Wild-born

by Adrian Howell

  Ralph grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the lounge. I stumbled after him.

  “I can’t leave without Alia, Ralph,” I said, tugging my arm free but keeping pace with him as we headed down the corridor toward the elevator. “I just can’t!”

  “You can and you will! I hate to lose a healer too, but it can’t be helped. We’re out of time!”

  We came to the elevator room. Both the outer and inner security gates were open, revealing the elevator doors a bit farther in. There were bodies of soldiers strewn about the place. Some were bleeding, some burned, while others just looked unconscious, probably having been suffocated by Ralph or perhaps knocked out with gas from their own grenades. Three of the dead bodies wore white coats, and I recognized Dr. Otis among them. I didn’t particularly dislike Dr. Otis, but nor did I feel sad or anything seeing him lying there. Everything was happening too quickly and none of it felt very real.

  There were two grim-faced women standing near the elevator who I had never seen before, but I instantly knew by their out-of-place normal clothes that they were Ralph’s Guardians. The rest of the team must have already escorted Mr. Koontz and Janice out of the facility. The elevator doors were closed, but the blinking lights above them showed that the car was coming down to us.

  “Nine minutes to auto-destruct,” announced the flat computer voice.

  Ralph grinned. “It’s going to be close, but we’ll make it.”

  Derrick came on the speakers again. He said excitedly, “Ralph, I think I know where she is! The video log shows someone pulling her into the other elevator.”

  The other elevator? Level 11! That was where the bomb was, and the power generators, and Nightmare’s cell down farther below.

  I felt my world stop turning.

  I looked up at Ralph. All I had to do was follow him into the elevator and I would be free. I had once told Alia that I would protect her. But how could that promise matter now? If there was even the slightest chance to save her, then maybe… But Dr. Kellogg was right: It was too late for her. I had to get out. If I died here, what would happen to Cat?

  The elevator doors opened.

  I shut my eyes tightly, and suddenly I saw Alia’s face as plainly as if she were standing right in front of me. Alia, who had taught me how to block Ralph. Alia, who had saved my life in the forest… who had come running after me all alone when I had gone into town. Every breath I took I owed to her, and even if I didn’t… No, I couldn’t leave her here, even if all I could do for her now was…

  “I’m going after Alia,” I said quietly.

  Ralph stared at me. “You’ll die, lad.”

  “I know,” I replied, surprised at how calm I felt. Ralph wasn’t causing it. What he said was true, but it just didn’t matter.

  Ralph frowned. “Cindy won’t be happy, you know.”

  “She’ll understand,” I said. “Tell her that I kept my promise. Tell her sorry from me.”

  Ralph slowly reached out to shake my hand, but I didn’t take it. Ralph grinned, saying, “Smart lad you are, little destroyer.”

  “Goodbye, Ralph.”

  I turned and ran back down the corridor.

  Mr. Koontz had once shown me where the other elevator room was. It didn’t take long to get there. The single security door to the elevator room was left wide open, and I sprinted inside. At the other side of the small room was the elevator to Level 11.

  It was a bright red wire cage type, like those at construction sites, but the elevator car itself was not on this floor. I hit the only button next to the door, and the motor shuddered noisily to life. I watched the thick metal cable in the shaft start to move as the computer announced that I now had eight minutes left to live.

  I waited impatiently for the cage to arrive. As soon as the door opened, I jumped in and hit the “down” button. I was still barefoot, but fortunately the cage floor was lined with thin rubber padding, so I didn’t get drained. The door slid back into place, clanging shut, and the elevator shuddered once more before beginning to descend. A moment later, I could see Level 11 through the cage wall.

  It was a cavern. Nearly three stories high, the vast chamber had a roughly paved floor set with what looked like an enormous boiler and a bunch of other large machines, many of which were making loud whirring and hissing noises. There were a few rusted tractor-like vehicles and drilling machines here too, remnants of the research center’s construction decades ago.

  As the elevator continued its slow descent, I finally began to feel the full weight of what I had come here to do.

