ME2 (S.E.E.D.S. Book 1) Read online

  ME 2

  S.E.E.D.S., Volume 1

  J Peregrine

  Published by J Peregrine, 2020.

  This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

  ME 2

  First edition. June 13, 2020.

  Copyright © 2020 J Peregrine.

  Written by J Peregrine.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 50

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  For my kids, without whom there would be no books.

  Thanks to my editors and proof-reader Katrina Roets.

  Chapter 1

  My heart raced as I woke. Holding my breath, I listened without moving and then slowly opened one eye. Dog lay with his gold chin resting on my stomach weighing me down. I didn't hear anything, so I took a breath and forced my heart to slow. There was no reason to be anxious, I told myself, but I had a hard time convincing my subconscious of that especially today. I listened to the tap, tap, tap of the fan blade that needed to be straightened again and the whir of a motor somewhere above me pulling fresh air into the cave from the slice of night sky high above me. I took a slow, deep breath and exhaled. Nothing to worry about.

  “Morning, Dog,” I finally said, as I cleared my throat and he lifted his head to look at me. I rubbed his soft, velvet ears and smiled. “Three thousand one hundred days today,” I said, as I looked at the wall across from me. I would add another notch to the number on the wall later when it was really a new day. The number didn’t mean anything anymore, but I still kept track. "Maybe this year," I sighed. "Maybe today?” I asked Dog but he didn't answer.

  I knew it was stupid, but I had to believe that some year we would go. Even though every year since I had turned nine, my birthday came and went, and we didn’t move an inch. Reaching under my bed, I grabbed my bag, unbuckled it, and checked the contents just in-case. Knife, socks, salve, a few articles of clothing and a jacket. I zipped it shut and sighed. We probably weren't going anywhere but one could always hope. “Let’s go see if grandfather wants breakfast, shall we?” Dog stood and licked his lips. I smiled and shook my head at him. “To be really authentic I think he needs to make you drool a little,” I said, bending to ruffle his synthetic ears.

  Grandfather said Dog was designed to guard and protect. But after he'd made several enhancements to Dog’s artificial intelligence, he was almost lifelike, at least to me. Grandfather had mad skills for rescuing relics and antiques and getting them to work again. He’d rescued movies and books he’d found stored on some ancient computer and uploaded them to keep me entertained. But over the last year I started watching the movies in secret because he had become convinced they were giving me hope for things that no longer existed. "How would I ever know?" I argued, but it didn't help. It had been ages since Grandfather had been anywhere near civilization so really neither of us knew what the world was like anymore. I only knew I wanted to go, I wanted it more than anything else. I wanted to meet other people. I wanted to meet my father.

  I got up and went to the stairs, listening for a moment to see if I could hear Grandfather. As a child I had imagined my room as a tower above the rest of the house. Although it was actually a giant cave where grandfather had built rooms and secret passages, he said it was the safest place on earth. I couldn’t argue with that, but it was lonely. Grandfather said the world was a dangerous place for anyone, let alone a girl. I didn’t know whether he was right or not, but I wanted to find out for myself. I sighed again. I wanted to leave but he wasn’t ready, and he was my person, my only person in the whole world except for my father who I didn't know, so here we sat.

  I pet Dog's soft head and threw on some clothes. He followed as we wound our way down the stairs to the main floor. Grandfather never came up the stairs anymore. He stayed on the bottom floor with the workshop and laboratory. As soon as I stepped into the kitchen at the bottom of the stairs I paused. Not because of the mess of pans and things that had spilled out of the cupboard and onto the floor. There was a strange smell in the air. I looked around. There was nothing wrong exactly, Grandfather often left a mess wherever he went but what had he been looking for? I considered the mess for a moment, then I put the pots back into the cupboard and closed the door. Sighing, I went to the stove and lit the flame under the kettle. Then I got out two mugs and the tin of tea leaves, opened the tin, and drank in the smell. "All right, come on. I might as well make breakfast, right?"

  We made our way through the stacks of supplies we would never have a use for. I paused at my work area and picked up the piece of a shirt waiting for me. I had stacks of fabric Grandfather had salvaged from one of his recon trips years ago. I had learned how to sew when I was very young and I made everything, even things I didn't need, like this shirt. It was a beautiful fabric, but I didn't have the heart to finish it, who would ever see it?

  When we got to the garden, I switched on the grow light and picked up the basket from under the bench. Then I picked through the greens, harvesting some dark green spinach, potatoes, and a few radishes. Grandfather insisted that I liked spinach. I hated spinach, but it was easier to just eat it than to argue with him.

  “Elzbeth!” His shout made me jump and gave me goosebumps. Anxious thoughts pummeled my brain. "Get a grip," I told myself and sat down my basket. Then I went out the door and down the hallway towards his workshop. "Don't jump to conclusions, you'll only be disappointed." but he had used my full name. I pursed my lips and tried to think. The only reason I even knew my full name was because when I was learning to read, I had asked him how to spell it. I had said, “Is it ‘L’? Just ‘L’?” He had seemed confused by this question and then he wrote my name for me, "ELZBETH," but he never used it.

