Pippa’s mouth was hanging open, and she snapped it shut. “What a total witch.”
I looked at Wesley, who seemed amused. Iggy, on the other hand, looked embarrassed. But then her eyes landed on the girl’s back as she walked out of the dining hall, and she had the same look on her face as when Granger had appeared at her gate and hurled insults.
The four of us stood to leave, and I hooked an arm around Iggy’s shoulders. “You mad?”
“Pissed as hell. I hate it when people stick their nose in my business. I punched a girl out my senior year for pulling that exact same kinda shit.”
I hugged her to my side and grinned. Iggy was the only girl I knew who could draw out the word ‘shit’ into two syllables. “She must be the school yard bully around here. If she keeps this up, she’ll deserve one of your punches.”
“These aren’t the kind of people who throw punches, Cael. They use something more powerful.”
I turned Iggy toward me and bent down to look right into her eyes. “If anyone uses their power on you, Iggy, you defend yourself with everything you’ve got. Do you understand?”
After a moment of surprise, she nodded.
Cael
“All students are to report to the Observation Arena. Follow the red arrows.”
I didn’t know if I was one of the students addressed over the intercom, but when my door clicked open, I assumed I was supposed to go. I strode down the hallway toward Iggy’s room, which was close to the nurse’s station. She was standing in her doorway waiting for either me or Wesley, I wasn’t sure which. When she saw me and pushed past students to get to me, I was glad that I was the one she was looking for.
Suddenly, someone bumped into her and she stumbled. The dark haired girl from the cafeteria whizzed past with a hand over her mouth. “Oops. Sorry about that. I didn’t see you.”
“What’s your problem?” Iggy snapped at her.
“I don’t have a problem. You were just too slow. And in the way.” And then she walked on, turning left at the nurse’s station.
The arrows led us past the cafeteria to the only door on the opposite side of the hall. Once we’d filed in, I saw that we were in a huge, two-story room that was half the size of a football field. It resembled a gladiator’s arena. We were on the second floor of it, and a cement walkway and metal railing bordered the sunken, oval arena. A security agent waved from the center of the area where a set of steps led down into an area surrounded by twelve foot high, cinder block walls. The only break in the cinder block was a huge observation window about twenty feet wide. Behind the window was a control room filled with computers and machinery. Jensen and several other men and women in lab coats stood talking, surrounded by technicians, military police, and medical staff.
Brian appeared beside me. “I don’t get why there are always MPs around.”
“I guess all government agencies work together here. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people in that room are from a variety of government organizations, including the army. So I suppose the military police fit right in.”
“It doesn’t make me feel better knowing that people with guns are constantly watching me.”
“I’m right there with you on that.”
Beside me, Iggy looked nervous as she and Wesley exchanged whispers. Two horn blasts sounded and we all stopped speaking. The announcer said, “Cael, Shayla, and Brian. You will wait in the observation room. Step up to the window.”
I squeezed Iggy’s hand and followed the other two. An MP directed us through a metal door and toward a row of seats set up like a movie theater. Jensen said, “Have a seat. You can watch, but you must remain quiet. You may not understand the purpose of this exercise or the role of the people in this room, but if you cause any disruptions, you will be escorted out. The students can see you, and they will need all their concentration focused on what’s going on in the arena. So it’s important you remain seated and not cause a distraction. Understood?” We nodded and Jensen returned to the group of scientists.
“Nothing’s happened yet and I already don’t like it,” Shayla said from her seat between me and Brian.
“Me neither,” he agreed.
I dragged a hand through my hair then gripped the armrests. My eyes were glued to Iggy.
Chapter 18
Iggy
I watched Cael, Shayla, and Brian take their seats and listen to a speech from Jensen. After the doctor left, Cael looked pissed. Then he looked at me and his expression changed to worry. I swallowed my nervousness and turned to watch Jensen’s group.
