Everyone else seemed surprised, but I was angrier than I was scared now. Dictator King had fashioned his plan to take a few that they knew had special abilities to test them, experiment on them, and hold them captive for years without his citizens knowing it. Reports of these disappearances had to exist, didn’t they?
Bulletins of the missing were shown every day on billboards and the television from each state, and I had never once seen Caius’ face make an appearance. I knew with absolute certainty that the government was hiding a lot more than just the tidbit of information he had given us. Just as I knew they would kidnap us from our homes after they tested us and found the telltale spots on our blood cells that proved we were different.
An enormous part of me wanted to ask Doctor Aserov about some of those things the next time I saw her, which would be to get my stitches removed the next morning.
Cato interrupted my thoughts with a question that had to have been on all of our minds.
“What did they do to you?” he asked, lips remaining parted in anticipation of the answer even after he finished talking.
I looked at Cato and back to Caius. I was curious as well because, whatever they had done to him, they would be doing to us next. We needed to know, so we knew whether to be prepared for it or to try to hatch an escape plan. At that point, I was sure we would be formulating a plan to escape. I saw Caius’ bottom lip and chin quiver as if he was trying to hold back a sob, and his shoulders hunched over as if he had taken a blow to the gut.
“They took something from me.”
His voice was low and angry, flowing out toward the four of us and making my insides tingle. It made me want to shrink away into a dark corner and remain unseen, but I continued to listen to his story.
“They took a part of me.”
In that instant, I knew just what he meant. The slur in his speech was the effect of what government doctors had taken from within him. I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that they wanted to take something from all the people they were keeping there. I had to stop myself from looking around at everyone. I knew our fate, and I knew why we were there. Well, partially. There was no way to know why they were stealing our abilities to keep as their own other than trying to talk it out of Doctor Aserov or waiting until I was in their clutches and about to be sucked dry.
I made the conscious decision to speak to Doctor Aserov the next morning. I could try to piece everything together and come up with a plan to get everyone out of there. I wasn’t even sure I could do it, but I would give it my best effort
Chapter 17
“Subject one-zero-eight-nine-five,” a deep baritone voice called through the containment center.
That number just happened to be plastered on my identification bracelet in bold black numbers. I looked all four men in the eyes, nodded, and then walked toward the front of the room. Eyes continued to meet mine as I made my way forward, but I couldn’t look into any of them. I wouldn’t let myself. I knew I wouldn’t be able to without telling them to run as fast and as far away as they could. If they were able to make it out of the compound.
I came to stand in front of a man with a shaved head, who was entirely clad in black. The light bounced off his bald head, shining back at me with a glaring brilliance. He had one hand on the gun strapped across his chest, showing me who was the one in control. His eyes were clear amber with gold flecks in them and filled to the brim with arrogant superiority. All I could see was the cold in that stare, and I had to suppress a shiver.
The man grasped my wrist and checked the number on the bracelet, rough and unforgiving in the way he touched me. He grunted, dropped my hand, and moved to my side when he saw the matching numbers. He gripped my forearm with a gloved hand and led me out of the room with his other hand placed on the handle of the gun on his hip.
My heart began to pound behind my ribcage, threatening to break free, but I swallowed hard and let the soldier lead me down the hushed hallways of the compound. I kept my arm perfectly still, even though I wanted to wrench it from his grasp and cross both arms across my chest. I wanted to close myself off from everything and let that distance grow until there was nothing left. It was tempting, but I couldn’t cut myself off like that—especially not when my friends were there with me and were just as scared as I was.
We all had a secret that was out in the open for all to see. We might not have told anyone directly, but I was sure once everyone had awakened and saw who was missing, they would probably put the pieces together rather quickly. We had no home left to go back to, but who did we have to blame for that?
The hallways leading to my cabin seemed too dark, but I was beginning to think that was my state of mind. I looked at the floor as we followed the red line. There wasn’t a single sound floating through the air, and the thought of cemeteries crossed my mind. My attention flashed to the idea that we could all end up dead and in the ground at the hands of these people with unknown intentions.
The feeling of being a caged animal began to creep over me again, causing sweat to break out on my forehead and upper lip. I couldn’t contain it. There was no way to escape it except to let it go.
My hands swung free at my sides, unbound except for the one hand clasped harshly around my upper arm. The man walking beside me was stiff as he moved. It was as if he wasn’t there at all. My mind began to race as we walked farther down the hall and closer to my holding quarters, where I would be closed in by an aura of blue light and electricity.
They had already taken pieces of me, which they had generously given back in the form of a serum I honestly knew nothing about except for what they and Caius had told me. I was beginning to think that Caius was the only one that we could trust.
Anxiety fluttered in my gut as I made the conscious and rash decision to fight for myself. I wasn’t even sure of what I was going to do, but I knew I had to do it before we made it to the rows of cabins and I would be held prisoner there until they could use me. That was a fact I wasn’t willing to accept, and as all people would do, I had to push against it with everything I had until there was nothing left but ruins. What Caius had said would spread panic amongst all of us, and the more I thought about it, the more that same panic was rising within me. It grew uncontrollably, just waiting to be unleashed.
