Reborn (The Born Trilogy Book 3)

by Tara Brown

  We're wasting time. Will could be dying upstairs, Anna could be getting discovered, or Jake and Sarah could be fighting for their lives at the house. He sighs and messes with the scanner on the door and opens it. There is a flight of stairs before us. The lights are the dim, orange, round ones—thank God.

  Bernie smiles. "About time." He walks ahead into the dim light and looks down over the edge of the metal staircase. It looks flimsy, and when we step on it, our steps echo.

  I shake my head. "I don’t like this."

  He shakes his head. "Me either." He starts down the stairs, but I grab his arm. "Let me go first."

  I slip past him, wiping sweat from my brow. My footsteps are slightly quieter than his on the metal stairs. I walk toe first, looking down over the edge the entire time.

  A red light starts to flash above our heads when we're halfway down. I look back at Bernie. "We've been discovered."

  He frowns. "How do you know?"

  I point at the flashing light. "Same alarm as the breeder farms."

  He shrugs. "That goes off all the time. Random things make it go off."

  I shake my head. "Not when I'm around; it's always me." I start to run down the stairs, wishing Leo was with me. His senses don’t get messed up by the buildings; he's a wolf through and through. I'm only a wolf in the woods. My eyes and senses are distracted by the building closing me in.

  When I get to the bottom of the stairs, I see a panel and steam just like the boiler room at the farms. My belly starts to ache. I lift the rifle, looking around the room. Pipes and bits of machinery make up the room. The walls are dank with sweat from whatever these things are and the heat they're making.

  Bernie walks to the panel, lifting a screen and turning something on. The light from it makes a new brightness in the orange glow and the flashing red lights. I think I might go crazy waiting for the dart gun or the real gun to hit me. I know it's an ambush; it feels like the one set for me with Marshall.

  Bernie starts typing fast.

  "Jesus. This thing is legit. It's old as hell, but it's legit."

  I glance back at him. "How long?"

  He shakes his head. "I just need to break the codes and launch it."

  I sigh. "How long, Bern?"

  "Ten minutes, maybe."

  I sigh. "Shit." Ten minutes will feel like forever.

  His fingers fly across the clunky keyboard. He wipes away sweat, almost in sync with me. The room feels like a steam bath like the one I went to with Granny. We were staying in a hotel in Vegas once. Granny wanted to go there so bad and Lenny said no, so she waited until he was gone on one of his trips and took me then. Just like she let me use her ereader, got me an Xbox, and let me play on her laptop, she let me be a normal kid when Lenny wasn't there. Looking at the clunky, old laptop, I barely recall how to use it.

  Bernie shakes his head. "I can't believe they put this here. I can't believe I never knew."

  "Why did they?"

  He shrugs. "Not a clue. Must be the fail safe, in case the wrong people get control again, or if another country comes to invade, I guess. We did this to every other country, so the threat of them coming for us was never a real one."

  I scowl. "You did what?"

  He gives me a blank stare. "We launched HEMP's over everyone. We killed the power grids in every country but ours."

  I shake my head. "What about the cities? Will said that the other cities were like this one. Every continent had cities. There were ten or something."

  He shakes his head too. "No. We wanted to end world wars and pollution, and we did. We were scared they would launch these over us, so we removed all threats."

  I feel weird about the fact he knew they did this to other places. "Is this something you had planned to maybe do to the United States?"

  He shakes his head. "No. I didn’t even know there was a contingency plan in place here. It makes me uncomfortable to know they had one for the breeder farms. It means they have fully lost control of the virus, with no possibility of getting it back."

  The talk of the infected, combined with the flashing red lights, makes me considerably more uncomfortable. "Do you think the newer breeder babies are really immune?"

  He shakes his head. "I don’t know what to think. I'm not a virologist. I'm a tech nerd…"

  A noise cuts him off. We both freeze, except for his fingers. They continue to type. I scan the top of the stairs as I hear another noise.

