by Shay Lynam
* * *
“This kid is ridiculous.”
“I know. Remarkable isn’t he?”
It worked. When I open my eyes again, I’m met with a couple of shadowy faces. One of them has a surgical mask on and the other is Eli. What’s he doing here? I go to sit up only to be stopped short by a throbbing in the base of my skull and a strap across my neck and arms. Seriously?
“How’re you feeling, Benny Boy,” Eli asks putting a hand on my shoulder. I wish I could rip that arm of his right off and beat him with it.
“I’d feel better if you let me up,” I reply keeping my eyes locked on his. There’s no way I’m looking away from him. When the light over his head flickers, my heart skips for a second. So we’re not in the operating room. I shift, feeling the uncomfortable crinkle of my mattress. I’m still in my cell. But what is Eli doing here?
He cocks his head a little and gives me the concerned parent look again. “We had to get those stitches healed up first. We took them out and I’ll remove the straps if you promise to quit hurting yourself.” Finally I dip my head in a nod and Eli smiles. With a couple clicks, the straps loosen from around my wrists and my chest and I’m able to sit up. My side doesn’t ache at all and I pull my shirt up to find a fine raised scar with pin sized brown holes down either side.
“How’d I heal so fast?” I ask rubbing my sore wrists. They aren’t even raw like I thought they would be. There’s no hair where the straps rubbed and the skin is slick and shiny but there’s no blood. No redness. What did that man keep injecting into my neck? It must have done this.
“You’ll understand soon, Ben, that I’m not the bad guy here. I just want you to be the best person you can be.”
With that, Eli and the surgeon leave my cell and disappear down the hall. I get up carefully off the bed expecting pain to shoot up my side but I feel fine. Great in fact – if it weren’t for the whole entrapment thing and the illegal human experimenting. Anna coughs hard from her cell confirming my thought.
Eli said I was remarkable. What was that all about?
“Anna,” I call looking out my window. Another cough and then I see her pale fingers wrap around the bars of her own window and she pulls herself up. Her white blonde hair hangs in strings in front of her face. She looks worse than the last time I saw her. So much worse.
“What is it, Ben?” she croaks sleepily. I feel bad for bothering her. I glance over at the cell next to hers. Maybe I should ask Ryan if he heard anything else while I was out instead. “The gray men came and got him while you were unconscious.”
I feel my stomach twist in a knot. “What do you think they’re doing to him?”
Anna coughs hard making me bring a hand up to clutch my own throat. “Something bad. He’s been gone for a while.”
“It’s always something bad.”
When the door at the end of the hall opens we both jump and Anna’s hands and face disappear from her window. I don’t want to hide so I press the side of my face against the bars so I can see what’s going on. There’s a familiar picture. Ryan is slumped forward in a wheelchair and murmuring the way Anna did whenever she was brought in. I don’t remember ever being wheeled in like that. Even under the influence of those crazy drugs, I’m sure I’d remember blabbering like an idiot. What is Eli waiting for?
After one of the men in gray puts Ryan in his cell, he starts back down the hall with the others. I didn’t even notice one of them falling behind until he’s walking my way with a tray of food. Well isn’t it my luck that the one with the personal vendetta against me stops in front of my door and leans in so our faces are close. “Back up, lab rat,” he says.
Without saying a word, I take two steps back and wait as he opens the door to my cell. Once he’s in and the other gray men have closed the door at the end of the hall, his dull eyes sharpen and the lines in his forehead deepen. “Listen,” he says in a low voice. “We don’t have much time.”
I find myself taking another step backward. “Uh…what?” I stammer.
“You’re Ben,” the man says and I flinch when he quickly goes over to my bed to set down my tray of mush. “Ben Morgan.”
There’s nothing blocking the open door to my cell now. I’m so tempted to make a run for it but what would I do once I got to the end of the hall? The door is locked with the same mechanism as my cell door. “Yeah,” I finally say eying him suspiciously. Again he moves quickly, taking a couple steps toward me and I tense up bending my knees, ready to spring if he tries anything.
