Gifts

by Ethan Marsh

I cry. Shout. Nothing works. After I am certain that death would come soon, I wonder why Tedd wants me, or if he does. I look down at my hands. Same as always.

  This could be why. The adrenalin. The adrenalin.

  Everything made perfect sense now. The crashes in the sky, my guardian dying. Tedd killed my guardian just to get to me. He is jealous. I thought I was jealous of him, but really, he was jealous of me? I want to cry, bawl, but it is not worth it at this point. I bet the lady at the campsite was talking to Tedd before I hadn't even shown up. It wasn't a guardian transfer camp. It makes me sick.

  The good thing is, Tedd won't kill me, because I won't let him. I will kill myself before he can have the chance.

  A fiery burst shoots out of my hands. Gravity no longer pushes me into the wonders of death. I am flying, except I don't know how. I wiggle around for a second, trembling around in the blind air.

  I scream. Nobody is around. I would like to be happy, I am happy, but I am the most frightened that I have been. Even more than the time where Henry told me that my guardian had been killed. Even more than the time where the bombing of 2036 happened. I am even more scared.

  The sirens have not reached me yet, nor will they ever will, I hope.

  Before I am able to learn to maneuver the blasts, the sirens come closer to me. They are speeding in what looks like mini-subs, faster than Henry was ever going on the speedtrack. I don't know how to use these fiery bursts, but I have to learn. Quick.

  I move my arms out in front of me. I fly back into the canyon. I start to shriek because of the sight of the deep, deep canyon that stands below me. I calm down and put my arms behind me. Sure enough, me and the fear that glows off of me hover back to the grassy field where I started.

  The ringing of sirens stop. It startles me and the blasts that carried me into the sky turn off. I fall about twenty feet and land on my leg. I cry out in pain, but it is have been better than plummeting to the bottom of a deep canyon. At least I fell in grass, and not rock. Still, I don't dare to say anything, even with the pain that curses my bottom limb. Tedd knows I'm here.

  A sub door slams.

  “Roman?” I recognize that voice from anywhere. I don’t even have to look up from the grass that I am laying in. Tedd is here. He is here for me.

  I have to think. If I try to turn the miracles that came out of my hands on again, I might succeed or fall on my butt again, in even more pain than I am in now.

  “Roman?!” he shouts again. He was getting closer. I stand up and get close to the cliff. He expects me to trust him, he thinks that I think that he is a good person.

  “Roman! There you a-”

  I stand up, ready for negotiations: “Don't make a move or I jump. I know why you're here.” I watch the look on his face. He smiles and looks like he cares a lot about me.

  “What are you talking about?” he says, trying to act stupid.

  “I know you want me! Because of what I can do. What I have. Henry told me everything. I outsmarted you. I know it,” I say, starting to get fierce. I won't jump off the cliff. Unless he forces me to.

  “Okay. Fine. You win.” He places his hands above his head. I think that he is actually giving up and was going to back off until I hear a whistle tweet. Tedd is the one to blow it. About fifty armed soldiers pour out of subs and other vehicles and circle around the grassy patch, surrounding me.

  His smile grows bigger, closer to the side of his cheeks. Without thinking, I run at Tedd and launch my fist into his jaw, then forcefully snatching his neck. I lead him close to the cliff that falls into the deathly canyon. He cooperates, even though his alternative is being choked.

  “One move and this disgusting man will die,” I say to the soldiers, in quite a firm tone for me. I continue to clench Tedd's neck. Not enough to kill him, but enough so he will be in outrageous pain.

  The guards don't move. They do keep their guns up and ready to fire.

  “You-”

  “Shut up!” I yell. I punch him in the gut, using all of my strength to make sure that pain inflicts him. He cries out. I throw him down onto the grassy patch, stomping my foot onto the skin of his quite long neck. The last thing I see is the first thing that I have seen. I look down at Tedd, and with all of the pain that I put him through, his smile just won’t quit. I wonder what makes him so sick, so cursed, to make him come this far, to diminish a poor boys' life to the even more little. Thinking about him makes me more furious.

