“Run!” she screamed as they rushed out of the kitchen and sallied in the crowd of people in brown military uniforms in the large chamber they had previously crossed. A loud bang sound marked their entrance as they pushed the door open with all the strength their bodies had. Several blond heads turned their way, and the stern looks on their faces made Floriana and Vittor slow down and walk rather than run across the crowded hall. Soon, they found themselves in the middle of a circle of dour faces inspecting them. A chill stole over Floriana’s body. She tried to look calm and casual, but her chest moved up and down uncontrollably with heavy breaths. Disregarding the severe gazes on them, Floriana bit her lip and clenched her sweaty palms as she moved through the group of people staring at them with unyielding scrutiny. She felt like time had frozen, and everything was moving tantalizingly slow, like their bodies were floating in a thick, syrupy liquid. That weird feeling only lasted for a few seconds though, as another bang made the crowd turn their glances back toward the kitchen door.
“Don’t let them go!” Althea’s bloodcurdling scream filled the chamber.
Floriana’s heart almost stopped beating. Her legs felt like jelly being crushed under the weight of her body, but she knew she needed to move. In a moment that felt like a century, she looked at Vittor, who was staring around goggle-eyed and grabbed his hand. Loud screams escaped their throats as they started running through the crowded chamber towards the bright exit. It was like millions of hands were falling upon their adrenaline-loaded bodies, gripping their arms, pulling their hair, touching their skin with their cold fingers, brushing their necks with warm breaths. A frisson of terror conquered her soul as an eerie memory came to her mind. A mental flashback to zombies surrounding her in the sanatorium overwhelmed her soul; her breath escaped her, and her limbs went cold. A hand clasping her wrist freed her from the flashback and brought her back to the menacing reality. Floriana knew that there was no way out. Not until the curtain came down on their family drama.
CHAPTER 19
*
“TO THE BASEMENT,” Althea commanded the group of brown-clad people who were hauling her children down the stairs. Floriana felt like she was suffocating under the pressure of the bodies pressing into her as they led her into a bright, almost daylight-like room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vittor trying to keep his balance as he was dragged in by a couple of strong young men.
“Look who’s here.” An old man’s nasally voice echoed from the back of the large room as a short man in a white laboratory coat emerged from behind a row of iron cupboards. He was followed by a small group of similarly dressed people.
“You must be Floriana. I have heard so much about you.” The old man approached her and brought his face close to hers. Floriana felt irritated when his nose almost touched hers as he observed her features through his glasses.
“Have I got something in my teeth?” she asked scathingly.
The old man took a step back, and he turned his back on her as he addressed her mother in a shrill accent. “Sarcastic and scoffing. Just like her grandfather. Althea, I expect you to get rid of this unpleasant girl right now. I do not want her to mess up things now that we have finally put into action our plan to exterminate lesser human races.” He sniffed noisily as he turned back to one of the many laboratory tables and chairs in the room. His team of scientists in white robes looked to be absorbed in their notes, indifferent to the new faces that had just come in.
Floriana straightened her clothes as she was freed from her mother’s minion’s grip. Vittor stood beside her, cleaning his glasses with the edge of his plaid shirt.
“This is Dr. Foulkaneli. Show some respect,” Althea said to Floriana furiously. “Why do you have to be so annoying?” Althea hissed, pointing at her daughter.
Her mother’s continuous verbal assaults hurt Floriana’s soul deeply. Offended and enraged, she could not control her anger anymore.
“Why do you have to be alive?” Floriana’s body quivered as tears flooded her eyes.
“You are so arrogant and ungrateful. I brought you here, where magnificent things are happening. You are both in the center of the action, where the brightest minds of the world have gathered to write history, to give humanity the purity it always needed. We are giving humans the final push, making the decisive step toward divine perfection. Only those who are genetically perfect will survive. All disabled people, homosexuals, and those of a lesser race will be exterminated from the face of the earth. We are about to touch God’s hand, and you have the privilege of watching it happen.”
