Exposing ELE (ELE Series #3)

by Nuckels, Courtney

  I look up at him in utter confusion. “Did I just say that last sentence out loud? I know I thought it. This is freaky.”

  “I can hear you, Willow. In my head.” Tony looks at me in wonder.

  “Weird... No time to contemplate it though, we have to find my parents,” I tell him telepathically. Man, this is just too convenient that this would happen now of all times. Now the risk for being heard talking is nil.

  “Yes, let's get out of this place.” He takes my hand and pulls me away from the nightmarish scene. My stomach continues to twist in knots and it's extremely difficult for me to push the visual of that room from my mind. I do my best though. I have to focus. “Should we try the door up ahead or should we pick a wall and walk through it?” I have no idea where my parents would be kept in this place.

  “Let's stick with the doors for now,” he thinks, and I nod in acknowledgement.

  We both move quickly to the end of the room, desperately wanting to leave this horrible area. I focus my powers and walk us through the doors and into a short, empty hallway. No windows or cells dot this hallway. Within a few steps, we are at a new set of doors. This one looks like it has a type of keycard access panel that's lit with a red dot.

  Ignoring the security measures they put in place, I walk Tony through the reinforced doors. My back goes rigid, my muscles tense and Tony pulls me to the side, behind a pair of fake Ficus trees.

  This area is not empty. Not at all! There are dozens of guards coming to and from what I assume is a command center. Cubicles are set up in geometric patterns with computer workstations at each one. There are women and men sitting behind most of the computers. We stay silent and hide behind the little cover the trees offer. I just hope that nobody possesses the gift to see us.

  We wait a few minutes, observing all that’s going on. I watch the workers and the guards who are dressed in matching black uniforms, hustling here and there. Every once in a while a few people in blue surgical scrubs come and go from what I assume is a break room. I look around trying to best assess our plan of action, as does Tony.

  A man in scrubs approaches in our direction. I lean into Tony on impulse and he puts his arm around me. I hold my breath when the man gets close enough to see us. Seeing he has navy eyes, I let out a breath. He passes us without notice and opens a door in the corner of the room. Before he steps into the room, I catch a glimpse of several racks filled with surgical equipment and scrubs. I can tell that Tony takes notice of it too.

  “Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” I ask Tony.

  “You tell me. You're the one listening to my mind,” he jokes.

  “Funny.” I look up at him and roll my eyes. “I'm thinking we may not be this lucky next time.”

  “True. We better go incognito then.”

  I nod my head.

  We wait for the guy to exit the small supply closet. Once he's far enough away, we make our move. I pull Tony into the closet. We look around at the medical supplies, scanning the shelves. There are several sets of surgical scrubs stacked on the top shelf. We both grab a pair at least one size bigger than we usually wear to fit over our clothes. We put them on as quickly as possible.

  “You ready?” he asks me.

  “Yes.” I say. I let go of our invisibility and do something I haven't done in a while: I reach for the doorknob. We exit the closet with the greatest of care to not draw attention to ourselves. Without the veil of invisibility, it makes me feel completely vulnerable. Thankfully, nobody even acknowledges our presence. We walk through the main room, taking time to peek in when we reach the break area. We both try to keep our eyes focused downward. I feel naked and exposed out in the open like this.

  Suddenly alarms are blaring and strobe lights are flashing. “What the heck did we do?”

  “I don't think we did anything,” he says, trying not to panic.

  All the people around us stop what they’re doing and begin running in the same direction. A guard yells out above the chaos, “Code Orange.”

  I glance at Tony momentarily and hear him say, “Just run with them.” I nod my head and we’re off. We follow the masses of people out into the courtyard that runs along the fence line towards the front gates. I immediately get nervous as the guards with guns begin pointing them in our general direction.

  We watch as all the people from inside form a barrier at the gates. Tony and I quickly line up alongside them, trying desperately to play the part.

