EXPERIMENT

by Cyma Rizwaan Khan

  He took off his jacket and stripped down to his shorts, got under the covers. He hadn’t turned off the bedside lamp when he saw the picture on his nightstand. Connor and Kevin when he must have been around twelve, he couldn’t remember exactly, but even though he couldn’t remember that point in time, he remembered how it had felt. It was one of his favorite moments in time, they spent all day at the lake. Kevin was going out with some girl at the time, she was in the picture too but Lane couldn’t even remember her name. Kevin had so many girlfriends back then, they kept coming and going, it was hard to keep track. But the picture wasn’t what bothered him. What bothered him, was the additional face stuck to one side of it. It didn’t belong to that picture but came from a second picture that Lane had tried to fuse with that happy memory and kept it on his bedside, so it would always be the first thing he looked at when he went to sleep and the first thing when he woke up every day.

  Only difference was that now that face filled him with a kind of loathing that he had never felt for a person he loved.

  CHAPTER 18

  THE ARMY

  The Resistance Hideout,

  Zyron Region-One

  Jace led Lane through the building. It was one of the lit portions of the resistance hideout and Lane was surprised to see all the activity. There was a line of makeshift rooms and a bustle of people going about getting things done. “You’ve never been down here before, have you?” Jace must have noticed the wonder in Lane’s expression.

  “Not once,” Lane said. “Didn’t know you had an army.”

  “What kind of resistance leader would I be if I don’t take everything into consideration?” Jace said. “But mind you we don’t just go around wrecking people’s lives. Most of the work you’ll find here includes strategizing.”

  “That’s alright,” Lane said. “I don’t mind.”

  Finally, Jace came to stop at a door. He raised the curtain that covered the area inside and walked in. The man sitting on the table was in his forties, and he stood to attention when Jace walked in. “Commander,” he said. Even though the man was doing this to respect him, Lane noticed Jace didn’t like it too much.

  “Too much discipline always seems like slavery to me,” Jace said. “That’s how they get you to do your bidding. The way they program armies over here, seems to me like that’s the first step in becoming a lifelong minion, and I don’t want minions. Over here we discuss the right approach and we figure out the best plan, we don’t force anything on anyone. These people they’re all here of their own accord, and that’s how it’s always going to be.”

  “Thank you for letting me be part of this,” Lane said. “I really appreciate it.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m sure Rick can explain further what we do here.” He turned to the man standing in front of them. “He’s all yours Major.”

  “No problem, sir,” Major Rick said.

  Jace left the room and Lane turned to the Major. “I’m Lane,” he thrust his hand forward.

  Major Rick shook his hand. “Of course,” he said. “Volze. I’ve heard about you. You’re the one they wanted to bring back from Black Walls. Glad to see you doing so well.”

  Lane wanted to tell him he had no idea, but he kept that to himself. He wasn’t going to look weak here. “Thank you.”

  “Okay Lane,” Major Rick said. “I’m going to tell you something honestly. Things have been getting a little complicated ever since the riots broke out last year. Now every time Jace goes out into public there’s fear that he might encounter some attack. But because Jace hates the idea of bodyguards, there’s not much we can do. So we do what we can to make sure he doesn’t run into trouble during the speeches. Unfortunately, these days we’re running into a lot of trouble. People coming to the speeches and pretending to be on our side, only to create a ruckus. We’ve been trying our best for the past year to try and stop that, and it works at times but once in a while a rogue person still gets through so we have to deal with it then.”

  “Deal how?”

  “Just pull them aside before the cops get involved and cause problems,” Major Rick explained. “We’ve been doing well, there have been no serious incidents like ones that happened a year ago.”

  “Do you think maybe it’s not just random people?” Lane said. “Maybe someone’s sending them. Someone who wants to see Jace go down.”

  “Well I can certainly think of people who might want that,” Major Rick said. “Jace has a lot of enemies. And recently, he has been struggling with a threat. Someone sent him pictures of his family, wrote a threat and no one knows how he did that. Jace refuses to have bodyguards, but I have some people looking over his family. They make sure the kids get home safe from school or wherever it is they’re going. I tried to do that for Jace, and he found out. Not a good day for me.”

  “Maybe he likes his privacy.”

  “I think he’s just against the idea of having someone follow him around.”

  “That’s not very wise.”

  “You do realize you’re calling our leader unwise, don’t you?”

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

  “Don’t worry I’m just kidding,” Major Rick said and stood up. “Come on. I’ll introduce you to the others.”

  *

  She was holding a bottle of beer and sitting there watching a couple of kids playing beyond the threshold of the hideout. “Hi,” Lane said. “Mind if I join you?”

  She reached into a cooler and handed Lane a beer. Lane took it and sat down with her. “I’m Lane.”

  “Natalie,” she said, and then she must have remembered. “You’re Connor’s brother!”

  “You seem surprised.”

  “I was under the impression you were in prison.”

  “I was,” Lane said, having a taste of the beer. “Connor broke me out.”

