Max is still in his chair, holding the toy bear, but his eyes are on the screens and blinking lights. Although others don’t know it, I know his mind is unraveling everything he sees and placing it in easy-to-remember blocks. He can solve the hardest puzzle by doing this. As far as I’m concerned, Max is far smarter than any Techhead ever to exist.
“I’m glad you’re okay.”
I whirl around. Tank is sitting in a chair, looking up from a book in his lap. Just the man I was looking for. “Why did you do it?”
“Do what?” he asks.
“Give up your anonymity to save us?” My eyes go to Max. He’s back to bouncing the toy bear along the armrest.
Tank shrugs, and I’m afraid the motion might make his huge muscles rip the sleeves off his shirt. “I knew years ago that I was different from others, and not because of my DNA, but my way of thinking. I was always looking for a better and more efficient way to accomplish tasks. I think that’s one reason why I’m so good at sports. People think it’s because of this amazing body I’ve been given,” he flexes his chest muscles and winks, “but it isn’t. It’s my mind that makes me powerful. I believe this is true with most, if people would only exercise their minds instead of letting them become weak.”
“But that still doesn’t explain why you’re helping us.”
Tank swivels back and forth in his chair, like he’s bored. “Anyone using their brain and who is willing to look at the hard truth will admit that our world is dying. Only pride stops them. Men thinking they are gods, trying to eradicate what they see as weakness. It makes me sick! As soon as I heard about HOPE, I joined and used my position among the elite to help any way I could, but I always knew there would come a time when I’d have to give up my current life and start a new one. And I’m quite pleased that the timing happened to be when I met you.”
I glance down, embarrassed by his confession.
“Don’t misunderstand me,” he’s quick to say. “I’m not into you like that, though you are quite striking for an Original, but when I heard that you escaped from the Institute and then saw your performance at the party the other night, I knew you were the one.”
“One what?”
“The one who would tip the balance between Originals and Primes. The Originals have been waiting for someone like you, someone to prove to them that they stand a chance. Many thought it would be your father, and although he’s a brilliant scientist, he lacks the courage that’s needed to face the Institute.”
“He may be smart, but his training was cruel,” I say before I can stop myself. It’s the first time I’ve admitted this even to myself.
A tall shadow falls across the light at my feet. I look up. Colt is leaning against the doorway, the bandage on his shoulder a dark red.
“Looks like Sleeping Beauty’s awake,” Tank says and stands up to go to him. “That was some move you made out there, protecting the girl and all.” He slugs Colt in his bad shoulder, making Colt moan. “I’ll let the others know you’re awake.”
Tank crosses the room and presses a button. A door slides open and closes behind him.
“Before you say anything,” Colt says, “I have to explain.”
For a second I’m confused, but then I remember. His meeting with Ebony. “Is it true?”
“I only did it to try and find out more about their actions. I hoped it would lead me to the Canine.” Colt shifts his position so he’s leaning against the other side of the door. Blood stains the bandage on his shoulder. “And there’s something else. I did use the thousand dollars to buy oDNA. My seizures had gotten so bad that I got scared for my life, and that made me desperate. I only had two doses, though, before I gave the rest of it away.”
“Why?”
“Guilt. I knew where it came from and had heard the rumors about what the Institute did to Originals. I didn’t want to be a part of it anymore, even if it meant my life.”
Max reaches up and takes my hand. He squeezes it hard, but I ignore him and say to Colt, “I believe you.”
“That easily? After everything I’ve done?”
“That is why I believe you. Your actions have proved to me that you are trying to do what’s right. The past is in the past.”
“Then you forgive me?” Colt winces and rolls his hurt shoulder back like it’s bothering him.
I lift my gaze to his. The blue in his eyes does not burn bright, but is softer now, like the color of the ocean against an orange horizon. I brush the top of Max’s head. He doesn’t move, just continues to stare at the running feed of conversation on the screen. I couldn’t have saved him without Colt’s help.
I cross the room until I’m standing directly in front of Colt. “Of course I forgive you. How can I not? I have no idea what you endured as a child, what desperation you must’ve felt. All I have to go on is the person in front of me.”
His jaw muscle moves as he swallows hard. “How can you forgive me so easily?”
“Is this another virtue your world lacks?”
He takes a full breath and closes his eyes. “Not anymore.”
I reach up and touch him lightly on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”
His eyes open and he smiles. It’s small but it’s there. “More than okay, but what about you?”
This time when I meet his gaze, I startle and have to look away. Probably because he’s staring at me deeper, like the way someone looks when they have discovered a whole new world.
He seems to sense my discomfort because he says, “So Tank rescued us?”
I nod, my eyes downcast. I don’t want to look at him, to see that new strangeness in the blue horizon that seems to go on forever.
“Did anything happen to you after I blacked out?” he asks.
“Tank came shortly after, and wind blasted everyone. Nothing happened.”
“Then what are these?” He reaches up and gently pushes my hair away, exposing my neck.
I touch where he’s looking. My neck is extremely tender and probably looks something awful if Colt noticed. “It’s nothing, really. The Canine used me as his rag toy is all.”
