Page 56 of Gemini
A clear, vivid memory shot through me like lightning. It was that night at the church with Leslie holding me almost the same way, only I was crying…and I was fighting…
“This is how it has to happen, there’s no other way. Don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”
Those were the words he’d whispered in my ear. The night he took Eve.
I nearly froze as he brought my hand back with his own. I moved with him as he used my arm to swing, letting the blade fly.
The knife hit the target just below the center, stuck deep in the wood.
“See? You got this,” he whispered in my ear.
A shudder passed through me and I gently pulled away. Without looking at him, I went over to the table and grabbed my drink, taking a generous swig. Lez didn’t seem to notice my reaction as he walked over to the fence and pulled out the knives.
He offered them to me again and I took them without hesitation. I positioned myself like he had shown me, and I threw with all my strength one at a time. Two of them bounced, one of them stuck, a foot above the bullseye.
Leslie whistled. “You learn fast.”
“I was just lucky,” I countered.
“Don’t sell yourself short.” He pulled the knives out and offered them but this time I shook my head. I watched instead as he centered himself then threw each one, hitting the mark each time, making it look easy.
“Cheater.”
“I’ve been throwing knives since I was out of the warehouse, it’s called skill.” He winked at me as he went to pull the knives out. He stashed them away as he returned. “Granted I can thank the staff of Project Redbird for giving me the ability to see a flea from like twenty feet away so there’s that too.”
“That’s crazy.”
“That’s the military industrial complex.” He grabbed his beer and drank, setting it down with a thud.
I studied him for a moment then asked, “If it had worked out…do you think you and Dom would have…I don’t know…been elite soldiers or something?”
He planted his palms on the table, looking at his drink. “If it had worked…probably,” he said.
“Did you…ever think about joining the military?”
He shook his head. “No. Not once. Sure, it would have been the easiest route. Go into SEAL training, pass with flying colors, become agents or something, stop the baddies, get the girls, all that double-o-seven shit. But we didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. We weren’t their lapdogs.”
“Did they ever contact you?”
“No. I think Project Redbird was so tightly wrapped up and considered a failure they probably decided we were too unstable to control. They’d be right of course. I think Micheal said he did get a call once from some government entity, but he refused them. Something tells me they were keeping tabs on a lot of us for a while, until we made the effort to not be tracked.”
I crossed my arms, feeling a little cold. “When you were down there, in the warehouse, did they try to train you, or did they just…”
“Pump us full of drugs and test on us?” he glanced over to me. “Yeah, they tried to brainwash us and train us for a time, but it didn’t last long. We caught on and became unstable tooquickly. Violent, conniving, ready to burn the place down and everyone in it. Ready to stab someone who got too close.”
I leaned against the table, imagining Lez and Dom and the other kids wreaking havoc, turning into feral monsters. Unable to control what they were becoming. Caged like animals. It made my heart drop and my stomach twist. “I’m sorry,” I said softly. “It’s disgusting what they did. After I heard your story, it kind of messed me up. I couldn’t believe how someone could do that to kids. It’s evil. You didn’t deserve that, none of you did.”
I noticed him watching me and I had to look away, feeling the back of my neck and face heat up at the intensity of his gaze.
“Coming from you, that means a lot,” he said.
“Anyone in their right mind would think the same.”
“Maybe…”
I took a sip of my drink, unable to face the look he was giving me. A look I was afraid to return. I could feel my pulse in my ears as he got a little closer. The tension was thick between us, and I quickly broke it.
“So any more weird places to show me?”
