“Kara here will wheel you to your room,” Victor said, “and she will assist you with anything you need. Rest up, and we will assess your condition tomorrow morning to decide how best to proceed next.” I nodded at Victor as Kara wheeled me out of the room into the hall.
“You know,” she said once she’d wheeled me a safe distance down the hallway, “I respect what you’re doing and what you had to give up in order to do it.”
“Thanks. How come you’re not doing it?”
“They never asked me to. I guess I don’t meet their requirements.”
“They actually have requirements for this?”
“Well, health-wise, yes. I have a heart murmur and diabetes so all of the drugs I have to take coupled with the added strain it would have on my heart would make it more of a death sentence to me than anything else.”
“Oh…geez, Kara. I’m sorry. I didn‘t know.”
“Don’t be sorry. I’m still working for the Cause. That satisfies me enough.”
We entered the sitting room where Cameron, Kyle and Edwin were watching the massive movie screen of a television.
“It’s alive,” Cameron announced in his best Dr. Frankenstein imitation.
“Can it, kid,” Kara grumbled.
“Hey, Kyle. I guess you owe me fifty big ones.”
“I swear, Cameron,” Kara began. “I’ve had about enough of you today. Don’t you dare think I won’t snap, because I will.”
“Oh, come on, Kara. You know I’m just kidding. Besides, I have to say, Celaine, you look a heck of a lot better than Blake did.”
“I’ll take the credit for that, thank you,” Edwin stood up in the middle of the room, beaming. “If it weren’t for my new design concept with its more efficient control of the electrical impulses on the brain, she would still be unconscious right now.”
“Wow,” I began. “So, when are you going to find something to control the pain because, quite frankly, right now I couldn’t care less about how your transmitter is keeping me conscious enough to endure it.”
“Dang, Edwin, she told you.” I had clearly amused Cameron.
“Yeah, we’re still working on that,” Edwin replied, clearly deflated.
“Well,” Kara chimed in, “I’m going to wheel Celaine to her room. You’ll have to flirt with her another night.”
“Can do,” Cameron winked. Kara rolled her eyes. Something told me this was the only way she knew how to deal with Cameron civilly.
“Does everyone have to stay here?” I asked after Kara wheeled me through the steel doors that lead to my room.
“No, that’s the funny thing. The only ones who have to stick around here are you and Blake. The rest of us are free to come and go as long as we stick to the stringent levels of confidentiality required here. But most of us stay anyway. Only Lars, Marcus, Inez, Henry and Becca are married with families or have any semblance of a life. Of course, their families have no idea what exactly it is they do for a living, and I know that, especially for Lars and Marcus, all the secrecy has caused quite a few rifts in their marriages. We work long hours and, although it compares nothing to what Blake and you are doing, we receive free boarding and meals if we choose to utilize them on top of our annual salary. You can’t beat that anywhere else.”
“I suppose not.”
“Besides, Cameron shouldn’t be unleashed upon the outside world.”
“I’m not going to argue with you there.”
“We’re all pretty committed to this place. You could say that most of us are a little too committed. Heck, I haven’t had a date in five years. But I figure that my sister will never have an opportunity to live her life, let alone date, so I have nothing to complain about.”
We arrived at the door to my room. Kara picked up my hand and placed my thumb against the plate. After a quick scan, the door slid open. “Why didn’t you just open the door with your thumb?” I asked.
“That would only work if you were in the room.”
“Are you saying that the room senses when I’m there?’
“Kind of. It logs you into the system when you enter and when you leave. When you leave, it logs your departure and doesn’t allow anyone access unless you’ve given them permission in the system. When someone wants to enter your room, they press their thumb to the name plate and their presence is announced. You can either say “yes” or “no” to let them in. However, in the case of you and Blake, being who you are, you’re automatically allowed entrance into the other’s room in case of an emergency. It’s nice in a sense. At least you can rest easy knowing that you have some sort of privacy.”
