by JA Huss
Fuck. Fuck. I scream it in my head. Why do I have to like her? Why do I have this connection with her? Why does she have to be pretty?
Back at Prodigy Thomas was relentless. He killed every Omega they sent us. He laughed at Lincoln when they sent him little Molly. We all knew why they switched from boys to girls. To make us love them. Make us even more vulnerable. And Thomas was so cocky. So sure he didn’t have a little Molly Omega hiding in the school somewhere.
Well, he was right about that. She was in a different school.
“I’ll do my best, Sadie,” I whisper, answering her question. “But I’m pretty sure it won’t be enough. Now try to get some rest so you can heal. If we have any chance of getting out of this you need to be able to walk.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN - SADIE
I lean against Sullivan and sigh. What a crazy week it’s been.
But then I realize I have nothing to compare it to. Maybe all my weeks are crazy?
He leans forward and puts his arm around me. “Stop thinking about it and just rest.”
“What if I wake up and you’re gone?”
A soft laugh at that comment from Sullivan. “Are you falling in love with me, Sadie? Got a little Stockholm Syndrome going?”
I smile. But then frown. “You didn’t kidnap me. I mean, Thomas didn’t kidnap me. God, this is very confusing. I just feel like I know you better. That’s all. And I’ve been through enough change for a whole lifetime these past few days. I could use a little more of the same.”
“I get it,” he says, rubbing my shoulder.
“But you didn’t answer me. If I close my eyes and rest… will you still be here when I wake up?”
A shrug is all I get for an answer. He has nothing.
“Can you try?” I ask, unwilling to give up. “Just try? What if Thomas comes back and he’s confused? Or… thinks I crashed the train on purpose? What if…”
“Stop it,” Sullivan says. “I can’t control it. Not really. When he sleeps he’s weak because of all the drugs, maybe. And I think the crash had something to do with me returning. Or maybe it’s the dark. At any rate, we can’t control that. Let’s focus on what we can control. Healing. Let’s focus on healing. And the best way to do that is sleep.”
I let out a long breath of air and try to let it go. We really are stuck. Until someone comes bursting through that gate or ambushes us from behind, we’re just stuck.
So I close my eyes and will myself to let it go. I enjoy his warm body, at least. We’re pressed up against each other. It’s freezing down here. We could use that emergency kit. We’d have options. But that’s dumb too. If we didn’t crash we’d already be in the west tower. Safe and sound.
Eventually Sullivan relaxes and his breathing becomes softer. Slower. His head is against mine. And I’m pretty sure he’s asleep.
How long will he sleep? Which one of them will wake up? Who is coming for me?
Who? I ask my head. Who are you?
Electricity shoots through my brain, making me gasp for air and press my hands up to my temples.
Sadie, Sadie, Sadie, flashes across my closed eyelids like a neon sign. Where are you? I’m coming. I won’t let you die down there.
Who are you? I ask the message in my head. I don’t know who you are.
Nothing. No answer. No static. No flashing words. Just nothing.
I’m here, I mentally whisper back. I’m in the tunnel near the west gate. I’m stuck. I can’t get out. I’m stuck.
It’s probably a huge mistake to tell them this. But if we’re fucked, and we clearly are, then why not just get it over with? Face it, deal with it, and then—figure out a way to fight them. Right now, we don’t even know who they are. What their weaknesses are. We need to see them to know those things.
We’re friends, my vision overlay suddenly messages. We’re friends and we’re coming to get you out of there. Just hold tight.
“Yes,” I whisper. Thomas’s friends are coming. I debate waking up Sullivan and telling him about the message. But then… he might fight them. He might think they’re here to put him back in the dark. And I get it. I get him. He wants his control back. I don’t want to be put to sleep, either. And I’m probably not even the primary personality.
But fuck that. I want my life back even if it means whoever I stole this body from gets locked up in the dark instead.
I don’t want Sullivan to go away, I decide. I don’t want Thomas to go away either. But if I have to make a choice…
Well, I don’t. It’s not my choice to make. I just don’t want to lose Sullivan. Not yet.
I like him. And when these partners of his get here I’m sure they’ll have some remedy—some weird fucking drug they can give Sullivan to get Thomas back.
So I let him sleep. I enjoy him just a little bit longer.
My wound is itching like crazy. Probably from those—don’t think about it, Sadie. It’s sick in a very diabolical way—nanites as they heal my leg.
But eventually I let that go too. I give in. Give up. Same thing.
I rest my head against Sullivan’s shoulder and let myself relax.
Sadie, Sadie, Sadie.
He is tall, muscular, and intimidating. His arms are crossed across his bare chest. They are huge. Bulging to the point of being grotesque. Like cannons. His body is covered in tattoos. Birds, I realize. Indigo blue ravens and midnight black jays. Raptors and songbirds too. But when I sweep my eyes up to his face, his frown is all I see.
He turns his back to me and walks to a doorway, his body forming a black silhouette against the bright light streaming through the opening, then disappears into it, taking the light with him.
Sadie, Sadie, Sadie.
“Sadie.”