They were staring at us. I felt like a bug under a microscope. Again. Only this time, a lot more people were watching and I was even more nervous because I was worried about Cael.
Wesley nudged me on the shoulder. “Get your head in the game, Iggy.”
I locked eyes with him and nodded, straightening my shoulders. Wesley was a fighter and my rock. He’d gotten me through testing before, and he knew exactly what to say. Pippa sidled up to me looking as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
“Do you know what this is about?”
I shrugged. “Some kind of test.”
“Attention please.” Jensen’s voiced echoed throughout the arena. “I want to remind you that each and every one of you possesses abilities that only work on living organisms. Therefore, all test objects must be living organisms that you can manipulate. I know this is difficult for some of you, but it’s the only way to understand your abilities.” He inhaled and continued, “You are to line up on the yellow line according to the color of your scrubs from left to right as you face this window. First in line: grays. Next in line are the blues.” He paused to allow time for arrangement. “Purple and then green.”
Wesley was a purple, and I was a green – whatever that meant – so we placed ourselves next to each other with our toes on the yellow line that paralleled the window. Pippa, another green, stood beside me. We were only ten feet from the glass, so I could clearly see Cael. He looked concerned. I wanted nothing more than to be back on the farm with him, holding his hand and eating spoonfuls of peanut butter. I was constantly amazed by how much my feelings for him had grown in such a short period of time. I felt guilty because I was glad he was here. But I was also terrified of the potential problems his presence might cause. The thought of Jensen hurting Cael made me rage inside. Wesley could handle himself, but Cael didn’t have any powers, and he’d never been exposed to Jensen’s kind of evil. I had to protect him.
“An animal in a cage will be placed before each of you. All of these animals are sick and suffering. The best thing you can do for them is to give them quick deaths. Keep that in mind when you see your test object.”
A stream of people in lab coats holding cages marched toward us from a door on the left. They set a cage in front of each of us and then disappeared back through the door, slamming it shut behind them. A large, brown bunny rabbit was my test object. It had a large, furless mass on its side – perhaps a tumor – and it lay there unmoving except for the rapid expansion and contraction of its ribs.
“Step back to the red line.” Once we were resettled, Jensen explained, “When you hear the horn blast, you must kill the animal as quickly as possible. This is a timed test.”
I slumped my shoulders, shook my head and said to Wesley, “It’s never going to end, is it.” Then I looked at Cael. He was leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, scanning our line and rubbing the back of his neck with one hand. Beside him, Shayla looked horrified, and Brian had a hand over his mouth.
I looked at my bunny, Wesley’s dog, and Pippa’s kitten. The animals probably really were dying, but had Jensen deliberately made them sick in order to convince us to kill them? Had he already experimented on them?
The horn sounded and I jolted. Pippa whined about how she couldn’t kill a kitten. Then whimpers and howls filled my ears, and my attention was drawn to everyone else’s animals. The guy beside Wesley had alread
y killed his puppy – the animal was staring sightlessly into the distance. I couldn’t tell how he’d killed it. Beside him, the girl who had insulted us at breakfast had a pot-bellied pig. It was screaming and running its head into the bars of its cage. Its snout got stuck, and it frantically wriggled around, causing itself to bleed. One of the blue guy’s animals was vomiting again and again. A gray’s cat was stumbling drunkenly. It was difficult to tell what mode of death was being used on other animals; some cries had ceased, others had grown shriller.
“Time!” Jensen called over the intercom. “Remain in your positions while the technicians check your animals.”
The door on the left swung open again, and the line of technicians filed out. The people who had dropped the cages off were the ones to check the animals’ status. Some of the them stood, faced the window, and held one arm high in the air – I counted three. Some technicians stood with their right arms straight out in front of them, parallel with the ground; I counted six of them. Others faced the window with both arms at their sides. That’s what my bunny’s technician did.