  “This,” I muttered savagely to myself, “is why you should never make promises.”

  I didn’t really mean that, of course, but I found that a little raw anger could go a long way to steadying my nerves. The calm I had felt speaking to Ralph a moment ago had all but vanished, and I could no longer pretend that I wasn’t afraid. I decided that I wouldn’t mind dying down here so long as it wasn’t for nothing. The elevator cage was nearly at the bottom now. I wondered if I really could find Alia in the next…

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

  The cage shuddered to a stop and the door slowly slid open. I stepped out.

  Near the elevator were stairs leading even farther down into the darkness. Did they lead to Nightmare’s holding chamber? Was Alia on this floor, or below? I decided to ignore the stairs and search Level 11.

  I suspected that Alia was still being drained, so I shouted, “Alia! Use your mouth! Say anything! Alia!”

  My voice echoed around the colossal room as I walked briskly between the giant whirring machines, calling her name again and again. Had I been thinking clearer, I would have levitated myself up above the machines to quicken my search, but my mounting panic was starting to impair my judgment. There was no sign of Alia or Dr. Denman.

  I shouted at the top of my lungs, “Ali, if you can’t speak, at least scream something! Please just scream something!”

  There was no answer. I kicked one of the machines and roared at the ceiling, cursing in frustration. There was so little time left, and I was going to die here alone.

  Just as I was about to double back and head for Level 12, I heard Alia cry out, “A-yi!”

  I sensed something move to my left.

  “One false move, Psionic, and I’ll slit her filthy throat.”

  I slowly turned toward them. Standing between two bulky machines, Dr. Denman was gripping Alia’s shoulder with his left hand, and had a surgical knife pressed against her neck with his right.

  “Six minutes to auto-destruct,” the monotone continued irritatingly.

  Suddenly the whole room started to shake like an earthquake. I lost my balance and nearly fell over. The vibration continued for a few seconds and then stopped. Steadying myself, I looked at Dr. Denman and Alia again. There was a thin red line across Alia’s neck where the doctor’s knife had slipped. Alia whimpered, struggling feebly against his grasp. The cut wasn’t deep and there wasn’t much blood on her neck, but she still had her control rods extended so she couldn’t heal herself.

  “Want to know what that is?” Dr. Denman laughed manically. “That, Psionic, is Nightmare. He’s still asleep. I take it P-31 did a runner, which means it’s only a matter of time before Nightmare has another nightmare, and we get to share it too.”

  “We’ll be dead long before that, Doctor,” I replied evenly. It was almost worth it to know that he would share our fate.

  “Oh, you mean the bomb?” said Dr. Denman, laughing again. “I can disable that from here. As for Nightmare, it’s just a short walk down the stairs to his chamber, and then I can use my remote to wake him up.”

  “Then why don’t you?”

  “Why don’t I?” he repeated mockingly. “Because it’d scare you lot off and leave me in peace, that’s why.”

  “Why did you bring Alia down here?”

  “This little brat is more valuable than the lot of you put together,” he sneered as he tightened his grip
on Alia’s shoulder. “Dead or alive, she stays.”

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

  Dr. Denman smirked. “You want me to disable the auto-destruct? Then here’s how. Point that dangerous little finger at yourself, and die!”

  “You released William!” I exclaimed.

  “Not as dumb as you look, are you, Psionic?”

  “You don’t care who dies, as long as you survive.”

  “Come on, I don’t have all day. Kill yourself now, and I’ll take good care of P-46.”

  “You coward!” I screamed furiously.

  “Don’t you dare take another step!” Dr. Denman yelled back, pressing the knife harder against Alia’s neck. Blood started to trickle slowly out of the cut he made. Some of it dripped down onto Alia’s shirt, and some ran down the side of the knife and onto Dr. Denman’s right hand. Alia was clenching her teeth, refusing to scream.

  The room started to vibrate again, though only a little.

  I decided to chance it and kicked off lightly, hovering two feet over the trembling floor as I swiftly stretched my right arm forward with my palm open. I knew I didn’t have time for a focused finger shot. All I needed to do was blast Dr. Denman away from Alia. I’d hit or at least graze Alia too, but I figured that as long as I didn’t kill her, she could probably heal herself once I removed her control bands and wiped the blood off her skin.

