Ordinary

by Starr Z Davies

  My teeth grind. “Again, a warning would have helped.” A slow, deep breath steadies my nerves. “Hand it over.”

  “Not a chance. All of Murphy’s information is on there.”

  I hold out my hand impatiently. “If you want me to even think about trusting you, I need that drive in my hand.”

  Miller shifts, clearly uncomfortable, but I don’t relent. I still won’t trust him. Not entirely, so there’s no way I’m letting him keep that drive in his possession to betray all of us later. He must sense just how stubbornly I refuse to give up, because he holds out his arm to me, revealing an angry red cut.

  “Go ahead. Take it out.”

  The drive is in there?

  “Why?”

  Miller shrugs. “It’s the one place I knew it couldn’t get lost, and if they searched my stuff, they wouldn’t find it. I told you, it’s safe.”

  As tempting as it is to cut open his arm and pull out the drive, I don’t have the strength or the stomach for it.

  “It looks infected.” My words have more venom in them than I expect.

  “I burned it shut. Let’s find Rosie, and she can heal me.”

  Seeing little other choice, I pick up my bag, shift the strap across my chest, and start walking east. Miller doesn’t say another word as he walks alongside.

  No matter what Miller has done, I can’t forget what’s happened to other test subjects here. Jade. Vicki. Dave. Trina. Michael. They deserve justice, and I can’t find it in here. That drive is my lightning rod to take Paragon down and deliver justice.

  37

  Silence settles over everything as I shuffle along, fighting off a limp from the pain burning in the sole of my foot. Miller’s loafers scrape on the broken concrete a couple steps behind me. The tension between us is thick enough to make breathing stagnant—like trying to suck in deep breaths on a humid day.

  My thoughts drift to Dad. How his treatments are going. Whether Joyce has already cut him off. What I might possibly do to help him once I get out of here. Something else must exist, another way to help him without needing Paragon’s medication. Would he be proud of how I’m taking a stand against Paragon and what they’re doing? I can’t help but hope that—for once—I’ve done something right. How angry was he when I left home?

  We round the eastern edge of the plateau.

  “You found him!” Enid’s cry of relief breaks through my thoughts as she launches her small body at me and throws her arms around my neck. “Thank God.”

  It’s surprisingly comforting to have Enid hug me, filling me with warmth. For the first time since getting dropped in this nightmare, someone I trust is here with me. It helps ease some of the pain and fear.

  “Yeah,” Miller grumbles, lumbering past me.

  My gaze follows his movements around the red rock wall of the plateau. Miller steps into an extended, shaded area and my breath catches.

  Dozens of test subjects—near a hundred, even—sit on the cracked dirt ground, leaning against boulders. Others lay on the ground with their eyes closed. Every last one of them shows the telltale signs of exhaustion and dehydration—heavy or fluttering eyelids, dry lips, sometimes wild eyes. My hope that no one but me suffered the worst of this is dashed. Forrest put every last one of us in here.

  Someone had organized a makeshift camp with sheeted tents here and there—though not enough of them for all the test subjects. Not nearly enough. Some of them wheeze for breath. Others cough so rough it sounds like their throats are raw.

  I pry Enid’s arms off my neck and step into the shade. “What is this?”

  “We’ve been looking for you for days,” Enid explains as we pick our way through camp, stepping around bodies of resting subjects. A weight of sadness presses against me that I don’t know most of their names. “Some of these guys showed up on their own. Some of them we found while looking for you.”

  “You’ve been together… this whole time?”

  “Well, not at first.” Enid is clearly excited about what they’ve done here, but I can’t share the sentiment. “Miller was the first to find me. He said this is it. End game. We needed to get everyone together and find you. So that’s what we did. By the end of the first day, most of us were together. Miller and Sho went out to find you and kept coming back with others. Some of us were starting to lose hope that you were…” She cuts off, looks at the ground.

  No need to finish the sentence. I wondered the same about some of them, if they were actually dead or taken.

  Among the crowd, I spot Mo at the same moment he sees me.

