Joseph stood before Jaden. “Look at me now.”
His face was blank, which was Joseph’s way of trying to be unpredictable, a face he showed before one of his moods.
“Dalton said you pushed him.”
“So that’s what this is about?” Seth yelled. “He pushed that creep away and you’re going to torture him, you sick fuck!”
“Why did you push him away, Jaden?” Joseph asked.
“That shouldn’t matter,” Seth argued. “Don’t answer the question, Jaden.”
But he had to answer. Those were the rules. He only spoke when spoken to, and if a question was asked he must answer. He had to do what he was told.
“I don’t know,” Jaden said. “It was a reaction, sir. I’m sorry I did it, I wasn’t thinking—”
“No you weren’t thinking,” Joseph interrupted.
“What should I have done differently?” Jaden asked.
“You should have stayed still and done nothing, obviously,” Joseph said, his eyes hard. “Which you would have known had you thought of what I wanted you to do, rather than what you wanted. You were selfish.”
Seth stood between the two, so Jaden couldn’t see Joseph anymore. “He would have done this even if you had stayed still. He’s mad about Dalton, and he’s going to take it out on you.”
“I know you’re right,” Jaden said to both of them.
“Good.”
He wasn’t sure how he mastered it, but Jaden no longer cried. His eyes were dry now, though he felt every bit like breaking down and crying as Seth screamed injustice. Like always, though, Jaden got through it knowing it would end, one way or another. Nothing lasts forever. Whatever was ahead of him, the only reason Jaden soldiered on was knowing he was one step closer to the end. He lived for the end.
When Joseph left Jaden panting on the floor, Seth sat next to him and put his hand on the top of Jaden’s sweaty head. He hummed and sung the Kookaburra song but remarked on nothing else for the remainder of the day. He only sung. It was a comforting and welcome sound, and Jaden wished he could remember his own mother singing it. He wished she were with him.
After a while the lights dimmed and so did the pain. Jaden thought of sleeping and was ready to close his eyes when a curious dull orange flashing made him sit up. Jaden twist his head around to see what the flashing was. When he turned it was gone.
Seth frowned momentarily, then his face broke into triumph.
“That’s it,” Seth whispered.
“What?” Jaden yawned. “What is it?”
Seth jumped and punched the air. “This is it.”
“What?” Jaden whispered again, facing away from the mirror and watching the pulsing orange light. “Why are you so excited?”
“The light,” Seth breathed. “It’s orange.”
Jaden was confused. “What light?”
“It’s green when it’s off, red when it’s on,” Seth said, his face gleeful.
“What is?” Jaden asked.
“The collar,” Seth said. “There’s a small light on the back, where you can’t see. It’s green when it’s turned off, so everyone knows you can use PK. It’s red when it’s on, so people know it’s safe. But now it’s blinking orange.”
“What does that mean?” Jaden asked.
Seth laughed. “Low battery.”
Now Jaden sat up too. “How do you know?”
“It makes sense,” Seth said, talking fast. “What else would it mean? He’s overused it. This is it, Jaden. This is how you get out of here.”
“How do they change it?” Jaden asked.
“Probably when you’re asleep, maybe regularly, maybe they drug you before they change it, who knows. The point is, it’s dying now. That collar is the only thing that stops you. Once it’s gone, you can get out of here.”
But instead of being excited, like Seth, Jaden was nervous. “We don’t know that for sure.”
“You have to try,” Seth said.
Jaden backed into his usual corner and rocked himself. “I can’t.”
“You have to,” Seth said.
“If it doesn’t work, he’ll get mad and hurt me. If I don’t make it out of here like the last time, he’ll torture me worse than ever,” Jaden said, and if he hadn’t lost his ability to cry, he would have now. “He’ll catch me again.”
Seth grabbed Jaden’s knees and shook them as he shook his head. “This isn’t who you are,” he said. “You’re a survivor and you’re getting out of here tonight. It’s time to rejoin the world and leave this vicious place forever.”