  Down the hall something crashed to the ground and I heard him grumbling. We got to his lab and paused, “What do you think?” I said to Dog. He ignored me and sniffed the air. I never entered his lab unless he actually invited me, so I stopped next to the counter just inside the door. “Grandfather?” I called to him. There was that smell again, and the air seemed dusty, but I didn’t see him. My stomach was now in knots. So, I sighed and leaned on the counter trying not to get excited. I picked up the rubik’s cube that sat there and waited. The cube used to be colorful but years of fingers working it into revealing its secret had worn most of the color away and worn it down into its base. I moved my fin
gers along the worn spots, I could never work out whether he thought leaving the cube there would distract me from looking at what he was doing or he hoped that trying to solve the puzzle while I waited for him would enlighten me somehow. When I looked up, I saw his head pop up above the work bench across from us. I realized there was a sound I couldn't place but I continued, nonchalant but hopeful. “Do you want breakfast this morning?” I asked, but when I saw his face, I realized there was something very wrong. He must have been looking for something for quite a while, he looked exhausted and frazzled. He was writing frantically in a notebook. Then he finished writing and slammed the book shut and looked up at me. He looked confused, as if he'd forgotten he had called me. My heart beat faster, but I tried to stay calm. Maybe this was it, maybe we really were leaving.

  “Did you call me?” I said. He looked at me as if he didn’t see me. I had probably gotten my hopes up for no reason again. So, I squinted at him. “Are you hungry? Maybe you should stop for a while....” I trailed off. “Grandfather, are you all right?” I looked around the workshop. What was going on? Suddenly I heard a high-pitched whine. The ground began to shake, making me grab onto the counter, and I wondered if we were having an earthquake.

  In a voice that gave me chills, it was so low and quiet, he said, “Elzbeth! Time to flee!”

  I looked at the shaking counter and then back up into his face again unable to move. “What?”

  He held up the notebook. “It's time. You must go. Take this... to your father.” He looked like he’d seen a ghost.

  I knew that the blood had drained from my face and I could taste the bile rising into my throat.

  “Elzbeth! This is not a drill,” he yelled. “Time to flee! Run!” Then he threw the notebook into my arms.

  I caught it on instinct but didn’t move. I gaped at him. Part of me didn’t believe him except for the look on his face. But this wasn’t part of the plan. “I’ll go but you’re coming too, right? You’re ready?”

  “It’s not as we planned. Go get your things, hurry,” he said, his voice strained.

  I stared at him. “I’ll get my bag but I’m not leaving here without you, do you hear me?”

  He fixed me with his stare, his face a mixture of alarm, pity, and fear. “Elzbeth, there is someone coming that could destroy us both. I beg of you....” Just then an alarm wailed and we both looked up as a light flashed overhead. Dog added his warning bark as the alarm grew louder.

  “Go!” he yelled and waved me toward the door.

  I looked at the dust emanating from the ceiling. Then I turned and sprinted up the hall to the stairs and then up the stairs to my room. My heart was in my throat and my stomach clenched in a hard rock making it impossible to think. ‘Time to flee,’ it was our code phrase that Grandfather had drilled into me since I was a child. It had been our game and he had it planned to a 'T'. It had been fun and exciting, and I always hoped he would say those words for real so we could follow his plan and get out, but not like this.

  I grabbed the duffel from under my bed and shoved the book inside. Then I threw on my jacket and slipped on my boots. I knew I should run down the stairs, grab grandfather and flee. We had practiced what to do when Grandfather gave the signal, but I had never expected it to happen. Did I need anything else for the rest of my life?

  Chapter 2

  Dog stood at the top of the stairs watching me and whined. I looked at him. Dog didn't whine. I didn’t even know he knew how to whine. When he whined again, a shiver shot down my arms and my heart pounded, threatening to escape my chest. What was happening? I headed to the stairs and realized the floor was vibrating and there was a loud humming. Then an explosion shook everything as I got to the stairs, making me stumble and slide down till I caught myself. My heart was in my throat and my stomach seized. I gripped the strap of my bag and jumped down the rest of the stairs six at a time. Just then a shot rang out making me freeze before I jumped to the bottom, “Grandfather!” I yelled.

  I wanted to panic. I wanted to run back up the stairs, but my legs wouldn’t work so I dropped to my knees and crawled. I could barely see as my vision jumped, adrenaline splashing across my brain. I couldn't leave him behind, I had to get to him.

  I crawled along the hall as fast as I could until I got to the workroom door. There was another blast that made me jump and cringe and close my eyes. My body was shaking so hard I took a breath and forced myself to lean forward into the workroom searching for my grandfather. A cloud of smoke filled the room, but as it cleared I could see him on the floor holding something long and black.

