The Seven (36 page)

"What is the ultimate objective of my mission, Elite?" asked Tucker.

John rolled his head back to look at Tucker. He knew instantly where Tucker was going with this line of questioning. "Terminate the experiment."

"Now, if you have all that military tactical information rolling around in that big, soldier's brain of yours, perhaps you can tell me what a soldier is supposed to do if he has a series of objectives to complete toward a goal and some of those objectives are rendered impossible?"

John dropped his head back. "The ultimate objective is the only objective that matters. If other objectives are rendered impossible or might interfere with the completion of the ultimate objective, those objectives should be shelved until a later time. Complete the ultimate objective at all costs."

"Excellent," said Tucker.

"What's all that mean, John?" grunted Andy.

"It means that he's going to kill us."

"What about the--"

"They'll just have to get what they can, when they can. Complete secondary objectives in a time frame that won't interfere with completion of the ultimate objective."

"It's a shame, really," said Tucker. "Millions of dollars of research and development, the finest geneticists we could hire---we had to kill them after they left here, you know---and all that time and effort in training and teaching you...It's all wasted now. A successful beta-test that leads the way to a better version."

"What do you mean by that?" asked John. "We're not defective."

"You are defective," said Tucker. "In order to get your bodies and minds to do what we wanted, we were unable to condition your minds the way that we wanted. Dr. Cormair tried to raise you as normally as was possible in that environment to make certain your minds developed as normally as possible. Television, music, internet access---all the things that normal adolescents have access to in their daily lives. Even that old
Playboy
magazine you found in the culvert by the road two years ago, Elite. That was placed there for you to find so that you could experience the full range of normal, adolescent teenage male behavior. Did you honestly think your luck was that unbelievable?"

"I had hoped."

"You were raised to be independent and free-thinking. That is a major defect for the purposes the Trust has in mind for this project."

"Can't be assassins if we were taught to value life, right?" said John.

"As I said: A major defect."

John glanced over at Indigo. She had opened one eye. He looked at her, staring hard, trying to mentally project the idea of taking the remote from Tucker's hand into her brain. As if she could read his mind, Indigo gave her head a slight shake and whispered, "Can't do it...No fear, no emotion. The shocks are too much."

John looked over at Holly. He could see her eyes were clouded over, a white haze. She was trying to summon animals. John hissed, "Holly?"

The fog left her eyes and she shook her head. "Can't make contact," she whispered.

He craned his neck to look at Sarah. Her eyes were closed and she was twitching slightly.

John looked at Andy. The big lug was still bleeding from a few bullet wounds. His skin was pock-marked with battle damage and even his forehead showed a few gashes and tears where bullets had bounced off his nearly unbreakable skull. Andy whispered, "I'm slower than you are, man."

John began to run battle tactics. How can he get up fast enough to avoid the electro-shock? Once up, where can he go where Tucker won't be able to shock him and take him down? And the gun---Tucker was in possession of a handgun. At a distance, John could anticipate the trajectory of the gun from the positioning of the barrel and dodge the shot. In close range, that would be trickier. If he could do a push up hard enough to roll to his toes and then jump sideways as hard as he could, he would probably be able to get to the edge of the metal flooring. Then, from there, he would be able to reach Tucker with a leaping kick. He'd have to take the gun out first, then the remote. He knew that Tucker didn't stand a chance against him in hand-to-hand; Tucker was older, gone to seed. John took a few quick, priming breaths. He'd only have one shot at this.

"Distract him?" John whispered to Andy.

"How?"

John couldn't answer that. He shrugged. Andy shrugged back. Andy suddenly curled fetal and rolled away from John while groaning loudly and clutching his stomach.

John sprang to action, kicking off the ground with a cobra's speed and flinging himself sideways. The second Tucker caught motion out of the corner of his eye, he thumbed the remote. Indigo, Andy, and Holly screamed. John landed on the protected area and rolled to his feet. He jumped again, whipping around in a circle and extending his leg in a textbook roundhouse kick. Halfway through the motion, something bit into his side and he felt every muscle in his body go tense at the same time. It felt like half the muscles in his body were being torn from his bones. John crashed to the floor and the pain continued. When it stopped, John couldn't breathe, he couldn't move.

