“Me either.” Maddie grinned.
“I know it would feel great to see him again,” I said. “My brother was a little scrawny, at least when we were kids.” I took a deep breath. “But he always did his best to protect me. He idolized my father.”
I swallowed hard as I envisioned the bullet firing straight into the center of my father’s forehead. That wound leaking blood still haunted my thoughts from time to time. I squeezed my eyes shut and did my best to brush the image away.
“Maybe their spirits are protecting us,” Maddie said in a hopeful voice and propped her back against the wall.
“I sure would like to assume that,” I agreed.
Both of my parents had been protective of me and my brother, up until the very end. Both of my parents died to save us, and I still felt as though I couldn’t uphold their honor.
“I’m glad I have you,” Maddie said, cutting through my thoughts.
“Yeah, me too,” I said with a warmhearted smile. “We have each other, and that’s all that matters.”
It would be worse to feel even more alone. We were already outsiders enough as it was.
“My sister and I used to play this game,” Maddie said and licked her lips animatedly. “We would ride our bikes and race, and whoever made it to the stop sign last had to do a chore for the other one.”
“How did that work out for you?” I asked with a chuckle.
Maddie shrugged. “Let’s just say I ended up making the beds and washing the dishes far more often than Megan.”
“She sounds like she was an amazing sister,” I said.
“She was.” Maddie nodded. “We were identical. Sometimes, even our parents couldn’t tell us apart.”
“I wonder what that was like,” I said with a laugh.
“It got interesting sometimes,” Maddie said and sat up straight as if she were excited about the turn of the conversation.
“My brother and I hardly looked alike,” I told her. “Well, at least I didn’t think we did.”
“I wish I could have met him,” Maddie said with an earnest gaze in my direction.
“You would have liked him,” I said.
“You would have liked Megan too,” Maddie agreed.
“Do you know for sure that she is dead?” I asked.
It wasn’t impossible that Megan had survived, just like my brother. I hadn’t seen him die, and he was half-Mutant too. Wouldn’t it make sense that the Fundamental Society would have wanted to keep him? But if they did, then where was he?
I knew that the scientists had Home Base camps set up all over the country. There were dozens of them, if not a couple hundred, even. The odds were stacked against us, but even a remote chance that both of our siblings were out there at a different pod was better than none at all.
“I didn’t see her die,” Maddie said and visibly cringed as she wrapped her arms protectively around her chest. “But I know they killed her.”
I bit my tongue. I wanted to argue that she couldn’t be certain, but something in Maddie’s tone made me hold back.
“Maybe you could use the scientists here as a way to find out if they are alive,” I said eagerly. “You know, read their minds or something?”
“I can’t.” Maddie shook her head firmly. “The scientists here have already figured out how to block out Mutants from reading their thoughts.”
“Oh.” I felt disappointed as I leaned against the wall once more.
“It’s nice to confide in a female peer,” Maddie said and looked at me. “You are the next best thing to my sister.”
“Thanks,” I said, feeling truly honored to even be considered. I felt as if Maddie and I shared a sisterly bond even though we weren’t related by blood.
“I couldn’t live without your friendship,” Maddie said.
“I don’t think I could either,” I agreed.
“One thing I know we have in common with all the Mutants,” Maddie began.
“Oh yeah?” I laughed. “What’s that?”
Maddie gave me a sideways, twisted smirk. “We all hate the Fundamental Society and their guards.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” I said a little too loudly. I held my breath and hoped that I hadn’t captured the attention of the guards, even though our hour wasn’t up yet.
“Why don’t we go to bed tonight envisioning a reunion with those family members we loved and lost?” I suggested.
Maddie pondered. “It certainly seems like a better way of drifting off than what I normally do.”
“What do you normally do?” I asked.
“I stare at the ceiling until my eyes grow heavy,” she said in a bored tone.
“I’ve done that too,” I said and exhaled deeply.
“My sister was a prankster too.” Maddie laughed as if remembering something humorous.
“It definitely sounds like she played you like a fiddle when it came to the chores.”
Maddie slapped her thigh. “Yeah, she had me there until I started to figure her out. I would go ride my bike and practice without her until I got good enough to beat her.”
“There you go.” I nodded. “That’s the mindset to never walk away from. Just keep persevering no matter how bleak the outcome looks.”
“It’s hard to do that when we are cooped up in here like dying flowers,” Maddie said.
“I know,” I said and stood up to stretch and yawn.
I glanced begrudgingly at the little security monitor pointed at our cell. It was as if the camera lens was staring at us and mocking us for being better than we were.
I see your every move, it probably thought. I will tell on you if you misbehave.
I sighed. I must be getting tired if I was thinking about the security camera having a mind of its own which it used to telepathically connect to me.
I tucked myself into the sheets of my own bed and glanced over at Maddie. She was climbing under the covers too.
“Goodnight,” I told her.
“Goodnight,” Maddie said as she adjusted herself between the sheets.
“Have better dreams tonight,” I told her.
“Same to you.”
“I can only hope,” I said and gently closed my eyes.
