Exposing ELE (ELE Series #3)

by Nuckels, Courtney

  Tony stands up and starts pacing. “You can't just go after them like that, Willow.”

  I jump up out of the chair. “See, that's where you're wrong. I can and I will!”

  He stops and stares me down. I don't back down or look away. Finally, he says, “I understand your need to avenge your mother. I feel the same way trust me, but we have to have a plan. You can't just dilly-dally in there and go all guns a blazing. They have a lot of manpower.”

  “Yeah well, I don't really care. I will go after them. Plus, a lot of that 'manpower' seemed to revolt there at the end for whatever reason.”

  Tony stops, remembering that last moment when everyone ran after the Hastings men. “You're right. They probably already killed them.”

  The thought makes me angry. “Either way, I'm going after them. I won't stop until I know they are dead.”

  “What is killing them going to do for you, Willow?” Exasperated, Tony runs his hand through his hair.

  “Do you not realize what they've done? How much pain they've caused? They have killed people that I love! I won't let them take another life.” I realize I'm adding Tony into the count of the people they've killed. The thought runs like ice through my veins. I start pacing, as if the steps can push reality away for a moment.

  Tony doesn't notice the addition. His expression softens. “If this is something you have to do, then I’ll go with you.”

  I stop mid-step and look at him. I didn't doubt that he would stand at my side just like he did my mothers. I just didn't know there would be so much turmoil and worry for my well-being in the mix. I can tell just by his expression, and the feelings emanating off him in palpable waves, that he cares about my welfare a lot more than a friend would. He is deathly scared of losing me. He steps forward, places one of his hands on my hip, and uses the other to push a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

  My heart rate accelerates again, but this time it's accompanied by a fluttering sensation in my stomach. My skin feels acutely aware of him and my eyes glance down at his lips. Having forgotten to breathe, I inhale sharply.

  Tony gently grazes his lips on my cheek and then he steps away. I don't want him to and neither does he, but he doesn't want to take advantage of me in such a turbulent time. “Your eyes are black now,” he whispers matter-of-factly.

  I blush at being caught reading his emotions.

  Not bothered by it at all, he asks boldly, “Will you allow me to come with you to find Dr. Hastings and Zack?”

  I nod my head at the same time that I say, “Yes.”

  “Then it's a date,” he says, before realizing how funny that sounded in such a circumstance. “I mean, it's a deal.”

  I actually let off a half smile. “I get it.”

  The corner of his mouth tips upward as well. “I better go get us some supplies then. If you plan to go today then you’d better get some food in your stomach. I won't have you passing out on me.”

  “Deal.” I feel the first starts of something semi-decent inside, knowing that we are going to be taking action.

  “Why don't you wash up first and change? I'll meet you in the cafeteria.” He heads towards the door.

  “Okay.” I wait till he leaves, then I head to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

  CHAPTER 4 (Revenge)

  I manage to keep down a peanut butter sandwich. Tony meets me in the empty cafeteria. He carries two backpacks and holds a pistol in his hand. He walks up to my table and seems pleased with the fact that I've finally eaten something. He places the pistol on the table.

  I get up from the table and start to grab the pistol, but then I hear someone clear their throat. I turn to find my dad.

  “Tony told me you were leaving.” He looks exhausted with bags under his bloodshot eyes and more grey than usual in his hair.

  Nerves rise up as I nod. “I have to, Dad.”

  “I'll come with you,” he offers.

  Tony and I both say in unison, “No.”

  My dad looks like he wants to argue so I say, “You have to stay with Sebastian. You can't leave him.”

  “You don't have to go,” he urges me.

  “Yes, Dad, I do.”

  He holds my gaze for several seconds and then pulls something from his pocket. He holds out a white, sealed envelope to me. “Your mother left this for you.”

  I look down at it like it's a hallucination or something that I can't quite comprehend. My dad pushes it closer to me and I have no choice but to take it from his grasp.