  "Bernard? Really?"

  I know the voice instantly, as the face I barely recall hovers over the railing. "And you must be Emma. You look so much like her. It's frightening."

  My stomach drops.

  Bernie's fingers don’t stop, but he speaks softly. "Michael, meet your daughter."

  He laughs and shakes his head. He looks nearly identical to my father, but older and more tired. His eyes gleam. "You've been causing me some serious issues."

  He starts down the next flight of stairs. I walk up them, glancing back at Bernie. "Don’t stop."

  He nods, wiping more sweat from his brow.

  I take the stairs two at a time. Michael stops walking, pausing and listening. "Bernard, stop that. You'll never break the code on that one."

  I round the corner to the next flight but stop; he's there in all his glory. I've made him into a huge monster, but I see he's no larger than any other man I've killed with my bare hands.

  He smirks at me. "You must have so many questions."

  I watch his eyes, making certain I can see the plotting behind them. He takes a step towards me. I don’t move but his steps are timid. He's scared of me. He knows what I'm capable of.

  "Emma, you were one of the first. We had twenty women come in, but six of the babies died. The mothers of the ones who lived got very sick. The babies are too strong of a parasite and the immune systems we gave them were unstoppable. You could inject HIV into a Gen child and they will kill the disease. Your bodies actually destroy cancer cells when they try to form inside of you. I can inject your blood into people, and it will fight disease and infection."

  I hardly listen to him. I listen for the fingers typing and watch for the movement in his eyes.

  "You are magnificent. God himself would bow before what I have created."

  He puts a hand out for me to take. "I can show you the others like you. You can teach them how to control what they are and how to manage their moods and tempers. I know you can do it. The ones from the beginning are the special ones. We made the rest from you, from your DNA." He starts to laugh maniacally, like a cartoon character. I hear a gunshot and look over the edge at Bernie slumping over the keyboard. A man behind him with a gun pointed at his back looks up at me.

  His eyes are so busy searching mine for the despair I know is there that he misses the fingers reaching for the keyboard. He misses the determination in Bernie and assumes he's dead. But I know Bernie. I know his goal in life is to stop this. I only let my peripheral gaze see the hand press the last buttons, almost silently. I deadlock his gaze to mine as Bernie's fingers flutter over the keyboard. He presses the last buttons and the red flashes become sounds. The man's gun goes off again, but it doesn’t matter. Whatever Bernie did, it's done. I look up at Michael's face. His cocky smile fades. He rushes past me to the basement floor shouting, "STOP IT!"

  The man dives for the keyboard but the beeping alarm and the flashing lights don’t end.

  Tears threaten my vision. I see a countdown on the screen. The numbers look like it might be a minute. I break into a run, a sprint. My lungs are screaming for air in the dank room as they mix with a panic attack, and the possibility that I won't make it. I have a new plan, but I don’t know if it's enough. I run through the door to the hallway and sprint harder. The door to the far hallway is ajar with a boot. In the dim, orange light, I can see it's from the dead man on the floor. I snatch his pass and run for the far side of the dank corridor.

  I don’t hear anything but my heartbeat.

  She can't lose Bernie and Will.
I can't do that to her. I run harder, getting back into the other building. The stairs and the passes can't go fast enough. My legs burn as I reach the lab where I know Will is.

  I fling open the door and run across the floor. The lights can barely keep up with me but as I near the door to his room, I see the man with the gray beard. He points a gun at me. "Where is Bernie?"

  I shake my head, sniffling almost and heaving for air. "He's dead. Michael killed him." I'm hoping he's on our side.

  He nods, keeping the gun on me. "Good news."

  I see his finger tense to pull the trigger, but there is a sparking noise and the lights cut out. We stand in the darkness for a second before I see the spark of light from the gun. I've moved but he doesn’t know that. He doesn’t know I can move silently. He doesn’t know I can see in the dark better than he can. When my hand grabs his forehead and my knife slices across his throat, he doesn’t know his death is seconds away.