I try to open my eyes, but they are still heavy with sleep and in my dream, I’m calling for the big man to come back.
“Sadie!” The urgent whisper comes with a shake this time.
“What?” I manage through dry, thirsty lips.
“Do you hear that?”
I open my eyes and find… “Thomas?” I ask the voice.
“No,” Sullivan says. “You’re still stuck with me. But listen. Am I hearing things? Can you hear that?”
“No,” I say.
“Listen carefully,” he urges. “Can you hear that?”
I strain my ears, searching for the sound that has him on alert. I’m just about to say no again when he says, “There. That. The little tinny whining of…”
“A drill,” I say. “They’re here, aren’t they?”
He just breathes for a few seconds. Then, “Yeah. A drill. You’re right. They’re drilling the iris gate. Probably from the center point where it spirals closed. That’s the weakest point.”
A faint pop sound makes both of us hiss in a breath.
“What was that?” I whisper into the darkness.
Sullivan is silent for a few moments. Pop, pop, pop, three more times.
“Explosives,” he whispers back. “They’re trying to break the seal first with small explosions. But once they have a foothold, they will use bigger charges to make an actual opening.”
“Do you think it’s them?” I ask. “Prodigy?”
I feel him nod next to me.
“It could be your friends,” I say. “I got a message last night—or…” I pause. Because I have no idea what time of day it is, and this bothers me. “Before I fell asleep. Maybe it was just a dream, but they said they were friends. They were coming to get me.”
“I don’t have any friends,” Sullivan says. “So no, I don’t think they’re friends.”
“But Thomas’s friends. I think it’s Thomas’s friends.”
He’s silent for a few seconds. Holding still as several more faint explosions sound off on the other side of the gate. “We should try at least.”
“Try what?”
“To run, I guess. Can you stand?”
He gets to his feet just fine, all healed up from the massive crash, then bends down to grab my
upper arm and pulls. I struggle, trying to get my bad leg to move, but he ends up doing all the work. I lean against the wall, huffing air and trying not to notice that my legs are definitely not ready for running.
“I’m not healed,” I say.
“I’ll help you,” he says, putting my arm across his broad back so I can hold on to him.
He takes a step, but I stumble. “I can’t do it,” I say. “I won’t be able to walk yet.”
“I’ll carry you,” he says, leaning down into my neck. “We can’t just let them get us. We have to try something.”
“You go,” I say, wincing as I put pressure on my leg. “You go and I’ll stay here.”
“No, fuck that. I’m not leaving you behind. That’s bullshit. I’ll carry you.” He bends down and sweeps me up into his arms. I wrap my arms around his neck, so tired. Way too tired to escape anything right now.
We start walking, but it’s very clear within only a few steps that his leg isn’t completely healed either. He limps along, tripping over debris from the crash. We don’t go down, but it’s pretty evident that this escape will never happen. We will never get away. There is nothing around us but black. We have no eyes in this place.
He blindly kicks debris away with his foot, takes a few more steps, then stumbles again.
“Sullivan,” I say. “It’s over. We’re going to hurt ourselves even more if we keep going.”
“I’ll just use the wall as a guide,” he says, kicking his foot forward until he hits the hard stone. “I’m not gonna let them have you.”
“I’ll be OK,” I say. But it’s touching that someone I barely know… even… cares. I don’t know what my life was like before this week, but I doubt it was good.
“No, Sadie. You won’t. I’ll be OK. Because Thomas will just take over again. They’ll pump us with drugs and I’ll disappear. I’ll be nothing but chained anarchy in his head again. But you will not be OK and I won’t let them have you.”
I have nothing to say to that. I just lean my head into his shoulder and close my eyes. I have no idea how far away from the crash we make it before the little popping noises become bigger popping noises, but my best guess is not more than twenty or thirty feet.
We won’t escape.
Sullivan stops walking. Leans his back against the wall and sighs. “I’m sorry,” he says, putting me down.
I hold on to him, even when both my feet are back on the ground. He’s all I have. “It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault.”
“No. It’s not, but—”
An explosion cuts his words off. Then there’s light coming through up ahead. Sparks are flying, illuminating the green gas, which has started to pour into the tunnel.
“They’re cutting now,” Sullivan says. “They’ve got a blow torch and they’re cutting a door. They’ll be here soon.”
I start coughing, the gas entering my lungs. One breath is all it takes. One inhalation of the poison and I’m down. Choking and wheezing. Unable to get enough air into my lungs.
“I’m sorry, Sadie,” Sullivan says. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
The world goes black, then lights up again. But only in my head.
Sadie, Sadie, Sadie.
They’re here.
They’ve come for us. Come to take us back and lock us up in their prison of darkness.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - SULLIVAN
Sadie slumps to the ground and I go with her. Her whole body is limp. The thick green gas is all around us. I breathe in, feeling the heaviness of it entering my body. For a few seconds, I wonder if we really are immune. If Thomas, and Lincoln, and Case and that weird computer, Sheila, got it right after all.
But we are. I exhale just fine. I am fine. Thomas wouldn’t make a mistake like that.