My eyes saw the aura not even twenty yards away from us, and a plan sprang into form. The auras I saw there could be manually disabled but would automatically go back up once a pair of feet crossed the barrier.
Well, who said mine had to be that pair?
We were nearing the aura with hastened steps as if the soldier beside me was ready to be rid of me. He wanted me on the other side of that blockade where I couldn’t reach him. I couldn’t blame him after my little display of power. The tension in his fingers became my driving force. I wouldn’t have been so angry if the terror didn't roll off him like smoke. No one had to say anything, but I knew it. He was new. A seasoned soldier like Ryder knew how to react to us, but the one at my side didn’t. While he looked like the poster boy for military life, I believed he was just a scared little kid on the inside.
We were even closer to the aura, my whole body involuntarily tensed before I had a chance to stop it. My heart began to race even faster in anticipation with each step we took. I still wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I knew that was my moment to act. I couldn’t let it pass. I felt the adrenaline kick in then, jump-starting each muscle fiber in my body. My eyes were scanning everything around me and watching as we grew even closer to the barrier before us.
I glanced down at the floor to see that three colored lines ran next to the red line. The lines were yellow, green, and blue. My mind puzzled, trying to figure out what each one meant. The red line we were now following back toward the holding quarters went to the room they had set aside for emergencies. The blue had to lead to a section of the compound that kept the auras up and running. Color coordination at its best. As far as the green and yellow were concerned, I was utterly clueless. If I h
ad been forced to guess, green would lead to the exits, but the yellow was still a mystery. I was even willing to bet my life on the green being a way out of the compound, and I was fully intent on finding out.
The soldier stopped in front of the aura, and the only thing that kept me from walking into it was the hand pulling at my arm. My head snapped up, and my eyes met the electric blue of the aura only an inch from the tip of my nose. I took a tentative step back, forcing myself not to look at the soldier.
I could already feel his stare on me, and it was more than disapproving. With his other hand, he reached out and a glowing circle spread out from his palm, spinning around its circumference.
The computer called out, “Private Jones”.
I had been right. He was indeed a newbie. That made what I was about to do so much easier. He would likely forget some of the protocol handed down to him about how to handle us.
The aura fell away and folded into the floor, disappearing into the empty line in the threshold. My heart hammered in my throat as if it would jump out at any second. It would be my only chance to see if that green line indeed did lead to freedom, so I had to act, and I had to move fast.
The soldier raised one foot over the invisible line on the floor where the aura had gone and placed it firmly on the ground on the other side. When I didn’t move, he jerked my arm, and then our eyes met. He yelled, and I reached out with my other hand, calling forth the energy inside of me that let me do the unimaginable.
I pushed it out, hitting him in the apex of his chest. His hand released my arm as he flew backward and landed on the ground inside of my cabin, not even ten feet away. The aura snapped back into place with a zapping sound and a flash. I turned and quickly found the green line running along the floor in the dim lighting of the compound.
The lights were for some of their more sensitive subjects. That was fine by me. It might even make me harder to spot if I moved along the walls. I began to walk the line, letting my hand skim the smooth wall beside me. My eyes moved in all directions, watching for anyone who may be coming to stop me. I used my ears to track movement behind me, but there was none.
Why hasn’t an alarm sounded yet? They have to have safeguards in place for something like this, right?
I went straight down the hall that led back to the emergency bunker for a long time, but then there was a sharp turn to my right. I took it, not even hesitating to make the turn as long as the green line on the floor led me there.
A noise that sounded like a shrill bird shrieking flew through the air, and red lights began to flash, replacing the blue softness with its harshness. I started to run, but I had to look back to make sure no one followed, which slowed me down considerably.
The soft slap of the thin rubber soles of my shoes on the tile floor as I ran was drowned out by the alarm, but I could still hear the air coming in and out of my lungs in a rush. I was even beginning to sweat from the exertion.
The compound was like a maze. After a long series of turns, I finally saw a door with a hint of sunlight around its edges. A smile crossed my face, and I pushed myself even harder to get to it. There was still no one following me that I could hear or see. If there was anyone, they were even better at hiding themselves than I expected them to be. Either way, I had found the exit, and I was going to go through it. It didn’t matter how far away from that door I was. I was going to make it outside, and they couldn’t stop me, but their lack of a response, besides the alarm, was worrisome.
My legs moved at a breakneck speed as I closed in on the door and the natural light spilling in around it. I nearly ran into the door and had to put both hands out to stop myself. My hands met the bar at the door, pushing it open to be greeted by blissfully blinding sunlight and feeling its warmth for all of a few beautiful seconds.
My eyes had barely adjusted enough for me to see distant ruins, small outdoor housings, and an abundance of green before I felt the warmth of two hands on my shoulders. I stumbled backward as I was pulled into the red darkness, letting loose a shrill scream that echoed in my ears.
