Athena turned away while Alan took off his prison garb and slipped on the black uniform.
“So: Phase Two?” Alan asked. Athena nodded solemnly.
“We can still stop this, Alan. You don’t have to go through with it if you just cooperate with them,” Athena pleaded as she took Alan out of the cell.
“I can’t, Athena,” Alan said.
Athena’s hands shook as the carbon-fiber shackles were locked to Alan’s hands. He looked into her eyes and saw her anguish. Athena couldn’t handle the eye contact and looked away. She put a hand on Alan’s shoulder and led him down the hall.
Athena’s skin felt flush as they got closer to C block, the experimental wing of the installation. At first, her heart was racing as her anxiety grew. But there came a tipping point, where she felt her emotions fall over the side of a wall; from anxiety to anger. How dare they make her choose this path?
Athena felt the remote in her pocket pulsing. Alan’s words were echoing in her brain. The first step to taking back control was admitting you were out of control. They stood at a three-pronged juncture in the hallway. Forward would take them to the interrogation rooms Alan had been in before. On the right was the hallway that led to the exit. And the left. The left would take them to the experimental wing.
Athena cleared her throat and pushed the button on the remote. The fluorescent lights overhead shut down, leaving a trim of red lights on the ground to barely illuminate the few inches in front of their faces. Alan felt himself pushed to his right, into a side room. He could barely see Athena’s outline, but he could hear her frantic breathing.
“Listen, we don’t have much time. I’m getting you out of here before the normals scramble your brain, okay?” Athena said quickly, as if the answer wasn’t insane and suicidal.
“This is crazy, you know that, right?” Alan replied. Athena regained some sense of vision in the little closet they had rushed into. She pulled bits of cloth off of Alan’s black uniform revealing an Operator’s disguise.
“This is crazy.”
“Yeah, you keep saying that,” Athena said, her voice a little annoyed. “Did you think I was going to let them scramble you?”
“I didn’t know what to think,” Alan said.
Athena shoved a tactical helmet on Alan’s head. She tapped it playfully, then pulled Alan close to her face.
“Don’t make me regret this, Alan.”
“We need to get Castor and Nick,” Alan replied.
Athena shook her head, “Are you crazy? I didn’t bust you out so you could go back to the detention block. There’s no way. Just take this hall down to the exit, tell them your number, and they’ll send you wherever you want to go. Just get as far away from here as possible. Run and hide. Don’t let them find you, okay? I’m going to be really pissed off if I hear they caught you.”
Alan smiled.
“I can’t leave you. I can’t leave them. I can’t leave Marshall.”
“Oh my god, I’m starting to hate this self-righteous, martyr bullshit. Just let me save you. Go have a long and uneventful life somewhere in the boonies and forget all this crap we’ve been through. Don’t waste this.”
“You know I can’t.”
Athena rolled her eyes, pulled Alan to her lips and kissed him like they’d never meet again. Athena pushed him back, Alan’s eyes wide in confused wonder.
“If you tell Marshall I kissed you, I’ll kill you myself.”
Alan stumbled out of the closet and walked as fast as he could down the hall. Athena walked out of the closet, the light still dim, as the system started coming back online. Alan looked back at her. Athena shook her head no. She wasn’t coming along for the ride.
“I can’t,” she mouthed, and she turned away toward the C block hall.
Alan realized the minute the lights came back on in his hallway, the cameras would be back on him. The disguise wouldn’t last forever. He walked as swiftly as possible without feeling conspicuous. The wall opened to reveal another circular room with an Operator standing in the center.
“Where to -?”
“Number 227,” Alan replied to her. “I’m reporting to precinct 308.”
The woman nodded and held her hand out between them. A blue pool opened, and Alan stepped through.
Pulled apart, scrunched together, then spit out onto the cool, wet grass of the 308’s courtyard. He’d never get the hang of teleportation. The pool closed up in a flash of blue light, the air swirling around him in a small vortex. A cold fog remained like a blanket around him.
“What in the hell is going on out here?” Alan heard Finch’s voice call out from the lobby.
The fog cleared and Finch found himself looking down at Alan, both them looking at each other with terrified stares.
“Well, this isn’t good.”
thirteen
“What did you do, little girl?” the Director’s voice punctuated every word with disdain.
Athena felt the cuffs strangling her hands behind her back, tension pulling them downward with an Operator’s hands pressing down on them with force. Athena winced, the metal chafing the skin raw. A small part of her was regretting helping Alan. But only a small part. She did remember the kiss now. It was impetuous, but the time seemed to call for it. Now she was wondering what it would all mean if she could make it out of her situation alive. But that was unlikely.
“You know what I did,” Athena grunted, as the Operator pulled back on her cuffs. She could feel her wrists burning as the cuffs raked her with every pull.
