Exceptional

by Jess Petosa

  The Rogue stopped inches from the window and cocked his head, observing Luke in the same way that Luke was observing him. He grinned again and leaned forward.

  “Hi,” his voice came through speaker on either side of the window.

  “Hi,” Luke gave an almost breathless response.

  Aden came up beside Luke. “We believe that all three of the Rogues we brought in were in different stages of mutation. At first we thought he was one of the newest Rogues, but he has only gotten more intelligent with time, leading us to believe he is one of the first to be infected.”

  “We need to talk,” Luke looked at his father.

  Aden nodded. “Yes, I think we do.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Ally’s arms and legs felt as if they weighed a hundred pounds each. She tried to open her mouth and speak, but the darkness she was trapped in filled her lungs before she could utter a sound.

  “Ally…”

  A voice spoke in the distance, calling to her.

  “Ally…”

  It was closer this time, beckoning her to wake up. She struggled against the heavy veil over her, managing to raise her hand slightly.

  “Ally…”

  “I’m here,” she managed to whisper, forcing her words free.

  “Ally…”

  Something sharp pierced her skin and the darkness fled. She found herself bathed in a brilliant, white light, and she could finally open her eyes.

  “Ally,” Luke stood above her, his hands cupping her face. “Can you hear me?”

  She blinked several times, wondering if her mind was playing tricks on her. She had begun to believe that she would be suspended in the darkness for eternity, caught in a silent nightmare.

  “Yes,” she responded.

  Luke leaned forward and gently placed a kiss below each of her eyes. “I’ve come to take you home.”

  “Stosh?” she croaked. Her throat was having trouble working after a long period of silence. Either that or it was still raw from her screaming.

  “He is waking up now. We are going to bring him home as well,” Luke responded.

  “How long have I been here?”

  “You were brought in yesterday morning, and it is now late afternoon, so over a day.”

  Luke’s face was a shadow with the bright lights positioned directly behind his head, but Ally could almost see his features she knew them so well. His violet eyes, his sometimes crooked smile, and the hard lines of his jaw. She wanted to reach up and touch his face, but she didn’t trust her arm to work correctly just yet.

  “My mother. Aden—” She forced out.

  “I know,” Luke rubbed a thumb across her cheek, brushing away a tear she hadn’t realized she let escape. “Do you think you can sit up?”

  “I can try.” She lifted her head slowly, letting him wrap his arm around her back to give her support. Her head still felt foggy, and white dots danced in front of her eyes, but she was eventually able to achieve a sitting position. She dangled her legs over the edge of the table, waiting for the vertigo to pass. Luke stood directly next to her, his body pressed into the side of her leg. Her kept one hand on her back and the other on her knee, helping to keep her steady.

  “Ally?” She recognized Stosh’s voice immediately.

  She turned her head slowly, finding him sitting up on the bed next to her. Two female Exceptionals sat on either side of him, acting as his support. Ally fought the urge to jump off her bed and run to him, reminding herself that she was still weak. Stosh looked her over and then his eyes moved over to Luke, narrowing as he took in the Exceptional who was standing so close to his sister. Ally realized that Luke had his arm around her shoulder and his free hand on her leg. Of course Stosh would be upset to see that.

  “Stosh,” she said his name in response, shooting him a weary smile. “About time you got up.”

  “You always have to be first, don’t you?” he joked back.

  “I am older by six minutes,” she rebutted. “I started out in first place.”

  “Where are we? Where is mother?” He rubbed his temples with his fingers. “I can’t remember anything after entering that interrogation room.”

  Luke stiffened beside her, and Ally clutched the edge of the table, feeling dizzy again. She leaned into Luke’s chest for support, taking deep breaths. Of course Stosh wouldn’t remember what happened to their mother. He had been knocked out cold before Aden had pulled the trigger, and had been asleep since then.

  “Ally?” Stosh’s voice held an edge of panic. “What happened?”

  Somehow, she managed to compose herself. With Luke’s help she swiveled on the table and faced her brother, reaching her arm toward him. He did the same, grasping her hand with his own. Tears spilled down her cheek as she looked up to meet his gaze.

  “No… NO!” he yelled, dropping her hand. “Ally, tell me it isn’t true.”

  Ally shook her head. “I’m sorry, Stosh. I’m so sorry.”

  He leaned back onto the bed, covering his face with his arms. Ally stayed on her own bed, watching as her brother cried into the sleeve of his shirt. She didn’t hold him or run her hands through his hair, like her mother would have. She didn’t have the strength inside of herself to tell him everything was going to be okay, when she couldn’t even convince herself. She couldn’t even seem to feel enough emotion to cry along with him. She was numb.

  It was dark by the time they left the City Center and made the all too familiar trip to Luke’s home. It had taken Ally a good ten minutes to regain proper use of her legs. It took Stosh twenty minutes, and through the process he refused to let Ally or Luke help him. They watched from the edge of the room, seated on metal chairs. She and Stosh washed up and changed into fresh clothes before leaving: Ally in white and Stosh in gray. Several Exceptional Guards escorted them from the building, and Ally didn’t manage to catch a glimpse of Aden on their way out. There was so much she wanted to say to him—do to him— and she found herself bothered by Luke’s dismissive attitude about it. He didn’t seem overly upset and was even fairly passive about the whole situation.

