The Institute (18 page)

I have to
admit, not everyone here is horrible. There’s the guard who let
Tate in to see me, the guard who let me shower when I wasn’t
supposed to, even the girl who strapped me to the gurney during my
last interrogation; I could tell she didn’t like what she was doing
but had no other choice. Now my doctor is delaying my torture. At a
guess though, I would say all of these people are Defective and can
relate to what we are going through.

I asked my
doctor about x-raying my foot but she said that the Institute won’t
allow for such costly tests if it’s not needed. She is confident it
isn’t broken but if it’s not healed in a few more days, she will
then send me for an x-ray. She might not see an improvement, but I
can definitely feel one, not that I’m telling them that though. I’m
in no rush to get back to my cell so I’m okay that she is hesitant
to release me.

I’m so scared
of the unknown, I always have been. I have always been the kind of
person to run scenarios and ‘what ifs’ through my head and then
come up with reasonable, rational plans for when or if that
situation occurs. It’s all pointless though, I know if it was to
ever happen, those plans would go straight out the window. I’m
trying right now to think of the best way to handle what is to come
and all I can think is ‘as long as I don’t tell them what I know,
it will be successful’. I think back to Aunt Kenna telling me we
have to endure the tough times to become strong, I’m starting to
think that if I take much more of it I won’t be strong at all, I
will be broken. I am assuming that is their goal: to break me. I
wonder what they will do to me next. I’m trying hard not to think
about the things they could possibly do to me. The list is endless,
and terrifying.

Every time
someone comes in to check on me, I flinch. I know the doctor has
said I am not ready to be released but I’m sure my guards and
interrogators have other ideas. I’m just waiting to be taken back.
I’m sure these few days have hindered their plan, I’m well rested
and fed now – they will have to start all over again to get me to
breaking point. I hear voices coming down the hallway and I brace
myself for guards to walk through my door to take me away. Only, I
am shocked to see who has actually come to see me. I have not run
this scenario through my head at all. There, standing in the
doorway of my hospital room, is none other than the director of the
Institute himself, Mr. Brookfield.

Chapter
Twelve

“Hello Miss
Daniels, how’s the ankle?” Mr. Brookfield asks.

I’m confused
and scared. Why has the director come to see me? He lets himself
into my room and stands near my bed. I cringe when I look up at
him. His eyes are like daggers piercing into me, well more
specifically into my chest. If he is trying to lock eye contact he
needs to be staring about eight inches north of where he is
looking. I instinctively fold my arms across my chest as if I were
naked.

“A little
tender, but not as sore as my face.” I know my face is still
bruised, I can feel it. I also know it’s probably a stupid idea to
try and be a smart ass to the man who is in charge of my life but I
want him to feel bad about what he has allowed to be done to me. It
may not have been his hands that bruised my face but he has the
power to stop it, to prevent it from happening again. I search his
eyes for any sign of remorse but there is nothing, just a blank
look of boredom.

“We are sorry
about that.”
Yeah, I’m sure you are,
I think to myself. “You
have to understand that it was imperative to find out what it is
you can do. We needed to run those tests and trials in the safest
manner possible so you would not be a danger to yourself or to
others. You do understand that, don’t you?”

I purse my
lips, he not only doesn’t feel sorry about what I have been
through, he is defending it and thinks that I should agree. I want
to say no, I don’t understand but I have a feeling that will just
bring more torture upon myself.

“I guess,” is
all I can muster.

“But you won’t
need to worry about that anymore now that we know what you can
do.”

“What?” I ask,
“You do?” My heart is pounding, Tate told me before I was brought
up here that I don’t want them to know what I can do and now they
have figured it out. I’m nervous, really nervous.

“Well we will
have to prove the theory but you needn’t worry, the test won’t be
anywhere near as invasive this time.”
Oh great, more
‘tests’
. “We’re fairly confident you are able to amplify other
people’s abilities around you. We were trying to figure out what
happened yesterday and I spoke to a few of the scientists in our
lab and while it has never been heard of before, new abilities seem
to be showing up all over the place. It would certainly explain a
lot. It would explain why you were unaware that you were Defective,
why you have never shown any symptoms and why Ty was able to
levitate that high while he was touching you but hasn’t been able
to do it since. It would make sense wouldn’t it?”