She wheeled me to my bed, grabbing me around the waist to help me to my feet. I was a little more wobbly than I’d been back in the lab. With my hand, I searched behind my back until I found the sheet on my bed and allowed myself to plop down, jolting my neck forward, sending a wave of pain through my body. My hand moved up the back of my neck until I hit bandages, locating the surgical incision.
“The stitches should be able to come out in about a week,” Kara said reassuringly.
“Did they beat me while I was out, too?”
She smiled. “No. But I would watch my back if I were you around Dr. Martin.”
“He doesn’t scare me. I can take him.”
“I’ll give you that.”
“Can I ask you a question?” I asked while slowly lifting my feet from the floor to the bed.
“Sure.”
“What happened to your sister?” She looked surprised, but not shocked that I’d asked her that question. “I mean, if you don’t mind. You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”
“No…no, it’s okay.” She spread a thin sheet over my body, rubbing the stiffness out of my arms and legs. “Well, like most of us here, my life was torn apart by all the devastation created by The Man in Black. My sister…Hannah was her name…was driving home from a trip to Annapolis when the bridge she was stuck on during rush hour traffic was bombed. They searched the river and the wreckage for weeks. In the beginning, we prayed they’d find her alive, trapped in her car with only minor injuries. But, as more time passed, we came to the realization that wasn’t going to happen. In the end, they never found her body, just pieces of her car.”
She’d grown solemn, making me feel guilty for having mentioned it. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up,” I said.
“No…no, it’s all right. Besides, I’ve heard you’re no stranger to tragedy yourself.”
“I was basically orphaned at the age of seventeen when The Lakes mall was bombed.”
“The Lakes? I was there after that happened. Well, I should say I was assisting with the injured in transporting them to Hope Memorial. I’m a certified EMT.”
“Hope Memorial? My father was the head of the pediatric unit there.”
“Oh, yeah, I’d heard that a doctor from that hospital had been killed. Dr. Stevens. Wow, I don’t know how I didn’t put two and two together with your last name being Stevens and all.”
“You know, it’s funny because the moment I first saw you at breakfast I thought you looked familiar.” It was then that a moment of clarity struck me like a rogue bolt of lightning. As I looked up at Kara, I realized that I remembered where I’d seen her face before. The memory was blurred, but I remembered the face perfectly. “You said you were an EMT. This may be a stupid question but…did you, by chance, work solely out of an ambulance or did you pretty much stay at the scene of the explosion to assist with the injured?”
“I treated the injured via ambulance from the scene until their arrival at Hope Memorial. I was also interviewed on the news later that night about the need for more volunteers and blood donors. Perhaps that’s where you recognize me from. All I know is that…that day was horrible. It was the second worst day of my life outside of my sister’s death.” Her gaze focused on nothing in particular within the room as though becoming overwhelmed by the memories from that day. “I treated patients from ages two to ei
ghty-two. That day, I learned that pain, suffering and death don’t discriminate, nor do they take any prisoners. Aside from all of the chaos, though, I think my most vivid memory from that day has to be when we took in the girl who rescuers plucked off a ledge created when the parking ramp imploded in the blast. I remember her being…different. She was different than the rest of the injured…so innocent and fragile…and darn near catatonic…it’s like all life had been sucked out of her…like she had nothing left to care about anymore. To this day, I’ve often wondered what became of her after we dropped her off at the hospital. She’s been in my thoughts since that day quite a bit actually.”
If I’d had any residual doubts, there was now no question why I’d recognized Kara from the get go, nor why I’d felt such a strange connection to her since my arrival here. A lump developed in my throat, rendering me barely able to squeak out, “Is your last name Topper by chance?”
Kara sat stunned, staring at me intently. “Yes. How did you know that?’
“It was the name on the badge of the EMT who cared for me after I was plucked from the ledge of the parking ramp at The Lakes Mall.”
