UnBound (24 page)

“Recovery room,” Kunal reluctantly tells Colton. “Some live; some die. Some worse than die. You no want here. You be here soon enough.”

Kunal grabs his arm to pull him away, but Colton shakes him off.

“Shhh.”

Kunal looks around to make sure there are no guards observing them, for the doctor does not like Kunal to linger by the north wing. Then they hear within the chorus of groans a single voice begging for help. English. Australian accent.

“Your friend,” Kunal says. “He survive. So far.”

“What did Rodín do to him?”

“Don't know yet. Will know when he gets out.”

It's as they're walking away from the recovery room that Kunal catches something in Colton's eye. Something more than an acquiescence to Rodín's experimental plans. Something rebellious.
Perhaps,
Kunal thinks,
there is more to this American boy after all.

All of Colton's hope now lies in a tunnel that may not exist. The tree in the center of the grand courtyard remains the center of Colton's attention. He circles around it again and again, trying not to look suspicious. The roots are as heavy and as gnarled as the limbs. If there was ever a well here, it has been destroyed by the tree's relentless growth.

“You want climb?” Kunal asks him. “Better to climb now. Won't be able to later. Either you dead, or you a horse. Climb now. I show you.”

One thing about Kunal, he doesn't mince what few English words he knows. Colton looks up at the tree and shakes his head. “Rodín won't be too happy with you if I break my neck.”

“I help,” Kunal says. “Come.”

It seems Kunal's only joy is his newfound ability to climb this tree, and Colton thinks how amazing it is that humans can adapt to whatever is thrown at them. If Colton survived, will he be able to adapt? He's not ready to imagine what life for him might be like if his unthinkable operation is successful.

As they approach the tree, Colton sees a small hole between two large roots, no larger than a fist. Colton kneels down to inspect it.

“Bad there,” Kunal says. “Pythons.”

“I thought Burmese pythons live
in
trees, not under them.”

Kunal shrugs. “Rats, then. Big. Many big things in Burma.”

Still, Colton kicks at the hole, and some dirt falls in, making the hole a little bit bigger. He smiles and looks up at Kunal, who has already begun to climb, and joins him in the lowest branches of the tree. Immediately a guard comes over to shout him down, because while Kunal is allowed to climb, Colton is not—but that's all right. Colton climbs down, salutes the guard, and heads back to his room, knowing all he needs to know.

•  •  •

Colton realizes that if he's going to escape he needs someone with access. An inside accomplice. So that night when Kunal brings dinner, Colton risks it all.

“Kunal, what if I told you that there's a way you can escape from this place?”

Kunal only laughs. “I say you crazy.”

“That hole beneath the tree is more than a rat hole. It's a tunnel. I'm pretty sure it leads out into the jungle—maybe even over the border into Thailand.”

That gives Kunal pause for thought.

“Do you want to leave here, Kunal? Think about it!”

Kunal's eyes begin to moisten. “What for me out there?”

“Whatever it is, it's better than what you have here. You don't have to be the doctor's trained monkey.”

Kunal backs away angrily, and Colton knows that was the wrong thing to say.

“I bring you breakfast at seven. You no talk to me; I no talk to you.” And he quickly leaves, his key chain jangling as he hobbles off.

The American boy is crazy. This proves it. And yet Kunal can't get Colton's voice out of his mind.
You don't have to be the doctor's trained monkey.
That's all he is, isn't he? A pet. An animal that the doctor can teach to do tricks for his amusement. Climb trees. Speak English.

That night Kunal ices his aching ankles as he always does, but later, after all but the night guards are asleep, he leaves his upstairs room. Stealthily he creeps along the balcony that circles the courtyard to the spot where the tree's heavy branches come close to the building. Then he leaps into it, shimmying down in silence until he reaches the base. To the guards on patrol the tree is a blind spot. Their attention is on the gates, the doors, the barriers that either keep people in or keep people out.

