by H. J. Lawson
“Yeah,” he says, then leans in and kisses me on my forehead and puts his hand on top of Lakia’s head, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention at the memory of the dream just a few hours earlier where he was dragging her body—and I killed her.
I look away from him as he leaves the room.
“Lakia, we have to pass. If we don’t we are dead,” I say.
“You’re not very good at motivational speeches, are you?” Lakia says as she looks at me.
“Nope,” I reply with a little laugh. “Truth sucks, doesn’t it?” I add.
“Did you find out anything from the doctor?” she asks.
“Nope,” I lie. “The only way out of here is to be in the top twenty, and to do that we have to train,” I explain.
Lakia lets out a sigh. “Don’t tell me, we need to train more?”
Chapter Eighteen
Aaron is placed in a different group than me, which I’m gutted about.
We head over toward the stake section—looks like we will follow the same route as yesterday.
Theo goes over the drills, and we copy him.
A group runs around the edge of the hangar, just as they did yesterday … but today they seem a lot faster. Some of them are looking back and forth between one another, as if they have also noticed a difference.
They are not the only ones; I hear a cheer coming from the weights section. Someone is lifting all the weights above his head, smiling as he does it, as if it is light, not in fact the weight of a man.
The kids at the grabbing mat are moving quicker, running at one another then knocking the loser to the ground. Our DNA has kicked in; whatever they gave us yesterday has started to work.
I nudge Lakia. “I know,” she says. She, along with the rest of our group, is watching everyone else. Their strength is overwhelming.
My body is slammed onto the mat; it feels like a truck just hit me. I can see Aaron starting to run in my direction, but I shake my head. He stops, and waits; his hands are rolled up into fists, knuckles shiny white.
I turn away from him and toward the person who knocked me to the ground: it's Theo. He is standing over me, looking down at me.
“Standing around will get you killed,” he states.
“Knocking me down will get you killed,” I reply. Time to find out what’s so special about me. Pushing down on the mat with my hands and feet, I let my legs fly up into the air, catching Theo under the chin.
Theo’s body flies up into the air from the kick before I can even get into a handstand position. My legs flip over my head, then back to the ground.
I spin around to see Theo before his body can land on the ground, as if time has gone in slow motion for him and sped up for me.
There is a thud as his body lands on the mat; grains of dirt drift up and back down.
I glance around the room; everyone has stopped what they are doing and all the attention is on me.
Damn … damn, what did I just do? I hit an instructor. I quickly look for another instructor to see if there is any reaction on their faces. Any repercussions for my actions … but they don’t move, they just stare like the other kids in the room.
Theo was trying to help me, and I thank him by knocking him to the ground. “Theo?” I say as I walk toward him.
“No longer a secret weapon,” he says ruefully as he rubs his chin.
“Did you do that on purpose?” I snarl at him.
Theo flips up from his prone position and leans forward so our foreheads are nearly touching. “So what if I did? We have to get that DNA to start working somehow … and it looks like it worked,” Theo says, leaning away from me.
“Next time, just ask,” I reply.
Theo nods, and smiles as he walks back to his location on the training mat.
Everyone else in the hangar gets back to training, except Aaron, who stands motionless in the middle of the chaos with his eyes firmly fixed on Theo. His teeth are gritted tightly together as if he wants to attack.
Aaron’s head whips around; it looks as though it should snap off. His eyes resemble hollow pits, as if the warmth has been replaced with something else.
He pushes his eyelids down tightly, then opens them, letting some warmth back in.
“I’m okay,” I mouth to him, then tilt my head to let him know I’m going back to training.
He does the same, but as I turn away from him I can feel his eyes watching me.
Before all this, I liked him watching me from afar. I caught him doing it a couple of times in classes. But this is different …
Chapter Nineteen
The training classes are the same as yesterday, except today we are all stronger and we know it.
I was at the front of the pack when we were running, and I wasn’t even going as fast as I could. I know I can go faster, but every time I tried to Theo would shoot me a look, like I wasn’t allowed to, even though only the lesson before he pushed me to go harder. I just can’t win.
I lifted heavier weights than any of the other girls; Theo stopped me before I got to the boys’ weights.
Kai was the strongest of the males, but I felt like I could lift the same as him, if not more.
I had missed target practice yesterday, but you would have never known. I hit every target, even the moving ones—it felt like my body took over, knowing exactly where to aim. Tomorrow, I’m going to try firing with my eyes closed.
An alarm rings out; another day of training is complete and I had hardly broken a sweat. I had enough energy to do it all again.
“Clean up, then dinner in an hour,” Theo says.
“Can you see that?” I say to Lakia, pointing at my paper target, which is still floating in the dry breeze. “Not bad for someone who’s never fired a gun.”
“Good job,” Kai says as he glances at the paper.
“Thanks.” I can feel my cheeks glowing; maybe I can do this.
“Yeah, yeah,” Lakia says, rolling her eyes.
“What?” I furrow my eyebrows in confusion.
“Not everyone’s DNA is as good as yours, all right?” Lakia says.