Kara gasped, cupping her hands to her mouth. “Oh, God…of course…” She cried as I reached my sore arms out to her. Taking me in, she wrapped her arms around me, and we both sobbed hysterically. On that day, Kara adopted me as her sister.
Chapter Seventeen
The Making of a Superhero
After Kara went to bed, I discovered that my revamped body made sleep pretty close to impossible. I felt uneasy, at edge even. Following the deaths of my family, I’d begun experiencing severe anxiety and panic attacks. I likened the feeling I was currently experiencing to what I went through with those attacks. My skin felt as though it were crawling, all but forcing me to get up and down out of bed numerous times, unable to sit still. Throughout my chest, my heart was pounding like a bongo drum, and I was uncomfortably short of breath. If I wasn’t able to calm myself down soon, I’d surely be paid a visit by either Martin or Harris. To add insult to injury, the back of my neck was still throbbing as if broken glass had been implanted into it.
Thankfully, Kara had been able to sneak a sedative into my room. She knew I would be on edge, in pain, and probably unable to sleep on my own. I’d consciously decided that I wouldn’t touch it unless absolutely necessary. After the one thousandth time of getting out of bed, I decided that necessity had taken over, and I took the pill with the hopes of being able to relax enough to put myself out of my misery.
****
With one final thrust, the door to the parking ramp squealed open. The cold air rushed through my body, chilling me to the bone. I took off, running toward my parents’ vehicle. As in all my other dreams, they were inside, trapped. Jake was kicking the back passenger side windows with both feet in a vain attempt to break through the glass. Carol was screaming. George wore a blank expression, staring straight ahead at something my eyes could not yet see. It was only after I approached them that I saw what was catching George’s attention. It was him. As in all the other dreams, I couldn’t make out any distinct features because his face was always hidden by a dark fog, but I knew what was to happen next. It was inevitable, but I wouldn’t allow myself to accept it. I was much closer now than I had been before and I wasn’t going to fail them this time, or so I thought. In a split second, my body was flung back through the familiar door of the department store that I’d once again fought so valiantly to open. The parking garage imploded and then they were gone.
I shot up in bed, my heart racing, sweat dripping down my body. My hand drifted to a night stand that wasn’t where it should be when I then remembered where I was. There would be no comforting call to Chase this time, or ever again for that matter. Dejected, I slumped back down on my bed, knowing that I was wide awake now and, barring another sleeping pill, I was most likely not going to be able to return to any form of measurable slumber.
The tone sounded then, signaling morning, meaning it was probably between six and seven o‘clock. My body still felt like it’d been used as a punching bag the night before. I knew that I didn’t have to get up, that they wouldn’t be expecting me to show my face at breakfast, but I figured since my resiliency had already impressed them up to this point, why let them down now?
Painfully, I pushed myself up and headed toward the bathroom. Upon passing the mirror, my eyes did a double take at the sight of the strange girl staring back at me. I hadn’t looked at myself in the mirror since the night I arrived, and already the difference in the two reflections was marked. There was still the hint of devastation and anguish present in the expression of the woman before me. However, there was also a new sense of strength and determination present in her eyes that hadn’t been there during our last encounter.
My eyes trailed down from my face to my arms. There was something distinctly different about them. Already, I could see a noticeable difference in the structure of the muscles composing them. They were toned, appearing as though I’d been pumping iron for at least a good six months. I ran my fingers down them, feeling every taut muscle. With the way they poised themselves, I imagined them propelling my body forward in a series of hand springs. I assumed this had to be some supernatural side effect of the adrenaline coupled with another substance that they purposefully neglected to tell me about. Jitters, a less ideal side effect, invaded my body as though I’d downed a couple of dozen cups of coffee. I turned on the cold water, splashing my face. It didn’t help much, but it was something.