Maybe if I went to bed with happy memories floating through my mind, I wouldn’t be subjected to the nightmares that caused me to wake up in a nervous and cold sweat.
I did my best to convince my mind that I was outside in the valley. I pictured and felt the warm sunlight beaming down on my skin and the crisp wind tickling my cheeks. I saw the image of a butterfly fluttering by with yellow wings and angelic movements.
Before I knew it, I was smiling as I drifted off to sleep. In my subconscious, I was almost always in a better place.
4
Tara
When I heard the sirens wailing through my ears, piercing my mind and nearly shattering my eardrums, my initial thought was that I was having another nightmare. I bolted up to a sitting position, panting hard. I was jolted immediately from sleep.
This time, Maddie was sitting up straight as an arrow in her bed, too, with a wild and confused expression on her face. Paranoia was flickering through her eyes.
“What’s happening?” she shouted.
I shook my head numbly. I could barely hear her over the shrill sound flooding the cell and our entire unit. Maddie drew her hands up to the sides of her head and clamped them protectively over her ears.
I did the same. The noise was muffled slightly, but the sound was still intensely deafening. I ripped the covers off my legs and jumped out of bed. Maddie tossed her sheets off too and we stood together in the center of our cell, trying to make heads or tails of what was happening.
“I’ve never heard the alarms go off like this!” Maddie roared.
“Me either!” I shouted and shook my head. I didn’t even recognize the sound of my own voice.
I slowly walked over to the edge of my cell door and peered out. I could see dozens of other Mutants craning their necks, s
tanding on their tiptoes, and fastening their fists over the bars of the doors as their eyes curiously darted left and right.
“No one seems to know what is going on,” I told Maddie, who leaned over to glance down the hallway.
There were strobes of probing lights that began to flash in fluorescent hell through our eyes. The whiteness was so forceful that it was almost as if it were an ultraviolet current that burned through our vision.
“Ouch,” Maddie exclaimed and pushed her hands over her face to shield herself.
“Why is it so bright?” I asked in agreement.
“Security breach,” a female, robotic voice that I didn’t recognize began to drone over and over in the monotone voice. “Security breach.”
Maddie gazed up at me. Her eyes were still enormous with fright and concern, and her hair was sleep-touseled. Her nightgown hung past her knees and one edge dangled off her shoulder. I was certain I looked no better from her vantage point.
“What the hell does security breach mean?” she asked.
I stared blankly ahead as my heart pounded in my chest with fear of the unknown. Dread that flooded through my entire body and rooted me to the cold, concrete floor beneath my bare feet.
“I have no idea,” I told her. I was still in disbelief myself and trying to make sense of what was going on.
Just then, a few guards jogged past us, moving at a hurried pace with their guns drawn and frenzied expressions on their faces.
Instinctively, Maddie and I recoiled into the shadows, ducking down in the event that the guards were headed in our direction, but it didn’t appear that they noticed us at all. After several agonizing seconds of waiting, we finally walked back out of the shadows and stood in the center of the room together again.
My head was pounding. The noise of the sirens was borderline debilitating, rattling my insides and turning them to mush. My brain felt like scrambled eggs in a frying pan.
“Those guards looked really worried about something,” Maddie said as she met my gaze and frowned. “It was almost as if they were afraid of what they might find.”
“I know…” I trailed off.
Suddenly my mind was hit with a tidal wave of an idea. I skated back over to the cell door and pushed it with my hands. Miraculously, it swung open. I was so shocked in the moment that I didn’t make any movement toward the promise of freedom.
“Wait,” Maddie called out behind me.
I glanced at her over my shoulder. “It’s open.” I stated the obvious in disbelief, as if she didn’t have a perfectly working pair of eyes to witness it for herself.
Maddie shook her head vehemently. “It might be a trap.”
“I don’t think so,” I said and shook my head in argument.
Maddie edged closer to me and placed her hand on the door as if she needed to feel it in order for it to be real. She blinked and took a step backward again.
“Maddie,” I told her in a hasty voice. “We have to get out of here.”
“Where are we going to go?” Maddie’s voice squeaked in response.
“I don’t know,” I said and licked my lips anxiously. “But you saw the expression on those guards’ faces. They were absolutely terrified about something. We have to get out of here. What if this whole place is only seconds away from blowing up or something?”
Maddie glanced at me and I could tell that my suggestion about an explosion had hit the mark. It wasn’t the most impossible scenario, and there was no other explanation for why the guards had been running so fast.
“Okay…” Maddie trailed off as if she were still unconvinced.
I ran back to my bed and yanked my only suitcase of items and garments from underneath it. I dressed myself in regular clothes and looked at Maddie. I raised my eyebrows in a suggestive manner that led her to do the same.
Quickly, we both got dressed and put on our shoes. We met back up at the cell door which was still hanging open in a tantalizing way.
“It’s beckoning us,” Maddie said, reading my thoughts.
“I know,” I said and looked at her. I placed my hand on her shoulder. There were other Mutants who were running like the wind down the hallway and breezing past us without a single second thought.