  I hold him tight, waiting for him to move his hands and fire the gun, but he drops to the floor. I feel around in the dark for his gun and take it from his still-warm, gripping hand. For whatever reason, that bothers me. I turn and run for the door. I have to feel in the dark for the handle. The scanner doesn’t work and the door won't open.

  Frustrated, defeat starts to build but I refuse. The tears have started, but through them I feel for the place where the door clicks shut. I place the barrel of the gun on that spot and angle my body away from it. I fire but the door still won't open. I kick at it but it won't open. I drop to my knees, screaming and pounding on it. He's in there dying alone; the life support has cut off. I cut the power with Bernie and he's in there without me. He's dying without me. Bernie is face down in the basement with my screaming father, and I'm stuck in the lab with a dead man and my heart breaking.

  I wipe my face and stand, turning the handle and kicking again. I hear the door make a noise and do it again. It makes another noise. My leg feels like it might break, but I kick once more, snapping something inside of the door. It flies open. I rush in, hands out.

  I can't feel anything, and I'm scared they took him away. The tracer won't work to find him. They've moved him, and I've lost him.

  "Will, baby, are you here? Will?"

  I trip and fly across the room. My hands land on the edge of the bed as I fall. I grip it, scrambling to my feet and slapping down on him the entire way. His body is there. I think it's him. I run my hands up his bare chest to the bandage; it's him. I drag my hands along his face to where the tube is in his nose and the mask is on his face.

  He's warm but the machines aren’t moving. I pull the mask off slowly, trying not to shake when I move my fingertips. I flip the nose thing out of his nostrils. His face is slack. I kiss his cheek, whispering, "Baby, don’t leave me. Please, Will. Don’t leave me."

  I don’t know, nor care, where Michael is. I don’t know if I will make it out of the city, or if anything is ever going to be okay in this world with nothing. All I need to know is how to save him. I kiss his face again and part his lips. I breathe into his mouth. I remember first aid. Mouth to mouth was not as important as chest compressions. I remember that. I feel for his heart and push down but the bed is too soft; it doesn’t compress.

  I cry louder. "Goddamn, Will, don’t leave me." I breathe into his lips again but nothing happens. I feel his arms for the plastic lines of the I.V. I saw before.

  I need light. I feel around for the counters I saw. When I open a drawer, I can't tell what anything is. I drop to my knees again, pulling more drawers open, but I still don’t recognize anything. Everything I touch is a foreign object.

  My hands shake, blood makes them sticky, but I still search each drawer, not knowing what I'm looking for.

  I pass over things, as if any of it is going to help. There is a driving need to touch every drawer and every item, as if one might tell me it's the thing I need.

  I reach the bottom drawer and still no answers. The plan I had depended on light still being in the room or Bernie being with me… or both. I close my eyes, not that it makes a difference, and take a breath. I am defeated.

  I crawl along the floor to his bedside. I drag my hands up the frame of the bed, clutching to the bedding and then to him. I lean my head against the cold railing and sob. I don’t have anything else. I have no Leo, Anna, Meg, Star, Bernie, or anyone to make a difference. Don’t even have Jake to just be there. It's just like before. I'm ten years old and totally alone in the dark.

  I grip to his arm, holding tight. If I let go, he's gone forever. I press my lips against his hand and let the tears wash over me.

  Chapter Seven

  My footsteps are clumsy on the stairs. My hand squeals along the metal railing as I slip a little. I'm out of bullets and I don’t know if the door at the bottom is open or not. I just walk down the stairs. Something gleams off of the railing when I round a corner. There is light at the bottom of the stairs somewhere.

  "Hello?" a small voice shouts up into the stairwell.

  I can see the stairs ever so slightly in the light that seems as if it's fading in and out. I round the corner to see the door open at the bottom of the stairs. A woman holding a torch smiles at me. "Are you hurt?"

