Dissident

by Lisa Beeson

  Cam gave him a nod of respect. “All right, pops.”

  “What are you two doing here anyway?” Roche asked them. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the ship?”

  “They blew the damn thing up,” Myles said, moving over to where Ari sat against the tree. “We would have drowned if it hadn’t been for Ari and Adam.”

  “Who’s Adam?” Roche asked, looking around.

  “Just a shapeshifting future-monk,” Cam said with a shrug. “He’s flying up there somewhere as eagle, scoping things out.”

  Roche blinked at the absurdity. “Is that a joke?” he asked, obviously not getting the humor of it.

  Cam and Myles both shook their heads.

  “What kind of Island of Dr. Moreau shi-” he glanced at Ari, as if reluctant to curse in front of a lady, “-stuff did I get myself into?”

  Ari grinned at the misplaced chivalry coming from the young mercenary.

  “You knew what you signed up for,” Cam said, checking on the extra clips in the pockets of the flak jacket. He looked around trying to get his bearings. “Do you have any idea what direction Pyro Joe and his cronies took off in?”

  “Towards the plateau, that way,” Roche said, pointing between where Barnes and Chang’s bodies lay on the ground. “They know we have control of the transports, so they must be on their way to take it back. I think their little group was the answer to your ultimatum.”

  “Wrong answer, assholes.” Cam stared in the direction of the plateau with a single-minded determination. “Come on, Roche. We have a score to settle with a scrawny little pyromaniac and his sadistic friends,” he said, before making his way through the jungle.

  Roche smiled with a dark glee. “My pleasure,” he said as he grabbed his rifle and got up to follow Cam.

  Myles stayed back to help Ari stand. Even though she felt a bit wobbly on her feet, she gently shook off his well-meaning support. “It’s okay, I’m fine.” The last thing she wanted was to be coddled when she needed to hurry after Cam before he got himself killed.

  Concern still filled Myles’s eyes. “You sure that you’re all right?” he asked quietly, as they followed Cam and Roche. “Your skin feels hot to the touch.” He tried to put the back of his hand against her forehead, but she smoothly dodged it as she stepped forward.

  “It’s fine, I swear,” Ari assured him, moving past the fly-riddled corpses with long confident strides. “It’s just growing pains.”

  “Do you want to take a flak jacket or a weapon before we move on?”

  Ari shook her head. “I’m deadly enough on my own.”

  Chapter 21

  Soren clutched Helena’s hand. His grip was sweaty, as they navigated the pitch-black hallways deep in the underbelly of The Facility. The two men with them lit the way with small flashlights in one hand and handguns in the other.

  Heart pounding in his chest, Soren searched the darkness. The bad men who had turned the power off could be anywhere. He had heard the gunfire in the distance and he knew what it meant; people were dying.

  Even though he was shaking with fear and would have much rather been safe up in the big house on the side of the mountain, Soren forced himself to keep going. They had to get the people out of the cells before the bad men did. With the power out and the backup generators down, the locks could not work and the people were stuck. He didn’t understand why the people were down here in the first place, but Helena said that it was very important to get them out. So Soren would do this for her. He needed to make her happy.

  The men slowed, and told them to stand to the side as they looked through the small circular windows in the thick metal double doors. When they were sure the way ahead was clear, Helena and one of the suited men nodded to each other and then she said to Soren, “Go ahead, darlin’.”

  Soren put his hands on both doors and concentrated. When he nodded, the men pushed the doors open and ushered him and Helena through. Loud banging made Soren jump and he heard the muffled voices of people calling out from behind the doors.

  “They need your help to get out,” Helena said to him, motioning to the doors lining the left side of the dark hallway.

  Soren ran down to the first door.

  “Is someone out there?” the person inside shouted. It sounded like man.

  “Back up!” one of the suited men yelled behind Soren, making him flinch.

  Soren glanced up at Helena for reassurance, and she nodded at him to proceed. He placed his hands on the door and concentrated. When it felt unlocked, he pulled on the handle of the heavy door. A tall young man with dark skin, and wearing a pink jumpsuit, stood at the back of the sparse room. He was squinting and shielding his eyes from the glare of the flashlights.