Althea seemed lost in her daydream of a dystopian future where human rights were disregarded and an elite set of identical ice-white haired people ruled a society devoid of justice. Floriana felt sick to her stomach as she watched her mother give her senseless and merciless speech with a mad look in her eyes. This definitively proved that she was mentally deranged.
“How did this happen to you?” Floriana uttered without hiding her disgust; tears rolled down her face.
“The tone in your voice reveals your disapproval. I cannot blame you. You have been brainwashed by your grandfather into believing that Black Rose ideology crap,” Althea responded as she turned her back to them and approached an iron cupboard. She pulled a set of keys from a pocket in her black suit and opened the cupboard. “You are unable to distinguish what is wrong and what is right. Dr. Foulkaneli is right; you will never adopt our ideology. Deception has such strong roots in your conscience that you will never choose the right path. Bringing you here was a huge mistake. You have to go,” she said icily as she took something out of the iron cupboard. Then, she closed the door of the cupboard and turned the key in the lock. As Althea turned around, Floriana felt her heart stop beating when she noticed her mother holding a gun.
“I am sorry, darling,” Althea said in a weirdly polite tone as she gestured for her minions to grab Floriana’s arms.
“Why do you hate me so much?” Floriana sobbed.
“You are the reason my life was destroyed. You and your grandfather. Your loving grandfather...do you know that he could have saved his own son but did not? Has he ever told you that he had the medicine that could have saved his son’s life when he was infected by Bacterium-Z?” Althea ranted.
“What medicine? What are you talking about?”
“The medicine Dr. Foulkaneli created decades ago when he was working with your grandfather, and they were both young. The Water of Life. A unique formula Dr. Foulkaneli still denies sharing with anyone else. However, Ganni once laid his hands on it. This is the key to your grandfather’s prolonged life. He used that medicine to ensure that he lives longer, but he refused to save his own son’s life.” Althea’s eyes were red and crinkled with hatred.
“Grandpa would never do that. He loved Dad; he loves his family,” Floriana said tentatively.
“He only loves himself and his power,” Althea replied wearily and stepped closer to her son.
“Vittor, you must help your sister go,” she added as she moved to her son and placed the gun in his hands.
“What the hell are you talking about? You are insane!” Vittor yelled with the gun awkwardly cupped in his hands.
“Insane. What a weird choice of wording,” Althea noted flatly as she stepped back, her eyes still on him.
“I am not doing anything. I am leaving, and Floriana is coming with me,” Vittor said as he placed the gun on a table in front of him with shaking hands.
“You are not going anywhere,” Althea announced confidently and signaled for the soldiers standing behind her to block the door. “My dear son, you are my chosen one. But you have to prove that you deserve this honor. You are a great young scientist, and you can earn a place in the new pure society we are creating. Your sister is your ticket in,” she said as she picked the gun up and placed it again in her son’s hands.
“But ... but ... I love my sister. I do not want to hurt her. ... I do not want to hurt anyone,” Vittor protested.
&nb
sp; With a caring look in her eyes, Althea moved close to her son and brushed his hair.
“Do not be a fool. You cannot possibly love your sister. We have talked about that before. She was the cause of our separation. It was because of your sister that your dad stopped caring about us. I always loved you, Vittor. There has not been a day I didn’t regret that I left you behind when I left Weengarts. I should have chosen you. You should have been my only child.” Her voice was soft as she put her arms around him. “Not to mention that she is useless to our cause. She is not a scientist; she is just a Clocksworth Academy student.” She laughed insanely. “Come on, now, do your duty, my son, my sweet loving son.”
