would be a good time to leave town.

While the getting was good.

“There’s some caves out on the outskirts of this place…” She quietly reasoned to herself. “It would be a good place to hide out until I can make other plans.”

Once the fireworks were over–she would return here; collect any lucky provisions and then leave.

“Waco sounds like a nice place to be this time of year.” Kim joked openly–before departing from her current path and taking one which would lead her out of her former home.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 178

2007-12-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

The tornado didn’t give up.

And neither did she.

The F5 hit the outskirts of Wynne–leaving a huge swath of destroyed houses, ripped ground, and uprooted trees.

Kayla Sorenson reappeared about 1500 yards from the monster–her body still glowing with contrails of spent energy and light.

Some of it being sucked away by the immense pull of the twister itself.

The woman rose to her feet–leaving behind a shocked and stunned Kenneth Sparks.

This wasn’t the death he had hoped for.

“W-what–?” He stammered; astonished that she was leaving him behind. He had no chance to recover from his earlier surprise–when Kayla reappeared, grabbed him, and the teleported him out from the mouth of hell.

“Just where do you think you’re going!?” He lobbed at her retreating back. “I don’t want to die here, dammit!”

Kayla stopped fifty feet from him, breathtaking behind measure, turned and confronted him.

“Everything will be fine.” She told him. “You will survive because of my will and your strength.”

The former lieutenant could barely hear her through the awesome roar of the storm and the thunderous pall of the twister’s magnificent approach.

Kenneth had to steel himself against the onslaught–even though he was fatally closer to the twister than he would’ve liked.

The experience likened it–for him–to stare in the face of God and survive, only to be dumped at His feet and have to do it all over again.

And though the man had no faith in religion–since its passing so many years ago–it was the closest analogy that he could readily think of.

Because nothing on Earth could compare to staring down an F5 tornado!

But Kayla seemed to be unmoved by the thing–this creation of Mother Nature's.

Kenneth watched as the ground around him began to splinter into dusty chunks–only to watch some of it get sucked into the storm like watery sand.

He was losing his grip.

He could feel his body shifting here and there–as gravity began to defy him and there was little to hold him down.

165 pounds of dead weight and muscle would not be enough to anchor him against the ferocity of this thing.

NO! He thought fiercely. I will not go!!!

But he was. And he was sliding into the maw. Sliding back into hell where he belonged.

Shiiiiiiit….! He howled inwardly. Not again!!!

Then he lost it. Lost his grip on the ground beneath as he was being picked up and closed his eyes–waiting for the end to happen.

And was caught.

Again.

“You are not as strong as I thought you were.” Kayla answered with a disapproving voice. “I said to stay put and yet here you are.”

Kenneth grabbed a hold of her arm with supreme effort–trying to keep himself from being a statistic.

“I can’t!” He bellowed at the top of his lungs. “I can’t hold on like you want me to!” Staring into her luminous eyes, he charged: “Why did you dump here so close to this monstrosity?! Why not farther away?!?”

“To witness my power.” Kayla informed him coldly. “To watch and learn.”

No sooner had she said that–did the twister hit them full force.

But for some unexplainable reason, the tornado kept getting pushed back.

It hit them again–seeking to swallow them up–but the same force which impinged on its journey kept shoving the tornado back.

And not just one part of it, but all of it!

Kenneth stared at Kayla, but she was unmoving, unwavering, and still watching–

Him.

“My power at work. Be humble and submit to my will.” Kayla said unconditionally.

Kenneth didn’t know what to think or do. He was too entranced by the woman and her voice. The utter calmness and complete disconnect from emotional logic.

The twister continued to rally against the pair–even as Kayla held onto him without abandon. Her arm didn’t lose its structural integrity or rigidity that most humans would’ve had–after being at war with something this strong and massive.

The winds howled and beat against both him and her for a time, but the tornado could not overpower them.

At one point, she let go of him briefly and then stretched out her arms–wings following suite.

“The man is mine to do with as I choose.” Kayla declared in one broad stroke. “You will leave him to my own devices; for he is not yours to take.”

For five whole seconds, Kenneth felt himself go airborne once more–as the twister took him into its powerful grasp.

Then–as if by magic–the tornado suddenly lost cohesion right into front of his eyes; and he fell right in between it.

In between two F5 tornadoes!

The former lieutenant hit the destroyed ground with a dull thud!–before he scrambled up to his feet; expecting the worst.

But all he saw–?

Was a being of pure light and energy–wrapped breathtakingly in a metallic sheen. Each part of her was like some kind of goddess coming down from the heavens to rescue only him.

“Away.” Kayla spoke simply to the first split twister on the right–and with a flick of an upturned wrist–it was.

The F5 died right then and there–leaving only a small demonstration of its existence in its wake.

Wind-tossed debris, leaves, and clods of dirt rained down on her and on the surrounding landscape, but that’s all.

Kenneth took this opportunity to try and escape before things got really bad for him.

He didn’t have time to get more than a few meters distance before he heard her call out again–dismissing the second twister like it was nothing more than an annoying door-to-door salesman.

The man stood there in complete shock–unable to comprehend what had just happened.

How could she have that much control over the weather? He asked himself. Is she that powerful?

In response, Kayla dropped her arms and her wings folded against her body instinctively. She turned and looked at him.

“Come to my side.” She instructed woodenly. “Bask in my glory. See the world as I see it.”

Kenneth felt himself respond, felt himself respond to something which made another part of himself shrink in humility and a small pebble of fear.

He walked to her like a loyal puppy would for its master.

But seeing what she had done, he could not stand there and afford to anger her in the least bit.

“Fear me not,” she said quietly–once he came into range of her. “No harm will befall the man.”

“So you say.” Kenneth returned for the first time since this whole affair got started.

“It is normal to question what you do not understand. I am she who carries your flesh and blood inside. I am the one who has sworn an oath to protect, love, and cherish for all times.”

“Is that why I cannot see you so distinctively?” Kenneth asked–as the weather returned to normal–and the sun broke out of its cloudy imprisonment.

“Your perceptions of me cannot be realized in this form. I am…several levels from being truly ascended. On that day, you and I will no longer be as one.” Kayla told him.

Kenneth stood there in shock–unable to believe her.

“So nothing about our relationship means anything to you now?” He cried out.

Kayla turned and faced him–warmth and love in her eyes.

“I am the calm before the storm. I am what you want me to be. I cannot be anything else.”

The man found that hard to believe.

“Prove it then, Kayla Sorenson. Prove to me that I mean nothing to you. Return to wherever you came from–and forsake me always–now and forever.” Kenneth reached out and grabbed her by the shoulders–surprised that he was able to do it at all.

But the energy matrix of her buzzed and sizzled against his flesh–burning his skin.

Through the pain, he shouted: “Do it, you heartless bitch!”

Instead of love and warmth, he got something completely unexpected: Cold and death.

All wrapped up into one.

Kayla responded to his touch and his actions by backhanding him smartly across the face–the force of the blow sending him cart wheeling across the ruined landscape.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 177

2007-12-29T18:43:00.000-08:00

The sensation of being held completely weightlessness surprised the woman–even though she was being buffeted by forces that were unique to itself.

Oddly enough, she felt quite at home within the massive twister itself–even as the vortex’s awesome power sought to push her both higher and rip her apart at the same time.

Kayla felt her jumpsuit tear in a couple of places–but the fabric remained extremely durable to outside stress and the vacuum effects generated by the tornado.

Up she went.

Higher and higher.

The winds screamed and howled. Beat at her with unrelenting fury.

Kayla found the whole experience to be both humbling and exhilarating all at once.

The woman wondered why she didn’t do this more often. To get swept away by something more awe-inspiring and collectively destructive at the same time.

Then she looked down and found herself staring at the farmhouse as it received a glancing blow from the weather-spawned monster–and watched as the front end was literally eaten away by the force of the twister.

The material making up that part of the farm house disintegrated like it was nothing more than papier-mâché.

That’s when she saw everyone in there sucked out like they were nothing more than leaves.

Kayla saw Kim and Timothy get whisked away in a heartbeat–causing a reaction in the woman herself: A need to protect!

A burst of light–followed by an explosion of angel-white feathers and the woman transformed again into the truest extent of being a higher-born angel–one riding both on the light of majesty and love.

Taking off, Kayla rocketed upwards more on the will of instinct and survival than one of power and grace.

Even as she got within spitting distance of Kim–the woman’s transformation completed itself and she reached out with a metallic hand that glowed with a purely inner light–even as her nano-colonized wings flapped with machine-like precision; balancing itself effortlessly against the wind and nature‘s will.

Kim herself thought that she was a goner. She had experienced tornadoes before–survived being inside of a much smaller one– but the woman could see that she wouldn’t live to see another day.

It made no sense to cheat death any further. Not when your number was clearly up.

She lost sight of Timothy seconds after being engulfed by the monster–therefore she did not see what happened to him soon after Kayla had transformed.

But she was seeing her now–as she reappeared just below her position–and arced upwards in a gentle angle; one of which would take her within hailing distance of the transformed woman.

For the life of the woman, Kim could not recognize Kayla in her transformed state.

The light was playing with her visual perceptions and her ability to perceive matter and form.

And the form that Kayla took did not match anything Kim could easily describe–let alone recognize.

The light’s inner purity played havoc with her senses–teasing and tantalizing her to an insane degree. She could only get a brief idea on what Kayla had become.

But not who.

Machine elemental? The woman briefly thought in her most wildest moment–even as Kayla’s left hand reached out and grabbed her by the arm and drew her in.