The hallway was empty when I stepped out into it on my way to the dining hall. Before this morning, I hadn’t noticed how long it truly was and, in my assessment of its length, I couldn’t help but think about how it would serve as the perfect human runway for me to utilize all of the pent up energy that pleaded for release. Was I really stronger? Was I faster? Well, there was one way to find out. Stopping in the middle of the hallway, I took a deep breath and began running as fast as I could to the end of it.
It felt as if I hadn’t taken more than a couple of steps when I felt my body smash into something solid, instantaneously hurling me to the ground with such force that I lay stunned on the cold linoleum floor, the wind knocked out of me. Once I could breathe again, I sorely raised my head up to see what I could have possibly run into in an open and empty hallway. What I saw when I lifted my head sent shock waves through me. I was at the other end of the hallway and the object in front of me was the wall I’d been trying to run to. I gasped at the sight of the obviously damaged cement. Not only had I apparently run into it, but there was a noticeable dent in the area where my upper torso struck it. The dent resembled a crater of about two inches in depth and was permanently imprinted into the cement wall.
Still in shock, I looked behind me to the point where I began my run; that point was probably a half a football field away. How was any of this possible? I patted my body down to see if I sustained any damage upon impact. Surprisingly, I looked fine. This can’t be real, I thought to myself.
Still unconvinced, I knew there was only one way to find out. As I began to stand I decided to add a little extra spring to my step to test the waters. Using my arms to steady my body, I pushed myself up from the floor as hard as I could. To my amazement, the added spring I was shooting for turned into a full blown catapult propelling my body six feet into the air before I landed perfectly on my feet. Okay, one more test, I thought.
Never in my life had I been able to do a cartwheel, let alone a front handspring so, since I was doing the unbelievable anyway, I figured why stop now. Standing up straight, I held my arms out in front of me and let my body fall forward. It was like riding a bicycle. I did, one…two….eight handsprings, landing on my feet at the end of the adjoining hall. Maybe this new body wouldn’t be so bad after all. For the first time since my arrival here, I smiled out of satisfaction.
Blake left the code to each of the doors on my dresser. Keying them in, I opened each set of doors throughout the various section
s of the Epicenter. Upon approaching the dining hall, I could hear various conversations radiating from the room, most if which were centered on me. What struck me as odd, though, was the fact that I could delineate who was speaking and what was being said even from the opposite end of the hall. Everyone’s voice was crisp and unnaturally amplified.
“How was she feeling when you left, Kara?” Dr. Harris’ voice was the most recognizable amongst the commotion.
“Great. I can’t believe how well she’s doing, actually.”
“That’s good to hear.” Victor was speaking now. “You two seem to be getting close.”
“Well, we have a lot in common,” Kara responded.
“Dr. Martin, when do you think it will be safe to begin her training?” Victor asked just as I walked into the room, causing disbelieving stares and gasps to emanate from around the table.
“I’m pretty sure I’m ready now,” I answered.
Blake looked at me with an expression that screamed, “shut up and sit down, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into”.
“This is utterly astounding,” Marcus stated. “Edwin, I guess congratulations are in order. Your new design has proven to be pretty effective.” Edwin beamed. Something made me guess that he wasn’t the usual recipient of recognition around here.
“How are you feeling?” Lana asked. Her curly red hair was tucked into a neat bun at the base of her neck.
“I’m still sore, but I’m no worse for wear than that wall is out there.” I pointed in the direction of the hallway, explaining to everyone my activities of the morning.
“Oh, I have got to see this!” Cameron exclaimed as he, Kyle, Drew and Colby simultaneously took off down the hall.
The smell of French toast caught my nose. My stomach screamed in an anguished response. “Eat,” Victor grinned. “As always, we have plenty.”
I took my seat next to Blake, helping myself to the daily variety of breakfast food. For some reason, everything tasted better than it ever had before. The textures of the food and their individual flavors hit my palate, creating a virtual samba in my mouth.
Enigma Black Page 16