  The alarms and strobe lights die off almost instantaneously and everyone around us stands stoically, not moving a muscle. Facing forward, eyes never wavering. The doors we came through open one last time and my stomach drops. Zack and Dr. Hastings emerge carrying massive assault rifles. I swallow the lump that’s formed in my throat. They come to the middle of the courtyard and wait… for what I’m not sure. The doors behind them open once more and four people emerge. Two of them are bound together with steel chains and black cloth sacks have been pulled over their heads, making them indistinguishable. The other two guards have them by the crook of their arm, ushering them to where Zack and Dr. Hastings stand.

  They each grab one of the black sacks and simultaneously pull them off the prisoner’s heads. My knees threaten to buckle when I stare back at my mother and father.

  My dad shakes his hair out of his eyes. My mother doesn’t have to shake her hair back because Zack does it for her. His face so sinister and menacing… it makes me want to risk everything to run to them. Tony holds me back though. “Not yet.”

  Zack puts his hand under my mother’s chin, lifting it up for inspection. My dad tries to yell between his gag to stop him but it only comes out as a jumble of grunts. My mother turns her face quickly to the left, releasing herself from Zack’s grip.

  Dr. Hastings then turns toward us ‘onlookers’ and addresses us. “As you all know, we are under a code orange. This means we detected infiltration from the outside and went into lock down mode. All those with the gift of purple have been sent into the fields around us to pick out the intruders as they attempt to escape. Since I know they haven’t all left, one in particular, we’ve decided to provide some entertainment. Willow…”

  I hear my name and it sends ice through my veins. It ricochets off the walls a few times and Tony’s grip tightens tenfold on my hand. “Don’t do anything irrational, Willow. We have to wait if we’re going to win this game.”

  I can’t answer him now. Not even in my head. My parents are in harm’s way and the outcome can’t be good. I try to use my gift to see what the future holds but I am too shaken up to make it work.

  “Willow,” Dr. Hastings continues. “I have something you want, and you have something I want. I know you’re here… I can feel it.” He stops talking for a moment, letting what he says seep in.

  One of the guards brings a briefcase and places it at Dr. Hastings’s feet. Dr. Hastings bends down and unlatches it, pulling out a long syringe with a clear liquid. He flicks it with his finger and pushes the syringe up just enough so that a small amount sprays from the top.

  My heart is beating with the pulse of a thousand horses. My breathing grows ragged as tears come to my eyes. I don’t look away though, no, I can’t give up my position now. I may be the only one who can save my parents at this point. Dr. Hastings comes around to the back of my mother and places his free hand on her shoulder; taking the time to place his fingers down one at a time. I can see my mother trying to move but it’s no use. The straps that have her tied down are just too strong.

  “All I need is a pint of your blood, Willow,” Dr. Hastings says while running the needle around the surface of my mother’s neck. “Just one pint,” he reiterates. I struggle to hold on to my sensibility instead of running immediately to my mother’s aid. Tony’s right. If I have any chance of winning this evil game Dr. Hastings has created, patience is my greatest ally.

  “However, if you don’t want to give it to me, then I’ll take the one thing you love most from this world.” Dr. Hastings takes his han
d from my mother’s shoulder and pulls her face to the side, exposing her neck even more. I swallow the bowling ball that’s lodged in my throat. My hands are shaking in anticipation. I’m fearful that I may not know the difference between the right time, and the point of no return.

  “Steady,” Tony’s whisper enters my thoughts.

  “I bet you’re wondering what’s in the shot,” Zack says, pointing to the syringe in his father's hands. “That is a mega dose of the stuff they use for lethal injections. It will kill your mother the instant it reaches her blood,” he says nonchalantly, smiling back at the crowd of onlookers.

  Behind the gate, I hear a few shouts… one sounds like Mr. Leroy, but I can’t be sure. I just really hope they’re all going to be okay.

  “This is your last chance, Willow, your last chance,” Dr. Hastings says once more.

  I’m screaming inside for Tony to do something, anything! A timer flashes on the side of the building being lit from an unknown source. It has thirty seconds lit up on it. Then it begins to tick down: twenty-nine, twenty-eight. I try reasoning with Tony, begging him to help me do something, anything! The clock is at fifteen seconds and I’m about to come unglued.

