Wild-born

by Adrian Howell

  Dr. Kellogg smiled. “That’s a compliment, isn’t it?”

  “You once promised me truth,” I said quietly.

  “I remember.”

  “So what are you doing down here, Doctor? Don’t you have a family somewhere?”

  Dr. Kellogg gazed at me sadly for a moment, and then said, “I had a family, Adrian. I had a son and a daughter, not much older than you and Alia. But some years ago, they were killed, along with my wife, in an automobile accident.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Dr. Kellogg gave me a slight nod and continued, “For all my studies, Adrian, for all my training as a psychologist, I couldn’t deal with my own emotions. I was living in a house full of memories and hurt and nothing else. I thought I would go insane.”

  Dr. Kellogg paused, looking up at the ceiling for a moment. Then he sighed softly and turned to me again, saying, “So, when I was offered a position here, I accepted. They didn’t tell me what I was getting into. They just told me that it would be important work far from home. That’s all I wanted, really. Just to get away from it all.” Dr. Kellogg gave me a sympathetic smile. “You know how that feels, Adrian.”

  I smiled too. “Yeah, I know how that feels.”

  “So now you know why I’m here,” said Dr. Kellogg.

  “Well, there had to be a reason.”

  “Adrian, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, because I know it’s a terrible thing to say, but I’m glad that you’re here. I’m glad I met you.”

  I nodded. “I’m sorry about what happened to your family, Dr. Kellogg, but I’m glad you’re here too.”

  “Thank you, Adrian,” said Dr. Kellogg. “That means a lot to me.”

  We sat together for a minute more, and then Dr. Kellogg gestured toward my dinner tray and said, “You’d better eat before it gets too cold. I have to be going now. Is there anything else you would like?”

  “Please, Doctor,” I said, “please watch over Alia for me.”

  “I will,” promised Dr. Kellogg, standing up. “It’ll be her first night alone, but I dare say she’ll be alright. She’s made a lot of progress in the last few weeks.”

  “Yes, she has,” I agreed quietly.

  “No doubt thanks to those stories you’ve been telling her.”

  The moment our eyes met, I was almost certain that Dr. Kellogg knew much more than he was letting on, but he quickly turned his back to me and requested the door be opened.

  Stepping into the airlock, Dr. Kellogg said, “Don’t worry too much, Adrian. Enjoy your dinner and try to get a good night’s sleep. We’ll see you first thing after breakfast and get you out of here before lunch.”

  As I watched Dr. Kellogg disappear behind the airlock door, the fear that I had managed to suppress during our conversation came rushing back to me in full force. I wondered if I would still be alive at lunch tomorrow.

  It took a long time before I could get to sleep that night, and when I finally did, it was one nightmare after another. I dreamt that I was being chased by the Wolves. I saw Alia dead in a pool of blood, which swelled into an ocean and swept me toward a whirlpool of wind and mud. Then I saw the giant black stone wall towering over me before it started to crumble and bury me under a mountain of rock.

  I opened my eyes. My cell was almost pitch-black, the only glow coming from the dimmed ceiling light. I stood up, and suddenly I felt a presence in the room with me. I turned around once, but I couldn’t see who or what it was. Feeling a tingling in my right hand, I looked down at my palm.

  There was a small mouth in the middle of it, which opened to speak. “I’m sorry this dream is incomplete, Adrian,” said the mouth, “but I’m having a little trouble with Nightmare at the moment.”

  I held my open palm closer to my disbelieving eyes. “Mr. Koontz?!”

  “Alia told me in the evening that you didn’t return from your walk, and I pretty much guessed what had happened even before I got the details from Dr. Kellogg. I’ve just sent a dream to your friends above, telling them the situation. I’m sorry, Adrian, but I told them to give up and leave. I knew you wouldn’t want to risk your friends. This is the least I can do for you now, and I do hope we meet again.”

  The mouth on my palm vanished, and I opened my eyes again.

  For a moment, I lay there wondering if this was a dream as well, but the hard mat was uncomfortable enough to reassure me that I was awake, so I stood up and stretched my legs. According to Dr. Kellogg’s watch, which lay next to my mat, it was still only 2am.

