Rise of the Elgen (37 page)

T
here was a video monitor in my prison cell that played a continuous loop of the rats at feeding time. The Elgen guards were generally cruel, but I’m sure this was done on Hatch’s orders. He would do anything he could to increase my suffering. And he’d enjoy it. I think that deep inside he was sorry he had to kill me, but only because he couldn’t do it more than once.

I had been in the cell (in the same cellblock where we had found Tanner) for less than twenty-four hours, but it felt much longer. Security around me was tight, with a guard outside my door and two inside. The truth was, they didn’t even need a locked door. Drained of my electricity, I couldn’t even leave the cot, let alone my cell.

The RESAT box still fastened to me was like having Nichelle sitting on my chest, drawing out all my energy—only the box was
much more powerful than Nichelle was. The only bodily functions that seemed undisturbed by the machine were my tics, which, unfortunately, never seemed to take a break. Especially now. My eyes stung from all my blinking.

Then a thought came to me—a small spark of hope. Maybe the Elgen had locked me up not to keep me in the cell but to keep my friends out.
Maybe my friends are still trying to save me after all
. I had mixed feelings about this. Of course I wanted to be rescued. I was terrified by what was to come. But, realistically, there was no way they could save me—and the only thing worse than dying would be to watch everyone I loved suffer and die too. I couldn’t think about that option. I hoped they had followed my instructions and made it to the pickup site. At least then my death would have mattered for something.

*   *   *

That morning I had visitors. Tara, Bryan, Quentin, and Torstyn. This time Tara came as herself. I had seen Bryan and Quentin at the academy, but I had seen Torstyn only when Ian pointed him out as we escaped from Re-Ed through the assembly hall.

I knew there were other electric kids, seventeen in all, but Hatch had told me the last four were dead. But here was Torstyn—so Hatch was lying after all.

The guard opened the door, and Tara was the first in, her lip curled in a mocking sneer. “Oh, Michael, you’re so cute. I’m so in love with you.” She laughed. “So you’re all kissy with my pathetic sister?”

Bryan shook his head. “What an idiot.”

Quentin walked up to my side, his mouth stretched in a confident grin. “You really thought you could take us on? You’re delusional, man. You’re getting what you deserve.”

I turned away from them. Torstyn grabbed my chin and pulled my head back. “I didn’t say you could look away from us. You want me to fry you, lover boy?”

In spite of my weakness I said, “Try.”

The other youths looked at Torstyn, wondering if he would. He
just stared at me. “You know I would if Hatch let me.”

“Your master won’t let you?” I said. “Maybe he’ll let you lick his shoes.”

Torstyn scowled. “Watch your mouth or I’m gonna mess you up, man.”

“Real tough threatening me when I’m locked up. Let me out and you can show everyone how tough you really are.”

Torstyn looked stumped, caught between his ego and his fear of Hatch.

“Don’t worry about it, Torstyn,” Quentin said. “The rats will take care of him.”

“That’s your name?” I said. “Torstyn? They named you after a wrench?”

Torstyn turned red. When he finally spoke he said, “You’re stupid.”

“Wow,” I said. “Is that your superpower? Your brilliant vocabulary?”

Torstyn blushed again.

Quentin intervened. “Hey, Vey, you’re going to love this. We just talked to the dudes at the chute. They said they can slow the conveyor belt, so we can prolong the fun. The rats can eat you a couple of inches at a time.”

“Awesome,” Bryan said. “Wouldn’t it be cool if Dr. Hatch, like, made a game of it and let him run across the bowl? They could even make it a contest. If he gets to the other side and back, he can go free. It would be like dropping a grasshopper on an anthill. We could, like, make bets on how far he gets.”

“Hey, Bryan, wouldn’t it be cool if you had half a brain?” I said. “Did you know these guys all think you’re an idiot? Zeus told me all about it.”

Bryan looked back and forth between them. “No, they don’t. They’re my boys.”

“Really? Is that why Quentin put dog poop in your bed?”

Bryan looked at Quentin. “
You
did that?”

Quentin shoved him. “He’s just messing with your head, man.”

“Yeah, he did it. Zeus watched him.”

Bryan glared at him.