  “A pint of my blood or my mother’s life,” I repeat over and over in my head. Is this really a choice I need to make? It seems so simple.

  Tony comes through my thoughts. “No! Dr. Hastings would never take just a pint of blood. He will kill you. I swore to your mom that I would protect you at all costs. Your mother wouldn't want you to sacrifice yourself. If she had the ability, she wouldn't let you.”

  I fight back, yelling in my head. “I can’t just watch my mother die!” I grit my teeth, biting my tongue to keep from shouting.

  Ten, nine… The anxiety is so intense that I find myself paralyzed by it. A single tear slips down my cheek as I frantically look at Dr. Hastings, Zack, the needle, my mother... I open my mouth to call out, not able to take it any longer. But then I hear a popping sound; like something coming apart that was never meant to do so. I watch as my mother frees up her left hand from one of the ties. Hope builds in me as I expect her to break free. That's why it takes me a second to process what happens next. As if in slow motion, I watch her hand reach upward. She swiftly removes the syringe from Dr. Hastings’s grip and plunges it into her neck. I stare in horror as she injects herself with the drug. As if in slow motion, she falls slowly to her knees and then face down on the ground. Her life force ripped from her in an instant.

  “No!!!” I yell, expecting people to turn in my direction, but I must be crying out in my mind. I reach my hand out and my knees buckle beneath me, but Tony pulls me close to his side preventing me from falling. “No...” I whimper aloud quietly. “I can help her!” I tell Tony.

  “No, Willow. She's gone. She did that for you. You have to stay strong. Please stand back up,” he urges me.

  Before I can process what's happening, chaos from the crowd of people erupts and they begin to rush Zack and Dr. Hastings. I hear some of their thoughts like, “that was our only hope”, and, “what are we supposed to do now?”

  I feel like a rag doll when Tony pulls me with him. “Get us through the bars, Willow, now!”

  I look him in the eyes. It’s like he’s speaking another language. I can’t understand what he’s saying.

  “We have to go!” he yells out loud.

  I shake my head. “My dad. My mom.” Something breaks inside me with the last two words.

  He sets me down on the ground and I watch, with a glazed expression, people running around panicking, trying to figure out what to do.

  I didn't even notice Tony leave until he returns with my dad at his side. My father's arms and legs are free and he looks just as broken as I do. His eyes are glazed over as if he still can't process what just happened.

  I hear something that sounds as if it could be the bars behind me bending. The next thing I know, Mr. Leroy is running past us into the mix of chaos. He returns a second later with my mother's lifeless body in his arms. That's when my father's knees hit the ground. He puts his hands over his face and falls face forward to the earth, sobbing heavily.

  I should comfort him but I can't move. I can't take my eyes off my mother's small and ever so still form. Tony puts his hand on my back. With that, my breath catches, my heart breaks and the flood gates open. Tears that I can't control stream down my face like a river of sorrow. I reach out to heal my mother, but Tony stops my hands. I try to break free to do something, anything, to help my mother. “She’s gone,” Tony keeps whispering over and over again in my ear.

  A man and woman with yellow eyes, whom I barely know, come to my father's side. They each grab one of my father's arms, lifting him up between them, and begin running towards the trees.

  Lee follows them, holding my mother, and Tony whisks me into his arms. We fit perfectly through the bars and our group takes off running at full speed away from the prison walls.

  I don't recall the trip back to the safe house. I find myself too drained to do anything but lie limp in Tony's arms. I can't even cry anymore. My face is tucked into his chest so he can't see me. I refuse to open my eyes or say anything even when Tony persistently asks me if I'm okay. He tries to ask me through his thoughts, so I close myself off to that ability somehow.

  I feel as if I have ceased to exist. That this world has brought nothing but pain to me and at this point I'm done with it. I don't have to talk, move, or open my eyes ever again. Just like my mom... My chest aches with the thought. I hate feeling! If only I could turn it off.