  He looked up at me, he was holding a gun of some kind and my wide eyes stared back at him. He put up a hand telling me to stay where I was. My face grimaced and I shook my head. I could tell that he’d been hurt and the look he gave me made our life together flash before my eyes.

  What was happening? We had practiced how to escape if something happened but none of the scenarios we practiced had ever looked or felt like this.

  There was a sound from above and grandfather turned and fired at the already jagged hole in the roof, but he didn't seem to hit anything. The smoke and dust circled in the air as I scrambled to his side.

  “Elzbeth,” he said. “You must go...we agreed if something like this happened we would both do what we had to do, we practiced, and you promised,” he said, as he brushed the hair from my face making my eyes well up with tears.

  His tenderness scared me. “This is not what we practiced, or what we promised, not even close! Come on, we'll go together like we practiced. I can drag you, we can go down the elevator to the car and get out of here together like we planned.” I grabbed hold of his sleeves.

  “Elzbeth!” his voice was strained but insistent, and his eyes were glistening. “I cannot, you must go alone. Take Dog and go!”

  My heart was breaking, my jaw locked, “No.” I shook my head. “I can’t leave you!” My voice broke and my words were drowned out by the sound of metal ripping through the rock as whoever was above us drilled a hole in the upper wall. The whole cave shook, and broken rock rained down on top of us. When I looked up past the dust there was now a huge hole in the outer wall above us and as the dust and smoke moved away, I saw a man lit by an artificial beam of light coming from behind him. He was wearing a flawless white jumpsuit and he stepped up to the broken opening. He took off his matching white helmet and looked down into the lab.

  “Andre,” Grandfather whispered as he stared up at the man with a look of recognition and repulsion but not surprise. Without looking down, he fumbled with the gun style torpedo launcher trying to push another round into place.

  “Josef,” the man said, as he looked down at us. “How very quaint, you’ve built a castle inside your mountain," he said, stepping onto the broken rock. "Put your weapon down. There is no need for guns among friends, let us talk...” and then his eyes landed on mine and he froze as he stared at me. “Elizabeth,” he said, raising a gloved hand to his neck, stopping himself from crying out or coughing, I wasn't sure which. He had my name wrong and he looked confused but then his confusion turned to the look of a cat that knew he had trapped a mouse.

  His smile made me shiver. Maybe it was the fact that his skin looked see-through as if it wasn't there, but I think it had more to do with the sickening nature of the smile on his face.

  Before anyone could think another thought, Grandfather had fired again. It made me jump and squat down behind the counter for cover. Pieces of the wall and ceiling fell all around us, and then Grandfather reached beneath the table and pulled out a machine gun.

  “Grandfather, what are you doing? Please!”

  “Elzbeth, I lied...all these years,” he said, shaking his head, "It’s too late. You must go, you must leave. Go to Mo....”

  “No. Why? I'm not going," I said, shivering.

  Grandfather looked at me and then taking my hand he kissed it and whispered so I could barely hear, “He is your only hope....”

  “I don’t underst
and. Who is this man? Why is he here? And what is happening?” but sounds from above intruded.

  “Elzbeth go, go to your father before it's too late.... Run!!” he yelled, lifting the gun to his shoulder he fired into the debris-filled air, and the debris filled air fired back as the tea pot screamed.

  There are times in life when you know what you have to do.

  Chapter 3

  Tea pot screaming, rock shards scattering, I launched myself into the hallway as another even larger sound blasted the air, and when it hit, I was thrown even farther than I had jumped. The popping sound that came next made me turn and look back. My ears buzzed as I gagged. My grandfather lay motionless, staring into infinity, his last word echoing inside my head, "Run!"

  There was no time left to think. I grabbed my bag and ran. I stumbled against the wall, almost face planting onto the floor. As I got to the kitchen, my hand hit the hidden panel and a small door, halfway up the wall popped open. I tossed in the bag and yelled to Dog. Right on my heels, he jumped inside without hesitation. I jumped up and spun on my butt, my legs dangling into the chute, then I hit the panel again and the door closed as I dropped.

  In total darkness we flew along the chute shifting left and right as it wound its way down, slowing us from an absolute plummet to the bottom. Lights popped on and we slammed into each other as we hit the bottom wall.

  Squashed against Dog, I sat for a moment listening and started to shake. What had I done? I felt sick, breaking out in a cold sweat and beginning to panic. I wanted to throw-up. This couldn't be happening. I felt my heart wrench from my chest and all I could hear was grandfather’s last words ringing in my ears. “Noooo,” I cried. What had I done? Jamming my feet against the sides of the chute I turned around and clawed my way back to the top. What had I been thinking? What if he wasn’t dead? What if he was just injured? I’d left behind my only person in the world.