Rejoining the world had been a fantasy, a terrifying prospect. He had been here so long he could hardly remember what it was like outside. At least he knew what to expect here.
Seth squeezed Jaden’s knees. “This isn’t what life is about.”
“Then what is it about?” Jaden asked. “It hurt out there, too, remember? They did things to me there too, and no one stopped them. You didn’t help me.”
“I’m with you now,” Seth said. “It’s different this time. You’re powerful. You don’t need protecting because you can take care of yourself. Surviving is what you do best, and this time you’re going to do it to live. It’s your life, not theirs. You have to take it back.
“All you have to do is drain the battery. When someone tries to change it, you’ll be ready. You have a life to live. Don’t be afraid of it!”
Jaden and Seth stared at one another for an immeasurable amount of time, until Jaden’s face matched Seth’s. He never led him wrong before, so Jaden had to trust him. Seth would help him. He had promised someone would make a mistake, and they finally had. If they made it out, Seth would still be there for him. Seth was right: Joseph and his people wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
“Okay,” Jaden said.
Seth took hold of Jaden’s hands in both of his and nodded. “Keep going until it stops,” Seth said breathlessly. “There’s a purpose to the pain this time. Stay as quiet as you can. I don’t know how long it will take, but this is the end of it.”
Jaden pealed off a sock and placed it on the floor. As soon as he tried lifting it with PK, the jolt of electricity burned and coursed through his body, then stopped. Taking a deep breath, he tried again. His top teeth cut into his bottom lip, and his throat burst and cracked as it tried keeping his voice inside.
The sock lay motionless as Jaden writhed on the floor, ablaze with electricity. He rolled onto his stomach and stared at the sock, his body already worn from being punished many times before.
“One more time,” he heard Seth say, as if he was a mile from him. “Once more. And hurry, they’re coming.”
Jaden concentrated on the sock, and the shocks traveled through him, making him twitch and shake, thrashing his body as the pain stabbed through him, it was so horrible that it—
His eyes flew open and he gasped air like a fish in the talons of an eagle.
He rolled onto his side and saw the sock. In his mind’s eye he saw the sock at all angles, felt its light weight and its texture.
The sock hovered in the air at eye level, and Jaden snatched it and put it back onto his foot. He and Seth hugged.
“Now what?” Jaden asked him.
“We wait,” Seth said. “Lay down and look like you’re sleeping. They’ll come with tranquilizer guns, but that doesn’t matter. As soon as they come in, take the guns and shoot all but one.”
“How many are coming?” Jaden asked.
“At least two,” Seth said.
The motor engaged and for once Jaden was pleased to hear it. He flattened himself on the floor and kept his eyes wide, waiting for them to enter. His heart was loud in his ears, the extra blood pumping him full of energy he hadn’t had in months. He watched as two sets of legs came down the shaft, followed by torsos and heads. Both men raised their guns and pointed them at Jaden as soon as they got to ground level.
Smirking, Jaden pulled both guns from their hands and caught them in his own as he jumped off the fl
oor.
Before either man could run, Jaden shot Curtis. He ran, kicked Curtis down, punched Malcolm in the face with his left fist, and one solid punch with his right, then he delivered a quick knee strike to Malcolm’s stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
He put Malcolm in a headlock and jumped onto the rising elevator platform.
Malcolm, surprisingly, did not struggle.
“They’ll be waiting for you at the top,” Seth said.
Jaden looked at him and mouthed, “How many?”
“I don’t know. Everyone who’s here.”
Jaden shot the remaining tranquilizer into Malcolm’s leg, but Jaden kept him in a headlock to use as a body shield.
Before they reached the top, before the brick panel that separated his cell from the top floor slid into the wall, Jaden tried to feel the people waiting for him. If it was a choice between who lived and who got shot with a tranquilizer, they would have to die.
The fear he’d experienced before was either gone or hiding now—he knew no one and nothing could stop him. Seth was right. This was no way to live, and while life outside had been a struggle, it was nothing to here.
