TS901: Evolution: TS901 Chronicles, #3

By Stacey Rourke and Tish Thawer

The gang is together again … or so they thought.

Fighting to recover Thia's memories as the leader, friend, and lover she once was proves more challenging than Gigi and the team expected. Even so, with the experiments on their kind seemingly halted, the Maly brethren finally has a chance to rebuild the community they once held dear. No longer do they have to hide or live off scraps. The new future they helped to shape is within grasp, one that brings them back to the basics of being.

Before they can claim that bright tomorrow, an ominous warning comes from Mama Baker. A reoccurring vision is haunting her, one of Alexandria and Zero … and the world engulfed in flames.

Pulled by an unknown force to be part of the darkness rising, Thia fights to be free of the strangers holding her and return "home" to The Hill.

Will the Maly team's chance at a perfect future end at the hand of the champion they once rallied behind?

Find out in this epic conclusion to The TS901 CHRONICLES.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Anchor Group Publishing
• Release date: Jan 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201787424

Stacey Rourke

RONE Award Winner for Best YA Paranormal Work of 2012 for Embrace, a Gryphon Series Novel Young Adult and Teen Reader voted Author of the Year 2012 Turning Pages Magazine Winner for Best YA book of 2013 & Best Teen Book of 2013  Readers' Favorite Silver Medal Winner for Crane 2015 Stacey Rourke is the author of the award winning YA Gryphon Series, the chillingly suspenseful Legends Saga, the romantic comedy Reel Romance Series, and twisted fairy tale Unfortunate Soul Chronicles. She lives in Michigan with her husband, two beautiful daughters, and two giant dogs. She loves to travel, has an unhealthy shoe addiction, and considers herself blessed to make a career out of talking to the imaginary people that live in her head.  Visit her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/staceyrourkeauthor or on Twitter or instagram @Rourkewrites.

Book preview

Chapter One

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One Month Before The Hive Fell:

What do you miss most about the world before? With one leg dangling over the edge of her tattered-fabric hammock bed, Thia’s head lolled to the side. Her stare drifted to the patterns of multi-colored light playing across the ceiling from the wine bottles strung over her window.

Seated on the woven rug covering the subway car floor, Gigi leaned against the van seat Thia used as a makeshift couch and took a deep drag off the joint pinched between her thumb and index finger. Filling her lungs to capacity, she held it for a ten count before exhaling. "Maybe it’s the munchies talking, but good food. I mean really good food. The five-star kind that leaves you moaning with each bite and seriously weighing which you would choose in a choice between that and sex."

Eyebrows raising to her hairline, Thia extended one arm and curled her fingers in a gesture for Gigi to share her stash. Not sure I’ve ever had food that good.

Rocking onto one hip, Gigi stretched as far as she could to pass the joint. "Oh, I have. Right now, I would hack off my right arm for another meal at le Bernardin in New York. Slumping back to the floor, her arms and legs fell slack as if paralyzed by the exquisite memory. Ugh, an evening there sounds like pure heaven. To get dressed up, shimmy into something sexy, and treat myself to their seared yellowfin tuna with a raspberry mojito, and an apple for dessert."

Thia enjoyed one long puff, then talked around the cloud of smoke seeping from her lips. An apple? I hate to tell you, but that’s not a five-star exclusive. Grocery stores sell those.

These are no ordinary apples. Gigi clucked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. They’re filled with brown butter mousse, apple confit, and Armagnac sabayon.

Thia blinked Gigi’s way, eyes narrowing as she tried to decipher what Gigi just said. With a huff of laughter, she shook her head. This stuff must be stronger than normal because I didn’t understand a single word you just uttered. Was that a list of food? Or some sort of incantation that calls it forth? Because that second option would be really handy right about now.

In a blink, every trace of emotion vanished from Gigi’s face. Can you imagine if it was? We could have whatever we wanted whenever we wanted it. All this time I’ve been delving into neuro-science, I completely missed the chance to explore the complexities of the metaphysical.

Wrinkling her pert nose, Thia passed the joint back. I love you, Geeg. You know that. But I hate smoking with you. You’re the only person I know who gets smarter when high. It’s really kind of a bummer.

Fair enough. Gigi chuckled and accepted her best friend’s offering. How about you? What is it you miss about your life before?

Thia leaned back in her hammock, failing to stifle a grimace of pain at the razor blade sensations slicing across her shoulder blades. It took a moment for her to be able to speak. After the waves of anguish faded, she wet her lips and let her thoughts drift back to a simpler time. A time before she was a winged freak. I don’t miss much. In a lot of ways, The Hive has been more of a home to me than any place I’ve ever stayed. But, it was only a few weeks after TS901 was released in the water supply that I began to feel the bones of my back shifting and changing. Almost immediately I felt the need to hide it. Binding them. Taping them. Shielding the world from my truth in any way I could. If I could change anything, it would be feeling like there are parts of me—of any of us—that are an abomination bad enough to be forced underground.

Gigi curled her legs under her, hobbled on her knees closer to Thia’s side, and took her hand. T, you don’t need to hide. Not anymore. You’re surrounded by people just like you. You don’t see the rest of us trying to hide our freak flags, do you? Stretch those big, beautiful wings and say fuck you to anyone who would make you feel bad about being far more fabulous than the Naries.

