Sapience

by bret Wellman

  Sapience

  By: Bret Wellman

  Chapter 1

  Ten minutes ago I was the smartest man on earth, right now I was struggling to remember my name. I am nothing without my mind.

  It was surprisingly warm on this night; the stars were shining brightly through the cracks of the buildings above. I was wearing my uniform stamped with the Kingdom's logo. A dart in my shoulder was quickly draining what little sanity I had left as my best friend pulled me limping along through a back alley. We were running from the government.

  In North America a dictatorship known as the Kingdom thrived in the land once known as the United States. President Mead ruled these lands with a ruthless unforgiving hand. It was under his law that one child was taken from every family and chemically redesigned for the military. It was in one of their buildings that my friends and I were given a special kind of military training. It was that training that gave us the ability to break out, the drugs that were given to us at birth allowed us to defy them right under their own nose.

  As we fled through the alley, the dart in my shoulder counteracted the drugs that powered my brain. I was a super assassin no more.

  I never really minded my training. The dorms were nice and the classes kept you in peak condition, but the Kingdom was evil and wished us to kill innocent people. They ruled through fear and they were good at what they did.

  We kept the power of our brains as shallow as we could and the Kingdom never really discovered how smart we had become.

  "William," my friend said to me as we slowly walked up to a black car. "What did they do to you?"

  Adrian had a fit body like me and his hair was black and buzzed. He had a dominant, square jaw and in many ways he looked as sadistic as the people who created him. His glowing, blue eyes were always watching. The glow was a side effect of the drugs.

  My knees grew even weaker as I stared into his chemically altered glowing blue eyes and realized I didn’t know the answer to his question. Why didn’t I know? I had more than enough information to know the answer but for the first time in my life I didn’t know.

  "I don’t know," I had always been the smartest and I could see fear in Adrian’s eyes when I couldn’t answer.

  "This is bad."

  "I know." If I didn’t get better, my life would be over. I could never live with a foggy mind.

  "You should be fine once we get some food in you." He tried to convinced himself. "Then we will follow up with the plan." The doubt in his eyes showed he didn’t really believe what he was saying.

  "No, you can’t wait to finish what we’ve started," I pleaded, "get us to safety."

  He slid me into the back seat of the car then disappeared to the passenger seat.

  I vaguely noticed our fellow escapee Lillie in the driver seat as my vision went blurry. She had curly black hair and luscious full lips, a body built to kill and glowing blue eyes like the rest of us. Her face was smooth and pale, almost like a porcelain doll.

  It was a six hour drive until the sun came up and another twelve before it went back down again. The drive was like a dream as I faded in and out of consciousness. The fog that filled my vision never seemed to fade in the times when I was awake. Adrian and Lillie took turns driving while I laid helplessly in the back. I didn’t eat or drink anything the whole time. I just stared blankly up at the sky, listening to the muffled radio and foreign conversations. I couldn’t make out any of it, everything seemed so distant.

  When we turned down the main road in the semi small town of Newberry Michigan, the northern lights were glowing in a fluorescent green, across the night sky.

  Lillie turned at one of the three traffic lights in town and started down a dirt road. Though my mind was still gone, I remember this road in the escape plan.

  It was long and lonesome. There were trees on either side, nothing else. If the car broke down I imagined we would have to walk a long way before even reaching a cross road. For ten minutes we didn’t pass another car.

  "We’re almost there," Lillie said, looking at me over her shoulder from the driver’s seat. "Then we can figure out what’s wrong with you."

  "Good," I could barely get my voice to even whisper.

  "It shouldn’t take too long. We already know that the main ingredient in the dart is anthiom," she announced to Adrian.

  "Once I can get back to town we should have everything we need to kick that crap out of your system within the hour," Adrian said with confidence.

  "Do you know what we need?" Lillie asked.

  "No, but after taking a blood sample I will."

  So he was planning on taking a blood sample. The thought made me shiver. You would think that I would be used to it, the Kingdom had taken thousands from me, but I wasn't. It always felt like I was being violated.

  "And you’re sure this will work?"

  "Let me worry about William. You just concentrate on hacking the banks." I could see from the way he shifted in his seat, he didn’t like her questioning him. None of us liked being questioned by the others. Deep down we thought because we were so smart we should always be coming to the same conclusions. When questions were asked it meant that one of us had come up with something different and that disturbed us.

  I slowly gathered enough strength to sit up and stare out the window.

  The northern lights turned the forest on either side of the road a mystical green.

  It was breathtaking, unlike anything I had ever seen while being locked up in the Kingdom’s government buildings.

  Eventually we turned off the road onto a two track that cut through the forest. It wound through the thick trees for a quarter mile until the forest opened up into a field that surrounded an old abandoned mansion.

  Most of the windows in the two story mansion were broken and all the white paint was chipping off the wooden siding, plantation grew wild all over it.

  We had found this place using satellite imagery, it was amazing what you could do when you knew how to hack the governments systems. The mansion had been all but forgotten and the property was sold for just that, property. Not that price mattered, President Mead would never miss a couple thousand dollars here and there.

