Surviving ELE (ELE Series #4) (19 page)

He doesn’t answer me. Instead, he injects himself with the fluid. He stares at me the whole time, not even looking down as he presses the fluid into his bloodstream.

I ready myself to laugh at him because nothing is happening. Then, before my eyes, I watch his hazel eyes fade into a deep, baby blue. He smiles at my astonished expression. “What, did you think it wouldn’t work?”

I scoff. “Whatever, let’s just get this over with.” I look over at Tony. “If you want me to do this, you are going to have to call off your monkeys. I don’t want them in on this little trick,” I say to Zack.

Zack shakes his finger at me. “You do know that I instructed my people, in a very convincing manor, to kill you and your family the instant you try to take me out. Right?”

I try to look shocked. I don’t have to try to look disgusted though; I’m always disgusted when I look at Zack. “Fine, I get your point. No killing you.”

He nods his head. “Let’s just be double sure that you understand.” He turns around to face his men. “Take the boy and the old man!”

“No!” I yell as two large men move forward. I throw myself in front of my family. “Over my dead body!” I say with venom.

The men hesitate. Zack makes an annoyed sound then says, “Fine,
carefully
remove them from the room and take them next door. They are to remain safe as long as this girl and her friend don’t try to kill me. Do you understand?” Zack tells the men.

Their eyes don’t glaze over. Zack no longer has the use of his compulsion. I think he realizes this at the same moment that I do and he looks to me. “They will still obey me. My first order that I gave them stands and will not be erased from their mind so easily.”

I watch with worried eyes as the men move forward. One man gently picks up Sabby. He cradles him like a baby in his huge arms. Sabby looks so small and fragile. The man looks into my eyes. His eyes are black as night. I open myself up to sense his emotions. He’s full of conflict but I can tell that he has no intention of harming my brother... Unless he’s forced to.

The other man with bright yellow eyes picks up my dad by throwing him over his shoulder as if he weighs nothing. Then the four of them leave the room with the last of my living family. My heart falls. I can’t fail in this mission.

The doors close with finality. I stare down at my friends, who are still incapacitated. Then I look at Tony, who is standing behind Zack. He gives me a nod and I watch his hand reaching to his back pocket.

“So what changed your mind? Why do you all of a sudden want me to tell you how I got these powers again?” I try to distract Zack.

“I’m not going to try to chase you down every time you manage to escape my grasp. I need the powers you have. I won’t only be the most powerful person in the world, but I can also sell my own blood for crazy money. It’s a win-win situation,” he says matter-of-factly.

“Then what about us?” I ask. “After I show you this, how do I know that you will just let us go like that?”

He clucks his tongue. “You don’t know.”

I glare at him. “Then if we are going to die anyway, let it be. I’m not helping you.”

“I’ll let you go!” Zack says with exasperation.

“And my family and all of my friends?” I clarify.

He rolls his eyes. “Yes, yes of course.”

“And you will leave us alone forever?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says again, his voice hinting at agitation.

I have no reason to believe him. “This is too much power for someone like you to have,” I tell him. “Or anyone to have for that matter.”

“I don’t care what you think, Willow. You are doing this, and you are doing it now. The sun will only be up for a few more hours and I want this done today.” He points at me with each word.

I try not to glance over at Tony because I don’t want Zack to turn around. I can sense that he’s already moved over to where the injections lie. I pray that he’s made the switch. Zack does not want to mess around anymore.

“Are you sure, Zack? You could just let us all go and you could change your ways. You don’t have to be like your father. I know you must have a heart somewhere deep down. You don’t have to do any of this.” I throw him one last lifeline but I already know deep down this is my attempt at stalling. I mean seriously, is he going to say, ‘
Oh sure, Willow. Let’s just call the whole thing off.’

“Shut up already! I’m getting sick of this tête-à-tête. We are doing this and there is no going back. I deserve to have the power you possess.” He points at his chest. “I deserved it from the beginning! Now tell me how you did it!” His face is filled with anger and annoyance.

