“That sounds like a lot of…fun,”
Colton
said, looking at me with pain in his eyes.
“Oh yes, especially when the shocks throw you forward, and all you can do is scream, unable to move anywhere.” I allowed the images of past evaluations to fill my mind, images that consisted of Thirteen’s sessions along with my own.
“I can’t imagine how Hayden must feel knowing that in order to keep you alive, he has to physically put you through hell.” A single tear rolled down his cheek as the words fell from his lips.
I never stopped to think of that before, the pain Hayden must have felt each time he watched me fall forward in agony. Watching as I gave in to the volts as they soared through my body at inexplicable rates. The physical pain was strong on my end, but what about Hayden? What about his emotional pain? What about the misery in watching a loved one suffer and knowing there wasn’t a damn thing you could do about it?
I lowered my head, trying to erase the image from my mind. No one should have to suffer because of me, especially Hayden.
“Hey, why don’t you lie down?”
Colton
slowly eased himself off the couch and turned back to face me. “I’ll come get you once he gets here. I’m pretty sure you could use some time to relax.”
It was a sweet gesture, one that was almost useless as I knew what was waiting for me the second I closed my eyes – the spliced memories that have been finding their home in my mind. “Please, come get me the minute he arrives,” I begged as my eyes fought to remain open.
“I will,” he promised, grabbing hold of my hand before releasing it slowly.
Gradually my Program eased into sleep mode, blocking out the world around me. I expected the images, to relive the horror of losing my family, but this time, they were different.
We were back at Vesta Corp. Standing beside me were Tina and Hayden, while
Colton
remained behind me. I searched the room for him, because I knew he would be there. McVeigh’s eyes met my gaze. A slew of guards filled in from behind him, restraints in tow.
“I believe it’s time that we deactivate Thirteen, agreed?” he asked, turning his head to look at his guards.
I could see Tina and Hayden turning into pixels, slowly fading away, piece by piece. I reached out to grab them, but they were already gone. I looked for
Colton
, only to find that he had vanished along with them. They no longer existed. In here, I was alone.
“Ah, finally, I have you alone,” Charles McVeigh whispered, lunging forward to grab me by my shoulders. Two of his guards came behind me and placed restraints on my arms and legs. “Get rid of her men,” he muttered as if disgusted by my presence.
I was on my way to deactivation.
“Emile!” I heard his voice, almost as if it were real. Hands gripped my arms, shaking my body. When I opened my eyes, I could see his face. I reached out my hand, cupping his face to make sure that he was real and that this wasn’t an illusion or false memory.
But it was real. He was here.
18
THIRTEEN
“
E
mile,” he whispered, pressing his hand to my cheek.
Colton
took a seat on the opposite end of the couch while Hayden hovered over me, making sure that I was okay. “Has she been doing this a lot?” He turned to
Colton
in search of an answer.
“If you're referring to her zoning out, then yes, she's been doing it quite a bit." He examined my face, concern visible throughout his own. "What happens to her when she zones out?” his voice cracked.
Colton
, much like Hayden, wanted nothing more than to protect me. But they couldn’t protect me from this. No one could protect me from this.
“I’m not sure yet. I’ll need to run some tests. Her core is beginning to fuse with Thirteen’s.” Hayden paused to look at
Colton
. He stared at Hayden blankly, clearly not understanding what he was saying. “I probably should’ve explained that, huh? Thirteen is the Program she was before I brought Emile back.”
I was struggling to keep my eyes open. My body was weak with exhaustion, but I wasn’t ready to let him go. Not yet. I fought back, forcing my eyes to stay open for as long as I could. Hayden began to fade from my view, becoming nothing more than a silhouette, although I could still, albeit faintly, make out his voice.
No, please, no.
I was beginning to drift away again, and there was no one within view that could bring me back.
“Emile,” she called out, her eyes shining like diamonds in the sunlight. My mother was waiting for me across the field. Her hands were on her hips with a smile stretched across her lips. I started making my way towards her. But as I moved, the sunlight began to fade. I ran with desperation, trying to reach her before the light faded from view. My heart was pounding against my chest. I could feel my pulse in my ears as my knees buckled beneath me. The wind hammered against my skin, sending chills throughout my body. I sat on the ground with my knees folded below me, and searched through the darkness for her. There was a flash of light that illuminated the entire sky. And then it all fell to black.
“Emile!” she screamed. I wanted to answer, to let her know that I was coming, but it was too late, just as quickly as she appeared, she vanished.
Images of a white room replaced the memory of my mother. I was lying on a metal table, covered in battered clothing. I looked down in horror, seeing the restraints for the first time. I could feel the straps digging into my skin.
Get out of here
, I thought. I tried ripping my wrists from the leather straps, forcing them to dig into my skin more. I let out a scream. Around me, the walls began to fall, thrusting me into complete darkness again.
“We need to wake her up!” I could barely make out Hayden’s voice now.
“Hayden,” I whispered so low that I was sure no one would hear me. I could feel a hand gripping my right arm. A single tear splashed against my skin.
“What’s wrong with her?”
Colton
’s voice was shaky. “Why isn’t she waking up?”
“I’m not sure.” Hayden’s hand slipped from my arm. There was a loud sound off in the distance. “Dammit!”
“Calm down!”
Colton
was screaming now. “You don’t need to punch the wall.”
“She needs to enter the Pod as soon as possible.”
The buzzing of the computers began to fill the room. I could hear the screeching of metal against the wooden floor. “Push.” Hayden’s voice was tense. “Be careful as you round the corner of the table.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t want to destroy anything else.”