I laugh uncomfortably, still unable to meet his gaze. A trail of blood running down his chest catches my eye.
“You’re bleeding,” I say and attempt to get past him into the medical room. At first he doesn’t let me by, forcing our bodies within an inch from each other. The heat from his bare chest warms my skin and yet I shiver, a pleasant tingling that spreads to my limbs.
Finally he moves, and I can breathe again.
I look through several cupboards until I find a bandage. I turn around and practically run into Colt. He has snuck into the room without me hearing, or maybe my mind was distracted by other thoughts.
“I’ll try not to hurt you,” I say. I start at the bottom of the blood’s path near his belly button and drag the cloth upwards, absorbing the crimson color from his skin. My fingers go over every ripple of his muscles until I reach the bloodied bandage on his chest. Carefully, I tear it off and press the cloth to the wound while I reach for a fresh dressing.
I feel Colt’s eyes on me as I open the bandage using my teeth and free hand. After I tape it securely to his skin, I move to take a step back, but he gently takes hold of my hand and pulls me to him. His eyes burn the color of blue fire, something I’d only seen in my father’s lab.
“Are we interrupting?”
Colt lets me go, and I step back. Jenna’s smirking in the doorway. Anthony’s behind her, not looking pleased at all.
I don’t look at Colt as I walk between them to get back to Max. Jenna follows after me, but Anthony stays behind with Colt.
“So who’s flying this thing?” I ask Jenna.
She drops into a nearby swivel chair and whirls it around. “It mostly flies itself once coordinates are put in, but Tank is the one who lands it and stuff. Are you hungry?”
“A little.”
Jenna pushes a nearby button on the wall. “Hey Ash, you have anything to eat on this rig?”
“Food’s up here,” Ash’s voice says through a speaker.
“Can you bring it to us?”
“Get it yourself. I’m not a stewardess.”
Jenna slides further into the chair and lets her arms fall to the side. Her moan is as long as it is deep. “Fine.”
It takes her a few seconds, but she manages to get to her feet and opens the door.
I peek in quickly. It’s a much larger room with lots of windows. We are high in the air. The door closes, leaving just Max and me. The faint voices of Anthony and Colt echo from the next room.
“I’m glad we’re together again, Max.” I squeeze his hand. “And soon we will be with Dad.”
We sit alone, the many blinking lights our only companions. Max stands and walks to the wall of monitors. His finger starts at the top, and he touches each one until he ends at the monitor scrolling conversations. He taps it over and over, even though he’s not looking directly at it. More out of the corner of his eye.
“What are you looking at?” I move next to him as he continues to tap on the screen. Words scroll past, most of them meaningless conversations about if the Institute is hiring or where the Institute will be distributing their next round of oDNA. Tank must have this program listening for any conversations with the word “Institute” in them. Every so often the word Original pops up, but it’s used in the context of something like, “Is this the original version or the remade one?” It’s nothing specific to me. My guess is that he also has it looking for Anthony and Jenna’s names and probably his too. And when all or even a part of the words are used close together, an alarm will go off.
“Do you like the words, Max? The way they scroll down?”
He taps them again, harder this time. He really wants me to see something. I read the conversations, every word, instead of skimming them. Every third line the conversation seems to skip like it’s interrupted by another frequency.
“That’s weird,” I whisper. In one of the lines, the word “Original” appears and my heart skips a beat. I focus only on every third line and stumble when I realize what it says.
We’re not as safe as Tank thinks we are.
I wait for the Institute’s message to cycle through one more time to be sure I’m right. As soon as it does, I yell, “Tank! Get in here now!”
Anthony and Colt come into the room first. Both of them don’t look happy, but I don’t have time to wonder about it before Tank rushes in followed by Jenna, who’s holding a plate of food. Ash comes last.
“What’s wrong?” Colt asks.
I point at the screen. “Have you seen this?’
Jenna takes a bite of bread and says, “They’re called letters, Patch, and when said together they form words.”
“Look at what they’re really saying, every third line.” It takes them a few minutes to notice the loop as every sentence runs in a different order than the first time it appears.
Anthony is the one to say it out loud first. “An Original girl and boy travel in your direction in a hover-plane. Shoot it down and take them alive. Kill everyone else on sight.”
“Can they do that?” Jenna asks. “I mean how many hover-planes are coming into New York City today? Ten? They can’t shoot us all down.”
“Of course they can.” Tank leaves the room and goes to the front of the plane where windows are the walls. Everyone follows, except for Max. Tank presses a code into a keypad, and although I don’t feel it, the plane stops in midair.
“What are we going to do?” Jenna asks.
I glance at Colt, but he doesn’t look at me. He’s tense again, not at all relaxed like he was in the medical room.
Tank stares out the window as if searching the skies for an attacker. “The Institute must’ve guessed I’d be listening to conversations and delayed their message feed. They even guessed words I’d be flagging. Maybe I’m not as smart as I’d like to think I am.” He straightens and turns around. “How did you catch it?”
“It wasn’t me,” I say. “Max saw it.”
Everyone turns and looks through the opening at Max. He’s back to skipping his toy bear across the arm of the chair.
