by Marina Epley
“Holy cow that’s cold!” he exclaims. “What the hell you doing down here?”
I push Kitty closer to him.
“Take her first,” I plead.
Chase doesn’t argue. He grabs Kitty tightly with one arm and yells, “Pull us up!” Then I watch him take an unconscious Kitty up. She’ll be all right, I think with relief. Kitty is safe now. I don’t have to keep her head above the water anymore and I don’t have to fight my fatigue. I relax, leaning my back against the wall and resting. My heavy eyelids close. I don’t feel cold. I’m not even trembling. Slowly, my body slides down the slick stones. I don’t have to resist any longer because Kitty isn’t in danger.
Somebody grabs my shoulders and pulls my body up. I awaken, choking and spitting. Was I under the water?
“Breathe, Rex!” Chase commands, slapping my face. “Can you hear me?”
I look at him, but don’t really understand why he is so worried. My brain is working too slowly.
“Hold on,” he says, gripping the rope with both hands. I put my arms around his shoulders. It’s not easy. I can barely move and can’t feel my hands.
“Bring us up!” Chase commands as somebody begins dragging the rope up. We’re ascending slowly. I stare at the perfectly blue sky and get a bizarre feeling that I’m coming straight into heaven.
I see Jimmy, Lena and Frank standing nearby the water well. Several Elimination officers assist. They’re still wired after the fight with the terrorists. One officer smiles and slaps my back.
“Nice job, dude,” he says. “We got all of them.”
“Man, we thought these terrorists had killed you,” another officer laughs.
I stare at them in confusion. Are they making fun of me or what? Suddenly I realize they’re not being mean. The officers are treating me like a human being for the first time instead of like some kind of freak. I smile and say, “As you guys already know, I’m not so easy to kill.”
“Yeah, we know,” the officers laugh. Somebody puts a blanket over my shoulders.
Dressed out in an Elimination uniform, Lena walks toward me and says, “I couldn’t locate you for the longest time. But then I heard you calling and I told them where you were.”
“Thank you, Lena,” I answer. “You’ve saved us.”
We shake hands.
Chase helps me up and leads us to one of the aircraft on the large sandy beach. Frank carries the still unconscious Kitty. I shake from the cold again although it’s warm outside.
I look around and see multiple Elimination officers escorting handcuffed breakers away. Some prisoners are wounded and bleeding. Wheeler is standing near several motionless bodies spread out across the sand. He holds his handgun, grinning. Jessie joins us and I notice her limping. Her dull face is spattered with blood. Not her blood, I guess.
“You’ve missed the fun part,” Chase tells me. “These freaks were fighting like hell and even tried to hypnotize us. Thank God we had your breakers on our side. They really helped a lot.”
I want to ask him what happened to those breaker kids I saw earlier, but can’t speak a word. My entire body is trembling and my tongue doesn’t want to move. Symptoms of hypothermia.
Victor is sitting on the sand near the aircraft, smoking a cigarette and complaining. He presses a hand on his bleeding arm, saying, “These freaking pigs shot me! I’ve had enough. I’m quitting. Won’t be doing this stupid job again!” Nobody is paying any attention.
Drake and Hammer pass slowly by, led by Elimination officers. Drake shoots me a hateful glare, saying, “I’ll kill you for this, traitor.”
Hammer keeps silent and just stares ahead. I notice blocking collars on both of them.
“Don’t worry about them,” Chase says, helping me climb up inside the aircraft. Kitty is lying on the floor, rolled up in a blanket. I kneel down beside her and listen to her breathing. It’s very weak, but steady. “Hold on,” I whisper, “you’ll get medical help soon.”
I sprawl out across the floor beside Kitty, overcome by fatigue. No more fighting. No freezing water.
I hear gunfire and glance through the open hatch. Wheeler is busy outside shooting prisoners. Chase and others out there are trying unsuccessfully to stop him.
