Chapter 8

Friday, March 16th, 2029

SARAH

I'm up a little later than normal. I have no intention of actually going to school today—I promised John I'd be there for his trial. Andy had mentioned it was starting at ten sharp. I look to my clock and it shows a bold eight-thirty right on the face.

I'm headed downstairs and my mother is sitting beside her computer. "Are you ready to talk to me about what happened yet?"

"I...there was just a small accident, nobody got seriously injured," I lie.

"What about that John fellow? I heard he was arrested," she says.

"It's all a big misunderstanding. It'll be settled after today," I say.

"And just what will be?"

"Mom, I promise I'll tell you when I can. it's...too complicated right this moment."

She looks at me for a moment longer before nodding slowly. "Just make sure you bring a coat, it's chilly out," she says.

It isn't that cold out. I don't really need a coat."

"Just please wear one, you don't know how cold it'll be until you actually step outside," she says.

"Okay, okay. I'm going," I say, walking back up to my room.

I open my closet and take out my white coat. I throw it on and it hugs me like some sensual heat clinging to my body, much too warm for inside use. I head back downstairs and kiss my mother on the cheek. "There, I've got the coat on, I'll need to be getting out soon before I sweat myself out of it," I say.

"Yeah, you and your jokes," she begins, a little choked up. She looks like she'd just been crying, "You'll be thanking me when you remember to grab a coat someday when I'm gone," she laughs.

"Okay mom, I'll keep it in mind. I really have to go now," I say.

"O-Okay dear, stay warm," she says, trailing off.

I walk out of the front door after calling out an 'I love you'. The wind isn't as cold as my mother made it out to be outside, but then again, the way she described it made it seem like the next ice age was upon us. About ten minutes down the road do I feel the lasting effects of below freezing winds and I silently thank my mother for urging me to get the coat. I'm on my way to go pick Iris up. She wanted to go to the trial as well, seeing as I no longer have a car that means we're going to have to walk.

It's a good thing I woke up early. It's also comforting to know I have a friend who lives so close. I take my walk and turn it into a gentle jog. Anything to make my time alone a little bit less. It's hard to believe that someone actually broke into John's home and killed his parents. I know that it wasn't John because of his thoughts. I would have heard him thinking anything of it—his confusion was genuine. I guess it's somewhat like what that guy from yesterday said he could do. John said he's heard about him—he could be just like us. There's so much I feel like I should ask him, but I wouldn't even know where to begin. There are too many unknown variables to even begin guessing.

I reach Iris' street. It's a long stretch of powdered snow where her green house rests. Iris must have seen me because she opens the front door and begins jogging down her front lawn dressed in a pretty white blouse with a lighter toned pink skirt. Her long reddish-brown hair shines slightly off of the early sunlight.

"Aren't you a little under dressed for winter?" I ask.

"Aren't you a little overdressed for court?" Iris asks me, smiling and holding in a laugh.

"Well played," I say.

"I'm sorry again I couldn't stay for the whole meeting yesterday, but that Andy guy seemed nice enough," she says.

"Yeah, he told me that he is going to do everything in his power to get John acquitted," I say.

We begin walking and I can see above that the sun is peeking even more so out of the cloud cover than it had ten minutes ago. I'm going to take it as whoever is up there is giving us a big thumbs up for today.

"So, how is he doing?" Iris asks.

"His leg is still pretty messed up, but I think he's doing better."

"I feel...I can't even describe the feeling. I...I was scared. That's not a good excuse, but—"

"The situation doesn't look good for John—I know what it looks like from the outside. You had every right to think what you did."

"I could have been more helpful, though, and not have fought every step of the way."

I shake my head, "What's done is done."

"I know you believe him, I want to, too. It's hard, but I want to."

I nod, taking out a slip of paper I printed out yesterday—directions to the courthouse Andy had told me about. We just have to cross over from Murray right onto South Ave for what seems like a few minutes. Then we should be seeing Glen Street which houses our destination, the Queensbury Justice Court. The rest of our walk is taken in silence, both of us mentally preparing ourselves more than what is probably not even necessary. We cross onto South and I see the courthouse in the distance. It looks like it had been updated with the times, as it looks completely made out of some shiny metal, chrome maybe.

