Exposing ELE (ELE Series #3) (5 page)

The room is relatively small, maybe ten feet wide and ten feet long.
We stand there staring at the carnage, awaiting instructions from Lee. I look around at all the faces, some slightly familiar from life in the mountain. There are some I’ve spoken with when I was a Runner or just seen passing by in my daily routes. I think I see my teacher somewhere in the corner so I turn away. I can’t get distracted from the real reason I’m here.

Sadly, I don't see my parents or Tony in this room. One person in particular makes me queasy; it’s the woman from the first day my father and I arrived at the shelter.
She’s the one that, while standing in line for our meal, told us that this was all a conspiracy and we’re going to die. I don’t think she’s crazy anymore, that’s for sure.

Seeing that prisoners, not Unfriendlies, occupy this room, Lee steps away from the person behind him, becoming visible. He motions for us to drop our hands and all of us become visible too.
I reluctantly drop my hand from the person in front of me. Lee quickly instructs us about what to do. “I want you all to try and find out why these people are like this. Work quickly and quietly so we remain undetected. If you suspect someone is about to open the door and enter, you all need to run to the wall over there.” He points in the direction of the northerly wall. “Invisibility people, you need to immediately grab as many people as you can. If for some reason you can’t make it then you need to lie down and remain motionless.”  We nod our heads and get to work.

I walk over to the woman that makes my toes curl and examine her.
She looks normal except for the vacant expression she exhibits. I look over all the visual parts of her body and see nothing out of place. There must be something that is causing them to be like this, I think to myself.

I listen into her thoughts but all I hear are jumbled words that make no sense whatsoever.
After listening to her for a little while longer though, I hear two words that come up often… ‘arm’ and ‘hurt’.

I look down at her arms but don’t see anything unusual at first glance.
I roll up her sleeve and hit something with my hand. A small white patch sticks to the fleshy part of her arm. I run my fingers over it and feel a strange sensation go through my body. It looks like some sort of an adhesive is holding it in place. I decide to attempt to remove it. I remember my dad always telling me when I was younger to make sure I rip the bandage off instead of spending the time to pick it off little by little. So that’s what I do. I rip it off and I'm startled by the moan the woman makes. I look down at her arm where the bandage once was and see hundreds of teeny-tiny pinprick dots of blood.

I look back at the bandage and realize that the bottom of it is filled with hundreds of short needles. I have to fight the gagging sensation that comes with the sight of this. It looks so otherworldly, not like anything I've ever seen.

I make eye contact with Lee and motion him over to me. I show him the bandage and the spot where it was on her arm.

He checks another person’s arm beside me and, lo and behold, there’s another bandage on their arm, identical to this one.
He quickly removes it and examines it as well.

While he’s looking at it, I see the woman below me begin to stir and wake up.
“Lee,” I whisper.

He turns and witnesses her waking also.
She seems extremely groggy so I place my hands on her and focus healing her. Color floods back into her cheeks and her eyes are no longer glazed over.

I put my finger up to my lip to do my best to calm her and tell her she can’t scream.
I bend down over her and whisper, “It’s okay. I’m one of the good guys and we’re trying to help you. Can you tell me anything about what’s going on… anything that you remember?” I look at her with hope that maybe she can tell me where my parents and Tony are. The thought of them like this makes me want to hurl.

“They shot us. They killed us.” She looks like she's about to start freaking out. “They shot us. They killed us.” She keeps repeating this mantra over and over and is growing steadily higher in volume.

Maybe this wasn't the best person to try to get inside info from. I get as close as I can to her face so she will shut up and look into my eyes. “YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN AND NOT SAY ANOTHER WORD.” Just like that, her eyes glaze over and she nods her head.

Lee gives me a funny look.

The other woman that Lee pulled the patch off of is starting to wake up too. I decide the best thing to do is to start straight off with compulsion. “YOU ARE SAFE. DON'T SCREAM. WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU. YOU NEED TO HELP US FIRST THOUGH. TELL US EVERYTHING YOU SAW AND EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT WHAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE YOU WERE CAPTURED.”

Her black eyes glaze over. Of all the gifts to have, feeling other's emotions right now would be the suckiest of all. She speaks in a monotone voice. “They shot us. When we woke up we were in a huge room filled with guards. They pricked our fingers and placed the blood on strips, which they ran through handheld machines. Sometimes the machine beeped. When that happened, they took the person out of the room at gunpoint. The machine didn't beep for me. The rest of us that remained in the room were scared. The guards came by one by one and placed a patch on each person's arm. They all fell down within seconds. I thought they were killing us.” I can sense her emotions starting to rise.

“IT'S OKAY. YOU ARE NOT DEAD. YOU ARE SAFE. DO YOU KNOW WHAT THE TESTS WERE FOR? OR WHERE THEY TOOK THE OTHERS?” I doubt she knows but it's worth a shot.

She shakes her head. “We don't know what the tests were for or where the others went.”

I have to fight off the frustration that builds. It's not like it's her fault that she doesn't know. I clench my hands into fists and stand up quickly.

Lee takes over my position, kneeling down by the woman. “Thank you for the information. You will need to follow our instructions to the dot to stay safe. Do you understand? We will do our best to get you out of here.”

I steadily back away as I watch Lee continue to comfort the woman. Soon enough I find my back against the wall. Everyone in the room is busy looking elsewhere so I take my opportunity. I turn myself invisible and step through the wall.

I find myself in a dreary, grey-bricked hallway lit by long rows of fluorescent tube lights. To say the decorating is cold and uninviting is an understatement. This is a place that you don't want to stick around for long, if at all. I move through the hallway, thankfully not running into any guards. Eventually the grey brick walls turn into barred jail cells. I look from side to side into each one expecting to find someone. They are all empty.

