Unleashed

by McClellan, Rachel

  Thirty minutes later, Smith parked his police car in front of the school.

  "This is so embarrassing," she said. “Couldn’t you have at least dropped me off around the side?”

  He smiled. "You want me to turn on the siren?"

  "Very funny." She opened the door.

  Smith leaned toward her. "I want you to be careful. You understand?"

  She nodded. "Thanks. For everything." Claire closed the door and waved goodbye. Although she didn’t say it, his concern for her meant a lot. She imagined it was how a father would react. A normal father, that is.

  TWENTY-ONE

  The lunch bell rang, and just when Claire stepped into the hallway, Logan grabbed her. "Why did Smith drop you off this morning?"

  "How'd you know about that?"

  "I saw you from the window."

  She groaned. "So everyone probably thinks I got arrested or something."

  "Who cares what they think. What happened?"

  Claire studied him. His worried eyes. His kind expression. It was then that she realized she couldn’t do this on her own anymore; she needed to turn to the people she loved most, like she had with Smith. The more people that know, the better, but it needs to be done carefully and in private. Just in case Bodian had someone else watching her now. "I need to talk to you. And Ethan. Where is he?"

  Logan looked annoyed. "I don't know."

  She pulled on his arm. "Let's find him. I need your opinions. And Kate’s." A female's opinion could come in handy.

  Ten minutes later, Claire led them all into the auditorium. She walked up the stairs and onto the stage, ignoring Kate’s questions about where she was taking them. At the back of the stage, in the corner, she parted a black curtain and opened a door that led to a large closet where the drama classes kept all their props. She scooted all the way in, stopping next to a giant cardboard tree.

  “This is weird,” Logan said as he picked up a black cauldron. She remembered it from last year’s play, Macbeth. “What are we doing here, Claire?”

  “Would you close the door?” she asked Ethan.

  He did as she asked, then maneuvered his way through boxes and stage props to stand next to her. “What’s this about, Claire? Are you okay?" She saw his eyes flicker to her upper arms, which were covered.

  "I'm fine, but something happened last night."

  "What?" Kate asked. She was the only one in the group who looked excited. Kate probably thought she was about to tell her that an agent had called to sign their band.

  "Before I tell you,” Claire said. “I need to go back several weeks. To when I had to get that career form signed from Bodian Dynamics, remember?"

  Kate picked up a nearby doll. “Yeah, the counselor doesn’t know you at all, if she thinks that’s where you’ll work. Only sell-outs work there.” She looked up at Logan and Ethan, her eyes wide. “Except for your dads, of course.”

  “Of course,” Logan said and shook his head.

  Before Claire continued, she glanced around to make sure they were alone and not being listened to somehow. The cramped prop room could barely hold them, let alone some secret Bodian spy, if there even was such a thing. Her shoulders relaxed and she smiled to herself for acting so paranoid. There’s no way Bodian could’ve known she was going to take them into a closet she’d only been in once before.

  “Talk to us, Claire,” Ethan said.

  She took a deep breath. "That day I went to Bodian, Gary was there, and he was acting really strange, saying weird things and, well, just being himself." Ethan took hold of her hand. "Anyway, I convinced him to let me go down the hall to the vending machines." She looked around at them, meeting their gaze.

  "Well? What happened?" Kate asked.

  "Before I tell you, I have to swear you all to secrecy. You can't tell anyone unless we all agree. Understand?"

  "Just tell us,” Logan said.

  "Promise?"

  Eventually, they nodded.

  Claire proceeded slowly, telling them exactly what she’d told Smith. As the words escaped her lips, she felt herself grow stronger and less afraid.

  When she got to the part about the missing vials, Kate asked, “What was in them?" She was leaning so far forward Claire thought she might tip over.

  "I don't know exactly, but they were talking about what the formula did to monkeys and how it changed them."

  Logan drew his eyebrows together. "Changed them into what?"