We begin running straight towards the courthouse like two children having a friendly race. I'm on the very large steps up to the center of the building, but I'm completely out of breath. Two people are standing in front of the large doors speaking to each other—but more importantly blocking my way into the courthouse. The one on the right is a face I can't easily forget, it's Detective Harde. The man on the left seems to be a security guard for the court.

Iris catches up behind me and immediately has this look of immediate hatred on her face. She steps up towards Detective Harde, "What the hell?" She begins.

"Ace, is this some angry mistress of yours?" The guard laughs and elbows him.

"I've never seen her in my life," he replies.

"You know damn well that you saw me! Don't you even try to get out of this you-"

"Now, miss. I do believe you have me mistaken for some other fine looking lad, most certainly. I would believe you would watch your mouth as you're speaking to the head detective and sworn in officer of the law for this county," Harde says.

"I don't care if you're the King of the World! You left me and my friend here to rot out in the forest when you arrested our friend on false charges!" Iris screams back.

"Ah, is that what you're here for? Well, I should let you know that the trial for Mr. Baker is pretty packed today and not just anybody can waltz in," he says.

"We didn't say our friend was named Baker, now, why would you associate that name with us unless you knew that we knew?" she asks.

"Well, it seems like kitty here might be cut out for detective work when she's older," the guard laughs again. "Okay, I'm sure Ace was just messing around and let me apologize for any possible misunderstanding. I just need to do a search to see if you're concealing any weapons," the guard says. "We're just going to need to pat you down, precautionary measures and all."

"Uh...what about him ditching us?" Iris asks.

Detective Harde shrugged his shoulders, "I'm not your guardian, legal or otherwise. Resume the search," he nods to the officer beside him.

"Just don't get too frisky," Iris rolls her eyes.

He searches me first. I feel his hands on my body and I try not to cringe. They're rough. It takes less than a minute altogether and it is done. "Alright, you're clear."

"Certainly clear as crystal," Ace mutters.

"T-Thanks."

I walk past them and we both enter through the large doors. I see a large crowd of people flooding around a door a bit down the hallway on my right.

"Well, that's probably our place right there," Iris says.

"Well, let's not get cold feet now. I think I see Andy." I say, standing up on my tippy toes. That mop of his is unmistakable. We begin working our way through the large crowd. I yell for him over the mumbling crowd around us. On the second attempt he turns and smiles, motioning us to come closer. A few others beside him turn as well.

"Hey, you made it." He says.

"Yeah, not without a little harassment from the boys in blue outside," Iris says.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he says, "Everybody's high strung for this it seems." He runs a hand through his hair, "Come on, let's go somewhere where we can get a bit of privacy," Andy says. "I'm not much for overtalking a crowd."

Beside him are a small group of people. There's a shorter blonde haired woman, her hair reaching about neck length. She is probably around her early twenties and she's a bit shorter than Andy. She has similar luminous green eyes and is wearing a nice white blouse and a long skirt. The other woman has dark shoulder length black hair and her eyes glimmer a solemn blue. She's wearing a long blue sleeved blouse with a pair of khakis. Finally, there is a younger guy, probably early twenties as well. He has dirty blond hair so that must mean that this is Gavin.

Andy and the others begin walking down the hallway and we begin following. Gavin throws open one of the doors on the side and we all flood inside. I look around to notice that we're actually in an empty courtroom.

"So, that many people are here for the trial, huh?" I ask.

Andy sighs, "Yeah, the trial's getting a lot of local attention—more than I was expecting."

"You said you'd get him acquitted, right?" Iris asks.

"I said I'd try everything to make that happen," Andy answers. "But before we get into the specifics, first I must introduce everybody." He points to the girl with the raven hair and blue eyes—

"I'm Lindsey. I'm sorry your friend got tangled up in this mess." "Such a young soul to be dragged into this whole thing." Her stray thoughts say.

Strange, I can hear her thoughts...but none of the others's.

"I'm Gavin. Pleased to meet you, although it sucks it has to deal with the cruddy law stuff."

"It's this cruddy law stuff that's kept us afloat, thank you," Andy says, but he's hiding a grin. "Guy never takes a break to bust my chops."

Iris jabs me in the side and whispers in my ear, "Holy crap, he's really cute."

"Not the time," I whisper back.

