by Dee J. Stone
Where the hell do I look?
My phone beeps.
Hello, Nick.
I bet this is from the organization. They totally have Maddie’s phone.
Right now you are in Brooklyn, flying over a small shopping center.
They must have Maddie’s GPS, too. Or maybe they’re tracking my phone.
We have your girlfriend.
A punch to my gut. I knew they had her, but seeing the words makes it more real. I’m helpless now.
Give yourself up or she dies. Come alone and tell no one. If you do, she dies.
A short video is attached to the text. It’s of Maddie urging me not to come for her. Of course I’m going to save her. I love her.
You have ten minutes.
And they tell me the address. It’s in New Jersey. Checking it up on my phone, I see it’s a remote location. In the middle of nowhere, really. The perfect hiding place.
I zoom over there as fast as I can and hide in the trees surrounding the building. The place is quiet, like there’s no one in there. On the outside, it appears like a small factory, but I know that’s just a front for what it really is.
We know you’re here. Show yourself or your girlfriend dies.
I move from behind the trees and the next second, something strikes my left shoulder. A tranquilizer, just like I expected.
As I slump to the ground, my only thought is that I hope Maddie and her mom are okay.
***
My head’s all groggy and aches as I come to. All I see is darkness. I’m in some dungeon or prison, similar to the one I was in when they kidnapped me the last time. My hands are bound the same way with those chains that definitely nullify my power. Peering down, I can make out my uniform—or what’s left of it. These people tore out the armor, and my mask is nowhere to be found. They want to make sure I’ve got nothing on me that can protect me, hurt them, or lead someone to this place.
Maddie. I look around frantically, but all I see is darkness. Unlike the last prison, there’s no door but bars. A guard paces back and forth. He’s dressed in black clothes and a matching mask. Is he one of the powered kids?
“Where’s Maddie?” I call.
No response. The guard keeps pacing.
“Where is she?” I demand.
Still nothing. Gritting my teeth, I pull at the chains, and cry out. They electrocute me just like the other ones did.
My body is very weak, since it can’t heal. All I want to do is shut my eyes and go to sleep, but I force myself to stay awake.
“P...please,” I say to the guard. “Help me.”
The guy continues to pace.
“Please,” I beg again. “Don’t do this. You don’t have to listen to these people. Help me and I can help you.”
The guard stops. “Quiet!”
“They don’t care about you here. They just—”
He grabs hold of the bars and the entire place shakes. He doesn’t break them, though. “I said shut up!”
He’s been brainwashed to listen to these people, but I’m not giving up on him. “Do you know where Maddie is?”
He slams his fist on the bars and the entire cell rings, making my head pound even more. “One more word and I’ll—”
“Now, now, Jack,” a voice says in the distance. “There’s no need for such violence. Nick will do exactly what we tell him to do, won’t you Nick?”
That voice. It sounds exactly like the voice of that old man who spoke to me the last time I was captured. Is he Mr. Hiram, the founder of this organization?
“Where’s Maddie?” I ask.
The guy is still standing in the shadows. Does he not want me to see him? “She’s…around. You didn’t actually think we’d put you in the same cell, did you?”
I grit my teeth. “Let me see for myself.”
A few seconds pass before I see another guard dragging someone toward my cell. “Maddie!” She’s wearing her torn up uniform. I bet they nullified her powers, too.
Maddie wriggles in his hold. “Nick. Why did you come? I told you not to.”
“I couldn’t let them hurt you. Are you okay? Is your mom?”
“I don’t know. I only—”
Before she has a chance to go on, the guard pulls her away.
“Maddie!”
The old guy starts talking again. I still can’t see him. “Behave and no one gets hurt. You have my word.”
I’ll never trust anything this man says.
“I have some things I need to take care of. I’ll return soon, and we’ll talk.” He walks away.
The guard, Jack, continues to pace. I wait for the old guy to return, but he seems to have more important things to do.
“Jack,” I say. “Please listen to me. I was like you, brought here when I was a baby and experimented on. When they had no use for me, they threw me out. I found a good home with people who love me. You can have that, too. These people don’t care about you. They don’t care if you get hurt or die. Help me and you can have a good, happy life.”
Jack doesn’t say anything. His pacing gets more intense, though.
I just watch him, trying not to think about what’s going to happen.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Nick! Help me.” Kaylee’s voice rings in my ears.
My eyes fly open and I see a guard carrying my sister down the hall. “Nick!”
“What are you doing with her?” I shout. My stomach twists in all different directions. Without me or Maddie watching over my family, the organization is free to take them. Have they kidnapped anyone else?
“Let her go!”
No response.
I pull at the chains as much as I can, but I’m only wearing myself out. No matter what I do, I’m trapped here.
“Why are you doing this?” I ask. “I came here out of my own free will and I’ll do anything you want. Just let her go.”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” the voice of the old man rings in the room. He must be on some sort of intercom. “Eat something and then we’ll talk.” He hangs up the phone or whatever he was talking on.
The guard is still pacing. “Jack,” I say. “They have my sister in there and my girlfriend. Who knows what they’ll do to them? They’re my family and I care about them so much. Please help me.”