  I assume by the people's cries that we've arrived back at the safe house. I know that not only my mom is being brought home to rest, but several other soldiers as well. I heard the whispers as we ran. The guards had attacked a group on the other side of the prison. They barely made it out alive.

  I don't want to witness any of this so I tuck my head further into Tony's chest, trying desperately to block it out. We are still outside and I can hear as the others run up to our party sobbing and calling out cries to Heaven. The wails rip and thrash at my soul like hungry hands trying to tear the last part of me down. I can't take it anymore. I tell him, “Take me inside.”

  He squeezes me gently as he lets out a sigh of relief after finally hearing that I'm not comatose. “Of course.” He starts walking again; this time, thankfully, away from the crowd.

  “No!!!” I hear a high-pitched cry and the sound of feet running in our direction.

  “Willow!” I flinch at the sound of my name being called by Alec, and possibly Claire, from afar.

  They reach us in a second. I know I need to turn around and tell my friends that I'm not dead. I can only guess that was their assumption since Tony is carrying me. I just feel like I can't face them. Like I can't open my eyes and see them, because, if I do, everything will be real. My mother's death will be real. I can't take this pain; it hurts too much.

  “She's alive,” Tony says quickly as they approach.

  Claire lets out a loud sob of relief.

  “She's alive; she's going to be okay.” Connor comforts his girlfriend.

  “Is she hurt? Tell me what happened!” Alec demands with a forceful voice.

  “Physically, no... Mentally, more than we can comprehend. She just watched her mother sacrifice herself to save her.” Tony doesn't seem too thrilled by Alec's presence either.

  “Alice is dead?” Claire asks bluntly.

  I can feel Tony nodding his head and he pulls me closer to him. “You can comfort her,” he says to Alec. “He can help you.” With that, he gently pulls me from his chest and tries to move me into Alec's arms.

  “No.” I cling to Tony's shirt.

  “I don't think I'm the one she needs right now. We broke up today.” There is a slight mix of bitterness with a hint of pain in his voice.

  “Oh.” Tony says. “You didn't tell me.” He says it in more of a statement than a question.

  I don't answer. I just grip his shirt tighter. “Please, just
take me inside.”

  “She wants to go inside,” Tony tells them.

  “Do you want me to come with you?” Claire asks.

  “Please tell her I can't right now,” I tell Tony. I just want to curl up into a ball and let the world pass away before my eyes. I don't want conversation or comfort. I just want my mom.

  “I think she just wants to be alone right now,” Tony tells her.

  “Okay,” Claire says hesitantly. “We love you, Willow. All of us do. We’re here for you when you’re ready.” I feel her hand’s warmth on my back.

  “Thank you,” Tony tells them.

  He starts moving again, using his foot to push the door open. He carries me up a few flights of stairs and opens another door. He closes it behind him and then gently places me on the bed.

  Instinctively, I curl into myself in the fetal position.

  “I’ll let you rest, Willow. I'll be right outside if you need me. Just call for me.” He brushes my hair back.

  I don't open my eyes when I say internally, “Please don't leave me.” It’s the only cry for help I can manage right now.

  “Never.” He takes off my shoes. He then takes off his and lies down in the bed behind me, pulling me into him. He holds me tight against his chest. “I'm here. You can let it out now.”

  With that, the tears let loose again. I allow them to fall. He strokes my hair and holds me tight. He doesn't tell me that it will be okay or that she's in a better place. He just lets me mourn.

  I grip Tony’s shirt and ball it into my fists. I feel like if I let him go my world will completely fall apart. My mother… the woman I used to call mommy, is no longer here. Choking sobs bellow from my mouth as I try to get my mind to understand what has happened.

  I have flashbacks of all the beautiful memories of my mother and me. Her pushing me on the swing, her laughing as the top of the blender comes off, leaving a ginormous mess in the kitchen. I remember her stroking my hair at bedtime and always being there to tuck me in. I remember sitting in her lap as she would read me story after story telling me that someday my prince would come.