The Academy: Book 2 (89 page)

             
“Don’t do it,” Jen whispered, and then she cried out as Ned pulled her hair.

             
“SHUT UP!” he said. “Either you give me your blood, Palmer, or I kill the girl and then I’ll come over there and drain you of it. Your choice.”

             
Asa looked at Jen’s face. He didn’t want anything to happen to her. “How am I supposed to give you my blood?” He asked.

             
“You’ve got that open wound on your neck. Take off your shirt, rub it on the wound, and then toss it to me. I’ll take the bloody shirt, and you’ll never hear from me again. I’ll let the girl go.”

             
Asa’s heart was beating fast. He was willing to give his life to stop the Multipliers from getting the vaccine. He looked over at Lilly and Viola. Lilly was able to produce hallucinogenic powder, and Viola still had five mutated fingernails that she could try to attack Ned with. He liked their chances in a fight, but the thought of watching Ned slice Jen’s throat made his stomach churn.

             
Asa felt emotionally drained. He wanted to go home—the real home, not back to his dwelling. He wanted his mother back. He was tired of living a life in which he was frightened all the time. He was constantly alert—constantly on edge—constantly pumped full of adrenaline so that his heart was hammering and his palms were sweaty. In the last year he had seen so many people die that he couldn’t name them all. A few hours ago, he was bitten by a Multiplier, and a few minutes ago, he had been seriously considering destroying the vaccines and letting the Multipliers kill him. It was all too much. He looked into Ned’s angry eyes and suddenly wanted to cry. He felt unstable, insane, and not prepared to make this kind of decision.

             
In his peripheral vision, Asa saw Roxanne getting to her knees in the pool of blood. She looked up at Ned, her eyes hazy and out of focus.

             
Ned didn’t notice Roxanne. “What’s it going to be, Palmer?” He asked, and he tightened his grip on Jen.

             
Asa slowly began to unbutton his shirt and a smile spread over Ned’s face. “That’s good, Palmer. Very smart.”

             
Behind Ned, Roxanne’s eyes slowly shut, as though she was falling asleep, and then they snapped open. She did not look well. Ned still didn’t notice her.

             
Asa took his shirt off and brought it up to the wound on his neck.

             
“Rub it hard, Palmer. I want a lot of blood on that shirt.”

             
Behind him, Roxanne’s eyes were shifting into focus, and Asa saw them widen as she realized what was happening.

             
Asa was so distraught that he barely felt it as he dug the shirt into his fresh wound and let it soak up his blood. Ned watched, and still did not hear Roxanne behind him.

             
Roxanne stood on shaky legs and took a couple steps towards Ned.

             
“Don’t do it, Asa,” Jen whispered.

             
Ned tightened the knife on her throat, making more blood run down her neck and chest. Jen stopped talking.

             
Asa tried not to look at Roxanne as she crept towards Ned. Her right hand was balled in a fist, and it was obvious that she was getting ready to bash his head in, just like she had done to Allen.

             
Maybe it was Asa’s eyes, or maybe Ned heard something, but he detected Roxanne behind him. He turned quickly, released Jen, and stabbed at Roxanne’s face. Roxanne ducked, and the knife cut some of her hair.

             
Asa dropped his shirt on the ground and ran forward. Like a linebacker, he tackled Ned and crows flapped into the air to avoid their rough landing on the floor. The knife went skidding across the stone, and landed out of anyone’s reach against the wall.

             
Asa was only able to stay atop Ned for a moment before he was flung off. Ned stood, his broad shoulders flaring, and looked wildly around for the knife. He spotted it at the same time that Roxanne got to her own feet and began to run after him.

             
Ned reached the knife before Roxanne could grab him, and he turned and backed her away, brandishing the pointed metal. Roxanne skidded to a stop.

             
Ned laughed wildly, his broken nose gushing with blood. He kept his eyes on Roxanne, as she was the only truly formidable opponent. “It’s one on five,” Ned said. “Unfair, but I think that I can make this interesting.”

             
Boom Boom spoke from the corner wall where he sat with his broken leg. “It’s not one on five,” he corrected.

             
“Oh, fine,” Ned said. “One on six. I didn’t think that I’d count you, considering the shape of that leg.”

             
Boom Boom smiled, his pale skin glistening with sweat. He was obviously in pain. “I’m not talking about me,” he said. “I’m talking about the crows.”

             
Ned looked down at all the hundreds of birds that covered the floor and his jovial face fell, and his brow creased with worry. Now that he didn’t have Jen as a hostage, Asa had no incentive to keep the crows calm.

             
“Attack him,” Asa said, not much louder than a whisper. Every talon left the stone in an instant, and every wing was flapping towards Ned’s face, blinding him in a flurry of black.