“Fear not,” She was heard saying in a strangely synthesized voice. “Nothing will allow you to come to harm.”

Kim couldn’t help but laugh.

“Is that your way–” but never finished her sentence–as the world she was in now gave way to a peaceful and serene vista of Wynne itself.

Kim found herself being dumped inside the town square.

And watched as Kayla vanished like a ghostly sprite–energy contrails spiraling after her in a lazy manner.

“–of saying that–?” She finished instinctively. I’m safe?

The winds whipped around her in response to the approaching storm and the tornado which had a lot of ground to cover.

Kim looked up at the sickly yellow skies and shook her head.

“The least you could’ve done was dump me in a spot where there wasn’t a rope bearing down on me–you crazy bitch.” She mused with some half-hearted amusement.

The only thing she could do was wait.

Wait for the end to happen all over again.

She sighed and muttered: “And to think life sucked worse before…?”

* * *

Anna Ellison felt twisted around as the tornado continued to play with her–pulling her both up and then sharply down without remorse.

For a few fleeting seconds, the woman thought she saw the landscape around her–the open skies–but was swallowed up by the winds, the debris, and everything else which made this monster tornado so powerful.

The best way she could think of remotely surviving this experience was to reduce her own physical profile and ride it out.

So she drew herself into a fetal position and closed her eyes–holding onto her legs tightly.

Like a ping-pong ball, the woman was buffeted around effortlessly–getting hammered in places by rocks and debris; pieces of wood seeking to impale themselves in her–or even–?

WHAM!

Something massive slammed into her–sending Anna spinning out of control and her back into extreme agony.

The woman cried out–thinking dark injustices towards the unseen enemy of her pain.

Then something–someone–reached out towards her and steadied her chaotic ascent.

“Easy.” She heard a woman’s voice tell her in something oddly electronic in nature. “You are safe now.”

S-safe??? Anna gasped within the confines of her own mind. Then her back seized again and she screamed aloud in fresh tears.

Tears which were ripped away by the storm itself.

“In all things living, rebirth is a painful exercise in life itself. The process by which we all must share in. Not just you.”

An incredibly warm feeling filled the woman’s mind, body, and consciousness as she was suddenly taken away from the torturous horrors that this F5 monster sought to bestow upon her.

Anna could not discern what it was–or where–that she had ended up.

Only one second she was inside hell and next– ?

The soft ground of Heaven.

Dirt and grass greeted her–as she was deposited in the backyard of someone’s home in Wynne–right next to a bed of thorny roses and shock-purple tulips.

Of her savior she could only tell that someone both metallic and filled with a purity of light bent over her for a brief second–and was gone the next.

A scintillating cloud of energy particles was all that was left of that person’s departure.

Anna closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them up to behold the sickly yellow sky with an iron-gray/black overcast slowly encroaching over her.

The storm wasn’t finished with her or anyone for that matter.

Wynne was going to sustain a direct hit from the twister–whether anyone liked it or not.

Who gives a shit. She thought with acrid bitterness. We all live life in the heartbeat of a second anyways. What’s the fucking point in dragging things out?

And closed her eyes. Not waiting for the end to come to her.

In sleep–she rationed out–death had no real preferences.

* * *

Kenneth was surprised as anyone when the twister hit the farmhouse and proceeded to wreck the last of what he had seen as a momentary refuge from both the storm and the mob of Neos sympathizers.

And before he knew it, he shared the same fate as his compatriarchs.

The storm was no less nurturing to him as it had been to the other three–including the love of his life.

Ironic that he had spent his time fighting one enemy only to be destroyed by another belonging to Mother Nature herself.

No, not an enemy. An instrument of Her creation.

The human race had long ago stopped being the threat to the planet through its own destructive purposes–allowing Earth to recover somewhat in the brief time that civilization had outwardly collapsed.

Greenhouse gasses had been reduced in less than a century following the end of modern civilization, and the ice caps had regained their fragile strength.

But Tornado Alley–as it was known to everyone whom lived in the Plains–remained as caustic and unpredictable as always.

So he sailed upwards–born aloft by the power of the tornado and hit from all sides by its bastard winds.

There was no point in wondering if he would survive this encounter, he figured that he was done for real this time around–unlike the many other instances when Kayla had pulled his bacon out of the fire.

Since he was the first to go and the last to be rescued–Kenneth Sparks saw no reason that things would change for the better this time around.

The war had dragged on for as long as it had. Humanity was fighting a lost cause. But he knew that it wouldn’t go down without a whimper.

Not when the Lab had been successful in penetrating the Earth’s core 40 years ago–implanting a series of diametric self-guiding antimatter torpedoes.

A product of Area 51 and some alien weaponry discovered by the former U.S. government in the early 1980s.

The technology itself was impossible to duplicate, but not hard to master. With some luck, the Lab was able to reprogram the warheads’ guidance systems, and sent on their last mission.

Each torpedo was programmed to punch through the last layers of Mother Earth’s heart and explode together in a righteous fury.

So grand the explosion would be–that not even the Neos themselves would be able to survive.

Earth would be incinerated in an instant–and then exploding outwards with force beyond comprehension.

Kenneth smiled at that bit of knowledge. The last bit of a trump card the human race had. And it would end everything this world had spent billions of years building upon.

The former lieutenant had no regrets harboring the knowledge which had been given to him–after leaving the Special Forces division in Ashland, Oregon at the age of 26.

It was then that he had decided to sign up with Tanner’s people–after hearing about their celebrated exploits.

But it was a ten-year ordeal which left him in the grip of hell–and eventually into the graces of heaven itself.

When he first encountered Kayla Sorenson.

Kenneth sighed and felt himself blow out his breath in frustration.

So many possibilities, and yet, he hadn’t the time to explore them all.

Too bad. He thought–as the wind picked up even more. I was getting used to the idea that I had all the time in the world.

Bouncing around, Kenneth thought he saw the ground come up rather fast as his perceptions of the world skewed sharply upwards and then around in a full 180°–but as quickly as that notion appeared, it vanished before he could get a grip on it.

Then he was dropped suddenly–as the wind’s suction momentarily let go and that’s when he believed that this was truly the end.

But something astonishing happened.

Something sucked him up straight into the core of the tornado itself–like a rocket blasting off towards the heavens themselves.

The sheer force of the journey had a detrimental effect on his body and Kenneth found that he wasn’t able to breathe.

H-hooooollllleeee shiiiiiiiit–! He was finally able to think as the G-forces finally leveled off and he was able to think clearly again.

For thirty seconds.

The abrupt loss of momentum made the former lieutenant realize that he had somehow managed to skirt the mouth of the twister itself–and instead ended up somewhere near the top cusp of the storm.

Not quite free of the F5–but he was dangerously close to falling off the edge.

“Fuck me…” He complained out loud– not caring anymore. At this time, survival was really a moot point.

He couldn’t tell how far he was up, but it was high enough that he could still see that he was a prisoner of the storm itself.

Then he started his slow descent downwards–slowly at first–finally beginning to pick up speed.

But then that speed was temporarily sheered away as Kenneth became caught up in a series of whirling vortices that had been created. Vortices that had a most intensifying effect on his journey.

Instead of spinning him around on a cushion of safety, the mini-twisters proceeded to suck him down into the depths of hell.

Crap! Why me? He thought with torrid desperation as an inky cloud of darkness enveloped his immediate range of vision.

It wasn’t going to be too long now before he pancaked himself into the ground.

Face first, butt first…it didn’t matter.

Kenneth Sparks was as good as dead.

The man closed his eyes and waited for the end to happen.

Five seconds turned into ten seconds. Then he felt something grab a hold of him sharply and pulled him up with swift abruptness.

“No amount of despair can keep you from your overlying destiny.” A strange sounding voice relayed to him. “Your life is in my hands. And it shall remain so until the end of time.”

Kenneth opened his eyes and gasped–not sure if he was staring into the eyes of an angel or…

Something else entirely.

Then he vanished–along with the perpetual nightmare around him.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 176

2007-11-18T20:26:00.000-08:00

Relay after relay left Susan Meyers in an enraged fit.

“Say that again?” She seethed at the top of her voice–not wanting to hear–not wanting to believe!–that this was happening.

What ever happened to a good old-fashioned surrender? She thought to herself.

“What did they say?”

Lisa Thorton repeated what the point-line said.

“Nothing.” She said. “I don’t think they heard you.”

The woman’s face went scarlet with rage.

“What. The. Fuck!” She swore lividly–then kicked at the ground. A good-sized clod of dirt and grass went flying twenty feet in a perfect high arc that sailed over everyone’s heads.

The earth made missile splattered against the house in an explosion of soft topsoil, loose rock, and errant bits of grass.

Susan screamed at the top of her voice–lending the skies her anger and hot frustration.

Then she deftly aimed her pulse rifle at the nearest window and lobbed off a shot.

A lance of light stabbed over a few surprised heads–forcing the rest to duck out of the way.

Glass exploded as a result and the woman smiled tightly.

“You hear me now–you ungrateful sons of a bitches!?!” She lowered her weapon just for a brief moment and then re-aimed it at the farmhouse.

“Or do I need to make my fucking point again?”

Incredulously, the same broken window opened all by itself and someone–a man by looks of it–stuck his hand out and then flipped everyone present…the bird.

“Keep your panties on, Susan.” The same offender commented off hand. “We’re coming out.”

There was a flurry of voices and then the window shut itself with a distinctive slam!–breaking the remaining pane in two.

“See? Look at what you made me do–Kayla.” The same man was heard griping at full intensity. “I broke the fucking thing. Are you happy now?”