  “Eric Tolliver,” one of the men said in a gruff voice.

  Tolliver…? That’s Joshua’s last name. The young man even looked like Joshua, only a little older. What was he doing in a cell under The Facility?

  “Yeah, that’s me.”

  “You must come with us,” the man said, motioning for Eric to leave the cell with the end of his gun. “Now.”

  Soren did not like the way he was pointing the gun at Eric. They were there to save them not shoot them.

  “Why? What’s going on?” Eric asked, trying to sound brave, but Soren could feel that he was scared.

  Swallowing down his own fear, Soren walked into the room and took hold of Eric’s hand. They could be brave together. “It’s okay, Eric,” Soren whispered. He couldn’t seem to make his voice go any louder. “I’m Soren. And we’re getting you out of here before the bad men with guns and bombs come.”

  Eric knelt down, recognition filling his eyes. “Are you Diana’s son?”

  Soren nodded just as two shots and thud came from outside the cell, and the beams of the two flashlights fell and rolled on the ground. Eric picked Soren up and hid in the darkest corner of the room as footsteps came swiftly down the hallway. Eric positioned his back towards the door, shielding Soren as best he could. Soren held onto him tightly and buried his face in his shoulder. The bad men had found them. They were going to die.

  There was a loud snapping sound and the room lit up with an orange glow. Soren raised his eyes just above Eric’s shoulder to see a man in combat gear and camo face paint holding what looked like a big glow stick.

  “Soren?” the man said. His voice sounded familiar.

  “You’re not going to touch him!” Eric shouted, before putting Soren down and turning to face the man, keeping Soren behind him.

  “It’s all right,” the man said, as he raised the big glow stick up by his face. “It’s me. Wyatt.”

  Soren peeked out from behind Eric’s side. It really was Wyatt. But Wyatt was a Reinhold, and now that Soren’s head felt clear again, he remembered that the Reinhold’s were bad. Confusion and guilt overwhelmed him. He did not understand why he had wanted to please Helena so much and help the Reinholds. They kidnapped people and put them in cells. The only thing he knew for sure was that Eric was good. Eric was ready to take a bullet for him even though he didn’t even know him. He would stay with Eric.

  “Go away and leave us alone!” Soren shouted, finding his voice. “You’re a Reinhold. You’re bad, just like the rest of them!”

  Wyatt got down on a knee. “I’m not with Them anymore. I swear it. We came to get you all out of here, and take you to a safe place. Skylar is there waiting for you.”

  Skylar? The sound of his twin sister’s name made him want to cry with longing for her.

  “Are going to take me home?”

  “Not back to Scion’s Keep, but to a much better place,” Wyatt promised. “Eric,” he said, looking up at him.

  “Yeah,” Eric said, still wary.

  “Hugo and Joshua are their too.”

  “Why should we believe you?”

  “Hugo said to have you touch this if you didn’t trust us.” He brought out what looked like a key from a pocket on his sleeve, and then held it out to Eric.

  Eric looked a
t it with longing and regret, as his hand went to the back of his neck. “I can’t use my ability without getting shocked.”

  He has a chip too…

  Then Soren remembered that Helena had turned his off with a little remote she kept in the pocket on her skirt. He ran out from behind Eric towards the hallway.

  “Soren, wait!” Wyatt reached out for him as he sped by, but Soren was too quick and ducked away from his hand.

  Someone out in the hallway shouted, “Step away from the doors!” right before four consecutive blasts went off.

  Soren fell to the ground and covered his ears at the loud explosions. When he opened his eyes, the beam of a fallen flashlight shone square on the blank, lifeless face of one of the suited men. The weeping wound of a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead stared back like a gory third eye.

  As he frantically tried to scoot away, Soren’s hand knocked the flashlight, causing it to roll and spotlight the other suited man with a bullet hole in his temple. A terrified scream ripped through his throat.