  It took Lillie and Adrian only seconds to get me out of the car and into one of the many bedrooms. The place was so old and worn; I would be surprised if it wasn’t haunted. There was water damage everywhere, you would probably need a tetanus shot if you stayed here too long.

  The room they placed me in wasn’t any better. It had been sitting here vacant for who knows how many years. The dusty wooden floor, the stained and cracked white walls and ceiling, this was how it was supposed to be, I remembered from the plans. A moldy mattress was the only piece of furniture in the whole room.

  A second door in the room led to its own separate bathroom. I didn’t dare glance inside to see what might have been left behind by the previous owner. There was a large window on the far wall, it was covered in so much dust that you couldn’t see through it at all.

  Lillie and Adrian were gone in a flash. I heard the engine of the car rev up then take off, back down the driveway. It was creepy being left in the old mansion alone, jumping at every creak the house made. Staring at the cracks in the ceiling I started to think about what would come next.

  We were looking for someone, that’s why we chose Newberry. Other escapees, people from the same government building who had escaped one year before us. We had reason to believe they were hiding here and I never doubted my logic, I was always right... at least I was before.

  Whether we found the other kids or not, we were still free people and in need of a good home. Adrian and Lillie would hack into numerous banks and transfer a boatload of money into an off-shore bank account. Once that was done we would start construction on the man
sion. That is if I ever got my strength and mind back.

  A loud creek in the floor made me jump and roll off the mattress. I found myself staring at a broken peace of mirror lying on the floor. In shock, I realized my glowing blue eyes had faded. The glow was still there but it was almost gone. My sandy blond hair was sticking up on end and my skin was much paler than usual.

  The tumble from the mattress had taken the last of my strength so I closed my eyes right there on the floor and fell asleep.

  I slept long and hard. Between the poison in the dart and not being able to fall asleep in the car, I slept for three days straight.

  The floors had been scrubbed clean when I woke. The old moldy mattress I had fallen asleep next to was replaced by a brand new one that someone had laid me on. The sky outside my window was dark, lit only by the moon.

  Lillie walked through the door and examined me as I sat up, a loving expression on her face as she approached. She had always been like my older sister growing up and at times she was even like the mother I never had. She was five years older than me at twenty three but she acted much more mature.

  I winced in pain as I saw an IV sticking out of my arm.

  "Are you back with us William?" she pulled the needle from my arm and a yellow liquid spilled from the tube all over the floor.

  "What is that stuff?" I asked. It didn’t look like anything I ever wanted running through my veins.

  "Oh dear." she mumbled to herself and placed a warm hand on my forehead. "Adrian." she turned toward the door as she spoke.

  "Yea?" Adrian said just before poking his head through the door.

  "It didn’t work."

  What didn’t work? I wondered. I felt fine. My strength had returned completely. Then I realized what was wrong. I didn’t know what the stuff in the IV was... and I should. My brain was supposed to be able to figure things like that out. That’s what it was designed for and yet here I was without an answer.

  "That’s impossible, I made the antidote myself." Adrian leaned in for a closer look as he spoke. I felt like an animal on display at a pound.

  "What are we going to do? He has school in three hours." Lillie said.

  "School!" I shouted. If I wasn’t back to my superior self how was I supposed to handle school?

  "We figured you would be back to normal by the time you woke up," Lillie’s voice was back to being calm.

  "This could still work." Adrian said. "He’s obviously just as smart as any normal person, so he can still keep an eye out for the others." He paused for a heartbeat. "You do remember what they look like right?"

  I had grown up in the government buildings with them and seen them everyday in the dorms. Even so I was drawing a blank on what they looked like.

  "I think I will remember once I see them." I said after thinking it over.

  With a concerned glance toward each other, Adrian and Lillie walked outside leaving me to myself. I didn’t want to be dirty for school so I decided to brave the shower in the dirty bathroom. To my surprise the toilet and faucets were all brand new. I opened the fresh shower curtain and was delighted to find everything had been replaced in there as well. Adrian and Lillie had done a lot while I was asleep.

  The tile floor and walls of the shower were sparkling clean and a fresh bottle of shampoo and body wash sat ready for use.

  After the shower I found a fresh pair of dark blue jeans, brown belt, gray long sleeve shirt, and black dress shoes laid out across the mattress in the morning sun.

  I glanced down at a five hundred dollar price tag on the blue jeans. Lillie had already been having some fun with the money she had "borrowed". She didn’t consider it stealing because we were going to use Adrian to predict some good investments and pay it back. Reluctantly I slipped on the clothes. I wish she would have picked out something a little less expensive, this seemed over the top.

  They fit perfect and even I had to admit the outcome turned out quite nice.

  "Ready for the big day?" Adrian walked through the door as I slipped on my shoes.

  "Ready as I'll ever be." I was a little nervous. I had never been to a real school before.

  "Interesting, take this and call if you find the others." He handed me a cell phone. Its touch screen lit up under my fingers.

  He turned and started walking out the door. "Oh and I almost forgot." A mischievous grin spread across his face as he pulled out a pair of car keys and tossed them to me. "Turn left at the light and drive for a few miles. Newberry High School will be on your right."