  “I’m sorry I was out visiting my family,” Natalie said. “They live all the way in Region-Three.”

  “You know my brother?”

  “Everyone knows your brother,” Natalie said. “He’s become very popular around here. I think people like him. Especially Jace.”

  “Well, he’s likeable I guess.”

  “How’ve you been?”

  “You mean since I got back?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m okay,” Lane said. “Still wake up sometimes being afraid of things that I know aren’t even there, but I’m dealing with it.”

  “How long were you there?”

  “A little over a year.”

  “Damn.”

  “It’s actually not as bad as some other people have it,” Lane said. “People have been there for ten years, sometimes more.”

  “I know some survivors,” Natalie said. “In fact there are a few in the group, maybe I can introduce you to them sometime.”

  “Sure,” Lane said, but he had no intention of knowing someone who had been through that place. Knowing that someone knew everything about what went on over there, it still made him uncomfortable. But he realized that Natalie was just trying to help so he said nothing.

  “So what branch have you joined?”

  “Army.”

  “You chose the army?”

  “Why?”

  “No, you just don’t seem like the aggressive type.”

  “I can be aggressive.”

  “Yeah?” she grinned. “I guess that’s something I’ll have to wait and see.”

  Lane would have loved to keep talking to her, but their conversation was interrupted by the playing kids barging into the hideout, looking confused. “They need help,” one of the kids said. “Over there!”

  Lane got up and went with the kid and was taken to a van. Two of the army guys were trying to pull out a person from the back of it, and that person was all bloody, barely conscious. Lane ran out to help them and one of the army guys asked the kid to get the doctor.

  “What happened to him?” Lane asked.

  “Fucking bastards,” the army guy said. “It�
��s not safe anymore! They shot him! They fucking shot him!”

  Lane decided to wait until they were inside to talk. They carried the man to the infirmary and that’s when Lane realized Natalie was the doctor they were speaking of. She started working on the man right away, trying to see if he was breathing and then performing some kind of surgery right away to clear his breathing passage. She had one assistant but the army guys were helping them and Lane decided to stay and help with them.

  *

  “I want to know who did this,” Jace said, the minute he stepped in. He must have seen the bleeding army guy and it was obvious he was horrified.

  “We did it the way you asked Jace,” one of the guys, named Barron said. “We always do it the way you ask! And look what happened! This is our sixth casualty Jace! We’re not going to sit there and let them do this to us we need to fight back!”

  “How’s he doing, Natalie?” Jace asked, ignoring Barron.

  “Not good,” Natalie said. “I’ll do everything I can but there’s too much internal damage.”

  “It’s okay, you do what you can.”

  He gestured to Barron. “You,” he said. “And all of the army guys I want you in my office. Now.”

  Everyone left, and Lane was left there alone. “I have to go too, but I’ll be back soon I promise,” he said to Natalie.

  “Thanks,” Natalie said. “Thanks for helping me. As you can see I don’t have a lot of options.”

  “No problem,” Lane said.

  He went off to Jace’s office where everyone still looked rattled. “Is everyone here?” Jace asked. Lane saw Major Rick standing to one side of his desk.

  “Okay everyone,” Jace said. “This is the sixth time one of us has been attacked. Barron and Major Rick think we need to fight back, I want to know what the rest of you think.”

  For a minute everyone just looked at each other and then they all said the same thing. “Fight!”

  “Can I please say something, sir?” Major Rick asked.

  “Of course Rick, what is it?” Jace said.

  “Sir, this war is unavoidable,” he said. “We need to defend ourselves. The elections are in three months, if we can stick it out that long we can bring the kind of change we pictured but it won’t happen if they keep getting rid of us one by one. We need to protect our people, they need our help.”

  “The Major’s right,” Barron said. “This has been a long time coming. Zyres and Khaltars have come together in fighting against us. They’re a large force. We can’t counter them if we’re frail. They expect us to be weak, let’s show them how strong we are.”

  Suddenly, Jace turned to Lane. “What do you think?”

  At first Lane looked around himself, thought maybe he was imagining it, but Jace was really asking him. “Well?”

  Lane cleared his throat. “Sir,” he said. “I believe Major Rick is right. Look outside sir, this is not the Zyron that it used to be. A year ago, these riots they were just starting, but now the whole city’s on fire. The cops aren’t doing their jobs and Commander Krole owns the military. We don’t stand a chance if we can’t defend ourselves.”

  Jace listened to this just as patiently as he had listened to the rest of them. Then he stood up. He walked up to Lane, placed a hand on his shoulder. “Will everyone leave?” he said. “I need to speak to Major Rick.” And then to Lane he said “Thanks.”

  Lane left with the others and as they all filtered out the room, he suddenly realized he had contributed.

