by Kate Breuer
“Hi,” she says in a quiet voice.
We greet her politely. Zeke invites her to sit down. She takes off her jacket and sits at the very edge of the couch. Liz puts the jacket away in the hall closet. Susan still hasn’t said a word when Liz returns and sits between Zeke and me.
We look at Susan expectantly. She doesn’t seem able to find her voice.
I ask, “How can we help you?”
She looks down at her shoes and fumbles with her skirt. “I shouldn’t be here. It’s why I didn’t ring the doorbell. Didn’t want the camera to go off.”
We wait for her to continue, exchanging glances. After a few moments, Liz gets up and sits down next to Susan.
“What is it, Susan?” Liz’s voice is gentle, and she puts a hand on Susan’s. She’s much better with feelings than me.
“I can’t bear it anymore. I didn’t know who else to talk to.”
I have a feeling this has nothing to do with our engagement. Susan looks nervously at Zeke. It seems to be a silent question if she can trust him.
I nod. “It’s okay. You can say anything in front of these two. I would trust them with my life. If you trust me, you can trust them.” Not that I know why she would trust me in the first place. Liz nods encouragingly, and Zeke assures her he won’t say a word.
“Okay, it’s—I—He—” Susan stammers. “They brought in a . . . prisoner. Two days ago. No one is supposed to know about her. She broke into the hospital and—”
Liz interrupts her. “We know about the woman. Tell us what happened.”
“How do you know about her?” Susan seems scared at this turn of events.
I wave her off. “I saw them bring her in. Never mind. What is going on?”
Susan hesitates, then continues, “They told me I was in charge of her. She got shot with those new tecjection bullets we’ve been developing.”
“What are those?” Zeke asks.
“You remember being shocked with a Taser during PCR training? Now imagine that charge inside your every muscle, nerve, and cell.”
Zeke looks uncomfortable.
“Anyway, they’ve supplied some of the PCR guards with them. It injects an electrical transmitter designed to take down people without killing them. The electrical impulses cause the person great pain without lasting damage. Some of the scientists tested them on apes over the past year.”
Liz winces at the mention of animals getting shocked.
Susan glances at her, then goes on, “It seems to wear off faster on humans. The woman started rejecting it after a few impulses. I was supposed to be in charge, but Mr. Drake kept hovering over me. He even sent a few impulses while I was talking to her. He said it would make her talk faster.
“But I had a plan! I could have gotten the information they needed without hurting her. I was working on getting her to trust me. That’s not all—” Her voice breaks. “Tonight, they made me watch while they . . . and they forced me to . . .” Susan starts sobbing uncontrollably, unable to say another word.
Liz puts an arm around her shoulder. “Sh. It’s okay. Here.” She reaches for the box of tissues on the couch and holds it out to Susan. Susan blows her nose and breathes slowly to calm down.
“Sorry, it’s just . . . I didn’t become a scientist to torture people! I didn’t even like the experiments on the apes. I refused to do them. I want to help people, not make them suffer.”
Zeke and I exchange another glance.
“We completely understand,” Liz says in a soothing voice. “Why don’t you tell us what happened tonight?”
Susan sniffs and nods. “Mr. Drake said he wanted to talk to her, but I was sure talking meant nothing good with him. He’s evil. I tried to warn Chase.”
I never liked Mr. Drake much, and luckily I haven’t spent much time with him. The way Susan talks about him makes my insides go cold.
What kind of man is leading PCR?
“I told her she needed to tell him what he wanted to know. She didn’t. I was forced to send the impulses.” I cringe at the thought. “He made me increase the strength, too. She suffered so much.” Susan looks at me, and I can see the repulsion in her face. “And then . . . then he hit her. He tied her up to keep her from moving. I couldn’t watch. And Mr. Lompoc . . .” Renewed sobs make it impossible for her to go on.
Zeke gets a little closer to me and whispers, “Mr. Lompoc?” The low volume doesn’t hide the anger in his voice. “What the fuck does Derec have to do with any of this?”
