Chapter Eleven
Elliot
Providence, Rhode Island
2024
M y mother told me there would be a reckoning at the gates of heaven. Everyone who mocked and mistreated me would be left outside while, finally on two healthy legs, I’d stroll past them into paradise.
She didn’t warn me about this place. Empty. Lonely.
If it’s a punishment, whoever is delivering it missed a memo. Real suffering was my life before Inkwell. I freely admit what I did in service to my country might have cost me my ticket to a peaceful eternity, but I believed in both the cause and that I could take control of my own destiny—for a price.
I traded a life of pain and pity for a chance to be a hero, and I’d make that choice a hundred more times even if every time landed me in this place. Walking tall, looking a man in the eye and knowing I am not only as good, but faster, stronger, and able to instantly heal... even if that experience couldn’t last it was worth it.
I begin sorting through jumbled memories. I was celebrating with the unit. We were being awarded medals. Something wasn’t right. Suddenly quiet. Ray has something in his hand. He says he’s sorry.
There’s a flash.
Then nothing.
Until her. The woman who interrupts the emptiness like a faint beacon. She calls to me even now like an angel. I scoff because I don’t believe in those anymore.
It’s more likely I’ve taken seriously ill and she’s a nurse. Inkwell and the war were nothing more than a dream and only pain and weakness wait for me if I wake.
Time drags on until the emptiness of this place becomes unbearable. Would going back really be worse? I could see my mother again and my cousins. I could sit and read in the morning sunshine. I didn’t attend school past seventh grade. Leaving that setting behind was a relief. Kindness wasn’t something I received much from my classmates. Being home allowed me the time to educate myself, which finally gave me a skill people were willing to pay for. It wasn’t a lot, but it supplemented my mother’s income, and we got by.
That life wasn’t enough, though. Not for me. Not when every able-bodied man went off to save the world. When I saw the Inkwell flier with the injured eagle descending for attack and its claim that Uncle Sam needed every bird in the air—I knew there was no other path for me.
If everything I saw after that was nothing more than a fever induced dream, it was a good one and one I don’t regret having. Yes, parts of it were terrifying. Yes, I made mistakes but I was strong and brave... a hero... even if only in my imagination.
She calls to me again on a level I am ill-equipped to deny. Women didn’t want the me I became after polio stole my health and my freedom. I understood. The pain was sometimes excruciating so even my personality was adversely affected.
And later? After my transformation? I did attract them, but intimacy was strictly forbidden for reasons I agreed with. The injections made us nearly invincible in battle, but we had to relearn how to interact with normal people. The stronger we became, the more fragile everyone around us was.
Do I stay here or return and face whatever the truth is?
The man I want to be, the one who chose Inkwell and to defend the world wouldn’t stay here. He wouldn’t hide.
Nothingness is replaced by a softness of something beneath me. I sit straight up and look down. A chest full of medals sparkle from my uniform jacket and I let out a relieved breath. No matter where I am or what awaits me, Inkwell is real. I didn’t imagine it. My legs are straight, strong and pain-free .
Thank God.
I look around. There are two empty sleeping bags beside me on the floor. A bed. A desk. A letter beside my leg. I open it, scanning the message and directions for how to watch a video on something called a tablet if I wake alone.
But I’m not. There’s a hum of voices nearby. I jump to my feet, straighten my jacket, and catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Nothing about me has changed. Not my short hair, straight posture, or even the scar that runs through one eyebrow, over the bridge of my nose and across one cheek. I resented that imperfection at first, even asked Inkwell if they’d give me injections again. They refused, claiming it was too dangerous for us. I suspected it was because they didn’t need us to be stronger or faster at healing than we were.
I made the mistake of feeling sorry for myself in front of Ray. Even if life has evolved on other planets, I doubt anywhere in the universe there is a creature less sympathetic to weakness than Ray. He said something, though, that changed the way I felt about my scar. He told me to decide if it’s a badge of shame or honor and then fucking live with my decision.
I’m not ashamed of it anymore. I earned that scar. It’s mine and proof that I was not afraid even when death danced around us. The shrapnel that sliced through my skull would have killed the average man, but I’m not average. I work for Inkwell and I’m a hero.
With that last thought in my head, I leave the bedroom and walk toward the voices. The closer I get to them, the more familiar they become. Hugh. Jack. Ray. Edward. Pete. Franklin. They’re all there, along with several women. I smile. This is the opposite of waking to danger.
The room falls silent as I enter.
Jack is the first to greet me. He’s dressed in a clothing style that is unfamiliar to me, but I’ve felt the back-smacking hug he gives me before. He greeted me the same way when I healed and stood after damn near getting my head blown off. “Welcome back,” he says warmly.
I push him off me the same way I did that day, but I’m still smiling. “What the fuck is this place?”
“Sounds like you didn’t watch the video. If not, you might want to sit down because some of this will be a shock—”
I stop hearing him as soon as I sense her. My head whips to one side and the power of her presence rocks me onto my heels. Never have I looked upon a more beautiful woman nor felt such an immediate bond. I walk away from Jack. As I approach her, Pete steps closer to her—possessively—and I struggle with the desire to fight him for her. She looks up at him and I hate how they seem to communicate intimately.
“This should be fun to watch,” Ray says.
The woman beside him swiftly moves to block my advance. “Mom, you should leave.”
Mom? A quick assessment confirms they look related.
