The Institute

by Kayla Howarth

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  There’s a knock at the door again. The clock on my bedside table reads 8:45 am. At least I know what time it is up here. In The Crypt, I had no clue. Sighing, I make my way over to the door.

  I’m greeted by another guard. I guess he’s here to escort me to my first day of training. “You’ve got five minutes to get dressed and ready,” he says.

  A normal girl would get flustered and annoyed at a five-minute deadline to get ready, but I’m not like that. I change my clothes so I’m wearing jeans and a fitted T-shirt. I tie my hair back quickly in a loose bun, brush my teeth, and am ready to leave with a minute to spare. I guess I can add that to the list of things I am—a tomboy. Living in a house with two guys does that to a girl. Excellent, I’ll add that to the list of what I really know about myself; I’m a family-oriented tomboy.

  I’m led down a new hall and into a different elevator than the one that takes me to The Crypt. The guard presses level T, and when the doors open, I’m right where I’m supposed to be. Now that I’m here, it feels like I’m back at school again, I’m the new girl. Another thing to add to the list, I’m not someone who likes attention. Dozens of faces stare at me as we walk through the lobby. I want to run and hide. I want this to be over with.

  “You must be our newest recruit,” I hear a voice say. As I look to my left to see where it was coming from, a friendly looking middle-aged woman with a blonde bob walks towards me. “Hi, I’m Lynch. I’ll be working with you today.” She extends her arm, and we shake hands. “Please, come with me.”

  It feels like I’m being led to slaughter. At least when they were beating me, I knew where I stood. Right now, I feel like I’m walking into a trap, they’re being friendly, a little too friendly. That makes me suspicious. I’m taken down a small corridor and into a small room containing a desk with a computer to my left and a couch on the right.

  Lynch is silent as she takes a seat at the desk. Gesturing for me to sit on the couch, I oblige. She just sits there staring at me as if she’s expecting me to start talking. I have no idea what she wants me to say, so we just sit quietly with nothing but a trickling noise which I can’t pinpoint where it’s coming from. Looking around the room, I spot a small water feature on the bookshelf behind Lynch. She’s still at her desk just staring at me. I don’t know what she expects of me, and I have no idea where to start.

  “So, Allira,” she finally says. “How about you tell me a little about yourself. Where were you living before you came here?”

  “Isn’t that all in my file?” I ask. Why is she asking me something that has no relevance to the present?

  “It is, but I want to hear it from you.”

  This is probably one of those psychological tests, I realise. “I don’t see how this is relevant to my training.”

  She scribbles something in the notebook in front of her without even looking down and smiles at me.

  “Oh, you’ll join a training class this afternoon. Right now, I need to assess you so we can put you in the right classes.” So it really is like I’m back at school, being told what class to go to and when. There are a lot of similarities between school and the Institute. “So how about you tell me about the days since you’ve been here. They tell me that you came from The Crypt.”

  “Well, there’s not really much I can say about it, is there?”

  She scribbles something else down. “Well, what did you want to talk about? What about your ability, can you tell me about that?” There’s a hint of frustration starting to show in her voice.

  I shrug. “I don’t really have an ability that’s of benefit to me, I can only help others.”

  A surprised look crosses her face, and I struggle to see what’s so interesting.

  “How can you help others?” she asks.

  “Well, I can amplify abilities, but I’m pretty sure that would be in my file, too. I just don’t understand why you’re asking me questions about things you already know.”

  “Would you actually finish an answer to a question if I didn’t know the answer?”

  “That depends on what the question is.”

  They’re trying to figure out how my brain works, and it feels like they’re invading my personal space. I start to wonder if she’s Defective. What could her ability be? Could I somehow trigger it in me? With Ty and Shilah, it was triggered when we touched, but with Tate, it just happened. I wonder how I could do that again.

  “How about this one then, you don’t seem to think that your ability is a burden like a lot of others here, actually like a lot of others everywhere. You say that your ability isn’t beneficial to you, that you can only help others.” She looks at me for a response.

  “Sorry, was there a question in that statement somewhere?”

  “I just find ‘beneficial’ and ‘help’ fascinating words to put in a sentence which refers to Defective abilities.”