Hearing footsteps around a nearby corner, I step through the bars to hide in an empty cell. The bars offer little protection, but I'm not taking the chance on running into anyone who can see through abilities. A guard holding an assault rifle walks purposefully down the hallway.

The thought of him finding our people in that room, sends me into panic mode. I don't know if that's where his destination is but I have a duty to help them. I step quietly out into the hallway, reaching for the knife in the waistband of my pants. I speed up to where I'm right behind him. He turns around all of a sudden and looks right through me. I hold my breath. His eyes are copper like my dad's. I wonder if he saw this coming. I look down at my knife and back up at the guy who is about to turn back around. My heart hammers in my chest as I think about what I'm about to do.

I move closer to the man and raise the knife. That's when I feel it. His emotions. Something within him is torn. He despises himself and feels helpless at the same time. So many feelings go through him and into me. I slowly lower the knife, realizing that this guy is just a pawn. He doesn't deserve to die.

A lesson Tony taught me on knocking people out comes to mind. I move forward and wrap my arm around his throat so fast that he doesn't stand a chance. With his neck in the crook of my elbow like Tony showed me, I pull him off balance and he falls, with me underneath him. I didn't mean for that to happen but he is so much taller than I am. I do manage to keep my grip on him and squeeze my arm tighter. I'm hoping to block the artery on the side of his neck like I learned from Tony. I have to focus my strength in order to not do major damage to this guy. The entire time my heart is beating so loudly that I can feel it in my own throat. The man struggles against me for a few seconds before, eventually, he passes out.

Whew! Thank goodness. That was probably one of the scariest things I've ever done. I push the guy off me and drag him through the bars of a jail cell using my abilities. I grab a dusty sheet from the metal bed in the cell and tear it up. I tie a gag around his mouth and then bind his hands and feet, leaving him unconscious in the corner. I go back and get his gun. I use my strength to bend the muzzle so that the gun is no longer usable, and place it in his newly acquired jail cell.

I head back out in the hallway and stop prior to the corner that the guard had come from. I listen for any sounds of more guards. After a few seconds I feel confident the coast is clear and step into the hallway.

This one looks a little different; stark white walls with glass windows dotting the hallways, ending with a pair of windowless steel doors. I move to the first window and peer in carefully. An unconscious person lies on an exam table with tubes in their arms. A surgical tray with unidentified tools is at their side. I want to go help them but I can't chance waking someone up here. That would be another person I would have to carry with me; I can't risk that. I have to find my parents and Tony.

I continue down the hallway checking each window. Every time I hope that I'm going to find my parents or Tony, but no such luck so far. At the ninth window, I begin to feel like this mission may be hopeless. I peer in and find that this room is larger than the others are. A hospital curtain is drawn halfway around a table. I can only see the prisoner's feet.

Not wanting to leave any stone unturned, I step into the room to get a better look. That's when I see him. Even though his back is to me, I immediately recognize his hair and his tall, muscular frame. My heart starts racing. Not knowing what new abilities Zack may have acquired, I duck behind a small filing cabinet.

Zack opens the curtain a little further and looks around the room. I cringe and scoot further behind the cabinet. It isn't the best form of protection but it's something. I don't know if I can take Zack and I don't want to chance anything. Not with the red I saw in his eyes the last time we met. Plus, I have no idea what in the world he has turned into. Last I saw him in the mountain he only had one gift. It's obvious he's been experimenting with the immunizations. He may even be able to see through gifts now, which is why I hide in fear.

I hold my breath and make myself one with the cabinet as I hear the curtain open up further. I can't see what's going on but I hear a few footsteps and then the cling of instruments hitting the metal tray.

I wait for a few seconds before I get the courage to peak around the cabinet. When I do, my heart drops. I watch in horror as Zack finishes injecting the prisoner with a shot. Not just any shot, but a red shot. I can't see the prisoner because Zack is blocking him from my view.

I have to shrink back behind the cabinet when he starts to turn around. I listen to the sound of the needle hitting the tray and then the curtain is moved some more. More footsteps follow and then Zack comes into view.

My heart pounds in my chest and I swear he can hear it. He doesn't flinch though. Instead, he moves purposefully to the door and leaves the room.

In one strong whoosh, I release the breath I was holding. My stomach turns upside down as I quietly stand up. Whoever was given that red shot is either about to die or will be turning into a Reaper. Either way, it's a death sentence. I move hesitantly towards the curtain that Zack had fully closed.

At first, thoughts of a Reaper jumping out at me cross my mind. Then I remember when Tony told me about Chris, one of the soldiers who hated me, and his girlfriend who took the red shot. He said it took several days for her to turn after taking it.

I move a little more confidently to the curtain now. I grab the light blue fabric and begin pulling it back. When the prisoner comes into view, my knees buckle and I hit the floor. As if a freight train hit me straight in the chest, I suck in a haggard breath. Tears come to my eyes as I look up at Tony. “No!” I cry out in a muffled whisper. My heart beats heavily as I gain the energy to stand up and move to his side.

He too has a patch on his arm and he's unconscious but breathing. I reach out and run my hand through his copper hair. He looks so peaceful. He has no idea what was injected into his blood stream. He doesn't know that in a few days he will turn into the very monster he worked so hard to destroy.

I don't realize I'm crying until my tears land on his arm. This can't be happening! He cannot turn into a Reaper! My hands ball up as I consider the complete unfairness of this situation. He saved me. I was supposed to save him! He doesn't deserve this fate! No, I can't deal with this. I just realized that I may have feelings for this man and now he's going to die? No!

I kick the wall next to the examination table, leaving a heavy indentation in the paint. “Crap!” I cry out. That freaking hurt! I have to walk around in a few small circles to walk off the pain, praying all the while that no one heard that.
If I have any chance of getting Tony out of here, he has to be awake.