by JL Spelbring
Using what little light the cloudy sky provided, Rein drove slowly. The worn tires grated across the dirt. He tried to ease over the potholes and ruts, but the moon stayed hidden behind wispy clouds, making navigation hard. The truck bounced along, jostling the passengers and rattling their teeth.
Content to sit in silence for the next three hours of their journey, Rein stared straight ahead and tried to ignore Candy, who kept knocking into him every time the truck went over a hole. Doc had to ruin it.
“I think we’re wrong.”
Afraid of where the conversation was headed, Rein gripped the steering wheel tighter. “What are you talking about?”
“About Ellyssa. I don’t think she’s a spy.”
Rein rolled his eyes. “She might not be, but she’s something. She’s from The Center.”
Candy nodded her head.
“She also said she escaped,” reminded Mathew.
“Yeah, spies never lie,” Candy said, sarcastically.
Doc turned toward Rein. Although he couldn’t see the older man’s eyes, he definitely felt them.
“I don’t think she’s lying. Do you…really?”
Rein didn’t reply. He had no answer as to whether or not he believed Ellyssa a spy, but she was hiding something. Part of him thought he should’ve heeded the others’ advice the night they’d found her and left her for dead. But he couldn’t.
“Are you guys serious?” Candy chimed. “I can’t believe the two of you.”
Doc shrugged. “I’m just saying.”
Candy snapped her mouth closed and crossed her arms over her chest. She’d stopped bouncing into Rein, which suited him just fine. Her hatred for Ellyssa ran deep. He remembered how embarrassed she’d been when Ellyssa had bested her. It’d taken all three of them to hold the redhead back from attacking the unconscious blonde. Candy wasn’t someone you wanted to piss off.
For the next two hours, the cab of the truck was filled with the sounds of wheels and the rattling of the engine. When they reached the outskirts of an abandoned town, he pulled off the road and behind an outcropping. Doc jumped out, and Candy scooted over to follow him.
Humidity rushed through the open door, along with the soft hum of insects. Uncomfortable beads of sweat formed on Rein’s brow, and his clothes became a second skin. He grabbed the rifle and the flashlight from under the seat, and joined Doc and Candy on the other side of a ditch, next to a line of thick bushes.
Rein ducked under the vegetation and stepped onto a worn path next to an old tin silo. Compared to the other buildings they used for storage, the silo was in great condition. The roof wasn’t bowed, and the walls were still solid. Even the door hung straight.
He silently walked along the path to the front of the structure. Maybe it was his nerves, but the night held an eerie quality with the leaves rustling in the breeze. Then, a crunching noise sent a shiver of alarm up Rein’s back.
“Shh,” Rein said, bringing up his rifle at the same time a raccoon jumped out, silver eyes glinting under the beam of the flashlight. The rodent sniffed the air before disappearing into the undergrowth. Relieved, he turned off the light.
“Jumpy much?” Candy said.
Since Ellyssa, yes, he was. Someone would be coming for her. It was only a matter of time. Letting the comment slide, Rein said, “Let’s just hurry up and get this over with.”
Rein stepped inside and clicked on the flashlight. Darkness scampered back as the light reflected off the tin. He swept the beam back and forth, revealing the dusty wooden floor as he advanced into the storage silo.
“Davis,” he called.
No one answered.
“Davis,” yelled Rein, his voice echoing in the other room.
“I thought he was supposed to meet us,” said Doc.
“I thought so, too.”
Doc shrugged. “Maybe he got tied up.”
“Maybe.” Rein agreed, but deep down he didn’t believe it.
Davis usually showed as expected, except for a few rare occasions, and at those times, their contact had previously warned them. A sense of foreboding rooted in Rein’s chest. He swept the beam across the floor to the right. As expected, crates had been stacked in the corner.
“Let’s get the stuff and go. I want to be back before morning,” Rein said, lifting one of the boxes.
17
Ellyssa remained in a low Chen-style stance, her slower phases accumulating energy before she let loose powerful moves, when Mathew entered with her tray. The aroma of eggs and ham lingered in the air, as he carefully passed by to avoid her flowing movements. The scent was tempting, and despite the fact she had not completed her Tai Chi routine, her mouth watered and she could no longer concentrate.
“Hope you’re hungry,” Mathew said. “I have a great menu planned for the day.” Chuckling at his own joke, he placed the tray on the table. “Bon appetite.”
Ellyssa smiled at Mathew’s mispronunciation. Of course, she doubted the Renegades had the opportunity to study languages as she and her siblings had. All of them were fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, and others. “I think you mean bon appétit.”
Chagrin blushing Mathew’s cheeks a slight pink, he shrugged.
“Now I know where you went the other night,” Ellyssa said, eyeing the food.
He smiled. “Mission accomplished.”
Ellyssa hopped onto her bed and pulled the tray onto her lap. “What is the occasion? Why all this?” She shoved a spoonful of eggs into her mouth. After days of boring food, the scrambled eggs tasted wonderful. She followed them with a piece of smoked ham.
“Well, you’re going to have a visitor today.”
She stopped chewing and eyed him warily.
“I think it’s time you meet Jordan.”