I gave him a chance to keep his life. He didn’t take it. I look behind him at the many needles filled with different colors. There are two different trays. “I was given the dark green shot. Then I took the red shot,” I say simply.

Zack eyes me, trying to call my bluff. “You’re lying.” When I don’t budge or flinch, his expression turns to shock. “How did you survive? The only way to survive after taking the red shot is if you’ve had the survival one first.”

I shrug my shoulders. “I don’t know. I wasn’t the monster who made this crap up.”

As usual, Zack is unaffected by any negative talk about his dad. He knows just as well as I do that his dad was horrible. He killed his wife, Zack’s mom, over
his lust for power. Zack says, “Fine, if that’s how you got all of that...” He circles his finger at me. “Then let’s test this theory out on your boy. He’s the perfect candidate since he’s basically a clean slate and all…”

He turns on Tony. Then he picks up the dark green injection and the red one from the tray closest to Tony. My heart races.
Did he switch it out? Is that the right red shot? There are two different ones. Surely, Tony would have switched out the needle closest to him. I hope.
All of those questions and thoughts run rampant in my mind. I wish I could talk to Tony in the way we used to, in our private way. “Let me do it!” I yell at Zack when he moves towards Tony.

Zack spins around and eyes me suspiciously. Then he shrugs his shoulders. “Fine, whatever.” He places the two shots on the counter.

I walk to Tony and stand in front of him. “I love you,” I whisper to him as I pick up the green immunization.

He smiles lovingly at me. “I love you always.” He holds out his arm for me.

Zack makes a mock gagging sound behind us. “Just get on with it.”

I shoot him the stink eye and then I take Tony’s arm. I slowly inject the dark green liquid into Tony’s vein. My heart is accelerating at unnatural speeds as I empty the entire syringe into his arm. I pray that this will work. There is too much at risk.
Could he die because of this?
I think to myself as I pick up the next needle. The thick, bright red liquid looks off. I can only hope that it’s the right one. Surely Tony wouldn’t accept it if he didn’t make the switch. Even still, I cringe as I bring it up to Tony’s arm. “I love you,” I tell him again before I empty the contents into his bloodstream.

We stare into each other’s eyes for what seems like an eternity. I search for any sign of something going wrong. Nothing, no sign.

Zack starts laughing giddily. “He didn’t die!” he says gleefully, clapping his hands. “This is it!” He seems way too excited. He laughs again, evilly, maniacally. “Let’s go outside and test this out!” he says. I look at him because he’s so overexcited that it is sickening. He grabs the two shots from the other tray. Then he grabs a remote control device. I recognize it as the one that keeps the Reapers incapacitated. He walks towards the door, waving his hand over his head, “Let’s get moving.”

Tony grabs my hand and we follow behind Zack. He leads us down a few hallways until we reach a stairwell. A few guards are following closely behind Tony and me, making sure we stay in line.

We walk up two flights of stairs until we reach a long hallway. We walk down another hallway that leads us to the commons area. Zack laughs at the Reapers who are still crying on the ground. Instead of walking around the Reapers, he steps on them like they are stepping-stones. Zack has gone mad. He keeps laughing and laughing like he’s enjoying his own private joke.

We follow him all the way outside. When we walk out into the sun, Zack turns around abruptly and watches Tony like he’s the most amazing sight he’s ever seen.

I turn to look at Tony. The snow clouds have drifted away from the sun, whose rays are shining strong overhead. The air is cold but the sunrays provide their own glow of warmth amidst the chilly air. I hold Tony’s hand and we stare into each other’s eyes. I have no idea if this will work. It’s merely the theory I had. The only guess I could come up with as to why I was special. His eyes turn from brown to a dark hunter green. I smile when I see the new color. A few more minutes pass, then a red speck shows up near both of his pupils. My heart starts hammering.
Please let him be okay, please let him be okay.
I repeat the mantra over and over again in my head.