My backside hit the floor, the breath pushing from my lungs from the power of the impact. While trying to choke in a few breaths, two hands grabbed the front of my shirt and jerked me up into a standing position. My head was swimming, and my back ached from the force. I met two brown eyes as Jones pushed me into the wall behind me, moving both hands to my throat. He wasn’t applying enough pressure to choke me. Yet.
“I’m not going to let you get away that easy, freak.”
He practically spat the words in my face, and I fought the urge to wipe it clean. His saliva quickly turned cold on my skin, and the look in his eyes was just as icy and filled with rage. I’d made him look like a fool, and he was going to make me pay for it.
He pulled back a fist and hit me so hard that I saw stars. Or maybe that was just the flashing red lights. I wasn’t sure. My head lolled to the side as I tried to regain my composure from the pain that spread through my cheek and all the way up to my temple. I was going to have a black eye, but that was the least of my worries.
I lifted my knee and brought it up into his groin with so much force that it drove a startled yelp of pain from his mouth. He let go of me to curl around the injury, and I took that opportunity to punch him in the face, slamming my fist into it with all of the strength I contained.
A black rivulet of blood slid down his cheek from a cut at the corner of his eye. Some of it ended up on my knuckles, and I fought the urge to wipe it on my white pants. I held my hand out, and instead of focusing that energy on pushing him down and into the floor, I directed my attention to the cells flowing through his veins.
As I caused the atoms within them to rub together, I could even see the small bit of blood on his face begin to bubble slightly in the near dark. Watching it was even more satisfying than causing it, and I couldn’t force my gaze away. It was fascinating, and even I had to marvel at how the water in the blood evaporated and left it congealed like a blood clot on his upper lip. If I hadn’t already known I could do such things, I would have been extremely impressed.
He began to scream as the coagulating blood inside his veins turned them black and spread in a network of dead blood underneath his skin.
The metal click of guns sounded as they were pointed at me, and Ryder’s voice sounded through the open space. “Subject one-zero-eight-nine-five, stop!”
It was a shock to hear him use my identification number instead of my name, but I kept it from seeping into my face. I looked at him and let him see the anger and rage there. At least ten other soldiers were surrounding me. Apparently, I was more of a threat than I’d thought I was.
I didn’t let my power wane as I stared at him. There was understanding in Ryder’s eyes, but he had a job to do, and he was going to do it no matter what it would mean for me. That shock of recognition flooded through me again. I just had no idea how I knew him. The flashing red lights around us made his eyes look muddy as I looked into them, but it didn’t matter to me how much he understood. I knew more, and it was enough to make me angry and terrified enough to run.
Jones’ screams were overpowering the shrieking of the alarm that echoed around us. There was so much stimulation around me at that moment. I kept my eyes focused on Ryder and his band of brothers. All of their guns were pointed at me, and the men’s trigger fingers were held at the ready as if some of the soldiers were just dying to pull them. I couldn’t blame them.
Was Jones right? Are we freaks? No. We are the next step in humanity, according to the announcement. So why are they trying so hard to contain us? Wouldn’t the human race want to evolve into something better than them? With that thought, I pushed more energy into the atoms of Jones’ blood cells and listened to him scream and writhe, all the while continuing to look Ryder in the eye.
They would all know what we could do at some point, and they already knew I was dangerous enough, so why not give them a reason to be scared?
An odd sensation began
to flow outward from my abdomen. I was somehow going numb in slow motion. Then a slight pain like a needle stick struck me in the epicenter of the numbness. When it spread into my outstretched arm the power was forced back into me with a jolt and a flash that sent me to the ground.
My mind was swimming, and the room wouldn’t stand still. I looked down at my abdomen and a tranquilizer dart was embedded in my skin. It was small and silver, and it glinted red in the emergency lights flashing around us. The shrieking of the alarm had finally stopped, but my ears were still ringing from it. As I lie there, I reached down with my other arm and pulled the dart out of my flesh. There was no pain, only a slight pressure as my skin released the sharp tip and blood began to pool on my white shirt.
I let my arm fall to the floor beside me once the numbness began to spread into it. The dart skidded along the floor with a metal clank as I watched in silence, my breaths coming slow and labored as the Paralisix took over.
I turned my head to see Ryder walking toward me, gun down at his side, and a couple soldiers carrying Jones away. Ryder knelt down in front of me and pulled a walkie-talkie from his hip, the muffled static a faint sound. I couldn’t make out what he said into it as he watched me succumb to the Paralisix. Then everything went black.
Chapter 18
I awoke with a start, and pain flooded through the whole left side of my head and temples, causing me to inhale sharply in a hiss. A massive migraine was under way, caused by the high dose of Paralisix it had taken to put me on the ground.
From what I could tell, my body kept adjusting to the doses of the drug and would possibly keep going until I overdosed or became completely immune to its effects. I was hoping for the latter. Clean white walls surrounded me. I looked around the large room, and noticed I was planted directly in the middle of it.
The Harvested (The Permutation Archives Book 1) Page 11