Thia caught a lock of Gigi’s flaxen hair and gave it a gentle tug. "You know why I can’t do that. The Naries don’t see me as a Maly, because I’m one of the rare few who can hide my abilities. That allows me to be the bridge of communication our people need. Without someone acting as a voice between the two sides, what little we have here could be ripped away. I can’t allow that to happen."

Now who’s too brainy when high? Gigi winked and handed Thia back the joint. She tried not to focus on the dark shadows of anguish under her friend’s eyes, or the heavy sag of her shoulders. But with each day that passed, the strain she was under became more and more noticeable. One day we’re going to get out of here. And I will purposely see to it that you don’t see one ounce of unnecessary pain ever again. I promise you that.

––––––––

Present Day:

Sorry, T, but this is going to hurt like hell. Gigi’s quick and nimble fingers locked the restraints into place before the tranquilizer Thia had been doused with could wear off. Four days. That’s how long she had been trying to free her friend from the prison of her own mind. Yet she felt no closer to achieving that goal than the day she and her band of Malies—and Lance—found an abandoned laundry mat they could make camp in. Since then, she worked to the point of exhaustion in desperation to achieve the impossible.

What remained of the Maly population needed Thia back.

She was their totem of hope.

Their warrior.

Unfortunately, Gigi could only think of one way to undo the horrible experimentation her mother subjected Thia to, and it was agonizingly brutal.

As Thia awoke, groggy and enraged, Gigi double-checked the restraints for her own sake of self-preservation. The second Thia felt their pinch, she fought against them, throwing her body into spastic jerks from side to side.

Swallowing hard, Gigi forced the thick leather belt between her best friend’s teeth. Despite Thia’s screams and cries, none of the others would intervene. Not this time. Not anymore. Evan had tried to appeal to his sweetheart’s softer side once before. His brainwashed girlfriend head-butted him and broke his nose. Now, the rest of the team guarded the perimeter of their coin-operated camp while she worked. That didn’t change the fact that they needed to move on soon. Of that there was no doubt. Hanging out in a crumbling building in the middle of a rundown town was not ideal for the most wanted individuals on the planet.

Before finding their temporary haven, they tried to hike onward with Thia tranquilized and fastened to a gurney. Unfortunately, after she got one foot free, knocked Eugene out, and somehow managed to steal Lance’s gun before Jules and her super-speed could even stop her, the group consensus became to hunker down until they could defuse their friend ... the atomic bomb of destruction. Each day that passed without success, the pressure weighed heavier on Gigi. The judgmental glances. The rising tension. The claws of government control closing in more and more with each second they sat still.

The only way out was to dive deeper than she ever had before. To sink further into Thia’s subconscious and try to heal the scars carved into her mind from the inside. That ... was not going to be pleasant for either of them.

With a hand on either side of Thia’s shoulders, Gigi peered down at her, lips sinking into a frown of regret. I hate to say this, T, but this, too, is going to hurt like hell.

CHAPTER TWO

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Sinking the points of the metal diodes into Thia’s temples, Gigi worked past the screams and prepared herself for the jolt of electricity that would run between them as soon as their minds were synced.

Ouch, son of a bitch! Gigi clenched her teeth. Goddamn I hate this part. She needed Thia awake to start the process, but immediately adjusted her homemade ECT machine to provide them both some quick relief once the initial wave of pain had subsided. Guiding Thia back into a deep sleep, Gigi twisted the knob and fine-tuned her latest theory. With the right frequency, she should be able reach the core programming her mother had used to erase her friend’s memories ... or at least she hoped so. Closing her eyes, Gigi let the wires now running between them do their job, offering a glimpse of the false scenarios her mother had sold to Thia as truth. With the connection made, Gigi opened her laser-enhanced, robotic eye—another gift from dear old mom—and began her deep dive into the hardwiring of Thia’s brain.

God help us all.

Groaning in pain through her unconscious state, Thia twitched on the table as Gigi needled down to the programmed scenes of the fake reality her mother had implanted to keep Thia in line. Images flickered to life on a monitor mounted to her left, and Gigi watched in horror.

Blood-stained concrete filled the screen, illuminated by the fires burning throughout their former home. This version of The Hive was a complete warzone with Malies starving and turning on each other ... shedding blood over nothing more than a slice of bread. There was no community. No compassion. Just survival instincts that showed no mercy or restraint. It was total bullshit and the complete opposite of the life they’d built there together.

Gigi swallowed passed her rising anger and continued to endure the fucked-up web of lies her mother had spun and impregnated into her best friend’s mind. With a curl to her lip, she watched Nary soldiers offer her Maly brethren supplies and rations ... All from the goodness of their black hearts, she thought with a snarl. They were being painted as heroes—a military who only wanted to help.

Suddenly, the images shifted, displaying instead acts of violence as the Malies were shown hoarding those same supplies and using brute force to keep them to themselves. Her mother’s programming was crystal clear—make Thia believe the Malies were no more than thugs and gangsters who required a strong force to maintain control.

Peeling her eyes away from the lies on the screen, Gigi glanced down to the heart monitor she’d strapped to Thia. She had to make sure T’s pulse was still stable ... because Lord knows, hers was not.

A pounding rage beat inside of Gigi, barely contained within the confines of her chest. With Thia’s heart rate still in acceptable parameters—and after a few deep breaths—Gigi turned back to the screen and called forth the next round of images with a blink of her eye.

Coming into focus, she saw her best friend standing tall, her mechanical wings