Chapter 5: A Swim and A Walk

As Eve thought about what Peter had said, the words floated around in her head like leaves on a pond. She stood up, cracked her knuckles, and walked to the door. She stopped when her hand rested on the cold handle. The feeling of cold metal brought back a few memories. She hadn’t really forgotten about her ability, but had rather put herself on check, cautious of the warning Aswynn had given her.

She took a step back. “As long as I don’t hurt anybody, it’ll be fine.”

She flexed her fingers and a cool blade obeyed her beckoning call. She smiled.

“I really have missed this,” she said, giving it a gently swing. She dropped it, dissolving at her command before it even hit the ground.

She commanded a smaller knife and one appeared, resting in her hands. She sat down as her fingers traced their way across the elaborate handle. If I can materialize a knife, which is made of metal, how about a spoon?

A spoon sounded kind of wimpy to her, but she decided it was a good place to start. She could advance from there. She concentrated, not really sure what to do. She felt an unfamiliar shape evolve in her hand and she opened her eyes to see a metal rod.

“That’s not a spoon but we’re getting there,” she muttered.

She continued the process many times until she finally got it. She shook her hand, the spoon disappearing into thin air, and replaced it with a hand-sized knife. Standing up, she walked over to the wall right across from the bed and set to work.

First, she drew a long diagonal line and then a curve attached to it. She then drew a new line and attached three shorter lines to it horizontally. The repeated the last step and leaned back, looking at her handywork. The lines in the wall etched a word - a name. Dee.

Eve sighed and got to work on Drew’s name along with Astrid’s, Aden’s, and the other people who had sacrificed their lives.

“For the ones who died,” she said.

She threw the knife handle over blade into the opposite wall. Sliding down the wall she’d just carved on, tears poured down her cheeks.

She didn’t know exactly why she was crying but she knew one thing. She was sick and tired of living in a world were the cheaters win and the others loose. Pushing off of the floor, she yanked the door open and stormed down the hall, Zion trailing behind her.

Eve hurried on past Aswynn’s office without slowly. She arrived at the elevator doors and turned to Zion.

“Does this place have a swimming pool, gym, anything worth my time?” she asked, folding her arms over her chest.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “There’s a swimming pool on the top floor and a gym in the basement. There’s also a lounge room with TV’s and X-boxes.”

Eve jabbed the up button on the elevator and stepped inside. Pushing the correct button, the doors shut, and the compartment started to slowly move up. It was a glass elevator, so she could see below her and all the floors as they passed. There were a significant smaller number of people walking around since the first time she’d stepped into the TRAKKER building. The Xetylígo Virus probably wasn’t helping that either. The elevator arrived, and Zion showed Eve the way to pool.

“You can stay out here,” she said before she entered. “I want some peace.”

“Whatever,” he shrugged. She pushed the swinging doors open and walked to the edge of the pool. She took her shoes and socks off, pulled her hair out of its current ponytail, and took a deep breath.

The water rippled at the other end, but she ignored it, pushing off with a powerful lunge, sliding into the water in a graceful dive. The water rushed over her skin, pulling her hair back. She took a quick inhale. The feeling of water rushing into her lungs would have been panicking to others, but she knew she was fine. She exhaled, air bubbles rising to the surface and popping, and inhaled another time. She made her way to the deep end where she saw the lower part of a body in the water.

Who is that? She wondered. It could be anybody. This place is crawling with pigs.

She turned and swam back to the other end when the person submerged again. Thankfully they had their eyes closed so they didn’t see her at first.

Eve surfaced and pulled herself out of the water. The person on the other side surfaced and wiped the water out of their face. It was Brodie. He pushed his wet hair back and looked at her.

“Do you swim?” he asked, doggy paddling over.

“A little,” she lied.

“Show me what ya can do,” he prodded. She scooted over as he pulled himself up next to her.

“It’ll freak you out,” she laughed.

“In a good way or bad way?” he asked.

“It depends,” she shrugged. “Do you like fish?”

“I used to have a really big aquarium full of exotic tropical fish but then my dad “accidentally” did a science experiment on them and they all died,” he answered.

“Fine.” She slipped back into the water gently and pulled herself closer to the wall, so he couldn’t see her legs, feet, and part of her torso turning into a huge tail.

“So, what kind of experiment did you dad do on your fish?” she asked, distracting him.

“I don’t know but it killed every single one of them in about four days. All their veins got real pudgy and green and then they started to eat each other,” he said.

“That’s nasty,” she grimaced. “Okay, you ready?”

He nodded.

Eve arched back and dived under, going headfirst to the very bottom and the long tail following after her. It splashed water on Brodie who jumped back at the sight of it.

“What the devil?!?” he yelped. He flattened himself up against the wall until she resurfaced.

At the sight of his face, she burst out laughing. As she swam back over to the side of the pool, she morphed her legs back and pulled herself out.

When Brodie saw that her legs were back to normal, he loosened up.

“What was that?”

“It’s complicated,” she shrugged. “Come on.”

She pushed him closer to the edge.

