by Tina Chan
Troop cast his eyes around the room. “This is so freaky.”
Kristi nodded in agreement. She shuddered to think how close she had been to being experimented upon. All these lives sacrificed to satisfy the indulgences of a perfect society, Kristi grimly thought.
Without the Accidents to test on, there would be no progress in DNA perfectionism. The government depended on a society where everyone was a Perfect to run seamlessly.
A movement in the corner of her eyes snapped Kristi back to reality. She looked up in time to see the woman in the white lab coat who had given her the disturbing smile earlier. Her stomach clenched in response and she swallowed nervously.
“Are you even listening?” Chelsa asked.
“Sorry. What did you—ah–choo!” Kristi let out a huge sneeze.
The sound reverberated around the room. Everyone became absolutely still and silent; it was as if a magician had thrown a freeze over the South Wing. Kristi fidgeted beneath five hundred pairs of eyes.
“Ha-ha,” Troop said loudly, diverting some of the attention off her and onto him. “That was a funny joke, Helen, pretending you were allergic to me. I didn’t know you could sneeze so loud. Maybe you should save your pranks for a more appropriate time though.”
Some of the tension melted away in the room and gradually people returned to their work.
“Good save,” Chelsa whispered to Troop.
But creepy-smile-lady was still staring at them. Chelsa lifted her head up and looked in the direction Kristi was looking.
“What is she doing here?” Chelsa asked more to herself than to Kristi.
“Who is she? I feel like she’s been following us for a while,” Kristi said.
“She’s Zala’s assistant. Her name’s Rosa.”
Rosa saw the three of them looking at her and marched over. Following behind her was Officer Zala and a guy Kristi didn’t recognized. He looked to be a few years older than her.
Troop met the guy’s eyes. “What is he doing here?”
chapter forty-three
[ Troop ]
He looked different since the last time Troop saw him—he had obviously gotten a haircut—but the guy behind Officer Zala was, without a doubt, Mason.
What in the world is going on? Troop thought.
Mason stopped a few paces behind Officer Zala.
“Fancy meeting you here, Chelsa,” Zala said. She braced her feet shoulder width apart and crossed her arms. Rosa and Mason copied her posture.
“I’ll prefer if you call me Dakota for now,” Chelsa replied.
“Chelsa, Dakota, whatever.” Officer Zala waved her hand diminishingly. “It seems to me you have only upheld part of our bargain. Where is the fourth Accident?”
“He refused to come,” Chelsa said.
“Very well. At least you have brought me two of the three. I will reward you once the last Accident is in my hands.” Zala turned to face Mason.
Troop debated whether they should make a break for it or not; he settled on a “no” since armed reinforcements had materialized all around them.
“Deputy Mason,” Zala said in a flat tone that somehow made those two words sound ominous.
Mason snapped to attention. “Yes, Officer.”
“I am disappointed in you.”
Rosa smirked behind Zala’s back and Mason shot her daggers. “Yes, Officer,” Mason said.
“You know what happens to people who disappoint me,” Zala continued on.
An expression of panic crossed Mason’s face for a second, but his face quickly became an emotionless mask. Rosa’s smirk widened a few inches.
Zala spoke again, “You informed me Troop and Kristi were killed two nights ago in the explosion at Solomon’s Sandwich Shop.”
“Yes, Officer. I believed the grade A bomb I placed in the shop killed them. It was foolish of me not to return to the site of the detonation to confirm their deaths,” Mason said.
“You placed the bomb in the sandwich shop?” Troop asked.
Mason looked nothing like the forty-something year old diner he saw at Solomon’s Sandwich.
“Yes.” Mason sounded smug. “I have been complimented on my extraordinary skills in the art of disguises. You didn’t recognize me on the air-train either.”
“Who are you?” Kristi burst in. “How do you know Troop?”
Mason didn’t try to hold back the scorn spreading across his face. “Don’t speak unless you’re asked to, Freak.”
Troop bristled at his words.
“That’s enough talk, Deputy,” Zala snapped. “You can flatter yourself later.”