  “Ugene!” Mo rushes over and slaps me in a quick hug. “Glad we finally found you.”

  “How many are you?” I ask, taking in the sad state of all the test subjects.

  “By our latest count, a hundred and thirty-nine,” Mo says proudly.

  What is there to be proud of? Everyone looks an inch from death. And so many. I didn’t know we had so many on our floor.

  As if reading my thoughts, Mo’s expression slips. “There was no warning. Those of us who were preparing for this knew something was wrong when lockdown initiated, and we grabbed our packs, but no one else had a chance. There aren’t enough supplies for everyone.”

  Paragon didn’t supply anything this time. No food. No water. Some of these people were either starving or dying of thirst.

  “We have to do something.” I hardly notice the words as my own.

  “We’re doing everything we can,” Enid says, resting a reassuring hand on my arm. “Boyd has been working almost nonstop to try and create food and water supplies for us, but there isn’t much to work with in this place. Miller gave up most of his own supplies for Boyd to use.”

  Miller did that? For a moment, anger burns in my chest, but I let it go. Maybe he is trying.

  “There’s no way we can get all these people out of here if they don’t have the strength to walk,” I say, stopping to turn and take everything in. So many… I spin around to meet Enid’s gaze. “I didn’t get a blue pill. Did anyone else?”

  Enid shakes her head. “Not as far as we know.”

  The situation is dire. Most of these people don’t have what they need to survive, and few among us have more than a trickle of Power. How long have they gone without food and water already? And without the extra boost to their Powers, creating what we need will be much more difficult. But we have to try.

  “Boyd needs help,” I say to Enid and Mo. “Find him any Naturalist that can help create more supplies. If they have the strength to help, make it clear why they don’t have a choice. All of our lives could depend on it. Where’s Miller?”

  “Probably there,” Enid points at one of the tents. “Why?”

  “Here.” I hand my messenger bag over to Enid. “Use my supply, too. Not that there’s much left.” There’s no time to answer. Time isn’t our friend right now. Instead, I start toward the tent. “Get the other Naturalists to help Boyd.”

  We have the numbers. The question is, do we have the strength?

  As I make my way to the tent, subjects sit up straighter or just plain stare at me. One guy with dark hair matted down by dirt and rips in his shirt, exposing his tawny skin, watches me as I pass. Omar, the Aurologist who called me the Harbinger of Hope. I feel more like the Harbinger of Doom. I do my best to stand straight and not limp from the pain searing in the sole of my foot. For some reason, they are all looking at me. I can’t let them down, even if I feel like I’ve already failed them all.

  I push into the tent and find Miller standing over a cowering Celeste. She hugs something against her chest, head down, avoiding Miller’s gaze. Protective instincts kick in and I rush over, pushing Miller back and planting myself between them.

  “What are you doing to her?” I can’t help the rage puffing up my chest.

  “Nothing!” Miller says defensively. “She’s hugging that pack like a life preserver, and we want to know why, but she won’t talk. She refuses to tell us what’s in there.”

  “You
’re scaring her!” I say. “What do you expect her to do?”

  “I’m scaring her?” Miller’s eyes widen. “She’s a killer, Ugene. Don’t know you that? This girl is more dangerous than all of us combined.”

  “Shove off!” I step up in Miller’s face.

  Miller’s voice suddenly takes on a calm edge. “Ugene, listen to me. I know you think you’re friends, but I have seen what she does. And I know what happened to her parents. Everyone does.” He waves a hand toward the camp beyond the tent, then pauses, waiting for me to back down. I won’t. “She killed them, Ugene. With her own bare hands, she killed her parents.”

  I shake my head. Celeste isn’t a killer. “I have very little reason to trust you right now, and every reason to trust her. Save your breath. Now get out and find Enid. We need water. You two can create it.”

  Miller flinches, glares at Celeste behind me, then storms out in a huff, muttering to himself, “As if we haven’t tried that already.”

  It doesn’t inspire hope, but I can only handle one problem at a time.

  I crouch in front of Celeste and rest my hand on her shoulder. She recoils at my touch.