  I begin to lead my forceful thoughts to Tedd, getting ready for him to free fall into the canyon. But I see one of the guards squeeze the trigger of the large gun that they carry. Then, the pain in my shoulder begins.

  XI

  “Space and time revolve around me. Pain strikes me like getting hit with a metal club against your bare heart. I knew I was shot, but I am not sure where. I could see, but everything was blurry. My sight was bulged with red and orange, probably from all of the blood that poured out of me. I felt pain everywhere, not just where I was shot.

  The soldiers came around me, disbanding from the circle that was once formed. They looked at me through there such, dark, goggles, only afterward they picked me up and carried me above their heads. It seemed ceremonial. Their face masks looked even creepier than before up close. I wondered which one of them had shot me. The camouflage painted van soon came to my vision. I did not like being unaware of things at all. I tried to struggle out of their hands, but it is no use. I cannot move.

  For the part I could see of myself, it was like my hands earlier. Red and fiery. The only difference was that everything hurt. Stung. Badly.

  The soldiers placed me on the floor in the truck. Three of them sat on benches beside me, and the rest of them went somewhere else. Did the soldiers know I was awake? Alive? I notice that the soldiers were having a conversation with each other, but I was too busy freaking out I couldn’t make out what they were saying.

  The van started to move. Not very fast, a pretty smooth ride and quite relaxing. I had no clue how I could have been relaxed. I thought of the last time I had gone to sleep. I could barely remember it with all that had happened in the past couple of days, or weeks. I tuned in to the soldiers conversation, thinking none else could be done with the useless time in paralysis.

  Soldier 1: “So, what did the boss say we are supposed to do with this kid?”

  They did know that I was alive. I continue listening in on their conversations.

  Soldier 2: “We're supposed to run him through one of the MRI's at the main facility.”

  MRI? I didn't know what it was, and I didn't want to. I would escape before that could happen. I zone out of their dialogue, and back into my own conversation. I didn't want to hear anymore anyway.

  Since this “adventure” started, I have not kept track of time. I only kept track of two 'times': day and night. The thought of time made me even more tired as I laid on the cold, metal floor. The tread in the floor felt as if it was cutting into my back. Surprisingly, the weak pain felt amazing.

  Drool started to fall from my mouth as I dozed off, and honestly, it was the best sleep ever that I had ever gotten.”

  I wake up on a bed, much like the one at Connie's office, but I was not there. Wax paper lays under me on the tan, leather bed. I am able to move again, thankfully. I wiggle my hands with excitement, and fear. When the habit forces me to look down at me hands, the sensation continues. My hands were normal, thankfully. I wonder if this whole adventure had all been one big dream. But it would not have been a dream. A nightmare. This deep thought gives me a headache. My body still stings a little, but I can deal with it. I sit up on the bed. The crinkle of fresh wax paper annoys me. As I sit up in the room, I notice that lots of equipment are crammed tightly in the room, which is not that big.

  Where am I? Where did Tedd and his people take me? I hope that none of the “adventure” had never happened at all in the first pl
ace. What about the blasts that came out of my hands and feet? I hope that didn't go away, because can really come in handy one day.

  How am I not dead? I remember the guards shooting me, how did I survive? I went through more pain than I have ever been through before. Then, an urge sneaks up on me and slaps me on the face. Not the same urge, to move, though.

  I feel the need to explore. If I find out where I am, it will make me a lot less anxious.

  Standing up is challenging. My muscles feel like over heated noodles. Only noodles don't hurt with every move that you make. I wince as the pain in my bandaged shoulder begins its constant work. I try to keep my balance as I get closer to the door, grabbing and holding on to anything I possibly can.

  The door opens.

  “Roman! Your awake!” he says as he opened the door and closed it again behind him. He holds his stomach hard from where I punched him in the gut.

  I do not feel bad for him.