  I lay down again and stared up at the ceiling. Despite my surprise in seeing a mouth on the palm of my hand, I hadn’t actually woken inside Mr. Koontz’s dreamweave like I usually did in Derrick’s, and Mr. Koontz’s exact words were fading quickly from my mind. But I still remembered his basic message: It was over. The Guardians wouldn’t come.

  But Mr. Koontz was right to do what he did. The questioning tomorrow would probably lead to Alia being asked similar questions, and there was very little chance that she could keep what we had been doing a secret. I’d be lucky to spend the rest of my life locked away like Nightmare or the insane pyroid, William. At least the Guardians would know not to try to rescue us. At least Cindy would be safe.

  I closed my eyes.

  “Boo!” said a girl’s voice.

  I jumped up and found myself face to face with, of all people, Alia.

  “Derrick!” I exclaimed, and forgetting that he couldn’t hear me, asked, “What are you doing here?!”

  “Incompetent boy!” hissed Derrick’s Alia. Even though I knew I was dreaming, it still felt very strange to see Alia’s mouth move as she said irately, “Ralph is very displeased, and I was afraid you might never go back to sleep. It’s past three in the morning now. We are not going to wait for your hearing. We will commence our attack at precisely four o’clock. That’s 4am, you hear?! Once we get to the Central Control Room, we will lock the elevator doors on Levels 3 through 9, and then disable all security doors on Level 10, but you are to remain where you are. We do not want you caught in the crossfire. I am dreamweaving to Alia to stay put as well. Wake up now and get yourself ready. Wake up, Adrian!”

  My eyes snapped open. I was breathing rapidly as I looked at Dr. Kellogg’s watch. It was 3:45. I stood up, stretched, and leaned against the wall, steadying my nerves. It was about to happen.

  I slowly began to focus my telekinetic energy around my wrists, just under my control bands.

  3:50… 3:55… 3:59… Four o’clock. I continued to focus my energy around my wrists as I waited. I could hear my heart thumping loudly in the sheer, crushing silence. Still nothing happened. 4:01… 4:03… 4:05…

  I felt a slight vibration in my control bands. The rods were extending. A microsecond before they touched my skin, however, I released the two most powerful blasts I could from around each of my wrists. They tore the control bands apart, and the plastic casings splintered against the concrete walls.

  An unbearably long minute later, both the inner and outer airlock doors slid open, and I could hear the sound of a klaxon and lots of shouting coming from the brightly lit corridor beyond.

  Chapter 17: The Countdown

  I ignored Derrick’s warning to stay put. I had to find Alia and make sure that she was okay. I jumped out into the corridor, squinting in the sudden light as I tried to get my bearings. Though I knew that I was still on Level 10, I didn’t recognize this part of the complex.

  Suddenly, a small group of armed guards came running down the corridor toward me. But just as I thought they were going to point their guns at me, they ran past. It was a different shift at this time and, in the confusion, they didn’t even bother to look at me. I guessed that their job was to protect the elevator entrance, so I followed them at a distance. I had seen the outer door to the elevator room before, so I knew I could find my way back to Alia’s room from there. I didn’t care if the cameras saw me. My cell doors had opened, which meant that the Guardians were already in the Level 2 Central
Control Room.

  Sure enough, I heard the overhead speaker crackle, and what I instantly recognized as Derrick’s real voice said, “Adrian, find a place to hide. Ralph’s on his way down.”

  I kept running, following the guards. My plastic slippers were slowing me down, so I kicked them off and went barefoot, which also made me quieter.

  After a few twists and turns, I was back in a familiar part of Level 10. I didn’t actually want to go to the elevator entrance since all the guards in the complex were probably converging on that location, and bumping into them could be a fatal mistake. Instead, I headed down a different corridor that would take me safely around the imminent battle.

  I passed another pair of guards. They shouted something at me, but I wasn’t listening. If they were going to shoot, let them! But a moment later, I was alone again, running down the last stretch of corridor that led to Alia’s room.

