Oblivion

by Adrianne Lemke

A reflection off one of the pans near my bed caught my attention and I stared at the bright spot in fascination.

  “It’s so pretty,” I muttered.

  The Doctor cursed under his breath. “We gave him too much. He’s suggestible, but not lucid enough to follow through.”

  “Who are you talking to?” I dragged my attention from the pretty shiny thing, back to the man who said he was my friend.

  “Our other friend; the one who spoke to you in your mind. He does the same with me. He’s going to help your attention span, so don’t fight when he goes into your mind.”

  Into my mind? Why would I allow…?

  The intrusion made me gasp, and I instinctively pushed at the offending person.

  Another bang from outside was followed by rapid cursing by the Doctor. “It’s not working. We should take the kid and go before Jason destroys this whole place.”

  I couldn’t hear the response, but the other man did not seem happy about it.

  “We can get him later! It will do us no good to wait and let him destroy this facility!” The anger and fear were clear now in his voice.

  I watched curiously. The harsh emotions pierced through the artificial high created by whatever they’d given me. True memories began to seep back in.

  “Jason,” I gasped out, fighting the fogginess in my mind.

  The man whipped his head toward me, eyes wide with the shock that now rolled off him in waves. “You… right now you shouldn’t know anything.”

  More came to me, and I realized my brother had come to rescue me. The Doctor’s worry, anger, and fear broke through the effects of the drug. To prevent it from taking over again, I pushed him to feel even more to help ground myself.

  “When drugging an empath you should be careful to remain calm and in control of your emotions,” I spoke calmly as I manipulated his mind to help myself.

  He gasped and backed away from me grasping his head in his hands as if in pain.

  “What’s happening to you?” I asked.

  The pain he felt was not from anything I was doing. With Hunter and Jason, I had been able to manipulate them without any pain. They hadn’t even noticed what I was doing at the time. It left only one option.

  “You failed him, didn’t you?” I realized. “He’s punishing you for your lack of control. I can help you, but I need your assistance in return.”

  He was unable to respond, but I felt a sense of hope at my words that I took to mean he wanted my help.

  I wasn’t sure exactly how to begin, so I pushed to see where all of his levels were in order to figure out how best to help him.

  “He’s nudging your pain receptors,” I informed him. “The pain you are feeling is literally all in your head. Somehow, he’s making you believe that you’re feeling pain.”

  I reached to touch his arm and realized I was still restrained on the bed. My hands shook. It wasn’t time to fall apart yet, so I took a deep breath. There would be a right time to fall apart, but this wasn’t it.

  Pushing aside my impending panic, I closed my eyes and focused on the Doctor. Before I could figure out how best to aid him, the attack stopped.

  He lay on the ground shaking for a few minutes before attempting to push himself up.

  “Are you okay?” I asked, with full knowledge that he was not.

  His faith in his leader had been shaken. Somehow he had believed the Mastermind would never harm him as long as he continued to follow directions.

  “You didn’t do anything wrong,” I assured him.

  To help my case I pushed at his feeling of betrayal and his new desire for revenge.

  He stood next to my bed, undecided on what path to follow. His hands hovered over my restraints, but stopped short of setting me free.

  “You were going to help me. Even if you thought I wouldn’t reciprocate,” he said in wonder.

  He was on the precipice of a decision, and it took only another minute before he reached for my hand.

  “I will free you. But no one else in this facility is on your side,” he warned. “And you still have the drug in your system, so be careful.”

  “My brother is here,” I informed him. “I’ll be fine.”

  A sense of desire swept through him, but I pushed it down. My anger helped to push it almost to non-existent.

  “You aren’t taking him either. You think I’m a good person for wanting to help you? Trust me, you have no idea what I’m willing to do if you even think about hurting my brother,” I snapped.

  He gave me an admiring look. “We underestimated you, Sam. I’m thinking we were incorrect about which brother is more powerful.”

  I smirked. “In raw power? Jason’s got me beat hands down. He could take down this facility and barely break a sweat. All I do is manipulate others. Not really powerful, but definitely effective.”

  I turned to leave, feeling a little unsteady but doing my best to hide it.

  “Have a nice life, assuming your boss doesn’t decide to kill you for this. Good luck.”

  The Doctor didn’t follow me.

  Oddly, I found that I held no anger toward the Doctor. Despite apparently having full control of his mental faculties I could tell he had been pushed toward the belief that he would be helping people by what he was doing. He felt no malice toward those in his care, and attempted to make them as comfortable as possible in their captivity.

  It was madness, in a way, but not the same as I felt with Jeremiah. I was beginning to think Jason was correct to not trust the man. There was definitely dark sentiment growing in our ally, and no way to know if—or when—he would turn on us. Keeping him around was risky, but having his help could be worth it.

  I made my way toward the nearest exit, but the place was built like a maze. I got turned around in my attempt to avoid contact with any of the guards, and found myself outside, but in the inner courtyard.

  Just over half of the yard was freshly torn up, and I knew it had been Jason’s doing. The ground was soft, but there were also large chunks of stone and concrete mixed in.