  In a blur of movement and a gust of air, the corpses disappeared, leaving only Helena’s limp form, propped up against the wall and illuminated by the orange light of more glow sticks spaced out on the floor of the hallway. There were no bullet holes in her that he could see; she seemed only to only be sleeping.

  Wyatt scooped him up and tried to comfort him. “Sorry you had to see that, buddy. They’re all gone now.”

  Soren felt the feeling of safety settle around him like a familiar friend, driving away the fear. If he stayed with Wyatt, he would be safe.

  “Eric!” a girl shouted as she ran out of her cell. Her dyed hair was messy with long black roots near her scalp.

  “Harper!” Eric shouted back, as he ran past them into the hallway. The two embraced, kissed each other hard, and then clung to each other again as if they would never let go.

  Three other people came out of the cells, seemingly grateful yet still wary. They were all wearing the same pink jumpsuits.

  “Harper Nguyen, Jonah Laramie, Brenna Laramie, and Sonia Wu…” one of the soldiers listed off.

  They all nodded, affirming their names.

  …Laramie is Marin’s last name. Jonah and Brenna must be the siblings my mom had gotten into trouble. The corner of his mouth curled up with a proud smile. My mom is one of the good guys.

  “Where’s Diana?” Brenna asked, looking around.

  “The last three cells are empty,” said one of Wyatt’s men.

  “Where’s my mom?” Soren asked.

  A large man appeared with a sudden gust of air. Soren wanted to shrink away from his intense presence, but there was something about him that reminded Soren of Ari. He moved fast like her too.

  As the men spoke to the people from the cells, Soren watched the big man move over to where Helena still sat slumped unconsciously on the floor. He gently moved her hair away from her face then plucked something from her neck and checked her pulse. Once he was satisfied, he made as if he was about to pick her up.

  Soren shouted, “Wait,” as he wiggled out of Wyatt’s arms.

  The big man stopped and turned his unnerving stare on him. Soren pressed on, however, and drove his hand into the pocket on Helena’s skirt, bringing out the small remote and holding it up for everyone to see. “This will turn the chips off.”

  Wyatt took it from his hand and went over to the people from the cells. He held it near the scar on the back of Eric’s neck and the blue light turned on, signaling that it recognized the chip. Once it beeped and the blue light turned red, he moved on to the next person.

  When all the chips were disabled, Wyatt came back to Eric and held out the key to him once more.

  Eric nervously took the key and after a moment, his face spread into a big smile. “Baby brother’s grown.” He turned to the others from the cells. “It’s legit. They’re getting us out of here.”

  The big man hefted Helena over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing, then turned to Sonia Wu. “You worked in the labs with the virus.”

  “Until I grew a conscience, and they put me in here,” she answered.

  Soren thought she sounded like how Mary Poppins and Harry Potter talked. He couldn’t quite place who the big man sounded like.

  “Can you help us get into where they’re holding the cure?” the big man asked Sonia.

  “With the power out we won’t be able to get to it,” she said, shaking her head.

  “We left that grid on.”

  “Then I can get you there, but I’m sure they took me out of the system.”

  “The security panels are voice activated,” Harper said. “And I’m the woman for the job,” she said with Mara’s voice.

  Soren gasped. It didn’t sound like an impression of his grandmother’s voice, it was her voice.

  “Diana made sure that I knew everyone’s pass-phrase,” Harper said with her own voice.

  The big man turned back to Wyatt. “You, Dutch, and Mikhailov take the rest of the assets to the outpost. These two will come with me and Obasanjo,” he said motioning to the man carrying a large shoulder bag.

  “I go where Harper goes,” Eric said, taking her hand. “We’re not going to be separated again.”

  The big man stared Eric down as he thought it over for a second, then nodded. “Fine. We can use the extra hands.”

  “What about the test subjects still down here?” Brenna asked.

  The big man was about to answer, but then stopped as if he was listening to something else.