“I didn’t do it,” Quentin said. “That was Tanner.”

“Tanner was in England,” Bryan said.

“I told you,” I said. “They’re always making fun of you behind your back.”

Bryan stormed out of my cell. I turned my attention to Torstyn. “C’mon, tough guy, let me out. Let’s see how tough you are.”

For a moment he looked as if he actually might do it. I didn’t know if I had any chance against him, I didn’t even know what his powers were, but I figured he couldn’t be worse than a million rats.

“He’s messing with you, too,” Tara said. “Enough of this loser. Let’s get out of here.”

“You know, your sister is so much cooler than you are,” I said. “In Meridian she has like a million friends. I guess beauty really is more than skin deep.”

“So are rats,” Tara said.

“That doesn’t even make sense,” I said.

Quentin said, “We thought watching the bulls get eaten was sick. You getting eaten is going to be epic.”

“Enjoy it. Your turn’s coming soon. Someday Hatch will be feeding you to something,” I said.

“That shows how little you know,” Quentin said. “Dr. Hatch is like a father to us. He’d never hurt one of us.”

“Yeah, Tanner thought that too,” I said.

My reply stumped him.

Tara said, “Tanner was a screwup.”

“Then you better hope you don’t screw up,” I said. “Because, father or not, Hatch is afraid of you. Do you know why he’s executing me? He told me he’s afraid that if he doesn’t, one of you will someday take him down.”

Suddenly a beeper went off on my RESAT and a wave of pain passed through my body, freezing me. I grimaced. Through clenched teeth I said, “I guess someone doesn’t want me telling you the truth.”

A guard walked briskly into the room. “It’s time to leave,” he said. “The prisoner is getting agitated.”

“Hatch is getting agitated,” I said.

The guard quickly ushered them out. Tara turned back at the door. “Enjoy the bowl.”

“You too,” I said.

*   *   *

Hours later Hatch walked into my room wearing his sunglasses. He came to the side of my cot and sat down but didn’t say anything. They hadn’t turned down the RESAT, so I was still struggling to breathe.

“Twelve,” he said.

The pain dropped immediately—not completely, but enough for me to take a deep breath. I turned toward him.

“It’s that easy,” Hatch said. “Just one word and the pain goes away.”

“I don’t think your kids’ visit went the way you planned.”

Hatch didn’t answer, but I saw his jaw tighten.

“I met Torstyn. You said that the other four kids had died.”

“Truth is relative.”

“Then I’m not dying?”

“You’re dying—just not from cancer. You’re actually quite healthy, you oath-breaking, insignificant bug.” Hatch looked down at his watch. “It’s almost time. It’s a shame it had to end this way. There are few things sadder in life than squandered opportunity. You could have been great. I could have made you a god.”

“You must be dyslexic,” I said. “I think you meant to say ‘dog.’”

He leaned in close. “In spite of your continual insolence, it’s not too late, Michael. One word and I can still save you.”

“Why would you want to save an insignificant bug?”

“Don’t try me!” Hatch shouted. “I’m giving you a chance at salvation.” He calmed himself. “I don’t think you’ve ever really thought this through. You’ve seen how we live—how our youths live. They have whatever they want. I know you’re not the materialistic type, and I honestly admire that. I too am a man of principles. But what principles allow you to watch your mother suffer every day of her life and do nothing about it? There she is, working herself to the
bone, just trying to put food on the table, trying to take care of
you
. That’s not a life, Michael, that’s an existence—and a poor one at that. If you joined us, really joined us, your mother wouldn’t have to work another day for the rest of her life. She could see the world, dine at fancy restaurants, drive a new car, wear nice clothing, live in a beautiful home. Doesn’t she deserve that? Don’t you want that for her? Don’t you love her enough to give that to her?”

“My mother deserves everything you just said,” I replied. “But there’s more to life than things.”

“Of course there is. There’s happiness. And is she happy?”

“Most of the time,” I said.

“She acts that way for you, Michael. Because she loves you. Don’t you love her? Wouldn’t she be happier without all the stress and worry? Be honest, Michael.”

“Not at the price you’re asking.”

“What price?” he said. “My offer to you is free.”

“Nothing is free,” I said. “The price is my allegiance to you.”