  “So, Roman, how ya doin’ today?” he says, so politely I almost couldn't tell that he was the meanest being on Earth. I ignore him, refusing to answer. I keep the rage on my face, though. I know that he notices it, but I cannot tell why he doesn’t react to it. I can't move, thinking I will fall.

  “How are you doing today?” he asks again, with a threatening look on his face, his teeth smashed together into what looks like one row of teeth.

  “Well...” I start. “..I'll be doing a lot better once I put your eye out!” I say angrily as I pounce onto him like a tiger, seeking its prey. The impact of the tiled floor makes his head whip back. Laying on him, I grab his neck, this time, ready to choke him.

  “Listen, you get me out of here right now, and I won't shatter your throat. That would be doing you a favor,” I whisper, firmly.

  “Roman, you can help me sa-”

  I punch him hard in the face. Blood peeks out. I don't wipe it away though. I enjoy seeing him suffer after all that he has done to me that has made me go through.

  “Get me out of here,” I say, slowly, making sure he hears all of the words loud and clear.

  “I’m sorry, Roman, but that's not going to happen.”

  Tedd pulls a gun out of his jacket pocket. I do not have the fastest reflexes in the world, so I cannot grab the weapon from him. I stand up in a hurry, releasing him from misery. I stare at the gun, examining it. It is the same gun that I got shot with. I’m not sure how I am sure of this, but I know that this was the one. Tedd was the one who shot me.

  “Don't move, Roman,” he says, winking at me with a smile. He blows a whistle. The same whistle that he blew. The same outcome happens. Four heavily armed soldiers come pouring in and grab me by the arms, pulling me away.

  “I'm not done with you! I swear to god, I'll kill you!” I scream. I try to fight the soldiers away, but their combined strength disables me to be free.

  The soldiers pull me out of the room. Three of them aim guns at me, while the other one stares at me, and that is when I notice that these soldiers were the same soldiers that carried me to the van. I know they won't kill me, because I have something they want, and they can't take it from me. The soldier who does not have a gun pointed closely at my face puts handcuffs around my wrists. They close tightly around my wrists, which hurt them a lot but by now, I'm used to pain. I even enjoy the pain that is weak.

  The soldiers escort me down several hallways, guns still pointed at me. If I am to make one sudden move, they would fire, and it would be all over.

  All of the other citizens look scared when they see me. I don’t blame them at all. Blood spattered on my face in all directions, as well as the adrenalin pumping up my skin, I would be scared of myself, looking in a mirror.

  I memorize the turns of the hallways so I won’t get lost when I escape. Right, right, left, straight, left, straight.

  That combination could be a matter of life or death.

  I hope I don't die.

  The turns lead me and the soldiers to a room with a very bright light on the ceiling. A chair and a table sit in the middle of the room. A soldier grabs my arms tightly which makes me flinch, and pulls them behind the chair so I have to sit down, and ties a rope in a knot around my wrists and the chair so I am stuck and can barely move. The soldiers stand by the door.

  Even though this is not the time, I decide to have some fun. What else could I possibly lose?

  “You know.. you guys don't talk much,” I say in a playful voice. I used to use that voice all of the time when I was younger.

  “Your interrogation will begin shortly,” a soldier replies.

  Interrogation? That freaks me out. I decided not to talk to the soldiers anymore because they might reveal more information that I don’t want to know at the moment. Like an execution to go along with the interrogation.

  I sit in the chair for awhile, my hands hurting from the small diameter of the cuffs. The peace ends when Tedd walks in, with a bandage covering half his face. He hair is still shaped perfectly. He continues to hold his stomach tightly. He stands by the table, across from me. It quivers, but his smile is still there. Still there to haunt me forever.

  “Hello, Tedd,” I say.

  “Don't say anything unless you're answering a question asked by me.” This seems harsh. I start to see Tedd's mean side. I knew that he had one, but he kept it on the inside of him.

  “Do you know about yourself?” he asks.

  “Do you know about yourself, you mindless piece of-”

  A hand buried in a heavy black glove comes across my face in a fist, inflicting pain against my jaw.

  “Do you know about yourself?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know what you are capable of?”

