allowed to travel there were government and corporate insiders.
So what was the
Chapter 47
I spent the remainder of that evening in the lab with my father, learning the basics of the communications code and the other systems that the human resistance used. The real truth was that I just wanted to spend time with him, possibly get to know him better. Obviously, I hadn’t known before who he was.
After several hours, Dad stretched and pushed his work chair back wearily.
“I’m going to get a little rest, Hays,” he said. “I’m getting to be an old fart, and after all,
“I’ll stay here. I’m not all that sleepy.” In fact, I was antsy-I wanted to
As he was leaving, my father said, “There’s something else you should think about. Toys might seem like harmless fun to you, as they do to most people, but they can be sinister and very dangerous. I’m not exaggerating for effect. These toys are not what they seem.”
“How’s that? They’re just harmless entertainment.”
“No, they’re not. The Elites have been pushing them out into society because they want them to be like a drug-or a cult religion. The very best toys take you away from the real world so you don’t have to deal with it. Elites
He leaned over and kissed the top of my head, the way he’d done at bedtime when I was a little boy. It was very touching, and I fought with myself not to get sentimental and gooey.
“I love you, son,” he said simply.
I didn’t say anything back to him. I just couldn’t. I guess I was still too close to my Elite life.
I watched him trudge away, and it reminded me of what a heavy burden he and my mother had carried all these years-the endless, thankless work they’d done while living in secrecy and in fear of being caught, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the Elites moved to exterminate “the human menace.”
At heart though, I couldn’t help believing that there was nothing I could do to make a difference-human resistance was futile. The Elite population might still be relatively small, but their military and weaponry were so sophisticated that they could eliminate most of the world’s humans in a succession of swift strikes. Then they’d swarm over the globe with their cruel efficiency, finishing off the survivors.
At least the quandary gave me something to think about-other than the ruin of the perfect life I’d taken for granted and never really understood worth a damn.
I was still sitting in the lab an hour later when my acute hearing picked up sounds outside that didn’t belong.
I held my breath, concentrating, trying to figure the noises out.
Someone was approaching-some
I jumped out of my chair and sprinted for the stairs-just as an alarm siren started blaring throughout the house.
“It’s Elites-they’re attacking!” I shouted. “They’re everywhere!”
Chapter 48
I rushed upstairs and saw that my mother and father, still in their nightclothes, had already taken up defensive positions at the windows on the main floor. The clones were there too. They all had laser rifles, and Dad tossed me one as I ran into the living room.
“We’ll hold them off from here, Hays. You get outside. Try to get behind them,” he said. “No mercy. They won’t show any to us.”
“I know,” I said. “They hate us skunks.”
My father looked fierce, magnificent, like an old warrior who relished a battle against impossible odds. My mother, too, was calm and fearless; she’d never been more beautiful or impressive than she was right then.
“Where’s Lucy?” I asked them.
My mother just shook her head. “She’s probably escaped already, Hays. Lucy can’t be captured here. She’s too important.”
I hugged them both quickly, then raced out the back of the house and across the lawn. On the way, my enhanced night vision picked out a dozen of the approaching black-clad figures.
These were highly trained Elite soldiers, and they spotted me too. Blasts of weapon fire lit my path as I ran for the cover of trees.
Weaving side to side, keeping low to the ground, I barely made it to the shelter of the woods. The terrain there was imprinted in my childhood memory. I knew every tree to hide behind as I prepared my ambush. But there were so many of them, against so few of us. Lucy would have helped-but she was too important to be captured.
Three commandos had spotted me and were now moving quickly in my direction. Their mistake-or arrogance. A single horizontal sweep with my rifle cut the trio into lumps of smoking flesh.
I sprinted past the ruined bodies, dodging from tree to tree, picking off a few more Elite soldiers as they appeared. I sensed rapid movement behind me. I barely had time to drop to a crouch as a laser streak flashed past my face, so close it singed my cheek.
I dropped my rifle and leaped up sideways into a tree crotch. The shooter spun frantically back and forth, trying to spot me again. I dove at him with both hands outstretched. His spine popped as I wrenched his head clear around. It was quite possibly the worst sound I’d ever heard.
I told myself I had no choice.
Chapter 49
I helped myself to the dead man’s weapon and ran straight toward the main cadre of attackers, who were blitzing my parents’ house with relentless fire. Hard to comprehend-the place where you grew up under a murderous attack like this.
They were swarming inside, overrunning the place, as I came up behind them. Unfortunately, I didn’t see my mother or father anywhere. Or Lucy either. The fighting was hand to hand now. Finally, I caught a glimpse of Mom swinging an old cast-iron skillet, braining one of them. She was fighting side by side with her faithful clone.
Then the unthinkable happened. A tremendous fireball erupted into the sky. It fell and struck the roof of our house. Next came an explosion of flaming timbers and furnishings, the flailing limbs of Elite soldiers, their horrifying cries.
Their comrades had fired a rocket into the heart of the battle, sacrificing their own without a second thought. That was how Elites fought.
I stared in horror and disbelief as the burning debris rained down around me.