Jensen looked angry. “Only nine out of fourteen of you even tried to spare the animals from suffering. And only three animals are actually dead. This is a failed experiment! The technicians will replace all the animals with new ones and you will do the same thing again. If even one of you refuses to at least try to kill your animal, all the dead and injured ones will be replaced over and over until everyone tries. In other words, more animals will suffer. It's your choice.”
Less than a minute later, they brought in another set of animals. I squeezed my eyes shut. I heard Wesley say, “Iggy. You’re going to have to kill that rabbit. It’s got two huge tumors. It’s dying anyway. Give it a quick death.”
I turned to see his jaw was tight with tension, and his eyes bored into me as if he could will me into compliance. When he squeezed my hand, I knew I would kill the rabbit. I wanted to be strong for him. “Okay.”
The horn sounded. Wesley’s dog circled its cage repeatedly and then fell over, and I knew it was suffocating. I looked at the rabbit before me and stopped its heart. It was dead in seconds.
Pippa started crying, her squeals blending in with those of the animals. Some of the students were trying to do as told, but they weren’t able to kill quickly enough, and their animals were suffering. A purple girl’s cat was lying in a pool of blood. Ibram’s rabbit appeared to being having a seizure, and then it stilled.
Pippa began sobbing loudly. A pig squealed and snorted. I flattened my palms over my ears and turned my back to the line of animals, waiting.
“Time!” Jensen finally called. “The technicians will now check your animals.”
I turned back around. My technician stood with her right arm raised high. So did Wesley’s. But not Pippa’s.
Jensen said, “Twelve attempts. Six deaths. Twelve animals will be replaced.”
While the switch commenced, Wesley leaned around me and told Pippa, “You have to kill your animal. It’s dying. And more animals are suffering because of you.”
How many animals did they have back there? I wondered what they were doing with the ones injured in our experiment. Would they euthanize them? Study them? Surely the scientists didn’t keep them alive while they suffered. I wanted to look at Cael, but I just couldn’t. I didn’t want to see disappointment in his eyes. I turned to Pippa. “He’s right. If we all kill our sick animals this round, it’s over. The test is over.”
After the new cages were in place, Jensen changed the rules. “The time for this round of testing has been extended indefinitely until all animals are dead.”
The horn blasted.
I killed my lame dog instantly and then I watched the others, needing them to do the same. There was too much crying. Too much pain. These animals should have been children’s pets, not experimental objects.
But they weren’t dying like I expected them to. They were suffering. As time passed, only six of us had put our animals down. The other students were only causing pain and screaming. Pippa’s face was buried in her hands while her tabby cat licked its paw.
“Pippa!” I shouted, but she shook her head.
Pigs squealed. Dogs yelped. Cats howled. How long did it take for the agony to stop! None of the blue-uniformed students’ animals had died yet. One of the dogs was convulsing and dry heaving. A cat had a lump on its neck that was growing larger and larger, strangling it.
I couldn’t take it anymore!
I killed all four of the blue’s animals with a quick glance. Pippa’s kitten fell over dead. I stepped out of line and ran to stand behind the grays, stopping the suffering in less than five seconds.
And then it was finally quiet.
Fourteen animals dead; I had killed eight of them. I bit my lip and drew blood to hold back the tears. It was just like before. More death. More suffering. I told myself I had saved these pets, but I was still disgusted with myself.
“Time,” Jensen called in a less enthusiastic voice. “The technicians will check your animals.”
I trudged back to my place on the red line, waiting for the results while Pippa hiccuped and trembled. Hand after hand went up. And when I finally counted fourteen hands lifted high, I sat down, pulled my knees into my chest, and buried my face in my arms.
Jensen told us, “All fourteen animals are dead. The test is concluded. Until you receive further instruction, you may have free time, which means you may enter any room with an open door.”
Someone kicked my foot. I looked up at the girl from breakfast. “If I were Jensen, I’d say you cheated. You should be punished for that.”
A tall guy with a crew cut and purple scrubs said, “Leave her alone, Alex. Can’t you tell she’s emotional right now?”