“I
will
be okay.” He smiles and reaches his hand up to my cheek. Hope fills me. He heard my thoughts. I can’t help the smile that takes over my face.

I look at him in amazement as the colors begin swimming in. Navy, purple, brown, hazel, light blue, neon yellow, black, copper, silver, gold, and a small swirl of white. My eyes widen as the colors do a tornado dance around his irises. Tony squeezes my hand. I still can’t believe it worked and that I’m not alone.

Zack’s horrible laugh cuts into this intimate moment between Tony and me. When Tony’s eyes look at Zack, I turn to look too. Zack is already injecting himself with the green shot.

“Stop!” I yell at Zack.

“Never,” he says with a snarky expression. He looks behind us at his men. They point their guns at our backs. “Don’t even try to stop me,” he says.

“You don’t want to do this,” I tell him again.

“Shut up, Willow. When I’m more powerful than you are, I will end you, sugar. You are so stupid. You thought I’d let you go!” He laughs hysterically.

I watch in horror as he lifts the red shot up to his arm. Everything happens in slow motion. The needle enters his skin. Then he starts emptying the red liquid into his veins. He looks so power hungry and excited as he imagines his future filled with power, a future that will never happen.

He pulls the needle out of his vein and drops the emptied shot onto the ground. It lands on the snow with a small thud. A small drop of blood is forming at the injection site. Zack stumbles forward as Tony and I take a step backwards. The soldiers step back with us. Zack’s face goes from overly excited, to realization, to fear. He tries to take another step forward but he falls to his knees. Looking up at me, he opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. He reaches forward with his hand and then falls face forward into the snow.

The soldiers don’t try to move forward to check on him. Instead, they seem confused as to what they should do now. Tony turns around slowly to look at the men with the guns. “put your guns down. he killed himself. we did not kill him. you are free of his charge.”

I watch them put their guns down on the ground. I look at Tony, whose eyes are hazel. I would smile, but the whole situation is too sickening to warrant any upturn of my lips.

I move back over to where Zack is lying face down on the ground. I grab the control device from his hand and stand up to look at the largest of the soldiers. I tell
him. “Go find all of the other soldiers. tell them to leave now. tell them to go to their homes, to find their families. they are not to fight anymore.”

The soldier’s eyes glaze over and he nods his head. He tells the man next to him to go home before he walks back into the den of Reapers. Tony and I run past him, back towards Dr. Hastings’s lab. I don’t have to hold Tony’s hand to
move through the floor. He moves through just as easily as I do. Tony smiles at me with brown eyes when we land on the level below us. I smile back and we move down one more level. Dropping on top of another storage container, we both hop down with ease and run towards the lab. Tony keeps pace with me easily. When we reach the lab, Tony uses his compulsion to call off the last of the soldiers that Zack had compelled.

I stand amazed at Tony, watching him use his powers, knowing how long it took me to get a handle on my
own. This is his first run using them and he already looks like an expert. A satisfied feeling comes over me. I know that Tony will keep his head out of the clouds despite his increased ability to do just about anything. It’s easy to let all of this power go to your head.

We burst through the door of the lab and find our friends right where we left
them. We rush over to them and begin untying them.

“My dad and Sabby…” I say to Tony.

“They’ll be fine. Let’s get these four and then we’ll go find them,” he assures me.

I nod in understanding, even though my stomach
disagrees. The desire to find my dad and Sebastian is so great that it takes all I am to stay here and work on untying my friends.

After a few minutes of struggle, we have everyone
free. Alec, Connor, Marya, and Claire look around the room, still dazed. I squat down to their level and look them in the eyes. “You guys, I need you to fight whatever it is in your systems…” Then I smack my forehead. My brain isn’t working at full capacity right now. Not with my desire to find my family. “Tony, help me heal them.”