Exposing ELE (ELE Series #3) (6 page)

This sobers me up. “Screw this!” I yank the patch off his arm and place my hand right over his heart. Maybe I can heal him. Perhaps if I try hard enough, I can heal whatever that red shot is doing to his body. I focus all of my energy on helping him.

Within a few seconds, he opens his eyes. He looks up at me as if in a dream. Realization plays across his expression and then he darts up off the bed lightning fast. He moves so quickly that I start to fall back. Life feels like it is going in slow motion as my weary body falls backwards.

He catches me before I hit the ground and pulls me to him. “Willow.” He strokes my hair; my face is planted in his chest. I feel so tired but I still notice how good he smells. Like fresh cut grass and soap. “Willow, you have to open your eyes. You can't pass out now,” he whispers in my ear.

The darkness is calling my name. He shakes me some more. “Not right now. Focus on healing. You can do it. Heal yourself. I believe in you. I need you.”

With his words of encouragement, I focus on healing once again. This time I focus my abilities inwardly. I begin feeling more alert in less than a minute. My muscles strengthen up and, eventually, I find the ability to stand on my own.

Begrudgingly I back away just enough to look into his eyes. They are still the same beautiful neon yellow they have always been. My heart catches as I realize how close we are. “Hi,” I whisper in a throaty voice.

His eyes light up and he smiles slightly. “Hi.” Time stops in that moment as we stare into each other's eyes. He breaks the silence that's settled over us by saying, “You saved me.”

I nod my head.

“Thank you.” He runs his hand through my hair. I hold my breath. What an awkward situation for such a beautiful moment to occur. His hand moves to my cheek and I rest my head into it.

“You're welcome,” I say.

He slowly drops his hand to his side. My cheek still feels warm from his touch. “We need to get out of here, Willow. They’re planning some crazy stuff.”

I nod my head. “Yes, we have a team inside right now doing reconnaissance. We have to find my parents first though.”

“Definitely,” he says. His face turns serious for a moment. “I don't want to alarm you but I have to tell you that I haven't seen your parents; not since we saw them taken down in that field. I did my best to look around the room they herded us into at the beginning, but didn't have any luck.”

A lump forms in my throat as my brain starts pondering a million things a minute. “Do you think they survived? Why wouldn't they be in here?”

He places his hand in mine and gives it a small squeeze.
I rub my thumb over the side of his hand, trying to squelch the feelings I’m having. “Don't worry, Willow. I'm sure they’re fine. The room was huge and filled with chaos. It's very possible that I didn't see them.”

I doubt that. Tony is very observant and I'm sure he could spot my mom from a mile away. He was trained to look after his leader. “I hope so.” A thought comes to mind. “Do you think they got away? Perhaps before they brought everyone here?” I say as false hope fills me.

His expression tells me that he highly doubts that possibility but he humors me anyway. “You never know. Anything could have happened.”

My eyes widen at the thought of 'anything' since that's such a broad range of outcomes; including horrible ones.

He sees my thought process and quickly adds, “I mean, yes, they could have gotten away. They could be safe and sound this very second.”

“But you don't think so,” I say, hoping I’m wrong.

His expression softens. “I think that your mom is a very strong woman. Your dad has to be one heck of a guy too, in order to keep up with her. I think they’ll survive. We do need to find them quickly though. I don't know what Dr. Hastings's plans are, but they can't be good. Not with how that militia swooped in like that, shooting people point blank. I don't care if they were tranquilizers or not. That was definitely a hostile takeover.”

“Yes it was.” The memory of the scene sends chills up my spine. Dr. Hastings’s plans can't be good, especially not if his son Zack was shooting Tony up with the kill shot. My chest tightens. I can't let Tony become a Reaper. I can't think about that right now though. I focus my mind knowing I need my thoughts to be clear.
My parent’s lives are on the line.

“We should get a move on,” Tony says.

“Okay.” I grab my backpack that I had set on the floor and hand Tony my extra pistol with some ammo. He gladly accepts and puts the gun under his shirt at the small of his back. Hot! Urgh, when did I start thinking about Tony this way? I don't know. All I know is that now, this man next to me makes my palms sweat and my stomach flutter. This is such horrible timing to be developing these feelings.

“Ready?” He holds his hand out for me to accept.

I wipe mine off on my jeans, nod, and then take his hand. He smiles and squeezes my fingers gently. With Tony’s hand in mine we head out of the room and move into the hallway, careful not to run into anyone.

Thankfully, we don't notice any signs of guards in the vicinity. We make our way up the row of windows checking each one carefully. I can tell that Tony wants so badly to help the other prisoners, as do I. There will have to be another time for that though.

After checking the last room at the end of the hall next to the steel doors, we realize that my parents aren't in this area.

“We need to go in there,” Tony says quietly, while pointing towards the steel doors.

“Do you know what's on the other side?” I ask, hoping he may have some inside knowledge.

“No, this hall is as far as they took me.” His expression turns serious.

“Well, I guess it looks like we are going in blind.” I reposition my hand in his. “Hopefully anyone on the other side is blind too, at least when it comes to seeing powers.” I turn us invisible again.

The steel doors don't seem to be locked but I use my gift to move us through the doors anyway. After all, if a door magically opens, I doubt that someone on the other side would blame it on a ghost.

We step through to the other side effortlessly and find ourselves in the middle of a large room that I assume is either a clinic or the prison hospital. A few makeshift hallways run behind rows and rows of curtains that are all attached to tracks on the ceiling. The smell of ammonia burns my nose and I find myself having to breathe through my mouth. A fluorescent light in the corner of the giant room is on its last leg, so it's flickering eerily.

A sinking feeling starts welling up in the pit of my stomach. Everything about this place tells me to run. There isn't a soul in sight and the room is so silent that all I can hear is Tony’s and my breathing.