Floriana tried in vain to free herself from the strong grip of her well-built guards. Her heart hurt so much she thought it would stop beating. It was not the fear she felt for her life that caused her pain. It was her mother’s words that harmed her the most. She felt over the moon when she found out that her mother was alive, but now she wished her mother had stayed dead. Althea was not the mother she knew; she was not the person she knew. Her mind was lost in an ocean of madness, in a distorted reality. She was a pawn in a madmen’s plans to create a new world. And she was forcing her son to follow her down a road of rage. Althea was trying to turn Vittor from a kindhearted young man to a bloodthirsty animal. Floriana moved frantically, trying to escape from the human trap she was caught in. They were holding her so tightly that red marks were forming on her skin. She needed an escape plan, but she could not come up with one.
I wish Eric was here, she thought.
With a nod from Althea, two armed men moved Floriana beside Vittor. As the two siblings looked at each other in despair, Floriana cracked a timid smile at Vittor to encourage him.
It is okay, she mouthed to him. Her brother’s frightened eyes gave away his thoughts. Nothing was okay.
Floriana glanced around to check out the place. Their way out was blocked by two armed soldiers. At the back of the room, Dr. Foulkaneli and half a dozen scientists were focused on their work without paying attention to what was happening across the chamber. As if something like this happens every day, thought Floriana.
“Now, sweetheart, put the gun to her head,” Althea said quietly, firmly holding her son’s armed hand.
“No!” Vittor shook his head in dissent.
“You are going to do this now,” Althea insisted, and with two hands she tried to make him point the gun at Floriana.
“I said no!” Vittor shouted, and with his elbow, he hit Althea’s jaw, knocking her down.
“You useless little creature!” Althea cried out before she commanded one of her soldiers to force her son’s arm point the loaded gun at his sister.
Vittor’s chestnut hair was soaked in sweat. His hand was cold and trembling heavily under the soldier’s forceful grasp. Floriana tried to move her head away from the barrel, but it was impossible under her guards’ grips. She gave Vittor an agonizing look, but her brother could not see her; he had his eyes firmly closed.
“Now, pull the trigger!” Althea shouted again as she stood up.
“NO! What kind of mother are you?” he cried, now gazing at her.
“I am the one who gave life to you! You are not worthy of judging me! Make him pull the trigger!” she roared.
Floriana let out a small cry while she watched Vittor fighting with all his strength against the soldier who was trying to force him to pull the trigger. Her mouth was dry as she focused on the gun pointing at her while Althea howled.
“Pull the trigger! Pull the trigger! Pull the trigger!”
A shot whistled across the room. Althea’s rampage stopped. Gaping, she put her hand to her chest and touched the blood pouring out of the wound there before she collapsed on the floor.
“Mom!” Floriana shouted, and tried to get to her mother’s body, but her captors kept her still.
A sudden movement at the back of the room drew their attention. A large man in a white laboratory coat came forward; he had his arms locked around Dr. Foulkaneli’s body and a gun pointing at the old man’s head. “I’m sorry, Floriana. I had to shoot her,” he said when his icy grey eyes met hers.
“Declan,” Floriana muttered.
“Let them leave, or I kill him,” Declan commanded her captors, using Dr. Foulkaneli as a shield.
“Don’t listen to him! Shoot them!” shouted the old man.
Emboldened by Declan’s sudden appearance and sensing that her captors were equally surprised, Floriana lifted her right leg and stomped it hard on the foot of the man who was holding her right arm. The man loosened his grip, shouting in pain. Grabbing the opportunity, Floriana swiveled and launched a kick at the stomach of the man standing on her left. As the guy folded over in pain, Floriana grabbed his gun from his holster and turned to her brother’s captors.
“If anyone touches her, Foulkaneli is dead,” Declan shouted to the soldiers, who moved to catch Floriana.
“Don’t listen to him,” the man moaned in pain. “Shoot the boy!” he screamed.
“Shut up, or I will shoot you!” Floriana shouted. “You, let my brother go. And hand him your guns,” she demanded, pointing a gun toward them with a steady hand.
Vittor wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand before he made a step forward and relieved his captors of their guns. His breathing was fast, and he stumbled, but he managed to lift his arms to the level of his chest and aim at the two men, who raised their hands up. Slowly and carefully, he joined his sister across from the group of the brown-clad soldiers, and together they stepped cautiously toward their mother, who was lying in a small pool of blood.