  The airlock doors were open here too, and I rushed inside, looking around frantically. Under the bed?! No! In the bathroom?! Empty! Where was she?!

  “Alia!” I shouted at the top of my voice. “Ali! Where are you?!”

  Why would she leave the room by herself? She had to be here on Level 10 somewhere. I wondered if she had been knocked out or perhaps even killed, but then I remembered the control bands. She was being drained! Even if she could hear me, she wouldn’t be able to answer telepathically.

  I looked up at the ceiling camera. “Derrick! Check the cameras! Where’s Alia?”

  “I’m checking, Adrian,” replied Derrick through the speaker. “There are a lot of cameras. Give us a moment. We’ve got other problems too. Just stay there in the room till we come get you.”

  The klaxons stopped. I could hear gunfire coming from down the corridor, probably near the elevator. Some were individual shots, while others were rapid bursts of machinegun fire. I heard some small explosions as well, which I guessed were the gas grenades. Even from inside the room, I could feel a slight breeze blowing through the corridors. Ralph must have been brewing up a storm.

  And there was something else I could feel. It was William, the pyroid who had lost his mind when he was separated from the Angels after conversion. I could sense him somewhere nearby. He must have broken free of his control bands too, because now I felt his full strength.

  I heard Derrick over the speaker again. “Ralph, I can’t disable it! You’re down to fourteen minutes again! Get moving!”

  I started for the door.

  “Where are you going, Adrian?” shouted Derrick. “I told you to stay put!”

  “I have to find Alia!”

  “No! There’s no time,” Derrick said in a panicky voice. “The auto-destruct kicked in the moment we entered. I managed to reset the timer once, but I can’t shut it off. We’re almost down to thirteen minutes now including getaway time.”

  “Reset it again!” I shouted as I rushed out of the room.

  “I can’t! If you’re going anywhere, go to the elevator. Find Ralph!”

  Where was Alia? In our four months here, we had hardly ever left our room if we could help it. Had she gone looking for me, like she did back on Mark’s hill? Where would she have looked? Thinking I knew the answer, I sprinted toward the lounge where we used to talk with Mr. Koontz, letting my telekinesis push me from behind. The corridors were empty now. The guards had all gone to the elevator, and the doctors were nowhere in sight.

  I burst into the lounge.

  It had been demolished. One of the tables was on its side. Some chairs had been thrown about and broken. And a giant piece of the concrete ceiling had come crashing down onto the floor. Amidst the rubble, I could just make out the head and shoulders of a man whose body was pinned under the heavy rock.

  “Dr. Kellogg!” I shouted, rushing up to him. What little I could see of his chest was covered in blood. There was some blood around his lips too. He looked dead, and I was about to leave the lounge when…

  “Adrian,” gasped Dr. Kellogg, opening his eyes. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  Crouching beside him, I answered quietly, “I’m getting out of here, Doctor. I’m going to find Alia, and then I’m leaving.”

  “Good for you,” said Dr. Kellogg, wincing in pain. “You don’t belong here anyway.”

  “I’ll get you out, Doctor,” I said, though I knew I could never lift this much solid concrete. “I’ll find Alia and come back. I won’t let you die here.”

  “No, Adrian… Get out…” Dr. Kellogg looked at me, more blood trickling from his mouth. He winced again and said weakly, “Too late… for Alia… you… get out now…”

  “What do you mean, Doctor?” I asked. “Where is Alia?!”

  “Denman…” he said, closing his eyes. “He…”

  “Dr. Kellogg!”

  I couldn’t tell if he was breathing. He was either dead or unconscious. I stood up and looked at the wreckage. What had happened here? Suddenly I didn’t care. Dr. Denman must have taken Alia from her room. I had to find them.

  The intercom crackled to life again, and Derrick said in an agitated tone, “I’m working on it, Ralph!”

  I couldn’t hear what Ralph was saying, wherever he was, but it looked like the battle was still raging.

  A moment later, Derrick shouted triumphantly, “I got it!”

  A mechanical voice that sounded neither male nor female began to speak through the intercom. It said in a monotone, “Auto-destruct sequence silent countdown has been disengaged.”