“How close are we to the outskirts of New York City?” Anthony asks.
“Ten miles,” Tank says. “I can get us as close as possible and then we’re going to have to land, but even from there the safe house is on the other side of the city, which is another forty miles.”
“Hold up,” Jenna says, her arms raised. “Are you saying we have to travel that distance without transportation? Because I am so done hiking!”
Tank sits on a high-backed chair and takes control of the steering shaft. “Then you can stay behind and be this plane’s guard dog. I don’t want anything happening to it.”
“I am no one’s dog.”
“Then you’re going to have to hike. Now shut up and help me land this thing.” He barks out several orders. Jenna and Ash jump in to help. Anthony hangs back, shifting back and forth and waiting to be told what to do.
Colt slips from the room, and I go after him. After pulling on a shirt, he takes a backpack and starts shoving items into it from nearby drawers. It looks like dried packs of food, clothes, anything we may need.
“You okay?” I ask.
“Fine,” he says. His voice is hard and cold like the first day I met him. He walks into the medical room without looking at me. Anthony must’ve warned him like he did me. And he’s listening.
I go after him, wanting to tell him that Anthony’s wrong, but the words get all mixed up in my mind. Probably because I’m not sure if Anthony is wrong at all. I barely know Colt.
He shoves more supplies into his bag. “You need something?”
Yes, I do, I realize. “Look at me.”
He keeps moving.
“Stop, Colt.” I reach out and take his arm. He immediately withdraws.
“Don’t. I should never have . . . we can’t . . .”
His eyes have returned to a softer blue. And then I know. I do feel differently around him, like I’m in front of a never-ending burning fire, all warm and cozy inside. I wish I didn’t. I wish my heart froze at the sight of him. It would make things so much easier for when I went to Eden, a place not meant for Primes.
I back away, giving him the space he needs.
He brushes by me. “We have to get ready. We have a long walk ahead of us.”
I don’t follow him right away. There are so many thoughts and emotions colliding inside my head, making me feel more confused than ever before. My mother once told me that emotions could change a person’s goals and desires. Sometimes for the better, but not always. This is one of those times. There’s only one goal that matters right now, and I can’t let whatever I feel for Colt get in the way. I have to get Max to Eden where he’ll be safe.
Anthony’s voice carries over from the next room. “Do you have everything ready to go, Colt?”
“Just about.”
I join them in the other room. Jenna’s standing inches from the door as if she can’t wait to get off the plane.
Anthony asks me, “You and Max good to go?”
I glance over at Max. He’s sitting still in the chair, the bear nowhere to be seen. “We’re ready.” I grab my backpack nearby, the one I had taken when I left everyone at camp. Tank must’ve grabbed it when he saved Colt and me.
Anthony takes his turn gathering supplies, mostly weapons, and shoves them into a duffel bag. “We’re moving quick when we land, so be prepared.”
I walk to Max and hold still like he is. I know a lot about New York City, the biggest city in all the United States. Because of its size, the country’s capitol was moved here over fifty years ago. I always thought I might visit it one day, but never did I think that when that time came I’d be sneaking inside.
After several minutes, Tank calls from the windowed room, “We’re landing in ten seconds. Brace yourselves.”
I grab onto Max to steady him, but I barely feel the jolt when the hov
er-plane lands.
“Let’s move,” Anthony says. A door lowers as if on command. Anthony and Colt follow Jenna down the ramp. I walk down it, slower than the others while I wait for Max.
Tank remains inside, speaking with Ash about flying the plane somewhere just outside the city’s boundaries. The way he’s standing next to her and touching her on the elbow makes me think she means more to him than a mere conspirator in HOPE. My suspicions are confirmed when he tenderly kisses her on the forehead before he leaves the plane.
“We head north,” Tank says as he walks by me and toward Max. “I’ll take the kid.”
Colt blocks him. “No, I’ve got Max.” He bends down in front of him and says to Max, “Want to go for a ride?”
Max lets go of my hand and takes a step forward. Colt scoops him up and swivels him onto his back.
“Thanks,” I say. His eyes meet mine briefly and he nods.
I walk behind everyone, taking in my surroundings, analyzing every detail. If danger presents itself, I need to know the strengths and weaknesses of the landscape. This will help me to know whether it would be better to run or fight.
I sigh and tie my hair back. No matter how far I am from my father, his voice is always ringing in my head.
The landscape is full of hills and rocks, some of them as tall as me, making walking a challenge, but the canopy of trees above us is thicker than it was in Providence, which will help hide us should the Institute fly over. Most of us keep our heads on swivel, listening and watching carefully, but Jenna shoves ear buds into her ears. She probably listens to screaming music, something loud and chaotic.
It’s not long before the others decide to run so I pick up my feet to follow after. Thankfully, the pain in my leg is mostly gone. Colt’s carrying Max in front of me, holding him as I would. Every once in a while Max’s gaze falls upon me, but his focus leaves moments later.
After a few hours of jogging, I become winded and my pace slows despite my mind screaming to go faster. My body is a traitor, and one day I’m afraid it will cost me my life.
Escape to Eden Page 21
