Control

by J. F. Jenkins

  “Look, the guy said no, okay? What part of that didn’t you understand? The N, or the O?” JD said angrily, trying to gain control of the situation.

  “Alanmendiquixanimackle...” Alona said, and shook her head. “Always playing hero.”

  “And Chihuahua Man,” The Doctor said tersely. “Not a pleasure, as usual.”

  JD thought of a brilliant “your mom” joke to retaliate with, but bit his tongue. It wouldn’t be a good time to be immature. Orlando was the snarky one, JD was the leader. He had to act like one.

  “Sorry to ruin all of your fun, again, but I have issues with you forcing people into doing things they’d rather not be doing,” he said instead.

  “Blah. Blah. Blah,” The Doctor muttered, pointed his gun at JD, and pulled the trigger. The gun blast rang in JD’s ears, and he readied himself for the sting of a bullet that never came.

  Alan was able to put a shield around them both. The bullet hit the shield and fell to the floor. If JD hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn’t have believed it. Everyone else but The Doctor had their ears covered. JD had to take advantage of the confusion if he and Alan had any hope of getting Dale out of there unharmed. The other two he wouldn’t worry about, not if they’d already made the decision to be loyal to The Doctor.

  “Get Dale,” JD shouted. His voice sounded loud and strange. Alan was looking at him, but he frowned. His mouth was moving, but JD had a hard time figuring out the words. Everything was still muffled. JD waved for Alan to follow him and then went straight for Dale. He pushed Sprout over and was greatly satisfied in watching her fall. She had a lot more coming to her still, but he’d save his revenge for later.

  They weren’t there for an aggressive mission, so he wasn’t prepared for a fight. JD’s hand wrapped around Dale’s forearm, and he dragged the guy to Alan who seemed to know exactly what JD was thinking. The alien put a hand on each of the teenagers and they left the room in a small puff of smoke, reappearing outside the school by the flagpole.

  Dale wrenched his arm from JD, stumbled backward, and fell to the ground. “What did you do? How did we get...? Who are you?”

  “I’m the guy who just saved your butt,” JD shouted. “We can’t talk here. I’ve got a car parked across the street. Let’s get somewhere safe first.”

  “I don’t know if I’m safer with you than I was with them!”

  “Well, I didn’t pull a gun on you when you didn’t want to join the team.” JD looked at Dale pointedly and then started to walk towards his car, shrugging. “If you wanna stay here and deal with them and the aftermath of that craziness, be my guest. Get brainwashed or whatever. At least I can say I tried. Come on Alan.”

  Dale let out a heavy sigh. “Wait. I’ll come with you and listen to more of what you have to say.”

  Should have listened the first time, JD thought and unlocked his car. Cadence and Jaes weren’t there. Did they get out okay? Are they still in the tunnel? What about Angela? The first thing he did when he got into the car was check his cell phone. He kept it on him the whole time, leaving it silent, just in case. On it was one text message from Cadence.

  “Walking to gas station on fifth. Will wait ten minutes then bus to Apartment.”

  He sighed with relief, glad that she had gotten out safe. JD thought about calling her, or using the communicator just to hear her voice so he could know for certain she was, in fact, okay. His instincts were telling him to just go and pick her up. Instead he used the communicator to check on his sister.

  “Lucky Twelve, you there?” he asked as he started up his car, and hoped he was using the device right. Alturan technology could be a little confusing at times. She wasn’t replying. “Lucky Twelve?”

  “Hello? J...I mean, Chihuahua, I’m here. What’s up?” Angela’s voice came through loud and clear.

  JD let out a sigh of relief. “Things got chaotic in the tunnels. Head back to The Apartment and we can compare notes.”

  “We’ll be there soon. Gonna stay back for a few minutes,” Orlando said, joining the conversation.

  “Why?” JD asked.

  “Well, we were kind of busy making out,” he deadpanned. JD imagined he was rolling his eyes in true Orlando fashion. “We want to stay and see if they come out the same way they went in. Maybe we can get some more information. Got quite a bit to tell as it is. Ten more minutes. That’s all.”