He continues to pace.
“I was four when my adoptive dad found me. He could have ignored me, could have dumped me somewhere. But he took me home and raised me like his own. My life would be pretty crappy if not for my family. All you’ve known is pain, violence, hate. But there’s so much more to life.”
The guy ignores me.
On my right on the floor is a small piece of bread and some water sitting on a tiny tray. I’m hungry, but I’m not going to eat anything they give me.
“I’m really worried about my sister,” I tell Jack. “Little sisters are so much fun. The way they look up to you with awe and want to be just like you. When they giggle at everything you say, even when it’s the dumbest thing. When they want to play with you. They bring out your good side.” I swallow. “Can you please check if she’s okay?”
No response.
“Please. I wouldn’t be able to bear something happening to her.”
The guard whirls around. “Shut up.”
I continue on, sensing that I might be close to reaching him. “I hope my parents are okay. No, they can’t be okay. They’re probably worried sick about me and Kaylee. And Maddie, too. Parents are great. They care about you and want what’s best for you. They forgive you when you hurt them and they give you a million second chances.” I pause. “There are so many kids out there who were alone and lost like you but ended up in great families. You know where I’m going with this, Jack.”
He bangs his fists on the bars and the whole room shakes. “Shut up!”
I lean my head against the wall and shut my eyes, hoping that my family, Kaylee, Maddie, and her mom are okay.
I don’t know how much time passes before my
cell door is opened and I’m hurled to my feet. Jack and another guard drag me somewhere. They open a steel door and push me into a large room with cages. Human-sized cages. They line the wall and there’s a huge open space in the center of the room.
They shove me into one of the cages. Like I’m some animal.
“What is this place?” I ask.
They ignore me and leave. A few minutes pass before the door opens and Maddie is thrown into another cage.
“Maddie!”
She tries to scramble to a sitting position. “Nick.”
“They have Kaylee,” I say. “God, what are they gonna do with her?”
“I’m sorry,” Maddie says. “This is all my fault. The old guy told me that my mom came here to try to talk him out of taking us. She begged him to leave us alone. I shouldn’t have let her go. I should have done something.”
I want to pull her into my arms and tell her everything is going to be okay, but even if I was able to, how could I promise that? Who the hell knows what they’re going to do to us?
“Don’t worry about it.” I force a smile.
We sit in silence for a while before the door opens and the old man walks in. He’s around my grandpa’s age, with long white hair, blue eyes, and wrinkly skin. But unlike my grandfather, this guy moves around like he’s twenty years younger. He’s dressed in a lab coat. Many guards enter the room as well and stand with their hands at their sides, like they’re ready to protect him. They must all be powered kids. The youngest is probably around ten.
“You’re Mr. Hiram,” I say.
Surprise enters his eyes. “You’ve heard about me.” He touches his heart like he’s impressed. “Melissa must have spoken very highly of me.”
Maddie shoots him a glare. “Where is she?”
He waves his hand. “Here. There. Somewhere.”
What the heck does that mean? “And my sister?”
“Alive for now.”
My heart skips a beat. He would seriously kill her?
“Get me the hell out of here,” I warn.
He gives both Maddie and me wide smiles that make me want to punch him in the face. A few good times. “Oh, you’ll make it out of here.” He looks from me to Maddie. “The question is, who will be alive?”
Maddie and I exchange confused and worried glances.
“What are you talking about?” she says.
He clasps his hands together against his stomach. “You two are more powerful than these pathetic subjects…” He waves toward the guards. “Jack here shows some promise, though.”
Jack gives him a curt nod. As I scan the other powered kids, I notice something. They all have bands on their arms, except for Jack. Those bands must nullify their powers, so the organization can control them. Jack must not need one because Hiram trusts him. No wonder he’s so loyal to him.
“We don’t know why the two of you are much more powerful than them,” Mr. Hiram continues. “But we want you. Well, one of you.” He shakes his head. “We tried many ways to capture you. Nick was interesting, but the Red Masked Heroine was a little more interesting. All that fire power. There was just one problem. We didn’t know who she was. So I sent one of my own to place a tiny bomb inside her mask. I sent another to try drowning her in the ocean. Nothing worked, which is why I had no choice but to send out my finest soldiers to try to capture you.” He smiles again.
Maddie and I were right. The organization was responsible for all of that.
“What do you mean you want one of us?” I ask. “For what?”
“It’s very simple. You battle one another to the death. He or she who wins is the superior one and will work for us.”
Maddie growls. “And if we say no?”
Hiram snaps his fingers and the wall on the left side lifts. Kaylee is in the room on the other side. Melissa is in another room. We can see them clearly through the glass window. Kaylee and Melissa are lying on metal tables, their arms and legs bound. Each has a woman in a lab coat in the room with them. Hiram nods and the women press something on the table. Kaylee and Maddie’s mom cry out.
“Stop!” They’re going to torture them unless we do what they want? “Please don’t hurt my sister.”
“Obey us and there won’t be a need,” Hiram says.
