“... Just nervous about Father.” I placed my hands in my jacket pockets.
“Hey, don’t sweat it. We’re fine, Wallflower.” Eyna smiled.
Wes placed a finger on his lips. The stomping of boots crunching in the snow sounded in front of us. Soldiers were patrolling. Ambert pointed for us to go towards the corner of the Antiserum plant, and we did as he said. I hugged the wall like it was my best friend. If any guards saw Enya or Ambert, we would be in trouble.
Enya accidentally lit a small flame in her hand. “Darn it...”
She quickly put it out by shaking her hand and took a quick breath in.
“I heard something this way.” a guard’s voice echoed from our side.
My heart thumped, ready to escape from my chest. I wanted to run, but doing so would expose us for sure. There was nothing we could do but keep silent. They would catch us.
Keeping as still as possible, the four of us took only shallow breaths. The marching soldiers drew closer and closer. I could almost see us with bullet wounds in our heads.
A clank came from an alleyway a little ways away. Would that help? I looked up to the sky and let snow fall on my face as if making a prayer. Oh, please, let us be okay...
The sound of marching faded away. We were safe… for now.
“That was close.” Enya made sure her voice spoke in a whisper.
“I’ll say. The dream-killers almost caught us,” Wes said.
“Why is security so high? Is it because of you?” I asked Ambert.
Ambert shrugged his shoulders. “It wasn’t this bad yesterday. Normally the guards rotate through here every ten minutes.”
“And that doesn’t sound bad to you?” Enya raised an eyebrow.
“Let’s just be glad it’s over now,” I uttered.
“Come on, Aurelia isn’t going to wait all day.” Wes pressed forward, using the back of the Antiserum manufacturing building as a way to keep himself hidden.
Questions spun in and out of my head as we reached The Science Department. The building was short, black, and had automatic glass doors. Metallic handrails and edges covered the building. It kept all of its secrets locked away with the wired fence surrounding it.
“Come on, Calista,” Wes paused, “We’ve got dreaming to do.”
I nodded and glared back at Ambert. He smiled at me as I stepped forward to follow Wes.
Enya and Ambert waved at us before leaving to go to The Information Department.
My heart thumped even louder, breathing heavier than before. I never thought of a day where I would be so nervous to lose my brother since he was sixteen. The time had come so swiftly it was unexpected. I was terrified at the path ahead of me, and curiosity faded to fear.
Wes put his hand on my shoulder and looked into a sketchbook. “We’ll be fine.”
“What if—” I worried for my life and for our plan.
Wes shut the book in his hands and placed it back in his backpack. “Don’t sweat about what might happen. We’ll worry about it then.”
I nodded. “Let’s get going.”
Our mission started, and there was no way I could retreat now. If we were caught, I would either die a Dreamer or die a coward. Either way, Project Dark Phoenix was about to be unveiled, and my curiosity of it controlled me.
I jumped the wire fence.
Twenty-Two:
We made our way across the empty courtyard to the science division entrance.
Short metal structures made up the science division and information department, and a tall building stood for where The Commander lived. That building was built just for the purpose for him to look down on the world he made. Not a fun world, and I would consider it bland to look down on. All five buildings connected into a pentagon of gray-- The Regime’s Core.
“How are we getting in?” I placed a hand on my sick stomach. Maybe I shouldn’t have jumped the fence.
BEEEEEEEEP!
‘A hover car...’
“Hide,” Wes ordered.
We hid in the bushes beside the front entrance.
The black hover car parked itself before its owner walked out of it, the car door slamming shut.
“Hugo Knight. What a pleasant surprise!” a scientist in a black lab coat and red tie walked out to meet my father on the pavement.
I recognized him. My eyes widened in realization. He was from one of my dreams! I swore he was, yet I had never seen him before. The question of being an oracle loomed over me again and I didn’t like it. If I was, all of my dreams were important… and more importantly, very real.
My father produced a wicked smile as he shook the scientist’s hand. The scientist raised his eyebrow as he smiled back at my father. They looked like they were conspiring against us. We were about to learn their secret. What were they really working on?
I whispered, “My father said whatever he’s working on would be life-changing.”
“Not a good sign,” Wes said.
My father looked in our direction.
Wes and I sat in the bushes completely still. My father’s cold, smokey eyes almost stared directly at me. A chill ran up my spine as I saw him smile. To my surprise, he slowly looked away. I let out a sigh.
“Are there more people?” Father asked, looking forward to what was ahead.
The scientist nodded. “We received another batch of Dreamer kids last night. If we weaponize them and their powers, I doubt we'll have any more trouble, especially with Project Dark Phoenix. So many have died already from the tests...”
