Elevated (Book 1): Elevated (22 page)

“Hang on!” Jex turns the car in a zigzag, then stops it suddenly. There’s a horrible screeching sound, the noise of metal being sliced open. Long claw marks cut through the roof, ripping it apart like paper. The tapping continues, followed by a loud squeal as a chunk of roof opens up above us. A black creature with spiny legs climbs through it, clinging to the top of the car.

It’s a crab. And it’s the size of my head.

Shelly screams. It stops for a moment, the giant head surveying the room. Then it’s spiny legs tap on the ceiling as it scampers towards Aaron. He tries to knock it away, but the crab swipes at him with its claw. Aaron crashes back into his seat, shaking his hand in pain.

Elliott’s hands glow blue.

“Get back everyone!”

I press against the window as hard I can.

Aaron braces himself and struggles to spit out words. “Don’t—zap me!”

Jex slams the brakes, which sends the crab flying towards Elliott. With one touch of his glowing hand, it drops to the floor. Dead.

“What was that?” Shelly asks, hiding in the corner.

“A freak, that’s what it was,” Aaron says.

Zach unbuckles his seatbelt, climbs over Aaron and examines the dead body. “Coconut crab. Poor fellow.”

“Poor fellow? It almost killed me!”

“It didn’t ask to be zapped, Aaron!”

“Neither did Rose!”

A loud growl shakes the whole car. A grizzly bear stands on its back legs a few feet away. Jex speeds the car off. But the bear follows and begins to gain on us.

I have an idea. “Stand up on the seat and poke your head through the roof. You can zap it from up there.”

The hole in the roof is barely big enough for Elliott to put his head and left arm through. His right hand dangles in front of me, glowing blue.

My lips shake. “Elliott, you won’t zap with your right hand, right?”

“No, you’re fine,” he says.

The bear is still following us. It must be a Speeder. Elliott’s hand gets brighter.

“You sure I’m ok?” I ask, bracing myself against the window.

“Trust me.”

I close my eyes and hear a scream.

“Who did that? Rose!” Elliott yells.

Opening my eyes, I see him come back down from the roof, his eyes wide in fear.

“Shelly!” Zach yells, and he picks up her lifeless body.

“She g-g-grabbed my hand. I didn’t mean to—”

Zach shakes her head, trying to wake her, but she stays limp as a doll, her face frozen in a shocked expression.

My thoughts go back to the Unsound Mitigation Report. “Maybe the report was a warning that she—”

I can’t finish the sentence. I can’t find the words to say that someone my age could be dead.

Zach holds her close. “Her heart’s beating. She’s alive.”

I take a deep breath. She’s alive. But unconscious. GEMO comas are uncommon, but not impossible. And that report warned about something. I look at her face again. That horror-struck face.

Stupid girl.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN       

“We need to go back,” Zach says.

“We can’t,” Jex says.

“She needs a doctor,” Zach says.

“We’re wasting time,” Jex says. “We need to get to your dad.”

“If he’s still alive,” I say.

“Of course he’s still alive,” Jex says.

“Do you know?” I ask.

“I’ve always known.”

I clench my fists. “How?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why?”

His voice drops. “Because you don’t want to be next on their hit list.”

The car continues to bounce its way through the forest. We hit a harsh bump and I grab Elliott’s leg. Withdrawing, I see he is smiling back at me. Then his face goes dark.

He’s probably wondering what I am. How much has Jex been hiding from us? And what did he mean when I said I’d be next on their hit list?

We turn around a large oak tree, reach a clearing, and catch our first glimpse of Sapphire Ward. The once vibrant geometric pattern on the walls is now a dingy shade of blue, the massive structure caked with dust and climbing weeds from years of neglect.

“It used to reflect the sun you know,” Jex says as he stops the car. “Lived up to its jewel name.”

Elliott and I glance at each other. Jex has been here before. He wrote his article from first-hand knowledge.

“Time to get your dad,” Jex says as he grabs his gun and steps out of the car.

Elliott opens the door and we start climbing out of the car. Zach stays seated.

“Come on,” Jex says.

Zach crosses his arms. “I’m not leaving Shelly.”

“We might need you.”

“So might she.”

“No need to be noble, Zach.”

“I’m not moving.”

