Rogue (Exceptional)

by Petosa, Jess

  "You did it, Ally," Sabine said through sniffles. "You did it just like you said you would."

  Ally had pulled back now, but Stosh still clutched onto Sabine, her head resting against his chest. Her brother's eyes found her own. "You did this?"

  "I didn't want to say anything last night, in case Luke didn't follow through, but I saw an opportunity and took it."

  "And what did that cost you?" Max said from behind her.

  Ally turned her body so that she was facing him. "Information. Nothing about Champaign or Heath, just personal information."

  Max nodded and then spoke in an even tone, "Luke may not remember you, Ally, but you still have influence over him."

  Ally wasn't sure how to respond to that, and thankfully she didn't have to. Sabine pulled a mini port from her pocket and handed it to Ally.

  "Luke gave this to me himself. He said to use it if you need to contact him for any reason. He also pointed out that you can only call him on it."

  Ally looked down at the mini port. She had only used one a handful of times but thought she might remember how to call someone.

  "Good," she said. "Because there is something I forgot to tell him."

  At first Ally was surprised when Luke showed up only five minutes after she called for him. Then again, his office was situated just two floors above the apartment she was being kept in. The Guard who retriever her led her into the hall, where Luke was waiting. He was dressed down today, in the same white garments he'd worn around the City when she first met him.

  Ally fell in step beside him. "Where is Aden?"

  Luke raised an eyebrow at her. His mouth opened slightly and she knew that he was on the verge of correcting how she addressed his father. But he paused, surprising both of them.

  "Why?" he finally responded.

  They stepped into the elevator, and the Guard from the hall held back. The doors shut but Luke didn't move to push any of the buttons. Instead, he pulled a red knob out and the elevator stayed still and silent.

  "During my time in the City, Aden was everywhere. And if you couldn't see him, people were at least talking about him. But now, it's as if he disappeared. Where is he, Luke?"

  Ally noticed that he didn't flinch when she said his name.

  Luke sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "It's better if I show you." Luke pushed the red knob back in and pressed one of the floor buttons. The elevator lurched into movement, moving down. The elevators opened to a white, pristine hall with just one door at the end.

  "Is this really why you called me this morning?" he asked as he led her down the hall.

  Ally wasn't sure she wanted to tell him more until she saw Aden. "No, not completely. Maybe after we see your father."

  Luke used a key card and an eye scanner to get them into the door at the end of the hall. He let Ally pass through before him, and they entered another hall identical to the first. This time doors lined the side.

  Ally paused in the doorway.

  "You believe me...." she said.

  "About what?" Luke stopped in front of her and looked over his shoulder.

  "About us? You believe me, right? I can't think of any other reason you would bring me down here on a whim, if you didn't." The last words came out almost a whisper.

  Luke gazed at the floor for a moment, and then his violet eyes met Ally's.

  "Yes, I believe you." He turned and began walking back down the hall.

  They stopped three doors in and Luke pulled out his key card to open the door. Inside a Guard sat on a chair, his arms crossed over his chest and his expression bored.

  The Guard jumped up when he noticed Luke.

  "Sir," he said with a nod.

  Luke dismissed him with a look and stepped further into the room. Ally followed closely behind, trying to avoid touching him or coming to close. Being around him this much was bringing back old feelings, and old habits. It would be easy to slip her hand into his, or to set her head on his shoulder.

  The room was on the smaller side. There was a tiny window at the far end, with black bars placed over it. There was a large TV on the wall, and some sitting furniture in the corner. Most of the room was taken up by a large, white hospital bed. In it, sat Aden. He was watching something on the TV, his attention drawn somewhere other than his new visitors.

  Ally was startled by his appearance. His skin was pallid and wrinkled, and his hair was thinning in the front. He looked weak lying in that hospital bed. He reminded her of any other sick Ordinary back in the settlement, when they would be put on their death beds, made comfortable for their inevitable fate.