  I want to cry and tell her I am dead inside, but I don’t. I shake my head and stumble down the last couple steps. She backs away so I can leave the stairwell. A man's leg sticks out the bottom, keeping the door ajar.

  She points behind her. "I can't seem to get the main door open." Her words are desperate and edgy. I look at the main door in the torchlight and shake my head. "You won't get that one open. We need a window."

  She swallows and nods. "Okay. I know where a window is. What section did you come from?"

  I point upward.

  She sniffles. "I don’t understand what's happened. Even the emergency lights have shut off."

  "Where is the window?"

  She shakes the torch and points to the right.

  "You lead the way and I'll break the window." I need to get to Anna. She must be freaking out by now.

  We walk through a dark, wide hallway, I can tell we are in the nicer part of the labs, where the general public gets to see everything. God knows what's in the black lab besides my dead friend and my trapped father.

  I can't think about it all, I just can't. The coward in me is strong. She was trained well. She pushes me on, to get me out.

  The lady opens a door with no scanners and light floods us both. I see her better now. She's Michael's age and fragile. Her bones would break faster than a chicken's. She has dark hair and dark eyes with a worried look.

  The window looks over an alleyway between the buildings at ground level. It’s tinted to make it hard to see in. The light of the rising sun is just hitting the buildings.

  I walk to the window, examining it. There is no latch to open it. I look at the huge chair to the right. It's an office of sorts. There are metal cabinets and glass desktops with maps underneath. I grab the huge chair and drag it to the window. I lift it up and swing as hard as I can. The window bends almost and then cracks slightly. I swing the chair again, this time using everything that's left. The window cracks but doesn’t fall out. I drag the chair back, pick it up and run at the window with it. The chair almost pushes me back, but the window buckles and the glass falls out, taking the chair with it.

  I stand there and breathe as the fresh air hits me.

  I don’t want the freedom that is there in the fresh air.

  I want the man that's dead upstairs and the other one in the basement. I can't face her without them.

  The woman has dropped the torch, leaving it to burn the carpet. I almost put it out, but then I remember where I am and what's left.

  I follow her out the window, not looking back.

  The streets are filled with people. Scared people, who have never lived with the nothingness the rest of us faced. Their city is worthless. It's now no different than any other corner of this world.

  I don’t know t
hat we made the right choice but I know we made the only one we had. The breeder farms are done, the work camps are for nothing, and the rebellion doesn’t matter anymore.

  My feet almost slap against the street as I make my way to the apartment where we left Anna. I almost don’t recognize the building when I get close to it. In the light it looks magical and not old at all, but she's there on the steps. She's sitting, waiting for me… us.

  She sees me, sees the truth instantly. She doesn’t jump up. She stays seated on the front steps, avoiding the truth I bring with me.

  Her eyes are bright blue, wide and glistening when I get close enough to see them.

  I stop. I can't do it. I drop to my knees, in the crowded street with the lost strangers surrounding us both, and sob.

  Her slim fingers lift to her face, covering her mouth. We stare at one another, tears streaming our faces. I shake my head subtly. It's the only time I will ever tell her this.

  She cries harder.

  I look down and let the shame of my failure cloak me in guilt, so heavy I will never be free of it.

  I close my eyes and wait for my father to show up, or the infected, or something worse—God only knows what that could be. Instead, her skinny arms wrap around me and hold me. I am not worthy of her love and forgiveness, but I am grateful she is there.

  She takes my hand and we start the long walk out of the city. The people we pass are starting to panic; no one has answers. They fear war and starvation. They huddle and fight, and feel all of the things we all felt a decade ago. All of the things they got to avoid because they were part of the chosen ones. The ones who got to live in the city and be safe.

  Anna grips my fingers, almost pulling me along. When we get to the gate, there is no one. We walk along the bridge over the river to the borderlands, not speaking.

  "EMMA!"

  There it is. There is the man who will not die because I won't let him. He deserves to live. I turn back to see him standing there, wild-eyed and savage.