The panel slid back and Jaden crouched underneath Malcolm’s limp body. There were seven men topside, Jaden felt each of them. He almost pitied them.
Before the lift leveled out with the ground, Jaden threw Malcolm in front of him. He ducked and spread his arms wide as the seven men sent to stop him flew across both sides of the hallway, like bowling pins hit with a cannonball. Their guttural sounds of pain and protest reached Jaden’s ears as afterthoughts. They lay on the floor, barely moving from shock and pain.
Eyes closed, Jaden tore each of the seven tranquilizer guns from their owners, but didn’t gather them to himself. Instead, each gun hovered above its master, pointing at their legs. Then he pulled the triggers, neutralizing Joseph’s best offense. The guns fell to the floor with toy-like clattering and Jaden jogged down the hall in a direction he had never been.
“Take a left,” Seth said.
“But that has to be the exit!” Jaden said, pointing at the biggest, most solid door straight ahead of him.
“It is,” Seth said. “You can’t go outside looking like that.”
The room to the left was a locker room—none had locks. They slammed open at once and Jaden sorted through them. He found watches and wallets, paper sack lunches, cell phones, car keys, bottled water, backpacks and books.
“Take all the keys,” Seth said. “Put them in that bag.”
Jaden took a plastic bag from a trash bin and dropped all the keys inside. He pulled off his pants and changed into a pair of blue jeans that fit him loosely, but well enough. He tightened the belt around his waist. One of the workers had a hooded sweatshirt with “GIANTS” written across it, which Jaden pulled over his head.
“Shoes,” Jaden mumbled. He went into the hallway, proud of all the limp bodies scattered over the floor, and removed a pair of running shoes from someone who appeared close to his size, then put them on his own feet, lacing up.
Back in the locker room, Jaden rifled through the wallets and took all the cash he could find: $277. He dumped the wallets into the bag with the keys, added the cell phones and tied the bag. A silver watch caught his eye, and he stuffed it in his jeans pocket. Jaden emptied out a backpack and shoved another sweatshirt and two water bottles inside it.
“Take that too,” Seth said, pointing to a first aid kit. Jaden ripped it off the wall, put it inside the backpack, and zipped it shut. He grabbed the plastic bag with the cell phones and keys.
“Time to go,” Seth said, grinning.
Jaden strode into the hallway and faced the enormous steel door. Unlike the doors in Dalton’s lab, this one did not slide into a recessed wall, it was on hinges, so it would swing toward him or come off.
He took three large steps backward and extended his right hand. Summoning all the power and energy he had, Jaden pulled at the door, feeling with his mind its massive weight but weak jamb.
The door thumped but did not open. Jaden jerked his hand into his body, knowing his physical motions did nothing except help him visualize. He repeated the motion three more times, watching as the wall around the door crumbled and cracked.
With a mighty tug, the door burst from the jamb, bits of concrete flying into the hallway. It hung weakly from two of its hinges.
Jaden pulled it toward him and walked through it, reading the “Employees Only” sign painted on the opposing side of the door.
A short flight of stairs greeted him and he vaulted them two at a time. He clasped the door knob once he reached the top step, pushed hard on the door, and plunged outside into the dark, cold, wet air.
seventeen
Jaden heard a loud rhythmic crashing, and wind blew in his face, carrying with it the unmistakable salty mist of the ocean. Below him waves crashed into white foam on large rocks off shore, and onto the beach down the hill. The deepness of the sound mesmerized him. He stared at the dark ocean, listening to the wave’s drumming, trying to memorize the percussive pounding, and the puuhssssst of the cymbal splashing that followed.