“Calm down,” the man says putting his hands up. “I’m Zack. I’m a friend of Allison’s.”
Now, I feel myself straightening up at the sound of my old accomplice’s name. “You know Allison?”
“Knew,” he corrects me.
My heart sinks. “So it’s true then,” I whisper more to myself. “She really was killed helping us.”
Zack nods. “Unfortunately yes, but we’re not here to wallow. I told you there isn’t a lot of time.”
“Time for what?” I ask feeling angry both for him just brushing off Aly’s death like that and for wasting our supposedly “precious” time telling me we don’t have time. Ryan lets out a pain filled scream and Zack and I both jump when the alarm outside his door starts going off.
Zack swears and digs into his pocket, pulling out a folded piece of paper. “Just take this,” he growls jabbing it into my stomach. “And don’t let anyone see it. I mean it.” Then he rushes past me, shutting and locking my door before hurrying over to Ryan’s cell. I run to stuff the paper under my mattress then go back to look out my window. Zack is already pulling a barely conscious Ryan out of his cell and another couple men in gray are wheeling a gurney down the hall toward them. There’s a big red stain on Ryan’s shirt and I feel a shudder go through me when he coughs, sending a waterfall of blood down his chin.
“Hey, what’s wrong with him?” I yell. “Where are you taking him?”
My supposed ally looks my way. “Nothing to see here, lab rat,” he yells back and dumps Ryan onto the stretcher. The three of them disappear back down the hall and through the door with Ryan in tow.
Fire is making its way up my throat and I feel like my skin is crawling with bugs and electricity. In a fit of rage, I slam my hands against the metal bars and let out a scream. “Let me out!” I yell even though I know no one can hear me through these cement walls. “Let me out!” There has to be someone somewhere that can hear me. My eyes search the hall until a flicker of movement catches my eye. Up in the corner near the door is a tiny black box. It turns with a stutter and points in my direction. A camera. Who’s watching? I think I can guess.
After yelling out a few choice words that would make Anna gasp if she wasn’t so weak, I turn away from the camera and sulk back to my bed. The mattress crinkles when I sit and it makes me want to take a knife and slash the whole thing to shreds. Since I don’t have a knife, I do the next best thing and grip both sides of the mattress hard. I throw it with everything I have and it sails through the air and smacks against the metal door with a crunch. In my head the mattress is Eli and I just broke every bone in his body. It makes me feel a little better.
When I turn to the bedframe again, I notice the small folded piece of paper sitting on the edge. I already forgot about it. The paper is flimsy, almost like a napkin, so I have to be careful not to rip it when I unfold it. At first the black lines and circles and scribbles sprawled across the paper don’t make sense but as I follow the angles and sharp turns to the left and right and up I realize what this is.
“Holy crap.” It’s a blueprint of the floor I’m on complete with markings of surveillance cameras and a route to take to avoid them.
I have to tell Anna. I have to tell Ryan. Folding the paper back up, I stick it in my pocket and kick the mattress away from the door. “Hey Anna. Wake up.” She groans but doesn’t respond. I guess I should wait. Yeah, I’ll wait till Ryan gets back and then I can tell them both. Though with all that blood he was cough
ing up, there’s a chance he won’t be coming back for a while. If at all.
* * *
I ended up falling asleep on the mattress in front of my door and am rudely awakened when the metal corner jabs into my ribs. With a yelp, I roll out of the way and jump to my feet. Zack is standing there with a syringe in his hand, finger poised on the plunger. “What’s that?” I ask, my voice cracking from sleep.
“It’s just more of the healing serum,” he responds. “I’m sure your head is starting to hurt again.”
He’s right, but just because he’s on my side doesn’t mean I have to like him. “I’m fine,” I say bringing a hand to the back of my neck. There’s still a big goose egg from where I smacked it against the bedframe.
“Suit yourself,” he says with a shrug and presses the plunger letting all the clear liquid shoot out of the syringe like a fountain and speckle the concrete floor. “You are a stubborn one.”