I hold Sadie in my arms, staring at the small hole in the gate as the sparks from the blowtorch light it up. We’re so close to it, it’s sad, really. We aren’t more than thirty feet away. My escape plans were pathetic.
There is no hope for escape.
“Thomas,” I say out loud. I want him, I realize. I want him to take over and deal with this. He’s the one who always took care of things. I’d never admit it to Sadie, but Thomas is the strong one. Thomas is the one with the plans that always work. Thomas is the one she needs right now, not me. “Come back,” I whisper.
But he’s not there. I look for him in my mind. I search for him as I watch the future unfolding before my eyes. He’s just gone.
I don’t hear voices, but I do hear clanging. They are pounding the metal with tools. Prying the small opening into a larger one.
After a few minutes of that, I see a face. A gas mask, actually. They are wearing something akin to a biohazard suit.
They knew about the gas. Or maybe they watched a few people die when they broke into the tunnel and reassessed. Reorganized. Got the right equipment to take us down.
I have powers. I am not helpless. I am a level ten mentalist, for fuck’s sake.
Well, not really. Thomas is the one who knows how to use it. Thomas is the one with all the power. I can do a few things. I’m the one who had it first, after all. But I’m not the one who perfected it.
Still, one has to try.
So I wait. Patiently. I let them make their doorway. I let them come through, one and then the next. They have flashlights. Very powerful flashlights that illuminate the entire tunnel.
The full carnage of wreckage stands before them. The ruined train car, torn into so many bits of twisted metal. All of it glowing slightly in the shadow of the green gas. The beams pan back and forth over it. They are talking, I realize. On some kind of internal communication system. There are two of them, about the same size. Huge men from the size of their biohazard suits.
They split up, sweeping their light over everything—only halfway penetrating the green cloud and making the entire scene appear unearthly. I watch from the floor of the tunnel as one gets closer and closer.
His beam of light finds me. Shines right in my face, rendering me blind.
I don’t blink. Just wait, absolutely still, as he makes his way towards us.
He stops a few feet away, still shining that fucking light into my face.
“You have something of mine,” a tinny voice says from a speaker in his gas mask.
“Is that right,” I say, my voice different as it makes its way through the thick cloud of green gas. It winds up his legs and around his body like a snake.
“Don’t make this difficult, freak. You can’t win,” he says.
“Maybe not,” I say. “But I can go down fighting.”
The mind blast doesn’t exactly burst forth. Not the way Thomas does it. But it still has power and it sends him reeling backwards with his arms flailing and his back bent. He crashes into a piece of sharp wreckage, and even though I can’t hear his scream, I know he screams.
I smile at that and get to my feet, taking my attention to the other guy, who has his flashlight out in front of him as he does his best to run towards us.
I blast him too, but he braces himself. It rocks his whole body, but when the wave is over, he’s still standing.
A tinny laugh from his gas mask. “That was weak, Thomas. I expected more from a guy like you.”
He comes at me again, and again, I blast him. This time the force is even less powerful than the first. It doesn’t even stop him, just makes him lean his body forward, like he’s walking into a strong wind and nothing more.
“Weak,” he says again. And then he raises his arms and unleashes his superpower.
His mind blast pins me to the concrete wall behind me. It’s so powerful. More powerful than anything I’ve seen Thomas do, including that day at the hospital. The shockwave hits my mind, making me struggle to stay conscious.
Then it’s gone. Like he flipped a switch. He’s very in tune with his power.
Prodigy. Only Prodigy has powers like this.
“I’m gonna make you pay, asshole,” the masked man says. “I’
m gonna make you pay for what you did to my brother, Thomas.”
I have no idea who his brother is, or what Thomas might’ve done to him, but it no longer matters. He aims a weapon at me and a dart bursts out of the barrel, hitting me square in the chest.
I look down, see the dart sticking out of my heart, and immediately know what he’s done.
It’s a drug dart.
The effects start before that thought is even through forming. I feel the chemicals inside me. They burn their way through the chambers of my heart, then empty into my bloodstream. Seconds later it’s been delivered to my entire body.
I fall to my knees, laughing. “You fucked up, asshole,” I say, crumpling to the ground, unable to control my body. I’m gonna turn back into Thomas and he’s gonna power up his own mental ability and put up a good fight.
A great fight.
“You fucked up. You just wait.”
My threats are ignored, but I have no time to wonder why.
The darkness is back.
I go into it relieved.
It really sucks being wrong. And I know I’m wrong the whole time I try to wake up. Because I’m not Thomas, I’m still me.
Asshole, I try to say. But it comes out as a groan. The one fucking time I need the guy to take over and he’s not here. Asshole.
“Not time to wakey-wakey yet, you freak,” a deep voice says off to my left. A sharp jab to my heart tells me all I need to know.
The chemicals flood my body and…
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN - SADIE
His face is handsome, even with the scar. It’s his eyes, I think. They are brown, but not just any brown. They are the light brown of autumn leaves, with golden flecks of brilliance shining through the darkness.
Sadie, he says. But it’s in my mind.
I think I love him right now.
Sadie, come back to me.
I’m here.
Sadie, Sadie, Sadie…
