Apex 2: Rise of the Super Soldiers by Adam Moon Page A

but notice that he looked like he’d been working out his entire life. His musculature was awe inspiring.
    He said, “That metal orb knocked us out. I woke up strapped to a bed that was on fire. I got loose from the restraints and tried to carry you out of the room but the bastards locked us in. I broke out and took off with you draped over my shoulder. They tried to kill us. I didn’t know what to do so I ran here and found an empty room. I broke in, laid you down, and then passed out again.”
    Sally had a cockeyed smile as he explained. She said, “None of that makes any sense. I don’t trust the military but what we did wouldn’t warrant execution. Plus, have you ever heard of the military conducting such a weird type of execution? What really happened?”
    Hank chuffed, “I’m telling the truth. You were out like a light so you don’t remember. After I got out of the room and they discovered I’d escaped, they even tried to lock the place down. Steve shot at me as soon as we got outside. We were lucky to escape with our lives.”
    She shook her head, exasperated, looking for the bullet wound on his body that she knew he’d concocted. She said, “We’d better get back before they say we went AWOL. Where are my clothes?”
    Hank stood up and said, “You don’t understand. We can’t go back. They’ll kill us or at the very least, imprison us.”
    Sally said, “We did nothing wrong. Your story is nonsense.”
    Hank felt his anger well up as it had before. He’d saved her life and now she was calling him a liar. Just like the last time, he felt it build and build and then in an almighty outburst, it released, escaping from his body like an explosion.
    Sally flew backwards into a wall and all the furnishings either blew apart or flew outward from the epicenter of the blast, which was his body. The bed was in separate pieces, the box spring standing on its side, smoldering. The curtains wafted out of the window now that the glass had been shattered, and they were on fire.
    He rushed over to Sally, but she was alright. In fact, she didn’t have a scratch on her. The blanket she’d had wrapped around her body was in shreds though. He noticed for the first time that her body had changed. She was far more robust than ever before, with muscles taut and piled atop one another.
    He took her hand and helped her to her feet. He said, “That’s why we don’t have any clothes. I did that back at base and it ripped our clothes to bits. But it’s how I got us out of the locked room.”
    Her mouth fell open. “This can’t be real. What the hell happened to you?”
    He looked at his feet, deep in thought. “I suppose the metal orb might have done this to me. Maybe the mist that knocked us out gave me this ability.”
    “But I breathed it in too.”
    “Those teenagers all got superpowers from the orb they found. I got this weird ability from the orb in the truck. I’m pretty sure you must have an ability now too.”
    Sally smiled like a child. “Do you think? I wonder what it is.”
    Sirens split the air. Hank said urgently, “We’ll figure that out later. We need to get out of here.”

Crossed Paths
     
    Delacourt was woken by a loud boom from outside. He could barely believe his lucky eyes when he went to the window to see what had happened. Two naked figures rushed past his room and he recognized them. It was a serendipitous event to say the least. He heard sirens approaching and realized that any kind of window of opportunity was shrinking rapidly. He acted on pure instinct. He hurriedly opened his door and called out for Hank and Sally.
    They turned his way, and because they had so few options, ran into his room breathlessly.
    Delacourt made a show of locking the door and drawing the curtains to make them feel safe.
    Sally was trying to cover her breasts with one arm while shrouding her groin with her other hand. Delacourt stared at her lustfully but he quickly chided himself for being so obvious. He had