Just like my dad. I’m almost surprised he doesn’t finish with that but then I remember he doesn’t know my dad. I guess I’m just used to hearing that. So many people have told me I’m just like my dad. I guess it doesn’t really matter that he’s not my real father.
People are shaped by the ones they grow up around and the situations they live in. It makes me wonder how different my life would be if I hadn’t been part of the trial. I wouldn’t know my adoptive parents. I wouldn’t know Jack. Oh yeah, I wouldn’t even be alive because some stupid doctor doesn’t know how to clean his instruments properly. Unless they just didn’t have access to sterilization, in which case I didn’t really have a chance from the get go. But what would have been better? Dying as soon as I was born or dying when my chip fails? Anyone would say that a somewhat short life is better than no life but I don’t know that I can agree with them. Not if my life is going to be spent like this.
“I’ll just go then,” Zack finally says bringing me back.
I stop him. “Wait.” I don’t even know the guy but the fact that he’s on my side makes me want him to stay. He looks at me expectantly. “Uh…” I dig into my pocket and pull the map out. “This is only for the floor we’re on.”
Zack turns to head into the hall. “That’s all I was able to draw up,” he says before stepping out and closing my door. Instead of walking away, he turns back around to face me. “I’ll come back tomorrow to check on your head.” I nod, my eyes shooting to the camera up in the corner. Did it pick up anything we were saying? Zack must read my mind because he glances up at it too then looks at me again. “There’s no mic on that thing.” Then he gives me a small nod and walks away.
There’s no mic, huh? So that means whoever is watching didn’t hear my outburst earlier. That almost makes me madder. Though that also means I can talk to Ryan and Anna about the map without worrying about being heard.
They bring Ryan back a little while later. He’s drugged and groggy but at least he’s not coughing up blood anymore. They even changed his shirt so any and all evidence to what happened earlier is gone.
I feel like time is passing even slower as I wait for my two cellmates to wake up. What is there to do in a ten by ten room with only a mattress and a toilet? There aren’t any cracks or tiles to count. Nothing interesting enough to keep me entertained. I’ve gone over Zack’s map a dozen times and closed my eyes, going through the route in my head. This could actually happen. I could actually get out of here. I could see my brother again, maybe even my parents if we ever find them.
I didn’t expect to get that letter from Dad. I had no clue anything was wrong. I guess my parents are just as good at hiding terrible secrets as I am. Jack must feel so alone in all this. I have to get back to him. I’m all he has left. He’s all I have left.
chapter five
I don’t know how long my eyes were closed but when I open them again, my mouth is dry and my body feels heavy. I guess I fell asleep. It’s time to wake up now though. All of us have had enough sleep for a while.
It takes me a minute to get up off the mattress. My head is pounding and my bones are creaking and the mush isn’t settling well in my stomach. Stumbling over to my window, I grip the bars tightly.
“Anna,” I say loudly. “Anna, wake up. We’re getting out of here.”
She groans and Ryan stirs, appearing a few seconds later in his window. “No thanks, Ben,” Anna says quietly causing Ryan and I to glance at each other confused.
“What do you mean no thanks? You have to come with us.”
“It’s not safe.”
Ryan growls from his cell. “And this place is?” he asks. “You’ll die a lot sooner here. At least out there you’ve got a fighting chance at surviving.”
“I have no chance either way,” Anna says.
“I’ll take care of you,” I blurt out. A couple seconds later, Anna’s face appears in her window. “I know of a safe place. I’ll take you both there.”
Ryan nods with a hopeful look on his face. I know I can count on him but what about Anna? She’s biting her lip, debating on what to do. Then she meets my eyes for a second and turns away. I guess she’s given me her answer. Ryan is a bit more enthusiastic about us getting out of here than Anna is. He’s got his face pressed up against the window, his hands gripping the bars, his dark eyes shining. He reminds me of Jack and I feel a rock form in my stomach. I’ve got to get them back to the Tree House. I’ve got to get both of them to go with me.