This was being relayed back to Susan–whom stood seventy-five feet from the action.

But she could hear some of the mob chuckling amongst themselves.

“I can hear them.” The woman fired off in a frosty tone–the second Lisa repeated everything word for word. “If not just barely.”

“Wanna move up front so that you can hear better?” Crenshaw’s wise-cracking voice was heard ten feet from her initial position.

“Fuck off and die!” Susan roared back hotly. “Why don’t you make yourself fucking useful and get those assholes out of the place?!?”

“No can do.” Crenshaw said with a wider smile. “I’m staying back here where it’s safe.”

His comment took the irate woman off guard.

“Safe from what?”

Just then the skies above them began to darken–as the sun overhead was being blotted out by roiling thunderclouds.

Thomas Crenshaw couldn’t help but shrug.

“That?” He said.

The winds started to pick up then and the unscheduled storm started to intensify.

* * *

Kenneth immediately noted the change in the weather and turned to Kayla and asked: “This your doing?”

Kayla opened the door a crack and peeked out.

“Not mine. Controlling the elements is something I haven’t done in eons.”

Kenneth stared at her blankly for a second.

“Eons?”

The woman shrugged. “Long story.” She said before closing the door–just as the first peal of thunder shattered the tense calm around the farm house–shaking things around for good measure.

“They’re leaving!” Timothy squealed in excitement.

“Ah!” Kim was heard screaming. “And I’m getting wet over here!”

“Shut the window then!” Timothy hollered back.

“There isn’t one!” The woman railed. “Remember? Sir Twinkle Toes over there broke it!”

Kenneth sighed. “Why is it that when everything goes wrong, I’m the one to blame?” He asked himself as he brought himself around to the rear–covering Kim and Timothy’s retreat.

Outside, everyone was scattering and running for whatever shelter they could find.

“This isn’t over yet!” He heard Susan scream back in his general direction. “We’ll be back! And we won‘t be leaving next time!”

“Sure!” Kenneth exploded impulsively. “Run away from a fight! Fucking cowards! Letting a little rain and wind scare you off?!”

But none of them were milling around long enough to lob a retort back at the former lieutenant.

“Chicken shits.” He spat.

The weather got worse and worse as time went on–with sheet lightning hammering the immediate area and equally punishing squalls of rain beating the old farmhouse left and right.

Wooden support beams creaked and squealed under the onslaught–which left the small party unsure as what to do next.

At least for a few seconds anyway.

“Upstairs people.” Kayla said suddenly. “I’m detecting some unusual rotation in the upper levels of the storm.”

“A tornado?” Kim squeaked in fear. “Then what the hell are we going upstairs for? Shouldn’t we be going down into the storm cellar?”

Kayla looked at her blankly for a second, then shook her head.

“My scans didn’t detect one available.”

“How big is it?” Kenneth wanted to know. He was no stranger to twisters–having seen some nice ones in his youth.

Kayla turned around for a second–staring off into the wall.

“It’s a monster. The biggest one I’ve seen since I started fighting against you guys.”

“How big?”

“A mile wide at the base. It just touched down and started gaining strength almost immediately.” The woman reported.

“Think you can do something about it?”

Timothy stared at the man and then Kayla.

“You’re kidding right? She can stop a twister?” He interrupted–before Kayla could answer.

“She’s been able to bring down comets from the heavens themselves, stop a thermonuclear smart charge from ripping everything apart–so yes…” Kenneth rattled off. “I think she can stop a small thing like a tornado.”

Timothy wasn’t so bought. “Right.”

“After what she did to me, I’m willing to go on a little faith here.” Anna piped up supportively. “If she can heal me, she certainly has the power to do this.”

Kayla grinned despite herself.

“I think my fan club has spoken–despite a few dissenters.” She commented airily. “But don’t think this is going to be easy. Bringing down a comet to wipe out an invasion force is nothing against the power and sheer awe of Mother Nature.”

“Too many variables?” Kenneth asked.

“I’m only one person, love. Even I have limits at times. I’m not as all encompassing as you paint me to be.”

“Mmm…” He muttered. “That’s not what I believe.”

A crimson blush rose up Kayla’s cheeks and she leaned over to kiss Kenneth on the forehead.

“You’re sweet.” She murmured.

All of a sudden, the rain stopped pelting the place and the lightning strikes began to diminish in great intensity.

The tender moment passed just as quickly–and Kayla shoved Kenneth and the rest up the stairs.

“Go!” She yelled–just as the farmhouse began to shake and buck wildly. A new sound then pierced the chaos.

Something which none of them had heard before: A sound which was reminiscent of a train passing close by.

“Upstairs!” She yelled at them–just as whatever bore down on them succeeded in ripping the front door off and sucking the woman out.

Kenneth could only hold onto the shaking banister while screaming out her name.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 175

2007-11-18T20:05:00.000-08:00

“Keep moving!” Susan Meyers hollered to the rest of the town’s large group of sympathizers–one hundred and seventy one strong.

She figured that this would be more than enough to take the old Wallaceford place down, recapture the two miscreant prisoners, and reclaim her people.

Spreading out, the woman watched as her assault group took different points of interests–different points of possible escape–and followed up behind Lisa Thorton and Thomas Crenshaw.

“Careful!” She called out to a few of the eager beavers. “This place is still plenty deadly! So watch yourselves!”

They did as they were told, gingerly stepping over certain pre-marked areas–evident by the carnage and destruction–and moved into position.

Susan hung back about 100 feet from the farmhouse. Grabbing Thomas, she shook her head.

“Let’s wait until things have had a chance to settle down–then we move in.”

Crenshaw nodded–tightlipped.

“Fine,” he said. “But remember what I said: Kenneth is dead. And so is that psycho-bitch of a girlfriend.”

Susan didn’t think so.

“She’s mine.” She told him under no uncertain terms. “I owe that bitch one for almost parting my head the hard way.”

Thomas didn’t have a problem with that. But her comment gave him reason to smile.

“Didn’t you know? War is hell. Casualties are bound to take place sooner or later.”

“Especially traitors.” Susan said with pursed lips and narrowed eyes. “Anyone who sides with those two are dead meat. No questions asked.”

Thomas was about to say something, but thought better of it.

“What was that?” The woman asked with a dangerous air–her finger on the trigger. Swinging her weapon around, she aimed it at Crenshaw.

“Did you have something to say?”

The man wasn’t fazed at all by having a pulse rifle pointed directly at his face.

“Nothing.” He said calmly.

“You may not have said anything, but your body was the one which sprung the question.”

“It wasn’t a question. It was just something Kenneth said in our last meeting–before I broke ranks with the Free Earth Movement and went rogue.”

Susan eyed him speculatively. “In what regards?”

“That sooner or later, we will all get our comeuppance.”

“Afraid to die?”

Thomas shook his head. “Hardly.”

“Afraid to live then?” Susan guessed.

“Nope.”

“What then?”

The man turned and looked the woman in the eyes.

“Once I start something, I never back out. My fear is failing to carry out a job before it runs full circle.”

Now Susan was curious.

“And what job is that?”

However, Crenshaw didn’t answer her. Instead he said, “I think I see something going on up front. Movement perhaps.”

That did it. Meyers attention was broken and she was forced to look away from him.

“You’re right.” She said. “Let’s move. I’m getting tired of waiting.”

* * *

“Shit and fucking A,” Kenneth breathed out of the corner of his mouth. “Kim was right, babe.” He looked away from the living room window and over to where Kayla Sorenson was standing-in the hall with her ass propped up against the door.

“We’ve got a mob outside. Willing and able to pick our asses off at a second’s notice.”

“No chance for escape?” Anna Ellison’s strong voice called out from inside the dining room.

“Not unless you want to die first.” Timothy Crandall piped up. “There’s no way in hell I’m going to get my ass shot off at the waist stupidly.”

Kenneth looked at him and then turned to Kim–whom was standing only a few feet away from the former lieutenant.

“Not born stupid, that’s for sure. What kind of an education did you guys have again?”

“Home schooling.” Was the woman’s reply.

“Really? Well, fancy that.”

“You?”

Kenneth shrugged immodestly. “Yep. My uncle taught me. His wife, Marilyn, did some of the work as well. Had the high school equivalent before I left at the age of sixteen.” He stopped for a moment to look out the window–to check on the action going on outside.

“Not that you see anyone giving a flying fuck these days.”

Kim chuckled at the man’s wry humor. “I know what you mean. But I think it‘s important that we keep tabs on what we grew up with– so that future generations will know what we all went through as a civilization.”

“Mmph.” Was Kenneth’s return response. “At the rate things are going, we may not have much longer to worry in that department.”

Now Kim was worried.

“What?”

“The Neos have been making impressive inroads in the war–far better than what’s being led on. We think that within 30 years–both the Neos and the Mother Control Matrix will have succeeded in wiping out what’s left of the human race–gaining uncontested control of the planet.” Kenneth revealed quietly. “But we keep telling anyone we meet that we’re winning the war and that we always have been winning the war.”

“But it was all a lie?” Kim asked–feeling her heart pound at the dreaded news.

“A distortion of the facts and the reality of the ground.” The former lieutenant said quietly. He looked at her and read the shock planted firmly in her face.

“Look, I know this news comes as a shock. But people have been doing this sort of thing for centuries–especially in times of war. You don’t expect either the military or the politicians to tell the public the real truth of the matter–do you?”

“No.” The woman admitted. Then sighed heavily. “No. Not really.”

There was a measure of silence between the pair.