I shut my eyes. “I’m not going to kill Maddie.”
“If you don’t participate, your sister will be tortured to death.” Kaylee cries out again. Her screeches send icy chills all over my body.
How can I do this? Choose one over the other?
“Please,” I say. “I’ll do anything you want. Just not this.”
Hiram shakes his head, then motions for the woman in Kaylee’s room to go again. Kaylee cries out. The woman in Melissa’s room does the same.
Maddie thrashes around like she can’t take it.
“Stop. Damn it. Stop! I’ll do it,” I say.
Hiram seems pleased with himself. “And you, Miss Madeline?”
Maddie shoots him another glare.
“Nick,” Kaylee’s weak voice says. “It hurts.”
Tears enter my eyes, and I can’t wipe them because my hands are bound. How could this monster do that to a little girl? Well, he’s been doing that for years so of course he’s desensitized to it.
I try to get Jack’s attention, but he’s got his gaze on the floor.
“This is how it’s going to work,” Hiram says. “We take you out of your cages and remove your bindings. You have your powers and this fighting space to battle one another.” His lip curls up. “To the death. You have an hour. If there is no winner, your entire families die. And we will choose who we believe is superior. The other will die a most tortuous death.”
Another icy chill goes down my spine.
The guards and Hiram leave the room. They enter another with a large glass window where they can see everything.
Our bindings come off and our cage doors open. Maddie and I just stare at one another.
“Time is ticking,” Hiram says in this haughty voice that makes me want to tear him to shreds. I would, but they’re probably in a room where my powers wouldn’t work. This guy thinks of everything.
“I’m not gonna fight you,” I tell Maddie. “So just kill me.”
“Are you insane?”
How do we get out of this?
Yells from Kaylee and Maddie’s mom ring in my head. They’re so strong that I nearly topple over. Oh, god. They’re torturing them again.
Flicking my hand, I slam Maddie into the wall. “Sorry,” I whisper. I’m not going to kill her. I just need these people to think I will so I can buy time to come up with an escape plan.
Maddie leaps to her feet and sends fire at me. I wave my hand, shoving the fire to the wall. We leap in the air and battle one another with force and with fire. She’s not giving it her all and neither am I. Does she have a plan? Mine consists of blowing this place up, but then we’d kill innocent people, not to mention Kaylee and her mom.
Think, Nick, think.
My brain is empty.
“Not good enough!” Hiram slams his fist on the glass window. “If none of you die in the next half hour, you can say goodbye to your families.”
Melissa and Kaylee’s shouts echo throughout the entire room. It sounds like they’re being ripped alive.
No one hurts my family and gets away with it.
Growling like a madman, I grab Maddie’s hand and, feeling this surge of energy I’ve never felt before, I hold out my hand toward the window where Hiram and the others are standing behind. The window shatters, knocking them into the wall. Hiram splats against it, his neck and body twisting in this disgusting way.
Panic overtakes me. What have I done? I just put Kaylee and Melissa’s lives in even more risk.
Maddie surges to the room Mr. Hiram is in. I don’t know what she’s doing to him because I’m distracted by all the guards—adults who seem to be Hiram’s personal guards. They rush into the room. Oh, man. They’re for sure going to kill Kaylee a
nd Melissa. Sure enough, the women continue torturing them. I’m shot in the neck with something, and I’m pretty certain Maddie is shot, too.
This tranquilizer doesn’t seem to put me to sleep. It just paralyzes me. Hiram’s people rush into the room and reach for me. All I’m paying attention to is Kaylee’s yells. It’s breaking me and I’m helpless to do anything.
Suddenly, loud booms are heard as the walls of this room are smashed. Kaylee and Melissa aren’t yelling anymore, and I can’t see into their room. The rubble is just too much. But in the corner of my eye, I see Jack carrying Kaylee in his arms. Another guard has Melissa while many others are battling Hiram’s people. They’re helping us. I notice they no longer have bands on their arms. Jack must have taken them off so their powers would work
I knew I could get through to him.
That’s my last thought before everything goes black.
***
Someone shakes my shoulder. Opening my eyes, I find myself in the forest. The building is still standing, but badly damaged, and many of Hiram’s people are tied up. The guards dressed in black are all standing there. There must be hundreds of them. All are kids.
“Nick.” Maddie shakes my shoulder. She points to the left, where Jack is holding an unconscious Kaylee.
I leap over and grab her hand. She’s ice cold. “Kaylee.” Tears enter my eyes.
Melissa is sitting on the ground next to Maddie. She’s weak, but alive. I’m glad she’s okay, but what about my sister?
Maddie pulls at my hand. “It might not be too late. Heal her.”
Pushing all my doubts aside, I take Kaylee in my arms and hold her close. I shut my eyes and focus on putting my energy into her.
Nothing happens.
“Come on, Kaylee,” I urge, putting more of myself into her.
Again, nothing.
“No,” I choke. “This can’t be. I won’t accept it.”
She’s just lying in my arms, like she’s sleeping except she’s not. I press my cheek to her cold one as tears go down my face. Those bastards.
