The Academy: Book 2 (79 page)

             
Not only would I live with them, I would be like them.

             
His stomach roiled with nausea.

             
They haven’t changed me yet,
he told himself.
There’s still hope.

             
Asa looked at the gun on the table. It was so close—within arms reach. But Allen was incredibly fast. Asa didn’t know if reaching for the firearm would be wise.

             
Trying to convince himself that what was happening was real, Asa felt the different threads of canvas that made up chair he sat in. He inhaled deeply—the air smelled like lake water.
This is actually happening.
He recounted the events that led him here—
Stan’s confession, Teddy’s advice to drop the bombs, the dance…

             
His heart picked up a bit as he remembered the dance, and leaving Jen and Charlotte.
Have they discovered that I’ve left yet? Did Jen go looking for me?
He looked at the mouth of the waterfall, and hoped that she wouldn’t show up. As much as he wanted to believe that there was a way out of his predicament, he didn’t want Jen to get hurt because of his actions.

             
“Can I
please
bite him Allen?” Rose begged from where she sat on the cold floor.

             
“No,” Allen said in a monotone voice. All his focus was on the game. “WHAT!? Are you kidding me!? FOUL! YES! YES!” On the screen, one of the Boston Lions went up for a layup, made contact with a defender, and missed the shot. Allen instantly got upset, but then celebrated when the referee called the foul. As the player went up to the free throw line, Allen spoke again.

             
“I think basketball is the best sport we have today.” He cast a sideways glance at Asa. “How much do you know about what the Academy graduates do on a day to day basis?”

             
“I know that they do humanitarian work,” Asa said.

             
Allen laughed. “I see that the answer is
not much.
The Academy does do some humanitarian work, that’s true, but they also do a lot of things to make money. One of those things is that they put their graduates into professional sports. The graduates perform well, but not too well to raise eyebrows, and then the money they make goes back to the Academy. The Academy has basically overtaken professional baseball and football; all the best players are graduates. For me, it makes the sport boring. I know who’s going to win. But basketball has remained relatively pure.”

             
They watched the game in silence for the next couple minutes. When Asa saw that there were only fifteen seconds on the clock, his heart began to sprint in his chest and he had to swallow his breaths to not hyperventilate. Allen was cheering for the Lions; they were down by one point. Their shooting guard put up a three-pointer at that time and scored. They were up by two.

             
Allen nodded and closed his eyes. “Fifteen more seconds, and we’re going to the championship.” He opened them, and went back to watching the game.

             
Asa looked at the gun again. He thought that he couldn’t be given a more perfect situation. He was captured on a night when one of Allen’s favorite teams played a crucial game in his favorite sport. Allen was distracted. Asa looked around, and saw that no one but Rose was paying attention to him, and she was intoxicated. Asa leaned forward, deciding to go for the weapon. His palms were sweaty. His hand inched forward and just as the ball was about to be inbounded…

             
“Can I please bite him?” Rose whined.

             
Allen grabbed the gun and pointed it at Rose; he hadn’t noticed Asa reaching for it. The barrel shook in Allen’s hand with anger. “Do you want me to shoot you?”

             
Rose stammered, “N-n-no. It’s just…”

             
“I HAVE TOLD YOU MY DECISION. NO! I BIT ASA’S FATHER AND I WILL BITE HIM!”

             
Rose nodded, she looked hurt.

             
Allen sat down and put the gun back on the coffee table, this time closer to Asa than before.
He really is oblivious,
Asa thought. A timeout was called in the game, and Allen relaxed a bit. He turned to Asa; “Did you know that I bit your father?” He smiled, black gums glistening.

             
Asa didn’t know how to respond;
Allen must be mistaken.
“My father was Edmund Palmer,” Asa said.

             
Allen nodded, his blue eyes shining as though something was funny. “I know who your daddy was. I bit him.”

             
Asa shook his head, remembering what Conway had told him about his father’s history. He didn’t want to argue with this Multiplier, but couldn’t help it. “No,” Asa said. “My father killed himself. Jul Conway told me.”

             
“Jul Conway should know. He was there. He’s right; your daddy did kill himself. But I bit him first.”

             
Asa just repeated the words, “
bit him?
”

             
“Sure did. Shot Salvaserum into him and everything. It was a big turning point in the war between Multipliers and humans; it was a big win for our kind. I’m sorry that you didn’t grow up with a daddy, but I hope you understand,” he flashed Asa a smile like he had just told a funny joke. “The Academy heard that there had been rogue Multipliers taking lives in Dallas, Texas. They were right; it was a few others and I—we were working separate from the Hive at that time. There was a gunfight, and, long story short, I had a clear shot at your daddy’s neck, and I took it. We were in this big warehouse. I hung back a bit in the shadows to see what would happen. He started crying, tears running down his face, only he didn’t look sad, and he told Jul Conway what had happened. After you get bitten, you fall into a deep sleep after a short time; some people only last a few seconds, and some people last a few minutes before going unconscious. But when you wake up, you are already thinking like a Multiplier. Your dad knew this, of course. He invented us.

