Perfection

by J. L. Spelbring

  “Yes, but during tests, none of you ever performed with such efficiency. It seems, when you feel truly threatened, your instincts go into hyperdrive.” He shook his head. “You were amazing.”

  Woody looked from one to the other. “Will someone explain what the hell is going on?”

  “You do not know?” she asked Woody. She turned toward the crowd. “Do any of you know?”

  A pretty female, no older than thirty with curly, golden-blond hair, stepped forward. “You’re one of The Center’s children.”

  Stunned, Ellyssa faced the curly-haired female. “You know about us?”

  “We’re well informed of the atrocities happening within The Center.”

  “Did you know Leland is Dr. Hirch’s assistant? He helped raise us, train us, and perform experiments on us. He is an active part of the atrocities.”

  “Was,” Leland corrected. “I no longer work for the doctor.”

  Ellyssa faltered. “What?”

  “He reassigned me.” Keeping his distance from Ellyssa, he walked over to the table. “It was a hard blow to our cause.”

  Her eyebrows knitted. “What cause?”

  Leland studied her for a moment, a slight tic working at the corner of his mouth, then he waved his hand in an arc. “All of this. What do you think we’ve been working toward all this time?” Before Ellyssa could respond, he continued, “Freedom. I’ve been gathering information.”

  The possibility of Leland performing such an operation was unbelievable. Her father’s intelligence far surpassed the young assistant’s. Ellyssa scrutinized him from behind narrow lids.

  “You don’t believe me? You can easily know,” he challenged.

  The others stood silently, perhaps shocked by his request. Ellyssa didn’t have to read their minds to know they had been informed of the gifts bestowed on her and her siblings. They watched, seeming to expect her to perform some miracle, like she was some sideshow attraction. Anger percolated through her veins.

  “You know I cannot,” Ellyssa whispered, casting a sidelong glance at Woody. She hoped he wouldn’t say anything about her own recent discovery of learning to block out the white noise.

  “Why don’t we go outside?” Woody suggested as he squeezed her upper arm.

  “Good idea,” said Leland. He turned for the door. “The rest of you, stay here, please.”

  Curly-hair, who had spoken earlier, stepped forward, her gaze raking across Ellyssa, like she was a dangerous animal. “Do you think that’s wise?”

  After her initial reaction upon seeing Leland, Ellyssa didn’t blame the female. Her fear was valid.

  “It’s perfectly safe,” the former assistant assured.

  Leland held the door open for Ellyssa and Woody. Ellyssa’s muscles tensed as she walked past the male who had been a huge part of her earlier life. As soon as they were outside and away from the house, she wheeled around. Fear registered on Leland’s face, and he stepped back, but she had no intention of hurting him. Right now, she wanted answers.

  “You have been part of this the whole time?”

  He nodded. “Yes.”

  “How could you do that to us? To fellow human beings?”

  He sighed. “I’m sorry, Ellyssa. Sorry for everything Dr. Hirch subjected you to, and I’m sorry I helped him. But what would you have had me do to stop it? What could I do?”

  Ellyssa opened her mouth to say something. Anything. Words tumbled around her head, but truthfully, the situation had always been out of Leland’s hands. He was blameless. Just like she had been when Rein had confronted her. If not him, someone else, and maybe they wouldn’t have been as kind. She shrugged.

  “Unbelievable,” Leland stated, shaking his head.

  “What?”

  “The change in you. Your facial expressions.” Leland’s hand twitched, as if he wanted to touch Ellyssa’s face to verify his observations. “How long have you been experiencing emotions?” he asked.

  “It doesn’t matter. Please continue with your story.”

  “I suppose it doesn’t matter.” he said, still looking at her with amazement. “Anyway, being part of the whole process gave us more information than we could have hoped for. I was able to share the technology involved as well as Dr. Hirch’s plans. I had to stay.”

  “Why were you reassigned?”