Mason fell silent. Zala’s gaze fell upon Chelsa. “You were starting to worry me, Chelsa. After not receiving any updates from you for a long time, I began to fear you might’ve gotten distracted from your task.”
Kristi tensed up beside Troop in anticipation for Chelsa’s answer. Troop gave her right hand a squeeze of reassurance. Would Chelsa betray them once more?
“No, I haven’t gotten distracted from my task,” Chelsa said.
Troop’s stomach dropped a hundred feet. Is she seriously double-crossing us again?
“Good,” Zala replied.
But Chelsa wasn’t done speaking yet. “I’ve decided I never want to have anything to do with you again.” The enmity in her tone was acidic enough to dissolve diamonds. “You knew what was going on with the Accidents, with all of this.” She gestured to the room around them. “And you don’t seem to find anything wrong with it. I wouldn’t be surprised if you stabbed me in the back the second I gave you what you wanted. You—”
“Watch your tongue, young lady.” Officer Zala’s lip curled up whether in contempt or disgust, Troop couldn’t tell. “I offered to bring your boyfriend back from the dead, which is an offer you clearly don’t deserve having. You accepted my bargain; I never forced you into it. I gave you protection when you traveled. I made sure bandits didn’t bother you. I made sure you had enough points to get by on. I’ve wasted much of my time ensuring an Accident was as safe as possible within my power.”
“You’re a murderer,” Chelsa spat.
“Ooh, them is fighting words,” Rosa whistled.
“Shut up,” Zala snarled.
Rosa and Mason both took a few steps back and lowered their heads in submission.
Zala bared her teeth in anger. “You’re treading on dangerous grounds, Chelsa. If I were you, I wouldn’t be so rude to my superior.”
“All those deaths just to make people feel secure about themselves,” Chelsa said. “You know what? The government’s brainwashing people into thinking they are the best, the greatest, the most flawless if they have perfected DNA. Well, guess what, they’re wrong. There’s nothing wrong with the non-Perfects. Do you want to know what’s the greatest weakness in all you so-called ‘Perfects’?” Chelsa didn’t wait for a reply and kept on rolling on, either oblivious or ignoring the guns being aimed at them. “You guys are afraid of being imperfect. But let’s face it: none of you are perfect. And yes, Zala, I mean you too. You’re. Not. Perfect.”
Silence.
Then Officer Zala slowly broke into an exaggerated applause. “Thank you for your speech,” she said, sarcasm dripping like honey. “Just what we needed; an Accident giving advice to a Perfect. Obviously you didn’t inherit much intelligence from your parents.”
“Don’t insult Chelsa,” Kristi said.
A hand slapped across her cheek. Kristi clasped her hands over her skin, smothering a gasp of pain.
“Don’t touch her!” Troop snapped.
“I don’t think you’re in the position to be making demands,” Mason said.
“You vile scumbag. I can’t believe we used—”
“Shut your mouth.” Mason dared Troop to go against his orders.
But Troop wasn’t stupid; he knew he was no match against armed guards.
Officer Zala directed a curt nod towards Rosa and said, “Round them up. Keep them in the underground cells. I want a full inte
rrogation done with each of the Accidents. I am sure they know some useful information about the Revealers.”
“Yes, Officer.” Rosa dipped her head in acknowledgement.
Zala started for the exit of the South Wing. Before she left, she turned to address the shocked scientists. Troop supposed it wasn’t every day a break-in happens at one of the most guarded labs in the country.
When Zala spoke, her words rang out with authority. “What you see today in this room stays in this room. Do I make that very clear? Good.”
“Finn,” Troop mumbled, “some help would be great.”
“Keep your hands raised above your head and do not move,” a male soldier commanded. “Any effort to resist arrest will not be taken lightly.”
They obeyed his instructions. Two of the guards lined them up in single file with soldiers on either side. Kristi let out a loud sneeze, surprising at least three of the guards around them. The guard to her right glared at Kristi while dealing another stinging slap.
“She didn’t do anything,” Troop said to the guard.