  JD glanced at Alan, who nodded then sighed. “Yeah fine.” He didn’t like it, but if Alan thought it a good idea, he wasn’t going to argue.

  They were quiet as he drove to the gas station to pick up Cadence and Jaes. He preferred it that way.

  Did I really do that? His own boldness stunned him. It wasn’t the first time he’d put himself on the line to try and help someone in need since everything started. Bean and Sprout had tried to euthanize one of the teenagers who had been experimented on. The poor guy didn’t stand a chance at surviving, too sick to live longer than another ten minutes. At the time JD didn’t understand what they were doing. Once he saw the deterioration of the guy’s body, all of the pieces fit together. Unfortunately the teen hadn’t lived, but JD stayed with him until the end. That’s what happened to whoever was injected and couldn’t handle the changes being forced upon their body. In that moment, the war had become real for him.

  I’m not going to let it happen to anyone else. That was his vow.

  “Where are you taking me?” Dale asked quietly.

  “Going to pick up some more good guys and then headquarters. We’ve got a lot to talk about, and a lot of decisions to make,” JD said. “I’d say I could just take you home, but given everything that happened back there...”

  “I’ve got about a million questions.”

  “That too.” JD had been thinking more about the guy’s safety. His girlfriend, Tori? Was that her name? She had made her choice, and if she knew who he was, if all of the blue tribe knew, then that could only mean all sorts of bad things for Dale. There had to be some way to protect him.

  Alan tapped his hands against the door as they drove. “I think we should change your name to Lucky because you are by far more lucky than your sister.” He shook his head. “That was too close. Logically speaking, my shield should have been too late.”

  “But it wasn’t, and that’s all that matters,” JD said. The car pulled into the gas station lot, and he smiled when he saw Cadence and Jaes standing inside looking over the junk food. JD quickly sent her a text letting her know he was there and waiting.

  “I suppose,” was Alan’s reply.

  Cadence and Jaes left the gas station and got into the backseat of the car, sandwiching Dale in-between them. JD couldn’t tell how those two were feeling. Cadence wouldn’t look at JD, and Jaes continued to show the same calm demeanor he’d had since they met. It was like the guy couldn’t feel anything but chill.

  “Any problems?” JD asked casually, hoping to get some kind of read on what to expect from them when they got back to The Apartment. Did he need to tread carefully? Prepare for a lecture? Relax and pat himself on the back for a job well-done? He especially hoped he hadn’t gotten Alan into any kind of trouble.

  “No.” Cadence shook her head. She didn’t say anything else. In the past that was a good sign she was mad at him. She’d changed so much over the last month. Did it all mean the same thing?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Ten minutes, that’s how long Orlando had promised they’d wait before heading back. He sat relaxed in the driver’s seat, his eyes fixed on the entrance to the tunnels. Something inside of his gut was telling him they needed to wait. Unfortunately, Angela wanted to fill the empty silence with noise and insisted on talking. Rather than start a fight and risk them missing something, he humored her and let her start up a conversation.

  “Did you figure out what was going on with your girlfriend?” Angela asked.

  “Nah, and I’m pretty positive she is lying,” he mumbled. Of all the things to talk about, she had to pick this? She’s not go
ing to let this go is she? Probably sees it her duty as a friend to help us or something. He sighed and tapped his chin with his fingers, getting anxious.

  “That sucks.”

  “Yeah, I caught her in one and she got her brother to help cover for her. Problem is they don’t have their stories straight. Not quite sure how to bring it up exactly. And then I can’t help but wonder why anyway.” He waved a hand. “I’ll figure it out. She’s gotta have a good reason.”

  “Knowing her, yeah. And for her sake it better be a good one too because you totally don’t deserve this.”

  “No, I don’t.” He didn’t bother to explain to her that there was no such thing as a good reason in his eyes. A lie was a lie. An easy out for someone to take when they were too afraid to own up to their real feelings. His parents did it all the time, so he knew why people lied. Selfishness. Even when Orlando did it himself, it was because he was being selfish. With everything going on with the Alturan war, he’d had to lie a lot more to his sister. Each time it had been because he didn’t want her to stop him from doing his part.