             
Ned screamed, fell back, and the crows tore at his flesh. He thrashed and rolled, killing some, but there were so many that he was not able to fend off the whole attack. It reminded Asa of when the crows had attacked Harold Kensing outside his home.

             
Roxanne did not want to leave her fate up to the crows, however. She ran towards his writhing body. Ned was so preoccupied with the beaks that were pecking his face off that he didn’t notice her coming. With electric speed, she kicked him in the chest and he came off the ground and rolled into the water.

             
Roxanne would later admit that she hadn’t been looking at the second-hand of the clock to see where it was, but luck was on her side. Shortly after Ned hit the water, the second hand passed over the appropriate spot, and the tentacle came out and grabbed hold of his screaming head. He was dragged under and Asa never saw him again.

             
When Ned was gone, the crows gathered on the ground, and it was quiet. Asa was ambushed with a shot of emotions and he fell to his knees, gasping and crying.
It’s over. We did it. We stopped the Multipliers. We won.

             
He was happy for all these things, but did not know why he felt so terrible. He wailed uncontrollably, feeling that he couldn’t cry hard enough. He thought that his teammates might be staring at him, and that they might think that he was crazy, but Asa didn’t care. He sobbed into the bloody rock and hitched his chest and howled.

44

Artificial Intelligence

             
Asa’s sobs slowly waned until he quieted and the tears rolled without sound. As he came out of his hysterics, he realized that he didn’t know how long his weeping had lasted. He had been so consumed with sorrow that nothing else mattered for a time.

             
“Palmer,”
came a hoarse whisper.

             
Asa looked up through wet eyelashes to see Boom Boom motion him over. Asa stood, found his shirt, which he put back on, and then came over to sit with Mike Plode.

             
The other Sharks were along the opposite wall. Jen, Viola, and Lilly had their backs to Asa, but Roxanne was facing his direction. She was crying. Asa wondered if she was remembering Bruce. He wondered if it felt good that she had somewhat gotten revenged for his death.
She probably just wants him back, though,
Asa thought.

             
“Gabby would have come,” Mike said, “she wanted to, but we made her stay back. She drank too much at the dance and fell down on her crutches right outside the Shop.”

             
Asa nodded, and then looked at Mike. “None of you had to come.”

             
Mike exhaled air in an impatient manner. “Don’t act like you wouldn’t do the same for us. We wanted to help. We care about you. We’re family.”

             
Asa started to cry some more after hearing those words. He had only known his teammates less than half a year, but he felt like he had known them his whole life. He looked over Mike’s body. Dried blood sat under his busted lip, but the worst part was his leg. “Your leg looks like hell, Mike.”

             
Mike laughed, and looked down at the deformed extremity. The foot was twisted in an abnormal position. “I think I broke it.”

             
“Duh,” Asa said, and then they both laughed.

             
Mike cleared his throat and then lowered his voice, “Listen, Asa, we’re glad that we could help and all, but we’re a little confused. What’s going on? How did you end up here? Jen said that last she saw you, you were at the dance.”

             
Asa wondered if Jen told them about how Asa had kissed Charlotte. Boom Boom’s face didn’t give away whether or not he had this piece of knowledge.

             
“I know that it may be hard to talk about, but I think that me and your other teammates can help you work through this,” Mike said.

             
“You’re right,” Asa said. “I’m just trying to think. So much has happened tonight. I guess I’ll start at the dance. No. Before then. I need to start my story right after Jen and I saw Bruce killed in the Lab. We then ran over and saw the Multiplier’s lair. But after that, we split up. I didn’t tell anyone where I went that night, but I went and talked to Teddy. That’s where this all started.” Asa then recounted all that had happened, going over his conversation with Teddy, Teddy’s advice that Asa drop the bombs, and Teddy’s coke can radio. He told Mike about leaving the dance to go drop the bombs, getting caught by Rose, getting bitten by Allen, and then of not changing into a Multiplier.

             
“Yeah, I heard that big one, Ned, saying something about you being bitten and not changing. He said your dad coded it into your DNA.”

             
Asa explained how he didn’t know what was going on when he woke up after being bitten; he just knew that he was still human. He explained about the hidden vaccines, and about the Multiplier’s desire to obtain them. “And then you guys showed up just before the clock was in the right position.”

             
Mike’s eyes went up to the clock above the water. “It’s twelve twenty,” he said. “You could swim over on the left side. Or fly over, I guess.”

             
Asa’s mouth went dry. “Why should I do that?” he asked.

             
“Same reason you were going to before. Don’t you think you should destroy those vaccines?”

             
Asa wiped his mouth. He wasn’t crying anymore. “Yeah. I think you’re right. Just don’t leave until I come out, okay? I don’t know if you can see the clock from the other side.”

             
Mike Plode smiled, trying to be cheery despite the pain he felt from his broken leg. “Do I look like I’m going anywhere soon? Go on ahead. We’ll wait for you.”