  The moment I fired, I saw Alia violently jerk herself away from Dr. Denman’s grasp. The surgical knife made another thin line on her neck, but didn’t draw much blood as Alia broke free. My blast hit Dr. Denman squarely in the chest, knocking him backwards and throwing the knife from his hands. I was pushed backwards too, but in the last two weeks, I had learned how not to fall out of the air doing this.

  The tremor stopped. I landed and ran forward, grabbing the knife. The metal handle had been wrapped in surgical tape. Before I could lunge at Dr. Denman with it, however, Alia grabbed hold of me, wrapping her arms tightly around my waist.

  I heard the computer declare that we were down to our last four minutes.

  Dr. Denman had already picked himself up. He was breathing heavily, clutching his chest.

  “You think this changes anything?” he leered. “I’m the only one who can shut the bomb off.”

  “So shut it off!” I shouted.

  “Kill yourself and I’ll think about it,” said Dr. Denman, vigorously wiping his right hand on his pants to remove Alia’s blood.

  “Never thought a little blood would scare a doctor,” I taunted. “But then again, you’re not just any doctor.”

  “You have no idea.”

  “Oh, but I do,” I said, looking deep into his eyes, because I finally did know. “You’re a graviton!”

  Dr. Denman froze. Then his thin pursed lips curled almost imperceptibly as his hawk-like eyes glared back at me.

  “Well, well, discovered at last,” he said. “That’s right, Psionic, I am a graviton, and a fair hider too.”

  “What are you doing here, Doctor?” I asked quietly. “What are you doing at this facility?”

  “What am I doing?!” roared Dr. Denman, his wrinkled old face contorting with rage. “I’m trying to find a cure to this insanity! People aren’t supposed to be able to do these things!”

  “You killed Dr. Kellogg!”

  “He was in my way,” said Dr. Denman, taking a step forward, “just like you are now. I am going to continue my work. You, Psionic, cannot be a part of it anymore.”

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

  I knew Dr. Denman meant to kill me. There was no way for him to return to his work if I was alive, knowing he was psionic. Alia would have to die too.

  I dropped the knife. Alia still had her arms around me, so I pulled her off and forced her down onto the floor. Then I turned to face Dr. Denman.

  “You can’t win, Doctor,” I said as matter-of-factly as I could. “I won’t let you touch me this time.”

  Dr. Denman’s eyes glinted maliciously as he replied, “I didn’t have to touch the ceiling when I killed Kellogg.”

  I tried to extend my arms toward him, but suddenly they became so heavy I couldn’t lift them at all. My whole body was being pulled downwards. The weight wasn’t just on top of me. The weight was in me. It was me. I felt like I was drowning in thick mud, barely able to move.

  I had lost. Even if I could concentrate, there was no way to blast him at this distance without stretching my arms toward him, but by now I could barely tell my arms from the rest of my stone-like body. I fell to my knees and my vision started to become hazy.

  Something white darted in front of me. I inhaled a huge gulp of air, and my vision cleared instantly. I looked at Dr. Denman, who was struggling with – Alia! He hit her hard across the face, sending her flying. Dr. Denman’s face was streaked with Alia’s blood where she had wiped it on him.

  It wasn’t enough to drain him completely. It wasn’t enough to drain him much at all.

  But it was enough.

  Even as he refocused his power on me, I forced both of my arms up and blasted him hard. He was hurled backward, slammed into one of the whirring machines and slid down its side, his body limp. His power was completely broken, and I could stand again.

  “A-yi!” Alia cried loudly, and an instant later she was in my arms, hugging me tightly.

  “Two minutes to auto-destruct,” said the mechanical voice.

  I picked Alia up and carried her over to Dr. Denman, who was still faintly breathing. He was just knocked out. For a fleeting instant, I felt like blasting the life out of him, but there was enough of Cindy in me by now not to act on that kind of impulse. Besides, I knew that Dr. Denman, along with Alia and me, would be dead in just under two minutes anyway, and I had something much more important to do.