“Nothing good if Derec is involved,” I agree.
Liz is able to calm Susan down enough for her to continue her story. “Mr. Lompoc—Derec, you said?—he came into the room when Mr. Drake called for him. The woman was in an inspector’s uniform. She used it during the break-in at the hospital.”
Liz grimaces. “Yeah, I saw her wear it.”
“They said she shouldn’t look like an inspector if she isn’t one. Derec cut off the costume. They only left her underwear on. It was horrible. I wanted to stop them. I even tried to leave the control room, but a PCR guy at the door stopped me. He told me I had to deliver the impulses Mr. Drake requested or they would make sure the woman suffers as much as possible. So--” She takes a deep breath. “I sat down and tried to send smaller impulses each time, but the guard, he caught on and reached past me to increase the strength.
“They almost killed her, and they . . . they just laughed! It made them happy to see her suffer. I got sick and ducked down for the trash can. When I could look again, the woman was out cold. They left her there, half naked and bleeding.”
As I listen to Susan finish her story, horror creeps in. I wanted the woman to be alive. Now, I think it might have been better for her if she had died.
“I don’t—I don’t know what—to—to say,” Liz stammers. “It’s horrible. I can only imagine how you must feel. The idea makes me sick. How long do you think until they kill her if she doesn’t talk?”
I didn’t even consider the woman might have a deadline. We don’t just need to help her, we need to help her now.
“What do we do?” Zeke asks no one in particular. He looks pale despite his tan. I’ve never seen him this horrified. Zeke’s usually the one making fun of every situation to lighten the mood. But nothing is light or fun about this.
“Susan, can you get me into the lab and show me the records?” I ask. I need to know what we’re up against.
Susan nods. “I can take you later tonight. I’ve been assigned to monitor her overnight. There won’t be anyone else around.”
“When should I meet you?”
Zeke holds up a hand. “Hold on. I’m coming, too.”
“And so am I,” Liz adds with an eager nod. She crosses her arms and glares at me, daring me to object.
“Doesn’t matter who comes,” Susan says before I can argue. “Meet me in front of the Imperium at two. All of you, if you want.” Without another word, she gets up and leaves, still sniffling.
VIII
Friday
18
Nate
We arrive at the Imperium just before two in the morning. Susan is waiting outside. She shivers from cold and tiptoes around.
Zeke heads for the door. With a pull on his elbow, Susan stops him. “You can’t go storming in.”
Zeke freezes, takes a few steps back to rejoin us. “Okay then. What’s the plan?”
“This should help.” Susan holds up her phone.
The screen shows a feed of the entrance hall. The camera moves from side to side. Relentlessly. Left, right, left, right.
“Cameras are everywhere,” Susan explains. “If anyone sees me helping you, we’ll be in trouble. There’s always someone manning the control room, so we have to assume we are being watched and recorded. I’ll be watching the feed and let you know when to run. There are cameras in the elevator, so we can’t use it. Head for the staircase next to the elevator.”
“Aren’t there cameras in the stairwell?” Zeke asks.
Susan sha
kes her head. “No, it’s an emergency staircase only. No one actually uses it. Opening the door after hours sets off an alarm. No worries, though. I opened it earlier. We’ll be fine.”
“Won’t they wonder why you are using the staircase?” I ask.
“Oh, I won’t be. I’ll let you know when it’s safe to get inside, but I’ll be using the elevator. There’s no camera in the lab corridor, so I’ll be able to meet you there without an issue.”
“So . . . we’ll have to time everything perfectly . . . okay.” Liz doesn’t sound convinced.
“When you get in, go right and squeeze into the corner behind the desk. It’s a blind spot. I found it earlier on the camera feed while trying to figure out the best way in.” Susan turns and steps into the building.
She leans against the wall. Leisurely, she gets out her phone and starts scrolling. A few clicks. A head tilt. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she just remembered something she wanted to do before going to work. She’s good at this.
“Get ready,” Susan instructs. “Three, two, one, go.”