"Finally, this is my younger sister, Jen. She's our forensics expert—"

"Not just your forensics expert, but the top forensics expert on the east coast, thank you very much," she flashes him a prideful look and crosses her arms.

"Right, and a braggart while we're at it," Gavin mutters.

"She earns the right to," Andy continues.

"She's our expert?" Iris asks.

"A bit rude, Iris, don't you think?" I ask.

"No—I meant like, won't she be considered a conflict of interest?"

"That's a good question," Jen answered. "But fortunately it won't be an issue. These trials don't run on laws that this country used to use—Avery's gutted a large chunk of the finer details out of the system entirely. He says it's' too confusing for one person to understand, so it must go."

"Personally I think it's great," Gavin says, cracking his knuckles.

"Yeah, you're not the one who has to keep track of all the new additions," Andy says. "Makes it much easier to appreciate."

"I bet there's a lot of innocent people that get locked up because of that," I say.

"Yeah, that is one after effect I could do much without. And speaking of innocents..."

"While you talk about it with them I'll go check on John, okay?" Lindsey speaks up. "I...uh, know you're going to talk about the whole situation and all...and..."

"Yeah, go ahead," Andy nods. "I'll text you when we're all set."

"Great," she smiles and steps toward him, giving him a peck on the cheek. She walks out of the room and lets the door close behind her.

"What was that about?" Iris asks.

"Long story," Andy says.

"She doesn't like rehashing the past," Gavin says. "We tend to do that when we're all together."

"Not all the time, though," Jen says.

"A good chunk of it," Andy agrees, scratching the back of his neck. "Anyway, we'll get to that in a second. we've got a bit of an uphill battle with the case."

"You mentioned something like that earlier," I say.

"The prosecution is going to do everything in their power to get a guilty verdict for John. I know how he operates," Jen says.

"You know him?" Iris asks.

"Yeah, he was a friend of mine once," Jen says.

"I'll try my hardest to get John off, but with what I hear of him nowadays he'll do anything for the guilty verdict. He's got a reputation." Andy says.

"There's a lot riding on this case if this John's our guy, Andy," Gavin says.

"Your guy? What does that mean?" Iris asks.

Gavin hops right on the chance, "Your friend is a part of something big, and based on what he said," he looks right at me, "...you are too."

"Something...big. You mean what I saw?" I ask.

"Sarah, what are you talking about?" Iris turns to me, confusion leading way to frustration.

"You haven't told her?" Gavin asks. I shake my head. He nods, and then takes a sharp breath, "That goes into our hashing up the past bit I mentioned a few moments ago."

"Well, go ahead. Spill the beans." Iris says.

"It begins with one man," Gavin begins. "His name is Jack Adata, although he's not shy of hiding his name from time to time. He was a freelance scientist funded by the government back in the mid 2000s before its shutdown back in 2013."

"He didn't work alone, however." Andy adds. "He was part of a group that was code-named The Prometheans. The scientists were funded to research foreign and extraterrestrial materials."

Gavin nods in agreement. "Some of the materials they had to examine were two new elements that you wouldn't find on any periodic table—Lantrate and Dicoberene. They were discovered on the surface of Mars."

"Mars? That's..." Iris says, but is interrupted..

"Important, even if all this doesn't seem like it." Gavin assures. "They began testing on the elements and there was an accidental combination with Calcium and Radium. It led to an explosive reaction that infected each of the scientists with what we call the Radical-9 Virus."

"Virus...that doesn't sound like it ends well," I say.

"Not...just the scientists were infected..." Andy says. "They were very busy at their jobs, so often they brought their children to the lower floors of their research facility in Denver. The older kids babysat the younger while their parents worked on the higher floors."

"The children were infected too?" I ask. "How many of them were there?"

"And how do you know all this? Seems kinda sketchy," Iris folds her arms."

Gavin anticipated the question. "Our parents were a part of The Prometheans. My mother and father, Andy's father, and Jen's mother."

"You're..." I begin.

"Adopted," Jen says. "We'll get there."

"We were at the research facility during the initial accident in 2008." Gavin continues. "All three of us were infected then, but we weren't the only ones. There were two more, but we're the only ones who are surviving the initial wave."

"Initial wave? There was another?" I ask.

"Two more," Gavin says. "One in 2013, and one in 2014. The 2013 wave had three infected kids—two of them are no longer with us, and then 2014 had three as well, but we only know the fate of one of those three."