“Look, I didn’t want to do this—”

Jex pulls out his gun and aims it at Zach.

“Stop!” I yell. “What are you doing?”

“We’re running out of time! You coming or not?”

Zach nods his head, trembling. He lets Shelly’s hand gently fall onto the seat.

He climbs out of the car, and scowls at Jex. “Jerk.”

The rocky ground makes it difficult to walk. I almost fall when a rock gives way beneath my feet. I’m regaining my balance when I hear the snap of a branch and turn to see some sort of figure running in the bushes.

It runs like a man, but is completely green and furry.

“Ouch!” Elliott cries out. His hand clings his neck. He pulls his hand out to examine it and shakes his head. “Nasty mosquito. Good thing they have short lifespans. Hate to find out what a mutant mosquito would be like.”

I look back to find the mysterious figure, but it’s gone. “Did you see that?”

“See what?” Aaron asks.

“That—I don’t know what it was—thing--in the bushes.”

Everyone shakes their heads.

Remembering my sonar, I scan the area. The figure is running away from us. The shadow is hard to make out, but it still runs like a human. “It’s running that way.”

“Away from us,” Jex says. “Good.”

Sapphire Ward is a few feet away and a metal mesh fence blocks our path. Hanging from it is an imposing sign.

Danger: Electric

“This is abandoned, right?” Aaron asks.

“Yes and no,” Jex says.

Aaron nearly trips on a rock. “Excuse me?”

“The government abandoned it long ago, which is why Maddock had your dad moved here. But since he is using it, I imagine it’s fully operational.” Jex picks up a piece of wood and throws it at the fence.

Nothing happens.

“Good. Thank your cheap government for that,” Jex says as he lifts the latch of a gate and pushes it open.

“So are all the security systems down?” Aaron asks.

“Probably not.” He holds out his arm. “Stop. See that over there. That’s a face scanner. It’s what unlocks the door.”

“Can you hack it?” I ask.

Jex shakes his head. “No, but it should be deactivated.”

“And if it isn’t?”

Jex sighs. “Then we’re in for one loud alarm.”

“How do you tell if it’s deactivated?” Zach asks.

“Only one way,” Jex says and walks towards the metallic circle on the door. I hold my breath as he takes each step. He stops. A light above the circle flashes green twice.

He turns and smiles. “Yep, it’s on default mode. We’re good.”

The blood rushes back to my head. He opens the door and we follow him inside.

Elliott leans over and whispers, “Doesn’t this feel too easy?”

I whisper back, “Who else would come out into the Mutant Forest?”

Elliott nods, but I can tell he’s not fully convinced.

“Ok, Rose,” Aaron says. “Hope you’re ready for this.”

I’m not sure if I’m ready to witness the horrible conditions Dad had to endure these past years. Jex hands out flashlights to illuminate the pitch-black hallway in front of us. I wince as we turn them on to reveal an endless corridor of blue tiles that twinkle in our light. It’s not the nightmare I expected; in fact, under different circumstances, the building could be considered beautiful.

The narrow walls feel progressively tighter as Jex winds us down one hallway and towards another. I think of asking him how he knows where he is going, but he probably wouldn’t tell me. We pass by large rooms with transparent windows. Living quarters for Unsounds. While resembling normal apartments, it’s hard to imagine anyone having a normal life in here. Every minute on display for the guards, isolated from society. Shelly was right though, this wasn’t a prison. At least, not in the standard sense. Considering the facility was abandoned after being labeled inhumane, the modern wards must resemble luxury hotels.

“You sure this is the right place?” Aaron asks. “This doesn’t look anything like your article.”

“It will,” Jex says, “if we let the government have their way.”

“What about the beatings, the mysterious deaths, the—”

Jex turns back at us. “I know what’s coming. It starts humanely. But once you start isolating people, it’s only a matter of time before things get ugly.”

“So you just lie then,” Elliott says. “Stir up trouble.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Jex says.

As we round a corner, I brush against a wall, turning on a monitor.

“What did you do?” asks Aaron.

A map of the entire building appears. “Jex, you should look at this.”

Jex keeps walking. “I know where I’m going.”

I try to wave Jex over. “Come see this.”

He groans. “I know where I’m going.”

We turn a few more times before reaching a large metal door. He reaches for the handle. Locked. He pounds on the door. Shaking his head, he moves over to a keypad on the door.