Ellyssa swallowed. “Jordan?”
“Yes, especially if you’re going to be staying with us for a while.”
Setting her spoon down, she looked at him. “Staying with you is not a good idea.”
Mathew sat on the corner of the cot. “Where else are you going to go?”
She shrugged. “I do not know.”
“What do you plan on doing?”
Ellyssa had no idea. “I do not have an answer for that, either.”
He leaned over and patted her on the thigh. “Eat.”
As Mathew grabbed one of his beloved books and leaned against his desk, Ellyssa picked up her spoon and continued eating, but the enthusiasm was gone. What was she going to do? From a young age, she had been taught that Renegades were the enemy and needed to be terminated. But the people she’d met here treated her differently than she’d ever been treated before.
Like she was human, instead of an experiment.
What surprised Ellyssa the most was that part of her wanted to stay. To belong. The other part realized the danger, if she did stay. There was no doubt that her father would find her. A struggle raged inside and rolled around with the new sense of belonging. To have people who truly cared for her, like in the family homes she’d passed in Chicago when she’d wondered what that type of life would’ve been like.
Her appetite completely diminished, she pushed the now rubbery, congealed eggs around on the plate.
“Done?” a deep voice asked.
Ellyssa looked toward the opening. Rein stood inside, his dark hair framing a face set into a frown. At least his arms weren’t crossed over his chest this time. As soon as he spoke, Mathew closed the book and stood up from his perch.
“Can I have a word with you?” Rein asked her.
She lifted a shoulder and set her unfinished breakfast on the table.
The doctor picked up her tray. “I’ll be right back.”
Mathew stopped at the door and whispered something to Rein before he left. Ellyssa thought about popping into either of their heads to find out what the secrecy was about, but, by the look on Rein’s face, she figured she would find out soon enough.
“Do you mind if I have a seat?” Rein asked as he wheeled the ch
air over next to her cot.
“Please.” She crossed her legs.
Inhaling, Rein plopped into the chair and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his thighs. For a long time, he didn’t say anything. Just sat hunched over, looking down at the floor.
Ellyssa respected his time to gather his words, as she admired the spikes sticking from his head in no particular order. His muscular shoulders stretched the fabric of his black shirt, and his biceps rippled when he wrung his hands together.
Finally, Rein lifted his eyes and settled them on her, the dark green pulling her in. Her heart picked up speed and her stomach formed a ball. Unexpected, unexplainable, and pleasing, she wavered between liking the feeling and hating it.
“Jeremy.” Rein paused and waited for a response. Ellyssa nodded, and he continued, “Was part of this community. He went to Chicago to meet with a member of the resistance. Doc and I think he is the one that you saw. Will you tell me all that happened?”
“I already told Mathew.”
His face softened, changing the hard countenance to one of pleading. “I know. Will you tell me?”
Unable to speak while his two jade eyes bored a hole straight through her, Ellyssa glanced away and floated into his mind. Rein was concentrating on her. Her hair had started to grow out some. Not surprising, as it grew fast, almost as fast as her body healed. Her eyes flashed, livening her fair complexion. His mind drifted to her body, which led to images of the night in the old town. He wondered if she was dangerous. If she was a spy. He didn’t want to believe such things; yet, he still wondered.
Ellyssa couldn’t blame him. Under the current conditions, she would’ve thought the same things. Besides, in spite of his curiosity and confusion, nothing screamed betrayal. He was being sincere.
She looked back at him. “I was going to…training, when the Gestapo brought him in. He was struggling in their arms. I stopped and watched. I had never seen anyone with dark hair. He looked at me and his voice entered my mind. He told me Kansas City. Later that night, while I was in my room, he found me again, shouting the same thing. Then, his voice suddenly stopped.”
Rein nodded, as if he understood why the communication had been broken. “Not many knew Jeremy was special. I was one of them. Jordan and Doc.” He paused for a moment, as if gathering his thoughts, before he spoke again. “Then you just left?”
Ellyssa nodded.
Rein looked away. “He was supposed to meet some…people in Kansas City.” After a long moment, he turned back toward her. “Did you work at The Center?”
Ellyssa hesitated, unsure how much she should say. The Center had been her home, after all. “No,” she finally said.
Rein raised his eyebrows, encouraging her to continue.
“I was a student.”
He blinked. “I don’t understand. The Center’s not a school.”
“That is correct. It technically is not a school. But it was for me. It was my school and my home. I was born there.”
“What?”
Ellyssa hesitated, wondering if she should tell him everything. She probed his mind again. No threat or danger populated his thoughts, just a cloud of confusion.
What was the saying? “What the hell”? Now, instead of being invited to stay, they’d truly understand the danger and force her to leave. The thought hurt. Her chest felt the weight.
Carefully, Ellyssa picked the words needed without exposing all her monstrous secrets. She masked her face in preparation for his expected response of anger and resentment. “I am genetically engineered.”
Rein’s expression fell, lips slightly parted. She noticed how full they were and the pinkish tint. Unlike his face, his body went rigid.
Dumbfounded, words stuck in Rein’s throat. He couldn’t move, as if all brain function had ceased, while his mind tried to wrap around what Ellyssa had just said.
