by Sarah Dalton
“Anna’s theories were printed by many leading journals, and so she was headhunted by the GEM to work on a special project. They’d lost a member of their team and needed a replacement. The ‘Gestalt project’ it was called.”
“Elena stole Mum’s notebook. Do you think it has her notes on the project? She said it told me everything I needed to know.”
“You can read that… after,” Dad said with a weak smile.
More tears escaped my eyes. After. The word resonated with unspoken meaning.
“We moved to London. It was a strange and frightening place, much like it is now. The Resistance were beginning to form out of the many protests. There were a lot of bombings. Buildings were torn down only to be built higher. I hated it there. I hate it here now. I want to leave now as much as I did then. I suppose I will be leaving soon.”
“Dad––”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “That’s unfair of me. Stay strong, Mina. Listen to the story – you need to know this.
“I didn’t leave because I loved your mother very much, and she loved the project she worked on. It was top secret, and she wouldn’t tell me anything about it, which drove a wedge between us. We lived together inside the GEM building. They had these small apartments for staff members. You never needed to leave. Never. I was terribly bored, Mina. Going out of my mind with it. The GEM didn’t want my skills, and I didn’t want to work for them. I saw what they were doing with their pretty labels: dehumanising people, reducing them to little more than one word – Blemished. The clothing and the symbols came later. Back then we just had the word and the threat of sterilisation for Blemished women.
“We argued over it. Your mother wouldn’t leave the GEM. I don’t know what it is about that place, it’s as though they put their employees into a hypnotic trance that stops them from ever noticing the outside world. She never saw beyond her work.”
I remembered how I’d marvelled at their facilities. “Freedom. They have all the freedom they need in that place. There’s no control – nothing to stop them.”
“True,” he said. “I always loved science. I loved the curiosity and the willingness to push advance knowledge. I never thought I’d argue against science, but the things your mother did…
“We were very close to ending our relationship. I wanted out of that place. I hated their methods. Then you came along, and I was so overjoyed that the hypnotic cloud stretched out to include me, too. I was so happy for the first few years that when I found out what she’d done it made the betrayal so much more painful.” Dad’s eyes clouded with tears, and I knew it wasn’t from the pain of his wounds. I placed the cold flannel over his forehead, somehow hoping it would help.
“You were a beautiful baby, Mina. And so happy. No baby laughed as much as you. I spent all my time with you while your mother worked. She didn’t want too much time away from the project, and I didn’t care because it meant more time with my special girl. I never thought I’d be satisfied by being just a dad. It surprised me to learn that I was.
“And then your abilities began to show. If you wanted something very much, you only had to think and it would appear in your hands. I nearly fell out of my chair the first time you did it. I remember it as clear as day. You were sat in your play pen, and your favourite bear was on the sofa. You wanted him desperately and, before I had time to fetch him, he floated over to you through the air. I thought we had a ghost!”
“Why don’t I remember it?”
“You were very young, Mina. And I did something… Anyway, I’ll get to that.” His face changed. More tears formed in his eyes. “There was only one explanation, and that was the GEM. They did something to your DNA, to give you powers.”
“You always told me it was evolution.”
“I didn’t want you to think you were a freak. I thought it would help you come to terms with it, to accept that you are different to everyone else. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”
I shook my head. Apologies felt too much like goodbyes.
“I went through her belongings. Nothing. No evidence. She’d tampered with you, created her own designer baby, changed your DNA as a foetus without my consent. I’d been betrayed by the woman I trusted the most. She’d changed my child. I didn’t know what you’d be like – whether you would even grow up healthy. Anything could have happened.”
“You thought I was wrong?” I said in a small voice.
“I didn’t know what to think,” he said. “All I knew was that she’d betrayed me. So I searched for clues, anything to help me find out what’d happened. All the while I watched you grow, and I watched her observe you like an experiment. That’s how she treated you.”
I pulled my hand away from my dad and wrapped my arms around my knees. I was an experiment. “I was part of the project.”
“Do you know what Gestalt means?”
I shook my head.
“It refers to the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Psychologists in the 1920s used the idea for psychotherapy.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Think about what you’re part of. You and Daniel and the others.”
“We each have powers relating to our senses,” I said. “Is that what she did? She made us a Gestalt?”
“Yes. That’s what she did. The project formed a weapon, the strongest weapon in the world. Each child had their senses heightened to such a degree that it created superhuman powers. The others are the same, all created by your mother.”
Dad let that sink in for a moment while my mind swam. They’d all been there, in the GEM. We’d been together. “Is that how Daniel knew me?”
“Yes,” he said. “You met each other. You even trained together sometimes. Your mother observed you both in training areas.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks. I felt cheated. Cheated from a childhood. “Why don’t I remember?”
“Because when I took you away from her, I injected you with one of their serums. It fogs memory.”
More drugs and memories lost. Was there anything left of me? Anyone left to let me be me?
“You helped the others escape too?”
“Yes,” he said. “When I found out what was going on, I tracked down the parents within the GEM. They’d all been paid off, but they didn’t know what they were being paid to create. They all thought it was for just a normal child. I got them out and into the Areas. It took almost five years of building a relationship with the Resistance first. And the only way I could do that was through your uncle.”