  “You can read it when you're ready.” I stare down at the envelope, not knowing what to say. It feels much heavier than it is, as if it weighs a thousand pounds.

  My dad pulls me into a hug, crushing the envelope and me into him. “You have to come home to me.” The emotion is so thick it chokes his words.

  “I will, Dad.” I hold on tight with my free hand.

  He doesn't let go for several seconds and when we part, he looks to Tony. “You will take care of my girl, right?”

  “Yes sir,” Tony says solidly.

  “You will bring her back to me safe and sound?” My dad seems so tired as he questions him.

  “I will protect her with my life,” Tony vows.

  My dad's eyes water and all he can do is nod. He looks at me one last time and says, “I love you, Willow.”

  “I love you too, Dad.” With that, I watch him walk away.

  I look back down at the wrinkled envelope in my hand. I turn it over a few times in silent thought before stuffing it into the back pocket of my jeans. My dad said to read it when I'm ready. Right now, I'm not ready. I have something to do first. “Let's do this,” I tell Tony as I pick up the pistol from the table and grab a backpack from him.

  Tony nods his head firmly and then leads the way out of the cafeteria and out of the hotel.

  The day is coming to an end and twilight is in full swing. I’m glad for the timing; it means when we get to the prison grounds it will be nightfall.

  The air has a cool snap to it. One that tells me that winter may still come despite the plans to unleash Project ELE. The wind whips my hair around my face and into my mouth. I pull it out, take a rubber band from around my wrist, and put my hair into a messy bun. I glance over at Tony, realizing he’s been watching me.

  “Your hair looks cute like that,” he says simply.

  I try not to blush but lose the battle. Instead, I playfully punch him on the arm. “Let’s get out of here. We’ve got an appointment to make.”

  Tony takes my hand in his. The warmth spreads up my arm as we run, each of us pushing the other to keep at a consistent pace. We only stop a couple times to rest and get a few sips of water.

  We make it to the outskirts of the prison grounds as the moon begins to rise. Again, the lights are all on at the prison, casting an unfamiliar and artificial glow. Tony and I slow our running and come to a steady walk. We move stealthily towards a group of trees that give us an unobstructed view of not only the wall, but the prison grounds behind the chain length fence as well.

  “If we are going to do this, Willow,” Tony whispers, turning to me. “I have to trust that you will follow these rules. I promised your dad that I would bring you home and I have full intentions of doing so.” He pauses for me to respond.

  “I understand,” I whisper.

  “Good. We need to talk to each other through our minds, no talking aloud. Number two, stay together, that’s a given. Number three, we are just going to be looking around. If for some reason opportunity strikes, we have to both be in agreement on how to proceed or we leave… no arguing. I will not give that rule any leeway.”

  He gives a slight pause and I nod in agreement. While I may be in a hurry to wring Dr. Hastings’s, and Zack’s, neck, I have to be smart about it; I can’t rush this.

  “And the last rule, which is one of the most important. Rule number four, we squeeze each other’s hand immediately if you find someone with light blue eyes. They are our only real enemy here since they can see t
hrough all abilities.”

  I nod my head and take a deep breath. “Got it.”

  “Good. Ready?” Tony asks through his thoughts.

  “Yes.” I swallow my nerves. I try hard not to think about what I'm going in there for. If I do, I may not follow through with my plan.

  We watch a guard walk past the chain link fence. They've been walking back and forth every five minutes, almost on the dot. We wait thirty seconds and then make our move. I grab Tony's hand and turn us invisible. We run full speed towards the gate. I quickly move us through the cold metal.

  This time we know where we will land when we get into the prison. We move to the brick wall and I pull Tony through it as quickly as possible. I gasp on the other side when I find the room that we enter into completely empty.

  “Where are they?” I ask Tony.

  “Who?” He looks around the empty, concrete-walled room.

  I forgot that Tony wasn't with us when we first entered the prison. “This is where they were keeping a lot of the others; the one's that didn't have that reaction on the tests.”