“So why do it?” Kim asked–breaking the tedium finally.

“What?”

“Why fight when there is no hope of victory?”

“Stubborn pride. And the unwillingness to admit that you fucked up somewhere along the lines.” Kenneth said with a small smile. “But we didn’t screw up, we were just faced with an overwhelming army and an enemy that was essentially a tireless one.

“Because the human race can go on for only so long and then–BAM!–we…” he stopped for a moment to search for the right words. “–burn out.”

“But–”

“150 years of fighting is something that history will never forget as the Lost War. It will record the moment in which humanity gave it all it got and then some–before giving up the ship.” Kenneth tried to allay supportively. “Only because we ran out of steam, but not conviction. That’s what makes us different from the Neos. And Mother. It is the one thing which they lack–that we have: Conviction.”

More silence from Kim’s camp. Kenneth looked through a pair of borrowed binoculars and found that everyone was in place.

The war was about to start again. Only this time–it would be human against human. Not machine. Not anything twisted and turned into a nightmarish creation.

Just humans fighting humans.

Kenneth sighed inwardly.

It made him almost pine for the old days when wars were fought over misplaced ideals and meager resources of fossil energy.

At least then, it could be called something.

This?

This…was a sad Greek tragedy of epic proportions.

And Kenneth Sparks knew this.

But it didn’t stop him from carrying out his job. His duty.

“So you’re still going to fight no matter what then?” Kim was heard telling him.

Kenneth raised his pulse rifle and primed it.

“It sure as hell beats waiting for the end to happen.” He said with a cavalier attitude.

Then they heard voices call out to them.

“Here it comes,” Kayla told everyone presently. “The demands of the weak and foolhardy.”

Anna looked out her end of the dining room and did some quick calculations.

“I wouldn’t call 50 or so stragglers to be weak or foolhardy.” She countered over the din of voices.

Kenneth chuckled. This was getting good. Better than any comedy routine he could ever dream up at a moment’s notice.

“That’s not what she meant.” He answered with a knowing grin.

“What?” Anna responded–confused.

“When someone starts making off with demands, it’s usually from a position of weakness. Not strength.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

“But they do.” Timothy interjected with an air of confidence.

“We’ll see.” Kim offered–unconvinced. She didn’t know whether or not they would still survive this one.

A few people were one thing.

But fifty or more?

“Might as well have a target painted on my back,” she added softly to no one in particular. “For all the good this will do.”

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 174

2007-11-18T19:41:00.000-08:00

“Kenneth: You really didn’t need to do that,” Kayla’s reprimanding voice came back. “Look at that bruise on her cheek! Gods…! You must’ve hit her harder than you intended!”

Kenneth walked around the bed to check up on his handiwork.

“It was either that or have no chance of surviving our earlier skirmish.”

Anna Ellison woke up with a monster headache and a great deal of tenderness to her jaw and cheek.

“Gobs…” she mumbled through a clenched jaw. “’haut did ue do ta me?”

“Sorry,” the former lieutenant said with a hang dog look on his face. “I was trying to shut you up–not uh…” he trailed off and looked down at the bed covers.

“Make muh law…?” Anna came back with a lot of drool and caked blood.

Kayla reached over to the injured woman and placed a hand on her tortured flesh.

“Partial hairline fracture, a couple of loose teeth and a moderate amount of tissue swelling and a one nasty cut on the inside of her mouth–” she reported succinctly; then looked at Kenneth Sparks. “Obviously the source of the blood on this bedspread and clothes.”

Her lover looked more guilty than she had seen him in awhile. Leaving Anna for a moment, Kayla crawled over her to get to him.

“Hey…” She said in quietly soothing voice. ‘You did what you had to do–in order to ensure our odds of surviving this conflict in one piece. If situations were reversed–Anna would’ve done the same thing without hesitation.”

Anna nodded silently with unashamed conviction.

Kenneth drew in a deep breath before nodding himself.

“That’s a small relief.” he said with a small shudder. Glancing over his shoulder, he ventured: “No hard feelings?”

Anna was in no position to do much of anything–except sit there in throbbing pain and wait for the end to happen.

Her position within the town’s militia of Neos sympathizers was at a crossroads–one which would most likely lead to her death. Not that she wasn’t expecting it.

“Mmm…” she moaned to herself–the only sound which she could make. One that sounded closer to being human than anything Kayla could dream up on a good day.

The sound of distress jerked the woman back to the present and she shifted herself back over to Anna.

Placing a hand on the woman’s left cheek, she said, “This is going to hurt just a little bit.”

As opposed to what? The other woman thought with unbridled amusement.

Kayla smiled despite herself and thought back, just don’t try and move much, okay?

That message came in loud and clear to Anna and she gasped aloud.

But she couldn’t say much more than that–because of the burning pain in her mouth. The act of total surprise had caused the nerve endings in her abused face to flare back up.

“Easy. Easy. Easy…” the woman cautioned. “There is no need for this kind of an outburst.”

To both Kenneth and Anna’s surprise, the Kayla’s hand erupted in a hot yellow kind of fire. Almost instantly, the effect became more suffused inside Anna’s body–visibly traveling up and down the length of her body–through her clothes.

For the next ten seconds or so, the effect kept coming and going in undulating waves of both light and energy.

Anna’s eyes and face lit up with that all too tale classic expression of fear.

“Quiet.” Kayla bit out–before she had a chance to say anything. But moving was an entirely different proposition all together.

She could not.

Not one part of her could be elicited to get up on its own accord.

Why are you keeping me a prisoner, woman?!? She practically howled at her in silent agony.

Kayla kept her peace for another twenty seconds. There was no need to say anything. Every aspect of her was concentrated on healing the woman’s inflicted injuries.

Before Kenneth could intervene on Anna’s behalf, Kayla’s hand faded to a dull glow and then went away all together.

“There.” She said with quiet triumph. “Finished.” Looking at Anna, she added, “You can move now. You’re perfectly all right.”

The woman’s left hand flew up to her mouth as she pressed her own fingers into her cheek and then rubbed them along her jaw.

“Wha-wow.” She breathed out with an explosive sigh. “That was intense. H-how did you do it?”

Kayla shrugged.

“Instinctively, I suppose. I was trying to infuse you with a hoard of self-replicating nanites from my own body, but something held me back. Something told me to do something different for you–and out it came: The healing energies, I mean.”

“Has this happened before?” The woman asked in complete perplexity.

“A few times.” Kenneth said. “But nothing like this.”

Kayla nodded. “It’s because I am changing again, Kenneth. Into what, I cannot say.”

“Another form?” The former lieutenant guessed off hand.

“Another–?” Anna began to ask, before a knock on the door interrupted their ongoing conversation.

“Hey boss lady?” Came Timothy Caldwell’s excited voice. “You in there?”

“I am.” Kayla returned firmly. “What is it?”

“Kim is saying that company is coming. She just spotted a bunch of our former outfit friends pouring into the farm. She wants to know what to do.”

“Tell her not to engage them.” Kenneth spoke quietly out of earshot– before getting up off the bed.

“What?” Kayla ventured in confusion– having not moved from where she and Anna presently sat.

Shaking his head in mute frustration, the man stormed over to the door and flung it open–scaring the shit out of the teenager.

“Don’t engage them!” He barked acidly. “You want to fucking die?”

“Well…” Timothy began with clear uncertainty.

Kevin grabbed him by the arm and steered him down the hall.

Holding fast for a second, he looked back at the two women.

“Don’t take too long. The shit’s gonna hit the fan pretty fucking quick. And we’re going to need all our heads to come out of this mess alive.”

“I know.” Kayla said. “And we won’t.”

Kenneth looked back at Timothy.

“Come on, String Bean. Let’s go and see what has Kim’s panties in a bind.” And closed the door behind him.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 173

2007-10-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

Regression.

“Gone.” Kayla Sorenson reported ten minutes later–coming back to the now ruined living room. “There’s no sign of either one of them in the house. They must‘ve jumped ship out the open doorway at the last second.”

Kenneth came back a moment later–with Timothy Caldwell in tow.

“Sorry about the spill there, old buddy. But I needed to keep you out of the line of fire for a few more seconds.”

Kayla extended her left again and this time it transformed itself into a wickedly long scythe blade. Ever so gently, she cut the boy’s bonds.

“You obviously are an untrained rookie in this group of psychopaths.” She started out. “I get the feeling that neither you nor Kim here wanted to actually belong to this chickenshit outfit.”

Kim looked askance for a moment while Tim rubbed some feeling back into his thin wrists.

“I wanted to,” the teen said in honest defense of himself. “But no matter what I did, Susan didn’t approve of me. Or my actions. She thought I was too weak or something.”

Kayla glanced over the fence-post thin teenager and saw some strength in his lanky frame. Wiry and muscled, but he had nothing on Kenneth Sparks.

“To stand up and fight takes more than just physical strength, Timmy.” She pointed out.

“It’s Timothy.” The teenager said in a clipped tone. “My parents used to call me Timmy when I was a boy. But some in our little band makes it sound like it’s a childish name. Something which can be lorded over and made fun of.”

“Timothy then.” Kayla said with a slight bow of respect–from her part. “All right. Go grab your pulse rifle.”

The tanned teenager nodded and went to go get it–but was stopped by Kayla herself.

“Remember my words: You pull any stupid shit, and I’ll kill you myself.”

Timothy Caldwell nodded. “I know. I’m more interested in leaving than staying anyways.” He said as he left.

“Where you heading?” Kayla asked respectfully.

