daynight (36 page)

“Kira’s going to freak when she finds out about all this,” I say.
 

“If you’re referring to Tristan and Briella, I really don’t think she’ll be bothered that they Cleaved,” Ted says to me.
 

“Well, no, I just meant the whole thing, although I guess that might still bug her,” I say. I don’t know. Tristan and Bri had said they’d all been getting along well before Kira disappeared. I’m not sure how she’ll react.

“I don’t think so. The two—meaning Tristan and Bri—apparently had a long-term sexual relationship back on Earth behind Kira’s back,” Ted says.

“Serious?” I say. “How would you even know that?”

“They were caught in the act on video. Kira viewed the video prior to her vacation,” he says.
 

That’s the video he and Brad discussed? And the same one mentioned when he was talking to that other guy in the steam room? That makes sense. When they decided to place her in spitting distance of her ex-boyfriend, they’d made sure to have a smoking gun to keep her from ever being tempted to reunite with him. When they feared I might die, they decided to show it to her so that she wouldn’t turn to Tristan. But with me out of the picture, they wanted her to have someone to confide in. Insert Ethan Darcton—the alternative heir to Thera.

“Wow, that’s extreme,” I say, mostly to myself. “She must’ve flipped.”

“I wasn’t there to see her reaction, but I’d imagine she was upset by the news,” he says.

Upset? With that news and me missing, I’d be surprised if she didn’t go insane.

Anything less than abject submission has to have some attack in it.

Frank Herbert

CHAPTER TWENTY

Kira

I awaken groggy, nauseated, hooded, and with extreme facial pain from where I was whacked with a gun.
From the intensity of the pain I’d guess I have a huge welt and am in for some very attractive bruising. My captor drops me in a heap onto a hard surface. It’s then that I hear a familiar voice indicating that I’ve returned to Thera. Brad Darcton. My hands are tied behind my back with something thin and cutting. A tight gag keeps me from speaking. Oddly, I feel better than I did the last time through. Physically, that is. Mentally, I’m just waiting to be shoved into a padded room as the memories of the deaths at my childhood home flood my brain. Have to keep it together, I think. I wriggle to indicate I’m awake and await to have my hood, gag, and cuffs removed—and to see if Ethan and Jared made it through with me. The thought of either of them dying at my hands is unbearable.

“Ah, it appears our little rebel has awoken,” I hear Brad Darcton say. “Keep her hands in the restraints until I know that she plans to behave.” A pair of ice-cold hands removes my hood and then my gag. I wrench my head around and am devastated to see neither Ethan or Jared in view.

“Where are they?” I ask, struggling to speak.
 

“Who?” Brad asks in a menacing tone.

“My brother, Jared. Your son, Ethan,” I say, emphasizing the ‘son.’

Brad strolls over to me and with a nasty glare says, “I’m so sorry to hear about the untimely deaths of your parents. It’s so tragic when those we love die—especially when the deaths could have so easily been avoided.” I drop my head and try to contain the sob growing in my throat. Is that his way of telling me that Ethan and Jared are dead, too? Everyone I care about. Gone. Do I dare confirm my worst fears? Could there still be one person left?

I ask yet another question I’m afraid to hear the answer to. “Blake? Is he alive?”
 

Brad paces back and forth for what seems like an eternity before answering. “We found him, though his situation is dicey. Honestly I don’t know which way it’s going to go. Your cooperation the next couple weeks would go a long way to lifting his spirits and giving him the fight he needs, don’t you think?” Brad says. He’s alive. I’ve never been more relieved or scared at the same time. This time I’ll take Brad’s threat seriously. If I don’t cooperate, Brad will make sure Blake dies. If I cooperate, he’s got a fighting chance. With Jared and Ethan presumably gone, I can’t lose my one last thread tying me to life and hope of a future.

“Whatever you need me to do,” I say, bowing my head in submission, even if it’s mock submission in my head.

“You three will be placed in a… quiet area… where you can contemplate the bigger picture of things,” he says, a sickeningly amused look on his face. Wait. Three?

I’m afraid to take his bait. “Three?” I whisper. Brad motions to a colleague and two hooded figures are dragged in and dumped beside me from an adjacent holding area. I let out a gasp of relief as I recognize the clothes to be Jared and Ethan’s. Their hoods are removed and they get the luck of having their cuffs removed, which I see to be simple zip ties. Jared looks bewildered. Ethan bursts into tears when he sees me, but Brad’s colleague keeps him from running to me to have a happy reunion.

