by Ryan Decaria
Yoko nodded. “She’s been better lately.”
Hawking sat at Linh’s desk. “Does she take medicine?”
“I checked,” Yoko said. “Her pill box for this morning is empty.”
Misty took Yoko’s hand. “How long before she normally wakes?”
“Last time it was a few hours before she stirred. I stayed with her until her parents got home from work. They didn’t seem bothered by it. ‘Toss a blanket over her,’ they said. She was groggy for hours and then slept all night.”
Linh’s brain got Anika inside the lab, but it was too dangerous to wake her and make her do it again. Gloria’s orders had been to wake her at all costs. Well, screw the mission. Linh needed to rest. “Let’s put her on the bed.”
Misty grabbed Linh’s shoulders and Billie grabbed her feet. Yoko helped them lift Linh onto it and tucked her in.
“Hawking.” Misty grabbed his shoulders and turned his chair toward the computers. “We’re going to do this without her.”
“But…” His voice trailed off.
“Yoko,” Misty said. “Do you know what computer she was using to hack the lab?”
Yoko disassembled the pen in her hands. “Not the ones the monitors are plugged into. She was watching Teen Titans Go!, shopping for shoes, and blogging in Norwegian. I don’t know how she accessed the lab.”
Misty took the pen out of Yoko’s hands as she was putting it back together. “Well, plug the monitors in. Find out which computer she was using.”
“It’s not that easy.” Hawking cleared away superheroes and army men with tiny guns.
“We’ll help.” Misty pulled up the other chair and offered it to Yoko, who after one last glance at Linh, sat and discussed the setup in front of them.
Billie tapped her foot and nodded, a dumb grin on her face. “Way to take charge.”
Misty smiled as her shoulders relaxed. She knew her friends could do this, but she had to keep them focused. She turned toward Billie. “Go get some snacks.”
“Yes, sir.” Billie saluted her and left the room.
Misty sat on the bed as her friends worked. Anika remained trapped in the basement laboratory. Misty still had the medicine in her pocket if they needed it, but for now Anika had time.
Misty brushed hair out of Linh’s face.
Misty’s sister barged into the room. “You’re not going to even try to wake her?”
Misty wasn’t even sure which one of them it was. Didn’t matter. Gloria had no confidence in her and had sent a backup to make sure the tough choices were made. Sometimes, it was hard to keep her own thoughts straight from her sisters’, but not this time. Misty had drifted. She wasn’t going to let them treat her friends like assets.
Misty glared at her sister. “I told you I’ve got this.”
Her sister’s face scrunched up. Did she look like that when she was conflicted?
“We need to follow the plan,” her sister said. Missy. It was definitely Missy.
Misty stood and crossed her arms. “I don’t need you here.”
Missy pointed at Linh. “Apparently, you do.”
Misty pushed Missy into the hallway. Her sister’s jaw dropped. Ha. Didn’t see that coming, did you? “Get out!”
Hawking and Yoko stared wide-eyed at them. “Keep working,” she said.
“We have to wake her up.” Missy grabbed her arm. “Gloria gave us…”
“Orders?” Misty put a finger in Missy’s face. “Anika’s mom isn’t our boss, or our general. She’s not our mom! We owe her nothing.”
“But Anika…”
“Hawking and Yoko will find a way to help Anika. We’re not putting Linh’s life at risk. Not yet.”
Missy pouted. “Anika’s running out of time.”
“Let me tell you something, chica,” Misty said. “Linh is as important as Anika. If you can’t see that, you’re the one who’s lost focus. Anika can sweat it out for a few hours.”
Misty had found something her sisters didn’t have. She’d made friends in their absence. Found a place in the group, at school, and a connection to the town. She had friends that weren’t copies of herself. Those connections mattered if the three of them were to ever have a life after Moreau. Talent, ambition, and a little luck might get them on a stage, but they needed people around them they could trust in order to have a life.
Missy kneaded a muscle in her neck. “She’s not going to like this.”