  Tony visibly shivers. “They must have moved them.”

  “I hope that's the case and not something worse.” Our people need to find a way to rescue those prisoners soon. If there are any prisoners left to rescue that is. Ice shivers run down my spine and I fight back the thought.

  “Let's keep moving.” Tony pulls me towards the door.

  I walk us through to the other side, finding the hallway empty. We walk quickly down the cellblock. The jail cell, where I placed the guard I knocked out, is empty. I wonder how long it took them to find him.

  We walk to the next set of doors and I pull Tony through. Thankfully, no guards are walking down this hall either. It seems eerily deserted.

  We check each window, looking for Dr. Hastings or Zack, who are nowhere to be found as of yet. This time when we walk through the steel doors, we run straight through the hall of curtains to the other side. The bulb that flickered creepily last time has finally given up and the entire room is dark except for the minimal light coming in through the windows near the ceiling. My stomach rolls sickly as I remember the small, curtained room with blood splatters all over it.

  We go through the next two sets of doors as quietly as possible, knowing what's on the other side. As we step through the final door, we are plunged into darkness. A lone light shines at the far end of the room in an office. The cubicles and break room are empty and deathly quiet.

  “Where are all of the people?” I wonder in my head.

  Thinking I was asking him the question, Tony answers, “It's late, maybe they are off for the night.” He gestures his head towards the end of the giant room where the single light is on. “Someone might be pulling an all-nighter though. We need to be careful.”

  I nod my head and we start walking towards the light. When we round the last cubicle, we see the small corner office where the light shines. We crouch down low trying to get a peek inside the doorway. It doesn't look like anyone is home. We stand back up and hear a muffled cough and then furious typing on a keyboard.

  I inch closer to the doorway and peek around the corner before Tony can pull me back. My heart jumps.

  “Breaking the rules!” Tony demands.

  I focus on breathing. “Dr. Hastings is in there... Alone.”

  Tony's expression turns from serious to angry. “We may not get an opportunity like this again.” I watch him use his free hand to pull the gun out.

  I pull mine out as well. My hand is shaking. “I agree.” Will I be able to kill him though? That's the main question.

  “You don't have to do this. You can stand here. I can take him out and you don't have to raise a hand.” He urges me with his eyes to let him do this.

  “No! I need to do this myself.” I take a deep breath.

  “Let's stay invisible though. He doesn't need to see us coming. We don't want him to sound any alarms.” Tony holds his gun out and grabs the crook of my elbow, knowing I need both hands to aim my gun.

  I straighten up and step out slowly into the doorway. I raise my gun and line my sights on the back of Dr. Hastings’s head. He doesn't know I'm here. I could do away with him with a slight pull of my index finger. My hand starts shaking and my chest tightens. Something dark starts filling me. A part of me wants to let the darkness fill me to the brim. Another part wants to fight it off. I slowly lower my pistol but Hastings scratches the back of his head and I raise it back up. “I don't know if I can do it.” I keep my pistol trained on his grey hair.

  “Let me.” Tony raises his gun.

  “Only a coward would shoot a person in their back.” Dr. Hastings slowly turns around. His blue eyes land on me. The same eyes his daughter has.

  My eyes widen in surprise and I'm not sure what to do. I keep my gun pointed at his head. He didn't have blue eyes yesterday.

  “Yes, I figured I needed this gift if I were going to have any advantage around you.” Dr. Hastings answers my unspoken question.

  Tony lets go of my arm and I let go of the invisibility since it does us no good here.

  “So, are you going to say hi or anything? Or are you just going to kill me in cold blood?” Hastings asks.

  “Hands above your head,” Tony demands.

  Dr. Hastings slowly raises his hands up and places them on the back of his head. He leans back looking way too comfortable in a situation like this.

  I finally find my voice and answer his earlier question. “I'm not killing you in cold blood. An eye for an eye, Doctor.”

  The fact that he has the nerve to actually laugh makes the prospect of shooting him seem all the more appealing. “Your mother killed herself, Willow. That wouldn't be an eye for an eye.”