Zeke, Liz, and I rush inside. It’s a tight squeeze between the desk and the wall. I’m pressed against the window. I am much too aware of how visible I’d be from outside. But there’s no way to make this look natural.
Susan doesn’t look up from her phone. “One of you at a time. And be quick.”
“Nate, you go first,” Liz whispers. We shuffle until I’m in the front. Liz is squeezed against the window behind me.
“Ready.”
I tense.
“Go.”
I dash past the desk and slam into the wall. I push myself off with my hands and stumble through the door. I am alone in the stairwell. Nothing I can do but wait.
An eternity later, Zeke slams through the door. Soon after, Liz slides in. Somehow she manages to do it gracefully.
“You made that look so easy,” Zeke says, and we laugh. We quickly stop, remembering we have to be stealthy.
Zeke leads the way up the stairs. When we reach the fifth floor, Liz is out of breath, and my legs are getting sore.
“I’ll never skip leg day again,” Zeke jokes.
A ding outside the stairwell door tells us Susan has arrived. When she opens the door, we step into a brightly lit hallway.
“Everyone okay?” she asks. “No camera out here, but there’s one right above the door to the lab and two monitoring the lab cages. I have no idea what we’ll do about the one for the door. It doesn’t move, so there’s no avoiding it.”
“You have a computer out here?” Liz asks, and Susan nods. “If it’s connected to the same network as the one in the command room, I can loop the feed. I’ll disable it on our way out.”
“As long as no one watches it right as we walk by,” I say, then pause. “Wait, what? How do you know how to do that?”
Liz smiles mischievously. “Later, guys. Calm down. Right now, it only matters that I can do it.” Zeke starts to ask more questions, but Liz shushes him. “Okay, where’s the computer?”
Susan leads her over to a station at the end of the corridor. Transfixed, I watch Liz as she sits down and types what looks like random strings of letters, numbers, and symbols. I don’t understand any of it.
“Done.” Liz turns around. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”
Susan leads us into the lab. Pushing my preoccupation with Liz’s new-found abilities to the side, I look around the room. There are a few workstations. A laptop or tablet is set up on each. A large window shows the distant lights of the tall buildings in the outer Circles. A door with a small, barred window leads out of the room on the right.
Most of the room is filled with tables covered with all kinds of tools and gadgets. A set of glass tubes holds liquids of various colors. Stacks of paper. Printed photos. A large timetable on an erasable surface hangs on the wall. I shuffle through the stacks of graphs and pages filled with notes in scribbled handwriting. A painting of something like a colored dartboard makes me stop.
I move the papers covering it to the side. This isn’t a dartboard. It’s a map. The top of the paper reads: Map of the City & Experiment Areas—TOP SECRET.
Nothing like “top secret” to spark my interest. I wave the others over and show them the map. I recognize the city in the middle. Government Complex as the bullseye. Neat cubed houses surround the Imperium. Thin, green line represents the park. Gray line for the wall. Three more circles, each separated by a gray line. Someone added labels to the circles in minuscule, slanted writing—not that something as simple as Inner, Middle, Outer, should need labels.
“Is that what’s outside the final wall, Susan?” I ask, pointing at the areas surrounding the city.
“Yes. A lot of the successful experiments started here are moved to the Circles outside the city. Each region has a different weather and climate zone.”
She indicates the large colored circles. Yellow: Desert. Gray-blue with ragged peaks: Mountain. Dark green with trees: Forest. Blue-green with strange plants: Tropical.
“The Tropical Circle even has beaches in some areas,” Susan adds.
“What’s that?” Liz points to a group of mountain peaks with what look like red sparks above them.
“Volcanoes. New experiment area for high-temperature creatures.”
I’ve heard about volcanoes—but only once. Some documentary show. Liz and Zeke look as though they have no idea what Susan is talking about.
“Fire-spitting mountains, you know? They erupt and spit out lava—a kind of molten rock—and ash everywhere,” Susan explains, eyeing Liz and Zeke. “They are fascinating. I wish I could go see one.”