  “He started to murder citizens for the sake of experimentation. I began to protest.” He straightened his back. “The others’ abilities have grown.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Wouldn’t you rather see for yourself?”

  It felt strange for him to invite her into his mind; she, like her siblings, had been forbidden to use her abilities on her father or his assistant. After the files she’d found on the computer, she understood why.

  Secrets not meant for any of the children’s eyes.

  She easily blocked out Woody as she focused on Leland and delved into his thoughts. Everything opened before her, like pages in a book. A story unfolded, from the time he had come to assist her father, when she was about five, to when the doctor had released him.

  Finished, she blinked and looked at Leland. “Aalexis?”

  “Her power has grown beyond all expectations.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Woody.

  Ellyssa touched his arm to silence him. “I will explain later.” She faced Leland. “What now?”

  “Tell me what brings you here, first.”

  Ellyssa exhanged a look with Woody. “We are going to The Center. One of our friends is a captive.”

  Shock flitted across Leland’s face. “You’re risking your life?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’ve grown, Ellyssa.” He paused, thoughtful, and raked his fingers through his hair. “Dr. Hirch’s coding has failed. If it happened to you, then what of your siblings? Aalexis is already showing signs.”

  Ellyssa thought about Leland’s experience with Aalexis. She’d wondered how her younger sister was developing. “I don’t know.”

  “And you just used a contraction,” he said, with a slight shake of his head. “So much has changed. To answer your question…we were just discussing what to do when you showed up. Of course, I had no idea the visitors would include you.” He paused for a moment, smiling. “I think you both had better come with me.”

  As soon as Ellyssa walked inside behind Leland, everyone quieted, all of them watching her. Some looked concerned, but most were uncertain.

  Without a word, Leland walked through the throng, into a back room and kicked aside a rug to reveal a door in the floor. He pulled it open and moved down a set of lighted steps.

  “You’ll like this,” Leland said.

  Grasping Woody’s hand, Ellyssa followed Leland into the basement. The room was small, with brick walls and a cement floor. The air was cool, but amazingly dry. A dehumidifier hummed in the corner.

  “Weapons?” she asked, indicating the unmarked boxes.

  “Some of it, yes,” he answered, looking at hers and Woody’s interlaced hands. “But that is not what I wanted to show you.”

  He approached a table set against the wall closest to the stairwell. A white tarp covered the contents.

  “This is right up your alley,” he said, pulling off the cover.

  Sticks of dynamite coiled together in sets of five, held by black tape. Wires ran from a digital timer to a thin golden bridge wire, inserted into an electric blasting cap.

  “We were discussing the possibility of destroying the entire Center,” Leland said.

  40

  Rein woke on his back, with no memory of how he’d gotten to where he was. Absolute darkness spun before his eyes. Not even a sliver of light spilled from under a door or through a crack.

  His mouth felt like a desert, tongue swollen, lips dried and cracked. The cool of the tiled floor felt great against the side of his face. Despite his fevered state, chills swept through him. With every shiver, his muscles shrieked.

  The only parts of him that
didn’t hurt were his arms. The deadened limbs were still tied behind his back, and he was lying on them. He carefully rolled over to one side. Blood rushed into his numb arms, sending needles that stabbed from within.

  Unimaginably unbearable.

  Rein mewed pitifully, as tears welled in his eyes.

  Ellyssa had told him what her sister could do, but she’d said nothing about the actual power the little girl wielded. He’d never felt anything as intense as the sense of being disemboweled and coals burning in his stomach.

  Not once had she touched him.

  Not once.

  Aalexis had crawled inside his head, pulling and tugging, making him experience pain that wasn’t really there.

  Even worse, Rein had almost betrayed his family. The treachery had formed on his lips more than once during his torture.

  He hadn’t divulged their location, though.

  He’d been too busy screaming.

  Light stormed into the room, its shards stabbing Rein’s eyes. He slammed his lids shut. When he finally peeked from beneath his lashes, two figures stood silhouetted against the brightness, distorted by the shine curving around the edges of his vision. One was tall and broad, the other small and thin. Foreign words were exchanged between them as they stepped toward him.