"Woah, wait a minute..." I say, trying to understand it. "So three times kids were infected with this virus? Why was something like that allowed to happen? What does this virus do? Are you okay?"

Gavin raises his hands, "One at a time, please. It's okay to have questions, but we're people too."

"R-Right," I say. "Sorry."

"No worries. Before I touch on the others I'll explain what Radical-9 does to the human body first, make sense." I nod my head. Out of the corner of my eye I see Iris is doing the same. "Jack was the patient zero for the Radical-9 Virus. He was the closest to the reaction when the initial accident occurred in 2008. He suffered burns all over his body and was hospitalized because of the explosion. The thing is, he healed miraculously fast from his wounds—faster than any human could have."

"The virus did that?" Iris asks.

"Soon after, he began to lash out—his personality was much more viscous than it had been before the accident. He was prone to frequent outbursts. During one of them he—and the other Prometheans—discovered that he could move objects with his mind."

"No shit," Iris said.

"That sounds..."I begin.

He holds up his hand, "The virus in each of the people it's infected has shown to enhance different parts of the body's faculties—mental prowess, perceptual awareness, sometimes even strength. It's not all good, however, because in several cases the mental state of the infected individuals run rampant—their homicidal and suicidal tendencies can flare up for no good reason at all."

"We can't tell when it happens...it just...does," Jen says.

"Now, Jack was the first to discover these kinds of abilities. Once he realized how strong he could be with them he wrestled the rest of the Prometheans into doing his bidding. He wanted to discover more about the virus—and forced the scientists to bring in their children for testing. Now, the five who were initially infected back in 2008 were long gone from the facility. Andy and I were evacuated from the building after the incident."

I look to Jen, "But you weren't."

She gives a sad look and shakes her head, "No, I remained. Jack's my birth father—he kept me there after the initial schism broke out. When he began the tests on the kids on Radical-9 I was one of the three—and the only survivor—of the 2013 tests. I got a double dose, unfortunately."

"But you're still kicking like the best of them," Andy adds.

She smiles, but it isn't fully happy.

"The scientists that got out with their kids did so before Jack realized the full potential of his abilities. Once that happened there was very little way of escaping the tests—the others were forced." Jen says.

"Then the 2014 tests happened," Gavin says. "Three more children were tested on."

"I met one of them seven years ago inside Elysium," Andy says. "His name was Samuel. He was Jack's son. He died in the game..." He looks down.

"We met up seven years ago," Gavin says, "...after their trip in Elysium. That's where we joined together to try and find the remaining two kids—the survivors of the 2014 test. Sarah, we believe that you and John are those very kids."

"I...I don't have anything to say to that," Sarah says.

"It's an enormous pill to swallow," Andy says, "but if what you told me about yours and John's dreams, then it lines up to Radical-9 poisoning."

"I..." My mind is racing, trying to find a memory of anything that would prove this story wrong. Anything to deny the suggestion they've put forth, but as soon as he said Denver I had a bad feeling that it wasn't just a coincidence. "I...don't have anything to prove you wrong...beside the fact that I don't want it to be true."

"I don't either," Gavin shrugs. "None of us do, but denial doesn't do us much good." He turns to Iris, "I'm sorry if any of this has flown over your head."

"I..." She stammers, but not for the same reasons I was. "No, I followed the story well enough. Are you shitting me or not?" She asks, then immediately catches herself, "Uh, sorry that was rude. Are you really telling the truth?"

"Yes," Jen nods.

"To tell the truth, we only came looking for John," Andy says. "His father was the one who gathered us all, but I'm pretty confident that you're like us, Sarah."

"His father? His father is dead," I say.

Gavin shakes his head, "The two people murdered in John's bedroom are not his birth parents. He was adopted like Jen here, his birth father is a man named Jay Rein.

"How can you be so sure?" I ask.

"I wasn't at first. Honestly, at first when you called me I'd thought it was just some kid who got mixed up with the wrong crowd, but your descriptions of Jack and your abilities aren't something to be ignored," Andy says.

"It's been a long time we've been searching for him, too," Jen says. "He's the first to ever come close to the mark. It's hard trying to find one specific person throughout all of New York, especially when they could have left at any time. We were lucky enough to find you here and now," Jen says.