The guard held up a small dart near Troop’s face and breathed in his face, “Cause one more disturbance and you will find a tranquilizer in you or your girlfriend.”
“You guys alright?” asked Chelsa from the front of the line.
The guard gave Troop a look daring him to answer Chelsa, languidly tossing the tranquilizer from one hand to the other. Troop kept quiet.
They approached the entrance and began leave the South Wing when a loud rumble vibrated across the floor. Everyone stopped walking.
“Keep on moving,” Rosa ordered.
They resumed walking. Another rumble vibrated through the air, followed by a sharp bark. Then a howl sliced through the space and the sound of sharp nails clicking against the marble floor could be heard loud and clear.
“You don’t think it’s the devil-dogs, do you?” a nervous sounding scientist called out.
Deputy Rosa smiled a tight smile. “Of course not. The devil-dogs are kept in the lab’s basement in a triple locked cage in a triple locked room. There’s no way they can escape or—” Deputy Rosa never got to finish her sentence because a very large and very present devil-dog pounced onto her chest, knocking her onto the hard floor.
Troop cringed at the sound of Rosa’s spine snapping when she slammed into the ground. The devil-dog crouched over Rosa, its poisonous saliva dripping over her. Her flesh melted off her skull in random patches. Troop turned his eyes away from the gruesome sight.
A devil-dog let out another howl and was answered with an assortment of howls, barks and snarls. Judging by the sound, there were at least thirty other devil-dogs that were not in a triple locked cage in a triple locked room.
Understandably, the South Wing broke into chaos.
chapter forty-four
[ Kristi ]
“Will all unarmed persons take cover under a desk,” a soldier bellowed through his portable speakers.
A stream of devil-dogs flooded the room. The guards surrounding Kristi, Troop and Chelsa dropped onto their knees and began firing at the creatures. The bullets seemed to do little, other than to annoy the devil-dogs though. Kristi watched a bullet lodge itself firmly into the shoulder of a devil-dog, yet the devil-dog only gave a yip and nothing more.
“Let’s run for the emergency exit,” she said to Troop and Chelsa.
A devil-dog landed between the three of them, causing Kristi to jump sideways. The guard to her right immediately shot the devil-dog, which caused it to stumble for a second, giving her the chance to dodge out of the circle of soldiers guarding them.
“Meet you outside,” Chelsa said and dashed away amidst the commotion.
Kristi rapidly lost sight of Chelsa and Troop in the turmoil. It’s every woman for herself, she thought. Although the scientists were instructed to stay beneath their desks, several were attempting to escape the building through the emergency exits as well.
“The Accidents! Don’t let them escape!” someone hollered. “Vincent, the boy’s behind you!”
Kristi caught a glimpse of Troop sidestepping a guard trying to grab him; then he disappeared from her view once more. She threaded her way towards the exit, trying her best to avoid attention.
“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” asked the soldier who had slapped her for sneezing earlier. He moved in to block her way.
Kristi didn’t waste her breath with an answer and side-stepped to the left. He side-stepped along with her and lunged forwards. Luckily, Kristi accidently tripped over a briefcase and stumbled backwards, out of the man’s reach. She leapt to her right, recovering from his swipe for her.
“Grr.”
Both girl and guard froze at the growl. Kristi took a peek behind her and saw a devil-dog come flying towards them. The guard rolled to one side just in time; the devil-dog’s powerful jaws snapped around empty space where the guard’s head had just been a split second ago.
The devil-dog twisted around to face Kristi with its fangs bared and nose quivering with excitement. She danced backwards, the devil-dog snapping at her limbs. They continued this perverted version of a waltz: Kristi stepping just out of reach of the monster’s teeth with every step she took backwards.
The devil-dog grew bored with her and fixed its attention back onto the guard. During the few seconds the devil-dog was occupied with Kristi, the guard had managed to get back on his feet and grab his gun.
The devil-dog took a flying leap at the guard. The guard fired a quick shot at the creature’s chest and sprung aside. The wound only angered the devil-dog without causing any damage that would hinder its movement.