             
“It was kind of cute, the way he handled it. He said goodbye to Conway, hugged him, and told Jul to say goodbye to his pregnant wife for him. Jul said he would. Then, your daddy held out a gun for Conway to take, and asked Conway to kill him. Conway said no, so your daddy took the gun to himself.”

             
Allen clucked his tongue. “I sure wish your daddy wouldn’t have done that. All his brainpower, he would have been a really useful addition to the Multiplier army if he hadn’t killed himself.”

             
The game was back on and the Cats inbounded the ball. Allen’s focus switched to the basketball game.

             
Asa felt numb. For the past semester, he had viewed his father as a coward who killed himself when things got tough. But that wasn’t true. His father had sacrificed himself, bravely, for a noble cause. He didn’t want his intellect and knowledge to be put to use by the Multipliers.
But why didn’t Conway tell me this? Maybe he was scared of what I would think; maybe he didn’t want me to know that my father was once bitten by a Multiplier.

             
The cats passed inside, and then back out to the perimeter. Asa suddenly felt brave, like his father. The gun was three inches from his knee on the table. He wanted to sacrifice himself like his father; he didn’t want to become a Multiplier.
They’ll have to take me down, but they’re not biting me.

             
Asa’s hand went for the gun.

             
On screen, the cats sunk a three-pointer. They won by one point. The horn sounded and the game was over.

             
Allen grabbed the gun before Asa could.

             
BANG! BANG! BANG!

             
He shot the TV off its stand. Glass was strewn on the floor, and the smoking television lay on its back, broken. Ned, Michael, and Joney were all looking at Allen in alarm.

             
“WHAT KIND OF DEFENSE WAS THAT?” Allen screamed at the broken television. He was breathing hard, his chest rising and falling. “Season’s over because of some terrible defense.”

             
There was a beeping sound in Allen’s pocket. He took out a small, handheld radio. “WHAT?” he said into it.

             
And then, a voice came through the other end that Asa would never forget.
I should have known.
It was Teddy. “Allen? Michael? Anybody there?”

             
Allen spoke back into the radio: “We’re here, Teddy. What can we do for you?”

             
“Have you gotten him?” Teddy asked.

             
“Yeah, we got him. Do you want to talk to Palmer?”

             
Teddy didn’t respond.

             
“Teddy, you there?” Allen said.

             
When Teddy spoke back, Asa thought that he sounded like he was crying. “Yeah, I’m here. No, I don’t want to talk. Just checking in.”

             
The static stopped and then there was silence on the other end of the radio.

             
Allen turned to Asa: “You’re learning a lot about your history tonight, aren’t you? First that your dad was bitten by a Multiplier, and now that your best friend turned on you. It’s not a good night for you; that’s a lot of bad news.”

             
Asa didn’t know what to say. He wanted to vomit, cry, and tackle Allen all at the same time. He had never felt so enraged, so hurt.

             
Allen twirled the gun around on his index finger. “But now the time has come for you to be bitten.” Allen smiled. “I’ve been looking forward to this.”

             
Asa bolted. He stood up and ran as fast as he could towards the mouth of the cave. From behind him, he heard Allen yell, “Not you, Rose! Get him, Ned!”

             
Ned wrapped his muscular arms around Asa. Asa was no competition for him; Ned was impossibly strong. Still, Asa kicked, and screamed and cried like a newly caged feral raccoon. Asa was actually hissing, which surprised him.

             
“Bring him over here, Ned. Thanks a lot. I know that you’re upset, Asa, but it’s just like a little boy who doesn’t want to get his vaccines; it will only hurt for a bit, and no matter how hard you fight, we’re still going to do it. It’s only a little injection.” Allen sounded amused at Asa’s struggles.

             
Trapped in Ned’s arms, Asa wished that he could electrocute Ned, but the tingling sensation wouldn’t come. Ned easily carried Asa over to the back of the room, where Allen was unfolding and expanding different metal contraptions. Asa was wide eyed and crazed with fear.

             
Ned threw him down onto a stretcher, which was sitting atop two crates and tied down. Asa writhed and wiggled, but it was no use. Using handcuffs, Ned secured Asa’s arms and legs to the stretcher and then he and Allen backed up, admiring their work. Rose was lurking far behind them, glaring at Asa.