Misty stood a little taller. She’d never argued with herself before. They’d always thought the same way. “I don’t care what Gloria thinks. Like, at all.”
Her sister slouched. “But…”
Billie came up the stairs, her arms full of juice boxes, crackers, and bags of Asian candy. “You heard her, Xerox. Get out.”
Missy grabbed Billie’s arm. “You want to save Anika more than anyone.”
Billie pulled away. “Anika wouldn’t hurt Linh. That’s not her way. We don’t use people.”
“Yes.” Missy raised her palms in the air. “Yes, we do.”
Billie stared into Linh’s room. “Not people we care about.”
Misty pulled her sister down the stairs. “We’re not going to let you touch her. Either of you. And definitely not Gloria. We’ve got this.”
Her sister frowned. “I hope you’re right.”
“Me too.”
Missy opened the back door and hesitated. She turned and smiled. “Thanks.”
Misty smiled too. “For what?”
“I thought you were the weak one, but I was wrong.” She put on sunglasses and pranced out, pulling the door closed behind her.
Misty had thought she was the weak one, too. She ran back up the stairs, her chest swelled near bursting with elation? Pride? Ego? Didn’t matter. Who knew standing up to yourself for yourself could feel so good?
Inside Linh’s room, Hawking pointed at the monitor. “We’re in.”
Yoko clapped. Billie tossed Misty a candy. Linh slept peacefully.
Misty grabbed Hawking’s shoulders again. “Now we find Anika and get her the flunk out of there.”
Anika sat on the stone floor of the cavern, cleaning her nails with a small piece of shaved metal she’d picked up. Four hours had gone by. Four hours. Her phone had no signal and was about to die.
After installing her mother’s device into the machine, which she’d totally nailed with only a few cuts and bruises, Anika had stood at the elevator. Waiting. In neon green spandex between a case full of ornate tribal artifacts and an empty mini fridge.
She’d examined the machine thoroughly, short of climbing back onto it. She’d studied the monitors, though she didn’t dare touch anything. She’d sung campfire songs. She poked around the corpse on the stone slab with a pair of toothed forceps. She’d even relieved herself in the farthest corner of the cavern, which she had no intentions of ever telling anyone about.
Linh still hadn’t gotten her out of there, and Anika’s stomach ached. Either she was starving or the thought that something might have happened to Linh was escalating her stomach woes. Linh wouldn’t let her just sit there. She could have gotten shut out of the lab’s computer system or maybe she overloaded her brain like Claire.
Anika’s dad would eventually come to visit his precious machine. Hopefully he’d come alone. She’d slip out. All was not yet lost.
Anika had tried the door at the end of the tunnel, but she still didn’t know how to open it. Even if she could, it would likely trigger an alarm. She would probably be stopped making her way out. Too risky.
So, she sat and waited.
Which made her angry. She resisted spitting because the last thing she needed to do was leave more DNA behind than she already had. She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out the neon green dinosaur, which entertained her for all of 13.5 seconds. She dug at the bottom of the bag and found the plastic vial of gallium. Billie must have stashed it in there.
She peered at the machine, but as cool as the metal was, Anika doubted applying t
he gallium to the steel or aluminum parts would do any good. A failure in the machine would only stall the inevitable. Breaking a part wasn’t going to end this nightmare.
She held the vial in her fist until the gallium melted and then poured the metal into the palm of her hand. She touched the shiny surface of the liquid, pushing it around her palm. Billie was right. She should never leave home without it.
She poured the gallium back in the vial and dropped it back into her bag. Then, using the bag for a pillow, she fell asleep.
The elevator dinged.
Anika peered through the grates. She wasn’t sure if she imagined it or not. The doors opened, and a man walked onto the platform. He was short and dark skinned and looked a little like B-14 would in 30 years. His black ponytail had a streak of grey in it. “Come on, Gregory,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”
Gregory lumbered out, pushing a cart with several large boxes.
Boxes large enough for Anika to hide in.
Anika snuck around the backside of the platform, ready to climb up if she got a chance.