“We have to be prepared for our enemy no matter the costs,” Father said.
The scientist cleared his throat. “In addition, I’m hoping we find who The Commander’s looking for.”
Father smiled. “This nation would finally be happy, and the outside won’t be a threat.”
“Care to discuss more inside?” the scientist gestured inside the building.
Father and the scientist walked into The Science Department, the automatic glass doors sliding open.
Wes looked at me with worry. “Aurelia could be one of those kids. I’ve drawn her several times, but maybe I can’t see where because she’s being tested on!”
“Do we follow? We could get exposed and what if she’s not there?”
“Think about what those kids must be feeling right now. They already said people have died from this. You know this isn’t right, Calista!”
I nodded. “Let’s see what they’re up to.”
We swiftly got out of our hiding place and entered The Science Department’s front door.
“Were you planning on going through the front door?” Wes asked.
I looked at him strangely. “I was following you.”
We hid behind a pot holding a huge tree. The leaves were rubbery and the trunk was obviously plastic. I wasn’t expecting anything less from the climate here.
I peered through the leaves to see my father nod to a guard at the desk. He placed items on a table in front of him. Several other guards were in the room, watching Father with respect as he placed a gun, a knife, and three rounds of bullets onto the table. Even with their helmets on, the guards’ postures showed a sense of pride.
“Welcome back, sir.” the guard at the desk spoke with monotone and saluted my father.
He nodded. “It’s always good to come in for work.”
I looked around, trying not to knock our hiding spot over. There was an intersection with five hallways. Each hallway had a different hue representing one of the five government colors, which were dark grey, black, light grey, red, and maroon. There was a different label that matched the color in each hallway. Dark grey was Research, black was Chemicals, light grey was Technology, red was Biology, and maroon was Myths. The last one intrigued me.
“What do you suppose they do in maroon ‘Myths’ hallway?” I asked Wes.
“We’re about to find out,” Wes pointed to my father heading down the maroon section with several of the guards behind him.
“Who k
nows what’s down there! I’m out of here.” I turned to leave.
Wes grabbed my arm. “You promised to help me find Aurelia.”
“But I didn’t promise to become a lab-rat!”
“Come on, Calista. Let’s see what they’re dreaming of.”
“How do you expect to do that without getting caught by the guard?” I asked, lip quivering.
“I’ve got an idea.” Wes grabbed a pencil from his coat pocket and threw it down the Chemistry hallway. It produced a loud clunk on the floor, and the sound echoed through the hallways.
The desk guard’s eyes shifted towards the sound. He grabbed a taser from his back pocket and headed down the hallway.
Wes and I stalked towards the Myths hallway, trying to make the least amount of noise possible. Sneaking past the desk and table, Wes and I tiptoed down Myths. The name alone sent chills down my spine, and a single question filled my head:
What’s The Regime got to hide?
Twenty-Three:
Did it have to be blood and slime? My stomach wanted to leave, and my head wanted to join it as far away from The Regime as possible.
Creepy things loomed the windows in the hallway; from slime, potions, and mysterious machinery. Some dug at a fossil, carefully removing extract of a glowing material. Others tested properties of plasma and different genetic traits, including a gene on the screen that read ‘Gene 66’.
“What’s Gene 66?” I turned to Wes.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Beats me. This is the first time I’ve heard of it.”
So much for an answer. If Wes was clueless, no one would be willing to give an answer to me.
Further down, we saw a way to measure brain functions within Dreamers. There was a study within a clear glass window next door to see how Dreamers react to vast amounts of pain compared to a normal person. Some were even exposed to different injections.
The last one made my senses revolt. Small children with scrawny stature were choked by those twice their size. Blood coated the walls and parts of the glass window Wes and I peered through; some were fresh, others long dry.
A girl smaller than me took a katana and sliced a tall tan boy through the middle, blood spilling over her uniform. Another wielded water in their hands, sending a scorching liquid onto another girl’s face. A tall boy conjured a shield, protecting himself from a gunshot.
The violence displayed had a putrid smell— iron tainting the halls in shades of scarlet and brown.
Bodies stacked in piles on the floor, some in separate limbs. The Dreamers alive weren’t unscathed. Some had amputations on various limbs and others had large amounts of plasma spewing out of fresh wounds.
Blood-curdling screams echoed through the hallway. The scientists were testing powers and development in the most gruesome way possible. Every Dreamer wore an armband, whether it was red, maroon, grey, and a few black.
A door creaked open behind me. I turned to find no one there but the cracked open sliding glass door. Curiosity taking hold, I peered my head through the glass. The lighting was soft, flickering, and dark shaded, and stretchers covered the room with tubes near them.