  Setting Alia down, I quickly searched Dr. Denman’s pockets and found his little white remote control. It was identical to the one Dr. Kellogg showed me on my first day here. I pushed 4-6-U, and Alia’s control bands snapped open, falling to the floor. I threw the remote control into the air and blasted it into tiny pieces.

  Then I helped wipe the blood off of Alia’s neck and fingers, and the cuts on her neck disappeared before my eyes. I heard her quiet voice in my head say, “I knew you’d come, Addy.”

  I took her hand and led her away from Dr. Denman. We walked back toward the elevator. The cage door was still open, but there was no point in getting on. The computer announced, “One minute to auto-destruct.”

  Alia squeezed my hand tighter. I looked at her sadly, wondering if there really was an afterlife and whether I would see her there. This would probably have been the moment to say something deeply profound, but nothing came to mind.

  “I’m sorry I was so late,” I said.

  “It’s okay,” said Alia as she smiled and hugged me again.

  I thought about Cindy, and how she’d never see Alia or me again. I thought about Ralph, who had once tried to goad me into killing him, and realized I still hadn’t figured that man out. I thought about Cat, who would live out her life as an Angel slave, perhaps someday having psionic powers of her own. I thought about Dr. Kellogg, who had died upstairs. “Get out, Adrian,” he had said. “You don’t belong here anyway.”

  But I did belong here. Mark knew it, and so did Cindy. I belonged with Alia. Here and now, that really was everything that mattered, and while that might be a far cry from living happily ever after, it was the very best I could ask for at such short notice.

  “Addy, will it hurt us when we die?”

  “No,” I heard myself say as I held Alia closer, feeling her small heart beating rapidly against mine. “No, Ali, it won’t hurt.”

  I wasn’t counting the seconds, but I knew we had less than a handful left. I took one final deep breath, and closed my eyes.

  Chapter 18: Nightmare

  “Auto-destruct sequence malfunction. System disconnect,” said the flat computer voice.

 
“Addy?”

  I slowly opened my eyes. What had happened?

  “Boom,” said a cold voice in the distance.

  Leaning heavily against the giant boiler, Dr. Denman was eyeing us malevolently.

  “First thing I did when I got down here was disconnect the bomb,” he said with a smirk. “When you lead a life like mine, you tend not to leave very much to chance.”

  But even as he said that, I thought I heard a distant howling sound deep below my feet, and the next instant, everything was moving.

  It wasn’t just vibrating anymore. The whole cavern was starting to twist as if it was made of rubber. All three of us were thrown to the floor. The tremor got worse and worse. I tried levitating myself off the floor, but this time the air was pulsing too, and I was rocked back and forth in midair, quickly losing my concentration. I could hardly believe that the machines and the elevator hadn’t broken into a billion pieces, but everything was still intact.

  What was this power that Nightmare had? I had destroyed the remote control, which meant Dr. Denman couldn’t shock Nightmare awake even if he could somehow get down to the holding chamber below.

  It didn’t matter. If the elevator still worked, then now was our only chance. Alia and I were far closer to it than Dr. Denman, and he wouldn’t be able to focus his power on us.

  Stumbling over and over, I half-ran, half-crawled to the elevator, dragging Alia along with me. Alia was no longer just a helpless little girl, though. Sometimes she was pulling me.

  We got into the elevator. I couldn’t stand up, so I telekinetically pushed the “up” button. The door slid closed, and even though we were vibrating enough to knock a building down, the elevator crawled upwards.

  The shaking was lesser on Level 10. We scrambled through the corridors to the main elevator, expecting at any moment to meet more doctors or guards. I froze once when I saw the wall-mounted automatic guns next to the elevator. They had been shut off when I was here earlier, but there was no way to know if it was still safe until we stepped in front of them.

  They didn’t fire. I pushed the button next to the elevator, and the doors slid open at once. Ralph must have sent the car back down after he had reached Level 2.