Colton
laughed, but Hayden didn’t return his laughter. “Lighten up, man. It was a joke.”
“Save the jokes for later. We need to get her set up in the Pod quickly. I don’t know how much longer she can hold out against him. Her body is beginning to beat out her mind.”
Their voices became whispers before fading altogether.
“Emile,” my father called, angry with me. “How many times do I need to tell you to come straight in once it starts getting dark outside?” I nodded my head, knowing exactly where this was going. Every day I went out into the field behind our house. I sat against the large oak tree in the center of the field and curled up with a book. The nighttime brought a feeling of peace and wonder. The nighttime brought freedom, freedom that I so desperately sought after day in and day out.
“Your mother is waiting inside, now hurry in.” His voice broke my trance. I looked up to find my father walking back towards the house. I leapt to my feet, preparing for my mother’s ranting, but when I looked again – there was nothing there. No house. No father. Nothing.
“Dad!” I started to panic. I was alone and lost.
“Daddy isn’t here, Emile.” A twig snapped beside me. The wind grew cold around me, sending goose bumps throughout my body. I peered over my shoulder and found him leaning against the tree. His arms were folded across his chest, and a smile peered up at the corner of his mouth. “I’m sorry. It’s Thirteen, isn’t it? My apologies.”
It was McVeigh; he’d found me.
A shock ran throughout my body, forcing me to open my eyes.
Colton
and Hayden must’ve carried me to the Pod when I zoned out, because I didn’t remember moving an inch from the couch. The door was latched shut, and my hard drive was connected to the slot in the back. It’d be hours before I could move.
They stood above the Pod with their eyes fixated on the window, peering down on me. I wanted to ask them questions, but I couldn’t. There had to be a reason Hayden came back. He left because it was dangerous for me - for us. So what was it that brought him back?
“Hayden, can I ask you something?”
Colton
’s gaze drifted to Hayden. “Why are you here?”
“Well, I suppose I could ask you the same thing, no?” my brother smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He appeared distant, full of worry.
“We’re not talking about me. I asked why
you
are here. What made you come back?”
Hayden smirked, shaking his head as he placed both of his palms on the Pod’s window. “Emile is my sister,
Colton
. As her older brother, I’m expected to protect her. I need to make any effort possible to help her.” Pulling his hands from the glass, he turned to face
Colton
and continued. “Plus, I never actually left. I followed her here because I was worried about her being alone. Obviously my concerns were foolish,” he said, gesturing towards
Colton
.
“
Colton
, McVeigh has his men looking for her. As it stands, Emile and Thirteen are fusing together rather quickly. Somehow I overlooked that slight detail when I installed her core. Once the fusion is completed, the tracker in Thirteen’s Program will become active again. If that happens, then they’ll be able to locate Emile at all times. I need to prolong that from happening for as long as possible.”
The danger I was in didn’t bother me at the moment. I knew my life was on the line, and possibly both Hayden’s and
Colton
’s, but I couldn’t let that thought sink into my mind. I refused to give up hope that we’d get out of this alive. All of us. For now, however, both boys were safe, and that was all that mattered.
“So, back to you, kid,” Hayden said, playfully punching
Colton
in the arm. “Why exactly are you here? And I swear if I find out that you even so much as tried to touch her, I will have to hurt you.”
“Relax, that isn’t the case at all.”
Colton
was laughing hysterically. “Actually, she almost killed me.”
“How does that answer my question exactly?”
“Well, when Emile was headed here - I’m guessing after she left you back at the other house - she almost ran me over. I should probably say that it wasn’t her fault though, since I was kind of hoping someone would hit me. Thankfully she didn’t.”
Colton
sighed, pressing his palm against the Pod window. “Anyway, after she almost killed me, I came with her back here.”
“Okay, well that makes no sense. But I have a feeling it’s the only explanation I’m going to be getting for now.” Hayden made sure to emphasize the ‘for now’ part.
“How long are you planning on staying?”
Colton
asked him.
“Only until I find a way to stop the fusion from happening. I’m thinking possibly three hours max.”
Three hours? I won’t even have the chance to say goodbye. Who knows when the next time I’ll see him will be. I knew Hayden needed to leave to keep me safe, but I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to spend more time with my brother. I didn’t care about the consequences. I wanted to be selfish, just like he was when he brought me back.
“Hey,
Colton
.” Hayden reached for his arm, holding a hard drive in his other hand.
Colton
looked up curiously. “A head’s up, I’m going to be performing a hard drive evaluation. These are incredibly painful for Programs. I need you to promise me that you won’t try to stop the evaluation, no matter how much it hurts to watch her scream in agony.”
“Maybe I should go to my room, then. I’m not sure how much more I could take of watching her in pain. The memories are bad enough.”
Hayden reached out his hand to
Colton
, offering a friendly shake.
“I’m glad she’s found someone that can care for her while I’m gone.”
Colton
smiled before heading down the hall towards the guest room.
“Hey, Emile.” My brother smiled at me through the window. “I know we usually perform the evaluations in a chair, but that isn’t possible at the moment. You needed to go into standby mode, and I figured it’d be best to do everything in the Pod. As much as you may want to, please, I beg of you, do not break the window.
Please
.”
I couldn’t promise him that.
Evaluations had a tendency to force my body to react abnormally. I couldn’t control my actions. Every movement was involuntarily, a reaction to the surge flowing through my core. Each volt sent me lunging forward, desperately trying to break free of the restraints holding me back. In my Pod, I only had a window and a latch restraining me. The chances of me breaking both seemed probable.
Extremely
probable.