“Mom!” Floriana cried as she bent her knees and leaned over hardly breathing Althea. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
Althea lifted her hand with difficulty and touched her daughter’s cheek. As her soul was abandoning her wounded body, Althea’s deranged mind seemed to have one last moment of clarity and awareness.
“I am sorry,” she muttered as she breathed her last.
“No! Mom!” Floriana collapsed onto her mother’s lifeless body and broke out in tears.
The warmth of Vittor’s arm around her could not comfort her soul. She had lost her mother for the second time; she mourned her loss for the second time. And this time, it was more painful. She wished she had not been reunited with her mother. She would have preferred to remember her as she once was; happy, healthy, and sane.
“Why did she have to come back into our lives?” she sobbed.
“Maybe she unconsciously wanted to teach us the most important lesson a parent can: to make the right decision, despite how difficult it is.” Vittor kissed her forehead and helped her stand. “Come, we need to get out of here immediately,” he whispered, still pointing his gun at the soldiers.
“I do not want to leave her behind,” Floriana wept.
“Neither do I. But we are not safe here.” Vittor brushed his sister’s hair. “Come.”
With tears in her eyes and shaking hands, Floriana aimed her gun back at the soldiers. The two siblings stepped slowly towards Declan, who was still firmly holding Dr. Foulkaneli. As they took their places behind him, a group of unarmed scientists gathered opposite them.
“One more step and he is dead,” Declan warned them. With guns in their hands and Foulkaneli as a shield, the three of them moved backward toward an emergency exit near them. As soon as they opened the door, they found themselves outdoors. The sunlight was bright, and they squinted until their eyes adjusted to the light. They moved quickly through the green backyard, throwing anxious glances towards the building they had just exited. Declan dragged Foulkaneli along, disregarding the old man’s moans. Realizing that with Foulkaneli teetering and stumbling, they could not escape their enemies fast enough, Declan decided to let the madman go.
“Do not fancy yourself free. In the end, you will get what you deserve,” Declan warned the old scientist as he shoved him away. While he watched the old guy limp back toward the headquarters
building, he dropped his white coat and gestured for the siblings to follow him to the main street.
They concealed their weapons in their pants, securing them at their waists, and mingled with the people in the street. Floriana and Vittor tried to hide their nervousness under seemingly calm faces, but their hearts were beating like crazy in their chests. They walked holding hands alongside Declan, who scanned the area with his intense gaze. Trying to look casual, Floriana took short peeks at an area she was seeing for the first time. Identical white houses were lined up across the street with well-preserved lawns fringed by well-trimmed hedges. Despite how well-composed the clean-cut people looked, their sharp walk gave away a sense of alertness; it was as though they were all a part of a larger plan in action. Walking quickly, the trio continued along their way, keeping their eyes low and their movements calm. They were a few meters away from the arched wooden gate that marked the town’s exit when the sound of a red alert filled the air.
“This way!” Declan yelled, pointing to a grove of trees on the left. They dashed along through the trees as an increasing quick crowd began chasing them. “Get down!” Declan shouted as the soldiers unleashed a hail of bullets. Crawling, they found cover behind large tree trunks and pulled out their guns. Floriana’s limbs went cold, seeing that her brother was looking confused at his loaded firearm.
“Pull the safety off.” She imitated sliding the safety lever on the upper end of the gun while the sound of gunfire drowned out her voice.
“We are doomed,” she mumbled. Holding the gun with both hands, she took a deep breath and shot, moving her body away from the trunk. Her stomach tightened as she returned to the safety the large tree offered her. She turned to look at Declan who leaned against the trunk he was hidden behind. She hoped for a signal from him, but the scientist was standing there motionless. A huge bloodstain across his stomach soaked his white t-shirt.
“Declan!” she yelled while dozens of bullets whizzed around them.
Clocksworth Academy Page 15