  Now I don’t think she’s Defective after all. That’s a very prejudicial way for her to put it, which I guess is the kind of prejudice I expected from everyone who works at the Institute. That is, until I got here and found out half of the people working here are Defective.

  “Can you explain why you feel this way? Has it got to do with your brother?”

  “I don’t want to talk about him,” I snap.

  “I’ve actually met your brother, he’s a sweet kid. He came to me for placement.” She looks at her computer screen. “Although it says here, that he has been taken out of his classes today, do you know why that is?”

  “Because I asked for it to happen,” I say.

  She smiles, probably because I finally answered one of her stupid questions. “Have you seen your brother since you’ve been above ground?”

  Above ground, now I’m the one to be fascinated by her choice of words. “Yes, I have,” I reply.

  “You sound upset by that.”

  She’s right, I know I do. “Well, I offered to do this so he didn’t have to.”

  “Have to … interesting.”

  “Oh my God, what now?”

  “Well, a lot of you who come in here—voluntarily becoming an agent—don’t feel like this is a bad thing. You don’t think you’ll be contributing to a worthy cause? Helping to save the lives of normal people out there in the real world?”

  My head spins. “Nothing makes me angrier than when people label themselves and others as ‘normal’ just because they have one less chromosome than someone else. And no, I don’t think this is a worthy cause. Yes, there are dangerous Defective people out there, half of our country’s land is unliveable wasteland which proves that, and yes, there needs to be a place for them to go, but I don’t understand why my brother and I couldn’t continue to live out there. Our abilities are not dangerous, I didn’t even know I had one, and I’m sure there are others in the same situation. Now we’re sent to live here for the rest of our lives because of a defect in our bodies which affects absolutely no one but us. You call us broken, we’re not. I took this opportunity and saved my brother from the same fate because you treat this job like it’s an honour, a privilege, you give us the gift of freedom and in return, all we have to do is bring in more people who are just like us. More people who want to go about their lives and ignore the fact they can do something that most people can’t. That’s why I volunteered to do this, so my brother wouldn’t have to live with the guilt.” Something tells me I’m going to regret having made this speech, but a part of me is smiling. Maybe I should add that to the list of things of who I am: Defective advocate.

  “And how do you think you’ll go doing this job? Will you be able to handle the guilt?” she asks.

  “I’ll just have to,” I say.

  She looks down at her scribbling and nods. She picks up the phone on her desk and says in a very casual voice, “Hi there, I’m ready to give my evaluation.” She puts the phone down and looks back up at me. “Mr. Brookfield will be on his way down in a minute to see you.”

  Oh great, he’s going
to take it all back. He’s going to send me back to my cell downstairs. I try to tell myself that it’ll be fine, I can live there.

  “Don’t worry, I think you’ll fit in well with us here,” she says reassuringly. The worry must’ve been showing on my face.

  “So I’ll continue with training? I thought that—”

  “That you wouldn’t qualify because you felt like you needed to defend yourself against discriminatory remarks? On the contrary, Allira, you’re strong, even if you don’t think you are. You’re good at hiding who you are, and your automatic defence is to ask questions of those around you. Your need to protect your brother was your first priority, so I believe you’ll do this job to the best of your ability because it’ll be helping your brother stay out of the action and any dangerous situations.”

  “Yeah, that would be good, if he would just shut up and let me,” I mutter under my breath.

  “Oh, Shilah isn’t okay with it?”

  Wow, does she have super human hearing or something? I know this question should be sarcastic and rhetorical, but being here, that’s actually a serious question.

  Before I can answer, there’s a knock at the door.

  “That was quick,” Lynch says as she gets up from her desk and lets in Mr. Brookfield who looks as creepy as ever.

  “Hello again, Miss Daniels,” he says. He turns to Lynch before I can even respond. “So how did we go this morning?”

  “She did quite well actually. I think she’s ready for some advanced training, but the biggest issue will be physical training. She’s going to have to work hard if she’s going to be in the field. Her ability won’t protect her like other abilities can. I’m recommending she do five lessons a day, two of the physical and three intellectual,” Lynch informs him.

  I just love being talked about as if I’m not even in the room.