Liz looks as if seeing a fire-spitting mountain is the last thing to add to her to-dos. Zeke looks fascinated. He’s always been a daredevil. I can only imagine the adventures he’s dreaming up now.
“Let’s get going,” I urge.
Susan slides the paperwork back over the map. I spot a few red X’s at the beach and stop her hand. The slanted writing at the side of the map identifies them as Rebel Camps.
“What?” Susan sounds annoyed, and I let go of her hand.
“Nothing. Sorry. I thought I saw something. Never mind.”
I look up and away from the table to hide my intrigue. As I scan the room, I spot cages through the back door’s window. I take a few involuntary steps toward it.
“You can’t go in there, Nate,” Susan warns. “Cameras.”
“Can’t Liz do whatever she did with the camera in the hallway?”
Susan shakes her head. “The guard might notice if the animals do the same thing over and over. It’s too risky.”
Curiosity is getting the better of me. I take another step toward the door.
“Fine. You can look,” Susan adds when I don’t give up. “I’ll explain when we are out of here.” She walks over and props opens the door to provide us a better view. She steps inside and busies herself by greeting the animals.
Rows and rows of different-sized cages line the walls. Giant cages filled with different kinds of monkeys and apes. Tiny terrariums with snakes, spiders, frogs. Small cages with rats and other rodents. Some of the largest cages stand empty.
Most of these animals I’ve only ever seen on television. I wish I could go in and get a closer look. I stretch my neck to see as many cages as possible without going inside.
“Wow, this is amazing!” Zeke looks like a kid in a candy store. I can’t help but smile as well. Liz’s mouth hangs open in awe. Seeing this many animals in a city where we don’t even have rats takes our breath away.
“These are our test subjects,” Susan explains in a sad voice. She doesn’t move much, not wanting to look weird on the cameras, and keeps looking down.
“This here is Lulu. Two of her siblings were relocated last week.” She walks toward a large chimpanzee in one of the biggest cages. “She’s our best student. She has been injected with the same thing Chase was shot with. Most of the apes lose consciousness when we send an impulse. Lulu was
the first to start rejecting it. I hate to see her suffer, but it was interesting how fast she learned to cope with it.”
The idea that this can fascinate her makes me sick. Liz gasps and nearly runs into the room. Zeke holds her back.
“Is that one okay?” Liz asks, trembling. She points at a small monkey lying lifeless on the floor.
“This is Timmy. He’s a lemur. We injected him a few days ago. He doesn’t know how to reject it yet. He’s fine. Just recovering from the experiments they ran on him earlier.”
Liz looks eager to save him.
“Really. He’s fine. He’ll wake up in a few hours, good as new. It’ll take a long time for him to learn how to resist. It gets worse when they do because it takes longer for them to pass out. It’s what’s happening with Chase. Come on.”
She walks out of the cage room and closes the door behind her. She finds a workstation, and the laptop lights up when she opens it. A view of an almost-empty room fills the screen.
Chase is huddled on a leather armchair. She’s hugging her knees. Her hair is an untidy mess, strands falling into her face. I can see a large bruise on her cheek. There’s dried blood on her chin and neck. She’s covered with a large felt blanket. Her feet stick out at the bottom.
“She’s weak and asleep, but she’ll be okay. Well, her body at least. I went in earlier and covered her with the blanket. I cut her free, too. I couldn’t bear seeing her tied up. I tried washing her face, but she started to wake up. She needs the rest.” Susan’s voice sounds defensive. As if she blames herself for what happened and expects us to as well.
“I left her some fresh clothes in the bathroom and turned the water back on. They turned it off earlier to force her to drink the drugged water—”
“Drugged water?” I interrupt.
“Her prescription. We had to supply her dose somehow.”
I don’t like that. Tricking the woman into taking her prescription feels wrong.
“I’ll go in and bring her food when she wakes up. There’s nothing I can do right now,” Susan finishes.