The domed sky above, more massive than he remembered, was dusted with thousands of stars, gleaming down on him, applauding him with their shine. A plane’s flashing lights made their way across the sky. Jaden followed it, spinning around when his neck wouldn’t bend any farther. An orange glow tinted the black sky inland, bleeding into it like only city lights could. Jaden ran up the hill, following a dirt road. He clutched a stitch in his side and was out of breath before reaching the top of the hill. But he didn’t slow down. Running, up a hill, with real dirt, was thrilling in its own way, how the sandy ground almost crunched under his feet, the feel of the cold air on his skin, blowing his hair off his face, the smell of the ocean as he took deep breaths—he was outside again, back in the world.
A large parking lot sat half-way up the hill, and a new sound reached him: cars. Jaden dashed behind a parked truck to avoid the headlights from the road ahead of him. He took the stolen watch out of his pocket to check the time. It was midnight, which explained the sporadic traffic on the road. During a lull, Jaden dashed from the parking lot and continued climbing the hill toward a group of buildings, taking cover in the tall bushes.
“You can’t go into those,” Seth said, suddenly at his side.
“Why not?” Jaden asked.
“People live there.”
“Exactly,” Jaden said. “They can help me!”
“No,” Seth said. “Use your head. You just escaped from a place where a man tortured you to control you. I’m sure they set off an alarm when you shot the first guy with a tranquilizer. They’ll be looking for you soon, and a house is the first place they’ll check. They’re going to do everything they can to get you back. Don’t involve other people in this.” Seth pointed to a group of buildings further up the hill. “And anyway, you don’t know who to trust. Go up there and stay in the trees.”
“It’s bright up there,” Jaden said. “They’ll see me.”
“Not if you stay in the trees. You have to stay hidden.”
Jaden took the hill at a sprint and followed Seth’s advice. He paused every minute to listen for followers and search for bobbing beams of light. No one followed him yet. Jaden brushed his hands through the trees, feeling the rough bark with his fingers. Seth smiled at him as they ran up smaller hills, the natural debris of fallen leaves and twigs crunching under their feet.
They crossed a road and entered another wooded area, this one with foot trails. He needed to put as much distance between him and the facility as possible. Jaden stopped running to catch his breath and think about where he was going. His dramatic escape would be useless if he ran the wrong way. He wished he had a compass… Whatever path he took, he must have been following the shore, for the crashing waves remained as loud as before.
Jaden’s legs were already sore. He had used them so rarely over the past several years they were atrophied
, but the sensation of running was so liberating he pushed past the pain and sprinted faster, the air roaring in his ears. He hurtled over fallen branches, scattering mice. Jaden stretched his hands and grabbed leaves and pines, tossing them behind him, running faster. Dust puffed around his feet when they struck the uneven ground, lit by ambient light.
A break in the woods ahead brought him to a stop. He saw something glimmering, so he clambered down the hill to get a better view, slipping and grabbing at rocks and tree roots with his hands. Even though it was dark, there was no mistaking it. He’d seen photos in text books when he had been in school.
Through the gap in the trees, miles away, lit by headlights and street lamps was a great orange suspension bridge spanning from one dark mass of land and ending in the frame of trees around him. A small blanket of fog rolled up and under the bridge.
“San Francisco,” Jaden said to Seth. He had never left California. Jaden chucked the plastic bag with the phones and car keys as far as he could, hearing the bag land in the black night. He pulled his eyes from the bridge and continued down the path at a jog. Starting car engines and sirens greeted his ears as he ran. Jaden kept himself hidden in the tall grass and trees, creeping up a hill to see where the sounds came from.
Several tall buildings, some wide, sat on the top of the hill: a hospital.
“If Joseph’s smart, and I think he is, he’ll have a staff of people on alert at the hospital. We need to get out of here now,” Seth said and Jaden agreed. He slid back down the hill to the trail and ran as fast as he could, ignoring the dirt in his shoes.
As he ran through the brush, scratching branches, a thought occurred to him. He was leaving a trail for dogs. He had to get out of the woods, where he made tracks, and his scraping skin left a scent. His feet hit concrete as he came to a road. Jaden ran over it, aware of how loud his shoes smacked the ground.
“We have to find a bathroom or something soon,” Seth said.
Jaden Baker Page 26