  Rein screamed.

  41

  Ellyssa felt better than she had for the last few days. She was clean, she was fed, and she was going to get Rein.

  Hopefully, he was still alive. Hope—just like the characters had in Of Mice and Men, and that story ended with death. Despair reared its ugly head. She shoved it back down.

  Ellyssa glanced at Woody, who kept turning the bomb over in his hands while he studied it. As Woody’s nervous fingers fumbled with the wiring, the strain of worry crumpled his face. Ellyssa wondered if his unease was because of Rein, or because he held enough explosives to blast the house off the map.

  “Once we are inside, we report to Maintenance. They will assign us floors, and we go to work. That simple.” Ellyssa patted his shoulder. “Everything will be fine.”

  Woody’s eyes met Ellyssa’s, his grey mixing with her sky-blue, like the heavens were brewing up a storm.

  “Ellyssa, I want to tell you something.” Woody hesitated, and he looked away.

  “Go ahead,” she urged.

  Woody leaned over, face intense. “Before we do this, I want you to know how much I care for you.” He gazed at her pointedly, brows arched, as if this sudden revelation was supposed to enlighten her. Nothing extraordinary happened.

  Confused, Ellyssa scrutinized him. He kept staring at her, encouraging her to find the answer. Denying herself the easiest route to explanation, she said, “I care for you, too.”

  Sighing, the corner of his mouth drawn back in frustration. Those signs were easy for her to read.

  “That’s not what I’m talking about,” Woody said, sharp and irritated. The same tone he had used when she’d first met him.

  She placed her hands on her hips. “Then, tell me what you do mean.”

  Woody opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Leland bounded down the steps. Looking back down at the explosives, Woody started to fumble with the wiring again.

  Leland stopped at the foot of the stairs, his head turning from Woody to Ellyssa. “Did I interrupt something?”

  Ellyssa gave Woody a hard look. “No. I was explaining how to set the timer.”

  “Oh.” He sounded relieved. “It’s rather easy. Just like a kitchen timer.”

  “Haven’t really used one of those,” Woody said. He set the bomb down with the others on the table. “But it seems relatively simple.”

  Leland smiled. “Of course,” he said, setting the bag on the ground. “I have some stuff for you.” He pulled out a yellow wig, the color of sunflowers, and a small white container. He held the container out to Ellyssa. “You should find this interesting.”

  “What is it?” she asked, taking it.

  “Open it.”

  Ellyssa unscrewed the lid. A flimsy lens floated in liquid. Although she’d never seen a contact lens before, poor eyesight being a thing of the past, she knew what they were. “Where did you get these?”

  “Actually, I don’t even know. I request the item, and a day later, I have it. The Resistance is a lot bigger than you think. Bigger than what I even know.” Apparently pleased with himself, he smiled. “These don’t improve your eyesight. They change your eye color. Once we are done, no one will recognize you.”

  “What about me?” asked Woody.

  “I have a pair for you,” Leland answered, pulling out another container. “Your hair will be fine, especially for a job like the maintenance crew.”

  Woody’s face reddened. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means your hair color makes you acceptable for that type of work,” Leland said matter-of-factly, blind to how the words affected Woody.

  Ellyssa squeezed Woody’s hand. “It’s how society runs,” she reminded him.

  Leland reached back into his bag of tricks, like the mythical Santa Claus Ellyssa had read about, and withdrew two orange jumpsuits. He handed one to Ellyssa and one to Woody. “And you’ll need these.” From his pocket, he produced two badges, each with a barcode on one side and a magstripe on the other.

  Ellyssa was taken aback. “How did you get these?” she asked, reading the name ‘Amanda Keller’.

  “I made them,” he answered, as if creating fake identifications was something he did every day. “I learned more than one thing in all my years of service.” He wagged his eyebrows and handed Woody his.

  “Impressive.”