In a flash, Ray becomes the younger woman’s human shield and says, “I was joking. Lauren and Pete are perfectly safe. Elliot is a million times more sensible than I ever was.”
Hugh joins him. “I’m sorry I doubted you, Lauren. The men are coming back on their own.”
“Coming back from where?” I growl, losing patience. The apartment is full of gadgets I’ve never seen before and something is very off.
The woman who drew me here speaks as she makes her way around the men. “Elliot,” she says softly.
God, she’s beautiful. The masculine attire she’s chosen does nothing to lessen the lure of her. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Small in stature but strong. Her confidence alone makes her a real stunner, but what I feel for her is more than superficial. Everything I’ve overcome, everything I’ve achieved, all of it happened to prepare me for meeting her. “Yes.” Yes, to her, to whatever this is. Just yes.
She comes to stand in front of me. “My name is Lauren. If you trust me to, I can quickly explain all of this to you.” She holds out a hand to me. “In your mind.”
“In my mind?” Impossible as that sounds, I believe she can do anything because she already has me under some sort of spell. I take her hand in mine. “Okay.”
You can close me out at any time, but if you let me in I can show you my memories and you’ll quickly know everything I do about your situation. Her voice is a whisper at first, but becomes clearer as I open myself to her.
Who are you ?
Are you ready to see?
I take a deep breath first. Yes.
And then—holy shit, I’m catapulted into her thoughts and memories. It should have been chaotic but she guides me through them quickly and with an efficiency that’s somewhat clinical. I don’t have time to digest how I feel about any of what I learn from her and that isn’t what this is about. Like a tactical briefing, she brings me fully up to date on what she knows about what was done to us, how long we were in the silverware, the cellular differences between us and humans as well as the ways she is hoping to help us.
I look away for a moment.
It’s a lot to take in.
I’ve landed in the future and Inkwell has not only lied to us but tried to kill us off as well.
With resolve, I meet Lauren’s gaze again. Everything. Tell me everything that’s happened since.
She shows me Hugh, explains the method Mercedes used to bring him back and that they’ve fallen in love. The bond, she explains, is somehow a result of the transformation or possibly the drug they once gave us to control us. She’s not sure. Jack and Cheryl as well as Ashley and Ray are similarly bonded. Each became a couple after returning.
I shouldn’t have touched three of you at once , Lauren admits.
Resentment isn’t possible when she takes me to the moment, she first held us: me, Pete, and Franklin. She’d been hurt and stood strong and alone for so long, telling herself that what she had was enough... I’d done the same.
Show me only what you’re comfortable with , she says in my thoughts.
I’m not ready yet, so I close the door to my past and ask her to show me what happened after she took us home. Did you wake us the way the other women woke their men?
The women I’d known would have been embarrassed by the question, but Lauren wasn’t. She showed me not only how they’d woken but also the connection she felt for both Pete and Franklin. She let me see how each of them had responded differently to the bond. I wasn’t surprised. A long time ago, while still under the influence of the drug they’d given all of us, Franklin had confessed to me why he’d joined Inkwell and about how Susie had betrayed him. It was a source of shame for him and the reason he treated women like they were nothing. Inkwell regrew his leg, but it didn’t heal the part of him she’d broken.
That explains a lot , Lauren says.
As I wander through the experiences she’s had with Pete, I suck in a breath. He’s falling for you hard.
I feel a wave of sadness from her, and it’s poignantly sincere. I’ll cure him before that happens.
In that moment I understand not just the chemical side of the bond, but also why Pete isn’t fighting it. I can see into Lauren’s very soul, and as I peel layer after layer back all I discover is love. Love for her children. Love for humanity and those who suffer. Even robots, although I’m not entirely sure what they are. The only fear I find in her is of failure... failure to be enough for those who depend on her. And... and... the fear of trusting a man with her heart again... of allowing herself to need someone... and have them leave her the way the father of her children did.
I pull her to my chest and hug her. There is a commotion around us, but we block it out. It would be so easy to kiss her, to claim her as my own.
That’s the bond talking , she whispers in my mind.
You make it sound like we’re impaired by it.
It is heady.
I tuck her beneath my chin. It sure is.
We stand there, simply breathing each other in. When I release her, I’ll have to face all I’ve learned. For now, I want to soak in the peace she brings to the eye of this storm.
Hugh and the others will support you through this. Even without me, you’re not alone.
Knowing, I mean knowing , how determined she is to free us from her saddens me on more than one level. Selfishly, I don’t want to lose this feeling, but I also don’t want her to return to being alone.
Who’s Braxton? I ask.
She stiffens in my arms. A friend.
She won’t show me her memories of him, but perhaps by accident, she reveals what Pete thinks about Braxton and what she’s shared with him. Lauren .
Yes?
I need to know.
The wall around her feelings for Braxton and all her memories of him falls away. As I sort through them, I’m conflicted in the same way I bet Pete is. Braxton loves Lauren, but her heart is well-defended. She allows herself to care about people but not need them.
And yet, she intends to move all of us to his campground home. That’s a huge step. I’m both happy for her and protective of her. I’ve killed men with my bare hands. If Braxton so much as offends her, I’ll crush him like a tiny bug beneath my foot.
Lauren tips her head back, her eyes wide. Don’t hurt anyone in my name. Ever.
I look away.
I don’t make promises I can’t keep.