  Angela was right about one thing. He didn’t deserve it. It surprised him that she thought so.

  After a few seconds of silence she added, “You’re a lot cooler than people give you credit for. I never understood what everyone’s problem was.”

  “You mean you’re a cheerleader and you don’t know the story? I used to be one of the cool kids.”

  “No, I know, but I don’t get why they care so much about you not wanting to be a cool kid anymore. Like, that’s your decision to make, and you aren’t hurting anyone by doing something different.” She shrugged. “It doesn’t make sense to me at least.”

  Orlando shrugged as well. “Me either, but I suppose they all felt threatened. Isn’t that why bullies do what they do? They’re insecure and fragile. It’s stupid.”

  “Yeah, they’re pretty dumb. I mean, I’m on the squad with your ex, right? How could you stand her? I’ve had more intelligent conversations with a spoon.”

  He laughed at that. “We didn’t do a lot of talking when we hung out. At least, I didn’t. She gabbed on and on about all of the cute things she could see. To be honest, I don’t even know why I stayed with her for so long. Probably because I could. She wasn’t even a good kisser.” He paused. “So you’re on the squad, but you don’t play their popularity game?”

  “I play the game, I’m just better at it than they are. I can fit in without being a fake bimbo. The trick is to hear the gossip, but don’t spread it. And definitely never be it.” She winked.

  “I’m sure they’d have a lot to say if they knew you were spending the night before break with me instead of at the annual Thanksgiving blow-out.”

  “That’s been moved to Friday. Jesse said something about not liking being tired the day of the big meal.” She snickered. “He’s such an idiot. I didn’t want to explain how it’s kind of normal to suffer from tryptophan shock. I thought everyone knew about that.”

  “Yeah, he’s not too bright.” Orlando noticed movement coming from the tunnel entrance. A dark shape raised itself out of the ground, followed by another. When the moonlight hit them, he recognized Bean and Sprout. He turned back on his communicator to pick up what they were talking about.

  Sprout was grousing about something. Her words were fast and heated. “Can you believe him? Blaming us for this? Maybe it’s his fault for not having a more secure base. Just because he’s part of the green tribe doesn’t mean he’s better than us. I almost strangled him. I might next time. I don’t care who he is or who he works for. He doesn’t get to treat me like that.”

  “Breathe. It’s okay,” Bean said.

  “No it’s not okay!”

  “Yes, it is. We won’t have to put up with him for much longer. Just ride it out.”

  “What about Dale? He saw things, he knows things. We can’t just let him walk away with this information. Especially with them. Something needs to be done.”

  Bean sighed. “He’s scared. Let’s give him a few days, and then we can give him an ultimatum. I don’t see him being much of a threat. This might not be his sort of thing. Maybe it’s better if we do just let him walk away.”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Chihuahua was there. I have a feeling they all were...”

  “If you’re thinking about him again, Sprout, I’m going to have to get your head checked. I mean, I know you have a thing for dangerous guys and all...but you have something good going on for you in the real world. Don’t ruin it for some kind of stupid fantasy,” Bean said sharply.

  They were close enough now that Orlando could see their faces. Sort of. The power of the Alturan masks made almost everything defining about a person, blurry. Orlando recognized the two based on height, their blond hair, and the way they held themselves more so than any other physical features. Sprout put her hands in her pockets, her eyes downcast as they walked through the park.

  “Something about him resonates with me and I can’t help it,” she said softly.

  “He almost killed you.”

  “I don’t think it was on purpose.”

  Orlando glanced at Angela with a smirk and whispered, “She totally wants me.”

  Who else would Sprout be talking about? Orlando was the only one she had fought with from the group. And he’d sent her flying through the air with such force her spine could have broken on impact. Orlando tried not to let it go to his head. He resonated with a lot of people, and not always in good ways. Sprout was evil, no doubt about it, but the two did have some stimulating banter. Even Orlando couldn’t help but be a little bit attracted by that. But her disgusting attitude and beliefs made her more unattractive than a warty toad.