  “It’s okay. I won’t let them hurt you or take your bag away.”

  Celeste’s wild green eyes meet mine, shining brilliantly like emeralds caught in the sun—alive. “The chains are breaking. The sea is parting. The hero and the stag approach.”

  It takes my exhausted mind a moment to recall the riddle she once told me when I asked what she saw in the stars. Andromeda. And the fall of Cassiopeia. But who are the hero and the stag? What does it mean?

  “I promise not to take your bag, but can you show me what’s in it? It could help others.”

  Celeste licks her dry lips and stares at me with those wild eyes. With a shaking hand, she unzips the backpack and offers a peek inside. Caramel candies. The bag is filled with candies, and my mouth instantly waters at the sight of them. Behind the treats is a thick book. Despite the overwhelming curiosity about what that book could be, I promised Celeste I wouldn’t take anything. I just nod, and she zips the pack shut again.

  “We are leaving,” I tell her. “As soon as we can figure out how. I want to take you with me.”

  She hugs her pack again and shakes her head. “The future is what we make, not what we take.”

  I frown and open my mouth to ask what that means, but someone enters the tent, cutting me off.

  “It’s Bianca! And she needs to speak to you.” Leo disappears out of the tent as quickly as he appeared.

  38

  Miller, Enid, Leo, Sho, and Mo all stand like a wall between Bianca and the test subjects scattered on the ground behind them. Some of the anger I felt toward Bianca earlier has dissipated since learning what Miller did. Bianca’s offense seems much more insignificant now. Though I still can’t forgive her entirely. And I can’t blame her entirely either. It’s a terrible sort of limbo.

  I nudge my way between Enid and Sho and step through their wall.

  “I’m sorry,” Bianca says again before I have a chance to speak.

  “What’s she sorry about?” Enid crosses her arms beside me. “Is it her fault the others were taken?”

  A fleeting look of confusion crosses Bianca’s face, but then her gaze turns to me as she realizes I haven’t told the others. Not that there’s been time. Or a reason.

  “She did, didn’t she?” Enid shifts to face me, and a stubbornness sets in her composure. “She turned us in, and now she’s here and we are all screwed.”

  “No!” Bianca doesn’t just deny Enid’s accusation but turns on her with full-blown anger burning in her eyes. “Will you please pipe down and let the grownups talk?”

  “Excuse me?” Enid’s arms drop, hands curling into fists.

  “It wasn’t her,” I say, stepping between them and putting a hand on Enid’s shoulder.

  “I can’t believe you believe her,” Enid says. “I don’t.”

  “I know for a fact it wasn’t her, okay?” I put myself between her and Bianca, so Enid’s glare has to be directed at me. “Do you trust me?”

  “That’s not—”

  “Do you trust me?”

  Enid heaves out a sigh that makes her shoulders sag. “Yes. Of course.”

  “It wasn’t Bianca.”

  Enid grimaces, but nods. The hate still burns in her eyes as she watches Bianca’s every move.

  Miller clears his throat. “It was—”

  “Terry,” I interrupt. “It was Terry. He read someone, wouldn’t say who, but it was him.”

  Miller’s brows pull together as he stares at me, but he doesn’t say anything. I don’t know why I lied to them, why I felt the need to protect Miller. But at the moment, we have nothing to gain by turning on each other.

  “Can I explain now?” Bianca asks, lowering her voice and looking around at the sky.

  I find the action curious and nod. “This way.” If anyone is watching, as she suggested before, maybe the tents will be a more secure place to talk.

  The seven of us walk to the nearest tent and slip inside. A few test subjects are in there, working with Boyd on the meager supply of food to try and create more. They all look up at us as we enter, but quickly go back to work.

  “First, I brought supplies,” Bianca says, sliding a large hiking bag off her back. It hits the ground with a heavy thump and kicks up dirt. “It isn’t much, probably not enough for everyone, but there’s food and water in there. As much as I could fit.”

