by Lucy Rains
When I turned to Kyson he held out his own gun, aiming it at the glass window. I jerked back and hid behind him as he fired one shot through the window, shattering it and reaching inside to open the door from the inside.
“This is how we’re getting into locked rooms?” I asked with an incredulous tone. “Someone is going to come across a door that doesn’t have a window.”
“Once Gavin is inside an office, he can grab a keycard from one of the researchers desk for all the others doors.
“But not us?” I asked.
He shook his head, twisting the handle and pulling the door open. “No time.”
We stepped over the broken glass and bright overhead fluorescent lights beamed to life as we entered the room.
The lab held shelf after shelf of vials, glass bottles, tubes, all full of various liquids. It was more than I could study and take in with what little time we had to destroy the solutions and materials around us. I stood dumbfounded, trying to understand my surroundings and where I should go first.
“Turn on the water and disposal in the sink,” Kyson ordered, walking to a large fridge and opening the doors. More vials, labeled glass cups and containers of various sizes with numbers, codes and names written on them.
I peered inside, reading the names, Pike, Hancock, Randens, Thourpe…
These were, I paused mentally, last names? These belonged clients, patients. Their embryos, eggs….people trying to get pregnant. People coming to my mother for help. My head tilted to try and see them better. I was barely aware of the footsteps behind me and low voices coming into the room.
“Jade?!” Kyson urged, jerking my attention back to him. Gavin stood next to him, scowling at my lack of focus. “Bring everything from the freezer and dump it into the sink!”
“But…” I looked back to the freezer, “We can’t, I mean. These are people’s, real people’s,” I gestured towards the frozen samples, “things. And they’re trying to get pregnant, we can’t destroy that.”
“Jade-” Kyson said.
“These are probably their eggs, their babies,” I stuttered, not sure what else to say.
“Shit Jade, stop thinking with your damn heart and think with your brain!” Gavin shouted over the running water and disposal, “Your mother isn’t going to be able to help anyone after tonight, and it's time you focus.”
I glared back, curing my hands into fists. Why was he always such a heartless bastard?
“I’m heading downstairs,” he announced, shooting me a look and turning to leave the room, crunching on broken glass as he left.
I looked back to Kyson, hoping for some help. He gave me a pitiful frown and turned back to the freezer, where he began pulling everything out of the freezer and throwing it to the floor. Glass shattered, flying everywhere, liquids mixing.
“We don’t have time Jade.” More glass, more liquid, debri everywhere. He turned to the shelves and began throwing the frozen samples into the sink. “If you can’t do this then go down the hall, Alex will be on the right.”
There was no scorn in his voice, only heated determination to get the job done.
A sinking feeling pulled my stomach down, and my head dropped. Surely I could do something. I looked up to the counter and noticed a small metal freezer with a lock on it. I walked over and lifted the intricate metal lock, giving it a pull. Why would they have a locked freezer?
Putting my hands around the base, I tried lifting the freezer but realized it was bolted to the counter. Whatever was in there was important to the scientists. What sorts of bio material would be that important? Something pricked in the back of my mind, urging me to get inside of it.
I wrapped my hands around the lock and closed my fingers. Allowing my energy to pulse through my palms and into my skin. My grip tightened, I focused my energy straight into the lock and pulsed in heavy beats. The metal vibrated, lock warming in my hand. Glancing at the lock, I knew it needed more force. I pushed harder with my energy, feeling through the cracks with my source and directing the hardest push of energy. My arms began shaking, my fists turning white. The sound of waves filled my ears, blood pulsing through my head, sweat pricking my arms. I pushed even harder within my hand, the first fission beginning to form within. I could feel it with my energy as it spread to the surface and the lock splintered open in my hand.
Gasping a breath of air, I opened my eyes and dropped it on the counter, my hands still shaking from the exertion. I wiped them on my pants, shook them like rags, rubbed them together. I stared at the lock and then looked to the freezer.