  Derrick had managed to turn off the auto-destruct! I nearly jumped for joy. We would have time to find Alia.

  But then the voice continued, “Twelve minutes to auto-destruct.”

  What?! Derrick hadn’t turned off the auto-destruct after all. He just turned off the “silent countdown” mode, so that this machine voice could announce how much longer we had left to live! I heard Derrick curse loudly over the speakers as I ran out of the lounge.

  Level 10 was much too large to search in one hour, to say nothing of twelve minutes, and considering we had to get out well before that, there was even less time. I thought about going to Dr. Denman’s office, but I didn’t have a clue where it was.

  “Adrian, behind you!” Derrick’s voice rang out through the corridor.

  I spun around, instinctively ducking at the same time. A jet of bright orange flame shot over my head. About fifteen yards down the corridor stood a pale-skinned man with thin, light brown hair that extended past his shoulders. He was wearing the same white shirt and pants that were issued to all psionics in this place. In my panic over Dr. Kellogg and the auto-destruct system, I had forgotten to keep track of the pyroid.

  William was drooling at the mouth, and his feet were unsteady as if he was drunk or hadn’t walked in a long time. He let out a low roar and, from his outstretched arms, shot another flame at me. I jumped into the air, levitating myself against the corridor ceiling as the fireball flew under me. Dropping to the floor, I returned a telekinetic blast which knocked him slightly backwards, but I could do little to hurt him at this distance.

  Then I noticed his wrists. William was still wearing his control bands! I ducked back into the lounge as another flame shot by. William would be here in a moment. If only I could drain him, there would be no need to fight. But I didn’t know his identification number. His bracelets would be stenciled, but too small to read at a distance, and I wasn’t about to lift up his sleeve to check his tattoo.

  “Derrick!” I yelled hysterically. “Lock the control bands! Lock all of them!”

  “I can’t, Adrian!” Derrick shouted back. “All I could get were the doors and elevator. I have no control over the bands, or the destruct, or anything! I’m locked out of half the systems! Adrian, the bands can still be controlled by the remote controls that the doctors carry.”

  “I don’t know his number!”

  “It’s 37. Be quick, he’s coming!”

  There was no other way out of the lounge. The only other exit, which led to another corrido
r, had also caved in. I rushed back to where Dr. Kellogg lay trapped under the concrete slab. He was clearly dead. I looked in the only pocket I could see, which was the front left of his shirt.

  It was empty.

  I reached into the small crack between Dr. Kellogg’s body and the concrete slab, extending my arm as far as it would go. I knew what the remote controls looked like. They were small and white. Dr. Kellogg usually kept his in one of his pants pockets. I couldn’t reach that far. I didn’t even know which pocket it was in. Derrick said something over the intercom, and the computer voice was speaking again too, but I wasn’t listening to either of them. I closed my eyes, knowing that at any second, William would appear in the doorway and set me on fire.

  Pull it toward me, I thought desperately. Just like picking a pocket from a restaurant roof.

  But I couldn’t do it. Perhaps Dr. Kellogg didn’t have his remote control, or more likely it was smashed or jammed under the concrete.

  I turned my head to the doorway. William was standing right there, looking at me. His long hair was whipping about his face as if he was caught in a storm. He stretched out his arms again, ready to burn me alive. I closed my eyes, feeling the wind on my face too. The wind…

  “It needs oxygen to burn,” said a familiar raspy voice.

  I opened my eyes. William was still standing in the doorway. I saw a glint of silver at his chest, but because it was facing me, it took a moment for me to realize that it was the tip of a long blade. William fell forward, revealing the wrinkled, leathery face and fidgeting, gangly form of Ralph P. Henderson. I almost smiled.

  “Ten minutes to auto-destruct,” said the computer voice.

  “Come on, lad,” said Ralph, lightly stepping over William’s body and into the lounge. “It’s time to get you out of here.”

  “I can’t find Alia!” I said frantically, pulling my arm out from under the stone slab and standing up.

  Ralph didn’t care. “We’ve got the dreamweaver and the light-foot. They’re already going up, lad. You have to come too. Now!”