“And is that too much to ask? You will never be raised higher than when you are kneeling to me.”

I lay there quietly for a moment, then said, “I’d rather kneel to a rat.”

His expression turned to rage. “So you shall,” he said. “You fool. Again I have offered you the world and you spit it back at me.” He looked up at a camera and said, “Make it twenty.”

Immediately the RESAT buzzed, and pain racked my body. I gasped, my eyes welling up from the pain.

“It’s time,” Hatch said to the guard. “Take him to the chute.” He turned back to me, leaning in close enough that I could feel his breath. “You have no idea how much I’m going to enjoy this.” He stood and walked away.

Immediately the two guards were by my side. They checked my shackles and wires, pulled out my IV, and unplugged my RESAT from the wall.

Two more guards walked in. One came behind my cot, knelt down, and unlocked the wheels on my gurney; the other pulled
out a plastic handle from the front and pulled me forward. The two guards who were already in the room walked behind the bed until I was outside the cell door, then they came to my side and walked in formation, slowly and at attention, like a color guard. I was wheeled from my cell through a long, concrete-floored corridor with tiled walls.

I had a flashback to the time I was seven years old and was taken to the hospital to have my tonsils removed, my mother and father had walked next to me as I was wheeled to the operating room. I found out later that I had shocked the doctor while he was operating.

Why am I thinking about this?
Maybe that’s what the mind does when it can’t face its own reality—it searches for another one. It was safer to be seven again.

I was in such excruciating pain that everything seemed nightmarishly unreal. The walls blurred past me, partially hidden by the guards, who moved without a word, steady and emotionless like robots, their heavy boots echoing through the hallway. We stopped, waited for a double set of doors to open, then entered a different room with high ceilings.
I’ve been here before
, I thought. I heard Spanish being spoken in whispers, and above me I could see the curve of the bowl. I was in the ranch entrance, the room where we had entered the power plant. Of course I was. They were taking me to the lift Raúl had shown us, where they brought the bulls to feed to the rats.

Time was running out. If I was going to escape it had to be now. I had to think of something—but even thinking seemed impossible. My mind felt like it was on a long string, like a kite, floating away from me, connected by nothing but a quivering line. I was helpless. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t move. I was going to die.

The cart stopped, and the guards lifted my bed and set it on the lift. I must have blacked out from pain for a few seconds because the next thing I knew I was already high up in the air, approaching an open trapdoor in the ceiling.

This was it. Doubt began to creep in. Hatch’s words returned to me, mocking me.
Where are your friends now, Michael?
Was he right?
Had they deserted me? I fought Hatch’s lies.
I
had left
them
. I had locked the pipe behind me. Of course they would have come for me if I hadn’t made it impossible. I had told them to run, to escape. If they didn’t try to save me, it was my fault, not theirs.

The lift stopped abruptly. I tried to look around, but I could barely move my head. I was in a dark room lit by dim, amber lights flickering like candles. There were people there. Guards? Ranchers? No. They were dressed all in black like the guards, but they were executioners.

Thoughts of my loved ones came flooding into my mind: Taylor and her beautiful eyes. I wondered if they would cry for me. I thought about Ostin and the time he blew up his parents’ new microwave because he was sure he could create cold fusion in a Tupperware container.

Mostly, I thought of my mother. I had read somewhere that grown men, dying on the battlefield, cried out for their mothers. I understood that. I wanted to be with her again. At least she was safe, I told myself. Tears fell down both sides of my cheeks.

The executioners were methodical and quiet, not even speaking among themselves. I was grateful for this. The Elgen guards would have mocked me. They would have laughed at my tears, then slapped me a few more times before sending me off to my end. Perhaps the executioners had seen too much death. There were two, maybe three in the room. I couldn’t see their faces. Were they wearing hoods? It was hard to tell. Whatever they wore over their faces was stiff and resembled a mask. They all wore the same disguise, making them anonymous.
Do they feel anonymous? Are they wearing their masks for me or for themselves?

I was unstrapped from the cot, lifted, and set on a conveyor belt. A strap, made from the same rubberized material that my shackles were, was pulled around my chest, next to the RESAT, and my bound wrists were lifted and buckled to it.