  “Very,” agreed Woody. He showed Ellyssa his badge. ‘Carl Mueller’ was printed above the bar code.

  “We’re all set, then. Shift change,” Leland checked his watch, “in seven hours. You’ll be working nights. Easier to avoid personnel.”

  “What about pictures?”

  “As soon as you don your new looks, I’ll take care of them.” Leland touched Ellyssa’s upper arm lightly. It was the first time he’d ever tried such a gesture of friendship. “I promise, by the time you get to work, you’ll be in the system.”

  The fall evening was much cooler than when she’d left The Center weeks ago. Crisp air blew from Lake Michigan, and Ellyssa pulled the collar of the long jacket tighter around her neck.

  She blended in easily with the sea of blonds wearing orange jumpsuits under coats. Smiles plastered on their faces, they strolled to their respective jobs. Just another night of fulfilling their duties.

  With Woody a few paces behind, she passed the white sign with bold, black letters—Center for Genetic Research & Eugenics—and through the gate.

  The Center loomed ahead, reminding her of Frankenstein’s castle. She’d never thought she’d see her old home again, much less go inside, yet here she was. Her heart thumped, like a rising crescendo.

  Anxiety. She’d left The Center fully feeling that sensation, and now, she returned with it.

  Before the emotion could fully grip her, causing beads of sweat on her forehead—a sure sign in the cool temperatures that something was amiss—she concentrated on blocking the unproductive emotion. She had to keep calm.

  For Woody’s sake.

  For Rein’s.

  At the thought of Woody, she peered over her shoulder. He walked behind her, head held high, gait strong and sure. The nervousness and uncertainty he’d displayed earlier in the day were gone.

  Before they’d left, she’d worried that he wouldn’t be able to blend into society, but after the briefing with Leland, as he explained procedures to them, Woody was raring to go. His relaxed demeanor amazed her, especially since the backpack hanging from his back carried four bundles of explosives.

  The dangerous job of arming the homemade bombs in engineering, two levels beneath the main floor of The Center, fell on Woody. Boilers, propane tanks, and gas heaters were jammed together on the lower level. It made sense to place the e
xplosives there, but the problem was getting out in time.

  Ellyssa didn’t like the idea of Woody endangering his life, but what choice did she have? She had to find Rein, and she knew the layout of the building. She had a pretty good idea of where Rein would be held; it was the getting there that would prove difficult. One hour from the time she and Woody parted was all she would have.

  Following the line of workers, she entered her old home through a set of double doors. Immediately, all the color of the outside world washed away in brilliant white. A disinfectant smell wafted through the air, giving rise to a hospital-like atmosphere. The ceiling rose high above her to where three red banners with black swastikas hung; their colors contrasted sharply against the blinding white surrounding her. Toward the back, the day-workers exited the building. Neat and orderly, one set in, the other set out.

  To the left, two guards in drab grey uniforms manned the check-in station. One perched on a stool in front of a computer, the other scrutinized the workers with a smile. He greeted a few of the people as they passed.

  Ellyssa approached the security guard at the computer. He was an older male, about fifty, with grey streaks at his temples. He smiled at her, just as he smiled at everyone else.

  “How are you today?” she asked, swiping her card.

  “Fine. Thank you.”

  He paused while he matched her face with the picture on the monitor. “You’re new?”

  “Yes. Today is my first day.”

  “You’ll love working here. I’ve been here for twenty years.”

  “Really?”

  Funny. Ellyssa had lived within these very walls for almost as long as he’d worked here, yet she’d never met him. Of course, she’d never met anyone other than the doctor and his assistants. Aside from a few field exercises, she’d never left the few approved floors, which were connected to the entrance by private elevators that could only be accessed with a special card.

  Security was tight at The Center.

  The guard nodded. “You’ll need to report to the maintenance office first, one level below, to fill out your paperwork. Go to the first set of elevators, push L1, and the office will be to your left when you exit. Just walk down the hall,” he said, dismissing her.