“Wow.” Kyson’s voice startled me. I had been concentrating so hard, I didn’t know how long he had been watching. “Good girl,” his voice warmed my chest and I gave a quick nod.
I reached forward and pulled the small freezer open. Inside were a small amount of test tubes. Frozen specimens. Lined up in neat rows. I tilted my head sidewalks to read the white labels that had been printed and attached.
K-Gamate 2/13
P-Gamate 2/13
J-Sputum 4/04
G-Gamate 1/13
A-Sputum 1/11
A- Erythrocyte 2/09
J- Erythrocyte 2/04
K-Erythrocyte 1/12
P- Leukocytes 1/10
J- Ovum 10/04
J- Ovum 9/03
There were a few dozen, with initials, dates and words I didn’t understand. I figured Kyson did though, from his knowing sigh as he reached into the freezer to grab them.
“What are they?” I asked.
He began smashing the tubes into a nearby sink, running hot water over the frozen fluids.
“Our bodily fluids,” he answered darkly. “Blood cells, Sperm, Saliva, everything. From all of us.”
My mind was whirling but my mouth felt stuck. My jaw hung open as I watched him destroy, no doubt, the most valuable asset my mother had taken from us. Stolen from us.
I grabbed the last tray and threw it into the sink, glass splinters showering over the edge of the counter. Kyson looked at me with wide eyes for a second, before turning back to the task.
“I’ll finish here, go find Alex.”
I nodded and stepped backwards, crunching on glass shards and leaving the lab.
My eyes blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the lower lighting in the hallway. I heard distant voices, speaking quickly. A gunshot. I jerked at the noise, rubbing my hands over my shoulders. The sound came from beneath my feet. Downstairs.
Someone clicked on a keyboard somewhere in an office, and I knew it was Alex. As my feet carried me forward I began testing handles on doors, seeing if any were open. All were locked. No lights were on to show me what was inside any of the rooms. As I moved down the hallway another hall branched off to the left of me. I stopped, peering down it for a second. When I took a step forward to look for Alex, and presence filled my senses and I paused.
Curiosity.
Fear.
I closed my eyes and pushed my sixth sense outward to see if I could feel it again. Another gunshot. The fear blossomed again in my mind.
A bright red flag waved in my mind. I shouldn’t wander, I knew I needed to go find Alex. Everything in my body told me this was a bad idea. My body still faced the direction I needed to go, but my head wouldn’t turn away from the emotions I felt from someone. So I ignored the bad premonitions, letting my own curiosity guide my steps down the new hallway.
More locked doors, more windowless walls. Yet the presence grew stronger. My feet slowed, and I moved forward cautiously, my hands raised in preparation.
At the end of the hallway was a glass wall, with creamed colored floor to ceiling curtains blocking my view inside. I stopped a few meters back, not willing to get any closer. The emotions I felt were coming from inside the glass walled room.
Another gunshot from downstairs. Heated voices. Frantic male yelling.
Anger began mixing with the fear.
I took a step closer, trying to peer through curtain slits to see inside.
; When I was only a few feet away, the curtains jerked aside and a wide eyed, bald headed child stood on the opposite side of the glass wall.
CHAPTER 39
The child smiled.
My blood ran cold at the sight. It was not a normal smile. Wide, thick lips, that contrasted harshly against pale skin that had never seen the light of day. Teeth too small for its face. My eyes scanned the figure while my empath senses tasted the figure’s mind. Fear turned to excitement. Excitement turned to anxiety. Anxiety turned to curiosity. The swift speed of its change of thoughts hit me faster than any normal person and I took a step back.
The child’s eyes flickered from my foot that had moved, back to my face and it’s smile dropped, its eyes widened. A startling shade of pale blue so light the color almost blended in with the whites of its eyes. A hand came up to the glass. Fingers abnormally long.
I closed my gaping mouth and swallowed, taking another step back.
“Wait,” the child’s voice rang out, high and raspy. It gave a small cough, not covering its mouth. A small moisture cloud misted on the glass in front of its mouth.