  Sprout closed her eyes and reached up to grab her mask. Both Orlando and Angela held their breath, anxious to learn this girl’s true identity. “I know I have a good thing going. I don’t plan on ruining it. I love him, and I’m not throwing it away. But what can I say? I have needs, okay? And I doubt I’m going to get them met soon. Besides, there’s something sexy about a guy who—”

  “La, la, la.” Bean put his hands to his ears. “I don’t want to hear about your fantasies. It’s gross. Please don’t taint my pure mind with your filth.”

  She snorted, and the mask came off. Whereas before all he could make out was hair color, maybe a minor detail about her clothes, and a rough guess at her height, all of a sudden everything became crystal clear. Her long, blonde hair, her proportioned curves, and the Lunar Falls logo on her sweatshirt and sweatpants. Orlando knew her well. Sprout was Tait, or rather, Tait was Sprout.

  “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” he whispered, and felt it hard to breathe as Bean pulled off his mask to reveal Peyton.

  Angela shook her head. “No way. Get down! They’re coming up the hill.”

  He did so quickly, getting as low in his seat as possible so the two wouldn’t think anything about the lone car sitting on the hilltop. He’d made sure to park towards the back of the lot so it was even less suspicious.

  “You don’t think I’ve ruined things with him because I canceled on tomorrow, do you?” Tait asked.

  “Lying is never a good idea. You should have sucked it up even if you are going to be tired and stressed. This kind of thing is important. If you can’t handle it, then maybe you should think twice about being in a relationship,” Peyton said. “Don’t get me wrong. I think he’s great for you, but it is a new relationship. It’s not like Erin and me. We’ve been together for just about a year.”

  “It would have been perfect if Alona hadn’t sprung this crap on us,” she mumbled. The sound of their feet crunching against the cold grass was now right next to Orlando’s car. He found himself holding his breath even if she couldn’t hear him.

  Peyton snorted quietly. “I think you could have made it work still. Either way, next time? Don’t include me in your scheme. It’s awkward and I don’t like doing it. He doesn’t deserve it.”

  “No, he d
oesn’t. So I need to make it up to him somehow. What do you give a guy who has everything?” she asked.

  Orlando didn’t get to hear the reply because they walked farther away, their voices growing quiet compared to the increasing noise of his thoughts. She’s Sprout. She’s one of them. This whole time I’ve been fighting against her. I almost killed her. She almost killed me! She’s been killing other teens, hurting them. This can’t be happening. How is it even possible? Maybe I’m dreaming? Did she say she loved me? That she fantasized about me when I’m in costume? She’s been killing people.

  He was startled out of his thoughts when he felt Angela’s hand on his arm.

  “Hey, you okay?” she asked.

  “I’m not sure.” And the answer surprised him, because he was pretty sure any normal person would be disturbed. He was feeling that way, but there was a mix of other emotions as well. Strong ones. Tait had deceived him, and yet when they were together he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so happy. When they were being their normal selves, everything felt right. But she was one of the bad guys, and her actions were still unforgivable. Or were they? Maybe she does have a good reason? No, she’s a liar. But so am I.

  Orlando shook his head. “I’m confused,” he whispered.

  “That was not a plot twist I was expecting,” Angela whispered back.

  “No, definitely not.” When he thought about it, how Tait had been acting over the past month it made perfect sense. The night of the party she’d completely blown him off and then called him, upset because of a “fight with her parents”. In all actuality, it was her being upset with his alter ego. Or was his normal self the alter ego now? At the dance he’d noticed she’d hurt her back, but thought nothing of it and believed her when she told him she’d slipped in the shower. Really, it was because he’d knocked her into a wall. All of her mood swings. Everything added up.

  Slowly he sat up and checked his mirrors, then looked out his windows, to make sure Tait and her brother were gone before starting up the car.