  “There aren’t any more test subjects,” Sonia answered for him, the sadness emanating from her pierced Soren’s heart. Other people were gone, just like his mother. What did they do to them?

  “Copy that,” the big man said to no one, before turning to Wyatt. “You need to go up to conference room 3 in the northwest sector before you head out. It’s your father. He doesn’t have much time.”

  They shared a meaningful look before Wyatt nodded and the two groups headed off in different directions.

  Soren did not feel right about the group splitting up, but Brenna and Jonah took his hands as Wyatt led them down the corridor and the other two men followed behind, not giving him much choice in the matter.

  With their way lit by the lights mounted on the men’s’ guns, and the digital map on Wyatt’s forearm to guide them, nobody said a word as they quickly made their way through the maze of winding corridors.

  The Laramie siblings were winded as they made their way up the staircases to the upper floors, not used to the exercise after their long captivity. But they were too scared of being captured again to complain. They pressed on, keeping up with the rest of them, and silently helping each other on.

  Soren wondered what their abilities were. Did they have Marin’s super hearing, or something completely different like Soren and Skylar’s abilities? They looked like Marin, with the same dark hair and pale skin, but seemed much younger.

  He wanted to ask them about his mom, but was too afraid to speak and break the silence.

  When they reached the upper floor, beams of sunlight came down from the skylights and illuminated the hallway, making him feel a bit easier. They turned a corner, and slowed. The walls were cracked and the ceiling caved-in in places, letting in the heat from the tropical sun. Rubble, and bodies dressed in combat gear littered the floor all the way to a set of doors hanging off their hinges at the end of the corridor. The ruined room beyond was cloaked in shadows, made darker by the contrast of the bright beams of sunlight in front of it.

  “What the hell?” said one of the men behind them, as Brenna protectively brought Soren in close to her side.

  A voice croaked from under a slab of broken cement and Soren pressed in closer to Brenna’s side.

  “Wyatt,” the voice said again more clearly, and Soren saw that it was Gordon. His skin looked pale and waxy, and one side of his face was covered in blood from the large gaping wound on his forehead. One of his arms was bent at a strange angle wit
h the bone sticking out, and his bottom half was crushed beneath the cement slab.

  Unable to look any longer, Soren focused instead on the motes of dust spiraling within the bright beams of light coming in through the broken ceiling. It reminded him of one of his old toys that had glittery liquid inside that swirled around when you flipped it.

  Wyatt went over and crouched down by his father’s head. “Dad,” his voice wavered.

  “Wyatt…you’re with them?” Gordon asked, his voice sounded heartbroken as he took in what Wyatt was wearing, his eyes dazed with pain.

  “I had to. I couldn’t blind myself to what we were doing anymore. Diana was right. We lost our way a long time ago.”

  Gordon groaned. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this… We weren’t supposed to be killing our own…”

  “We shouldn’t be killing anyone, Dad. Marcus and Mara have gone too far. It has to end.”

  Gordon’s face crumpled with tears of grief. “Oh Randall… I’m so sorry… my poor boy…”

  “What are you talking about, Dad?”

  Brenna’s hold tightened on Soren as she cursed, then whispered to Jonah, “Devil spawn…”

  Soren turned to where she was looking and saw a boy around Taika’s age standing in the shadowy doorway between the broken doors. Isaac.

  Soren had met Isaac and his siblings up in the Olympus Tower. The way they had looked at him gave him the chills and made him glad he did not have to spend much time with them.

  “I’m very disappointed in you, nephew,” Mara said to Wyatt as she came out of the darkness behind Isaac.

  Wyatt tried to get up, but his muscles became rigid as if he was frozen in place.

  The men raised their guns, ready to aim, until Mara shouted, “STOP!” using her commanding voice.

  The men halted their actions, obeying her command.

  “Now go back around the corner and shoot each other in the head,” Mara commanded.

  The men turned around to do as commanded.

  “No!” Brenna shouted at them. “Don’t do it!” She let go of Soren to go after them, but Jonah stopped her and held her back. “Come back! Don’t listen to her!” she pleaded.