She was going to use Gregory again. Why did she always have to use people she cared about? Her mom didn’t have that problem, because she never let herself care about anyone. Dravovitch didn’t have that problem, either. Anika vowed as the two men unloaded artifacts from boxes that she wouldn’t be like either of her parents.
Dad-14, the ponytail guy, assembled a wood and glass display case. Anika pulled open her bag and pulled out her sweats and cardigan. Neon wasn’t going to help her any more. As she dressed, Gregory emptied the contents of the large box, setting the wood paneling on the ground in neat stacks.
As Dad-14 finished the case, Gregory hefted her father’s spear and held it in the air.
“Easy, mate.” Dad-14 held out a hand. “Were you a warrior in another life?”
Gregory examined the spear, but Anika couldn’t quite see his face. He handed it over and his shoulders sagged. He turned and gazed into the cavern in the direction of the stone slab. He’d been on it at some point, hadn’t he? Or something like it, at least.
Dad-14 leaned on his shoulder. “Do you think my kid’s gonna make it out of here?”
Gregory shrugged.
“It’s just…” He patted Gregory on the shoulder and moved to the display case, setting the spear inside. “I want more for him, you know. This life ain’t what I thought.”
Dad-14 retrieved a welding helmet from the cart and grabbed a blow torch.
Gregory shuddered.
Dad-14 lit the torch. “Hey, is it better than, you know, just being dead?”
After what seemed like minutes, Gregory turned to Dad-14 and shrugged. Gregory’s gaze returned to the body on the stone slab. Dad-14 flicked his visor down and welded the back of the case to the metal railing.
Now or never, babe.
Anika jumped up and caught the base of the grating. The jagged metal bit into her fingers as she pulled herself onto the platform. She took a slow breath. The men hadn’t noticed her yet. She climbed onto the cart gingerly, keeping it balanced underneath her. She eased herself into the empty box.
Anika squeezed into place, craning her neck. Her knees brushed against her chin, but she settled, resting her bag on top of her. Gregory was strong enough, maybe he wouldn’t notice her added weight. She felt bad for thinking it, but maybe he was just dumb enough.
After several more minutes, Dad-14 shut off the torch and approached the cart, dropping the torch and the helmet on top. “Come on, Gregory. I’ll buy you a bag of chips.”
Gregory stomped over as the elevator doors whooshed open. He pulled on the cart and dragged it a few feet and stopped.
Crap. Anika froze. Gregory was her friend. What did friends do? Stuff. She always gave him stuff.
Anika fished the plastic green dinosaur out of her bag.
Gregory peered inside the box, his dull gray eyes popping wide open.
Anika handed him the dinosaur. He reached inside and took it between his thick fingers.
“What’s up, buddy?” Dad-14 asked.
Gregory wrapped his hand around the dinosaur and trudged away.
After a few seconds, Anika knew she was sunk. Nothing she could say would explain her presence here. Might as well strap her into the machine and get it over with.
She heard her mother’s voice in her head. Do anything to get free. Could she manage to get Gregory to turn on Dad-14? Gregory might take him out for her. Would he help get her outside? It might work, but Dad-14 was so nice to Gregory. And he was maybe B-14’s dad. Could she really destroy someone else’s life?
She was just like her mother, then. Ruthless at all costs. So willing to sacrifice anyone to stay ahead of trouble. She hated herself more than she could have ever hated her father for all the things he’d done.
Gregory pushed the cart into the elevator, and the doors whooshed closed. Anika forced herself not to breathe a sigh of relief. They started their ascent. Anika still had to find a way back to the main laboratory without being noticed. She’d have time for self-loathing for what she’d nearly done later.
The elevator stopped way before they got to her father’s office, and the doors opened to a floor Anika didn’t even know existed. Anika retraced her floor plans of the lab in her mind. How could she have missed a whole section in her blueprint recreation?
Gregory pulled the cart out of the elevator and rolled Anika down a hallway. A door opened, and she was pushed inside a dark room. The door clicked closed. She had to be in the basement somewhere. This she could handle.