  "Is he..." she started.

  "No," Luke said quickly. "We don't really know what's wrong with him, but he isn't infected."

  It was then that Aden finally noticed them. His eyes were still tense, and his smirk still unfriendly. In that instance, Ally lost any form of sympathy she had felt when she first saw him. Even beaten and broken down, he was still Aden. He was still the man that killed her mother, imprisoned Ordinarys, and made Luke's life miserable.

  "Well this must feel awkward, Allona," Aden said. His voice was weak and raspy.

  Ally pushed past Luke and made her way to Aden's bed, no longer fearful of him and what he might do. "You did this to Luke, didn't you?”

  Aden smiled, but the effort looked grim. "I found it ... necessary."

  Luke was on the other side of the bed now, frowning down at his father. "Necessary for what?"

  "Keeping you on task, Lukin. If I hadn't, you might have left the City in search of some girl. An Ordinary girl, now, I see."

  Ally wished she still felt her abilities buzzing through her. It would be hard to control herself in here though, she could feel her temper changing with each word that left Aden's lips.

  "Even if you had them, it wouldn't work in here," Aden said with a short laugh. She realized that he had all but read her mind.

  Luke looked up at Ally. "The room is specially designed like the holding cell you were in when you first arrived. It prevents him from using his abilities."

  "How?" Ally asked.

  "We aren't sure, but this material holds Exceptional abilities at bay. We used to cover hands with thick objects, even going as far as to encase prisoners' hands in cement, but this is less... primal." He looked at the walls and up at the ceiling.

  Luke seemed tense for a moment. He looked everywhere but Ally first, and then finally his eyes met hers. "Was I really going to leave with you?"

  "You weren't going to leave when I left, but I don't know if you planned to follow later." It was a thought that had run through her mind. During those first few weeks, when she was dragging her brother, Sabine, and Willow through the wilderness, she wondered if she might come across Luke. She knew it was dangerous to hope like that, and in the end she hadn't found Luke, but now at least she knew why. He didn't come because he didn't know there was anyone out there worth looking for.

  "So why are you back, Ally?" Aden asked. "You don't strike me as one to be caught, nor someone who'd surrender just to be with the love of her life."

  Even though Aden was mocking her, she knew in a way, he was complimenting her. She had always believed he thought of her as weak and useless, until she became Exceptional, and even then he viewed her as a tool. But from his words, it seemed as if maybe he regarded her more highly than she had originally thought.

  Well, as long as they were being honest with each other ...

  "You started the virus, didn't you?" Ally took a seat at the foot of his bed.

  Luke's eyes grew wide and he looked back and forth between Ally and Aden.

  Aden smiled, the most genuine smile she’d ever seen on him, and nodded his head. "You really are a smart girl."

  "Wait, what?" Luke sank into a chair next to the bed. His words and expression were the closest Ally had seen to the old Luke since her arrival. She ignored the uneasy feeling in her stomach and continued.

  "I didn't come up with it on my own, but I have the inf
ormation now. So, why?" she asked.

  Aden drew up breath and coughed several times into his hands. The cough was wet and harsh, and afterward he wiped a dribble of blood onto the bed sheets.

  "Why are you so interested in the why? What's done is done."

  Ally furrowed her brows together. "It went further than you thought, didn't it? You're nervous and afraid. Afraid that the City won't pull through this."

  Aden looked down at his hands. "I didn't expect the Rogues to gain back so much intelligence, or be so strong."

  "So you gambled with our fate," Luke spoke up, slamming his hand on the bed. "All for what?"

  "I needed a war to win. I needed to prove my usefulness," Aden looked up at Luke. His voice was loud, and his tone stern. "You would understand if you'd had more time to lead. We were getting too comfortable, too used to this life. I knew it would happen, I saw it from the beginning. That is why I started the ORC, to prepare and to have a backup plan. I had my scientists work for years on ways to evolve the virus into something more than just the Exceptional gene."