  “Where are you guys,” I muttered, turning to find a different way out.

  I stopped short when I saw the guards standing by the door. Two men under the control of the Mastermind.

  “You need to come back in now,” one of the men said.

  I took a step back. “And if I don’t?”

  The other guard pointed at two locations in the upper floor windows.

  “We can’t have you spreading the word about what we’re doing here. I would hate to lose the ability to study you, Sam. However, trust that I would rather study your corpse than have you free to spread the word about our plans.”

  My brow furrowed. “I don’t know your plans. All I know is that you’ve been gathering others with abilities and studying them. I have no idea what your endgame is.”

  The guards turned toward the inner part of the building. “If you want to survive, you need to come with us. You could even be reunited with your brother. I might even be willing to help him with his little memory problem.”

  I looked up at them in shock. “I thought…”

  “You thought I was unaware? I was. At first. But then he ran away and didn’t go to you. He went with another of my test subjects instead. I have full access to her thoughts, and she doesn’t even know it. Once she discovered his problem, I also became aware of it.”

  I nodded slowly. “How would you help? Why would you help? Wouldn’t that make him more likely to escape from you again?”

  “Come back inside, and I will explain,” he invited.

  I took a quick glance around the courtyard and realized I had no choice. Other guards had appeared near the other potential exits, so I nodded tersely.

  My neck tingled at the thought of turning my back on two snipers who were ready to shoot me, but I had no choice.

  “Who are you?” I asked as we walked down the hall.

  “You know better than to ask,” he answered.

  “What I mean is; you
are one of the most powerful people I’ve met, but I don’t think I’ve ever officially met you. Why do you never appear in person?”

  A guard nudged me from behind so I kept moving.

  “See, my thought is that you are super powerful in the mental aspect, but physically? Physically I don’t think you could fight a rabbit. I’m guessing you’re scared to show your face because any of us with the ability to prevent you from taking over our minds would be able to tear you down like wallpaper.”

  “Keep your mouth shut and get moving,” the guard said. His voice was a little different, and I seized the minor victory.

  “Getting a little too close, right? You know my brother will rip you apart, so my guess is you aren’t even in this facility.”

  A smile had begun to form on my face, but at my final thought it faded.

  If the Mastermind wasn’t even here, then how could we find him? If we didn’t find him and stop him now, he could simply set up his operation in a different location.

  He would keep coming for us until he was able to wear us down.

  FORTY-FOUR

  Jason

  Sam was on the move. The only unfortunate thing about that was he was heading in the wrong direction. Oh… and there were other footsteps following him.

  “We need to move, Jason,” Agent Jones warned. “The guards are coming.” He held his gun at his side, but was ready to react at a moment’s notice.

  I pushed more of the now loosened dirt toward the door.

  “I can feel that, thanks. Sam’s in trouble, so we can either run away or go in and help him. I know which I’ll choose.” I glared at the other man in challenge.

  Jones wilted a bit. “You’ll soon learn that you know me better than that, Jason. I wouldn’t leave Sam—or any kid, for that matter—in a dangerous situation.”

  A quick glance showed the clenched jaw and hard look in the eyes of the FBI agent. He was clearly not ready to give up.

  “Sorry. What’s the plan, Ag-?”

  “Mark,” he interrupted.

  “What?”

  “You were about to call me Agent Jones again. We’re friends. Call me Mark,” he ordered.

  The ground swirled around us and I nodded.

  “Okay. What’s the plan, Mark?”

  “Use the dirt to smash through the door. Then keep control of it to use against whatever guards we run into.”

  A tilt of my head showed my doubt. Not only doubt if I could keep control of the dirt for the entirety of the rescue, but also in the less-than-detailed plan.

  “Without knowing exactly what’s up with the Mastermind, or Puppet Master, or whatever you want to call him, I can’t make a better plan,” Mark answered with a shrug. “The guards could be innocents who have been trapped here. We need to make sure none of them are seriously injured.”

  “Not sure a whirlwind of rock and dirt is the best way to keep them uninjured,” I countered.

  “Better than a bullet.”

  I nodded once in acknowledgment. “All right; let’s go.”

  I pushed my hand forward, and the dirt and rock tornado suddenly shot toward the door in a single rock-hard stream.

  Mark whistled as the door shattered under the onslaught.

  “At least we weren’t going for the subtle approach,” he commented wryly.

  “Nope. That’s Jeremiah’s job. Let’s make sure they all know we’re here.”

  We marched into the building accompanied by the dirt.

  “It follows you like a dog,” Mark observed. He eyed the spread out dirt in amusement.

  I smiled at the thought. “That gives me an idea.”

  With a surge of power, I forced the earth into the form of a large dog that trotted along beside us.

  “That’s cool,” the agent said quietly. He watched the dirt dog for a moment, before he shook his head and kept his eyes open for threats.

  A quick footstep check showed Sam heading away from where we were.

  “This way,” I pointed down the hall and the dog ran ahead checking for any guards in our path.

  The stone claws clicked on the tile floors as the creature rushed through and I heard a huff of air as it tackled a guard. The thump reverberated through the floor as the man hit the ground.