I think about
it for a moment, it would make a lot of sense. It would also
explain why Tate can hear more thoughts when we touch … but why can
I do these things too? Why was I levitating with Ty and why can I
hear everyone’s thoughts when I’m with Tate? I want to know but I
don’t think Mr. Brookfield is the right person to ask those
questions.

“Maybe … but
how are you going to test that?” I ask.

“We’ll get to
that, right now you need to concentrate on getting better. I’ll set
something up for later in the week.” He smiles his charming tour
day smile, the one that I’ve always thought looks forced and not
genuine.

***

I have had
three more days rest before Mr. Brookfield finally sent for me this
morning. My ankle is healed and now that I am better, I am being
taken for these new tests he was talking about. Again I’m being led
down halls, through buzzing doors and down steps. The nerves are
building up inside of me, what if I fail this test and go back to
the Crypt. What if I pass?!

We finally
reach our destination after a long and confusing walk through the
labyrinth this place is. If anyone was to escape their cell I don’t
know how they would manage to get out of the building. We enter a
long, dark room with a domed roof.

“Right, send
her in.” One of my guards says into his two way radio.

“Send who in?”
I ask more panicked than I intended. I get the sudden fear that my
torture may not be over, after all they did say this was going to
be another test didn’t they?

I turn to see
another girl being brought in, she is young, I’d say only four or
five years old. It sickens me that there are children this young
living here. She should be with her mother, with her family, not
here; she should be anywhere but here. She’s got blonde hair that
sits in ringlets just above her shoulders. She’s wearing a pale
pink top and jeans, no blue pyjamas for her. She walks over to us
quietly, I can feel her staring into me, trying to figure me out,
trying to figure out why she is down here with me. Behind her is a
man, a well-dressed man with light brown hair and soft features.
I’d say he would be in his early to mid-thirties, he looks
professional and trustworthy, so immediately I don’t trust him. Mr.
Brookfield looks just as charming and I know what he’s really
like.

“Hello Miss
Daniels. It is okay if I call you Allira?” he asks.

“Umm, sure.”
Why do they bother asking things that I would have no say in
anyway? I know they are going to do whatever they want, why waste
their breath?

“Pleased to
meet you Allira, my name is Paxton. I hear you have quite the show
for us so let’s get started, shall we?”

Show? Paxton
leads us to the middle of the room where there are three guards
standing before a folding table with a bowl on it, an empty bowl.
Before I think this can’t get any weirder one of the guards cracks
an egg into the bowl.

Paxton walks
over to the girl and bends down so he is at her level. “Nuka,
sweetheart, what we need you to do is show Allira here how you can
cook this egg as fast as you can – try really, really hard to make
it cook really, really quickly. Do you understand?” Nuka nods and
she faces the bowl, she squints her eyes in concentration and the
look on her face lets me know she will not be distracted from the
task at hand. I watch as the egg begins to change from a clear
runny liquid to a firmer white ring around a bright yellow
yolk.

One of the
staff members has a stop watch and says aloud “Twenty-nine point
four seconds.”

Nuka looks for
approval and Paxton acknowledges it with a nod of his head. The
look of joy on her face is heart-warming, she is happy that she has
done a good job. Maybe she has been here a long time so she sees
her captors as friends, I still think this is no place for her. “Do
you think you can do that again?” he asks. “But this time, can you
hold Allira’s hand? Allira is really nice, I promise she won’t hurt
you.” He shoots me a look that says I better not do anything to
hurt her or there will be consequences. I really want to say that,
unlike them, I have no interest in hurting anyone, particularly a
child because I am not a monster, but I know I have to pick my
battles.