The Director put his right hand over his temple, fighting off the migraine forming around his skull like a pulsing net. He ran his tongue across his top teeth, then along his bottom lip. He nearly snarled at the stupid girl.
“We don’t have time for this,” the Director groaned. “I’m sure the young man has gone to Marshall Roberts already.”
“I told him to run and hide,” Athena interjected.
The Director rolled his eyes and looked at Athena with annoyance dripping from his gaze.
“Forgive me if I don’t believe you. Regardless, why would he listen to you. Take her to C block for neural data mining. Send a team to the 308. We’re going to fix this, now.”
The operator yanked Athena down the hall. Deputy Director Jimenez jogged up to the Director, electronic tablet in hand.
“What is it?” the Director said through pregnant pauses. Jimenez pursed her lips, annoyed. She looked down at her tablet.
“We have a situation. The escape has caused a panic in the capital.”
“Now, how would they know about that?” the Director questioned.
“If I were to guess: the General.”
“Of course,” the Director muttered. “Well, you know what to do about him. I don’t have time to deal with this bullshit. Get a teleporter agent ready, and we’ll talk with those sniveling senators.”
✽✽✽
“I don’t have time to explain,” Alan replied to Finch, who seemed to be on the verge of a panic attack. It was lights out, so no one else was in the courtyard, but it wouldn’t take long if they kept talking like they were. “They’ll be coming for me.”
“Are you kidding me? You brought them here?” Finch asked, feeling a twitch in his eye. He slid an uneasy hand down his face. These kids were going to give him a stroke. Finch picked Alan up by the arm and pulled him into one of the rooms, Marshall’s room.
“Kid?” Marshall was groggy and shocked. Finch pushed Alan into Marshall’s bulky chest and shut the door behind them.
“Mr. Mitchell here is bringing the Department to the 308, so you’re going to hide him.”
“What are you going to do?” Alan asked as he peeled himself off of Marshall.
“This is your problem kid. I’m not the one who got us in this mess.”
“That’s not fair, Finch,” Marshall replied.
Finch rolled his eyes. “None of this is fair, Roberts. It’s all a shitshow, but we deal with the punches as they come. An
d I’m going to deal with this so our whole precinct doesn’t get wiped, okay?”
Marshall had no response. Neither did Alan, save for a conflicted look on his face and a pounding heart. He was starting to second guess himself. Everything seemed to point to returning to get Marshall, but now he was afraid the rest of the people at the 308 were in jeopardy because of his actions. Finch left Marshall’s room in a violent huff. Marshall opened his dresser drawer and pulled out some of Alan’s things.
“They usually just toss people’s stuff when they disappear. I grabbed some of your things.”
Alan looked down at his broken watch. He strapped it to his wrist carefully.
“What happened to you, kid?”
“They’re looking for your family, Marshall. Whatever deal you cut… it seems they don’t care anymore. They knew you wouldn’t give up your family, so they went after me,” Alan answered. He could feel the sweat starting to build on his body. Now that he was out, his adrenaline was just pushing him past the point of exhaustion. “The-they tried to get answers. They were going to even try to crack open my brain. But Athena…”
“Athena?” Marshall stopped Alan dead in his tracks. “What do you mean Athena?”
Alan hadn’t considered how to broach the subject, but now, in his panic, he was confused about how to go forward about Athena.
“She was working for them, Marshall, but she isn’t anymore. Or she is, but she helped me escape. I’m not sure. Either way, I’m scared they figured it out, and she won’t be working with them for long. We have to break her out. Her and Castor and Nick and all the others locked up at the Department.”
“She was working for the Department this whole time?” Marshall questioned. The punches just kept on coming. “No, screw her. She made her choice; we should get out of here.”
“We can’t leave them,” Alan protested. His body felt cold and his skin felt white hot. His stomach was churning. He felt his blood pulsing through his body. He could feel the hairs standing at attention on his forearms. It was anxiety or obstinance. He couldn’t tell if it was either or both, but he wasn’t going to let this stand.
“They all made their choice, Alan. Like you and Athena always said, this is the world we live in. The best we can do is run while we still can,” Marshall seemed detached from.
“Run?” Alan said, his eyes full of righteous anger. “I could’ve left you, man! I could’ve gone anywhere, and I came back to warn you. What the hell is your problem?”
“You don’t understand these people, Alan. They’ll take everything you have and then take some more!” Marshall was now yelling, “I left my whole family to save them, and now you want me to just throw that all away for your crusade? Screw that, kid. Screw that and the horse you rode in on.”
Alan could feel tears in his face, because it was the only warm thing throughout his body.
“You’re a coward.”
“And you’re a naive little boy with delusions of grandeur,” Marshall raged. “Death makes cowards. Soldiers hate war. And the ignorant complain about their ideals while people get murdered in the street for being other. Just shut up and do what I say.”