  “Good dog,” I said as we walked past the guard with the dirt creature standing over his body.

  The dog’s rock teeth were bared in a silent snarl, and the guard lay unmoving.

  “You can’t save him,” the guard warned.

  “Puppet Master, I presume,” I said, standing over the downed guard.

  The guard’s head moved in a slight nod. He stopped short when the dog shifted on his chest.

  “Your brother is lost to you. The only way you can see him again is to join him here, with us.”

  I stepped forward and the dog’s mouth opened again, now showing hardened dirt sharpened into knife-sharp points.

  “You can’t stop me from getting to him. Haven’t you figured it out yet? You may be able to control normal people, but you can’t control others with abilities. Not for long, anyway.”

  “Have you ever wondered why you are different, Jason? Why you and your brother have abilities while your parents did not? I have the answers you seek, but only if you join us.”

  The idea of knowing was attractive, but until he mentioned it, I hadn’t remembered anything about my parents. Nothing other than what the others told me about an abusive father, anyway.

  “Nothing you say right now will change anything,” I answered with a shrug. “I have no memory of my past, remember? I have no history for you to mess with.”

  “Blessing in disguise, huh?” Mark asked, his eyebrow raised.

  “Sure. Why not?” I agreed mildly.

  “I can help remove the scar from your mind. Your brother doesn’t have the knowledge to do it. If you let me in, I can repair the damage he did to you.”

  Another tempting offer. “I get the feeling my brother isn’t the only gifted manipulator around. Thanks, but I’d rather trust a rattlesnake,” I stated matter-of-factly.

  “I wouldn’t recommend following us,” Mark warned as we began to walk away. “I don’t think the dog likes you.”

  With a final silent growl, the dirt dog followed us down the hall.

  “We need to hurry,” I said, ignoring Mark’s concerned look.

  “How can he control so many people? I don’t understand. Everybody has limits, so what are his?” Mark asked in exacerbation.

  “No idea,” I answered. “And right now, we can’t worry about it.”

  We jogged down the hall; the only noise was our footsteps and the quick tapping of the earth dog.

  “Sam’s up ahead, but there are several guards with him,” I informed the agent.

  “Any idea where Alice and Jeremiah are?”

  I couldn’t sense them immediately, so I knelt and pushed power through the floor to attempt to feel the entire building. A shake of my head told Mark they wouldn’t be here any time soon.

  “Other side of the facility,” I told him, my voice was tinged with regret. We could use the help if we were about to have a run-in with armed guards.

  Some of the guards’ footsteps began to move toward our location.

  “They know we’re here. Our frontal attack may have been a mistake. The Puppet Master will not let up, and he has Sam in his control,” I informed my partner.

  “We’ll stop him,” Mark assured me. “Get the dog some friends and take out the force around Sam.”

  It wasn’t a bad idea, but the one dog took quite a bit of concentration to maintain. “Might be easier from the courtyard. Maybe we can try to herd them in that direction.”

  A guard appeared around the corner ahead of us, and paused at the sight of the large earth-hound.

  “All right; let’s get my brother back.”

  FORTY-FIVE

  Jeremiah

  We made our way through the facility unhindered. Apparently, Jason’s distraction had
worked. Either that or the Mastermind wasn’t worried about us getting in. Perhaps it would be getting out that was the problem.

  As we jogged through the empty halls, we noticed that everything seemed to have been packed up. Some of the supplies I had noticed during my last visit here were no longer in sight, and the formerly locked rooms had doors standing wide open.

  “I think they’re planning on relocating,” I informed the detective.

  She nodded. “Noticed that. It looks like some of the houses I’ve seen when suspects pack up in a hurry.”

  “They must have a plan for taking Sam and Jason. I know the Mastermind won’t leave without them. He seems oddly interested in their abilities.”

  “Feeling left out?”

  There was an odd tone to her voice. It took me a moment to recognize it as a playful or joking tone.

  “Funny. No. I am perfectly happy not being on this guy’s wish list. I think he’s scared of what I might do to him if he tries to take me again.”

  “Nice try. More like he’s not pushing you because he’s thinking you’re going to work for him and help him attain his prize. Tempting, isn’t it?”

  Shutting out my inner voice was growing tiresome. While the Tracker’s friends were warming up to me, I suspected the man himself would not.

  “Are you okay, Jeremiah?”

  I turned to her in surprise. “You’re honestly worried about me, aren’t you?”

  She shrugged and glanced away. “You… you’ve been trying to help. I know you’ve done horrible things that we were never able to punish you for, but you were coerced for many of them. And the ones you weren’t… you were still affected by what Mason did to you.”

  “You’re a rare person, detective. Most in your line of work would see me as nothing more than a killer to get off the streets in any way possible. You would what? Rehab me? Make me into a productive member of society?” I asked, honestly curious.

  Another shock followed; she nodded.

  “We obviously wouldn’t be able to keep you in a cage,” she answered. “So the best option would be to allow you to relearn what you were before the torture changed you.”

  Footsteps echoed through the empty hall and she stopped speaking.