Tony gently squeezes my hand. I look up at him and find comfort in knowing that he's just as thoroughly freaked out as I am.

We walk silently down the corridor of curtains, peeking into each one as we go. Nobody occupies them, so we continue moving. When we peek into the fifth curtain, I suddenly remember why I hate odd numbers so much. I double over and dry heave from the sight. If I had any food in my stomach, I would have spilled it onto the floor. The poignant copper scent fills my nose and throat, causing me to gag even more. Tony pulls me to him and tries rubbing my back in comfort. Eventually the dry heaving calms enough for me to stand back up. This room is covered in so much blood that it's impossible for me to fathom where it all came from. It stains the white linen coverings of the bed. The floor is wet and sticky from it and the rear curtain has splatters of red across it.

“What happened here?” Tony asks. I look at him since this is the last place we should be talking and realize I must be reading his mind.

“I have no idea, but we have to find my parents. Now!” I think to myself.

“I agree!” Tony confirms.

I look up at him in utter confusion. “Did I just say that last sentence out loud? I know I thought it. This is freaky.”

“I can hear you, Willow. In my head.”
Tony looks at me in wonder.

“Weird... No time to contemplate it though, we have to find my parents,” I tell him telepathically. Man, this is just too convenient that this would happen now of all times.
Now the risk for being heard talking is nil.

“Yes, let's get out of this place.” He takes my hand and pulls me away from the nightmarish scene. My stomach continues to twist in knots and it's extremely difficult for me to push the visual of that room from my mind. I do my best though. I have to focus. “Should we try the door up ahead or should we pick a wall and walk through it?” I have no idea where my parents would be kept in this place.

“Let's stick with the doors for now,” he thinks, and I nod in acknowledgement.

We both move quickly to the end of the room, desperately wanting to leave this horrible area. I focus my powers and walk us through the doors and into a short, empty hallway. No windows or cells dot this hallway. Within a few steps, we are at a new set of doors. This one looks like it has a type of keycard access panel that's lit with a red dot.

Ignoring the security measures they put in place, I walk Tony through the reinforced doors. My back goes rigid, my muscles tense and Tony pulls me to the side, behind a pair of fake Ficus trees.

This area is not empty. Not at all! There are dozens of guards coming to and from what I assume is a command center. Cubicles are set up in geometric patterns with computer workstations at each one. There are women and men sitting behind most of the computers. We stay silent and hide behind the little cover the trees offer. I just hope that nobody possesses the gift to see us.

We wait a few minutes, observing all that’s going on. I watch the workers and the guards who are dressed in matching black uniforms, hustling here and there. Every once in a while a few people in blue surgical scrubs come and go from what I assume is a break room. I look around trying to best assess our plan of action, as does Tony.

A man in scrubs approaches in our direction. I lean into Tony on impulse and he puts his arm around me. I hold my breath when the man gets close enough to see us. Seeing he has navy eyes, I let out a breath. He passes us without notice and opens a door in the corner of the room. Before he steps into the room, I catch a glimpse of several racks filled with surgical equipment and scrubs. I can tell that Tony takes notice of it too.

“Are you thinking what I'm thinking?” I ask Tony.

“You tell me. You're the one listening to my mind,” he jokes.

“Funny.” I look up at him and roll my eyes. “I'm thinking we may not be this lucky next time.”

“True. We better go incognito then.”

I nod my head.

We wait for the guy to exit the small supply closet. Once he's far enough away, we make our move. I pull Tony into the closet. We look around at the medical supplies, scanning the shelves. There are several sets of surgical scrubs stacked on the top shelf. We both grab a pair at least one size bigger than we usually wear to fit over our clothes. We put them on as quickly as possible.

“You ready?” he asks me.

“Yes.” I say. I let go of our invisibility and do something I haven't done in a while: I reach for the doorknob. We exit the closet with the greatest of care to not draw attention to ourselves. Without the veil of invisibility, it makes me feel completely vulnerable. Thankfully, nobody even acknowledges our presence. We walk through the main room, taking time to peek in when we reach the break area. We both try to keep our eyes focused downward. I feel naked and exposed out in the open like this.

Suddenly alarms are blaring and strobe lights are flashing. “What the heck did we do?”

“I don't think we did anything,” he says, trying not to panic.

All the people around us stop what they’re doing and begin running in the same direction.
A guard yells out above the chaos, “Code Orange.”

I glance at Tony momentarily and hear him say, “Just run with them.”
I nod my head and we’re off. We follow the masses of people out into the courtyard that runs along the fence line towards the front gates. I immediately get nervous as the guards with guns begin pointing them in our general direction.

We watch as all the people from inside form a barrier at the gates.
Tony and I quickly line up alongside them, trying desperately to play the part.

The alarms and strobe lights die off almost instantaneously and everyone around us stands stoically, not moving a muscle. Facing forward, eyes never wavering.
The doors we came through open one last time and my stomach drops. Zack and Dr. Hastings emerge carrying massive assault rifles. I swallow the lump that’s formed in my throat. They come to the middle of the courtyard and wait… for what I’m not sure. The doors behind them open once more and four people emerge. Two of them are bound together with steel chains and black cloth sacks have been pulled over their heads, making them indistinguishable. The other two guards have them by the crook of their arm, ushering them to where Zack and Dr. Hastings stand.

They each grab one of the black sacks and simultaneously pull them off the prisoner’s heads.
My knees threaten to buckle when I stare back at my mother and father.

My dad shakes his hair out of his eyes.
My mother doesn’t have to shake her hair back because Zack does it for her. His face so sinister and menacing… it makes me want to risk everything to run to them. Tony holds me back though. “Not yet.”