Program 13 Book One (20 page)

But I knew that was a lie. Even if I was gone, he would still be in danger.

“No,” I replied. “My existence has endangered him, yes, but it isn’t solely my fault he’s in danger. “Even if you were to kill me this instant, you know just as well as I do that McVeigh would bring him in and turn him into a Program, just as he would any person on the street that he considered his prey. No one is safe from him.”

Sterling
shook his head as he walked towards the couch, his boots clanking against the floor one by one. He reached for the remote and adjusted the volume. “That may be right, but you know they face worse consequences because they know you.” The news was airing a story about a missing young girl, Alice Connelly. “She did look a lot like you,”
Sterling
sighed. She was the girl that McVeigh used in my place when he announced my death on the news. She was killed because she looked like me. She was killed because of me.

Her death was my fault, and I couldn't deny that. No matter how much I wanted to.

As much as I wanted to ask why, I couldn’t. Letting
Sterling
know I wasn’t out to hurt anyone would only allow them to hurt more people. I couldn’t deal with that. Not now.

“What is it that’s so special about Program Thirteen?” I asked, curious as to why they needed her back so desperately.

He looked at me and laughed. “She’s a special Program, our first teenage Program to date. There’s no way McVeigh will let her go, willingly that is.”

I looked over at
Colton
, he was waking up. His hands were
trying to break the restraints as
his body
shook
in panic. He needed me now more than ever. The blood
continued to flow down his face. T
he other attacker
stood
behind
him with a gun ready, eager for one of us to attack
.

“If you point that gun any closer to him, I swear I’ll kill you,” I uttered through my teeth. The man laughed, inching forward. I pulled on the restraints binding my arms behind the chair, trying to pull my hard drive out of whatever it was plugged into. I managed to get one hand free before
Sterling
noticed.

“Brian, I think you should come stand by Thirteen,” he called out.

“I’m not Thirteen.” As soon as the words left my mouth, the restraints snapped, and I leaned down to break the ones surrounding my ankles. Once I was free, I lunged forward, knocking Brian to the ground. “I told you not to get any closer to him. Did I not?” His eyes were filling with tears. He was genuinely scared of me and I liked that. “I don’t make promises I can’t keep.” I pulled the gun out of his hands and put a bullet through his chest.

Colton needs you
, I kept reminding myself, but I wasn’t of any use to him until I took care of the others. “Did you really think it was going to be that easy to bring me in?” I turned to ask
Sterling
.

He was running for the front door, which was still lying on the ground, looking for an escape. But there was no way I was letting him go. Not after he’d put
Colton
’s life at risk. My life was one thing, but to risk
Colton
’s? That was something I wouldn’t tolerate. Fearing he’d get away, I fired a single bullet into his leg, knocking him to the ground.
Sterling
screamed in agony as tears rolled down his cheeks. There was no way he was getting away, not in his current state.

I ran over to check on
Colton
. When I reached him, I bent down, breaking the restraints around his wrists and ankles. “How are you?” I asked, trying to wipe the blood from his face using my shirt. He just looked up at me and smiled. “You’re bleeding.”

“I know,” he responded. “It doesn’t hurt though. So it can’t be that bad, can it?”

“Thirteen.”
Sterling
was crawling towards me. “Help me, please.”

And I wanted to, but this man wasn’t one worth saving. At least, not the man he’d become. The images of him in my mind, the ones where he tried to save me, they were replaced with the monster before me. He’d become just like McVeigh, a heartless monster. Why should I help him now?

“You know him?”
Colton
asked, staring down at the pleading man before us.

“It’s him,” I stated. “He’s the man that tried to save me.”

Colton
reached down to help
Sterling
up, placing him gently in the chair they’d just tied him to. He didn’t care that
Sterling
was now the enemy. He saw a person in pain, so he jumped in to help. “I know he’s responsible,” he said. “But I can’t let him die in front of me.” I nodded, understanding what he meant. He wasn’t going to let someone die because he didn’t try to help them. It didn’t mean that he believed they deserved to live.

I looked down at Brian, the man I’d killed just minutes earlier. His skin was blue and ice cold; the blood pooled around his body. What were we supposed to do with him?

“Put him outside,”
Colton
suggested.

It was an unusual suggestion. Sure, the house was hidden behind forestation, but there were still people that walked the nearby trails daily. How would we be able to hide a body from them? Sensing I didn’t understand where he was headed with this,
Colton
looked at me and smiled. “You know
they’ll send more men tomorrow. W
hy not send a message to them using their own men?”

“But the people-” I started before being cut off.

“What about them? It’s starting to get dark outside. In a few hours, they’ll be gone and won’t return until morning. His men will be here before then, that I can assure you. When they don’t return tonight, he’ll dispatch the next set.” And he was right. McVeigh wasn’t going to waste time, not when he wanted his precious Program back.

I walked over to the door and picked it up, trying my best to set it back on its hinges, but it was broken beyond repair. For now, we’d need to use the steel door Hayden had installed. I didn’t mind much. At least there was no way his men would be able to break it down.

“Should we board up the rest of the house?” I asked.

“Only the doors, not the windows. Leave those open so that they have a way in.”