“I thought The Center devised training for Gestapo and military operations.”
“They do. My father’s research is…not well known amongst the general population.”
Pulling his hand through his hair, Rein leaned back in his chair. Genetic research was not a secret amongst the Renegades; they were kept well-informed. But they were actually engineering people at The Center?
He took in a deep breath, and the words rushed out when he exhaled. “What do you mean? You weren’t born?”
“Of course I was born. I was not hatched.” Ellyssa seemed a bit indignant. A second later, what little emotion she had expressed faded away, replaced with a void expression.
“That’s not what I meant.”
“A proper female was selected as my incubator. By definition, she would be considered my birthing mother, though I never met her,” Ellyssa said in a robotic-like tone.
“They took you from her.”
“Technically, she had no right to me. She was paid for her services.”
“You never knew her?”
“No, nor any other female figure who would be considered like a mother. Only assistants and nurses.”
A mixture of emotions twirled in Rein—horror, shock, pity. Worst of all, he couldn’t believe how calm she was about the whole thing, with her blank face and unemotional eyes. Trying to hide the feelings that he knew were playing across his face like a collage, he stood up and walked to the desk. He picked up the book and pretended to examine the cover.
“That bothers you?”
What was he supposed to say? Yes, that’s weird. He set the book down and turned toward her. She still held the same blank expression, as if nothing ever troubled her.
“If it makes you feel better, I know mein Vater.”
Lines formed above the bridge of Rein’s nose. “Mein Vater?”
“My father,” she explained. “He is the one who created me and raised me. I guess you would consider him my family.”
Rein felt his mouth fall open. “Created you?”
“The DNA of my father’s sperm and a donated egg were modified, then fertilized outside of the womb. He then used In Vitro Fertilization to impregnate the female. So, for all intents and purposes, ‘create’ would be the correct terminology.”
“Why?”
“You know the answer.”
He did know the answer, and he was looking at the byproduct of it. Hitler’s world improved upon. Her flawless, perfect face, lustrous hair so pale it resembled snow, and her eyes—the color of a perfectly clear sky. Beautiful beyond compare.
But that only described her physical appearance. Her intelligence was sure to be off the charts. And the night they had found her—her instinct to live, her prowess in fighting even in her weakened state. Her uncanny healing ability.
“A human being superior to all others?”
She nodded.
18
Dr. George Hirch stepped off the elevator into the control station buried three floors below ground level of The Center. Only Leland, of all imperfect assistants, was permitted in the Top Secret area.
Four rooms surrounded the booth, two in front and two in back. Each was numbered consecutively, from right to left. Ahron stood in Room One while Xaver occupied Room Two. Each of the boys had two citizens taken from the population, substandard humans and therefore disposable.
A female and a male occupied the room with Ahron. They were tied to chairs, one on each side of his son. Their eyes bulged in rounded sockets, and their faces were contorted into inhuman expressions of terror. Duct tape sealed their mouths shut.
The doctor looked down at his sixteen-year-old son. “Are you ready, Ahron?” he asked, through a microphone. George’s voice bounced back at him, clipped and concise, void of emotion. He felt pride at his ability to interact without exposing his inner feelings.
“Yes, der Vater.” The boy’s voice sounded clearly through the speaker.
George ignored the muffled cries of the test subjects. He turned his head toward his other creation. Xaver stood in a room exactly like Ahron’s, only he had two males with him. Their faces held
similar expressions of terror.
“And you, Xaver?”
“Yes, der Vater.”
George clicked off the switch, so his conversation couldn’t be overheard. He maneuvered the control until the computer monitor showed the targets framed in red. He looked at Leland, who sat in front of the monitor connected to Xaver’s setup.
“Are you ready?”
His assistant shook his head and rubbed a shaky hand through his locks. “I don’t know about this. If something goes wrong, they could die. And what about the civilians?”
“The boys will not die. They will protect themselves first.”
“The others?”
The doctor shrugged. “Part of the greater good.”
Leland’s face paled. “We can’t let innocents die.”
His assistant was starting to annoy him. “Are you ready?” George muttered, through clenched teeth.
Leland’s lips parted, but he must have read George’s face and deciphered it correctly. The protest died on his tongue and fear actually lit behind the assistant’s eyes. The younger man nodded and turned his attention toward the monitor. He maneuvered the controls until all the targets in Xaver’s room were highlighted, too.
“Remember what I said.”
Without taking his eyes off the screen, Leland gave a curt nod.
Pressing the button on the microphone, he said, “On the count of three.”
The boys reached out both hands, placing them on the shoulders of the civilians.
“One. Two.” Three never came. As agreed, he and Leland pushed the buttons at two sending a command to the M-16s, and gunfire echoed in the rooms below, in short bursts of three, for a period of twenty seconds. When the time expired, the volley died away and left behind muffled screams. George turned on the exhaust fan and the scent of discharged gunpowder cleared away.
Even though the doctor had expected the outcome of the experiment, astonishment still fluttered in his chest. Unable to contain himself, he smiled. Both of the boys still stood, untouched and unharmed. Each room contained one dead subject and one live subject.