Ignoring his fear of what might be down there, Kunal scrapes at the dirt around the hole between the roots, using all four of his hands, until he creates an opening more than a foot wide. He can't see down into the darkness. He drops a stone in. It takes at least a second before he hears it strike bottom. Colton is right; this is more than just a hole. Quickly he covers it with leaves and twigs. No one must know about this. The doctor has many secrets. Now Kunal has one too.

•  •  •

In the morning Sonthi arrives with three AWOLs: Colton's two remaining roommates and a girl with tattoos who Kunal has not seen before.

Kunal hurries to the doctor's side, knowing it is the best place to be when something happens that's not on the schedule. Were he anywhere else, and the doctor called for him, he'd take out his wrath on Kunal, rather than just order him about.

“She wishes to see her sister,” Sonthi says with a wide grin. “I thought it was time.”

The doctor scowls. “Since when is it your job to think?”

Sonthi takes the rebuke in a simmering silence. Kunal knows he despises the doctor, but this is the doctor's camp, and in the Dah Zey disrespect to a superior is punishable by death.

Then the girl shouts, “You bastards broke your bargain with me! Now I'm going to be unwound, and my sister is still a prisoner. The least you can do is let me say good-bye.”

The doctor ignores her. “And what about these other two?”

Sonthi shrugs. “They insisted on coming with her. I told them if they come they won't be coming back. So I guess you have two new volunteers.”

Colton hears the commotion at the gate, and through his small bedroom window he sees Karissa and the others with Sonthi. Right on schedule. The doctor isn't pleased, and Kunal seems anxious, shifting his weight from one hand to the other. Colton leaves his room, which Kunal unlocked earlier today, and hurries over.

“So I guess you have two new volunteers,” he hears Sonthi say.

“I don't need volunteers today,” the doctor says, and waves his hand dismissively. “Take them out of here. Their insolence should be rewarded with unwinding.”

The guards grab all three of them, but just then Kunal spots Colton approaching and meets his gaze.

What Kunal does next changes everything.

Colton watches as Kunal reaches down and jangles his keys ever so slightly, then gives Colton a nod. That nod says,
I'm on your side. I'll be your accomplice. Your inside man.
It occurs to Colton how a single nod can alter the world.

“Wait,” says Colton. “You do need them, Dr. Rodín.”

All eyes turn to him. The other kids seem shocked to see him not in shackles. He steps over to Gamon. “Look at how slight this one is. You need someone small for your albatross wings, don't you? And Kemo—he sits all day with palms turned heavenward. Put eyes in those palms, and then let him tell you what he sees.”

Stunned silence—even from the doctor.

“And this one . . .” Colton glares at Karissa. “The AWOL catcher. You
should
let her see her sister. Then add her inked arms—after all, she'll be a close biological match, and it will bring you one step closer to having your Kali.”

Karissa looks at them in building confusion. “My arms? What are you talking about? What is he talking about?”

Then Sonthi laughs long and loud. “It looks like you finally found a kindred spirit, doctor. Too bad you must put him under the knife.”

Rodín looks at Colton with something bordering on awe or at least admiration. “Very well, then.”

He orders the guards to put Gamon and Kemo in a holding cell and sends Kunal to open Marisol's room. Sonthi personally escorts Karissa to visit her sister. Colton doesn't go—he remains in the courtyard with the doctor.

“You and I are of a like mind,” Rodín tells him. “It gives me more incentive to make sure you survive your procedures.”

Then, from Marisol's cell, Colton hears Karissa's soul-searing wails of shock and grief, along with Sonthi's endless laughter.

The unexpected hope of freedom is enticing yet terrifying. His life here is awful but tolerable. What would his life be out there, in a world that will see him as a monster? He could live alone, a recluse at the edge of civilization, bothering no one, and no one bothering him. Is that the life he wants?

These are questions he can't answer—all he knows is that freedom is desirable above all things. He cannot let his fear cloud his judgment. And so, well past midnight, he leaves his room once more, a plan fully formed in his mind. A plan he might be able to pull off.