"A taser," said Tucker. "Did you think I wouldn't plan for the chance that you'd try something stupid, Elite?"

John looked up at Tucker. The wires for the taser had come out of the end of the remote control. John's head fell to the floor, defeated. He was angry at himself, angry that he hadn't anticipated a taser, only the gun. It was a major tactical blunder. He had become so focused on the victory, he forgot that defeat was possible.

Tucker shocked him again. "Valiant, though. It was a great attempt. It is a marvel to see you in action, Elite. But, I think you have outlived your usefulness. I can't wait any longer." Tucker pulled out the gun clicked the safety. He pointed it at John. "As punishment for your heroism, I think you shall watch the other experiments die."

Tucker clicked the remote again and John heard the hissing crackle of electricity coursing over the floor. He heard Holly shriek in pain and Indigo groaning. Andy began to convulse. John began to smell the burning hair and the sickly sweet stench of burning flesh. He closed his eyes. The words of one of his old history teachers echoed in his head. You can't beat the system. The system will always win...

The world suddenly exploded around John's head. He clapped his hands over his ears and clenched his jaw to keep his teeth from rattling out of his mouth. The noise---so much noise. John opened his eyes and saw Posey standing in the doorway, an angelic shadow. Her screams immobilized Tucker. He was clutching the sides of his head in a futile effort to lessen the intensity of the noise. The remote had fallen into his lap.

When the scream stopped, it seemed to linger in the air, a heavy reverberation that echoed in the ears. John didn't know what was worse, the taser or Posey's incredible scream.

"Who are you to dare hurt my friends?" Posey's voice was hoarse and guttural, raw from her scream.

"He's General Tucker," said John. "He is the man who was in charge of this whole place! He's the reason we became experiments in the first place!"

Posey's eyes narrowed to slits. She spoke in a tone that John had never heard emanate from another living being, a voice low and thick with loathing and anger. "You are the one who made me ugly?"

Tucker struggled to recover. He fumbled for the remote and the gun. "I will deal with you in a minute, Nightingale!" He hit the remote again and pushed himself out of the chair. "A shock cage! You cannot help them!"

Posey's face devoid of compassion, cruel and demonic. Her golden eyes glittered with rage.

"To shock me, I would have to touch the metal!" Posey sprang into the room and her wings shot out to her sides. With a heavy downswing, her wings propelled her at Tucker. Tucker raised the pistol and fired a single, panicked shot. The bullet clipped Posey in the shoulder, but she didn't slow down. She spun her body in the air and landed on Tucker's chest with her feet. As John watched in horror, she sunk her toes into Tucker's chest and pulled back, tearing bloody gashes in his flesh. The remote and the gun clattered to the ground from his hands. Posey's wings beat the air madly as she tried to stay aloft.

"How dare you?" Posey shouted. "These are my friends, my brothers and sisters. Who are you to think you can harm them?"

"Nightingale, stand down," Tucker grunted. Posey's talons flexed deeper into his flesh and he growled with rage and pain. "You will pay for this, freak!"

Posey dropped onto the General's chest, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt and crouching on him like an eagle on a perch. "You will pay for making me the freak. You turned me into this...this thing!"

Tucker surged forward and tried to knock Posey away. She lost her grip on his collar and her right foot came free of his chest with a sickening slashing of flesh. She beat her wings wildly, trying to remain aloft. She kicked awkwardly, trying to maintain her balance and flight. Posey's foot shot out, talons flashing through the air, and her toes sliced across General Tucker's neck. Tucker's eyes became wide, terrified discs and he gurgled in shock. He clutched at his neck, blood seeping through his fingers. The general coughed and convulsed, and then slid to the floor, his eyes slowly glazing over with the glossy, endless stare of death.