  “That sounds reasonable,” replies Mr. Brookfield. He walks over to the desk and sits on the end of it, right in front of me. “But unfortunately, Miss Daniels, we have a problem with your brother.”

  “Shilah? What happened? Is he okay?” I ask, panicked.

  “Oh yes, yes, nothing bad has happened to him, but he did turn up for his training today. He refused to leave as per our agreement and caused a bit of a scene. It’s not a big deal, but I wanted to give you the opportunity to perhaps alter our arrangement.”

  “No, I don’t want him doing this.”

  “Well, my dear, it’s not exactly your place to tell him what to do. He’s legally old enough to make his own decisions under Institute law. He’s over twelve, he’s classed as an adult here. But maybe we don’t have to put him in the field, and to be honest, he has a long way to go before he’d even be ready. If you’re willing to negotiate, I can ensure the safety of your brother.”

  “Safety, how?”

  “Well, if and when he passes his tests and qualifies to become a field agent, I can authorise to put him on your team, but as I said, he’s a long way off even sitting the tests. He needs to learn to control and strengthen his ability, right now it’s quite weak. When the time comes, you’ll get to live outside these walls, together, where you yourself will be able to keep an eye on him. I know it’s not what you wanted, but perhaps it’ll work for all parties involved.”

  I think for a moment. It sounds like a win-win, but I’m wary of trusting Mr. Brookfield. I mean, after all, isn’t he the one telling the public that our abilities need to be taken away from us? That they need to find a cure? And yet here he is, wanting us to harness our abilities, control them, and make them stronger so we can use it against others who are just like us.

  I should be strong and stick to my guns, but I know this will make Shilah happy, and if the time comes for us to be in the field, I can be with him. It’s a way of giving him his way, but without giving it to him.

  “Okay, I think that will be all right,” I agree. As Mr. Brookfield said, Shilah’s a long way off being ready to work in the field.

  “Great, it is the best decision for everyone. So thanks for coming in today. I believe you get a lunch break now and meet back here after that, around one pm.” He turns to Lynch. “Is that correct?”

  “Yes, sir, it is. I’ll meet you back in the lobby after lunch, Allira. I’ll give you your schedule and show you to your class. It’ll just be an orientation class today.”

  “Thank you.” I get up off the couch and leave the room, but as I go to shut the door behind me, I realise something. I’ve just negotiated myself out of any kind of deal I once struck with him. I secured Shilah’s future, I secured his safety by agreeing to let them use me, but now he’s going to be trained anyway. So essentially, I’m working for them and don’t have the benefit I asked for by doing so.

  I turn, ready to give them a piece of my mind, demand more things of them. Perhaps I can get Tate transferred out of their cells or something. I’m about to push the door back open, it’s only ajar at the moment, but then I hear their voices coming from inside.

  “She might have issues when it comes to actually arresting someone,” Lynch says. “She’s been in The Crypt, you know what it’s like down there. Ones who come from there are generally harder to convince. They’ve seen what we do here.”

  “Well, it’s nothing that these freaks don’t deserve.” Mr. Brookfield replies.

  Freaks. That’s what we are to these people.

  “I believe Miss Daniels will do anything to save her brother. He’ll be useful to us if he can get his ability under control; however, he’s most useful to us as a bargaining chip for her. Her ability is the asset here—it’ll mean we can work faster and bring in more people in a timely manner. Agent Jacobs was investigating that Jax boy for months. I think she’ll do fine, she’ll have to. Arrange her schedule so she has influence class each day until she doesn’t know what to believe anymore, and then it might be a smoother transition for her.”

  “Already have that on her schedule, sir.”

  “Great minds think alike.”

  Can this guy get any sleazier? You can hear in his voice exactly what he’s thinking, and by the sound of those moans that have started, I think I know exactly how sleazy he can be. Eww, eww, eww. I need to get out of here. I get out as fast as I can and head back for the lobby, for a way out.

  I feel even more used than I did before. They don’t have any respect for us. They don’t care what happens to us. Are there even any field agents who aren’t Defective? Or is it because it’s the most dangerous job they’re all Defective because we’re expendable?

  I make a note to myself that Lynch is another person I can’t trust here or look in the eye again. How can she do that with him? Eww, eww, eww.