“But why did Daniel’s mother think he had the devil inside him if she knew the truth?”
“She never believed me,” Dad said. “Of all the parents, Daniel’s were the worst. They drank a lot. I wanted to take him with me… I just couldn’t snatch someone else’s child.”
“What made you take the children to the Compound?” I wiped more tears from my face.
“With most of the children about to turn sixteen, I thought your mother might attempt to get you all back. She’d been quiet, distracted in the GEM by helping to create their latest weapon, whatever that is.”
“She never wanted to get to know me. She only ever wanted my powers,” I said.
“The Anna I fell in love with died in that place. The Anna I knew loved you very much.”
“But she created me as some sort of thing… a freak… an experiment.”
Dad moved slightly onto his side and winced at the pain. “Listen to me. Don’t think that. Anna believed that her experiments made you a stronger person. I think she did it because she loved you. It’s her warped way of doing things. She gave you the greatest power for a reason, Mina. Think about that.”
“Yeah, because she knew she could manipulate me. She made me hate you and then…” I couldn’t stop them any longer. The wracking sobs came out of my chest. I doubled over, crying into cupped hands. “What have I done? I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”
Dad used what little strength he had to pull me toward him. My head rest
ed by his and he stroked my hair as I sobbed.
“Minnie,” he whispered. “None of this is your fault. It’s our fault. We did this to you. I’d let you kill me a thousand times if it meant you’d be safe and sound. Shh now.”
I cried until my eyelids swelled and my skin rubbed raw. Dad didn’t talk anymore, just gently brushed my hair with his fingers.
“I had a happy childhood,” I said eventually. “Learning to box in the basement of the house. You telling me about the world. I loved it all. And I’ll remember it, too. I won’t ever forget what you taught me. You made me strong. I was the only Blemished girl in school who understood anything about history, or geography, or books. That’s all because of you, Dad. I’m sorry I chose her. I wish I could go back to the day she arrived in the Compound, and just tell her to get lost. I love you, Dad.”
He let out a long, loud breath. “I love you too, Mina. And I still love your mother. So should you.” He coughed, and I saw the blood seeping from his mouth. I took the flannel and wiped it away with shaking fingers. “You have a family. Stay with them.” He squeezed my hands. “Your power comes from love, Mina. Use it.”
His hand fell from my hair and dropped to the floor.
36 ~ Angela ~
Without Cam’s warm body next to hers, she would’ve been freezing, though not from the cold. The dark wrapped around her like cool molasses. She flinched at every sound. Every corner promised the bullets of an Enforcer. It was like her escape from Area 14 all over again. She’d never told Mina or Daniel how terrified she’d been, especially when the Enforcer captured her. She shuddered at the memory.
Alfred whistled and pointed for the group to take a right. He seemed to know his way to the headquarters, so either he’d been to Area 13 before, or he’d done his research. Angela smiled at Cam, trying to prove to herself that she wasn’t afraid, and followed the others into the night, sticking to the shadows.
Boots crunched against gravel. Every man held his gun aloft. Waiting.
They passed run-down houses with broken windows; no lights on in the dead of the night. Street lamps hung uselessly from their necks – the wirings severed and the bulbs broken. Shards of glass stuck out from the hollow window frames, like the fangs of an open mouth. Behind her a door swung open and shut – banging and clunking against the wood – making her heart flutter each time.
They turned a corner and the tall headquarters cast its shadow over them. Unlike the small building and courtyard in Area 14, this was ten stories high and covered in glass. Angela swallowed. How could a hundred men take on something like this?
A spotlight beamed on. Angela shielded her eyes from the sudden bright light. Cam shoved her to one side and the group surged forward.
“Enforcers!” Alfred yelled.
An alarm blared through speakers along the headquarter wall. Enforcers streamed through the gates. They shot their laser guns and one of Alfred’s men fell to the floor.
“Angela, get into the doorway!” Cam shouted. He pointed to the doorway of an empty shop nearby. “Stay there.”
Ginge knelt down behind a bin on the pavement of the street. She set up her rifle, and picked off one of the Enforcers.
“Cam!” Angela screamed. A bullet whizzed past Cam as he ran towards the fighting. She held her breath in shock. It had only been inches away from his shoulder. He dropped to the floor and crawled behind a parked car.
“Take cover!” Alfred instructed. He joined Cam behind the car, turning to shoot at the Enforcers every few seconds.
“Where’s Sebastian?” Angela called to Ginge.
She pulled her eye away from the rifle and swore. Sebastian was caught in the middle as he tried to run away from the Enforcers. He had no cover, and he desperately spun around, looking for somewhere to hide. Ginge took one of them down, but another had his gun trained on Sebastian, ready to take the shot. Angela ran forwards holding out her pistol, screaming. She shot three times, missing each time. The Enforcer took his shot and there was an explosion of blood.
“Sebastian!” Ginge cried. She sprang out from behind the bin and ran to him with lasers flashing around her.