Posey fell to the ground, her eyes locked on the general's body. She watched his life ebb. Silent tears began to run down her cheeks and slowly curled into a fetal ball.

John crawled over to her and wrapped his arms around her, sitting her upright, and holding her tightly to his chest. Posey pushed her face into John's body and wept. Holly and Sarah were by Posey's side in an instant, each clutching her from either side. Indigo knelt behind John and draped her arms over his shoulders, wrapping her arms around his neck. John could feel Indigo's frail body shaking with sobs. Andy knelt by them all and reached out his hand to gently stroke Posey's head with an oversized finger.

The rest of the world ceased to exist for a time.

Andy carried Kenny's hyper-womb out of the basement by himself. He and John slid it into the back of the pick-up truck, secured it with ties, and then covered it with a tarp, tying it down tightly. Posey and Holly gathered the key and the letter from Dr. Cormair's room. Each of them gathered clothes and personal trinkets from their rooms. None of them had much they wanted to save. Indigo and Sarah took whatever food they could find in the kitchen and packed it into plastic bags. Some they loaded into the pick-up truck with John and the rest they put into the old farm truck that was in the back shed of the Home. Sarah drove the pick-up out of the shed and left it to idle next to the white truck.

They gathered on the lawn in front of the Home. Andy draped his arm around Sarah's shoulders. Holly and Posey stood close to each other. Indigo stood with her hands on her hips, John towered behind her with his hand on her shoulder.

"This is it, then," said John.

"Yes," said Sarah. "We finally leave here."

"Before we go, I want to do something," said Posey.

"What's that?" asked John.

"I want to burn this place to the ground."

"The smoke will alert the soldiers in Amboy that we're still in the area."

"Then let's start the fire and go," Posey's eyes were locked on the front door, her jaw set in grim sorrow.

John looked at Andy and nodded. Andy went to the shed by the side of the house and brought out the gas cans they used to refuel the lawn mowers. Sarah brought out some old two-by-fours and some rags. They each wrapped a rag around the end of the stick and Andy doused the rags in gasoline. John used the cigarette lighter from the truck to light them.

One by one, each of the six stepped forward and tossed their torches onto the home. Posey took a seventh torch and flew it to the roof. She dropped it on the old, lichen-covered shingles and drifted back to the ground. "That one was for Kenny."

The greedy flames quickly devoured the old, dry wood siding of the Home. In minutes, the flames had circled the building, engulfing the base and climbing the sides, spreading until every inch was swallowed by the flames. The wood crackled and black smoke drifted to the sky in a thick cloud. The Home became a funeral pyre for their childhood as lab rats.

They watched silently for a moment before slowly retreating to the vehicles. John and Indigo took Kenny. Andy got into the back of the other pick-up and Sarah and Holly covered him with a tarp. Sarah and Holly got into the cab and followed after John and Indigo.

Posey lingered at the Home for a moment. She put a hand to her cheek and wiped a tear away. Then, she pushed herself into the air and in moments she became a dot in the empty blue.

Epilogue

Begin Again

A
t precisely ten in the morning on a Tuesday, a mousy young woman in plain clothes with plain brown hair walked into the First National Bank of Erie in Erie, Pennsylvania with a key, a letter, and a backpack. She limped slightly, favoring her right leg. She was led to the safety deposit vaults and, with the help of a letter from a lawyer, was granted access to a vault to which she possessed the only key. A clerk took the box pulled from the rows of safety deposit boxes and put it in a small room with a locking door. The young woman entered the room and the clerk heard the door lock. In several seconds, she emerged from the room, the vault box empty and her backpack full. She thanked the clerk and walked out of the bank.

No one took notice of her. She wore sunglasses and kept her face turned away from the security cameras. The security guards never saw her because they were too concerned with capturing a small bat that had somehow gotten into the bank and was causing a minor panic amongst the female tellers and some of the patrons.