Chapter 24
I awaken on a hospital bed. A thin needle is inserted in my arm and a long plastic tube runs to an IV bag attached to a metal pole. My body is sore and I’m struggling to breathe anything more than a shallow breath. Kitty is sleeping peacefully beside me on top of the blanket. She’s alive and safe. She’s with me again. I couldn’t ask for more.
Kitty’s face seems a little pale, but her breathing is normal. I watch her, enjoying her closeness and warmth. Then I run my fingers through her curly red hair. Kitty awakens with a smile, looking at me.
I suddenly feel awkward, remembering everything that’s happened between us. A few weeks ago I wouldn’t bother worrying if Kitty slept on my bed. It wasn’t a big deal.
“How did you get here?” I ask softly.
“I woke up and went looking for you,” Kitty says. “My room is the next to yours. I don’t wanna be left in there alone.” She reaches for me and wraps her arms around my neck. “We survived the freezing well! You saved me, Rex.”
“Kitty, you’re choking me,” I laugh. “Now go sit in the chair.”
Kitty glances at the chair with surprise. “What’s wrong?” she asks. “You don’t want me here?”
“Of course I want you here. Only perhaps you shouldn’t sleep on my bed.”
“Why? We’ve slept together before.”
“You’re more grown up now, Kitty.”
Her face flushes red and Kitty jumps off the bed. “You’re weird,” she mumbles, plopping into the chair. “Just know I won’t be staying in a separate room. We’ve already spent enough time apart.”
I don’t know how to answer that. There’s some unspoken tension between us. We both remember how she tried to kiss me, but we both pretend not to remember. Right now I’m too tired to sort everything out.
The door opens and in enters a grinning Holtzmann.
“You’ve saved many lives, Rex,” he says and begins a lecture on the importance of preventing an apocalypse. I’m not really listening, but thinking of the innocent kids and breakers who were captured along with the terrorists. I can’t shake the image of Wheeler shooting those captives.
“What will happen to the prisoners?” I ask, interrupting Holtzmann.
He mumbles something.
“Elimination is gonna kill them, right?” I ask. “It won’t matter whether they’re terrorists or just falsely accused breakers.”
“I’ll see what I can do to help them,” Holtzmann answers. But I know he can’t really help this time. His power is limited. In a best case scenario Holtzmann would commandeer some prisoners for lab rats.
“I don’t trust him,” Kitty whispers, after Holtzmann leaves.
“He’s all right,” I say. “He’s just a little bit off.”
Kitty gives me a hard look and asks, “What now? How are we going to escape this place?”
I don’t have an escape plan yet.
“Let’s play it by ear until I can figure something out,” I answer.
Browning visits next. He spends a good ten minutes explaining what a valuable asset I’ve become and how Elimination appreciates my service. Listening to him is making me sick. There’s something slimy and untrustworthy about Browning. The way he looks at you and grins always gives the impression that Browning knows something that you don’t.
“I guess this little gal is the real reason you’re working for us,” Browning says, glancing over at Kitty. “As long as she behaves herself, she may become a member of your team. We need strong and cooperative breakers in case there’s any further trouble.”
“I’m not cooperative,” Kitty growls. “And I won’t work for you.”
“Rex, please explain to this little lady everything she needs to know about her situation,” Browning commands
as he’s leaving.
“They’ll torture or possibly even kill you for resisting,” I say. “You have to at least pretend to be cooperative. It won’t be for too long, we’ll figure something out.”
Kitty groans. “Why couldn’t you just join us?” she asks. “We’d be safe and…”
“And we’d either become terrorists or else be stuck at the bottom of that well,” I interrupt her. “That’s not what I want for us, Kitty.”
“I don’t think you really know what you want,” she sighs, turning away.
I don’t have time to answer because the door opens again and Rebecca comes in. She smiles widely and runs to me, spreading her arms, but at the last moment she stops and holds out a hand.
“Welcome back,” she says shyly.
“Come on,” I smile and give Rebecca a hug. Kitty makes a choking noise.