  I nodded and when I went to get up Lillie walked in and stopped me.

  "You’re not ready yet. You represent our family and it is of the utmost importance you look your best." She dipped her fingers into a small round container in her hand and pulled out a small pile of white gunk. "This is pomade. It’s like gel only for your hair. It's better."

  I didn’t stop her when she rubbed the gunk through my hair spiking it up. Actually I kind of liked the outcome, it made me look more formal.

  When I walked out to the driveway I was surprised to find all the broken windows in the mansion had been replaced with new ones. How did Adrian and Lillie do all this I wondered? Still in shock from the fresh look of the new windows I clicked the unlock button on my car keys. The sight that followed froze me solid.

  Chapter 2

  The lights of a dark black Aston Martin flashed as its doors unlocked.

  "Are you just going to stand there? You’re going to be late for school." Adrian leaned against the front door of the house watching my reaction.

  I could only nod to him as I opened the door and turned the key. Luxury was an understatement. The new car smell washed over me as I fastened the seat belt. Its black leather seats only made the car seem that much more out of my league. They must have spent a fortune on this thing.

  The gears jammed and Adrian cringed as I tried for the first time to drive a stick shift. It was tough but on the second try I got it and was moving sluggishly down the driveway.

  Adrian’s plans for finding the school were simple and in no time it was in sight. It looked surprisingly low key. One big structure made of brown bricks. The lawn around the many walls was barren. No shrubbery or trees, just grass. Where were the Kingdom's worship statues? I wondered. Where was the shrubbery meant to represent the Kingdom's beauty to the children?

  I parked in the back of a large parking lot filled with kids doing the same except no one parked as far away as I did. Holding my breath I shut off the engine and stepped out of the car. I could feel stares as I passed people on my way into the school.

  Why does it have to be a big deal? I wondered. It’s not like an alien spaceship just landed. But still I caught kids watching me the whole way to the school.

  Inside the hallways were spacious. Green lockers lined the walls and students walked in all directions as they prepared for the start of the day. I followed a set of small white arrows painted on the walls at every intersection until I reached the office.

  It was a secure feeling knowing the halls weren’t too crowded yet. I find people tend not to make a big deal about things when there was a chance they could be singled out.

  The office was large and empty. Chairs lined the walls, a clock ticked wildly toward the first bell of the day and a dead plant sat in the corner. It was plain and boring, as if school wouldn’t be boring enough as it is. A large counter covered with stacks of paper and a phone separated the two halves of the room. There was only one chair behind the desk and it was manned by a dark haired lady with glasses. She was wearing a dress shirt that covered any skin bellow the neck.

  She glanced up. "You must be William Fay."

  She had my first name right but where did she get that last name? I decided Adrian and Lillie must have signed me up under that name.

  "That would be me." I told her. Technically my real name was William, one, zero, seven but I doubted numbers substituted for last names outside of the government buildings.

  "I assume you ha
ve come to me for your schedule?" she said. She reached to a spot on the desk I couldn’t see and pulled out a stack of papers. "Here we are."

  She held out a piece of paper with my classes printed on it and explained where each one was. She kept a bored look on her face as she wished me good luck and sent me on my way.

  If she only knew why I was here. She wanted me to learn, my plan was to blend in. She wanted me to praise the Kingdom; my whole purpose in life was to defy it.

  When I was walking to my first class I glanced out a window and saw a group of kids huddled around my car. My first instinct was to run out there and shoo them away but then I figured I would be doing the same thing if I was them. I gave them one last glance then continued on my way.

  I kept staring straight ahead as I walked through the crowd of teenagers. To my horror I could see people staring at me out of the corner of my eye. It made me wish I had a weapon, something I could use to defend myself if an enemy were hiding in their ranks. Nobody said anything to me so I kept walking.

  I got to the hallway where my first-hour was Room "303", easy to spot. I felt my heart race as I approached the old wooden door. I took a deep breath to steady my nerves then twisted the knob.

  The classroom was larger than the ones in the government buildings. All the chairs were filled with people talking back and forth. Thankfully they were all too busy talking to each other and no one had noticed me enter. The teacher, a short fat and balding man with an over grown moustache sat eating an apple at his desk. When he saw me he immediately perked up.

  "Attention class." He called out.

  So much for nobody paying attention.

  "We have a new student with us today." He gestured in my direction. “Mr. William Fay.”

  Crap, and just like that all eyes were on me. The classroom was silent. I’m sure you could hear a pin drop. That is if one of the students would move enough to knock one over. No one did.

  I gave a small nod and wave then made my way over to the teacher. He marked my schedule then directed me to a seat in the back of the class. I could feel the burning stares of the other students as I sat down. Not wanting to look up I decided it was best to start working on the paper the teacher had handed me. It was advanced math meant to take all hour. Something in my head clicked and I started writing down answers. Not like I would before when I was in the government building but yet more than anyone was supposed to. Quickly I decided my job was not to succeed but to blend in so I scribbled a few wrong answers and gave myself a time limit before I could start the next math problem.