  This one stumbles me. Truly I don’t.

  “I would, but you came in trying to kill me before I could receive that information. So that's your fault.”

  I try to get in his face. Make him feel the shame that he deserves. He deserves to die. I watch his face crinkle up, in anger, or relief?

  “Who told you about yourself?”

  I tried to think of Connie's last name. I couldn't remember it though.

  “Dr. Connie..” I say. “..she told me just before you came and tried to find and kill me.”

  Tedd thinks for a minute. He rubs his finger against his clean shaven chin. Then, his face lights up and his eyes widen.

  “Oh yes, Dr. McKensie! We used to work together.”

  “Used,” I mumble, trying to insult him.

  “Shut up!” he screams at me.

  Another fist slams into my face, this time straight for the mouth.

  I cry out in pain, then do as he says.

  “I also used to work with your good friend, Henry.”

  “I know that.”

  “Do you?”

  “Yep. I do.”

  “Do you know what I do for a living?”

  “Besides ruining peoples lives? No never mind, that's a full-time job,” I yell, with rasp in my voice.

  “I'm a scientist. I'm working on improving humans. Improving the world. ”

  “And you want me because of the adrenalin that I have, which you want to try and use it on other people,” I say, trying to get him to realize that I knew all of this before he told me.

  I knew all of this before.

  “Please, Roman,” he begs. I have all of the leverage. I am in control of the situation. Kind of.

  My thoughts lead to the up side and the down side. The upside, humans would be faster, stronger, and more efficient. The down side, what if it only works on certain people, and the rest of them, die? Also, if it does work, people could rebel against the government with their new powers, which I would be okay with, but I couldn't stand another revolution. I'm not sure if I want to be experimented on for countless hours either.

  “Lets see... I'll think about it, but if you want any chance of me saying yes, I want to talk to Dr. McKens
ie first,” I say, trying to gain more leverage than I have already.

  “And why should I let you do this?” he says, trying to suck up. He knows why he should let me.

  “Because I have something you need.”

  “And what's that?” Still sucking up.

  “Adrenalin.”

  XII

  He turns around immediately after the word leaves my mouth, stamping his feet on the ground, turning towards the door.

  “Thirty-eight, get Dr. McKensie on the phone,” Tedd demands. I wonder if the soldiers had names.

  The soldier without the gun, who I think has a higher rank than the other soldiers, runs out of the room.

  “Do you work for the government, Tedd?” I ask.

  He ignores me. I still think he does.

  I continue to sit in the chair until my wrists become numb. The ropes squeeze against my wrists. Where is Connie?

  Tedd walks over to the table.

  “You listen to me you little bastard. If you try to escape in anyway, I swear to god, I will cut your head off myself,” Tedd says as he walks out of the room. He probably went to get Connie.

  That leaves me, and the soldier; with a gun. I know while he's gone, it's the perfect time for me to escape. I can deal with the soldier, but how do I get out of the chair? I have to think quickly. Time is running out. I'm not sure where Tedd went, but he'll probably get back soon.

  I think of something. Maybe if my hands could shoot fire, maybe they could burn the rope; and the handcuffs.

  How did I turn them on, though? I flex my hands, over and over again, hoping for a huge blast of fire to escape out of my hands, but nothing works.

  Then I think of something brilliant. I was mad when the flames turned on. I have to get mad. I thought of things that would make me mad. Tedd, living in the Destitute zone, sure these things all made me really mad, but it wasn't enough.

  Then, I think of the one thing that made me want to grab somebodies neck and ramble it until it falls off.

  When my guardian was killed. Just the thought of it makes me scream loudly, overflowing with anger, I started to get sweaty as the soldiers stare at me. It wasn't enough. Then I look to my chest. Just a shirt. No compass. That does it. Tedd took it, the last thing that I had on him. He made it, though. That...little...liar.

  My hands get really hot, piercing the rope, and the handcuffs. In about half a minute, I would be free. I feel veins nearly popping out of my body.