  "The woman said they were monsters who stalked and tortured one another. And she was worried that if a human ingested the liquid then they too could be transformed into..."

  "What?" all three said at the same time.

  Claire sighed. "I don't know. That's when I accidentally bumped into the vending machine. They heard me, and the guy scientist chased me out with Gary into the parking lot. I was hiding behind a car when I heard the scientist tell Gary to catch me and find out how much I heard. You should've seen how scared the scientist was. It was like I'd heard them plotting World War Three or something."

  "But you got away," Kate said.

  "Yeah. I ran, but ever since then Gary’s been following me."

  "So that's what last night was about," Ethan said.

  "But why did Smith drop you off this morning?" Logan asked. He looked tense, the cords in his neck stretched tight, and it made her shiver. She wasn’t used to seeing him so stressed.

  Claire glanced away. "Remember Gage?"

  "Of course," Ethan said, his voice hard. "What about him?"

  She inhaled deeply. On her exhale she said, "Last night he killed Gary. Not just killed, but tortured and maimed. Smith said it was the worst crime scene he had ever seen."

  "How do they know it was Gage? Did they catch him?" Kate asked.

  Claire shook her head. "They have his prints,” she said, but cringed at the word, remembering what Smith had really said. “And it matched the prints from the other girl’s death at the school’s swimming pool and at the gas station that was robbed."

  "So if they have his prints, why don't they just go arrest him?" Kate said.

  "It's not that simple," Logan explained as he spun the cauldron in his hands. "Gage would already have to have a criminal record. If he's never done anything wrong, they won’t know who to look for."

  "But it's not just that," Claire said. "There's something wrong with Gage's prints."

  Logan stopped the cauldron’s motion. "What do you mean?"

  "Smith said they weren't normal. They were unlike any fingerprints he'd ever come across. It’s almost like they weren’t human."

  Kate scrunched her face and snickered. "So Gage is some sort of animal? This is getting too weird."

  "I'm just telling you what I know."

  Logan seemed to be thinking, and Ethan just looked mad.

  "Well, what do you guys think?" Claire asked.

  Kate folded her arms. "I think the police got the prints wrong. And I think Gage is a psycho on drugs.”

  "I think it's pretty obvious," Ethan said. They all looked at him. "Gage, or whatever his real name is, stole the formula from Bodian and has been taking it. It's messed up his DNA and turned him into some kind of a monster."

  Kate laughed. When none of them joined her, she said, "You can't be serious?"

  Claire looked at her. "I am very serious because I've come face to face with him. There is something abnormal, almost supernatural, about Gage." She leaned back into a painted Styrofoam rock, her legs weakened just from talking about Gage, but in doing so she nearly knocked over a mirror. Ethan caught it just before it hit the floor, and she looked up at him, grateful. The last thing she needed was more bad luck.

  "So what," Kate said, "you're going to go to the police and tell them some scientifically created, super-mutant is responsible for the crimes?"

  Logan shook his head. "She can't do that. No one would believe her."

  "You think?" Kate said.

  “I told Smith what happened,” Claire said. “He might come to the
same conclusion we did.”

  "Remember three years ago?” Logan said, interrupting her. “The lab assistant who blew the whistle on some Bodian project that she claimed was illegal?"

  When no one answered, he continued, "I remember because my dad had to fill out a report and he was really stressed out about it. Really stressed out. Like he was afraid he'd lose his job if he said the wrong thing."

  "So what happened?" Claire asked.

  "Nothing. They fired the lab tech for supposed drug abuse, and then accused her of stealing from them. They pretty much ruined her life."

  Kate shrugged. "How do you know she really wasn't a druggie?"

  "I overheard my dad telling my mom that they'd set her up. 'Nobody goes against Bodian and survives', he'd said. I've never forgotten it."

  Claire sunk even further into the rock. "What do we do?" Her voice was small, but not as small as she felt. She looked up and saw Ethan staring at her.