She forced herself out of the twisted position at the bottom of the box and rubbed her neck. She peeked out into a storage closet full of brooms and shovels and bags of what smelled like dog food. Anika stepped out of the box and jumped to the ground.
Listening at the door, Anika tried the handle and cracked it open. The hallway was empty, so she trotted out and stretched, examining the way she’d come. The doors weren’t labeled. Nothing about the hall suggested there was an elevator at the end of it. She wasn’t getting out that way.
Sneaking to the next door, Anika listened for voices. The smell was a little pungent, so she didn’t breathe in too deeply. But it wasn’t overpowering. This door was as good as any. She tried the handle.
It was unlocked. If she’d triggered an alarm, no one came to check on it. She entered a large room, lit with a dull red light and a dozen computer monitors on standing cabinets. She heard movement, but not the people kind.
The rat kind.
She sniffed. What she’d been smelling was animals, and chemicals, and animal food, and poop. Ugh. She covered her nose with her cardigan.
As her eyes adjusted, she made out cages—hundreds of them. Most were small, but a few on the other side of the room were large enough for a gorilla. In the middle stood a cage big enough for an elephant.
Anika listened, isolating a clicking sound over the other animals. She’d heard that sound before. Monstrous claws scraped the ground. Her father had to keep George somewhere. Why not with the other animals? Test subjects for their other experiments.
Anika wanted to throw up.
She crept along the row of cages, noting the various animals inside. A few dozen rattus rattus, several dogs and cats, a few ferrets, bunnies, chickens, mice, and several monkeys, all listless, were stuck another night in a nightmare.
Anika fingered the lock of a monkey’s cage, feeling how easy it would be to open, but she didn’t. She wasn’t even sure she could get herself out of the room. Letting them out wouldn’t be setting them free and would alert others to her presence. She rounded the corner and walked up to the large cage.
George, still mostly monster, lay on the ground in a heap, breathing wearily. His scaly face turned toward her, short feathery antennae wilting, but he didn’t move otherwise.
Anika sat on the ground in front of him. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save you. I was trying to save Blake, but I’m out of time.”
; He flinched at his son’s name, clicking against the hard laminate flooring. The man was still inside there, held in a prison of his own making.
“He’s doing better, though.”
The monster relaxed.
“He took your formula, but I brought him back. I think he’ll come out of it. I hope.”
The monster turned its head away from her.
“We’re not that different, you and I.” She leaned back against the cabinet. “Both stuck in cages. Mine’s just a little bigger. And I get to eat pizza.”
It moaned.
“Dravovitch is my dad. I think you know what that makes me.” She took a deep breath. “I’m a lab rat, too.”
He didn’t move.
“I’ve done all I can to stop him. Now I have to get away. My friends have been trying to get me to go for a while now, but I thought if I could get through to my dad, to understand him better, that maybe I could save him.”
Anika got to her feet.
“Stupid. I know. You don’t have to tell me. Anyway, I’ve set him up, now. If everything goes according to plan, we won’t have to worry about Dravovitch anymore.”
George turned, eyeing her, his mandibles twitching, literally tasting her scent. Ew.
Anika backed away.
It lunged toward her, slamming against the cage and stretching its jagged spindly arms. The cage slid an inch.
Anika tripped over her feet and landed on her butt, resting against another cage.
Anika struggled to breathe. Stupid. She could have lost everything if she’d been a step closer. Why had she even wasted the time? She had to get out. Now.
“Sucks being caged up, doesn’t it?” Someone in the cage behind her spoke.
Anika whipped around sliding away from him. At the back of the cage, holding a dog bowl of water, was the meathead.
Wallace. Her father had kept him.
In a cage.
Anika’s heart raced. He’d heard everything! He could rat her out, and her father would know. He would examine his machine and find the part she’d installed. She’d ruined everything.
She trembled. “What are you doing here?”
“That’s a fantastic question.” He set the bowl down. “Feels like you should know the answer already, smarty pants.”