Ginge threw herself into a somersault towards Sebastian. She grasped his shirt and turned her gun on the Enforcer. Angela took cover behind the bin and aimed her gun, cursing herself for not learning how to shoot straight. She caught one Enforcer in the thigh. He staggered backwards with his arms flailing. At least it gave Ginge some time to drag Sebastian back behind a car.
Angela reloaded with shaking hands. They were outnumbered and outgunned. A laser hit the bin, and colourful sparks lit the air, some just inches from her face. She’d seen the way the beams seared flesh, and her stomach churned.
She sucked in a deep breath, and peeked over the bin, shooting at the nearest Enforcer. It missed again. But the Enforcers had fewer places to hide by the wall of their headquarters, and it gave the Blemished a slight advantage.
“Keep shooting,” Alfred shouted to his hidden army concealed around the road.
The pershoooo sounds of the lasers stopped. Angela glanced at Cam, wondering if the Enforcers had given up. Could it be their chance to win? Had they made it? Cam’s eyes remained focussed on the headquarters in front of them.
She prepared herself to run to Cam, when a flying object caught her eye. She lifted her face to the sky as a small, round ball hurtled through the air, heading for the shops behind her.
“What the––”
“Angela, get DOWN!” Cam screamed.
Cam ran full pelt in her direction. She found herself frozen to the spot as he leapt into the air. He dived at her as a flash of light and deafening high pitch sound sent her flailing backwards.
They landed together away from the bin with Cam’s weight pressing her to the pavement. She heard nothing except muffled screams and the high-pitched ringing of her ears. Cam held her head down and covered her body with his. Frightened, she pressed herself into his chest.
When he rolled away, she saw the debris from the exploded shops littering the street. Alfred’s men lay between the stones. Some clutched wounds and groaned. Others helped to lift the injured to safety. Her heart pounded as she examined the chaos for Sebastian and Ginge. When she saw them huddled away from the rubble she let out a long sigh of relief.
“Cam!” Angela said. She still couldn’t hear her own voice.
Cam lay on the road with his clothes torn. He was alive and awake but his arm had bent back at a funny angle. His lips moved yet she couldn’t hear him speak. A laser gun fired to her right. They had to find shelter. Angela hooked her arm under Cam’s shoulder and pulled him to his feet.
While the lasers shot around them, she helped him over to Sebastian and Ginge, where they took cover behind an upturned car. Sebastian eased Cam to the ground where he examined his arm.
“He has a dislocated shoulder,” he said. “He needs help.”
His words found her through the fog of the explosion. She peeked around the car, desperate to see the Enforcers retreating, but they only strengthened in numbers as Alfred’s men lay injured and hurt. They were done for. Her stomach sunk at the realisation and she took Cam’s hand.
“We need te get out o’here an’ ah dunnae care about Alfred nae more,” Ginge said. The panic in her eyes frightened Angela.
“Help me lift Cam,” Angela said to Sebastian, trying to hold it together. She had to think quickly. As her hearing came back, she heard the screams of the hurt and dying. It chilled her to the bone.
Cam cried out in pain as Sebastian helped him up. Another shot from a laser gun forced them back to the ground. The Enforcers approached. They marched in line with their weapons at the ready.
“We can’t do anything,” she said, wiping away the tears.
“We’ve got to crawl.” Sebastian shouted over the noise. “We just crawl back the way we came until we’re out of sight.”
“They’ll shoot us.” Angela wiped her nose with her sleeve. “We can’t escape.”
The four of them shared desperate glances. It was no use. All they could do was hide and hope they weren’t killed by the Enforcers. Capture was their best chance of surviving. Angela pulled Cam’s hand to her lips, holding his skin against her face.
“Ah ye givin’ up Ange?” he said.
She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
Their eyes met and held. She opened her mouth to tell him everything she’d always wanted to say: how she loved him, how she wanted them to spend the rest of their lives together and start a family. She never got a chance.
A thunderous battle-cry sounded from beyond their hiding place. It was like a hundred voices coming together in one great scream. Angela lifted her head and saw Enforcers rounded up by dozens of cars and trucks. The cars split them into small groups and picked them off.
“The Blemished from Area 13,” Angela said in a breathless voice. “They’ve joined the fight.”
“Onward!” Alfred boomed.
Angela assisted Cam up from the ground. Ginge covered them with her rifle. The four of them forced their way towards the headquarters. Alfred ran through the crowds, knocking Enforcers to the ground and dodging laser streams. He was a man on a mission – determined to do his job at any cost.
They followed some way behind, almost getting lost in the chaos and fighting. Angela had to shove people out of the way to help Cam through the crowd. When they reached the headquarters, Alfred had already been inside to capture a prisoner. He grinned with triumph as he presented the man to the crowd – his pistol positioned exactly by his temple.
The noise of gunfire, lasers and, cars stopped. Only the rustle of the shops in flames, and the sound of falling debris could be heard. Alfred presented his hostage.
“Vice Commander Franklin, do you relinquish your hold over Area 13?” Alfred shouted loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Y-yes,” said the man.
“I don’t think they can hear you.”
“YES,” shouted Franklin. “I relinquish control.” The man squirmed under Alfred’s grip. His face contorted in terror. “I surrender.”