“A place called Fort Smith. I have an older sister and brother living there–last time I knew.” Timothy returned from behind the corner of the living room hallway. He returned with his weapon in hand–laid face down.

“So how did you end up here, in Wynne?”

“I was kidnapped at an early age.”

Kayla looked aghast.

“Kidnapping?”

Timothy shrugged. “Happens all the time around these parts.”

Kayla looked back at Kenneth. “And you know this?”

The former lieutenant shrugged as well. “It’s been known to happen. Human trafficking isn’t necessarily a new thing in this day and age. It’s been going on throughout our history.”

Kayla stood there for a second. Then she nodded. “I know this. But why would you still do this to yourselves–in light of what’s been going on?”

“Beats me.” Timothy said–snapping Kim Sander’s bonds. “But we better save the small talk for later–if we ever hope to escape.”

Kim disagreed. “I’m staying. Wynne is my home.”

“It won’t be after the Neos get through with this place.” Timothy interjected. “After what happened with that overseer–”

“–Kristen.” Kayla corrected.

“Kristen.” The boy echoed, then finished with: “…of ours.”

“I don’t care.” Kim said defiantly in the midst of the discussion, arms now crossed. “I’m still staying.”

“You want to die, that’s your prerogative. But I’m leaving.”

Kenneth Sparks shook his head.

“I‘m. I still owe that traitorous son of a bitch some payback for what he did to me and Tanner–not too long ago.”

“What you mean?” Kim asked.

“Long story.” The man replied. “And I don’t think we have the luxury of time to sit around talking about it.” Priming his pulse rifle in one smooth motion, he added: “Trust me. Crenshaw is a dead man the next time I see him.”

* * *

By the luck of the draw–the female overseer for the town of Wynne, Arkansas–managed to survive the detonation with little damage to herself.

The resulting explosion had tossed her sixty yards away from the shed’s original spot–and she went crashing through some thick shrubbery and then buried by four feet of collapsed moss, rock, branches of pine and a healthy layer of Arkansas spring mud.

It took Kristen a few hours to get out of her predicament–but by the time she returned to the shed, everyone was gone.

Staring down at the pile of charred wood, debris, and human remains, the overseer contacted Mother.

Told her about the situation and then asked for further instructions.

Is your position compromised? She asked.

Kristen nodded silently to the little voice inside her head.

Yes, Mother. I suspect that my place of residence is no longer fit for continued habitation.

Then I shall get rid of this little town’s inhabitants. They have long since outlived their usefulness to me at any rate. I will have a strike force there within the hour.

And me? What do you wish of me?

Return to me, my daughter. Give me the results of your joining so that I may begin again. This time–without any mistakes whatsoever.

The overseer nodded to herself.

It shall be done, Mother. And the failed experiment? What of her and her male consort?

There was a measure of silence from within the overseer’s mind.

Leave them to the strike force. I do not care any more if they survive or not. If they do–well…we will meet again; sooner or later.

You do not care anything of Kayla Sorenson?

She betrayed me one too many times. Both in the present and once in the future. I do not intend to make that same mistaken a third time.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 172

2007-10-20T15:43:00.000-07:00

“Anything still?” Anna asked Kim as they approached the quiet drab white farmhouse with caution.

Kim waved the portable scanner around her–picking up a few elicit beeps in the process.

“Some electronics. Could be more traps.” The other woman said–treading lightly over the grass. “Step where I step though–just to be on the safe side.”

Anna nodded, following her lead. “I can’t believe that Susan would treat you like that. What’s gotten into her all of a sudden?” She asked.

“Her behavior has been erratic as of late,” Kim pointed out– keeping a nervous bead on the tracker, watching the readings with a falcon’s eye. Things could change without warning and they both needed to be prepared for anything.

“But I think it has something to do with Kenneth Sparks. That much is certain. I can’t believe that she allowed Kristen to have him all to herself–considering the piece Susan wanted to take of him in the first place.”

Anna digested this bit of information in silence as she followed her companion towards the house.

“But 17 days…?” the woman piped up in reflection. “How can anyone survive for that long chained to the bed?”

Kim shrugged.

“The overseer has her ways. She’ll make sure that he survives–more or less.”

“Did you ever approve of her methods, Kim? It’s not like she was able to glean any information out of the man.”

“I don’t think that information was what she wanted of the former lieutenant.” The other woman answered in turn, crossing over a patch of exploded dirt and sod, grass, and other bits of debris.

Some of it human.

Kim grimaced at the sight. “Well, there’s Victor. Or what’s left of him.” She interrupted momentarily to point out the splashes of blood, flesh, and other things which used to be a human body.

“And no, I never did approve of her methods. But I’m just a loyal foot soldier. Just like you.”

“Mmm…” Anna murmured thoughtfully, while navigating around a couple of the hedge bushes. “I don’t see Timmy around, do you?”

Kim stopped for a second to look around. “No. I don’t. Do you think he’s survived?”

Anna scanned the immediate area with her eyes–catching sight of Thomas and Susan in the distance. She waved to them–to attract their attention–but unfortunately neither one was paying attention at the moment.

Refocusing herself, she looked at the ground around her.

“Nothing to suggest that he’s dead. Just…gone.”

“Maybe he’s gone into the house?” Kim volunteered lamely. “That’s where I’d go–if I were him.”

“Then let’s check the place out. Maybe Kristen invited him in–to you know–” Anna began with a twirl of her finger, “–check things out with the former lieutenant?”

“That makes sense.” The woman admitted, climbing the stairs to the door. She reached out for the knob, but discovered that the door opened all by itself.

Alarmed, the woman pulled back and primed her pulse rifle. Then she used the nose of it to nudge the thing open carefully.

“Hello?” She began to say in an edgy manner. “Timmy?”

Before she could react, someone reached out from within the shadows of the darkened hall space and pulled her inside–shutting the door in Anna’s face.

“Kimmie!” The woman’s petrified voice sounded out from behind the closed door. There was some harsh knocking, followed by some rattling of the doorknob–but neither one would budge.
Kenneth kept his foot wedged against the door jam and his hand on the knob.

He had just locked her out.

Looking back, he saw Timothy Caldwell in the living area–bound up and gagged. The frightened look on the teen’s face told the older man all he needed to know about his current state of affairs.

Kayla had a pulse cannon directed at Kim Sander’s face–after she had pulled her inside and threw the startled woman against the wall.

Quick as a bunny, she disarmed her before she could do anything.

“Speak one word–and your dead.” She said with a deadly fury.

Kim nodded in muted fear–wondering if it was okay to piss her pants.

“Kim! Kim! Answer me! What’s going on in there?” Anna’s voice cried out in hysterics. “Are you all right?”

Kenneth looked at Kayla whom nodded. The man back-peddled a bit, before reaching out to unlock the door.

Now. he silently communicated to her.

Kayla looked over at Kim who said: “Tell her that you fell and that she can come in. Word for word. No tricks.”

Kim did so–repeating what had been dictated.

Only because she was staring a pulse cannon right in the face.

Anna opened the door, only to be greeted by Kenneth Sparks.

“Hi beautiful. You’re in deep shit. You know that?” He said with a smile–before decking her in the face with the butt end of his own rifle.

The woman fell to the floor without a sound. The weapon skittered across the hardwood floor–stopping well short of Kim Sanders herself.

“Ouch, babe.” Kayla said with a wince of sympathy. “You could’ve stunned her.”

Kenneth closed the door quickly and locked it. Afterwards, he got a hold of Anna’s unconscious body and hefted her onto his shoulders.

“And risk bring in reinforcements?” he said. “No thanks. I’m going to have a bitch of a time fighting in close quarters as it is. I don’t need to make things any worse than they already are. Be right back.” And climbed up the stairs with his human cargo.

Kayla reconfigured her left arm and hand back to normal–something which startled Kim Sanders to the core.

“Y-Y-You’re one of them?!?” She squeaked.

Kayla shook her head. “No. I’m not. And I pray that I never will be ever again.”

“But you–you just did…that!”

“Get used to it.” Kenneth said out of spite, prancing jauntily down the stairs, and going into the adjoining living room for a second. Things looked more lush in here with the lavish furniture décor, curtains, and drapes.

And the sofas, chairs, and a few love seats.

Two hutches filled with pictures and books lined one side of the wall–and what looked to Kenneth as a 2017 HD Liquid Crystal Display Wall Screen. Completely voice-activated, 450 channel capability, 37”, and hellishly expensive for its time. (And one of the last models the Panasonic company ever produced.)

Running his finger over the dusty surface, the man was tempted to see if it could still work.

“On.” He said in passing. But the screen did not accede to his request. Looking out the window, the man caught sight of two people coming up fast.

“Shit,” he whispered to himself–before one of the two people stopped and stared back at him in surprise.

It was Thomas Crenshaw.

“Hi.” He said back before giving the man the bird. By this time, Kayla had come into the living room with Kim Sanders in tow–and tossed her unceremoniously onto the adjoining love seat; across from Timothy Caldwell.

“We’ve got–” and the door out front exploded in a hail of wood, broken glass and dust. “–company.” The man finished–before sighting in on his quarry with his pulse rifle and fired.

Static shots bled into the opening at extreme velocities–slamming into the side wall. But that did little to scare the two intruders who were hell bent on getting inside.

“You little shit–!” He heard Thomas’s enraged voice cry out. “How did you escape from your imprisonment?”

Kenneth fired through the wall this time–chewing out large holes in the old drywall and plaster.

“Same way I got out the last time, old chum: Through the seat of my pants.” He said with a toothy grin.

Thomas threw himself across the floor and returned fire–just as Susan opened fire on the man himself.