“Emotional? Brodie, she’s a total pussy.”
“Piss off,” Wesley snapped at her.
Alex passed by Pippa and spat out, “Cry baby.” And then I heard the two of them discuss how easy the test had been. I was so glad when their voices faded away.
Wesley squatted down and tugged on my arm. “Come on, Iggy. Get up.”
Tanned arms appeared in front of me as someone else squatted down. I turned my head to find Ibram offering to help me up. He was dark-skinned, with thick, wavy black hair and black eyes. Tall and broadly built, he might have been intimidating if it wasn’t for the baby face and dimples. I put my hand in his and let him pull me to my feet.
He said, “Alex is full of shit. Jensen’s rule was all animals dead. He didn’t specify who should kill them. I think you did the right thing.”
I offered him a lopsided smile, and then Shayla appeared beside him and his attention was drawn to her. Just as I questioned where Cael was, I felt someone tap my shoulder and turned around to throw myself into his arms. He was big and warm, and for just a few seconds, I allowed myself to feel safe. Even if I hated what I’d just done, I was pretty sure Cael wouldn’t think badly of me. I had already told him about the animals I’d had to kill before, and I was sure he understood I had no choice.
“Iggy,” he murmured in my ear. “I’m so sorry.” After holding me a few moments longer, he grabbed my hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
I didn’t know where he was taking me, nor did I care. We turned down the curved residents’ hall, and I looked around for Wesley, but he’d disappeared. We passed Alex’s room on the right, then mine and several others before entering the next to the last one on the left. I asked, “Is this your room?”
“Yeah.”
“You have a fake window. How nice.” I walked over to it and looked ‘outside’. The hologram’s false sky was a beautiful clear blue, and it was incredible how much I could miss the sun after not seeing it in a couple of days. Even if it wasn’t real.
“Don’t you have a window?”
I shook my head. Then I scooted toward the fake window and put my back against the side wall of the nook it sat in. “There’s room for you.�
�� I patted the spot across from me. Cael hoisted himself into the nook and put his back against the opposite wall so that we faced each other. Then he reached out to touch my cheek and tuck a few loose strands of hair behind my ear. I loved it when he did that. It was comforting, though his touch made me oversensitive.
“I think you’re meant to be in the sun. The light coming through the window makes you practically glow.” He brushed a hand across my hair. “That must be why you always seemed so happy working outside on the farm.”
My smile faded, and I stared out the window. “I wish Jensen didn’t let you watch that test. I hope he doesn’t let you watch any others. I don’t want you to see me like that.”
“See you like what?”
“I’m not a bad person, Cael. I don’t want you to see me use this stupid power thing I have.”
“I know you’re not a bad person, Iggy. You never could be. God, I would never think that about you. And what you can do is amazing. It’s not bad, and you’re not bad because you have this gift. The way Jensen forces you to use it is the only bad part.”
“I’ve never done anything with it other than hurt things, Cael. There’s nothing good about what I can do. Nothing good about me.”
“You help your family and friends.” I rolled my eyes and he asked, “Have you ever tried doing something good with it? Have you ever even considered that your power could be good and not bad?”
“No. Between being sick for years and then being forced to do what Jensen said, nothing good has ever come of it. Not even when I tried to help you.”
Cael put a hand on my knee. “I want you to think of something positive. Seriously, Iggy. If you’re ever bored or lying in bed and you can’t sleep, I want you to focus on the good you might do. Even if it’s something simple. Don’t dwell on the negative. Jensen does that enough for all of us.”
“What I’d really like to do is ignore it.”
“That’s not realistic. It’s part of who you are. But keep in mind that you have to separate yourself from what you’re made to do in labs. Your ability isn’t to kill animals, Iggy. That’s just how they make you manifest it. I hate to think that, for the rest of your life, you’re going to think you have this horrible thing inside you that you have to hide from yourself and everyone else.”
Users Page 16