Colton paces his room in the dark. He can't sleep; he can't even sit for long. They will come for him at dawn to prep him for his operation. Soon, his chest will be expanded, and the heart of the bull will be installed in place of his own. Unless Kunal comes through.

“You wait,” Kunal told him when he locked Colton in his room that night after dinner. “You wait, I come.”

“And the others?”

Kunal didn't answer him. “You wait.”

The moon moves halfway across the sky before Kunal shows up at his door. His keys do not jingle. The lock turns slowly, quietly. Colton's heart seem to rise so he can feel it beating in his neck.
His
heart. Kunal is here, which means he will keep his heart. If the tunnel truly is a tunnel. And if the guards don't kill him before he reaches it.

He sees Kunal silhouetted as the door opens. “Come, come,” Kunal whispers. “No time.” He gives Colton a handgun—and he doubts it's loaded with tranqs. Colton has never held a weapon before, but he knows he'll use it if he has to.

It's only as he steps out of his room that he sees the others. Kemo, Gamon, Karissa, and Marisol, her silhouette spiderlike in the darkness. Kunal has armed them all.

Colton would make a beeline for the tree, if it weren't for one thing. Jenson isn't with them.

“We have to get Jenson,” Colton whispers.

“No,” says Kunal. “You leave now. He stay. Too late for him.”

But Colton knows he'll never be able to live with himself if he doesn't try. “Take them to the tunnel,” he tells Kunal, then holds out his hand. “Give me the key.”

Kunal hesitates but only for a moment. He finds the key on the key ring but can't take it off, so he hands the entire ring to Colton.

“You stupid. Very stupid.” Then he leaves with the others.

Alone, Colton creeps in shadows to the double doors of the recovery room. Even at this time of night it's not silent in there. There are still moans and the faint, hopeless wails of the damned. He waits for a guard to pass on his rounds, then he goes to the door, unlocks it, and slips in.

The first thing that hits him is the stench. Both medicinal and septic at the same time. It's hard to keep from gagging. The lights are scarce and dim, and he's glad for it, for in each alcove is another one of Dr. Rodín's recovering experiments.

And that's exactly what they are—experiments more than creations. Colton can almost hear the hypotheses the Doctor was attempting to investigate.

Can a brain be housed somewhere other than a skull?

Can a mythological Janus exist, with two faces on the same cranium, forever facing in opposite directions?

Can a giant be created by stacking spinal columns?

And these were the ones that survived their procedures. Colton couldn't even imagine the miscreations that didn't.

And then there's Jenson.

“Who's there?” Colton hears him say. “I know you're there—I can hear you!”

Colton moves closer to the hospital bed on which Jenson lies, ankles and wrists secured to the frame of the bed. An intravenous tube feeding into his arm.

“Don't pretend you're not there! I hear you!”

“It's me, Jenson. It's Colton.”

At first it seems as if nothing's been done to him . . . but as he turns his head in the direction of Colton's voice, Colton can see that Jenson no longer has eyes. Instead he has a second set of ears where his eyes should be.

I know a way to make him listen,
the doctor said. Colton shudders.

“Help me, Colton. Get me out of here.”

Colton tries, but the keyholes on Jenson's shackles don't match any of the keys on Kunal's key chain.

“Please, Colton! You've got to! You've got to.”

“I'm trying. . . .”

And then from outside come shouts in Burmese and gunshots. He hears a girl scream. Is that Marisol? Karissa? More gunshots, and then a barrage of machine-gun fire. Something's gone wrong! Colton takes a step away from Jenson to peer out the door.

“No, don't go!” Jenson wails. Then quieter. “If you can't free me . . . then kill me. Please, Colton. I don't want to live like this.”

Colton understands. He wouldn't want to live like this either. He pulls the pistol from his waist and aims it at Jenson's scarred forehead.

But he can't pull the trigger. He can't. He just can't.

“I'm sorry, Jenson,” Colton says. “I'm sorry.” And he turns and runs, knowing that if he does live through this night, he'll never be able to forgive himself for his moment of weakness. For his failure to give Jenson what he truly needed.