Lakia’s target remains intact: none of her shots hit the target.
“Tomorrow you’ll get it.” I shrug, smiling at my target.
“Whatever,” she says as she walks past me, toward the door.
“See you for dinner?”
“Yeah,” she replies, not looking back at me. “Whatever,” she mutters under her breath.
Lakia was never very good at letting others be better than her, which is normally okay for me because she doesn’t take part in the sports which I do. She likes to be the social favorite and I was fine being in her shadow. But this new strength is kind of fun. I wonder how strong I will be tomorrow, or is this it, I think, shrugging my shoulders.
I glance around the hangar for Aaron; he’s standing talking to Ryder.
Theo comes up next to me. “Nice show today,” Theo says in a smug way, with his arms crossed across his body.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, not sure if that was a compliment or not.
“You don’t get it, do you?” he says, frowning.
I shake my head.
“I need to push you to see what results I get. To see if what we thought was correct. And it is—your body has started to speed up your abilities thanks to the injections,” he says.
“So why do I feel like you are telling me off?” I ask him, frustrated.
“Because you weren’t meant to continue this behavior for the rest of the day. The people who are watching you want to know how strong you are, but the other kids don’t—you have put a giant target on your back. You are the person stopping them from being in the top twenty. Trust me when I say they will do anything to get to that point when trials starts. These kids are being trained to be killers.” Theo waves his finger at me. I am not sure if it's for the cameras or for me, but either way it works.
I rub the back of my head; I feel like a jerk.
If Lakia was able to get in a mood with me that quickly, no doubt those who don’t know me already hate me.
“Make sure your boyfriend stays on his treatment; he’s already got the killer instinct in him.” Theo tilts his head down.
Theo gets close to me and the air between us heats up. “Remember, we are on the same side,” he says as he turns away from me. I can see Aaron heading straight toward me.
“She’s all yours,” I hear Theo mutter. Aaron doesn’t even look at Theo as their paths cross. He only has eyes for me.
“What was he saying to you?” Aaron says as he stands by my side, scowling at Theo.
“That I’ve put a target on my head for being too good,” I say despondently.
“He has a point.”
“Don’t you start! I’m not in the mood for someone else to be annoyed with me,” I admit.
“Bet Lakia’s not that impressed with you kicking her butt at everything.” Aaron smiles and places his arm around me, pulling me in for a kiss. His lips are warm, washing away any negative thoughts in my mind. All I can think of is him.
Grace looks over to me as we walk into the dining room and her eyes dart to Lakia, then she quickly bobs her head back down. No doubt Lakia is complaining to Grace about me.
“Sadie’s here,” I hear Grace whisper to Lakia.
Lakia looks at me; I quickly turn away.
“Can’t we eat in our room?” I say to Aaron as I pile the evening meal onto my plate. I’m glad they haven’t scrimped on food like they have with everything else. The food here is like something you would get at a good restaurant but in unlimited supply, not the normal school dinner crap.
“Come on, I thought you were tougher than that,” Aaron teases as he sneaks a potato into his mouth.
“Fine,” I surrender, gone from warrior to wimp in a few minutes. I really don’t want a confrontation with Lakia.
I have a weird paranoid feeling that people are watching me, and by that I don’t just mean the cameras around the room. I glance over my shoulder to the realization that my thoughts were correct and I’m not paranoid. Some of the kids in the room are staring at me, others whispering in their friends’ ears, hoping I won’t see them.
Homing in on their whispers, I can hear my name being used, and not in a pleasant way by many people. Some are saying I got a double dose of the DNA crap, others that I’m really a vampire.
A laugh escapes my lips, making Aaron frown in confusion. “Did I miss the joke?”
“Just listening in; some people think I’m a vampire.” I smile.
Aaron’s eyebrows curve downward. “And that’s funny?”
My shoulders slump down. “Funnier than the other frigging crap they are saying about me,” I snap.
“Forget other people,” he says, putting his arm around my waist, his tray balanced in one hand. “Sometimes it is better not to listen in,” he adds as he leads me toward our table.
Here goes nothing. Grace scoots out of my normal seat, leaving me a spot between her and Lakia. I leave the space open and sit beside Aaron.
“Nice show today,” Ryder says, leaning back in his chair. “Looks like you got everyone’s attention.”
“That wasn’t my goal.” I grip my knife firmly, cutting into my chicken, and stuff a piece of meat into my mouth. If my mouth is full I cannot give him a sarcastic retort like I want to.
Lakia snorts. “Could have fooled me. Ryder, I’m done,” she says, pushing her tray forward, and leaves.
I hear Lakia and Ryder whispering as they leave. “Clearly she was showing off. She’s always been a show-off,” Lakia says.
“I told you that, but you never believed me,” Ryder says. I can feel my eyes burning as I try to stop the tears from coming.
Aaron reaches for my hand. “Don’t listen to them,” he warns.
“You should hear what they are saying,” I say tearfully. Am I really a show-off?
“She’s just angry. Everyone’s tightly strung with the trials, oh, and the vampires. It will all be settled tomorrow,” Aaron says, trying to reassure me.