  Jace wanted to know what he thought, and Lane had no idea why that was. He could only imagine that The Leader saw something in him. Either way, it felt good being part of something. For a minute, in that room he was one of the guys, the big army hotshots, he wasn’t some poor, miserable being without control and it felt good. Besides, he was only doing it to help people. To make sure something like what happened today to that man in Natalie’s office wasn’t going to happen to anyone else.

  He started walking to the infirmary.

  *

  By the time Lane got to Natalie a lot of the chaos had subsided. There was no one there. Even the male assistant looked like he had left. There was just the patient on the bed, hooked to machines.

  “Hi,” Lane said and Natalie looked up from her book.

  “Hey.”

  “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “But he’s not doing so well.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I hate it when this happens,” Natalie said. “I don’t like to watch people die.”

  “Who does.”

  “I know,” Natalie said. “I enjoy my job you know? Helping people, its nice. It makes you feel like you’re part of the solution. But when someone dies, it all just—”

  “Feels useless?”

  “Yeah,” Natalie said. “Yeah, that’s it.”

  “Maybe he won’t die.”

  “Maybe.”

  “Miracles happen, right?”

  “Not sure I’ve ever seen one.”

  “Doesn’t mean they don’t happen.”

  “Doesn’t mean they do.”

  “I chose the worst person to give a pep-talk,” Lane said.

  Natalie laughed. “Oh God,” she said. “This is horrible. Sitting by a guy who might be dying and cracking jokes.”

  “It’s not horrible, trust me. I’ve seen horrible and it looks nothing like this. Have you eaten?”

  “No,” Natalie said. “Pretty sure I’ve lost my appetite.”

  “Your body doesn’t care about that,” Lane said. “It still needs energy so you can work hard to save people. If you get sick, who’s going to take care of him?”

  “But I need someone to sit by him in case he wakes up or something.”

  “What about the assistant?”

  “He’s gone home,” she said. “He had some family thing.”

  “So you can’t leave?”

  “No.”

  “No problem,” Lane said. “I’ll go get you something to eat.”

  “Lane please, you don’t have to.”

  “I insist,” Lane said, and walked out to the door. “I’ll see you in a while.”

  *

  “You called for me?” Connor said when he entered Jace’s office.

  “Come in,” Jace said, and put away the paperwork he was working on.

  Connor went over to his desk and took the chair across from him. “What’s going on?”

  “Were you aware that Lane has joined the army?” Jace asked.

  “What?” Connor couldn’t believe his ears. “When?”

  “Today,” Jace said. “He applied about a week ago. Today was his orientation. I didn’t know, or I would have told you sooner.”

  “You’re not going to let him do this, are you?”

  “Why not?”

  “Are you kidding me?” Connor said. “Do I actually have to explain that to you? You think he’s stable enough to do something like that? He could hurt himself.”

  “On the contrary,” Jace said. “Professor Chandler thinks it’s a good idea.”

  “Does he?”

  “Connor don’t get so upset, I called you here for a reason. If I wanted to exploit your brother I would have done it without asking you.”

  “So why did you call me here?”

  “Look he wants to do it,” Jace said. “I think he just wants to be part of something. He’s trying to come out of his shell and you need to let him do it.”

  “Why can’t he come out of his shell by being part of kitchen detail for fucks sake?”

  “It’s his choice,” Jace said. “You can’t take it away from him.”

  “The hell I can’t!” Connor said and stood up.

  “Connor, sit down. I mean it. We’re not done talking.”

  When Connor sat back down, Jace began speaking again. “Let me rephrase that,” he said. “You shouldn’t take it away from him. Connor your brother is safe. I’m going to keep an eye on him, you know I won’t let him get
into any kind of trouble.”

  “You can’t promise me that, not if he’s in that group.”

  “We’re making things better,” Jace said. “Major Rick is a veteran. He knows what he’s doing.”

  “Is that why you’ve had six casualties so far?”

  “It’s like I said before, we’re working on it.”

  “Come on Jace we both know leading an army is not your strong suit.”

  “What’re you implying?”

  “I’m implying that a guy who can’t even be smart enough to break one lousy principle for his own survival can’t possibly keep his people safe.”

  “Look,” Jace said. “I get it. You’re angry, you can’t be angry at your brother so you’re taking it out on me. That’s fine. I can take it because you’re a friend, but watch what you’re saying next time and remember who you’re talking to.”

  “What’s the matter Jace?” Connor said, getting up. “Don’t want someone who speaks his mind? Would you rather I was your fucking minion like the rest of them? You know what, maybe you’re not as different as you think you are, Jace.”

  “Leave my office.”

  “You’re a joke,” Connor said. “These people they don’t know any better, but I do. And I’m never going to be your underling no matter how hard you try.”

  “I said leave.”

  “Gladly,” Connor said, and walked out.

  *

  Barron and Rick were there in the infirmary by the time Lane got back. He knew right away that something wasn’t right because Jace was there too. “Is everything okay?” he asked, keeping the takeout on a counter and walking up to the group just in time to see Major Rick place one hand over the patient’s eyes in order to close them. It could only mean one thing.