I laughed. We were inviting our attackers in, willingly leaving the windows open for them to climb through. It sounded stupid, but we needed to draw them in. At least this way we’d have an idea of where they’d be coming in at. There were five windows in the house: one in my room, one in
Colton
’s room, one in each bathroom, and one in the living room. The one in the living room, however, was sealed shut since it was right next to the Pod and the computers running it. This worked for us because the only available windows then would be from the bedrooms since the bathrooms were attached to the bedrooms. We were going to be ready this time. We had the advantage.

Sterling
was crying, his hands pressed against his leg. I didn’t care if he died, which seemed wrong as he did try to save me when I was still human, but it was the truth. Realizing that he was far more useful to us alive than he was dead, I tore off the bottom half of my shirt, and made a tourniquet for his leg. It’d stabilize the bleeding, for now.

“You do know I don’t like you, right?” I asked him. He nodded, tears streaming down his face. “But I’m not going to let you die, at least not yet. You are of more use to us alive than you are dead at this point.”

He looked up at me and whispered, “I’m sorry.”

I decided that he was still a flight risk, so I reached down and tied his wrists behind the chair with some nearby wires. But
Sterling
wanted me to hear him. He wasn’t going to allow me to keep ignoring what he was trying to say.

“Emile.” Shock soared through my body as he said my name, my human name. “I’m sorry for everything. This, I never meant to do any of this. I wanted to help you, to try and save you from becoming a mindless Program, but I’m aware that you are anything but that now. You are alive, and I have no right to take that away from you. Not again.”

26
STERLING

“
Y
ou are alive, and I have no right to take that away from you. Not again.”

As his words sunk in, I began to feel horrible for what I’d done to him. He was still the same man who wanted to help me underneath it all. He wasn’t like McVeigh after all. He still had an appreciation for human life. He still had a heart.

Colton
looked up at me. “I think it’s time for you to head back to the Pod.”

Was he out of his mind?
He
was bleeding.
He
was hurt. And yet he wanted me to rest? There was no way that was going to happen, not until I was positive that he was alright. I took his face in my hands, trying to get a closer look at the wound. He’d cut his right temple. It didn’t look as though he’d need stitches, which was the one thing I was worried about. There was no way we’d be able to go to a hospital. There was always a possibility that
McVeigh’s
men were out there, ea
gerly
waiting for us to come out of hiding.

“
Colton
, I think you should lie down for a bit.” I said, grabbing hold of his hand. I helped him walk over to the couch. As he lay down, I ran to the kitchen, my feet dragging beneath me. I grabbed a bottle of water, and wet a stack of napkins. "Here," I said, frantically making my way back to him. I pressed the napkins against his temple. "You look terrible," I said, trying to lighten the mood.

  “You don’t have to do this, you know?” he
spoke softly.

But I did need to do this. I needed to protect him.

I applied the wet napkin to his head, gently dabbing the blood, though apparently not gentle enough as I saw him wince a few times. “Sorry,” I forced a smile, trying to avoid applying as much pressure. For such a tiny wound, you’d think there wouldn’t be so much blood.

“I don’t have any bandages, so I’m not sure what to use to cover the wound.” Being that I couldn’t bleed out, Hayden hadn’t thought to leave a first aid kit in the house. 

Colton
eased out of his shirt, tossing it to me. “Here, tie this around my head for now.”

I glanced at
Colton
, taking in his toned physique, until I realized just what I was doing.
Not going to happen
, I reminded myself.
Colton
stared at me, waiting for me to tie the shirt around his head. “Sorry.” I forced a laugh. Reminding myself to be gentle, I knotted the t-shirt around his forehead. He looked utterly ridiculous, of course, but it worked.

“What do you know about that guy?”
Colton
whispered, pointing at
Sterling
.

“Not much.” I shrugged. “All I know is what I remember from the images.” The truth was a bit scary, honestly. I had allowed myself to care about this man that I hardly knew. At least with
Colton
, I felt a connection – a need to protect him. But this man? He was sent to kill me, but I allowed myself to let the past erase the present. I allowed myself to care, which was the problem.

“Well, in that case …”
Colton
pulled himself up on the couch so that he was sitting, “Why don’t you tell us more about you
rself
…
Sterling
, is it?”

As curious as I was to learn more about
Sterling
, I could feel my power slowly draining. My mind was beginning to run rampant, eager to shut down. I headed for the Pod, hoping I’d get there quick enough. I didn’t. I collapsed on the ground, my eyes closing as my head hit the floor.

“You might want to check on her, boy.” I heard
Sterling
’s voice, followed by footsteps.

Then I was falling
again
, the images in my he
ad erasing the world around me.

“You know,
Sterling
, after what happened earlier today I’m beginning to question your loyalty.” McVeigh was standing behind his desk, a cigar in his mouth.
Sterling
was sitting down with his head lowered as if too scared to face him. “Here at Vesta Corp, we’re trying to build a perfect society. If you don’t agree with us, then maybe you shouldn’t be here.”
Sterling
sat there quietly, refusing to look at McVeigh.

“Oh, Guards,” McVeigh called out. “Will you please bring her in?”

“You wouldn’t.”
Sterling
’s head shot up, his eyes full of rage and locked on McVeigh, who stood before him smiling as to show that he would.

The guards came through the door with a small girl in tow. She looked to be maybe ten years old. She was crying, scared about whatever was waiting for her. “Nina,” he called out, tears flowing down his face. “What do you want with her? She’s a child. She has no part in this. None!”
Sterling
was trying to keep his temper under control for his daughter’s sake, but he was failing.