  "You had it all along?" Luke asked.

  He sounded angry, and Ally understood why. All of that time spent in the training center with the doctors, all of those blood draws as Aden apparently researched for the Exceptional gene. He had it all along, and instead of using it as he had originally said, he turned it into something lethal.

  "We made an antidote, too," Aden said quickly. "Just in case, but something went wrong."

  "That's what's wrong with you," Ally said. "The antidote made you this way."

  "It is weakening my body. It is killing me," he responded.

  Luke pushed the chair back and stood. "Why didn't you tell me any of this before? How many weeks have you been sick? How many tests have the doctors run on you? And for nothing!"

  Ally wanted to say that at least Aden was experiencing everything he put the younger Exceptionals through, but now didn't seem like the appropriate time.

  "I wanted to wait until the right time," Aden responded.

  "Any why is this the right time?" Luke asked.

  Ally wondered the same.

  "Because it is starting ..." Aden barely got the words out before two Guards burst through the door. She recognized one as the Guard that was in the room earlier, and the other as Pax.

  "They're here," Pax said, trying to catch his breath. "They came out of nowhere. Hundreds, out of the water by the factories. They've breached the wall."

  The hair on the back of Ally's neck tingled, and the room stood still for a moment. Luke was frozen in his state of anger, Aden gave the Guards a knowing look, and Ally remained perched on the end of the bed.

  "LUKE!" Pax yelled. "We need to move. Now."

  Everyone started moving at once. The nameless Guard was left with Aden; and Luke, Pax, and Ally exited into the hall. They practically jogged back to the elevator and hurried inside. Luke pressed a button and soon they were back on Ally's floor.

  "Can you find your way back from here?" Luke looked at Ally.

  "You are asking a prisoner to find her own way back to her cell?" Ally raised her eyebrow at him. "Let me help you."

  "How?" Luke said. "You are...."

  Ordinary.

  Luke hadn't finished his thought, but he didn't have to.

  "At least don't leave us caged to die," she snapped at him.

  "They won't get into this building," Luke said. "They won't get past the inner rim."

  "You didn't see them, Luke. They are organized, and prepared." Pax said.

  Luke's glare was deathly. He obviously wanted their situation to appear better than it was.

  "The safest place for us is out of this City," Ally said. "If you don't want us to help, at least let us leave."

  Luke hesitated, hopping on his toes anxiously. "Okay, okay," he said quickly. "Pax will go with you, and get you to the gates. You can't waste time though."

  Pax held his hands up. "Whoa whoa, Luke. I should be with you ..."

  "Get her outside the City," Luke snapped at him. He pushed Pax out of the elevator, put a hand on either door, and looked at Ally. "Be safe."

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  The doors closed and Ally could feel her heartbeat in her ears. She turned on Pax, "Do you remember me?"

  Pax cocked his head at her and gave her a simple "No."

  "One of the last times I saw you, you shot one of my friends and killed him," she crossed her arms over her chest.

  Pax didn't seem surprised; in fact, he didn't react at all. Instead he brushed past her and took off down the long hall, headed for the apartment where the others were. Ally turned and caught up with him.

  "Did you hear me?" she asked.

  Pax stopped and turned to face her. "What do you want me to say? I don't remember killing your friend, but I know he isn't the only Ordinary I've killed. We are at war here, Ally, WHAT do you want me to say?"

  His hands were clenched into fists and he had stepped so close to her than her nose almost bumped his chest. She took several deep breaths and looked up at him.

  "You called me Ally." Her voice was barely a whisper.

  Pax stepped back quickly and ran his hands over his face. "Don't tell Luke, please."

  "How long have you remembered?" she asked quietly.

  Pax rubbed his chin and closed his eyes. "A few weeks now. I've been trying to pretend I don't remember, I really have. Aden had them give me my memories back, he said I would need them. He made me swear not to tell Luke what happened to us."