Why was there a test subject upstairs? In a glass room? I pulled my eyes from the tiny form in front of me and looked behind the figure, scanning the room from what little I could see. Wires, monitors, a bed, a computer, stuffed animals.
“Who are you?” the little figure asked me curiously.
My eyes locked on it again, my mouth coming open but no sound coming out. It waited, watching me, its wide mouth turned up at the corners, trying to appear friendly. When I didn’t answer there was a shift. It’s emotions turned desperately wanting.
“I’m Chloe.” Chloe put a long fingered hand on her chest, which was covered in a white long sleeved gown, tied at the back just below the neck, stopping at her knees. She kept her other hand on the glass.
I swallowed again, unsure what to say. For some reason the small form in front of me created a sense of fearful caution I didn’t understand. She was obviously weak, her blue veins showing prominently through her pale, almost translucent skin. I didn’t understand this creature.
“Why are you here?” Chloe asked me. “You’re not a doctor.” Her eyes scanned my black clothing again. “You’re an outsider.” Her voice held a tinge of accusation.
“Why are you here?” I asked.
Her mouth dropped at the corner and then she turned away from the glass to let out a fit of coughs, the sound coming deep from her chest. The hand she left on the glass wall trembled as she did so.
When Chloe turned back a few drops of saliva dotted her chin. “To help Doctor Vera.” She said quietly.
A nagging thought poked at my mind as I watched her. Her tiny frame, small stature, only coming up to my chest, her high voice, all screamed child-like. But her mind, her emotions struck me as much older.
“How old are you?” I asked.
Both of her hands came to the glass and her eyes darted behind me and then back to my face. My mind didn’t register the footsteps behind me. “Please, take me with you,” she said urgently.
I flinched back like I had been hit. “What?”
“Please, I know you can!” She coughed again, her shoulders bunching forward. “They’ll kill me here. I failed! And they’re going to kill me!” Her voice had turned to a high wheeze.
I stared at Chloe, completely clueless for what to do. Her request impossible, yet could I leave her? Judging from her frail body, her signs of internal distress, she wasn’t going to live much longer. What sorts of tests had they been doing on her?
And then another realization kicked me in the gut. Chloe was a girl. The guys told me I was the only girl subject. Had they lied? Or had Chloe been born outside of the lab?
Finally, heavy footsteps behind me broke my thoughts and I turned to see Alex running up behind me. Followed by the others.
“Jade! What are you doing down here? We have to go!”
When the guys looked past me to the glass room I stood in front of, their footsteps slowed and hushed curses slipped from Alex’s lips.
“Who is she?” I demanded.
Gavin pulled out a gun and began walking towards a door set into a wall to the right of the glass pane Chloe stood in front of. He pointed his gun at the handle and spread his stance.
A jolt of fear hit me, “No!” I yelled, my heart jumping in my chest.
“Jade, stop,” Kyson said, putting a hand on my shoulder.
“But she-” I looked back to Chloe, her eyes darting from me to Gavin, fear pulsing in her. “She’s harmless! You can’t, she’s-”
“Another test subject,” Gavin said.
“But you said I was the only girl!” I reminded them. My eyes went to Pierce, to Kyson’s, to Gavin. “You said-”
“You’re the only girl to ever survive,” Pierce answered. “We didn’t think Chloe was still alive.”
“She’s just a child!” Tears pricked my eyes and when I took a deep breath to clear the lump in my throat the thick smell of smoke filled my mouth.
“She may look like a child,” Pierce said, his eyes on Chloe, “But she turned 13 last week.”
My head turned back to Chloe, a body I would not have thought older that 6 or 7. So small, so underdeveloped.
“A female subject has never lived past 11,” Alex said. “They must be pumping her with some serious vitamin shit to keep her ticker going.”
The ear splitting sound of gunfire hitting metal at close range rang through the hallway and I jerked back. Gavin wiggled the door handle but wasn’t able to open the door. He cursed again.