"I...I just have one question," I say. "I know I'm not adopted for a fact, and my mom was never a scientist. She's an at home saleswoman."

"What about your father?" Gavin asks.

"My mom said that he died when I was real young," I say.

"He most likely is dead, the only scientists from those days alive now are Jay and Jack." Andy says. "You aren't native to New York, are you?" Andy asks.

"N-No, how did you know?" I ask.

"Are you from Colorado, by any chance?"

"Y-Yes," I say, quietly.

"I'm now one hundred percent sure that you're one of the people we've been looking for," Andy says.

"So, that power of yours, your ability to deduce when someone is lying," I say.

"When people lie, or aren't telling the whole truth their body seems to resist against that. They begin to show their nervous habits because the body isn't used to spreading falsehoods. I can see these habits. It is my gift," Andy says.

I turn to Gavin and Jen. "What about you two?" Iris asks before I can even open my mouth. "What's your superpower?"

"I'm like you, believe it or not." Jen says. "I can see visions. The one thing is you seem to dream of the future. I see sights of the past—memories. Sometimes they aren't even my memories. That's how we've learned a bit of what happened at the research facility," Jen says.

"Mine's a bit more complicated," Gavin begins, crossing his arms.

"How much more complicated can it be?" Iris asks.

"Plenty," Jen says, chuckling.

"Alright, lay it on us," I say.

Gavin sighs. "Okay, I can travel through alternate realities."

"Care to explain?" Iris asks.

"You ever hear of the parallel universe theory? Where there are millions of universes similar to our own except for small differences? I can tune into this sort of feeling that allows me to see these different universes and travel to them if need be."

"Wow, that sounds awesome," I say.

"I've had to be sparing with how I control it, only using it if I need to," he explains.

"Okay, couldn't you-"

"Before you even ask it, I'm going to say no. It's ten thousand times more complicated than just going back and fixing everything. There's no such thing as fixing a timeline by going into the past. The closest you get it creating a new universe where that problem didn't exist, but that doesn't help the people living in that current timeline. People get hurt and you can't fix that," Gavin trails off.

"Oh, was there someone?" Iris asks.

"There was," Gavin says. "I wanted to tell you so that you know what is at stake. Jack's a very big problem. We've been trying to stop him for the better part of a decade now and he still manages to cling to life like a virus himself," Andy says.

"And that brings us to now," Gavin begins. "Something terrible is going to go down on the eighteenth, we're not sure what specifically, but you and John have at least seen some of what will be. We need John's help to prevent it from happening, and we would surely appreciate any help we can get. It's not like we can go to the police with this kind of story."

"You got that right," I say, looking at him. "I want to help in any way I can and I'm sure John would feel the same," I say.

Iris looks at me for a few seconds, "Are you forgetting someone?"

"I...I wasn't sure that you'd believe all this to be honest," I say.

She nods twice briefly and then looks around at each of them. "I choose to believe you."

"Really? That easily?"

"Yeah. I've got nothing else to do, really. Stopping the end of the world fits into my plans," she shrugs her shoulders. "I knew something was waiting for me."

"Oh, uh, Andy, if you see John again could you apologize to him for me?" Iris asks.

"Sure, for what?" Andy asks.

"Uh, he's kind of in this mess right now...because of me."

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"When you and John went into his house I...I was the one who called the police."

"What?"

"I had to do something, Sarah, and I thought that was the best thing because I didn't trust him. This was before he pulled us out of the wreck and hearing all of this. I feel awful about it, but at the time I did what I thought was right," she says.

"Yeah, I'll tell him," Andy says. "We should get going, I think the trial should be starting soon," Andy says to Jen, breaking the tension. He pulls out his phone and begins texting Lindsey.

I nod. "We'll be sitting in the gallery to cheer you guys on. I know you'll do your best," I say.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'll try my best to get this in our favor," Andy says, looking at each of us individually.

"Good luck," Iris says.

"You got this Andy," Gavin says, patting him on the arm, and then turns to look at us. "Come with me. I'll lead you to the gallery," Gavin says. "Lindsey will meet up with us there."

I nod my head and we begin walking.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit next to you in the gallery?" Iris asks, walking up beside him.

"Not at all. I'm all for a believer in the mystical," he replies with a grin.

Iris, I feel like I should get you a leash.