Brad steps forward to address Ethan. “Son, welcome back. I assume you’ve learned some vital lessons while away. One, to always follow orders. Two, I warned you to avoid the women on Earth. You’ve got to stop fighting me on the Cleaving thing.”
 

How can he be so cavalier about killing my parents and Ethan’s harem? What a monster.
 

Brad turns to Jared. “And, here we have an unexpected guest.”

I walk over beside Jared and plaster on a smile. “This is my brother, Jared. And I’m afraid in my passed out state that I didn’t have a chance to educate him on where we were headed. Perhaps you’d like to do the honors?”
 

“Absolutely,” Brad Darcton beams. “Jared, welcome to Garden City, Thera.”

“And where’s Garden City, Thera?” Jared asks.

“It’s the location of Unit 27 of the Second Chance Institute. You left Earth by traveling through a portal to Earth’s sister planet, Thera. It’ll take some getting used to and we’ll be sure to get you properly trained as Kira and Blake were, but first I think all three of you need a little ‘me’ time. You’ll all be able to talk things through and gain some needed perspective,” Brad says.
 

“No, Dad. You can’t do that. Can’t lock us up. Me up,” Ethan says. He’s got his hands on his father’s shoulders and looks desperate.

“I can and I will,” Brad says, pulling away from Ethan.

“I have no idea what you guys are talking about,” Jared says, his mouth gaped open. “Can someone tell me what the fetch is going on here?”
 

“First, recuperation. Then, education. That’s what I tell every Recruit. I’ll see you all real soon,” Brad says. He pauses to scan us and our disheveled, bloody state, “Oh, and get yourselves cleaned up. What a mess.”

To the casual observer, one would think
Ethan, Jared and I were sharing a typical Garden City two bedroom home. Ethan and Jared took the twin beds in one bedroom, and I got the queen, just like in the house I share with Blake. This house, however, connects to the center city clinic and has been completely locked down. A team of physicians and psychiatrists manage our ‘care.’

It takes a couple nights for us to lose the drug-induced haze shot into us after our entry. Brad Darcton knows he crossed a line executing my family and Ethan’s friends in front of us. There’s no going back to presenting the Second Chance Institute as a benevolent cause. So, his only choice is to terrorize us into compliance, brainwash us into acceptance, or eliminate us.

In case he needs to go for plan C, he plans to extract another round of eggs from me. Despite being drugged, I recognize the shots for what they are. When I try to protest, I’m kindly reminded of Blake’s fragile physical state and my brother’s tenuous mental state.

Yes, Jared. He’s like a raving lunatic. Take note for future recruiting, SCI—don’t execute a Recruit’s parents in front of said Recruit if you want them to like you.

“I’m going to kill them. Every last one of them,” he says. He’s pacing the living room and kicking the furniture.

“That will be difficult without weapons and I think you’re a little outnumbered,” I say, tucking my feet up onto our couch so that he doesn’t whack me in the shins.

“They freaking killed Mom and Dad. For no reason,” he says, spitting out the words and his fists slamming into an imaginary punching bag.

“Not true. They had a reason. They wanted me back on Thera and I wasn’t cooperating. I called their bluff and they called mine. It’s my fault, Jared,” I say.
 

“It’s not your fault, Kira,” says Ethan. He’s barely said a word since we returned. I’m shocked he doesn’t blame me. “They were looking for a reason—any reason—to do it. I don’t think it was avoidable.” I’m worried about Ethan. He doesn’t look well. Not that I do either with a giant gun-shaped, multi-colored bruise on my face. In contrast, Ethan’s face is deathly white. I’ve seen him muttering to himself and hyperventilating. He checks the door lock every few minutes. If the average claustrophobic hates being in small, enclosed spaces—well then, Ethan goes nuts by simply being locked in any space.

“Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but I need to take responsibility,” I say. “Six people lost their lives because of me.”

“Well, technically they’re no longer dead. They’re here somewhere,” Ethan says. He’s on an adjacent chair and looks ready to call for help if Jared gets any more violent.
 