  Anger flashes inside me like lightning. “No! You killed her! You and your son killed her. You held that shot to her neck.”

  “Yes, but we didn't have any intention of killing either of your parents. We only wanted a simple pint of blood from you. It was an empty threat.” He tries to soften his expression but I don't buy it.

  “If it was an empty threat then there wouldn't have been anything deadly in that shot.” I'm not stupid enough for him to manipulate me with doubts.

  He shrugs his shoulders. “I'm truly sorry that your mom died. I had no idea she would have reacted in such a way.”

  I narrow my eyes. “You aren't sorry. You are a horrible excuse for a human being.”

  He clucks his tongue. “You don't even know me, Willow. I can help you.”

  “Oh yeah! Like you helped seal my friends in a cave? Like you helped try to make me into your own personal lab experiment? Like you killed my mom? Or like you created all of these abilities and basically tested it out on all of us? You don't care who gets hurt. You even killed your own wife!” My voice gradually grows louder as I throw each accusation at him.

  “Don't speak of things you don't know about, little girl!” Dr. Hastings throws his hands down on the table loudly. His face turns beet red. I guess I must have pushed the right button.

  Tony steps forward with his gun trained on him. “Hands up now!” he demands.

  Dr. Hastings gives him a mean look but complies with his demand. It takes him a few seconds but his face goes slack again like he couldn't be concerned with all of this. “You may not think I can help you but I can. You just have to give me a simple pint of blood.”

  I don't respond to him because I know he can't do a thing for me.

  “I know how to help a person you care deeply for,” he adds.

  My eyes widen in shock and my heart starts racing.

  “Yes, you know what I mean, don't you?” Dr. Hastings says in his attempt at playful banter.

  “What is he talking about, Willow?” Tony asks me.

  I shake my head at him. “Nothing. The man is crazy.”

  Hastings laughs. I roll my eyes and give him a furious glare. He smiles as he says, “I can undo it, simple as that. For a measly pint of your blood.”


  “Enough! You aren't getting anything from her.” Tony turns to me. “Let me do this, Willow.” His fingers inch toward the trigger.

  I look from him to Dr. Hastings and then back to Tony. I have no reason to trust that Dr. Hastings can help Tony. I should just kill him, but I realize that I'm not going to be able to. Not with this new possibility that he laid out on the table. “I can't.”

  “Then I will.” Tony walks around the desk and points the barrel of the gun at Dr. Hastings's temple. “Say goodnight.”

  His eyes narrow and for once he actually looks appropriately scared. He looks at me with a disgusted glare. “You Mosby women are nothing but trouble. I should have killed you when I had the chance. I don't even know what my boy saw in you. If he were here, I'd make him kill you,” he spits.

  I don't even pay attention to the part about Zack. I can only focus on his negative indication of my mother. I yell, “My mom did nothing to you!”

  “With only a few words that woman started an uprising in here! Promising all of those workers that she would free them.”

  Pride wells within me for my mom. I smile and it pisses Dr. Hastings off even more.

  “Can I proceed?” Tony asks one last time.

  I appreciate that he wants to make sure he doesn't take this right away from me in case I feel like I need to be the one to kill him. “No. Knock him out. We will take him with us and show him what it's like to be a prisoner.”

  Tony starts to nod his head but then his body goes rigid and his eyes focus on something behind me. That's when I feel the cold metal of a barrel land on the back of my head.

  I don't see the man behind me nor do I recognize his voice when he begins making demands. “Put your gun down now or she dies!”

  Tony's expression hardens as he stares the man down. He slowly moves to place the gun on the table but before he does, he asks. “Do you trust me, Willow?”

  I don't even have to think about it. “I do.”

  “Then duck!” he yells into my head.

  Without hesitation, I drop to the ground. In the same instant, Tony raises his gun back up in a flash and shoots the man in the chest. The guard drops to the ground dead.