“Everybody thought you were dead when we lost our connection,” Rebecca says. “But I believed you’d come back just as you promised.” She turns to Kitty, “Hello, you must be the little girl Rex wanted to save.” Rebecca extends her hand. “Nice to meet you, I’m Rebecca.”
“I know who you are,” Kitty growls, pushing Rebecca’s hand away.
“Kitty!” I say strictly. “Be polite, Rebecca’s my friend.”
“She’s your friend, not mine,” Kitty answers. “And I don’t like her. She’s an Elimination pig.”
Kitty jumps from the chair and runs out of the room. The door slams behind her. Rebecca shivers, looking embarrassed.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “Kitty is just being a selfish child who craves all the attention.”
“She’s jealous,” Rebecca understands. “How old is she?”
“Only fifteen,” I answer. “Still believes in Santa Claus.” I laugh, trying to clear the air.
“I don’t think so,” Rebecca says. “What are you going to do now, Rex?”
I shrug.
“I know you are planning to escape,” Rebecca sighs. “You hate Elimination, don’t you? I want you to know I’ll truly miss you should you leave.”
I keep silent.
“Back in school the other kids always thought I was strange,” Rebecca continues. “I didn’t have many close friends. After losing my parents, I stopped going to school at all. I had tutors, but nobody to make friends with. Holtzmann is not a real friend… just a relative needing my care. And if I should die, he wouldn’t even notice.”
“Of course, he would.”
“Holtzmann cares only about his science,” Rebecca says. “Maybe you could stay?” she suggests. “Maybe you could be happy here working for Elimination?”
“Rebecca, I’m a convict here, and the task given me has been completed. I have nothing to do with Elimination now.”
“You don’t have to decide anything today. Just think about it.”
She leaves. Nothing to think about. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life inside a prison.
For a few days I remain in the prison infirmary, still being feverish and coughing my head off. After experiencing severe hypothermia, I’m on the verge of contracting pneumonia. My lungs make an odd wheezing noise when I breathe. A doctor comes by every day to administer antibiotics. Fortunately, Kitty doesn’t have the same problems. She’s absolutely well and spends all her time in my room. Every evening I send Kitty back to her room, but in the morning I find her sleeping in my bed. I don’t know what to do about it. Kitty behaves innocently enough, not bringing up the recent incident between us. I’m still a little uneasy around her. I’ve started noticing that Kitty always sits as close to me as possible, takes my hand, always leans against me. I realize I could be just overly paranoid, so I pretend unconcerned.
Jessie visits us several times. Kitty enjoys her visits, telling Jessie about her adventures and how I rescued her in the well.
“What now?” Jessie asks me.
“Now we need to escape.”
“I can’t,” she answers. “They’ve still got my parents. I’m an Elimination puppet for now.”
I understand. We’ll have to take them with us. Also I’ve promised Lena we’ll save her mother if she’s still alive. And Jimmy. Too many people and too many promises. No idea how we’re all going to make it.
Sometimes I think about what Rebecca said. What if I stay in Elimination? Would I be able to change things from inside? I doubt it. At the same time I’ve grown tired with never-ending fighting and always plotting for an escape. Part of me wants to give up and let Elimination do whatever they want. It’d be an easier way to survive, being their lab rat, a puppet as Jessie called it. Then I despise myself for even considering joining this group. Thoughts of Kitty living locked away in prison make me ill. If it weren’t for her, I’d probably give up. She’s the reason I have to find a way to regain our freedom.
Holtzmann wakes me up in the middle of the night.
“You need to watch the breaking news,” he says in a trembling voice. I glance at him and realize something terrible has happened. Holtzmann looks like he’s just seen a ghost, his left eye twitching and face being deathly pale.
“What’s wrong, Holtzmann?” I ask.
“Another terrorist attack,” he answers quietly.
Still dizzy from sleep, I repeat his words several times in my mind. They don’t make any sense at first. We’ve captured the terrorists.