Stitches of plasma energy ripped into the wall above Kenneth’s head–forcing the man to duck for cover. More fire come flying through in the tight space–and he had to pick himself up and throw himself at Caldwell–taking him over the back of the now scorched sofa.

“Mmph!” Timothy screamed through his gag–after hitting the floor in such an undignified manner.

“Sorry about that, son.” Kenneth offered up in apology as reared up and sprayed the hallway with return fire and then ducked. “Just didn’t see the point in getting you killed prematurely here.”

More murderous fire ensued.

Looking over his shoulder, the former lieutenant hollered out: “Hey babe? How are you doing?”

“Just fucking peachy!” Was Kayla’s reply–as she had transformed her right arm and hand into a gauss weapon and was pumping away at Susan’s position. “The bitch has me pinned right behind the love seat!”

“And the woman?” Kenneth asked as another round erupted right above his head–blowing out the window in back of them. Old glass shards rained down on them.

He fired some more–giving Thomas reason to seek cover himself behind the entrance well.

“What the hell do you care? She’s not your damned girlfriend! I am!”

Kenneth winced, then hollered, “Sorry! Just thought I’d ask!” Then hauled up Timmy by the scruff of his neck.

“You: Out.” And proceeded to toss him out the now open window.

A dull thud! was heard a second later–as the young man’s prone body hit the side of the house.

Almost instantly, Kenneth Sparks cursed himself for being stupid!

“Damn! Damn! Damn!” He said, before rising up from behind the holed sofa and opened fire some more–laying down a gout of suppressing fire to keep Crenshaw from doing anything nauseatingly heroic.

Leaning his head out the window for a split-second, he said: “Sorry about that! Are you okay?!?” Then was rewarded by a shot that nearly killed him.

“Shit!” He croaked and ducked down. “That was fucking close!”

“Ya think?” Kim Sanders said wide-eyed. She was still behind the seat, but weaponless. Kayla was busy pounding away–blowing out huge holes in the wall next to her–but Susan wasn’t ready to throw in the towel.

“Give it up!” The woman threw out. “We have you boxed in!”

“Eat me!” Kayla fired back. “I have you penned in worse than your boyfriend over there does!”

“He’s not my boyfriend! He’s an insufferable asshole who thinks he can get into my shorts!”

Kayla stopped firing for a second to glance over at Kim–whom only offered up an innocent shrug.

“They’ve been at each other’s throats for some time now.” She said. “You’d almost think they were married or something by the way they were acting.”

Eyebrows raised, the woman resumed firing.

“No shit…” she smiled in amusement. “Sounds like me and Kenneth over there.” Three more shots blew out more chunks of the retaining wall–one of which almost took off the other woman’s head–exposing her position to the techno-organic.

Susan Meyers looked above the gaping wound and then felt for the top of her head. It was there, but the act sent her into a raging hissy fit.

“You bitch!” she screamed at her. “You almost fucking killed me!”

“Well…duhhh…!” Kayla heard Kenneth remark brightly. “Isn’t that the general idea around here? I‘m certainly not firing because I need the practice!”

Both Kayla and Kim chuckled together, before the imprisoned woman caught herself and said, “Sorry. It’s been a rough week.”

“Tell me about it.” Kayla offered in return. “I haven’t been myself lately either.” Looking back at her enemy, she discovered that she wasn’t even there.

The firefight had suddenly been cut short without so much as a warning.

“Oh hell!” She bit out–scrambling to her feet. “Kenneth! She’s gone!”

Kenneth rose up from behind the sofa for the final time–surprised by his end’s lack of action too.

“So is Thomas.” He commented–looking out at the ruined hallway.

He scratched his head in confusion.

“How the fuck they do that?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to investigate. See if they are still around.” Kayla said, then picked up Kim by the arm and dragged her along for the ride.

“Hey!” The woman visibly protested. “Ease up on the flesh there, woman–or whatever it is that you claim to be!”

“I am a changed person.” Kayla told her flat out. “And don’t you forget that!”

“When did a NuGen soldier-class drone get a change of heart anyways?” Kim persisted.

Kayla turned on her this time and looked the scared woman right in the face.

“The day that I discovered that the human race wasn’t as bloodthirsty and uncaring as Mother painted you all to be.” Then she left her for a second to check up on something. “Even though I’ve had to face some unsavory examples in the past–you still have some qualities which are enduring. And that is what I will hold onto. But the fight will go on nonetheless. It must. For both our sakes.”

“Hey! Wait a second–!” Kim called after her. But Kayla Sorenson was gone by the time she took another step.

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 171

2007-10-20T14:02:00.000-07:00

Susan Meyers silently cursed herself for allowing only Frost and Caldwell to go in alone.

“Fuck…” she moaned out loud. Looking back at Kim and rest of her small party. “Just what I didn’t need!”

“What now?” Kim asked.

Susan ran a frustrated hand through her hair–then pulled on it sharply in muted aggravation.

“What now?” She barked in retaliation–startling the other woman. “What do you think?”

Kim wasn’t so sure about what was due to come next.

“Ah…that I’m up to bat?” She answered meekly.

Susan looked away. “Give the girl a gold star…” she muttered out loud; drawing a snigger from Crenshaw. “She can actually think under pressure for a change.”

“Hey! That’s not being fair!” Kim bleated–before getting a sharp punch to the jaw. The blow landed her on her side and she rolled over and looked up at her commanding officer in surprise–rather than shock or pain.

“What was that for!?” The woman howled.

“Questioning my judgment. If you don’t like it–march your sorry ass back to town–by yourself.”

“But–!”

“Now pick yourself up and head over to the overseer’s place! And take Anna with you! Me and Thomas here will be right behind you shortly.”

“Like lambs to the slaughter, huh?” Kim offered up in miserable acknowledgment. “Is this what I get for serving you with utmost loyalty?”

Susan watched as the other woman rose up and when she got onto her feet–that’s when she acted.

Grabbing the startled woman again by the back of the neck, Susan hauled her ass backwards and gripped her painfully–twisting her around so she could whisper something into her ear.

“Listen you prissy bitch! I don’t give one shit about what you think you owe me! You’re to follow my orders without question! Anything less than that, and I will personally shoot your ass so full of holes–that the next person who comes across your bleeding corpse–will be able to use you for a goddamned cauldron!”

Kim’s blood ran cold at the other woman’s venomous attitude towards her–superseding the painful kink her neck was developing.

“F-fine!” She hissed in anger–wrenching herself free from the woman’s iron-handed grip. “You want to treat me like cattle, then give me the fucking means to defend myself! I’ll do your dirty work–seeing how you’re too chicken shit to go in there and get your hands dirty…yourself!”

There was a moment of dead silence between the two women. Even Anna didn’t breathe a word.

But Thomas did.

“Mmm…cat fight.” He purred appreciatively. “My kind of action.” Then he stopped and thought that one over–before adding, “that, and wet t-shirt contests.”

“Fucking pervert.” Susan muttered under her breath– before she looked up at Kim.

“You got guts trying to cross me, girlfriend. I’ll grant you that. I was finally beginning to wonder if you grew enough balls to stand up for yourself–instead of trying to kiss my butt every waking minute.” Then she handed the woman a rifle. “There you go. Knock yourself out. But be careful. This place isn’t trap-free by a long shot.”

Kim nodded–accepting her offering without further protest.

Susan nodded towards Anna.

“Follow her.” She told the redhead. “And tread lightly. This isn’t a fucking picnic.”

Anna acknowledged her with a silent nod and followed Kim.

Thomas watched both of them go for a minute.

“So? Are we going to follow them?”

“Give them another minute. I want to make sure of something.” Susan insisted tightly.

“That we aren’t being led into a trap?”

Susan stared back at the man. “Scared?” She mocked.

“N-no.” Crenshaw countered with a rising blush to his face. “Not at all. Just wonderin’.”

“Think you’ll end up like Victor and Timmy?” Susan asked.

Thomas shook his head. “Those idiots stepped on an anti-personnel mine of some kind–getting too close to the house. I doubt I’ll end up like them. What about you?”

The woman snorted derisively. “I don’t care how I end up. This business ends today.”

* * *

Kenneth Sparks entered the small hallway with an air of cautiousness–not trusting the dead silence outside. His pulse rifle felt like dead weight in his arms–as he waited for something to happen.

Looking over at Kayla, he nodded–trying to keep his mind on the task at hand–and not how hot she looked to him at the moment.

He grinned to himself. I can always get her to role-play later.

The man coughed lightly and then took on a more serious tone before Kayla caught on.

“Pervert.” The woman accused him flat out with a smile on her lips.

A raging blush ran up the side of the former lieutenant’s neck and up his face.

“Yeah, well, you can’t fault for me for not thinking–can you?” He said–while not looking directly at her.

“I can fault you for a lot.” Kayla responded teasingly. “Getting me pregnant, having me go through hell just to rescue you, fucking your brains out–dressing like this.” She said–pointing to herself; drawing an appreciative look from Kenneth.

“You should dress like that more often.” He quipped quickly before getting out of range of a follow up strike led by the woman herself.

Kayla fell off balance just as Kenneth saw something come up from the shadows–preceding the front door.

“Hell!” The man sniped–ducking as the person in question got up the steps and began knocking.

“Hello?” The muffled voice of Timothy Caldwell. “Are you in here, overseer Kristen?”

Kristen? Kenneth mouthed silently to Kayla–to which the woman shrugged.

Never heard of her. He heard her telepathically communicate to him.