  Miller kneels beside the bag and unfastens the buckle, then loosens the drawstring. The bag is full all the way to the top with packaged food. She’s right. It isn’t much, but it should give everyone here something and fend off starvation just a little longer.

  As Miller unzips the bulging front pouch of the bag, my gaze darts back up to Bianca. She doesn’t appear proud or confident when her eyes meet mine. She’s terrified.

  Why?

  I ask the question I know we are all thinking. “How did you get here?”

  Bianca wipes sweat from her brow, streaking dirt across her bronze skin. “This test isn’t like any of the others, Ugene. The place is crawling with security. There was a meeting a few days ago, security and personnel from PSECT were required to attend, but I didn’t get invited. I only found out about the meeting because I overheard two other guys talking about it.”

  “What’s PSECT?” I ask.

  “Paragon Subject Experimental Conditioning Tests.” She spits the words out so quickly it makes my head spin, then she carries on without missing a beat. “I work for the PSECT division, thanks to my brother, but I was purposely left out of the meeting, so I knew it had to be something Dr. Cass didn’t want me to know about. After our encounter with her, she didn’t trust me anymore. I had grown too close to the subjects and was temporarily removed from duty.”

  “What encounter?” Mo asks, confusing scrunching his face.

  “Holy!” Miller stands abruptly, holding out a large silver tin to me. “She has the booster!”

  Everyone crowds in to see for themselves. I snatch the tin from Miller and see sheets of the blue booster pill layered inside. Wide-eyed, I look at Bianca again.

  “Where did she get all those?” Leo asks.

  “I tried to tell you,” she says, her gaze locked on mine.

  I close the tin, holding it tight in my hand. “Start from the beginning.”

  “I’m trying!” Bianca huffs and lowers her voice. “Listen to me. They kicked me out, knowing this was coming and that I would try to help you. So I went to floor 189 since you were so curious about it before. I thought I would take a look around, and…” Bianca’s voice trails off, her face paling. “I’m sorry Ugene. I should have listened. Your friends…”

  Trina. Dave. Michael.

  My heart aches. I couldn’t help them. I couldn’t save them. Just like I can’t save all of these people. Why does this fall on my shoulders? Why do the others look to me?

  No words rise to the s
urface. Sickness twists my gut. I just give a small shake of my head. The rest of the group listens in horrified silence.

  “But I found those pills, and I remembered you saying something about them before. I thought they might be important.”

  “That’s convenient,” Enid says, arms tight across her chest.

  Bianca ignores her. “I knew I had to get the pills to you somehow. I packed everything I could in that bag and found Haily, one of the other PSECT security guards. She was always friendly to me. I got her talking, and she told me what was going on, that everyone was sent into this test without supplies and each security guard was given their own special way in and out to make sure the test subjects didn’t congregate. Their job was to keep people apart and observe. I knocked Haily out and stole her access code to get in here.”

  “But they failed,” I said. “I mean, most of us are here in this camp.”

  Bianca nodded stiffly. “Haily isn’t the only guard I’ve had to fight.”

  The implication is clear enough, judging by the way Bianca’s shoulders slump and her gaze averts. I notice for the first time the angry bruise near her ear, as well as the scratches and bruises on her bare arms. She did this—kept the guards away to buy us time. She probably stumbled across Terry and me as she patrolled to keep the camp safe.

  “But I can’t do it much longer,” Bianca says, and the fatigue is clear in her voice. “By now, Forrest and Dr. Cass know I’m here. The other guards will descend on this camp and break it up.”

  Leo raises a hand to get our attention. “’Scuse me. Just wondering. If she has an in, that means she has an out. Doors open both ways.”

  Now everyone is at attention, staring at Bianca with renewed hope in their eyes.

  “Yes.”

  Mo lets out a whoop of joy. Everyone starts talking at once as the excitement of the moment takes over. But it can’t be that easy. Nothing about this is easy. Dr. Cass won’t let us out just like that.

  “We can’t use the same exit,” I say loud enough so everyone can hear me. My proclamation kills their enthusiasm.

  “Why not?” Leo asks.