  "I say we find out the truth. Hard evidence," Ethan said.

  "And how do we do that?" Kate asked, still looking skeptical.

  Logan spoke first. "Easy. Both our dads work at Bodian. My dad's a lab tech and he's always leaving his security badge around. We could break in."

  "They have a crazy security system," Claire said, remembering when she was last there. “But think about this, guys. Do you really think your dad’s could be part of something like this?”

  Logan and Ethan were quiet. Logan’s focus was on the black cauldron, but Ethan was looking at Logan.

  Ethan nodded. “Possibly. My dad isn’t going to be on anyone’s hero list, and he gets paid a lot of money to be one of the managers out there. I’d like to say he would be against a drug that would do something so horrible, but I don’t know for sure.”

  Logan’s head lifted. “And my dad’s always afraid of losing his job. He might stay quiet about something like this, but then again there are a lot of labs at Bodian. He might not know anything about it.”

  “What if we did sneak into Bodian and got on one of their computers?” Ethan asked. “Maybe we can find some documents about the testing they are doing.”

  Logan smiled slowly. “I’ve got a better and a much safer idea.”

  “What’s that?” Kate asked.

  “What if Ethan and I cloned our fathers’ phones and searched their emails, contact list, and files,” Logan said, his voice excited. “My dad uses his for work all of the time.”

  Claire thought about this, having only heard of it on television. “But how would that work?”

  “You have to be within thirty feet of the person, and they have to have their Bluetooth on, which most people do. We also need a software emulator. And I know just where to get it.”

  “Could anyone catch you doing this?” Claire asked, wanting to make sure they wouldn’t get caught. She didn’t want any one getting in trouble for her.

  “They won’t even know it happened,” Logan said.

  “Then let’s do it right away,” Claire said, looking around their small circle. “We have to stop Gage before anyone else gets hurt.”

  TWENTY-TWO

  The plan was set. That night, Logan was meeting Ethan at Eddy’s to put the software onto his phone that would make it possible for him to clone another person’s cellphone. Claire didn’t ask where Logan got it from or how he knew how to do it. He had more friends than she would ever have, and she knew some of them were kind of shady.

  When Ethan and Logan were finished, they were going to go home and clone their fathers’ cell phones. Both boys agreed to spend all night if needs be, searching through the information, looking for any evidence about Gage or the secret testing.

  It was almost midnight. Claire’s room was dark and cold. Her old comforter was pulled tight to her chin, but she still couldn’t get warm. She was hoping she would’ve heard something from Ethan or Logan by now, but the only texts she’d received were from Kate who was wondering the same thing.

  Finally, at almost one in the morning, Logan texted to the group: I’ve got nothing. Searched his entire phone. Sorry. Ethan?

  Ethan responded back a few seconds later. Still looking. There’s a lot of information on here. It may take all night. You guys go to sleep. I’ll see you at school. Come early. Meet in the same place as before.

  Claire’s heart sank. There was no way she was going to sleep, not knowing that Gage had been at her house only the night before. Her eyes instinctively went to her window. She imagined him placing his bloodied hand upon the glass and shivered. She almost considered running into her mother’s room, but she hadn’t done that since she was four-years-old.

  Just then she received a private text from Ethan. Don’t worry. We’ll figure this out. You’ll be safe soon. I promise.

  Claire inhaled deeply. She stared at the words for a long time, mouthed them quietly over and over until she finally fell asleep.

  The next morning, Claire thought she would be the first person to enter the stage prop room, but Logan was already waiting. He stood up when he saw her.

  “Hey,” she said and closed the door behind her.

  “Get any sleep?” he asked.

  “Eventually. You?”

  “Not really.”

  She walked over to him and joined him next to the cardboard tree. “I can tell.” She reached up and smoothed down a section of his hair that was sticking up in the back. She hadn’t realized how close they were until her eyes met his. She inhaled a sharp intake of breath. He lifted his hand as if he was going to touch her cheek, but she stepped back just as the door opened.