“We don’t have time for this,” Kyson said.
“Why not just go through the glass?” Alex asked.
Gavin held up his gun and aimed it at the nearest glass wall panel. “Bullet proof,” he said before firing off a shot that only made a small sliver into the clear glass.
I coughed, the smell of smoke becoming stronger.
“We have to go!” Pierce barked.
“I know, damn it!” Gavin hollered back. He holstered his gun and grabbed the door handle with both hands, jumped up and shoved down on the handle with all his weight and strength. The handle slammed down and back into position.
Chloe dropped her hands and began coughing violently. Her eyes on the door that Gavin was trying to get into.
“Will the smoke make its way into the vents in her room?” I asked.
“Yes,” Alex answered. Gavin jerked on the handle again with no luck. “But we can’t be sure that someone won’t come in here in time to save her body and salvage her DNA before her body is destroyed.”
“Why is there no keypad on this one?” Gavin asked angrily. I saw the white card poking out from his back pocket and noticed the only way into this room was with an old fashioned metal key.
Taking one last glance at Chloe and ignoring the heavy brick of guilt sitting in my stomach, I walked forward and pushed Gavin to the side, while wrapping my hands around the weakened lock. Gavin began to protest but Kyson said something to make him back off from me.
I closed my eyes and wrapped my hands around the door lever. The metal warmed as my energy rushed into the material, I forced it into the cracks, between the door and metal. My fingers wrapped tighter, my palms shaking. I bent my elbows, pushing harder with gritted teeth and until I heard a light snap and the lever pushed free.
I let out a heavy breath and took a step back, so that Gavin could rush through, pulling his gun free.
Kyson came up behind me, pulling me into his chest and I rested against him to regain my spent energy. My eyes came up as Chloe let out a shriek of anger. Her deformed face twisting into rage as she rushed towards Gavin, long fingers outstretched and curled like claws. Gavin raised his gun and fired before she reached him.
Bile rose in my throat. Several things happened at once and my vision blurred as all my senses were knocked off balance. Blood and bone splattered onto the glass as Chloe flew backwards into the glass. A screeching alarm sounded
above our heads and the main lights suddenly shut down. Red emergency lights came on in their place. The smell of smoke was becoming even more intense. The push of anxiety from all four guys weighed on my mind.
A flame was lit inside of Chloe's room and dropped near her body that laid awkwardly on the floor. The darkened room should have kept me from seeing her carnage but my heightened vision allowed my eyes to see the piece of skull missing from the front of her head and blood running down her face. Nausea hit me like a heavy wave and sweat pricked my forehead.
My arm was jerked and my body pulled away from the glass panels of Chloe’s room, where the flame crept closer to her body, reaching the edges of her gown.
I needed to look away. Like the horror movie you know you shouldn’t watch. My feet moved to keep from falling but my head stayed turned, watching as her gown caught fire.
Finally we turned a corner and I was forced to face forward to keep up with the guys. A cough built in my throat and I noticed the smoke that poured from the vents.
Pierce stumbled in the hallway, screaming curses as he caught himself.
“What is it?!” Gavin screamed over the sirens.
Pierce closed his eyes, “They’re coming!”
Suddenly my own eyes closed as I felt the low hum of many aggressive emotions nearby. I had to crane my senses, stretching out farther than ever to get a feel.
“They’re here!” I corrected. I shook my head, looking with my mind to feel an opening. “Both sides of building,” I hollered over the alarm.
Alex cursed, “We gotta go through the basement!”
Pierce and Gavin shook their heads. “We can’t!”
Alex yelled again, over the blare of the alarm, “We can hold our breath, we’re fast, it’ll be fine.”
I looked at the fear in Gavin’s eyes and realized going down to the basement must mean taking us near the area where the start of the fire was. Or through it.
“What about a window?” I asked, blinking quickly. The burn of smoke was creating tears to clear my eyes.
“There are none!” Alex yelled.
“They’ll be coming through the basement too!” Pierce argued.