Doesn’t mean you haven’t. Kenneth relayed back to her. Remember: You’re memories aren’t complete. Nor are they wholly reliable.

True. The woman came back. But I would’ve remembered her–if she existed.

Then–Kenneth was about to interject; when the door knob rattled. Hard.

“Hello? Look: The door is locked. Could you at least let me in?” The boy begged.

Kayla rose to her feet–her shadow casting itself well against the pane glass.

“What do you want, boy?” She said harshly–in a pretty good imitation of her. “I have better things to do than to dawdle around and entertain the likes of you.”

The boy apologized. “Sorry. But we thought you might’ve made it back to the house–after the explosion which rent the storage shed apart–killing some of our guys and one of those prisoners we nabbed up on the Hill.”

“The woman killed herself instead of submitting to us?” Kayla guessed offhand–a part of her going cold at the same time. She didn’t think it was possible, but after what she had seen in Union City…?

“Yes. I’m sorry. But I hope that you aren’t angry with us–for failing you. Can I come in–please?”

Kayla looked down at Kenneth–whom was pale as a sheet.

Kenneth? She cast out. But was immediately hit with a wave of revulsion, pain, loss, and anguish.

It took only a few seconds for her to connect the dots.

You loved her, didn’t you?

The cold shock of her question inside his consciousness jolted the former lieutenant.

Y-yes. At one time, I did.

Much like your other escapades…Kayla mused to herself–while weighing in what she should do next. But she felt no anger towards him. Only pity and sympathy.

I can see why you had so many amorous encounters before we met: You were only trying to keep yourself anchored to whatever love, hope, and joy was left to this world.

There was nothing more forthcoming from Kenneth. Kayla could sense that he was torn apart by Marlene Fox’s loss. But she could also get a sense of how much he had loved her.

The woman saw that if it wasn’t for her being here, Kenneth would’ve stayed with Marlene–and possibly been the one whom she married, had kids, and spent the rest of his natural life with.

As for the rest–?

They were just encounters. Pale copies. Brief interludes of romance and affection quickly extinguished by both time and fate.

But Marlene Fox was a special case. Kayla continued to self-analyze. And for him, it is a painful wound that even time may not be able to heal–not even me.

“Are you going to open up?” Timothy’s insistent voice called out. “Susan and that Crenshaw guy are coming up.”

At this point, Kayla opened the door suddenly–baring herself to him in a surprised rush.

Timothy didn’t even get a chance to utter one exclamation of shock at seeing a completely different woman.

She pulled him inside and slammed the door–her left hand and part of her arm transforming themselves into one wicked looking blade.

Pressing it against his neck, she hissed, “Say one word and you’re fucking dead.”

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 170

2007-09-29T16:59:00.000-07:00

“Keep up, dickweed!” Frost called back in a low and verbally threatening voice. “We need to get inside and find out if she’s there!”

Tim Caldwell bit back his next choice of words, and followed the man as quick as he could. But as fast as he was, Victor proved that being old didn’t mean he had lost any of his speed and agility.

“Hold on, you old coot!” He shot back in triumph. “You act like you got a hornet’s nest stuffed up your ass or sumthing!”

“I’ll shove my foot up yours if you don’t shut the fuck up and motor!” Came back the countered reply.

Timothy snorted, but kept his bearings on the large one-story farm house while he jetted over the rough terrain.

Then he tripped and fell–face planting himself in rough grass and muddy sod.

“Aw––fuck!” He grated out. But he bounced right back up and lit off like a terrified rabbit. He closed the distance between him and Victor Frost rather quick–and then managed to overtake him rather easily–surprising even the old man.

“What the–?” he came off saying with abject surprise. “Did someone light a fire under you?”

No answer was forthcoming from the boy, but Victor watched him keep going until he saw what looked like barb-wire fencing–angling down and buried under the ground; only to come up on the other side.

“Shiiiiit…!” He swore. It was one of the oldest booby-traps in the book. And the stupid idiot was going right for it! “You ass–!” he called out reflexively.

“Watch out!”

Timothy only heard part of his warning before his foot entered the dead zone. In a split second the guide wire came up to snag him–with the other two sides coming to greet him in a vice-like press: With sharp teeth protruding from each side.

Victor barely managed to get a hold of the boy and snag him before the trap scissored shut on him.

It was a near thing. Another second or two and he would’ve had to call back for someone else to take his place.

Breathing hard from both exertion and shock at being almost killed, Timothy looked about him in fear.

“What the fuck was that?!?” He exploded in a shrill voice.

“That–” Victor was saying–looking at the limp guide wire looped around on the ground like a snake, “–was almost you dying from one of the overseer’s traps–you stupid moron!”

The older teen stared back at the old man, close to tears.

“I didn’t know!” He started to bawl, but Victor solved that by cuffing him upside the head sharply.

“Stop that shit!” he ordered thickly. “If you can’t handle something as a little near-death experience, then I’ll get someone who can.”

The river almost stopped as soon as it started, and the boy put on a brave face.

“It’s not that–” he began, before Victor’s radio came to life.

“Victor?” Susan’s voice was heard inquiring calmly.

“Go.” He responded, touching the collar stud on his neck.

“You there yet?”

“Just getting there.” The man said, before glancing up at the house’s faded white façade.

“And the boy?”

“Almost got his ass killed, but I saved him from it.”

There was silence on the other end.

“The place is trapped then?” Susan asked.

“Most likely.”

“Then be careful. The overseer probably did that to keep out any unwanted guests.”

“Maybe on the outside,” Timothy fired back within earshot–before Victor palmed the stud.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, Suzy Q.” Victor answered in a slightly teasing voice. “The boy’s just mouthing off again.”

“Well, you two be careful. I don’t need to bringing the rest of my team in to clean up after your sorry asses.” The link went dead after that and Frost glanced over at the boy.

“Are you afraid of finishing the job?”

“N-no.” Caldwell stammered. “I just wasn’t expecting–”

Victor walked right up into face and snarled: “Listen, you little shit! I don’t care if that woman is your fourth cousin removed! You pull any more of these stupid stunts again–and I’ll gut you myself without hesitation!”

Timothy stared at him unflinchingly. Then he nodded without a single word.

Victor spun away–leaving him in the dust. Then he disappeared around the corner of the house.

But before Timothy could even follow, a sharp explosion registered right in front of the house.

A rain of dirt, debris, and pieces of Victor Frost came clattering down all over Timothy Caldwell.
The teenager just held his breath. He didn’t even move.

“Shit!” He squeaked in horror. There was little he else he could do–seeing how he was frozen in place. To the best of his knowledge, the front door was through this grassy knoll…

And on the other side.

* * *

The explosion grabbed Kayla’s attention like a bullet.

And Kenneth’s too.

“What the hell–?” He muttered in absolute shock–rocketing up off the bed and tearing towards the closed door at break-neck speed. The door flew open with a bang, and the former lieutenant then realized that he hadn’t a stitch of clothing on him.

“Fuck!” he swore with livid agitation–ducking back into the bedroom for a blind search for his things. He found his clothes in a wadded pile and quickly put them on.

Stumbling out of the door, Kenneth hopped back and forth on one boot–while struggling to get his other one on. He managed to in the lick of time, and went rabbiting down the hall in a blind hurry.

“Kayla!” He screamed out. “Kayla!”

Kayla’s head popped out of the bathroom. “I’m over here, lover!”

“Jesus–!” he intoned as he slowed to a complete stop and looked in. “Did you hear–?” he began to see, before his eyes drank in the provocative sight of the woman dressed in a skin-tight, raven-black jumpsuit.

“Whoa!” Kenneth breathed in shock. “Where the hell did you get that sexy getup?”

Kayla posed for his benefit. “Found it in the overseer’s closet. What do you think?”

Crossing over to her, Kenneth wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and smiled. “If it wasn’t for the action going on right now, I’d take you back to bed and fuck the living daylights out of you.”

That admission of naked desire momentarily startled the woman.

“You’re not mad at me?” Kayla asked in a quizzical voice.

Kenneth took a deep breath before releasing it.

“Babe: As much shit as we’ve gone through lately, you know that I can’t stay mad at you forever.”

“But I got the sense that you still blamed me for your parents death…?” The woman said with transparent uncertainty.

Kenneth’s desire for her was quashed for a second, as he stared into her eyes.

“Did I?” He asked in wonder.

“It’s like a searing, painful scar across your soul. Your essence is crying out for justice. And since I’m the only one with a hint of operational knowledge of Mother’s past campaigns against humanity…?” Kayla Sorenson broke off for a second, but couldn’t continue.

Kenneth understood then what she was trying to say.

“You think I completely blame you for their death and hold it against you as a result?” He chuckled and shook his head. “Sometimes, us humans do stupid things without thinking. I’m not blaming you personally for the death of my parents. I was only lashing out because I saw you as an outlet for my own personal misery.” He looked away for a second. “I’m sorry.”

Kayla turned his face back to hers and kissed him on the mouth.

“I love you.” She declared. “No matter what kind of a pain in the ass you sometimes are to me, I will always love you and that blasted honesty you carry.”

Kenneth kissed her back. “I know now that there was nothing that you could’ve done to save them. Simply wishing it to be so wouldn’t bring them back.”

Kayla gave him an odd look. “What makes you think that I still can’t?”

Kenneth looked at her–bewildered.

“What do you mean?”

Kayla looked down at the floor for a second.