  Sweat dripped to my face and that's when the soldier reaches for his walkie. He is probably alerting Tedd.

  I wait for a couple of seconds, basically standing up, ready to fly out of the trap, into freedom. The rope and handcuffs broke and I charge out of the chair. I tackle one soldier to the ground and rip his helmet off, revealing his face. I launch my fist with great force hard against his cheek.

  I turn around, only to see the other soldier, his gun aimed straight at me. I grab the tip of the gun, snatching it from his hands. I toss it to the other side of the room, then throw him to the ground, punching him as I did to the other.

  After the blow, my hands press against their chests, piercing skin. Blood starts to flow as an indicator for me knowing that they both are hurt. A lot.

  After I think I have hurt them enough, I grab his walkie, burning it within my hands in a matter of seconds.

  “Don't make a move,” I command. I don't want to kill him, but he could survive the burn I gave him. I decide to spare him. I want to be simply civil.

  I swipe the gun from him that he had in his pocket and run out the door, which was oddly enough unlocked(stupid Tedd.)

  Thankfully I had remembered the turns to leave the building, or to where I was in the first place. Left, Right, Right, Left, Straight, Left. I slid down the hallways, passing by all other people in the building. They probably didn't know who I was, or why I am here.

  The turns lead me to a hallway. If I choose to run down the hallway to the right, I could see a hallway that eventually, leads to a dead end. If I dash down to the left, I can see a door to the outside world. The paradise, in comparison to what I am in now.

  Of course, I run to the hallway leading outside, to freedom. As I start to run down the hallway, a large voice sounds, echoing all through the building:

  “Roman! Do not leave the building! If anyone sees a boy with brown hair, five and a half feet, do not let him leave!”

  I suspect the voice was Tedd, even though it is disguised by the speakerphone. Of course I don't listen to him, I run down the hallway and into the room with the door. I am so close. So close to what I have always wanted.

  As I am about to run out the door, a man stops me with his hand. He has probably heard the announcement that had come on through some kind of speaker. I couldn't care less for who it is, so I grab the gun from my pocket and point it at his face. Then I realize who the man is.

  XIII

  I put the gun back immediately, acting like it was never up against his face, “Roman, what are you doing?” he asks.

  “What am I doing here?! What are you doing here, Steve? I thought that you were dead, that Tedd killed you,” I ask in confusion. I wonder why he doesn't look in shock, even with the ridiculous redness on my face and on my hands, which are waving in the air with emphasis. The expression on his face is blank, empty, like nothing is on his mind.

  “I'm here to sign forms for the experiment,” he says which shocks me. I look at him, raising an eyebrow, and I usually do that for when I don't like something, so I assume that he knows what that means.

  “Roman, Tedd is a very compassionate man,” Steve says, “I know about you, Roman. Tedd will make sure you are safe during the experiment. Also, I hope you didn't make me come all the way from the Destitute zone just for you, for nothing.”

  “No! I don't want to be in the experiment!” I yell, pushing past him. He stops me again, grabbing my shoulder.

  “Roman, you doing a little something for Tedd could change humanity forever,” he says grabbing me by the arm now. I try to struggle away, but Steve is much stronger. This is when I have to again look at the upsides, and the down sides. If I participate in the experiments and agree with Steve, Tedd will experiment on me and who knows what will happen. The only other option is to hurt Steve because that is the only way that I will get past him. But Steve, the one who raised me. I will get away, but I will never forgive myself. My brain feels like it is twisting in to knots, one by one. I have to make a decision. If I don't, Tedd will find me soon. I pull the gun from my pocket. Immediately, Steve backs down and gets on his knees, begging, “Roman, Roman. It doesn't have to be this way.”

  “Humanity doesn't deserve to change.”

  My hand squeezes on the gun. I squint my eyes as I start to cry. I don't want to shoot him.

  “Roman, you don't have to do this. We can work it out,” he croaks.

  There is no time for working things out. I pull the trigger.

  IXV

  “Sometimes you may think you've hit rock bottom. That may be true, but you always have the chance to climb back out of it.”