  Ethan stopped momentarily when he saw them, but then continued into the room and closed the door. “I thought I’d be the first one here.”

  “I think we’re all anxious to know what you found,” Logan said.

  Ethan’s shoulders dropped, and he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t find anything real valuable, and I searched everything. The best I could come up with was a list of all the labs and the employees who work in them.”

  “How does that help?” Claire dropped onto the giant Styrofoam rock, her mouth falling open. This was going to take a lot longer than she hoped.

  Ethan walked over and kneeled on one knee in front of her. “Because we can use it to narrow down who you overheard in the hall that day.”

  “And then clone their phones,” Logan added.

  Ethan nodded. “Exactly. There’s a basic description of what each lab does so we can focus on the labs we think might be doing questionable testing. In fact, I think I found it.”

  Claire’s eyes lifted to his.

  Ethan smiled kindly. “There was a lab that only had a one sentence description. It said something like ‘experimental animal testing involving the human genome’.”

  “That sounds like a good place to start,” Logan said. “How many employees work in it?”

  “Only three were listed, and one was a girl. You said it was a man and woman you overheard, correct?” Ethan asked Claire.

  She nodded. Maybe this wasn’t going to take as long as she thought.

  “This will be easy then,” Logan said. “Text me their names, and I’ll see if I can’t find out their schedules. We’ll try to cross paths with them in the parking lot when they get off. If they have their phones on them, we can get them cloned.”

  “We can make this even easier,” Ethan said. “Let’s show up at lunchtime at Bodian. Everyone mostly eats in the cafeteria.”

  “And we don’t have to have security clearance to get in there,” Logan added, his voice full of excitement. “We’ll say we’re visiting our dads.”

  Claire narrowed her eyes. “But what if you really do run into them?”

  Logan shrugged. “We’ll think of something.”

  “Anyone who comes in there will be wearing name badges,” Ethan said, “so all we have to do is read the names of the employees who work in the lab. We should be able to find at least one of them with their phone on them. Then whoever we miss
, we can get after their shift.”

  Just then the door opened with a bang, making them all jump.

  “Sorry I’m late,” Kate said, hurrying in with her backpack flung over her shoulder.

  “You scared us!” Claire said, her heart racing.

  “What I miss?” she asked.

  “Ethan and I are skipping school after third period,” Logan said.

  Kate scrunched her nose. “Since when did you guys become friends?”

  Claire stood up and took her by the arm. “I’ll fill you in on the way to class. Come on.”

  Before Claire could go out the door, Ethan stopped her. “Stay safe. We’ll meet up with you just as soon as we can.” He gave her a long, hard kiss on the lips, surprising her.

  When he finally pulled away, Claire opened her eyes. Over Ethan’s shoulder, Logan was watching them.

  TWENTY-THREE

  “I hate waiting,” Kate whispered to Claire in English class. “What’s taking them so long?”

  Claire shook her head and looked up at the clock. It was just after three. Soon the last bell would sound, and she and Kate would go home. Claire really thought she would have heard something by now, at least that they had found one of the employees in the lunchroom, but she had yet to hear from either Logan or Ethan.

  “Have you texted Ethan?” Kate asked.

  “Not yet. Let’s give them some more time.”

  “Quiet down, girls,” the teacher said from the front of the class. “School doesn’t end for another ten minutes.”

  Claire leaned away from Kate. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was worried about Ethan and Logan. What if Bodian somehow found out that Ethan and Logan knew about the missing vials too? Would Bodian actually hurt them to protect their secret? She bit the inside of her lip. Come on, Ethan, text me.

  It was almost an hour later, and Claire still hadn’t heard anything, even though she had texted Ethan right after school. She glanced down at her phone for the millionth time, and then returned to looking outside. The sky was overcast; great clouds hung low in the sky, swollen with moisture. A patrol car was parked across the street.