“That can’t be right,” I whisper, dressing quickly. “Who did it?”
“I don’t know,” Holtzmann says.
We wake my team and watch the news in Holtzmann’s lab till morning. I’m still running a fever and my eyes are burning, but I can’t turn away from the screen. An overexcited Lola in a gaudy pink dress is reporting on the new act of terror. This time a group of breakers attacked a shopping mall during evening hours. Using hypnosis, the terrorists caused the mall customers to fight each other, while they set the building on fire.
“I thought we’d caught them,” Frank says.
“My group wasn’t responsible for any acts of terror,” Kitty answers defensively.
I watch the video, unable to speak. Not again, I think desperately. I’ve seen it too many times. I thought we’d stopped the terrorists for good. I believed I wouldn’t have to watch the firefighters carrying out lifeless burnt bodies again. Lola reports that most of the victims have deceased, while the few survivors are in critical and still unstable condition. The cameraman catches a few vivid scenes: a woman screaming in pain, her face covered in blisters, the little disfigured corpse of a child, people sobbing in sorrow.
My throat clenches. I feel like I’m about to throw up. I don’t understand anything. Was Drake telling the truth, saying his group wasn’t responsible for acts of terror? It would mean I led Elimination to the wrong target, while the real terrorists were plotting another attack. My head aches.
I see a tall gray haired man on the screen, one of the Fathers. He is making a long monotone speech.
“We have to stop the breakers,” he says. “We have to strike back. Our citizens can’t be safe and live without fear as long as there are breakers among us.”
Lola announces that tomorrow Elimination will begin checking all citizens for breaker abilities. They have a special head scanner that can identify whether you’re a breaker or not within seconds.
That’s exactly the scenario Holtzmann wanted to avoid.
“Oh, no,” he sighs. “This will lead straight to war.” He shakes his head and mumbles something, speaking to himself.
First thing in the morning Holtzmann and I march into Browning’s office. He doesn’t look surprised upon seeing us.
“You can’t do this,” I say. “You promised not to use scanners on the general population if we bring you the terrorists.”
“I didn’t promise anything of the sort,” Browning answers calmly. “But even if I did, it’s a promise I wouldn’t have to keep. Terrorists have attacked again. It means you certainly didn’t find them all.”
“We will find them. Just give me and
my team more time.”
“We don’t have any more time. Innocent people are dying and Elimination has to use more efficient methods to identify the threat.”
“This is insanity, Browning!” Holtzmann exclaims. “You’ll become the man who ordered the genocide of a population, thus starting the war between breakers and ordinary humans. You’ll lead humanity to absolute extinction!”
“The war has already started,” Browning answers. “Watch the news, it’s the breakers who are the aggressors. We’re trying to protect our homeland.”
“Those terrorists don’t represent all breakers,” I say. “They’re just a group of haters. You shouldn’t make all breakers be responsible of what those idiots do.”
“Quit wasting my time,” Browning says. “This conversation is over.”
Guards escort us out of the office.
I’m watching the news for the rest of the day. Elimination has started their project of total scanning. Everything has been organized surprisingly fast. Seems like they’ve done some preparing in advance. While my team and I were locating terrorists, Elimination was setting up stations to perform the scanning along with continuing the building of death camps. Browning has lied to me. He never intended to prevent the scanning.
I learn from the news that Elimination will be able to scan the majority of population within a few months. Today they’ve already scanned hundreds of citizens, having detected sixty breakers. Elimination won’t stop until they’ve thrown every breaker into the death camps. Lola interviews the captives. Scared and in shock, they can hardly say anything.
I change the channel and watch a report about missing people. Hundreds of workers quit showing up at work in different cities. Many children have been held out of school. Elimination has already checked their homes without result. Officials suspect the missing citizens to be breakers, now assumed to be on the run.
Chase enters the lab and joins us watching news.
“You happy now?” I ask.
Chase sighs, saying, “No, and many of the officers don’t like the idea. But we have to follow orders.”