Alan clenched his jaw. He was about to start the argument again when he heard the distinct rushing sound of a portal opening in the courtyard.
✽✽✽
Two operators basked in the blue glow of the portal, ominously standing over the courtyard with detached judgment.
“Agent Finch,” one of the Operators shouted, “Your presence is requested.”
Finch was sweating in the lobby when the portal had opened but found himself shaking in the doorway of the courtyard in the wake of the Operator’s words. Finch reluctantly walked onto the courtyard turf.
“Can I help you, gentlemen?”
“We have reason to believe that Alan Mitchell - who has gone AWOL - fled to this location. We ask that you turn him over now.”
“Hate to tell you guys, but he ain’t here.”
The Operator turned and addressed Finch with a condescending stare, towering a full foot over the older caretaker.
“Choose your words very carefully, Mr. Finch,” the other Operator, a lanky man with blonde hair, replied.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, kid,” Finch replied, his teeth gritting together. “Why don’t you scurry back to your keepers and let me run my precinct. I don’t have time for this crap.”
Finch felt his body seize up. One operator held his hand out, taking control of Finch’s body. Finch felt gravity pull his knees to the ground. He looked up at the tall operator, whose hand was now reaching out and pressing down on him.
Alan looked through a slit in Marshall’s window at the courtyard. He recognized the blond operator, the healer EMT from the bus accident. Linus.
“I have to go help.”
Marshall grabbed Alan before he could reach the door.
“Let Finch handle this, Alan,” Marshall replied.
Several people were starting to leave their rooms, driven by curiosity at the noise in the courtyard. Some of them were standing, mouths agape in shock at their caretaker on his knees.
“Go back to your rooms,” the telekinetic Operator shouted to the gathering crowd. The crowd didn’t move.
“Where is he?” Linus hissed through a clenched jaw at Finch.
“He’s not here. And screw you,” Finch sneered, his eyes looking up from inside his immovable head.
The telekinetic operator made a fist, and Finch groaned in pain.
“Do it,” the telekinetic operator ordered to Linus. Linus held out his hand over Finch’s heart. Finch could feel his heart pulsing rapidly. His mouth filled with a rusty flavor of blood. The heart pulsed faster. Faster. Faster. Pop. Finch’s body fell limp down onto the courtyard ground.
The telekinetic operator turned to the stunned crowd.
“Where is Alan Mitchell?” the telekinetic operator shouted, his voice echoing in the courtyard.
The crowd changed from shocked to obstinate, their faces emotionless like stone.
“They’re going to kill them,” Alan growled at Marshall. “You don’t understand, Marshall. These people don’t care. They just have the mission.”
Marshall shook his head no.
Linus whispered something into his earpiece, and a blue portal opened in the courtyard. A teleportation operator walked through with a dark-skinned man in plain clothes.
“Everyone,” the man shouted. “I am your new supervisor, Mr. Torrence. We are looking for Alan Mitchell. Anyone with information to his whereabouts will be rewarded. If you do not comply with this department, your precinct will be liquidated. You have one hour to comply.”
Alan turned and gave Marshall a furious look. “See?”
Marshall looked down at the crowd beginning to disperse. Finch’s body remained limp on the ground amid the Department Operators, who were talking quietly to each other, likely about the crowd. Marshall watched the Department employees walk away into the lobby, leaving Finch’s body on the ground.
“They aren’t even going to bury him. But he’s a normal. What the hell is going on?” Marshall grumbled under his breath.
“They. don’t. care,” Alan said slowly, each word a hammer strike on Marshall’s ears. “Marshall, we can’t keep living like this. Your family wouldn’t want this for any of us.”
“Don’t pretend like you know anything about me, kid. I’ve lived long enough to know what lies at the end of this road, and it ain’t pretty.”
Alan exhaled in exasperation. He sat on the bed. He looked at Marshall. Then he remembered something.
“My mother used to tell me this story when I was younger. It was about these two friends.”
Marshall rolled his eyes.
“These two friends lived in a small village in China. One was blind, had been blind for a long time. His friend, he lost his arms as a kid. Some genetic disease, I think. My mother told me that they would journey out into the countryside around their village. You want t
o know what these two supposed freaks did, Marshall?”
Marshall’s body slouched. “What?”
“They went out to plant trees. Every day, they would get up and leave their homes. The man without arms would carry the blind man. The blind man would handle the seeds with the help of his friend. They would plant trees. Trees they would probably never see. I’m not sure why my mom told me that story. I think she wanted me to think it was okay that I was a ‘freak’. But I think it means more than that.”
“Kid,” Marshall objected.
The Department for Mutated Persons (Book 1): The Department for Mutated Persons Page 9