Little Nuka
nods again and walks the few steps over to me. She holds my hand
and looks to the bowl where another fresh egg has replaced the old
cooked one. Immediately the egg explodes into tiny pieces and
scatters all over the place. I think every single one of us just
jumped out of their skin. We are all covered in egg pieces.

Nuka lets out a
big giggle and squeals. “I want to do that again!” Everyone laughs
at her excitement and even I find myself smiling.

They throw in a
few eggs this time and I take a step back as I pull a big chunk of
egg out of my hair. Little Nuka grabs my hand and pulls me forward
again. She concentrates again and the same result occurs; more egg
is thrown around the room in scattered, cooked pieces. Nuka’s
giggles and squeals are contagious and I can’t help but giggle
right along with her.

“What else can
we make go boom?” she asks with anticipation in her eye.

Paxton
responds, “I’m not too sure, actually we weren’t expecting this to
work so well. Give us a minute to figure it out?” He pats Nuka on
the head and he and the other egg-covered men walk over to the
other side of the room chattering in hushed tones. I try to listen
in but they are too quiet, I’m only catching every other word. I
look over and see that one of them is looking at me smiling,
nodding his head to whatever is being said in the group. His smile
is almost triumphant looking, I can see his brain conspiring away
with what they can do with me, now I am useful to them.

Nuka tugs at my
hand. “Is it you making the eggs go boom?”

I kneel down to
her. “I think it’s both of us. I wouldn’t be able to do it without
you and you couldn’t do it when I wasn’t holding your hand. How
long have you lived at the Institute?”

“The what? I
live here, this is my home.”

“Oh okay. Have
you lived at your home for a long time?”

“Forever.” I
know she is only five but to have no memory of living outside of
these walls makes me really sad. No, it makes me angry. How can
they cage an innocent five year old girl?

I look down at
her and notice that along the top of her shirt, running from her
collar bone to her shoulder is a single white stripe. It’s only
about five centimetres long but it looks like it’s meant to be
there on purpose.

“What does this
mean?” I ask her, pointing to her shoulder.

Before she can
answer, a voice interrupts us, “Okay girls, we want to see exactly
how powerful you can be,” says Paxton.

“We need all
the eggs!” exclaims Nuka, and we all chuckle again.

One of the
guards leaves as Paxton comes over to us, “We may need to step back
for this one.” He escorts Nuka and me to a safe distance. The other
guards stay closer to the table but arm themselves with a fire
blanket and extinguisher that hung on the wall. I can’t help but
wonder what they have sent the other guard off to collect. It’s
quite a long time before he does come back in. He’s carrying a
battery, not an AA battery but a big one, like the batteries cars
run on. He places it on the table and then joins the others, a safe
distance away.

“We do it now?”
asks Nuka.

“Yes do it
now,” replies Paxton with a smile.

I close my eyes
tight as we go to hold hands, the need for an extinguisher can’t be
good; I don’t want to look.

I hear
crackling noises along with gasps from the people around the table.
I open my eyes just in time to see the explosion, Paxton grabs Nuka
and hits the floor, covering her body with his own. I react
immediately and throw myself on the floor. The flames reach the
roof in a matter of seconds, the heat hitting us like a wave. The
guards are quick to react and douse the inferno with the
extinguisher and fire blanket.

It takes a few
minutes but once the flame is out, the three of us get up off the
ground and walk over to the table. We look at the pile of burnt and
melted plastic under the thick blanket of white foam. That’s it,
that’s all that is left.

“Okay Allira,
you’ve proved your point. I’ll set a meeting up with the director
tomorrow,” says Paxton.

The guards take
Nuka out, but not before she gives me a hug goodbye.

Paxton leads me
back into the maze of hallways, I assume he is taking me back to my
cell, but it doesn’t take long for me to realise he’s not. He has
brought me into a hallway with unfamiliar numbered doors. I am led
to room ninety-three. When Paxton opens the door, I am met with a
familiar scene; a replica apartment of those on our yearly tours.
The furniture is a bit more outdated than those of the tour
apartments and it smells kind of stale, probably because there is
no air flow – there are no windows again. I turn to him with a
confused look on my face.