Chapter Twenty
The day’s blur into one another: training, food, more training, hanging out in the dining hall, wandering the clinical hallways, sleep. And Aaron wasn’t correct in thinking my and Lakia’s argument would be settled by the next day¬—we still haven’t spoken. She’s taken to hiding in Ryder’s room, which is fine with me. At least I don’t have to see his face any more than needed. But I do miss Lakia. How could she say I was a show-off? She’s always been the show-off.
We’ve woken up five times, but I’m not sure if that was five days ago because the days seem to be getting short. Well not the days, the nights. It's as if we fall asleep and the alarm immediately sounds to wake us up.
Aaron and I have been practicing every morning and evening. Others have started to do the same as us, practicing every free moment they have. Sometimes Lakia and Ryder come down, but they practice at other stations.
Grace comes down near the end of our early morning practices, as if she’s already convinced herself that she’s going to fail, and by the time I get her to really try out her strengths it’s time for breakfast.
Other people coming down has created a problem for me: I cannot fully try out my enhancements, not with others around—my strength is my greatest weakness.
Aaron stays in my bed every night; I’ve lost him once before and don’t plan on losing him again. With his arms wrapped firmly around me, it's like he has the power to block out the nightmares.
Today is our fifth wake-up. “Good morning,” he says as he kisses me on the lips. “I wonder what today has in store for us.” Aaron smiles, knowing full well what will happen.
“Training and more training. I just wish we could go outside.” I miss fresh air more than I ever thought I would.
“The trial has to be any day now; our enhancements have been at the same level for the last few days. I think we have learnt everything we can,” Aaron says. I nod in agreement, then rest my head back on his naked, warm chest.
His heartbeat sends me to sleep at night, ever since the enhancements started to work—I began to realize at that point what makes me different to the others. I’m faster, stronger, but I also have a heightened sense of smell and heightened hearing ability. Words only have to be as quiet as the wind, and I can hear them.
That is one of Aaron’s favorite enhancements. When we are done for the night, we get under the bedsheets, and he whispers as quietly as he can to me.
“Do you think Lakia will be ready?” I ask Aaron.
“I thought you two weren’t friends.”
“I still care about her.”
“Don’t you think it’s time to make up? I think we have enough enemies after us.”
“Who else is after me?” I’ve heard the normal whispers in the lunch room.
“You know. Vampires.”
“Oh. Yeah, them. I wonder if we will ever get out of here to fight them.” Aaron’s arms wrap tightly around me.
“I hope we don’t have to fight anymore. But if we do, God help them, they don’t know what they are up against with you.” Aaron smiles. “Come on, let’s get to the hangar and get more training in while we can,” he says as he quickly gets up and pulls his clothes on. Every morning he goes and has his treatment.
“Yeah.” He leans in and kisses me goodbye, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
If we pass, we go out on internship. How are we going to find my parents if Aaron has to be able to get his treatment each day? Surely if we are away from Sector 105, they will give him enough to keep him supplied during the internship. Yeah, that would make sense.
I need to find out from Theo if we can trust Blake, and who else outside of Sector 105 we can trust.
Today I will have to do something to have one-on-one time with Theo or Morgan.
Morgan hasn’t been to the dining room for the last few days; she was only there for a couple of days at the beginning.
“What do you mean it's locked?” I can hear Aaron’s voice up front at the hangar door.
“Excuse me,” I say as I make my way through the crowd of people here for the pre-morning training session.
"The door’s locked," Aaron says as I get to him. Lakia and Ryder are right behind me.
"So I could have stayed in bed," Ryder grumbles.
I shoot him a sharp look, shaking my head. “Oh," Ryder replies, like the penny has finally dropped—trial day is here. The others at the door fall silent.
Taking hold of Aaron's hand, I lead him away from the group. Ryder and Lakia silently lead the way to the dining room. Lakia looks over her shoulder at me with a hollow, scared look, and it’s like I’m looking into a mirror of my own emotions. She stretches her hand out to mine, and I take it. Lakia squeezes it like she did on the train, when she was there for me when Aaron wasn’t.
Aaron lets go of my other hand and walks alongside Ryder, giving me a nod as he goes.
“I’m sorry,” Lakia says.
“So am I.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s this place,” she says, looking at the group of kids approaching the dining room. “I just can’t take it here. I need to get out of here.”
I squeeze Lakia’s hand. “Me too. We have to stick together.”
We enter the dining area; the red digital clock has already started counting down: we have ninety minutes before the trial starts.
Breakfast is already set out for us; normally it doesn’t appear until the breakfast alarm has sounded. They must have known we would come here early with the hangar being closed.
I take a tray of food like my friends and head to our table. Kai is already there. In the morning he's normally one of the first in the dining area and the last to leave.
Kai and Aaron get on well, which makes Ryder like him even less.
"Looks like it’s time for the trial," Aaron says as he takes a seat next to Kai.
"Sure does," Kai says, pulling his toast into pieces, dropping a few in his mouth.