“NO!” he protested.

“Why?” she asked, edging him forward more.

“You like half fish or something!” he struggled against her, but she was stronger than he was.

Eve rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around him tighter and jumped into the water, pulling him along with her. Under the water they went, and she morphed a fin. Dragging him by his arm she swam for the bottom.

She let go of him and shot back to the surface. Brodie surfaced a few seconds later. They made their way to the side of the pool and got out.

“What happened to you that you’re like this?” he asked her as they sat down, feet in the water. Eve’s tail was gone.

“A lot,” she answered. “I wasn’t always like this. I had been normal once, well as close to normal as a foster kid can get. Then one day, I’m adopted by a scientist who tells me that the government has made a law to kill the unwanted. The old, mentally challenged, and us, the foster kids, the one’s without families. She told me she was saving me, along with hundreds of other kids just like me but it was all a lie. It was scheme. We were her science experiments. And everything after that has led up to me being here.”

“What was that ladies name?” he asked.

Eve thought about telling him but decided against it. He’d find out when the time was right and now was not the right time. “It’s not necessary.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes before either of them spoke. “You said there were hundreds of kids like you. Did you know any of them? Brodie questioned.

“Yeah,” she nodded. Her eyes burned, tears threatening to flow.

“Oh, sorry,” he said when he saw them.

“Nah, it’s fine,” she sniffed and wiped her eyes. “If you’re gonna be my second in command, you need to know some things about me and my past.”

“Okay.”

Eve took a deep breath. “My name is Eve. My mom died while giving birth to me. My dad died five years later in a drunk driving accident. I’m half fish, half human. You mom is my aunt, and—I hate this place.”

“Why?” he asked. “Why do you hate this place.”

“This building, this corporation has played a major part in my life and I can’t exactly say it’s for the better either,” she explained. Hatred crept into her, slowly filling her. TRAKKER had caused so much pain in her life along with others.

“Anything else I should know?”

“I’m telepathic and I could kill you right now if I wanted to. That has nothing to do with being telepathic though,” she shrugged.

“What do you mean by ‘kill you right now’?” he asked, a bit concerned.

She sighed and shook her hand, a medium sized knife appearing.

“Here.”

She handed it to him, flexing her will so it wouldn’t disintegrate the moment he touched it. Brodie took it carefully, reverently, and examined it.

“Bet this comes in handy every once in a while,” he noted.

A smile crept onto Eve’s face as she thought about how bad she’d scared Cooper that one night. “Yeah, it’s come in handy a few times.”

He went to hand it back to her, but she just snapped her fingers and it disappeared.

“Okay,” he said, wiping his hands on his shorts. He looked a bit unnerved at the fact that she could control metal.

They relapsed into silence again. A silent awkwardness fell over them. Eve finally stood up and made for the door. She pulled it open and went to walk out but before she did, she looked at Brodie, arms supporting himself as he slipped into the water once more. He reminded her of someone and it was not Aswynn. She turned away and headed out the door.

“You ready?” Zion asked when he saw her.

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Where’s the bathroom?”

He led her down a hallway and pointed to a door. She slipped by him and shut the door firmly behind her. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just one stall but rather two rows of them. She walked to the sinks and leaned on one.

Her breath was gone, and a thought was nagging at the back of her head. Brodie. He looked like someone, someone she knew very well. The name was on the tip of her tongue. Staring into the mirror she thought.

When was the last time she’d actually seen what she looked like? She couldn’t remember. She ran a hand through her hair, standing up a little straighter. She leaned forward, searching her own eyes for the answers that she desperately needed.

Her clothes were still dripping wet from the pool and the water was dropping onto the floor around her bare feet. That reminded her that she’d left her shoes in the pool room.

Eve stepped backwards, holding her gaze in the mirror for as long as she could but then she turned and walked out.

Zion followed her to the elevators, her bare feet making a rhythmic padding noise on the carpet and her wet clothes leaving a trail of water behind her.

“Um, you walked past the elevator,” Zion said, slowing down.

“Yeah, I know,” she nodded. “I’m taking the stairs.”

“But why?” he was confused.

“My legs already look like pancakes when I sit down, they don’t need to get any bigger unless it’s muscle,” she shrugged. She pulled the door open marked Stairs and he begrudgingly followed. As they walked, the thoughts that Eve had pushed to the back of her head resurfaced. The long walk up gave her plenty of time to think about them.

*****

“That was ten or more floors, Eve,” Zion panted.

“I know,” she nodded. “It’s good for you. You burned all those donut calories you ate this morning.”

“HEY!” he protested. “It’s just because the coffee machine was broken, okay?”

Eve laughed

She pulled the door to the current floor open, coming face to face with Aswynn.

“Oh,” Eve said, stepping back. “What do you want?”

“We have an early convert I want you to meet,” Aswynn answered. “She’s waiting in my

office.”

“How’d ya know where I was?” she asked out of curiosity.

“Surveillance cameras, my dear,” Aswynn smiled a cold, menacing smile. “I know where everyone is at all times.”