“You distract the devil-dog while I shoot him,” the guard yelled. “If we don’t work together, we’ll both get killed.”
Kristi knew what the guard said was true; the devil-dog was bound to kill one of them sooner or later, and once that happened, the devil-dog would go after the remaining person. As much as she loathed working with an ally of Zala, she replied, “Okay. But the bullets don’t seem to be effective against the devil-dogs.”
The devil-dog spun towards the sound of her voice and let loose a bark. It advanced towards Kristi and she evaded its venomous saliva by sprinting to the opposite side of the hall.
The guard answered her, “I’m sure the devil-dog won’t be able to survive a bullet to the heart.”
The devil-dog momentarily forgot about Kristi and settled its gaze back onto the guard.
“Hey, you fluff-of-fur!” Kristi yelled at the dog, successfully diverting the devil-dog’s focus back onto her.
The guard fired another round of bullets into the devil-dog’s hide. After about ten shots, Kristi noticed the movements of the devil-dog were getting just the tiniest bit slower. Sure, the creature was still fast enough to maul her if she wasn’t careful, but at least its reaction time was slowing down.
“Watch out!” the guard warned her just before he slammed the butt of his gun into the snout of the devil-dog.
Kristi jerked her hand back as saliva spewed from its muzzle; a few drops of drool splattered onto her arms, making the skin hiss when the acid burned through her shirt.
“What are you doing?” she screamed. “Are you trying to kill both of us?”
“No,” the guard answered in a strained voice. “I figured it’s time to try another method to kill the devil-dog since bullets obviously aren’t working—that and the fact that I ran out of bullets.”
The devil-dog swayed onto its feet. Surprisingly, being whacked by a rifle seemed to have the greatest effect on the devil-dog so far. The guard accidently stepped into a pool of devil-dog slobber and the rubber soles of his boots dissolved into putty.
“Crud,” he said.
The devil-dog twitched its ears towards the sound of the guard and pounced onto him. The guard was knocked backwards with enough force to break a brick wall. Fortunately or unfortunately, the guard slammed into a second devil-dog instead of the wall. If the other devil-dog hadn’t
been around to cushion the guard’s impact, he would’ve died for sure. On the other hand, he now had another problem to deal with, leaving Kristi to face the first devil-dog on her own.
Kristi slipped on the floor now slick with blood, letting out a yell before she landed hard on her butt. Both of the devil-dogs cast their gaze onto her. Then realization hit her: devil-dogs were attracted to noise. She spotted the guard crawling towards his gun and did her best to keep the attention of the two devil-dogs on her without actually getting herself killed because, well, being slayed by devil-dogs wasn’t very high on her to-do-list.
“Yeah, you’re just a little puppy,” Kristi taunted the devil-dogs.
Whether they understood the words or not, she couldn’t say, but they definitely comprehended the tone of her voice since both of them raised their hackles and began to circle Kristi.
She looked around for anything that could be used as a weapon. Except for a smoke alarm hanging by a few threads of wire on the wall, a heap of broken tiles, an overturned cart and some scattered paper reports, the hallway contained nothing helpful.
Kristi rolled off to one side just in time. The larger devil-dog sprang towards her.
“Fire!” she yelled. “Water!”
“Is that supposed to mean something?” the guard asked.
“Can you start a fire?”
She shoved some paper towards him to use as tinder. “The smoke alarm will activate the sprinklers if we can set it off,” she explained, dodging a swipe made by a devil-dog and throwing a broken tile towards the dog at the same time.
“And devil-dogs are afraid of water,” the guard finished her thoughts.
“Exactly.”
“Here—use this to keep the devil-dogs busy while I make a fire.” He threw his rifle to her and pulled out a small lighter from his pocket.
Kristi caught the rifle and used it to poke at the devil-dogs, keeping them at a safe distance away. She snatched up more tiles off the ground and aimed them between the eyes of the devil-dogs. She didn’t pay attention to her footing though, and backed into the upturned cart. The smaller devil-dog was upon her in an instant.