I try to describe the map as best I can since Ryan can’t physically see it but it doesn’t do him any good. As we’re discussing, the door at the end of the hall opens and Zack and a couple other guys in gray come in. He must be here to tell me more of the plan. I make eye contact with him but he quickly looks away. Okay, maybe not.
Instead of continuing on to my cell, they stop at Anna’s and Zack slides his key card through the slot. The two other guys go in and come back out pushing her in a wheelchair. Once they’re gone, Zack opens my door and steps inside. As soon as my door shuts, I have his shirt in my fists. “I thought you were on our side,” I snarl shoving him against the door. I see Ryan peering at us curiously from his window.
“It’s called keeping up appearances,” he replies pushing me off of him.
“You’re killing her. I thought you were trying to save us.”
Zack furrows his brow. “We’re trying to save you. Just you.”
“Well, I’m not leaving without Anna and Ryan.” Did he say ‘we’? “Are there others here like you and Aly?”
“A few,” he sighs. “And if we try getting all the patients out it’ll be a disaster. So we’re focusing on you.”
“Why me? And what is Eli waiting for? And why haven’t I been taken out in a wheelchair yet?” Not that I want to be but I’d rather it be me than Anna.
“Calm down with the questions already,” Zack snaps and I quickly shut my mouth. “Why you?” he says. “Because you’re the only one of the twenty five that Allison took off the list that’s been stupid enough to get caught. Why you couldn’t just lay low instead of looking for trouble is beyond me, but we need to get you out of here before they start questioning you about the others.”
I nod. That makes sense, I guess.
“Eli is working on this new thing,” Zack continues running a hand over his sandy blond hair.
“What kind of new thing? Like a new medical chip?”
He shakes his head. “No, not medical. It’s going to be used more like a weapon. I don’t really know much about it but it sounds like it’s going to be huge once he gets it working.”
“A weapon?” I ask hearing the surprise in my own voice. “Are we talking police use here? Self-defense?”
Again, Zack shakes his head then looks out the window. I follow his gaze to Ryan who’s still staring at us. With an annoyed grunt, Zack leans in closer. “Not defense. Offense.”
“Military grade?”
“Special forces actually.”
My mouth falls open before I can catch it. There’s something so much bigger goi
ng on here than I thought. Much bigger than just pharmaceutical research. What other experiments are being tested here? Which ones are they going to test on me?
“They want to turn me into a weapon? Why me?”
Zack nods. “I guess there’s a certain quality Eli is looking for that he sees in you. That’s why we need to get you out of here. It’s already going to be a big enough risk without having to worry about others.” His head nods toward the window and I know he’s talking about Anna and Ryan.
“No,” I say firmly. “I’m not leaving without the two of them.”
With a frustrated sigh, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out another folded up piece of paper. “Did you destroy the last one?” he asks holding it up between two fingers.
I snatch it from him and start unfolding it. “Was I supposed to?”
Instead of answering me, Zack walks over to the bed and pulls the mattress off the frame. The first map comes up with the mattress and flutters toward the ground but he grabs it out of the air before it hits the cement. Without another word, he goes over, tosses it in the metal toilet and rams his thumb against the button. I watch in silence as the paper gets sucked down into the hole, never to be heard from or read again. Then Zack walks past me again and opens the door. “Read that one, memorize it, destroy it,” he says. I just watch in silence as he locks me in and disappears down the hall.
“Thanks,” Ryan finally croaks from his cell.
Letting out a sigh, I shuffle over to the window and rest my forehead against the cold bars. “Don’t worry about it,” I say squeezing the soft paper in my fist. “Besides, you have a sister to get back to.”
With those words, he perks up. “Hailey? You think she’s alive?”
I nod. “If my brother got to her in time she is.”
“Wouldn’t that be a miracle,” he mutters under his breath.
“I’m sure she’s safe,” I assure him.
“You think so?”
“I really do.” When I say this, I see something like determination burn in Ryan’s eyes. Even if I’m wrong, I’ve got to keep him thinking positively. If our escape is unsuccessful then it won’t matter if she’s dead. If we do make it out…well… he’ll be alive and free and that’ll be a miracle in itself.