“Calista, what is it?” Wes asked.
I wasn’t paying attention to him. Instead, I slid the door further open and entered the room.
“Wait, Get back here. We don’t know if it’s safe!” Wes mumbled.
The smell of iron and copper purged the room. Cherry-colored liquid drew out of the tubes on the stretchers— blood. Definitely blood. Tied to each stretcher laid a body, each varying in gender, color, and age. Some had minor wounds like cuts and bruises. Others remained unscathed, yet they laid like a dissected animal on the table.
The color on their skin paled. All life drained out of their eyes and their bodies. Some were scrawnier than me, and they could be bones if you removed a thin layer of skin. Each individual had short hair slicked back and they wore a skin-tight black bodysuit.
“Good Lord…” I couldn’t help but say my thoughts aloud. In the thick of the moment, people were dying, and not peacefully either. This grotesque form of death filled my soul with not fear, but FURY.
HOW COULD THE REGIME DO THIS TO ITS OWN PEOPLE?
I placed a hand over my mouth to prevent myself from throwing up, but I couldn’t keep the hurl down. Tears streamed from my eyes. My heart raced.
“Sweet paintings… this is awful!” Wes shouted.
He examined each of the bodies diligently, looking at their varying skin and hair colors.
“At least they’re asleep. That’s better than being awake,” I said. Something had to be said to calm my stomach.
I looked at a sign next to me, hoping to find some explanation for this. Trying to read the letters, I squinted in the darkness.
On the sign read these words: “Project Dark Phoenix. Omega Phase. Purpose: to extract powers and light and dark energy for subjects.”
“Well, what does it say?” Wes raised an eyebrow.
I ground my jaw. “I’m not really sure, but these people are being killed on purpose.”
I walked near an enclosed chamber in the back of the room. Inside, a dark-skinned girl laid submerged in water, and tubes attached to all sides of her naked and exposed body. This dark skinned girl looked familiar, strong.
“June!” I placed my hands on the glass chamber.
Was she dead? Did The Regime kill her too? I couldn’t believe it. June was dedicated to them, even if she was a talented, smart military student. She would never rebel, even if her life depended on it. She wanted to hit Dreamers with poison gas for goodness sake!
June’s eyes twitched, and I watched her move her head towards me. Her eyes remained closed.
A twitch. She was still alive. Part of me wanted to ditch her, but another piece of my soul spoke otherwise. Even if June was dedicated to The Regime before, she was still a person. She was still a human being who needed help. I wasn’t about to let her die.
“Help me get this open,” I ordered Wes.
Wes raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“This one is still alive, Wes. I’m not about to leave her here!” I yelled.
Wes nodded and we opened the chamber. Steam spilled out of the sides.
One moment I was helping a friend, the next someone loyal to The Regime. Suddenly, being a Dreamer didn’t seem so far-fetched.
Twenty-Four:
Wes wrapped his grey jacket around June. She shivered, barely opening her dark eyes to look at me. Her skin, though normally dark, looked irritated and slightly eaten away.
“June? Can you hear me?” I asked.
I touched her face to get her to look at me. Her face appeared so pale. What had The Regime done to her?
“Calista?” June’s voice was shallow, and the tone came in and out like a fading ember.
“She’s colder than ice. Way colder. Might have hyperthermia…” Wes said.
My eyes widened, taking pity on June. “At least we got to her before anything terrible happened.”
“Calista… The Regime… they… Project Dark Phoenix… it’s…” June’s voice kept fading in and out, losing its sheen and clarity off and on.
“You’re safe now, June. We’ll get you out of here,” I reassured her.
I grabbed her hands, feeling her rubbery fingers. Frostnip, judging by the feeling. It didn’t look too serious. Her hands showed blisters but nothing more.
“Danger. Danger…” June whispered.
“We’re in danger?” I asked.
“No, he’s... danger…” June mumbled.
I stared June in the eye. “What are you talking about?”
“Come on, Calista. Let’s give the girl a break and get her out of here. She needs some hot water stat,” Wes explained.
Wes and I lifted up June— a sure struggle for me— and wrapped her arms around our shoulders. There was still time to get her out, figure out what Father was up to, and get to Enya and Ambert on time.
I winced. “This is hard for me, Wes. C
an’t you do it alone?”
“None of you are getting out…” The disembodied echo sounded breathy and dead.
The bulbs in the room flickered out again. The next time they came on, a figure in a black military jacket stared back at us. A mask covered his entire face.
Breaking Order: Book 1 (Breaking Order Series) Page 12