“In my recent quantum state, I was able to move forward in time by decades with my battle with the Goliath. It was there that I stood my ground and defeated it under my own power. But I also skipped ahead and saw the end of humanity in a relatively short time. It was there that I took my revenge against Mother and ended the Neos threat right then and there. But in doing so, I inherently also started a process which will most likely have Mother lapping at our heels once we successfully transition back into the past.”

Kenneth stared at her. “You never told me this…” he said with unrestrained awe.

Kayla glanced back up at him. “That’s because you weren’t aware of my journey. As humans go, your perceptions of time are severely primitive. You lack the understanding of what it means to live outside of time and space itself.”

Kenneth looked out the bathroom exit–suddenly wary and uncomfortable.

“I think it’s time that we stop fucking around and get down to business. Cause whomever caused that explosion is certainly not going to wait around for us to come on out.”

Kayla opened her mouth to say something else, then closed it for a second. Her eyebrows suddenly drooped as concern mottled her face and surrounding her eyes.

“What if they aren’t even aware of us?”

“What?”

Kayla gripped his arm urgently.

“What if they don’t know that we’re even here?”

Kenneth found himself shaking his head–believing that notion to be utterly insane. Not to mention ridiculous!

“Babe–” he began to protest mildly, but saw the look on his lover’s face.

“I’m serious, Kenneth.” Kayla countered. “I don’t think whomever is out there knows that we are even here.”

“Is this you talking or your artificial nature doing the analysis?”

“Woman’s intuition.”

Kenneth grinned despite the tenuous situation. “Didn’t think that you had any.”

Kayla scowled. “Kenneth!” She complained.

Kenneth shrugged. “Sorry, but by the way you’ve been acting lately, I didn’t think you were even capable of such things anymore.”

Kayla stopped in mid-retort–seeing that he had a mutual point.

“I...didn’t think so either. But at least this time around–I am sure that they don’t know.”

Kenneth sighed. “All right.” He capitulated. “So what do we do now?”

“Well if I were whomever was out there, I would naturally be assuming that the overseer is in here, right?” Kayla easily formulated– before looking up at Kenneth for confirmation.

He silently nodded.

The woman then turned herself towards the mirror to check herself out one last time. Everything looked in perfect working order.

“So why not go out there and convince them that I am the overseer?”

Kenneth bit his lip and groaned softly.

“Great idea, honey, but with only one slight problem.” He said.

“What’s that?”

“The overseer was, or is–” then ruffled his hair in mute frustration. “Ahhh!”

“What?”

“The bitch was dead! Or is! I don’t know!” He responded irritably.

“So she’s alive?” Kayla guessed.

“In a sense.”

It was then that Kayla knew what Mother had gone and done in her absence.

She had taken her DNA-template on file and created another version of her!

“Reanimated.” The woman confirmed without knowing it. “A part of me, combined with the flesh of a dead woman–then infused over time with a steady diet of nanites. But the only thing– is that she isn’t alive. She has basic functions, but she doesn’t have life.”

“That sounds about right.” Kenneth agreed helplessly. “But I can’t be sure.”

“You don’t have to be.” The woman said. “On some level, I now know what Mother has gone and done. What she wanted from you.”

“And what’s that?”

Kayla Sorenson turned and faced him.

“A fresh start.” She said without a trace of human emotion. “And she’s using your seed and my DNA to do just that.”

“A child?” Kenneth said–horrified.

Kayla nodded somberly. “Yes, my love. A child.”

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM--CHAPTER 169

2007-09-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

The trek across the isolated small town took an hour.

For Susan Meyers, it represented an eternity.

Tensions ran high with her and Crenshaw–who saw his usefulness as a collaborator coming to a quick end. Of course, he knew that it would’ve happened sooner or later. But the man was unprepared for that later–because it appeared to come much sooner than he would’ve liked.

Not that he was obsessed over dying, but the fact that his end would come at the hands of the Neos rather than by those of his own resistance movement.

Still, he kept blissfully silent for once–not bothering with the traditional, sexually-laced diatribe which he had been hitting on Susan with these last 3 years.

No, this time, things were different. He didn’t need to be a scientist to figure that one out.

They quietly stole up on the outer markers of the Wallaceford property–most of it old horse pastures from a century ago. The forest glen slowly melted into rough greenery and rock-strewn debris–along with the bedding of faded brown pine needles and the remains of smaller vermin.

None of which came at the hands of any owls–their primary predator–because their weren’t any in these parts…

“Finally…” Kim was heard saying, before wiping the sweat from her brow. “Can we take a fucking break now?”

Susan whipped around and faced her. “No. And that’s my line, mister.” She hammered out unflinchingly–nerves frayed and patience just about played out.

The other three didn’t say anything, They knew that if they did, they’d get their heads bitten off too.

Susan zeroed in on Victor Frost.

“Take Timothy here and go out to the property. Quietly. Find out if there is anyone still in the house and then come back here. The rest of us will keep an eye out–communicating only by radio. You get me?”

The brown-haired man nodded. “Got it.” Looking at the young man in the group, he said, “Come with me, boy.”

Timothy didn’t protest, but instead, followed meekly in the older man’s footsteps.

Susan found herself holding her breath and released it on silent command. As much as she hated to say it, she wished she was going with them.

The suspense was killing her!

“Please let there be some good news…” She prayed to herself. “Please let there be…”

* * *

Shit! Kayla fumed to herself, before slamming a fist into sidewall–breaking into the plasterboard quite easily. The material fractured like nothing–opening a hole wider than a dinner plate.

The woman stared at the damage she’d wrought and shook her head.

Is this all I am capable of? She wondered. Senseless violence and wanton destruction?

No.

Her recent outburst towards Kenneth proved that wrong. And as much as she loved him–he still could rub her raw when she least expected it.

Kayla sighed and sat down for a moment to reflect some more on what happened and then got back up off the bed.

There was nothing for her to wear in terms of clothes, so she went hunting around for anything which could fit her voluptuous form.

Oddly enough–when she opened the closet door–there were raven-black jumpsuits hanging on the hangers. Complete with thigh-high boots.

Kayla Sorenson blanched.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me…!” She murmured in disbelief. There’s no way in hell I’m going to be wearing this!

But she fingered the soft material anyways, thinking along different lines here.

What other choice do I have? I can’t simply make new garments out of my own nano-tech colonies. And transforming into one of my other formats would be more energy-draining than it would accomplishing my current dilemma…?

Kayla sighed, seeing how she had no choice in the matter.

“Kenneth’s going to have a damned heart attack when he sees me in this.” She complained–before taking the first one off the hanger.

Laying it out in front of her, Kayla saw that the size would fit her after all.

But the discovery also left her puzzled.

Who wears these things anyway? She asked herself, before zipping down the front of the suit. The inside was a thinly layered mesh of soft cotton and a polymer-like material.

Taking it to the bathroom she had passed on her way down to the room, she stood in front of the same mirror the overseer had used, and looked at herself and imagined herself wearing this getup.

For some strange reason, she had the feeling that she was part of an evil henchman organization run by one man and filled with women whom were his personal guard or something.

Then she recalled something Kenneth told her about the old days of entertainment. When people had a fascination for spy flicks and bosom women in tight uniforms.

Of course, back then, he was trying to re-educate her on the finer points of humanity’s ancient history–pointing out what he could recall–but now (as Kayla saw it), he was just being a typical man.

The woman flushed with avid embarrassment.

Men! She groaned to herself. All they can think of is how to get into your pants!

Looking at herself once more, she saw that this was the only thing that would save her from freezing her butt off. There was no way in hell she was going to Jonesboro buck-assed naked.

“And besides,” she told her reflection, “Kenneth hasn’t told you where he stashed your pack and belongings.” Kayla then took a deep breath and steeled herself.

Okay. Any port in the storm–as Kenneth told me. She thought to herself–before bending down and slipping into the first part of the suit–the boots.

Surprisingly, she slid into the right one with little problems. This took her off guard, but she saw little reason to continue debating it any further.

If I don’t hurry…Kayla silently analyzed. Truthfully, there was no telling what would happen next. As far as she knew, the overseer was still out there, and there was no doubt–in her mind–that this place had been occupied by her. (Judging by her taste in apparel.)

“So she could come back,” she mumbled to the dirty bathroom floor. The tiles were yellow and cracked in places–with a few missing from their respective places.

“Or a posse could be checking in at any moment.”

After getting both feet planted into the ground–literally and figuratively–Kayla straightened up and finished placing both arms and hands into the slim sleeves.

Then she tucked her breasts in and zipped herself up carefully–listening to the sound of the zipper meshing easily with that of her heart.

Taking a step back proved to be difficult. Kayla never had to wear 4-inch heeled boots before. And she almost fell as a result.

However, her recovery time was excellent and she managed to catch herself from doing any more damage to the bathroom or to herself.

Standing in front of the sink mirror, Kayla noticed that the skin-tight suit didn’t even show much of her pregnancy. But she knew that the baby was still inside her. Still growing. Still developing.

Running her hands down her front, Kayla privately marveled at how good she looked in the suit.

“Forget that!” she breathed in stark amazement. “I look damned hot!”

Taking a part of her hair, she looked around for anything which could be used as comb or a brush. Nothing.

Opening the medicine cabinet in front of her, Kayla found a brush. It was faded black, but its teeth were still surprising intact. Most things they had back at the warehouse in Washington D.C. weren’t. But Kenneth had a habit of fixing that problem.

He always did. She reflected–bringing forth a wave of guilt up inside of her.

Taking the brush, she started doing her hair–getting out the snarls and knots which plagued it.

“Sorry.” She said to her reflection after she had closed the door. “I didn’t mean to go off on you like that.”

And she wasn’t talking about herself either.