  Stosh remained emotionless the whole walk to Luke’s house, but he couldn’t hide his curiosity when they stepped into the foyer. His eyes grew wide and his mouth hung slightly open as he looked around the large room. Ally wondered if she wore a similar expression when she had first arrived. She had barely known what any of the gadgets or objects in the room were until Sabine explained them to her.

  Right on cue, Sabine skipped into the room. “You’re home!”

  How many times had they had a reunion just like this one since Ally’s arrival? Especially in the last few days. Asher and Flint followed close behind.

  Ally grinned and said, “That line is getting old.”

  Sabine laughed and hugged her. “Then maybe you should stop leaving.”

  Ally wished that was a promise she could make, but she had no intentions of staying in the City much longer. She had made the decision on their walk home that evening. She couldn’t reside in the same City as Aden with out killing him. And killing him was not an option at this time. Some day she would have her revenge. For now, she needed to get her friends and family far as far away from him as she could.

  “Sabine. Asher. Flint. This is my brother, Stosh.” She motioned to Stosh, who stood still beside her. He was done observing the room now, and was instead observing the others.

  Sabine blushed as she held out her hand. “Hello.”

  Stosh took it tentatively. “Hi”.

  He shook Asher’s hand next, followed by Flint, and then crossed his arms over his chest. Stosh was usually outgoing around new people and loved to explore new places, so Ally felt concerned at the withdrawn front he was currently displaying. The five of them stood in awkward silence until Asher finally spoke. “Mazzi saved you some dinner. She said she could either serve you in the kitchen or in your rooms.”

  Luke took Ally’s hand in his. “Why don’t you show Stosh around the first floor
and get him some dinner. I need to talk to Ally in private.”

  “No way. I’m coming with you,” Stosh said as he grabbed Ally’s other arm. “No way I’m letting you go anywhere with him.”

  “Stosh,” Ally sighed. “I’ve been here with him for the past month. I can promise you that he isn’t going to hurt me. We just need to talk.”

  Stosh’s brows furrowed together. “Yeah, and last time I saw him he told me you were fine. But then I find you in the custody of the City leader, our mother is dead, and we spend a day in a half in medically induced comas!”

  Luke tensed beside her.

  Ally’s mouth hung open as she turned to face him. “What does he mean the last time he saw you.”

  Luke squeezed his eyes shut. “Ally—”

  “Tell me!” she shouted.

  “He came—” Stosh started but Ally held up her hand to silence him.

  “Luke is right, we need to speak in private. You should go with the others, Stosh,” she shot him an apologetic look.

  Sabine grabbed Stosh’s arm and pulled him backward, somehow convincing him to follow her and Asher into the kitchen.

  “Let’s talk upstairs,” Luke said.

  “Gladly.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stomped up the stairs, headed straight to Luke’s bedroom. He shut the door behind them and turned to face her.

  “You have to understand, Ally. I planned on telling you. It was just before the incident at the Institute, so you can see why it got pushed aside on my list of priorities.”

  Ally glared at him. “Why? Why did you go see my brother?”

  Luke sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hand. “You used to mumble his name in your sleep, your mother’s too. You always seemed so worried about them, and I could only imagine that they felt the same. I went to tell them that you were alive, and doing well despite the circumstance.”

  “You did?” Ally felt her mood soften. “Thank you.”

  Luke’s violet eyes widened in surprise. “I... well, I wasn’t expecting that.”

  Ally laughed. “I wasn’t either. But, really, thank you. I just think it would be better if you didn’t lie to protect me so much.”

  He stepped forward and pulled her into his arms. “Fair enough.”

  Ally didn’t have the heart to tell him that she was feeling so forgiving because of the plans she had. If she wanted any chance of convincing him to leave with her, she would need to play nice.

  LUKE FILLED HER IN on his arrival at Aden’s office and how he learned of her mother’s death. She was pleased to learn that he had thrown Aden at a window out of anger. He then went into how Aden led him to the secret laboratory within the building and he described to Ally what he saw within those walls, ending with the intelligent Rogue he met last.

  “Just when we thought Exceptionals couldn’t get any more superior,” Ally laughed.

  “They aren’t superior, they are animals,” Luke’s voice held a defensive tone.

  “I thought you said the last one was, is, intelligent?” she asked.

  “He is, but he is still a Rogue,” he answered.

  “This is connected to the ORC, isn’t it?” They were seated on the couch in Luke’s room, their backs pressed against opposite sides so that they could face each other.

  “Yes. After we left the laboratory, I sat down and talked with my father about what he had shown me. Apparently, fifteen years ago, before the ORC was first established, a group of scientists was doing research about the dropping population. The scientists were worried that in just a short time, we would no longer be sustainable. Several years later, the same scientists also discovered the potential for our genes to mutate further, but they couldn’t say what our bodies would do with the change. With those two things in mind, Aden created the ORC.”

  Ally hated the way Luke was speaking about his father right now, and about the ORC. He almost sounded as though he supported it, and as though he agreed with everything Aden had done.