  "What did happen to you?" Ally stepped toward him.

  "That night at the wall, the night you left, Aden showed up after you blasted those Guards," Pax spoke low and fast. "He said he was going to let you run, but that he needed us on his side. He was going to take our memories so that Luke wouldn't go after you, and he didn't trust me not to tell Luke what had happened after."

  Ally thought she was going to fall into Pax, but instead she ended up leaning against the wall beside him. "So it is reversible?"

  Pax nodded in response.

  "Pax, I need to help," she looked over at him. "I know Luke told you to get us out of the City, but let us help."

  "How?" Pax asked. "You aren't Exceptional anymore."

  "That doesn't make me useless!" Ally spat at him. "We can help. Get us the guns, the ones with the cure in them. We can help," she repeated again and again.

  Pax tilted his head to one side. "You are one odd Ordinary, Ally."

  She rolled her eyes and shoved him down the hall. "Let's get the others."

  When they entered the apartment, the others were mobilized in the main living area and ready to move.

  "A message went across the screen, something about evacuation and a code yellow, we figured something big was happening," Stosh said quickly when he took in Pax and Ally's curious faces.

  "It's time to go." Ally stepped into the room and took her pack from Max. He had it slung over his shoulder. "Luke told me that we can leave the City, he'd let us go. But I think we should stay and help."

  "Are you insane?" Tilt said with a laugh. "Help them after they imprisoned us for over a week? I say we go back to Champaign."

  "Technically they didn't do anything we wouldn't have done either." Max pointed out. "It's standard, and for all we know Heath is on his way with the remainder of the guns."

  Ally nodded. "It isn't like Luke threw us into a cramped cell to live on bread and water. Really, it is safer for us in here. I've seen some of the nastier Exceptionals that are in the City, Ordinarys are treated as property, not people."

  Pax didn't refute her words, but just nodded along with her. "I can get the guns you brought with you. Luke has them stored in his office for now."

  That surprised Ally. She thought for sure he would have researchers looking them over and trying to duplicate the cure. He must have had a good talk with Heath, or he didn't trust anyone enough to authorize use of them.

  Pax continued, "We can station you on the roofs of some
of the smaller buildings. You could shoot any Rogue that gets too close to the City Center. The outer Exceptionals, and Ordinarys in the settlements will be evacuated to a compound on the northwest side of the City, The Exceptionals who didn't volunteer to fight will be evacuated to this building. The fifth through eighth floors are set up as a strong hold."

  Ally peered around the group. "Any of you can leave. If you don't want to be apart of this, grab your things and head out of the City. You can probably get in line with the Exceptionals being evacuated. But I'm staying."

  Stosh seemed to struggle for a moment, but then Sabine stepped forward. "I'm staying," she said. "This is my home, after all."

  "I'm staying too," Stosh said.

  "I'm in," Max said with a smile.

  Tilt and Hank shared a look and picked up their packs. "Sorry guys, but we're going to head back to Champaign. If there is a caravan headed this way with guns, maybe we can alert them." Tilt said.

  "You make sure they keep coming," Max stepped right up to Tilt. "Don't turn them around. We need those guns."

  Tilt nodded just slightly, and Ally was suspicious that he planned to do just the opposite.

  Once Tilt and Hank had left the apartment, Pax started to speak. "We didn't expect the Rogues to get past the walls so easily. We were hoping to pick a few of them off and hopefully scare the others. They didn't seem this organized according to our scouting teams, but we were wrong. The back-up plan is to kill first, take prisoners later."

  Ally's eyes widened.

  "I'll gather a group of Guards to stay back and watch over the area you'll be in. If you shoot a Rogue, we can at least drag them into a safe place to recover." Pax said.

  "You need to send us closer to the wall," Max fidgeted with the strap over his shoulder. "If no one makes it to City Center, we won't get to save anyone. Let us save these people."