“Sure, the zombie or shell versions of them are here, but it’s not really
them
if they can’t remember their lives. For instance, how can you learn from mistakes you’ve made if you don’t remember making them?” I say.

“What zombies?” my brother asks. He still doesn’t get it. I explain it all to him again. The Second Chancers. Daynighters. Recruits’ roles on Thera. Inverted days and nights. Cleaving. The Circle of Compliance, Grand Council, and the Presiding Ten. When do they plan to start his training? Or are we his training? I hope not, though I’d be a whole lot more interesting than Video Dude. I’m careful to try not to color the facts with my personal interpretations. We’re being monitored. Any admission to things I shouldn’t know or ‘misrepresentation’ of Theran doctrine could cause things to end badly. I’d already played the ‘Originals’ card and admitted I’d known they’d killed Leila. At some point, I’ll be called to explain my ‘wealth of knowledge’ to Brad Darcton and prefer not to add things to have to rationalize.

“The people who run this place are total quack-jobs,” my brother says. “Certifiable. And they lock us up? I’ll tell you who needs some ‘me’ time. The Ten Assassins for their Circle of Compulsion or whatever it’s called.”

I shake my head. The anti-psychotics didn’t help. Information’s not making a dent. I’ve got to figure out some way to get Jared to keep his opinions to himself or we’re all dead.

“I’m not insane,”
I say. “Nor is my brother, or Ethan. We’re just… upset… over the deaths of our loved ones… and the roles we played in those deaths.” We’re in our nightly group brainwashing-centric therapy session and I’ve decided we’ll never get released unless we redirect blame to ourselves, rather than the leaders of the SCI. For me, it’s like a play-acting exercise from drama class. Each mind warp session lasts four hours and we cover the same things over and over and over and over again. Presumably, we’ll continue to cover them until we get the answers ‘right’ in the eyes of the Ten. And believe it.

“So, you understand that you are responsible for the incident which is causing you so much pain?” the silver-haired therapist named Lily says.

“Absolutely. I defied a direct order and there are consequences when we don’t abide by the law,” I say. All true. It is my fault.

“She is full of CRAP,” Jared says. He stands, kicking his chair back behind him. “You are all full of crap!”

“Jared, it isn’t your turn to share,” Lily says, as if Jared is a misbehaving toddler. “Please pick up your chair and return to the circle.”
 

“Lily, would you mind if I have one minute to speak with my brother in the kitchen? I think it might help, but I’ll leave the decision to you,” I say, trying to be as pleasant, yet submissive as possible.

“One minute,” she says to me. “We want to keep our discussion on track.”

I pull my brother from the dining area into the kitchen. To reach his ear, I have to get up on my tiptoes. When did he get so tall and why hadn’t I noticed while I was at home? He’s easily past six feet now. His tan and freckles are fading from the lack of sun.

“You need to get your temper under control, Jared,” I say, reaching up to steady myself by putting my hands on his shoulders. “They will keep us locked up forever—or worse, Exile or kill us if you can’t. If you want any hope of a relatively normal future, then you’ll get a grip.”

“Sorry. You may be used to the whole move to a different planet full of psychoapathetic killers thing, but I’m not,” he says in an angry, hushed tone. Did Jared stop his SAT prep classes when I left? Or did coming through the portal tweak his long-term memory? He just shouldn’t use big words. Unless he’s doing it on purpose as he always did back home, to get on my nerves.

“It’s not a planet full of
psychopaths
, I promise you. Just a bunch of normal people going about their lives. But the Garden City leaders do strictly enforce the rules. That, they’re quite up front about,” I say. For the most part, I speak the truth. Other than forgetting their past on Earth, the Second Chancers live their lives as best as possible given their circumstances. It’s only those in charge who have redrawn the line between right and wrong.

“They killed our parents. And those girls,” he says, backing away from me and putting his hands on the back of his head. “How do I forget that?”

“Our parents and those girls are alive. Here on Thera,” I say. “I’m sure they’re fine. Happy even.”

“Will I ever get to see them again?” he says.

“I don’t know. But if we don’t get out of here, then I can assure you we’ll never have the chance,” I say. I’m not as eager to see my parents as Jared is. It could be unwise to destroy my fantasy of a perfect ‘hereafter’ for them.

“I’ll try to do better,” he says, walking back to the living room calmly.