“The security system must have malfunctioned or something,” I told Maddie, who nodded in agreement. “We don’t have much time, but if we book it across the grounds we might have a chance to make it to the fences along the perimeter of the Home Base.”
This time Maddie’s expression was determined, and her eyes flickered with adventure. “Then what are we waiting for?” The edges of her mouth curved into a devious smile that was so infectious that I found myself doing the same.
I gave her a fond slap on the back. “That’s the attitude I like to see.”
We darted down the hallways. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins and spreading like wildfire. I knew that if Maddie was brave enough to make a break for it, then we didn’t have time to waste.
We skirted down hallways and ducked around corners, fleeing for our lives. My heart was pounding. I was sizzling on the inside. Freedom was so close that I could taste it. We were trying to avoid barreling into any guards, but none were to be found. It was almost eerie. Where had they gone? Where were the scientists that they protected on constant patrol?
I glanced behind me to make sure that Maddie was trucking along too. I was surprised to see that she was right there, not trailing at all. She must have been experiencing that same level of endorphins blasting through her system, and I was grateful that she was keeping up with my stride.
I kicked into high gear. “This way,” I beckoned as I yelled over the sound of the alarm bells still continuing to ring through the air. Maddie nodded in understanding. I was looking at her and not paying attention to where I was going.
Damn! How could I make such a rookie mistake?
I slammed right into the chest of a large and brooding man. I was afraid to even look up. I winced and grabbed the side of my head where I had barreled into him.
When I glanced up, I found myself looking straight into the red eyes of another Mutant. I had seen him around before. He had a tendency to be aggressive. I reeled back slightly, bumping into Maddie as if we were in a human fender bender.
“This way,” he growled. His voice was deep and determined.
I peered over at Maddie, who nodded. “We should follow him. He’s one of us.”
My mother’s words bounced around in my head. Never trust a human. Always stick with your own.
“Okay,” I said, as I followed the Mutant down a tighter hallway that was dimly lit.
I didn’t want to regret this decision, and if I did, I knew that the guilt in my mind would never cease for leading Maddie, however unintentionally, into a trap.
The Mutant did a sudden U-turn. My heart stopped and dropped into my stomach. This was where he was going to kill us, I was certain of it. But why would he want to harm us? He had no motive, nor had we provoked him. He was one of us, after all.
That’s when I felt the breeze from the outdoors as it hit my skin. The wind began to rush through my hair.
“Shit!” I exclaimed. “There’s an open door over here!”
Maddie’s expression was a mixture of relief and caution. “What should we do?”
“I think that Mutant is trying to help as many others as he can escape,” I told her as the revelation hit me like a bolt of lightning.
Maddie’s face lit up like a candle brightening a dark room.
“Let’s go then,” she said and pumped her fist in the air.
We ran as fast as we could. The air was cold and burned in my throat. It stung my cheeks and I knew they were going to be raw and red, but I didn’t stop, and neither did Maddie.
“Tara, this way,” Maddie said. “The fences are open too,” she proclaimed miraculously.
My legs ached but I kept going. I had strength and stamina pumping through my veins and it all stemmed from the will to live. My surviv
al instinct was at a peak.
The robotic female voice was echoing through the speakers outside too, warning of the security breach. I had no idea what had caused the system to malfunction, but we only had one chance to take advantage of this glorious moment. I prayed that by the time the breach was repaired, we would be far away from this place.
As soon as we got to the fence line, we saw other Mutants who were trying to escape. But there were also guards there tasering them left and right and clubbing them with humungous bats.
“We aren’t going to be able to get through,” Maddie squealed, as if all hope was lost.
“Follow my lead,” I told her and grabbed her by the hand.
I moved as swiftly as I could. A guard’s eyes were on me. He raised his arm over his head and barreled down his fisted hand holding the bat, but he was too big and top-heavy to be any match for me. Not to mention, he was only human, and I had Mutant blood running through my veins.
In the situation, there was no chance for him to catch me. I ran as fast as I could with Maddie still on my heels, still clamping my hand over hers.
“Don’t look back,” I told her. “Just keep pressing ahead.”
I didn’t hear any footsteps behind us. I felt as if we might be in the clear. There weren’t any spotlights out here in the forest to land on us. We could blend in with the trees and be shielded by the canopy of branches thick with leaves.
The only sound was the rhythmic breathing coming from me and Maddie and the pounding of our boots as they hit the bed of leaves on the ground with a crunch.
All of the sudden four men appeared, surrounding us. I skidded to a grinding halt with Maddie stopping right beside me. We managed to catch our breaths as the men continued to enclose us in a circle.
“We don’t want any trouble,” one of them said and held up his arms as if to prove that he wasn’t armed. He edged slowly closer.
Another one said, “We won’t hurt you, we promise.”
I had heard that line before and I didn’t believe these men for a single second, even though they weren’t wearing white lab coats or navy guard uniforms. I didn’t know who they were, but as I exchanged a subtle glance with Maddie, I knew that neither one of us were going to trust a single word these men said.
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