“Here goes nothing,” he says as he punches in some numbers.

The door opens.

The room is divided by a long window that extends floor to ceiling. Unlike the other cells, this one is devoid of almost any furniture. Just a toilet, a sink, and a cot bed. A man stirs in the bed.

“Dad?” I call out.

He startles. He unfolds the blanket and I gasp as Dad stands up in front of me.

“Rose?”

My vision goes blurry from the tears streaming down my face. All I can see are his blue eyes. His beautiful blue eyes. His smile stretches out his face. He runs to the glass, placing his hand against it. My hand matches his, and I can almost feel the warmth on the other side.

My dad’s eyes grow wide as he peers over my shoulder. “What’s he doing here?”

He points at Jex, whose face has turned serious.

I turn back to Dad. “You know Jex?”

“Is that what you call yourself now?” Dad asks.

“Adam, things have changed,” Jex says and points at Elliott. “This boy over here, he’s a Catalyst.”

Dad’s face goes slack. “He is?”

“Yes, just like you.”

We all turn toward Dad. His Unsound power, what had kept him locked in Sapphire Ward all these years, is the same ability that Elliott has. A Catalyst, they called it.

“You were right,” Jex says. “You were right about everything. Humanity is adapting.”

Dad leans his head against the glass. “But have you adapted, Jason?”

“Jason?” Elliott asks.

It all comes together in my head. “You’re Jason Wesson.”

Jex shakes his head. “Guilty. Most guilty.”

Aaron runs over to him. “You? You’re the inventor of GEMO? The biggest enemy of it?”

“I have the most knowledge. If others did, they would agree,” Jex says.

“Not everyone,” Dad says.

“I don’t understand you, Adam. All these years locked in a prison cell and you still defend the system.”

Dad pounds his hand against the glass. “It wasn’t the system that put me here, Jason.”

“That wasn’t my fault,” Jex says.

“Wasn’t it? You wanted me as your figurehead, proof that GEMO technology would lead us to destruction. Millions of people walking around with the power to kill others instantly.”

“Wasn’t I right?” Jex says. “What happens when there are hundreds of Elliotts? When everyone can zap each other at moment’s notice?”

Dad shakes his head. “Weapons have always been around.”

“And look at society, the classes, the divides. What good has GEMO radiation done?”

“We can’t go back now. It’s too late.”

“Not if we ‘Un-Elevate’ the populace.”

“What you’re talking is mass murder.”

“No, I’m talking about a reset.”

“The world isn’t a computer you can reboot. Jason, you’re crazy. You don’t even have the power to—”

“I don’t, but you do,” Jex says. “Your research would be most helpful.”

“I’ve told you before, the answer is no.”

 “Figured you’d say that. That’s why I brought a bargaining chip.” Jex pulls out a gun and aims it at my head.

Dad slams his hand against the window. “No, don’t!”

Elliott moves over, but Jex points his arm towards him. “Not one more step.”

“Jason, you’ve got to listen to me. Maddock is on his way. He wants you here. That’s why he didn’t kill me. The scanner, it’s linked to your face. Jason.” Dad stares at me, eyes wide in horror. “Forgive me, Rose.”

I shake my head. “It’s fine, Dad.”

Dad. I haven’t been to say that to him in person for twelve years. Not that it matters. Nothing can help me now. I shut my eyes tight.

There’s a gunshot.

Arms wrap around me, and my eyes open to see Elliott’s face. “Rose, are you ok?”

I’m not feeling any pain, except some ringing in my ears from the loud burst. Then I look at my feet to see Jex lying on the floor. Maddock stands at the door, holding out a gun. He steps over to a panel, hits a few numbers and a windowpane drops.

He directs us with his gun. “You in the room. All of you.”

Elliott, Aaron and Zach leave the body of Jex. He’s breathing, but blood pools beneath him on the floor.

Dad runs towards the open window. “Please! Let them go!”

“Stop! Unless you want them to watch you get shot.”

I go through the opening, and run into my father’s arms. He squeezes me tightly, strong like I remembered. I cling to him, refusing to let go. I hear the guys walk in behind me before the glass walls closes up and there’s the sound of Maddock leaving the room.

I look up at Dad. “Are we going to die?”