  Luke continued, “When the Rogues’ existence was first discovered, several were captured to run tests. Not only were their genes mutating at an accelerated rate, but also other functions of their bodies were beginning to shut down. Functions that normal Exceptionals already have weakened versions of compared to Ordinarys.”

  Ally had never heard anyone mention any part of an Exceptional that was weaker than an Ordinary. She didn’t think it was a mere coincidence that the information never got out. Exceptionals would never allow themselves to be viewed as less than others.

  “What parts?” Ally asked.

  “Exceptionals have trouble conceiving children” he gazed down at his hands while he spoke. “Some are completely sterile, while others can only manage to produce one or two children. The first Exceptionals were able to reproduce with out any issue, but with each generation it gets more difficult. Our bodies are superior, but so much that they are not favorable for bearing children, even Exceptional ones.”

  Ally let his words play over in her head twice more before speaking. “But the City has always seemed so full.”

  Luke looked up. “It is a miracle that we have sustained as long as we did. The world had almost reached extinction level when the virus was first released, and there is only one reason we were able to rebuild a sustainable population.”

  “Ordinarys,” Ally answered for him. “With out us, you never would have survived this long.”

  “With out them.” Luke looked up. “You’re one of us now.”

  “I’ve been an Ordinary my whole life, Luke.”

  He reached up and grabbed something off the bookcase beside the couch. When he handed it to her she realized she was holding a small, hand mirror.

  “Take a look,” he said.

  She held the mirror up slowly, staring at the reflection of her own face. She fought the urge to gasp, not wanting to look overly surprised at what she saw. Her eyes were almost completely violet, with just a few dots of green shining through. The lines of her face were sharper, and more defined, and even her skin had a shimmery quality to it. No wonder Stosh had trouble looking at her.

  “Enough distractions.” She threw the mirror to the ground. “So Aden thinks the ORC will not only continue to keep the population up, but also help with this Rogue issue?”

  “Essentially,” Luke continued. “He knew two things when he started the ORC. One, Ordinary women could bear children very easily, and at least twice as many as Exceptionals. And two, all children that had at least one Exceptional parent would be Exceptional as well.

  “Except for my brother,” Ally added.

  Luke nodded. “That would be a first.”

  “And the Rogue situation?”

  “The ORC has become a way not only to raise a sustainable population, but also to raise our numbers in case of a war. Species will always try to survive and once the Rogues run out of resources in the eastern City, they’ll begin to move west.”

  “That’s terrifying,” Ally said. She tried to imagine Rogues infiltrating her own settlement, biting and scratching Ordinarys. She tried to imagine herself, Stosh, and the others, changing into the horrible monsters Luke had described to her. “Aden is building himself a mini army.”

  “He has tried to keep our numbers above theirs, especially with the Exceptionals.”

  “Wouldn’t it take several generations to build up the population?” Ally didn’t know much about science and numbers, but it didn’t seem like ten years would have a large effect on the current population, considering the small amount of volunteers they were bringing in.”

  “That was the plan,” Luke responded. “But then the Rogues came along.”

  “Why force the Ordinarys into the breeding program? Why not explain the situation?”

  Luke cocked his head. “Do you think they would have believed him, especially with the image they have of him outside the City? He didn’t want to create mass panic in the settlements, and he certainly didn’t want anyone to travel east to see if the
Rogues were really there. Could you imagine if an Ordinary somehow escaped their grasp and led a group of them back here?”

  “It would be awful,” she responded. “And are you really attempting to justify the ORC?”

  “I’m not.” Luke reached out and took her hand. “I’m trying to show you a different point of view. Everything being done right now, is being done to ensure the safety of the City. We need numbers, and now we have them.”

  “Yes, of children. And what about all of these children, does Aden plan to make them fight for the City?”

  “Aden doesn’t expect the Rogues to make a move toward our City any time soon, he just knows that they will. It could be in five years, ten years, or even twenty years. By then, we’ll be ready for them.”

  “How are we prepared? No one knows about this.”

  “Everyone will know, and soon. I’m making sure of that,” Luke said, leaning forward. “Aden has been training twice the normal amount of Guards for the City.”

  “What about all of the Ordinarys in the settlements? How will they prepare?” she asked.

  “Aden has a plan for that as well,” he said. “He is having a shelter built north of the City. It is a day’s journey away, and far enough that he believes everyone will be safe.”

  “Why are you putting so much faith in him now?” Ally leaned toward him as well, their bodies only a foot apart now. “What if he is making this all up? You have never trusted him before.”

  “I saw the Rogues with my own eyes, Ally. You didn’t. And because if I ignore him, and he happens to be right… I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”

  “These Rogues, do they have powers like yours? Are they as strong?” Questions flew through her mind as she tried to process all of the new information she was receiving.

  “Yes, they have retained their abilities from when they were Exceptionals. Their powers are not as controlled though. Through the animalistic stage, they lost the inner sense of what they could do. It was as though they had to start over, and retrain themselves to use their abilities. They are physically stronger as well. Aden said it is as though twice the adrenaline courses through their bodies. They can jump higher, lift heavier objects, and run faster.”